BCC/Brighton:
There was a Blind Miner----and many mines which serve as the names for many of the ski runs in both BCC and LCC canyons. The Blind Miner was a very nice restaurant/tiny restaurant located over the Brighton Store in the 1980's, is no longer in play.
Only a few original trees survive. The early Mormons spent summers and holidays up at 8,000 feet in paradise, yet clear cut/denuded the canyon. The Forest Service's 'tree nursery' program originated in Big Cottonwood.
The Blind Miner/Big Cottonwood Mining (2)
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Plaque A: (East) BLIND MINER OF THE WASATCH James LeRoy "Roy" Newman (1894-1974) Roy Newman was blinded and nearly killed when a stick of dynamite misfired in this mine in 1929. But the determined miner recovered and returned to his mine alone - for another 45 years! You can see the mine portal to the right of this sign across the creek at the head of the mine dump. The belief that rich lead, zinc, and silver ores lay deep in the mountain kept Roy working; he did encounter low-grade veins of ore. He drove 1,600 feet using only a hand-held drill, a four-pound hammer, explosives and his ingenuity. Though blind, Roy could faintly detect light in the corner of one eye and he used this ability to keep the mine workings straight. Roy would set a carbide lamp in the middle of the track, several hundred feet from the mine's working face. Then he would stand a pick with its handle up, in the track a few feet from the face. Standing between the pick and the face, Roy moved his head back and forth until the pick handle blocked the light. Repeating this process, he was able to continually center and straighten the workings. Roy lived alone in a cabin near the mine throught the pleasant summers and long harsh winters. With the help of friends and family, who kept him supplied with food and other basic needs, he maintained his optimism and perservered. "I like the challenge that Mother Nature presents the miner who searches for her secrets," he said. Plaque B: (Middle) BIG COTTONWOOD MINING DISTRICT
Big Cottonwood has played a major role in the mining, timber, and recreation history of Utah. Lumber was used to build mine facilities and to build and fuel the settlement of Salt Lake Valley. In the 1850's, steam-powered sawmills peppered canyon tributaries names Mill A, B, D, E and F. Completion of the transcontinental railroad in 1869 provided for the transport and sale of silver, gold, lead, zinc and copper. Mining towns like Gold City, Silver Springs and Argenta flourished during boom times. In 1872, 500 people lived in Big Cottonwood Canyon.
The nearby ghost town of Argenta - Latin for silver - had "one good hotel" and the only post office in the canyon. Colorful names also graced most of the major mines: Regulator Johnson, Mutual, Maxfield, Prince of Wales, Cardiff, Copper King, Dolly Varden, and Clementine. At the Reed and Benson mine in Cardiff Fork, workers lowered themselves on ropes to the mine entrance on the steep lime-stone cliff face. A 1,580-foot-long tramway connected the mine tunnel to the wagon road in the gulch. Mining production in Big Cottonwood Canyon peaked between 1871 and 1927. The last great venture was in 1955.
Large-scale mining has ceased in this canyon, giving way to recreation and water shed uses. The hundreds of decaying old mines that remain in the Big Cottonwood district are death traps for hikers and explorers. Many of these abandoned mines have been closed by the state's abandoned mine reclamation program. If you come upon an old mine remember they are dangerous and - Keep Out. Wasatch Mt. Club, State of Utah, USDA Forest Service, Earshel W. Newman, brother of the Blind Miner, Utah Geological Assoc. & Salt Lake County
