The Oquirrh Mountains (page 1 of 3)
Tooele County, Utah
Feature by Jim Drysdale

This is my least favorite time of the year. The dirt roads are muddy and the mountain passes can get ugly on you in a hurry. The ground is cold and wet wherever you go…and I am not much into $60 lift tickets or digging snow caves. Plus, there are only so many basketball and hockey games, and reruns of Jackass that I can take. So, with that in mind I have decided not to let this dreaded cabin fever time-of-year get the best of me. There are always places to see and things to do in the Great Basin. Its just a matter of how hard you want to work at it..

NOTE: In an effort preserve as much of the original quality as possible, the photos on this page will take significantly longer to download than most of the other photos on this site.

...And one of the more accessible areas in my neck of woods is a little place called Ophir. Ophir is a pint-sized town that had seen its mining heyday back around the late 1800's -early 1900s. Now it's a quaint little hamlet of a couple dozen or so people. The town is situated in the southern portion of the Oquirrh Mountains. The Oquirrhs are perhaps the most mineralogically viable range in Utah, containing the world famous and ultra-humungo Kennecott Copper Mine.

My trip to Ophir was initially with the intent of strolling up the canyon above town for a ways. I wanted to go into the backcountry and see if any wilderness remained in this prior hugely overworked and now seldom frequented range. But as I hiked up out of town the weather turned into one of those high elevation semi-whiteouts where everything is peachy below, and not so good where you seem to be at. The scenery was great though, as this is a very cool looking area worth exploring in the future.

So, I turned back after deciding to shift gears and strolled into town for some quick photos…

…and there I ran into Julie. She noticed my camera and we talked. Seemed as though her family had purchased a fairly sizable chunk of land in the area. As we chatted she very kindly offered to show me a special out of the way place and thus provide a first-rate tour of the area. So we hiked up. After a solid hour of relentless grade (including a steeper pitched scramble up the tailings slope), we eventually arrived upon this old tram house that had somehow made it through the tough Utah winters without toppling.

Julie writes: "It was a great day and Jim was a very good sport to even attempt the hike to the Buckhorn Tram House. It is at the top of the mountain, is very steep and he had over 40 pounds of camera equipment...

...Ophir is a little piece of heaven tucked away in a small canyon that was once populated by more than 5,000 people. As you drive up the narrow canyon it is almost like you enter another world--a peaceful place where you can escape the hustle and bustle of everyday life. There are only about 25 full time residents at this time. There are many old mining roads that make for a vigorous hike with abandoned mines and deep vertical shafts everywhere which are still open. The vertical shafts are so dangerous, you can easily stumble into one if you venture off the beaten path. Since most of the area is privately owned you have the place pretty much to yourself. The residents and land owners guard the canyon jealously. The last thing they want is for this beautiful canyon to become a recreation heyday for 4-wheelers and off road vehicles. The area in and around Ophir varies from jagged cliffs to flower-covered hillsides in the summer. Also in the summertime the area is riddled with Rattlesnakes.

...We hope to put up some displays around the town of the old mining equipment. So if people would like to visit the area we would appreciate it if they would look and not touch."

NOTE: Julie's family owns land in and around Ophir and is interested in preserving its history and beauty. Visitors should respect the private ownership of land and structures in the area as they are a fast-disappearing piece of our history. Likewise, the proximity of Ophir to the populous Wasatch Front creates added concern for Ophir's caretakers in regard not only to trespassing, but to destroying the beauty of this mountain range. You need only go a few miles east to see the effects of population growth and industry. Respect for history and nature in this area is expected and very much appreciated. (DAVE)

This is the last standing building in the immediate area. There were apparently three adjacent boarding houses that had gone down within the last 10 years. No doubt that without any additional work done on this old tram house to shore up the walls, its life expectancy is not good.

Last she showed me these old carts along the section of track near town.
Julie: "...the dog in the pictures name is Drake. He and my other dog Yodi are my constant companions as I go exploring in and around Ophir."

Note: The area in and around Ophir consists almost entirely of private land with some small parcels of BLM land. Please respect the rights of property owners. If you're going to look, do just that and no more. And some areas are probably best off avoided altogether.

Another great place to hike is a somewhat wilder canyon adjacent to Ophir known as Dry Canyon. The jeep track that I hiked along ultimately works its way far up the mountain, into the heavy snowpack, to the abandoned mining town of Jacob City. This area (as well as Ophir Canyon) contains hundreds of mines and open vertical shafts, so keep your wits about you if you venture off the trails and roads. Reportedly no buildings remain intact in Jacob City. The last was a large boarding house that went down during the heavy snowfall of 1992.

NOTE: More historical information about Jacob City is available at www.ghosttowns.com.

The Oquirrhs have a lot of old and weird history tucked away in its 1000's of abandoned mineshafts, broken down trestles and creaky blowing-in-the-wind doors… Just ask one of the folks up there and you won't believe some of the things you hear. Happy exploring.

Note from Dave:
Once again, Jim Drysdale has contributed a quality content for our site... This time he had the good fortune of finding a local expert (Julie) who was willing to guide his exploration.

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