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Pole Canyon, Millcreek
Canyon
If you follow the road through the Porter Fork Summer Homes, you will
eventually come to a locked gate that marks the boundary to the Mt.
Olympus
Wilderness area. At this point the pavement ends and the road
becomes a
meandering dirt path. After following this path for a short
distance you
will reach a meadow which lies to the east. There is no
noticeable road
or trail that splits off from the main path here, but with some
bushwhacking
and a little perseverance the Pole Canyon claim can be found to the
northeast
of the meadow. There is evidence that this route was constructed
at one
time. However, once on the “road” it becomes obvious that this
route has
not seen significant use for many years. Travel along this route
has been
so infrequent that the trail is almost completely overgrown along some
stretches. After splitting from Porter Fork the path works its
way up the
hillside to the foot of Gobbler’s Knob. Here it ends near what
has been
marked on USGS maps as the Baker Mine.
"The
right-of-way for the construction of highways over the public
lands not reserved for public uses, is hereby granted."
Construction:
"Means an intentional physical act or series of intentional physical
acts
that were intended to, and that accomplished, preparation of a highway
by a durable,
observable, physical modification of land for use by highway
traffic."
In places there is
evidence of this road having been
constructed at one point (e.g. road cuts, portions of fallen trees have
been
removed from the road).
Highway:
"Means a thoroughfare that was prior to the latest available date used
by
the public, without discrimination against any individual or group, for
the
passage of vehicles carrying people or goods from place to place."
This route was most
likely constructed to reach timber and
mining resources, and to remove those resources from the canyon. Access to this route is currently blocked by
two locked gates, at the top and bottom of the Porter Fork claim. These gates prevent the public from accessing
this claim in their vehicles.
Unreserved
public lands: "lands owned by the United States...that had not
yet
been set aside, dedicated, withdrawn, reserved, settled, preempted,
entered,
appropriated, or disposed of, or on which claims had not been located."
As much of the mining and
logging activities in Millcreek
Canyon predated the area’s reservation as part of the Wasatch National
Forest,
the construction of the Pole Canyon claim probably did as well.
It is
likely that this route, along with many others in the canyon, saw
occasional
traffic during the early logging and mining eras of the Wasatch
Front.
The evidence of construction that can be seen may have come from a
prospector
improving access to a mining claim, or from loggers creating an easier
route to
access timber in the canyon. Very little is known about the early
history
of the area, and the records that do exist provide an incomplete
picture.
The
information that has been found, show that some mining activity was
taking
place in the Pole Canyon area. However, since no formal mining
claim
patents were made, it seems reasonable to assume that prospectors had
not
discovered any substantial mineral deposits. At least not
anything that
warranted the effort required to patent a claim with the Land Office or
the
Bureau of Land Management.
There
were, however, several claims in the area of Pole Canyon and Porter
Fork that
were maintained into the early 1980’s. It is unlikely though,
that the
individuals holding the rights to these claims used the Pole Canyon
trail to
access their claims. On a map of the area, found at the Salt Lake
District Ranger’s Office dated 1974, a hand written note indicates that
the
Pole Canyon trail had been “put to bed.” As all of the claims in
the area
have been closed and the trail being claimed has been “put to bed,” it
is safe
to say that Pole Canyon has not seen significant use for most of the
last
decade, if not longer.
Keller, Charles L. Lady
in the Ore Bucket: A History of
Settlement and Industry in the Tri-Canyon Area of the Wasatch Mountains.
Salt Lake City, UT, USA: University of Utah Press, 2001. p 57.
Kroenke, Loren.
Salt Lake District Ranger.
Conversation. August 15, 2005.
Bureau of Land
Management. Geographic Report for mining
claims within 2S2E sections 2, 3, 4, 9, & 10, and 1S2E section 26.
August
10, and September 21, 2005.