My family arrived in the Goblin Valley area in a staggered fashion. After Jason and I concluded our short exploration of Bell’s end, we met up with some of them and took a trip to the temple.
The group checked out the Temple Mountain Wash Pictograph Panel in route to Temple Mountain. This panel was originally more than eight feet tall and over a hundred feet long. It includes pictographs in both Fremont and Barrier Canyon Style making sections of it over 1000 years old. So, naturally, some numbskull decided to use it for shooting practice. The bullet marks scarring sections of its surface were a testament to the irresponsible stupidity of humans, but they weren’t the only reminders we received that afternoon.
At 1,200 feet, Temple Mountain is the highest point in the San Rafael Reef, the eastern edge of the San Rafael Swell. It has two peaks divided by a saddle. While the mountain is beautiful, its most intriguing components don’t lie above but beneath.
Miners sought out vanadium, radium, and uranium at Temple Mountain beginning in 1914. Extraction continued off and on until the 1920s. Then, with the nuclear boom during the Cold War, mining recommenced and escalated. Between 1948 and 1956, the Temple Mountain area produced 261,000 tons of uranium ore containing 1,287,000 pounds of triuranium octoxide, AKA yellowcake, and 3,799,000 pounds of vanadium pentoxide. Mining decreased after 1956 but continued until at least the mid-sixties.
What became of those mines and their associated shafts? Apparently, nothing. The Utah DNR has closed 203 mine openings at Temple Mountain in the Abandoned Mine Reclamation Program since 2002. Even with those efforts, some cavities clearly remain as we came upon an unmarked shaft that dropped about 30 feet. We also encountered one intact steel tower that appeared to be patiently awaiting a reopening as it slowly deteriorated. It stood over an exposed shaft with only sparse bars to prevent a human from stumbling in. We dropped a rock down, and it took 2.5 seconds to hit the bottom. That’s a fall of about 100 feet if my calculations are accurate.
Over the course of nearly three and a half hours, we only made it about four miles because we stopped to examine so many things. We were amazed how much mining equipment and miner’s junk were just left to rot and rust. Besides headframes and other mining standards, we came across ovens, fridges, mattress springs, building foundations, vehicles, shoes, piles of oxidized cans, and even tubes of electrical paste. Since these leftovers were more than 50 years old, they held historical interest and captured our curiosity. However, it was impossible to ignore the carelessness involved. Obviously, mining companies abruptly departed leaving hazardous holes perforating the ground and unsightly scrap everywhere. Sometimes I’m disgusted by my species!
Afterward, we stopped by Goblin Valley State Park and let the kids run around in hollows and on hoodoos for about an hour. It was only a preview of what they would be enjoying the next day. Even with that sampling, no cranny or alcove was repeated at any point during our visit. In Goblin Valley, it’s difficult to return to a precise spot even when you aim to.
The final day of our outing was all about exploring Goblin Valley’s misshapen rock stubs and spacious caverns that were certainly no mistakes of Nature. I will cover these perfect oddities next time.