An interview with Glen Zumwalt
“I’m here at Silver Reef as I’m a docent. I volunteer here and enjoy my time, telling stories about the old town and what happened here back 145 years or so ago, back in the 1870s and 1880s.
Silver Reef is kind of a unique place, and that’s why we’re here. It’s unique because we were mining silver and sandstone, and the geologists and the experts of the day didn’t even believe there was such a thing as silver and sandstone, at least in minable quantities. But we proved them wrong. Seven and a half million ounces of silver came out of the old hills here at Silver Reef. We had over 450 openings out here in these hills, and we became the biggest town around.
And so what we have here is a museum, and I’m sitting inside of it. It’s the old Wells Fargo Express office, built in 1877, occupied in 1878. It’s still here, and it has some unique stuff in it. I can show you things in this museum that you won’t find in other museums.
In 1996 and 2000, we closed a whole bunch of openings out here. When I say we, I mean the Utah State Abandoned Mines Reclamation program. These folks came out here and closed over 450, actually, I think they recorded 465 openings that they closed. But you’re still able to go out and see them here, which is really amazing. And this might give you a little taste of what’s here, but in order to really get a full mouthful of that base, you need to come and visit. The rest of the story is where you have to come and explore and find it.”
Thanks to the Utah Division of Oil, Gas and Mining for stopping by and letting us share a bit of Silver Reef’s history.
