Places
Silver Reef was more than a mining camp – it was a full community with neighborhoods, businesses, gathering spots, and landmarks that anchored daily life. The collection of articles below guides visitors through the key locations that defined the town, from bustling Main Street to the surrounding canyons, cemeteries, and outlying settlements. Each place helps paint a fuller picture of how people lived, worked, and moved through the landscape.
Articles About Places
Babylon
Babylon was a community southeast of Silver Reef that sprouted up and supported the large and successful Stormont Mill that was built in 1878. Residents of Babylon were mostly the Stormont’s millworkers and their families. Today, faint relics of the […]
Cemeteries
Between Silver Reef, Leeds and Harrisburg, there were a total of five cemeteries, four of which that can still be visited today. Mostly Mormons were buried in the Leeds cemetery located on the southwest side of town. Most people associated […]
Charcoal Kiln
Many mining areas in the late 1800s utilized beehive-shaped charcoal kilns to slowly burn wood to make charcoal for the smelting of gold and silver ore. Today, places like Death Valley National Park in California and Ward Charcoal Ovens Historical […]
Cosmopolitan
Although restored, the Cosmopolitan was a restaurant in Silver Reef that was reputed to serve the best hash in the territory. Today, the Cosmopolitan is often used to house events, such as the monthly presentations put on by the museum. […]
Harrisburg
Harrisburg was a small pioneer settlement tucked into the foothills southeast of Silver Reef, where families built homes along the creek and tried to make a life in the shadow of the red cliffs. Though the town never grew large, […]
Hurricane Fault
The Hurricane Fault is one of the largest, longest, and most active faults of Southern Utah and Northern Arizona. Its nearest rival is the famous San Andreas Fault in California, about 200 miles to the southwest. Although the Hurricane Fault […]
Museum Exhibits
Inside and around the Silver Reef Museum, there are many interesting artifacts and exhibits to discover. This article outlines the exhibits you can look forward to during your visit and shows where they are located throughout the different rooms of […]
The Mills of Silver Reef
The mills were the beating heart of Silver Reef’s mining boom — the places where raw sandstone ore was crushed, washed, and refined into valuable silver. While the mines pulled the ore from the ground, the mills turned it into […]
The Mines of Silver Reef
The mines were where silver-bearing ore was removed from the Earth by hard-rock miners by digging underground tunnels and shafts. Silver ore varied considerably throughout the Silver Reef area and the surrounding Harrisburg Mining District. The Virgin Anticline pushed up […]
Triple Junction of Landscapes
Silver Reef lies at the center of a triple junction of the three great ecosystems or provinces of the American Southwest: the Colorado Plateau, Mojave Desert and Great Basin. Influences from these three regions are responsible for creating the spectacular […]
Virgin Anticline
The mineral‑rich ridges mined at Silver Reef owe their very existence to the long and complex geologic history of the Virgin Anticline. An anticline, unlike its downward‑curving counterpart, the syncline, is a fold in the Earth’s crust that arches upward. […]
Walking Tour
There are two interpretive walking trails that will take you on a journey through Silver Reef’s rich history. One trail focuses on the Main Street corridor, while the other ventures through the desert terrain to visit various historic sites. Walking […]
What is a Reef?
In Utah, a “reef” isn’t underwater at all — it’s a bold, tilted wall of rock that rises out of the desert like a natural fortress. These ridges were pushed up by deep movements in the Earth’s crust, tilting layers […]