GHOST TOWNS

TRUE STORIES OF  THE GHOST
              TOWNS OF UTAH

My husband and I have been searching Ghost Towns here in Tooele, Utah where we now live.  There are so many stories and so much history concerning towns and their where abouts that it has been an adventure finding some of these.   Two of my husband's favorites are Topliff and Jacob City.
             One of the most haunted (for all of you Ghost hunters) is Sunshine.  There are several places where old towns are now laid to rest here in Utah.  It is always interesting to find out all you can about them, and even be lucky enough to see a few of the old buildings still standing  even if they are starting to deteriorate.   I will go through each town one at a time starting with Sunshine.  I want you to enjoy your journey into the old west and learn about the miners who once thrived here in Utah.
                     Hopefully it will make you want to come and visit Utah so that you can see these Historical towns and start your own adventures.

SUNSHINE

TOWN OF BLOOD

The town of Sunshine was anything but sunny.  The Sunshine mine opened in the early 1890's.  The mine was part way up a small canyon at the Southern tip of the Oquirrh Mountains.  The production of the mine begain to really grow in 1893 when mercury-laden gold was located.
           After several other promising strikes  the Sunshine and Overland mills were built in 1895 to do cayanide processing of the gold ore.  When this occured Investigators and speculators assumed the gold mines and the town to grow as large as another Ghost Town, Mercur because Sunshine was not as high on the hills nor as far back in the canyon.
                  The town of Sunshine was small but supported the typical town aggregation of mine buildings, dwellings, boarding houses, saloons, and gambling dens.  Those who knew and lived in Sunshine considered it one of the most violent of the late era mining towns.
         Sunshine had become famous in the fact that it had exposed larger bodies of ore than any other near by mining operation.  Supposedly in 1896, the ore that was produced had been extracted without any large scale working of the ore bodies.  Several hundreds of dollars were inversted but in 1896 only $7,000 worth of gold was recovered.  Even in 1902 only $70,000 in gold ore was produced.
          The mills were remodled in 1908, but by 1910 the mine was depleted of the gold ore.  The three last years of the mine $141,000 of ore was removed.  And after fiffteen years of mining, each of the mills only produced $220,000 in gold.
                 The Canyon is now named Sunshine Canyon and has been deserted since 1910.  Most of the buildings were removed or have been torn apart by weather.  A few brick foundations still exsist and are hidden under sagebrush.  They are dwarfed by the huge yellow orchre mine dump.  A dirt road which becomes a thin trail leads up to the site five miles south of the Mercur turnoff.
The ghost story of Sunshine is that it was home to the first serial killer in Utah.  The caretaker of a Pawn Shop had killed several miners and was pawning their valuables.  He was caught when  the wife one of the miners found his pocket watch at the shop.  Knowing the man was lying  she notified the other miners.  Justice was swift and cruel in those times.
         He was shot, stabbed, and while still alive burried into the mine.  He was tied to a pole as he watched the elevatore shaft close above him and the miners buried him under rock.  It is said that his ghost still resides there and that he attacks people in the night.    It is said that those who spend the night there have seen a man with a knife in the trees.
            

More information on Sunshine and the other Towns next page.