The Snow Crystals

As the winter seams to come to a close it turns around and dumps a new pile of snow. Although it looks amazing, like a pile of sparkly crystals, it's at the same time a drag that I can't get out and enjoy the countryside hidden beneath the snow. All the dirt roads are either covered in snow or too muddy to go down. While thinking of all the places to go explore and start up rock hounding again, one of my favorite spots comes to mind. The spot is on a hillside near the tiny town of Minersville and next to many large mine shafts. After researching the area, I found that it was loaded with lead which was mined, then sent up to the Salt Lake area and processed to make bullets. One of the mines there named the Lincoln Mine, was also stated to be possibly the oldest mine in Utah. Later, it was found that some of the metal they mined was silver and assumed to be melted into some of the only ever silver bullets. The last time I was there, I was so drawn into those massive mines but held myself at about fifteen feet in after seeing that they have collapsed quite a bit about fifty feet past the point where I stood. From the entrance there is a very refreshing cool breeze that blows at you from the heart of the shafts and make it even harder to stay at the entrance. While walking around near the shafts numerous dump sites you can find many interesting rocks and minerals. Some that I was able to find were, really nice pyrite crystals, fluorite which is a square shaped crystal and had a very shiny finish, as well as malachite. I know if you spend much time there you will find a much greater variety than I did and really enjoy your time doing so. To find the spot you need to find minersville which is west of highway beaver on highway 21 or north from cedar city on the minersville highway. Once you get to minersville the 21 turns north and you need to continue going north from the town around three mile. Look to you right and you should be able to see the mines on the hillside continue until you find a road headed up that way and take it. This is a really amazing spot for finding collectible rocks. The mines look very inviting and in most cases I would go in and find the end but these mines are not in solid rock and very unstable. Any wrong move will leave you trapped in the mine or under a pile of dirt so please use my advice and stay out. The rocks you can collect are scattered all around the outside of the mines in the dump piles not inside. Hope you enjoy this and check back to find out about another great place to search.