UTAH'S DIXIE HISTORICAL SITES
SONS OF THE UTAH PIONEER - COTTON MISSION CHAPTER
M01-SHEM - COPPER ORE SMELTER, GHOST TOWN AND DAM
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UTAH'S DIXIE HISTORICAL SITES M01-SHEM - COPPER ORE SMELTER, GHOST TOWN AND DAM |
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Where is it? GPS DATA: GPS 37’ 11.50 N 113’ 46.1 W Driving instructions: From Santa Clara stay on main road (old Utah 91), from the Ivins turn-off it is 3.8 miles to the Gunlock road. Take the Gunlock road 1.2 miles to the Shem ruins. You will be on Shivwitz Reservation and there are “NO TRESPASS” signs, so look and take pictures from road or get permission to trespass. |
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The pictures (1&2) are of the Shem dam and smelter; these are located on west side of road. Pictures (3&4) are what remains of the building, where they lived, these are located on east side of road on the hill side. |
In 1884, William Webb was cutting cordwood in the West Mountains, when he discovered an outcropping of high grade copper ore. Webb called his find the Apex.
During its early days, ore from the Apex Mine was shipped to a smelter located near the West Springs at the point of Red Hill. In 1898, a new smelter was built on the Santa Clara River between Gunlock and the Shivwits Indian Reservation, not far from where the Black Warrior smelter at Conger had been. An all Mormon town named Shem grew up around the new smelter, which was quite unusual in view of the church opposition to mining. For a reason not now remembered, some old maps show the town as Jackson instead of Shem. Solid stone walls and the ruins of a rock dam can still be found 1.2 miles along the Gunlock road north of US-91. Beehive shaped charcoal kilns were built at Spring Hollow and Poor Hollow at the foot of the Pine Valley Mountains to produce charcoal for the smelter.
For the next ten years, while the Apex and other mines were working Shem prospered, but gradually the veins worked out and the mines began to close. The Apex mine was reopened years later, but by then Shem was only a memory. Today hardly a trace remains of the old camp. Nevertheless, Shem lasted ten years.
Ref. George A, Thompson, Some Dreams Die- Utah Ghost Towns and Lost Treasures, pg. 32.
