2005 05 14 Delta to St George
Today I drove back south on UT 257 to a very nice dirt road that runs east over the Mineral Range for about 30 miles to I15. I should have photographed along this drive, but I didn't. I didn't see anyone on this entire drive.
I had talked to someone in Delta about the "town" of Sulpherdale, very close to the junction of I15 and I70, and it looked like was worth a check. Once there I saw that the road into the "town" was gated and locked. Not wanting to be someplace I was fenced out of, I went back to the service station at the junction of 15 and 70 and asked if there was a local caretaker. Again, there was. Only a half mile away, and he was there.
Interesting guy. He runs a metal shop that specializes in the reproduction of antique printing presses. (Search for "Albion foolscap folio handpresses" in that web page.) He had quite an elaborate shop and was more than happy to tell me about them. He had one press that he had just painted and was crating up to ship to Australia.
He was on his way up to Sulphurdale, so I followed him. (He told me he goes up once or twice per day to check on the geothermal power plant that is right next to the mine site. He also does caretaker duties there. I'd like to see it, but didn't have time and didn't want to ask for too much at once. The geothermal power plant is shut down now, but has a new owner and is going to be restarted "soon".)
The following four shots are of the house that is still standing alongside the remains of the mill, storage building, and two or three lesser buildings that still stand. This house does not look like much from the outside, but you can tell that it was occupied for a very long time, probably more than a century. It was built without power, but that was added. It was built without indoor plumbing, but that was added. A couple of the rooms look fairly "modern". The caretaker told me that there was someone in town that claims to have been born in this building. I am not sure what town the caretaker was referring to, since this is fairly far from any town.
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What's left of the kitchen.
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One of the more modern looking rooms on the first floor, and another room that is done in "real wood" paneling .. the bark of trees!
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There are two rooms up stairs that have a really spooky feel to them. The colors are a lot more subtle and interesting, a lot more saturated looking, than they look in these shots.
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The stairs .. and looking into the blue green room. I hope this glow from the window shows up in the film I took.
You might also note at this point that there is not a straight line or right angle in the whole place.
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The "shop", I guess. It's been blown down. The last (and current) owner of the site ran a small fertilizer business, and there are remnants of that business all over.
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This next is the mill from the original sulphur mine at the site. It's got that typical trashed out look along with the "ancient ruins" look.
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All of the yellow you see on the ground and in the stains on the walls comes from the sulphur that was mined here.
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I am not sure what this next building was. It looks like it might have been a storage building, but who knows. It's big.
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The interior reminded me of a ruined church.
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More of the interior. The walls are about 30 feet tall.
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That's it. After spending about 6 hours here I was really tired, all I was interested in was getting to St. George and the end of the trip.
After setting out thinking that any film I shot would be a bonus after the Nevada trip last month I wound up getting a lor of good material.