Contact Canyon and the Klondike Mine
Contact Canyon and Miller Canyon are located in Utah's west desert about an hour west of Delta.
As you travel into Miller Canyon you may notice these petroglyphs on the roadside.
Travel about two more miles and the road forks. To the right is Water Canyon
and the box end of Miller Canyon.
At the fork, if you go to the left, you will be in Contact Canyon and be privileged
to catch a glimpse of Utah's mining history.
(Most of these photos were taken May 31st, 2004.)
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About 1/2 mile up Contact Canyon you will see a large framework and several
buildings.
The frame is over a vertical shaft called the Klondike Mine.
It's still open and drops several hundred feet, so please be careful.
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In this building you will see an old motor which was used as a hoist back in the 50's.
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This was probably their dynamite shed.
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Across the canyon is another shaft and tunnel.
As well as we can determine, the miners were looking for tungsten and sheelite.
There are very limited quantities of gold in this canyon.
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We didn't go very far into this tunnel.
We didn't have a flashlight with us and we were worried about rattlesnakes.
It's probably advisable to be cautious. You see we were more than 50 miles
from the nearest hospital.
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On our June 5th, 2004 trip to Miller Canyon we saw one blowsnake and two rattlesnakes.
Good luck.