Silver Reef, UT


Silver Reef was discovered between 1866 and 1870 (There are many different stories about the founding of this town) However in 1874 a man named William T Barbee is credited with getting the mining going. In 1875 he had 22 claims here. In 1876 Silver Reef became an established town. Main street was over a mile long. Silver Reef had over 2000 people living here. There were hotels, 9 stores, 6 saloons, a bank, several restaurants, a hospital, 2 dance halls, 2 newspapers, a china town and 3 cemeteries. In 1891 the last mine shut down, about 25 million dollars’ worth of ore had been taken from the mines here. Between 1891 and 1901 another $250,000 of ore was taken out of the area. The old Wells Fargo Express office is on the National Historical Register and is now a museum. The old bank is now a gift shop. Some of the area has been preserved for its history and is worth visiting. A lot of the surrounding areas of the old town are now homes and housing developments and are restricted to public access.


Here is a link to an article and video from the St. George newspaper, the Spectrum.  It is entitled “Silver Reef: a ghost town that nearly disappeared” and provides not only good information in the video but also the accompanying article.  


https://www.thespectrum.com/story/news/2017/07/27/silver-reef-ghost-town-nearly-disappeared/513124001/

                           Wells Fargo Express office - faced Main Street in the center of town