Ophir, UT, USA, Earth

A big thanks to my co-worker Geof for letting me know about this small town about an hour and a half southwest of Salt Lake. I drove out to Ophir hoping to find a deserted Ghost Town, but to my surprise there were quite a few people who lived out here. I noticed a lot of No Trespassing signs as I drove through town, but finally parked my car and hiked up a hill that appeared to have been carved out for mining purposes. I did some research on Ophir before heading out and thought I’d share what I discovered:

Soldiers of the U.S. Army discovered that which created Ophir in 1865. They noticed that Indians in the territory were using bullets made from silver. The soldiers soon found the source and proceeded to dispatch the Indians. They named the location St. Louis. When the find became public, the site quickly became a town with no official name. In 1870, it was officially named Ophir after the rich mines of King Solomon. During its heyday, a number of ornamental homes and buildings were constructed which, after the silver was exhausted and the town died, became mute testimony that good times do not last forever.

The town itself is a mixture of new/ old houses, old buildings (most of which have been preserved and heavily lacquered), and old mining equipment scattered next to the roads. A lot of these pieces of equipment have been put on display for the strangers who drive through this small town. Despite these ornaments of a time now passed, the residents seem to be rather protective of their town and the NO TRESPASSING signs are just as prominent as the old mining carts. (After a little research on the internet, I realized that I wasn’t the only one who seemed to notice all the ‘No’ signs).

I was really fascinated by this town. It seemed to have two sides to it. There was the small center of town which was ‘cutesified’ and preserved to maintain the status quo of what a ‘western town’ should be, and then there was this authentic side of town that was hidden up in the hills. The old rusty railroad tracks and railroad ties nestled high up on the hills surrounding this town is what really got my attention.  I couldn’t help but imagine all the activity that must have been going on up on these forgotten hills during the late 1800’s. The only evidence of anyone being here now are large rusty cables dangling from rock faces and the occasional footprints of other like minded explorers. There were also a couple mine shaft entrances that I found that were covered by bars or sealed completely.

This side of the American West is something I had always read about in textbooks as a child or seen in movies about gold pandering. It wasn’t until I was actually in the presence of one of these places that I really ‘got it.’ What a life it must have been to have actually lived here in the 1870’s! Even more fascinating is that people have actually built new houses in this deserted place in the last 5 – 10 years.
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The more time I spend in the West, the more I appreciate the duality between the stereotypical depiction of how things are out here, and the way things really are.  I’m not sure if they could exist without one another, and yet they don’t seem to be aware of each other. You would think that the rusty carts from the 1800’s proudly displayed next to the road would be a complete contradiction of the lacquered up ‘Town Hall’ that seems to be trying to hard to capture what this place was all about….and yet no one seems to notice how ridiculous it is that both of these things are trying to show you what is more ‘Western’. I think its a fascinating aspect of western culture and Ophir seemed to encapsulate it perfectly.