DEER CREEK
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DEER CREEK |
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NAME: Deer Creek COUNTY: Utah County ROADS: 2WD GRID: 1 CLIMATE: Snow in winter BEST TIME TO VISIT: Any time |
COMMENTS:
Located 7 miles up the North Fork of American Fork Canyon. REMAINS: Nothing |
| Located 7 miles up the canyon on the North Fork where little Deer Creek ran into the American Fork Creek, the town of Deer Creek came into existence. This was more by accident then by intention. The Aspinwall Steamship Company built a railroad into the canyon to bring the ore down from Forest City. The railroad was completed as far as the Deer Creek on November 26 1872 (4 miles below the Sultana smelter at Forest City). From there up was much to steep for the train to run so the town of Deer Creek (named after the creek it was built by) came into existence to service the railroad and lumber jacks in the local area. Exactly what the town consisted of is not known.A train terminus was built here along with its buildings, a Lime kiln was also built here to produce lime for the Saltana Smelter at Forest City. Their were also 10 charcoal kilns built here to make fuel for the train (no coal was available). A man named Charles Green and his new bride Mary Ann built and operated a large boarding house in town. It evidently had a very large dinning area where they held dances. There was a small cemetery located here in which accident victim's were buried. A man named James Chipman Sr. built an office by the creek on the side of a hill (he was the recorder for the mining district). During a very bad storm that caused a flash flood to wash down the creek, his office was destroyed and washed away. Many important mining records were destroyed and unrecoverable, this caused a lot of problems over claims. Four other residents of the town wereNick IversonJohn ChadwickCharley Logie and his wife Laura Webb.It is unknown what the population of the town actually was.The ore from the mines at Forest City was brought down to Deer Creek by wagons and on mules then loaded onto the train. When the railroad closed down in 1878 the town of Deer Creek soon began to disappeared. Submitted by: Bob Bezzant |
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