Dry Fork/Fish Lake Uinta's

[Bacpacman]

After decades of going into the Middle Fork/Gardner's Fork area, I've never been into Fish Lake. Supposedly, there was Spanish mining evidence on the (west?) side. Anyone out there been in there and found anything? It's an extremely popular and high-impact place, especially since the 80's. Thanks.

[ggardner]

Here are a couple of excerpts from published works that talk about the mine at Fish Lake:

In 1966, I saw for the first time what was reported to have been a copy of an old Spanish map which had been found near the bodies of several slain Spaniards by Thomas Rhoades in 1856. The original map had been given to Caleb Rhoades prior to the death of Thomas Rhoades and the copy was obtained by the Powell family following the death of Caleb Rhoades in 1905. The copy shown to me in 1966 had been obtained from Sadie Jensen (Sidsie Jensen Rhoades Hartzell's younger sister) in 1940 by Clark Powell, Sr.

The area to be searched, based upon the contours of the map and according to the Powell family, was the Rock Creek - Moon Lake region. This conclusion was reached (by the Powells) for a number of reasons, namely; Caleb himself had drawn a map showing a gold mine, a tree and the date of 1856, and he had placed its location west of Moon Lake; the ~blue lake~ of the Spanish map seemed to match the shape and location of Moon Lake; and the ~brown lakes~ of the same map seemed to match those shapes and locations of the Brown Duck Lakes. Therefore, the Powells had concluded, the major drainages shown on the old Spanish map represented those of Rock Creek and the Lake Fork River. And certainly, they seemed to have a good argument, especially since the copy of the old Spanish map also showed a mine and a tree in approximately the same location or area shown by that of Caleb's own map.

But there were too many inconsistencies. The original Spanish map (found by Thomas Rhoades in 1857) had contained various words and instructions in Spanish to supplement the map, and the copy in the possession of Mr. Powell had no such writing upon it. Furthermore, if the mines were indeed located somewhere in the Rock Creek - Moon Lake region, then why did Thomas and Caleb Rhoades travel up the Weber River, the upper Provo River and the North Fork of the Provo River during their initial search for the mines? And another point of argument, as far as I was concerned, was that of the old Spanish trail as shown on the old Spanish map. Supposing that the trail did run along the banks of the Lake Fork River, as Powell had suggested, why then did they (the Spaniards) cross the river to the east and then cross it again to the west just south of Moon Lake? I knew that area well and there would have been no reason nor purpose for them to do so.

It was my firm belief that the ~blue lake~ of the old Spanish map was probably indeed a lake, but that which appeared to be ~brown lakes~ were probably peaks or mountain ridges and not lakes at all. I felt I was correct in my hypothesis that the map did not belong to the area of Rock Creek and Moon Lake, but, at the same time, I did not know where it had been intended to be used.

Later, after having obtained accurate copies of the old Antonio de Reinaldo Spanish maps from the personal possessions of Olive Rhoades Westenskow (daughter of John J. Rhoades) I finally learned the true location of the mines, for the Spanish inscriptions of the map indicated that they were near the headwaters of ~the Timpanogoes~ River (Provo River):" See Map #011

...Several new 7.5 topographs were purchased and major landmarks were pinpointed. An over-lay was made of the Spanish map, using the distance scale as given by the Spaniards, and the contours and landmarks of both maps coincided almost perfectly. But most astonishing, perhaps, was the fact that the northernmost mine shown on the old Spanish map rested, according to the 7.5 topo map, near the shore line of a lake presently known as ~Fish Lake." Fish Lake Basin was just over the mountain ridge to the north from the old Rhoades cabin at Scout Lake which had been discovered by that ill-fated expedition of 1920. The old trail, which was described by A. A. Davidson as leaving the cabin and running up ~the steep and rocky mountain," led north over the ridge toward Fish Lake Basin.

Upon working the Spanish over-lay upon the 7.5 topograph I also found that I had been right in my argument with the Powell family as far back as 1966 and 1967. The ~brown lakes~ of the old Spanish map were indeed plateaus, peaks and basins, not lakes at all, and at least one of the so-called drainages proved to be nothing more that a baseline of a ridge from one prominent peak to another. The trail ~crossing the river to the east and crossing back again to the west~ had been done for a purpose, the crossing of the Upper Provo River Falls. The ~blue lake~ was a lake, but it was Trial Lake and not Moon Lake.

The following narration, taken from my own diary, gives a brief account of that search and of my discoveries:

~This morning I chartered a plane at Salt Lake City and flew over the headwaters of the Provo and Weber rivers for the purpose of obtaining aerial photos of the major landmarks shown on the old Spanish maps. During the flight I did sight several portions of the old trail, particularly in those areas of steep descent where it dropped off the mountain into the basins, but I could see nothing else from the air other than basic landmarks shown on the map. It was amazing how the map compares to the actual lakes, peaks and ridges...

~I've developed and studied the color slides taken from the plane (over the Mirror Lake area) and have discovered what appears to be an old mine or mine dump at the northwest edge of Fish Lake...

~Locating the old Spanish Trail from the top of the ridge to the bottom of the basin was not difficult - the sides are steep and the trail was cut deep, but locating it anywhere along the top of the ridge has been difficult....At the bottom of the ridge, near the northwest corner of Fish Lake, there are the remains of an old, collapsed tunnel, as seen in my aerial photo. The timber exposed at the face of the mine is very old and very rotten. Approximately 30 feet of this tunnel has collapsed. It appears as though someone in the past has attempted to reopen the old mine, but with no apparent success, but some attempt had been made. This mine's location corresponds precisely to that shown on the old Spanish map -- and there are several Spanish symbols carved here in the pines near its entrance. There seems little doubt but what it is the Pine Mine #3 (Caleb called it the Rhoades Mine in 1859). There appears to be no dump site and that is also a good earmark for being that of old Spanish workings, or if there was a dump much has been covered (or washed away) by the waters of Fish Lake since its enlargement due the old dam....being rebuilt.

~Spanish symbols along the old trail have led me to two very old cabins which are located approx. 2 blocks from the old mine tunnel -- these symbols also lead from the cabins to the mine. The trail is wide through the timber and large mountain rock, many large rocks totally removed from the trail and placed to one side or the other of the trail, and a portion of the trail is submerged by the high water of Fish Lake. ....One cabin is almost completely rotted away - it is very old, probably Spanish. The other cabin is made of large logs, untrimmed at their ends, and has been at one time set afire; it is charred badly and the top portion of the walls and the roof have collapsed....This larger cabin, which is only about 60 feet from the older cabin, appears to have been built -- probably around 1870 or 1880 as near as can be determined. Relics found at the cabin sites were an old brace and bit (late 1800's), a three legged iron forge, minus bellows, various old and rusted buckets and tin cans, and an old horse-drawn scraper as used for grading or scraping rocks and earth (this item does not appear that old -- may have been left behind by the dam building crew)....A dam is located on the northeast end of Fish Lake and it has a handwheel to adjust the headgate -probably built during the 1930's as were the rest of those government projects.

This mine [...] is shown on the second Spanish map as the MINE OF (the) SANTA ANNA or the mine of the Weber River if we use present-day names of the drainages. (See Map #009.)--Lost Gold of the Uintah.
-------------------------------------------------------
Fish Lake is situated at the head of the Dry Fork, with an old mine located only a few yards from its shoreline. Thomas Rhoads called several of the mines shown on his maps, the Pine Mines. He drew a pine tree on one of those maps to identify them. (See Map H). Upon returning from one of his frequent prospecting trips into that area at the headwaters of the Weber River, Caleb Rhoads was heard to boast that he had located one of those Pine Mines, something his father had been unable to do. The late Gale Rhoades believed that mine on the shore of Fish lake was one of the Pine Mines, and recorded his claim to it at the county seat at Coalville, as Pine Mine #3, on July 25, 1978. Since his death, new locators have called that mine the Santa Ana. The Pine Mines which Thomas Rhoads searched for, one or more of which he may have discovered at the headwaters of the Weber and Provo rivers, should not be confused with another group of Pine Mines located by Caleb Rhoads in the Rock Creek and Brown Duck Creek country of Duchesne County, which mines will later be described at length. The Pine Mine #3 located on the shore of Fish Lake on the Dry Fork of the Weber River, called the Santa Ana by some, requires some clarification.

The person calling it the Santa Ana did so thinking it was the mine shown on the 1851 Reinaldo Map; but in fact the real Santa Ana Mine is located near Rhoads Lake on the Gardners Fork of the Weber, several miles to the south. Wayne Handy discovered the real Santa Ana Mine on Gardners Fork nearly forty years ago. The upper Weber River is a glaciated wilderness of rock slides and rugged rocky mountains. Some prospectors have become discouraged and question whether there could be any valuable ore deposits in that glacial moraine and limestone structure. The Utah Geological Society's yearbook for 1969 answers that question with the following: ~The Park City Formation, a strong ore-bearing structure, is exposed from Fransom Canyon, at the northeast corner of Rhoads Valley, and along the upper course of the Weber River to Moffat Pass, where it disappears under glacial deposits." Almost anywhere the Park City Formation breaks the surface, ore-bearing veins or fissures can be found. Not all are worth mining, but even low-grade veins could lead to valuable ore bodies at depth.

The author first investigated that old mine at Fish Lake during the early 1950s, before its portal had caved in. That tunnel was driven into red shale, and judging from the size of the waste dump, it was probably less than one-hundred feet in length. The waste dump extends into the lake, so much of it has been eroded away over the years. Some who have only seen that mine during recent years claim that several old log cabins close by were built by Caleb Rhoads, but they weren't; they were erected by pioneer stockmen who constructed a small dike at the lake's outlet. A few years back a person who should best remain nameless carved the initials ~C B R~ on severla large pines near those cabins, but to anyone familiar with old tree carvings, it is obvious that htose initials have been recently cut. Just how old that mine by the lake might be is difficult to judge, but it is in an area rich with old Spanish mines. --Faded Footprints pg 52 & 53--Greg (http://www.uintahtreasure.bravehost.com)

[Herb]

Greg, excellent write up and very interesting, thanks, I'd love to see those maps.

[roughrockxxx]

yeah.. Would like to see the maps.
Funny how a lot of the names match up in a different area. Fish lake, or little fish lake blue lake and Dry fork all fit the upper dryfrok area west of marsh peak. I think rhoads and boren, wilkerson as well as others thought the same thing.
Does make it bad though as to now there are rumors or stories that might not be true. Just ideas.

[Bacpacman]

Great information. Confirms was I've believed and the stories I'd hear when I was at the sheepcamps at Thousand Peaks. My late dad used to tell me to forget about Fish Lake because of the amount of people going in to the lake. He pretty said I should look around Meadow (they took moving pictures of the old cabin that used to be there) on the west side and Abes Lake. Consequently, I've spent forty years on and off playing in and around Middle and Gardner's Fork. Again, thanks for the info. Bacpacman

[Bacpacman]

Greg,

Food for thought, you established the Fish Lake approach based on your fly-over. If indeed Trial Lake is the basis for crossing the Provo; wouldn't it be natural to go up the trail to Wall Lake through Notch Mtn. down into Meadow Lake to the Main Fork of the Weber then up the ridge and drop in to Fish Lake? I've been going up Gardner's Fork and Middle Fork since 1964 and hiked from Anchor Lake to Abes Lake (I was up at Abes during the storm that killed that couple at Crystal Lake several years ago) and from there to the divide between Abes and Meadow. The map overlay idea is interesting, because I've used the same premise; the only problem is, I would like to see what those lakes looked like before they were impounded. But nontheless, I spent a lot of summers as a kid in the Thousand Peaks/Holiday Park area in my relatives sheep camps. My stepdad was born in Qakley and we lived in Marion/Boulderville (we even knew John Singer), and rode the horses through the east hills, Hoyts Canyon and to Kamas on the 24th, but there were always the tales of Rhodes Lost Mines rather we were up Norway Flats or Thousand Peaks. But in sum, I'm going to Fish Lake this summer as well as up the Main Fork to Meadow. I also intend to go to Abes and photo the remains of the cabin that is at the base of the dam. Again, thanks for the info, Bacpacman

[June Balaich]

Herb,
The maps reffered to by Gale are not exactly the same as the ones that were handed down to the Powell family. When Abe Powell was alive he had several maps that he let me quickley scan through. There was one that he would not let me look at. It was one that had been drawn by Caleb himself to one of the richest mines down low. The others were hand copied maps from I assume the originals. The ones in the books fit exactly on a 8 1/2 X 11 piece of xerox copy paper. These maps were redrawn and are not exactly like the originals.

After Abe Powell passed away, I met with his daughter and grandson on many occassions. On one visit with Reid he told me that his grandfather (Abe Powell) had told him that he had the original map drawn by Caleb to one of the mines. Reid went on to say that Abe was a surveyor and had been hired to do a survey in the Uinta's and was the head of the crew doing the survey. Abe told them that when they got in this particular area (close to the mine) that he worked the men from daylight to dark so that they wouldn't wander around and accidently find something. After they finished in that area then they went back to normal hours.

This map was in his possession for a number of years and had it hidden in the headpost ball of a brass bed. Abe was worried about someone finding this particular map as one day he came home and his house had been torn apart by someone looking for the maps so he decided to cut it in half. It had been cut where no-one could figure the map out without the other half. Abe had a lady friend who lived, I think he said in Wyoming. He mailed his lady friend one half of the map along with instructions not let anyone have or see that portion of the map without his okay.

Abe died without ever retrieving that half of the map, and as far as I know nobody in the Powell family knew where that half of the map was. I do not know whether or not the half of the map Abe had ever surfaced or if anyone has it or has ever seen it. According to Abe, this was the map to the mine that Caleb Rhoades considered the richest and biggest deposit.

Remember this. In the 50's and 60's there was only one authentic Spanish Map that had ever surfaced. It was only about the size of a large man's hand and it was to the Kidney Lake Basin. When I seen this map, it was owned by
MARY GUYMAN SULSTER STEEL MOORE. It was all written is Spanish and very descriptive. Just prior to her death she gave the map to her son JOSEPH SULSTER. A few years later I met with Joe and asked him for a copy but he refused. He did show me the map again but he had written all over it with ink with what he thought the interpretation was. That was a shame. Anyway just so you guys know, dozens and dozens of maps have surfaced since Gale wrote his first book and most of them are phoney. Do your research well before spending a lot of time and money on hunts that have to do with fake maps that were made to facillitate the selling of books.

June

[Satorilost]

I know you said ~No~ to writing a book, but maybe an opposite approach
to the books that have been written. You could call it ~Rhode to Knowhere~
and cover the false leads, phoney maps, broken families and millions
that have been spent lookin' in the wrong places for something that in all
probability does exist, just not where we've been misslead for years now.

Robert

[Bacpacman]

Are you serious? With all due respect that plot line has been run into the ground by the Lifetime Channel, SciFi, USA and so on. It's obvious, look at the pictures of Gale Rhodes; the books that have already been published tell the story.
We're missing the focus here folks; if the &%$#*$ gold and mine and treasure are that important; then why have the Uintas? Why hasn't it been found? What happens when its found? Well, I'll tell you what will happen. Think:
1. To Pay Fee-Demo to Drive and Park and Fish and go anywhere on the Mirror Lake Road.
2. To Pay RAT to do the same on the same (because of gutless Utah sheep)
a. Summit Park
b. Jeremy Ranch
c. What's left of Park City
d. What's left of Kamas/Heber
e. Paving Wolf Creek Pass
f. Deer Creek sking for the rich and famous from New York to Californicate.
g. Closiing Roads
h. Developing Campgrounds, (Jordenell, etc. al.) with all the amenities the dimestore cowboys and the westcoast yuppies desire.
I. Restrictions on primitive camping, on hiking, on fires, on pissing, on idiots like Tom Wharton telling me I can't build a fire in the backcountry (kiss my @#%$!).
You keep worrying about maps that are fake, information that is questionable, sources that are valid--when you finally answer those questions, there won't be any place to look.

[Satorilost]

Huh.. What does the truth have to do with your list?
and I'm quite happy they paved Wolf Creek pass,
saves me hours. I don't have cable TV so I haven't
seen those channels run anything into the ground
usally those kind of shows only touch on subjects
(not in depth investigations) It interests me greatly
to know the truth. I must be missing somethin here.
What about Gale Rhodes picture? Each book tells
a different story. It's nice to talk with someone who
was there thru some of it and can sort it out a bit.
Yes, I was serious.
Robert

[June Balaich]

Bacpackman,
There are a number of reasons why the mines have not been found. Number 1 and the most important is that the Ute Indians with the help of other neighboring tribes covered and sealed the most important and rich mines starting in the 1800's. Many of the poor grade mines were not touched. These included many of the mines that are running in the red and black shales. The Indian's (Various tribes) spent many years going back to make sure the mines were undetectable. I could expound on the methods they used but will keep it short. Number 2, from the 1800's to the 1930's when the expert eyes of a trained prospector could see those differences, the mines were watched very carefully. If a diligent unsuspecting prospector found one of these mines (And some of them did) they were quickley and quietly done away with. There are many recorded instances where family members reported that there loved ones did not return from their mountain excursions. Not all finders of the gold were exterminated. Some were told never to return or they would die in their second attempt to retrieve the gold. Such was the case with one of the finds on the upper Whiterocks. Corns Larose from Whiterocks told me about his uncle who was a gaurdian in that area doing just that thing. After the 1930's most of the mines could not be detected even if you had a map taking you right to the portal.

As to the maps. Let me give you an example. Look closely at those most recent maps and you will see that they all just happen to fit on a 8 1/2 X 11 peice of xerox paper... The Spanish explorers didn't have paper in those dimensions. It was either on some type of parchment or goatskins usually very large that had been prepared to accept an inking process. That should be a red flag to anyone looking at them. In order for those maps to fit on a 8 1/2 X 11 peice of xerox paper, they would half to have been redrawn. Lets take the Reinaldo map that covers Rock Creek as an example. Look at how sharp the lines are, and how exquisite the downslope of the mountains are done, almost in perfect half diamonds. A Spanish explorer and cartographer in 1851 I do not think would have that sort of sophisticated equipment with them. The original Spanish maps that I have seen are very crude compared to those maps.

Now I am not saying they are not Spanish maps. I am saying they are not representative of the originals. I beleive them to be redrawn, and in that process we do not know whether or not something was left off or if they were changed by the person redrawing them. So CAVET EMPTOR, meaning beware.
I should post a letter from Boren to me explaining where a certain set of maps came from and Gale's involvement, but it is to long. Let it suffice that I have proof of possible forgeries concerning some maps.

I could go on and on, filling pages of this forum, but I have said enough, except I will say that I have several orignal maps that have never been published. They are originals and they are authentic. They are not on 8 1/2 X 11 xerox paper.

Last of all Backpacman, the mines are real, the Spanish was here and they found those ore bodies using their tried and proved methods which still work today. I have been priviledged to hold in my hands, nuggets the size of hens eggs that were the property of ABE POWELL. I have seen ore from a mine on the North Slope from the Bear River drainage that I personally had Black & Deason assay, that I still have and the assay is unbelievable. It was an ore of Bornite. The biggest problem we have is the Federal Government and the agenda of the Forest Service. I would suggest that we form a small but possibly powerful group to help fight the road closures taking place, etc. etc. etc. It is not to late for a last stand.

June

[Bacpacman]

Believe me June, my rant wasn't directed at you or any specific individual, but rather to a topic I'm passionate about (the Uinta's) and I hope the mines are out there. It's unfortunate that there may be unscruplous individuals who capitalize from the unwary (for example the two men the town of Stockmore is named after). I do believe there is enough information out that there that with enough effort something might be found. And as you summed, the Federal Government and Forest Service have an agenda. I consider what they have done to the Uinta's, rather fee-demo, road closures, or tearing down old cabins as incalcuable damage to the Uinta's and our heritage and the history of the peoples of this state.

[Bacpacman]

Randy, I have absolutely no maps other than the ones shown in the two books I have and the typical High Uintas map I use when I go backpacking/fishing. Bacpacman

[CaverDaveUtah]

Who is Black and Deason? Do they do commercial assaying, or is this a garage-based assaying operation? I have rocks assayed by various people from time to time, but I've never heard of them before?

caverdaveutah

[Bacpacman]

CaverDave,

I think their office is in Kamas on main street in the old John Singer TV repair building/shack, Slyvania, etc.; of course it may of been paved over to save time for Motorola, who knows; legend has it.

[mrjimsfc]

Bornite

Dodecahedral Crystals

Also known as Peacock ore. These samples are prized because of the different colors of tarnishing that occur when the samples are exposed to a moist atmosphere. They all have a metallic luster that ranges from red or purple to greenish gold and yellow gold. Bornite is fun to collect because it sometime resembles gold or copper ores.

Notice the word ~resembles~. The stuff is not really valuable at all, so to find that the assay was ~unbeleivable~ means that they (whoever brought in the sample) couldn't believe it wasn't really gold. ~If a man neglects to enforce his rights, he cannot complain if, after a while, the law follows his example."
Oliver Wendell Holmes

[CaverDaveUtah]

Bornite is indeed a neat and often colorfull copper mineral. However, I have to disagree that it is worthless. If you have a lot of bornite, it is a high-grade copper ore. Most of the copper production from Kennecott's large mine, across the valley from Salt Lake City, Utah, is from the mineral bornite. While that mine is currently in low-grade ores, you can't argue that it isn't a profitable mine from time to time.

Bornite can also carry a fair bit of gold. That in fact, is where most of Kennecott's gold comes from as well. As such, some bornite deposits could certainly be worth mining simply for their gold content.

That doesn't mean that June's sample of bornite is for real, that it comes from the Uintas, or that the assay is valid and it actually carries large amounts of gold... I'm just saying that it could be so. A massive vein of bornite (or bornite-rich material) could certainly be worth mining for either copper or copper plus gold.

caverdaveutah

[CaverDaveUtah]

As long as I'm commenting here, I really should say something about unbelievable assays. By definition, we really shouldn't believe them, without further validation.

In fact, there are several fly-by-night assayers that consistently generate bogus or anomalously high assay results. Some of these are done by accident, using sloppy or incomplete methods, whereas others are done intentionally as a scam to generate customers.

For those who do this as a scam (and they do exist) it can be quite a racket. You see, if you send them a rock and get really high assay values back, then you are likely to go collect more rocks and send them off for assays too. As long as you keep getting incredible results, you think you have hit the mother lode, and will keep sending more and more rocks for assay. If the assayer isn't actually doing any real work besides typing up phony results, then it's free money for a bogus letter.

You should always send important samples to a large and reputable lab. If you get really high assays results, even from a reputable lab, you should always send off similar samples to several other assay labs, to see if the results can be duplicated and validated. Another important thing is to send colorfull and interesting dummy samples, which you know do not contain any gold or other valuable minerals. Such rocks should be broken up and look interesting, or the scam lab may figure out its a dud. If broken rocks from your backyard come back with tens or hundreds of ounces of gold per ton, then that is a big red flag that you are being scammed.

Another red flag is being charged too much for the assays. Real high-quality assays for gold and precious metals can be had for $20 to $30 each. Only scam artists can charge much more than that, because the customers that know better would simply go to the cheaper assay labs.

I'm not interested in promoting any particular assayer, but I have typically used ALS Chemex (in Reno), and found them to be quite reliable, quick, and downright cheap.

As a quick guide, I would be suspicious of ANY assay report showing more than about 4 or 5 ounces gold per ton. It can happen, and there are certainly veins and ores that contain more gold than that. However, gold values that high are quite rare, and should certainly always be validated by additional assaying by OTHER labs, to make sure those values are real. I never put much trust a single assay, and never will if it comes from a small lab in someones garage.

Hope this helps.


caverdaveutah

[Blke36bimmer]

June..
You should have my email shortly, I have a few ideas and contacts about the road closure ideas. A few other groups that are interested in helping out too. Thanks for the info here... the biggest skeptics are those who havent seen these things... For what its worth, those of you who havent met June are missing out. He has a wealth of knowledge that he freely shares, Boren, Shaffer, and most of the other ~Authorities on the State~ have learned what they know from him.. Dont believe it, well look at the pic credits in Footprints. June has been places that most of us will never see, things that make you go... ~HOLY CRAP!!!". Hes honest and upfront about what he knows too, take it for what its worth...
Corey T. Shuman
www.goldrushexpeditions.com
cshuman@goldrushexpeditions.com
Proud Sponsor of:
Utah Ghost Town and Mine Preservation Group

[Bacpacman]

June,

Question for you. Is Abe's Lake named after Abe Powell? And, are you familiar with the cabin at Abe's Lake and the Atkinson/Allred family of Kamas Valley?

A sidebar for you, in 2001 when I was doing some writing projects for the Winter Olympics, I gathered some information together and presented it to the producer of KTALK 630 (or whatever it is or was). He put together an on-air interview between Jane Cottrell, Forest Service, Kamas Ranger District, and Denise Boggs of the Utah Environmental Congress with whom I had some discussions with about the Uintas. The issue was ~Fee-demo~ and its impact specifically on the Mirror Lake Road.
In the 90's with the inception of Fee-demo as a result of James Watt gutting the Forest Service, as well as the Clinton administration, the backlog in upkeep and maintenance of areas in the nation's forests and specifically the Mirror Lake reached a critical point. At that particular time Ken Strahley was the Kamas District Ranger. In an article in the Salt Lake Tribune, he stated the monies would go to making repairs to facilities in the area. They sure did! I can take anyone up that road and starting at the Fee-Demo toll booth show you every improvement that some politico justifies as maintenance. That includes: signs-from-hell-to-breakfast for people to lazy to buy a map. Of course, the Forest Service will provide you with a map that will tell you where the ATV's and 4x4's can and can not go, a ~nature trail~ from the toll-booth up to the Soapstone turnoff, graded the the Upper Setting (trenched across the road that goes up to West and East Shingle Creek Lake), Spring Canyon, Murdock Basin, closed roads up Norway Flats (the one leads to the Yurt tent, and I'm really surprised they haven't graded the Norway Flats road). A nice new ~paved~ parking area at the Ruth Lake Trailhead. A lot of primitive camping closed off in Spring Canyon by Trail Lake (even though this I can understand), but closed the road that went up to Shadow Lake and built a nice new ~group camping area~ named after presidents to accomodate the fecund of this state, and new camping/parking area over by the Crystal Lake Trailhead and Washington Lake. I'm sure I missed a few other areas, but the point is, at the time there was very little substantive media coverage. I emailed Tom Wharton (he supports Fee-Demo/RAT), several of my friends had articles published in the Trib opposing it, Tom Barberi at one time railed against the issue, I emailed Scott Silver of Wild Wilderness.org who has had some success in Washington and Oregon, but as he said in an email that Utah was the hardest state to rally against the encroachment of development into wilderness areas due to the ~Republican dominance." In sum, the response was nil. If you've seen the development in Brown's Canyon and from the Peoa Turnoff to Kamas by Jordanelle, we might as well subdivide the Uintas, pave all the roads, call it ~Uinta Park~ where legend has it there were gold mines and untold riches in stories mounted on plaques (re Trail Lake and the Clegg and Dean cabins) in places from North Fork east to the Whiterocks. Well anyway, if this picques your interest, thanks; I am keeping some of your information. bacpacman.

[June Balaich]

BPM, No ABE'S LAKE was not named after Abe Powell. He did not frequent that area. If I had to make a wild quess, I would say that the lake was named after an Indian named Abe (pronounced differently Ab) Harris. He was the son of Henry Harris and was taken to many different locations by his father.

[roughrockxxx]

Right name, wrong side of the basin

[June Balaich]

Roughrock,
Are you saying this rock etching is by ABE'S LAKE ? If it is I think I will go down and visit with Ried and get the details.
June

[roughrockxxx]

No
sorry about the confusion. This was at the bottom of gate canyon, nine mile.

[Bacpacman]

Abes lake was named after Abraham Marchant of Peoa, Utah who headed the group which converted it into a resevoir. For those who are familiar with the Marchants, they had a store on the main/only road through Peoa, the Mercantile, which has not survived the onslaught of time and progress. I also had the the privilege to meet one of the Marchants when I was coming out of Abes in the late 70's. His family had water shares of Abes as well as Anchor. The lakes in this area were impounded for use in the Kamas Valley. The remains of the cabin at Abes were for those building the dam. The same at Meadow Lake, the same at Fish Lake. Go to Fish Tech and talk to the Gundersons who have lived up there for over my 56 years. We all chuckle about the ~Lost Rhoades Mine." There is no doubt about the mining efforts at places like Gold Hill ad naseum. But the area was livestock, logging, and farming. Spanish symbols, maps, so what, any fool who believes in camp fire stories will chase the wind. My dad and other relatives went up there looking for the ~gold~; they found mines etc. al. I'm talking about as far back as 1910. Guess what folks, nada-lots of good stories. If anything should be the focus, it should be the preservation of this and all area's in the Uinta's before as I may quote some dimestore cowboy ~I'm glad they paved the Wolfcreek Road, it saves me so many hours~ gee I hope the Beemer doesn't get dusty.