Story and Photos by Alice Sikorski
A scenic view of the Big Cottonwood Canyon looking west from Guardsman Pass. Snow can come in early September and last until May. This weather can make for a short rockhounding season.
Gold Coin, Baker, Newport, Maxfield, Adelaide, Dolly Varden, Newport, and Sunnyside. What do these names suggest? Why, they are the mines and prospects in the Big Cottonwood Canyon Mining District in Salt Lake County, Utah, of course. More specifically, the mines and prospects that are in the Argenta area within the canyon. Argenta is Spanish for silver. Both a mine and prospect indicate an area that has mineral deposits, but a mine has ore being taken out of the ground and a prospect has the possibility of ore extraction. During the 1850s, the Big Cottonwood Canyon was used for the lumber resources. As trees were harvested and processed, the small off shoot gulches or forks were labeled “Mill A Fork’,”