“Exploring a real ghost town from the Wild West!”

Silver Reef is a historic ghost town located in Washington County, southwestern Utah, near the town of Leeds. It has a unique and colorful history, especially because it was one of the few places in the United States where silver was discovered in sandstone, an unusual geological occurrence.

Origins and Discovery
Discovery (1866–1875):
Prospectors discovered silver in the sandstone cliffs of what would become Silver Reef in the early 1870s. A man named John Kemple is often credited with the discovery around 1866, though mining didn’t begin in earnest until later in the 1870s.
Boom Period (1876–1888):
The discovery of silver triggered a mining boom. By 1878, Silver Reef was thriving, with a population estimated between 1,500 and 2,000 people. The town boasted:
Multiple mines
Hotels
Saloons
A newspaper
Churches
A Chinatown section
It had all the characteristics of a booming Western mining town.
Silver Mining
The main silver deposits were mined from the White Reef, a sandstone formation. The geology puzzled geologists at the time because silver is not usually found in sandstone.
Mines such as the Barbee & Walker, Harrison, and Stormont were highly productive.
Silver Reef’s mines produced over $8 million worth of silver (equivalent to hundreds of millions today) during their peak years.
Decline
By the mid-1880s, the silver veins began to run dry.
A combination of falling silver prices and legal disputes among mine owners contributed to the decline.
By the 1890s, Silver Reef was largely abandoned, though a few attempts were made to revive mining over the years, including during World War I and II.
Check our this video for more on Silver Reef history
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