American Fork Canyon research project

cruiseroutfit

Cruizah!
Moderator
Vendor
Location
Sandy, Ut
As some of you know I am slowly working on a history rich trail guide on the North Fork of American Fork Canyon. I'm primarily interested on anything in the North Fork area (Tibble Fork, Silver Lake, Forest Lake, Mineral Basin, etc) particularly 1970's and older and really in the 1880-1950 range. Mining, recreation, ranching, timber history, all is valuable to my project.

Total long shot here but I'm asking that any of you that possibly grew up in that area (Utah County and beyond) or might have known someone that did, to check with your older neighbors, parents, grandparents, etc. There is a good amount of history still out there to be collected and if this project has taught me anything, it is that I thought I had the 'big picture' and was ready to put pen o paper, then I met one after another valuable source of information.

Many of these connections were purely coincidental such as through customers or even someone I met at a metal detector shop :D. My point being, I think there are some folks still living that had first hand knowledge of the canyon in the 40's, 50's and 60's, and better yet hear the stories of those who were in the canyon in at the turn of the last century and through the World War. I've got a substantial amount of research collected and I think I have enough to really warrant getting underway with my planned release. That said I felt I was there 5 years ago and my research collection is likely 5x's where it was then, admittedly my scope has increase from a trail guide with some history to a history book with a trail guide. I figured I owed it to the project to do one last major sweep and tie up some loose ends I have.

Please let me know if you think you have a connection I should investigate, interviews I should conduct, etc. Thanks!
 

B2-Bomber

Guest
Location
SL, UT
i've always wanted to go to the beach and parks and bury metal objects that say "get a life" ;)

i'd buy this book when its done for sure
 

gijohn40

too poor to wheel... :(
Location
Layton, Utah
I work with a guy that was married to a lady whos family owns alot of the land up there... I think I heard you mention something about a gate that was installed due to stupid people falling off the road.... that is their property from what I have figured out... My friend scott know some facts about that area due to his exploring for the past 30 yrs...
 

cruiseroutfit

Cruizah!
Moderator
Vendor
Location
Sandy, Ut
I work with a guy that was married to a lady whos family owns alot of the land up there... I think I heard you mention something about a gate that was installedf due to stupid people falling off the road.... that is their property from what I have figured out... My friend scott know some facts about that area due to his exploring for the past 30 yrs...

I would love both connections if you could get me some contact info.
 

TJDukit

I.Y.A.A.Y.A.S.
Location
Clearfield
If you still haven't gotten what you feel you need by the spring I'll try to get with my rancher friend out in Morgan, his family used to own a huge part of the Wasatch front and from the stories he has told me I'm sure he has a few for American Fork
 

cruiseroutfit

Cruizah!
Moderator
Vendor
Location
Sandy, Ut
If you still haven't gotten what you feel you need by the spring I'll try to get with my rancher friend out in Morgan, his family used to own a huge part of the Wasatch front and from the stories he has told me I'm sure he has a few for American Fork

If you could check with him at some point I would appreciate it, thanks.
 

cruiseroutfit

Cruizah!
Moderator
Vendor
Location
Sandy, Ut
Bump, I'm closing in on my AFC project and I know there are some folks out there I should be chatting with. There is one gentleman in particular I absolutely need to chat with, his name is Dan Proctor and he has been involved in a variety of mining projects throughout Utah over the last 40 or so years. Does anyone know him personally and would be willing to introduce us? Somebody had offered in the past and I can't remember who it was and we never were able to connect the dots, trying to make it happen this winter. Thanks!
 

cruiseroutfit

Cruizah!
Moderator
Vendor
Location
Sandy, Ut
I had a dream about your book just last week, and was going to ask how it was coming along..

Slowly but surely, I've never given up on it... just been on the back burner the last few years as I was heavily involved in the Expeditions7 adventure which had me out of the country over 6 months the last few years. With that mission complete I've had a renewed enthusiasm on my AFC project.
 

cruiseroutfit

Cruizah!
Moderator
Vendor
Location
Sandy, Ut
Checking off boxes. For far too long I have been working on an American Fork Canyon history project highlighting the mines, trails, early settlers, etc. But there is light at the end of the tunnel as with each trip up I check off a few more boxes of places to visit and things to photograph.

image.jpg
 

cruiseroutfit

Cruizah!
Moderator
Vendor
Location
Sandy, Ut
I've been waiting for this thing since like 2006 when I first heard about it! haha.

It's a double edged sword. I don't have the time to do it because I've been busy with other projects, but I've been busy with other projects because they are pretty damn cool :D

In the meantime the research and files grow, I have thousands of photos, lots of scanned and original documents, a fair bit of audio recordings, etc. One day I'll make it rain.
 
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