Mercur City
Mercur didn't start out as Mercur, it started out as Lewiston in 1870, named for Lewiston canyon where rich gold deposits were found. The town grew in three years to a booming population of 2000 residents, though soon after in 1874 the ore began to deplete sending the town of Lewiston into a ghost town by 1880. Mercur wasn't done yet, one prospector named Arie Pinedo found a Cinnabar vein rich in gold in 1879, but the processes of the time were unable to extract it. All through the 1880's similar finds were made, but it wasn't till 1890 when the cyanide process made the gold accessable.
The town once again began to boom this time as Mercur due to the name Lewiston being taken already. Mercur wasn't out of trouble yet with a fire in the part of 1896 taking most of the town. The town was rebuilt to gain a population of almost 5,000 people, and almost becoming the Tooele County seat. The town was becoming a great success until 1902 when the town burnt down a second time almost completely when a fire began in the business district. The town rebuilt a third time to keep booming up to 1913, becoming a ghost town again in 1925. Horse Thief canyon gave Mercur one last breath from 1934 to 1951 when another gold Vien was discovered. After 1951 much of the activity ceased until 1983 when the Barrick Mercur Gold Mine Foundation strip mined the area, erasing all but the cemetery that is located at the mouth of the canyon. There still continues to be some miner mining activity at the original town site with the occasional dump truck entering the mine site,
though now off limits to the every day person.
The cemetery itself is among the most active areas of Mercur now for ghost hunters and recreational ATV, Horseback riders, and hikers. Though the cemetery is beginning to take a hard fall due to vandalism from locals in the are that have no respect for the cemeteries history, if we don't step in and keep this place together, it will just be dust in the wind, a lonely patch of dirt and wood in the cedar like so many of the other ghost towns in the area. PLEASE, if you are so inclined to visit the cemetery, do so with respect, take your trash with you, don't destroy what is there and take the time to say thanks to the local ghosts, and they just may say hello.
The town once again began to boom this time as Mercur due to the name Lewiston being taken already. Mercur wasn't out of trouble yet with a fire in the part of 1896 taking most of the town. The town was rebuilt to gain a population of almost 5,000 people, and almost becoming the Tooele County seat. The town was becoming a great success until 1902 when the town burnt down a second time almost completely when a fire began in the business district. The town rebuilt a third time to keep booming up to 1913, becoming a ghost town again in 1925. Horse Thief canyon gave Mercur one last breath from 1934 to 1951 when another gold Vien was discovered. After 1951 much of the activity ceased until 1983 when the Barrick Mercur Gold Mine Foundation strip mined the area, erasing all but the cemetery that is located at the mouth of the canyon. There still continues to be some miner mining activity at the original town site with the occasional dump truck entering the mine site,
though now off limits to the every day person. The cemetery itself is among the most active areas of Mercur now for ghost hunters and recreational ATV, Horseback riders, and hikers. Though the cemetery is beginning to take a hard fall due to vandalism from locals in the are that have no respect for the cemeteries history, if we don't step in and keep this place together, it will just be dust in the wind, a lonely patch of dirt and wood in the cedar like so many of the other ghost towns in the area. PLEASE, if you are so inclined to visit the cemetery, do so with respect, take your trash with you, don't destroy what is there and take the time to say thanks to the local ghosts, and they just may say hello.
