Miners at Summerville District near Woodside Utah.

SALT LAKERS SECURING 

FOOTHOLD IN EMERY

__________ 

  In the old Summerville mining district, south of Woodside more lode claims are being located than ever before, and the Kaiser and Hecker mining companies are preparing for a season of great activity.  Castle Dale's Progress says Harvey Hardy, S. M. Stenhouse, C. B. Jack and other Salt Lake parties, who have been doing more or less development work in that locality for several years, have lately been adding to their mining possessions by securing extensions of already partially developed lodes and taking in additional territory. 

  Louis Pressit of Woodside and associates have also been quite active in the locating business, and have added some choice looking mineral lands to their holdings.  J. B. Millburn, a Price man, and others have located mineral lands seven miles east of Hatchet Rock, and Attorney Allen Sanford of Salt Lake has interested himself in several claims in the old Summerville district. 

  Wyatt Bryan has made some locations west of Sinbad, and J. H. Barton, Charles A. Perry and Fred N. Miller, Miss Millie Cook, all of Ferron and Mrs. C. B. Snyder of Provo have placed their names to locations on ground twenty-five miles southeast of Ferron, in the vicinity of the Copper Globe property. 

__________

Eastern Utah Advocate 

February 11, 1904

Salt Lake Mining Review
February 15, 1904

Prospecting.

In some earlier posts I have talked a little bit about prospecting. I gave some information about some of my grandfather's claims and recently a few posts about my dad's claims. I have decided to add this prospecting slant to the theme of this blog and put more emphasis on it. It won't be just about gold, though I will be talking about that. It will also be about gemstones. If you check out some of the links you will see that I have already made a step in that direction. I have also had a few posts about gemstones and will likely do much more in this area. I will also mention from time to time some current events in our country, America, that affect prospecting, mining our resources and individual prospectors. I will likely move away from the nutrition theme of this blog. I am doing this rather than start a new blog because this one is already establishes and does have some foundation for the theme of prospecting.

Joseph Augustus Curtis, Jr. (Dode)

Joseph Augustus Curtis, Jr. was eventually known as Dode.  Dode was never baptised into the LDS Church despite his rich pioneer heritage not only for pioneers in Utah but also pioneers in the LDS Church.  Dode was born in Castle Dale.  From what I can tell he never really went far from  the area of the Price River drainage and spent his life in Carbon and Emery Counties near Woodside, Summerville, Humbug and Grassy.  I could also throw Cedar Mountain into that mix.

Dode is often associated with two men.  His father Joe and his brother Guy.  Dode had many mining claims with different family members.  That will be explored in more detail in later posts.  Dode once bought a horse with his father Joe and the Whitmores.  That too will be explored more in future posts.  Where as my grandfather Nicholas was a city dweller, Dode spent a lot of time on the desert.  A lot of this time was spent in a tent.  A lot of that time was also spent alone as far as I know.

There are a few landmarks which bear the name of Joe or Curtis which I believe are attributed to Dode's father who was one of the first settlers of Woodside.  Joe's Holes near Cedar Mountain is one of those.  There is also a Joe Spring near Park Wash which I believe is a strong candidate for being associated with Joe Curtis, Sr.  Dode had mining claims in Park Wash.  There is also a story of Dode having a wolf attack a young colt in the Park.  The colt later died from it's injuries.  The Park is in the Bookcliffs just above Horse Canyon and at the head of Park Wash.

Joe, Dode and Max had much in common.  I know Joe and Max herded sheep and I suspect Dode did as well.  Dode and Max had mining claims and it is also reported that Joe was known to prospect when he had time.  Joe and Max were farmers and Dode even attempted a homestead on Cedar Mountain with Guy.  I believe they were the first to attempt farming on Cedar Mountain.

I would also like to mention another landmark which I believe was named for Joe Curtis.  In the San Rafael Group of formations there is one called the Curtis Formation.  It borders the Summerville Formation which was named for another early settler of Woodside named Summerville.  I believe that the Curtis Formation was named for Joe simply because he was one of the first settlers of Woodside.   The Curtis Formation reaches as far as Flaming Gorge, Moab, near Hanksville and surrounds the San Rafael Swell.  The Entrada Formation, Summerville Formation and Curtis Formation were all named at the same time.  At the same time the formations were named there was also places named.  Entrada Point, Summerville Point and Curtis Point were named where these formations were prominent. 

In my next post I will summarize my comparison of my two grandfathers.