Boren-Bethers Mine

In 1896 Bill Bethers discovered a strange stone not far from the mouth of the canyon. That rock was inscribed with rows of peculiar "hieroglyphic" characters. Records reveal that Bethers took a man "accustomed to deciphering such signs" to interpret that puzzling inscription. Figures on that stone showed a man with his hands thrown up, as if he had suddenly been startled, a burro or similar pack animal and a crescent moon. Those signs were interpreted to be a guide for miners returning to the mountains after a long absence. Some time later a very similar "hieroglyphic" stone was found on the point of a ridge near the month of Provo Canyon; its message directing Spanish miners to the stone discovered by Bethers. When the present highway was built through Provo Canyon, that stone was removed by archaeologists from Brigham Young University and was taken to that campus where it still remains.



With Henry Boren as a partner, Bethers began searching Daniels Canyon for some sign of a mine, and atop a high ridge nor far from the mouth of the1 canyon he found three tunnels close together, driven into the mountain side at different angles. That discovery caused such great excitement at Heber Valley that on February 12, 1897, the editor of the Wasatch Wave published an account of the find:



All early settlers of this valley have heard that some years before the first pioneers arrived here, there existed valuable mines in the surrounding mountains which were worked by Mexicans. Those miners would return to their homes each fall, taking a long pack train of burros heavily laden with golden riches, which they had dug from mines which all of the first settlers said were located above this valley. One old Mexican said the mines were located about thirty miles from a large lake, and told how miners there had been driven away by Indians. Many miners were killed, only a few escaping to tell the tale of treasure left hidden in those mines. Now comes the claim that those mines have been found by Messers Bethers and Boren.



That report also included an account written by the reporter who accompanied Bethers and Boren to personally determine the authenticity of their find. His inspection was reported as follows:



The writer took a long and tedious march up a ridge at what seemed to be an angle of forty-five degrees. After about an hour and a half we came to where a tunnel had been driven into solid rock. It followed a vein of ore from the surface, which vein is reported to return very good assays in gold. Cleaning out the debris in the old workings has left a hole through solid rock some three feet wide and five feel high, as far as the tunnel has been explored. Northwest from that prospect is another tunnel which has only recently been discovered, and there is still another about seventy-five yards to the southeast. All of the tunnels have been completely filled in with loose dirt and rock. The work of cleaning them out has exposed chisel marks in the rock which plainly reveals that the implements of man were used by the original miners.



Remember, those were old mines discovered by the earliest settlers. They were not, as some now claim, dug by those pioneers. The mark of wrought iron or brass tools found in the tunnels, as well as the fact that they had purposely been concealed with rock and debris to cover their portals, identify them as being of Spanish origin; while the "hieroglyphic" rocks confirm that fact. The Wasatch Wave reporter' also saw and described the inscription stone which first led Bethers to the mines.



A large granite rock which stands perpendicular to the ground about a half-mile down slope from the mine is covered with peculiar looking hieroglyphics. It is of a wedge shape, about a foot thick on one side and tapering to about two inches on the other. It stands about five feet high and is about four feet wide. There are a number of characters cut into I he rock, which though perfectly visible, 1 was unable to decipher. Whether Bethers and Boren have found the lost mine described on that rock is a matter which will yet unravel, but that they have found tunnels made by human hands is an absolute certainty. We hope they will open up a bonanza!



Bethers and Boren opened one of the tunnels for seventy-five feet before they came to a place too badly caved and dangerous to proceed further. Starting anew, they open an adjoining tunnel for twenty-five feet before winter snow drove them from the mountains. Both men intended to return in the spring, but Bethers moved from the Heber Valley while Boren was called on a church mission to settle new townsites in another part of the territory. Apparently no one else in those olden days had the time or interest to continue digging at those old mines, so once more they were abandoned. Over the years since then, several parties have staked their claim to the tunnels, but none have reopened those caved workings beyond where Bethers and Boren quit work. Few people today know the exact location of all three tunnels, and apparently none of them are interested in digging for Spanish gold.--Faded Footprints, pg. 28

It was at this time that Daniels accidentally discovered several old Spanish mines near the head of Center Creek while out rounding up his cattle to protect them from marauding wolves. He first noticed the mines by Spanish symbols carved on ledges nearby, but having a cabin and barn to build at his new homestead before winter, he had no time to explore them immediately.



In 1859, Aaron Daniels revealed his discovery of the Spanish mines to William Jasper Boren and Asa C. Bethers, and the three men attempted, in their spare time, to excavate the rubble from the entrances which had been placed there by the Indians. When Aaron Daniels moved from Heber Valley to Wanship in Summit County in I860, the mining project was more or less abandoned.



In 1896, some 38 years after Aaron Daniels' initial discovery of the old Spanish mines, Henry Kingsley Boren joined with William Bethers, son of Asa C. Bethers, in a joint effort to re-open the old mines on Center Creek. Rumors soon spread about their discoveries, and the Wasatch Wave, Heber City's only newspaper, sent an investigator to get the story. The findings were reported on 12 February 1897, as follows:



After finding Messrs, Bethers and Boren at their homes on Daniels Creek, the writer took up a long and tedious march under their guidance to the spot in question. Just one hour and twenty minutes were taken up in the ascent from Boren's ranch up the dividing ridge between



Daniels and Center Creeks, at an angle of what seemed forty-five degrees, to the newly discovered mine and about two miles distance and almost on top of the Wasatch range. Here we found a tunnel which had been driven about twenty-five feet into the solid rock following a vein of ore from the surface, which is reported to return very good assays in gold. This tunnel is the result of labor at odd times during the past year of the two men. Northwest of this prospect is another which has only recently been known to exist there, although it has every appearance of being there for many years past. How far this tunnel enters through the solid rock into the side of the lofty mountain remains yet to be found out, as the work of cleaning out the dirt and rock that now fills it up has only been completed far enough to enable the prospectors to determine its course and dimensions.



A short time ago there was still another mouth of a tunnel accidentally stumbled onto, lying southeast about 75 yards of the other two, and on a direct line. This also was filled up with loose dirt and rock but very easy digging. The work of cleaning this tunnel out is being given the most attention at present, about twenty feet of which had been accomplished when the reporter was a visitor there, leaving a hole through solid rock from three to four feet wide and from five to six feet high, so far as exposed. As stated above, the work of cleaning out the tunnel is done mostly with shovels, laying bare the top and sides of solid stone, which plainly demonstrates that the implements of man have been used in the first excavation.



The foregoing are some of the reasons advanced for thinking that these tunnels might at one time have been the source from which the Mexicans in former days replenished their larders. Another circumstance which is also used in this connection, is a large granite rock which stands perpendicular in the ground about half a mile distant down the ridge from the prospect. It is covered with peculiar looking hieroglyphics cut into it with apparently an instrument after the style of an ordinary punch. The rock is a wedge shape being about a foot thick on one side and tapers down to about two inches thickness on the other; it stands about five feet high and is about four feet wide. The characters upon it can only be translated by those accustomed to such signs. One of the figures is of a man with hands thrown up as though suddenly surprised; another is what we would call that of a burro or pack mule; another of half moon, and there are a number of others, while perfectly visible, we were not able to decipher their meaning.



Messrs. Bethers and Boren, the owners of the find, argue that these hieroglyphics have been put on this rock as a guide for the persons who formerly worked the mines to go by in returning to them after several months (or years) absence, as would of necessity been the case if the Mexican theory is true. A careful watch is constantly kept by the men engaged in cleaning out the tunnel for bones of the murdered Mexicans who were thrown therein, but none have been discovered as yet. Whether or not the gentlemen have found any lost mine is a matter that will unravel, but they have found prospect holes of some description, made by human hands, is a positive certainty, and we hope that development will open up to them a bonanza, whether Spaniards first discovered it or not.



Until recent years, little was known about the outcome of the Boren and Bethers excavations. I went to the site myself in 1972, having first located the site of Henry Boren's old ranch on Daniels Creek, not far from Aaron Daniels' original homestead. About a mile-and-a-half south of the old Boren ranch, an old trail leads up Center Creek Canyon, marked by trees with Spanish symbols carved into the trunks. A trek of nearly two hours up to the crest of the ridge brought me to the old stone with "hieroglyphics" on it; someone had toppled it onto its face, hiding the symbols. With considerable effort I managed to turn it over, clean its surface, and take several photos. It was later removed by someone and is said to be in the possession of a valley resident.



Several old tunnels exists at the crest of the dividing ridge between Daniels and Center Creek, but the main tunnel which was the focus of Borens' and Bethers' efforts is located about half a mile directly above the hieroglyphic rock. When I visited the site in 1972, the tunnel had been cleaned out to a depth of nearly 150 feet, but at that point was clogged with rock and debris. The tunnel is barely wide and high enough to stand in, at places being so narrow that it becomes necessary to turn sideways, and is not high enough for a tall man-such as myself-to stand without stooping slightly. This is, of course, typical of old Spanish mines, for the Spaniards were a head shorter than his American counterpart.



Henry Kingsley Boren was called on a mission to southern Utah in 1898, and the excavation was abandoned. In more recent years a letter emerged, written by Henry Boren to his brother (my grandfather), William Coleman Boren, part of which sheds some light on the story of the mines.



Cannonville, Garfield County



William Boren



Cleveland, Emery County, Utah



June 12, 1899



Dear Brother,



I have finally settled in with time enough to write since arriving from Silver Reef three days ago. The old place here is much as you left it, and everyone at Cannonville remembers you fondly...



I left Heber is such haste last fall that I neglected to tell you about all the doings with my prospects... Bethers had about given up on the mining business to go into merchandising, and I found myself the sole proprietor of the hole which had taken so much of my time and work since we discovered it about five years ago (1894). Bill and me had cleaned out more than 100 feet of tunnel when he gave out on me and left for Wanship. I worked another year by myself, and cleaned out another 50 feet or 75 feet when I was called by the Bishop to take my mission, but before I left, I struck something which made me convinced that I was on the right track. Just where I left off cleaning out the rocks, at about 130 feet or so, I uncovered a niche in the sidewall of the tunnel, which I first thought must be a secondary tunnel, but when I uncovered the opening of it, it was instead a kind of room or little chamber. On the floor and against the back wall was pieces of old Spanish armor, all perfectly preserved, and two old Spanish swords, and beneath the rubble I found three human skulls and some bones... I only took out one sword, which I left at Mina's place, and will get when I go back next summer and show you. It is in mint condition, with a beautifully carved hilt in the shape of an eagle and the initials S.V.R. scratched on the guard. I covered everything back up just as I found it, hoping nobody finds it until I can get back up there...



It seems certain now that the Spaniards once mined the tunnel, and they must of been killed by the Indians who filled up the tunnel after burying them up inside. They (i.e. the Indians) wouldn't of gone to so much work unless the mine was valuable and they didn't want anybody to find it. Bill and me had samples assayed from the side veins and it showed both gold and silver in high content, and farther in must be the main vein or lode. But how much deeper the tunnel goes I don't know, because it showed no signs of ending where I last stopped...



I have copied the hieroglyphics from the stone and showed them to a Mexican geologist working at Silver Reef. He says they are old Spanish treasure signs, just as I always said they was, but he can't read them. Do you remember the old Summit Park and Center Creek trees with the signs on them which we found when we was boys? Well, these signs are just like those. I can't help but think there must be dozens of old Spanish mines in that area. Maybe you remember, too, the stories that our step-dad (Robert Broadhead) used to tell about the Mexican miners who came down out of the mountains through Heber to Provo by way of the canyon (Provo Canyon) before Heber was settled by the Mormons. I think it was from these mines that they took all their gold in those days...



When you stand on the ridge where the mine is and look off towards Park City, you can see where the same vein might of once run across the valley (Heber Valley) and cropped up where the Silver King and Ontario (mines) struck it rich. If I can finish cleaning out the tunnel, maybe one day I'll be as rich as old Tom Kearns...



Your loving brother, Henry Boren



Henry Kingsley Boren never returned to clean out his tunnel. He either died or left the state sometime before 1900, for nothing further is known about him. In my own exploration of the tunnel I could not find the "niche" or side-room, but there were numerous places where such a room might have been covered with rubble (Henry Boren's letter states that he covered it up again "just as I found it"). Moreover, Henry does not make it exactly clear which of the several tunnels he is talking about, for there are at least five on the ridge itself. We may only assume that it was the tunnel on which he spent so much time and effort. Since Henry Boren's time, no one has made a concerted effort to clear any of the old tunnels. Some of them have partially collapsed; all of them are now dangerous to enter.---Gold of Carre-Shinob, pp. 131-134

NO COORDINATES

STATUS:

NOT FOUND

Boren-Bethers Mine

Aaron Daniels had first entered the Heber Valley, accompanied by George Bean, William Meeks, William M. Wall and several others, in the spring of 1858. They had brought their cattle up the mountain from Utah Valley to the fertile pastures of the Heber Valley to graze for the duration of the summer. Daniels liked the valley so well he took up a homestead about one mile north of the mouth of Daniels Creek where it flows into the Provo River. In the fall of that year, when his companions returned home with their cattle to the Provo Valley, Daniels remained behind at his new ranch to trap and to explore the new valley during the winter.



It was during this time (early spring of 1858) that Daniels accidentally discovered a series of old Spanish mines near the head of Center Creek while herding his cattle. He probed around in the mouth of the filled in tunnel. He located several near by Spanish symbols which had been carved into a rock, but at that early date did little to excavate or develop the old mines. He had been occupied in the construction of a cabin and barn at his new homestead and had little time to waste on old mines.



During the following summer of 1859, William M. Wall, William Jasper Boren (the uncle of my grandfather, James Walter Boren), Moses Mecham, Ed Stokes and Dixon Greer came into the valley and settled the towns of Heber and Charleston. Asa C. Bethers settled at the head of Daniels Canyon on the Daniels - Strawberry Summit about 18 miles southeast of Heber, where he operated a food and supply store which also served as a sort of way-station.



In (1859), Aaron Daniels revealed his discovery of the old mines to William Jasper Boren and Asa C. Bethers, and from time to time these three men attempted, on a small scale basis, to excavate the rubble from the old workings which had been placed there by the Indians. When Aaron Daniels moved from the Heber Valley to Wanship in Summit County in 1860, the project was soon abandoned.



Aaron Daniels never returned to his ranch in the Heber Valley. He remained at Wanship for nearly 20 years and then moved to Ashley (Vernal) in 1879. However, he had so impressed the early settlers of Heber Valley that in his honor they named Daniels Creek, Daniels Canyon and Daniels Pass after him.



In 1896, some 38 years after Aaron Daniel's initial discovery of the old Spanish mines, the brother of William J. Boren and the son of Asa C. Bethers - Henry Kingston Boren and William Bethers - teamed together in a joint effort to re-open the old mines on Center Creek. Stories and rumors of their endeavor were quickly widespread, and to separate the rumor from the fact a representative of Heber City's only newspaper (The Wasatch Wave) was sent out to investigate. His findings were reported on February 12, 1897; which were:



"After finding Messrs. Bethers and Boren at their homes on Daniels Creek, the writer took up a long and tedious march under their guidance to the spot in question. Just one hour and twenty minutes were taken up in the ascent from Boren's ranch up the dividing ridge between Daniels and Center Creeks, at an angle of what seemed forty-five degrees, to the newly discovered mine and about two miles distance and almost on top of the Wasatch range. Here we found a tunnel which had been driven about twenty--five feet into the solid rock following a vein of ore from the surface, which is reported to return very good assays in gold. This tunnel is the result of labor at odd times during the past year of the two men. Northwest of this prospect is another which has only recently been known to exist there, although it has every appearance of being there for many years past. How far this tunnel enters through the solid rock into the side of the lofty mountain remains yet to be found out, as the work of cleaning out the dirt and rock that now fills it up has only been completed far enough to enable the prospectors to determine its course and dimensions.



"A short time ago there was still another mouth of a tunnel accidentally stumbled onto, lying southeast about 75 yards of the other two, and on a direct line. This also was filled up with loose dirt and rock but very easy digging. The work of cleaning this tunnel out is being given the most attention at present, about twenty feet of which had been accomplished when the reporter was a visitor there, leaving a hole through solid rock from three to four feet wide and from five to six feet high, so far as exposed. As stated above, the work of cleaning out the tunnel is done mostly with shovels, laying bare the top and sides of solid stone, which plainly demonstrates that the implements of man have been used in the first excavation.



"The foregoing are some of the reasons advanced for thinking that these tunnels might at one time have been the source from which the Mexicans in former days replenished their larders. Another circumstance which is also used in this connection, is a large granite rock which stands perpendicular in the ground about half a mile distant down the ridge from the prospect. It is covered with peculiar looking hieroglyphics cut into it with apparently an instrument after the style of an ordinary punch. The rock is of a wedge shape being about a foot thick on one side and tapers down to about two inches thickness on the other; it stands about five feet high and is about four feet wide. The characters upon it can only be translated by those accustomed to such signs. One of the figures is of a man with hands thrown up as though suddenly surprised (meaning, 'higher up); another is what we would call that of a burro or pack mule (ore, cargoes); another a half moon (silver), and there are a number of others, while perfectly visible, we were not able to decipher their meaning.



"Messrs. Bethers and Boren, the owners of the find, argue that these hieroglyphics have been put on this rock as a guide for the persons who formally worked the mines to go by in returning to them after several months (or years) absence, as would of necessity been the case if the Mexican theory is true. A careful watch is constantly kept by the men engaged in cleaning out the tunnel for bones of the murdered Mexicans who were thrown therein, but none have been discovered as yet. Whether or not the gentlemen have found any lost mine is a matter that will unravel, but they have found prospect holes of some description, made by human hands, is a positive certainty, and we hope that development will open up to them a bonanza, whether Spaniards first discovered it or not. "



Now there is no further record available to reveal what Henry Boren and William Bethers may have fund in those old mines, or whether or not the excavations were ever completed. I've not yet been to the site to determined for myself the outcome of the old mines. But most likely the mines were never completely cleaned out before they were abandoned or there would have been news of a rich strike. If the mines had been worthless the Indians would not have troubled themselves in filling the tunnels with debris to conceal them.--Lost Gold of the Uintah, chapter 10