On September 27, 2015, I received an email from Kurt Williams. He inquired about a photograph of a cabin I had taken years ago in American Fork Canyon. I moved to Florida in December 2008 so it has been years since I have been up the canyons in Utah.

Kurt and his 4x4 friends are making a difference in the canyons. They have restored the picket fence around George Tyng's grave and another grave yard at what is called "Grave Yard Flat" in Major Evans Gulch. I am very appreciative to people who do this. I believe that we should leave all of our beautiful places better than we found them. Our history belongs to all of us and when anyone destroys of piece of that history it effects all of us! So, Thank You Kurt and all of your friends!

Below is the email exchange between Kurt and me and also some photos he emailed me.

Hello Jay, I hope this finds you well.

I've been visiting your site and enjoying your trip reports and research projects, thanks for taking the time to document that. I'm working on a project on the American Fork Canyon area, documenting, restoring and sharing the history of the canyon. Just yesterday we renovated the George Tyng grave site, replacing the damaged fence with a fresh new one. (pictures attached)

Would you be willing to share the location of this building?

http://www.jaymc.com/Truck/photos/128.jpg

That isn't one I recall seeing in the past and I'm hoping it is still somewhat standing and available for us to document.
Hope to hear from you soon. Thanks!

Hi Kurt,

I am so glad to see that you and others are taking a concern about George Tyng’s gravesite. Several years ago, someone took the fence down that surrounded the children’s graveyard at Major Evans gulch up in that area. I was very upset about that and even asked a ranger up there about it. He didn’t know why the fence had been taken down either. I had actually planned on going up there and painting it but didn’t get up there in time.

I grew up in Spearman, Texas which is only 70 miles from where George Tyng lived in Pampa, Texas. It was very interesting to me to find his grave.

The cabin that you are asking about is a little hard to find. I will see if I can tell you how I found it. From what I remember, Tyng’s grave is on the north side of Mineral Basin (if that is the correct name). This cabin is on the south side. We used to camp in an area there at the base of all those roads. I believe it is called Dutchman Flat. I hope that is correct. There is also another road that I’ve heard referred to as the Rock Garden. Some people like to take their 4x4’s up it. At the very base of the Rock Garden there are some mining tailings. They were doing some remediation there a few years ago before I moved to Florida in 08. You know how many roads split off there at the base!

I left Salt Lake City and moved to Florida in December ’08 so all of my travels up American Fork Canyon were before that so all my memories are from a while back. I used to go up Mary Ellen Gulch and do some gold panning. I found a pretty decent cabin up there. I looked up across the canyon one day and saw an outhouse on the edge of the canyon. I would love to know more of the history on that cabin and the mines up there.

There used to be a road that went from Dutchman Flat that would take you up to this cabin but that road sloughed off. If you go further up the main road that goes on over to Midway, right past Dutchman flat, there  is another road that turns left and I believe that goes up Mineral Basin. As you turn off the main road up the canyon, to your left (there in Mineral Basin), you will see a big tailing pile on the left. Drive up on top of that and then you will see the road. If you go far enough south, it dead ends where the road sloughed off. If you go the other way, which takes you up the south side of Mineral Basin, that is the right road. There is a Y up that road. Stay to the right. The cabin in the photo is up there.

The road is very narrow and as I was going up, my back, passenger side tire, started slipping off the road. There is probably a 200 foot drop-off there. It isn’t straight down but it is steep enough that it would ruin your day if your vehicle rolled off. I was able to get my back tire on a boulder that was sticking half way out of the ground and I was able to get all four wheels back on the road. It was not a fun experience!

I tried to load my Garmin topo maps the other day and had some problems doing so. If I can get them loaded this week, I will see if I can send you some images that might give you a better idea of where the cabin is. I am having a hard time remembering all the names of the canyons up there. It seems like Mineral Basin, on the right side as you are going up, is where Tyng Is buried? The cabin is to the south of his gravesite across the gulch.

I just pulled up the photos on my website. It is kind of jogging my memory. You see the old Pacific Mine tailings, if you drive up on top of those you will see the road that goes up the mountain. Just stay on that and to the right at the Y and it should lead you up to the little meadow where that cabin is!

Jay McMullan

Thanks for your reply Jay,

I'm quite up to speed on the fence at Forest City cemetery (children’s graveyard at Major Evans gulch), we rebuilt that in 2012 and added interpretive signage, etc. The Forest Service is the one that took down the old fence... without any immediate plans to rebuild it. They did fun the new fence, we (4x4 clubs, etc) provided the labor. You can see some video of that here https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8ggdBCXaRC4 (I'm the bearded dude talking about he history of the fence)

The cabin and outhouse you're referring to in Mary Ellen Gulch are the Strong cabin, built by Lloyd Strong in the 50's. It's been quite abused the last 4-5 years and I've got a target on cleaning and stabilizing that before it get's beyond repair.

Your description of the cabin and it's site tell the story... sadly as part of that same remediation you saw happening in 2008, many cabins were dozed off into rubble piles or dismantled and tossed into the trees. I fear that cabin fell victim.

Tyng is buried on Miller Hill, which is accessed from the trail that departs south from the Pacific Mine. It starts out as the same road that used to connect to Dutchman Flats (as you noted it's stopped by a washout) but turns uphill and switches back many times up to the Miller area mines and Tyngs grave.

If you do stumble across any old gps tracks or additional photos, please share. Thanks!

- Kurt

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