11/24/2021
So… I had an interesting adventure today!
I decided to go down to Salem, Utah to check out the “Dream Mine or Relief mine”
First, I found a phone # on the web, called the listed #, and got an answering machine.
The message said that because of Covid they were only doing business by mail. The Web site did have an email address, so I send an email asking for permission to go on site and take pictures.
I received an email back in about 30 mins, from a Robert, saying that
“Officially the answer from the board of directors is No. However, if you walked up the hill without your car, and were very polite to any of the homeowners that live up on the hill that you may encounter, then you may be fine. But you didn't hear this from me.”
So I figured I was in! I had my back-stage pass…
This is where the adventure begins… I park, and start up the hill at a very slow pace, get part way up and the “trail\road” turns into a wildlife path, in the gully ??? So I decide I have come this far and not died yet, I might as well keep going. My target was what looked like a shelf cut into the mountain that lead to the mine. So imagine you have this out of shape balding, old man with useless knees all but crawling up this deer path…
I finally get to the crest of the path, and I see a gentleman “Jon” looking around for someone…. So I yell out “hey how doing?” He comes over to the edge, looks down at me and says, “Need a hand?” I am laying against the mountain crawling up the slope!
He reaches out and pulls me up and over to flat ground, he ask what I am doing and did I know that this was private property? So I tell him yep, but I had unofficial permission to come up and take some picts of the mine. He asks “from who?”
So I show him the email, and he has no idea who the person is that said I could.
At this point, I am trying to figure out how you sleep with your butt tightly clinched when you are asleep in jail!
He calls the board president of the mine, “yea we caught him” so Jon hands me the phone Here talk to “Boyd”, Boyd sounds like he is 80 + I give him the story, he tells me they don’t have the internet, so how could I have found a site? He asks, “did we send you a telegraph giving you permission? (JK, but he had no clue about the web!)
Hand the phone back to Jon, he tells Boyd, not to worry this guy doesn’t fit the normal “demographic”, and everything is fine…
So we chew the fat for a few minutes and Jon tells me to take the picts I want, and he will walk be back down. 10 steps latter, Jon’s phone rings,” I can hear a woman (turns out it is his wife) on the line…. “Are you safe? Do I need to call the Sherriff? Does he have a gun? Do you need me to call for help? Are you able to speak freely? Holly s**t! I am starting to hear banjoes off in the distance….
He tells her everything is fine and he will give her the rest of the story when we get down off the mountain.
So we walk down, and on the way he give me the history of them mine, tells me about the area (1000 Acres) and how John Hyrum Koyle had this idea to create a farm and mine ( I found out later the story goes that at 22 was visited by spirits that instructed him) to prepare for a century-old prophecy to come true and the riches of the Nephites will be brought forth to save the Earth
Here is one link I found to some of the stories and more detail
http://www.salamandersociety.com/museum/dream_mine/
Jon has had many run-ins with kids and other people trespassing, pulling guns on him and just about everything else you could think of…
Overall, it was a fun adventure I hope to talk Jon into giving me a tour of the inside of the mill someday!
