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TOWN OF EUREKA FIELD TRIP

SATURDAY AUGUST 14TH

The WCC Field Trip to the "almost a ghost town" of Eureka will take place on Saturday August 14th. Here are the details:

Eureka is one of the big three mining areas from Utah’s past, being the center of the Tintic Mining District. As mining has played out, so has Eureka. It looks like Park City did in 1952: lots of old buildings and equipment and a few people. There’s what looks like a small trend to retirement and summer residences, but most of the town dates back to the 1900's. If you like this kind of photo opportunity, be sure to come. Good shots are of the old churches, Main Street, old mining equipment, old junk, old wooden buildings, etc.

Let’s meet across from the First Security Bank around 4pm for a little heads-up on Black and White Photography. i.e. "A Workshop." Following that, depending on the level of interest, let’s cook some hamburgers. The restaurant selection in Eureka is GRIM. I’ll bring a portable barbeque, some frozen meat patties, buns, cold drinks, etc, BASED ON the sign up and PRE-Payment at the July and August WCC meetings. How about $4.00 each? OR, bring what you want ....... on your own. That’ll give us a couple or three hours of light for taking some ribbon-winners.

August, for those of you who don’t know, is a hot one. Fortunately, Eureka’s located in very high desert, so it will be HOT and DRY, but not too uncomfortable, especially fairly late in the day.. Bring shade, sun-tan lotion, water, and the right kind of film for "hot contrasty shooting." Just like at Rush Valley Rodeo.

We all know the light for picture taking is best early and late. The reality is no one is going to get up early enough to get there for morning pictures, so let’s make it a late-in-the-day- event and maybe we’ll get lucky with some good sunsets. It’s a couple hour drive there, particularly if you stop along the way for some nice desert shots. Plan accordingly.

You don’t know where Eureka is? Look at a map of Utah: SouthWest of Utah Lake. Since Highway #US6 provides a long uphill climb going into Eureka, you might NOT want to GO this way, especially if you’re driving a clunker. Instead, go South on I-15 or Redwood Road past Camp Williams, to Lehi and go West on SR #73 to Highway #36. There’s a cutoff that’s ok if you see it on the map that leaves 73 to the left, and goes to the village of Faust. Easy to see on the map, hard to see at 65 mph. OR you can go I-80 West then South on SR #36 through Tooele. Either way, go past or thru Vernon. It might seem like forever, but eventually Highway #36 comes into Highway #6 at Tintic where you turn East on #6 a couple miles to Eureka. That will give us a "round trip" route back to SLC via Highway #6 West through Elberta (and North along the West Side of Utah Lake) or back via I-15.

If you want to make a complete "day in the desert" of it, you might consider stopping for pictures at Camp Floyd and the Stagecoach Inn in Fairfield (on Hwy 73), or a side trip to Ophir if you’re going South through Tooele, or a look at an old pioneer village at Vernon. If you like to look at old fire burns, the big fire last week was just South of Eureka at Mammoth. There’s a place South of there called "Silver City," but I’ve never been there. Who knows?

More information? Call Wes Odell at 943 3835 or ODELL@xmission.com