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Silver Reef Ghost Town

Roughly 18 miles northeast of St. George. Take the Leeds exit off I-15 and follow signs to Silver Reef.

The ghost town of Silver Reef, that boomed during a silver rush during the late 1800s, has recently turned into a residential area. The ruins of the ore mills, houses, and stores dot the rolling hills in between newer abodes. Much of the original town site is now on private land but thankfully a few of the buildings survived intact and are open to the public. The Rice Bank and the Wells Fargo Building dominate the scene with the latter housing the Silver Reef Museum. Next door is the acclaimed Cosmopolitan which serves up European inspired food inside a rustic wooden structure. We parked in a dirt lot across the street from the Wells Fargo Building and spent about an hour wandering the streets. We followed a small trail behind the museum to where the silver was mined which had tailing piles, the foundations of a stamp mill, and other mining remnants. We didn’t look for them but we hear that Silver Reef had two cemeteries—one for Protestants and one for Catholics—which might be interesting to explore. The area’s main claim to fame is that the rich silver strike was found in sandstone—which is a geologic rarity.

Phone: (435) 879-2254
Address: 3200 Wells Fargo Rd, Silver Reef UT 84746
(Address and phone for the Silver Reef Museum which we did not visit.)