Ghost Town: Ibex

[DAA]

Site: Ibex
Alternate Names: Ibex Camp
County, State: Millard County, Utah
Years of Occupation: 1897-1935
Status of Site: Open
Classification: Class 1 - Barren Town
Type: Mining
Remnants: Very little remains
GPS Coordinate: 38.8826 113.4408
Date of Last Visit: May, 2013

I know very little about this history of this site, other than it was a mining camp. Hopefully someone else can fill in the blanks.

One aspect that may cause confusion, is that this Ibex is the one on the south end of the Confusion range in the Barn Hills. There was another Ibex, near Joy, in the Drum mountains further north.

Very little is to be seen at Ibex today. A foundation, a bunch of rusty tin cans and one low cement wall that appears to have been intended to dam a spring perhaps.

To get there, from the west side of Skull Rock Pass, turn south off the highway and travel down Tule Valley about 8.5 miles, then turn west and go about 6 miles on a less travelled track that hugs the south end of the Barn Hills, turn north at the intersection and take the first right at the Y, Ibex is about another mile.

Further Reading:
Book: Hiking, Climbing & Exploring Western Utah's Jack Watson's Ibex Country - Michael R. Kelsey
http://www.expeditionutah.com/forum/showthread.php?t=813

 

[lordhelmet]

Nice pics

 

[cruiseroutfit]

Great addition Dave. I visited Ibex several years ago but somehow didn't even have that on the list. I added an Ibex trip report link and book link to the thread.

 

[hans j]

Ibex is pretty neat! Apparently very popular for rock climbing.

I had read that the rancher had created the water dams for sheep and he also had a little store somewhere around there. Couldn't find what I was looking for but came across this!: http://content.lib.utah.edu/cdm/search/collection/DC_Beckwith/searchterm/ibex%2C%20utah/order/title

 

[JillB]

Recommended reading : Hiking, Climbing & Exploring Western Utah's Jack Watson Ibex Country- Kelsey publishing.
In 1897, Jack Watson in A sheepherder found a spring with horns nearby that looked to him to be Ibex horns Jack, his wife and family lived there, farmed (tried to anyway) Raised cattle and sheep. He built damns, sold water to sheepherders, whatever he had to do to make a living. It was a tough place to make ends meet often at the mercy of weather conditions and predators such as coyotes. He outlived his children & his wife who died in childbirth. Jack having lost a hand at the age of 68 continued to run cattle but in 1940 he sold his place and at the age of 83 Jack died. There are several Indian rock drawings in the area but you must take some time to search them out. It's worth it.

 

[JillB]

Jack Watson's Ibex

Recommended reading : Hiking, Climbing & Exploring Western Utah's Jack Watson Ibex Country- Kelsey publishing.
In 1897, Jack Watson in A sheepherder found a spring with horns nearby that looked to him to be Ibex horns Jack, his wife and family lived there, farmed (tried to anyway) Raised cattle and sheep. He built damns, sold water to sheepherders, whatever he had to do to make a living. It was a tough place to make ends meet often at the mercy of weather conditions and predators such as coyotes. He outlived his children & his wife who died in childbirth. Jack having lost a hand at the age of 68 continued to run cattle but in 1940 he sold his place and at the age of 83 Jack died. There are several Indian rock drawings in the area but you must take some time to search them out. It's worth it.

Very interesting

 

[hungrighost]

Thought I'd bump this thread - the Michael Kelsey book about Ibex and the West desert is one of the most fascinating reads I've enjoyed in recent years. I'm planning a trip out to Ibex soon - inspired by the incredible story of Jack Watson as told in Kelsey's book. The fact this man was able to carve out a living in such a desolate place, virtually by himself, for decades, is simply awesome. Watson ran herds of cattle numbering in the hundreds, in the West desert, year-round, virtually by himself, for many years. He built water catchment systems at ibex in order to water his herd in spite of the minimal precipitation. Watson was friends with Bob Stinson, the hermit who lived in the Marjum pass cave outside of Delta. Nice photos, Dave.

 

[solidfrontaxle]

Ibex is pretty neat! Apparently very popular for rock climbing.

The climbing is pretty good. The desolation makes it better. An interesting issue the climbers were facing is a lot of the big quartzite boulders are(were?) getting ground up by the mining company out there.

 

[hungrighost]

Bumping and updating this thread:


Years of Occupation:*1897-1935

Date of Last Visit:*April, 24, 2016



I made a run out to Ibex last weekend and thought I'd share some recent photos, including the three dams Jack Watson built to retain runoff for his sheep and cattle. Roads were good, people were non-existent, aside from a sheep rancher filling his water truck at the Ibex Well in the Tule Valley.

I also included a few shots of Fossil Mountain, which lies just across Blind Valley from Ibex. It's worth a jaunt over to the dry wash that winds along the North slope of Fossil Mountain, to check out the amazing fossil beds. Just take the somewhat rough road West from Ibex and drive into the wash until you can go no further, then hike about 200 meters up the wash, and you'll see the sedimentation layer in the sides of the wash which contain thousands of fossils. It has been speculated the it was Jack Watson who discovered the fossils around this mountain.

Here is Jack Watson's lower, and largest dam, for retaining water for his cattle:
Jack's rock table, under the Juniper tree by his house site:

The depression is the remains of Jack's cellar, under his home site:

The second dam, in disrepair:

The third and upper dam:

View NW from the second dam, with the lowermost catchment basin in the foreground:


Fossil Mountain, from the middle of Blind Valley, just West of Jack's house:

Sedimentation layer on the side of the dry wash on the North side of Fossil Mountain. You can drive to within about 200 m of this location, then the road vanishes into the wash it was built in:

Closeup of the brachiopods found by the thousands in this sedimentation layer:

 

[cruiseroutfit]

Thanks for the update and pics!

 

[DAA]

- DAA

 

[hungrighost]

Thanks for the update and pics!

My pleasure, Kurt. Thanks, DAA, for starting up the page. Ibex packs an amazing amount of history for a single house.

 

[cruiseroutfit]

A few of us visited Ibex this last weekend:

Then:



Now:



And what the site looked like in its glory:


(Courtesy of Kelsey's book)

 

[cruiseroutfit]

And a couple of site photos:

 

[SteveJackson]

Great thread on Ibex! It's so remote and a great place to camp.

 

[flyjester]

Definitely a place to revisit!

 

[99discovery]

@cruiseroutfit , maybe I'm looking at the wrong page, but Ibex is listed on the main database page but their isn't a link to this page.

 

[Udink]

Here are a few more photos at Ibex, taken this past Thursday, October 25th.

 

[DAA]

That first pic shows how dry it is this year. Same spot my first pic shows lush green growth.

I had completely forgotten about the rock art.

- DAA