If you are looking for a fun stop near Zion National Park you definitely want to check out Silver Reef Museum in Leeds, Utah. You can read about visiting Zion National Park here. Located a short way off the Leeds exit from Highway I-15, the museum is housed in the original 19th century Wells Fargo & Company Express Building, one of a few that are not only still standing but also remain in use. Opened in 1877, the Wells Fargo building is on the National Register of Historic Buildings.
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We enjoyed learning how the rarest and richest silver was discovered and mined. Our guide was an older gentleman, a local who wore western clothing (I think he was supposed to look like Sherrif Sam Elliot) and told a lot of interesting stories. Since he was from the area he spoke of his personal experiences. You can see him in the video below. He was very knowledgeable and quite passionate about the history of the area. He showed us examples of tools and machinery that was used and explained some of the challenges the people had to overcome back when the town was thriving.
The quality of life in what used to be called Bonanza Town was once thriving. The land value there was the highest in the country, and they had the richest silver producing mines to date in all of America. The silver was extracted from rare, unbelievable ore. The guide takes you through the mine and explains how the silver was extracted. This is the only place where silver was discovered in sandstone.
Inside the museum you feel like you are stepping into the past. There is an original safe from the 1800’s. There are artifacts and antiques from the true Wild West, showing all aspects of pioneer life in southern Utah. The museum is well-maintained and clean. There is also a great gift shop with cool things like jewelry and artwork – not cheesy tourist junk.
There used to be a real live (staged) shootout on the fourth Friday of the month, but this has been put on hold. There are walking trails outside. You can pick up a pamphlet in the museum and read about the numbered sites along the way. There is a mining machine yard right outside of the museum, and I could just imagine the place when it was full of life back in the day. There is no shade though, so if you plan to walk around a long time you will want to bring sunscreen and some water.
Admission was only $3, and you can easily spend two hours there. It is worth the stop when you are in the area. We enjoyed it!
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Book a Flight
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Book a Room
Hotels.com has great deals on National Park lodging. They are very reliable. If you want to see tons of reviews on places to stay, TripAdvisor has over 150 million reviews and opinions of hotels, restaurants, attractions, and more by travelers like you and me.
Book a Car
You could go through individual rental car companies if you want, but if you check out TripAdvisor they have great comparisons. Also, if you book hotel and rental car together it is oftentimes cheaper.
Luggage
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Travel Insurance
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Most of all, have fun!
Please leave a comment below. Have you been to Utah?
This looks like a fun site full of history. We plan to do a big National Park tour of the country when travel opens back up so we may have to add this stop. My husband has only been to Utah for work, but his cousin lived there and her pictures were always stunning.
Thanks. We really enjoyed our trip. I’m glad we got to go before travel shut down. We did the Grand Canyon and Zion National Park on that trip. I’ve got blog posts on those also! 🙂