Horse Bench II

February 1, 2025

In December my trip to Horse Bench was pretty good so I came back in February for another. During my “travels” in Google Earth I noticed what I initially thought was a corral in an unnamed canyon near Dry Lake Wash. Further research showed that there were some manganese mines in the same canyon. I first found a 1952 publication, Manganese Deposits of Southeastern Utah, that referenced an older paper from 1921, Deposits of Manganese Ore in Montana, Utah, Oregon, and Washington (excerpts from both are included in the photo gallery).

Deposits of Manganese Ore in Montana, Utah, Oregon, and Washington 1921 p. 205

I wasn’t sure what I’d find in the canyon but it was my first stop on this trip. I hiked down from the very head of the canyon and followed its winding course as it got deeper. I encountered a layer of black rock that I assume to be the manganese-bearing layer at one of the mining claims. Farther down the canyon was another such layer with obvious mine workings. There was lumber scattered around below the diggings but no identifiable structures.

Goin’ in again!

Parking spot for my first hike

The Cone to the south

La Sal Mountains

Into the head of the wash

Rock layers

Weird clouds

Cairn at a mining prospect

Below the manganese prospect

Maybe a loading platform?

Below the prospect

A little beyond that was what I had thought was a corral, but seeing it in person I think it may have been some sort of collapsed lean-to shelter. There were a lot of thin sticks that weren’t structural so I assume they were part of a windbreak or sunshade. I continued down the canyon past a series of boulders that looked like they had potential for rock art or inscription but didn’t see anything, so I turned around and went back up the canyon. Instead of walking back up the meandering head of the canyon I took a more direct route out to the road by climbing a steep and narrow ridge.

Boulders and ledges

Possible shelter

Metal rods holding up a timber

Collapsed shelter

Peters 30-30 shell

Large, pretty chunk of chert

Another cairn

View down the canyon

Buried post

Walking back up the wash

Worked piece of chert, with more glinting in the background

Passing by the manganese prospect again

Exit up a steep hill

On the climb out

Narrow ridge

View of the canyon from above

Almost back to the truck

Back at the truck I drove just a short distance down the road and then did another hike of about two miles. I followed an old and very faint road to a hill that had a survey marker on top, stamped “CHAFFIN 1937.” I found the first reference mark but looked all over for the second one without success. There were some old cans and glass jars scattered around the mesa, I suppose left there by sheepherders.

Faint old road

Glass jar

Cairn

Survey tower

Glass jar at the benchmark

Chaffin 1937 benchmark

Chaffin reference marker #1

View from the benchmark

Flat Tops and the Henry Mountains

Farther yet down the road I stopped at a corral that I’ve passed up many times before. It’s built at the mouth of a small box canyon a couple miles west of Chaffin Ranch. First I passed through the corral and went up to a dryfall in the canyon, and on my way back I spotted a metal plaque affixed high on the canyon wall. I climbed up and found that Kathy’s Canyon was dedicated to Kathy Gardiner, who passed away in 2006. I checked out the railroad ties the corral was made from and I found a few date nails, the oldest from 1929.

Chaffin BM hill viewed from a road

Abandoned meander of the Green River

Bathtub in a corral

Small slot canyon

Plaque above the canyon floor

Kathy’s Canyon, dedicated April 16, 2006, Kathy Gardiner

S-iron in the end of a railroad tie

1929 date nail

My final stop was at some rock formations just west of the San Rafael River bridge. A friend had told me there was a Tomlinson inscription somewhere around there from 1893. What I wasn’t expecting were all the other carvings! There were tons of them, most of them quite modern, and I’m surprised that many people have stopped by here to carve their names. It just doesn’t seem like people would have any more reason to stop here than anywhere else, yet clearly lots and lots of people do. I saw another metal plaque affixed to a cliff, this one for Big Eddie who died in 2010. I also found the B. Tomlinson ’93 inscription but I’m not certain whether it’s from the 1800s or 1900s. I suppose there were probably Tomlinsons here in the late 1800s but I can’t find any info on them. I saw one familiar name, Hallie Tomlinson, who also left an interesting inscription in Tenmile Canyon in 1930. I called it a day after exploring the rock formations. I had been considering another two-mile hike to another survey marker, but it would have been a sandy slog and I wasn’t feeling up to that, so I just headed home.

Hiking the road to the cliffs