Ghosts of Rainbow Traditional Cache
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Ghosts of Rainbow still visit.
If this old tree could tell us what this wire was for, it would be an interesting story. Rainbow was a town built for miners working the nearby Rainbow gilsonite veins. Rainbow consisted of two rows of small houses some were constructed of timber. The houses faced each other and lined the ridge near the gilsonite vein.
Rainbow was also the end of the a spur of the Uintah Railways. The railroad traversed a narrow steep gully from a junction with the main line near Watson (another nearby ghost town) to Rainbow. The spur was 4.1 miles of rail and gained 837 feet in elevation. Grades reached as high as 5.1%. If you came or leave along the road to Watson, you will be traveling along the old railroad bed. Note the rock cuts and earth fills and pay special attention to the spiral curves. A civil engineer designed this road / formerly railroad bed.
Gilsonite was mined much the same way as today with the exception that the old mines began at the ground surface and cut vertical shafts along the vein through the countryside. Modern mines leave a plug of gilsonite at the top of the mine to hold the overburden in place. This makes the shaft safer for surface travel and animals. Note the scars that these old mines made on the land. Look to the south west at the hill, note how it looks as if the hill was carved in two parts by some unnatural force. Burlap sacks were filled in the mine with 150 to 200 pounds of gilsonite. The sacks were hoisted from the mine and put on push cars. The push cars were pushed to a platform along the railroad. The sacks were then slid down a plank to the railroad cars for transport.
Be careful to stay on the north side of the road, watch your children and dogs. Some of the open mine shafts have fences and are posted with signs, but the fences look like they need some maintenance. The sides of those old mine shafts are weathered and are constantly caving off into the mine. Stay back a good distance.
Enjoy the cache and spend some time walking around and looking at the history. Remember to leave all artifacts where you find them for future history buffs.
Additional Hints
(Decrypt)
Ng rlr urvtug ba gur cvavba cvar gehax