Old Iron Town Ruins
Personal Notes
This page presents our personal notes on our visit to Old Iron Town State Park in Utah.
Friday, November 16, 2007
12:06 p.m.
From Cedar City, Utah we drove west on Highway 56 about 20 miles. The road to the Old Iron Town ruins is on the south side (left). There is the typical brown sign pointing the way. There seems to be some new housing developments going in around the area.
At the end of the road there is a small gravel parking lot and most of the area is fenced to separate the ruins from the surrounding private property. The site sits among the typical pinyon, juniper, and sage of the Great Basin. When we arrived the temperature was 64 degrees.
12:13 p.m.
We had a picnic lunch in the covered picnic area. It was just the two of us enjoying the peace of the surrounding landscape. With the fall colors, warming sun, and occasional chirping of a bird the setting was quite relaxing. Near the picnic area there is a modern vault toilets, but there is no drinking water.
There was one other car in the parking lot, so we essentially had the place to ourselves. That made for a relaxing tour of the site, which has many informative signs. Apparently you can stop at the Iron Mission State Park Museum in Cedar City to pick up an informative brochure.
12:54 p.m.
The map coordinates for the parking lot of the Old Iron Town ruins are: N37 36.002; W113 26.962; at an elevation of 5,696 feet.
1:32 p.m.
We headed out after a stroll through the ruins of a blast furnace, a visit to the erastra, a walk into the interior of the charcoal kiln, and a short hike along the nature trail to an old stone house. It's a nice little ghost town. There aren't as many ruins as in some locations, but what is here is fascinating. Especially the blast furnace and kiln.
