The Mineral Mountains
are a long
[''Utah Atlas & Gazeteer,'' DeLorme, 9th ed. 2014, pp. 41, 42,49, 50 ] mountain range located in eastern
Beaver
Beavers are large, semiaquatic rodents in the genus ''Castor'' native to the temperate Northern Hemisphere. There are two extant species: the North American beaver (''Castor canadensis'') and the Eurasian beaver (''C. fiber''). Beavers ar ...
and southeastern
Millard Millard may refer to:
__NOTOC__ Places in the United States
* Millard, Missouri, a village
* Millard, Omaha, Nebraska, a former suburb and present-day neighborhood of Omaha
* Millard Creek, Pennsylvania
* Millard County, Utah
* Millard, Virginia, an ...
counties in southwestern
Utah
Utah ( , ) is a state in the Mountain West subregion of the Western United States. Utah is a landlocked U.S. state bordered to its east by Colorado, to its northeast by Wyoming, to its north by Idaho, to its south by Arizona, and to it ...
. The
Escalante Desert
The Escalante Desert is a geographic Great Basin region and arid desert ecoregion, in the deserts and xeric shrublands biome, located in southwestern Utah.
Geography
The Escalante Desert is northwest of Cedar City in Iron County, Utah, and extend ...
is to its southwest, the
Black Rock Desert volcanic field
The Black Rock Desert volcanic field in Millard County, Utah, is a cluster of several volcanic features of the Great Basin including Pahvant Butte, The Cinders, and Tabernacle Hill. The field's Ice Springs event was an explosive eruption follo ...
and the
Sevier Desert
The Sevier Desert is a large arid section of central-west Utah, United States, and is located in the southeast of the Great Basin. It is bordered by deserts north, west, and south; its east border is along the mountain range and valley sequences ...
are to the north and northwest. The
Pavant Range
The Pahvant Range (also Pavant Range) is a mountain range in central Utah, United States, east of Fillmore.
Description
The range is named for the Pahvant tribe, a branch of the Ute people. The tallest peak is Mine Camp Peak at . Most of the lan ...
and
Tushar Mountains
The Tushar Mountains are the third-highest mountain range in Utah after the Uinta Mountains and the La Sal Range. Located in the Fishlake National Forest, Delano Peak, 12,174 ft (3,711 m) NAVD 88, is the highest point in both Beaver and P ...
lie to the east.
The west side of the range borders the small
Milford Valley with the
Star Range
The Star Range is an 8-mile (12 km) long, small mountain range located in central Beaver County, Utah. The range is " star"-shaped as small ridges end at peaks, like fingers of a hand. Another adjacent range sequence southwest, the Shaunti ...
beyond.
Beaver River flows past the south and west sides of the range. The river is impounded as Minersville Reservoir adjacent to the southeast margin of the range.
[
Milford Flat at the Mineral Mountains was the origin of the ]Milford Flat Fire
The Milford Flat Fire is the largest wildfire in Utah history. It was started by lightning on Friday, July 6, 2007 at 3:45 pm near Milford, Utah. The fire burned 363,052 acres (567 square miles) and caused large stretches of I-15 to be temporari ...
which burned eastwards beyond Interstate 15 and Cove Fort
Cove Fort is a fort, unincorporated community, and historical site located in Millard County, Utah. It was founded in 1867 by Ira Hinckley (the paternal grandfather of Gordon B. Hinckley) at the request of Brigham Young. One of its distinctive ...
into the Tushar and Pavant mountains.
Description
The range has a north-south length of about . The northeast has an off-lying triangular mountain section which causes the north of Beaver Valley to bifurcate. East of the mountain section, I-15
I15 may refer to:
* Interstate 15, a north–south Interstate Highway in the United States of America
* Polikarpov I-15, a Soviet fighter aircraft
* I15 (band)
"Soulja Girl" is the second single from American rapper Soulja Boy's studio album '' ...
transits to Sulphurdale. The section contains many peaks, with the highest being Gillies Hill, . The southwest side of the section contains south-flowing Cunningham Wash.
The south-southeast side of the range is a straight stretch from Cunningham Wash, north and the Minersville Reservoir
Minersville Reservoir is a reservoir in Beaver County, Utah, United States.
History
Minersville Reservoir was created in 1914 by the construction of the Rocky Ford dam, an Embankment dam to impound water from the Beaver River which heads in th ...
, south, a collection of numerous watercourses from Beaver Valley, and neighboring mountains. Beaver River (Utah) enters the reservoir and leaves flowing due-west at the southern Mineral Mountains terminus. The terminus of the range comes to a V-shaped point; the river stretch, and mountains, are only 4-mi wide from the outlet of the Beaver River at the reservoir. The range then immediately turns into a stretch of southwest foothills, also a short stretch, only about 9-mi long.[
The northwest stretch begins at that point, about 7 or 8-mi southeast of Milford; it transits to an east-west stretch at the north, which continues to the outlying mountain section east, and its junction with the west flank of the Pavant-Tushar Mountains ]massif
In geology, a massif ( or ) is a section of a planet's crust that is demarcated by faults or flexures. In the movement of the crust, a massif tends to retain its internal structure while being displaced as a whole. The term also refers to a ...
.
A small, narrow wide ridgeline feeds north-northwest from the north stretch; it extends about 6-mi[ toward the Black Rock Desert volcanic field region, and contains Pinnacle Pass, and a highpoint of Antelope Mountain, .
]
Access
One major access route to the Mineral Mountains is Interstate 15
Interstate 15 (I-15) is a major Interstate Highway System, Interstate Highway in the western United States, running through Southern California and the Intermountain West. I-15 begins near the Mexico–United States border, Mexican border i ...
through Beaver Valley and the northeast of the range. Danish Reservoir Road, going due-west from I-15 at Cove Fort
Cove Fort is a fort, unincorporated community, and historical site located in Millard County, Utah. It was founded in 1867 by Ira Hinckley (the paternal grandfather of Gordon B. Hinckley) at the request of Brigham Young. One of its distinctive ...
, accesses north regions of the range by unimproved roads.
The northwest of the range can be accessed from Milford Milford may refer to:
Place names Canada
* Milford (Annapolis), Nova Scotia
* Milford (Halifax), Nova Scotia
* Milford, Ontario
England
* Milford, Derbyshire
* Milford, Devon, a place in Devon
* Milford on Sea, Hampshire
* Milford, Shro ...
and Milford Valley by way of unimproved roads. Utah State Route 21
State Route 21 (SR-21) is a state highway in western Utah, running for in Millard and Beaver Counties from the Nevada state line near Garrison to Beaver.
Route description
SR-21 begins at the Nevada state line as a continuation of Nevada St ...
(SR-21) also transits through Milford, due-southeast to Minersville which sits at the range's southwest foothills.
SR-21 transits from Minersville, through the Beaver River (Utah)
The Beaver River is a river in western Utah, long, that drains to Sevier Lake via the Sevier River.
Description
The river starts in the Tushar Mountains, in eastern Beaver County near the town of Beaver, and flows for about west as a perennia ...
canyon going due-east; it skirts the southeast side of the Minersville Reservoir
Minersville Reservoir is a reservoir in Beaver County, Utah, United States.
History
Minersville Reservoir was created in 1914 by the construction of the Rocky Ford dam, an Embankment dam to impound water from the Beaver River which heads in th ...
, entering southeast Beaver Valley. The reservoir is at the southeast foothills of the range. By wany of unimproved roads, the southeast foothills-(south section) can be accessed from Adamsville located at the reservoir's north. The north section can be accessed by routes from the northwest of Beaver Valley, and the Cunningham Wash region.
A minor, improved route, northeast of Adamsville, and west of Beaver, off SR-21, The Pass Road, to Soldier Pass, transits southeast-by-northwest through the center of the Mineral Mountains; it exits the range at the west, center foothills and transits northwest to Milford, from the foothills to Milford, about distant. The entire route just through the Mineral Mountains itself, is only about , thus it forms a "shortcut route", from Beaver, and Beaver Valley townsites, to Milford.. This is the route taken by the American Discovery Trail
The American Discovery Trail is a system of recreational trails and roads that collectively form a coast-to-coast hiking and biking trail across the mid-tier of the United States. Horses can also be ridden on most of this trail. The coastal tra ...
.
References
External links
Granite Peak (approx. range center-(southeast)) (coordinates)
Mineral Mountains, "Utah Western Desert Ranges"
{{authority control
Mountain ranges of Utah
Mountain ranges of Beaver County, Utah
Mountain ranges of the Great Basin
Bureau of Land Management areas in Utah