Tyng's Grave

Rating: 3
This road has some steep, loose, rocky climbs with a few scattered medium sized rocks that make low-range and decent clearance needed.

Location
This is located up American Fork Canyon.

Trailhead
This is up American Fork Canyon. The dirt road starts at Tibble Fork Reservoir. It is located just past the parking lot at the next turn in the road. The dirt road continues straight right at the hairpin turn on the paved road. GPS coordinates are 40°29'01.1"N 111°38'34.0"W (40.483631, -111.642789).

You follow this main road for about 6 miles until you reach the mine tailing reclamation area (which used to be a fun playground for ATVs but is now closed). You hang a left turn at the tailing reclamation area past the information signs and continue on this road to Tyng's Grave. GPS coordinates are 40°32'34.5"N 111°35'39.6"W (40.542919, -111.594348).

I believe you can get to the Tyng's Grave road from the Forest City (no real buildings left at this area, but it was once a mining town/base camp) which is about 4.5 miles from Tibble Fork. I haven't gone this way since I was a kid, so I don't know if it is still open or accessible.

Description
This is a fun, short dirt road that has great views of American Fork Canyon. It is a dead end road, and ends at the grave of George Tyng and the associated mine. There are a few rocky, loose climbs that keep things interesting but shouldn't be too much difficulty for a stock vehicle with low-range.

George Tyng was an interesting fellow. He was born in 1842 in Massachusetts. He was educated in Hanover, Germany and spent many years in South America and Cuba in various business adventures. He also spent time throughout North America. He became the U.S. Marshall in the Arizona Territory from 1874-1877. He then purchased the Arizona Sentinel newspaper and ran that. Later he moved to Mexico City to help organize and manage the Tehuantepec Inter-Ocean Railroad Company.

He also managed a ranch in the Texas Panhandle. He also laid out the town of Pampa, Texas in the same area. He helped develop farmland and windmills in the area. He later became known as the "father of the Panhandle."

He also had many mining interests. The locations ranged from Honduras, Mexico, Arizona, and Canada. In 1901 he relocated to Utah to explore mining in the region. In 1904 he hit the "motherload" in American Fork Canyon. The mining tunnel became known as the Wyoming Tunnel (which you can visit just past his grave) and made a fortune in gold, silver, lead, and zinc. After Tyng's death, his son continued mining ore worth over $600,000 over a 4 year period.

On January 19, 190 he was working in his office near the mine and an avalanche swept through the area causing his death. The avalanche swept his office down the hill. Shortly after the avalanche some miners tried to rescue Tyng. It took them 2 hours of digging to locate and extract his body. They found him under an eight by eight inch beam. A nail in the beam penetrated his skull.

His body was initially to be transferred to Victoria, Texas (where his wife lived), but they learned that he wished to be buried on Miller Hill in American Fork Canyon, where he was known to sit and admire the beautiful scenery.

He was a beloved by his workers, and Theo Nicholes (who worked for Tyng) wrote: "[He is] one of the finest gentlemen I have ever met. You could get a better meal in his boarding house than at the Hotel Utah. He always paid from 75 cents to $1 more than the prevailing scale and got the best miners in the country. There wasn't a one of us, who wouldn't work his head off for the old man."

The love and respect the men had for them was evident shortly after his death. They had transported his body to American Fork, but upon learning about his request to be buried on Miller Hill they took his body back up the canyon to bury him. It was winter, and instead of temporarily burying the body and relocating it in the summer months, it took several dozen men and 8 teams of horses to break a trail up the canyon for Tyng's coffin. They dug through 23 snow slides going up the canyon and many days. The snow was reported to be 18 feet deep that winter so it took quite a bit of time to clear the ground for the burial. It was also reported that 50 people gathered in the deep snow to be present during the burial.

I cant think of a better place to be buried. The view from Miller Hill is breathtaking.

 A picture of George Tyng and his two sons looking down into Mineral Basin.

George Tyng is on the left with a hat on his knee. His two sons are on the right. The photographer is next to Tyng and one of his miners is in the back. 

References:
Adams, Dale. "The Adventures of George Tyng." http://ownerbuilderbook.com/downloadables/f/274.pdf
Victory Regional History Center. http://vrhc.uhv.edu/manuscripts/tyng/home.htm
National Park Service. "George Tyng." http://www.nps.gov/tica/learn/historyculture/george-tyng.htm
Pictures from www.nps.gov

Here is a KMZ of the road. I have switched phones since this time and I couldn't find the GPS track I made. On Google Maps I traced the route and made a KMZ file. It should be pretty close to the actual trail.

 The first part is a nice easy road.

 The second portion is one climb after another. It is loose and rocky. It doesn't look to bad in the pictures, but if you look you can see the dust from our spinning tires. It wasn't difficulty, just loose. 

 No wonder George Tynge wanted to be buried here. It was a spectacular view!

 The white picket fence is George Tyng's grave.

 This is at the mine just above the grave. I assume this was Tyng's mine. 

 It was a beautiful day!

This is at the mine tailing reclamation site where the road starts. It used to be full of orange mine tailings but now it is just rolling hills with some grass growing on them.