Wells Fargo & Company Express Building

Silver Reef broke a geological rule, and for a decade it boomed. Silver isn't supposed to occur in sandstone, but here it did — rich ore laced through the rock — and in the late 1870s a mining town sprang up in this unlikely place, the one gentile town in Mormon Dixie. This stone building went up in 1877 to house the Wells Fargo express office and the store of St. George merchants Woolley, Lund, and Judd, moving the town's silver and mail. The ore played out in the 1880s, and Silver Reef emptied as fast as it filled.

What the plaque says

Built in 1877 Architect unknown Used by Wells Fargo Company and by St. George merchants, Woolley, Lund and Judd.

Where it stands

Worth the stop nearby

• Hurricane Canal Trail — 6.9 mi
  The hand-dug canal that built Hurricane, now a walking trail blasted into the Virgin River gorge
• Snow Canyon State Park — 16 mi
  Red and white sandstone cliffs with ancient lava flows
• Kolob Canyons — 17 mi
  The quiet, uncrowded back door to Zion National Park
• St. George Dinosaur Discovery Site at Johnson Farm — 17 mi
  Real dinosaur footprints preserved in ancient sandstone

More markers nearby

• Leeds CCC Camp — 1.3 mi
• Harrisburg Residents (2) Markers (DUP & SUP) — 3.5 mi
• Monument to Harrisburg Pioneers — 3.5 mi
• Harrisburg Historic Pioneer Cemetery — 3.5 mi