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Utah Association of Counties5397 South Vine Street, Salt Lake City, UT 84107
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© 1997 Utah Association of Counties
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county
CITIES in COUNTIES
MEANING of COUNTY NAMES
CLASS of COUNTIES
COUNTY MAP
Utah County Fact BookThe Utah County Fact Book is in Adobe Acrobat (PDF) file format.
If you cannot view it, download the free Acrobat Reader.
Click on the county for which you would like more information:
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county
BeaverBox Elder
CacheCarbonDaggettDavis
DuchesneEmery
GarfieldGrand
IronJuabKane
MillardMorgan
PiuteRich
Salt LakeSanpeteSan Juan
SevierSummitTooeleUintahUtah
WasatchWashington
WayneWeber
HEY SCHOOL KIDS...CHECK OUT "LINKS" FOR MORE SITES WITH COUNTY INFORMATION, ESPECIALLY THE UTAH ENCYCLOPEDIA SITE THAT HAS PICTURES OF HISTORIC PLACES IN COUNTIES.
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cities
Cities in Counties
Beaver County
Beaver City City of Milford Minersville Town
Box Elder County
Bear River CityBrigham CityCorrine CityDeweyville TownElwood Town
Fielding TownGarland CityCity of HoneyvilleHowell TownTown of Mantua
Perry CityPlymouth TownPortage TownSnowville TownTremonton CityWillard City
Cache County
Town of AmalgaClarkston TownCornish TownHyde Park CityHyrum CityLewiston City
Logan CityMendon CityMillville CityNewton TownNibley CityNorth Logan City
Paradise TownProvidence CityRichmond CityRiver Heights CitySmithfield CityTrenton CityWellsville City
Carbon County
East Carbon CityScofield Town
City of HelperSunnyside City
Price CityWellington City
Daggett County
Town of Dutch John Town of Manila
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cities
Davis County
City of BountifulCenterville CityClearfield CityClinton CityFarmington City
Fruit HeightsCity KaysvilleCity Layton CityCity of North Salt LakeSouth Weber City
Sunset CitySyracuse CityWest Bountiful CityWest Point CityWoods Cross City
Duchesne County
Town of AltamontCity of Duchesne
Myton CityRoosevelt City
Town of Tabiona
Emery County
Castle Dale CityCleveland TownTown of Clawson
Elmo TownEmery CityFerron City
City of Green RiverHuntington CityOrangeville City
Garfield County
Town of AntimonyBoulder TownCannonville Town
Escalante CityTown of HatchHenrieville Town
Panguitch CityCity of Tropic
Grand County
Castle Valley City of Moab
Iron County
Town of Brian Head Cedar City
Enoch CityKanarraville Town
Town of ParagonahParowan City
Juab County
Eureka CityTown of Levan
Mona TownNephi City
Rocky Ridge
Kane County
Alton TownBig Water Municipal Govt.
Glendale TownCity of Kanab
Orderville Town
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cities
Millard County
Delta CityFillmore CityHinckley Town
Holden TownKanosh TownLeamington Town
Lynndyl TownMeadow TownTown of Oak CityScipio Town
Morgan County
Morgan City
Piute County
Town of CirclevilleJunction Town
Kingston Town Marysvale Town
Rich County
Town of Garden CityLaketown Town
Town of Randolph Town of Woodruff
Salt Lake County
Town of AltaBluffdale CityCity of DraperHerrimanHolladay-Cottonwood City
Midvale CityMurray CityRiverton CitySalt Lake CitySandy City
City of South JordanCity of South Salt LakeCity of TaylorsvilleWest Jordan CityWest Valley City
San Juan County
Blanding City City of Monticello
Sanpete County
Centerfield TownEphraim CityFairview CityTown of Fayette
Fountain Green CityGunnison CityManti CityMayfield Town
Moroni CityMt. Pleasant CitySpring CityTown of SterlingWales Town
Sevier County
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cities
Annabella TownCity of AuroraElsinore TownGlenwood Town
Joseph TownKoosharem TownMonroe CityRedmond Town
Richfield CitySalina CitySigurd Town
Summit County
Coalville CityFrancis Town
Henefer TownKamas City
Oakley TownPark City
Tooele County
Grantsville CityOphir Town
Rush Valley TownStockton Town
Tooele CityVernon TownCity of Wendover
Uintah County
Ballard Town City of Naples Vernal City
Utah County
Alpine CityAmerican Fork CityCedar Fort TownTown of Cedar HillsEagle MountainElk Ridge TownTown of GenolaTown of Goshen
Highland City Lehi CityLindon CityMapleton CityCity of OremPayson CityPleasant Grove CityCity of Provo
Salem CitySantaquin CitySaratoga SpringsSpanish Fork CitySpringville CityVineyard TownWoodland Hills Town
Wasatch County
Charleston TownMidway City
Heber City Wallsburg Town
Washington County
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cities
City of EnterpriseHildale CityHurricane CityTown of IvinsLaVerkin CityLeeds TownNew Harmony Town
Town of RockvilleCity of St. GeorgeCity of Santa ClaraTown of SpringdaleToquerville TownVirgin TownWashington City
Wayne County
Bicknell TownHanksville TownLoa Town
Lyman TownMarriott-SlatervilleTorrey Town
Weber County
Far West CityCity of HarrisvilleHuntsville CityNorth Ogden CityOgden City
Plain CityPleasant View CityRiverdale CityRoy CitySouth Ogden City
Town of UintahCity of Washington TerraceWest Haven City
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names
History of County Names
Beaver County: Recognizes the plentiful beavers in the area.
Box Elder: Box Elder County is abundant with Box Elder Trees.
Cache County: Named for the fur stashes made by many of the Rocky Mountain Fur Company trappers.
Carbon County: Named for the coal in the area.
Daggett County: The first Utah Surveyor General was named Ellworth Daggett, therefore Daggett County.
Davis County: Named after Daniel C. Davis, a captain in the Mormon Battalion.
Duchesne County: The origin of the county name Duchesne is uncertain. There are six interesting possibilities. The Ute Indian word doo-shane meaning dark anyon. Fort Duchesne, built by the French. Rose Du Chense, founder of the sacred heart in Utah . An early Indian chief in the region. Du Chasne, possibly an 1830's French Fur Trapper. Andre Duchense, a French geographer and historian.
Emery County: Named after George W. Emery, 1875 governor of the Utah Territory.
Garfield County: Named after the 1892 President James S. Garfield.
Grand County: Named after the Grande River, now known as the Colorado River.
Iron County: Originally called Little Salt Lake Valley, later changed in reminder of the Iron mines west of Cedar City.
Juab County: Juab is derived from an Indian word meaning thirsty valley or valley.
Kane County: Named after Col. Thomas L. Kane, a friend of the Mormon settlers.
Piute County: Strictly named in reminder of the Piute Indians.
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names
Millard County: Honors the US President Millard Fillmore.
Morgan County: Jedediah Morgan Grant was the father of the LDS President Heber J. Grant.
Rich County: Named in Honor of a early LDS apostle, Charles C. Rich.
Salt Lake County: Named because of its nearness to the Great Salt Lake.
Juan County: There is a dispute of name origin for San Juan County, one explanation is the Spanish explorers and the other is the San Juan River.
Sanpete County: Sanpete possibly comes from a Ute Indian Chief named San Pitch.
Sevier County: Named after the Sevier River.
Summit County: Summit County includes 39 of the State's highest peaks.
Tooele County: The exact origin of the name is unknown, though many believe that the name Tooele is from an Indian Chief named Tuilla.
Uintah County: Named for the Ute Indian tribe that lives in the basin.
Utah County: Apparently anglicized form the word Yuta, which is what the Spanish Explores called the Ute Indians.
Wasatch County: A Lite Indian word meaning mountain pass or low place in the high mountains.
Washington County:Named in honor of George Washington, the first US President.
Wayne County: Supposedly named for Wayne Robinson the son of state legislator Willis E. Robinson. A counter claim for the name's origin is the Revolutionary War General Anthony Wayne.
Weber County: Named after the Weber Basin area.
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class
COUNTIES by CLASS
CLASS COUNTY POPULATION
First Salt Lake 875,525
700,000+
Second Utah 340,877
125,000-700,000 Davis 236,016
Weber 192,674
Third Cache 83,440
18,000-125,000 Washington 82,436
Box Elder 41,974
Iron 28,103
Tooele 26,739
Uintah 25,307
Summit 25,882
Carbon 21,320
Sanpete 19,613
Sevier 18,081
Fourth Duchesne 13,656
10,000-18,000 San Juan 13,543
Wasatch 13,228
Millard 12,093
Emery 10,360
Fifth Grand 9,260
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class
3,500-10,000 Beaver 8,251
Morgan 6,812
Juab 6,635
Kane 6,856
Garfield 4,645
Sixth Wayne 2,587
1-3,500 Rich 1,823
Piute 1,535
Daggett 737
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Utah.gov - Living In Utah - Citizen and Community
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Home / Living In Utah / Citizen & Community / County Map
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boxelder
Box Elder County
Area: 5,614 square miles; population: 36,485 (in 1990); county seat: Brigham City; origin of county name: named for the many box elder trees growing there; principal cities/towns: Brigham City (15,644), Tremonton (4,264), Garland (1,637), Willard (1,298), Perry (1,211), Honeyville (1,112), Bear River City (700), Clarkston (645), Corinne 639);
economy: agriculture, aerospace/defense; points of interest: Willard Bay, Crystal Hot Springs, Brigham City Museum and Gallery, Golden Spike National Historic Site, Box Elder LDS Tabernacle in Brigham City, Willard Historic
District, Bear River Migratory Bird Refuge. Located in the upper northwest corner of the state of Utah, Box Elder County is part of the Great Basin region and embraces a large land area extending from the west spur of the Wasatch Mountains to the Idaho border and westward to Nevada. It includes portions of the Great Salt Lake and the Great Salt Lake Desert. On the east are lower course and deltas of the Bear River, the Malad River Valley, and the Promontory
Mountains. Diverse is topography, the county contains rich farmlands as well as extensive marshlands at the mouth of the Bear River.
Prehistoric big-game hunters seeking mammoths, camels, and bison roamed the area as early as 12,000 years ago, as did Indians of the later Plains Culture. Danger Cave, Promontory Caves, Hogup Cave, and Shallow Shelter are among
the important archaeological sites found in Box Elder County. During the 1820s and 1830s fur trappers, including Peter Skene Ogden and Joseph R. Walker, explored the eastern and northern parts of the county. Permanent white
settlement began in 1851 when a group of Mormons took up land in North Willow Creek (Willard). Brigham City was settled that year. Because the land was already inhabited by Shoshoni Indians, livestock raids and violent clashes
between Indians and settlers were common until Territorial Governor James Duane Doty negotiated the Treaty of Box Elder on July 30, 1863 in Brigham City.
In 1856 the territorial legislature created Box Elder County from part of Weber County. Its boundaries were redefined in 1880 when the legislature divided the water and islands of the Great Salt Lake around Salt Lake, Davis, Weber,
Tooele, and Box Elder counties.
The most significant even in Box Elder County history took place on May 10th, 1869 at Promontory when the driving of the Golden Spike joined the Central Pacific railroads to complete the transcontinental line. Corinne, a feisty, non-
Mormon boomtown, became the freight transfer point for goods shipped to Idaho and Montana. In July 1870 Corinne residents spurred the founding of the Liberal Party to oppose the Mormons' People's party.
Agriculture has always played an important role in the economy of Box Elder County. Some 43 percent of the county's land is used for agriculture purposes. Besides the standard crops of hay, grain, and alfalfa, beginning in 1901
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sugar beets were also raised, and kept two sugar factories, one in Garland and the other in Brigham City, operating for many years. Abundant fruit orchards and garden crops continue to contribute to the local economy. Since 1957, when Thiokol Chemical (now Morton-Thiokol) began its Brigham City operation, defense and aerospace have dominated the local economy and presently employ some 5,000 people. Morton-Thiokol built the Minuteman missile and the
space shuttle booster rockets.
Linda Thatcher
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cache
Cache County
Area: 1,171 square miles; population: 70,180 (in 1990); county seat: Logan, origin of county name: derived from the French verb cacher, "to hide," because early trappers in Cache Valley concealed their pelts and supplies for safekeeping;
principal cities/towns: Logan (32,762), Smithfield (5,566), Hyrum (4,829), North Logan (3,788), Providence (3,344), Wellsville (2,206), Hyde Park (2,190), Richmond (1,955), Lewiston (1,532), Nibely (1,167); economy: manufacturing, trade, education, agriculture, dairying; points of interest: Cache National Forest, Logan Canyon, Hardware Elk Ranch,
Beaver Ski Resort, Hyrum Lake State Park, Ronald V. Jensen Living Historical Farm, Logan LDS Temple, Logan LDS Tabernacle, Wellsville LDS Tabernacle, Logan Historical District, Utah State University (Old Main, Nora Eccles
Harrison Art Museum). Cache County, located in the northern part of the state, is bordered by the Wasatch Mountains on the east and a spur of the Wasatch, the Wellsville Mountains, on the west. The Bear River flows through the
northwestern corner of the county where the Little Bear, Blacksmith Fork, and Logan rivers add their waters to it. Cache County was formed in 1856 by the territorial legislature and its boundaries where redefined in 1864 when part of Cache
became Richland (Rich) County.
Northern Utah was part of the Plains culture area and, later, Shoshoni territory. Between 1824 and 1855 Cache Valley was repeatedly visited by trappers and explorers. Among the early trappers in the area were James Weber and Jim
Bridger in 1824 and Peter Skene Ogden and James Beckwourth in 1825.
Settlement of Cache Valley by the Mormons began in 1855 when a group organized by Bryant Stringham drove a herd of cattle into the valley on July 29th and camped at Haw Bush Spring, later know as Elkhorn Ranch. Because the winter of 1855-56 was very severe, the cattle were driven back to the Salt Lake Valley. Peter Maughan, sent to Cache Valley in
1856, founded a permanent settlement called Maughan's Fort, which became the present town of Wellsville. More settlers began to arrive and five towns (Providence, Mendon, Logan, Richmond, and Smithfield) were settled in 1859.
The Utah Northern Railroad between Brigham City and Logan was completed in early 1873 and was later extended into Idaho. A branch line from Brigham City to Corinne then tied Cache County to the transcontinental line. The railroad
provided jobs for Cache residents and also opened new markets for their farm produce, especially grain and dairy products. By 1880 national market trends had begun to affect the local farm economy. Advances in dry-farming
techniques and canal and reservoir construction increased farm production, fruit and vegetables became cash crops, and the building of grain elevators in the 1890s allowed Cache farmers to store grain until prices improved. The county's sheep herds grew from 10,000 in 1880 to 300,000 by 1900, and dairy cows numbered 16,000 by 1910. Commercial
creameries, flour mills, woolen mills, and knitting factories developed around Cache's booming turn-of-the-century farm production. Today, Cache County continues as the state's leader in dairy products and also as a major producer of hay,
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alfalfa, and grains.
The founding of Utah State University (USU) in Logan as a land-grant agricultural college in 1888 provided the key to the county's future. USU's scientific research, agricultural extension services, and experimental farms have benefited farmers in every part of the state. With some 12,000 students currently enrolled, USU has grown to be the county's
largest single employer. Course offerings now include almost all academic subjects, and the university has become a major cultural resource for the community and state. A variety of manufacturing firms, retail trade outlets, and service providers (including government services) contribute to Cache County's diversified economy in the twentieth century.
Linda Thatcher
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rich
Rich County
Area: 1,034 square miles; population: 1,725 (in 1990); county seat: Randolph; origin of county name: two versions exist-(1) named for the fertility of the Bear River Valley (the county was first called Richland), (2) named for Charles C.
Rich, a Mormon apostle, instrumental in the settlement of the Bear Lake area; principal cities/towns: Randolph (488), Laketown (261), Garden City (193); economy: agriculture, cattle, sheep, recreation; points of interest: Bear Lake State Park, Rendezvous Beach State Park, Randolph LDS Tabernacle. Rich County, located in the upper northeastern corner of Utah, occupies a long, narrow area approximately eighteen miles wide and fifty-six miles long, extending north of
Echo Canyon. It is bordered on the east by Wyoming, on the north by Idaho (with the southern half of Bear Lake extending into the county), on the west by several Utah counties and the Wasatch National Forest, and on the south by
Summit County.
Fur trappers visited the Bear Lake Valley as early as 1811 when Joseph Miller reportedly discovered the Bear River. The area around the Bear River became a favorite spot for trappers, and the annual trappers' rendezvous was held on the
south shore of Bear Lake in 1827 and in 1828. The Oregon Trail cut through a corner of the county. Dr. Marcus Whitman and his wife, Narcissa Prentiss Whitman, the famous Oregon pioneers, traveled on this trail in 1836. The first permanent white settler in the area was Thomas L. "Peg Leg" Smith, who operated a cattle business along with a trading
post and horse exchange for Indians and Oregon Trail immigrants on the Bear River where Dingle, Idaho, is located today. Brigham Young unsuccessfully attempted to purchase his business in 1848, but Smith remained in the area until
1863 when he became discouraged and left.
When Congress passed the Homestead Act of 1862, Brigham Young became anxious to obtain control of the land before non-Mormons did. In August 1863 he called Charles C. Rich to lead an exploring party into the Bear Lake
Valley to select a site for settlement. The first settlement, known as North Twin Creek and later as Paris Creek, was made near present Paris, Idaho. Since Bannock and Shoshoni Indians also used the valley, Rich obtained their
permission to settle there in order to minimize conflicts. Other settlements were soon founded, including Round Valley in 1863, Kennedyville, (Garden City) and Laketown in 1864, Woodruff in 1865, Randolph in 1870, and Argyle in 1875.
Originally part of Green River County, which was formed in 1852, the county became Richland County in 1864. The name was shortened to Rich in 1868, and a final alteration occurred in 1872 when part of Cache County was added to
the county by the territorial legislature.
Harsh winters affected the settlement of the Bear Lake Valley. Woodruff averages only fifty-seven frost-free days a year and holds the record for the coldest temperature ever recorded in the state (minus 50(F on 6 February 1899). Even
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though much of Rich County is highland, it also has fertile lowlands that support productive farms and livestock, and three-fourths of the county's land is used for agriculture, primarily grazing. Livestock and livestock products account for the greater part of the county's income. The development of Bear Lake as a popular recreation area with resorts, public
beaches, and summer homes has helped to diversify Rich County's economy.
Linda Thatcher
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weber
Weber County
Area: 644 square miles; population: 158,330 (in 1990); county seat: Ogden; origin of county name: from early trapper John Weber; principal cities/towns: Ogden (63,909), Roy (24,603), South Ogden (12,105), North Ogden (11,668),
Washington Terrace (8,189); economy: defense, transportation, warehousing, distribution, retailing, tourism, recreation, health care, printing; points of interest: Ogden Union Station (Browning Firearms Museum, Browning Kimball Vintage
Car Collection), Fort Buenaventura State Park, Pineview Reservoir, Willard Bay State Park, Snow Basin, Powder Mountain, Nordic Valley, Ogden's Historic 25th Street, Ogden Nature Center, Abbey of Our Lady of the Holy Trinity in
Huntsville, Weber State College, Eccles Community Art Center. Weber County has long been the crossroads of Utah and the Intermountain West. Its eastern boundary is the spine of the Wasatch Mountains with their towering peaks and
sharp valleys. It extends west into Great Salt Lake. Both mountains and flatlands are laced by the Ogden and Weber rivers and their tributaries.
Nomadic Shoshone, Ute, and prehistoric Indians favored the area for centuries, hunting in the mountains and foothills and fishing in the streams. Mounds near the confluence of the Weber and Ogden rivers contain remains of their camps.
American and British mountain men entered the area in the early 1800s, trapping beaver and trading with the Indians. In 1824 Jim Bridger became the first white man to report sighting Great Salt Lake. Peter Skene Ogden traversed the high
valley just behind the Wasatch Front in 1825 and is remembered in the name of the area's largest city¾although he never visited the actual site. The first accurate maps of the area were drawn by John C. Fremont, after he visited the
mouth of the Weber River in 1843.
Permanent settlement began in 1843 when horse trader/trapper Miles Goodyear built a fort and trading post on the banks of the Weber River, near where it meets the Ogden River. Late in 1847 he sold his claim to James Brown, a veteran of the Mormon Battalion, for $1,950 in gold coins, and the property became Brown's Fort, also known as Brownsville.
Within three years the community had 1,141 residents and its name was changed permanently to Ogden and the surrounding area designated as Weber County. Growth accelerated in 1869 when the nation's first transcontinental
railroad was completed on 10 May at Promontory Summit, sixty miles northwest of Ogden; the junction for transfer of rolling stock, passengers, and freight was quickly moved to more conveniently located Ogden, nicknamed "Junction
City." Other industries established included woolen mills, canneries, livestock yards, flour mills, breweries, iron works, banks, hotels, and telephone, telegraph, and power companies. Ogden inventor John M. Browning patented in 1879 a
new, single-shot rifle--the first of more than 100 firearms developed by the Brownings and sold all over the world.
Weber County's next sizable population explosion came just before and during World War II when the military built
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Defense Depot Ogden in northern Weber County and Hill Air Force Base and the Naval Supply Depot in nearby Davis County. DDO and Hill continue to provide many jobs for Weber County residents. The war also placed increased
demands on the transportation network, and as many as 150 regular and special trains moved through Ogden's Union Station on many days in 1944.
Weber County has definitely entered the space age. A number of aerospace industries have offices and other facilities here, and manufacturing plants produce powerful, miniature, jet engines for aircraft and missiles and Jetway loading bridges for airports worldwide. Weber State University (with some 13,000 students), the U.S. Forest Service regional headquarters, the IRS Service Center, and the McKay-Dee and St. Benedict's hospitals are among the county's major
employers in the 1990s.
Murray M. Moler
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summit
Summit County
Area: 1,849 square miles; population: 15,518 (in 1990); county seat: Coalville; origin of county name: the county includes high mountain summits that form the divides of the Weber, Bear, and Green River drainage areas; principal
cities/towns: Park City (4,468), Coalville (1,065), Kamas (1,061); points of interest: Park City area ski resorts, Park City Historic District, Rockport State Park, Echo Reservoir, High Uinta Wilderness Area; economy: skiing, tourism, lumbering, livestock. Summit County was created in 1854 from Green River and Great Salt Lake counties, and
Coalville was chosen as the county seat. The Uinta Mountains dominate the eastern portion of the county, and the western section is a high back valley of the Wasatch Mountains.
The first white men to visit the area were fur trappers and traders in the 1820s and 1830s. Until the arrival of the Mormons in 1847, Summit County was hunting grounds for Northern Shoshone Indians. The Weber and Provo rivers,
draining the western slope of the Uintas, provided the Indians with fish, among other benefits.
In 1846 Lansford W. Hastings, a California promoter, announced a new cutoff on the California Trail that would eliminate several hundred miles and many days of travel. The cutoff turned southwest from Fort Bridger, Wyoming, and entered Utah and the northeastern corner of Summit County through Echo Canyon. It followed the Weber River to Salt Lake Valley, went around the south shore of the Great Salt Lake, and then west into Nevada. The first group to take this new cutoff was the Donner-Reed party in 1846. Blazing a road through the Wasatch Mountains cost them many days,
and when they reached the Sierra they ran into early snow, with well-known tragic results. Many lost their lives. A year later, the pioneering Mormons adopted part of the Hastings Cutoff, but when they reached the Weber River they turned southwest to Emigration Canyon. This became the main trail for the immigration of the Mormons to Utah. In 1869 the
Union Pacific Railroad, builder of the eastern portion of the transcontinental railroad, followed the Hastings Cutoff, and today part of Interstate 80 follows the Hastings and Mormon trails and the Union Pacific route through northern Summit
County.
The first settlers in Summit County arrived at Parley's Park in 1850. Wanship was settled in 1854, followed by Coalville, Hoytsville, and Henefer in 1859. When coal was discovered near Coalville, the Mormons established a
mission there. During the 1860s, wagons hauled tons of coal from Coalville to the Salt Lake Valley settlements. In 1873 the Utah Eastern Railroad built a line from Echo Junction to Coalville to haul coal. This line eventually became part of
the Union Pacific Railroad.
The discovery of silver, lead, and zinc in the Wasatch Mountains in the 1870s soon overshadowed the settlement and economic activities of the rest of the county. Park City, a mining town founded in 1872, continued to expand into the
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twentieth century. Many individuals made fortunes from the Park City mines. Mansions on South Temple in Salt Lake City reflect some of this wealth. Mining continued until the 1950s, at which time it no longer was profitable. For several
decades Park City was on the verge of becoming a ghost town, but the area's rugged terrain and deep snow led to its rebirth as a winter sports center. Skiing currently is a major economic activity in western Summit County, while the rest of the county is still noted for its farming and ranching. Other recreational opportunities, including boating, fishing, and
tourism add to the county's diversified economy.
Craig Fuller
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morgan
Morgan County
Area: 603 square miles; population: 5,528 (in 1990); county seat: Morgan City; origin of county name: after LDS leader Jedediah Morgan Grant; principal cities/towns: Morgan City (2,023); economy: livestock, manufacturing; points of
interest: Lost Creek State Park, East Canyon State Park, Mountain Green trappers' confrontation site. Located in a high valley of the Wasatch Mountains, Morgan County is divided by the Weber River. The many streams that feed into the
Weber made the valley attractive to fur trappers in the 1820s and to prehistoric Plains Indians and historic Shoshone and Ute Indians. In 1825, near present Mountain Green, trappers of the British Hudson's Bay Company under Peter Skene
Ogden came dangerously close to fighting competing American trappers, but Ogden kept the situation from becoming a major international incident.
The county was created in 1862. During the Utah War (1857-58) settlers in the town of Milton supplied feed for the horses of Mormon troops stationed in canyon passes watching for Johnston's Army. Lot Smith of Stoddard blocked
Echo Canyon, burned U.S. Army supply trains, and stampeded government horses and cattle. Despite such incidents, the "war" was settled peacefully.
Morgan has more privately owned land than any other county in Utah. Much of it is used for stock raising-especially beef and dairy cattle and sheep-and for hay and other field crops. Lumber was a major industry from 1860 to 1875 in
Hardscrabble Canyon. Thousands of railroad ties were furnished to build the Union Pacific Railroad line, and charcoal was shipped to Bingham for use in smelting. During the building of the railroad in 1868 a number of businesses opened
in Morgan City, and it became the county's trade center.
In 1904 the Morgan Canning Company was founded to can peas. The business grew and a second factory was built in Smithfield, Cache County. The company was sold to the California Packing Corporation in 1935. The manufacturing of Portland cement is a major local industry. This important industrial product has been produced at the Devil's Slide plant
for more than eighty years. In addition to limestone-the main ingredient in cement-silver, lead, copper, coal, iron, sulphur, and mica have been found in Morgan County, but most mining has been on a small scale. Agriculture,
manufacturing, and trade do not provide enough jobs for county residents, and in recent years more than half of those employed-the largest percentage in any Utah county-have worked outside Morgan, mostly in the greater Ogden area.
The county has benefited from the Weber Basin Reclamation Project. Beginning in 1952 federal funds were used to construct dams and power plants. The Lost Creek and East Canyon reservoirs constructed as part of the project, are
popular recreation sites for people throughout northern Utah.
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morgan
Miriam B. Murphy
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salt lake
Salt Lake County
Area: 764 square miles; population: 725,956 (1990); county seat: Salt Lake City (also the state capital); origin of county name: from the Great Salt Lake; principal cities/towns: Salt Lake City (159,936), West Valley City (86,976), Sandy
(75,058), West Jordan (42,892), Murray (31,282), Kearns (17,000), Midvale (11,886); economy: wholesale and retail trade, manufacturing, services, transportation and communications, finance, mining, construction, tourism, agriculture; points of interest: State Capitol building, Temple Square, Beehive House, Pioneer Trail State Park, Utah Museum of
Natural History, Fort Douglas, Hogle Zoo, Liberty Park, Delta Center, Salt Palace Complex, Great Salt Lake, Wheeler Historic Farm, Bingham copper mine, LDS Church Museum of History and Art, Salt Lake Art Center, Utah State
Historical Society, ski resorts at Alta, Brighton, Snowbird, and Solitude. The fertile Salt Lake Valley lies between the Wasatch Mountains on the east and the Oquirrhs on the west. The active Wasatch Fault runs through the eastern part of the county. The Jordan River flows north through the valley to Great Salt Lake, and canyon streams provide culinary
and agricultural water and in pioneer times powered mills.
Centuries before white settlement of the area, prehistoric Indian groups and the historic Northern Shoshone and Ute Indians used the area for hunting, fishing, and gathering seasonal foods. The first white men known to see the valley
were trappers associated with William H. Ashley in 1824-25.
Permanent settlement began in 1847 with the arrival of the first Mormon wagon train, which included three women and three blacks. The advance company planted the first crops on 23 July, and the pioneers at Brigham Young's direction
explored nearby areas, built a fort, and surveyed Salt Lake City. In October 1847 seventeen-year-old Mary Jane Dilworth opened the first school in her tent. In the next two years a dozen towns were founded in the county. With self-
sufficiency a major goal, the settlers established basic industries to supply everything from pottery to printing paper. They experimented with mixed success in growing many different kinds of plants, raising silkworms, and refining sugar. The county was temporarily abandoned in 1858 during the Utah War. In 1862 U.S. troops established Fort
Douglas to protect overland communications and to watch the Mormons.
Tens of thousands of Mormon immigrants funneled through Salt Lake City to outlying settlements, and, additionally, the city was the last major supply point for thousands of California-bound travelers. As the headquarters of the LDS
Church and later the territorial and state capital, Salt Lake City and its county have always been the center not only of Utah's population but also of its political and economic power.
Political diversity came to the county in 1870 with the founding of the non-Mormon Liberal party. Until statehood in 1896 the Mormon-Gentile conflict was intense. Industrial development in the late nineteenth and early twentieth
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centuries brought ethnic diversity with the arrival of many southern and eastern Europeans, blacks, Chinese, Japanese, and Mexicans. The migration of Native Americans to the larger cities and the recent immigration of southeast Asians
and others continue the trend.
Although cities and suburbs now cover much of the land, the county retains traces of its agricultural beginning as a producer of eggs, hogs, wheat, and garden vegetables. Mines in Alta and Bingham, smelters in Garfield and Murray,
and the Salt Lake Mining and Stock Exchange made the county a regional mining hub. Printing and publishing, which began in 1850, continue as major industries. Other important manufactured goods include pharmaceuticals, candy and other food products, computers, military guidance systems, and artificial organs. The county also remains the state's
leader in trade, services, transportation, communications, finance, insurance, and construction. Salt Lake International Airport, major medical facilities, and television broadcasting, for example, serve the state as a whole as well as parts of
the Intermountain region.
Government, including public education, is the leading employer in the county. The founding of the University of Desert (Utah) in 1850 and the dedication of the Salt Lake Theatre in 1862 provide two examples of the early
commitment of residents to education and culture. The county is home to several public and private colleges and dozens of theatrical, musical, and dance organizations, as well as major professional sports clubs.
Miriam B. Murphy
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tooele
Tooele County
Area: 6,923 square miles; population: 26,601 (in 1990); county seat: Tooele City; origin of county name: probably from tule, a Spanish word of Aztec origin, meaning bulrush, a marsh plant; principal cities/towns: Tooele City (13,887),
Grantsville (4,500), Wendover (1,122); economy: defense, transportation, communications, trade, services; points of interest: Bonneville Speedway, Deseret Peak Wilderness Area, Ophir Town Hall, Grantsville First Ward, Old Pony Express and Stage Route, Iosepa Cemetery, Great Salt Lake. Tooele County is Basin and Range country. Most of its
towns lie in a broad valley between the mineral-rich Oquirrh Mountains on the eastern border and the Onaqui and Stansbury mountains to the west. The Great Salt Lake Desert covers most of western Tooele County, except the
southwest corner where the Deep Creek Mountains rise.
Prehistoric Indian sites have been discovered in the county, but it is the Goshutes, a branch of the Western Shoshone, who claim this harsh environment as their ancestral homeland. Their ingenious use of the limited plant and animal resources of the area amazed the first white travelers. The Goshutes currently have a reservation in Skull Valley.
Tuilla, as it was originally spelled, was one of six counties created in January 1850. Its boundaries were changed a number of times before it achieved its present size as the state's second largest county.
The Mormons herded livestock in Tooele Valley before permanent settlement began in 1849. The early settlers farmed, built gristmills and sawmills, and manufactured salt, charcoal, lime, adobe bricks, and woolen products. Large sheep
and cattle herds were developed, and hay and grain became important crops. But mining and smelting, not agriculture, led the county's growth from the 1860s to World War II.
The Rush Valley Mining District, organized in 1864 by soldiers from Fort Douglas, included all of the western Oquirrhs. More than 500 mining claims were located during the first year. Of the mining towns founded in Tooele County, Ophir and Mercur became the most important. Ophir boomed in the 1870s with an estimated population of
6,000 and mines that produced millions of dollars in silver, lead, zinc, and gold. Mercur endured several boom and bust cycles as well as two major fires; with a population estimated as high as 10,000 it flirted briefly with the idea of taking
the county seat from Tooele City.
The International Smelting and Refining Company's smelter, built east of Tooele City in 1910, for some sixty years processed ore carried by aerial tramway from the Bingham mine. The plant attracted workers from southern and eastern
Europe, diversifying Tooele's ethnic and religious mix. The Tooele Valley Railroad, completed in 1909, served the smelter's needs and provided additional jobs.
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Military installations built during World War II boosted the county's population and continue to pump millions of dollars into the local economy. Wendover Air Force Base (now closed) near the Nevada border became an important
site for bomber training, at one time employing almost 20,000 military and civilian personnel. Tooele Ordnance Depot (now Tooele Army Depot, or TAD), built in 1942 on a huge tract of land south of Tooele City, served as a major
supply, storage, and repair center, employing almost 2,000 civilians in 1944. Activity at TAD peaked during the Korean War and again during the Vietnam conflict. Dugway Proving Grounds, a chemical and biological warfare test center
built at the same time, became controversial in the 1970s when a large number of sheep in the area were killed, presumably as a result of nerve gas testing. Today, most of western Tooele County is reserved for military use. Citizens
of Tooele County received a major economic blow in 1993 when the Tooele Army Depot was included on a Defense Department list of bases to be closed. Although the closure of the depot will undoubtedly greatly affect the county,
citizens and officials are working to mitigate the impact.
Miriam B. Murphy
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utah
Utah County
Area: 2,014 square miles; population: 263,590 (in 1990); county seat: Provo; origin of county name: after the Ute Indians; principal cities and towns: Provo (86,835); Orem (67,561); American Fork (15,696); Springville (13,950);
Pleasant Grove (13,476); Spanish Fork (11,272); Payson (9,510); Lehi (8,475); economy: steel industry, light manufacturing, agriculture; points of interest: Fairfield Stagecoach Inn, historic downtown Provo, Brigham Young University (Monte L. Bean Life Sciences Museum, Museum of People and Culture, Harris Fine Arts Center), Utah
Lake, Timpanogos Cave National Monument, Springville Museum of Art, Hutchings Museum of Natural History in Lehi, McCurdy Historical Doll Museum in Provo, Bridal Veil Falls, Sundance ski resort. The most striking geographical features of Utah County are the Wasatch Mountains along the eastern boundary, and Utah Lake, the state's largest fresh-
water lake. The high mountains, rising over 11,000 feet, receive heavy snowfall which feeds the numerous rivers and creeks that flow into the lake. Though large in surface area, Utah Lake is very shallow--18 feet at its deepest point.
Before the valley was settled by Mormon pioneers in the 1840s and 1850s it was the home of the Ute Indians. They lived along the eastern shore of the lake and used fish from the lake as their main food source. These Indians were
described as peaceful and kind by the Spanish Catholic priests Dominguez and Escalante, who observed them in 1776. Dominguez and Escalante were trying to find a route between Santa Fe, New Mexico, and what is now southern
California. When they came down Spanish Fork Canyon in the summer of 1776 they were the first non-Indians to enter Utah Valley.
Mormon pioneers began settling Utah Valley in 1849. Like the Indians before them, they chose to settle on the fertile, well-watered strip of land between the mountains and Utah Lake. More than a dozen towns were established between
Lehi on the north and Santaquin on the south. Provo, named for the French fur trapper Etienne Provost, has always been the largest town and the county seat.
In March 1849 thirty-three families, composed of about 150 people, were called to go to Utah Valley under the leadership of John S. Higbee to fish, farm, and teach the Indians. During the next two years (1850 and 1851)
communities were established at Lehi, Alpine, American Fork, Pleasant Grove, Springville, Spanish Fork, Salem, and Payson.
Farming was the most important early industry in the county, with fruit growing and the processing of sugar beets being especially important. The first large-scale sugar beet factory in Utah was built in Lehi in 1890. In recent years, the
center of the fruit industry in the county has shifted from Orem to the south end of the valley, where orchards are not threatened by housing developments.
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Mining was also an important industry in Utah County. In the late 1800s and early 1900s there were many successful mines in American Fork Canyon and in the Tintic mining district centered near Eureka, Juab County but included part
of western Utah County. Many of the fine homes and business buildings in Provo were constructed with mining money.
Today, Utah County is best known as the home of the Geneva steel plant and Brigham Young University. Geneva was constructed at this inland location during World War II in case the steel plants near the coast were destroyed in the war.
BYU was established in 1875 as a small high-school level "academy," but it has grown to become a major university with 27,000 students. The Utah Valley State College at Orem has grown rapidly and is now a four-year college. Other
major Utah County employers include WordPerfect Corporation and Novell, two companies that began in Utah County and have become international leaders in the computer software industry.
Each of the major communities in the county have high schools and libraries. A culturally active area, the county has its own symphony¾the Utah Valley Symphony, and one of the state's finest art museums: the Springville Art Museum.
Provo's Fourth of July Celebration is the largest in the state and other special community celebrations include Pleasant Grove Strawberry Days, the Lehi Round-up, Steel Days in American Fork, Fiesta Days in Spanish Fork, Golden Onion
Days in Payson, and the World Folkfest in Springville.
Roger Roper
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wayne
Wayne County
Area: 2,486 square miles; population: 2,177 (in 1990); county seat: Loa; origin of county name: after state legislator Willis E. Robison's son Wayne; principal cities/towns: Loa (444), Bicknell (327); economy: cattle, lumber, tourism;
points of interest: Capitol Reef and Canyonlands national parks, Horseshoe (Barrier) Canyon pictographs; Fruita schoolhouse, Teasdale Tithing Office and Granary, Thousand Lake Mountain (11,305 feet). Wayne County lies entirely
within the Colorado Plateau geographical province and includes portions of Capitol Reef and Canyonlands National Parks. The Fremont River flows South into the county from Fish Lake and then east to join the Dirty Devil, a tributary
of the Green River. The Green marks the county's eastern border. Scientists have identified the remains of extinct Pleistocene-epoch species, including the sloth, horse, bison, and camel, in Wayne County, and dated Archaic and
Fremont Indian sites (Cowboy Caves) as having been occupied between 6300 B.C. and A.D. 450. Horseshoe (Barrier) Canyon and the Maze section of Canyonlands in eastern Wayne contain spectacular pictographs. In historic times the
county was part of the Ute Indians' domain.
Wayne was created in May 1892 from Piute County. Most of the towns in Wayne were settled after 1880 because of the remote location and limited resources. Raising livestock is the oldest and most important industry; beef cattle produce
the most income, but dairy cows, sheep, and poultry have all contributed to the local economy in the past. Getting cattle to market was difficult. Until good roads were built in the 1930s, stock was driven some 100 miles north to the railroad
at Nephi and later to a Denver and Rio Grande branch line in Sevier County.
The creation of national forests in the early twentieth century reduced the number of cattle that could be grazed in western Wayne County, and cattle rustling by the notorious Robbers Roost Gang threatened ranchers until the late
1890s. The lumber industry and, in more recent years, tourism also provide income for some residents. Uranium has been mined, and tar sands, another energy-related resource, await development. The state operates two fish hatcheries in
Wayne.
During the Great Depression the Works Progress Administration (WPA) provided funds to build a county courthouse in Loa. County officials originally met in private homes and rented quarters and later converted a store into office space. The Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC), another federal program during the depression, operated three camps in the
county. The CCC built roads, campgrounds, and small water projects. Road building has been a major concern of local government from the beginning. Modern highways now make it easy for tourists to drive to many scenic attractions,
including Capitol Reef National Park, and give residents easy access to Richfield, the nearest commercial center which also provides medical and other services.
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Miriam B. Murphy
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washington
Washington County
Area: 2,422 square miles; population: 48,560 (in 1990); county seat: St. George; origin of county name: after President George Washington; principal cities/towns: St. George (28,502), Washington (4,198), Hurricane (3,915), Santa Clara
(2,322), La Verkin (1,771), Hildale (1,325); economy: tourism, education, services, trade; points of interest: Zion National Park, Snow Canyon State Park, Gunlock Reservoir, Red Cliffs Recreation Site, St. George Temple and
Tabernacle, Pine Valley chapel, Well Fargo & Co. express building in Silver Reef, Washington Cotton Factory, Jacob Hamblin home in Santa Clara, Brigham Young home and Dixie College in St. George. Washington County in the
southwest corner of the state includes a large area around St. George in the valley of the Virgin River and its tributaries; it has the highest average temperatures in the state and very mild winters. The eastern third of the county, including
spectacular Zion National Park, is part of the Colorado Plateau province. The western two- thirds lies in the Basin and Range geographic province. The lowest point in the state, along Beaver Dam Wash (2,350 feet), is near the county's
southwest corner, while the Pine Valley Mountains in the north top 10,000 feet.
Traces of the prehistoric Archaic and Anasazi cultures have been found in the area, and the Santa Clara and Virgin rivers provided an important base for the development of Southern Paiute life. The Dominguez-Escalante expedition in 1776 recorded the first description of the Indians in this area. In 1980 the federal government restored traditional tribal lands west of Santa Clara to the Shivwits branch of Southern Paiutes. The Shivwits Reservation, set aside in 1903, had
been terminated in 1954.
In an attempt to establish an overland route to the Pacific and southern California (the so-called Mormon Corridor), the Mormons founded a string of settlements running southwest from the Salt Lake Valley. Brigham Young sent small
groups into southwestern Utah as early as 1852 to test the agricultural potential of the warm climate. Fort Harmony was established in 1852, Santa Clara, 1854, Washington, 1857; Toquerville, 1858; Grafton, 1859; and Adventure
(Rockville), 1860. But until 1861¾when several hundred families were called by church leaders to go to the area to raise cotton, figs, olives, grapes, sugar, almonds, and tobacco¾colonization remained chiefly an experiment. St. George,
settled in 1861, became the center of the area, nicknamed Dixie because of its southern location, climate and agricultural produce, and the colonists succeeded in producing sizable amounts of cotton, wine, and molasses. The
demand for cotton lasted until after the Civil War. The wine industry also grew during this period, as did mining, but when mining decreased so did the demand for wine. From 1875 to 1880 Silver Reef, northwest of Leeds, was a
booming mining town, and Wells Fargo reportedly shipped more than $8,000,000 in bullion from the mines there.
The boundaries of Washington County, formed in 1852 by the territorial legislature, stretched the entire width of the territory (at that time some 600 miles). After several changes, the county achieved its present size and shape in 1892.
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The economic base of the county has changed significantly over the years from its agricultural foundation to a much more diversified mix. Zion National Park (established in 1909 as Mukuntuweap National Monument) has always been one of the state's premier tourist attractions. The trade and service industries have grown steadily to accommodate not only increasing numbers of tourists but the development of the area as a major retirement center. Communities such as Bloomington, south of St. George, as well as numerous condominiums and trailer parks housing thousands of winter residents. Two- year Dixie College with some 2,300 students is a major employer as well as a cultural and sport focal
point in the area.
During the past three decades, Washington County has been one of the fastest growing counties in the state. In 1970 the population stood at 13,669; during the 1970s it nearly doubled to 26,065 in 1980. It nearly doubled again during the next ten years hitting 48,560 in 1990. Projections for the 1990s are that this growth rate will continue. The county is host to several outstanding events each year, including conferences and conventions, art festivals and art shows, golf
tournaments, the Dixie Rotary Bowl Football Game, the St. George Marathon, and the World Senior Games.
Linda Thatcher
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wasatch
Wasatch County
Area: 1,191 square miles; population: 10,089 (in 1990); county seat: Heber City; origin of county name: from the Wasatch Mountains; principal cities/towns: Heber City (4,782), Midway (1,554), Charleston (336), Wallsburg (252); economy: hay, livestock, recreation; points of interest: Strawberry, Deer Creek, and Jordanelle reservoirs, Wasatch
Mountain State Park, Wasatch LDS Tabernacle in Heber City, Heber Creeper, historic homes in Midway. Heber Valley, one of several back valleys in the Wasatch Mountains, is often called Utah's Switzerland because of the rugged beauty
of Mount Timpanogos located to the west, its climate, and a large population of Swiss that settled in Midway. The county's highest peaks top 10,000 feet, and over half of the land is 7,500 feet above sea level. The climate zone,
classified as undifferentiated highlands, offers cool summers and very cold winters. The average annual precipitation is about sixteen inches.
The county is divided into two watersheds--the Colorado and the Great Basin drainage systems. Because of its annual precipitation and its location between the Uinta and Wasatch mountains, Heber Valley is well endowed with water.
Flowing from the east are Daniels, Lake Fork, and Center creeks. From the north and northeast is the Provo River. From the west Snake Creek drains a central portion of the Wasatch Mountains. Two additional sources of water are man-
made: the Ontario Drain Tunnel west of Keetley drains many of the Park City mines, and the Weber/Provo diversion canal diverts water from the Weber across the Kamas prairie in Summit County to the Provo River in Wasatch County.
Prior to the 1850s, Heber Valley was an important summer hunting ground for the Timpanogos Utes living around Utah Lake. The first white men to visit the county were members of the Dominguez-Escalante expedition in 1776. They skirted Heber Valley, traveling down Diamond Fork to Spanish Fork Canyon and then into Utah Valley. Fifty years
later fur trappers entered the county. In 1824 and 1825 Etienne Provost from Taos, New Mexico, trapped beaver in the Uinta and Wasatch mountains. About the same time, William Henry Ashley and members of his fur company from St.
Louis also hunted and trapped for beaver in the county.
The first settlers came into Wasatch County from Utah Valley in the spring of 1859 and located a short distance north of present Heber City at the London or John McDonald Spring. That same year, Midway and Charleston were also settled. In 1862 the territorial legislature created Wasatch County, which then included all of the Uinta Basin. Wasatch in Ute means "mountain pass" or "low pass over high range." Heber City, named for Mormon Apostle Heber C. Kimball, was selected as the county seat. The last boundary change occurred in 1914 when Duchesne County was created out of the
eastern half of Wasatch County.
The county produces hay, dairy products, sheep and cattle. During the early 1900s, after the Denver and Rio Grande
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Railroad completed a line into the county from Provo, Heber City became an important shipping terminal for wool and sheep. In 1922 the Union Pacific Railroad constructed a spur from Park City to the mines west of Keetley. Lead, zinc, and silver ore were shipped from these mines on this railroad spur. Today neither railroad line is in full operation, and
other economic activities are more important to the county than transportation and mining.
Strawberry Reservoir (completed in the 1910s), Deer Creek Reservoir (completed in the 1940s), and Jordanelle Reservoir (scheduled for completion in the 1990s), together with sparkling streams and beautiful mountain scenery, have made Wasatch a popular recreation area. The county provides excellent opportunities for fishing, boating, and other summer and winter outdoor activities. Also, Heber Valley increasingly is becoming the home for many people
who work in Utah Valley, Park City and Salt Lake City.
Craig Fuller
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uintah
Uintah County
Area: 4,487 square miles; population: 22,211 (in 1990); county seat: Vernal; origin of county name: after the Uinta-Ats Utes; principal cities/towns: Vernal (6,644), Maeser (1,850), Naples (1,334), Ballard (644), Jensen (400), LaPoint (250),
Whiterocks (200), Fort Duchesne (200); economy: cattle, hay and alfalfa, lumber, oil, gas, and oil shale; points of interest: Dinosaur National Monument, Utah Field House of Natural History in Vernal, Steinaker Reservoir, Ouray
National Wildlife Refuge, Stewart Lake Waterfowl Management Area, Red Fleet Reservoir.
The geography of Uintah County diverse and includes the high mountain terrain of the Uinta Mountains, the fertile Ashley Valley, a significant portion of Dinosaur National Monument-including the quarry- and the Green River, which
bisects the county from the northeast to the southwest and forms the boundary between Carbon County and Uintah County. Fort Duchesne, which was established as a military post by the United States Army in 1886 and operated until
1913, is not the headquarters for the Ute Tribe.
Uintah County is located in the central portion of the Uinta Basin, which extends sixty miles into western Colorado. The northern rim of the basin is formed by the Uinta Mountains, the western rim by the Wasatch Mountains, and the
southern rim by the Roan and Book cliffs. The basin is the geological remains of prehistoric Uinta Lake, formed during the late Tertiary period, the same period when sediment was deposited in the lake bottom to form gilsonite, oil shale, tar sands, and oil. Ashley Creek and the White, Uinta, and Green rivers are the major streams in the county. The Green, the
largest of the four, slices through the central portion of the county.
Prehistoric Indian sites suggest that the Uinta Basin was inhabited thousands of years ago by Archaic and more recently by Fremont peoples. In historic times it was part of the Utes' domain. The first white men in the area were Fathers Dominguez and Escalante who traveled through the Uinta Basin in 1776 searching for a land route to Monterey,
California. In his diary Escalante called the basin "a fine plain abounding in pasturage and fertile, arable land, provided it were irrigated." Nearly fifty years later American and French trappers found the Basin rich in beaver and other wildlife. In 1831- 32 Antoine Robidoux, a French trapper licensed by the Mexican government (Utah was part of
Mexico until 1848), built a small trading post near present-day Whiterocks where trappers could trade beaver pelts for supplies. The post was abandoned in 1844 because of difficulties with the Indians.
In 1861 Brigham Young sent a small party to explore the basin for possible settlement. They reported "that all that section of country lying between the Wasatch Mountains and the eastern boundary of the territory, and south of Green
River country, was one vast contiguity of waste and measurably valueless." With this report, Young decided not to send settlers there.
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That same year, President Abraham Lincoln created the Uintah Indian Reservation, thus beginning the relocation of many Utah and Colorado Indians to the Uinta Basin. In the 1880s the Uncompahgre Reservation (now part of the Uintah
and Ouray Reservation) was created in the southern portion of Uintah County. Ashley Valley was not part of either reservation, and by 1880 enough ranchers and farmers had settled there that the territorial legislature created Uintah County, taking most of the land from Wasatch County. The county seat, originally in Ashley, was later moved to the
larger community of Vernal. With the building of irrigation canals other towns were founded, including Jensen, Maeser, and Tridell.
In about 1888 Gilsonite was discovered in various parts of the county and on the eastern portion of the Uncompahgre and Uintah reservations. Miners quickly persuaded the federal government to withdraw 7,000 acres from the Uintah
Reservation so that they could legally mine Gilsonite. This area, called "The Strip," for a time lacked any law and order.
Uintah County's economy rests on farming, ranching, and the removal of oil and gas. It is increasingly influenced by worldwide energy prices.
Uintah High School located in Vernal and Union High School, which serves residents of both Uintah and Duchesne County, is located exactly on the county boundary on the eastern edge of Roosevelt. The county's largest celebration is the Outlaw Festival, a month-long festival held each summer in Vernal which celebrates the Old West traditions and
folklore that were part of the history of Uintah County.
Craig Fuller
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sevier
Sevier County
Area: 1,976 square miles; population: 15,431 (1990); county seat: Richfield; origin of county name: after the Sevier River, from the Spanish Rio Severo; principal cities/towns: Richfield (5,593), Salina (1,943), Monroe (1,472); economy:
livestock, manufacturing, trade; points of interest: Fremont State Park in Clear Creek Canyon, Fish Lake, Big Rock Candy Mountain, Elsinore White Rock School. Sevier County is located in the high plateau country of central Utah.
Most of the towns lie near the Sevier River in a fertile valley bordered on the west by the Pahvant Range and on the east by the Wasatch and Fish Lake plateaus. National forests cover almost half of the county. The area is seismically active,
and a number of earthquakes have centered in the southern part of the county on the Sevier Fault.
Many prehistoric Indian sites have been found. Sudden Shelter, an Archaic site on Ivie Creek, contains the oldest time record in Utah east of the Wasatch¾B.C. 5080 to A.D. 1900. Fremont and Sevier Culture sites continue to be found,
especially during construction projects. Fremont State Park preserves a recently uncovered Fremont Culture prehistoric village.
Travelers on the old Spanish Trail and mountain man Jedediah S. Smith were among those who crossed the county before white settlement. The Southern Exploring Company under Mormon Church apostle Parley P. Pratt visited the area during the winter of 1849-50, and George W. Bean explored the Sevier Valley in 1863. Early in 1864 ten men
settled in the Richfield area, and several other towns were founded in the next few years. However, violent confrontations with the Ute Indians during the Black Hawk War (1865-68) forced the abandonment of all the Sevier
settlements in April 1867. Attempts to resettle did not succeed until 1870.
The area settlement thereafter grew rapidly. Richfield, with eight families and twelve men in 1871, had 753 people by 1874 and was on its way to becoming a major regional commercial center and, eventually, the provider of hospital,
airport, and other services for a large area. Many of the county's early settlers were Scandinavians, who brought distinctive building styles and cultural practices with them.
The Deseret Telegraph extended its line from Gunnison to Monroe in 1872, providing a vital communications link for the area's larger cities. The Denver and Rio Grande Railroad reached Salina in 1891 and Richfield in 1896, improving
the marketing of Sevier County agricultural products. The building of Interstate 70 in the 1980s linked the county to the national freeway system.
Sheep and cattle remain important to the local economy, as do also dairy products, field crops, and, in recent years, turkey raising. Trade and manufacturing-including food processing and building product manufacturing-have
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contributed to the county's growth as well. Sevier County is the state's leading producer of gypsum, a mineral used in building products such as plaster and plasterboard, which is produced at plants in Sigurd. The county has coal mines and
natural gas reserves in the northeast and major geothermal resources that could be tapped for energy production.
A significant impact to the county came in the 1980s with the completion of Interstate 70 through the county, skirting the cities of Richfield and Salina. Construction of the interstate highway uncovered a large Fremont Indian village in
Clear Creek Canyon. This led to the establishment of the Fremont State Park, which opened in 1987.
The county is served by three high schools located in Salina, Richfield, and Monroe. The population of the county has shown a continued increase since 1970 when the population was at 10,976 to 1990 when it had climbed to 15,431.
Miriam B. Murphy
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sanjuan
San Juan County
Area: 7,725 square miles; population: 12,621 (1990); county seat: Monticello; origin of county name: after the San Juan River; principal cities/towns: Blanding (3,162), Monticello (1,806), Bluff (250); economy: livestock, agriculture, mining, tourism; points of interest: Natural Bridges, Rainbow Bridge, and Hovenweep national monuments, Lake
Powell, Glen Canyon National Recreation Area, Canyonlands National Park, Edge of the Cedars State Park in Blanding, St. Christopher's Episcopal Indian Mission in Bluff, Navajo Indian Reservation. San Juan County is a part of the
Colorado Plateau, a geologic region formed mostly of sandstone and limestone that includes two-thirds of the state of Utah as well as parts of Colorado, New Mexico, and Arizona. Mighty rivers like the Colorado and the San Juan have
carved deep canyons and unusual erosional forms through the colorful sedimentary rock, and many people find the area to be spectacularly beautiful on a grand scale.
In prehistoric times, the San Juan country was the home of the Anasazi, whose cliff houses, pictographs, and petroglyphs have baffled and fascinated visitors to the country since their disappearance shortly after A.D. 1300. The
Basket makers, the earliest phase of the Anasazi Culture, were first identified and studied in Grand Gulch. The Navajo Indians, who were perhaps a cause of the disappearance of the Anasazi, now occupy a large part of San Juan County-
from the San Juan River to the Arizona border.
Although there were a few white residents along the San Juan River before 1879, the Mormon scouts who planned the famous Hole-in-the-Rock Trail that year began the full-scale settlement of San Juan County. The 230 pioneers who left
Escalante in the fall of that year arrived at the present site of Bluff on 6 April 1880.
Farming along the San Juan River bottom was a chancy proposition, for the treacherous river either flooded or went dry too often for dependable irrigation. Early cattleman like the brothers Al and Jim Scorup did better in the rough canyon
country than did farmers. After a decade of fighting the elements, many settlers discovered that life was somewhat easier in the high country around the Abajo Mountains, and the towns of Blanding and Monticello replaced Bluff as the
main focal points of San Juan County life.
Mining has been an inconsistent but exciting part of the economy of the county. A gold rush on the San Juan River in the early 1890s was short-lived, but miners in Glen Canyon of the Colorado River eked out a better living from deposits
along the river bars. Oil and gas exploration around the turn of the century was productive, and one can still see wells operating along the San Juan River. The uranium boom of the early 1950s, however, brought large numbers of people
into the area and saw the creation of a few large fortunes.
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At present, most residents see tourism as their most promising economic resource, particularly since the creation of Lake Powell in the early 1960s. Rainbow Bridge is the most popular tourist attraction in the county, but the marinas at Hite, Hall's Crossing, and Piute Farms draw large numbers of visitors, and river trips through Cataract Canyon and on
the San Juan River are also popular.
Gary Topping
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sanpete
Sanpete County
Area: 1,597 square miles: population: 16,259 (1990); county seat: Manti; origin of county name: a corruption of San Pitch, the name of a local Indian tribe; principal cities/towns: Ephraim (3,363), Manti (2,268), Mount Pleasant (2,092),
Gunnison (1,298), Moroni (1,115), Fairview (960); economy: agriculture (particularly turkeys, sheep, and beef and dairy cattle), local government, and education; points of interest: Manti LDS Temple, Spring City Historic District,
Fairview Museum, Wasatch Plateau, Maple and Box canyons, Snow College at Ephraim. At the northwest corner of the Colorado Plateau, Sanpete Valley is tucked between the higher Wasatch Plateau to the east and the San Pitch or
Gunnison Plateau to the west. The valley drains south to the Gunnison Valley section of the Sevier River, which then drains northwest to the Great Basin. Mount Nebo, the southern end of the Wasatch Mountains, across the border in Juab
County, is a prominent viewpoint from northwest Sanpete County, and its foothills divide Sanpete Valley into two northern prongs.
The area's prehistoric inhabitants include the Fremont-Sevier agriculturalists who disappeared around A.D. 1300. Mounds have yielded small stone- and mud-walled structures, as well as pottery, points, and metates, but Sanpete has not been systematically studied as have areas to the south and east. Ute chief Wakara enslaved local San Pitch Indians,
who gathered and hunted in the local marshes and canyons. The Utes had adopted the horse and other trappings of Plains Indian Culture and ranged widely from an apparent winter base in Sanpete County. Wakara at first invited
Mormon settlement, perhaps for the resources it would bring, and then opposed it in a war of 1853-54, which caused a period of "forting up" and the abandonment of area towns. The Black Hawk War of 1865-68, a more serious and
prolonged series of guerrilla raids, also disrupted county settlement.
The first Mormon settlers arrived in the area in the fall of 1849. They chose the Manti site because of a nearby warm spring, the extensive limestone quarries (later exploited commercially), and the fine farming and grazing lands nearby. The county's larger towns were established in the first decade of settlement. Scandinavian immigrants soon made up a sizable minority, and elements of their culture and humor remain today. The towns peaked in population from about 1900 to 1910, and then declined until the 1970s. The county was created in 1850, enlarged, and then later reduced in
size.
Since settlement, Sanpete County's economy has been based on agriculture. In its first few decades it served as Utah's granary. Cattle have always been important, but currently only a few large dairies survive. New beef breeds from
Switzerland and France have joined the traditional Hereford and Angus to produce faster-growing animals with lower fat. Sheep dominated the local economy from the 1880s through the 1920s, and the county played a prominent part in world markets for a time. Turkeys, grown casually as a farmyard animal, became a cooperative, integrated industry in
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response to the 1930s Great Depression. Today they rule the roost in Sanpete, which ranks among the top ten turkey- producing counties in the country. Snow College, a two-year institution of higher education in Ephraim, also plays an
important role in the local economy.
Sanpete's location at Utah's geographical heart masks its isolation. Much interstate and recreational traffic bypasses it. The small, scattered towns with their long and interesting rivalries have never allowed the development of a dominant county economic center. Ironically, however, these factors have allowed the preservation of some elements of Mormon settlement. The Spring City Historic District retains at least the flavor and some significant structures of the past, and
the Manti LDS Temple is an architectural jewel.
Gary B. Peterson
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piute
Piute County
Area: 754 square miles; population: 1,277 (in 1990); county seat: Junction; origin of county name: after Paiute Indians; principal cities/towns: Circleville (417), Marysvale (364), Junction (132); economy: agriculture (primarily beef and
dairy cattle), education; points of interest: Big Rock Candy Mountain, Tushar Mountains, Otter Creek, and Piute Reservoir, Piute County Courthouse. Piute County was split off from Beaver County in 1865. Its western boundary approximates the crest of the Tushar Mountains. Delano Peak (12,173 feet) is the high point of the High Plateaus section of the Colorado Plateau. Most of the county's population is concentrated in the Sevier River Valley. Grass
Valley (Otter Creek) lies between the Sevier Plateau in the center of the county and the Parker Range on its eastern border.
Evidence of prehistoric inhabitants has been found in the caves of Kingston Canyon (now an attractive local recreation area), but in general little is known of the Paiute Indians' predecessors. The Paiutes were mainly peaceful gatherers and
hunters of food who produced beautiful baskets for many uses and rabbit skin clothing for winter protection.
Circleville and Junction were settled in 1864 by a group of Mormon pioneers from Ephraim. The Sevier Valley provided good grazing, and livestock remains important to the economy. Wild hay, alfalfa, grain, and pastureland provide feed for the county's limited beef and dairy production. Earth-covered potato cellars remain as evidence of
successful crops in an earlier era. The Piute School District employs some fifty county residents. Less obvious contributors to the local economy are a small group of retirees in the larger towns. As in most of Utah's rural counties, "home" has a strong pull on the natives while economic forces tend to push recent high school graduates toward the opportunities of urban areas. Piute County residents depend on nearby Richfield, north on Highway 89, for major
services.
Earth's riches once played a dominant role in the county's economy. A gold and silver boom in the Tushar Mountains spawned such towns as Bullion, Kimberly, and Marysvale. Later, lead, zinc, alunite, and uranium were significant
products. Cyclical mining, now in a bust mode, could boom again locally. Piute and Otter Creek reservoirs provide good boating, water skiing, and fishing for county recreationists and visitors.
Gary B. Peterson
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millard
Millard County
Area: 6,818 square miles; population: 11,333 (in 1990); county seat: Fillmore; origin of county name: after President Millard Fillmore; principal cities/towns: Delta (2,998), Fillmore (1,956); economy: alfalfa seed, cattle, electric power
generation; points of interest: territorial state-house in Fillmore, Cove Fort, Old Fort Deseret, Topaz Relocation Camp, Gunnison massacre site, Clear Lake Waterfowl Management Area, Intermountain Power Project. Millard County is
bordered on the east by the Pahvant Range, while west to the Nevada border lie the broad valleys and desert mountain ranges typical of the Great Basin. The Sevier River, which begins in mountains east of Cedar City, drains into the
sometimes dry Sevier Lake in central Millard County. A huge granite up thrust in the House Range, as well as volcanic cones and numerous fossil beds, provide clues to past geologic activity and prehistoric animal and plant life of the area.
The county's prehistoric residents, part of the Sevier Culture which disappeared ca. A.D. 1300, lived in small villages with semi-subterranean dwellings. Historic Indian groups of the area include Southern Paiutes, Pahvant Utes, and
Goshutes. A small Indian reservation is located at Kanosh.
In October 1851 two groups left Salt Lake City for eastern Millard County. Some thirty families led by Anson Call made the first permanent white settlement, while territorial officials, including Governor Brigham Young and surveyor
Jesse W. Fox, selected a site for the capital, Fillmore being near the geographical center of Utah Territory. The legislature met in Fillmore a few times, but in December 1856 it voted to move the capital to Salt Lake City because
Fillmore was too far from major cities.
On 26 October 1853 seven members of a transcontinental railroad survey team led by Lieutenant John W. Gunnison of the Army Corps of Topographical Engineers were killed by Indians southwest of Delta, a tragic incident in the Walker
War (1853-54) that was apparently triggered by the actions of a group of emigrants against the Indians.
Ranching and farming developed slowly. In the early twentieth century Millard County was second to Tooele in the number of sheep on its ranges, but later cattle became the major livestock interest. The establishment of the Union Pacific line through west Millard County and the founding of Delta in 1907 led to the most important agricultural
development-large-scale alfalfa seed production amounting eventually to three-fourths of the state's total crop. The Yuba Dam and other water projects made this venture possible.
Mining and smelting have contributed to the county's economic growth, with Millard producing significant amounts of fluorspar, copper, manganese, sulphur, gypsum, beryllium, and salt. The most important industrial development,
however, began in the 1970s when plans were made for the Intermountain Power Project's huge coal-burning plant near
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Delta. Southern California buys much of the electricity generated by the IPP.
Miriam B. Murphy
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kane
Kane County
Area: 3,904 square miles; population: 5,169 (in 1990); county seat: Kanab; origin of county name: after Thomas L. Kane, an influential supporter of the Mormons; principal cities/towns: Kanab (3,289), Orderville (422), Glendale (282);
economy: tourism, services; points of interest: Lake Powell, Coral Pink Sand Dunes, Kodachrome Basin, Old Paria, Navajo Lake, Hole-in-the Rock. The high desert landscape of Kane County belongs to the Colorado Plateau
geographical province. The waters of man-made Lake Powell on the Colorado River form the county's eastern border, and, with the exception of the Virgin and Sevier rivers, all of the streams in Kane County are part of the Colorado River
system. The northwest corner of the county is forested.
The county's prehistoric Indian dwellers were part of the Anasazi Culture. Archaeologists have recorded hundreds of sites on Fifty Mile Mountain within the Glen Canyon National Recreation Area, but few have been excavated because
of their remoteness. Historic Indian groups are primarily Southern Paiute.
Several towns, including Kanab, were first settled in the mid-1860s and then abandoned. Kanab was resettled in 1870 by Levi Stewart and others at the request of Brigham Young. In March 1874 Young encouraged the formation of a
United Order at Orderville. Although United Orders were organized in many Utah towns, including Kanab, the Orderville experiment in communal living was more successful and longer lived than all the others, making this town
unique among Utah settlements. By the 1880s Mormon Church support had become lukewarm, and the United Order of Orderville was dissolved.
During the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries a majority of the county's residents were either farmers or raised livestock. In 1922, when Deadwood Coach with Tom Mix was filmed in Kane County, the Parry brothers of Kanab led
in the development of lodging, food, and other services for film crews; and by the 1930s Kanab was called "Little Hollywood" because so many movies were made there.
The 1920s and 1930s also saw Kanab become a tourist center for visitors to Bryce Canyon, Zion, and Grand Canyon national parks. During the construction of Glen Canyon Dam near Page, Arizona, which began in 1956, Kanab's
population doubled and the economy boomed. The creation of Lake Powell, one of Utah's major recreational sites, brought new service industries connected with boating and fishing to the area, especially the Bullfrog Basin marina in
the extreme northeast corner of the county.
Enormous coal reserves in the Kaiparowits Plateau and Alton fields are Kane County's most important natural resource and may, if environmental issues are resolved, dictate a new economic future based on mining.
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Miriam B. Murphy
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juab
Juab County
Area: 3,412 square miles; population: 5,817 (in 1990); county seat: Nephi; origin of county name: from the Ute word meaning flat or level plain; principal cities/towns: Nephi (3,515), Mona (584), Eureka (562), Levan (416); economy:
agriculture, manufacturing, mining, recreation; points of interest: Historic Tintic Mining District, Little Sahara Recreation Area, Old Pony Express and Stage Route, Yuba Reservoir, Goshute Indian Reservation, Tintic Mining
Museum in Eureka, Mount Nebo Wilderness Area, Fish Springs National Wildlife Refuge. Juab County is a part of the Basin and Range physiographic province. Most of the fertile farming land in the county is located in the Juab Valley near Nephi at the base of Mount Nebo (11,877 feet). The western portion of the county consists of broad, semi-arid
valleys and low desert mountains. The Wasatch Mountains are located to the east, and moving west there are the East Tintic Range, West Tintic Range, Thomas Range (Topaz Mountain 7,113 feet), Fish Springs Range, and the southern tip
of the Deep Creek Range in the extreme northwest corner of the county.
Archaic and Fremont-Sevier cultural sites have been found in Juab County. Nephi Mounds north of Nephi is one of the most important Fremont agricultural sites in the eastern Great Basin. A portion of the Goshute Indian Reservation is
located in the northwest corner of the county.
In 1776 the Dominguez-Escalante expedition crossed the county from north to south at the eastern end, passing near present Nephi. Jedediah Smith traversed the western end of the county in 1826 and via Fish Springs in 1827. In 1843-44 John C. Fremont journeyed through the county's eastern end en route north. Government explorers John W. Gunnison and J.H. Simpson traveled in the area in 1853 and 1859, respectively. Gunnison touched the extreme southeast portion
of the county while Simpson pioneered the route later used by the Pony Express and the transcontinental telegraph.
In 1852 the legislative assembly created Juab County, which extended as a narrow strip to what was then the western boundary of Utah Territory (now the western boundary of Nevada). The western portion was removed in 1854 to form
part of Summit County, Nevada, and several other changes in Juab's borders have been made over the years.
The first settlement in Juab Valley occurred in 1851 when a group of Mormon settlers arrived near Salt Creek, at present-day Nephi. Their economy was based primarily on agriculture.
From 1860 to 1863 Goshutes attacked an overland mail station at Willow Creek. As a result, the U.S. Army established a camp at Cedar Summit and a cantonment at Fish Springs in 1863.
In 1869 precious metals were discovered in the Tintic region, changing the economic and industrial destiny of Juab
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County. The towns of Diamond, Silver City, Mammoth, and especially Eureka became the main areas of the Tintic Mining District, which by 1899 was labeled one of the foremost mining districts in the country. From 1870 to 1899
Tintic produced approximately $35,000,000 in mineral wealth. The metals in Tintic consisted of silver, gold, copper, lead, zinc, and some uranium at Topaz Mountain. Mining continued through the 1950s, and even today some mining
operations continue on a small scale. In recent years, several small manufacturing firms have helped to diversify Juab's economy.
Recreation at the White Sand Dunes, Little Sahara Recreation Area, has been very popular, attracting tourists and outdoor enthusiasts to the western portion of the county.
Philip F. Notarianni
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iron
Iron County
Area: 3,300 square miles; population: 20,789 (in 1990); county seat: Parowan; origin of county name: from iron deposits in the area; principal cities/towns: Cedar City (13,443), Parowan (1,873), Enoch (936); economy: government
(including education), wholesale and retail trade, services, light manufacturing, and construction; points of interest: Cedar Breaks National Monument, Iron Mission State Historic Park in Cedar City, Old Iron Town, Southern Utah University (Utah Shakespearean Festival), Brian Head resort, old rock church, and Jesse N. Smith adobe house in Parowan. Iron County is a study in contrasts-from its arid western reaches of the Escalante Desert and Great Basin
ranges to the meadows and forests of the high plateaus on the east. The Markagunt Plateau is creased by the colorful formations of Cedar Breaks National Monument, a kind of miniature Bryce Canyon. Brian Head (11,307 feet), named
for a profile resembling that of William Jennings Bryan, rises abruptly behind Iron County's major string of settlements and extracts a toll of precipitation from passing westerlies to help feed the headwaters of the Sevier River.
Parowan Valley was home to prehistoric Anasazi and Sevier people who constructed granaries and pithouses, dating from about A.D. 750 to 1250. Petroglyphs of unusual variety from different periods were pecked into the stone of
Parowan Gap about twelve miles northwest of Parowan. Cedar City is the tribal headquarters of the modern Southern Paiute Indians, whose ancestors used the plants and animals of the basin/plateau environment in a complex seasonal
pattern.
The Dominguez-Escalante expedition passed through the area on 12 October 1776 on its unsuccessful search for a route to central California. The Catholic fathers followed the Old Spanish Trail long used by Native Americans to southern
California. Fur trapper Jedediah Smith was the first American to use the route on his amazing journey of 1826. Mormon settlers dispatched by Brigham Young established Parowan in January 1851 as the mother colony of the southern
frontier. Cedar City (originally Coal Creek) was founded the same year. Several pioneer log homes as well as some English two-bay log barns now very rare in the state remain in the county.
Coal in the canyons east of Cedar City and iron ore in the mountains west of the town inspired the early Iron Mission that proved marginally successful as a pioneer attempt at self-sufficiency. Modern mining methods and transportation
made iron more befitting as the county name. Old Iron Town still has a fine beehive cooking oven among its ruins. The west end of the county also has some historic and current precious metal mining. The Escalante Desert had its name
changed to Escalante Valley, reflecting the rich irrigation agriculture of hay, small grains, and potatoes.
Iron County has a more balanced and broadly based economy than most of rural Utah. Located on Interstate 15, Cedar City is 500 miles from Los Angeles, 180 miles from Las Vegas, and 260 miles from Salt Lake, and about midway
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between Los Angeles and Denver via I-70. Its location and size have made it a regional trade center and supplier of services. The concessionaire for nearby national parks (an edge of Zion is in the county) headquarters here as do
regional offices of the Bureau of Land Management, Dixie National Forest, and Utah Wildlife Resources. A railroad spur and regional airline still serve the city. A rocket motor fuel plant is under construction. Southern Utah University, combined with a peerless Shakespearean Festival in July and August, makes it an attractive stop for some of the more
than one million people who annually pass through.
Gary B. Peterson
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grand
Grand County
Area: 3,689 square miles; population: 6,620 (in 1990); county seat: Moab; origin of county name: the Colorado River, which flows through the county, was first called the Grand River; principal cities/towns: Moab (3,971); economy:
tourism, agriculture, livestock, mining; points of interest: Arches National Park, Manti-LaSal National Forest, Colorado River, Dead Horse Point State Park. Grand County is situated on the Colorado Plateau in eastern Utah. The plateau
includes two-thirds of the state of Utah as well as parts of Colorado, New Mexico, and Arizona. Composed mostly of sandstone and limestone, the plateau has been eroded by large rivers and other water and wind sources into huge
canyons and other complex erosion forms that make it a rugged but scenically spectacular region.
Much of the Colorado Plateau in prehistoric times was inhabited by the Anasazi. Arriving perhaps as early as the time of Christ, the Anasazi disappeared sometime around A.D. 1300, perhaps fleeing a period of prolonged drought or hostile
Navajo invaders. Today, the remains of their cliff houses and their rock art delight more recent visitors to the land.
The first white men to enter the present area of Grand County were Spanish explorers who discovered a crossing of the Colorado River at the site of the present highway bridge at Moab. Later Spanish traders and American fur trappers
developed the route known as the Spanish Trail, of which that crossing and another ford across the Green River above the site of the present Emery County town of that name were a part.
The first attempt by Mormon colonists to settle the Moab area was a failure. The Elk Mountain Mission reached Moab Valley in 1855 and established a small community, but the Indians who were already farming the fertile Colorado River bottoms regarded them as competition and drove them out after they had been there only a few weeks. Not until the late
1870s and the 1880s did a few Mormon families find it possible to build permanent homes in the area.
Most of the history of Grand County has been the story of small family farms and orchards, of mining for potash and uranium, and of livestock. Large sheep and cattle companies have found abundant forage for their livestock in the
canyons and in the La Sal Mountains, and cowboys and outlaws figure prominently in the area's folklore. The uranium boom of the 1950s brought the first real population expansion to the area and witnessed the creation of a few large
fortunes as well as many failures.
Most recently, the income from tourism has been the county's major economic resource. Arches National Monument was established in 1929, and consistently increasing numbers of visitors led to its being upgraded to national park status
in 1971. During the 1970s and 1980s Moab became perhaps the most important center for river-running, mountain bicycling, and four-wheel drive recreation in Utah, and the prospects seem good that tourism and recreation will remain
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important to the county for the foreseeable future.
Gary Topping
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garfield
Garfield County
Area: 5,l58 square miles; population: 3,980 (in 1990); county seat: Panguitch; origin of county name: after President James A. Garfield; principal cities/towns: Panguitch (1,444), Escalante (818); economy: cattle, lumber, tourism; points of interest: Bryce Canyon National Park, Lake Powell, Anasazi State Park, Panguitch Lake, Escalante DUP Building,
Escalante Petrified Forest, Boulder Mountain, Burr Trail.
The Colorado River and Lake Powell mark the eastern border of remote, sparsely populated Garfield County. Other geographical features include the Henry Mountains in the northeast and the forested, high plateaus in the western half of
the county. The two areas have eleven peaks over 10,000 feet. The Sevier River system runs north through western Garfield County, and the Escalante River empties into the Colorado.
Traces of three major prehistoric Indian cultures-the Sevier, Fremont, and Anasazi- have been found in the county. In historic times Southern Paiute and Ute Indians used the land.
The first white settlers, under the leadership of Jens Nielsen, made the difficult trip from Beaver and Parowan through the mountains to the Panguitch area in March 1864. The village of Panguitch, abandoned during the Black Hawk War
(1865-67), was not resettled until 1871.
In 1875, four years after the resettlement of Panguitch, settlers moved eastward to found Escalante. Smaller settlements were made in Aaron, later known as Hatch, in 1872; Cannonville in 1876; Henrieville in 1878; Antimony in 1878;
Boulder in 1889; Tropic in 1892; and Winder, later named Widstoe, in 1910.
The territorial legislature created the county in 1882, and at the suggestion of Governor Eli H. Murray named it after assassinated President James A. Garfield. Boulder, settled in 1889, was considered to be the most isolated town in Utah until the mid-1930s when Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC) workers constructed a road from Boulder to Escalante. Mail was carried to Boulder on horseback until about 1935. The CCC also reseeded ranges and built telephone lines,
ranger stations, and trails.
Vast rangelands and some of the state's largest forest reserves have made cattle ranching and lumber Garfield County's most important industries since pioneer times. The forests also provide many recreational sites, and Panguitch Lake is
one of the state's prime fishing waters. The creation of Bryce Canyon National Park in 1928 increased the importance of tourism to the local economy. The large sections of Capitol Reef National Park and Glen Canyon National Recreation
Area that lie within the county remained largely inaccessible in the late 1980s. The proposed but controversial paving of
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the Burr Trail through the Waterpocket Fold area of Capitol Reef would, however, expand travel in eastern Garfield County. The seasonal nature of lumbering and tourism often gives the county a higher than average rate of
unemployment.
The Upper Valley oil field in central Garfield County is a sizable oil-producing area. The county also has large coal fields as well as tar sands and uranium, but these energy- related resources have not been developed. Mining for other
minerals has been very limited.
Politically, since statehood in 1896, Garfield has been second only to Kane County in its loyalty to Republican candidates.
The county has several outstanding natural landmarks, including Bryce Canyon National Park, the Escalante Mountains, Boulder Mountain, the Henry Mountains, and Escalante Canyon; in addition, there is the Colorado River and Lake
Powell, which form the eastern boundary of the county. Notable historic sites include the commercial buildings, courthouse, bishop's storehouse, and Andrew Carnegie library in Panguitch; nineteenth- century brick residences in
Panguitch and Escalante; the New Deal-era Bryce Canyon airport; lodge and cabins at Bryce Canyon; and the Anasazi State Park in Boulder. High schools are located in Panguitch, Tropic, and Escalante.
Miriam B. Murphy
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emery
Emery County
Area: 4,439 square miles; population: 10,332; county seat: Castle Dale; origin of county name: after territorial governor George W. Emery; principal cities/towns: Huntington (1,875), Castle Dale (1,704), Ferron (1,606), Orangeville (1,459),
Green River (866) economy: electric power generating, coal mining, livestock; points of interest: Cleveland Lloyd Dinosaur Quarry, the Green River, Joes Valley Reservoir, Huntington Canyon, Emery County Museum in Castle Dale,
Goblin Valley State Park, and the San Rafael Swell. Emery County in southeastern Utah is bordered on the north by Carbon County (which was created from Emery in l894), on the west by the Wasatch Plateau and the original
settlements in Sanpete and Sevier counties from which most Emery County settlers came, on the south by the remote artificial boundary with Wayne County, and on the east by the Green River--the natural boundary with Grand County
(which was created from Emery county in l890). Emery County includes three geographical areas: the mountains of the Wasatch Plateau; Castle Valley, where the major settlements are located; and the desert of the San Rafael Swell, the San
Rafael Reef, Cedar Mountain, and the remote stretches of land west of the Green River.
The San Rafael River, the life blood of the county, originates in the Wasatch Plateau where the headwaters are stored in several reservoirs for agricultural and industrial use. It flows into Castle Valley in three branches--Huntington Creek, Cottonwood Creek, and Ferron Creek--which unite to form the San Rafael River after they pass the communities and
adjacent farm land. It then twists its way through the rock and desert to its junction with the Green River.
Occupation of the San Rafael region dates back thousands of years to include people of the Desert Archaic Culture who were followed by those of the Fremont Culture who inhabited present-day Emery County from about A.D. 500 to about A.D. l300. Evidence of these people can still be found in numerous pictograph and petroglyph panels, such as those in Temple Mountain Wash, Muddy Creek, Ferron Box, Black Dragon Canyon, and Buckhorn Wash-all sites listed in the National Register of Historic Places. In historic times Ute Indians occupied sites in Castle Valley, and travelers along
the Old Spanish trail also passed through the present county.
In l875 livestock growers from Sanpete County brought cattle and sheep into Castle Valley to graze, and several recognized the settlement potential of the region. With a shortage of sufficient land and water in Sanpete County and a
strong desire by Mormon church leaders to acquire unoccupied land in the region before non-Mormons did, young families began moving into Castle Valley in the fall of l877 to take up homesteads in what would become the
settlements of Huntington, Ferron, Castle Dale, and Orangeville.
Although livestock and farming remained the mainstay of the county's economy throughout most of its history, two related events affected the region's economic stability: the completion of the Denver and Rio Grande Railroad through
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Emery County in l883, and the development of the coal mines at Scofield, Castle Gate, and Sunnyside in Carbon County by l895. The railroad provided transportation for produce and livestock, while the mines provided a nearby
market for animals and vegetables and an opportunity for some Emery residents to work in the mines during the winter and farm during the summer. The D&RG also led to the establishment of the town of Green River, although the site had been an important part of the Old Spanish Trail and a mail station had been established there before completion of the
railroad. During the l970s Emery County's population grew significantly because of the construction by Utah Power and Light Company of large power plants in Castle Dale and Huntington and the opening of large coal mines to fuel the
power plants.
Allan Kent Powell
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duschesne
Duchesne County
Area: 3,255 square miles; population: 12,537; county seat: Duchesne City; origin of county name: after the Duchesne River which was possibly named for a French Canadian trapper; principal cities/towns: Roosevelt (3,842), Duchesne
City (1,677), Myton (500), Altamont (247), Tabiona (152); economy: livestock, alfalfa and hay, oil, natural gas; points of interest: High Uinta Wilderness Area, Starvation Reservoir, Big Sand Wash Reservoir. Much of present-day
Duchesne County was once part of the sprawling Uintah and Ouray Indian Reservation. Today most of the county is owned or controlled by individual Indians or the Ute Indian Tribe.
The Uintah Reservation was created in 1861 by President Abraham Lincoln for the permanent home of the Uintah and White River Utes. Later, the Uncompahgre Utes were moved to the Uintah and newly created Uncompahgre Indian
Reservations. At the turn of the century, both Indian reservations were thrown open to homesteaders under the Dawes Act. This was done after allotments of land were made to Indians of the three tribes. On 1 September 1905
homesteading began in earnest on the former Uintah Indian Reservation.
The settlement of Duchesne County is unique in Utah history, for unlike much of the state, it did not occur under the direction of Brigham Young or the Mormon church. Rather, it was settled by individuals who obtained 160 acres under the federal Homestead Act. Homesteaders were required to prove that they intended to farm the land. After five years of living on the land, making improvements, and paying $1.25 per acre homesteaders were given title to their homesteads.
As was the case in other areas of the state, farmers of the county needed water. The Dry Gulch Irrigation Company was incorporated in 1905 by William H. Smart and Reuben S. Collett to aid farmers in securing water rights from the state
and to help them divert water onto their lands from the many streams flowing through the county. Other irrigation companies were also organized. Some were successful, others were not. Homesteaders on Blue Bench, located just north of Duchesne City, organized the Blue Bench Irrigation Company. With financial support from wealthy Jesse
Knight of Provo, heroic efforts were made over several decades to divert water from the Duchesne River to farmsteads on Blue Bench. This gallant effort ended in failure for the farmers and financial disaster for Knight.
Duchesne County is bordered on the east and west by Uintah and Wasatch counties respectively, on the north by Summit County, and on the south by Carbon County. In 1914 the legislature created Duchesne County from part of Wasatch County. The county became official with the coming of the new year-1915. The state's highest mountain,
Kings Peak (13,528 feet), is located in the county's Uinta Mountains. Major streams running through the county include the Strawberry, Duchesne, Lake Fork, and Yellowstone rivers.
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The High Uintas Primitive Area, situated in the northern portion of the county, is dotted with some of the most beautiful alpine lakes anywhere in the West. The lakes are free of ice for only a few months of the year. The county's economy is based primarily on the livestock industry, but the area is also rich in oil and natural gas. As in Uintah County to the east,
Duchesne's oil and natural gas extraction industries fluctuate due to international oil and natural gas markets.
Craig Fuller
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davis
Davis County
Area: 268 square miles; population: 187,941 (in 1990); county seat: Farmington; origin of county name: after Captain Daniel C. Davis of the Mormon Battalion; principal cities/towns: Layton (41,784), Bountiful (36,659), Clearfield
(21,435), Kaysville (13,961), Centerville (11,500); economy: defense industry, small manufacturing and distribution, service industries, agriculture (especially alfalfa, grain, onions, and fruit); points of interest: Antelope Island,
Farmington Canyon, Lagoon and Pioneer Village, Farmington Bay Waterfowl Management Area, Howard Slough Waterfowl Management Area, Freeport Center, Hill Air Force Base, Boutiful-Davis Art Center, Farmington Rock
Chapel. The dominant geographical features of Davis County are the Wasatch Mountains on the east and the Great Salt Lake on the west. The mountains provide a source of water and help ensure a remarkably uniform growing season. Not surprisingly, Davis County has always been a rich agricultural area. It was attractive to people even before the time of permanent white settlement. In fact, Davis County has been home to every distinct culture group in Utah's prehistory,
from the Paleo-Indian big game hunters of 12,000 years ago to the Numic-speaking hunter gatherers of the pioneer period
The county's great agricultural potential was recognized quickly by the Mormon pioneers, and during their first winter in Utah (1847-1848) several of them moved livestock into that area for winter forage. By 1850 a number of farms dotted
the south half of Davis County. By the 1870s the county was clearly the garden spot of Utah. In addition to producing bounteous harvests and prize-winning livestock, Davis County farmers led out boldly in experimenting with new crops, such as sorghum and alfalfa, new equipment, such as headers and threshers, and new methods, such as dry farming and
irrigation management.
Economic prosperity, built on this farming base, followed Davis County into the twentieth century. By 1910 the county sported two gristmills, two nurseries, eight irrigation companies, and six canning factories. Five years later it also had a
sugar factory. A great variety of crops, fruit, and livestock was raised. New schoolhouses, chapels, stores, and other structures popped up on the landscape. Three railroads served the county's transportation needs. During and
immediately after World War II, significant changes began to appear in Davis County. Farming, while still important, began to lose its position as the economic leader. Defense installations in the Clearfield-Layton area, such as Hill Air
Force Base and the Naval Supply Depot, began to employ large numbers of people. When the navy depot closed, industry and related enterprises purchased the buildings in 1963 and developed the site into the Freeport Center, a
bustling manufacturing and distribution center. Suburbs to meet housing needs developed around the Freeport-Hill hub and also in the southern part of the county for people who commuted to Salt Lake City. Service industries, to support
this growing population, started to become prominent in the county's economic makeup.
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Although the state's smallest county in size, Davis is one of the fastest growing in population. The number of residents doubled between 1940 and 1950, doubled again by 1975, and is expected to double again by 1995. It is presently Utah's
third most populous county.
Stanford J. Layton
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daggett
Daggett County
Area: 682 square miles; population: 765; county seat: Manila; origin of county name: named after Ellsworth Daggett who helped develop irrigation for the county; principal cities/towns: Dutch John (285), Manila (272); economy: electric power generating, lumbering, livestock; points of interest: Flaming Gorge Recreational Area, Ashley National Forest. Daggett County is located on the north slope of the Uinta Mountains which are unique in that they comprise the only
major mountain range in North America that runs primarily east and west.
The Uintas also contain the highest peaks in the state. Leidy Peak at 12,028 feet is the highest peak in the county. The Uintas are the source of much of the water for the Green River which cuts through the Uintas at the east end of the
range. The county is bordered on the north by Wyoming, on the east by Colorado, on the south by Uintah and Duchesne counties and on the west by Summit County.
Rich with trees, water, and wildlife, Daggett County was the summer hunting grounds for Indians of Wyoming and Utah. The first known white men to visit the county were fur trappers who came to the mountains in the 1820s trapping
for beaver. Perhaps the most famous of these was General William Henry Ashley. In 1825, after organizing a fur company in St. Louis, Ashley traveled to the Green River county to see for himself the land of the beaver and other wildlife. That same year he floated down the Green River into the Uintah Basin and then traveled by horse and foot through Summit County back to southern Wyoming where the first rendezvous was held. Other trappers and traders
soon followed in the footsteps of Ashley. In 1837 Fort Davey Crockett was built at Brown's Hole by Philip Thompson and William Craig. The fort supplied goods to the trappers of the area. Wislezenus, a German traveler, described Fort Crockett as being "somewhat poverty stricken, for which reason it is also known to the trappers by the name of Fort
Misery.*
In 1869 and 1871 John Wesley Powell visited parts of Daggett County. Starting at Green River, Wyoming, Powell floated down the Green and Colorado rivers and on each trip he studied the geology and geography, animal and plant
life, and the Indians who lived in the area.
About this same time it was rumored that the Uinta Mountains were full of diamonds. Important and wealthy people in America and in Europe invested in the claims, hoping to make a lot of money. They soon found out that the discovery of
diamonds in the Uintas was a hoax.
Daggett County was used for the summer grazing of sheep and cattle trailed in from parts of northern Utah and southwestern Wyoming. Until the introduction of irrigation in the 1890s by Adolph Jessen. Ellsworth Daggett, R.C.
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Chambers, and others made it possible for farmers and their families to live there. The first permanent settlers included the James Warby and Franklin Twitchell families. In 1917 the state legislature created Daggett County out of the
northern part of Uintah County, and Manila was named the county seat. Daggett was the last of the state's counties (29) to be organized.
Daggett County's economy is based primarily on the raising of livestock, hay, and alfalfa, but it is also an important producer of electric power for Utah and surrounding states. A new town, Dutch John, was built near Flaming Gorge to
provide a living place for people who work at the dam. Flaming Gorge Reservoir is a popular place for boating and fishing.
Craig Fuller
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carbon
Carbon County
Area: 1,476 square miles; population: 20,228 (in 1990); county seat: Price; origin of county name: from the vast amounts of coal found there; principal cities/towns: Price (9,712), Helper (2,148), Wellington (1,632), East Carbon
(1,270), Sunnyside (339); economy: coal mining, transportation (railroad), energy; points of interest: Helper Historic District, Scofield Reservoir, Price Canyon recreation area, Western Mining and Railroad Museum (Helper), College of Eastern Utah Prehistoric Museum (Price), Nine Mail Canyon. In 1894 the territorial legislature created Carbon County
from a portion of Emery County. Most of the county's residents live in the Price River Valley and at the foot of the Book Cliffs. The western end of the county rises to the Wasatch Plateau and slopes down eastward to the Price River, which cuts through Castle Valley. This valley stretches across the southern half of Carbon County and continues into Emery County, with the Wasatch Plateau and Range on the north and west and the Book Cliffs all along the east. The
Green River marks the eastern border of the county. Geographically, Carbon County is in the Colorado Plateau physiographic province.
Evidence of the Fremont Culture is extensive in the county. Figurines have been discovered as have many rock art panels, such as the "Head Hunter," located in the Gordon Creek area. Evidence of prehistoric life includes many
dinosaur footprints found in the coal mines.
Mormon settlements were established all along the Price River in the late 1870s. The high barrier of the Wasatch Range and Plateau had delayed settlement until that time. Routes into the region included offshoots of the Old Spanish Trail
and a trail over Soldier Summit. Farming and ranching became early economic activities, giving Carbon County a tradition of cowboys and outlaws, with the likes of Butch Cassidy and "Gunplay" Maxwell roaming the area. The Nine
Mile Canyon freight road from Price to the Unita Basin became an important transportation link.
During the early 1880s the Denver and Rio Grande Western Railroad, seeking a route from Denver to Salt Lake City discovered and opened up the vast coal lands of Carbon County. Coal mining became the major catalyst for
development in the county. Coal companies often built and ran towns in Carbon County and imported many southern and eastern European and Japanese laborers to work in the coal mines and on railroad gangs. Helper became known as
the town of "57 varieties" because of its ethnic diversity. Mine explosions near Scofield in 1900 (200 killed) and at Castle Gate in 1924 (172 killed), as well as major strikes in 1903-04, 1922, and 1933 brought tragedy, violence, and
eventual unionization to the mine.
Coal mining continues to play a vital role in the county's economic and social development, with ups and downs in the industry creating periods of boom and relative bust. Utah Power and Light built a main electric generating plant near the
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former town of Castle Gate; in 1980 the Carbon plant generated 171 megawatts of electricity. Ninety-eight percent of UP&L's power comes from thermal steam plants that burn coal.
The College of Eastern Utah, established in 1937 in Price, promises to become a more important facet of the county's economic and social development in the future, in a county already noted and celebrated for its rich cultural diversity
and tradition as well as its importance to Utah's economy.
Philip F. Notarianni
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beaver
Beaver County
Area: 2,586 square miles; population: 4,765 (in 1990); county seat: Beaver City; origin or county name: from Beaver River, so called because of the many beaver once found there; principal cities/towns: Beaver City (1,998, Milford
(1,106), Minersville (608); economy: livestock, transportation, trade; points of interest: Beaver City Historic District, Frisco ghost town, Puffer Lake, Minersville Reservoir State Park, Elk Meadows ski area. The high peaks of the Tushar Range mark the eastern boundary of Beaver County. Delano Peak (12,173 feet) and Mount Belknap (12,139 feet) are
around the highest mountains in the state. Most of the county, however, consists of the Basin and Range country typical of western Utah.
Archaic and Sevier Cultural sites of early Indian inhabitants have been found in Beaver County, and in historic times the area was part of the Southern Paiutes' territory. The Indian Peak Paiute Reservation operated from 1915 to 1954 in
southwestern Beaver County.
In 1776 the Dominguez-Escalante expedition crossed the county near present Milford. Jedediah S. Smith (in 1826-27) and John C. Fremont (in 1844) had also traveled in the Beaver area before Albert Carrington explored it for the
Mormons. The county was created in 1856, the same year Beaver City was founded.
The U.S. Army built Fort Cameron in Beaver City in 1873, partly in response to Indian hostilities and partly to aid the 2nd District Court in the prosecution of those accused of participating in the Mountain Meadows Massacre. John D.
Lee's two trials were held in Beaver, and he was briefly imprisoned at the fort. The fort, abandoned in 1883, became the site of Murdock Academy (1898-1922), a branch of Brigham Young Academy, the forerunner of Brigham Young
University.
Although the early settlers planted crops and grazed livestock, the county prospered in the nineteenth century because of a unique blend of mining, transportation, and trade in addition to farming. The Lincoln Mine, located northwest of
Minersville, may have been the first mine opened in Utah (1858). Lead was smelted and shipped to Salt Lake City to make ammunition. Many claims were staked and mining districts organized in the 1870s. The fabulous Horn Silver
Mine was discovered in 1875, and the nearby town of Frisco, a wild boomtown, was founded in 1876. The Horn attracted famous investors such as J. Pierpont Morgan.
Milford was founded in 1870 by livestock growers and became an important transportation center in May 1880 when the Utah Southern Railroad reached the town. The line was extended to Frisco a month later. Both ore and livestock
were shipped from the town to Salt Lake, and Milford was also a forwarding point for freight. Horse and wagon teams
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carried freight from Milford to southern Utah, to northern Arizona, and to mining camps in Nevada. In Beaver City, the Beaver Woolen Mills, which operated from the 1870s to the turn of the century, found Frisco an important market for its products, especially blankets. The Beaver co-op store, reportedly the largest mercantile establishment south of Salt Lake
City, opened in 1872 and profited from mining and transportation activity.
The Frisco mining boom lasted only a decade. In the early twentieth century the Cactus Mine near the town of Newhouse, west of Frisco, produced gold, silver, copper, and other minerals. In the 1980s the county's geothermal resources began to be tapped when an electric power generating plant using natural steam was built northeast of
Milford.
Miriam B. Murphy
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