Martha Sonntag Bradley Utah History Encyclopedia, 1994 Kanab, Utah, is a city celebrated for its breathtaking scenery, temperate climate, and sturdy settlers. A sort of oasis in the surrounding desert environment, Kanab’s wide, tree-lined streets and substantial architecture create a favorable atmosphere. The word Kanab comes from a Native American word for a willow basket used to carry an infant …
Heber City
Jessie L. Embry Utah History Encyclopedia, 1994 When the Mormons arrived in the Great Basin in 1847, they welcomed the opportunity to shape a virgin land into the Kingdom of God, and they pursued an aggressive colonization pattern. Heber Valley in the Wasatch Mountains, forty miles southeast of Salt Lake City and twenty-eight miles northeast of Provo, could not be …
Fillmore
Patricia Lyn Scott Utah History Encyclopedia, 1994 Fillmore was Utah’s first territorial capital and was named for U. S. President Millard Fillmore in recognition of his courage in appointing Brigham Young Utah’s first territorial governor. On 4 October 1851 the Utah territorial legislature passed a joint resolution creating Millard County from a portion of Iron County known as “Pahvant Valley;” …
Brigham City
Kathleen Bradford Utah History Encyclopedia, 1994 William Davis, a Mormon pioneer settler, explored the area around Box Elder Creek in 1850 and returned the following year with his family and two other families to take up permanent residence. By the fall of 1853, eight families with a total of twenty-four people lived in the settlement. In the October 1853 Mormon …
Farmington
Glen M. Leonard Utah History Encyclopedia, 1994 When the Utah Territorial Legislature created Davis County in 1852, it placed the county seat at North Cottonwood and renamed it Farmington. The small Mormon farming community gradually adopted its new name and helped build Utah’s first courthouse in 1854–55, a two-story adobe building that for its first dozen years served both government …
Duchesne
John D. Barton Utah History Encyclopedia, 1994 The community of Duchesne is located just above the junction of the Strawberry and Duchesne rivers in the Uintah Basin of northeastern Utah. It was first identified as a potential town site by Father Escalante when the Dominguez-Escalante expedition camped near the present-day town 18 September 1776 while on their epic journey. Duchesne …
Beaver
Martha Sonntag Bradley Utah History Encyclopedia, 1994 A number of exploring parties had traveled through Beaver Valley before anyone seriously looked at it as a potential location for settlement. In the winter of 1856, George A. Smith, a Mormon apostle and a representative to the territorial legislature from Parowan, noted that the area could potentially provide good pasturage for cattle. …
Castle Dale
Edward A. Geary Utah History Encyclopedia, 1994 Castle Dale, the seat of Emery County government, is located on Cottonwood Creek in Castle Valley, a region of benchlands and river valleys bounded by the Wasatch Plateau to the west and the striking buttes, mesas, and canyons of the San Rafael Swell to the east. The high plateau barrier and the ruggedness …
Coalville
Martha Sonntag Bradley Utah History Encyclopedia, 1994 Summit County’s early history is largely defined by a trail. The road through Echo Canyon taken by a series of immigrant groups, some famous for the disasters that befell them, others for the success of their colonization efforts, became the line that drew history in this mountainous canyon to the northeast of the …
Iosepa
David L. Schirer Utah History Encyclopedia, 1994 Iosepa was established in Tooele County’s Skull Valley in 1889 as a community for Hawaiian members of the Mormon faith who wished to immigrate to Utah to be close to the temples and headquarters of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. Iosepa lasted as a community until 1917 at which time …