DOCSLIB.ORG

A History of Wayne County, Utah Centennial County History Series

Total Page：16

File Type：pdf, Size：1020Kb

Download full-text PDF Read full-text
A History of Wayne County, Utah Centennial County History Series A HISTORY OF Wayne County : J m-fr* Miriam B. Murphy UTAH CENTENNIAL COUNTY HISTORY SERIES A HISTORY OF (Wayne County Miriam B. Murphy Wayne County lies between the High Pla­ teaus and the Green River in south-central Utah. Eons of geologic history are visible, especially in Capitol Reef National Park, first set aside in 1937 after decades of effort by residents. Ancient peoples and ancestors of modern Utes and Southern Paiutes left many traces on the land, and in the 1920s the Fre­ mont Culture was first identified here by anthropologist Noel Morss. In the late 1870s the first Mormon settlers arrived with their livestock and took up land. In 1892 they separated from Piute County when the legis­ lature created Wayne County. Since then, the county has struggled to build and maintain water, power, and communication systems, roads, and schools. Wayne's remote location (which attracted outlaws like Butch Cassidy), small popula­ tion, and limited resources precluded the development of an industrial base or large businesses. Because only 6 percent of the land is privately owned, land use issues loom large as residents try to maintain a cherished rural lifestyle while seeking job opportunities for their children. Community life, centered on church and family, has flourished from the beginning, with people frequently gathering to enjoy holidays and other activities. ISBN: 0-913738-45-X A HISTORY OF Wayne County A HISTORY OF Wayne County Miriam B. Murphy 1999 Utah State Historical Society Wayne County Commission Copyright © 1999 by Wayne County Commission All rights reserved ISBN 0-913738-45-X Library of Congress Catalog Card Number 98-61322 Map by Automated Geographic Reference Center—State of Utah Printed in the United States of America Utah State Historical Society 300 Rio Grande Salt Lake City, Utah 84101-1182 Contents ACKNOWLEDGMENTS vii GENERAL INTRODUCTION ix CHAPTER 1 Written on the Land 1 CHAPTER 2 Ancient Times, Ancient Peoples 25 CHAPTER 3 Exploring a Blank Space 53 CHAPTER 4 The Evolution of Wayne County and Its Towns 72 CHAPTER 5 Land for Livestock: A Different Path for Wayne County's Settlers 149 CHAPTER 6 Quests for Development 193 CHAPTER 7 Developing Basic Systems— Water, Roads, Schools, Electric Power, and Communications 224 CHAPTER 8 Community Life 288 CHAPTER 9 From Wonderland to National Park 344 vi CONTENTS SELECTED BIBLIOGRAPHY 383 INDEX 389 Acknowledgments I am very grateful to the officials of Wayne County for their sup­ port of this project. Sandra N. Rees was especially helpful in supply­ ing official documents and encouraging me. Barbara Ekker gave me copies of numerous interviews, reminiscences, documents, and pho­ tographs that she has collected over the years, and she also graciously shared her own writings. Lee Ann Kreutzer supplied copies of impor­ tant historical materials pertaining to Capitol Reef National Park and made many suggestions for improving the chapter on the prehistoric peoples of Wayne County. Neal Busk of Richfield and Carol Busk Larsen of Elsinore generously shared the historical files of their grandfather, Ephraim P. Pectol. Verl Bagley filled in many gaps in the livestock story. Harold Brown responded to requests for information and photographs and provided personal insights into local history. Kent Powell, Craig Fuller, and Linda Thatcher of the Utah State Historical Society kept me supplied with historical documents and other material. David B. Madsen provided copies of his published and unpublished material on the Fremont Culture. Joel C. Janetski shared his research plan for investigating antiquities at Capitol Reef vn viii ACKNOWLEDGMENTS National Park. George Davidson's comments on the first draft of the manuscript clarified many points for me. Many thanks to all of you and to others too numerous to name who have given me a helping hand. Without the pioneering historical work of Anne Snow and others who produced the original 1953 edition of Rainbow Views and of Lasca Keele, Hilma Brinkerhoff, and others who updated the work in 1977 it would have been virtually impossible for me to have com­ pleted this task. Rainbow Views will always be an important historical resource for Wayne County residents. Rather than duplicate or update a lot of material covered by those who have gone before, I chose to write a more interpretive history of the county that would attempt to place local happenings in the broader context of state, and occasionally regional, history. In doing that, I emphasized selected aspects of Wayne County's history that seemed especially significant to me. A History of Wayne County is just that, a history. Hopefully, others will continue where I have left off. It is my sincere hope that the people of Wayne County, whom I will always regard with admi­ ration and affection, will enjoy reading it, forgive what is not included or may be mistaken in it, and be stimulated to record and preserve their own memories of life in Wayne County. General Introduction W,he n Utah was granted statehood on 4 January 1896, twenty- seven counties comprised the nation's new forty-fifth state. Subsequently two counties, Duchesne in 1914 and Daggett in 1917, were created. These twenty-nine counties have been the stage on which much of the history of Utah has been played. Recognizing the importance of Utah's counties, the Utah State Legislature established in 1991 a Centennial History Project to write and publish county histories as part of Utah's statehood centennial commemoration. The Division of State History was given the assign­ ment to administer the project. The county commissioners, or their designees, were responsible for selecting the author or authors for their individual histories, and funds were provided by the state legis­ lature to cover most research and writing costs as well as to provide each public school and library with a copy of each history. Writers worked under general guidelines provided by the Division of State History and in cooperation with county history committees. The counties also established a Utah Centennial County History Council GENERAL INTRODUCTION to help develop policies for distribution of state-appropriated funds and plans for publication. Each volume in the series reflects the scholarship and interpreta­ tion of the individual author. The general guidelines provided by the Utah State Legislature included coverage of five broad themes encompassing the economic, religious, educational, social, and polit­ ical history of the county. Authors were encouraged to cover a vast period of time stretching from geologic and prehistoric times to the present. Since Utah's statehood centennial celebration falls just four years before the arrival of the twenty-first century, authors were encouraged to give particular attention to the history of their respec­ tive counties during the twentieth century. Still, each history is at best a brief synopsis of what has transpired within the political boundaries of each county. No history can do jus­ tice to every theme or event or individual that is part of an area's past. Readers are asked to consider these volumes as an introduction to the history of the county, for it is expected that other researchers and writers will extend beyond the limits of time, space, and detail imposed on this volume to add to the wealth of knowledge about the county and its people. In understanding the history of our counties, we come to understand better the history of our state, our nation, our world, and ourselves. In addition to the authors, local history committee members, and county commissioners, who deserve praise for their outstanding efforts and important contributions, special recognition is given to Joseph Francis, chairman of the Morgan County Historical Society, for his role in conceiving the idea of the centennial county history project and for his energetic efforts in working with the Utah State Legislature and State of Utah officials to make the project a reality. Mr. Francis is proof that one person does make a difference. ALLAN KENT POWELL CRAIG FULLER GENERAL EDITORS O U i CHAPTER 1 WRITTEN ON THE LAND X he Colorado Plateau physiographic province covers a vast area beginning in the Uinta Basin and continuing south through parts of western Colorado and eastern Utah and into northern New Mexico and Arizona. It is drained primarily by the Colorado River system. The Canyonlands section of the Colorado Plateau dominates the eastern three-fourths of Wayne County; the High Plateaus sec­ tion covers the western part of the county.1 A Geological Summary Before Wayne County residents, ancient and modern, dug irriga­ tion ditches, the raw forces of nature sculpted the land. Like all of the Colorado Plateau country, the lands of Wayne County were periodi­ cally covered by primordial seas, river floodplains, and tidal flats that deposited layer after layer of mud and silt. These sedimentary layers are clearly visible in the exposed strata at Capitol Reef National Park and elsewhere in the county. Additionally, the shifting of the Earth's tectonic plates, volcanic action, glaciation, wind, and rushing river HISTORY OF WAYNE COUNTY water have all left enduring marks on the land. It is a geologist's par­ adise but a bad place to look for lost cows or outlaws. In the mid-Paleozoic era, more than 300 million years ago in the Devonian period, most of what is now Utah was still covered by an ancient sea. Then, in Mesozoic times, the tectonic plates that cover the Earth's molten center like jigsaw puzzle pieces began to move what would become the North American continent northward, away from the equatorial latitudes. As land gradually rose because of this crustal movement, the ancient sea that had covered it retreated west­ ward during the Triassic period. By Jurassic times (208—144 million years ago) much of Utah was a desert.
Load more

Recommended publications
  • Volume 59, Issue 1
    Volume 60, Issue 4 Page 1023 Stanford Law Review THE SURPRISINGLY STRONGER CASE FOR THE LEGALITY OF THE NSA SURVEILLANCE PROGRAM: THE FDR PRECEDENT Neal Katyal & Richard Caplan © 2008 by the Board of Trustees of the Leland Stanford Junior University, from the Stanford Law Review at 60 STAN. L. REV. 1023 (2008). For information visit http://lawreview.stanford.edu. THE SURPRISINGLY STRONGER CASE FOR THE LEGALITY OF THE NSA SURVEILLANCE PROGRAM: THE FDR PRECEDENT Neal Katyal* and Richard Caplan** INTRODUCTION.....................................................................................................1024 I. THE NSA CONTROVERSY .................................................................................1029 A. The Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act................................................1029 B. The NSA Program .....................................................................................1032 II. THE PRECURSOR TO THE FDR PRECEDENT: NARDONE I AND II........................1035 A. The 1934 Communications Act .................................................................1035 B. FDR’s Thirst for Intelligence ....................................................................1037 C. Nardone I...................................................................................................1041 D. Nardone II .................................................................................................1045 III. FDR’S DEFIANCE OF CONGRESS AND THE SUPREME COURT..........................1047 A. Attorney General
    [Show full text]
  • Butch Cassidy Roamed Incognito in Southwest New Mexico
    Nancy Coggeshall I For The New Mexican Hideout in the Gila Butch Cassidy roamed incognito in southwest New Mexico. Hideout in the Gila utch Cassidy’s presence in southwestern New Mexico is barely noted today. Notorious for his successful bank Butch Cassidy roamed and train robberies at the turn of the 20th century, incognito in southwest Cassidy was idealized and idolized as a “gentleman out- New Mexico wilderness Blaw” and leader of the Wild Bunch. He and various members of the • gang worked incognito at the WS Ranch — set between Arizona’s Blue Range and San Carlos Apache Reservation to the west and the Nancy Coggeshall rugged Mogollon Mountains to the east — from February 1899 For The New Mexican until May 1900. Descendants of pioneers and ranchers acquainted with Cassidy tell stories about the man their ancestors knew as “Jim Lowe.” Nancy Thomas grew up hearing from her grandfather Clarence Tipton and others that Cassidy was a “man of his word.” Tipton was the foreman at the WS immediately before Cassidy’s arrival. The ranch sits at the southern end of the Outlaw Trail, a string of accommodating ranches and Wild Bunch hideouts stretching from Montana and the Canadian border into Mexico. The country surrounding the WS Ranch is forbidding; volcanic terrain cleft with precipitously angled, crenelated canyon walls defies access. A “pretty hard layout,” local old-timer Robert Bell told Lou Blachly, whose collection of interviews with pioneers — conducted PROMIENT PLACES - between 1942 and 1953 — are housed at the University of New OUTLAW TRAIL Mexico. What better place to dodge the law? 1.
    [Show full text]
  • Scoping Report: Grand Staircase-Escalante National
    CONTENTS 1 Introduction .............................................................................................................................................. 1 2 Scoping Process ....................................................................................................................................... 3 2.1 Purpose of Scoping ........................................................................................................................... 3 2.2 Scoping Outreach .............................................................................................................................. 3 2.2.1 Publication of the Notice of Intent ....................................................................................... 3 2.2.2 Other Outreach Methods ....................................................................................................... 3 2.3 Opportunities for Public Comment ................................................................................................ 3 2.4 Public Scoping Meetings .................................................................................................................. 4 2.5 Cooperating Agency Involvement ................................................................................................... 4 2.6 National Historic Preservation Act and Tribal Consultation ....................................................... 5 3 Submission Processing and Comment Coding .................................................................................... 5
    [Show full text]
  • A Preliminary Assessment of Archaeological Resources Within the Grand Staircase-Escalante National Monument, Utah
    A PRELIMINARY ASSESSMENT OF ARCHAEOLOGICAL RESOURCES WITHIN THE GRAND STAIRCASE-ESCALANTE NATIONAL MONUMENT, UTAH by David B. Madsen Common rock art elements of the Fremont and Anasazi on the Colorado Plateau and the Grand Staircase-Escalante National Monument. ,I!! CIRCULAR 95 . 1997 I~\' UTAH GEOLOGICAL SURVEY ." if;~~ 6EPARTMENT OF NATURAL RESOURCES ISBN 1-55791-605-5 STATE OF UTAH Michael O. Leavitt, Governor DEPARTMENT OF NATURAL RESOURCES Ted Stewart, Executive Director UTAH GEOLOGICAL SURVEY M. Lee Allison~ Director UGS Board Member Representing Russell C. Babcock, Jr. (chairman) .................................................................................................. Mineral Industry D. Cary Smith ................................................................................................................................... Mineral Industry Richard R. Kennedy ....................................................................................................................... Civil Engineering E.H. Deedee O'Brien ......................................................................................................................... Public-at-Large C. William Berge .............................................................................................................................. Mineral Industry Jerry Golden ..................................................................................................................................... Mineral Industry Milton E. Wadsworth ...............................................................................................
    [Show full text]
  • West Colorado River Plan
    Section 9 - West Colorado River Basin Water Planning and Development 9.1 Introduction 9-1 9.2 Background 9-1 9.3 Water Resources Problems 9-7 9.4 Water Resources Demands and Needs 9-7 9.5 Water Development and Management Alternatives 9-13 9.6 Projected Water Depletions 9-18 9.7 Policy Issues and Recommendations 9-19 Figures 9-1 Price-San Rafael Salinity Control Project Map 9-6 9-2 Wilderness Lands 9-11 9-3 Potential Reservoir Sites 9-16 9-4 Gunnison Butte Mutual Irrigation Project 9-20 9-5 Bryce Valley 9-22 Tables 9-1 Board of Water Resources Development Projects 9-3 9-2 Salinity Control Project Approved Costs 9-7 9-3 Wilderness Lands 9-8 9-4 Current and Projected Culinary Water Use 9-12 9-5 Current and Projected Secondary Water Use 9-12 9-6 Current and Projected Agricultural Water Use 9-13 9-7 Summary of Current and Projected Water Demands 9-14 9-8 Historical Reservoir Site Investigations 9-17 Section 9 West Colorado River Basin - Utah State Water Plan Water Planning and Development 9.1 Introduction The coordination and cooperation of all This section describes the major existing water development projects and proposed water planning water-related government agencies, and development activities in the West Colorado local organizations and individual River Basin. The existing water supplies are vital to water users will be required as the the existence of the local communities while also basin tries to meet its future water providing aesthetic and environmental values.
    [Show full text]
  • Yanawant: Paiute Places and Landscapes in the Arizona Strip
    Yanawant Paiute Places and Landscapes in the Arizona Strip Volume Two OfOfOf The Arizona Strip Landscapes and Place Name Study Prepared by Diane Austin Erin Dean Justin Gaines December 12, 2005 Yanawant Paiute Places and Landscapes in the Arizona Strip Volume Two Of The Arizona Strip Landscapes and Place Name Study Prepared for Bureau of Land Management, Arizona Strip Field Office St. George, Utah Prepared by: Diane Austin Erin Dean Justin Gaines Report of work carried out under contract number #AAA000011TOAAF030023 2 Table of Contents Preface……………………………………………………………………………………………ii i Chapter One: Southern Paiute History on the Arizona Strip………………………………...1 Introduction.............................................................................................................................. 1 1.1 Early Southern Paiute Contact with Europeans and Euroamericans ........................... 5 1.2 Southern Paiutes and Mormons ........................................................................................ 8 1.3 The Second Powell Expedition......................................................................................... 13 1.4 An Onslaught of Cattle and Further Mormon Expansion............................................ 16 1.5 Interactions in the First Half of the 20 th Century ......................................................... 26 Chapter Two: Southern Paiute Place Names On and Near the Arizona Strip 37 Introduction ...........................................................................................................................
    [Show full text]
  • Geology and Stratigraphy Column
    Capitol Reef National Park National Park Service U.S. Department of the Interior Geology “Geology knows no such word as forever.” —Wallace Stegner Capitol Reef National Park’s geologic story reveals a nearly complete set of Mesozoic-era sedimentary layers. For 200 million years, rock layers formed at or near sea level. About 75-35 million years ago tectonic forces uplifted them, forming the Waterpocket Fold. Forces of erosion have been sculpting this spectacular landscape ever since. Deposition If you could travel in time and visit Capitol Visiting Capitol Reef 180 million years ago, Reef 245 million years ago, you would not when the Navajo Sandstone was deposited, recognize the landscape. Imagine a coastal you would have been surrounded by a giant park, with beaches and tidal flats; the water sand sea, the largest in Earth’s history. In this moves in and out gently, shaping ripple marks hot, dry climate, wind blew over sand dunes, in the wet sand. This is the environment creating large, sweeping crossbeds now in which the sediments of the Moenkopi preserved in the sandstone of Capitol Dome Formation were deposited. and Fern’s Nipple. Now jump ahead 20 million years, to 225 All the sedimentary rock layers were laid million years ago. The tidal flats are gone and down at or near sea level. Younger layers were the climate supports a tropical jungle, filled deposited on top of older layers. The Moenkopi with swamps, primitive trees, and giant ferns. is the oldest layer visible from the visitor center, The water is stagnant and a humid breeze with the younger Chinle Formation above it.
    [Show full text]
  • North American Deserts Chihuahuan - Great Basin Desert - Sonoran – Mojave
    North American Deserts Chihuahuan - Great Basin Desert - Sonoran – Mojave http://www.desertusa.com/desert.html In most modern classifications, the deserts of the United States and northern Mexico are grouped into four distinct categories. These distinctions are made on the basis of floristic composition and distribution -- the species of plants growing in a particular desert region. Plant communities, in turn, are determined by the geologic history of a region, the soil and mineral conditions, the elevation and the patterns of precipitation. Three of these deserts -- the Chihuahuan, the Sonoran and the Mojave -- are called "hot deserts," because of their high temperatures during the long summer and because the evolutionary affinities of their plant life are largely with the subtropical plant communities to the south. The Great Basin Desert is called a "cold desert" because it is generally cooler and its dominant plant life is not subtropical in origin. Chihuahuan Desert: A small area of southeastern New Mexico and extreme western Texas, extending south into a vast area of Mexico. Great Basin Desert: The northern three-quarters of Nevada, western and southern Utah, to the southern third of Idaho and the southeastern corner of Oregon. According to some, it also includes small portions of western Colorado and southwestern Wyoming. Bordered on the south by the Mojave and Sonoran Deserts. Mojave Desert: A portion of southern Nevada, extreme southwestern Utah and of eastern California, north of the Sonoran Desert. Sonoran Desert: A relatively small region of extreme south-central California and most of the southern half of Arizona, east to almost the New Mexico line.
    [Show full text]
  • The US Army Air Forces in WWII
    DEPARTMENT OF THE AIR FORCE HEADQUARTERS UNITED STATES AIR FORCE Air Force Historical Studies Office 28 June 2011 Errata Sheet for the Air Force History and Museum Program publication: With Courage: the United States Army Air Forces in WWII, 1994, by Bernard C. Nalty, John F. Shiner, and George M. Watson. Page 215 Correct: Second Lieutenant Lloyd D. Hughes To: Second Lieutenant Lloyd H. Hughes Page 218 Correct Lieutenant Hughes To: Second Lieutenant Lloyd H. Hughes Page 357 Correct Hughes, Lloyd D., 215, 218 To: Hughes, Lloyd H., 215, 218 Foreword In the last decade of the twentieth century, the United States Air Force commemorates two significant benchmarks in its heritage. The first is the occasion for the publication of this book, a tribute to the men and women who served in the U.S. Army Air Forces during World War 11. The four years between 1991 and 1995 mark the fiftieth anniversary cycle of events in which the nation raised and trained an air armada and com- mitted it to operations on a scale unknown to that time. With Courage: U.S.Army Air Forces in World War ZZ retells the story of sacrifice, valor, and achievements in air campaigns against tough, determined adversaries. It describes the development of a uniquely American doctrine for the application of air power against an opponent's key industries and centers of national life, a doctrine whose legacy today is the Global Reach - Global Power strategic planning framework of the modern U.S. Air Force. The narrative integrates aspects of strategic intelligence, logistics, technology, and leadership to offer a full yet concise account of the contributions of American air power to victory in that war.
    [Show full text]
  • Our Secret Is Now Yours!
    EXPLORE... THREE ADVENTUROUS ZONES Travel Guide Travel The Highlands Capitol Reef East Desert Our secret is now yours! Wayne County, - Utah - USA TABLE OF CONTENTS WELCOME Wayne County, Utah - Capitol Reef Country 1- Cover Calendar of Events 2- Table of Contents April to October - Daily Walks / Capitol Reef Welcome to the scenically diverse region encompassing Wayne County YOUR NEXT GREAT 3- Welcome May Utah’s Capitol Reef Country. - Entrada Institute’s Cowboy Poetry and Music DESTINATION 4- Zones Festival This vacation destination includes mountains, forests, pinnacles, arches, 5- Zones July plateaus, and astounding desert - Torrey Apple Days landscapes. The contrast in elevation 6- Attractions - Capitol Reef Classic – Annual High Desert Bike and terrain makes this area a haven Race. for those seeking solitude or - Bicknell International Film Festival (BIFF) 7- Attractions outdoor adventure. August This region is an excellent multi-day 8- Activities - Women’s Redrock Music Festival vacation destination, central to Utah’s - Wayne County Fair scenic attractions, and easily acces- 9- Guides & Outfitters sible from major cities such as Salt September/October Lake City, Denver, and Las Vegas. 10- Maps - Heritage Star Festival - Wayne Wonderland Air show Unpack once and discover a realm 11- Maps that is conveniently situated be- On Going Events: May - September tween Bryce Canyon, the Grand 12- Hotels / Motels Staircase, Goblin Valley State Park, Capitol Reef National Park: Daily walks and nightly Canyonlands National Park, and amphitheatre programs mid May - September. Lake Powell. 13- Cabins / B&B Check at Visitor Center for Ripple Rock Nature Center schedule. Capitol Reef National Park. You’ll want to reserve several days to 14- Campgrounds (435) 425-3791, ext.
    [Show full text]
  • Journal of Mormon History Vol. 25, No. 1, 1999
    Journal of Mormon History Volume 25 Issue 1 Article 1 1999 Journal of Mormon History Vol. 25, No. 1, 1999 Follow this and additional works at: https://digitalcommons.usu.edu/mormonhistory Part of the Religion Commons Recommended Citation (1999) "Journal of Mormon History Vol. 25, No. 1, 1999," Journal of Mormon History: Vol. 25 : Iss. 1 , Article 1. Available at: https://digitalcommons.usu.edu/mormonhistory/vol25/iss1/1 This Full Issue is brought to you for free and open access by the Journals at DigitalCommons@USU. It has been accepted for inclusion in Journal of Mormon History by an authorized administrator of DigitalCommons@USU. For more information, please contact [email protected]. Journal of Mormon History Vol. 25, No. 1, 1999 Table of Contents CONTENTS --In Memoriam: Leonard J. Arrington, 5 --Remembering Leonard: Memorial Service, 10 --15 February, 1999 --The Voices of Memory, 33 --Documents and Dusty Tomes: The Adventure of Arrington, Esplin, and Young Ronald K. Esplin, 103 --Mormonism's "Happy Warrior": Appreciating Leonard J. Arrington Ronald W.Walker, 113 PRESIDENTIAL ADDRESS • --In Search of Ephraim: Traditional Mormon Conceptions of Lineage and Race Armand L. Mauss, 131 TANNER LECTURE • --Extracting Social Scientific Models from Mormon History Rodney Stark, 174 • --Gathering and Election: Israelite Descent and Universalism in Mormon Discourse Arnold H. Green, 195 • --Writing "Mormonism's Negro Doctrine: An Historical Overview" (1973): Context and Reflections, 1998 Lester Bush, 229 • --"Do Not Lecture the Brethren": Stewart L. Udall's Pro-Civil Rights Stance, 1967 F. Ross Peterson, 272 This full issue is available in Journal of Mormon History: https://digitalcommons.usu.edu/mormonhistory/vol25/iss1/ 1 JOURNAL OF MORMON HISTORY SPRING 1999 JOURNAL OF MORMON HISTORY SPRING 1999 Staff of the Journal of Mormon History Editorial Staff Editor: Lavina Fielding Anderson Executive Committee: Lavina Fielding Anderson, Will Bagley, William G.
    [Show full text]
  • Episodic Dust Events of Utah's Wasatch
    1654 JOURNAL OF APPLIED METEOROLOGY AND CLIMATOLOGY VOLUME 51 Episodic Dust Events of Utah’s Wasatch Front and Adjoining Region W. JAMES STEENBURGH AND JEFFREY D. MASSEY Department of Atmospheric Sciences, University of Utah, Salt Lake City, Utah THOMAS H. PAINTER Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Pasadena, California (Manuscript received 4 January 2012, in final form 4 April 2012) ABSTRACT Episodic dust events cause hazardous air quality along Utah’s Wasatch Front and dust loading of the snowpack in the adjacent Wasatch Mountains. This paper presents a climatology of episodic dust events of the Wasatch Front and adjoining region that is based on surface weather observations from the Salt Lake City International Airport (KSLC), Geostationary Operational Environmental Satellite (GOES) imag- ery, and additional meteorological datasets. Dust events at KSLC—defined as any day [mountain standard time (MST)] with at least one report of a dust storm, blowing dust, and/or dust in suspension with a visi- bility of 10 km or less—average 4.3 per water year (WY: October–September), with considerable in- terannual variability and a general decline in frequency during the 1930–2010 observational record. The distributions of monthly dust-event frequency and total dust flux are bimodal, with primary and secondary maxima in April and September, respectively. Dust reports are most common in the late afternoon and evening. An analysis of the 33 most recent (2001–10 WY) events at KSLC indicates that 11 were associated with airmass convection, 16 were associated with a cold front or baroclinic trough entering Utah from the west or northwest, 4 were associated with a stationaryorslowlymovingfrontorbaroclinictroughwestof Utah, and 2 were associated with other synoptic patterns.
    [Show full text]