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.