Early Exploration and Settlement of the Tooele Area, Utah
Total Page：16
File Type：pdf, Size：1020Kb
Brigham Young University BYU ScholarsArchive Theses and Dissertations 1953 Early Exploration and Settlement of the Tooele Area, Utah Thomas Keith Midgley Brigham Young University - Provo Follow this and additional works at: https://scholarsarchive.byu.edu/etd Part of the History Commons, and the Mormon Studies Commons BYU ScholarsArchive Citation Midgley, Thomas Keith, "Early Exploration and Settlement of the Tooele Area, Utah" (1953). Theses and Dissertations. 4940. https://scholarsarchive.byu.edu/etd/4940 This Thesis is brought to you for free and open access by BYU ScholarsArchive. It has been accepted for inclusion in Theses and Dissertations by an authorized administrator of BYU ScholarsArchive. For more information, please contact [email protected], [email protected]. EARLY exploration AND settlement OF THETOOELE TOOELE AREA UTAH A thesis presented to the department of history brigham young university proveprovoprovos utah I1 in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree master of science in history by thomas keith midgley julyjulys 1931953 PREFACE investigation of state and local history is one of the most fruitful fields for historical researchresearcho particularly in the newer regions of the west this thesis has been undertaken in order to make more lucid and available the historical material on and about the early exploration and settlement of the tooelethoelearea in utah following a discussion of the physical features of this region a description of the early natives and their ha- bitat will be presented this will be followed by an examin- ation of the origin and meaning of the name tooelethoele this work will then deal with the early explorers of this locality and the early settlements the heart of the thesis is based on the settlers themselves discussing their early problems achievements as well as the early growth and advancement of their communities carl beckerbackerbeekerbeckenbeeken a noted writer and historian made the following statement with regard to procuring and recording historical actsffacts left to themselves the facts do not speak left to themselves they do not exist not really since for all practical purposes there is no fact until some one affirms it the least the historian can do with any historical fact is to select and affirm it 1 lcarlarl becker every man his own historian t american historicalarijournal XXXVII january 1932 233 ililit the writer has conscientiously followed this procedure and has also tried using as source material as many new pri- mary sources as possiblepossibles material that has not been available in previous published form such as diaries family manuscripts newspaper articles letters reminiscences as well as personal interviews the author wishes to express his appreciation to the librarians of the brigham young university to alex F dunn alfred M nelsonneisonnelsons carl ericerieenieenicepic lindholm and many others in tooelethoelefor their outstanding helpfulness and cooperation also to his dear wife elaine M midgley for the typing of the rough drafts etc and last but not least the writer extends his sincere thanks to his thesis Commitcommitteeteeltees drs richard D poll brigham D madsen and joics B stone for their en- couracouragementgement helpful assistance and suggestions thanks also go to drs reR B swensen and S L tylertylen for their part in de- velopingve loping the writers interest in history iv TABLE OF CONTENTS chapter page I1 introduction 1 physical features flora and fauna of tooelethoelearea indian tribes of tooelethoelearea the origin and meaning of the name tooelethoele IIlloiioliw11 ERA OF THE TRAPPERS EXPLORERS AND PATH FINDERS 0 0 0 0 0 if 9 12 jedediah Sso smith 182l821827 jim clyman 1825 captain B L E bonneville 183218331832183318321833 captain john C fremont 18431845184318143 1845 first emigrant parties through tooelethoele area 181846184518461845 1846 captain howard stansbury 1849185018119180184918119 1801850 lieutenant E Ggo beckwith 1141841854 colonel E J steptoe 1841854 oliver B huntington 1871857 captain J H simpson 1891859 illIII111 EARLY settlementSETT T oftooelevalleyOP TOOELE VALLEY 28 mormon pioneering and explorations establishment of early agricultural settlements IV LIFE IN EARLY TOOELE VALLEY 46 indian trouble time of famine general economic political and social growth the move V EARLY settlementSETT ZMENT OPOFRUSH VALLEY AND ADJACENT AREAS 0 0 0 0 0 6 0 0 S 74 agricultural settlements mining settlements skull valley and other adjacent areas v TABLE OPOFCONTENTS continued page APPENDIX 0 0 90 I1 AN ACT TO incorporate TOOELE CITY IN TOOELE COUNTY II11 JACOB HAMBLINS REPORT 1851831853 illIII111 JOHN ROWBERRYRCWBERRYSIS REPORT MARCH 1851821852 IV JOHN ROWBERRYS REPORT AUGUST 1851821852 voV LYSANDER GEES REPORT DECEMBER 1854184 VIAVI A A C browersBROKERSBROWERS REPORT DECEMBER 1854 VIBVI Bbv PLAQUE inscription MARKING SITE OF OLD FORT IN grantsvilleGRANTS VILLE bibliography 0 0 0 0 0O t 0 0 t 0 0 0 0 10 0 101 vi CHAPTER I1 introduction ilyPLYphysicalsical featurfeaturefeatureses flora and fauna of tooelethoelearea am the area now known as tooelethoelecounty is located in the western central part of the state of utah between approximately 40040 and 41410 north latitude and 1120112 and 1141140 west longitude the tooelethoelearea is bordered on the north by box elder county on the east by davis salt lake and utah counties on the south by juab county and on the west by the state of nevada this region consists mainly of two sections the habit- able eastern third which includes three main valleys tooelethoele rush and skull valleys and the western two thirds which is primarily desertdeserts the eastern section is bordered on the north by the great salt lake and its large adjacent desert areas on the east by the thirty mile long range of the oquirrh mountains on the south by the lofty tinticgintic and steeprocksheeprockSheeprock mountainsYountmount ains and on the west by the cedar lvmountainsLountains dividing this area from north to south through the middlemiddieare the stansbury mountains and lying between these mountains and the cedar range to the west is skull valley east between the stansbury and the oquirrh mountains are found two other drainage basins known as tooelethoeleand rush 1 2 valleys 1 mosttvlost of the mountains in the area exceptexee ot for the cedar mountains range from 5000 to 66uuoduoOUO feet above the valley floor which is approximately 4900 feet above sea level in tooelethoelevalley the highest point in this area is bonneville peak in the stansbury mountains which rises to approximately 11000 feet 2 these old volcanic hills and granite mountains typify the kind that surround the great basin on every side the strata exhibited most abundantly are limestone sandstone 3 and quartzite gold silver and copper are among the most important of the minerals that were discovered in these mountains in the l860ts1860ts due to extensive faulting in the oquirrh cedar and stansbury mountains many rocks have been exposed containing marine fossils of the paleozoic age which tend to show that this part of the state was covered by the ocean during at least a part of the paleozoic era 4 following this era this body of water gradually was reduced in size until it formed lake bonneville which covered much of western utah including irandranarand mcnally commercial atlas and MarmarketingketinE guide new york rand mcnally co 1952 appp 4204214204210420 4214210 21bidbid O 3cacG E duttonbuttongeology of the hiahhigh plateaus of utah dept of the interior ashington7117ashington7117Yf government printing office 1880 p 12512501230 41bidibid 3 all of tooelethoelecounty except the mountainous sections this great lake at its height covered an area of some 19750 square miles and at its greatest extent was 34634 miles long and about 145 miles wide with an actual coast line of over 25028502550280 miles at the deepest part it was probably 1050 5 ffeet A portion of this lake drained through red rockbock pass located in the idaho sector of what is now cache valley into the snake river 6 As the lake gradually dried up within the great basin great salt lake was all that remained but it is not more than a remnant of the old lake bonneville in some areas this dry lake bed has left salt three to twelve feet deep this vast level glittering expanse of barren alkali extending nearly one hundred miles north and south and approximately seventy five miles in width became the most dangerous country along the whole of the overland trail for emigrant travel the original lake has left other marks evident in the sand and gravel bars formed by the action of longshore currents in the old lake the stockton bar at the north end of rushbush valley in tooelethoelecounty is the most notable evidence of these constructive forcesdorcesforces7forcest 7 this broad flat topped ridge or divide separates tooelethoelevalley from rushhush valley 5ibidbibidibid 6grovegrove karl gilbert lake bonnevilleBonnevilie washington government printing office 139016901 p 173 7utahbutahutah WriterwriterstwritersfWriterstenstsf project WPA utah a guide to the state new york hastings house pub 19411971P 17 0 4 probably the main action of the old lake in influencing the lives of the people who later came into the area was its help in forming the narrow belts of alluvial land which lie along the bases of important mountain ranges and at the mouths of once great rivers if it were not for these areas there would not have been much landlendthat would have been reclaimable the soil of