A HISTORY OF Summit County David Hampshire Martha Sonntag Bradley Allen Roberts UTAH CENTENNIAL COUNTY HISTORY SERIES A HISTORY OF = Summit A HISTORY OF Summit County David Hampshire Martha Sonntag Bradley Allen Roberts Summit County's 25,000 residents consti­ tute scarcely more than one percent of Utah's inhabitants; yet, the county's influence al­ ways has been out of proportion to its popu­ lation. For the first Mormon pioneers, the route to their Zion passed through the area that became Summit County. The county continues to serve as a major transportation corridor, carrying transcontinental freeways and railroads. From its mountains spring four major rivers, providing water that sus­ tains much of northern Utah. Its mines have produced silver, gold, lead, and zinc worth hundreds of millions of dollars, money that helped build the state and the Intermountain West. By 1997 its petroleum deposits had yielded almost 170 million barrels of oil. Its three large ski resorts have helped define Utah as a major international destination for skiers and the county as a popular recre­ ational area for Utahns, especially those liv­ ing along the Wasatch Front. These themes—as well as many others— are woven here into a colorful tapestry that is the history of Summit County. ISBN: 0-913738-46-8 A HISTORY OF Summit County A HISTORY OF Summit County David Hampshire Martha Sonntag Bradley Allen Roberts 1998 Utah State Historical Society Summit County Commission Copyright © 1998 by Summit County Commission All rights reserved ISBN 0-913738-46-8 Library of Congress Catalog Card Number 97-62525 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 GENERAL INTRODUCTION vu CHAPTER 1 Introduction 1 CHAPTER 2 The Land 5 CHAPTER 3 Prehistoric People, Explorers and Trappers 15 CHAPTER 4 Mormon Settlement 30 CHAPTER 5 The Growth of Summit County's Towns ... 52 CHAPTER 6 The Settlement of Park City 94 CHAPTER 7 Transportation 121 CHAPTER 8 Architecture and the Built Environment ... 164 CHAPTER 9 Cultural Life 193 CHAPTER 10 Politics and Power Plays 216 CHAPTER 11 Water Development 240 CHAPTER 12 Living Off the Land 261 CONTENTS CHAPTER 13 Nature's Buried Treasures: Mining and Oil Development 285 CHAPTER 14 Park City Turns to Skiing 313 CHAPTER 15 Where Now, Summit County? 330 SELECTED BIBLIOGRAPHY 357 INDEX 363 General Introduction Wihe n Utah was granted statehood on 4 lanuary 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 vn viii 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 loseph 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 n± CHAPTER 1 INTRODUCTION In 1959, the 100th anniversary of its first permanent settlement, Summit County was feeling its age. The old mining camp at Park City seemed headed for the same destination as most other mining boom towns around the West—oblivion. The major silver mines had been idle for most of the 1950s. Many people had already moved away; the remaining residents were hanging on by their fingernails. Agriculture, always a challenge at high altitudes, was literally losing ground to new reservoirs and new highways. The farming commu­ nity of Rockport had just been wiped off the map by a new reservoir and 1,000 acres of surrounding land had been permanently flooded, victim of the growing demand for water in the lower valleys. Road construction was cutting a wide swathe through the town of Echo, forcing the demolition or relocation of a dozen homes and busi­ nesses. There was talk of a new superhighway that would cut through some of the most fertile land in the county. Bit by bit, it seemed, the county was sacrificing its vitality, a vic­ tim of forces it could not control. Its destiny seemed tied to the remaining strips of arable land and to that slim, unpredictable win- HISTORY OF SUMMIT COUNTY dow between the last frost of one winter and the first frost of the next. The population was slipping; for the young, looking to start households of their own, employment options within the county were few. Many moved away. For the remaining communities— tough, independent, tightly-knit—the mode was survival. True, Summit County was an area of astonishing beauty, framed on the east by the high, rounded peaks of the Uintas and on the west by the rough crags of the Wasatch Mountains. It was an area rich with wildlife and majestic forests. But snow-covered peaks don't put food on the table. Or at least they didn't then. Could anyone have anticipated what would happen to this sleepy, agricultural county in the following four decades? As it turned out, of course, those snow-covered peaks could put food on the table. And the superhighway that was just a rumor in 1959 has become a commuters' corridor between Summit County and the growing cities of the Wasatch Front. Now, as Utah passes the 100th anniversary of its statehood, Summit County is wrestling with a very different set of challenges. The emergence of ski areas and bed­ room subdivisions has spurred phenomenal growth in the county, covering the valleys with houses and driving up land values. The irony is that this new affluence is putting yet another strain on the county's remaining farms, and it's making some of the old-time fam­ ilies yearn for the quiet times of the 1950s. The themes that thread their way through Summit County's recorded history are shared by other communities in Utah and around the West: the first Mormon settlers, eking a living from the land; the rise and demise of a mining boom town; the not always cozy relationship between Mormons (members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, or LDS church) and gentiles (non- Mormons); the impact of railroads and modern highways; the thirst for water to make the desert bloom; the discovery of oil and natural gas; and the modern lure of Rocky Mountain ski resort towns. However, in few places have so many of these themes interacted to define such a small area in such a profound way. Consider: —In 1847, Summit County was the gateway to Zion for the first Mormon pioneers, who followed the natural corridor down Echo Canyon, then walked along the banks of the Weber River as far as the INTRODUCTION present town of Henefer before striking out across the mountains toward the valley of the Great Salt Lake. —In 1850, when Parley P. Pratt opened the Golden Pass road up what we now know as Parleys Canyon, he laid the groundwork for a major east-west stage route bisecting the county. Today that route is followed by Interstate 80, the first divided highway to run from coast to coast. Today, thousands of motorists use that highway to commute from their mountain homes to jobs along the urban Wasatch Front.