A HISTORY OF Sevier County iitij , w jEEEfc -.; IK blMjUH K 1 114 it i; ;:•.... M. Guy Bishop UTAH CENTENNIAL COUNTY HISTORY SERIES A HISTORY OF Sevier County M. Guy Bishop Sevier County was first settled by Mormon pioneers in the mid-1850s, as farming settle­ ments were established along the Sevier River Valley to accommodate the increasing num­ bers of immigrants to Utah. The fledgling settlements were soon abandoned, however, in the mid-1860s as a result of the Black Hawk Indian War, in which many county residents lost their lives. Native Americans had lived in the area for thousands of years and fought aggressively to keep this harsh but rich land as white settlement increasingly disrupted their traditional ways of life. After peace was reestablished, white settle­ ment efforts were renewed and expanded, with many towns growing throughout the county, especially in the Sevier River Valley. Richfield was soon established as the county seat and became a major commercial center for central Utah, as it remains to the present day. Agricultural activities of farming and livestock raising have been supplemented by some manufacturing and industrial growth through the decades, with recreational land use and tourism becoming increasingly im­ portant economically. Sevier County, with its central location and growing population, remains a vital part of Utah's economic, trans­ portation, and communication networks. ISBN: 0-913738-07-7 A HISTORY OF Sevier County A HISTORY OF Sevier County M. Guy Bishop 1997 Utah State Historical Society Sevier County Commission Copyright © 1997 by Sevier County Commission All rights reserved ISBN 0-913738-07-7 Library of Congress Catalog Card Number 96-60163 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 Dedicated to my parents, George O. and Bernice F. Bishop, for their constant encouragement and support. Contents ACKNOWLEDGMENTS IX GENERAL INTRODUCTION xi INTRODUCTION A Harsh Land 1 CHAPTER 1 The Natural History of Sevier County 11 CHAPTER 2 The Native Peoples of Sevier County , 34 CHAPTER 3 Exploration and Early Settlement of the Sevier River Valley to 1875 57 CHAPTER 4 Social, Political, and Economic History of Sevier County, 1865-1896 98 CHAPTER 5 The County Matures, 1896-1929 131 CHAPTER 6 Troubled Times: Sevier County, 1930-1949 169 CHAPTER 7 Confronting a New World: Sevier County, 1950-1975 213 CHAPTER 8 Contemporary Sevier County, 1976-1995 . 249 APPENDIX Sevier County Officers 293 Vll Vlll CONTENTS SELECTED BIBLIOGRAPHY 305 INDEX 309 Acknowledgments I would like to thank Kent Powell and Craig Fuller of the Utah State Historical Society, who have been the best support team an author could ever ask for. Their editorial input has been invaluable throughout the writing of this project. Many residents and officials of Sevior County also have been very supportive. My local readers, La Rue Larsen, Max E. Robinson, and former county commissioner T. Merlin Ashman, provided a great deal of help, often clarifying local issues for me. The professional historians who read the entire manu­ script, Sevier County native Jeff Johnson of the Utah State Archives and Professor Wayne Hinton of Southern Utah University, offered sound comments which, I believe, improved the finished work. Any errors that remain are unintentional and are mine alone. My heart­ felt gratitude goes out to my wife, Kathy, and our nine children, who have lived with this history probably a lot longer than they would have wished. Finally, as the dedication page indicates, this book is for my parents, who have always been there for me. M. GUY BISHOP IX 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 XI 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 INTRODUCTION A HARSH LAND G,eographe r Richard H. Jackson has described much of the state of Utah as a "harsh land." In fact, Jackson points out that it is part of Utah Mormon folklore that the entire state was a desert when it was first settled by the Mormon pioneers.1 He finds it useful to clas­ sify Utah into harsh and fertile lands, and, although others may not divide the state as Jackson has done, harsh or, at best, inhospitable, seems to be an accurate adjective for describing much of the Sevier County landscape. Not only does the directly observed landscape of the county offer a seemingly inhospitable scene to the human eye, the more hidden aspects of nature also add to the uncharitable nature of the county. Given the region's unstable geological history, shaped by volcanos and earthquakes, life in Sevier County also can be potentially haz­ ardous. Seismological history shows that the region was shaken by noticeable earth tremors at least twenty-nine times during the last one hundred years.2 All of these earthquakes occurred along the Tushar Fault, which stretches from the southwest to the northeast portion of the county. HISTORY OF SEVIER COUNTY wmmmmmmmm Main street in Richfield about 1900. (Utah State Historical Society) On 29 December 1876 a "slight but distinct" earthquake was felt at Richfield shortly after ten o'clock at night. According to local reports, it "felt like two shocks in quick succession." Three days later, on 1 January 1877, a quake of moderate intensity again struck Richfield. The seismic activity was not yet through, however. Two weeks later (15 January 1877), the Deseret News noted, "Sevier County was visited, at five o'clock this morning by two more earth­ quake shocks."3 Nearly twenty-four years later, on 13 November 1901, the Richfield area withstood an even larger quake, which was felt in a 50,000-square-mile area. This tremor struck in the early morning hours and reportedly lasted at least ten seconds. The intense shaking caused local residents to flee outdoors seeking safety. Brick buildings in the Richfield vicinity suffered considerable damage. The newly constructed Sevier LDS Stake Tabernacle was severely damaged. Chimneys toppled over, cracks were noticed in the ground east of Richfield, and rockslides in the nearby canyons rendered them almost impassable for several weeks afterward. The epicenter of this earth- A HARSH LAND quake was near Marysvale in Piute County. Modern seismologists have estimated the intensity of the quake to have been 6.0 or greater on the Richter scale. It was felt more than two hundred miles away at Salt Lake City.4 In 1880 U. S. Army Captain Clarence E. Dutton published a geo­ logical survey, Report of the Geology of the High Plateaus of Utah, With Atlas, which might well have served notice to local residents of the unstable nature of the county's unstable land. Seismographic technician Steve Bellon of the University of Utah has observed that "quakes are not uncommon in this area ..