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Show Duchesne County Compiled by .?' Elden and Goldie Wlcken Duchesne County, located in the northeastern part'of the State of Utah (the 'Beehive State), is one' of UtaS's most extensive counties. It ' is bordered bor-dered by Wasatch and Utah Counties on the west, .'Summit and Daggett Counties on the north, Uintah County on the east and Carbon County on the south. Duchesne City, the '"county seat, with a near-1000 population, popula-tion, is the gateway to a vast upland valley and one of the eastward approaches to the primitive wilderness in the Uinta Uin-ta Mountains. Situated at a' 551 5-foot 5-foot elevation on U. S. Highway High-way 40, Duchesne is bordered by blue mountains and the green banks of the Duchesne and Strawberry Rivers, which form a junction within the city limits lim-its east of the business area. Most of Duchesne County is within the boundaries .qf the great basin known as theJ'Uin-tah theJ'Uin-tah Basin," home of the Ute Indians, dinosaur quarries, unique mountain scenery, and thriving cities. The Basin includes in-cludes Uintah and Duchesne Counties in Utah and extends eastward into Colorado. G-eolo- Tj.'r,t--.t;':-:: . " .'sfets el&tM the Basin "is the result re-sult of a prehistoric lake referred re-ferred to as "Uinta." STATISTICS OF COUNTY Population (1950 census) 8,134 Area 3,266 sq. mi. Indian Lands 455,394 acres Cultivated Lands (Privately owned) 629,707 acres Grazing Lands . (Privately; owned) 226,599 acres Forest Area 729,053 acres TOURIST ATTRACTIONS Dude ranches, wilderness area, thousands of emerald-green glacial gla-cial lakes, tumbling streams, monstrous palisades, monoliths, rugged canyons, vari-colored rock formations, world's largest lar-gest pinon pine and iuniper forest, for-est, blazing autumn colors in canyons, dinosaur fossils, ancient an-cient Indian pictographs and hieroglyphics,, native Indian dances, rodeos, county fair, boating, hiking, fishing and hunting, horseback-riding, ample material for a photographer's dream in color or black and white exposures. COMMUNITIES Four towns or cities are incorporated in-corporated within Duchesne County - Duchesne. Myton, Roosevelt and Tabiona. Other towns and communities ar: Harina, Utahn, Strawberry, Fruit-land, Fruit-land, Talmage, Mtn. Home, Bo-neta, Bo-neta, Altonah, Mt. Emmons, Upalco, Bluebell, Ioka, Arcadia, Bridgeland, Neola, Montwel, Monarch, and Nine Mile or Harper. FORESTS Three national forests extend into Duchesne County Uinta National Forest, containing 179,-649 179,-649 acres; Wasatch National Forest, containing 180,623 acres; and Ashley National Forest, containing 378,781 acres. MOUNTAINS The highest mountain in Utah is in Duchesne County. Kings Peak, 13,498 feet above sea level, le-vel, reserves this distinction. ThisUowering snow-capped peak is said to have been named for Olaf King, a trapper, whose wanderings took him into this remote area. Five other peaks rise above a 13,000-foot elevation eleva-tion in Duchesne County: Mt. Emmons, 13,428; Gilbert Peak, 13,449; Wilson Peak, 13,095; Mt. Lovenia, 13,227. There are also six peaks in the area rising to a 12,000 or 13,000 foot altitude. These peaks are located in the northern part of the county and are in the range of mountains called "The Uintas" the only mountavi range in the U.S.A that extends east and west. STREAMS The Uinta range forms the headwaters of eight streams or rivers. Two have their beginnings begin-nings in Wasatch County Current Cur-rent Creek and the Strawberry River. These streams flow eastward east-ward and join the D.ichesne River within the bounds of Duchesne Du-chesne City. Traveling north and east from Currant Creek is Red Creek, Duchesne River, Rock Creek. Lake Fork. Yellowstone, and the Uinta Rivers. It is waters from melting winter snows in the high mountains that keep these streams flowing all the time-. During the spring run-off caused by thawing weather conditions, con-ditions, the streams are swollen and turbulent as they roar through their channels on their way to the Green and Colorado Rivers to the east. LAKES Throughout the High Uintas are thousands of fresh-water lakes fed by melting snow and abounding with trout. The bet ter-known lakes are Mirror an-) Moon Lakes, which are accessible acces-sible by auto; Granddadd-, Lakes, Mahowk, Governor Dern Pine Island, Palisade, Clement Kidney, etc. These are all higl-lakes higl-lakes (above 10,000 feet) whic1 compliment the mountair streams for excellent trout fish ing. The high Uintas have beer set aside by' act of congress a.' a permanent Primitive Area accessible only by foot or horse back. Several . dude ranches offe-guided offe-guided tours into the wildernes: for the hardy vacationer wh: enjoys the wild grandeur of unspoiled un-spoiled mountain beauty with snow-cajpped peaks, onyx-bluc lakes, frothy white streams anc emerald green forests. TREES The high alpine country grow: thickly with quaking aspen whose leaves turn a golden yellow yel-low in the early fall. Conifer are abundant Douglas fir. Engleman spruce, Norway pine, vellow pine, balsam gnd iuniper In lower elevations grow species spe-cies of alder, birch, cherry, oak Cottonwood, poplar, elm. Shrub type plants include pinon pine, mpuntain m,ahogany, sag, sas?-brush sas?-brush and squawbushl BIRDS Duchesne County and the Uintah Basin reportedly have a greater variety of bird species than any other section of the nation. From the arrid desert regions re-gions to the swamp land, lakes and high alpine country, natural habitat is available for almost all types of birds, from eagles to sparrow hawks, geese to teai, vultures to shrikes, crows to starlings and jays, kingbirds to the tiny . hummingbirds, as well as game birds such as pheasant, quail, grouse and sagehens. ANIMALS Varied kinds of animals range from the high mountain peaks to the arid desert reaches of Duchesne County. The little pica that lives in the higher altitudes and cuts hay in the summer for winter use, is likely the hardiest. hard-iest. He will stack leave's, grass and moss in piles sometimes four feet high to use during the long winter months. He is sometimes some-times called the rock rabbit. Marmots are also dwellers of the mountainous areas, but they hibernate during the winter. The weasel, whose summer color is a dull brown on his back and yellow underneath, changes coats for winter to one of pure white, except for the tip of the tail, which is black. Mink, beaver and muskrat live near streams where thev build their homes and search for food. A few pine martin are still found, but they are nearly extinct in the Uintas as is the Bighorn mountain sheep. Chipmunks, the friendly little tree-dwelling squirrel, gray ground squirrels, flying squirrels, squir-rels, pack rats, moles, kangaroo rats, prairie dogs, gophers, rabbits, rab-bits, hares, skunks, porcupines, lynx (bobcats) coyotes, foxes (red) ring-tailed cats, mountain lions (also known as cougar, painter, panther, puma), and badgers, make their home in (Continued . on Page 3) puchesne County Hnued from page 2) County. Even, black: have been seen in the; vtt remote sections, i J Sle deer are abundant rang-! ' the high country during ummer.and in the foothills the world's largest pinion ;td ,nd juniper forests during inter A few elk have been -ie, n ed" in the county by ""associations. R.rely can such a variety of m flowers be found in any 1:1 .not such as thrives in Du-e Du-e County and thP Uintah ( Cactus and yucca form 33Si irolors to enhance the more ,:V..n desert acres. Utah's state fjel, the SeS0 Lily, flourishes ' vast fields in the semi-desert fevl wf: 3 m2Te than 500-ft. n.JL h,ltG and Dlue Columbian peeK,, shVly to the sun in high ?lan? gardens side lupine bors V6' th6ir braVer neh" sct-uts the cool night air with sweet odors. Wild hollyhock paint the desert a salmon-oran-with late spring blooms. Indian paintbrush affords a solash of red among the drab-grav sages au j puJP!e violets cling to shady banks near sparklins streams. MINERALS Many known deposits of minerals min-erals aie in Duchesne County including elatorite (a hydrocarbon, hydro-carbon, the only known deposit in the United States), coal, sil- vpr, manganese, asphalt, iron, Phosphate, copper, bentonite and gnsomte. Large reserves of oil are believed be-lieved to be underground in Duchesne Du-chesne County. The larger oil companies have been conducting extensive exploration work hare during the past four vears. Oil test wells are now being drilled in this section. Geologists lab' the Uintah Basin area as one of the nation's top potential oil fields. INDUSTRIES Because much of Duchesn County is federally-owned, tV principal industry is raising of livestock which graze on th" government lands. Cattle range the valleys and canyons near water sources, while sheep feed on the more arid parts and in the higher mountains. Da;ry herds are a principal source o' income for many farm homes Varied farm crops include wheat, oats, barley, corn, potatoes, pota-toes, alfalfa hay and alfalfa seed. Alfalfa fields reserved for seed production in the Myton locality have averaged as much as 1000 pounds of seed per acre. The Uintah Basin is world-famous world-famous for its sweet clover honey, hon-ey, much of which is produced near the alfalfa fields in Pleasant Pleas-ant Valley, located near Myton. Orchards are not successful in the Uintah Basin because of the severe winter weather which drops the mercury to 40 degrees below zero at times. Garden produce pro-duce tends to bp. more flavor-some flavor-some and naturally sweeter than that grown in lower elevations. Crops are raised with -the aid of irrigation. Water supply for irrigation is from the numerou.-streams numerou.-streams and reservoirs . within the county. Thousands of board feet o' lumber are produced annually f-om the forests growing on thf high mountain slopes. HISTORY Duchesne County was part of Wasatch County until December 7, 1911, when the division was made. Most of Duchesne Countv was opened for white settlement by Act of Congress on May 5 1905, and settlement began in August, 1905. |