Show LAND OF GIF OPPORTUNiTY AWA 1 TS THE SETTLER Duchesne and Uintah Counties Offer Opportunities Unequaled in the West UINTAH BASIN KASIN AND ITS IRRIGABLE GABLE GOVERN GOVERNMENT LANDS By Albert H. H Kneale Written for the Railroad Red Book No other part of o the United Unite States presenting equal opportunities is so little known as is the Uintah basin l lying ing in Northeastern Utah and forming forming forming form form- ing the two counties of Uintah and Duchesne This basin is miles long and 70 miles wide and is perfectly perfectly per per- drained by the Green River and its tributaries It contains a to total total total to- to tal of square miles or COO acres of which over are tillable The annual run-off run of the streams of the Uintah n to totals totals tale acre Allowing four feet acre-feet of water ater to each acre of land this thi water would irrigate over acres double acres double the amount of water required for the tillable soil solI of the basin The population of the basin b-asin totals total about souls of or which number 1150 are Indians two are Chinese one a negro and the balance white The extreme eastern part of the basin was settled up by whites some thirty-five thirty or forty years ago The Ther r remaining portion of the basin comprised comprised com com- the Indian reservation and has only recently been opened to white settlers Numerous towns town have sprung up In the eastern part is Vernal the county seat of I Uintah county and the of the basin a modern up-to-d up date up-to-date te town with a population of or over over 1200 souls Vernal is possibly thirty-five thirty years year old The next largest town is Roosevelt Roosevelt Roose velt lying in the middle of the basin with a population of possibly Roosevelt is about ten years old Duchesne Du chesne the county seat of Duchesne county count lies well in the western part of the basin and is the third largest larg largo est town with My ton nearer the I center of the to basin crowding it very very closely each being a about ut ten tea years old Altonah Neola and Lapoint are other leading towns town Vernal Roosevelt Roosevelt Roosevelt Roose Roose- velt and Duchesne each have a we weekly weekly week week- kly k- k ly newspaper and Dayton Myton has two There are two banks in Vernal one oneat oneat oneat at Roosevelt one at My Myton ton and one oneat oneat oneat at Duchesne Many of the towns of the basin are provided with electric lights The basin has a very efficient telephone service connected with the Bell System has las daily mail from the west and daily dally mail mall from the east Salt Lake City morning papers reach nearly all points of the basin the same day on which they are published Telegraph offices connected connected con con- with the Western Union are located d at Vernal Vernal and a d Fort Duchesne Du chesne Many people confuse Duchesne Duchesne Du Du- Du chesne with Fort Duchesne Fort Duchesne lies forty miles east and anda a little north of Duchesne and about twenty-five twenty miles west and south or ol Vernal It is not a town simply a government station with a government government government govern govern- ment office for forhand ing the InJian Inman business busine a railroad office maintained maintain maintain- ed by the Uintah Railroad Company a l and a number of resi deuces dences occupied by Government em em- together wit with the ware houses Louses and stables Sett Several Sec cral religious organizations are operating in the basin the strongest organization being the Latter-day Latter Saints with the Episcopalians running run ning second The basin has a good school organization organization or or- which is isell well ell handled At Vernal is the Uintah Academy a Mormon 1 institution with an enrollment enrollment enrollment enroll enroll- ment cf rf pupils also the Wilcox y y a Congregational institution tion ith an enrollment of pu pu- pu- pu pils At t Roosevelt is located the Duchesne Du DI chesne county high school which has recently been erected at a cost of and which is under under the management of an excellent corps of teachers The high school has an enrollment of pupils At l is the Myton l Academy with an enrollment enrollment en of 35 District schools are plentifully scattered throughout t the entire basin All of the towns have good implement implement implement ment houses large general merchandise merchandise merchandise dise stores good hardware hard ware stores good drug stores and a person can purchase articles usually carried by such houses as reasonably as he can anywhere else in the state when con consideration is had of the unusual overland freight haul with which the these e people contend Three creameries are operating in inthe inthe inthe the basin one at Vernal one one oneat at Duchesne Duchesne Du Du- chesne and one at Leeton a few tulles miles southeast ast of Neola the vast expanses of tillable non lands are occupied by large herds of cattle and shee sheep and of f recent years ears many of the people are acquiring herds of dairy cattle principally Holstein Hol Hoi stein Jerseys and Durhams The rho occupation followed by the large percentage of the Uie population is farming With days of sunshine every year and abundance of water and fertile ferUle lauds and an each summer of days it Is natural that hat farming should be the leading occupation Practically every ev ery cry kind of crop grown in the tem tem- erate zone is grown n in abundance in the the Uintah basin The average yield of alfalfa is four tons to the acre cre and many of or the fields that are with modern skill and science produce double that amount The average of wheat is about 30 bushes hushes to the acre and it is very I comm common commo l to thresh twice that from well-tilled well fields Oats yield as high as bushels to the acre and barley bar ley nearly as much In some sections sections sections sec sec- corn yields 75 bushels per acre Potatoes and vegetables of all kinds yield well and of an excellent Ity Positively the finest cantaloupes that the writer ever tasted were grown in the Uintah basin Sugar beets heets grow to perfection and with will the coming o of the railroad which cannot be delayed much longer sugar production will be one of the leading industries of the entire country Apples peaches pears apricots prunes and nd grapes of excellent quality t ty are re produced as well as all of the small fr fruits its Improved farm lands with water can be purchased d at from rom 25 to an acre The rhe commercial clubs of or Vernal Roosevelt Dayton l or Du chesne would be pleased to furnish further information on concerning this class o 01 land There is ig abundant timber on the foothills fir spruce cedar and pine for all purposes and many sawmills are in operation In fact 50 per cent centor of or all the timber of Utah lies within this basin Much of the ground is with coal and coal may maybe maybe be purchased at the mines at from to 3 a ton The railroads are showing a great deal of activity and for the past twelve months there has not been beena a time that surveying outfits from one to three or four have not been operating in the he basin In all probes ability active construction will be de dee gun on some road during the season of oC 1917 The coming of this road cannot be much longer delayed The tonnage is being produced and people people people peo peo- are swarming in regardless of or orthe the fact that they must drive over oyer land The railroad engineers assert that a line Une can be brought into the basin on less than a 2 per cent grade With the coming of the railroad th the unusual opportunities now available in this basin will have ceased to exist Today the presented ar are probably greater than may be he found round in any other part of the United States or of the world for that mat mat- ter |