OCR Text |
Show EARLY HISTORY IN THE BASIN . The first white people who settled the Uintah Basin developed the basic irrigation system that still serves the valley today. to-day. Productions of small grain and alfalfa supplemented sup-plemented the grazing lands for the substantial cattle and sheep industry. The fertile land of the Basin produced for its inhabitants in-habitants sufficient quantities quan-tities of potatoes, garden produce, pork, poultry, eggs, and butter. The nearest railroad from Vernal is 120 miles. Although the Basin has no rail services in this present pre-sent day, at one time it did have rail service which figured prominently prominent-ly in the early history of the county. The former Uintah Railway was a narrow guage line railway which ran from Mack, Colo., over 8,700 foot Baxter Pass and into the mining towns of Rain- ' bow, Watson, and Dragon. These towns are now ghost towns. The railway was built in 1904 and operated until 1937. The railroad was built to mainly support the transportation of gilsonite out of the Basin. It also carried other freight in and out of the Basin as well as passengers. A road has since been built over some of the rail bed, but evidence of the old rotted ties and spikes can still be found in some places. The principal means of livelihood in Uintah County Coun-ty was farming, livestock, lumbering, and mining from the time of the early homesteaders until 1948. |