Show pane From Pahvant Valley into the Gray Desert 5 Little Sahara noith of Delta a At Jericho Junction marked sideroad leads west to VMiite Sand Dunes and it lie Sahara Recreation Area Here at little Sahara is Utah's largest dune sand covering panse of several hundred square miles the state’s single vehicle area for most popular reel eat ion The recreation area occupies 60 (XX) acres of the dune area Visitors number in excess ()()( each year many of whom come of on the Taster weekend for vehicle recreation picnicking camping hiking sunbathing and nature study Sand Mountain features a sand cliff hundreds of feet high which pi ov ides an excellent site for competitive hill climbing Little Sahara is divided into special areas for nature study at the Rockwell Natural Area The recreation area is a development of the US Bureau of and Management who opened a solar powered visitor center in 1980 IPP 1500 megawatts ll’P when completed the end of this decade will be one of the largest and most modern power plants in the world Meanwhile the power plant requires a work force of 4 (XX) who either live in or connnunte to Millard County every wot king day That number is half the entire population of Millard County prior to the construction project With a price tag of around $5 billion IPP is easily Utah’s largest and most costly dustrial complex ever built of water Tens of thousands of from wells and from Sevier River reservoirs will be used each year This water was purchased from more than rights holders The sale of these rights produced “millionaires" over night and for the first time in a hundred years diverted the precious Lower Sevier Rivet water to industry rather than agriculture Power is to come on line between 1986 and 1989 and will primarily serve six California At by municipalities DeltaFillmore Delta is the commercial center ot what is known as West Millard County Pounded in 1910 it was one of the last Motnion initiated settlements Fillmore on the other hand was one the first Mormon settlements during the beginning of the Mormon expansion down ront after 1849 Utah’s Wasatch Fillmore was for two years the Territorial Capital with aspirations as the hub of the Mormon Umpire Forces conspired to place the capital at Salt l ake City and Fillmore settled back to be one of the prettiest little tann15 ing villages in the state On Interstate the old Fillmore today still cherishes Statehouse with its museum It is one ol the finest preserved pieces of pioneer architecture in the state Long a staid community of wide streets and modest homes Delta found itself in the late 70s the proposed site of the giant lntermoun-taiPower Project Today Delta and surrounding communities have absorbed the impact of nearly 4000 workers who have come to the area to build the 1500 megawatt plant just north of the town Sevier “dry” Lake For a hundred years white men have known the Sevier Dry ake only as an unearthly white sink appearing as a mirage south of Highway 650 Today after three winters of record snowfall and rain the lake appears more like it must of before settlers began diverting the last of the Sevier River water for irrigation In 1872 when first mapped Sevier Lake had a water surface of 188 square miles was about 28 miles in length and had a saline content of nine percent I ess than ten years later due to 1872 shoreline though diversion the lake went dry Since then maps continue to indicate the the lake has actually been little more than a dry lake bottom which occasionally held rain water in varrying amounts maintained something close to it for Today the lake has returned to its 1872 level and has the lake at least two years If as many expect the cycle of drought should return to the area will likely return to its usually dry state Meanwhile the lake is Utah’s unofficial second largest body of water in surface measurements visible on the lake bed are microwave reflection barriers 14 latticed “fences” The series of installed by AT&T in 1967 Clear LakeVolcanoes uniThe great Pahvant Valley (or Sev ier Desert) plays host to Delta and Fillmote and two Area and the Millard County que natural features: The Clear Lake Waterfowl Mangement volcanoes with is inundated which marsh yearly Clear l ake south of Delta is a narrow slip of desert birds During the appropriate season large numbers of ducks geese heron and other water the hunting is considered excellent Otf season Clear Lake is a bird watcher s paradise attract geology volcanoes ancient the Millard hall ol County Scattered about the eastern A cluster of volcanic cones are easily accessible a few miles west ot I illmore buffs Pahvant Butte to the northwest juts dramaticaly from the flat valley floor 20 miles south ol Delta Evidence points to the formation of these volcanoes during lake Bonneville times with a crater high enough to project above eruptions occuring deep under water eventually building the lake’s surface North of Delta is the Hot Plug called by Frank Beckwith Sr “the most beautitul object in Pahvant Valley” The Plug is a red and gray volcanic mass nearly 200 feet high and about the same distance of the across The vent of an ancient volcano Hot Plug still conducts heat from the depths earth creating visible mist when the air is cool Nearby is a group ot hot springs |