Bonanza, Utah

About 35 miles south of Vernal, Utah, on Highway 45 is the community of Bonanza, Utah. Gilsonite mining began at Bonanza in 1903-1904. A stone building was erected, a boarding house was built and used as a depot of the old Uintah Stage line. The bunkhouse was later used for the post office. Horses and stage coaches were used to convey peope from Dragon to Bonanza. It was near here that the road forked, one road leading to Vernal and the other to Ouray and Myton. By 1937 there were a large number of folks living there in the company houses that had been moved for the Rainbow community. Their children attended the elementary school at Bonanza.