A History of Summit County

Introduction

CHAPTER 1 INTRODUCTION I n 1959, the 100th anniversary of its first permanent settlement, Summit County was feeling its age. The old mining camp at Park City seemed headed for the same destination as most other mining boom towns around the West-oblivion. The major silver mines had been idle for most of the 1950s. Many people had already moved away; the remaining residents were hanging on by their fingernails. Agriculture, always a challenge at high altitudes, was literally losing ground to new reservoirs and new highways. The farming commu­nity of Rockport had just been wiped off the map by a new reservoir and 1,000 acres of surrounding land had been permanently flooded, victim of the growing demand for water in the lower valleys. Road construction was cutting a wide swathe through the town of Echo, forcing the demolition or relocation of a dozen homes and busi­nesses. There was talk of a new superhighway that would cut through some of the most fertile land in the county. Bit by bit, it seemed, the county was sacrificing its vitality, a vic­t im of forces it could not control. Its destiny seemed tied to the remaining strips of arable land and to that slim, unpredictable win- HISTORY OF SUMMIT COUNTY dow between the last frost of one winter and the first frost of the next. The population was slipping; for the young, looking to start households of their own, employment options within the county were few. Many moved away. For the remaining communities- tough, independent, tightly-knit-the mode was survival. True, Summit County was an area of astonishing beauty, framed on the east by the high, rounded peaks of the Uintas and on the west by the rough crags of the Wasatch Mountains. It was an area rich with wildlife and majestic forests. But snow-covered peaks don't put food on the table. Or at least they didn't then. Could anyone have anticipated what would happen to this sleepy, agricultural county in the following four decades? As it turned out, of course, those snow-covered peaks could put food on the table. And the superhighway that was just a rumor in 1959 has become a commuters' corridor between Summit County and the growing cities of the Wasatch Front. Now, as Utah passes the 100th anniversary of its statehood, Summit County is wrestling with a very different set of challenges. The emergence of ski areas and bed­room subdivisions has spurred phenomenal growth in the county, covering the valleys with houses and driving up land values. The irony is that this new affluence is putting yet another strain on the county's remaining farms, and it's making some of the old-time fam­ilies yearn for the quiet times of the 1950s. The themes that thread their way through Summit County's recorded history are shared by other communities in Utah and around the West: the first Mormon settlers, eking a living from the land; the rise and demise of a mining boom town; the not always cozy relationship between Mormons (members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, or LDS church) and gentiles (non- Mormons); the impact of railroads and modern highways; the thirst for water to make the desert bloom; the discovery of oil and natural gas; and the modern lure of Rocky Mountain ski resort towns. However, in few places have so many of these themes interacted to define such a small area in such a profound way. Consider: -In 1847, Summit County was the gateway to Zion for the first Mormon pioneers, who followed the natural corridor down Echo Canyon, then walked along the banks of the Weber River as far as the INTRODUCTION present town of Henefer before striking out across the mountains toward the valley of the Great Salt Lake. -In 1850, when Parley P. Pratt opened the Golden Pass road up what we now know as Parleys Canyon, he laid the groundwork for a major east-west stage route bisecting the county. Today that route is followed by Interstate 80, the first divided highway to run from coast to coast. Today, thousands of motorists use that highway to commute from their mountain homes to jobs along the urban Wasatch Front. -In 1859, the first Mormon farms took root along the banks of the Weber River and its tributaries. However, within the next century, water from that river would inundate many of those farms as two large lakes backed up behind manmade dams. -In 1868, soldiers stationed at Fort Douglas in Salt Lake City ventured into the surrounding mountains looking for precious met­als. The silver they found sparked a frenzy that evolved into the founding and growth of one of the West's great silver-mining camps. The incursion of this nineteenth-century "Sodom" into the bucolic environment planted the seed for a schizophrenic population pattern that persists to this day in Summit County. -In 1869, railroad gangs marched down Echo and Weber canyons en route to Promontory Summit, laying track for the first transcontinental railroad. That railroad would bring the outside world to the protected communities of northern Utah, and it would help define the economy of Summit County. -In 1961, the desperate attempt of an exhausted silver-mining camp to save itself from extinction led to a huge new industry- downhill recreational skiing. The success of Treasure Mountains and the resorts that followed has redefined the character of western Summit County and made Park City an international destination point. -In 1974, the discovery of oil in the Pineview field near Coalville touched off an invasion of exploration crews during the late 1970s and early 1980s. In 1979, one of those crews found the Anschutz Ranch East Field, which oilmen would describe as the most significant onshore find since Prudhoe Bay in Alaska. By the mid-1990s, that sleepy county of the 1950s was one of the three fastest-growing counties in the United States.1 The area's majes- HISTORY OF SUMMIT COUNTY tic scenery, moderate climate, and recreation amenities are luring people from other states and other parts of Utah. Now, in communi­ties around the county, residents are asking whether development is killing the golden goose, destroying the natural charm that people moved here to enjoy. Will the history of the next 150 years in Summit County include as many colorful themes as has that of the past 150 years? If so, it ought to make great reading. ENDNOTE 1. Deseret News, 9 March 1996.