History of Utah, 1540-1886 - Brigham Young University

COUNTIES AND TOWNS. 601
came the county seat of Washington, and is to-day the
leading town in southern Utah. 78
Of the counties organized between 1850 and 1852,
and the settlements founded therein up to the latter
date, mention has already been made. 79 During the
next decade many small villages and towns were located
in the older counties, 80 and I shall describe later
78 Other settlements in Washington co. were Santa Clara, on the river of
that name, and about five miles north-west of St George, settled in 1853 by-
Jacob Hamblin and a company of missionaries; Gunlock, founded by W. Hamblin
on the Santa Clara, in 1857; Price, occupied in 1858 as a cotton plantation,
submerged by the flood of 1861, and reoccupied for general farming purposes
in 1863; Harrisburg, twelve miles north-east of St George, settled in I860 by
Moses Harris and 13 others; Duncan's Retreat, on the north bank of the Virgin,
first settled in 1S61 by Chapman Duncan, who abandoned it, and resettled
by William Theobald and six others; and Shoensburg, also on the Virgin,
located in Jan. 1S62, by Oliver De Mill and others. Sloan's Utah Gazetteer,
1884, 161-2. In this and other counties, settled between 1852 and 1862,
were numerous small settlements, some of which will be mentioned later.
79 See chaps xiii. and xvii., this vol.
80 In 1852 Call's Fort, in Box Elder co., now on the line of the Utah and
Northern railway, was built by Anson Call and two others. In 1883 it contained
about 35 families. Deseret, near the centre of Millard co., now having
a station on the Utah Central, was founded in 1858, abandoned in 1S67, and
reoccupied in 1875 by J. S. Black and others. Scipio, in the north-eastern
part of the same county was settled in March 1860 by T. F. Robins and six
others. Circleville, in what is now Piute co., was settled about the same
time, several previous attempts having failed, on account of trouble with Indians.
In the same year, also, Fort Gunnison was founded in the south-western
part of San Pete co. In 1861 it was organized as a ward, with Jacob Kudgerson
as bishop. About 30 miles to the north was Moroni, so called after
the prophet of that name in the book of Mormon, located in March 1S59 by
G. W. Bradley and others, and incorporated in 1866. Fairview, farther to
the north, and first known as North Bend, was founded in the winter of 1859
-60 by James N. Jones and others, and was incorporated in 1872. Wales,
the present terminus of the San Pete railway, was first settled in 1857 by John
E. Rees and others, Rees being bishop of the ward in 1883; Fayette, on the west
bank of the Sevier, but still in San Pete co., in 1861, by James Bartholomew
and four others, Bartholomew being now ward bishop. La Tooele co. , St John
was founded in 1858 by Luke Johnson, and Lake View in 1860 by Orson Pratt,
George Marshall, Moses Martin, and four others, Martin being the present
bishop. In Utah co., Spanish Fork, now on the line of the Utah Central railroad,
was incorporated in 1855; Salem, a little to the north-east of Payson, and
first known as Pond Town, was founded in 1856 by Robt Durfee and six others;
and Goshen, in the south-western part of the county, in the same year by
Phineas Cook and a few others. The present site of Goshen was located in
I860 by Brigham, a few miles south of the old settlement. In Weber county,
Plain City was located in March 1859 on the Weber River, about nine miles
north-west of Ogden, by J. Spiers and a few others; West Weber, a little
farther south, about the same date, by Wm McFarland and 14 others; Eden,
ten miles north-east of Ogden, in 1860, by John Beddle and Joseph Grover;
and Huntsville, twelve miles east of Ogden, in the same year, by Jefferson
Hunt and others. Taylor's Bern., MS.; Woodruff's Journal, MS.; Hist. B.
Young, MS.; Sloan's Utah Gazetteer, 1S84, 122-65; Utah Sketches, MS., passim;
Hand-Book of Reference, 71-8. In July 1855 a settlement was founded on
the left bank of the Grand River, in the Elk Mountain region, by Alfred N.
Billings. Richards' Incidents in Utah Hist., MS., SO.