Utah History for Kids

Area: 1,191 square miles
Population (2000): 15,215
County Seat: Heber City
Origin of County Name: the Wasatch Mountains
Principal Cities/Towns: Heber City (7,291), Midway (2,121)
Economy: hay, livestock, recreation
Points of Interest: Strawberry, Deer Creek, and Jordanelle reservoirs, Wasatch Mountain State Park, LDS Tabernacle in Heber City, Heber Creeper, historic homes in Midway

What is the land like?
Heber Valley, one of several back valleys in the Wasatch Mountains, is often called Utah's Switzerland because of the rugged beauty of Mount Timpanogos, the climate, and the large population of Swiss people who settled in Midway in the 1800s.

The county’s highest peaks top 10,000 feet, and more than half the land is 7,500 feet above sea level. The climate offers cool summers and very cold winters. The average annual precipitation is about 16 inches.

Because the county lies between the Wasatch and Uinta mountains, a lot of rain and snow fall here. The county’s streams flow either into the Colorado River drainage or into the Great Basin. Water also flows into the county through two man-made sources. The Ontario Drain Tunnel drains water from many Park City mines into the Keetley area. And Weber/Provo diversion canal diverts takes from the Weber River in Summit County and brings it to the Provo River in Wasatch County.

History
Before white settlement, Heber Valley was an important summer hunting ground for the Timpanogos Utes living around Utah Lake. The first white people to visit the county were members of the Dominguez-Escalante expedition in 1776. They skirted Heber Valley, traveling down Diamond Fork to Spanish Fork Canyon and then into Utah Valley.

Fifty years later, fur trappers entered the county. In 1824 and 1825 Etienne Provost traveled from Taos, New Mexico, to trap beaver in the Uinta and Wasatch mountains. About that time William H. Ashley and members of his fur company from St. Louis also hunted and trapped for beaver in the county.

Watkins home in Midway illustrates the great popularity of Gothic Revival architecture in Utah

The first Anglo-American settlers came into Wasatch County from Utah Valley in the spring of 1859. They built homes a little bit north of present Heber City. That same year, settlers also moved to the Midway and Charleston areas.

In 1862 the territorial legislature created Wasatch County, which then included the entire Uinta Basin. Wasatch in Ute means "mountain pass" or "low pass over high range." Heber City, named for Mormon apostle Heber C. Kimball, was selected as the county seat. The last boundary change occurred in 1914, when Duchesne County was created from the eastern half of Wasatch County.

The county produces hay, dairy products, sheep, and cattle. During the early 1900s, after the Denver and Rio Grande Railroad completed a line into the county from Provo, sheepmen shipped their wool and sheep out of Heber City.

In 1922 the Union Pacific Railroad constructed a spur from Park City to the mines west of Keetley and began shipping lead, zinc, arid silver ore. Today neither railroad line is in full operation, and other economic activities are more important to the county than transportation and mining.

Strawberry Reservoir (completed in the 1910s), Deer Creek Reservoir (completed in the 1940s), and Jordanelle Reservoir (under construction in the 1980s), together with sparkling streams and beautiful mountain scenery, have made Wasatch a popular recreation area. The county provides excellent opportunities for fishing, boating, and other summer and winter outdoor activities. Increasingly, Heber Valley is becoming the home for many people who work in Utah Valley, Park City, and Salt Lake City.

Wasatch Stake Tabernacle in Heber City is now a community center.