Region

Uintah County is made up of all kinds of different regional characteristics. These include the:

3 Highest Percentage Races:
Caucasian- 88%, American Indian and Alaskan Natives- 9%, and people with Hispanic or Latino origins- 5%

Distinct Physical Characteristics within Uintah:
Ashley Valley, Fantasy Canyon, and Dinosaurland.


Map of Dinosaurland

Climate:
Uintah County gets 11 inches of rain per year, and 38 in of snowfall. The average number of days with measurable precipitation is 64.
On average, there are 240 sunny days per year in Uintah County.

Interaction

Human and Environment Interaction in Uintah County

Early Human-Environment-Environment-Human interaction in Uintah included the trapping/farming of Minks, mines, ranching, and farms.

Picture of Ted Colton, owner of Colton Mink Farm in Vernal, Utah holding a mink in 1956

Colton Mink Farm in 1956.

In about 1888 Gilsonite was discovered in various parts of the county and on the eastern portion of the Uncompahgre and Uintah reservations. Miners quickly persuaded the federal government to withdraw 7,000 acres from the Uintah Reservation so that they could legally mine Gilsonite. This area, called "The Strip," for a time lacked any law and order.

Later on, the mining of Glisonite in Uintah became a huge business;

however, it was later criticized after the Bonanza Mine Explosion.

This explosion in Bonanza, UT on November 5, 1953 killed eight and injured three.

"Vernal, Utah -- A violent explosion, followed by fire, today trapped and killed at least eight men in an open pit mine..."

""I started to run as pieces of burning timber and gilsonite fell all around me," Orman Stephens said. The fire, he reported, was so violent that it singed the backs of men running "quite a ways" from the mine."

"The explosion, at 8:10 a.m., aroused the entire mining community, along the Utah - Colorado border, "and pretty soon fire trucks and ambulances started coming in from all over.""

1954

W.G. Bush, Owner of Bush Drilling Company, had trucks and equipment which he used to do uranium exploration, drill cores, and drill for water wells in the Uintah Basin.

In 1861 a group sent by Brigham Young to explore the area declared it a “waste and valueless.” Then in 1873 a group of people entered the Ashley valley to raise livestock, an industry that has become very important to the area.

Dick Brewer, Harry Tomlinson, Johny Mock and Rube Squire Branding Cattle in Uintah Basin

Cattle Roundup in Uintah County

Cattle in Vernal

Back then farming consisted of corn, alfalfa and other crops.

1904 farm scene in Vernal

Alfalfa

Today, farming and ranching in Uintah is pretty much the same, with animals ranging from Milk cows to Beef Cows to Sheep and Lambs, and crops ranging from Alfalfa to Hay to Corn and Grain.

Place

Characteristics that make Uintah County Unique are:

Dinosaurs

A short distance north of Jensen on the Green River is a famous dinosaur quarry. Earl Douglass, a paleontologist who worked for the Carnegie Museum, first discovered dinosaur bones here in 1909. For several years Douglas and others excavated tons of dinosaur fossils and sent them to eastern museums.
The fossils lay embedded in the Morrison Formation of the Upper Jurassic Age, about 150 million years ago. Some of the dinosaurs whose bones lay here are Apatosaurus, Diplodocus, Allosaurus, and Stegosaurus.
In 1915 President Woodrow Wilson created Dinosaur National Monument. Paleontologists still study and work at Dinosaur. And thousands of visitors tour the monument each year.


At Dinosaur Natl. Monument, you can walk right next to a cliff face, where dinosaur bones are embedded.

The Rock

Fantasy Canyon is a great place to view the unique landscape of Uintah County.








The Rich Indian & Settler History

Prehistoric Indian sites suggest that the Uinta Basin was inhabited thousands of years ago by Archaic and more recently by Fremont peoples. In historic times it was part of the Utes' domain. The first white men in the area were Fathers Dominguez and Escalante who traveled through the Uinta Basin in 1776 searching for a land route to Monterey, California. In his diary Escalante called the basin "a fine plain abounding in pasturage and fertile, arable land, provided it were irrigated." Nearly fifty years later American and French trappers found the Basin rich in beaver and other wildlife. In 1831-32 Antoine Robidoux, a French trapper licensed by the Mexican government (Utah was part of Mexico until 1848), built a small trading post near present-day Whiterocks where trappers could trade beaver pelts for supplies. The post was abandoned in 1844 because of difficulties with the Indians.


Store and Trading Post in 1905

Movement

Movement in Uintah County:

The main road going through Uintah County is Highway 40

Early photo of Highway 40 through Vernal

A main railroad, Uintah Railway, cut its way through Uintah.

Railroad station in Dragon, Utah in 1904

In the early days, and now, the economy in Uintah rests in the hands of mining, the removal of gas and oil, ranching, and farming.

Mining

In about 1888, gilsonite was discovered in various parts of the county—including in the eastern part of the Uncompahgre and Uintah indian reservations. Men who wanted to mine the gilsonite quickly persuaded the federal government to take 7,000 acres from the Uintah Reservation. This area, called "The Strip," had no law and order for some time.

American Gilsonite Building

The American Gilsonite Co was founded for the mining and processing of Gilsonite-brand uintaite and other products for the world market. Uintaite, a coal-like hydrocarbon resin, is an exceptionally safe, lightweight, crushable material that has applications in four major growth industries: oil drilling, the manufacture of inks and paints, road paving and metal casting. American Gilsonite is the globally dominant supplier of this critical material.

Removal of Oil and Gas

Because of the ancient, and now long gone Uinta Lake, formed during the late Tertiary period, sediment was deposited in the lake bottom to form gilsonite, oil shale, tar sands, and oil. Oil rigs and drills harvest oil and gas from the earth.

Drilling Rig in Vernal in the 1960's

Today's drilling rig.

Ranching

In 1873 a group of people entered the Ashley valley to raise livestock an industry that has become very important to the area.
Ranches raise animals like Cattle, Calves, Beef Cows, Milk Cows, Sheep, and Lamb.

Ranches in Uintah also supply land for wildlife ranging from Mule Deer and Elk to Turkey, Waterfowl and Beaver.

Early Uintah Ranch in Deep Creek

Modern Ranch in Uintah County

Farming

Farming is the main source of income for Uintah County.

The most used crop rotation that producers practice is to leave alfalfa in for seven to ten years, plant oats for one to two years, then replant alfalfa. Producers typically get three to four cuttings of alfalfa each year. About 50% of all inputs (seed, fertilizer, pesticides, etc.) are purchased locally while the remaining 50% is bought in a neighboring county.

Uintah farmers usually plant and harvest grain, corn, hay, and alfalfa.

Early farmer from Vernal harvesting Alfalfa.

Gawain Snow, Alfalfa farmer in Utah

Location

Uintah County is Located in Utah, in the Western U.S.



The exact GPS coordinates are 40 degrees, 06 minutes, 25.02 seconds North and 109 degrees, 22 minutes, 41.96 seconds West.

The relative location of Uintah is in Utah, right next to Colorado, and below Dagget.