Uintah County, Utah


Uintah County is a county in the U.S. state of Utah. As of the 2020 United States census the population was 35,620. Its county seat and largest city is Vernal. The county was named for the portion of the Ute Indian tribe that lived in the basin.
Uintah County is the largest natural gas producer in Utah, with 272 billion cubic feet produced in 2008.
The Vernal, UT Micropolitan Statistical Area includes all of Uintah County.
Uintah County is home to one of the nine statewide regional campuses of Utah State University and serves as a gateway to Dinosaur National Monument, contains the Red Fleet State Park, and the Uintah Mountain Range.

History

Archeological evidence suggests that portions of the Uinta Basin have been inhabited by Archaic peoples and Fremont peoples. By the time of recorded history, its inhabitants were the Ute people. The first known traverse by non-Indians was made by Fathers Domínguez and Escalante, as they sought to establish a land route between California and Spanish America.
The region was claimed by the Spanish Empire as the Alta California division of New Spain and was later under Mexican control. Neither the Spanish Empire nor Mexico ever had a major presence in the area and their practical control was nominal.
By the early nineteenth century, occasional fur trappers entered the Basin. In 1831-32 Antoine Robidoux, a French trapper licensed by the Mexican government established a trading post near present-day Whiterocks. He abandoned the effort in 1844.
In 1847 a contingent of Mormons under Brigham Young entered the Great Salt Lake Valley to the west of the Uintah region to establish what would become Salt Lake City. In 1861 Young dispatched an exploring party to the Uinta Basin; they reported "that section of country lying between the Wasatch Mountains and the eastern boundary of the territory, and south of Green River country, was one vast contiguity of waste and measurably valueless." Young made no further effort to establish communities in the area but nonetheless included it in their proposed State of Deseret.
The United States took possession under the 1848 Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo. In 1861 US President Abraham Lincoln created the Uintah and Ouray Indian Reservation, reserved for the use and habitation of Utah and Colorado Indians. In the 1880s, the Uncompahgre Reservation was created in the southern portion of present-day Uintah County. Ashley Valley was not part of either Reservation; by 1880, enough ranchers and farmers had settled there that the Territorial Legislature created Uintah County from portions of Sanpete, Summit, and Wasatch counties. They established the county seat at Ashley, a now-abandoned settlement three miles north of the present courthouse in Vernal.
Uintah County boundaries were altered in 1892, in 1917, in 1918, and in 1919. It has remained in its present configuration since 1919.
Gilsonite was discovered in 1888 at Bonanza, in central Uintah County. This mineral was located on Reservation land, and, according to several sources, miners pressured the US government to remove about 7000 acres was split off to form Daggett County.

Geography

Uintah County lies on the east side of Utah. Its eastern border abuts the western border of the state of Colorado. The Green River flows southwestward through the central part of the county and forms the lower part of Uintah County's border with Duchesne County. Two miles south of Ouray, Utah, it is joined by the Duchesne River, and farther down by the White River. Ten miles farther downstream, it is joined by Willow Creek, flowing northward from the lower part of the county. The county terrain slopes to the south and to the west, with its highest parts found on the crests of the Uinta Mountains, running east–west across the northern border. The maximum elevation along those crests is around. The county has a total area of, of which is land and is water.
Uintah County is centered in the Uintah Basin, which runs from western Colorado on the east to the Wasatch Mountains on the west and from the Uinta Mountains on the north to the Roan Plateau on the south. This basin was formed by a prehistoric lake during the late Tertiary period.
The county's geography ranges from high mountain terrain to the fertile Ashley Valley, to a rugged and desolate canyonland which includes the Dinosaur National Monument, to desolate and largely uninhabited hills in the south.

Mines

  • Dyer Mine,, elevation: MSL
  • Little Water Mine,, elevation: MSL
  • Uteland Mine, , elevation MSL
  • Black Dragon Mine, ) 40°32'15.4"N 109°49'20.5"W

    Major highways

  • U.S. Route 40
  • US Route 191
  • Utah State Route 45
  • Utah State Route 88
  • Utah State Route 121

    Adjacent counties

  • Daggett County - north
  • Moffat County, Colorado - northeast
  • Rio Blanco County, Colorado - east
  • Garfield County, Colorado - southeast
  • Grand County - south
  • Emery County - southwest
  • Carbon County - west
  • Duchesne County - west

    Protected areas

  • Ashley National Forest
  • Dinosaur National Monument
  • Horseshoe Bend State Park
  • Musket Shot Springs Scenic Overlook
  • Ouray National Wildlife Refuge
  • Point of Pines Recreation Site
  • Pot Creek Recreation Site
  • Red Fleet State Park
  • Sears Canyon Wildlife Management Area
  • Steinaker State Park
  • Stewart Lake Waterfowl Management Area

    Lakes

  • Alma Taylor Lake
  • Ashley Twin Lakes
  • Association Reservoir
  • Big Lake
  • Billeys Reservoir
  • Blue Lake
  • Bottle Hollow Reservoir
  • Box Reservoir
  • Brough Reservoir
  • Bullock Draw Reservoir
  • Bullwinkle Reservoir
  • Burns Bench Reservoir
  • Burton Reservoir
  • Butte Reservoir
  • Cement Reservoir
  • Chimney Rock Lake
  • Chokecherry Flat Reservoir
  • Counting Station Reservoir
  • Cow Wash Reservoir
  • Crouse Reservoir
  • Dead Lake
  • Deadman Lake
  • Dollar Lake
  • East Park Reservoir
  • Fish Lake
  • Flu Knoll Reservoir
  • Goose Lakes
  • * Lower Goose Lake
  • * Upper Goose Lake
  • Gull Lake
  • Hacking Lake
  • Hacking Reservoir
  • Hatch Reservoir
  • Herman-Sadlier Reservoir
  • Hopper Lakes
  • Johnson Lake
  • Julius Park Reservoir
  • Kibah Lakes
  • Kilroy Reservoir
  • Lake Wilde
  • Lily Lake
  • Lily Pad Lake
  • Little Elk Lake
  • Little Lake
  • Long Park Reservoir
  • Lower Grouse Reservoir
  • Lynn Haslem Reservoir
  • McCoy Reservoir Number 1
  • McCoy Reservoir Number 2
  • Matt Warner Reservoir
  • Merkley Reservoir
  • Mill Pond
  • Moap Lake
  • Montes Creek Reservoir
  • Mytoge Lake
  • Oaks Park Reservoir
  • Paradise Park Reservoir
  • Pariette East Dike Reservoir
  • Pariette Flood Control Reservoir
  • Paul Lake
  • Pearl Lake
  • Pelican Lake
  • Red Belly Lake
  • Red Fleet Reservoir
  • Sand Lake
  • Saucer Lake
  • Shiner Reservoir
  • Siddoways Reservoir
  • Stauffer Chemical Tailings Pond North
  • Steinaker Reservoir
  • Stewart Lake
  • Sunday School Reservoir
  • Teds Lake
  • Towave Reservoir
  • Twin Lakes
  • Warren Draw
  • Watkins Lake
  • Whiterocks Lake
  • Wooley Lakes
  • Wooley Reservoir
  • Workman Lake
  • Zelph Calder Reservoir

    Demographics

2020 census

According to the 2020 United States census and 2020 American Community Survey, there were 35,620 people in Uintah County with a population density of 7.9 people per square mile. Among non-Hispanic or Latino people, the racial makeup was 28,726 White, 90 African American, 2,277 Native American, 157 Asian, 97 Pacific Islander, 116 from other races, and 1,323 from two or more races. 2,834 people were Hispanic or Latino.
There were 17,686 males and 17,934 females, and the population distribution by age was 11,774 under the age of 18, 19,676 from 18 to 64, and 4,170 who were at least 65 years old. The median age was 31.5 years.
There were 11,993 households in Uintah County with an average size of 2.97 of which 8,898 were families and 3,095 were non-families. Among all families, 6,888 were married couples, 695 were male householders with no spouse, and 1,315 were female householders with no spouse. Among all non-families, 2,546 were a single person living alone and 549 were two or more people living together. 5,126 of all households had children under the age of 18. 8,626 of households were owner-occupied while 3,367 were renter-occupied.
The median income for a Uintah County household was $59,428 and the median family income was $72,620, with a per-capita income of $24,578. The median income for males that were full-time employees was $56,101 and for females $35,259. 13.2% of the population and 9.8% of families were below the poverty line.
In terms of education attainment, out of the 20,893 people in Uintah County 25 years or older, 2,412 had not completed high school, 7,958 had a high school diploma or equivalency, 7,119 had some college or associate degree, 2,505 had a bachelor's degree, and 899 had a graduate or professional degree.

Economy

The extraction of natural resources, including oil, natural gas, phosphate, and gilsonite constitute primary economic activity of Uintah County. There is some agriculture in Uintah County, primarily focusing on raising cattle and sheep and cultivating alfalfa.
A significant portion of west Uintah County is taken up by the Uintah and Ouray Indian Reservation. The Ute Tribe's headquarters is in Fort Duchesne. Much of the rest of the county is land owned by the Ashley National Forest and the Bureau of Land Management. There is relatively little private land in the county.
The discovery of significant dinosaurs and other pre-historic remains on the eastern edge of the county caused nationwide interest, which culminated in the establishment of Dinosaur National Monument. In addition to the large Visitor Center at the Monument's Jensen site, a natural history museum, the Utah Field House of Natural History State Park Museum, showcasing some of the area's finds, was established in Vernal by the State of Utah.