Desert Lake, Utah | |
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  Desert Lake Location of Desert Lake in Utah  Desert Lake Desert Lake (the United States) | |
| Coordinates: 39°22′24″N110°46′57″W / 39.37333°N 110.78250°W | |
| Country | United States |
| State | Utah |
| County | Emery |
| Founded | 1885 |
| Abandoned | 1910 |
| Elevation | 5,577 ft (1,700 m) |
Desert Lake is a ghost town in Castle Valley in northern Emery County, Utah, United States. It was inhabited from 1885 to about 1910. [2] [3]
In 1885, several families moved from the nearby town of Cleveland to an area they called Desert Lake, and built a 500-foot (150 m) embankment dam to impound a 300-acre (1.2 km2) irrigation reservoir (Desert Lake). [4] In 1896, the dam broke, causing significant damage. [2] The LDS Church provided $1000 to rebuild the dam, and also to extend a ditch southwest to Cleveland. [4]
The 1900 United States Census reported Desert Lake's population at 127. [5] Six years after the Census was taken, in 1906, the Desert Lake area was surveyed. An LDS church, a general store, several frame homes, and a school were constructed. The general store also served as the town's post office. [6]
A problem throughout the valley occurred as farmers irrigated land, which dropped the water table and caused alkali in the soil to rise. [4] The alkaline soil eroded adobe structures and caused many crops to fail. [4] As the alkali in the soil concentrated, the residents of Desert Lake moved about 6 miles (9.7 km) away and founded the town of Victor. A few log homes make up what's left of the town of Desert Lake. [6]
Emery County is a county in east-central Utah, United States. As of the 2020 United States Census, the population was 9,825. Its county seat is Castle Dale, and the largest city is Huntington.
Huntington is a city in northwestern Emery County, Utah, United States. The population was 2,129 at the 2010 census. It is the largest town in Emery County.
Iosepa is a ghost town in the Skull Valley, located approximately 75 miles (120 km) southwest of Salt Lake City in Tooele County, Utah, United States. Once home to over 200 Polynesian members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, Iosepa was inhabited during the period 1889–1917. Today, it is the site of an annual Memorial Day gathering that draws islanders and others from all over the Western United States.
The Price River is a 137-mile-long (220 km) southeastward flowing river in Carbon, Utah and Emery counties in eastern Utah. It is a tributary to the Green River, itself a tributary to the Colorado River.
Grafton is a ghost town, just south of Zion National Park in Washington County, Utah, United States. Said to be the most photographed ghost town in the West, it has been featured as a location in several films, including 1929's In Old Arizona—the first talkie filmed outdoors—and the classic Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid. The nearest inhabited town is Rockville, which now includes the Grafton ghost town inside its legal boundaries.
Ajax is a ghost town located in the Rush Valley area of southeastern Tooele County, Utah, United States. The town grew up around a unique department store started in 1869 by a Welsh immigrant named William Ajax. He operated the Ajax Underground Store until his death in 1899, and the settlement came to an end as the other residents left by 1900. All that remains today is a hole in the ground, with a historical marker standing nearby.
Mosida is a ghost town located on the southwestern shore of Utah Lake, in Utah County, Utah, United States. The nearest inhabited town is Elberta, some 12 miles (19 km) to the south. A heavily promoted planned community in the 1910s, Mosida was ultimately a failure.
Kiz is a ghost town located in arid Clark Valley, in the sparsely populated eastern part of Carbon County, Utah, United States. This agricultural settlement existed between approximately 1906 and 1940. The nearest currently inhabited town is East Carbon.
Tucker is a ghost town located near the east end of the Spanish Fork River in Utah County, Utah, United States 7 miles (11 km) below Soldier Summit on U.S. Route 6. It was once an important loading point and construction camp on the Denver and Rio Grande Western Railroad (D&RGW). After the town was abandoned, the state of Utah used the town site for a rest area. In 2009, the site was buried as part of a project to re-align a portion of US-6's western approach to Soldier Summit. To honor the town, the state of Utah built a replacement rest area about 2 miles (3.2 km) downstream from Tucker, called the Tie Fork Rest Area.
Rockport is a ghost town in a narrow part of Weber Valley at the mouth of Three Mile Canyon in Summit County, Utah, United States. Located 4 miles (6.4 km) south of Wanship, it was inhabited for nearly a century before the creation of Rockport Reservoir, which covered almost the whole townsite.
Mohrland is a ghost town located in Emery County, Utah, United States. Lying in Cedar Creek Canyon near the Carbon County line, Mohrland was Emery County's largest coal mining town, with a history more typical of Carbon County's coal camps than of most Emery County communities.
Washakie is a ghost town in far northern Box Elder County, Utah, United States. Lying some 3 miles (4.8 km) southeast of Portage, it was established in 1880 by the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints for the settlement of the Northwestern Shoshone. The Washakie Indian Farm was home to the main body of this Native American band through most of the 20th century. By the mid-1970s, Washakie's residents were gone and the property sold to a private ranching operation. Today the tribal reservation consists of a small tract containing the Washakie cemetery, and the tribe is seeking to acquire more of the surrounding land. The old LDS chapel in Washakie is now on the National Register of Historic Places.
Paria or Pahreah, is a ghost town on the Paria River in Grand Staircase–Escalante National Monument in central Kane County, Utah, United States. It was inhabited from 1870 to 1929, and later used as a filming location.
Giles is a ghost town located along the Fremont River in the Blue Valley of Wayne County, Utah, United States. The town was inhabited circa 1883–1919.
Hebron is a ghost town on Shoal Creek in Washington County in southwestern Utah, United States. Hebron was inhabited from 1862 until 1902, when the already-declining town was mostly destroyed by an earthquake. The present-day city of Enterprise, 6 miles (9.7 km) to the east, was settled largely by people leaving Hebron.
Duncan's Retreat is a ghost town located just off Utah State Route 9 in the eastern part of Washington County, in southwestern Utah, United States. Lying some 3 miles (4.8 km) east of Virgin and just southwest of Zion National Park, Duncan's Retreat was inhabited about 1861–1895.
McCornick is an unincorporated community and near-ghost town located in Millard County, Utah, United States. Lying in Whiskey Creek Flat 11 miles (18 km) northwest of Holden, McCornick was a failed land development project that lasted from 1919 until circa 1930. Today, McCornick is made up of a few scattered homes and farms.
Winter Quarters is a ghost town in Carbon County, Utah, United States. Coal was discovered in the area in 1875, and later that year, the Pleasant Valley Coal Company began coal mining operations. A group of coal miners was delayed during an early winter storm in 1877, which led to the town's name of Winter Quarters. On May 1, 1900, an explosion in the Winter Quarters Number Four mine killed 200 miners. Despite the mine explosion, the coal mining operations remained active until 1922, when the opening of a new mine in Castle Gate caused many people to relocate there. By 1930, Winter Quarters was abandoned.
Victor is a ghost town in Castle Valley in northern Emery County, Utah, United States.
Media related to Desert Lake, Utah at Wikimedia Commons
Municipalities and communities of Emery County, Utah, United States | ||
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| Cities |  | |
| Towns | ||
| Unincorporated communities | ||
| Indian reservation | ||
| Ghost towns | ||
| Footnotes | ‡This populated place also has portions in an adjacent county or counties | |
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