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.
Vernal, the county seat and largest city in Uintah County, is in northeastern Utah, approximately 175 miles (280 km) east of Salt Lake City and 20 miles (32 km) west of the Colorado border. As of the 2020 census, the city population was 10,079. The population has since grown to 10,432 as of the 2022 population estimate.
The Uintah Railway was a small 3 ft narrow gauge railroad company in Utah and Colorado in the United States. It was constructed to carry Gilsonite which provided most of its operating revenues; but it operated as a common carrier from 1904 to 1939, also carrying passengers, mail, express, and other cargoes including sheep and wool. When a public library was built in Dragon in 1910, the Uintah Railway agreed to deliver library books free of charge to and from any borrower along its route. Many area ranchers and miners took advantage of the opportunity.
Ninemile Canyon is a canyon, approximately 40 miles (64 km) long, located in Carbon and Duchesne counties in eastern Utah, United States. Promoted as "the world's longest art gallery", the canyon is known for its extensive rock art, most of it created by the Fremont culture and the Ute people. The rock art, shelters, and granaries left behind by the Fremont make Ninemile Canyon a destination for archaeologists and tourists alike.
Kelton is a ghost town, just north of the Great Salt Lake, in the Park Valley area of Box Elder County, Utah, United States. The town was inhabited during the period of 1869–1942. Once an important section station on the First transcontinental railroad, Kelton was dependent on the railroad throughout its history. The town suffered serious setbacks in the 1880s when its busy stagecoach route to Boise, Idaho was discontinued, and in the 1900s when the Lucin Cutoff left it off the main rail line. The strongest earthquake in Utah history caused severe damage in 1934, but Kelton ceased to exist only when the rails were completely removed during World War II.
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.
Linwood was an unincorporated village in north-central Daggett County, Utah, United States, near the Wyoming state line. The town, located along Henrys Fork of the Green River, approximately five miles east of the county seat of Manila, was first settled in the 1890s. The nearby bottomland was used for irrigated agriculture, and sheep ranches operated in the more arid lands to the north.
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.
Forest City is a ghost town in Utah County, Utah, United States. It is located in the valley of Dutchman Flat in the upper part of American Fork Canyon, in the Uinta National Forest. A silver mining town just over the mountain from Alta, Forest City was inhabited about 1871–1880. The town grew up around the smelter that was built to process ore from the canyon's mines. The American Fork Railroad, which was intended to serve Forest City and the smelter, stopped short of its destination due to engineering difficulties. Transportation costs rose too high for the mines to continue operating profitably. As the smelter, mines, and railroad closed down, Forest City was abandoned.
Clear Creek is a census-designated place on the western edge of Carbon County, Utah, United States. It is located at the south end of State Route 96 and the Pleasant Valley Branch of the Union Pacific Railroad.
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.
Grass Creek is a ghost town in Summit County, Utah, United States. Lying some 8 miles (13 km) northeast of Coalville, it was once an important coal mining town. Grass Creek was inhabited circa 1860–1940.
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.
Silver City is a ghost town located at the mouth of Dragon Canyon on the west flank of the East Tintic Mountains in northeast Juab County in central Utah, United States. It was a silver mining town approximately 90 miles (140 km) south-southwest of Salt Lake City. This area was considered part of the Tintic Mining District and also produced bismuth, copper, gold, and lead. Settlement began with the first mining strikes here in 1869. Silver City was inhabited until 1930, after the mines played out. Jesse Knight, known as the "Mormon Wizard" for his ability to find ore easily, decided to build a smelter in Silver City because it had the flattest ground in all of the Tintic Mining District. Silver City had several mines in 1890, but the mines hit water and were abandoned. Now there is little left other than a few holes where mines were, and a number of tailings piles. The Silver City Cemetery, however, survives and is listed on the National Register of Historic Places.
Peerless is a ghost town in Carbon County, Utah, United States. It is located just 3 miles (4.8 km) west of Helper.
Miners Basin, or simply Basin, is a ghost town in Grand County, Utah, United States. It was inhabited from 1898 to 1908.
Dragon is a ghost town in Uintah County, at the extreme eastern edge of Utah, United States. Founded in about 1888 as a Gilsonite mining camp, Dragon boomed in the first decade of the 20th century as the end-of-line town for the Uintah Railway. Although it declined when the terminus moved farther north in 1911, Dragon survived as the largest of the Gilsonite towns. It was abandoned after its mining operations stopped in 1938 and the Uintah Railway went out of business in 1939.
Cedar Creek is a ghost town in Box Elder County, Utah, United States. Founded in the 1860s, Cedar Creek was a farming town. Businesses included a school, an inn, and a store. The interstate highway system built through Cedar Creek and the nearby communities of Snowville and Park Valley. Cedar Creek was abandoned when weather conditions made farming difficult.
Atchee is a ghost town in Garfield County, Colorado. It was originally a railroad village/company town owned by the Gilsonite Company that served as a shopping town on the narrow-gauge Uintah Railway. The railroad served mines in nearby Utah. At a point in time, the railroad was dismantled which led to a sharp population decline. By 1938, there were only 27 voters in the town and by 1940 only two voters remained.
The Uinta Basin Rail project is a proposed 100-mile (160 km) rail line to connect the shale oil rich Uinta Basin region of eastern Utah to the national rail network. Numerous proposals have been made, some as far back as 1902, that are still under consideration. The current effort is a public-private partnership between a coalition of 7 counties in Utah, the Rio Grande Pacific Corporation and Drexel Hamilton Infrastructure Partners. The railroad is also backed by the Ute Tribe who hold a 5% stake in the project. If the rail line is built it will be the first major greenfield rail line built in the United States since the line to the Powder River Basin was built in the 1970s. The Surface Transportation Board approved construction of the line in December 2021, but in August 2023, a Federal Appeals Court halted the project pending "a more fulsome explanation for the Board’s conclusion that the Railway’s transportation benefits outweighed the project’s environmental impacts".
