Area:
6,923 square miles;
population:
26,601 (in 1990);
county seat:
Tooele City; origin
of county name:
probably from tule,
a Spanish word of
Aztec origin, meaning
bulrush, a marsh plant;
principal cities/towns:
Tooele
City (13,887),
Grantsville
(4,500), Wendover
(1,122); economy:
defense, transportation,
communications, trade,
services; points
of interest: Great
Salt Lake, Bonneville
Speedway, Deseret
Peak Wilderness Area,
Ophir Town Hall, Old
Pony Express and Stage
Route, Iosepa Cemetery.
Tooele County is Basin
and Range country.
Most of its towns
lie in a broad valley
between the mineral-rich
Oquirrh Mountains
on the eastern border
and the Onaqui and
Stansbury mountains
to the west. The Great
Salt Lake Desert covers
most of western Tooele
County, except the
southwest corner where
the Deep Creek Mountains
rise.
Prehistoric Indian
sites have been discovered
in the county, but
it is the Goshutes,
a branch of the Western
Shoshone, who claim
this harsh environment
as their ancestral
homeland. Their ingenious
use of the limited
plant and animal resources
of the area amazed
the first white travelers.
The Goshutes currently
have a reservation
in Skull Valley.
Tuilla, as it was
originally spelled,
was one of six counties
created in January
1850. Its boundaries
were changed a number
of times before it
achieved its present
size as the state's
second largest county.
The Mormons herded
livestock in Tooele
Valley before permanent
settlement began in
1849. The early settlers
farmed, built gristmills
and sawmills, and
manufactured salt,
charcoal, lime, adobe
bricks, and woolen
products. Large sheep
and cattle herds were
developed, and hay
and grain became important
crops. But mining
and smelting, not
agriculture, led the
county's growth from
the 1860s to World
War II.
The Rush Valley Mining
District, organized
in 1864 by soldiers
from Fort Douglas,
included all of the
western Oquirrhs.
More than 500 mining
claims were located
during the first year.
Of the mining towns
founded in Tooele
County, Ophir and
Mercur became the
most important. Ophir
boomed in the 1870s
with an estimated
population of 6,000
and mines that produced
millions of dollars
in silver, lead, zinc,
and gold. Mercur endured
several boom and bust
cycles as well as
two major fires; with
a population estimated
as high as 10,000
it flirted briefly
with the idea of taking
the county seat from
Tooele City.
The International
Smelting and Refining
Company's smelter,
built east of Tooele
City in 1910, for
some sixty years processed
ore carried by aerial
tramway from the Bingham
mine. The plant attracted
workers from southern
and eastern Europe,
diversifying Tooele's
ethnic and religious
mix. The Tooele Valley
Railroad, completed
in 1909, served the
smelter's needs and
provided additional
jobs.
Military installations
built during World
War II boosted the
county's population
and continue to pump
millions of dollars
into the local economy.
Wendover Air Force
Base (now closed)
near the Nevada border
became an important
site for bomber training,
at one time employing
almost 20,000 military
and civilian personnel.
Tooele Ordnance Depot
(now Tooele Army Depot,
or TAD), built in
1942 on a huge tract
of land south of Tooele
City, served as a
major supply, storage,
and repair center,
employing almost 2,000
civilians in 1944.
Activity at TAD peaked
during the Korean
War and again during
the Vietnam conflict.
Dugway Proving Grounds,
a chemical and biological
warfare test center
built at the same
time, became controversial
in the 1970s when
a large number of
sheep in the area
were killed, presumably
as a result of nerve
gas testing. Today,
most of western Tooele
County is reserved
for military use.
Citizens of Tooele
County received a
major economic blow
in 1993 when the Tooele
Army Depot was included
on a Defense Department
list of bases to be
closed. Although the
closure of the depot
will undoubtedly greatly
affect the county,
citizens and officials
are working to mitigate
the impact.
Miriam B. Murphy
