One
of the lesser-known areas of Utah is in the west desert
of Tooele and Juab counties near the border between Utah
and Nevada. The Deep Creek Mountains form the major geographic
feature of the region. The Deep Creek Mountains run in a
north-south direction for about thirty miles. They are ruggedly
steep and feature huge granite outcroppings, especially
at the south end where the mountains reach heights of 12,000
feet in elevation. Ibapah Peak is 12,101 feet and to the
immediate north, Haystack Peak rises 12,080 feet above sea
level.
The Deep Creek Range supplies precious water to the surrounding
communities of Callao, Trout Creek and Partoun on the east;
Pleasant Valley and Gandy on the south; Gold Hill to the
north; and Ibapah (or Deep Creek) to the west. Several crystal
clear streams provide perpetual runoff from the high mountain
slopes to the valleys below. The vegetation is consistent
with desert and mountain ecosystems, depending on elevation
and precipitation. One native plant worthy of note is the
ancient Bristlecone Pine which is known to be several thousand
years old. Wildlife is found in great abundance throughout
the area. Rocky Mountain Bighorn sheep and elk have recently
been introduced to the Deep Creek Range. Considerable acreage
on the mountain range has been designated as wilderness.
The area was first inhabited by Goshute Indians. Their descendants
continue to live on a reservation immediately to the west
of the Deep Creek Range. In 1827 the explorer Jedediah Smith
was the first known white man to traverse the region as
he searched for a direct route across the Great Basin. Major
Howard Egan further explored the area in the 1850's, as
he assisted George Chorpenning with a U.S. mail contract
between Salt Lake and California.
By 1858, Chorpenning had built a mail station at Pleasant
Valley. The following spring an Indian farm was established
by the government at Ibapah. Simultaneously, LDS missionaries
were called to colonize and do missionary work among the
Indians at Ibapah. Major Egan's Pony Express station was
headquartered at Ibapah in 1860 and another major station
was located thirty miles to the east on the other side of
the Deep Creeks at Willow Springs (later named Callao).
George W. Boyd operated the mail and stage line there and
was assisted by Enoch Wallace Tripps and his wife, Julia
Boyd Tripp. The Tripps became the first settlers in Callao
in 1869. Other early settlers include Kearneys, Bagleys,
Timms, Sabeys, and Morehouses. Callao has remained a small
farming community, as have Trout Creek, Partoun, and Pleasant
Valley. At the time of this writing, no private merchants
were in operation, although Callao has had a post office,
a school, a hotel, two service stations and a store at one
time or another. Partoun has been the site of the West Desert
High School in recent years.
Several hostile encounters between Indians and whites occurred
in the Deep Creek area during the 1860's as the Indian's
way of life began to be threatened. Indian attacks on Eight
Mile and Canyon Stations near Ibapah in 1863 resulted from
unprovoked massacres on Indians at Bear River and Skull
Valley, Utah. Such Indian attacks were glamorized in media
accounts as late as eighty years after.
A home station for the Overland Mail and Stage and a telegraph
office were established at Deep Creek following the demise
of the Pony Express in 1862. The Devine General Store was
founded in the 1860's and has continually operated under
different proprietorships to the present. There are two
stores, one of which houses a post office in modern Ibapah.
The community grew during the 1870's through the 1890's
as settlers homesteaded sheep and cattle ranches. Some of
the early pioneer family names were Worthington, Hudson,
Burrington, McCurdy, Bates, Skinner, Goldsmith, Ferguson,
Felt, Bonnemort, Weaver, Gash, Snively, Symonds, Lee, and
Kelley. After 1880, the Ericksons, Littledikes, Stewarts,
Halls, Chastains, Hibbards, Cooks, Mulliners, Sheridans,
Parrishs, Georgeattas, and Proberts settled at Ibapah. Other
prominent early names after 1910 in Ibapah have been Hicks,
West, Christiansen, and Calloway.
Around the turn of the century, as mining districts in the
area prospered, Ibapah had up to five saloons functioning
and two dances functioning on any given night. Prosperity
was further enhanced when the Lincoln Highway was routed
through Callao, Gold Hill, and Ibapah from about 1915 to
1927. Sheridan's hotel, gas, and store, along with Chastain's
post office and store were prominent in that time frame.
The Deep Creek valley has had a school at Broadway, Nevada
in the 1920's as well as the Goshute Indian School from
about 1915 to 1969, and Ibapah Elementary since 1883, where
social functions such as dances, church weddings, and funerals
have been held. The Goshute Tribal Council has a community
center and the LDS Church built a chapel in 1981. The only
large cemeteries in western Tooele County are the community
and Goshute cemeteries, both of which are in Deep Creek
Valley. Modern conveniences are of recent origin in the
Deep Creek country. Electric power was installed in 1972.
A paved highway was constructed in 1977 leading from the
Ely, Nevada Highway to Ibapah, and private telephones followed
in 1986.
Gold Hill and Goodwin townsites lie at the northeastern
end of the Deep Creek mountains. It has been the scene of
several mining booms and busts since the 1870's, when a
lead-silver smelter was built at Clifton mining district
near Gold Hill. The first large scale boom occurred in the
early 1890's, when several hundred thousand dollars in gold
was shipped out by Colonel James F. Woodman. Up to 1,500
people resided in Gold Hill from 1917 to 1925. The Deep
Creek Railroad hauled out hundreds of tons of tungsten during
those years. The Gold Hill Standard carried local
news and advertisements for such establishments as the Hillcrest
Hotel, Goodwin Mercantile, the Gold Hill Pharmacy and pool
hall, Bertelson's grocery & clothing store, the Liberty
Garage, the Home Restaurant and Bakery, plus two lumber
yards. There was also a post office, a doctor, a dentist,
an elementary school, and even a house of ill-repute.
Gold Hill was revived during World War II because the U.S.
Government needed arsenic. Almost 100,000 tons of arsenic
were mined from 1943 to 1945. Since then, Gold Hill has
been a ghost town with only a handful of residents residing
there.
Ronald R. Bateman |
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