Town #49: RUSH VALLEY est. 1856

For those of you who may be following these posts, just so that you know, I am posting these photos a year after they were taken. I hope to be able to catch up and have more up-to-date posts on our progress through Utah soon. This is the last photo taken last year.

Rush Valley is situated south of Tooele in the middle of sagebrush country. Rush Valley is made up of the two towns of Clover and St. John which were combined at sometime into one town. It covers a large area. It also included the town of Vernon for a while. This area was also its own county for a short time. I don't think students are any longer memorizing the name of Shambip County.

This is one of the more interesting old buildings in town. I believe it was used as a firestation at some point.

Town #48: CASTLE DALE est. 1880

Our last stop on this trip through Utah was at Castle Dale just north of Clawson. Castle Dale is the county seat for Emery County. It is a coal mining town. They also have a natural history museum and a big pioneer museum. It was the last area that Brigham Young sent pioneers to settle before he died in 1877. Castle Dale was also the first community to have a high school in Southeastern Utah. I was just happy that all the kids decided to be in the picture this time.

Town #47: CLAWSON est. 1897

A few miles north of Ferron, we came across the town of Clawson. Clawson was originally named Kingsville after the King family, some of the original settlers. In 1904, the name was changed to Clawson to honor the apostle Rudger Clawson. When we found the town sign, we were surprised to find that the name had changed once more to Cla On. Sometimes gravity likes to play jokes. As you can see, John tried to find the missing letters, but he didn't have any luck.

Town #46: FERRON est. 1877

North of Moore is the bigger town of Ferron. Ferron couldn't be called big except in a comparison with Moore. Ferron's big celebration is Peach Days. The town is named after Augustus Ferron who surveyed the area in 1873. One of my great-great grandfathers lived here with his family for about a year in the early days of settlement before moving on to Giles. Ferron looks a lot greener than Giles. What was he thinking?

Town #45: MOORE est. 1895

It may be stretching things to call Moore a town. It is more of a spot on the map where there are a few farms. It was originally called Rochester after the town in New York, but it was changed to Moore in the 1940s. Moore was the name of the local postmaster. I think their town sign needed more paint.

It could have also used a few more buildings. Perhaps they should change the name to Less.

Town #44: EMERY est. 1883

Emery is one more little farming community in Central Utah. It was originally called Muddy Creek. It is named after Governor George Emery.

What amazed me about Emery was that it was so green compared to the bare desolation that surrounded it. I was impressed that anyone could grow anything in this.

Town #43: FREMONT est. 1884

I couldn't find very much information on this little farming town of Fremont. It was named for explorer, John C. Fremont who explored this region in the 1850s. His name was found carved into a tree near the current town site. I wonder if it is still there.

This is what we saw for the majority of the time as we drove through Fremont. It made my nose twitch.

Town #42: TEASDALE est. 1870

Teasdale lies just west of Grover. It is just one more small farm community. Teasdale was named after George Teasdale, a Mormon apostle.


This is a fun building that is in Teasdale. It is the Teasdale Cultural Hall built in 1917 out of local red rock. The roof is shaped after the tabernacle in Salt Lake City.

Town #41: GROVER est. 1880

Grover is another little town west of Capitol Reef National Park. It was settled in 1880 and was named for President Grover Cleveland not for the furry blue monster. It's original name was Carcass Creek. I can see why they decided to change the name. John is holding his hand because the sign post was loose and he got a sliver in his hand when he touched it.

Town #40: CAINEVILLE est. 1882

Caineville was another little town that we weren't sure really fit our criteria for a Utah town, but we decided to include it anyway. It no longer seems to be a town but just a scattering of a few homes and one motel that caters to the tourists visiting Capitol Reef National Park.(It is situated near the eastern entrance of the national park.) It was one of the settlements that were attempted along the Fremont River in the 1880s. Like Giles further east, Caineville suffered from repeated flooding that eventually drove most settlers away. It was named after John T. Caine who was a territorial representative in congress at the time.

We couldn't find a proper town sign, so we took our picture by one of the street signs that had the town name printed on it. Does that count?

Town #39: HANKSVILLE est. 1882

Hanksville seems to be out in the middle of nowhere. It is at least an hour away from any other town. The town is just north of the Henry Mountains in southeast Utah and sits along the Fremont and Muddy rivers. It was originally named Graves Valley after Walter Graves who originally mapped the area. In the 1880s, several small towns were established in the area along the river, but Hanksville is the only one left functioning as a town. It is so isolated that they didn't have telephones until 1913, and before 1960, the only electricity came from individual generators fueled by butane and diesel fuel.


West of Hanksville, we found this billboard about the town Giles. Giles was another settlement started in the 1880s. The people of Giles struggled to make a farming community for over 20 years, they finally gave up around 1909. I have great- grandparents that met and fell in love here.

There isn't much left of Giles except some adobe brick foundations. This is what is left of the bell tower of the church/school house.

Town #38: WELLINGTON CITY est. 1878

Wellington is a small town six miles southwest of Price. It was settled in 1878 by 13 pioneer families, and is named named for Justus Wellington Seeley Jr who served in the Emery County Court.

We had to pass through Wellington to reach Nine Mile Canyon where we were able to see these wonderful petroglyphs. These are the petroglyphs that adorn, along the top, Utah's newest license plate. The canyon's name was misleading though, because we drove more than nine miles along that canyon. Or so it seemed to us.

Town #37: Helper est. 1881

I know that it is about time that I add some more towns to my list. Spring is trying to return and all those Utah towns are calling to us. I'm not sure what happened last fall, but I didn't finish posting about the rest of the towns that we saw. Last Labor Day weekend, we took a fun trip around Utah and stopped at many Utah towns. Our first stop was Helper, seven miles north of Price. This was a scary picture because we had to pull over to the side of the busy highway to take it.


A couple of days later, we stopped at Helper again on our way home and found a much better sign along the quiet town streets.


Helper sits just at the point the highway comes out of Price Canyon. It is a railroad town established by the Denver Rio Grande Western Railway. It is known as "The Hub of Carbon County". Its name comes from the helper engines that would help the trains make it up the steep Price Canyon. Because of the railroad, Helper has always had a diverse population. We like Helper because it has so many of the old original buildings on its main street still. Helper also has a great museum in one its old hotels based on the railroad and coal mining history in the area.


The Balanced Rock Cafe is another reason why we like Helper. They serve the best grilled ham and cheese sandwiches anywhere in Utah. They let you pick out both the type of cheese and bread that you want. Very tasty!