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Piute County
Area: 754
763 Ssquare miles - .92 percent of state - 25th County in size.
Population (1999 est.):
1,535;
County seat:
Junction;
Origin of County Name:
was evolved from the Paiute (Pah Ute) Indians;
Principal Cities/Towns:
Circleville (492), Marysvale (418),
Junction (149), Kingston (158), Balance of Piute County
estimated population (267); (population estimates source: US
Census Bureau)
Economy:
Tourism, agriculture (primarily beef and
dairy cattle), education, trucking;
Points of Interest:
Piute ATV Trail, Bullion Miners Park,
Big Rock Candy Mountain, Historic Piute County Court House,
Tushar Mountains, Otter Creek and Piute reservoirs, Piute County
Courthouse, Parker ranch/Butch Cassidy home.
Piute County was split off from Beaver County in 1865. Its
western boundary approximates the crest of the Tushar Mountains
with the highest peaks in the High Plateaus section of the
Colorado Plateau. Most of the population is concentrated in the
Sevier River Valley. Grass Valley (Otter Creek) lies between the
Sevier Plateau in the center of the county and the Parker Range
on the eastern border.
Evidence of prehistoric inhabitants has been found in the
caves of Kingston Canyon (now an attractive local recreation
area). The county has been occupied by both the Fremont and the
later Paiute Indians who were mainly gatherers and hunters of
food and who produced beautiful baskets for many uses and
rabbit-skin clothing for winter protection.
Circleville and Junction were settled in 1864 by a group of
Mormon pioneers from Ephraim. The Sevier Valley provided good
grazing, and livestock remains important to the economy. Wild
hay, alfalfa, grain, and pastures provide feed for the limited
beef and dairy production. Earth-covered potato cellars remain
as evidence of a successful crop in an earlier era.
Piute County Courthouse, Junction, built in
the early 20th century, is listed in the National Register of
Historic Places.
Kimberly, 1917, was one of several mining boom towns in Piute
that brought economic prosperity to the county in the late 19th
century.
The Piute School District employs 50 residents. Less obvious
contributors to the local economy are a small group of retirees
in the larger towns. As in most of Utah's rural counties,
"home" has a strong pull on the natives while economic
forces tend to push recent high school graduates toward the
opportunities of urban areas. Piute residents depend on nearby
Richfield north on Highway 89 for major services.
Earth's riches once played a dominant role in the economy. A
gold and silver boom in the Tushars spawned such towns as
Bullion, Kimberly, and Marysvale. The Ohio Mining District was
organized in 1868, and by 1872 Bullion Canyon boasted 50
buildings and hundreds of eager miners. Kimberly, in the Gold
Mountain District, developed around the rich Annie Laurie claim,
located in 1891. The completion of a Denver and Rio Grande
Railroad branch line to Marysvale in 1900 linked Piute's mines
and farms to the marketplace. Later, lead, zinc, alunite, and
uranium were significant products. Piute's huge reserves of
high-grade alunite ores were especially important during World
Wars I and II. Cyclical mining, now in a bust mode, could boom
again.
Recreational activities also create some job opportunities.
Piute and Otter Creek reservoirs provide good boating, water
skiing, and fishing. The Parker ranch just south of Circleville
has become a tourist attraction because of its association with
outlaw Butch Cassidy.
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