Uintah County ( ) is a

county A county () is a geographic region of a country used for administrative or other purposesL. Brookes (ed.) '' Chambers Dictionary''. Edinburgh: Chambers Harrap Publishers Ltd, 2005. in some nations. The term is derived from the Old French denoti ...

in the

U.S. state In the United States, a state is a constituent political entity, of which there are 50. Bound together in a political union, each state holds governmental jurisdiction over a separate and defined geographic territory where it shares its so ...

Utah Utah is a landlocked state in the Mountain states, Mountain West subregion of the Western United States. It is one of the Four Corners states, sharing a border with Arizona, Colorado, and New Mexico. It also borders Wyoming to the northea ...

. As of the 2020 United States census the population was 35,620. Its

county seat A county seat is an administrative center, seat of government, or capital city of a county or parish (administrative division), civil parish. The term is in use in five countries: Canada, China, Hungary, Romania, and the United States. An equiva ...

and largest city is Vernal. The county was named for the portion of the

Ute Ute or UTE may refer to: * Ute people, a Native American people of the Great Basin * Ute Indian Tribe of the Uintah and Ouray Reservation, Utah * Ute Mountain Ute Tribe, Colorado, New Mexico, and Utah * Southern Ute Indian Tribe of the Southern ...

Indian tribe that lived in the basin. Uintah County is the largest natural gas producer in Utah, with 272 billion cubic feet produced in 2008. The Vernal, UT Micropolitan Statistical Area includes all of Uintah County. Uintah County is home to one of the nine statewide regional campuses of

Utah State University Utah State University (USU or Utah State) is a public university, public land grant colleges, land-grant research university with its main campus in Logan, Utah, United States. Founded in 1888 under the Morrill Land-Grant Acts as Utah's federal ...

(located in the city of Vernal) and serves as a gateway to

Dinosaur National Monument Dinosaur National Monument is an American national monument located on the southeast flank of the Uinta Mountains on the border between Colorado and Utah at the confluence of the Green River (Colorado River tributary), Green and Yampa River, Y ...

and the Uintah Mountain Range.

History

Archeological evidence suggests that portions of the Uinta Basin have been inhabited by Archaic peoples and Fremont peoples. By the time of recorded history, its inhabitants were the

Ute people Ute () are an Indigenous peoples of the Great Basin, Indigenous people of the Great Basin and Colorado Plateau in present-day Utah, western Colorado, and northern New Mexico.Pritkzer''A Native American Encyclopedia'' p. 242 Historically, their t ...

. The first known traverse by non-Indians was made by Fathers Domínguez and Escalante (1776), as they sought to establish a land route between

California California () is a U.S. state, state in the Western United States that lies on the West Coast of the United States, Pacific Coast. It borders Oregon to the north, Nevada and Arizona to the east, and shares Mexico–United States border, an ...

and Spanish America. The region was claimed by the

Spanish Empire The Spanish Empire, sometimes referred to as the Hispanic Monarchy (political entity), Hispanic Monarchy or the Catholic Monarchy, was a colonial empire that existed between 1492 and 1976. In conjunction with the Portuguese Empire, it ushered ...

as the

Alta California Alta California (, ), also known as Nueva California () among other names, was a province of New Spain formally established in 1804. Along with the Baja California peninsula, it had previously comprised the province of , but was made a separat ...

division of

New Spain New Spain, officially the Viceroyalty of New Spain ( ; Nahuatl: ''Yankwik Kaxtillan Birreiyotl''), originally the Kingdom of New Spain, was an integral territorial entity of the Spanish Empire, established by Habsburg Spain. It was one of several ...

(1521-1821) and was later under Mexican control (1821-1848). Neither the Spanish Empire nor Mexico ever had a major presence in the area and their practical control was nominal. By the early nineteenth century, occasional fur trappers entered the Basin. In 1831-32 Antoine Robidoux, a French trapper licensed by the Mexican government established a trading post near present-day Whiterocks. He abandoned the effort in 1844. In 1847 a contingent of

Mormons Mormons are a Religious denomination, religious and ethnocultural group, cultural group related to Mormonism, the principal branch of the Latter Day Saint movement started by Joseph Smith in upstate New York during the 1820s. After Smith's d ...

under

Brigham Young Brigham Young ( ; June 1, 1801August 29, 1877) was an American religious leader and politician. He was the second President of the Church (LDS Church), president of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (LDS Church) from 1847 until h ...

entered the Great Salt Lake Valley to the west of the Uintah region to establish what would become

Salt Lake City Salt Lake City, often shortened to Salt Lake or SLC, is the capital and most populous city of the U.S. state of Utah. It is the county seat of Salt Lake County, the most populous county in the state. The city is the core of the Salt Lake Ci ...

. In 1861 Young dispatched an exploring party to the Uinta Basin; they reported "that section of country lying between the Wasatch Mountains and the eastern boundary of the territory, and south of Green River country, was one vast contiguity of waste and measurably valueless." Young made no further effort to establish communities in the area but nonetheless included it in their proposed

State of Deseret The State of Deseret (modern pronunciation , contemporaneously , as recorded in the Deseret alphabet spelling 𐐔𐐯𐑅𐐨𐑉𐐯𐐻) was a proposed U.S. state, state of the United States promoted by leaders of the Church of Jesus Chri ...

. The United States took possession under the 1848

Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo The Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo officially ended the Mexican–American War (1846–1848). It was signed on 2 February 1848 in the town of Villa de Guadalupe, Mexico City, Guadalupe Hidalgo. After the defeat of its army and the fall of the cap ...

. In 1861 US President

Abraham Lincoln Abraham Lincoln (February 12, 1809 – April 15, 1865) was the 16th president of the United States, serving from 1861 until Assassination of Abraham Lincoln, his assassination in 1865. He led the United States through the American Civil War ...

created the Uintah and Ouray Indian Reservation, reserved for the use and habitation of Utah and Colorado Indians. In the 1880s, the Uncompahgre Reservation was created in the southern portion of present-day Uintah County. Ashley Valley was not part of either Reservation; by 1880, enough ranchers and farmers had settled there that the Territorial Legislature created Uintah County from portions of Sanpete,

Summit A summit is a point on a surface that is higher in elevation than all points immediately adjacent to it. The topographic terms acme, apex, peak (mountain peak), and zenith are synonymous. The term (mountain top) is generally used only for ...

, and Wasatch counties. They established the county seat at Ashley, a now-abandoned settlement three miles north of the present courthouse in Vernal. Uintah County boundaries were altered in 1892 ( Grand County created), in 1917 (adjustments with Duchesne and Summit county boundaries), in 1918 ( Daggett County created), and in 1919 (the Daggett boundary line was adjusted). It has remained in its present configuration since 1919. Gilsonite was discovered in 1888 at

Bonanza ''Bonanza'' is an American Western television series that ran on NBC from September 12, 1959, to January 16, 1973. Lasting 14 seasons and 431 episodes, ''Bonanza'' is NBC's longest-running Western, the second-longest-running Western series on ...

, in central Uintah County. This mineral was located on Reservation land, and, according to several sources, miners pressured the US government to remove about 7000 acres ( from the Reservation. Mining and its associated activities rapidly boomed in that area. The northern boundary of Uintah County originally extended to the north border of Utah. In 1918, the extreme northern portion (lying north of the Uinta Mountain watershed divide) was split off to form Daggett County.

Geography

Uintah County lies on the east side of Utah. Its eastern border abuts the western border of the state of

Colorado Colorado is a U.S. state, state in the Western United States. It is one of the Mountain states, sharing the Four Corners region with Arizona, New Mexico, and Utah. It is also bordered by Wyoming to the north, Nebraska to the northeast, Kansas ...

. The Green River flows southwestward through the central part of the county and forms the lower part of Uintah County's border with Duchesne County. Two miles south of Ouray, Utah, it is joined by the Duchesne River (flowing east-southeastward from Duchesne County), and farther down by the White River (flowing west-northwestward from Colorado). Ten miles farther downstream, it is joined by Willow Creek, flowing northward from the lower part of the county.''Uintah County UT'' Google Maps (accessed 26 March 2019)
/ref> The county terrain slopes to the south and to the west, with its highest parts found on the crests of the

Uinta Mountains The Uinta Mountains ( ) are an east-west trending mountain range in northeastern Utah extending a short distance into northwest Colorado and slightly into southwestern Wyoming in the United States. As a subrange of the Rocky Mountains, they are u ...

, running east–west across the northern border. The maximum elevation along those crests is around . The county has a total area of , of which is land and (0.5%) is water. Uintah County is centered in the

Uintah Basin The Uinta Basin (also known as the Uintah Basin) is a Physiographic regions of the world, physiographic section of the larger Colorado Plateaus province, which in turn is part of the larger Intermontane Plateaus physiographic division. It is als ...

, which runs from western

on the east to the Wasatch Mountains on the west and from the

on the north to the

Roan Plateau The Roan Plateau is a plateau in western Colorado, USA, in Garfield County. It contains a variety of natural resources and scenic terrain: high ridges, deep valleys, desert lands, waterfalls, cutthroat trout, mountain lions, bears, rare plants, ...

on the south. This basin was formed by a prehistoric lake ("Uinta Lake") during the late

Tertiary Tertiary (from Latin, meaning 'third' or 'of the third degree/order..') may refer to: * Tertiary period, an obsolete geologic period spanning from 66 to 2.6 million years ago * Tertiary (chemistry), a term describing bonding patterns in organic ch ...

period. The county's geography ranges from high mountain terrain (Uinta Mountains) to the fertile Ashley Valley (site of the county seat), to a rugged and desolate canyonland which includes the

, to desolate and largely uninhabited hills in the south ("The Bookcliffs" to locals; officially

Mines

* Dyer Mine, (copper, gold, silver), elevation: MSL * Little Water Mine, (coal), elevation: MSL * Uteland Mine, (coal) , elevation MSL * Black Dragon Mine, ( Gilsonite)) 40°32'15.4"N 109°49'20.5"W

Major highways

* U.S. Route 40 * US Route 191 * Utah State Route 45 * Utah State Route 88 * Utah State Route 121

Adjacent counties

* Daggett County - north * Moffat County, Colorado - northeast *

Rio Blanco County, Colorado Rio Blanco County () is a county located in the U.S. state of Colorado. As of the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, the population was 6,529. The county seat is Meeker, Colorado, Meeker. The name of the county is the Spanish language, Spa ...

- east * Garfield County, Colorado - southeast * Grand County - south * Emery County - southwest * Carbon County - west * Duchesne County - west

Protected areas

Ashley National Forest Ashley National Forest is a United States National Forest, National Forest located in northeastern Utah and southwestern Wyoming. Within the Forest's bounds are (with in Utah and in Wyoming) of vast forests, lakes, and mountains, with elevati ...

(part) *

(part) * Horseshoe Bend State Park * Musket Shot Springs Scenic Overlook * Ouray National Wildlife Refuge * Point of Pines Recreation Site (part) * Pot Creek Recreation Site * Red Fleet State Park * Sears Canyon Wildlife Management Area * Steinaker State Park * Stewart Lake Waterfowl Management Area

Lakes

* Alma Taylor Lake * Ashley Twin Lakes * Association Reservoir * Big Lake * Billeys Reservoir * Blue Lake * Bottle Hollow Reservoir * Box Reservoir * Brough Reservoir * Bullock Draw Reservoir * Bullwinkle Reservoir * Burns Bench Reservoir * Burton Reservoir * Butte Reservoir * Cement Reservoir * Chimney Rock Lake * Chokecherry Flat Reservoir * Counting Station Reservoir * Cow Wash Reservoir * Crouse Reservoir * Dead Lake * Deadman Lake * Dollar Lake * East Park Reservoir * Fish Lake * Flu Knoll Reservoir * Goose Lakes ** Lower Goose Lake ** Upper Goose Lake * Gull Lake * Hacking Lake * Hacking Reservoir * Hatch Reservoir * Herman-Sadlier Reservoir * Hopper Lakes * Johnson Lake * Julius Park Reservoir * Kibah Lakes * Kilroy Reservoir * Lake Wilde * Lily Lake * Lily Pad Lake * Little Elk Lake * Little Lake * Long Park Reservoir * Lower Grouse Reservoir * Lynn Haslem Reservoir * McCoy Reservoir Number 1 * McCoy Reservoir Number 2 * Matt Warner Reservoir * Merkley Reservoir * Mill Pond * Moap Lake * Montes Creek Reservoir * Mytoge Lake * Oaks Park Reservoir * Paradise Park Reservoir * Pariette East Dike Reservoir * Pariette Flood Control Reservoir * Paul Lake * Pearl Lake * Pelican Lake * Red Belly Lake * Red Fleet Reservoir * Sand Lake * Saucer Lake * Shiner Reservoir * Siddoways Reservoir * Stauffer Chemical Tailings Pond North * Steinaker Reservoir * Stewart Lake * Sunday School Reservoir * Teds Lake * Towave Reservoir * Twin Lakes * Warren Draw * Watkins Lake (part) * Whiterocks Lake * Wooley Lakes * Wooley Reservoir * Workman Lake (part) * Zelph Calder Reservoir

Demographics

2020 census

According to the 2020 United States census and 2020 American Community Survey, there were 35,620 people in Uintah County with a

population density Population density (in agriculture: Standing stock (disambiguation), standing stock or plant density) is a measurement of population per unit land area. It is mostly applied to humans, but sometimes to other living organisms too. It is a key geog ...

of 7.9 people per square mile (3.1/km²). Among non- Hispanic or Latino people, the racial makeup was 28,726 (80.6%)

White White is the lightest color and is achromatic (having no chroma). It is the color of objects such as snow, chalk, and milk, and is the opposite of black. White objects fully (or almost fully) reflect and scatter all the visible wa ...

, 90 (0.3%)

African American African Americans, also known as Black Americans and formerly also called Afro-Americans, are an Race and ethnicity in the United States, American racial and ethnic group that consists of Americans who have total or partial ancestry from an ...

, 2,277 (6.4%) Native American, 157 (0.4%) Asian, 97 (0.3%)

Pacific Islander Pacific Islanders, Pasifika, Pasefika, Pacificans, or rarely Pacificers are the peoples of the list of islands in the Pacific Ocean, Pacific Islands. As an ethnic group, ethnic/race (human categorization), racial term, it is used to describe th ...

, 116 (0.3%) from other races, and 1,323 (3.7%) from two or more races. 2,834 (8.0%) people were Hispanic or Latino. There were 17,686 (49.65%) males and 17,934 (50.35%) females, and the population distribution by age was 11,774 (33.1%) under the age of 18, 19,676 (55.2%) from 18 to 64, and 4,170 (11.7%) who were at least 65 years old. The median age was 31.5 years. There were 11,993 households in Uintah County with an average size of 2.97 of which 8,898 (74.2%) were families and 3,095 (25.8%) were non-families. Among all families, 6,888 (57.4%) were

married couples Marriage, also called matrimony or wedlock, is a culturally and often legally recognised union between people called spouses. It establishes rights and obligations between them, as well as between them and their children (if any), and b ...

, 695 (5.8%) were male householders with no spouse, and 1,315 (11.0%) were female householders with no spouse. Among all non-families, 2,546 (21.2%) were a single person living alone and 549 (4.6%) were two or more people living together. 5,126 (42.7%) of all households had children under the age of 18. 8,626 (71.9%) of households were owner-occupied while 3,367 (28.1%) were renter-occupied. The median income for a Uintah County household was $59,428 and the median family income was $72,620, with a

per-capita income The median income is the income amount that divides a population into two groups, half having an income above that amount, and half having an income below that amount. It may differ from the mean (or average) income. Both of these are ways of unde ...

of $24,578. The median income for males that were full-time employees was $56,101 and for females $35,259. 13.2% of the population and 9.8% of families were below the

poverty line The poverty threshold, poverty limit, poverty line, or breadline is the minimum level of income deemed adequate in a particular country. The poverty line is usually calculated by estimating the total cost of one year's worth of necessities for ...

. In terms of education attainment, out of the 20,893 people in Uintah County 25 years or older, 2,412 (11.5%) had not completed high school, 7,958 (38.1%) had a

high school diploma A high school diploma (sometimes referred to as a high school degree) is a diploma awarded upon graduation of high school A secondary school, high school, or senior school, is an institution that provides secondary education. Some secondary s ...

or equivalency, 7,119 (34.1%) had some college or

associate degree An associate degree or associate's degree is an undergraduate degree awarded after a course of post-secondary study lasting two to three years. It is a level of academic qualification above a high school diploma and below a bachelor's degree ...

, 2,505 (12.0%) had a

bachelor's degree A bachelor's degree (from Medieval Latin ''baccalaureus'') or baccalaureate (from Modern Latin ''baccalaureatus'') is an undergraduate degree awarded by colleges and universities upon completion of a course of study lasting three to six years ...

, and 899 (4.3%) had a graduate or

professional degree A professional degree, formerly known in the US as a first professional degree, is a degree that prepares someone to work in a particular profession, practice, or industry sector often meeting the academic requirements for licensure or accreditatio ...

Economy

The extraction of

natural resource Natural resources are resources that are drawn from nature and used with few modifications. This includes the sources of valued characteristics such as commercial and industrial use, aesthetic value, scientific interest, and cultural value. ...

s, including oil,

natural gas Natural gas (also fossil gas, methane gas, and gas) is a naturally occurring compound of gaseous hydrocarbons, primarily methane (95%), small amounts of higher alkanes, and traces of carbon dioxide and nitrogen, hydrogen sulfide and helium ...

phosphate Phosphates are the naturally occurring form of the element phosphorus. In chemistry, a phosphate is an anion, salt, functional group or ester derived from a phosphoric acid. It most commonly means orthophosphate, a derivative of orthop ...

, and gilsonite constitute primary economic activity of Uintah County. There is some

agriculture Agriculture encompasses crop and livestock production, aquaculture, and forestry for food and non-food products. Agriculture was a key factor in the rise of sedentary human civilization, whereby farming of domesticated species created ...

in Uintah County, primarily focusing on raising

cattle Cattle (''Bos taurus'') are large, domesticated, bovid ungulates widely kept as livestock. They are prominent modern members of the subfamily Bovinae and the most widespread species of the genus '' Bos''. Mature female cattle are calle ...

and

sheep Sheep (: sheep) or domestic sheep (''Ovis aries'') are a domesticated, ruminant mammal typically kept as livestock. Although the term ''sheep'' can apply to other species in the genus '' Ovis'', in everyday usage it almost always refers to d ...

and cultivating

alfalfa Alfalfa () (''Medicago sativa''), also called lucerne, is a perennial plant, perennial flowering plant in the legume family Fabaceae. It is cultivated as an important forage crop in many countries around the world. It is used for grazing, hay, ...

. A significant portion of west Uintah County is taken up by the Uintah and Ouray Indian Reservation. The Ute Tribe's headquarters is in Fort Duchesne. Much of the rest of the county is land owned by the Ashley National Forest and the Bureau of Land Management. There is relatively little private land in the county. The Discovery of significant dinosaurs and other pre-historic remains on the eastern edge of the county caused nationwide interest, which culminated in the establishment of

. In addition to the large Visitor Center at the Monument's Jensen site, a

natural history museum A natural history museum or museum of natural history is a scientific institution with natural history scientific collection, collections that include current and historical records of animals, plants, Fungus, fungi, ecosystems, geology, paleo ...

, the Utah Field House of Natural History State Park Museum, showcasing some of the area's finds, was established in Vernal by the State of Utah.

Transportation

Airport

Located in southeastern Vernal, the Vernal Regional Airport provides daily scheduled air service to

Denver, Colorado Denver ( ) is a List of municipalities in Colorado#Consolidated city and county, consolidated city and county, the List of capitals in the United States, capital and List of municipalities in Colorado, most populous city of the U.S. state of ...

via

Denver International Airport Denver International Airport , often referred to by locals as DIA, is an international airport in the Western United States, primarily serving metropolitan Denver, Colorado, as well as the greater Front Range Urban Corridor. At , Effective Ju ...

. Service is provided through United Express, operated by Skywest airlines.

Fixed-Base Operator A fixed-base operator (FBO) is an organization granted the right by an airport to operate at the airport and provide aeronautical services such as fueling, hangaring, tie-down, and parking, aircraft rental, aircraft maintenance, flight instruction ...

(FBO) service is available.

Politics and government

Since 1896 when Utah was admitted to The Union, Uintah County has voted for the Democratic presidential nominee eight times: twice from 1896 to 1900, once in 1916, and five times from 1932 to 1948. Only once has the majority voted for a "third party" candidate, that being

Theodore Roosevelt Theodore Roosevelt Jr. (October 27, 1858 – January 6, 1919), also known as Teddy or T.R., was the 26th president of the United States, serving from 1901 to 1909. Roosevelt previously was involved in New York (state), New York politics, incl ...

in 1912. Since 1948, like most of Utah, Uintah County has voted Republican by substantial margins.

Communities

Cities

* Ballard *

Naples Naples ( ; ; ) is the Regions of Italy, regional capital of Campania and the third-largest city of Italy, after Rome and Milan, with a population of 908,082 within the city's administrative limits as of 2025, while its Metropolitan City of N ...

* Vernal (county seat)

Census-designated places

* Fort Duchesne * Jensen * Lapoint * Maeser * Randlett * Whiterocks

Unincorporated communities

* Avalon * Bennett * Dry Fork * Gusher * Hayden * Leeton * Leota * Ouray * Red Wash * Tridell

Ghost Towns

Dragon A dragon is a Magic (supernatural), magical legendary creature that appears in the folklore of multiple cultures worldwide. Beliefs about dragons vary considerably through regions, but European dragon, dragons in Western cultures since the Hi ...

Rainbow A rainbow is an optical phenomenon caused by refraction, internal reflection and dispersion of light in water droplets resulting in a continuous spectrum of light appearing in the sky. The rainbow takes the form of a multicoloured circular ...

* Watson * Bullionville

Education

There is one school district, Uintah School District.
Text list
/ref>

Sister cities

Barkly Region The Barkly Region, formerly Barkly Shire, is a Local Government Areas of the Northern Territory, local government area of the Northern Territory of Australia, administered by the Barkly Regional Council. The region's main town is Tennant Creek ...

Northern Territory The Northern Territory (abbreviated as NT; known formally as the Northern Territory of Australia and informally as the Territory) is an states and territories of Australia, Australian internal territory in the central and central-northern regi ...

, Australia

References

External links

*

Ashley National Forest website
{{Coord, 40.13, -109.52, display=title, type:adm2nd_region:US-UT_source:UScensus1990 1880 establishments in Utah Territory Populated places established in 1880