Victor (also known as Desert Lake)
is a
ghost town
A ghost town, deserted city, extinct town, or abandoned city is an abandoned settlement, usually one that contains substantial visible remaining buildings and infrastructure such as roads. A town often becomes a ghost town because the economi ...
in
Castle Valley in northern
Emery County,
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 ...
, United States.
Description
The town was inhabited from 1910 to 1920.
The community has the name of George W. Victor, a postal worker.
History
Victor was established in 1910, when a burst dam treated the soil near
Desert Lake with alkaline water, preventing
farming
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 ...
. Residents of
Desert Lake, a town located near the lake, had to relocate to a more fertile area in order to continue farming.
They chose a spot east of
Elmo
Elmo is a Muppet character on the children's television show ''Sesame Street''. A furry red monster who speaks in a high-pitched falsetto voice and frequently refers to himself in the third person, he hosts the last full 15-minute segmen ...
. The town was soon named Victor. Homes and a schoolhouse were built in town. Farming was more difficult at Victor, because the area was much drier than Desert Lake.
Sand dune
A dune is a landform composed of wind- or water-driven sand. It typically takes the form of a mound, ridge, or hill. An area with dunes is called a dune system or a dune complex. A large dune complex is called a dune field, while broad, flat ...
s located near the town were often blown by wind onto farmland and the surrounding buildings.
In 1920, the continuous lack of rain caused the residents of Victor to leave. The schoolhouse and a couple of foundations remain in the town site.
See also
*
List of ghost towns in Utah
This is an incomplete list of ghost towns in Utah, a state of the United States.
Classification
Barren site
* Sites no longer in existence
* Sites that have been destroyed
* Covered with water
* Reverted to pasture
* May have a few dif ...
References
External links
Ghost towns in Emery County, Utah
Ghost towns in Utah
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