Box Elder Canyon is a canyon located within the western slopes of the

Wellsville Mountains The Wellsville Mountains are a mountain range in Box Elder and Cache counties in Utah, United States, that is part of the Wasatch Range. Description The range separates the Cache Valley from the Wasatch Front (Bear River Valley), as well as ...

, a branch of the

Wasatch Range The Wasatch Range ( ) or Wasatch Mountains is a mountain range in the western United States that runs about from the Utah-Idaho border south to central Utah. It is the western edge of the greater Rocky Mountains, and the eastern edge of the Gr ...

of the

Rocky Mountains The Rocky Mountains, also known as the Rockies, are a major mountain range and the largest mountain system in North America. The Rocky Mountains stretch in great-circle distance, straight-line distance from the northernmost part of Western Can ...

in Box Elder 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. Box Elder Canyon and Wellsville Canyon together provide the routes of

U.S. Route 89 U.S. Route 89 (US 89) is a north–south United States Numbered Highway with two sections, and one former section. The southern section runs for from Flagstaff, Arizona, to the southern entrance of Yellowstone National Park. The northern sectio ...

/ U.S. Route 91 (US 89 / US 91) across the Wellsville Mountains. Both of these canyons are sometimes locally referred to as Sardine Canyon, although the actual Sardine Canyon is used by an old alignment of the highway along the eastern slope of the Wellsville Mountains.

Description

The valley was created by a prehistoric river, which flowed as a tributary into the main pool of ancient

Lake Bonneville Lake Bonneville was the largest Late Pleistocene paleolake in the Great Basin of western North America. It was a pluvial lake that formed in response to an increase in precipitation and a decrease in evaporation as a result of cooler temperatur ...

, emerging east of present-day Brigham City. The western or lower mouth of Box Elder Canyon is located approximately north of

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 ...

, Utah, via

Interstate 15 Interstate 15 (I-15) is a major Interstate Highway in the Western United States, running through Southern California and the Intermountain West. I-15 begins near the Mexican border in San Diego County and stretches north to Alberta, Ca ...

and US 91. The joint routes of US 89 / US 91 join together at 1100 South Main Street to the west and enter Box Elder Canyon east of downtown Brigham City. In addition to US 89 / US 91, Box Elder Canyon also contains Box Elder Creek, which flows westward from Mantua Reservoir, a moderately-sized water impoundment created in 1961 through the construction of an earthen-fill dam at the upper mouth of the canyon, adjacent to the small farming community of

Mantua Mantua ( ; ; Lombard language, Lombard and ) is a ''comune'' (municipality) in the Italian region of Lombardy, and capital of the Province of Mantua, eponymous province. In 2016, Mantua was designated as the "Italian Capital of Culture". In 2 ...

(locally pronounced "man-uh-way"). From Mantua, US‑89/US‑91 enters Dry Canyon for before the combined routes reach their apex at Sardine Summit (). From there, the highway enters a mountain valley known as Dry Lake before traversing Wellsville Canyon (popularly but incorrectly called "Sardine Canyon") before entering the

Cache Valley Cache Valley ''( Shoshoni: Seuhubeogoi, “Willow Valley”)'' is a valley of northern Utah and southeast Idaho, United States, that includes the Logan metropolitan area. The valley was used by 19th century mountain men and was the site of th ...

at Wellsville.

References

External links

Landforms of Box Elder County, Utah Canyons and gorges of Utah {{Utah-stub

Description

See also

References

External links