Emery, Utah
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Emery is a town in 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. The population was 288 at the 2010 census.


History


Prehistoric

Emery sits at the base of the mountains that contain the
North Horn Formation The North Horn Formation is a widespread non-marine sedimentary unit with extensive outcrops exposed in central and eastern Utah. The formation locally exceeds in thickness and is characterized by fluvial, Lacustrine plain, lacustrine, and floo ...
. Named after North Horn Mountain, near Castle Dale, this formation in Emery County contain numerous
Cretaceous The Cretaceous ( ) is a geological period that lasted from about 143.1 to 66 mya (unit), million years ago (Mya). It is the third and final period of the Mesozoic Era (geology), Era, as well as the longest. At around 77.1 million years, it is the ...
- and
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 ...
-era
fossil A fossil (from Classical Latin , ) is any preserved remains, impression, or trace of any once-living thing from a past geological age. Examples include bones, shells, exoskeletons, stone imprints of animals or microbes, objects preserve ...
invertebrate Invertebrates are animals that neither develop nor retain a vertebral column (commonly known as a ''spine'' or ''backbone''), which evolved from the notochord. It is a paraphyletic grouping including all animals excluding the chordata, chordate s ...
s,
microfossils A microfossil is a fossil that is generally between 0.001 mm and 1 mm in size, the visual study of which requires the use of light or electron microscopy. A fossil which can be studied with the naked eye or low-powered magnification, ...
and
palynomorph Palynology is the study of microorganisms and microscopic fragments of mega-organisms that are composed of acid-resistant organic material and occur in sediments, sedimentary rocks, and even some metasedimentary rocks. Palynomorphs are the mic ...
s. Flagstaff Peak, north of Emery, has abundant dinosaur bone material, prehistoric mammal remains, and petrified dinosaur footprints. The elevation is around 7000


Fremont people, the Old Spanish Trail, and exploration

The
Fremont culture The Fremont culture or Fremont people is a pre-Columbian archaeological culture which received its name from the Fremont River in the U.S. state of Utah, where the culture's sites were discovered by local indigenous peoples like the Navajo and Ut ...
or Fremont people is a
pre-Columbian In the history of the Americas, the pre-Columbian era, also known as the pre-contact era, or as the pre-Cabraline era specifically in Brazil, spans from the initial peopling of the Americas in the Upper Paleolithic to the onset of European col ...
archeological culture An archaeological culture is a recurring assemblage of types of artifacts, buildings and monuments from a specific period and region that may constitute the material culture remains of a particular past human society. The connection between these ...
who existed in the area from AD 700 to 1300. It was adjacent to, roughly contemporaneous with, but distinctly different from the
Ancestral Pueblo peoples The Ancestral Puebloans, also known as Ancestral Pueblo peoples or the Basketmaker-Pueblo culture, were an ancient Native American culture of Pueblo peoples spanning the present-day Four Corners region of the United States, comprising southeas ...
. The culture received its name from the
Fremont River The Fremont River is a long river in southeastern Utah, United States that flows from the Johnson Valley Reservoir, which is located on the Wasatch Plateau near Fish Lake, Utah, Fish Lake, southeast through Capitol Reef National Park to the Muddy ...
, where the first Fremont sites were discovered. The Fremont River in Utah flows from the Johnson Valley Reservoir near Fish Lake east through
Capitol Reef National Park Capitol Reef National Park is a List of national parks of the United States, national park of the United States in south-central Utah. The park is approximately long on its northsouth axis and just wide on average. The park was established in ...
to Muddy Creek, whose headwaters begin just north of Emery. Two significant Fremont culture sites are located north and south of the town. Artifacts such as pottery, manos and
metate A metate (or mealing stone) is a type or variety of quern, a ground stone tool used for processing grain and seeds. In traditional Mesoamerican cultures, metates are typically used by women who would grind nixtamalized maize and other organi ...
s (millingstones), and weaponry have been found along Muddy and Ivie creeks. Coil pottery, which is most often used to identify archaeological sites as Fremont, is not very different from that made by other Southwestern groups, nor are its vessel forms and designs distinct. What distinguishes Fremont pottery from other ceramic types is the material from which it is constructed. Variations in temper, the granular rock or sand added to wet clay to ensure even drying and to prevent cracking, have been used to identify five major Fremont ceramic types. They include Snake Valley gray in the southwestern part of the Fremont region, Sevier gray in the central area, the Great Salt Lake gray in the northwestern area, and Uinta and Emery gray in the northeast and southwestern regions. Sevier, Snake Valley, and Emery gray also occur in painted varieties. A unique and beautiful painted bowl form, Ivie Creek black-on-white, is found along either side of the southern
Wasatch Plateau The Wasatch Plateau is a plateau located southeast of the southernmost part of the Wasatch Range in central Utah. It is a part of the Colorado Plateau. Geography The plateau has an elevation of and includes an area of . Its highest point is So ...
. In addition to these five major types found at Fremont villages, a variety of locally made pottery wares are found on the fringes of the Fremont region in areas occupied by people who seem to have been principally
hunters and gatherers A hunter-gatherer or forager is a human living in a community, or according to an ancestrally derived lifestyle, in which most or all food is obtained by foraging, that is, by gathering food from local naturally occurring sources, especially wi ...
rather than farmers. The Rochester Rock Art Panel west of Emery is a significant rock art panel left by the Fremont People and has been the target of vandalism and relic thieves. The earliest known entrance into the region known as Castle Valley by Europeans dates back to the Spanish explorers. The oldest names in Emery County are Spanish, not Native American — San Rafael, Sinbad, and probably Castle Valley itself are landmarks of that era when Spanish padres, Spanish American explorers, fur traders, trappers, and frontiersmen followed the Old Spanish Trail through Emery. From about 1776 to the mid-1850s, the Old Spanish Trail came up from
Santa Fe, New Mexico Santa Fe ( ; , literal translation, lit. "Holy Faith") is the capital city, capital of the U.S. state of New Mexico, and the county seat of Santa Fe County. With over 89,000 residents, Santa Fe is the List of municipalities in New Mexico, fourt ...
, crossed the
Colorado River The Colorado River () is one of the principal rivers (along with the Rio Grande) in the Southwestern United States and in northern Mexico. The river, the List of longest rivers of the United States (by main stem), 5th longest in the United St ...
at
Moab Moab () was an ancient Levant, Levantine kingdom whose territory is today located in southern Jordan. The land is mountainous and lies alongside much of the eastern shore of the Dead Sea. The existence of the Kingdom of Moab is attested to by ...
, then the Green River where the city of Green River now stands, across the San Rafael desert into Castle Valley, then crossed along the eastern part of the town. This became the established route of the Spanish slave traders who captured
indigenous people There is no generally accepted definition of Indigenous peoples, although in the 21st century the focus has been on self-identification, cultural difference from other groups in a state, a special relationship with their traditional territ ...
along the route and were selling them as slaves. A sizable herd of
wild horse The wild horse (''Equus ferus'') is a species of the genus Equus (genus), ''Equus'', which includes as subspecies the modern domestication of the horse, domesticated horse (''Equus ferus caballus'') as well as the Endangered species, endangered ...
s is managed east of Emery. These wild horses and
burro The donkey or ass is a domesticated equine. It derives from the African wild ass, ''Equus africanus'', and may be classified either as a subspecies thereof, ''Equus africanus asinus'', or as a separate species, ''Equus asinus''. It was domes ...
s have occupied the
San Rafael Swell The San Rafael Swell is a large geologic feature located in south-central Utah, United States about west of Green River. Measuring approximately , the swell consists of a giant dome-shaped anticline of sandstone, shale, and limestone that wa ...
area since the beginning of the Old Spanish Trail in the early 19th century. Early travelers would lose animals or have them run off by native Americans or rustlers. Many of these animals were headed for
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 ...
to be traded and sold and were of good stock. The herd was also augmented by releasing domestic horses from local ranches. By the early 20th century, wild horse and burro numbers had soared and were captured and sold by local
mustang The mustang is a free-roaming horse of the Western United States, descended from horses brought to the Americas by the Spanish conquistadors. Mustangs are often referred to as wild horses, but because they are descended from once-domesticate ...
ers. This continued until the passage of the
Wild and Free-Roaming Horses and Burros Act of 1971 The Wild and Free-Roaming Horses and Burros Act of 1971 (WFRHBA), is an Act of Congress (), signed into law by President Richard M. Nixon on December 18, 1971. The act covered the management, protection and study of "unbranded and unclaimed hor ...
. Since the passage of this act, the horses and burros have been managed under federal law and
Bureau of Land Management The Bureau of Land Management (BLM) is an agency within the United States Department of the Interior responsible for administering federal lands, U.S. federal lands. Headquartered in Washington, D.C., the BLM oversees more than of land, or one ...
regulation. In the summer of 1853, Captain John W. Gunnison was sent by the War Department of the United States to explore a railroad route to the Pacific coast. Lt. E. G. Beckwith assisted him. They entered Castle Valley and passed near the town in October 1853. Gunnison described the area as follows: "Except three or four small cottonwood trees, there is not a tree to be seen by the unassisted eye on any part of the horizon. The plain lying between us and the Wasatch Range, one hundred miles to the west, is a series of rocky, parallel chasms, and fantastic sandstone ridges. On the north, Roan Cliffs, ten miles from us, present bare masses miles back, a few scattering cedars may be distinguished with the glass. The surface around is whitened with fields of alkali resembling fields of snow. Unless this interior country possesses undiscovered minerals of great value, it can contribute but the merest trifle towards the maintenance of a railroad through it after it has been constructed."Emery Town Historical Committee, Emery Town (1981)


Settlement

One folk story about the settlement goes as follows. It is said a group of pioneers were traveling through the area. A strong wind storm appeared, and they agreed to stop until it died down. The wind never stopped in time, and ultimately decided to settle there. This story is likely a joke about the prominent wind noted by residents. The first settlers to Emery came from
Sanpete County, Utah Sanpete County ( ) is a county in the U.S. state of Utah. As of the 2020 United States census, the population was 28,437. Its county seat is Manti, and its largest city is Ephraim. The county was created in 1850. History The Sanpete Valley m ...
. This is unusually notable as the settlers headed east instead of the west (like most settlers at the time), even if it was over a mountain range. The first attempt at settlement was made at Muddy Creek, a stream following down a wide canyon and eventually emptying into the
Dirty Devil River The Dirty Devil River is an tributary of the Colorado River, located in the U.S. state of Utah. It flows through southern Utah from the confluence of the Fremont River and Muddy Creek before emptying into the Colorado River at Lake Powell. Cour ...
. The Muddy Creek vegetation included tall grass, sage, greasewood, rabbit brush, tender shad scale or Castle Valley clover, prickly pear cacti, and yucca. Along the creek banks were giant cottonwood trees and patches of huge thorny bushes with long needle-sharp spines called bull berry bushes. These berries, when beaten off onto a canvas, could be dried, made into jams, jellies, or even eaten raw. Among these early settlers were Charles Johnson, Marenus, and Joseph Lund families. Casper Christensen and Fred Acord also brought their families and began to build cabins and plant crops. Joseph Lund, the first to build a small one-room log cabin with a lean-to, became discouraged and left it for Casper Christensen (this building still survives and has been restored and relocated to
This Is the Place Heritage Park This Is the Place Heritage Park is a Utah State Park that is located on the east side of Salt Lake City, Utah, United States, at the foot of the Wasatch Range and near the mouth of Emigration Canyon. A non-profit foundation manages the park. ...
in Salt Lake City). Most travels came by way of Salina Canyon and Spring Canyon, which weren't much more than deer trails. Roads were bad at best and almost impassable most of the time. The modes of travel were by horseback, team, and wagon or on snowshoes in wintertime. Another company settled farther up the canyon around this same date—families who came from Beaver, Mayfield, and Sterling. They called themselves "The Beaver Brothers". Among these were Dan, Miles, and Samuel Miller, George Collier, Samuel Babbett and others. Some of these became discouraged and left the first year. The Millers moved farther down the lower part of the Muddy Creek canyon. This part has been called Miller's Canyon ever since that time. Several miles south, on Quitchupah Creek, several families were trying to homestead on land that was more barren than Muddy Creek. In the 1870s,
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 ...
called on several families from Sanpete County to settle on Muddy Creek. Most of the first homes on Muddy Creek were called a
dugout Dugout may refer to: * Dugout (shelter), an underground shelter * Dugout (boat), a logboat * Dugout (smoking), a marijuana container Sports * In bat-and-ball sports, a dugout is one of two areas where players of the home or opposing teams sit whe ...
. It was a room dug in the side of a hill or the bank of a wash. The front was very crude, sometimes the only door being a blanket hung over the opening, or a rough wooden door, hung with leather hinges. The windows were small openings made in the front wall and covered with heavy greased paper or white canvas. Each had a fireplace in one end, which served for heat, cooking and light. The heat from the fire made the dugout unbearably hot in summer, so then the cooking was done on an open fire outside. The roof of the dugout was made of poles, covered with willows and dirt. These roofs served well in dry weather, as they were warm and kept out the wind. However, they leaked badly in stormy weather. Another great inconvenience of these roofs was the fact that they were a home for snakes, rats, mice and spiders. The floors were usually dirt or sometimes rock. During the years from 1882 to 1885 quite a number of families moved into the Muddy Creek area. A few of them were Jedediah Knight, Joseph Nielson, Pleasant Minchey, Frank Foote, Charley and Ammon Foote, George Merrick, Oscar Beebe, Orson Davis, Heber C. K. Petty, Sr., Joseph Evans, Rasmus Johnson, Carl Magnus Olsen, Peter Nielson, Peter Hansen, Heber Broderick, Peter Christensen, George A. Whitlock, Peter Victor Bunderson, Rasmus Albrechtsen, Christian A. Larsen, Lafe Allred, Hyrum Strong, Peter Jensen, Isaac Kimball, William George Petty, Niels Jensen, Wiley Payne Allred, Andrew C. Anderson, Stephen Williams and David Pratt. Most of these families were Danish immigrants. By 1885, it was determined that the canyon itself was not wide enough for many farms and that more fertile land lay to the south of the Muddy. The settling of this land required bringing the waters of Muddy Creek through a tunnel that took nearly three years to dig. With no trained engineering assistance, the settlers made their calculations, started from opposite sides of the hill, dodged numerous cave-ins of the treacherous Mancos shale, maintained the correct level inside the tunnel, and connected both tunnels nearly perfectly. 1883 was a red-letter year for Casper Christensen. On April 15, he was set apart as the Presiding Elder of the Muddy Creek Branch of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. On August 26, his daughter, Bellette, was born, the first baby girl to be born on the Muddy Creek. On September 2, the Emery Ward was organized with Casper Christensen as bishop. Then on November 19, he was officially appointed postmaster at Muddy, in the County of Emery in the Utah Territory. His daughter, Hannah, was appointed as his assistant. When Casper Christensen was first appointed postmaster and bishop, a postal inspector found him working in the field and tried to make him understand that he wanted to inspect his postal records. Finally, in desperation, he said, "You don't seem to know who I am. I am a postal inspector." Brother Casper indignantly replied, "And YOU don't know who I am. I'm the Bishop on the Creek!" Town residents have continued to use this phrase when dealing with someone who was self-important. Muddy Creek and Quitchupah residents consolidated on this new townsite.
Log cabin A log cabin is a small log house, especially a minimally finished or less architecturally sophisticated structure. Log cabins have an ancient history in Europe, and in America are often associated with first-generation home building by settl ...
s were built as soon as logs could be hauled from the nearby mountains. The logs were smoothed on one side with grooves chopped in each end. They were then placed on top of each other with the smooth side facing inward. Chinks between the logs were filled with mud or clay. Willows were used for lath, nailed to the logs, and plastered with mud. This mud was then rubbed smooth and painted with a
whitewash Whitewash, calcimine, kalsomine, calsomine, asbestis or lime paint is a type of paint made from slaked lime ( calcium hydroxide, Ca(OH)2) or chalk (calcium carbonate, CaCO3), sometimes known as "whiting". Various other additives are sometimes ...
of lime. The roofs were made of rough lumber and covered with a layer of straw or brush and then a top layer of dirt. Later the roofs were greatly improved when cedar shingles became available. The town of Muddy would later change to "Emery", after Governor George W. Emery. However, both names would be synonymously used. Emery has always been an agricultural community. Ranching and farming are their major livelihood. The town would swell in population to have its own school, but after World War II, the population decreased due to a lack of economic opportunities and generally hovered around 300 residents. The discovery of coal south of the town led to several mines being developed and the idea that the town could once again draw in new residents. However, with the decrease in coal prices, production has not required the initiation of new mining operations. On November 2, 1967, the Last Chance Motel was destroyed by a cone-shaped F2 tornado. Furniture and bedding were thrown hundreds of yards. The tornado occurred at the unusual time of 5:30 am, and no injuries were reported.


Geography and climate

Emery is in western Emery County along
Utah State Route 10 State Route 10 (SR-10) is a State Highway in the U.S. state of Utah. The highway follows a long valley in Eastern Utah between the Wasatch Plateau on the west and the San Rafael Swell on the east. The highway serves the primary and most active ...
, which leads northeast to Castle Dale, the
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 southwest to
Interstate 70 Interstate 70 (I-70) is a major east–west Interstate Highway in the United States that runs from Interstate 15, I-15 near Cove Fort, Utah, to Interstate 695 (Maryland), I-695 and Maryland Route 570 (MD 570) in Woodlawn, Baltimo ...
. According to the
United States Census Bureau The United States Census Bureau, officially the Bureau of the Census, is a principal agency of the Federal statistical system, U.S. federal statistical system, responsible for producing data about the American people and American economy, econ ...
, the town has a total area of , all land. Selina 24 E is a nearby weather station.


Demographics

As of the
census A census (from Latin ''censere'', 'to assess') is the procedure of systematically acquiring, recording, and calculating population information about the members of a given Statistical population, population, usually displayed in the form of stati ...
of 2000, there were 308 people, 123 households, and 89 families residing in the town. The
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 ...
was 253.7 people per square mile (98.3/km2). There were 140 housing units at an average density of 115.3 per square mile (44.7/km2). The racial makeup of the town was 97.73%
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 ...
, 0.97% Native American, and 1.30% from two or more races.
Hispanic The term Hispanic () are people, Spanish culture, cultures, or countries related to Spain, the Spanish language, or broadly. In some contexts, Hispanic and Latino Americans, especially within the United States, "Hispanic" is used as an Ethnici ...
or Latino of any race were 0.97% of the population. There were 123 households, out of which 29.3% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 61.0% 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 ...
living together, 6.5% had a female householder with no husband present, and 27.6% were non-families. 26.8% of all households were made up of individuals, and 12.2% had someone living alone who was 65 years or older. The average household size was 2.50, and the average family size was 3.03. In the town, the population was spread out, with 28.9% under 18, 5.8% from 18 to 24, 19.2% from 25 to 44, 24.4% from 45 to 64, and 21.8% who were 65 years of age or older. The median age was 43 years. For every 100 females, there were 98.7 males. For every 100 females aged 18 and over, there were 97.3 males. The median income for a household in the town was $40,469, and the median income for a family was $51,875. Males had a median income of $40,104 versus $31,250 for females. The
per capita income Per capita income (PCI) or average income measures the average income earned per person in a given area (city, region, country, etc.) in a specified year. In many countries, per capita income is determined using regular population surveys, such ...
was $17,195. About 12.1% of families and 13.1% of the population 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 ...
, including 14.3% of those under eighteen and 19.3% of those 65 or over. Emery is also the county with the fewest people who believe in climate change (49%)


Notable person

* Clay Christiansen, composer, famed organist for the
Mormon Tabernacle Choir The Tabernacle Choir at Temple Square, formerly known as the Mormon Tabernacle Choir, is an American choir affiliated with the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (LDS Church). It has performed in the Salt Lake Tabernacle for o ...


See also

*
List of cities and towns in Utah Utah is a state located in the Western United States. , there are 253 municipalities in the U.S. state of Utah. A municipality is called a town if the population is under 1,000 people, and a city if the population is over 1,000 people. Incorpo ...
* Emery County Cabin * Emery LDS Church


References


External links


Emery Town
at Emery County's official website {{authority control Towns in Emery County, Utah Towns in Utah Populated places established in 1882