Keetley 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 ...

located in northeastern

Wasatch County Wasatch County ( ) is a county in the U.S. state of Utah. As of the 2020 United States census, the population was 34,788. Its county seat and largest city is Heber City. The county was named for a Ute word meaning "mountain pass" or "low plac ...

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 located along the former routing of

U.S. Route 40 U.S. Route 40 or U.S. Highway 40 (US 40), also known as the Main Street of America (a nickname shared with U.S. Route 66), is a major east–west United States Highway traveling across the United States from the Mountain States to the Mid- ...

(US‑40), north of the former town of

Hailstone Hail is a form of solid precipitation. It is distinct from ice pellets (American English "sleet"), though the two are often confused. It consists of balls or irregular lumps of ice, each of which is called a hailstone. Ice pellets generally fal ...

and east of Keetley Station. ( Keetley Junction was further north along US‑40, at its junction with

Utah State Route 248 State Route 248 is a highway in northern Utah, connecting Park City, Utah, Park City with Kamas, Utah, Kamas. In Park City, Utah, Park City it is known as Kearns Boulevard. Route description From its western terminus in Park City, SR-248 begins ...

History

The town began as a mining community, with a spur of the

Union Pacific Railroad The Union Pacific Railroad is a Railroad classes, Class I freight-hauling railroad that operates 8,300 locomotives over routes in 23 U.S. states west of Chicago and New Orleans. Union Pacific is the second largest railroad in the United Stat ...

increasing the economic interest in the community for a short time. The village was submerged by the waters of

Jordanelle Reservoir Jordanelle Reservoir is a reservoir in Wasatch County, Utah, United States, just north of Heber City. Jordanelle Reservoir is fed and drained primarily by the Provo River, and is impounded by the Jordanelle Dam, an earthen dam. The constructio ...

in 1995 along with

and Jordanelle. The town began as a mining camp. Its first name was Camp Florence, for the first "lady" to visit the camp. It became a

Pony Express The Pony Express was an American express mail service that used relays of horse-mounted riders between Missouri and California. It was operated by the Central Overland California and Pikes Peak Express Company. During its 18 months of opera ...

station and a center for the area's mining and lumber industries. As it grew into a town, it was renamed for Jack Keetley, a Pony Express rider and local mining supervisor.

Keetley Agricultural Colony

During

World War II World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...

Keetley was used as a 'voluntary' relocation camp for many

Japanese-Americans are Americans of Japanese ancestry. Japanese Americans were among the three largest Asian American ethnic communities during the 20th century; but, according to the 2000 census, they have declined in ranking to constitute the sixth largest Asi ...

. Fred Isamu Wada approached the mayor of Keetley, George Fisher, with the idea of leasing the land with the promise of bringing Japanese farm labor. While initial reaction was unfavorable, the fears were quickly allayed as it was shown that those relocating were not going to be a burden on the locals. A large, farm was established after much intense labor to clear the land of the ubiquitous rocks. While the women and children tended to

chicken The chicken (''Gallus gallus domesticus'') is a domesticated subspecies of the red junglefowl (''Gallus gallus''), originally native to Southeast Asia. It was first domesticated around 8,000 years ago and is now one of the most common and w ...

pig The pig (''Sus domesticus''), also called swine (: swine) or hog, is an omnivorous, domesticated, even-toed, hoofed mammal. It is named the domestic pig when distinguishing it from other members of the genus '' Sus''. Some authorities cons ...

s, and

goat The goat or domestic goat (''Capra hircus'') is a species of Caprinae, goat-antelope that is mostly kept as livestock. It was domesticated from the wild goat (''C. aegagrus'') of Southwest Asia and Eastern Europe. The goat is a member of the ...

s, the men went to work farming

sugar beet A sugar beet is a plant whose root contains a high concentration of sucrose and that is grown commercially for sugar production. In plant breeding, it is known as the Altissima cultivar group of the common beet (''Beta vulgaris''). Together with ...

s. The settlement lasted until the end of World War II when two-thirds returned to their homes in

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 the rest scattered to other communities in Utah.

Modern development

Because of its proximity to Park City and the

, while the site of Keetley itself (along with the former towns of Hailstone and Jordanelle) is now completely submerged by the reservoir, the surrounding area is today the site of new construction, bringing in large resort-style home developments such as Hideout Canyon, Todd Hollow and Deer Mountain. In 2008 the town of Hideout was incorporated in this area.

References

External links