McCornick is an

unincorporated community An unincorporated area is a parcel of land that is not governed by a local general-purpose municipal corporation. (At p. 178.) They may be governed or serviced by an encompassing unit (such as a county) or another branch of the state (such as th ...

and near-

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

Millard County Millard County ( ) is a County (United States), county in the U.S. state of Utah. As of the 2020 United States census, the population was 12,975. Its county seat is Fillmore, Utah, Fillmore, and the largest city is Delta, Utah, Delta. History ...

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. Lying in Whiskey Creek Flat northwest of

Holden Holden, formerly known as General Motors-Holden, was an Australian subsidiary company of General Motors. Founded in Adelaide, it was an automobile manufacturer, importer, and exporter that sold cars under its own marque in Australia. It was ...

, McCornick was a failed land development project that lasted from 1919 until ''circa'' 1930. Today, McCornick is made up of a few scattered homes and farms.

History

In 1918, the

Sevier River The Sevier River (pronounced "severe") is a -long river in the Great Basin of southwestern Utah in the United States. Originating west of Bryce Canyon National Park, the river flows north through a chain of high farming valleys and steep canyon ...

Land and Water Company, after successfully promoting development in the Lynndyl area, expanded its water project southward. The company built an aqueduct from Leamington along the foothills of the

Canyon Mountains The Canyon Mountains are a long mountain range located in the northeast corner of Millard County, Utah; the range is bisected north-south with a southeast border section of Juab County, Utah, Juab County. The Canyon Mountains are part of the nor ...

irrigate Irrigation (also referred to as watering of plants) is the practice of applying controlled amounts of water to land to help grow crops, landscape plants, and lawns. Irrigation has been a key aspect of agriculture for over 5,000 years and has be ...

vast tracts of potentially fertile farmland. Boosters began to draw prospective settlers with sophisticated advertising and high-pressure sales pitches. Salesmen emphasized the conveniences of farming so close to

Delta Delta commonly refers to: * Delta (letter) (Δ or δ), the fourth letter of the Greek alphabet * D (NATO phonetic alphabet: "Delta"), the fourth letter in the Latin alphabet * River delta, at a river mouth * Delta Air Lines, a major US carrier ...

, with its large

sugar refinery A sugar refinery is a refinery which processes raw sugar from cane or sugar extracted from beets into white refined sugar. Cane sugar mills traditionally produce raw sugar, which is sugar that still contains molasses, giving it color ...

and the main line 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 ...

. They also spoke glowingly of the water supply, which was at the highest level the region had seen in years. A number of families and bachelors arrived and began farming in early 1919. In May 1919, the canal broke, flooding the farms of about 15 families who had made their homes near the mouth of Whiskey Creek. Despite the damage, the plentiful water produced excellent harvests for most of the farmers that year, enabling them to build some 40 good, permanent homes. The next year the canal broke a second time, and some families moved away completely, but reports of the settlement's success continued to bring new settlers. In 1920 it began to take shape as a real town.

The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, informally known as the LDS Church or Mormon Church, is a Nontrinitarianism, nontrinitarian Restorationism, restorationist Christianity, Christian Christian denomination, denomination and the ...

built a chapel and organized a

ward Ward may refer to: Division or unit * Hospital ward, a hospital division, floor, or room set aside for a particular class or group of patients, for example the psychiatric ward * Prison ward, a division of a penal institution such as a pris ...

with 83 member families. A small

post office A post office is a public facility and a retailer that provides mail services, such as accepting letter (message), letters and parcel (package), parcels, providing post office boxes, and selling postage stamps, packaging, and stationery. Post o ...

was established, and the town was named for William McCornick, a

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 ...

banker and

corporate promoter A corporate promoter is a firm or person who does the preliminary work related to the formation of a company, including its promotion, incorporation, and flotation, and solicits people to invest money in the company, usually when it is being ...

of the Sevier Land and Water Company. A schoolhouse and a

general store A general merchant store (also known as general merchandise store, general dealer, village shop, or country store) is a rural or small-town store that carries a general line of merchandise. It carries a broad selection of merchandise, someti ...

were built. McCornick's population reached its peak of about 500 in 1921.

Decline

The turning point came in the winter of 1921–1922, the driest in many years. There followed a succession of dry years, grasshopper plagues, and

dust storm A dust storm, also called a sandstorm, is a meteorological phenomenon common in arid and semi-arid regions. Dust storms arise when a gust front or other strong wind blows loose sand and dirt from a dry surface. Fine particles are transpo ...

s. McCornick had been heavily over-promoted and supplied with sorely inadequate irrigation water. Developers had promised the ability to irrigate , but in 1922 found they couldn't provide enough water for even . In fact the wet years around 1917–1921 had been an anomaly; the region was reverting to its normal

desert A desert is a landscape where little precipitation occurs and, consequently, living conditions create unique biomes and ecosystems. The lack of vegetation exposes the unprotected surface of the ground to denudation. About one-third of the la ...

state. In 1923 there were only 50 families left in town. By 1926 the Sevier River Land and Water Company was

bankrupt Bankruptcy is a legal process through which people or other entities who cannot repay debts to creditors may seek relief from some or all of their debts. In most jurisdictions, bankruptcy is imposed by a court order, often initiated by the de ...

, sold off to a

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 ...

company, and reorganized as the Central Utah Water Company. The reorganization did nothing to keep the settlers, who continued to move away. By 1929 there were only four or five families left. McCornick recorded a total of 95 births and 10 deaths in its brief existence. Many of its buildings were moved to other towns; the schoolhouse was taken to Flowell in 1930. Two or three of the old houses still stand, and the land is used mostly for

pasture Pasture (from the Latin ''pastus'', past participle of ''pascere'', "to feed") is land used for grazing. Types of pasture Pasture lands in the narrow sense are enclosed tracts of farmland, grazed by domesticated livestock, such as horses, c ...

and

hay Hay is grass, legumes, or other herbaceous plants that have been cut and dried to be stored for use as animal fodder, either for large grazing animals raised as livestock, such as cattle, horses, goats, and sheep, or for smaller domesticate ...

References

External links

{{Millard County, Utah Ghost towns in Utah Populated places established in 1919 Ghost towns in Millard County, Utah Great Basin National Heritage Area

History

Decline

See also

References

External links