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HISTORY OF GARFIELD COUNTY
Boulder. Positioned the farthest east of any of the county's settlements, it has always been one of the most isolated towns in Utah. This condition is rapidly changing today, however, because the community is located along upgraded Utah Highway 12, judged by many to be one of the nation's most scenic highways. As early as 1879 stockmen started to bring their herds to the eastern slope of Boulder M o u n t a i n , which was so n a m e d on Almon Thompson's 1872 map. Nicoli Johnson, William Meeks, and Willard Brinkerhoff drove their cattle from Richfield to this range. August Nielson was a m o n g those w h o followed, and he built a corral of aspen poles for the fall round-up. By the early 1880s the new rangeland beckoned several other herdsmen, including those tending cattle belonging to LDS church cooperatives. In 1887 Wise Cooper and John King helped Mack Webb of Oak City bring 300 head of horses to the m o u n t a i n area. Still later, Alma Durfey from Rabbit Valley north of Boulder Mountain in present Wayne County brought in his herd. After spending m u c h of the s u m m e r on the m o u n t a i n , the horse herds drifted to rangeland at lower elevations southeast of the mountain as winter arrived. Meanwhile, dairying had become a lucrative enterprise in Rabbit Valley, where the p r o d u c t s p r o d u c e d found a ready market in Richfield and Fillmore. Amasa Lyman and his family worked at one of the dairies owned by Frank Haws. In September 1888 Lyman and his wife, Rosanna, decided to take a break from their chores. They saddled u p two horses, b r o u g h t along a picnic lunch, and went exploring. Their travel took them south and east a r o u n d Boulder Mountain as they enjoyed the golden aspens against the backdrop of green foothills. Eventually, after crossing Boulder Creek, they came to the head of a long valley that stretched to the south. They stopped beside a clear stream, and within the shade of pine trees they ate their lunch and made the decision to return to this valley to homestead the following spring. Amasa Lyman and his twelve-year-old son Vern left Grover in Rabbit Valley in April 1889 with a wagonload of supplies to establish a new homestead. As they traveled t h r o u g h the foothills east of Boulder Mountain, they first used a logging road and then followed a cow trail, chopping down trees and removing numerous boulders to
