Introduction
P i u t e County, named with the pioneer spelling for the Paiute Indians, sits in the geographic center of Utah and is the second smallest county in the state-both in size (763 square miles) and in population (1,508). Piute's eastern boundary once stretched to the Colorado border, but today it is cut much shorter, most directly by Wayne County. Sevier County to the north, Wayne to the east, Garfield to the south, and Beaver County to the west define the modern boundaries of Piute County. But what this diminutive county lacks in size and population, it makes up in community spirit and colorful history. Prehistoric Fremont peoples fished in the streams that gush from the Tushar Mountains. Later, the Old Spanish Trail wound its way across the Sevier River and then south to California, where Spanish and later Mexican traders sold Paiute Indian children as slaves. Early mountain men came to the area in search of beaver; Mormon explorers and pioneers came in search of places to settle. The Black Hawk Indian War brought tragedy to both settlers and Native Americans. Brigham Young castigated the inhabitants of
