Utah Centennial County History Series - Piute County 1999

ON THE 'I'HRESHOLD OF A NEWCENTURY P i u t e County began the 1970s with the highest unemployment rate in many years-up to 16 percent. The Deer Trail Mine had closed, taking with it a number of good jobs. The Denver and Rio Grande Railroad still operated on the spur to Marysvale, but that too would soon close. For a number of years the county had been ranked highest in percentage of families in the state with income below the government-classified poverty level. The 1970 census put the population at 1,205, although a 1972 Labor Department estimate placed it at 1,354. Whether that represents that much growth or an error in one of the calculations is not clear. Regardless, the county population was less than it was one hundred years earlier, when the 1870 census pegged it at 1,561.

Agriculture had remained the county's principal industry for a number of years, but its growth had always been limited by the availability of water-which is one of the reasons for the population decline. The climate and soil is best suited for the production of livestock feed, and the mountains offer excellent summer range for cattle. Neither can-or do-attract large numbers of people. Dairy