CHAPTER
10
POLITICS AND POWER PLAYS
I,
.n September 1850, Congress established the Territory of Utah, with borders stretching from California to the summit of the Rocky Mountains. This territory included all of present-day Nevada as well as parts of Wyoming and Colorado. At this point there were few settlers beyond the valleys west of the Wasatch Mountains. However, in March 1852 the Legislative Assembly of Utah voted to divide the entire territory into twelve large counties. Northeastern Utah was included in the newly created Green River County. Brigham Young had a particular interest in the Green River Valley because of the thousands of travelers who passed through the area each year.1 O n 13 January 1854, the Utah Legislative Assembly voted to carve a new county out of the western end of Green River County. The new county, which included the summit of the watershed separating the Green River drainage and the Great Basin, was to be known as Summit County. But because so few people had moved into the area, all of the new county's election, revenue, and judicial functions were conducted by Great Salt Lake County until 1861.2 The boundaries of Summit County in 1854 bear little resem216
