CHAPTER
1
THE NATURAL SETTING AND PLACE NAMES OF UTAH COUNTY The Natural
Setting
E d w i n Hinckley, P r o v o C i t y C h a m b e r of C o m m e r c e secretary, w r o t e t o t h e r e a d e r s h i p of t h e Union Pacific Magazine a d e s c r i p t i o n of U t a h C o u n t y in 1923: As one enters the valley from the north a marvelously beautiful panorama presents itself—gigantic peaks, crowned with snow, rise in a giant crescent above the narrow plane which slopes down to the seashore, and dotted along the plain beside every mountain stream that rushes to the lake is a town rich in everything that goes to make life happy. It is doubtful if there is a strip of land of equal acreage in the world that can produce more abundantly such a wide variety of agricultural products, where climate, soil, and water combine so perfectly.1 Hinckley, of course, was interested in p r o m o t i n g U t a h C o u n t y ' s e c o n o m i c p o t e n t i a l , e m p h a s i n g w h a t h e t h o u g h t w o u l d attract o u t side captial i n v e s t m e n t s a n d businesses t o t h e region. U t a h C o u n t y , a 1,394,760-acre parcel of l a n d s h a p e d m u c h like a h i g h - t o p shoe, is a
