Uintah County Regional History Center

Situated within northeastern Utah's mountainous Uinta Basin, the Ashley Valley takes its name from William Ashley, a trapper who passed through the area in 1825. Both beautiful and rugged, the Ashley Valley's landscape required a lot of grit from its first settlers. An early expedition party sent out by territorial governor Brigham Young called the area unfit for settlement. This delayed permanent American settlement until 1876, when a few hardy families formed communities in the area, including Ashley, Vernal, Maeser, Dry Fork, Glines, Naples, Davis, and Jensen. The valley was rich in minerals and oil and saw its share of boom-and-bust cycles, as miners and oil-workers struck out to find fortune and left facing government regulations. The Ashley Valley pioneers were a stalwart, hardworking mix of settlers, farmers, miners, and other hardy folk who left a rich legacy. Today, as visitors come over the valley hill, they will encounter a community with a developing oil and gas industry, modern growth, and traditional small-town appeal.

As early as 1915, the Flaming Gorge Canyon, named by early explorer Wesley Powell, was considered for a reservoir and dam site. For years, the Upper Colorado River Storage Committee fought for a dam on several sites along the Green River. Finally, on October 18, 1956, a large crowd gathered at the Flaming Gorge Dam site as President Eisenhower gave the signal from Washington, DC, and the first blast of dynamite lifted rocks from the deep canyon high into the sky. As smoke filled the air, those in attendance knew their efforts had at last paid off. The Flaming Gorge Dam is nestled in a beautiful canyon with walls of bright vivid color, rugged terrain, and breathtaking views. The 502-foot-tall dam was dedicated in 1964. It provides water storage for Utah, Colorado, Wyoming, New Mexico, and Arizona and hydroelectric power for five million households in the western United States. The Flaming Gorge Recreation Area is well known throughout the country for outdoor activities.