Daggett County History

In 1837 Fort Davy Crockett was established at Browns Park by Philip Thompson and William Craig. It supplied goods to the trappers of the area, a German traveler described the Fort as being poverty stricken, and for this reason it also became known to the trappers by the name of Fort Misery.

In 1869 and 1871 John Wesley Powell visited parts of Daggett County. Starting at Green River, Wyoming he floated the Green and Colorado rivers and studied the geology and geography, and animal live, and the Indians who lived in the area. About the same time it was rumored that the mountains were full of diamonds. Wealthy People in America and Europe invested in the claims hoping to make their fortune. They soon found that the discovery of diamonds in the Uintas was a hoax

Cleophus Dowd homesteaded in Sheep Creek Canyon in 1885 until 1897. He entered Daggett County area in 1878 and constructed a dugout in Sheep Creek. In 1880 a rancher he built a trail out of Sheep Creek to bring in machinery and supplies to his remote ranch. In 1897 he was involved in a violent argument with Harry Seaser and died in the harness shop of his ranch from the result of the argument. He was buried near his cabin, along with two of his children. There is a wooden sign with Cleophus J. Dowd 1857 - 1897 that marks his grave.

DAGGETT COUNTY was used for the summer grazing of cattle and sheep that were trailed in from other parts of Southern Wyoming and Northern Utah.. In the eighteen sixties, on Al Conner left his name to a basin lying five miles southwest of Manila and this later became the George Solomon ranch. Further east, along Henry's Fork, Charley Davis had a ranch about one-half mile west of the present site of Linwood, by 1873. A. W. A. Johnson is supposed to have run cattle on the lower Henrys Fork in the early seventies and Shade Large was living on the Charley Davis ranch by 1878. Lige Driskell settled further east along Henrys Fork at an earlier date. At the mouth of Henrys Fork was the George Finch ranch. George Hereford lived just west of the Driskell and Finch ranches, about one mile east of the present site of Linwood. Dick Son ranched about three miles due north of Manila on Henrys Fork, and Dave Washam located himself just west of the Dick Son ranch about 1890. His name still designates the area, including the school built there.

In 1893 Ellsworth Daggett who was the first surveyor general of Utah sent Adolph Jennsen and R. C. Chambers to complete a survey of the area. While completing the survey Adolph Jensen became aware of the potential of farming in the area if water could be secured. He completed a water canal project with the assistance of R. C. Chambers and Elsworth Daggett. The water canal project was known as the Lucerne Land and Water Company. Shares of it were sold, and many prospective buyers came from Beaver County Utah. In the summer of 1895, the company completed a canal from Conner Basin to what was known as the Birch Springs ranch, about four miles southwest of the present site of Manila, and on November 6, 1895, the first settlers, Mr. Frank Ellison and his family, arrived. Ellison was to serve as foreman of the Birch Springs ranch. Other settlers soon followed, including the George Warby family, Steve Warby, Joe Warby, the Franklin Twitchell and Daniel Nelson families and Alvin E. Smith. Others located farms throughout the area. Other families were those of E. J. Briggs, Fred Robinson, Charles Potter, J. K. Crosby

Daggett County was formed from Uintah County January 7, 1918. With Manila being the county seat. Other communities were those of Bridgeport, Browns Park, Linwood, and Greendale, although they were never incorporated. At an election held the preceding November, the following officers were elected: George C. Rasmussen, Nels Pallesen, and Marius N. Larsen, county commissioners; A. J. B. Stewart, clerk and recorder; Daniel M. Nelson, assessor and treasurer; Ancil T. Twitchell, sheriff; and C. F. Olson, county attorney. On January 16, the Board of Commissioners held their first meeting in a room attached to the rear of the old dance hall, which served as the county courthouse until 1922. Heber Bennion was a school teacher who gave up teaching and went to sheep ranching, he also served as the first Representative of Daggett County in the Utah State Legislature. He was involved in politics for many years. Another representative in the State Legislature was John Tinker

The South Valley Canal Company was established 21 March 1921 by Heber Bennion, Jr., Vern Hardy, Keith Smith, Elbert E. Waite, Dr. F. W. Tinker and George C. Rasmussen. The company owned and maintained the South Valley Canal from the east end of the Sheep Creek Irrigation Company lateral eastward along a hillside in South Valley.

MANILA was a very small township consisting of a few homes, with some ranches in the country side. There was not an actual city form of government, the town was run by the county commissioners and a sheriff and Judge. The Judge was a man by the name of John C. Allen who remained the only judge for many years. He lived with his sister Elizabeth Stanton, who was a widow. As a young boy he had his leg badly injured when a wagon in which he was riding overturned, as a result it had to be amputated. He walked on crutches his entire life.

Mabel Williams was the first county health nurse, of which she served many years. Until the completion of the Flaming Gorge Dam Manila did not have a doctor, with the exception of Fay W. Tinker being the only doctor until his death in 1932. Mabel Williams was married to Nels Philbrick who had a repair shop and sold gasoline, it was the only service station in town until that of Levi Reed's. Manila did not have electricity until 1952 and Nels Philbrick supplied the school with a light plant. In the late 1950's a town well was drilled to supply water to those homes that did not have it, before that they had to haul water from the town pump.

Later on there was a grocery store owned by William Bruce that sold gasoline, it did not exist until the late 1950's. The other grocery store that was built earlier was that of Elbert Stienakers. A movie theater was made out of an existing building by Sonny(Max) and Murel Larson. It was in operation by the mid 1950's. There was not any television reception in the area until the late 1950's when Gene Campbell purchased a large television tower to put on his property, which benefited the entire town.

About 1958 all the small quiet life of the township ended, with the building of the Flaming Gorge Dam. A lot of people moved into the area, with workers from as far away as Texas and North Carolina. There became a need for an elementary school to be built and by 1959 it was completed. Before the new school, grades one through 6 were in part of the same building as the high school. Shortly after this some of the people that had moved into the area relocated to Dutch John, that had an elementary school. The high school students that lived in Dutch John attended school in Manila. Today Manila is a resort area.

Browns Park: Is located in the South East corner of Daggett County, covering three states being those of Utah, Wyoming, and Colorado. Many of the outlaws such as Robert LeRoy Parker, (alias Butch Cassidy) and the Sundance Kid, and other such as Matt Warner and Isom Dart used the Park as a hiding place from the law. Other people included fur traders and trappers, and cattle ranchers. Permanent settlers didn't arrive until the 1870's. Sam Bassett from New York was there as early as 1842 according to his diary. He also wrote that the area saw the first white woman on the date of June 22, 1854 when Warren D. Parsons and his wife Annie arrived. In 1874 Dr. John Parsons the son of Warren and Annie Parsons arrived in Browns Park with his family. He started a Ferry operation on the Green River and was appointed Postmaster of the first Post Office in Browns Park. John Jarvie became the operator of the Ferry, and the Post Office and of Parsons property following the death of Dr. Parsons in 1881. The Parsons cabin was used by the outlaw Matt Warner and by the Chew family. It became known as the oldest building in Browns Park, and was listed on the National Register of Historic Places. It was over a 100 years old when it burned down in 1978. In the late 1870's and early 1880's some of the settlers arriving in Browns Park, most of whom settled in the Utah section included Jimmie Reed and his Indian wife Margaret, they built a cabin on the south side of the Green River. Other settlers were the families of Herb Bassett, who was Sam Bassetts brother, John Jarvie, and Billy Titsworth, Charles Crouse, and Valentine Hoy and John C. Allen. Sam Bassetts daughter Ann was romantically involved at times with Butch Cassidy. She became known as the Queen of the Cattle Rustlers. She had to appear in court on charges of rustling, but was acquitted of all wrong doing. Her sister Josie was also romantically involved with another member of the Wild Bunch named Elzy Lay.

JOHN JARVIE: According to the recollections of some John Jarvie was born in Scotland in 1844. As a young man he worked in the mines in Scottand and was badly beaten by his supervisor. When he was healed from the beating he stowed away on a ship and arrived in the United States in the year of 1870, and in 1875 he became a citizen. He was living in a boarding house in Rock Springs in 1880, and one of the residents was that of George Law, who was also from Scotland. Charles Crouse married Georges daughter Mary Law. Another one of George Laws daughters Elizabeth married John Charles Allen, and they lived in Browns Park. John Jarvie married Nellie Barr and moved to Browns Park in 1880. In 1881 he purchased property consisting of a post office and store after the death of the former owner Dr. John Parsons. In 1895 Nellie Barr Jarvie died, and John Jarvie raised his children by himself. In July of 1907 John Jarvie was murdered at his store, and the murderers were never found. Some people thought that they had made their way to Rock Springs and left by train.

BRIDGEPORT was a small ranching community in which Charles Crouse, developed the actual town, sometime about 1902, he had been an early Browns Park resident. It consisted of mainly a store, post office, and saloon. It was located on the North Side of the Green River near the mouth of Jesse Ewing Canyon and the West end of Browns Park. Two miles upstream from Bridgeport John Jarvie owned a store and had a ferry in Browns Park. The town of Bridgeport existed until about 1940. There are no remains of the town today, but the Jarvie store and farmstead is now listed on the National Register of Historic Places and is maintained as an interpretive site by the Bureau of Land Management. Charles Crouse had also owned and operated a butcher shop in Rock Springs at one time. It was known that Butch Cassidy once worked for him in the shop. Charles Crouse and John Jarvie were also good friends. On September 1, 1934, a school was established at Bridgeport, using a building donated by Mr. Charles Taylor, which was to be moved onto the location, thirty-eight miles southeast of Manila. Mr. Taylor and his wife were leaders in the movement to obtain a school at Bridgeport. The site was chosen because it was the center of the school population and there was a spring for drinking water. This school later served as a teacherage when a new school was built nearby.

LINWOOD was a small town in north central Daggett County near the Wyoming state line. It was first settled in the 1890's, and was located along the Henrys Fork of the Green River about five miles east of Manila. The first permanent settler in the area was John Robinson, known as "Uncle Jack Robinson" who built a cabin on Lower Henrys Fork in 1834-35. The cabin was moved to a location near the Flaming Gorge Recreation Area. Bob Swifts Bucket O Blood Saloon was located a few hundred yards from Uncle Jacks Cabin before the cabin was moved. It was frequented by such outlaws as Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid the McCarty boys and the Curry Gang. In 1906 the saloon was owned by Billy McKnight and Jim Merchant.

George Solomon laid out a townsite some four miles east of Manila, naming it "Linwood" after a variety of cottonwood trees planted in the tract. In 1902, Keith and Sanford Smith and their father, Frank W. Smith, purchased a number of ranches in the area. A store was started in 1903, by Marius Larsen, which was later purchased by George Rassmussen

Linwood was used for irrigated agriculture and sheep ranches and in 1899, following the example of the Lucerne Company, the People's Canal Company was organized to bring water from Henrys Fork into the lower half of Lucerne Valley. George Solomon, Edward Tolton, M. N. Larsen, George W. Stevens, and Daniel Nelson were the incorporators. Original shareholders were Frank Ellison, Ben F. Marsh, John DeSpain, J. B. and Hugh Hughbert, Daniel Nelson Sr., Frank Twitchell, Joe, Sam, Steve, James H. and George Warby, Charles Large, George Finch, Alvin E. Smith, James Reid, William McKnight, Fred Robinson, and Willard Schofield.

The school which was constructed in the fall of 1904, had the distinction of being the only school in the country to be run by two different state school boards  the north half of the school was in Wyoming and the South half was in Utah. It was later moved to the Thomas Jarvie ranch, and used as a farm building In 1910 Wyoming students went to school in Washam. Washam Wyoming was just across the Utah line, in fact if you were living in Utah, you might be able to see the top of your neighbors house that lived in Wyoming from your front yard. In the years that followed students from Linwood and Washam attended school in Manila

The town was in decline by the 1920's due to farm consolidation and road improvements. The Linwood post office operated from 1903 until 1958. Some time before the 1920's Minnie Crouse, the daughter of Charles Crouse owned a Boarding house in Linwood. Minnie Crouse had married a man by the last name of Ronholt, and then remarried to George Rassmussen. The Williams family had a ranch that they had purchased from Charles Crouse. Keith Smiths property and ranch was located there. When the Flaming Gorge Dam was built the water from it covered the town of Linwood, all who had property there had to either move their homes or let the Bureau of Reclamation burn them. Nels Philbrick moved the Williams family ranch house to Manila, and the Redden family had their home moved there. Other people that moved was the family of Orvel Potter and Minnie Crouse Rassmussen, and the Paul Williams family.

GREENDALE was a small ranching community in the Uinta Mountains of south-central Daggett County. It consisted of a few homestead families that operated cattle ranches in the remote and rugged terrain. Enough families live there to support a one room school in the 1920's and 1930's. In the 1950's and 1960's major changes came to the community with the construction of the Flaming Gorge Dam nearby. The region saw its first paved roads, and increasing land valued encouraged most of the ranch families to sell. The former Oscar Swett ranch is maintained as an interpretive site by the US Forest Service. The ranch is listed on the National Register of Historic Places. The Oscar Swett ranch consisted of three pioneer homesteads. The first settled by Sanford Green in 1907 and the second in 1909 by Oscar Swetts mother. In 1928 Oscar Swett bought the Sanford Green Homestead. The ranch was operated with only horse-drawn equipment for 60 years until it was purchased by the Forest Service in 1970

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