TOOELE

COUNTY

TO

RI

VI N

SO

N

TOOELE COUNTY’S HISTORY

• Danger Cave is one of the oldest sites inhabited by humans in North America. Desert Archiac people inhabited it around 6000 B.C. followed by the Fremont culture and Goshute Indians.

• For a few years, a colony of Hawaiians made the desert “bloom” at a little town called Iosepa—but most had returned to Hawaii by 1917.

• Mormon settlers brought livestock to Tooele in 1849.

• Mining became the strongest economic factor in the 1860’s.

• During World War 2 the government brought many military installations. The Wendover Air Base for bomber training and the Dugway Proving grounds for testing weapons.

• Today much of the western area is still reserved for government use.

LINK TO VIDEO ON HAWAIIANS AND IOSEPA

http://eq.uen.org/emedia/items/52a2294b-eab7-f3cb-ac4d-6b892ff29939/1/KUED_PGTU_download.mov?.vi=save

TOOELE TODAY

Today, Tooele County has many thriving communities including Tooele City and Stansbury Park.  Each city has residents who commute to Salt Lake City every day for work.  One of the largest employers in the area is the Tooele Army Depot that has been involved in incinerating weapons since 1943 when the base was established.   In the northern part of the county, the Bonneville Salt Flats, remnants of ancient Lake Bonneville, are famous for the amount of flat land and the speeds vehicles are able to reach at the Bonneville Speedway.   With all the variety of things to do and see in Tooele County a person can see why the county is so important to Utah.