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Alex Beard Hill

Amalga - a small agricultural community three miles west of Smithfield. It was first settled in the 1860s by one family who lived on a sagebrush plain not far from Bear River. In time it became part of a large area known initially as Alto and in the 1890s was organized into the Alto School District. With the construction of the Amalgamated Sugar Company factory (sugar beet processor), the name was changed to reflect this short-lived business that only operated from 1914 or 1915 through as least 1923 (some having the closing of this factory in 1919). An old map showing the Utah-Idaho Central Railroad (UIC) in northern Cache County has a "Quinney Sugar Factory" near Bear River west of Smithfield, and an Ogden newspaper in a November 1923 article cited "The Amalgamated Sugar company factory at Smithfield is now operating at capacity." By 1923 newspapers in Ogden and Salt Lake City started using the name "Amalga" for the settlement on Bear River west of Smithfield. Today it is the location for the Cache Valley Cheese plant which in 1942 purchased and retooled the old sugar factory and become the largest Swiss cheese factory in the world.

Ant Valley

Avon - the southernmost settlement in Cache County and about two-and-a-half miles south of present day Paradise. The area was first occupied as the initial site for Paradise and occupied from 1859 to 1868 when it was relocated, due to troubles with the Indians. The new Paradise was placed in a more defensible location a few miles to the north. In the 1880s the first site of Paradise was again occupied as settlers placed their homes and land claims in a scattered condition along the east and south forks of Paradise Creek (known locally as the Muddy and later as Little Bear River). When there were enough settlers to warrant a location name, it came to have two names'"Old Paradise" and Avon, named after William Shakespeare's birthplace in England (Stratford-on-Avon, in Warwickshire, England). The economic base was farming and grazing with some utilization of the timber resources of the area and some mining in the nearby mountains. There was a limited amount of arable land for farming but extensive areas for grazing among the extensive mountains and canyons. There was much wildlife in the mountains with bears being mentioned the most (1895 report saying "there are lots of bears around in that section of the country."). The new settlers soon built a structure in which church meetings, social gatherings and school was held. The school was at first under the direction of the Mineral Point School District. The LDS membership was organized into the Avon Ward on July 5, 1891, and contained seventeen families with ninety-nine persons. The nearest newspaper at Logan published the declaration: "A new village has been added to Cache County, named Avon. The location of this place is a little over two miles south of Paradise, where Old Paradise used to be. . . ." Then in short order the area was designed "Avon Road District" with a road supervisor and in the fall of 1892 the county court changed the name of the Mineral Point School District to that of Avon School District. In January of 1895 the county court dissolved the La Plata School and Road District, and added both to the "Avon School District as thus increased, has been made a precinct." Achieving this level of development, they now had a justice of the peace and a constable. Seeing the need for a better school building at Avon, the local school district imposed a tax on its citizens for that purpose, and by December of 1895 the local newspaper announced that Avon was one of five Cache communities with a new school building of the "latest modern design and of the best material." Still, Avon was small and not shown on the 1895 map of Utah and Cache County. Avon was thereafter shown on a 1916 map and one for 1922. In the early period Avon experienced the ups and downs of mining activities in the nearby mountains, and even after the downturn there were rumors and reports of expected mineral wealth. The area longed for another railroad, hoping for better freight rates and service, and from 1893 through 1907 there were reports and survey crews with the hope of a second railroad much closer to their location, coming either through Blacksmith Fork Canyon or over the southern ridge from Ogden. Expectations were aroused for a woolen factory at Logan, but like the railroad prospects, it never came off. In September of 1897 a resident of Avon was in Logan on business and reported all was well in his home town and "everything as booming in Avon." Six weeks later a county official revealed there was an "epidemic of diphtheria . . . at Avon." Of several health concerns the worse was perhaps the diphtheria cases in late 1897 extending into 1898 with some deaths. By January of 1901 Avon and five neighboring communities were placed in one of four health districts with a health office to oversee efforts to prevent or contain contagious diseases. Apparently there was no one in Avon reporting to the church paper in Salt Lake or the closer newspapers at Logan and Ogden. A very rare exception came in a report in December of 1900 that reported the situation in Avon as follows: "The grain crop here were good considering the season, but we expect to have better crops next year, and more lucern will be raised in this valley in the future. Some of our farmers got $4 per ton for their hay, the average price is $2.50 per ton." The yearly crop of school students caused concern over adequate education based on funding which by 1906 caused serious consideration of consolidating the numerous school districts in Cache County into one county district. The showdown on the issue came in 1908 with Avon being among eight localities strongly favoring consolidation. When the county commissioner adopted the consolidation into the Cache County School District, the old Avon School District passed out of existence after two decades of service. From the beginning of Avon, farming and grazing were the mainstays in the community's economic life. In the grazing there were cooperative enterprises from small units to incorporated companies to conduct general ranching and grazing business in the southern tip of Cache County. However, in the latter half of the Twentieth Century more and more of Avon's residents found employment elsewhere yet retained their residence in their small picturesque village nestled among the mountains. In the 2000 census 306 people were counted in seventy-seven families.

Babbit Shanty Hill

Baker Canyon

Bald Head Mountain

Ballard Junction - formerly a railroad junction three miles south of Cache Junction where the old Benson Cutoff went to Logan.

Bankhead Well

Baxter - a small rural settlement southwest of Hyrum and east of Mt. Sterling which developed after the village settlement pattern of Mormon communities changed to reflect the time when people were obtaining homesteads and/or larger tracts of land and living on their farms. Due to the number of Baxter families, the locale was called after this family name and this became the accepted name shortly after 1890. The Cache County Court created the Baxter School District No. 25 and one of the last of the community school districts in the county. The area also became a road district with taxes imposed and money available to maintain the roads. In December of 1894 there were a total of 31 students in the Baxter school. In late January of 1895 the LDS Church combined its members in Mt. Sterling and Baxter into one ward known as Mount Sterling Ward. It was four miles square and contained 23 families. In the summer of 1895 a post office was established to serve the area and named Rawlins. In April of 1896 the inhabitants and taxpayers of Baxter and Mt. Sterling requested their two school districts be united and the county court granted their wish. On June 11, 1896 the Logan newspaper's columns contained this statement: "Baxter, Mount Sterling and Rawlings, all mean the same thing." For a number of years the location name of Baxter continued in tax listings and road matters, but before long the ecclesiastical name of the ward proved dominant and Baxter ceased to be used as a settlement designation and today the name only remains in the topography at Baxter Ridge and Baxter Pothole.

Bear Canyon - Cache Co.-Rich Co.-Idaho line, west along border

Bear Hollow

Bear Lake Summit - elevation 7810 feet on US Hwy 89

Bear River Canyon - also referred to as the Bear River Gorge and Bear River Narrows where Bear River leaves Cache Valley to flow into the Box Elder County. An 1876 map of Utah shows a place designed as "The Gates" and in close proximity to the towns of Clarkston and Newton while most likely referring to the narrow gorge (the Gates of Bear River) passageway through the mountains into the adjacent valley.

Bear River Range - these mountains are a branch of the larger Wasatch Range, and extend 72 miles from north to south. They are located in northeastern Utah and southeastern Idaho with over half of the mountains in the latter state.  

Beirdneau - A summer home area

Benson - a settlement a few miles northwest of Logan was started in 1870 when the Charles Reese and Israel J. Clark families settled there. The main settlement area was at the southernmost bend of the Bear River in Cache County. The following year on May 3rd Apostle Moses Thatcher and presiding bishop Wm. B. Preston organized the settlement into a ward. Bishop Preston suggested the name honoring Ezra T. Benson, the presiding Church authority in Cache Valley at the time. It would eventually expand to comprise a larger geographical area more than any community in Cache County (whether city, town or census designated place). This CDP (census designated place) covers a total area of 33.9 square miles of which 3 sq. miles is covered by water.

Bergeson Hill - elevation 5964 feet located north of Little Mountain and west of Cornish and Big Hill.

Big Hill - elevation 5725 ft. a small hill to the west of Cornish and south of the Utah-Idaho line.

Big Hollow

Bird Canyon

Black Peak -

Black Rock -

Blacksmith Fork Guard Station -

Blue Bell Mine -

Blue Hill -

Brachipad - A summer home area

Brushy Canyon -

Cache Butte -

Cache Junction History

Cache Junction Establishment     

Eatery Roulette in Early Cache Junction

Camp Wapti -

Cannon - was located near the Idaho border and just west of the railroad and was shown on a 1895 map of Utah and now is part of Cornish Precinct. A map of Oneida County in the Territory of Idaho shows "Cannon" on the Idaho side of the border.

Cardon - southwestern Smithfield (fourth west and between fifth and sixth south) where a secondary railroad line branched from the main Cache Valley Branch

Cart Hill -

Charles Hollow -

Choke Cherry - A summer home area

History of Early Clarkston

1864 Land Surveys Clarkston, UT

1874 Land Surveys Clarkston, UT

Short Stories on Clarkston Utah

Clarkston Mountain - the southern extension of the Malad Range of mountains. It forms the western boundary of Cache County with Box Elder County and is dissected by numerous canyons. The mountain's highest point is Gunsight Peak at an elevation of 8244 ft. and has very steep slopes up to seventy per cent in places. A segment of the Wasatch Fault lies along this mountain and with the following landmarks and landforms from north to south from the Idaho border:
-- Gowan's Hollow -
-- Steel Canyon - the most important and noted canyon in the Clarkston Mountain allowing deep access back into the interior to Jenkins Hollow, Big Meadow and beyond and used extensively to graze cattle, horses and sheep. A small intermittent stream flows from it into Clarkston Creek. Oral folklore had it named after a man with no known connection to Clarkston or nearby community.
-- Broken Back Canyon -
-- North Canyon -
-- Old Quigley Canyon - named for Andrew Quigley, an early settler at Clarkston.
-- Cold Water Canyon -
-- Sam Stuart Canyon -
-- New Quigley Canyon - named for Andrew Quigley, an early settler at Clarkston.
-- Mike's Canyon -
-- Elbow Canyon -
-- Raglanite Canyon - located about 2 miles northwest of Clarkston, the Clarkston fault displaces middle to upper Pleistocene fan alluvium and possibly local thin deposits of younger Holocene alluvium. Definitions: raglanite ('rag'l?'nit) named after a nepheline syenite (igneous rock) compound with traces of several other minerals found in the canyon. (petrology) A nepheline syenite composed of oligoclase, nepheline, and corundum with minor amounts of mica, calcite, magnetite, and apatite.
-- Winter Canyon -
-- Green Canyon - an easily accessible canyon in the east side of the Cache valley, north of Logan Canyon and east of North Logan. It was the source of some of the limestone for the Logan Tabernacle and other buildings. For a period in the late 1800s and early 1900s, the area was prospected for mineral wealth with traces found but nothing worth commercial mining.
> -- Old Canyon - directly west of the town of Clarkston and the first canyon opened by the early settlers to get timber and firewood.
-- Straight Canyon -
-- Miller Canyon -
-- South Canyon - Cache Co.-Rich Co.-Idaho lines, west along state border.
-- Round Knob - a small knob or knoll east of the Short Divide and just south of Clarkson with an elevation of 5290 feet.
-- Gunsight Peak - the highest point in the Clarkston Mountain reaches 8244 feet above sea level and is located in Box Elder County. The descriptive name comes from the early settlers' thinking the mountain's contour to the top peak resembled the notches in a gunsight.
-- Short Divide - the crossing point over the summit at 5892 ft. south of the abrupt drop off from the highest portion.

College Ward - is located midway between Logan and Wellsville. A few weeks before his death in 1877 President Brigham Young deeded this 9,640 acre ranch (either his personally or the Church's in Young's name) to local leaders with the understanding that a college would be established at the location and named for the Church President with initial funding by this land endowment. However, this institution'Brigham Young College'was established at Logan for practical reasons and the BYC had its first classes in 1878. Beginning in 1879 a few settlers were allowed to establish homes and farms on the endowed land, which came to be called College Ward with the first census under that name taken in 1900 with 261persons listed.

Cook's Cabin -

Cooky's Hollow -

Cornish - the area between Trenton and the Idaho border, initially called Ransom, then the upper part of Trenton and finally Cannon. In 1907 with the establishment of a railroad station and facilities the railroad changed the name to honor the Vice President of the UPRR at the time'William D. Cornish. About 1915 the West Cache Sugar Company built a sugar refining factory here and two years later constructed a hotel for its employees. The sugar factory closed in 1928 and in 1936 the company hotel was given to the LDS Church who remodeled it to be the Cornish Ward meetinghouse.

Cove - initially an outgrowth of Richmond with the first house in the area about 1863 then more after 1871, and the locality proceeded through a series of name changes'Mt. Refuge, Coveville and finally Cove by the early 1900s.
Some interesting newspaper citations are noted below:
June 4, 1880 - p. 3 under "Cache County Cross Cuts."
"The village between Richmond and Franklin belonging to the former ward has received the name of Mt. Refuge."
--The Logan Leader, June 4, 1880.
May 13, 1885 - p. 3 under "Richmond News."
At the dedication of a new ward meeting house at Richmond --"The Presidency of the Stake were present, besides several of the leading men from Lewiston, Coveville and other places. . . . Interesting and instructive addresses were delivered by Bishop Isaac Smith, of Logan, Bishop Larsen, of Coveville. . . ."
--The Utah Journal, May 13, 1885.
May 10, 1890 - p.1 under "WHEAT BY THE WAYSIDE."
"Our Correspondent Visits the New Town."
"COVEVILLE, May 8, 1890.
"EDITOR JOURNAL. -- As I am accustomed to state the condition of affairs in most places I travel, I do not wish to slight this place. Coveville is a small settlement. There are only forty families residing here, and they are very much scattered. Good health prevails in this burg. There are none very rich nor very poor. Public enterprise is noticeable, probably more so than in any settlement of the same number of same number of inhabitants in the county.
"The meeting house and its surroundings are a credit to the community. The structure is built upon a ten acre tract of land . . . . and containing a grove of nine hundred shade and ornamental trees, well fenced, and which bids fair to be one of the most beautiful groves in the county in a few years. The meeting house is neat and tasty building, well proportioned and creditably finished both outside and in. There is no meetinghouse in the county more comfortably seated and better finished than this one. The Bishop's store house is a good, substantial structure. The lot on which it stands is surrounded with beautiful shade trees. There is a missionary farm here consisting of forty acres of good land. Twenty acres are now sown to fall grain which looks beautiful. The other twenty acres will be summer fallowed. Two hundred and seventy bushels of wheat were realized from this farm last year. There are better prospects for good crops this year than for many years past.
"There are some individual enterprises in every town that are good, and some not so creditable. I found some of the latter in Coveville. I am not writing this with the spirit of faultfinding. However, as I passed through the precinct a passage that I had read somewhere came forcibly to my mind. It reads something like this: 'Some secrets shall be revealed on the housetops.' Nearly half of the houses have no chimneys. Common stovepipes penetrate the roofs. The secret of this revelation appears to me that it is 'penny wise and pound foolish,' especially so when there is a shingle roof. There might to a conflagration, in one of those houses, in consequence of this . . . . There are no . . . houses anywhere in the county with less chimneys than at Coveville." T. A. T.
--The Logan Journal, May 10, 1890.
April 11, 1901 - p. 5 under "Court at Logan."
"Yesterday was Coveville day in Logan, a great many residents of that place being here all day to fight for and against a proposed division of the Cove school district, which question had disturbed the north end of the county for five years past. After hearing a lot of evidence, the commissioners ordered the division made, thereby cutting a portion off the north and east sides of the present district and creating a new district for it."
--Salt Lake Herald, April 11, 1901.

Crow Mountain - elevation 5620 ft located north of Smithfield

Cub Hill - probably more than one place in or about the Cub River in Cache County used this name. For example, in the early days after establishing a post office for Lewiston in 1870s to correct some confusion with another location in Utah with the same name, the post office designation was changed to 'Cub Hill' for a short period of time. Later the 1895 U.S Atlas cited the 'Cub Hill' location in Cache County as having a railroad but no post office.

Curtis Hollow -

Dans Hollow -

Deer Ridge -

Devil's Gate Canyon -

Dry Gulch -

Dry Hollow -

Dry Lake or 'sink hole' - elevation 5647 feet, where the U.S. Hwy. crosses this low spot

Fiddlers Hollow -

Four Mile Hill - elevation 5711 feet, south of Avon.

Four Mile Ranch -

Fox Hollow -

Garrett's Hollow -

Gibson Canyon -

Gowan's Hollow -

Greens Corner - northeast of old Wellsville and now part of that community. Named for Isaac Green who settled at a location which became an important crossroads, even unto today.

Greenville - by 1878 four homesteads were filed by farmers on the dry sagebrush lands northeast of Logan and came as an outgrowth of that community. By 1890 eight additional families joined them and by 1898 there were twenty families living in a scattered condition northeast of Logan. They were located at the mouth of Green Canyon and were considered part of Logan in reports on taxes, roads, mail and census matters as well as religious services, etc. Sometime later these settlers began to be identified as residing in Greensville, and on July 26, 1891, the Greenville Ward was organized. There came in time a Greenville School District (students 1904 - 101; 1908 - 103), a Greenville Road District and eventually a Greenville Precinct, but for many years Greenville would be cited by name but with an appendage "part of Logan" attached in county and state records. The 1910 Census listed Greenville as a precinct and township, but by 1920 the name had been changed to North Logan. A 1916 Geological Survey map (from a 1913-14 survey) cited "North Logan" for the community but as the far western side beside the railroad track there was listed a "Greenville." Probably the change of names came about when the locality started requesting their own post office and learned that another and older Greenville existed in Beaver County in southern Utah.

Halfway Canyon -

Hell Canyon -

High Creek Canyon -

Holt or Holt Siding - the "Holt Siding" was on the UPRR's Cache Valley Branch a short distance from the Millville station; it was named for a railroad official. It now is part of Nibley.

Honey Bee Mine -

Hyde Park -

Hyde Park Canyon -

Hyrum - is located about eight miles south of Logan. The first settlers came in the spring of 1860 and established themselves by a spring at a location about a mile from the present town site, but by fall they relocated to the bench land to the south and set up a street-type fort along both sides of present day Main Street. The community's name was suggested by David Osborn, one of the pioneer settlers and in high favor with the Church, to honor Hyrum Smith. It was planned to establish another town nearby to be named 'Joseph' thus memorializing the Smith brothers - Prophet and Patriarch. The second town was never established.

James Peak - this peak at 9410 ft. in elevation is situated in the southern tip of Cache County near the Weber County line and was named for David James, an early bishop of Paradise.
Jensen Hollow -
John Kidman Hollow -
Junction Hills - a general grouping of the low-lying hills known locally as the West Hills before the topographers decided on the new name sometime after the early 1890s. This grouping of hills lies south of Clarkston Mountain, comprising a series of short fault traces between the Clarkston Mountain and the Wellsville Mountains with the following Landforms from north to south:
-- Al Archibald Hollow -
-- Bob Archibald Hollow -
-- Benson's Hollow -
-- Long Divide - on the north side of the canyon and overlooking Cutler Dam and Reservoir the highest point is a small rocky knob elevation 5478 ft. in which the boundary line between Cache Co. and Box Elder Co. passed over it. The prominent rocky bulge or hump has been given the colloquial name of 'Molly's Nipple.'
-- Bear River Canyon - also referred to as the Bear River Gorge and Bear River Narrows where Bear River leaves Cache Valley to flow into Box Elder County. An 1876 map of Utah shows a place designated as 'The Gates' in close proximity to the towns of Clarkston and Newton which most likely referred to the narrow gorge as 'The Gates' or passageway through the mountains into the adjacent valley.
South of the gorge is a higher point unnamed and less well defined rising to 5596 ft. with the following named landforms to the south:
-- The Point - located 1.4 miles south of the wye at Cache Junction.
-- Black Rock - about a mile south of The Point, a higher dark formation has an elevation over 4775 ft. and is directly east of Cache Butte on the boundary line, the northern extension of Black Rock, a mountain point, extends eastward almost to the RR track.
-- Cache Butte - elevation 5340 ft. and directly west of Black Rock.
-- Mendon Hill - also called 'Mendon Divide,' 'Cache Hill' and later 'Collingston Hill.' It provided the easiest access into and out of Cache Valley, especially for vehicular travel. In 1872-1873 a narrow gauged railroad track was laid over this hill. Due to the heavy gradient of the track (90 ft. per mile over a three mile section of the hill) the railroad eventually established a station at the summit of this hill. In time the road over this hill came to be called the 'Valley View' road or highway due to the grand survey of the valley that the descending road provided.

Junction Hills Fault - This fault is poorly expressed as a discontinuous down-to-the-east normal fault trace, beginning at the range front east of Short Divide and continuing southeastward along the eastern margins of the Junction Hills and Cache Butte to east of the northern Wellsville Mountains. For most of its length, the fault is concealed by Lake Bonneville deposits and locally by Holocene to upper Pleistocene landslide debris (Solomon, 1999). The only conclusive evidence of Quaternary displacement is associated with three short lineaments northeast of Cache Butte. Fault scarps at the surface along the lineaments are subtle and subdued due to degradation from repeated plowing (Solomon, 1999). Oviatt (1986a) reports 2.4 meters of displacement in the basal transgressive gravel of Lake Bonneville in a stream cut across the central lineament, and evidence for multiple pre-Bonneville events; Black and others (2000) measured 2.9 meters of most recent event displacement in the stream cut, and also indicate observing evidence of a pre-Bonneville event.

Kidman Canyon -

King - the old post office name was changed from Riverside to King, but the area was still known as Riverside and the school continued under that name until the consolidation of all the Cache County schools in the early 1910s. However, the newly designated King Post Office left its impression on the area even after the post office closed in 1922. According to a 1924-25 R. L. Polk and Co.'s directory for Logan and Cache County, this place was named King after a discontinued post office and was located in Cache County on Bear River some nine miles northwest of Logan and three and a half miles southwest of Smithfield with a population of 200. It was stated to be on the Oregon Short Line Railroad (OSLRR), which in reality was a small branch line that ran from Lewiston southward in the center of the valley to near King. A 1916 Logan Quadrangle Topographic Map by the Interior Dept. had 'King' east of the southward flowing Bear River, matching the above directions but with the mileage to Logan being closer to five miles rather than nine. This King area would later become incorporated into the present day Benson community, which was in 1916 over two miles to the southwest

La Plata

La Plata Canyon -

La Plata Mine -

Leatham Hollow -

Lewiston

Brief History of the Settlement of Lewiston Off-Site

Little Mountain - a small hill between Trenton and the Newton Reservoir which in the past has been called the 'Trenton Hill' or 'Newton Hill.' Its highest point reaches 5693 feet above sea level, or 924 feet higher than the nearby spillway of the Newton Dam. A mine shaft was cut in the eastern side through solid rock but no mineral wealth came from the effort. People climbing its steep slopes have found numerous small seashells left from ancient Lake Bonneville.

Logan

Logan's Firestorm Over New Chemical Fire Engine

News Tidbits from Logan, UT compiled by Larry D. Christiansen

Dr. Oliver C. Ormsby: The Dean of Early Cache Valley Doctors compiled by Larry D. Christiansen

Maple Grove Hollow -

McKenzie Mountain -

Mendon

Mendon Peak -

Middle Mountain -

Miles Canyon -

Millville

Millville Peak -

Mineral Point - located approximately seven and a half miles east-southeast of Avon, Utah and about four miles directly north of La Plata. It was heralded as the 'heart of the mineral belt' in northern Utah's Cache Valley. It is both a mountain with a pointed northern end and a short-lived mining district. In the early 1890s the Logan newspaper predicted it would, in all probability, become 'A Great Mining Camp in Cache County' and with La Plata and nearby mining areas, would hopefully boast a population of a thousand people by late 1891. In October of 1890 the Cache County Court created the Mineral Point School District which covered the geographical area of Mineral Point, La Plata and adjacent mining areas. By September of 1891, 'A tract of land has already been laid off at Mineral Point for town purposes.' Six weeks later the Mineral Point Mining Company was organized with a capital of $100,000 and commenced work in five mines. Buildings were erected and shafts dug with promises of galena (lead), iron and copper. However, the mining news of Mineral Point quickly went from front page reports and hype to last page fading hope. In September of 1892, the county court changed the name and primary location of the local school district to the Avon School District. For the next thirty-three months there was no further mention of Mineral Point in the Logan newspaper. In June of 1895 there was a report of resumption of work at one of the mines, but it was brief; the status of this descriptive landscape remained a ghost town thereafter.

Mitchell Hollow -

Monte Christo Forest -

Monte Cristo Peak - elevation 9148 ft. on the Cache-Weber Co. line, not far from the Rich Co. line.

Mormon Hollow -

Morton - located between Trenton and Cornish.

Mount McKinnon - elevation 9081 ft. on the Cache-Rich Co. line.

Mountain Home - sometimes referred to as Mt. Home in some Cache County records and newspapers. It was an outgrowth of the scattered settlement of Coveville with some of the older homes being in the northeast section, close to the Idaho border. When a sufficient number of settlers were in the area, they requested a school with a resultant official name attached to the locale associated with the Mountain Home School District, and it also became a voting and census district around the beginning of 1900. In 1904 the school had forty-seven students, and by1907 the school population of the district was fifty-one students meeting in an un-graded school. The 1910 census recorded the first count of the Mountain Home precinct at 160 persons; in the 1920 census the number enrolled declined to 118. While they retained their school, they were no longer a school district, having been consolidated into the Cache County School District in 1908. Before the 1930 census the Mountain Home vicinity was placed in with Coveville. A 1916 U.S. Dept. of the Interior map of the Logan Quadrangle illustrates most of the houses plus the location of the Mountain Home School. Today, the name is retained in the Mountain Home Road that traverses from Cove to the Idaho border and then on to Franklin.

Mount Sterling - located about a mile south of Wellsville and extending eastward encompassing a large agricultural area opposed to the earlier village settlement pattern of the Mormons. People obtained homesteads and larger tracts of farmland and began living on their farms. In 1892 the area was formed as a school district (possibly numbered as #26) and it became a road district. One of the earliest references to this place in the newspaper came on July 23, 1895 with the announcement: "The Democratic Society and precinct committee of Mt. Sterling were consolidated and reorganized on the 11th . . . . Mount Sterling is all right for Democracy." Which meant that as the local Mormons shifted their political allegiances to the two national parties that those at this location were predominately Democrats. A month later the newspaper printed a report from Mt. Sterling that "All the people own large farms and this year the crops are very large. The land is good and well cultivated, and they are all dry farmes [sic farms]." It also predicted that their district would soon have a nice church building as "many who now own farms, but live in other Wards will come and live on their property or sell it to some one who will." The Baxter area was consolidated with them in their church ward (1895) and schools (1896), and the Mt. Sterling Ward meetinghouse dedicated on February 25, 1897. The 1900 Census enrolled 183 people that include those in the Baxter area. The quiet rural settlement raised its various crops with few, if any tares, until the election of 1906. Then came the political tares of that fall's elections producing the first tarnish indirectly on Mt. Sterling. While the larger issue dealt with high church leaders using their influence and "unfair methods in behalf of the Republicans," at Mount Sterling it involved two members of the Hyrum Stake presidency "procuring official ballots from the judges of Mount Sterling precinct two days before the elections" that were marked for the ballot box. This was followed by finding that ballots were missing from other precincts. For five months accusations, excuses and much explaining went on, getting much coverage in the Salt Lake newspapers until the two local church leaders had a hearing before a justice of the peace in the county who quickly dismissed the case. According to the Salt Lake Herald (a pro-Mormon paper), the justice of the peace decided "with the wisdom of a Caliph of Bagdad" that the two local authorities "didn't mean any harm."

Naomi Peak - located in Cache County, is the highest point in the Bear River Mountains of northern Utah and southern Idaho. The summit rises 9,979 feet above sea level. Naomi Peak is the highest peak in the Bear River Range. (the northernmost sub-range of the Wasatch Mountains) its peak is the high point on the main north-south ridge. While the limestone range is not very high it is extremely rugged, and the views from the top of Naomi are outstanding. Many of the most interesting peaks in the range can be seen from the summit. It is only visible from Cache Valley in a very few places as there are other high mountains in front of it. It is located on the eastern boundary of the Naomi Peak Wilderness area. It is a very massive mountain and it's difficult to tell when you're actually on the top. Gog and Magog are northeast of Naomi Peak. The west face is a series of broken cliffs that drop quite a ways. The east face is very rocky and sharp but not half as steep as the west. There was a USGS marker on the top, it is gone now. The peak can be approached from either the east, via the Tony Grove trailhead, or the northwest, via the High Creek Lake trailhead which is the longer and more difficult route of the two.

Narrow Canyon -

Newton - A Town History

Newton - Old News

Newton - Town Government

Newton - Development of the Irrigation System

Short Stories on Newton Utah

School District #6 Assessment Rolls 1875-1878

School District #6 Census Rolls for 1875-1885

Transcript of Record Books for District #6

Newton Town Board Minutes 1900-1935 - provided by the Special Collection Department, Newton Town Library

Nibley - was the outgrowth of nearby Millville and created in 1920 with the division of the parent ward. It was named for Charles W. Nibley, a prominent businessman and leading Mormon official. Five years later, in 1925, the Cache County commissioners created Nibley precinct as a separate political entity. The 1930 census listed 277 residents.

Nip Hollow -

North Fork Hell Canyon -

North Logan - Greenville was the original name for North Logan; it was changed when the people learned another Utah town had the same name.

Old Canyon -

Old Logway Canyon -

Ox Killer Hollow -

Paradise

Pete McCombs Hill - elevation 5253 feet and located between Clarkston and Trenton.

Petersburg - a short-lived place name in the southern tip of Cache Valley east of the Little Bear River where the present community of Paradise is located. Shortly after the 1860 initial settlement of Paradise ("Old Paradise") at a small lush cove near the junction of East Creek and the Little Bear River, four families chose to place their cabins three miles further north and down stream rather than in the fort-styled Paradise settlement. Their area came to be called Petersburg. When the settlement of Paradise was relocated from its first location in 1867-68, it moved to and absorbed the place of the four Petersburg families.

Peterboro

Peter Sinks - is found in the Wasatch Range southwest of the Bear Lake Summit, recorded an all-time Utah record low temperature of 69 degrees below zero on Feb. 1, 1985.

Pete's Hollow -

Pine Bluffs - A summer home area 

Pioneer Campground -

Porcupine Ridge -

Powder Mountain -

Providence

Public Grove Hollow -

Quigley Crossing

Quinney - a 1916 edition of a Logan Quadrangle topographical map of Cache County shows no Quinney on the map and depicts the Ogden, Logan and Idaho Railway line from its entering Cache County on the west side through Mendon, Wellsville, Hyrum and up the east side and through Lewiston on into Idaho. Another map made a few years later shows the area of northeastern Cache County with specific coverage of the above rail line or interurban. In early 1918 the company was renamed the Utah-Idaho Central Railroad Company (UIC). The interurban line ran north-south through the center of Smithfield northward to Richmond on its western side. It continued northward paralleling the county road to the Merrills' area where the Oregon Short Line Railroad (OSLRR), the county road and the interurban line in that order ran next to one another in close proximity. At a point about a mile and three-quarters north of Richmond, the interurban line crossed via an underpass to the west of the OSLRR and went northwesterly towards Lewiston with a short spur track to the Lewiston sugar factory. The line continued through Lewiston and turned directly north into Idaho and on to Preston. In 1916 a branch line was built westward from the Sugarton area of Lewiston where the sugar factory spur went east of the main line, and was named the Quinney Branch after Joseph Quinney, Jr., whose family and he personally had a long close relationship with the family of David Eccles, the brains and money behind the interurban line. Joseph Quinney, Jr., served as the general superintendent of the sugar factories in Cache County in 1910s and held other important sugar related positions, including being district manager of the Amalgamated Sugar Company in 1920s.

Quinney Branch Line - the work of building this branch line was done by the Cache Valley Railroad Company, another of the many Eccles enterprises. The first portion of the line went directly west just over two miles to the Cunningham area were a 19 car spur was located for the placement of a beet dump. The line continued west another mile to Kent where a 32 car siding was established. In 1918 a north-south "T" section was added to the line running from Mills at the the Utah-Idaho border where a 23 car spur was constructed, and going directly south a mile and a half to the facilities at Kent. It continued southeast another mile and a half to the Wheeler area where a 14 car spur was placed, and on just over half a mile to Bullen where a 34 car spur was built. Another mile and a half and the line crossed Bear River over a substantial steel bridge east of Trenton. A mile south of the river bridge at Litz the company established both a 13 car spur and a 23 car siding. Continuing south just less than a mile brought the line to the Hurren area where a 24 car siding was made. The branch line went south another two and a half miles to where a three-quarters mile spur was built to the Amalgamated Sugar Factory adjacent to Bear River. This sugar factory spur had a capacity for 30 cars. Later the line was extended south another two and a half miles to Thain where a 6 car spur was constructed at this terminus of the Quinney Branch of a little over fourteen miles. With this last addition the junction with the sugar factory spur was labeled incorrectly on a map as the "Alta Jct." It should have read the "Alto Jct." after the initial name for this area. At each of the spurs and sidings there was a sugar beet dump. The original concept for this branch line was to haul freight only, almost exclusively sugar beets and refined sugar. In 1919 the Cache Valley Railroad Company was consolidated with the Utah-Idaho Central Railroad and the Quinney Branch became part of the UIC Railroad. Thereafter a two-car school train ran over the line during the school year which ran at cost, providing no profit for the UIC. The service on the branch line was greatly reduced and sporadic after the closing of the Amalgamated Sugar Company factory and the financial troubles of the Utah -Idaho Central Railroad beginning with the first receivership in 1926, and it stopped completely long before the UIC went out of business in 1947. The tracks of the Quinney Branch were scrapped out soon thereafter.

Quinney Sugar Factory - the name made it onto at least one map and may have been a common nickname for the factory on the Quinney Branch Line but probably was never officially the name of the facilities, just an easy location name.

Ransom - a locale near Trenton. The 1895 map of Utah shows Trenton a short distance west of the railroad tracks with nearby "Ransom" right on the railroad route. Both places had a post office but neither had a railroad station. All that remains of this place, name wise, is "Ransom Hollow."

Rattlesnake Canyon -

Red Spur Mountain - elevation 8872 ft. on the Cache-Rich Co. line.
-- Gorge Canyon -
-- North Gorge Canyon -

Richmond

Richmond Mystery or Canard 1884-1905 by Larry D. Christiansen

River Heights - a community across the Logan River south of Logan. It was settled in 1882 as an outgrowth of the nearby communities. It was initially called 'Dry Town' reflecting its situation when the first canal failed to bring water uphill to the town. Once this was resolved it was renamed River Heights. Under that name the first census figures were from 1920, reporting 298 people in the town.

Riverside - name used for the rural agricultural area west-south-west of Smithfield and some two miles north of the initial Benson settlement on the east side of Bear River where a scattered string of farms developed during the 1880s. Apparently these farms initially developed without a distinct identity but with their closest ties to Smithfield to the east. In May of 1890 the parents of twenty-five school aged children petitioned Cache County to create a 'school district in the western part of Smithfield district' for their children. On June 2nd of 1890 the county court took up this petition and unanimously agreed and created the Riverside School District No. 20 and set its precise boundaries. This was the first time the name 'Riverside' made its way into the official county records. The creation of a school district or possibly the establishment of a post office, shortly before or after this, brought a distinct name for the area on the east side of Bear River. About this same time a post office was set up but this can only be confirmed by newspaper reports. Both the school building and the post office bore the name Riverside. However, the latter kept the name for a short time when in June of 1897 there developed mail problems because there was another Riverside Post Office within Utah. Due to the other one being the oldest, the one in Cache County had to change its name. It was decided to change the name to King Post Office in honor of Utah's Representative to Congress William H. King. Still, all county collection of taxes and funds appropriated were in the name of Riverside. Its student population by the mid 1890s rivaled or exceeded nearby Benson. In 1898 the school had seventy students in all grades, most of whom had to travel some distance to school. Usually, according to the Logan newspaper, 'Most of them come horseback' two, three, four and even five, according to the size rider on one horse.' "Riverside Reverberations" (from the newspaper at Logan) in early 1898 described Riverside as covering "a large extent of territory" but "thinly settled as yet. Population is increasing. . . ." But there were some changes as the King Post Office was serviced from the Benson Post Office, and the county frequently tied the Benson and Riverside road district together on appropriations.

Round Hill - elevation 5418 ft. east and north of Hyde Park

Round Knob - a small knob or knoll east of the Short Divide and just south of Clarkson which rises to 5,290 ft.

Sardine Canyon - whose name has been given to the passageway from Cache County to Box Elder County.

Sardine Summit - elevation 5969 ft.

Sardine Watty Glen -

Sawmill Canyon -

Scare Canyon -

Scott Peak -

Sharp Mountain -

Shenoah Campground -

Shingle Mill Hollow -

Shumway Canyon -

Silver Mine Hollow -

Smithfield

Smithfield Canyon -

Snow Canyon -

South Grove Hollow -

Starks Hollow -

Stauffer Canyon -

Stephenson - a locale and school district in what is now the western side of Lewiston and named for the most prominent family in the area. In April of 1897 this Stephenson district paid $1,091.64 in taxes to Cache County and the state. In November of 1897 a letter to the local newspaper stated that "Lewiston embraces Lewiston, Stephenson, and the Wheeler school districts, with the three schools in Lewiston, two in Stephenson, and one in Wheeler, making six schools in our ward . . . ." There is an 1888 picture of one of the Stephenson school buildings located at 1590 West Center Street. In 1904 when Lewiston officially incorporated as a town both Stephenson and Wheeler districts formally became part of Lewiston.

Stewart Pass - elevation 8376 ft.???

Stoddard Canyon -

Stoddard Hill -

Steel Canyon -

Strawberry Valley -
-- Lodgepole Canyon -
-- Hells Hollow -

Summit - located on the Utah Northern Railroad's narrow gauged line over the mountain divide between Collingston and Mendon. This high point on the first tracks into Cache County was shown on a 1876 map of Utah. On later railroad schedules this "Summit" in the Cache Hills was shortened to "Cachill." The steep grade over this divide with its long "S" shaped road bed often required double engines to ascend the hill, making it more than just a high point but a operational point on the line.

The Point -

Thimbleberry Canyon -

Three Hill - elevation 5689 ft. located east of Hyde Park

Three Mile Canyon -

Trenton - The McCombs family located on Bear River, near present day Trenton, in 1869. The first real settlement of the town began in 1872. The name for the new town was suggested by William B. Preston, church leader, businessman, mayor of Logan and one of the most prominent men in the county, born and reared in Virginia; not as folklore has it after Preston's home town in New Jersey where he never lived. Perhaps he likened the two locations'the New Jersey city beside the Delaware River, which General Washington crossed in the Revolutionary War and the new town in Cache County beside the Bear River. The town was on the 1895 map of Utah with the 1895 U.S. atlas listing the town with a post office but no railroad service. Later, Trenton would have railroad service, and experience a land development project of significant size.

Boom to Bust in Trenton: Apples, Cereal Factory and Home Sites for Ten Thousand

Utida - the railroad "in spite" established a depot on the Utah-Idaho border in 1890 when Weston would not make concessions for one.

Washboards - a small rolling hill north of Clarkston and east of Clarkston Mountain and extending into Idaho and whose contours resembled those on early ribbed washing boards.

Webster - was located about a half mile north of Cove on U.S. Hwy 91 at the junction of the main road to Lewiston. In 1897 the area paid taxes to Cache County, was listed on the 1910 and 1920 censuses by name and was shown on a 1922 map of Utah.

Wheeler - a separate school district in the wide spread Lewiston area and named for one of the prominent families. In 1897 the Wheeler district paid $751.95 in taxes to the county and state. It is now part of Lewiston.

Wellsville

Wellsville Mountains - a spur of the Wasatch Range of mountains and dissected by numerous canyons. They are noted for being the steepest and narrowest mountain range in the Rocky Mountains and perhaps the world. They abruptly rise from the valley floor in Cache County to the sharp ridge line of over 9300 feet in elevation. This rise of almost 5000 feet comes in just two and a half miles. While these mountains are not particularly high, they are very narrow, averaging only about five miles wide at its base. In addition to their picturesque terrain, they are an invaluable watershed for sixteen communities. Some of the landmarks and landforms are as follows:
-- Spring Hollow
-- Yonk Canyon
-- Big Hollow
-- Dry Hollow
-- Willies Hollow
-- John Kidman Hollow
-- Fiddlers Hollow
-- Pole Canyon
-- Deep Canyon
-- Thimbleberry Canyon
-- Bird Canyon
-- Kidman Canyon
-- Baker Canyon
-- Stauffer Canyon
-- Mendon Peak - elevation 8766 ft.
-- Gibson Canyon
-- Old Logway Canyon
-- North Fork Canyon
-- Hells Canyon
-- Coldwater Canyon
-- Shumway Canyon
-- Wellsille Cone - elevation 9356 ft. has the appearance of an old volcanic cinder cone with its northern face eroded away, but it is composed of sedimentary limestone, thus not formed by a volcano. The Cone has two summits with the higher one on the east side.
-- Brushy Canyon
-- Pine Canyon
-- Box Elder Peak - elevation 9372 ft. is the highest point in the Wellsville Mountains.
-- Wide Canyon
-- Rattlesnake Canyon
-- Narrow Canyon
-- Stoddard Canyon
-- Silver Mine Hollow
-- Wellsville Canyon
-- Snow Canyon
-- Black Peak - elevation 7726 ft.
-- Sardine Summit - elevation 5969 ft.
-- Sardine Canyon - whose name has been given to the passageway from Cache County to Box Elder County.
-- Dry Lake or 'sink hole' - elevation 5647 ft. where the U.S. Hwy. crosses this low spot.
-- Pine Canyon
-- Box Elder Peak - elevation 9372 ft. is the highest point in the Wellsville Mountains
-- Wide Canyon
-- Rattlesnake Canyon
-- Narrow Canyon
-- Stoddard Canyon
-- Silver Mine Hollow
-- Wellsville Canyon
-- Snow Canyon
-- Black Peak - elevation 7726 ft.
-- Sardine Summit - elevation 5969 ft.
-- Sardine Canyon - whose name has been given to the passageway from Cache County to Box Elder County
-- Dry Lake or 'sink hole' - elevation 5647 ft. where the U.S. Hwy. crosses this low spot.

White Horse Village

Wide Hollow -

Young Ward - a small farming community adjacent to College Ward and named for President Brigham Young and his church farm endowment for the establishment of a college which included this area. The first census to mention the place was taken in 1940 and registered 194 residents.






Last Updated: 02.14.2020