Item Detail
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30343
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0
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4
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English
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Daggett County At 100 : New Approaches to a Colorful Past
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Utah Historical Quarterly
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Winter 2018
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86
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1
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Salt Lake City, UT
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University of Illinois Press
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46-57
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Situated in the northeast corner of the state, Daggett County is perhaps the most geographically isolated of all Utah counties. Geologically and historically, it shares as much or more in common with the Green River-Rock Springs area of southwest Wyoming than neighboring Uintah County to the south, to which it once belonged. In those days, before highways and snowplows, the county seat at Vernal might as well have been on Mars for residents living on the North Slope of the mighty Uinta Mountains. On issues from land ownership and water rights to road construction and schools, these citizens felt that their voices were not properly represented. That is why, on July 31, 1917, inhabitants of this remote region voted to leave Uintah County and form their own government, headquartered in Manila. Today, Daggett County remains somewhat isolated. With just over 1,000 people, it has the distinction of being Utah's smallest county by population; the fastest route to Utah's populous Wasatch Front actually takes drivers through Wyoming. Residents share a single state representative with Duchesne, Morgan, Rich, and Summit counties and a state senator with Duchesne, Summit, Uintah, and Wasatch counties. Their children attend one of just two elementary schools or the lone high school in the Daggett commemorates the 100th anniversary of its founding, the county's remarkably rich history deserves to be revisited.
[from author]