Thompson Springs, Utah

Thompson Springs
— CDP —
Thompson Springs
Thompson Springs Location of Thompson Springs in Utah
Coordinates:
Country	United States
State	Utah
County	Grand
Founded	1880s
Named for	E.W. Thompson
Elevation^[1]	5,246 ft (1,599 m)
Population (2010)^[2]
• Total	39
GNIS feature ID	2584780^[1]

Thompson Springs, also known as Thompson, is a small census-designated place in central Grand County, Utah, United States. The population was 39 at the 2010 census. The town is just north of the east-west highway route shared by Interstate 70, U.S. Route 6 and U.S. Route 50, between Crescent Junction and Cisco. The county seat of Moab is about 37 miles to the south. Thompson Springs is located in high desert country at an elevation of 5,246 feet (1,599 m), with the Book Cliffs just to the north. The town's ZIP code is 84540.

1 History
2 Demographics
3 Rock art
4 See also
5 References

History

Evidence of human habitation or use of the Thompson Springs area can be dated back to the Archaic Period who left beautiful Pictographs in Sego Canyon. Subsequent Anasazi, Fremont, and Ute tribes have also left their mark upon the area.

Thompson Springs was named for E.W. Thompson, who lived near the springs and operated a sawmill to the north near the Book Cliffs. The town began life in the late nineteenth century as a station stop on the Denver and Rio Grande Western Railroad, which had been completed through the area in 1883. A post office at the site was established in 1890, under the name "Thompson's." The town was a community center for the small number of farmers and ranchers living in the inhospitable region, and it was also a prominent shipping point for cattle that were run in the Book Cliffs area. Stockmen from both San Juan and Grand counties used Thompson.

Thompson gained importance in the early twentieth century due to the development of coal mines in Sego Canyon, north of town. Commercial mining in Sego Canyon began in 1911, and that year the Ballard and Thompson Railroad was constructed to connect the mines with the railhead at Thompson. The railroad branchline and mines continued operating until about 1950.

Construction of I-70 two miles south of Thompson Springs drew traffic away from the city as Route 6 was no longer used. The later movement of the passenger train stop to Green River, Utah led to further economic hardship for Thompson.

The original name for this settlement was Thompson Springs, a name that was reinstated in 1985. Much of the town is uninhabited today, although there are still some operating businesses in the immediate vicinity of I-70.

The Moab, Utah, Uranium Mill Tailings Remedial Action (UMTRA) Project is a uranium tailings removal and relocation project that promises to bring jobs to the area as tailings from the Atlas Mineral Company's tailings ponds outside of Moab, Utah, will be moved to Crescent Junction, just outside of Thompson Springs.^[3]

Demographics

As of the census^[2] of 2010, there were 39 people residing in the CDP. There were 43 housing units. The racial makeup of the town was 94.9% White, and 5.1% from two or more races. Hispanic or Latino of any race were 0% of the population.

Rock art

Thompson Springs is also the site of some fabulous rock art left by early native Americans. The Fremont culture thrived from A.D. 600 to 1250 and was a contemporary with the Anasazi culture of the Four Corners area. There is also rock art from the Archaic period dating from 7000 B.C., the Barrier Canyon period from around 2000 B.C., and the Ute tribe dating from A.D. 1300.

References

^ ^a ^b U.S. Geological Survey Geographic Names Information System: Thompson Springs
^ ^a ^b "American FactFinder". United States Census Bureau. http://factfinder2.census.gov/main.html. Retrieved May 23, 2011.
^ Moab, Utah, UMTRA Project. - Environmental Management at Grand Junction - United States Department of Energy

Pre-Columbian North America

Archaeological cultures	North American pre-Columbian chronology – Adena – Alachua – Ancient Pueblo (Anasazi) – Baytown – Belle Glade – Buttermilk Creek Complex – Caborn-Welborn – Calf Creek – Caloosahatchee – Clovis – Coles Creek – Deptford – Folsom – Fort Ancient – Fort Walton – Fremont – Glades – Glacial Kame – Hopewell (List of Hopewell sites) – Hohokam – Leon-Jefferson – Mississippian (List of Mississippian sites) – Mogollon – Monongahela – Old Cordilleran – Oneota – Paleo-Arctic – Paleo-Indians – Patayan – Plano – Plaquemine – Poverty Point – Prehistoric Southwest – Red Ocher – Santa Rosa-Swift Creek – St. Johns – Steed-Kisker – Tchefuncte – Tocobaga – Troyville

Archaeological sites	Angel Mounds – Bandelier National Monument – The Bluff Point Stoneworks – Cahokia – Chaco Canyon – Casa Grande – Coso Rock Art District – Eaker – Effigy Mounds National Monument – Etowah Indian Mounds – Eva – Folsom Site – Fort Ancient – Fort Center – Gila Cliff Dwellings National Monument – Holly Bluff Site – Hopewell Culture National Historical Park – Kincaid Mounds – Kolomoki – Manitou Cliff Dwellings – Marksville – Meadowcroft Rockshelter – Mesa Verde – Moorehead Circle – Moundville – Mummy Cave – Nodena Site – Ocmulgee National Monument – Old Stone Fort – Parkin Park – Pinson Mounds – Portsmouth Earthworks – Poverty Point – Pueblo Bonito – Rock Eagle – Rock Hawk – Salmon Ruins – Serpent Mound – Spiro Mounds – SunWatch – Taos Pueblo – Toltec Mounds – Town Creek Indian Mound – Winterville

Miscellaneous	Ballgame – Black drink – Buhl woman – Calumet – Chunkey – Clovis point – Container Revolution – Eastern Agricultural Complex – Eden point – Effigy mound – Falcon dancer – Folsom point – Green Corn Ceremony – Horned Serpent – Kennewick man – Kiva – Metallurgy – Mi'kmaq hieroglyphic writing – Medicine wheel – Mound builders – N.A.G.P.R.A. – Norse colonization of the Americas – Piasa – Pueblo dwellings – Southeastern Ceremonial Complex – Three Sisters agriculture – Thunderbird – Underwater panther

Related: Genetic history · Indigenous Portal of North America · Pre-Columbian era

Municipalities and communities of Grand County, Utah, USA

County seat: Moab

City	Moab

Town	Castle Valley

CDP	Thompson Springs

Unincorporated community	Crescent Junction

Indian reservation	Uintah and Ouray Indian Reservation

Ghost towns	Castleton Cisco Dewey Miners Basin Sego

Thompson Springs, Utah

Contents

History

Demographics

Rock art

See also

References