Corn Creek (Millard County)

Corn Creek is a stream in Millard County, Utah. Its mouth is located at an elevation of 4,918 feet or 1,499 meters in the Pahvant Valley. Its source is located an elevation of 7,313 feet or 2,229 meters, at the confluence of East Fork Corn Creek and West Fork Corn Creek, at 38°45′40″N 112°15′05″W / 38.76111°N 112.25139°W / 38.76111; -112.25139 in the Pahvant Range.[1]

History

The location near the mouth of Corn Creek was originally a stopping place known as Willow Flats to the early travelers on the Mormon Road.[2][3] On January 17, 1851, George A. Smith, leader of Mormon colonists on their way to establish the colony at Parowan, wrote about Willow Flat to Brigham Young, that the area was, "... a prospect for a colony not to be slighted." He continued, "Corn Creek sinks and forms a large meadow. The grazing is extensive; the range very good." He continued, "... the soil had the appearance of being very good," and that "... it seemed to suit many farmers of our camp, who would have been perfectly satisfied to have remained at that point." [4]:39, note 18

From 1851, Corn Creek was the location where Brigham Young, as territorial superintendent of Indian affairs for Utah, established an Indian farm for the Pahvant Indians, one of a three such farms in Utah Territory. Settlers from Fillmore grew potatoes, wheat, and corn to supplement the beans, corn, potatoes, pumpkins and squash that the Corn Creek band of Pahvants had grown at their village farther up the creek for years under their chief Kanosh. Here at Kanosh's request they were to be taught the Mormon's farming methods under the direction of a local Indian agent.[4]:44,60 The Corn Creek Indian Farm on Corn Creek existed there from 1855 to 1867, when most of its native inhabitants took down their farms and moved to the new Ute reservation, leaving the land for the new settlement of Kanosh.

In 1859, settlers from Fillmore, settled where the Mormon Road crossed the creek northwest of the Corn Creek village and farm. It was named for Peter Robison, its first post master, Petersburg (1859-1877). Petersburg was one of the larger stations and rest stops on the Gilmer and Salisbury Stage Company line from the Utah Central Railroad and Utah Southern Railroad rail head to the mining boom town of Pioche, Nevada from 1864 to 1871. From 1877 to 1940, an agricultural settlement there had a post office called Hatton. This settlement is now a ghost town, with little to see of its past existence among the irrigated fields.[5]:179[4] :86, 99–101, 114–117, 124, 129–130

References

  1. ↑ U.S. Geological Survey Geographic Names Information System: Corn Creek
  2. ↑ LeRoy Reuben Hafen, Ann Woodbury Hafen, Journals of Forty-niners: Salt Lake to Los Angeles: with Diaries and Contemporary Records of Sheldon Young, James S. Brown, Jacob Y. Stover, Charles C. Rich, Addison Pratt, Howard Egan, Henry W. Bigler, and Others, U of Nebraska Press, 1954, pp.321-324 Mormon Waybill, Joseph Cain and A. C. Brower, Salt Lake City, 1851. Road distances from readings of roadometer attached to the wagon of Addison Pratt of the 1849 Jefferson Hunt Wagon Train.
  3. ↑ Randolph Barnes Marcy, THE PRAIRIE TRAVELER. A HAND-BOOK FOR OVERLAND EXPEDITIONS. WITH MAPS, ILLUSTRATIONS, AND ITINERARIES OF THE PRINCIPAL ROUTES BETWEEN THE MISSISSIPPI AND THE PACIFIC., PUBLISHED BY AUTHORITY OF THE WAR DEPARTMENT, 1859; ITINERARY VI. From Great Salt Lake City to Los Angeles and San Francisco, California. from the Kansas Collection website accessed 05/22/2015
  4. 1 2 3 Edward Leo Lyman, Linda King Newell, A History Of Millard County, Utah State Historical Society, Millard County Commission, 1999
  5. ↑ John W. Van Cott, Utah Place Names: A Comprehensive Guide to the Origins of Geographic Names: a Compilation, University of Utah Press, Salt Lake City, 1990.

Coordinates: 38°49′14″N 112°26′23″W / 38.82056°N 112.43972°W / 38.82056; -112.43972

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