Area:
6,818 square miles;
population:
11,333 (in 1990);
county seat:
Fillmore; origin
of county name:
after President Millard
Fillmore; principal
cities/towns:
Delta
(2,998), Fillmore
(1,956); economy:
alfalfa seed, cattle,
electric power generation;
points of interest:
Cove
Fort, Territorial
Statehouse State Park
in Fillmore, Topaz
Relocation Camp,
Old Fort Deseret,
Gunnison massacre
site, Clear Lake Waterfowl
Management Area, Intermountain
Power Project.
Millard County is
bordered on the east
by the Pahvant Range,
while west to the
Nevada border lie
the broad valleys
and desert mountain
ranges typical of
the Great Basin. The
Sevier River, which
begins in mountains
east of Cedar City,
drains into the sometimes
dry Sevier Lake in
central Millard County.
A huge granitic upthrust
in the House Range,
as well as volcanic
cones and numerous
fossil beds, provide
clues to past geologic
activity and prehistoric
animal and plant life
of the area.
The county's prehistoric
residents, part of
the Sevier Culture
which disappeared
ca. A.D. 1300, lived
in small villages
with semi-subterranean
dwellings. Historic
Indian groups of the
area include Southern
Paiutes, Pahvant Utes,
and Goshutes. A small
Indian reservation
is located at Kanosh.
In October 1851 two
groups left Salt Lake
City for eastern Millard
County. Some thirty
families led by Anson
Call made the first
permanent white settlement,
while territorial
officials, including
Governor Brigham Young
and surveyor Jesse
W. Fox, selected a
site for the capital,
Fillmore being near
the geographical center
of Utah Territory.
The legislature met
in Fillmore a few
times, but in December
1856 it voted to move
the capital to Salt
Lake City because
Fillmore was too far
from major cities.
On 26 October 1853
seven members of a
transcontinental railroad
survey team led by
Lieutenant John W.
Gunnison of the Army
Corps of Topographical
Engineers were killed
by Indians southwest
of Delta, a tragic
incident in the Walker
War (1853-54) that
was apparently triggered
by the actions of
a group of emigrants
against the Indians.
Ranching and farming
developed slowly.
In the early twentieth
century Millard County
was second to Tooele
in the number of sheep
on its ranges, but
later cattle became
the major livestock
interest. The establishment
of the Union Pacific
line through west
Millard County and
the founding of Delta
in 1907 led to the
most important agricultural
development--large-scale
alfalfa seed production
amounting eventually
to three-fourths of
the state's total
crop. The Yuba Dam
and other water projects
made this venture
possible.
Mining and smelting
have contributed to
the county's economic
growth, with Millard
producing significant
amounts of fluorspar,
copper, manganese,
sulphur, gypsum, beryllium,
and salt. The most
important industrial
development, however,
began in the 1970s
when plans were made
for the Intermountain
Power Project's huge
coal-burning plant
near Delta. Southern
California buys much
of the electricity
generated by the IPP.
Miriam B. Murphy
