Strawberry, Utah
| Strawberry, Utah | |
|---|---|
| Unincorporated community | |
 Strawberry
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| Coordinates: 40°08′3.71″N 110°34′00″W / 40.1343639°N 110.56667°WCoordinates: 40°08′3.71″N 110°34′00″W / 40.1343639°N 110.56667°W | |
| Country | United States |
| State | Utah |
| County | Duchesne |
| Time zone | Mountain (MST) (UTC-7) |
| • Summer (DST) | MDT (UTC-6) |
Strawberry is an unincorporated community in western Duchesne County, Utah, United States. Most of the inhabitants live along the Strawberry River between the Strawberry River pinnacles and Starvation Reservoir west of the city of Duchesne, the county seat of Duchesne County.
1880-1905 In the 1880s Elaterite was discovered in Skytzy, Lake, and Sam's canyon, side canyons of Strawberry. In 1893 Judge J.T. McConnell of Salt Lake City, secured a lease through Major Myton, the (Uintah) Indian Agent, and the same lease was approved by the Secretary of the Interior. Judge McConnell joined Raven mining company in 1899 and was granted two years to prospect and register all mining claims and a 10-year lease to mine the properties. In 1901 Raven had filed on 640 acres in Lake and Sam's canyons. A road was constructed from the old Fort Duchesne road at Rabbit gulch south and into the main canyon where the west end of liberty bridge sits today. The road followed Strawberry canyon up and forked at Skytzy canyon and then continued on to the mines in Sam's Canyon. Raven Mining company started commercial mining in 1899. The mines functioned for 30+ years and the minors lived around the mine sites and were mostly seasonal.
In 1900 A.M. Murdock of Heber city, approached Major Myton of the Uintah Indian reservation to purchase grazing permits for his cattle. He was given grazing permits in the upper Strawberry river area. Dave Murdock, brother of A.M. Murdock, had secured a contract to provide beef to the Ute tribe at Fort Duchesne. In the fall of 1904 they brought the herd out of the high grazing areas and made it to the river bottoms which is now covered by Starvation reservoir. Very heavy snows stranded the heard. With no feed the entire heard died. Dave Murdock named the area "Starvation Flats" from this experience.
1905-1910 In 1905 the Uintah Indian reservation was opened by the federal government to homesteaders. The land in the river bottoms of the Strawberry river was very desirable because of the semi-arid nature of the Uintah Basin. The first pioneers into the area started clearing the river bottoms of the thick underbrush of cottonwood and willows. Around 1911 two communities had developed, one in the flats between the main canyon and Rabbit Gultch, that had been known as "Starvation", five miles west of Duchesne and "Upper Strawberry" that sits in a wider part of the canyon four miles further west. Although both communities were located on the Strawberry river and only four miles apart.
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Wikipedia