DESERT LAKE AREA TODAY--WANT TO GO WITH ME?

By Dottie Grimes

I was asked if the lake on the desert now called Desert Lake was the original reservoir for the settlement?
I originally thought that since they named their town "Desert Lake" it was because of the lake that was already there when they settled. I thought it was water that was too salty to be used, so they brought in other water and made a small reservoir---but you can't count on my "thinking." I learn on the job. 

I didn't grow up knowing about this county or hearing facts about the area; I have to depend on these wise, long-time residents to inform me. And lucky me, Mervin Miles--one of my mentors--dropped in to talk to me for a few minutes. He is a walking historic encyclopedia! He worked for the BLM for 38 years and I'm sure he knows everything about anything in the Castle Valley area. He has become a great friend and resource for the Archives. 

Mervin's answer was that it is a man made lake. It is a low spot that probably collected a little water naturally, but it was not a lake until a dam was built by the early settlers in the 1880s.

In Nancy Tanaguchi's book Castle Valley America, she says that Thomas Wells moved his family 6 miles east of Cleveland and OPTIMISTICALLY  named it "Desert Lake."

A book called,  Emery County Historical Records Inventory, 1941 states:

A dam was constructed from a reservoir in a natural declivity between the clay hills to impound the over flow water from Huntington Creek. In August 1896, the dam broke and many people had a narrow escape from drowning...During the following winter the dam as rebuilt with assistance from the L.D.S. Church...The region is irrigated from the reservoir, which covers about 2 square miles. A ditch intercepts the flood water from the Washboard Basin and Miller Creek.

I'm assuming from this that the town was still there in 1940 when this inventory was done.

Desert Lake taken by Lamont Johnson, probably in the  1940s

 Working at the Archives is always interesting. Besides the perfect timing of  Mervin coming in to answer my questions, I was excited to notice a black and white photo of Desert Lake sitting on top of a pile of photographs set aside ready to be scanned. It is part of Lamont Johnson's collection (an author from Emery County )which is in process of being documented. The above photo was in the right place at the right time for me to share in this article.

On the back of the photograph he has written "Desert Lake is a body of water amid the dry hills of northern Emery County. This area attracted some of the earliest county residents to that area. The loss of irrigation water has caused most of the rich land near the lake to be abandoned in recent years, but this is the landmark of an early Emery County settlement. A pioneer railroad grade was built near it, but that was also abandoned."

Desert Lake Cemetery

I have been to the Victor area quite a few times and had never seen any real evidence of former towns there--except the Victor Cemetery.  I wanted to go again with "history glasses" on. So Monday my husband Ben and I decided to go on our four wheeler and check out the Desert Lake and Victor area. We drove on all of the roads out there to see what we could see.We found the two cemeteries (found the Desert Lake one as well), and we also noticed fences, and old dead trees, roads, and driveways indicating residential spots.

Desert Lake Dam Area--between the two hills. The green area is the dam.

 We saw the dam that was built by the pioneers of this area and is now maintained by the Division of Wildlife Resources. Back in the 1800s, when the dam broke the town was flooded and it did some real damage. So we figure the town must have been in the direct path of the dam--to the right of the photograph, but I don't know for sure--remember don't trust my thinking or figuring. I've got to talk to my mentors about that. I plan to get a copy of the town plat, recruit a former resident of  Desert Lake or Victor and go back to the area. Want to go with me?

Close Up of the Desert Lake Dam--center of the photo where the greenery is seen.

BIRD REFUGE
The abandoned reservoir holds water that is not "fit for human consumption," as they say, but it has attracted so many birds there that today it is a Bird Refuge or a Waterfowl Management Area. One can see water birds like Egrets, Swans, Pelicans, Herons, etc. at certain times of the year. For a list of birds and seasons they can be spotted, see trails.com   http://www.trails.com/tcatalog_trail.aspx?trailid=XFA045-071 or many other websites about Desert Lake, Utah.

Here is the technical information about why the water in Desert Lake is foul to all but fowl.

UNFIT WATER
Here is the history of the water situation for Desert Lake and other areas of Emery County.This is from Ed Geary's Emery County History book.

The predominant mancos shale formations of Castle Valley, having once been sea-bed deposits are impregnated with salts. Furthermore, the tight soil structure and lack of organic matter result in poor drainage characteristics. Irrigation saturated the soil and dissolved the salts, which then collected on the surface in "alkali" patches. Where canals cut through shale hills, large quantities of water seeped into porous strata to rise to the surface in some instances several miles away. Runoff water from higher fields returned to the creeks and was reused downstream. The addition of the salty water to salty soil only accelerated the degradation (of the soil) process. Within a few years, large areas of once productive cropland were transformed into alkali flats capable of supporting nothing by saltgrass and greasewood...A U.S. Department of Agriculture report estimated that by 1904 some 30 percent of the farmland in Emery County had been abandoned.

Desert Lake and Victor Were Part of That Abandoned Land
The saline waste water from Cleveland farms caused some damage, but then they extended the Huntington North Ditch to bring in some fresh water hoping to offset the saline problem. It worked okay for a while. They still had to import drinking water to the towns, but the final crisis that caused these to towns to give up and seek better land was the drought years of the 1930s. They were on the end of the ditch line and just didn't have enough water to survive. But these two towns were very much alive for over 40 years, making them an important piece of the history of Emery County.


MORE RESIDENTS OF DESERT LAKE: (email me copies of people you know who lived in this area)

Click here for Desert Lake-Victor Photographs Emery County Archives Photographs

THE TOWN OF DESERT LAKE

by Dottie Grimes

Desert Lake 2001

I moved to Elmo in 1975. It was the smallest town I had ever heard of or seen. It was a long time after moving there that I heard about it's history and found out that there were other communities nearby at one time called Desert Lake and Victor. Desert Lake is still there; I knew it as a bird refuge, so it's a little hard to imagine a town there.

I remember the house that used to sit there near the lake when we headed to the Dinosaur Quarry. Someone told me that it was part of the town that was once there. Since then I've been piecing in my head what that town looked like. I couldn't get a good picture of more than a few houses, but then I heard they had a school as did Victor. I also read that the community was not successful because of a shortage of water and eventually the town was abandoned.

Thomas Wells, one of first settlers in Desert Lake.

I was pretty excited when Theora Worley from Wellington called me and said she had some history about Desert Lake. She said that she was born in Desert Lake, and so was her father. I had no idea that it lasted for two generations. That's when I decided  to study up more on that little town. So I set out to visit with her and took my computer with me hoping to get her oral history. She was very generous as she shared her knowledge and memories of the area. She also shared precious histories and photographs that she has collected through the years for me to copy for the Archives and public use.

Thomas Wells 1925 in his blacksmith shop in Desert Lake

Here at the Archives we know how priceless photographs and family history are and only borrow them for a short period of time and take very careful care as we scan them into the computer which is called digitizing and then return them, usually in better condition with archival sleeves to protect the photographs. We then make CDs of all that we have digitized and will make as many as the donor wants--to give away to family. We then have them to share with the public for education and research purposes. These photographs are great!

Theora had a photograph of Thomas Wells (above) that I had never seen before. The 1949 Castle Valley A History of Emery County, compiled by Stella McElprang says that Desert Lake was settled by three men in 1888. Hans P. Marsing and Charley Winder had worked on the Cleveland Canal and had accepted stock in the canal for payment. They obtained land in the Desert Lake area. In Edward Geary's History of Emery County, we read:
  

Members of the Wells, Powell, Thayne, Winder, Marsing, and Pilling families took up land in this hollow between 1885 and 1888 and began work on an earthen dam...Their intention was to capture runoff from higher fields and also store the winter flow of the Cleveland Canal...The 1900 census showed a population of 127 in the Desert Lake precinct.(Geary, 114). 

The dam failed in 1896 and flooded the town, but it was rebuilt with help from the LDS church. And extension of the Huntington North Ditch, the town was able to continue until the 1930s.

We read from other historical accounts that there were many orchards, a nice school, store, post office, dairy, and good farms.The population was around 125. They raised children, attended church, had house parties, went sleigh riding, horseback riding, hay rack riding, ice skating, and of course there was dancing. "C.H. Winder developed a resort at Desert Lake featuring Saturday night dances and moonlight boat rides" (Geary, 246).

Wilford and Charlotte Pilling with Woodrow on the horse-- Desert Lake 1920

Theora said her grandfather, father and his brothers started a dairy--"The Modern Dairy." In 1928 they relocated the dairy to Big Springs Ranch. The photograph above is of the Pilling family home where he grandparents lived. It was taken many years after Desert Lake had been abandoned. On the back of the photograph there is a poem: 

The old house stands alone now. Where once a family lived and worked, now there is nothing but the wind blowing dust through the open door. Where once there was laughter and the sound of little children, now there is nothing...nothing but the rustle of a rodent that has set up light housekeeping in the wall of the house. The old windmill creaks in the wind to let one know it is still there.Once there were horses and cattle lowing in the fields, now there is nothing. The wind blows the dust, and all is still and ghostly.

The shortage of water during the drought-ridden depression years effected all communities but forced the demise of Desert Lake. Today there is nothing left there but a small cemetery and a few remnants that show it was once a living place. As you look at this forgotten place, it's good to remember that ghost towns are not sad; life did not die there-- it just moved on to a better future.

An old house on Desert Lake

Below are some people who lived in Desert Lake (If you know someone who lived there, leave a comment at the end of this blog) :

Frances Isabell Cooley

Maruice and Bell Mills

Emily and Thomas Wells

Monte Pilling

Ervin Pilling

John Wilford Pilling

Emily Wells and daughters Bertha, Luella, and Bell

William Pilling

Cleon Pilling

Clifford Smith

Kathy Hamaker from Price just sent me a picture of her husband Van's grandfather, Clifford Smith, who was born in Desert Lake along with three of his siblings. His parents were Joseph and Estella Holt Smith.  Their oldest daughter, Pearline Smith was married to Charles Albert Mills and their first two children where born in Desert Lake. 

Keep the information coming. Who do you know that lived in Desert Lake/Victor?

Also, check out Kathy Hamaker's work in preserving history for Carbon County at http://www.carbon-utgenweb.com and

http://www.wildwesttrailsandtales.com