Nine Mile Canyon

By Norma R. Dalton and Alene Dalton

North of Price, Utah, Nine Mile Canyon slashes through the West Tavaputs Plateau and erodes its way east to the Green River, Utah. In 1847, settlements began in Utah along the Wasatch Front. The rangeland was soon taken, and stockmen pushed up Spanish Fork Canyon to discover great grazing for their stock—and an amazing place where ancient people had lived, leaving homes and their stories on brown slate walls with inscriptions and paint. These stockmen were the first homesteaders in Nine Mile Canyon. Three families of early settlers were the Houskeepers, Algers, and Rich families, coming between 1885 and 1893.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Arcadia Publishing
• Release date: Jun 16, 2014
• ISBN: 9781439645772

Norma R. Dalton

Author Norma R. Dalton’s mother, Lucille Houskeeper, was the daughter of Theodore Houskeeper and Clarissa Alger. Lucille married Thorald Rich, whose family lived nearby. They raised their family in Nine Mile Canyon. Norma’s family has a history of over 100 years “out there.” Norma rode horseback to school. She enjoyed learning about the ancient Fremont Indians and exploring the fabulous Nine Mile Canyon with its tributaries and side canyons. Norma and Alene Dalton, a mother-daughter duo, record stories of legend and lore. This pictorial shares views of a marvelous place.

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INTRODUCTION

This pictorial of Nine Mile Canyon begins with the history of the Nine Mile Road. Early settlers along the Wasatch Front were searching the country around looking for prize areas to graze their livestock and raise crops. Early explorers found good grazing in the heads of Argyle, Minnie Maud, and Nine Mile Canyons. These canyons are valuable because each has a live (continuous) stream of water year-round.

Nine Mile Canyon Creek begins in the watershed on the summit and continues to Green River, a distance of nearly 60 miles. It is the main stream. The Minnie Maud Creek enters Nine Mile Creek first from the north side a few miles below the summit. Next, about 10 miles below this junction, the Argyle Creek joins the first two.

Water erosion in this desert country created a deep wondrous canyon with high country of evergreens and quaking aspen trees. The north-facing draws support canyon builders with spruce and fir. On the other side, facing south, fortress-like walls of explosive ledges, burned by sun, water, and wind, provided large dark panels for the ancient people to etch their thoughts and information.

Nine Mile Creek and Canyon start at the foot of this watershed of evergreens and aspen. This is the summit, the highest point of the canyon. The terrain drops sharply in altitude and erosion rips into the earth.

For those readers not acquainted with the nomenclature of Western land description, the head of a canyon is the highest point in altitude, where a ravine cuts through to erode a deep crevice into the earth. In the Western landscape, layers of formations are often exposed to create colorful and interesting landforms. If one traveled down one of these canyons, he would see that it opens up or fans out when reaching the bottom. This fan is referenced as the mouth of the canyon, as the canyon ends when it loses its eroding power. Each canyon has an up or down. When there is a rise of elevation, we say up the canyon, and when dropping in elevation, we say down the canyon. The name Nine Mile Road replaced the early pioneer names used before the settlers and military created a more defined route of travel from the Emery County Basin—later the Carbon County Basin—to the Uintah Basin. Above is an image of the side canyons coming toward the bottom of Nine Mile Canyon. From both sides of the main canyon, these eroded crevices spiked through ledges, sometimes leaving a passable trail for stock and a rider on horseback, but most are not open to travel and are referred to as blind canyons. Some ranchers used dynamite and blasted trails through.

One

NINE MILE ROAD

TO SHEEP CANYON

On the west side of Price, Utah, freighters through Nine Mile Canyon developed a stopover to disperse their freight and get a new load. The Freighter’s Park was near the Price River. The railroad came to Price in 1883. At this time, freighting picked up considerably. Prior to the military occupation in the Uintah Basin in 1886, only pioneer supplies were freighted back and forth over the Nine Mile Road. During those early settlement times, few families had set up homesteading along the Nine Mile Canyon creek. Cattleman built temporary cabins while grazing their cattle and later sheep in the heads of Nine Mile, Minnie Maud, and Argyle Creeks. The makeshift road was actually called the Minnie Maud Road. It followed an Indian trail most of the way from the Uintah Basin until it dropped down Soldier Canyon from the Nine Mile Canyon summit.

Leaving Price, the Nine Mile Road travels north to the foothills then east nearly 14 miles, finally arriving at the mouth of Soldier Creek Canyon, the first stage coach stop.

The Edwards Ranch in the mouth of Soldier Creek Canyon on the Nine Mile Road (considered part of Nine Mile Canyon by the people who lived there) furnished support to all who passed. This image shows the stagecoach picking up mail and supplies. (Courtesy Edwards family collection.)

The present-day road to Nine Mile Canyon leaves Price on Highway 6, travels a few miles east to Wellington, and then continues a few miles to the exit sign to the canyon. Soon after leaving Highway 6 and looking forward toward the West Tavaputs Plateau, a sign invites travelers to explore the canyon.