Introduction
T.
uilla" County, as it was originally spelled, was one of the five original counties formed as the result of a convention called in 1849 and formalized by the General Assembly of the M o r m o n proposed State of Deseret on 31 January 1850. Tooele County holds a unique place in the larger Utah story. The development of Tooele County is reflected in the growth of the county's p o p u l a t i o n from a few Mormon pioneers in 1849 to a population of 32,321 in 1998; and the population is projected to increase by the year 2010 to over 46,000 people. Many newcomers are likely to build homes in the county but commute to employment in the Salt Lake City area. Tooele County is known for its great expanses of open space, and the use of this space for recreation and for preservation is one of the county's greatest future assets. It has also been vital to the county's economic growth—with the federal government reserving large areas of the county for defense purposes, military training grounds, and the storage and disposal of weapons. This latter use of the county as a testing, storage, and disposal area of biological and chemical weapons has recently thrust Tooele County into the national spotIX
