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Through the Uintas: History of the Carter Road
Utah Historical Quarterly
Vol. 35, 1967, No. 3
Through the Uintas: History of the Carter Road
BY A. R. STANDING
Mention of the Carter Road often elicits the response, "I have never heard of it. Where is it?" It was a road from Carter Station on the Union Pacific Railroad, and from Fort Bridger, Wyoming, over the Uinta Mountains to Fort Thornburgh — located at the mouth of Ashley Creek Canyon, six and one-half miles northwest of Vernal, Utah. This is the story of the Carter Road as assembled from numerous written sources, visits with "old-timers" who remember the road, and personal treks over it.
No one knows the road's beginning. Originally, the route was used as a trail by Indians before white men entered the country. The first known use of any portion of the route as a wagon road began in 1865 when Major Noyes Baldwin, who was then commanding officer at Fort Bridger, opened a road from Fort Bridger to Browns Park or Browns Hole. Baldwin followed the approximate route of Wyoming Highway 2105 and its Utah extension, Highway 43, which passes through Mountain View and Lone Tree, Wyoming, and Manila and Linwood, Utah.
The Carter Road followed the route of the Browns Park Road to Burnt Fork. Baldwin's road followed down Henrys Fork along the creek bottom, crossing the creek seven times, to near the confluence of Henrys Fork with Green River, now covered by Flaming Gorge Reservoir. Here it turned north two or three miles where Green River was crossed. It then went up Spring Creek through what is known as Minnie's Gap, and on easterly, skirting the south slope of Richardson Mountain, down a creek into Clay Basin, thence down the approximate route of the present road into the upper end of Browns Park.
The establishment of the Carter Road was the result of Indian trouble in western Colorado. A succession of events culminated on September 29, 1879, in an ambush by Indians of Major Thomas T. Thornburgh in command of 190 officers, soldiers, and scouts en route to protect the White River Indian Agency. In the meantime a sudden attack on the agency resulted in the deaths of Agent Nathan Cook Meeker, eight men and boys attached to the agency, and two travelers.
On demand of the settlers in western Colorado, the government effected a treaty with the White River Utes that resulted in their removal to the Uintah Reservation in Utah. A fort, named in honor of Major Thornburgh who had been killed in the Indian attack, was established in the fall of 1881 to protect the people living near the reservation and to assure control of the Indians.
Troops had been removed from Fort Bridger on May 23, 1878. Government officials believed that with the influx of white settlers the Indians were unlikely to cause further trouble. The attack on Major Thornburgh's command and the massacre at the White River Agency quickly changed this thinking. Utes had also been crossing the north side of the Uinta Mountains to hunt and raid cattle. They escaped into the Uinta Mountains before they could be apprehended.
Judge William A. Carter was deeply concerned by these events. Removal of the troops from Fort Bridger adversely affected his business interests of cattle ranging in that area. When news of the trouble at the White River Agency reached Fort Bridger, Judge Carter saw an opportunity to benefit himself, as well as other settlers in the area, and so went to Washington, D.C. He convinced the authorities that soldiers should be returned to Fort Bridger, and further suggested that the newly established Fort Thornburgh be supplied from Carter Station and Fort Bridger. The following description and subsequent use of the Carter Road was written by William A. Carter, Jr., son of Judge Carter.
When the order for the re-establishment of Fort Bridger was given, Judge William A. Carter, who had lived there since its construction in 1858, was instrumental in bringing to the attention of the commanding officer of the Department the practicability of making a wagon road across the Uinta Mountains to the proposed site of the new post, by a shorter and more direct route than the one then in use by way of Park City, Utah.
There were two trails in use by the Uinta Ute Indians, between their reservation and Fort Bridger. One crossed immediately west of Gilbert's Peak and was known as the Soldier Trail, because it was said to have been used by General [sic] Marcy 4 in 1857, on his trip to New Mexico for emergency supplies for the army sent to Utah under General Albert Sidney Johnson [Johnston]. The other route, known as the Lodgepole Trail, ran from a point near the present Burnt Fork post office in Wyoming to Ashley, Utah.
In the Summer of 1881, General George Crook, commanding the Department of the Platte, made an inspection trip across the mountains from Fort Bridger to the Uinta Ute Agency, and the writer was invited to accompany him. The party crossed by the trail west of Gilbert's Peak. The route was found to be impracticable for a wagon road, and General Crook decided upon the Lodgepole Trail advised by Judge Carter as the best route for a road, and favored its construction and adoption for the transmission of troops and supplies.
There was much rivalry between towns in Colorado, Utah and Wyoming for the location of the road to the new military post, but Fort Bridger was favored by distance. On this account and because of General Crook's approval, Judge Carter undertook, at his own expense, the work of making a passable road along the route designated, expecting that it would be adopted and improved later by the War Department. The winter of 1881-1882 was aproaching; there was no time for surveys; streams had to be bridged; marshes corduroyed; a roadway cleared through timbered sections; and two long and difficult dug-ways were to be constructed. One of the latter, a half-mile long ran from Sand Canyon to the top of the mountain near Lodgepole Park; and the other two miles long, climbed the main range between Mammouth Springs and Summit Park.
. . . Early in 1882, a contract was let by the Chief Quartermaster of the Department for freighting supplies by way of the new road from Carter Station on the Union Pacific R.R., via Fort Bridger, to Fort Thornburg[h]. It fell to the lot of the writer to carry this contract out, and on the first day of May, 1882, we started with twenty-two six-mule teams and wagons, loaded with freight for the new post.
It soon became evident that from the character of the past winter at Fort Bridger, we had very erroneous conceptions of what we would encounter in attempting to freight through the mountains so early in the spring. The dug-way between Sand Canyon and Lodgepole was blocked with snow and ice, which had to be removed before we could get our outfit up the mountain. From the head of the dug-way the road was almost impassable. Ravines filled with melting snow and water nearly up to the wagon beds; bogs in which both teams and wagons were often mired down at the same time; hills so soft that all the teams we could hook on were often required to pull a single wagon to the top; and slopes so sidling that the whole crew, with ropes, were needed to keep a loaded wagon from upsetting; were everyday experiences.
Up the long dug-way above Mammouth Springs and on top of the main range, our difficulties seemed to have been overcome; when we reached Brush Creek, where in one locality, a separate road had to be cut through the timber for each wagon. The ground at this place appeared dry and firm, but each team broke through a thin crust into a quicksand beneath, making the road impassable for the next team. In spite of obstacles we delivered the freight at Fort Thornburg[h] in three weeks from the day we started.
As soon as conditions permitted, in the summer of 1882, Major W. H. Bisbee, who was then in command at Fort Bridger, sent Lt. R. H. Young with a detachment of soldiers, to work on the road, which from that time was known by The Army as The Thornburg Road. Such good work was done by this party, especially in removing large boulders from the road way and corduroying the swamps, that when we had to take a second train of supplies over the road, in July 1882, it was a different story. We had learned too, that mules were not best adapted to such conditions, and we used work-oxen, with "bullwhackers" instead of "muleskinners" for drivers. . . .
In the summer of 1883, four companies of Infantry, under Major I. DeRussey were ordered to work on this road, for a period of three months, and by then the greater part of the corduroy through the mountain parks was laid. . . .
Hauling freight on the new road was extremely difficult as can be seen from Carter's description and also the following narrative.
Willie Carter, the Judge's son, came home from Cornell University to take charge of the Carter interests. He appointed William Summers foreman of the freighting operations, sent to Missouri for a carload of mules, and early in the spring of '82, the freighting started. Tom Welch, who later bought up several of the ranches on Birch Creek, was one of the teamsters.
The outfit of ten mule teams and heavy freight wagons started off from Bridger. It took days to cover the first few miles, for the blue, badland clay mired the wagons down to the hubs. Teams would have to be uncoupled, hitched onto the lead wagon to haul it along a ways, and then brought back to double up on the other wagons.
At Smith's Fork, the teamsters camped for a week, hoping that the mud would dry up. Unfortunately, it turned out to be a very wet spring, and the mud grew worse rather than better. The outfit managed to move on ten miles, and then hung up again. It took another several days to get over Henry's Fork Hill. Then, when they got up Birch Creek in the timber, the going got really tough. The mules simply couldn't pull the wagons out of the deep, black mire. Summers was forced to return to Bridger and report that the wagons just couldn't get through.
Young Carter was anxious to carry out the contracts; so he went to Rawlins and purchased a number of ox teams. The oxen did the trick — they could manage in the mud -where the mules couldn't. Summers started off with a new set of wagons and supplies and the oxen. They managed to pass the stranded mule outfits, take their load over to Fort Thornburgh, and return in time to help pull the original loads over.
By putting long stretches of corduroy over the marshes and swales up in the mountains, and over the worst of the muddy stretches down below, the wagons kept going, and Carter finished up the contract that fall. . . .
Impracticable — and nearly impassible — as the road was, the ranchers in western Daggett County were grateful for it. While they couldn't use it to haul heavy loads, they could at least get over the mountains to Ashley Valley in a buckboard to get honey and apples, or to take a sack or so of grain to the grist mill to be ground into flour.
In 1880, Daggett County had again changed its allegiance, being shifted from a part of Summit County to Uinta County, with Ashley, or — after 1885 — the brand new, little town of Vernal as their county seat. So to Ashley or Vernal everyone had to go to file on their land, pay taxes, get married, serve or answer a writ, or any other official business. For this purpose, the old military road came in very handy.
In the summer of 1882, soldiers from Fort Thornburgh established a sawmill about in the center of Summit Park to supply lumber for Fort Thornburgh. It was operated by soldiers with Henry Ruple as their sawyer. During the period of construction, military camps were established along the route, one at Dodds Hollow where the remains of several cabins still may be seen. Following the road, a military telegraph line was constructed in the fall of 1882 between Fort Bridger and Fort Thornburgh.
Soon after use of the Carter Road began, General George Crook decided that freighting from Park City, Utah, rather than Carter, was best because the road was open longer during the year. Both routes were then used to supply Fort Thornburgh. In 1882 and 1883 contracts were let with John H. Arnold, Merrill L. Hoyt, and Joseph Hatch to haul supplies from the two locations at $3.10 and $3.00 per 100 pounds. Another freight contractor, William Richmond, operated with eight horses and mules and two wagons. The wagons, with exceptionally high wagon boxes and elevated spring seats, were frequently mired during the rainy season, and it often took three weeks to make the trip to Carter Station and return.
In 1883 the Denver and Rio Grande Railroad was completed to Salt Lake City, and freighting of goods into the Uintah Basin from Price, Utah, began.
Fort Duchesne, located by General George Crook at the junction of the Uinta and Duchesne rivers on August 16, 1886, was constructed that fall. Army contracts for hauling over a million pounds of freight to the post over the Carter Road were awarded to J. S. Winston. Later, contracts were let at Price, Utah, to ship goods to the fort. As the Price route was much shorter, men from Fort Douglas and Fort Duchesne were detailed in 1886 and 1887 to improve it.
In 1884 Fort Thornburgh was abandoned as a military reservation, and the goods and equipment were hauled to Fort Bridger. However, the Carter Road continued to be important to the region.
A major use of the Carter Road was in connection with the Dyer Mine. This mine, named after the cowboy who discovered it, is located on Dyer Ridge at the head of Kane Hollow Fork of Brush Creek. Rich copper deposits were discovered about 1887, and the mine operated until about 1900. Quantities of gold and silver were also found in the copper ore. Estimates of the value of ore extracted from the mine vary from a quarter of a million to three million dollars. One million dollars seems to be the most reliable figure. Mining operations at the Dyer Mine ended when a rich pocket, which went down about 240 feet, played out. At the peak of mining production, about 50 men were employed. Hand-picked ore was hauled to the railroad over a road from the mine northwesterly through Oaks Park and Windy Park to connect with the Carter Road in Trout Creek Park, about a mile below the present Forest Service Trout Creek Guard Station, and then over the Carter Road to Carter Station.
Later, a smelter was constructed near the head of Anderson Creek, about two airline miles northwest from the Dyer Mine, and ore and ingots were hauled over the road. Much hauling was done during the winter months when sleighs could be easily moved over the frozen marshes, the worst part of the road. The ore was reloaded on wagons at Youngs Springs for the balance of the trip to Carter Station. Fragments of the green copper ore can still be found along the road from the Dyer Mine to Carter Creek.
Residents of Daggett County continued to use the Carter Road as the main route to Vernal and vicinity until a road was started in 1922 along the route of present Highway 44 from Vernal to Manila via Greendale. The road from Greendale to Manila was constructed in 1923 and opened in 1924. Use of the Carter Road continued up to 1924. The Forest Service did some improvement work on the road that year. In the 1930's passenger cars were going as far as Youngs Springs from the west side. From the crest of the Uinta Mountains to Birch Creek, much of the road is no longer passable, except on foot or horseback.
Following is some specific information about the road and its attractions for those who may some day want to visit it.
As previously stated, the Carter Road followed the route of the 1865 road from Fort Bridger to Browns Park as far as Burnt Fork. It crossed Henrys Fork at present Burnt Fork and ran southeast to Birch Creek, then followed up the east side of Birch Creek to the mouth of what William A. Carter, Jr., called Sand Hollow — a very appropriate name. This is four and seven-tenths miles south of the junction of the Birch Creek Road (Utah Highway 165) and the Manila-Mountain View Road (Utah Highway 2105) and about a mile and one-half below the Ashley National Forest boundary. From this point the road progressed southeasterly up Sand Hollow and Carter Dugway to the head of it; thence across Lodgepole Creek to intercept the present Conner Basin Road near an old sawmill sitting about a half mile from where the Conner Basin Road leaves the Birch Creek Road (Utah Highway 165). The Carter Road then followed up the route of the Conner Basin Road and on southeasterly to the west end of Sheep Creek Park. It went through Sheep Creek Park and along Beaver Creek to its junction with Carter Creek. The old road can be seen going down a steep hill about a quarter of a mile southeast of Browne Lake Dam and on down Beaver Creek. At the junction of Beaver Creek and Carter Creek, Judge Carter had a log cabin with a fireplace constructed as a station for freighters who were to use the road, which explains how the creek received its name. From this point the road progressed south up a draw with numerous small springs where the old corduroy is still visible. Not far up this draw the road branches, one going southeast to Youngs Springs, and the other going southwest a half mile or so before turning east toward Youngs Springs. From Youngs Springs the road goes southeast about a mile to Deep Creek; thence up the east side of Deep Creek about three miles over a long dugway to the summit — elevation of the summit where the road crosses is 9,866 feet. From the summit the road goes in a straight line south-southeast across Summit Park. It is graded up several feet much of the way across the park, and stretches of rotted corduroy and stubs of the old telegraph poles can still be seen.
Signs of the old road are still in evidence most of the way along the Taylor Mountain Road toward Vernal. It passed through Big Park, the lower end of Ox Park, Soldier Park, and Trout Creek Park. At Dodds Hollow, the road was about a half mile east of the present road and passed by the old Dodds Hollow cabins. About seven-tenths of a mile down the Taylor Mountain Road from the junction of the Merkley Spring Road, there is an old rock milestone on the south side of the road on which is chisled V[ernal] 16 M[iles].
Near the lower end of Taylor Mountain, about three and one-half miles south of the Ashley National Forest boundary, the original road went southwest down Spring Creek to Ashley Creek, and then down Ashley Creek to Fort Thornburgh. Later, this was used as a horse trail, and a wagon road was established southeast from Spring Creek to the site of the present Steinaker Reservoir, and, thence west along the base of the foothills to Fort Thornburgh.
It seems appropriate to close this narrative with the words of William A. Carter, Jr., concerning the Carter Road.
To the traveller who comes upon this road at any part of its course, through the Uinta Range, it seems to present an unusual example of wasted effort and money, but like many other of the works of man, it served its purpose, and gave way to changes in the development of the country.
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