Garfield County History

                                                                       

Garfield County History

The ancient Pueblo and Fremont people lived in the Garfield County area.  They left behind pottery, tools, grinding stones, arrow points and other things.  At the Anasazi State Park, there is pottery that has been found that belonged to both cultures.  Then, the Numic people moved into the county once the Pueblo and Fremont cultures disappeared.  These Numic people are known as Southern Paiutes and Utes.

White settlers first came to the Panguitch area of Garfield County in March 1864.  They didn’t settle there very long because the winters were very hard and the Black Hawk War began the next year.  So they left.  Nobody tried to live in Panguitch again until 1871.  The county was created officially in 1882.  The town of Boulder was established in 1889.  The only way to get into town was over the Boulder Mountain, but during the winter the road was closed.  Boulder became the most isolated place in Utah until a road was established from Escalante to Boulder in the 1930’s.