I only found out about this old homestead along Grassy Trail Creek about a week earlier through a friend, and on Memorial Day morning I didn’t have anything going on so I went for a short drive and hike to check it out. I’d driven within a third of a mile of the place many times before but never noticed it. There were a lot of ruined buildings and foundations, suggesting that it was a pretty big operation at one point.
Old road to the homestead
Ruined building
Ruined building
Water trough
Large water trough
Very large wooden beams
Part of an old car
Building foundation
Another partial car
Building foundation
Cistern opening
Inside the cistern
Building foundation
Dugout
Ladder in the dugout
Rusty cans
Today records show there is a single 160-acre section of private property in the area, so apparently somebody proved up on their claim, but the majority of the structures are now on BLM land. I saw a sign saying “Property of Utah Wildlife Resources,” but it was square in the middle of the private property surrounded by BLM land. Interestingly, the area appears to have been irrigated by a pond just to the north rather than by the nearby Grassy Trail Creek–I can’t find any record of this homestead on early topo maps, but a 1937 aerial image shows fields and the pond but no discernible canal from the creek.
DWR sign on private property
Small reservoir
1937 aerial photo
After I walked back to the Jeep I drove north across US-6 toward Mud Spring to look for the location of a Civilian Conservation Camp that I suspected was in the area. I didn’t find any sign of the CCC camp but I did enjoy driving along the old highway that’s being reclaimed by grasses and brush.
Old highway
Mini bottle in an anthill
Photo Gallery: Grassy Trail Creek Homestead