How did Snake Valley get its name? Well, it depends who you ask, because there are several different answers.Mrs. E. W. Clay, early resident of Burbank, Utah in southern Snake Valley, wrote that Snake Valley was named for the Snake tribe of Indians who inhabited the valley (in Day and Ekins 1951, Milestones of Millard; 100 Years of History of Millard County, p. 180).
Dee Calderwood Taylor's The Garrison Site (1954, p. 3), along with John Van Cott's Utah Place Names (1990, p. 345) attribute the name Snake Valley to the large number of rattlesnakes. (A number of places in the Confusion Range south of Cowboy Pass also have snake-related names.)
Helen Carlson, author of Nevada Place Names (1974) states that the Snake Range is sinuous like a snake, and thus earned its name. However, she notes that early historian Myron Angel called it the Snake Creek Range, possibly indicating that the range was named for the creek. She also acknowledges that the Snake Indians may be the reason for the name (p. 219).
I recall reading that before Snake Valley was so named, it was called Greasewood Valley, but I can't remember the source. Are there other stories out there about how Snake Valley got it's name? There probably are, and if you know one, please leave a comment!
How do you think Snake Valley got its name?
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WHile researching the name when I worked for the Forest Service, the first mention of the Snake Valley name we found was in the journals of the White Mt. Mission. They were a group of explorers sent out by Brig. Young in 1855. We got a copy of the journals and in it they talk about the "valley of the Snake Indians" and also described how the indians caught snakes and cooked them by burying them in anthills and then building a fire on the hill. I would bet that the name evolved from that. They sent a group of men to farm near where Garrison, UT is around 1858. The journals are a fascinating read. They were the first "white" men to explore the valley who left a written record. They climbed Wheeler Peak and named it after the member of the group who first reached the summit, Williams Peak.
ReplyDeleteTheir journals are in the LDS archives in Salt Lake, and are quoted in the GBNP historic resource study.