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1885 Map of Tooele Valley

Name: 1885 Topographic Map of Tooele Valley
Creator: U.S. Geological Survey
Published: 1896
License: https://creativecommons.org/publicdomain/mark/1.0/

USGS Topo · Published 1896

About this map

The Great Salt Lake shoreline and its prominent features like Stansbury Island and Antelope Island dominate the northern landscape of this late nineteenth-century survey. Further south, the map reveals the industrial and agricultural development of Tooele Valley and Rush Valley, where the Utah and Nevada R. R. serves established communities. Settlement patterns are closely tied to the geography of the Oquirrh Mountains and Stansbury Mountains, with mining hubs like Ophir and Bingham appearing alongside ranching outposts.

Transportation routes branch across the desert floors of Skull Valley, connecting disparate points such as Grantsville, Stockton, and Fairfield. The work represents the triangulation and topography efforts of the King and Wheeler Surveys, documenting the territory before many modern reservoirs or larger urban expansions altered the valley floors. Genealogists can find exact placement of small hamlets like Fausts and St Johns, providing a clear look at the region's rural structure during the mid-1880s.