1885 Map of Tooele Valley

About this map

Tooele and Grantsville serve as primary anchors in this mid-1880s survey of the basins surrounding the southern reaches of the Great Salt Lake. The landscape is defined by the sharp verticality of the Oquirrh Mountains and Stansbury Mountains, which separate the pastoral and mining interests of Tooele Valley from the more isolated Skull Valley. Transportation and industrial development are centered on the Utah and Nevada R. R., which skirts the shoreline near Lake Point and Black Rock. The map illustrates a pivotal mining era, recording the early footprints of camps such as Ophir, Lewiston, and Bingham, alongside family-named landmarks like Fausts. The presence of St Johns, Fairfield, and Vernon highlights a network of small agricultural and freighting settlements established along the valley floors before the turn of the century.