Preserving and Understanding Emery County's Past

Interpretive Signs

With the assistance of grants from Utah State Historic Preservation Office, the Commission has installed interpretive signs at several historic locations. Additional sites will be added as funding permits. You may nominate a site or donate money toward these preservation projects by commenting at the end of this blog.

Muddy Creek Interpretive Panel



• The Muddy Creek Bridge

The early pioneers of Emery County settled along the creeks that flow down from the high Wasatch Plateau. The last of the four major creeks to be settled was Muddy Creek, in 1881. The settlement was originally called “The Muddy.” After a few years, a labor-intensive canal was completed onto the benchlands to the south. The settlement was moved there and given the name of Emery. Later, another community, Rochester (later renamed Moore) was established northeast of Muddy Creek. Several bridges spanned the creek over the years, some of them washed away by the Muddy floods. The courage and tenacity of these early settlers is memorialized in an interpretive sign placed in the town of Emery by the Emery County Historic Preservation Commission.

• The San Rafael River Bridge

  

  The San Rafael Bridge Interpretive Panel
  
  

The “Swinging Bridge,” as it is affectionately known, is the only cable-suspension bridge that has been preserved in Utah. It spans the flood-prone San Rafael River near the mouth of Buckhorn Draw. Erected by the Civilian Conservation Corps in 1935-37, after an earlier bridge at the site was destroyed by floods, the Swinging Bridge opened up the “Mystery Lands” of the San Rafael Swell to public access. The preservation of the Swinging Bridge is a ongoing project. It is no longer used by motor vehicles, but remains as a pedestrian bridge and a monument to the past. The Emery County Historic Preservation Commission has placed an interpretive sign at the bridge to inform the public of its historical value.and value.

• The Morrison Knudsen Tunnels

  

  Morrison Knudsen Tunnel Panel #1

After the conclusion of World War II, and with “Cold War” tensions increasing between the United States and the Soviet Union, the Department of Defense undertook studies to determine possible locations for hardened defensive sites. Under the supervision of

Morrison Knudsen Tunnels Panel #2

the Corps of Engineers, the Morrison-Knudsen Construction Company drilled extensive tunnels into the Navajo Sandstone formation near Buckhorn Draw, then tested the strength of the stone by detonating massive explosive charges. A temporary shanty-town was established and hundreds of employees worked for almost three years—all under a cloak of official secrecy. The rock proved unsuited to military purposes, but the “M-K Tunnels” remained as a point of historical interest for local residents until they were closed for safety reasons. The Emery County Historic Preservation Commission has installed two interpretive signs near the tunnel sites as a reminder of this interesting chapter in the county’s history.

•  Temple Mountain -- the Uranium Day

Temple Mountain  Panel

 Temple Mountain, a distinctive geological formation in the southeastern part of the San Rafael Swell, was an important source of radioactive ores from the early nineteen-hundreds, when radium from the area was used in the landmark experiments of Marie Curie. The Temple Mountain mines were re-opened in the nineteen-fifties during the “uranium boom” that stimulated excitement throughout the Colorado Plateau region. Numerous adits were opened, including a narrow bore-hole through which miners and equipment were lowered hundreds of feet to work the rich deposits deep underground. Despite the lack of water, a busy community of workers developed near the base of the mountain and many tales are still told of the uranium days. The Emery County Historic Preservation Commission has installed an interpretive sign at the Temple Mountain picnic grounds to inform visitors of the fascinating history of this site.