Place:Vernal, Uintah, Utah, United States

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source: Family History Library Catalog

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Vernal, Uintah County's largest city, is located in eastern Utah near the Colorado State Line, and 175 miles (281.6 km) east of Salt Lake City. It is bordered on the north by the Uinta Mountains, one of the few mountains ranges in the world which lie in an east-west rather than the usual north to south direction. The Book Cliffs lie to the south, and Blue Mountain to the east, while Vernal itself lies in Ashley Valley, named in honor of William H. Ashley, an early fur trader who entered this area in 1825 by floating down the Green River in a bull boat made of animal hides. Vernal, unlike many Utah towns, was not settled initially by Mormon pioneers. Brigham Young sent a scouting party to Uinta Basin in 1861 and received word back the area was good for nothing but nomad purposes, hunting grounds for Indians and "to hold the world together." That same year, President Abraham Lincoln set the area aside as the Uintah Indian Reservation. Captain Pardon Dodds was appointed Indian agent for this reservation.

The population was 9,089 at the 2010 census. It is the county seat of Uintah County and is about thirty miles (48.3 km) west of the Colorado border. The city's Vernal-Uintah County Airport has scheduled air service to Denver provided by Great Lakes Aviation. Service is subsidized by the Essential Air Service program. Vernal does not have air service to Salt Lake City, the capital of Utah.

Vernal is situated on a two lane highway, US Highway 40, and is the only city in the U.S. of its size that does not have a railway. A major economy of the town is derived from extracting natural resources throughout Uintah County including petroleum, natural gas, phosphate, and uintaite - more commonly known as Gilsonite. Tourism also plays a major role in Vernal's economy due to the town's roots in the Old West and being a large site of ancient dinosaur fossils. Vernal and the surrounding area are popular among outdoor enthusiasts as they are situated near plentiful spots for fishing, fly fishing, hunting, and other outdoor activities.

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