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Official Website
The Great Basin was occupied by the Mormon pioneers beginning in summer 1847. The first few years were spent establishing a base in the Great Salt Lake Valley, then groups were sent - usually by directive of the church leaders - to settle the more outlying areas. In 1849 two Ute chiefs traveled to the Salt Lake Valley to request that such settlements be made in the Sanpete Valley. The chiefs, Walkara and Sowiette, asked Mormon leader Brigham Young to settle a group of his people in the valley of Sanpitch, about 125 miles to the south. Young sent a party to explore the area in August of that year. It was deemed favorable to settlement, and Brigham Young called Isaac Morley and George Washington Bradley to organize about fifty families to move south and settle "San Pete." The group of 224 arrived on November 19 led by Isaac Morley, Charles Shumway, and Seth Taft and George Washington Bradley. After some debate, the first settlement in the valley was established on the present site of Manti, Utah.
The State of Deseret enacted the county effective January 31, 1850. It was named for the Ute chief Sanpitch, which was changed to Sanpete. According to William Bright, the name comes from the Ute word saimpitsi, meaning "people of the tules".
Adjacent Counties
Cities, Towns & Communities
Axtell | Centerfield | Chester | Christianburg | Clarion | Dover | Ephraim | Fairview | Fayette | Fountain Green | Freedom | Gunnison | Indianola | Jerusalem | Manti (County Seat) | Mayfield | Menasseh | Milburn | Moroni | Mount Pleasant | Oak Creek | Spring City | Sterling | Wales
Cemeteries
Links
National Register of Historic Places
Fishlake National Forest (part)
Manti-La Sal National Forest (part)
Uintah National Forest (part)
A History of Sanpete County by Albert C. Antrei & Allen D. Roberts
