Rich County, Utah | |
|---|---|
 Rich County Courthouse, Randolph | |
 Location within the U.S. state ofUtah | |
 Utah's location within theU.S. | |
| Coordinates:41°37′N111°14′W / 41.62°N 111.24°W /41.62; -111.24 | |
| Country |  United States |
| State |  Utah |
| Founded | January 16, 1864 (created) May 5, 1864 (organized) |
| Named after | Charles C. Rich |
| Seat | Randolph |
| Largest town | Garden City |
| Area | |
• Total | 1,086 sq mi (2,810 km2) |
| • Land | 1,029 sq mi (2,670 km2) |
| • Water | 58 sq mi (150 km2) 5.3% |
| Population (2020) | |
• Total | 2,510 |
| • Density | 2.4/sq mi (0.93/km2) |
| Time zone | UTC−7 (Mountain) |
| • Summer (DST) | UTC−6 (MDT) |
| Congressional district | 1st |
| Website | www |
Rich County is acounty in theU.S. state ofUtah. As of the2020 United States census, the population was 2,510,[1] making it the third-least populous county in Utah. Itscounty seat isRandolph,[2] and the largest town isGarden City. The county was created in 1864.[3] It was named for an earlyLDS apostle,Charles C. Rich.
The southern half ofBear Lake and the Bear Lake Valley lies on the northern edge of the county. TheBear River Valley lies in most of the eastern portion of the county. The elevation of these valleys is close to 6,000 feet (1,800 m), and the rest of the county is covered by mountains, including the Bear River Range.[citation needed] Because of the high elevation, the climate is cold in winter and mild in summer, and the population is limited.
Various Native American peoples inhabited the Rich County region for thousands of years. A prehistoricbison jump, dated to about 1,300 years before present, is located near the city ofWoodruff, Utah[4]
Like all of modern-day Utah, Rich County was claimed by theSpanish Empire from the 1500s as part ofAlta California, and later was part ofMexico. However, neither the Spanish nor Mexicans had a major or permanent presence in the area. The 1848Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo placed the region under control of the United States.
Rich County was believed to have first been visited byEuropean-descended explorers in 1811, when trapper Joseph Miller discovered the Bear River. In 1827, the first annual rendezvous of trappers occurred on the south shore ofBear Lake, a tradition that is still marked today. The site is also preserved as part ofBear Lake State Park. TheOregon Trail, a heavily traveled route to theNorthwest Territories, passed through the upper part of the future county (as defined by its original description).[5] Many emigrants traveling to the NW Territories also traveled around the south end of Bear Lake instead of hewing to the more heavily traveled route through present-day Idaho, although this adds to the Oregon Trail is usually not shown on maps of the route.[6]
The Utah Territory had been initially settled byMormon pioneers beginning in 1847, but no Mormons permanently moved into the Rich County area until after 1862. The US Congress passed theHomestead Act of 1862, opening this area to settlement. Mormon leaderBrigham Young, fearing this would lead to an influx of non-Mormons, called members of his flock to move to the area and begin its settlement. The first settlement within the county's present boundary was Round Valley in 1863; located southwest ofLaketown (settled 1864), it is now aghost town.Randolph was settled in 1870. Originally created as Richland County on January 16, 1864, the name was shortened to Rich on January 29, 1868, by the17th Utah Territorial Legislature. The boundary as originally defined extended beyond Utah into southwestern Wyoming and southeast Idaho. However, on July 25, 1868, theWyoming Territory was created by the federal government, and all of the Rich County area east of the34th meridian west from Washington became part of the new territory and thus was lost to Rich.[7] The 1870 census for Rich County, Utah Territory enumerates a total of 1,672 residents in the eight Idaho communities of Bennington, Bloomington, Fish Haven, Liberty, Montpelier, Ovid, Paris and St. Charles.[8] Utah Territory adjusted the county's boundary on February 16, 1872, by moving a small portion previous Summit County into Rich. The final adjustment to county boundaries was made on January 5, 1875, when Idaho Territory took the eight aforementioned communities and others in the Bear Lake Valley to form Bear Lake County.[9]
The present county building was constructed in Randolph in 1940.[6]
Rich County lies in the upper northeastern corner of Utah. Its northern border abuts the south border of the state ofIdaho, and its east border abuts the west border of the state ofWyoming. TheBear River flows eastward out of the middle part of the county into Wyoming. The terrain is rugged, with less than ten percent of the area under cultivation. Over half of the county's area is used for cattle grazing.[6][10] The county terrain slopes from the Bear River Mountain crests which form its western border, toward the east. The highest point is along its northern border known as Bridger Peak, at 9,255 ft (2,821 m) ASL.[11] The county has a total area of 1,086 square miles (2,810 km2), of which 1,029 square miles (2,670 km2) is land and 58 square miles (150 km2) (5.3%) is water.[12]
The Bear River Valley is created by the Bear River and consists of the east-central portion of the county. The towns ofRandolph andWoodruff lie in this farming-oriented valley. Its high elevation makes this region one of the coldest areas in the state. Woodruff has a record low of −50 °F (−46 °C) and temperatures rarely exceed 90 °F (32 °C) during the summer. Snow is heavy in late autumn, winter, and early spring and remains on the ground for the entire winter.
Further to the north lies the southern half of Bear Lake Valley, which containsBear Lake. This lake is famous for its deep blue water, beaches, and surrounding mountains. TheBear River Mountains lies along the western edge of the county, andLogan Canyon opens up to the west ofGarden City, which is a quaint tourist town that lies on the western edge of Bear Lake.Laketown lies at the southern edge of the lake. Three sections of the coastline are protected byBear Lake State Park. The eastern slopes of the Bear River Range are an increasingly popular location forcabins.
In both major valleys,temperature inversions are a major problem during winter. These temperature inversions can bring extremely cold temperatures,fog,smog, andhaze to the valleys, lasting for weeks at a time.
| Census | Pop. | Note | %± |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1870 | 1,955 | — | |
| 1880 | 1,263 | −35.4% | |
| 1890 | 1,527 | 20.9% | |
| 1900 | 1,946 | 27.4% | |
| 1910 | 1,883 | −3.2% | |
| 1920 | 1,890 | 0.4% | |
| 1930 | 1,873 | −0.9% | |
| 1940 | 2,028 | 8.3% | |
| 1950 | 1,673 | −17.5% | |
| 1960 | 1,685 | 0.7% | |
| 1970 | 1,615 | −4.2% | |
| 1980 | 2,100 | 30.0% | |
| 1990 | 1,725 | −17.9% | |
| 2000 | 1,961 | 13.7% | |
| 2010 | 2,264 | 15.5% | |
| 2020 | 2,510 | 10.9% | |
| US Decennial Census[13] 1790–1960[14] 1900–1990[15] 1990–2000[16] 2010[17] 2020[18] | |||
According to the2020 United States census[19] and2020 American Community Survey,[20] there were 2,510 people in Rich County with apopulation density of 2.4 people per square mile (0.9/km2). Among non-Hispanic or Latino people, the racial makeup was 2,329 (92.8%)White, 11 (0.4%)African American, 1 (0.0%)Native American, 2 (0.1%)Asian, 4 (0.2%)Pacific Islander, 1 (0.0%) fromother races, and 65 (2.6%) fromtwo or more races. 97 (3.9%) people were Hispanic or Latino.
There were 1,309 (52.15%) males and 1,201 (47.85%) females, and the population distribution by age was 767 (30.6%) under the age of 18, 1,276 (50.8%) from 18 to 64, and 467 (18.6%) who were at least 65 years old. The median age was 38.0 years.
There were 886 households in Rich County with an average size of 2.83 of which 660 (74.5%) were families and 226 (25.5%) were non-families. Among all families, 577 (65.1%) weremarried couples, 32 (3.6%) were male householders with no spouse, and 51 (5.8%) were female householders with no spouse. Among all non-families, 207 (23.4%) were a single person living alone and 19 (2.1%) were two or more people living together. 322 (36.3%) of all households had children under the age of 18. 710 (80.1%) of households wereowner-occupied while 176 (19.9%) wererenter-occupied.
The median income for a Rich County household was $63,917 and the median family income was $73,819, with aper-capita income of $23,943. The median income for males that werefull-time employees was $58,125 and for females $35,590. 10.5% of the population and 6.5% of families were below thepoverty line.
In terms of education attainment, out of the 1,406 people in Rich County 25 years or older, 61 (4.3%) hadnot completed high school, 397 (28.2%) had ahigh school diploma or equivalency, 638 (45.4%) had some college orassociate degree, 208 (14.8%) had abachelor's degree, and 102 (7.3%) had agraduate orprofessional degree.
As of the 2010 census, the largest self-reported ancestry groups in Rich County were:
Rich County voters are traditionally Republican. The county has not selected the Democratic Party candidate in a national election since 1944.
| Position | District | Name | Affiliation | First elected | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Senate | 25 | Chris D. Wilson | Republican | 2020[22] | |
| House of Representatives | 53 | Kera Birkeland | Republican | 2020[23] | |
| Board of Education | 1 | Jennie Earl | Nonpartisan | 2018[24] | |
| Year | Republican | Democratic | Third party(ies) | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| No. | % | No. | % | No. | % | |
| 1896 | 162 | 28.42% | 408 | 71.58% | 0 | 0.00% |
| 1900 | 387 | 57.76% | 282 | 42.09% | 1 | 0.15% |
| 1904 | 439 | 64.65% | 240 | 35.35% | 0 | 0.00% |
| 1908 | 425 | 59.44% | 285 | 39.86% | 5 | 0.70% |
| 1912 | 329 | 48.89% | 238 | 35.36% | 106 | 15.75% |
| 1916 | 325 | 41.72% | 454 | 58.28% | 0 | 0.00% |
| 1920 | 449 | 66.92% | 222 | 33.08% | 0 | 0.00% |
| 1924 | 403 | 62.48% | 211 | 32.71% | 31 | 4.81% |
| 1928 | 470 | 67.72% | 224 | 32.28% | 0 | 0.00% |
| 1932 | 398 | 45.91% | 469 | 54.09% | 0 | 0.00% |
| 1936 | 388 | 44.09% | 488 | 55.45% | 4 | 0.45% |
| 1940 | 447 | 48.48% | 475 | 51.52% | 0 | 0.00% |
| 1944 | 394 | 49.94% | 395 | 50.06% | 0 | 0.00% |
| 1948 | 399 | 52.09% | 366 | 47.78% | 1 | 0.13% |
| 1952 | 569 | 69.39% | 251 | 30.61% | 0 | 0.00% |
| 1956 | 561 | 68.92% | 253 | 31.08% | 0 | 0.00% |
| 1960 | 511 | 63.72% | 291 | 36.28% | 0 | 0.00% |
| 1964 | 435 | 57.16% | 326 | 42.84% | 0 | 0.00% |
| 1968 | 525 | 70.28% | 183 | 24.50% | 39 | 5.22% |
| 1972 | 604 | 79.58% | 120 | 15.81% | 35 | 4.61% |
| 1976 | 541 | 67.12% | 248 | 30.77% | 17 | 2.11% |
| 1980 | 762 | 81.15% | 143 | 15.23% | 34 | 3.62% |
| 1984 | 797 | 85.61% | 131 | 14.07% | 3 | 0.32% |
| 1988 | 621 | 72.21% | 234 | 27.21% | 5 | 0.58% |
| 1992 | 525 | 59.93% | 154 | 17.58% | 197 | 22.49% |
| 1996 | 523 | 65.70% | 179 | 22.49% | 94 | 11.81% |
| 2000 | 736 | 81.51% | 152 | 16.83% | 15 | 1.66% |
| 2004 | 922 | 88.91% | 109 | 10.51% | 6 | 0.58% |
| 2008 | 831 | 82.36% | 154 | 15.26% | 24 | 2.38% |
| 2012 | 915 | 90.15% | 83 | 8.18% | 17 | 1.67% |
| 2016 | 797 | 71.29% | 104 | 9.30% | 217 | 19.41% |
| 2020 | 1,157 | 84.51% | 180 | 13.15% | 32 | 2.34% |
| 2024 | 1,211 | 83.29% | 214 | 14.72% | 29 | 1.99% |
Media related toRich County, Utah at Wikimedia Commons
Places adjacent to Rich County, Utah | |
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Municipalities and communities ofRich County, Utah,United States | ||
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| Ghost town | ||
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