The Road

Beginning just south of Parley’s Canyon, off of Wasatch Boulevard, is the road to Millcreek Canyon. From Wasatch Blvd, the road travels a short distance through a residential neighborhood, quickly coming to a toll both near the beginning of the canyon. Beyond this point the well maintained, two-lane road provides access to a variety of hiking trails and picnic areas on Forest Service land. The road also passes by a few homes and businesses on private property within the canyon. Just beyond the Terrace picnic area is a gate that controls access to the upper part of the canyon. This gate is closed from Nov. 1st – June 30th of each year. Past the gate, as the road approaches the Big Water Trailhead, it becomes much narrower. The road has no shoulder, but there is just enough room for two cars to pass one another. At the trailhead the road dead ends in a paved parking lot. This marks the end of the Millcreek Canyon claim.

This also happens to be the end of the current right-of-way, held by Salt Lake County, for Millcreek Canyon Road. The first portion of this road, around the mouth of the canyon, crosses land owned by the Boy Scouts of America (BSA). In 1917 the BSA granted Salt Lake County a right-of-way easement for this segment of the road. Although the location of this portion of the road has changed, the county has maintained an easement for it since this date. Beyond the property owned by the BSA, the road is on Forest Service land. Salt Lake County also holds a right-of-way easement for this portion of the road. The Forest Service granted Salt Lake County this easement on March 25, 1991. These easements gave the county the ability to construct, operate, and maintain the road through Millcreek Canyon, from the mouth of the canyon to the end of the pavement at the Big Water Trailhead.

Criteria*

"The right-of-way for the construction of highways over the public lands not reserved for public uses, is hereby granted."

Construction: "Means an intentional physical act or series of intentional physical acts that were intended to, and that accomplished, preparation of a highway by a durable, observable, physical modification of land for use by highway traffic."

The road in Millcreek Canyon is a paved road that extends from the mouth of the canyon to the end of the pavement at the Big Water Trailhead parking lot.

Highway: "Means a thoroughfare that was prior to the latest available date used by the public, without discrimination against any individual or group, for the passage of vehicles carrying people or goods from place to place."

This road is open to the public and provides access to private lands as well as public trails and picnic areas.

Unreserved public lands: "lands owned by the United States...that had not yet been set aside, dedicated, withdrawn, reserved, settled, preempted, entered, appropriated, or disposed of, or on which claims had not been located."

The road was originally created in the mid 1800's to access the logging operations and mills in the canyon. Its construction predated the reservation of lands within the canyon as part of the Wasatch National Forest in 1904.
(*Definitions are taken directly from “The Revised Statute (R.S.) 2477 Rights-of-Way Act.”)

History

The Millcreek Canyon claim was originally constructed in the mid 1800’s shortly after the arrival of the first settlers. Once they established the Salt Lake Valley as their final stopping point in their move west, they began to use the canyons of the Wasatch Mountains as a source for timber, and the streams as a means to power their mills. In July of 1848, Archibald Gardner was given permission by the High Council of the LDS Church to request the help of other men for the construction of a road up Millcreek Canyon. The development of the road provided access to the upper reaches of Millcreek Canyon. With its construction mills began to be built throughout the canyon. Eventually, there were about 20 mills in the area that produced everything from lumber to flour. As the mills ran out of wood to process, due to the over-logging of the hillsides, they began, one by one, to let the water out of their mill ponds and to abandon their operations. By the early 1900’s most of the logging and milling Millcreek Canyon had stopped.

At this point in time, the industrial activity taking place began to transition from logging, to mining and power generation. None of these undertakings proved to be very long lived, and by about 1920 most had left the canyon. At the same time the residents of the Salt Lake Valley started using the Millcreek Canyon to escape the summer heat, for recreation, and as a place to build a summer home.

Sources

Bureau of Land Management. Right-of-way easement for Millcreek Canyon Road (Forest Service land). Serial Number U68997. March 25, 1991.

Jepsen, Fred. Boy Scouts of America – Properties Director. Conversation on August 26, 2005.

Keller, Charles L. Lady in the Ore Bucket: A History of Settlement and Industry in the Tri-Canyon Area of the Wasatch Mountains. Salt Lake City, UT, USA: University of Utah Press, 2001. p 57.

Kroenke, Loren. Salt Lake District Ranger. Conversation. August 15, 2005.

Salt Lake County Recorder’s Office. Right-of-way easement for Millcreek Canyon Road (Boy Scouts of America land). Subdivision plats I, #59. March 19, 1936.

Relevant Documents

Map of the Millcreek Canyon Claim

Dedication of Millcreek Canyon Road (pdf 852 kB): This document, recorded in 1936, shows the dedication of Millcreek Canyon Road as it crosses land owned by the Boy Scouts of America. This dedication gives Salt Lake County the right-of-way for the road across this stretch of land.

Public Road Easement for Millcreek Canyon (pdf 172 kB): An easement granted to Salt Lake County by the U.S. Forest Service on March 25, 1991. This easement gives the County the right-of-way all portions of the Millcreek Canyon Road that occur on Forest Service lands.