The history of Delta
This record gathers one piece of ground on Delta's edge, a vacant 40-acre parcel along 500 West, into the wider story of Millard County, Utah — land unsettled by the Walker War and Black Hawk War before Delta itself was platted, and surveyed again in 1922.
500 West in Delta, Utah, runs along a vacant 40-acre parcel recorded on the Millard County assessor's books, with no building raised on it. The surrounding ground saw bloodshed before Delta existed: Captain John W. Gunnison and six of his survey crew were killed by Ute fighters near Hinckley in October 1853, and the Black Hawk War burned through the county from 1865 to 1872.
Gunnison's survey crew died near this ground
This point on 500 West lies on open ground at the edge of Delta, Utah, in Millard County. No house or business stands here. The land is listed simply as vacant, a 40-acre parcel on the county's own books.
Delta did not exist when the land around it first drew blood. In October 1853, a band of Ute men killed Captain John W. Gunnison and six of his railroad survey crew near present-day Hinckley, a few miles northeast. Gunnison and his crew were caught at breakfast by a creek and never got off a shot.
Gunnison's killing sat inside a longer struggle. Ute leader Walkara fought settlers from 1853 to 1854, and the Black Hawk War, led by Ute chief Antonga Black Hawk, burned through this county from 1865 to 1872. Settlers raised Fort Deseret south of here in 1866, built fast, in eighteen days, against the threat.
Forty acres stayed empty after the wars ended
The wars ended and the 40 acres stayed empty. It has passed through no recorded subdivision, just open land on the grid of 500 West.
The parcel remains open ground on the edge of Delta's street grid.
Every person, building and event in this story opens into its own dig in the app — and Strata will dig the ground under your feet instead, wherever that is, in about a minute, with every source shown.