Last reviewed 8 October 2026 · A two-minute read · 1805–2024
Fountain Green, Utah, grew from ground once called Uintah Springs, where four wagon drivers were killed in October 1853. Settlers founded the town in 1859, built it into a sheep-ranching community in Sanpete Valley, and still mark that industry each July with Lamb Day.
The short answer
Fountain Green, Utah, began as Uintah Springs, ground where four wagon drivers were killed in October 1853, an act answered the next day by the massacre of seven uninvolved Goshutes at Nephi. Settlers founded the town in 1859, built it into a sheep-ranching community, and still mark that industry each July with Lamb Day.
October 1853
Four wagon drivers killed, then a village of Goshutes
About three quarters of a mile from here stands a monument to the Fountain Green massacre. The men, driving ox-wagons loaded with wheat, had camped against orders from their leader, Isaac Morley. William Reed, James Nelson, William Luke, and Thomas Clark were killed, scalped, and disemboweled.
The next day brought a darker reply. A group of seven Goshutes, uninvolved and seeking peace, were invited into a fort at Nephi and murdered. A woman and two children from the group were enslaved. Their remains lay hidden in a mass grave until 2006, when searchers finally found them.
A Daughters of Utah Pioneers marker in Fountain Green's City Park tells one more piece of this story. Oral tradition holds that Isaac Morley, still angry at the four dead men for disobeying his orders, refused to let them be buried in the town cemetery. Their graves have never been found, despite later efforts to locate them.
1859
Uintah Springs becomes Fountain Green
Settlers moved onto this ground in 1859 and called it Uintah Springs, for the springs and green pastures nearby. A post office opened the following year under the name Fountain Green, and the name stuck.
1859 to now
Sheep ranching shapes a small Sanpete town
Fountain Green grew slowly into a ranching town built on sheep. Each July the town still holds Lamb Day, with mutton busting, a parade down State Street, and a pit full of roasting lamb, a nod to the industry that built the place. By 2020, the town held just under 1,200 people, most of them living on quiet rural lots much like the open ground you're standing on now.
date unknown, 1860s
A young herdsman's death still marked north of town
North of town, a historical marker remembers Lewis Lund, an eighteen-year-old herdsman killed nearby. Weather and vandalism wore down the original stone, and the town later replaced it to keep his name standing.
1865 to 1872
Black Hawk War violence reaches Fountain Green's door
The violence of 1853 was not the last. During the Black Hawk War, Ute, Paiute, and other tribal fighters raided settlements across Sanpete County, Fountain Green among them. Settlers built a rock fort in town in 1866 after the fighting reached their doorstep, and at least one person here died in the conflict.
Open pasture and scattered houses surround you, with the town's small grid of streets a three-quarter-mile walk to the east.
Read the ground you are standing on
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.
Sanpitch, chief of the Sanpits and namesake of this valley, died in 1866 at Fountain Green during the years of conflict between Mormon settlers and Ute bands.
Reese R. Llewellyn, who represented Sanpete County in the 1884 Utah Territorial Legislature, died in 1905 and is buried in the Fountain Green Cemetery nearby.
On October 1, 1853, Ute warriors led by Sanpitch killed four men—William Reed, James Nelson, William Luke and Thomas Clark—camped at Uinta Springs, the ground that became Fountain Green.
Between 1865 and 1872, Fountain Green and the other Sanpete settlements saw raids and fighting between Mormon settlers and Ute, Paiute and other tribal fighters during the Black Hawk War.
A rainstorm on August 18, 2024 dumped about 3 inches of rain in an hour on Fountain Green, flooding more than half the town's homes, and a second storm the next day brought more flooding.
Fountain Green holds its annual Lamb Days celebration each July, with a parade, craft fair, car show and lamb dinner at the city park.
Era background — not a record of this tile · Mid-Utah Radio
Questions about this place
Answered in one sentence, then in full above
What happened at Fountain Green in 1853?
Ute warriors led by Sanpitch killed four men—William Reed, James Nelson, William Luke and Thomas Clark—who were camped with ox-wagons of wheat at Uinta Springs, against the orders of Isaac Morley. The next day, seven uninvolved Goshutes were invited into a fort at Nephi and murdered in reprisal.
What was here before Fountain Green was founded?
The ground was known as Uintah Springs, named for its springs and green pastures, before Mormon settlers moved onto it in 1859 and a post office the following year gave it the name Fountain Green.
Why does Fountain Green hold Lamb Day each July?
Lamb Day marks the sheep-ranching industry that built the town, with events including mutton busting, a parade down State Street, and a pit of roasting lamb.
Was there more conflict here after 1853?
Yes. Between 1865 and 1872, during the Black Hawk War, Ute, Paiute and other tribal fighters raided Sanpete County settlements including Fountain Green, prompting settlers to build a rock fort in town in 1866 after at least one death in the fighting.
Who was Lewis Lund?
Lewis Lund was an eighteen-year-old herdsman killed near Fountain Green, remembered by a historical marker north of town that was later replaced after the original stone wore down.