Ibapah ( ) is a small
unincorporated community
An unincorporated area is a parcel of land that is not governed by a local general-purpose municipal corporation. (At p. 178.) They may be governed or serviced by an encompassing unit (such as a county) or another branch of the state (such as th ...
in far western
Tooele County,
Utah
Utah is a landlocked state in the Mountain states, Mountain West subregion of the Western United States. It is one of the Four Corners states, sharing a border with Arizona, Colorado, and New Mexico. It also borders Wyoming to the northea ...
, United States, near the
Nevada
Nevada ( ; ) is a landlocked state in the Western United States. It borders Oregon to the northwest, Idaho to the northeast, California to the west, Arizona to the southeast, and Utah to the east. Nevada is the seventh-most extensive, th ...
state line.
Description
The settlement is located near the
Deep Creek Mountains
The Deep Creek Range, often referred to as the Deep Creek Mountains (Goshute: Pi'a-roi-ya-bi), are a mountain range in the Great Basin located in extreme western Tooele and Juab counties in Utah, United States.
The range trends north–south (wi ...
. The site was originally established in 1859 by
Mormon
Mormons are a religious and cultural group related to Mormonism, the principal branch of the Latter Day Saint movement started by Joseph Smith in upstate New York during the 1820s. After Smith's death in 1844, the movement split into several ...
missionaries sent to teach the local Native Americans farming methods. A
Pony Express
The Pony Express was an American express mail service that used relays of horse-mounted riders between Missouri and California. It was operated by the Central Overland California and Pikes Peak Express Company.
During its 18 months of opera ...
station operated here in 1860 and 1861, and the town was on an early alignment of the
Lincoln Highway
The Lincoln Highway is one of the first transcontinental highways in the United States and one of the first highways designed expressly for automobiles. Conceived in 1912 by Indiana entrepreneur Carl G. Fisher, and formally dedicated Octob ...
. A post office operated here from 1883 to 1980. Ibapah is currently inhabited mostly by
Goshute people, with scattered farmlands and a trading post belonging to more recent settlers. The community is the headquarters of the
Confederated Tribes of the Goshute Reservation
The Confederated Tribes of the Goshute Reservation is located in Juab County, Utah, Tooele County, Utah, and White Pine County, Nevada, United States. It is one of two federally recognized tribes of Goshute people, the other being the Skull Vall ...
, a
federally recognized tribe
A federally recognized tribe is a Native American tribe recognized by the United States Bureau of Indian Affairs as holding a government-to-government relationship with the US federal government. In the United States, the Native American tribe ...
.
Originally named Deep Creek for a creek of the same name in the area, the name was later changed to ''Ibapah'', an anglicized form of the
Goshute
The Goshutes are a tribe of Western Shoshone Native Americans. There are two federally recognized Goshute tribes today:
* Confederated Tribes of the Goshute Reservation, located in Nevada and Utah
* Skull Valley Band of Goshute Indians of ...
word ''Ai-bim-pa'' or ''Ai'bĭm-pa'' which means "White Clay Water".
The University of Utah - Shoshoni Dictionary
/ref>
The town is isolated and is usually reached by going out of Utah into Nevada and back into Utah.
Climate
The climate is typical of that of a high elevation Great Basin
The Great Basin () is the largest area of contiguous endorheic watersheds, those with no outlets to the ocean, in North America. It spans nearly all of Nevada, much of Utah, and portions of California, Idaho, Oregon, Wyoming, and Baja Californi ...
location, being semi-arid and featuring, in consequence, large differences in temperature between day and night.
See also
References
External links
{{authority control
Unincorporated communities in Tooele County, Utah
Unincorporated communities in Utah
Populated places established in 1859
Pony Express stations
Goshute
1859 establishments in Utah Territory