Most of the history of Grand County has been the story of small family farms and orchards, of mining for potash and uranium, and of livestock. Large sheep and cattle companies have found abundant forage for their livestock in the canyons and in the La Sal Mountains, and cowboys and outlaws figure prominently in the area's folklore. The uranium boom of the 1950s brought the first real population expansion to the area and witnessed the creation of a few large fortunes as well as many failures.

Most recently, the income from tourism has been the county's major economic resource. Arches National Monument was established in 1929, and consistently increasing numbers of visitors led to its being upgraded to national park status in 1971. During the 1970s and 1980s Moab became perhaps the most important center for river-running, mountain bicycling, and four-wheel drive recreation in Utah, and the prospects seem good that tourism and recreation will remain important to the county for the foreseeable future.

Gary Topping