Ibapah was an Indian word meaning "the clay colored water." Ibapah was the western-most station in Utah in Tooele County near the Nevada border. Known at times as Deep Creek Station, it was located in the midst of the ancient hunting grounds of the Gosiute Indians. This had caused great trouble over the years. The station was operated by a man named Snyder. The creek it was built on was called Deep Creek because it ran in the bottom of a deep wash. On March 22nd 1863 stage driver Henry Harper was killed by Indians just west of the station. Judge Mott, a passenger, climbed into the driver's seat, grabbed the reins from Harper's dying grasp and brought the stage safely into Ibapah Station.

Because of good soil and ample water, a small farming community grew up near the station and in later years, when the gold mines at nearby Clifton were working the city boasted 3 stores and 4 saloons. The farm community was established in 1859 by a group of settlers from Grantsville, led by Wilford Hudson. They had a lot of trouble with the Indians and the settlement had to be abandoned from 1860 to 1862. Years later, when the Gosiute Reservation was designated the settlers land reverted back to Indian Control. From Ibapah Station the Overland Trail turned west toward Tippett's Station just across the Nevada border, then continued to Antelope Station and points west. It was a long hard road from Needle Rock on the Wyoming border to Ibapah Station, but that's what was expected along the Overland Trail.

Kathleen Webb