Morgan has more
privately owned land than any other county in Utah. Much of it is used
for stock raising--especially beef and dairy cattle and sheep--and for
hay and other field crops. Lumber was a major industry from 1860 to
1875 in Hardscrabble Canyon. Thousands of railroad ties were furnished
to build the Union Pacific Railroad line, and charcoal was shipped to Bingham for use in smelting. During the building of the railroad in
1868 a number of businesses opened in Morgan City, and it became the
county's trade center.
In 1904 the Morgan
Canning Company was founded to can peas. The business grew and a second
factory was built in Smithfield, Cache County. The company was sold
to the California Packing Corporation in 1935. The manufacturing of
Portland cement is a major local industry. This important industrial
product has been produced at the Devil's Slide plant for more than eighty
years. In addition to limestone--the main ingredient in cement--silver,
lead, copper, coal, iron, sulphur, and mica have been found in Morgan
County, but most mining has been on a small scale. Agriculture, manufacturing,
and trade do not provide enough jobs for county residents, and in recent
years more than half of those employed--the largest percentage in any
Utah county--have worked outside Morgan, mostly in the greater Ogden area.
The county has
benefited from the Weber Basin Reclamation Project. Beginning in 1952
federal funds were used to construct dams and power plants. The Lost
Creek and East Canyon reservoirs constructed as part of the project,
are popular recreation sites for people throughout northern Utah.
Miriam B. Murphy