On the bench above the bluff, dry farming appeared about the year 1878. Alma Stoker, Richard Venable, and Richard Hamblin were some of the first who cleared the land. Deep wells were dug to water their livestock and small gardens. In about 1894 the Davis-Weber County Canal brought water to part of the land.

Syracuse was always a farming community. With irrigation, new row crops were introduced: sugar beets in 1893, potatoes in 1894, tomatoes in 1898, and peas in 1902. The Syracuse Canning factory started up in 1898, canning tomatoes, pickles, and all kinds of fruits.

William Galbraith, who manufactured salt from the lake, printed the name "Syracuse" on his salt bags. The name came from a salt company he knew in Syracuse, New York. The name was later used by the Syracuse Bathing Resort, built in 1887 by Daniel C. Adams. He was determined to have the finest resort on the lake, which for a time it became; it was the only spot along the shore of the lake with a natural grove of trees. The Union Pacific Railroad branch, constructed in 1887 as the Ogden and Syracuse Railway, linked the Syracuse resort to the main line between Ogden and Salt Lake City. It also served farmers and the salt works.