WAHSATCH

Wasatch (Summit) was built eleven miles west of Evanston, Wyoming, as a principal camp on the Union Pacific transcontinental railroad that was under construction at the time. The site was located at the Echo Canyon summit between the Weber and Bear rivers drainage system and was a livestock shipping center as well as an engine-cutting or drop-off point. The camp was named for Chief Wahsatch, the local Shoshone Indian chief who was on friendly terms with the whites. The chief and most of his clan converted to the Mormon faith as they sought to learn farming and agriculture in the Mormon manner. Today the site is railroad property and evidence of the former town has disappeared. Variant: Wasatch.

John W. Van Cott