Nestled at the base of the Wellsville Mountain, a topographic curiosity because of its narrow base and unusual height, lies Wellsville - Cache County's oldest permanent settlement. It occupies the southwest corner of Cache Valley.

On 15 September 1856, the families of Peter, John, and William H. Maughan, Zial Riggs, and Francis W. Gunnell, and two single men, George W. Bryan and O.D. Thompson, entered Cache Valley. There were twenty-five in the group, the oldest being forty-five and the youngest six weeks. They drove to a stream where they made their encampment; they called their settlement Maughan's Fort. Wagon boxes were taken off, and the women prepared homes in them. The men explored the valley and began to cut and stack the meadow hay for their livestock.

Eleven days after their arrival, snow blanketed the ground to the depth of a man's ankle. During this storm, Mary Ann Weston Maughan gave birth to a baby daughter, Elizabeth, the first white child born to permanent settlers in Cache Valley. An abundance of water coupled with its favorable location helped the settlement flourish. There was soon a grist mill, saw mill, brickyard, dairies, co-op, tannery, granaries, ice house, slaughter house, and lush crops growing in the fertile soil.