Uintah County, Utah Pioneers

In 1873 John Blankenship, a farmer from Iowa, and Captain Pardon Dodds, a Civil War veteran from Erie, Pennsylvania, explored the Ashley Valley. Both had been employed by the Uncompahgre Ute [Indian] Agency, known as the Ouray Agency, set up in 1881.

"The two men quickly realized that the fertile valley, with its abundant water and surrounding mountains, was ideal for homesteading and livestock range, and best of all, it was not included in the Indian reservation....He and Blankenship wanted to begin a settlement , and Ashley Valley seemed the ideal place to them....Together Dodds, Blankenship and [Morris] Evans (another agency employee) finalized their plans to settle in Ashley Valley, which was named after early explorer and trapper William Ashley." The town was first called Ashley Fork because it was located where Ashley Creek divided into north and south forks.1

"John Blankenship was the first settler to build on the south side of Ashley Creek, building about the same time as Dodds. After their homes were finished Dodds and Blankenship constructed 'Dodds' Twist' -a winding road between Deep Creek and Ashley fort that served as the main road into the valley until 1888.... Blankenship also helped Dodds in his trading post venture."2

"In 1876, Blankenship built the first flour mill at Whiterocks which was destroyed a year or two later when the steam boiler exploded."3 Then in 1893 he operated the Uintah House or Hotel.4

1Burton, Doris Karren, Settlements of Uintah County: Digging Deeper, Uintah County Library, 1998, p. 33.
2 Ibid., p. 34.
3 Ibid., p. 3
3 Ibid., p. 79

Contributed by Marilyn Hersey Brown