A party off Spaniards known as the Escalante Expedition seeking a more direct route to Monterey, California came upon the Green River. They camped there for two days and moved on. Soon after they came to a little hill and gazed down on the Ashley Valley. The land was dry , arid and the soil sandy with the vegetation consisting mainly of sage brush, cactus and other desert plants. The creek they saw in the northern section is now called Ashley Creek.
That is the only record of the valley being visited by white men until 1825 when a fur trader named William H. Ashley entered the area In his party was Jim Bridger who who received much fame later.
In 1861 Abraham Lincoln set the area aside as the Uintah Indian Reservation. Captain Pardon Dodds was appointed Indian agent.
After Pardon Dodds ended his agency in 1872 he came back in 1873 with Morris Evans and Dick Huffaker and they errected the first house built by white men. All of the work from timber to dirt floor was done by them. The windows were brought in from Salt Lake City. The house which was four miles northwest of present day Vernal served as a home for the Dodds family from 1873 to 1897.
There were no women in the area until 1876 with the first white child born here on May 11, 1878. He was named Robert Ashely Snyder. On June 16, 1878 his father Robert Snyder was killed by lightning in his dooryard, leaving Mrs. Snyder with two children to pioneer the wilderness.
The fall of 1879 brought many settlers to the valley, In 1880 the residents applied for a post office. The name Ashley Center was requested, but it was too similar to the town of Ahsley and the name Vernal was assigned to the community by the U.S. Postal Department. The town of Vernal was incorporated in 1897.
The settlers developed a basic irrigation system and because of distance they produced, manufactured, and developed about everything they needed. The main livelihood was cattle, sheep, milling, the production of honey and the farming of grains and alfalfa.
With the Dinosaur National Monument and Flaming Gorge in 1964 more tourists have come to the area. The activities here are varied and many. There are many colorful characters in the history of the area to be discussed in future writings.
