Editing Cache County, Utah (section)

==History==
Indigenous peoples occupied the valleys of present Cache County as much as 10,000 BCE. Near the present epoch, the valley served the Plains Indians and the Shoshone. Trappers and explorers visited the area in the late 18th and early 19th centuries. [[John Henry Weber]] and [[Jim Bridger]] came through in 1824; [[Peter Skene Ogden]] and [[James Beckwourth]] passed through in 1825.

In July 1855, a group of settlers from the [[Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints|LDS Church]] drove a herd of cattle into the valley and camped at Haw Bush Spring (present Elkhorn Ranch). However, the cold winter drove the settlers back to the [[Salt Lake Valley]]. [[Peter Maughan]], who had requested better land for agriculture for the families of his settlement in [[Lake Point, Utah]], was called by President [[Brigham Young]] to establish a new settlement in the Cache Valley. On September 15, 1856, he established Maughan's Fort, which grew into present day [[Wellsville, Utah|Wellsville]]. More settlers arrived in the valley, and by 1859 the settlements of Providence, Mendon, Logan, Richmond, and Smithfield had been established.

In preparation for this influx, the [[Utah Territory]] legislature created a county, effective January 5, 1856, with seats and government incomplete. By April 4, 1857, the organization was completed, and Logan became the seat.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://publications.newberry.org/ahcbp/documents/UT_Individual_County_Chronologies.htm|title=Utah: Individual County Chronologies|website=Utah Atlas of Historical County Boundaries|publisher=[[Newberry Library]]|date=2008|access-date=June 26, 2015|archive-date=March 6, 2016|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160306153326/http://publications.newberry.org/ahcbp/documents/UT_Individual_County_Chronologies.htm|url-status=dead}}</ref> It was named for the fur stashes, known in French as ''Caches'', made by many of the Rocky Mountain Fur Company [[Animal trapping|trapper]]s. The county gained area in 1862 when its boundary lines with adjacent counties were adjusted. In 1863, the federal government enacted the [[Idaho Territory]], which administratively removed the described portions of Cache County that lay north of the territorial border. Then in 1864, the east part of the county was partitioned to become [[Rich County, Utah|Rich County]]. The borders of Cache County have remained in their present state since 1864.

A rail line between Brigham City and Logan was completed in 1873 ([[Utah and Northern Railway]]). The line was extended into Idaho, and a connection was made to the [[First transcontinental railroad|transcontinental railroad]], which opened the world to Cache County; their crops (especially grain and dairy) began moving to broader markets. The county's sheep population also burgeoned, from 10,000 in 1880 to 300,000 by 1900. By 1900 the [[United States Forest Service|Forest Service]] began regulating grazing practices, which brought the sheep population under control.

There were 16,000 dairy cows in Cache County in 1910. Commercial creameries, flour mills, woolen mills, and knitting factories developed around the farm-based economy. Cache presently continues as the state's leader in dairy products and as a major producer of hay, alfalfa, and grain.<ref>[https://ilovehistory.utah.gov/place/counties/cache.html ''Cache County''. Utah Division of State History (accessed 30 March 2019)]</ref>