In 1869 and 1871 John Wesley Powell visited parts of Daggett County. Starting at Green River, Wyoming, Powell floated down the Green and Colorado rivers and on each trip he studied the geology and geography, animal and plant life, and the Indians who lived in the area.

About this same time it was rumored that the Uinta Mountains were full of diamonds. Important and wealthy people in America and in Europe invested in the claims, hoping to make a lot of money. They soon found out that the discovery of diamonds in the Uintas was a hoax.

Daggett County was used for the summer grazing of sheep and cattle trailed in from parts of northern Utah and southwestern Wyoming. Until the introduction of irrigation in the 1890s by Adolph Jessen, Ellsworth Daggett, R. C. Chambers, and others made it possible for farmers and their families to live there. The first permanent settlers included the James Warby and Franklin Twitchell families. In 1917 the state legislature created Daggett County out of the northern part of Uintah County, and Manila was named the county seat. Daggett was the last of the state's counties (29) to be organized.

Daggett County's economy is based primarily on the raising of livestock, hay, and alfalfa, but it is also an important producer of electric power for Utah and surrounding states. A new town, Dutch John, was built near Flaming Gorge to provide a living place for people who work at the dam. Flaming Gorge Reservoir is a popular place for boating and fishing.

Craig Fuller