Long reads

Stories

Sixteen stories, in the order they happened. The people, places and turning points that made Vineyard.

Era I · Before 1776

The Ancient Lake

Ice Age2 min read

The lake before memory

An inland sea nearly the size of Lake Michigan once covered this valley. Utah Lake is what it left behind.

1800s2 min read

The people of the lake

The Timpanogos Utes knew this shore long before any town. The lake was their pantry, and the river mouth beside Vineyard was one of its richest shelves.

1776 to 20242 min read

The fish of Utah Lake

Giant trout, the carp that replaced them, and the comeback of a fish found nowhere else on Earth.

Era II · 1776

The Friars and the Valley

17762 min read

The friars at the lake

In 1776, two Spanish priests became the first Europeans known to see Utah Lake.

Era III · 1849 to 1877

The Pioneers

1849 to 18772 min read

The pioneers of the lake

Driven west across a continent, the Latter-day Saints built a fort on the Provo River, then farms at its mouth beside Vineyard.

18502 min read

The winter of 1850

A killing on the Provo River, and the war that followed between settlers and the Timpanogos Utes.

1847 to today2 min read

Faith on the shore

How the Latter-day Saint pioneers and their wards shaped Vineyard's community.

Era IV · 1860 to 1940

Vines and Dairies

18882 min read

The Geneva resort

A dance floor on springs, special trains from across Utah and a toboggan slide into the lake, just up the shore from Vineyard.

19222 min read

A Vineyard farm kid, 1922

Milking by hand before school, milk cans on a wagon, a train every day to Salt Lake City, and the thrill of a 1928 Model A.

Era V · 1941 to 1946

Geneva Steel and the War

1941 to 19463 min read

Who built Geneva

Ten thousand workers, three years, two hundred million dollars, and the families who gave the mill their working lives.

1941 to 19463 min read

Vineyard in the war

The war took Vineyard's sons away and put a steel mill in their fields. The local paper followed every step.

Era VI · 1946 to 2005

Steel Country

19873 min read

The miracle mill

U.S. Steel gave up on Geneva. A Utah lawyer, his brother, a senator and the steelworkers' families brought it back at midnight.

2001 to 20053 min read

The China sale

How the heart of a Utah steel mill was sold, packed and shipped across the Pacific, and how the rest came down.

Era VII · 1989 to 2012

A Town of 151

1855 to 20042 min read

The Gammons

A pioneer at the river mouth in 1855. A town's first mayor in 1989. One family runs through Vineyard's whole story.

19902 min read

A town of 151

In 1990 nearly everyone in Vineyard was family. Twenty-five years later, almost everyone was new.

Era VIII · 2013 to today

A City on the Lake

2005 to today2 min read

From ruins to a downtown

What rose on the 1,750 acres where Geneva Steel once stood.