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In the arid plateau country of the Escalante River basin in the central part of the southern portion of Utah, are deep canyons, draws, benches, and flats through which age-old streams have gnawed their way while the wind carved picturesque beauty in the Navajo and Windgate sandstone. Different hues of purple, brown, yellow, red, pink, gray, and white are found among the network of canyons, cliffs, and pinnacles. Wooded mountain ranges are covered with snow in the winter which feeds the lakes and streams that nourish the crops of the valley. On the north side of the river, nestled against the south slope of the Boulder Mountain, lies Boulder.
Boulder is a cattle ranching community. Originally the ranches, ranging in size from the usual 160 acre homestead to the 640 Desert Entries, spread southward from the foot of the mountain on a gradual decline in elevation for about twenty miles. About seven miles to the west are five ranches that comprise the Salt Gulch section of the community. In recent years some places have been combined, as changes in the economy dictated.
The elevation of Boulder is around 6000 feet with Upper Boulder and Salt Gulch at a higher elevation. The seventy-six mile spuare plateau of the Boulder mountain has an elevation of 11,133 feet.
NAMING OF MOUNTAINS AND STREAMS
In May, 1872, a party of nine men under direction of Almon H. Thompson left Kanab for the pupose of exploring the country between Kanab and the mouth of the Dirty Devil River. Thomas was a brother-in-law of Major John Wesley Powell and was commissioned to do topography and map-making which included the affixing of place names.
They followed Pine Creek to the mountain then traveled eastward over and around its many rough ridges to the more level top. They put the names Boulder Mountain and Boulder Creek on their map.
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