Grouse Creek, or 'Rabbit Creek'? The rabbit invasion of 1887 in N.W. Utah and more ...

GROUSE Creek remains one of Utah’s most isolated communities. It is still an approximate 35-mile drive on an unpaved/gravel road to reach the extreme northwest Utah town from the south. From the north, it is more like a 41-mile drive on unpaved roads.

Historically, Grouse Creek, Box Elder County, received its name from the stream of water by the same name – and it was titled for the plentiful sage grouse in the area when the first settlers arrived in 1876 (or 1875 by some other accounts).

(The small community was originally called “Cooksville” for a brief time, after Benjamin F. Cooke (often misspelled "Cook"), who dug the first well there.)

Was the “Grouse Creek” name truly applicable? No, not if look at the community about 11 or so years after the first settlers arrived.

“A big rabbit trap” was a Feb. 23, 1887 headline in the Deseret News. This story explained that there was a crisis of rabbits, rabbits everywhere in the area and something had to be done before it became “Rabbit Creek” and not “Grouse Creek.”

Thus, this newspaper story stated that settlers constructed a huge wooden trap (more like a large wooden corral) and herded hundreds of rabbits into it. Then, without firing a shot, some 800 rabbits were beaten to death with clubs.

Settlers also liked that this wooden trap could be taken apart and moved elsewhere.

While this type of mass killing seems inhumane by 21^st Century standards, for 19^th Century pioneers it was about their crops and stock having enough food, to ensure the residents’ survival.
(Note that there is a "Rabbit Springs," located five miles southeast of Grouse Creek.)

The rabbit infestation is a sharp contrast to the very first newspaper description of Grouse Creek, in the Deseret News of Jan. 31, 1877. That report stated there were some 20 settlers living there at the time, all law-abiding farmers, but with no LDS Church bishop or official leader.

This D. News account also noted that plenty of gray wolves, mountain lions and wildcats were roaming the Grouse Creek area.

The story also emphasized how the Grouse Creek area was a perfect place for raising horses, cattle and sheep. However, an official government survey was needed to allow such herd raising.

A Deseret News story on July 11, 1877 stressed how Grouse Creek had plenty of room for more settlers.

Grouse Creek even received a post office in April of 1877, with Benjamin Cooke as postmaster. However, by September of the same year, that post office was closed, presumably to a lack of business (Deseret News Sept. 11, 1877).

The Deseret News of Aug. 22, 1877 reported that Samuel H. Kimball (son of Heber C. Kimball) was called as the first LDS Bishop in Grouse Creek (with counselors B. Cooke, Henry Merrill and W.C. Thomas).

By late winter of 1878, the Deseret News of Feb. 1, 1878 stated that there was stock, some 8,000 in number, roaming the 37,000 acres in Grouse Creek Valley.

“There are no rocks in the valley,” the story stated, explaining that 40 families now resided there. One farmer had already harvested some 250 bushels of barley. There seemed to be no shortage of water in the area and one schoolhouse was already in use there.

However, the Deseret News of Aug. 20, 1878 stated that the water supply was a “failure” that summer and settlers were having to haul it long distances to their farms.

Grouse Creek residents received a financial boost in 1881, when railroad work for the area became available (Deseret News July 27, 1881).

The Salt Lake Herald on Jan. 30, 1891 called Grouse Creek a “small, but industrious place.”

So, ended the first 15 or so years of the community’s beginnings.