Twenty Wells

Emigrants bound for California in 1846 rested in this vicinity because of the cold, pure, spring water welling up from holes in the ground. These holes were six inches to nine feet in diameter and more than 70 feet deep. When water was dipped out it was replaced immediately from and underground source but did not overflow the hard sides. Because of this phenomenon the springs were called wells. Twenty of these wells were scattered over the area of present-day Grantsville.

Some of the first emigrants called the area Hastings Wells, named for Lansford W. Hastings, who pioneered a wagon route to the Humboldt River near Elko, Nevada. This alternate route to the California Trail through Tooele Valley was used by emigrants and gold seekers from1846 through 1850. The plentiful grass and water in the valley made it a major campsite and resting place for wagon trains and pack parties taking the Hasting Cutoff.

This historic marker is located at the Donner-Reed Memorial Museum at 90 N Cooley Street in Grantsville, Utah and was erected in the sesquicentennial year of the Hastings Cutoff, an alternate route of the California National Historic Trail by Tooele County Historical Society and Utah Crossroads Oregon-California Trails Association on August 11, 1996.