Strawberry, Utah

Strawberry is an unincorporated community in western Duchesne County, Utah, United States.

In 1900 A.M. Murdock of Heber City, approached Major Myton of the Uintah Indian reservation to purchase grazing permits for his cattle.

In the fall of 1904 they brought the herd out of the high grazing areas and made it to the river bottoms which is now covered by Starvation reservoir.

The first pioneers into the area started clearing the river bottoms of the thick underbrush of cottonwood and willows.

A.M. Murdock had a large cattle ranch in the upper part of the community that employed a number of people.

[8] The school building acted as the community center and hosted church meetings, frequent dances, and activities.

Six volunteers from the community agreed to work for half wages and the two bridges were built and completed within a couple months.

As the roads improved and the commute to the community of Duchesne became reasonable the Riverside School closed down.

In 1952 high waters along the river flooded the canyon and washed out the CCC bridges and a couple of houses.

The community spent the summer completely isolated until the county built new bridges in the fall.

Victory Highway was built through the middle of the community but in 1970 all the land was bought by the Bureau of Reclamation to make way for Starvation Reservoir.

US-40 was re-routed to the south past the cemetery and over the freedom bridge that passes over the canyon were the most southern end of the community was.

Some of the springs in the area are saturated with alkaline and can be observed by the white deposits on the cliff ledges of the canyon walls.

Looking west on the old "Riverside"
Riverside School, Main part built in 1912
Looking across Starvation now covered by the reservoir
Map of Utah highlighting Duchesne County