Wales is a town in Sanpete County, Utah, United States. The population was 338 at the 2020 census. The town is governed by a mayor and several council members. As of December 2008, Wales had no stores, gas stations, or stoplights. It does have a park, fire station, library and cemetery.
Description
The small mining town of Wales was named for the country of the immigrants sent there by Brigham Young in 1854 to mine the "rock that burns". A Native American named Tabiona, a prominent Ute, had shown Young, then president of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, a small sample. Young recognized it as coal and asked if his group knew how to mine it. Some Welsh immigrants, including John Evans Rees and his cousin John Price, who had experience with coal mining in the U.K., volunteered and were sent to the west side hills to set up mines.
The community's original name was Coal Bed, but was changed to Wales in 1857. There once was a railroad depot, an essential and busy mining center. The mines and trains were abandoned when more productive mines were discovered in Scofield. Many of the present residents are descendants of the original miners.
Wales lies on the west side of the Sanpete Valley, at the foot of the San Pitch Mountains.
Geography
According to the United States Census Bureau, the town has a total area of 0.3 square mile (0.8 km<sup>2</sup>), all land.
Demographics
As of the census The district operates North Sanpete High School.
See also
- List of municipalities in Utah