Whiterocks is a census-designated place (CDP) in Uintah County, Utah, United States. The population was 221 at the 2020 census, a decrease of the 2010 population of 289. In 1828, one of Utah's first European-American trading posts, Fort Robidoux, was established on the outskirts of modern Whiterocks.
Geography
Whiterocks is located at (40.467560, -109.929607).
According to the United States Census Bureau, the CDP has a total area of , all land.
Demographics
As of the census
1868 Amos Reed, a government clerk in the employment of the Indian Service, made a trip to Whiterocks. His guide, Chief Antero, said that since he was to be moved to the Uintah Reservation he would choose Whiterocks for his home, and he suggested to Mr. Reed that the Indian Agency be established at that place. His reason for his choice was that Whiterocks was located in the center of the Basin. Here the local Utes were used to staying. Here traders and trappers had established posts and headquarters. Many trails led to and from it, and here the site had a lovely natural setting. On the recommendation of Chief Antero, the agency was moved from Rock Creek to Whiterocks on Christmas Day 1868.
Archaeology
Whiterocks is near the site of the eponymous "Whiterocks Village," a Uinta Fremont village partially excavated in 1966 by Wayne F. Shields, assigned on the basis of architecture and radiocarbon dates to the Whiterocks Phase, A.D. 800-950. The excavated portion consisted of four round pithouses, 12-18 square feet in size, and a rectangular granary 25 by 29.5 feet in dimensions featuring coursed adobe walls. Of the four dwellings, two had masonry walls and central firepits, while the other two had single stone walls and no firepits.
Other artifacts included chipped and ground stone tools, shells, nine corncobs, beans, and bone tools.
The site is on the National Register of Historic Places. Much of the surface of the site was under cultivation at the time of excavation and was presumed to have been largely destroyed by agricultural activity.
See also
- List of census-designated places in Utah