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About Garland
The city of Garland enjoys a spot in the Bear River Valley, north of Great Salt Lake, in Northern Utah. The Malad River flows by on the east side of town, and a mile further east, the Bear River flows by in a channel one hundred feet deep. These two rivers meet several miles to the south, and then flow into the Great Salt Lake. Immediately to the west of Garland is Point Lookout Mountain, which is the southern tip of a range of mountains that extends for many miles to the north and comes to an end right next to Garland. At the southern tip of this mountain, a narrow hill protrudes for half a mile out over the valley floor, offering a unique viewpoint, and hence named Point Lookout. Just under the tip of Point Lookout is a large spring named Salt Spring.
A wide valley exists to the south of Garland, reaching around Point Lookout Mountains, west to Thatcher Mountain, and east to Wellsville Mountain. Several miles to the south the land becomes swampy and salty as it drops to the edge of Great Salt Lake. The valley extends a few miles to the east and north of Garland. Farmland fills the entire valley, dotted with farmhouses and criss-crossed by rural roads. To the northeast lies Gunsight Peak. The Bear River flows into the valley from the east through a gap in the mountains, while the Malad River flows in from a narrower valley straight to the north, called Malad Valley, which extends well into Idaho.
The town of Tremonton lies immediately south of Garland, and the two towns have grown together. 1400 South Street of Garland is also Tenth North Street of Tremonton, and crosses into that town close to Main Street. Garland has a population of 2,400 as of the 2010 census, which was an increase of more than four hundred over the year 2000. Tremonton has 7,647 residents, making a combined city of over 10,000.
Mormon pioneers settled all of the Bear River Valley beginning in the mid-1800's, as they left the comforts of European and Eastern cities to help establish a Zion patterned after their religious faith in this western wilderness. The Transcontinental Railroad was built in the 1860s south of Garland, and much of the land came into the ownership of the railroad. 90,000 acres were purchased by Alexandre Toponce and John W. Kerr who formed the Corinne Mill Canal and Stock Company. In 1889 a canal was built to bring water from the Bear River. The contractor who built the canal was named William Garland. 7,000 men were employed to build the canal. It begins at the Cutler dam far to the northeast of Garland, makes its way to the west side of the valley, where it crosses the Malad River in a flume. Then it follows the base of the West Hills southward to Garland and beyond. Once irrigation water was available, the settlement grew quickly. First called Sunset, it was decided to rename the town after William Garland, when the post office was established in 1895.
In 1903 the Utah Sugar Company factory was built and it operated until 1978, producing sugar from beets. It became the major economic force in Garland, controlling the canal and owning much of the farmland. It is memoriallzed in the the name of the main east-west street in town, called Factory Street and the old factory buildings are extant at the east end of that street.
U.S. Highway 191 passed by Garland on the east side of town, heading north into Idaho, and south along the Wasatch Front. It was later replaced by Interstate 15 which passes by on the west side of town on the foothills of the mountains. The old highway 191 is now Utah Highway 13. It leads north to Riverside. State Highway 82 junctions with highway 13 northeast of Garland, and follows Factory Street to Main Street and then follows Main Street south until it meets Utah Highway 102 in Tremonton.
The land at Garland is quite flat, the whole town ling between 4,330 and 4,360 feet in elevation. It is located at 41.74 north latitude and -112.16 west longitude.