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About Clarkston
The town of Clarkston sits on the far western side of Cache Valley, with the peak of Clarkston Mountain standing just a few miles to the west. It was settled in 1864 by Mormon pioneers and named after the first Branch President, Israel Justus Clark. The town overlooks a farming area to the east that is a few hundred feet higher than most of the valley and separated from it by a line of hills. Little Mountain is the largest of these hills, and stands a few miles to the southwest of Clarkston. Between Little Mountain and Clarkston there is a reservoir called Newton Lake, which was the first reservoir built in Utah, where locals go swimming and boating.
Clarkston is accessed by Utah Highway 142, which makes a 90 degree turn on the eastern edge of Clarkston, heading south to Newton, and east to Trenton. Clarkston is in a quiet corner of Cache Valley which hasn't seen the growth that has occurred on the other side of the valley around Logan. Two other roads leave Clarkston, one going north over some hills and crossing into Idaho, the other, Short Divide Road, crosses the mountain to the west and descends into the Bear River Valley.
The population of Clarkston was 666 at the 2010 census. The elevation is 4,800 feet at the eastern edge of town, and it slopes up to 5,000 feet on the western edge of town. It has a post office with the zip code 84305.
Clarkston was the home of Martin Harris, who lived here until he died on July 10, 1875. He is buried in the Clarkston Cemetery. Martin Harris was one of the three men who were allowed to see the golden plates from which Joseph Smith translated the Book of Mormon and whose name appears as one of the Three Witnesses at the beginning of the book. Clarkston commemorates his life with a pageant held every other year.
For More Information:
See Wikipedia's Clarkston article.