Oasis, Utah

Oasis is located in the eastern Sevier Desert of Millard County, approximately 140 miles (230 km) southwest of Salt Lake City. Oasis lies some 6 miles (9.7 km) southwest of Delta, and 2 miles (3.2 km) east of the village of Deseret, with which it has always been closely associated. About 4 miles (6.4 km) north is Gunnison Bend Reservoir, the last impoundment of the Sevier River. The area consists of irrigated farmland on the edge of harsh desert, an oasis east of Swasey Mountain.

The Utah Southern Railroad Extension reached the Oasis area in October 1879,[5]^: 163 and by 1880 a settlement had begun to develop.[5]^: 184 Originally named Deseret Station,[5]^: 170 it became known as Oasis by 1885. In the early years, a small dam near Deseret provided all the irrigation water. Then in 1886, the Oasis and Riverside Canal Company and the Gunnison Bend Canal Company were organized, with ambitious plans to expand the cultivation of the surrounding land. The canal projects took years longer than expected,[5]^: 162 but supported steady population growth.

In the meantime, Oasis's main economic activity was as a railroad station. The precious metal mines of Frisco and Joy provided substantial freight traffic to the shipping point at Oasis.[5]^: 164 The station served communities as distant as Baker, Nevada, 100 miles (160 km) away.[5]^: 167 It also made an attractive location for shearing sheep, shipping livestock, and outfitting ranches.[5]^{: 176–177} A small commercial center began to develop, with a general store, hotel, restaurant, saloon, bank, and other small businesses.[5]^: 184

In 1891, the Deseret Ward of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints was divided into three congregations, for Hinckley, Deseret, and Oasis.[5]^{: 185–186} It is from this time that Oasis is usually regarded as a separate community, an outgrowth of Deseret.[6]

The location for the town that became Delta was chosen at a 1905 meeting of the Melville Irrigation Company held in Oasis. Originally named Burtner, the new town boomed. The Oasis Land and Water Company was organized in 1908 to develop water and land west of Burtner, but it failed due to flooding and financial problems in 1910.[5]^{: 206–210} The Burtner project, on the other hand, was wildly successful, selling thousands of acres per month. In the 1910 census, Burtner's population was nearly double that of Oasis. Homesteaders streamed into the makeshift railroad depot, which by 1911 was the busiest in the county. That year Burtner was renamed Delta, and the railroad built a new Delta Station, the largest south of Salt Lake City.[5]^{: 212–213} The centrally located Delta permanently supplanted Oasis in prominence.[5]^: 218

Its railroad business gone, Oasis returned to agricultural industries. Alfalfa seed, lumber, and sugar beets were important products. A few businesses rounded up and trained Mustang horses for sale.[5]^{: 225–226} A creamery was established in 1913.[5]^: 263

A coal-fired power plant was built in Oasis in the 1920s. Small and inefficient, it served Deseret, Hinckley, and Delta until 1930.[5]^: 269

The last years of the 1920s were hard on the entire region. Drought, insects, and frost damaged crop yields, and numerous farms closed down under financial difficulties. The Oasis State Bank went out of business in 1928.[5]^{: 273–274} Continuing drought conditions in the 1930s severely reduced the available irrigation water, and large tracts of farmland in the Oasis area had to be abandoned.[5]^: 282

In June 1983, about 400 people in the Deseret–Oasis area were evacuated when the Gunnison Bend dam and the DMAD dam above it failed due to that year's excessive spring runoff. Some 16,000 acre-feet (20,000,000 m³) of water inundated a large area with Oasis approximately in the center, leaving about 70,000 acres (280 km²) of farmland with no means of irrigation that year.[7]

As of the census[3] of 2010, there were 75 people living in the CDP. There were 28 housing units. The racial makeup was 78.7% White, 4.0% American Indian and Alaska Native, 14.7% from some other race, and 2.7% from two or more races. Hispanic or Latino of any race were 17.3% of the population.

• List of census-designated places in Utah

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