"SUMMIT COUNTY
As Echo Canyon, which is often called "the Gateway to the Pacific" is located in Summit County, it is a well-known fact that nearly every trapper, explorer, and missionary traversed through Summit county.

"John C. Fremont, who made five journeys exploring the west must have traveled through this county as Fremont's official report was used by Brigham Young and his party during their first migration to Utah.. Miles Goodyear, who met the Mormon party July 10, 1847, in company with Porter Rockwell, scouted through this county to find the best roads for the pioneers to follow. Orson Pratt's advance company reached the Weber River bank near the present site of Henefer. At 12 o'clock noon, President Young and all who remained with him joined the main camp at the head of Echo Canyon. After traveling four and one-fourth miles they camped one mile above the site of the present Castle Rock.

"July 17th [1847], Orson Pratt's company traveled eight miles over a very rough road and camped on the left bank of East Canyon Creek. The mountains on each side of the creek rise abruptly from 600 to 3000 feet. The main camp traveled twenty-three miles down Echo Canyon to the junction of Echo Creek and the Weber River. During the day President Young was very sick and could not travel further.

"July 19th [1847], Orson Pratt and John Brown left the advance camp on horseback, to explore the road which left East Canyon Creek to the southwest through a vista of gradually sloping mountains. Through an opening in the canyon the light blue and the fleecy white clouds above seemed to be sinking into a plain of gold. Two small portions of level prairie were visible and beyond arose a series of blue mountains, their peaks tipped with snow. It was the valley of the Great Salt Lake. Echoes of Yesterday, D.U.P. History of Summit County" --Heart Throbs of the West, Vol. 12, 1951, page 216

Not long after their arrival in July 1847 to the Salt Lake valley, a few Mormon Saints returned to the green mountain meadow they had seen on their way to the Salt Lake Valley. Mormon Apostle Parley Parker Pratt visited the Snyderville Basin and had some cattle grazing there. He was impressed with the land describing it in a letter on June 30, 1848 addressed to John A. Smith as follows:

"a beautiful meadow or park, nearly circular, averaging 3 miles in length and 2 miles in width, and comprising some three or four thousand acres of excellent land, clothed withgrass and interspersed with wild flax and strawberry vines.
Large groves of aspen, mostly dry, were interspersed within the valley and hill sides, while ten beautiful clear streams ran through the park and formed the west branch of the Weber River...it was the most desirable and convenient place for stock farms I ever saw, plentiful in grass, watered as Eden and sufficiently timbered to supply hundreds of families."

"On the 17th , as four men were hauling lumber from Snyder's mill, near Parley's Park, and had arrived just east of the summit of the second or big mountain (Parley's Summit), a party of Indians fired upon them from an ambush, and instantly killed John Dixon and John Quayle, and wounded John Hoagland through the fleshy part of his arm, between the shoulder and elbow. Hoagland and Knight then unloosed, and mounted two horses, and escaped to this city, leaving the dead and four horses and two mules in possession of the Indians. A detachment was immediately sent out who brought in the dead bodies unmutilated, the day following; a portion of the detachment proceeded to Snyder's mill, dismantled it, and all returned in safety, and without being able to find any Indians. No further collisions have taken place."

Around 1850, Samuel C. Snyder, Heber C. Kimball, and Jedediah M. Grant secured a land grant from the territorial government (other accounts state "squatter's rights" from Parley P. Pratt) to settle this valley. Samuel Comstock Snyder and his first wife, (1) Henrietta Mariah Stockwell Snyder, and their 14 children: Permelia Snyder, George Franklin Snyder, Mary Ann Snyder, Ephriam Stockwell Snyder, Laura Altha Snyder, Henerietta Snyder, Amy Snyder, Robert Hyrum Snyder, Sarah Jane Snyder, Isaac Snyder, Betsy Ann Snyder, Charles Wellington Snyder, Annice Lovica Snyder, and Jaddiah Snyder, were the first settlers, and gave their name to the community that grew up in this meadow, now known as the Snyderville Basin. The geographical location of Park City and the collection of miners' tents had been known as Upper Parley's and Upper Kimball, after the prominent Mormon leaders, Parley Parker Pratt and Heber C. Kimball.

On September 19, 1851, Samuel C. Snyder married his first plural wife, (2) Caroline Little Luce, daughter of Ephriam Luce and Lydia Maria Macomber Luce. They had five children, the first son, John Peter Snyder born on 2 February 1853. John Peter married Anna Mariah Rasmussen in 1879

In 1853, Samuel built the first sawmill in the area, a water-powered sawmill and then a gristmill on the southwest side of Parley's Park at the present site of the Snyder's Mill housing subdivision. Snyder built a reservoir harnessing the flow of White Pine, Red Pine, and Willow Creeks. Snyder found an eager clientele for his lumber in the growing community of Salt Lake City. With his sons and brothers, he also raised cattle. However, the opening of Snyder's sawmill coincided with an outbreak of hostilities between Mormon settlers and the Ute Chief Wakara. The migration of Mormon settler's beginning in 1847 had created a competition with the Shoshone and Ute tribes who hunted in the area. Among the first casualties were three customers of Samuel C. Snyder's sawmill. According to the August 1853 Deseret News:

In 1855 "the state Legislature also granted certain grounds in most of the counties to individuals or companies for herding...

"Be it enacted by the Governor and Legislative Assembly of the Territory of Utah: That the exclusive right of the use of the ground, commonly known as Parley's Park, and the adjoining valley lying southward, including Silver Creek, is hereby granted to Heber C. Kimball, Jedediah M. Grant, Samuel Snyder, and their associates for their grounds, for the period of twenty years. Approved January 19, 1855." --Heart Throbs of the West, Vol. 12, 1951, Page 298

To protect themselves, Snyder, who had originally settled on Spring Creek, and the other settlers built their homes inside a fort. Each evening they would bring their cattle, wagons, and other belongings inside the compound. After the Utes began setting fire to piles of lumber, Snyder began hiding the lumber in ditches and tall grass. An employee, Jesse W. Johnson, apparently escaped a confrontation by sneaking up a creek drainage and into the Salt Lake Valley. On May 8, 1860, Jesse W. Johnson was accidentally killed at Snyder's Mill at Parley's Park, Summit County, Utah.