The International
Smelting and Refining Company's smelter, built east of Tooele City in
1910, for some sixty years processed ore carried by aerial tramway from
the Bingham mine. The plant attracted workers from southern and eastern
Europe, diversifying Tooele's ethnic and religious mix. The Tooele Valley Railroad, completed in 1909, served the smelter's needs and provided
additional jobs.
Military installations
built during World War II boosted the county's population and continue
to pump millions of dollars into the local economy. Wendover Air Force
Base (now closed) near the Nevada border became an important site for
bomber training, at one time employing almost 20,000 military and civilian
personnel. Tooele Ordnance Depot (now Tooele Army Depot, or TAD), built
in 1942 on a huge tract of land south of Tooele City, served as a major
supply, storage, and repair center, employing almost 2,000 civilians
in 1944. Activity at TAD peaked during the Korean War and again during
the Vietnam conflict. Dugway Proving Grounds, a chemical and biological
warfare test center built at the same time, became controversial in
the 1970s when a large number of sheep in the area were killed, presumably
as a result of nerve gas testing. Today, most of western Tooele County
is reserved for military use. Citizens of Tooele County received a major
economic blow in 1993 when the Tooele Army Depot was included on a Defense
Department list of bases to be closed. Although the closure of the depot
will undoubtedly greatly affect the county, citizens and officials are
working to mitigate the impact.
Miriam B. Murphy