A blog reader wants to know if there was a town in Juab County called "Juab" and if there ever was a horse race track in Nephi. The answer is yes.

Some time ago, a blog reader sent this writer some questions, and asked if I could investigate it. As I had absolute proof of a couple of his concerns, I thought I would get a "round to it" when I made the time. It was only by accident that I was going through some of my historical boxes and found what appears to be a photo of the Juab County horse track race in Nephi, Utah and along with that will be my testament as a kid, having eyeball affirmation that I remember the track being located west of Nephi where the Ute Stampede is now held. Viewers could sit in the grandstand and watch the horses race around the oval track by the site of the maker of the first home in Nephi then by the baseball diamond then the final stretch. That was in the 1950's. The bog inquirer maintained that his 3rd great grandfather was Elmer Taylor, and introduced horse racing to Utah in the 1890s. The writer reported his family helped to settle Levan and thought there was a mile long track east of Juab, but wasn't sure there was a town by that name. Elmer had a son by the name of James, who was a "much in demand" jockey. I have found a post card photo in my family history documents which appear to be of the horse race track in front of the grandstand, now used for events, although the grandstand has been  modified since that photo was taken. There is no date on the postcard but it was among the same documents from the 1880 to 1920 era that I have. Additionally, one may see two separate horse drawn buggies nearby and Kentucky Derby hats on the women in the grandstand. As a kid in the 1950's, I also recall being invited to the Moss ranch in the town of Juab where in its heyday,  herds of buffalo would stop trains. I had never heard of a oval horse track on the east of Juab, which is east of Mills, but somebody from Levan may know.  As a side note, I also recall that in the 1940's Joe Garrett was instrumental in horse pulling contests in Juab County. So it was written, so shall it be written.