Controversy goes back to before Carbon was settled The ongoing
conflicts between Carbon and Sanpete counties may have started
with the failure of Mammoth Dam in Gooseberry Narrows. But water
disputes between the counties surfaced before the dam collapsed.
The first major damming of a stream feeding the Price River
drainage occurred in 1869, when private concerns from Sanpete
built a structure to impound head water. Fairview Lake, as it
became known, was actually two bodies of water created by one
dam. The reservoir, as it exists today, is presently owned by
Cottonwood-Gooseberry Irrigation Company, although restricted
public access is allowed. The construction and operation of
Fairview Lake appears to have prompted the idea that water could
be taken from the Price drainage for use in Sanpete County. When
the settlement of the Sanpete Valley began, occasional travelers
merely passed through Carbon County. No non-native American
settlements were established for a number of years. The
perpetuation of Fairview La