Tooele, UT

Tooele is the Tooele County seat, set on the western slope of the Oquirrh Mountains in the valley immediately west of Salt Lake Valley. Its population was 35,742 in the 2020 census. Twentieth-century industry reshaped the city: the Los Angeles and Salt Lake Railroad arrived in 1904, and the International Smelting and Refining Company built a smelter east of town in 1909. By 1941, a 22,000-foot tunnel carried ore through the mountain to that plant. Tooele is also known for Tooele Army Depot and has a Utah State University regional campus. The Tooele Arts Festival began in 1985 and moved from late May to the final weekend of June in 1998 after repeated cold spells disrupted the outdoor event.