Davis County by the numbers

In a numbers game, Davis County many times finds itself at the bottom of the heap. It is by far the smallest of Utah's 29 counties, with less than half the land mass of any other county in the state.

But this wasn't always so.

Although today Davis is only 268 square miles, far below the second-smallest county, Morgan, at 603 miles — in the early days Morgan and Davis were one single county.

According to Harris Adams, Layton historian, Morgan was settled by families from Davis County, and the two counties were one through much of the 1850s. However, eventually Morgan split apart from Davis, likely for geographical reasons.

"It was just geographic," Adams said.

The Wasatch Mountains to the east made a distinct natural wall, and even Weber Canyon was not an easy path into Morgan. Devil's Gate, another formidable barrier, meant a Parrish Canyon road had to be seasonally used as the best route to Morgan, when the Weber River was raging.

If Davis had retained Morgan County, it would have boasted some 871 square miles and ranked 24th largest, even ahead of Salt Lake County.

Davis County has also always suffered from the stigma as the "land in between." Located between Salt Lake and Ogden, the county is many times simply viewed as the space to traverse to go farther north or south.

According to Glen M. Leonard, author of "A History of Davis County," Davis County is also unique in that its original settlements grew out of herding camps. There were no carefully organized immigrant groups sent out to settle there, Davis was "a natural extension of the initial gathering place (Salt Lake)."

In fact, Bountiful has the honor of being Utah's second settlement behind Salt Lake City, in September of 1847. Although the city was eventually named after an ancient American city described in the Book of Mormon, Bountiful was also known as "Session's Settlement," "North Mill Creek Canyon," "North Canyon" and even "Stoker" in its early years.

Despite its pigmy size in land, Davis County still ranks third in total population among the 29 counties, behind Salt Lake and Utah counties. But what about Davis' other numerical quantities, qualities and rankings?

The listing at the right offers an offbeat look at Davis County — purely by numbers — a different way to illustrate the flavor and character of the smallest geographical county in Utah.

Few Wal-Marts but lots of restaurants and vehicles