Abandoned Towns
The welcome sign on Iosepa’s approach road, April 2009

Farm and ranch town

Iosepa

Families from Hawaiʻi and other Pacific islands built Iosepa in 1889. Its cemetery remains a place of remembrance for their descendants.

40°32′31″N 112°44′02″W · ≈4,490 ft

Photo: Ikeosaurus, Wikimedia Commons, Public domain

Access not verified

Treat Iosepa as a burial ground and a community heritage place. We have not verified current everyday opening arrangements or a 2026 event schedule with its custodians. Do not assume that the annual gathering authorizes camping or access across neighboring ranch land at other times.

Overview

A Polynesian farming settlement in Skull Valley

The welcome sign on Iosepa’s approach road, April 2009
The welcome sign on Iosepa’s approach road, April 2009 · Photo: Ikeosaurus, Wikimedia Commons, Public domain

Iosepa began on August 28, 1889, when the first settlers arrived at a ranch in Skull Valley. Most came from Hawaiʻi and belonged to the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. They had faced discrimination in Salt Lake City, and the new settlement offered a place to build a community near the church’s Utah temples.

Residents created irrigation works, planted crops and trees, and raised livestock in a landscape very different from the islands. Disease and financial hardship made life difficult. After plans for a temple at Lāʻie were announced in 1915, most families returned to Hawaiʻi. By 1917 the settlement had emptied and the land was sold.

Video

Iosepa in 30 seconds

Iosepa preserves a Polynesian chapter of Utah history. Historic photographs and maps are dated on screen; current access is summarized in the guide.

Images and historic maps: Ikeosaurus (Public domain), Semiautonomous (CC BY-SA 4.0), Semiautonomous (CC BY-SA 4.0), Semiautonomous (CC BY-SA 4.0). Cropped, animated and overlaid with text. Video adaptation: CC BY-SA 4.0. Original synthesized music; narration by Google Gemini 3.8 Flash TTS, Charon. English captions included.

History

How Iosepa grew and changed

  1. The first settlers arrive on August 28; Iosepa is named for Joseph F. Smith.
  2. Residents build homes, a school, meetinghouse and irrigation works.
  3. Plans for a temple at Lāʻie give families a reason to return to Hawaiʻi.
  4. The settlement is deserted and the land is sold.
  5. The cemetery is listed in the National Register.
  6. Descendants develop the annual Memorial Day gathering and preservation work.

On the ground

What remains at Iosepa

The cemetery, monument and scattered foundations preserve the settlement’s memory. Cemetery photographs taken December 18, 2021 show graves and the memorial area. Descendants’ gatherings continue the connection between this Utah site and Pacific Islander families.

Before you go

Access and current conditions

Treat Iosepa as a burial ground and a community heritage place. We have not verified current everyday opening arrangements or a 2026 event schedule with its custodians. Do not assume that the annual gathering authorizes camping or access across neighboring ranch land at other times.

Reading the maps

The town in its landscape

The earliest sheet shows Skull Valley before Iosepa was established. Later sheets label Iosepa and its cemetery at the foot of the mountains.

Historic maps

Iosepa on USGS maps, 1885–1979

Crops from the USGS Historical Topographic Map Collection, centered on the townsite. Each sheet shows what surveyors mapped that year; compare them with today's topo and aerial on this page.

USGS topographic map around Iosepa, 1885
Tooele Valley sheet, 1885, 1:250,000 · U.S. Geological Survey, public domain · catalog record

Maps & access

Location and access

Treat Iosepa as a burial ground and a community heritage place. We have not verified current everyday opening arrangements or a 2026 event schedule with its custodians. Do not assume that the annual gathering authorizes camping or access across neighboring ranch land at other times.

Google MapsApple MapsOpenStreetMap

Access and safety notes

  • Treat Iosepa as a burial ground and a community heritage place. We have not verified current everyday opening arrangements or a 2026 event schedule with its custodians. Do not assume that the annual gathering authorizes camping or access across neighboring ranch land at other times.

Photos

Iosepa in photos

Visitor reports

Been to Iosepa?

Been there lately? Tell the next visitor what you found: whether you could get in, the state of the road and what's still standing. Photos are welcome. We read every report before it appears here.

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Nearby

Other sites near Iosepa

Straight-line distance from the townsite to other mapped sites in our Utah index.

Sources

Sources and credits

  1. Iosepa, Utah - Wikipedia: historical chronology, identity and location; read October 25, 2026.
  2. Iosepa- Utah Ghost Town: historical fact sheet and town history; read October 25, 2026.
  3. Benjamin C. Pykles, “Iosepa: Utah’s Pacific Islander Pioneers,” Utah Historical Society, June 10, 2020: settlement, irrigation, departure and cemetery; read October 25, 2026.
  4. Elevation at the mapped point: USGS 3D Elevation Program query, October 25, 2026. Historical topographic sheets: USGS Historical Topographic Map Collection (public domain).
  5. Wikimedia Commons, Iosepa Welcome Sign.jpg: The welcome sign on Iosepa’s approach road, April 2009; Public domain. File description and image checked October 25, 2026.
  6. Wikimedia Commons, Tooele County - Iosepa Settlement Cemetery - 20211218155434.jpg: Snow-covered cemetery grounds at Iosepa, December 2021; CC BY-SA 4.0. File description and image checked October 25, 2026.
  7. Wikimedia Commons, Tooele County - Iosepa Settlement Cemetery - 20211218155807.jpg: A historical marker at Iosepa Settlement Cemetery, December 2021; CC BY-SA 4.0. File description and image checked October 25, 2026.
  8. Wikimedia Commons, Tooele County - Iosepa Settlement Cemetery - 20211218161018.jpg: Graves and snow in the Iosepa cemetery, December 2021; CC BY-SA 4.0. File description and image checked October 25, 2026.
  9. Profiling Evil, “How'd a Hawaiian Ghost Town End Up in Utah Desert? | Profiling Evil”, YouTube, posted July 17, 2025: on-site cemetery, memorial and pavilion views used for condition only. The later Benmore segment and the narration’s history are not used.

Photo and map credits