Upalco, Utah


Upalco is an unincorporated community in eastern Duchesne County, Utah, United States.

Description

The community is located in the Uinta Basin on the Uintah and Ouray Indian Reservation, about southeast of the town of Altamont and has an elevation of. Upalco uses the same ZIP code that is assigned to Bluebell, a census-designated place located about to the north.
Upalco was originally named Lake Fork, after the nearby Lake Fork River, which flows southerly to the west of the community. The name Upalco came from the initial letters of Utah Power and Light Company, which provided funding for an associated, but unidentified project. The Big Sand Wash Reservoir is located about north of Upalco.
Road access to Upalco is primarily by State Route 87, which passes north-south through the community.

History

The section of highway that passes north-south through Upalco was previously part of the former State Route 86. From 1935 to 1964 the road that ran from U.S. Route 40 in Bridgeland northerly to Altonah was designated as SR‑86.. Near the southern edge of Uplaco was a junction on SR‑86, from which SR‑87 ran east, via Ioka, to Ioka Junction.
In 1964, the section of the former SR‑86 from the junction near the southern edge of Upalco northerly to Altamont, was added to the west end of SR‑87. In 1969, what left of SR‑86 was deleted from the state highway system.