Millard County’s Great Basin and Topaz museums are designed to give you a deeper glimpse into the region’s geological wonders and stories of human resilience.
Start the day at the Great Basin Museum, where displays of regional fossils, minerals, and artifacts vividly illustrate our ancient natural history and early 20th-century life. Next door, the Topaz Museum tells the moving story of Japanese Americans interned at the nearby Topaz Relocation Camp during WWII. Its powerful exhibits shed light on their harrowing experience.
Learn About Our Natural History at the Great Basin Museum
The Great Basin Museum has a superb collection of regional fossils and minerals. Be sure to ask for the blacklight demonstration, as certain minerals emit vibrant colors when exposed to a blacklight to make ordinary-looking rocks glow in pink, green, blue, and orange shades.
Other displays replicate early 20th-century local life with many donated original pieces, such as:
- An entirely stocked wooden general store counter
- Bygone household, business, farming, and equipment
- Actual period medical and dental equipment
- A working model railroad with a current satellite photo showing the giant imprint left of the no-longer-existent roundhouse at Lynndyl
Many exhibits have a friendly docent ready to share their memories.
Great Basin History Highlights
Our region is rich in cultural and natural history, and our museum tells that history in a pleasant, educational, and thought-provoking way. Today, we have some of the best and most complete Cambrian and Ordovician geologic strata to be found anywhere in the world. The “Cambrian Explosion” began in our rocks, and we have fossils to prove it; you can dig them up at U-Dig or New Dig, our local commercial quarries.
Human occupation in Millard County also goes back to at least the Ice Age. The Fremont People lived here in large numbers and left numerous artifacts behind. There’s a Folsom site near Delta, and Clovis points have been found there. Modern communities were first settled in the 1850s, and our displays from that period center around the railroad, mining, and agricultural industries.
How to Get There
GPS COORDINATES:
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39.352038° N, 112.575864° W |
The Great Basin Museum is located on US Highway 6/50 at 45 W Main Street in Delta, UT.
What to expect & how to prepare
Visiting the Great Basin Museum is an easy, low-key activity that doesn’t require much preparation. However, here are a few things to know before you go:
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Admission: Admission is free; we are a 501(c)3 organization with an all-volunteer staff and a small operating budget, so donations are welcome but unnecessary. It’s more important that you visit! |
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Tours: Call 435) 864-5013 for tours and special requests. |
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Hours of Operation: Our hours are 10 AM until 5 PM during summer (from April 1 to October 31); for the rest of the year, we are open on Thursday afternoons, Fridays, and Saturdays. Call for more accurate times and to bring in large groups. We welcome school groups. |
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Nearby Attractions: The Topaz Museum is just next door! |
For the most up-to-date hours and availability, check the museum website.
BEST TIMES TO VISIT
The Great Basin Museum is fun for the whole family any time of year as part of a multi-day adventure in Millard County or as its own activity!
Walk in the Shoes of WWII Internees at Topaz Museum
The internment of Japanese Americans during WWII was one of the worst violations of civil rights in the history of the United States — and we must never forget the tragic events and causes leading up to this historical event.
The Topaz Museum is a non-profit, volunteer organization that serves to preserve the history of Topaz so we can walk in the shoes of internees and continue to learn from the past. By remembering what happened and why, we can avoid similar civil rights violations in the future.
The History of Topaz
On February 19, 1942, President Franklin D. Roosevelt signed an executive order amid WWII authorizing the removal and internment of those with Japanese ancestry living in the West. Soon after, citing “military necessity,” the government and the U.S. Army removed 110,000 men, women, and children from their homes and put them in remote camps.
Topaz was one of these camps, located 16 miles northwest of Delta. This relocation camp made Delta the fifth-largest city in Utah then, with up to 8,300 internees at peak population. Two-thirds of internees were American citizens, and those born in Japan were prevented from becoming naturalized citizens by Alien Laws passed as early as 1912.
None of these people were ever convicted or even charged with any crime, yet they were imprisoned for up to three years, surrounded by barbed wire and armed guards.
How the Camp Functioned
Also called the Central Utah Relocation Authority and Abraham Relocation Authority, Topaz consisted of 19,800 acres of land. It opened on September 11, 1942. Internees could come into Delta to shop or work. Some Delta businesses hired them, and people became friends.
The town was a square mile with 42 blocks, 36 of which housed administrators and internees. Each block had 12 barracks divided into apartments, a central latrine, and a mess hall. The barracks for the internees consisted of three different-sized apartments:
- 20’ x 14’ was for two or three people
- 20’ x 20’ was for four people
- 20’ x 26’ was for five
- Families larger than five lived in two apartments
Today, the non-profit Topaz Museum volunteer board owns 634 acres of the one-mile Topaz site.
Reparations for Victims
Time went by, and people stopped talking about the camps. However, President Ronald Reagan signed legislation to give survivors reparation after the Commission on Wartime Relocation. In 1990, President George H. Bush issued a formal apology and $20,000 compensation checks to those held in any of the camps. The Commission concluded that the causes of internment were “race prejudice, war hysteria, and a failure of political leadership.”
Meteorite Discovery at Topaz
On September 24, 1944, two Japanese men temporarily stationed at Topaz were prospecting for their class in lapidary arts. They passed by a large rock protruding two feet from the ground and noticed it had a different appearance from other rocks in the area.
A specimen was sent to the Smithsonian Institution, and the rock was determined to be an octahedral meteorite. It weighed 1,164 pounds with dimensions of 2’ x 1.5’ x 2’ and was believed to be less than 100 years old when found. The Smithsonian purchased the meteorite from Yoshito and Akio for $700.
Today, part of the meteor remains in the Smithsonian Institute. Scientists estimated that the kinetic energy of the meteorite, based on the size and shape of the meteorite, would have been around 20 million pounds.
How to Get There
GPS COORDINATES:
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39.352020° N, 112.576149° W |
The museum’s address is 55 West Main in Delta, while the Topaz site is located at 4500 North 10000 West. Take the Sutherland road from Delta and follow the signs to the Topaz Relocation Camp, approximately three miles northwest of Abraham. There’s a monument located at 10750 West.
What to expect & how to prepare
We recommend visiting the museum before exploring the Topaz Relocation Camp remnants. You’ll appreciate the site more once you learn the internees’ stories and see the artifacts firsthand.
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Admission: Admission is by donation. |
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Tours: Groups can request a tour using the form on the museum website. |
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Resources: The website also contains information about the Topaz Relocation Site and lists other resources, including books, organizations, and websites about internment. |
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Hours of Operation: The museum is open from 10 AM to 5 PM, Monday through Saturday. Closed on New Year’s Day, Thanksgiving, and Christmas. |
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Nearby Attractions: The Great Basin Museum is just next door! |
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Precautions: Please do not remove artifacts from the site. |
BEST TIME TO VISIT
Visit the Topaz Museum any time of year as part of a multi-day adventure in Millard County or as its own activity. Just be sure to visit the site of the camp after you see the museum, and be prepared for whatever weather conditions follow the time of year. Summer and winter can bring extreme weather conditions, so plan accordingly.
