History of Our Area - Why is it Called Pickleville? (formerly known as Hodgesville)

 In 1892 Nathaniel Morris Hodges purchased land which extended from the Hansen property on the north of the community to the hills on the south and the lake on the east, including what is now Ideal Beach.  This included all the farm land as well as the lake shore which was used for pasture.

The water supply was insufficient for irrigation, so in 1902 Mr. Hodges formed the Hodges irrigation Company and began the project of enlarging and extending the canal to supply water for the increased acreage.  The work was done with teams and scrapers, shovels, picks and axes.

The Hodges Ranch by 1910 was beginning to be divided into smaller sections, and the saw mill burned down.  By the time Nathaniel Hodges died the remainder of the estate was sold to various parties and more homes were built for new families.

In 1937 the community succeeded in incorporating and availed themselves of the opportunity of installing a culinary water system with the aid of the government funds through the Public Works Administration.  It required much work and unrelenting effort on the part of the citizens who made many trips to Salt Lake City before getting this project approved.

Water rights were obtained to what is known as the William Payne Spring in the canyon above the town.  A right-of-way was procured and town bonded to raise money to buy materials for the project.  Again a great deal of time was spent in selling bonds and project was begun.

The system was surveyed and engineered by Robert G. Harding and the labor of digging trenches, laying pipe, building the cistern, etc., was paid for by the government through the WPA. 

To get the project approved, and meet all the government requirements necessary for their support, it was necessary to go through a lot of "red tape".  The town didn't have enough population to meet the requirements for a project of this type and there were several other things that made it look like the government would not give their approval or support.

When things were looking the darkest, one of the officials, Mr. Pickle, who was over the promotion of the project, said if they would name the town after him he would see that the project got the approval of the government.  This they did, the project was approved, and hence the name of "Pickleville".

From the book "Rich Memories' published in 1962