This is an archived article that was published on sltrib.com in 2011, and information in the article may be outdated. It is provided only for personal research purposes and may not be reprinted.
Wallsburg • Authorities seized 2,061 marijuana plants Friday from a mountainside in Wasatch County, the Drug Enforcement Administration reported.
Wasatch County Sheriff's Chief Deputy Jared Rigby said about 50 officers hiked about 2 miles in steep terrain on U.S. Forest Service land, located about 10 miles outside of Wallsburg, to eradicate the plants. The plants were discovered by a hiker, Rigby said.
Rigby said the plants were in their infancy and were only 1 to 2 feet high. He said the camp had been abandoned. No arrests were made.
"Investigators believe their water supply ran out," he said. Rigby said the growers had dammed up a nearby stream and used black piping to funnel water to their crop.
He said the living quarters had been torn apart and there was no indication anyone had been there in some time.
It took authorities about four hours to harvest all the plants, which were flown out of the area and will be destroyed.
Marijuana fields frequently have been found in southern Utah in recent years, but northern Utah fields have been less common. Mexican drug cartels have been blamed for the increase in such fields the past five years. Authorities at the scene said they weren't sure who was operating the Wasatch County patch.