Yost is a ghost town

Ghost town

A ghost town is an abandoned town or city. A town often becomes a ghost town because the economic activity that supported it has failed, or due to natural or human-caused disasters such as floods, government actions, uncontrolled lawlessness, war, or nuclear disasters...

 located in northwestern Box Elder County, Utah

Box Elder County, Utah

Box Elder County is a county located in the U.S. state of Utah. It lies on the north end of the Great Salt Lake, covering a large area north to the Idaho border and west to the Nevada border. Included in this area are large tracts of barren desert, contrasted by high, forested mountains. The...

, on the north central slopes of the Raft River Mountains

Raft River Mountains

The Raft River Mountains are a mountain range in northern Box Elder County, Utah, United States. The ghost town of Yost is on the north central slopes. Tributaries of the Raft River drain the northern slopes of the range.-Geography:...

, some 115 miles northwest of Brigham City

Brigham City, Utah

Brigham City is a city in Box Elder County, Utah, United States. The population was 17,899 at the 2010 census. It is the county seat of Box Elder County. It lies on the western slope of the Wellsville Mountains, a branch of the Wasatch Range at the western terminus of Box Elder Canyon...

. The first name for the area was "George Creek" for a man named George, an early range rider who came to the area with Charles Yost from the Nevada Territory

Nevada Territory

The Territory of Nevada was an organized incorporated territory of the United States that existed from March 2, 1861, until October 31, 1864, when it was admitted to the Union as the State of Nevada....

. Charles Yost remained in the area, becoming Postmaster

Postmaster

A postmaster is the head of an individual post office. Postmistress is not used anymore in the United States, as the "master" component of the word refers to a person of authority and has no gender quality...

 in 1887. After Yost built his cabin, he lived alone until he married Maria Larsen from Terrace, Utah

Terrace, Utah

Terrace is a ghost town, located in the Great Salt Lake Desert in west-central Box Elder County, Utah, United States. The town was established in 1869 as a Central Pacific Railroad "division point" , on the route of the First Transcontinental Railroad...

, on the south side of the mountains. For four years she was the only woman living in Yost.

Yost was later settled by other pioneer homesteaders. By 1910 the population had increased to 251 people. The town had a schoolhouse and church built. Yost incorporated on August 19, 1935 during the Great Depression

Great Depression

The Great Depression was a severe worldwide economic depression in the decade preceding World War II. The timing of the Great Depression varied across nations, but in most countries it started in about 1929 and lasted until the late 1930s or early 1940s...

. At the time, Yost's boundaries were the largest in size in the state of Utah. However, due to poor land quality for farming and ranch

Ranch

A ranch is an area of landscape, including various structures, given primarily to the practice of ranching, the practice of raising grazing livestock such as cattle or sheep for meat or wool. The word most often applies to livestock-raising operations in the western United States and Canada, though...

ing, the population declined and the Town of Yost disincorporated on January 6, 1984.