This is an archived article that was published on sltrib.com in 2014, and information in the article may be outdated. It is provided only for personal research purposes and may not be reprinted.
Searchers on Saturday helped rescue dozens of people who got stuck in mud in Tooele County near Lone Rock after rain made roads impassable.
By the afternoon, search-and-rescue teams had found between 150 and 200 people who had gone to the area Friday night to attend a party, according to Bucky Whitehouse, the county's emergency manager.
He said school buses were brought to a paved road and used to shelter the partygoers, most of whom made their own arrangements for a ride home. There were no injuries.
The searchers, who scoured a 3-mile radius in four-wheel-drive vehicles and ATVs, believe that everyone who was stranded has been found, Whitehouse said.
Tooele County dispatchers received several calls at about 3:15 a.m. Saturday from people reporting their vehicles were stuck in the mud. The partygoers were unable to leave the same way they got to the area — which is off of State Road 196 about 30 miles from Grantsville — so they began looking for alternate routes, Whitehouse said.
He said that as they drove on side roads, their vehicles got stuck, some up to the axles in mud and water. Other vehicles rolled on their side on embankments.
About 30 to 50 vehicles were stuck.
Participants in the rescue effort include Tooele County search and rescue members, the North Tooele County Fire District, the Tooele County Sheriff's Office and the Utah Highway Patrol.
Twitter: @PamelaMansonSLC