Palisade State Park, near Sterling in Utah’s Sanpete Valley, centers on a man-made lake created in the 1860s after settler Daniel B. Funk negotiated with Chief Arapeen of a small group of Sanpitch Indians who then held the valley and secured a government land patent. Funk and his family built a dam and diverted part of Sixmile Creek, an arduous effort that quickly made the area a popular summer and weekend resort. That history still defines the park as a long-used recreation landscape rather than a remote wilderness preserve, with camping, fishing, swimming, boating, hiking, golf, and access to off-highway vehicle trails.