In 1875, Leander Lemmon and James McHadden, seeking a good range for their horses, found plentiful feed at the mouth of Huntington Canyon and the surrounding vicinity. Lemmon brought sheep and cattle from Cottonwood in Salt Lake County. In the autumn of 1876, he built the first log cabin on Huntington Creek and an irrigation ditch was dug to take water from the nearby creek. The town was situated on Huntington Creek, from which it took its name, in Huntington Camp, Emery County, Utah.