Burraston Ponds was the campsite of the Escalante Expedition on 27 September 1776 during its journey from Santa Fe to the Utah Basin. Father Escalante mapped this area and named this spring "Ojo de San Pablo," or Eye of Saint Paul. Before and during the Walker and Black Hawk Indian Wars, prominent Indian chiefs used this campsite as a meeting place, calling it Punjun Spring and saying it was bottomless and that in the still of evening a baby's cry could be heard from its depths. Richard James Burraston and his wife, Emma Price, were called to settle this area in 1865 to protect the mail route. They kept private livestock under the Burraston brand and managed a large cattle operation for the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. In 1878, more than 1,000 head of cattle taken from this ranch helped fund the Mormon Church's purchase of what is now Snowflake and St. Johns, Arizona. In 1879, railroad ties from Mount Nebo timber were used in building the Utah Southern Railroad. In 1901, Mr. Burraston gifted this pond site to the State of Utah to commemorate its statehood and for the enjoyment of the people.