John Myers, the first settler in the Hilliard area, arrived in the middle to late 1850s, worked at Fort Bridger in 1857, and by 1860 had made his home on the Bear River where the Salt Lake Trail crossed the river at Myers' Crossing. Homesteaders also arrived in 1860, and many later worked in the timber and charcoal industry during the era of the Union Pacific Railroad, with timber cut in the Uinta Mountains, logs floated down a flume, and wood delivered to charcoal kilns in Hilliard and Piedmont. The charcoal was used by the Union Pacific Railroad and in Utah smelters. The town was named in 1873 for early railroad conductor Reuben T. Hilliard, and by 1877 it was the third largest shipping point along the railroad. During sheep shearing season, the population grew to more than 400, and thousands of pounds of wool were shipped east and west. The shipping station closed in 1900, after which the post office was discontinued and Hilliard faded away, leaving only descendants of the original settler to work the productive ranch lands.