Thistle, in Spanish Fork Canyon in southeastern Utah County, occupied a mountain corridor long used by Native peoples and later by the Domínguez–Escalante expedition and Mormon settlers. Farming, ranching, and some mining sustained the community, but the railroad made it a major service town after lines reached it in 1878 and expanded by 1890. At its peak around 1917, Thistle had about 600 residents and extensive railroad facilities. Its decline followed the shift from steam to diesel locomotives. In 1983, a massive earthflow dammed the Spanish Fork River, flooded and destroyed nearly the entire town, and left Thistle as one of Utah’s most striking modern ghost towns.