Timber Lakes was established in 1970 by a maverick cowboy, Veigh Cummings. He purchased the Don Clyde Ranch consisting of 8,300 acres. The Don Clyde ranch was homesteaded in the 1800’s and was a working sheep ranch for over 100 years.

Veigh grew up in Heber City where his father, H. Clay Cummings was a four-term Heber Mayor as well as a Wasatch County Commissioner. The Cummings have had a significant impact on how the Heber Valley has developed through the years. H. Clay was credited for being the most instrumental person in creating the Wasatch State Park/Golf Course. Veigh had a never-say-die attitude, and with his unwavering determination, he too would soon make his mark on the Heber Valley.

Veigh served in the Air Force during World War II, where he gained a passion for flying. After the war, Veigh built and opened the Avon Theater in Heber, and had six children. He then started a successful ranching business (which labeled him as the “bull-shipper”) and became President of the Utah Wool Growers Association like his father.

Sometime after, Veigh came across an interesting opportunity. One of the largest ranch foreclosures in Texas history was coming on the market and he went for it, the King Ranch. Having the ability to fly, Veigh was first on-site securing the contract to purchase all the cattle. Veigh leveraged everything he had at this point in his life to come up with enough funds to secure the down payment on the contract. Not knowing how he would come up with the remaining funds to finish the deal, he asked his father for advice. H. Clay put him in touch with some California investors and they made an agreement. They would put up the remaining funds for Veigh to finish the deal, for a percentage of profit from selling the cattle at a later date. Shortly thereafter, but before the California investors put up their money to finish the purchase with Veigh, he was contacted by another interested buyer. The buyer wanted to purchase the cattle originally, but couldn’t get there quick enough to secure the deal. Veigh offered to sell the contract to the new buyer for what he had agreed to pay for the cattle but in return, Veigh got to keep all the expecting un-born calves soon to come. They had a deal.

After that deal was finalized, and the new-born calves sold for profit, Veigh went back to the California investors and paid them their originally agreed upon percentage. The investors were shocked, being they never put up one penny for the deal. Veigh replied, “no you didn’t, but you were going to”.

Veigh used his portion of the profits to buy two ranches near Lonetree Wyoming. After a little time, he sold the Wyoming properties to acquire the funds to purchase the Don Clyde Ranch east of Heber. Veigh finalized the deal September 1st 1970 for $1,500,000. and Timber Lakes was born. His goal was to run cattle and develop the beginnings of Timber Lakes Estates, a recreational community.

Originally, Timber Lakes property was sold with no power or water and was intended to be only seasonal, off-grid mountain getaways on a working range for grazing livestock. Later on, Veigh purchased John Wayne’s Ranch in Arizona where Veigh would buy cattle in Mexico, ship them to Arizona in the winter, ship them to Timber Lakes to graze in the summer, and then sell them in the fall.

Eventually, land values became more profitable than the cattle business and Timber Lakes was slowly being developed into a full-time community, so that became the new direction for the corporation.
Kip Barnes was brought on by the Cummings in 1986 and ran the Timber Lakes Sales office for 35 years with his partner Milt Taylor. Kip was instrumental in brokering the deal for the LDS church to purchase 6,300 acres from Veigh Cummings to form the Heber Valley Camp in May of 1998. Over the years, Kip has developed many additional properties to expand Timber Lakes and its infrastructure. If you ever get a chance to meet Kip, he can reminisce about the good-ol-days better than most and will be sure to tell you a story or two about how it used to be.

Although the mountain has changed drastically over the last 50 years, it is still some of the greatest land on earth. One of the best-in-the-west for a full-time recreational community and there will never be another one like it. Timber Lakes Sales is, and always will be, committed to keeping this development as recreational-friendly as possible, while still preserving the great mountain community so many of us call home. Bryce and Jake take great pride in the history of the development and respect the road paved by multiple generations that have come before them. They are looking forward to the next 50 years of Timber Lakes and will continue to help the development become an even greater place to enjoy.