In the fall of 1851, a party pushed southward from Salt Lake City under
the leadership of John D. Lee with the intention of settling on the
Virgin or Santa Clara rivers. In this, they were to be disappointed, for
actual settlement had to wait upon a preliminary period devoted to
missions. Thereafter, during the period of settlement, the Mormons were
to maintain contact with the Indians on their southern frontier through
the agency of missionaries who were to shoulder the lion’s share of the
burden of advance exploration, keep in touch with Indian movements and
attitudes, designate routes of travel, report areas suitable for
agriculture and grazing and act as emissaries to the Indians in times of
trouble. This shift in policy is partly explained in a letter from John
D. Lee published in the Deseret News, Saturday, April 3, 1852:
Mr. Editor:
On the 4th of Nov. I safely reached the city of Parowan, without the
loss of an animal or the break of a wagon in the whole company. We
then cheerfully went to work with all our might to arrange our affairs
and situate our families in this city, that according to counsel we
might leave them comfortable, while we would go and select a site and
build a fort for our defense. The brethren that joined our company in
Iron County sold out their improvements in full faith of helping to
form another settlement south of the waters of the Santa Clara and Rio
Virgin.
The severity of the weather and failure of the mill caused a detention
of three weeks. The most of our wagons were loaded and ready for a
start, when I received a letter from Pres. B. Young, advising us to
tarry ’till another season, and thereby strengthen the settlements
already planted. The policy was doubtless good, however revolting the
disappointment may have been to my feelings; and past experience
admonished me that to hearken was better than to sacrifice.
The Kanyons were now blockaded with snow and ice, which rendered the
pass to the timber and poles difficult, if accessible at all for
wagons. Under these considerations, I felt justified to spend a few
days in exploring the country, believing that the time thus occupied,
would be more conducive to the spread of the cause of Zion in the
mountains, than to sit by the fireside, reading, or otherwise passing
off the time of an inclement season.
Chafing under this restraint, Lee determined to explore the country
regardless of Brigham Young’s advice, and on January 27, 1852, led a
party of twelve men,[32] with four wagons, thirteen horses and fifteen
days’ provisions, leaving Parowan for the Virgin River region. He
followed the route of the Southern Exploring Expedition down Ash Creek
but being burdened with wagons had to be more careful in selecting the
details of the route. Near the present site of Pintura he left the
wagons. Lee further reports in his letter of that date that:
... on foot and horseback [we] traveled down Ash Creek over sand hills
the distance of twelve miles which brought us near its junction with
the Levearskin River [LaVerkin].... Being unable to cross this stream,
we ascended one of these mounds, from which we discovered a stream
running a SW direction which we supposed to be the Rio Virgin; and
from the shape of the country, we concluded that we could take our
wagons to it: Feb. 2d, day, though in temperature more like May.
To the Grapevine springs 5 miles; these springs boil up at the foot of
a large sand mound and moisten about one acre of land, which is
completely interlocked with vines.... To the Rio Virgin River 5 miles,
mostly over yellow land; this stream is about 2 rods wide and 3 feet
deep, narrow bottom, shut in on both sides with low mountains....
[About 3 miles above Berry Springs.]
To the Otter creek 3 miles; stream 13 feet wide, 1 deep; abundance of
otter and beaver along these streams; as we descended this stream [the
Virgin], the bottom continued to widen out, and the amount of timber
increases affording land and other facilities sufficient in many
places, to warrant small settlements.... At the distance of 15 miles
from camp we found ourselves in one of the most pleasant, lovely
valleys that the mountains afford [Washington and Washington Fields].
It is about 5 miles in diameter. The soil is of a lively alluvial
nature; and of a dark chocolate color, and easily irrigated; banks of
the stream low. The climate is of a mild temperature; the sun here
rises without being hid behind the mountains so that its morning and
evening smiles are fully appreciated by the favored vegetation of this
valley.
Feb. 3d, the grapevines and cottonwood are almost leaved out; the dock
and other early herbs are in bloom.... This valley lies rolling to the
south with occasional springs of pure water breaking out at the
distance of from 1½ to 1 mile from the river, converting that portion
of the valley into a rich meadow and vineyard....
Two miles over a small range of mountains brought us in full view of
the Santa Clara country and valley. This valley is about the same
magnitude as the one already described: ... beautiful springs,
grapevines and meadows not excepted.
The Santa Clara river is 1 rod wide and 20 inches deep, pure, clear
water, rich bottoms, though narrow, and heavily timbered for the
distance of 30 miles. On this stream we saw about 100 acres of land
that had been cultivated by the Paiute Indians principally in corn and
squashes.... This tribe is numerous and have quite an idea of
husbandry. Through the day, we saw three of the natives who appeared
frightened and fled at our approach. I called to them in their tongue
and told them that we were their friends and would not hurt them; we
gave them some bread, and told them to pilot us to their peup-capitan
[big chief]; but fearing that six men might slay the nation, they took
us some two miles above their settlement where we met in council with
thirteen of their braves, who after an understanding of our business,
received us friendly and expressed a desire to have us settle among
them and be tue-gee-tickaboo, that is, very friendly....
From the Virgin the six men went up the Santa Clara to the California
road and followed it down to the Virgin below the Beaver Dam Mountains.
Lee and two others tried to make their way up the river to the mouth of
the Santa Clara looking for a short-cut, but were disappointed to find
the river flowing through a box canyon which Lee estimated at 4,000 feet
in depth (in reality about half that). The trip was a difficult one; it
rained incessantly for two days and they were often obliged to wade the
river waist deep and were three days without food. They returned to
Parowan on February 18. Writing to Brigham Young, March 17, 1852, Lee
says:
I am making ready to accompany you on your exploration when you come
along. I have been gathering all the information that I could from the
Spaniards and Walker [Indian Chief], and have taken a map from
them.... Sometimes I think I am more anxious about the formation of
new settlements south. But when I was there in the forepart of the
month of February and saw the trees putting forth their green foliage
and the herbs almost in bloom, the rich soil and abundant streams of
pure water, ... where we can raise cotton, flax, hemp, grapes, figs,
sweet potatoes, fruits of almost every kind ... I scarcely could
content myself to stay ... ’till another fall.[33]
In early June, 1852, the old Indian chief, Quinnarrah (Kanarra),
requested the Parowan leaders to go over to Panguitch Lake to visit the
Indians who had gathered there to the number of a hundred. J. C. L.
Smith, John Steele, John D. Lee and three others made the trip, going
eighteen miles up Parowan Canyon to the top of the mountain and
descending nine miles on the other side. They met the Indians, explored
the region around the lake, and garnered much information about the
country farther east on the headwaters of the Sevier River, into which
the lake drained. This information excited their curiosity and upon
returning home from their three-day trip, they immediately organized
another party to cover the region to the east beyond the mountains.[34]
This party set out on June 12, 1852 and included the following: J. C. L.
Smith, John Steele, John D. Lee, John L. Smith, John Dart, Solomon
Chamberlain, Priddy Meeks and F. T. Whitney. They went through
Paragonah, up Little Creek Canyon (now Bear Valley route) and down into
Panguitch Valley which they considered suitable for a settlement of
fifty to one hundred families who could engage in lumbering, as there
was excellent timber in the mountains nearby.
Two days’ travel up the Sevier River brought them to a place on Mammoth
Creek with abundant timber, grass and water, suitable for a small
settlement. From here they bent their course southeast to Fox Creek (now
Asa Creek), passed through Pleasant Valley (Duck Creek), over a ridge
into Strawberry Creek. According to the report of this trip written by
J. C. L. Smith and John Steele, they proceeded
... thence on to the mountains which lie low and level, so that a team
and wagon might be driven any place unto the highest mountains which
are entirely covered with pine timber. [The mountains between Midway
and Duck Creek east of Cedar Mountain].
We traveled three days among this timber which is of the best quality
and clear of underbrush; we then crossed again the divide and came
into Skull Cap Valley and creek [now Swains Creek], which is about 10
feet wide and one deep; thence up that 8 or 10 miles, and crossed
another ridge to the south, and came to the headwaters of the Levier
Skin [_sic_] [now Long Valley Canyon]; thence down the Levier Sking
[_sic_] about 50 miles. [To upper end of Parunuweap Canyon].
There can be a good wagon road got from the Sevier country to this
point. There are plenty of hops, and timber and handsome places for
settlements in the narrow but fertile bottom of the stream
[undoubtedly Long Valley].
We have now to leave the stream on account of the driftwood and
narrowness of the passage down through, and take to the mountains [to
the south over Harris Mt. Pass]; here the chance for a wagon road
ended and after considerable difficulty and winding around, we arrived
upon the Virgin bottoms [now Canebeds] within one day’s ride of the
Colorado. Here a number of Indians came to us, who told us that Walker
had told them of us, and they seemed very much pleased although
somewhat afraid at first. Brother J. D. Lee gave them a talk, which
pleased them very much, to think that we were not come to kill them.
These Indians are very smart, quick and active, almost naked, with
bright intellects. We then proceeded along, followed by our friends,
who would not leave us; showed us all the curiosities they could think
of, amongst the rest, a weed that will quench the thirst
[Bottlestopper, _Eriogonum inflatum_].
This is a fine country covered with verdure, although there are no
streams at this point, but it has the appearance of raining a good
deal. We then got some Indian guides, who brought us to the jerks of
the Virgin, Levier Skin [La Verkin] and Ash Creek [probably via
Hurricane] where we found a number of Indians raising grain. Their
corn was waist high; squashes, beans, potatoes, etc., looked well.
They had in cultivation four or five acres; their wheat had got ripe
and was out. I looked around to see their tools, but could not see the
first tool, only their hands to dig the ditches, make dams, or
anything else. The Piute chief made us a speech showing us their
destitute situation, without clothes or food. Brother Lee told them we
would learn them to work and raise breadstuff, make clothing, etc., at
which they were well pleased, and wanted us to come soon and make a
settlement among them. This point is some 30 miles above where Brother
Lee intends to settle. We then crossed over Ash Creek, took our old
trail, and soon arrived at Parowan being gone 12 days—having traveled
336 miles.
Sometime during the fall of 1852, John D. Lee and several others located
on Ash Creek, about twenty-five miles south of Cedar City, at a place
they called Harmony (near U.S. Highway 91, a few miles north of Ash
Creek bridge). John D. Lee wrote to Brigham Young, March 6, 1853,
describing the progress as satisfactory:
I have built six houses for my family besides helping on every other
building in the fort.... In the month of January, in company with
Peter Schurtz, I rode over to the Rio Virgen country (or Warm Valley
as the Indians call it); we found the climate mild and pleasant....
Brother Brigham, If it is not asking too much, please drop me a few
lines relative to your feelings of forming settlements south, and the
probable time of settling the Warm Valley that I may be ready to meet
your expectations.... Please make known thy will and with pleasure I
will try to obey it.[35]
At the October, 1853 conference in Salt Lake City, a group of fifty
families and missionaries under the leadership of Rufus C. Allen (who
had been trained in missionary work under Parley P. Pratt in South
America) were “called” to strengthen the southern Utah Mission and labor
among the Indians. The settlers left immediately but the missionaries
delayed until the next spring.
In the meantime, the additional settlers had strengthened Harmony and an
Indian school had been established. When the missionaries arrived, May
16, 1854, they found ten Indians in the school.[36] Brigham Young
visited Harmony on May 19 and while there inquired if a wagon road could
be built to the Virgin River. He was given a discouraging reply.
A few days later, a number of the missionaries under Allen, pushed on to
the south among the Virgin River Indians.[37] On June 5, they descended
Ash Creek and encountered a group of Indians near the present site of
Toquerville. They made friends with the Indian Chief Toquer (meaning
black, probably from the lava rocks) and bargained with him to send a
runner to the neighboring Indians to arrange for a meeting with them.
They moved on next day and met the other Indians at the present site of
the old Washington Fields on the south side of the river.
These Indians were in a surly mood and had hidden their squaws and
papooses; hence the Mormons were doubtful of their reception. However,
one of them hunted up a hidden papoose and gave him a small pocket
mirror which the child showed to the squaws. The trinket so pleased them
that they all came out of hiding and quickly made friends with the
whites.
The missionaries proceeded thence to the Santa Clara River by way of a
trail north of the present site of St. George. Here they made friends
with the Indians and laid the foundation for the establishment of a
mission. The remainder returned to headquarters at Harmony, but Jacob
Hamblin and William Henefer remained for some time on the Santa Clara
working with the Indians and visiting others farther upstream. They did
not reach Harmony until July.
On June 21, 1854, a party of six under the leadership of David Lewis
went west from Harmony to Mountain Meadows, down the Santa Clara and
thence back over the mountains. On the trip, they preached to the
Indians and baptized one hundred and nineteen into the Mormon Church,
advising them thereafter not to steal or fight, but to learn Mormon ways
of living. Two Indians were sent as messengers to the Muddy River
Indians in Nevada, “To tell them we would come among them if they wanted
us.”[38]
The settlers at Harmony found a better location a few miles farther
upstream on Ash Creek and during the summer of 1854 moved thither,
calling it New Harmony. They built a fort there that fall. The
missionaries in the Virgin and Santa Clara valleys found their
remoteness inconvenient; accordingly a settlement was made on the Santa
Clara where they could live among the Indians, and on December 1, Jacob
Hamblin, Thales Haskell, Ira Hatch, Samuel Knight and A. P. Hardy
established the nucleus of a permanent colony. Two weeks later Rufus
Allen and Hyrum Burgess left Harmony for Tonaquint on the Santa Clara
near its junction with the Virgin River where they built three log
cabins. The missionaries helped the Indians construct substantial dams
and ditches for diverting irrigation water. The first dam across the
Santa Clara Creek, built in 1855, was a feat which aroused much
enthusiasm among the Indians, five hundred of whom gathered to watch its
completion. When the dam (100 feet long and 14 feet high) was finished
and the water began to rise and run out, half on one side for the
Indians and half on the other for the whites, a great shout of
exultation went up from the dusky spectators.
The hard labor and poor nourishment which Jacob Hamblin had endured
brought on a spell of sickness. To procure medicines and proper food for
him, Gus Hardy went to Parowan. While there, Mrs. Nancy Anderson, a
southerner, asked him about the mission of the Santa Clara and learned
of the long, warm growing season. Believing that the climate might be
suitable for cotton, she gave him a quart of cotton seed which she had
brought with her from her old home. The missionaries planted the seed on
the Santa Clara and raised a crop during the summer of 1855. This cotton
was carded, spun, and woven into cloth by the women at the mission. Some
of this cloth was sent to Salt Lake City and aroused no little interest
there. Samples of the cloth even found their way into England and were
said to compare favorably with cotton grown elsewhere. This was the
beginning of cotton culture there, which finally led to the fuller
settlement of the “Utah Dixie” along the Virgin River, much as the iron
industry had led to the development of Iron County. Moreover, like the
iron industry, it answered a temporary need by supplying clothing when
it was impracticable to import cotton.[39]
A sad mishap occurred at the mission late in 1855, when a young Indian
living at the home of Thales Haskell, while examining a gun,
accidentally shot the missionary’s young wife, Maria Woodbury Haskell.
The death, naturally, cast a pall of gloom over the mission.[40]
The missionaries continued their work with the Indians and gained some
ascendency over them. This served a useful purpose during the next few
years in deterring or preventing Indian thievery and attacks on
travelers on the Mormon trail along the upper part of the Santa Clara.
Jules Remy, about to leave the Santa Clara on his way to the Pacific
coast (November 10, 1855) says: “There was a log hut there made by the
Mormon missionaries, who occasionally come to this place to teach the
natives farming.” Here a band of Indians crowded around Remy’s camp,
causing some alarm. Thinking to impress the Indians, Remy’s party
indulged in a little target practice and revealed some expert
markmanship. The Indians, not to be outdone, gathered in a line to shoot
at a target about a hundred yards distant. At a signal from the chief,
the arrows were released in unison and flew to the mark. Remy noticed
that even the youngsters were able to hit small birds flying close at
hand. The Indians were not intent on injury, but merely on theft, and
hoped by their numbers to distract the attention of the whites while
they pilfered the camp. The Frenchman, however, proved a match for
them.[41]
Another cotton crop matured in 1856. During that year there were further
accessions to the missionary colony and a rock fort was built. Though
the Indians as a whole were friendly enough, there was always danger
lurking and the fort was at least a symbol of safety.
In the spring of 1857, twenty-eight families (160 persons), mostly
converts from the South and experienced cotton farmers, were called to
go to the Virgin River to undertake cotton culture on a larger scale.
They were enthused with the prospect of a warm climate where cotton
could be grown and fondly referred to the Virgin Valley as “Utah’s
Dixie.” They arrived May 5, 1857, at the present site of Washington and
immediately set to work diverting water for irrigation, clearing land,
plowing and planting. Hopes of good crops were doomed, however, for the
cotton was almost a complete failure. Some became discouraged with the
location and scattered, a few families locating at Tonaquint on the
Santa Clara just above its junction with the Virgin.[42]
This failure did not kill the idea of raising cotton in Dixie, but
further experiments were necessary before the industry could properly
expand. In January, 1857, a small company had been fitted out in Salt
Lake City under Joseph Home to establish an experimental cotton farm on
the Virgin River. They arrived in early February and located on the
Virgin just below its junction with the Santa Clara. Dams and ditches
were constructed and land cleared and planted by May 6. The crop was
harvested and hauled back to Salt Lake City. The total cost of raising
this first crop, including all expenses of the trip to and from Salt
Lake City, was $3.40 per pound. A similar experiment the next season
reduced the price per pound to $1.90.[43]
In the meantime, other settlers had been looking enviously toward the
warm semi-tropical lands of the Virgin Valley. As early as 1854, Brigham
Young had inquired about the possibilities of building a road into the
valley from Cedar City, but the cost of construction over “the
black-ridge” barrier seemed prohibitive. In 1858, with the advice and
consent of Isaac C. Haight, bishop of Cedar City, six families moved
down Ash Creek and settled Toquerville. These included Joshua T. Willis,
John Willis, Samuel Pollock, William Riggs, Josiah Reeves and Willis
Young, all of whom had been attracted by the stories of cotton-raising.
The movement had already received considerable impetus and the Mormon
leaders desired more information about the possibilities of settlement.
Nephi Johnson, a young missionary among the Virgin River Indians, and
who had been Indian interpreter for many emigrant parties passing over
the Mormon Trail, was called by Brigham Young to explore the Virgin
River farther upstream and hunt for suitable places for settlement.
In the fall of 1858 he rode from Cedar City to Toquerville, where he
fraternized with the Indians and persuaded them to guide him up the
river. They led him over the Hurricane Fault which had hitherto blocked
progress of the missionaries upstream. He explored the upper Virgin
River and thus was probably the first white man to enter both Parunuweap
and Zion Canyons. He says in his autobiography that in September, 1858,
he went into the upper Virgin River valley as far as the site of
Shunesburg and reported that a settlement could be made where Virgin was
later built.[44]
He does not mention Zion Canyon, but his daughter, Lovina A. J.
Farnsworth[45] relates that her father often told her of visiting it.
According to her account, he followed the Virgin River with his Indian
guide and reached Oak Creek, above the present site of Springdale, where
the Indian stopped and refused to go any farther. Wai-no-pits, he said,
might be found up there in the shadows of the narrow canyon. But the
Indian agreed to wait there if Johnson insisted on going on, provided he
returned before the sun (tab) went down. It is not known how far Johnson
went up the canyon, but later, recalling his experience, he used to say
that there were places where the “sun never shone” because the walls
were so high and the canyon so narrow. He was gone much longer than he
expected, and when he returned, the sun was setting and the Indian had
his arm over the horse ready to mount and depart.
Back at Cedar City, Johnson was sent to found a settlement at Virgin. He
gathered a small group together and set out in early December. On the
6th, they began building a road over the Hurricane Fault below
Toquerville and drove their wagons into Virgin on the 20th, over a route
since known as the “Johnson Twist.”
In the fall of 1860, Philip Klingensmith led five other families from
Iron County over the Johnson Twist, and passing up the Virgin River
selected a spot two or three miles above Grafton where water could be
diverted for irrigation, and founded a settlement called Adventure
(between Grafton and Rockville).
In 1861, Brigham Young paid his first visit to the Dixie settlements.
Leaving Salt Lake City on May 15, he reached Cedar City about the 22nd
and followed the Mormon Trail westward to Pinto and the Mountain
Meadows, then southward down the Santa Clara Creek. He left the trail
where it struck over the hills toward the Beaver Dam Wash, and followed
the stream down to the Santa Clara mission, then comprising thirty-four
men, thirty houses and two hundred and fifty acres under cultivation.
Several orchards and vineyards were already producing apples, peaches,
apricots, plums, nectarines, pears, quinces, almonds, figs, English
walnuts, gooseberries, currants, and grapes of both Isabella and
California Mission varieties. The cotton crop and casaba melons were
flourishing.
[Illustration: The three Johnson Brothers. Seth (left), Sixtus and
Nephi, prominent in Southern Utah history.
_Courtesy of the Johnson Family._]
[Illustration: William Heap’s cabin in Zion Canyon in 1870, on the
west side of the river at the mouth of Emerald Pool Side-canyon.
Marion Heap on his father’s lap, his mother standing by the cabin.
_Photo by courtesy of Marion Heap._]
[Illustration: Silver Reef, famous Southern Utah mining camp, during
its hey-dey in the ’70’s. _Photo by courtesy of Mark Pendleton._]
[Illustration: Washington Cotton Mill (1866 to 1899), a reminder of
the Cotton Mission. _Courtesy Mark Pendleton._]
The next day he drove to Tonaquint at the junction of the Santa Clara
and the Virgin. This was the strategic point at which Jedediah Smith’s
two trips had forked in 1826 and 1827; where Parley P. Pratt’s exploring
party had turned homeward on January 1, 1850; and where John D. Lee’s
party on February 3, 1852, had halted in the exploration of the Virgin
River. After Brigham Young left Tonaquint, a settlement of twelve
families, he stopped his carriage near the center of the valley in which
St. George was later located. As members of his party crowded around
him, he seemed to envision the future. On his left, running north and
south, was a black ridge. Three miles to the east was a parallel black
ridge. Fronting him two miles to the north was a red sandstone bluff
running east and west, down the face of which were streaks of vivid
green vegetation marking springs or streams. The Virgin River behind him
made the fourth side of the square. According to Bleak, Young
prophesied: “There will yet be built between those volcanic ridges a
city with spires, towers and steeples; with homes containing many
inhabitants.”[46]
The party then proceeded up the Virgin River via Washington, Toquerville
and Virgin as far as Grafton. From here it retraced its steps to
Toquerville and then started homeward via Harmony, Cedar City and
Parowan, arriving in Salt Lake City on June 8, 1861.