It was this trip to the Virgin River settlements that convinced Brigham
Young and other Mormon leaders of the wisdom of pushing the settlement
of Utah’s southland. The outbreak of the Civil War may have clinched the
argument. When it became apparent that the cotton supply from the
southern states would be cut off, the decision to advance the Dixie
settlements with a view toward cotton culture was strengthened.
By this time moreover, there was sufficient evidence from settlers and
the experimental farm to prove the practicality of cotton as a staple
crop. During the summer of 1861, plans were laid for more extensive
colonization. Heretofore, the settlements had been outposts of Iron
County. Now the region was to come into its own as a separate colony
with the central settlement to be located in the valley above Tonaquint,
and to be named St. George.
At the general church conference in Salt Lake City on October 6, about
three hundred families were “called” to the Dixie Mission to accelerate
the cotton industry. Many of these people were abruptly informed of what
awaited them when they heard their names read out, but most of them
responded with good will. The families were carefully selected in such a
way as to insure balanced communities: farmers, businessmen, educators,
carpenters, masons, blacksmiths, entertainers; all in the proportions
needed.[47]
The colonists got under way in November with Apostles George A. Smith,
Erastus Snow and Orson Pratt, as leaders. Towards the end of the month
the vanguard stood at the forks of the road west of Toquerville at the
parting of the ways up and down the river. The leaders had already
traveled upstream looking over possible locations, going through the
settlements of Virgin, Grafton, Adventure and up both forks of the
Virgin River into Zion and Parunuweap canyons, investigating the
agricultural lands along the way.[48] How far they went up Zion Canyon
is unknown. Erastus Snow later reported that ten miles above Grafton the
mountains closed in, leaving but a narrow gorge, through which the east
fork of the Virgin forced its way, allowing no room for the passage of
man or beast. His factual report indicated no wonder at the marvels he
must have beheld. The sense of awe awakened today by such inspiring
spectacles of nature’s handiwork appears to have been largely lacking in
the hard-working pioneers who spent all their energy in wringing a
meager existence from the wilderness.
At the forks of the road, the paths divided. A few went upstream with
Orson Pratt, but the majority went down, arriving in early December at
the site of St. George. Other settlements quickly sprang up along the
length of the Virgin Valley wherever water could be diverted for
irrigation. Thus the “cotton-wave” ushered many pioneers into the Virgin
River valleys and insured the growth of the area.