Origins
Stemming from as early as the 1860s, Washington County settlers used Dixie to describe the region.[1] Brigham Young and other leaders of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints sought to establish a self-sufficient civilization that could thrive without major imports from outside nations. As part of this endeavor, Young established a “Dixie Land” to grow agricultural products of the Southern United States, such as cotton, indigo, olives, and wine.[2] The turmoil of the Civil War and its effect on cotton prices further strengthened this resolve and Young “called” more families to settle in Washington County’s towns and found a new settlement called St. George.[3] To help foster self-reliant communities, Latter-day Saint leaders “called” people to Dixie who came from various occupational skills and backgrounds.[4] Even after the Civil War, settlers continued to stress the importance of self-sufficiency.[5]
Later generations used the term Dixie Spirit to define the hard work, devotion, and diligence of the first Latter-day Saint settlers as they strove to create a self-sustaining Dixie in the desert. Dixie Spirit and Southern Spirit were used regularly in Dixie College yearbooks and local newspapers to describe school spirit and local pride.[6] In 1996, Linda Huddleston, wife of the Dixie College President, defined “Dixie spirit is about teamwork and sacrifice. Giving has become second nature to locals because they are used to hardship...they give everything (because) they love Dixie so much.”[7] Local author Lyman Hafen wrote, “The word Dixie, in this town, has evolved into something that transcends other definitions. In southwestern Utah the word has become synonymous with community spirit and selfless service.”[8]
The 1939 Dixie College Yearbook described it poetically:
The Spirit of Old Dixie,Is still our marching song,
And year by year as they progress
Are found among the throng;
Who enter Dixie College
The sons and daughters too,
Of those emboldened Pioneers
Who made the first trek through...
And while the sun keeps shining
On vermillion Dixie sand,
We’ll rally to the School we love
In Utah’s Dixieland.[9]
Citations
[1] G. D. Watt, "Remarks by President Brigham Young, Tabernacle; January 5, 1862," Deseret News, January 15, 1862, Utah Digital Newspapers, 1-2.
[2] Watt, "Remarks by President Brigham Young,” 1-2.
[3] Peter Schwartzstein, "How the American Civil War Built Egypt's Vaunted Cotton Industry and Changed the Country Forever," Smithsonian Magazine, August 1, 2016, https://www.smithsonianmag.com/history/how-american-civil-war-built-egypts-vaunted-cotton-industry-and-changed-country-forever-180959967/.;
James G. Bleak, Annals of the Southern Utah Mission, (Greg Kofford Books, 2019), 39-49.
[4] Bleak, Annals, 40-46.;
Leonard J. Arrington, “The Mormon Cotton Mission in Southern Utah,” Pacific Historical Review 25, no. 3 (1956): 227, https://doi.org/10.2307/3637013.
[5] J. W. Carpenter, "The Prospects," The St. George Union (St. George, UT), June 14, 1878, Utah Tech University Special Collections and Archives.
[6] The Dixie Staff, The Dixie 1953 (Springville, UT: Art City Publishing Company, 1953), Utah Tech University Special Collections and Archives, 85, https://digital.library.utahtech.edu/items/show/1104#?c=&m=&s=&cv=.;
"'The Spirit of Dixie' Pageant Saturday." Washington County News (St. George, UT). September 10, 1925, 1. Utah Digital Newspapers. https://newspapers.lib.utah.edu/ark:/87278/s64471qm.
*These and the sources in the following paragraph are just a few of the numerous references to “Dixie Spirit” in yearbooks and newspapers. For more sources, consider searching “Dixie Spirit” in Washington County News or Dixie State University Student Newspapers in Utah Digital Newspapers (https://newspapers.lib.utah.edu/search) or search in the old yearbooks digitized via Utah Tech University Special Collection and Archives (https://digital.library.utahtech.edu/collections/show/17#?c=&m=&s=&cv=).
[7] Marta Murvosh, "Dixie's First Lady Finds Local Spirit Invigorating," The Spectrum (St. George, UT), April 27, 1996, 1, Microfilm, Washington County Library Special Collections.
[8] Lyman Hafen, Where Two Streams Meet: The Personal History of a Town (St. George, UT: Tonaquint Press, 20110, 76.
[9] Dixie Junior College, 1939 Dixie, Salt Lake City: Paragon Printing Co., 1939, 25, 27, https://digital.library.utahtech.edu/files/original/7529c3f70962b78748707b34ca864f81.pdf.
Images
Dixie Pioneers of 1861, Undated. Undated. Utah Tech University Special Collections and Archives. Juanita Brooks Papers Collection (WASH-018). Box 4, Folder 16. https://archives.utahtech.edu/repositories/2/archival_objects/1550.
Stewart, J.M. Jr. and Jensen, E.M. The Spirit of Dixie. 1925. Utah Tech University Special Collections and Archives. Dixie State University Yearbooks (UA-009). https://digital.library.utahtech.edu/items/show/784#?c=&m=&s=&cv=.