Tourism and Today

Painting of Angel's Landing and the Great White Throne in Zion National Park. Published in the 1932 Dixie College Yearbook. Utah Tech University Special Collections and Archives.

Dirt Road in Springdale, Utah, likely early twentieth century. Undated. J.L Crawford Collection. Utah Tech University Special Collections and Archives.

The local meaning of Dixie Spirit encompasses more than just grit and tenacity, but also camaraderie, hospitality, and natural beauty. Kevin Lewis, former director of Washington County’s Greater Zion Convention and Tourism Office, stated:

For me, the spirit we exude and the feeling that visitors get when exploring our destination is greater than just one word. Over and over people who come here for the first time tell me they feel something different here. They are deeply influenced by the incredible scenery, they thrill in the recreational opportunities, and they are inspired when they learn what it took to temper the elements in an unforgiving land.[1]

Euro-American settlers struggled in the desert, but they recognized the natural beauty of Southern Utah. In a humorous article in 1868, The Mineral Cactus wrote:

we can boast of living in a country that far excels Italy for romantic scenery. For instance behold...the black ridges to the east and west and the noble red sand stone mountain in the background all of which abound with lizards, tarantulas, vipers, montain [sic] alligators, innocent scorpions and rattle snakes.”[2]

As Brigham Young visited Southern Utah settlements in 1862, one of his traveling companions, J.V. Long wrote “the scenery around Grafton is quite picturesque and romantic; hence there is something that is both pleasing and attractive to the stranger.”[3]

Bridge in Zion National Park, 1929. Photograph by George Alexander Grant. National Archives Catalog.

Brown Family camping trip at Piney Valley, Utah, 1931. Mary Phoenix Brown Scrapbook. Utah Tech University Special Collections and Archives.

While settlers may have recognized beauty around them, they appear to have done little, initially, to encourage tourism. However, as outsiders became exposed to the region and especially as roads and transportation improved, scenery and tourism became an integral part of the local economy. What later became Zion National Park was of particular interest to visitors. Even as early as 1889, Thomas Moran’s paintings had “shown to the eyes of thousands the strange, weird kind of landscape beauty that may be seen, even among the barren rocks and sands of our Dixie.”[4] The works of Frederick Dellenbaugh and Clarence Dutton further extolled the scenic wonders of  “Little Zion Valley.”[5] In 1909, President William H. Taft set apart the area as Mukuntuweap National Monument.[6] After the designation, Washington County News reported that it “will become one the greatest and most popular camping places in the entire state when it becomes known.”[7] Mukuntuweap was later changed to Zion, and it became a National Park in 1919.[8] Over time, interest in the park grew and an increasing number of tourists made their way to Zion, Bryce, Snow Canyon, and other scenic wonders[9] In 1919, Zion National Park reported 1,814 visitors.[10] Annual visitation passed 100,000 in 1936, 1 million in 1975, and 5 million in 2021. Washington County’s Sand Hollow State Park additionally reported more than 1.5 million visitors in 2021.[11]

Golf courses further encouraged visitors to turn Washington County into a destination, rather than a temporary stop. In 1931, Washington County News reported:

A golf course is the first step toward making St. George a winter resort...as it is now we have nothing to hold the vacationist...a large majority of these people if we had a golf course, and other like amusements, would remain a few days and in some instances, as the town became better known, would establish winter homes here.[12]

Clinton and Joan Murdock. Aerial View of St. George and Red Hills Golf Course, undated. Taken sometime in the 1980s or 1990s. Utah Tech University Special Collections and Archives.

Despite many people recognizing the potential draw of golf in Southern Utah, the first golf course was not built until the Red Hills Golf Course in 1965. Golfing in Washington County has since become immensely popular. As of February 2024, Greater Zion, Washington County’s convention and tourism office, lists fourteen different golf courses in Washington County.[13]

Washington County has changed significantly in the recent decades. The tourist industry has flourished, the population and economy has expanded, and it is now a popular retirement destination.[14] Expansion, however, brings new questions and concerns. Land and housing costs continue to rise, pricing many current and hopeful residents out of the market.[15] Water use and availability continue to be pressing and heated debates.[16]

Some residents look to the struggles of early settlers and express hope that the difficulties of the present can be overcome with the gumption of the past. Lyman Hafen wrote “I’m confident, whether the word survives or not, that the spirit the word dixie has represented for generations in this community will find a way to survive, because that’s the kind of place this has always been.”[17]