Farming Towns

Mountain Meadows Massacre Monument, 1964. Photograph by Roland H. Wauer. Zion National Park Museum and Archives.

Mountain Meadows Massacre Monument, 2018, with Arkansas flag below United States flag. Published by tqsmith on Wikimedia Commons.

August of 1857 brought visits from Church leadership who warned settlers about an approaching United States Army.^[5] Previous persecution, mistrust of the United States government, and fiery communication from government agents all culminated in the approaching army and the territory’s preparations for it. The recent Mormon Reformation, 1856-1857, created more religious fervor, but also contributed to harsh language and “gangs of zealots” who acted against "apostates," those of weak faith, and “gentiles.”^[6] This was especially prevalent in communities distanced from Salt Lake City.^[7] Tensions continued to mount as the federal government began to assert itself more in territorial affairs. George A. Smith wrote that in the Southern settlements “a word is enough to set in motion every man, or to set a torch to every building.”^[8] He also advised the people to prepare and to save their grain and not sell to travelers or even feed their own livestock as “teams could live on grass better than our women and children.”^[9]

The Baker Fancher Party traveled through Utah on its way to California during this period of extreme anxiety and agitation.^[10] The party stopped to rest in Mountain Meadows, where they were attacked and massacred by a group of Latter-day Saint settlers from various towns in Iron and Washington Counties and possibly some Native Americans. Only seventeen young children were spared.^[11] Initially, settlers placed the blame on Southern Paiute people.^[12] James G. Bleak wrote that John D. Lee afterward acknowledged that “he and some other white men joined them [the Southern Paiute] in the perpetration of the deed,”^[13] although this account was not reported to federal authorities. Whether or not, and to what degree, Indigenous people may actually have participated is debated and difficult to determine.^[14] The primary role of Latter-day Saint settlers was eventually established, although only a handful of men were charged and only one, John D. Lee, was tried in a court of law.^[15] 

Cotton Field, undated. Utah Tech University Special Collections and Archives.

In February of 1858, a small company established a cotton farm on the Virgin River. The labor was physically demanding, from the settlement distance, to the labor for water and farming. Five hundred seventy-five pounds of ginned cotton were delivered to the Latter-day Saint tithing office that November, which cost about $3.40 per pound to produce.^[16]

The next year brought change. The county seat moved from New Harmony to Washington and more land was set aside for sorghum, which had greater demand.^[17] Washington county continued to develop, settlers built a schoolhouse near the Santa Clara settlement and a post office in Toquerville in 1859. The cotton crop produced in 1859 only cost $1.90, showing promising results.^[18]

Four of Our Foremost Pioneers. On horseback: James Andrus. Sitting from left: E.M. Brown, Andrew Sorenson, J.B. Bracken. Taken sometime before 1914. Utah Tech University Library Digital Collections.

Back in the United States, the Civil War broke out in 1861. Leaders in Utah “concluded that the resources of the South part of Utah should be more fully developed” for the territory to become more independent from the warring nation back east.^[19] At this time, Washington County had a very small population, only seventy-nine families, living in eight different settlements: Washington, Fort Clara, Virgen City, Toquerville, Grafton, Adventure, Gunlock and Harrisburg.^[20] Brigham Young "called" more than 300 families to "go on to St. George" and build a new city somewhere along on the north slope of the confluence of the Santa Clara and Virgin River.^[21]

Once the company arrived, families were split into different settlements. Fifty families were sent to the upper valley, ten or twelve to Toquerville, forty (including the ‘Swiss Company’) to Fort Santa Clara and the remainder to stay in the lower valley. They found the land “well adapted to the culture of cotton, tobacco, indigo and Chinese sugar cane.” ^[22]

Hardships prevailed for the early settlements, especially regarding water. The Virgin River flooded annually, but 1861 and 1862 brought more destruction than years before. The Santa Clara River and Virgin River overfilled after forty days of rain. Heberville was “swept away,” along with Fort Hamblin, the Grist Mill, a schoolhouse, a blacksmith shop at Adventure, and many homes and crops from the settlements. ^[23]

The Tabernacle Under Construction, circa 1871. From the Bart Anderson Slide Collection. Utah Tech University Special Collections and Archives.

While the flooding and storms raged on, the camp in St. George organized a school.^[24] Teachers were selected and a census taken for both a Day and Evening school. Only one month later, the local religious leader, Erastus Snow suggested a stone building for both educational and social purposes to be built.^[25] President Snow urged cooperation so “this public building may be the first building to be finished in this St. George valley.”^[26] Contributions began immediately; 120 people pledged over $2,900 for this community building, none of whom had a permanent dwelling yet.^[27]

By April 7th, 1862, the St. George City Council met for the first time and Angus M. Cannon was appointed the first mayor.^[28] The settlers got to work building homes, meeting houses like the Tabernacle, and the road from Harmony to St. George.^[29] The county seat moved to St. George in 1863. ^[30]

The first public building, called the “Social Hall,” was built on Main Street, just south of St. George Boulevard. This building served as a community gathering place for a number of years, before a new social hall was built on the northeast corner of Main Street and 200 North.^[31]