Part 4

The inhabitants are principally foreigners, and mostly Englishmen from the coal districts of Great Britain. At the time of our visit, the place was crowded with the people of the surrounding country seeking refuge from the Indians, and its square was blocked up with wagons, furniture, tents, farming implements, etc., in the midst of which were men, women and children, together with every description of cattle, creating a scene of confusion difficult to describe.... Mounted men, well armed, patrolled the country, and expresses came in from different quarters, bringing accounts of attacks by Indians on small parties and unprotected farms and houses. In face of these reports, Walker sent a message to Colonel G. A. Smith, military commander at Parowan, telling him that the “Mormons were d—— fools for abandoning houses and towns, for he did not intend to molest them there, as it was his intention to confine his depredation to their cattle, and that he advised them to return and mind their crops, for if they neglected them, they would starve and be obliged to leave the country, which was not what he desired, for then there would be no cattle for him to take.”[30]

The Indian war subsided in the spring of 1854 and the people were again free to attend to farming and mining, although, as a matter of fact, they maintained the military organization for many years thereafter, as long as the Indian menace persisted.

Despite their precaution in maintaining a military organization, the Mormons actually preferred a policy of peaceful penetration and directed positive efforts toward that end. They sent missionaries among the Indians, established missions among them, cultivated friendship with those around the settlements and bestowed gifts and goods upon them. It was easier to penetrate by feeding and friendship than by fighting; moreover, this policy was in line with the teaching of the Book of Mormon that the Indians (there called Lamanites) would be converted and absorbed and would become “a white and delightsome people.” This Mormon policy of keeping peace with the Indians smoothed the course of settlement and improved opportunities for expansion.

At first the iron industry showed considerable promise, but technical difficulties and the enormous cost of transportation without railroad facilities prevented its expansion. Jules Remy, a French observer who passed through the settlements in 1855, states that the mines, both iron and coal, were being worked and the foundries were turning out about a ton of pig iron per day. This was obtained from ore yielding 25 to 75 per cent iron.[31] With the development of railroads across northern Utah, bringing in iron from elsewhere, the industry in the south languished. It had served, however, to accelerate the settlement of this region, and with its passing the pioneers turned to other occupations, especially to agriculture and stockraising, the foundation of the frontier communities.

Pushing South into Dixie

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]