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Southern Utah
Built between 1876 and 1882, the Beaver County Courthouse is one of Utah's oldest government buildings. Its tall foundation is made of local black basalt stone. The building has two stories and a roomy attic with gabled windows. The red brick exterior is lavished with white Victorian-style trim and arched keystone windows. A clock tower with timepieces on each of its four sides can be seen from all over town. Currently it is used as a visitor and community center.
Photo - Beaver County Courthouse
In 1896, a one-room schoolhouse was built in the central Utah community of Fruita, named for the hundreds of fruit trees residents planted in a valley edged by Sulphur Creek and the Fremont River. The tiny school educated farm children in first through eighth grades for nearly eighty years. It was also used for Mormon church services, town meetings, dances, elections and other gatherings. In 1941, the school was closed because it had too few students. This region remained one of Utah's most isolated until well after World War II. Fruita and the surrounding area are now part of Capitol Reef National Park. The orchards lovingly tended by early residents are now maintained by the National Park Service, and park visitors can pick several varieties of fruit in season.
Photo: Fruita School House, Capitol Reef NP
The mournful ghost town of Grafton is located on the southern bank of the Virgin River in a valley edged with ruddy cliffs. For early residents, the Virgin River was both a blessing and curse. It allowed them to irrigate crops and raise livestock in their desert environment making their southwestern Utah home surprisingly verdant. But over and over, the river raged and flooded the town destroying homes, crops and common buildings. Residents rebuilt more than once and the moods of the river became an uneasy part of their existence. During one flood, as a family fled for their lives, an infant was born in the family wagon. The child was promptly named "Marvelous Flood". When Utah became a state in 1896, little more than 100 people remained in Grafton. By 1921, the town was populated only by memories.
Photo: Remnants of Grafton
The Southwestern Utah town of Washington was settled in 1857. In a patriotic mood, residents named their community for George Washington. In 1865 the Mormon Church built a three-story stone cotton mill in town as part of an effort to develop a cotton and silk textile industry. The moderate climate of the area was favorable for growing cotton, though efforts to raise silkworms did not fare well. Under church ownership, the Washington mill began production in 1867. It was later sold, but continued operating as a public co-op through the years of statehood. Generations of Washington residents worked at the mill making batting, blankets, clothing and textiles. Around 1910, shortages of necessary materials and transportation costs made it unprofitable for the town to remain in the textile business. The machinery was sold and the Washington mill was closed. It was restored in 1986 and is now a community gathering place.
Photo: Washington Cotton Mill
T he San Juan River slices across Southeastern Utah. Ages ago, ancient Puebloan cultures tucked their stacked stone houses under overhangs carved by the rivers meanders and lived their lives near its sandy shores. Rock art, and worn habitation sites like River House Ruins provide intriguing clues to what remains a mysterious period in time.
Photo - River House Ruins, San Juan River
In Utah's early years, the far-flung population faced a variety of challenges. Away from the comforts of any major city, Bluff, in extreme southeastern Utah, was populated by Anglo families transplanted from more developed area. By trial and error, and with the help of their Navajo neighbors, Bluff's residents learned to successfully farm the desert soil of the San Juan River valley. But their efforts were often confounded by relentless winds and floods. By mastering their farming methods and bringing cattle to the area, they eventually found success. Bluff was once the richest town per capita in the state. But prosperity could only soften the difficulties of carving a home out of the windswept desert.
Photo: Historic Bluff Cemetery
In 1880, the party of Mormon settlers known as the "Hole in the Rock Pioneers" made a harrowing journey to this remote section of Southeastern Utah. Among them was twenty-four year old Lemuel Redd, who brought energy and a zest for life to his new desert home. Until he died in 1923, Redd was a revered rancher, politician and Mormon Church leader. He built his home of ruddy blocks of native sandstone and embellished it with the wide porches and gingerbread trim also found during the era on the houses in more populated parts of the country.
Photo: Lemuel Redd House in Bluff
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