Show Moab Takes Name From Bible Land I All AH through the Old theres there's mentioned the land of Moab Moab was in the desert country west of the Dead Sea The had denied passage to the Israelites under Moses as they wandered in the wilderness It was on a mountain in inthe inthe inthe the land of Moab that Moses died after seeing afar the promised land of Canaan The ancient Moab is said to be a land of topped flat-topped mountains Perhaps it was the topped flat-topped mountains that led ld a committee to choose the name Moab for the post postoffice office in this then new community In 1880 Or the committee perhaps perhaps perhaps per per- haps had in mind some other con con- notation In any event there seems no doubt the founding fathers went to the Old Testament to find the name for their new home Members of the committee says Faun McConkie McConkle Tanner in her History of Moab were Fred Powell A. A G. G Wilson William A. A Peirce James Peirce Jeremiah and Lorenzo Lorenzo Lorenzo Lor Lor- enzo Hatch William A. A Peirce a Bible student may have suggested Moab as the name William A. A Peirce later was appointed Moab's first postmaster when the postoffice postoffice post post- office here was established March 23 23 1880 There is Ii another enother version of how Moab got its name neme but Mrs Tanner says it has he little bests basis in fact This theory Is that thet Moab Is a shorten ing of an en Indian word Moapa Mop meaning mos mos- quito Perhaps it should be noted that the first settlement established in the valley in inthe inthe inthe the late was not at the present townsite townsite town- town site but southeast of it in the upper valley That settlement was called Plainfield and a postoffice was opened there in 1879 with C. C M. M Van Buren as postmaster After Moab was established in 1880 Plainfield became known as Bueno and later as Poverty Flat |