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Show UTAH'S 'DIXIE' GARDEN SPOT St. Gec:ge, Utah, the small Morton Mor-ton community nestling down in the southwest corner of Utah in what is known as that state's "Dixie," is the entry port to Zion National Park and the North Rim of the Grand Canyon for motorists from Southern California. Califor-nia. Colonized in the sixties principally by Mormon converts from Great Britain, the Dixieland of Utah, with St. George its focal point, soon became be-came a garden spot because of the extreme fertility of the soil and the mild winters prevailing, unlike the other (and higher) portions of Utah, where the cold blasts of winter are oftentimes a reality and not a figure of speech. Some slight troubles with the Indians In-dians ensued, but on the whole life was quite peaceful in and around St. George, and in 1871 work was begun on a Mormon temple in that community, commun-ity, the structure being finished and dedicated on January 1, 1877. Built principally of local materials, its cost at the time was approximately $S00.-000, $S00.-000, which shows that it was a most expensive undertaking at that time considering the comparative small population and the handicap of oxcart ox-cart transportation, for even now the railroad does not come within fifty miles of St. George. Contrary to general belief, the Salt Lake temple is not the first of the Mormon temples, but the sixth, for the first was completed in Kin-land, Kin-land, Ohio, in 1S36; the second in Nauvoo, 111., in 1846; the third in St. George, Utah, in 1S77; the fourth at Logan, Utah, in 18S4; and the fifth at Manti, Utah, in 1888. The immense im-mense Mormon temple at Salt Lake was not completed until 1893, though ground was broken in 18 53. An Ajax six sedan from the Troy Motor Sales Company of Los Angeles recently made a scouting tour into Utah, averaging eighteen miles to the gallon of gasoline and better than 700 miles to a quart of oil. With the exception of rains encountered a' the time, road conditions were found to be better than last year, and niotorists driving to Zion. Bryce and the North Kim will undoubtedly find good road conditions during June and July. Los Angeles Examiner. |
