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Show St. Gecrge Granted Charter Before Settled BV If. L. REID I 77 Years A;o I St. George is unique among the cities of Utah and perhaps of the nation in having been granted a city charter by the Territorial Legislature before any inhabitants resided within the city. The original charter of St. George, was approved on Friday, Jan. 17, 1SG2, and the first settlers set-tlers did not move onto the designated site of the city until Thursday, Jan. 23. On December 4, 1S61, immediately im-mediately following the arrival of the pioneers into the St. George Valley, a. 'committee consisting of Erastus Snow, Jacob Gates, Angus M. Cannon and William Fawcett, was Selected to choose a site for the city of St. George. Three possible pos-sible sites were considered: 1. On the extreme eastern side of the valley. 2. The present site. 3. The plot directly south of the present city. After considerable investigation the present site was selected and Israel Ivins began the survey of the city according to a plot furnished fur-nished by Erastus Snow. By the middle of January the survey was nearing completion, the survey stakes, among the tall mesquite brush, marking the unused streets. On January 19 at the Sunday service ser-vice Erastus Snow was appointed as a committee of one to assign the lots to the actual settlers. On January 23 the move into the city began. |