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Show Geology tells formative history of Red Cliffs recreation site The southwest corner of Utah's Color Country was named Dixie by Mormon pioneers because of its warm summers and mild winters. Once a cotton and mulberry silk growing center, it is now Utah's Palm Springs. Center of a large area abounding with recreational resources, notably Zion National Park, Snow Canyon State Park and Gunlock Lake State Recreation area. St. George itself is a must for the sight-seeing vacationer. A good first stop is the old brick courthouse dating to 1866, which now houses the chamber of commerce. Behind it is the Daughters of Utah Pioneers Museum. A short distance away is the restored winter home of Brigham Young. The Mormon temple, another interesting stop, stands 175 feet high, an architectural marvel of hand-quarried sandstone. Not to be missed, either, is Dixie College campus. Golfers will find four championship courses Dixie Red Hills, Lava Hills, Bloomington Hills and Bloomington Country Club. The city conducts a summerlong program of recreation for all ages, including in-cluding swimming, games, athletics and crafts. LOTS OF SIGHTS TO SEE Dixie is many interesting places. Remains of an old cotton mill and gin are to be seen at Washington. Santa Clara is distinguished by the old home of Jacob Hamblin, pioneer Mormon scout and peacemaker among the Indians. It was built in 1862. The Gunlock reservoir and State Park, named for Gunlock Hamblin, Jacob's brother, provides boating, fishing, water skiing and camping. Snow Canyon, a favorite location of Hollywood movie makers, near the town of Ivins, is noted for its spectacular spec-tacular vermillion cliffs, extinct volcano cones, reflected outcroppings of Navajo sandstone and fields of black, basaltic lava. It contains a modern campground. cam-pground. The oldest LDS chapel still in use, built in 1868, is located in Pine Valley, reached by U18 north of St. George through Veyo and Central. There are three Dixie National Forest campgrounds and a picnic site at Pine Valley reservoir. Horse trails lead to the 10,000 foot heights of the Pine Valley mountains. Enterprise reservoir is popular for boating and fishing. Silver Reef was a rambunctious ram-bunctious mining town of the late 1860's where a mother lode of silver was found in the sandstone. The old Wells Fargo building is still intact. The road to Zion National Park, lying between Cedar City, St. George and Kanab, is a scenic drive through several green, tree-shaded valleys. At Hurricane high cliffs rise abruptly east of town. They were raised by a gigantic fault extending a hundred miles north to the Colorado River and north to Cedar City. The old winery authorized by LDS President Brigham Young to produce for export still stands at Toquerville. The two story stone building dates to 1866. The neatly kept town is picturesquely situated at the base of mountains overlooking a long, grassy valley of farms and homesteads. The meandering valley highway following the Virgin River from there to Zion's is bordered by the villages of Virgin, Rockville, to end at Springdale. The latter is near the south entrance of the park and contains, numerous motels, restaurants, service stations and other stores catering to thetourist, Past ages come into view as the geologic formations tell the formative history of Red Cliffs Recreation Site. Navajo sandstone, which originated from wind blown sands, has been relentlessly weathered for millions of years by water, wind and changing temperatures leaving cliffs with sharp ridges, ledges, and sculptured sculp-tured rock formations. Layers deposited by water in other periods of geologic history can also be seen. Iron oxide in surface and percolating ground water strained Red Cliffs the color which makes the area a natural for picture taking. In the early morning and late afternoon the sunlight -js. causes a special hue which ' makes the area come alive with spectacular color combinations. The area is located approximately ap-proximately 20 miles nor- theast of St. George, Utah, off Interstate 15. Situated at the mouth of Quail Creek Canyon among red colored sandstone cliffs, the developed recreation site abounds in natural attractions. at-tractions. The living desert and its value to man can be more fully appreciated through close observations of the vegetation of the area. Bordering the upper limits of the Sonoran Desert and the lower reaches of the Great Basin, Red Cliffs lies within transitional desert climatic zones with varied vegetation ranging from pinyon pine to different species of cactus. The desert shrubs and trees are often valuable as forage for wildlife and domestic animals and act as important retardants to " erosion by lending stability to the soil. Some of the common and important vegetative species of the region may be seen by taking the '2 mile nature trail leading up Quail Creek Canyon from the camp and picnic area. Objects of interest are numbered along the trail with explanations in a leaflet which is provided lor your convenience where the trail begins. Frontier mining played a major role in the history of this area. By taking the 'h mile Silver Reef Lookout Trail one may view the famous Silver Reef, the only known area in the United States where commercial deposits of silver ore have been found in a sandstone formation. From 1875 until 1885, heyday of lodge mining operations at Silver Reef, nearly eight million dollars worth of ore was removed from the area. Several . towns such as Leeds, Harrisburg and Silver Reef were centers of activity during the exciting mining era. |