| Show iron I 1 ron C county oun I 1 its ts cities en e N 0 0 towns T owns and an d resource resources tf v i S T a ya A i r w aa L 0 e L I 1 aa y M 0 courtoy courtesy zion studio section of cedar cites main street iron county historical by WM R PALMER pres parowan carowan stake of zion the two principle iron county settlements tle ments parowan carowan and cedar city were founded in the year 1851 thu the founding of these settlements was part of a gigantic scheme of president brigham young to con conquer quer for civilization the inland empire of the country known as the intermountain west within a remarkably short span of years after the arrival of the great empire builder in the salt lake valley he had practically circumscribed the intermountain country with a ring of outposts there was fort for t limhi on oil the salmon river in what is now idaho there was fort supply on oil the east cast carzon valley in western estern nevada on the west vest and iron county santa clara and los vegas settlements on oil the south these iron county colonies which in the beginning included also old fort harmony nio y served as recruiting stations and and colonizing centers from which were drawn the settlers for new settlements tle ments all through what is now southern utah in the winter of 1819 18 19 and 1850 an exploring party sent out by brigham young discovered the great beds of iron atoni which this county takes its name iron was scarce in excessively ces expensive because of the great cost of freight from the missouri river by ox team and yet it was indispensable the discovery of the iron ore perhaps set far ahead the colonization of this section of country for the great leader conceived the idea of in manufacturing iron at this point to supply the intermountain needs to impress the advanced period of iron county settlement it is only necessary to say that there was no town south of provo and the first company saw no white man after leaving that section iron was actually manufactured here in cedar city as early as the fall of 1852 and thereafter for some seven or eight years intensive efforts were put forth to produce it in commercial quantities castings of exceptional quality were produced from the very beginning but the workers never succeeded in manufacturing a satisfactory malleable iron because of the determination of president young to build up a successful iron industry here there were among the early settlers of this section a number of highly trained engineers mechanics mechanic st and experienced iron peers iron workers the best men that could be found the influence of these trained minds greatly enriched the social and civic life of the colony in those early days in 1858 cedar city had a tion of 1000 people i many liany of whom or most of whom had been attracted here by prospects of an industrial community the coining of johnstons army with their enormous supply of implements chains and iron of all kinds somewhat relieved the iron shortage in utah and by the year 1860 the building of the railroad into utah was wa S assured this solved the freight problem and insured an ample supply of iron and the local industry was abandoned after the breakup break up of the iron works many of the settlers left the town some went to california and others to pioneer new settlements in various parts of southern utah the principle industry of the section has always been its livestock the climate was good forage abundant and there was an ideal combination of winter and summer ranges livestock therefore flourished from the beginning and the fact that they could be transported to market on the hoof has made this industry the coun arys one best bet farming has been successful to t the lie extent of the count rys needs but until recent years the markets for fanning products were so far away that there has been no incentive to produce any great surplus the coming of the railroad into cedar valley has stimulated farming activities to the extent that more land perhaps has been brought under cultivation in the last five years than in ill all the history of the settlement up to that time A 1 t 4 14 51 bank building and business block at parowan carowan Pa rowan M wife X courtesy zion studio hotel el escalante cedar city I 1 |
