Adair Spring The Birthplace Of Utah's dixie Washington City Utah

Washington City was founded to grow cotton, and it nearly killed the people who tried. Brigham Young sent settlers here in 1857 to raise cotton for the pioneers' clothing and to plant the flag in the southern desert. In early May they named the place for George Washington and called their new country Dixie, after the Southern homes many had left. The desert repaid them harshly: malaria — the "chills and fever" — thinned the settlers, and food and water ran short, while the Virgin River's flash floods kept tearing out the dams they built to water their fields.

What the plaque says

Founded 1857. This monument is erected in honor and memory of the founders of Washington City. The settlers who arrived 1857 were sent here by Brigham Young, president of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, for the purpose of growing cotton to clothe Mormon pioneers and to colonize the territory. Those early pioneers named their city on May 5 or 6, 1857 in honor of George Washington and also called the area “Dixie” in rememberence of their former homes in the South. Living in the arid desert proved extremely difficult. Reoccuring challenges such as malaria (egue or chills and fever), the lack of food, poor water and other diseases disabled and disseminated the setters. The Virgin River, providing water to irrigate fields, was crucial to the settlers. However, frequent flash floods washed out the dams built to divert the water from the river to the fields. This resulted in stavation and undue hardship. It took the pioneers thirty-four years to conquer the mightly “Rio Virgin” doing so with the completion of the Washington Fields Dam in 1891. (List of settlers follows)

Where it stands

Worth the stop nearby

• St. George Dinosaur Discovery Site at Johnson Farm — 6.9 mi
  Real dinosaur footprints preserved in ancient sandstone
• Snow Canyon State Park — 8.9 mi
  Red and white sandstone cliffs with ancient lava flows
• Hurricane Canal Trail — 13 mi
  The hand-dug canal that built Hurricane, now a walking trail blasted into the Virgin River gorge
• Grafton Ghost Town — 24 mi
  A photogenic ghost town used in the film Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid

More markers nearby

• Adair Spring — steps away
• Covington Mansion (3) Markers — steps away
• Temple Timber Trail — steps away
• Relief Society Building Built 1857 — 0.3 mi