Fort Deseret (Black Hawk War)

The Black Hawk War grew out of hunger — settlers had taken the Utes' land, and the bands answered by raiding the cattle that had replaced their game. So in 1866 the men of Deseret threw up this fort: ten-foot walls of adobe mud and straw trodden by oxen, finished in eighteen days as a race between two crews for the prize of a supper and a dance. It never saw a fight. When Black Hawk came for cattle, the fort's mere presence let both sides talk peace. Utah's last adobe fort, half-melted, stands on Highway 257.

Where it stands

More markers nearby

• Gunnison Massacre (2) Monuments — 6.7 mi
• Topaz War Relocation Center WWII — 7.3 mi
• Topaz Museum — 7.4 mi
• Topaz Interment Camp WWII — 12 mi