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.

What the plaque says

National Register Utah Historic Site Fort Deseret Built in 1866 of adobe mud by two teams of 98 men to protect the settlers during Black Hawk Indian Wars. Division of State History N-12

Where it stands

Worth the stop nearby

• Topaz War Relocation Center — 12 mi
  The Sevier Desert camp where the United States imprisoned 11,000 Japanese Americans

More markers nearby

• Gunnison Massacre (2) Monuments — 6.7 mi
• Topaz War Relocation Center WWII — 7.3 mi
• Topaz Museum — 7.4 mi
• All Gave Some - Some Gave All Monument — 13 mi