LaVerkin Pioneers

No one can quite agree how La Verkin got its name. Some say it is a worn-down Spanish La Virgen, for the Virgin River below. Others trace it to an 1852 letter that wrote the creek as 'Leiver Skin' — likely a slip for 'Beaver Skin.' The old pioneer monument splits the difference: Indian for 'beautiful valley.' Whatever the truth, the place earned the last name — a green bench of orchards and fields above the river gorge, watered by a canal hacked along the cliffs, with warm sulfur springs the Paiute held sacred nearby.

What the plaque says

Daughters of Utah Pioneers No. 134 Erected Sept., 1949 La Verkin "Indian for beautiful valley" In 1891, Thomas Judd, promoter, with others completed an 840 foot tunnel and 1¼ mile canal to bring water from the Rio Virgin for the cultivation of this valley. Excavations opened a large crystal cave of stalactite and stalagmites. In 1903, the first post office with H. W. Gubler as post master. June 23, 1904, an L.D.S. ward was organized under a bowery with Morris Wilson as bishop. In 1904 first school house was built. Crystal Cave Camp Washington County

Where it stands

Worth the stop nearby

• Hurricane Canal Trail — 1.5 mi
  The hand-dug canal that built Hurricane, now a walking trail blasted into the Virgin River gorge
• Grafton Ghost Town — 11 mi
  A photogenic ghost town used in the film Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid
• Springdale — 15 mi
  Zion's south-entrance gateway town, wedged between the Watchman and the Virgin River
• Zion National Park — 15 mi
  Towering sandstone cliffs that glow like fire at sunset

More markers nearby

• Morris Wilson Memorial Park — steps away
• The Southern Exploring Company — 0.8 mi
• Southern Exploring Company 1849 Parley P. Pratt Southern Utah Expedition — 1.1 mi
• Look-Out Point — 1.3 mi