Mormon Pioneers Along the Little Colorado River

In 1876 Brigham Young ordered a colony planted in Arizona, and more than two hundred Latter-day Saints hauled their lives down from Utah to this valley. They built four fortified settlements within a few miles of one another: Sunset and Brigham City facing each other across the river, Obed and St. Joseph upstream. Families at Sunset held everything in common under the United Order, working the dams and fields together. Floods and drought unmade most of the effort within a decade, but Joseph City endured, and the colonization opened the rest of Arizona to Mormon settlement.

What the plaque says

Answering the Church's Call. In January of 1876, Brigham Young, the President of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, announced his plan to establish Mormon colonies in the Arizona Territory. In the months that followed, more than 200 Church members traveled from their homes in Utah to this part of the Little Colorado River valley. Lot Smith and eighteen other men built Sunset Fort in the river valley below this hill. Jessie O. Ballenger's company built Brigham City across the river. George Lake and William Allen established the settlements of Obed and Joseph City farther upstream. Families at Sunset Fort lived collectively, and property was held in common.

Where it stands

Worth the stop nearby

• Winslow — 2.9 mi
  The town an Eagles lyric made famous — and the home of La Posada, the last great railroad hotel and Mary Colter's finest work, at the southern doorway to Hopi and Navajo country.

More markers nearby

• General Lot Smith — 0.4 mi
• Homol'ovi II — 2.7 mi
• La Posada Hotel — 2.9 mi
• A City in Motion: Modern Modes — 2.9 mi