Old Fort Pierce

In the dry country southeast of St. George, where a wash passes a rare desert spring, the settlers built a small stone fort in the winter of 1866. The Black Hawk War was on, and raiders used the old trails through this canyon to reach the Dixie towns — Navajo bands crossing the Colorado, and others. Whoever held the spring watched the road. A handful of men were posted here to guard the water and give warning. No great battle came to Fort Pearce. It did its work by simply standing where it did, and its walls still do.

Where it stands

Worth the stop nearby

• Hurricane Canal Trail — 14 mi
  The hand-dug canal that built Hurricane, now a walking trail blasted into the Virgin River gorge
• St. George Dinosaur Discovery Site at Johnson Farm — 14 mi
  Real dinosaur footprints preserved in ancient sandstone
• Snow Canyon State Park — 18 mi
  Red and white sandstone cliffs with ancient lava flows
• Grafton Ghost Town — 22 mi
  A photogenic ghost town used in the film Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid

More markers nearby

• Temple Timber Trail — 9.9 mi
• Lucy Bigelow Young — 12 mi
• Gould's Sheep Shearing Mill — 12 mi
• The Temple Quarry — 12 mi