Old Irontown

Utah tried to make iron twice, and this was the second try. After the first ironworks at Cedar City gave up in 1858, a cooperative called the Great Western Iron Manufacturing Company started fresh here in 1868, on a spot they called Little Pinto. This time it ran day and night, turning out eight hundred pounds of good iron every eight hours, and a railroad was hauled in from Nevada to bring coal. A larger company took over in 1883. But like the first attempt, Iron City could not last; today it is a ghost town of stone ruins.

What the plaque says

Established 1868 by Ebenezer Hanks and others who organized the Great Western Iron Manufacturing Co., a cooperative enterprise. Officers were E. Hanks, President, Homer Duncan, Vice President, Seth M. Blair, Secretary. 800 pounds of iron of good quality was produced each 8 hours, the plant running day and night. The enterprise was taken over in 1883 by the Iron Manufacturing Co. of Utah, with George Q. Cannon, President, Thomas Taylor, Vice President and Manager, John C. Cutler, Secretary. A railroad was moved here from Nevada to haul coal from Cedar Canyon to "Little Pinto" the name given this townsite.

Where it stands

Worth the stop nearby

• Kolob Canyons — 19 mi
  The quiet, uncrowded back door to Zion National Park
• Parowan Gap Petroglyphs — 30 mi
  An ancient rock art gallery hidden in a desert canyon
• Zion National Park — 31 mi
  Towering sandstone cliffs that glow like fire at sunset

More markers nearby

• Page Ranch House — 2.6 mi
• Pinto — 5.6 mi
• Short Cut/Jefferson Hunt (2) markers — 8.8 mi
• Hamblin Cemetery — 9.7 mi