Pinhook Draw Massacre

The stone here says the men were massacred by Indians. The truth is harder. By 1881 cattle and miners had stripped the Ute of nearly all their land, and the Weeminuche and their Paiute allies — starving in country they had hunted for centuries — struck back at the herds. A posse of cowboys chased a Ute band into these mountains, and in Pinhook Draw the Ute ambushed them from the high ground. Ten white men died; the Ute carried their own dead away uncounted. A young fighter named Posey was among them. Only the cowboys got a monument.

What the plaque says

In memory of those who were massacred by Indians June 15 1881 buried here I. E. Wilson A. R. Wilson H. Tarter W. Tarter J. Heaton C. Taylor T. Click J. Galloway Erected 1940 by Grand Co. National Register Utah Historic Site Pinhook Battleground The Pinhook Battleground Site on the Manti-La Sal National Forest encompasses an 80-acre area and features a 20-foot square plot, which is the location of the common grave of eight men who were killed in the Pinhook confrontation. The Pinhook Battle, one of the largest and bloodiest battles between Anglo Americans and American Indians to occur in southeastern Utah, took place in 1881. The fight resulted in the death of eight Colorado posse members, two Moab cattlemen, and an unknown number of American Indians. The dispute was fueled by competition over the land and resources of southeastern Utah and southwestern Colorado. The National Register nomination and early commemoration efforts of the site were undertaken by the Moab Lions Club. Marker placed in 2010 Division of State History

Where it stands

Worth the stop nearby

• UT-128 Colorado River Road — 6.6 mi
  A winding road through red rock canyons along the Colorado River
• Castle Valley — 7.4 mi
  A stunning valley dominated by the iconic Castleton Tower
• Fisher Towers — 11 mi
  Towering dark red pinnacles rising 900 feet from the desert floor
• Onion Creek — 11 mi
  A scenic backroad that fords the same creek more than two dozen times beneath the spires of Fisher Towers

More markers nearby

• Elk Mountain Mission — 13 mi
• Early LDS Church — 13 mi
• Moab Veterans Memorial — 13 mi
• The Spanish Trail — 14 mi