Pioneer First Camp Ground

Beaver was born in the dead of winter, on ground nobody wanted. Scouts had judged the valley unfit to farm, but the plentiful water changed enough minds that, at a mass meeting in Parowan, a few of the bolder families volunteered to try. Led by Captain Simeon Howd, they made their first camp near this spot on February 6, 1856, in zero-degree cold, and set about proving the doubters wrong. They did: the valley they "redeemed," as the old marker puts it, became the town of Beaver, and a prosperous one.

What the plaque says

Near this site, Feb. 6, 1856, in zero weather, Beaver pioneers made their first camp. Prior to this, the land had been rejected as unfit for cultivation, but the amount of water available gave courage. At a mass meeting in Parowan some of the more venturesome families were selected. Led by Captain Simeon F. Howd, Wilson G. Nowers, James P. Anderson, John Henderson, Ross G. Rogers, J.M. Davis, Lorin W. Babbit, William Wanlass and James Low they faced the seemingly impossible and redeemed the valley.

Where it stands

Worth the stop nearby

• Beaver — 1.0 mi
  A charming main street town with surprisingly good food
• Butch Cassidy Boyhood Home — 22 mi
  The restored Circleville cabin where the West's most famous outlaw spent his teens
• Cove Fort — 23 mi
  A beautifully restored 1867 pioneer fort at the crossroads of two interstates
• Fremont Indian State Park — 28 mi
  The largest known Fremont Indian village ever discovered

More markers nearby

• Spirit of the American Doughboy Monument — 0.7 mi
• Beaver Stake Tabernacle — 0.7 mi
• Lee's Ranch Indian Raid — 0.7 mi
• Philo T. Farnsworth — 0.8 mi