Sheltlar Wagon

This freight wagon is a relic of how a remote desert town got its goods. Before good roads, everything Hurricane needed came by wagon from the nearest railroad at Lund, thirty-five miles beyond Cedar City — and everything the town sold, from nine-hundred-pound sacks of wool to loads of mountain timber, went out the same way, hauled by big Percheron teams. Bought around 1930, this sixteen-foot wagon was among the last new ones the local mercantile ever sold. In its retirement it has carried mayors and marchers in the town's Fourth of July and Peach Days parades.

What the plaque says

This freight wagon, bought by Harold Reeve in about 1930, was the last new wagon sold by the Sandburg Mercantile in Hurricane, Utah. Goods were hauled to the people in Hurricane from the nearest railroad in Lund, Utah, 35 miles northwest of Cedar City. Several 900-pound sacks of wool per load were hauled from the Gould's Shearing Corral to the railroad, and wood from Little Creek Mountain and Mount Trumball was hauled to Hurricane. A team of large Percheron horses pulled the 16-foot by 6-foot wagon. The original color of the wagon was light brown. In later years, the wagon was used for parades on the Fourth of July, Pioneer Day, and Peach Days. Through the years, the wagon has carried many people, including the mayor; city council; and groups from the Sons of Utah Pioneers, Daughters of Utah Pioneers, high school class reunions; and various musical performers. About 1990, Harold Reeve's son, Ashby, made the wagon available for display in the yard of the Heritage Park Museum. The agreement allowed Ashby to use the wagon for parades. The horses were later sold, and the wagon, a valuable part of Hurricane history, has not been used in a parade for many years. A ride that now takes about an hour was a five-day trip in a wagon like this. May future generations better understand the early history of Hurricane and the contributions made by its citizens. Site Number 165 Hurricane Valley Chapter Dedicated: July 4, 2011

Where it stands

Worth the stop nearby

• Hurricane Canal Trail — 0.5 mi
  The hand-dug canal that built Hurricane, now a walking trail blasted into the Virgin River gorge
• Grafton Ghost Town — 12 mi
  A photogenic ghost town used in the film Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid
• Springdale — 16 mi
  Zion's south-entrance gateway town, wedged between the Watchman and the Virgin River
• Zion National Park — 17 mi
  Towering sandstone cliffs that glow like fire at sunset

More markers nearby

• Stanworth Home — steps away
• Hurricane Pioneers — steps away
• Spencer and Helen Isom "Home" — 0.3 mi
• Birth of Hurricane — 0.5 mi