Shem, Shivwits Band chieftain

The Shivwits are Southern Paiute, Nuwuvi, who farmed corn and squash along the Santa Clara and the Virgin. In the late 1880s the St. George cattleman Anthony Ivins, whose Arizona Strip herds they sometimes raided, pressed Washington to move them; in 1891 he was named their agent and settled the band on the Santa Clara west of town, on land granted without water rights. Shem led them through it. His name went on a 1930s flood-control dam at the reservation's corner, and the Sons of Utah Pioneers marked his grave in the settlers' terms: friend of the pioneers.

What the plaque says

Shem Shivwits Indian Chieftain 1840 Feb. 24, 1930 Friend of the pioneers and faithful member of the LDS Church Sons of Utah Pioneers #112

Where it stands

Worth the stop nearby

• St. George Dinosaur Discovery Site at Johnson Farm — 3.4 mi
  Real dinosaur footprints preserved in ancient sandstone
• Snow Canyon State Park — 7.6 mi
  Red and white sandstone cliffs with ancient lava flows
• Hurricane Canal Trail — 17 mi
  The hand-dug canal that built Hurricane, now a walking trail blasted into the Virgin River gorge
• Virgin River Gorge — 18 mi

More markers nearby

• The Dixie Pioneers — 0.7 mi
• The Stone Quarries — 0.7 mi
• Pioneer Museum — 0.7 mi
• St. George Temple — 0.8 mi