The Dixie Pioneers

Before the Cotton Mission there was a decade of rehearsal. Fort Harmony went up in 1852, the territory's southern outpost, and through the 1850s small settlements along the Santa Clara and Virgin proved on trial patches that cotton would actually grow here — on rivers that were Nuwuvi, Southern Paiute, homeland long before any mission arrived. Those experiments are why Brigham Young could send three hundred families south in 1861 with confidence. The Daughters of Utah Pioneers placed this marker in 1936, seventy-five years after those families rolled in.

What the plaque says

In Memory of the Dixie Pioneers who were sent by President Brigham Young to colonize this section of territory. Fort Harmony was built in 1852. Treaties were made with the Indians and other settlements started where conditions were favorable. When experiments proved that cotton could be raised, Brigham Young sent more than 300 families to promote that industry. These people arrived late in 1861. Most of them settled here; in St. George, while some joined other settlements in Washington County.

Where it stands

Worth the stop nearby

• St. George Dinosaur Discovery Site at Johnson Farm — 2.7 mi
  Real dinosaur footprints preserved in ancient sandstone
• Snow Canyon State Park — 7.0 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
• Kolob Canyons — 32 mi
  The quiet, uncrowded back door to Zion National Park

More markers nearby

• The Stone Quarries — steps away
• Pioneer Museum — steps away
• The Desert Shall Blossom — steps away
• Woodward School — steps away