The Old Iron Foundry

This is why Cedar City exists. Brigham Young wanted iron the Territory wouldn't have to freight from the East, so he called craftsmen — English, Welsh, Scottish — to the mouth of Coal Creek to make it. On September 30, 1852, their furnace ran out the first iron manufactured west of the Mississippi: a cast bell, some nails and rods. But floods drowned the works, the coal wouldn't coke, and the Utah War scattered the hands; by 1858 it was finished. The foundry ran eight hard years and left the county its name.

Where it stands

Worth the stop nearby

• Brian Head — 12 mi
  Utah's highest town — a ski-and-bike base camp at the top of Parowan Canyon
• Cedar Breaks National Monument — 12 mi
  A 2,000-foot-deep amphitheater of vivid orange and red rock
• Parowan Gap Petroglyphs — 13 mi
  An ancient rock art gallery hidden in a desert canyon
• Kolob Canyons — 17 mi
  The quiet, uncrowded back door to Zion National Park

More markers nearby

• Iron Pioneers Flag Pole — steps away
• Fort Cedar — 1.1 mi
• Old Spanish Trail — 6.6 mi
• Pine Valley — 31 mi