The Old Iron Foundry

This is why Cedar City exists. Brigham Young wanted iron the Territory need not 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 bell, nails and rods. Floods drowned the works, the coal wouldn't coke, and the Utah War scattered the hands. The foundry ran eight years and left the county its name. No plaque stands here now; the monument holding it crumbled during a move.

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
• Deseret Iron Works (2) Markers — steps away
• Ward Hall — 0.3 mi
• Pioneer Cabin — 0.5 mi