Tropic Pioneers

The settlers of Tropic did something the map said shouldn't work: they sent water out of its own watershed. In 1892 they finished a ditch that tapped the East Fork of the Sevier River atop the Paunsaugunt Plateau and carried it over the rim of the Great Basin, down through the pink spires of what is now Bryce Canyon, to green their fields in the valley below. The water still runs that improbable course. Diverting it over the rim, as the marker puts it, was the feat that made the town of Tropic possible.

What the plaque says

In Honor of Tropic Pioneers and diverting water over rim of Great Basin May 23, 1892

Where it stands

Worth the stop nearby

• Tropic — 0.4 mi
  A quiet pioneer town in the shadow of Bryce Canyon
• Mossy Cave Trail — 3.0 mi
  A hidden waterfall and ice cave just off the highway
• Cannonville — 4.1 mi
  Gateway to Kodachrome Basin and the Grand Staircase
• Bryce Canyon Lodge — 4.5 mi
  A 1925 National Historic Landmark perched on the canyon rim

More markers nearby

• Ebenezer Bryce Cabin — 0.2 mi
• Veterans Memorial Park — 0.2 mi
• Minerals in the Mesas — 5.5 mi
• The Panguitch Quilt Walk — 23 mi