Area:
3,300 square miles;
population:
20,789 (in 1990);
county seat:
Parowan; origin
of county name:
from iron deposits
in the area; principal
cities/towns:
Cedar
City (13,443),
Parowan
(1,873), Enoch
(936); economy:
government (including
education), wholesale
and retail trade,
services, light manufacturing,
and construction;
points of interest:
Cedar
Breaks National Monument,
Iron
Mission State Historic
Park in Cedar
City, Southern
Utah University
(Utah Shakespearean
Festival), Brian
Head resort, old
rock church, and Jesse
N. Smith adobe house
in Parowan.
Iron County is a study
in contrasts--from
its arid western reaches
of the Escalante Desert
and Great Basin ranges
to the meadows and
forests of the high
plateaus on the east.
The Markagunt Plateau
is creased by the
colorful formations
of Cedar Breaks National
Monument, a kind of
miniature Bryce Canyon.
Brian Head (11,307
feet), named for a
profile resembling
that of William Jennings
Bryan, rises abruptly
behind Iron County's
major string of settlements
and extracts a toll
of precipitation from
passing westerlies
to help feed the headwaters
of the Sevier River.
Parowan Valley was
home to prehistoric
Anasazi and Sevier
people who constructed
granaries and pithouses,
dating from about
A.D. 750 to 1250.
Petroglyphs of unusual
variety from different
periods were pecked
into the stone of
Parowan Gap about
twelve miles northwest
of Parowan. Cedar
City is the tribal
headquarters of the
modern Southern Paiute
Indians, whose ancestors
used the plants and
animals of the basin/plateau
environment in a complex
seasonal pattern.
The Dominguez-Escalante
expedition passed
through the area on
12 October 1776 on
its unsuccessful search
for a route to central
California. The Catholic
fathers followed the
Old Spanish Trail
long used by Native
Americans to southern
California. Fur trapper
Jedediah Smith was
the first American
to use the route on
his amazing journey
of 1826. Mormon settlers
dispatched by Brigham
Young established
Parowan in January
1851 as the mother
colony of the southern
frontier. Cedar City
(originally Coal Creek)
was founded the same
year. Several pioneer
log homes as well
as some English two-bay
log barns now very
rare in the state
remain in the county.
Coal in the canyons
east of Cedar City
and iron ore in the
mountains west of
the town inspired
the early Iron Mission
that proved marginally
successful as a pioneer
attempt at self-sufficiency.
Modern mining methods
and transportation
made iron more befitting
as the county name.
Old Iron Town still
has a fine beehive
coking oven among
its ruins. The west
end of the county
also has some historic
and current precious
metal mining. The
Escalante Desert had
its name changed to
Escalante Valley,
reflecting the rich
irrigation agriculture
of hay, small grains,
and potatoes.
Iron County has a
more balanced and
broadly based economy
than most of rural
Utah. Located on Interstate
15, Cedar City is
500 miles from Los
Angeles, 180 miles
from Las Vegas, and
260 miles from Salt
Lake, and about midway
between Los Angeles
and Denver via I-70.
Its location and size
have made it a regional
trade center and supplier
of services. The concessionaire
for nearby national
parks (an edge of
Zion is in the county)
headquarters here
as do regional offices
of the Bureau of Land
Management, Dixie
National Forest, and
Utah Wildlife Resources.
A railroad spur and
regional airline still
serve the city. A
rocket motor fuel
plant is under construction.
Southern Utah University,
combined with a peerless
Shakespearean Festival
in July and August,
makes it an attractive
stop for some of the
more than one million
people who annually
pass through.
Gary
B. Peterson
