1893–1904
This monument is near the spot where a celebration took place on August 6, 1904. After nearly eleven years of arduous work on the canal, water was ready for diversion onto the land.
“Five or six wagon loads of . . . — — Map (db m1329) HM
This house was built in 1906-08 by Ira E. and Marion Hinton Bradshaw, lifelong residents of southern Utah. It was the first permanent house built in the town of Hurricane, which was established soon after completion of the Hurricane Canal in 1904. . . . — — Map (db m74619) HM
In 1915 prisoners from the Utah State Prison camped here among these very rocks. They were detailed to build a wagon road up the fault, directly east from here. Remnants of the road can still bee seen with its lava rocks retaining walls. The work . . . — — Map (db m59429) HM
This plow was donated to the museum by Mr. and Mrs. Leslie E. Nelson, of Hurricane,
Utah.
History of the plow is from Mr. Nelson’s grandmother, Hulda Ellertson Kay, who was housekeeper for Apostle Hyde during the period of 1875.
The Nelson . . . — — Map (db m59403) HM
In 1859, after helping settle San Bernardino California, Moses Harris moved his family to Utah and settled on the Virgin River near Quail Creek. In 1862 a flood forced the settlers further up Quail Creek to the Cottonwood Creek Fork. Due to the many . . . — — Map (db m85128) HM
Harrisburg
The town of Harrisburg was founded by Moses Harris in 1859. By 1868, twenty-five families had made their homes in this little valley along Quail Creek, located three miles south of Leeds and twelve miles northeast of St. George. . . . — — Map (db m59644) HM
Original Home of Ira E. and Marion Hinton Bradshaw
Built 1906-08
(Placed on the National Register of Historic Places – 1991)
This plain carpenters’ Victorian eclectic style home, with a cross-wing and stone foundation and cellar was . . . — — Map (db m59406) HM
Kolob
by Owen Sanders
When lassitude tugs at your body
and robs you of zest to exist
come with me to Kolob
and walk through the mild morning mist
Huddle at dawn on a hillside
and scan the green valley below;
Listen to . . . — — Map (db m59367) HM
The construction of the Hurricane Canal is one of Utah's proudest stories of pioneer determination. This canal, built completely by hand, opened the Hurricane Bench to farming and the establishment of the town of Hurricane.
In 1893 two local men, . . . — — Map (db m59363) HM
We give love and honor to the memory of the men who built our Hurricane Canal; and the ditch riders who cared for it. These pioneers were men of integrity who had a dream, an improbable dream. They built the canal high on a hill, sometimes through . . . — — Map (db m59432) HM
Hurricane had its humble beginning in the year 1906 with the coming of eleven families to establish their homes. These first settlers were the families of T. Maurice Hinton, Ira E. Bradshaw, Anthony Jepson, Thomas Ison, Bernard Hinton, Erastus Lee, . . . — — Map (db m1461) HM
In 1863 settlers of the upper Virgin River whose lands were being washed away made preliminary surveys for irrigating and occupying these lands. Erastus Snow, David H.
Cannon and Nephi Johnson came down the hill over an old Indian trail, with a . . . — — Map (db m59405) HM
With the settlement of Toquerville in 1858 by the first six families and others soon to join them, they soon realized that the pressures on the available irrigated farmland could not support the increasing population. Survival would depend on . . . — — Map (db m59446) HM
Between June 9, 1856, and July 6, 1860, ten separate Handcart Companies left Iowa
City, Iowa, or Florence, Nebraska to their land of Zion in the Utah Territory. There were
653 handcarts and 50 wagons.
Nearly 3,000 souls, some with babes in arms, . . . — — Map (db m59369) HM
A bowery was built near here in August 1904 for the celebration of the long-awaited arrival of water to the Hurricane Bench and to name this new town. After twelve years of back-breaking work, the Virgin River water, carried seven miles from the . . . — — Map (db m59430) HM
When Claron Bradshaw was asked by the Heritage Park Foundation Committee if he would sponsor the expense of casting the “Pioneer Gratitude” statue in bronze and placing it on the monument in the park, he responded –
“I . . . — — Map (db m59366) HM
Historic Temple Trail
The Temple Trail which has two parts, was used during the years 1874-1876 to bring lumber by ox-team from two sawmills at Nixon Springs on the south face of Mount Trumbull to St. George, eighty miles away, for constructing . . . — — Map (db m59362) HM
Smith Mesa, northeast of Hurricane and nearly one-half mile higher in elevation, was named after Charles Nephi Smith, Bishop of Rockville from 1867 to 1891. He had a ranch house on Smith Creek and ran his cattle on this beautiful mesa.
Shortly . . . — — Map (db m59404) HM
The confluence of Ash and LaVerkin Creeks with the Virgin River is important in the history of this region. Footsteps long forgotten have passed through this region. Some have been remembered but most have faded with time. Roaming bands of Indians, . . . — — Map (db m59447) HM
The warm comfortable productive climate in the sheltered valleys along the meandering Rio Virgin and its lower tributaries in Washington County became known as "Utah's Dixie".
The rugged pioneer colonizers and their descendants are known as . . . — — Map (db m59365) HM
Segments of the old Indian trails between St. George and Long Valley were used by Mormon pioneers to settle Long Valley in 1864 and for its resettlement in 1871 following Indian conflicts. This trail scaled the Hurricane Fault on the Johnson Twist. . . . — — Map (db m74618) HM
When first conceived, the Hurricane Canal seemed like an impossible dream. Beginning at a point seven miles up the Virgin River, water had to travel through flumes, tunnels, and over deep ravines. The canal had to hang on steep, unstable cliffs and . . . — — Map (db m1328) HM
When first conceived, the Hurricane Canal seemed like an impossible dream. Beginning at a point seven miles up the Virgin River, water had to travel through flumes, tunnels, and over deep ravines. The canal had to hang on steep, unstable cliffs and . . . — — Map (db m74617) HM
The Black Ridge .
The toughest, heartbreaking barrier to the colonization of “Utah’s Dixie” was the Black Ridge between New Harmony and Pintura, north of Toquerville, Utah.
A deep, rough, lava flow clogged the valley from the . . . — — Map (db m1427) HM
Buggies, such as the one before you, were an important part of early America. As the name implies, Doctors' Buggies were used by physicians but they were also a popular choice for many others as well. Buggies were dearly prized and generally kept in . . . — — Map (db m59373) HM
