Over 200 photos, drawings, paintings (11 in full color), maps, surveys, and other historical data and local folklore.
Of the pioneers who came to Utah from the Southern States in the 1800s, a group was asked to go on to Southern Utah and grow cotton, a commodity needed in the face of the Civil War. Life was hard, food was scarce, and more babies and children died than lived as flood after flood destroyed their crops. Stories of individual pioneers, many photos, statistical info, and the lives they lived. Sponsored by the Washington City Historical Society.
From the Back Cover
Thousands of families left their homes to come to Northern Utah, almost a desert land. Among these stalwart pioneers came a group from the South, before the bitter fighting of the Civil War. These pioneers left a South that was fertile, lush, and green, where huge plantations grew bounteous crops.
On March 3, 1857 Samuel N. Adair and ten other Southern families were asked by Brigham Young to go to Southern Utah reportedly a more fertile land to grow cotton, a much needed commodity.
Less than a month later, Robert D. Covington and another group of twenty-eight Southern families left to join the first group. The day following their arrival on May 7, 1857, the two groups met together under the direction of President Haight of Cedar City and organized themselves to function as a group.
They formed a city, which they named Washington City. Immediately they started digging ditches and canals, then the greater effort of building dams to provide water to irrigate their crops. These Southerners decided to name their landDixie and later it was called "Utah's Dixie."
Life was hard and food was scarce. More babies and children died than lived. These stout- hearted pioneers found the natural environment of Southern Utah unforgiving of their efforts to harness the river.
Successive floods drowned out their hard fought efforts to produce crops. Eventually the railroad connected the United States from coast to coast and cotton became available. Thus the "cotton" effort in Southern Utah was brought to a close. The valiant efforts of these Southerners have never been forgotten and their legendary spirit remains with us today.
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