History of Utah, 1540-1886 - Brigham Young University

316 SETTLEMENT AND OCCUPATION OF THE COUNTRY.
dance of cedar at hand. At the Sevier River they met
Charles Shumway, James Allred, and Elijah Ward;
also Walker, the Utah war chief, and his people, many
of whom were sick with the measles. They proceeded
to explore the country for some distance round. On
the 1st of January, 1850, they were on Virgen River,
whence they passed up the Santa Clara, and came to
"the valley subsequently named Mountain Meadows."
One division of the party explored Little Salt Lake.
Beaver Creek was pronounced an excellent place for
a settlement. In a half-frozen condition they reached
Provo the 30th, and next day some of them were in
Salt Lake.
The report of Parley being favorable, a party of
about one hundred and seventy persons, well supplied
with wagons, implements, live-stock, seeds, and
provisions, 33 set forth, in charge of George A. Smith,
on the 7th of December, 1850, toward the south;
and on Centre Creek, in a valley of the Wasatch
Range, about two hundred and fifty miles from Salt
Lake City, built a fort near the site of the present
town of Parowan. 34
Pasture and timber were
plentiful, the soil was of good quality, and in the season
of 1851 a bountiful harvest was gathered from
about one thousand acres of land. 35 The main attraction,
however, was the immense deposits of magnetic
iron ore found in the neighboring mountains. In
May, Brigham and others visited Parowan and addressed
the people in the fort. The Indian name
Parowan was then recommended and adopted. Brig-
33 John Urie, in Utah Sketches, MS., 88, says that there were 119 men
and 48 women and children, with 101 wagons, 3GS oxen, 146 cows, and about
22 tons of seed; that they were well supplied with implements, and had 300
lbs of flour per capita. Richards, in Utah Early Records, MS., 117, mentions
1G3 souls, of whom 30 were women.
3i James G. Bleak, in Utah Sketches, MS., 67-S. On the south-east corner
of the fort a meeting-house in the shape of a St Andrew's cross was built of
hewn logs. Utah Early Records, MS., 1G3. The name was first spelt Paroan.
Frontier'Guardian, Aug. 8, 1851. A view of the fort, with Little Salt Lake
in the distance, painted by W. Majors, was presented by Brigham Young to
the Deseret University in 1870. Contributor, ii. 270.
85 In the Deseret News of March G, 1832, is an account of the pioneer anni-
versai-y celebrated at Parowan on July 24, 1S31.