History of Utah, 1540-1886 - Brigham Young University

SOUTHERN DEVELOPMENT. 599
tude of nearly twelve thousand feet. Within recent
years, as we shall presently see, this district has
proved itself rich in minerals. Next in importance
to Beaver City, and about twenty miles to the southwest,
was Minersville, first settled in 1859, with J. H.
Rollins as bishop of the ward.
The principal settlement in Kane county, which lay
south of Iron and east of Washington county, and at
one time included a portion of the latter, was Virgin
City, founded in 1858, on the upper Virgin River. 72
Its site is in a valley about seven miles in width,
and enclosed by mountains, their foothills, seamed
and broken by the rains, leaving but a narrow margin
for cultivation on the banks of the stream, covered
with a dense growth of cotton-woods and an
undergrowth of sage and rabbit brush. Five or six
miles west of Virgin City was the town of Toquerville,
established in 1858 by several families from
Cedar City. 73
In 1854 Jacob Hamblin and two others were sent
as missionaries to the Lamanites in the valley of the
Virgin and Santa Clara rivers in Washington county,
with orders to establish a settlement in that neighborhood.
They found the Indians peaceably disposed,
and in a measure civilized, many of them being engaged
in planting corn, wheat, and squashes, but depending
mainly for bread on the seeds of wild grasses. 74
72 The city was laid out by Nephi Johnson and others. The first school
was organized in 1860, and the first meetingdiouse built in 1861. John Parker,
in Id., 8. Kane co. was so named after Col Thos L. Kane. Richards' Utah
Misc., MS., 7.
73 Among them was the family of Phillip Klingensmith, of Mountain-
Meadows fame. John Steele, in Utah Sketches, MS., 9. Mr Steele went to
Southern Utah in 1850, in company with Geo. A. Smith.
74 On account of the warm climate, it was supposed that cotton might be
raised in the valley of the Santa Clara. About one quart of cotton-seed was
planted in the spring of 1855, yielding enough to produce 30 yards of cloth.
The ginning and spinning were done by hand, and the weaving on a treadleloom.
James G. Bleak, in Utah Sketches, MS. , 69. In 1857, 30 lbs were planted,
but the crop was a failure, the seed being bad. In 1858-9 other experiments
were made, the cotton raised the first year costing §3.40 per lb., and the second
year §1.90. The industry was found to be unprofitable. Id., 70-1; Jennings'
Mat. Progress of Utah, MS., 1. The attempt was made with a view to producing
in the territory all that was needed for its population. Harrison's Grit.
Notes on Utah, MS., 25.