Cedar City, Utah

Utah’s earliest white settlers were a group of Mormons who travelled into the uncharted West to avoid persecution. Led by Brigham Young, they settled in what is now Salt Lake City in 1847.

Young sought self sufficiency, which needed iron. Ore was discovered 250 miles south, and volunteers were enlisted to develop the area for an iron works. In 1851 the new settlers arrived where Cedar City now stands. But they needed an expert, and fortunately had one in Richard Harrison who was previously been superintendent of the world’s largest iron foundry in Liverpool. He came with the initial wave of settlers, and designed and built the first iron works. It produced its first iron from local ore on Sept 30^th 1852. Some achievement, from a standing start!

The local Frontier Homestead Museum celebrates those early days with interesting memorabilia, if presented somewhat haphazardly.

Out the front is an 1920’s excavator used for scooping iron ore. I guess it could scoop almost anything. The machines were never used in the locality as the iron works unfortunately didn’t thrive, and closed in 1858.

Here’s a rickety wild west stagecoach demonstrating, if nothing else, how uncomfortable the ride must have been. Dangerous, too, as the stage has a bullet hole in the side.

And now a reconstructed settlers cabin from the late 19^th Century. Jane thinks she could live in this just fine as it’s about the same size as our caravan back home. Also it’s more arrow-proof than our caravan, but no cassette loo. You don’t ask.

Because of the elevation here, over 5,000 feet, winters can be cold and snowy. A local inventor came up with a snowmobile in the 1940’s. Although it looks more like a midget submarine, apparently it did work and was a great success leading to the much more sophisticated machines of today.

Probably the most interesting exhibits were the dwellings of the Southern Native Americans. These are called wickiups, made from woven rushes, or bark, or branches in a variety of designs and sizes. These were used until  about a century ago. The museum examples don’t look as if they would offer much shelter in bad weather- or even good weather, come to that.

The pit houses of the Fremont peoples who lived in the area until the 13^th century seem much more substantial. They were farmers and possessed sophisticated artifacts like pots and ornaments that have been found, but little is known about their culture, and we don’t know why they suddenly disappeared.

Cedar City is now pleasant smalltown America, complete with national fast food chains, shops and garages. However, the “Historic Center” has been preserved which contains its core of individuality.

Nearby is Kolob canyon. It’s rather overshadowed by its near neighbour Zion that we visited a few days ago,but it’s quite spectacular in its own right. There are some excellent walks within, as can be seen from this trailhead.

Moving up into the canyon itself, the 1000 foot red rock walls are very impressive.

Driving and climbing all the way to the end of the scenic 6 mile paved road is an overlook that puts you nearly level with the top of the walls. Description boards point out hidden valleys where streams feed dense stands of firs. Cougars have been spotted but no chance for casual visitors. It fact there wasn’t much wildlife beyond the occasional bird, rabbit, lizard and squirrel.

Unlike Zion, there were only a handful of cars, so we had a leisurely morning in yet another magnificent American scenic park.