Iron County is a study in contrast—from the arid Escalante Desert and Great Basin ranges in the west to the meadows and forests of the High Plateaus on the east.
The colorful formations of Cedar Breaks National Monument, a kind of miniature Bryce Canyon, creases the Markagunt Plateau.
Brian Head mountain (11,307 feet), named for a profile that resembles William Jennings Bryan, rises abruptly behind Iron County’s major string of settlements. The high mountains capture precipitation from passing westerlies, and this snow and rain feed the headwaters of the Sevier River.
First Peoples
Fremont people lived in Parowan Valley from about 750 to 1250 BC. They built granaries and pit houses and left a variety of petroglyphs of different periods in the cliffs of the Parowan Gap—about 12 miles northwest of Parowan.
Today, Cedar City is the tribal headquarters of the modern Southern Paiute Indian Reservation. The ancestors of the Paiutes used the plants and animals of the basin/plateau environment in a complex seasonal pattern.
Explorers and Settlers
The Dominguez-Escalante expedition traveled through the area on October 12, 1776, on its unsuccessful search for a route to central California.
Fur trapper Jedediah S. Smith was the first Euro American to visit present-day Iron County during his amazing journey of 1826-27.
John C. Fremont passed through in 1844 and again in 1854. In his second time in Iron County he and his men likely would have starved and frozen if settlers in Parowan had not cared for them after having staggered over the Markagunt Plateau.
Mormon settlers dispatched by Brigham Young established Parowan in January 1851 as the mother colony of the southern frontier. Other settlers founded Cedar City (originally Coal Creek) the same year. Several pioneer log homes remain in the county, as well as some English two-bay log barns—now very rare in the state.
Unfortunately, Iron County is the site of a horrific tragedy and mass murder, when Mormon militiamen murdered men, women, and children—members of a large overland emigrant group passing through Utah–at Mountain Meadows.
Economy
Coal in the canyons east of Cedar City and iron ore in the mountains west inspired the early Iron Mission settlers who came to mine and smelt iron to help Utah be more self-sufficient. But the pioneer-era iron development didn’t work particularly well.
Later mining and transportation turned the county toward a new era befitting the county name. Old Iron Town still has a fine beehive coking oven among its ruins. The west end of the county also has some historic and current precious metal mining.
The Escalante Desert now goes by the name Escalante Valley, reflecting the irrigated hay, small grains, and potatoes grown there.
Iron County has a more balanced and broad-based economy than most of rural Utah. Located on Interstate 15, Cedar City is 500 miles from Los Angeles, 180 miles from Las Vegas, and 260 miles from Salt Lake. It’s also about midway between L.A. and Denver via I-70.
This good location and the city’s size have made it a regional trade center and supplier of services. The concessionaire for nearby national parks has offices here, as do the Bureau of Land Management, Dixie National Forest, and Utah Division of Wildlife Resources.
The city has a railroad spur, an airport, and a nearby rocket motor fuel plant. Southern Utah University, combined with a peerless Shakespearean Festival in the summer, makes Cedar City an attractive stop for some of the more than one million people who annually pass through.
Did You Know?
| Parowan settlers cared for half-starved, half-frozen John C. Fremont and his men in 1854. |
| Location of the Mountain Meadows Massacre, 1857 |
| Fiddlers Canyon was named for the fiddlers who helped build the first road up it. |
| Brian Head ski resort is located on the Markagunt Plateau. |
| Fred Adams, a native of the county, started the Shakespeare Festival in Cedar City in 1961. |
Fast Facts
Area: 3,300 Square Miles
County Seat: Parowan
Where it Got its Name: Iron Deposits in the Area
Main Cities and Towns: Cedar City, Parowan, Enoch
Economy: Government, Wholesale and Retail Trade, Light Manufacturing, Services
Keep Exploring!
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