| OCR Text |
Show OMB No. 10024-0018 NPS Form 10-900-a Microsoft Word 2.0 Format United States Department of the Interior National Park Service National Register of Continuation Sheet Section No. ~ Page ...1Q... Statement SlgRI.f.1.c..@...nce, of Historic Places Grafton Historic District, Grafton, Washington County, UT contlnl/e d ::f '~ ~11'" t/\ . I ffl..- mail route between Grafton and Cedar C~Another town named Grafton already existed in Utah, so this settlement was officially called Wheeler .12 The residents also petitioned and received from the Territorial Legislature $1,500 to build a wagon road from Grafton to St. George and improve and extend the road from Harmony to Toquerville. 13 The road to st. George was an extension of South Street which followed the Virgin River to the west. Traces of this abandoned road can be seen in the National Park Service aerial photograph of Grafton. The road from Harmony to Toquerville was most likely the present-day State Route 17. e In MayG,)1861j Church President Brigham Young and several other presiding Jlders visited Dixie to assess the progress of the Cotton Mission. They were surprised to find the population very small, in spite of Young's past efforts to settle the region. Upon their return to Salt Lake City they asked for volunteers to move south. After just one man offered to go of his own free will, President Young drew up a list of missionaries. John Harvey Ballard and Alonzo Haventon Russell were among the elders "called" or assigned to Grafton at this time, and their families would subsequently be among the longest-standing residents of the town. Flooding and the Moye to New Grafton On December 17, 1861 a survey was completed for the new location, and farming lots were drawn by lottery. There were more peopfe than lots which resulted in several families leaving Grafton before the move. This shortage of suitable farm land would ultimately be a contributing factor in the .dGWFtfatI- of the town: <f.<-""-( $-e.... We drew for our farm lots by lotery [sic]. I got a very good lot but bro. Woodbury, a nursery man, got a very poor one, and was going to move away, but I wanted him to stay, as I knew it would help the place to have a good nursery here, so I let him have my lot and I took his. In the evening we had a dance in bro. A.H. Russell's big tent. The remarks of bro. Snow has caused a spirit of uneasyness [sic] in the minds of many, and now those who did not get lots are about moving out, in fact, I may say and that truly although I do not find a bit of fault with what bro. Snow said, yes it has drew at least one half away from the place and Rockville too, and has almost killed both places. 14 ---1Lsee continuation sheet ~ wn was called both Grafton and Wheeler by its residents, but eventually after the other Graf was abandoned this settlement was solely referred to as Grafton. Andrew Jenson. History of the Grafton Ward. 1861. 14Franklin Wheeler Young. Journal. Wednesday. December 18. 1861. |
