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Show OMB No. 10024·0018 NPS Form 10·900·a MicJQsoft Word 2.0 Format United States Department of the Interior Nct~)al Park Service N~onal Register of Continuation Sheet Section No. -.lL --statement Historic Page...1Q.... Places Grafton Historic District, Grafton, Washington County, UT Or Significance, cOlltlnued: .. Entertainment The settlers at Grafton worked very hard to eke out a meager existence, but they also treasured recreation as a way to relieve the daily pressures of life, Dances were often held in Alonzo H. Russell's tent before permanent structures were erected, and later the adobe school house was the setting for these festivities nearly every Friday night. The children were treated to sleigh rides in the winter when sufficient snow was on the groundj' am:r summer activities included taffy pulls and swimming in the Virgin River.38 John H. Ballard was a professional fiddler, and several of the Ballard and Russell men joined ferees to create a band that played at the L 1)7 +1-<M::t"':> dances and other holiday celebrations. The population of Grafton remained s eady during the last decades of the nineteenth and first decade of the tates Census listed seventy-one people at this settlement. The 1890 twentieth centuries. The 1880 Unite records were destroyed in a fire, but Church Historian Andrew Jenson noted after a visit to Grafton in April, 1892 Jthat there were sixteen families, totaling seventy-eight people. 39 The 1900 U.S. Census indicated that thew' ber had increased to ninety-eight residents, and to 107 in 1910. By 1920, however, the population of on had plummeted to forty-six people, The last census taken at Grafton was in 1930, and the pop tion had dwindled by half to twenty-three, There were several important factors which led to the ultimate demise of this small community. Irrigable land at Grafton was severely limited, and it was all claimed by the first generation of settlers. As children grew up and created families of their own, there was no available farm land, and they were forced to look elsewhere to make a living. The same problem co~ to the downfall of other neighboring settlements such as Mountain Dell, Duncan 's Retreat, ~nd Shunesburg. Furthermore, modern utilities to Grafto , which provided further incentive for such as electrici!}0lnd ru ooing water were never introduc th e younger generations to move away. Ncrt'hr~ ? (' . ~ ? l Farming at Grafton had always been very difficult. The soil was sandy and alkaline, a less than ideal condition for raising crops. Furthermore, the Virgin River was very unpredictable and could rise as much as four feet in a single day, ~~~ng dams and flooding the town: ~..a great number of dams were built only to be washed away, sometimes two or three in a single year. With each flood the ditches were filled with sand, a circumstance which made an almost continuous job of cleaning, amounting in some cases, almost, to building a new ditch . Some of the settlers remarked, with a grim humor, that making ditches at Grafton was like the household washing; it was a weekly chore!40~ -1Lsee continuation sheet -0------,-/- 38Ballard, op. cit., p 3. 39Jenson. History of Grafton Ward. 1892. 40 Andrew Karl Larson. I 6,lled to Dixie. Ws jI>~5-6, |
