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Show NPS Form 10-900-a Microsoft Word 2.0 Format OMB No. 10024-0018 United States Department of the Interior National Park Service National Register of Historic Places Continuation Sheet Section No. 8 Page 10 Grafton Historic District, Rockville, Washington County, UT Prior to this, all church and public meetings had been held in Alonzo H. Russell's large canvas tent which he had purchased from Johnston's Army.21 Early on, a mud pit was excavated to the southwest of the extant David and Maria Ballard House for the purpose of making adobe and soft fired bricks. These were used to build permanent structures, as good hardwood was not plentiful in the valley. Crops and Other Trades In an attempt to better fulfill the primary purpose of their mission, the farmers at Grafton produced a record 4,784 pounds of cotton in 1862,22 at the expense of raising food crops. They subsequently replaced a portion of the cotton crops with corn to ensure that there would be enough to eat, and in 1863 and 1864 they planted sixteen acres of wheat, seventy acres of corn, twenty-five acres of sugar cane, ten and one-half acres of vegetables and tobacco, and twenty-nine acres of cotton. 23 By 1866 the breakdown of crops had changed to twenty acres of wheat, forty-five acres of corn, eight acres of sugar cane, and eighteen acres of cotton. 24 They also planted cherry, peach, apple and pear trees in early 1862, along with grape and currant bushes. The fruit was dried or bottled and then taken to the northern settlements with molasses to be bartered for potatoes, cheese and dry goods. 25 After the fruit trees began to produce large harvests and each family had more than they could process, the practice of cutting bees became popular. Many of the women and girls would gather together at one house and cut and layout all of the fruit to be dried. Afterwards they would play games and eat watermelon and grapes.26 By 1864 the town had a sawmill, a grist mill, a thresher and a cotton gin. These machines, along with the farming tools, requ ired maintenance. Alonzo H. Russell had been a successful blacksmith in Salt Lake City and continued his invaluable trade at Grafton. He provided the community with knives, forks, tongs, hand irons and hammers, as well as repairing broken wagon parts, sharpening plows, and shoeing horses. 27 John Wood, Sr., was also a blacksmith, but his carpentry skills earned him the responsibility of making much of the furniture in town. 28 Eventually John Wood, Jr., took over his father's blacksmith shop. On January 16, 1864, the Territorial Legislature created Kane County, and Grafton was chosen as the county seat. At this time a statistical census of the church counted twenty-eight families and 168 people in Grafton, the highest population the town would ever have. It remained the largest settlement on the upper Virgin River until 1866. Indian Problems and Other Tragedies The year 1866 Signaled a major turning point for Grafton. Utah's Black Hawk War had been declared in April, 1865, Signaling open hostilities between the Mormon settlers and the Native Americans. The first tragedy hit on January 9th, when two Kane County residents identified as Dr. James M. Whitmore and Robert Mcintyre were robbed of their cattle and killed by Indians about thirteen miles south of town at Pipe Spring Ranch. 29 Nearby Pahreach Ranch was also besieged for a period of two months, although no one died. _x_see continuation sheet 21 Lyman D. and L. Karen Platt. Grafton: Ghost Town on the Rio Virgin, 22 Bleak, op. cit., p. 128. p. 62. 23 Platt, op. cit., pp. 64-5. 24 Bleak, op. cit., p. 230. 25 McMullin, op. cit., p. 2. 26 Grant Langston, Memories of John Langston, p. 60. 27 Ballard, op. cit., p. 21. 28 McMullin, op. cit., p. 3. 29 Joumal History of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, January 22, 1866, p. 5. |
