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Noble Pioneers of Hurricane

S.U.P. Historic Marker #23-A, a list of 299 of the pioneers of Hurricane, Utah

Related Posts:

• Hurricane, Utah
• Hurricane Valley Pioneer Heritage Park
• S.U.P. Markers

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The Hurricane Canal

On August 6, 1904, pioneer families from Virgin City, Grafton, Toquerville, La Verkin, Rockville and Springdale, met in the shade of a bowery and watched the Virgin River water gurgle out of the Hurricane Canal on the fertile, parched soil of this valley. Finally, the Rio Virgin was conquered! At that joyful celebration the city they had dreamed about for many heartbreaking years, was named Hurricane from the historic Hurricane Cliffs. In 1906, the first homes were built here.

This is S.U.P. Marker #23-D, see other S.U.P. Markers here.

This historic marker is located in Hurricane Valley Pioneer Heritage Park in Hurricane, Utah.

The Pattern (by Owen Sanders)

My father dug the ditches
And tilled the stubborn soil;
What have I, his son, to show
For all his years of toil?
My Mother gnarled her tender hands
And suffered for my weal;
What have I, her son, to show
For all her faith and zeal?

Their faith and love of God was strong
Their zest for life sincere;
What have I, their son, to show
For what they held so dear?

My folks have sketched a pattern
And blazed a vivid trail;
They have earned their Golden Goal
Only, I, can fail!

Located in Hurricane, Utah at the Hurricane Valley Pioneer Heritage Park next to a Carriage House display shelter built by Jaden Ruesch is S.U.P. (Sons of Utah Pioneers) historic marker # 166.

The Town Named After A Buggy Incident

Buggies, such as the one before you, were an important part of early America. As the name implies, Doctors’ Buggies were used by physicians but they were also a popular choice for many others as well. Buggies were dearly prized and generally kept in a carriage house.

In 1863, LDS Church Apostle Erastus Snow was traveling in a similar buggy from Kanab to St. George, Utah. Accompanying him were horsemen (Nephi Johnson and David H. Cannon) who told him of an old Indian trail leading over the hill. Choosing to follow the trail, they successfully descended the other side of the hill by having the horsemen restrain the buggy with their lariats. However, a strong wind came up and blew off the top of the buggy. Erastus Snow exclaimed, “That was quite a hurricane! We will name this Hurricane Hill.”

On September 1, 1893, the Hurricane Canal Company was organized and work began on a canal around Hurricane Hill, ending at Hurricane Flat. Two thousand acres of fertile land could be irrigated by building the new canal. On August 6, 1904, a celebration was held in Hurricane, near the canal at 200 North and 300 East. About 100 people attended and watched with great excitement as water began flowing through the Hurricane Canal and onto the fertile flat.

Later that day, where you now stand, people gather in a bowery on the new town square to choose a name for the town. Names suggested were Pearl City, as the town was to be a “pearl in the desert”, Lake City, because at the time, there was a lake south of town; Chaparral, due to the bush that grew so abundantly throughout the valley; or Hurricane, after the canal company, the hill, and the flat that had used that name since the buggy incident many years before.