Although the Anglo-American
settlement of Escalante began in the spring of 1875
by a group of men from Panguitch desiring to find
a location with a milder climate, signs of inhabitation
of the area reached back much farther with evidence
of the Fremont and Anasazi cultures in the area.
In 1866, during the
Black Hawk War, Captain James Andrus's cavalry pursued
Indians through the area, naming it Potato Valley.
A.H. Thompson, who was the chief map maker of John
Wesley Powell's crew, traveled through the plateau
regions on different trips naming the points and mapping
the trail. On an excursion in 1875, Thompson's party
met four Mormons from Panguitch planning to establish
a settlement in the area. Thompson advised the pioneers
to name it for Father Silvestre Velez de Escalante,
who passed near the Escalante River on his expedition
from Santa Fe to California in 1776.
Drawn
by the mild climate and abundance of grazing land,
the settlers raised cattle and sheep. Dairying, timber
harvesting, and mining were also important to the
economy of the settlement. Escalante remained an outpost
on the Mormon frontier for many years and was the
last community through which the famous Hole-in-the
Rock expedition passed in 1879 on its epic six-month
journey to the San Juan River in southeastern Utah.
Blessed with beautiful
topography, fertile lands, and a relatively long growing
season, Escalante has been called the "Land of
the Sleeping Rainbow." The early pioneer settlers
built more than fifty homes of native brick which
stand as a legacy today. The town was laid out on
the "Zion Plan," with four homes to the
block and ten-acre farms surrounding it. Wide streets
and neatly landscaped yards with corrals and barns
are still characteristic of the town. Home industries,
including gardening, home canning, livestock raising,
quilting and making of handicrafts continue as a rich
part of the community life.
Many current residents,
as in the case in most Utah communities, trace their
roots to a few hardy pioneers. Those frequently associated
with Escalante are the families of Willard, Henry,
and Thomas Heaps; Hosiah Barker; Earnest Griffin;
Jared Porter; Don Carols Shirts; Napoleon and Lorenzo
Roundy; Perry Liston; William Henry Deuel; Joseph
Spencer; William Alvey; James McInelly; Morgan Richards;
William Cottam; and Andrew P. Schow, who served as
Mormon bishop and leader of the community for thirty-five
years.
During
the 1930s Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC) camps
set up under federal New Deal legislation brought
new life to the community and improved roads to Posey
Lake and Boulder. However, increased government management
of public lands brought new and sometimes onerous
restrictions to some whose livelihood was based on
the land. World War II saw a migration to the industrialized
cities, as local growth was limited to what the natural
resources could sustain.
Hardy pioneers, closely
knit by family and neighborhood relationships, build
a strong, conservative community. Isolated from major
highways and large cities, the people battled the
elements to build irrigation systems, electrical and
telephone services (which eventually became locally
owned), service stations, a bank, an airport, and
other facilities which have made Escalante an important
oasis for the thousands of tourists who visit the
area each year. Visitors come to hike the Escalante
River, follow the historic Hole-in-the-Rock Trail,
view ancient Indians structures and rock art, traverse
the magnificent Burr Trail to Lake Powell, and drive
the 120-mile-long "Scenic By-Way"-Highway
12-connecting Bryce Canyon National Park and Capitol
Reef National Park, along which Escalante is located
in the middle.
The community is
still dependent on a multiple-use-of-resources system
with tourism, livestock, and timber the mainstays
of the local economy. The community remains predominately
Mormon; students attend the local elementary school,
the junior high school, and the high school. Escalante
reached its largest population in 1940 with 1,161
residents, but it has dropped to its lowest number,
638 inhabitants, by 1970. Since 1970 the population
has gradually increased to 818 in 1990.
Marilyn Jackson
Finest lodging in