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Believe it or not, there are a few ghost
towns in the vicinity of Springdale. If
you ever wanted to walk down a dirt road
through a town in the Old West, you can
do it here. In fact, you can walk in the
footsteps of Robert Redford because he
was in the ghost town of Grafton to film
1969's Butch Cassidy and the Sundance
Kid with Paul Newman and 1979's The
Electric Horseman with Jane Fonda.
Visiting these towns will add a flair
of novelty and history to your visit in
the Springdale area. 
These towns were originally settled
by Mormon pioneers who heeded the call
of the Prophet Brigham Young to establish
a "Cotton Mission" in the area.
While the Virgin River was a blessing
in helping these settlements exist, it
also cursed them greatly. For instance,
the present location of Grafton is not
its original location. During January
of 1862 the river literally washed the
town away after 40 consecutive days of
rain, but the determined settlers stayed.
However, they moved the town a mile north
in hopes of avoiding the river's fury.
Later, cotton and silk spinning industries
fueled Grafton for most of its life, but
it was abandoned after the 1920s. Today
it is one of the most photogenic ghost
towns in the country, consisting of a
small church, a couple of houses, and
a quaint cemetery that still stand.
Grafton is about 6 miles west of Springdale
on Highway 9.
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Maps
