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TOQUERVILLE -- Toquerville, Washington County, is located about thirty miles south of Cedar City in a wide valley flanking Ash Creek and at the base of a mountain capped with black lava rock. With an elevation of 3,394 feet, it has a climate conducive to the growth of pomegranates, figs, peaches, and grapes. Pristine water flows from springs a mile above town.
Anderson Junction is in Toquerville, and is the resting place of Paiute Chief Toquer.
Toquer lived during the time Latter-day Saints settled the area. There are also Mormon pioneers buried at the bottom of the slope with native artifacts and petroglyphs at the base of the hill.
Related:
Dispute over Indian graves erupts near Toquerville
Paiute Indian Tribe members say the sacred burial place of a revered chief is in danger of being dug up to make way for development. But is Chief Toquer really buried there?The Paiute tribe was living there in 1776 when Fathers Francisco Atanasio Dominguez and Silvestre Velez de Escalante traveled through. It is documented that Dominguez and Escalante were starving and came upon the Paiutes growing corn and melons at the base of the hill. The Paiutes shared their food with the party and they were able to continue their journey.
In 1844 Captain John C. Fremont passed through the area and recorded corn, beans, squash, and melons being grown along the streambeds. He called the Native Americans "Digger Indians" because they used long sticks as farming tools.
In early June 1854 eight members of the LDS Southern Indian Mission, led by Rufus C. Allen, left Harmony to visit Toquer, chief of the Paiute Indian band on lower Ash Creek. Their primary objectives were to learn the natives' language and convert some of the tribe to Mormonism. In response to Toquer's friendly reception, the missionaries promised to return, live among the Indians, and teach them how to farm with new methods.
In the spring following the Mountain Meadows Massacre of 1857, several families, with Joshua T. Willis as branch president (from Harmony Ward), built log cabins near Toquer's village along Ash Creek. That fall, Indian interpreter Nephi Johnson, guided by a local Paiute, took an old Indian trail from Toquerville up over the Hurricane Ledge to explore as far as the Zion Narrows in the upper Virgin River Basin. His report to Isaac Haight at Cedar City was positive and orders were given to begin immediately to build a wagon road over the path taken by Johnson.
Related:
Paiute chief Toquer befriended settlers
Paiute chief Toquer was friendly and welcomed the early settlers to southern Utah, so much so that the nearby town was named Toquerville.A half-dozen men started work in early December, got their wagons up to the mouth of North Creek where it reaches the Virgin River, built an irrigation system, and laid out the town of Pocketville (Virgin).
Latter-day Saints settled in abandoned San Bernardino farms during the Utah War. Additional settlements soon followed along the upper Virgin River drainage--Duncan's Retreat, Grafton, Shonesburg, Adventure, Springdale, and Northrup. All of these communities, along with Toquerville, became part of the LDS Church's Cotton Mission.
Toquerville, as the area's cultural and religious center, grew rapidly--from nineteen families in 1859 to forty-one families in 1864. The increase resulted in part when the main body of Cotton Mission colonists was called to Dixie late in 1861 and a number of them went to Toquerville. Providentially, water from Toquerville springs increased after the floods of 1861-62.
Indians helped build dams on the Santa Clara Creek and they assisted in building Fort Clara.
In 1888 Toquerville was established and the settlers generally lived peaceably with the local tribe. They followed Brigham's Young's advice to feed the Indians and not fight them and many journals record instances of giving food to the Indians.
There were several hundred Paiute Indians living in the area at the time. In addition to the Toquer-ville camp there were a couple more up on the Virgin River near Rockville.
Today, in 2011 there is new development in historic hill area where Chief Toquer and the Mormon Pioneers are buried. A reservoir is planned to be built nearby and historians and native Americans alike are concerned that burial grounds may be disturbed.
Iron County Today reports in the April 13, 2011 edition that rock from the burial hill is planned to be used in the reservoir building.
Discussions have been on going on the project with the Washington County Water Conservancy District (who wants to build the reservoir) and people from the PITU and the Kaibab Indian Tribe in Arizona along with local residents.
Paiute Chief Toquer welcomed the Latter-Day Saints and invited them to stay. The Indians and pioneers fed each other when either was in need. They shared knowledge and friendship. Now in an almost forgotten hill, they are buried near each other.
History lives on at burial site of Paiute Chief Toquer and the Mormon Pioneers who sacrificed their lives for their beliefs. What the future holds for this hollowed ground remains to be seen.
Becky Robinette Wright is a freelance writer and photographer who lives in Virginia.
