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An archaeological dig in Tooele County is unearthing once-lost details of a fascinating slice of Utah history. A team of researchers and students are trying to learn all they can about the abandoned Hawaiian settlement known as Iosepa.
More than 100 years ago, a group of converts to The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints left Hawaii to settle in Utah. They built a town in the West Desert. It's now is a ghost town, but new research is bringing that story back to life.
"When I first heard about Hawaiians coming here, of all places, I was like, 'Why? Why would they leave a tropical paradise to come here to this barren desert?'" said Claire McMahon, student at the State University of New York (SUNY), Potsdam.
The group of Hawaiian settlers, converted to the Church by Joseph F. Smith, a nephew of the LDS Church founder, came in the name of religion. They broke ground on the town of Iosepa in remote Skull Valley in 1889 and eventually built a community of more than 200.
Now, anthropologists and students from SUNY Potsdam hope an archaeological dig, and new research, will help more fully tell their story.
"We hope to pull this all together to create the most complete picture of Iosepa that we possibly can," said Benjamin Pykles, assistant professor of anthropology at SUNY Potsdam.
The central focus here is the homesite of settler John Mahoe. Stan Sadowski is his grandson.
"I can feel their voices speaking from the dust, literally, as these artifacts come forth. And I feel the story unfold before our very eyes. It's been a spiritual experience for me," Sadowski said.
Apparently, the town was never truly self-sufficient, and when a new temple opened in Hawaii, Iosepa was abandoned in 1917. Still, questions remain.
"Why? Why did it not continue? Why don't we have a big town Iosepa here today with a Wal-Mart, and everything else, like we do everywhere else along the settlement trail of the Mormons?" Pykles asked.
Each day, the work is turning up new details. "They brought out all kinds of artifacts that tell a story about our ancestors, that tell a story about my family. This is the lot that they lived in back then," Sadowski said.
KSL photographer Mike Sadowski is also a descendent of John Mahoe, and he's the one who shot this story. Way to go, Mike!
E-mail: jdaley@ksl.com
