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ST. GEORGE — In the spring of 1862, George and Betsy Hicks panicked when they received the news from Salt Lake City. The young family was living comfortably near Spanish Fork when they learned they were among those called to help settle Washington County.
Utah's Dixie was on no one's short list of places to be sent, as Hicks later wrote: "At one time England sent her convicts to Bondsman's Land; Russia sends hers to Siberia, but in Utah, the church sends her to the Cotton farm of southern Utah."
Many of those called to the Cotton Mission, at the time, concocted reasons to be excused, or simply refused to go. But despite their reservations, George and Betsy Hicks settled affairs in Utah County and made the long journey south to become cotton missionaries.
Their experience was not unique, and were it not for a song George Hicks composed about his experience few other than his descendants would remember him. But in 1864 he wrote a little ditty that became an instant hit among the new arrivals and endures to this day.
