An Enduring Legacy

Daughters of Utah Pioneers

Vol. Ten : 1987

Paria (formerly Pahreah) is an Indian word meaning dirty water. Heading on the high Paunsaugunt and Table Cliff plateaus in Utah, it passes through miles of canyons before it reaches the Colorado River just below Lee's Ferry in Arizona. Adjutant Edwin G. Woolley gives us one of the earliest descriptions of the stream at a point where the little settlement of Paria was begun. "Below here the river funnels itself through an upturned hogback called the Cockscomb and then widens out some at the mouth of Cottonwood Creek which comes in from the left.

The name now stabilized as Paria is of Paiute origin and has had many different spellings in the past, among them --PahReer. This river is about the size of the Santa Clara Creek. The water, being white with clay, smells and tastes bad; it runs in a gorge for the sides are almost perpendicular. The appearance of the country has changed very much today: as we descended toward the river, it became more wild and barren. As far as the eye can reach to the north, the country looks rough and broken; the mountains are red and white. Way to the left of northwest, we can see what we suppose to be the Parowan Mountains, covered with snow. In coming through the wash today, we saw some very curious rocks, the mountains being composed of half-decomposed rock worn in very curious shapes.

"The Mountains seem to be washing down into the canyons, and from there into the river, and so down to the ocean. From the appearance of things it will not take many ages to lower the hills and exalt the valley. There are a few cottonwood trees scattered along the river, but they look as if they were away from home."

The town of Paria was situated near the junction of the Paria River and Cottonwood Creek, and was forty-two miles northeast of Kanab and thirty-five miles north of Lee's Ferry. This little town had to change location several times on account of washouts in the creek.

Peter Shurtz was the first to settle on the creek. In 1865 he located a claim four miles below the later village, erected a substantial stone house and dug a trench from the house to the creek for safety for himself and his family against Indians. Soon the Church authorities told the settlers to leave, but Shurtz refused to go. He said he considered himself able to protect himself and his family from attacks by the Indians. The authorities sent a posse to take the family to safety, but they almost had to take Shurtz by force. By then the Indians had stolen almost all of their stock.

In 1870, Paria was resettled by Thomas W. Smith, Allen F. Smithson, James Wilkins, William Meeks and others, including Clarks, Caffells, Twitchells, Chynoweths, and Mangums. For several years great progress was made. Although the farming lands were narrow strips of land lying along the bed of the creek, the settlers raised good gardens and some grain. They had good orchards and raised many kinds of tree fruit as well as grapes and currants. Many melons were raised, but during the existence of the settlement the main occupation was stock raising.

The people were happy there, although they had visits from outlaws who might have done some stealing. They held Sunday School, Relief Society and MIA meetings, and dances as well as other socials. They had at least two weddings. It was also a good refuge for some of the polygamists' second wives.

William Meeks presided over the ward until 1872, when he was succeeded by Allen F. Smithson, who was succeeded by Thomas W. Smith in 1877. In 1884 the ward was dissolved and made a dependent branch of the Kanab Ward, With Thomas W. Smith as presiding elder. In 1890, he was succeeded by John W. Mangum. By 1892 there were only eight families in the village. As floods continued to destroy their property the remaining settlers left one by one until 1929, when only one unmarried man remained. By 1930 the town was a ghost town, with the buildings mostly in ruins.