AMERICAN WAYFARER MAGAZINE
Vol. 2, Issue 1

DESERET DIXIELAND
SOUTHWEST UTAH
By Dan Hackett, Dallas Alexander, and Homer Nelson

Here is the story of a community, beset by discouragements and destruction, that just refused to quit. This is Utah's Dixie in the weary days of the doomed Cotton Mission.

In 1861, the American Civil War began in the east. Far to the west, in Utah Territory, leader of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints Brigham Young knew that soon the war will disrupt the vital flow of supplies into his pioneer community. In the face of this crisis, the Mormon community came together to try and build the economically and politically independent homeland they had always dreamed of.

Under the leadership of Brigham Young, over 300 Mormon families would set off into the rugged desert of southwest Utah with the express purpose of growing cotton, a crop that would provide the Mormon community essential produce to attain a self-sufficient economy. This "Cotton Mission" would drive a new era of Mormon expansion and change the face of Utah Territory.