Introduction
L his is the story of people living in an arid land. They struggled with pervasive heat, sparse forage, and scarce water because they were living in the Mohave Desert, right where it abuts the edge of the Colorado Plateau in Utah's southwest corner. Limited water determined much of what they could do, yet their ingenuity responded to the setting, producing several civilizations over many centuries in this harsh land of exquisite beauty. This book focuses on the AngloEuropeans who settled the area in the latter part of the nineteenth century. They present a contrast to their forerunners, the Anasazi, and the Paiutes, because these pioneers more successfully molded the land to fit their will—plowing, fencing, and irrigating. In the 1850s the Mormons (members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints) came to settle; soon after European and American explorers had made the region more well known. Initially the Paiutes welcomed the "Saints." Greatly relieved, even optimistic about their relationship with the Indians, the Mormons set up villages and a subsistence agriculture that was distinguished by its cooperative labor. Their hope for friendship with the Indians dwindled
