Mountain Meadows
Washington County, Utah

The Mountain Meadows area is located about 30 miles north of St. George. Mountain Meadows was the scene of one of the most infamous episodes in the West, the Mountain Meadows Massacre. I have listed some links below that tell a little of the massacre, there are also several books that have been written about it that go into much greater detail.

Despite its dreadful past, Mountain Meadows holds wonderful memories for me. My grandparents homesteaded in the area about 1914. My father was raised there and he and my mother still live there about ten months of the year. There are a few other full-time residents in the area although most of the land owners live elsewhere in the winter to avoid the bad weather at that high elevation.

The Lytle, Ence, Burgess, Cottam, and Snow families are some of the early settlers of  the "Meadows" that still have family in the area. The area is used for summer grazing, deer hunting, and farming. Vegetables, fruit, and alfalfa grow well there but the growing season is very short. Despite the news stories at the time of the massacre there aren't wolves in the area but coyotes and rattlesnakes are prevalent.

Mountain Meadows looks different than it did at the time of the 1857 massacre, a flood cut great washes throughout the valley a few years after the incident.  And drought in recent years has also taken a toll, although it is still a peaceful resting place for the victims and a quiet home to several local  families. -CBA

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Links:

Abstract of depositions given by Malinda Cameron Scott Thurston seeking redress from the government for the deaths 
of her parents and other family members in the massacre at Mountain Meadows. 
http://www.lofthouse.com/USA/Utah/washington/deposition.html

Wesley W. Craig's
"Cemetery Indexes for Washington County, Utah (1852-1996)" listing of the Mountain Meadows Monument deaths.

Related links:

Mountain Meadows Massacre Descendants organization
Mountain Meadows Association  
Juanita Brooks - Utah History To Go
Jacob Hamblin - Utah History To Go
Utah Almanac
John D. Lee - PBS History
Mountain Meadows Massacre - Utah History Encyclopedia
www.buryingthepast.com -  a film on the Mountain Meadows Massacre

Note to all:

If you have (or know of) histories of the pioneers of  Mountain Meadows area on a website or that you would like to have published on the web, other genealogy help for this area, or know of related links please let me know.
--Cindy Alldredge