CU-#4 – Homol’ovi State Park & the Mormons

CU-#4 – Homol’ovi State Park & the Mormons

April 16-25, 2022

Near the Visitor Center’s parking lot, I saw a sign that said “cemetery “and an arrow pointing into the field by a path. I am always intrigued and interested in old-time cemeteries. So I ventured further to take a look at the first plaque and was surprised to discover that it was an early Mormon settlement cemetery!

I could not see any cemetery from the road and had no idea how long of a hot , dusty hike it would be so I came back another day in the morning.

The introductory plaque

So in 1876, 200 members of the Church of Latter-day Saints, followed Brigham Young’s desire to settle in this part of Arizona. A fort was built on one side of the river and the city on the other.

Three cities and a fort were built by the Little Colorado River at the end of this path. For 12 years they tried to make it work. But the environment and the river, were not friendly.

Doesn’t it looks a bit intimidating? Like I’m walking into the middle of nowhere? Which of course I am!! 😅

Because There is always wind and dust, I wear this hiking baklava. It works wonderfully and is cool. You can see by my light jacket that it was a little bit cooler in the morning. It’s always cool at night and takes a bit to warm up in the daytime.
1/4 mile down the path I came to this gate. Good thing for the sign, because you sure can’t see that you’re making any headway.
After another 1/4 mile, I see this.

Finally the cemetery comes into view. I did not expect it to be fenced in. In retrospect it makes sense, as a way to preserve the site so it did not disappear from the landscape. And it keeps critters out.

it seems pretty straightforward and not a big deal, until you start reading the names on the tombstones. I had plenty of time to do that and imagine the hardships that they had.
So many children that died. The cemetery must be visited by family, as there are updated headstones.
All of these children. I think the stones on top of the head Stone are left by family & friends who have visited.

1883 was a bad year for the Lot Smith family, losing a four-year-old and an 8-year-old within 3 months of each other (in spring and summer) and a one-year-old in the summer of 1886. I can’t imagine. The others listed were not even 6 months old.

more children and an adult or two.
Lot Smith, who was in charge of the sunset community, was apparently very well respected and very accomplished according to this plaque.

I was curious about the rest of the story…Such as what happened to everything once they disbanded. So looking online I came across this article which I thought was quite interesting and succinct. There is quite a bit online about this area as it was Brigham Young’s attempt to spread into Arizona in a big way

great article and diagrams of how the city was set up

The the main reason the Sunset community was not successful was because it was built on a floodplain. The other communities that survived went to higher ground.

this is the view from the cemetery down toward what would have been their settlement. That solid line of green growth would probably have been where the Little Colorado River ran and probably still runs.

Looking toward the area where I assume the settlement had been, as there was no information or plaques delineating that information, I decided to see what else I could discover. Since that gravel road/path continued in that direction, that was encouraging.

I walked farther on to see if I could see the Little Colorado River. I came upon this large area that was full of river stones. I was definitely on the floodplain but I could not find any flow of water.

I walked further toward the green rows of bushes and trees as perhaps the river was trickling on the other side of that. Water definitely had to be present for that amount of growth.

others before me obviously had the same idea as there was an almost social path through that area.
a lot of growth, but no water. I had on my hiking boots which are over my ankles, and I walked heavy so that I would not surprise any snakes. But I didn’t see any. Disappointing actually. And would you believe it? No bugs or flying pests at all! None!
the sand felt like I was walking on beach sand on my way to the ocean and the types of growth reminded me of that as well. So this really must get a lot of water during the rain season

I looked around the area to see if there were any pieces of wood or stone left from the community. But it was swept clean. Apparently what was not swept away by the floods, was used by the other communities. I came across this picture of Brigham Young and his recruits. He and the scouts he employed made numerous trips to the Little Colorado River area to check out the feasibility of it being developed.

this view is from the floodplain, and you really can see how barren this area is otherwise. On the hill you can just make out the posts that are the fencing around the cemetery
on my walk back, I came across this tiny little flowering plant in the middle of all this dryness. They make me smile with their tenacity and touch of beauty
finally, the Visitor Center parking lot and civilization are within sight 😊

I realize that when I walk that far out into the desert on a trail and into history, it’s easy to put yourself back in time. And the walk back gives you time to readjust to the present. I did meet others that were walking out to the cemetery. But it was nice to be out there alone, in the quiet without a lot of chattering going on.

I hope you enjoyed this little hike through history. The next blog I will change gears completely as I will share my visit to the Meteor Crater. 🤗

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