Area: 2,422 square
miles; population: 48,560 (in 1990); county seat: St.
George; origin of county name: after President George Washington;
principal cities/towns: St. George (28,502),
Santa Clara (2,322),
La Verkin (1,771),
economy: tourism, education, services, trade; points of interest: Zion
National Park, Snow
Canyon State Park, Gunlock
Cliffs Recreation Site, St. George Temple and Tabernacle, Pine Valley
chapel, Well Fargo & Co. express building in Silver
Reef, Washington Cotton Factory, Jacob
Hamblin home in Santa Clara, Brigham
Young home and Dixie
College in St. George.
in the southwest corner of the state includes a large area around St.
George in the valley of the Virgin River and its tributaries; it has
the highest average temperatures in the state and very mild winters.
The eastern third of the county, including spectacular Zion
National Park, is part of the Colorado Plateau province. The western
two-thirds lies in the Basin and Range geographic province. The lowest
point in the state, along Beaver
Dam Wash (2,350 feet), is near the county's southwest corner, while
Valley Mountains in the north top 10,000 feet.
Traces of the
prehistoric Archaic and Anasazi cultures
have been found in the area, and the Santa Clara and Virgin rivers provided
an important base for the development of Southern Paiute life. The Dominguez-Escalante expedition
in 1776 recorded the first description of the Indians in this area. In 1980 the federal government restored traditional tribal
lands west of Santa Clara to the Shivwits branch of Southern Paiutes.
The Shivwits Reservation, set aside in 1903, had been terminated in