Zion – Ten Years After, Part 2

Grafton

Shifting sands, foundered fortunes.

 

 

Follow the Virgin River a few miles out of Zion's canyon and you'll come to the ghost town of Grafton, current population 0.

Far as I can tell.

Grafton didn't used to be where you'll find it today. The Great Flood of 1862 washed away the original and when the river finally receded, Grafton got relocated to what was hoped would be a better spot along the Virgin River.

It wasn't, much.

Eager for a cash crop, the settlers planted cotton but not enough food. After surviving their critical mistake, keeping irrigation channels clear of sand was a regular, backbreaking chore. The Virgin giveth, then giveth some more.

During the "Indian troubles" of 1866 – 1868, white settlers in the region went for strength in numbers and the residents of Grafton relocated to other nearby towns. After the Troubles, some of them returned.

Apparently, the last resident of Graton left in 1945 and now it's part of Zion National Park.

I've got multiples the image below, captured at different sites from Tennessee to Kentucky, through Wisconsin and all over the wilds of Superior. It's a commonplace at such sites.

So I found Grafton a bit of a bore, because I didn't travel all that way just to spend time on easy stuff like I'd already seen dozens of time before:

Robert M. Berry, his brother Joseph and Robert's young wife M. Isabelle Hales were "killed by Indians" on April 2^nd, 1866.

The Internet tells us their deaths didn't happen in Grafton, but there they are in the local graveyard just the same. Surrounded by well maintained wood fencing, out of respect and for "added protection."

Isabelle wasn't quite twenty. Utterly unmolested by all but sun and sand, her stone provides a lasting record that once, she was there.

And despite her briefly anonymous life, is still treated with respect even today.

Preserved cultural artifacts such as Grafton often encourage tourists to confuse culture for history. Tourists buy into that at their own peril, as the confusion gives birth to foundational narrative.

Then they take cherished myth into the voting booth with them and imperil us all.

Travelers, they dig deeper.

Every chance they get, wherever they are…