Mormon settlers built this town in 1859 for cotton but abandoned it after the 1866 Indian attacks

Grafton Ghost Town, Utah

In 1859, Nathan Tenney led five Mormon families from Virgin, Utah, to start a cotton farm down the river in a place called Wheeler.

They survived the floods that wiped out their first town. But on April 2, 1866, three Berry family members were killed by Navajo raiders.

When Brigham Young heard about the attack, he ordered the town to evacuate to Rockville immediately.

Grafton became a ghost town overnight. Here’s the full story of this pioneer town, now preserved for visits today.

Why Mormon Leaders Sent Settlers South

Brigham Young, the Mormon church president, sent these families south to test Santa Clara’s agricultural potential in 1854.

Young named this area “Utah’s Dixie” after the cotton-growing South.

When the Civil War started in 1861, cotton from southern states stopped coming, making Utah’s crop crucial for independent sustenance.

Too Much Cotton Caused Food Shortages

The settlers planted mostly cotton their first year, leaving little land for growing food. Winter brought hunger to the small community.

They learned a tough lesson about balancing crops in the desert. In later years, they grew less cotton and more corn, wheat, and vegetables.

Each family farmed about one acre near the river.

A Massive Flood Wiped Out Wheeler

On January 8, 1862, disaster struck.

After 44 days of non-stop rain, the Virgin River flooded and destroyed almost everything in Wheeler (homes, furniture, and more).

This flood was part of the Great Flood of 1862 which had hit many western states. During this chaos, Nathan Tenney’s wife went into labor.

The men lifted her wagon to higher ground while she gave birth to a boy they named Marvelous Flood Tenney.

Settlers Build New Grafton Upstream

The pioneers moved one mile upstream to safer ground, naming their town New Grafton, where some families originally came from.

By 1864, New Grafton had grown to 28 families with about 168 people. They built log cabins, a post office, and a small church.

Their main building was made of adobe brick and served as both a school and meeting hall. Despite challenges, the settlement took root.

Fighting a River That Never Rested

The Virgin River section at Grafton carried huge amounts of mud and silt. This constantly clogged the ditches affecting irrigation.

Settlers spent hours clearing these channels weekly. One settler compared this job to “household washing, a weekly chore!”

Floods destroyed dams regularly, sometimes multiple times yearly. Farmers rebuilt their irrigation systems again and again.

Ugly Conflict With Native Americans

Southern Paiutes lived in the Virgin River valley long before Mormons arrived. The settlers built on lands that Paiutes needed to survive.

Both groups competed for the same scarce resources. South of Grafton, Navajo people felt pressure from settlements in both Utah and Arizona.

The Black Hawk War began in 1865 in central Utah and became the longest pioneer-Indian conflict in Utah history with damning results.

What started as small incidents grew into organized raids.

Raiders Finally Kill the Berry Family

Violence reached Grafton on April 2, 1866. Robert Berry, his wife Isabelle, and his brother Joseph were returning from Salt Lake City.

Navajo raiders attacked them at Short Creek (now Colorado City). Indians later described Robert as a “heap brave fighter.”

According to the Grafton Heritage Partnership Project, one Paiute attacker was found dead near the ambush site.

Today, the Berry graves stand out in Grafton Cemetery with tall headstones inside a wooden fence as homage to the fallen.

Bodies Line Up in Grafton Repeatedly

The Berry killings were just the start of Grafton’s worst year.

By December 1866, fourteen people had died in the small town of 168 as diphtheria and scarlet fever spread through families.

These diseases killed many children and older people in the community. Two teenage girls also died when a swing broke during play.

Mormon Leader Orders Towns Combined

After attacks across southern Utah, Brigham Young gave a new order.

He told small settlements to join the larger towns of at least 150 people. This would create communities with enough men to defend against raids.

Mormon families packed their important belongings and moved to nearby Rockville. This turned Grafton into a ghost town overnight.

Daily Farm Work Despite Danger

Even after leaving Grafton, farmers still needed to tend their fields. They traveled daily from Rockville to care for crops and animals.

They went in armed groups for safety. The five-mile round trip added hours to their already hard farm work.

By 1868, as fighting with Native Americans decreased, some families moved back to Grafton while some stayed in the larger towns.

Visiting Grafton Ghost Town

You’ll find Grafton Ghost Town near Rockville, Utah, just south of Zion National Park.

Access the site by turning south on Bridge Lane from Highway 9 in Rockville, crossing the historic one-lane bridge over the Virgin River.

The self-guided tour includes five preserved buildings and the historic cemetery. The site has no facilities, so plan accordingly.

Photography is welcome, but please respect private property boundaries. Admission is free, though donations help preservation efforts.

Read More from WhenInYourState.com:

• The National Park That Preserves a Mormon Pioneer Orchard From 1880s Utah
• The Utah valley where 148 Mormon pioneers found their promised land after 1,300 miles of walking
• The Utah meadow where Mormon militia murdered 120 emigrants then blamed the Paiutes in 1857