Iron County is a

county A county is a geographic region of a country used for administrative or other purposes Chambers Dictionary, L. Brookes (ed.), 2005, Chambers Harrap Publishers Ltd, Edinburgh in certain modern nations. The term is derived from the Old French ...

in southwestern

Utah Utah ( , ) is a state in the Mountain West subregion of the Western United States. Utah is a landlocked U.S. state bordered to its east by Colorado, to its northeast by Wyoming, to its north by Idaho, to its south by Arizona, and to its ...

United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country Continental United States, primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 U.S. state, states, a Washington, D.C., ...

. As of the

2010 United States Census The United States census of 2010 was the twenty-third United States national census. National Census Day, the reference day used for the census, was April 1, 2010. The census was taken via mail-in citizen self-reporting, with enumerators serving ...

, the population was 46,163. Its

county seat A county seat is an administrative center, seat of government, or capital city of a county or civil parish. The term is in use in Canada, China, Hungary, Romania, Taiwan, and the United States. The equivalent term shire town is used in the US ...

Parowan Parowan ( ) is a city in and the county seat of Iron County, Utah, United States. The population was 2,790 at the 2010 census, and in 2018 the estimated population was 3,100. Parowan became the first incorporated city in Iron County in 1851. ...

, and the largest city is Cedar City. The Cedar City, UT Micropolitan Statistical Area includes all of Iron County.

History

Evidence of

Fremont culture The Fremont culture or Fremont people is a pre-Columbian archaeological culture which received its name from the Fremont River in the U.S. state of Utah, where the culture's sites were discovered by local indigenous peoples like the Navajo and ...

habitation ranging from 750 to 1250 AD exists in present Iron County.

Petroglyph A petroglyph is an image created by removing part of a rock surface by incising, picking, carving, or abrading, as a form of rock art. Outside North America, scholars often use terms such as "carving", "engraving", or other descriptions ...

s of differing periods were carved into the walls of

Parowan Gap Parowan Valley, originally known as the Little Salt Lake Valley, is a basin in Iron County, Utah, United States. Description Its lowest point is at in the Little Salt Lake Little Salt Lake (also called Parowan Lake), is a dry lake in east� ...

NW of Parowan. Paiutes roamed the Parowan Valley in the centuries before Euro-American exploration; their descendants are now represented by the Southern Paiute Indian Reservation, which is headquartered in Cedar City. The

Domínguez–Escalante expedition The Domínguez–Escalante Expedition was a Spanish journey of exploration conducted in 1776 by two Franciscan priests, Atanasio Domínguez and Silvestre Vélez de Escalante, to find an overland route from Santa Fe, New Mexico, to their Roman ...

traveled through the Iron County area on October 12, 1776. Fur trapper

Jedediah Smith Jedediah Strong Smith (January 6, 1799 – May 27, 1831) was an American clerk, transcontinental pioneer, frontiersman, hunter, trapper, author, cartographer, mountain man and explorer of the Rocky Mountains, the Western United States, an ...

is the first recorded Anglo-American to pass through the area (1826). Settlement of the area began in 1851, when LDS President

Brigham Young Brigham Young (; June 1, 1801August 29, 1877) was an American religious leader and politician. He was the second president of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (LDS Church), from 1847 until his death in 1877. During his time as chu ...

directed members from the northern colonies to move into the area. A settlement, Coal Creek, sprang up in 1851; it later became Cedar City.Iron County Profile (accessed 31 March 2019)
/ref> To provide a local government structure, the

State of Deseret The State of Deseret (modern pronunciation , contemporaneously ) was a proposed state of the United States, proposed in 1849 by settlers from the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (LDS Church) in Salt Lake City. The provisional stat ...

legislature created the county on January 31, 1850, although it was not organized until January 17, 1851, with description stretching from the future

Colorado Colorado (, other variants) is a state in the Mountain West subregion of the Western United States. It encompasses most of the Southern Rocky Mountains, as well as the northeastern portion of the Colorado Plateau and the western edge of the ...

, across Utah, and into the future

Nevada Nevada ( ; ) is a U.S. state, state in the Western United States, Western region of the United States. It is bordered by Oregon to the northwest, Idaho to the northeast, California to the west, Arizona to the southeast, and Utah to the east. N ...

. It was named "Little Salt Lake County" at creation, but on December 3, 1850, a legislative act changed its name to Iron County. Its borders were altered in 1850, 1852, 1854, 1856, and 1861. Also, in 1861, the federal government created the

Colorado Territory The Territory of Colorado was an organized incorporated territory of the United States that existed from February 28, 1861, until August 1, 1876, when it was admitted to the Union as the State of Colorado. The territory was organized in the ...

, which administratively removed Iron County areas east of 109 degrees longitude. The county borders were altered in 1862. Also, in 1862, the federal government created the Nevada Territory, which administratively removed Iron County areas west of 114 degrees longitude. Further boundary adjustments were passed in 1866, 1880, 1882, 1883, and 1884. The final adjustment was made in 1892; the county borders have remained in their current arrangement.

Geography

Iron County lies on the west edge of Utah. Its west border abuts the east border of the state of

. The Iron County terrain is a study in contrast to its arid western reaches of the

Escalante Desert The Escalante Desert is a geographic Great Basin region and arid desert ecoregion, in the deserts and xeric shrublands biome, located in southwestern Utah. Geography The Escalante Desert is northwest of Cedar City in Iron County, Utah, and ext ...

and

Great Basin The Great Basin is the largest area of contiguous endorheic watersheds, those with no outlets, in North America. It spans nearly all of Nevada, much of Utah, and portions of California, Idaho, Oregon, Wyoming, and Baja California. It is noted fo ...

ranges to the meadows and forests of the High Plateau on the east. The Markagunt Plateau is creased by the colorful formations of Cedar Breaks National Monument. Brian Head is the county's highest point, at ASL. The county has a total area of , of which is land and (0.1%) is water.

Major highways

Interstate 15 Interstate 15 (I-15) is a major Interstate Highway in the western United States, running through Southern California and the Intermountain West. I-15 begins near the Mexican border in San Diego County and stretches north to Alberta, Cana ...

Utah State Route 14 State Route 14 (SR-14) is a state highway in southern Utah, running for in Iron and Kane Counties from Cedar City to Long Valley Junction. The highway has been designated the Markagaunt High Plateau Scenic Byway as part of the Utah Scenic Bywa ...

Utah State Route 56 State Route 56 (SR-56) is a state highway completely within Iron County in southwestern Utah. SR-56 runs from the Utah/Nevada border to SR-130 in Cedar City. Route description From its western terminus on the Nevada border near Modena, the ro ...

Utah State Route 130 State Route 130 (SR-130) is a state highway in the U.S. state of Utah. Spanning , it connects the town of Minersville in Beaver County with the cities of Cedar City, Enoch, and Parowan to the south in Iron County. Route description SR-130 beg ...

Utah State Route 143 State Route 143 (SR-143) is a state highway in the U.S. state of Utah. The entire highway has been designated the Brian Head-Panguitch Lake Scenic Byway as part of the Utah Scenic Byways program. This road has also been designated as Utah's Pat ...

Utah State Route 148 State Route 148 (SR-148) is a state highway in the U.S. state of Utah. The entire highway has been designated the Cedar Breaks Scenic Byway as part of the Utah Scenic Byways and National Forest Scenic Byway programs. Route description The rou ...

''Iron County UT'' Google Maps (accessed 30 March 2019)
/ref>

Adjacent counties

* Beaver County - north * Garfield County - east * Kane County - southeast * Washington County - south * Lincoln County, Nevada - west

Protected areas

* Cedar Breaks National Monument * Dixie National Forest (part) * Fishlake National Forest (part) *

Red Cliffs National Conservation Area The Red Cliffs National Conservation Area is a National Conservation Area located in southwest Utah, north of St. George at the northeasternmost edge of the Mojave Desert. It is managed by the Bureau of Land Management as part of the National La ...

(part) * Zion National Park (part)

Lakes

Little Salt Lake Little Salt Lake (also called Parowan Lake), is a dry lake in east‑central Iron County, Utah, United States. Description The lake has an elevation and is located on the southwestern edge of the Parowan Valley at the eastern foot of the Red ...

* Newcastle Reservoir * Quichapal Lake

Demographics

As of the

2000 United States Census The United States census of 2000, conducted by the Census Bureau, determined the resident population of the United States on April 1, 2000, to be 281,421,906, an increase of 13.2 percent over the 248,709,873 people enumerated during the 1990 c ...

, there were 33,779 people, 10,627 households, and 8,076 families in the county. The

population density Population density (in agriculture: standing stock or plant density) is a measurement of population per unit land area. It is mostly applied to humans, but sometimes to other living organisms too. It is a key geographical term.Matt RosenberPopu ...

was 10.25/sqmi (3.96/km²). There were 13,618 housing units at an average density of 4.13/sqmi (1.59/km²). The racial makeup of the county was 93.00%

White White is the lightest color and is achromatic (having no hue). It is the color of objects such as snow, chalk, and milk, and is the opposite of black. White objects fully reflect and scatter all the visible wavelengths of light. White ...

, 0.35%

Black Black is a color which results from the absence or complete absorption of visible light. It is an achromatic color, without hue, like white and grey. It is often used symbolically or figuratively to represent darkness. Black and white ha ...

African American African Americans (also referred to as Black Americans and Afro-Americans) are an ethnic group consisting of Americans with partial or total ancestry from sub-Saharan Africa. The term "African American" generally denotes descendants of ens ...

, 2.18% Native American, 0.74% Asian, 0.27%

Pacific Islander Pacific Islanders, Pasifika, Pasefika, or rarely Pacificers are the peoples of the Pacific Islands. As an ethnic/ racial term, it is used to describe the original peoples—inhabitants and diasporas—of any of the three major subregions of O ...

, 1.78% from other races, and 1.67% from two or more races. 4.09% of the population were

Hispanic The term ''Hispanic'' ( es, hispano) refers to people, cultures, or countries related to Spain, the Spanish language, or Hispanidad. The term commonly applies to countries with a cultural and historical link to Spain and to viceroyalties for ...

or Latino of any race. The top 5 Ethnic groups in Iron County are: *

English English usually refers to: * English language * English people English may also refer to: Peoples, culture, and language * ''English'', an adjective for something of, from, or related to England ** English national ...

: 2

* Germans, German: 10% * Irish: 7% * Scottish: 5% * Danish: 5% There were 10,627 households, out of which 41.00% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 64.20% were

married couples Marriage, also called matrimony or wedlock, is a culturally and often legally recognized union between people called spouses. It establishes rights and obligations between them, as well as between them and their children, and between ...

living together, 8.50% had a female householder with no husband present, and 24.00% were non-families. 15.90% of all households were made up of individuals, and 5.90% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 3.11 and the average family size was 3.45. The county population contained 31.20% under the age of 18, 20.60% from 18 to 24, 23.60% from 25 to 44, 16.10% from 45 to 64, and 8.60% who were 65 years of age or older. The median age was 24 years. For every 100 females, there were 98.40 males. For every 100 females age 18 and over, there were 93.60 males. The median income for a household in the county was $33,114, and the median income for a family was $37,171. Males had a median income of $30,800 versus $19,831 for females. The

per capita income Per capita income (PCI) or total income measures the average income earned per person in a given area (city, region, country, etc.) in a specified year. It is calculated by dividing the area's total income by its total population. Per capita i ...

for the county was $13,568. About 13.10% of families and 19.20% of the population were below the

poverty line The poverty threshold, poverty limit, poverty line or breadline is the minimum level of income deemed adequate in a particular country. The poverty line is usually calculated by estimating the total cost of one year's worth of necessities for ...

, including 20.40% of those under age 18 and 6.50% of those age 65 or over.

Recreation

* Woods Ranch Recreation Area, a recreation area located in a pine/aspen forest with hiking, fishing, picnic areas, a volleyball court and restroom facilities. * Three Peaks Recreation Area, a recreation area made up of volcanic rock and hills. The area features rock climbing, picnics, fishing, off-road vehicle use and bike riding. * Shooting Range *

Brian Head Ski Resort Brian Head Ski Resort is a ski destination for Southern Utah and the southern California, Arizona, and Las Vegas areas. It is located 3.5 hours north of Las Vegas and four hours south of Salt Lake City. The resort is Utah's southernmost. Brian He ...

Politics and Government

Iron County is an overwhelmingly Republican county in presidential elections, having not voted Democratic since 1936. Indeed, in no national election since the 1964 Lyndon B. Johnson landslide has the county given any Democratic presidential candidate 25 percent of its ballots.

Communities

Cities

* Cedar City *

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(county seat)

Towns

* Brian Head * Kanarraville * Paragonah

Census-designated places

* Beryl Junction * Cedar Highlands *

Modena Modena (, , ; egl, label= Modenese, Mòdna ; ett, Mutna; la, Mutina) is a city and '' comune'' (municipality) on the south side of the Po Valley, in the Province of Modena in the Emilia-Romagna region of northern Italy. A town, and seat o ...

* Newcastle *

Summit A summit is a point on a surface that is higher in elevation than all points immediately adjacent to it. The topographic terms acme, apex, peak (mountain peak), and zenith are synonymous. The term (mountain top) is generally used only for a m ...

Unincorporated communities

* Beryl * Buckhorn Springs * Hamiltons Fort *

Hamlin Valley Hamlin Valley is a mostly north-south trending valley of the Great Basin located on both sides of the Nevada– Utah state line. It is about long. Its north-northeast end point adjacent the state line, is the southwest start region of the Snake ...

Lund Lund (, , ) is a city in the southern Swedish province of Scania, across the Öresund strait from Copenhagen. The town had 91,940 inhabitants out of a municipal total of 121,510 . It is the seat of Lund Municipality, Scania County. The Öre ...

* Old Irontown * State Line *

Zane The name Zane may be a given name or a surname. Its western usage derives from the Venetian form of ''Gianni'' or an alternate spelling of the German and Jewish name ''Zahn''. An Arabic name Zain, Zayn, or as it is often anglicized Zane, is an Arab ...

Former communities

* Gold Springs * Iron Springs, named for the Iron Springs * Uvada

References

External links

* {{authority control 1851 establishments in Utah Territory Populated places established in 1851