Cover photo: Digitized by J. Willard Marriott Library, University of Utah https://collections.lib.utah.edu/ark:/87278/s6991392
Final Paper
Site Name: Fort Deseret
Year Built:1866
Location: Millard County, Coordinates: 39°15'53"N 112°39'14"W
Map references:
USGS The National Map: National Boundaries Dataset. Data Refreshed October, 2019. GoogleMaps
Year Built:1866
Location: Millard County, Coordinates: 39°15'53"N 112°39'14"W
Map references:
USGS The National Map: National Boundaries Dataset. Data Refreshed October, 2019. GoogleMaps
Property Owner: Fort Deseret is currently owned by the State of Utah.
NRHP: Fort Deseret was listed in the National Register of Historic Places in September, 1970.
NRHP: Fort Deseret was listed in the National Register of Historic Places in September, 1970.
Current Condition of the Site
Fort Deseret is deteriorating from weather erosion, is overgrown by wild plants, and the ground is degraded from wildlife. The Fort is made out of adobe, which is a mixture of mud and grass fibers. The wildlife has been making holes and burrows throughout the inside of the Fort and its walls which is making the ground very uneven and deteriorating its walls. On the West end is a large mound of mud and straw that I assume was either the leftover mixture from a previous repair that had been done to the Fort, or the remnants of grass roofing from a dancing pavillion that was once kept there. Most of the walls of Deseret Fort have now fallen or are just a remembrance of what they had been at one point in time. The East side of the Fort has the most standing walls; however, sections of the walls have fallen. Deseret Fort has gone through many repairs over the 153 years that it has been standing.
According to a news article Delta West Stake Media Relations, The Daughters of Utah Pioneers (DUP) make routine repairs to the Fort. When a wall fails or is deteriorated so much that it can not be repaired, the DUP replaces the wall with a new one. However, there are no records that I could find indicating how they made these repairs. Did they use new materials, or did they make the repairs according to how the original pioneers did it? In the article “Worldwide Pioneer Heritage Service Day” Beverly DeWytze explains that on July 19, 1997, the LDS members of the West Millard county began restoration on Fort Deseret. She explains that “about 10 feet of wall that had been previously restored, but was crumbling badly, had been torn out and was being replaced by the new wall.” (DeWytze, 1997)
Why This Site Matters for Investigation
Fort Deseret is important for investigation. The residents in Millard county hold this site dear to their hearts because they believe that this place helped the people in the city Deseret during the Blackhawk Wars in Utah. This site also matters for an Archaeological investigation because there are many different accounts/descriptions about the size of the Fort and its location.
History of Deseret, Utah
In 1859, settlers in Fillmore, Utah, were asked to investigate the Pahvant Valley. The valley was close to Sevier Lake and they hoped to set up a town next to the river. They reported back in Fillmore with promising news. In 1860, Brigham Young sent out forty men to set up a dam and Jacob Croft was in charge because he had experience in building dams and canals. (Millard, nd.) In 1861, Other people moved into the area creating the town of Deseret. There were one hundred and forty-two families that lived in Deseret at this time. (Lyman, 1966)
Some have wondered if the early pioneers stopped and set up a town in West Millard county because of the Great Rock Formation that resembles the Mormons beloved prophet Joseph Smith who died in Nauvoo, Illinois. (Utah, nd.)
Fort Deseret is deteriorating from weather erosion, is overgrown by wild plants, and the ground is degraded from wildlife. The Fort is made out of adobe, which is a mixture of mud and grass fibers. The wildlife has been making holes and burrows throughout the inside of the Fort and its walls which is making the ground very uneven and deteriorating its walls. On the West end is a large mound of mud and straw that I assume was either the leftover mixture from a previous repair that had been done to the Fort, or the remnants of grass roofing from a dancing pavillion that was once kept there. Most of the walls of Deseret Fort have now fallen or are just a remembrance of what they had been at one point in time. The East side of the Fort has the most standing walls; however, sections of the walls have fallen. Deseret Fort has gone through many repairs over the 153 years that it has been standing.
According to a news article Delta West Stake Media Relations, The Daughters of Utah Pioneers (DUP) make routine repairs to the Fort. When a wall fails or is deteriorated so much that it can not be repaired, the DUP replaces the wall with a new one. However, there are no records that I could find indicating how they made these repairs. Did they use new materials, or did they make the repairs according to how the original pioneers did it? In the article “Worldwide Pioneer Heritage Service Day” Beverly DeWytze explains that on July 19, 1997, the LDS members of the West Millard county began restoration on Fort Deseret. She explains that “about 10 feet of wall that had been previously restored, but was crumbling badly, had been torn out and was being replaced by the new wall.” (DeWytze, 1997)
Why This Site Matters for Investigation
Fort Deseret is important for investigation. The residents in Millard county hold this site dear to their hearts because they believe that this place helped the people in the city Deseret during the Blackhawk Wars in Utah. This site also matters for an Archaeological investigation because there are many different accounts/descriptions about the size of the Fort and its location.
History of Deseret, Utah
In 1859, settlers in Fillmore, Utah, were asked to investigate the Pahvant Valley. The valley was close to Sevier Lake and they hoped to set up a town next to the river. They reported back in Fillmore with promising news. In 1860, Brigham Young sent out forty men to set up a dam and Jacob Croft was in charge because he had experience in building dams and canals. (Millard, nd.) In 1861, Other people moved into the area creating the town of Deseret. There were one hundred and forty-two families that lived in Deseret at this time. (Lyman, 1966)
Some have wondered if the early pioneers stopped and set up a town in West Millard county because of the Great Rock Formation that resembles the Mormons beloved prophet Joseph Smith who died in Nauvoo, Illinois. (Utah, nd.)
Life for the early pioneers of Millard county was not an easy life; They had little clothing and little food. Thief of cattle was a common occurrence during this time with the Native Indians. In response to the Indian raids, Brigham Young told the small communities around the state to either move to a bigger city or to build fortifications. The town members of Deseret decided against moving, and they agreed to make the Fort instead. The construction plans were decided in a town meeting in Fillmore, Utah. It was decided that “the foundations would be three and a half feet wide and eighteen inches thick. The Fort walls would be made of mud and straw material, Ten feet high, and tapered to one-foot width at the top. There would be bastions on two diagonal corners twenty feet high… Slits and portholes were to be provided in both the walls and in the bastions.” In Lyman’s paper he also mentioned that the Fort was built just outside of Fillmore, Utah, instead of Deseret Utah. (Lyman, pg 3. 1966)
The Fort was built right away under the direction of John W. Radford. All of the work on the Fort was divided up into teams of men. (National Park Service, 1970) They named four captains to oversee the teams. Thomas Cropper and Nathan Pierce were in charge of the rock haulers. William S. Hawley and Isaac W. Pierce were in charge of the teams building the walls.(Day, et. all, 1951) The first teams gathered black lava rock from across the valley to the west to use for the wall footings. After the foundation for the walls were placed into the ground they could then start to build the walls of the Fort. The work was split up over two teams of men to construct the walls of the Fort. William S. Hawley and Isaac W. Pierce were in charge of the two teams. Each team had a section of the wall that they would build and there was a competition to see which team could build their wall the fastest. The winning team would be treated to a party as an award. The materials that they had used to build the wall were made onsite. They made an adobe mud mixture to build the walls. To make the mud mixture they would mix water, dirt, and straw into the trenches around the Fort that would then be trampled by oxen and men until the mud mixture was at the right consistency to then be used for the walls. The men built the walls by stacking the mud mixture until they were ten feet tall, three feet wide at the base and tapering to one and a half feet at the top. The walls were tapered so that rain would flow away from it. They built taller bastions on the southwest and northeast corners of the Fort. The bastions were built to stick out from the main walls so that the men on lookout could see all the sides of the Fort. For defence both bastions had three lookout portholes and the main walls also had looking portholes made from rough wood for shooting. They built four entrances to the Fort with the larger main gates on the north and south walls and two smaller gates on the west and east walls. It took ninety eight men to complete the Fort. William S. Hawley’s team completed their side of the Fort in nine days and Isaac W. Pierce’s team was done with their side in nine and a half days. However, the wall of Hawley’s team collapsed and so they determined that the competition was a tie. On July 24, 1866, a party for the Fort’s completion was held at the site. (National Park Service, 1970)
Fort Deseret was used to house their cattle every evening during the Blackhawk wars and the closet that the people of Deseret came to using the Fort for their own protection was when Blackhawk and his followers came into town in the hopes of stealing their supplies. Millard county residents believe that the Fort stalled Blackhawk long enough to negotiate with them.(Old, 2013)
In 1868, The town of Deseret was abandoned because the Sevier River Dam had collapsed again. (Day, et. all, 1951) In 1874, some mining men from the Eureka area tried to settle in the abandoned town of Deseret and they had plans to rebuild the dam but they were unsuccessful. (Eliason, et. all, 2001)
Different dimensions of the Fort have been told all these years. In the report from the 1970 National Register of Historic Places the footings are reported differently than what is listed. The Nomination Form under the Physical Appearance section is listed that the footings were three foot wide made from lava rock. However, under the Statement of Significance section it was written that the footings were four-foot wide. Also, in the National Register of Historic places had a site survey map from June 1970, that said the Fort was “approximately 400’ x 300’ with 845 linear feet of standing wall.” (National Park Service, 1970) One recount was from the Minutes of the DUP Sarah Lister recounts in 1926 that Deseret Fort was ‘200 yards square with a 3 feet foundation of rock.” (Lister, Pg 3. 1926) In another paper Fort Deseret Utah History Paper, Leo Lyman explains that the Fort was to enclose two acres of land. (Lyman, 1966) The last account was very interesting because the paper Pahvant Guardian, written by an unknown person, states that the Fort grew in size because a reporter wanted it to make it sound more significant and grander. The article says that Deseret Fort grew from 400’ on each side to 550’, and the base grew to 3’ 9” but the top of the Fort stayed the same tapering to 1 ½ foot. (Pahvant, nd.)
Regardless, These papers make a good case for an Archaeological expedition to find out just how big Fort Deseret was or if it has been altered to be bigger. These conflicting reports brings many questions to the table. How much of the Fort, if any, is original because Fort Deseret has gone through many repairs and restoration over the last 153 years.
Research Questions:
There is more that we can learn from the 153 year old Fort Deseret:
Methods:
The following methods would be used in the investigation of Fort Deseret:
Summary:
Even though Fort Deseret is weathering into ruins of what it once was 153 years ago. The fort is still valuable to Utah’s History and to the residents of Millard County. Investigating the Fort would help answer some of the different reported sizes and locations that have been told over the years. This site deserves a full investigation.
Reference(s)
DeWyte, Beverly.
1997 Worldwide Pioneer Heritage Service Day. Delta West Stake Media Relations, Published in the Millard County Chronicle Progress, July 24, 1997. Accessed from Utah State Historic Preservation Office on October 31, 2019.
Day, Stella Huntsman, Sebrina C Ekins.
1951 Milestones of Millard: A century of History of Millard County (1851-1951). [Place of publication not identified] : Art City Pub. Co., [1951] ©1951.
Eliason Beverly. Laurel Eliason.
2001 Town of Deseret (Millard County) Utah 1860. Accessed from Daughters of Utah Pioneers. On November, 2019.
Lister, Sarah. Beverly Eliason.
1926 Minutes of Daughters of Utah Pioneers Delta Camp 1926. Accessed from Daughters of Utah Pioneers. On November, 2019.
Lyman, Leo E.
1966 Fort Deseret Utah History Paper. Accessed from Utah State Historic Preservation Office on November, 2019.
Millard.
Date unknown. Author unknown. Millard Water Deseret. Accessed from Daughters of Utah Pioneers. On November, 2019.
National Park Service.
1970 National Register of Historic Places. Fort Deseret Nomination Form. United States of Interior. Accessed from Utah State Historic Preservation Office, On November, 2019.
Old.
2013 Author unknown. Old Fort Deseret. Accessed from Daughters of Utah Pioneers. On November, 2019.
Pahvant.
Date unknown. Author unknown. Pahvant Guardian Fort Deseret Paper. Accessed from Utah State Historic Preservation Office on November, 2019.
Utah.
Date unknown. Utah Outdoor Activities. The Great Stone Face-Millard County. Online Source http://www.utahoutdooractivities.com/greatstoneface.html Accessed on December, 2019.
Rock Image: 1951 Milestones of Millard: A century of History of Millard County pg: 419
Joseph Smith Image: Site : https://www.mormonstories.org/truth-claims/joseph-smith/ accessed on December 01, 2019.
Map Image from: USGS https://viewer.nationalmap.gov/advanced-viewer/ accessed on December 01, 2019
The Fort was built right away under the direction of John W. Radford. All of the work on the Fort was divided up into teams of men. (National Park Service, 1970) They named four captains to oversee the teams. Thomas Cropper and Nathan Pierce were in charge of the rock haulers. William S. Hawley and Isaac W. Pierce were in charge of the teams building the walls.(Day, et. all, 1951) The first teams gathered black lava rock from across the valley to the west to use for the wall footings. After the foundation for the walls were placed into the ground they could then start to build the walls of the Fort. The work was split up over two teams of men to construct the walls of the Fort. William S. Hawley and Isaac W. Pierce were in charge of the two teams. Each team had a section of the wall that they would build and there was a competition to see which team could build their wall the fastest. The winning team would be treated to a party as an award. The materials that they had used to build the wall were made onsite. They made an adobe mud mixture to build the walls. To make the mud mixture they would mix water, dirt, and straw into the trenches around the Fort that would then be trampled by oxen and men until the mud mixture was at the right consistency to then be used for the walls. The men built the walls by stacking the mud mixture until they were ten feet tall, three feet wide at the base and tapering to one and a half feet at the top. The walls were tapered so that rain would flow away from it. They built taller bastions on the southwest and northeast corners of the Fort. The bastions were built to stick out from the main walls so that the men on lookout could see all the sides of the Fort. For defence both bastions had three lookout portholes and the main walls also had looking portholes made from rough wood for shooting. They built four entrances to the Fort with the larger main gates on the north and south walls and two smaller gates on the west and east walls. It took ninety eight men to complete the Fort. William S. Hawley’s team completed their side of the Fort in nine days and Isaac W. Pierce’s team was done with their side in nine and a half days. However, the wall of Hawley’s team collapsed and so they determined that the competition was a tie. On July 24, 1866, a party for the Fort’s completion was held at the site. (National Park Service, 1970)
Fort Deseret was used to house their cattle every evening during the Blackhawk wars and the closet that the people of Deseret came to using the Fort for their own protection was when Blackhawk and his followers came into town in the hopes of stealing their supplies. Millard county residents believe that the Fort stalled Blackhawk long enough to negotiate with them.(Old, 2013)
In 1868, The town of Deseret was abandoned because the Sevier River Dam had collapsed again. (Day, et. all, 1951) In 1874, some mining men from the Eureka area tried to settle in the abandoned town of Deseret and they had plans to rebuild the dam but they were unsuccessful. (Eliason, et. all, 2001)
Different dimensions of the Fort have been told all these years. In the report from the 1970 National Register of Historic Places the footings are reported differently than what is listed. The Nomination Form under the Physical Appearance section is listed that the footings were three foot wide made from lava rock. However, under the Statement of Significance section it was written that the footings were four-foot wide. Also, in the National Register of Historic places had a site survey map from June 1970, that said the Fort was “approximately 400’ x 300’ with 845 linear feet of standing wall.” (National Park Service, 1970) One recount was from the Minutes of the DUP Sarah Lister recounts in 1926 that Deseret Fort was ‘200 yards square with a 3 feet foundation of rock.” (Lister, Pg 3. 1926) In another paper Fort Deseret Utah History Paper, Leo Lyman explains that the Fort was to enclose two acres of land. (Lyman, 1966) The last account was very interesting because the paper Pahvant Guardian, written by an unknown person, states that the Fort grew in size because a reporter wanted it to make it sound more significant and grander. The article says that Deseret Fort grew from 400’ on each side to 550’, and the base grew to 3’ 9” but the top of the Fort stayed the same tapering to 1 ½ foot. (Pahvant, nd.)
Regardless, These papers make a good case for an Archaeological expedition to find out just how big Fort Deseret was or if it has been altered to be bigger. These conflicting reports brings many questions to the table. How much of the Fort, if any, is original because Fort Deseret has gone through many repairs and restoration over the last 153 years.
Research Questions:
There is more that we can learn from the 153 year old Fort Deseret:
- What is the correct size of Fort Deseret?
- Where was the Fort?
- How much of the Fort is original?
- If the Fort walls measure approximately 550 x 550, or the area measures 400 x 300, or the area measures 200 square feet, then the existing Fort matches one of the historical descriptions of its size.
- Else, the existing Fort does not match the described size.
- Test: Measure the dimensions of the Fort.
- If the walls do not include domestic plant remains that were native to Utah in 1866, then the walls are not original.
- Else, the some of the fortification walls may be original.
- Test: Take a large sample of material from all of the wall locations, and identify the plant fibers in them.
- If the Fort footings align with the restored walls, then the Fort is not misplaced.
- Else, the restored Fort is misplaced.
- Test: Use aerial survey technology, ground penetrating radar, or excavation to search for the black rock footings of the Fort, and compare the results to the restored walls.
Methods:
The following methods would be used in the investigation of Fort Deseret:
- A Ground Survey. Ground measurements could be used to measure the existing Fort to find out the size of the Fort. Document all the wear and tear to the site and note any visual repairs to the site.
- Aerial Survey. The site is surrounded by agricultural fields. If the fort is not in the correct position, crop patterns from its stone foundations may be able to show its original location and dimensions.
- Ground Penetrating Radar (GPR). This technology will tell us where the underground rock foundation is at the site. Using GPR will also tell whether or not if the existing wall is in the correct place or if the wall is in a new location altogether. Many of the walls are fallen, using the GPR would be the most accurate technology, and it will prevent having to disturb the soil at the site.
- Dendrochronology. This technology would be a useful tool to use on the wood at the Fort to find out the origins and dates of when the wood was cut.
- Pollen analysis and Plant analysis. This would also be useful to sample the walls of the Fort because the Fort was made with plant fibers. The pollen test would be able to tell what part of the wall could be original. It could also tell what plants were used in the construction. The pollen analysis will tell which sections of the wall is new construction vs. old structure. For example, early reports said the fort was made with local native grasses, but repairs may have been done with imported hay.
- Mud analysis. The original adobe should have been made with the use of oxen trampling mud from the fort mote. There should be evidence of cow dung in the original mud. Mud for repairs may have been made using different technology such as excavators or mixing machines and perhaps different materials.
- Excavation. Digging next to the existing wall to see if there is a black rock foundation under it. Also, by digging, we can determine if the base was made from black rock or if it is a different form of rock instead.
Summary:
Even though Fort Deseret is weathering into ruins of what it once was 153 years ago. The fort is still valuable to Utah’s History and to the residents of Millard County. Investigating the Fort would help answer some of the different reported sizes and locations that have been told over the years. This site deserves a full investigation.
Reference(s)
DeWyte, Beverly.
1997 Worldwide Pioneer Heritage Service Day. Delta West Stake Media Relations, Published in the Millard County Chronicle Progress, July 24, 1997. Accessed from Utah State Historic Preservation Office on October 31, 2019.
Day, Stella Huntsman, Sebrina C Ekins.
1951 Milestones of Millard: A century of History of Millard County (1851-1951). [Place of publication not identified] : Art City Pub. Co., [1951] ©1951.
Eliason Beverly. Laurel Eliason.
2001 Town of Deseret (Millard County) Utah 1860. Accessed from Daughters of Utah Pioneers. On November, 2019.
Lister, Sarah. Beverly Eliason.
1926 Minutes of Daughters of Utah Pioneers Delta Camp 1926. Accessed from Daughters of Utah Pioneers. On November, 2019.
Lyman, Leo E.
1966 Fort Deseret Utah History Paper. Accessed from Utah State Historic Preservation Office on November, 2019.
Millard.
Date unknown. Author unknown. Millard Water Deseret. Accessed from Daughters of Utah Pioneers. On November, 2019.
National Park Service.
1970 National Register of Historic Places. Fort Deseret Nomination Form. United States of Interior. Accessed from Utah State Historic Preservation Office, On November, 2019.
Old.
2013 Author unknown. Old Fort Deseret. Accessed from Daughters of Utah Pioneers. On November, 2019.
Pahvant.
Date unknown. Author unknown. Pahvant Guardian Fort Deseret Paper. Accessed from Utah State Historic Preservation Office on November, 2019.
Utah.
Date unknown. Utah Outdoor Activities. The Great Stone Face-Millard County. Online Source http://www.utahoutdooractivities.com/greatstoneface.html Accessed on December, 2019.
Rock Image: 1951 Milestones of Millard: A century of History of Millard County pg: 419
Joseph Smith Image: Site : https://www.mormonstories.org/truth-claims/joseph-smith/ accessed on December 01, 2019.
Map Image from: USGS https://viewer.nationalmap.gov/advanced-viewer/ accessed on December 01, 2019