Editing Iron County, Utah (section)

==History==
Evidence of [[Fremont culture]] habitation ranging from 750 to 1250 AD exists in present Iron County. [[Petroglyph]]s of differing periods were carved into the walls of [[Parowan Gap]] 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]] traveled through the Iron County area on October 12, 1776. Fur trapper [[Jedediah Smith]] is the first recorded Anglo-American to pass through the area (1826). Settlement of the area began in 1851, when [[the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints|LDS]] President [[Brigham Young]] directed members from the northern colonies to move into the area.<ref name="Utah_History_Encyclopedia">{{Citation | last = Shirts | first = Morris A. | title = Utah History Encyclopedia | publisher = University of Utah Press | year = 1994 | chapter = The Iron Mission | chapter-url = https://www.uen.org/utah_history_encyclopedia/i/IRON_MISSION.shtml | url = https://www.uen.org/utah_history_encyclopedia/ | archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20240321170200/https://www.uen.org/utah_history_encyclopedia/i/IRON_MISSION.shtml | archive-date = March 21, 2024 | isbn =9780874804256 | access-date = May 15, 2024}}</ref> A settlement, Coal Creek,<ref name="Utah_History_Encyclopedia"/> sprang up in 1851; it later became Cedar City.<ref name=ICP>[https://onlinelibrary.utah.gov/counties/iron.html Iron County Profile (accessed 31 March 2019)]</ref> To provide a local government structure, the [[State of Deseret]] legislature created the county on January 31, 1850, although it was not organized until January 17, 1851, with description stretching from the future [[Colorado]], across Utah, and into the future [[Nevada]]. 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]], 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.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://publications.newberry.org/ahcbp/documents/UT_Individual_County_Chronologies.htm|title=Utah: Individual County Chronologies|website=Utah Atlas of Historical County Boundaries|publisher=[[Newberry Library]]|date=2008|access-date=June 26, 2015|archive-date=March 6, 2016|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160306153326/http://publications.newberry.org/ahcbp/documents/UT_Individual_County_Chronologies.htm|url-status=dead}}</ref>