Editing St. George, Utah (section)

==History==
[[Image:Brigham Young's winter home St George.jpg|thumb|[[Brigham Young Winter Home and Office]] in St. George]]

St. George was founded as part of the cotton mission<ref>{{Citation | last = Anderson | first = Bart | title = Utah History Encyclopedia | publisher = University of Utah Press | year = 1994 | chapter = St. George | chapter-url = https://www.uen.org/utah_history_encyclopedia/s/ST_GEORGE.shtml | url = https://www.uen.org/utah_history_encyclopedia/ | archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20231118012529/https://www.uen.org/utah_history_encyclopedia/s/ST_GEORGE.shtml | archive-date = November 18, 2023 | isbn =9780874804256 | access-date = March 26, 2024}}</ref> in 1861 under the direction of Latter Day Saint [[Apostle (Latter Day Saints)|apostle]] Erastus Snow. At the outbreak of the [[American Civil War]], Brigham Young accelerated the colonization effort:
<blockquote>Fearing that the war would take away the cotton supply, he began plans for raising enough in this southwestern country to supply the needs of his people. Enough favorable reports had come to him from this warm region below the rim of the Great Basin, that he was convinced cotton could be raised successfully here. At the general church conference in Salt Lake City on October 6th, 1861, about three hundred families were "called" to the Dixie mission to promote the cotton industry. Most of the people knew nothing of this expedition until their names were read from the pulpit; but in nearly every case, they responded with good will, and made ready to leave within the month's time allotted to them. The families were selected so as to ensure the communities the right number of farmers, masons, blacksmiths, businessmen, educators, carpenters, as needed.<ref>''Under Dixie Sun'', 1950, Washington County Chapter, Daughters Utah Pioneers, pp 293–294. Printed by Garfield County News, Panguitch Utah.</ref></blockquote>

The settlement was named after [[George A. Smith]], an LDS Church apostle.<ref>Lynn Arave, [https://www.deseret.com/2007/7/8/20028683/st-george-likely-named-after-an-lds-apostle "St. George likely named after an LDS apostle"], ''Deseret Morning News'', 8 July 2007</ref>

In April 1877, the LDS Church completed the [[St. George Utah Temple]]. It was the church's third [[Temple (LDS Church)|temple]] and is the oldest still in active use.<ref>{{Cite web|title=St. George LDS Temple, Utah's first, to close Nov. 4 for several years to undergo seismic upgrade and major renovation |url=https://www.sltrib.com/news/2019/05/22/st-george-lds-temple/ |access-date=September 14, 2023 |website=The Salt Lake Tribune |language=en-US}}</ref>

The [[1992 St. George earthquake]] destroyed three houses, as well as above- and below-ground utilities, causing about {{US$|1 million|link=yes}} in damage.<ref name="desnews 19940515">{{cite web
|url=https://www.deseret.com/1994/5/15/19109019/92-quake-left-st-george-virtually-unshaken
|title='92 quake left St. George virtually unshaken
|date=May 15, 1994
|agency=Associated Press
|publisher=[[Deseret News]]
|access-date=March 18, 2020
}}</ref><ref name="ugs official 1995 report">{{cite book
|url=https://ugspub.nr.utah.gov/publications/circular/C-88.pdf
|title=The September 2, 1992 M<sub>L</sub> 5.8 St. George Earthquake, Washington County, Utah
|date=1995
|isbn=1-55791-367-6
|editor1-first=Gary E.
|editor1-last=Christenson
|publisher=[[Utah Geological Survey]]
|access-date=March 18, 2020
|archive-date=December 13, 2016
|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20161213102434/https://ugspub.nr.utah.gov/publications/circular/C-88.pdf
|url-status=live
}}</ref>

St. George was the location of the 1997 [[United States Academic Decathlon]] national finals.

In January 2005, a 100-year flood occurred throughout the region, due to prolonged heavy rainfall overflowing both the [[Virgin River]] and [[Santa Clara River (Utah)|Santa Clara]] River. One person was killed and 28 homes were destroyed by the Santa Clara River.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.sgcity.org/flood2005a.php |title=City of St. George, Utah :: Flood Pictures |date=January 2005 |publisher=sgcity.org |access-date=January 2, 2011}}{{dead link|date=September 2013}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url= http://pubs.usgs.gov/fs/2006/3085/PDF/FS2006-3085.pdf|title=Flooding and streamflow in Utah during water year 2005|access-date=April 7, 2014}}</ref>

===Nuclear contamination===
In the early 1950s, St. George received the brunt of the [[fallout]] of above-ground [[nuclear testing]] at the Yucca Flats/[[Nevada Test Site]] northwest of Las Vegas. Winds routinely carried the fallout of these tests directly through the St. George and southern Utah area. Marked increases in the frequency of cancer in the population, not limited to leukemia, lymphoma, thyroid cancer, breast cancer, melanoma, bone cancer, brain tumors, and gastrointestinal tract cancers, were reported from the mid-1950s until the early 1980s.<ref name="jama1984">{{cite journal|last=Johnson|first=Carl|year=1984|title=Cancer Incidence in an Area of Radioactive Fallout Downwind From the Nevada Test Site|journal=[[Journal of the American Medical Association]]|doi=10.1001/jama.1984.03340260034023|volume=251|issue=2|pages=230–6|pmid=6690781}}</ref><ref>Falk, Jim (1982). ''Global Fission: The Battle Over Nuclear Power'', p. 134.{{ISBN?}}</ref>

In 1980, American popular weekly magazine ''[[People (magazine)|People]]'' reported that from about 220 cast and crew who filmed in a 1956 movie, ''[[The Conqueror (1956 film)#Cancer controversy|The Conqueror]]'', on location near St. George, 91 had come down with cancer, and 50 had died of cancer.<ref name="clar">Gerald H. Clarfield and William M. Wiecek (1984). ''Nuclear America: Military and Civilian Nuclear Power in the United States 1940–1980'', Harper & Row, New York, p. 208.</ref>  Of these, 46 had died of cancer by 1980. Among the cancer deaths were [[John Wayne]], [[Pedro Armendáriz]],  and [[Susan Hayward]], the stars of the film.<ref name="clar" /> However, the lifetime odds of developing cancer for men in the U.S. population are 43% and the odds of dying of cancer are 23% (38 and 19%, respectively, for women).<ref>{{cite web|last1=American Cancer Society|title=Lifetime Risk of Developing or Dying From Cancer|url=http://www.cancer.org/cancer/cancerbasics/lifetime-probability-of-developing-or-dying-from-cancer|access-date=May 19, 2021|archive-date=November 25, 2016|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20161125234039/http://www.cancer.org/cancer/cancerbasics/lifetime-probability-of-developing-or-dying-from-cancer|url-status=dead}}</ref> This places the cancer mortality rate for the 220 primary cast and crew quite near the expected average.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.gasdetection.com/interscan-in-the-news/magazine-articles/movie-conqueror-really-cursed-look-radiation-paranoia/|title=Was The Movie The Conqueror Really Cursed? A Look At Radiation Paranoia|access-date=September 15, 2022}}</ref>

A 1962 [[United States Atomic Energy Commission]] report found children living in St. George at the time of the fallout may have received doses to their thyroids of [[radioiodine]] as high as 120 to 440 rads" (1.2 to 4.4 Gy).<ref name=ieer>Pat Ortmeyer and Arjun Makhijani. ''[[The Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists]]'', November/December 1997, pages 46-50., via October 31, 2007, retrieval.}</ref>