Editing Moab, Utah (section)

===Early years===
Residents named the town Moab in 1880;<ref name="Utah History Encyclopedia">{{Citation | last = Bearnson | first = Margaret S. | title = Utah History Encyclopedia | publisher = University of Utah Press | year = 1994 | chapter = Moab | chapter-url = https://www.uen.org/utah_history_encyclopedia/m/MOAB.shtml | url = https://www.uen.org/utah_history_encyclopedia/ | archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20240321165105/https://www.uen.org/utah_history_encyclopedia/m/MOAB.shtml | archive-date = March 21, 2024 | isbn =9780874804256 | access-date = October 3, 2024}}</ref> [[Moab|in the Bible this term]] refers to an area of land located on the eastern side of the [[Jordan River]]. Some historians believe the city in Utah came to use this name because of William Andrew Peirce, the first postmaster, believing that the biblical Moab and this part of Utah were both "the far country".<ref name=Daughters>{{cite book |publisher=Daughters of the Utah Pioneers |year=1972 |title=Grand Memories| location=Grand County, Utah |author=Daughters of the Utah Pioneers |author-link=Daughters of the Utah Pioneers |chapter=Moab |edition=2nd |oclc=4790603}}</ref>{{rp|16}}<ref>{{cite book |author=Tanner, Faun McConkie |year=1976 |title=The Far Country: A Regional History of Moab and La Sal, Utah |location=Salt Lake City, Utah |publisher=Olympus Publishing Company |page=89 |isbn=0-913420-63-8}}</ref> However, others believe the name has [[Colorado River Numic language|Paiute]] origins, referring to the word ''moapa'', meaning "mosquito".<ref name=moabhistory>{{cite web |url=http://www.moabcity.org/visitors/history.cfm |publisher=City of Moab |title=Moab&nbsp;— History |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20061106183105/http://www.moabcity.org/visitors/history.cfm |archive-date=2006-11-06 }}</ref> Some of the area's early residents attempted to change the city's name, because in the Christian Bible, Moabites are demeaned as [[incest]]uous and [[idolatry|idolatrous]] (but note, [[Ruth (biblical figure)|Ruth]] was a Moabite). One petition in 1890 had 59 signatures and requested a name change to "Vina".<ref name=Daughters/>{{rp|50}} Another effort attempted to change the name to "Uvadalia".<ref name=moabhistory/> Both attempts failed.

During the period between 1829 and the early 1850s, the area around what is now Moab served as the [[Colorado River]] crossing along the [[Old Spanish Trail (trade route)|Old Spanish Trail]]. [[The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints|Latter-day Saint]] settlers attempted to establish a trading fort at the river crossing called the Elk Mountain Mission in April 1855 to trade with travellers attempting to cross the river. Forty men were called on this mission. There were repeated Indian attacks, including one on September 23, 1855, in which James Hunt, companion to Peter Stubbs, was shot and killed by a Native American.<ref>{{cite book |last=Stubbs |first=Peter |title=Autobiography of Peter Stubbs |year=1890}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|url=http://stubbstervorthistory.50megs.com/Peter_Stubbs_1824.htm|title=Autobiography of}}</ref> After this last attack, the fort was abandoned.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.moabcity.org/visitors/history.cfm |title=Archived copy |access-date=2006-09-19 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20061106183105/http://www.moabcity.org/visitors/history.cfm |archive-date=2006-11-06 }}</ref> A new group of settlers from Rich County, led by Randolph Hockaday Stewart, established a permanent settlement in 1878 under the direction of Brigham Young.<ref>[https://npgallery.nps.gov/GetAsset/66822fb5-5415-47aa-b96c-604c2afda185 National Register of Historic Places Inventory Nomination Form for Moab cabin]</ref>  Moab was incorporated as a town on December 20, 1902.<ref name=moabhistory/>

In 1883 the [[Denver and Rio Grande Western Railroad]] main line was constructed across eastern Utah. The rail line did not pass through Moab, instead passing through the towns of [[Thompson Springs, Utah|Thompson Springs]]  {{cvt|38|mi}} and [[Cisco, Utah|Cisco]], {{convert|47|mi}} to the north.<ref name=Utahghostrails>{{cite book |last=Carr |first=Stephen L. |author2=Edwards, Robert W. |title=Utah Ghost Rails |year=1989 |publisher=Western Epics |location=[[Salt Lake City, Utah]] |isbn=0-914740-34-2 |pages=188–194 |chapter=Denver and Rio Grande Western Railway}}</ref> Later, other places to cross the Colorado were constructed, such as [[Lee's Ferry]], [[Navajo Bridge]] and [[Hoover Dam|Boulder Dam]]. These changes shifted the trade routes away from Moab. Moab farmers and merchants had to adapt from trading with passing travelers to shipping their goods to distant markets.{{Citation needed|date=April 2017}} Soon Moab's origins as one of the few natural crossings of the Colorado River were forgotten.{{Citation needed|date=April 2017}} Nevertheless, the U.S. military deemed the bridge over the Colorado River at Moab important enough to place it under guard as late as [[World War II]].<ref>{{cite news |url=https://moabsunnews.com/2022/12/08/wwii-bridge-guards-honored/ |title=WWII Bridge Guards Honored|work=Moab Sun News |first=Rachel |last=Fixsen |date=Dec 2, 2022 |access-date=Oct 7, 2023}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.moabhappenings.com/Archives/historic0903RiverBridgeMemorial.htm |publisher=Moab Happenings |title=River Bridge Memorial |first=Vicki |last=Barker |date=March 1, 2009 |access-date=Oct 7, 2023}}</ref>

In 1943, a former [[Civilian Conservation Corps]] camp outside Moab was used as a [[Internment of Japanese Americans#Citizen Isolation Centers|Citizen Isolation Center]] to confine [[Internment of Japanese Americans|Japanese American internees]] labeled "troublemakers" by authorities in the [[War Relocation Authority]], the government body responsible for overseeing the wartime incarceration program.<ref name="fulllist">{{cite web | title=Japanese American Internment Camps | url=http://www.bookmice.net/darkchilde/japan/camp.html | access-date= }}</ref> The Moab Isolation Center for "noncompliant" Japanese Americans was created in response to growing resistance to WRA policies within the camps; a December 1942 clash between guards and inmates known as the "[[Manzanar#Resistance|Manzanar Riot]]", in which two were killed and ten injured, was the final push.<ref name=Hansen>{{cite encyclopedia |last=Hansen |first=Arthur A. |url=http://encyclopedia.densho.org/Moab/Leupp%20Isolation%20Centers%20%28detention%20facility%29/ |title=Moab/Leupp Isolation Centers |encyclopedia=Densho Encyclopedia |access-date=18 Jun 2014}}</ref> On January 11, 1943, the sixteen men who had initiated the two-day protests were transferred to Moab from the town jails where they were booked (without charges or access to hearings) after the riot. Having closed just fifteen months prior, all 18 military-style structures of the CCC camp were in good condition, and the site was converted to its new use with minimal renovation.<ref name=NPS>Burton, Jeffery. ''Confinement and Ethnicity: An Overview of World War II Japanese American Relocation Sites'' (National Park Service, 2011) p. 325.</ref> 150 military police guarded the camp, and director Raymond Best and head of security Francis Frederick presided over administration.<ref name=Hansen/> On February 18, thirteen transfers from [[Gila River War Relocation Center|Gila River]], Arizona, were brought to Moab, and six days later, ten more arrived from Manzanar. An additional fifteen [[Tule Lake Unit, World War II Valor in the Pacific National Monument|Tule Lake]] inmates were transferred on April 2. Most of these new arrivals were removed from the general camp population because of their resistance to the WRA's attempts to [[Internment of Japanese Americans#Loyalty questions and segregation|determine the loyalty]] of incarcerated Japanese Americans, met largely with confusion and anger because of a lack of explanation as to how and why internees would be assessed.<ref name=Hansen/> The Moab Isolation Center remained open until April 27, when most of its inmates were bused to the larger and more secure [[History of Leupp, Arizona|Leupp Isolation Center]]. (Five men, serving sentences in the Grand County Jail after protesting conditions in Moab, were transported to Leupp in a five-by-six-foot box on the back of a truck. Their separate transfer was arranged by Francis Frederick, who had also handed down their prison sentences, using a law he later rescinded to charge them with unlawful assembly.)<ref name=Hansen/><ref>Redsteer, Debra. [http://www.discovernikkei.org/en/journal/2008/6/28/enduring-communities/ "Leupp, Arizona: A Shared Historic Space for the Navajo Nation and Japanese Americans"] ''Discover Nikkei'', 28 Jun 2008 (accessed 18 Jun 2014).</ref> In 1994, the "Dalton Wells CCC Camp/Moab Relocation Center" was added to the National Register of Historic Places, and, although no marker exists on the site, an information plaque at the current site entrance and a photograph on display at the Dan O'Laurie Museum in Moab mention the former isolation center.<ref name=Hansen/><ref>Burton, Jeffery. ''Confinement and Ethnicity: An Overview of World War II Japanese American Relocation Sites'' (National Park Service, 2011) p. 330.</ref>