A Brief History from the Daughters of Utah Pioneers Monument

In 1854 President Brigham Young sent scouts to locate sites for settlement. Indians living here called it Toquer (meaning black). In 1858 eight families were sent from New Harmony to colonize here. They named it Toquerville, which became the county seat of Kane County. Its principal industries were cotton, cane, grapes, and fruit. They built the first cotton gin mill in Utah and the first furniture shop in Dixie. The building that held the mill still stands. It might be noted that the Kane County of which Toquerville was the county seat was reputed to have stretched from the north rim of the Grand Canyon to the Nevada border.