Tracy McArthur and Darren Judd                                                                                 Page 1

History 2700 T-TH 8:30-9:50

Service Learning Project

                           IRON MISSION DAYS VOLKSMARCH

          Our project’s main beneficiaries are the residents of Cedar City and all those tourists that pass through here. Now every person that walks into the Iron Mission State Park Museum has the opportunity to pick up a brochure that will aid them in envisioning what Cedar used to look and be like. It will give them an idea of the way things used to be, compared to how they are today.

            We had two main contacts that helped us be successful in our project. The first was Ryan Paul of the Iron State Museum.  He helped us come up with the idea that would fall into what they had in mind of doing during the celebration week of Cedar’s birthday. They wanted to give back to the resident’s information about Cedar City and what a long way it really has come since it was first settled, but they didn’t know exactly how to pull it off. They had been toying with the idea of the Volksmarch, but didn’t have anyone to put it together. Well that is where we came in. We first had to get an old map of the buildings that used to be or still are present in Cedar. We had to go to Special Collections in the library and ask Janet Seegmiller, our second contact, for help in finding old information about those buildings we wanted included in our Volksmarch run. We came up with an adequate list of buildings we thought the public would be interested in and got to making a route on which the public could easily follow. By the time we had an

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accurate route, it extended five miles. Five miles isn’t the longest distance, but to some older folks that would be interested in seeing the old buildings, it might be. So we had to add some type of reward in case they finished the whole route.  So at midpoint of the course we had someone be there to offer some type of refreshment to encourage the people to continue the route. Then at the last site another person would be stamping the brochures indicating that they had in fact finished the course. From there, they could walk inside the Iron Mission Museum, show them the stamp, and receive a pin saying they had completed the Volksmarch run. It made it fun for the people because it kind of gave them a reason to finish. Some people just need some type of reward to keep them pushing on to finish. Now to make it clear, the brochures had on them the list of old buildings and a brief description about each one. On the back were a map and some directions just in case people missed the sign telling them where to go next, or even if they wanted to skip one of the buildings or sites, they would know where the next one was located at.

            Now the workload to get this project finished was a varied one. Some weeks much more work was required then others, but it was a worthwhile project. The first week was probably the most time consuming because we had to go through a list of all the old buildings and decide which ones were the most significant. The next thing that took some time was making the map. We had to drive through town making sure the route made sense, where the midpoint should be, and where we should have it end. Ryan Paul helped us with that area of our project just because he knew a little more on where

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things were at and so forth. He also helped us to get the brochure made on a computer program and printed the amount of copies needed for the actual Volksmarch.

            Our schedule like we mentioned earlier was a varied one, but we tried to work on it at least a couple of hours per week. There were a few times when one of us had to go talk to Ryan to make sure things were going smoothly by ourselves just because the other person was busy or out of town, but it all evened out in the end. The brochure was completed and ready to go in the end and that was all that really mattered. The Voksmarch was held on November 9, 2002 and Ryan Paul said he didn’t have any complaints about how things worked out.

            What we thought was extremely relevant was the information included in our brochure. The first site we talked about was the Veteran’s Memorial located in the Cedar City Cemetery.  It pays tribute to those people in Cedar City who lost their lives defending the United States. Veterans from the Spanish-American War to Vietnam were  laid to rest in the cemetery.

            The next one was the Iron County Visitors Center and DUP Museum. Information about current events, lodging, and recreation can be found there. Included is the Daughters of the Utah Pioneers Museum which houses a fascinating collection of pioneer photographs and artifacts.

The Union Pacific Railroad Depot was built in 1923 by the Union Pacific Railroad Company, and contributed heavily to the growth of tourism in the area as Cedar

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City became the gateway to the National Parks. The railroad also proved to be a great aid to the agriculture and mining interests in Iron County. The building ceased operation as a railroad depot in 1959.

            El Escalante Hotel begun in 1921 by the citizens of Cedar City and completed in 1923  by the Union Pacific Railroad at a cost of $200,000. The El Escalante housed politicians, religious leaders, tourists, and movie stars. It was built on the site of the old Tithing Office and was a brick building with a gabled roof and a hipped porch on three sides. The building was demolished in 1971.

            Bulloch Drug-In 1881 the local sheep ranchers formed a co-op and built the Cedar Sheep Association Store (Wood and Lace Place). In 1917 a new building was built to the south and connected to the Store by the archway (Bulloch Drug). The building has serves a s a department store, a medical office, and the first hospital in Cedar City. The building became a drug store in 1934. One can still get an old fashioned ice cream soda at Bulloch Drug’s soda fountain. The building also boasts the first elevator in Cedar City.

 Cedar Theatre originally was called the Thorley Theatre. The movie house immediately became a local attraction.  In 1939 the theatre hosted the world premiere of the locally filmed Cecil B. DeMille film Union Pacific.

            Old Post Office was constructed during the Great Depression of the 1930’s. It now houses the Cedar City Offices. The City Council Chamber contains an excellent photographic display of historic Cedar City, created by long term resident York Jones.

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Rock Church is on the site of the old Cedar City tabernacle. It was built by Cedar City residents during the Great Depression with all the native materials and donated labor. Red cedar wood adorns the interior while the exterior stones were carefully and colorfully matched.  

Chaffin Grist Mill Site was built and operated by John D. Lee in the early 1850’s. At the request of the LDS Church authorities Louis Chaffin began operation of the mill in 1866 and ran it for a number of years. The mill later burned down. This site was excavated and marked in 1976.

CCC Campsite is currently an LDS Bishop’s Storehouse. It served as the location for a Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC) encampment from 1934 to 1939. The CCC worked on soil erosion and water management projects, fought forest fires, and assisted sheep ranchers during severe winter weather. In 1939 the camp was dismantled and moved to Modena, Utah.

Paiute Center is the headquarters of the Paiute Tribe of Utah. It was built in 1997 and is in its second phase of addition and renovation. It coordinates Tribal programs of Health, Social Services, Housing, Education, Alcohol and Drug, Environment, Recreational Activities, Tribal Clinic, Trust Land, and Economic Development over a five country area. As of October 2002, there are 802 members of the Paiute Tribe which are divided among five bands: Indian Peaks, Cedar, Koosharem, Kanosh, and Shivwits. There is a rock monument at the front entrance of the building.

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The City Park contains a variety of historical monuments detailing the exploits of Father Escalante, the WWI Veterans, and the iron missionaries of Cedar City.

Deseret Iron Works Site served as the location for the pioneer iron works. This foundry became the second center of iron production west of the Mississippi River. The Iron Works ran between 1852 and 1858. This area housed a large blast furnace; several cook evens, and many other buildings important to the Iron Works.

Iron Mission State Park Museum is the beginning and ending point for the historic Volksmarch. The current building was built in 1980. It houses a vast number of pioneer artifacts, the Gronway Parry wagon collection, and an assortment of horse drawn equipment. Besides the brochure that we now have in there, there are a number of other brochures or pamphlets available to help increase the public’s knowledge about Cedar’s history if they are interested.

We both learned so much while doing this project. Each one of us is now going to tell what we liked in particular, Tracy going first. “I liked going around and actually seeing where these buildings used to be. It created a picture in my head of what Cedar City used to look like. I cannot believe people were able to survive in the environment they did. I guess they wouldn’t have known different, but maybe I’m just too lazy, I don’t think I could’ve handled it. The fact that they worked in such hard conditions and in Cedar City’s below freezing temperature all the time without a heater, is incredible. It just amazes me what those people were able to accomplish and go through. That’s why I liked

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this project so much because it gives me an appreciation to live in the times I do and also be appreciative to those people for getting us where we are at today. Another thing was Ii never knew they had graves in the cemetery of people that died in the Civil War. That is so fascinating to me. I tried to find it a couple of weeks ago but I forgot where they told me it was. They also showed me the monument for the veterans and I thought that was really cool.”

Darren says, “The coolest thing I thought was I had no idea what main street used to look like. I lived here since 1985 and it still was a huge shock to me when I saw the pictures of those old buildings and where they used to stand. One thing that got me pissed off though was how they had torn down some of those old buildings for no reason. Buildings like the old jail and the El Escalante Hotel could have been preserved, but instead they got torn down for no reason. It just makes no sense when you always hear how buildings don’t get torn down because they are a landmark, but maybe those buildings were beyond repair, who knows. This project also made me aware of how many other landmarks there are in Cedar City that I never would’ve known about if Ii had no done this project. Our own school is a landmark. People really need to take the time and learn some of these things; I bet most would find it really interesting. One thing I wish we would’ve had was better technology when making our brochure. If we would’ve had a better computer program or more money we could’ve made something a little nicer then just a paper folded in half.”

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            Some suggestions on the service learning project would be to grade us on what we accomplished, not so much on our paper we write after. Some projects are much more fascinating to look at or experience then reading it on paper. We hope you consider doing the Volksmarch or at least go over our brochure to look at where the old buildings used to stand or still do. We simply couldn’t believe the buildings that were torn down and feel like you would think the same way.

            We do think you should keep doing this project because it gives students the experience of doing something for the community in an area of study that we’re interested in. We both learned so much in just doing this project, and we hope you will continue requiring it for students to come. Plus it helps us become more grateful of the things we have and the times we are living in!