Iron, and the lack thereof, was a significant concern for pioneers settling Utah. Everything from wagon wheels to dutch ovens required Iron, and many of these items were critical for survival, not to mention commerce. The area around Cedar City, Utah, had been growing since the discovery of iron ore in southern Utah. Afterward, Mormon leader Brigham Young called for volunteers to colonize the region in late 1851.

Iron City, about 30 miles west of Cedar City, was formed after Peter Shirts discovered iron ore in early 1868. In June of that year, Ebenezer Hanks provided the investment to establish the Union Iron Company, later renamed the Great Western Iron Company.

In the 1800s, iron was produced by combining raw ore with a mixture of fuel and limestone. For Iron City, surrounded by forest, the fuel was charcoal, created from readily available wood that smoldered in an oxygen-free environment. Using charcoal also produced a softer, more pliable piece of iron. Workers would stack piles of juniper and pinyon inside beehive-shaped kilns, lighting fires underneath. The process of transforming the wood into the required charcoal was lengthy, with one kiln taking 12 days to produce 50 bushels of charcoal, sufficient to process one ton of iron ore. Iron City had two such kilns.

Shipping costs for the larger contracts and small sales of iron items to poor Mormon settlers led to the demise of the Great Western Iron Company, and the ironworks closed in 1876. In fact, mining iron wasn’t profitable in Iron County until the Columbia Steel Corporation built a blast furnace at Ironton, near Provo, Utah.

Union Pacific Railroad agreed to construct a spur line in 1923, which passed through Lund, Iron Springs, and into Cedar City. More than 500 tons of iron would be shipped by rail from Iron County to northern Utah.

Foreign competition and domestic tax issues led to a decline in overall production by 1960, which continued to worsen until all iron mining operations in Iron County ceased in the mid-1980s. Iron County still holds one of the nation’s richest iron ore deposits, with remains of several open-pit mines dotting the hillsides.

Iron City was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1971. Now known as Old Irontown State Park, what remains of Iron City has been preserved and includes one of the two beehive kilns, a furnace, and the remains of the original foundry. Old Irontown can be found west of Cedar City, about 24 miles on Highway 56, then turn south on Old Irontown Road. You will pass through a residential area before reaching the State Park.