Located about 8 miles
northwest of St. George the community of Ivins lies nestled at the base of towering,
majestic keyenta and Navajo sandstone cliffs.
The town of Ivins came about from the dream of several men to bring water to the
Santa Clara bench. This was not easy to
accomplish. An eight-mile canal had to be built from the Santa Clara creek near the Shem smelter to the bench.
The route took them over steep mountain sides and deep ravines that needed to be
siphoned or plumed. Work began in 1911 and
the canal was completed in 1914. Ivins Reservoir was built to store the water in 1918.
The irrigation company offered a lot to the first ten families to move to
the new town, but since two came on the same day they gave eleven lots instead. These
families were all young and willing to live in humble
circumstances and work hard to make this new town a reality.
Ivins is near Tuacahn Arts Center, Red Mountain Resort & Spa and Snow Canyon State Park all of which
draw many people to the area. Kayenta a planned development west of Ivins
offers lovely homes designed to blend with the natural landscape of the
area.
If you like Native American petroglyphs, on the south edge of town
lies one of the most dense collections in the country.
Ivins has the land and is making plans to build an interpretative Indian museum that hopefully will be associated with the desert tortoise habitat
their plan is for a center to explain the need for protection and about the tortoise itself. In close association
they hope to construct a raptor center for the rehabilitation from injury and
subsequent release.
|
