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The wind whispers through crumbling adobe walls, carrying echoes of children’s laughter and the clatter of wagon wheels across the high desert plateau. Here, at the base of the Sunset Mountain range in northern Arizona, little remains of what was once a thriving Mormon colony. Brigham City stands frozen in time, its weathered ruins a testament to the resilience and ultimate fragility of pioneer ambitions in the unforgiving Southwest.
Founded as part of Brigham Young’s expansionist vision, this settlement once represented the Mormon Church’s determination to establish a corridor of faithful communities stretching from Utah to Mexico. Today, the pioneer cemetery with its weathered headstones, the larger community burial ground that followed, the remnants of a small but vital local press, and the vanished railroad connections tell a story of hope, hardship, and ultimate abandonment. Through these forgotten markers of civilization, we glimpse how religious conviction, communal effort, and economic necessity shaped Arizona’s territorial development—and how quickly human establishments can vanish when the delicate balance of sustainability tips against them.
The highlight of the site is the restored remains of the original adobe fort, which include partial exterior walls and layout outlines. This structure once enclosed homes, workshops, and communal storage rooms. Visitors can walk along the interpretive trail with informational signs that explain how the settlement was structured, how residents lived, and what ultimately led to the town’s decline. The fort gives a tangible sense of how settlers attempted to adapt to the harsh desert conditions.
Brigham City is especially significant as one of the few places where the United Order—a Mormon communal economic system—was put into practice outside Utah. At the site, you can learn how families shared resources, rotated labor, and centralized food and goods distribution in pursuit of religious ideals. The effort was noble but ultimately unsustainable given the environmental challenges and internal disagreements. Still, it remains a fascinating example of alternative settlement models in American frontier history.
Since Brigham City is only a few miles north of Winslow, visitors can round out their experience with stops at other historical attractions like:
Homolovi State Park, featuring ancestral Hopi ruins and petroglyphs.
Old Trails Museum, which highlights Winslow’s history and its importance along Route 66.
Standin’ on the Corner Park, a nod to music and pop culture history.
The surrounding area provides a beautiful and serene desert backdrop. Though the Little Colorado River is often dry, seasonal flows can bring temporary wetlands and vegetation to life. The flat terrain and wide vistas offer great photo opportunities, as well as a contemplative setting to imagine life in such an isolated and experimental community.
The cemeteries of Brigham City preserve the stories of individuals whose lives embodied the settlement’s brief but significant history. In the pioneer cemetery, the grave of Lot Smith himself stands as the most prominent monument. Smith, who led the original colonization effort, remained committed to the United Order even as it began to disintegrate. His headstone, more elaborate than most, recounts not only his leadership of Brigham City but his earlier fame as a guerrilla fighter during the Utah War, when he burned federal supply wagons without bloodshed. Smith ultimately died in 1892 during a dispute with Navajo herders over grazing rights, long after most settlers had departed.
Nearby lies Emma Larson, whose simple marker belies her extraordinary contribution to colony life. Records from the Little Colorado Star identify her as the settlement’s primary midwife and healer, who delivered nearly every child born in the colony while maintaining detailed journals of herbal remedies adapted to local plants. Surviving fragments of these journals (preserved in family collections) document her efforts to combine traditional Mormon healing practices with knowledge gained from Hopi women with whom she established trade relationships.
The community cemetery contains the grave of Thomas Jefferson Adair, who represents the transition between Brigham City’s Mormon origins and its later history. Initially part of the United Order, Adair left the communal system in 1879 but remained in the area as an independent rancher. His extensive correspondence with relatives (housed in the Arizona Historical Society collections) documents his growing disillusionment with communal living while maintaining his faith. The elaborate marble headstone on his grave—imported from Denver via railroad in 1905—symbolizes the prosperity he eventually achieved as an individual entrepreneur.
Near the cemetery’s western edge lies a row of five graves belonging to the Martinez family, railroad workers who settled in the area after construction of the A&P line. Their presence represents the demographic shift that occurred as Hispanic workers from railroad and ranching operations replaced departing Mormon settlers. According to oral histories collected from descendants, Elena Martinez established a small store serving travelers along the diminishing river route, repurposing adobe bricks from abandoned Mormon structures to build her establishment.
The pages of the Little Colorado Star preserve the voice of Joseph Hansen, whose editorial comments provide insight into the psychological challenges of pioneer life. In an 1879 reflection, he wrote: “Our isolation tests not merely the body but the spirit. Each day without news from Zion stretches longer than the last. Yet in this seeming exile, we find our faith strengthened through necessity.” Hansen eventually relocated to Mexico with other Mormon expatriates, continuing his journalism career with Spanish-language publications that maintained connections between far-flung Mormon communities.
| Category | Details |
|---|---|
| Name | Brigham City, Arizona |
| Type | Ghost town / Abandoned Mormon settlement |
| County | Navajo County |
| Founded | 1876 |
| Founder | Mormon pioneers sent by Brigham Young and led by Lot Smith |
| Status | Abandoned by 1881 |
| Population (Historic) | ~100–200 settlers at its peak |
| Population (Current) | None |
| Historical Significance | One of the earliest Mormon colonies in Arizona; part of the United Order experiment |
| Primary Purpose | Religious communal living, agriculture, and missionary outreach |
| Decline Factors | Flooding from the Little Colorado River, lack of agricultural success, harsh conditions |
| Nearby Landmarks | Located near Winslow, Arizona and Homolovi State Park |
| Remnants Today | Partial rock walls, foundation ruins, interpretive signage |
| Access | Easily accessible via Homolovi State Park trails |
| Elevation | ~4,900 feet (1,493 meters) |
| Climate | High desert – warm summers, cold winters |
| Archaeological Status | Preserved and interpreted as part of Homolovi State Park |
| Managed By | Arizona State Parks and Arizona State Museum |
| Best For | History enthusiasts, Mormon heritage tours, archaeology lovers |
Brigham City emerged in 1876 when Lot Smith, a renowned Mormon militia leader during the Utah War, led approximately 200 pioneers to settle along the Little Colorado River. This settlement was part of a larger Mormon colonization effort directed by Brigham Young, who sought to establish a corridor of faithful communities throughout the Southwest. Positioned near present-day Winslow, the colony was strategically located to serve as a waypoint for Mormon expansion.
The settlement was established as a “United Order” community, an experiment in communal living where members pooled their resources and labor for the common good. This theocratic economic structure reflected the Mormon ideals of self-sufficiency and cooperative economics that Young promoted as alternatives to the competitive capitalism spreading across America.
While never boasting a vast population, Brigham City reached its peak in the late 1870s with approximately 150-200 residents. The settlers constructed adobe homes, dug irrigation ditches, and planted orchards and fields. Their economy centered primarily on agriculture, with efforts to grow wheat, corn, and vegetables, alongside raising cattle and sheep. The community maintained trading connections with nearby Native American tribes, particularly the Navajo and Hopi, while also developing modest mercantile establishments to serve travelers along the Little Colorado River route.
Brigham City’s development coincided with Arizona’s territorial period, representing part of the broader American expansion into the Southwest following the Civil War. Unlike mining boomtowns that rose and fell with mineral discoveries, this religious colony embodied a different aspect of Western settlement—one driven by faith and community rather than individual fortune-seeking.
Today, visitors to Brigham City encounter little more than scattered stone foundations, crumbling adobe walls, and the occasional weathered wooden beam protruding from the sandy soil. The settlement’s main street is barely discernible, its path marked only by subtle depressions in the earth and the linear arrangement of structural remains. Of the original buildings, only fragments of the communal dining hall and the foundations of the fort-like walls that once enclosed the settlement remain visible.
The irrigation system that was crucial to the colony’s survival can still be traced in parts—shallow ditches extending from what was once a dam on the Little Colorado River. Several fruit trees, descendants of the original orchard, stubbornly persist, offering unexpected shade and seasonal blossoms in this otherwise sparse landscape.
Archaeological investigations have identified the locations of the community tannery, blacksmith shop, and wool-processing facilities, though little remains above ground. The former fields, once laboriously cultivated by the settlers, have long since returned to desert, with only subtle variations in vegetation hinting at their former purpose.
Unlike some better-preserved ghost towns in Arizona, Brigham City has received minimal formal preservation. The site sits on private land with limited protection, and natural erosion continues to diminish what structural evidence remains. No interpretive signs mark the site, and visitors must rely on historical accounts and archaeological reports to envision the once-vibrant community.
Access requires permission from landowners and a four-wheel-drive vehicle to navigate the unmaintained dirt roads. The remote location and lack of facilities make it one of Arizona’s less frequently visited ghost towns, preserving its authentic atmosphere but also limiting public engagement with its history.
A quarter-mile east of the settlement ruins, set against a gentle rise in the landscape, lies the pioneer cemetery of Brigham City. Enclosed by a simple barbed wire fence installed by descendants in the 1950s, this small burial ground contains approximately thirty visible graves, though historical records suggest as many as sixty pioneers may rest here.
The cemetery dates from the colony’s founding in 1876, with the earliest marked grave belonging to Sarah Williams, who died in childbirth just weeks after the settlers’ arrival. The markers range from crude sandstone tablets with barely legible inscriptions to more formal headstones of imported marble—reflecting both the community’s isolation and its occasional connections to outside resources.
Most striking among the grave markers are those of children, representing nearly half of the identifiable burials. Their small stones bear testament to the harsh realities of frontier life, with many inscriptions indicating deaths from diphtheria during an 1878 outbreak that devastated the community. Several stones feature the carved symbol of a broken flower stem—a Mormon pioneer tradition representing lives cut short.
The cemetery reveals patterns common to isolated religious communities of the era. Graves are arranged in family groupings rather than individual plots, with patriarchs positioned at the head of family rows. Several graves feature distinctive Mormon symbolism, including beehives representing industry and all-seeing eyes symbolizing divine providence.
The pioneer cemetery has suffered from decades of neglect, with many markers toppled by weather or vandalism. A 1998 Eagle Scout project documented the remaining inscriptions and installed a simple commemorative plaque, but the site receives no regular maintenance. Desert plants have reclaimed much of the ground, occasionally obscuring the lower stones during seasonal growth.
Two miles northwest of Brigham City’s ruins, the larger community cemetery presents a stark contrast to the pioneer burial ground. Established around 1883 after many original settlers had departed, this cemetery served the broader area including the neighboring settlements of Sunset and later travelers and settlers along the Little Colorado River.
Unlike the pioneer cemetery with its religious homogeneity, the community cemetery reflects the diverse population that gradually replaced the original Mormon settlers. Graves here include those of Hispanic railroad workers, Basque shepherds, and later Anglo settlers with no connection to the original colony. The cemetery expanded organically through the late 19th and early 20th centuries, eventually containing over 200 graves in less orderly arrangements than its predecessor.
Burial practices evolved visibly across the decades represented. Earlier graves maintain some Mormon traditions but show increasing influence of Victorian mourning culture, with more elaborate monuments and sentimental inscriptions. Sections dating from after 1900 include concrete borders around family plots and mass-produced headstones ordered from catalogs—signs of increasing standardization and outside connections.
Unlike the pioneer cemetery, the community burial ground occasionally witnessed ceremonies into the early 20th century, particularly on Decoration Day (the predecessor to Memorial Day). Local accounts describe annual gatherings where descendants from Winslow and Holbrook would return to place flowers on graves and maintain family connections.
The community cemetery contains graves of several notable local figures, including James Crawford, who served as postmaster after the Mormon exodus, and Eleanor Ramirez, a midwife who delivered over 500 babies in the region between 1885 and 1920. Their more elaborate monuments stand in contrast to the simpler markers of numerous unknown travelers, marked only with “Unknown Man” and approximate dates—testament to the dangerous nature of frontier travel.
Though short-lived, Brigham City supported a modest local press that served as both community chronicle and connection to the wider Mormon network. The Little Colorado Star began publication in 1878, operating initially from a small adobe structure attached to the community meeting house. With a hand-operated press transported laboriously from Salt Lake City, the weekly paper was primarily the work of Joseph Hansen, who served as both editor and printer with assistance from colony members.
The Star maintained a circulation of approximately 200 copies, distributed among Brigham City and neighboring Mormon settlements. Its content reflected the settlement’s religious foundations, featuring reprinted sermons from Church leaders, agricultural advice specific to the region’s challenging conditions, and announcements of community events. The paper served as an important vehicle for maintaining cultural and religious identity in an isolated outpost.
When published, the Star took decidedly conservative positions, advocating for strict adherence to United Order principles and defending Mormon practices against outside criticism. Hansen used his editorial platform to encourage self-sufficiency and warn against economic entanglements with non-Mormon enterprises. The paper also documented interactions with neighboring Native American communities, often with commentary reflecting the complex relationship between Mormon settlers and indigenous peoples.
The newspaper meticulously recorded community milestones—births, deaths, marriages, and the arrival of new settlers. Its pages provide valuable insights into daily life, documenting crop yields, weather patterns, and the progress of community projects like the dam and irrigation systems. The Star also served as a connection to other Mormon settlements, regularly reporting news from Utah and other colonies.
Publication of the Star ceased in 1881 as the settlement’s population declined, though Hansen continued producing occasional bulletins until his departure in 1882. The press itself was transported to Snowflake, Arizona, where it contributed to the establishment of a new publication serving the surviving Mormon communities.
Few original copies of the Little Colorado Star survive today. The most comprehensive collection exists in the Church History Library in Salt Lake City, with scattered issues preserved in the Arizona Historical Society archives in Tucson and the Latter-day Saints Family History Library in Snowflake, Arizona.
While no railroad track ever reached Brigham City proper, the Atlantic & Pacific Railroad (later part of the Atchison, Topeka and Santa Fe Railway) profoundly influenced the settlement’s fate after construction through the territory in 1881-1882. The main line passed approximately seven miles north of the colony, establishing Winslow as a division point and effectively diverting economic activity away from the river settlements.
Before the railroad’s arrival, Brigham City relied on wagon roads connecting to Prescott and Santa Fe, with journeys taking weeks. Mail delivery was irregular, arriving via military couriers or travelers heading to California. The sudden proximity of rail transportation represented both opportunity and disruption for the settlement. While providing faster access to manufactured goods and mail service, it also undermined the self-sufficient economic model the colony had established.
Some colony members found employment during railroad construction, working as graders, tie-cutters, and teamsters. The temporary influx of railroad workers created a market for agricultural products, briefly bolstering the settlement’s economy. However, once construction moved westward, this economic stimulus disappeared.
The A&P established a small flag stop called “Mormon Station” near present-day Dennison, which served as the closest rail access point for Brigham City residents. This remote station consisted of little more than a platform, water tower, and small shelter. Twice-weekly mixed trains (combining passenger and freight service) stopped on signal, connecting the region to Albuquerque to the east and California to the west.
When the Mormon settlers began departing in the early 1880s, many utilized the railroad for their relocation. As Brigham City declined, the railroad’s influence on regional development increased. Winslow and Holbrook grew into significant towns while river settlements withered. By 1890, what little freight and passenger traffic might have benefited Brigham City was entirely directed to these railroad towns.
The flag stop at Mormon Station was discontinued by 1900, and today no visible evidence remains of this transportation link. The railroad that contributed to Brigham City’s obsolescence continues to operate, with BNSF trains passing daily along essentially the same route established in 1882, several miles from the abandoned settlement.
Brigham City’s decline began almost as soon as its establishment was complete. The harsh environment of the Little Colorado River valley presented numerous challenges that tested the settlers’ resolve. Recurring drought conditions made agriculture precarious, while periodic flooding destroyed irrigation works that took months to construct. By 1877, barely a year after founding, some families had already departed for more promising locations.
The most significant blow came in 1878 when the colony’s dam—crucial for irrigating crops—washed away during spring floods for the second time. This engineering failure required resources to rebuild that the small community struggled to provide. Simultaneously, a diphtheria outbreak claimed numerous children, as evidenced by the cluster of small graves dating to summer 1878 in the pioneer cemetery.
The United Order economic system began unraveling as individual families sought exemptions to communal requirements. Records from church meetings show increasing tensions over labor contributions and resource allocation. By 1879, several families had formally withdrawn from the Order while remaining in the general vicinity as independent farmers and ranchers.
The arrival of the Atlantic & Pacific Railroad in 1881-1882 accelerated the decline by establishing new economic centers at Winslow and Holbrook. Young men from the colony found wage-paying railroad jobs more attractive than communal farming, further undermining the settlement’s labor base. The railroad also brought increased contact with non-Mormon settlers and economic systems that challenged the colony’s isolated religious culture.
By 1881, the Little Colorado Star had ceased regular publication, signaling the community’s contraction. Church records indicate that official dissolution of the United Order occurred in 1882, though a small contingent of approximately twenty individuals maintained residence at the site until 1884. These final residents primarily consisted of elderly members unwilling to relocate and families lacking resources for another move.
The last documented year-round residents, the Tanner family, departed in 1889, though occasional occupancy of remaining structures by travelers and squatters continued into the early 1900s. Most original colonists relocated to other Mormon settlements at Snowflake, St. Joseph (now Joseph City), or returned to Utah. Others ventured to the Mormon colonies being established in Mexico’s Chihuahua state.
As the human presence faded, natural forces reclaimed the site. Flash floods eroded adobe walls, while salvagers removed usable materials for construction elsewhere. By 1900, Brigham City existed primarily as a memory among former residents and a curious footnote in regional history.
Brigham City represents a distinct chapter in Arizona’s territorial development as part of the only significant Mormon colonization effort in the region. Unlike mining towns that followed ore discoveries or railroad towns that emerged along transportation corridors, Brigham City exemplified planned religious colonization—a model more common in Utah than Arizona.
The settlement holds particular significance in Mormon history as one of the most ambitious attempts to implement the United Order economic system outside Utah. Its eventual failure provided important lessons that influenced later Mormon community planning, which generally abandoned communal economic models in favor of more conventional property arrangements while maintaining strong religious cohesion.
While never designated as a protected historical site, Brigham City was documented in a 1969 archaeological survey conducted by Northern Arizona University. This study mapped remaining structures and collected surface artifacts now housed at the NAU Anthropology Department. The site appears in the Arizona State Historic Preservation Office registry but lacks formal nomination to the National Register of Historic Places.
For the Navajo and Hopi communities, whose territories surround the former settlement, Brigham City represents one chapter in a complex history of interaction with European-American settlers. Tribal oral histories, collected by anthropologists in the 1930s, describe trade relationships and occasional conflicts with the Mormon colonists, viewing the settlement’s abandonment as an inevitable return of land to its rightful stewards.
While not a major tourist destination, Brigham City appears in several guides to Arizona ghost towns and occasionally features in educational programs about territorial Arizona. The site’s relative obscurity has paradoxically helped preserve what remains, as it has avoided both the commercialization and vandalism that plague better-known ghost towns.
The settlement’s brief newspaper publication, though limited in circulation and duration, provides valuable primary source material for understanding Mormon colonization strategies and daily life in territorial Arizona. Scholars of Western religious history continue to reference the Little Colorado Star as one of the few contemporary accounts of United Order communities in practice.
The pioneer and community cemeteries of Brigham City have experienced divergent fates regarding preservation. The pioneer cemetery, despite its smaller size and more remote location, has received intermittent attention from Mormon historical organizations and descendant groups. In 1976, as part of Arizona’s bicentennial commemorations, the Snowflake Arizona Stake sponsored a cleanup project that documented remaining graves, repaired some damaged markers, and installed a commemorative plaque identifying the site’s historical significance.
In contrast, the community cemetery has received less formal attention, though individual families continue to maintain specific graves. Local ranchers have voluntarily maintained the fence to prevent cattle damage, but no organized preservation effort has addressed the cemetery as a whole. This disparity reflects the stronger institutional memory and organizational structure that maintains Mormon pioneer sites compared to the more diverse but less cohesively represented later community.
The Latter-day Saint Church History Department conducted a photographic documentation project in 2012, creating a digital archive of both cemeteries with GPS coordinates for each identifiable grave. This project, while valuable for research, did not include physical conservation measures. Erosion, weathering, and occasional vandalism continue to threaten the remaining markers, particularly the sandstone tablets that deteriorate more rapidly than marble or granite monuments.
Memorial practices continue at the pioneer cemetery, with descendants gathering for a service every five years on Memorial Day weekend. These ceremonies typically include hymns from the pioneer era, readings from settlers’ journals, and the placing of sage wreaths on graves. The most recent service in 2018 attracted approximately 45 attendants, primarily from Mormon communities in northeastern Arizona and Utah.
The community cemetery sees more individualized visitation, particularly from Hispanic families in Winslow and Holbrook who maintain connections to those buried there. These visits typically coincide with Día de los Muertos traditions, with offerings and decorations appearing on certain graves annually, despite the site’s remote location.
Both cemeteries face ongoing challenges from Arizona’s harsh climate. Monsoon rains erode soil around markers, while extreme temperature fluctuations accelerate stone deterioration. Without more consistent intervention, many grave markers may become completely illegible within the next few decades, erasing this tangible connection to Brigham City’s past.
Visitors to Brigham City and its cemeteries should approach these historic sites with appropriate respect and preparation. Both locations sit on private land, requiring advance permission from ranching operations that control access. Contact information is available through the Apache County Historical Society in St. Johns, which can facilitate permission requests and provide detailed directions.
The remote location necessitates careful planning. No services exist near the ghost town, and the dirt roads accessing the site become impassable during monsoon season (July-September) and winter storms. Visitors should bring ample water, sun protection, and emergency supplies. Cell phone reception is nonexistent throughout the area.
Ethical visitation demands strict adherence to archaeological preservation principles. The removal of artifacts—even seemingly insignificant items like pottery shards or square nails—is prohibited under Arizona law and diminishes the site for future visitors and researchers. Photography for personal use is permitted, but commercial photography requires additional permissions.
Cemetery visitation carries particular responsibilities. Walking on graves should be avoided, and rubbings of headstones are discouraged due to the fragile condition of many markers. Visitors are encouraged to document inscriptions through photography rather than physical contact with the stones.
The greatest preservation threat comes from increased visitation without corresponding conservation efforts. Weather and time have taken their toll, but human impact—even from well-intentioned visitors—can accelerate deterioration. Travelers should follow the principle of leaving no trace, taking only photographs and leaving only footprints.
For those unable to visit in person, the Navajo County Historical Society in Holbrook maintains a small exhibit on Brigham City, including photographs, maps, and artifacts recovered during authorized archaeological work. This provides an alternative way to connect with this history while minimizing impact on the fragile site.
As the sun sets over the Little Colorado River valley, the scattered ruins of Brigham City cast long shadows across the landscape—ephemeral reminders of human ambition and adaptation in an unforgiving environment. The weathered headstones in the pioneer cemetery and the more diverse markers in the community burial ground stand as silent witnesses to lives lived with purpose, however briefly, in this remote corner of Arizona.
The story of Brigham City reminds us that the narrative of Western settlement was never simply one of conquest and permanence. For every boomtown that evolved into a modern city, dozens of settlements flickered briefly before disappearing—their existence preserved only in archival records, archaeological remains, and the memory of descendants. The failed colony represents not merely a footnote in Mormon expansion but a testament to the complex interplay of environmental realities, economic forces, technological change, and human aspiration that shaped the American West.
The settlement’s brief newspaper gives voice to those pioneers’ hopes and struggles, preserving perspectives that would otherwise be lost to history. The railroad that never quite reached the town yet profoundly altered its fate demonstrates how transportation networks reshaped Western geography, causing some communities to flourish while others withered.
What endures most powerfully is not the physical remnants—the crumbling adobe walls or tilting headstones—but the human story of community creation amid challenging circumstances. The settlers who established Brigham City, the later residents who adapted its remains to new purposes, and the descendants who maintain connections to this place all form a continuing thread in Arizona’s cultural tapestry.
As modern Arizona continues its rapid urbanization, ghost towns like Brigham City offer valuable counterpoints to narratives of inevitable progress. They remind us of the provisional nature of all human settlements and the environmental constraints that ultimately shape our communities. In preserving and respectfully visiting such sites, we honor not just those who lived there but the complex history of place that continues to unfold across the Southwest landscape.
Historical photographs used in research for this article courtesy of: