The Town Named After a Buggy Incident

In 1863, LDS Church Apostle Erastus Snow traveled in a buggy from Kanab to St. George, Utah, accompanied by horsemen Nephi Johnson and David H. Cannon, who led him onto an old Indian trail over a hill. The party got the buggy safely down the far side by using lariats to restrain it, but a strong wind blew off the buggy top, prompting Snow to call it Hurricane Hill. That name later attached to the surrounding area, including Hurricane Flat. On September 1, 1893, the Hurricane Canal Company was organized to build a canal around Hurricane Hill to irrigate two thousand acres of fertile land ending at Hurricane Flat. On August 6, 1904, about 100 people gathered in Hurricane near the canal at 200 North and 300 East to watch water begin flowing through the Hurricane Canal onto the fertile flat. Later that day, people assembled on the new town square and chose the town's name from several suggestions: Pearl City, Lake City, Chaparral, or Hurricane, selecting the name already associated with the canal company, the hill, and the flat since the earlier buggy incident.

Hurricane, Utah · United States