The Black Mountains is a long mountain range in northeastern Iron County and southeastern Beaver County in southwestern Utah, United States. The range borders the northeast portion of the

Escalante Desert The Escalante Desert is a geographic Great Basin region and arid desert ecoregion, in the deserts and xeric shrublands biome, located in southwestern Utah. Geography The Escalante Desert is northwest of Cedar City in Iron County, Utah, and ext ...

, and the range's southeast flank trends with the

Hurricane Cliffs The Hurricane Cliffs of southwest Utah and northwest Arizona are a red, limestone geographic feature, sets of cliffs along the western, eroded edge of the Kaibab Limestone; the cliffs are about 135-mi (217 km) long,''Utah Atlas & Gazeteer ...

and

Parowan Valley Parowan Valley, originally known as the Little Salt Lake Valley, is a basin in Iron County, Utah, United States. Description Its lowest point is at in the Little Salt Lake. Fremont Wash, Red Creek, Parowan Creek and other tributaries all ...

. In the south section, of a southwest trending ridgeline, is the Parowan Gap Petroglyphs Site. At the terminus of the ridgeline, the pass at the

Summit, Utah Summit is an unincorporated community and census-designated place (CDP) in east-central Iron County, Utah, United States. The population was 160 at the 2010 census. History Summit was named for the fact that it sits on the divide between the ...

region, there is the site of the

Old Spanish National Historic Trail Old or OLD may refer to: Places *Old, Baranya, Hungary *Old, Northamptonshire, England *Old Street station, a railway and tube station in London (station code OLD) *OLD, IATA code for Old Town Municipal Airport and Seaplane Base, Old Town, Mai ...

as it crossed into the northeast of Cedar Valley, the site of

Cedar City Cedar City is the largest city in Iron County, Utah, United States. It is located south of Salt Lake City, and north of Las Vegas on Interstate 15. It is the home of Southern Utah University, the Utah Shakespeare Festival, the Utah Summer Gam ...

Interstate 15 Interstate 15 (I-15) is a major Interstate Highway System, Interstate Highway in the western United States, running through Southern California and the Intermountain West. I-15 begins near the Mexico–United States border, Mexican border i ...

(I-15) traverses the southeast region of the range from Cedar City, to Greenville-

Beaver Beavers are large, semiaquatic rodents in the genus ''Castor'' native to the temperate Northern Hemisphere. There are two extant species: the North American beaver (''Castor canadensis'') and the Eurasian beaver (''C. fiber''). Beavers ar ...

Description

The Black Mountains have a complex shape. It has an east-west ridgeline at the north perimeter with the Beaver River in the west, and

Minersville Reservoir Minersville Reservoir is a reservoir in Beaver County, Utah, United States. History Minersville Reservoir was created in 1914 by the construction of the Rocky Ford dam, an Embankment dam to impound water from the Beaver River which heads in th ...

in the center; the northeast foothills border the region of Beaver-Greenville, Utah. The highpoint of the range, Mahogany Knoll, is in the northeast on the ridgeline, the line between Iron and Beaver Counties. From the northeast range terminus, a ridgeline extends southwest to Cedar Valley, and borders the northwest of Parowan Valley. The valley is narrow, separated from the northeast-section of the

, and at the southwest terminus of the valley, is the location of Summit, (at the summit region). The

followed the summit, (only between Black Mountains and Hurricane Cliffs), and crossed west across the north region of Cedar Valley, at the south terminus of the Black Mountains ridgeline, near Enoch. About northeast of Enoch, and Utah DeLorme Atlas, p. 50. northwest of Parowan. South of the Black Mountains is the Red Hills range, which contains the Parowan Gap Petroglyphs site. The center-east of the range is near Chipman Peak, . The highpoint of the range is Mahogany Knoll, , at the north ridgeline, east of center.

Access

Utah State Route 21 State Route 21 (SR-21) is a state highway in western Utah, running for in Millard and Beaver Counties from the Nevada state line near Garrison to Beaver. Route description SR-21 begins at the Nevada state line as a continuation of Nevada St ...

(SR-21)borders the north of the range following the Beaver River from

; at the center-north foothills, SR-21 turns northeast towards Beaver and Greenville. The range is dissected west of center, by the north-south Utah State Route 130 (SR-130), from Minersville at the range's northwest region, (and the northeast

); SR-130 goes south through

Parowan Canyon Parowan ( ) is a city in and the county seat of Iron County, Utah, United States. The population was 2,790 at the 2010 census, and in 2018 the estimated population was 3,100. Parowan became the first incorporated city in Iron County in 1851. A ...

, and then across an

alluvial plains An alluvial plain is a largely flat landform created by the deposition of sediment over a long period of time by one or more rivers coming from highland regions, from which alluvial soil forms. A floodplain is part of the process, being the smal ...

region of Long Hollow, between two southwest-trending ridgelines. The route meets the north of Cedar Valley, and the site of Rush Lake, a dry lake; the valley turns northwest into the Escalante Desert. The route continues to Enoch, and I-15 at Cedar City. At the Black Mountains southeast, I-15 follows the southeast side of Parowan Valley, from Enoch, Summit, then Parowan, then north to Greenville, at the south of Beaver, Utah.

References

External links

{{commons category, Black Mountains (Iron and Beaver counties, Utah)
Chipman Peak, approx. range center,(East), (topoquest) (coordinates)

Mountain ranges of the Great Basin Mountain ranges of Iron County, Utah Mountain ranges of Beaver County, Utah Mountain ranges of Utah

Description

Access

See also

References

External links