Holt Canyon, originally called Meadow Canyon or Meadow Valley, is a

valley A valley is an elongated low area often running between hills or mountains, which will typically contain a river or stream running from one end to the other. Most valleys are formed by erosion of the land surface by rivers or streams ove ...

Washington County, Utah Washington County is a county in the southwestern corner of Utah, United States. As of the 2020 United States Census, the population was 180,279, making it the fifth-most populous county in Utah. Its county seat and largest city is St. Geor ...

. Its mouth lies at an elevation of eaters where it enters the Escalante Valley. Its head lies at an elevation of 5,600 feet at west of the site of the ghost town of

Hamblin, Utah Hamblin, now a ghost town, was a Mormon pioneer town along the Mormon Road, from 1856 to 1905. It was located at an elevation of 5,832 feet in Mountain Meadow in western Washington County, Utah, United States. History Jacob Hamblin started a ra ...

(1856 to 1905).

History

Meadow Canyon was the northern part of the long well watered meadow with excellent grazing, called Mountain Meadow that was used by the merchants and drovers on the Old Spanish Trail and later by travelers on the wagon road that followed the older trail, called the

Mormon Road Mormon Road, also known to the 49ers as the Southern Route, of the California Trail in the Western United States, was a seasonal wagon road pioneered by a Mormon party from Salt Lake City, Utah led by Jefferson Hunt, that followed the route of ...

. Later the canyon was renamed Holt Canyon after James Holt, who came in 1867 to visit his brother-in-law, a settler of

. He subsequently took up land and built a house in the Canyon five miles north in what became the settlement of Holt, Utah, now known as the Holt Historical Site at an elevation of at . Nearby is the Holt Cemetery at an elevation of at .

References

Canyons and gorges of Washington County, Utah Canyons and gorges of Utah Old Spanish Trail (trade route) Mormon Road {{Utah-geo-stub