Panguitch, Utah
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Panguitch ( ) is a city in and the
county seat A county seat is an administrative center, seat of government, or capital city of a county or parish (administrative division), civil parish. The term is in use in five countries: Canada, China, Hungary, Romania, and the United States. An equiva ...
of
Garfield County Garfield County is the name of several counties in the United States: * Garfield County, Colorado *Garfield County, Montana *Garfield County, Nebraska *Garfield County, Oklahoma * Garfield County, Utah *Garfield County, Washington Garfie ...
,
Utah Utah is a landlocked state in the Mountain states, Mountain West subregion of the Western United States. It is one of the Four Corners states, sharing a border with Arizona, Colorado, and New Mexico. It also borders Wyoming to the northea ...
, United States. The population was 1,725 at the 2020 census. The name Panguitch comes from a Southern Paiute word meaning “Big Fish,” likely named after the plentiful nearby lakes hosting rainbow trout year-round.


Geography

Panguitch is located on the western edge of Garfield County at (37.822234, -112.434650), in the valley of the
Sevier River The Sevier River (pronounced "severe") is a -long river in the Great Basin of southwestern Utah in the United States. Originating west of Bryce Canyon National Park, the river flows north through a chain of high farming valleys and steep canyon ...
.
U.S. Route 89 U.S. Route 89 (US 89) is a north–south United States Numbered Highway with two sections, and one former section. The southern section runs for from Flagstaff, Arizona, to the southern entrance of Yellowstone National Park. The northern sectio ...
passes through the center of town, leading north to Junction and south to Orderville. Utah State Route 143 leads southwest from Panguitch to
Panguitch Lake Panguitch Lake () was originally a large natural lake (777 acres) that has now been expanded by the creation of a dam to become a reservoir with a maximum surface area of . The lake, which drains into the Sevier River is located on the Markagu ...
in
Dixie National Forest Dixie National Forest is a United States National Forest in Utah with headquarters in Cedar City. It occupies almost two million acres (8,000 km2) and stretches for about across southern Utah. The largest national forest in Utah, it ...
. According to the
United States Census Bureau The United States Census Bureau, officially the Bureau of the Census, is a principal agency of the Federal statistical system, U.S. federal statistical system, responsible for producing data about the American people and American economy, econ ...
, the city has a total area of , all land.


Climate

Panguitch has a
cool semi-arid climate A semi-arid climate, semi-desert climate, or steppe climate is a dry climate sub-type. It is located on regions that receive precipitation below potential evapotranspiration, but not as low as a desert climate. There are different kinds of semi- ...
(
Köppen Köppen is a German surname. Notable people with the surname include: * Bernd Köppen (1951–2014), German pianist and composer * Carl Köppen (1833-1907), German military advisor in Meiji era Japan * Edlef Köppen (1893–1939), German author ...
''BSk'') with summers featuring hot afternoons and cold mornings, and cold, dry winters. The high altitude and relatively high latitude means that mornings are cold throughout the year and freezing for most of it: between 1971 and 2000 an average of 227.7 mornings fell below freezing and 16.5 mornings fell to or below . Maxima, however, can be expected to top freezing on all but fourteen afternoons during an average year, and the winters are so dry that snowfall is light, averaging only with median cover never much above . The most snowfall in a month has been in the famously cold January 1949, and the most in a season from July 1951 to June 1952. Mild, dry winters like 1976/1977 and 1980/1981 can in contrast see negligible snowfall for an entire season. In a manner more akin to
Arizona Arizona is a U.S. state, state in the Southwestern United States, Southwestern region of the United States, sharing the Four Corners region of the western United States with Colorado, New Mexico, and Utah. It also borders Nevada to the nort ...
than northern Utah, most of the limited precipitation occurs during the July to October
monsoon A monsoon () is traditionally a seasonal reversing wind accompanied by corresponding changes in precipitation but is now used to describe seasonal changes in Atmosphere of Earth, atmospheric circulation and precipitation associated with annu ...
season, but Garfield County is usually too far north to receive the monsoon's full benefit. The wettest month on record has been August 1987 with , and the wettest day was August 18, 1984, with . 1967 with has been the wettest calendar year, whereas in 1989 only fell.


History

Panguitch was first settled in March 1864, when Jens Nielsen, a Danish convert to
the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, informally known as the LDS Church or Mormon Church, is a Nontrinitarianism, nontrinitarian Restorationism, restorationist Christianity, Christian Christian denomination, denomination and the ...
, led a group of 54 families eastward from Parowan and
Beaver Beavers (genus ''Castor'') are large, semiaquatic rodents of the Northern Hemisphere. There are two existing species: the North American beaver (''Castor canadensis'') and the Eurasian beaver (''C. fiber''). Beavers are the second-large ...
to the
Sevier River The Sevier River (pronounced "severe") is a -long river in the Great Basin of southwestern Utah in the United States. Originating west of Bryce Canyon National Park, the river flows north through a chain of high farming valleys and steep canyon ...
. Due to the area's high elevation, above sea level, winter's cold weather arrived early in the year, and most of the settlers' initial crops were killed by frost before they could mature.Pesek, Margo Bartlett (August 31, 2014). "Panguitch, Utah, a hub for outdoor exploration". ''Las Vegas Review-Journal''. p. E2. At a crisis point, seven men left the community to seek flour and foodstuffs from surrounding communities. Heavy snow forced the abandonment of wagons and teams, and the men had no option but to continue on foot, reportedly by laying one quilt after another upon the snow to keep from sinking in too deeply. Parowan settlers eventually gave the rescuers grain that they could take back to the hungry families in Panguitch. However, the rescuers still had to transport the grain on foot over the mountain back to the teams they had temporarily deserted, then on to Panguitch, where they were greeted with a joyous welcome. In local lore, some refer to the rescuer's trek as "the quilt walk." Due to the
Black Hawk War The Black Hawk War was a conflict between the United States and Native Americans in the United States, Native Americans led by Black Hawk (Sauk leader), Black Hawk, a Sauk people, Sauk leader. The war erupted after Black Hawk and a group of ...
to the north, church officials decided the settlers should abandon the area, and they did so in May 1865. Five years later,
Brigham Young Brigham Young ( ; June 1, 1801August 29, 1877) was an American religious leader and politician. He was the second President of the Church (LDS Church), president of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (LDS Church) from 1847 until h ...
decided it was time to try again, and new settlers arrived in 1871. The settlers built a fort, where they lived until more housing could be built and the fields could be replanted. They harvested a lot of grain, so much that they built a
grist mill A gristmill (also: grist mill, corn mill, flour mill, feed mill or feedmill) grinds cereal grain into flour and Wheat middlings, middlings. The term can refer to either the grinding mechanism or the building that holds it. Grist is grain that h ...
. The settlers cut lumber from the forests and processed it in
sawmill A sawmill (saw mill, saw-mill) or lumber mill is a facility where logging, logs are cut into lumber. Modern sawmills use a motorized saw to cut logs lengthwise to make long pieces, and crosswise to length depending on standard or custom sizes ...
s and shingle mills. They had a
tannery Tanning, or hide tanning, is the process of treating skins and hides of animals to produce leather. A tannery is the place where the skins are processed. Historically, vegetable based tanning used tannin, an acidic chemical compound derived fr ...
to produce leather from local cattle. The settlers used kilns to process local clay into rose-colored bricks. Workers were paid in bricks, which they used to build their own houses. Rose-colored brick houses still stand in Panguitch. Panguitch was incorporated in 1899. A social hall was built in 1900, but it burned down in 1920. A new social hall replaced it, and it continues to stand, as the Panguitch Playhouse. The Panguitch Indian School operated from 1904 to 1909, primarily housing Utah
Paiute Paiute (; also Piute) refers to three non-contiguous groups of Indigenous peoples of the Great Basin. Although their languages are related within the Numic group of Uto-Aztecan languages, these three languages do not form a single subgroup and th ...
s and Kaibab Paiutes. Students as young as six were taken from their tribe and forced to live at the school overseen by the federal government. Some children were taken at gunpoint from St. George and Moccasin, Arizona. Timber and livestock production were successful industries in Panguitch until the economic shifts following
World War I World War I or the First World War (28 July 1914 – 11 November 1918), also known as the Great War, was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War I, Allies (or Entente) and the Central Powers. Fighting to ...
. Since the establishment of
Bryce Canyon National Park Bryce Canyon National Park () is a national park of the United States located in southwestern Utah. The major feature of the park is Bryce Canyon, which despite its name, is not a canyon, but a collection of giant natural amphitheaters along ...
and the designation of nearby areas as national forests, tourism has played a major role in the local economy. The
National Register of Historic Places The National Register of Historic Places (NRHP) is the Federal government of the United States, United States federal government's official United States National Register of Historic Places listings, list of sites, buildings, structures, Hist ...
designated the entire town the Panguitch Historic District in 2007.


Demographics

As of the
census A census (from Latin ''censere'', 'to assess') is the procedure of systematically acquiring, recording, and calculating population information about the members of a given Statistical population, population, usually displayed in the form of stati ...
of 2000, there were 1,623 people, 502 households, and 392 families residing in the city. The
population density Population density (in agriculture: Standing stock (disambiguation), standing stock or plant density) is a measurement of population per unit land area. It is mostly applied to humans, but sometimes to other living organisms too. It is a key geog ...
was 1,194.0 people per square mile (460.8/km2). There were 620 housing units at an average density of 456.1 per square mile (176.0/km2). The racial makeup of the city was 94.02%
White White is the lightest color and is achromatic (having no chroma). It is the color of objects such as snow, chalk, and milk, and is the opposite of black. White objects fully (or almost fully) reflect and scatter all the visible wa ...
, 0.49%
African American African Americans, also known as Black Americans and formerly also called Afro-Americans, are an Race and ethnicity in the United States, American racial and ethnic group that consists of Americans who have total or partial ancestry from an ...
, 2.46% Native American, 0.12% Asian, 2.16% from other races, and 0.74% from two or more races.
Hispanic The term Hispanic () are people, Spanish culture, cultures, or countries related to Spain, the Spanish language, or broadly. In some contexts, Hispanic and Latino Americans, especially within the United States, "Hispanic" is used as an Ethnici ...
or Latino of any race were 2.90% of the population. There were 502 households, out of which 40.4% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 67.3% were
married couples Marriage, also called matrimony or wedlock, is a culturally and often legally recognised union between people called spouses. It establishes rights and obligations between them, as well as between them and their children (if any), and b ...
living together, 8.4% had a female householder with no husband present, and 21.9% were non-families. 19.1% of all households were made up of individuals, and 11.2% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 3.05 and the average family size was 3.55. In the city, the population was spread out, with 32.8% under the age of 18, 8.9% from 18 to 24, 23.2% from 25 to 44, 21.0% from 45 to 64, and 14.1% who were 65 years of age or older. The median age was 32 years. For every 100 females, there were 106.8 males. For every 100 females age 18 and over, there were 111.0 males. The median income for a household in the city was $33,500, and the median income for a family was $39,904. Males had a median income of $28,259 versus $19,375 for females. The
per capita income Per capita income (PCI) or average income measures the average income earned per person in a given area (city, region, country, etc.) in a specified year. In many countries, per capita income is determined using regular population surveys, such ...
for the city was $12,439. About 6.2% of families and 9.6% of the population were below the
poverty line The poverty threshold, poverty limit, poverty line, or breadline is the minimum level of income deemed adequate in a particular country. The poverty line is usually calculated by estimating the total cost of one year's worth of necessities for ...
, including 14.8% of those under age 18 and 6.6% of those age 65 or over.


Transportation

U.S. Highway 89 runs through Panguitch from Circleville in the north to
Kanab Kanab ( ) is a city in and the county seat of Kane County, Utah, United States.Find a County
". ' ...
in the south. State Route 143 runs south to
Panguitch Lake Panguitch Lake () was originally a large natural lake (777 acres) that has now been expanded by the creation of a dam to become a reservoir with a maximum surface area of . The lake, which drains into the Sevier River is located on the Markagu ...
.Wharton, Tom (December 1, 2002). "Travel Postcard from Panguitch, Utah". ''The Salt Lake Tribune''. p. H1.


In popular culture

In the science-fiction film '' Contact'' (1997), a fictional religious fanatic and suicide bomber named Joseph, played by
Jake Busey William Jacob Busey (; born June 15, 1971) is an American actor. Among his most prominent roles have been serial killer Johnny Bartlett in 1996's ''The Frighteners'', Ace Levy in 1997's ''Starship Troopers'', Kyle Brenner in 2001's '' Tomcats'', ...
, filmed his explanation for his death in a hotel in Panguitch.


Notable person

*
Wayne Owens Douglas Wayne Owens (May 2, 1937 – December 18, 2002) was an American politician and a member of the United States House of Representatives for Utah's 2nd congressional district from 1973 to 1975 and again from 1987 to 1993. He was posthumously ...
, Democratic
Congressman A member of congress (MOC), also known as a congressman or congresswoman, is a person who has been appointed or elected and inducted into an official body called a congress, typically to represent a particular constituency in a legislature. The t ...
who was born in Panguitch


See also

* List of cities in Utah *
Panguitch Lake Panguitch Lake () was originally a large natural lake (777 acres) that has now been expanded by the creation of a dam to become a reservoir with a maximum surface area of . The lake, which drains into the Sevier River is located on the Markagu ...


References


External links


City of Panguitch official website
{{authority control Cities in Garfield County, Utah Cities in Utah County seats in Utah Populated places established in 1864 1864 establishments in Utah Territory