Believing the mild year-round climate ideal for growing cotton, Brigham Young dispatched 309 LDS families in 1861 to found St. George. They were to raise cotton and silkworms and to establish a textile industry, to make up for textile shortages resulting from the Civil War.
A main draw is the Dixie Roundup (www.stgeorgelions.com), a three-day rodeo held every September since the 1930s.
