Temple & Honeymoon Trails
The Temple Trail
The Temple Trail is the route used
from 1871 to 1877 to haul timber
from Mt. Trumbull, Arizona, to St.
George, Utah, for the building of the
St. George LDS Temple. Pioneers
traveled 80 miles along the rough,
dirt road, hauling by horse drawn
wagon, one illion board feet of
timber. In places, rock was laid by
hand to build up a roadway which
would support the heavy logging
wagins. Negotiating the trail laced
with washes, canyons, and sandy
areas, from the valley bottom to
the rim of the Hurricane Fault,
demonstrated the resourcefulness
and faith of these Pioneers.
The Temple Trail is still an obscure
wagon road which has faded with
the passage of time. The depressions
formed by the wagon wheels
are still visible in some places.
The staging sites for the Temple
Trail are at the Sawmill at Mt.
Trumbull and here at the St.
George Temple.
The early settlers who were called
to St. George were given an
assignment to build a Temple in an
inhospitable desert from scarce raw
materials. They not only completed
the tremendous task, but did so
before building their own homes.
The surrounding communities and
the vast, wild, and beautiful Arizona
Strip has had a long, and lasting
relationship, worthy of note and
celebration.
The Bureau of Land Management
joins with the people of the area in
honoring this historic colonizing
event.
Old Arizona Road
Honeymoon Trail
The original Old Arizona Road linked
the Little Colorado settlements in
Arizona to northern Utah through
Kanab, Utah, and Lee's Ferry, Arizona.
Its southwestern extension, linked
these same southwestern settlements to
St. George, Utah, through pipe
Springs and the Arizona Strip.
Settlers first began traveling this
route in the 1860's and the road was
established in the early 1870's. The
Old Arizona Road soon became a
major communication and transportaion
artery in addition to serving
religious and economic functions.
The St. George LDS Temple opened
in 1877. Many faithful members of
the church traveled the Old Arizona
Road from southern Arizona to the
temple to be married or participate
in other rites of the church. The name
"Honeymoon Trail" comes from this use.
Religious use of the road declined
with the arrival of railroads in northern
Arizona and ceased in 1928 with
the building of the Temple in Mesa,
Arizona. The Old Arizona Road
continued to be used for commerce
and the segment from Pipe Springs
to St. George was in use to the Mid-
1930s, even though it was not paved
until later. Today, U.S. Highways 89
and 89A parallel its original route near
House Rock Valley, Arizona. Highway
89 in Utah follows the trail from Pioneer
Gap into Kanab, Utah. In other
segments, dirt roads follow or parallel
the route.
