Exhausted Hurricane and La Verkin canal workers came to Pah Tempe to bathe and restore their sore muscles after hard days and weeks of difficult and dangerous manual labor upon the steep rocky Timpoweap Canyon walls. Using only hand tools during construction, spanning the late 1800’s and early 1900’s, theirs was a true labor of love and faith!
Pah Tempe used to be called La Verkin Hot Springs back in the days of the La Verkin and the Hurricane Canal constructions. Courageous canal workers and their supportive families were spirited on by the great need to supply life-giving water to the Hurricane and La Verkin communities, eventually enabling thousands of arid acres to become fruitful and abundant farmland. These early settlers defied the odds in building the high canals extending from the dam several miles upstream to the dry benches. The canals were not replaced with modern pipelines until the mid 1980’s. You can view the decaying remains of these two separate canals high upon the canyon walls as you relax your own weary muscles in Pah Tempe’s comforting mineral pools today.
There is no resaon why historic Pah Tempe should not continue giving in its constant nurturing service of comfort and healing waters for Southern Utah’s community and avid international visitors well into the future.
Above photo is courtesy of Washington County Historical Society
“In the year 34 A.D., at the time of the crucifixion of Jesus Christ, it is recorded in the Book of Mormon (3 Nephi 8 :17-8), ‘The face of the whole earth became deformed, because of the tempests, and the thunderings, and the lightenings, and the quaking of the earth. And behold, the rocks were rent in twain; they were broken up upon the face of the whole earth, insomuch that they were found in broken fragments, and in seams and cracks, upon all the face of the land.’
Upon the hill east of La Verkin, on a plateau above the bend of the river, is a place called The Cracks, which vividly portrays what could have taken place at that time. Gracing the skyline to the south and west are volcano knolls, mute testimony of a fiery upheaval.”
Except that the lava flows around Pah Tempe are millions of years old.
I believe !