Moab () is the largest city in and the county seat of Grand County in eastern Utah in the western United States, known for its dramatic scenery. The population was 5,366 at the 2020 census. Moab attracts many tourists annually, mostly visitors to the nearby Arches and Canyonlands National Parks. The town is a popular base for mountain bikers who ride the extensive network of trails including the Slickrock Trail, and for off-roaders who come for the annual Moab Jeep Safari.

Moab is home to one of the nine regional campuses of Utah State University.

History

Early years

Residents named the town Moab in 1880; in the Bible this term refers to an area of land located on the eastern side of the Jordan River. Some historians believe the city in Utah came to use this name because of William Andrew Peirce, the first postmaster, believing that the biblical Moab and this part of Utah were both "the far country". However, others believe the name has Paiute origins, referring to the word moapa, meaning "mosquito". Some of the area's early residents attempted to change the city's name, because in the Christian Bible, Moabites are demeaned as incestuous and idolatrous (but note, Ruth was a Moabite). One petition in 1890 had 59 signatures and requested a name change to "Vina". After this last attack, the fort was abandoned. The fort was resettled first by the brothers Silas and George Green, who were also killed by the Ute, before being settled again in 1877 by the mixed-race cowboy William Grandstaff and a fur trapper named "Frenchie". Frenchie would later leave the area, but Grandstaff remained as Moab's first successful non-indigenous settler, having moved out of the derelict Elk Mountain Mission to construct his own ranch, growing garden vegetables and keeping cattle penned in a nearby canyon. A new group of settlers from Rich County, led by Randolph Hockaday Stewart, arrived in 1878 under the direction of Brigham Young. Racial animosity from these same settlers drove Grandstaff from town in 1881. Moab was incorporated as a town on December 20, 1902. Later, other places to cross the Colorado were constructed, such as Lee's Ferry, Navajo Bridge and Boulder Dam. These changes shifted the trade routes away from Moab. Moab farmers and merchants had to adapt from trading with passing travelers to shipping their goods to distant markets. Soon Moab's origins as one of the few natural crossings of the Colorado River were forgotten. Nevertheless, the U.S. military deemed the bridge over the Colorado River at Moab important enough to place it under guard as late as World War II.

In 1943, a former Civilian Conservation Corps camp outside Moab was used as a Citizen Isolation Center to confine Japanese American internees labeled "troublemakers" by authorities in the War Relocation Authority, the government body responsible for overseeing the wartime incarceration program. The Moab Isolation Center for "noncompliant" Japanese Americans was created in response to growing resistance to WRA policies within the camps; a December 1942 clash between guards and inmates known as the "Manzanar Riot", in which two were killed and ten injured, was the final push. On January 11, 1943, the sixteen men who had initiated the two-day protests were transferred to Moab from the town jails where they were booked (without charges or access to hearings) after the riot. Having closed just fifteen months prior, all 18 military-style structures of the CCC camp were in good condition, and the site was converted to its new use with minimal renovation. 150 military police guarded the camp, and director Raymond Best and head of security Francis Frederick presided over administration. In 1994, the "Dalton Wells CCC Camp/Moab Relocation Center" was added to the National Register of Historic Places, and, although no marker exists on the site, an information plaque at the current site entrance and a photograph on display at the Dan O'Laurie Museum in Moab mention the former isolation center.

Later years

Moab's economy was originally based on agriculture, but gradually shifted to mining. Uranium and vanadium were discovered in the area in the 1910s and 1920s. Potash and manganese came next, and then oil and gas were discovered. In the 1950s Moab became the so-called "Uranium Capital of the World" after geologist Charles Steen found a rich deposit of uranium ore south of the city.

With the winding down of the Cold War, Moab's uranium boom was over, and the city's population drastically declined. By the early 1980s a number of homes stood empty, and nearly all of the uranium mines had closed.

In 1949, Western movie director John Ford was persuaded to use the area for the movie Wagon Master. Ford had been using the area in Monument Valley around Mexican Hat, Utah, south of Moab, since he filmed Stagecoach there 10 years earlier in 1939. A local Moab rancher (George White) found Ford and persuaded him to come take a look at Moab. The Moab to Monument Valley Film Commission is a Moab City Department and holds the title of the longest running film commission in the world. Established in 1949, the commission has overseen the production of the many movies filmed near Moab.

In recent years, Moab has experienced a surge of second-home owners. The relatively mild winters and enjoyable summers have attracted many people to build such homes throughout the area. In a situation mirroring that of other resort towns in the American West, controversy has arisen over these new residents and their houses, which in many cases remain unoccupied for most of the year. Many Moab citizens are concerned that the town is seeing changes similar to those experienced in Vail and Aspen in neighboring Colorado: skyrocketing property values, a rising cost of living, and corresponding effects on local low- and middle-income workers.

<gallery mode="packed">

File:Steen's $11 million dollar Uranium Reduction Co. Moab,Utah.jpg|Charlie Steen's $11 million Uranium Reduction Co. that became the Atlas Uranium Mill

File:County-sponsored sign promoting manufacturing in Moab during the early 1970s.jpg|County-sponsored sign promoting manufacturing in Moab during the early 1970s

File:Uranium Building, Moab.jpg|Uranium building's historic storefront, 2019

File:Lin Ottinger’s eccentric rock shop, Moab.jpg|A rock shop, 2019

</gallery>

Cultural events

Moab hosts several cultural events and festivals including the Moab Music Festival, LGBT Pride Festival, Folk Festival, Skinny Tire Festival, and others. The annual music festival occurs in September, and was founded in 1992 by several musicians from New York. The Moab Folk Festival features concerts by numerous folk musicians every November. Since 2011 Moab has hosted an LGBT Pride festival. The first festival included a "visibility" march which drew more than 350 people; in its second year's festival had over 600 in attendance. The Skinny Tire Festival is a road bike festival that occurs in March each year and raises funds for cancer research and survivors. Additionally, Moab sponsors the Moab Art Walk at multiple venues throughout the year, highlighting local artists' work.

Geography

Moab is just south of the Colorado River, at an elevation of on the Colorado Plateau. It is west of the Utah/Colorado state line. Via U.S. Route 191, it is south of Interstate 70 at Crescent Junction, and it is north of Monticello. Via Utah State Route 128 it is southwest of Cisco. The entrance to Arches National Park is north of Moab on US 191. Hurrah Pass is located on the trail between Moab and Chicken Corners. Kokopelli's Trail, a 142-mile mountain biking trail which begins near Loma, Colorado, ends in Moab.

According to the United States Census Bureau, the city has a total area of , all land.

Demographics

Racial and ethnic composition

{| class="wikitable"

|+ Racial composition as of the 2020 census

! Race !! Number !! Percent

|-

| White || 4,104 || 76.5%

|-

| Black or African American || 44 || 0.8%

|-

| American Indian and Alaska Native || 273 || 5.1%

|-

| Asian || 52 || 1.0%

|-

| Native Hawaiian and Other Pacific Islander || 2 || 0.0%

|-

| Some other race || 361 || 6.7%

|-

| Two or more races || 530 || 9.9%

|-

| Hispanic or Latino (of any race) || 894 || 16.7%

|}

2020 census

As of the 2020 census, Moab had a population of 5,366. The median age was 37.6 years. 22.3% of residents were under the age of 18 and 15.9% of residents were 65 years of age or older. For every 100 females there were 98.2 males, and for every 100 females age 18 and over there were 96.5 males age 18 and over.

There were 2,235 households in Moab, of which 29.7% had children under the age of 18 living in them. Of all households, 36.1% were married-couple households, 24.0% were households with a male householder and no spouse or partner present, and 30.7% were households with a female householder and no spouse or partner present. About 33.2% of all households were made up of individuals and 14.0% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. This bridge was replaced with a new bridge in 1955, which was in turn replaced by another new bridge in 2010. The 1955 bridge was subsequently demolished. The highway that uses this bridge has been renumbered multiple times and is now numbered U.S. Route 191.

Moab gained freight railroad access in 1962, when a spur railroad line (now the Union Pacific Railroad's Cane Creek subdivision) was built to serve the Cane Creek potash mine. Moab has never had passenger rail service, although the California Zephyr has advertised service to Moab in the past via stops at Thompson Springs (no longer a scheduled stop), Green River or Grand Junction, Colorado. Beginning on August 15, 2021, the excursion company Rocky Mountaineer began operating passenger rail service between Moab and Denver, Colorado, in the form of the Rockies to the Red Rocks.

Bus service is provided by Salt Lake Express. There are a number of locally owned shuttle services that provide transportation to Salt Lake City and Grand Junction, CO.

Air service is available at Canyonlands Field, with daily nonstop flights to Denver International Airport via SkyWest Airlines/United Express.

Notable people

  • William Grandstaff, frontiersman.
  • Jacques Boyer, cyclist
  • Stephanie Davis, rock climber, base jumper, and wingsuit flyer
  • Robert Fulghum, author
  • Steven L. Peck, author and professor
  • Suelo, simple living adherent
  • Zane Taylor, former NFL football center for the New York Jets

See also

  • Edward Abbey
  • American Discovery Trail, a coast-to-coast trail that passes through Moab
  • The Lion's Back
  • List of cities and towns in Utah
  • Moab uranium mill tailings pile, the former Atlas mill site
  • Upheaval Dome
  • Utah monolith, located in the desert near the town
  • Westwater Canyon
  • Yellowcake boomtown
  • The Times-Independent

References

  • City of Moab official website
  • 7.5' Moab Area topographic map - Utah Geological Survey