WASHINGTON COUNTY HISTORICAL SOCIETY (Washington County, Utah)
WIGGLE TRAIL
Shunesburg, Utah
on the upper plateaus.
It was used to deliver mail to the Shunesburg people.
This trail was named the "Wiggle Trail" because it was so dangerous for the mail carrier from Kanab to decend into Shunescreek where the settlers would meet him.
Later, they built a cable system that the mail carrier used to lower the mail over the cliff to the settlers at the head of Shunescreek.
ROUTE
TBDHISTORY
TBDPHOTOS
WCHS-04036 Engraving photo of the mouth of the Virgin River near Shunesburg and the Wiggle Trail on the right
The Wiggle Trail, upper right to lower left (from the Brittingham document)
REFERENCES
http://www.allredroster.com/hgetit.prg?00000000000000000000000000000000118In 1863, John's family was on the move again. They were heading toward Utah's Dixie, a semitropical land, a land of promise. A land that would yield cotton, sugar cane, grapes, tobacco, (the Word of Wisdom was poorly understood by the saints at this time) figs, almonds, olive oil, etc. (THE GREAT BASIN KINGDOM, p. 216) His destination was a small speck on the map, a tiny settlement running along the east fork of the Virgin River, in Utah Territory. Shonesburg of Shunsburg as it was pronounced by its settlers, was nestled beneath the cliffs of the Parunuweap Canyon at the base of the old Wiggle Trail. (UTAH PLACE NAMES, p. 135)
Elephant Butte - Shunesburg Mail Drop History
Researched and written by Dale Brittingham
August 2009
To download, click here.