FRUITA

Fruita, located at the confluence of the Fremont River and Sulphur Creek, Wayne County, was settled in the latter part of the 1870's and 1880's by a few stout LDS pioneers. The first settler is thought to have been Franklin W. Young in 1884, a squatter. Nels Johnson, however, seems to be the first landholder of record to actually stake his homestead.

Initially the name of the town was called Junction, because of its location between the two rivers. In order to avoid confusion between it and several other towns by the same name, it was changed to Fruita in 1904.

Thanks to the life-giving water supply of the Fremont River, early pioneers soon discovered that they could raise crops such as alfalfa, various vegetables and sorghum, a tropical cereal grass used for molasses and syrup. Fruit trees by the thousands, planted below the spectacular cliffs of the Waterpocket Fold by the early settlers, still thrive in the good soil of the bottom land. Franklin W. Young refered to Fruita as the "Eden of Wayne County". A thousand years ealier the Fremont indians, whose petroglyphs are found in the area, relied on the same river to irrigate their crops.

Prior to 1904, a spectacular cottonwood tree, still alive and doing well, served as the "Post Office", a shady place to congregate and anxiously await the arrival of the mail.

A one-room schoolhouse built in 1896 and renovated by the National Park Service in 1966 served the Fruita community for nearly fifty years not only as a school but as a place to hold social events such as dances. At times it was also used as a place of worship and town hall. It needs to be mentioned here that Fruita never had more than ten families living there at any given time.

By the early 1930's word had gotten out about the beauty of the Capitol Reef area. Despite its extremely remote location and narrow access road, a few tourists began arriving changing forever the simple lifestile of its residents. In 1937 Fruita was absorbed into the newly created Capitol Reef National Monument. Decades later, in the 1950's, visitation to the monument increased and many old-time residents grasped the opportunity to cater to the visitors needs in order to supplement their income. Fruita was no longer isolated from the world. The frontier way of life was gone forever. The National Park Service essentially purchased Fruita and in 1971 created the Capitol Reef National Park. Today, all trees and remnants of Fruita are maintained by the NPS.

G. William Wiersdorf

See: George E. Davidson, Red Rock Eden; Rose Houk, Capitol Reef; The Spirit of Capitol Reef, Stephen Trimble.