Harrisburg
In 1859, Moses Harris returned to Utah from San Bernardino and settled near where Quail Creek joins the Virgin River. A small settlement, briefly called Cottonwood then Harrisville, emerged as others arrived. In 1862, a flood drove the settlers to higher ground, and the new settlement of Harrisburg was formed. Ditches from Quail and Leeds Creek provided water for settlers to plant corn, cotton, sorghum, and orchards and vineyards. Fine homes were built of local stone, and in 1864 128 people lived in town.
By the end of the 1860s, about 200 people settled in Harrisburg putting a strain on available resources. A plague of grasshoppers and recurring floods further drove people away to the new town of Leeds, just a few miles away, and by 1892 only six families remained. They too soon left, and most houses were dismantled for their materials. Ruins of two homes and the cemetery remain at Harrisburg today, juxtaposed by a mobile home community. The restored Orson B. Adams home stands near the creek, one half mile above the townsite.
