Historic Babylon

Historic Babylon is nothing but the fading remnants of an old mining settlement placed in the middle of the red sandstone desert. My knowledge of this place is actually quite limited since this back country ramble is a recent discovery for me. From what little I have gathered about this bygone mining venture is that is was a small mining settlement in the late 1870\’s and 80\’s on the Virgin River. The little knowledge that I have come across I gathered from a few locals but most the historical information came from the Washington County Historical Societies website. They also have a scan of a cool article from the Spectrum with a picture of the original settlement. Click here to see the article

One of the nice things about this back country ramble is that it is not far off I-15 at the Leeds exit in Utah. This is also the same exit to Silver Reef, another cool spot to visit. The road leading to Historic Babylon is dirt so you will most likely need a high clearance vehicle. The old mill site, Stormont Mill, sits right on the Virgin River so once you get close to the mill there are places where you will probably need four-wheel drive to make it through the sand.

Another cool thing about this back country ramble is that along the road to Babylon there are other cool natural history and cultural items along the way. The two coolest, in my opinion, are some dinosaur tracks and petroglyphs or Indian writing. You can also see some of the remnants of the old houses left from those who lived at the mining settlement.

I highly recommend this trip for anyone who is in the St George area or near Leeds Utah. This would also be a nice compliment to a trip to Silver Reef.

Vicinity Destinations
Silver Reef, Red Cliffs Desert Reserve, Johnson Farm(Dinosaur Tracks)

Please note that this map only takes you part of the way to the mill site. If you turn the satellite imagery on you can follow the road down to the river and see the remnants of the mill on the imagery.

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