Short Creek was an isolated fundamentalist Mormon intentional community where locals practiced polygamy and communalism. It drew public attention due to a government raid in the 1950s and the imprisonment of its leader in the 2000s.
Mainstream members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (LDS, or Mormons) practiced and accepted polygamy from its introduction to Church practice in the 1840s until the Church prohibited it in 1890 and 1904. This came after years strong anti-polygamy sentiments in the United States and legal persecution of its practitioners. Though facing excommunication after this, some continued the practice and began to coalesce in isolated rural sites, producing their own leaders such as Lorin C. Wooley (1856-1934). He wanted to revive another nineteenth-century practice, the United Order program, intended to emulate the collectivism of the early Christian community by establishing communities based on income equality, group self-sufficiency, and the elimination of poverty. Generally, members contributed their economic property to the community and received a share of the proceeds as income or as housing and food.
Aiming to continue these two traditions, Woolley’s followers established settlements such as Short Creek. Located on the Arizona side of the border with Utah, Short Creek was difficult to reach from Arizona due to the Grand Canyon, an ideal location for remaining out of public scrutiny and for escaping to Utah in case of trouble. Polygamists settled in Short Creek in the 1920s and 1930s, eventually reaching forty families as the Church continued to excommunicate practicing polygamists. Cooperative living was a goal of the inhabitants from the beginning, and in 1936, the community created a trust holding title to land and farm equipment; it also collected clothing and fuel and redistributed these items among the members, who worked the community’s lands.
The community entered public awareness in the early 1950s. Following a complaint from a judge in Kingman, the county seat, the Arizona attorney general planned a raid. He commissioned a detective agency to explore the settlement under the guise of Hollywood agents scouting movie locations. For the operation, the attorney general received $50,000 from the Arizona legislature, though they were not alerted to the purpose of the funds. On July 26, 1953, state police entered the community. Residents had been tipped off in advance by sympathetic law enforcement and some managed to escape into Utah; however, most of the community assembled in the small schoolhouse where Arizona national guardsmen took them into custody. Arizona Governor Howard Pyle announced the raid by radio the following day. Public reaction was mixed, with one editorial worrying about the effect on the women and children. Twenty-six men received one-year suspended sentences and were ordered not to further practice polygamy. The state attempted to retain the children, but the Arizona Supreme Court ordered that they be released.
The raid remained significant in local memory for decades. Ironically, press coverage of the incident raised awareness of the fundamentalist movement, drawing new members to the community. In the 1960s, a new road improved accessibility from the outside. Locals later incorporated the community as Colorado City, Arizona, and Hildale, Utah. The community opened up more to the outside world, establishing hotels and restaurants catering to travelers. However, Short Creek faced new challenges in the early twenty-first century. Its leader, Warren Jeffs (1955- ), was imprisoned for sexual assault against two female minors whom he had married, and the community experienced an epidemic of fumarase deficiency, a debilitating congenital disorder. The community has recently seen several changes, including a new resort, a female mayor, and a public school.Images
