Colorado City polishes its image
 
By Mark Shaffer
The Arizona Republic
 
COLORADO CITY - Ever since the infamous 1953 Short Creek raid, town leaders have tried to improve the image of the remote community.

Ben Bistline, a resident and historian of Colorado City and the neighboring community of Hildale, says that for the past 50 years, leaders have tried to portray the area as a pleasant throwback to a simpler time.

Ten years after the raid, Short Creek was renamed as the towns of Colorado City, Ariz., and Hildale, Utah.

Mayor Dan Barlow and his brother, school Superintendent Alvin Barlow, have become town ambassadors.

The high school's choir has performed at the Arizona Capitol. Students compete successfully at the state spelling bee.

Town leaders also have exerted their bloc vote political power to curry favor in Mohave County, Ariz., and Kane County, Utah.

'Leaving them alone'

"What they've gained by that is county politicians in both states just leaving them alone and getting a lot of money for public projects to boot," Bistline said. He is the author of an area history The Polygamists: A History of Colorado City.

Dan Barlow, the town's spokesman, did not return telephone calls or e-mail messages for comment.

After leader John Barlow's death in 1949, Leroy Johnson became the prophet for the Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints and held that position until dying in 1985.

Both Barlow and Johnson were seen as friendly farmer types who related well to their mostly agrarian followers. The church split into two wards, divided by Arizona 389, during the raucous transition at the time of Johnson's death.

Rulon Jeffs, a wealthy Salt Lake City-area accountant, also had the respect of the membership after he ascended to the church's top leadership role because of his success in business and warm personality.

But all of that changed when Warren Jeffs, Rulon's son, designated himself as the prophet after Rulon suffered a debilitating stroke in 1997.

Apocalyptic vision

People who have since left the town say the younger Jeffs brought with him a paranoid, apocalyptic vision of the world. He mandated things like church members' not being able to wear red. Then, he started breaking up families he considered unfaithful by sending wives to other polygamist men.

The late Dean May, a historian at the University of Utah, said in an interview last year that he was "astounded" by the staying power of polygamists in Arizona and Utah.

"They have mainstream society against them, they have splits within the flocks, yet they manage to keep growing," May said.
 
The Arizona Republic
Originally published September 28, 2003
 
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