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Hurricane, Utah<\/h2>\n\n\n\n![\"PacLease](\"https:\/\/live.staticflickr.com\/8537\/8747042285_4cea59c2c5_b.jpg\")
<\/a><\/figure>\n\n\n\nThe naming of Hurricane, Utah (map<\/a>) wasn’t nearly as dramatic as the name itself. A local historical marker<\/a> explained a series of mundane events.<\/p>\n\n\n\n“In 1863 settlers on the Upper Virgin River whose lands were being washed away, made preliminary surveys for irrigating and occupying these lands. Erastus Snow, David H. Cannon and Nephi Johnson came down the hill over an old Indian trail, with a heavy buggy drawn by mules, using ropes to keep it from tipping. A whirlwind took the top off the buggy. Erastus Snow exclaimed, ‘Well that was a hurricane, we’ll name this hurricane hill.’ The fault, bench and town were named from this event.”<\/p><\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n
I concluded, a city of fifteen thousand residents got its name from a gust of wind observed by someone who obviously never experienced a real hurricane. Case closed. Can I end the article now?<\/p>\n\n\n\n
But Wait, There’s More<\/h3>\n\n\n\n
I did find one fascinating feature, the Hurricane Canal. Southwestern Utah was a harsh, dry landscape not particularly hospitable for farming. So logically irrigation became a mainstay for those early Mormon pioneers. They envisioned a canal from the Virgin River as people moved in. This would create additional farmland for a growing population.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The men of Hurricane tilled and farmed the soil every summer. Then, each winter between 1891 and 1904, they traded farm implements for pickaxes and shovels. By hand, and over those many years, they dug a 7.5-mile (12.1 km) canal<\/a>. Their handiwork included twelve tunnels through solid rock. Unfortunately the canal fell into disrepair long ago due to obsolescence. Even so, later it later became a popular hiking trail<\/a> maintained by the Bureau of Land Management.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\n\n\n\nHurricane, West Virginia<\/h2>\n\n\n\n![\"Welcome](\"https:\/\/live.staticflickr.com\/3144\/2798580650_88c3dc6f7e_b.jpg\")
<\/a>Welcome to Hurricane<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\nWest Virginia didn’t typically experience a lot of hurricanes either. On the other hand, the aftermath of such storms occasionally made it that far inland<\/a> with torrential rains and flooding. Maybe I could cut them some slack. Even with that, this Hurricane offered a similarly mundane<\/a> explanation.<\/p>\n\n\n\nIt did have a famous name attached to it ever-so-tangentially so I took some solace.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
“In 1774 a party of surveyors, commissioned by George Washington, traveled down the Kanawha River until they came upon an area at the mouth of a creek where they found trees all bent in the same direction. They called the location ‘the place of the hurricane’ after discovering the bent trees. The creek became known as Hurricane Creek and by 1811, according to early Virginia maps, the town of Hurricane Bridge appeared…”<\/p><\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n
Its ultimate success came much later particularly with the construction of Interstate 64, owing to its ideal spot between the cities of Charleston and Huntington (map<\/a>). Three thousand people lived there in the 1970’s. More than six thousand people live there today.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\n\n\n\nHurricane, Missouri<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
<\/a><\/figure>\n\n\n\nThe naming of Hurricane, Utah (map<\/a>) wasn’t nearly as dramatic as the name itself. A local historical marker<\/a> explained a series of mundane events.<\/p>\n\n\n\n “In 1863 settlers on the Upper Virgin River whose lands were being washed away, made preliminary surveys for irrigating and occupying these lands. Erastus Snow, David H. Cannon and Nephi Johnson came down the hill over an old Indian trail, with a heavy buggy drawn by mules, using ropes to keep it from tipping. A whirlwind took the top off the buggy. Erastus Snow exclaimed, ‘Well that was a hurricane, we’ll name this hurricane hill.’ The fault, bench and town were named from this event.”<\/p><\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n I concluded, a city of fifteen thousand residents got its name from a gust of wind observed by someone who obviously never experienced a real hurricane. Case closed. Can I end the article now?<\/p>\n\n\n\n I did find one fascinating feature, the Hurricane Canal. Southwestern Utah was a harsh, dry landscape not particularly hospitable for farming. So logically irrigation became a mainstay for those early Mormon pioneers. They envisioned a canal from the Virgin River as people moved in. This would create additional farmland for a growing population.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The men of Hurricane tilled and farmed the soil every summer. Then, each winter between 1891 and 1904, they traded farm implements for pickaxes and shovels. By hand, and over those many years, they dug a 7.5-mile (12.1 km) canal<\/a>. Their handiwork included twelve tunnels through solid rock. Unfortunately the canal fell into disrepair long ago due to obsolescence. Even so, later it later became a popular hiking trail<\/a> maintained by the Bureau of Land Management.<\/p>\n\n\n\n West Virginia didn’t typically experience a lot of hurricanes either. On the other hand, the aftermath of such storms occasionally made it that far inland<\/a> with torrential rains and flooding. Maybe I could cut them some slack. Even with that, this Hurricane offered a similarly mundane<\/a> explanation.<\/p>\n\n\n\n It did have a famous name attached to it ever-so-tangentially so I took some solace.<\/p>\n\n\n\n “In 1774 a party of surveyors, commissioned by George Washington, traveled down the Kanawha River until they came upon an area at the mouth of a creek where they found trees all bent in the same direction. They called the location ‘the place of the hurricane’ after discovering the bent trees. The creek became known as Hurricane Creek and by 1811, according to early Virginia maps, the town of Hurricane Bridge appeared…”<\/p><\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n Its ultimate success came much later particularly with the construction of Interstate 64, owing to its ideal spot between the cities of Charleston and Huntington (map<\/a>). Three thousand people lived there in the 1970’s. More than six thousand people live there today.<\/p>\n\n\n\nBut Wait, There’s More<\/h3>\n\n\n\n
\n\n\n\nHurricane, West Virginia<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
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\n\n\n\nHurricane, Missouri<\/h2>\n\n\n\n