Utah's Dixie is the nickname for the populated, lower-elevation area of south-central Washington County in the southwestern portion of the U.S. state of Utah. Its winter climate is very mild when compared to the rest of Utah, and typical of the Mojave Desert, in which it lies. Situated south of the Black Ridge and west of the Hurricane Cliffs, at the northeastern edge of the Mojave Desert, it was originally settled by Southern Paiutes. Following the Mexican–American War, it became part of the United States and was inhabited by members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints in 1854 as part of Brigham Young's efforts to establish an Indian mission in the region. During the later 1850s, the settlers began growing cotton and other temperate cash crops in the area of Santa Clara, Utah. The Paiute population was largely displaced and also declined due to diseases brought by the new settlers. The Cotton Mission The area was first referred to as the "Cotton Mission", in response to Brigham Young's 14th General Epistle issued in October 1856. In spite of his determination that the Great Basin would be self-sufficient, it was not. He criticized the Saints as "quite negligent in raising cotton and flax". His command was emphatic: "And let our brethren who have the means, bring on cotton and woolen machinery, that we may be enabled to manufacture our own goods, so fast as we shall be able to supply ourselves with the raw material...." Origin "[The] first groups of settlers [arriving in Spring 1857] – the Adair and Covington Companies – were people from the Southern States, mainly from Mississippi, Alabama, Virginia, Texas, and Tennessee." While there is no indication that slavery was practiced in Utah's cotton farming, Robert Dockery Covington, the leader of the second company of saints, was formerly a slave overseer and owner of eight slaves in the 1840 Census, which made "farming a very profitable occupation". It is unknown whether Covington personally had experience growing cotton, or if his experience was limited to the enslavement of other humans who grew cotton. A contemporary said: "He was a strong Rebel sympathizer and rejoiced whenever he heard of a Southern victory." Covington was the first President of the Washington Branch of the LDS Church. Covington's first counselor was Alexander Washington Collins, who the contemporary says was a former slave driver, who boastfully, with humor, and