Chapman Duncan came here in 1861 , settling with a few others on Mukuntuweap Creek , a small tributary of the Virgin River . The colony was part of a southern Utah cotton-growing project ordered by Brigham Young ( see Utah 's Dixie ) . That winter the Virgin River , unpredictable at even the best of times , experienced the Great Flood of 1862 , which destroyed most of the settlement along with such other nearby towns as Grafton . Chapman Duncan and most of the other original settlers fled in early 1862 in search of a more stable home , and the families who stayed behind named their village '' Duncan 's Retreat ''
Great Flood of 1862
Great Flood of 1862
Duncan's Retreat, Utah