Full at http://cheapmotelsandahotplate.org/2012/10/26/fruita-orderville-romney-2/
The orchards in Capitol Reef National Park in south central Utah are located in what used to be the tiny village of Fruita. The setting is extraordinary. High rock cliffs, formed when the earth erupted and folded back on itself millions of years ago, surround a small, lush valley of green, fed by the waters of the Fremont River and Sulphur Creek. A tiny band of Mormon pioneers settled the area in the 1880s and, using irrigation paths first built by ancient indigenous peoples, planted fruit trees to take advantage of the relatively long growing season. Over the next few decades, the settlers, never more than a dozen or so families, “planted thousands of trees bearing Jonathan, Rome Beauty, Ben Davis, Red Astrachan, Twenty-Ounce Pippin and Yellow Transparent apples, Morpark apricots, Elberta peaches, Bartlett pears, Fellenburg plums, and the Potawatomi plum. Settlers also planted English and black walnuts and almonds. Grape arbors appeared later.”
Like most rural folk, the men and women of Fruita produced for their own use, bartered their surplus for certain skilled work, and sold some of it to buy what they could not produce. Much labor was collective, especially that which benefitted the entire community, like building the little school where children learned their ABCs, and adults and kids alike participated in dances and other social events.