The town of Paria or Pahreah (its original spelling) thrived for a while in the early 1860’s, after it was founded by Mormon pioneer Peter Shirts. Later, it was abandoned for a time during the Blackhawk War in the late 1860’s. Paria then began to grow again throughout the 1870’s, as settlers dug irrigation canals and diverted water from the Paria River to grow crops. The end of the town came sometime in the 1880’s, as several consecutive years of flooding finally forced most residents to leave. Repeated flooding of the Paria river over the years finally erased most traces of habitation there. All that remains today, is a small cemetery with about 20 graves.

This photo was taken by a Hasselblad 500C medium format film camera with a Carl Zeiss Distagon 1:4 f=50mm lens and Zenza Bronica 67mm SY48•2C(Y2) filter using Adox CHS 50 ART film, the negative scanned by an Epson Perfection V600 and digitally rendered with Photoshop.