The isolated border town where genetic rarity meets religious seclusion

Countries & Cities · Published 12 October 2026 Swipe more like this →

In short: In the Arizona Strip, the town of Colorado City exists as a complex enclave of Mormon fundamentalists. Beyond its struggle for local autonomy and legal battles over religious discrimination, the community faces a unique biological reality: the world’s highest incidence of a rare genetic condition.

Established in 1913, Colorado City was originally called Short Creek and was settled by Council of Friends followers. This breakaway group from the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints sought a remote location to practice plural marriage after the LDS Church publicly abandoned the practice in 1890. The community has faced significant legal scrutiny, including the 1953 Short Creek raid by Arizona Governor John Howard Pyle and more recent investigations into the misuse of public funds and religious discrimination. The community's history is marked by intense political friction. In 2012, the state of Arizona had to fund extra police patrols to maintain order. Furthermore, a jury recently ruled that the local government had unlawfully discriminated against residents for their religious beliefs.

The town's social fabric has been deeply impacted by the leadership of Warren Jeffs, a convicted sexual predator. During January 2004, Jeffs ousted 20 men, the mayor among them, and transferred their families to different men. Estimates suggest that between 2001 and 2006, Jeffs may have expelled as many as 400 young men from the community for various infractions, such as dating without his permission.

This isolation has had biological consequences. The Colorado City and Hildale area exhibits the world's highest incidence of fumarase deficiency, a rare genetic condition causing severe intellectual disability. Geneticists attribute this high prevalence to the high frequency of cousin marriage among descendants of two founders, Joseph Smith Jessop and John Y. Barlow. It is estimated that at least half of the region's approximately 8,000 inhabitants are descended from one or both of these men.

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