St. George was founded as a cotton mission in 1861 under the direction of Apostle Erastus Snow. It was called Dixie by Brigham Young, who was president of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (LDS Church). While early settlers cultivated cotton as a commodity crop, they did not succeed in producing it at competitive market rates; consequently, cotton farming was eventually abandoned. More important to the economy was tourism, which developed as the railroads began to carry visitors to the nearby Zion National Park.