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Show THE SAN JUAN RECORD Wednesday May 15, 1985 - Page 12 John Atlantic Barr Lake Powell Ferry Dedicated May 4, 1985 A Dedicated May 4, Utahs $1.5 million ferry at Lake Powell is named after Utah trailblazer John Atlantic Burr. Burr was bom February 24,1846, on a boat saling near Cape Horn on the Atlantic, an event commemorated by his middle name. The Burr family landed in Yerba Buena, California, where they stayed for two years before moving to Salt Lake City. The Burrs and other Mormon families moved south at the direction of Brigham Young, with the Burrs eventually establishing the community of Burrville at Grass Valley. John Atlantic became involved in the cattle business but faced a problem getting cattle from winter to summer ranges. Using his trailblazing skills, he established the Burr Trail and opened the southern Utah cattle market. The Burr Trail led through rough and twisted land and met the Colorado River at what is known as Halls Crossing. Crossing the Colorado had been a problem for centuries. Early explorers, such as Father Escalant and the Mormon pioneers came up against this formidable barrier. The first settlers of southeastern Utah used the impractical and e dangerous route through Rock. The disadvantages of the passage led to a search for a more convenient trail. Scouts from Escalante, Utah, found the Colorado could be approached at the mouth of Halls Creek. The Hall brothers, who had been running a ferry at moved their operations to the new site. After a few years, the upper Fremont Valley and the Abajo Mountains were attracting settlers who did not want to make the long trek to Halls Crossing. Gradually, more were denortherly routes veloped, including Hite. By 1885, travel through Halls Crossing diminished to a few wagons and eventually the ferry was abandoned. Few changes took place in transportation in southeastern Utah until the 1950s when a group of enterprising individuals from San Juan County began an effort to upgrade roads. It was the collective dream of Calvin Black, Hyrum Black, Lynn Lyman, Lynn Palmer, Clarence Rogers and Zeke Johnson to see southeastern Utah connected with Hole-in-th- Hole-in-the-Roc- k, - the rest of the state through an improved highway system. The passage of the Upper Colorado River Development Plan opened the way. As the construction on Glen Canyon Dam progressed, state and local officials began the search for creative ways to finance needed road improvements. Calvin Black thought a ferry would be an excellent means to transport people across the soon-to-bLake Powell and show off the natural beauty of the red rock canyons. He envisioned Lake Powell as a water highway e rather than a barrier to transportation. Black approached J. Frank Wright, Blanding professional river runner, with his idea. They gained the support of Stewart Udall, Secretary of the Interior. Eventually, a concession contract was negotiated with the National Park Service, and Lake Powell Ferry Service, Inc. was allowed to build and operate Halls Crossing Marina. The ferry between Bullfrog and Halls Crossing began regular operations in the fall of 1963. Lynn Lyman and his wife, Hazel Bowen, were the first passengers to drive onto the ferry operated by Frank Following are excerpts from an article published in the San Juan Record on October 17, 1963, about the Halls Crossing ferry. by Albert R. Lyman John Atlantic Burr offers car. bus and Powell. The 3.1 mile ferry passanger ferry service across route between Bullfrog and Halls Crossing marinas is shown by white Burr Trail, on which dashes. Black dashes indicate the The long-await- ed 100-fo- ot mid-La- -- ke 69-mi- le are being sought. ' improvements have begun and paving funds 1 1 miles. . .. Completion of the trail will save West Coast motorists up to 0 fire-chie- f, Cottonwood Dugway at until 1975. In the early 80s, Calvin Black, now a county commisOnce in operation, the John of idea the sioner, presented Atlantic Burr will unite a launching highway 276 and the former to Scott Governor boat ferry highway 263. Highway 263 has Matheson. Matheson caught recently been renumbered 276 the vision of this concept, and to symbolize the completion of discussed it with the director of the highway with the launchthe Utah Department of ing of the John Atlantic Burr. Transportation, Bill Burley. C. V. Skip Anderson, was (Editors note: we are grateful to the assigned to research the Utah Department of Transpory state-operate- d possibilities. UDOT officials met with the tation for the major portion of information used in this article.) and took the first Jeep up the vestigials of a road on San Juan Hill, where it was new ferry, and the way which is to be opened for us into southern Utah, which really is not far away, but through the last 84 years, it has been more distant than Salt Lake City Frank Wright has a trailer-"houson top of the hill above the crossing, where we counted 11 motor boats a week ago. The road from Blanding reaches the brow of the hill on the east side at a point about half way between the mouth of the two canyons on the other side...the glistening surface of Lake Powell reaching from cliff to cliff below, is an sight after driving over the bald rocks from Castle Wash. To one who has known that region through the last 70 years, and been accustomed to seeing the river crawling along in the bottom, the fact of that majestic lake seems difficult to realize. freely declared no wheeled vehicle would ever go again. Now he is first with his to cross Lake Powell at the new ferry, where Frank Wright and company, The Lake Powell Ferry Service, have a concession for operating a crossing at the mouth of Bullfrog, or at the mouth of Halls Creek a mile below. gas-wago- Lynn F. Lyman has again blazed a trail which the whole business of us are soon to follow; he and his devoted wife, Hazel Bowen Lyman, have gone with their Jeep across the Colorado River at the new Halls Ferry, and wrangled their way through the big wilderness to Escalante. Lynn was Blandings first electrician, the first to have an electric refrigerator, the first and the first to find a Jeep road to Poseys grave. He had the first radio in Blanding, a machine he has built with his own hands. He drove the first Jeep down the1 precipitious Hole- - National Park Service, the Del Webb Corporation and government officials. Together they succeeded in procuring an ocean-sturdferry boat. Wright and Company. The ferry had the capacity to carry one vehicle. The ferry operated n Lynn and Hazel drove from Blanding in the afternoon, over the hundred miles to the crossing, and slept there on the big boat till morning. Frank Wright helped them to get the Jeep on the boat and they steered down the lake to the mouth of Halls Creek Lynn and his wife returned to Blanding by way of Green River, enthusastic for the e awe-inspirin- g |
