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Show 700 Years Ago I June 15, 1880 The family of Samuel Joseph Campbell Sr. came to the Ouray Valley in the late winter of 1879 when it was thrown open to the white settlers. They settled along the White River, built their cabins on one side for the shelter from the storms and had their gardens on the other side for better irrigation. Mr. Campbell was a freighter and had just left on a freighting trip June 15, 1880, when his two wives and his sister decided to go across the river in A canoe to get vegetables. They took a young boy with them to row the canoe. They had just gotten to mid-stream when a herd of cattle entered the stream from the opposite side which churned up the water and made the canoe capsize. The boy somehow got hold of the canoe and hung on until help came and pulled him out. The three women were drowned and their bodies were never found. Someone caught up with Mr. Campbell and brought him back. They searched day and night until Mr. Campbell was exhausted and led home to his little motherless children, four girls and one boy. In the spring of 1885, the Government took the Ouray Valley for the White River Indians and the little band of pioneers moved onto what is now Vernal, Utah. Mr. Campbell became a prominent citizen of Vernal. He was a diligent farmer and stockman like his father, Samuel Campbell who also freighted for many years owning some of the best horses in Vernal at that time. Mr. Campbell originally built the old Joe Rich home that was locked on 5th East and Main. He married Clarissa Reynolds a few years after moving to Vernal and she helped raise his little family. They had four daughters of their own, one dying in infancy. He died in Vernal in 1927. Several grandchildren still live in Vernal and other parts of the Uintah Basin as well as other parts of Utah. He also has many great and great great grandchildren still living. A marker was placed near the place of the tragedy bearing the names, birthdates and date of the drownings on it, by some of his daughters and grandchildren. |