Show written for this tais paper prosperous SAN JUAN BLUFF san juan county nov 19 1898 in company with elders brigham young elders P F A hammond and wm win halls halle of the san ban juan stake cys elder robert watson and others othen I 1 left moab grand county utah on the dinst and traveled through a desert country in a southeasterly direction about thirty miles and encamped tor for the night in a cedar grove near hatche hatchs wash after spending the evening in pleasant conversation and making the surrounding cliffs resound with the songs of zion we made our beds in the sands of the desert and enjoyed a comfortable bights ight s rest early the next morning we were again on the way and after traveling thirty miles further we arrived at the now new settlement called monticello where a meeting was hold held in the evou evening ing the congregation being addressed by elders young youn jenson and hammond on the morning of the wednesday elder young and the rest of the company myself excepted started for mancoe colorado ninety miles distant to attend quarterly conference there the following saturday and sunday while I 1 after attending to historical labors at monticello Monti oello started for bluff the headquarters of the san juan stake of zion where I 1 arrived on the dinst elder francis nielson ol of verdure brought me in a light vehicle over the forty four mile desert intervening between south montezuma creek and bluff monticello to is pleasantly situated on high ground near the east baet base of the blue mountains no settlement io in utah territory cm commands mands such a line fine and extensive view of surrounding country as does this remarkable little town which was first founded in 1888 by a number of families called by the stake presidency to locate here look ing south east and north as far as thu tho eye dan reach an immense tract of country lies exposed to view with a number of mountain chains and p peaks eaks in the far distance forming the background of what would make a beautiful picture west went of the settlement the snow capped blue mountains prevents a view of the country sloping to towards the colorado river southeast in the extreme southwest west wast corner of the state ot 91 colorado the ute mountains distant about sixty miles from monte cello acello prevents an unlimited view in that direction further to the left about a hundred miles away the so called parrot mountains near the base of which lies the settlement 01 mancos show their rugged irregular summits against the horizon while the la sal mountains northeast form the tee background of the landscape JaDd scap e in that direction monticello is a fins fine erain arain producing country but it is rather cold owing to its high altitude for anything in the fruit line except the hardier kind about twenty five families nearly all lAtt blatter erday day saints compose the numerical strength of the settlement 0 while seven families residing on south montezuma creek at a place recently dam named e d verdure constitute a branch of the monticello ward with george A adams as presiding elder elder frederick J jones is the bishop of the he monticello ward his bis are andrew P sorensen Bo reneen and charles E walton jr r considering that the settlers be here re are and have been inconstant jeopardy of losing their lands and improvements by the contemplated removal of the southern ute indians from colorado colored 0 into this country the people of monticello Monti ceilo have made great progress they built a respectable meeting house when there was scarcely half a dozen families of permanent settlers lu in the place and before then there were sufficient houses erected to shelter the original settlers A stake conference was held in the new meeting house at which the saints had bad a of rejoicing this was in august 1888 the saints have now about twelve hundred acres ot of land under fence of which about one third is being cultivated and watered from north montezuma creek there is room for many more settlers mind and so as dry farming has bas already been successfully tried the surrounding country affords facilities for thousands and thousands of latter day saints ano are not afraid to cope with the difficulties connected with the building up of a now new country the little settlement has in times past been considerably annoyed by cowboys from the surrounding ranches on several occasions these have come up in large numbers threatening the inhabitants with death and destruction discharging diso barging their firearms in the streets and in oth other e r ways endangering the lives of the citizens during a fracas of this kind three years ago agoS ieter Sister waltona Wal highly respected lady and saint and a 04 texan cowboy were shot and almost instantly killed in front of the meeting house if the be settlement was stronger these attacks would most likely not be attempted but as this part of the country is known as a regular report for outlaws and fugitives from justice the peculiar natural features of the conn country affording them special protection our people are by no means safe aade as yet against similar attacks in the future the saints of monticello Monti oello however seem to be well satisfied with their settlement and some of them would at once set to work to replace their primitive log dwellings with houses of more desirable materially materi allf alif the much vexed indian occupation question was settled in favor of the citizens elder young in his dis discourse courne the other evening promised the saints that it they were united and desired to stay they should not be disturbed bluff which is the home of about twenty families of latter day saints is situated on the right bank of the san juan river immediately above the point where the cottonwood wash opens into the river the valley of the sanjuanit san juan anat at the point where the settlement stands is about a mile wide from bluff to bluff the soil is vory sandy though quite productive but as there is in only about three hundred acres A of land under cultivation the people have had ito to look for means ot of maintenance from other sources thus sheep and raising are carried on to quite au aa extent by the citizens and the incomes from these sources and the dividends received receive CI from the co cc opera tive store are the main dependencies of the people referring to the store mentioned it may be said that it is not only well welk pat ionized by the citizens themselves and the prospectors who are still looking for gold in the sands of the san ban juan valley but the navajo indians indiana whose reservation lies across the river in arizona also come here to trade off their blankets hides pelts wool etc for merchandise the coop co op store this being virtually a trading post for the indians has done a very good business from the beginning the san J uan river to is very similar to the rio virgin in washington county utah its waters are exceedingly hard to control the river rises and falls at pleasure changes its ita course frequently and in time or floods carries everything exposed away be tore tora its muddy turbulent waters including dams damn trees farming land fences etc one of these floods which swelled th river far beyond its usual banks in 1884 destroyed a great many of the improvements improvement made previously by th the settlers and most of the original settlers who had founded the place four years previous in april 1880 got discouraged and left for other parts ox oj the country another little settlement called montezuma zuma 1 heated bated by tile the saints at the bame time as bluff about fifteen miles above that place was en abandoned at that time and has never been resettled since in the fall of that year 1884 president joseph P F smith elder erastus arastus snow and others bif vif visited J cited the place and held meetings with the saints in the course ef his remarks president smith said that those who had responded to the coll of the church authorities in coming to settle on the san juan and who had struggled in the past to make the settlement a sue suc cese but who now desired to leave should be blessed but that those who would world remain and try anew to build up the town should be doubly blessed A number of the inhabitants inh abitanto of the place whom I 1 have interviewed during my visit here are very anxious that I 1 should state as a historical fact that the words of president smith have had bad a literal fulfilment fulfillment those who remained have since 1884 been greatly blessed prosperity liss has followed the labors of their hands front from that time on OB their canal which they made anew alter aitor the extraordinary flood of 1884 has proven a success and their thear business enterprise undertaken mostly on the co operative plan have since that time proven quite profitable thus the present inhabitants of bluff are comparatively well off in a financial point of view and acknowledge a ck n the hand of the lord in their prosperity the natural scenery around bluff though wild is grand beyond description the bluffs ou both sides of the river rise up in perpendicular heights heigh ta forming interesting groups of pinnacles clees domes and walls and abounding also with cave baves 19 crags crag a and numerous fau fan and strange formations it waa wa A these theme interesting natural features featured of the san juan valley which suggested the name of bluff to the original settlers opposite the river and about four m miles iles above bluff is ie a large cave about feet across horizontally about feet high and perhaps feet deep deeps 7 in which there are some gome very interest 11 ing rem dante of the habitations of the cliff dwellers perched high up upon a ledge of rooks rocks in the interior of the cave and near its root roof are the walls of an ancient dwelling containing sixteen rooms varying in size from feet to feet some borne of the walls yet standing are more than 12 feet high and from 18 to 12 inches thick thero is evidence that the building in some places at least was two stories high remnants of pottery and aboriginal utensils uton sils of different kinds are found buried in the sand covering the floors of the respective rooms below the ledge leage on which the walls walla stands on the slope leading to V the bottom of the cave grows a species of wild desert vegetation in great profusion i which is green rall all the year 11 around and beautiful flowers have been picked from it in the month of january the soil where this vegetation grows Is almost moist and at times there here is a small seepage of water from the sand forming a tiny stream which trickles down the ravine opening out irom from the mouth of the cave into the river bottom accompanied by several of the brethren from bluff I 1 visited this thia interesting cave yesterday I 1 have seldom if ever in my visits to the settlements of the saints in th a rocky mountains found a more openhearted and appreciative people than the saints at bluff I 1 have spent today sunday with them in meeting and addressed a congregation of both siinto saints and strangers twice after the evening meeting I 1 was surprised in an unusual manner in being presented by bishop jens nielsen with the sum of 11 contributed by the good hearted saints toward defraying my traveling expenses though on en unlooked for on my part the means came very handy as I 1 was puzzled as to how I 1 could obtain the necessary funds to buy my railway ticket from mancos to the san luis stake the saints at bluff certainly deserve great credit for their public spiritedness they have just completed a fine rock schoolhouse which to is by far the best building of any kind in san juan county they have also the walls of f a new meeting house 60 50 x 80 feet up to the square and expect to have it under roof this fall As soon as it is definitely that the settlers will not have to vacate in favor of the indians indiana most of the families here are ready and able to build good and substantial private dwellings up to the present they have lived in their primitive log jog houses ANDREW JENSEN |