| Show abed PIONEER TELLS OF TRIPS TO LEES FERRY the following letter written by an ail old friend of ithe flie editors will bo be rend read wath Inte intent rost by many maily old plo pioneers of southern utah who will illais no doubt recall similar expert ances chronicled in it oils hi letter while s settling ettling this country answell ns well na as the younger generation who should realize what fi ancestors underwent in ili order to pave thi the way tor for the bl emminga their now enjoy beuoy 12 1935 Cann cannonville onville utah larfield co news pear doir mrs airs peters i here thinking of the celebration now being held it at the tbt old leos lees perry ferry crossing on oil the colorado river and wishing mat chat we fould have been there today I 1 decided I 1 would make my arra attempt nt at writing a story atory for your paper or uny any other youage you are to lo ure nse u re your own judgment as to printing it this is a true story of VI I 1 utah und arizona Plon epro eera I 1 my father Sain Sani tiel fiel newton ail adaar air cirille to atall in 1858 when nine years old with lila ills father fathe r ahli mother having died at winter quarters lii arters on oil their way iway 0 t 5 1 idab lillior was lorn born in it county miss december 11 1839 he marled helen gennett brown lorn born ui kirtland land ohio april 4 14 father helped build the file mud walls around payson mil no xepha 1 lie ho 1 made one trip in vom company pally with lyth jacob boross the colo olo rado in 1862 63 to visit pie fhe mo moi i Ind indians tans when they were conling homo they ran out of 0 f food dod lie wild mid lie got so hungry that he would deave given one of hla his homes for three mirce bt ile he and ami Alo moslah stall hanbock were behind itlie ithe coni pany lany driving that lind had riven given out when they caught up lip with the main company someone lind biad killed it a crow they liol bad cooked cook td it and there worp were so BO anny of them 6 fro eat it that 1 only tile the waa loft to be 10 between mr air Iland cock and ana himself lie ho was with A minis vom fm pany when rillon averett arett was killed lil lUil in august and avus one ona ot of the men inen that helped bury air av ore t t 1 1 1 V anther I 1 mali after lie wha ana zi married friej cje sald he ans one of sixty anty to so 0 on what lie ho wiled called the wh walto att I 1 il m mission iss ion tiac pur purpose vas fo try and find a place for tilt the mormons cormons to afa go when vlen theyer they expected 1 io 10 linc have to loae ave loa e utah at tile time johnso johnsona Joh naona ns army amy was oil tile way to utah hal ja said they the e Pani Para magot country but were called back when colonel kane came to utah and the trouble was waa settled at a spring conference held in st george utah in 1879 father faar with others othera was called to go to arizona to help belp settle that country so bo on the alth of november we left washington on our way to arizona Arl father mother and six children the youngest six elx month oldest a sou soni not quite fifteen I 1 would have been thirteen years old on the esth of novem ber two days after we left idt our home some of our friends went awaya with us iia to help got get u us started right and to help uj tu get out outon on top of the hurricane hill roads were not very good in 1879 kwea I 1 aeu remember that murphy alexander was one for he be helped us ua children find somwang with which to build a ire fire the night we arinio up tip oil n top lop I 1 of the ille hurricane after the way I 1 remember there was very little we could find to make a tire with sly my fathers brother brothe r george 11 W adnar living at kanab was called to so go to to arizone Arizon Arlzo nl 1 also s so we travelled on until we came to the lie creck and there we found uncle and ills his faill same sam e in number as ours and about the same ages ills ilia cifes brother s tjohn cummings wier was with mk ity uncles wife nud and her hea brother were children childre n of daniel tyler of the mormon battalion is I 1 after resting there a few days we started on unc uncle le george had gratti 5 I 1 ertil ered up tip some rome cattle cathe abat belonged s to him hial and ather so there were ithe the cattle anti and some horses borses four covered twelve children ani and the five grown people in our coins pany we finally readied the colo november and 4 that Is ii the first alm time I 1 ever cross ed tile the CAI colorado orado river in 1879 my T crossed the same year for the firyth tn glinc our olka nu fill cross ed cd on afie flat bo boat atwith with bu except iny cousin emily AIa atall lr older ilian I 1 bya by a year aud and a half anys myself elf and my three beer old sister mary illie ref sod to po go with the others preferring to go with rne mo we crossed in A very small mail bant rowed liy by old uncle william am maxwell and ills his eon gan ln in law wllliam black after we were i all over mer on si bide dethe the next I 1 aa 60 rate pae your ja s v f 1 K A hs h S AM AGED PIONEER TELLS OF TRIPS TO LEES FERRY contin continued uca tram from rage fan one job was to get ithe cattle and wagons tip the awful mountain mid and over the blie beck backbone bone safely it wag waa a job but we finally filially ronde made it the wagons would so go on oil atheal to some place where the cattle could reach by night the men with tho the gons would look up a place where ii lo 10 there was some feed for alio livestock usually a mile or I 1 two front from camp and off tile the road pre ilona travelers had fed on off all 1111 tile hid fel near ithe road after two months lis of cold liard hard tram we readied concho it a small ill mexican town in apache county alth with a sew white fa camill mill among them were Baie nian wl wil melm some of the people in order ville lille may remie remember niber him and his fa fanelly nilly and david and uncle of my uncle georges george s wife also a mormon battalion Dai tallon man mail tho had bought out a mexican Ai rilly and had a house with three rooms built in n row with dirt roofs and f loos flows As A 5 it was midwinter and cold they were kind tto to and moved their family into one end room giving agthe tia ine liddle Il anti and uncles family the other end loom I 1 have always had had a warm spot in my heart forshein for them thein fruela laaff tl I 1 heard of Pv Ipher 1 she ahe was living in provo prove it if she la botill living I 1 ilione hope she lie Is well and 1161 haiby we welded lived that way until the next spring uncle george decided aided to move mave on south to nutrioso a place where there we were soone 0 aik oik leer deer ind and let lota s of wild turkeys lie he liked to hunt bunt rio aliat suited him after they left we moved into the room they ial iad an fl chirley cb irles Shim Shunt iway ivay moved into the middle room by the way if Ric richard ilArd S MY of kanab should read this athis he will reme remember anber this likely aswell as well as I 1 do we lived la in concho some som e three years or so 00 then father decided to go to nutrioso where lib his booher ahro her was waa so we went there my husbands people had aligo gone from and were living there when wo we went there thera in 1884 4 my husband 0 W dark clark and I 1 decided we would like to live our lives to gethers soo sio on athe the ath of Novem november beT 1884 we left for springer ville fifteen miles away there we were Jol joined by my husbands brothers brother T X W 7 dark clark and charley dodge of st george sir and mrs john earl and miss anna johnson that was waa another cold trip and again we crossed the colorado literl as we were on our way to st georgo george to be married in the temple we a reached washington the ilia or 23 pd of november and on the we were married in the st george tennile tej nile also a mr john WhIt and alid jane davis of st johns Ari arizona the ears earls ana aill demsen went through 0 the samo same day after we were married wo we went to glendale in kane unicy utah to visit ny my husbands hus banda brother jam jamea 4 N dark ark we vo w were with them until it started ing ank tind and as n we wera ere afraid the flip wow snow would lo lie 10 so deep live e timid could vot hot cross crom the buckskin mountain we vo came over to kanah mid and while walting for J W Y clark to ansh up tip lila Im siness ws were very cry kindly taken varo cam jf f ii ly III mi and 1 mrs taylor 1 amby all ali these people were strati lem s to tile me and I 1 still sim Tem remember dalber anti appreciate their eri fleir martha artha SI bud will anke nad jots beeped tile me to aw icoy ay iy tile llie lime Irem iremeter eber one OIK of the boys bos gather ither cl 41 seed from tipples for nie me to plant finally we left and started home ome when we got to the bucks buckskin kin mountain sure hire enough there was ft as lots of snow tho the men had biad to put both teams on one wagon mid ami the road to the top then go back after afitzer the other one I 1 went up in ill the first one anil and it seemed it a long time before I 1 could licar hear them coming sitting there alone on oil top surrounded roun dexl by snow and everything eve so BO y ovong ihne tewena te weng very ery quiet not it ft sound round and nothing ni moving oving before we left deft that camp wine some men find and a wagon from came up we were glad as that meant the road was WAR broken ahead abend of us so again for the third time I 1 crossed the colorado river this mils time in pe de 1884 we reached our homes lomes in on the 2nd and of january 1885 most two months monalia from the time we had left tho next spring my father decided to move over twenty five miles into Tuma Turna valley now mexico my husbands brother brodherr bro 11 B dark ami ills sister mrs J D lw lee were living there so we went with them in april 1885 my parents to livo live there until they died father lying dying may 16 1925 and mother january 11 1933 in november 1887 we moved iback aftel to utah and made our home homp at Pah oali reali kane kaile county so again we ve crossed the colorado in decem ler ir 1887 that was another hard cold e 0 ld trip in a wagon and driving cattle one man and two boys were amli us IN it fl mr Th george ross and emanuel love ton ten baars later we ive wont went back on bil a visit to our people and again I 1 crossed the colorado river in november I 1 defill er we stayed out there until the middle of february 1898 and crossed the river for the last time tho the first of 0 march this time thile two men I 1 forget who they were brought me and four child ron aon over in tile the little boat to hold my breath all the way over mid and was afraid to move as aa ti the lowater water was only a few inches below the top of the tat boat after athey aliey landed us they went back and had to tio drive our wagon and team out mito into the water on a sand bar to get it on the flat boat I 1 felt then thea lukei like I 1 never wanted to cross croas the ibe river again but would like so much to io cross the wonderful new bridge and would liked to have gone B hiie to the present there are aie four of us its old people who should have been there john IV mangum Maii Riun 84 years old who crossel it a tow yeats years before we idad john 11 II davis 75 years old who chused abut the saine year as aa vo ive lid first fire t wy my husband 3 6 years old and I 1 will be 69 all of us its too old to LO go 1 10 aloia so we tire are none of us its there sirs mrs harriet gonnet A dark clarko utah 1 garfie garfield cc news |
