Show antoine UX 0 name ON ROCKS IN 1331 salt lak city utah july 7 1933 11 dear franl after a summer ot of fruitless trips I 1 finally made a real find 1 I had heard of an inscription on the rocks near fruita colorado said to have been made by robidoux in 1837 1 I had intended to go to south pass and the wind river con country itry over the fourth but changed my mind at the last minute and decided to look tor for this inscription instead and then go on to denver tor for a short visit to my mother I 1 was lucky in finding two cow 4 pincers who had seen the inscription al 5 k and knew exactly where it was we k drove the car almost to it and found it without any trouble this inscription as the photo shows was made by antoine robidoux on one of bis his trips into the uinta basin he first established a post at the bouthi of the duchesne in 1831 and was finally burned out by the in deans in 1843 apparently he intend ed to build another place on the green or white river but never did so so far as I 1 can learn this is the FINEST RECORD ever left by any of the old trappers or tra ders in utah it is just twelve miles inside the state of utah line and the nearest town is mack colo this side of grand junction and twenty miles oft off the highway in case the lettering Is not clear to you it is in french it reads ANTOINE ROBIDOUX passe lei let ie to 13 novembre 1837 pour malson truitte a la vert ou on blyte w translated into english it says antoine robidoux passed here no vember 13 1837 to establish a trad ing house on the river green or white this was carved on the face of a rock close to a nice cave or shelter where they ha had zd evidently camped the canyon on both sires Is covered with pictographs and showing that the route was an old indian trail the trail led over the mesa and down the white river to the uinta basin the circle just be low the inscription is an indian sun p painted hinted in red and circled in white and the circle once contained a pecked buffalo head it made a beautiful bullseye tor for the sheppherd sheep herd ers tol to shoot at hence the many bul but let marks which have damaged a few of the letters above it Is remark able however that it Is in as good a state of preservation as it Is since the cave and inscription Is part of a stock corral near a ranch if you have read my story of den Is jullen julien in the july 1933 issue of the UTAH historical QUARTER LY you will note that on that dim and much worn date I 1 said I 1 thought it probably ought to be 1831 the photo shows plainly that Is Is 1837 and no mistake so my former re marks are now corrected to the date of 1837 1 I made a photographic phot graphic copy of the printer print Mr kelly sent me and made a lantern slide from it and showed that lantern slide to the masons of tintic gintic lodge on tuesday night octo her ber with some other historical data of utah so tar far as I 1 know this date 1831 Is the OLDEST recorded catl dat of white men in utah FB 9 we had a nice trip to denver left here 4 ap p in friday camped at thompson below green river and drove to denver the next day miles lett left denver 4 p in monday and returned by way of craig colo arriving 9 p in tuesday crossed one pass pash 11 teet feet and another 10 feet through a two mile tun nel net cool and pleasant all the way the mountains of colorado are tim tint bared and green we drove through south park the famous old hang out of the early trappers and it certainly looks like a park landscaped by a master artist green and pleasant no wonder they raved about it must have been plenty ot of game in the ear ly days also saw several placer dig gings aings and one old prospector still working a long tom best of all I 1 visited the denver museum ot of natural history and saw the original folsom point in the inal block where it was found foun d with the ribs of the extinct buffalo they have some marvelous stuff there in eluding the largest known mammoth skeleton a complete mastodon and all kinds of rhino eaily horse camel and dozens of other strange beasts nothing like it between chi cago go and and san francisco now that I 1 have seen gypsum cave and the original folsom point I 1 refuse to recognize lize ordinary country editors on the street the folsom point is an arrow head found with the ribs of an an extinct buffalo thus scientifically proving that early man and this extinct but falo were contemporaneous and that man hunted it for food the fol som point has high scientific value FB yours charles kelly mr kelly is the author of salt desert trails a volume in which he has gathered all the history of trails over the salt desert west of great salt lake in a compact easily read book which ought to be in the it 11 bary of every perso interested ih the early history of utah to me among the most interesting chap are his own experiences in tol fol lowing those trails the first man to do so by auto and got stuck in the soft goo while they stopped to examine an abandoned wagon the auto just gradually gia dually sank in the mud and when they looked up down to the hubs no traction and no way to get a jack into play they act bally had to dig up a sideboard of one of the old donner party wagons left there eighty years before to put under the wheels and get going it Is very interesting he found an old gun long since rusted to almost nothingness on all parts that were stee or iron but the briss receiver block intact and with a little scrubbing almost usable the Anan conda copper company paid sixty dollars for a photo and story of it and the reproduced photo alv alvearez eared in an ad in the sat arday evening post on the perma nency of brass isaeel gone to a soggy mass that the fingers could crumple but the brass solid and en during those kopeks helped hunt up other historical matter mr kelly enjoys the open ul III es a light heel rope and andl has a decided flair for historical matter bartic of utah and has a second book in course of preparation tor for the press FB |