Roosevelt Standard | 1938-12-08 | Page 20 | The Life of Levison Hancock Recalls the History of the Early West

the life of levis levison on hancock recalls the history of the early west was one of Roosevel ts first citizens and built r first house here although lie he has past his eightieth cl alti birthday levison hancock ancock II one of the basins sturdy pioneers can be seen daily in his store at luebell bluebell 13 where lie manages his business and serves his customers with cordially cordi alty as well as some interesting tales of his early life in southern utah and ws his pioneer experiences in the basin most remarkable are his pep his activity and his youthful ahful appearance at eighty which lie attributes to a life ot of hard gamt work and good health doi born n in spanish fork on june 11 1858 levison hancock was taken when an infant to salt lake city where his family made their homo home for the next twelve years mr hancock tells of his fathers owning property on what is now nov no v salt lake cites main street but dixie with its sunshine and mild winters was calling and who could foresee then th that at this property would become valuable for great stone buildings in a large and thriving city so it was sold for a song and the family moved south ox teams that had come collie across the plains carried the group and their possessions to washington county when they reached carawon Par awon lovison levison slipped and fell under tinder tile the wagon which crushed his leg leg he had to use crutches for six months but aul as soon as cl his 1110 leg idt mended aul cl 1110 idt lie he found a job and has never been without vit hout one since mince borrowing III a team he would haul wood and pay for the rent of the team in wood ile he earned less than twenty five cents a day at these labors when he was 14 years old he got his first real job working in a cotton factory in washington county for fifty cents a day about this time the united order a socialistic scheme adopted by the L D S church came into existence levison quit his job in the cotton factory and went to work for the order describing this setup set up mr air hancock explained pi that everybody in that section went into the order putting their property together all for it tach each man was given a job to do and his was working on a system of irrigation canals everyone ate together around a great table however if you preferred to eat separately food would be served to you this way mr hi hancock said the order failed to work out successfully and was soon abandoned youn young levison then 15 hired out with another young man james cooper to go to sunset arizona with a load of cattle he tells of fording a swift stream with the cattle who were started across the river quite a distance above the point where lie he and cooper were to cross and when they reached the opposite shore the cattle had floated far enough down stream to meet them and be taken safely out indian adventure after a short stay in sunset hancock and cooper with a couple of teams set out for utah along the little colorado river in northern arizona they aliey had what might have been a real adventure at least it was a few moments of quickened heart beats and hair on end out of a cloud of dust emerged ten naked indians on horseback believe me said leavison Let vison 1 I held my double barrel shot gun and six shooter in plain sight while cooper took the 1 14 4 dpn lit 7 I 1 f I 1 1 I 1 1 l ia 4 10 lenison hancock horses to the stream when the indians approached they stopped and asked the boy for something to eat from his sacks young hancock took some dried drici i meat and some flap jacks several days old the indians chewed awhile on the meat then spit it out and asked what it was they no doubt thought they had been eating leather leat lier the horses of the indians had been turned loose to graze a little and they started after them in the same direction ghere cooper was holding his horses levinsons Levi sons heart sank he feared the end of their horses particularly when lie he heard some screams and scuffles down toward the river starting in the direction of tile the noises he gone far when he me cooper coming to meet liim him leading the horses with great relief he asked what happened just as the indians got near the river they jumped a deer and with yells of delight started off after it cooper ans answered whether or not they owed their horses to the deer they never knew but that night neither one of them slept very well Ranch nian returning to airville adairville Ad a settlement near kanab utah levison asked a rancher for a job it ivas was sunday and in his best clot clothes lies the young m man an did not look like a cow hand and the rancher said to him do you know anything about cattle you bet I 1 do was hancocks eager reply well come collie up to kanab tomorrow and ill se what I 1 can do in his boots and chaps the next day levison really looked as if he anew knew something about cattle ile he went up to kanab to the ranch where cowhands were doctoring cattle however they were having a difficult time throwing some of the steers Weil dinc a rope hancock showed 1 them exactly how it was done and by that time his boss was sure he knew something about cattle visit to he worked on the ranch for a nu number biiber oi of years and was viall ell sat isfried with nith his work when he was about 19 he was one of a group who took look 1600 head ol of steers from kanab to denver the route they followed too look them into the strawberry section and this was levinsons Lovi Levi sons first glimpse of 0 the bas basin in here indians told them to move on when we heard th this Is warn ing we knew enough to get ou out t lovison levison said so we went ovel the ridge to heber atty around up provo river to the bear of colorado and into denver after return returning in from this tri trip P young hancocks next job was in in a mine at silver roof reef utah and when he was 21 1 he le married emily mangum whose family were also residents of washington county soon after his i marriage lie he set out again with cattle for snowflake valley arizona and tells an interesting tale how snowflake got its name two men one by tile the name of erastus snow and tile the other john flake purchased a huge ranch in an arizona valley which they paid for in cattle they named the valley snow snowflake flake a combi combination natio n of both their nan names les levison hancock ancock II helped move tho the cattle that paid for the ranch to new mexico returning to silver roof reef and his wife ho be again worked in the mine which was located directly below a timber area where ilan iian cock as a youngster used to go or wood As high as in ill n ulc ore d a baj day was vcr taken out of in ill ulc d baj vcr this rich mine THUS taus I 1 carne near ilear a fortune in my wood chopping even if I 1 dl di int know it mr hancock comments wanderings when work at the mine became scarce the hancock family took to rambling they lived for a time in in circle valley but the altitude was too high for mr hancock so he sold his farm and wen went i to blake utah the year 1902 found him in ashley valley where he had settled his family in tile the mill ward his next enterprise was vas a farm in n the reservation which lie rented from captain massey leaving ilis hiis family anich had now grown to eight in ashley he farmed this his tract of land for three years when the reservation was opened he moved his family here and the hancocks along with one of the harmstone Harms tons were ere the only people living in roosevelt during the w winter inter 0 of f 1905 and 1906 mr ilan hancock cock had built a log house the first built in roosevelt in the fall of 1905 and it was here that they wintered the house was located near hancock cove a section named for levison hancock the home in vernal was sold to willis johnson durin during the winter levinsons Levi sons I 1 youngest brother samuel who was makine his home with his brother died and it is believed he was the first white man buried on the reservation friend of indians during the years mr Hanc hancock 1 lived in this vicinity he ile becalel became well acquainted and greald respected by a number of InI indians ians freighting into the soldier camp at fort duchesne and the agency at whiterocks he became friends avith with some of the tribal chiefs including john duncan who still remembers him and calls him by name A son in law leslie goodrich had entered on a homestead in in the upper country section was pleased with the land aill an 2 urged his father in law to come up and share it with him so the hancocks final move was wal to bluebell where here they have remained ever since when the hancocks made their heir first trip to bluebell they tr traveled vel in a white top buggy with snow so deep it came up over the wheels in 1910 there were about six families living in bluebell a and nd bluebell soon after this the first 0 s to f fee and store were est established a blushed there by mr hancock 1 I have lave made this place my home ever since mr hancock will tell sou ou because its a fine place to live ane soil is fine and an j anything can be grown here but of course it wont grow by itself I 1 will never forget the watermelon patch we used to have near our house when we first came up here tile the watermelons water melons were t the he oest 1 ever tasted and so abundant we used to invite the indians in to eat all they could in order to get rid of them we have had some hard years particularly those of Cr ought but wonderful progress has been made in assuring water the yellowstone canal I 1 leading over this area from the moon lake darn dam will be this coun arys savior all we lack here are settlers sett lors bluebell offers an excellent place to build a home to raise a family and to develop some fine agricultural lands soon after the arrival of the hancock family a branch of the L D S church was established there which grow grew into a ward and levison hancock has served many years in the bishopric arri ani high council he and his faithful wife have reared a family to be proud of eight sons and daughters 60 grandchildren and 23 great grandchildren putting his arms around one of his great grandchildren some of whom are arc often around tile the store with him he said these are my proudest possession in them lies the future of the country