| Show prominent figures in the Building of san juan kurnen kume n jones I 1 by ALBER ALBERT V BLYMAN every long struggle that was ever made mad e for the right has produced one I 1 value greater than al all others lothers human value vale men and women for fifty four years an unremitting battle has been in progress to make this rugged san juan a more tit fit dwelling place for men long periods of drouth plundering indians the wild frontier dangerous barriers to cross and a thousand stiff problems to solve in 0 order to carry on and live in the raw wilderness wild etness kumen jones has been right in the thick of that tight fight in every tone ione of those fifty tour four years his boyhood in southern utah was rl rich ch in the necessities which taught him to tide ride the th range handle a freight outfit meet the problem the farm and hunt wild game in the mountains and he was peculiarly fitted to be a guide a scout a pioneer when the call came to explore the new region this side of the colorado col coi lego lege warped minda deprecate this kind of education but it has been the only doiy training school for many of the most splendid and most efficient men bhoj who have helped to redeem the west J fifty four years ago it was consid 1 ered wise and necessary to plant a mormon colony some somewhere w he re on the stormy navajo border and kurnen kinnen jones twenty three ahr e years old I 1 became one of the campen company of picked scouts sen sent t out to find the most suitable place for the undertaking i they the colorado at ata lees ferry and from moan copy hunted their way and made their road to the he northeast across them the navajo deservi reservation to the mouth of the Montez montezuma umi on the san juan river hereafter here after prospecting the country in tall all directions ti ons they decided was the place jor for the colony in the late summer they went on north northward ward across the uncharted herrl tory to moab and returned by way of pastle castle valley to their homes in the southern utah settlements when the big company started that fall all for san juan heading away to find and tight fight their way through a region where never man had trod kumen kamen jones and his wite wife jj mary nielson Nl Ni elson elsIon daughter of jensen nielson Nl elson were along with their four horse outfit and all their meager possessions on the sixth of the following april the main gilain part of the company having been delayed all winter by hardships and surprises stopped fifteen miles short of montezuma because they were unable to go farther they decided to build a town there and call it bluff I 1 t in the making of the fort and the general big struggle to bring somewhat of order out of chaos brother jones was ready and on hand always helas he was mediator interpreter and general diplomat in the important matter of relationships with the indians no account of this length can give an adequate idea of the importance of the part he took and the many ways in which he served ile he was counselor in the for about thirty years band and served as bishop through an eventful period he managed the san juan coop co op store successfully for a long ioime time rode after cattle raised hay and corn com and gave his ready assistance to the numerous problems and necessities of the new settlement located as it was in the heart of a wild wide ivil wilderness mess in the many questions quest lons that came up afore before the settlers involving difficulty mid land danger he had hirthe the faculty of being on the right side so unfailingly that his wholesome influence for good Is remembered and appreciated by all who went through the struggle with him he is one of the very few survivors of that scout party of 79 and Is a pleasing example of what men may acome become by devoting their time and their talents to the veil ivell being of their jellows |
