Jacob Hamblin and John Wesley Powell

TAU-GU, CHIEF OF THE PAIUTES, OVERLOOKING THE VIRGIN RIVER WITH J.W. POWELL, AGE 39. Circa 1873 - Grca 13806

In 1870, Jacob Hamblin met the explorer John Wesley Powell. Powell had descended the Colorado River the previous year. Three of Powell's men had been killed near Mount Trumbull, southwest of Kanab by Shivwits Indians. Although there is some recently manufactured controversy over the killings, Powell described the meeting with the Indians:

This evening, the Shivwits, for whom we have sent, come in, and after supper we hold a long council. A blazing fire is built, and around this we sit — the Indians living here, the Shivwits, Jacob Hamblin and myself. This man, Hamblin, speaks their language well and has a great influence over all the Indians in the region round about. He is a silent, reserved man, and when he speaks it is in a slow, quiet way that inspires great awe. His talk is so low that they must listen attentively to hear, and they sit around him in deathlike silence. When he finishes a measured sentence the chief repeats it and they all give a solemn grunt. But, first, I fill my pipe, light it, and take a few whiffs, then pass it to Hamblin; he smokes and gives it to the man next, and so it goes around. When it has passed the chief, he takes out his own pipe, fills and lights it, and passes it around after mine. I can smoke my own pipe in turn, but when the Indian pipe comes around, I am nonplussed. It has a large stem, which has at some time been broken, and now there is a buckskin rag wound around it and tied with sinew, so that the end of the stem is a huge mouthful, exceedingly repulsive. To gain time, I refill it, then engage in very earnest conversation, and, all unawares, I pass it to my neighbor unlighted. I tell the Indians that I wish to spend some months in their country during the coming year and that I would like them to treat me as a friend. I do not wish to trade; do not want their lands.

Heretofore I have found it very difficult to make the natives understand my object, but the gravity of the Mormon missionary helps me much.

Then their chief replies: "Your talk is good and we believe what you say. We believe in Jacob, and look upon you as a father. When you are hungry, you may have our game. You may gather our sweet fruits. We will give you food when you come to our land. We will show you the springs and you may drink; the water is good. We will be friends and when you come we will be glad. We will tell the Indians who live on the other side of the great river that we have seen Kapurats (one-armed—the Indian name for Powell) and that he is the Indian's friend. We will tell them he is Jacob's friend."

The Indians told that the three men had been killed in the belief they were miners. They had come upon an Indian village, almost starved and exhausted with fatigue, had been supplied with food and put on their way to the settlements. On receipt of news that certain Indians had been killed by whites, the men were followed, ambushed and slain with many arrows. Powell observes that that night he slept in peace, "although these murderers of my men were sleeping not 500 yards away." Hamblin improved the time in trying to make the Indians understand the idea of an overruling Providence and to appreciate that God was not pleased with the shedding of blood. He admitted, "These teachings did not appear to have much influence at the time, but afterwards they yielded much good fruit."

Much later recent accounts try to lay the blame for the killings on the Mormons, tying the whole thing into the Mountain Meadows massacre. However, the Mountain Meadows incident occurred twelve years before the Powell expedition in September of 1857. It stretches belief beyond credibility that Jacob Hamblin would have been even indirectly involved in killing anyone.

Sources unless indicated

McClintock, James H. Mormon Settlement in Arizona; a Record of Peaceful Conquest of the Desert. 1921.