Back to the pioneers into Arizona

The 1873 Roundy Expedition to Arizona was almost a complete failure, likely more from the attitude of the pioneers, rather than any particular conditions in Arizona. Bishop Lorenzo W. Roundy has the distinction of drowning at Lee's Ferry in 1876.

"The year before the above incident, in the spring of 1873, President Brigham Young had called a number of people to establish settlements in Arizona. They met at the tabernacle in Salt Lake where they were given instructions by President Young. A company of these people headed by Lorenzo W. Roundy stopped in Kanab for a short time in April as they were on their way to Arizona. After the river was crossed, the expedition was abandoned when they saw the desert wasteland and because they feared Indians. They returned to Utah. Among these were Charles S. Cram and family, who first settled in Johnson, but later located at Kanab. They brought with them a number of cows and horses which they first ran in Stewart Canyon.

According to John R. Young, it was 1873 that the road over 'Lee's Backbone' near Lee's Ferry was built.

Zadok Judd, Jr., says that he, Walter Dinsor, and L. C. Mariger from Kanab worked with the other men in Southern Utah on this project. They repaired the road from Kanab and spent about three weeks building the road over Lee's Backbone. On their way home they met the Lorenzo W. Roundy company. He says, "Thus we opened the gateway from Utah to Arizona and it was, I suppose, the only wagon road used for many years."

From information attributed to a manuscript "History of Kanab" compiled from old journals, etc. by Rose H. Hamblin. See Jared Pratt Family Association.

Jacob Hamblin's Narrative gives a more complete account of the death of Bishop Roundy:

In May, 1876, Brothers D. H. Wells, Erastus Snow and other leading men among the Saints, were sent to visit the new settlements in Arizona. I was sent with them as a guide. The Colorado was then high — a raging torrent. The current shifted from side to side, and the surging of the waters against the rocks caused large and dangerous whirlpools.

We put three wagons and some luggage on the ferry boat. We were under the necessity of towing the boat up stream one mile, to give a chance for landing at the proper place on the other side of the river. When taking the boat around a point of rock, the water poured over the bow. Word was given to slacken the tow rope. In doing so, the rope caught in the seam of a rock, and the draft on the boat continuing, the bow was drawn under water.

In a moment the rapid current swept the boat clear of its contents. Men, wagons and luggage went into the surging waters. When I plunged into the cold snow-water to swim, my right
arm cramped, which caused me to almost despair of getting ashore. A large oar was passing me, and I threw my arm over it to Save myself from sinking. About the same time Brother L. John Nuttall caught the same oar, so I thought it best to try to swim with one arm. However, I was soon able to use both, and went safely to shore.

I ran down the river bank, got into a skiff with two others, pulled out to the heads of the rapids, and saved a wagon and its contents on an island. The other two wagons with all the valuables they contained, including the most of our supplies, passed over the rapids into the Grand Canyon of the Colorado. On getting together we found that Brother Lorenzo W. Roundy was missing. He was said to be a good swimmer, and it is probable he was taken with the cramp and sank at once. His body has never been found.

Brother Lorenzo Hatch sank deep into the river, but saved himself from drowning and was picked up by the skiff. Brother Warren Johnson and another man hung to a wagon until they were taken up with the skiff, just in time to save them from going over the rapids.

This unfortunate affair occurred on the 28th of May. We gathered up what was left of our outfit, and visited the missions at Mowabby and Moancoppy, and the settlements on the Little Colorado.

Little, James A. Jacob Hamblin; A Narrative of His Personal Experience As a Frontiersman, Missionary to the Indians, and Explorer. Disclosing Interpositions of Providence, Severe Privations, Perilous Situations and Remarkable Escapes. Designed for the Instruction and Encouragement of Young Latter-Day Saints. Salt Lake City: The Deseret News, 1909.

Birding in Arizona

Arizona's diversity is a major benefit to bird watching. From Ramsey Canyon in South, nearly at the Mexican Border to the Grand Canyon in the North, Arizona presents such a variety of habitats that there is almost not enough time in one's life to see it all.

There are a number of books available about Arizona birds. Here are a few of the most recent ones:

Burns, Jim. Jim Burns' Arizona Birds: From the Backyard to the Backwoods. Tucson: University of Arizona Press, 2008.

Alderfer, Jonathan K. National Geographic Field Guide to Birds. Arizona & New Mexico. Washington, D.C.: National Geographic, 2006.

Radamaker, Kurt A., Cindy Radamaker, and Gregory Kennedy. Arizona and New Mexico Birds. [Edmonton, Alta.]: Lone Pine Pub. International, 2007.

Tekiela, Stan. Birds of Arizona: Field Guide. Cambridge, Minn: Adventure Pub, 2003.

I have been using Peterson, Roger. A Field Guide to Western Birds: Field Marks of All Species Found in North America West of the 100. Meridian, with a Section on the Birds of the Hawaiian Islands. Boston: Mifflin, 1961 since I bought it new about 1970 or so. There are newer editions available. I shy away from coffee table books with glossy pictures, they seldom have much real information. I can't vouch for any of the books above, but we didn't fin the Tekiela book particularly useful.

Wikipedia has an extensive list of Arizona birds. Our all time favorite Arizona bird is the Gambel's Quail, Callipepla gambelii n Especially, when they have a lot of little baby quail running around their feet. We see dozens of them every morning. The birds I remember most and associate most with Phoenix/Mesa are the Mourning Dove, Zenaida macroura n and the Inca Dove, Columbina inca n

We are hoping to see a Condor on one of our trips through House Rock Valley or to the Grand Canyon but we have always just missed them flying by as of yet.

The Little Colorado River

Wikipedia

For the past few posts I have been giving the background for the Mormon pioneering of the Little Colorado River settlements. It is time to say something about the river.

For a good portion of my life I drank and bathed in the water from the Little Colorado River. It is a river in name only. In most parts of the country it would not even merit a name as a stream, although during parts of the year it is a raging flood. I could easily wade across and at some times even jump across the River.

There are a few things I distinctly remember about the water. The first is the taste. When I was young, in St. Johns, the water came out of the tap barely filtered. If you filled an ice cube tray with water from the tap (there wasn't anywhere else to get it) the cubes would come out half white and half red from the silt in the water. The water had a distinctive sandy gritty taste. All I have to do is think about it and I can still taste it in my imagination.

If you took a bath in the bathtub, you might want to fill the tub before you got in. In filling the tub you could always find two or three small leaches swimming around in the water. It was also a good idea to look at the glass before taking a drink.

The Little Colorado starts as a sparkling (they always use that word) mountain stream, high in the White Mountains of Arizona near Mount Baldy. As the river runs north out of the mountains it enters a small canyon and then runs into a large reservoir, Lyman Lake. The Lyman was the principal water supply for St. Johns and anywhere north. There was another small reservoir, called appropriately, the Little Reservoir, right off the hill from where I lived. But it was on private land and technically, even though it was "owned" by my uncle, we were trespassing when we played in the water floating rafts and swimming in the mud.

The Lyman was big enough for boats and water skiing. But during the current long drought it almost went dry several times. At the moment it is quite full as of 2009, but that could change by next year. There used to be a buffalo herd around the Lake, but it was removed quite a few years ago. Lyman Lake is a State Park and there is an entrance fee. There is also a nice campground and good fishing. But the State Park is scheduled to be closed because of budget cuts.

There are several Indian ruins along the River. Two of them have been open to the public for a charge. Raven House was promoted for a while and then closed to the public. There are two other ruins, Rattlesnake Ruins and Casa Malpais. Bother of which charge admission.

There are a number of springs and caves along the Little Colorado. The biggest spring is in the place called Salado or Salado Spring. It is a very deep artisan spring with clear water. The caves are mostly sink holes and as far as I could determine, very short. I always hoped that I would find a large cave, but it never happened.

After going north from St. Johns the River winds across the Plateau passing Hunt, Holbrook, Joseph City, Winslow and then going north to the Grand Falls. This is feature is either a little trickle of water or a roaring waterfall higher than Niagara. Eventually, after crossing most of the Navajo Indian Reservation, the River passes by Cameron and then into a deep canyon where it joins the Colorado.

The pioneers used the water for everything from drinking to washing. In a lot of the settlements it was the only water available. Next we will go back to the history of the settlements.

Routes to the Little Colorado

Wheeler's Geographic Survey Stereoscopic Views (1871-1874) Mouth of Paria River

For many years we have had a reproduction of a painting showing a group of Indians and Missionaries with Jacob Hamblin next to the Echo Cliffs. The official name of the painting is Chief Tuba and Jacob Hamblin, by John Jarvis, gousch, 1982. Interestingly, (to me anyway) the picture is painted right next to the Tanner Wash. By the way, a copy of Jacob Hamblin complete autobiography is here:
"Jacob Hamblin, a narrative of his personal experience, as a frontiersman, missionary to the Indians and explorer : disclosing interpositions of Providence, severe privations, perilous situations and remarkable escapes"

In the early 1870s Jacob Hamblin made several trips to the Hopi Villages and succeeded in surveying the different routes to the Little Colorado River area. Although the Little Colorado River is mostly a dry riverbed with a seasonal flow, it is the only semi-dependable water source in the entire area. Although from a modern perspective, it is practically impossible to understand why the Mormons would settle in such a desolate area, you can only begin to understand these settlements in the historic context of the time.

The Mormons had been literally driven across the continent by persecution. Our promised land consisted of a vast unexplored wilderness. Brigham Young's vision of the settlement of this wilderness did not include congregating in one large settlement. From the very beginning, Brigham Young sent out colonists to establish outposts in the major river valleys and along all of the major trade routes. This colonization extended from Canada on the north to Mexico on the south. There are hundreds of cities, towns and villages that were first settled by the Mormons. Some very large cities, like Salt Lake City, Las Vegas, Mesa and many others, have resulted from this early settlement. The harsness and isolation of the early living conditions created a social and cultural structure that gave a legacy to all of the descendants of those early pioneers. Those same societal and cultural structures are still a dominent force in their descendants.

Now back to the story. During the years of 1871 to 1873, Hamblin and the other missionaries located a settlement on the Paria River (now abandoned), started a ranch in House Rock Valley (now a tourist stop and staging area for Colorado River cruises) and laid out a practical route from Lee's Ferry to the Little Colorado.

The earliest crossing of the Colorado River at Lee's Ferry by wagons was in 1873 by a exploration party headed by Lorenzo W. Roundy. The party traveled southward to Navajo Springs, then to Bitter Springs and on to Moen Copie (now spelled Moencopi or Moenkopi) just south of present day Tuba City.

The Encyclopedia of Mormonism (Ludlow, Daniel H. Encyclopedia of Mormonism. New York: Macmillan, 1992.) notes that:

A party of scouts under Lorenzo Roundy examined the San Francisco Mountains and the Little Colorado River drainages for town sites. Brigham Young called 200 colonizing and Indian missionaries who, without adequate preparation, hurried south in the winter and spring of 1873. This mission foundered in the desert country north of the Little Colorado, and the missionaries retreated to Utah. Only John D. Lee and a few others held on at Lees Ferry and Moenkopi.

McClintock reports that Roundy "passed by a Moqui village and thence on to the overland mail route. The Little Colorado was described as "not quite the size of the Virgin River, water a little brackish, but better than that of the Virgin." In May of the same year, Hamblin piloted, as far as Moen Copie, the first ten wagons of the Horton D. Haight expedition that failed in an attempt to found a settlement on the Little Colorado." It is reported that the expedition reached the Grand Falls of the Little Colorado, but went no further.

Some of these 1873 missionaries stayed at Moen Copie (Moenkopi) until 1874 when trouble with the Indians convinced them to return to Utah.

At about this time, as stated by the Utah State University Libraries, a "Geographical Survey was led by Lieutenant George Montague Wheeler and traveled throughout the mountains, plains, and deserts in California, Nevada, Utah, Arizona, Idaho and New Mexico. The purpose of these expeditions was to create maps and gain information that would be useful for future military operations, for the establishment of roads, and for potential railways. In addition, the survey was to catalog natural resources and record the location and population of the Indian tribes."

Paving the way for the settlers -- a great conference with the Navajo

Fort Defiance, New Mexico (now Arizona) by Seth Eastman (1808 - 1875), painted 1873 Wikipedia.

By 1870 it was assumed that the Mormon pioneers would settle somewhere in Arizona. One of the most obvious impediments to the settlement was the Navajo nation. It is reported that in 1869 the Indians had stolen approximately $1,000,000 worth of cattle, horses and sheep in southern Utah. In the autumn of that year, Jacob Hamblin, at Major J. W. Powell's invitation, gathered with the Major's party and some others, including Ammon M. Tenney, Ashton Nebecker, Nathan Terry and Elijah Potter, with an Indian guide to attend peace talks with the Navajos.

McClintock relates an interview with Ammon Tenney in which the great council, including U.S. Army officers, Powell, Hamblin's party and some 8000 Indians, took place at Fort Defiance. Fort Defiance had been established as a military outpost in 1851.

The U.S. Government, by this time, had a long history with the Navajos. Tribal land had been reduced by the Bonneville Treaty of 1858. Other treaties had been signed in 1849, and 1861.

It is important to understand the immediate background of this meeting. The Navajo had been at war with the U.S. for many years culminating with an unsuccessful attack on Fort Defiance in 1860. However, because of the U.S. Civil War, troops were removed from most of the forts in Arizona. After the war, Brigadier General James H. Carleton and Kit Carson were sent with troops to restore order and subdue the Navajo. This was accomplished through a brutal campaign of repression ending with the wholesale removal of the majority of the Navajos to Fort Sumner, New Mexico. The exodus of the Navajos in 1864 is referred to as the "Long Walk."

Navajos on the Long Walk

In the Navajo Treaty of 1868 the remnant of the Navajos were allowed to return to their own lands. Despite the Treaty, raids along the southern border of Utah had continued unabated.

The Great Council was decidedly hostile. Hamblin spoke to the gathering and concluded as follows:

What shall I tell my people, the Mormons, when I return home? That we may live in peace, live as friends, and trade with one another? Or shall we look for you to come prowling around our weak settlements, like wolves in the night? I hope we may live in peace in time to come. I have now gray hairs on my head, and from my boyhood I have been on the frontiers doing all I could to preserve peace between white men and Indians I despise this killing, this shedding of blood. I hope you will stop this and come and visit and trade with our people. We would like to hear what you have got to say before we go home.

The response of the Indians as reported by McClintock is described as follows:

Barbenceta, the principal chief, slowly approached as Jacob ended and, putting his arms around him, said, "My friend and brother, I will do all that I can to bring about what you have advised. We will not give all our answer now. Many of the Navajos are here. We will talk to them tonight and will see you on your way home." The chief addressed his people from a little eminence. The Americans understood little or nothing of what he was saying, but it was agreed that it was a great oration. The Indians hung upon every word and responded to every gesture and occasionally, in unison, there would come from the crowd a harsh "Huh, Huh," in approval of their chieftain's advice and admonition.

It is notable that in John Wesley Powell's account the participation of Jacob Hamblin in the Great Council is entirely omitted.

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

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.

Indian trouble in old Northern Arizona

The exploration of settlement of northern Arizona was not free of frontier violence. Although the Indians were not being displaced during the early years of the exploration, they were a constant threat to the missionary/explorers. Dr. Jas. M. Whitmore and his herder, Robert McIntire were killed by a band of Paiede Paiutes and Navajos on January 8, 1866. The Indians also drove off horses, sheep and cattle. The incident reportedly occurred four miles north of Pipe Springs, just south of the Utah border with Arizona.

Quoting Gottfredson's History of Indian Depredations in Utah at page 179:

Early in the year 1866 the Navajo Indians who were on the Arizona side of the Colorado River, being more numerous and superior than the Shevete Indians who inhabited the Utah side of the river, would often cross over and compel the less powerful tribe to do their bidding. Frequently they also captured and made slave of some of them. On this certain occasion some of them crossed over and compelled the Shevet's who were camped in the neighborhood to assist in killing Dr. J. M. Whitmore and his hired man, Robert McIntyre, and drive away their sheep-herd and some cattle. This took place in the beginning of a big snow storm. When Dr. Whitmore and his hired man left the herd-house Whimore had on his overcoat and carried in pocket two twenty dollar gold pieces. The Shevete Indians secured the men's clothing but not knowing the value of money, the gold pieces were later recovered. The Navajoes took the sheep and cattle over the river and they were never recovered. About the 20th of January, 1866, a company of armed men from St. George went in search of the murdered men. They came across two young Indians and compelled them to assist in the hunt. They acknowledged having seen the killing, but claimed they had no hand in it. There was about eighteen inches of crusted snow on the ground and the bodies were covered up. The men rode forward and back, four abreast and finally Colonel Pierce's horse stepped over the body of Dr. Whitmore and uncovered one hand which was raised above the body. When the whites informed the Indians that one of the murdered men had been found, one asked if it was the man with whiskers. When answered in the affirmative, he said: the other is over this way, they followed the Indian and then found Mclntyre's body. There was a camp of Indians not far distant and Captain Pierce, with some of his men, went there and found the murdered men's clothing. The Indians refused to be taken prisoners and put up a fight, which resulted in seven of them being killed.

The McClintock version of the same incident is quite different in many details, at page 72:

There was pursuit from St. George by Col. D. D. McArthur and company. A tale of the pursuit comes from Anthony W. Ivins, a member of the company, then a mere boy who went out on a mule with a quilt for a saddle. The weather was bitterly cold. The bodies were found covered with snow, which was three feet deep. Each body had many arrow and bullet wounds. The men had been attacked while riding the range, only Mclntire being armed. A detachment, under Captain James Andrus, found the murderous Indians in camp and, in a short engagement, killed nine of them.

During the next few years there was continual conflict between the Navajo raiders and the Mormon colonists in southern Utah. The Shevete Indians are now more commonly called the Shivwits and there is no modern designation for the Indians referred to a Paiede Piautes.


Sources unless indicated
Gottfredson, Peter. History of Indian Depredations in Utah. Salt Lake City: Skelton Pub. Co, 1919.
McClintock, James H. Mormon Settlement in Arizona; a Record of Peaceful Conquest of the Desert. 1921.