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: Fifth Book of the Faith-Promoting Series, Designed for the Instruction and Encouragement of Young Latter-day SaintsHamblin, Jacob
History
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: Fifth Book of the Faith-Promoting Series, Designed for the Instruction and Encouragement of Young Latter-day Saints
Hamblin, Jacob
Frontier and pioneer life -- Utah; Hamblin, Jacob, 1819-1886; Indians of North America -- Utah; Latter Day Saint churches -- Utah
While I was making an effort to save some property near the caving
bank of the stream, the ground on which I stood suddenly slid into the
water, about twenty feet below, and took me with it.
I still stood on the mass of dirt, but realized that it was being
rapidly washed away from under me, and that I was liable at any moment
to be precipitated into the raging torrent.
The thought flashed through my mind that there was not one chance in
a thousand of my being saved. I heard someone say above me that I was
gone; it was of no use to try to save. I shouted at the top of my voice
"It is of use to try to save me! Bring a rope and throw to me, and haul
me out before the bank caves and I am gone!"
In a few moments I felt a rope drop over my head and shoulders. I lost
no time in grasping it, and was pulled up just as I felt the last
foothold giving way under me.
Again was my life preserved by that kindly providence which has so
often saved me when in imminent peril.
What seems remarkable in the history of that gloomy night is, that in
a few minutes after being rescued from death myself, I should be the
means of saving another life.
A heavy and rapidly increasing current of water was now running between
the fort and the bluff.
In some way or other a sick woman had been left in one of the rooms of
the fort, and her husband was almost frantic with the idea that his
wife was lost, as he did not think she could be got out. She had a
young child, which was safe outside, while the mother was in peril.
I took the rope that had been the means of saving myself, tied one end
of it to a tree, and holding on to it, got safely to the fort, where
I fastened the other end. I entered the room, drew the woman from the
bed on to my back, placed her arms over my shoulders and crossed them
in front. I told her when I got to the running water that she must hold
herself on my back, for I would be obliged to lay hold of the rope with
both hands to get through the water.
When we arrived at the point of danger, her arms pressed so heavily
on my throat that I was nearly strangled. It was a critical moment,
for if I let go the rope we were sure to be lost, as the water was
surging against me. I made the best possible use of time and strength,
and reached the shore safely with my burden, to the great joy of the
husband and children.
The flood swept away my grist mill and other improvements to the value
of several thousand dollars. Most of the houses and the cultivated land
of the settlement also disappeared.
In the autumn of 1862, it was thought best to again visit the Moqui
villages. President Young recommended that we cross the Colorado River
south of St. George, and explore the country in that direction, with
the view of finding a more feasible route than the one we had before
traveled.
A company of twenty men were set apart for this purpose, by Apostles
Orson Pratt and Erastus Snow.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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