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
On the east side of the river, we crossed some dangerous places, deep
canyons and steep rocks. Some of our animals fell and bruised their
legs; one was so badly injured that we were compelled to leave it.
Another fell from a cliff into a canyon and was killed instantly.
We made a line long enough to reach the animal by tying together
lariats and rope. A place was found where a man could descend to the
pack, and the things were hauled up in parcels.
After five days' traveling, visiting some of the Navajo ranches, and
talking with the people, we arrived at Tuba's house in the Oriba
village.
After feasting a day or two on peaches and green corn, we started for
the Navajo agency. We remained there over the Sabbath, and attended a
meeting conducted by a Methodist minister, employed by the government
to preach to the Navajos.
We were granted the privilege of speaking in the afternoon.
I spoke on the coming forth of the Book of Mormon, and about the
ancient inhabitants of the American continent.
On our way home we visited some of the principal Navajo ranches. Some
Navajos came to us to trade for horses. We camped one night with a
party at the rock where young Geo. A. Smith was killed.
One of them said he was there when young Smith was killed, and that
some of the Navajos tried to get up a dance over his scalp, but the
majority of the party were opposed to it, and the dance did not take
place. Most of them contended that the "Mormons" were a good people.
The party that thought it right to kill the "Mormon" said, if the
man who killed him would go and overtake his friends, and they would
give him a present, they would acknowledge the "Mormons" to be a good
people. He said the Navajo went on after us, and returned with a gun
that we gave him.
The fact that an Indian overtook us, and that we gave him a gun, and
recognized the revolver of George A. Smith on his person, has been
mentioned in the account of young Brother Smith's death.
We were told that the murderer soon died a miserable death, and the
Navajos believed it was because he had killed a "Mormon."
The Navajos continued to come to our settlements to trade, and went
about in small parties, or singly, as suited them. They placed all
confidence in us as their friends.
In 1871-72, I explored many places between Lee's Ferry and Uinta
Valley; assisted in locating a settlement on the Pahreah, in starting a
ranch in House Rock Valley, and in building a small boat at Lee's Ferry.
In the winter of 1873-74, I was sent to look out a route for a
wagon-road from Lee's Ferry to the San Francisco forest, or the head
waters of the Little Colorado. I procured the assistance of a Piute who
lived on the east side of the Colorado, and was somewhat acquainted
with the country. We readily found the desired route.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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