Mormon Settlement in Arizona: A Record of Peaceful Conquest of the DesertMcClintock, James H.
History
Mormon Settlement in Arizona: A Record of Peaceful Conquest of the Desert
McClintock, James H.
Arizona -- History -- To 1950; Latter Day Saints -- Arizona -- History
"One day my father sent me to trade a horse with an old Navajo Indian
chief. I was a little fellow and I went on horseback, leading the horse
to be traded. The old chief came out and lifted me down from my horse. I
told him my father wanted me to trade the horse for some blankets. He
brought out a number of handsome blankets, but, as my father had told me
to be sure and make a good trade, I shook my head and said I would have
to have more. He then brought out two buffalo robes and quite a number of
other blankets and finally, when I thought I had done very well, I took
the roll on my horse, and started for home. When I gave the blankets to
my father, he unrolled them, looked at them, and then began to separate
them. He put blanket after blanket into a roll and then did them up and
told me to get on my horse and take them back and tell the chief he had
sent me too many. When I got back, the old chief took them and smiled. He
said, 'I knew you would come back; I knew Jacob would not keep so
many; you know Jacob is our father, as well as your father.'"
In 1878 Hamblin moved to Arizona and was made a counselor to President
Lot Smith. He was appointed in 1879 to preside over the Saints in Round
Valley, the present Springerville, living at Fort Milligan, about one
mile west of the present Eagar.
He died of malarial fever, August 31, 1886, at Pleasanton, in Williams
Valley, New Mexico, where a settlement of Saints had been made in
October, 1882.
Hamblin's remains were removed from Pleasanton before 1889, to Alpine,
Arizona, where was erected a shaft bearing this very appropriate
inscription:
"In memory of
JACOB V. HAMBLIN,
Born April 2, 1819,
Died August 31, 1886.
Peacemaker in the Camp of the Lamanites."
Chapter Nine
Crossing the Mighty Colorado
Early Use of "El Vado de Los Padres"
The story of the Colorado is most pertinent in a work such as this, for
the river and its Grand Canyon formed a barrier that must be passed if
the southward extension of Zion were to become an accomplished fact. Much
of detail has been given elsewhere concerning the means of passage used
by the exploring, missionary and settlement expeditions that had so much
to do with Arizona's development. In this chapter there will be
elaboration only to the extent of consideration of the ferries and fords
that were used.
The highest of the possible points for the crossing of the Colorado in
Arizona, is on the very Utah line, in latitude 37. It is the famous "Vado
de los Padres," the Crossing of the Fathers, also known as the Ute ford.
The first historic reference concerning it is in the journal of the
famous Escalante-Dominguez priestly expedition of 1776. The party
returning from its trip northward as far as Utah Lake, reached the river,
at the mouth of the Paria, about November 1. The stream was found too
deep, so there was a scaling of hills to the Ute ford, which was reached
November 8.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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