Old Jacob was a remarkable character, and must hold a place in the annals of the Wilderness beside Jedediah Smith, Bridger, the Sublettes, and the rest of that gallant band. But he differed in one respect from every one of them; he sought no pecuniary gain, working for the good of his chosen people, always poor and seeming to have no ambition for riches. Honest, slow and low of speech, keen of perception, quick of action, and with admirable poise and judgment, Old Jacob was one of the heroes of the Wilderness, and one of the last of his kind. Long ago I tried to persuade him to tell me for publication the story of his life, but he then intended to write it himself. Afterwards it was brought out by the Church in the "Faith Promoting Series."[110]
In 1855 the Mormons had progressed far enough into the southern Wilderness to settle on the Santa Clara near the Virgin, and in 1861 they founded St. George, now the principal town of that wide region. They also settled at Grafton and several other places up the Virgin which winds its way through a series of bounding cliffs that rival those of the Grand Canyon of the Colorado.[111]
As yet few white men since Escalante, in 1776, had crossed the great canyon barrier of the Colorado between the mouth of the Virgin and Gunnison Valley on Green River, a distance of about six hundred miles as the river runs. Escalante had hunted out the fording-place of the Utes, some miles above the mouth of the Paria, the only place in all that stretch where fording is possible even at the lowest stage of water, which occurs in the autumn and winter. The trapper, Richard Campbell, as early as 1840, perhaps as early as 1827, knew of the Crossing of the Fathers, as it was called because of Escalante's venture, and he also knew that a trail from Zuñi went there, but whether he had crossed is not clear. James O. Pattie had travelled along near the canyon edge for a considerable distance and finally reached Grand River, but his route is obscure, for his narrative gives few details of this important part of his remarkable journey from the mouth of the Gila to the head of the Yellowstone in 1826. When the Mormons reached southern Utah the whole length of the Green and Colorado from Green River Valley to the mouth of the Virgin was mainly unbroken Wilderness, only the extreme upper portion having been entered by trappers and the lower part, except the crossing of a few persons at the Escalante ford, was a complete blank. Ashley had made no record of what he saw in Red Canyon, and his voyage there was forgotten. Meek's trip through Lodore on the ice was likewise forgotten, and several other futile attempts to solve the mystery of the Colorado were vague memories in the minds of the trapper fraternity. Bridger and Carson had been near the upper canyons from time to time, and once Bridger attempted to explore the Green by following along the land, but soon gave it up for lack of water. He and his companions could see the river, but they could not get down to it. E. L. Berthoud, the engineer, in 1861 also made an attempt, but gave it up after one day for the same reason. There was, indeed, only one way to fathom the secrets of this river, and that was to start above with good boats and go down on the tide; but as yet no man had appeared with sufficient nerve and good judgment to make a successful attempt at it.
In 1861 Berthoud and Bridger explored a road from Denver to Salt Lake by way of Middle Park, crossing the Green near the mouth of the Uinta. This road was for the Overland Stage Company. Owing to the Civil War the project was abandoned, but a regiment of California volunteers marched this way from Salt Lake to Denver. The distance was 413 miles;[112] and there was small record of the features of the Wilderness through which the road ran. From the mouth of the Colorado at the Gulf of California up to within a short distance of Fort Yuma Lieutenant Derby, of the Topographical Engineers, made an examination in 1851, and later that same year George A. Johnson came to the mouth with supplies for Yuma, constructing there some flatboats for the purpose of transporting the cargo to the fort. The Gila at this time was the southern boundary in this quarter of the United States, but complications having arisen over an ill-defined portion of the line a new treaty was negotiated by Gadsden in 1853, by which, for a consideration of ten million dollars paid to Mexico, the boundary was placed where it is now. The mouth of the Colorado was not included, though navigation privileges were granted. The mouth of the river is of no value to Mexico and ought to be purchased by the United States, although the difficulty of navigation renders it of comparatively small importance.
In order to arrive at the Yuma post, situated at the mouth of the Gila, a steamer adapted to this kind of navigation was brought by sea from San Francisco by Turnbull. This was to ply between the fort and the Gulf at the mouth of the Colorado. She was named Uncle Sam, and it was only a few months before she struck a snag and went to the bottom. The power of the river, the immense quantity of sediment brought down and shiftingly deposited by every slack current, the earthquakes, and the fierce tidal bore, rendered navigation anything but easy. Turnbull gave up, but Johnson took the contract for transporting the fort supplies from the Gulf and soon had a new steamer in service, the General Jesup. This was followed by a second, the Colorado, one hundred and twenty feet long. Johnson became familiar with every bar and current and for years continued skilfully to operate his boats. He knew the history of that locality as perhaps no other man could know it.[113]
The Steamboat "Explorer" in which Lieutenant Ives, in 1858, Ascended the Colorado to the Foot of Black Canyon.
Sketch by H. B. Mollhausen.
In 1851 Sitgreaves reconnoitred the country about on the trail of Garces, and in 1854 Whipple, also for the Government, explored along the 35th parallel. The mighty gorges carved through the great plateau prohibited north and south travel, for they were well-nigh impossible to cross except at the one or two places mentioned. A mountain range of equal length and of the greatest magnitude would not have offered so tremendous an obstacle. In 1857 E. F. Beale surveyed a waggon-road along the 35th parallel for the Government, and Johnson, in his steamer, the General Jesup, went up from Yuma early in January, 1858, to ferry Beale across on his return from California. Before meeting Beale, Johnson pushed his steamer experimentally on up the river to the head of Black Canyon, the highest point attainable by steamers under the most favourable conditions. He did this to expressly anticipate the exploration planned by Lieutenant Ives, of the Topographical Engineers, who, the month before, December, 1857, had landed at the mouth of the river with sections of a steamboat, The Explorer, built in Philadelphia, with which he intended to find the head of navigation and also map the river. Ives conducted this survey with skill and accuracy, and while Johnson's manœuvre took from him the distinction of first ascent, nevertheless he remains the first explorer of the river in this region. He went to the foot of Black Canyon with his steamer and thence to the head of Black Canyon with a small boat. He visited the Grand Canyon at the mouth of Diamond Creek, the Havasupai Canyon, and also the Moki Towns. His report is a model of graceful diction, but many of the illustrations are preposterous. In 1866 Captain Rodgers took the steamer Esmeralda, ninety-seven feet long, drawing three and a half feet of water, up to Callville, not far below the mouth of the Virgin.