We traveled steadily on, the country being dry and forbidding. Our beef cattle having run off, Ira Hatch and Luther C. Burnham went to find them. Burnham brought them into camp at Badger Creek, on the 26th, but it was 2 o'clock on the morning of the 27th when Ira Hatch got in from his fruitless search. That day we went on to Lee's Ferry, on the Colorado River. We had sent two men ahead to arrange for us to be ferried over the river, but they reported that it was not possible to cross that night. I thought differently, and as it was Saturday, I determined to get over. Some of the party objected and some were willing, and this division delayed our crossing with the wagons till about 10 p.m.; but we were safely over the stream. Next day our animals were ferried over. At the ferry, Mrs. Lee was out of provisions, and we helped her to some, and also gave her ten dollars, of which I contributed two dollars. Next morning she sent me a Navajo blanket and a cotton handkerchief.
We left Lee's Crossing on November 29th, and continued over a dry, rough, difficult road till December 3rd, when we reached Moancoppy, the pleasantest spot we had seen since before arriving at Kanab. I was impressed to make this place winter quarters, and designated a site for a fort. We were all pleased to have a rest from traveling, as our feed had given out and our stock was sick with the epizootic. Near this place there were some old Indian farms and a few stone huts laid up without mortar, but all had been deserted. There were also some springs near by.
The morning after we had camped there, a small hunting party of Navajos came in, and after we had given them their breakfast they smoked their corn-husk cigarettes and departed. A. S. Gibbons, Ira Hatch and I examined the country around Moancoppy, and found a few ponds of water and a good place for a reservoir to catch the spring rains; we also discovered a fertile spot of a few acres, and two small springs. December 5th was Sunday. We held a meeting, and all our company, thirteen in number, expressed themselves as feeling well and zealous in our missions.
On Monday we explored the vicinity, but found nothing inviting outside the neighborhood of our camp, where we all were satisfied a missionary station should be built, as it was the best we could do. We went to work getting timber and doing other necessary work, my part being to guard against hostile Indians. T. H. Haskell and Ira Hatch, our interpreters, went to the Oriba Indian village, some fifty miles away. On their return they reported all was peaceful; they were accompanied by Chief Tuba and his wife Telassinimki, who were highly pleased to see their old Mormon friends.
On the 8th we laid out a house twenty by forty feet and twelve feet high, to be built of stone. Our beef cattle having become very wild, we had to kill them and cure the meat.
J. C. Thompson, Ira Hatch, S. B. Tanner, L. C. Burnham and I started on December 9th on an exploring trip up the Little Colorado River and around the San Francisco Mountains. When we had gone twelve miles, breaking the road through the canyon, we were glad to find some pools of water, and to rest for the night. Next day we came to the Little Colorado River from forty to fifty miles above its mouth. The river bottom was about half a mile wide, and the water very low. We continued up the river to the Black Falls, where the stream passes over a ledge of volcanic rock twelve or fourteen feet high. Four miles farther up it ran through a very narrow gorge, and we had to pass over the hills through deep sand, which our team found it very difficult to cross.
Fifteen miles farther on we came to Grand Falls, where the river runs over shelving rocks for eighty to a hundred feet. Higher up the stream the bottoms widened out, in some places to four miles, the timber was better and the stream was larger. We killed two antelope and dried the meat. Our forward journey continued to the old Beel trail, then on to Sunset Crossing and the old Prescott road. Seven miles above was a mail station, and there, at 9 o'clock on the night of Friday, December 17th, the mail carriers met, and we learned some general news from them. Next day we traveled fifteen miles farther, to where some Mexican herders were camped with about four thousand sheep. The water in the river had improved in quantity and quality, and the surroundings were such that we felt we could recommend it as a place for settlement. We were also impressed to return to Moancoppy, and started on that journey on the 19th. We changed our course and took more to the hill country, heading for the San Francisco Mountains.
The return trip was very hard. We saw plenty of timber—the finest forest growth I ever beheld. On December 24th, when crossing the divide between the San Francisco Mountains and Mount Hendrick, we encountered a terrific snowstorm, and had to camp for the night. Next day we continued on our way, making slow progress in the deep snow. We passed below the snow line on a very rough country, where sometimes, with brake set, it took the four of us all we could do to keep the wagon right side up. We were thankful to reach the river on the 28th and Moancoppy on the 29th.
At a brief consultation that day, it was decided that I should return to Salt Lake City and report to President Young the result of our explorations. Next day the bandaging of my artificial leg gave way and T. H. Haskell repaired it. On New Year's Day, 1876, J. C. Thompson, W. H. Gibbons and I set out for Kanab, where we arrived on January 6th.
I requested Bishop Nuttall to forward me to Orderville, which he did. From there Bishop H. O. Spencer took his team and conveyed me to Panguitch. We met a heavy snowstorm on the road, the snow on the rim of the Basin being up to the wagonbox. From Panguitch I was forwarded to Monroe, where I telegraphed President Young that I would be in the city by January 15th. I was advanced by team from there to the railroad, where a pass sent by President Young was ready for me, and I arrived in Salt Lake City and reported to him at 6 p.m. on the 14th. At the railway station I was met by my children and the neighbors and two vehicles. If I had been President Young's own son he could not have received me more cordially than he did when I reached his office. After our conversation I returned home, where my folks thought I should have gone first; but they were overjoyed to see me, as I was to see them, all in good health and well provided for. We were highly gratified to realize that the Lord had heard and answered our prayers.