Angus M. Woodbury

“ Symbol of Nature’s handiwork, this central and most magnificent of Zion’s features still echoes the distant footfall of Spanish padre and American Frontiersmen passing unwittingly by its dooryard; it is mindful of the day when the first Mormon pioneer lifted uncomprehending eyes to the solitude of its summit, and of that other day when religious fervor called it Zion, the dwelling place of peace. Men have come, cutting their trails, building their roads, roofing their shelters, dreaming their dreams. ”

“ The Indians had claimed the lands, the vegetation and the wild game, and although they had given the first white men permission to come, yet so many others had followed, like the proverbial camel’s nose, that they were destroying the means of subsistence of the Indians. ”

“ Each clan or community within a tribe also had a definite area claimed as its own, the limits of 116 which were settled by agreement or war, and were clearly understood. Anyone entering foreign territory to hunt or fish without permission was regarded as an illegal trespasser and it was proper to make war upon him and even to kill him. Frequently the whites got into difficulties by not observing these Indian laws and customs.
When Indians of one group entered the territory of another, it was obligatory for them to go through a fixed ritual to obtain permission to do so. ”

“ Not only were seeds and fruits being eaten by the livestock, but game also was getting scarce and hard to find, due largely to encroachment of cattle and sheep which were taking the place of deer upon the range. The white man hunted the Indians’ deer so why should not the Indian hunt the white man’s cattle? There was some compensation to the Indians, however; they could glean in the grain fields of the settlers and gather waste grain as easily as they could seeds, and pine nut crops were uninjured by the whites. ”

“ In the words of John Dennett, an old settler of Rockville, this “gave them an idea of some other kind of food beside grass seed and wild game.”
As the whites increased and became strong enough to defy the Indians, the attitude changed from one of fear to that of domination. Although they continued more or less to feed the begging Indians, they soon put a stop to thievery on the range, punishing it in many cases by death. This transition was marked by bitter feeling and even by war between the races. In time, it became increasingly difficult for the Indians to maintain themselves. ”

“ When Silver Reef, a mining town of 1500 people, was flourishing in the 70’s and 80’s it is known that venereal diseases were spread among the Indians. Fatalities from disease and the diminution of food supplies were undoubtedly heavy factors in the drastic reduction of the Indian population. Of the estimated thousand Parrusits living along the Virgin River in the 50’s and 60’s, there was only one survivor (until his death in June, 1945) , an old fellow called Peter Harrison, who lived among the Shivwits Indians on the Santa Clara reservation. ”

“ Throughout the United States, agitation for better roads gained ground as the automobile assumed a larger place in our national consciousness. The first transcontinental auto trip was made about 1900 and much difficulty was experienced in finding passable routes. The old pioneer wagon roads, disused since the completion of the transcontinental railroad in 1869, had fallen into disrepair and were obliterated or washed by erosion in many of the desert and mountainous areas so that they were often forgotten and nearly impassable. ”

“ In spite of the fact that primitive cliff dwellers used to live in Zion Canyon, the Indians of more recent date appear to have avoided it as a camping ground. There seems to have been something mysterious and foreboding in the gloomy depths of twilight and darkness that appalled these semi-savages. So far as can be determined from both Indians and early white settlers, the natives especially avoided the canyon after sundown. O. D. Gifford, a pioneer of Springdale, says they never camped above its mouth. They would go up the canyon in the daylight but invariably would come back before dark. ”

“ The period following early settlement was marked by Indian troubles with both Paiutes and Navajos. These are sometimes called the Navajo raids, and in part were an outgrowth of the “Black Hawk War” which broke out in Sevier Valley, central Utah, in 1865. The whites had brought with them their livestock, which they grazed upon the public domain, turning the cattle and horses loose and herding the sheep. These animals multiplied rapidly and quickly depleted the edible fruits and seeds upon which the Indians subsisted. ”

“ The coming of the Mormon pioneers gradually upset the Paiute government. The whites frequently settled on Indian camp sites and occupied Indian farming lands. Their domestic livestock ate the grass that formerly supplied the Indians with seed, and crowded out deer and other game upon which they largely subsisted. This interference with their movements and the reduction in the food supply tended eventually to bring the Indians into partial dependence upon the whites. ”

“ Both Indians and whites appear to be in complete agreement that tu-weap means ground, earth, or place. It is the rest of the word which is in doubt. William W. Seegmiller, who is familiar with the Indian language, is of the opinion that it is named for a chief of the Virgin River Indians named Mukun, and therefore simply means the land of Mukun.
Old George of the Kaibab Indians pronounced it Mukoontau′-weap, with accent on tau, and said it meant straight canyon. ”

“ Four men from the fort rushed in pursuit and after dark recovered about thirty head of cattle, but the Indians escaped with about an equal number.
The Indian menace was so serious by this time that Erastus Snow ordered all stock in the region south of St. George and the Virgin River as far east as Kanab removed to the north and west of the lines of settlements so that it would be easier to ward off Navajo attacks. This was a difficult task because the grazing was poor around the settlements and the mountains to the northwest were already filled with livestock. ”

“ When Jacob Hamblin led a third expedition across the Colorado River to reach the Moquis in the fall of 1860, he was met by a band of unfriendly Navajos who would not let the missionaries proceed and debated whether to kill them or let them go home. With the Mormons were several Indians, including two squaws. The Navajos offered to let the party go in peace if they would leave the squaws. This Hamblin refused to do, and an agreement was finally reached whereby the missionaries were allowed to return home in exchange for goods and ammunition. ”

“ John Dennett, who farmed in Zion for many years after 1875, says the Indians never raised crops in Zion, except the little they did for the white settlers; and that they were very superstitious about the canyon. Other early settlers add the same testimony.
Tony Tillohash, an educated Shivwits Indian, says an Indian would not dare go alone into Zion Canyon. The solitary traveler might be killed without warning. Kai-ne-sava was not the main spirit in the supernatural hierarchy of the Paiute, an honor reserved for the Wolf-god, variously rendered as Shin-na′-wav or Sin-na′-wava. ”

“ Each county can do little by itself in road building. It is a state problem and must be worked out by our state officials.
Times, however, were rapidly changing. The automobile was displacing the horse and the demand for good roads for auto traffic was being met by ever larger road appropriations by the state and the nation. However, the opening of the scenic areas of southern Utah and northern Arizona to the touring public is largely a story of highways.
The Kaibab and North Rim
North of the Colorado River and south of the Utah line lies that variegated country known as the Arizona Strip. ”

“ Here and over in the Dixie Land to the westward, the people live a simple, healthy life, unspoiled by the world and its vagaries. Children of the soil ... of one faith and with a singleness of purpose....
We lost our way and our tempers getting over the Sahara bordering Kanab. A lone sheep herder saved us on the second morning out and we floundered into Kanab over twenty-four hours late, just as Uncle “D” Woolley was starting a posse of Indian Scouts after us.
The Kings took Dave Rust for guide and went over to Zion Canyon. ”

“ In that year a party of Spaniards passed through the region and crossed the Virgin River within twenty miles of Zion Canyon without knowing of its proximity. This was the remarkable expedition led by Fathers Dominguez and Escalante through portions of New Mexico, Colorado, Utah and Arizona. The object of the expedition was two-fold. The Spanish government desired a direct route from Santa Fe, New Mexico, to the Presidio of Monterey, California, and the priests themselves had dreams of founding new Indian missions in the unexplored territory beyond the Colorado River. ”

“ Those who could not buy or rent a house simply dumped their belongings in the shade and set up housekeeping under the trees. Some moved their log houses with them, others made dugouts and still others built new log houses.
Although the outlying towns had been abandoned, the crops had been planted and had to be tended. Workers went in armed groups of ten, twenty, or thirty to the fields, usually remaining during the week in the more distant places and returning to Rockville on Sunday. In Zion, headquarters were at the Behunin cabin, where eight or ten men usually camped while working the crops. ”

“ Prehistoric man came and left his ruins, relics and pictographs strewn along the floor of the canyon, hidden under sheltering arches and boulders, buried in mounds or etched on the faces 112 of the cliffs. Myths, legends and traditions played their part in linking the ancient inhabitants with the modern Indians. ”

“ The Navajos were adroit raiders. In rounding up stock they would often camouflage themselves with bush foliage, crawling past the unsuspecting guards to stampede the herd. Or they would skin a young steer, leaving hoofs and horns in place and throw the hide over a brace of Indians, who would steal to the corral under cover of darkness, let down the bars, and quietly drive the stock away.
These raids were costly. Not only did the settlers live in constant 177 fear, but a heavy toll of livestock, estimated in 1869 at 1200 horses and cattle, was taken. ”

“ While his friendly acts were to be appreciated it was not always possible to distinguish his manifestations from those of Kai-ne-sava.
These supernatural beings, apparently, were not familiar spirits. Never were they directly encountered. Their manifestations were veiled and it was only by signs and implications that they could be interpreted. Anything not clearly comprehended was likely to be interpreted by the Indian as a manifestation of the preternatural. Zion Canyon was full of mystery; it was a place where anything might happen, especially in the shadows and darkness. ”

“ After Dominguez and Escalante, the next pathbreaker of importance to enter the region was Jedediah Strong Smith, a trapper and trader bent on expanding his fur business. He was probably the first to finish the task started by Escalante, that of finding a route to the coast, which he traversed in 1826 and again in 1827. Smith’s epochal explorations, like Escalante’s a half-century earlier, were circuitous in nature and his first trip covered an area now embraced by four states, Utah, Arizona, Nevada and California. ”

“ What dreams of empire held their thoughts as they trekked across the plains can only be conjectured. [17]
Outposts, forts, and settlements were scattered throughout the vast area they hoped to dominate. Western Colorado, southwestern Wyoming, southern Idaho, Utah, Nevada, northern Arizona and southern California were all included in their colonization plans. Strategic points throughout this whole vast empire were to be occupied and controlled. The intervening territory would be filled in later with the great number of converts to the faith pouring in from Europe. ”

“ On May 20 he met a band of Ute Indians under the leadership of the well known chief, Walker (Wah-kerr) , journeying southward to levy the annual toll upon the California caravan. Fremont says, “They were all mounted, armed with rifles, and use their rifles well.... They were robbers of a higher order than those of the desert. They conducted their depredations with form and under the color of trade and toll for passing through their country. Instead of attacking and killing, they affect to purchase, taking the horses they like and giving something nominal in return.” ”

“ Carmel highway, one of the most spectacular engineering feats in the history of road-building. From the canyon floor the road turns to the east up Pine Creek Canyon and spirals upward on a four-mile roadway to a tunnel paralleling the face of the vertical cliffs for 5,613 feet. Five galleries cut from the tunnel to the canyon wall offer the motorist vantage points for viewing the awe-inspiring scenery. Construction within the National Park cost $2,000,000; from the Park to Mt. Carmel a state and federal project, also cut in great part from solid rock, cost in excess of $500,000. ”

“ Riding the cable proved an attraction for those gifted with strong nerves. At a later date, Frank Petty came to operate the sawmill at the top of the cliff. He was a large man, weighing nearly 300 pounds, too heavy to travel comfortably up and down the trails, and the road around the Arizona strip to his home in Rockville being too long for convenience, he took to riding the cable. On one occasion, as he started down, the lumber on which he was riding struck the top of the cliff and loosened the chain holding one end of the load. ”

“ They sent missionaries among the Indians, established missions among them, cultivated friendship with those around the settlements and bestowed gifts and goods upon them. It was easier to penetrate 138 by feeding and friendship than by fighting; moreover, this policy was in line with the teaching of the Book of Mormon that the Indians (there called Lamanites) would be converted and absorbed and would become “a white and delightsome people.” This Mormon policy of keeping peace with the Indians smoothed the course of settlement and improved opportunities for expansion. ”

“ It seems to have been old father Behunin who proposed the name of Zion, to which the others agreed. Isaac Behunin had been with the Mormons ever since they left New York. He had helped build the Temple at Kirtland, Ohio, and had at one time acted as body-guard to the founder of the Church, Joseph Smith. He had been through all the “drivings of the Saints” in Missouri and Illinois and nourished the typically bitter resentment towards the “enemies” who had been responsible for such “atrocities.” ”

“ During the late 80’s, John W. Young (son of the Mormon leader) , representing the Mormon Church in England, conceived a grandiose scheme for interesting English aristocracy in the Kaibab as a private recreation area. He acquired the major holdings there and stocked it with cattle and horses. Dan Seegmiller of Kanab was placed in charge of operations. Young’s scheme fell through, but he was not discouraged. He enlarged his plan for making the Kaibab a great hunting ground and center of tourist travel with hotels and lodges for the English nobility. ”

“ By 1923, passable auto roads reached Zion, Kaibab, North Rim, Bryce Canyon, and Cedar Breaks, but some of the routes were circuitous and it required a great deal of extra travel to 205 make the loop. Thus the road from La Verkin to Zion had to be retraced in order to go from Hurricane to Pipe Springs, while to reach Cedar Breaks a special side trip was necessary from either Parowan or Cedar City, and to get back to Cedar City from Bryce required a routing through Panguitch and Paragonah. Popular demand was growing for shorter and more direct routes as well as for better roads. ”

“ After his partner’s death, E. D. Woolley began taking parties into the Kaibab and North Rim. He was the most prominent man of the Kanab region and logically the one to take the lead in its development from the north side of the Colorado River.
Despite his zealous interest, difficulties of transportation, poor roads, distance from the railroad, slow method of travel, all conspired to prevent significant development. Woolley finally conceived the idea of making a trail from the South Rim (rail terminal) across the Grand Canyon via Bright Angel Creek. ”

“ On the other hand, tillable land in Zion Canyon was not brought under cultivation for a dozen years or more.
Flat lands suitable for agriculture in Zion were found in two areas along the canyon floor, separated by a mile or more of rocky, steep-sided canyon difficult to travel. The lower area, in which Springdale was located, was a narrow valley less than a mile wide and four or five miles long separated from the Parunuweap fork of the river by a reef of Shinarump Conglomerate, more resistant to erosion than the overlying Chinle shales in which the valley had been cut. ”

“ Within a few weeks, a group of eighty Navajos arrived at Kanab on a trading expedition. They came on foot and brought all the Navajo blankets they could carry. They scattered among the settlements and traded their blankets for horses and returned well satisfied with the experiment.
Peaceful trading continued until the winter of 1873-74, when a party of four young Navajos was caught in a snowstorm near a ranch in Grass Valley, Sevier County. They made themselves at home at the ranch and even killed a small animal for food. ”

“ The concentration in the larger towns and the military control of the movements of people in the region tended to reduce the danger to the settlers. Tension with the local Paiute Indians was 175 gradually eased, although the Navajo raids continued for several years. Jacob Hamblin, Utah’s “Leatherstocking,” played an important role in quieting the Paiutes. In the fall of 1867, he was instructed to keep in touch with the Indians and do his best to pacify them. ”