Times Square (Day 24)

"Geographically our 42nd and Broadway lies exactly in the center (the Colorado River Basin).  Like Times Square, it has its popular name, Lee's Ferry.  For nearly four centuries everybody has eventually showed up here at the confluence of the Colorado and the Paria."   Frank Waters 


September 25, 1884 - Badger Creek to Lee's Ferry
Day 24 of 44 - Week 4 (Day 5)
Badger Creek to Lee's Ferry = 10 Miles: Total Miles = 439
Total Trip Average Miles per Day = 18.3: Average Miles per Day - Week 4 = 13.6

Original Journal Entry (posted at right)
Thursday Sep. 25
Hitched up and drove to Lee's Ferry 10 miles Sandy half way - very many large Revines - arrived at the Big Colorado about 2 o'clock could not cross the river that night.  Paid $1.00 per span for lucern.

Final Journal Entry (Charles P Anderson Journal - p 6) Thursday Sept. 25.  Hitched up and drove to Lees Ferry 10 miles, sandy half way.  Arrived at the Big Colorado 2 o'clock.  Could not cross the (river) that night.  Paid $1.00 per span for feed.

On the five mile road to Lees Ferry

Click here for a short video and article on  Lee's Ferry

On September 25, 1884, like so many other pioneers who traveled to Arizona by wagon, the Anderson family also showed up at Lee's Ferry, which has been called the Grand Central Station of the southwest.  This was the only route for over 250 miles to cross the Colorado River and continue their journey in Arizona.

In Panguitch, Utah the Andersons had been told by Warren Johnson's wife not to worry they could cross at the lower ferry, but that was not to be.  In two days they would face the most difficult part of their journey over Lee's "backbone."

Just over three months earlier, June 12, 1884 the water level was seven feet higher than the ferryman had ever seen it, and it was still rising.  On June 18, 1884 the river peaked.  It almost reached the houses.  By July 7, the river had only receded two and one-half feet from its peak.  At that time, it was said it would be  later in  August before the lower site could be used.  Charles must have been grateful the river wasn't as bad as when William  Allen  had crossed.  No doubt William Allen had spoken of this when they they had arrived in Junction, Utah on September 14 (Day 13) and the Andersons had "received much information about the road." (C.P. Anderson Journal, Sep. 14). Apparently William's wife and children were so frightened of the precipitous road that they refused to ride in the wagon and got out and walked.  To make their distaste for the place complete, a strong wind heralding another storm, blew in as they crossed the river.  They did not feel safe until they landed on the right bank.  William Allen had been one of the original four captains of the 1876 migration and this was a representative climax to his trying Arizona adventure.  (Lee's Ferry by P.T. Riley P 99-100)  

Navajo Bridge
The original bridge was completed in 1929.  This new structure was completed in 1995. Click here for more information

The photo on the cover shows the still-under-construction Navajo Bridge which spans the Colorado River's Marble Canyon near Lees Ferry.  The bridge opened the following year.  A new Navajo Bridge opened in 1995, but the original bridge is still open to pedestrians.  The opening of this bridge signaled the end of an era.  Lee's Ferry was no longer needed.

Marble Canyon Lodge and Trading Post at Lee's Ferry (Click Here)

Marble Canyon Trading Post and Dining Area

Road to Lee's Ferry

Enter the Lee's Ferry road by turning  off Hwy 89A (map above).  It is about a 5 miles drive to the Launch Ramp.  On your way you pass Cathedral Rock, Cathedral Wash (Canyon) and Balanced Rocks. The next blog will show the Launch Ramp, Lee's Ferry Historic District, Lonely Dell Ranch, and the surrounding area.

Entrance to the road for Lee's Ferry

Cathedral Rock, about one-half mile from Marble Canyon Lodge.
  Everyone who came to Lee's Ferry passed by this prominent rock
 - including Dominguez and Escalante.

Some interesting balanced rocks occur on the road to Lee's Ferry. The cliffs are being eroded by wind, frost and water.  The balanced rocks, called hoodoos, are formed by differential erosion -- the softer rock below erodes faster than the harder rock above.  The boulder on the pedestal is a roof protecting the soft rock underneath.  The water, wind, and sand abrasion will cut at the soft layer pedestal and eventually the boulder will fall.  The process will continue creating many more interesting rock structures until the hill is eroded away. (deseretusa.com)

Close up of  a balanced rock

Cathedral Wash Hikes

Navajo Bridge Interpretive Center

Navajo Bridge Interpretive Center

 Don't forget to visit the Navajo Bridge Interpretive Visitor's Center   

Navajo Bridge Interpretive Center

It was ten miles from Badger Creek to Lee's Ferry.  Once again  the journal and  google maps agree.  The routes taken by the pioneers and today must be very similar.  I can't see how a much different route could have been taken.

Tomorrow the Andersons will camp near the ferry.  The family with all the animals would not cross the Colorado River due to strong winds until

September 27, 1884.

But Charles was able to cross and see the "Backbone" that would become a challenge to them.  He would also go boat riding.  I have crossed the river several times to see the "Backbone."  Thanks to Tom Johnson, I have also been on a boat ride.  In the next blog we will "tour" the Lee's Ferry area, and see things the way they were, and also the way they are now.

Rowboats in the launch area.  The "Backbone is on the front cliff on
the right.  It is easy now to cross the river due to the Glen
Canyon Dam which releases water at controlled levels.

Crossing the river on the ferry.  Due to the wind the Andersons had to
wait another day to cross with the wagons and animals

The boat ride Tom Jensen, pictured here, took me on
was much different than what Charles went on in 1884.

This quote expresses my thoughts

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The Creeks Were Named For A Badger (Day 23)

September 24, 1884 - Soap Creek to Badger Creek (Vermillion Cliffs)

"It seemed that God had tried to make up in color what
he had left out in vegetation."  Juanita Brooks
(photo: jaypatelphotography.com)

Badger Creek (Vermillion Cliffs) near Badger Canyon (see map) is part of the Vermillion Cliff's National Monument  

Day 23 of 44 - Week 4 (Day 4)
Soap Creek to Badger Creek = 6 Miles: Total Miles = 429
Total Trip Average Miles per Day = 18.7: Average Miles per Day - Week 4 = 14.5 

September 24- 26

September 23 -24

Original Journal Entry (posted above)
Wednesday Sep 24
Horses came down to camp at daylight, fed grain and turned them up the canyon on good feed.  Stayed there until 3 o'clock shooting at marks etc.  Went after the horses and drove to Badger Creek 6 miles.  Sandy and rocky - water dried up - turned out on good feed - next morning there was plenty of water in the the creek.

Final Journal Entry (Charles P Anderson Journal - p 6)  Wednes. Sept. 24 horses came to camp at daylight - fed grain and turned them up the canyon on good feed - stayed there until 3 o'clock shooting at marks etc.  Went after animals and drove to Badger Creek 6 miles.  Sandy and rocky - water dried up.  Good feed.  Next morning there was plenty of water in the wash.

This was the fewest miles travelled in one day since the journey began.  They took a break at Soap Creek before they left and shot at marks.  This allowed time for the horses to rest as well. They waited until 3:00 P.M. to start for Badger Creek some six miles away. This will be one of the shorter blog posts.




Before they left Soap Creek (Cliff Dwellers) , they "went after animals."   I stayed the night before at Soap Creek and before I left, I also walked up what was probably the same canyon. It looked like there was plenty of water for the animals.  There is a video (Cliff Dweller's Lodge - Honeymoon Trail Hike).on Day 22 to follow the route up Soap Creek. 

Badger Creek was so named because Jacob Hamblin killed a badger there.  He then took it to  Soap Creek  where he attempted to make a stew of the badger.After boiling it all night in the alkaline water the stew was more soap than soup. That is how Soap Creek was named.

Badger Creek (Vermillion Cliffs)

Honeymoon Trail Road at Vermillion Cliffs

Vermillion Cliffs

Badger Creek Road at Vermillion Cliffs

Badger Creek at Vermillion Cliffs

Northern Arizona Guide Service

Lees Ferry Lodge

Lee's Ferry Lodge

Take a minute to click here and sit on the patio to see more views of the area

The journal says it was 6 miles from Soap Creek to Badger Creek as
does the map.  I won't argue but this would depend where they actually camped compared to where the map is measuring the distance.  The map is measuring from Cliff Dwellers Lodge to Lee's Ferry Lodge (and adds a little mileage for Honeymoon Trail Road).  They possibly camped nearer to Soap Creek east of Cliff Dwellers Lodge and west of Lee's Ferry Lodge.   But rounding the number would still put them at 6 miles.  They were "right on." 

The most difficult part of their journey would be at the next stop, This was the only place where they could cross the Colorado River for 260 miles.  This was due to the shale deposits which slop gently up to the river here.  Everywhere else along the Colorado from Moab, Utah to Laughlin, Nevada, the Colorado has cut through limestone and sandstone which creates vertical cliffs and gorges as it erodes, thus making it impossible to ford.  (Deseret USA).  In fact at Lee's Ferry a visitor can drive to the Colorado River, right up to the first rapid in the Grand Canyon.  A natural corridor between Utah and Arizona, Lee's Ferry figured prominently the exploration and settlement of northern Arizona.  It is now a meeting of the old and the new. (NPS)

Looking down at Lee's Ferry from the cliffs above

Additional Maps showing Soap Creek Trail, Honeymoon Trail Road and  Badger Creek Road





































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Reconstructing the View near Jacob's Pool (Day 22)

September 23, 1884 - (near) Jacob's Pools to Soap Creek

Day 22 of 44 - Week 4 (Day 3)
(near) Jacob's Pool to Jacob's Pool to Prairie (nooned) to Soap Creek = 15 Miles: Total Miles = 423
Total Trip Average Miles per Day =  19.2 : Average Miles per Day - Week 4 =  17.3 Miles

September 23 - 24

September 21 - 23

Original Journal Entry (posted above)

23 Hitched up drove 3 miles to Jacob's Pools very sandy - filled our barrals and drove out on the prairie - nooned very sandy - drove to Soap Creek - arrived after dark.  Teams nearly "give out." road very sandy came 12 miles from J. Pools.  Turned the horses up the canyon no feed.

Final Journal Entry (Charles P Anderson Journal - p6)

Sep 23.  Drove 3 miles to Jacobs Pools - very sandy, filled our barrels and drove out on the prairie - nooned - very sandy, drove to Soap Creek, arrived after dark.  Teams very tired - road very sandy.  Came 12 miles from Jacobs Pools - turned horses up the canyon - no feed.

Note on Jacob's Pool:  I've seen it written both as Jacob's Pool and Jacob's Pools.  Also mention is made of Rachel's Pool.  I believe it was first named Jacob's Pools after Jacob Hamblin.  Later John D. Lee purchased the property.  He may have called it Rachel's Pool or Pools after his wife Rachel.  

Note on the route taken:  This blog will follow the route taken today following Highway 89A and the dirt road off it between mileposts 557 and 558.  It is not possible to know where they camped the day, before, or where they nooned on the prairie going toward Soap Creek on this day.  

Yesterday the Anderson family camped three miles from Jacob's Pool in a very sandy area.  Today they would noon east of Jacob's Pool on the prairie at another very sandy place.  Perhaps those areas appeared like those located near the signs below.  Both of these very sandy places would not be far from where the Dominguez-Escalante Expedition halted on October 25, 1776, or where the abandoned stone house next to an old corral is located.  Of course the monuments or stone house were not there in 1884.

Dominguez-Escalante San Bartolome Campsite

The road that leads to Jacob's Pools is three-tenths of a mile past milepost 557, which is approximately a half mile east of the San Bartholomew Historic Marker and the Dominguez-Esalante commemorative sign. In several places on the trail to Arizona the Anderson family followed the Dominguez-Escalante route of over 100 years earlier.  I have been on the road just east of the monument in my car and can say that I didn't go all the way to the stone house in (described below) my car because it was very sandy.

The same year (p130) Congress endorsed the Declatation of Independence, a party of twenty explorers set off from Santa Fe, the capital of the Spanish province of New Mexico.  Led by two Franciscan friars, Dominguez and Escalante. They hoped to establish a route to the Spanish mission at Monterey, California.  By October, they were in southern Utah.  Casting lots, the expedition had made the difficult decision to return home, and attempt to blaze a more direct trail back to Santa Fe.  The two roadside plaques (below) commemorate where the San Bartolome Campsite halted October 25, 1776.  From here they followed much  the same route as the Anderson family would travel the next two days to Lees Ferry.    The experience of the two groups at the ferry were much different as  will be discussed in the posting on Lees Ferry. For more information on the Doninguez-Escalante Expedition click here and here

Dominguez-Escalante Expedition 1776-1976

San Bartolome plaque

Today Jacob's Pool is part of
Vermilion Cliffs National Monument. The road to
stone house located between mp 557 and 558

Stone house on the way to Jacob's Pools (today)

Approximately three-tenths of a miles past milepost 557 is an unlocked gate and then a dirt road on the north side of the highway leading approximately two miles north to an abandoned stone bunkhouse and several wooden corrals.  The walls of the stone house are in fairly good condition however, most of the steel roof has blown off along with the doors and windows.  Most of the corral gates and several sections of fence have fallen down and are now lying in crumbled heaps on the ground.(Wayne Tomasi)

This ranch structure is believed to have been built near the turn of the 20th century by B F. Saunders who at the time was running cattle all over House Rock Valley for the Grand Canyon Cattle Company.

Arriving at the stone house (pictures by John and Shirley Bloomfield)

Front of  the house

 Front door of the house

Inside of the house

Looking west from inside at the corral

Shinumo Alter named by Frederick Dellenbaugh because it looked like an alter.  View from the front door of the house

 "Drove 3 miles to Jacob's Pools"

In 1872, John D. Lee begin "to set up headquarters for a cattle ranch at Jacob's Pool.  He had already filed claims on the spring at House Rock and Soap Creek as he had been advised to do.  But the Pools was much larger than any of these others, and located in a sheltered cove surrounded by miles of fine grazing land.  Jacob Hamblin's exploring group several years earlier had discovered this spring, which they named "Jacob's Pools."  To the Lee family it was now "Doyle's Retreat" or simply the Pools." ("Emma Lee," by Juanita Brooks).  

This area was also called Rachel's Pools after Rachel Lee who lived there.  People who are confused over the names Jacob's Pools and Rachel's Pools simply called the entire area The Pools.  The topo map has the location marked at the site of the Saunders' ranch house, which is about a mile southwest of where Rachel's house and the pools are actually located.  (Wayne Tomasi)

The Andersons may have seen some of the remains of Lee's first"home"at the pools(below)

John D. Lee, William (Billy), Rachel, and Amorah stand before the willow shanty that they later replaced with a stone house (Courtesy of Utah State Historical Society, Salt Lake City)
(John D Lee's Cabin at Jacob's Pools (p184)  and  ("Emma Lee," by Juanita Brooks - Plate III)   

"We commenced building a Shelter to shield us from the burning Elements of the Sun.  Rachel Andora and Amorah and I pining and setting the Posts ready to receive the willows, while James and the little Boys were cutting and hauling the willows, and my Daughter Amorah weaving the willows in to form the sides." (John D. Lee Diary - Monday May 27, 1872).

Before they had it finished, they were visited by Professor Beaman, who had been the photographer for the first Powell company on the river.  He wrote an article and published pictures of the half-finished "shanty" as though it were a permanent home, when actually it was intended for a milk cellar.  Lined with Navajo blankets, it was only fifteen by twenty feet.  Later that year, Lee would start a stone house near the springs which was much larger, with cellars, two parlors, two bedrooms, and a kitchen.  But, of course, Beaman's picture became the accepted one of Lee's "home" at the Pools. ("Emma Lee," by Juanita Brooks)

How to reach Jacob's Pools (Rachel's Pools) 

For now I'll call it Rachel's Pools because it probably had her name at least while she was there.  From the parking area at the ranch house, follow a distinct road leading northeast.  The road is drivable for half a mile or so but since it crosses into the Paria Wilderness Area about 200 feet from the ranch house, you might want to leave your vehicle at the ranch and walk.  Shortly after crossing into the Wilderness Area, the road takes a steep dip and descends sharply into a drainage where a 2-inch rusty metal pipe is exposed where it crosses the creek bed.  The road narrows and skirts along a man-made shelf above the creek on the east side.  Sometimes there is a flow of water in the creek.  The crude road ends at Rachel's Pools where there are several stone walls and remnants of Rachel Lee's rock house, however, there is little left of the original structure.  The primary water source for this area is at the end of a bowl-shaped boogie that is overgrown with willows.  The shallow pools at the base of the swamp may be Rachel's Pools.(Grand Canyon Hiker's Archive)  Another description of the route is available  here.

What is left of Rachel Lee's rock house.


The two photos  below show the general area where the rock house is located.

Recreating the View

Mark Klett and Byron Wolfe are photographers.  This video shows how they connected a contemporary picture with the historic image.  I was interested in this also because of the California condor which I discovered had just about become extinct at one time.   I blogged about that in my last post.

Of more interest to me is how Klett and Wolfe  take new photographs that show the same space photographed earlier.  Below is a photograph made in 2010 in the area near Jacob's Pool.
Byron Wolfe is in the photograph. 

This same photograph was taken by William H Bell one hundred thirty-eight years earlier..  This photograph was taken just a few months before the picture of this area was taken by E. O. Beaman of John D. Lee's cabin at Jacob's Pools. I planned to take a photograph in this same place by the time I did this posting, but that didn't happen.  I even purchased a hat that looks much the same.  Hopefully that will happen soon.

The photograph below also by Klett and Wolfe in 2010, is entitled Searching for Jacob's Pool at the base of the Vermillion Cliffs.  I plan to be search for the same place in the near future.

photograph of left insert of the above picture

taken by William Bell, 1872

 photograph of right insert of the above picture

taken by William Bell, 1872 (stereo card)

Enlargement of right half of stereo card

 

The Anderson family "Drove to Soap Creek - arrived after dark."

Soap Creek (Cliff Dwellers, Arizona)

Soap Creek got it's name when Jacob Hamblin reconnoitered northern Arizona between 1858 and the early 1870s on behalf of fellow church members who hoped to settle in the area.  While he scouted for trails, river crossings and water sources, Hamblin caught a badger in what is now called Badger Canyon.  He boiled the critter in the next canyon downstream.  The intensely alkaline water combined with the fat from the badger, produced soapsuds, which gave the canyon its name

Cliff Dwellers was started when Blanche and Bill Russell established a small trading post here in 1920.  They camped next to Soap Creek where they constructed the unique rock house for which the community received its name.  The cowboys who drove cattle on the AZ strip called the Russell homestead 'Cliff Dwellers' because of its proximity to the Vermillion Cliffs.

Cliff Dweller's Lodge and Restaurant

Cliff Dwellers Lodge upon the hill

Early Cliff Dwellers Lodge Area

chick rock or Pigeon Rock

A unique rock house nearby

This video is from the opposite direction coming into Soap Creek, but it will give some idea of the area.  The video ends just East of the  Cliff Dwellers Lodge near Soap Creek.  This is where I hiked (see video below) down the trail from the outhouse (1:32) at the right of the screen. The lodge is a great place to spend the night.  I always stop at the trading post at Cliff Dweller's Lodge for an ice cream sandwich.  Here is a little more history of Cliff Dwellers.

The canyon (below) in this video is probably where the Andersons turned their 
horses in the evening and again the next morning.  Charles Anderson said
 he went up the canyon the next day (Day 23) for the horses.  I followed his 
footsteps when I hiked up this canyon.  It looks like there was water for the
horses.

 Cliff Dweller's Lodge  is the perfect place to spend the night.

The mileage worked out for Day 22.  They traveled 15 miles.  The map has 12 miles from Jacob's Pool to Cliff Dwellers (Soap Creek).  They actually camped three miles West of Jacob's Pool so that would equal the 15 miles.  They would have been just North of Highway 89A shown on the map, but 15 miles works just about right on the map and in the journal as well so I'll take it.

Tomorrow they would go to Badger Creek.  You already know how this canyon received the name Badger Creek (see Soap Creek above)

Zane Grey
Theodore Roosevelt at Jacob's Pool
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