Signature Rocks - House Rock Spring (Day 20)

Week 4

September 21, 1884 - Buckskin Mountain to House Rock Spring

Day 20 of 44 - Week 4 (1/7)
Buckskin Mountain (foot) to Top (nooned); House Rock Spring=28 Miles :Total =399 Miles 
Total Trip Average Miles per Day = 19.95  : Average Miles per Day - Week 4  = 28

September 20 - 21, 1884

September 21, 1884

September 21 - 22, 1884

Original Journal
(posted)

Sunday Sep 21
Started Earley - doubled up the Buckskin Mt. very rocky- Nooned on top - hitched up and drove to foot of mt. 16 miles from where we camped.  There we saw a sign board for water two miles from the road, we unhitched and took our animals two miles for water but found none; came back and hitched up and drove to House Rock Spring after 12 miles after dark.  There was two companies from Arizona one from Mesa and one from St. John's who was dissatisfied with the place they said that St. John's was no place for a poor man."

]

Final Journal Entry (Click and go to Page 6 of journal) 

Sunday Sept. 21.  Started early, doubled up the Buckskin Mt., very rocky - nooned on top - hitched up and drove to foot of B. Mt. 16 miles.  Saw a sign for water, unhitched and drove our horses 2 miles, but found no water, returned to wagons, hitched up and drove to House 
Rock Spring after dark, 12 miles.  There was two companies camped there, leaving Arizona, one from Mesa, the other from St. Johns - backsliding missionaries, they said that St. Johns was no place for a poor man.

Note:  This is the longest daily journal entry Charles made on the trip so far.



Buckskin Mountain Passage

My guide through the Buckskin Mountains

Buckskin Passage (note sign above)

House Rock Spring

This area provided some of the best water of all the waterholes.  Also there was good grazing and firewood.  It was a major resting place.  (Take Up Your Mission, p73)

The area under the rock below (left photo) was the "roof" of Jacob Hamblin's "House Rock Hotel" which gave the valley its name.  It was just a big block of sandstone fallen from the cliff and looking more or less house like, with a cave in the side which served to shelter Hamblin and his companions in their first exploring trip.  One of them took a piece of charred wood from the camp fire and wrote "Rock House Hotel" on the front of rock before they went on and the valley has borne this name.(Sharlot Hall on the Arizona Strip, p59)  The next blog will tell more about Sharlot Hall referenced here.

The French family from Tucson, Arizona were with me when I visited House Rock Spring.

The cliffs and rocks around House Rock Spring became the register of the Arizona migration as the travelers took time to chisel their names and sometimes the dates

 of their visits.   (Take Up Your Mission, p73).

 Carving of C. C. Olsen dated Jun 11, 1888 shown below.
Note:  The inscription looks like 1888, but C. C. Olsen died in 1887.  Is this 
actually 1883?  It is believed the family went to Arizona in the Spring of 1883.
Research is being done to help determine this. 

C. C. Olsen

A short video at the end of this blog will speak more to the inscriptions at House Rock 

"Joseph Adams from Kaysville - To Arzonia and Busted"

There has to be a story behind the name of Joseph Adams carved June 6, 1873

Joseph Adams inscription

May Whiting

After a long illness, May Whiting died while returning to Springville, Utah with her family. 

 More of the Whiting story which includes their trip back to Utah and the her death

can be read here.

"But Old House Rock is staunch in his vigil" (see poem)

May Whiting gravestone
 (see  findagrave.com)

 Charles and Anna Anderson were two of the travelers mentioned in the poem below to pass by the grave of May Whiting. She had died just two years before.  This is one of seven verses of a poem written about her by Bertha Anderson Kleinbahn

The years have been long since we left her

To sleep on the hillside alone,

But Old House-Rock is staunch in his vigil

And dearer and dearer has grown

That desolate mound in the Wasteland,

And many the travelers who tread,

To strew their wild flowers above her,

And tell of the lonely one dead.

Today those who travel to House Rock can see her grave on the hillside.  More details

 on the Whiting family and their trip to Utah can be read here

May's father was Edwin Whiting who was the great grandfather of Rex Lee of St.

Johns, Arizona who later became President of Brigham Young University.  

Ending this blog page is a short video on this  "secret place."

This map does not show the exact route the family took from Navajo Well to House Rock Spring.  It is about 35 miles not 28 as shown here.  From their camping spot to House Rock Spring is about 28 miles according to the Anderson Journal.  I compared 
the Bushman and Tate accounts and they agreed with this mileage.  So 7 miles are not accounted for on this map meaning they probably took a longer route over the Buckskin Mountains than is shown. I hope to travel the route again and see if I can find the discrepancy.

An item of interest today near House Rock Spring. is the largest North American land bird which at one time was near extinction.  Sometimes you can see the them  flying overhead.   Sharlot Hall will be introduced in the next blog.   Then we are on to the next watering place, Jacob's Pool.

Sharlot Hall

California Condor

KSL InSight - Primetime
Signature Rocks (House Rock Spring)

Did your ancestors carve their names at House Rock Spring?

Drop their names in the comments below and I'll check. 

If they aren't at House Rock, they may have inscribed them at other places along the trail.  I'll look for them and tell you when we get there.

The "Honeymoon Trail" - Navajo Wells (Day 19)

September 20, 1884 - Johnson to  Buckskin Mountain

Day 19 of 44 - Week 3

Johnson to Navajo Wells (nooned) to  Buckskin Mountain = 15 Miles: Total Miles = 371 Miles
Total Trip Average Miles per Day = 19.5: Average Miles per Day - Week 3 = 17.1
Average Miles
Week 1 = 20.2
Week 2 = 21.7
Week 3 = 17.1
Total Average = 19.5

September 19 - 20, 1884

September 20 - 21, 1884

Original Journal Entry
Saturday 20.  Drove from Johnson to Navajo Wells and nooned.  Some very heavy sand - Crossed the line of Utah and Arizona traveled 8 miles, hitched up and filled the barrals and drove to foot of Buckskin Mt. 7 miles - arrived there after dark.

Final Journal Entry
Saturday Sep. 20. Drove from Johnson to Navajo Wells and nooned - heavy sand - crossed the line of Utah and Arizona, filled barrels and drove 7 miles to foot of Buckskin Mountain, arrived after dark.

Note:  The original entry shows eight miles and seems to indicate the 8 miles included crossing the Utah/Arizona border.  The final journal entry does not mention the eight miles.  See google maps below for mileage explanation.The Tate and Bushman Journal accounts indicate it is between 7 and 8 miles between Johnson and Navajo Well.  The final entry only says they "filled barrels (at Navajo Well) and drove 7 miles to the foot of Buckskin Mountain.

Before Highway 89

A short distance past the Johnson Cemetery going south and 3.1 miles coming north from Highway 89 are Eagle Gate Arch #2, and Lion's Head.  Going South Eagle Gate Arch #2 is on the east side and Lion's Head on the west almost directly across from Eagle Gate Arch.

Lion's Head

Eagle Gate Arch #2
Named after Eagle Gate Arch in Salt Lake City
Click HERE for another picture

Navajo Well

Corral west of Navajo Well

Navajo Well - 1/4 mile west of the monument

"Honeymoon Trail" monument
 east of Navajo Well
To read the plaque click here

This monument was dedicated Thursday, April 7, 2016
It is located 15.2 miles east of Kanab
and just .4 miles south of Highway 89

To read more about the dedication ceremony and the "Honeymoon Trail" click here.

.

"Honeymoon Trail" plaque

Pioneer Gap

Jacob "Hamblin and his group were almost certainly the first white men to use the Gap route as they headed for the Colorado river via House Rock Valley in the early 1860s. One often reads in Jacob's diaries about stopping at Navajo Well, a key watering place just west of the Gap. (Wixom, p74)

"There are few landscape changes.  The terrain looks as seemingly remote and lonely today as it must have 100 years ago." (Wixom, p74)  The Anderson family went through Pioneer Gap  from Navajo Well to begin their journey over the Buckskin Mountains. 

near Pioneer Gap

"Drove 7 miles to foot of Buckskin Mountain"

"Honeymoon Trail' signs today before reaching their camping place on 

September 20, 1884.  They also crossed the Utah/Arizona state line

Map A:  The route today from Johnson Cemetery to Navajo Well.
Map B:  The route to Buckskin Mountain.
Map C:  The route from Johnson Cemetery to House Rock.
The Anderson, Tate, and Bushman Journals indicate it was about 7 miles from Navajo Well to the foot of the Buckskin Mountains.  From there it was about 16  miles up, over, and down the mountain.  Then 12 miles to House Rock Spring.  This would equal about 35 miles which does not  match the map below (refresh to see mileage)



Map A:  Shows an L  shaped route today following current highways to Navajo Well.  The pioneers would have taken a more direct route following the trail.   The Tate and Fish accounts of the journey show the distance from Johnson to Navajo Well to be about 8 miles, not nearly 11.  Also the map takes the distance to be from Johnson Cemetery and not Johnson.  There may have been a slight mileage difference.




Map B:  The C. P. Anderson Journal says they went 7 miles to the foot of the Buckskin Mountain.  The map shows Buckskin Mountain at 10 miles so the foot could be seven miles.  The title, "Unnamed Road," shows about where seven miles would be.  The Bushman Journal say the foot of Buckskin Moutains was 8 miles (Mar3) from Navajo Well, and the Tate account says 7 miles (p60).

Map C:  Press + and/or refresh to show the mileage.  This map shows nearly 40 miles from Johnson Cemetery to House Rock Spring (where they would travel the next day)  The Bushman, Tate, and Anderson accounts show the distance to be about 43 miles.  See the map on Day 20 for further clarification and a slight addition to the route.

Today the family traveled only 15 miles because tomorrow would be a long day.  They needed the rest as did their animals.   They would be going up, over, and down the Buckskin Mountains, and then to House Rock Spring. They would meet some people leaving Arizona on their way to Utah.  The grave of May Whiting who had died two years earlier was at House Rock   They would see inscriptions of former travelers who had stopped there.  Were your ancestors part of those travelers who made the journey?  Are their inscriptions at House Rock, other springs along the trail?  If you will drop their names in the "Comments" I will check., 

Inscription at House Rock Spring

Inscription at Navajo Spring

Inscription at Willow Spring

Article on Buckskin Mountains

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