ACOB j-JAMBUN
James A Little |
,v^
Jacob Hamblin
A Narrative of His Personal Experience, as a
Frontiersman, Missionary to the
Indians and Explorer
DISCLOSING
Interpositions of Providence, Severe Privations, Perilous
Situations and Remarkable Escapes
Fifth Book of
The Faith-Tromoting Series
By
JAMES A. LITTLE
Designed for the Instruction and Encouragement of
Young Latter-day Saints
SECOND EDITION
The deseset sews
Sail Lake Ciiy, Utah
1909
PREFACE TO FIRST EDITION.
CO
In issuing to the public this, the Fifth Volume of the Faith-
Promoting Series, we feel that we are making an addition to
our home literature that will be appreciated by the Saints
generally. The manner in which the former volumes of this
Series have been received, encourages us to entertain this hope.
Brother Jacob Hamblin has spent the most of his life as a
faithful, humble worker in the cause of God. Though he has
^ labored as a missionary such a great proportion of his time dur-
^ ing the past forty years, it has been in a sphere which has not
g brought him into prominence before the public. Even his name
~ has seldom appeared in pub'ic print. Brother Hamblin has never
ac sought notoriety. He has been prompted by motives far more
^ noble. He is such a modest man that he would be content to
" ever remain in obscurity. Indeed, it was only after earnest
solicitation that he was induced to narrate, for Brother James
A. Little's pen to record, the incidents herein published. How-
ever, though not written for that purpose, we trust the publi-
cation of this book will result in making him better known and
appreciated by his brethren atd sisters. It is a simple, un-
varnished recital of incidents of thrilling interest, remarkable
adventures and special manifestations of providence, that we
think cannot fail to entertain and benefit all who read it.
Brother Hamblin's testimony of God's goodness towards
him, and His willingness to answer prayer, should inspire and
strengthen young Latter-day Saints. His cheerful self-denial
28,1184
IV PREFACE.
his devotion to the work of the Lord, and the joy he has found
in it should stimulate them to zeal in emulating his example.
His portrayal of the policy pursued by the Saints in dealing
with the Indians, should enlighten strangers who may read this
book upon a subject about which this people have been greatly
maligned.
There are many important lessons to be learned from the
narrative herein published, and we trust that it may prove
profitable to all who read it.
1881.
PREFACE TO SECOND EDITION.
This little volume has deservedly proved to be one of the
most popular of the Faith-Promoting Series. The First Edition
was exhausted years ago. There is yet a call for the book,
and to supply this demand a Second Edition is issued.
June, 1909.
CONTENTS.
CHAPTER I.
Early Incidents of My Life — Providential Care Over Me — Marriage —
Hear the Gospel, and Embrace It — Signs Follow — Opposed by Rel-
atives— Predict My Father's Baptism ^ My Father Healed in
Answer to Prayer Page 9
CHAPTER H.
Arrival at Nauvoo — My First Interview with the Prophet Joseph-
Some First Impressions of the Character of the Gathered Saints —
Go East on an Important Mission — Death of the Prophet — Return
to Nauvoo — Providential Circumstance on the Journey Page 15
CHAPTER HI.
Sidney Rigdon Strives for the Guardianship of the Church — He Urges
his Claims at the Conference — Brigham Young, President of the
Twelve, and others of the Quorum Appear in the Stand— A Re-
markable Testimony that the Mantle of Joseph had Fallen Upon
Brigham Young — Persecutions of the Saints — Baptism of My Par-
ents— Preparations for the Exodus — Sickness — A Methodist Com-
forter— Answer to Prayer — Harvest of Quails — Miraculous Inci-
dents on the Journey to Utah Page 20
CHAPTER IV.
Locate in Tooele Valley — Indian Troubles — Escape Death by an In-
dian, by Following the Warning of the Spirit — Hunting Indians —
Sudden Aversion to Shedding their Blood — Decide to Protect them
at the Risk of My Life — Sent Again to Hunt and Kill Indians —
Testimony that the Lord Did Not v\ ant Me to Kill them, But to
Carry Peace to them — A Dream and Its Fulfillment Page 27
CHAPTER V.
Mission to Southern Utah — Locate at Harmony — Remarkable Prophe-
cies of H. C. Kimball Fulfilled — Indians Harvesting — Indian ''Med-
icine Man" — Indian Woman Healed Under Our Administration —
Accompany a Hunting Party — A Fight for a Squaw, in which I am
Compelled to Take Part — Sickness — Take My Family to Southern
Utah — Build a Fort on the Santa Clara — Rain in Answer to Prayer
— Counsel from President Young — We Refuse to Administer to the
Sick Until they are Washed — A Sick Boy Dies, and the Indians
Grow Mad and Threaten Us — We Follow and Pacify them.. .Page 33
CHAPTER VI.
Retributive Justice to the Indians — We (Jain Influence by it — The
Lord gives the Indians Testimonies of the Truth — War Between
VI CONTENTS.
two Bands of Indians — A Woman Burned to Death from Revenge —
Promptings of the Spirit — Stolen Horses Recovered — Government
Among the Indians — Appointed President of the Indian Mission —
Visit of Apostle George A. Smith — United States Army on its Way
to Utah — ^Elder Smith's Advice to the Saints — Mountain Meadows
Massacre Page 43
CHAPTER VII.
President Young Requests me to Pilot a Company to California — Save
a White Man from being Tortured by the Indians — Indians Deter-
mined to Kill the Company — I Pacify Them — Elders Ira Hatch
and Dudley Leavitt Sentenced to be Killed by the Mohaves — Elder
Hatch Softens Their Hearts by Offering a Prayer — Allowed to
Escape on Foot Page 50
CHAPTER VIII.
President Young's Indian Policy^Expedition to Los Vegas and Colo-
rado Rivers — Suspicious Steamer in the Colorado — Learn Its Pur-
pose— Go After a Load of Lead — Our Horses Stolen — Eat Prison
Cactus — Led by the Spirit Providentially Page 55
CHAPTER IX.
Visit to Salt Lake City — Interview Between Elder George A. Smith
and Governor Cumming — Elder Smith Urges an Investigation of
the Mountain Meadow Massacre— Governor Cumming Objects —
Appointed Sub-Indian Agent — Nearly Killed by a Fall from a Tree
— A Remarkable Vision — First Mission to the Moquis— Description
of their Towns, Customs and Traditions — Some of the Brethren Re-
main with them— Difficult Journey Home — Moquis Prediction.
Page 60
CHAPTER X.
Second Trip to the Moquis — Two Elders Left to Labor with them —
Lack of Success, Owing to Traditions of the Indians — Third Mis-
sion to the East Side of the Colorado — George A. Smith, Jr., Killed
by the Navajoes — Very Trying Experience — The Wounded Man
Dies in the Saddle, while Traveling — Forced to Leave his Body Un-
buried — Bitter Reflections Page 68
CHAPTER XL
Arrival at Spaneshanks' Camp — His Friendly Spirit — Return Home —
Journey in the Winter to Recover the Remains of George A.Smith,
Jr. — Destitute Condition of my Family Page 77
CHAPTER XII.
Many Saints Called to Settle Southern Utah — Destructive Flood on
the Santa Clara — Narrow Escape from Drowning — Another Visit
Across the Colorado — A New Route — Moquis Indians Pray for
CONTENTS. VII
Rain— Their Prayers Answered— Three Indiana Return with us —
Their Devotion and Reverence — ThevVisit Salt LakeCity. Page 80
CHAPTER XIII.
The Moquis Visitors Taken Home — Singular Presentiment of my
Indian Boy— The Route South of St. George Taken the Second
Time — Cataract Canyon— The Lost Moquis and the Medicine
Man— Meeting with the Brethren who had been Left at the
Moquis Towns— Exploration about the San Francisco Mountains
— Return Home — Great Suffering with Thirst — My Indian Boy
Dead and Buried as he had Predicted he Would be Page 87
CHAPTER XIV.
Change in the Spirit of the Indians — Some Insight into their Priva-
tions and Trials— They Threaten Hostilities— Difficulties with them
Settled— A Kind, Peaceful Policy the Best— Visit to the Moquis
Towns— The People are Invited to Live with the Saints— Their Ob-
jections to Removing— Hostile Attitude of the Xavajoes— Return
Home— Suffering with Thirst— A Providential Supply of Water—
Dr. Whitmore Killed by Indians — Severe Sickness — Healed in
Answer to Prayer ..Page 94
CHAPTER XV.
Travels Among the Indians — Watching the Frontiers— Trip to the
Moquis Towns — Great Raid of the Xavajoes- A Good Opportunity
Lost of Recovering Stolen Stock — Skirmishes with Raiders— A
Peaceable Agreement with the Navajoes Desirable — Visit of Pre-
sident Young to Kanab Page 99
CHAPTER XVI.
Visits Among Utah Indians— Meet Major Powell— Employed to Ac-
company him— Council with the Shi- Vwits— Major Powell's De-
scription of it Page 103
CHAPTER XVII.
Journey to Fort Defiance— Interesting Visit Among the Moquis
Towns— Arrival at Fort Defiance— General Council of the Chiefs
of the Navajo Nation — Great Peace Talk— Return Home — Treaty
of Peace in one of the Moquis Towns— Stolen Sheep Recovered for
a Navajo Page 106
CHAPTER XVIII.
Moquis Indians Destroy manj Navajoes— An Oriba and his Wife Ac-
company us Home— Peace Talk with the Piutes— A Dream and its
Fulfillment— Tuba's Prayer— Choog, the Indian Prophet— His Pre-
diction— Fatal Fire in Kanab Page 111
CHAPTER XIX.
Visit of Tuba and his Wife to the Washington Factory and Flouring
VIII CONTENTS.
Mill — Many Navajoes Come to Trade with our People — Take Tuba
and his Wife Home — More about the Death of Young George A.
Smith— Saints Called to Settle in Arizona — They Become Dis-
couraged and Return to Utah — Navajoes Murdered in Grass Valley
— War Imminent — Sent to Settle the Difficulty — My Friends
Alarmed — Two Miners Accompany me— Indians Call a Council.
Page 115
CHAPTER XX.
Indians Assemble— The Council Lodge — Accused of Lying to the
Indians— Informed that I must Die — Privilege Granted the Smith
Brothers of Escaping — They Refuse to Desert me to Save their
. Lives— Violent Speeches— Young Indians Eager for Revenge-
Interpreters Afraid to Speak— Indians Propose a Compromise —
350 Head of Cattle and Horses Demanded— I Refuse to Pay for
a Crime the "Mormons" never Committed — They Threaten to
Burn me — My Coolness Creates a Favorable Impression— An
Agreement — We Regain Our Liberty Page 123
CHAPTER XXI.
Smith's Version of the Trying Ordeal — A Graphic Description from a
Gentile Standpoint — Some of his Statements Explained.... Page 129
CHAPTER XXH.
Start Home — Meet Emigrants to Moancoppy — Visit Presidents Young
and Smith— Return to Meet the Indians, According to Agreement
— A Seve'-e Trip — Providence Favors' rae—Hastele Fails to Meet
me— Return Home— Moancoppy Mission Broken up — Sent with D.
D. M'Arthur to Establish a Trading Post — Hastele Visits Kanab—
He Starts to the Sevier to Learn About the Murder— I Conclude to
Stay at Home— A Testimony that I Should Accompany Him— Indian
Discernment— Hastele is Satisfied Page 136
CHAPTER XXIIL
Visit to Fort Defiance— Mr. Daniels, In.spector of Indian Agencies —
His Prejudice Against the "Mormons"~Mr. Trewax, the Preacher
—Final Peace Talk— Moancoppy Mission Again Established.
CHAPTER XXIV.
A Company Start to Visit the Arizona Settlements— Disaster in the
Colorado River— Bishop Roundy Drowned— Others Barely Escape
—Explore a New Route for a Wagon Road— President Young's
Promise Fulfilled— Visit the Little Colorado Settlements— Severe
Experience on the Homeward Trip— Assurance of Approval from
President Young — Trip Across the Colorado in Search of a Criminal
— Moquis Ceremonies to Bring Rain —The Rain Comes- Conclusion.
JACOB HAMBLIN.
A NARRATIVE OF PERSONAL EXPERIENCE.
CHAPTER I.
Early Incidents of My Life — Providential Care Orer Me — Marriage —
Hear the Gospel, and Embrace It — Signs Follow — Opposed by Rel-
atives — Predict My Father's Baptism — My Father Healed in
Answer to Prayer.
I was born in Salem, Ashtabula, Co., Ohio, on the 6th of
April, 1819. When I was three months old, my father removed
to Geauga Co., in the same State. That country was then a
wilderness, covered with a heavy growth of timber. In my
early life I assisted my father in chopping timber and clearing
land.
It required twenty faithful days' work to clear one acre,
and render it fit for the harrow and a crop of wheat. In about
three years the roots of the trees would decay, so that the soil
could be worked with a plow.
In 1836, I removed, with my father, to Wisconsin Terri-
tory. I remember passing through Chicago, then a mere ham-
let, but now a large and wealthy city.
Seventy miles north-west of Chicago, my father, in com-
pany with two friends, Messrs. Pratt and Harvey, located at a
place called Spring Prairie. It was the most delightful country
I had ever seen. It was beautiful with rolling prairie?, groves
of timber, numerous springs of pure water, and 'an; occasional
lake abounding with fish.
10 JACOB HAMBLIN.
My father and I each made a claim on eighty acres of
government land which was expected soon to come into the
market. I was not yet of age, and my father, wishing to return
to Ohio for his family, proffered to give me the remainder of
my time, during the summer, if I would take care of the crop
already sown.
During his absence, I had the misfortune to cut one of my
knees. I took cold in it, and it became much inflamed and
swollen. The family with whom. I was living did not think I
could get well. The swelling had reached my body, and as soon
as it extended a little farther, the people expected me to die.
I quite despaired of ever seeing my parents again.
In my childhood I had imbibed a belief that there was a
God who would hear my prayers when I was in trouble. I
managed to drag myself a short distance into a hazel thicket,
where I besought the Lord to have mercy upon me, and not let
me die.
That evening, a Mrs. Campbell called at the house. She
said she was passing by and felt impressed to call in, but did
not know for what purpose. After explaining to her my situ-
ation, she said "I now know why I came in here, for I can bring
that swelling all out."
This was accomplished by steaming, and I soon got about,
and again had the privilege of meeting my parents and other
relatives.
The second season after this occurrence my father told
me that, as I had been a faithful boy, I might go and do some-
thing for myself. I took a bundle of clothing, and traveled
westward 118 miles to the Galena lead mines. I worked there
nearly a year.
Twice during that time I barely escaped being buried about
100 feet under ground, by the caving in of the earth. At one
time, when 200 feet below the surface of the ground, a rock
fell on a man who was working with me, and killed him in-
JACOB HAM RUN. 11
stantly. While dragginoj his mangled body along the drift,
and arranging a rope by which to raise it up the shaft, such an
aversion to mining came over me, that I did not go back to my
labor again. T returned with the money I had earned, and paid
for my land.
In the autumn of 1839, I married Lucinda Taylor. She,
as well as myself, had a numerous circle of relatives. I enclosed
my land with a good fence, built a comfortable house, and made
up my mind to live and die on the place. I believed the Bible,
but was without faith in any of the religious sects of the day,
and had given up all hopes of finding a religion that I could be-
lieve to be true.
In February, 1842, a neighbor called at my house, and told
me that he had heard a "Mormon" Elder preach. He asserted
that he preached more Bible doctrine than any other man he
had ever listened to, and that he knew what he preached was
true. He claimed that the gospel had been restored to the
earth, and that it was the privilege of all who heard it to know
and understand it for themselves.
What this neighbor told me so influenced my mind, that I
could scarcely attend to my ordinary business.
The Elder had left an appointment to preach again at the
same place, and I went to hear him. When I entered the house
he had already commenced his discourse. I shall never forget
the feeling that came over me when I saw his face and heard
his voice. He preached that which I had long been seeking for;
I felt that it was indeed the gospel.
The principles he taught appeared so plain and natural,
that I thought it would be easy to convince any one of their
truth. In closing his remarks, the Elder bore testimony to the
truth of the gospel.
The query came to my mind: How shall I know whether or
not these things are so, and be satisfied? As if the Spirit
prompted him to answer my inciuiry, he again arose to his feet
12 JACOB HAMBLIN.
and said: "If there is anyone in the congregation who whishes
to know how he can satisfy himself of the truth of these things,
I can assure him that if he will be baptized, and have hands laid
upon hirn for the gift of the Holy Ghost, he shall have an as-
surance of their truth.''
This so fired up ray mind, that I at once determined to be
baptized, and that too, if necessary, at the sacrifice of the
friendship of my kindred and of every earthly tie.
I immediately went home and informed my wife of my in-
tentions.
She told me that if I was baptized into the "Mormon"
Church, T need not expect her to live with me any more.
The evening after the Elder had preached I went in search
of him, and found him quite late at night. I told him my purpose,
and requested him to give me a "Mormon Bible." He handed
me the Old and New Testament.
I said, "I thought you had a new Bible." He then explained
about the coming forth of the Book of Mormon, and handed me
a copy of it.
The impressions I received at the time cannot be forgotten.
The Spirit rested upon me and bore testimony of its truth, and
I felt like opening my mouth and declaring it to be a revelation
from God.
On the 3rd of March, 1842, as soon as it was light in the
morning, I started for a pool of water where I had arranged to
meet with the Elder, to attend to the ordinance of baptism.
On the way, the thought of the sacrifice I was making of wife,
of father, mother, brothers, sister and numerous other connec-
tions, caused my resolution to waver.
As my pace slackened, some person appeared to come from
above, who, I thought, was my grandfather. He seemed to say
to me, "Go on, my son; your heart cannot conceive, neither has
it entered into your mind to imagine the blessings that are in
store for you, if you go on and continue in this work."
JACOB HAMBLIN. 13
I lagpced no more, but hurried to the pool, where I was
baptized by Elder Lyman Stoddard.
It was said in my confirmation, that the spirits in prison
greatly rejoiced over what I had done. I told Elder Stoddard
my experience on my way to the water.
He then explained to me the work there was for me to do
for my fathers, if I was faithful, all of which I believed and
greatly rejoiced in.
On my way home, I called at the house of one of my neighbors.
The family asked me if 1 had not been baptized by the "Mor-
mon" Elder. I replied that I had. They stated that they be-
lieved what he preached to be the truth, and hoped they might
have the opportunity of being baptized.
The following day Elder Stoddard came to my house, and
told me that he had intended to leave the country, but could
not go without coming to see me. For what purpose he had
come, he knew not.
I related to him what my neighbors had said. He held
more meetings in the place, and organized a branch before
leaving.
When my father learned that I had joined the "Mormons,"
he said he thought he had brought up his children so that none
of them would ever be deceived by priestcraft; at the same time
he turned from my gate, and refused to enter my house.
Other relatives said that my father knew better than to be
deceived as I had been. I answered them by predicting that,
much as he knew, I would baptize him into the Church before I
was two years older.
All my relatives, except one brother, turned against me,
and seemed to take pleasure in speaking all manner of evil
against me. I felt that I was hated by all my former acquaint-
arces. This was a great mystery to me.
I prayed to the Lord and was comforted. I knew that I
14 JACOP. HAMBLIN.
had found the valuable treasure spoken of by our Savior, and I
was willing to sacrifice all things for it.
My wife's father took great pains to abuse and insult me
with his tongue. Without having any conception how my pre-
diction would be fulfilled, I said to him one day, "You will not
have the privilege of abusing me much more." A few days
after he was taken sick, and died.
Soon after the death of her father, my wife asked me,
good-naturedly, why I did not pray in the house or with her.
I replied, that I felt better to pray by myself than I did before
unbelievers. She said that she was a believer; that her father
had appeared to her in a dream, and told hsr not to oppose me
any more as she had done; and that he was in trouble on ac-
count of the way he hfd used me. Soon after this she was
baptized, which was a great comfort to me.
In the autumn of 1842, Elder Stoddard returned to the
country where I lived, to labor in the ministry, and ordained me
an Elder.
About the same time my wife was taken very sick. By her
request I administered to her, and she was immediately healed.
I visited my father, and informed him that signs followed
the believer, as in the days of the apostles; that I was a be-
liever, and had been ordained an Elder in the Church of Jesus
Christ of Latter-day Saints, and that the signs followed my ad-
mistrations.
He ordered me out of his house for believing such non-
sense. I went out reflecting as to whether or not I had done
wrong in predicting that I would baptize him in less than two
years.
Some time after this he was taken sick, and I went to see
him. My mother told me he had the spotted fever, and that
there was no hope of his recovery. She believed he was dying,
and so it appeared to me; but I thought that God could and
would save himjf I prayed for him.
JACOB HAMBLIN. 15
I retired to a private place, and prayed to the God of Abra-
ham to have mercy on my lather and heal him, that he might
have an opportunity of obeying the gospel.
It was a moonlight night, and when I returned to the house
my mother stood at the door. She spoke to me very kindly,
and said:
"Jacob, the fever has left your father; he has spoken, and
wants to see you."
As I approached him he said, "The fever has left me, and
your mother says that you came to me and went away again.
What has made such a sudden change? Do you know?"
I answered that I had prayed for him, that I was a believer
in the gospel of the Son of God , and in the signs following
those that believe.
"Well," said he, "if it is the gospel, I would like to know
it; but if it is priestcraft, I want nothing to do with it."
Soon after the sickness of my father, I sold my home,
gathered up my effects and started for Nauvoo, Hancock Co.,
Illinois.
In passing my father's house I found him quite well, and he
desired me to remain over night. He showed much interest in
the principles of the gospel, and, when I left his house in the
morning, the Spirit manifested to me that my father and his
household would yet accept the truth.
CHAPTER 11.
Arrival at Nauvoo — My First Interview with the Prophet Joseph —
Some First Impressions of the Character of the Gathered Saints —
Go East on an Important Mission — Death of the Prophet — Return
to Nauvoo — Providential Circumstance on the Journey.
I traveled westward about 100 miles to the Mississippi
river, where I took passage on a steamer to Nauvoo. I landed
16 JACOB HAMBLIN.
in the night. In the morning I asked a young man where the
Prophet lived. He pointed out the way to the residence of
Joseph Smith, Jr., and said, "If you are going to see the
Prophet, do not take any money with you. If you do, he will
get it."
I asked the youth if he was a "Mormon." He replied that
he was, and that his father was a High Priest. I thought it
strange that he should talk as he did.
As I passed along one of the streets of the town, I saw a
tall, noble-looking man talking with another. An impression
came over me that he was the person I was looking for. In-
quiring of a bystander, I learned that my impression was
correct.
One of the company asked the Prophet for some money he
had loaned him. He replied that he would try and get it during
the day. I offered him the money, but he said: "Keep your
money. I will not borrow until I try to get what is owing me.
If you have just come in and wish to pay your tithing, you can
pay it to Brother Hyrum; he sees to that."
I soon learned to discriminate between the different kinds
of people who had gathered to Nauvoo. Some were living the
lives of Saints; others were full of deceit and were stumbling-
blocks in the way of those who were striving to do right.
The following winter I chopped wood on an island in the
Mississippi river, twenty miles above Nauvoo.
The Prophet Joseph had told the people that the time had
come which was spoken of by the prophet Malachi, when the
hearts of the fathers must turn to the children, and the hearts
of the children to the fathers; the Saints must seek for the
spirit of this great latter-day work, and that they must pray
for it until they received it.
I had made a practice for several days, of retiring to a
private place early each morning, to pray for this Spirit and
blessing, when an influence came over me that made manifest
JACOB HAMBLIN. 17
to me my nothingness before the Lord. This so affected me
for a time, that I was almost led to wish that I had never been
born. When thus humbled, it was shown to me how a man
could obtain salvation, and what he might attain to. With this
I felt satisfied. What was then shown me has been of great
worth to me since. I then comprehended that the implicit
obedience to the will of God was necessary in order to attain to
eternal life.
In February, 1844, Joseph Smith, the Prophet, published
an address to the people of the United States, on the Powers
and Policy of the General Government, and offered himself as a
candidate for the office of President of the United States.
The same year, at the April Conference, Elders were called
and sent forth, two by two, into each State of the Union, with
the "Address to the People of the United States," in pamphlet
form, for distribution, and to preach the gospel. I was sent
with Brother John Myers, to the State of Maryland.
We took passage on the steamer Osprey, in company with
seven of the quorum of the Twelve Apostles, and of seventy-
one of the Seventies. My companion and I went to Pittsburg,
Penn., and from there we traveled on foot with our valises,
without purse or scrip, through the State of Pennsylvania.
We were often hungry and weary; and, in some instances,
were accused of being beggars and deceivers. This, coupled
with my natural independence of character, seemed humiliating,
and made our travels anything but agreeable.
We journeyed through Derrytown, Hagerstown, Sharps-
burg and Antietam, and preached in the States of Pennsylvania,
Virginia and Maryland. We visited some places where branches
of the Church had been previously organized.
The way appeared to be opening up for a good work to bs
done in that country, when, about the 4th of July, news reached
me that the Prophet, about whom I had preached so much, had
been shot by a mob when confined in jail. I did not believe the
18 JACOB HAMBLIN.
report until I offered to preach to those who were gathered
around me in the small town of Mechanicsburg. They manifested
a spirit of exultation, and a feeling of deep gloom passed ovftr
me. I felt more like weeping than preaching.
I concluded to hunt up my companion, from whom I was
then separated. For this purpose I started for Hagerstown,
where I hoped to find him, or learn of his whereabouts.
I had traveled about a mile when I came to a cross road,
and the Spirit whispered to me, "Stop here, and Brother Myers
will soon be along." I remained on the spot about ten minutes,
when I saw him coming, with his hat in one hand and his valise
in the other. He did not believe that the Prophet was killed.
We journeyed together to Lightersburg. After meeting
and passing many people, the Spirit indicated to us that a man
on the opposite side of the street was an Elder in Israel. It
proved to be a Latter-day Saint Elder, who had reliable infor-
mation of the murder of the Prophet Joseph and the Patriarch
Hyrum Smith. He also informed us that the Elders who were
abroad were all called home.
On the 15th of July, 1844, when taking leave of a £mall
branch of the Church in Lightersburg, one of the sisters offered
me some money that she had earned in the harvest field. I took
one dollar, and told her that I could get home with that.
After starting, I began to reflect on my situation. I must
travel on the river steamers from Pittsburg to Nauvoo, via Cin-
cinnati and St. Louis, and I had only tv/o dollars in my pocket.
I had been often surprised, when traveling on foot at the pains
people would take to invite me to ride or to step into a grocery
and take a lunch, and I had considerable faith that the Lord
would soften the heart of some one to assist me, when I was in
need.
When I arrived in Pittsburg, I had one dollar left. There
were two steamers at the landing about to start for St. Louis.
They offered to take passengers very cheap. I told the captain
JACOB HAMBLIN. 19
of one of them, that I would give all the money I had for a
passage to St. Louis. He took my money and gave me a ticket,
but appeared rather cross.
I was soon on my way down the river, but still a long way
from home, and without money or anything to eat. I began to
feel the want of food.
Nothing special occurred with me until evening, when the
lamps were lit in the passenger's cabin. I was then asked by a
young married lady, if I was not a "Mormon" Elder. I replied
that I was; and she told me that her little child was dying with
the scarlet fever, and she wished me to lay hands on it and
heal it.
I replied that I could administer to it, and I presumed that
the Lord would heal it. I asked her if she believed in such
things. She said that she did, and that she belonged to the
Church, but her husband did not. I was puzzled in my mind to
know what to do, for the boat was crowded with passengers,
and all unbelievers excepting the mother of the sick child and
myself. It seemed like a special providence that, just then, the
lamp in the cabin should fall from its hangings, and leave us all
in the dark.
Before another lamp could be lit, I had administered to the
child, and rebuked the fever in the name of the Lord Jesus, un-
observed by those around. The Lord blessed the administration,
and the child was healed.
The mother called her husband, and said to him, "Little
Mary is healed; now do not say anything against 'Mormonism."'
The man looked at his child, and said to me, "I am not a be-
liever in any kind of religion, but I am on my way to Iowa, op-
posite to Nauvoo, where I presume you are going. You are
welcome to board with me all the way, and if you want any
money I will let you have it."
I arrived in Nauvoo on the 5th of August, 1844.
20 JACOB HAMBLIN.
CHAPTER III.
Sidney Rigdon Strives for the Guardianship of the Church — He Urges
his Claims at the Conference — Brigham Young, President of the
Twelve, and others of the Quorum Appear in the Stand — A Re-
markable Testimony that the Mantle of Joseph had Fallen Upon
Brigham Young — Persecutions of the Saints — Baptism of My Par-
ents— Preparations for the Exodus — Sickness — A Methodist Com-
forter— Answer to Prayer — Harvest of Quails — Miraculous Inci-
dents on the Journey to Utah.
At Nauvoo I found Sidney Rigdon busy among the Saints
trying to establish his claim to the presidency of the Church.
He was first Counselor to the Prophet Joseph at the time of the
latter's death. The Church was fourteen years old, and he
claimed that it was its privilege and duty to appoint a guardian;
and he wished the people to sanction his guardianship.
I was much dissatisfied with the course he was taking, and,
as I could not sustain him, I felt to leave Nauvoo for a season.
I went into the country, where I had left my wife and two chil-
dren with my sister Melissa. When I met my sister, she threw
her arms around my neck and thanked the Lord that I had re-
turned. She had seen an account of a man being drowned in
the Ohio river, and, from the description, thought that it might
have been me.
On the 8th of August, 1844, I attended a general meeting
of the Saints. Elder Rigdon was there, urging his claims to
the presidency of the Church. His voice did not sound like the
voice of the true shepherd. When he was about to call a vote
of the congregation to sustain him as President of the Church,
Elders Brigham Young, Parley P. Pratt and Heber C. Kimball
stepped into the stand.
Brigham Young remarked to the congregation: "I will
manage this voting for Elder Rigdon. He does not preside here.
This child" (meaning himself) "will manage this flock for a
JACOB HAMBLIN. 21
season." The voice and the gestures of the man were those of
the Prophet Joseph.
The people, with few exceptions, visibly saw that the
mantle of the Prophet Joseph had fallen upon Brigham Young.
To some it seemed as though Joseph again stood before them.
I arose to my feet and said to a man sitting by me, "That
is the voice of the true shepherd — the chief of the Apostles."
Our enemies, finding that the death of the Prophet did not
break up "Mormonism," as they had expected, began their per-
secutions again, by burning the houses of the brethren in the
outlying settlements.
I joined a company of minute men to assist in protecting
the Saints. In one of our scouts we visited Carthage. I ex-
amined the jail in which Joseph and Hyrum were assassinated.
I noticed that the latches on the two doors that the mob broke
in, when they killed the Prophets, had been rendered useless
by bending down the catches, so that the latches would clear
them. All the entrances to the prison yard appeared to me to
have been prepared beforehand for the easy admittance of the
mob.
The blood on the floor where the Patriarch fell, had left a
black spot about the size and shape of the body. The ball holes
in the plastering about the window out of which Joseph leaped,
and those in the door and in the wall above where Hyrum had
lain, and also where John Taylor had been shot at, denoted that
the assailants were desparadoes and well prepared for their
work.
When the District Court sat in Hancock County, the judge
allowed one of the leaders of the mob to act as an official. He
also professed to try to have the murderers indicted, but as
several of them were on the grand jury, there were no indict-
ments found against them.
The following winter I assisted in guarding the Saints in
and around the city of Nauvoo. My brother Obed lived about
22 JACOB HAMBLTN.
thirty miles out in the country. He was taken sick, and sent
for me to come and see him.
On arriving at his house, I found that he had been sick
nearly three months, and that doubts were entertained of his
recovery. I anointed him with holy oil in the name of the Lord
Jesus, laid on hands and prayed for him, and told him that he
should recover, which he did immediately.
This occurrence had much influence on my parents. They
both attended the following April Conference. At its close,
my father asked me if I did not wish to baptize him and my
mother. As they were both desirous that I should do so, I bap-
tized them in the Mississippi river, on April 11th, 1845.
My father told me that it was not any man's preaching that
had convinced him of the truth of the gospel, but the Lord had
shown it to him in night visions. Sail he, "It is your privilege
to baptize your parents, for you have prayed for them in secret
and in public; you never gave them up; you will be a Joseph to
your father's house."
In 1845, I labored on the Nauvoo temple, doing any work
that was required of me. In the autumn, the enemies of the
Saints commenced to plunder in the country settlements. Teams
were sent from Nauvoo to save and bring in what grain they
could. It was necessary to send guards with the teams.
These afflictions, heaped upon the Saints by their enemies
when they were struggling to complete the temple, in compli-
ance with the word of the Lord, greatly added to their difficul-
ties and labors.
When winter came, they were instructed to unite their
efforts to manufacture wagons, and make preparations for a
long journey. I assisted in getting out timber for wagons.
The house of the Lord being far enough completed to give
endowments and do other necessary work, I received my bless-
ings in it just before crossmg the Mississippi river, in February,
1846.
JACOB HAMRLIN. 23
I labored with the company of pioneers to prepare the way
for the Saints through Iowa, after which I had the privilege of
returning to Nauvoo for my family, which consisted of my wife
and three children. I moved them out into Iowa, 200 miles,
where I left them, and returned lUO miles to settlements, in
order to obtain food and other necessaries.
I was taken sick, and sent for my family to return to me.
My wife and two children were taken sick the day after their
arrival. We found shelter in a miserable hut, some distance
from water.
One day I made on effort to get some water for my suffer-
ing family, but failed through weakness. Night came on, and
my family were burning with fever and calling for water.
These very trying circumstances called up some bitter feel-
ings within me. It seemed as though in this, my terrible ex-
tremity, the Lord permitted the devil to try me, for just then
a Methodist class leader came along, and remarked that I was
in a very bad situation. He assured me that he had a comfort-
able house that I could move into, and that he had plenty of
everything, and would assist me if I would renounce "Mormon-
ism." I refused, and he passed on.
I afterwards knelt down and asked the Lord to pity us in
our miserable condition, and to soften the heart of some one to
administer to us in our affliction.
About an hour after this, a man by the name of William
Johnson came with a three gallon jug full of water, set it down
and said: "I came home this evening, weary, having been work-
ing with a threshing machine during the day, but, when I lay
down I could not sleep; something told me that you were suffer-
ing for water. I took this jug, went over to Custer's well and
got this for you. I feel now as though I could go home and
sleep. I hai^e plenty of chickens and other things at my house,
that are good for sick people. When you need anything I will
24 JACOB HAMBLIN.
let you have it." I knew this was from the Lord in answer to
my prayer.
The following day the quails came out of the thickets, and
were so easily caught that I picked up what I needed without
difficulty. I afterwards learned that the camps of the Saints
had been supplied with food in the same way.
The spring following these events my eldest brother came
from Pottawatomie Co., Iowa, with a team to take me home
with him. While preparing to leave, the team became frightened,
ran along a steep side hill, capsized the wagon, and I was thrown
down the hill and the load came on the top of me.
The same Mr. Johnson who had before administered to my
wants, took me into his house. This was in the morning, and
I knew nothing until ten o'clock in the evening.
When I became conscious, I was lying on a mattress
covered with blood. I looked around the room, and asked what
it all meant. The lady of the house informed me what had hap-
pened, and told me that Mr. Johnson did not expect me to live.
She further stated that he had called in some of the neighbors,
that the doctor had been to see me and wished to bleed me, but
I would not let him; that I told them that if they knew where
there were any of the Elders of Israel, I wanted them sent for.
She informed me that I said other things which displeased the
doctor and the neighbors, and they went away.
I assured the family that I was not responsible for what I
had said or done, for I knew nothing about it. Mrs. Johnson
said that she did not hear or see anything wrong, but the neigh-
bors believed that I was trying to palm off some great "Mor-
mon" miracle on them. I denied trying to deceive any one, but
all to no purpose.
The owner of the house I had rented hurried me out of it,
saying I could not live in his house any longer. In the month
of March I moved into the wagon, with my wife and four chil-
dren, the youngest not two weeks old.
JACOB HAMBLIN. 25
On the nth of the following April, 1847, I arrived at my
father's house, in western Iowa. I had previously baptized
four of my brothers, and all my father's family had embraced
the gospel.
My mother had sunk under hardships, and died on the road
from Nauvoo, yet I was thankful to find all my relatives rejoic-
ing in the truth.
In the spring of 1850 I felt like making an effort to gather
with the Saints in the mountains. This at first appeared im-
possible, as my animals had all strayed off, and I could not learn
of their whereabouts.
I had concluded to remain another year, when I dreamed,
for three nights in succession, where my oxen were, ard went
and got them. I found my other lost animals in the same
manner.
These kind providences, with strict economy, enabled me
to make a start for Utah with the company of Aaron Johnson,
in the spring of 1850, as I had desired.
I joined the camp, to travel over a thousand miles of des-
ert, with nine in family, one small wagon, one yoke of oxen
and two cows.
While crossing the ferry over the Missouri river, with a
boat load of cattle, they crowded to one side of the boat and
capsized it. Some of the people on board saved themselves by
getting on to the bottom of the boat, others by holding on to
planks.
I made an effort to swim to the landing, below which was
some three miles of perpendicular river bank, and the water
along the bank was full of whirlpools and eddies. Despite my
efforts, the current took me past the landing. As I was almost
carried under by a strong eddy, I began to despair of saving
myself. Fortunately, I discovered where a path had been cut
through the bank to the water's edge. I succeeded in getting
30 near the top of the bank, that a woman who was near, and
3
26 JACOB HAMBLIN.
had discovered my situation, managed to get hold of my hand,
and, with great effort, I was saved from the surging waters.
In traveling up the Platte river on our way to the moun-
tains, we found the road side, in places, strewn with human
bones. The discovery of gold in California and the excitement
it had created, had induced many of the Missouri mobocrats,
the year previous, to leave their homes in search of the god of
this world.
The cholera had raged among them to such an extent, that
the dead were buried without coffins, and with but a slight
covering of earth. The wolves had dug up and feasted upon
their carcasses, and their bones lay bleaching on the desert.
There were days of travel in which human skeletons were usually
in sight.
We saw the literal fulfillment of the predictions of Joseph
the Prophet, during the persecutions of the Saints in Missouri.
He said that those who took an active part in driving them
from their homes, should themselves die away from home with-
out a decent burial; that their flesh should be devoured by wild
beasts, and their bones should bleach on the plains. Boards
had usually been placed at the heads of the graves, on which
were the names of those who had been buried in them. Many
of these names were those of well-known Missouri mobocrats.
The destroyer came into our company, and several persons
died. I told my family that it was a plague from the Lord,
that nothing but His power could save them from it, and that
it would attack some of the family. My wife thought that I
had done wrong in asserting that it would attack our family, as
the children would be afraid and be more likely to have it. I
told her that it would come, but when it did we must depend
entirely upon the Lord and all would be right.
One evening as I returned to my wagon from assisting to
bury a Sister Hunt, Sister Hamblin was taken violently with the
cholera, and she exclaimed, "0 Lord, help, or I die!" I anointed
JACOB HAxMBLIN. 27
her with consecrated oil in the name of the Lord Jesus, and she
was instantly healed. The next day the cholera attacked me
and I was healed under the hands of my father,
I was advised to get into the wagon and ride the remainder
of the day. As my eldest son, a small lad, took the whip to
drive the team, he fell forward to the ground and both wheels
on the left side of the wagon ran over his body. It appeared
to me that he never could breathe again. My father took him
out of the road, administered to him, and he arose to his feet
and said that he was not hurt.
My youngest son, Lyman, was taken with the cholera, and
my father in administering to him, rebuked the destroyer, and
commanded him to depart from him, from the family and from
the company. To my knowledge no more cases of the cholera
occurred after that in the company.
We arrived in Salt Lake Valley on the 1st of September,
1850.
CHAPTER IV.
Locate in Tooele Valley — Indian Troubles — Escape Death by an In-
dian, by Following the Warning of the Spirit — Hunting Indians —
Sudden Aversion to Shedding their Blood — Decide to Protect them
at the Risk of My Life — Sent Again to Hunt and Kill Indians —
Testimony that the Lord Did Not vV'ant Me to Kill them. But to
Carry Peace to them — A Dream and Its Fulfillment.
I settled, with my father and brothers, in Tooele Valley,
thirty-five miles west of Salt Lake City. The people built their
houses in th^ form of a fort, to protect themselves from the
Indians, who frequently stole their horses and cattle. Men were
sent against them from Salt Lake City, but all to no purpose.
The Indians would watch them during the day, and steal from
them at night.
This kind of warfare was carried on for about three years,
28 JACOB HAMBLIN.
during which time there was no safety for our horses or cattle.
We had a military company, of which I was first lieutenant. I
went with the captain on several expeditions against the thieves,
but without accomplishing much good. They would watch our
movements in the canyons, and continually annoy us.
At one time, I took my wife three miles up a canyon, to
gather wild fruit while I got down timber from the mountain.
We had intended to remain over night, but while preparing a
place to sleep, a feeling came over me that the Indians were
watching with the intention of killing us during the night.
I at once yoked my oxen, put my wife and her babe on the
wagon, and went home in the evening. My wife expressed sur-
prise at my movements, and I told her that the Indians were
watching us. She wished to know how I knew this, and asked
if I had seen or heard them. I replied that I knew it on the
same principle that I knew the gospel was true.
The following day I returned to the canyon. Three Indians
had come down on the road during the night, and robbed a
wagon of a gun, ammunition and other valuables. One of them,
from the size of the track, must have been an Indian known as
"Old Big Foot." I thanked the Lord that he had warned me in
time to save my wife and child, as well as myself.
The following winter I asked for a company of men to make
another effort to hunt up the Indians. On this scout we traveled
at night and watched during the day, until we discovered the
location of a band of them.
One morning at daybreak, we surrounded their camp be-
fore they were aware of our presence. The chief among them
sprang to his feet, and stepping towards me, said, "I never
hurt you, and I do not want to. If you shoot, I will; if you do
not, I will not." I was not familiar with their language, but I
knew what he said. Such an influence came over me that I
would not have kil'ed one of them for all the cattle in Tooele
Valley.
JACOB HAMBLIN. 29
The running of.the women and the crying of the children
aroused my sympathies, and I felt inspired to do my best to
prevent the company from shooting any of them. Some shots
were fired, but no one was injured, except that the legs and
feet of some of the Indians were bruised by jumpinj^ among the
rocks.
I wished some of the men to go with us to the settlement.
They were somewhat afraid, but confided in my assurance that
they should not be injured.
On my arrival home, my superior officer ignored the prom-
ise of safety I had given the Indians, and decided to have them
shot.
I told him I did not care to live after I had seen the In-
dians whose safety I had guaranteed, murdered, and as it made
but little difference with me, if there were a.iy shot I should be
the first. At the same time I placed myself in front of the In-
dians. This ended the matter and they were set at liberty.
From the feelings manifested by the Bishop and the people
generally, I thought that I might possibly be mistaken in the
whole affair. The people had long suffered from the depreda-
tions of these Indians, and they might be readily excused for
their exasperated feelings, but, right or wrong, a different feel-
ing actuated me.
After this affair, the presiding Elder directed me to take
another company of men, go after the Indians, to shoot all we
found, and bring no more into the settlement. Again we traveled
at night and watched during the day. We found the trail of a
siriall band who had come near the valley, and then turned back
on account of a light fall of snow, which would make their trail
too easily discovered for thieving operations.
We surprised them near a large mountain between Tooele
and Skull Valley. They scattered in the foot hills, and the
company divided to the right and left to keep them from the
mountains. I rode my horse as far as he could go on account
30 JACOB HAMBLIN.
of the difficulties of the ground, then left him, and secreted
myself behind a rock in a narrow pass, through which I pre-
sumed some of the Indians would attempt to escape. I had
not been there long before an Indian came within a few paces
of me.
I leveled my rifle on him, and it missed fire. He sent an
arrow at me, and it struck my gun as I was in the act of re-
capping it; he sent the second, and it passed through my hat;
the third barely missed my head; the fourth passed through my
coat and vest. As I could not discharge my gun, I defended
myself as well as I could with stones. The Indian soon left the
ground to me.
I afterwards learned that as he went on, he met two
others of our company and passed them safely, as their guns
also missed fire. When the company gathered back to the place
from which they scattered, we learned that not one was able
to discharge his gun when within range of an Indian. One of
the company received a slight arrow wound, which was the only
injury inflicted.
In my subsequent reflections, it appeared evident to me
that a special providence had been over us, in this and the two
previous expeditions, to prevent us from shedding the blood of
the Indians. The Holy Spirit forcibly impressed me that it was
not my calling to shed the blood of the scattered remnant of
Israel, but to be a messenger of peace to them. It was also
made manifest to me that if I would not thirst for their blood,
I should never fall by their hands. The most of the men who
went on this last expedition, also received an impression that it
was wrong to kill these Indians.
On a fourth expedition against them, we again surprised
their camp. When I saw the women and children fleeing for
their lives, barefooted over the rocks and through the snow^
leaving a trail of blood, I fully made up my mind, that if I had
JACOB HAMBLIN. 31
anything more to do with Indians, it would be in a different
way.
I did not wish to injure these women and children, but,
learning that "Old Big Foot" was there, and feeling that he
deserved killing. I soon found his trail and followed it. There
being snow on the ground, his trail was easily seen. It passed
along the highest ridges. As I approached a cedar tree with
low, thick foliage, a feeling came over me not to go near it.
I passed it under the brow of a steep hill. When beyond it, I
saw that no trail had passed on. I circled around in sight of
the Indian, but he in some way slipped off unobserved.
Afterwards, when trying to make peace with these Indians,
"Big Foot" told me, that himself and party had laid their plans
to kill me and my wife and child, the summer before when in
Pine canyon, had we remained there over night. Durmg the
same interview he said, placing his finger on his arrow, "If,
when you followed me in the cedar hills, you had come three
steps nearer the tree where I was, I would have put an arrow
into you up to the feather."
I thanked the Lord, as I often felt to do, for the revela-
tions of His Spirit.
After returning home from the expedition, in which I had
followed the trail of "Old Big Foot," I dreamed, three nights
in succession, of being out west, alone, with the Indians that
we had been trying about three years to destroy. I saw myself
walk with them in a friendly manner, and, while doing so, pick
up a lump of shining substance, some of which stuck to my
fingers, and the mure I endeavored to brush it off the brighter
it became.
This dream made such an impression on my mind, that I
took my blankets, gun and ammunition, and went alone into
their country. I remained with them several days, hunting
deer and duck, occasionally loaning them my rifle, and assisting
32 JACOB HAMBLIN.
to bring in their game. I also did all I could to induce them
to be at peace with us.
One day, in my rambles, I came to a lodge where there
was a squaw, and a boy about ten years old. As soon as I saw
the boy, the Spirit said to me, "Take that lad home with you;
that is part of your mission here, and here is the bright sub-
stance which you dreamed of picking up." I talked with him
and asked if he would not go with me. He at once replied that
he would.
The mother, naturally enough, in a deprecating tone, asked
me if I wanted to take her boy away from her. But after some
further conversation she consented to the arrangement. At
this time I had not learned much of the language of these In-
dians, but I seemed to have the gift of making myself under-
stood.
When I left, the boy took his bows and arrows and accom-
panied me. The woman appeared to feel so bad, and made so
much ado, that I told the lad he had better go back to his
mother; but he would not do so. We went to the side of a
mountain where I agreed to meet the Indians. His mother,
still anxious about her boy, came to our camp in the evening.
The following morning, she told me that she heard I had a
good heart, for the Indians told her that I had been true to
what I said, and the boy could go with me if I would always
be his father and own him as my son .
This boy became very much attached to me, and was very
particular to do as he was told. I asked him why he was so
willing to come with me the first time we met. He replied that
I was the first white man he ever saw; that he knew a man
would come to his mother's lodge to see him, on the day of my
arrival, for he was told so the night before, and that when the
man came he must go with him; that he knew I was the man
when he saw me a long way off, and built a smoke so that I
would come there.
JACOB HAMBLIN. 33
CHAPTER V.
Mission to Southern Utah— Locate at Harmony— Remarkable Prophe-
cies of H. C. Kimball Fulfilled— Indians Harvesting— Indian "Med-
icine Man"— Indian Woman Healed Under Our Administration
Accompany a Hunting Party— A Fight for a Squaw, in which I am
Compelled to Take Part— Sickness— Take My Family to Southern
Utah— Build a Fort on the Santa Clara— Rain in Answer to Prayer
— Counsel from President Young — We Refuse to Administer to the
Sick Until they are Washed— A Sick Boy Dies, and the Indians
Grow Mad and Threaten Us— We Follow and Pacify them.
At the April conference of 1854, J was called, with a
number of others, on a mission to the Indians in Southern Utah.
Taking a horse, cow, garden seeds and some farming tools, I
joined in with Brother Robert Ritchie, and was soon on my way.
We commenced operations at a place we called Harmony,
twenty miles South of Cedar City, in Iron County. I made it
my principal business to learn the Indian language, and become
familiar with their character.
About the end of May of that year, President Brigham
Young, Heber C. Kimball, Parley P. Pratt and others to the
number of twenty persons, came to visit us. President Young
gave much instructions about conducting the mission and build-
ing up the settlement we had commenced. He said if the Elders
wanted influence with the Indians, they must associate with them
in their expeditions.
Brother Kimball prophesied, that, if the brethren were
united,they would be prospered and blessed, but if they permitted
the spirit of strife and contention to come into their midst, the
place would come to an end in a scene of bloodshed.
Previous to this meeting. President Young asked some
brethren who had been into the country south of Harmony, if
they thought a wagon road could be made down to the Rio
Virgen.
1
34 JACOB HAMBLIN.
Their replies were very discouraging, but, in the face of
this report, Brother Kimball prophesied in this meeting, that
a road would be made from Harmony over the Black Ridge; and
a temple would be built on the Rio Virgin, and the Lamanites
would come from the east side of the Colorado river and get
their endowments in it. All these prophecies have since been
fulfilled.
On the 1st of June, 1854, I went with Elder R. C. Allen
and others, to visit the Indians on the Rio Virgen and Santa
Clara, two streams now well known as forming a junction south
of the city of St. George.
On the 9th of June we camped on ground now enclosed in
the Washington field. There we saw many Indian women
gathering a red, sweet berry, called "opie." The Indians were
also harvesting their wheat. Their manner of doing so was very
primitive. One would loosen the roots of the wheat with a
stick, another would pull up the plant, beat the dirt oflP from
the roots and set it up in bunches. I loaned them a long sharp
knife, which greatly assisted them in their labors.
The company returned to Harmony with the exception of
Brother William Hennefer and myself, who were left to visit
the Indians on the upper Santa Clara. We found a few lodges,
and with them a very sick woman. The medicine man of the
tribe was going through a round of ceremonies in order to
heal her.
He stuck arrows in the ground at the entrance of the
lodge, placed his medicine bow in a conspicuous place, adorned
his head with eagle's feathers, and then walked back and forth
in an austere manner, making strange gestures with his hands,
and hideous noises at the top of his voice. He would then enter
the lodge, and place his mouth to the woman's, in order to drive
away the evil spirits, and charm away the pain. Some one told
the sick woman that]the "Mormons" believed in "poogi," which,
in their language, means administering to the sick. She wished
JACOB HAMBLIN. 35
us to wait, and if the Piute charm did not work, to try if we
could to her any good.
The medicine man howled and kept up his performances
the most of the night. The sick woman's friends then carried
her some distance away from the lodge, and left her to die.
Some of her relatives asked us to go and administer to her.
We could not feel to refuse, so we laid on hands and prayed
for her.
When we returned to our camp, she arose and followed us,
and said she was hungry. We sent her to her own lodge.
Some of the inmates were frightened at seeing her, as they had
considered her a dead wcman.
We returned to Harmony about the last of June. On the
3rd of July, I accompanied a hunting party of Indians into the
mountains east of Harmony. While with them, I spared no
labor in learning their language, and getting an insight into
their character.
I have ever felt an aversion to white men shedding the
blood of these ignorant barbarians. When the white man has
settled on their lands, and his cattle has destroyed much of
their scanty living, there has always appeared in them a disposi-
tion to make all reasonable allowances for these wrongs. Ever
since I was old enough to understand, and more especially after
being with them around their camp fires, where I learned their
simple and childlike ways, and heard them tell over their
wrongs, I fully made up my mind to do all I could to alleviate
their condition.
From time to time, when the Saints have had any trouble
with them, and I have had anything to do with settling the dif-
ficulty, I have made it a specialty to go among them, regard-
less of their number or anger. Through the blessing of the
Lord, I have never yet failed in accomplishing my object, where
no other persons have interfered in a matter they did not
understand .
36 JACOB HAMBLIN.
Returning from this hunting expedition, I made my way, in
September, to Tooele Valley, to visit my family, and found
them well. I remained with them but a short time, and
returned to my missionary labors in Southern Utah.
Our crops had done well. After assisting to gather them,
I labored for a season on the fort we were building, the better
to defend ourselves in case of trouble with the Indians.
In November, I was sent alone among the Indians on the
Santa Clara, to use my influence to keep them from disturbing
the travelers on the southern route to California.
When there, without a white companion, a dispute arose
between some of the Indians about a squaw. As was their cus-
tom, they decided that the claimant should do battle for her in
the following manner:
The warriors of the band were to form in two files, and a
claimant should pass between the files leading the squaw, and
prepared to fight any one who opposed his claim. The affair
had made considerable progress, when one of the parties who
had been roughly handled, claimed kinship with n^e by calling
me brother, and asked me to help him.
Not wishing to take part in any of their barbarous cus-
toms, I objected. The Indians then taunted me with being a
coward, called me a squaw, etc.
I soon took in the situation, and saw that it would not be
well to lose caste among them. I accepted the challenge under
the promise that they would not be angry with me if I hurt
some of them. I had but little anxiety about the result, for
they were not adepts in the art of self-defense.
The Indians, numbering about one hundred and twenty,
formed in two lines, and I took the squaw by the hand, and
commenced my passage between them.
Only one Indian disputed by progress. With one blow I
stretched him on the ground. All would probably have passed
off well enough, had I not kicked him as he fell. This was con-
JACOB HAMBLIN. 37
trary to their code of honor, and I paid a fine for this breach
of custom.
I was acknowledged the victor, and it was decided the
squaw was mine. I immediately turned her over to the Indian
that she desired for a husband.
This was my first and last fight for a squaw. It gave me a pres-
tige among them that greatly added to my subsequent infiuence.
This short and lonely mission was brought to a close by my
return to Harmony.
In the beginning of winter, I went down to the Santa Clara
in company with Brothers Ira Hatch, Samuel Knight, Thales
Haskell and A. P. Hardy.
We worked with the Indians, and gained much influence
over them. We built a log cabin, and a dam to take out the
waters of the Santa Clara Creek to irrigate the bottom land.
Hard labor and exposure brought on me a severe attack of sick-
ness. At the same time there came a heavy fall of snow,
which made it impracticable to get any assistance from the
nearest settlement forty miles distant.
The brethren began to entertain some doubts about my
recovery. However, after lying sick fourteen days, with
nothing to nourish me but bread made of mouldy, bitter corn-
meal, Brother Samuel Atwood arrived from Harmony with
some good things to strengthen me.
After a few days I started with Brother Atwood on horse-
back for Harmony. I rode to Cottonwood Creek, where the
town of Harrisburg now stands. I felt exhausted and could go
no further. I was assisted off my horse and lay on the ground,
where I fainted. Brother Atwood brought some water in the
leather holster of his pistol, and put some of it in my mouth
and on my head, which revived me.
With slow and careful traveling I was able to reach Har-
mony, but I was so reduced in flesh that my friends did not rec-
ognize me.
281184
38 JACOB HAMBLIN.
As soon as my health would permit, I returned to Santa
Clara.
I hav^e before referred to a custom among the Piutes of
taking women from each other. Sometimes two claimants de-
cided who should be the possessor of the woman, by single com-
bat; but more generally, each claimant would gather to his
assistance all the friends he could, and the fighting would be
kept up until one side was conquered, when the claimant who
had led the victorious party, would take possession of the
woman.
I have seen such engagements last all day and a part of
the night. In one of these, in which over one hundred men
took a part, some of the combatants became angry, and
fought in good earnest.
At the close of the day, it was still undecided who was the
victor. At night large fires were lighted, arranged in a circle,
and some forty of the combatants came in to decide the matter.
They pulled each other's hair and fought desperately,
regardless of the rules usually governing such affairs. The
offending woman seemed to fare quite as hard, or worse than
the combatants. She was finally trampled under foot and the
women who looked on became excited. Some ran with their
willow trays filled with coals from the fire, which they threw
over the men and burnt them out, as each one found employ-
ment in running and brushing the coals from his hair and
back.
In the meantime, the woman lay on the ground with her
mouth filled with blood and dirt.
At this stage of the affair we used our persuasive powers,
and succeeded in inducing the men to let the woman go with
the man she wanted.
In the summer of 1855, we cultivated a few acres of land
on the Santa Clara. We raised melons, and had the privilege
of disposing of them ourselves. I do not think that the Indians
JACOB HAMBLIN. 39
ever took any without leave. We raised a small amount of
cotton, which was probably the first grown in Utah Territiry.
In the autumn of 1855, 1 returned to Tooele Valley, and
removed my family to the Santa Clara. My brother Oscar,
also Brother Dudley Leavitt, and their families accom-
panied me.
In the winter of 1855-6, we were instructed to build a fort
for our protection. There were at that time on the Santa
Clara, ten missionaries, and four stonemasons from Cedar City.
We employed Indian help, and everything we put our hands to
prospered, so that in less than ten days we built a fort one hun-
dred feet square, of hammer-faced rock, the wall two feet
thick and twelve feet high. It was afterwards said by Presi-
dent Young to be the best fort then in the territory.
We invited the Indians to assist us to construct a strong,
high dam to take the water out of the Santa Clara to a choice
piece of land.
For this purpose they gathered into the settlement to the
number of about thirty lodges, but rather reluctantly, for thev
believed that the Tonaquint, their name for the Santa Clara,
would dry up the coming season, as there was but little snow in
the mountains.
With much hard labor we completed our dam, and watered
our crops once in the spring of 1856. The water then failed,
and our growing crops began to wither.
The Indians then came to me and said, "You promised us
water if we would help build a dam and plant corn. What
about the promise, now the creek is dry? What will we do for
something to eat next winter?"
The chief saw that I was troubled in my mind over the
matter, and said, "We have one medicine -man; I will send him
to the great mountain to make rain medicine, and you do the
best you can, and may be the rain will come; but it will take
40 JACOB HAMBLIN.
strong medicine, as I never knew it to rain this moon." I went
up the creek and found it dry for twelve miles.
The following morning at daylight, I saw the smoke of the
medicine man, ascending from the side of the Big Mountain, as
the Indians called what is now known as the Pine Valley
Mountain.
Being among some Indians, I went aside by myself and
prayed to the God of Abraham to forgive me if I had been un-
wise in promising the Indians water for their crops if they
would plant; and that the heavens might give rain, that we
might not lose the influence we had over them.
It was a clear, cloudless morning, but while still on my
knees, heavy drops of rain fell on my back for about three
seconds. I knew it to be a sign that my prayers were an-
swered. I told the Indians that the rain would come. When I
returned to the settlement, I told the brethren that we would
have all the water we wanted.
The next morning a gentle rain commenced falling. The
water arose to its ordinary stage in the creek, and, what was
unusual, it was clear. We watered our crops all that we wished,
and both whites and Indians acknowledged the event to be a
special providence.
I think more corn and squash were grown that year, by us,
than I ever saw before or since, on the same number of acres.
The Indians gathered and stored up a large amount of corn,
beans and dried squash.
From that time they began to look upon us as having great
influence with the clouds. They also believed that we could
cause sickness to come upon any of them if we wished. We
labored to have them understand these things in their true
light, but this was difficult, on account of their ignorance and
superstitions.
About this time an Indian oame in from another small band
JACOB HAMBLIN. 41
east of the Santa Clara. The Indians who worked with us told
him how matters were going with them.
He ridiculed them for their faith in ua and what we taught
them, and told them that they were fools for living without
meat, when there were plenty of cattle in sight. To more fully
exemplify his views and set an example of self-assurance, he
killed one of our oxen.
Four or five of the brethren went to him armed. I felt
impressed that a peaceful policy would be the best, and for that
reason, I requested them to let me manage the matter. I went
into his lodge, and sat down by him. I told him he had done a
great wrong, for we were working to do the Indians good.
He talked insultingly, and wanted to know if I wished to
kill him, or if I could make medicine strong enough to kill him,
I told him that he had made his own medicine, and that some
evil would befall him before he got home.
About this time, the President of the mission received a
letter from President Brigham Young, requiring us to say to
the Indians that if they would live cleanly and observe certain
things pertaining to the gospel, they should grow and increase
in the land. Also that we should require tliem to wash the
sick before we administered to them.
An Indian wished us to administer to his sick boy. We
required him to wash his child; he refused to do so, and the
boy died. The man burnt his lodge, went to the mountains,
and called on others to follow him. Some did so, and before
leaving, burned a log store house which they had filled with
supplies.
The angry man's name was Ag-ara-poots.
The chief of the band came to me and said, "Old Ag ara-
poots will never be satisfied until he has killed you or some one
who is with you. You know that he has killed two Piutes since
you came here. The Piutes are all afraid of him. I am going
away. "
42 JACOB HAMBLIN.
I asked him if he would not go to Ag-arapoots with me.
"No," he replied, "he thinks that you let his boy die, and
he will never be satisfied until he has blood. There are many
with him, and you must not go where he is."
As I felt like seeing him, I invited all the missionary
brethren, one by one, to go with me, but they all refused except
Brother Thales Haskell. One of the brethren remarked that he
would as soon go into a den of grizzly bears.
When I went to the house of Brother Haskell and opened
the door, he said, "I know what you want. You wish me to
go with you to see Ag-ara-poots. I am just the man you
want."
The difference between me and my brethren in this
instance did not arise from superior personal courage in myself,
but in the fact that I have mentioned before: that I had re-
ceived from the Lord an assurance that I should never fall by
the hands of the Indians, if I did not thirst for their blood.
That assurance has been, and is still with me, in all my inter-
course with them.
Brother Haskell seemed inspired to go with me on this
occasion. We started in the morning and followed the trail of
Ag-ara-poots until afternoon, when we found him and his
band.
His face was blackened, and he sat with his head down,
apparently in rather a surly mood. I told him I had heard
that he intended to kill me the first opportunity.
Said he: "Who told you that I wanted to kill you?"
I answered that the Piutes had told me so.
He declared that it was a lie; but he had been mad and
was mad then, because I had let his boy die .
I told him that he let his boy die because he did not think
enough of him to wash him so that the Lord would heal him,
and now he was mad at some one else.
JOCOB HAMBLIN. 43
I told him we were hungry, and were going to eat with a
man who was not mad, and he had better go with us. As we
left his lodge, he arose to go with us, but trembled, staggered
and sat down in the sand.
All the Indians but Ag-ara-poots gathered around us. We
told them they had been foolish in burning up their food, gomg
into the mountains, and leaving their friends; that the women
and children had better go back to the settlement where there
was something to eat, and let the men who wished to hunt,
remain. The most of them started for the settlement the same
night.
The following day, Tise-gavats, the chief, came to me and
said, "The band have all come on to the Clara except Ag-ara-
poots, and he came on to the bluff in sight of it, and his heart
hardened. You cannot soften his heart again. He has gone
off alone. You had better pray for him to die, then there will
be no bloodshed. Do not tell him what I have said to you."
I did ask the Lord that, if it would be for the glory of His
name, Ag-ara-poots might not have strength to shed the blood
of any of us. In a few days the Piutes told me that he was not
able to walk, nor help himself to a drink of water. He lingered
until spring and died.
CHAPTER VI.
Retributive Justice to the Indians — We Gain Influence by it— The
Lord gives the Indians Testimonies of the Truth— War Between
two Bands of Indians— A Woman Burned to Death from Revenge-
Promptings of the Spirit — Stolen Horses Recovered— Government
Among the Indians— Appointed President of the Indian Mission-
Visit of Apostle George A. Smith— United States Army on its Way
to Utah— Elder Smith's Advice to the Saints— Mountain Meadows
Massacre.
A petty chief, living west of the settlement on the Santa
Clara, and on the California road, came to me and said that he
44 JACOB _HAMBLIN.
had stolen from some "Mormons" as they passed by; that there
could not be medicine made to kill him, for he was a hard one
to kill; and he should steal from the "Mormons" again the first
opportunity.
Some two weeks after this conversation, the Indians told
me that this chief was dead. In going home from the Santa
Clara settlement, he stole an animal from a "Mormon" traveler,
and hid it up until he had gone by, then drove it to his lodge,
killed it, and when it was about half skinned he was taken
sick, went into his lodge and died.
An Indian living near us said he had killed an animal, and
wished to pay for it, I took some pay from him that he might
be satisfied, and told him to go his way and steal no more.
He was afterwards caught stealing another ox, after
which I chanced to meet him alone. He asked me what I was
going to do about it? I replied, "Nothing.''
He talked in an excited manner, and said in an angry tone,
"If you are going to do anything, do it now; do it here." I ex-
plained to him that if evil came upon people, they brought it
upon themselves by their mean acts.
He talked and acted in such a rascally manner that I was
disgusted. I told him that he was in the hands of the Lord ; if
He would forgive him, I would, but I did not believe that He
would. This man died in a few days after this conversation.
The Lord had sent the gospel of their fathers to these
Indians, and with it the testimony of many special manifesta-
tions so evident to them, even in their ignorance, that they
might be without excuse.
In addition to the destruction of the willfully wicked and
preverse, many promises to them were fulfilled, their sick were
healed, etc.
These testimonies more fully established the influence of the
Elders among this people, and they looked to us for counsel
and endeavored to do as they were instructed. The men ceased
JACOB HAMBLIN. 45
to abuse their families, and tney did as well as could be ex-
pected of people in their low condition.
They would wash the sick, and ask the Elders to lay hands
on and pray for them. The Lord had great regard for our ad-
ministrations, for I do not recollect administering to one that
did not recover. We were careful not to say or do anything
wrong, and I feel that a good spirit governed us in all our inter-
course with this people. They soon learned to regard our
words as law.
At length the Santa Clara and Muddy Indians got into a
quarrel, and began to kill each other whenever they could get
an advantage. We endeavored to make peace, but blood had
been spilled, and nothing but blood would satisfy them.
One morning a Muddy Indian killed one of the Santa Clara
band in the wood near our fort. The Santa Clara Indians, far-
ther up the stream, hearing of it, took a Moapats woman,
fastened her to a small tree, and burnt her.
When they first tied her, a young Indian came in haste to
let me know what was going on. I hurried towards the spot,
but before I arrived there another boy met me, and said that it
was of no use for me to go on, for matters had gone too far to
save the woman. I think they had hurried to consummate
the terrible deed before I could get there.
When I talked to the perpetrators they cried, and said that
they could not have done less than they did. That is, they
were so bound up in their traditions and customs, that what
they had done was a necessary duty.
They appeared so child-like and so anxious to have me
think that what they had done was all right, that I said noth-
ing, but felt that I would be truly thankful if I should ever be
so fortunate as to be called to labor among a higher class of
people.
These things took place in the summer and autumn of
1856. Soon after the burning of the Indian woman, Brother
46 JACOB HAMBLIN.
Ira Hatch and I started for Cedar City, by way of the Mountain
Meadows. At night we camped near another trail which
crossed the one on which we were traveling.
When we arose in the morning, I told my companion that
the Cedar Indians had been to the Muddy to attack the Indians
living there and had got the worst of it; that on their return
they had stolen the horses from the Santa Clara.
We had never traveled the trail they were on, but I told
Brother Hatch that if he would take it, he would find the
thieves camped at a certain spring, and when they saw him
they would be so surprised that they would let him have the
horses without any difficulty.
Brother Hatch found matters as I had predicted, and the
Indians got up the horses for him, and appeared anxious to
have him take them away.
We afterwards learned that the ('edar Indians had gone to
the Muddy, and stolen two squaws from the band that lived on
that creek. The Muddy Indians had pursued the robbers, and
retaliated by killing a chief of the Cedar Indians, and wounding
two more of their party. They also recovered the captive
squaws.
It was by the dictation of the Holy Spirit that I sent
Brother Hatch to recover the horses. It was the same Spirit
that had influenced me to take my wife and child out of Pine
Canyon the evening before I had intended to, and thereby
saved their lives and my own. It was the same also that had
saved me from being killed by "Old Big Foot," when I lived in
Tooele Valley.
At this time we had established as good a form of govern-
ment among the Santa Clara .Indians, as their circumstances
would permit.
They worked for a living and promised to be honest. If
any one stole, he either paid a price for what he had taken, or
was stripped, tied to a tree and whipped, according to the mag-
JACOB HAMBLIN. 47
nitude of his offense. The Indians did the whipping, while I
generally dictated the number and severity of the lashes.
In the winter of 1856-7, after the Indians had been trying
for some time to follow our counsels, they said to me, "We
cannot be good; we must be Piutes. We want you to be kind
to us. It may be that some of our children will be good, but
we want to follow our old customs."
They again began to paint themselves and to abuse their
women, as they had done before we went among them.
Up to this time Elder R C. Allen had been president of
the Southern Indian Mission, and had generally resided at Har-
mony. He had given me charge of the settlement on the Santa
Clara Creek.
The following letter shows his release, and my appoint-
ment to take his place, and exhibits the Indian policy of Presi-
dent Brigham Young:
"President's Office,
"Great Salt Lake City,
"August 4, 1857.
"Elder Jacob Hamblin: — You are hereby appointed to
succeed Elder R. C. Allen (whom I have released) as president
of the Santa Clara Indian Mission. I wish you to enter upon
the duties of your office immediately.
"Continue the conciliatory policy towards the Indians
which I have ever commended, and seek by works of righteous-
ness, to obtain their love and confidence. Omit promises where
you are not sure you can fill them; and seek to unite the hearts
of the brethren on that mission, and let all under your direction
be united together in the holy bonds of love and unity.
"All is peace here, and the Lord is eminently blessing our
labors; grain is abundant, and our cities are alive with the busy
hum of industry.
48 JACOB HAMBLIN.
' 'Do not permit the brethren to part with their guns and
ammunition, but save them against the hour of need.
"Seek the Spirit of the Lord to direct you; and that He
may qualify you for every duty, is the prayer of your fellow-
laborer in the go?pel of salvation,
"Brigham Young."
Early in the autumn of 1857 Apostle George A. Smith
visited the settlements in Southern Utah. He informed the
Saints that a United States army was on the way to Utah.
What the result would be, he said he did not know. He advised
the people to be saving with their grain, and not sell any to
travelers to feed their teams; for they could live on grass bet-
ter than could our women and children. He thought that all we
could afford to do under the circumstances, was to furnish trav-
elers with bread. That if we would not deny the gospel we
might yet suffer much persecution and be compelled to hide up
in the mountains. "At all events," said he "bread is good
to have."
When President Smith returned to Salt Lake City, Brother
Thales Haskell and I accompanied him. On our way we camped
o^er night on Corn Creek, twelves miles south of Filmore, with
a party of emigrants from Arkansas, traveling on what was
then known as the southern route to California. They inquired
of me about the road, and wrote the information down that I
gave them.
They expressed a wish to lay by at some suitable place to
recruit their teams before crossing the desert. I recommended
to them for this purpose, the south end of the Mountain
Meadows, three miles from where my family resided.
After our arrival in Salt Lake City, news reached here that
the company of emigrants on their way south had behaved
badly, that they had robbed hen-roosts, and been guilty
of other irregularities, and had used abusive language to those
JACOB HAMBLIN. 49
who had remonstrated with them. It was also reported that
they threatened when the army came into the north end of the
territory, to get a good outfit from the weaker settlements in
the south.
A messenger came to President Young informing him of
these things, and asking advice.
In reply 15righara Young sent general instructions to the
settlement, advising the people to let the emigrants pass as
quietly as possible; and stating that there was an army on our
borders, and we could not tell what we would be obliged to do
before the troubles were over. He said we might be under the
necessity of going into the mountains, and that he wished all
supplies of food to be in a shape to be readily available in such
an emergency; and we would do the best we could.
Brother Haskell and I remained in Salt Lake City one
week, and then started for our homes in Southern Utah. On
the way, we heard that the Arkansas company of emigrants
had been destroyed at the Mountain Meadows, by the Indians.
We met John D. Lee at Fillmore. He told us that the
Indians attacked the company, and that he and some other
white men joined them in the perpetration of the deed. The
deplorable affair caused a sensation of horror and deep regret
throughout the entire community, by whom it was unqualifiedly
condemned.
In Cove Creek Valley we met others from the south, who
told us that the Indians were gathering to attack another
company of emigrants. I procured a horse, left the wagons
and rode on day and night. At Cedar City I found Brothers
Samuel Knight and Dudley Leavitt.
As I was weary with hard riding and want of sleep, I hur-
ried them on after the emigrants, while I traveled more slowly.
I instructed these men to make every possible effort to save the
company and their effects, and to save their lives at all
hazards.
50 JACOB HAMBLIN.
They overtook the company one hundred and fifty six miles
from Cedar City, on the Muddy, in the heart of the Indian
country. They found a large body of excited Indians preparing
to attack and destroy them.
Finding it altogether impossible to control the Indians
they compromised the matter. The Indians agreed to take
only the loose stock of the company, and not meddle with the
teams and wagons, and not make any effort to take their
lives.
The Indians took the loose stock, amounting to four hun-
dred and eighty head, on the fifty mile desert beyond the
Muddy.
The brethren remained with the company, determined to
assist in its defense, should the Indians attempt anything more
than they had agreed.
The company continued their journey safely to California.
Brothers Knight and Leavitt returned to the Santa Clara.
As soon as possible, I talked with the principle Indians
engaged in this affair, and they agreed that the stock not killed
should be given up. I wrote to the owners in California, and
they sent their agent, Mr. Lane, with whom I went to the
Muddy, and the stock was delivered to him as the Indians had
agreed.
CHAPTER VII.
President Young Requests me to Pilot a Company to California — Save
a White Man from being Tortured by the Indians — Indians Deter-
mined to Kill the Company — I Pacify Them— Elders Ira Hatch
and Dudley Leavitt Sentenced to be Killed by the Mohaves — Elder
Hatch Softens Their Hearts by Offering a Prayer — Allowed to
Escape on Foot.
In the winter season my family usually lived at the Santa
Clara settlement, thirty miles south of the Mountain Meadows,
JACOB HAMBLIN. 51
to which place they moved in the spring, to keep stock during
the summer.
Late in the autumn of 1857, a company came along on
their way to California. They brought a letter from President
Brigham Young, directing me to see this company and their
effects safely through to California. They were mostly mer-
chants who had been doing business in Silt Lake City, and,
anticipating difficulty between the people of Utah and the
United States army, were fleeing to the Eastern States by
way of California and the Isthmus of Panama.
When the company arrived in Cedar City, they sent a mes-
senger ahead of them with the letter to me. Having occasion
to go to Cedar City about the same time, I met the messenger.
I directed him to return to the company and tell them to come
on, and I would be with them in time.
I returned to Santa Clara to make some preparations for
the journey, and then started to meet the company on the
creek, twelve miles from the settlement.
When I reached the California road, the company had
passed and was some distance ahead of me. While traveling to
overtake it, I found a man who had been traveling alone, also
in pursuit of the company, with a view of getting through with
it to California.
When I found him he was already in the hands of the
Indians, and stripped of his clothing. They were making calcu-
lations to have a good time with him as they expressed it, that
is, they intended to take him to their camp and torture
him.
The stranger, seeing my influence with the Indians, begged
me to save his life, and said if I would do so, he would serve me
as long as he lived.
I replied that I did not wish any reward for saving him.
In answer to his inquiry, I informed him that I was a
"Mormon."
52 JACOB HAMBLIN.
* 'Well, " said he, "lam not a Mormon, but I wish you
would save my life."
I assured him that it made no difference to me whether he
was a "Mormon" or not. I told the Indians to bring back his
clothing, which they did, except his shoes, and I took him along
with me to the company.
I found a few Indians around the company, and there ap-
peared to be some excitement. One of the merchants asked
me if I could save the ship. I replied that I could see nothing
to hinder me. He said: "You can take the helm, but do not
run it too near the rocks and shoals; we have plenty of pres-
ents for the Indians."
He wished to know what they should do with their animals.
I told him I knew where there was good grass, and I would
send two Indians to take care of them; to let the two Indians
have their suppers, and a shirt each when they brought in the
animals in the morning.
At first they refused to let the animals go. I assured
them that if I was to direct matters, I should do it in my own
way.
After some consultation, they concluded to let me have my
own way. The animals were sent out to feed in charge of the
Indians, but I presume that some of the company did not sleep
much during the night.
The animals were all brought safely into camp in the
morning.
After that, the company appeared to feel quite safe, and
took much pains to have things move as I directed.
When we had traveled about sixty miles towards Muddy
Creek, a Moapat Indian told me that the Indians on that stream
were preparing to attack the company. I started at daydawn
the following morning, and arrived at the crossing of the Muddy
about two hours in advance of the company. The Indians had
collected in the vicinity of the crossing, with the view of at-
JACOB HAMBLIN. 53
tacking the company when in camp. They believed they could
easily kill the men, and obtain a large amount of spoil.
I called them together, and sat down and smoked a little
tobacco with them, which I had brought along for that pur-
pose. I then said: "You have listened to my talk in times
past; you believe that it is good to hear and do what I say.''
They all answered, "Yes."
I then told them I was going through to California with
some friends, Americans and merchants; and that we had
brought along many blankets, shirts and other useful articles.
I hoped they would see that none of the animals were stolen,
and if any strayed, they would bring them into camp. Some of
the Indians did not readily consent to let the company pass in
peace.
For further security, I sent for their women and children
to come out of their hiding place, where they had been sent
for safety, as is the custom of the Indians when preparing for
battle.
I had matters in a much better shape on the arrival of the
company than I found them. I was careful to listen to all the
talk of the Indians, and spent the evening and also the night
with the largest collection of them, so that they could not make
any general move without my knowledge.
We continued our journey across the fifty-six mile desert
to Los Vegas springs. There we met Brothers Ira Hatch and
Dudley Leavitt, on their return from a mission to the Mohave
Indians.
Those Indians, on the arrival of these brethren among
them, took their horses, and then held a council to decide
whether they should kill the brethren or not. The chief called
a vote of his people, and it was decided that the brethren
should die.
A Piute friend who had accompanied the Elders from Los
Vegas, began to mourn over their fate, and said to them, "I
54 JACOB HAMBLIN.
told you that the Mohaves would kill you if you came here, and
now they are going to do it."
Brother Hatch told their Piute friend, who acted as inter-
preter, to tell the Mohave chief, Chanawanse, to let him pray
before he was killed.
The chief consented and Brother Hatch knelt down among
the bloodthirsty savages, and asked the Lord to soften their
hearts, that they might not shed their blood. He also said
more that was appropriate to the occasion.
The prayer was repeated in measured sentences by the
interpreter.
It had the desired effect. The heart of the chief was
softened. He took the brethren to his lodge, and put them at
the farther end of it, in a secure place. There he guarded them
until nearly morning, then told them to go as fast as they could
to Los Vegas, eighty miles distant.
They traveled this distance on foot, and with but little
food. When I met them they were living on muskeet bread.
This is an article of food manufactured from a pod resembling
that of a bean, which grows on the muskeet tree. These cir-
cumstances were related to me by the Elders when we met.
At Los Vegas I learned that the Indians there expected
that the company would have been massacred at the Muddy
Creek.
After we left this watering place, three Indians followed
us and made an effort to steal. They were brought into camp
and guarded until morning. The remainder of the journey we
had no more trouble with the Indians.
We met companies of our people on their way from San
Bernardino to Utah.
I was engaged the remainder of the autumn and the winter
of 1857-8, on the road between the Santa Clara and Los Vegas
springs, in assisting the Saints who were moving to Utah.
JACOB HAMBLIN. 55
On the return of spring I removed my family, as was my
custom, to the Mountain Meadows, to take care of our stock.
CHAPTER VIII.
President Young's Indian Policy — Expedition to Los Vegas and Colo-
rado Rivers — Suspicious Steamer in the Colorado — Learn Its Pur-
pose— Go After a Load of Lead — Our Horses Stolen — Eat Poison
Cactus — Led by the Spirit Providentially.
The following letter from President Brigham Young so well
illustrates his peaceable and civilizing policy towards the In-
dians, that I think it should find a place in this narrative:
"President's Office,
"Great Salt Lake City,
"March 5, 1858.
"Dear Brother: — Your note of the 19th t)f last month came to
hand on the 3rd inst. I v^as happy to learn of the success and the
general prosperity of the mission, and trust that the genial and salu-
tary influences now so rapidly extending to the various tribes in that
region, may continue to spread abroad until it shall pervade every
son and daughter of Abraham in their fallen condition.
"The hour of their redemption draws nigh, and the time is not
far distant when they will receive knowledge, and begin to rise and
increase in the land, and become a people whom the Lord will bless.
"The Indians should be encouraged in keeping and taking care
of stock. I highly approve of your designs in doing your farming
through the natives; it teaches them to obtain a subsistence by their
own industry, and leaves you more at liberty to visit others, and ex-
tend your missionary labors among them. A few missionaries to
.show and instruct them how to rai.se stock and grain, and then not
eat it up for them, is most judicious. You should always be careful
to impress upon them that they should not infringe upon the rights
of others; and our brethren should be v^ery careful not to infringe
56 JACOB HAMBLIN.
upon their rights in any particular, thus cultivating honor and good
principles in their midst by example as well as precept.
"As ever, I remain your brother in the gospel of salvation,
"Brigham Young."
The sending of an army by the general government to look
after the affairs of the Saints, occasioned some excitement and
much talk among the people. The terrible wrongs and perse-
cutions of Missouri end Illinois came up vividly in the minds of
those who had suffered in them, and greatly intensified the
public feeling concerning the wrongs which the general govern-
ment evidently intended to inflict upon the Saints in Utah.
Elders coming in from the European missions, by way of
California, thought the government would send a force into
Southern Utah by that route.
It being expected that I would visit the Indians and look
after matters a little in that direction, in the spring of 1858
I took five men, and went by way of Los Vegas springs to the
River Colorado, at the foot of the Cottonwood Islands, 170 miles
from the Santa Clara settlement.
As was my policy at all time?, I cultivated the good feel-
ings of the Indians in that country.
A small steamer lay at the head of the islands, and a com-
pany of men, wioh animals, were making their way up the river,
on the opposite side from us. I requested Brother Thales Has-
kell to hail the boat's crew from a thicket of willows, while the
rest of the company remained secreted. If a boat were sent to
take him over, he was to pass as a renegade from Utah, and
learn who they were and their intentions. Brother Haskell was
soon taken on board of the steamer.
I prayed for him that night, for my mind was filled with
gloomy forebodings. I dreamed that the oflicer in charge of
the boat, offered the Indians a large reward for my scalp.
At day dawn I sent two men back on our trail to see if
JACOB HAMBLIN. 57
there was any one on it, with instructions if they saw anything
wrong to not return, but go on their way homeward.
Soon afterwards we saw the yawl from the steamer land
Brother Haskell. He informed us that the company was of a
military character, and exhibited very hostile feelings against
our people; that the expedition had been sent out by the gov-
ernment to examine the river, and learn if a force could be
taken into Southern Utah from that direction, should it be
needed, to subjugate the "Mormons."
We were soon on our way homeward.
The first night out from the river, a Los Vegas Indian
overtook us, and informed us that soon after we left the river,
the steamer came down below the Cottonwood Islands, brought
a large amount of blankets and other goods ashore, made some
presents to the Mohaves and Piutes, and offered to pay well for
the capture of any "Mormon" they found in their country.
When we overtook the brethren sent out early in the morn-
ing, they told us that they met two of the boat's crew examin-
ing the trail we traveled on to the river. The two men started
for the steamer, and the brethren traveled the other way.
At this time there were three or four brethren at Los
Vegas Springs, laboring to make a settlement. We counseled
together, and it was thought advisable to vacate the place.
Some of them started for home. My brother, Oscar Hamblin,
remained to assist the Indians in putting in their crops.
Brother Dudley Loavitt and I went thirty-five miles west,
on the road to California, to a lead mine, to obtain a load of
lead.
As I had some knowledge of smelting the ore, our efforts
were a success.
The evening after completing our load, I started up the
mountain on the side of which the mine was located, to look at
it before leaving. I stepped back, and calling Brother Leavitt,
I told him that an Indian was watching our horses, and if he did
58 JACOB HAMBLIN.
not bring them in and tie them up, they would be run off as
soon as it was dark.
He replied that he would see to it. Being strongly im-
pressed with the danger of losing our horses, I warned him a
second time, to which he made an indifferent reply-
When I returned it was nearly dark, and Brother Leavitt
had just started for the horses.
All we ever saw of them afterwards was their tracks, and
the trail of the Indian that had driven them off.
The Indians in that section of the country did not keep
horses, and therefore were not accustomed to the use of them,
but stole them for food.
Brother Leavitt was under the necessity of going to Los
Vegas, thirty-five miles distant, to get my brother to come with
his team to take our wagon home.
As he did not return as soon as expected, I started to meet
him. Not meeting him the first day, I stopped in a small cave
for the night.
I had nothing to eat, and gathered some cactus leaves, or
pods, to roast for supper.
They were a new variety to me, and had scarlet spots on
them. (I afterwards learned from the Indians that they were
poisonous) .
After cooking them in the embers, I ate a little, but they
did not taste right. They produced a burning sensation in my
stomach and pain in the glands of my mouth and throat. I soon
became satisfied that I was poisoned.
My misery increased, and I became dizzy-headed. With no
help near, I felt that my earthly career was nearly terminated,
unless the God of Israel saved me, as I knew He had done many
times before. I knelt down, and earnestly asked Him to be
merciful t) me in ray extremity, and save my life.
I then became very sick at the stomach, and vomited free-
ly. Great thirst succeeded, and I soon exhausted the small
JACOB HAMBLIN. 59
supply of water in my canteen. This I soon ejected, when I be-
came easy and lay down and slept until morning.
Not knowing whethar my brother would come or not, I
continued on my way to Los Vegas.
I was lank and hungry, and if ever I felt the want of food
it was then.
About noon I saw my brother coming to my relief. It
was a welcome sight.
Still farther west from the lead mine, there were two roads
for about thirty miles. One of them was not usually traveled,
but came into the main road. Some time before we were there,
a company that had taken this by-road, had left wagons on it,
and we were desirous of obtaining some of the iron.
When my brother Oscar and I arrived at the lead mine, we
concluded to leave the lead where it was, and go west on this
unfrequented road, to a spring, twenty-five miles from the lead
mine, and get the iron that was left there.
On arriving at the spring we did not find as much iron as
we expected, but we put what there was into the wagon.
Before I went on this trip to Los Vegas and the Colorado
River, my team, driven by my Indian boy, Albert, had gone
with Brother Calvin Read to Lower California. They had been
gone nearly three months.
The morning after our arrival at the spring, when at
prayer, the Spirit showed to me a company of our people, a
few miles still farther west, on the by-road. I told my brother
this, and that my team was with them, and my Indian boy was
herding the animals on one side of the wagons near the spring.
I proposed that we unload the iron and drive in that direc-
tion.
My brother objected, and said he had never heard of water
in that direction short of twenty miles.
After much persuasion, my brother consented to unload
60 JACOB HAMBLIN.
the iron, but he drove on very reluctantly, telling me that I was
a visionary man, and always seeing something.
We traveled about three miles, and came in sight of a
camp. I found my boy Albert watching the horses; there was
a good spring of water and plenty of grass. Just beyond were
the wagons.
The brethren said they never rejoiced more to see anyone
than they did us. They were unacquainted with the country,
and needed our help to get into Los Vegas.
CHAPTER IX.
Visit to Salt Lake City — Interview Between Elder George A. Smith
and Governor Gumming — Elder Smith Urges an Investigation of
the Mountain Meadow Massacre — Governor Gumming Objects —
Appointed Sub-Indian Agent — Nearly Killed by a Fall from a Tree
— A Remarkable Vision — First Mission to the Moquis — Description
of their Towns, Gustoms and Traditions — Some of the Brethren Re-
main with them — Difficult Journey Home — Moquis Prediction.
After my return from the Colorado River, I had occasion
to go to Salt Lake City, I arrived there soon after the United
States army had entered Salt Lake Valley. The people north
of Utah County had vacated their homes, and moved south.
Through the instrumentality of Colonel Thomas L. Kane, a
peaceable solution of our difficulties with the general govern-
ment had been arrived at, and the Saints were returning to
their vacated homes.
It is generally known that the enemies of the Latter-day
Saints have accused them of shielding from justice the white
men, who, it was supposed, joined with the Indians in the
Mountain Meadows massacre. Mr. Gumming succeeded President
Brigham Young as governor of Utah Territory in the early spring
before'the arrival of the United States army in Salt Lake Valley.
President [Brigham]_ Young requested Elder George A.
JACOB HAMBLIN. 6l
Smith to have an interview with the new governor and learn
his views concerning the Mountain Meadow massacre, and
assure him that all possible assistance would be rend.>red the
United States courts to have it thoroughly investigated.
Brother Smith took me with him, and introduced me as a
man who was well informed regarding Indian matters in south-
ern Utah, and would impart to him any information required
that I might be in possession of. He also urged upon Governor
Gumming the propriety of an investigation of this horrid affair
that, if there were any white men engaged in it, they might be
justly punished for their crimes.
Governor Gumming replied that President Buchanan had
issued a proclamation of amnesty and pardon to the "Mormon"
people, and he did not wish to go behind it to search out
crime.
Brother Smith urged that the crime was exclusively per-
sonal in character, and had nothing to do with "Mormons" as
a people, or with the general officers of the territory, and there-
fore, was a fit subject for an investigation before the United
States courts.
Mr. Gumming still objected to interfering on account of
the President's proclamation.
Brother Smith replied substantially as follows: "If the
business had not been taken out of our hands by a change of
officers in the Territory, the Mountain Meadow affair is one of
the first things we should have attended to when a United
States court sat in Southern Utah. We would see whether or
not white men were concerned in the affair with the Indians."
At Salt Lake Gity I was appointed sub-Indian agent.
During the summer of 1858, when I was at my home on
the Santa Glara, one morning about 9 o'clock, while engaged in
cutting some of the large branches from a Cottonwood tree, 1
fell a distance of twenty or thirty feet to the ground. I was
62 JACOB HAMBLIN.
badly bruised, and was carried to my house for dead, or
nearly so.
I came to my senses about 8 o'clock in the evening, and
threw off from my stomach quite a quantity of blood. I re-
quested the brethren who were standing around to administer
to me, and they did so. From the time I fell from the tree un-
til then consciousness was lost to me, so far as earthly matters
were" concerned.
During the time my body lay in this condition, it seemed
to me that my body went up from the earth and looked down
upon it, and it appeared like a dark ball. The place where I
was, seemed very desirable to remain in. It was divided into
compartments by walls from which appeared to grow out vines
and flowers, displaying an endless variety of colors.
I thought I saw my father there, but separated from me.
I wished him to let me into his compartment, but he replied
that it was not time for me to come to him.
I then asked why I could not come.
He answered, "Your work is not yet done."
I attempted to speak to him again, but he motioned me
away with his h?nd and in a moment I was back to this earth.
I saw the brethren carrying my body along, and it was^ loth-
some to me in appearance.
A day or two after my fall from the tree, I was carried to
the Mountain Meadows, where I was fed on goat's milk and
soon recovered.
In the autumn of this year, 1858, I received instructions
from President Brigham Young to take a company of men and
visit the Moquis, or town Indians, on the east side of the
Colorado River.
The object of this visit was to learn something of the
character and condition of this people, and to take advantage
of any opening there might be to preach the gospel to them
and do them good.
JACOB HAMRLIN. 63
My companions for this trip were Brothers Dudley and
Thomas Leavitt, two of my brothers, Frederick and William
Hamblin, Samuel Knight, Ira Hatch, Andrew Gibbons, Benja-
min Knell, Ammon M. Tenney (Spanish intrepreter) James
Davis (Welsh interpreter), and Naraguts, an Indian guide.
A Spanish interpreter was thought advisable from the fact
that the Spanish language was spoken and understood by many
of the Indians in that region of country. A Welsh interpreter
was taken along, thinking it possible that there might be some
truth in a report which had been circulated, that there were
evidences of Welsh descent among these Indians. An Indian
guide was requisite, from the fact that none of the brethren
had traveled the route. This was the first of a series of
journeys to this people.
The company consisting of twelve men, including myself,
left the Santa Clara settlement on the 28th of October. Our
general course of travel was a little south of east. The third
night we camped at Pipe Springs, a place now occupied by a
stone fort, and known as Winsor Castle.
While there, two or three Piutes came to our camp. One
of them asked me to go with him to some large rocks
which lay under the high cliff near by. As we approached
them, he showed me a human skeleton. "'There," said he "are
the bones of Nabguts, who killed your ox on the Clara. He
came as far as here, was taken blind, could not find the spring*
and died.'
The following evening, we camped at the foot of the
Kibab, or Buckskin Mountains, with the chief and nearly all the
tribe of Kibab Indians. They provided supper by cooking a
large number of rabbits.
They put these in a pile and covered them with hot ashes
and coals. When sufiiciently cooked, the chief performed the
ceremony of thanking the Father for the success of their hunt,
and asked for a continuation of his blessings in obtaining food.
64 JACOB HAMBLIN.
He then divided the rabbits among the company. We all joined
in the feast. They gave us meat and we gave them bread.
I noticed an Indian sitting moodily, alone, and eating noth-
ing. I sat down by him and asked what he was thinking about.
Said he, ' 'I am thinking of my brother, whom you killed
with bad medicine."
I told him that his brother had made his own medicine, that
he came to the Clara, killed an ox, and had brought a curse
upon himself. I advised the Indian to eat with the company,
and not make any bad medicine and kill himself.
This very prevalent idea of good and bad medicine, among
the Indians, gives evidence of a very general belief in witch-
craft.
The Indian took a piece of bread, saying he did not wish
to die. I was told by our guide that this Indian had said that
in the night when I was asleep, he intended to chop an ax into
my head, but being afraid it would make bad medicine for him,
he did not do it.
After climbing dangerous cliffs and crossing extensive fis-
sures in the rocks, the tenth day out from home we crossed
the Colorado River, at the Ute Ford, known in Spanish history
as "The Crossing of the Fathers." The trail beyond the river
was not only difficult, but sometimes very dangerous.
While traveling in the night, one of the animals that car-
ried the provisions, ran off. Two men went in pursuit of it,
while the company went on.
The third day after losing our provisions, having had but
little to eat, we came to a place where sheep bad been herded,
then to a garden under a cliff of rocks. It was watered from
a small spring and occupied fine terraces, walled up on three
sides.
As we passed, we saw that onions, pepper and other vege-
tables, such as we raised in our own gardens at home, had been
grown there. On arriving at the summit of the cliff, we dis-
^M JACOB HAMBLIN. 65
covered a squash, which evidently had been left when the crop
had been gathered.
• We appropriated it to our use. It tasted delicious and we
supposed it to be a better variety than we had before known
but we afterwards found that hunger had made it taste sweet.
Four miles farther on we came to an Oriba village of about
three hundred dwellings. The buildings were of rock, laid in
clay mortar. The village stands on a cliff with perpendicular
sides, and which juts out into a plain like a promontory into the
sea. The promontory is narrow where it joins the tableland
back of it. Across this the houses were joined together. The
entrance to the town on the east side was narrow and difficult.
The town was evidently located and constructed for defense from
the marauding tribes around.
The houses are usually three stories high. The second
and third stories are set back from the front the width of the
one below, so that the roofs of the lower stories have the
appearance of terraces.
For security, the first story can only be entered by ascend-
ing to the roof, and then going down a ladder into the room below.
After our arrival in the village, the leading men counseled
together a few minutes, when we were separated and invited to
dine with different families.
A man beckoned me to follow him. After traversing sev-
eral streets, and climbing a ladder to the first story of a house,
I Was ushered into a room furnished with sheepskins, blankets,
earthen cooking utensils, water urns and other useful articles.
It seemed to me strangely furnished, yet it had an air of
comfort; perhaps the more so, for the reason that the previous
few days had been spent in very laborious traveling, on rather
low diet.
The hostess made a comfortable seat with blankets and
motioned me to occupy it.
A liberal repast was provided. It consisted of stewed
66 JACOB HAMBLIN.
meat, beans, peaches and a basket of corn bread which they
called peke. It was about the thickness of brown paper, dry
and crumbling, yet quite palatable.
The hostess, apparently surmising that I would not know
how to partake of the bean soup without a spoon, dexterously
thrust her fingers, closed tightly together, into the dish con-
taining it, and with a very rapid motion carried the soup to her
mouth. Then she motioned me to eat. Hunger was pressing,
and a hint was sufficient.
The day following, the two brethren we had left behind
came in with the runaway mule, and a part of our supplies,
"We visited seven of these towns similarly located and con-
structed.
The people generally used asses for packing all their sup-
plies, except water, up the cliffs to their dwellings. The water
was usually brought up by the women in jugs, fastened on one
side to fit the neck and shoulders of the carrier, and this was
fastened with a strap which passed around in front of the
body.
Most of the families owned a flock of sheep. These might
be seen in all directions, going out in the morning to feed, and
returning in the evening. They were driven into or near the
towns at night, and corralled and guarded to keep them from
being stolen by the thieving Navajoes.
We found a few persons in all the village who could speak
the Ute language. They told us some of their traditions,
which indicate that their fathers knew the Mexicans, and some-
thing about the Montezumas.
A very aged man said that when he was a young man his
father told him that he would live to see white men come among
them, who would bring them great blessings, such as their
fathers had enjoyed, and that these men would come from the
west. He believed that he had lived to see the prediction ful-
filled in us.
JACOB HAMBLIN. G7
We thought it advisable for some of the brethren to remain
with this people for a season, to study their language, get
acquainted with them, and, as they are of the blood of Israel,
offer them the gospel. Elders William M. Hamblin, Andrew
Gibbons, Thomas Leavitt aud Benjamin Knell were selected for
this purpose.
Bidding adieu to our Moquis friends, and to our brethren
who were to remain with them, we started for home. Sixteen
days of hard travel would be necessiry to accomplish the
journey.
We expected to obtain supplies at the Oriba village, but
failed on account of scarcity. We had nothing for our animals
but the dry grass, and they were somewhat jaded. The cold
north wind blew in our faces, and we lit no fires at night, as
they would have revealed our position to the roving Indians.
The journey home was very laborious and disagreeable.
With provisions scarcely sufficient for our journey, we again
lost some of them by a runaway, and, failing to get meat from
the Indians as we expected, we were reduced to very short ra-
tions.
At Pipe Spring the snow was knee deep, and falling fast.
We made only eight miles to Cedar Ridge the first day, from
that place. As night came on we counseled together over our
situation.
Taking in consideration our empty stomachs and the dif-
ficulty of traveling in the snow, it appeared quite impossible to
get home without killing one of our horses for food. We lived
on this rather objectionable kind of food for two days.
On arriving home it was very pleasant to find a change of
diet, and our families and friends all well.
During our absence the brethren had some difficulty with
the Santa Clara Indians, and the management of it seemed lead-
ing to bad results. I visited the natives, and found that there
68 JACOB HAMBLIN.
were no bad intentions on their part, and they were all much
pleased to have the matter understood and settled.
The brethren whom we left with the Moquis returned home
the same winter.
A division arose among the people as to whether we were
the men prophesied of by their fathers, who would come among
them with the knowledge that their fathers possessed.
This dispute ran so high that the brethren felt that but
little or no good could result from remaining longer. Besides,
the chief men among the Moquis advised their return.
The brethren suffered much privation and hardship in this
effort to preach the gospel to this people. The Indians said
that they did not want to cross the Colorado River to live with
the "Mormons," for they had a tradition from their fathers
that they must not cross that river until the three prophets
who took them into the country they now occupy, should visit
them again.
Their chief men also prophesied that the "Mormons" would
settle in the country south of them, and that their route of
travel would be up the Little Colorado. This looked very im-
probable to us at that time, but all has since been fulfilled.
CHAPTER X.
Second Trip to the Moquis— Two Elders Left to Labor with them—
Lack of Succe.^s, Owing to Traditions of the Indians— Third Mis-
sion to the East Side of the Colorado— George A. Smith, Jr., Killed
by the Navajoes— Very Trying Experience — The Wounded Man
Dies in the Saddle, while Traveling— Forced to Leave his Body Un-
buried — Bitter Reflections.
Early in the autumn of 1859, I again visited Salt Lake
City, when President Brigham Young called upon me to make
another visit to the Moquis, and take with me Brother Marion J.
JACOB HAMBLIN. 69
Shelton, who he had called to labor with that people, to learn
their language and teach them.
He directed me to leave with him one of the brethren who
had been with me for some time among the Indians. President
Young also put in my charge sixty dollars worth of goods, con-
sisting of wool-cards, spades, shovels and other articles which
would be of value to the Indians, with instructions to dispense
them in the best manner to create a good influence among
them.
I returned home, and immediately made arrangements to
carry out these instructions.
Our company consisted of Marion J. Shelton, Thales Has-
kell, Taylor Crosby, Benjamin Knell, Ira Hatch, John W. Young
and myself.
We left the Santa Clara settlement on the 20th of October.
Nothing of special interest occurred on our journey, except
that on one time we did not find water where we expected, and
were suffering with thirst, when some Piutes saw our fire and
came to us. They informed us where there was water, and in
the morning piloted us to it.
We arrived among the Moquis on the 6th of November.
We visited and talked with them three days.
I was at a loss to know who to leave with Brother Shelton,
and was desirous that it might be made manifest to me. My
mind rested upon Brother Thales Haskell. I went to him and
told him that he was the only one I could think of to remain
with Brother Shelton, but he had been out so much that I dis-
liked so mention the subject to him.
He replied that he was the man, for it had been made
known to him that he would be asked to remain before leaving
home, but he had said nothing about it.
We left our Moquis friends and Brothers Shelton and Has-
kell on the 10th of November, and arrived home on the 25th.
Brothers Shelton and Haskell remained on their mission until
70 JACOB HAMBLIN.
early spring, when they returned home and reported that the
Moquis were kind to them, but they could not make much pro-
gress in the object of their mission. The fathers of the people
told them, very emphatically, that they still believed that the
"Mormons" who had visited them were the men prophesied of
by their fathers, that would come among them from the west
to do them good. But they could make no move until the re-
appearance of the three prophets who led their fathers to that
land, and told them to remain on those rocks until they should
come again and tell them what to do.
Under these circumstances the brethren thought best to
return home.
In the fall of 1860, I was directed to make another effort
to establish a mission in some of the Moquis towns, and take
with me George A. Smith, Jr., son of the late President George
A Smith.
I left the Santa Clara in October with a company of nine
men: Thales Haskell, George A. Smith, Jr., Jehiel McConnell,
Ira Hatch, Isaac Riddle, Amos Thornton, Francis M. Hamblin,
James Pierce, and an Indian we called Enos. We took sufficient
to sustain us in the Moquis country for one year.
In speaking at a public meeting the day before leaving, I
said I felt different from what I had ever previously done on
leaving home; that something unusual would happen. What it
would be I did not know. Whether we should ever see heme
again or not I did not know, but I knew we were told to go
among the Moquis and stsy for one year, and that I should do
so if I could get there.
When we arrived at the crossing of the Colorado River, I
again felt the same gloomy forebodings I spoke of before leav-
ing home.
On the morning before crossing, the brethren said I had
spoken discouragingly several times, and they wished to know
JACOB HAMBLIN. 71
if there was any one in the company that I did not wish to go
on.
I assured them that there was no one that I did not wish
to go along, but I knew there would be something happen that
would be very unpleasant, and that there would be very hard
times for some of us.
Young George A. Smith said, "You will see one thing,
that is, I will stick to it to the last. That is what I came for."
We all crossed the Colorado River with a firm determina-
tion to do the best we could to fill our mission.
The second day's travel from the river we found no water,
as we had expected, and what little we had brought with us
was exhausted.
About two o'clock in the afternoon, four Navajoes came
to us, and told us that if we went on to the next watering place
we would all be killed. They invited us to go with them to
Spaneshanks' camp, where they assured us we would find pro-
tection.
We counseled about the matter, and concluded that the
animals were too nearly famished for want of water to reach
Spaneshanks' camp. If what the four Navajoes told us about
danger ahead was true, we were in danger from enemies if we
went on the water, and of perishing with thirst if we attempted
to reach Spaneshanks' camp.
As the water was but a short distance ahead on our route,
we concluded to push on to it and risk the consequences.
I requested Brother Thales Haskell to go on with the com-
pany and water the animals, he having been there before, and
being, for this reason, acquainted with the ground. I directed
him, for security, to take our animals on to the top of a table
rock where there were about forty acres of grass, and which
could be reached only through a narrow pass in the rocks,
which would enable us to easily defend ourselves in case of at-
tack.
72 JACOB HAMBLIN.
The Navajoes were gathering around. us from different di.
rections, and the Indian interpreter we had brought with us, in-
formed me that they were evidently bent on mischief. I de-
termined to remain behind with them for awhile, and learn what
I could by the interpreter and by observation. The interpreter
learned from their conversation, that they were determined we
should not go on to the Moquis towns, but they appeared un-
decided whether to kill us or let us go home.
We had taken two Indian women with us, thinking that
they might be a great help in introducing something like clean-
liness in cooking, among the people we were going to visit.
The Navajoes said we might go home if we would leave them.
I directed the intepreter to tell ihem that one of the
women was Brother Hatch's wife, and the other was mine.
They replied that they would not kill the men who had married
them.
Two of the Navajoes then hurried on to our camp, which
was by the narrow pass, on to the table rock. There the Nava-
joes made a treaty with us that if we would trade them the
goods we had brought along, and especially the ammunition,
we might go home.
As it seemed impossible to fill our mission, we felt justi-
fied in concluding to return.
The following morning we commenced to exchange articles
of trade for blankets. While thu£ engaged, our animals were
taken off the rock to water. When returning from the water,
Brother George A. Smith's horse turned back on a trail, which,
in a short distance, led over a hill and out of sight.
As he started after it, I told him that he had better not
go alone, to which he made an indifferent reply. Something
else immediatedly attracted my attention, and he was forgotten
until the Navajoes in our camp suddenly left, when I learned
that he was after his horse, alone and out of sight. I sent two
men after him.
JACOB HAMBLIN. 78
They went about a mile, and found him lying by the trail,
with three bullet wounds through the lower part of his body,
and four arrow wounds between the shoulders.
I mounted a horse and rode to the spot, and learned that
Brother George A. had found a mounted Indian leading off his
horse, and that he took the Indian's horse by the bit, when the
stolen horse was readily given up, with which the owner started
for camp.
The Indian who had taken the horse and a companion then
rode a short distance together, when one came up by the side
of Brother George A., and asked him for his revolver. Not
suspecting any treachery, he passed it to the Indian, who
handed it to his companion a little in the rear. The latter then
fired three shots into him, with the revolver only a few feet
from his body.
Brother Smith was paralyzed and soon fell from his horse.
The two Indians then dismounted, and one threw his buckskin
shirt over his head, and the other shot the arrows between his
shoulders.
We took the dying man on a blanket near to the camp,
when he earnestly requested us to lay him down and let him die
in peace.
During this time about forty Mavajoes had gathered at a
difficult place on the trail leading to the Moquis towns, prob-
ably anticipating that we would make an effort to go in that
direction.
I sent our interpreter to ask them what they meant by
shooting a man after they had agreed with us that if we would
trade with them we might go in peace.
He returned with a message to the effect that three rela-
tives of the Indians had been killed by pale faces like us, and,
to avenge their death they had shot one of our men. They said:
"Tell Jacob that he need not bury him, for we will eat him, and
the women and children will help do it. We want to kill two
74 JACOB HAMBLIN.
more; and if Jucob will give them up or let us quietly kill them,
the rest of the company may go in peace."
The question was asked me, "What are you going to do?"
Under the trying circumstances, it was a serious question;
and the query was an earnest one with us all, "What can we
do?" The heavens seemed like brass over our heads, and the
earth as iron beneath our feet. It seemed utterly impossible
to reach the Moquis towns, which were almost in sight, and
like certain death to attempt to escape in the night with our
jaded animals.
Our interpreter thought it would be better for two of the
company to die, than for all to be killed.
I told him to go and tell the Navajoes that there were only
a few of us, but we were well armed, and should fight as long
as there was one left.
He turned to go, rather reluctantly, saying again that he
thought it better for only two to die than all.
I replied that I did not think so; that I would not give a
cent to live after I had given up two men to be murdered; that
I would rather die like a man than live like a dog.
As the interpreter turned to go, the two Indian women we
had brought with us wept aloud, and accused me of bringing
them along to be murdered. I went a little way off by myself,
and asked the Lord to be merciful, and pity us in our miserable
and apparently helpless condition, and to make known to me
what to do and say to extricate us from our difficulties.
I returned to camp and told the company that we would
leave as soon as possible.
Some thought it was certain death whether we went or re-
mained where we were.
I told them, however, that there would not be another one
of us injured.
Our four Navajo friends who had come to us the day be-
JACOB HAMBLIN. 75
fore, had remained, and now helped to gather our animals and
pack up.
Wt were soon on our way.
I told Brother George A. that we must return home to
save our lives, for we could not go any farther, as the Navajoes
were guarding the pass.
"Well," said he, "leave me; it will make but very little
difference with me; it may make much with you. You cannot
go very vast if you take me."
We put him in a saddle upon a mule, with Brother Jehiel
McConnell behind him, to hold him on.
We left our camp kettles over the fire containing our break-
fast, untouched, and all our camp outfit that we could possibly
do without.
The Navajoes who had been guarding our trail beyond the
camp, started after us, coming down like a whirlwind.
Some of our party predicted that in ten minutes there
would not be one of us left, but there was no flinching, no wilt-
ing in the emergency.
I again predicted that there would not be one of us hurt,
for so the Spirit whispered to me.
The Navajoes came almost within range of our rifles, and
then turned suddenly to the right.
As they passed, the mule that carried our supplies went
after them; but, to our surprise, it was brought back to us by
a friendly Navajo.
We traveled as fast as possible, while the four old gray-
headed Navajo friends guarded our front and rear. They often
asked us to leave the dying man, as he was no longer of any
use; that the one who shot him would follow to obtain his scalp,
and that if we stopped to bury him they would leave, for our
enemies would have his scalp if they had to dig his body up.
About sun-down George A. asked me to stop, and said,
that everything looked dark to him, and he was dying.
76 JACOB HAMBLIN.
Our Navajo friends again said if we stopped they would
goon. I said to Brother George A., "It will not do to stop
now."
He asked, "Why?"
When I told him, he said, "Oh, well, go on then; but I
wish I could die in peace." These were the last words that he
said.
A few minutes afterwards, the Navajo friends said, "The
man is dead. If you will leave him, we will take you to Spanes-
hanks' camp, where you will have friends."
Our last ray of hope for getting the body of George A.
where we could lay it safely away in the rocks, was now gone.
I said to the company, "What shall we do?" The answer was,
* 'What can we do, only lay the body on the ground and leave
it?"
I replied that such was my mind, for we would only risk
our lives by making an effort to bury the dead, in which we
would probably be unsuccessful.
We wrapped the body in a blanket, and laid it in a hollow
place by the side of the trail, and then rode on as fast as our
jaded animals could well carry us, until late in the night.
We halted on a patch of grass, held our animals by the
lariats, and also put out a guard.
I sat down and leaned over on my saddle, but could not
sleep. The scenes of the past two days were before me in vivid
reality. The thought of carrying the wounded man with his
life's blood dripping out of him along the trail, without his
having the privilege of dying in peace, combined with the leav-
ing of his body to be devoured by wolves and vultures, seemed
almost too much to bear.
My imagination pictured another scene. South of us, in
the distance, we could see a large fire, around which we pre-
sumed the Navajoes were having a war dance over the scalp of
our brother.
JACOB HAMBLIN. 77
Then the thought of conveying the sad news to his father
and mother and affectionate sister, all old and valued acquaint-
ances of mine, pierced me like barbed arrows, and caused me
the most bitter reflections that I have ever experienced in my
life.
CHAPTER XL
Arrival at Spaneshanks' Camp — His Friendly Spirit — Return Home —
Journey in the Winter to Recover the Remains of George A. Smith,
Jr. — Destitute Condition of my Family.
At day-dawn a Navajoe came to us, and asked me to give
him something as a present. I did so, and, as he turned away,
I recognized Brother George A. Smith's revolver in his belt.
We were soon on the way for Spaneshanks' camp, where
we found water, grass and friends.
That evening our Indian messenger came, and had an inter-
view with Spaneshanks.
Our interpreter informed me that the message sent to our
Navajo friends was, that they ought to kill us that night; and
that Spaneshanks replied to the message, that he was chief in
that country, and we should not be hurt.
We were further informed that the party that had done
the mischief were from Fort Defiance.
We were warned that ahead of us was a narrow pass,
where the Navajoes had lately attacked the Utes, and killed
their chief, Wahnonee, and that possibly they might attack us
in the same place.
The following morning we left the friendly Spaneshanks,
and, by making good use of our time, we watered our animals
and got them on to a table rock before dark.
Deep cuts and fissures setting in from the north and east,
rendered our location unapproachable except by the way we
78 JACOB HAMBLIN.
had come. We placed one watch in the most difficult part of
the trail, and felt safe for the first time in six days. In the
morning: we discovered a gun barrel with the stock shivered to
pieces, shreds of blankets and clothing, and other signs which
indicated that the place had been recently occupied. We con-
cluded it was the spot where the Navajoes had taken advantage
of the Utes.
The second day from Spaneshanks' camp we crossed to the
north side of the Colorado River. Four days afterwards on the
Buckskin Mountain, the Piutes brought us an abundance of
pine nuts.
The supply was very acceptable, as edibles were scarce in
camp.
Five days subsequently we arrived home on the Santa
Clara, jaded and worn with hard travel and anxiety of mind.
Our relatives and friends had been much troubled in their
minds concerning us in our absence. Some had unfavorable
dreams, and they were filled with gloomy forebodings. A young
lad, a nephew of mine, told his mother that there was some-
thing the matter with me, for he saw me walking along and
weeping bitterly. He asked me what was the matter, and I
replied: "Do not ask me, for it is too bad to tell."
I know that some people do not believe in dreams and
night visions. I do not believe in them when occasioned by a
disordered stomach, the result of eating unwisely, but in those
of a different nature I have often been forewarned of things
about to come to pass, and I have also received much in-
struction.
I wrote quite a full account of this trip to President
George A. Smith, after which he came to my house on the
Santa Clara.
In conversing with him about the affair, he remarked, "I
was much shocked on hearing of the death of my boy : but upon
reflection, we all in the Historian's office came to the conclu-
JACOB HAMBLIN. 79
sion that the Lord wanted the young man just in the way He
took him.''
President Young also looked upon the matter in the same
light.
After this conversation Brother Smith gave me a note
from President Brigham Young, in which was a written request
to raise a company of twenty men, and bring in what we could
find of the remains of Brother George A. Smith, Jr, Winter
having set in, I considered this a difficult task.
It was necessary to go to Parowan for men and supplies,
a distance of some seventy miles. This accomplished, we were
soon on our way.
Our route was a difficult one to travel in the winter
season. The ford of the Colorado was deep and dangerous at
any time, but especially when the ice was running. Sometimes
there were steep rocks to climb, at other times the trail ran
along the almost perpendicular sides of deep rock fissures, nar-
row with frequent short turns, where a misstep might plunge
us or our animals hundreds of feet below. Sometimes the pre-
cipitous rocks were covered with ice, which had to be hacked
with our hatchets before we could feel any surety of a foot-
hold.
At one time we waited until nearly midday for the sun to
melt the frost and ice on a steep rock, that we might be able to
get our animals out of a gulch onto the plain above. On this
occasion my pack mule slipped and fell, then rolled and slid
down to within about a yard of the edge of a ohasm below. We
fastened a long lariat to the animal, and saved it and the
pack.
On arriving at the place where we had left the body of
Young Brother Smith, we found the head and some of the
larger bones. We prepared them for carrying as well as we
could.
80 JACOB HAMBLIN.
At our last camp in going out, the chief who had led the
hostile Navajoes on our previous trip, came to us accompanied
by his wife, and said if he had known what he afterwards
learned about us, he would have protected instead of injur-
ing us.
Nothing of especial interest took place in returning home.
I went with the remains of George A. Smith, Jr., to Salt Lake
City, and delivered them to his friends.
This completed one of the most trying series of circum-
stances in my life. That the misfortune was no greater is due
to the kindly providence of our Heavenly Father, and the faith
in Him and confidence in each other, of the brethren involved
in it.
President Young proffered to pay us for our trip. I re-
plied that no one who went with me made any charge, and, as
for myself, I was willing to wait for my pay till the resurrec-
tion of the just.
On my return to the Mountain Meadows, I found my fam-
ily out of flour, and the roads blocked with snow, so that a team
could not get in nor out of the Meadows. I had left my family
with plenty of food, but they had lent it to their neighbors. I
was under the necessity of hauling both fuel and flour for them
on a hand sled.
CHAPTER XII.
Many Saints Called to Settle Southern Utah— Destructive Flood on
the Santa Clara— Narrow Escape from Drowning— Another Visit
Across the Colorado— A New Route— Moquis Indians Pray for
Rain— Their Prayers Answered— Three Indians Return with
us — Their Devotion and Reverence — Thev Visit Salt Lake City.
It was nearly two years before we made another trip to the
Moquis towns. Many of the brethren appeared to think that
JACOB HAMBLIN. 81
no good could be accomplished in that direction. In the
autumn of 18(51, many Saints were called from the north to
form settlements in Southern Utah. The city of St. George
was founded, and settlements were extended so as to occupy
the fertile spots along the waters of the Rio Virgin and Santa
Clara.
During the winter of 18Gl-'2 there was an unusual amount
of rainfall. About the middle of February it rained most of
the time for a number of days, and the Santa Clara Creek rose
so high that the water spread across the bottom from bluff to
bluff, and became a trubulent, muddy river.
Our little farms and Cottonwood trees that grew on the
bottom lands were disappearing. The flood wood sometimes
accumulated in a pile, and would throw the current of
water on to ground which had apparently before been safe
from its inroads.
Our fort, constructed of stone, and which was one hun-
dred feet square, with walls twelve feet high and two feet thick,
stood a considerable distance north of the original bed of the
creek. Inside the waUs were rooms occupied by families,
and we had considered it safe from the flood.
One night when most of the people were asleep, some one
discovered that the water was washing away the bank on the
south side of it, and also that the water was beginning to run
around it, between it and the blufl:'. It was raining heavily at
the same time.
The people were removed from the fort as soon as possible,
and some temporary shelter was constructed of boards, blank-
ets, etc.
While I was making an effort to save some property near
the caving bank of the stream, the ground on which I stood
suddenly slid into the water, about twenty feet below and took
me with it.
I still stood on the mass of dirt, but realized that it was
82 JACOB HAMBLIN.
being rapidly washed away from under me, and that I was
liable at any moment to be percipitated into the raging
torrent.
The thought flashed through my mind that there was not
one chance in a thousand of my being saved. I heard some one
say above me that I was gone, it was no use to try to save. I
shouted at the top of my voice: "It is of use to try to save me!
Bring a rope and throw to me, and haul me out before the bauk
caves and I am gone!"
In a few moments I felt a rope drop over my head and
shoulders. I lost no time in grasping it, and was pulled up
just as I felt the last foothold giving way under me.
Again was my life preserved by that kindly providence
which has so often saved me when in imminent peril.
What seems remarkable in the history of that j^loomy
night, is, that in a few minutes after being rescued from death
myself, I should be the means of saving another life.
A heavy and rapidly increasing current of water was now
running between the fort and the bluff.
In some way or other, a sick woman had been left in one
of the rooms of the fort, and her husband was almost frantic
with the idea that his wife was lost, as he did not think she
could be got out. She had a young child, which was safe out-
side, while the mother was in peril.
I took the rope that had been the means of saving myself,
tied one end of it to a tree, and, holding on to it, got safely to
the fort, where I fastened the other end. I entered the room,
drew the woman from the bed onto my back, placed her arms
over my shoulders and crossed them in front. I told her that
when I got to the running water she must hold herself on my
back, for I would be obliged to lay hold of the rope with both
hands to get through the water.
When we arrived at the point of danger, her arms pressed
so heavily on my throat that I was nearly strangled. It was
JACOB HAMBLIN. 83
a critical moment, for if I let go the rope we were sure to be
lost as the water was surging against me. I made the best
possible use of time and strength, and reached the shore safely
with my burden, to the great joy of the husband and children.
The flood swept away my grist mill and other improve-
ments to the value of several thousand dollars. Most of the
houses and the cultivated land of the settlement also disap-
peared.
In the autumn of 18G2 it was thought best to again visit
the Moquis villages. President Young recommended that we
cross the Colorado river south of St. George, and explore the
country in that direction, with the view of finding a more feas-
ible route than the one we had before traveled.
A company of twenty men were set apart for this purpose
by Apostles Orson Pratt and Erastus Snow.
A team accompanied us to the river with a small boat, in
which we conveyed our luggage across. Our animals swam the
river.
Expecting to return the same way, after crossing the river
we cached our boat and some of our supplies.
The first day we traveled south up a "wash," for abuut thirty
miles. We then traveled three days through a rough, bushy
country, with some scrub cedar and pine timber. The fourth night
from the river we camped at a small "seep" spring. The San
Francisco Mountain lay a little to the southeast of us, and in
sight.
In the moming our Indian guide refused to go farther with
us, his reason being that we were going into a country desti-
tute of water. We counseled together and decided that we
could reach the foothills of the San Francisco Mountains with-
out perishing.
The first night from the ''seep" spring a light fall of snow
came on. It melted, and ran into the hollows of the rocks,
84 JACOB HAMBLIN.
and furnished an abundant supply of water. This seemed like a
special providence in our favor.
The second night we made a dry camp. The third night
we arrived at the foot of the San Francisco Mountain, where
we again found snow.
The second day after leaving the mountain we reached
the little Colorado River, and then traveled a^little northeast to
the Moquis towns.
We spent two days in visiting among then?. We left
Brothers Jehiel McConnell, Thales Haskell and Ira Hatch to
labor among them for a season.
The Moquis had been going through some religious cere-
monies to induce the Great Spirit to send storms to wet their
country, that they might raise an abundance of food the coming
season. They assured us that their offerings and prayers were
heard, for the storm would soon come, and advised us to delay
starting for home until it should be over.
We had been talking with them about sending some of
their chief men with us, to see our people and have a talk with
our leaders. They objected on account of a tradition forbid-
ding them to cross the great river, which has been referred to
before.
We then started for home. The storm came the first
night out, and wet the country finely. We found shelter
under a rock.
While there, three Moquis men came to us. They in-
formed us that after further consultation, their chief men had
concluded to send them with us.
The storm apparently in answer to the prayers of this
simple people, and similar circumstances thit have come under
my observation among the Indians, have given me an assurance
that the Lord is mindful of the wants of those barbarians, and
that he answers their prayers with the blessings they need.
Thej^snow [fell sufficiently deep to cover up the grass and
JACOB HAMBLIN. 85
our animals had to subsist principally on browse. The travel-
ing was laborious, and when we arrived at the river by our old
route, we had eight animals less than we left home with. This
loss, and the poor condition of those that remained made trav-
eling slow and tedious.
On arriving at the Ute crossing of the Colorado, we found
the water deep and ice running. Fording was difficult and
dangerous.
This, coupled with the tradition of the Moquis against
crossing the river, visibly affected our Moquis friends. Antici-
pating that they might be entirely discouraged and not proceed
further, I forwarded their blankets and provisions by the first
ones that crossed over.
When we desired them to cross they expressed a wish to
return home, but when I informed them that their things had
been taken over, they concluded to follow. When the crossing
was successfully accomplished, they returned thanks to the
Father for their preservation.
On the north side, it occupied a day to bridge a muddy inlet
and get to the bench above. The crosssing was accomplished
the first day of the year, 18G3.
Brothers L, M. Fuller and James Andrus, whose animals
were still in a fair condition, were advised to push on as fast as
practicable, and send us back some supplies, as we were very
short of food.
The rest of the company traveled slowly to save the weak
animals.
We laid by one day on the Pahreah, and killed and cooked
crows to help out our rations.
Six days from the river we camped on Kanab Creek. That
evening Brother Lucius M. Fuller came into camp with a fat
sheep, dressed, and some bread and flour, which were furnished
by Brother William B. Maxwell, from his ranch on Short Creek,
forty miles beyond our camp.
86 JACOB HAMBLIN.
When the Moquis saw the food they thanked the Great
Father that he had pitied us and sent us food. Prayer and
thanksgiving was the daily custom in our company; but to see
these Indians who are looked upon as barbarians, so humble and
childlike in their reverence to the Great Father, seems worthy
of special notice.
A man who came with Brother Fuller told me, after sup-
per, that he had heard that one of my sons had been killed at
Santa Clara, by the caving in of a bank of earth, and he
thought it was Lyman. That night I had a dream or vision, in
which I learned that it was Duane instead of Lyman, and I told
the brethren so in the morning.
Three days afterwards we arrived at the settlements on
the Rio Virgin. The brethren in these settlements furnished us
with fresh animals and an abundant supply of food. We found
a wide difference between feasting and fasting.
Soon after arriving home, Brother Wm. B. Maxwell and I
took our three Moquis friends to Salt Lake City. The people
on the way were very kind and hospitable. Arriving there, all
possible pains were taken to instruct these men concerning our
people, and to show them that which would gratify their curi-
osity, and increase their knowledge. They said they had been
told that their forefathers had the arts of reading, writing,
making books, etc.
We took them to a Welshman who understood the ancient
Welsh language. He said he could not detect anything in their
language that would warrant a belief that they were of Welsh
descent.
As Lehi had promised his son Joseph that all his seed
should not be destroyed, it was in the mind of the brethren
who reflected upon this subject, that in the Moquis people
this promise was fulfilled.
JACOB HAMBLIN. 87
CHAPTER XIII.
The Moquis Visitors taken Home — Singular Presentiment of my
Indian Boy — The Route South of St. George taken the Second
Time — Cataract Canyon — The Lost Moqui^i and the Medicine
Man — Meeting with the Brethren who had been left at the
Moquis Towns — Exploration about the San Francisco Mountains
— Return Home — Great Suffering with Thirst — My Indian Boy
Dead and Buried as he had Predicted he Would be.
We left St. George to take the Moquis visitors home on the
18th of March, 1863, The party consisted of six white men
and our Moquis friends. As I was leaving home my Indian boy,
Albert, met me, and I remarked to him that the peach trees
had begun to bloom, and it would be warmer than it had been.
He replied, "Yes, and I shall bloom in another place before
you get back. I shall be on my mission!" (He doubtless re-
ferred to a vision which he had of preaching to a multitude of
his people.")
Said, I "What do you mean by that?''
He replied "That I shall be dead and buried when you get
back."
We again took the route leading south from St. George.
When we went out on this route the fall previous, we had
expected to return the same way, and had cached our boat and
some supplies on the south side of the river.
On arriving at the river we constructed a raft of dry tim-
ber, on which two men crossed over to obtain the boat. It was
in good condition, but our supplies were ruined.
On the south side we looked around for a better crossing,
as we had been requested to do, and found one five miles higher
up the river, and also a good way of getting to and from the
river. This is now called Pierce's Ferry.
88 JACOB HAMBLIN.
We were here overtaken by Mr. Lewis Greeley, a nephew
of Horace Greeley of the New York Tribune. As he wished to
accompany us, Brother Snow sent a man with him to the river.
We took our former trail as far as Seep Springs, the last
water before crossing the three days' desert. The second and
third days we found two camps, which, judging from the re-
mains of camp kettles, pack saddles, etc., had doubtless been
broken up, probably by the Apaches. We thought they were
the camps of miners.
At the last camp there were five animals with Spanish
brands. The Moquis desired to take them along, and after
some consultation we consented for them to do so.
At Seep Springs we found a small band of Piutes, who had
run off a party of Cohoneenea.
As we had intended to explore as much as practicable,
after consulting with these Piutes and our Moquis friends, we
concluded to take a trail to the left of our former route. This
would take us down into Cataract Canyon, which heads
near the foot of the San Francisco Peaks.
We followed down a side canyon all day, leading our ani-
mals most of the time on account of the narrow and precipitous
character of the trail. At night we camped without water.
About 10 o'clock the next day we came in sight of the
Main, or Cataract Canyon. This was still far down in the
earth below, and the stream running along its bottom appeared
like a bright silver thread glittering in the sun.
In coming to this point we, at one time, traveled about
three miles continuously on a trail made with considerable
iabor in the side of shale rock. I do not remember of a place
in this distance where we could have turned our animals around
to return, had we wished to do so. We afterwards learned
that this part of the trail was considered by the people who
lived in the canyon, as their strongest point of defense in that
direction.
JACOB HAMBLIN. 89
' We traveled a very circuitous and still ditHcult trail, until
four o'clock in the afternoon, before we arrived at the water
we had seen six hours before. We found the stream to be
about fifteen yards i.i width, with an average depth of over a
foot.
It was rapid and clear,and skirted with cottonwood timber,
growing on rich bottom land.
The bottom of Cataract Canyon, Lieut. Ives informes us,in
his "Explorations of the Colorado," is 2,775 feet below the
general level of the plateau above. We judged the sides of
the canyon where we were to be one-half of this distance in
perpendicular height.
The first people that we met had been informed of our
approach by one of our Moquis companions, whom we had sent
ahead of us. While we were talking to them others arrived
from lower down the stream, who inquired rather sharply why
we were there. They were so6n satisfied with our explana-
tions.
We were soon engaged in interesting conversation. They
had heard of me and my travels, and appeared pleased to see
me. They desired that I would not lead any one into their
hiding place, and particularly a stranger, without their
consent.
They told us that the horses we had picked up belonged
to the Walapies, and if we would leave them they would return
them to the owners before we came back. We remained with
this people one day. In going out we traveled up the main
canyon.
Not long previously these people had been attacked in
their stronghold by a band of Indians from the southeast. They
showed us a narrow pass where they had met them and killed
seven of their number.
About three miles above where wt first struck the stream,
it boils from the bottom of the canyon, in a large, beautiful
7
90 JACOB HAMBLIN.
spring. We found no water above this. About nine miles up
the canyon above the water, we turned into a left-hand side
canyon, through which it was about two miles to the country
above.
The trail up this canyon was very steep and difficult. The
trail we came in on, and this one, are said to be the only means
of getting in and out of the Cataract Canyon. From what we
could learn from the Indians, we supposed the distance from
the stream to where the creek empties into the Colorado to be
about eighteen miles.
Through some misunderstanding, two of our Moquis
friends had continued up the main canyon. We made a dry
camp that night. The Moquis man who remained with us was a
religious leader among his people. He became very anxious
about his companions for he said they would find no water. He
went through some religious ceremonies for their safe return.
In the night they arrived in camp. They had discovered
their mistake and returned until they found our trail. We had
a little water left to relieve their thirst.
I should have before stated that these Moquis never send
out any of their people in the public interest, without send-
ing one of their religious teachers with them. The position of
these religious men is probably a traditional remnant of the
pure priesthood held by their fathers.
This man who was with us, carried a small sack in which
were some consecrated meal, wool, cotton and eagles' feathers.
To this sack was attached a stick, which he took out each
morning, and, f»fter looking at the sun, made a mark upon it,
thus keeping a memorandum of the number of days we had
spent on our journey.
Our route was considerably to the north of the one we
had traveled when on our former trip. The day after leaving
Cataract Canyon, about 4 o'clock in the afternoon, we came to
a cross trail made by wild animals. Following it a few hundred
JACOB HAMBLIN. 91
yards into the head of a canyon, we found a pool of good
water.
This was the 7th of April. We traveled two days without
water for our animals, and camped where we could see the
water of the Little Colorado, but it was in a deep gulch, out of
our reach. The next day we traveled thirteen miles up the
river bank, and camped by the water.
The night of the 11th we were about twelve miles from a
Moquis town. Our Moquis companions wished to go home; and
did so, while we camped until morning.
They informed the three brethren who had remained in
the Moquis towns during the winter, of our approach, and the
following morning these brethren met us about two miles
out. They rejoiced much in seeing us, and hearing from their
families and friends at home. We remained two days with our
Moquis friends.
Taking Brothers Haskell, Hatch and McConnell with us, on
Tuesday, the 15th of April, we started for the San Francisco
Mountain, which was about ninety miles to the southwest. We
aimed to strike the Beal road, which runs on the south side of
the mountain.
On the 20th of April we got into the foot hills on the
north side of the mountain, where we found plenty of timber,
grass, and snow for water. Game was abundant, and we had
no trouble to kill what we needed. The same day Mr. Greeley
discovered a pond of clear, cold water, several acres in extent,
in the crater of a volcanic peak.
Monday, the 21st of April, we spent in exploring in differ-
ent directions. We discovered a wagon road, which proved to
be the one laid out by Captain Beal. We had traveled around
on the north side of the mountain, and struck this road six
miles west of Lareox Spring.
On the 22nd we killed two antelopes, and dried the meat
preparatory for starting home.
92 JACOB HAMBLIN.
On the 24th we started for home. We traveled west on
the Deal road, until the 28th, when we left it and traveled
across the desert where Lieut. Ives and party suffered from
thirst.
We directed our course for Seep Springs spoken of in the
account of our outward trip, as our last camp before going into
Cataract Canyon.
I was fifty six hours without any water. Brother Jehiel
McConnel was so far gone that he could only whisper. Both
men and animals suffered severely. From Seep Springs we
directed our course for the crossing of the Colorado, south of
St. George.
The third day from Seep Springs we traveled into the
night and got off our trail. We tied up some of our animals
and hobbled others to wait for daylight.
During the night what we at first supposed to be the hoot-
ing of an owl, attracted our attention. After listening a
little while we concluded that the hooting was counterfeit; that
the Indians were around us and we had better look after our
animals.
I followed a trail a few hundred yards by moonlight, and
discovered the track of two Indians. Suffice it to say, we lost
ten animals out of eighteen.
Assisted by some Piutes, we made an effort next day to
recover them, but failing, on the 6th of May we continued
our journey. Five of our animals we packed, which left but
three to ride. As there were ten men in the company, we
traveled mostly on foot.
We afterwards learned that the Cataract Canyon Indians
had not returned the Walapies' horses as they had agreed to,
and the Walapies made that an excuse for stealing ours.
When we arrived at the river our feet were badly blist-
ered. We had learned to appreciate the value of the animals
we had lost.
JACOB HAMBLIN. 93
Between the ferry and St. George, one day, in the Grand
Wash, our animals becoming dry, a mule smelt of the ground
and pawed. We concluded that it smelt water under the
ground. We dug down about three feet, and found plenty.
There has been water there ever since, and it is called White
Spring.
We arrived in St. George on the 13th of May, 1863. We
had been absent fifty-six days. We had explored a practicable,
though difficult route, for a wagon from St. George to the
Little Colorado, had visited the Moquis towns, and explored
some of the country around the San Francisco Mountain.
I found on my return home that my Indian boy, Albert,
was dead and buried, as he had predicted he would be when I
left home.
I supposed his age to be about ten years when he came to
live with me; he had been with me twelve years, making him
twenty-two years old when he died. For a number of years he
had charge of my sheep, horses and cattle, and they had in-
creased and prospered in his hands.
Some time before his death he had a vision, in which he
saw himself preaching the gospel to a multitude of his people.
He believed that this vision would be realized in the world of
spirits. He referred to this when he said that he should die
before my return home, and be on his mission.
He was a faithful Latter-day Saint; believed he had a great
work to do among his people; had many dreams and visions,
and had received his blessings in the house of the Lord.
94 JACOB HAMBLIN.
CHAPTER XIV.
Change in the Spirit of the Indians — Some Insight into their Priva-
tions and Trials — They Threaten Hostilities— Difficulties with them
Settled— A Kind, Peaceful Policy the Best — Visit to the Moquis
Towns — The People are Invited to Live with the Saints — Their Ob-
jections to Removing — Hostile Attitude of the Navajoes — Return
Home— Suffering with Thirst — A Providential Supply of Water —
Dr. Whitmore Killed by Indians — Severe Sickness — Healed in
Answer to Prayer.
At this time a considerable change had taken place in the
spirit and feelings of the Indians of Southern Utah, since the
settlement of the country in 1861-62. Up to that time, our
visits among them and our long talks around their camp fires,
had kept up a friendly feeling in their hearts.
After the settlement of St. George, the labors of the In-
dian missionaries, from force of circumstances, became more
extended and varied, and the feelings of the Indians tov^ards
the Saints became more indifferent, and their propensity to raid
and steal returned.
The great numbers of animals brought into the country by
the settlers, soon devoured most of the vegetation that had
produced nutritious seeds, on which the Indians had been ac-
customed to subsist. When, at the proper season of the year,
the natives resorted to these places to gather seeds, they found
they had been destroyed by cattle. With, perhaps, their chil-
dren crying for food, only the poor consolation was left them
of gathering around their camp fires and talking over their
grievances.
Those who have caused these troubles have not realized
the situation. I have many times been sorely grieved to see the
Indians with their little ones, glaring upon a table spread with
food, and trying to get our people to understand their circum-
JACOB HAMBLIN. 95
stances, without being able to do eo. Lank hunger and other
influences have caused them to commit many depredations.
When our people have retaliated, the unoffending have
almost invariably been the ones to suffer. Generally those that
have done the stealing have been on the alert, and have got
out of the way, while those who have desired to be friends,
from the want of understanding on the part of our people, have
been the sufferers. This has driven those who were before well
disposed, to desperation.
The Navajoes and other Indians east of the Colorado River
have taken advantage of these circumstances to raid upon the
settlements, and drive off many hundreds of cattle and valuable
horses and mules.
In 1864 I visited the Indians east of St. George, accom-
panied by Brother George Adair. They had gathered between
St. George and Harrisburg, for the purpose of carrying out
their threat to destroy some of the settlements the first favor-
able opportunity.
I was asked how many men I wanted to go with me on my
contemplated visit. I replied only one, and that I did not want
any arms, not even a knife, in sight.
When we arrived in their camp I asked them to come to-
gether, and bring their women and children, and all hear what
we had to say. They had prepared for hostilities by secreting
their women and children, as is their custom.
By talking with them, a better influence came over them,
and the spirit of peace triumphed over irritation and a sense of
wrong.
About seventy-five miles west of St. George, a band of
Piutes had confederated with a band of Indians that had been
driven out of California, and they threatened the settlements of
Meadow Creek, Clover Valley, and Shoal Creek. Brother
Andrew Gibbons accompanied me on a visit to these Indians.
It was summer and they had left their corn fields to dry up, and
96 JACOB HAMBLIN.
gone to the mountains. Our people had manifested as much
hostility as the Indians, having killed two of their number.
We sent out word for all to come in and see us. We made
a feast by killing an ox, and, in a general talk, they told over
their griev^ances. They said that they felt justified in what they
had done, and also in what they intended to do.
I could not blame them, viewing matters from their stand-
point. In the talk I rather justified them in what they expected
to do, but told them that in the end it would be worse for them
to carry out their plans than to drop them, and smoke the pipe
of peace. That the grass upon which the seeds had grown which
served them for food was all eaten up, and from that time
would be; but if they would be friendly, they could get more
food by gleaning our fields than they had before we came into
their country.
The talk lasted for hours. The difficulty was settled and
we returned home.
Early in 1865, the Navajoes stole a few horses from
Kanab. I was requested to go over the Colorado, and, if prac-
ticable, have a talk with them, and recover the stolen horses.
I was also to have a talk with the Moquis, and invite them to
move over into our country.
We did not succeed in recovering the stolen horses. We
were informed by the Moquis that the old Navajo chief, the
friendly Spaneshanks, had been discarded by his band, that his
son had succeeded him as chief, and that he was disposed to
raid at any favorable opportunity.
For these reasons we thought it would be useless and per-
haps dangerous to go into their country. We had a meeting in
the Oriba village, with the principal men of that place and one
of the largest of the Moquis towns. It was an interesting
interview.
We told them we did not expect to visit them much more
where they were, and we wished them to move over the river
JACOB HAMBLIN. 97
into our country, live with us, and build cities and villages the
same as other people.
They again told us that they could not leave their present
locations until the three prophets who had led them into their
country should appear among them again, and tell them what
to do. They predicted that our people would yet move into the
country south of them, and would travel with wagons up the
Little Colorado.
Aside from their traditions against moving across the
great river, they could not see the utility of going over to live
with us when we would yet move into their country. They were
quite anxious that we should net be angry with them, as they
desired that we should be friends, and thought that we might
sometimes visit them.
On our return home we were disappointed in not finding
water in two places where we had always found a supply on
former trips. At the second place we camped for the night.
On account of thirst our animals were very uneasy, and we tied
them up and guarded them until morning.
The nearest water to us was ten miles distant, over a
sandy desert, and directly out of our way; that is, we would
have to travel twenty miles to get water, and again reach our
trail for home. It was nearly two days' travel on our way home
to water, and both men and animals were already greatly dis-
tressed.
I ascended a hill near the camp, and earnestly asked the
Lord in my heart what I should do under our difficult circum-
stances. While thus engaged I looked towards the Colorado,
which was about forty miles distant, and saw a small cloud,
apparently about the size of a man's hat. It rapidly increased,
and it did not appear to me more than half-an-hour before we
were enveloped in a heavy snow- storm. The snow melted and
ran into the cavities of the rocks, until there was an abundance
of water.
98 JACOB HAMBLIN.
When we started on our journey we found the ground dry
in less than a mile and a half from our camp.
I thanked the Lord that He had sent us relief in our great
need, but there were those in the company who did not appear
to see the hand of the Lord in it.
In the autumn of 1865, Dr. Whitmore and I made a trip
to Los Vegas Springs and the Colorado River. We visited the
Cottonwood Island Indians and the Mohaves.
In the winter after our return, Dr. Whitmore and his
herder, young Mclntyre, were killed near Pipe Spring, about
fifty-five miles east of St. George, by the Navajoes, who also
drove off their sheep and some cattle.
I started out after them with a company, was taken sick,
and turned back to go home.
I stopped over night on the road in a deserted house, with-
out food, bedding or fire. Having an opportunity, I sent word
to my family about my condition. I got into the town of
Washington, twelve miles east of Santa Clara, and could go no
farther.
In a day or two my wife, Louise, arrived with a team and
took me home. My health was very poor for about a year. At
one time my friends thought that I was dying. At first I told
them that I was willing that it should be so, for I had only
been in their way for nearly a year; but my little children were
crying around me, and the question came into my mind: What
will they do if I am taken away? I could not bear the thought
of leaving my family in so helpless a condition.
I then asked God, the Eternal Father, in the name of His
Son Jesus Christ, to spare my life long on the earth, and I
would labor for the building up of His kingdom.
I afterwards felt a desire for food, and asked for some-
thing to eat. I was told that I had eaten nothing for two days.
Some boiled beef and tea were brought me; I thought I had
JACOB HAMBLIN. 99
never before eaten anything that tasted so good. From that
time I slowly recovered.
CHAPTER XV.
Travels Among the Indians — Watching: the Frontiers — Trip to the
Mo(juis Towns — Great Raid of the Navajoes — A Good Opportunity
Lost of Recovering Stolen Stock — Skirmishes with Raiders — A
Peaceable Agreement with the Navajoes Desirable — Visit of Pre-
sident Young to Kanab.
In the spring and summer of 1867, I was called upon to
visit the bands of Indians to the east of the settlements on the
Rio Virgen, and farther north. A number of settlements had
been deserted on the Sevier River, and it was desirable that the
temper of the Indians should be so modified that they could be
re-established.
I weLt east seventy- five miles, to the present location of
Kanab. After gathering around me some of the Indians, and
planting some corn and vegetables, I crossed over the rim of
the basin, north, and traveled down the valley of the Sevier.
I sought out places where the Indians were gathered in
the largest numbers. I had many long talks with them, which
seemed to have a good effect. Although some of the bands
were considered quite hostile and dangerous to visit, I felt that
I was laboring for good, and had nothing to fear.
In the fall of 18G7, as soon as the water in the Colorado
was low enough for the Navajoes to ford it, I kept close watch
of the eastern frontiers of Southern Utah. I met with quite a
number of young Piute's when I first went into the country.
They said they had dreamed that I was coming out into their
country, and they proposed to assist me in watching the fron-
tiers. They proved to be quite useful in watching the passes,
and waylaid and shot several raiders.
100 JACOB HAMBLIN.
The season of 1868 was spent in a similar manner to that
of 1867, in visiting; the Indians in south-eastern Utah, and cul-
tivating peace among them.
In October, 1869, I was requested to make another trip to
the Moquis towns, to talk with the people, aiid learn, if pos-
sible, whether there were other Indians besides the Navajoes
raiding on our borders.
I started with a company of forty men, twenty of the
brethren, and twenty Piutes. We crossed the Colorado where
Lee's Ferry now is. Our luggage went over on rafts made of
floatwood, fastened together by withes.
Or. arriving at the Moquis towns, I thought some of the
people received us rather coldly. My old acquaintances told
me that the Navajoes intended to make another raid on our
people in a short time. I felt like returning to our settlements
immediately.
When we left the towns, I felt much impressed to take the
old Ute trail, and cross the river thirty miles above where we
crossed going out. Some of the company objected to this, and
made much of the difficulties of the crossing.
When we came to where a trail led to each of the cross-
ings, I told the company that I did not know why, but I was
satisfied that it was our duty to go home by the old Ute trail.
I was much surprised to find that more than a half of the
brethren had made up their minds not to go that way. I told
them if I knew anything about the mind and will of the Lord,
it was for us to go that way.
The Piutes, to a man, were willing to go the way I desired.
The brethren took the lower trail, and on we went. I remarked
to them that our trip to the Moquis was a failure. When we
arrived home, we learned that the Navajoes had been into the
settlements north of where our people had guarded, and driven
ofi" twelve or fifteen hundred head of animals, among them many
valuable horses and mules.
JACOB HAMBLIN. 101
I afterwards learned from the Piutes, that if the company
had taken the Ute trail, we would have met the raiders with
all these valuable animals on the open plains, after they had
crossed the river. I felt vexed that I did not take the Piutes
with me, and save this v.^luable lot of stock for our people.
I slept out many cold nights in the winter of 1869-70,
watching and guarding with the Piutes. One Navajo was shot
when two or three hundred yards ahead of his company, which
was driving out a small band of horses. The raiders were much
frightened, threw down their luggage and wanted the Piutes to
let them go home. The Piutes consented to let the Navajoes
go if they would leave what they had. They gladly accepted
the terms. This took place in the Pahreah Pass, about twenty
miles east of Kanab.
The Navajo that was shot was only wounded. I followed
his trail the next day, to see what had become of him. I found
where he had been picked up by his friends and carried two or
three miles. Near him was another camp of raiders, resting.
One of the Piutes who was with me at the time, and had
been told in a dream to go with me, shot two of this company,
scalped one of them, and said that the other had sandy hair,
and he dare not scalp him, for he seemed too much like a white
man.
At another time, when Captain James Andrus, with a com-
pany of men from St. George was with us, a few animals passed
us in the night. We supposed there were three Navajoes with
them.
We followed them one day. By taking a circuitous route
we came within range of them unobserved. Some of the com-
pany fired before the others were ready. Two of the raiders
fell; the others, quick as thought, drove the horses upon a sharp
point of rocks, where they took shelter in such a way that they
could guard their horses without exposing themselves.
We endeavored to approach them to advantage, but with-
102 JACOB HAMBLIN.
out success. I was fired at several times, as also were several
of the other brethren. Once, as I was secreted behind a cedar
tree, a Navajo crawled up behind a sand drift, fired at me,
and the bullet jast missed my head.
Finding that the Indians had the advantage of us, we left
them, only getting one of the horses. The Navajoes secured
ten horses and lost three of their men.
Captain Andrus and company returned to St. George, and
left Brothers John Mangum, Hyrum Judd, Jehiel McConnell, my
son Lyman, myself and the Piutes to watch the frontiers, as we
had done through the winter.
The winter of 1869-70 was one of great hardship for the
few brethren who, with the Piutes, watched the frontier. They
suffered with the cold, and passed many sleepless nights. We
crossed the Buckskin, or Kibab, Mountain several times, with
the snow in some places waist deep.
This Navajo war caused me many serious reflections. I
felt that there was a better way to settle matters, and I made
up my mind to go and see the Navajoes, and have a talk with
them as soon as circumstances would permit.
In the spring of 1870, President Brigham Young, his coun-
selor, George A. Smith, Apostle Erastus Snow and other leading
men of the Church, came to Kanab, accompanied by twenty
men as a guard.
As we had been notified of this visit, we had things in as
good order as possible. The Piutes, seventy in number, washed
off the dirt and paint which usually besmeared their persons,
and put on a fair appearance for Indians.
President Young at first objected to sending out the ani-
mals of the company to feed under an Indian guard but after,
wards consented to do so. He expressed himself well satisfied
with my labors and policy on the frontiers.
I told him that I desired to visit the Navajoes, and have a
talk with them; that there had been a number of raiders killed,
JACOB HAMBLIN. 103
and I never saw a Navajoe's bones on the ground, the Hesh
having been eaten off by wolves and vultures, but what I felt
sorrow for the necessity of such things; that I always abhorred
the shedding of blood, and desired to obtain peace in some
better way.
When President Young arrived at Toquerville, on his re-
turn journey, he sent me a letter of instructions, directing me
to do all I could to prevent the shedding of blood; not to let
the Indians have any firearms or ammunition if I thought they
would use them for killing miners or other travelers; and, if it
were possible, he wished the people to get along without the
killing of any more Navajoes.
CHAPTER XVI.
Visits Among Utah Indians— Meet Major Powell— Employed to Ac-
company him— Council with the Shi-Vwits— Major Powell's De-
scription of it.
I determined to do all I could in the summer of 1870 to
.establish good feelings among the Indians in the neighborhood
of our people, on the west side of the Colorado, that they might
be disposed to favor us instead of our enemies. I determined
to neglect no opportunity of visiting the Navajoes, and endeav-
oring to get a good understanding with them.
I visited the Red Lake Utes, spent some time at Fish Lake,
east of Parowan, and visited the Indians along the Sevier. I
had many long talks with them, and believe I accomplished
much good, in inspiring them with the spirit of peace.
I met Professor J. W. Powell, who stated that he had des-
cended the Colorado River the previous year, and that the In-
dians in the neighborhood of Mount Trumbull, south-west of
Kanab, had killed three of his men. He wished to visit them.
104 JACOB HAMBLIN.
and prevent theiepetition of a similar calamity the next season;
for he desired to descend the river with a company to explore
the Grand Canyon.
He wished to employ some one who understood Indian
character, and spoke their dialect, to go with him, and Presi-
dent Young had recommended me as a suitable person. He
offered me liberal terms, and, as I was desirous of seeing the
same Indians myself, a satisfactory arrangement was soon
made.
We left Kanab for Mount Trumbull in September, 1870,
and took two Kanab Indians with us. We arrived at our des-
tination the third day, and selected a good camp ground by a
spring of water.
We found some natives gathering cactus fruit, which grew
there in great abundance. I requested them to bring in some
of the party who took a part in the killing of Mr. Powell's men
the previous year.
Some twelve or fifteen Indians got together the following
day, and we called a council to have a good peace talk.
I commenced by explaining to the Indians Professor
Powells but^iness. I endeavored to get them to understand that
he did not visit their country for any purpose that would work
any evil to them; that he w^s not hunting gold, silver or other
metals; that he would be along the river next season with a
party of men, and if they found any of them away from the
river in the hills, they must be their friends, and show them
places where there was water, if necessary.
They answered that some of their friends from the other
side of the river crossed on a raft and told them that Powell's
men were miners, and that miners on their side of the river
abused their women.
They advised them to kill the three white men who had
gone back from the river, for if they found any mines in their
JACOB HAMBLIN. 105
coantry, it would bring great evil among them. The three men
werft then followed, and killed when asleep.
The Indians further stated that they believed what I told
them, and, had they been correctly informed about the men,
they would not have killed them.
They said Ka-pu-rats could travel and sleep in their country
unmolested, and they would show him and his men the watering
places.
Ka-purats, in the Piute language, means one arm cut off.
Major Powell had lost an arm in the late war between the
Northern and Southern States.
I think that a part of Major Powell's description of this
affair in his "Explorations of the Colorado River," would not be
out of place here:
"This evening, the Shi-vwits, for whom we have sent, come
in, and, after supper, we hold a long council. A blazing fire is
built, and around this we sit— the Indians living here, the Shi-
vwits, Jacob Hamblin and myself. Tois man, Hamblin, speaks
their language well, and has a great influence over all the In-
dians in the regions round about. He is a silent, reserved man,
and when he speaks, it is in a slow, quiet way, that inspires
great awe. His talk is so low that they must listen attentively
to hear, and they sit around him in deathlike silence. When he
finishes a measured sentence, the chief repeats it, and they all
give a solemn grunt. * * * *
"Mr. Hamblin fell into conversation with one of the men,
and held him until the others had left, and then learned more
of the particulars of the death of the three men. They came
upon the Indian village almost starved, and exhausted with
fatigue. They were supplied with food, and put on their way
to the settlements. Shortly after they had left, an Indian from
the east side of the Colorado arrived at their village, and told
them about a number of miners having killed a squaw in a
drunken brawl, and no doubt these were the men. No person
106 JACOB HAMBLIN.
had ever come down the canyon; that was impossible; they were
trying to hide their guilt. In this way he worked them into a
grest rage. They followed, surrounded the men in ambush,
and filled them full of arrows.
"That night I slept in peace, although these murderers of
my men, and their friends, the U-in-karets, were sleeping not
five hundred yards away. While we were gone to the canyon,
the pack-train and supplies, enough to make an Indian rich
beyond his wildest dreams, were all left in their charge, and
were all safe; not even a lump of sugar was pilfered by the
children."
After this council with the Indians, Major Powell gave me
charge of the commissary stores and pack-train, and directed
me to explore the country east, north and south. This afforded
me an excellent opportunity to carry out my mission to the
Lamanites.
I had many interesting talks with them. I labored to have
them understand that there was an overruling Providence that
had much to do with the affairs of men; that God was not
pleased with the shedding of blood, and they must stop killing
men, women and children, and try and be at peace with all
men.
These teachings did not ap'^ear to have much influence at
the time, but afterwards they yielded much good fruit.
CHAPTER XVII.
Journey to Fort Defiance — Interesting Visit Among the Moquis
Towns— Arrival at Fort Defiance — General Council of the Chiefs
of the Navajo Nation — Great Peace Talk — Return Home — Treaty
of Peace in one of the Moquis Towns — Stolen Sheep Recovered for
a Navajo.
In the autumn of 1871, Major Powell concluded to go east,
by way of Fort Defiance, and desired me to accompany him.
JACOB HAMBLIN. 107
As this appeared to be an opening^ for the much-desired peace
talk with the Navajo Indians, I readily accepted the invita-
tion.
We started for Fort Defiance in October. Three men who
were strangers to me, accompanied us, and Brothers Ammon
M. Tenney, Ashton Nebeker, Nathan Terry and Elijah Potter;
also Frank, a Kibab Indian,
We packed lumber on mules over the Kibab, or Buckskin
Mountain, to the crossing of the Colorado, now known as Lee's
Ferry. With this we constructed a small boat, in which we
conveyed our luggage across. Our animals crossed over by
swimming.
We traveled at nights most of the way, to preserve our
animals from the Indians. We visited all the Moquis towns,
seven in number, and had much interesting talk with the peo-
ple. Professor Powell took much interest in their festivals,
dances, religious ceremonies and manner of living.
Arriving at Fort Defiance, Major Powell rendered me much
assistance in bringing about peace with the Navajoes. About
six thousand of them were gathered there to receive their an-
nuities.
All the chiefs of the nation were requested to meet in
council. All the principal chiefs but one, and all the subchiefs
but two were there. Captain Bennett, Indian agent, his inter-
preter, and Brother Ammon M. Tenney were also there.
Major Powell led the way by introducing me to the council
as a represertative of the people who lived on the west side of
the Colorado River, called "Mormons." He stated that he had
lived and traveled with these people, and, by acquaintance, had
formed a very favorable opinion of them. He said that they
were an industrious people, who paid their quota of taxes in
common with other citizens of the United States, from which
the Navajoes were paid their annuites.
At the close of his introductory remarks, I arose and spoke
108 JACOB HAMBLIN.
about an hour. I stated that' the object of my visit was to have
a talk with them, and endeavor to bring about a better under-
standing between them and my people the "Mormons," and
establish peace and friendship.
I explained to them some of the evils of the war which
had commenced by killing two men and driving off their stock:
that while they had taken from us many horses and mules, they
had lost twenty or thirty of their men. That our young men
had wanted to come over into their country and kill and drive
them, but had been told to stay at home until all other means
for obtaining peace had been tried and had failed.
I told them I had been acquainted, more or less, with the
Indians on their side of the great river for many years, and I
found that the Moquis were obliged to watch their stock, or the
Navajoes would steal it; and the Navajoes were under the same
necessity. Neither party could trust their sheep out of sight,
through fear that they would never see them again. They dare
not sen.i their flocks out into the mountains where grass was
abundant, and the result was, that they ate poor meat, and
many times not enough of that.
Continuing, I said: "If you will reflect on your affairs, you
will see that this is very bad policy, and that it would be much
better to be at peace with your neighbors and with all men. I
see much grass and many watering places on each side of the
river. If we would live at peace with each other> we could take
advantage of all the land, grass and water, and become rich or
have all we need. Our horses and sheep would be fat. We
could sleep in peace, awake in the morning and find our property
safe. You cannot but see that this would be the better way.
"I hope you will listen to this talk. What shall I tell my
people, the 'Mormons' when I return home? That we may ex-
pect to live in peace, live as friends, and trade with one another?
Or shall we look for you to come prowling around our weak
settlements, like wolves at night? I hope we may live in peace
JACOB HAMBLIN. 109
in time to come. I have now gray hairs on my head, and from
my boyhood I have been on the frontiers, doin^ all I could to
preserve peace between white men and Indians.
"I despise this killing, the shedding of blood. I hope you
will stop this, and come and visit, and trade with our people.
We would like to hear what you have got to say before we go
home."
I took my seat, I noticed the tears start in the eyes of
Barbenceta, the Spanish name of the principal chief of the Na-
vajoes.
He slowly approached, and put his arms around me, saying:
"My friend and brother, I will do all I can to bring about what
you have advised. We will not give all our answer now. Many
of the Navajoes are here. We will talk to them tonight, and
will see you on your way home."
The principal chiefs spent much of the night talking with
their people. Captain Bennett, the agent, and a U. S. army
officer, said that I could not have talked better to bring about
peace with the Navajoes. He manifested much good feeling,
and furnished us liberally with supplies for our journey home.
This council was held on the 2nd of November, 1871. The
blessings of the Lord were over us in our efforts for peace.
This was probably the first time that the chiefs of the Na-
vajo nation ever heard a gospel discourse adapted to their
circumstances; as well as the first time that they had heard,
from the lips of a white man, a speech that carried with it the
spirit and power of a heartfelt friendship. The hearts of many
of them were open to reciprocate it.
We spent three days at Fort Defiance, endeavoring to
create a good influence, and in getting our supplies ready.
Brother A, M. Tenney, being able to converse in Spanish, ac-
complished much good.
On our wav home we called at a Moquis town. There we
met the principal chief of the Navajoes, those chiefs who were
110 JACOB HAMBLIN.
not at F'ort Defiance, and some minor chiefs who did not con-
sider themselves as belonging to the United States agency at
Fort Defiance.
We met in a room belonging to the principal man of the
village. The Navajoes, through their chief, told us that they
had not come to talk any different from what was said at Fort
Defiance, but to confirm what was said there. They never had
heard better talk. They had a great desire to have what was
said carried out.
They said, "We have some bad men among us, but, if some
do wrong, the wise ones must not act foolishly, like children,
but let it be settled according to the spirit of your talk at Fort
Defiance.
"Here is Hastele (one of the principal chiefs) ; I wish you
to take a good look at him, so you will not be mistaken in the
man. He never lies or steals. He is a truthful man; we wish
all difficult matters settled before him. He lives on the frontier,
nearest to the river; you can find him by inquiry."
The peace treaty talk here closed by the Navajoes saying,
"We hope we may be able to eat at one table, warm by one fire,
smoke one pipe, and sleep under one blanket."
One of them gave me a note from the United States agent,
stating that the bearer wished me to try and recover some
sheep that were stolen from him, and were in one of the Moquis
towns; and that two attempts had been made to recover them,
which had failed.
We lay down to sleep about midnight, and were on our way
at early dawn to the town, a few miles distant, where the Na-
vajoes said we should find the sheep.
Arriving at the residence of the man having the sheep, I
found him to be a former acquaintance of mine. He appeared
in a surly mood. We talked to him for some time, but could
get no answer,
I then said, "You are the first man I traded with twelve
JACOB HAMHLIN. Ill
or thirteen years ago. You told me then that before your
father died, he took you in his arras, and told you that you
would live to see white men come from the west — good men,
men of peace; and that it would be but a short time after they
came until you could sleep in peace, eat in peace, and have
peace in all things. You told me that you believed we were the
men your father meant, and I hope you will not prevent peace
coming into your country for the sake of a few sheep."
"Well," said he, "I will not; I will give up the sheep."
They were counted out, and the Navajo offered us one or
two to eat on our way home. We told him we could get along
without taking any of his sheep; he had but few, and would
want them.
CHAPTER XVIII.
Moquis Indians Destroy many Navajoes — An Oriba and his Wife Ac-
company us Home — Peace Talk with the Piutes — A Dream and its
Fulfillment — Tuba's Prayer — Choog, the Indian Prophet — His Pre-
diction— Fatal Fire in Kanab.
We were told by the Mc^uis that when the Navajoes were
at war with the United States, they were taken advantage of in
their scattered condition by the Moquis, who hunted out the
worst of the thieves among them, and killed them off. For this
purpose the Moquis were furnished with guns and ammunition.
One man told me that he had hunted up and killed eight
Navajoes single handed.
I was also informed that the Moquis decoyed thirty-five of
them into one of their villages, by promising them protection,
and then disarmed them, and threw them off a high rock between
two of their towns. I went to the place indicated, and found a
number of skeletons and some remains of blankets. This was
done during the winter previous to our visit.
112 JACOB HAMBLIN.
The Navajoes have evidently been the plunderers of the
Moquis for generations, and the latter have retaliated whenever
they have had an opportunity. Peace between these tribes
would be a great blessing to both.
This trip and its influences appears to have been a turning-
point— the commencement of a great practical change for the
better in the lives of these tribes. The Lord's time for a change
had evidently come.
Wishing to do all I could to gire strength to a peaceful
policy, I invited Tuba, a man of good report among his people,
to take with him his wife, Pulaskanimki, to go home with me;
get acquainted with the spirit and policy of our people, and be-
come a truthful representative of them among his people.
I promised to pay him for what labor he might perform,
and bring him home the next autumn.
After counseling with their friends, he and his wife ac-
cepted my invitation.
When we arrived on the cliffs before crossing the Colorado,
the Piutes living in the Navajo country, came to me and said
as they had taken a part with the Navajoes in raiding on our
people, they desired to have a good peace talk. They were
about thirty in number.
After an interesting council, we commenced to descend the
difficult cliff to the crossing of the river. While doing so.
Brother Nathan Terry said he had a dream the night before,
and that it had b3en on his mind all day, and he believed it
meant something. In the dream he saw the company riding
along the trail, when he heard the report of a gun. He looked
around, and saw one of the company fall to the ground, and he
thought he went and put the person on his horse, and they con-
tinued their journey.
After descending the cliff, I was some distance in the rear
of the company, when suddenly, what appeared like a flash of
lightning came over me. It was with great difficulty that I
JACOB HAMBLIN. 113
could breathe. Not being able to help myself, I partly fell to
the ground,
I lay there some time, when one of the Kanab Indians who
was with us came along, saw my situation, and hurried on to the
camp.
Brother Terry came back to me after dark. He adminis-
tered to me in the name of the Lord, when the death-like grip
that seemed to have fastened on my lungs let go its hold, and
I could again breathe naturally.
On coming to the bank of the river the following day,
Tuba, the Oriba, looked rather sorrowful, and told me that his
people once lived on the other side of this river, and their fath-
ers had told them they never would go west of the river again
to live. Said he, "I am now going on a visit to see my friends.
I have worshiped the Father of us all in the way you believe to
be right; now I wish you would do as the Hopees" (their name
for themselves) "think is right before we cross."
I assented. He then took his medicine bag from under his
shirt, and offered me a little of its contents. I offered my left
hand to take it; he requested me to take it in my right. He
then knelt with his face to the east, and asked the Great Father
of all to preserve us in crossing the river. He said that he and
his wife had left many friends at home, and if they never lived
to return, their friends would weep much. He prayed for pity
upon his friends, the "Mormons," that none of them might
drown in crossing; and that all the animals we had with us
might be spared, for we needed them all, and to preserve unto
us all our food and clothing, that we need not suffer hunger nor
cold on our journey.
He then arose to his feet. We scattered the ingredients
from the medicine bag into the air, on to the land and into the
water of the river.
To me, the whole ceremony seemed humble and reverential.
I felt that the Father has regard to such petitions. The scat-
114 JACOB HAMBLIN.
tering of the ingredients from the medicine bag I understood
to be intended as a propitiary sacrifice.
After this ceremony we drove our animals into the river,
and they all swam safely to the opposite shore. In a short time
ourselves and effects were safely over. Tuba then thanked the
Great Father that he had heard and answered our prayer.
Arriving at Kanab, we found all well. Everybody appeared
to feel thankful for the success of our mission and the pro-
spects of peace. The Kanab Indians also congratulated us on
our success.
Some of the Piutes from the east side of the river accom-
panied us home. They spent much of the night in talking over
events that had taken place during the previous three years.
They said they had not visited each other much during that
time.
Choog, the Kibab chief of the Piutes, after learning all the
particulars from the Indians who went with us, came to me and
said, "Now the Indians east of the river have all made peace,
the evil spirits will have no place to stop over there. They have
followed you here. The destroyer will enter into the wind, fire
and water, and do you all the mischief he can. Wherever he
can get a chance to work he will go."
At the close of his remarks I smiled. Noticing it, he said
with considerable warmth, "You are a wise, good man, and
know more than I do; but I know that what I have told you will
come to pass."
The third night after this conversation with the Kibab
chiof, the night of the 14th of December, a house in Kanab, in
which resided the family of Brother Levi Stewart, took fire,
from some unknown cause. The room in which the fire origin-
ated had but one entrance, and in it were stored some combus-
tible materials. The houses were of logs, built in fort form,
and the people and their effects were much crowded together.
At the time the fire broke out, people were generally
JACOB HAMRLIN. 115
asleep, and six of the family of Brother Stewart were asleep in
the room where the fire originated.
Before they could be rescued, a can of oil took fire, and
the room was in a moment enveloped in an intense flame, which
burst out from the only entrance. The shrieks of those in the
fire, and the odor of their roasting bodies; the luried glare of
the fire in the darkness of night; the intense anxiety and sor-
row depicted on the countenances of the father and husband,
brothers, sisters and neighbors, made up a scene that can never
be forgotten by those who witnessed it.
There were several other fires and accidents in the settle-
ments of Southren Utah, soon after the fire in Kanab, which in-
dicated that the Indian chief was prompted by the spirit of
prophecy.
Some people call the Indians superstitious. I admit the
fact, but do not think that they are more so than many who
call themselves civilized. There are few people who have not
received superstitious traditions from their fathers. The more
intelligent part of the Indians believe in one Great Father of
all; also in evil influences, and in revelation and prophecy; and
in many of their religious rites and ideas, I think they are quite
as consistent as the Christian sects of the day.
CHAPTER XIX.
Visit of Tuba and his Wife to the Washington Factory and Flouring
Mill — Many Navajoes Come to Trade with our People — Take Tuba
and his Wife Home — More about the Death of Young George A.
Smith — Saints Called to Settle in Arizona — They Become Dis-
couraged and Return to Utah — Navajoes Murdered in Grass Valley
— War Imminent — Sent to Settle the Difficulty — My Friends
Alarmed — Two Miners Accompany me — Indians Call a Council.
A few days after I arrived home from Fort Defiance, I went
on a visit to St. George, and other settlements. I took Tuba
116 JACOB HAMBLIN.
and his wife with me, that they might have an opportunity of
seeing some of our farming and manufacturing industries.
After looking through the factory at Washington, wliere
some three hundred spindles were in motion, Tuba said it spoiled
him for being an Oriba. He could never think of spinning yarn
again with his fingers, to make blankets.
His wife, after looking at the flouring mill, thought it was
a pity that the Hopees (meaning the Oriba women), were obliged
to work so hard to get a little meal to make their bread, when
it could be made so easily.
Tuba and his wife gleaned cotton in the fields one week, on
the Santa Clara, where the cotton had been gathered by our
people, and President Young gave him a suit of clothes.
When we returned to Kanab, we found eighty Navajoes
who had come in there to trade. Most of them were on foot,
and had brought blankets to trade. Some of their women ac-
companied them, which is their custom, when going on a peace-
able expedition.
Comiarrah, one of their leading men, introduced his wife to
me. She took hold of my hand, and said, "We have come a
long w^ay to trade with your people. We are poor, and have
brought all we could on our backs. We have not much, and
we want to do the best we can with it. We came home to our
country three years ago, and found it naked and destitute of
anything to live on. We once had many sheep and horses, but
lost them all in the war. We were taken prisoners and carried
to a poor, desert country, where we suffered much with hunger
and cold. Now we have the privilege of living in our own
country. We want to get a start of horses and sheep, and
would like you to tell your people to give us as good trade as
they can."
They traded for fifty horses in Kanab, then went to St.
George and other settlements, and traded all the blankets they
JACOB HAMBLIN. 117
had for horses, and went back to their own country ([uite satis-
fied.
In September, 1872, I went to take Tuba home, as I had
promised I would do. Brothers I. C. Haight, George Adair and
Joseph Mangum accompanied us. We went by the old Ute
crossing, and left some supplies for Professor Powell's party,
at a point which had before been designated.
On the east side of the river, we crossed some dangerous
places, deep canyons and steep rocks. Some of our animals fell
and bruised their legs; one was so badly injured that we were
compelled to leave it. Another fell from a cliff into a canyon,
and was killed instantly.
We made a line long enough to reach the animal, by tying
together lariats and ropes. A place was found where a man
could descend to the pack, and the things were hauled up in
parcels.
After five days' traveling, visiting some of the Navajo
ranches, and talking with the people, we arrived at Tuba's
house in the Oriba village.
After feasting a day or two on peaches and green corn, we
started for the Navajo agency. We remained there over the
Sabbath, and attended a meeting conducted by a Methodist min-
ister, employed by the government to preach to the Navajoes. •
We were granted the privilege of speaking in the after-
noon. I spoke on the coming forth of the Book of Mormon,
and about the ancient inhabitants of the American continent.
On our way home we visited some of the principal Navajo
ranches. Some Navajoes came to us to trade for horses. We
camped one night with a party at the rock where young Geo.
A. Smith was killed.
One of them said he was there when young Smith was
killed, and that some of the Navajoes tried to get up a dance
over his scalp, but the majority of the party were opposed to
it, and the dance did not take place. Most of them contended
118 JACOB HAMBLIN.
that the "Mormons" were a good people. The party that
thought it right to kill the "Mormon," said, if the man who
killed him would go and overtake his friends, and they would
give him a present, they would acknowledge the "Mormons" to
be a good people. He said the Navajo went on after us and
returned with a gun that we gave him.
The fact that an Indian overtook us, and that we gave him
a gun, and recognized the revolver of George A. Smith on his
person, has been mentioned in the account of young Brother
Smith's death.
We were told that the murderer soon died a miserable
death, and the Navajoes believed it was because he had killed a
"Mormon."
The Navajoes continued to come to our settlements to
trade, and went about in small parties, or singly, as suited
them. They placed all confidence in us as their friends.
In 1871-72, J explored many places between Lee's Ferry
and Uinta Valley; assisted in locating a settlement on the Pah-
reah, in starting a ranch in House Rock Valley, and in building
a small boat at Lee's Ferry,
In the winter of 1873-74, I was sent to look out a route
for a wagon-road from Lee's Ferry to the San Francisco forest,
or the head waters of the Little Colorado. I procured the assis-
tance of a Piute who lived on the east side of the Colorado, and
was somewhat acquainted with the country. We readily found
the desired route.
In the spring of 1874, a company of about one hundred
wagons crossed the Colorado, well fitted out, with instructions
to form a settlement on the Little Colorado, or on some of the
tributaries of the Gila. I was 'requested to pilot the first ten
wagons as far as Moancoppy, and remain there for further in-
structions.
For a considerable distance beyond the Moancoppy, the
country is barren and uninviting. After they left that place,
JACOB HAMBLIN. 119
the first company became discouraged and demoralized, and re-
turned.
In the meantime, I occupied myself in putting in a crop.
With some help, I planted twelve acres with corn, beans, pota-
toes and other vegetables.
The companies that followed the one that had returned
from the Little Colorado, partook of the same demoralizing
spirit. They could not be prevailed upon to believe that there
was a good country with land, timber and water, a little beyond
where the first company had turned back. They all returned
into Utah, and the great effort to settle the country south of
the Colorado was, for the time being, a failure.
The failure was evidently for want of faith in the mission
they had been called upon to fill by the Lord, through His ser-
vants.
When this company was sent into Arizona, it was the op-
portune time for the Saints to occupy the country. Soon after,
the best locations in the country were taken up by others, and
our people have since been compelled to pay out many thousands
of dollars to obtain suitable places for their homes.
The Navajoes carried, on a peaceful trade with our people
until the winter of 1874-75, when a circumstance occurred
which greatly endangered our peaceful relations with that
people.
A party of four young Navajoes went to the east fork of
the Sevier River, to trade with some Utes in the neighborhood.
In Grass Valley they encountered a severe snowstorm, which
lasted for three days. They found shelter in a vacant house
belonging to one McCarty. He did not belong to the Church,
and had that animosity towards the Indians too common with
white men, which leads them to slaughter the savages, as they
are called, on the most trifling pretenses.
The Navajoes becoming hungry during the delay, killed a
120 JACOB HAMBLIN.
small animal belonging to Mr. McCarty. In some way he
learned of the presence of the party on his ranch, gathered up
some men of like spirit with himself, came suddenly upon the
Navajoes, and without giving them an opportunity of explaining
their circumstances, killed three of them and wounded the
fourth.
The wounded man after enduring excessive hardships,
made his way across the river and arrived among his own
people.
Telling the story of his wrongs, it aroused all the bitter
spirit of retaliation, so characteristic of the Indians from tradi-
tion and custom. The affair took place in the "Mormon" coun-
try, where the Navajoes naturally supposed they were among
friends, and not distinguishing McCarty as an outsider, the
murder was laid to the "Mormons."
The outrage created considerable excitement among both
whites and Indians. When President Young heard of it, he
requested me to visit the Navajoes, and satisfy them that our
people were not concerned in it.
Feeling that the affair, without great care, might bring
on a war, I started at once for their coup try to fill my mission.
I left Kanab alone. My son Joseph overtook me about
fifteen miles out with a note from Bishop Levi Stewart advising
my return as he had learned from the Piutes that the Nava-
joes were much exasperated and threatened to retaliate the
first opportunity.
I had been appointed to a mission by the highest author-
ity of God on the earth. My life was of but small moment
compared with the lives of the Saints and the interests of the
kingdom of God. I determined to trust in the Lord and go on,
I directed my son to return to Kanab, and tell Bishop Stewart
that I could not make up my mind to return.
Arriving at the settlement of Pahreah, I found Lehi
Smithson and another man preparing to start for Mowabby.
JACOB HAMBLIN. 121
We remained over night to procure animals for the journey.
That night my son Joseph Cime to me again with a note from
Bishop Stewart advising my return and £tating that if I went
on I would surely be killed by the Navajoes.
When we arrived at the Moabby we found that the store
house of two rooms which had been built there, had been fitted
up in the best possible manner for defense. This had been
done by three or four miners who had remained there, on ac-
count of the excitement, for which there appeared to be con-
siderable reason.
I felt that I had no time to lose. It was important to get
an interview with the Navajoes before the outbreak.
My horse was jaded, and wishing to go to Moancoppy,
ten or twelve miles farther, that night, two brothers by the
name of Smith brought in three of their riding horses, offered
me one, and they mounted the others to accompany me.
At Moancoppy I hoped to find some Oribas who would
give me correct information about the temper of the Navajoes.
Arriving there, we found only a Piute family and one Oriba
woman. From them I learned that the young relatives of the
Navajoes killed in Grass Valley were much exasperated, but the
older men expressed a desire to see me before anything was
done or any one hurt.
This news was encouraging to me. It being now evening,
we lay down and slept until morning.
Tuba had been living at Moancoppy, and had left on ac-
count of the excitement. Some of his effects were lying
around in a way that indicated that he left in a hurry.
I was informed that Mush-ah, a Navajo with whom I was
somewhat acquainted, and in whom I had some confidence,
was camped at a watering place t^velve miles east of Moan-
coppy. I hoped to be able to see and have a talk with him,
and get up a conciliatory feeling without exposing myself too
much to the ire of the Indians.
122 JACOB HAMBLIN.
Arriving at the water where we expected to find Mush- ah
we were disappointed. The place was vacated. We met a
Navajo messenger, riding fast on his way to Moabby, to learn
of affairs at that place. He appeared much pleased to
see me.
After a little talk, he pointed in the distance to a high
mesa and said the Navajoes were camped at that point, and
wished to see me.
We arrived at the lodges after sundown; in the neighbor-
hood were gathered a large number of horses, sheep and
goats.
Two or three gray-headed men came out to meet us good-
naturedly, but did not appear as friendly as they had formerly.
I told them my business. Soon afterwards some young men
put in an appearance, whose looks bespoke no good.
There being a good moon, a messenger was soon on his way
to inform those at a distance of my arrival.
I enquired for Hastele, who had been shown to me by the
principal chief in our final peace talk three years before, and
for whom I was directed to inquire in case of difficulty.
I got no aasv^er, which indicated to me that they did not
wish for his assistance. I communicated to the old men the
circumstances connected with the killing of the Navajoes in
Grass Valley as I understood them. They replied that they
were not ready for a talk or council and said, "When the rela-
tives are all in we will talk."
My spirit was weighed down with gloomy forebodings, and
I would gladly have left the place could I have felt justified in
doing so. Unless the Lord was with us, what were we to do
with all these against us?
JACOB HAMBLIN. 123
CHAPTER XX.
Indians Assemble— The Council Lodge — Accused of Lying to the
Indians — Informed that I must Die — Privilege Granted the Smith
Brothers of Escaping — They Refuse to Desert me to Save their
Lives — Violent Speeches — Young Indians Eager for Revenge —
Interpreters Afraid to Speak — Indians Propose a Compromise —
350 Head of Cattle and Horses Demanded— I Refuse to Pay for
a Crime the "Mormons" never Committed — They Threaten to
Burn me — My Coolness Creates a Favorable Impression — An
Agreement — We Regain Our Liberty.
The night passed, and a part of the forenoon of the
following day, when the Navajoes who had been sent for began
to gather in.
About noon they informed me that they were ready for
talk. A lodge had been emptied of its contents for a council
room. It was about twenty feet long by twelve feet wide. It
was constructed of logs, with one end set in the ground, and
the top ends leaning to the centre of the lodge, and fitted to-
gether. The logs were covered with about six inches of dirt.
A fire occupied the centre of the lodge, the smoke escap-
ing through a hole in the roof. There was but one entrance,
and that was in the end.
Into this lodge were crowded some twenty- four Navajoes,
four of whom were councilors of the nation. A few Indians
were gathered about the entrance.
The two Smiths and I were at the farther end from the
entrance, with apparently not one chance in a hundred of reach-
ing the outside, should it be necessary to make an effort to save
our lives.
The council opened by the Navajo spokesman asserting
that what I had said about the murder of their relatives was
124 JACOB HAMBLIN.
false. He stated that I had advised their people to cross the
great river and trade with my people, and in doing so they had
lost three good young men, who lay on our land for the wolves
to eat. The fourth he said came home with a bullet hole
through him, and without a blanket and he had been thirteen
days in that situation, cold and hungry.
He also stated that I need not think of going home, but my
American friends might if thej would start immediately.
I informed the two Smiths of the intention of the Navajoes
concerning the disposal of myself. I told them they had been
obliging to me, and I would not deceive them; the way was open
for them to go if they desired to do so.
They replied that they would not go until I went.
Our three revolvers were hanging over my head. It was
desirable to have them as well in hand as possible. I took
hold of them, at the same time saying to our Piute interpreter,
"These are in my way; what shall I do with them?"
As I spoke, I passed them behind me to the Smiths, not
wishing to give any cause for suspicion that I had any fears, or
expected to use the weapons. I toldthe'Smiths not to make any
move until we were obliged to.
The Navajoes continued to talk for some time, when I was
given to understand that my turn had come.
I told them of my long acquaintance with their people, and
of my labors to maintain peace. I hoped they would not think
of killing me for a wrong with which neither myself nor my peo-
ple had anything to do; and that strangers had done the deed.
I discovered that what I had said the day before had some
influence with the grey haired men. None but grey haired men
belonged to the council, but others were allowed to speak.
The young men evidently feared that the council would op-
pose their desire for revenge. Thej evinced great intensity of
feeling. The wounded man was brought in, his wounds exposed
to the council and a stirring appeal made for retaliation by a
JACOB HAMBLIN. 125
young warrior. It stirred up the Indian blood from its very
depths. He closed by asserting that they could do no less than
put me to death.
For a few minutes I felt that if I was ever permitted to see
friends and home again, I should appreciate the privilege. I
thought I felt one of the Smiths at my back grip his revolver.
I said to him quietly, "Hold still! Do not make the first move,
and there will be no move made. They never will get ready to
do anything."
This assurance came by the whisperings of the Spirit with-
in me.
When the excitement had died away a little I spoke to the
Piute interpreter. He either could not or would not answer
me, neither would he answer the Navajoes, but sat trembling
apparently with fear.
The Navajoes brought in another Piute, and recommended
him as a man of much courage, and said he would not falter,
but he was soon in the same dilemma as the other.
After some further conversation they appeared a little
modified, and in lieu of blood revenge, they proposed to take
cattle and horses for the injury done them. They recjuired me
to give them a writing, obligating me to pay one hundred head
of cattle for each of the three Navajoes killed, and fifty for
the v,'ounded one.
This was a close place for me. I could go home by simply
putting my name to the obligation. I reflected: Shall I ac-
knowledge by my act that my people are guilty of a crime of
which I know they are innocent; and neuturalize all the good
results of our labors among this people for fifteen years? Shall
I obligate the Church to pay three hundred and fifty head of
cattle for a crime committed by others? It is perhaps more
than I should be able to earn the rest of my life.
The sacrifice looked to me more than my life was worth.
I replied that I would not sign the obligation.
126 JACOB HAMBLIN.
One of them remarked that he thought I would by the
time I had been stretched over that bed of coals awhile, point-
to the fire in the middle of the lodge.
I answered that I had never lied to them, and that I would
not pay for the wrong that other people had done. "Let the
Americans pay for their own mischief, I will not sign a writing
to pay you one hoof."
Here the new Piute interpreter would not say anything
more.
A Piute chief standing in the door of the lodge spoke to
him in an angry tone, and accused him of having a very small
heart and little courage.
The chief then asked if I wa3 not scared.
I asked, "What is there to scare me?"
He replied, "The Navajoes."
I told him I was not afraid of my friends.
"Friends, " said he, "you have not a friend in the Navajo'na-
tion. Navajo blood has been spilled on your land. You have caused
a whole nation to mourn. Your friend Ketch-e-ne, that used to
give you meat when you were hungry and blankets when you were
cold, has gone to mourn for his murdered sons. You have
caused the bread he eats to be like coals of fire in his mouth,
and the water he drinks like hot ashes. Are you not afraid?"
"No," I replied, "my heart never knew fear."
The Navajoes wished to know what the Piute chief and
myself were talking about. The Piute repeated the conversa-
tion in their language. They then conversed among themsehes;
at times they manifested considerable warmth. I was asked if
I knew Hastele.
Replying in the aflirmative, they asked, "What do you
know about him?"
I answered, "I know that Barben-ce-ta and others of your
leading men, said at the great peace talk, that he was an hon-
est man, and that all important difficulties between you and our
JOCOB HAMBLIN. 127
people should be settled before him. I knew this affair should
be settled before him, and have known it all the time we have
been talking. I came here on a peace mission. If you will
send Hastele into our country to learn the truth concerning
what I have told|you,let as many more come along as you like. I
wish you would send the best interpreter you have along with
him.
"It is no use to ask me about pay. In the meantime your
people can trade among the 'Mormons' in safety. They will
be glad to see you if you will come in the daytime, as our peo-
ple come into your country — not to prowl around your lodges
to steal and kill. I came to do as I agreed to at the good
talk at Fort Defiance."
I felt that the last I said had the desired effect. Their
feelings began to soften.
After some further conversation among themselves, the
interpreter said, "They are talking good about you now."
I replied, "I am glad; it is time they talked good. What
have they said about me? '
"They say you have a good heart, they think they will wait
until they see their greater chiefs, and believe that the matter
will be settled before Hastele."
It was then agreed that I should come to Mowabby, in
twenty-five days, and they would see if it was not advisable to
send some one over, and satisfy themselves of the truth of my
statement. Twenty-five notches were cut in a stick, and when
they were all gone by cutting off one notch each morning, I was
to be at Moabby .
The history of my intercourse with the Indians on the east
side of the Colorado, for fifteen years, had all been talked over.
In fact I had been on trial before them for all my sayings and
doings that had come within their knowledge. I was able to
answer all their questions, and give good reasons for all
my acts.
128 JACOB HAMBLIN.
My mind had been taxed to the utmost all this time. . I
had been in the farther end of a crowded lodge, with no reason-
able probability of getting out of it if I wished to, and without
the privilege of inhaling a breath of fresh air.
Some roasted mutton was brought in and presented to me
to take the first rib.
The sight of the roasted meat, the sudden change of
affairs, together with the recollection of the threats of a very
different roast to the one I had on hand, turned my stomach.
I said to those around me, "I am sick,"
I went to the door of the lodge. It was refreshing to
breathe in the open air,and look out into the glorious moonlight.
I thought it was midnight; if so, the council had lasted about
twelve hours.
A woman's heart seems kindlier than a man's among all
people. A Navajo woman, seeming to comprehend my situ-
ation, came to me and asked if she could not get me something
I would like to eat.
She mentioned several varieties of food she had on hand,
none of which I desired. She said she had been at my house
in Kanab, and she saw I liked milk, and she would get me some.
With a dish in her hand she went about among the goats
stripping them by moonlight.
She brought me about a pint of milk, which I drank, went
into the lodge and lay down and slept until some of the party
said it was light enough to see to get our horses.
I asked the Navajoes to bring up our horses. I felt it was
safer for me to remain in the lodge than to be out hunting
horses, and liable to meet some of the angry spirits who had
been about the council.
The horses were brought and the Smiths and I were soon
in our saddles, and leaving behind us the locality of the trying
scenes of the past night.
Again was the promise verified, which was given me by the
JACOB HAMBLIN. 129
Spirit many years before, that if I would not thirst for the
blood of the Lamanites, I should never die by their hands.
CHAPTER XXI.
Smith's Version of the Trying Ordeal — A Graphic Description from a
Gentile Standpoint — Some of his Statements Explained.
I here give place to a letter from Mr. Smith to the Pioche
Record, which was also republished in the Deseret A^ews:
"MoABBY, Mohave Co., Arizona.
"February 5, 1874.
"On the 15th of January, we were in the very act of packing
the horses preparatory to a start, when an Indian arrived, who
proved to be Tuba, the chief of the Moquis Indians, a friendly tribe
who live in this part of the country.
"I should have mentioned that this [the ferry] is the residence
of John D. Lee, against whom I was deeply prejudiced on account of
his presumed connection with the terrible Mountain Meadow massa-
cre, an imputation, however, he utterly denies. I found him, on
acquaintance, to be a very agreeable gentleman. Mr. Lee speaks the
Indian language well, and through him we learned the cause of the
chief's visit.
"A Navajo chief who had received favors from Mr. Lee, and
was well disposed toward him, arrived at Tuba's lodge that morning
(having ridden all night) to get him to go and tell Mr. Lee that
three Navajo Indians had been killed and one wounded by Mormons a
few days bofore, in an affray in the neighborhood of Grass Valley,
on the north fork of the Sevier River; that the wounded Indian had
arrived at his camp the night before, and was now actively engaged
in striving to rouse the Navajoes to war; that the young men were
clamoring for revenge, and to warn him that he would probably be
attacked within four days, and to prepare for defense.
"Here was a dilemma. No possibility of obtaining assistance
130 JACOB HAMBLIN.
nearer than one hundred and fifty miles; Mrs. Lee and five children,
and a helpless old man named Winbiirn, disabled by a lame foot, who
had not risen from his bed for four months.
"After a brief consultation we sent a letter to Fort Defiance,
announcing the condition of affairs. Tuba agreeing to forward it
forthwith by one of his Indians, and Mr. Lee and his eldest boy
started to Kanab to bring assistance. As soon as he was gone we
placed the house in the best state of defense we could and awaited
the issue.
"On the third day a Piute Indian sent by the Navajoes, arrived.
After a long talk, Mrs. Lee acting as interpreter, we gathered that
the young men of the tribe were at first determined on war, but that
the chiefs were opposed to it for the present at least; and that
they desired to await the arrival of Jac«b Hamblin, who has acted
as representative of Brigham Young, in all negotiations of importance
with the Indians for the past twenty years, and learn what settle-
ment of the affair he was wiling to make.
"This was favorable, as two of the slain Indians were sons of one
of the chiefs. He wound up his remarks by inquiring if, in case the
Navajoes did come here, we would purchase peace by giving up the
old man, Winburn, to torture, in which case they would abstain from
further hostilities.
"With difliculty repressing our strong desire to shoot him on the
spot, we declined the offer, and charging him with a message to the
chiefs of the nation, that as soon as Hamblin arrived we would ap-
prise them of his advent, we let him depart.
"Matters remained in statuo quo until the 29th inst., when
Messrs. Lee, Hamblin and Smithson, a son in-law of the former, and
his wife, arrived, the advance guard of a party from Kanab, now on
the road.
"We communicated to Mr. Hamblin the message from the Nava-
jo chiefs, and merely pausing to take some refreshments, he started at
once for the nearest Moquis village, eight miles distant to send a
massenger to them, to notify them of his arrival and request their
presence, my brother and I accompanying him.
"We reached there about sundown, and found, to our extreme
disapointment, that all the Indians had gone to a big dance at the
JACOB HAMBLIN. 131
Oriba villages, sixty miles distant, with the exception of one lame
Piute.
"We remained there that night, and the next morning started
for the Oriba village, taking Huck-a-bur, the lame Indian, who is a
good interpreter, along with us.
"We had not rode over fifteen miles, when we met the Piute,
who had acted as the Navajo envoy on the former occasion. He said
he was going to see if Hamblin had arrived, and expressed great de-
light at seeing him, saying that the Indians were extremely anxious
to see him, and urging him to go back with him to the camp of the
nearest Navajo chief, which he said was not more than fifteen miles
distant and talk the matter over there.
"After consultation, being anxious to lose no time, we consented,
and after riding some twenty-five miles, instead of fifteen, we
reached the Navajo camp, which consisted of only two lodges. A
tall, powerful Indian, on whose head the snows of many winters had
rested, welcomed us with impressiveness andj an embrace like the
hug of a grizzly bear, and invited us to enter.
"The lodge (wick-e-up) which was substantially built of heavy
cedar logs about fifteen feet long, was circular in form, like the skin
lodges of the Indians of the plains, with an opening near the top to
give vent to the smoke, and being covered with bark and dirt, was
very warm and comfortable, which was none the less agreeable to
our party, as it had been snowing hard all the afternoon. There were
three Navajoes and three squaws,one of the latter a very pretty girl,
and two Piutes.
"After a friendly smoke, they furnished us a good and substan-
tial supper of broiled and boiled goat's flesh aud corn meal mush, the
squaws grinding the meal in the old-fashioned way, between two
stones.
"Then the talk commenced. Hamblin, be it remembered, though
perfectly familiar with the Piute tongue, knew nothing or very little
of the Navajo language,so the services of our Huck-a-bur were called
into requisition. The chief we came to see, I forgot to mention, was
not there, but only, so they said, distant a few miles. As we were
anxious to get back, we got the Navajo to dispaich the Piute to him
132 JACOB HAMBLIN.
that night, so that he might' be there early in the morning, and the
business be closed that day.
"After his departure the talk went on. The Navajoes present
expressed themselves anxious that the affair should be settled with-
out further bloodshed, and said that was the wish of the principle men
of the tribe. They said the Navajoes had long known Hamblin,
and they believed he would do what was right.
"Everything looked promising, and after smoking innumerable
cigarettes with our savage friends, we retired to rest on a pile of
buffalo skins and Navajo blankets worth a horse apiece, and slept
soundly and well.
"The next morning the Indians gave us an excellent breakfast,
and we passed the morning sauntering about examining such articles
of Indian manufacture as were new to us, and endeavoring to while
away the time until the arrival of the chief.
"A little before noon twelve Navajo braves armed with bows
and arrows and rifles, rode up on a gallop, and dismounting, entered
the lodge without shaking hands, and called in an insolent tone of
voice for tobacco. We gave them some, and after smoking awhile
they threw everything out of the lodge, saying there were more
Navajoes coming, enough to fill the lodge. Sure enough, there soon
rode up some more Navajoes, making nineteen in all, but still no
chief.
"To our inquiry as to his whereabouts, they replied he was gone
to Port Defiance. We took our seats, completely filling the lodge,
and all hands smoked in silence for some time. Then the Indian
whose lodge we occupied commenced talking, and spoke with only an
occasional momentary interruption from the others for about an hour.
"After him five or six others talked in rapid 3uccession,and from
their earnest tones and impassioned gestures, so different from the
usual manner of Indians, we could see they were much excited.
"We could not, of course, understand much of what they said,
but could gather enough to know that the temper they were in boded
no good to us. One old scoundrel, of brawny frame and hair as white
as snow, talked in a stentorian voice, and his frequent use of the ges-
tures of drawing his hand across his throat,looked particularly omin-
ous.
JACOB HAMBLIN. 188
"In about an hour more they ceased 8peakin<?, and after a pause
told their interpreter to talk. He arose slowly, and walking across
the lodge seated himself by Hamblin. He was a Piute, a slave of the
Navajoes and as they have the unpleasant habit of sometimes killing
their interpreters when they don't interpret to suit them, and as what
he was about to reveal was not calculated to render us very amiable,
I could excu?e the tremor that shook him in every limb.
"He finally commenced, in a low tone, to speak to the following
effect: The Navajoes believed that all Hamblin had said the night
before was a lie, that they thought he was one of the parties to the
killing, and with the e.xception of three, our host and two others of
the old Indians, all had given their voice for death.
"Most of them were of the opinion that it was best not to kill
my brother and myself, as we were 'Americans,' but to make us wit-
ness the torture of Hamblin, and then send us back on foot. As we
were not likely to desert a comrade at such a time, this was but
small comfort.
"Hamblin behaved with admirable coolness, not a muscle in his
face quivered, not a feature changed as he communicated to us, in his
usual tone of voice, what we then fully believed to be the death war-
rant of us all.
"When the interpreter ceased, he in the same easy tone and col-
lected manner, commenced his reply. He reminded the Indians of his
long acquaintance with their tribe, of the many negotiations he had
conducted between his people and theirs, and his maty dealings with
them in the years gone by, and challenged them to prove that he had
ever deceived them — ever spoken with a forked tongue. He drew a
map of the country on the ground, and showed them the improbability
of his having been a participant in the affray.
"To this insolent inquiry, 'Imme-cotch navaggi?' (ain't you
afraid?) he replied with admirable presence of mind, 'Why should we
be afraid of our friends? Are not the Navajoes our friends and we
theirs? Else why did we place ourselves in your power?'
"He spoke for a long time and though frequently and rudely
interrupted, his patience and nerve never gave way, and when he
ceased, it was apparent that his. reasoning had not been without
134 JACOB HAMBLIN.
effect in their stubborn bosoms. But the good influence was of short
duration.
"A young Indian, whom we afterwards learned was a son of the
chief, and brother of two of the slain Indians, addressed the assem-
bled warriors, and we could see that the tide was turning fearfully
against us. He wound up his empassioned harrangue by springing to
his feet and, pointing to an Indian who had not yet spoken, called
to him to come forward. The Indian came and kneeled before him,
when with one hand he took back his buckskin hunting shirt, reveal-
ing the mark of a recent bullet wound, and with the other pointed to
the fire, uttering, or rather hissing, a few emphatic words, which we
afterwards learned were a demand for instant death by fire.
"The effect was electrical. The sight of the wounded brave
roused their passions to the utmost fury, and as we glanced around
the savage circle, our hands involuntarily tightened their grasp on
our six-shooters, for it seemed that our hour had come.
"Had we shown a symptom of fear, we were lost; but we sat
perfectly quiet, and kept a wary eye on the foe. It was a thrilling
scene. The erect, proud, athletic form of the young chief as he
stood pointing his finger at the kneeling figure before him; the circle
of crouching forms; their dusky and painted faces animated by every
passion that hatred and ferocity could inspire, and their glittering
eyes fixed with one malignant impulse upon us; the whole partially
illuminated by the fitful gleam of the firelight (for by this time it
was dark), formed a picture not easy to be forgotten.
"The suspense was broken by the Navajo, our host, who once
again raised his voice in our behalf, and after a stormy discussion,
Hamblin finally compelled them to acknowledge that he had been
their friend; that he had never lied to them and that he was worthy
of belief now.
"The strain was over and we breathed freely once more. We
smoked the pipe, or rather the cigarette, of peace, and a roasted
goat being shortly produced, we fell to with a will, and gnawed ribs
together as amicably as if it had not been just previously their
benevolent intention to roast us instead of the goat.
"By this time it was past midnight, the discussion having been
prolonged for eleven hours. I never was so tired in my life. Eleven
JACOB HAMBLIN. 135
hours in a partially recumbent position, cramped for room, with
every nerve strained to its utmost tension, and momentarily expect-
ing a conflict which must be to the death, is tolerably hard work.
"After supper it was arranged by Hamblin that we should go
home in 'he morning, and await the arrival of the chief, for whom
they promised to dispatch a trusty messenger. We slept by turns
till morning broke, when we bid our amiable friends good-by and
started for Mowabby, where we arrived about eight o'clock in the
evening, to the great joy of Boyd and Pattie, who had given us up as
lost.
"This was five days ago, and today the Navajo chief arrived, and
after a long discussion, agreed to settle the matter for a certain
number of cattle and horses; but their demands were so exorbitant
that I am sure that they will never be complied with.
"Mr. Hamblin leaves tomorrow morning for St. George to lay
the matter before Brigham Young, and he is to meet the chiefs here
again, with the answer to their demands, in twenty-five days from
today.
***** ** **
"We shall, probably, in the course of the trip visit the village of
the Oribas, a people who build three- story houses of stone, and
whose greatest term of reproach to one another is he is a laz7j man.
***** * * **
"In conclusion I wish to give my testimony to the bearing of
Mr. Hamblin during the trying scene I have endeavored to depict.
No braver man ever lived."
J. E. S
The writer of the foregoing letter and his brother acted
a different part from what I did and acted it well.
He describes some things better than I can. As I have
before remarked, ever since I began to have a correct insight
into Indian character, I have felt anxious to do all the good
in my power, and have endeavored to settle difficulties with
them without bloodshed.
Much good, I trust, has been done by going into their
136 JACOB HAMBLIN.
midst and reasoning with them, when their mmds were made
up to avenge some wrong. 1 reason with an Indian as an
Indian.
For example, Mr. Smith did not understand the motive of
the Piute messenger of the Navajoes who asked at Mowabby if
they would give up the lame man to torture if the Navajoes
would agree on that condition to abstain from further hostili-
ties. The Piute thought that the lame man was of but little
use, and hoped by the sacrifice of him to save the others.
From his standpoint his motive was good. Had Mr. Smith
understood the Indian character better, he probably would
have had no disposition to kill him.
CHAPTER XXII.
Start Home — Meet Emigrants to Moancoppy — Visit Presidents Young
and Smith — Return to Meet the Indians, According to Agreement
— A Sevce Trip — Providence Favors me — Hastele Fails to Meet
me — Return Home — Moancoppy Mission Broken up — Sent with D.
D. M'Arthur to Establish a Trading Post — Hastele Visits Kanab —
He Starts to the Sevier to Learn About the Murder — I Conclude to
Stay at Home — A Testimony that I Should Accompany Him — Indian
Discernment — Hastele is Satisfied.
" I started home with my jaded horse, and got along by
alternately riding and walking. I met some families on their
way to settle at Moancoppy.
I told the brethren that I thought the place could be safely
settled, if they would leave their women and children on the
west side of the river until matters were arranged. I camped
with them over night, and gave them an insight into our affairs
with the Navajoes, and particularly requested that they would
not converse with them about their difficulty with us.
Soon after arriving at Kanab, I went to St. George and
visited Presidents Brigham Young and George A. Smith. I then
JACOB HAMBLIN. 137
returned to Kanab, and worked about home until it was time to
go over the river to meet the Navajoes as I had agreed to.
Through hardship and exposure my health was somewhat
impaired. I endeavored to get a light wagon, that I might
travel more comfortably than on horseback, but without suc-
cess. I set out with a horse and three blankets. Soon after a
blowing, chilling storm of rain and sleet commenced, and 1 be-
came thoroughly wet.
I rode twelve miles to Johnson, when I was scarcely able
to sit on ray horse. I could proceed no farther, and stopped
with Brother Watson, who was living in his wagons and a tem-
porary camp prepared for winter. Sister Watson cared for me
as well as circumstances would permit.
The storm continued the next day until afternoon,when the
weather appeared a little more favorable. I was scarcely able
to mount ray horse, but I did, and started on my way.
The storm soon came on again, and again I was thoroughly
wet. I traveled until after dark, and stopped at a vacated
house at the Navajo Wells, ten miles from Johnson. In dis-
mounting, I fell to the ground.
It was in a place where travelers on that road usually
camped, and the wood had been gathered for a considerable dis-
tance around; and had there been fuel I would not have been
able to go after it.
It was a dark, dismal time, and it appeared to me that I
could not live until morning. I prayed to the Lord to have pity
on rae, and save ray life. I succeeded in getting myself and
horse into the house out of the storm.
I felt my way to the fireplace, and was much surprised to
find some good, dry wood. I soon had a fire, and, leaning
against one side of the fireplace, with my blankets drawn closely
around me, and with a small blaze of fire, I was soon warm, and
slept until morning.
When I awoke I felt well, and quite able to pursue my
10
138 JACOB HAMBLIN.
journey. I went by the Pahreah settlement, and from there
Brothers Thos. Adair and Lehi Smithson accompanied me to
Mowabby. There I found Ketch-e-ne and a deputation from the
Moquis towns.
Ketch-e-ne renewed the former demand for three hundred
and fifty head of cattle for the injury done himself and his peo-
ple. I told him that when I went home I mig:ht talk with the
chiefs of my people about it, but would make no promises.
Hastele, whom I wished to see, did not put in an appear-
ance.
I went on and visited all the Moquis towns, and told the
people the object of my visit. I requested them to tell all the
Navajoes they had an opportunity of seeing, that I had come
there according to agreement, and, as they had failed to meet
me as I had expected, if they would come over the river, I
would be on hand to show them that I had told the truth. Feel-
ing satisfied that things would work all right, I returned home.
Some of the brethren who went to Moancoppy visited the
Navajoes, and talked unwisely about affairs. They, in turn,
talked and threatened in a way that frightened our people, be-
cause they found they could do it, and the mission was broken
up.
I had passed through many perils to establish a mission
among the Indians on the east side of the Colorado, but on ac-
count of the sayings and doings of unwise brethren, the time
came for it to be broken up. The Moancoppy was ordered to
be vacated, and I went to assist in bringing the people away.
They brought away the feeling with them that there would be
another Navajo war.
I attended the quarterly conference at St. George, in May.
The war question and the necessity of putting a guard at the
crossing of the Colorado were agitated.
In speaking in the tabernacle on Sunday, I told the con-
gregation there would be no trouble with the Navajoes, and as
JACOB HAMBLIN. 139
soon as the summer rains commenced, there would be a party
of them over. I felt an assurance of this from what I knew of
circumstances, and the whisperings of the Spirit within me.
It was decided to establish a trading post at one of the
crossings of the Colorado, east of St. George. For this purpose
a party was sent out under the direction of Bishop Daniel D-
McArthur.
As I was acquainted with both crossings, I was called upon
to go with them. The ferry was selected. In traveling with
Brother McArthur to the Ute crossing, thirty miles above the
ferry, and back, I gave him a detailed account of our affairs
with the Navajoes.
I told him that I considered the breaking up of the Moan-
coppy mission as unnecessary, there would be no trouble with
the Navajoes, and some of those among them who had authority
to settle their difficulties with us would be over as soon as the
first rain fell.
That night there was a heavy shower. The following day
I started for home by way of the Pahreah settlement, and
Brother McArthur went on to the ferry.
Before separating, I told the brethren they would meet the
Navajo peace party that night at the ferry, and they would
travel to Kanab together.
They asked me how I knew. I told them I knew they
would be over, for they would just have time to get to the ferry
since the rain.
Arriving at Kanab I found Hastele and his party, including
two good interpreters.
I had been away so much, that my family seemed badly in
need of my help at home, and I, at the time, thought I was
justified in remaining with them. I requested Brother Ammon
M. Tenney to go with Hastele over on to the Sevier River, and
satisfy him of the facts concerning the murder of the young
Navajoes.
140 JA(;OB HAMBLiN.
After the party had gone I began to work in the garden,
but everything went wrong, and I felt that I had done wrong
in remaining behind.
I continued to try to accomplish some necessary work,
until I was seized with such a violent pain in one of my knees,
that I had to be assisted into the house. I sent for my horse,
was assisted into the saddle, and was soon on my way to over-
take Hastele. The pain left my knee, and I was soon all right.
I overtook the Navajoes sixty miles from Kanab. Every,
thing worked well for showing up the facts connected with the
murder. The brethren we fell in with rendered all the assist-
ance in their power.
I had talked to the Navajoes and explained to them the
locations of the "Mormonis" and the Gentiles, and what took
place at McCarty's ranch. T had telegraphed to Bishop Thurber,
of Richfield, and Brother Helaman Pratt to meet us at the lower
end of Circle Valley. We arrived there before them and waited.
I told Hastele there would be two "Mormons ' there that even-
ing, who knew more about the affair than I did, and they were
men of truth.
We were camped near th3 road, where men were passing
both ways, on horseback and in wagons. When the two breth-
ren were approaching, and still a considerable distance oflf, Has-
tele arose to his feet, saying, 'There come the two men we are
waiting for."
As they drew near, he remarked, "Yes, they are good men,
men of God.''
As the brethren dismounted, Hastele embraced them in
true Navajo style.
I mention this as one of the many circumstances that have
come under my notice, which prove to me that many of the In-
dians, and especially the honest- hearted, are blessed with much
of the spirit of revelation and discernment.
The following morning when arranging to visit the spot
JACOB HAMBLIN. 141
where the Navajoes were killed, Hastele spoke as follows: "I
am satisfied; I have gone far enough; I know our friends, the
'Mormons,' are our true friends. Xo other people we ever knew
would have taken the trouble they have to show us the truth.
I believe they have good hearts. Here is Jacob; he has been
traveling about to do good all winter and spring, and is going
yet. When I get home I do not intend my tongue to lay idle
until the Navajoes learn the particulars of this affair "
Hastele started for Kanab; Brothers Thurber and Pratt, a
Mr. Boyd, who was sent by the agent at Fort Defiance to ac-
company the Navajo delegation, the two Navajo interpreters
and I went to Grass Valley, to see the place where the Navajoes
were killed. Having satisfied the interpreters, we returned by
way of Richfield.
CHAPTER XXHI.
Visit to Fort Defiance — Mr. Daniels, Inspector of Indian Agencies —
His Prejudice Against the "iVlormons" — Mr. Trewax, the Preacher
— Final Peace Talk — Moancoppy Mission Again Established.
Returning to Kanab, we found Hastele and his companion
waiting for us. It was thought advisable for me, with Brother
A. M. Tenney as Spanish interpreter, to visit the Indians on the
east side of the Colorado River, and go to Fort Defiance and
have matters properly understood there. We visited the Moquis
towns, and had much interesting talk with the people.
Arriving at the Navajo agency, we found there a Mr. Dan-
iels, who had been sent out by the government to inspect the
Indian agencies. He had called on the agent at Fort Defiance
to report the condition of his agency. Learning of the Utah
difticulty with the Navajoes, he made an effort to throw the
blame on the "Mormons."
142 JACOB HAMBLIN,]
The Indian who escaped wounded from the massacre in
Grass Valley was there. Mr. Daniels examined him very closely.
He also heard the report of Mr. Boyd, who accompanied Hastele,
to learn the facts of the case. All the facts elicited, gave a
favorable showing for our people. Mr. Daniels was disappointed
and evidently vexed. He gave me to understand that I did not
belong to the council, and was not wanted there.
As I left the room, a Rev. Mr. Trewax, who was there by
government appointment to preach to the Indians, invited me
to his room, saying that he would very much like to talk with
me.
I replied that I had no objection to talking with him if his
object was to obtain correct information.
Being seated in his quarters, he asked what our religious
faith was, and from what source we had derived it.
I told him "We prove the truth of our religion by that
book'' (pointing to a Bible that lay on the table). "If you
will read what Christ taught, you will learn what our principles
are. They are from heaven."
"Is it possible," said he, "that your people believe the
Bible?"
I replied, "We are the only people I have met during the
last forty years that do believe the Bible. Many profess to be-
lieve it, but when I open and read it to them, I find they do
not."
Said he, "My dear sir, I believe every word of it."
I replied, "Then we are brethren." I spent nearly half a
day with him. He assented to the principles of the gospel as
expounded in the New Testament, and to the patriarchal order
of marriage.
When asked to explain what was meant by the stick of
Ephraim and the stick of Joseph, in 37th chapter of Ezekiel,
he said he thought it meant that both Judah and Ephraim
sho^3ld write. He believed the Bible to be the stick of Judah,
JACOB HAMBLIN. 143
but where the stick of Ephraim was he did not know. He had
thought much about it, but it was a mystery to him.
I told him to wait a short time, and I would bring him the
stick of Ephraim. I went out and came back with a copy of
the I)Ook of Mormon, which I had brought from home. He ap-
peared much surprised, and grasped the book with some energy.
He examined the testimony of the three witnesses, and said,
"Surely this book is the best or worst thing that ever was."
I permitted him to keep it. When I left the place he told
me he had read some thirty pages of it, and had not discovered
anything in it contrary to the Bible.
Matters were settled between the ' 'Mormons" and Navajoes
on the basis of our great peace talk at the same place, the 2nd
of November, 1871. The truth was brought to light, and those
who wished to throw the blame of murdering the young Nava-
joes upon the Saints were confounded.
This busines? was finally closed at Fort Defiance, on the
21st of August, 1874. The Navajoes expressed themselves as
fully satisfied that I had told them the truth when I visited
them the previous winter. I felt that the Lord had greatly
blessed me in filling the mission assigned me, of convincing the
Indians that we had not injured them, and thereby maintaining
peace.
Doubtless a war had been prevented, and the faith of the
Indians on the east side of the Colorado greatly strengthened
in our people.
It is evident to me that I was indebted to the specie 1 favor
of my Heavenly Father, for the preservation of my life to ac-
complish this work. At the close of these labors I found my-
self three hundred miles from home, rather jaded and care-
worn, but full of thanksgiving for the happy termination of my
labors.
On our way home we had some very pleasant visits with
the Indians.
144 JACOB HAMBLIN.
In the winter of 1874-75, I assisted in carrying on a trade
with the Navajoes at Lee's Ferry. One of my sons was with me.
I introduced the boy to Ketch-e-ne, the father of two of the In-
dians killed in Grass Valley. He turned away and wept, ap-
parently much dejected. His friends told me that the loss of
his sons was killing him. I afterwards learned that he died
about two months after I saw him at the river.
The Navajoes carried on quite an extensive trade with our
people, principally in exchanging blankets for horses.
In 1875, a number of brethren were called to again estab-
lish a mission at Moancoppy.
The winter of 1875-6 I had the privilege of remaining at
home. My family was destitute of many things. Some mining
prospectors came along, and offered me five dollars a day to go
with them, as a protection against the Indians. To go with
them could not injure the interests of our people. It seemed
like a special providence to provide necessaries for my family,
and I accepted the offer. I was gone sixty days, for which I
received three hundred dollars.
CHAPTER XXIV.
A Company Start to Visit the Arizona Settlements — Disaster in the
Colorado River — Bishop Roundy Drowned — Others Barely Escape
— Explore a New Route for a Wagon Road — President Young's
Promise Fulfilled — Visit the Little Colorado Settlements — Severe
Experience on the Homeward Trip — Assurance of Approval from
President Young — Trip Across the Colorado in Search of a Criminal
— Moquis Ceremonies to Bring Rain — The Rain Comes — Conclusion.
In May, 1876, Brothers D. H. Wells, Erastus Snow and
other leading men among the Saints, were sent to visit the new
settlements in Arizona. I was sent with them as a guide. The
Colorado was then high — a raging torrent. The current shifted
JACOB HAMBLIN. 145
from side to side, and the surging of the waters against the
rocks caused large and dangerous whirlpocls.
We put three wagons and some luggage on the ferry boat.
We were under the necessity of towing the boat up stream
one mile, to give a chance for landing at the proper place on
the other side of the river. When taking the boat around a
point of rock, the water poured over the bow. Word was given
to slacken the tow rope. In doing so, the rope caught in the
seam of a rock, and the draft on the boat continuing, the bow
was drawn under water.
In a moment the rapid current swept the boat clear of its
contents. Men, wagons and luggage went into the surging
waters.
When I plunged into the cold snow-water to swim, my right
arm cramped, which caused me to almost despair of getting
ashore. A large oar was passing me, and I threw my arm over
it to Scve myself from sinking. About the same time Brother
L. John Nuttall caught the same oar, so I thought it best to
try to swim with one arm. However, I was soon able to use
both, and went safely to shore.
I ran down the river bank, got into a skiff with two others,
pulled out to the heads of the rapids, and saved a wagon and
its contents on an island. The other two wagons with all the
valuables they contained, including the most of our supplies,
passed over the rapids into the Grand Canyon of the Colorado.
On getting together we found that Brother Lorenzo W.
Roundy was missing. He was said to be a good swimmer, and
it is probable he was taken with the cramp and sank at once.
His body has never been found.
Brother Lorenzo Hatch sank deep into the river, but saved
himself from drowning and was picked up by the skiff.
Brother Warren Johnson and another man hung to a wagon
until they were taken up with the skiff, just in time to save
them from going over the rapids.
146 JACOB HAMBLIN.
This unfortunate affair occurred on the 28th of May. We
gathered up what was left of our outfit, and visited the mis-
sions at Mowabby and Moancoppy, and the settlements on the
Little Colorado.
About the 1st of December, President Young desired me
to take a small company, and look out a route for a wagon
road from Pierce's Ferry, south of St. George, to Sunset on the
Little Colorado; "for," said he, "our people will want all the
choice places where there is water and grass."
Brothers Wilford Halliday from Kanab, Joseph Crosby,
Calvin Kelsey, Samuel Alger and Hyrum Williams from St«
George accompanied me.
We left St. George the 13th of December, 1876. We took
a route to the ferry a little east of our former one, in order to
strike the new crossing of the Colorado, five miles above the
old one.
We remained at the river two days, and assisted Brother
Harrison Pierce to construct a skiff, with which we conveyed
our luggage across; but we forded our animals. After crossing
the river, we still took a course east of our former one and the
first day arrived in Wallipie Valley, an unknown country to me.
We camped on the north side of the valley under a bluff,
where we found a seep of water, or wet ground. We dug a
little, and found sufl^icient water for our use.
The finding of this was entirely providential, as none of us
were acquainted with the country, and we had no guide. It
fulfilled a promise made to us by President Young when we left
St. George, that when thirsty we should find water where we
did not expect it.
In the morning we took with us what water we could. We
traveled a south-easterly direction, and, as fast as was prac-
ticable. At night we made a dry camp, and guarded our ani-
mals. The next day we pursued the same course as the day
before.
JACOB HAMBLIN. 147
During the long, weary day's travel, the brethren asked
when I thought we would get water again. I told them they
knew as much about the water as I did, on the course we were
going, but we were going the course President Young had told
me to take, and I felt impressed that we would get water that
night.
We slowly wore away the miles, until, nearing the foot-
hills of a mountain peak, our hopes ran high on discovering
signs of stock. Two or three miles farther, as we turned around
the point of a hill, we came to a house and corral. We found
the place occupied by a Mr. Stevenson. He told us to turn our
animals into his yard, and that there was a pump and good
water.
It was a mining camp, and water had been obtained by dig-
ing. From Mr. Stevenson I obtained information of the water-
ing places between there and the part of the country I had
before traveled over. This relieved us from any anxiety about
water.
The day we left Mr. Stevenson's, we came to an old road
which had not been used for some time, but it could be followed.
This led us to our settlements on the Little Colorado.
Arriving there we found the Saints feeling well. I was
much pleased to see my daughter Louise. One is likely to ap-
preciate friends and relatives when found by traveling in the
desert.
After a short visit we started home, intending to return
the same way we had come. The third night out it commenced
snowing and blowing. In the morning we concluded that it
would not do to continue our journey, as we would see only a
short distance on account of the storm.
The best available shelter we could find was a log cabin
without a roof, and the spaces between the logs unchinked.
We had a wagon sheet which we stretched over our heads, and
we were partially sheltered from the driving storm. There we
148 JACOB HAMBLTN.
remained two days and nights, during which time it snowed in-
cessantly.
The storm abated the third morning, but the snow lay very
deep. Hunger and cold had so used up our horses that we con-
cluded to make the best of our way south, out of the moun-
tains. The third day we got out of the snow, and to the sunny
side of a hill, where there was plenty of green, luxuriant grass
for our animals. They had plenty, but there was little food for
ourselves.
Going out, we had cached supplies for our return trip, but
being under the necessity of taking a different route, it was not
available.
We went to a military post called Camp Apache, and asked
for supplies. We were refused, as it would break orders from
the government to let us have them. We applied to a Mr.
Head, who kept a sutler's store and made known our situation.
He thought we ought to know better than to travel without
money.
I prayed to the Lord to soften the heart of some one, tnat
we might obtain food. I again went to Mr. Head, and told him
that we were from Utah; that when we left home we did not
expect to see any one to spend money with; that instead of
money we took plenty of supplies, which we left in the moun-
tains to use on our return trip, but we could not go the same
way home on account of the snow, and if he would let us have
enough food to last us home we would send him the pay.
"Ob," said he, "you are Mormons, are you! What do you
want to last you home?"
He then let us have what we asked for.
Arriving at the crossing of the Colorado, south of St.
George, we found that the flour and meat we had left there had
been used, but we obtained some wheat which we boiled and
lived on for five days, or until our arrival in St. George.
I gave President Young an account of my trip. I had con-
JACOB HAMBLIN. 149
siderable additional conversation with him, in which he said to
me:
"I know your history. You have always kept the Church
and King.iom of God first and foremost in your mind. That is
right. There is no greater gift than that. If there are any
men who have cleared their skirts of the blood of this genera-
tion, I believe you are one of them, and you can have all the
blessings there are for any men in the temple."
It was the last time I talked with President Young. He
died the following August. The assurance that the Lord and
His servant accepted my labors up to that time, has been a
great comfort to me.
In the spring of 1877 I thought I would try to raise a crop.
I found that the land had been so divided in the Kanab field,
that what was considered my share was nearly worthless. I
sowed some wheat but it proved a failure.
Some time in August I gathered up a little grain, and
started for the mill, about one mile and a half above Kanab, in
the canyon. On the way I met an expressman, who had direc-
tions for me to start forthwith to the Navajo country, with
Deputy-sheriff Fouts, of Richfield. A criminal had broken from
jail, and it was believed that we would prevent his escape.
I took my horses from the wagon, agreed with another
man to do my milling, and in a very short time was on my way
for the crossing of the Colorado.
Here we first learned of the death of President Brigham
Young.
We learned that the man we were in pursuit of had not
crossed there. It was thought advisable to visit the Moquis
agency, and make arrangements to secure his arrest should he
appear in that part of the country. We traveled one hundred
and fifty miles east, in the hot days of August.
In passing through the Moquis towns, we found the people
making much ado to bring rain to save their crops. They scat-
150 JACOB HAMBLIN.
tered corn meal in the paths leading to their fields; the women
dressed in white, and sat on the tops of their houses, looking
to the ground through an opening in a blanket wrapped around
their heads.
Others of the people went about with solemn countenances
to induce the great Father of us all, as they express it, to send
rain. By doing as they did, they believed He would be more
ready to pity them and grant their request.
Several came to me and requested that I would pray for
rain, asserting that I used to help the Piutes to bring rain, and
they thought they were as much entitled to my prayers as the
Piutes.
I felt to exercise all the faith I could for them, that they
might not suffer from famine. In all their towns there fell, the
following night, an abundance of rain.
Returning from the Moquis agency, we found the people of
the towns feeling well. They said enough rain had fallen to
ensure them a crop of corn, squashes and beans. We noticed
that in and around their towns and fields it had rained very
heavily, but on either side the ground was dry and dusty.
On my return home, I found that the fall crop I had planted
was too far gone with drouth to make anything, but through
the blessings of the Lord I was able to provide necessaries for
my family.
This seems a fitting place to close this little narrative of
incidents in my life.
In my simple way I have furnished the facts for the pen of
Brother Little, with the hope that their publication may be a
testimony to many of the truths of the gospel, and of the power
of revelation to all who will seek for the whisperings of the
Holy Spirit.
I desire this narrative to be a testimony to all who may
read it, that the Lord is not slack concerning any of His prom-
JACOB HAMBLIN. 151
ises to His children. My whole life, since I embraced the
gospel proves this fact.
If this little book shall leave a testimony of this to the
coming generation, I shall be satisfied.
4^
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UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA AT LOS ANGELES
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Live Music Archive
Librivox Free Audio
Metropolitan Museum
Cleveland Museum of Art
Internet Arcade
Console Living Room
Books to Borrow
Open Library
TV News
Understanding 9/11