This looks like a serious game of cards!
Kalin's San Juan Hill Pioneer Trek
A little bit about the San Juan Mission:
In 1879 when a group of Mormon pioneers began the now famous Hole-in-the-Rock expedition, the San Juan region of southeastern Utah was one of the most isolated parts of the United States. The rough and broken country is characterized by sheer walled cliffs, mesas, hills, washes, slickrock, cedar forests, and sand. Certainly the ruggedness of the country accounts for its colonization coming so late in the Mormon settlement effort. The Mormon’s need to improve relations with the Indians, open new farmlands, and open the possibility for future colonies to the east, south, and north was the reason church president John Taylor issued the call for the colonizing mission to the San Juan. Those who answered his call demonstrated remarkable faith, courage, and devotion to the Mormon cause and persevered even when confronted with the challenges of southeastern Utah's harsh environment. They cut a wagon passage through two hundred miles of that rugged corner of the state and succeeding in establishing permanent communities in its remote area.
A total of 236 people from sixteen different southwestern Utah villages formed the mission. Most were from three Iron County towns: Parowan, Paragonah, and Cedar City. Ignoring longer, but well-established routes, leaders of the mission opted to try a "short cut" by way of Escalante that would take them through almost completely unexplored country. The biggest obstacle along the course was the Colorado River, but according to a scouting report from the summer of 1879 it was passable. The scouts had discovered the Hole-in-the Rock, a narrow slit in the west wall of Glen Canyon. They reported that a road could be built through it leading down to the river. Based upon this report the group began to gather in late November and early December at Forty Mile Spring about forty miles southeast of Escalante. In the meantime, exploring parties returned with negative reports concerning the terrain east of the Colorado, which looked extremely difficult for wagon travel. Unfortunately, snow had already blocked any return to their former homes, and so the group determined to forge ahead.
Although challenging, the first sixty-five miles of their journey proceeded with minor difficulties. They formed a base camp about six miles from the Hole-in-the-Rock. From there about half of the expedition spent the next month and a half blasting a road through the very narrow crack to allow for the passage of wagons. At the bottom of the steep slope leading to the river the pioneers ingeniously rigged a crib which they piled with logs, brush, fill dirt, and rocks to serve as a "tacked-on" road bed for the outside wagon wheels. Finally the road was completed, and on January 26, 1880, about forty wagons were taken through the Hole-in-the Rock. Elizabeth Morris Decker, in a letter to her parents, wrote a vivid account of the descent to the river: "If you ever come this way it will scare you to death to look down it. It is about a mile from the top down to the river and it is almost straight down, the cliffs on each side are five hundred ft. high and there is just room enough for a wagon to go down. It nearly scared me to death. The first wagon I saw go down they put the brake on and rough locked the hind wheels and had a big rope fastened to the wagon and about ten men holding back on it and then they went down like they would smash everything. I'll never forget that day. When we was walking down Willie looked back and cried and asked me how we would get back home."
Even with the Hole-in-the-Rock behind them the pioneers still faced many miles of rugged terrain before reaching their destination. Then on the north bank of the San Juan River the weary, hungry, and discouraged travelers faced yet another grueling trial: the solid rock wall of San Juan Hill. According to Charles Redd whose father, Lemuel H. Redd, Jr., drove a horse team up the hill, the steep, slick grade took its toll on the exhausted animals and men. Many of the horses went into "spasms and near-convulsions" as they battled for footholds on the upward climb. When it was all over "the worst stretches on the hill could be easily identified by the dried blood and matted hair from the forelegs of the struggling teams."
The San Juan pioneers reached the present site of Bluff in April 1880 and set to work planting crops, digging ditches, and establishing a new community. Many challenges remained. The San Juan River frequently washed out their dams and ditches, and Indian hostilities posed a continual threat. Many of the original group abandoned the hard-won location, while those who stayed were often forced to seek outside employment to survive. Hardships aside, Bluff eventually spawned other colonies in the region, including Verdure, Monticello, and Blanding. These remote southeastern Utah communities owe the ultimate credit for their existence to a tenacious group of Hole-in-the Rock pioneers.
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