Sacrifice revered
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BLUFF, UTAH
Not much was known about southeastern Utah when pioneer settlers were directed by President John Taylor in 1879 to leave their established homes in Parowan and Cedar City, Utah, and forge their way across generally unfamiliar territory.
With more faith than resources, they embarked on a journey that endured six months and required the descending of a sheer rock crevice in the Colorado River gorge now known as Hole in the Rock.
Once they arrived in the San Juan area in April 1880, they built the small community of Bluff. Irrigation ditches were dug and crops planted, then small one-room cabins were erected in close proximity to each other to form a fort as a means of defending themselves.
Originally, the fort comprised 40 to 50 cabins. Today, only one cabin, the Barton cabin, remains as a reminder of frontier life on the San Juan River.
Descendants of these 250 pioneers describe the struggle as an "ordeal of unparalleled difficulty" in Church history.
Yet, the taming of this remote four-corners area of Utah, Colorado, New Mexico and Arizona goes generally unknown, as if the isolation has shrouded this epic journey in obscurity.
Too much happened here, say descendants, to allow such faith to fade away. So in 1996, they organized the Hole in the Rock Foundation to "preserve the history and share the legacy."
In that spirit, three families gathered Oct. 12-18 to build cabins in honor of their ancestors. In something of an old-fashioned barn-raising festivity, they assembled logs, built a roof and landscaped the grounds.
More than 150 descendants and volunteers joined during the six-day event to build the Amasa Barton cabin, Barton blacksmith shop and the James Monroe Redd cabin.
For these modern-day pioneers, the process was arduous. Large logs weighing up to 400 pounds were hoisted into place by manpower, rather than heavy equipment, to fashion walls up to 6 feet high.
Electric drills drove heavy lag screws through the logs to fasten them together, a convenience not afforded the pioneers who used wood dowels or iron rods.
Cement was slapped in the crevices between logs for insulation in a process called "chinking."
The families celebrated their feat with a Dutch oven meal, and a dedicatory service on the morning of the final day.
"We walked the ground, tasted the blowing sand, enjoyed the heat and hefted logs until our backs gave out," said Ron Snowden, a volunteer. "We now have far more respect for our pioneer ancestors and understand their lives far more as a result of following in their footsteps."
More information about the restoration project can be found at: www.HIRF.org.
E-mail to: shaun@desnews.com
