Thank you Wilford for the great story!!! Carolyn Woolsey Wilkerson honey@texasol.com http://www.texasol.com/honey ----- Original Message ----- From: Wilford W. Whitaker <wwwhit@integrityonline3.com> To: <WOOLSEY-L@rootsweb.com> Sent: Wednesday, November 24, 1999 9:49 PM Subject: Woolsey & Hole-in-the-Rock > To all interested Woolsey researchers: > > When you see the words "Hole-in-the-Rock", what comes into your mind? > > Do names like Butch Cassidy, Etta Place, The Sundance Kid, Robert Redford, > and other desperadoes, come into mind? > > Do you picture western badmen holing up in out-of-the way places in the > badlands of Utah? Where bank robbers, train robbers and other desperate > men could hide out, with the assistance of a few of their neighbors, from > the law? And you wouldn't be far wrong. > > However, there is another 'Hole-in-the-Rock' which stands as a monument to > the pioneers' courage and strength, and endurance. > > Even before the Mormons were settled in the Great Salt Lake Valley, Brigham > Young was sending out scouting parties in every direction from Salt Lake, > exploring the country and determining all the habitable areas, and as fast > as he could, he sent families and groups of individuals to colonize these > outlying areas. > > >From Fort Limhi in Idaho to San Bernardino in California, to San Juan in > Utah and across the Colorado river into Colorado and Arizona and even down > into Mexico, colonies were sent to raise permanent dams and school houses > and churches and homes. They took with them their knowledge of irrigation > and began to make the "desert blossom as the rose". > > And some of the Woolseys were on the cutting edge of this migration out > from Salt Lake. > > In 1879, Joseph Smith Woolsey (s/o James Hopkins Woolsey and Lavina > Patterson; s/o Joseph Woolsey and Abigail Schaeffer; s/o Richard Woolsey > and Nancy Plumstead) was among the group of 70 families (250 men, women and > children); with 83 wagons, 1000 head of stock, sent by the Mormon Church, > under Silas S. Smith and Platte D. Lyman, to colonize the San Juan, Utah, > area. > > They travelled unmapped areas, moving at the head of deep, slick-rock > canyons as they tried to find a way down the steep canyons to the Colorado > River. They spent the winter from Nov 1879 to 6 Apr 1880 in heroic effort > pushing a road through the canyon-lands from Escalante, Utah, to Cottonwood > Wash on the San Juan river where they founded Bluff City (now known as > Bluff, Utah). San Juan area is the "Four Corners area, where Utah, > Arizona, New Mexico & Colorado join together. > > At last they found a cleft in the perpendicular canyon walls, where it was > determined that it may be possible to build a road down the steep, narrow > canyon. This group of pioners found this place and built a wagon road at > "Hole-in-the-Rock" in Glen Canyon on the Colorado River. > > Part of the group began working backwards, improving the trail on which > they had just come, others were sent back for supplies and dynamite. > Others were dispatched to far canyon areas where trees grew and others > dispatched to carry soil and brush to the head of the canyon. > > Others began the perilous task of leveling the steep, narrow, precarious > canyon floor so that a team and wagon could descend from the head of the > canyon. > > There were places where the floor dropped away precipituously and holes had > to be blasted in the canyon walls in order to place logs which then acted > as the base of the road, and brush and soil was placed on top of the logs > which hung precariously over empty space for some distance. > > At several places, channels were cut into the canyon walls so that the > inside wagon wheels would fit and keep the wagon on track. Some places > were so steep that one could only walk upright with some difficulty. And > mothers carrying their small children were expected to walk down this trail. > > At Last, they deemed it ready to travel, and the first team, of carefully > picked animals, not skittish, but known horses, to make the first descent. > They tied a large log behind the wagon to slow its downward flight, and > attached ropes which were held by several men to keep the wagon from > overtaking the team of horses. The wagon wheels would be blocked to keep > them from turning. > > At last the intrepid driver nosed his team into the cleft of the canyon and > urged his team forward. It was so steep that the team disappeared from his > sight as they started down the steep incline. And the race was on. Even > with all the restraints, the wagon threatened to overtake the team, and > they had to be encouraged to keep moving faster, which would propel the > wagon even faster, and team and wagon and driver and heavy log, and > sweating men clinging to ropes, trying to keep away from the outside edge, > which dropped straight down for over 1,000 feet, were soon dashing madly > down hill. Horses where neighing, men shouting, babes and women left back > at the head were crying, each fearing the worst, and praying for the safety > of all. > > At last, a cry came up from the valley floor. They had all descended in > safety and thus began the descent for which they had all worked so hard, > that winter of 1879 and 1880. > > Of course, that wasn't the end of their troubles. They had to cross the > turbulent Colorado and make their way up the steep canyon walls on the > other side, which was as difficult, it not more so, than Hole-in-the-Rock. > > And Joseph Smith Woolsey was part of this great endeavor. He was married > at this time and had five children, but it is not known by this writer if > he took his wife and family with him on this first trip. > > By 1880 Joseph Smith Woolsey and family was living in Escalante, Utah, and > were an upstanding pioneer family. > > Sincerely, > > Wilford W. Whitaker > >