Lee's Ferry: From Mormon Crossing to National Park

7. The Controversial Emetts

7 The Controversial Emetts JIM EMETT'S ROOTS WENT BACK TO THE EARLY DAYS OF THE CHURCH OF Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints and a different spelling of the family name. Jim's grandfather, James Emmett, was said to have been born February 22, 1803, in Boone County, Kentucky, where he married Phoebe Simpson in 1823. The couple's son, Moses Simpson Emmett, was born on May 14, 1824. The family joined the church in September 1832, andJames Emmett became a devout follower ofJoseph Smith. He was active in the church in Kirtland, Ohio, and then in Missouri in 1836. As a result of a family disagreement in 1849, Emmett started for California with his seventeen-yearold daughter, Lucinda; his wife and their other children remained in Iowa with their son. Moses Simpson Emmett started for the gathering place in the Salt Lake Valley in the summer of 1850, accompanied by his wife, Catherine, their two children, his mother Phoebe, and two of her children. OnJuly 28, beside the bank of the Platte River in what is now Nebraska, Moses and Catherine's third child and first son was born. They named him James Simpson Emmett after his grandfather and father. On reaching their destination , the family was assigned a ranch on the Weber River in what is now North Ogden. Here, four more children were born, including Thomas Carlos in May 1854. The Emmetts were called south to support the Cotton Mission in 1863. They settled at Fort Hamblin, on the edge of Mountain Meadows, where their last child, Moses Mosia, was born on the final day of the year. Moses Simpson took a second wife, Electa Jane Westover, on October 24, 1870, but the diminutive seventeen-year-old girl was not received well by his first wife or her children. It is said that her family position was closer to that of a servant than a wife. She never bore children and was turned out of the house on her husband's death in 1907.1 Jim and Tom Emmett grew to maturity at Mountain Meadows, learning to ride, rope, and shoot. Jim often packed two guns, was adept with either hand, and gave exhibitions at social gatherings; he was even better with a rifle. He could ride almost anything, appreciated blooded stock, and was a good handler of animals. He married Emma Jane Lay of Santa 145 James S. Emett, ca.1875 (P. T. Reilly Collection, Cline Library, Northern Arizona University) . The Controversial Emetts 147 Clara on April 2, 1872, then returned to live at Fort Hamblin. Early attempts to raise a family were only partly successful. The first child and third child lived only a few months; the second, named EmmaJane, and fourth, named William, made it to maturity to become important members ofthe family. OnJune 12, 1880,Jim and EmmaJane became parents of the first of four children to be born at Kanab. The boy was named John Taylor Emmett, but he grew to maturity as 'Jack." Shrewd and ambitious,Jim Emmett went after his objectives aggressively and began accumulating land and stock. In 1874, he paid taxes on three and one-half irrigated acres at Glendale.2 The entire Emmett clan moved east in 1878 when Moses Simpson Emmett and his two sons leased the Cottonwood and Cave Lakes ranches from the Winsor Castle Stock Growing Company. Apparently, they had options to buy and Tom Emmett exercised the right to acquire Cottonwood at the beginning of 1879, while Jim took Cave Lakes.3 The following day, January 3, the Winsor property was transferred to the Canaan Cooperative Stock Company.4 A month later, Tom Emmett purchased seventy-one head of livestock for the place, and both Emmett boys were in business. James Andrus resigned as superintendent of the Canaan operation onJuly 21, 1879, but agreed to stay on until a replacement could be found. On November 4, Erastus Snow offered the position to Jim-who by now had shortened his last name to Emett-and he immediately went to work without discussing his compensation.5 When Jim attended the board meetings at St. George in mid-December, he demanded an annual salary of fifteen hundred dollars plus board for himself and family. Snow and Andrus considered the demand unreasonable but agreed for the time being as there was no one else to whom they could turn. At that time, Emett had...