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2 John D. Lee and Lonely Dell JOHN D. LEE BECAME A FERRYMAN ON JANUARY 29, 1872, WHEN SHORTLY after daybreak a band of fifteen Navajos called from the left bank, asking to be crossed. The old Powell-Hamblin flatboat, the Caiion Maid, had not been in the water since September and required caulking. His sons declined to risk themselves in so flimsy a craft, but the courageous Rachel volunteered to steer while her husband rowed, thereby becoming the first white woman to cross the Colorado River above Black Canyon.1 The Indians had brought a variety of trade goods they wanted to exchange for additional horses. Lee accommodated them, thereby becoming the first Indian trader at Lee's Ferry. Barely three weeks after their arrival, Emma gave birth to a daughter on January 27, 1872. Named Frances Dell Lee, she was the first white child to be born at this place. As usual in Mormon polygamous households, one wife attended the confinement of another. Rachel had been in both positions previously. In late January, Lee evaluated his location more critically, then decided to move into the mouth of Pahreah Canyon under the lee of the chocolate-red slopes. He at once began building a dam behind his new site. By creating a pond less than eight feet above the streambed, he could flood a good-sized field and raise a garden-an indispensable necessity to the pioneer .2 Through diligent labor, he plowed, planted, and brought water to his field by the second day of March. Next day, he and Rachel went up the trail, making their second visit to the settlement ofPahreah. As luck would have it,Jacob Hamblin had preceded their arrival by an hour, having come for the organization of the Pahreah branch ofSt. George Stake. He promised to send Lee some help as well as vines, trees, seeds, and provisions without delay. Instead of these things, a company of miners arrived at Lonely Dell with a note of recommendation from Hamblin. They had been guided there by a baptized Paiute, who slipped Lee a note from Nephi Johnson that said there was nothing to fear from these men. The miners found and began using the Canon Maid to facilitate their prospecting. In a few days, the boat was lost through carelessness; it apparently had not been secured 25 26 Lee's Ferry to the bank and had drifted away. The miners then began making unauthorized use of the two Powell boats that were cached nearby. An unsuccessful member of the group, returning from the river, related the information to F. M. Bishop in the Powell camp near Kanab.3 Several of the prospectors became indebted to Lee but left without squaring up. Others built a raft, "borrowed" some of Lee's tools and utensils , and set off down the river. At an undetermined place, the raft was wrecked and everything was lost. The men apparently walked out at either Badger or Soap Creek, as the story was reported that they had traveled some ten or fifteen miles before the accident occurred.4 But the coin had a reverse side, too. When the prospect of gold failed to live up to anticipations , many miners parted with the bulk of their tools and supplies rather than pack them out. Lee was thus able to replenish the "borrowed" items at minimum cost. Another, larger group of prospectors headed for the river, preceded by a note of warning that asked Lee to claim the water at House Rock Spring, Jacob's Pools, and Soap Creek before the outsiders got there. He and two companions did this by April 7.5 While Lee was staking claims to hold the water, his dam washed out. It had to be replaced immediately if the garden were to survive. Pioneer dams were, of necessity, primitive affairs. Indigenous materials, a team, wagon, and hard labor were required for their construction, and engineering was patterned more after the art of the beaver than the craft distinguished by degrees and calculators. The backbone of the structure was a crooked cottonwood log as large as a team could snake into place crosswise to the current. Innumerable wagonloads of earth, stones, brush, and large tree limbs were piled against the base log. In this case, the earth was the chocolate-red shale. It was abundant, but all of it had to be moved by shovel. Willows were plentiful along the river, while the Pahreah delta, which projected well...

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