Tag: Utah

Utah, a state in the western United States, is renowned for its stunning natural landscapes and unique geological formations. It is characterized by vast deserts, towering red rock formations, and the dramatic peaks of the Rocky Mountains. Home to five national parks—Zion, Bryce Canyon, Capitol Reef, Canyonlands, and Arches—Utah attracts outdoor enthusiasts and nature lovers from around the world. Its capital, Salt Lake City, is a hub of culture, history, and outdoor recreation, famously hosting the 2002 Winter Olympics. Utah’s diverse terrain offers opportunities for skiing, hiking, mountain biking, and exploring ancient Native American petroglyphs and archaeological sites. The state’s Mormon heritage is also evident in its history, architecture, and the world-famous Salt Lake Temple.

Major Powell – Colorado River Steamship

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The Major Powell was a small experimental twin-screw steam launch built and launched in 1891 at Green River, Utah, on the Green River. It was named for Major John Wesley Powell, the one-armed Civil War veteran and explorer who led the first scientific boat expeditions down the Green and Colorado Rivers in 1869 and 1871–72.

It was owned and operated by the Green Grand & Colorado River Navigation Company (headed by B. S. Ross). The company’s goal was to establish excursion steamers carrying tourists from the Denver & Rio Grande railroad at Green River, Utah, down the Green River to its confluence with the Colorado (then often still called the Grand) and a short distance into Cataract Canyon, with plans for a hotel near the head of the cataracts.

Build and Design Principles

The vessel measured about 35 feet in length, 8 feet in beam (some accounts note 8–10 feet), with a draft of roughly 26 inches and a capacity of about 3 tons. It featured an open deck covered by a canvas canopy. Propulsion came from two 6-horsepower coal-fired steam engines, each driving one of a pair of twin screws (propellers).

Design priorities reflected the harsh realities of the upper Green and Colorado Rivers in the canyon country:

  • Shallow draft to handle low water, sandbars, and rocky channels.
  • Twin-screw propulsion for better maneuverability in narrow, winding canyons and against variable currents, rather than traditional paddlewheels (more common on the lower Colorado).
  • Compact size and light construction suitable for assembly after rail shipment and operation in remote, undeveloped terrain.
  • Open-deck simplicity for excursion passengers rather than heavy freight capacity.
  • Protective adaptations after early problems: iron guards were added to the screws after rocks damaged the propellers on the first trial run in fast, shallow water. The boiler was later converted from coal to wood (local cottonwood) because coal was scarce and heavy to transport in the canyons.

These choices made it a practical prototype for testing commercial steam navigation in an environment far more challenging than the lower Colorado River (where larger sternwheelers had operated for decades hauling freight and passengers between the Gulf of California and points upstream toward present-day Lake Mead). The Major Powell was underpowered for strong upstream currents and required constant attention to fuel and channel conditions.

Operational History

Launched in August 1891, the boat’s first trial was unsuccessful due to propeller damage. After the iron guards were fitted, its first successful voyage began around April 15, 1892, under the command of local rancher Arthur Wheeler (with a small crew). It descended the Green River through Labyrinth and Stillwater Canyons to the confluence and a short distance down the Colorado to the first cataract at the head of Cataract Canyon. Returning upstream proved difficult: the underpowered engines struggled against the current, coal ran low, and the boat was tied up at Wheeler’s ranch (about 22 miles below Green River). The crew walked overland to announce the success in town on July 3, 1892.

A second voyage followed after the conversion to wood fuel. The round-trip river time between the ranch and the first cataract was only about four days, but the full expedition took roughly a month because of the labor of cutting and loading cottonwood. Later accounts also describe additional trial or excursion efforts into 1893.

Despite these limited successes, the boat was dismantled in 1894 for its machinery (reportedly used in a wrecking plant at Green River). The hull was left behind and washed away in a subsequent flood.

Role in Expanding Trade Along the Colorado River

The Major Powell played only a minor and ultimately unsuccessful role in commercial development. Its purpose was primarily tourism and excursion traffic rather than freight or bulk trade. The company hoped to open a scenic passenger route linked to the railroad, but the combination of underpowered engines, fuel logistics, shifting channels, sandbars, and the formidable cataracts prevented sustained commercial service.

On the broader Colorado River system, steam navigation had already been established decades earlier on the lower river (from the mouth near the Gulf of California upstream past Yuma and toward the Mohave region). There, larger shallow-draft sternwheelers carried significant freight (supplies, mining equipment, goods) and passengers, supporting settlement, mining, and military posts until railroads largely displaced them. The upper Green and Colorado canyons remained far more difficult; the Major Powell was among the earliest (and essentially experimental) attempts to apply steam power there. It demonstrated that limited powered travel was possible under favorable conditions but did not lead to a viable trade route or fleet of excursion steamers. Subsequent upper-river boats in the early 20th century (such as the Undine, Cliff Dweller, and others) similarly struggled and left no lasting commercial impact before railroads, roads, and later dams transformed the region.

In short, the Major Powell stands as a short-lived technological and promotional experiment—an ambitious but underpowered effort to commercialize the scenic upper canyons that John Wesley Powell had first explored by rowboat a generation earlier. It highlighted both the possibilities and the severe practical limits of steam navigation on those waters.

Thomas Leiper Kane

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Thomas Leiper Kane (January 27, 1822 – December 26, 1883)
Thomas Leiper Kane (January 27, 1822 – December 26, 1883)

Thomas Leiper Kane (January 27, 1822 – December 26, 1883) was an American lawyer, abolitionist, philanthropist, and Union Army officer best known as a lifelong non-Mormon friend, advocate, and mediator for members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (often called Mormons). He was not a Mormon convert or a Utah settler; he remained outside the faith while providing crucial political, diplomatic, and public-relations support during key crises in the church’s history. Kane County, Utah, and the early Iowa settlement of Kanesville (near present-day Council Bluffs) were named in his honor.

Early Life and Background

Kane was born in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, the second son of John Kintzing Kane (a prominent federal judge and politician) and Jane Duval Leiper Kane. He came from a well-connected family of Irish and Scottish descent. After education in Philadelphia and some study in England, he read law under his father and was admitted to the Pennsylvania bar in 1846. He briefly served as a clerk in his father’s court but resigned around 1850 over moral opposition to the Fugitive Slave Act. He was active in reform causes, including abolition (with involvement in the Underground Railroad), opposition to capital punishment, prison reform, women’s rights, and educational initiatives.

Introduction to the Latter-day Saints (1846)

Kane first encountered the Saints in May 1846 in Philadelphia, where he attended a conference organized by Jesse C. Little, the church’s eastern representative. Learning of the forced expulsion of the Mormons from Nauvoo, Illinois, and their difficult westward migration, Kane used his family’s political connections to help. He met with President James K. Polk and other officials, helping arrange the enlistment of the Mormon Battalion (about 500 volunteers) for the Mexican-American War. The battalion’s pay provided vital funds for the impoverished refugees.

Kane traveled west to the Mormon camps along the Missouri River in Iowa Territory. He assisted with recruitment, visited scattered settlements, and publicly defended the Saints against hostile reports. Impressed by their loyalty and suffering, he became a committed advocate. In recognition, the Saints renamed one of their Iowa settlements Kane (later Kanesville). In September 1846, Patriarch John Smith gave Kane a patriarchal blessing that he valued highly throughout his life.

Advocacy and the Utah War

Throughout the 1850s Kane worked to improve the public image of the Saints and secure favorable federal treatment. In 1850 he delivered an influential lecture, The Mormons, before the Historical Society of Pennsylvania, describing their history and the desolation of abandoned Nauvoo. His influence helped secure Brigham Young’s appointment as the first governor of Utah Territory under President Millard Fillmore. Kane declined an offer to serve as territorial governor himself, preferring that Young hold the post. He also supported efforts toward Utah statehood.

His most famous service came during the Utah War (1857–1858). Amid exaggerated reports of Mormon rebellion, President James Buchanan ordered a large U.S. Army force (Johnston’s Army) to Utah. Kane volunteered as an unofficial mediator, traveling under the alias “Dr. Osborne” via a long southern route (through Panama and California) to reach Salt Lake City in early 1858. He negotiated with Brigham Young and the new federally appointed governor, Alfred Cumming, helping persuade Young to accept Cumming and avoid armed resistance. The peaceful resolution averted bloodshed and is often credited in large part to Kane’s diplomacy.

Civil War Service and Later Life

At the outbreak of the Civil War, Kane organized and led the 1st Pennsylvania Rifle Regiment (the “Bucktails”), a noted sharpshooter unit. He rose to the rank of brigadier general of volunteers and received a brevet promotion to major general for gallantry at the Battle of Gettysburg (1863). Wounds and illness forced his resignation. After the war he settled in northwestern Pennsylvania, where he helped found the town of Kane and engaged in land development, railroads, oil, and civic affairs. He continued corresponding with Brigham Young and other church leaders, offering counsel on political and legal matters.

In the winter of 1872–1873, in poor health, Kane, his wife Elizabeth Dennistoun Wood Kane, and two of their sons visited Utah at Brigham Young’s invitation. They traveled with Young to St. George in southern Utah, where the milder climate improved Kane’s health. Elizabeth later published Twelve Mormon Homes (1874), a valuable firsthand account of Mormon domestic life. Kane returned briefly to Utah in 1877 after Young’s death.

Personal Life and Death

Kane married Elizabeth Dennistoun Wood in 1853; they had several children. Though raised in a Presbyterian family, he did not formally join any church. He remained a steadfast friend of the Saints until the end. He died of pneumonia in Philadelphia on December 26, 1883 (some sources list the 27th), after caring for an injured son. Among his last concerns were messages of affection for his “Mormon friends.”

Legacy

Kane is remembered in Mormon history as one of the most important non-member allies of the 19th century—an “outrider for Zion.” His mediation during the Utah War, defense of religious liberty, and long friendship with Brigham Young left a lasting mark. A statue of him stands in the Utah State Capitol, and the LDS Church maintains a memorial chapel in Kane, Pennsylvania. His papers and correspondence remain important sources for historians of the American West and the Latter-day Saint movement.

Cliff Dweller – Colorado River Steamship

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The Cliff Dweller was a stern-wheel steamboat that operated briefly on the Green River (a major tributary of the upper Colorado River) in Utah in the early 20th century. It belonged to a short-lived series of experimental vessels attempting commercial navigation on the challenging upper Colorado/Green River system, far upstream from the better-known lower Colorado River steamboat fleet that served Yuma, mining districts, and points north into the late 19th and early 20th centuries.

Origins and Construction

The vessel began as the City of Moab, a gasoline-powered, screw-driven boat. In 1905–1906, owner John J. Lumsden (with involvement from Charles Anderson and others) had it substantially rebuilt at Halverson’s (near Green River, Utah). Workers removed the upper works and tunnels, lengthened the hull by about 10 feet, and converted it to a coal-fired stern-wheeler with steam power (two stern-wheel engines, each rated around 25 horsepower in some accounts). It was renamed the Cliff Dweller, likely referencing the prehistoric Ancestral Puebloan (cliff-dweller) ruins and landscape along the river canyons.

It was launched around November 1905 at Halverson’s. Contemporary descriptions and later lists give approximate dimensions of 70 feet in length and 20 feet in beam, with a very shallow draft of about 14 inches (light; around 16–20 inches or more when loaded with fuel such as coal). These shallow-draft characteristics were essential for the sandbars, riffles, and variable water levels of the Green River.

Role Along the Colorado River System

Unlike the commercial stern-wheelers of the lower Colorado (such as the Mohave, Gila, Cocopah, and others operated by George A. Johnson & Company and later the Colorado Steam Navigation Company), the Cliff Dweller was an upper-river experiment. Its intended purpose was commercial service—primarily linking Green River, Utah, with Moab and points toward the confluence of the Green and Grand (upper Colorado) Rivers—for freight, passengers, or related trade. The upper river was far more difficult than the lower reaches due to rapids, sandbars, fluctuating flows, and limited traffic potential.

In practice, the boat made only limited use. Its principal documented voyage occurred in August 1906 under master/pilot C. W. Anderson (with H. T. Yokey as chief engineer and a small crew that included firemen, deck officers, and a cook). The log records a cruise from Green River downstream toward the junction of the Green and Grand Rivers (reaching Valentine’s Bottom, about 20 miles from the confluence, and visiting sites such as cliff dwellings and the Cave of Winds). The return upstream involved the usual hazards: grounding on sandbars (including at Hell’s Hole and Brigham’s Aleck), the need to use a capstan or shore lines, and temporarily raising engines when the paddle wheel struck bottom. The trip carried guests rather than commercial cargo and demonstrated the difficulties of sustained operation. It made one main long trip plus a couple of shorter side trips.

These upper-river efforts (including earlier vessels such as the Undine and later ones such as the Black Eagle and Charles H. Spencer) were generally short-lived and commercially unsuccessful because of the river’s obstacles and the lack of sufficient traffic once railroads expanded.

Specifications (Approximate, from contemporary and compiled sources)

  • Type: Stern-wheel steamboat (converted from gasoline screw propulsion)
  • Length: ~70 feet (after lengthening from the earlier City of Moab configuration)
  • Beam: ~20 feet
  • Draft: ~14 inches light; higher when loaded (e.g., with coal)
  • Propulsion: Coal-fired steam; stern-wheel engines
  • Built/rebuilt: Halverson’s, Utah, 1905 (rebuild completed for 1906 operation)
  • Owner: Primarily John J. Lumsden (with partners at times)

Exact tonnage and full engine details are sparsely recorded compared with the lower-river fleet.

Ultimate Fate

Commercial prospects between Green River and Moab proved unviable; operators concluded the venture could not generate adequate revenue. In 1907 (accounts cite April), Lumsden sold an interest, and the boat was cut in two, shipped overland to Salt Lake City, and placed in service as an excursion vessel on the Great Salt Lake. It was renamed the Vista and operated as a tourist craft for a number of years.

The Cliff Dweller thus represents one of the more ambitious but ultimately unsuccessful attempts to extend steam navigation into the upper Colorado River basin. Its brief career illustrates both the engineering adaptations required for shallow, obstructed western rivers and the limits of steamboat economics once railroads and other transport options became available. Primary details come from contemporary logs, testimony in later legal proceedings related to river navigation, photographic records, and compiled steamboat lists (including those drawing on Richard E. Lingenfelter’s research on Colorado River steamboats).

Comet – Colorado River Steamship

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The Comet was a small sternwheel steamboat (paddlewheeler) that operated briefly in 1908 on the upper Green River, a major tributary of the Colorado River system, between Green River, Wyoming, and Linwood, Utah.

It was part of short-lived early 20th-century attempts to establish powered commercial navigation on the upper Green and Colorado rivers (in contrast to the longer, more successful steamboat era on the lower Colorado from the Gulf of California upstream to the Virgin River, roughly 1852–1916). These upper-river efforts faced severe challenges from low water, sandbars, swift currents, rocks, and rapids, and most vessels had very short careers.

Construction and Specifications

The Comet was built in Green River, Wyoming, by Holger (also referred to as Marius N. or Holger) Larsen and launched in July 1908 as the flagship of the newly formed Green River Navigation Company. Construction cost about $25,000. Steam engines were sourced from Chicago.

Key specifications (from contemporary lists of Colorado River system steamboats):

  • Type: Sternwheeler (stern-wheel paddle steamer).
  • Length: 60 feet.
  • Beam: 12 feet (one secondary compilation lists 20 feet; primary list data favors 12 feet).
  • Propulsion/engines: Coal-fired, two 20 hp engines.
  • Other: Shallow-draft design intended for the river’s variable conditions; cargo and passenger capacity is not precisely recorded in surviving summaries but was modest, suited to local freight and passengers rather than heavy bulk trade.

It represented an early shift on the upper Green from oar-powered craft to steam power.

Role Along the River

The Green River Navigation Company aimed to carry freight and passengers between Green River, Wyoming (a railroad town), and ranches downstream as far as Linwood, Utah (at the confluence of the Green with Henry’s Fork). This would have reduced reliance on overland freight and supported isolated ranches and communities.

Its maiden voyage was celebrated as a major local event tied to the Fourth of July 1908 festivities. It departed Green River for Linwood (accounts vary slightly on exact departure timing around July 4–7). The downstream leg was relatively successful (one report notes about eight hours), but the return trip proved disastrous: it took roughly 33 hours and was plagued by low water, sandbars, strong currents, and rocks. Passengers and crew repeatedly had to unload the boat and manually haul it past obstacles; fuel shortages forced stops at ranches for more coal.

Only a few trips were completed before operations ceased. The venture quickly proved impractical for regular commercial service.

Ultimate Fate

After its limited runs in 1908, the Comet was abandoned in the Green River a few hundred yards downstream from Green River, Wyoming (near the later site of the Highway 530 bridge area). Portions of the hull remained visible at low water for years afterward. Its bell was later salvaged and used by the local Rotary Club. A historical marker in Green River’s Island Park (Expedition Island area) commemorates the vessel and this brief chapter of river history.

The Comet’s failure mirrored other upper Green/Colorado experiments (such as the Major Powell, Undine, Cliff Dweller, Black Eagle, and Charles H. Spencer), which were similarly short-lived due to the river’s difficulties. Commercial steamboating never became viable on this stretch, unlike the lower Colorado, where vessels supported military posts, mining, and settlement until railroads and dams (notably Laguna Dam) ended the era.

Widtsoe – Garfield County Ghost Town

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Widtsoe (pronounced /ˈwɪtsoʊ/) is a ghost town in Garfield County, southern Utah, located in Johns Valley along the East Fork of the Sevier River at the mouth of Sweetwater Creek. It sits at an elevation of about 7,605 feet (2,318 m), roughly 15–16 miles northeast of Bryce Canyon National Park. The town existed primarily from about 1908 to 1936 (with earlier seasonal use of the valley) and stands as a classic example of an ambitious early-20th-century dry-farming settlement that flourished briefly before collapsing under environmental and economic pressures during the drought years and the Great Depression.

Emery Valley Mercantile Co. store in Widtsoe, 1936
Emery Valley Mercantile Co. store in Widtsoe, 1936

Early Settlement and Ranching Era (1870s–early 1900s)

Johns Valley was used mainly as seasonal open range for cattle by local ranchers in the late 19th century. Permanent settlement began around 1876, when Isaac Riddle and others (including a wife of John D. Lee) established a presence. Riddle’s ranch became a key regrouping point for the San Juan (Hole-in-the-Rock) Expedition in 1879. James Houston, a Mormon stake president from Panguitch, ran cattle in the area as early as 1872. Through the end of the century, the high, cold valley supported few permanent residents; it remained primarily stock country.

Founding and Rapid Growth (1902–1920)

In the early 1900s, Jedediah Adair purchased land and successfully grew oats, wheat, and barley using dry-farming techniques suited to the arid high country. His results drew other settlers. By 1908 the community was known as Adairville. In 1910, Adair’s wife Julia Ann donated 40 acres for an official townsite, laid out in the typical Mormon “Zion” pattern: a central park and church/school meetinghouse surrounded by one-acre family lots, with streets 5 rods wide and blocks 20 rods square. Additional land was later donated (including 160 acres in 1914 by the Mangums and Quince K. Kimball).

The settlement went through several name changes reflecting prominent local Latter-day Saint leaders:

  • Briefly Houston (after John/James Houston, Panguitch stake president).
  • Winder (after John R. Winder of the LDS First Presidency) when a post office was granted in 1912.
  • In 1917 the post office required another change because of duplicate “Winder” names in Utah; the community chose Widtsoe in honor of John A. Widtsoe (1872–1952), then president of the University of Utah, an agricultural scientist, dry-farming expert, and later LDS apostle. His work on dry farming and irrigation had directly aided local farmers.

Nearby settlements (including Henderson a few miles north) gradually consolidated into Widtsoe. Infrastructure developed quickly: sawmills supplied lumber; a combination church and school (later a three-room schoolhouse); two hotels; four stores; a confectionery; a post office; and, by 1915, piped running water from a local spring. In 1919 the U.S. Forest Service moved its district office (and the area’s first telephone) from Panguitch to Widtsoe. There was serious discussion of relocating the Garfield County seat there.

Population estimates vary. Some accounts place the peak at around 1,100 in 1920 (when the town was described as one of the principal communities in the county and its grain production reportedly exceeded that of the rest of Garfield County combined). The 1920 census figure cited in detailed local research is closer to 365. Regardless of the exact number, the town was prosperous enough that residents enlarged nearby Pine Lake and built an embankment dam in anticipation of further growth.

Decline (1920–1935)

A severe drought began in the summer of 1920, threatening crops. Rain arrived late that season and produced a decent grain harvest, but dry conditions continued. The high elevation and cold limited vegetable production; soil quality was marginal; floods and erosion compounded problems. An apparent multi-year cycle of drought versus better water years worked against the settlers. By the mid-1920s the only consistently successful crop was a high-altitude variety of iceberg lettuce.

In 1923–1924, California developer and Imperial Valley irrigation pioneer W.F. Holt invested heavily (reports of nearly $300,000) at the urging of Utah state senator Quince Kimball. Holt bought the Widtsoe Hotel, built more than ten homes, founded the nearby settlement of Osiris, constructed irrigation works (storage pond and flume bringing water about 7 miles from Pine Lake), installed telephone lines, established a creamery, and promoted high-altitude lettuce seed. The efforts failed against persistent drought, erosion, rodents, and climate extremes. The Forest Service office left in 1925. Population fell to 210 by 1930 and to only 17 families (or about 40 families in some accounts) by 1934–1935. The area was described as among the most destitute in Utah during the early Depression years.

Post office and postmistress, Widtsoe, Utah.
Post office and postmistress, Widtsoe, Utah.

Federal Resettlement and Abandonment (1935–1938)

In spring 1934 residents petitioned for federal help. Officials of the Resettlement Administration (a New Deal agency) concluded the land was sub-marginal and could no longer support agriculture. On February 8, 1935, residents voted to accept resettlement assistance. The government purchased roughly 30,000 acres for about $81,300, resettled 29 families to more productive land elsewhere in Utah, and used the Widtsoe Project as a model for similar programs in other western states. Administrative costs exceeded the purchase price, and the process was slow.

In 1936 the Resettlement Administration bought out remaining landowners. Most buildings were demolished; more than 26,000 acres were placed under the Taylor Grazing Act for public grazing. Photographer Dorothea Lange documented the nearly empty town for the agency in April 1936, producing well-known images of the post office and postmistress, the Emery Valley Mercantile Co. grocery store, approaching views of the settlement, and families preparing to leave. The last federally assisted families departed by March 1938. The name was removed from highway signs and maps.

Legacy and Present Condition

A few structures survived: remnants of a schoolhouse (sometimes described as the original one-room building), the Woodard house (with an assay-office extension), a barn, a few private residences or summer cabins, sheds, and root cellars. Foundations, debris, and a weathered stop sign have also been noted. Ownership is mixed (private, State of Utah School and Institutional Trust Lands Administration, and federal). An active pioneer cemetery remains nearby and continues to see occasional burials. Visitors are cautioned not to remove artifacts, as both federal and state laws protect the site.

Widtsoe illustrates the limits of dry-farming optimism in Utah’s high valleys, the influence of LDS agricultural experts such as John A. Widtsoe, the boom-and-bust pattern of early-20th-century rural settlement, and the New Deal’s role in managing environmental failure. Annual gatherings of former residents and descendants have helped preserve memory of the community long after the physical town disappeared. Today the quiet site in Johns Valley serves as a tangible reminder of the challenges of making a living on the Colorado Plateau’s arid highlands.