The story of the Colorado is most pertinent in a work such as this, for
the river and its Grand Canyon formed a barrier that must be passed if
the southward extension of Zion were to become an accomplished fact. Much
of detail has been given elsewhere concerning the means of passage used
by the exploring, missionary and settlement expeditions that had so much
to do with Arizona's development. In this chapter there will be
elaboration only to the extent of consideration of the ferries and fords
that were used.
The highest of the possible points for the crossing of the Colorado in
Arizona, is on the very Utah line, in latitude 37. It is the famous "Vado
de los Padres," the Crossing of the Fathers, also known as the Ute ford.
The first historic reference concerning it is in the journal of the
famous Escalante-Dominguez priestly expedition of 1776. The party
returning from its trip northward as far as Utah Lake, reached the river,
at the mouth of the Paria, about November 1. The stream was found too
deep, so there was a scaling of hills to the Ute ford, which was reached
November 8.
This ford is approached from the northward by natural steps down the
precipices, traveled by horses with some difficulty. On the southern
side, egress is by way of a long canyon that has few difficulties of
passage. The ford, which is illustrated in the frontispiece of this work,
reproduced from an official drawing of the Wheeler expedition, may be
used more than half the year. In springtime the stream is deep when the
melted snows of the Rockies are drained by the spring freshet. Usually,
the Mormon expeditions southward started well after the summer season,
when the crossing could be made without particular danger.
The Ute ford could hardly be made possible for wagon transportation, so
there was early effort to find a route for a through road. As early as
November, 1858, with some such idea in view, Jacob Hamblin was at the
mouth of the Paria, 35 miles southwest of the Ute ford, but was
compelled, then and also in November, 1859, to pursue his journey on,
over the hills, to the ford.