The settlement of Obed, three miles southwest of St. Joseph, directly
south of old Allen's Camp and across the river, bears date from June,
1876, having been moved a short distance from the first camp ground. At
that time was built a fort of remarkable strength, twelve rods square. In
places, the walls were ten feet high. There were bastions, with portholes
for defense, at two of the corners, and portholes were in the walls all
around. The camp at the start had 123 souls. Cottonwood logs were sawed
for lumber. The community had a schoolhouse in January, 1877, and a
denominational school was started the next month, with Phoebe McNeil as
teacher. The settlement was not a happy one. The site was malarial,
selected against Church instructions, and there were the usual troubles
in the washing away of brush and log dams. The population drifted away,
until there was abandonment in 1878.
Taylor was a small settlement on the Little Colorado, about three miles
below the present St. Joseph, and should not be confounded with the
present settlement of the same name near Snowflake. This first Taylor was
established January 22, 1878, by eight families, mainly from Panguitch
and Beaver, Utah. In the United Order they built a dining hall, a
quarter-mile back from the river and organized as a ward, with John
Kartchner at its head. But there was discouragement, not unnaturally,
when the river dam went out for the fifth time. Then, in July, 1878,
members of the settlement departed, going to the present site of
Snowflake on Silver Creek. They included a number of Arkansas immigrants.
There had been little improvement outside of the stockade and dining
hall, and for most of the time the people lived in their wagons.
[Illustration: THE COLORADO FERRY AND RANCH AT THE MOUTH OF THE PARIA
By courtesy of Dr. George Wharton James]
[Illustration: LEE CABIN AT MOEN AVI]
[Illustration: MOEN COPIE WOOLEN MILL. First and Only One in Arizona]