He was hearing a myriad of sounds…voices,murmurs and whispers,but there was no one around. The next story comes from the 1870s. This was the time that large timbers were being freighted from Mount Trumbull to St. George for use in the building the Temple. Over one million feet of lumber was hauled 70 miles,over rough road,to Utah’s Dixie. William Perkins,one of these freighters,told this next classic tale.
“It was in the Autumn of 1876,the wagons had been rolling in from Mount Trumbull for the past year. Work had progressed very well but a long fall storm had delayed the ox teams for over a week. It had been thought that such a delay would have little effect on the progress of Temple work. It was discovered that certain large timbers should have been delivered but through an oversight,they were still out at the mountain. If these timbers were not delivered by the weekend,it would cause a delay in the construction.
Monday evening found Billy Perkins and Tobe Whitmore,a day out of St. George on their return to Mount Trumbull. That evening a man rode into camp,he was being sent out to the logging site to hurry the shipment of these special timbers. That night sitting around the campfire one of them said,“the Temple foreman ought to be praying that the freight outfits were already rolling!” Everyone said Amen to that suggestion. The men retired early to be fit for the next day’s labor.
The next morning,the men all arose before the dawn to take care of the animals and get ready to go. The horseman,by riding long and hard,with luck would make it through the day. Suddenly,someone said,”did you hear that?” All had,it was the crack of a bull whip and soft sounds of men talking. Then,they heard it again loud and clear. They knew that the ox team was bringing the special timbers in. The horseman turned around and went back to St. George to report all was well.
Bill and Tobe drove on expecting to see the oncoming freight teams on each turn,but the day passed and they met no one. The next day was the same,they met no one. By mid-morning of the third day,they spotted the long sought after wagon. On talking with the drivers it was learned that they had left Mount Trumbull 3 days before,just as Bill,Tobe and the horseman had heard.
What kind of phenomenon was it that voices carried sixty miles? That is what happened,a crack of the whip,a creak of the wagons,and voices heard a full 60 miles. To most,it was just good planning that the work did not stop. To Bill and Tobe,and those that prayed that night,they had seen a bit of the Lord at work that crisp Autumn morning a hundred years ago.” The Arizona Strip,strange and forbidding,is a place where a full roar is absolute silence.
