Notes On The History Of The Kolob Canyons…From The Journal Of John D. Lee

Issue 41.10

Part 4

Twenty months after the infamous Mountain Meadows Massacre, the United States government sent Judge John Cradlebaugh, escorted by a military patrol, to investigate the massacre and arrange for surviving children to be sent back to relatives in Arkansas.  Cradlebaugh sought earnestly to interrogate John D. Lee and Philip K. Smith who were rumored to have been participants in the massacre.  Smith was serving as bishop at Cedar City at the time of the massacre and Lee as Indian agent.  Lee and Smith decided that it would in their best interests to avoid Judge Cradlebaugh by hiding out at Virgin or “Pocketville” and then in the Kolob canyons.

            Wishing to avoid an encounter with U.S. troops on the roads between Pocketville and Harmony, Lee and Smith concerned about families set out for Harmony by way of LaVerkin Creek.  Lee’s journal for 11 May 1859, the day they left Pocketville, reads:  “We then got up our animals and bent our course across the mountains up Leverkins about 12 mi. distant from this place {Pocketville} and camped by a precipice of lime stone rock.”  The next day the two men rode their horses along the top of the Black Ridge but became separated when Lee went to look for a revolver that had fallen from his horse without notice.  Lee camped alone the night of 12 May.  The next day he recorded the following:  “Started in pursuit of my partner, P.K. Smith.  Followed his tracks from range to canyon over the roughest country that I have ever traveled before, and came up with him on Dry Canyon {Taylor Creek} some 6 mi. east of Harmony.  [Brooks,  J.D. Journals]

            The next day Lee and Smith observed the comings and goings of the people at Harmony with Lee’s spyglass.  Lee made contact with family but remained camped in the mountains above Taylor Creek with Smith.  He learned from his Harmony contacts that Cradlebaugh had offered a $5,000 reward for his capture.  Smith left Lee a short time after this initial contact with Lee’s family.  One of the interesting entries in Lee’s journal is his description of a waterfall at the base of the cliffs on Taylor Creek that he used to clean up with.  A short hike up Taylor Creek from the base of the limestone cliffs in the spring leads one directly to the fall he describes.  It lies a little further east of a small fall, which is located at the mouth of the canyon.  It is a short and enjoyable hike when the water is running.

            Lee, who was frequently visited by family during the ordeal noted on 23 May:  Shell Stoddard took dinner with me, it being the first meal I have eat in my house in 4 weeks.”  Lee’s adventure resulted in the naming of the pass between Taylor Creek and the head of Timber Creek after him.  It is at the steepest part of the road into the Kolob Canyon.   The Kolob was an excellent hiding place for Lee.   The next recorded entrance into Kolob came in 1866.  This will be next week’s adventure.