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Jacob Hamblin, a narrative of his personal experience, as a frontiersman, missionary to the Indians and explorer, [microform] disclosing interpositions of Providence, severe privations, perilous situations and remarkable escapes. Fifth book of the faith-p - Page 79 |
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Show DESTRUCTION CAUSED BY THE FLOOD. 77 In some way or other a sick woman had been left in one of the rooms of the fort, and her husband was almost frantic with the idea that his wife was lost, as he did not think she could be got out. She had a young child, which was safe outside, while the mother was in peril. I took the rope that had been the means of saving myself, tied one end of it to a tree, and holding on to it, got safely to the fort, where I fastened the other end. I entered the room, drew the woman from the bed on to my back, placed her arms over my shoulders and crossed them in front. 1 told her when I got to the running water that she must hold her-self on my back, for I would be obliged to lay hold of the rope with both hands to get through the water. When we arrived at the point of danger, her arms pressed so heavily on my throat that I was nearly strangled. It was a critical moment; for if I let go the rope we were sure to be lost, as the water was surging against me. I made the best possible use of time and strength, and reached the shore safely with my burden, to the great joy of the husband and children. The flood swept away my grist mill and other improvements to the value of several thousand dollars. Most of the houses and the cultivated land of the settlement also disappeared. In the autumn of 1862, it was thought best to again visit the Moquis villages. President Young recommended that we cross the Colorado River south of St. Greorge, and explore the country in that direction, with the view of finding a more feasible route than the one we had before traveled. A company of twenty men were set apart for this purpose, by Apostles Orson Pratt and Erastus Snow. A team accompanied us to the river with a small boat, n which we conveyed our luggage across. Our animals swam the river. Expecting to return the same way, after crossing the river we cached our boat and some of our supplies. The first day we traveled south, up a " wash," for about thirty miles. We then traveled three days through a rough, bushy country, with some scrub cedar and pine timber. The fourth night from the river we camped at a small " seep" |