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Show 638 On the first trip they encountered no difficulty at the Crossing of the Fathers, this crossing being made possible by a shoal about one- half or three- quarters of a mile long, which the Navajos and Utah took advantage of coming down from the north or south, by wading the channel, getting on the shoal and following it. When the water was not too high, the crossing was marked by the Indians with little pyramids of rock all the way down. The first expedition, of course, avoided the shoal because they could see right where it was. From the Crossing of the Fathers on down the Colorado River to the mouth of Paria River, that is today called Lees Ferry, Arizona, they encountered no difficulties and there was no settlement at Lees Ferry at that time. R. 1538- 1539. They had known of the Crossing of the Fathers, as Escalante crossed there in 1776, and it was an historic place. Also Jacob Hamblin of Southern Utah, Indian Agent of the Mormon Church for Southern Utah, had crossed there four of five times, first in 1858, and they were, therefore, on the look- out for this crossing. Between Gunnison Crossing [ Greenriver, Utah] and Lees Ferry, Arizona, the party was not re- supplied until they reached the Crossing of the Fathers, as Jacob Hamblin couldn't find the mouth of the Dirty Devil River, or at least he couldn't get there, as he was on the wrong stream entirely, and they therefore, had to run past the Dirty Devil on the rations that Powell had brought in from Manti. |