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Show WINTER 2013 UHQ pp 4-90_UHQ Stories/pp.4-68 12/5/12 9:38 AM Page 19 THE POWELL SuRVEy that the “farm [was] in fairly good order with crops growing, well irrigated by the water he took out of the Paria.”65 Lee had earlier confided in his diary, “I looked upon Powel as being a Friend to us.” He recorded the group’s arrival with an eye to the providential: “They were out of Meat & groceries, all but coffee & Flour.” Consequently, Powell’s men made a deal with Lee: “They offered to furnish us the Flour & coffee if we would cook for them till the remainder of the co. would come up with supplies from Kanab.” To Lee, “this was again another Manifestation of the favour of Heaven, for we were getting Short of Groceries, & flour was also good pay & when Powel’s supplies came that they furnish me.” Conversely, “our vegitables, Beef, Butter & cheese was a treat to [them].”66 Powell’s men immediately stepped in to assist Lee in moving a wagon along an eroded bank of the Colorado. They “were verry kind & saved our waggons from upsetting in the River,” Lee wrote.67 A midsummer storm sent a flash flood down the Paria, tearing out a recently constructed diversion dam and filling the irrigation ditches with heavy silt. Powell’s men attempted to repair the dam. This proved unsuccessful, though, when another “freshet” swept down the Paria, nearly “tak[ing] th[e]m away, tools & all.”68 On July 19, Clem recorded: “Received another invitation to work on the dam. Accepted it and lost our shovel; Andy swore.”69 Powell’s men assisted with Lee’s garden. Hillers noted: “Hoed onions and beets in the forenoon.” On August 2, Hillers “commenced to make a cultivator for Lee.”70 Dellenbaugh joined Hillers in doing a little gardening. “On Monday having nothing else to do,” Dellenbaugh wrote, “we took some hoes and worked in Lee’s garden till near noon.” He added, “The next day we worked in the garden again, repaired the irrigating ditch, and helped about the place in a general way, glad enough to have some occupation even though the sun was burning hot and the thermometer stood at 110° in the shade.”71 On July 29, Clem recorded that Dellenbaugh had been “plowing for ‘Brother Lee’” and “returned late from Lee’s with a lame foot.” In sum, Dellenbaugh explained, “almost every day we did some work in the garden and we also repaired the irrigation dam.”72 Lee kept what he saw as his part of the bargain with Powell’s men. As Clem put it on his arrival from Kanab, “The boys have been boarding with Mrs. Lee, No. the 18th,” Emma Batchelor.73 Indeed, on the day that Clem 65 Dellenbaugh, Canyon Voyage, 211. Mormon Chronicle, 2:194, 204–5. 67 Ibid., 2:205. 68 Ibid., 2:206; “Photographed All the Best Scenery,” 130; Dellenbaugh, Canyon Voyage, 211. 69 “Journal of W. C. Powell,” 433. 70 “Photographed All the Best Scenery,” 129–32. Clem also noted on July 31: “Another day wasted and spent in idleness. Thermometer regularly reaches 110° above zero.” “Journal of W. C. Powell,” 435. 71 Dellenbaugh, Canyon Voyage, 211. 72 “Journal of W. C. Powell,” 434; Dellenbaugh, Canyon Voyage , 211. 73 “Journal of W. C. Powell,” 432. 66 19 |
