Father Escalante and his comrads didn’t reach their stated goal, but they chronicled their journey and that has survived. They almost perished from cold and hunger several times, and when they got to the Colorado River at what is now Lee’s Ferry, they found they could not cross at that point. They then searched upriver, and two weeks later, they found Padre Creek. There the river was wider and shallow enough to ford, and the canyon walls sloped down. However, this slope was what is known as “slick rock,” and with good reason. The picture below is of me and my friend Nayna Judd Christensen sitting on the slick rock as it slopes down to the river. Getting horses down without incident was a problem, but this was the only way to cross they had found thus far, so they cut steps in the rock so the horses could get footing.
These steps survived for almost 200 years. In fact, they’re probably still there, except that now they’re covered by Lake Powell, the lake that backs up behind the Glen Canyon Dam. My dad worked on that project, and one Easter weekend in the early 1960s we made the dirt-road drive out to see them. These images surfaced a couple weeks ago when I was having my son sort pictures for me. Wondering if they might be historically valuable, I made an internet search. Though I found several pictures of early expeditions to the Crossing of the Fathers in the early 20th century, I didn’t find any of the steps Father Escalante cut into the rock. So, if you’ll pardon the intrusion of a younger me in the picture, I’m posting this for posterity.
You can read a good description of the Escalante-Dominguez expedition at:
~~~~~~~~~~~~
And...be sure you don't miss out on the next recipe, review, scrap of wisdom or pithy thought. Become a follower on this blog by clicking on the Join this Site button on the sidebar. Check out my books behind the Liz's Books tab at the top, or read reviews of my latest book under the Reviews tab.
8 comments:
Thanks so much for posting these. I was curious what the steps looked like and one can no longer see them in real life without diving.
Peter
You are most welcome, Peter. I have accomplished my goal in posting them. Thanks for letting me know.
I've been reading about the Old Spanish Trail, which the Dominguez-Escalante Expedition helped to establish. I couldn't find any pictures of the Crossing of the Fathers, especially the steps, so thanks for sharing. J B
Thanks for your comment, JB. That is exactly why I posted this picture, even if my large back side is particularly prominent.
very important historical reference
thank s for posting these
RANDALL ARMSTRONG
Thank you for posting these pictures! It's so wonderful to see these steps. I'm wondering if you might give me permission to use them in a book I'm writing on water in the West. I'd give you the photo credit. I'd also be interested in talking to you about your father's role in the construction of the dam. My name is Erika Bsumek and I'm originally from Utah. My grandfather also worked on the dam -- but I'm now a history professor at the University of Texas. Feel free to email me at embsumek@austin.utexas.edu.
Thank you for posting this, especially the photo of the ax-hewn stairs the Padres cut in the slickrock. I am reading David Roberts' book Escallnte's Dream about the Dominguez-Escalante expedition and I really wanted to see what the steps looked like (not to mention hike into many of the places described).
James Blilie
What a great picture!
I've been searching for an image of the Steps, wondering what the looked like, then finally your photo came up. Amazing. I'd send a copy to the National Park Service for archiving. THanks.
Post a Comment