Historical Society learns about Elk Mountain Mission

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Discovering the story behind the Elk Mountain Mission was presented at the Emery County Historical Society meeting in the Museum of the San Rafael Auditorium by Wade Allinson a noted historian and Tom McCourt a recognized author and lecturer. Historical Society President Susanne Anderson opened the meeting.
McCourt explained how he and Wade Allinson were working on the same story and decided to become collaborators in writing the story. McCourt said this Elk Mountain Mission story is one of the best-unknown pioneer stories in the state. He learned about this mission when he was commissioned to write a book about Moab for the tourist industry. The book was to be a collection of short stories telling the history of Moab. He learned that Brigham Young had sent pioneers down into the Moab country in the 1850s. He then contacted Wade and found they both were researching and planning to write a book about the Elk Mountain Mission.
McCourt discovered Allinson had copies of at least six of the original pioneer journals of people that had gone on the Elk Mountain Mission. From those journals McCourt was able to make a time line of the daily experiences the pioneers had while on this journey. The Elk Mountain Mission book is now at the University of Utah preparing for publication.
McCourt said this is a fascinating history of Utah, which no one knows about. This is one of the few missions sent out by Brigham Young that failed. We (McCourt McCourt and Wade Allinson) have visited and taken photos of several of the places talked about in the journals and we have tracked down the springs these pioneers mentioned and we have photographed a few remnants of wagon ruts on the Spanish Trail. Allinson used a slide presentation to give more details about the Elk Mountain Mission and the Old Spanish Trail of 1854-1855. This mission ties in to some of the history of Emery County and they’re several people here tonight that are direct descendants of members of this mission.
William Drexler Huntington in 1854 was asked to lead a group of 11 men on a mission known as the Elk Mountain Mission into Eastern Utah by Brigham Young. The missionaries were to be guided by a Timpanogos Indian chief named High Forehead and Mormon Scout Levi Greg Metcalf. Most of the members of this group were from Springville. They had five wagons loaded with trade goods pulled by oxen. These are the first pioneers to travel from Manti to Ferron Creek. They left Manti on October 17, 1854. Early in the trip this expedition got involved in a stand-off with the Ute’s who wanted the expedition to pay a toll to use the Old Spanish Trail. Collecting tolls was how the Ute’s made their money. W. D. Huntington stated, “Our enemies fled before we reached their position, the Spaniards went their way and Walker his, leaving our path perfectly open.” This expedition followed the Gunnison Trail from Salina to Green River around Cedar Mountain.
(A further account of this mission can be found in the book Going To My Grave, The life and mysterious disappearance of the Mormon Scout Levi Greg Metcalf by Mark Blanchard. Pages 233 to 260, Published by Hobble Creek Press 2011.)
As these pioneers passed through this area they started to name various features of the landscape for example, Huntington Creek was named in 1854. Ferron Creek was first named Stewart Creek. Some of the names stuck and others did not.
Unlike the Beal, Gunnison and Fremont expeditions, the Elk Mountain Mission was a civilian expedition sponsored by the Mormon Church. The Elk Mountain Mission pioneer journals are the best source of documented information about the Spanish Trail from Salina Canyon to Moab. There are 12 surviving first hand accounts of this expedition. Six of those journals have in depth accounts including the daily mileage traveled. The other accounts are filled with intermittent bits of information.
This is the first account of wagons traveling along the Old Spanish Trail crossing Ferron Creek, Cottonwood Creek and Huntington Creek before crossing Buckhorn Flat. They were also the first wagons to go along the Southern branch of the Old Spanish Trail out past Green River to Moab.
Allinson stated the Elk Mountains referred to are the LaSal Mountains above Moab. The Indians in the area were known as the Elk Mountain Ute. The Elk Mountains are actually over in Colorado. These Elk Mountain Ute were farmers, they had corn and melons growing and they were using irrigation to water their crops.
The Elk Mountain Mission members learned the names of the Elk Mountain Ute’s leadership, insight into the Indian slave trade, including the relationships of trade between the Ute’s and the Navajo’s. They were the first to discover Hovenweep East of Bluff. At Hovenweep they found houses two stories high made of rocks. They did not find the white people spoken of by Chief Walker. These pioneers also provided the first sketches of Indian rock art found along Clear Creek in Salina Canyon.
Brigham Young sent the Elk Mountain Missionaries down into Southeast Utah to make contact and establish trade with the Navajo Indians. Brigham Young called two other missions at that same time. One was to go into the Salmon River country in Idaho and the other was to Las Vegas, Nev. Chief Walker had told Brigham Young about white people living in two story stone houses near the junction of the San Juan and Colorado rivers. Brigham Young thought this might be Welsh settlers and wanted to learn more about these white people. Brigham Young’s also wanted to control access to Utah and stop the slave trading of young Indian children. This slave trade was causing much instability among the Indian tribes. The Elk Mountain Missionaries after passing by where Moab is today and finding the wagons were bogging down in the sand buried the wagons, the supplies and farm equipment under the sand near Park Creek. The expedition then continued on in a southerly direction.
After crossing the San Juan River the scouts Levi Metcalf and Chief High Forehead were captured by Navajo warriors and held captive in a cave. These scouts were later rescued by a band of Ute Sheberech Warriors under Chief Quit-Sub-Soc-Its (St John) whose band out numbered the Navajo’s. St John told the Navajo’s that he had had a vision to rescue the Mormons.
The Missionaries were allowed to trade with the Navajo Indians but were not allowed to enter their village 40 miles South of the San Juan River. W. D. Huntington when he returned he reported the results of this mission to Brigham Young.
A second Elk Mountain Mission was sent out May 22, 1855. This mission consisted of 41 men, mostly from Utah and Sanpete Counties. Three of those wrote histories of conflicts with the Indians. The expedition had 15 wagons, 65 oxen, 16 cows, 15 horses, two bulls, one calf, two pigs, four dogs, 12 chickens, five plows, blacksmith tools, oats, peas, corn, wheat and gardens seeds. They also had rifles and 14,000 rounds of ammunition. Alfred N. Billings was the Mission President. His wagon master was Joseph Rawlings. May 30, 1855 the Ute Indians convince the missionaries to depart from Gunnison’s trail and follow the Spanish Trail to Cottonwood Wash.
This expedition crossed the Green River June 2, 1855. Where the following activities took place. Sheldon Cutler called it a good place for a settlement, William Holden and L. G. Metcalf preached to the Indians at Green River in their native tongue. The missionaries crossed the Green River by floating the wagons and towing the oxen across with a boat. They camped at Court House Rock after crossing the Green River June 8, 1855.
The missionaries constructed a trail around a 25-foot ledge or drop off point near where the Arches National Park entrance is now. When they came to the cache of wagons and supplies left by the first group of missionaries, they found it had been looted.
The missionaries selected their first fort location to be near what is now the Matheson Wetlands Reserve. They started clearing the land and preparing an irrigation system from Mill Creek. Then on June 23 Sheberetch Chief St John pointed out the high water marks and advised the missionaries to move to higher ground, which they did.
These missionaries were squatting on St John’s land. They baptized several Ute Indians and recorded the names and social structure of the Ute Indians. They found trade was important to both the Indians and the missionaries. But here the missionaries made a mistake by trading off their ammunition to the Indians which was later used on the missionaries to drive them out of the fort and away. What was left of the expedition arrived in Manti Sept. 30, 1855. This may have been a failed mission but a great deal of information was gained for future reference.
Allinson told of other travelers along the Old Spanish Trail. In 1851 Don Leon Pedro Lujan a New Mexican slave trader convicted in a Salt Lake Court of violating Indian slave trading laws. All of his property was confiscated and he was forced to walk back to New Mexico.
Dr Bowman in 1853 and a party of Mexicans camped in Sanpete County to trade for slaves with the Utes. Bowman made threats against anyone that interfered and threatened to call on the Indians to help him if he was not allowed to trade with the Utes for slaves.