Lee's Ferry
| Lee's Ferry and Lonely Dell Ranch | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| National Register of Historic Places | |||
| Historic District | |||
 Ruins of the fort from 1874 |
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| location | Coconino County in Arizona (USA) | ||
| Coordinates | 36 ° 51 '57.1 " N , 111 ° 35' 13.3" W | ||
| Built | 1872 | ||
| NRHP number | 97001234 | ||
| The NRHP added | November 4th 1997 | ||
Lees Ferry , also Lee Ferry or Lee's Ferry , is a settlement on the Colorado River in Coconino County , Arizona . Historically there was one of the earliest crossings on the river, now the place is almost only important as the start of boat and raft tours on the Colorado in the Grand Canyon National Park . Lees Ferry is located at an altitude of 960 m above sea level, near the mouth of the Paria River in the Colorado, below the deep red Vermilion Cliffs . Today the river and location are shaped by the influence of the Glen Canyon Dam built above . Lees Ferry is within the Glen Canyon National Recreation Area and approximately 12 km southwest of the city of Page . It is accessed via a spur road from US Highway 89A known as Lee's Ferry Road .
history
The river crossing at Lees Ferry was traditionally used by the Navajo and other Indian peoples of the region. It is one of the few places in this section of the Colorado where both banks of the river, which largely runs in a canyon , can be reached from the high plateau. Therefore it had a special meaning for the connection of the Arizona Strip and the southern Utah north of the river with the rest of today's Arizona south of the Colorado.
The Spanish Domingues-Escalante expedition of 1775/76 brought the first whites to the region. They crossed the Colorado at the Crossing of the Fathers, later named after them, further upstream, then moved on on the north bank of the river and thus came to what would later become Lees Ferry . White colonization of the region did not take place until Mormon pioneers began after the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints founded Salt Lake City in 1847 and opened up the southwestern United States in the decades that followed . The missionary and church leader Jacob Hamblin used the river crossing at the later Lees Ferry in 1869, from 1871-72 John Wesley Powell made a longer stopover on his boat expedition on the Colorado at this point, explored the region and put on a supply depot.
John D. Lee came to the place that bears his name in 1871. He had been involved in the 1857 Mountain Meadows Massacre , an act of violence by Mormons against peaceful settlers as part of the Utah War that the Mormons waged against the United States. He was excommunicated from the church for his role and, as a penance, was commissioned to settle at the river crossing, which is important for the church. He named his small farm at the exit of Paria Canyon Lonely Dell , lonely valley, which suited his exile. He also named the Paria River after how he performed his role. He started a ferry operation with the boat Nellie left behind by Powell , which became known as Paria Crossing . He thus maintained the only ferry on around 800 kilometers of the river. The church paid him to build a larger boat called the Colorado , but it was soon damaged and lost in the raging river. In the following year, 1872, Lee fled to Nevada because the US Army was looking for him for the massacre. The ferry service continued, run by his wives and children. According to traditional Mormon polygamy, Lee had 19 wives and a proven record of at least 56 children. He was captured in 1877, sentenced to death, and transferred to the site of the massacre, where he was shot. After his death, the family led by his wife Emma sold the ferry for 1,000 dairy cows to the church, which ran the business until 1910.
In 1874, at the instigation of Hamlin, permanent buildings were erected at the river crossing to prevent Navajos from crossing the Colorado there and from committing their dreaded raids on the Mormon settlers. The first constructions were a fort and a trading post. From 1879 there was a post office under the name Lees Ferry , which made it official. Around 1900, Charles D. Spencer built buildings for a mining company in the region, and Lees Ferry continued to settle with farms and mines at the beginning of the 20th century. In 1910 the county bought the ferry and in 1928 the Navajo Bridge opened further south across the Colorado; an arch bridge high above the river. The ferry immediately lost its importance and was discontinued. Lee's Ferry was no longer on the most important crossing over 800 kilometers of the river, but on a meaningless cul-de-sac deep in the canyon.
When the Glen Canyon Dam was completed in 1964, boating on the Colorado could no longer start in Page. Therefore, they were moved further down to the best access to the river and still start at Lees Ferry today. A little below Lees Ferry, the Grand Canyon National Park connects to the Glen Canyon National Recreation Area. The first section is Marble Canyon , which is considered to be the most scenic part of the river in the Grand Canyon. There is a campsite next to the boat ramp. The river access is also used by anglers. Also of importance is the official level of the Colorado River, the water level of which determines the distribution of river water among the seven riparian states.
Lee's farm Lonely Dell and the historic buildings at the river crossing have been listed as Historic Districts on the National Register of Historic Places since November 4, 1997 , while the nearby bank wreck of the steamship Charles H. Spencer , named after the mine operator , had been listed as a Historic Site since October 15, 1989.
literature
- WL Rusho: Desert River Crossing. Historic Lee's Ferry on the Colorado River. 2nd Edition. 1911. (Revised by C. Gregory Crampton: Peregrine Smith, Santa Barbara, California 1975, ISBN 0-87905-048-9 )
Individual evidence
- ↑ Lees Ferry in the United States Geological Survey's Geographic Names Information System
- ↑ Lee's Ferry and Lonely Dell Ranch in the National Register Information System. National Park Service , accessed July 27, 2017
- ^ CHARLES H. SPENCER Hulk in the National Register Information System. National Park Service , accessed July 27, 2017
Web links
- Library of Congress: Historic American Buildings Survey - Lee's Ferry (documents on the historic buildings with background information on their history)