The Trek to Bluff

by Mildred Bayles Palmer 

Published in Utah Heritage Remembered by the Blanding Stakes Relief Societies

in 1996 for the State Centennial

The wagons move slowly across the wilderness.

Eyes are reddened from sun and wind.

How much further must we go?

Day after day go by, blurred and dimmed with weariness.

Thirst and hunger always present.

The children suffer most.

Go on, we must; one step and then another , mile after mile.

Are we almost there?

Days grow shorter -- nights are cooler.

We must hurry onward.  Prayers are offered in supplication for guidance and survival.

Down the impossible treacherous rock hill

the wagons are lowered slowly.

Then out across the hills of desert sand.

The way seems easier now.

What shall we find there?

Will we survive there?

How many souls will die there?

A valley lies ahead.

Walls of ancient sandstone guard it well.

A river slices snakelike through the valley;

Along the southern cliffs,

Prayers of thankfulness are offered.

Here we will build our homes.

Live out our lives and spread the word of God.

MARY ANNE

By Mildred Bayles Palmer
Mary Ann was my great grandmother Mary Anne Durham Bayles who died in childbirth


South of here on a rocky bluff,
There is a grave.
It is not a lonely grave,
There are others there.

A lovely girl came to a lonely, barren place,
To make a home for the man she loved.
To follow the destiny of mother, wife.

She bore four children,
I wonder if she ever spoke of pain.
One day when her only son was five,
In childbirth she died.

Her grave is sand and rock,
A marble marker placed with love is there.
Even so, I wish she could be
By the one she loved
Where it is cool and green.

(The son was my grandfather Hanson D.Bayles Her husband is buried in the Blanding cemetery.

Song of Sorrow

By Mildred Bayles Palmer
Dedicated to the James Bean and Anna Maria Mickelsen Decker Family
Published 1980 in San Juan County Centennial Sampler

Decker story

Bluff December 15, 1901

My beloved husband died today.
The sickness is throughout the house.
My small young son lies pale and still.
He too is dead; he is only five.
Weariness and sorrow weigh me down.

Dec. 16, 1901

Today again a life is stilled.
My darling Mary, just approaching womanhood.
The sounds of carpentry fill the night.
Three coffins must be made for burials
In cold and frozen ground.

January 25, 1902
Did we have Christmas?
I remember not.
The cabin smells again of suffering and death.
My stalwart son of seventeen lies quiet now,
His song of life cut short.
The winter wind blows,
Echoing the sorrow in my heart.

January 26, 1902

My own dear son is gone.
The softness of his laughter stilled.
He was just past ten, awakened not,
After the long dark night.
Friends come to wash and dress my dead.
The sound of hammers once more fill the night.

The men must carry the coffins
Up the steep and twisting trail.
The open graves are waiting.
Here my loved ones shall lie side by side,
On this barren windswept hill.

Below me in the valley I can see
The tall white house newly finished,
Stark and lonely in the winter morn.
I shall never live there now.

A song of sorrow fills the air
As friends and family gather round.
A prayer of comfort quietly is said.
I turn, blinded by my tears and blowing snow.
Retrace my steps a second time
To the still empty cabin
at the foot of the hill.


Note: This poem is based upon the tragic events which befell the James Bean and Anna Maria Mickelsen Decker family during the winter of 1901-1902 when five members of the family died of diphtheria.

Hole-in-the-Rock Haikus

Published in Heritage and Horizon
in San Juan
by Heritage Arts Festival April 26, 1975

    Hole-in-the-Rock travelers
Twisting, steep switchbacks reveal
         Slow, rolling wagons.

   by Virginia Blake
        =========

     Our Prophet calls us
From family, home, and friends
      Chosen ones to teach.

   by Kay Bayles
-------------------------------------

Children's poetry from 1980 San Juan Centennial Sampler

(Couplets, Haikus, Cinquains)

The Founding of San Juan County
By Lynette Black (6th-8th grade category)

S  is the place where we will start
     to learn about the San Juan parts
A  is for the great accomplishment
     that our forefathers severely spent
N  is for the number of sacrifices borne
    once, twice, and many times more.
J  is the joy they spent in waiting
    on catching up, and never debating.
U  is the unaccountable times they shared
    which they loved and really cared,
A  is for their attitude rugged and strong,
     for that is what kept them rolling along.
N  is for Nature who showed them her worst
     but they made it through all in spite of her curse.
C  is for the children who didn't much play
     but they trudged along and were happy and gay.
O  is for the oxen who pulled heavy loads
     down the long, rough, and weary roads.
U  is for the ups and downs which they had,
     sometimes they were glad, and other times sad.
N  is for the necessary thing that they used
     to make life for them easy and for us, too.
T  is the thakfulness we should have for our country,
    and for the hardships our forefathers had settling this country.
Y  is for the few years we've got left to spend
    to make good use of life, before times come to an end.

* * *

The Hole-in-the Rockers 

by Nathan Wilcox  2nd grade

Pioneers,

Hardworking, brave

Covered wagon travelers

finding a new home

Trail blazers.

Hole-in-the Rock
by Jonas Manheimer, 2nd grade

Hole-in-the Rock
Slick, Rocky
Bumpy, hard, dustry
San Juan River
Cliff

* * *
Hole
by Krissa L. Shumway 2nd grade

Hole
White, brown
worked, built, camped
They took the wagon a part
Rocks

* * *
Pioneers
by Sheila Oshley

Pioneers
Blue, Black,
Work, walked, dug
They made a hole,
People

* * *
Clay Hill
By Kevin Palmer 2nd grade

Clay Hill
bumpy, rocky
slick, dusty, steep
Pioneers walked many miles
Cliff
* * *

Hole in the Rock
by Jerria Redd

Hole
Happy, pretty,
Worked, sang, danced
They walked really far to Bluff.
Travelers

* * *
The Pioneers of San Juan County
by Chad McDaniels, 4th grade

Journey
Scary, difficult
Blasted, worked, prayed;
It was a hard journey for the
Pioneers of San Juan County.

Travel
Oxen, horses, covered wagons,
Hard, bumpy, dusty and dirty;
It was hard travel
For Pioneers of San Juan

Trip
Hungry, long,
Cold, tired, hardships;
It was a hard journey
For the pioneers.

* * *