Transcript

Title: Nephi Johnson autobiographical sketch, circa 1900

Call Number: MS 23835

page_0001

No 1
I Came to Southern Utah in the Winter
of 1850 in Company of Col. George Albert Smith
We Left Salt Lake valley Dec 12 1850
And We Arrived Where parowan
Iron co [Illegible 2 letters] Now Stands on Jan 13 1851
Our Company Consisted of 1015 Men
Also quite A Number of Women And
Children We came for the purpose
of Starting Settlements in And claiming
the county Now known As Southern
Utah which has Recently Belonged
to the Republic of Mexico. Upon our
Arrival at the place Before Mentioned
We Went to Work And took the Waters
out of the Stream We had located upon
put in Crops And Made A Road
into the Kanyon got out timber And
Built A Block House As A Defence
Against the Indians Cedar City
Was Settled in the Fall of 1851 By
A company Under the Command of
Captain Henry Lunt Who Came
from Salt Lake Valley for the purpose
Starting an Iron Works to Make Iron
As There was plenty of Iron Ore
And Stove Coal in that Vacinity
In the Fall of 1851 My father took
the Cattle Belonging to parowan And
Cedar City to Herd And Keep Them
From the Indians He Located A
Ranch at A place Between Cedar

 

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No 2

And parowan then Called Johnson
Spring Now Known As Enoch Where
We Built A Block House And A {EMC=illegible}
Corell of Cedar pickets to Keep the stock
In At Knight And I was Set to Herd
them Day And Corell them At Night
to keep the Indians from Stealing them
After Keeping the young Indian About
A year Myself And younger Brother
Seth Johnson were fuly Fledged Indian
interperters And for 10[2?] years Afterwards
My Brother Seth & Myself Had to go with
Every Expidition that went out After
Oreduring us to explore the Country
In the Spring of 1852 A regiment of
Militia mar {emc= Illegible 1 word) In Iron Co under
command of Col George A Smith Who Soon
Went back to Salt Lake to Live And He
Was Succeded By Col W H Dame With
James A Little Lieutenant Col James H
Martineu Ajutant Companies were
Organized At Parowan & Cedar I tarried
H Company At Cedar City under
ss Capt George Wood Tinty E Johnson
1 Lieut James Whitaker Ajutant
We were mustered in at [illegible 2 words]
As Minute men as we were caled During
the Month of July 1853 the utah Indians
Went on the war path in utah And
Sanpete Counties And killed Several
Men & Stole all the cattle And Horses
they could get early in July of that year
A party of Men from Salt Lake City
under Command of Col William H
Kiimball Came Down to Iron Co. And
gathered up the Most of the Surplus
flock And Drove them North of Salt

ke to Keep them from the Indians [Bottom corner of page folded]

 

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No 3

In September 1853 I learned from the piute
Indians that the utah Had Been Asking
When Slaut the Horese & Cattle the people
of Iron Co Had And talked About Coming
Down & Stealing them A Company of 15 Men
under the Command of Leut S [illegible letter] Johnson Went
up Coal Creek Canyon then on to Fish
lake And Down where Panguitch Now
Stands to the Lower end of the panguitch
Valley But finding No brands of [illegible]
Returned home I learned from the piutes
West a party of utes Came up the [illegible word]
Sevier until they found our [illegible word]
they concluded The the Stock in Iron
co was being Guarded So they returned Home
without making A Raid
Myself And Other young Men of Cedar
City were in the Saddle Scouting
After Indians Herding Stock Guarding
Building Fort, And doing Every thing
We Could to Keep of the Indian During
the Next 3 Months Same time In Dec
1853 At A Conference Held At Cedar City
[emc = word struck out] By president Erastus Snow On
A mission to the piute Nation
of Indians What at that Time Ocupied
Southern utah from Beaver South
to the the line of Arizona And the
[2 words illegible} North of the Col arada
And the vallies of the virgin And Muddy
In South Eastern Nevada And in the
spring of 1854 I visited the Indians on
The Rio Virgin Santa Clara And
the Muddy Calling I found them Very
wild And Nerely Naked But was Very
[illegible}to hear A White Man talk that
[co]uld Speak their language [Bottom left corner of page bent up]

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No 4

In the Summer of 1854 the people Built
a Fort at Johnson Springss And caled
It Fort Johnson the Fort was Built
of Mud 12 feet High and 4 feet thick
with an Adobe House in the South End
And [word crossed out] North West Corner 2 Stories
High And there was A Strong Gate
In the North Side 12 Feet Wide And
in a good Solid Frame the Hansey
were All Built on the Inside without
Any Connetion with the Wall
it was A Good Solid Fort when
Built And was Calcultated to keep
out Indians the Millitia of the County
Were reorganized George Ward presented As
Captain of the Cavalry Campus at Cedar
City And John M Higbee Was Elected Capt
[2 words illegible] His Company and And And was
one of the Lieutenant in the Company
In 1854 My Father took the task of the
people of Iron Co. to Head the Herd He
Had Previous to the Indians trouble
Had Run Broken up By the people Taking
Thier Stock Home when they Could Care
for them themselves Several Families Marched
to the Johnson fort So there was quite A
Company there So me [illegible word} in Some Land
and Drove Continually Framing As were a [illegible]
Stock keeping the Desert penn Co Was Danny
[illegible word] At Cedar City During this year And
Had Been Working At the Buseness for several
years Before they Heard that the Emigrants
Had Burned Wagons and Left iron in several
places Along the Road And they wanted
to Berry Some up when I went Down to see
the indians. So I st 3 teams to go Down
With me in the Winter of 1854 And brought

up to Cedar City 4 loads of Wagon teams

 

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No 5

The Piute Indians At the Muddy Had
Been very Annoying to the Emigrants passing
Through their Country By [2 illegible words]
In Their Horses At Night while they were
Camped in Their county [2 words crossed out] This
they Had Done for years And it Had Become
very for annoying they would come {EMC=illegible}
at night while the Horses Were Feeding And
Shoot 3 or 4 of them of caused the Horses that
Were wounded wouldaould have to Be
Shot in the Morming And Left on the Camp
{emc=illegible word} the Indians would Return After
the Emigrants Had Gone On And Have A
Feast And Day The Meat It was Quite
Dificult for Me to get the Indians to Stop
that kind of business But [emc=illegible] successful
After Staying Some Days with the
[illegible]he the Indians on the Muddy
In the Spring of 1854 My Eldest Brother
Lintus E Johnson With others was caled
on A Mission to the [illegible 3 words]
H left Home in company [word struct} with A [illegible word]
Others Some time in may By way of
Sanfrancisco for that Mission
I was very Busy that summer Farming
Herding Stock with an Occasional trip
out to for the Indians During the Fall
Season of that year I Made Another trip
out After[illegible word] for the Deseret Iron Co
this time I followed {word crossed out] trail Made
By a company of Emigrants who Left the
old Spanish trail At the Mountain Meadows
And Kept to the Right By Way of pannaca
Ryalite And Death valley Nevada I
Followed them out about 750 Miles And
gathered upabout 3 loads of iron from wagons
they Had Left By the Wayside

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No 6

In the Spring of 1853 the Government At
Washington Let A contract fo Making of Road
from Fillmore Millard Co to the Eastern
Line of California then Supposed to Be
About the vacinity of Mountain Spring
which is Near Good Springs Nevada
the Contract Was Let to Jeremy B Leach
of California for 75 thousand Dollars
He Hired A few Men At Fillmore And
started work on the Road And Came
Down As far As Cedar Ciry Where He Gathered
up a lot of Men And Supplies for there
Was No other Settlements At that time Beetwen
Cedar City & Los Angeles When He
Started out from Cedar He made A Cut
off Instead of going By Way of Iron Springs
And Antelope Spring to Mountain Meadows
He Made the Road Straight Across
the county By way of Leech Springs
And Pinto Creek to Mountain Meadows
Mr Leach Hired Me At Cedar City
to go with Him As Indian Interperter
He Was A Man that was used to Rough
company And was used to Hiring Men
of All Kinds And Was very Rough
to the Men He Hired the Second Day
Out the Men Concluded to Strike they
would Not Stand His Rough Language
He Came to Me And Asked Me if I Could
get Along with the Men I told Him I
thought I Could for I Had Been Accqnanted
with them for some time And thought I
could get Along with them All Right
He Then Turnd the Management of the
Men over to Me He Would tell Me what
He Wanted Done And I Would Look
After the Work So all went Right After
that

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No 7
In the Fall And winter of 1855 [illegible 2words}
the Legislature of utah Held Its Session
At Fillmore My Father was appoint the
Position of Chaplin and I went to
Drive him there The next Day After
My Arrival I was Emp[l]oyed By the Ter
itorial marshall As An Indian Interperter
At Judge WM Drummonds court who
Was Holding Court there that Winter
And the Gunnison Murder Case was Being
[illegible word] there that winter Lot Huntington
Was there Also as Interperter He was a son of
Dimick B Huntington the Hated Indian Interpreter
There Was 2 cases Before Drummonds Court
that Winter of Murder one Where the
Whites Men Had Killed an Indian which
Was the Cause of their Killing Lieutenant
Gunnison. The subry case was where 2
White Men Had Killed Another White
Man At camp Spring Near the Indian
Agency on the Santa Clara & went
Down to Santa Clara in Company with
the Sherrif of Millard Co And got An
Indian Who Had Seen the Man Shot
And Buried At the Place Above Mentioned
the Indians teotanans Was very pasitine
He Had No Idea who the Men were who
Cammitted the Murder the testimony of
the Indian was Not Sufficient to Indict
So Both trials for Murder [ap]peared to Be A
failure After the Legislature closed Its
Session I Moved My Father & Family
Back to Their Home At Fort Johnson
Iron Co And so the 4 of January}
1856 I maried Mandann R Merrell
Daughter of Justin Merrell of Lehi
utah as utah At Cedar City Iron Co
utah

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No 8
i spent the Summer of 1856 Farming at
Fort Johnson I went out Several Trips to
visit the Indians on the virgin And
Muddy And Went with 2 exploring
[illegible word] Who went out to the South East
to see the country the vaciniy of
Kanab And the [illegible word] And Returned
Bt the Way of panguitvh Valley And
Looked over the County where
Cannonville & Tropic Now stands
In the Month of May 1856 there was A party
of Chief Walkers Band of Indians Came
By Way of Cedar City & parowan from
A[illegible word] the colorado where they Had Been
visiting with the Navajoes. I saw them
At Cedar And talked with them At
Cedar City the told me they were going
to camp up at parowan for 2 or three Days
they went on up there And Camped on
the South Side of Towm By Some little Springs
And the first Night they were there About
20 Head of there Horses got Into the Fields
And tramped Down Some of the Grain
the Man who owned the Field got out
Early in the Morning gathered in the Horses
And put them in the Big Corall inside
the Fort & Locked the gate So when the
Indians Came After them they could Not
get them for the white men garding
them The Indians went Back to Camp
And got their Guns And The white men
Still Kept the Horses And would Not
let them in until they paid for the Damage
the town was carefully alarmed Everyday
got Their Guns the utes told Myor John
Steele to Send A Man to Cedar City And Get
piutes {EMC=illegible} that was when the utes
caled me because I learned to talk their
Language from the piutes They Said He was

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No 9
the Only Man in the country that would
talk Straight I was Away from Home When
the man Major Steel Sent arrived he told
My wife He had come After Me to settle A
Dificulty Between the Indian And the
people of parowan He Also Told Her that
they were About to fight when He Came
Away And thought they Would Be fighting
Before I Could get there My Wife got Excited
And Held on to Me & Wept And Said I would
Be Killed I lied to Comfort Her And Assured
Her that I would Soon Be I Back Again All
Right But when I took My Gun Down to
shoot She Commenced weeping Again And Held
on to My Gun When I quietly Assured Her
that I would Return All Right At the earliest
Moment possible I started As soon As I could
And Went as fast As My Horse could carry
Me the young Man Did Not go Back with
Me But Stayed to rest His Horse The Indians
Met me Some Distance Out from parowasn
So I was Able to Talk the Matter over with
Them And understand the Matter very well
Before I got to parowan the Indians offered
the Men where Crops were Damaged A new
Buckskin But But the Men wanted More
I Told the men they had Better Take what
they offered And Let them go Instead of
of Quareling With Them And Having a fight
with them and getting Somebody Killed
the Indians Brought The Buckskins got their Horses
And Left for the North That Evening
the Indians praise Me for Coming in with
A Little Strait talk And getting the Matter
Settled So Easy I Returned Home that
Evening Having Rode 40 Mile that
Day And Had My Wife Trully fightened
All for Nothing

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No 11
In the Spring of 1858 When the people
were Moving out of Salt Lake City to
the South President Brigham Young
Caled A Company from parowan & Cedar
City to go South west from Iron Co And
Explore Southern Nevada & See if there
Was Any Chance for Small Settlements or water
So Grain Could Be Raised in the Deserts of
that Nevada About 50 Men were caled out
and Started some time In April under Command
of Col W H Dame of Parowan they went West
from Iron Springs to white River Nevada
Where they Camped for A while And parties
were Sent out in Difreent Directions to Explore
The Country I was Sent with A party to
Look at [illegible word] Valley I Wanted
An Indian who was Along with us But He Was
Afraid to go He said if we went in there
the Indians would Kill us for they had
Killed Some white Men Some years Before
Who were on their way to California And
Went in there to get water & Started out
from Camp with six Men Beside [illegible word]
All were Armed We got Down Into the
valley The Second Day After we left camp
Late in the Afternoon And we Approached
the water Carefuly [illegible word] we saw plenty
of Fresh Indian tracks We went Down
to the water Carefuly And watered our Horses
And while some of the Boys were filling
their Canteens there was A party of Indians
Come out on the Rocks about A Hundred
yards Above my Some 25 or thirty Indians
they Naked only A Little Piece of Buckskin
About Their Loins Which was the main Dress
of the piute Idians I caled to them In
the Piute Language And then [illegible word]

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No 12
Asked them what they were Hunting they
Replied By Asking us what we were Hunting
I told them we were Hunting Water
They came down to us And wanted us
to Do some Shooting They were only
Armed with Bows And Arrows I told
I would shoot twice with My revolver
And the other Boys Did Not want to Shoot
I Shot Twice at A Cedar Tree About 1 Hundred
yards distant And Make Splendid Shots
Each Time they were satisfied that such
Shots would kill A Man they were
Satisfied we meant Business And they
Did not want to Attack us Although
they Intended to do so when they came
the Ely Miners Had to Hurry And Kill
A Lot of them A [illegilbe word] Befor they Would
Behave and Be Decent Indians
We Did Not stay very Long After I Made
the 2 Shots for they wanted to know Where
We would camp that Night I told Them
that We would Travel as far as we could
untill We got sleepy When we returned
to Camp the company Moved on to the
Mendown valley Wash where [illegible word]
Now stands And camped there while
I took Another Company And went
West to where Rhyolite Now Stands A
few miles West of there we could look
Down Into Death Valley Where Lots of
people Died who turned off the Old
Spanish trail At Mountain Meadows In
the year 1849 We Turned Back from
there And Went By Besty Springs &
Indian Springs Back to Pannaca We
got out of provisions on our Way Back
And Had But very Little to Eat for
4 Days

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No 13
And Whle we were gone the Boys at camp
took out the Water of the creek And
planted A few Aers of Corn Soon
After we Returned to camp Col D.ame
Started to plans to Report to president
young What we Had found In
the Desert And He Caled on Me to
Go with Him We Went Home And
Rested 2 Days And then Went on
to [illegible word] And Made Made Our Report
president Young Said the Army Had
Come in And Everytheng Seemed
[illegible word]for A peaceful Solution of
the utah Troubles And the Men Who
were out in the Desert Had Better Return
Home In the Month of September 1858
I was caled By The presidency of the Stake
At Cedar City to go Into the upper valley
of the Rio virgin to see What Chance
there was In There for Settlements I Hired
An Indian from Cedar who Had Been
In the valley to go with Me We Started
out from Cedar City And Went As far As
Ash Creek Below Harmony the next Day
we went up in the valley And Camped
Near where Springdale Now Stands the
Next Morning I told the Indian That
I Was going up the Kanyon of the North Fork
of the virgin Now caled Zions Kanyon [canyon]
He said No He was Afraid go in there for
the piutes Always Hid There was Evil Spirits
up there And They would Kill Any Man
that Came up there I said To Him that I
was Not Afraid And should go up there Myself

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No 14
He Refused that if I Did Not Reteurn Before
Sunset He Should Return Home & Tell Them
I was Dead I spent the Day in the Kanyon
And went So far As I could Have Back
And Saw the Grand Scenes up there And
When I Returned Home I did Not Stir
up Any Excitemnt on the Grand
Scenery up there It was Not A Day of
Excitement over yellow stone park or
Grand Kanyon [canyon] of the Colorado And Not
A Day of tourist Excitment Like it is
to Day when I Returned Home I Reported
that 2 or 3 Small Settlements Could
Be Made in the upper valley There
the presidency of the Stake Caled upon
Me to get up A company And Make
A road into the valley So Settlers
Could get in there I gathered up A company
And Commenced Work on the road on the 6th
of December 1858 We started to work with
on the Road with only 7 Men But Others
came Along who wanted To settle in
the Valley until We Numbered 14 or 15
When We got the Road So we Could
get our Wagons Over The Mountain
We Laid Out the town of Virgin With
A Rope Drew our Lots And Soon Had
The Water out on our town plot
in the spring of 1859 I Started to go Back
to Florence Nebrasks to Help My Father
Home who Had been Down there for 2 years
But when I Arrived in Salt Lake Ciry
the companies had All headed Back And
president young Advised Me to wait Another
Year & went Back to Virgin And