The Mountain Meadows Massacre - My Family Remembered

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Overlooking the Mountain Meadows Massacre site

Before the tragedies of Oklahoma City in 1995, and September 11, 2001, the Mountain Meadows Massacre was the largest civilian massacre in our Country's history. It was the worst atrocity in the annals of the West. Yet the massacre of more than 120 innocent men, women, and children of the Fancher-Baker Train by Mormons in Mountain Meadows, Utah has been largely unrecognized, and rarely recorded in history books...

On our way to John and Rachael's wedding in July, Barbara and I made a slight detour to visit an historical site of significance to my family, the Mountain Meadows Massacre site west of Cedar City in southwest Utah.

"The Mountain Meadows Massacre involved a mass slaughter of the Fancher-Baker emigrant wagon train at Mountain Meadows in the Utah Territory by the local Mormon militia in September 1857. It began as an attack, quickly turned into a siege, and eventually culminated on September 11, 1857, in the execution of the unarmed emigrants after their surrender." (Wikipedia introduction to the "Mountain Meadows Massacre).

17 members of family on my mother's side were in that wagon train. . . 14 of them either killed in the surprise attack as they prepared breakfast on a September dawn or murdered in cold blood 4 days later after accepting an offer from the Mormons to provide them safe passage in return for their surrender. The three survivors were children under the age of 6 who were thought unable to provide testimony against the perpetrators.

There was initially an attempted cover-up, but that quickly failed. At this point in time, both sides agree that the attack was a combination of Paiute Indians and white Mormons, and the subsequent deception and murder of the unarmed settlers was planned and carried out by Mormons. A major disagreement however is if Birgham Young was complicit in the attack and murders, or if it was solely instigated and directed by the head of one of the local Mormon Militias, John Lee.

Barbara should be writing this blog; she knows far, far more detail and history of this event than do I. Much has been written, but condensed information is available in several websites:

This is a good non-denominational facts site:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mountain_Meadows_massacre
This is a good, private site with LOTS of information:
http://freepages.genealogy.rootsweb.ancestry.com/~wallner/mmm11.htm
This is a website primarily from descendants of the victims of the massacre:
http://www.mtn-meadows-assoc.com/
This is a Mormon website:
http://www.mormonwiki.com/Mountain_Meadows_massacre
This is the best site with the most information; it works the old fashion way:

http://www.barbara-floyd-ask-me.info/

Reasonably historically accurate movie: September Dawn

As it turned out, we arrived at the exact same time as a mother and her son from Salt Lake City. She was pleased to be a tour guide insofar as she had been reading about the event in preparation for their visit. On top of that, her great/great grandfather had been involved in legal proceedings and economic development of the town in that area in the years after the massacre. Barbara, to her credit, has read, both in volume and in variety, more on this event than anyone I know, and was more than ready to rebut any historically revisionist view of the event. Below, you see Barbara (standing in front of the memorial very recently erected by the Mountain Meadows Association) explaining the facts, as her antagonist stands with her arms crossed in front as her son looks on. This went on for about a half hour until I had to step in with a "break" command. (Left click on a picture to enlarge it)

If you enlarge this picture of the memorial,you can read names of our original Arkansas family members who were killed: Tackitts, Prewits, and Jones

Standing at the monument and looking southwest you can see the site of the encampment where the morning attack took place. The train had many Arkansas mountain men who were hunters and well armed and, to the surprise of the Indians and Mormons, quickly responded and repelled the initial and subsequent attacks.

Looking to the northwest, you can see the massacre field. The men, women, and children were lead to this area, and then on a command "Men do your duty", the escorting Mormons turned and shot the unarmed settlers.


This is a rebuilt version of the original monument at the encampment site. It makes note of the "19" that were killed, just the number who lost their lives during the initial attacks, not mentioning the other 100+ killed 4 days later.

A laminated memento to a survivor had been placed at the memorial.

This is the current state of the Old Spanish Trail, which the wagon train was following. The encampment is to the right of the picture. A child was shot during the seige while trying to get a bucket of water from the stream (road with culverts is crossing the original forde.)

This link will take you to a Google map of the area if you want to see the satellite images. The road along the bottom of the map leads to a parking lot with the encampment on the other side of the creek from the parking lot at the end of the road. Just above the top left edge of the map is the massacre field. The tiny fish-hook road on the lower right is the trail to the monument with the inscribed names that overlooks the valley.

Just a note; if you visit the site, there is only a very small sign that says "Mountain Meadows 1" a mile before the turn off of Hwy 18. It's easy to miss, even if you are looking for it.

The Wedding Party (Emphasis on "Party")

Weddings are happy events, of course, but there can be the undercurrent of the whole process itself that in some weddings can produce tensions, worries, and other negative forces negating the whole fun of the affair. Not so the wedding of Rachael Snow and John Matthew Floyd on July 12, 2008 in Nevada City, California. Not even the California Fires of '08 could encroach on this one!

(Here I will give a lot of credit to my "hyper-organized" daughter in law, and I say that in a most complimentary manner. Her "wedding book" was a ring binder of every detail, and saved the day on more than one occasion. Want to know the address of the tux store in Roseville, CA? Right here it is, complete with MapQuest instructions, under the tab for tuxedos in "The Book.")

Barbara and I had met Rachael's mother Maddy and her brother Jake in Colorado, and Barbara had met more family members at a shower this past spring. Still there was the usual apprehension of being thrown in with a large, extended family. Not to worry! The Hutters, Snows, Pitts etc opened their homes (literally) and their hearts graciously and generously. Simply said, we liked them all.

The wedding was a success because of so many people, and the lack of pictures and comments on each and every one of them is not a sleight. In this post, I have just a few representative pictures, culled from over 600 pictures from just my little pocket camera alone. It is an abbreviated diary of my experience, not a complete document of all the events and people. I dare not guess how many thousands of pictures and how many videos of the multi-day event were actually recorded in all. There will undoubtedly be many posted on picasa, kodakgallery, etc, and when I have the links I will place them here.

(As usual, left click to enlarge most pictures)

First you start with a beautiful bride, of course. The wedding was to be at Rachael's mother's home in Nevada City, CA. Mother Maddy had worked on her garden all spring and the entire garden and flowers were beautifully prepared for the wedding.

Next you add some friends and family. Here having dinner in an Italian restaurant a few nights before the wedding are Bill, Elaine, Tom, Dana, and yours truly.

A number of us stayed at the Deer Creek Inn B&B in Nevada City. Here for the 3-course Breakfast on the deck: ( from top, left to right) Anne, Ken (Innkeeper), Bill, Dana, Ann, Dale, Barbara, Brian, and RC.

Anne waves "Good Morning" from an upper balcony at the B&B.

Barbara and Dana stuff the welcome bags for all the out of town guest in Kathy Snow's living room. Later the bags were taken to all the places people were staying. Lots of neat stuff in those bags!

Kathy, in her kitchen, cooking cowboy cookies for the welcome bags. So many people and happenings in Kathy's and Maddy's homes I don't know how they stayed sane.

A brief melodrama, starring mothers Maddy, Kathy, and Barbara; fathers Cecil and Papa John; Grandparents Dean and Sharon; and assisted by various other family conspirators, had been written ahead of time for performance at the rehearsal dinner. We had a chance to practice it on location the morning before John and Rachael arrived in town. Here Dean (white hat), Cecil (red dress), and Maddy work on their lines and spots.

John and Rachael stand at the front of the line at the local recorder's office and prepare to pay the State of California for the privilege of letting them get married. Right behind them were Maddy and myself (now referred to as "Papa John" to avoid confusion), prepared to pay the same state for the privilege of being licensed to perform the ceremony. "Let's check out these forms. . . who is party "A" and who is party "B"?" (this was California; no "bride" and "groom.")

After the afternoon rehearsal, everyone (in the rehearsal or not) gathers at the Nevada Traction Company Depot for drinks and conversation prior to a train ride to History Hill. Barbara had arranged this whole shindig, some of it in secret. In order to get a drink at this point in the evening, one had to "sweet talk" a gold nugget from one of the saloon girls circulating around.

RC and co-best man Colin discuss the evening. Unfortunately, the next day RC came down with an acute GI flu and ended up being taken to the local ER by Barbara's brothers where he was rehydrated with a pressure forced IV. He made it to the ceremony thanks to Martin and Chip, but the brothers missed it (but made the party afterwards!)

Paul, the other co-best man. The wedding rings, which were to be a large part of the ceremony, were taken from his room that evening. After a few hours of panic, police, and more panic, they were recovered; made the police blotter in the paper a couple of days later. It was indeed a near disaster, but all is well, etc.

Just look at father and daughter. . .I have nothing to add.

After the initial "mixer" at the depot all 75 or so of us load the train for the trip to "History Hill" for the dinner.


A surprise robbery was announced with blazing guns half-way up. 6 bandits came and stole the heart gifts many people had brought to the dinner. They then went to the car with the bride and announced "We can't steal your heart. It's already been stolen!"

A little later there was a shoot out with the law (the sheriff was shot, and a bandit shot the train engineer and took over the locomotive).

After the ride up, Barbara talks with the (very ugly) bandit whom she had in advance arranged to rob the train.

Before dinner, everyone has a guided tour of the historic Chinese cemetery.

Brian, Karen, John and Rachael enjoy talking and sampling the buffet under the tall pine trees. Barbara had arranged an informal evening so people could continue to meet and mix, but the outdoor setting was complimented with a formal table setting. Since I had absolutely nothing to do with these arrangements, I can freely say that it was a great night, and Barbara deserved the compliments she received.

The next day the weather and the fires cooperated with cooler temperatures and a blue sky, setting the stage for a nice event. The platform Cecil built rest at the front, with the chairs arranged in Maddy's garden, all awaiting the ceremony.

A number of the family and guest came from far and wide. Rachael's uncle Louis arrives from Estonia for the wedding in his English "Sporting" jacket.

Karen and Brian with a sip of champagne waiting for the ceremony to get underway

Ann, Dale, Elaine, Tom, Sherry, Wilson, Kate, and Jay. We were SO happy and privileged to have these great friends make the long trip for John's marriage.

Maddy and I (aka Papa John) had the unique privilege of performing the marriage of our children. I get teary-eyed just thinking about it. Rachael and John, what made you ask us to do this I don't know, but I will forever be thankful for having this day to remember.

John/Matt walking his mother down the aisle.

Rachael is escorted by her father Cecil and step-mother Kathy.

Maddy, John, Rachael, Jake, and Jason as well as myself, all pretty sure of ourselves at the rehearsal, each had moments where the words were difficult to come. Happiness is a strong emotion!

After the ceremony some pictures. Here the wedding party.

The bride's family tries to all squeeze into the picture. The groom's family had lots of elbow room for their picture.

The reception was at the Stone House, an 1882 brewery now a wonderful restaurant. It was a great venue for the evening. The four horsemen quickly found the bar while they waited for the bride and groom to arrive.

The first dance. John pursued this woman by (among other things I presume) signing up for tango lessons, providing added poignancy to this moment.

John's dance with his mother . . . yes it really was to "Mother's don't let your sons grow up to be cowboys". Actually it was quite nice.

As the evening progressed, things became a little more informal. In the foreground Stephanie (John's/Matt's friend from high school and poetry reader at the ceremony) and Rachael lead the dance line.

The next morning at 0445 (yawn!!!) I picked up Stephanie to take her for an early plane flight departing Sacramento. Later, many of us gathered at Cecil and Kathy's house for brunch and opening of the wedding presents. It was a week of fun, good emotions, and memories, and those are all important.

Here are a couple of links; I may add more later.

Rachaels' website with a wedding section: http://web.mac.com/erachael/Site_2/Welcome.html

Website of the photographer (username jplusr and password 18237 ): http://collages.net/

I won?

Last year, I received a check for $1.00 from ATT. This was my share of a legal settlement for overcharges somewhere in the past. I'm sure it cost them a lot more than a dollar just to get the check to me.

More recently I received a letter from Edward Jones letting me know that, as compensation for their misdeeds, I would receive my share of a class action settlement. All authorized current customers (my account, inherited from my late sister, is inactive) "are entitled to receive three credit vouchers. The first credit voucher for $6.74 is valid Aug. 1, 2008- July 31, 2009. . ." Two more vouchers valid in subsequent years, redeemable only in those years, would follow.

I researched the terms of this settlement (http://www.secinfo.com/d1zJxf.u1E3.d.htm)
and it seems that of the $55,000,000 award, $28,000,000 was assigned to the plaintiff's lawyers, and that $6,000,000 was assigned back to Edward Jones itself for its cost. Of the remaining $21,000,000 the cost of escrow and administration would be deducted.

Well, you get the idea. My award is laughable, and since my account is inactive it will never be used. I suspect this is the case for most of the individual investors in this settlement.

As usual, the American sense of justice has been hijacked by the lawyers, courts, and Judges. There is probably a place for these class action suites, but there should be a way for the injured (if there are actually "injured" parties at stake) to be the focus of the award and not the lawyers.

My solution: the plaintiff lawyers should never receive more than some percent (10%?) of the total award, and in any such settlement with vouchers, the lawyers get paid with the same vouchers as the plaintiffs.

William Smith Confirmed

In a previous post last December about a trip to see maps at the Newberry Museum in Chicago, I noted the huge "Map that changed the world," created by William Smith, arguably the world's first geologist. He was the first not only to describe the concept of strata, but also the "uplifting" of these strata, explaining the way in which each of these strata could appear in different places, and at different altitudes.

Looking down, and forward, 50 million years in time
(CLICK TO ENLARGE)

On our way to California for Matt's (aka John) wedding, we spent the night in Green River, UT. As one continues west on I-70 out of Green River, the road winds upward for 7 or 8 miles, gaining over 1000' in altitude. Despite that gain in altitude, you are traveling over progressively older and older earth, until at the top of the climb, you have gone back 50,000,000 years geologically, having traveled from the Cretaceous, through the Jurassic and Triassic layers, and to the Permian strata. Geologic time explained here (with apologies to my good friends who consider the earth not 4.5 Billion years old, but more like 6 Thousand years old.) The roadside graphic below illustrates the strata and uplift; I was taking the above picture from about the "You Are Here" point:

Roadside Graphic
(CLICK TO ENLARGE)

Two days after this stop, Barbara and I spent a day in Zion National Park. I will not even try to post pictures of that place; it's just too big and overwhelming. What a wonderful place it must be for someone with at least a basic foundation in geology.

Guess Who's Coming to Dinner!

(click on picture to enlarge)

Put out the food and stand back; there are all sorts of creatures waiting coming for food in the neighborhood. Finches and humming birds are beautiful, but having a turkey wander up for food makes for a good show.

Our neighbors have done a great job of making the local birds feel at home with multiple feeders. Since our kitchen and living room windows look out on the feeding area, we get the benefit as well. There is more information on eating habits of the wild turkey than you ever wanted to know on Wikipedia here.

There are actually a lot of wild turkeys around here, sometimes a dozen or more wander through the yard. The same morning we were watching this turkey, we saw our local ground hog come out from the bushes for some sun, a few squirrels and a rabbit run through the plants, 5 deer at the edge of the woods below us, a flight of Canadian geese go by, and a hawk gliding on the currents waiting for the rabbit or squirrel to wander too far from cover. Haven't seen our red foxes for a couple of days, but they're there. It's nice to be a part of this urban co-habitation.

The Morning After

We awoke this morning and from our condo windows saw the welcome blue sky above the city. (As usual, left click any picture to enlarge it.)


Yesterday afternoon the river crested.

43 of 44 city water wells are out of service, and that one well simply can't quite keep up with the demand, so we are redoubling our conservation efforts. No one is showering, and we are drinking bottled water. Accurate river flow/height measurements have been hard to come by, because they all first went off the chart, and then went out of service as water overflowed the tops of the stations. This picture was taken from the I-380 bridge (from a moving car). This Bridge is the only open crossing of the Cedar River for many miles in either direction. Even I-380 is closed between here and Iowa City, necessitating that 267 mile detour noted in my last post.

Above, in the foreground of this picture from our condo is the river (not supposed to be there), the elevated I-380 freeway, St Luke's hospital just above the freeway, and in the background the red brick of Mercy Medical Center which has been evacuated. It is amazing that with a thousand blocks flooded, the only flood-related injury at this point is one sprained ankle.

This is the shortcut I usually take to work. A Coe College building is in the background.



This is the supply rail yard for Quaker Oats. It will take a long time to clean up and restart this industry stalwart of the community.

Across the river from our condo is a small city harbor on the river, with a collection of floating vacation houses. The ones that have not been taken downriver and are now wedged against the Quaker Oats rail bridge are seen here in a jumble.

This is the only damage we personally have so far. Part of the shrub border at the edge of our bluff have slid a few feet downward after days rain on the already saturated soil.

Barbara and I are doing OK and are safe, and we want to thank so many for the calls and emails expressing concern for us. There will be difficulties here for many, since business large and small (including mine) will feel the economic hit from this disaster, and some small family owned business will not come back. This, however, is life. Millions have a best day that is not as good as our bad days. Giving up a morning shower for a few days is not really much of a sacrifice when you think about it.

Followup on Pip

As noted in the original post, (August 17, 2008), Pip was a "rescue" dog, with no papers and with no information on his heritage. As Barbara was leaving the vets in Tuscon the final time, she told me on the phone "I'm going to find out exactly what this damn dog was!"

For a small(?) sum you can get a DNA analysis of any dog, to find out more or less what's in his/her background, and Barbara sent a specimen off. We finally received the results: He was very nearly 50/50 Border Collie and Australian Shepard. Nothing else was in there in sufficient quantities to detect. This explains a lot. His characteristics (high intelligence, loyalty, communication skills, etc) are pretty much those that stand out in both of those breeds.

Something did, and still, puzzles us. Pip was unusually large for either a Border or an Australian shepard. A vet once told us that the Borders in the northern England/Scotland counties can be quite large, better enabling them to fend off predators from the flocks. Maybe one of his "largeness" genes got turned on.

Should we ever have another dog (and it would be quite a while if we made that commitment), we would look for this mix again. . . it worked absolutely perfectly at least once.

Wildlife

Barbara has seen these kits' mother trotting across our back yard. (This picture was taken by our neighbor, Lew Fench). We have also seen foxes in Rocky Mtn NP, Colorado, Kodiak, AK, and in Talketna, AK.

Barbara and I have also seen Mountain lions up close (from the saftey of our car) in Iowa (really) and in Colorado, Bob Cats in AZ, Moose in CO, and endless wild turkeys, elk, etc, etc.

In this day of urban existence, it is good to experience nature as often as possible. The creatures that co-habitate this earth with us are an intimate contact we have with the wonders of the cosmos. The widely known (and both reviled and honored) Princeton Ethics writer, Peter Singer, has taught us to respect and treat well these sentient creatures, and allow them to help us know ourselves. Much better than hunting for sport in my opinion.