Postcard from Lee’s Ferry

You may notice from my blogs and other places that the Southwest is filled with interesting rock formations, all shaped by forces of Nature. It goes hand-in-hand that this same area is filled with great photo opportunities.

This formation is located just above the small (and I mean small) settlement of Lee’s Ferry, right on the Colorado River. Located just 9 miles south of the Arizona/Utah border, it has the unique distinction of being the only spot within hundreds of miles where one can easily access the Colorado River. Naturally, it is the starting point of all rafting trips down the Colorado River and through the Grand Canyon. 

To get to it, you take Highway 97A, off of Highway 97 (97A is the highway to the North Rim of the Grand Canyon). Just go a few miles down 97A until you see the sign to Lee’s Ferry. This rock is near that turnoff.

Lee’s Ferry gets it name from  John D. Lee, who built a ferry across the Colorado in 1873. But there is much more to this story…much of which the LDS Church would rather forget.

In 1857, Lee took part in the Mountain Meadows Massacre, in which a group of Mormons and Native Americans attacked a passing non-Mormon wagon train from Arkansas, killing about 120 people. The ill-conceived attack was the result of animosity toward Arkansans after the murder of Mormon apostle Parley P. Pratt near Van Buren, Ark. Years after the massacre, the LDS church sent Lee to the remote Colorado River crossing to shield him from the law as part of an attempted cover-up.

Lee was eventually tracked down and arrested by the U.S. government and tried for his role in the massacre. He was found guilty and executed by firing squad on March 28, 1877. He was the sole scapegoat for the more than fifty Latter-day Saints and Native American men that had participated in the massacre. It is strongly suspected that the highest officials of the Church of Jesus Christ of the Latter-day Saints pointed the way to find Lee to minimize damage to their reputation.

The ferry continued operation until 1928, but was shut down after the federal government build the Navajo Bridge above the river on Highway 97A. Many years later, they built a bigger bridge and today the two bridges now exist side-by-side above the Colorado.