Helen Jolley (Misner)

Reuben Kenneth Jolley and Emma Ann Pace "Idaho or bust," was the title of an article in the Minidoka County news in 1955 featuring the half century mark of settlement of Rupert, Idaho. The article was written by Helen Misner Jolley, wife of James Bryant Jolley and a daughter in law to Reuben Kenneth and Emma. It took strong muscles and iron wills to face the trials and hardships that beset the Jolleys on their long track from Mount Carmel, Utah to Lovell, Wyoming and back to the Rupert, Burley and Twin Falls area in Idaho. Reuben Kenneth Jolley was the ninth child of Henry Bryant Manning Jolley and Brittanna Elizabeth Mayo. He was born in the old Spanish fort on January 21, 1853; the year after the Jolleys arrived in the valley. One of Reuben’s boyhood jobs was to herd cattle with his brother, Bryant Heber on the Leland Bench south of Spanish Fork. In 1857, the family moved to Salem, and then in 1862 they moved to Utah’s Dixie settling at Middleton between Washington and St. George. In 1866, the family moved to Windsor (Mt. Carmel) but the Indians were so hostile that the settlers left for a time. The Jolleys’ moved to New Harmony. In 1871, they returned to Mt. Carmel and made a success of the settlement. Reuben Kenneth married Emma Ann Pace on February 14, 1871. James Bryant their first child was born at Washington, Utah. They resided there for a short time. Their home was at Mt. Carmel with the rest of the Jolley’s; including his father Henry Bryant Manning Jolley. The Jolley family owned quite a lot of land and was known for their cattle and horses. Five more children were born to Reuben and Emma at Mt. Carmel, Reuben William, Emma Ann, Louise, Byron and Nephi Williamson. In about the 1877, on the 21 of January, Reuben took a plural wife, Emma’s sister, Adelaide Pace. They were married at Harmony, Utah. They had one son, George Orlando, born October 25, 1878 at Washington, Utah. Adelaide died a year later at Thatcher, Arizona on January 13, 1879. Reuben Kenneth was one of the first settlers in Thatcher and Central Arizona. He is credited with being one of the first Mormon colonizers in; Thatcher along with his father-in-law, James Pace. Three more children were born at Thatcher and Central; Kenneth, Mary and Almeda. Central is only a few miles away from Thatcher, Arizona. Reuben K. and his brother Nephi operated a wagon freight line from Arizona into Utah and Idaho. There was at this time a lot of trouble with the Indians, but Reuben tried to make friends with them and succeeded to some degree. He was warned one time to not try to make through with his wagon train as the Indians were killing and raiding all wagons in the area. Reuben decided to try to make it through if he could find a certain Indian friend. He did find him in time to have him intercede for him with the raiding Indians. This great chief took him and Uncle Nephi into his camp for the night and had a feast. While eating, Reuben could hardly stand the taste of the meat; they finally told him it was the chief’s favorite dog, an Indian custom to honor friends. Reuben became quite ill, and “just who wouldn't be” were his very own words. A later incident was the discovery of a girl who had been capture and tortured until dead by the Indians. She was the sister of Ivon Merrill, a close friend of the Jolley’s Reuben returned to Mr. Carmel from Arizona in about 1887. They were blessed with four more and the last of their children; Loren Lafayette, (my grandfather), Adelaide, Frances Lenora and Willard. The times were still wild and rugged and there were many hardships. The mountain lions were terrible and killed many calves and colts while prowling at night. Someone had to sit up and keep a fire going to keep them out of the camps. They would take the cattle and horses up the canyon to graze and someone of course would go and stay in a cabin or in the open to care for them. Grandma Emma with her children Loren, Nephi and babies Willard and Almeda took a short trip up to Louise and Heber Moncur to get Adelaide, who had been visiting. The trip took all day and so they had to make camp for the night. Emma made a bed in the wagon. Nephi, being the oldest kept a fire going to keep the coyotes out of the camp. He soon grew weary and fell asleep. The coyotes came tight into camp and ate the scraps that had been cast away from dinner. Loren says he was so scared he could hardly sleep and kept hearing a peculiar mooing all night. The next morning they broke camp and around the bend they came upon a poor cow mired down in a bog. The coyotes were eating her alive. Part of her back and hind quarters were eaten and the coyotes still there. They chased them away and Nephi put the poor cow out of her misery. The Reuben Kenneth family decided to move again. This time it was because Reuben felt there were too many Jolleys’ and no one else for his children to marry. They arrived at Lovell, Wyoming in August of 1903. While here sister Mary went to a dance at the church and came home chilled to a bed in a wagon on the ground. She took cold and got pneumonia and died at the young age of 16. Winter had come, catching them without their house finished. They left Wyoming in April of 1904 and arrived at Milner, Idaho. The cold winters in Wyoming, Reuben felt, were too severe. They brought with them 15 wagons, 300 head of cattle and 40 horses. Reuben worked on the Milner dam all the winter and all summer. While here most of his cattle were poached or stolen They moved in the fall of 1905 to Burley, Idaho and Reuben worked on the canals. They bought a home on what is now Almo Street across the way from where Heber and Louise Moncur lived. In 1908 they bought a ranch in Albion, Idaho and stayed there three years each fall moving to Burley to send the children to school. In 1911 they bought a farm from Mr. Tinsley and Unity and lived there until Reuben died March 16, 1923. Emma died a year later, October 25, 1942. Reuben Kenneth was an extremely large man standing about six foot three. He was large boned and large featured but not unpleasing to look at. He was sandy complexioned and wore a large mustache. He and Emma were endowed on January 25, 1977. He helped build church houses wherever he went and contributed with goods and money to this end. Whether he and his family attended church I have no idea, but he must have been a very fine man with a big heart. He was always known to help anyone in need. He accumulated much wealth and lost it as many times as he acquired it usually because of his kind bigheartedness. When he died he took with him much wealth of love and understanding for his fellowmen. Compiled by his Great Grand Daughter Elaine Jolley Scott

My husband and I left Mt Carmel Utah June 25 1903 to move to Lovell Wyoming. While we were at Lovell I was chosen to be secretary of the MIA but was unable to act only for a short time. My husband got a job of work over to Billings Montana and we moved there in January 1904. He worked for the Billings Land and Irrigation Co. under his cousin Nephi Keel. We rented an apartment from an old couple named Page. They belonged to the congregational church, and were very devout in there religion. Because of the cold and snow the men folks couldn't get out to work for a while so there was little we could do except stay at home, and since there was no LDS church there, that we knew of, I often went to church with Mr. and Mrs Page. They were very fine folks. During the summer of 1903 while we were living in Lovell, I attended stake Conference at a town named Byron, it was held in a big log building, everything was new at that time. The Conference was attended by our President Joseph F. Smith, after the last meeting was ended he told the people to file out and he would stand at the door, for he said, I want to shake hands with everyone here and he said a pleasant word to everyone in attendance as they filed out. I saw him again after we moved to Idaho at a Conference held at Burley, In Oct or Nov of 1906. My husband went to Yellowstone Park in august of 1904 to work on a road grading project, I remained in Lovell Wyoming, On his return late that fall he purchased a lot and built us a log house on it. It was here our first baby was born, the sixth of February 1905, but it was dead at birth. April 1905 we sold our lot and house and prepared to move to the Minidoka Project in Idaho, but my husband was given a good job with a man who had a Contract to build 8 or 10 miles of the Billings Land and Irrigation Co canal east of Billings Montana. Where we stayed until the lst of september, Leaving Billings Montana the 4th of September. My brother Leonard Misner was with us, He drove two span of horses on the big wagon, My husband drove one of the light wagons. We had and extra saddle horse with saddle and bridle and we all took turns riding him occasionally, It was fun. We traveled South West through a lot of mountainous country besides many small towns in Montana. We stopped at Livingston over night near what was then the childrens Orphanage. Our course of travel took us through Yellowstone Park, where we saw all the sights and enjoyed everything, washed our clothes in the hot springs, had a lot of fun doing it, Jim lost his Brown shirt, he put it in the spring and the under current sucked it right out of his hand.

Source: "The Jolley Family Book" published by Brigham Young University Press 1966, written by Bryant Manning Jolley and his committee. JOLLEYS BEGIN TO LEAVE SOUTHERN UTAH Prosperity was enjoyed by many of the Jolleys in Mount Carmel, however, the farming area was limited in the small valley. Even the range land seemed insufficient for all the family members. As a result some sought their fortunes elsewhere. In 1876 George and Elizabeth Jolley Hicks moved back to their old cottonwood home near Spanish Fork. In 1877 the Thomas and Mary Angeline Jolley Keel family moved to Emery. A few years later William Wesley Jolley and his family also moved there. Emery was a beautiful and thriving farming town in the southern part of Emery County. It was formerly known as the Muddy and was first settled by Casper Christensen in 1876. Water, however, was scarce until the settlers tunneled 1200 feet through the mountain and tapped the Muddy Creek, thus securing plenty of water. Fire place wood and timber for building purposes were close at hand. A school and church organization were established, also a mercantile store and a post office. William H. Worthen, son-in-law of Thomas and Mary Jolley Keel, who was a stone mason, helped to construct many of the early buildings in Emery. SOME JOLLEYS MOVED TO ARIZONA John Berry Jolley, son of Pelic Berry and Sarah Knight Jolley moved to St. Johns, Arizona in 1875. He settled at the Meadow where he took up a ranch. He was among the first settlers and some of his children still own the old homestead. According to tradition, Sol Barth, the first settler came in 1874. The little Colorado River furnishes ample water for the area. There was a small colony of Indians living at the place when the white settlers arrived. In 1879 the Mormon Church purchased 1200 acres of land with water rights from Mr. Barth for 770 American coins and $2,000 worth of horses, harness, oxen, and other property. This was the beginning of an influx of Mormon settlers from Utah. In 1880 Erwin M. Whitting arrived at St. Johns from Brigham City, Utah. He is credited with introducing progressive methods for improving agriculture and horticulture. In 1884 Charles P. Anderson arrived from Grantsville with 600 head of sheep. By 1890 St. Johns was an important cattle and sheep raising center. Today it is a bustling modern city, as an agricultural and commercial center, with modern and progressive schools, churches, and business establishments. BLAZZARDS MOVE TO NEW MEXICO In 1883 the Jim and Catherine Jolley Blazzard family moved to Luna, New Mexico. They later settled permanently at Thatcher, Arizona. While they were all still in Glendale, a near family tragedy occurred. The account of it was contributed by Catherine Blazzard Curtis. Mary Catherine Jolley, grand-daughter of H. B. M. and Brittanna Mayo Jolley, and her husband, James Blazzard, lived in Glendale, a few miles up Long Valley from Mount Carmel. They were hospitable people, often feeding the Indians as well as other passers by. Following is the story as told by Mary Catherine Jolley Blazzard. “I did not mind, even when Jim brought home old Choog, a reprobated Indian, almost mortally ill. We made him a bed of sacks and camp quilts in the lean-to shed. We nursed him back to life, not begrudging him a share of our food and shelter.” “We lived in Glendale until we had three babies. Jim had been talking about our moving to Arizona, but when I was about five months along with the third child, Wes, a sorrowful tragedy occurred and all else was forgotten. Little Mary Ann was playing in the doorway one minute and the next minute she could not be found.” “In the heart breaking days that followed, I could not be comforted by my second child, Jimmie, nor by the thoughts of the expecting baby. All I could think of was my little Mary Ann in her blue pinafore, her bright pigtails hanging over her shoulders.” “Tracks of Indian ponies were found leading out of the river, and it was thought that the indians had stolen our little girl to sell to another tribe. The hunt continued far and wide for traces of the child, but it was to no avail. Scouts were sent out from Salt Lake City, but the search was futile.” “More than a year had passed, during which time all of Southern Utah had kept on the outlook. Jim and I decided to move to Arizona with the next covered wagon train, in the company of Andrew Gibbons who later married Nancy Nobles. In this company were to be ten adults, at least eleven children, six wagons, twenty horses, besides a few head of cows and calves.” “Your pa and I one the last night, sat in front of the fire, half in the dark, thinking about the move, and thinking of our lost baby.” “Suddenly a dark face was pressed against the window. I screamed in terror, while Jim crouched in readiness by the window. I dragged Jimmy back behind the bed, out of sight. Then unexpectedly there came a tapping at the door: One, One-two; One, One-two; One, One-two.” “That is old Coog’s knock Jim! The one he used when he was here sick.” “Jim crawled toward the door, and signaled back, then slid the bolt expecting Choog to come in, but instead the Indian thrust a small Indian child through the door. Me bring you Indian Papoose, he said, then disappeared into the dark.” “There stood a little Indian girl, in ragged clothing with tangled hair, looking from one to the other with blinking eyes.” “He’s brought us an Indian child to take the place of ours! I don’t want an Indian child. She can’t take the place of ours! I bet she is lousy, too. Go call him back, and make him take her!” “Jim hunted around outside, but Choog had gone for good.” “We’ll have to keep her overnight. We’ll comb her hair out with coal-oil, heat water on the fireplace and bath her and let her sleep in one of Mary Ann’s clean night gowns. We’ll put her clothing outside the house for the night.” “ As a last thing, I started braiding her hair. All this time the child stood silent, and stoical. Now as I combed through the hair on her neck, the comb caught and she put her hand to the back of her neck. I looked closer to see what had obstructed the comb.” “Jim, come here! Look at this! Then I tumbled over on the floor. Jim lifted me onto the bed and bathed my face in cool water until I revived. What is the matter, my Girl?” “I parted the child’s hair, and there at the edge of the neck was the long dark mole! Mary Ann’s birthmark. Jim held the lamp close to her face. Her eyes were blue. We knew the little Indian girl was Mary Ann, stained brown with wild berries, her hair dyed black with walnut bark.” “Mary Ann, have you forgotten how to talk? Have you forgotten your mother and father?” “I sat rocking the child back and forth, while Jim tried to induce her to talk.’ “I thought her hair felt finer when I was combing the coal-oil through it, than any I have ever felt on an Indian.” “Look, the dye was worn off her armpits. She was white under her arms.” “It won’t take the dye many weeks to wear off. The Indians keep it renewed every day or two, after they steal a white child. We carried her over to the bed, and showed her the little brother. When she saw Jimmy she started to cry, and commenced a jargon we could not understand. It took us an hour to quiet her.” “They made her talk “Indian talk, Jim told me.” “The news of Mary Ann’s restoration spread rapidly up and down Long Valley. The settlers crowded around to see her and to discuss the circumstances surrounding her return to her parents.” “They were all agreed that Choog himself had not stolen her, but that he had rescued her for us because we had taken care of him when he was sick.” “Overjoyed with Mary Ann’s return, we lovingly called her, ‘Our little Indian girl,’ as we strove to become acquainted with her all over again.” OTHER JOLLEYS LEAVE MOUNT CARMEL In 1894 the sons of William Jackson Jolley began moving to Tropic in Garfield County, north and east of Mount Carmel. They were among the first settlers there. There were good opportunities for farming and livestock raising. Bryant Heber Jolley Jr. moved back to Dixie. The Henry I and Temperance Jolley Young family was well established at Mona, Juab County. The Dennis and Diana Jolley Jones Dorrity families were located at Kanosh, Millard County and at Joseph in Sevier County. The Washington Lafayette Jolley family had remained in Washington in Dixie. Sarah Pippin Jolley with her younger children were permanently located at Moroni, in Sanpete County, while her daughter, Sarah Ann Hatch had remained at Salem in Utah County. Reuben Manning Jolley Jr. maintained a home in Beaver, and also had a large ranch in Grass Valley in Piute County. SILVER REEF AND SOUTHERN UTAH PROSPERITY Soon after the Jolleys had settled in Long Valley silver was discovered at Silver Reef. As early as 1875 a shipment of bullion to Salt Lake City brought $7,000.00. This was the beginning of a boom which made a good market for wheat, corn, and beef produced in southern Utah. Silver Reef lies about 320 miles south of Salt Lake City in Washington County. It sets on a red sandstone formation at the base of dull, red sandstone ledges with the lofty Pine Valley Mountains in the background to the north. The Reef is on a slightly elevated plateau overlooking the Virgin River Basin. The area is in the shape of a horse shoe, practically surrounded by higher sandstone plateaus. Production of silver increased form 371,777.88 ounces in 1877 to 866,702.33 ounces in 1879 with a value of 2-½ million dollars. It is estimated that the Silver Reef produced between 18 to 25 million dollars. The principal producers were: the Stromont, Buckeye, Kerr and Last Chance Mines. The population of Silver Reef at its peak in 1879 was probably 1500 people. By 1890 operations had practically ceased and the plague of a ghost town settled about. Quoting from a letter written at Mount Carmel in 1878 by Brittanna Mayo Jolley to her sister, Mary Belcher, in North Carolina we read, “The money is already made, all we have to do is to dig it out of the ground. We live near Leeds and the Silver Mines. We can sell all or produce very readily for cash. Our wheat is worth one dollar and fifty cents per bushel, corn one dollar and twenty five cents per bushel, All other produce in proportion. Beef is worth five cents per pound. We don’t have to feed our stock, they winter out and keep in good flesh the year around. We can raise from 20 to 50 bushel of wheat per acres and corn about the same.” Good markets for beef and field crops and with ample rainfall brought prosperity to the Jollys for about twenty year, from about 1873 to 1893. The Washington Cotton Industry also added to the prosperity of these years. Then the crash came. The silver mines began to play out. The Cleveland Silver Policy was the death knell to Silver Reef. With the coming of the railroad to Utah, cotton shipments from the east brought competition that the Dixie producers could not meet. By 1900 the cotton industry was about to finish in Southern Utah. The free trade policies of the Cleveland Administration also permitted Australian wool to flood the U. S. market, thus defeating the growth of the wool industry in Southern Utah. My father, Bryant Heber Jolley Jr., related that he hauled wool from the Jolley sheep to Salina from Mount Carmel and sold it for five cents a pound. These conditions caused the Jolleys at this time to favor the protective tariff and for this reason they joined the Republican party. Many are still loyal Republicans. The fourth and final blow to the prosperity of Southern Utah was the terrible drouth that hit in the 1890’s. The ranges were depleted. Even water for the livestock was insufficient. Cattle, horses, and sheep by the thousands died from thirst and starvation. A pall fell over Mount Carmel. To move away was on everybody’s lips. Finally, with the death of H. B. M. Jolley, a dynasty closed. The inspiration and leadership that had held the Jolleys together at Mount Carmel was gone. Soon the big move was on. EXPLORING FOR A PLACE TO MOVE Uncle Haskell S. Jolley had explored the area in Arizona, Mexico, and Canada. Apostle Francis M. Lyman on one of his visits to Mount Carmel recommended the Big Horn Basin in Wyoming as having good possibilities for colonization. In 1899 Uncle Haskell, following his suggestion, journeyed to the Big Horn. On his return he gave glowing reports of the grazing and farming possibilities there. The decision to move was reached and preparations went steadily forward to leave Mount Carmel and to settle in Wyoming. THE MOVE TO WYOMING On the 5th of November 1900 the Haskell S. Jolley, the Lorenzo Jolley, and Edward and Minerva Jolley Whetstone families headed for Milford, Utah, where they had freight car reservations for their household goods and their horses. It took five days to make the trip. Harvey Moncur and George Averett rode with the animals and freight. The departing families rode in a passenger car on the train. The railroad ended at Bridger, Montana, so the remainder of the distance had to be traveled in covered wagons and on horseback. Upon their arrival at Bridger the Jolleys were greeted by a raging blizzard. For three days they found shelter with a Mormon family until the storm abated. After the freight cars arrived with the horses and wagons the real journey was begun. The route took them to Bowler Gap where they stayed for a month. On December 23, they moved on to Frannie where they camped until February. As spring began to break the pioneers continued on to Lovell in the Big Horn Basin. The Jolley cattle were trailed to the Big Horn by Jim and Byron Jolley. The route followed was north through Long Valley, Garfield County, Sevier, Juab, and Utah Counties, up Provo Canyon past Kimball’s Junction to Coalville on the Weber River, to Echo Junction, up the Weber and over the divide to Evanston, Wyoming. They were now on the old Mormon trail which their grandparents had traveled fifty years before. They followed this route up and through the South Pass to Lander, then north to Lovell. The grass for the cattle was good the whole distance. Richfield, Utah, was the only place where they had to buy feed. The future looked good in the new land and home building began. THE BIG MOVE On June 23, 1903, the big and final exodus of the Jolleys from Mount Carmel begun. The Nephi and Frances Jolley Moncur and the Reuben Kenneth Jolley families headed their big company north toward Wyoming. It was a big outfit having many covered wagons loaded with household goods and family members. A great herd of cattle and some horses were also in the caravan. At Monroe, the Joseph Lehi Jolley family joined in the big move. The caravan was now more than a mile long with hundreds of head of livestock. At Echo Junction the Joseph Lehi Jolley family left the big company traveling down the Weber River while the main group headed up the River toward Wyoming. The following is a quote from a letter written by Louise Jolley, a member of this caravan. “Echo Canyon July 19, 1903 “We are at the forks of Echo Canyon and Weber River and we got here last night. We will stay here three or four days ‘til the cattle come, then we will cut out our cattle and follow down the Weber River. Uncle Rube’s all went on up Echo Canyon today for the Big Horn Country.” “We have passed lots of fine country, nicer than we expected to see. We are in a few miles of the line of Wyoming. When we were in Heber City the people came down and played and sang for us.” “The train passes through here every few minutes day and night. Last night we had a stampede with the horses when the train came through here.” “We are camped here where old Lott Smith Stampeded the soldiers the time they were following the Mormons on the old Emigrant Road. It is seven miles back to Coalville and we will be here about a week.” Helen Minser Jolley, daughter-in-law of Reuben Kenneth Jolley describes the journey as follows: “The family left Mt. Carmel to move to Lovell, Wyoming, June 23, 1903. Jim, helped drive their cattle through, and didn’t arrive until October. I rode with the family as far as Marysvale. The cattle herd started out a week ahead of the wagons. When we caught up with the cattle herd Jim sent me on the train ahead. My brother and Uncle Elijah Thaxton and family were there so I had folks to stay with until Jim’s folks arrived in August.” “One of the stories Jim has told me many times, was the difficulty they had driving the cattle through the towns up through the middle and northern part of Utah. At one place, the city officials met them some distance from the town and ordered them to drive the cattle through the outskirts. This would have caused more delay and trouble. If the officials had been more lenient, they would have tried to meet them halfway, but they wouldn’t budge. Jim told them he would see a lawyer and find out for himself if it were unlawful for them to drive cattle through the town. They won out and drove the cattle through. Another time, when they were up in the Wind River Country they encountered a band of thieves, who took off with a few head of the cattle. But they had been alerted for these men and were watching out for them. The thieves got a few minutes start, however, by getting past the night watchers. Jim and Pete Schow were after them in a short time with loaded guns. The thieves realizing their lives were in danger fled and the cattle was reclaimed.” “The Winter of 1903-4 was an extremely hard one, with cold, snow, blizzards, and some of the toughest winds I have had the privilege of being in and enduring. It took the rest of October and most of November for Jim to get the cattle from Thermopolis, Wyoming, where they had left them for a while to rest and feed so that they could make the rest of the journey down on the Big Horn River where the Jolleys had bought the hay for winter. All the Jolleys suffered heavy losses of cattle by spring.” After spending the bitter Winter of 1903-4 in the Big Horn, Reuben Kenneth and Nephi Jolley and their sister, Frances Jolley Moncur, decide the climate was too cold, so they move to the Burley-Rupert area in Idaho where a big new project was opening up. The Snake River was to be dammed off to provide irrigation water for the choice fertile lands. These Jolleys left Wyoming in April 1904. There were 15 covered wagons, 300 head of cattle, and 40 horses with the three large families. Joseph Lehi Jolley had preceded them and operated a store, which was called “Daddy LaMar’s Grocery” in Rupert. The new settlers always having fine horses were leaders in the construction of the dams and canals. Burley and Rupert area received water from the big Minidoka Dam project. Today these communities are the center of Idaho’s leading farming areas. The area was inhabited by the Bannock and Shoshoni Indians before the white man came about 1811. Explorers Hunt, Ross, and Wyeth were early travelers in this area. Soon the Oregon Trail was a well-defined road down the south bank of the Snake River, over which the covered wagon and stage coaches were a common sight. The Jolleys obtained land and began to farm as soon as the water projects were completed. Today they are successful as farmers, cattlemen, and in business. Many of the descendants of Nephi, Reuben Kenneth, and Frances Jolley Moncur live in this part of Idaho today, while many of the descendants of William Jackson live in the Idaho Falls and Blackfoot areas in the Gem State. The pioneering period of the Henry Jolley Family in the West, beginning in 1850, had practically ended in 1907. An epoch had closed covering 57 years. The last major move was made when the Angelina Jolley Keel and Bryant Heber Jolley Sr. families with others moved into the Uinta Basin in 1905 and 1907. THE JOLLEYS HELP PIONEER UINTA BASIN Let us consider the land features of the Uinta Basin that we may better appreciate the problems and struggles of our early family members as they sought to settle and build homes in this untamed area. Most of the Uinta Basin lies in northeastern Utah. It comprises a huge bowl which lies in three states, Utah, Colorado, and Wyoming. The lofty Uinta mountains range forms the northern rim. Some of the elevations, such as King’s Peak, are over 13,000 feet high. From these lofty summits one can view a broken landscape that dazzles the imagination. Five hundred and fifty lakes have been cupped out among the towering peaks by glacial action during ages long past. These lakes are fringed with many varieties of spruce, pines, and firs interspersed with patches of quacking aspen. Gay, bright colored flowers cover the meadow land around the lakes. In the winter deep snow blankets the area. The western rim of the basin is formed by the Wasatch Mountains, while the Tavaputs Plateau makes the southern boundary. To the east are the mighty Rockies. The basin is located in what is generally known as the Colorado River drainage area. The Duchesne, Strawberry, Lake Fork, and Uinta Rivers and some creeks flow south eastward into the Green River, which empties into the mighty Colorado. On October 3, 1861, President Lincoln through proclamation set apart the basin as an Indian Reservation. The many primitive Indian relics and remains make the basin area a treasure land of old civilizations. Remain of the prehistoric bison, mastodons, dinosaurs and sloths have been found. 1n 1775 Father Garces and Juan Diag are supposed to have explored the area. Father Escalante, a Franciscan Friar, entered the basin on 3 September 1776. After crossing the Green River, he camped at Magas de S Franco, near the present site of Randlett. As he journeyed westward he came to the Rio San Doman River, now known as the Duchesne. He followed the river and camped at the present site of the city of Duchesne. Traders and trappers who were into the Uinta Basin during these early days were William Ashley, James D. Beckwourth, Thomas Fitz Patrick, and Robert Campbell. By an act of Congress 27 May 1902 A.D. all unallocated lands in the Uintah Indian Reservation in Utah were thrown open for entry, “all lands shall be restored to Public Domain. Provided that persons entering any of said lands, under the Homesteaders Law, shall pay therefore at the rate of one dollar and twenty-five cents per acre.” President Theodore Roosevelt declared the land open to entry 28 August 1905. Registration for land drawing was set for Tuesday 1 August 1905 at Vernal, Price, and Provo, Utah. The drawing was to begin at 9 A.M. on 28 August 1905. The Vernal Land Office opened in Vernal Courthouse 10 July 1905 with Charles De Moisy of Provo as register in preparation for the drawing which would be held on 28 August 1905. There was quite a mad rush as men, often with their families, sped to the basin to homestead their drawings. Many people never entered the basin to claim their land. After six months default, the claim was subject to filing by another. The writer had no knowledge of members of the Jolley family having original drawings, but many of them entered the basin soon after the opening and filed on defaulted claims. Among those settlers in the area soon after the opening were: Steven and Malinda Jolley Wilson and Elijah Potter families at Hayden: William Keel, James Keel, Joseph Nielson, Ray Beal, and Chris Larsen families at Antelope: the Francis Marian Ross family at Arcadia; The Bryant Heber Jolley Sr. family including his sons, Bryant Heber Jolley Jr., Joseph Allen Jolley, Alma Franklin Jolley, Riley Taylor Jolley, and daughter, Gatsey and her husband, Silas E Hutchings at Blue Bench; also Williamson Wesley Jolley Jr. at Duchesne and Blue Bench; William T. Jolley at Strawberry; and the Robert Hicks family at Roosevelt. The Erastus and Arilla Jolley Bastian family settled at Hayden. Francis Marian Jolley went to the Blue Bell area while the John and Richard Keel families settled at Duchesne and Uthan. Finally the parents of the Keel children, Thomas and Angelina Jolley Keel, moved to the basin when they were in the declining years and both are buried in Neola, Utah. Today many of the descendants of these hardy, pioneers are living successfully in the area. Others failed in their attempt to make the “Desert blossom as the rose.” One place in particular refused to be tames, namely the Blue Bench. This is a wide expanse of bench land stretching northeast from Duchesne. The soil was rich and inviting but the water problem was impossible. After years of homesteading, $250,000 was borrowed from “Uncle” Jesse Knight of Provo to build a canal reaching from Rocky Creek on the upper Duchesne River along the hillside to the thirsty benchland. But nature in its soil and rock deposits during the creative period had caused an abundance of shale and soap stone formation to make up the hillside. As soon as it became wet from the canal water, it would slide out, often a quarter to a half mile to a stretch, then flood down over the farms below, making them useless. Besides the loss of the canal and crops, there were damage suits brought against the Bench people for loss of land and crops destroyed by the slides. Finally the canal was flumed but the slight seeping from it was sufficient to cause the footing to give way and out would go great stretches of flume letting the rushing water play havoc with the lands below. After years of failure, the settlers, having sunk all their wealth into the project, finally gave up. They all sold out to the Jesse Knight Interests. After a few years the Knight Interests also gave up the project as a hopeless venture. Today the once promised Blue Bench area had gone back wild to nature, inhabited by the jack rabbit, the rattlesnake, and the crafty coyote, as it originally was when the basin was thrown open for entry sixty years ago. From 1899 to 1903 the rest of the Jolleys left Mount Carmel with the exception of William Jackson Jolley and Aunt Mary Mayo Belcher Jolley. Aunt Mary died in 1903 and Uncle William in 1905. Thereafter only the Jolleys sleeping in the Mount Carmel Cemetery remained. Today the Jolley Family members are scattered all over the United States, but most of them are living in the West. The greater number lived in Utah, Idaho, Wyoming, and California. However, there are goodly numbers in Nevada, Arizona, Washington, Oregon, and Colorado.

The following was contributed by Helen Minser Jolley, wife of James Bryant Jolley, who was the oldest son of Reuben K. and Emma Ann Pace Jolley. She lives at 1106 West 7th North Salt Lake City, Utah. The Jolleys owned considerable numbers of livestock, horses, cattle, and sheep while they lived at Mt. Carmel. They owned a ranch up in the mountains. They called it The Big Meadows and they lived on this ranch during the summer months for several years, and made cheese and butter for their winter use. The whole family were great for cheese and jerked meat, so they killed beef in the Fall and jerked lots of it. I remember spending a day or two with them on the ranch one summer and I have heard father (Reuben) say many times that if he had to go without butter, he wouldn’t mind, if he had plenty of cheese. And one of their traits in winter was sitting around the fireplace after all the evening chores were done. They would roast potatoes and have “jerky” (jerked meat) and cheese. In this way they passed the winter evenings. It was lots of fun. Father Jolley had a keen sense of humor and created a great deal of laughter at these gatherings. He was always ready to console anyone in trouble. He was left handed and I have listened with interest to the stories Jim has related about his dad using his “south paw” to quell riots. And now a word or two about Father Jolley’s wife, Emma. She was surely a good helper, and a good religious woman. I don’t have the dates for the following, but she was relief society president for several years. I believe she was acting in this capacity at the time they moved to Lovell, Wyoming. I remember our family was living on father’s ranch in the mountains, Hites Canyon, when Reuben Jolley family returned to Mt. Carmel from Arizona. It must have been about the 1888 or 1889, for I remember Jim came to our ranch with Uncle Milt Jolley one day when he (Uncle Milt) came to take my Aunt Sophronia to a dance. Jim drove a band of horses with some other men, Ben Cameron from Panguitch, Will Owen and some others. I can’t remember any of the others or if there were any. They were slower than the others and didn’t arrive for a week or more after the family. Jim’s sister Louise has a very keen memory and could tell me a lot more if I could visit her. She has failing eyesight though and can’t read or write. She doesn’t get around too well either. But she could tell me a lot more about these things. The family left Mt. Carmel and moved to Lovell, Wyoming June 23, 1903. Jim, as I told you helped drive their cattle through, and didn’t arrive until October. I rode with the family as far as Marysvale. The cattle herd started out a week ahead of the wagons. We caught up with the cattle herd and then Jim sent me on the train ahead. My brother was there and my Uncle Elijah Thaxton and family were there and Uncle Milt and family, so I had folks to stay with until Jim’s folks arrived in August. They built a log house with an upstairs so we all lived in it. Jim had to be gone so much that winter after he got there to look after the cattle. Many of then died in spite of the work and care he gave them. The men brought hay from down on the Big Horn River. They were cheated and this added to the tragedy. That winter of 1903-4 was an extremely hard one, with cold, snow, blizzards and some of the toughest winds I have had the privilege of being in and enduring. It took the rest of October and most of November for Jim to get the cattle from Thermopiles, Wyoming, where they had left them for a while to rest and feed so that they could make the rest of the journey down on the Big Horn River where the Jolleys had bought the hay for winter. It was while they were at Thermopiles that they separated the cattle into the different herds. Jolley’s Lethead’s and Pete Schow’s. It was about this time that an extremely cold spell came on and many of the cattle died. All the herds lost heavily. Jim has told me many of the incidents and near tragedies that happened to them while they were here. However, I must not create the wrong impression. While many things happened on this perilous journey with the cattle, it could have been much worse. They were not a small outfit. If they had been, the losses would have been much greater. They had a big outfit equipped with a cook and other help. There was Jims brother Nephi, Dave Norton (a local Mt. Carmel boy). These are the only ones whose names I can remember. It was Lome (Lomand) Leathead’s oldest son who had most of the responsibility for Leathead’s share of the help. One of the stories Jim had told me many times, was the difficulty they had driving the cattle through the towns up through the middle and northern part of Utah. At one of these towns, the city officials met them some distance from the town and ordered them to drive the cattle through the outskirts of the town. This would have caused more delay and trouble. If the officials had been more lenient, they would have tried to meet them half way. But they wouldn’t budge. Jim told them he would see the cattle through the town. They won out and drove the cattle through the town. Another time, when they were up in the Wind River Country the encountered a bunch of thieves, who took of with a few head of the cattle. But they had been alerted for these men and were watching out for them. The thieves got a few minutes start, however, by getting past the night watchers. Jim and Pete Schow were after them in a short time with loaded six-shooters. When the thieves saw how close they were to being shot, they left the cattle and took to the woods. These are only two of the many trials and hardships the men encountered. It was early in November when Mary came home from M.I.A. She had a burning red spot on her cheek and I realized now she was running a high temperature. By morning she was a very sick girl and needed a doctor, but the nearest one that I remember was at Bason City, a long distance from Lovell. I realize now the folks couldn’t believe she was in as serious condition as she was. However her mother and I stayed with her day and night and did everything we could to help her. At last we had the Elders come in but it was too late. God had another mission for her. There were so many died that winter from this same disease. It was a hard, sad time for Father and Mother Jolley and the rest of us as a family. When it was so that Jim could be home he and I slept our in his cold camp wagon. About January first, 1904, Jim learned that his cousin Nephi Keel had taken a contract to build a number of miles of canal from the Billings Land and Irrigation Company Canal in Montana. Jim and I, his brother Byron Jolley and wife Francis and son Ellis, his brother Nephi and John Jolley, Uncle Wesley, John, his wife Druie and their small daughter, there were several others from Lovell but I fail to remember their names. The winter turned out to be so cold and so much snow, the work was held up until the fist part of April. Cousin Neaf as he was familiarly known, rented an apartment out from Billings about a mile from Mr. and Mrs. Clarance Page, they had another two room apartment so Jim and I rented it. When the weather moderated and the frost went out of the ground, work began in earnest and everyone was ready and anxious to get started. Cousin Neaf asked me if I would do the cooking for his single men. I accepted his offer and began the job in our two room apartment until he could establish his camp closer to the work. I must not fail to mention Cousin Neaf’s wife Martha Keel. They had two children, Fenton and Maud, and expected the third which was born (a girl) sometime in March. The camp was located some miles North East of Billings. Here we all became Tent Dwellers, remember we were all pioneers facing the hardships of beginning new settlements and new projects, so everyone had to grin and like it. I think it was about May of 1904 when Father (Reuben) and Mother Jolley decided they couldn’t take any more of the Big Horn country, Father Jolley called it the GIPCOVERED LAND OF WYOMING…So they learned about the Big Dam and Project that we being started in the Twin Falls country of Idaho known as the Milner Dam. They sent word to boys Jim, Byron, and Nephi at Billings, wanting their son Nephi to come and help roundup what was left of the cattle and horses, after the winters scourge of death. I do not know how many they rounded up. It wasn’t long until Reuben Kenneth and family, his son William r. and his wife and three children, Wallace Moncur and Heber Moncur and their families were trekking out in their covered wagons headed for Idaho. There they found plenty of work at good wages (at that time) and soon R.K., as he was familiarly known, was eagerly engaged in his favorite job freighting with his four and six horse teams hauling freight from Kimmimia, Idaho the end of the railroad nearest to Twin Falls at that time. The other men with their teams were employed at the same work the remainder of that year 1904, and up to the last of February in 1905 when another tragedy struck at the family. One night when the men had returned from their trip to Kimmimis, their son William Reuben was taken suddenly ill and was soon raging with high fever (double Pneumonia) He passed away March 3, 1905, leaving a wife and three children, a very sad and difficult situation. But it had to be faced and I can say Father and Mother Jolley were truly courageous in facing all the trials and hardships they were called to go through during those trying years. I can say I never heard them complain or feel sorry for themselves, but went bravely on with the duties that lay ahead for them. It was a dad blow to Williams wife and children to be left there in that new land. I must mention here that he was taken to Oakley Cassia County where funeral services were held and he was laid to rest in that cemetery. Matilda, his wife, and children continued to stay with the folks. For several years she worked at some odd jobs she was able to obtain. Later she purchased a house and lot in Burley near to Father and Mother Jolley’s home. She lived there for a number of years when she decided to sell out and move to her home town (Glendale) in Southern Utah to be near her folks, and while many of them had passed on, she is still living near her 80th year (Matilda Jolley.) She has two daughters living, one at Henderson, Nevada and the other at Cedar City, Utah. He son Leslie passed away about the year 1924. The branch line of the Union Pacific was extended to Twin Falls in the early part of 1905 which terminated the freighting for the Jolley and Moncur families. But it was at this time the MINIDOKA PROJECT was getting started and the various contractors for building the big canals and establishing their camps over the vast area of sage and sand, so these families moved from Milner to the new town of Rupert and found plenty of work at what was known as Monarch and Porter’s Big Ditch Camp. It was June of 1906 when Father and Mother Jolley and family left Rupert buying a house and lot in Burley. A year or so later they bought a ranch in Howell’s Canyon, south west of Albion where they lived for several summers, coming back to Burley for winter. They later bought a 30 acre piece of land about 3 miles south of Burley where they lived the reminder of their lives. Father Jolley passed away March 16th 1923 after a long serious illness. Mother Emma followed him October 25, 1924.

Ogden Standard-Examiner Thursday, July 6, 1961 page 14A Pocatello - Two Salt Lake City women were killed in a traffic accident near here Wednesday, increasing Idaho's traffic toll this year to 97. Traffic deaths on this date in 1960 totaled 112. Officers said 42-year-old Emma Peck of Salt Lake City and Mrs. Peck's 81-year-old mother, Helen Marion Mizner, were killed and two others injured in the collision of a car and a concrete hauling truck near the Pocatello Municipal Airport. TWO OTHERS HURT They were riding in a car driven by Martin Peck, the younger woman's husband. He was slightly injured. A son, Michael Peck, was more seriously injured. The driver of the concrete truck, John C. Johnson, Idaho Falls, escaped injury. The deaths were the first traffic fatalities following the long Fourth of July holiday weekend when the state did not record any deaths by traffic accidents.

Idaho State Journal Thursday, July 6, 1961 page one & two Two Salt Lake City women died here Wednesday afternoon of injuries received in a car-truck traffic accident eight miles west of Pocatello on U.S. Highway 30. Both Mrs. Emma Jolley Peck, 42, and her mother, Mrs. Helen Marian Misner Jolley, 80, were former Pocatello residents. Mrs. Peck was killed almost instantly and her mother died 90 miutes later in St. Anthony Hospital. They had been visiting here earlier with Mrs. Peck's brother, Floyd D. Jolley, Kraft Road and were returning to Pocatello from an outing at Rupert when the accident happened. Also in the Peck car was Mrs. Peck's husband and son. Martin Leto Peck, 50, suffered bruises and lacerations and the son, Michael, 14, underwent surgery for an arm injury. Both were listed in fairly good condition today at St. Anthony Hospital. State Patrolman Paul H. Todd, one of those who investigated, said the Peck car and a gravel truck, operated by John C. Johnson, 41, Idaho Falls, were both eastbound. The gravel truck started to make*** ***a left turn to a gravel pit near the Todd said (sic). He said at the same time, the Peck vehicle attempted to pass the truck. The vehicles collided, Todd said, and the car was knocked out of control, overturning 1 1/2 times. Johnson was not hurt. The truck was damaged $150 to $200, but the Peck's 1953 model car was demolished. The accident occurred in Power County, and chief investigating officer was Al Bauers of the American Falls police. Others besides Todd assisting were State Patrolman Paul Shortt and Noole Taylor. Mrs. Helen Misner Joyyel (sic), 80, was born Oct. 7, 1880 in Rockville, Utah, to Alfred and Cherrizade Thaxton Misner. She was married to James B. Jolley on Sept. 18, 1900, and later received temple endowments from the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. They lived in Level, Wyo., and Billings, Mont. before moving to Rupert in 1904. Mrs. Jolley was a reporter for the Minidoka County News for 25 years when she lived in Rupert. Mr. Jolley died in Rupert on April 19, 1938. Mrs. Jolley moved to Pocatello in 1940 and lived here 16 years before moving to Salt Lake City with her daughter in 1956. Survivors include a son, Floyd Jolley, Kraft Road, and a daughter, Mrs. Helen Elkins, Oak Park, Ill. Also surviving are 17 grandchildren and 17 great-grandchildren. Funeral services for both Mrs. Jolley and Mrs. Peck will be Saturday at 11 a.m. in the Pocatello Third-Tenth Ward LDS Chapel. Manning Funeral Chapel will announce place and time of burial. Mrs. Emma Jolley Peck, 42, was born March 12, 1919 at Rupert. She was married to Martin I. Peck on Dec. 31, 1937 at Rupert and received temple endowments Sept. 21, 1938. Mr. Peck is employed in the stores department of Union Pacific Railroad. They lived in Rupert until 1940 and moved from Pocatello in 1955. Mrs. Peck was a member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints and was a member of the Moose Lodge auxiliary in Pocatello. Survivors are her husband and son, both of Salt Lake City and a daughter, Mrs. Don Billingsley, also of Salt Lake City. One grandchild also survives.

Idaho State Journal Friday, July 7, 1961 page two FUNERALS Peck and Jolley - Joint funeral services for Emma Jolley Peck, 42, and her mother, Helen Misner Jolley, 80, both of 1106 West Seventh North, Salt Lake City, who died in a traffic accident Wednesday, will be conducted at 11:00 a.m. Saturday, at the Third Ward Chapel with Bishop Ben Lusk officiating. Burial in the Rupert Cemetery will be under the direction of the Manning Funeral Chapel.

Reuben Kenneth Jolley and Emma Ann Pace "Idaho or bust," was the title of an article in the Minidoka County news in 1955 featuring the half century mark of settlement of Rupert, Idaho. The article was written by Helen Misner Jolley, wife of James Bryant Jolley and a daughter in law to Reuben Kenneth and Emma. It took strong muscles and iron wills to face the trials and hardships that beset the Jolleys on their long track from Mount Carmel, Utah to Lovell, Wyoming and back to the Rupert, Burley and Twin Falls area in Idaho. Reuben Kenneth Jolley was the ninth child of Henry Bryant Manning Jolley and Brittanna Elizabeth Mayo. He was born in the old Spanish fort on January 21, 1853; the year after the Jolleys arrived in the valley. One of Reuben’s boyhood jobs was to herd cattle with his brother, Bryant Heber on the Leland Bench south of Spanish Fork. In 1857, the family moved to Salem, and then in 1862 they moved to Utah’s Dixie settling at Middleton between Washington and St. George. In 1866, the family moved to Windsor (Mt. Carmel) but the Indians were so hostile that the settlers left for a time. The Jolleys’ moved to New Harmony. In 1871, they returned to Mt. Carmel and made a success of the settlement. Reuben Kenneth married Emma Ann Pace on February 14, 1871. James Bryant their first child was born at Washington, Utah. They resided there for a short time. Their home was at Mt. Carmel with the rest of the Jolley’s; including his father Henry Bryant Manning Jolley. The Jolley family owned quite a lot of land and was known for their cattle and horses. Five more children were born to Reuben and Emma at Mt. Carmel, Reuben William, Emma Ann, Louise, Byron and Nephi Williamson. In about the 1877, on the 21 of January, Reuben took a plural wife, Emma’s sister, Adelaide Pace. They were married at Harmony, Utah. They had one son, George Orlando, born October 25, 1878 at Washington, Utah. Adelaide died a year later at Thatcher, Arizona on January 13, 1879. Reuben Kenneth was one of the first settlers in Thatcher and Central Arizona. He is credited with being one of the first Mormon colonizers in; Thatcher along with his father-in-law, James Pace. Three more children were born at Thatcher and Central; Kenneth, Mary and Almeda. Central is only a few miles away from Thatcher, Arizona. Reuben K. and his brother Nephi operated a wagon freight line from Arizona into Utah and Idaho. There was at this time a lot of trouble with the Indians, but Reuben tried to make friends with them and succeeded to some degree. He was warned one time to not try to make through with his wagon train as the Indians were killing and raiding all wagons in the area. Reuben decided to try to make it through if he could find a certain Indian friend. He did find him in time to have him intercede for him with the raiding Indians. This great chief took him and Uncle Nephi into his camp for the night and had a feast. While eating, Reuben could hardly stand the taste of the meat; they finally told him it was the chief’s favorite dog, an Indian custom to honor friends. Reuben became quite ill, and “just who wouldn't be” were his very own words. A later incident was the discovery of a girl who had been capture and tortured until dead by the Indians. She was the sister of Ivon Merrill, a close friend of the Jolley’s Reuben returned to Mr. Carmel from Arizona in about 1887. They were blessed with four more and the last of their children; Loren Lafayette, (my grandfather), Adelaide, Frances Lenora and Willard. The times were still wild and rugged and there were many hardships. The mountain lions were terrible and killed many calves and colts while prowling at night. Someone had to sit up and keep a fire going to keep them out of the camps. They would take the cattle and horses up the canyon to graze and someone of course would go and stay in a cabin or in the open to care for them. Grandma Emma with her children Loren, Nephi and babies Willard and Almeda took a short trip up to Louise and Heber Moncur to get Adelaide, who had been visiting. The trip took all day and so they had to make camp for the night. Emma made a bed in the wagon. Nephi, being the oldest kept a fire going to keep the coyotes out of the camp. He soon grew weary and fell asleep. The coyotes came tight into camp and ate the scraps that had been cast away from dinner. Loren says he was so scared he could hardly sleep and kept hearing a peculiar mooing all night. The next morning they broke camp and around the bend they came upon a poor cow mired down in a bog. The coyotes were eating her alive. Part of her back and hind quarters were eaten and the coyotes still there. They chased them away and Nephi put the poor cow out of her misery. The Reuben Kenneth family decided to move again. This time it was because Reuben felt there were too many Jolleys’ and no one else for his children to marry. They arrived at Lovell, Wyoming in August of 1903. While here sister Mary went to a dance at the church and came home chilled to a bed in a wagon on the ground. She took cold and got pneumonia and died at the young age of 16. Winter had come, catching them without their house finished. They left Wyoming in April of 1904 and arrived at Milner, Idaho. The cold winters in Wyoming, Reuben felt, were too severe. They brought with them 15 wagons, 300 head of cattle and 40 horses. Reuben worked on the Milner dam all the winter and all summer. While here most of his cattle were poached or stolen They moved in the fall of 1905 to Burley, Idaho and Reuben worked on the canals. They bought a home on what is now Almo Street across the way from where Heber and Louise Moncur lived. In 1908 they bought a ranch in Albion, Idaho and stayed there three years each fall moving to Burley to send the children to school. In 1911 they bought a farm from Mr. Tinsley and Unity and lived there until Reuben died March 16, 1923. Emma died a year later, October 25, 1942. Reuben Kenneth was an extremely large man standing about six foot three. He was large boned and large featured but not unpleasing to look at. He was sandy complexioned and wore a large mustache. He and Emma were endowed on January 25, 1977. He helped build church houses wherever he went and contributed with goods and money to this end. Whether he and his family attended church I have no idea, but he must have been a very fine man with a big heart. He was always known to help anyone in need. He accumulated much wealth and lost it as many times as he acquired it usually because of his kind bigheartedness. When he died he took with him much wealth of love and understanding for his fellowmen. Compiled by his Great Grand Daughter Elaine Jolley Scott

My husband and I left Mt Carmel Utah June 25 1903 to move to Lovell Wyoming. While we were at Lovell I was chosen to be secretary of the MIA but was unable to act only for a short time. My husband got a job of work over to Billings Montana and we moved there in January 1904. He worked for the Billings Land and Irrigation Co. under his cousin Nephi Keel. We rented an apartment from an old couple named Page. They belonged to the congregational church, and were very devout in there religion. Because of the cold and snow the men folks couldn't get out to work for a while so there was little we could do except stay at home, and since there was no LDS church there, that we knew of, I often went to church with Mr. and Mrs Page. They were very fine folks. During the summer of 1903 while we were living in Lovell, I attended stake Conference at a town named Byron, it was held in a big log building, everything was new at that time. The Conference was attended by our President Joseph F. Smith, after the last meeting was ended he told the people to file out and he would stand at the door, for he said, I want to shake hands with everyone here and he said a pleasant word to everyone in attendance as they filed out. I saw him again after we moved to Idaho at a Conference held at Burley, In Oct or Nov of 1906. My husband went to Yellowstone Park in august of 1904 to work on a road grading project, I remained in Lovell Wyoming, On his return late that fall he purchased a lot and built us a log house on it. It was here our first baby was born, the sixth of February 1905, but it was dead at birth. April 1905 we sold our lot and house and prepared to move to the Minidoka Project in Idaho, but my husband was given a good job with a man who had a Contract to build 8 or 10 miles of the Billings Land and Irrigation Co canal east of Billings Montana. Where we stayed until the lst of september, Leaving Billings Montana the 4th of September. My brother Leonard Misner was with us, He drove two span of horses on the big wagon, My husband drove one of the light wagons. We had and extra saddle horse with saddle and bridle and we all took turns riding him occasionally, It was fun. We traveled South West through a lot of mountainous country besides many small towns in Montana. We stopped at Livingston over night near what was then the childrens Orphanage. Our course of travel took us through Yellowstone Park, where we saw all the sights and enjoyed everything, washed our clothes in the hot springs, had a lot of fun doing it, Jim lost his Brown shirt, he put it in the spring and the under current sucked it right out of his hand.

Source: "The Jolley Family Book" published by Brigham Young University Press 1966, written by Bryant Manning Jolley and his committee. JOLLEYS BEGIN TO LEAVE SOUTHERN UTAH Prosperity was enjoyed by many of the Jolleys in Mount Carmel, however, the farming area was limited in the small valley. Even the range land seemed insufficient for all the family members. As a result some sought their fortunes elsewhere. In 1876 George and Elizabeth Jolley Hicks moved back to their old cottonwood home near Spanish Fork. In 1877 the Thomas and Mary Angeline Jolley Keel family moved to Emery. A few years later William Wesley Jolley and his family also moved there. Emery was a beautiful and thriving farming town in the southern part of Emery County. It was formerly known as the Muddy and was first settled by Casper Christensen in 1876. Water, however, was scarce until the settlers tunneled 1200 feet through the mountain and tapped the Muddy Creek, thus securing plenty of water. Fire place wood and timber for building purposes were close at hand. A school and church organization were established, also a mercantile store and a post office. William H. Worthen, son-in-law of Thomas and Mary Jolley Keel, who was a stone mason, helped to construct many of the early buildings in Emery. SOME JOLLEYS MOVED TO ARIZONA John Berry Jolley, son of Pelic Berry and Sarah Knight Jolley moved to St. Johns, Arizona in 1875. He settled at the Meadow where he took up a ranch. He was among the first settlers and some of his children still own the old homestead. According to tradition, Sol Barth, the first settler came in 1874. The little Colorado River furnishes ample water for the area. There was a small colony of Indians living at the place when the white settlers arrived. In 1879 the Mormon Church purchased 1200 acres of land with water rights from Mr. Barth for 770 American coins and $2,000 worth of horses, harness, oxen, and other property. This was the beginning of an influx of Mormon settlers from Utah. In 1880 Erwin M. Whitting arrived at St. Johns from Brigham City, Utah. He is credited with introducing progressive methods for improving agriculture and horticulture. In 1884 Charles P. Anderson arrived from Grantsville with 600 head of sheep. By 1890 St. Johns was an important cattle and sheep raising center. Today it is a bustling modern city, as an agricultural and commercial center, with modern and progressive schools, churches, and business establishments. BLAZZARDS MOVE TO NEW MEXICO In 1883 the Jim and Catherine Jolley Blazzard family moved to Luna, New Mexico. They later settled permanently at Thatcher, Arizona. While they were all still in Glendale, a near family tragedy occurred. The account of it was contributed by Catherine Blazzard Curtis. Mary Catherine Jolley, grand-daughter of H. B. M. and Brittanna Mayo Jolley, and her husband, James Blazzard, lived in Glendale, a few miles up Long Valley from Mount Carmel. They were hospitable people, often feeding the Indians as well as other passers by. Following is the story as told by Mary Catherine Jolley Blazzard. “I did not mind, even when Jim brought home old Choog, a reprobated Indian, almost mortally ill. We made him a bed of sacks and camp quilts in the lean-to shed. We nursed him back to life, not begrudging him a share of our food and shelter.” “We lived in Glendale until we had three babies. Jim had been talking about our moving to Arizona, but when I was about five months along with the third child, Wes, a sorrowful tragedy occurred and all else was forgotten. Little Mary Ann was playing in the doorway one minute and the next minute she could not be found.” “In the heart breaking days that followed, I could not be comforted by my second child, Jimmie, nor by the thoughts of the expecting baby. All I could think of was my little Mary Ann in her blue pinafore, her bright pigtails hanging over her shoulders.” “Tracks of Indian ponies were found leading out of the river, and it was thought that the indians had stolen our little girl to sell to another tribe. The hunt continued far and wide for traces of the child, but it was to no avail. Scouts were sent out from Salt Lake City, but the search was futile.” “More than a year had passed, during which time all of Southern Utah had kept on the outlook. Jim and I decided to move to Arizona with the next covered wagon train, in the company of Andrew Gibbons who later married Nancy Nobles. In this company were to be ten adults, at least eleven children, six wagons, twenty horses, besides a few head of cows and calves.” “Your pa and I one the last night, sat in front of the fire, half in the dark, thinking about the move, and thinking of our lost baby.” “Suddenly a dark face was pressed against the window. I screamed in terror, while Jim crouched in readiness by the window. I dragged Jimmy back behind the bed, out of sight. Then unexpectedly there came a tapping at the door: One, One-two; One, One-two; One, One-two.” “That is old Coog’s knock Jim! The one he used when he was here sick.” “Jim crawled toward the door, and signaled back, then slid the bolt expecting Choog to come in, but instead the Indian thrust a small Indian child through the door. Me bring you Indian Papoose, he said, then disappeared into the dark.” “There stood a little Indian girl, in ragged clothing with tangled hair, looking from one to the other with blinking eyes.” “He’s brought us an Indian child to take the place of ours! I don’t want an Indian child. She can’t take the place of ours! I bet she is lousy, too. Go call him back, and make him take her!” “Jim hunted around outside, but Choog had gone for good.” “We’ll have to keep her overnight. We’ll comb her hair out with coal-oil, heat water on the fireplace and bath her and let her sleep in one of Mary Ann’s clean night gowns. We’ll put her clothing outside the house for the night.” “ As a last thing, I started braiding her hair. All this time the child stood silent, and stoical. Now as I combed through the hair on her neck, the comb caught and she put her hand to the back of her neck. I looked closer to see what had obstructed the comb.” “Jim, come here! Look at this! Then I tumbled over on the floor. Jim lifted me onto the bed and bathed my face in cool water until I revived. What is the matter, my Girl?” “I parted the child’s hair, and there at the edge of the neck was the long dark mole! Mary Ann’s birthmark. Jim held the lamp close to her face. Her eyes were blue. We knew the little Indian girl was Mary Ann, stained brown with wild berries, her hair dyed black with walnut bark.” “Mary Ann, have you forgotten how to talk? Have you forgotten your mother and father?” “I sat rocking the child back and forth, while Jim tried to induce her to talk.’ “I thought her hair felt finer when I was combing the coal-oil through it, than any I have ever felt on an Indian.” “Look, the dye was worn off her armpits. She was white under her arms.” “It won’t take the dye many weeks to wear off. The Indians keep it renewed every day or two, after they steal a white child. We carried her over to the bed, and showed her the little brother. When she saw Jimmy she started to cry, and commenced a jargon we could not understand. It took us an hour to quiet her.” “They made her talk “Indian talk, Jim told me.” “The news of Mary Ann’s restoration spread rapidly up and down Long Valley. The settlers crowded around to see her and to discuss the circumstances surrounding her return to her parents.” “They were all agreed that Choog himself had not stolen her, but that he had rescued her for us because we had taken care of him when he was sick.” “Overjoyed with Mary Ann’s return, we lovingly called her, ‘Our little Indian girl,’ as we strove to become acquainted with her all over again.” OTHER JOLLEYS LEAVE MOUNT CARMEL In 1894 the sons of William Jackson Jolley began moving to Tropic in Garfield County, north and east of Mount Carmel. They were among the first settlers there. There were good opportunities for farming and livestock raising. Bryant Heber Jolley Jr. moved back to Dixie. The Henry I and Temperance Jolley Young family was well established at Mona, Juab County. The Dennis and Diana Jolley Jones Dorrity families were located at Kanosh, Millard County and at Joseph in Sevier County. The Washington Lafayette Jolley family had remained in Washington in Dixie. Sarah Pippin Jolley with her younger children were permanently located at Moroni, in Sanpete County, while her daughter, Sarah Ann Hatch had remained at Salem in Utah County. Reuben Manning Jolley Jr. maintained a home in Beaver, and also had a large ranch in Grass Valley in Piute County. SILVER REEF AND SOUTHERN UTAH PROSPERITY Soon after the Jolleys had settled in Long Valley silver was discovered at Silver Reef. As early as 1875 a shipment of bullion to Salt Lake City brought $7,000.00. This was the beginning of a boom which made a good market for wheat, corn, and beef produced in southern Utah. Silver Reef lies about 320 miles south of Salt Lake City in Washington County. It sets on a red sandstone formation at the base of dull, red sandstone ledges with the lofty Pine Valley Mountains in the background to the north. The Reef is on a slightly elevated plateau overlooking the Virgin River Basin. The area is in the shape of a horse shoe, practically surrounded by higher sandstone plateaus. Production of silver increased form 371,777.88 ounces in 1877 to 866,702.33 ounces in 1879 with a value of 2-½ million dollars. It is estimated that the Silver Reef produced between 18 to 25 million dollars. The principal producers were: the Stromont, Buckeye, Kerr and Last Chance Mines. The population of Silver Reef at its peak in 1879 was probably 1500 people. By 1890 operations had practically ceased and the plague of a ghost town settled about. Quoting from a letter written at Mount Carmel in 1878 by Brittanna Mayo Jolley to her sister, Mary Belcher, in North Carolina we read, “The money is already made, all we have to do is to dig it out of the ground. We live near Leeds and the Silver Mines. We can sell all or produce very readily for cash. Our wheat is worth one dollar and fifty cents per bushel, corn one dollar and twenty five cents per bushel, All other produce in proportion. Beef is worth five cents per pound. We don’t have to feed our stock, they winter out and keep in good flesh the year around. We can raise from 20 to 50 bushel of wheat per acres and corn about the same.” Good markets for beef and field crops and with ample rainfall brought prosperity to the Jollys for about twenty year, from about 1873 to 1893. The Washington Cotton Industry also added to the prosperity of these years. Then the crash came. The silver mines began to play out. The Cleveland Silver Policy was the death knell to Silver Reef. With the coming of the railroad to Utah, cotton shipments from the east brought competition that the Dixie producers could not meet. By 1900 the cotton industry was about to finish in Southern Utah. The free trade policies of the Cleveland Administration also permitted Australian wool to flood the U. S. market, thus defeating the growth of the wool industry in Southern Utah. My father, Bryant Heber Jolley Jr., related that he hauled wool from the Jolley sheep to Salina from Mount Carmel and sold it for five cents a pound. These conditions caused the Jolleys at this time to favor the protective tariff and for this reason they joined the Republican party. Many are still loyal Republicans. The fourth and final blow to the prosperity of Southern Utah was the terrible drouth that hit in the 1890’s. The ranges were depleted. Even water for the livestock was insufficient. Cattle, horses, and sheep by the thousands died from thirst and starvation. A pall fell over Mount Carmel. To move away was on everybody’s lips. Finally, with the death of H. B. M. Jolley, a dynasty closed. The inspiration and leadership that had held the Jolleys together at Mount Carmel was gone. Soon the big move was on. EXPLORING FOR A PLACE TO MOVE Uncle Haskell S. Jolley had explored the area in Arizona, Mexico, and Canada. Apostle Francis M. Lyman on one of his visits to Mount Carmel recommended the Big Horn Basin in Wyoming as having good possibilities for colonization. In 1899 Uncle Haskell, following his suggestion, journeyed to the Big Horn. On his return he gave glowing reports of the grazing and farming possibilities there. The decision to move was reached and preparations went steadily forward to leave Mount Carmel and to settle in Wyoming. THE MOVE TO WYOMING On the 5th of November 1900 the Haskell S. Jolley, the Lorenzo Jolley, and Edward and Minerva Jolley Whetstone families headed for Milford, Utah, where they had freight car reservations for their household goods and their horses. It took five days to make the trip. Harvey Moncur and George Averett rode with the animals and freight. The departing families rode in a passenger car on the train. The railroad ended at Bridger, Montana, so the remainder of the distance had to be traveled in covered wagons and on horseback. Upon their arrival at Bridger the Jolleys were greeted by a raging blizzard. For three days they found shelter with a Mormon family until the storm abated. After the freight cars arrived with the horses and wagons the real journey was begun. The route took them to Bowler Gap where they stayed for a month. On December 23, they moved on to Frannie where they camped until February. As spring began to break the pioneers continued on to Lovell in the Big Horn Basin. The Jolley cattle were trailed to the Big Horn by Jim and Byron Jolley. The route followed was north through Long Valley, Garfield County, Sevier, Juab, and Utah Counties, up Provo Canyon past Kimball’s Junction to Coalville on the Weber River, to Echo Junction, up the Weber and over the divide to Evanston, Wyoming. They were now on the old Mormon trail which their grandparents had traveled fifty years before. They followed this route up and through the South Pass to Lander, then north to Lovell. The grass for the cattle was good the whole distance. Richfield, Utah, was the only place where they had to buy feed. The future looked good in the new land and home building began. THE BIG MOVE On June 23, 1903, the big and final exodus of the Jolleys from Mount Carmel begun. The Nephi and Frances Jolley Moncur and the Reuben Kenneth Jolley families headed their big company north toward Wyoming. It was a big outfit having many covered wagons loaded with household goods and family members. A great herd of cattle and some horses were also in the caravan. At Monroe, the Joseph Lehi Jolley family joined in the big move. The caravan was now more than a mile long with hundreds of head of livestock. At Echo Junction the Joseph Lehi Jolley family left the big company traveling down the Weber River while the main group headed up the River toward Wyoming. The following is a quote from a letter written by Louise Jolley, a member of this caravan. “Echo Canyon July 19, 1903 “We are at the forks of Echo Canyon and Weber River and we got here last night. We will stay here three or four days ‘til the cattle come, then we will cut out our cattle and follow down the Weber River. Uncle Rube’s all went on up Echo Canyon today for the Big Horn Country.” “We have passed lots of fine country, nicer than we expected to see. We are in a few miles of the line of Wyoming. When we were in Heber City the people came down and played and sang for us.” “The train passes through here every few minutes day and night. Last night we had a stampede with the horses when the train came through here.” “We are camped here where old Lott Smith Stampeded the soldiers the time they were following the Mormons on the old Emigrant Road. It is seven miles back to Coalville and we will be here about a week.” Helen Minser Jolley, daughter-in-law of Reuben Kenneth Jolley describes the journey as follows: “The family left Mt. Carmel to move to Lovell, Wyoming, June 23, 1903. Jim, helped drive their cattle through, and didn’t arrive until October. I rode with the family as far as Marysvale. The cattle herd started out a week ahead of the wagons. When we caught up with the cattle herd Jim sent me on the train ahead. My brother and Uncle Elijah Thaxton and family were there so I had folks to stay with until Jim’s folks arrived in August.” “One of the stories Jim has told me many times, was the difficulty they had driving the cattle through the towns up through the middle and northern part of Utah. At one place, the city officials met them some distance from the town and ordered them to drive the cattle through the outskirts. This would have caused more delay and trouble. If the officials had been more lenient, they would have tried to meet them halfway, but they wouldn’t budge. Jim told them he would see a lawyer and find out for himself if it were unlawful for them to drive cattle through the town. They won out and drove the cattle through. Another time, when they were up in the Wind River Country they encountered a band of thieves, who took off with a few head of the cattle. But they had been alerted for these men and were watching out for them. The thieves got a few minutes start, however, by getting past the night watchers. Jim and Pete Schow were after them in a short time with loaded guns. The thieves realizing their lives were in danger fled and the cattle was reclaimed.” “The Winter of 1903-4 was an extremely hard one, with cold, snow, blizzards, and some of the toughest winds I have had the privilege of being in and enduring. It took the rest of October and most of November for Jim to get the cattle from Thermopolis, Wyoming, where they had left them for a while to rest and feed so that they could make the rest of the journey down on the Big Horn River where the Jolleys had bought the hay for winter. All the Jolleys suffered heavy losses of cattle by spring.” After spending the bitter Winter of 1903-4 in the Big Horn, Reuben Kenneth and Nephi Jolley and their sister, Frances Jolley Moncur, decide the climate was too cold, so they move to the Burley-Rupert area in Idaho where a big new project was opening up. The Snake River was to be dammed off to provide irrigation water for the choice fertile lands. These Jolleys left Wyoming in April 1904. There were 15 covered wagons, 300 head of cattle, and 40 horses with the three large families. Joseph Lehi Jolley had preceded them and operated a store, which was called “Daddy LaMar’s Grocery” in Rupert. The new settlers always having fine horses were leaders in the construction of the dams and canals. Burley and Rupert area received water from the big Minidoka Dam project. Today these communities are the center of Idaho’s leading farming areas. The area was inhabited by the Bannock and Shoshoni Indians before the white man came about 1811. Explorers Hunt, Ross, and Wyeth were early travelers in this area. Soon the Oregon Trail was a well-defined road down the south bank of the Snake River, over which the covered wagon and stage coaches were a common sight. The Jolleys obtained land and began to farm as soon as the water projects were completed. Today they are successful as farmers, cattlemen, and in business. Many of the descendants of Nephi, Reuben Kenneth, and Frances Jolley Moncur live in this part of Idaho today, while many of the descendants of William Jackson live in the Idaho Falls and Blackfoot areas in the Gem State. The pioneering period of the Henry Jolley Family in the West, beginning in 1850, had practically ended in 1907. An epoch had closed covering 57 years. The last major move was made when the Angelina Jolley Keel and Bryant Heber Jolley Sr. families with others moved into the Uinta Basin in 1905 and 1907. THE JOLLEYS HELP PIONEER UINTA BASIN Let us consider the land features of the Uinta Basin that we may better appreciate the problems and struggles of our early family members as they sought to settle and build homes in this untamed area. Most of the Uinta Basin lies in northeastern Utah. It comprises a huge bowl which lies in three states, Utah, Colorado, and Wyoming. The lofty Uinta mountains range forms the northern rim. Some of the elevations, such as King’s Peak, are over 13,000 feet high. From these lofty summits one can view a broken landscape that dazzles the imagination. Five hundred and fifty lakes have been cupped out among the towering peaks by glacial action during ages long past. These lakes are fringed with many varieties of spruce, pines, and firs interspersed with patches of quacking aspen. Gay, bright colored flowers cover the meadow land around the lakes. In the winter deep snow blankets the area. The western rim of the basin is formed by the Wasatch Mountains, while the Tavaputs Plateau makes the southern boundary. To the east are the mighty Rockies. The basin is located in what is generally known as the Colorado River drainage area. The Duchesne, Strawberry, Lake Fork, and Uinta Rivers and some creeks flow south eastward into the Green River, which empties into the mighty Colorado. On October 3, 1861, President Lincoln through proclamation set apart the basin as an Indian Reservation. The many primitive Indian relics and remains make the basin area a treasure land of old civilizations. Remain of the prehistoric bison, mastodons, dinosaurs and sloths have been found. 1n 1775 Father Garces and Juan Diag are supposed to have explored the area. Father Escalante, a Franciscan Friar, entered the basin on 3 September 1776. After crossing the Green River, he camped at Magas de S Franco, near the present site of Randlett. As he journeyed westward he came to the Rio San Doman River, now known as the Duchesne. He followed the river and camped at the present site of the city of Duchesne. Traders and trappers who were into the Uinta Basin during these early days were William Ashley, James D. Beckwourth, Thomas Fitz Patrick, and Robert Campbell. By an act of Congress 27 May 1902 A.D. all unallocated lands in the Uintah Indian Reservation in Utah were thrown open for entry, “all lands shall be restored to Public Domain. Provided that persons entering any of said lands, under the Homesteaders Law, shall pay therefore at the rate of one dollar and twenty-five cents per acre.” President Theodore Roosevelt declared the land open to entry 28 August 1905. Registration for land drawing was set for Tuesday 1 August 1905 at Vernal, Price, and Provo, Utah. The drawing was to begin at 9 A.M. on 28 August 1905. The Vernal Land Office opened in Vernal Courthouse 10 July 1905 with Charles De Moisy of Provo as register in preparation for the drawing which would be held on 28 August 1905. There was quite a mad rush as men, often with their families, sped to the basin to homestead their drawings. Many people never entered the basin to claim their land. After six months default, the claim was subject to filing by another. The writer had no knowledge of members of the Jolley family having original drawings, but many of them entered the basin soon after the opening and filed on defaulted claims. Among those settlers in the area soon after the opening were: Steven and Malinda Jolley Wilson and Elijah Potter families at Hayden: William Keel, James Keel, Joseph Nielson, Ray Beal, and Chris Larsen families at Antelope: the Francis Marian Ross family at Arcadia; The Bryant Heber Jolley Sr. family including his sons, Bryant Heber Jolley Jr., Joseph Allen Jolley, Alma Franklin Jolley, Riley Taylor Jolley, and daughter, Gatsey and her husband, Silas E Hutchings at Blue Bench; also Williamson Wesley Jolley Jr. at Duchesne and Blue Bench; William T. Jolley at Strawberry; and the Robert Hicks family at Roosevelt. The Erastus and Arilla Jolley Bastian family settled at Hayden. Francis Marian Jolley went to the Blue Bell area while the John and Richard Keel families settled at Duchesne and Uthan. Finally the parents of the Keel children, Thomas and Angelina Jolley Keel, moved to the basin when they were in the declining years and both are buried in Neola, Utah. Today many of the descendants of these hardy, pioneers are living successfully in the area. Others failed in their attempt to make the “Desert blossom as the rose.” One place in particular refused to be tames, namely the Blue Bench. This is a wide expanse of bench land stretching northeast from Duchesne. The soil was rich and inviting but the water problem was impossible. After years of homesteading, $250,000 was borrowed from “Uncle” Jesse Knight of Provo to build a canal reaching from Rocky Creek on the upper Duchesne River along the hillside to the thirsty benchland. But nature in its soil and rock deposits during the creative period had caused an abundance of shale and soap stone formation to make up the hillside. As soon as it became wet from the canal water, it would slide out, often a quarter to a half mile to a stretch, then flood down over the farms below, making them useless. Besides the loss of the canal and crops, there were damage suits brought against the Bench people for loss of land and crops destroyed by the slides. Finally the canal was flumed but the slight seeping from it was sufficient to cause the footing to give way and out would go great stretches of flume letting the rushing water play havoc with the lands below. After years of failure, the settlers, having sunk all their wealth into the project, finally gave up. They all sold out to the Jesse Knight Interests. After a few years the Knight Interests also gave up the project as a hopeless venture. Today the once promised Blue Bench area had gone back wild to nature, inhabited by the jack rabbit, the rattlesnake, and the crafty coyote, as it originally was when the basin was thrown open for entry sixty years ago. From 1899 to 1903 the rest of the Jolleys left Mount Carmel with the exception of William Jackson Jolley and Aunt Mary Mayo Belcher Jolley. Aunt Mary died in 1903 and Uncle William in 1905. Thereafter only the Jolleys sleeping in the Mount Carmel Cemetery remained. Today the Jolley Family members are scattered all over the United States, but most of them are living in the West. The greater number lived in Utah, Idaho, Wyoming, and California. However, there are goodly numbers in Nevada, Arizona, Washington, Oregon, and Colorado.

The following was contributed by Helen Minser Jolley, wife of James Bryant Jolley, who was the oldest son of Reuben K. and Emma Ann Pace Jolley. She lives at 1106 West 7th North Salt Lake City, Utah. The Jolleys owned considerable numbers of livestock, horses, cattle, and sheep while they lived at Mt. Carmel. They owned a ranch up in the mountains. They called it The Big Meadows and they lived on this ranch during the summer months for several years, and made cheese and butter for their winter use. The whole family were great for cheese and jerked meat, so they killed beef in the Fall and jerked lots of it. I remember spending a day or two with them on the ranch one summer and I have heard father (Reuben) say many times that if he had to go without butter, he wouldn’t mind, if he had plenty of cheese. And one of their traits in winter was sitting around the fireplace after all the evening chores were done. They would roast potatoes and have “jerky” (jerked meat) and cheese. In this way they passed the winter evenings. It was lots of fun. Father Jolley had a keen sense of humor and created a great deal of laughter at these gatherings. He was always ready to console anyone in trouble. He was left handed and I have listened with interest to the stories Jim has related about his dad using his “south paw” to quell riots. And now a word or two about Father Jolley’s wife, Emma. She was surely a good helper, and a good religious woman. I don’t have the dates for the following, but she was relief society president for several years. I believe she was acting in this capacity at the time they moved to Lovell, Wyoming. I remember our family was living on father’s ranch in the mountains, Hites Canyon, when Reuben Jolley family returned to Mt. Carmel from Arizona. It must have been about the 1888 or 1889, for I remember Jim came to our ranch with Uncle Milt Jolley one day when he (Uncle Milt) came to take my Aunt Sophronia to a dance. Jim drove a band of horses with some other men, Ben Cameron from Panguitch, Will Owen and some others. I can’t remember any of the others or if there were any. They were slower than the others and didn’t arrive for a week or more after the family. Jim’s sister Louise has a very keen memory and could tell me a lot more if I could visit her. She has failing eyesight though and can’t read or write. She doesn’t get around too well either. But she could tell me a lot more about these things. The family left Mt. Carmel and moved to Lovell, Wyoming June 23, 1903. Jim, as I told you helped drive their cattle through, and didn’t arrive until October. I rode with the family as far as Marysvale. The cattle herd started out a week ahead of the wagons. We caught up with the cattle herd and then Jim sent me on the train ahead. My brother was there and my Uncle Elijah Thaxton and family were there and Uncle Milt and family, so I had folks to stay with until Jim’s folks arrived in August. They built a log house with an upstairs so we all lived in it. Jim had to be gone so much that winter after he got there to look after the cattle. Many of then died in spite of the work and care he gave them. The men brought hay from down on the Big Horn River. They were cheated and this added to the tragedy. That winter of 1903-4 was an extremely hard one, with cold, snow, blizzards and some of the toughest winds I have had the privilege of being in and enduring. It took the rest of October and most of November for Jim to get the cattle from Thermopiles, Wyoming, where they had left them for a while to rest and feed so that they could make the rest of the journey down on the Big Horn River where the Jolleys had bought the hay for winter. It was while they were at Thermopiles that they separated the cattle into the different herds. Jolley’s Lethead’s and Pete Schow’s. It was about this time that an extremely cold spell came on and many of the cattle died. All the herds lost heavily. Jim has told me many of the incidents and near tragedies that happened to them while they were here. However, I must not create the wrong impression. While many things happened on this perilous journey with the cattle, it could have been much worse. They were not a small outfit. If they had been, the losses would have been much greater. They had a big outfit equipped with a cook and other help. There was Jims brother Nephi, Dave Norton (a local Mt. Carmel boy). These are the only ones whose names I can remember. It was Lome (Lomand) Leathead’s oldest son who had most of the responsibility for Leathead’s share of the help. One of the stories Jim had told me many times, was the difficulty they had driving the cattle through the towns up through the middle and northern part of Utah. At one of these towns, the city officials met them some distance from the town and ordered them to drive the cattle through the outskirts of the town. This would have caused more delay and trouble. If the officials had been more lenient, they would have tried to meet them half way. But they wouldn’t budge. Jim told them he would see the cattle through the town. They won out and drove the cattle through the town. Another time, when they were up in the Wind River Country the encountered a bunch of thieves, who took of with a few head of the cattle. But they had been alerted for these men and were watching out for them. The thieves got a few minutes start, however, by getting past the night watchers. Jim and Pete Schow were after them in a short time with loaded six-shooters. When the thieves saw how close they were to being shot, they left the cattle and took to the woods. These are only two of the many trials and hardships the men encountered. It was early in November when Mary came home from M.I.A. She had a burning red spot on her cheek and I realized now she was running a high temperature. By morning she was a very sick girl and needed a doctor, but the nearest one that I remember was at Bason City, a long distance from Lovell. I realize now the folks couldn’t believe she was in as serious condition as she was. However her mother and I stayed with her day and night and did everything we could to help her. At last we had the Elders come in but it was too late. God had another mission for her. There were so many died that winter from this same disease. It was a hard, sad time for Father and Mother Jolley and the rest of us as a family. When it was so that Jim could be home he and I slept our in his cold camp wagon. About January first, 1904, Jim learned that his cousin Nephi Keel had taken a contract to build a number of miles of canal from the Billings Land and Irrigation Company Canal in Montana. Jim and I, his brother Byron Jolley and wife Francis and son Ellis, his brother Nephi and John Jolley, Uncle Wesley, John, his wife Druie and their small daughter, there were several others from Lovell but I fail to remember their names. The winter turned out to be so cold and so much snow, the work was held up until the fist part of April. Cousin Neaf as he was familiarly known, rented an apartment out from Billings about a mile from Mr. and Mrs. Clarance Page, they had another two room apartment so Jim and I rented it. When the weather moderated and the frost went out of the ground, work began in earnest and everyone was ready and anxious to get started. Cousin Neaf asked me if I would do the cooking for his single men. I accepted his offer and began the job in our two room apartment until he could establish his camp closer to the work. I must not fail to mention Cousin Neaf’s wife Martha Keel. They had two children, Fenton and Maud, and expected the third which was born (a girl) sometime in March. The camp was located some miles North East of Billings. Here we all became Tent Dwellers, remember we were all pioneers facing the hardships of beginning new settlements and new projects, so everyone had to grin and like it. I think it was about May of 1904 when Father (Reuben) and Mother Jolley decided they couldn’t take any more of the Big Horn country, Father Jolley called it the GIPCOVERED LAND OF WYOMING…So they learned about the Big Dam and Project that we being started in the Twin Falls country of Idaho known as the Milner Dam. They sent word to boys Jim, Byron, and Nephi at Billings, wanting their son Nephi to come and help roundup what was left of the cattle and horses, after the winters scourge of death. I do not know how many they rounded up. It wasn’t long until Reuben Kenneth and family, his son William r. and his wife and three children, Wallace Moncur and Heber Moncur and their families were trekking out in their covered wagons headed for Idaho. There they found plenty of work at good wages (at that time) and soon R.K., as he was familiarly known, was eagerly engaged in his favorite job freighting with his four and six horse teams hauling freight from Kimmimia, Idaho the end of the railroad nearest to Twin Falls at that time. The other men with their teams were employed at the same work the remainder of that year 1904, and up to the last of February in 1905 when another tragedy struck at the family. One night when the men had returned from their trip to Kimmimis, their son William Reuben was taken suddenly ill and was soon raging with high fever (double Pneumonia) He passed away March 3, 1905, leaving a wife and three children, a very sad and difficult situation. But it had to be faced and I can say Father and Mother Jolley were truly courageous in facing all the trials and hardships they were called to go through during those trying years. I can say I never heard them complain or feel sorry for themselves, but went bravely on with the duties that lay ahead for them. It was a dad blow to Williams wife and children to be left there in that new land. I must mention here that he was taken to Oakley Cassia County where funeral services were held and he was laid to rest in that cemetery. Matilda, his wife, and children continued to stay with the folks. For several years she worked at some odd jobs she was able to obtain. Later she purchased a house and lot in Burley near to Father and Mother Jolley’s home. She lived there for a number of years when she decided to sell out and move to her home town (Glendale) in Southern Utah to be near her folks, and while many of them had passed on, she is still living near her 80th year (Matilda Jolley.) She has two daughters living, one at Henderson, Nevada and the other at Cedar City, Utah. He son Leslie passed away about the year 1924. The branch line of the Union Pacific was extended to Twin Falls in the early part of 1905 which terminated the freighting for the Jolley and Moncur families. But it was at this time the MINIDOKA PROJECT was getting started and the various contractors for building the big canals and establishing their camps over the vast area of sage and sand, so these families moved from Milner to the new town of Rupert and found plenty of work at what was known as Monarch and Porter’s Big Ditch Camp. It was June of 1906 when Father and Mother Jolley and family left Rupert buying a house and lot in Burley. A year or so later they bought a ranch in Howell’s Canyon, south west of Albion where they lived for several summers, coming back to Burley for winter. They later bought a 30 acre piece of land about 3 miles south of Burley where they lived the reminder of their lives. Father Jolley passed away March 16th 1923 after a long serious illness. Mother Emma followed him October 25, 1924.

Ogden Standard-Examiner Thursday, July 6, 1961 page 14A Pocatello - Two Salt Lake City women were killed in a traffic accident near here Wednesday, increasing Idaho's traffic toll this year to 97. Traffic deaths on this date in 1960 totaled 112. Officers said 42-year-old Emma Peck of Salt Lake City and Mrs. Peck's 81-year-old mother, Helen Marion Mizner, were killed and two others injured in the collision of a car and a concrete hauling truck near the Pocatello Municipal Airport. TWO OTHERS HURT They were riding in a car driven by Martin Peck, the younger woman's husband. He was slightly injured. A son, Michael Peck, was more seriously injured. The driver of the concrete truck, John C. Johnson, Idaho Falls, escaped injury. The deaths were the first traffic fatalities following the long Fourth of July holiday weekend when the state did not record any deaths by traffic accidents.

Idaho State Journal Thursday, July 6, 1961 page one & two Two Salt Lake City women died here Wednesday afternoon of injuries received in a car-truck traffic accident eight miles west of Pocatello on U.S. Highway 30. Both Mrs. Emma Jolley Peck, 42, and her mother, Mrs. Helen Marian Misner Jolley, 80, were former Pocatello residents. Mrs. Peck was killed almost instantly and her mother died 90 miutes later in St. Anthony Hospital. They had been visiting here earlier with Mrs. Peck's brother, Floyd D. Jolley, Kraft Road and were returning to Pocatello from an outing at Rupert when the accident happened. Also in the Peck car was Mrs. Peck's husband and son. Martin Leto Peck, 50, suffered bruises and lacerations and the son, Michael, 14, underwent surgery for an arm injury. Both were listed in fairly good condition today at St. Anthony Hospital. State Patrolman Paul H. Todd, one of those who investigated, said the Peck car and a gravel truck, operated by John C. Johnson, 41, Idaho Falls, were both eastbound. The gravel truck started to make*** ***a left turn to a gravel pit near the Todd said (sic). He said at the same time, the Peck vehicle attempted to pass the truck. The vehicles collided, Todd said, and the car was knocked out of control, overturning 1 1/2 times. Johnson was not hurt. The truck was damaged $150 to $200, but the Peck's 1953 model car was demolished. The accident occurred in Power County, and chief investigating officer was Al Bauers of the American Falls police. Others besides Todd assisting were State Patrolman Paul Shortt and Noole Taylor. Mrs. Helen Misner Joyyel (sic), 80, was born Oct. 7, 1880 in Rockville, Utah, to Alfred and Cherrizade Thaxton Misner. She was married to James B. Jolley on Sept. 18, 1900, and later received temple endowments from the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. They lived in Level, Wyo., and Billings, Mont. before moving to Rupert in 1904. Mrs. Jolley was a reporter for the Minidoka County News for 25 years when she lived in Rupert. Mr. Jolley died in Rupert on April 19, 1938. Mrs. Jolley moved to Pocatello in 1940 and lived here 16 years before moving to Salt Lake City with her daughter in 1956. Survivors include a son, Floyd Jolley, Kraft Road, and a daughter, Mrs. Helen Elkins, Oak Park, Ill. Also surviving are 17 grandchildren and 17 great-grandchildren. Funeral services for both Mrs. Jolley and Mrs. Peck will be Saturday at 11 a.m. in the Pocatello Third-Tenth Ward LDS Chapel. Manning Funeral Chapel will announce place and time of burial. Mrs. Emma Jolley Peck, 42, was born March 12, 1919 at Rupert. She was married to Martin I. Peck on Dec. 31, 1937 at Rupert and received temple endowments Sept. 21, 1938. Mr. Peck is employed in the stores department of Union Pacific Railroad. They lived in Rupert until 1940 and moved from Pocatello in 1955. Mrs. Peck was a member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints and was a member of the Moose Lodge auxiliary in Pocatello. Survivors are her husband and son, both of Salt Lake City and a daughter, Mrs. Don Billingsley, also of Salt Lake City. One grandchild also survives.

Idaho State Journal Friday, July 7, 1961 page two FUNERALS Peck and Jolley - Joint funeral services for Emma Jolley Peck, 42, and her mother, Helen Misner Jolley, 80, both of 1106 West Seventh North, Salt Lake City, who died in a traffic accident Wednesday, will be conducted at 11:00 a.m. Saturday, at the Third Ward Chapel with Bishop Ben Lusk officiating. Burial in the Rupert Cemetery will be under the direction of the Manning Funeral Chapel.

Reuben Kenneth Jolley and Emma Ann Pace "Idaho or bust," was the title of an article in the Minidoka County news in 1955 featuring the half century mark of settlement of Rupert, Idaho. The article was written by Helen Misner Jolley, wife of James Bryant Jolley and a daughter in law to Reuben Kenneth and Emma. It took strong muscles and iron wills to face the trials and hardships that beset the Jolleys on their long track from Mount Carmel, Utah to Lovell, Wyoming and back to the Rupert, Burley and Twin Falls area in Idaho. Reuben Kenneth Jolley was the ninth child of Henry Bryant Manning Jolley and Brittanna Elizabeth Mayo. He was born in the old Spanish fort on January 21, 1853; the year after the Jolleys arrived in the valley. One of Reuben’s boyhood jobs was to herd cattle with his brother, Bryant Heber on the Leland Bench south of Spanish Fork. In 1857, the family moved to Salem, and then in 1862 they moved to Utah’s Dixie settling at Middleton between Washington and St. George. In 1866, the family moved to Windsor (Mt. Carmel) but the Indians were so hostile that the settlers left for a time. The Jolleys’ moved to New Harmony. In 1871, they returned to Mt. Carmel and made a success of the settlement. Reuben Kenneth married Emma Ann Pace on February 14, 1871. James Bryant their first child was born at Washington, Utah. They resided there for a short time. Their home was at Mt. Carmel with the rest of the Jolley’s; including his father Henry Bryant Manning Jolley. The Jolley family owned quite a lot of land and was known for their cattle and horses. Five more children were born to Reuben and Emma at Mt. Carmel, Reuben William, Emma Ann, Louise, Byron and Nephi Williamson. In about the 1877, on the 21 of January, Reuben took a plural wife, Emma’s sister, Adelaide Pace. They were married at Harmony, Utah. They had one son, George Orlando, born October 25, 1878 at Washington, Utah. Adelaide died a year later at Thatcher, Arizona on January 13, 1879. Reuben Kenneth was one of the first settlers in Thatcher and Central Arizona. He is credited with being one of the first Mormon colonizers in; Thatcher along with his father-in-law, James Pace. Three more children were born at Thatcher and Central; Kenneth, Mary and Almeda. Central is only a few miles away from Thatcher, Arizona. Reuben K. and his brother Nephi operated a wagon freight line from Arizona into Utah and Idaho. There was at this time a lot of trouble with the Indians, but Reuben tried to make friends with them and succeeded to some degree. He was warned one time to not try to make through with his wagon train as the Indians were killing and raiding all wagons in the area. Reuben decided to try to make it through if he could find a certain Indian friend. He did find him in time to have him intercede for him with the raiding Indians. This great chief took him and Uncle Nephi into his camp for the night and had a feast. While eating, Reuben could hardly stand the taste of the meat; they finally told him it was the chief’s favorite dog, an Indian custom to honor friends. Reuben became quite ill, and “just who wouldn't be” were his very own words. A later incident was the discovery of a girl who had been capture and tortured until dead by the Indians. She was the sister of Ivon Merrill, a close friend of the Jolley’s Reuben returned to Mr. Carmel from Arizona in about 1887. They were blessed with four more and the last of their children; Loren Lafayette, (my grandfather), Adelaide, Frances Lenora and Willard. The times were still wild and rugged and there were many hardships. The mountain lions were terrible and killed many calves and colts while prowling at night. Someone had to sit up and keep a fire going to keep them out of the camps. They would take the cattle and horses up the canyon to graze and someone of course would go and stay in a cabin or in the open to care for them. Grandma Emma with her children Loren, Nephi and babies Willard and Almeda took a short trip up to Louise and Heber Moncur to get Adelaide, who had been visiting. The trip took all day and so they had to make camp for the night. Emma made a bed in the wagon. Nephi, being the oldest kept a fire going to keep the coyotes out of the camp. He soon grew weary and fell asleep. The coyotes came tight into camp and ate the scraps that had been cast away from dinner. Loren says he was so scared he could hardly sleep and kept hearing a peculiar mooing all night. The next morning they broke camp and around the bend they came upon a poor cow mired down in a bog. The coyotes were eating her alive. Part of her back and hind quarters were eaten and the coyotes still there. They chased them away and Nephi put the poor cow out of her misery. The Reuben Kenneth family decided to move again. This time it was because Reuben felt there were too many Jolleys’ and no one else for his children to marry. They arrived at Lovell, Wyoming in August of 1903. While here sister Mary went to a dance at the church and came home chilled to a bed in a wagon on the ground. She took cold and got pneumonia and died at the young age of 16. Winter had come, catching them without their house finished. They left Wyoming in April of 1904 and arrived at Milner, Idaho. The cold winters in Wyoming, Reuben felt, were too severe. They brought with them 15 wagons, 300 head of cattle and 40 horses. Reuben worked on the Milner dam all the winter and all summer. While here most of his cattle were poached or stolen They moved in the fall of 1905 to Burley, Idaho and Reuben worked on the canals. They bought a home on what is now Almo Street across the way from where Heber and Louise Moncur lived. In 1908 they bought a ranch in Albion, Idaho and stayed there three years each fall moving to Burley to send the children to school. In 1911 they bought a farm from Mr. Tinsley and Unity and lived there until Reuben died March 16, 1923. Emma died a year later, October 25, 1942. Reuben Kenneth was an extremely large man standing about six foot three. He was large boned and large featured but not unpleasing to look at. He was sandy complexioned and wore a large mustache. He and Emma were endowed on January 25, 1977. He helped build church houses wherever he went and contributed with goods and money to this end. Whether he and his family attended church I have no idea, but he must have been a very fine man with a big heart. He was always known to help anyone in need. He accumulated much wealth and lost it as many times as he acquired it usually because of his kind bigheartedness. When he died he took with him much wealth of love and understanding for his fellowmen. Compiled by his Great Grand Daughter Elaine Jolley Scott

My husband and I left Mt Carmel Utah June 25 1903 to move to Lovell Wyoming. While we were at Lovell I was chosen to be secretary of the MIA but was unable to act only for a short time. My husband got a job of work over to Billings Montana and we moved there in January 1904. He worked for the Billings Land and Irrigation Co. under his cousin Nephi Keel. We rented an apartment from an old couple named Page. They belonged to the congregational church, and were very devout in there religion. Because of the cold and snow the men folks couldn't get out to work for a while so there was little we could do except stay at home, and since there was no LDS church there, that we knew of, I often went to church with Mr. and Mrs Page. They were very fine folks. During the summer of 1903 while we were living in Lovell, I attended stake Conference at a town named Byron, it was held in a big log building, everything was new at that time. The Conference was attended by our President Joseph F. Smith, after the last meeting was ended he told the people to file out and he would stand at the door, for he said, I want to shake hands with everyone here and he said a pleasant word to everyone in attendance as they filed out. I saw him again after we moved to Idaho at a Conference held at Burley, In Oct or Nov of 1906. My husband went to Yellowstone Park in august of 1904 to work on a road grading project, I remained in Lovell Wyoming, On his return late that fall he purchased a lot and built us a log house on it. It was here our first baby was born, the sixth of February 1905, but it was dead at birth. April 1905 we sold our lot and house and prepared to move to the Minidoka Project in Idaho, but my husband was given a good job with a man who had a Contract to build 8 or 10 miles of the Billings Land and Irrigation Co canal east of Billings Montana. Where we stayed until the lst of september, Leaving Billings Montana the 4th of September. My brother Leonard Misner was with us, He drove two span of horses on the big wagon, My husband drove one of the light wagons. We had and extra saddle horse with saddle and bridle and we all took turns riding him occasionally, It was fun. We traveled South West through a lot of mountainous country besides many small towns in Montana. We stopped at Livingston over night near what was then the childrens Orphanage. Our course of travel took us through Yellowstone Park, where we saw all the sights and enjoyed everything, washed our clothes in the hot springs, had a lot of fun doing it, Jim lost his Brown shirt, he put it in the spring and the under current sucked it right out of his hand.

Source: "The Jolley Family Book" published by Brigham Young University Press 1966, written by Bryant Manning Jolley and his committee. JOLLEYS BEGIN TO LEAVE SOUTHERN UTAH Prosperity was enjoyed by many of the Jolleys in Mount Carmel, however, the farming area was limited in the small valley. Even the range land seemed insufficient for all the family members. As a result some sought their fortunes elsewhere. In 1876 George and Elizabeth Jolley Hicks moved back to their old cottonwood home near Spanish Fork. In 1877 the Thomas and Mary Angeline Jolley Keel family moved to Emery. A few years later William Wesley Jolley and his family also moved there. Emery was a beautiful and thriving farming town in the southern part of Emery County. It was formerly known as the Muddy and was first settled by Casper Christensen in 1876. Water, however, was scarce until the settlers tunneled 1200 feet through the mountain and tapped the Muddy Creek, thus securing plenty of water. Fire place wood and timber for building purposes were close at hand. A school and church organization were established, also a mercantile store and a post office. William H. Worthen, son-in-law of Thomas and Mary Jolley Keel, who was a stone mason, helped to construct many of the early buildings in Emery. SOME JOLLEYS MOVED TO ARIZONA John Berry Jolley, son of Pelic Berry and Sarah Knight Jolley moved to St. Johns, Arizona in 1875. He settled at the Meadow where he took up a ranch. He was among the first settlers and some of his children still own the old homestead. According to tradition, Sol Barth, the first settler came in 1874. The little Colorado River furnishes ample water for the area. There was a small colony of Indians living at the place when the white settlers arrived. In 1879 the Mormon Church purchased 1200 acres of land with water rights from Mr. Barth for 770 American coins and $2,000 worth of horses, harness, oxen, and other property. This was the beginning of an influx of Mormon settlers from Utah. In 1880 Erwin M. Whitting arrived at St. Johns from Brigham City, Utah. He is credited with introducing progressive methods for improving agriculture and horticulture. In 1884 Charles P. Anderson arrived from Grantsville with 600 head of sheep. By 1890 St. Johns was an important cattle and sheep raising center. Today it is a bustling modern city, as an agricultural and commercial center, with modern and progressive schools, churches, and business establishments. BLAZZARDS MOVE TO NEW MEXICO In 1883 the Jim and Catherine Jolley Blazzard family moved to Luna, New Mexico. They later settled permanently at Thatcher, Arizona. While they were all still in Glendale, a near family tragedy occurred. The account of it was contributed by Catherine Blazzard Curtis. Mary Catherine Jolley, grand-daughter of H. B. M. and Brittanna Mayo Jolley, and her husband, James Blazzard, lived in Glendale, a few miles up Long Valley from Mount Carmel. They were hospitable people, often feeding the Indians as well as other passers by. Following is the story as told by Mary Catherine Jolley Blazzard. “I did not mind, even when Jim brought home old Choog, a reprobated Indian, almost mortally ill. We made him a bed of sacks and camp quilts in the lean-to shed. We nursed him back to life, not begrudging him a share of our food and shelter.” “We lived in Glendale until we had three babies. Jim had been talking about our moving to Arizona, but when I was about five months along with the third child, Wes, a sorrowful tragedy occurred and all else was forgotten. Little Mary Ann was playing in the doorway one minute and the next minute she could not be found.” “In the heart breaking days that followed, I could not be comforted by my second child, Jimmie, nor by the thoughts of the expecting baby. All I could think of was my little Mary Ann in her blue pinafore, her bright pigtails hanging over her shoulders.” “Tracks of Indian ponies were found leading out of the river, and it was thought that the indians had stolen our little girl to sell to another tribe. The hunt continued far and wide for traces of the child, but it was to no avail. Scouts were sent out from Salt Lake City, but the search was futile.” “More than a year had passed, during which time all of Southern Utah had kept on the outlook. Jim and I decided to move to Arizona with the next covered wagon train, in the company of Andrew Gibbons who later married Nancy Nobles. In this company were to be ten adults, at least eleven children, six wagons, twenty horses, besides a few head of cows and calves.” “Your pa and I one the last night, sat in front of the fire, half in the dark, thinking about the move, and thinking of our lost baby.” “Suddenly a dark face was pressed against the window. I screamed in terror, while Jim crouched in readiness by the window. I dragged Jimmy back behind the bed, out of sight. Then unexpectedly there came a tapping at the door: One, One-two; One, One-two; One, One-two.” “That is old Coog’s knock Jim! The one he used when he was here sick.” “Jim crawled toward the door, and signaled back, then slid the bolt expecting Choog to come in, but instead the Indian thrust a small Indian child through the door. Me bring you Indian Papoose, he said, then disappeared into the dark.” “There stood a little Indian girl, in ragged clothing with tangled hair, looking from one to the other with blinking eyes.” “He’s brought us an Indian child to take the place of ours! I don’t want an Indian child. She can’t take the place of ours! I bet she is lousy, too. Go call him back, and make him take her!” “Jim hunted around outside, but Choog had gone for good.” “We’ll have to keep her overnight. We’ll comb her hair out with coal-oil, heat water on the fireplace and bath her and let her sleep in one of Mary Ann’s clean night gowns. We’ll put her clothing outside the house for the night.” “ As a last thing, I started braiding her hair. All this time the child stood silent, and stoical. Now as I combed through the hair on her neck, the comb caught and she put her hand to the back of her neck. I looked closer to see what had obstructed the comb.” “Jim, come here! Look at this! Then I tumbled over on the floor. Jim lifted me onto the bed and bathed my face in cool water until I revived. What is the matter, my Girl?” “I parted the child’s hair, and there at the edge of the neck was the long dark mole! Mary Ann’s birthmark. Jim held the lamp close to her face. Her eyes were blue. We knew the little Indian girl was Mary Ann, stained brown with wild berries, her hair dyed black with walnut bark.” “Mary Ann, have you forgotten how to talk? Have you forgotten your mother and father?” “I sat rocking the child back and forth, while Jim tried to induce her to talk.’ “I thought her hair felt finer when I was combing the coal-oil through it, than any I have ever felt on an Indian.” “Look, the dye was worn off her armpits. She was white under her arms.” “It won’t take the dye many weeks to wear off. The Indians keep it renewed every day or two, after they steal a white child. We carried her over to the bed, and showed her the little brother. When she saw Jimmy she started to cry, and commenced a jargon we could not understand. It took us an hour to quiet her.” “They made her talk “Indian talk, Jim told me.” “The news of Mary Ann’s restoration spread rapidly up and down Long Valley. The settlers crowded around to see her and to discuss the circumstances surrounding her return to her parents.” “They were all agreed that Choog himself had not stolen her, but that he had rescued her for us because we had taken care of him when he was sick.” “Overjoyed with Mary Ann’s return, we lovingly called her, ‘Our little Indian girl,’ as we strove to become acquainted with her all over again.” OTHER JOLLEYS LEAVE MOUNT CARMEL In 1894 the sons of William Jackson Jolley began moving to Tropic in Garfield County, north and east of Mount Carmel. They were among the first settlers there. There were good opportunities for farming and livestock raising. Bryant Heber Jolley Jr. moved back to Dixie. The Henry I and Temperance Jolley Young family was well established at Mona, Juab County. The Dennis and Diana Jolley Jones Dorrity families were located at Kanosh, Millard County and at Joseph in Sevier County. The Washington Lafayette Jolley family had remained in Washington in Dixie. Sarah Pippin Jolley with her younger children were permanently located at Moroni, in Sanpete County, while her daughter, Sarah Ann Hatch had remained at Salem in Utah County. Reuben Manning Jolley Jr. maintained a home in Beaver, and also had a large ranch in Grass Valley in Piute County. SILVER REEF AND SOUTHERN UTAH PROSPERITY Soon after the Jolleys had settled in Long Valley silver was discovered at Silver Reef. As early as 1875 a shipment of bullion to Salt Lake City brought $7,000.00. This was the beginning of a boom which made a good market for wheat, corn, and beef produced in southern Utah. Silver Reef lies about 320 miles south of Salt Lake City in Washington County. It sets on a red sandstone formation at the base of dull, red sandstone ledges with the lofty Pine Valley Mountains in the background to the north. The Reef is on a slightly elevated plateau overlooking the Virgin River Basin. The area is in the shape of a horse shoe, practically surrounded by higher sandstone plateaus. Production of silver increased form 371,777.88 ounces in 1877 to 866,702.33 ounces in 1879 with a value of 2-½ million dollars. It is estimated that the Silver Reef produced between 18 to 25 million dollars. The principal producers were: the Stromont, Buckeye, Kerr and Last Chance Mines. The population of Silver Reef at its peak in 1879 was probably 1500 people. By 1890 operations had practically ceased and the plague of a ghost town settled about. Quoting from a letter written at Mount Carmel in 1878 by Brittanna Mayo Jolley to her sister, Mary Belcher, in North Carolina we read, “The money is already made, all we have to do is to dig it out of the ground. We live near Leeds and the Silver Mines. We can sell all or produce very readily for cash. Our wheat is worth one dollar and fifty cents per bushel, corn one dollar and twenty five cents per bushel, All other produce in proportion. Beef is worth five cents per pound. We don’t have to feed our stock, they winter out and keep in good flesh the year around. We can raise from 20 to 50 bushel of wheat per acres and corn about the same.” Good markets for beef and field crops and with ample rainfall brought prosperity to the Jollys for about twenty year, from about 1873 to 1893. The Washington Cotton Industry also added to the prosperity of these years. Then the crash came. The silver mines began to play out. The Cleveland Silver Policy was the death knell to Silver Reef. With the coming of the railroad to Utah, cotton shipments from the east brought competition that the Dixie producers could not meet. By 1900 the cotton industry was about to finish in Southern Utah. The free trade policies of the Cleveland Administration also permitted Australian wool to flood the U. S. market, thus defeating the growth of the wool industry in Southern Utah. My father, Bryant Heber Jolley Jr., related that he hauled wool from the Jolley sheep to Salina from Mount Carmel and sold it for five cents a pound. These conditions caused the Jolleys at this time to favor the protective tariff and for this reason they joined the Republican party. Many are still loyal Republicans. The fourth and final blow to the prosperity of Southern Utah was the terrible drouth that hit in the 1890’s. The ranges were depleted. Even water for the livestock was insufficient. Cattle, horses, and sheep by the thousands died from thirst and starvation. A pall fell over Mount Carmel. To move away was on everybody’s lips. Finally, with the death of H. B. M. Jolley, a dynasty closed. The inspiration and leadership that had held the Jolleys together at Mount Carmel was gone. Soon the big move was on. EXPLORING FOR A PLACE TO MOVE Uncle Haskell S. Jolley had explored the area in Arizona, Mexico, and Canada. Apostle Francis M. Lyman on one of his visits to Mount Carmel recommended the Big Horn Basin in Wyoming as having good possibilities for colonization. In 1899 Uncle Haskell, following his suggestion, journeyed to the Big Horn. On his return he gave glowing reports of the grazing and farming possibilities there. The decision to move was reached and preparations went steadily forward to leave Mount Carmel and to settle in Wyoming. THE MOVE TO WYOMING On the 5th of November 1900 the Haskell S. Jolley, the Lorenzo Jolley, and Edward and Minerva Jolley Whetstone families headed for Milford, Utah, where they had freight car reservations for their household goods and their horses. It took five days to make the trip. Harvey Moncur and George Averett rode with the animals and freight. The departing families rode in a passenger car on the train. The railroad ended at Bridger, Montana, so the remainder of the distance had to be traveled in covered wagons and on horseback. Upon their arrival at Bridger the Jolleys were greeted by a raging blizzard. For three days they found shelter with a Mormon family until the storm abated. After the freight cars arrived with the horses and wagons the real journey was begun. The route took them to Bowler Gap where they stayed for a month. On December 23, they moved on to Frannie where they camped until February. As spring began to break the pioneers continued on to Lovell in the Big Horn Basin. The Jolley cattle were trailed to the Big Horn by Jim and Byron Jolley. The route followed was north through Long Valley, Garfield County, Sevier, Juab, and Utah Counties, up Provo Canyon past Kimball’s Junction to Coalville on the Weber River, to Echo Junction, up the Weber and over the divide to Evanston, Wyoming. They were now on the old Mormon trail which their grandparents had traveled fifty years before. They followed this route up and through the South Pass to Lander, then north to Lovell. The grass for the cattle was good the whole distance. Richfield, Utah, was the only place where they had to buy feed. The future looked good in the new land and home building began. THE BIG MOVE On June 23, 1903, the big and final exodus of the Jolleys from Mount Carmel begun. The Nephi and Frances Jolley Moncur and the Reuben Kenneth Jolley families headed their big company north toward Wyoming. It was a big outfit having many covered wagons loaded with household goods and family members. A great herd of cattle and some horses were also in the caravan. At Monroe, the Joseph Lehi Jolley family joined in the big move. The caravan was now more than a mile long with hundreds of head of livestock. At Echo Junction the Joseph Lehi Jolley family left the big company traveling down the Weber River while the main group headed up the River toward Wyoming. The following is a quote from a letter written by Louise Jolley, a member of this caravan. “Echo Canyon July 19, 1903 “We are at the forks of Echo Canyon and Weber River and we got here last night. We will stay here three or four days ‘til the cattle come, then we will cut out our cattle and follow down the Weber River. Uncle Rube’s all went on up Echo Canyon today for the Big Horn Country.” “We have passed lots of fine country, nicer than we expected to see. We are in a few miles of the line of Wyoming. When we were in Heber City the people came down and played and sang for us.” “The train passes through here every few minutes day and night. Last night we had a stampede with the horses when the train came through here.” “We are camped here where old Lott Smith Stampeded the soldiers the time they were following the Mormons on the old Emigrant Road. It is seven miles back to Coalville and we will be here about a week.” Helen Minser Jolley, daughter-in-law of Reuben Kenneth Jolley describes the journey as follows: “The family left Mt. Carmel to move to Lovell, Wyoming, June 23, 1903. Jim, helped drive their cattle through, and didn’t arrive until October. I rode with the family as far as Marysvale. The cattle herd started out a week ahead of the wagons. When we caught up with the cattle herd Jim sent me on the train ahead. My brother and Uncle Elijah Thaxton and family were there so I had folks to stay with until Jim’s folks arrived in August.” “One of the stories Jim has told me many times, was the difficulty they had driving the cattle through the towns up through the middle and northern part of Utah. At one place, the city officials met them some distance from the town and ordered them to drive the cattle through the outskirts. This would have caused more delay and trouble. If the officials had been more lenient, they would have tried to meet them halfway, but they wouldn’t budge. Jim told them he would see a lawyer and find out for himself if it were unlawful for them to drive cattle through the town. They won out and drove the cattle through. Another time, when they were up in the Wind River Country they encountered a band of thieves, who took off with a few head of the cattle. But they had been alerted for these men and were watching out for them. The thieves got a few minutes start, however, by getting past the night watchers. Jim and Pete Schow were after them in a short time with loaded guns. The thieves realizing their lives were in danger fled and the cattle was reclaimed.” “The Winter of 1903-4 was an extremely hard one, with cold, snow, blizzards, and some of the toughest winds I have had the privilege of being in and enduring. It took the rest of October and most of November for Jim to get the cattle from Thermopolis, Wyoming, where they had left them for a while to rest and feed so that they could make the rest of the journey down on the Big Horn River where the Jolleys had bought the hay for winter. All the Jolleys suffered heavy losses of cattle by spring.” After spending the bitter Winter of 1903-4 in the Big Horn, Reuben Kenneth and Nephi Jolley and their sister, Frances Jolley Moncur, decide the climate was too cold, so they move to the Burley-Rupert area in Idaho where a big new project was opening up. The Snake River was to be dammed off to provide irrigation water for the choice fertile lands. These Jolleys left Wyoming in April 1904. There were 15 covered wagons, 300 head of cattle, and 40 horses with the three large families. Joseph Lehi Jolley had preceded them and operated a store, which was called “Daddy LaMar’s Grocery” in Rupert. The new settlers always having fine horses were leaders in the construction of the dams and canals. Burley and Rupert area received water from the big Minidoka Dam project. Today these communities are the center of Idaho’s leading farming areas. The area was inhabited by the Bannock and Shoshoni Indians before the white man came about 1811. Explorers Hunt, Ross, and Wyeth were early travelers in this area. Soon the Oregon Trail was a well-defined road down the south bank of the Snake River, over which the covered wagon and stage coaches were a common sight. The Jolleys obtained land and began to farm as soon as the water projects were completed. Today they are successful as farmers, cattlemen, and in business. Many of the descendants of Nephi, Reuben Kenneth, and Frances Jolley Moncur live in this part of Idaho today, while many of the descendants of William Jackson live in the Idaho Falls and Blackfoot areas in the Gem State. The pioneering period of the Henry Jolley Family in the West, beginning in 1850, had practically ended in 1907. An epoch had closed covering 57 years. The last major move was made when the Angelina Jolley Keel and Bryant Heber Jolley Sr. families with others moved into the Uinta Basin in 1905 and 1907. THE JOLLEYS HELP PIONEER UINTA BASIN Let us consider the land features of the Uinta Basin that we may better appreciate the problems and struggles of our early family members as they sought to settle and build homes in this untamed area. Most of the Uinta Basin lies in northeastern Utah. It comprises a huge bowl which lies in three states, Utah, Colorado, and Wyoming. The lofty Uinta mountains range forms the northern rim. Some of the elevations, such as King’s Peak, are over 13,000 feet high. From these lofty summits one can view a broken landscape that dazzles the imagination. Five hundred and fifty lakes have been cupped out among the towering peaks by glacial action during ages long past. These lakes are fringed with many varieties of spruce, pines, and firs interspersed with patches of quacking aspen. Gay, bright colored flowers cover the meadow land around the lakes. In the winter deep snow blankets the area. The western rim of the basin is formed by the Wasatch Mountains, while the Tavaputs Plateau makes the southern boundary. To the east are the mighty Rockies. The basin is located in what is generally known as the Colorado River drainage area. The Duchesne, Strawberry, Lake Fork, and Uinta Rivers and some creeks flow south eastward into the Green River, which empties into the mighty Colorado. On October 3, 1861, President Lincoln through proclamation set apart the basin as an Indian Reservation. The many primitive Indian relics and remains make the basin area a treasure land of old civilizations. Remain of the prehistoric bison, mastodons, dinosaurs and sloths have been found. 1n 1775 Father Garces and Juan Diag are supposed to have explored the area. Father Escalante, a Franciscan Friar, entered the basin on 3 September 1776. After crossing the Green River, he camped at Magas de S Franco, near the present site of Randlett. As he journeyed westward he came to the Rio San Doman River, now known as the Duchesne. He followed the river and camped at the present site of the city of Duchesne. Traders and trappers who were into the Uinta Basin during these early days were William Ashley, James D. Beckwourth, Thomas Fitz Patrick, and Robert Campbell. By an act of Congress 27 May 1902 A.D. all unallocated lands in the Uintah Indian Reservation in Utah were thrown open for entry, “all lands shall be restored to Public Domain. Provided that persons entering any of said lands, under the Homesteaders Law, shall pay therefore at the rate of one dollar and twenty-five cents per acre.” President Theodore Roosevelt declared the land open to entry 28 August 1905. Registration for land drawing was set for Tuesday 1 August 1905 at Vernal, Price, and Provo, Utah. The drawing was to begin at 9 A.M. on 28 August 1905. The Vernal Land Office opened in Vernal Courthouse 10 July 1905 with Charles De Moisy of Provo as register in preparation for the drawing which would be held on 28 August 1905. There was quite a mad rush as men, often with their families, sped to the basin to homestead their drawings. Many people never entered the basin to claim their land. After six months default, the claim was subject to filing by another. The writer had no knowledge of members of the Jolley family having original drawings, but many of them entered the basin soon after the opening and filed on defaulted claims. Among those settlers in the area soon after the opening were: Steven and Malinda Jolley Wilson and Elijah Potter families at Hayden: William Keel, James Keel, Joseph Nielson, Ray Beal, and Chris Larsen families at Antelope: the Francis Marian Ross family at Arcadia; The Bryant Heber Jolley Sr. family including his sons, Bryant Heber Jolley Jr., Joseph Allen Jolley, Alma Franklin Jolley, Riley Taylor Jolley, and daughter, Gatsey and her husband, Silas E Hutchings at Blue Bench; also Williamson Wesley Jolley Jr. at Duchesne and Blue Bench; William T. Jolley at Strawberry; and the Robert Hicks family at Roosevelt. The Erastus and Arilla Jolley Bastian family settled at Hayden. Francis Marian Jolley went to the Blue Bell area while the John and Richard Keel families settled at Duchesne and Uthan. Finally the parents of the Keel children, Thomas and Angelina Jolley Keel, moved to the basin when they were in the declining years and both are buried in Neola, Utah. Today many of the descendants of these hardy, pioneers are living successfully in the area. Others failed in their attempt to make the “Desert blossom as the rose.” One place in particular refused to be tames, namely the Blue Bench. This is a wide expanse of bench land stretching northeast from Duchesne. The soil was rich and inviting but the water problem was impossible. After years of homesteading, $250,000 was borrowed from “Uncle” Jesse Knight of Provo to build a canal reaching from Rocky Creek on the upper Duchesne River along the hillside to the thirsty benchland. But nature in its soil and rock deposits during the creative period had caused an abundance of shale and soap stone formation to make up the hillside. As soon as it became wet from the canal water, it would slide out, often a quarter to a half mile to a stretch, then flood down over the farms below, making them useless. Besides the loss of the canal and crops, there were damage suits brought against the Bench people for loss of land and crops destroyed by the slides. Finally the canal was flumed but the slight seeping from it was sufficient to cause the footing to give way and out would go great stretches of flume letting the rushing water play havoc with the lands below. After years of failure, the settlers, having sunk all their wealth into the project, finally gave up. They all sold out to the Jesse Knight Interests. After a few years the Knight Interests also gave up the project as a hopeless venture. Today the once promised Blue Bench area had gone back wild to nature, inhabited by the jack rabbit, the rattlesnake, and the crafty coyote, as it originally was when the basin was thrown open for entry sixty years ago. From 1899 to 1903 the rest of the Jolleys left Mount Carmel with the exception of William Jackson Jolley and Aunt Mary Mayo Belcher Jolley. Aunt Mary died in 1903 and Uncle William in 1905. Thereafter only the Jolleys sleeping in the Mount Carmel Cemetery remained. Today the Jolley Family members are scattered all over the United States, but most of them are living in the West. The greater number lived in Utah, Idaho, Wyoming, and California. However, there are goodly numbers in Nevada, Arizona, Washington, Oregon, and Colorado.

The following was contributed by Helen Minser Jolley, wife of James Bryant Jolley, who was the oldest son of Reuben K. and Emma Ann Pace Jolley. She lives at 1106 West 7th North Salt Lake City, Utah. The Jolleys owned considerable numbers of livestock, horses, cattle, and sheep while they lived at Mt. Carmel. They owned a ranch up in the mountains. They called it The Big Meadows and they lived on this ranch during the summer months for several years, and made cheese and butter for their winter use. The whole family were great for cheese and jerked meat, so they killed beef in the Fall and jerked lots of it. I remember spending a day or two with them on the ranch one summer and I have heard father (Reuben) say many times that if he had to go without butter, he wouldn’t mind, if he had plenty of cheese. And one of their traits in winter was sitting around the fireplace after all the evening chores were done. They would roast potatoes and have “jerky” (jerked meat) and cheese. In this way they passed the winter evenings. It was lots of fun. Father Jolley had a keen sense of humor and created a great deal of laughter at these gatherings. He was always ready to console anyone in trouble. He was left handed and I have listened with interest to the stories Jim has related about his dad using his “south paw” to quell riots. And now a word or two about Father Jolley’s wife, Emma. She was surely a good helper, and a good religious woman. I don’t have the dates for the following, but she was relief society president for several years. I believe she was acting in this capacity at the time they moved to Lovell, Wyoming. I remember our family was living on father’s ranch in the mountains, Hites Canyon, when Reuben Jolley family returned to Mt. Carmel from Arizona. It must have been about the 1888 or 1889, for I remember Jim came to our ranch with Uncle Milt Jolley one day when he (Uncle Milt) came to take my Aunt Sophronia to a dance. Jim drove a band of horses with some other men, Ben Cameron from Panguitch, Will Owen and some others. I can’t remember any of the others or if there were any. They were slower than the others and didn’t arrive for a week or more after the family. Jim’s sister Louise has a very keen memory and could tell me a lot more if I could visit her. She has failing eyesight though and can’t read or write. She doesn’t get around too well either. But she could tell me a lot more about these things. The family left Mt. Carmel and moved to Lovell, Wyoming June 23, 1903. Jim, as I told you helped drive their cattle through, and didn’t arrive until October. I rode with the family as far as Marysvale. The cattle herd started out a week ahead of the wagons. We caught up with the cattle herd and then Jim sent me on the train ahead. My brother was there and my Uncle Elijah Thaxton and family were there and Uncle Milt and family, so I had folks to stay with until Jim’s folks arrived in August. They built a log house with an upstairs so we all lived in it. Jim had to be gone so much that winter after he got there to look after the cattle. Many of then died in spite of the work and care he gave them. The men brought hay from down on the Big Horn River. They were cheated and this added to the tragedy. That winter of 1903-4 was an extremely hard one, with cold, snow, blizzards and some of the toughest winds I have had the privilege of being in and enduring. It took the rest of October and most of November for Jim to get the cattle from Thermopiles, Wyoming, where they had left them for a while to rest and feed so that they could make the rest of the journey down on the Big Horn River where the Jolleys had bought the hay for winter. It was while they were at Thermopiles that they separated the cattle into the different herds. Jolley’s Lethead’s and Pete Schow’s. It was about this time that an extremely cold spell came on and many of the cattle died. All the herds lost heavily. Jim has told me many of the incidents and near tragedies that happened to them while they were here. However, I must not create the wrong impression. While many things happened on this perilous journey with the cattle, it could have been much worse. They were not a small outfit. If they had been, the losses would have been much greater. They had a big outfit equipped with a cook and other help. There was Jims brother Nephi, Dave Norton (a local Mt. Carmel boy). These are the only ones whose names I can remember. It was Lome (Lomand) Leathead’s oldest son who had most of the responsibility for Leathead’s share of the help. One of the stories Jim had told me many times, was the difficulty they had driving the cattle through the towns up through the middle and northern part of Utah. At one of these towns, the city officials met them some distance from the town and ordered them to drive the cattle through the outskirts of the town. This would have caused more delay and trouble. If the officials had been more lenient, they would have tried to meet them half way. But they wouldn’t budge. Jim told them he would see the cattle through the town. They won out and drove the cattle through the town. Another time, when they were up in the Wind River Country the encountered a bunch of thieves, who took of with a few head of the cattle. But they had been alerted for these men and were watching out for them. The thieves got a few minutes start, however, by getting past the night watchers. Jim and Pete Schow were after them in a short time with loaded six-shooters. When the thieves saw how close they were to being shot, they left the cattle and took to the woods. These are only two of the many trials and hardships the men encountered. It was early in November when Mary came home from M.I.A. She had a burning red spot on her cheek and I realized now she was running a high temperature. By morning she was a very sick girl and needed a doctor, but the nearest one that I remember was at Bason City, a long distance from Lovell. I realize now the folks couldn’t believe she was in as serious condition as she was. However her mother and I stayed with her day and night and did everything we could to help her. At last we had the Elders come in but it was too late. God had another mission for her. There were so many died that winter from this same disease. It was a hard, sad time for Father and Mother Jolley and the rest of us as a family. When it was so that Jim could be home he and I slept our in his cold camp wagon. About January first, 1904, Jim learned that his cousin Nephi Keel had taken a contract to build a number of miles of canal from the Billings Land and Irrigation Company Canal in Montana. Jim and I, his brother Byron Jolley and wife Francis and son Ellis, his brother Nephi and John Jolley, Uncle Wesley, John, his wife Druie and their small daughter, there were several others from Lovell but I fail to remember their names. The winter turned out to be so cold and so much snow, the work was held up until the fist part of April. Cousin Neaf as he was familiarly known, rented an apartment out from Billings about a mile from Mr. and Mrs. Clarance Page, they had another two room apartment so Jim and I rented it. When the weather moderated and the frost went out of the ground, work began in earnest and everyone was ready and anxious to get started. Cousin Neaf asked me if I would do the cooking for his single men. I accepted his offer and began the job in our two room apartment until he could establish his camp closer to the work. I must not fail to mention Cousin Neaf’s wife Martha Keel. They had two children, Fenton and Maud, and expected the third which was born (a girl) sometime in March. The camp was located some miles North East of Billings. Here we all became Tent Dwellers, remember we were all pioneers facing the hardships of beginning new settlements and new projects, so everyone had to grin and like it. I think it was about May of 1904 when Father (Reuben) and Mother Jolley decided they couldn’t take any more of the Big Horn country, Father Jolley called it the GIPCOVERED LAND OF WYOMING…So they learned about the Big Dam and Project that we being started in the Twin Falls country of Idaho known as the Milner Dam. They sent word to boys Jim, Byron, and Nephi at Billings, wanting their son Nephi to come and help roundup what was left of the cattle and horses, after the winters scourge of death. I do not know how many they rounded up. It wasn’t long until Reuben Kenneth and family, his son William r. and his wife and three children, Wallace Moncur and Heber Moncur and their families were trekking out in their covered wagons headed for Idaho. There they found plenty of work at good wages (at that time) and soon R.K., as he was familiarly known, was eagerly engaged in his favorite job freighting with his four and six horse teams hauling freight from Kimmimia, Idaho the end of the railroad nearest to Twin Falls at that time. The other men with their teams were employed at the same work the remainder of that year 1904, and up to the last of February in 1905 when another tragedy struck at the family. One night when the men had returned from their trip to Kimmimis, their son William Reuben was taken suddenly ill and was soon raging with high fever (double Pneumonia) He passed away March 3, 1905, leaving a wife and three children, a very sad and difficult situation. But it had to be faced and I can say Father and Mother Jolley were truly courageous in facing all the trials and hardships they were called to go through during those trying years. I can say I never heard them complain or feel sorry for themselves, but went bravely on with the duties that lay ahead for them. It was a dad blow to Williams wife and children to be left there in that new land. I must mention here that he was taken to Oakley Cassia County where funeral services were held and he was laid to rest in that cemetery. Matilda, his wife, and children continued to stay with the folks. For several years she worked at some odd jobs she was able to obtain. Later she purchased a house and lot in Burley near to Father and Mother Jolley’s home. She lived there for a number of years when she decided to sell out and move to her home town (Glendale) in Southern Utah to be near her folks, and while many of them had passed on, she is still living near her 80th year (Matilda Jolley.) She has two daughters living, one at Henderson, Nevada and the other at Cedar City, Utah. He son Leslie passed away about the year 1924. The branch line of the Union Pacific was extended to Twin Falls in the early part of 1905 which terminated the freighting for the Jolley and Moncur families. But it was at this time the MINIDOKA PROJECT was getting started and the various contractors for building the big canals and establishing their camps over the vast area of sage and sand, so these families moved from Milner to the new town of Rupert and found plenty of work at what was known as Monarch and Porter’s Big Ditch Camp. It was June of 1906 when Father and Mother Jolley and family left Rupert buying a house and lot in Burley. A year or so later they bought a ranch in Howell’s Canyon, south west of Albion where they lived for several summers, coming back to Burley for winter. They later bought a 30 acre piece of land about 3 miles south of Burley where they lived the reminder of their lives. Father Jolley passed away March 16th 1923 after a long serious illness. Mother Emma followed him October 25, 1924.

Ogden Standard-Examiner Thursday, July 6, 1961 page 14A Pocatello - Two Salt Lake City women were killed in a traffic accident near here Wednesday, increasing Idaho's traffic toll this year to 97. Traffic deaths on this date in 1960 totaled 112. Officers said 42-year-old Emma Peck of Salt Lake City and Mrs. Peck's 81-year-old mother, Helen Marion Mizner, were killed and two others injured in the collision of a car and a concrete hauling truck near the Pocatello Municipal Airport. TWO OTHERS HURT They were riding in a car driven by Martin Peck, the younger woman's husband. He was slightly injured. A son, Michael Peck, was more seriously injured. The driver of the concrete truck, John C. Johnson, Idaho Falls, escaped injury. The deaths were the first traffic fatalities following the long Fourth of July holiday weekend when the state did not record any deaths by traffic accidents.

Idaho State Journal Thursday, July 6, 1961 page one & two Two Salt Lake City women died here Wednesday afternoon of injuries received in a car-truck traffic accident eight miles west of Pocatello on U.S. Highway 30. Both Mrs. Emma Jolley Peck, 42, and her mother, Mrs. Helen Marian Misner Jolley, 80, were former Pocatello residents. Mrs. Peck was killed almost instantly and her mother died 90 miutes later in St. Anthony Hospital. They had been visiting here earlier with Mrs. Peck's brother, Floyd D. Jolley, Kraft Road and were returning to Pocatello from an outing at Rupert when the accident happened. Also in the Peck car was Mrs. Peck's husband and son. Martin Leto Peck, 50, suffered bruises and lacerations and the son, Michael, 14, underwent surgery for an arm injury. Both were listed in fairly good condition today at St. Anthony Hospital. State Patrolman Paul H. Todd, one of those who investigated, said the Peck car and a gravel truck, operated by John C. Johnson, 41, Idaho Falls, were both eastbound. The gravel truck started to make*** ***a left turn to a gravel pit near the Todd said (sic). He said at the same time, the Peck vehicle attempted to pass the truck. The vehicles collided, Todd said, and the car was knocked out of control, overturning 1 1/2 times. Johnson was not hurt. The truck was damaged $150 to $200, but the Peck's 1953 model car was demolished. The accident occurred in Power County, and chief investigating officer was Al Bauers of the American Falls police. Others besides Todd assisting were State Patrolman Paul Shortt and Noole Taylor. Mrs. Helen Misner Joyyel (sic), 80, was born Oct. 7, 1880 in Rockville, Utah, to Alfred and Cherrizade Thaxton Misner. She was married to James B. Jolley on Sept. 18, 1900, and later received temple endowments from the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. They lived in Level, Wyo., and Billings, Mont. before moving to Rupert in 1904. Mrs. Jolley was a reporter for the Minidoka County News for 25 years when she lived in Rupert. Mr. Jolley died in Rupert on April 19, 1938. Mrs. Jolley moved to Pocatello in 1940 and lived here 16 years before moving to Salt Lake City with her daughter in 1956. Survivors include a son, Floyd Jolley, Kraft Road, and a daughter, Mrs. Helen Elkins, Oak Park, Ill. Also surviving are 17 grandchildren and 17 great-grandchildren. Funeral services for both Mrs. Jolley and Mrs. Peck will be Saturday at 11 a.m. in the Pocatello Third-Tenth Ward LDS Chapel. Manning Funeral Chapel will announce place and time of burial. Mrs. Emma Jolley Peck, 42, was born March 12, 1919 at Rupert. She was married to Martin I. Peck on Dec. 31, 1937 at Rupert and received temple endowments Sept. 21, 1938. Mr. Peck is employed in the stores department of Union Pacific Railroad. They lived in Rupert until 1940 and moved from Pocatello in 1955. Mrs. Peck was a member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints and was a member of the Moose Lodge auxiliary in Pocatello. Survivors are her husband and son, both of Salt Lake City and a daughter, Mrs. Don Billingsley, also of Salt Lake City. One grandchild also survives.

Idaho State Journal Friday, July 7, 1961 page two FUNERALS Peck and Jolley - Joint funeral services for Emma Jolley Peck, 42, and her mother, Helen Misner Jolley, 80, both of 1106 West Seventh North, Salt Lake City, who died in a traffic accident Wednesday, will be conducted at 11:00 a.m. Saturday, at the Third Ward Chapel with Bishop Ben Lusk officiating. Burial in the Rupert Cemetery will be under the direction of the Manning Funeral Chapel.