With blasting powder and tools, working most of December and January of
1879-80, they (pioneers) cut a precipitous, primitive road into the face of
the canyon precipice.
With this roadbed ...the task was now to get the first 40 wagons down the
"Hole."
Twenty men and boys would hold long ropes at the back of each wagon. The
wheels were then brake-locked with chains, allowing them to slide (while)
avoiding the catastrophe of the wheels actually rolling.
In one of the great moments of pioneer history, one by one the company
took the wagons down the treacherous precipice. When, miracle of miracles,
they reached the canyon floor, they eagerly started to ferry across the river
with a flatbed boat they had fashioned for that purpose. As it turned out, the
Joseph Stanford Smith family was the last wagon to descend that day.
Stanford Smith had systematically helped the preceding wagons down, but
somehow in their one-by-one success and consequent disappearance, the
others apparently forgot that Brother Smith's family would still need help as
the tail enders. Deeply disturbed that he and his family seemed abandoned,
... (Stanford) stood for a moment and looked down the treacherous "Hole."
(He) turned to his wife and said, "Belle, I am afraid we can't make it."
"We must make it," she replied.
"If we only had a few men to hold the wagon back we might make it," he
said.
"I'll do the holding back. We will make it," she said.
Positioning herself behind the wagon, Belle Smith grasped the reins of the
horse hitched to the back of the rig.
Stanford started the team down the "Hole." The wagon lurched downward.
With the first jolt the rear horse and Sister Smith were literally catapulted
into the air. Recovering, she hung back, pulling on the lines with all her
strength and courage. A jagged rock cut a cruel gash in her leg from heel to
hip. The horse behind the wagon fell to his haunches. The half-dead animal
was literally dragged most of the way down the incline. That gallant woman,
clothes torn, with a grievous wound, hung on to those lines with all her
might and faith, and with her husband muscled that wagon the full length
of the incline all the way to the river's edge.
On reaching the bottom, and almost in disbelief at their accomplishment,
Stanford immediately raced (1,300) feet back up to the top of the cliff
fearful for the welfare of the children. When he climbed over the rim, he
saw his three children literally unmoved from the position their mother
had placed them in.
Carrying the baby, with the other two children clinging to him and to each
other, he led them down the rocky (path) to their anxious mother below. At
that point, in the distance they saw five men moving toward them carrying
chains and ropes.
The Smiths had been missed from the larger party. Realizing the plight they
were in, these men were coming to help.
Stanford called out, "Forget it fellows ... (Belle) here is all the help a (man)
needs (to make this journey)."
