The Confluence

The Virgin River is a tributary of the Colorado River. The river is about 162 miles long.  It was designated Utah's first wild and scenic river in 2009, during the centennial celebration of Zion National Park..

Its origin is in Southwestern Utah, at Navajo Lake in the Dixie National Forest, north of Zion National Park, and is formed by the confluence of the East Fork Virgin River, that flows through Orderville on the east side of Zion National Park and Parunaweap Canyon, with the North Fork Virgin River, that flows from Navajo Lake through Zion Canyon in Zion National Park. The river flows in a southwesterly direction, passing south of the old townsite of St. George where the Santa Clara River joins the Virgin at a place the Paiutes called Tonaquint. The river then flows across the northwestern corner of Arizona through the Virgin River Gorge. It enters southern Nevada near the town of Mesquite and empties into the Colorado at the Lake Mead reservoir, approximately 40 miles east of Las Vegas. The last 30 miles of the Virgin River forms the north arm of Lake Mead.

When we were kids we sometimes played in the East Fork Virgin River that ran through our hometown and more specifically along the border of our Little Field where we planted alfalfa, a vegetable garden and fruit trees.  We bragged to each other that it was the head of the Virgin River.  Besides jumping in to cool off after picking peas from 5 ‘till 8 am, we always ran to the “crick” to watch the flash floods that put terror in our already rapidly beating hearts from the dash to witness the phenomenon.

Another summer activity was going out to the sheep herd with Daddy.  To get to "the Oaks", we took the North Fork Road where the North Fork Virgin River flows from Navajo Lake to meet the East Fork Virgin River originating in Orderville.

Recently, we spent a week in our house in SunRiver St. George.  As Amy and I rode our bikes along the partially washed out trail along the Virgin River between SunRiver and Bloomington, nearly every day we stopped to wade in the icy cold water of the Virgin River—the river that is a combination of many cherished childhood memories.

Somewhere stirring in my soul, I felt a confluence, a joining, a union, a meeting of my life; past and present.  It seemed to wrap things up for me.  The beginning and the end.

Amy's photo.  Taken from the bike trail in SunRiver looking towards Pine Mountain.

Told you the Virgin River flooded.  This trail was under water for months. 
My great grandparents, who heeded the call to settle the Muddy Mission,
had to cross the Virgin River eleven times over the worst roads in the Utah territory
to get their supply wagons (tithing) to St. George.
In March of 1870, Brigham Young visited the Muddy Mission.  
He was disappointed and wondered who would advise him
to send families to this "God-forsaken place."

And other things:  (Photography by Amy.)

This if a far cry from the original settlers along the Virgin River.
And far from my progenitors settling the Muddy
who, due to lack of timber,
 put bundles of cattails on their roofs which kept the sun out
but not the rain or sand.
One woman reported she swept up three bushels of sand from her house.
Summer temperatures 115-125 degrees.
An egg would roast in a short time lying on the sand.
By watering carrots in the morning,
they would be cooked by noon so that the skins
would just slip off as they pulled them.
Someone wrote,
"I've been very much amused to see the children
going home from school at noon.
They would take their bonnets, aprons, or some green brush if they had them
in their hands and run as far as they could,
throw them down and stand on them until their feet cooled off and
then run again."  No shoes down there.