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Arizona Symposium: 1986
Introduction

The major subjects of Mormon history have been two: Church leaders, and pioneers. Until recently little has been said about the Mormon influence in the settlement of the West outside the areas of original colonization on the Wasatch Front. The fact that Church leaders directed settlement of the Great Basin to the north and to the south has been largely neglected by historians until recent years.

The sacrifices made by those called by Church leaders to give up existing comforts and begin anew are some of the most poignant stories of the West. Such were the challenges faced by those who explored and pioneered Arizona.

The first excursions into Arizona were made by Jacob Hamblin, who had been assigned to the Santa Clara mission in Southwestern Utah in 1854. During the late 1850s and early 1860s Hamblin visited the Navajo and Hopi Indians, attempting to preach the Gospel to them. Largely unsuccessful, these early efforts acquainted him with the Indian people, their customs and legends, and familiarized him with the land. He gained access to Arizona by establishing a ferry at the mouth of the Paria River in 1864.

The Mormons also used other crossings as they sought to settle Arizona. Two major crossings were El vade de Los Padres (Crossing of the Fathers, or Ute Ford), first used by Atanasio Dominguez and Felix Velez de Escalante in 1776; and Lee's Ferry, established at Lonely Dell in 1872.

In the early 1870s President Brigham Young commissioned Horton D. Haight to explore what later became Arizona, to see if settlements could be made in that part of the Great Basin. In 1873 Haight reported to Church leaders that the region was unfit for settlement. However, in October 1875, Brigham Young commissioned a second expedition, under the leadership of James S. Brown, to reevaluate Haight's experience. Brown reported that settlements could be made. In 1876 he and others returned and made the first colonizing efforts along the Little Colorado River. Allen's Camp (later St. Joseph, or Joseph City), Sunset, Obed, Woodruff, and Snowflake resulted from these first efforts. While Sunset, Brigham City, and Obed proved to be temporary, the other settlements still exist today.

In 1877, Lehi and Mesa were settled along the Salt River, and expeditions were sent south along the Mexican border, where communities such as St. David were laid out in the 1880s on the San Pedro River. Further exploration and colonizing efforts were made along the Gila River to the east: Thatcher, Pima, Layton, Eden, and Matthewsville became settlements.

From these settlements, further expansion was launched into Old Mexico in 1885: Mormon colonies became established in the Mexican states of Sonora and Chihuahua. During the Mexican revolution that occurred shortly after the turn of the century, the Arizona settlements. became a haven for Mormon refugees who fled to the United States. While some returned and reestablished themselves in Chihuahua, others left Mexico forever and sealed in the Mormon settlements in Southern and South-eastern Arizona.