CONNECTIONS

Interesting research in all these names on this sandstone rock brought two of these inscriptions together. In a few posts on down from this one is one which mentions Miss Baley; this one connects their stories together. There are three men's names in these pictures, all were written close together at the same time. P. H. Williamson, Isaac Holland, and John Udell, they were members of the first emigrant wagon train to try this route to get to California in 1858. The original caravan consisted of forty families and was led by L. J. Rose, who was born in Germany. At El Morro these three left their inscriptions and then moved on to the Colorado River. There they were attacked by Mojave Indians. Because of journals kept by the emigrants, we know that survivors of the attack, including Rose, the Baley sisters, and Udell and his wife who were both in their sixties, walked most of the way back to New Mexico to wait out the winter. As for the other names, apparently there was not any definitive history.