As I backed up I heard the buzz of a rattler somewhere close behind me…
Recently I was searching through familysearch.org looking up the men who had given me the last name Merrell. I found a story that talked about Porter William Merrell my third great grandpa. It told about his life and his experiences of the family moving out to Uintah County, Utah.
They were originally from Paradise Utah up in Cache County. One of his jobs was cutting hay with a scythe. The story I read said he was one of the best workers and he could cut five acres of hay in a day. Although he was being paid to do all this work, he wanted to strike out on his own. So he got with Jerome his brother-in-law and they set out for Uintah County in Utah. They traveled by wagon headed for the desert.
Moving across the deserts of Utah they followed the rivers and decided settle several miles up the White River from where it flows into the Green River. They moved up the river and started clearing the banks of the river so they could start growing their crops. The story continued and said that they built cabins for their families, presumably from the cottonwoods that line the river. They put a dam in the river and started irrigating the crops.
As a family we hunted deer out on the white river. It made me wonder if that cabin was along that section of the river. Would the cabin still be there? I thought I might be able to see something over on the river. So I pulled up Google Earth and started following the white river. All I could tell from the maps was that it was a desert out there and not much vegetation outside of the river valley. The desert surrounding the river was covered in oil wells.
Then I started looking around at some of the pictures of the area. They are marked with blue dots on the maps. It was absolutely amazing when I clicked on one of the blue dots and there was a picture of a cabin. It was right were they said they had lived.
I was so excited I could hardly stand it. This could be their cabin. So I decided to go out and visit the next time we were going that way.
We had a family reunion in Vernal so we got going a little early so we could go and find the cabin. There were paved roads and bridges most of the way to the cabin. As we got closer to the cabin we started seeing wild horses, including two that were fighting. We were truly getting a pure western experience.
The paved roads got us close and the oil well roads took us right to the cabin. I was able to use Google Maps to get me as close to the cabin as possible and then Google Earth to see the dirt roads that got us right to the cabin.
We walked over to the cabin and I had Sharlee (my wife) take a picture of me in front of the cabin. I was holding the baby and as I backed up to the cabin I heard the buzz. There was a rattle snake close and I stared running and jumping to get away. Then I had to find the snake when I knew I was safe. The 18 inch rattle snake that slid into a hole under the cabin rattling the entire way. It made me think twice and watch where I step the rest of the time we were at the cabin. I also got to see into Porter’s experiences with his family. They probably came across lots of rattle snakes.
It must have been hard to move out to the middle of the desert where the only thing to great you are wild horses and rattle snakes. It was amazing to find that cabin and experience and see a little into the lives of the people that gave me so much. I am not sure that the cabin was really the one that this group built but I am still researching it and I will share more as I do more research.
If you want to learn more about how to use Google Earth, you can read this how to book.
