This is an archived article that was published on sltrib.com in 2016, and information in the article may be outdated. It is provided only for personal research purposes and may not be reprinted.

The Hole in the Rock Foundation, a non-profit organization formally chartered in 2006, was created expressly to preserve the trail and tell the story of the hardy pioneers who settled in Bluff in the spring of 1880.

This foundation has made application to purchase one section of land from the State of Utah School and Institutional Trust Lands Administration (SITLA), which manages the land on behalf of the public education system. The section is located six miles west of Bluff, along State Route 163, and includes a portion of the geological feature known as Comb Ridge.

In the spring of 1880, a group of Mormon pioneers arrived in what is now known as Bluff. Their arrival was preceded by a nearly six-month journey, which took them down the Hole In The Rock crevice into the Colorado River gorge, the name of which has been associated with those pioneers ever since.

These pioneers were described by former University of Utah history professor David E. Miller:

"In all the annals of the West, replete with examples of courage, tenacity and ingenuity, there is no better example of the indomitable pioneer spirit than that of the Hole-in-the Rock expedition of the San Juan Mission. No pioneer company ever built a wagon road through wilder, tougher, more inhospitable country, still one of the least-known regions in America. None ever demonstrated more courage, faith, and devotion to a cause than this group of approximately 250 men, women and children with some 80 wagons and hundreds of loose cattle and horses who cut a wagon passage through 200 miles of this country."

The foundation's interest in purchasing this particular section of trust land relates directly to one of its primary purposes: to educate young and old about the history and current relevance of this story. This property is significant because it allows participants to literally walk in the footsteps of those original pioneers, to see and feel and experience, on the ground, what those early pioneers saw and felt as they struggled to cross the terrain on their way to Bluff. At a time when so much learning comes through a computer screen, the foundation intends to expand its ability to provide opportunities for hands-on learning.

This particular piece of property is also significant because it is representative of the types of terrain these pioneers traversed, and the foundation is very much committed to fulfilling another expressed main purpose: to preserve the trail. The foundation's board of trustees, composed of genealogical descendants of the original Hole in the Rock pioneers, has a direct and compelling interest in preserving the integrity of this particular parcel because it is representative of so much of that original pioneer trail. The Hole in the Rock Foundation is preparing to bid on this section of land at the SITLA fall auction.

If the Foundation is successful in purchasing the subject property, it fully intends to protect this property in its present condition and preserve its historic use and its representation of the rugged terrain traversed by the original pioneers who settled Bluff and its surrounding countryside.

Lynn Stevens is a former San Juan County commissioner and a member of the Hole in the Rock Foundation's board of directors.