Henry and Eliza Tanner's Trip to Arizona, Part 3

Another highlight of the crossing was the swimming of Mag, one of the white mares of the Tanner team. She was a marvelous swimmer and carried herself high in the water. One could ride her across a stream and scarcely get wet. [Ed.—Although that may have been the case with most streams in Arizona, whether or not you were riding Mag!] She was hitched to the boat which carried the supplies and furnished much of the motive power. She is reported to have made seven round trips in one day for this purpose.

A near tragedy occurred during the crossing when [Edwin] Lycurgus Westover [1845-1877] who was not as experienced a horseman as Henry and some of the others was swept from his horse into the fast moving waters. But being a fairly strong swimmer, he managed to cheat the river and make it to shore.

After the successful crossing, Mr. Pearce offered to take them for a moonlight ride in the ferry. One of the Hunt girls had a guitar and played very well. It was reported that Mr. Pearce was so carried away by the feminine company and the entrancing music that he almost let the boat go into the rapids which would have resulted in serious consequences.


Excerpts from George S. Tanner, Henry Martin Tanner: Joseph City Arizona Pioneer, 1964, pp 15-16. Some minor editing corrections made to the text.

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Photo of the Colorado River downstream from the Hoover Dam from www.flickr.com/photos/sovietuk/28236646/.