San Juan Expedition
Coordinates: 37°15′25″N 110°54′04″W / 37.257°N 110.901°W
The San Juan Expedition (also known as the San Juan Mission or the Hole-in-the-Rock Expedition) was a group of Mormon settlers intent on establishing a colony in what is now southeastern Utah, in the western United States. Their difficult passage through the deep canyons of the Colorado River represents the ingenuity and determination needed during the country's era of western exploration and settlement.
After arriving in the Salt Lake Valley in 1847, the Mormons had expanded their settlements throughout central and southeastern Utah. In 1878 the leaders of their church decided to establish a new colony in a remote area to the east of the Colorado River, in what is now the Four Corners Area. They appointed Silas S. Smith, Jens Nielson and others as the leaders of the planned settlement expedition. They scouted possible sites, deciding on the fertile valley of Montezuma Creek just north of the San Juan River. Routes to the new settlement were also scouted, including the established path of the Old Spanish Trail and a long route around the southern rim of the Grand Canyon.
The expedition decided, however, to use a more direct (but largely unknown) route that would be hundreds of miles shorter. They would travel through the relatively benign terrain near the Escalante River, find a way to cross the Colorado River, and then negotiate the mesas and canyons on the other side.
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