The Honeymoon Trail

"Lee's Ferry" by Gonzo fan2007 - Own work. Licensed under GFDL via Wikimedia Commons - https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Lee%27s_Ferry.JPG#/media/File:Lee%27s_Ferry.JPG

After the construction of the Temple in St. George, Utah, many of the young couples (and older ones also) traveled from the Mormon settlements in Arizona to St. George to get married. The route they traveled became known as the "Honeymoon Trail" from an article written by historian and Arizona newspaper writer, Will C. Barnes in the Arizona Highways magazine. The "trail" ran roughly from St. George to Hurricane, Utah and then up the Hurricane Cliff and along the base of the cliffs to Fredonia in Arizona. The parties then generally stopped in Kanab and then to Lee's Ferry on the Colorado River. The very rough trail then led south to the Little Colorado River and then followed the Little Colorado into the colonies in Northern Arizona. The trails varied in Arizona but had to all cross the Colorado River at Lee's Ferry or further west at Pearce's Ferry. The northern route was preferred as shorter and more populated. Using a satellite view, most of the trail from Lee's Ferry to the Little Colorado River can still be seen.

Many of my own relatives traveled the "Honeymoon Trail." Here is a photo of my Grandfather, Leroy Parkinson Tanner, and his mother, Margaret Godfrey Jarvis Overson, probably taken while they were traveling from St. Johns, Arizona to St. George, Utah. I am guessing that this was taken by my grandmother, Eva Margaret Overson Tanner. From the time of the photo and the age of the people, it was also likely around the time that my grandfather and grandmother got married in 1923.

They would have had to have crossed the Colorado River at Lee's Ferry because the bridge over the river was not built until 1929. I do not know the identify of the lady on the left in the photo.

Here is a selection of books and documents about the Honeymoon Trail.

Barnes, Will C. “The Honeymoon Trail to Utah...” Arizona Highways, 1934, 6–7.

Byrkit, James W. “Honeymoon Trial.” [Medford, Ore.]: Benchmark Maps, 1998.

Elkins, Richard Ira, and Laura Lee Smith. The Honeymoon Trail: [a Pioneer Story for Young People]. Salt Lake City, UT: Speciality Press, 1987.

Garret, H. Dean, Clark V Johnson, Brigham Young University, and Department of Church History and Doctrine. Regional Studies in Latter-Day Saint Church History, Arizona. Provo, Utah: Dept. of Church History and Doctrine, Brigham Young University, 1989.

Pauley, Jane, and Bob Dotson. Mormon Newlyweds Reenact Honeymoon Trail. New York: NBCUniversal Media, LLC., 1982.

Ricketts, Norma B. Northern Arizona Mormon Pioneers Collection, 1735.

Ricketts, Norma B, David B Haight, Marshall Trimble, James W Byrkit, and International Society Daughters of Utah Pioneers. Arizona’s Honeymoon Trail and Mormon Wagon Roads. Mesa, Ariz.: Maricopa East Co., International Society, Daughters of Utah Pioneers, 2001.

Ricketts, Norma B, Beatrice B Malouf, and Daughters of Utah Pioneers. Pioneer Potpourri. [Salt Lake City, Utah]: Daughters of Utah Pioneers, 1994.

Wiggins, Lou Jean S, and Daughters of Utah Pioneers. Utah Pioneers in Southern Arizona: Gila River River Valley and San Pedro River Valley. [Salt Lake City, Utah]: Daughters of Utah Pioneers, 2008.

Young, Valerie P. “The ‘Honeymoon Trail’: Link to Community and a Sense of Place in the Little Colorado River Settlements of Arizona, 1877-1927,” 2005.