Told briefly in the words of eye witnesses. (The numbers in parenthesis following the various statements, refer to references given below.)
"The Mormon Colony began the construction of the Sidon Canal on May 28, 1900 at 10:40 A.M. The project was under the direction of Apostle Owen Woodruff. The construction was done under the supervision of Byron Sessions. "We were working on that part of the ditch nearly two and one half miles below the point of diversion from the Shoshone River. There was a large rock, jutting out of the ground, just below a perpendicular rock cliff, right where the canal was to be excavated." (2) "It stood about eight feet above the ground. It was approximately 20 feet long. No one knew how far it extended into the ground." (3). "The large stone leaned to the southeast, away from the cliff." (2) "The rock, as I remember, did have a crevice in it." (4)
President Sessions said, "We'll just scrape a large hole to the side ofcthis rock, then put in a shot and blow it over in the hole" (1). "There was some concern for the safety of the men and horses as the sand around the huge rock was being scraped away." (2) "it was on his mind for at least two weeks and I know he was worried for fear some one would get hurt." (4) "In the regular morning 'Prayer Circle' the Lord was asked to bless the men that they might be successful in moving the rock and that the men and horses would be protected from accident." (2)
"The boys who were working there were: William Simmons, Jr., Henry Horn, John Meeks, Joe Meeks, Wilder Hatch, Henry Herget, (4). "President Byron Sessions and George Easton," (5). "Jim George, a son of the President, (Byron Sessions) (1), "Vasco Call, Bert Nebeker--David Robertson was the Boss over that group of men" (3), "Dan Davis" (2). "Some of these men drove teams, others worked as single hands" (3).
"After scraping out this hole with three teams for a day or two they encountered other smaller rocks in the hole. Some were too large for the teams to pull out. There were three men besides the teamsters trying to break these rocks so the teams could pull them out, but with poor success"
(1). "When the hole was about ten feet deep--a son of the President said, "We'll never get this rock down. We just as well give it up." This seemed to anger his father (Byron Sessions) who said, "I prophesy in the name of Israel's God that that rock will not be in there tomorrow at this time." Jim George, one of the men working there turned his back to President Sessions and faced me, pulled out his watch and said, "Let's test him out. It's just four P.M.” We went on working, not paying any more attention to what had been said. Next day we had about twenty feet of this rock exposed about eight feet above the surface, --After working and sweating on another large rock in the bottom and the teams taking out the last piece of it. (1)
"All of a sudden President Sessions waved his big hat and shouted aloud, "Every man stop working and rest again. You men under and on top of the rock, come out, come up here and rest" (5). "It was our rule to take about 10 or 15 minutes rest, during our working hours, each half day. Because our horses were not very strong--they had no hay to eat--only oats and what they could rustle during the night on the prairie" (5).
"Bring your tools" (1). "We already had our rest period for that half day and then when he called us off again the same half day, we were surprised and thought he would do us a special favor because the weather was so hot" (5). "We all obeyed his orders and just the moment the last man got away from under the rock; all of a sudden, that rock began to split from top to bottom with a new break as smooth as a plastered wall." (1) "It tumbled down and landed right where we all had been busy working five minutes before in a hole 12 feet deep. George, with the same watch, faced me again dumbfounded, but said, "Five minutes to four." (1)
"All was silent as we stood in amazement, probable asking ourselves this question: "Did the weight of that rock split itself?" and "What power caused President Sessions to call us out of that hole at just that minute?" Was there ever a prophesy in the scriptures more literally fulfilled? Has there ever been a man hold his watch over a prophet for 24 hours to see if his prophesy has come true? Did you ever see a solid rock 20 feet long and 8 or 10 feet wide split its full length without being struck once with a hammer? That was the size of the rock that fell into the hole. It was an inspiration manifest in its highest form." (1)
"Afterwards Brother Sessions told us why he called us off the second time, before the half day was up. He said a voice spoke to him aloud and said, "Call the men off right now." So he straightway obeyed...and a miracle was performed" (5). "To me it was a miracle as great as the ones performed in ancient days" (4).
With reference to the manner in which the rock fell: "The rock fell just as we expected that it would and it was sufficiently out of the way, so that it did not interfere with the construction of the canal." (3) "The other part of the rock, that remained standing, never moved an inch, as far as I could tell" (4).
(It should be noted that the men worked 10 hours each day, from 7:00 A.M. until noon and from 1:00 P.M. until 6:00 P.M. The regular rest periods began at 9:30 A.M. and 3:30 P.M.)
"The Mormon Colony began the construction of the Sidon Canal on May 28, 1900 at 10:40 A.M. The project was under the direction of Apostle Owen Woodruff. The construction was done under the supervision of Byron Sessions. "We were working on that part of the ditch nearly two and one half miles below the point of diversion from the Shoshone River. There was a large rock, jutting out of the ground, just below a perpendicular rock cliff, right where the canal was to be excavated." (2) "It stood about eight feet above the ground. It was approximately 20 feet long. No one knew how far it extended into the ground." (3). "The large stone leaned to the southeast, away from the cliff." (2) "The rock, as I remember, did have a crevice in it." (4)
President Sessions said, "We'll just scrape a large hole to the side ofcthis rock, then put in a shot and blow it over in the hole" (1). "There was some concern for the safety of the men and horses as the sand around the huge rock was being scraped away." (2) "it was on his mind for at least two weeks and I know he was worried for fear some one would get hurt." (4) "In the regular morning 'Prayer Circle' the Lord was asked to bless the men that they might be successful in moving the rock and that the men and horses would be protected from accident." (2)
"The boys who were working there were: William Simmons, Jr., Henry Horn, John Meeks, Joe Meeks, Wilder Hatch, Henry Herget, (4). "President Byron Sessions and George Easton," (5). "Jim George, a son of the President, (Byron Sessions) (1), "Vasco Call, Bert Nebeker--David Robertson was the Boss over that group of men" (3), "Dan Davis" (2). "Some of these men drove teams, others worked as single hands" (3).
"After scraping out this hole with three teams for a day or two they encountered other smaller rocks in the hole. Some were too large for the teams to pull out. There were three men besides the teamsters trying to break these rocks so the teams could pull them out, but with poor success"
(1). "When the hole was about ten feet deep--a son of the President said, "We'll never get this rock down. We just as well give it up." This seemed to anger his father (Byron Sessions) who said, "I prophesy in the name of Israel's God that that rock will not be in there tomorrow at this time." Jim George, one of the men working there turned his back to President Sessions and faced me, pulled out his watch and said, "Let's test him out. It's just four P.M.” We went on working, not paying any more attention to what had been said. Next day we had about twenty feet of this rock exposed about eight feet above the surface, --After working and sweating on another large rock in the bottom and the teams taking out the last piece of it. (1)
"All of a sudden President Sessions waved his big hat and shouted aloud, "Every man stop working and rest again. You men under and on top of the rock, come out, come up here and rest" (5). "It was our rule to take about 10 or 15 minutes rest, during our working hours, each half day. Because our horses were not very strong--they had no hay to eat--only oats and what they could rustle during the night on the prairie" (5).
"Bring your tools" (1). "We already had our rest period for that half day and then when he called us off again the same half day, we were surprised and thought he would do us a special favor because the weather was so hot" (5). "We all obeyed his orders and just the moment the last man got away from under the rock; all of a sudden, that rock began to split from top to bottom with a new break as smooth as a plastered wall." (1) "It tumbled down and landed right where we all had been busy working five minutes before in a hole 12 feet deep. George, with the same watch, faced me again dumbfounded, but said, "Five minutes to four." (1)
"All was silent as we stood in amazement, probable asking ourselves this question: "Did the weight of that rock split itself?" and "What power caused President Sessions to call us out of that hole at just that minute?" Was there ever a prophesy in the scriptures more literally fulfilled? Has there ever been a man hold his watch over a prophet for 24 hours to see if his prophesy has come true? Did you ever see a solid rock 20 feet long and 8 or 10 feet wide split its full length without being struck once with a hammer? That was the size of the rock that fell into the hole. It was an inspiration manifest in its highest form." (1)
"Afterwards Brother Sessions told us why he called us off the second time, before the half day was up. He said a voice spoke to him aloud and said, "Call the men off right now." So he straightway obeyed...and a miracle was performed" (5). "To me it was a miracle as great as the ones performed in ancient days" (4).
With reference to the manner in which the rock fell: "The rock fell just as we expected that it would and it was sufficiently out of the way, so that it did not interfere with the construction of the canal." (3) "The other part of the rock, that remained standing, never moved an inch, as far as I could tell" (4).
(It should be noted that the men worked 10 hours each day, from 7:00 A.M. until noon and from 1:00 P.M. until 6:00 P.M. The regular rest periods began at 9:30 A.M. and 3:30 P.M.)
References:
The ages of those working at Prayer Rock were as follows:
Byron Sessions 48
David Robertson 30
Joe Meeks 25
Wm. G. Simmons Jr 16
Vasco Call
Henry Herget 30
George Easton 42
James George 48
John Meeks 23
Dan Davis 29
A son of Byron Sessions (Probably Binnie and or Perry)
Wilder Hatch 27
Henry Horn
Bert Nebeker
Information gathered by Mark N. Partridge in 1952-53-54
Submitted by Kirk Sessions
Grandson of President Byron Sessions
- Statement of David Robertson in the Big Horn Stake Historical Record.
- Joe Meeks
- W.H. Simmons, Jr.
- Vasco Call
- Henry Herget
The ages of those working at Prayer Rock were as follows:
Byron Sessions 48
David Robertson 30
Joe Meeks 25
Wm. G. Simmons Jr 16
Vasco Call
Henry Herget 30
George Easton 42
James George 48
John Meeks 23
Dan Davis 29
A son of Byron Sessions (Probably Binnie and or Perry)
Wilder Hatch 27
Henry Horn
Bert Nebeker
Information gathered by Mark N. Partridge in 1952-53-54
Submitted by Kirk Sessions
Grandson of President Byron Sessions