Lonely Dell Ranch

The name says it plainly. Emma Lee called this place Lonely Dell, and the century that followed did little to soften it. Jacob Hamblin, a Latter-day Saint missionary, forded the Colorado nearby in 1864 and urged his church to plant a crossing here. Three families in turn worked it: the Lees, the Johnsons, the Emetts, each wringing gardens and hay from a stubborn desert while ferrying travelers south into Arizona. The National Park Service keeps the orchard and cabins today, an outpost that never stopped being remote.

Where it stands

Worth the stop nearby

• Antelope Canyon — 12 mi
  Tsé bighánílíní — where the water runs through the rock

More markers nearby

• Paria Canyon-Vermilion Cliffs Wilderness — steps away
• 1872 Founding Family — steps away
• 1925 Polygamist Cabin — steps away
• Lees Ferry Fort — 0.5 mi