Two parties of Whites set out, independently in August 1909 to find the storied bridge. They joined forces in the trackless desert near Monument Valley, but it was a union of convenience of rival leaders to be the first to reach the bridge.  One party had a young Indian guide who to this day is credited with being the first to lead White men to the bridge. This Indian, Nasja Begay, died in 1918. He is cited in U.S. Park Service brochures and honored in a plaque placed at Rainbow Bridge.
 

Rainbow Bridge was discovered by Jim Mike in 1909.  Credit for the discovery was given to Nasja Begay until 1982 when there was a small plaque set up for Jim Mike.  In 1984 a larger plaque was comissioned and installed.  This was mainly due to the influence of Clarence Rogers.  (Cleal Bradford Photo)

   But another Indian, mentioned in the first government reports and photographs with the 1909 parties, is still alive and he contends the credit should be his. His name is Jim Mike. Now "at least" aged 101, he lives with some of his progeny at White Mesa, a community of several dozen modest frame houses flanking U.S. 163 about 10 miles south of Blanding, Utah.
Jim Mike, known in his long-ago youth as Mike's Boy, has no reason to invent a story. Vanity, if any existed, fled with the years. His mind is clear and he tells a straightforward account that seems to be corroborated by the facts.

   I could scarcely believe it when a Park Service ranger told me that Jim Mike was alive and well. This was October 1973, and it had been more than 64 years since the superb grandeur of Rainbow Bridge had been revealed. Jim Mike in 1909 was pushing 40 and rarely does an Indian in Utah's harsh canyon lands live beyond 70.
 

Clarence Rogers shown with a park official discussing what should happen with the Jim Mike plaque.  Clarence's influence was one of the reasons that Jim Mike was ever credited with the discovery of Rainbow Bridge.

   The true discoverer of Rainbow Bridge has been disputed since the beginning, mainly because of conflicting stories written by the first Whites to visit it. Amazingly, nobody over the years asked for the version of the only surviving Indian explorer of 1909.
A photo of the 1909 expedition shows 10 White men and an Indian--Jim Mike. Up to a point, private and government reports of the "discovery" tell a consistent story. It begins this way:

   In 1908 William Boone Douglass surveyed for the General Land Office (now Bureau of Land Management) the three rock formations that were proclaimed Natural Bridges National Monument, Utah's first such reserve. The highest of these three is 220 feet.

   "I had in my employ as an axeman," Douglass recorded in his notes, "a Paiute Indian, then known as Mike's Boy but who has since taken the name Jim, from whom I learned of a great bridge of rainbow shape located near the Navajo Mountain.
"This was reported to the General Land Office on Oct. 7, 1908, and on Oct. 20 instructions were received from the Commissioner to investigate the reported bridge and segregate it if found to be worthy."

   In his contacts with other Indians, Douglass tried to confirm Jim's story of a huge bridge north of Navajo Mountain. The Navajos, who lived south of the mountain, said they knew of no such bridge.
 

The worlds largest natural bridge Rainbow Bridge stands 290 feet tall, and is 275 feet wide.  Jim Mike led the first white men to it in 1909.  (Cleal Bradford Photo)

   But Douglass believed Jim and prepared another expedition for the following summer. On Aug. 9, 1909, according to field notes still in BLM files, Douglass left Bluff with a crew of five--John R. English, head of chain men; Jean F. Rogerson, second chain man; Daniel Perkins, flag man and packer; John Keenan, flag man, and Jim Mike, guide.

   Coincidentally, another party on the date was at Oljato beginning an identical search for the bridge. The leader was Dr. Byron Cummings, dean of the University of Utah College of Arts and Sciences, an amateur archaeologist. Each summer he'd take students on outings to collect relics.

   Cummings visited Wetherill's post in 1908 and returned in 1909 with his 11-year-old son, Malcolm, and three students. According to a report by Cummings:

   "In the early spring of 1909 and old Paiute, Nasja, and his son, Nasja Begay, visited Weatherill at Oljato and told them there was a big arch over beyond Navajo Mountain which they had seen while hunting for wild horses in that region."
 
  

Jim Mike as he looked with the Richardson Hole-in-the-Rock trip of 1904.  It was five years later in 1909 when he guided the Rainbow Bridge expedition. (San Juan Historical Commission Photo)

   Weatherill gave Cummings a letter from a friend in Bluff. It said that Douglass had heard of Cummings' bridge plans and was asking Washington to cancel Cummings' Interior Department search permit. (Apparently Douglass learned of Cummings' plans from Wetherill. It is also likely that Wetherill had suggested the bridge trip to Cummings after Douglass' visit the previous winter.)

   Cummings wrote: "My informer also wrote that the surveyor (Douglass) was preparing to find a big bridge near Navajo Mountain--a strange coincidence since as far as either the Wetherills of I had learned, none of the Indians knew anything about it except the dead Navajo [sic] and the two Paiutes, Nasja and Nasja Begay."

   "Mr. Douglass was very noncommittal about what he had been doing or trying to do. He was very condescending toward out party, said he was going to find the big arch he had heard about, that his Paiute guide, Mike's Boy, knew the country, had been to the bridge and that we might go along if we wanted to. A wonderful privilege under the circumstances."
The route they chose led by old Nasja's camp in Paiute Canyon was where Cummings expected to pick up Nasja Begay as guide.

   There they learned Nasja Begay was some 25 miles away with the sheep. Nasja, the father, sent a younger boy after with instructions to meet the group north of Navajo Mountain.

   Douglass wrote: "From this point we proceeded as one party all under the guidance of Jim. Later we jointly employed an additional guide, a Paiute named Nasja Begay, supposed to have a better acquaintance with the local trails."
In their writings, the party leaders agreed on one thing: The exploration "across the sea of billowy sandstone cut by canyons a thousand feet in depth" was tortuous and dangerous for both horses and men.
 
   Douglass offered little comment on the personalities during the trail ride. Cummings noted that Douglass "fussed about getting lost among the rocks and his guide (Jim Mike) became still more scared." Cummings credited the arrival of Nasja Begay two days later with ending the confusion; Douglass didn't.

   On the morning of Aug. 14, the guides predicted they would reach the bridge by noon. The stories differ widely on what happened after that.

   "A spirit of rivalry developed between Professor Cummings and myself as to who should first reach the bridge. For three hours we rode an uncertain race, taking risks of horsemanship neither would ordinarily think of doing . . . Fortune favored me at the close, the professor being some hundred feet in the rear when I reached the bridge . . . To Jim is due the credit of giving the world the first knowledge of this remarkable monument; to the General Land Office belongs the credit for the discovery to civilization and for its preservation as a national monument."
 

   I saw the object of our long trek and shouted, 'Eureka, here she is!'...Our ponies were tired so Mr. Wetherill and I jumped off to lead our horses up the slope but Mr. Douglass put spurs to his horse and made it lope up the hill. Mr. Wetherill was too quick for him, however. Springing on his pony, he reached the goal passed under the arch first. Thus, I was the first White man to see the Rainbow Bridge and John Wetherill was the first White man to pass under the great arch. Its real discoverers were the two Paiute Indians, Nasja and Nasja Begay."
 

   About a fifth of the 1,359 enrolled Ute Mountain Utes live at White Mesa Community. Rogers directed me to turn right down a short dirt road that ended at a one-story house where several children were playing. Rogers recognized two women nearby and introduced me to them--Mrs. Anna Marie Nat and Mrs. Mary Jane Yazzie, Jim's granddaughter and great-granddaughter respectively. The playing children were theirs, adding even another generation to the Mike family.

   Before we'd ever asked for him, Jim walked out the front door, slightly hunched, a red headband framing an expressive light-brown face. Rogers greeted him and explained who I was. Jim sat down on the front steps.

   I studied that interesting face. It was unmistakable. The lines were the same as those in the 1909 photo. The hair was gray, his voice was strong and he seemed happy to see Rogers--not unhappy to see me.

   Rogers had mentioned during our ride that he'd known Jim since he--Rogers--was a boy and always found him honest and truthful. Jim never learned to speak English, however.

   Mrs. Nat translated as Rogers told him I wanted to hear the true story about the discovery of Rainbow Bridge. The granddaughter suggested that I ask him questions, and this is the way it went:
  

Jim Mike discovered the Rainbow Bridge in 1909.  He led a group of white men to the arch, but wasn't recognized for his service until 1974.  In 1984 there was a plaque commissioned in his honor.  (San Juan Historical Commission Photo)

   "We lived in Paiute Canyon. I was a boy and on this day we were looking for grass, for feed for the horses in the canyons beyond the north side of Navajo Mountain. It was I, my father and Nasja who
lived nearby.

   "They were setting up camp and I went out looking for feed. I went into this canyon and saw this bent rock with a hole in it. I never saw anything like that. I ran back scared and told my father. He and Nasja left without going to see it."

Nasja's son, known as Nasja Begay, wasn't there?

   "No. He was a small boy. I was older than him. He never saw it then."

What year was that?

   "I don't know. It was many years before I told Mr. Douglass."

Didn't the Navajos know about the bridge?

   "There weren't any Navajos living in that area, only Paiutes."

Did you give it a name?

   "I called it the bent rock with a hole in it."

Was it the most beautiful feature you've seen?

   "It's just a pile of rocks. Allen Canyon (west of Blanding) is more beautiful. Plenty of feed for sheep and horses. We could plant gardens. It was home before here."

Do you think of the 1909 expedition often?

   "I wonder if any of the young boys are still alive. I would like to know about them. Do you know?"
(I don't. Professor Cummings' son, who'd be 75 now, moved to California.)
 

Jim Mike as a resident of the Four Corners Nursing Home.  He did on September 28, 1977.  In 1974 he was paid $50 and given a blanket for his services as a guide for the 1909 trip to Rainbow Bridge.  It wasn't until 1982 when he was officially recognized as the discoverer of Rainbow Bridge.  (San Juan Historical Commission Photo)

Do you know they're fighting over the bridge now because of water backing up from Lake Powell?

   "The Navajos, everybody claims it now. Rainbow Bridge belongs to me."

You're aware there's a plaque honoring Nasja Begay as the first guide to Rainbow Bridge?

   "I was there first. I told his father about it. I found it. In 1909 he didn't meet us until we were almost there."
Jim is listed in the tribal census book as "head of family" and continues to lead an active life. On my second visit to his home with Crouter for pictures, we had to track him down at a meeting in the Community Hall.

   He still likes his mutton and boiled corn meal, and will go for a bottle of pop anytime. A daughter, Po Chief Mike, 65, and a son, Billy Mike, 70, reside nearby.

   Jim carries a cane when he walks but he doesn't seem to need it. He looks--and sounds--far younger than 101.

   "Are you really 101?" I asked Jim.

   His great-granddaughter replied he's older than that. How much?

   "Eight years," Mrs. Yazzie said.

   Jim didn't dispute her estimate. He doesn't really know how many White man's years he roamed southeastern Utah. All he knows is that all his contemporaries are gone, but Bent-rock-with-hole-in-it is still there.

I wonder if the U.S. Park Service can find another plaque?

Return to Rainbow Bridge Table of contents

Return to San Juan Sampler Index