Colorado City, Arizona, USA
Lake Powell is a beautiful reservoir on the Colorado River that flows between Utah and Arizona in the western United States. It’s the second largest human-made reservoir in North America behind only Lake Mead after the construction of Hoover Dam. There’s a boat launch in Page, Arizona, where you’ll find hundreds of docked house boats and party barges on standby just waiting to get lost. It’s the host city to over two million tourists annually. This is where everybody launches their power boats and personal watercraft, ties them up to be towed behind the houseboat and “bon voyage!” My buddy’s parents owned one of those house boats. I spent three summers in a row there, between the ages of 16-18, memorizing the serenity of Lake Powell.
Josh.one and I drove to that boat launch those summers from Los Angeles, California, about 400 miles one way, still some of the best road trips I’ve had. Each year we would stop in Las Vegas, Nevada, pick up a new CD at Warehouse Music and continue toward Page, which meant drive directly through the neighboring town of Colorado City, a place neither of us had heard of.
It didn’t mean anything to us for the same reason we had to stop at Warehouse Music for a CD, remember that place? Remember CD’s?! Music and #information wasn’t in the palm of our hands yet. Warehouse was our only source for concert tickets too. It would’ve been 1999, FLDS leader Warren Jeffs still ruled his community freely as president while ignoring law and human ethics in the name of #religion. He would’ve been at the peak of his power when we drove through there—in just a few more years he became a fugitive on the FBI’s 10 most wanted list for arranging illegal marriages between adult male followers and underage girls in Utah. In 2007 he was arrested and, in 2011, he was convicted of sexual conduct (“conduct”) with minors, incest and two counts of rape. He’s currently serving a life sentence plus 20 years in a southeast Texas prison.
After passing through Colorado City those summers on our way to Lake Powell I began researching things like lost boys and placement marriage. Being the curious and understandably stupid teenagers that we were, we decided we should stop and check the town out for ourselves. We wouldn’t stay long, that was the plan, just long enough to look around and maybe get something to eat. We were on our way home and we would have been 18 years old that summer with the mentality of, well, “kids!” Next stop:
The town entrance and the town exit are the same single lane patch of pavement perpendicular to US Highway 59. We exited the highway and immediately the pavement ended, they’re dirt roads now for as far as we can see and it doesn’t look like there’s going to be anywhere to eat. We continued driving into town. All of the houses have plywood exterior and plywood roofs, no paint, no stucco or siding of any kind and no shingles or any type of protection on the roof tops, just large, two and three story houses protected by untreated plywood. None of the houses have garages or vehicles outside, just a few minimal windows but every house has the same custom looking plaque next to the front door with the same word on it. We couldn’t tell what the plaque’s said so I stopped outside one of the houses to get a better look. The letters are cut out of thick, 1/2 inch steel plate, they’ve been cut and shaped with nice tools, most likely a gas axe and every house has one.
It wasn’t a ‘word,’ the doors of these houses all read “F.L.D.S.” Just then about four or five little blonde headed kids, each dressed in identical denim clothing, appeared and ran around the side of the house before jumping into a crawl space that led under the house—most likely to a basement. They vanished as quickly as they appeared. We hung out for another minute waiting for the kids to reappear but they didn’t. We continued cruising around, checking out the neighborhood.
We kept noticing groups of small children running to either side of these homes to jump into a crawl space as we drove by and every house seems to have one. All of the girls are wearing denim dresses with white, long sleeve shirts and the boys are all wearing denim pants with white, long sleeve shirts. We’re the only vehicle on the roads and everything is real quiet. A family of about 10 boys and girls, each wearing the same clothing combinations, including an older woman who’s obviously the chaperone are all walking together while holding hands on the road in front of us. I slowed the vehicle to a complete stop.
Jeffs’ pictured with his wives/daughters.
They heard us and most of them turned around, when they did, they saw us and quickly turned back around, hurrying to the side of the road. We drove by slowly with our hands up, motioning a wave, nobody made eye contact with us. We continued driving through town and we arrived at a fortress of a red brick security wall—there’s four sides to it, it’s square shaped and all four walls are about 100 yards long.
As we drove around the property, we could tell by an occasional view of a rooftop, the structure on the other side was massive. We could barely see the tops of the roof because the red brick wall surrounding it is about 15 feet tall. We continued driving through the town and we were still seeing small children run and duck under houses. We saw a few more groups of people, about six or seven young kids and one adult woman, all holding hands as they walked in the middle of the dirt roads. We saw a storefront straight ahead with a Pepsi sign in the window and it says Pharmacy across the front of the building—we stopped to get something to drink.
The door sounded a bell as we walked in, there isn’t anybody else inside except for us and the two women behind the counter—they won’t look at us. I acknowledged them as soon as we walked in, “hello, good afternoon, how are you?” Silence. “Hi,” I said again, no response, again. We walked through the store whispering to each other how weird that was, toward the back of the pharmacy is a Pepsi fountain machine. We each filled up a cup and went back to the counter. Both women are wearing identical denim-colored dresses, long sleeve white shirts, no make-up and matching hairstyles. We set our drinks on the counter. The register already had a balance on it, they both pointed to it. Still, not a sound from either of them. I handed them money, they handed me my change and, without a single word spoken to us, we proceeded to exit the pharmacy.
Before I walked out, I turned back around “what’s that massive brick wall all about in the middle of town?” Both women spoke to me, they acted like they’ve never seen it, “I’m sorry, I’m not sure I understand the question.” I said it again “the big, huge, brick wall about 15 feet tall right in the middle of town, it’s all red brick, who’s house is that?” At the same time they said “I’m sorry, I’m not sure I understand the question.” My buddy Josh.one “c’mon man let’s get outta here,” I waved to both women “thank you! Have a nice day, thanks a lot for having us!” Suddenly, they talked to us and they were friendly! “Are you just passing through?” “Yes ma’am.” “Where are you guys coming from?” We told them we were headed home and that we’d been on vacation at Lake Powell but that was it, they didn’t say another word to us—silence. Josh.one nudged my arm, “let’s get out of here man.”
We got back in the car with our 32 oz. Pepsi’s and continued cruising around, touring the town. All of the roads were dirt and there’s quite a few four-way stop signs. Every house looked the same, they’re all sheeted in plywood only with no paint or roofs and the front doors all have the same custom designed plaque: FLDS. I don’t remember seeing anymore kids running to hide under houses.
We didn’t get to drive around much longer. I remember we had Too $hort playing really loud at this point and the windows are down. As I came to another four-way stop sign, an older GMC pickup truck appeared in my rear view mirror—the only other vehicle we’ve seen since we got here. I rolled through the stop sign and the truck sped up to catch us, now they’re flashing their lights at us, the cab of the truck has at least three men inside, maybe more and they’re pointing to the side of the dirt road insisting we pull over. We continued driving just a little farther and they continued flashing their lights at us and pointing. It was in the middle of the day and I didn’t feel threatened, I wanted to know what they had to say—I pulled over. They pulled in behind us, I turned down the music as we stepped out of the car. Out steps four adult men, each wearing overalls with no shirts underneath, work boots on their feet, and they have rifles spanning the back window of their truck. All four them exited that truck with a purpose, I could tell these guys are focused.
“You looking to go north or south on the 59? Follow us, we’ll take you back to the entrance” one of them said. “I didn’t know we were..” I was immediately interrupted by the same guy who repeated himself, “you looking to go north or south on the 59? Follow us, we’ll take you back to the entrance!” He raised his voice that time. One of the passengers walked back to the truck and stayed there, I watched him but I couldn’t tell what he was doing. That same man got right up in my face this time, inches from me. He was substantially taller than me and at least 30 years older “you looking to go north or south on the 59? Follow us, we’ll take you back to the entrance!” It wasn’t a good situation, we’re surrounded by three of them and the fourth guy is back at the truck where the rifles are, “south,” I told him. They turned around and all four of them got back inside the truck, they waited for us to get in the car. As soon as we did they pulled up alongside the driver door but wouldn’t look at us. They took off—we followed.
They led us back to the same single lane patch of pavement perpendicular to US Highway 59. They stopped at the entrance and stayed there waiting for us to exit. We drove around them, entered the southbound 59 and left Colorado City.
We barely made it another 30 miles down the road to Hurricane, Utah, and had a flat tire, we pulled into a service station to get the tire fixed. They pulled two nails out of the passenger side rear tire. While they were fixing it we told them about the tour we just did through Colorado City and how a truck full of men escorted us out of town with rifles in their back window. The tire repair shop had several employees in there at the time, they all thought we were nuts, they began telling us isolated stories about Colorado City like exiled children and some other alarming events. They thought we were out of our minds touring through there. They even told us one about how they wouldn’t be surprised if those nails were placed under my tire intentionally when we went inside that pharmacy and the thing didn’t go flat. It made us think about the two women who wouldn’t say a word to us, suddenly they were talkative, and then back to silence.
Colorado City is still home to Warren Jeffs’ followers or, “apostates,” as Jeffs refers to them which he continues to control today from inside the walls of a Texas prison but his flock has since dwindled. A man who roughly seven years ago was believed to have a following of more than ten thousand paritioners has since declined to just a handful of people. Earlier this year, a local bar opened inside the town limits, followed by a vape shop and the upcoming election has zero FLDS members running for office. I found this article explaining all of that, it’s interesting, it names former FLDS members who are either currently appointed city council members or they’re on the next ballot, each of whom resent their old leader. They’ve began paving the roads, too, store owners and entrepreneurs are buying commercial property nowadays in Colorado City, Arizona, USA—a different place from what it was in the 90’s when Jeffs was free to impose his will.
That was such a cool read babe! I’ve heard the story before but the part about the tire shop and possibly picking those nails up at pharmacy is new. Really entertaining @dandays. Keep em coming!
Thank you, you’re beautiful. So it still came across clear even though it was typed instead of spoken?
Strange, isn’t it? I never really thought about the significance of the flat tire until I wrote this article. I never considered anything weird like that even after they mentioned it.
iheartu all the time @puravidaville.
You're nuts man. I would have left that creepy town long before being escorted out.
That is me speaking now, back in the day I was equally young and dumb.
Lost Boys, good link
They are alleged to be pressured to leave by adult men to reduce competition for wives within such sects, usually when they are between the ages of 13 and 21.[2]
These are some sick puppies, but I guess that if every fellow is going to have many wives there are not enough women to go around.
In the picture of Warren Jeffs family it is hard to tell who the wives are, they all look so young.
All girls, I wonder if that is a coincidence.
Watched the video of the older gentleman dispelling all of the fake news surrounding Mormons.
Having articles of polygamy appearing alongside articles of Mormons, paints a picture that has to enfuriate Mormons.
The dude in the video kept his cool when dispelling the fake news, by what he says are big news organizations.
When living in NJ, I had a family of Mormons living directly across the street. Very quiet folk, who for the most part kept to themselves.
Nice people though, respectful and pleasant enough when we did cross paths.
Nice article, love all of the links.
Thank you! I appreciate you taking the time to view all of the links and articles, I felt they were beneficial for the article, hopefully readers do too. From what you had to say.. mission accomplished!
Lost Boys is one of the ones that really stood out to me too. Grown men who felt challenged by little boys just had to say the wOrd and “see ya!”
That picture of Jeff’s. I didn’t want to give the guy the credit of showing the image but if readers wanted the option of putting a name to the face, it’s there. You saw the same thing I did... who’s he married to and who did he father or are they one and the same?! Twisted!
About pissing off Mormons, I promise that wasn’t my intention. In fact, it couldn’t be more opposite, I love all Christians the same. This article sat in my phone for a couple of months before I released it for that exact reason. I didn’t want to come off as an anti Mormon, that’s not it. What I finally decided is: it’s a true story, this is exactly how it went down and if a Mormon is going to judge me for it, then, well.... They’re not very good at being a Mormon.
I didn’t judge the religion even back when they did this to me.
Thanks for stopping by @thebigsweed, your continued support is appreciated beyond text, really! You, your wife, my wife and all of the our fellow steemians are why I’m doing this. Thank you, Bob, happy New Year!
Your ally,
Arts
Having articles of polygamy appearing alongside articles of Mormons, paints a picture that has to infuriate Mormons.
I was not referring to your post having the two side by side.
What I was referring to was the Mormon in the video on your link, stating that many of the news organizations, when depicting Mormon's lifestyle, always have news of polygamy in the same article
The guy in the video thought that it was not fair for the different media outlets to depict all Mormons as polygamists.
Mormons Know How To Make An Impression, I wonder what the reasoning was for putting you in such a dangerous environment. Were you looked down at for not being a Mormon, or was the fact that you were wearing the wrong attire. What ever the reason, that is some crazy stuff. I wonder how many other non Mormon children came to visit and were placed on a ledge for an hour, window closed, while inside the class, business was conducted as normal.
For the kids to show no reaction to this very strange behavior of the teacher tells me this is not the first time they had seen this maneuver.
I'm sure you never went back, RIGHT.
What a weird experience to have to go through at such a young age.
Another very interesting story by #dandays.
I see you made some big bucks on this post .03 cents, what are you kidding me.
Misunderstanding, the news media clip... gotcha!
You know what?? I never even thought about how normal it was for the kids to see me step out onto that roof until just now. You’re absolutely right!! I’m certain it didn’t have anything to do with my clothing @thebigsweed. Lack of affiliation possibly.
If I would have encountered that place in my younger days.... Things would have probably ended a little differently. I most likely would have been so stoned that I would have done about anything to get those ladies to talk. You know, “I’m having fun, what is your deal?” We used to “Chief” pretty tough back in the day and probably would have been totally fascinated by how weird those people were acting.
North or South...I would have told them East. Dah ha ha ba.
What a trip!!! I bet there are still towns like that in very remote places. Kind of creepy how one person can have that much influence on a group of people. Glad to hear and see that the town is turning around and becoming a “real” place to visit.
I grew up in the Mormon religion and this sort of stuff was very frowned upon. Even though back in the early days of Mormonism they did practice polygamy. They realized that it was wrong and changed their beliefs, I guess. This guy took it to the next level!! The “Real” Mormons wouldn’t be angered by your story, more like they would be angry that someone did that to a group of people in the name of Mormonism. I had never heard of the FLDS until now. That is crazy!!! Then the “Lost Boys” WOW!!! Can’t be having that competition.
Thanks for sharing yet another one of your crazy experiences.
Cheers
And Happy New Year!!
Yes!! The length of your response lets me know you really enjoyed this article, thank you Splatts, I appreciate that. “East,” Eh, that was funny! East.. man, I that would’ve been a good one.
Jeffs and their whole backdoor religion abused the wOrd “Mormon” if you ask me, their beliefs are completely different compared to FLDS. Thanks for acknowledging I didn’t write this to disrespect anyone’s religious preference.
Yup, “Lost Boys,” insane huh? It happened, that’s the craziest part, it really went down like that.
My pleasure! Thanks for stopping by @jlsplatts, thanks for continuing to support what Pura Vida and I have going on around here, it’s feedback like yours that keeps me posting. Here’s to an even better and happier 2019, the best year ever, you ready?!
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Very interesting read, I do remember back in the 90's hearing about that awful guy. Must have been quite an experience seeing that weird place.
Thank you so much, I’m glad you liked it! We had no idea what we were driving through at the time, neither of us had any idea we were actually getting peaks at Warren Jeff’s mansion behind that wall.
Lost Boys was pretty prevalent in the media back then, do you remember that being on the news often? When the men felt threatened by the attention little boys would get from the little girls, they’d just ship em off to the streets of Las Vegas or something. Nuts!
Thanks for stopping by @farm-mom, Happy New Year to you and @thebigsweed!
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