Hole-in-the-Rock: An Epic in the Colonization of the Great American West

by David E. Miller

Overview

First published in 1962, David E. Miller's award-winning work on the Hole-in-the-Rock episode was arguably his greatest achievement as a historian. One of the great set-pieces of Mormon history, the San Juan Mission had become clouded by myth and hagiography when Miller first became attracted to its study in the 1950s, and few reliable sources were at that time available.
Not content with exhausting archival material, Miller contacted all locatable descendants of the members of the original party, and thereby brought to light a great number of previously unexploited sources. The Hole-in-the-Rock study achieved additional depth from his intimate knowledge of the actual trail acquired on repeated traverses by Jeep and on foot.
A member of the LDS Church, Miller wrote of the Mormons with sympathy and understanding, but with a commitment as well to the critical standards of the historical profession.
A must-read for anyone interested in American History.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781787204102
Publisher:	Papamoa Press
Publication date:	04/07/2017
Sold by:	Bookwire
Format:	eBook
Pages:	296
File size:	13 MB
Note:	This product may take a few minutes to download.

About the Author

David Eugene Miller (June 5, 1909 - August 21, 1978) was a prominent Utah historian and am Emeritus Professor of History at the University of Utah, where he was also a founder of the Alpha Rho Chapter of the national history honorary society Phi Alpha Theta (one of the first chapters), Head of the History Department, a president of the Utah Academy of Sciences, Arts, and Letters, and a founder of the American West Center.
Born in Syracuse, on the shore of the lake, he was a great-grandson of Henry W. Miller, who had created in 1859 the family sheep grazing business on Fremont Island (once known as Miller Island). He completed his undergraduate and master's work at Brigham Young University.
His career at the University of Utah spanned three decades (1947-1977) where he was affectionately referred to as the "dean of Utah historians." He was distinguished especially as an authority on the Great Salt Lake and Utah's historic trails, though his expertise extended as well into the entire trans-Mississippi West, the Nauvoo period of Mormon history, and United States Constitutional history. He also served in various capacities with the Utah State Historical Society, the Organization of American Historians, and as a Visiting Professor in Germany.
Miller's interest in historic trails persisted throughout his life. In addition to researching portions of the Oregon Trail through Wyoming and Utah, during which he was able to revise considerably the current understanding of the routes, Miller was chosen during the Bicentennial year to supervise the Utah portion of the retracing of the route of the Dominguez-Escalante expedition.
He passed away in Salt Lake City in 1978 at the age of 69.
A point on Fremont Island, "David E. Miller Point," was designated by The Utah State Place Names Committee in his honor.

Born in Syracuse, on the shore of the lake, he was a great-grandson of Henry W. Miller, who had created in 1859 the family sheep grazing business on Fremont Island (once known as Miller Island). He completed his undergraduate and master’s work at Brigham Young University.
His career at the University of Utah spanned three decades (1947-1977) where he was affectionately referred to as the “dean of Utah historians.” He was distinguished especially as an authority on the Great Salt Lake and Utah’s historic trails, though his expertise extended as well into the entire trans-Mississippi West, the Nauvoo period of Mormon history, and United States Constitutional history. He also served in various capacities with the Utah State Historical Society, the Organization of American Historians, and as a Visiting Professor in Germany.
Miller’s interest in historic trails persisted throughout his life. In addition to researching portions of the Oregon Trail through Wyoming and Utah, during which he was able to revise considerably the current understanding of the routes, Miller was chosen during the Bicentennial year to supervise the Utah portion of the retracing of the route of the Dominguez-Escalante expedition.
He passed away in Salt Lake City in 1978 at the age of 69.
A point on Fremont Island, “David E. Miller Point,” was designated by The Utah State Place Names Committee in his honor.