Jens Nielson, Bishop of Bluff

A Denmark native, Jens Nielson emigrated to Utah Territory in 1856–57. By 1880 he joined the Hole-in-the Rock expedition to settle Bluff, where he served as ward bishop for over two decades.

As much a part of the landscape as the red cliffs, Bishop Nielson helped the town develop the contrasting characteristics that most impressed outsiders: dogged tenacity and kind hospitality. Bluff’s settlers were to establish peaceful relations with Native Americans in the Four Corners region and to occu...