The Last Letter of Everett Ruess: Escalante, Utah
Everett Ruess spent the latter half of that summer dancing with the Hopi, exploring the southern half of the Colorado Plateau, and eventually making his way from rim to rim of the Grand Canyon. He finally rested in Tropic, Utah before his final stop in civilization at Escalante, Utah.
Escalante, Utah, is a Mormon outpost founded in 1875, and named after Catholic Priest, Father Silvestre Vélez de Escalante. The town acted as a filter between the native lands to the southeast and the rest of the Mormon communities to the north. The town was all Mormon families, with most having the same last name and on average more than five children per family. Escalante’s residents followed the Mormon religion and morals since its founding sixty years prior to Everett’s arrival.
The vagabond who spent the last seven months living outdoors in the wilderness arrived in the Mormon town in early November 1934. Everett, a single male artist in a community of large agrarian families, immediately stood out like a sore thumb. He passed through the quaint town with his burros, Chocolatero and Cockelburro, and observed the Mormon church, its community members, and the many homes scattered throughout Escalante. Navajo traders had made their way into town occasionally to exchange with the community, but Escalante never saw a 20-year-old with two donkeys carrying watercolors, jewelry, and native rugs. Everett’s legendary status began here in 1934 due to his unique nature compared to the Mormon families, for the fact that he disappeared not far from here is the reason his myth still lives on in Utah.
For the first time in five years of travel, Everett was financially stable, he had every reason to be satisfied with his life at this moment. He sent his parents ten dollars along with about twenty of his watercolor paintings. He told them to spend five dollars each on something that they “had been wishing to have,” so they proudly spent it to frame their son’s watercolors. In Escalante, Everett saw a film called Death Takes a Holiday, which is about death taking human form and asking the public why they fear death, a concept that Everett was fascinated by according to letters sent home. During these last moments in Escalante, Everett played the role of big brother to a lot of the children. According to letters sent from Escalante, he spent time “riding horses, hunting for arrowheads, and the like” with them. Everett’s role in Escalante was one of his most important ones as he served as a curiosity for not only the children but the community as a whole. Before he left, he wrote to his brother Waldo about his desire to stay out in the wilderness for an unknown period of time, for that is where he belonged.
On November 12th, 1934, Everett left Escalante after chatting with the Alvey family who lived on the outskirts of town, and later recalled warning the young explorer of the conditions of the desert. His last winter excursion was in the Superstition Mountains near Phoenix, a completely different climate than southern Utah. A week later two sheepherders spotted him near Davis Gulch, Utah, and offered him mutton, but as the cool autumn air set over Escalante Canyon, Everett declined and was never seen again.
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