As told by Francis Allen Esplin (comments in maroon)

In the story “Hip Replacement -- Why did Pop Limp?” Francis says: “The injury I received while rolling rocks in the Grand Canyon the winter before starting High School left the cords in the calf of my leg and back of my knee short so I walked with a hitch.” Between December 11, 1967 and late January 1968, he wrote quite a bit about his life. Included in that is this story of how he got the injury.

In the autumn of 1912, after we had finished elementary school in Orderville, Lawrence and I were considered old and responsible enough to take father's sheep outfit on the Arizona Strip for the winter. We were old enough, surely, being past eighteen, and as far as responsibility is concerned, Joseph W. Covington, “Jode”, as everyone knew him, was charged with the responsibility of keeping us going in the right direction and in fact did much more than that.
Jode, a very kindly man whom everyone admired and enjoyed being with, had been working with father and his sons for years and was at present taking care of Israel and James’ herd, with which we kept in close contact. (Israel and James were Francis’ half brothers, born in 1883 and 1885).

The feed was good and the public watering places were full so we took our time grazing towards Toroweap Valley where the Esplins had a good watering place. The Esplin brothers while they were still operating co-operatively, had built a dike joining two volcanic ledges which formed a large flat lake which was dependent on spring runoff and from hard rains in Toroweap Valley for water. Below the dike the terrain broke rapidly into the Grand Canyon of the Colorado.

This beautiful valley with an Indian name ran approximately North and South, was 20 miles long, with a fairly level floor and from one to two miles in width. On the east were the high, precipitous ledges of Tucket Point and on the west the volcanic knolls of Mt. Trumbull. It was more narrow at the head or North end and on the South end it was like an enormous spout open to dump all the contents into the Grand Canyon Gorge.

One warm afternoon in late December I was having a good time rolling boulders over the ledge into the gorge. In the soft earth on the hillside many of of these boulders weighing a ton or more each could be loosened and started down. Before they got going too fast, I would run to the edge of the ledge where there was a sheer drop to the Colorado River of some three thousand feet. I hoped to see a boulder fall into the water, but succeeded only in seeing a dust where they broke on the talus slope near the water.

While I was thus enjoying myself, a rock turned to one side quickly and hit my right foot, bruising the foot and toe quite badly. It was difficult for me to get the sheep to the camp that night.

I was taking my turn at herding at that time and I am sure anyone would think that Lawrence would take over the herding and give me a chance to do much less walking and have a chance to let my foot recuperate. I thought so, too, but did not ask him to make the change nor did I leave the herding so he would have to do it.

After a few days walking in an unnatural way to favor the foot, the muscles and tendons in the left leg became very sore and began to contract. Christmas came and passed practically unnoticed and soon I could do nothing but cooking and tending things inside the camp wagon and driving the team after Lawrence got everything ready to go. We had no saddle horse as most outfits do have, which was the cause of a great deal of foot work on Lawrence’s part, wrangling the horses and also the sheep while he was getting the camp ready to move. It snowed a little on Tuckett Point and the sheep would do much better where the feed was better and a little snow along with their feed was better than trailing to water every two or three days.

I was getting worse steadily and my leg drew up in the back so I could not touch my left foot to the ground. It was evident that something more had to be done, soon.

So Jode, as soon as the sheep were in a suitable place where they could be left, took the springs from one of the beds, borrowed some bedding from each bed and prepared the lightest commissary wagon for the trip home of about ninety miles. Long before it was light, with the four work horses on each wagon, Jode was on his way. During the morning we met Erastus Allen, walking beside his team as Jode did much of the time in an effort to keep warmer, at least to keep from freezing. Jode remarked that he thought it was the coldest day he ever knew and he was the veteran of many winters on the open range. Being in bed I was not cold but the jolts were very painful, so I was glad when we got on the desert where the road was smoother. Arriving at Moccasin long past dark, Jode carried me up the stairs to the bed and the kindly Heaton folks did everything they could for our comfort. The second day most of the road was sand so it was less painful for me riding. The distance was not so great and the four horses could walk along through the sand so we arrived in Orderville before darkness.

Dr. Clark, from Panguitch, recommended continuous hot packing with bichloride disinfectant and epsom salts in hot water and this brought such quick results that I was afraid I would soon have to go back to the herd.

Annie’s folks were renting for the winter across the street from my mother’s home and Annie called to see me the day after we arrived and occasionally after until I could get out on crutches. I appreciated it very much and returned the calls as soon as possible. Dinners and house parties were arranged by a few of our crowd who were not away at High School and the time passed very quickly and pleasntly.

Jode, who with his wife, was renting in part of the house where Annie’s folks lived, had to go back to take care of the sheep after a day or two at home. Especially was this urgent because where the sheep were there was danger of the snow getting so deep they could not get around food or could not be moved.

So, after three weeks, the hard earned vacation was over and I rode a horse back, again taking advantage of the Heaton’s hospitality at Moccasin for a place to stay over the night. I could, at least, tend the camp if not quite capable to do the herding.