# Seth Tanner > Mediated Wiki article. Canonical URL: https://mediated.wiki/source/Seth_Tanner > Markdown URL: https://mediated.wiki/source/Seth_Tanner.md > Source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Seth_Tanner > Source revision: 1335390924 > License: Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/) {{Short description|American explorer (1828–1918)}} {{More citations needed|date=January 2013}} {{Infobox person | name = Seth Benjamin Tanner | birth_date = {{birth date|1828|3|6}} | birth_place = [Bolton, New York](/source/Bolton%2C_New_York), US | death_date = {{death date and age|1918|12|3|1828|3|6}} | death_place = [Taylor, Arizona](/source/Taylor%2C_Arizona), US | death_cause = | occupation = explorer, settler, prospector, stockman, Indian trader | title = | term = | predecessor = | successor = | party = | boards = | spouse = Charlotte Levi, Anna Marie Jensen | children = 7 | relatives = | website = | footnotes = }} '''Seth Benjamin Tanner''' (March 6, 1828 – December 3, 1918) was a [Mormon](/source/Mormon) pioneer, miner, and early [settler](/source/settler) of Arizona. [Tanner Trail](/source/Tanner_Trail) in the [Grand Canyon National Park](/source/Grand_Canyon_National_Park) was named after him.{{cite web | title = Seth Tanner | work = Allhikers.com | url = http://www.allhikers.com/Allhikers/History/Historical-Figures/Seth-Tanner.htm | accessdate = April 14, 2008 | archive-date = May 8, 2008 | archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20080508224730/http://www.allhikers.com/Allhikers/History/Historical-Figures/Seth-Tanner.htm | url-status = dead }} ==Life== Tanner was the son of [John Tanner](/source/John_Tanner_(Mormon)) and Elizabeth Beswick. He was born in [Bolton Landing, New York](/source/Bolton_Landing%2C_New_York), and was with his father's family as they were driven across the United States from place to place with the early Mormons.{{cite book |title=John Tanner and His Family |chapter=Seth Benjamin Tanner |year=1974 |last=Tanner |first=George S. |pages=297–310 |location=Salt Lake City, Utah |publisher=John Tanner Family Association}} By the time he reached [Salt Lake City](/source/Salt_Lake_City) in 1848, Tanner was 20 years old. Soon after arriving in Salt Lake City, Tanner left for the California [gold rush](/source/California_Gold_Rush) with his older brother Myron. In 1851, he and Myron joined other family members in helping to settle [San Bernardino](/source/San_Bernardino%2C_California). For a time, Seth and his brothers made money breaking in [semi-wild horses](/source/Mustang_(horse)) and driving them up from [California](/source/California) to sell in Salt Lake. In 1856, he went to [San Diego](/source/San_Diego) for a while to invest in the coal business with some partners and [prospect](/source/prospecting) for coal, although they did not find much success in this venture. Tanner married Charlotte Levi in 1858 in [Pine Valley](/source/Pine_Valley%2C_Washington_County%2C_Utah), [Washington County, Utah](/source/Washington_County%2C_Utah), and they settled in [North Ogden](/source/North_Ogden%2C_Utah) and had seven children. After Charlotte's death in 1872, Tanner moved his family to [Payson](/source/Payson%2C_Utah) to be near other family members. In 1875, he was chosen by [Brigham Young](/source/Brigham_Young) to go on an exploring mission with James S. Brown to Arizona, to search out a suitable place for settlement on the [Little Colorado River](/source/Little_Colorado_River). He later returned to [Utah Territory](/source/Utah_Territory) and married Anna Maria Jensen in 1876, then moved his family to Arizona, to an isolated cabin on the Little Colorado River near [Tuba City](/source/Tuba_City%2C_Arizona), on the present-day [Navajo reservation](/source/Navajo_Nation).{{cite journal |title=The Tanner Re-Union |journal=The Latter-Day Saints' Millennial Star |volume=47 |date=February 1885 |pages=69–71}} Apparently his cabin was on the main travel route and visitors often stopped over there. [Wilford Woodruff](/source/Wilford_Woodruff), fourth [president](/source/President_of_the_Church_(LDS_Church)) of [the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints](/source/the_Church_of_Jesus_Christ_of_Latter-day_Saints) (LDS Church), mentioned it when on the underground, hiding out from the federal marshals.{{Citation needed|date=January 2013}} Tanner's second wife had no children of her own, but raised the children of Tanner's first wife in this lonely cabin in the wilderness. Tanner also helped with the [Hole-In-The-Rock](/source/San_Juan_Expedition) expedition; he joined the expedition as a guide for the initial exploring party, guiding them up to the [Bluff](/source/Bluff%2C_Utah) area after they had reached [Moenkopi](/source/Moenkopi%2C_Arizona) in the Navajo country.{{cite book|last= Miller|first= David E.|title= Hole-In-The-Rock: An Epic in the Colonization of the Great American West|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=gDVhXwAACAAJ&q=hole+in+the+rock+miller|year= 1966|publisher=University of Utah Press |location= Salt Lake City, Utah|isbn= 1258081431|pages=20, 24, 30}} The whole expedition would have been much better off had they followed the route which Seth showed them, instead of taking the insane "short cut" down through the hole and across the redrock country.{{Citation needed|date=January 2013}} This "short cut" took them six months, instead of the six weeks it took to go the "long way" around. Apparently Tanner got along well with both the [Navajo](/source/Navajo_people) and [Hopi](/source/Hopi) Indians; he and his children learned their languages, and they called him by a Navajo name, ''Hastiin Shush'', which meant "Mr. Bear," and his sons were known as ''Shush Yaz'', or "Little Bear."{{cite book|last= Evans|first= Will|title= Along Navajo Trails: Recollections of a Trader, 1898-1948|url=http://digitalcommons.usu.edu/usupress_pubs/83/|year= 2005|publisher=Utah State University Press |location= Logan, Utah|isbn= 0-87421-605-2|pages=96}} Tanner's descendants even today operate a chain of Indian [trading post](/source/trading_post)s throughout the Southwest. "He was often appointed to deal with the natives, having the happy faculty of making friends with them ... Seth was a modest man but he was always thoughtful of others, and during his travels and life-long experiences when he was associated with others in travel, he was generally set apart as a hunter and fisher and to provide meat for the company."{{Citation needed|date=August 2014}} Tanner was a gentle, solitary man of the desert, and he did a lot of traveling and exploring through [Northern Arizona](/source/Northern_Arizona). He engaged in prospecting and mining in the area, but does not seem to have had too much success in these ventures. It is said that his name is somewhat of a legend in northern Arizona, and many natural features bear his name.{{Citation needed|date=January 2013}} He died in [Taylor, Arizona](/source/Taylor%2C_Arizona) at the age of 90. ==See also== *[Tanner Trail](/source/Tanner_Trail) *[Grand Canyon](/source/Grand_Canyon) *[Grand Canyon National Park](/source/Grand_Canyon_National_Park) *[List of trails in Grand Canyon National Park](/source/List_of_trails_in_Grand_Canyon_National_Park) == References == {{reflist|2}} ==External links== *[http://www.bobspixels.com/kaibab.org/bc/gc_tr_ta.htm Tanner Trail Description] *[https://web.archive.org/web/20091020115315/http://www.etanner.com/aboutet.html Ellis Tanner Trading Company] *[http://www.southwestshowroom.com Fifth Generation Trading Company] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090827132910/http://www.southwestshowroom.com/ |date=2009-08-27 }} *[https://web.archive.org/web/20090410024315/http://www.silverstage.net/tanner.htm Tanner family trading posts] * {{Find a Grave}} {{DEFAULTSORT:Tanner, Seth}} Category:1828 births Category:American Latter Day Saints Category:1918 deaths Seth Category:Mormon pioneers Category:People from Arizona Territory Category:People from Bolton Landing, New York Category:American explorers of North America Category:People from North Ogden, Utah --- Adapted from the Wikipedia article [Seth Tanner](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Seth_Tanner) by Wikipedia contributors ([contributor history](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Seth_Tanner?action=history)). Available under [Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International](https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/). Changes may have been made.