Site 5, Fifty Mile Spring
From Forty Mile Spring, the next major campsite was at Fifty Mile Spring, just below Fifty Mile Point on the Kaiparowits Plateau. With no water or grazing for their animals at the Hole, Fifty Mile Spring along with other springs in the immediate area became their base camp until the road through the crevice was completed. Those assigned to work on the Hole-in-the-Rock crevice (which included most of the men) walked the ten miles from Fifty Mile Spring to the Hole on Monday morning. After laboring on the crevice for six days, they returned on Saturday evening to spend Sunday with their families. This process was repeated for six weeks. While at Fifty Mile Spring, the pioneers celebrated Christmas and New Year’s Day, and Anna Maria Decker gave birth to a baby girl. James and Anna Decker named their newborn Lena Deseret Decker.