Archibald Gardner and the Ice Flow
From NeilDocs
Janet Gardner, daughter of Mark Barclay Gardner, son of Brigham Evenson Gardner, son of Neil Gardner, son of Archibald Gardner
"At the time I joined the church I owned two good grist mills, one saw mill and two hundred acres of land. Persecution against the new religion was relentless. I was so badly treated that I sold out for what I could get, and decided to join the body of Saints.
. . . "I went to my mother-in-law’s, borrowed a horse, rode past my old place to father’s home where my wife lay sick. She and the children were being cared for by my folks. I remained there two hours. Then I bade my loved ones farewell before leaving the home of my youth where I had shed many drops of honest sweat and had spent numerous happy days (as far as Gentile happiness goes.) Trusting in the Lord to preserve us all until we should meet again, I started for Port Sarnia on the St. Clair River after dark. I traveled thirty miles and arrived at daybreak next morning. It was about the first of March [1846]. Down to the river I went expecting to cross on the ice. It had give way, to my awful disappointment, and was crowding out of Lake Huron. Cakes of it were rising on edge, sometimes ten feet high. A little piece of bay remained unbroken and I started out on this. My mind was filled with thoughts of home and loved ones whom I was leaving as an exile. Aroused from my reverie by a cry of alarm, I looked up to see that the ice on which I was standing was all a tremble. ACross the river, people from Black River village were shouting and waving hats and handkerchiefs for me to go back. I could see down the St. Clair for about ten miles. It was all in motion. The sight fascinated me. When the crowding of the running ice raised the solid ice under my feet, I was obliged to retreat to shore. I climbed up the bank at a point twenty feet above the river and again gazed over the rolling mass which was traveling at a rate of seven miles per hour—at least that is the river’s velocity at this point.
"Up the street I went for John Anderson who had accompanied me. I gave him ten dollars of the fifty I had brought along. I requested him to return to my folks and report my safe passage across the angry stream.
"I went down to the river bank and this is the prayer I uttered: “O Lord, God of ancient Israel, Thou knowest the desires of Thy servant’s heart and that I have not done wrong but seek to keep Thy commandments. And as I am fleeing from mine enemies that I may gather with Thy saints, wilt Thou have mercy on Thy servant and stop this ice that I may not fall into the hands of mine enemies? Amen.”
"And then—all fear vanished. I felt the power of faith as I had never felt it before. I started. The sun by this time had lighted up the tall pines behind the village across the river to the west. Now the crowd which was watching my movements from the high ground again began to shout. I stepped to the edge of the unbroken ice. The noise of grinding masses of ice in the river, which up to this time had sounded like a great waterfall, ceased. Nothing could be heard save the shouting of the inhabitants of Black River.
"There was an opening of ten feet between the ice at the bank and the accumulation in the river. I took a running jump and landed knee deep in slush and broken ice, ground up by the waves of Lake Huron three miles above. I wound my way around openings where the water boiled and swirled; then onward for a mile and eight rods as that is the distance across at this point. When I came near the bank someone reached me a rail. I sprang to the middle of it and then onto the shore with praise and thanksgiving in my heart to God my deliverer. The people were filled with amazement. Some said that I must be a Mormon while others, “The devil is in the man.” Bewildered, someone inquired, “What does this mean? Who ever saw the ice stop like this before?” But I knew. My heart was overflowing with gratitude. An acquaintance of mine, Mrs. Davenport, stepped up: “Oh, Archie, what a fright you have given me!” But I shook my head for her to say nothing and passed thru the crowd and on my way."
(Robert Sweeten went back to Canada in 1866, twenty years after the Gardners had left. He stayed with his cousin, Phoebe McAlroy McKellar, wife of Duncan McKellar. Her hotel was in Port Huron, Michigan, about twenty yards from where Archie Gardner landed when he crossed the river that memorable morning in March, 1846. One day while there, a large crowd was gathered on the docks and the subject of Mormons came up. One man drew the attention of the crowd to an incident he had witnessed with his own eyes—hear say none. He related the story as grandfather had told it many times, how he saw a man—a Mormon—did not know his name—start to cross the river at this place on the running ice. The sight caused so much excitement that a great multitude gathered in no time at this spot. At first people shouted for him to go back but as he came on they stood breathless. The ice jammed in front of him and as he landed, they shouted wildly, waving hats and handkerchiefs. But the man was gone before the people realized it. The he, Robert Sweeten, spoke up and told them he knew who it was. It was his uncle. The story was verified, bu several of Archibald Gardner’s old neighbors in Canada, each relating in his own home when visited by Robert Sweeten, how they had heard it from the man Anderson who had been sent back by his uncle to take the news to his relatives.)
Source: Delila Gardner Hughes. The Life of Archibald Gardner. West Jordan, Utah: The Archibald Gardner Family Genealogical Association, 1939, pp. 28-30.
