Closing in on Kerlin's Well

In past posts I have been recounting my efforts to find the location of Kerlin's Well. Using tools available on the Internet, I have finally pin pointed the exact location on a topographical map. My search began with a photograph in a book written by my Great-uncle George S. Tanner. Uncle George had a photograph of rock upon which my Great-grandfather, George's father, had carved his name in block letters with the date, "1877." The directions to the location were very vague and my efforts to find out more information were not successful.

My wife and I drove out of Mesa, north almost 200 miles, stopping along the way to do research at National Forest offices and local libraries. After spending most of a day driving out into the northern Arizona desert, hiking up canyons and looking for the rock, we ended our trip unsuccessfully. I did find a book listed in WorldCat.org the referred to Kerlin's Well. When I returned to Mesa, I got online and ordered the book through the Mesa Public Library Inter-library Loan.

Yesterday, I received the book and after analyzing the maps and directions located the site on a topographical map. It turned out that driving around in the desert of dirt roads, we had gotten close but not close enough to the location of the carved rock. By matching locations given in the book with those on the map, I now believe I have located the canyon and thereby located the rock. Now, we are back in the planning stage, trying to figure out a day when we can drive back to the north country and try our hand at the dirt roads again.