Prayer Rock

Byron Session kneeling in Prayer

Prayer Rock

When the canal had progressed two miles along its surveyed course, an enormous rock, the size of a house, was encountered directly in its path. It was partially buried, and the more the men dug around it to find its base and free it by a powder blast, the further it seemed to extend into the ground. One night the supervisor, Byron Sessions, could not sleep fearing that some of the workers would be crushed beneath the rock, if it unexpectedly broke loose.

He arose early in the morning, went to the rock, and knelt in prayer beside it. He asked the Lord for wisdom to know what to do that no accident might occur. Later that day, when the workmen began expressing doubt that the rock would ever be moved into the hole being dug for it, Byron Sessions replied emphatically, “I prophecy, in the name of Israel’s God, that rock will be in there tomorrow at this time.” One of the workmen, James George quietly said to a companion, “Let’s test him out.” Looking at his large pocket watch he said, “It’s just 4:00 p.m.”

The next afternoon as Byron Session was supervising construction along the canal; he came to the men working in the hole with picks and shovels. He told them to pick up their tools and to get away from the rock. Quickly they climbed out of the hole. Five minutes had not passed when the rock suddenly split from top to bottom, the larger half rolling over into the hole where the men had been working. James George looked at his watch again, and somewhat dumfounded exclaimed, “Five minutes to four!” Today the canal flows quietly through the two halves of what has become known as “Prayer Rock.”  Uncle Will Simmons was an eyewitness to the "Miracle of Prayer Rock."