Sacred Texts Mormonism Index Previous Next
Buy this Book at Amazon.com
History of Utah, 1540-1886, by Hubert Howe Bancroft, [1889], at sacred-texts.com
Brigham Threatened With Arrest—the Federal Judges Reproved—Departure of Governor Cumming—and of the Army of Utah—Population of the Territory—Mortality—Wealth—Industries—Prices—Wages—Trade—Salt Lake City in 1860—the Temple Block—Social Gatherings—Theatricals—Scientific and Other Institutions—Character of the Population—Carson Valley—San Bernardino—Summit County and Its Settlements—Purchase of Fort Bridger—Wasatch County—Morgan County—Cache Valley—Settlements in Southern Utah.
During the disputes between Governor Cumming and General Johnston, the latter being aided, as we have seen, by the federal judges, there was constant fear that the troops would come into collision with the territorial militia. Though the Mormon authorities had no cause for complaint as to the conduct of the soldiery, they regarded their presence as a menace, and condemned the proceedings of the general and the judges as a personal insult to the governor.
After the arrival of the army, Brigham never appeared in public without a body-guard of his own intimate friends; 1 and for many months he attended no public assemblies. At the door of his residence sentries kept watch by day, and at night a strong guard was stationed within its walls. Nor were these precautions unnecessary. About the end of March 1859 a writ was issued for his apprehension on a groundless charge of complicity in forging notes on
the United States treasury. 2 The officers deputed to make the arrest repaired to the governor's quarters and besought his coöperation, but were promptly refused, Cumming protesting against the measure as an unjustifiable outrage, 3 whereupon they returned in discomfiture to Camp Floyd.
But the trouble was not yet ended. In May, Judge Sinclair was to open his court at Salt Lake City, and threatened to station there a detachment of troops. On Sunday the 17th of April it was reported that two regiments were on their way to the city for the purpose of making arrests, whereat General Wells at once ordered out the militia, and within a few hours five thousand men were under arms. 4 It was now expected
and almost hoped that the Nauvoo legion would measure its strength with the army of Utah, but by a little timely forbearance on both sides the threatened encounter was averted. Soon afterward the judges were instructed as to their duty in an official letter from the attorney-general, and were ordered to confine themselves within their official sphere, which was to try causes, and not to intermeddle with the movements of the troops—the latter responsibility resting only with the governor. "In a territory like Utah," he remarked, "the person who exercises this power can make war and peace when he pleases, and holds in his hands the issues of life and death for thousands. Surely it was not intended to clothe each one of the judges, as well as the marshal and all his deputies, with this tremendous authority. Especially does this construction seem erroneous when we reflect that these different officers might make requisitions conflicting with one another, and all of them crossing the path of the governor." 5 The judges were superseded a few months later; 6 and thus the matter was finally set at rest, the action of the governor being sustained, although he became so unpopular with the cabinet that for a time his removal was also under consideration. 7 Though his resignation was not demanded,
he set forth from Salt Lake City in May 1861, about two months before his term of office expired. He had entered that city amid a forced display of welcome, but he left it with the sincere regrets of a people whose hearts he had won by kind treatment. 8
In 1860 most of the troops were removed to Mexico and Arizona, and about a year later, war between north and south being then almost a certainty, the remainder of the army was ordered to the eastern states. The government stores at Camp Floyd, valued at $4,000,000, were sold at extremely low prices, greatly to the relief of the saints, who could now purchase provisions, clothing, wagons, live-stock, and other articles of which they were in need, at their own rates. Flour, which had cost the nation $570 per ton, sold for less than $11 per ton, and other stores in the same proportion; the entire proceeds of the sale did not exceed $100,000, or little more than two per cent of the outlay; and of this sum $40,000 was contributed by Brigham. 9
At the sale at Camp Floyd some of the leading
merchants of Salt Lake City laid the basis of their fortunes; to the rest of the community its main benefit was that it gave them a good supply of warm clothing at cheap rates. For years afterward the members of the Nauvoo legion were attired in military uniforms, which now took the place of the sombre gray clothing that the saints were accustomed to wear. The ammunition and spare arms were destroyed, some of the cannon being exploded and others thrown into wells, though the latter were recovered by the Mormons, and are still used on the 4th and 24th of July, and other of their festivities. 10
We have now arrived at a period in the history of Utah when it may be of interest to give a brief description of the industrial and social condition of the Mormons. Between the years 1850 and 1862 they had increased in number from 11,380 to about 65,000, a gain that has seldom been equalled in any of the states or territories of the republic. 11 They were a very healthy community, the number of deaths recorded in the census report for the year ending June 1860 being little more than nine per thousand, 12 though this is doubtless a mistake, the actual death rate being probably at least twelve per thousand. 13 Of the mortality,
about twenty-six per cent occurred among infants, 14 the most prominent diseases among adults being consumption and enteriris. It is worthy of note that up to this date there occurred in the territory but one case of suicide among the Mormons. 15 There was little pauperism in their midst, and there was little crime, or such crime as was punished by imprisonment. 16
The saints were now a fairly prosperous community. The value of their real and personal property was reported in 1860 at $5,596,118, of improved farm lands at $1,333,355, of farming implements $242,889, of live-stock $1,516,707, and of manufactures $900,153. To these figures about 50 per cent must be added in order to obtain the actual value. Among the list of premiums bestowed in this year by the Deseret Agricultural and Manufacturing Society, 17 we find prizes and diplomas awarded for agricultural and gardening implements of all kinds, for steam-engines and fire-engines, for leathern manufactures of every description from heavy harness to ladies' kid boots of many
buttons, for woollen and cotton goods, including carpets, blankets, flannels, jeans, linseys, kerseys, and cassimeres, for many articles of furniture, and for the most needed articles of cutlery and hardware. 18
The prices of most necessaries of life were moderate throughout the territory, but on account of high freights—averaging from the eastern states about $28 and from the Pacific seaboard $50 to $60 per ton—imported commodities were inordinately dear. 19 The cost of luxuries mattered but little, however, to a community that subsisted mainly on the fruits and vegetables of their own gardens, and the bread, milk, and butter produced on their own farms.
Wages were somewhat high at this period, common laborers receiving $2 per day and domestic servants $30 to $40 per month. Lumbermen, wood-choppers, brick-makers, masons, carpenters, plasterers, and painters were in demand at good rates; though until 1857, and perhaps for a year or two later, their hire was usually paid in kind, as there was still but little money in circulation. Thus, a mechanic might be required to receive his wages in hats, boots, or clothing, whether he needed such articles or not, and must probably submit to a heavy discount in disposing of his wares for cash or for such goods as he might require. Some commodities, however, among which were flour, sugar, coffee, and butter, could usually be sold at their par value, and some could not even be bought for cash in large quantities. Most of the stores divided their stock into two classes of wares, which they termed cash-goods and shelf-goods, and the tradesman objected to sell any considerable amount of the former unless he disposed, at the same time, of a portion of
the latter. If, for instance, one should tender $50 for a bag of sugar without offering to make other purchases, the store-keeper would probably refuse; "for," he would argue, "if I sell all my cash-goods for cash, without also getting rid of my shelf-goods, I shall not be able to dispose of the latter for cash at all. I must dole out the one with care that I may be able to get rid of the other." 20
In some of the shop windows on Main Street were displayed costly imported commodities—silks, velvets, and shawls of diverse pattern, jewelry, laces, and millinery; 21 near by were less pretentious stores, where home-made and second-hand articles were retailed. In some of the latter might be seen a curious collection of dilapidated merchandise, and people almost as singular as the wares over which they chaffered. Here was a group of women holding solemn conclave over a superannuated gown that to other eyes would seem worthless; there a sister in faded garb cheapening a well-battered bonnet of Parisian make that had already served as covering and ornament for half a dozen heads.
Approaching Zion from the direction of Fort Bridger, after days of travel through sage-brush and buffalo-grass, the traveller would observe that within a score of leagues from Salt Lake City nature's barrenness began to succumb to the marvellous energy of the saints. The cañons had been converted by irrigation into fertile lands, whose emerald tint soothed the eye wearied with the leaden monotony of the desert landscape.
[paragraph continues] The fields were billowing with grain, the cattle sleek and thriving, the barns well filled, the windmills buzzing merrily. Nevertheless, among these smiling settlements a painful deficiency might be noticed. Everything that industry and thrift could accomplish had been done for the farm, but nothing for the home. Between the houses of the poor and the rich there was little difference, except that one was of logs and the other of boards. Both seemed like mere enclosures in which to eat and sleep, and
Click to enlarge
SALT LAKE CITY IN 1860.
around neither was there any sign that the inmates took a pride in their home. One might pass three dwellings enclosed by a common fence, and belonging to one master, but nowhere could be seen any of those simple embellishments that cost so little and mean so much—the cultivated garden plat, the row of shade trees, the rose-bush at the doorway, or the trellised creeper at the porch.
The city itself wore a different aspect. The streets,
though unpaved and without sidewalks, were lined with cotton-wood and locust trees, acacias, and poplars. Most of the private houses were still of wood or adobe, some few only being of stone, and none pretentious as to architecture; but nearly all were surrounded with gardens in which fruit and shade trees were plentiful. Many of them were of the same pattern, barn-shaped, with wings and tiny casements, for glass was not yet manufactured by the Mormons. A few of the better class were built on a foundation of sandstone, and somewhat in the shape of a bungalow, with trellised verandas, and low flat roofs supported by pillars. Those of the poor were small hut-like buildings, most of them one-storied, and some with several entrances. At this date the entire city, except on its southern side, was enclosed by a wall some ten or twelve feet high, with semi-bastions placed at half musket-range, and pierced here and there with gateways. 22
In driving through the suburbs the visitor would find the thoroughfares in bad condition, dusty in summer, and in winter filled with viscid mud. On either side were posts and rails, which, as the heart of the city was approached, gave way to neat fences of palings. On Main Street were the abodes of some of the leading Mormon dignitaries and the stores of prominent gentile merchants. On the eastern side, nearly opposite the post-office, and next door to a small structure that served for bath-house and bakery, stood the principal hostelry, the Salt Lake House, a large pent-roofed building, in front of which was a veranda supported by painted posts, and a sign-board swinging from a tall flag-staff. Here fair accommodation
could be had at very moderate charges. 23 Even in its business portion, Main Street had at this date many vacant lots, being then in the embryo condition through which all cities must pass, the log building standing side by side with the adobe hut and the stone or brick store, with here and there a few shanties, relics of the days of 1848.
Among the principal attractions was the temple block, surrounded in 1860 with a wall of red sandstone, on which were placed layers of adobe, fashioned in imitation of some richer substance, and raising it to a height of ten feet. On each face of the wall were thirty pilasters, also of adobe, protected by sandstone copings, but without pedestals or entablatures. Up to the year 1860 the cost of the wall and the foundations of the edifice already amounted to $1,000,000, a sum equal to the entire outlay on the temple at Nauvoo. The block was consecrated on the 3d of February, 1853, and the corner-stones laid with imposing ceremonies on the 6th of the following April. 24 In August 1860, the foundations, which were sixteen feet deep and of gray granite, had been completed, but no further progress had been made. I shall reserve until later a description of the building as it now stands. Of the tabernacle which occupied the southwest corner of the block, and the bowery immediately north of the tabernacle, mention has already been made. 25 In the north-west corner, and separated from
the tabernacle by a high fence, stood the endowment house, 26 where, as evil-minded gentiles declared, human sacrifices were offered. The ceremonies that actually took place within its walls have been described elsewhere in this volume.
In the blocks adjacent to the tabernacle were the residences of Brigham, Heber, Orson Hyde, George A. Smith, Wilford Woodruff, John Taylor, and Daniel H. Wells, the first two occupying entire blocks. 27 South of temple block was the council-house, 28 south of Brigham's dwelling and adjoining that of Wells was the historian's office, where the church records were kept, and in the next plat to the east was the social hall, 29 where the fashion of the city held festivities.
Balls held at the social hall were extremely select, and sometimes a little expensive, tickets for the more pretentious fêtes costing ten dollars for each couple, and the invitations, which were difficult to obtain even at that price, 30 being issued on embossed and bordered
paper. Dancing commenced about four P.M., the president of the church pronouncing a blessing with uplifted hands, and then leading off the first cotillon. All joined vigorously in the dance, and the prophet, his apostles, and bishops set the example, the saltations not being in the languid gliding pace then fashionable in other cities, but elaborately executed steps requiring severe muscular exercise. At eight came supper, a substantial repast, with four courses, 31 after which dancing was resumed, varied at intervals with song until four or five o'clock in the morning, when the party broke up, the entertainment closing with prayer and benediction.
Besides these fashionable gatherings held from time to time by the élite of Zion, there were ward parties, elders' cotillon parties, and picnic parties, the last being sometimes held at the social hall, where rich and poor assembled, bringing with them their children, and setting their own tables, or ordering dainties from an adjoining kitchen provided for that purpose. Here, also, until 1862, when the first theatre was built, theatrical entertainments were given in winter, 32 and these of no mean order, for among the Mormons there was no lack of amateur talent. 33 Among those who participated
were several of the wives and daughters of Brigham. 34 All the actors attended rehearsal each night in the week, except on Wednesdays and Saturdays, when the performances took place; most of them found their own costumes, and none received any fixed remuneration. 35
While the amusements of the people were thus cared for, there was no lack of more solid entertainment. All had access to the public library under proper restrictions, and in the council-house was opened, in 1853, the first reading-room, which was supplied with newspapers and magazines from all parts of the world. Among the scientific associations may be mentioned the Universal Scientific Society, established in 1854, with Wilford Woodruff as president, and the Polysophical Society, over which Lorenzo Snow presided. 36 The musical talent of Salt Lake City formed themselves, in 1855, into the Deseret Philharmonic Society, and in June of that year a music hall was in course of construction. 37 In the same
year the Deseret Theological Institute was organized, its purpose being to make known the principles of light and truth which its members claimed to have received from the priesthood, in the belief that "the science of theology embraces a knowledge of all intelligence, whether in heaven or on the earth, moral, scientific, literary, or religious"!
Prominent among the charitable associations was the Relief Society, originally organized by Joseph Smith at Nauvoo in 1842, and discontinued after his assassination until 1855, when it was reëstablished in Salt Lake City. After that date its operations gradually extended from ward to ward and from settlement to settlement, until it became a powerful influence for good throughout the land. Its main purpose was the relief of the poor, and by its efforts it prevented the necessity for poor-houses, which are still unknown among the latter-day saints, and otherwise it rendered good service—by educating orphans, by promoting home industries, and by giving tone and character to society through its moral and social influence. 38
To the student of humanity there were few richer fields for study than could be found at this period in the Mormon capital, where almost every state in the union and every nation in Europe had its representatives. There were to be seen side by side the tall, sinewy Norwegian, fresh from his pine forests, the phlegmatic Dane, the stolid, practical German, the dapper, quick-minded Frenchman, the clumsy, dogmatic Englishman, and the shrewd, versatile American. So little did the emigrants know of the land in which their lot was cast that some of them, while crossing the plains, were not aware that they trod on American soil, and others cast away their blankets and warm clothing, under the impression that perpetual summer reigned in Zion. A few years’ residence
in the land of the saints accomplishes a wonderful change, the contrast in mien and physique between the recruits and the older settlers being very strongly marked. Especially is this the case among the women. "I could not but observe in those born hereabouts," writes an English traveller in 1860, "the noble, regular features, the lofty, thoughtful brow, the clear, transparent complexion, the long, silky hair, and, greatest charm of all, the soft smile of the American woman when she does smile." 39
Much has been said about race deterioration arising
from polygamous unions. It has never been shown that physical development suffers from the polygamous system, especially when regulated by religion, as in the case of the Mormons. The children of saints are much like other children. In the streets of the capital, however, during the period under review, might be seen youths of eighteen or twenty, some of them the children of church dignitaries, whose highest ambition was satisfied when they could ride through the streets, hallooing and shouting, fantastically attired in fringed and embroidered buckskin leggings, gaudily colored shirt, and slouched hat, and with the orthodox revolver and bowie-knife conspicuously displayed. 40 They resembled somewhat the cow-boy of the present day; but their presence was barely felt amid this staid and order-loving community, 41 the forwardness of the second generation of the saints being attributed, not without show of reason, to the corrupting influence of the gentiles.
In order to estimate fairly the character of the population of Salt Lake City, which numbered in 1860 about 14,000, 42 the visitor should attend the bowery or tabernacle, where according to the season of the year about 3,000 of the populace assembled on Sunday. The men appeared, in warm weather, without coats and with open vests, but always in decent and cleanly garb, most of them being clad in gray tweed, though some of the elders and dignitaries wore black broadcloth. 43 The women wore silks, woollen stuffs,
or calicoes, as they were able to afford, usually of plain pattern and dark color, though a few were dressed in gaudy attire, and with a little faded finery. 44 The congregation was seated on long rows of benches opposite the platform, from which they were separated by the space allotted to the orchestra, then consisting of a violin and bass viol, vocal music being rendered by two female and four male singers. The oratory was somewhat of the Boanerges stamp, and contained much round abuse of the gentiles; but looking at the audience, which consisted, in the main, of a thriving, contented, and industrious class of people, light-hearted and ever ready to laugh at the somewhat broad jokes of the church dignitaries, it was impossible to believe all the hard things spoken and written of them by their enemies. Moreover, about one third of the population consisted at this date of emigrants from Great Britain, and at least two fifths were foreigners of other nationalities, most of them Danes, Swedes, or Norwegians. They were fair types of their race, and it is not very probable
that they had so quickly changed their national characteristics as already to forfeit the good opinion of their fellow-men.
Such was Zion in 1860, and such its population. Of the progress and condition of other settlements established soon after the Mormon occupation, and the founding of which has already been mentioned, I shall have occasion to speak later. During the thirteen years that had now elapsed since first they entered the valley, the saints had pushed forward their colonies in all directions almost to the verge of their territory. Especially was this the case toward the west, where, at an early date, they came into antagonism with settlers from California. In 1850 a few persons from that state had settled in Carson valley for trading purposes, the migration of gold-seekers, some of whom wintered in that region, being then very considerable. During the following year several Mormons entered the valley, John Reese, who arrived there in the spring with thirteen wagon-loads of provisions, building the first house, known for several years as the Mormon station, on the site of the present village of Genoa. 45 Reese first came to the valley alone, his nearest neighbor, James Fennimore, living in Gold Cañon, some twenty-five miles distant, in a "dug-out," or hole scooped out of the bank, the front part covered in this instance with rags and strips of canvas, the man being thriftless and a dram-drinker. He was nicknamed Virginia, and after him was named the city whence more bullion has been shipped in a single year than would now replace the floating capital of the states of California and Nevada. 46
By an act of the Utah legislature, approved January 17, 1854, the limits of Carson county were defined, 47 and the governor was authorized to appoint for it a probate judge whose duty it should be to organize the county, by dividing it into precincts, holding an election, filling the various offices, and locating the county seat. The choice fell on Orson Hyde, who with Judge Styles, the United States marshal, and an escort of thirty-five men, reached the settlement of John Reese in June 1855, other parties of Mormons arriving during this and the following year. Meanwhile miners, farmers, and herdsmen from California and the Atlantic states had settled in the valley and elsewhere on the eastern side of the Sierra Nevada in such numbers as to alarm the Mormons, who now desired them to leave the territory. This they refused to do, and some pretended fears of a resort to force. The gentiles fortified themselves, and assumed an aggressive attitude, and for two weeks the opposing forces were en-camped almost within sight of each other, but without coming to blows. News of the disturbance reached the mining camps on the other side of the mountains, and numbers prepared to go in aid of their comrades. The aggressors now feared that they would be themselves expelled from the country, and proposed a truce, under which all should be allowed to remain on their lands.
As soon as the matter became known to the authorities, the county organization was repealed, the probate judge recalled, and the records, which contained several criminal indictments of a serious
nature, 48 were removed to Salt Lake City. When news arrived of the approach of the army of Utah, the Carson Mormons were ordered, as we have seen, to return to Zion and aid in its defence, though a few remained in the valley. In 1859 the gentile inhabitants, after several fruitless appeals to congress, formally declared their independence, 49 and demanded admission as a territory. Two years later the request was granted, and the territory of Nevada was cut off from Utah, its eastern limit being fixed at the thirty-ninth meridian, but extended by act of 1862 to the thirty-eighth, and by act of 1866 to the thirty-seventh meridian. Reluctantly the Mormons relinquished these portions of the public domain.
In Eagle and Washoe valleys they had also established small settlements in 1854 and 1855, remaining until recalled in 1857, at which latter date, as will be remembered, the colony at San Bernardino in California was also abandoned. During the Mormon occupation the county of San Bernardino was cut off from that of Los Angeles, the former assuming its proportion of the liabilities. A city was built, with substantial dwellings, saw and grist mills, and surrounded
with thriving farms; 50 a road was constructed as far as the timber belt in the neighboring mountains, each man working incessantly until it was completed, and all this was accomplished without incurring debt, a small balance remaining in the county treasury when the settlers were ordered by Brigham to Salt Lake City. 51
Of Elder Samuel Brannan's party which arrived in San Francisco, as will be remembered, in the summer of 1846, mention is made in connection with my History of California. 52 During this year, a settlement named New Hope was founded by a portion of the company on the north bank of the Stanislaus River, near its junction with the San Joaquin, but was abandoned when news was received that the brethren had resolved to remain in the valley of Great Salt Lake. Most of the Mormons still remained, however, in California, betaking themselves to farming and lumbering until the time of the gold discovery, when they gathered at the mines on Mormon Island. Between 1848 and 1850 about a hundred and forty of them found their way to Utah; the remainder cast in their lot with the gentiles, and most of them, among whom was their leader, apostatized, though a few afterward joined the Mormon communities at San Bernardino and in Arizona. 53
Within the territory of Utah many new colonies were established. In 1853 the first settlement was made in Summit county by one Samuel Snider, who built a number of sawmills in Parley Park. In 1861 the county was organized, and soon became noted for
Click to enlarge
PRINCIPAL SETTLEMENTS IN 1862.
its mineral resources, among them being gold, silver, lead, copper, coal, iron, and mica. Its coal-fields first
brought it into prominence, and to aid in their development a short line of railroad was built, 54 but afterward dismantled and abandoned. Coalville, the present county seat, was first settled in 1859. 55 In 1858 the site of the present town of Kamas was occupied as a grazing ground by Thomas Rhoads, and was then known as Rhoads Valley. Two years later a few families settled there, and in 1862 a ward was organized, with William G. Russell as presiding elder. 56
About seven miles north-west of Kamas, and on the east bank of the Weber, the village of Peoa was founded in 1860 by a party of ten settlers. 57
In 1853 Fort Bridger, with its Mexican grant of thirty square miles of land, on which stood a few cabins, was sold for $8,000 to the Mormons, 58 who during the following year expended an equal sum in improvements. This was the first property owned by the saints in Green River county. At Fort Supply, in this neighborhood, a settlement was formed about the same time by John Nebeker, Isaac Bullock, and about fifty others from Salt Lake and Utah counties. In 1862 the first settlement was made in Wasatch county, south of Green River and Summit counties, on the site of the present village of Wallsburg. 59 Situated for the most part at an elevation of about seven thousand feet, with a heavy snow-fall and prolific of streams, this section of the territory was and is yet mainly used for stock-ranges, though in the
north-western portion there is farming land of good quality.
Morgan county, west of Summit, was named after Jedediah Morgan Grant, who with Thomas J. Thurston and others first occupied it in the spring of 1855. In 1862 it was organized, the county seat, Morgan City, being incorporated six years later. The village of Milton was settled by Thurston in 1856, and Enterprise, which together with Morgan is now on the line of the Union Pacific, in 1862.
In 1856 a party of six brethren settled in Cache Valley on the site of the present town of Wellsville, Cache county, north of Weber, being organized during the following year. Except toward the north, the valley is surrounded by mountains, on which the snow lingers late into autumn, thus affording water for irrigation throughout the year. Though the first attempt at agriculture resulted in failure on account of the severity of the climate, excellent crops were afterward raised, and soon this section became known as the granary of Utah. Amid the ranges are vast belts of timber, so dense that there are places where the sunlight never penetrates, and where the foot of man has never trod. Minerals are also abundant, though little utilized at present. During the year 1856 a fort was built at Wellsville, the site of the town being laid out in 1862, when a hundred and fifty families were gathered there. 60 Logan City, about six miles north of Wellsville, and the capital of Cache county, was located by Peter Maughan in the spring of 1859, the spot being selected on account of its rich soil and pasture, and the ample water power afforded by the Logan River. The first settlers drew lots for their
land, 61 and in 1860 the site was surveyed, the city being divided into four wards in 1861, and incorporated five years later. About five miles to the west of Wellsville the settlement of Mendon was commenced in 1857, 62 the settlers removing to Wellsville in the winter of 1858-59 for protection against Indians, and returning the following year in greater number. The first buildings were of logs, with roofs and floors of mud, timber being scarce in that neighborhood. 63
In 1859 Seth and Robert Langton, Robert and John Thornley, travelled northward from Salt Lake City in search of an agricultural site. Arriving at Summit creek, they settled within half a mile of the present town of Smithfield, Cache county. In November the settlement was organized as a ward, with John G. Smith as bishop, and in March 1860 a survey was begun. A few weeks later troubles arose with the Indians, 64 compelling the settlers to build and take refuge in a fort, in which they remained until late in the following year. At the close of 1861 there were in operation a lumber-mill, a molasses-mill, and a tannery, 65 and the town had then been laid out in its present form. Other settlements in Cache county were Hyde Park, five miles north of Logan, and now on the line of the Utah and northern railroad, where, in 1860, sixteen families were gathered; 66 Providence, two miles south of Logan,
where the first settlers 67 took up their abode in April 1859; Millville, two miles farther south, located in June 1860; 68 Paradise, at the southern extremity of the valley, containing in 1861 about thirty inhabitants, 69 and Hyrum, settled in 1860 by about twenty families. 70
Thus far the progress of Mormon colonization in the north, east, and west. Toward the south, the first settlement in Beaver county, between Millard and Iron counties, dates from 1856, at which time Simeon F. Howd, James P. Anderson, and Wilson G. Mowers arrived in Beaver Valley, commenced to build a log cabin, and made preparations for farming and stock-raising. Soon afterward they were joined by others, making in all some thirty or forty families, and in the spring of 1858 the site of Beaver City was laid out. 71 The appearance of the valley was not inviting. Situated at an altitude of 6,500 feet, frosty and barren, its surface covered in parts with sage-brush and its soil everywhere impregnated with alkali, it was at first considered unfit for occupation. Its main attraction was the volume of water afforded by Beaver River, which courses through the valley from east to west, its source being at an altitude
of nearly twelve thousand feet. Within recent years, as we shall presently see, this district has proved itself rich in minerals. Next in importance to Beaver City, and about twenty miles to the southwest, was Minersville, first settled in 1859, with J. H. Rollins as bishop of the ward.
The principal settlement in Kane county, which lay south of Iron and east of Washington county, and at one time included a portion of the latter, was Virgin City, founded in 1858, on the upper Virgin River. 72 Its site is in a valley about seven miles in width, and enclosed by mountains, their foothills, seamed and broken by the rains, leaving but a narrow margin for cultivation on the banks of the stream, covered with a dense growth of cotton-woods and an undergrowth of sage and rabbit brush. Five or six miles west of Virgin City was the town of Toquerville, established in 1858 by several families front Cedar City. 73
In 1854 Jacob Hamblin and two others were sent as missionaries to the Lamanites in the valley of the Virgin and Santa Clara rivers in Washington county, with orders to establish a settlement in that neighborhood. They found the Indians peaceably disposed, and in a measure civilized, many of them being engaged in planting corn, wheat, and squashes, but depending mainly for bread on the seeds of wild grasses. 74
[paragraph continues] In 1857 other missionaries joined the party, together with a number of families from Salt Lake City, and in May of this year a settlement was formed, to which was given the name of Washington.
In October 1861 three hundred of the saints, under the direction of Orson Pratt and Erastus Snow, were ordered to proceed to this district, and build a city, to be named St George, near the junction of the Virgin and Santa Clara rivers in Washington county. In January 1862 a site was selected and surveyed, the city incorporated, 75 though yet unbuilt, and the people took possession of their lots. Before doing so it was decided by unanimous vote that the first building erected should be a social hall, to be used for educational and other purposes. 76 In September Brigham visited the settlers, and advised them to build, as soon as possible, a substantial, commodious, and well-finished meeting-house, or tabernacle, large enough to seat at least two thousand persons, and one that would be an ornament to their city and a credit to their enterprise. The foundation stones were laid on the 1st of June, 1873, the prophet's birthday, and the building completed eight years later, at a cost of $110,000. Before its settlement, the valley of St George presented a barren appearance, its surface being strongly impregnated with mineral salts, even the bottom-lands of the Virgin and Santa Clara showing large strips of alkaline soil. Its climate was mild, and, with irrigation, crops of many kinds could be raised; but water was scarce, an artesian well sunk in 1862, at a cost of $5,000, being abandoned as a failure, after attaining a depth of more than two hundred feet. 77 Notwithstanding these drawbacks, the city became
the county seat of Washington, and is to-day the leading town in southern Utah. 78
Of the counties organized between 1850 and 1852, and the settlements founded therein up to the latter date, mention has already been made. 79 During the next decade many small villages and towns were located in the older counties, 80 and I shall describe later
those that afterward attained prominence. They differed but little in outward appearance from the pioneer settlements in other parts of the United States, except in one particular. Throughout the entire territory, there was rarely to be seen, except in Salt Lake City, a store or a mechanic's sign, traffic being carried on from house to house, and the few extraneous wants of the settlers being mainly supplied by peddlers. 81
[paragraph continues] Nevertheless the traveller who might chance to visit any of the larger settlements in 1862 could purchase, at reasonable rates, all the necessaries of life, and could perhaps supply himself with luxuries, provided he were willing to pay from three to five fold their value. Though there was no indication that trade in its ordinary sense existed among these communities, and one might search in vain for a hotel, or even for a bath-house or a barber's shop, most of the ordinary crafts were represented, and all that was needful could be obtained for money.
572:1 Stenhouse's Rocky Mountain Saints, 419-20; S. F. Alta, Sept. 29, 1858.
573:2 Stenhouse says that a counterfeit plate was engraved at S. L. City, resembling the one used by the quartermaster at Camp Floyd for drafts drawn on the assistant U.S. treasurers at New York and St Louis. When the fraud was discovered the culprit turned state's evidence, and testified that a person in the employ of Brigham had furnished the paper. It was supposed that the latter was implicated, and thereupon the writ was issued. Rocky Mountain Saints, 410-11. Cradlebaugh says that the plate was seized by Marshal Dotson, by order of Judge Eckles, and that Brigham afterward obtained judgment against the former for $2,600 damages, the marshal's house being sold to satisfy the judgment. Mormonism, 15. See also Burton's City of the Saints, 507. I find nothing about this matter in the files of the Deseret News; but the fact that the writ was issued is mentioned by Tullidge Hist S. L. City, 228, and in the Hand-book of Reference. 77. Peter K. Dotson, a native of Virginia, came to Salt Lake City in 1851, and was first employed by Brigham as manager of a distillery, afterward becoming express and mail agent. In 1855 he was appointed U.S. marshal for Utah, and in 1857 proceeded to Washington, returning with the army during that year. Dotson's Doings, MS.
573:3 In a conversation with Stenhouse, the governor stated that, in case of resistance, the wall surrounding Brigham's premises was to be battered down with artillery, and the president taken by force to Camp Floyd. So, at least, said the officers. 'I listened to them, sir as gravely as I could,' continued Cumming, 'and examined their papers. They rubbed their hands and were jubilant; "they had got the dead-wood on Brigham Young." I was indignant, sir, and told them, "By—, gentlemen, you can't do it! When you have to take Brigham Young, gentlemen, you shall have him without creeping through walls. You shall enter by his door with heads erect, as becomes representatives of your government. But till that time, gentlemen, you can't touch Brigham Young while I live.' Rocky Mountain Saints, 411. Wells, Narr., MS., 63-5, states that Brigham attended court, though his followers were very unwilling to allow it, as they feared a repetition of the Carthage-jail tragedy, but that no proceedings were taken against him.
573:4 A correspondent of the New York Herald, writing from S. L. City, May 23, 1859, says that the governor notified Wells to hold the militia in readiness to resist the troops. A copy of his letter will be found in Tullidge's Hist. S. L. City, 228-30. See also Hand-book of Reference, 77. It is very improbable that Cumming would have taken such an extreme measure, and I find no mention of it in his official despatches, in those of General Johnston, or in the files of the Deseret News. Gen. Wells himself gives the following p. 574 account of the matter: 'I told Cumming myself that we didn't intend the Carthage scene reinacted, and he knew that we intended to resist the troops, which we did. I went to see Cumming frequently, and talked the matter over with him, and he declared himself that he could not recommend Gov. Young to trust himself to that military mob; but he did say he could not see how bloodshed could be hindered. I told him we would not let them come; that if they did come, they would never get out alive if we could help it. He said he did not know what to do.' 'They knew that if they did come, we were ready for them, and that we were ready to cut off their retreat. It gave us a good deal of trouble, and anxiety as well, to prepare against it, as it occurred at a time when we were putting in our crops.' Narr., MS., 634.
574:5 Soon after a mass-meeting of gentiles was held at Camp Floyd, at which the judges took a prominent part. An address was drawn up, rehearsing all the crimes imputed to Mormons, stating that they were still disloyal to the government, and censuring the president for his interference.
574:6 Their successors are mentioned in the next chapter. Cradlebaugh, refusing to recognize the right of the president to remove him, continued in office for a short time, but finding himself unsupported by the government, left Utah and settled in Nevada, whence he was twice sent as delegate to congress. Waite's The Mormon Prophet, 75-6.
574:7 Stenhouse's Rocky Mountain Saints, 413; Tullidge's Hist. S. L. City, 233. p. 575 Both these authorities claim that Cumming was aided by Col Kane, who about this time delivered a lecture before the historical society of New York on the situation of Utah, in which he spoke of Cumming as a clear-headed, resolute, but prudent executive, and the very man for the trying position. Stenhouse was present at the lecture as reporter for the New York Herald, and notices of it were widely published throughout the country.
575:8 Before his departure the citizens desired to show their respect by some public demonstration, but this he declined, slipping away so quietly that his departure was not known until it was published in the Deseret News of May 22d. His conduct received the approval of the territorial legislature. Utah Jour. Legisl., 1860-1, p. 161.
Gov. Cumming was a native of Georgia, his wife being the daughter of a prominent Boston physician, and an accomplished lady. In 1830 he was mayor of Augusta, Ga, and during the cholera epidemic of that year used his utmost effort to save the lives of the citizens. During a portion of the Mexican war he was attached to the staff of Gen. Scott, and was afterward appointed by government to visit several Indian tribes in the far west. Waite's The Mormon Prophet, 75.
575:9 Through his business agent, H. B. Clawson. As Horace Greeley remarks in his Overland Jour., 254, the live-stock would have brought much better prices had it been driven to California, or even to Fort Leavenworth. He states that, in 1859, 30,000 bushels of corn, which could have been bought in Utah for $2 per bushel, were sent from the eastern states at a cost of more than $11 per bushel. Greeley visited the territory in this year, but his observations, apart from his account of an interview with Brigham, already mentioned, contain little of historical value. His reception at S. L. City is described in the Deseret News, July 20, 1859.
576:10 For descriptions of public festivities, between 1855 and 1865, see Deseret News, Jan. 4, July 18, 1855; July 9, 30, Aug. 6, 1856; July 8, 15, 22, 1857; July 11, Aug. 1, 1860; July 10, 1861; July 9, 30, 1862; July 8, 1863; July 6, 20, 27, 1864; July 5, Aug. 5, 1865; Tullidge's Life of Young; 247-9, Burton's City of the Saints, 424-5; S. F. Alta, Sept. 10, 1856; S. F. Bulletin, Dec. 2, 1858; Sac. Union, July 11, 1861. A thanksgiving proclamation issued by Gov. Harding in 1862 was ignored throughout the territory. 'The non-observance of this thanksgiving day,' remarks Tullidge, 'brought Stephen S. Harding to the full realization of the fact that, though he was governor of Utah, Brigham Young was governor of the Mormon people.'
576:11 I have already mentioned that the census report for 1860 gives the population at only a little over 40,000, and stated my reasons for supposing this to be an error. Beadle says that a judge who travelled extensively throughout the territory about 1864-5 estimated it at 85,000, and thinks the judge's estimate too low. He himself places it, in 1867, at 100,000. Life in Utah, 483. Bowles, Our New West, about the same date, at 100,000 to 125,000. See also S. F. Herald, Jan. 30, 1861; Sac. Union, Feb. 11, 1860. In the census of 1870 the population is given at 86,786.
576:12 U.S. Census Rept, for 1860, li. 43. The total number of deaths reported is 374.
576:13 For the year ending June 1, 1850, it was about 22 per 1,000, the rate p. 577 being then greater on account of the hardships and exposure incidental to new settlements. The following extracts from the sanitary report of Assistant-surgeon Robert Bartholow of Utah terr., dated Sept. 1858, and published in Sen. Doc., 36th Cong. 1st Sess., xiii. 301-2, may serve as a specimen of the prejudice of U.S. officials on matters relating to the territory, and help to account for their blunders: 'The Mormon, of all the animals now walking this globe, is the most curious in every relation.' 'Isolated in the narrow valleys of Utah, and practising the rites of a religion grossly material, of which polygamy is the main element and cohesive force, the Mormons have arrived at a physical and mental condition, in a few years of growth, such as densely populated communities in the older parts of the world, hereditary victims of all the vices of civilization, have been ages in reaching. If Mormonism received no addition from outside sources, these influences continuing, it is not difficult to see that it would eventually die out.'
577:14 From cholera infantum 4, croup 23, infantile 57, measles 1, scarlatina 2, teething 11. Id. 43.
577:15 After the railroad connected the territory with the Altantic and Pacific states, suicides became not infrequent.
577:16 In Compend. Ninth Census, 533, the table of pauperism and crime shows only one person receiving support as a pauper, and eight criminals. At the time of Burton's visit, in 1860, there were only six prisoners in the penitentiary at S. L. City, of whom two were Indians. City of the Saints, 329. In the Deseret News of June 18, 1856, it is stated, however, that there were many beggars among the women and children.
577:17 Incorporated by act approved Jan. 17, 1856, 'with a view of promoting the arts of domestic industry, and to encourage the production of articles from the native elements in this territory.' A copy of it will be found in Utah Acts Legisl. (ed. 1866), 111.
578:18 For list of premiums and diplomas, see Burton's City of the Saints, 384-7.
578:19 From the list of prices-current at the tithing-office in 1860, we learn that cereals were rated in Salt Lake City at $1.50 per bushel, butcher's meat at 3 to 12½ cents per pound, chickens and ducks at 10 to 25 cents each, eggs at 18 cents per dozen, milk at 10 cents per quart, and butter at 25 cents per pound; but sugar worth in New York about 6 cents per pound cost in Utah 35 to 60 cents, while tea ranged in price from $1.50 to $3.50, and coffee from 40 to 60 cents per pound, or at least fivefold their cost in the Atlantic states.
579:20 William Chandless, who visited Salt Lake City in the winter of 1855-6, states that, if one wanted to sell anything, he could get nothing for it, because of the scarcity of money; while if an offer were made to buy the same article for cash, a very high price must be paid on account of the rarity of the article. Visit to S. L. City, 223. For many years afterward, this system of traffic prevailed in a measure. Thus, in the Deseret News of Feb. 22, 1860, J. C. Little advertises that he will exchange his store of furniture for wheat and flour; George B. Wallace that he will give five gallons of molasses per cord for wood; and Felt and Allen that they pay cash and store goods for wheat delivered at the Jordan mills.
579:21 In 1860 there were three milliner's stores, thirteen dry-goods and two variety stores. Burton's City of the Saints, 277-8.
581:22 Woodruff's Journal, MS.; Richards’ Hist. Incidents of Utah, MS., 28-91 Wells’ Narr., MS., 60; Chandless, Visit to S. L., 153; Sloan's Utah Gazetteer, 25. The wall was built in 1853. Chandless remarks that for defensive purposes it would be useless, as any one could climb it with ease. Burton, City of the Saints, 245, states that it was built as a defence against Indians, though gentiles said that it was constructed only because the people wanted work. It was of mud mixed with hay and gravel; in 1860 it had already begun to crumble, and in 1883 there were few traces of it remaining.
582:23 Burton relates that at the time of his visit, in Aug. 1860, the Salt Lake House was kept by a Mr Townsend, a Mormon convert from Maine, who had been expelled from Nauvoo, where he sold his house, land, and furniture, for $50. City of the Saints, 248. His charge for 24 days’ board and lodging was $34.25. The bill, which is curiously worded, is given in full in Id., 537. Among its items are '14 Bottle Beer 600' (cents), '2 Bottles Branday 450.'
582:24 The original plans will be found in the Millennial Star, xvi. 635, and Linforth's Route from Liverpool, 109-10. Those given by Truman O. Angell, the architect, in the Deseret News, Aug. 17, 1854, differ somewhat from the above, but both agree that the edifice was to cover a space of 21,850 sq. feet, or about half an acre. For descriptions of the consecration and laying of the corner-stones, see Woodruff's Journal, MS.; Tucker's Mormonism, 222; Ferris’ Utah and the Mormons, 167-9; S. L. City Contributor, iii. 79; Deseret News, Feb. 19, Apr. 16. 1853. Seven thousand four hundred and seventy-eight tons of rock were used for the foundation. Richards’ Incidents in Utah Hist., MS., 81.
582:25 Burton describes the tabernacle, in 1860, as an adobe building, capable p. 583 of accommodating 2,000 to 3,000 persons, the interior of which was spanned by an elliptical arch. Over the entrances were carvings in wood, 'representing the sun with his usual coiffure of yellow beams, like a Somali's wig, or the symbol of the Persian empire.' City of the Saints, 270. A few years later the tabernacle was enlarged, and had a seating capacity of 7,000. Utah Notes, MS., 2.
583:26 Cuts of the tabernacle and endowment house will be found in City of the Saints, facing p. 271.
583:27 The residences of Young, Kimball, and Wells were on Main St, properly East Temple St, which runs past the temple block. Remy says that one of Brigham's houses was 80 x 40 ft, built of granite and other kinds of stones, with long salient ogives, that adjoining it being the dwelling which he usually occupied. Near by were the governor's offices, the tithing-office, and the court-house. Jour. to S. L. City, i. 193-4. In Id., i. 193-200; Greeley's Overland Jour., 206-7; Atlantic Monthly, iii. 573-5; Schiel, Reise durch Felsengebirge, 100-2, are descriptions of S. L. City about this date.
583:28 This building, which was begun in 1849, and haa already been described, was afterward destroyed by fire. Nebeker's Early Justice, MS., 3. Except for a small structure used as a post-office, this was the first public building erected in S. L. City. See also Wells’ Narr., MS., 42.
583:29 The opening of the social hall is described in the Deseret News, Jan. 22, 1853. Among other buildings worthy of note were the arsenal, built on the bench north of the city, the penitentiary in the south-eastern suburb, and the hall of seventies on the 'states road.' Linforth's Route from Liverpool, 110; Burton's City of the Saints, 279-80. The court-house was yet unfinished. Atlantic Monthly, iii. 574.
583:30 They were issued on special occasions only for 75 or 80 guests, including a few of the more prominent gentiles.
584:31 Copies of the card of invitation and the ménu at a 'territorial and civil ball' held at the social hall, Feb. 7, 1860, will be found in Burton's City of the Saints, 231-2. Among the dishes are bear, beaver-tails, slaw, mountain, pioneer, and snowballs. What the names all signify I am unable to state. Otherwise the bill of fare contains a large and choice variety of viands.
584:32 Cooke's Theatr. and Soc. Affairs in Utah, MS., 9. In summer they were held at the bowery. The S. L. theatre, or as it was usually termed the opera-house, was dedicated March 6th of this year. Sloan's Utah Gazetteer, 1884, p. 28. A gentleman who visited the city two or three years later states that its interior resembled the opera-house at New York, having seats for 2,500 and capacity for 500 more. Externally the building was a plain but not ungraceful structure of stone, brick, and stucco. Atlantic Monthly, Apr. 1864, p. 490.
584:33 Among others Burton mentions H. B. Clawson, B. Snow, and W. C. Dunbar. During his stay the 'Lady or Lyons' was performed. City of the Saints, 280. See also Deseret News, March 2, 1864; Busch, Gesch. Morm., 311-12, 330; The Mormons at Home, 149-51. Chandless, who visited the social hall one evening in the winter of 1855-6, when the third act of Othello and a two-act drama were performed, mentions that the parts of Othello and Iago were fairly rendered, but that the other characters were beneath criticism. Desdemona, he says, 'was a tall, masculine female, with cheeks painted beyond the possibility of a blush. Even worse was Emilia—an old dowdy, she looked, who might have been a chambermaid at a third-rate hotel for a quarter of a p. 585 century…The afterpiece was, on the contrary, very well performed.' Visit to S. Lake, 224.
585:34 Three of Brigham's daughters, Alice, Emily, and Zina, were on the stage. Hepworth Dixon, who was well acquainted with Alice, the youngest wife of Elder Clawson, says that she remarked to him one day at dinner, 'I am not myself very fond of playing, but my father desires that my sister and myself should act sometimes, as he does not think it right to ask any poor man's child to do anything which his own children would object to do.' New America, 144.
585:35 Cooke's Theatr. and Soc. Affairs in Utah, MS., 9-10; Stenhouse's Tell It All, 380-1. Mrs Cooke states that the performers often remained at rehearsal until 12 or 1 o'clock, and that after a hard day's work. Occasionally a benefit was given to the lady actors, and the proceeds divided among them. Her share during the twelve years that she played amounted to $150. In Theatrical and Social Affairs in Utah, by Mrs S. A. Cooke, MS., we have, besides the information which the title-page suggests, a number of items relating to church matters and the workings of polygamy. Mrs Cooke was well acquainted with the wife of Heber C. Kimball, Eliza Snow, and other prominent women among the Mormons. Of English birth, she was for eight years a teacher of music in the city of New York, and in 1852 set forth for California, reaching S. L. City in July, where she purposed to remain only until the following spring, but was converted to Mormonism. For 16 years she was employed as a teacher, among her pupils in Zion being the children of Brigham Young.
585:36 There was also a horticultural society, organized in connection with the American Pomological Society, and the Deseret Typographical Association formed for the advancement of their art. Linforth's Route from Liverpool, 111.
585:37 By the members of Capt. Ballo's band. Deseret News, June 27, 1855.
586:38 In 1880 this society had nearly 300 branches. Snow's Brief Sketch of Organizations, MS., 1-2.
587:39 Burton's City of the Saints, 278. Burton attributes this improvement in the race to climate. In amusing contrast with Burton's remarks are those of Surgeon Bartholow, who in his sanitary report says: 'It is a curious fact that Mormonism makes its impress upon the countenance,…an expression compounded of sensuality, cunning, suspicion, and a smirking self-conceit. The yellow, sunken, cadaverous visage; the greenish colored eyes; the thick, protuberant lips; the low forehead; the light yellowish hair; and the lank, angular person—constitute an appearance so characteristic of the new race, the production of polygamy, as to distinguish them at a glance. The women of this territory, how fanatical and ignorant soever, recognize their wide departure from the normal standard in all christian countries, and from the degradation of the mother follows that of the child.' Sen. Ex. Doc., 52, 36th Cong. 1st Sess., 302.
The City of the Saints, and across the Rocky Mountains to California, by Richard F. Burton, London, 1861, ranks among the best of gentile works on Mormonism. Less philosophical than that of Gunnison, it is equally impartial, and gives many details as to the social and industrial condition of the Mormons for which one may search in vain elsewhere. His stay in S. L. City lasted less than four weeks (from Aug. 25 to Sept. 20, 1860), excursions being made during his visit to points of interest in the neighborhood, but he saw more during that time than many others have done in four years. Travelling in company with Lieut Dana of the U.S. artillery, and procuring introductions to Gov. Cumming, Brigham Young, and several of the church dignitaries, he had every opportunity to note the different phases of Mormon life. The first and last portions of the work are taken up with his travels from St Joseph, Mo., to San Francisco, the middle chapters only relating to Utah. In style and tone the writer is sketchy and interesting, good-natured, but somewhat disposed to regard matters in their ludicrous aspect, for which he offers in his preface the excuse—sic me natura fecit.
A Visit to Salt Lake; being a Journey across the Plains and a Residence in the Mormon Settlements at Utah, by William ChandIess, London, 1857, is the title of a less entertaining and reliable work. As Mr Chandless remarks in his preface, even at that date, 'fictions enough have been written about the Mormons;' but it does not appear that his own work is less fictitious than those of which he complains. There are chapters about religion, government, settlements, morals, institutions, and some that appear to be about nothing in particular, unless it be Mr Chandless. Nevertheless, items of interest may be gleaned from them, as the author made a tour of the principal counties in 1855, and travellers in those parts were rare at this period. After informing us where he slept, and where he dined, and what he had for dinner, he occasionally finds time to tell us something about the condition of the settlements through which he journeyed.
588:40 Jennings’ Mat. Progr. of Utah, MS., 3-4. Mr W. Jennings, ex-mayor of S. L. City, who supplied me with the above MS. in 1884, says that this condition of affairs came to an end when the railroad reached Utah.
588:41 'There were no lamps in any but Main Street, yet the city is as safe as St James Square, London. There are perhaps not more than 25 or 35 constables or policemen in the whole place.' Burton's City of the Saints, 273. 'The few policemen that have been on duty during the summer were discharged on Monday last.' Deseret News, Sept. 12, 1860.
588:42 In 1863 Brigham stated its population at 16,000. Atlantic Monthly, Apr. 1864, p. 492; Burton, in 1860, 9,000. City of the Saints, 284; Bowles, in 1865, 25,000 to 30,000. Our New West, 227. The last two are wide of the mark.
588:43 Before this date Brigham attempted to lead the fashion, appearing in a yellow slouched hat, much too large for his head, green frock-coat, pants p. XXX large and loose, and white socks and slippers. His fashion was followed by some of the elders. Ward's Husband in Utah, 34-5. Burton says that the prophet was dressed in gray homespun, and wore a tall steeple-crowned hat, as did most of the elders. Describing one of his addresses, he writes: 'Brigham Young removed his hat, advanced to the end of the tribune, and leaning slightly forward upon both hands, propped on the green baize of the tribune, addressed his followers. The discourse began slowly, word crept titubantly after word, and the opening phrases were hardly audible; but as the orator warmed, his voice rose high and sonorous, and a fluency so remarkable succeeded falter and hesitation, that although the phenomenon is not rare in strong speakers, the latter seemed almost to have been a work of art. The manner was pleasing and animated, and the matter fluent, impromptu, and well turned, spoken rather than preached; if it had a fault, it was rather rambling and disconnected…The gestures were easy and rounded, not without a certain grace, though evidently untaught; one, however, must be excepted, namely that of raising the forefinger…The address was long. God is a mechanic. Mormonism is a great fact. Religion has made him, the speaker, the happiest of men. He was ready to dance like a shaker. At this sentence the prophet, who is a good mimic and has much of the old New English quaint humor, raised his right arm, and gave, to the amusement of the congregation, a droll imitation of Anne Lee's followers.' City of the Saints, 317.
589:44 For many years after their arrival in the valley the women dressed in homespun linseys, as there was nothing else to wear. At one time Brigham, in order to discourage extravagance, decreed that the men must not dance with women who were dressed in other than homespun garments. Jennings, Mat. Progress, MS., 1.
590:45 It served as hotel and store, and was a two-story log building, 50 x 30 ft. Reese's Mormon Station, MS.; Taylor's Rem., MS.
590:46 Reese states that Virginia had a flume in the cañon for gold-washing, and that Comstock, who came to Carson Valley in 1856, bought him out, the latter living but a short time afterward. Id., 5. In Jennings’ Carson Valley, MS., 3, it is related that Comstock came to the valley in the autumn of 1856, in charge of a herd of sheep, but in a destitute condition. In 1852 Rese was engaged in farming on a considerable scale, selling his produce p. 591 readily and at high prices to emigrants who, as he says, would pay almost any price for provisions, a small bunch of turnips selling for a dollar. Reese lived later at S. L. City, while S. A. Kinsey, his former partner remained at Genoa. Van Sickles' Utah Desperadoes, MS. Among the earliest settlers were three persons named Lee, and others named Condie and Gibson. Early Hist. Carson Valley, MS., 1. The place was first known as 'the Mormon station,' Genoa being laid out in 1856. Id., 3.
591:47 It was bounded on the north by Deseret co., east by the 118th meridian, south by the boundary line of Utah, and west by California. Utah Acts Legisl. (ed. 1855), 261.
592:48 A letter of James B. Crane, dated Washington, Jan. 17, 1859, and of which copies will be found in Waite's The Mormon Prophet, 31-5, and Tucker's Mormonism, 226-9, gives a detailed account of the Carson-valley troubles. The letter, which is somewhat bitter in tone, was written with a view to the admission of Nevada as a territory. Life and property were somewhat insecure in Carson valley about this date, and vigilance committees were constantly on the alert. See Sac. Union, Aug. 26, 1857, June 17, 22, July 2, Aug. 2, Dec. 21, 1858, June 1, 1859, Sept. 24, 1860. On the 14th of June, 1858, William Thorington, better known as 'Lucky Bill,' Luther Olds, William Edwards, and four others were arrested by a party of 30 men, and tried for the murder of a Frenchman named Godier, at Honey Lake. Lucky Bill was hanged, Olds was released on payment of $1,000 fine and promising to leave the valley never to return, and Edwards probably escaped by bribing his captors. The rest were released. Van Sickles' Utah Desperadoes, MS.; Placerville Tri-weekly Register, June 24, 1858; Popular Tribunals, this series.
592:49 The declaration contains a number of charges against the Mormons, which will be found in Remy's Jour. to G. S. L. City, i. 493-4. On May 6, 1856, joint resolutions of the California legislature were read in the U.S. senate, setting forth that a large number of settlers in Carson valley had, for good reasons, petitioned congress that this portion of Utah be attached to California, and had asked the coöperation of the California legislature, that the latter body acquiesced, and urged the passage of a law to that effect, Cong. Globe, 1855-6, 1089.
593:50 Elder Rich, who arrived at S. L. City from San Bernardino in April 1852, reported 1,800 acres in grain, and about 1,000 in vegetables. Deseret News, May l, 1852.
593:51 Shepherd's Colonizing of San Bernardino, MS. See also letter of Amasa Lyman, in Millennial Star, xiv. 491-2; and extract from N. Y. Herald, in Id., xv. 61; Richards’ Hist. Incidents of Utah, MS., 23; S. F. Herald, Aug. 21, 1852; Hughes, in Hastings' Or. and Cal., 96; Utah Scraps, 11.
593:52 Vol. v., 544-54. On pp. 543-4 (note 35) is a list of the members.
593:53 Frisbie states that after the gold discovery the Mormons, many of whom had now become wealthy, refused to pay tithes, whereupon Brannan appealed to their sense of duty, but finding them fixed in their resolve, frankly told them they were sensible, and had been damned fools for paying tithes so long. From that time he ceased to be an elder. Rem., 33-4. For further details as to Brannan's party, see Glover's Mormons in Cal., MS., passim; Larkin's Doc., MS., iv. 55; Olvera Doc., MS., 14-15; Larkin's Off: Corresp., MS., ii. 42; Millennial Star, ix. 39-40, 306-7; Times and Seasons, vi., 1126-7. Sutter spoke of them in the highest terms. 'So long as these people have been employed by me,' he says, 'they have behaved very well, and were industrious and faithful laborers.' Hutchings’ Cal. Mag., ii. 196. In Jan. 1847 p. 594 Brannan had established a newspaper styled the Yerba Buena California Star, with the press, type, and fixtures brought from the office of The Prophet, in New York. It was continued until the close of 1848. See Hist. Cal., v. 552, this series. Richards’ Bibliog. of Utah, MS., 12-13. In Feb. 1856 Geo. Q. Cannon commenced the issue in San Francisco of a weekly paper named the Western Standard. It was discontinued in Sept. 1857, when the brethren were recalled to Utah, Id., 14.
595:54 The Summit County Railroad.
595:55 By H. B. Wild, A. B. Williams, W. H. Smith, and others. It was incorporated in 1867. Sloan's Utah Gazetteer, 1884, 149. Summit co. was so named from the fact that it included the summit of the Wasatch range. Richards’ Utah Misc., MS., 1.
595:56 The settlers lived in a fort until 1870, when a city survey was made, and they moved out to their lots.
595:57 The first house was built by Henry Barnum and Jacob M. Truman. Id., 150.
595:58 The deeds are now in the possession of the church officials at S. L. City. Trans. Wyom. Acad. Sciences, 1882, pp. 81-2. Miles Goodyear, the owner, was married to a sister of the Indian chief Walker. Young's Early Exper., MS., 5.
595:59 By Wm Wall, E. Garr, and Jas Laird. Sloan's Utah Gazetteer, 1884, p. 158. In 1866 Wallsburg was organized as a ward.
596:60 Cache co. was so called from the fact that certain trappers or emigrants cached some goods there as they passed through; Wellsville was named for Gen. Wells. Richards’ Utah Miscell., MS., 4. The first house was built at Wellsville by Peter Maughan, the first saw-mill by Esaias Edwards, Francis Gunnell, and Wm H. Maughan, and the first grist-mill by Dan. Hill & Co. A school-house, which served also for meeting-house, was constructed in 1857. William H. Maughan, in Utah Sketches, MS., 33.
597:61 The first house was built by W. B. Preston and John and Aaron Thatcher, who have since been the prominent men in Cache Valley. Sloan's Utah Gazetteer, 1884, p. 332. Hezekiah, the father of the Thatchers, had made money at the mines in California, and was then esteemed the richest man in Utah, next to Brigham. In 1879 his son Moses was ordained an apostle.
597:62 The first settlers were Wm Gardener and Alex. and Robt Hill. Walter Paul, in Utah Sketches, 41.
597:63 The first stone dwelling was begun in 1866 by Jos. Baker; others soon followed. Id., 41-2.
597:64 Caused by their stealing a horse. In a fight which ensued, Ira Merrill of Smithfield and an Indian chief were killed. Another of the settlers was wounded.
597:65 In 1861 a lumber-mill was completed, and in 1864 a grist-mill. Francis Sharp, in Id., 117.
597:66 At this date they lived in a fort. The town site was laid out in 1864. Robt Daines, in Id., 120.
598:67 Ira Rich, John F. Maddison, and five others. Sloan's Utah Gazetteer, 1884, p. 128.
598:68 By Ezra T. Benson, P. Maughan, and several others. George O. Pitkin, the present bishop, was appionted March 12, 1862. Ibid.
598:69 A. M. Montierth from Box Elder co. was the first settler in Paradise. H. C. Jackson built the first saw-mill in 1860, and the first grist-mill in 1864, in which latter year the town site was laid out under the direction of Ezra T. Benson. A log meeting-house was built in 1861. In 1868 the settlement was removed three miles father to the north, for better protection against Indians. Orson Smith, in Utah Sketches, MS., 1-2.
598:70 Those of Alva Benson, Ira Allen, and others. It is related that the settlers brought the waters of Little Bear River to their farms in 21 working-days, by means of a canal eight feet wide, which afterward furnished the water supply of Hyrum. While at this work many of them lived on bread and water, and their tools consisted only of a few old shovels and spades. Some of them dwelt for several years in holes or cellars dug in the ground.
598:71 In the winter of 1856-7 the first log school-house was built, but gave place in 1862 to a brick building known as the Beaver Institute. In 1867, also, the first saw-mill was erected on the site now occupied by the coöperative woollen-mills. Jas H. Glines, in Utah Sketches, MS., 18. Beaver city and co. were so named from the beaver dams found there. Richards’ Utah Misc., MS., 7.
599:72 The city was laid out by Nephi Johnson and others. The first school was organized in 1860, and the first meeting-house built in 1861. John Parker, in Id., 8. Kane co. was so named after Col Thos L. Kane. Richards’ Utah Misc., MS., 7.
599:73 Among them was the family of Phillip Klingensmith, of Mountain-Meadows fame. John Steele, in Utah Sketches, MS., 9. Mr Steele went to Southern Utah in 1850, in company with Geo. A. Smith.
599:74 On account of the warm climate, it was supposed that cotton might be raised in the valley of the Santa Clara. About one quart of cotton-seed was planted in the spring of 1855, yielding enough to produce 30 yards of cloth. The ginning and spinning were done by hand, and the weaving on a treadle-loom. James G. Bleak, in Utah Sketches, MS., 69. In 1857, 30 lbs were planted, but the crop was a failure, the seed being bad. In 1858-9 other experiments were made, the cotton raised the first year costing $3.40 per lb., and the second year $1.90. The industry was found to be unprofitable. Id., 70-1; Jennings’ Mat. Progress of Utah, MS., 1. The attempt was made with a view to producing in the territory all that was needed for its population. Harrison's Crit. Notes on Utah, MS., 25.
600:75 By act approved Jan. 17, 1862. See Utah Acts Legisl. (ed. 1866), pp. 166-7. It was named St George after Pres. Geo. A. Smith. Richards’ Utah Misc., MS., 4.
600:76 The foundation stone was laid March 22, 1862, and when completed, at a cost of more than $6,000, it was named St George Hall. James G. Bleak, in Utah Sketches, MS., 73-4.
600:77 The people farmed on the joint enclosure system, the first enclosed field, named the St George, being irrigated by the 'Virgin ditch,' the cost of which between Dec. 1861 and Aug. 1866 was $26,611.59. Id., 76.
601:78 Other settlements in Washington co. were Santa Clara, on the river of that name, and about five miles north-west of St George, settled in 1853 by Jacob Hamblin and a company of missionaries; Gunlock, founded by W. Hamblin on the Santa Clara, in 1857; Price, occupied in 1858 as a cotton plantation, submerged by the flood of 1861, and reoccupied for general farming purposes in 1863; Harrisburg, twelve miles north-east of St George, settled in 1S60 by Moses Harris and 13 others; Duncan's Retreat, on the north bank of the Virgin, first settled in 1861 by Chapman Duncan, who abandoned it, and resettled by William Theobald and six others; and Shoensburg, also on the Virgin, located in Jan. 1862, by Oliver De Mill and others. Sloan's Utah Gazetteer, 1884, 161-2. In this and other counties, settled between 1852 and 1862, were numerous small settlements, some of which will be mentioned later.
601:79 See chaps xiii. and xvii., this vol.
601:80 In 1852 Call's Fort, in Box Elder co., now on the line of the Utah and Northern railway, was built by Anson Call and two others. In 1883 it contained about 35 families. Deseret, near the centre of Millard co., now having a station on the Utah Central, was founded in 1858, abandoned in 1867, and reoccupicd in 1875 by J. S. Black and others. Scipio, in the north-eastern part of the same county was settled in March 1860 by T. F. Robins and six others. Circleville, in what is now Piute co., was settled about the same time, several previous attempts having failed, on account of trouble with Indians. In the same year, also, Fort Gunnison was founded in the south-western part of San Pete co. In 1861 it was organized as a ward, with Jacob Kudger-son as bishop. About 30 miles to the north was Moroni, so called after the prophet of that name in the book of Mormon, located in March 1859 by G. W. Bradley and others, and incorporated in 1866. Fairview, farther to the north, and first known as North Bend, was founded in the winter of 1859-60 by James N. Jones and others, and was incorporated in 1872. Wales, the present terminus of the San Pete railway, was first settled in 1857 by John E. Rees and others, Rees being bishop of the ward in 1883; Fayette, on the west bank of the Sevier, but still in San Pete co., in 1861, by James Bartholomew and four others, Bartholomew being now ward bishop. In Tooele co., St John was founded in 1858 by Luke Johnson, and Lake View in 1860 by Orson Pratt, George Marshall, Moses Martin, and. four others, Martin being the present bishop. In Utah co., Spanish Fork, now on the line of the Utah Central railroad, was incorporated in 1855; Salem, a little to the north-east of Payson, and first known as Pond Town, was founded in 1856 by Robt Durfee and six others; and Goshen, in the south-western part of the county, in the same year by Phineas Cook and a few others. The present site of Goshen was located in 1869 by Brigham, a few miles south of the old settlement. In Weber county, Plain City was located in March 1859 on the Weber River, about nine miles north-west of Ogden, by J. Spiers and a few others; West Weber, a little farther south, about the same date, by Wm McFarland and 14 others; Eden, ten miles north-east of Ogden, in 1860, by John Beddle and Joseph Grover; and Huntsville, twelve miles east of Ogden, in the same year, by Jefferson Hunt and others. Taylor's Rem., MS.; Woodruff's Journal, MS.; Hist. B. Young, MS.; Sloan's Utah Gazetteer, 1884, 122-65; Utah Sketches, MS., passim; Hand-Book of Reference, 71-8. In July 1855 a settlement was founded on the left bank of the Grand River, in the Elk Mountain region, by Alfred N. Billings. Richards’ Incidents in Utah Hist., MS., 80.
602:81 Among other works consulted in this chapter are the Route from Liverpool to Great Salt Lake Valley: Illustrated with Steel Engravings and Wood-cuts from Sketches made by Frederick Piercy, together with a Geographical and Historical Description of Utah, and a Map of the Overland Routes to that Territory from the Missouri River. Also an Authentic History of the Latter-Day Saints’ Emigration from Europe from the Commencement up to the Close of 1855, with Statistics. Edited by James Linforth. Liverpool and London, 1855. Though this book was written mainly for the purpose of giving a review of the latter-day saints’ emigration from Liverpool to Salt Lake City, together with statistics to date, it contains much historical and statistical information on other subjects, drawn, as the editor says, 'from sources far and wide.' Mr Linforth acknowledges that he was assisted in his work by missionaries, whose position and acquaintance with affairs gave him access to many valuable documents. In chap. xvii., we find a description of Nauvoo, of the Carthage-jail tragedy, the persecutions in Missouri and Illinois, and many details concerning the life of the prophet. In chaps xxi.-xxii. is an account of the territory and its settlements, and the industrial condition of the saints. In the last chapters are brief biographies of some of the leading elders. All of this information is contained in notes, the text merely relating the travels of the artists by whom the sketches were made. The engravings are well executed, and among them are portraits of several church dignitaries.
A Journey to Great Salt Lake City, by Jules Remy and Julius Brenchley, M. A.: With a Sketch of the History, Religion, and Customs of the Mormons, and an introduction on the Religious Movement in the United States, by Jules Remy. 2 vols. London, 1861. In addition to incidents of travel and descriptions of the places visited, we have in these volumes a sketch of Mormon history to 1859, together with chapters on the Mormon church and hierarchy, polygamy, education, and propagandism. At one time it was considered the standard gentile authority on Mormonism, and is freely quoted by other writers, though greatly inferior to Burton's work published two years later. 'The greater part of the matter,' remarks the author, 'was written from day to day, often in the open air, upon the slopes or the crests of mountains, in the heart of deserts, among the occupations and frequently the perils which are the necessary accompaniments of so long a journey.' Hence Mr Remy lays no claim to literary finish, a defect which he hopes may be atoned for by superior accuracy. Though there are many interesting passages and some interesting chapters, one cannot but feel that he might have said twice as much in half the space.
The Husband in Utah; or Sights and Scenes among the Mormons: With Remarks on their Moral and Social Economy, by Austin N. Ward. Edited by Maria Ward. New York, 1857. Here and there in this work will be found some interesting sketches of Mormon life as Mrs Ward observed it in 1855. Among them are descriptions of the industrial and social condition of the Mormons, the stores, manufactures, streets, street scenes, costumes, the theatre, the tabernacle. In style the work is sketchy and entertaining, and written in more friendly mood than could be expected from one who, as Mrs Ward declares, 'escaped from Mormondom.' At the end of the work is p. 603 'Joseph's Smith's revelation on polygamy,' and several discourses by leading elders. Another edition was issued in 1863, under title of Male Life among the Mormons.