History of Utah - Chapter XXI



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Chapter XXI.
Political, Social, and Institutional.
1859-1862.

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

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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

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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,

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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

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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,

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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

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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

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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.

Page 580

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 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,

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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

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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

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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

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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

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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

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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

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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

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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,

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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

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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

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   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

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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

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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

Page 594

   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 its mineral resources, among them 
being gold, silver, lead, copper, coal, iron, and mica.

   Its coal-fields first

Page 595

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

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orth-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

Page 597

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,

Page 598

where the first settlers67 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

Page 599

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

Page 600

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

Page 601

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

Page 602

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

Page 603

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.

1 Stenhouse's Rocky Mountain Saints, 419-20; S. F. Alta, Sept. 29, 1858.  
 
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. 

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.

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 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. 

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. 

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.

7 Stenhouse's Rocky Mountain Saints, 413; Tullidge's Hist. S. L. City, 
233. 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. 

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.

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.
 
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.' 

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.

12 U.S. Census Rept, for 1860, li. 43. The total number of deaths reported 
is 374.

13 For the year ending June 1, 1850, it was about 22 per 1,000, the rate 
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.' 

14 From cholera infanturn 4, croup 23, infantile 57, measles 1, scarlatins 
2, teething 11. Id. 43. 

15 After the railroad connected the territory with the Altantic and 
Pacific states, suicides became not infrequent.

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.

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.
 
18 For list of premiums and diplomas, see Burton's City of the Saints, 384-
7. 

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 12 1/2 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.
 
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. Vizir 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. 

21 In 1860 there were three milliner's stores, thirteen dry-goods and two 
variety stores. Burton's City of the Saints, 277-8.
 
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.  
 
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.' 

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.

25 Burton describes the tabernacle, in 1860, as an adobe building, capable 
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. 

26 Cuts of the tabernacle and endowment house will be found in City of the 
Saints, facing p. 271. 

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.

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.

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.

30 They were issued on special occasions only for 75 or 80 guests, 
including a few of the more prominent gentiles.
 
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. 

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.

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 century...The afterpiece was, on the contrary, very 
well performed.' Visit to S. Lake, 224. 

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. 

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.

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.

37 By the members of Capt. Ballo's band. Deseret News, June 27, 1855.
 
38 In 1880 this society had nearly 300 branches. Snow's Brief Sketch of 
Organizations, MS., 1-2.  
 
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.

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. 

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.

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.

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 
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. 

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.
 
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. 

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 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. 

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. 
 
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. 

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.
 
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. 

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.

52 Vol. v., 544-54. On pp. 543-4 (note 35) is a list of the members.

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 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. 
 
54 The Summit County Railroad. 

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.

56 The settlers lived in a fort until 1870, when a city survey was made, 
and they moved out to their lots.

57 The first house was built by Henry Barnum and Jacob M. Truman. Id., 150.

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.

59 By Wm Wall, E. Garr, and Jas Laird. Sloan's Utah Gazetteer, 1884, p. 
158. In 1866 Wallsburg was organized as a ward.
 
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.  
 
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. 

62 The first settlers were Wm Gardener and Alex. and Robt Hill. Walter 
Paul, in Utah Sketches, 41.

63 The first stone dwelling was begun in 1866 by Jos. Baker; others soon 
followed. Id., 41-2.

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.

65 In 1861 a lumber-mill was completed, and in 1864 a grist-mill. Francis 
Sharp, in Id., 117.

66 At this date they lived in a fort. The town site was laid out in 1864. 
Robt Daines, in Id., 120.
 
67 Ira Rich, John F. Maddison, and five others. Sloan's Utah Gazetteer, 
1884, p. 128. 

68 By Ezra T. Benson, P. Maughan, and several others. George O. Pitkin, 
the present bishop, was appionted March 12, 1862. Ibid.

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.

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.

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.
 
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. 

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.

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.
 
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. 

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.

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.
 
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. 

79 See chaps xiii. and xvii., this vol.

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.
 
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 
'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.