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AND ITS FOUNDERS.
BY EDWARD W. TULLIDGE.
INCORPORATING A BRIEF HISTORY OF THE PIONEERS OF UTAH
WITH STEEL PORTRAITS OF REPRESENTATIVE MEN;
TOGETHER WITH A CAREFULLY ARRANGED
INDEX AND AN ELABORATE
APPENDIX.
:^' afi^/iortV/y of tJie City Council and unde?- super risio/i
of its Comtnittee o?i lievisio?i.
REVISING COMMITTEE:
]OHN R. WINDER, Chairman. R. T. BURTON, GEORGE A. MEEARS
S, I. jONASSON. GEORGE REYNOLDS, Secretary.
EDWARD W. TULLIDGE,
PUBLISHER AND PROPRIETOR.
SALT LAKE CITY, UTAH.
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INDEX.
CHAPTER I.
Prefaton- Review of the People who Founded Salt Lake City. Grand Colonization Design
of the Mormon Prophet 3
CHAPTER II,
Governor Ford urges the Migration of the Mormons to California. Compact of the Removal.
Address to the President of the United States. The Exodus. Mormon Life on the
Journey. A Sensation from the United States Government 8
CHAPTER III.
The Call for the Mormon Battalion. Interviews with President Polk. The Apostles Enhsting
Solijers from their People for the Service of the Nation. The Battalion on the March, . . 24
CHAPTER IV.
The Mormons Settle on Indian Lands. A Grand Council held between the Elders and Indian
Chiefs. A Covenant is nmde between them, and land granted by the Indians to their
Mormon Brothers. Characteristic Speeches of famous Indian Chiefs. Winter Quarters
Organized. The Journey of the Pioneers to the Rocky Mountains 32
CHAPTER V,
The First Sabbath in the Vallev. The Pioneers apply the Prophecies to themselves and their
location Zion has gone up into the Mountains. They locate the Temple and lay off the
■' City of the Great Salt Lake." Tlie Leaders return to Winter Quarters to gather the
Body of the Church 44
CHAPTER VI.
Progress of the Colony. Etestruction of the Crops by Crickets. Description of Great Salt
''Lake City 5^
CHAPTER VII.
The Primitive Government of the Colony. Provisional State of I>eseret organized. Passage
of the Gold Seekers througli tlie Valley 5^
CHAPTER VIII.
Arrival of Captain Stansbury. His Interview with Governor Young. Government Survey of
the Lakes. Commencement of Indian Difficulties 03
CHAPTER IX.
Incorporation of Great Salt Lake Citv. Its Original Charter. The First City Council and
Municipal Officers. Organization of the Territory-. Arrival of the news of Governor
Ycnn<T's Appointment. Dissolution of the State of Deseret. Governor's Proclamation.
Lec^alTzing the Laws passed bv the Provisional Government. Correspondence between
CoTonel Kane and Pl-esident Fillmore. Stansbury's Voucher for Brigham Young, ... 72
CHAPTER X.
Arrival of the Federal Judges. First appearance of the United States Officials before the cit-
izens at a Special Conference. Judge Brocchus assaults the Community. Public Indig-
nation Correspondence between judge Brocchus and Governor Young. The "Runa-
wav" Tudo-es and Secretarv. Daniel Webster, Secretary of State, sustains Governor
Youn<r and removes the offending officials. First United States Court. The new Federal
Officers. Arrival of Colonel Steptoe. Re-appointment of Brigham \oung. Judge
Shaver Found dead. Judges Drummond and Stiles °S
CHAPTER XI.
Sociological Exposition Sources of our Population. Emigration. Polygamy 97
i
•■V- INDEX.
CHAPTER XXXrV.
A Counter Petition from Camp Douglas to Prest. Lincoln. Impending Conflict between-
Camp Douglas and the City. A Supposed Conspiracy to Arrest Brigham Young and run
Him off to the States. Judges Waite and Drake hold Unlawful Courts in Judge Kinney's
District. The Chief Justice Interposes with a Writ to Arrest Brigham Young for Polyg-
amy. It is Served by the U. S. Marshal instead of a Military Posse. The City in Arms.
Expectmg a descent from Camp Douglas. Thp Warning Voice of California heard.
Booming of the guns of Camp Douglas at Midnight. The City again In Arms. False
Alarm. Connor created Brigadier-General 312
CHAPTER XXXV.
Trial of the Morrisites. Sentence of the Prisoners. They are immediately Pardoned by Gov-
ernor Harding. Copies of the Extraordinary Pardons. The Grand Jury declares the
Law outraged and presents Governor Harding in the Third U. S. District Court for Judicial
Censure. Their History of the Morrisite Disturbance. The Court sustains the Censure, 318
CHAPTER XXXVL
Removal of Governor Harding, Secretary Fuller, and Chief Justice Kinney. Lincoln's Policy
to " Let the Mormons Alone." Starting of the Union Vedette. Opening of the Utah
Mmes. Military Documents. Creation of a Provost Marshal of Great Salt Lake City, 325
CHAPTER XXXVII.
Happy change in the Relations between the City and the Camp Grand Inaugural Celebration
of Lincoln by the Military and Citizens. Connor greatly moved by the Loyalty of the
Masses of the Mormon People The Banquet at night. The Citizens give a Ball in
honor of General Connor. The City in Mourning over the Assassination of President
Lincoln. Funeral Obsequies at the "Tabernacle 33 l
CHAPTER XXXVIII.
Visit of the Colfax Party to Salt Lake City. A Telegram from the Municipal Council me ts
them on the way with Tribute of the City's Hospitalities. They Accept the Welcome.
Entrance into the City under Escort. Enthusiasm of the Partv over the Beauties of the
Rocky Mountain Zion. Grand Serenade and Speeches. Forecast of the Great Future
of Salt Lake City,
337
CHAPTER XXXIX.
The City Fathers take the Party to the Great Salt Lake. Meeting of the Speaker of the
House and the Founder of Utah. The Kation Dines with the Church. The President
Preaches in the Tabernacle at the Request of the Speaker, who in turn treats the Saints
with his Eulogy on Lincoln. Advice to the Fathers of the Church to Abolish Polygamy by
a New Revelation, in Exchange for a State. The Colfax Closet Views. Adieu to the
Mormon Zion. Death of Governor Doty. A Talk on Polygamy with the Chairman on
Territories, ^cq,
CHAPTER XL.
Beginning of the Anti-Mormon Crusade. The Change in the Colfax Views. Initial of the
Action against the Utah Militia. Urging the Administration. Corrected Views con-
cerning the Militia _ .^-g^
CHAPTER XLI.
History of the Utah Militia for the years 1865, 1866, and 1867. The Governor calls upon
Canip Douglas for Aid Against the Indians, but is refused. The Government orders the
Utah Mihtia for that Service. Secretary Rawlins Submits the Report to Congress. The
Government's Debt to our Citizens of over a Million Dollars for Military Services Un-
P^'^ 363;
CHAPTER XLI I.
Wade's Bill. Contemplated Reconstruction of the Militia. Absolute Power in Civil and Mil-
itary Affairs to be given to the Governor, The Mormon Church to be disqualified from
Officiating in Marriage Ceremonies. Acknowledgement of Plural Marriage sufficient
Proof of "Unlawful Cohabitation." Aims on the Church Property and Treasury, nic
Trustee-in-Trust to be Under the Governor's Thumb 373;
CHAPTER XLIII.
Opening of the First Commercial Period. Reminiscences of the Earliest Merchants. Camp
Floyd. The Second Commercial Period. Utah Obtains an Historical Importance in the
Commercial World. Organization of Z. C. M. I 378
1
INDEX. V.
CHAPTER XLIV,
Political Significance to Utah of 'the Election of Grant and Colfax. 1 he '' Fathers of the
Church Speak to the Nation on the Subject of abolishing Polygamy. Colfax's Disap-
pointment and Ire. A Delegation of Chicago Merchants Visit Salt Lake on the comple-
tion of the U. P. R. R.; also Distinguished Statesmen. Brigham Young's Famous Con-
versation with Senator Trumbull. Council of the Chicago Merchants, Statesmen and
Utah Gentiles held at the House of y. R. Walker. Trumbull relates the Conversation
with Brigham. A General War Talk. The Second Visit of Colfax to Salt Lake City, . 391
CHAPTER XLV.
The Vice-President Arranging for War on the Saints. He is let into the Secret of the Projected
Godbeite Schism and Encourages it. His Question — "Will Brigham Young Fight?" Out-
burst of the Schism. The New York Herald sends on a Special Agent with Instructions to
Support the Seceders 398
CHAPTER XLVI.
Famous Discussion Between Vice-President Colfax and Apostle John Taylor. Speech of the
Vice-President at Salt Lake City. Apostle Taylor's Reply and Answer to the Colfax
Letter 403
CHAPTER XLVII.
Birth of the Utah Liberal Party. Political Coalition of Gentiles and Mormon Schismatics.
Contest at the Municipal Election of 1870. Report of the First Central Committee of the
Liberal Party, 428
CHAPTER XLVIII.
Passage of the Woman's Suffrage Bill. Grand Mass Meeting of the "Sisters" Protesting
Against the Cullom Bill, then before the Congress. Extraordinary Resolutions and Heroic
Speeches of the Women of Mormondom 433
CHAPTER XLIX,
Brief Review of Utah in Congress, from its organization to the passage of the Cullom Bill.
Great Speech of Delegate Hooper in Congress against the Bill, in which he Reviews the
Colonizing Work of the Mormons in the West, and Justifies his Polygamous Constituents, 439
CHAPTER L.
Passage of the Cullom Bill in the House. Salt Lake City excited by the news. Mass'Meeting
at the Tabernacle. Memorial to Congress from the Mormon Community, affirming Poly-
gamy as a Divine Law to them, and Reviewing the Unconstitutional Features of the Bill.
Resolutions. A Rare Puritanic Spectacle, 458
CHAPTER LI.
Conservative Gentiles of Salt Lake City and the Seceding Mormon jElders hold Meetings to
Petition for a Modification of the Cullom Bill. They maintain the Integrity of Mormon
Families. Federal Officers and Radical Gentiles oppose the Petition, and favor the Bill
with Military force, to execute it. Mr. Godbe goes to Washington to invoke forbearance.
Interviews with Grant and Cullom, 464
CHAPTER LII.
Dr. Newman's Evangelical Crusade against Mormon Polygamy. H*? arrives in Salt Lake
City. Correspondence between the Chaplain of the Senate and the President of the Mor-
mon Church. Newman accepts the Challenge. Brigham denies the Challenge, but invites
the Doctor to Preach in the great Tabernacle. Newman's Indignation : he Challenges
Brigham, who accepts, and names Orson Pratt as his substitute. The Great Discussion
before Ten Thousand People 470
CHAPTER LIII.
President Grant bent on the Conquest of Mormon Theocracy. He appoints Shaffer Governor
for that purpose. Arrival of the War Governor. Councils. Preparations for Conflict
with the Utah Militia. General Phil. Sheridan sent out to view the situation. He is inter-
ested in the Mormons and tempers the War Policy with a "Moral Force." Shaffer's Mil-
itary Coup de Main. General Wells avoids a collibi.,n. Correspondence between the
Lieut. -General and the Governor, 479
CHAPTER LIV.
Contest for the Delegate's Seat in Congress. Call of the Liberal Central Committee. Corinne
chosen for their Convention. The Convention in Session. Resolution to uphold Gov-
ernor Shaffer. Nomination of Maxwell. Naming of the Party. The Liberals shamefully
beaten, but resolved to send their "Delegate" to Congress, he being chosen for the pur-
pose of cont€sting the Seat, 490
Vi. INDEX.
CHAPTER LV.
The "Wooden Gun Rebellion."' Arrest of Militia Officers for assembling their Company.
Thev are held Prisoners at Camp Douglas ; examined before Judge Hawley for Treason ;
committed to the Grand Jury for Treason and placed under Bonds. The Grand Jury
io-nores the case. The' serious face behind the extravaganza of the "Wooden Gun
Rebellion." 492
CHAPTER LVI.
The Two Celebrations of the Fourth of July, 1871. Resolutions of the Gentile Committee
addressed to the City Council. Answer of the Mayor. The Rupture Grand prepar-
ations on both sides. Proclamation of Acting-Governor Black, forbidding Militia Com-
panies to march in the Procession. General Dfe Trobriand with his Troops ordered out.
Notes of the Grand D.ay, 499
CHAPTER LVII.
Local Politics. Campaign of 1871. J. R. Walker heads the Liberal Ticket. Fair Prospects
for the Liberals. Their Ratification Meeting. 1 he Suddeii Cloud. Break-up of the
Meetino-. Split in the Liberal Party. Kelsey's Protest. Withdrawal from the Ticket.
The Coalition Party buried at the Election, 505
CHAPTER LVHI.
History of the Judicial Administration of James B. McKean as reviewed by U. S. District
Attorney Bates. The Chief Justice harangues the Grand and Petit Juries on the "High
Priesthood of the so-called Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints," and sends them
home for lack of funds. A Remarkable Document. The Press of the Country on the
anomalous condition of McKean's Court 512
CHAPTER LIX.
The U. S. Marshal preparing to receive prisoners. Action against the Warden of the Peniten-
tiary and the Territorial Marshal. Hearing of the Case before Judge Hawley. Fitch and
Baskin. The U. S. Attorney prefers the guns of Camp Douglas to the tedious process
of law. Governor Woods commits himself also; whereat the Court in consternation calls
Ihem all to order, 522
CHAPTER LX.
Opening of McKean's Court in September, 1871. Selecting the Grand Jury. Arrests of
Brio'ham Young and Daniel H. Wells. General expectation in the States that the Mor-
mons would rise in arms to rescue their Leaders. Brigham Young iru Court. A touching
Spectacle, The Chief fustice proclaims from the Bench that " a system " — "Polygamic
Theocracy" — is on trial in the person of Brigham Young 526
CHAPTER LXL
Mass Meeting called by the Mayor of Salt Lake City to assist the sufferers of the Chicago Fire.
Response of Mormon and Gentile. Donations led by Brigham Young and the City.
" One touch of Nature." The Telegraph to Pioche completed. Congratulations and
Thanks of Connor and others to Brigham Young 536
CHAPTER LXIL
The Hawkins' Trial. His polygamy construed into the crime of adulter)'. Found guilty and
sentenced for three years to the Penitentiary. A characteristic sentence. The American
Press on the Polygamous trials 54°
CHAPTER LXIV.
President Young returns and confounds his enemies. His presence in Court. Judge McKean
refuses $500,000 bail. Brigham a prisoner. Important correspondence between the Dis-
trict Attorney and the Attorney-General. Suspension of Criminal Trials 551
CHAPTER LXV.
Great Political Movements in the City in the spring of 1872. Governor Woods vetoes the
State Convention Bill. The people elects their Delegates notwithstanding. Salt Lake
County elects nine Gentiles and ten Mormons to the Convention. S. Sharpe Walker de-
clines. Arrival of the Japanese Embassy, The City pays homage to the Ancient Empire.
Grand receptions of the Embassy, 557
CHAPTER LXVI.
The State Convention at work. The Constitution of Nevada preferred as a basis. Gen-
eral Connor declines his election as delegate. Judge Haydon opposes the State and
moves that the Convention adjourn sine die. Hon. Thomas Fitch's remarkable speech
for the State, in which he rehearses the history of the Judicial Proceedings in the U. S,
Courts of the Territory of that period, and appeals to his Mormon Colleagues to abolish
polygamy, 5^2
INDEX. VH.
CHAPTER LXVII.
The discussion for the State continued. Haydon and Bainuin eulogize the Chief Justice.
Fitch challenges the Record and is unanswered. Motion to adjourn lest, and business
resumed. Deseret or Utah ? The name of Deseret prevails. The all important struggle
over the Fifth Section of the Ordinance inviting Congress to put in its Plank. Orson
Pratts leads the opposition, George Q. Cannon the members for the Section. The Fifth
Section prevails. Grand points of the Model Constitution. Work of the Convention
finished. Election for Congressman. Balloting for U. S. Senators. Efforts to organize
the citizens into National parties, 579
CHAPTER LXVII I.
Chief Justice McKean writes Editorials for the Salt Lake 7/ /iJ//w^, sustaining his own De-
cisions. The Senior Editor Impeached, in consequence, before a Board of Directors and
Resigns. The "Gentile League of Utah" Organized to break up the Mormon Power.
Attempts to Force the City Council, Revolutionary Meeting. Call for Troops 587
CHAPTER LXIX.
Congressional History from 1870. Local Politics carried to Washington. Contest for the
Seat. The Election of 1872, Hooper Retires with Honors. Geo, Q Cannon Elected,
and Polygamic Colors Nailed to the Mast. Ma.xwell again Contests the Seat. The "En-
dowment Oath" Charge against the Delegate. Denials of the Oath against the United
States being Administered in the Endowment House. Scenes in Congress over Utah
Affairs. Notes from the Delegate's Private Journal. Hon. Geo. Q. Cannon takes his
Seat in the Forty-Third Congress, but a Committee is Appointed to Investigate the Con-
testant's Charges. The Contest carried into the Second Session. Cannon Holds his Seat. 596
CHAPTER LXX.
Political Coalition of 1874. Jennings for Mayor. Election for Delegate to Congress in 1874.
Baskin Nominated. Election Day. U. S. Marshal Maxwell and his Deputies take charge
of the Day and the Polls. Tumult in the City. The City Police Arrested by the U. S.
Marshal and his Deputies. U. S. Deputy Marshal Orr Arrested by the Police and is
Habeas Corpused by Judge McKean. The Mob Assault Mayor Wells and tear his coat to
pieces. He is Rescued by the Police Force, and Doors of City Hall closed. The Mayor
Appears on the Balcony and Gives the Order to his Force to Beat Back the Mob, which is
instantly done. The Sequel. Cannon Elected by a 20,000 Majority against a 3,300 Vote
of his Opponent ; but Baskin Contests the Seat in Congress 607
CHAPTER LXXI.
The Fall of Judge McKean. The Ann Eliza Suit against Brighani Young, Alimony and
Lawyer's Fees Granted pending the Decision. The Head of the Mormon Church Sent to
the Penitentiary for Contempt of Court. The Public Censure Compels President Grant
to remove Judge McKean from office 614
CHAPTER LXXIII.
The Presidental visit to Salt Lake City. Federal Officers and Gentiles claim the honor of re-
ceiving the President; but the City Fathers charter a tram and "pioneer" the Presidential
train to our city. Meeting between U. S. Grant and Brigham Young. Character marks.
Long familiar chat on the way between Mrs. Grant and Brigham. Public reception given
to the citizens. Visit to Temple Block. Mrs. Grant weeps for "these good Mormon
people." The departure. Grant touched by the tribute of the Mormon Sunday Schools
to him as President. " I have been deceived." 620
CHAPTER LXXIV.
Death of Brigham Young. The City draped for its founder. Grand Solemn Funeral. Scr-
ees at the Tabernacle. Tribute of the City Council to his memory 624
CHAPTER LXXV.
Return to the early history of the City. Revolution of the Mormon Colonization plan. Patri-
archal Order. E.xposition of the formation of Society in Salt Lake City 631
CHAPTER LXXVI.
Organization of Society in Salt Lake City. The Land Rights, Views and incidents of the
early days • 640
CHAPTER LXXVIII.
Origin of the British Emigration to Salt Lake City. Its circumstantial history. The P, E.
Fund Company. Arrival of the first British Emigrants. Grand reception by the citizens.
Mode of Conducting the Emigration. Dickens' Graphic Description of " My Emigrant
Ship." 646
Viii. INDEX.
CHAPTER XXXIX.
Eearly resources of our Territory. Emigrant trains laden with British homes. The Churcli
Agent making purchases on tile frontiers. Race mixture of the population 656
CHAPTER LXXX.
Social grading of Utah. A community of Manufacturers. The Public Works, Our indus-
tries and Industrial Men. Biographical sketches. Z. C. M. I. Boot and Shoe Factory.
Prospects of Home Manufacturse. ... • - 669
CHAPTER LXXXI.
Opening of t he Mines Earlv Counsels of Brigham Young to the Mormons against their
going into mining. General Connor and his troops prospecting in our canyons for gold
and silver. Godbe and his party antagonize "the President's" home policies and advocate
"the True Development of the'Territory." Mining operations of the Walker Brothers.
Epitome of Mining operations 679
CHAPTER LXXXII.
Our Railroads. Brigham Young marks out the Track of the " National Central Railroad " on
the Pioneer journey to the Rocky Mountains. Petition of the First Legislature of Utah
to Congress to build the Road to the Pacific. Building of the U. P. R. R. and C. P. R.
R. Opening of the Utah Centraland Utah Southern. The Railroads of later days. . . . 708
CHAPTER LXXXIII.
Circumstances that gave birth to Z. C. M. I. Its Incorporation and Constitution. Review of
its History and Financial Status up to July, 1885, by the Church Authorities. The Direc-
tors and Officers of the Board in 1880. Summary 725
CHAPTER LXXXIV.
Theatricals in the early days in Salt Lake City. Organization of the First Theatrical Company.
The Social Hall. Bo wring's Theatre. Organization of the Deseret Dramatic Association. 735
CHAPTER LXXXV.
Building and Opening of the Salt Lake Theatre. The first play. Reminiscences of the Com-
pany. Theatrical Criticisms. Tlie early Stars. T. A. Lyne. The Irwins. Pauncefort,
"You Can't Pkiy Alexander." Julia Dean Hayne. John T. Caine's Benefit. The First
Local Play put upon the Salt Lake Stage — " Eleanor DeVere." The Crowning Days of
the Theatre. The World's Stars that have visited Zion 740
CHAPTER LXXXVI.
Musical History of our City. Grand performance of the " Messiah," Personal sketches of
the Musical Professors 768
CHAPTER LXXXVII.
Literature and the Fine Arts, Utah Authors and Poets. Specimens. Salt Lake Painters. Our
Young Sculptors. Art descriptions : — " Our Desolate Shores." 785
CHAPTER LXXXVIII.
Oeneral History Resumed. Death of Judge McKean. Memorial of the Bar on the event.
The Miles Case, D. H. Wells sent to the Penitentiary for Contempt. Grand Demon-
stration of Citizens on his release, 818
CHAPTER LXXXIX,
Renewal of the Political Action. Foreshadowing the Edmunds Bill in Hayes' Message. Gov-
ernor Murray gives the Election Certificate to Campbell, Contest for the Delegate's Seat.
Great Speech of Cannon on his retirement from Congress 823
CHAPTER XC.
Political Campaign of 1882. Nomination of John T. Caine. Van Zile's Challenge. The
Candidates before the People. Victory of the People's Party 841
CHAPTER XCI,
Organization of "The Democratic Club of Utah." The Election with its Ticket in the field.
The Organ of the Club — The Salt Lake Democrat 854
CHAPTER XCII.
Digest cf the Municipal administration City notes 864
II
THE
m
JU.-
AKE CITY
AND ITS FOUNDERS.
BY EDWARD W. TULLIDGE.
CHAPTER I.
PREFATORY REVIEW OF THE PEOPLE WHO FOUNDED SALT LAKE CITY. •
GRAND COLONIZING DESIGN OF THE MORMON PROPHET.
It will be well afifirmed in history that the Pioneers who founded Salt Lake
City, were as the crest of that tidal wave of colonization which peopled these
Pacific States and Territories. And the colonies which this wonderful state-
founding community has sent to the West, since that tidal wave rose in the exodus
from Nauvoo, will stand as the most marked example of organic colonization
which has occurred in the growth and spread ot the American nation. Other
States and cities, which have been founded since the first colonization of America
by the Pilgrims of New England, have grown up and increased in their popula-
tion upon the ordinary laws of national growth, to which has been superadded the
promiscuous emigration of Europeans to this country ; but not even in the ex-
traordinary case of the growth of the Western States and Territories, excepting
that shown by the Mormon people, has there been a spectacle of colonization
proper, to mark the history ot America in the present century. Thus considered,
it is a most unique fact of the age that Salt Lake City was founded by a
colony of the strictest type. In most of its leading features, the founding and
growth of Utah resembles the founding of the American nation by the Pilgrim
colonies, which sailed from England and Holland to establish religious liberty on
a virgin continent, driven by the cruel force of persecution, yet whose every
exile from the dear mother land became big with the genius of colonization,
until the little companies of emigrants who left their native shores, very much in
the character of religious outlaws, grew into a galaxy of States. Persecution
undoubtedly at the onset drove the Mormons hitherward, as it drove the Puritans
to this continent — drove them in fact into the very path of their destiny — but as
they came westward from Ohio, where their Zion first rose, they so fast imbibed
the genius of colonization, that extermination brought forth in the mind of the
Mormon Prophet the grand scheme to colonize the Pacific Slope with his people,
and with them form in the West the nucleus of a new galaxy of American States.
4 HIS TOR y OF SALT LAKE CITY.
The first recorded note of the grand design of the Mormon Prophet to col-
onize the Pacific Slope with his people, will be seen in the following entry from
his diary:
"Saturday, 6th [August, 1842]. Passed over the river to Montrose, Iowa,
in company with General Adams, Colonel Brewer, and others, and witnessed the
installation of the officers of the Rising Sun Lodge of Ancient York Masons, at
Montrose, by Gen. James Adams, Deputy Grand Master of Illinois. While the
Deputy Grand Master was engaged in giving the requisite instructions to the
Master elect, I had a conversation with a number of brethren, in the shade of the
building, on the subject of our persecutions in Missouri, and the constant annoy-
ance which has followed us since we were driven from that State. I prophesied
that the Saints would continue to suffer much affliction, and would be driven to
the Rocky Mountains. Many would apostatize, others would be put to death by
our persecutors, or lose their lives in consequence of exposure or disease, and
some would live.to go and assist in making settlements and building cities, and
see the Saints become a mighty people in the midst of the Rocky Mountains."
A year and a half later his design was matured, and his people ready to
execute it. Here is a diary note of that date :
"Tuesday, Feb. 20th [1844]. I instructed the Twelve Apostles to send out
a delegation and investigate the locations of California and Oregon, and hunt
out a good location where we can remove to after the Temple is completed, and
where we can build a city in a day, and have a government of our own." * *
On the evening of the following day the Twelve met at the Mayor's office,
and, according to the above instructions, appointed the following committee:
Jonathan Dunham, Phineas H. Young, David D. Yearsley, David Fullmer,
Alphonso Young, James Emmett, George D. Watt, Daniel Spencer. Subsequent
action was also taken on the same subject, and volunteers were added to the
committee.
It was at this date that the Elders undertook a political campaign through
the States to nominate Joseph Smith for the Presidential chair of the nation, but
it is very evident that the removal of the Saints to the Rocky Mountains, or to
California, was the real action contemplated by the Prophet, and not a successful
campaign for the presidency of the United States. The event, however, did
afford a rare opportunity for sending out the Apostles and a company of the
ablest Elders, to make another missionary effort in the States before the contem-
plated exodus.
A few days later we find Joseph Smith alluding to himself in connection
with the presidential chair, but he at once branches off to a subject which more
particularly attracted his thoughts, namely, the annexation of Texas and the pos-
session of the Pacific Coast by the United States. Said he : »
*' As to politics, I care but little about the Presidential chair. I would not
give half as much for the office of President of the United States as I would for
the one I now hold as Lieutenant-General of the Nauvoo Legion. * * *
"What I have said in my views in relation to the annexation of Texas is,
with some, unpopular. The people are opposed to it. Some of the Anti-Mor-
mons are good fellows. I say it, however, in anticipation that they will repent.
HIS TOR Y OF SAL T LAKE CITY. 5
* * * We should grasp all the territory we can. * * The goveinment
will not receive any advice or counsel from me: they are self-sufficient. * *
"The South holds the balance of power. By annexing Texas I can do
away with this evil. As soon as Texas was annexed I would liberate the slaves in
two or three States, indemnifying their owners, and send the negroes to Texas,
and from Texas to Mexico, where all colors are alike. And if that was not suffi-
cient, I would call upon Canada and annex it."
Mark next his bold empire-founding move, in petitioning Congress to raise
a volunteer force of a hundred thousand in the service of the United States, to
possess the Pacific Coast. Says he, under date of March 30th :
"I had prepared a memorial to his Excellency, John Tyler, the President of
the United States, embodying in it the same sentiments as are in my petition to
the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States, dated March 26th,
1844, askmg the privilege of raising 100,000 men to extend protection to persons
wishing to settle Oregon and other portions of the Territory of the United
States, and extend protection to the people in Texas. * * *
''Also signed an introductory letter for Elder Orson, Hyde, who is going to
carry the memorials to Washington."
To found empire for America was just in the line of his character. Destiny
was pushing the Saints westward, and had Joseph Smith reached California at the
head of an army of 20,000 pioneers, backed by the remainder of the 100,000 as
emigrants, he would have given quite a Napoleonic account of himself, and
opened the war with Mexico. This was clearly his intention, and it may be
observed that he did not overrate his forces.
And what makes the Prophet's bold national design so deserving of attention
is the fact that the United States Government and the British Government were
at that moment in an attitude of rivalry for the possession of the Pacific Coast,
and that the United States barely escaped being worsted.
Thus prefaced, let us listen to the report of Elder Hyde to the Prophet from
the capital :
"* * Judge Douglas has been quite ill, but is just recovered. He will
help all he can; Mr. Hardin likewise. But Major Semple says that he does not
believe anything will be done about Texas or Oregon this session, for it might
have a very important effect upon the Presidential election; and politicians are
slow to move when such doubtful and important matters are likely to be affected
by it. * * *
" I will now give you my opinion in relation to this matter. It is made up
from the spirit of the times in a hasty manner, nevertheless I think time will
prove it to be correct: — That Congress will pass no act in relation to Texas or
Oregon at present. She is afraid of England, afraid of Mexico, afraid the Pres-
idential election will be twisted by it. The members all appear like unskillful
players at checkers — afraid to move, for they see not which way to move advan-
tageously. * *
" The most of the settlers in Oregon and Texas are our old enemies, the
mobocrats of Missouri. If, however, the settlement of Oregon and Texas be
determined upon, the sooner the move is made the better ; and I would not advise
6 HISTORY OF SALT LAKE CITY.
any delay for the action of our Government, for there is such a jealousy of our
rising power that Governmenf will do nothing to favor us.
•' Your superior wisdom must determine whether to go to Oregon, to Texas,
or to remain within these United States and send forth the most efficient men to
build up churches, and let them remain for the time being; and in the meantime
send some wise men among the Indians and teach them civilization and religion,
to cultivate the soil, to live in peace with one another and with all men." '^- *
In a subsequent letter Elder Hyde said :
'• We have this day [April 26th] had a long conversation with Judge Doug-
las. He is ripe for Oregon and California. He said he would resign his seat in
Congress if he could command the force that Mr. Smith could, and would be on
the march to that country in a month. 'In five years,' said he, 'a noble State
might be formed, and then if they would not receive us into the Union, we
would have a government of our own.' "
So we see that the American nation was not at that time prepared for the
Prophet's bold design of occupying the Pacific Coast by an irresistible American
emigration; yet several years afterward Fremont, with his volunteers in Califor-
nia, and Houston and Taylor by their action in forcing the war with Mexico,
proved that a manifest destiny was in some such plan as that proposed; and an
American emigration swept on like a tidal wave. And as it was, the Saints, per
ship Brooklyn, were the first company of American emigrants to arrive in Cali-
fornia; while simultaneous was the exodu-i of the entire community to the Rocky
Mountains.
Perhaps it were well also to note here that this petition of Joseph Smith, in
1844, was probably the original basis of the action of President Polk in calling the
" Mormon Battalion," and designing to use the Saints for the national conve-
nience of possessing California. The whole of Polk's action in the case, and the
instructions of the Secretary of War to General Kearney to "make a dash into
California, conquer the country, and set up a government there" in the name of
the United States, show that the Cabinet were not only familiar with the
Prophet's scheme, but that certain statesmen, at this date, endorsed it.
A passing review of our national affairs of that period, will connect here
most suggestively with the Mormon Prophet's bold proposition to the United
States Government to possess the Pacific Coast by a hundred thousand Mormon
colonists.
From the period of Mr. Jefferson's administration the United States had
been striving to checkmate the European Powers, especially Great Britain,
France, Russia and Spain, in their schemes to occupy the Pacific coast and
firmly establish thereon the dominion of Europe. At length the contest for the
Pacific Coast laid between the United States and Great Britain, Mexico herself
resigning to our ambitious mother country to prevent the march of American
empire upon herself. The ships of both nations were riding in the Bay of San
Francisco, the admirals were watching for their respective opportunities.
In 1845 Great Britain had matured a masterly scheme to forestall our govern-
ment in the possession of California, with the co-operation of Mexico. Mr.
Forbes, the British Vice-Consul, was the principal agent of his government in
carrying out this finely conceived design. A declaration of the independence of
HISTOR\ OF SALT LAKE CITY. 7
California from Mexico was to be made, to be followed by a petition from a con-
vention of Californians, to be taken under the protection of Great Britain. But
the most diplomatic part of the scheme of the British government was to emigrate
ten thousand of its subjects to the valley of San Joaquin, to own and occupy the
country. An Irish priest by the name of MacNamara was chosen to fill this part
of the scheme, and he went to Mexico in 1845, on his mission to arouse the holy
zeal of that republic against the "usurpation of the anti-Catholic and irreligious
nation." He urged that no time should be lost or " within a year, California
would become a part of the American nation, be inundated by cruel invaders,
and their Catholic institutions the prey of Methodist wolves." Thus the Irish
priest worded his petition to the Mexican government, urging an Irish emigration
to that country for colonization in the interest of Great Britain. The Mexican
government listened to this petition, and everything moved on favorably to the
completion of the diplomatic scheme, which would have given California into the
hands of Great Britain. Indeed, a treaty to this effect was actually signed be-
tween the British and the authorities of Mexico and her province of California,
and then came events of another shaping, culminating in the war between
Mexico and the United States.
Thus may be seen from the counterpart records of those times, that the Mor-
mon Prophet was before-hand with Great Britain in the design of possessing the
Pacific Coast by colonization, as the record shows that early in 1844 he petitioned
the United States for the privilege of raising 100,000 men "to extend protection
to persons wishing to settle Oregon and other portions of the territory of the
United States, and extend protection to the people in Texas," while at the same
time he was planning the removal of his entire people on to the Pacific slope, as
seen in his diary note of February 20th, 1844, already presented. And it is a singu-
lar fact in American history that two years later, and nearly simultaneous with
the signing of the contract between the British Consul Forbes, Governor Pice
of California, and General Castro, President Polk and his cabinet were entertain-
ing the policy of sending a battalion of one thousand Mormon soldiers (this be-
ing the original number) overland into California fully equipped and armed, to
take possession of and defend that country, while another thousand were de-
signed to be sent from the Eastern States by way of Cape Horn for the same service.
President Polk, at this later date, designed to checkmate the British Govern-
/ment, with its ten thousand Irish emigrants, with from twenty to forty thousand
Mormon Protestants under the American flag. Thus the true history of those
times compared, shows the extraordinary fact that, two years after the assassination
of the Mormon Prophet, the United States Government was actually prepared to
accept his grand colonizing plan to take possession of the Pacific territory,
which he offered in his memorial to President Tyler and the Congress of the
United States, bearing date March 26th, 1844. Nothing seems more certain in
the record than the fact that had not the assassination of the Mormon Prophet
so soon followed his colonizing offer to the United States, he had moved with his
people to the Pacific Coast two or three years earlier than the occupation of
Utah. And had he gone on to California he would have raised the American
flag there, and struck the first blow with his Legion, instead of Fremont doing it
in 1846 with his volunteers.
8 HISTORY OF SALT LAKE CITY.
Had the Prophet moved with his people, either to the Rocky Mountains or
California proper, it had been at the head of his Legion. Force of circum-
stances, it seems, would have made him thenceforth a Prophet-General, while
the very strength of his Napoleonic character would have shot him, like Jove's
thunderbolt, into the action between the United States and Mexico.
CHAPTER H.
GOVERNOR FORD URGES THE MIGRATION OF THE MORMONS TO CALIFORNIA,
COMPACT OF THE REMOVAL. ADDRESS TO THE PRESIDENT OF THE
UNITED STATES. THE EXODUS. MORMON LIFE ON THE JOURNEY. A
SENSATION FROM THE UNITED STATES GOVERNMENT.
Soon after the assassination of the Prophet and his brother Hyrum, Governor
Ford, in a letter to President Young, under date of April 8th, 1845, "'"g'i''g t'"*^
migration of the Mormons to California, said ;
" If you can get off by yourselves you may enjoy peace; but, surrounded by
such neighbors, I confess that I do not see the time when you will be permitted
to enjoy quiet. I was informed by General Joseph Smith last summer that he
contemplated a removal west: and from what I learned from him and others at
that time, I think, if he had lived, he would have begun to move in the matter
before this time. I would be willing to exert all my feeble abilities and influence
to further your views in this respect if it was the wish of your people.
"I would suggest a matter in confidence. California now offers a field for the
prettiest enterprise that has been undertaken in modern times. It is but sparsely
inhabited, and by none but the Indian or imbecile Mexican Spaniards. I have not
enquired enough to know how strong it is in men and means. But this we know,
that if conquered from Mexico, that country is so physically weak, and morally
distracted, that she could never send a force there to reconquer it. Why should
it not be a pretty operation for your people to go out there, take possession of
and conquer a portion of the vacant country, and establish an independent gov-
ernment of your own, subject only to the law of nations? You would remain
there a long time before you would be disturbed by the proximity ot other settle-
ments. Jf you conclude to do this, your design ought not to be known, or
otherwise it would become the duty of the United States to prevent your emigra-
tion. If once you cross the line of the United States Territories, you would be
in no danger of being interfered with."
Knowing the intentions of Joseph Smith to remove the Mormon people,
Senator Douglas and others had given similar advice to him ; and the very fact
that such men looked upon the Mormons as quite equal to the establishment of
an independent nationality, is most convincing proof that not their wrong-
doing, but their empire-founding genius has been, and still is, the cause of the
" irrepressible conflict" between them and their opponents.
HISTORY OF SALT LAKE CITY. g
The advice of Governor Ford, however, was neither sought nor required.
Brigham Young, carrying out Joseph Smith's plan, had nearly matured every
part of the movement, shaping also the emigration from the British Mission ; but
the Rocky Mountains, not California proper, was the place chosen for his people's
retreat.
It was then that the Mormon leaders addressed the famous petition to Presi-
dent Polk and the Governors of all the States, excepting Missouri and Illinois,
changing simply the address to each person. Here it is:
" Nauvoo, April 24th, 1845.
"His Excellency James K. Polk,
President of the United States.
'■^ Hon. Sir: Suffer us, in behalf of a disfranchised and long afflicted peo-
ple, to prefer a few suggestions for your serious consideration, in hope of a
friendly and unequivocal response, at as early a period as may suit your con-
venience, and the extreme urgency of the case seems to demand,
" It is not our present design to detail the multiplied and aggravated wrongs
that we have received in the midst of a nation that gave us birth. Most of us
have long been loyal citizens of some one of these United States, over which you
have the honor to preside, while a few only claim the privilege of peaceable and
lawful emigrants, designing to make the Union our permanent residence.
"We say we are a disfranchised people. We are privately told by the highest
authorities of the State that it is neither prudent nor safe for us to vote at the
polls; still we have continued to maintain our right to vote, until the blood of
our best men has been shed, both in Missouri and Illinois, with impunity.
"You are doubtless somewhat familiar with the history of our expulsion from
the State of Missouri, wherein scores of our brethren were massacred. Hundreds
died through want and sickness, occasioned by their unparalleled sufferings.
Some millions worth of our property was destroyed, and some fifteen thousand
souls fled for their lives to the then hospitable and peaceful shores of Illinois :
and that the State of Illinois granted to us a liberal charter, for the term of per-
petual succession, under whose provision private rights have become invested, and
the largest city in the State has grown up, numbermg about twenty thousand in-
habitants.
" But, sir, the startling attitude recently assumed by the State of Illinois, for-
bids us to think that her designs are any less vindictive than those of Missouri.
She has already used the military of the State, with the executive at their head,
to coerce and surrender up our best men to unparalleled murder, and that too
under the most sacred pledges of protection and safety. As a salve for such un-
earthly perfidy and guilt, she told us, through her highest executive officers, that
the laws should be magnified and the murderers brought to justice ; but the blood
of heV innocent victims had not been wholly wiped from the floor of the awful
arena, ere the Senate of that State rescued one of the indicted actors in that
mournful tragedy from the sheriff of Hancock County, and gave him a seat in
her hall of legislation ; and all who were indicted by the grand jury of Hancock
County for the murder of Joseph and Hyrum Smith, are suffered to roam at
large, watching for further prey.
JO HISTORY OF SALT LAKE CITY.
"To crown the climax of those bloody deeds, the State has repealed those
chartered rights, by which wc might have lawfully defended ourselves against
aggressors. If we defend ourselves hereafter against violence, whether it comes
under the shadow of law or otherwise (for we have reason to expect it in both
ways), we shall then be charged with treason and suffer the penalty; and if we
continue passive and non-resistant, we must certainly expect to perish, for our
enemies have sworn it.
'•.And here, sir, permit us to state that General Joseph Smith, during his short
life, was arraigned at the bar of his country about fifty times, charged with crim-
inal offences, but was acquitted every time by his country ; his enemies, or rather
liis religious opponents, almost invariably being his judges. And we further tes-
tify that, as a people, we are law-abiding, peaceable and without crime; and we
challenge the world to prove to the contrary ; and while other less cities in
Illinois have had special courts instituted to try their criminals, we have been
stript of every source of arraigning marauders and murderers who are prowling
around to destroy us, except the common magistracy.
"With these facts before you, sir, will you write to us without delay as a
father and friend, and advise us what to do. We are members of the same great
confederacy. Our fathers, yea, some of us, have fought and bled for our country,
and we love her Constitution dearly.
" In the name ot Israel's God, and by virtue of multiplied ties of country and
kindred, we ask your friendly interposition in our favor. Will it be too much for
us to ask you to convene a special session of Congress, and furnish us an asylum,
where we can enjoy our rights of conscience and religion unmolested? Or, will
you, in a special message to that body, when convened, recommend a remon-
strance against such unhallowed acts of oppression and expatriation as this people
have continued to receive from the States of Missouri and Illinois? Or will you
favor us by your personal influence and by your official rank? Or will you ex-
press your views concerning what is called the "Great Western Measure" of
colonizing the Latter-day Samts in Oregon, the north-western Territory, or some
location remote from the States, where the hand of oppression shall not crush
every noble principle and extinguish every patriotic feeling?
"And now, honored sir, having reached out our imploring hands to you, with
deep solemnity, we would importune you as a father, a friend, a patriot and the
head of a mighty nation, by the Constitution of American liberty, by the blocd
of our fathers who have fought for the independence of this republic, by the
blood of the martyrs which has been shed in our midst, by the waitings of the
widows and orphans, by our murdered fathers and mothers, brothers and sisters,
wives and children, by the dread of immediate destruction from secret combina-
tions now forming for our overthrow, and by every endearing tie that binds man
to man and renders life bearable, and that too, for aught we know, for the last
time, — that you will lend your immediate aid to quell the violence of mobocracy,
and exert your influence to establish us as a people in our civil and religious
rights, where we now are, or in some part of the United States, or in some place
remote therefrom, where we may colonize in peace and safety as soon as circum-
stances will permit.
HJSTORY OF SALT LAKE Cny. ' ii
"We sincerely hope that your future prompt measures towards us will be dic-
tated by the best feelings that dwell in the bosom of humanity, and the blessings
of a grateful people, and many ready to perish, shall come upon you.
"We are, sir, with great respect, your obedient servants,
Brigham Young,
WiLLARD Richards,
Orson Spencer,
Orson Pratt, \ Committee,
W. W. Phelps,
A. W. Babbitt,
J. M. Bernhisel,
/« behalf of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, at Nauvoo, Lllinois.
"P.S. — As many of our communications, post-marked at Nauvoo, have failed
of their destination, and the mails around us have been intercepted by our
enemies, we shall send this to some distant office by the hand of a special mes-
senger."
The appeal itself is not a mere attempt at rhetoric. The very inelegance of
multiplied ties and sacred objects invoked and crowded upon each other, to
touch the hearts of men in power, is truly affecting. There is a tragic burden in
the circumstances and urgency of the case. But the prayer was unanswered.
Towards the close of the year 1845, the leaders, in council, resolved to re-
move their people at once and seek a second Zion in the valleys of the Rocky
Mountains. It was too clear that they could no longer dwell among so-called
civilized men. They knew that they must soon seek refuge with the children of
the forest ; and as for humanity, they must seek it in the breasts of savages, for
there was scarcely a smouldering spark of it left for them, either in Missouri or
Illinois, nor indeed anywhere within the borders of the United States.
They had now no destiny but in the West. If they tarried longer their
blood would fertilize the lands which they had tilled, and their wives and
daughters would be ravished within the sanctuary of the homes which their in-
dustrious hands had built. Their people were by a thousand ancestral links
joined to the Pilgrim Fathers who founded this nation, and with the heroes who
won for it independence, and it was as the breaking of their heartstrings to rend
them from their fatherland, and send them as exiles into the territory of a for-
eign power. But there was no alternative between a Mormon exodus or a Mor-
mon massacre.
Sorrowfully, but resolutely, the Saints prepared to leave; trusting in the
Providence which had thus far taken them through their darkest days, and multi-
plied upon their heads compensation for their sorrows. But the anti-Mormons
seemed eager for the questionable honor of exterminating them. In September
of the year 1845, delegates from nine counties met in convention, at Carthage,
over the Mormon troubles, and sent four commissioners : General Hardin, Com-
mander of the State Militia; Senator Douglass; W. B. Warren; and J. A. Mc-
Dougal, to demand the removal of the Mormons to the Rocky Mountains. The
commissioners held a council with the Twelve Apostles at Nauvoo, and the Mor-
mon leaders promptly agreed to remove their people at once, a movement, as we
12 HISTORY OF SALT LAKE CITY
have seen, which they had been considering for several years. Now were they
brought face to face with the issue. The Mormon leaders sought not to evade it;
but, with their characteristic Israelitish methods, resolved to grapple with the
tremendous undertaking ot the exodus of a people.
On that exodus hung, not only the very destiny of the people, but the peace
of the State of Illinois. Probably it was a sensible comprehension of this fact
that prompted General Hardin to ask of the Twelve Apostles, at the council in
question, what guarantee they would give that the Mormons would fulfill their
part of the covenant. To this Brigham Young replied, with a strong touch of
common-sense severity : " You have our all as the guarantee ; what more can we
give beyond the guarantee of our names?^' Senator Douglass observed, "Mr.
Young is right." But General Hardin knew that the people of Illinois, and
especially the anti-Mormons, would look to him more than to Douglass, who had
been styled the Mormon -made senator; so the commissioners asked fdr a written
covenant, of a nature to relieve themselves of much of the responsibility, and
addressed the following :
" Nauvoo, Oct. ist, 1845.
' ' To the President and Council of the Church at Nauvoo :
" Having had a free and full conversation with you this day, in reference to
your proposed removal from this country, together with the members of your
church, we have to request you to submit the facts and intentions, stated to us in
the said conversations to writing, in order that we may lay them before the Gov-
ernor and people of the State. We hope that by so doing it will have a tendency
to allay the excitement at present existing in the public mind.
" We have the" honor to subscribe ourselves,
Respectfully yours,
John J, Hardin,
W. B. Warren,
S. A. Douglass,
J. A. McDouGAL."
The covenant itself is too precious to be lost to history; here it is:
"Nauvoo, III., Oct. ist, 1845.
"To Gen./. Hardin, If. B. Warren, S. A. Douglass, and J. A. McDougal:
^^ Messrs : — In reply to your letter of this date, requesting us ' to submit the
facts and intentions stated by us in writing, in order that you may lay them be-
fore the Governor and people of the State,' we would refer you to our communi-
cation of the 24th ult. to the 'Quincy Committee,' etc., a copy of which is
herewith enclosed.
"In addition to this we would say that we had commenced making arrange-
ments to remove from the country previous to the recent disturbances; that we have
four companies, of one hundred families each, and six more companies now
organizing, of the same number each, preparatory to a removal.
"That one thousand families, including the Twelve, the High Council, the
trustees and general authorities of the Church, are fully determined to remove in
HISTORY OF SALT LAKE CITY. 13
the Spring, independent of the contingencies of selling: our property; and that
this company will comprise from five to six thousand souls.
"That the Church, as a body, desire to remove with us, and will, if sales
can be effected, so as to raise the necessary means.
"That the organization of the Church we represent is such that there never
can exist but one head or presidency at any one time. And all good members
wish to be with the organization : and all are determined to remove to some dis-
tant point where we shall neither infringe nor be infringed upon, so soon as time
and means will permit.
"That we have some hundreds of farms and some two thousand houses for
sale in this city and county, and we request all good citizens to assist in the dis-
posal of our property.
" That we do not expect to find purchasers for our Temple and other public
buildings; but we are willing to rent them to a respectable community who may
inhabit the city.
"That we wish it distinctly understood that although we may not find pur-
chasers for our property, we will not sacrifice it, nor give it away, or suffer it
illegally to be wrested from us.
"That we do not intend to sow any wheat this Fall, and should we all sell,
we shall not put in any more crops of any description.
"That as soon as practicable, we will appoint committees for this city. La
Harpe, Macedonia, Bear Creek, and all necessary places in the county, to give
information to purchasers.
" That if these testimonies are not sufficient to satisfy any people that we are
in earnest, we will soon give them a sign that cannot be mistaken — we will
LEAVE THEM.
" In behalf of the council, respectfully yours, etc.,
Brigham Young, President.
WiLLARD Richards, Clerk.'''
The covenant satisfied the commissioners, and for a time also satisfied the
anti-Mormons.
But their enemies were impatient for the Mormons to be gone. They would
not keep even their own conditions of the covenant, much less were they dis-
posed to lend a helping hand to lighten the burden of this thrice-afflicted people
in their exodus, that their mutual bond might be fulfilled — a bond already sealed
with the blood of their Prophet, and of his brother the Patriarch. So the High
Council issued a circular to the Church, January 20, 1846, in which they stated
the intention of their community to locate " in some good valley in the neigh-
borhood ot the Rocky Mountains, where they will infringe on no one, and not
be likely to be infringed upon." " Here we will make a resting place," they said,
" until we can determine a place for a permanent location. * * * We also
further declare, for the satisfaction of some who have concluded that our griev-
ances have alienated us from our country, that our patriotism has not been over-
come by fire, by sword, by daylight nor by midnight assassination which we have
endured, neither have they alienated us from the institutions of our country."
Then came the subject of service on the side of their country, should war
14 HISTORY OF SALT LAKE CITY.
break out between it and a foreign country, as was indicated at that time by our
growing difficulties with Mexico. The anti-Mormons took advantage of this war
jjrospect, and not satisfied with their act of expulsion, they raised the cry, " The
Mormons intend to join the enemy ! " This was as cruel as the seething of the kid
in its mother's milk, but the High Council answered it with the homely anecdote
of the Quaker's characteristic action against the pirates in defence of the ship on
which he was a passenger, when he cut away the rope in the hands of the
boarder, observing : " If thee wants that piece of rope I will help thee to it."
" The pirate fell," said the circular, "and a watery grave was his resting place."
Their country had been anything but a kind protecting parent to the Saints, but
at least, in its hour of need, they would do as much as the conscientious Quaker
did in the defence of the ship. There was, too, a grim humor and quiet pathos in
the telling, that was more touchingly reproachful than would have been a storm
of denunciations. In the same spirit the High Council climaxed their circular
thus :
" We agreed to leave the country for the sake of peace, upon the condition
that no more persecutions be instituted against us. In good faith we have labored
to fulfill this agreement. Governor Ford has also done his duty to further our
wishes in this respect, but there are some who are unwilling that we should have
an existence anywhere; but our destinies are in the hands of God, and so are
also theirs."
Early in February, 1846, the Mormons began to cross the Mississippi in flat
b.'^ats, old lighters, and a number of skiffs, forming, says the President's Journal,
"quite a fleet," which was at work night and day under the direction of the
police, commanded by their captain, Hosea Stout. Several days later the Miss-
issippi froze over, and the companies continued the crossing on the ice.
On the 15th of the same month, Brigham Young, with his family, accom-
panied by Willard Richards and family, and George A. Smith, also crossed the
Mississippi from Nauvoo, and proceeded to the " Camps of Israel," as they were
styled by the Saints, which waited on the west side of the river, a few miles on
the way, for the coming of their leaders. These were to form the vanguard of
the migrating Saints, who were to follow from the various States where they were
located, or had organized themselves into flourishing branches and conferences;
and soon after this period also began to pour across the Atlantic that tide of em-
igration from Europe which has since since swelled to the number of over one
hundred thousand souls.
As yet the " Camps of Israel " were unorganized, awaiting the coming of
the President, on Sugar Creek, which he and his companions reached at dusk.
The next day he was busy organizing the company, and on the following, which
was February 17th, at 9:50 a. m., the brethren of the camp had assembled near
the bridge, to receive their initiatory instructions, and take the word of command
from their leader, who ended his first day's orders to the congregation with a real
touch of the law-giver's method. He said, "We will have no laws we cannot
keep, but we will have order in the camp. If any want to live in peace when we
have left this place, they must toe the mark." He then called upon ^all who.
HISTORY OF SALT LAKE CITY. 75
wanted to go with the camp to raise their right hands. "All hands flew up at
the bidding," says the record.
After the dismissal of the congregation, the President took several of the
Twelve with him half a mile up a valley east of the camp and held a council. A
letter was read from Mr. Samuel Brannan, of New York, with a copy of a curi-
ous agreement between him and a Mr. A. G. Benson, which had been sent west,
under cover, for the authorities to sign.
To make clear to the reader a story, which now belongs to our national his-
tory, in connection with the first settling of California, it must, be observed that
Brannan, once known as one of the millionaires of the Golden State, had
been the editor of The Prophet, published at New York. He seems to have been
one of those sagacious men who saw in Mormonism the means to their own ends.
At the date of the exodus he was in the charge of a company of Saints, bound
for the Pacific Coast, in the ship Brooklyn. They took all necessary outfit for the
first settlers of a new country, including a printing press, upon which was after-
wards struck off the first regular newspaper of California. This company was,
also, the earliest company of American emigrants that arrived in the bay of San
Francisco, and really the pioneer emigration of American citizens to the Golden
State, for Fremont's volunteers cannot be considered in that character. Indeed,
it is not a little singular that the Mormons were not only the pioneers of Utah,
but also the pioneers of California, the builders of the first houses, the starters of
the first papers, and, what has contributed so much to the growth of the Pacific
Slope, the men who discovered the gold, under Mr. Marshal, the foreman of Sut-
ter's mills. These facts, however, the people of California seem somewhat to
hide in the histories of their State.
Relative to the sailing of this company, Samuel Brannan had written to the
Mormon authorities. Ex-Postmaster Amos Kendall, and the said Benson, who
seems to have been Kendall's agent, with others of political influence, represented
to Brannan that, unless the leaders of the Church signed an agreement with them,
to which the President of the United States, he said, was a "silent party," the
government would not permit the Mormons to proceed on their journey westward.
This agreement required the pioneers " to transfer to A. G. Benson & Co., and to
their heirs and assigns, the odd numbers of all the lands and town lots they may
acquire in the country where they may settle." In case they refused to sign the
agreement the President, it was said, would issue a proclamation, setting forth
that it was the intention of the Mormons to take sides with either Mexico or
Great Britain against the United States, and order them to be disarmed and dis-
persed. Both the letter and contract are very characteristic, and the worldly-
minded man's poor imitation of the earnest religionist has probably often since
amused Mr.. Brannan himself. In his letter he said :
" I declare to all that you are not going to California, but Oregon, and that
my information is official. Kendall has also learned that we have chartered the
ship j^r^^iZ'/^'/;, and that Mormons are going out in her; and, it is thought, she
will be searched for arms, and, if found, they will be taken from us; and if not,
an order will be sent to Commodore Stockton on the Pacific to search our vessel
before we land. Kendall will be in the city next Thursday again, and then an
i6 THE' HISTORY OF SALT LAKE CITY.
effort will be made to bring about a reconciliation. I will make you accjuainted
with the result before I leave."
The "reconciliation" between the Government and the Mormons, as the
reader will duly appreciate, was to be effected by a division of the spoils among
the political chiefs, including, if Brannan and Kendall are to be relied on, the
President of the United States. The following letter of fourteen days later date
is too rich and graphic to be lost to the public :
"New York, January 26, 1846.
" Dear Brother Young:
" I haste to lay before your honorable body the result of my movements since I
wrote you last, which was from this city, stating some of my discoveries, in rela-
tion to the contemplated movements of the General Government in opposition
to our removal.
"I had an interview with Amos Kendall, in company with Mr. Benson,
which resulted in a compromise, the conditions of which you will learn by read-
ing the contract between them and us, which I shall forward by this mail. I
shall also leave a copy of the same with Elder Appleby, who was present when it
was signed. Kendall is now our friend, and will use his influence in our behalf,
in connection with twenty-five of the most prominent demagogues in the country.
You will be permitted to pass out of the States unmolested. Their counsel is to
go well armed, but keep them well secreted from the rabble.
"I shall select the most suitable spot on the Bay of San Francisco for the
location of a commercial city. When I sail, which will be next Saturday, at one
o'clock, I shall hoist a flag with ' Oregon' on it.
"Immediately on the reception of this letter, you must write to Mr. A. G.
Benson, and let him know whether you are willing to coincide with the contract
I have made for our deliverance. I am aware it is a covenant with death, but we
know that God is able to break it, and will do it. The Children of Israel, in
their escape from Egypt, had to make covenants for their safety, and leave it for
God to break them; and the Prophet has said, 'As it was then, so shall it be in
the last days.' And I have been led by a remarkable train of circumstances to
say, amen; and I feel and hope you will do the same.
"Mr. Benson thinks the Twelve should leave and get out of the country first,
and avoid being arrested, if it is a possible thing; but if you are arrested, you
will find a staunch friend in him ; and you will find friends, and that a host, to
deliver you from their hands. If any of you are arrested, don't be tried west of
the Alleghany Mountains; in the East you will find friends that you little
think of
"It is the prayer of the Saints in the East night and day for your safety,
and it is mine first in the morning and the last in the evening.
"I must now bring my letter to a close. Mr. Benson's address is No. 39
South Street ; and the sooner you can give him answer the better it will be for us.
He will spend one month in Washington to sustain you, and he will do it, no
mistake. But everything must be kept silent as death on our part, names of
parties in particular.
"I now commit this sheet to the post, praying that Israel's God may pre-
JTn^y-'lj J-I^ s:ra7l I'Sans 13Barc2aj S-^.irT
HISTORY OF SALT LAKE CITY. 77
vent it from falling into the hands of wicked men. You will hear from me again
on the day of sailing, if it is the Lord's will, amen.
"Your's truly, a friend and brother in God's kingdom.
S. Brannan."
The contract in question was signed by Samuel Brannan and A. G. Benson,
and witnessed by W. I. Appleby. To it is this postscript:
" This is only a copy of the original, which I have filled out. It is no gam-
mon, but will be carried through, if you say, amen. It was drawn up by Ken-
dall's own hand ; but no person must be known but Mr. Benson."
The following simple minute, in Brigham Young's private journal, is a fine
set-off to these documents:
"Samuel Brannan urged upon the council the signing of the document.
The council considered the subject, and concluded that as our trust was in God,
and that, as we looked to him for protection, we would not sign any such unjust
and oppressive agreement. This was a plan of political demagogues to rob the
Latter-day Saints of millions, and compel them to submit to it by threats of
Federal bayonets."
No matter what view the reader may take of the Mormons and their leaders
relative to the intrinsic value to the world of their social and theological prob-
lems, no intelligent mind can help being struck with the towering superiority of
men trusting in their God, in the supremest hour of trial, compared with the
foremost politicians in the country, including a President of the United States,
as illustrated in the above example. It is charitably to be hoped, however, that
President Polk was a very "silent party" to this scheme, and that his name was
merely used to give potency to the promise of protection, and to the threat that
the General Government would intercept the Mormons in their exodus.
Little did the political demagogues of the time, and these land speculators, un-
derstand the Mormon people, and still less the character of the men who were lead-
ing them; nor did "Elder Brannan" know them much better. From the beginning
the Mormons never gave up an inch of their chosen ground, never, as a people,
consented to a compromise, nor allowed themselves to be turned aside from their
purposes, nor wavered in their fidelity to their faith. They would suffer expul-
sion, or make an exodus if need be, yet ever, as in this case, have they answered,
"Our trust is in God. We look to Him for protection." So far "Elder
Brannan" understood them; hence his profession of faith that the Lord would
overrule and break the "covenant with death." But these men did wiser and
better. They never made the covenant, but calmly defied the consequences,
which they knew too well might soon follow. Not even as much as to reply to
Messrs. Benson, Kendall & Co. did they descend from the pinnacle of their
integrity.
But, be it not for a moment thought that the Mormon leaders did not fully
comprehend their critical position in all its aspects. A homely anecdote of the
apostle George A. Smith will illustrate those times. At a council in Nauvoo, of
the men who were to act as the captains of the people in that famous exodus, one
after the other brought up difficulties in their path until the prospect was without
1 8 HISTORY OF SALT LAKE CITY.
one poor speck of daylight. The good nature of "George A." was provoked at
last, when he sprang up and observed with his quaint humor that had now a touch
of the grand in it, " If there is no God in Israel we are a 'sucked in ' set of fel-
lows. But I am going to take my family and cross the river, and the Lord will
open the way." He was one of the first to set out on that miraculous journey to
the Rocky Mountains.
Having resolved to trust in their God and themselves, quietly setting aside
the politicians, Brigham Young and several of the Twelve left the Camp of Israel
for a few days, and returned to bid farewell to their beloved Nauvoo, and hold a
parting service in the Temple. This was the last time Brigham Young ever saw
that sacred monument of the Mormons' devotion.
The Pioneers had now been a month on Sugar Creek, and during the time
had, of course, consumed a vast amount of the provisions; indeed, neaily all,
which had been gathered up for their journey. Their condition, however, was
not without its compensation ; for it checked the movements of the mob, among
whom the opinion prevailed that the outfit of the Pioneers was so utterly insuffi-
cient that, in a short time, they would break in pieces and scatter. Moreover, it
was mid-winter. Up to the date of their starting from this first camping ground,
detachments continued to join them, crossing the Mississippi, from Nauvoo, on
the ice; but before starting they addressed the following memorial :
" To His Excellency Governor of I he Territory of Lo7ua :
Honored Sir : The time is at hand in which several thousand free citizens
of this great Republic are to be driven from their peaceful homes and firesides,
their property and farms, and their dearest constitutional rights, to wander in the
barren plains and sterile mountains of western wilds, and linger out their lives in
wretched exile, far beyond the pale of professed civilization, or else be extermi-
nated upon their own lands by the people and authorities of the State of Illinois.
"As life is sweet, we have chosen banishment rather than death, but, sir, the
terms of our banishment are so rigid, that we have not sufficient time allotted us
to make the necessary preparations to encounter the hardships and difficulties of
these dreary and uninhabited regions. We have not time allowed us to dispose
of our property, dwellings and farms, consequently many of us will have to leave
them unsold, without the means of procuring the necessary provisions, clothing,
teams, etc., to sustain us but a short distance beyond the settlements; hence our
persecutors have placed us in very unpleasant circumstances.
" To stay is death by * fire and sword ;' to go into banishment unprepared
is death by starvation. But yet, under these heartrending circumstances, several
hundred of us have started upon our^ dreary journey, and are now encamped in
Lee County, Iowa, suffering much from the intensity of the cold. Some of us
are already without food, and others have barely sufficient to last a few weeks :
hundreds of others must shortly follow us in the same unhappy condition,
therefore :
"We, the presiding authorities of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day
Saints, as a committee in behalf of several thousand suffering exiles, humbly ask
Your Excellency to shield and protect us in our constitutional rights, while we
are passing through the Territory over which you have jurisdiction. And, should
HISTORY OF SALT LAKE CITY.
J9
any of the exiles be under the necessity of stopping in this Territory for a time,
either in settled or unsettled parts, for the purpose of raising crops, by renting
farms or upon public lands, or to make the necessary preparations for their exile
in any lawful way, we humbly petition Your Excellency to use an influence and
power in our behalf, and thus preserve thousands of American citizens, together
with their wives and children, from intense sufferings, starvation and death.
And your petitioners will ever pray."
In the diary of the President is a sort of valedictory, written before starting
on their journey from Sugar Creek, which concludes thus: " Our homes, gar-
dens, orchards, farms, streets, bridges, mills, public halls, magnificent temple,
and other public improvements we leave as a monument of our patriotism, indus-
try, economy, uprightness of purpose, and integrity of heart, and as a living
testimony of the falsehood and wickedness of those who charge us with disloyalty
to the Constitution of our country, idleness and dishonesty."
The Mormons were setting out under their leaders, from the borders of civil-
ization, with their wives and their children, in broad daylight, before the very
eyes of ten thousand of their enemies, who would have preferred their utter de-
struction to their " flight," notwithstanding they had enforced it by treaties out-
rageous beyond description, inasmuch as the exiles were nearly all American born,
many of them tracing their ancestors to the very founders of the nation. Thev
had to make a journey of fifteen hundred miles over trackless prairies, sandy
deserts and rocky mountains, through bands of warlike Indians, who had been
driven, exasperated, towards the West; and at last, to seek out and build up their
Zion in valleys then unfruitful, in a solitary region where the foot of the white man
had scarcely trod. These, too, were to be followed by the aged, the halt, the
sick and the blind, tlie poor, who were to be helped by their little less destitute
brethren, and the delicate young mother with her new-born babe at her breast,
and still worse, for they were not only threatened with the extermination of the
poor remnant at Nauvoo, but news had arrived that the parent-government de-
signed to pursue their pioneers with troops, take from them their arms, and scat-
ter them, that they might perish by the way, and leave their bones bleaching in
the wilderness.
Yet did Brigham Young deal with the exodus of the Mormon people as sim-
ply in its opening as he did in his daily record of it. So, indeed, did the entire
Mormon community. They all seemed as oblivious of the stupendous meaning
of an exodus, as did the first workers on railroads of the vast meaning to civiliza-
tion of that wonder of the age. A people trusting in their God, the Mormons
were, in their mission, superior to the greatest human trials, and in their child-
like faith equal to almost superhuman undertakings. To-day, however, with the
astonishing change which has come over the spirit of the scene, on the whole
Pacific Slope, since the Mormons pioneered our nation towards the setting sun,
the picture of a modern Israel in their exodus has almost faded from the popular
mind; but, in the centuries hence, when the passing events of this age shall have
each taken their proper place, the historian will point back to that exodus in the
New World of the West, as one quite worthy to rank with the immortal exodus
of the children of Israel.
20 HISTORY OF SALT LAKE CITY.
At about noon, on the ist of March, 1S46, the '' Camp of Israel" began to
move, and at four o'clock nearly four hundred wagons were on the the way, travel-
ing in a north-westerly direction. At night, they camped again on Sugar Creek,
having advanced five miles. Scraping away the snow, they pitched their tents
upon the hard frozen ground; and after building large fires in front, they made
themselves as comfortable as possible under the circumstances. Indeed, it is
questionable whether any other people in the world could have cozened them-
selves into a happy state of mind amid such surroundings, with such a past, fresh
and bleeding in their memories, and with such a prospect as was before both
themselves and the remnant of their brethren left in Nauvoo to the tender mer-
cies of the mob. In his diary Apostle Orson Pratt wrote that night, " Notwith-
standing our sufferings, hardships and privations, we are cheerful, and rejoice
that we have the privilege of passing through tribulation for the truth's sake."
These Mormon pilgrims, who took much consolation on their journey in
likening themselves to the pilgrim fathers and mothers of this nation, whose de-
scendants many of them actually were, that night made their beds upon the
frozen earth. "After bowing before our great Creator," wrote Apostle Pratt,
"and offering up praise and thanksgiving to him, and imploring his protection,
we resigned ourselves to the slumbers of the night."
But the weather was more moderate that night than it had been for several
weeks previous. At their first encampment the thermometer, at one time, fell
twenty degrees below zero, freezing over the great Mississippi. The survivors of
that journey will tell you they never suffered so much from the cold in their lives
as they did on Sugar Creek. And what of the Mormon women? Around them
circles an almost tragic romance. Fancy may find abundant subject for graphic
story of the devotion, the suffering, the matchless heroism of the "Sisters," in
the telling incident that nine children were born to them the first night they
camped out on Sugar Creek, February 5th, 1846. That day they wept their
farewells over their beloved city, or in the sanctuary of the Temple, in which
they had hoped to worship till the end of life, but which they left, never to see
again; that night suffering nature administered to them the mixed cup ot
woman's supremest joy and pain.
But it was not prayer alone that sustained these pilgrims. The practical
philosophy of their great leader, daily and hourly applied to the exigencies of
their case, did almost as much as their own matchless faith to sustain them from
the commencement to the end of their journey. With that leader had very
properly come to the "Camp of Israel" several of the Twelve and the chief
bishops of the Church, but he also brought with him a quorum humble in pre-
tensions, yet useful as high priests to the Saints in those spirit- saddening days.
It was Captain Pitt's brass band. That night the President had the "brethren
and sisters" out in the dance, and the music was as glad as at a merry-making.
Several gentlemen from Iowa gathered to witness the strange interesting scene.
They could scarcely believe their own senses when they were told that these were
the Mormons in their "flight from civilization," bound they knew not whither,
except where God should lead them by the "hand of his servant."
Thus in the song and the dance the Saints praised the Lord. When the
HISTORY OF SALT LAKE CITY. 21
night was fine, and supper, which consisted of the most primitive fare, was over,
some of the men would clear away the snow, while others bore large logs to the
camp fires in anticipation of the jubilee of the evening. Soon, in a sheltered
place, the blazing fires would roar, and fifty couples, old and "young, would join,
in the merriest spirit, to the music of the band or the rival revelry of the soli-
tary fiddle. As they journeyed along, too, strangers constantly visited their
camps, and great was their wonderment to see the order, unity and good feeling
that prevailed in the midst of the people. By the camp fires they would linger,
listening to the music and song ; and they fain had taken part in the merriment
had not those scenes been as sacred worship in the exodus of a God-fearing peo-
ple. To fully understand the incidents here narrated, the reader must couple in
his mind the idea of an exodus with the idea of an Israelitish jubilee; for it was
a jubilee to the Mormons to be delivered from their enemies at any price.
The sagacious reader will readily appreciate the wise method pursued by
Brigham Young. Prayers availed much. The hymn and the prayer were never
forgotten at the close of the dance, before they dispersed, to make their bed
within the shelter of the wagon, or under it, exposed to the cold of those bitter
nights. But the dance and the song kept the Mormon pilgrims cheerful and
healthy in mind, whereas, had a spirit of gloomy fanaticism been encouraged,
such as one might have expected, most likely there would soon have been murmur-
ing in the congregation against their Moses, and the people would have been
sighing for the flesh-pots of Egypt. The patriarchal care of Brigham Young
over the migrating thousands was also something uncommon. It was extended
to every family, every soul; even the very animals had the master friend near to
ease and succor them. A thousand anecdotes could be told of that journey to
illustrate this. When traveling, or in camp, he was ever looking after the wel-
fare of all. No poor horse or ox even had a tight collar or a bow too small but
his eye would see it. Many times did he get out of his vehicle and see that some
suffering animal was relieved.
There can be no doubt that the industrious habits of the Mormons, and the
semi-communistic character of their camps, enabled them to accomplish on their
journey what otherwise would have been impossible. They were almost destitute
at the start, but they created resources on the way. Their pioneers and able-
bodied men generally took work on farms, split rails, cleared the timber for the
new settlers, fenced their lands, built barns and husked their corn. Each night
brought them some employment; and, if they laid over for a day or two at their
encampment, the country around was busy with their industry. They also
scattered for work, some of them going even into Missouri among their ancient
enemies to turn (o the smiter the " other cheek," while they were earning sup-
port for their families.
At one of their first camping grounds, on a ten-acre lot which the pioneer
had cleared of timber, they made the acquaintance of its owner, a Dr. Jewett.
The worthy doctor was an enthusiast over mesmerism and animal magnetism, so
he sought to convert the Mormon leaders to his views. Brigham Young replied,
"I perfectly understand it. Doctor. We believe in the Lord's magnetizmg.
He magnetized Belshazzar so that he saw the hand-writing on the wall." The
22 HISTORY OF SALT LAKE CITY.
Mormons, too, had seen the hand-writing on the wall, and were hastening to the
mountains.
The citizens of Farmington came over to invite the Nauvoo Band, under
Captain Pitt, to come to their village for a concert. There was some music left
in the "brethren," They had not forgotten how to sing the " Songs of Zion,"
so they made the good folks of Farmington merry, and for a time forgot their
own sorrows.
As soon as the "Camp of Israel" was fairly on the march, the leader, with the
Twelve and the captains, divided it into companies of hundreds, fifties, and
tens ; and then the companies took up their line in order, Brigham Young direct-
ing the whole, and bringing up the main body, with the chief care of the
families.
The weather was still intensely cold. The Pioneers moved in the face of keen-
edged northwest winds ; they broke the ice to give their cattle drink ; they made
their beds on the soaked prairie lands ; heavy rains and snow by day, and frost at
night, rendered their situation anything but pleasant. The bark and limbs of
trees were the principal food of their animals, and after doubling their teams
all day, wading through the deep mud, they would find themselves at night
only a few miles on their journey. They grew sick of this at last, and for
three weeks rested on the head waters of the Chariton, waiting for the freshets to
subside.
These incidents of travel were varied by an occasional birth in camp. There
was also the death of a lamented lady early on the journey. She was a gentle,
intelligent wife of a famous Mormon missionary, Orson Spencer, once a Baptist
minister of excellent standing. She had requested the brethren to take her with
them. She would not be left behind. Life was too far exhausted by the perse-
cutions to survive the exodus, but she could yet have the honor of dying in that
immortal circumstance of her people. Several others of the sisters also died at
the very starting. Ah, who shall fitly picture the lofty heroism of the Mormon
women !
It was near the Chariton that the organization of the " Camp of Israel" was
perfected, on the 27th of March, when Brigham Young was formally chosen as
the President; and captains of hundreds, fifties, and tens were appointed.
Thus the Twelve became relieved of their mere secular commands, and were
placed at the heads of divisions, in their more apostolic character, as presidents.
The provisioning of the camp was also equally brought under organic man-
agement. Henry G. Sherwood was appointed contracting commissary for the
first fiftv ; David D. Yearsley for the second ; W. H. Edwards for the third ;
Peter Haws for the fourth ; Samuel Gulley for the fifth : Joseph Warburton for
the sixth. Henry G. Sherwood ranked as acting commissary-general. There
were also distributing commissaries appointed. Their duties, says the President's
diary, "are to make a righteous distribution of grain and provisions, and
such articles as shall be furnished for the use of the camp, among their respec-
tive fifties."
Thus it will be seen that the "Camp of Israel" now partook very much of a
military character, with all of an array's organic efificiency.
HISTORY OF SALT LAKE CITY. 23
Towards the end of April the camp came to a place the leaders named Gar-
den Grove. Here they determined to form a small settlement, open farms, and
make a temporary gathering place for "the poor," while the better prepared
were to push on the way and make other settlements.
On the morning of the 27th of April the bugle sounded at Garden Grove,
and all the men assembled to organize for labor. Immediately hundreds of men
were at work cutting trees, splitting rails, making fences, cutting logs for houses,
building bridges, digging wells, making plows, and herding cattle. Quite a num-
ber were sent into the Missouri settlements to exchange horses for oxen, valuable
feather beds and the like for provisions and articles most needed in the camp,
and the remainder engaged in plowing and planting. Messengers were also dis-
patched to call in the bands of pioneers scattered over the country seeking work,
with instructions to hasten them up to help form the new settlements before the
season had passed ; so that, in a scarcely conceivable time, at Garden Grove and
Mount Pisgah, industrious settlements sprang up almost as if by magic. The
main body also hurried on towards old Council Bluffs, under the President and
his chief men, to locate winter quarters, and to send on a picked company of
pioneers that year to the Rocky Mountains. Reaching the Missouri River, they
were welcomed by the Pottowatomie and Omaha Indians.
By this time Apostle Orson Hyde had arrived at headquarters from Nauvoo,
and Apostle Woodruff, home from his mission to England, was at Mount Pisgah.
To this place an express from the President at Council Bluffs came to raise one
hundred men for the expedition to the mountains. Apostle Woodruff called for
the mounted volunteers, and sixty at once followed him out into the line ; but
the next day an event occurred which caused the postponement of the journey to
the mountains till the following year.
It was on the 26th of June when the camp at Mount Pisgah was thrown into
consternation by the cry, " The United States troops are upon us ! " But soon
afterwards, Captain James Allen arriving with only three dragoons, the excite-
ment subsided. The High Council was called, and Captain Allen laid before it
his business, which is set forth in the following
' * Circular to the Mormons :
I have come among you, instructed by Col. S. F. Kearney, of the U. S.
Army, now commanding the Army of the West, to visit the Mormon camp, and
to accept the service for twelve months of four or five companies of Mormon
men who may be willing to serve their country for that period in our present war
with Mexico ; this force to unite with the Army of the West at Santa Fe, and be
marched thence to California, where they will be discharged.
"They will receive pay and rations, and other allowances, such as other
volunteers or regular soldiers receive, from the day they shall be mustered into
the service, and will be entitled to all comforts and benefits of regular soldiers of
the army, and when discharged, as contemplated, at California, they will be
given gratis their arms and accoutrements, with which they will be fully equipped
at Fort Leavenworth. This is offered to the Mormon people now. This year an
opportunity of sending a portion of their young and intelligent men to the ulti-
mate destination of their whole people, and entirely at the expense of the United
2,4. HISTORY OF SALT LAKE CITY.
States, and this advanced party can thus pave the way and look out the land for
their brethren to come after them.
"Those of the Mormons who are desirous of serving their country on the
conditions here enumerated, are requested to meet me without delay at their
principal camp at the Council Bluffs, whither I am now going to consult with
their principal men, and to receive and organize the force contemplated to be
raised.
" I will receive all healthy, able-bodied men of from eighteen to forty-five
years of age.
J. Allen, Capt. ist Dragoons.
''Camp of the Mormons at Mount Fisgah, Jj8 miles east of Council Bluffs,
June 26th, 1846.
" Note. — I hope to complete the organization of this battalion in six days
after my reaching Council Bluffs, or within nine days from this time."
The High Council of Mount Pisgah treated the military envoy with studied
courtesy, but the matter was of too great importance for even an opinion to be
hazarded in the absence of the master mind : so Captain Allen was furnished
with a letter of introduction to Brigham Young and the authorities at headquar-
ters, and a special messenger was dispatched by Apostle Woodruff to prepare the
President for the business of the government agent.
CHAPTER HI.
THK CALL FOR THE MORMON BATTALION. INTERVIEWS WITH PRESIDENT
POLK. THE APOSTLES ENLISTING SOLDIERS FROM THEIR PEOPLE FOR
THE SERVICE OF THE NATION. THE BATTALION ON THE MARCH.
We now come to a subject in Mormon history of which two opposite views
have been taken, neither of which, perhaps, are unqualifiedly correct. It is that
of the calling of a Mormon battalion to serve the nation in its war with Mexico,
as set forth in the circular already given. One view is that the Government,
prompted by such men as Senator Benton of Missouri, sought to destroy, or at
least to cripple the Mormons, by taking from them five hundred of their best
men, in an Indian country, and in their exodus; while the other view is that the
Government designed their good and honor. The truth is that a few honorable
gentlemen like Colonel Thomas L. Kane did so design ; but it is equally true
that the great majority heartily wished for their utter extinction ; while Senator
Douglass and many other politicians, seeing in this vast migration of the Mor-
mons towards the Pacific the ready and most efficient means to wrest California
from Mexico, favored the calling of the battalion for national conquest, without
caring what afterwards became of those heroic men who left their families and
HISTORY OF SALT LAKE CITY. 2S
people in the "wilderness," or whether those families perished by the way or
not. Moreover, the Mormon leaders are in possession of what appears to be very
positive evidence that, after President Polk issued the "call," Senator Thomas
Benton obtained from him the pledge that, should the Mormons refuse to re-
spond, United States troops should pursue, cut off their route, and disperse them.
Such a covenant was villainous beyond expression : for, to have dispersed the Mor-
mon pilgrims at that moment would have been to have devoted a whole people to
the crudest martyrdom.
In any view of the case, it shows that the Mormons were an essentially
loyal and patriotic people ; and, if we take the darkest view, which be it em-
phatically affirmed was the one of that hour, then does the masterly policy of
Brigham Young, and the conduct of the Mormons, stand out sublime and far-
seeing beyond most of the examples of history. The reader has noted Mr. Bran-
nan's letter, received by the leaders before starting on their journey ; they looked
upon this "call" for, from five hundred to a thousand, of the flower of their
camps as the fulfillment of the "threat." The excuse to annihilate them they
believed was sought; even the General Government dared not disperse and dis-
arm them without an excuse. At the best an extraordinary test of their loyalty
was asked of them, under circumstances that would have required the thrice
hardening of a Pharaoh's heart to have exacted.
Here it will only be just to both sides to give Colonel Kane's statement, in
his historical discourse on the Mormons, delivered before the Historical Society
of Pennsylvania, as that gentleman sustained in the case very much the character
of a special agent of the Administration to the Mormons. He said:
"At the commencement of the Mexican war, the President considered it de-
sirable to march a body of reliable infantry to California, at as early a period as
practicable, and the known hardihood and habits of discipline of the Mormons
were supposed peculiarly to fit them for this service. As California was supposed
also to be their ultimate destination, the long march might cost them less than
other citizens. They were accordingly invited to furnish a battalion of volun-
teers early in the month of July.
" The call could hardly have been more inconveniently timed. The young and
those who could best have been spared, were then away from the main body,
either with pioneer companies in the van, or, their faith unannounced, seeking
work and food about the north-western settlements, to support them till the re-
turn of the season for commencing emigration. The force was, therefore, to be
recruited from among the fathers of families, and others, whose presence it was
most desirable to retain.
"There were some, too, who could not view the invitation without distrust;
they had twice been persuaded by Government authorities in Illinois and Mis-
souri, to give up their arms on some special appeals to their patriotic confidence,
and had then been left to the malice of their enemies. And now they were
asked, tn the midst of tlie Indian country, to surrender over five hundred of their
best men for a war march of thousands of miles to California, without the hope
of return till after the conquest of that country. Could they view such a propo-
sition with favor?
4
26 HISTORY OF SALT LAKE CITY.
"But the feeling of country triumphed; the Union had never wronged
them. ' You shall have your battalion at once, if it has to be a class of elders,'
said one, himself a ruling elder. A central mass-meeting for council, some har-
angues at the more remotely scattered camps, an American flag brought out from
the storehouse of things rescued, and hoisted to the top of a tree-mast, and, in
three days, the force was reported, mustered, organized and ready to march."
The foregoing is a graphic summary, but the reader will ask for something
more of detail of this one of the chief episodes of the Pioneer history.
On the first of July Captain Allen was in council at the Bluffs with Brigham
Young, Heber C Kimball, Orson Hyde, Orson Pratt, Willard Richards, George
A. Smith, John Taylor, John Smith and Levi Richards. At head-quarters they
had not nearly sufficient force to raise the battalion. Yet they lost not a moment.
In the character of recruiting sergeants Brigham, Heber and Willard at once set
out for Mount Pisgah, a distance of 130 miles, on the back track. Here they
met Elder Jesse C. Little, home from Washington, having had interviews with
President Polk and other members of the Government. A condensation of Elder
Little's report will, at least, give to the public the original plan of the Govern-
ment in the call of the battalion :
' ' 7o Tresident Brigha>?i J 'oiing and the Cotnicil of ilie Twelve Apostles:
^'■Brethren: In your letter of appointment to me dated Temple of God,
Nauvoo, January 26th, 1846, you suggested, ' If our Government should offer
facilities for emigrating to the western coast, embrace those facilities if possible.
As a wise and faithful man, take every honorable advantage of the times you can.
Be thou a savior and deliverer of the people, and let virtue, integrity and truth
be your motto — salvation and glory the prize for which you contend.' In ac-
cordance with my instructions, I felt an anxious desire for the deliverance of the
Saints, and resolved upon visiting James K. Polk, President of the United
States, to lay the situation of my persecuted brethren before him, and ask him,
as the representative of our country, to stretch forth the Federal arm in their be-
half. Accordingly, I called upon Governor Steele, of New Hampshire, with
whom I had been acquainted from my youth, and other philanthropic gentlemen
to obtain letters of recommendation to the heads of the departments."
Governor Steele gave to Elder Little a letter of introduction to Mr. Ban-
croft, Secretary of the Navy, in which the Governor said :
''Mr. Little visits Washington, if I understand it correctly, for the purpose
of procuring, or endeavoring to procure, the freight of any provisions or naval
stores which the Government may be desirous of sending to Oregon, or to any
portion of the Pacific. He is thus desirous of obtaining freight lor the purpose
of lessening the expense of chartering vessels to convey him and his followers to
California, where they intend going and making a permanent settlement the
present summer.
Yours truly,
John Steele."
From Colonel Thomas L. Kane, Elder Little received a letter of introduc-
HJSTORY OF SALT LAKE CI7Y. 27
tion to the Hon. George M. Dallas, Vice-President of the United States, in
which the writer said :
"This gentleman visits Washington, with no other object than the laudable
one of desiring aid of Government for his people, who, forced by persecution to
found a new commonwealth in the Sacramento Valley, still retain American
hearts, and would not willingly sell themselves to the foreigner, or forget the old
commonwealth they leave behind."
Armed with these and other letters, Mr. Little started to Washington from
Philadelphia, where he had enlisted, for his afflicted people, the zealous friend-
ship of the patriotic brother of the great Arctic explorer ; and, soon after his
arrival at the capital, he obtained an introduction to President Polk, through Ex-
Postmaster-General Amos Kendall. The Elder was favorably received by Mr.
Polk, which emboldened him to address a formal petition to the President, which
he closed as follows :
" From twelve to fifteen thousand Mormons have already left Nauvoo for Cali-
fornia, and many others are making ready to go ; some have gone around Cape
Horn, and I trust, before this time, have landed at the Bay of San Francisco. We
have about forty thousand in the British Isles, all determined to gather to this
land, and thousands will sail this fall. There are also many thousands scattered
through the States, besides the great number in and around Nauvoo, who will go
to California as soon as possible, but many of them are destitute of money to pay
their passage either by sea or land.
"We are true-hearted Americans, true to our native country, true to its
laws, true to its glorious institutions; and we have a desire to go under the out-
stretched wings of the American Eagle; we would disdain to receive assistance
from a foreign power, although it should be proffered, unless our Government
should turn us off in this great crisis, and compel us to be foreigners.
"If you will assist us in this crisis, I hereby pledge my honor, as the repre-
sentative of this people, that the whole body will stand ready at your call, and act
as one man in the land to which we are going ; and should our Territory be in-
vaded, we will hold ourselves ready to enter the field of battle, and then, like our
patriotic fathers, make the battle-field our grave, or gain our liberty."
There were present at the first interview between the Mormon Elder and the
President of the United States, Gen. Sam. Houston, just from Texas, upon Mex-
ican affairs, and other distinguished men, A singular circumstance in American
history is here connected ; for at that important juncture in the history of our
nation, as well as the Mormons, Washington was thrown into great excitement by
the news that General Taylor had fought two battles with the Mexicans. This
important event was directly bearing on the affairs of the Mormons, as much as
upon those of the nation at large. The news of the actual commencement of the
war between the two rival republics came in the very nick of time. Had Elder
Little arrived in Washington six months before, or six months later, there would
have been a marked variation from that which came to pass. We know not what
the exact difference would have been, but it is most certain that President Polk
would not then have designed to possess California by the help of these State-
28 HIS20RY OF SALT LAKE CITY.
founding Saints, nor would their shovels have turned up the gold at Sutter's
Mill, nor would General Stephen F. Kearney have had at his back the Mormon
Battalion as his chief force, when he made himself master of the land of precious
metals, and put his rival, Fremont, under arrest.
The day after his first interview with President Polk, Elder Little called
again upon ex- Postmaster-General Kendall, who informed him that the President
had determined to take possession of California ; that he designed to use the
Mormons for this purpose, and that they would receive orders to push through
to fortify the country. This induced the Elder to address the petition already
quoted.
The President now laid the matter before the Cabinet. The plan offered to
his colleagues was for the Elder to go direct to the Mormon camp, to raise from
among them "one thousand picked men, to make a dash into California and take
possession of it in the name of the United States." The Battalion was to be
officered by their own men, excepting the commanding officer, who was to be
appointed by President Polk, and to take cannon and everything necessary for
the defence of the country. One thousand more of the Mormons from the East-
ern States were proposed to be sent by way of Cape Horn, in a U. S. transport,
for the same service. This was the original plan which President Polk laid before
his Cabinet.
After this Elder Little had his second interview with President Polk, who
told the Elder that he " had no prejudices against the Saints, but that he believed
them to be good citizens ; " that he "was willing to do them all the good in his
power consistently ; " that " they should be protected ; '' and that be had "read
the petition with interest." He further emphatically observed that he had
" confidence in the Mormons as true American citizens, or he would not make
such propositions as those he designed." This interview lasted three hours, so
filled was the President with his plan of possessing California by the aid of the
Mormons. But this generous design was afterwards changed through the influ-
ence of Senator Benton.
Before his departure west. Elder Little had another special interview with
the President, who further said that he had "received the Mormon suffrages,"
that "they should be remembered; " and that he had "instructed the Secretary
of War to make out dispatches to Colonel Kearney, commander of the Army of
the West, relative to the Mormon Battalion."
On the 1 2th of June, Elder Little, in company with Colonel Thomas L.
Kane, started for the West, the Colonel bearing special dispatches from the Gov-
ernment to General Kearney, who was at Fort Leavenworth. Judge Kane jour-
neyed with his son as far as St. Louis.
The following is the order under which the Battalion was mustered into
service :
" Headquarters, Army of the West,
Fort Leavenworth, June 19, 1846.
" Ar.- It is understood that there is a large body of Mormons who are de-
sirous of emigrating to California, for the purpose of settling in that country,
and I have therefore to direct that you will proceed to their camps and endeavor
HISTORY OF SALT LAKE CITY. 2g
to raise from amongst them four or five companies of volunteers, to join
me in my expedition to that country, each company to consist of any number
between 73 and 109 , the officers of eadk company will be a captain, first lieu-
tenant, and second lieutenant, who will be elected by the privates, and subject
to your approval, and the captains then to appoint the non-commissioned officers,
also subject to your approval. The companies, upon being thus organized, will
be mustered by you into the service of the United States, and from that day will
commence to receive the pay, rations, and other allowances given to the other
infantry volunteers, each according to his rank. You will, upon mustering into
service the fourth company, be considered as having the rank, pay, and emolu-
ments of a lieutenant-colonel of infantry, and are authorized to appoint an adju-
tant, sergeant-major, and quartermaster-sergeant for the battalion.
''The companies, after being organized, will be marched to this post, where
they will be armed and prepared for the field, after which they will, under your
command, follow on my trail in the direction of Santa Fe, and where you will
receive further orders from me.
"You will, upon organizing the companies, require provisions, wagons,
horses, mules, etc. You must purchase everything that is necessary, and give the
necessary drafts upon the quartermaster and commissary departments at this post,
which drafts will be paid upon presentation.
"You will have the Mormons distinctly to understand that I wish to have
them as volunteers for twelve months ; that they will be marched to California,
receiving pay and allowances during the above time, and at its expiration they
will be discharged, and allowed to retain, as their private property, the guns and
accoutrements furnished to them at this post.
" Each company will be allowed four women as laundresses, who will travel
with the company, receiving rations and other allowances given to the laun-
dresses of our army.
" With the foregoing conditions, which are hereby pledged to the Mormons,
and which will be faithfully kept by me and other officers in behalf of the Gov-
ernment of the United States, I cannot doubt but that you will in a few days be
able to raise five hundred young and efficient men for this expedition.
" Very respectfully your obedient servant,
(Signed) S. F. Kearney, Col. of First Dragoons.
Per Capt. James Allen, First. Reg. Dragoons, Fort Leavenworth."
The following from important documents sentfrom the War Office a quarter of
a century later, to aid this author in his investigation of the call of the Mormon
Battalion is presented here to perfect the view :
"Adjutant General's Office.
" Sir : I send herewith such papers as I have been able to find relating to
the way the Mormon Battalion was received into service during the Mexican war.
Your obedient servant,
E. D. TowNSEND, Adjuiant- Genera/.'"
" Hon. W. L. Marcy, Secretary of War, in a letter to General Kearney,
dated June 3, 1S46, states that it is known that a large body of Mormon emi-
of HISTORY OF SALT LAKE CITY.
grants are en route to California, for the purpose of settling in that country, de-
sires the General to use all proper means to have a good understanding with them,
to the end that the United States may :lnave their co-operation in taking posses-
sion of and holding the country; authorizes the General to muster into service
such as can be induced to volunteer, not, however, to a number exceeding one-
third of his entire force. Should they enter the service they were to be paid as
other volunteers ; to be allowed to designate, as far as it could be properly done,
the persons to act as officers.
"This appears to be the authority under which General Kearney mustered
the Mormon Battalion into service.
" The command was mustered out of service in California, in 1847, and one
company was again mustered in immediately after to serve for twelve months.
This company was mustered out in 1848 at San Diego."
The other document of this Battalion history, furnished by the Adjutant-
General, is General Kearney's order under which the Battalion was mustered
into service.
It will be seen from the above abstract of Secretary Marcy's letter to Gen-
eral Kearney, that there exists in the War Office to-day positive proof that the
United States did design to colonize California by the aid of the Mormons.
Extraordinary was the wording, that the United States Government " desires the
General to use all proper means to have a good understanding with them, to the
end that the United States may have their co-operation in takitig possession of and
holding the country.'''
We return to the Pioneer narrative :
It will be remembered that Brigham Young, while believing the Battalion call
to be a test of loyalty, hastened with Heber C. Kimball and Willard Richards to
Mount Pisgah, 130 miles, to execute the "demand," as they deemed it, for a
battalion ot their picked men to serve their country. They immediately sent
messengers, with official dispatches from their High Council to Nauvoo, Garden
Grove, and the regions around, calling to headquarters their old men and able-
bodied boys to supply the place of their picked men going for the service of their
country.
Returning to Council Bluffs, the Twelve gathered the " Camp of Israel" to
enrol the companies of volunteers. While Major Hunt, of the volunteers, was
calling out the first company, Brigham Young conversed with Colonel Kane in
Woodruff's carriage about the affairs of the nation, and told him the time would
come when the Mormons would "have to save the Government of the United
States, or it would crumble to atoms."
Forty minutes after twelve of the same day, July 15, the Elders and the
people assembled in the Bowery. President Young then delivered to the congre-
gation a simple but earnest speech, in which he told the brethren, with a touch
of subdued pathos, "not to mention families to-day;" that they had "not time
to reason now." "We want," he said, " to conform to the requisition made
upon us, and we will do nothing else until we accomplish this thing. If we want
the privilege of going where we can worship God according to the dictates of
HISTOR\ OF SALT LAKE CLTY. ji
our consciences^ we must raise the Battalion. I say, it is right; and who cares
for sacrificing our comfort for a few years? "
Nobly did the Mormons respond to this call of their country. The Apostles
acted as recruiting sergeants; nor did they wait for their reinforcements, but
moved as though they intended to apply their leader's closing sentence literally;
he said : "After we get through talking, we will call out the companies ; and if
there are not young men enough we will take the old men, and if they are not
enough we will take the women. I want to say to every man, the Constitution
of the United States, as framed by our fathers, was dictated, was revealed, was
put into their hearts by the Almighty, who sits enthroned in the midst of the
heavens; although unknown to them it was dictated by the revelations of Jesus
Christ, and I tell you, in the name of Jesus Christ, it is as good as ever I could
ask for. I say unto you, magnify the laws. There is no law in the United
States, or in the Constitution, but I am ready to make honorable."
"There was no sentimental affectation at their leave-taking," said Thomas L.
Kane, in relating the story to the Historical Society of Pennsylvania. " The af-
ternoon before their march was devoted to a farewell ball ; and a more merry
rout I have never seen, though the company went witliout refreshments, and their
ball was of the most primitive. It was the custom, whenever the larger camps
rested for a few days together, to make great arbors, or boweries, as they called
them, of poles, and brush, and wattling, as places of shelter for their meetings
of devotion or conference. In one of these, where the ground had been trodden
firm and hard by the worshippers, of the popular Father Taylor's precinct, was
gathered now the mirth and beauty of the Mormon Israel.
" If anything told that the Mormons had been bred to other lives, it was the
appearance of the women as they assembled here. Before their flight they had
sold their watches and trinkets as the most available recourse for raising ready
money ; and hence like their partners, who wore waistcoats cut with useless
watch pockets, they, although their ears were pierced and bore the marks of re-
jected pendants, were without earrings, chains or broaches. Except such orna-
ments, however, they lacked nothing most becoming the attire of decorous
maidens. The neatly- darned white stockings, and clean white petticoat, the
clear-starched collar and chemisette, the something faded, only because too-well
washed lawn or gingham gown, that fitted modishly to the waist of its pretty
wearer — these, if any of them spoke of poverty, spoke of a poverty that had
known better days.
'•'With the rest attended the elders of the Church within call, including
nearly all the chiefs of the High Council, with their wives and children. They,
the bravest and most trouble-worn, seemed the most anxious of any to throw off
the burden of heavy thoughts. Their leading off the dance in a double cotillion
was the signal which bade the festivity to commence. To the canto of debonnair
violins, the cheer of horns, the jingle of sleigh bells, and the jovial snoring of
the tambourines, they did dance ! None of your minuets or other mortuary pos-
sessions of gentles in etiquette, tight shoes and pinching gloves, but the spirited
and scientific displays of our venerated and merry grandparents, who were not
above following the fiddle to the lively fox-chase, French fours, Copenhagen jigs.
j2 HISTORY OF SALT LAKE CITY.
Virginia reels, and the like forgotten figures, executed with the spirit of people
too happy to be slow, or bashful, or constrained. Light hearts, lithe figures, and
light feet had it their own way from an early hour till after the sun had dipped
behind the sharp sky-line of the Omaha hills. Silence was then called, and a
well-cultivated mezzo-soprano voice, belonging to a young lady with fair face and
dark eyes, gave with quartette acccompaniment, a little song, the notes of which
I have been unsuccessful in repeated efforts to obtain since — a version of the text
touching to all earthly wanderers :
" By the rivers of Babylon wc sat down and wept ;
We wept when we remembered Zion.
"There was danger of some expression of feeling when the song was over,
for it had begun to draw tears, but, breaking the quiet with his hard voice, an
elder asked the blessing of heaven on all who, with purity of heart and brother-
hood of spirit, had mingled in that society, and then all dispersed, hastening to
cover from the falling dews."
CHAPTER IV.
THE MORMONS SETTLE ON INDIAN LANDS. A GRAND COUNCIL HELD BE-
TWEEN THE ELDERS AND INDIAN CHIEFS. A COVENANT IS MADE
BETWEEN THEM, AND LAND GRAN lED BY THE INDIANS TO THEIR MOR-
MON BROTHERS. CHARACTERISTIC SPEECHES OF FAMOUS INDIAN
CHIEFS. WINTER QUARTERS ORGANIZED. THE ]OURNEY OF THE PION-
EERS TO THE ROCKY MOUNTAINS.
With the departure of the Battalion, the flower of their strength, vanished all
expectation of going to the Rocky Mountains that year, and the elders immediately
set to work to locate and build their winter quarters. Ever exact to the organic
genius of their community, their first business was to organize the High Council
of a "Traveling Stake of Zion." This was done at Council Bluffs, July 21st,
with Father Morley at the head of an incorporated council of twelve high
priests.
The Indians welcomed their " Mormon brothers" with a touch of dramatic
pathos. "They would have been pleased," said Colonel Kane, "with any
whites who would not cheat them, nor sell them whiskey, nor whip them (or
their poor gipsy habits, nor bear themselves indecently toward their women,
many of whom among the Pottowatomies, especially those of nearly unmixed
French descent, are singularly comely, and some of them educated. But all
Indians have something like a sentiment of reverence for the insane, and admire
those who sacrifice, without apparent motive, their worldly welfare to the triumph
of an idea. They understand the meaning of what they call a great vow, and
think it is the duty of the right-minded to lighten the votary's penance under it.
HISTORY OF SALT LAKE CITY, .33
To this feeling they united the sympathy of fellow sufferers for those who could
talk to them of their own Illinois, and tell the story how from it they also had
been ruthlessly expelled.
"Their hospitality was sincere, almost delicate. Fanny Le Clerc, the
spoiled child of the great brave, Pied Riche, interpreter of the nation, would
have the pale face, Miss Divine, learn duets with her to the guitar; and the
daughter of substantial Joseph La Framboise, the interpreter of the United
States (she died of the fever that summer) welcomed all the nicest young Mor-
mon Kitties and Lizzies and Jennies and Susans, to a coffee feast at her father's
house, which was probably the best cabin in the river village. They made the
Mormons at home there and elsewhere* Upon all they formally gave them leave
to tarry just so long as it suited their own good pleasure.
",The affair, of course, furnished material for a solemn council. Under the
auspices of an officer of the United States, their chiefs were summoned, in the
form befitting great occasions, to meet in the dirty yard of one Mr. P. A. Sarpy's
log trading house, at their village; they came in grand toilet, moving in their
fantastic attire with so much aplomb and genteel measure, that the stranger found
it difficult not to believe them high-born gentlemen attending a costumed ball.
When the red men had indulged to satiety in tobacco smoke from their
peace pipes, and in what they love still better, .their peculiar metaphoric rodo-
montade, which, beginning with celestial bodies, and coursing downwards over
the grandest sublunary objects, always managed to alight at last on their great
Father Polk, and the tenderness of him for his affectionate colored children; all
the solemn funny fellows present, who played the part of chiefs, signed formal
articles of convention with their unpronounceable names.
"The renowned chief. Pied Riche (he was surnamed Le Clerc on account
of his remarkable scholarship) then rose and said :
" ' My Mormon Brethren: The Pottowatomie came sad and tired into this
unhealthy Missouri bottom, not many years back, when he was taken from his
beautiful country beyond the Mississippi, which had abundant game and timber,
and clear water everywhere. Now you are driven away the same from your
lodges and your lands there, and the graves of your people. So we have both
suffered. We must keep one another and the Great Spirit will keep us both.
You are now free to cut and use all the wood you may wish. You can make your
improvements and live on any part of our actual land not occupied by us. Be-
cause one suffers and does not deserve it, it is no reason he should suffer always.
I say, we may live to see all right yet. However, if we do not, our children will.
Bon jour ! ' "
And thus ended the pageant. But the Mormons had most to do with the
Omaha Indians, for they located their camps on both the east and west sides of
the Missouri River. Winter Quarters proper was on the west side, five miles above
the Omaha of to-day. There, on a pretty plateau, overlooking the river, they built,
in a few months, over seven hundred houses, neatly laid out with highways and
by-ways, and fortified with breastwork, stockade, and block-houses. It had, too,
its place of worship, "tabernacle of the congregation;" for in everythig they
5
34 HISTORY OF SALT LAKE CITY.
did they kept up the character of the modern Israel. The industrial character
of the people also typed itself on their city in the wilderness, which sprang up as
by magic, for it could boast of large workshops, and mills and factories provided
with water power. They styled it a "Slake of Zion." It was the principal
stake, too ; several others, such as Garden Grove and Mount Pisgah having al-
ready been established on the route.
The settlement of headquarters brought the Mormons into peculiar relation-
ship with the Omahas. A grand council was also held between their chiefs and the
Elders. Big Elk made a characteristic speech for the occasion, yet not so
distinguished in its Indian eloquence as that of Le Clerc. Big Elk said, in re-
sponse to President Young :
" My son, thou hast spoken well. I have all thou hast said in my heart. I
have much I want to say. We are poor. When we go to hunt game in one
place, we meet an enemy, and so in another place our enemies kill us. We do
not kill them. I hope we will be friends. You may stay on these lands two
years or more. Our young men may watch your cattle. We would be glad to
have you trade with us. We will warn you of danger from other Indians."
The council closed with an excellent feeling ; the pauper Omahas were
treated to a feast, very gracious even to the princely appetite of Big Elk ; and
then they returned to their wigwams, satisfied for the time with the dispensation
of the Great Spirit, who had sent their " Mormon brethren " into their country
to care for and protect them from their enemies — the warlike Sioux.
The Omahas were ready to solicit as a favor the residence of white protec-
tors among them. The Mormons harvested and stored awav for them their
crops of maize ; with all their own poverty they spared them food enough be-
sides, from time to time, to save them from absolutely starving ; and their en-
trenched camp to the north of the Omaha villages, served as a sort of a break-
water between them and the destroying rush of the Sioux.
But the Mormons were as careful in their settlement on the Indian lands as
they had been in the Battalion case, to make their conduct irreproachable in the
eyes of the General Government, and to do nothing, even in their direst necessi-
ties, that would not force the sanction of the nation. They were, therefore,
particular in obtaining covenants from the Indians and forwarding them to the
President of the United States. Here is the covenant of the Omahas :
" West Side of the Missouri River,
Near Council Bluffs, August 31, 1S46.
" We, the undersigned chiefs and braves, representatives of the Omaha
nation of Indians, do hereby grant to the Mormon people the privilege of tarry-
ing upon our lands for two years or more, or as long as may suit their conven-
ience for the purpose of making the necessary preparations to prosecute their
journey west of the Rocky Mountains, provided that our great father, the Pres-
ident of the United States, shall not counsel us to the contrary.
And we also do grant unto them the privilege of using all the wood and
limber they shall require.
HISTORY OF SALT LAKE CITY. 35
And furthermore agree that we will not molest or take from them their cattle,
horses, sheep, or any other property.
Big Elk, his x mark.
Standing Elk, his x mark,
Little Chief, his x mark."
On this matter Brigham Young wrote to the President in behalf of his
people :
Near Council Bluffs, Butler's Park,
Omaha Nation, Sept. 7, 1846.
^^ Sir: Since our communication of the 9th ult. to Your Excellency, the
Omaha Indians have returned from their Summer hunt, and we have had an in-
terview in general council with their chiefs and braves, who expressed a willing-
ness that we should tarry on their lands, and use what wood and timber would be
necessary for our convenience, while we were preparing to prosecute our journey,
as may be seen by a duplicate of theirs to us of the 21st of August, which will
be presented by Col. Kane.
"In council they were much more specific than in their writings, and Big
Elk, in behalf of his nation requested us to lend them teams to draw their corn
at harvest, and help keep it after it was deposited, to assist them in building
houses, making fields, doing some blacksmithing, etc., and to teach some of their
young men to do the same, and also keep some goods, and trade with them while
we tarried among them. . .
We responded to all their wishes in the same spirit of kindness manifested
by them, and told them we would do them all the good we could, with the same
proviso they made — if the President is willing; and this is why we write.
Hitherto we have 'kept aloof from all intercourse except in councils, as re-
ferred to, and giving them a few beeves when hungry, but we have the means of
doing them a favor by instructing them in agricultural and mechanical arts, if it
is desirable.
It might subject us to some inconvenience in our impoverished situation, to
procure goods for their accommodation, and yet, if we can do it, we might re-
ceive in return as many skins and furs as would prove a valuable tempo-
rary substitute for worn-out clothing and tents in our camp, which would be no
small blessing.
"A small division of our camp is some two or three hundred miles west of
this, on the rush bottoms, among the Puncaws, where similar feelings are mani-
fested towards our people.
"Should Your Excellency consider the requests of the Indians for instruc-
tion, etc., reasonable, and signifying the same to us, we will give them all the
information in mechanism and farming the nature of the case will admit, which
will give us the opportunity of getting the assistance of their men to help us
herd and labor, which we have much needed since the organization of the
Battalion.
"A license, giving us permission to trade with the Indians while we are tar-
rying on or passing through their lands, made out in the name of Newel K.
Whitney, our agent in camp, would be a favor to our people and our red neigh-
j6 HISTORY OF SALT LAKE CITY.
bors. All of which is submitted to Your Excellency's consideration and the
confidence of Colonel Kane.
"Done in behalf of the council of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-
day Saints, at the time and place before mentioned, and Camp of Israel.
Most respectfully,
Brigham Young, President,
WiLL\RD Richards, Clerks
^' To James K. Polk, President U. Sr
Out of an absolute destitution, and in spite of their expulsion, the Mormons
had flourished and increased in the wilderness, so that at the end of the year
1846, Winter Quarters had grown into twenty-two wards, with a bishop
over each.
As the spring opened, they began to prepare for their journey to the moun-
tains, which at that day was almost appalling to the imagination. They had still
over a thousand miles to the valley of the Salt Lake, and so little was knovvn
of the country any more than its name implied — the Great American Desert —
that the Mormons could not look forward to much of a land of promise to repay
them for all the past. Yet sang their poet, Eliza R. Snow, who has ever on their
great occasions fired them with her Hebraic inspiration :
"The time of winter now is o'er,
Tiiere's verdure on the plain ;
We leave our shelt'ring roofs once more,
And to our tents again.
Chorus : — O Camp of Israel, onward move,
O, Jacob, rise and sing ;
Ye Saints the world's salvation prove,
All hail to Zion's King ! "
The pioneer song (as it was called) was, like their journey, quite lengthy.
But the pioneers sang it with a will. It told them of their past; told them in
exultation, that they were leaving the " mobbing Gentile race, who thirsted for
their blood, to rest in Jacob's hiding place,'' and it told of the future, in pro-
phetic strains.
The word and will of the Lord concerning the Camp of Israel in its journey-
ings to the West, was published from head-quarters, on the 14th of January,
1847. As it is the first ri//-///^^ revelation ever sent out to the Church by President
Young, the following passages from it will be read with interest :
" Let all the people of the Church of Jesus Christ of Lattter-day Saints and
those who journey with them, be organized into companies, with a covenant and
promise to keep all the commandments and statutes of the Lord our God. Let
the companies be organized with captains of hundreds, and captains of fifties,
and captains of tens, with a president and councilor at their head, under the di-
rection of the Twelve Apostles; and this shall be our covenant, that we will walk
in all the ordinances of the Lord.
" Let each company provide itself with all the teams, wagons, provisions
and all other necessaries for the journey that they can. When the companies are
organized, let them go to with all their might, to prepare for those who are to
HfSTORy OF SALT LAKE CLTY. jy
tarry. Let each company, with their captains and presidents, decide how many
can go next spring; then choose out a sufficient number of able-bodied and ex-
pert men to take teams, seed, and farming utensils to go as pioneers to prepare
for putting in the spring crops. Let each company bear an equal proportion,
according to the dividend of their property, in taking the poor, the widows, and
the fatherless, and the families of those who have gone with the army, that the
cries of the widow and the fatherless come not up into the ears of the Lord
against his people.
''■ Let each company prepare houses, and fields for raising corn for those who
are to remain behind this season; and this is the will of the Lord concerning this
people."
''Let every man use all his influence and property to remove this people to
the place where the Lord shall locate a Stake of Zion; and if ye do this with a
pure heart, with all faithfulness, ye shall be blessed in your flocks, and in your
herds, and in your fields, and in your houses, and in your families." * *
On the 7th of April, 1847, •^'"'^ day after the general conference, the pion-
eers started from Winter Quarters,
As soon as they got fairly on the journey, they were organized as a military
body, into companies of hundreds, fifties and tens. The following order of the
offlcers will illustrate :
Brigham Young, Lieutenant-General ; Stephen Markham, Colonel; John
Pack, ist Major; Shadrach Roundy, 2d Major; Captains of hundreds, Stephen
Markham and A. P. Rockwood.
Captain of Company i, Wilford Woodruff; Company 2, Ezra T. Benson ;
Company 3, Phineas H. Young; Company 4, Luke Johnson; Company 5,
Stephen H. Goddard ; Company 6, Charles Shumway; Company 7, James Case:
Company 8, Seth Taft ; Company 9, Howard. Egan ; Company 10, Appleton M.
Harmon; Company 11, John Higbie; Company 12, Norton Jacobs; Company
13,. John Brown; Company 14, Joseph Mathews.
The camp consisted of 73 wagons ; 143 men, 3 women and 2 children —
148 souls.
Nothing could better illustrate the perfection of Mormon organization than
this example of the pioneers, for they were apostles and picked elders of minute
companies, and under strict discipline.
Lieutenant-General Young issued general orders to the regiment. The
men were ordered to travel in a compact body, being in an Indian country ; every
man to carry his gun loaded, the locks to be shut on a piece of buckskin, with
caps ready in case of attack; flint locks, with cotton and powder flask handy,
and every man to walk by the side of his wagon, under orders not to leave it,
unless sent by the officer in command, and the wagons to be formed two abreast,
where practicable, on the march. At the call of the bugle in the morning, at
five o'clock, the pioneers were to arise, assemble for prayers, get breakfast, and
be ready to start at the second call of the bugle at seven. At night, at half-past
eight, at the command from the bugle, each was to retire for prayer in his own
wagon, and to bed at nine o'clock. Tents were to be pitched on Saturday nights
and the Sabbath kept.
j8 HISTORY OF SALT LAKE CITY.
The course of the'pioneers was up the north bank of the Platte, along which
they traveled slowly. They crossed Elk Horn on a raft, forded the Loup Fork
with considerable danger in consequence of the quicksands, and reached Grand
Island about the ist of May.
This was the day on which the pioneers had their first buffalo hunt. There
was much exciting interest in the scene, for scarcely one of the hunters had
chased a buffalo before. They killed four cows, three bulls, and five calves.
While on a hunt, several days after, the hunters were called in, a party of
four hundred Indian warriors near by having shown signs of an attack. The
Indians had previously been threatening, and were setting fire to the prairie
on the north side of the Platte. The pioneers fired their cannon twice to warn
the Indians that they were on the watch.
A council was now held to consider whether or not it were wise to cross the
river and strike the old road to Laramie, there being good grass on that side,
while the Indians were burning it on the north. In view, however, of the thou-
sands who would follow in their track, it was concluded to continue as before,
braving the Indians and the burning praines ; for, said the pioneers :
" A new road will thus be made, which shall stand as a permaraent route for
the Saints."
Thus the pioneers broke a new road across the plains, over which tens of
thousands of their people have since traveled, and which was famous as the "old
Mormon road," till the railway came to blot almost from memory the toils and
dangers of a journey of more than a thousand miles, by ox teams, to the valleys
of Utah. (It is a curious fact that for several hundred miles the grade of the
great trans-continental railway is made exactly upon the old Mormon road).
The pioneers were wary. Colonel Markham drilled his men in good mili-
tary style, and the cannon was put on wheels.
William Clayton, formerly the scribe of the Prophet, and, in the pioneer
journey, scribe to President Young, and Willard Richards, the Church historian,
invented a machine to measure the distance.
General Young himself marked the entire route, going in advance daily with
his staff. This service was deemed most important, as their emigrations would
follow almost in the very footprints of the pioneers.
Those were days for the buffalo hunt, scarcely to be imagined, when cross-
ing the plains a quarter of a century later. Some days they saw as many as fifty
thousand buffalo.
They came to the hunting ground of the Sioux, where, a few days before,
five hundred lodges had stood. Nearly a thousand warriors had encamped there.
They had been on a hunting expedition. Acres of ground were covered with
buffalo wool and other remains of the slaughter. No wonder the Indian of the
plains bemoans his hunting grounds, now lost to him forever.
Several days later there were again fears of an Indian attack, and the cannon
was got ready.
The pioneers were within view of Chimney rock on Sunday, the 23d of May.
Here they held their usual Sabbath service.
HISTORY OF SALT LAKE CITY.
39
On the first of June they were opposite Laramie. Here they were joined by
a small company of Mormons from Mississippi, who had been at Pueblo during
the winter. They reported news of a detachment of the battalion at Pueblo that
expected to start for Laramie about the first of June, and follow the pioneer
track. This addition to the camp consisted of a brother Crow and his family
(fourteen souls, with seven wagons).
The next day President Young and others visited Fort Laramie, then occu-
pied by thirty-eight persons, mostly French, who had married the Sioux.
Mr. Burdow, the principal man at the Fort, was a Frenchman. He cor-
dially received General Young and his staff, invited them into his sitting-room,
gave them information of the route, and furnished them with a flat-bottom boat
on reasonable terms, to assist them in ferrying the Platte. Ex-Governor Boggs,
who had recently passed with his company, had said much against the Mor-
mons, cautioning Mr. Burdow to take care of his horses and cattle. Boggs and
his company were quarreling, many having deserted him ; so Burdow told the
ex-Governor that, let the Mormons be what they might, they could not be
worse than himself and his men.
It is not a little singular that this exterminating Governor of Missouri should
have been crossing the Plains at the same tune with the Pioneers. They were
going to carve out for their people a greater destiny than they could have reached
either in Missouri or Illinois — he to pass away, leaving nothing but a transitory
name.
It was decided to send Amasa Lyman, with several other brethren, to Pueblo,
to meet the detachment of the Battalion, and hurry them on to Laramie to fol-
low the track.
At the old Fort they set up blacksmith shops, and did some necessary work
for the camp. Then commenced the ascent of the Black Hills, on the 4th
of June.
Fifteen .miles from Laramie, at the Springs, a company of Missouri emi-
grants came up. The pioneers kept the Sabbath the next day ; the Missourians
journeyed. Another company of Missourians appeared and passed on.
A party of traders, direct from Santa Fe, overtook the Pioneers, and gave
information of the detachment of the battalion, at Santa Fe, under Captain
Brown.
The two Missouri companies kept up a warfare between themselves on the
route. They were a suggestive example to the Mormons. After they had traveled
near each other for a week, on the Sunday following, President Young made this
the subject of his discourse. He said of the two Missourian companies:
"They curse, swear, rip and tear, and are trying to swallow up the earth;
but though they do not wish us to have a place on it, the earth might as well
open and swallow them up ; for they will go to the land of forgetfulness, while
the Saints; though they suffer some privations here, if faithful, will ultimately in-
herit the earth, and increase in power, dominion and glory."
General Young called together the officers, to consult on a plan for crossing
the river. He directed them to go immediately to the mountains with teams, to
get poles. They were then to lash from two to four wagons abreast, to keep them
40 HISTORY OF SALT LAKE CITY.
from turning over, and float them across the river with boats and ropes ; so a
company of horsemen started to the mountains with teams.
The ''brethren" had previously ferried over the Missourians, who paid them
$1.50 for each wagon and load, and paid it in flour at 52.50; yet flour was worth
ten dollars per cvvt., at least, at that point. They divided their earnings among
the camp equally. It amounted to five and a half pounds of flour each, two
pounds of meal, and a small piece of bacon.
"It looked," says Wilford Woodruff^ "as much of a miracle to me to see
our flour and meal bags replenished in the Black Hills as it did to have the Chil-
dren of Israel fed with manna in the wilderness. But the Lord had been truly
with us on our journey, and had wonderfully preserved and blessed us."
These little stores of flour were supposed to have saved the lives of some of the
pioneers, for they were by this time entirely destitute of the " staff of life."
The pioneers were seven days crossing the river at this point. While here
they established a ferry, and selected nine men to leave in charge of it, with in-
structions to divide the means accumulated equally, to be careful of the lives and
property of those they ferried, to "forget not their prayers," and "to come on
with the next company of Saints."
They reached Independence Rock on the 21st of June, and the South Pass
on the 26th.
Several days later they met Major Harris, who had traveled through Oregon
and California for twenty-five years. He spoke unfavorably of the Salt Lake
country for a settlement.
Next day Col. Bridger came up. He desired to go into council with the
Mormon leaders. The apostles held the council with the colonel. He spoke
more favorably of the great basin ; but thought it not prudent to continue emi-
gration there until they ascertained whether grain would grow there or not. He
said he would give a thousand dollars for the first bushel of wheat raised in the
valley of the Salt Lake.
At Green River they were met by Elder Samuel Brannan from the Bay of
San Francisco. He came to give an account of the Mormon company that sailed
with him in the ship Brooklyn. They had established themselves two hundred
miles up the river, were building up a city, and he had already started a news-
paper.
They were several days fording Green River. Here the pioneers kept the
4th of July.
The Mormon battalion now began to reinforce the pioneers. Thirteen of
these soldiers, returning from the service of their country, joined them at Green
River, and reported that a whole detachment of 140 were within seven days'
drive.
As the pioneers approached the valley of the Great Salt Lake, the interest
became intense. The gold- finders of California, and the founders of the Pacific
States and Territories generally, had but a fever for precious metals, or were im-
pelled westward by the migrating spirit of the American people; but these Mor-
mon pioneers were seeking the "Pearl of Great Price," and their thoughts and
HISTORY OF SALT LAKE CITY. 41
emotions, as they drew near the Salt Lake Valley were akin to those of the Pil-
grim Fathers as they came in sight of Plymouth Rock.
During the last days of the journey, President Young was laid up with the
" mountain fever," from which he did not fully recover till oi> the return trip to
Winter Quarters.
After passing Bear River, a council of the whole was called, and it was re-
solved that Apostle Orson Pratt should take a company of about twenty wagons,
with forty men, to go forward and make a road. Twenty-three wagons started the
next morning. For awhile we will follow the journal of Orson Pratt :
^^ July 2 1 St. — We resumed our journey, traveled two and a half miles, and
ascended a mountain for one and a half miles; descended upon the west side one
mile ; came upon a swift running creek, where we halted for noon : we called
this Last Creek. Brother Erastus Snow (having overtaken our camp from the
other camp, which he said was but a few miles in the rear,) and myself proceeded
in advance of the camp down Last Creek four and a half miles, to where it passes
through a canyon and issues into a broad open valley below. To avoid the can-
yon the wagons last season had passed over an exceedingly steep and dangerous
hill. Mr. Snow and myself ascended this hill, from the top of which a broad
open valley, about twenty miles wide and thirty long, lay stretched out before us.
at the north end of which the broad waters of the Great Salt Lake glistened in
the sunbeams, containing high mountainous islands from twenty-five to thirty
miles in extent. After issuing from the mountains among which we had been
shut up for many days, and beholding in a moment such an extensive scenery
open before us, we could not refrain from a shout of joy which almost involun-
tarily escaped from our lips the moment this grand and lovely scenery was within
our view. We immediately descended very gradually into the lower parts of the
valley, and although we had but one horse between us, yet we traversed a circuit
of about twelve miles before we left the valley to return to our camp, which we
found encamped one and a half miles up the ravine from the valley, and three
miles in advance of their noon halt. It was about nine o'clock in the even-ing
when we got into camp. The main body of the pioneers who were in the rear
were encamped only one and a half miles up the creek from us, with the excep-
tion of some wagons containing some who were sick, who were still behind.
'^ July 22d. — This morning George A. Smith and myself, accompanied by
seven others, rode into the valley to explore, leaving the camp to follow on and
work the road, which here required considerable labor, for we found that the
canyon at the entrance of the valley, by cutting out the thick timber and under-
brush, connected with some spading and digging, could be made far more prefer-
able than the route over the steep hill mentioned above. We accordingly left a
written note to that effect, and passed on. After going down into the valley
about five miles, we turned our course to the north, down towards the Salt Lake.
For three or four miles north we found the soil of a most excellent quality.
Streams from the mountains and springs were very abundant, the water excellent,
and generally with gravel bottoms. A great variety of green grass, and very
luxuriant, covered the bottoms for miles where the soil was sufficiently damp, but
in other places, although the soil was good, yet the grass had nearly dried up for
42 HISTORY OF SALT LAKE CITY.
want of moisture. We found the drier places swarming with very large crickets,
about the size of a man's thumb. This valley is surrounded with mountains, ex-
cept on the north, the tops of some of the highest being covered with snow.
Every one or two-miles streams were emptying into it trom the mountains on the
east, many of which were sufficiently large to carry mills and other machinery.
As we proceeded towards the Salt Lake the soil began to assume a more sterile
appearance, being probably at some seasons of the year overflowed with water.
We found as we proceeded on, great numbers of hot springs issuing from near
the base of the mountains. These springs were highly impregnated with salt and
sulphur: the temperature of some was nearly raised to the boiling point. We
traveled for about fifteen miles down after coming into the valley, the latter parts
of the distance the soil being unfit for agricultural purposes. We returned and
found our wagons encamped in the valley, about five and one-fourth miles from
where they left the canyon.
'^July 2j(L — This morning we despatched two persons to President Young,
and the wagons which were still behind, informing them of our discoveries and
explorations. The camp 'removed its position two miles to the north, where we
encamped near the bank of a beautiful creek of pure cold water. This stream is
sufficiently large for mill sites and other machinery. Here we called the camp to-
gether, and it fell to my lot to offer up prayer and thanksgiving in behalf of our
company, all of whom had been preserved from the Missouri river to this point ;
and, after dedicating ourselves and the land unto the Lord, and imploring His
blessings upon our labors, we appointed various committees to attend to different
branches of business, preparatory to putting in crops, and in about two hours
after our arrival we began to plow, and the same afternoon built a dam to irri-
gate the soil, which at the spot where we were plowing was exceedingly dry.
Towards evening we were visited by a thunder shower from the west ; not quite
enough rain to lay the dust. Our two messengers returned, bringing us word
that the remainder of the wagons belonging to the pioneer company were only a
few miles distant, and would arrive the next day. At 3 p. M. the thermometer
stood at 96°."
Returning to the main body of the Pioneers, a few simple but graphic pas-
sages from the diary of Apostle Wilford Woodruff will illustrate their entrance
into the valleys of Utah better than an author's imagination.
"■' yuly 20th. — We started early this morning, and stopped for breakfast
after a five miles' drive. I carried Brother Brigham in my carriage. The fever
was still on him, but he stood the journey well. After breakfast we travelled
over ten miles of the worst road of the whole journey.
^'yuly 2ist. — We are compelled to lay over in consequence of the sick.
^'jFuly 22d. — Continued our journey.
"yuly 2jd. — We left East Canyon; reached the summit of the mountain,
and descended six miles through a thick-timbered grove. We nooned at a beau-
tiful spring in a small birch grove. Here we were met by Brothers Pack and
Mathews from the advance camps. They brought us a dispatch. They had ex-
plored the Great Salt Lake Valley as far as possible, and made choice of a spot to
put in crops.
H J STORY OF SAL T LAKE CITY.
43
"yuly 24th. — This is one of the most important days of my life, and in the
history of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.
"After traveling six miles through a deep ravine ending with the canyon,
we came in full view of the valley of the Great Salt Lake; the land of promise,
held in reserve by God, as a resting place for his Saints.
"We gazed in wonder and admiration upon the vast valley before us, with
the waters of the Great Salt Lake glistening in the sun, mountains towerin^ to
the skies, and streams of pure water running through the beautiful valley. It was
the grandest view we had ever seen till this moment. Pleasant thoughts ran
through our minds at the prospect that, not many years hence, the house of God
would be established in the mountains and exalted above the hills; while the
valleys would be converted into orchards, vineyards, and fruitful fields, cities
erected to the name of the Lord, and the standard of Zion unfurled for the gath-
ering of the nations.
" President Young expressed his entire satisfaction at the appearance of the
valley as a resting place for the Saints, and felt amply repaid for his journey.
While lying upon his bed, in my carriage, gazing upon the scene before us, many
things of the future, concerning the valley, were shown to him in vision.
"After gazing awhile upon this scenery, we moved four miles across the
table land into the valley, to the encampment of our brethren who had arrived
two days before us. They had pitched upon the banks of two small streams of
pure water and had commenced plowing. On our arrival they had already broken
five acres of land, and had begun planting potatoes in the valley of the Great
Salt Lake.
"As soon as our encampment was formed, before taking my dinner, having
half a bushel of potatoes, I went to the plowed field and planted them, hoping,
with the blessing of God, to save at least the seed for another year.
" The brethren had damned up one of the creeks and dug a trench, and by
night nearly the whole ground, which was found very dry, was irrigated.
"Towards evening, Brothers Kimball, Smith, Benson and myself rode sev-
eral miles up the creek (City Creek) into the mountain, to look for timber and
see the country.
" There was a thunder shower, and it rained over nearly the whole valley ;
it also rained a little in the forepart of the night. We felt thankful for this, as
it was the generally conceived opinion that it did not rain in the valley during
the summer season."
How well this arrival of the Pioneers into their "Land of Promise" illus-
trates the character of the Mormon people. Empire founding on the first day ;
planting their fields before rest or dinner. Rain on the day of Brigham Young's
arrival — to them a miracle of promise ! Already had his vision begun to be
fulfilled J
44 HISTORY OF SALT LAKE CITY.
CHAPTER V.
THE FIRST SABBATH IN THE VALLEY. THE PIONEERS APPLY THE PROPH-
ECIES TO THEMSELVES AND THEIR LOCATION. ZION HAS GONE UP INTO
THE MOUNTAINS. THEY LOCATE THE TEMPLE AND LAY. OFF THE " CITY
OF THE GREAT SALT LAKE." THE LEADERS RETURN TO WINTER QUAR-
TERS TO GATHER THE BODY OF* THE CHURCH.
The arrival of the main body of the Pioneers in the valley of the Great Salt
Lake was on a Saturday. The next day to them was a Sabbath indeed.
"We shaved and cleaned up," says Apostle Woodruff, in his graphic story
of the Pioneers, "and met in the circle of the encampment."
In the afternoon the whole " Congregation of Israel " partook of the Sacra-
ment of the Lord's Supper.
Then the valleys rang with the exultant themes of the Hebrew Prophets, and
the "everlasting hills "'reverberated to the hosannas of the Saints.
Orson Pratt was the preacher of the great subject, which, to the ardent faith
of those Pioneers, never lived in fulfillment till that moment. The sublime flights
of the matchless Isaiah gave the principal theme.
" O Zion, that bringest good tidings, get thee up into the high mountains ! "
But Isaiah is not alone in the culminating inspiration. There is such a grand
unity among the Hebrew prophets, when touching this subject of a Latter-day
Zion, that undoubtedly, it was the burden of the divine epic to which the He-
braic genius soared. Notwithstanding the mental diversity of these poet-
prophets, in this crowning theme they gave us, not poetic fragments, but a glori-
ous continued composition, as from a manifold genius.
" Thy watchmen shall lift up their voice ; with the voice together shall they
sing; and they shall see eye to eye when they Lord shall bring again Z'on."
This was fulfilled to those Anglo-American Pioneers on that day. They felt
they were the watchmen ! With the voice together they sang the theme, and did
literally shout their hosannas. They saw eye to eye. " The Lord hath brought
again Zion."
Nor were these Mormon Apostles figurative in their applications; they ren-
dered most literally to themselves every point. Orson Pratt declared, with an
Apostle's assurance, that their location, in the valleys of the Rocky Mountains,
was in the view of the ancient seers. That which was before seemingly contra-
dictory in the extreme, relative to the Latter-day Zion, especially its location and
the rapid transformation of its founding, was now made plain and most literal.
Apostle Pratt reconciled it all. The Pioneers saw the vision of Zion harmonized
on that first Sabbath in the valley, as they might have seen their own faces in a
mirror.
God would "hide his people in the chambers of the mountains ! " Yet, in
these "last days" he would "establish his house on the tops of the mountains,
and exalt it above the hills ! "
-J " iy ji.B.JiaJl &. L>oua . K ewTor'A.
HISTORY OF SALT LAKE CITY. 45
And here were these Pioneers of Mormon Israel in a valley nearly thirty
miles in diameter, encircled by a chain of mountains ; here, in a valley nearly
five thousand feet above the level of the sea — '-exalted above the hills" — yet
belted by mountains with everlasting caps of snow. It was indeed as the
"chambers of the Lord," and the name which it popularly bore — the " Great
Basin " — was nearly as striking to the imagination as its prophetic name.
Latter-day Zion, too, was to be a place "sought out" — a place "not for-
saken." They had sought it out by an exodus, and an unparalleled journey of a
people, nearly fifteen hundred miles, over unbroken prairies, sandy deserts, and
rocky mountains ; and they were about to found their Zion in a primeval valley,
where no city, since the creation, had ever stood— a place "not forsaken" by
civilized people of the ages long since dead. The " solitary places " were to be
"made glad," the "wilderness" was to "blossom as the rose," and the "des-
ert" suddenly to be converted into the " fruitful field." Such was the sermon of
the first Sabbath in the Great Salt Lake Valley. The Pioneers had chosen for the
location of their Zion and her temples, the "Great American Desert," and they
were about to make real the strange and highly colored picture. So much like
the change in an enchanted scene has been the transformation which has since
come over those desert valleys and canyons of the Rocky Mountains, that for
the last quarter of a century the Mormons have been popularly described in
nearly every nation of the earth as that peculiar people who have made the
"desert to blossom as the rose." Look upon the valley of the Salt Lake to-day
as the Spring opens, when the gardens and orchards are in one universal rose-
blossom, and there never was a prophetic picture more literally realized.
Though feeble with that most languishing of diseases, the mountain fever,
and scarcely able to stand upon his feet, Brigham Young was still the law- giver
on that first Sabbath, If he had not the strength to preach a great sermon on
the Latter-day Zion, like that of the Mormon Paul — Orson Pratt — he was "every
inch " the Moses of the Mormon Exodus.
" He -told the brethren," says the historian Woodruff, " that they must not
work on Sunday ; that they would lose five times as much as they would gain by
it. None were to hunt or fish on that day ; and there should not any man dwell
among us who would not observe these rules. They might go and dwell where
they pleased, but should not dwell with us. He also said, no man should buy
any land who came here ; that he had none to sell ; but every man should have
his land measured out to him for city and farming purposes. He might till it as
he pleased, but he must be industrious, and take care of it.
"On Monday ten men were chosen for an exploring expedition. I took
President Young into my carriage, and, traveling two miles towards the mountain,
made choice of a spot for our garden.
" We then returned to camp, and went north about five miles, and we all
went on to the top of a high peak, on the edge of the mountain, which we con-
sidered a good place to raise an ensign. So we named it ' Ensign Peak.'
"I was the first person to ascend this hill, which we had thus named.
Brother Young was very weary, in climbing to the peak, from his recent fever.
" We descended to the valley, and started north to the Hot Sulpher Springs,
46 HISTORY OF SALT LAKE CITY.
but we returned two miles to get a drink of cold water, and then went back four
miles to the Springs. We returned to the camp quite weary with our day's ex-
plorations. Brothers Mathews and Brown had crossed the valley in the narrowest
part, opposite the camp, to the west mountain, and found it about fifteen miles.
"Next day Amasa Lyman came into camp, and informed us that Captain
Brown's detachment of the Mormon Battalion would be with us in about
two days.
" We again started on our exploring expedition. All the members of the
quorum of the Twelve belonging to the pioneers, eight im number, were of the
company. Six others of the brethren, including Brannan of San Francisco, were
with us.
" We started for the purpose of visiting the Great Salt Lake, and mountains
on the west of the valley. We traveled two miles west from Temple Block, and
came to the outlet of the Utah Lake; thence fourteen miles to the west mountain,
and found that the land was not so fertile as on the east siae.
" We took our dinner at the fresh water pool, and then rode six miles to a
large rock, on the shore of the Salt Laks, which we namad Black Rock, where
we all halted and bathed in the salt water. No person could sink in it, but
would roll and float on the surface like a dry log. We concluded that the Salt
Lake was one of the wonders of the world.
•'' After spending an hour here, we went west along the lake shore, and then
returned ten miles to our place of nooning, making forty miles that day.
"In the morning we arose refreshed by sleep in the open air. Having lost
my carriage whip the night before, I started on horseback to go after it. As I
approached the spot where it was dropped, I saw about twenty Lidians. At first
they looked to me in the distance like a lot of bears coming towards me. As I
was unarmed I wheeled my horse and started back on a slow trot.
" But they called to me, and one, mounting his horse, came after me with
all speed. When he got within twenty rods I stopped and met him. The rest
followed. They were Utes, and wanted to trade. I told them by signs that our
eamp was near, so he went on with me to the camp. From what we had yet
seen of the Utes they appeared friendly, though they had a bad name from the
mountaineers. The Indian wanted to smoke the pipe of peace with us, but we
soon started on and he waited for his company.
"We traveled ten miles south under the mountain. The land laid beauti-
fully, but there was no water, and the soil was not so good as on the east. We
saw about a hundred goats, sheep and antelope playing about the hills and val-
leys. We returned, weary, to the pioneer encampment, making thirty miles for
the day.
'•' After our return to the camp, President Young called a council of the
quorum of the Twelve. There were present: Brigham Young, Hebcr C. Kim-
ball, Willard Richards, Orson Pratt, Wilford Woodruff, George A. Smith, Amasa
Lyman and Ezra T. Benson.
"We walked from the north camp to about the centre between the two
creeks, when President Young waved his hand and said : ' Here is the forty acres
for the Temple. The city can be laid out perfectly square, north and south,
HISTORY OF SALT LAKE CITY. 47
east and west,' It was then moved and carried that the Temple lot contain forty
acres on the ground where we stood. It was also moved and carried that the city
be laid out into lots of ten rods by twenty each, exclusive of the streets, ana
into blocks of eight lots, being ten acres in each block, and one and a quarter in
each lot.
" It was further moved and carried that each street be laid out eight rods
wide, and that there be a side-walk on each side, twenty feet wide, and that each
house be built in the centre of the lot twenty feet from the front, that there
might be uniformity throughout the city.
"It was also moved that there be four public squares of ten acres each, to be
laid out in various parts of the city for public grounds.
"At eight o'clock the whole camp came together on the Temple ground and
passed the votes unanimously, and, when the business part of the meeting was
closed, President Young arose and addressed the assembly upon a variety of
subjects.
" In his remarks the President said that he was determined to have all things
in order, and righteousness should be practiced in the land. We had come here
according to the direction and counsel of Brother Joseph, before his death ; and,
said the President, Joseph would still have been alive it the Twelve had been in
Nauvoo when he re-crossed the river from Montrose.
" During his remarks, President Young observed that he intended to
have every hole and corner from the Bay of San Francisco to Hudson Bay
known to us.
" On the 29th, President Young, with a number of brethren, mounted and
started to meet the Battalion detachment, under the command of Captain
Brown.
" We met some of them about four miles from camp, and soon afterwards
met Captains Brown and Higgins, Lieutenant Willis, and the company. There
were 140 of the Battalion, and a company of about 100 of the Mississippi Saints,
who came with them from Pueblo. They had with them 60 wagons, 100 horses
and mules, and 300 head of cattle, which greatly added to our strength.
"While we were in the canyon, a water cloud burst, which sent the water
into the creeks from the mountains, with a rush and roar like thunder, resembling
the opening of a flood gate. The shower spread over a good share of the valley
where we settled.
" We returned at the head of the companies, and marched into camp with
music. The Battalion took up their quarters between our two camps on the
bank of the creek.
" While we had been exploring, the rest of the pioneers had been farming.
"By the ist of August (Sunday) the brethren constructed the Bowery on
Temple block, in which Heber C. Kimball was the first to preach. Orson Pratt
followed in a discourse upon the prophecies of Isaiah, proving that the location
of Zion in the mountains by our people was the fulfillment.
" On Monday we commenced laying out the city, beginning with the Tem-
ple block. In forming this block, forty acres appeared so large, that a
council was held to determine whether or not it would be wisdom to re-
48 HISTORY OF SALT LAKE CITY.
duce it one-half. Not being decided in our views, we held council again, two
days later, when we gave as our matured opinions that we could not do justice
to forty acres; that ten acres would be sufficient.
"As we were under the necessity of returning soon to Winter Quarters for
the Saints, it was thought best to go at once to the mountains for logs to
build ourselves cabins, as the adobe houses might not be ready for our use.
" On the 6th of August, the Twelve were re-baptized. This we considered
a privilege and a duty. As we had come in a glorious valley to locate and build
up Zion, we felt like renewing our covenants before the Lord and each other.
We soon repaired to the water, and President Young went down into the water
and baptized all his brethren of the Twelve present. He then confirmed us, and
sealed upon us our apostleship, and all the keys, powers and blessings belonging
to that office. Brother Heber C Kimball baptized and confirmed President
Brigham Young. The following were the names and order of those present :
Brigham Young, Heber C. Kimball, Orson Pratt, Willard Richards, Wilford
Woodruff, George A. Smith, and Amasa Lyman. Ezra T. Benson had been dis-
patched several days before to meet the companies on the road,
"In the aftehioon of the next day, the Twelve went to the Temple Block
to select their inheritances.
" President Young took a block east of the Temple, and running southeast,
to settle his friends around him; Heber C. Kimball a block north of the Tem-
ple; Orson Pratt, south and running south; Wilford Woodruff, a block corner-
ing the Temple Block, the southwest corner joining Orson Pratt's ; Amasa
Lyman took a block forty rods below Wilford Woodruff's; George A. Smith one
joining the Temple on the west, and running due west. It was supposed that
Willard Richards would take his on the east, near President Young's. None
others of the Twelve were present in the camp.
" During the same evening the Twelve went to City Creek, and Heber C.
Kimball baptized fifty-five members of the camp, for the remission of their sins;
and they were confirmed under the hands of President Young, Orson Pratt, Wil-
ford Woodruff, George A. Smith, and Amasa Lyman ; President Young being
mouth.
"On the next day (Sunday, August 8th), the whole Camp of Israel renewed
their covenants before the Lord by baptism. There were two hundred and
twenty-four baptized this morning, making two hundred and eighty-four re-bap-
tized in the last three days.
"In the afternoon we partook of the Sacrament. At the close of the meet-
ing one hundred and ten men were called for, to go into the adobe yard, and
seventy-six volunteered.
"Brother Crow had a child drowned on the nth.
" On the 13th the Twelve held council. Each one v/as to make choice of
the blocks that they were to settle their friends upon. President Young took
the tiers of blocks south through the city ; Brother Kimball's runs north and
northwest ; Orson Pratt, four blocks; Wilford Woodruff eight blocks; George
A. Smith, eight; and Amasa Lymaii, twelve blocks, according to the companies
organized with each.
HISTORY OF SALT LAKE CITY.
t
49
"Next day four of the messengers returned from Bear River and Caclie
Valley.
"They brought a cheering report of Cache Valley. The brethren also re-
turned who went to Utah Lake for fish. They found a mountain of granite.
"The quorum of the Twelve decided in council that the name of the city
should be the ' City of the Great Salt Lake.'
"Sunday, August 15th, President Young preached on the death of Brother
Crow's child; a most interesting discourse;, full of principle.
" Sunday, the 2 2d, we held a general conference, when the public assembly
resolved to call the city the 'City of the Great Salt Lake.'
" It was also voted to fence the city for farming purposes the coming year
and to appoint a. President and High Council, and all other officers necessary in
this Stake of Zion, and that the Twelve write an epistle to leave with the Saints
in the valley. The conference then adjourned until the 6th of October, 1848.
"On the morning of the 26th of August, 1847, the Pioneers, with most of
the returning members of the Mormon Battalion, harnessed their horses and bade
farewell to the brethren who were to tarry. The soldiers were very anxious to
meet their wives again, whom they had left by the wayside, without a moment's
notice, for their service in the war with Mexico. These being, too, the ' Young
Men cf Israel,' had left many newly wedded brides; and not a few of those gal-
lant fellows were fathers of first-born babes whom they had not yet seen.
" The brethren in the valley were placed under the presidency of the Chief
Patriarch of the Church — Father John Smith, uncle of the Prophet. The mem-
bers of the quorum of the Twelve Apostles Brigham took with him ; but he left
reliable men, among whom was Albert Carrington.
"There were a number of companies also on the road, under principal
men and chief ' Captains of Israel,' such as Apostles Parley P. Pratt and John
Taylor, Bishop Hunter, Daniel Spencer, and Jedediah M. Grant, who was after-
wards one of the first presidents of the Church.
"On the fourth day of their return journey, the Pioneers were met by their
messengers, under Ezra T. Benson, whom President Young had sent forward
with instructions to the outcoming companies. These messengers gladdened
the hearts of the Pioneers, with letters from their wives and brethren, and re-
ported the coming * Camp of Israel ' as divided into nine companies, numbering
600 wagons.
On the 3d of September, they met the first division of fifty, under President
Daniel Spencer, upon the Big Sandy; and, on the following day, on the Little
Sandy, two more fifties, one under the command of Captain Sessions and the
other under Apostle Parley P. Pratt.
" They continued daily to meet the companies, Apostle Taylor bringing up
his hundred 011 the Sweetwater. In this company was Edward Hunter, afterwards
presiding Bishop of the whole Church. These brethren prepared a great feast
in the wilderness. They made it a sort of a surprise party, the Pioneers being
unexpectedly introduced to the richly-laden table. The feast consisted of roast
and boiled beef, pies, cakes, biscuit, butter, peach sauce, coffee, tea, sugar, and a
50 HIS TORI OF SALT LAKE CITY.
great variety of good things. In the evening the camp had a daxice, but the
Twelve met in council to adjust important business.
" Next day they met Jedediah M. Grant, with his hundred. He was direct
from Philadelphia. He informed them that Senator Thomas Benton, the invet-
erate enemy of the Mormons, was doing all he could against them.
"At Fort Laramie Presidents Young, Kimball, and others of the Apostles
dined with Commodore Stockton, from the Bay of San Francisco, with forty of
his men, eastward bound.
"On the 19th of October, the Pioneers were met by a troop of mounted
police from Winter Quarters, under their captain, Hosea Stout, who had come to
meet them, thinking they might need help."
As they drew near Winter Quarters, the sisters, mothers and wives came out
to meet the brave men who had found for them a second Zion. They also sent
teams laden with the richest produce of Winter Quarters and the delicacies of the
household table, which loving hands had prepared.
When within about a mile of Winter Quarters a halt was called; the com-_
pany was drawn up in order and addressed by President Young, who then dis-
missed the Pioneer camp with his blessing.
They drove into the city in order. The streets were lined with people to
shake hands with them as they passed. Each of the Pioneers drove to his own
home. This was October 31st.
The Pioneers on their return found the Saints at Winter Quarters well and
prosperous. They, like the leaders, had been greatly blessed- The earth, under
their thorough habits of cultivation and industry, had brought forth abundantly.
During the first three months of the year 1848, the Saints at Winter Quar-
ters were busy preparing for the general migration of the Church to the Valley of
the Great Salt Lake ; but they also petitioned the Legislature of Iowa for the or-
ganization of a county in the Pottowatamie tract of land, and for a post office.
On the 3d of February those who were in the "Battle of Nauvoo " com-
memorated it with a feast.
On the 6th of April the regular general conference was held, celebrating the
organization of the Church; and on the nth messengers arrived from Great Salt
Lake City. They were of the Battalion.
A feast was made by President Young on the 29th for his immediate asso-
ciates, some of whom were going on missions, others were designed to stay on
the frontiers to conduct and bring up the emigration; while President Young
himself was about to lead the vanguard of the people to the mountains.
About the middle of May, all was bustle at Winter Quarters. President
Young addressed the people Sunday, 14th, blessed those who were going with
him to the valley, and those who were to tarry. He also blessed the Pottowat-
omie land, and prophesied that the Saints would never be driven from the Rocky
Mountains.
On the 24th of May, President Young started for Elk Horn to organize his
company. There were 600 wagons in the encampment. They formed the largest
pioneer force which had yet set out to build up the States and Territories destined
to spring up on the Pacific Slope.
HISTORY OF SALT LAKE CITY. 5/
We need not follow the Pioneers on their second journey to the Rocky
Mountains. Suffice it to say that Brigham led the body of the Church in safety
to these mountain retreats, arriving in the City of the Great Salt Lake in Sep-
tember, 1848.
CHAPTER VI.
PROGRESS OF THE COLONY. DESTRUCTION OF THE CROPS BY CRICKETS.
DESCRIPTION OF GREAT SALT LAKE CITY.
Of the colony in its first year's growth and doings, Parley P. Pratt says:
''After many toils, vexations and trials, such as breaking wagons, losing
cattle, upsetting, etc., we arrived in the Valley of Great Salt Lake late in Sep-
tember, 1847. Here we found a fort commenced and partly built by the Pio-
neers, consisting of an enclosure of a block of ten acres with a wall, or in part of
buildings of adobes or logs. We also found a city laid out and a public square
dedicated for a temple of God. We found also much ground planted in late
crops, which, however, did not mature, being planted late in July ; although
there were obtained for seed a few small potatoes, from the size of a pea upward
to that of half an inch in diameter. These being sound and planted another year
produced some very fine potatoes, and, finally, contributed mainly in seeding the
Territory with that almost indispensable article of food.
"After we had arrived on the ground of Great Salt Lake City we pitched
our tents by the side of a spring of water; and, after resting a little, I devoted
my time chiefly to building temporary houses, putting in crops, and obtaining
fuel from the mountains.
Having repented of our sins and renewed our covenants, President John
Taylor and myself administered the ordinances of baptism, etc., to each other
and to our families, according to the example set by the President and Pioneers
who had done the same on entering the valley.
'■'■ These solemnities took place with us and most of our families, Novem-
ber 28, 1847.
" Sometime in December, having finished sowing wheat and rye, I started,
in company with a Brother Higby and others, for Utah Lake with a boat and fish
net. We travelled some thirty miles with our boat, etc.. on an ox wagon, while
some of us rode on horseback. This distance brought us to the foot of Utah
Lake, a beautiful sheet of fresh water, some thirty-six miles long by fifteen broad.
Here we launched our boat and tried our net, being probably the first boat and
net ever used on this sheet of water in modern times.
52 HISTORY OF SALT LAKE CITY.
" We sailed up and down the lake shore on its western side for many nniles,
but had only poor success in fishing. We, however, caught a few samples of
mountain trout and other fish.
" After exploring the lake and valley for a day or two, the company returned
home, and a Brother Summers and myself struck westward from the foot of the
lake on horseback, on an exploring tour. On this tour we discovered and partly
explored Cedar Valley, and there crossed over the west mountain range and dis-
covered a valley beyond; passing through which, we crossed a range of hills
northward, and entered Tooele Valley. Passing still northward, we camped one
night on a bold mountain stream, and the next day we came to the southern ex-
treme of Great Salt Lake, and passing round between it and the West Mountain
we journeyed in an eastern course, and, crossing the Jordan, arrived in Great
Salt Lake City — having devoted nearly one week to our fishing, hunting, and ex-
ploring expedition. During all this time we had fine weather and warm days;
but the night we arrived home was a cold one, with a severe snow storm. And
thus closed the year 1847.
'•^Jamiary 1st, 184S. — The opening of the year found us and the community
generally in good, comfortable, temporary log or adobe cabins, which were built
in a way to enclose the square commenced by the Pioneers, and a portion of two
other blocks of the city plot. * * *
"We had to struggle against great difficulties in trying to mature a first crop.
We had not only the difficulties and inexperience incidental to an unknown and
untried climate, but also swarms of insects equal to the locusts of Egypt, and also
a terrible drought, while we were entirely inexperienced in the art of irrigation ;
still we struggled on, trusting in God."
Thus was the f;iir promise of the first harvest in the Valley destroyed by the
desolating crickets. Their ravages were frightful. They came down from the
mountains in myriads. Countless hosts attacked the fields of grain. The crops
were threatened with utter destruction. The valleys appeared as though scorched
by fire. Famine stared the settlers in the face. All were in danger of perishing.
Every effort was made by the settlers to drive the crickets off by bushes, long
rods, and other like means — whole families and neighborhoods turning out en
masse until the people were almost exhausted. At this frightful moment, when
the utter destruction of their crops stared the little colony in the face, — while
also on their journey were the companies under President Young, who would
need supplies until the second harvest, the manifestation of a special Provi-
dence was sent to save the people — so these reverent colonists believed. Immense,
flocks of gulls came up from the islands of the Lake to make war upon the destroy-
ing hosts. Like good angels, they came at the dawn ; all day they feasted upon the
crickets. The gulls covered every field where the crickets had taken possession,
driving them into the streams and even into the'door-yards, devouring them until
gorged, then vomiting them and devouring more.
Even as it was, there was a season of famine in Utah ; but none perished
from starvation. The patriarchal character of the .community saved it. As one
great family they shared the substance of the country. An inventory of provis-
ions was taken in the Spring of 1849, ^^^ ^^^ people were put upon rations.
HIS TORY OF SALT LAKE CITY. 33
Still their breadstuff's were insufficient, and many went out with the Indians and
dug small native roots, while some, in their destitution, took the hides of ani-
mals, which covered the roofs of their houses, and cut them up and cooked them.
But the harvest of 1849 ^^'^.s abundant and the people were saved.
A passage of Indian history should not be lost here, as given by Parley P.
Pratt in a letter to his brother Orson, in England, bearing date. Great Salt Lake
City, September 5th, [848. He wrote:
"A few weeks since, Mr. Joseph Walker, the celebrated Utah Chief, men-
tioned in the journey of Colonel Fremont, paid a visit to this place, accompanied
by Soweite, the king of the whole Utah nations, and with them some hundreds of
men, women and children; they had several hundred head of horses for sale,
" They were good looking, brave, and intelligent beyond any we had seen on
this side of the mountains. They were much pleased and excited with every
thing they saw, and finally expressed a wish to become one people with us, and
to live among us and we among them, and to learn to cultivate the earth and live
as we do. They would like for some of us to go and commence farming with them
in their valleys, which are situated about three hundred miles south.
''We enjoined it on them to be at peace with one another, and with all peo-
ple, and to cease to war."
The following from the First General Epistle sent out from the Mormon
Presidency, in the spring ol 1S49, i^ valuable as a page of the early history.
"On our arrival in this valley, we found the brethren had erected four forts,
composed mostly of houses, including an area of about forty-seven acres, and
numbering about 5,000 souls, including our camp. The brethren had succeeded
in sowing and planting an extensive variety of seeds, at all seasons, from January
to July, on a farm about 'twelve miles in length, and from one to six in width,
including the city plot. Most of their early crops were destroyed, in the month
of May, by crickets and frost, which continued occasionally until June ; while
the latter harvest was injured by drought and frost, which commenced its injuries
about the loth of October, and by the out-breaking of herds of cattle. The
brethren were not sufficiently numerous to fight the crickets, irrigate the crops,
and fence the farm of their extensive planting, consequently they suffered heavy
losses; though the experiment of last year is sufficient to prove that valuable
crops may be raised in this valley by an attentive and judicious management.
, "The winter of 1847-8 was very mild, grass abundant, flocks and herds
thriving thereon, and the earth tillable most of the time during each month; but
the winter of 1848-9 has been very different, more like a severe New England
winter. Excessive cold commenced on the ist of December, and continued till
the latter part of February. Snow storms were frequent, and though there were
several thaws, the earth was not without snow during that period, varying from
one to three feet in depth, both in time and places. The coldest day of the past
winter was the 5th of February, the mercury falling t^i° below freezing point,
and the warmest day was Sunday, the 25th of February, mercury rising to 21° above
freezing point, Fahrenheit. Violent and contrary winds have been frequent.
The snow on the surrounding mountains has been much deeper, which has made
54 HISTORY OF SALT LAKE CITY.
the wood very difficult of access ; while the cattle have become so poor^ through
fasting and scanty fare, that it has been difficult to draw the necessary fuel, and
many have had to suffer more or less from the want thereof. The winter com-
menced at an unusual and unexpected moment, and found many of the brethren
without houses or fuel, and although there has been considerable suffering, there
has been no death by the frost. Three attempts have been made by the brethren
with pack animals or snow shoes to visit Fort Bridger, since the snow fell, but
have failed ; yet it is expected that Compton will be able to take the mail east
soon after April conference.
"In the former part of February, the bishops took an inventory of the
breadstuff in the valley, when it was reported that there was little more than
three-fourths of a pound per day for each soul, until the 5th of July; and con-
siderable was known to exist which was not reported. As a natural consequence
some were nearly destitute while others had abundance. The common price of
corn since harvest has been two dollars; some have sold for three ; at present
there is none in the market at any price. Wheat has ranged from four to five
dollars, and potatoes from six to twenty dollars per bushel , and though not to
be bought at present, it is expected that there will be a good supply for seed by
another year.
"Our public works are prosperous, consisting of a Council House, 45 feet
square, two stories, building by tithing ; also a bridge across the Western Jordan,
at an expense of seven hundred dollars, and six or seven bridges across minor
streams, to be paid by a one per cent, property tax; also, a bath-house at the
warm spring.
"A field of about 8000 acres has been surveyed south of and bordering on
the city, and plotted in five and ten acre lots, and a church farm of about 800
acres. The five and ten acre lots were distributed to the brethren, by casting
lots, and every man is to help build a pole, ditch, or a stone fence as shall be
most convenient around the whole field, in proportion to the land he draws ;
also, a canal on the east side, for the purpose of irrigation. There are three grist
mills, and five or six saw mills in operation, and several more in contemplation.
" The location of a tannery and foundry are contemplated as soon as the
snows leave the mountains.
"The forts are rapidly breaking up, by the removal of the houses on to the
city lots; and the city is already assuming the appearance of years, for any or-
dinary country; such is the industry and perseverance of the Saints.
"A winter's hunt, by rival parties of one hundred men each, has destroyed
about 700 wolves and foxes, 2 wolverines, 20 minx and pole cats, 500 hawks,
owls, and magpies, and 1,000 ravens, in this valley and vicinity.
"On the return of a portion of the Mormon Battalion through the northern
part of Western California, they discovered an extensive gold mine, which enabled
them by a few days delay to bring a sufficient of the dust to make money plenti-
ful in this place for all ordinary purposes of public convenience ; in the exchange
the brethren deposited the gold dust with the presidency, who issued bills or a
paper currency."
HISTORY OF SALT LAKE CITY. 55
Captain Stansbury describing Salt Lake City and its environs, as viewed
about the year 1850, wrote:
"A city has been laid out upon a magnificent scale, being nearly four miles
in length and three in breadth ; the streets at right angles with each other, eight
rods or one hundred and thirty-two feet wide, with sidewalks of twenty feet; the
blocks forty rods square, divided into eight lots, each of which contains an acre
and a quarter of ground. By an ordinance of the city, each house is to be
placed twenty feet back from the front line of the lot, the intervening space
being designed for shrubbery and trees. The site for the city is most beautiful :
it lies at the western base of the Wasatch Mountains, in a curve formed by the
projection westward from the main range of a lofty spur which forms its southern
boundary. On the west it is washed bv the waters of the Jordan, while to the
southward for twenty-five miles extends a broad, level plain, watered by several
little streams, which flowing down from the eastern hills, form the great element
of fertility and wealth to the community. Through the city itself flows an un-
failing stream of pure, sweet water, which, by an ingenious mode of irrigation,
is made to traverse each side of every street, whence it is led into every garden-
spot, spreading life, verdure and beauty over what was heretofore a barren waste.
On the east and north the mountain descends to the plain by steps, which form
broad and elevated terraces, commanding an extensive view of the whole valley
of the Jordan, which is bounded on the west by a range of rugged mountains,
stretching far to the southward, and enclosing within their embrace the lovely
little Lake of Utah.
" On the northern confines of the city, a warm spring issues from the base
of the mountain, the water of which has been conducted by pipes into a commo-
dious bathing house ; while, at the western point of the same spur, about three
miles distant, another spring flows in a bold stream from beneath a perpendicular
rock, with a temperature too high to admit the insertion of the hand, (128
Fahrenheit.) At the base of the hill it forms a little lake, which in the autumn
and winter is covered with large flocks of waterfowl, attracted by the genial
temperature of the water.
Beyond the Jordan, on the west, the dry and otherwise barren plains sup-
port a hardy grass, (called bunch grass,) which is peculiar to these regions, re-
quiring but little moisture, very nutritious and in sufficient quantities to aff"ord
excellent pasturage to numerous herds of cattle. To the northward, in the low
grounds bordering the river, hay in abundance can be procured, although it is
rather coarse and of an inferior quality.
"The facilities for beautifying this admirable site are manifold. The irri-
gating canals, which flow before every door, furnish abundance of water for the
nourishment of shade trees, and the open space between each building, and the
pavement [sidewalk] before it, when planted with shrubbery and adorned with
flowers, will make this one of the most lovely spots between the Mississippi and
the Pacific.
'•'The city was estimated to contain about eight thousand inhabitants, and
was divided into numerous wards, each, at the time of our visit, enclosed by a
substantial fence, for the protection of the young crops : as time and leisure will
56 HISTORY OF SALT LAKE CITY.
permit, these will be removed, and each lot enclosed by itself, as with us. The
houses are built, principally of adobe or sun-dried brick, which, when well cov-
ered with a tight projecting roof, make warm, comfortable dwellings, presenting a
very neat appearance. Buildings of a better description are being introduced,
although slowly, owing to the difficulty of procuring the necessary lumber, which
must always be dear in a country so destitute of timber.
" Upon a square appropriated to the public buildings, an immense shed had
been erected upon posts, which was capable of containing three thousand per-
sons. It was called 'The Bowery,' and served as a temporary place of worship
until the construction of the great Temple. * * * a. mint was
already in operation^ froni which were issued gold coins of the Federal denomi-
nations, stamped without assay, from the dust brought from California."
CHAPTER VII,
THE PRIMITIVE GOVERNMENT OF THE COLONY, PROVISIONAL STATE OF
DESERET ORGANIZED. PASSAGE OF THE GOLD-SEEKERS THROUGH THE
VALLEY.
During the first four years the colony grew up under the peculiar rule of the
Mormon community. There was the "City of the Great Salt Lake" in name,
but no regular incorporation until after the setting up of the Territory of Utah,
under the United States administration. At first the city was simply a "Stake
of Zion," with no secular functions in the common sense, nor a secular adminis-
tration in any form, until the election for officers of the Provisional Government
of the State of Deseret, when the bishops became magistrates of their several
wards.
Previous to their return to Winter Quarters, the Twelve Apostles organized
a Stake of Zion, and appointed John Smith President, Charles C. Rich and John
Young his counselors; Tarleton Lewis, Bishop, and a High Council. This or-
ganization went into effect on the arrival of the emigrant companies, in the fall
of 1847, when about 700 wagons, laden with fiimilies, located on the site of Great
Salt Lake City. This, however, may be considered rather as a temporary Stake
than the organization proper, for Great Salt Lake City was destined to be the
permanent headquarters of the Church. With the Twelve and First Presidency
at Winter Quarters, the Church herself was still in that place, and it was there
that the First Presidency was re-established, with Brigham Young and his coun-
selors, Heber C. Kimball and Willard Richards. This done, the Church evacu-
ated Winter Quarters to establish herself in the valley of the Great Salt Lake,
designing to send out therefrom her colonies, to found cities in every valley of
these Rocky Mountains.
, ^//ttti^t/
22 /
HISTORY OF SALT LAKE CITY. j/
Immediately on the arrival of the body of the Church, under the presidency
of Brigham Young in September, 1848, the regular social and ecclesiastical
organizations of the community were effected, and the chief Stake of Zion
organized in Great Salt Lake City. Commencing the re-organization at the
general October Conference of that year, Brigham Young was acknowledged
President of the Church in all the world, with Heber C. Kimball and Willard
Richards as his counselors. On the ist of January, 1849, Johi^ Smith, uncle to
the Prophet Joseph Smith, was ordained Patriarch of the Church, and on the
1 2th of February the Presidency and Twelve proceeded to fill up the vacant
places in the quorum of the Twelve Apostles. They next, in the words of their
General Epistle, "proceeded to organize a Stake of Zion at the Great Salt Lake
City, with Daniel Spencer, president, and David Fullmer and Willard Snow,
counselors. They also ordained and set apart a High Council of the Stake, con-
sisting of Isaac Morley, Phinehas Richards, Shadrach Roundy, Henry G. Sher-
wood, Titus Billings, Eleazer Miller, John Vance, Levi Jackman, Ira Eldredge,
Elisha H. Groves, William W. Major, and Edwin D. Wooley. The other quo-
rums of the Church were also re-organized. The Presidency of the Seventies
was composed of Joseph Young, Zera Pulsipher, Levi W. Hancock, Jedediah M.
Grant, Henry Herriman, Benjamin L. Clapp, and Albert P. Rockwood. John
Young was ordained president of the High Priests' quorum, with counselors
Reynolds Cahoon and' George B.Wallace; John Nebekei^ president of the
Elders' quorum, with counselers James H. Smith and Aaron Savery. This re-or-
ganization took place at the house of George B. Wallace, in the Old Fort.
After these branches of the "spiritual" organization were perfected, the city-
was divided into nineteen wards, over which bishops were appointed with their
counselors.
Under the direction of Brigham Young, who, throughout his lifetime, was
the "all in all" in the colonization of Utah, the Apostles and Bishops com-
menced to lay off the city, from the southe^t corner, running west five wards,
then returning, running east five wards, then west again, and so on.
Bishop Newel K. Whitney was the presiding Bishop over the whole. The
original Bishops of the nineteen wards were as follows: First Ward, Peter
McCue; Second Ward, John Lowrey ; Third Ward, Christopher Williams; Fourth
Ward, Benjamin Brown; Fifth Ward (which for quite a while was without a
Bishop), Thomas Winters; Sixth Ward, William Hickenlooper ; Seventh Ward,
William G. Perkins; Eighth Ward, Addison Everett; Ninth Ward, Seth Taft;
Tenth Ward, David Pettegrew; Eleventh Ward, John Lytle; Twelfth Ward,
Benjamin Covey; Thirteenth Ward, Edward Hunter; Fourteenth Ward, John
Murdock, Sen. ; Fifteenth Ward, Nathaniel V. Jones ; Sixteenth Ward, Shad-
rach Roundy; Seventeenth Ward, J. L. Haywood; Eighteenth Ward, Presiding
Bishop Whitney; Nineteenth Ward, James Hendricks.
Under the government of the Bishops, Utah grew up, and, until the regular
incorporation of Great Salt Lake City in 1851, they held what is usually consid-
ered the secular administration over the people; Brigham Young was their
director, for he formulated and constructed everything in those early days.
Each of these nineteen wards developed, during the first period, before the reg-
8
j8 HISTORY OF SALT LAKE CITY.
ular incorporation of the city, like so many municipal corporations, over which
the Bishops were as chief magistrates or mayors. Under their temporal admin-
istration all over Utah, as well as in Salt Lake, cities were built, lands divided off
to the people, roads and bridges made, water-ditches cut, the land irrigated, and
society governed. In fact, under them all the revenue was produced and the
work done of founding Great Salt Lake City.
Perhaps the most unique ecclesiastical order of government belonging to the
Christian era is that which has sprung up in the Mormon Church in the organi-
zations and government of its Bishops. It is altogether out of the common
ecclesiastical order and church regime; and the duties and calling of those be-
longing to the Mormon Bishopric have originated a form of government pecu-
liarly its own. Indeed, this branch of the Mormon development has not only
shaped considerable of the history of this peculiar people, but given to the world
something of a nevv social problem. We may not be able to determine how much
the influence and life-work of these Bishops will in the future affect the growth
of the Pacific States and Territories; but, so far as the past is concerned, we
know that under the Bishops the hundreds of cities and settlements of Utah and
some of the adjacent Territories have been founded.
Almost from the first organization of the Church and long before the organ-
ization of the quorfrm of the Twelve Apostles, it was shown in the peculiar his-
tory of the people that the Bishops were as the organic basis of the Mormon
society, and the proper business managers of the Church; but it was not until
the Mormons came to the Rocky Mountains that the society-work of the Bishops
grew rapidly into the vast proportions of their present social and church govern-
ment. In Utah, they soon became the veritable founders of our settlements and
cities; and, having founded them, they have also governed them and directed
the people in their social organization and material growth, while the Apostles
and Presidents of Stakes have directed spiritual aff"airs.
It may be further explained, that a Stake of Zion, the initial of which we
have seen organized in that of the Salt Lake Stake, is analogous to a county ;
and the High Council is a quorum of judges, in equity for the people, at the head
of which is the President of the Stake, with his counselors.
The community grew so rapidly that before the close of the second year it
was deemed wise to establish a constitutional secular government, and accord-
ingly representatives of the people met in convention in the month of March,
1849, and formed the Provisional Government of the State of Deseret. A con-
stitution was adopted, and delegates sent to Washington asking admission into
the Union. Here is what they said :
"We, the people, grateful to the Supreme Being for the blessings hitherto
enjoyed, and feeling our dependence on Him for a continuation of those bles-
sings, do ordain and establish a free and independent government by the name
of the State of Deseret, including all the Territory of the United States within
the following boundaries, to-wit : Commencing at the 33d degree of north lat-
itude, where it crosses the 108th degree of longitude west from Greenwich ;
thence running south and west to the boundary of Mexico ; thence west to and
down the main channel of the Gila River (or the northern part of Mexico), and
HISTORY OF SALT LAKE CITY.
59
on the northern boundary of Lower California to the Pacific Ocean ; thence
along the coast northwesterly to the iiSth degree, 30th minute of west longi-
tude; thence north to where said line intersects the dividing ridge of the Sierra
Nevada Mountains to the dividing range of mountains that separates the waters
flowing into the Columbia River from the waters running into the Great Basin on
the south, to the summit of the Wind River chain of mountains; thence south-
east and south by the dividing range of mountains that separates the waters flow-
ing into the Gulf of Mexico from the waters flowing into the Gulf of California,
to the place of beginning, as set forth in a map drawn by Charles Preuss, and
published by order of the Senate of the United States, in 1848."
The Twelve, in their general epistle, under date, "Great Salt Lake City,
March 9, 1849, ^'""^^^ explains this organic movement: "We have petitioned the
Congress of the United States for the organization of a Territorial government
here, embracing a territory of about seven hundred miles square, bounded north
by Oregon, latitude 42 degrees, east by the Rio Grande Del Norte, south by the
late lines between the United States and Mexico, near the latitude 32 degrees,
and west by the sea coast and California Mountains. Until this petition is
granted, we are under the necessity of organizing a local government for the time
being, to consist of a governor, chief-justice, secretary, marshal, magistrates,
etc. elected by the people : the election to take place next Monday."
Accordingly, on Monday, March 12th, 1S49, ^^^^ State election was held in
Great Salt Lake City, resulting in the unanimous choice of Brigham Young as
Governor; Willard Richards, Secretary; N. K. Whitney, Treasurer; Heber C.
Kimball, Chief Justice; John Taylor and N. K. Whitney, Associate Justices;
Daniel H. Wells, Attorney-General ; Horace S. Eldredge, Marshal ; Albert Car-
rington, Assessor and Collector of taxes; Joseph L. Heyvvood, Surveyor of
Highways ; and the Bishops of the several wajds as Magistrates.
The first celebration in the mountains was held on the 24th of July, 1849 —
the second anniversary of the entrance of the Pioneers.
The following description of the celebration, by the " Chief Scribe," may
be of interest to many:
"The inhabitants were awakened by the firing of cannon, accompanied by
music. The brass band, playing martial airs, was then carried through the city,
returning to the Bowery by seven o'clock. The Bowery is a building 100 feet
long by 60 feet wide, built on 104 posts, and covered with boards; but for the
services of this day a canopy or awning was extended about 100 feet from each
side of the Bowery, to accommodate the vast multitude at dinner.
"At half-past seven the large national flag, measuring sixty-five feet in
length, was unfurled at the top of the liberty pole, which is 104 feet high, and
was saluted hy the firing of six guns, the ringing of the Nauvoo bell, and spirit-
stirring airs from the band.
"At eight o'clock the multitude were called together by music and the firing
of guns, the Bishops of the several wards arranging themselves on the sides of the
aisles, with the banners of their wards unfurled, each bearing some appropriate
inscription.
6o HISTORY OF SALT LAKE CITY.
"At a quarter past eight, the Presidency of the Stake, the Twelve, and the
bands, went to prepare the escort in the following order, at the house of Presi-
dent Brigham Young, under the direction of Lorenzo Snow, J. M. Grant, and
F. D. Richards :
''(i) Horaces. Eldredge, marshal, on horseback, in military uniform; (2)
brass band ; (3) twelve bishops bearing the banners of their wards; (4) seventy-
four young men dressed in white, with white scarfs on their right shoulders, and
coronets on their heads, each carrying in his right hand a copy of the Declara-
tion of Independence and the Constitution of the United States, and each carry-
ing a sheathed sword in his left hand ; one of them carrying a beautiful banner,
inscribed on it, 'The Zion of the Lord ; ' (5) twenty-four young ladies, dressed
in white, with white scarfs on their right shoulders, and wreaths of white roses
on their heads, each carrying a copy of the Bible and Book of Mormon, and one
carrying a very neat banner, ■ inscribed with 'Hail to our Captain;' (6) Brig-
ham Young, Heber C. Kimball, Willard Richards, Parley P. Pratt, Charles C.
Rich, John Taylor, Daniel Spencer, D. Fullmer, Willard Snow, Erastus Snow;
(7) twelve Bishops, carrying flags of their wards; (8) twenty-four Silver Greys,
led by Isaac Morley, Patriarch, each having a staff, painted red at the upper part,
and a bunch of white ribbon fastened at the top, one of them carrying the Stars
and Stripes, bearing the inscription, ' Liberty and Truth.'
"The procession started from the house at nine o'clock. The young men and
young ladies sang a hymn through the streets, the cannon roared, the musketry
rolled, the Nauvoo bell pealed forth its silvery notes, and the air was filled by the
sweet strains of the brass band. On arriving at the Bowery the escort was re-
ceived with shouts of 'Hosanna! to God and tlie Lamb!' While the Presi-
dency, Patriarch, and presiding Bishops were passing down the aisle, the people
cheered and shouted, ' Hail to the Governor of Deseret.' These being seated
by the committee on the stand, the escort passed round the assembly, singing a
hymn of praise, marched down the aisle, and were seated in double rows on
either side. The assembly was called to order by Mr. J. M. Grant. On being
seated, Mr. Erastus Snow offered up a prayer.
"Richard Ballantyne, one of the twenty-four young men, came to the stand,
and, in a neat speech, presented the Declaration of Independence and the Consti-
tution of the United States to President Young, which was received with three
shouts, 'May it live forever,' led by the President.
"The Declaration of Independence was then read by Mr. Erastus Snow, the
band following with a lively air.
"The clerk then read 'The Mountain Staixiard,' composed by Parley P.
Pratt: —
" Lo, the Gentile chain is broken,
Freedom's banner waves on high."
"After the above had been sung by the twenty-four young men and
young ladies, Mr. Phinehas Richards came forward in behalf of the twenty-
four aged sires in Israel, and read their congratulatory address on the an-
niversary of the day. At the conclusion of the reading, the assembly rose and
shouted three times, 'Hosanna! hosanna! hosanna! to God and the Lamb, for-
HISTORY OF SALT LAKE GITY. 6i
ever and ever, Amen,' while the banners were waved by the Bishops. The band
next played a lively air, and the clerk then rose and read an 'Ode on Liberty.'
"The ode was then sung by the twenty-four Silver Greys, to the tune of
'Bruce's Address to liis Army.'
"The hour of intermission having arrived, the escort was reformed, the
Bishops of each ward collected the inhabitants of their respective wards too-ether,
and marched with them to the dinner tables, where several thousand of the Saints
dined sumptuously on the fruits of the earth. Several hundred emigrants also
partook of the repast, as did also three score Indians.."
Orson Hyde, President of the Twelve Apostles, in the Fro?ttter Guardian,
published at Kanesville, Iowa, thus explains this first celebration, at which, it will
have been noticed, the Declaration of American Independence was read: "Our
people celebrated the 24th of July instead of the 4th, for two reasons — one was
because that was the day on which Brother Young and the Pioneers first entered
the valley ; and the other was, they had little or no bread, or flour to make
cakes, etc., that early, and not wishing to celebrate on empty stomachs, they
postponed it until their harvest came in."
The explanation of Apostle Hyde has historical pertinence, when it is re-
membered that in the Spring of this year the community were put on rations; it
was this very harvest of 1849, ^^^^ saved the people from a continuance of
the famine, caused by the destruction of the crops by the grasshoppers in 1S48.
Here a passage of history seems due to the soldiers of the Mormon Bat-
talion, relative to their connection with the early times of California, and the
finding of gold, which largely tended to the rapid growth of Great Salt Lake City
and started its currency.
On being discharged from the United States service, four of the Mormon
Battalion found employ with Mr. Thomas Marshall, in digging Captain Sutter's
mill race, on the Sacramento River, One day these brethren were attracted by
the mysterious movements of their foreman, Mr. Marshall, whom they partly
surprised in the act of washing something which his shovel had just turned up.
That something was gold ! The discovery was at once shared by Mr. Marshall
and his men. Of course, at first there was some secresy preserved, but such a
discovery could not be long hid, and soon the Mormons of California, both
those of the Battalion and those who sailed to the Bay of San Francisco with
Mr. Samuel Brannan in the ship Brooklyn, were working in the gold diggings.
So that notwithstanding Mr. Marshall's shovel brought the initial glitter of Cali-
fornia gold to light, it was the shovels of Mormon Elders that spread the golden
tidings to the world.
No sooner was the discovery bruited than the whole civilized world seemed
flocking to the new El Dorado. Scarcely a nation but sent its adventurous spirits
to the paradise of gold. From the American States themselves came colony after
colony pouring daily towards the west. Gold was the incentive at first, but as
that wondrous emigrational tide swelled, it became more like the migration of a
dominant race for the purpose of founding a new empire. This did finally be-
come the proper character ot the movement.
The best blood of America was in those emigrant companies, and they took
62 HIS 7 ORY OF SALT LAKE Cl TV.
with theia enough resources to found a new State; but there was no "royal
road" to the land of gold; fifteen hundred miles then intervened between the
western frontier of the States and Great Salt Lake City. The Mormon Zion
became the "half-way house'' of the nation.
But the ambitious and spirited emigrants to California could not endure the
tedious journey as the Saints had done. Before they reached the mountains they
began to leave fragments of their richly-laden trains by the wayside. All
along the route was strewn valuable freight, with the ruins of wagons and the
carcasses of oxen and mules.
By the time the gold-seekers reached the valley of the Great Salt Lake, they
were utterly impatient and demoralized. Many had loaded their trains with
clothing, dry goods^ general merchandise, mechanics' tools and machinery, ex-
pecting to find a market where gold was dug and a new country to be settled.
But the merchant, alike with the adventiirer, was at last subdued by the conta-
gion of the gold fever, and provoked into a mania of impatience by the tedious
journey. News also reached the overland emigrants that steamers, laden with
merchandise had sailed from New York to California. The speculations of the
merchants lost their last charm. That which was destined for California was
left in Utah. In absolute disgust for their trains of merchandise and splendid
emigrant outfits, they gave the bulk to the Mormons at their own price, and for
the most ordinary means of barter. A horse or a mule outfit to carry the gold-
hunter quickly to his destination, was taken as an equivalent for wagons, cattle,
and merchandise.
Parley P. Pratt, writing to his brother Orson under date July 8th, 1849, ^^Y^-
" The present travel through this place, or near it, will, it is thought, amount
to some thirty or forty thousand persons. All will centre here another year, as
much of it does this year. This employs blacksmiths, pack-saddlers, washing,
board, etc., and opens a large trade in provisions, cattle, mules, horses, etc.
Scores or hundreds of people now arrive here daily, and all stop to rest and
re-fit."
The Frontier Guardian, giving the news of the arrival of the gold-seekers
in Great Salt Lake City related the story thus: "The valley has been a place of
general deposit for property, goods, etc., by Californians. When they saw a few
bags and kegs of gold dust brought in by our boys, it made them completely en-
thusiastic. Pack mules and horses that were worth twenty-five dollars in ordinary
times, would readily bring two hundred dollars in the most valuable property at
the lowest price. Goods and other property were daily offered at auction in all
parts of the city. For a light Yankee wagon, sometimes three or four great
heavy ones would be offered in exchange, and a yoke of oxen thrown in at that.
Common domestic sheeting sold from five to ten cents per yard by the bolt.
The best of spades and shovels for fifty cents each. Vests that cost in St. Louis
one dollar and fifty cents each, were sold at Salt Lake for thirty-seven and one
half cents. Full chests of joiner's tools that would cost one hundred and fifty
dollars in the East, were sold in Salt Lake City for twenty-five dollars. Indeed,
almost every article, except sugar and coffee, were selling on an average fifty per
cent, below wholesale prices in the eastern States."
HISTORY OF SALT LAKE CITY. 63
In the fall, a company of Mormon Elders started from Salt Lake City, de-
signing to work for awhile in the gold mines, after which some were to proceed
on missions to the Sandwich Islands. The company consisted of General
Charles C. Rich, Major Hunt of the Mormon Battalion, Captain Flake, captain
of the company, George Q. Cannon, Joseph Cain, Thomas Whittle, Henry E.
Gibson and other prominent Mormons. This was the first company that under-
took to go to California by the southern route. The expedition started with only
about thirty days' provisions: yet sixty days on the road were passed before the
first settlement was reached. The men went with pack animals. In crossing the
desert they had often to turn back and re-take up their march in some other
direction, which made the journey very long and severe, killing nearly all of their
animals, so that the last three hundred and fifty miles were mostly performed on
foot. But it was a fine company of men, and they were enabled fo survive one
of the hardest journeys ever made to the State of California.
CHAPTER VIII.
ARRIVAL OF CAPTAIN STANSBURY. HIS INTERVIEW WITH GOVERNOR YOUNG
GOVERNMENT SURVEY OF THE LaKES. COMMENCEMENT OF INDIAN
DIFFICULTIES.
In August of that year (1849) Captain Howard Stansbury, of the United
States Army Topographical Engineers, with his assistants, arrived in the valley for
the purpose of making a government survey of the lakes. He was accompanied
by Lieutenant Gunnison who was, like Captain Stansbury, one of the earliest and
most intelligent writers upon the Utah community. Of his arrival, Captain
Stansbury thus reports to the chief of his department :
" Before reaching Great Salt Lake City, I had heard from various sources
that much uneasiness was felt by the Mormon community at my anticipated
coming among them. I was told that they would never permit any survey of their
country to be made; while it was darkly hinted that if I persevered in attempt-
ing to carry it on, my life would scarce be safe. Utterly disregarding, indeed,
giving not the least credence to these insinuations, I at once called upon Brigham
Young, the President of the Mormon Church and the Governor of the Common-
wealth, stated to him what I had heard, explained to him the views of the Gov-
ernment in directing an exploration and survey of the lake, assuring him that
these were the sole objects of the expedition. Pie replied, that he did not hesi-
tate to say that both he and the people whom he presided over had been very
much disturbed and surprised that the Goverument should send out a party into
their country so soon after they had made their settlement; that he had heard of
the expedition from time to time, since its onset from Fort Leavenworth ; and
64 HISTORY OF SAL T LAKE CL2 Y.
that the whole community were extremely anxious as to what could be the design
of the Government in such a movement. It appeared, too, that their alarm had
been increased by the indiscreet and totally unauthorized boasting of an attache
of General Wilson, the newly appointed Indian agent for California, whose train
on its way thither had reached the city a few days before I myself arrived. This
person, as I understood, had declared openly that General Wilson had come
clothed with authority from the President of the United States to expel the
Mormons from the lands which they occupied, and that he would do so if he
thought proper. The Mormons very naturally supposed from such a declaration
that there must be some understanding or connection between General Wilson
and myself; and that the arrival of the two parties so nearly together was the
result of a concerted and combined movement for the ulterior purpose of break-
ing up and destroying their colony. The impression was that a survey was to be
made of their country in the same manner that other public lands are surveyed,
for the purpose of dividing into townships and sections, and of thus establishing
and recording the claims of the Government to it, and thereby anticipating any
claim the Mormons might set up from their previous occupation. However un-
reasonable such a suspicion may be considered, yet it must be remembered that
these people are exasperated and rendered almost desperate by the wrongs and
persecutions they had previovsly suffered in Illinois and Missouri ; that they had
left the confines of civilization and fled to these far distant wilds, that they might
enjoy undisturbed the religious liberty which had been practically denied them :
and that -now they supposed themselves to be followed up by the General Govern-
ment with the view of driving them out from even this solitary spot, where they
had hoped they should at length be permitted to set up their habitation in
peace.
"Upon all these points I undeceived Governor Young to his entire satisfac-
tion. I was induced to pursue this conciliatory course, not only in justice to the
Government, but also because I knew, from the peculiar organization of this sin-
gular community, that, unless the ' President' was fully satisfied that no evil was
intended to his people, it would be useless for me to attempt to carry out my in-
structions. He was not only civil Governor, but the President of the whole
Church of Latter-day Saints upon the earth, their prophet and their priest, re-
ceiving, as they all firmly believed, direct revelations of the Divine will, which,
according to their creed, form the law of the Church. He is, consequently,
profoundly revered by all, and possesses unbounded influence and almost un-
limited power. I did not anticipate open resistance ; but I was fully aware that
if the President continued to view the expedition with distrust, nothing could be
more natural than that every possible obstruction should be thrown in our way
by a 'masterly inactivity.' Provisions would not be furnished; information
would not be afforded ; labor could not be procured ; and no means would be
left untried, short of open opposition, to prevent the success of a measure by
them deemed fatal to their interests and safety. So soon, however, as the true
object of the expedition was fully understood, the President laid the subject-
matter before the council called for that purpose, and I was informed, as the re-
sult of their deliberations, that the authorities were much pleased that the explora-
HISTORY OF SALl LAKE CITY. 65
tion was to be made; that they had themselves contemplated something of the
kind, but did not yet feel able to incur the expense; but that any assistance they
could render to facilitate our operations would be most cheerfully furnished to
the extent of their ability. This pledge, thus heartily given, was as faithfully
redeemed ; and it gives me pleasure here to acknowledge the warm interest mani-
fested and efificient aid rendered, as well by the President as by all the leading
men of the community, both in our personal welfare and in the successful prose-
cution of the work.
"Matters being thus satisfactorily adjusted, as the provisions which had been
laid in at the beginning of the journey were nearly exhausted, I left the city on
the 1 2th of September, with teams and pack-mules, for Fort Hall, to procure
the supplies for the party which had been forwarded to that post by the supply
train attached to Colonel Loring's command ; and at the same time to carry out
that portion of my instructions which directed me to explore a route for a road
from the head of Salt Lake to Fort Hall. The main party was left under the
command of Lieutenant Gunnison, with instructions to commence the survey
upon the basis already laid down."
Returning from his exploration of a route from Great Salt Lake City to Fort
Hall, and reconnoissance of Cache Valley, Captain Stansbury continues a narra-
tive intimately connected with the early history of this city. He says:
" Upon my arrival at Salt Lake City, I found that the camp, under Lieuten-
ant Gunnison, was then about sixty miles to the southward, upon Utah Lake. I
accordingly joined him as soon as possible. The work, during my absence, had
been carried forward by that officer with energy, industry and judgment.
" I had hoped, from the representations which had been made to me of the
mildness of the two previous winters, that we should be able to keep the field the
greater part, if not the whole of the season ; but, in the latter part of November,
the winter set in with great and unusual severity, accompanied by deep snows,
which rendered any farther prosecution of the work impracticable. I was therefore
compelled to break up my camp, and to seek for winter quarters in the city.
These were not obtained vvithout some difficulty, as the tide of emigration had
been so great that houses were very scarce, and not a small portion of the inhabi-
tants, among whom was the president himself, were forced to lodge portions of
their families in wagons.
"Upon terminating the field-work for the season, I despatched three men,
one of whom was my guide and interpreter, with a small invoice of goods, to
trade for horses among the Uintah Utahs, with directions to await my orders at
Fort Bridger. Reports afterward reached us that a bloody fight had taken place
between the Sioux and the Yampah Utahs, which latter tribe reside in the vicinity
of the Uintahs, and great fears were entertained that the little party had been cut off
by one or tlie other of the contending tribes. Such a calamity, aside from the
loss of life, would have been of serious consequence to the expedition, as the
horses I expected to obtain were almost indispensable to the return of the party
to the States, the number of our animals having been much diminished by death
and robbery.
"It may as well be mentioned here, that the party thus despatched subse-
66 HISTORY OF SALT LAKE CITY.
quently joined me in the spring, as soon as the melting of the snows rendered
communication wiih Fort Bridger practicable, bringing with them a drove of
twenty-five horses. They had met with very rough usage from the Indians, hav-
ing been robbed of a number of their horses, besides the whole of what remained
of their goods and narrowly escaped with their lives.
"From the report by Lieutenant Gunnison of his operations during my ab-
sence, I make the following synopsis.
''A thorough exploration was made, with the view of ascertaining the points
for such a base line as would best develop a system of triangles embracing both
the Salt Lake and Utah Valleys.
"A line was selected, and carefully measured by rods constructed for the
purpose, and tripod stations erected over the termini, which were marked by
metal points set in wooden posts sunk flush with the surface of the ground. The
length of the base is thirty-one thousand six hundred and eighty feet.
" Fourteen principal triangulation stations were erected, consisting of large
pyramidal timber tripods, strongly framed, to be covered, when required for use,
by cotton cloth of different colors, according to the background. The triangles
extended to the south shore of Utah Lake, and embraced an area of about eiglity
by twenty-five miles.
"A survey and sounding had been made of the Utah Lake, and also of the
river connecting it with Salt Lake : this operation requiring a line to be run of
one hundred and twenty-six miles, principally by the back angle, with the
theodolite.
" Although such a result, from less than two months' labor, would be en-
tirely satisfactory under ordinary circumstances anywhere, and would reflect
credit on the energy and capacity of the officer in charge of the work, yet it may
be remarked that it would be very unfair to judge of it by a comparison with
similar results obtained in the Eastern States. There, all the accessories to such
a work, especially water and timber, are abundant, and generally at a convenient
distance: here, on the contrary, botli are very scarce and hard to be obtained.
All the water, for instance, used both for cooking and drinking, that was con-
sumed on the base line, (requiring seven days of incessant labor in its measure-
ment,) had to be transported upon mules from the river, which lay a mile east of
its eastern terminus; and the force employed in the erection of most of the tri-
angulation stations had to be supplied in a like manner. But the principal diffi-
culty was the scarcity of timber. Wood grows nowhere on the plains; all the
wood used for cooking in camp, and all the timber, both for posts on the base
line and for the construction of the stations, had to be hauled from the moun-
tains in many cases fifteen or twenty miles distant, over a rough country without
roads. Almost every stick used for this purpose cost from twenty to thirty miles
travel of a six-mule team. This, together with the delays of getting into the
canyons, where alone the timber can be procured, cutting down the trees, and
hauling them down the gorges by hand to the nearest spots accessible to the
teams, involved an amount of time and labor which must be experienced before
it can be appreciated. All this had to be done, however, or the prosecution of
the work would have been impracticable.
HISTORY OF SALT LAKE CITY. 67
." Before leaving the Salt Like City for Fort Hall, I had engaged the services
of Albert Carrington, Esq., a member of the Mormon community, who was to
act as an assistant on the survey. He was without experience in the use of in-
struments; but, being a gentleman of liberal education, he soon acquired, under
instruction, the requisite skill, and, by his zeal, industry, and practical good
sense, materially aided us in our subsequent operations. He continued with the
party until the termination of the survey, accompanied it to this city, [Washington]
and has since returned to his mountain home, carrying with him the respect and
kind wishes of all with whom he was associated.
" The winter season in the valley was long and severe-. The vicinity of so
many high mountains rendered the weather extremely variable; snows fell con-
stantly upon them, and frequently to the depth of ten inches in the plains. In
many of the canyons it accumulated to the depth of fifty feet, filling up the
passes so rapidly that, in more than one instance, emigrants who had been belated
in starting from the States, were overtaken by the storms in the mountain gorges,
and forced to abandon every thing, and escape on foot, leaving even their ani-
mals to perish in the snows. All communication with the world beyond was thus
effectually cut off; and, as the winter advanced, the gorges became more and
more impassable, owing to the drifting of the snow into them from the project-
ing peaks.
'' We remained thus shut up until the 3d of- April. Our quarters consisted
of a small unfurnished house of unburnt brick or adobe, unplastered, and roofed
with boards loosely nailed on, which, every time it stormed, admitted so much
water as called into requisition all the pans and buckets in the establishment to
receive the numerous little streams which came trickling down from every crack
and knot-hole. During this season of comparative inaction, we received from
the authorities and citizens of the community every kindness that the most warm-
hearted hospitality could dictate : and no effort was spared to render us comfort-
able as their own limited means would admit. Indeed, we were much better
lodged than many of our neighbors; for, as has been previously observed, very
many families were obliged still to lodge wholly or in part in their wagons, which,
being covered, served, when taken off from the wheels and set upon the ground,
to make bedrooms, of limited dimensions it is true, but yet exceedingly comfor-
table. Many of these were comparatively large and commodious, and, when car-
peted and furnished with a little stove, formed an additional apartment or back
building to the small cabin, with which they frequently communicated by a door.
It certainly argued a high tone of morals and an habitual observance of good order
and decorum, to find women and children thus securely slumbering in the midst
of a large city, with no protection from midnight molestation other than a wagon-
cover of linen and the segis of the law. In the very next enclosure to that occu-
pied by our party, a whole family of children had no other shelter than one of
these wagons, where they slept all the winter, literally out of doors, there being
no communication' whatever with the inside of their parents' house."
Stansbury's report to the Government also supplies the initial pages of the
Indian history of Utah. He says:
6S HISTORY OF SALT LAKE CITY.
"The native tribes with whom we came in contact in the valley were the
most degraded and lowest in the scale of being of any I had ever seen. They
consisted of the ' root-diggers,' a class of Indians which seemed to be composed
of outcasts from their respective tribes, subsisting chiefly upon roots dug from the
ground, and the seeds of various plants indigenous to the soil, which they grind
into a kind of flour between two fiat stones. Lizards and crickets also form a
portion of their food. At certain seasons of the year they obtain from the trib-
utaries of both the Salt Lake and Lake Utah, a considerable quantity of fish,
which they take in weirs or traps, constructed of willow bushes. Those that we saw
were branches of the Shoshones or Snakes, and from the large and warlike tribe of
Utahs, which latter inhabit a large tract of country to the southward. They are
known among the traders by the designation of 'snake-diggers,' and ' Utes ; '
those of the latter tribe, .which inhabit the vicinity of the lakes and streams and
live chiefly on fish, being distinguished by the name of 'Pah Utahs/ or 'Pah
Utes/— the word Pah, in their language, signifying water.
"While engaged in the survey of the Utah Valley, we were no little annoyed
by numbers of the latter tribe, who hung around the camp, crowding around the
cook-fires, more like hungry dogs than human beings, eagerly watching for the least
scrap that might be thrown away, which they devoured with avidity and without
the least preparation. The herdsmen also complained that their cattle were fre-
quently scattered, and that notwithstanding their utmost vigilance, several of them
had unaccountably disappeared and were lost. One morning, a fine fat ox came
into camp with an arrow buried in his side, which perfectly accounted for the dis-
appearance of the others.
"After the party left Lake Utah for winter quarters in Salt Lake City, the
Indians became more insolent, boasting of what they had done — driving off the
stock of the inhabitants of the southern settlements, resisting all attempts to re-
cover them, and finally firing upon the people themselves as they issued from their
little stockade to attend to their ordinary occupations. Lender these circumstances,
the settlers in the Utah Valley applied to the supreme government, at Salt Lake
City, for counsel as to the proper course of action. The President was at first
extremely averse to the adoption of harsh measures ; but, after several conciliatory
overtures had been resorted to in vain, he very properly determined to put a stop,
by force, to further aggressions, which, if not resisted, could only end in tlie
total destruction of the colony. Before coming to this decision, the authorities
called upon me to consult as to the policy of the measure, and to request the ex-
pression of my opinion as to what view the Government of the United States
might be expected to take of it. Knowing, as I did, most of the circumstances,
and feeling convinced that some action of the kind would ultimately have to be
resorted to, as the forbearance already shown had been only attributed to weak-
ness and cowardice, and had served but to encorage further and bolder outrages,
I did not hesitate to say to them that, in my judgment, the contemplated expe-
dition against these savage marauders was a measure not only of good policy, but
one of absolute necessity and self-preservation. I knew the leader of the Indians
to be a crafty and blood-thirsty savage, who had been already guilty of several
murders, and had openly threatened that he would kill every white man that he
HISTORY OF SALT LAKE CITY. 6g
found alone upon the prairies. In addition to this, I was convinced that the
completion of the yet unfinished survey of the Utah Valley, the coming season,
must otherwise be attended with serious difficulty, if not actual hazard, and
would involve the necessity of a largely increased and armed escort for its pro-
tection. Such being the circumstances, the course proposed could not but meet
my entire approval.
"A force of one hundred men was accordingly organized, and, upon the ap-
plication of President Young, leave was given to Lieutenant Rowland, of the
Mounted Rifles, then on duty with my command, to accompany the expedition as
its adjutant: such assistance also was furnished as it was in my power to afford,
consisting of arms, tents, camp- equipage, and ammunition.
" The expedition was completely successful. The Indians fought very bravely,
but were finally routed, some forty of them killed, and as many more taken pris-
oners; the latter, consisting principally of women and children, were carried to
the city and distributed among the inhabitants, for the purpose of weaning them
from their savage pursuits, and bringing them up in the habits of civilized and
Christian life. The experiment, however, did not succeed as was anticipated,
most of the prisoners escaping upon the very first opportunity.
"On the 2 2d of February, about three p. m., a slight shock of an earthquake
was felt in the southern part of the city, the vibrations being sufficient to shake
plates from the shelves and to disturb milk in the pans."
The historical importance of the first Indian expedition of this Territory,
which was the beginning of the organization of the Utah militia, calls for the fol-
lowing supplementary pages to Captain Stansbury's report.
The organization of a militia for the protection of these colonies in an In-
dian country was an imperative necessity, and to Daniel H. Wells, who had al-
ready distinguihsed himself in military affairs, was given the task of creating it,
and the rank of Lieutenant-General was conferred upon him by the Governor.
The first company organized was under the command of Captain George D. Grant,
who was afterwards Brigadier-General. They were called " Minute Men," a name
which soon became famous in the Indian service throughout Utah. The company
originated in Great Salt Lake City, and from time to time it was called out to the re-
lief of those colonies which were sent from the parent colony to explore and populate
the country. The first engagement of any importance was on the spot where the city
of Provo now stands ; there had, however, occurred a slight affray at Battle Creek,
at which .Colonel John Scott commanded, but none were killed on either side.
On the call by Governor Young for one hundred mounted men General Wells
immediately dispatched a company of fifty under the command of Captain George
D. Grant. Among the subordinate officers were William 11. Kimball, James A.
Little, James Ferguson and Henry Johnson, the two latter having been officers in
the Mormon Battalion ; and among the privates were such men as Robert T. Bur-
ton, Lot Smith, Ephraim Hanks, Jesse Martin, Orson Whitney, and others who
afterwards figured prominently in the Utah militia.
The second fifty was forwarded under the command of Captain Lytle, who
was an officer in the Mormon Battalion.
70 HISTORY OF SALT LAKE CITY.
The company under the command of Captain George D. Grant started from
Great Salt Lake City on the yth day of February. The men marched all night
in the snow for the purpose of coming upon the Indians unawares. The weather
was intensely cold; from ten to twelve inches of snow covered the entire Utah
Valley. They arrived early in the morning of the 8th, having suffered severely
on the march from the inclement weather.
The Indians had fortified themselves on the Provo River. They were en-
camped in a bend of the river bottom, under a low bluff, from which the ground
receded to the river. All this bottom, at that time, was covered with willow
brush and cottonwod timber, some of the latter having been cut down by them
to construct their fortifications.
These Indians were of a warlike tribe, under the command of Old Elk, and
not of the lower class of which Stansbury speaks. There were about seventy
warriors, possessing arms equal to those of the expedition sent out against
them, — their arms having been obtained from the mountaineers, traders, and
settlers. Their squaws and children were sent into the canyons, while the war-
riors thus strongly fortified awaited the attack. They also held possession of a
double log house. The settlers had retired to the shelter of their fort, but
some of them joined the assailants on their arrival and did effective service
in the defence of their city.
Thus fortified, the Indian warriors kept the militia at bay till the evening of
the second day, before the latter obtained any decided advantage. Meantime the
Indians had killed one and wounded five or six. They frequently sallied out
from their entrenchments, delivered their fire, then quickly retreated to the
brush. At length Lieutenant Rowland, of Stansbury's command, suggested a
moveable battery, which was forthwith constructed of plank, laid up edgewise on
the top of runners, over which were thrown camp blankets and buffalo robes.
This battel y was handled by the assailants effectively, and pushed towards the
Indian line of defence. On the afternoon of the second day, a small company
of cavalry (sixteen in number) was ordered by Captain Grant to make a charge
upon the Indian quarters, and especially to get possession of the log house, pre-
viously referred to, from which the Indians had greatly annoyed the men. The
little company of cavalry made a dashing charge, but were met with such a vol-
ley of fire, wounding two or three of their number, that the impetuosity of the
charge was for a moment checked, but Burton and Lot Smith, dashing on, suc-
ceeded in riding their horses into the passage that divided the rooms of the
double log house, of which they took possession, the Indians having deserted it
at the onslaught. The Indians, recovering from the surprise of the charge, fired
on the remainder of the detachment with such violence that the men had to take
shelter under the end of the house, but seven or eight of their best horses were
shot down in a very few minutes. Between the firing the men got into the house,
upon which the Indians continued to fire for several hours. In this company of
sixteen picked men were Lot Smith, Robert T. Burton, William H. Kimball,
Jas. Ferguson, Ephraim Hanks, Henry Johnson, Isham Flyn, (wl^o was wounded,)
.Orson Whitney, and eight others whose names we have not been able to obtain.
This charge was complimented by Lieutenant Rowland as being as fine as
HISTORY OF SAL T LAKE CITY. ji
regular cavalry would make. It gave the advantage of the engagement into the
hands of the militia; for the Indians retired in the night after the charge, leaving
their dead on the ground, carrying their wounded with them; but before their
retreat they supplied themselves abundantly with the horse beef.
So much bravery was exhibited by the Indians, and such a desperate defence
made, that despatches had been sent to Great Salt Lake City, repeatedly request-
ing General Wells to come and take personal command, which he did, but
arrived after the second day's engagement. There was afterwards quite an engage-
ment on the south end of Utah Lake, at which General Wells was present and
had personal command.
Captain Stansbury omitted to mention that Dr. Blake, of his command, was
in this expedition, but his presence and services to the wounded have been re-
membered and gratefully acknowleged by the commanding officers of the old
Minute Men. And it is worthy of note that it was this very expedition which
brought out the men who have since figured as generals of the Utah militia. In
it Lot Smith and Robert T. Burton for the first time met, and with that charge
together on the log house began the life long friendship of these two men who,
next to the Lieutenant-General, Daniel H. Wells, have figured the most conspic-
uously in the military history of Utah,
Having completed their surveys and explorations, the topographical en-
gineers left the City of the Great Salt Lake for home on the 28th of August,
1850, Stansbury, closing the record of his sojourn among the founders of this
Territory, with the following tribute to them :
"Before taking leave of the Mormon community, whose history has been
the subject of no little interest in the country, I cannot but avail myself of the
opportunity again to acknowledge the constant kindness and generous hospitality
which was ever extended to the party during the sojourn of rather more than a
year among them. The most disinterested efforts were made to afford us, both
personally and officially, all the aids and facilities within the power of the peo-
ple, as well to forward our labors as to contribute to our comfort and enjoyment.
Official invitations were sent by the authorities to the officers of the party, while
engaged in distant duty on the lake, to participate in the celebration of their .
annual jubilee, on the 24th of July, and an honorable position assigned them in
the procession on that occasion. Upon our final departure, we were followed
with the kindest expressions of regard, and anxious hopes for the safety and wel-
fare of the party upon its homeward journey."
J 2 HISTORY OF SALT LAKE CITY.
CHAPTER IX.
INCORPORATION OF GREAT SALT LAKE CITY. ITS ORIGINAL CHARTER. THE
FIRST CITY COUNCIL AND MUNICIPAL OFFICERS. ORGANIZATION OF THE
TERRITORY. ARRIVAL OF THE NEWS OF GOVERNOR YOUNG'S APPOINT-
MENT. DISSOLUTION OF THE STATE OF UESERET. GOVERNOR'S PROC-
LAMATION. LEGALIZING THE LAWS PASSED BY THE PROVISIONAL
GOVERNMENT. CORRESPONDENCE BETWEEN COLONEL KANE AND PRESI-
DENT FILLMORE. STANSBURY'S VOUCHER FOR BRIGHAM YOUNG.
The cities of Utah needing their due municipal orders, and having waited so
long for the action of Congress, the Governor and the General Assembly of the
State of Deseret, at the opening of the year 1851, effected the incorporation of the
cities of Great Salt Lake, Ogden, Provo, Manti and Parowan. The following is
the original charter of Great Salt Lake City, entitled
"AN ORDINANCE TO INCORPORATE GREAT SALT LAKE CITY.
"Sec. I. Be it ordained by the General Assembly of the State of Deseret:
That all that district of country embraced in the following boundaries, to wit: —
beginning at the southeast corner of the Church Pasture, about half a mile north
of the Hot Spring; thence west to the west bank of the Jordan River; thence
south, up the west bank thereof, to a point in said bank directly west from the
southw^est corner of the five-acre lots, south of said city; thence east to the
aforesaid southwest corner of said five-acre lots, and along the south line thereof;
thence east to the base of the mountains ; thence directly north to the point di-
rectly east of the southeast corner of the Church Pasture ; thence west to the
place of beginning: — including the present survey of said city, shall be known
and designated as Great Salt Lake City; and the inhabitants thereof are hereby
constituted a body corporate and politic, by the name aforesaid, and shall have
perpetual succession, and may have and use a common seal, which they may
change and alter at pleasure.
"Sec. 2. The inhabitants of said city, by the name and style aforesaid,
shall have power to sue and be sued; to plead and be impleaded; defend and
be defended in all courts of law and equity, and in all actions whatsoever; to
purchase, receive and hold property, real and personal, in said city ; to purchase
receive and hold real property beyond the city, for burying grounds, or other
public purposes, for the use of the inhabitants of said city; to sell, lease, con-
vey, or dispose of property, real and personal, for the benefit of said city ; to
improve and protect such property, and to do all other things in relation thereto,
as natural persons.
Sec. 3. There shall be a City Council, to consist of a Mayor, four Alder-
men, and nine Councilors, who shall have the qualifications of electors of said
city, and shall be chosen by the qualified voters thereof, and shall hold their
offices for two years, and until their successors shall be elected and qualified.
HISTORY OF SALT LAKE CITY. jj
The City Council shall judge of the qualifications, elections, and returns of their
own members, and a majority of them shall form a quorum to do business; but a
smaller number may adjourn from day to day, and compel the attendance of ab-
sent members, under such penalties as may be prescribed by ordinance.
Sec. 4. The Mayor, Aldermen, and Councilors, before entering upon the
duties of their offices, shall take and subscribe an oath or affirmation, that they
will support the Constitution of the United States, and of this State, and that they
will well and truly perform the duties of their offices, to the best of their skill and
abilities.
Sec. 5. On the first Monday of April next, and every two years thereafter,
on said day, an election shall be held for the election of one Mayor, four Alder-
men, and nine Councilors ; and at the first election under this ordinance, three
judges shall be chosen, viva voce, by the electors present. The said judges shall
choose two clerks, and the judges and clerks, before entering upon their duties,
shall take and subscribe an oath or affirmation, such as is now required by law to
be taken by judges and clerks of other elections ; and at all subsequent elections
the necessary number of judges and clerks shall be appointed by the City Coun-
cil. At the first election so held, the polls shall be opened at nine o'clock a. m.,
and closed at six o'clock p. m. At the close of the polls, the votes shall be
counted, and a statement thereof proclaimed at the front door of the house at
which said election shall be held; and the clerks shall leave with each person
elected, or at his usual place of residence, within five days after the election, a
written notice of his election ; and each person so notified, shall within ten days
after the election, take the oath or affirmation herein before mentioned, a certifi-
cate of which oath shall be deposited with the Recorder, whose appointment is
hereinafter provided for, and be by him preserved. And all subsequent elections
shall be held, conducted, and returns thereof made, as may be provided for by
ordinance of the City Council.
Sec. 6. All free white male inhabitants of the age of eighteen years, who
are entitled to vote for State officers, and who shall have been actual residents of
said city sixty days next preceeding said election, shall be entitled to vote for city
officers.
Sec. 7. The City Council shall have authority to levy and collect taxes for
city purposes, upon all taxable property, real and personal, within the limits of
the city, not exceeding one-half per cent, per annum, upon the assessed value
thereof, and may enforce the payment of the same in any manner to be provided
by ordinance, not repugnant to the Constitusion of the United States, or of this
State.
Sec. 8. The City Council shall have power to appoint a Recorder, Treasurer,
Assessor and Collector, Marshal and Supervisor of Streets. They shall also have
the power to appoint all such other officers, by ordinance, as may be necessary,
define the duties of all city officers, and remove them from office at pleasure.
Sec. 9. The City Council shall have power to require of all officers ap-
pointed in pursuance of this ordinance, bonds with penalty and security, for the
faithful performance of their respective duties, such as may be deemed expedient,
10
74 HISTORY OF SALT LAKE CITY.
and also to require all officers appointed as aforesaid, to take an oath for the
faithful performance of the duties of their respective cJifices.
Sec. io. The City Council shall have power and authority to make, or-
dain, establish, and execute all such ordinances not repugnant to the Constitu-
tion of the United States, or of this State, as they may deem necessary for the
peace, benefit, good order, regulation, convenience, and cleanliness of said city;
for the protection of property therein, from destruction of property by fire or
otherwise, and for the health and happiness thereof. They shall have power to
fill all vacancies that may happen by death, resignation, or removal, in any of
the offices herein made elective; to fix and establish all the fees of the officers of
said corporation, not herein established; to impose such fines, not exceeding one
hundred dollars for each offense, as they may deem just, for refusing to accept
any office in or under the corporation, or for misconduct therein; to divide the
city into wards, and specify the boundaries thereof, and create additional wards;
10 add to the number of Aldermen and Councilors, and apportion them among
the several wards, as may be just, and most conducive to the interest of the city.
Sec. II. To establish, support and regulate comnion schools; to borrow
money on the credit of the city, — provided that no sum or sums of money be
borrowed on a greater interest than six per cent, per annum, — nor shall the in-
terest on the aggregate of all the sums borrowed and outstanding ever exceed one
half of the city revenue, arising from taxes assessed on real estate within this cor-
poration.
Sec. 12. To make regulations to prevent the introduction of contagious
diseases into the City, to make quarantine laws for that purpose, and enforce the
same.
Sec. 13. To appropriate and provide for the payment of the expenses
and debts of the city.
Sec. 14. To establish hospitals, and make regulations for the government
of the same; to make regulations to secure the general health of the inhabitants;
to declare what shall be nuisances, and to prevent and remove the same.
Sec. 15. To provide the City with water, to dig wells, lay pump logs,
and pipes, and erect pumps in the streets for the extinguishment of fires, and
convenience of the inhabitants.
Sec. 16. To open, alter, widen, extend, establish, grade, pave, or other-
wise improve and keep in repair, streets, avenues, lanes, and alleys; and to es-
tablish, erect and keep in repair aqueducts and bridges.
Sec. 17. To provide for lighting of the streets, and erecting lamp posts;
and establish, support and regulate night watches; to erect market houses, estab-
lish markets and market places, and j)rovide for the government and regulations
thereof.
Sec. 18. To provide for erecting all needful buildings for the use of the
City; and for enclosing, improving, and regulating all public grounds belonging
to the City.
Sec. 19. To license, tax and regulate auctioneers, merchants, and re-
tailers, grocers and taverns, ordinaries, hawkers, peddlers, brokers, pawnbrokers,
and money changers.
"V
HISTORY OF SALT LAKE CITY. 75
Sec. 20. To license, tax and regulate hacking, carriages, wagons, carts and
drays, and fix the rates to be charged for the carriage of persons, and for wagon-
age, cartage and drayage of property ; as also to license and regulate porters,
and fix the rates of porterage.
Sec. 21. To license, tax and regulate theatrical and other exhibitions,
shows and amusements.
Sec. 22. To tax, restrain, prohibit, and suppress tippling houses, dram
shops, gaming houses, bawdy, and other disorderly houses.
Sec. 23. To provide for the prevention and extinguishment of fires ; to
regulate the fixing of chimneys, and the flues thereof, and stove pipes, and to
organize and establish fire companies.
Sec. 24. To regulate the storage of gunpowder, tar, pitch, rosin, and
other combustible materials.
Sec, 25. To regulate and order parapet walls, and other partition fences.
Sec. 26. To establish standard weights and measures, and regulate the
weights and measures Jo be used in the city, in all other cases not provided for
by law.
Sec. 27. To provide for the inspection and measuring of lumber and
and other building materials, and for the measurement of all kinds of mechan-
ical work.
Sec. 28. To provide for the inspection and weighing of hay, lime and
stone coal, and measuring of charcoal, firewood, and other fuel, to be sold or
used within the City.
Sec. 29. To provide for and regulate the inspection of tobacco, and of
beef, pork, flour, meal; also beer and whisky, brandy, and all other spirituous or
fermented liquors.
Sec. 30. To I'egulate the weight, quality, and price of bread sold and used
in the City.
Sec. 31. To provide for taking the enumeration of the inhabitants of the
City.
Sec. 32. To fix the compensation of all city officers, and regulate the fees
of jurors, witnesses, and others, for services rendered under this or any city or-
dinance.
Sec. 33. The City Council shall have exclusive power within the city by or-
dinance, to license, regulate, suppress, or restrain billiard tables, and from one to
twenty pin alleys, and every other description of gaming or gambling.
Sec. 34. The City Council shall have exclusive power within the City, by
ordinance, to license, regulate, or restrain the keeping of ferries, and toll bridges;
to regulate the police of the city; to impose fines, forfeitures and penalties, for
the breach of any ordinance, and provide for the recovery of such fines and for-
feitures, and the enforcement of such penalties, and to pass such ordinances as
may be necessary and proper for carrying into effect and execution, the powers
specified in this ordinance, provided such ordinances are not repugnant to the
Constitution of the United States, or of this State.
Sec. 35. All ordinances passed by the City Council, shall, within one month
after they shall have been passed, be published in some newspaper, printed in said
76 HISTORY OF SALT LAKE CITY.
City, or certified copies thereof, be posted up in three of the most public places
in the City.
Sec. -i)^. All ordinances of the City may be proven by the seal af the cor-
poration ; and when printed or jniblished in book or pamphlet form, purporting
to be printed or published by the authority of the corporation, the same shall be
received in evidence in all courts, or places, without further proof.
Sec. 37. The Mayor and Aldermen shall be conservators of the peace
within the limits of the city, and shall have all the powers of justices of the
peace therein, both in civil and criminal cases, arising under the laws of the
State. They shall, as justices of the peace within said city, perform the same
duties, be governed by the same laws, give the same bonds and securities, as
other justices of the peace, and be commissioned as justices of the peace, in and
for said city, by the Governor.
Sec. 38. The Mayor and Aldermen shall have exclusive jurisdiction in all
cases arising under the ordinances of the corporation, and shall issue such pro-
.cess as may be necessary to carry said ordinances into execution and effect. Ap-
peals may be had from any decision or judgment of said Mayor or Aldermen,
arising under the ordinances of said city, to the Municipal Court, under such
regulations as may be prescribed by ordinance ; which court shall be composed
of the Mayor as chief justice, and the Aldermen as associate justices; and from
the final judgment of the Municipal Court to the Probate Court of Great Salt
Lake County, in the same manner as appeals are taken from the justices of the
peace; provided that the parties litigant shall have a right to a trial by jury of
twelve men in all cases before the Municipal Court. The Municipal Court shall
have power to grant writs of habeas corpus, and try the same, in all cases arising
under the ordinances of the City Council.
Sec. 39. The Municipal Court may sit on the first Monday of every
month, and the City Council, at such times and places as may be prescribed by
city ordinance, special meetings of which may at any time be called by the
Mayor or any two Aldermen.
Sec. 40. All process issued by the Mayor, Aldermen, or Municipal Court
shall be directed to the Marshal, and in the execution thereof, he shall be gov-
erned by the same laws as are or may be prescribed for the direction and com-
pensation of constables in similar cases. The Marshal shall also perform such
other duties as may be required of him under the ordinances of said City, and
shall be the principal ministerial officer.
Sec. 41. It shall be the duty of the Recorder to make and keep accurate
records of all ordinances made by the City Council, and of all their proceedings
in their corporate capacity, which record shall at all times be open to the inspec-
tion of the electors of said City, and shall perform all other duties as may be
required of him by the ordinances of the City Council, and shall serve as clerk
of the Municipal Court.
Sec. 42. When it shall be necessary to take private property for opening,
widening, or altering any public street, lane, avenue, or alley, the corporation
shall make a just compensation therefor ; to the person whose property is so taken ;
and if the amount of such compensation cannot be agreed upon, the Mayor shall
HISTORY OF SALT LAKE CITY. ' 77
cause the same to be ascertained by a jury of six disinterested men, who shall be
inhabitants of the City.
Sec. 43. All jurors empannelled to enquire into the amount of benefits or
damages, that shall happen to the owners of property so proposed to be taken,
shall first be sworn to that effect, and shall return to the Mayor their inquest in
writing, signed by each juror.
Sec. 44. In case the Mayor shall, at any time, be guilty of a palpable
omission of duty, or shall wilfully or corruptly be guilty of oppression^ malcon-
duct, or partiality, in the discharge of the duties of his office, he shall be liable to
indictment in the Probate Court of Great Salt Lake County, and on conviction he
shall be liable to fine and imprisonment ; and the court shall have power on the
recommend of the jury, to add to the judgment of the court, that he be removed
from office.
Sec. 45. The City Council shall have power to provide for the punish-
ment of offenders and vagrants, by imprisonment in the county or city jail, or by
compelling them to labor upon the streets, or other public works, until the same
shall be fully paid ; in all cases where such offenders or vagrants shall fail or refuse
to pay the fine and forfeitures which may be recovered against them.
Sec. 46. The inhabitants of Great Salt Lake City shall, from and after the
next ensuing two years, from the first Monday of April next, be exempt from
working on any road or roads, bayond the limits of said City. But all taxes de-
voted to road purposes, shall, from and after said term of two years, be collected
and expended by, and under the direction of, the supervisor of streets, within the
limits of said City.
Sec. 47. The Mayor, Aldermen, and Councilors of said City shall, in the
first instance, be appointed by the Governor and Legislature of said State of
Deseret ; and shall hold their office until superseded by the first election.
Approved January 9th, 1851.
The first municipal Council of Great Salt Lake City was composed of Jede-
diah M. Grant, Mayor; Nathaniel H. Felt, William Snow, Jesse P. Harmon and
Nathaniel V. Jones, Aldermen; Vincent Shurtliff, Benjamin L. Clapp, Zera Pul-
sipher, William G. Perkins, Harrison Burgess, Jeter Clinton, John L. Dunyon
and Samuel W. Richards, Councilors.
The City Council met pursuant to notice from the clerk of Great Salt Lake
County. The members having been severally sworn in by the county clerk "to
observe the Constitution of the United States and of this State," organized in
due form.
The ordinance incorporating Great Salt Lake City was then read by the
clerk of the county, when the Mayor informed the Council that it would be
necessary to appoint a Recorder, Treasurer and Marshal of the city : whereupon
Robert Campbell was appointed Recorder, and Elam Luddington Marshal and
Assessor and Collector of Great Salt Lake City. Afterwards Leonard W. Hardy
was appointed Captain of the City police.
At the afternoon's session committees were appointed to formulate govern-
mental methods for the City. Enquiry was made relative to the disposition of
7^ HISTORY OF SALT LAKE CITY.
taxes, when it was stated that the State taxes would be applied as formerly for
State purposes, and that a city tax of one half of one per cent, should be levied
for city purposes.
The Mayor brought forward the subject of dividing the City into municipal
wards.
The county clerk then submitted a city plot to the council, and the following
municipal wards were laid out from the map, and their proper boundaries
designated :
First Ward: bounded on the north by Third South Street; west, by East
Temple Street,; south, by southern limits; east, by eastern limits: Alderman,
Jesse P. Harmon. Second Ward: east, by East Temple Street; south, by
southern limits; west, by Jordan River; north, by South Temple Street: Alder-
man, N. V. Jones. Third Ward: east, by East Temple Street; south, by South
Teanple Street ; west, by Jordan River ; north, by northern limits: Alderman,
Nathaniel H. Felt. Fourth Ward: east, by eastern limits; south, by Third
South Street ; west, by East Temple Street ; north, by northern limits: Alder-
man, William Snow.
The Mayor instructed the Marshal and Collector to proceed to assessing
property and levying taxes. The Council then adjourned.
In April the first municipal election for Great Salt Lake City was held, as
provided for by the charter, and the following members were returned :
Mayor; Jedediah M. Grant; Aldermen: Nathaniel Felt, William Snow, J.
P. Harmon, N. V. Jojies; Councilors: Lewis Robinson, Robert Pierce, Zera Pul-
sipher, Wm. G. Perkins, Jeter Clinton, Enoch Reese, Harrison Burges, Samuel
W. Richards, Vincent Shurtliff.
In the meantime Congress had passed an act, approved on the 9th of Sep-
tember, 1850, organizing the Territory of "Utah within the following limits:
" Bounded on the west by the State of California; on the north by the Terri-
tory of Oregon; on the east by the summits of the Rocky Mountains; and on
the south by the 37th parallel of north latitude: with the proviso that Congress
should be at liberty, when it might be deemed "convenient and pro[jer " to cut
it up into two or more Territories, or to attach any portion of it to any other
State or Territory. On the 28th of the same month, President Fillmore, "with
the advice and consent of the Senate," appointed Brigham Young Governor of
Utah; B. D.Harris, of Vermont, Secretary; Joseph Buffington, of Pennsylvania,
Chief Justice ; Perry E. Brocchus, of Alabama, and Zerubbabel Snow, of Ohio,
Associate Justices; Seth M. Blair, of Utah, United States Attorney ; and Joseph
L. Heywood, of Utah, United States Marshal; but Mr. Buffington declining the
office of Chief Justice, Lemuel G. Brandebury was appointed in his stead.
The postal communication between Washinton and Great Salt Lake City at
this period being scarcely opened, an interval of six months passed before the
news officially reached Utah. It came first unofficially by way of California,
brought by a portion of that same company which explored the southern route to
California in the fall of 1849. The returning company consisted of Major Hunt,
of the Mormon Battalion, Mr. Henry E. Gibson and five others. To bear the im-
portant news, they started on Christmas day, and travelled with pack animals from
HISTORY OF SALT LAKE CITY. yg
Los Angelos to Great Salt Lake City. Major Hunt stopped at his home on the
way; but Mr. Gibson posted on to Great Salt Lake City, where he arrived on the
27th of January, and presented to Governor Young published reports, in Eastern
papers, of the passage of the Organic Act that created Utah a Territory. The
news being certain and so many months having passed since the passage of the act
and his own appointment, Governor Young at once took the oath of office, on the
3d of February, 1851 ; and on the 26th of March he issued the following special
message to the General Assembly of the State of Deseret :
Gentlemen : — Whereas the Congress of the United States passed an Act. Sep-
tember 9th, 1850, and received the approval of the President to " establish a Ter-
ritorial Government for Utah," and made appropriations for erecting public build-
ings for said Territory, etc.; the appointments under said law also having been
made, olificial announcement of which has not as yet been received, but is shortly
expected; sufficient intelligence, however, has been received to justify us in prepar-
ing for the adoption and organization of the new Goverm^jent under said Act.
I have therefore thought proper to suggest to you, previous to your final ad-
journment, the propriety of making such arrangements, as in wisdom you may
consider necessary, in view of the aforesaid Act of Congre.ss, that as little incon-
venience as possible may arise in the change of governmental affairs, and in relation
to the organization of the Territorial Government for erecting public buildings
for said territory, etc.
And now, upon the dissolving of this Legislature, permit me to add, the in-
dustry and unanimity which have ever characterized your efforts, and contributed
so much to the pre-eminent success of this government, will, in all future time, be
a source of gratification to all ; and whatever may be the career and destiny of
this young, but growing republic, we can ever carry with us the proud satisfaction
of having erected, established, and maintained a peaceful, quiet, yet energetic gov-
ernment, under the benign auspices of which, unparalleled prosperity has showered
her blessings upon every interest.
With sentiments of the highest esteem and gratitude to the Giver of all good
for His kind blessings, I remain.
Respectfully yours,
Brigham Young, Governor.
Great Salt Lake City, Utah Territory,
March 26th, 1851.
The Legislature of Deseret, in joint session, March 28th, 1851, unanimously
passed the following Preamble and Resolutions, pertaining to the organization of
a Territorial Government for Utah : —
PREAiNir.LE.
IF/iereas, in the winter and spring of the year of our Lord, 1849, ^'"^^ people
of this territory did form and establish a Provisional State Government, until the
United States Congress should otherwise provide by law for the government of
this territory ; and
Whereas, it was under this authority and by virtue thereof, that this body have
So HISTORY OF SALT LAKE CITY.
acted and legislated, for and in behalf of the people of said State, now Utah Terri-
tory; and
Whereas the United States Congress has finally legislated in behalf of this
territory, by passing an act for the organization of the Territory of Utah ; making
appropriations for public buildings, and extending the Constitution of the United
States over said territory ; and
Whereas, previous to the first election under said law, the census has to be
taken, and apportionments made, which will necessarily consume much time ; and
Whereas the public buildings for said territory are very much needed, and
the United States Congress having made an appropriation of twenty thousand
dollars towards defraying the expense thereof; — and in order to facilitate the
speedy erection of said public buildings for the use of the territory, and further
promote the mutual and easy organization of said territorial government ; —
Therefore, be it resolved by the General Assembly of the State of Deseret :
1. That we cheeriiilly and cordially accept of the legislation of Congress in
the Act to establish a Territorial Government for Utah.
2. That we welcome the Constitution of the United States — the legacy of our
fathers — over this territory.
3. That all officers under the Provisional State Government of Deseret, are
hereby requested to furnish unto their successors in office every facility in their
power, by returning and delivering unto them public documents, laws, ordinances,
and dockets, that may or can be of any use or benefit to their said successors in
office.
4. That Union Square, in Great Salt Lake City, be devoted for the use of
public buildings of said Territory.
5. That Governor B. Young be our agent to make drafts upon the treas-
ury of the United States for the amount appropriated for said buildings, and to
take such other measures as he shall deem proper for their immediate erection.
6. That we appoint an architect to draft designs, and a committee of one,
to superintend the erection of said buildings.
7. That Truman O. Angel, of said city, be said architect, and Daniel H.
Wells, of said city, the committee; and that they proceed immediately to the
designing and erection of said buildings.
8. That, whereas, the State House in Great Salt Lake City having been
originally designed for a "Council House," and erected by and at the expense
of the " Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints," for the purpose, as well as
to accommodate the Provisional Government; that we now do relinquish unto
said Church the aforesaid building, tendering unto them our thanks for the free
use thereof during the past session.
9. That we fix upon Saturday, the 5th day of April next, for the adjust-
ment and final dissolving of the General Assembly of the State of Deseret.
H. C. Kimball, President of the Council.
J. M. Grant, Speaker of the House.
"T. Bullock, Clerk.''
HISTORY OF SALT LAKE CITY. 8i
Governor Young issued a proclamation on July ist, 1851, calling the elec-
tion for the first Monday in the following August, when it was accordingly held,
August 4th, and the Territorial Legislature of Utah duly created by the people.
The first session of the Legislative Assembly of the Territory of Utah, was
convened in pursuance of the proclamation of the Governor, on the 2 2d day of
September, A. D. 1851 ; and continued by adjournments to the i8th day of Feb-
ruary, A. D. 1852. This was succeeded by a special session, called by proclama-
tion of the Governor, and convened the day following, continuing until the 6th
day of March, A. D, 1852.
Brigham Young, Governor.
MEMBERS OF THE COUNCIL:
Great Salt Lake County. — Willard Richards (President), Heber C. Kimball,
Daniel H. Wells, Orson Spencer, Ezra T. Benson (resigned September 24th,
185 1), Orson Pratt (elected November 15th, 1851), Jedediah M. Grant (re-
signed September 23d, 185 1), Edward Hunter (elected November 15th, 185 1).
Davis County. — John S. Fullmer.
Weber County. — Lorin Farr, Charles R. Dana.
Utah CiCZ/«/>'. -^Alexander Williams, Aaron Jonhson.
San Pete County. — Isaac Morley.
Iroti County. — George A. Smith.
MEMBERS OF THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES:
Great Salt Lake County. — William W. Phelps (Speaker), Daniel Spencer,
Albert P. Rockwood, Nathaniel H. Felt, David Fullmer, Edwin D. WooUey,
Phinehas Richards, Joseph Young, Henry G. Sherwood, Wilford Woodruff, Ben-
jamin F. Johnson, Hosea Stout, Willard Snow (resigned September 24th, 185 1),
John Brown (elected November 15, 1851).
Davis County. — Andrew J. Lamereaux, John Stoker, Gideon Brownell.
Weber Cou?ity. — David B. Dille, James Brown, James G. Browning.
Utah County. — David Evans, William Miller, Levi W. Hancock.
San Pete County.- — Charles Shumway.
Iron County. — Elisha H. Groves, George Brimhall (elected November
Tooele County, — John Rowberry.
The first printed volume of laws of Utah Territory, had the following
title page :
"Acts, Resolutions, and Memorials, passed by the First Annual, and Special
Sessions, of the Legislative Assembly, of the Territory of Utah, begun and held
at Great Salt Lake City, on the 22d day of September, A. D. 1851. Also the
Constitution of the United States, and the Act organizing the Territory of Utah.
Published by Authority of the Legislative Assembly. G. S. L. City, U. T.
1852. Brigham H. Young, Printer."
To this was appended a certificate of authenticity, signed by "Willard Rich-
ards, Secretary pro tern., appointed by the Governor."
. 11
82 HISTORY OF SALT LAKE CITY.
At its opening session the members passed the following
'^ Joinl Resolution Legalizing the Laws of the Provisional Government of the
State of Deseret :
^^ Resolved, by the Legislative Assembly of the Territory of Utah: That
the laws heretofore passed by the Provisional Government of the State of Des-
eret, and which do not conflict with the Organic Act of said Territory be, and
the same are hereby declared to be legal, and in full force and virtue, and shall
so remain until superseded by the action of the Legislative Assembly of the Ter-
ritory of Utah.
"Approved October 4, 1851."
This Resolution preserved the original charter of Great Salt Lake City.
The second Resolution, passed on the same day, transferred the political
capital from Great Salt Lake City to " Pauvan Valley," where the City of
Fillmore was afterwards founded, and Mdlard County organized and named in
honor of the President of the United States, who had so cordially recognized the
right of the people of Utah to local self-government and the choice of their own
officers.
Severe strictures, however, were passed upon President Fillmore by a por-
tion of the American press, for appointing Brigham Young Governor of Utah,
which called forth the following correspondence between the President and Col-
onel Thomas L. Kane:
"Washington, July 4, 1851.
" My Dear Sir : — I have just cut the enclosed slip from the Buffalo Courier.
It brings serious charges against Brigham Young, Governor of Utah, and falsely
charges that I knew them to be true. You will recollect that I relied much upon
you for the moral character and standing of Mr. Young. You knew him, and
had known him in Utah. You are a democrat, but I doubt not will truly state
whether these charges against the moral character of Governor Young are true.
" Please return the article with your letter.
"Not recollecting your given name, I shall address this letter to you as the
son of Judge Kane.
"I am, in great haste, truly yours,
Millard Fillmore.
'' Mr. Kane, Philadelphia.''
"Philadelphia, July nth, 1851.
''My Dear Sir: — I have no wish to evade the responsibility of having
vouched for the character of Mr. Brigham Young of Utali, and his fitness for the
station he now occupies. I reiterate without reserve, the statement of his excel-
lent capacity, energy and integrity, which I made you prior to his appointment.
I am willing to say I volunteered to communicate to you the facts by which I was
convinced of his patriotism, and devotion to the interests of the Union. I made
no qualification when I assured you of his irreproachable moral character, because
I was able to speak of this from my own intimate personal knowledge.
"If any show or shadow of evidence can be adduced in support of the
HISTORY OF SALT LAKE CITY. 83
charges of your anonymous assailant, the next mail from Utah shall bring you
their complete and circumstantial refutation. Meanwhile I am ready to offer this
assurance for publication in any form you care to indicate, and challenge contra-
diction from any respectable authority.
" I am, Sir, with high respect and esteem, }our most obedient servant,
"Thomas L. Kane.
''The President. "
Captain Stansbury, in his official report to the government, giving his views
and testimony relative to Brigham Young, both as the leader of the Mormon
people and the Governor of Utah, said :
" Upon the personal character of the leader of this singular people, it may
not, perhaps, be proper for me to comment in a communication like the present.
I may, nevertheless, be pardoned for saying, that to me, President Young ap-
peared to be a man of clear, sound sense, fully alive to the responsibilities of the
station he occupies, sincerely devoted to the good name of the people over whom
he presides, sensitively jealous of the least attempt to under-value or misrepresent
them, and indefatigable in devising ways and means for their moral, mental, and
pliysical elevation. He appeared to possess the unlimited personal and official
confidence of his people; while both he and his councilors, forming the Presi-
dency of the Church, seem to have but one object in view, the prosperity and
peace of the society over which they preside.
"Upon the action of the Executive in the appointmnt of the officers within
the newly-created Territory, it does not become me to offer other than a very
diffident opinion, Yet the opportunities of information to which allusion has
already been made, may perhaps justify me in presenting the result of my own
observations upon this subject. With all due deference, then, I feel constrained
to say, that in my opinion the appointment of the President of the Mormon
Church, and the head of the Mormon community, in preference to any other
person, to the high office of Governor of the Territory, independent of its politi-
cal bearings, with which I have nothing to do, was a measure dictated alike by
justice and by sound policy. Intimately connected with them from their exodus
from Illinois, this man has indeed been their Moses, leading them through the
wilderness to a remote and unknown land, where they have since set up their
tabernacle, and where they are now building their temple. Resolute in danger,
firm and sagacious in council, prompt and energetic in emergency, and enthusi-
astically devoted to the honor of his people, he had won their unlimited confi-
dence, esteem and veneration, and held an unrivaled place in their hearts. Upon
the establishment of the provisional government, he had been unanimously
chosen as their highest civil magistrate, and even before his appointment by the
President, he combined in his own person the triple character of confidential ad-
viser, temporal ruler, and prophet of God. Intimately acquainted with their
character, capacities, wants, and weaknesses; identified now with their prosper-
ity, as he had formerly shared to the full in their adversities and sorrows;
honored, trusted, — the whole wealth of the community placed in his hands, for
the advancement both of the spiritual and temporal interest of the infant settle-
84 HIS7 0R\ 02^ SALT LAKE CITY.
merit, he was, surely, of all others, the man best fitted to preside, under the aus-
pices of the general government, over a colony of which he may justly be said to
have been the founder. No other man could have so entirely secured the confi-
dence of the people ; and the selection by the Executive of the man of their
choice, besides being highly gratifying to them, is recognized as an assurance that
they shall hereafter receive at the hands of the general government that justice
and consideration to which they are entitled. Their confident hope now is that,
no longer fugitives and outlaws, but dwelling beneath the broad shadow of the
national segis, they will be subject no more to the violence and outrage which
drove them to seek a secure habitation in this far distant wilderness.
''As to the imputations that have been made against the personal character
of the Governor, I feel confident they are without foundation. Whatever opinion
may be entertained of his pretensions to the character of an inspired prophet, or
of his views and practice of polygamy, his personal reputation I believe to be
above reproach. Certain it is that the most entire confidence is felt in his in-
tegrity, personal, official, and pecuniary, on the part of those to whom a long
and intimate association, and in the most trying emergencies, have afforded every
possible opportunity of formimg a just and accurate judgment of his true
character.
''From all I saw and heard, I am firmly of the opinion that the appointment
of any other man to the office of governor would have been regarded by the
whole people, not only as a sanction, but as in some sort a renewal, on the part
of the General Government, of that series of persecutions to which they have
already been subjected, and would have operated to create distrust and suspicion
in minds prepared to hail with joy the admission of the new Territory to the
protection of the supreme government.''
Very pertinent to the closing paragraph of this testimony of Captain Stans-
bury is the following passage of an epistle of the Presidency of the Mormon
Church announcing to "the Saints abroad" the event of the organization of the
Territory of Utah :
"We anticipate no convulsive revolutionary ieeling or movement, by the
citizens of Deseret in the anticipated change of governmental aff'airs ; but an easy
and quiet transition from State to Territory, like weary travellers descending a hill
near by their way side home.
"As a people, we know how to appieciate, most sensibly, the hand of friend-
ship which has been extended towards our infant State, by the General Govern-
ment. Coming to this place as did the citizens of Deseret, without the means of
subsistence, except the labor of their hands, in a wilderness country, surrounded
by savages, whose inroads have given occasion for many tedious and expensive
expeditions; the relief afforded by our mother land, through the medium of the
approaching territorial organization, will be duly estimated; and from henceforth,
we would fondly hope the most friendly feelings may be warmly cherished between
the various States and Territories of this great nation, whose constitutional charter
is not to be excelled."
HIS! ORY OF SALT LA KE CIT\. 8c,
CHAPTER X.
ARRIVAL OF THE FEDERAL JUDGES. FIRST APPEARANCE OF THE UNITED
STATES OFFICIALS BEFORE THE CITIZENS AT A SPECIAL CONFERENCE.
JUDGE BROCCHUS ASSAULTS THE COMMUNITY. PUBLIC INDIGNATION.
CORRESPONDENCE BETWEEN JUDGE BROCCHUS AND GOVERNOR YOUNG.
THE "RUNAWAY" JUDGES AND SECRETARY. DANIEL WEBSTER, SECRE-
TARY OF STATE, SUSTAINS GOVERNOR YOUNG AND REMOVES THE OF-
FENDING OFFICIALS. FIRST UNITED STATES COURT. THE NEW FEDEREL
OFFICERS. ARRIVAL OF COLONEL STEPTOE. RE-APPOINTMENT OF
OF BRIGHAM YOUNG. JUDGE SHAVER FOUND DEAD. JUDGES DRUM-
MOND AND STILES.
In July, 1 85 1, four of the Federal officers arrived in Great Salt Lake City,
and waited upon his Excellency Governor Young. They were Lemuel G. Brande-
bury. Chief Justice, and Perry E. Brocchus and Zerubbabel Snow, Associate Jus-
tices of the Supreme Court of the Territory, and B. D. Harris, the Secretary.
Governor Brigham Young, United States Attorney Seth M. Blair, and United
States Marshal Joseph L. Heywood were all residents of Great Salt Lake City.
At this time there had not been any session of the Legislative Assembly of
the Territory under the Organic Law. The newly arrived Federal officers en-
quired the reason why the legislature had not been organized, upon which they
were informed that there were no mails from the States during the winter season, and
that the official news of the passage of the Act did not reach this city till March,
of that year. Soon after their arrival Governor Young issued a proclamation, as
provided in Section 16 of the Organic Law, defining the judicial districts of the
Territory, and assigning the judges to their respective districts. His other proc-
lamation, calling for an election in August, brought the Legislature into existence,
and the two branches of the Territorial Government were thus duly established.
Early in the following September, a special conference of the Mormon Church
was held in Great Salt Lake City, one of the purposes of which was to send a
block of Utah marble or granite as the Territorial contribution to the Washington
Monument at the Capital. It was the first time that the Federal officers had
found the opportunity to appear in a body before the assembled citizens, as the
representatives of the United States, since the organization of the Territory. An
excellent occasion surely was this, in the design of the leaders of the community,
who called that special conference, and there can be no doubt that harmony and
good will were sought to be encouraged between the Federal officers and the people.
Chief Justice Brandebury, Secretary Harris and Associate Justice Brocchus were
honored with an invitation to sit on the platform with the leaders of the commu-
nity. This association of Mormon and Gentile on the stand was very fitting on
such an occasion, considering that Governor Brigham Young, Associate Justice
Zerubbabel Snow, United States Attorney Seth M. Blair, and United States Mar-
86 HISTORY OF SALT LAKE CIT\.
shall Joseph L. Heyvvood, though Mormons, were also their Federal colleagues.
But it seems that one of their numbei — Associate Justice Brocchus — had chosen
this as a fitting time to correct and rebuke the community relative to their pecu-
liar religious and social institutions. The following correspondence, which subse-
quently took place between Governor Young and Judge Brocchus is most impor-
tant and relevant to the entire history of this city and territory, as it is the com-
mencement of that long controversy which has existed between the people of Utah
and the Federal Judges, and in which, in the latter period, Congress and the
Governors of the Territory have also taken an active part :
B. YOUNG TO P. E. BROCCHUS.
" Great Salt Lake City, Sept. 19, 1S51.
Dear Sir. — Ever wishing to promote the peace, love and harmony of the
people, and to cultivate the spirit cf charity and benevolence to all, and especially
towards strangers, I propose, and respectfully invite your honor, to meet our
public assembly at the Bowery, on Sund:iy morning next, at 10 a. m., and ad-
dress the same people that you addressed on the 8th inst., at our General Con-
ference; and if your honor shall then and there explain, satisfy, or apologize to
the satisfaction of the ladies who heard your address on the 8th, so that those
feelings of kindness that you so dearly prized in your address can be reciprocated
by them, I shall esteem it a duty and a pleasure to make every apology and satis-
faction for my observations which you as a gentleman can claim or desire at my
hands.
"Should your honor please to accept of this kind and benevolent invitation,
please answer by the bearer, that public notice may be given, and widely ex-
tended, that the house may be full. And believe me, sir, most sincerely and
respectfully, your friend and servant,
Brigham Young.
" LLon. P. E. Brocchus, Asste. Jusiicc''
" P. S.— Be assured that no gentleman will be permitted to make any reply
to your address on that occasion. B. Y."
P. E. BROCCHUS to GOVERNOR YOUNG.
"Great Salt Lake City, Sept. 19, 1851.
Dear Sir: — Your note of this date is before me. While I fully concur in,
and cordially reciprocate, the sentiments expressed in the preface of your letter,
I must be excused from the acceptance of your respectful invitation, to address a
public assembly at the Bowery to-morrow morning.
"If, at the proper time, the privilege of explaining had been allowed me, I
should, promptly and gladly, have relieved myself from any erroneous impressions
that my auditors might have derived from the substance or tone of my remarks.
But, as that privilege was denied me, at the peril of having my hair pulled, or
my throat cut, I must be permitted to decline appearing again in public on the
subject.
"I will take occasion here to say, that my speech, in all its parts, was the
result of deliberation and care — not proceeding from a heated imagination, or a
HISTORY OF SALT LAKE CITY. 87
maddened impulse, as seems to have been a general impression. I intended to
say what I did say; but, in so doing, I did not design to offer indignity and in-
sult to my audience.
" My sole design, in the branch of my remarks which seems to be the source
ot offence, was to vindicate the Government of the United States from those
feelings of prejudice and that spirit of defection which seemed to pervade t-he
public sentiment. That duty I attempted to perform in a manner faithful to the
government of which I am a citizen, and to which I owe a patriotic allegiance,
without unjustly causing a chord to vibrate painfully in the bosom of my hearers.
Such a duty, I trust, I shall ever be ready to discharge with the fidelity that be-
longs to a true American citizen — with firmness, with boldness, with dignity —
always observing a due respect towards other parties, whether assailants or
neutrals.
"It was not my intention to insult, or offer disrespect to my audience; and
farthest possible was it from my design, to excite a painful or unpleasant emotion
in the hearts of the ladies who honored me with their presence and their respect-
ful attention on the occasion.
"In conclusion, I will remark that, at the time of the delivery of my speech,
I did not conceive that it contained anything deserving the censure of a just-
minded person. My subsequent reflections have fully confirmed me in that im-
pression.
"I am, sir, very respectfully, your obedient servant,
Perry E. Brocchus.
' ' To His Excellency Brighaju Young. ' '
BRIGHAM YOUNG TO P. E. BROCCHUS.
"Great Salt Lake City, Sept. 20, 1851.
Dear Sir: — The perusal of your note of the 19th inst. has been the source
of some sober reflections in my mind, which I beg leave to communicate in the
same freedom with which my soul has been inspired in the contemplation.
With a war of words on party politics, factions, religious schisms, current
controversy of creeds, policy of clans, or State clipper cliques, I have nothing to
do; but when the eternal principles of truth are falsified, and light is turned into
darkness by mystification of language or a false delineation of facts, so that the
just indignation of the true, virtuous, upright citizens of the commonwealth is
aroused into vigilance for the dear-bought liberties of themselves and fathers,
and that spirit of intolerance and persecution, which has driven this people time
and time again from their peaceful homes, manifests itself in the flippancy of
rhetoric for female insult and desecration, it is time that I forbear to hold my
peace, lest the thundering anathemas of nations born and unborn should rest
upon my head when the marrow of my bones shall be illy prepared to sustain the
threatened blow.
"It has been said that a wise man foreseeth evil, and hideth himself. The
evil of your course I foresee, and I shall hide myself — not by attempting to
screen my conduct, or the conduct of this people from the gaze of an assembled
universe, but by exposing some of your movements, designs, plans, and purposes,
88 HISTORY OF SALT LAKE CITY.
so that the injury which you have designed for this people may fall upon your
own head, unless you shall choose to accept the proffered boon — the friendship
which I extended to you yesterday — by inviting you to make satisfaction to the
ladies ot this valley, who felt themselves insulted and abused by your address on
the 8th inst., and which you have declined to do in your note, to which this is a
reply.
"In your note, you remark- — 'If, at the proper time, the privilege of ex-
plaining had been allowed me, I should promptly and gladly have relieved my-
self from any erroneous impressions that my auditors might have derived from
the substance and tone of my remarks ; but, as that privilege was denied me, at
the peril of having my hair pulled, or my throat cu I must be permitted to de-
cline appearing again in public on the subject.'
"Sir, when was the 'proper time' to which you refer? Was it when you
had exhausted the patience of your audience on the 8th, after having given a
personal challenge to any who would accept? Was it a proper time to challenge
for single combat, before a general assembly of the people, convened especially
for religious worship?
" How could you then have 'promptly and gladly relieved yourself-from any
erroneous impression your auditors might have derived from the substance and
tone of your remarks' when you knew not from what source your auditors derived
those impressions? And was it your boasted privilege, your proper time to fire
and 'fight your battles o'er again,' as quick as you had given a challenge, with-
out waiting to see if any one accepted it? If so, who would you have been
likely to hit — ladies or gentlemen ?
"It was true, sir, what I said, at the close oi your speech, and I repeat it
here, that riiy expressions may not be mistaken — I said in reference to your
speech, 'Judge Brocchus is either profoundly ignorant: — or wilfully wicked — one of
the two. There are several gentlemen who would be very glad to prove the state-
ments that have been made about Judge Brocchus, and which he has attempted
to repel; but I will hear nothing more on either side at this Conference.'
And why did I say it? To quell the excitement which your remarks had
caused in that audience; not to give or accept a challenge, but to prevent any one
(of which there were many present wishing the opportunity,) and every one from
accepting your challenge, .and thereby bringing down upon your head the indig-
nation of an outraged people, in the midst of a Conference convened for relig-
ious instruction and business, and which, had your remarks continued, must have
continued the excitement, until there would have been danger "of pulling of hair
and cutting of throats," perhaps, on both sides, if parties had, proved equal — for
there are points in human actions and events, beyond which men and women can-
not be controlled. Starvation will revolutionize any people, and lead them to acts
of atrocity that human power cannot control; and will not a mother's feelings, in
view of her murdered offspring, her bleeding husband, and her dying sire, by
hands of mobocratic violence, and especially when tantalized to the highest pitch
by those who stand, or ought to stand, or sit, with dignity on the judgment seat,
and impart justice alike to all?
" Sir, what confidence can this persecuted, murdered, outcast people have in
HISTORY OF SAL T LAKE CI7 Y. 8g
your decisions from the Bench, after you have tantalized their feelings from the
stand, by informing them there is yet hope in their case, if they will apply to
Missouri and Illinois. I ask you, sir, if you did not know, when you were thus
making your plea, that this people have plead with the authorities of those States,
which are doomed to irretrievable ruin by their own acts, from their lowest magis-
trate to their highest judge, and from their halls of legislature to their governors,
times, and times, and times again, until they, with force of arms, have driven us
from their midst, and utterly refused the possibility of the cries of murdered inno-
cence from reaching their polluted ears? I ask, sir, did you know this? If not,
you were profoundly ignorant ; you were possessed of ignorance not to be toler-
ated in children of ten years, in these United States. But, on the other hand, if
you were in possession of the facts, you were wilfully wicked in presuming to tan-
talize, and rouse in anger dire, those feelings of frail humanity on one hand, and
offended justice on the other, which it is our object to bury in forgetfulness, and
leave the issue to the decision of a just God.
"Your motive, action, or design, you wholly concealed, or you could never
have gained a hearing on such an occasion.
"As. presiding officer in said Conference, did I permit any man to accept your
challenge? No, sir, you know I did not ; and could you, as a gentleman, ask the
privilege to defend your challenge before it was accepted? Don Quixote should
not be named in such a farce. No, sir, out of mercy to you I prohibited any man
from accepting your challenge. And until the challenge was accepted you had
nothing to reply to. When, then, was the proper time yoU refer to, when you
would have replied, and the privilege was denied you? No such time as you sup-
posed, existed.
"And now, sir, as it appears from the whole face of the subject, that to-
morrow might have been the first 'proper time' that might have given you the
'privilege of explaining,' and as this courtesy you have utterly refused, and
thereby manifest a choice to leave an incensed public incensed still, against your
(as they now view it) dishonorable course, I shall take the liberty of doing my
duty, by adverting still further to your reply of yesterday. Charity would have
induced me hope, at least, that your speech, in part, was prompted by the impulse
of the moment ; but I am forbid this pleasing reflection by your note, wherein
you state that ' my speech, in all its parts, was the result of deliberation and care,
proceeding from a heated imagination or a maddened impulse.' ' I intended to
say what I did say.' Now, if you did actually ' intend to say what you did say,'
it is pretty strong presumptive testimony that you were not ignorant, for if you
had been ignorant, from whence arose your intentions? And if you were not
ignorant you must have been willfully wicked; and I cannot conceive of a more
charitable construction to put upon your conduct on that occasion than to believe
you designedly and deliberately planned a speech to excite the indignation of
your hearers to an extent that would cause them to break the bonds of propriety
by pulling your hair or cutting your throat, willing, no doubt, in the utmost of
your benevolence to die a martyr's death, if you could only get occasion to raise
the hue and cry, and re-murder a virtuous people, as Missouri and Illinois have
so often done before you. Glorious philanthropy this; and corresponds most
12
go HISTORY OF SAL 7 LAKE CITY.
fully with the declaration which, it is reported^ on pretty good authority, that
Judge Brocchus made while on his journey to the valley, substantially as follows:
"If the citizens of Utah do not send me as their delegate to Washington, by
God, I'll use all my influence against them, and will crush them. I have the
influence and the power to do it, and I will accomplish it if they do not make
me their delegate.'
" Now, sir, I will not stop to argue the point whether your honor made
those observations that rumor says you did ; but I will leave it to an intelligent
world, or so much of that world as are acquainted with the facts in the case,
to decide whether your conduct has not fully proved that you harbored these ma-
licious feelings in your heart, when you deliberately planned a speech calculated
in its nature to rouse this community to violence, and that, too, on a day conse-
crated to religious duties, your declaration to the contrary notwithstanding, that
you 'did not design to offer indignity or insult.' When a man's words are set in
direct opposition to his acts, which will men believe? His acts all the time.
Where, then, is the force of your denial ?
"One item more from your note reads thus: 'My sole design in the
branch of my remarks which seems to be the source of offence, was to vindicate
the government of the United States from those feelings of prejudice, and that
spirit of defection which seemed to pervade the public sentiment, &c." Let me
inquire what 'public sentiment' you referred to? Was it the sentiments of the
States at large? If so, your honor missed his aim, most widely, when he left the
city of Washington to become the author of such remarks. You left home when
you left Washington. If such 'prejudice and defection' as you represent, there
existed, there you should have thundered your anathemas, and made the people
feel your 'patriotic allegiance;' but, if ever you believed for a moment — if ever
an idea entered your soul that the citizens of Utah, the people generally whom
you addressed on the 8th, were possessed of a spirit of defection towards the gen-
eral government, or that they harboured prejudices against it unjustly, so far you
proved yourself 'profoundly ignorant' of the subject in which you were engaged,
and of the views and feelings of the people whom you addressed; and this ignor-
ance alone might have been sufficient to lead you into all the errors and fooleries
you were guilty of on that occasion. But had you known your hearers, you would
have known, and understood, and felt that you were addressing the most enlight-
ened and patriotic assembly, and the one furthest removed from ' prejudice and
defection " to the general government that you had ever seen, that you had ever
addressed, or that would be possible for you or any other being to find on the face
of the whole earth. Then, sir, how would it have been possible for you to have
offered your hearers on that occasion a greater insult than vou did? The most re-
fined and delicate ladies were justly incensed to wrath against you for intimating
that their husbands were ever capable of being guilty of such baseness as you rep-
resented, "prejudice and defection" towards a constitution which they firmly
believe emanated from the heavens, and was given by a revelation, to lay the
foundation of religious and political freedom in this age — a constitution and union
which this people love as they do the gospel of salvation. And when you, sir,
shall attempt to fasten the false and odious appellation of treason to this commu-
HISTORY OF SALT LAKE CITY. gi
nity, even ignorantly, as we had supposed you did it, you will find plenty, even
among the ladies, to hurl the falsehood back to its dark origin, in tones of thunder;
but if, as you say, you know, (or else how could the whole have been ' the result
of deliberation and care,') the plea of ignorance ceases again to shield you, and
you stand before the people in all the naked deformity of -wilful wickedness,'
who can plead your excuse? Who, under such circumstances, can make an apol-
ogy? I wonder not that you should excuse yourself from the attempt, ' or de-
cline appearing again in public on the subject.'
"Permit me sir, to subscribe myself, as ever,
Most respectfully, your servant,
Brigham Young.
"Hon. F. E. Brocchus, Assie. Justice.''
The speech of Judge Brocchus is not extant, nor is there to be found any
report of that exciting conference, for it was before the existence of the Deseret
News; but the subject and offence appear well defined in the correspondence
itself, which is strikingly illustrated in the following paragraph from Governor
Young's third letter :
"Another important item in the course of your remarks, on the 8th instant,
in connection with the expose of your own exalted virtue — you expressed a hope
that the ladies you were addressing would 'become virtuous.' Let me ask you,
most seriously, my dear sir, how could you hope thus? How could you hope that
those dear creatures, some of whose acts of benevolence to the stranger drew tears
Irom your eyes while you were yet speaking — how could you hope — what possible
chance was there for you to hope — they would become virtuous? Had you ever
proved them unvirtuous? If so, you could have but a faint hope of their reform-
ation. But, if you had not proved them unvirtuous, what testimony had you of
their lack of virtue? And if they were unvirtuous, how could they ' become virtu-
ous'? Sir, your hope was of the most damning dye, and your very expression
tended to convey the assertion tha those ladies you then and there ad-
dressed were prostitutes — unvirtuous — to that extent you could only hope, but the
probabilty was they were so far gone in wickedness you dare not believe they ever
could become virtuous. And now, sir, let your own good sense, if you have a
spark left, answer — could you, had you mustered all the force that hell could
lend you — could you have committed a greater indignity and outrage on the feel-
ings of the most virtuous and sensible assemblage of ladies that your eyes ever
beheld? If you could, tell me how. If you could not, you are at liberty to re-
main silent. Shall such insults remain unrequited, unatoned for?" •
Judge Brocchus made no written reply to the review of his conduct, but in
person acknowledged that it was unanswerable, and authorized the Governor to
apologise for him to the community.
This very singular and suggestive correspondence, which itself is quite a
chapter of the history of Great Salt Lake City, was published in the New York
Herald, and was the commencemen t of a great sensation over Utah affairs.
Having rendered themselves unpopular, and being neither able to arraign a
p2 HISTORY OF SALT LAKE CITY.
whole community for their religious institutions, nor strong enough to set aside
Governor Young and his three Federal colleagues, who stood with the people,
Chief Justice Brandebury, Associate Justice Brocchus, and Secretary Harris re-
solved to leave the Territory. But previous to their leaving, they called a
Supreme Court, which was held in Great Salt Lake City, though no law had been
passed fixing the time and place for holding it. At this court, as an original suit,
an injunction was granted. Associate Justice Snow dissented. He said, the bill,
he thought, was a good case for the injunction, yet he opposed it on two grounds:
" ist. — There was not any law fixing the time and place of holding the
Supreme Court.
"2d. — The Supreme Court had not original jurisdiction, and the District
Court had, which was provided for in the Governor's proclamation."
Chief Justice Brandebury and Associate Justice Brocchus left Great Salt Lake
City together. Soon afterwards Secretary Harris followed their example, carry-
ing away with him the ^24,000 which had been appropriated by Congress for the
per diem and mileage of the Legislature.
It would seem that these three Federal officers expected to be applauded by
the public, and sustained by the Government, their assault being against polyg-
amy, but they indiscreetly stated, in their communication to the Government,
that " polygamy monopolized all the women, which made it very inconvenient
for the Federal officers to reside there."
" Loose as people might suppose frontier life to be," observes Mr. Stenhouse
'\v\\\\% Rocky Mountain Saints, ^' no one anticipated that representatives of the
Federal Government would thus express themselves. That one sentence annihil-
ated them. Over the signature of Jedediah M. Grant [the Mayor of Great Salt
Lake City] a series of letters was addressed to the New York Herald, under the
title, 'Truth for the Mormons,' in which the Federal officers were turned into
redicule and fiercely handled. The Herald g'^vt the public only one letter; but
Grant, nothing daunted, published the whole series in pamphlet form, and scat-
tered them broadcast. The Grant letters, from their forcible and pungent style,
attracted the attention of literary men as gems of wit and vigorous English.
* * * In his moments of calm reflection, Judge Brocchus may
have concluded that his zeal against polygamy had outstripped his prudence.
The Government took that view of it, and quietly dropped the 'runaway judges
and secretary.' "
This view presented in the felicious vein ot the New York Herald's special
corespondent on Utah affairs, well describes the scandalized sense of the Ameri-
can public over the conduct of the " runaway judges and secretary; '' but it does
not sufficiently express the offended judgment of the United States Government
over their conduct. Congress had only just created the new Territory. In do-
ing this both the legislative and executive departments had a very clear pre-
knowledge that the United States was extending its rule over a religious com-
munity, whose institutions, though peculiar, were founded on the strict examples
of the Bible. The President and his advisers, among whom was that gigantic
HISTORY OF SALT LAKE CITY. gj
statesman, Daniel Webster, had with an intelligent intent appointed Brigham
Young Governor, with three other of his co-religionists, to represent the Federal
authority to their people; while to the minority of the Federal officers was given
the controling power of the judiciary, and the secretaryship, with the custody of
the appropriations; all of this had been done to bring the Mormon colony har-
moniously into the Union under its supremacy ; yet ere they had held a single
United States District Court in the new Territory, or its Legislature had assem-
bled, or the Territorial government itself was fully set up, the Chief Justice, his
Associate, and the Secretary deserted their posts. The General Government was
reasonably incensed over such a case ; Congress was scarcely less offended ; and
Daniel Webstej-, who was Secretary of State, peremptorily ordered the judges and
secretary back to their deserted positions or to resign.
After the departure of these Federal officers from Great Salt Lake City,
Governor Young appointed Willard Richards Secretary of the Territory /r^ tern.
This appointment, and several other informal acts, which had become necessary
in the absence of the regular officials in a newly organized Territory, was duly
reported to the Department of State. Daniel Webster sustained them, and the
bills of Willard Richards, which were signed "Secretary pro tern, appointed by
the Governor," were allowed by the Department, and paid.
The Utah Legislature also, finding the United' States Judiciary in the Terri-
tory inoperative, passed the following act authorizing Associate Justice Zerub-
babel Snow to hold the Courts in all the districts:
"an act concerning the judiciary, and for judicial purposes.
Sec. I . ' ^ Be it enacted by the Governor and Legislative Assembly of the Ter-
ritory of Utah, That the first Judicial District for said Territory, shall consist of,
and embrace the following counties and districts of country, to wit: — Great Salt
Lake, Davis, Weber, Tooele, and Utah Counties, and all districts of country
lying east, north, and west of said counties in said Territory. The Second
Judicial District shall consist of Millard and San Pete Counties, and all districts
of country lying south of the south line of latitude of Utah County, and north
of the south line of latitude of Millard County, within said Territory. And the
Third Judicial District shall consist of Iron County, and all districts of country
lying south of the south line of latitude of Millard County, in said Territory.
" Sec 2. The Honorable Zerubbabel Snow, Associate Justice of the Supreme
Court of the United States for the Territory of Utah, shall reside within the
First Judicial District, and hold Courts in the following order, viz : on the first
Monday in January and July at Great Salt Lake City ; on the first Monday of
April at Ogden City, in Weber County; and on the first Monday of October at
Provo City, in Utah County, in each year: Provided, the said Zerubbabel Snow,
Associate Justice, shall hold' his first Court on the first Monday of October in the
year eighteen hundred and fifty-one, at Great Salt Lake City, and omit said
Court during said year at Provo, in Utah County.
"Sec. 3. The Honorable Zerubbabel Snow is hereby authorized and re-
quired to hold two Courts in the Second Judicial District in each year, to-wit :
94 HISTORY OF SALT LAKE CITy.
on the first Monday of November at Manti, in San Pete County; and on the
first Monday in May at Fillmore, in Millard County.
"Sec. 4. The Honorable Zerubbabel Snow is further authorized and re-
quired to hold one Court for the Third Judicial District, viz: on the first Mon-
day in June of each year, at Parowan Cit\', in Iron County; and each session of
said Court in its several districts shall be kept open at least one week, and may
adjourn to any other place in each of said districts respectively: Provided, the
business of said Court shall so require.
"Sec 5. The foregoing acts are, and shall be in force until a full Bench of
the Supreme Court of the United States for the Territory of Utah, shall be sup-
plied by the President and Senate of the United States, after which the said
Zerubbabel Snow shall serve only in the First Judicial District.
"Approved October 4, 1851."
This officer afterwards, in a letter upon the first United States Courts held in
Utah, thus states :
" The Legislative Assembly met and, as the other Judges had returned to
the States, a law was passed authorizing me to hold the courts in all the districts.
At my first court I examined the proceedings of the Governor in calling the
Legislative Assembly, and held them legal, though somewhat informal. This
was reported to the Department of State, the Honorable Daniel Webster being
Secretary, who sustained Governor Young and myself. This was the commence-
ment of my judicial services."
That first United States District Court was held in Great Salt Lake City.
At the first term Judge Snow made use of the United States Attorney and
the United States Marshal, for Territorial business, there having been at that
time no Territorial fee bill passed, which led to a correspondence between the
Judge and the Honorable Elisha Whittlesey, Comptroller of the Treasury, the
former asking a number of questions relative to the practice of the United States
in defraying the expenses of the Territorial courts, which was answered by the
latter that the United States simply defrayed the expenses of its own business in
the courts. The answers closed thus :
"Lastly,! will observe that if the clerk, marshal, or attorney render any
service in suits to which the Territory is a party the officer must obtain his pay
from the Territory or from the county in which such suit may be prosecuted. It
should appear affirmatively on the face of every account that every item of it is a
legal and just claim against the United States; and the details and dates should
be stated, as required by my circular of December 5th, otherwise the marshal
should not pay it."
This led to the passage of a Territorial fee bill.
In 1852 the law was passed giving jurisdiction to the Probate courts in civil
and criminal cases, and creating the offices of Attorney-General and Marshal for
the Territory.
An historical note may here be made that the proceedings of the first United
States District Court, held in Great Salt Lake City, were published in the Deseret
HISTORY OF SALT LAKE CITY.
95
News, No. I, Vol. I, November 15th, 185 1, Willard Richards, editor and pro-
prietor.
Under the censure of the great statesman, Daniel Webster, and with ex-
Vice-President Dallis and Colonel Kane using their potent influence against
them, and also Stephen A Douglass, (to whom Kane in his letter to Fillmore per-
sonally refers as surety for Governor Young), Brandebury, Brocchus and Harris
were forced to retire. They were succeeded by Chief Justice Reed, Associate
Justice Shaver, and Secretary Ferris on August 31st, 1S52.
On their arrival in Great Salt Lake City the new appointees received a cor-
dial welcome from the Governor and citizens, which was reciprocated by the
Chief Justice and his Associate, but Secretary Ferris approved the course of his
predecessor and condemned the Mormons and their institutions. The new
judges, however, turned the tide of public feeling for awhile in favor of this
community, by the speeches which they delivered, and the very friendly letters
which they wrote on Utah -affairs. Shortly after his arrival in Great Salt Lake
City, Chief Justice Reed wrote as follows:
•'I waited on his Excellency, Governor Young, exhibited to him my com-
mission, and by him was duly sworn and installed as Chief Justice of Utah. I
was received by Governor Young with marked courtesy and respect. He has
taken pains to make my residence here agreeable. The Governor, in manners
and conversation, is a polished gentleman, very neat and tasty in dress, easy and
pleasant in conversation, and I think, a man of decided talent and strong intel-
lectual qualities. * * * j j-,^^^ heard him address the people once
on the subject of man's free agency. He is a very excellent speaker. His ges-
ture uncommonly graceful, articulation distinct, and speech pleasant. *
* * The Governor is a first rate business man. As civil Governor of
the Territory and Superintendent of Lidian Affairs, we would naturally suppose
he had as much to do as one man could well attend to; but in addition to those
employments, he is also President of the Church — a station which is no sinecure
by any means. His private business is extensive; he owns several grist and saw
mills, is extensively engaged in farming operations, all of which he superintends
personally. I have made up my mind that no man has been more grossly mis-
represented than Governor Young, and that he is a man who will reciprocate
kindness and good intentions as heartily and as freely as any one, but if abused,
or crowded hard, I think he may be found exceedingly hard to handle."
But Secretary Ferris soon after published a book expressing sentiments and
views, concerning Brigham Young and the Mormon community, the very an-
tipodes of those uttered by his Federal associates. After a short residence in
Great Salt Lake City Secretary Ferris retired and went to California ; Chief Jus-
tice Reed returned to New York and died ; he was succeeded by Chief Justice
John F. Kinney, August 24th, 1853. Associate Justice Zerubbabel Snow occupied
his full term and was succeeded by Associate Justice George P. Stiles, August ist,
1854. Almon W. Babbitt succeeded Ferris as Secretary, and District Attorney
Hollman succeeded Seth M. Blair. John M. Bernhisel was Delegate to Congress.
In 1854, Lieutenant- Colonel E. J. Steptoe, with his command, arrived in
'p6 HISTORY OF SALT LAKE CITY.
Great Salt Lake City, and the term of Governor Young's appointment expiring
about this time, President Pierce tendered the office to Colonel Steptoe; but he
was a gentleman, and a true republican, and he had too much wisdom withal to
accept the honor, for he knew that Brigham was the choice of the people. The
following document, expressive of the movement which he inspired, will be of
interest at this point:
"7i? His Excellency, Franklin Pierce, President of the United States:
"Your petitioners would respectfully represent that, whereas Governor
Brigham Young possesses the entire confidence of the people of this Territory,
without distinction of party or sect; and from personal acquaintance and social
intercourse we find him to be a firm supporter of the constitution and laws of the
United States, and a tried pillar of Republican institutions; and having repeat-
edly listened to his remarks, in private as well as in public assemblies, do know
he is the warm friend and able supporter of constitutional liberty, the rumors
published in the States notwithstanding; and having canvassed to our satisfaction
his doings as Governor and Superintendent of Indian affairs, and also the dispo-
sition of the appropriation for public buildings for the Territory; we do most
cordially and cheerfully represent that the same has been expended to the best
interest of the nation; and whereas his re-appointment would subserve the Terri-
torial interest better than the appointment of any other man, and would meet
with the gratitude of the entire inhabitants of the Territory, and his removal
would cause the deepest feeling of sorrow and regret ; and it being our unquali-
fied opinion, based upon the personal acquaintance which we have formed with
Governor Young, and from our observation of the results of his influence and
administration in this Territory, that he possesses in an eminent degree every
qualification necessary for the discharge of his official duties, and unquestioned
integrity and ability, and he is decidedly the most suitable person that can be
selected for that office. 4»
"We therefore take pleasure in recommending him to your favorable consider-
ation, and do earnestly request his re-appointment as Governor, and Superinten-
dent of Indian affairs for this Territory."
This document was signed by Colonel Steptoe and every other United States
Army officer in the Territory, as well as by all of the Federal civil officials, and
by every merchant and prominent citizen of Great Salt Lake City on the Gen-
tile side. The petition was headed by Chief Justice Kinney, followed by
Colonel Steptoe. Associate Justice Shaver's name was also to the document.
Not long after the signing of this document, which obtained from President
Pierce the re-appointment of Governor Young, Judge Shaver, on the morning of
the 29th of June, 1855, ^^^ found dead in his bed, in Great Salt Lake City.
The judge the previous night was apparently in good health, but he had long
suffered terribly from a wound, the pain of which he relieved by the constant ad-
ministration of opiates, and occasionally by stimulants; so that, though unexpected,
the cause of his death required but little explanation. The citizens sincerely
mourned the loss of Judge Shaver. He was buried by them with professional honors;
HISTORY OF SALT LAKE CITY.
97
his funeral sermon was preached by Jedediah M. Grant, the then Mayor of Great
Salt Lake City, and his memory is embalmed in the history of the Mormon
Church, as an upright judge and a friend of the community. Yet notwithstand-
ing the friendly relations which had existed between the deceased judge and the
citizens, his sudden death gave an opportunity for the circulation of a malicious
story of his being poisoned, on account of some supposed difficulty with Governor
Young.
W. W. Drummond succeeded the lamented Judge Shaver, September 12th,
1854; and Drummond and Associate Justice George P. Stiles were principally
instrumental in working up the Buchanan Expedition, or the "Utah war" as it
was popularly termed ; but we must leave the Federal thread for awhile and re-
view events connected with the community, the growth and peopling of Great
Salt Lake City, and the colonization of Utah in general, from about the time of
the setting up of the Territorial government.
CHAPTER XL
SOCIOLOGICAL EXPOSITION, SOURCES OF OUR POPULATION, EMIGRATION.
POLYGAMY.
For the completeness of the history a sociological exposition of the peopling
of Utah should be here presented, with its ethnological elements and methods
out of which society first grew in the isolation of these Rocky Mountains; nor
should the causes be ignored which have brought so many tens of thousands of
souls from Europe to this country, for the very purpose of organizing a new
society and creating a State of the American nation.
Li the history of Great Salt Lake City, the Mormon emigrations from Eu-
rope may be considered as the most relevant to its population; for, especially at
the onset, this city grew out of those emigrations. The American pioneers did
no more, in the matter of population, than plant the germs of society in these
valleys, nor could they possibly do more with so small a community as that which
left Nauvoo in the exodus. A decade must have passed before there could have
been any perceptible increase to the population by offspring, had not the emigra-
tions from abroad yearly poured into these valleys, vitalizing a community almost
exhausted by repeated exterminations. Thus replenished, by a new fusion from
the dominant parent races, from which the pioneers had themselves descended,
population was increased ten-fold within the first decade. Great Britain and
Scandinavia gave the bulk of this population, by their tens of thousands of emi-
grants, and next by their prolific increase of offspring; but the American pio-
13
g8 H1S10R\ 02^ SALT LAKE CITY.
neers were the originators of that emigrational movement of the Mormon people
from Europe to this country.
The following general epistle from the Twelve, dated at Winter Quarters,
Omaha Nation, December 23d, 1847, ^^il^ be of interest in this connection:
"To the Saints in England, Scotland, Ireland, Wales, and adjacent islands
and countries, we say, emigrate as speedily as possible to this vicinity, looking to
and following the counsel of the Presidency at Liverpool : shipping to New Or-
leans, and from thence direct to Council Bluffs, which will save much expense.
Those who have but little means, and little or no labor, will soon exhaust that
means if they remain where they are, therefore it is wisdom that they remove
without delay; for here is land on which, by their labor, they can speedily better
their condition for their further journey. And to all Saints in any country bor-
dering upon the Atlantic, we would say. pursue the same course, come immedi-
ately and prepare to go west, — bringing witli you all kinds of choice seeds, of
grain, vegetables, fruit, shrubbery, trees, and vines — everything that will please
the eye, gladden the heart, or cheer the soul of man, that grows upon the face of
the whole earth ; also the best stock of beast, bird, and fowl of every kind ; also
the best tools of every description, and machinery for spinning, or weaving, and
dressing cotton, wool, flax, and silk, etc., etc., or models and descriptions of the
the same, by which they can construct them ; and the same in relation to all
kinds of farming utensils and husbandry, such as corn shellers, grain threshers
and cleaners, smut machines, mills, and every implement and article within their
knowledge that shall tend to promote the comfort, health, happiness, or prosper-
ity of any people. So far as it can be consistently done, bring models and
drafts, and let the machinery be built where it is used, which will save great ex-
pense in transportation, particulary in heavy machinery, and tools and imple-
ments generally."
1
And here must be noticed the covenant of the emigration. Previous to leaving
Nauvoo President Young prompted the Mormons to enter into a solemn covenant
in the temple, that they would not cease their exertions until every individual of
them who desired and was unable to gather to the valley by his own means was
brought to that place. No sooner were they located in the Rocky Mountains, than
the Church prepared to fulfill this covenant, extending its application to the Saints
in all the world. The subject was introduced at the October Conference, in 1849,
by President Heber C. Kimball, and a unainmous vote was there and then taken
to raise a fund for the fulfillment of the promise. A committee was appointed to
raise money, and Bishop Edward Hunter sent to the frontiers to purchase wagons
and cattle, to bring the poor Saints from Pottowatomie lands. About $5,000
were raised that season. The fund was designated "The Perpetual Emigration
Fund," and the method of its application is well set forth in the following from a
letter to Apostle Orson Hyde, who was at the time presiding at Winter Quarters:
Great Salt Lake City, October i6th, 1849.
President Orson Hyde: — Beloved brother, we write to you more particularly
at this time, concerning the gathering, and the mission of our general agent for
HIS TOR Y OF SALT LAKE CI 7 Y.
99
the Perpetual Emigration Fund for the coming year, Bishop Hunter, who will
soon be with you, bearing the funds already raised in this place.
In the first place, this fund has been raised by voluntary donations, and is to
be continued by the same process, and by so managing as to preserve the same
and cause it to multiply.
* * * As early in the Spring as it will possibly do, on account of
feed for cattle, Brother Hunter will gather all his company, organize them in the
usual order, and preside over the camp, travelling with the same to this place,
having previously procured the best teamsters possible, such as are accustomed to
driving, and will be kind and attentive to their teams.
When the Saints thus helped arrive here, they will give their obligations to
the Church to refund to the amount of what they have received, as soon as cir-
cumstances will permit ; and labor will be furnished, to such as wish, on the public
works, and good pay; and as fast as they can procure the necessaries of life, and
a surplus, that surplus will be applied to liquidating their debt, and thereby in-
crease the perpetual fund.
By this it will readily be discovered that the funds are to be appropriated in
the form of a loan rather than a gift; and this will make tha honest in heart re-
joice, for they have to labor and not live on the charity of their friends, while the
lazy idlers, if any such there be, will find fault and want every Inxury furnished
them for the journey, and in the end pay nothing. * * >|;
"Brother Hunter will return all the funds to this place next season, when
the most judicious course will be pursued to convert all the cattle and means
into cash, that the same may be sent abroad as speedily as possible on another
mission, together with all that we can raise besides to add to it; and we antici-
pate that the Saints at Pottowatomie and in the States will increase the fund by
all possible means the coming winter, so that our agent may return with a large
company.
" The few thousands we send out by our agent at this time is like a grain of
mustard seed in the earth; we send it forth into the world, and among the Saints
— a good soil — and we expect it will grow and flourish,, and spread abroad in a
few weeks: that it will cover England, cast its shadow on Europe, and in process
of time compass the whole earth; that is to say, these funds are destined to in-
crease until Israel is gathered from all nations, and the poor can sit under their
own vine, and inhabit their own house, and worship God in Zion.
"We remain your brethren in the gospel,
Brigham Young,
Heber C. Kimball,
WiLLARD Richards."
A similar epistle was written to Orson Pratt, President of the British Mis-
sion, saying at the close:
"Your office in Liverpool is the place of deposit for all funds received either
for this or the tithing funds for all Europe, and you will not pay out only upon
our order, and to such persons as we shall direct."
These instructions and general epistles are the more important in the emi-
100 HISTORY OF SALT LAKE CITY.
grational history, as they are substantially the basis upon which all the emigra-
tions and business thereof have been conducted from that time to the present.
Donations in England were made straightway. The first received was 2S. 6d.
from Mark and Charlotte Shelley, of Woolwich, on the 19th of April, 1850.
The next was ^i, from George P. Waugh, of Edinburgh, on the 19th of June;
but in time the various emigration funds of the British Mission alone became
immense.
The mode of conducting the emigrations from Europe was as patriarchal as
the Church itself. As the emigration season came round, from every branch and
conference the Saints would be gathered and taken to Liverpool by their elders,
who saw them on shipboard in vessels chartered for their use. Not a moment
were they left to the mercy of "runners" and shipping agents. When on
board, the companies, which in some cases have amounted to more than a thou-
sand souls per ship, were divided into wards, each ward being under its president
or bishop, and his two councilors, and each company under its president and
councilors ; and besides these were the doctor, steward, and cook, with their
assistants. During the passage, regular service was daily observed, — morning
and evening prayers, preaching meetings and councils. Besides these were
numerous entertainments, concerts, dances, etc., so that the trips across the
Atlantic were like merry makings, enjoyed by the captains and their officers as
much as by the Saints. Reaching America a similar system was pursued up the
rivers, on the railroads, and across the plains until the Saints arrived in the val-
leys, when they were received, in the old time, by Brigham and " the authorities
in Zion," and sent by Bishop Hunter to the various settlements where they were
most needed to people the fast-growing cities of Utah.
It may be here suggestively noted that, at the date of this emigrational cir-
cular, there were not in all Utah more than eight thousand souls ; while, at about
the same date, in the British mission there were thirty thousand members of the
Mormon Church. The resources of population the community possessed abroad;
at home the resources were not sufficient to people Great Salt Lake City. The
colonizing genius of this "peculiar people" was now greatly m demand; and it
soon began to manifest itself in gigantic efforts to populate these valleys, and to
found the hundreds of cities and settlements which Utah possesses to-day, and
which the Mormon leaders designed to people when they laid off the City of the
Great Salt Lake in 1S47. This genius of colonization ihe community had mani-
fested from the beginning, as was observed in the opening chapter, but it had
hitherto operated chiefly abroad, in creating a population for the "building up
of a Zion " on the American continent. True there had sailed a few ship loads
of Mormons from the shores of Great Britain for Nauvoo; but only a few thou-
sand of the British people were mixed in the actual society problem of the Mor-
mons in America, until after the settlement in the valleys of the Rocky
Mountains. Indeed, it had not been possible for the Mormon leaders to have
emigrated a large European population to any of the eastern States, for the form-
ation of a community. As it was, the American Mormon population was too
large for both Missouri and Illinois. But in Utah, with a Territory given them
HISTORY OF SALT LAKE CITY. loi
by the United States, that they might people with their fruitful resources of pop-
plation from foreign missions, the Mormons for the first time found full aim and
scope for their colonizing genius and religion. From that moment Mormonism
meant the peopling of Utah and the building of cities and settlements, and that
too, chiefly at the onset, by yearly emigrations of converts from Europe; Great
Salt Lake City being the initial society work.
Accordingly at the October Conference of 1849, held in this city, after
establishing the Provisional Government of the State of Deseret, and the organ-
ization of the Perpetual Emigration Fund Company, "for the gathering of
Israel from the nations," as set forth in the circular, the Presidency and Twelve
Apostles set apart John Taylor, for France, to open a mission in that country ;
Lorenzo Snow for a similar purpose to Switzerland and Italy; Franklin D. Rich-
ards for England, to start the operations of the Perpetual Emigration Fund
Company in Europe; while Apostle Erastus Snow was sent to open the "new
dispensation" to the Scandinavian races.
In 1849, there was not a branch of the Mormon Church in all Scandinavia;
to-day (1883) nearly one-third of the Mormon population of Utah, including
their offspring, is Scandinavian. In 1S49, the emigrations from Great Britain,
dh-ect for Utah commenced ; from that date to their suspension for awhile, in
consequence of the Buchanan expedition, with which we shall presently deal, the
Mormon emigrations to America embraced about thirty thousand souls, the
majority of whoni became compounded in the population of Utah ; and still on,
down to the present time, the British mission, though greatly depleted by her
supplies has continued emigrations to this Territory. During this time a large
accession to the population also poured in from every State of the Union, sus-
taining the native American element.
In connection with this subject of population, it is proper that polygamy
should be considered, as a social factor of this Territory. Polygamy as a system
of family relations was published in 1851. With it as a religious institution the
historian has nothing to do, nor is it his province either to question or
approve of the special legislation passed against it; but sociologically and
ethnologically history has much to do with it in the peopling of Utah. The
population of this Territory, in fact, has grown largely out of Mormon polygamy;
and instead of deteriorating the race it has, in this case, replenished and im-
proved it. Emigrations from Europe pouring in yearly, bringing a surplus
of females from the robust snd fruitful races of Scandinavia and Great
Britain, their marriage with a dominant pioneer element of the American stock
has given stamina to families and population to the country. Indeed, Mormon
polygamy has done nearly as much for the population of Utah as emigration
itself; and with it, further than the statement of its facts, the writer has nought
to do in a sociological exposition. Thus it will be seen that, having planted the
germs of society in these valleys, the American portion of the population united
in marriage with the emigrants — and the whole became one people in the coloniza-
tion of Utah — one people very much in race as they were already in faith. The
exposition will further show that though the population a quarter of a century
102 HISTORY OF SALT LAKE CITY.
ago was largely foreign, to-day it must naturally be chiefly native American, for
while the emigrant parents have by thousands passed away by death, their
children born in these valleys have grown up to manhood and womanhood, and
are themselves parents today.
CHAPTER XII.
PICTURES OF MORMON SOCIETY IN THE FOUNDING OF UTAH. LIFE AMONG
THE SAINTS. THEIR SOCIAL AND RELIGIOUS PECULIARITIES AND CUS-
TOMS. ECSTACY OF THE GOLD-HUNTERS WHEN THEY CAME UPON
"ZION." VIEWS BY STANSBURY, GUNNISON, AND NOTED ENGLISH TRAV-
ELERS, OF THE MORMONS AND THEIR INSTITUTIONS. PETITION FOR A
RAILROAD. GENERAL EVENTS.
It is thought that a few pictures of the early days of Utah, and of Mormon
society in its primeval forms, may have a special interest to visitors of to-day,
who go up to the New Jerusalem of the West in luxurious palace cars. They
shall be the pictures which struck the fancy, or the judgment, of the intelligent
" Gentile" who first came upon the peculiar people, just settled in the valleys of
Utah, yet they described them in wonderment, much as they would have done had
they come upon the strange habitation and inhabitants of another world. There
is a graphic life-touch in some of those sketches — mere letters though they were
— that the imagination of the best artist could not equal. They are realistic
pictures of what was; romances of social life, so to speak, that were not dreams.
Here is a graphic sketch from the artistic pen of a gold digger, a correspon-
dent of the Neiu York Tribune, under date of July 8th, 1849:
"The company of gold diggers which I have the honor to command,
arrived here on the 3d instant, and judge our feelings when, after some twelve
hundred miles travel through an uncultivated desert, and the last one hundred
miles of the di.stance through and among lofty mountains, and narrow and diffi-
cult ravines, we found ourselves suddenly, and almost unexpectedly, in a compar-
ative paradi!:e. * * * At first sight of all these signs of cultivation
in the wilderness, we were transported with wonder and pleasure. Some wept,
some gave three cheers, some laughed, and some ran and fairly danced for joy,
while all felt inexpressibly happy to find themselves once more amid scenes which
mark the progress of advancing civilization. We passed on amid scenes like
these, expecting every moment to come to some commercial centre, some business
point in this great metropolis of the mountains, but we were disappointed. No
hotel, sign post, cake and beer shop, barber pole, market house, grocery, pro-
vision, dry goods, or hardware store distinguished one part of the town from
another; not even a bakery or a mechanic's sign was anywhere discernible.
HISTORY OF SALT LAKE CITY. 103
" Here, then, was something new : an entire people reduced to a level, and
all living by their labor — all cultivating the earth, or following some branch 01
physical industry. At first I thought it was an experiment, an order of things
established purposely to carry out the principles of 'socialism' or ' Mormonism.'
In short, I thought it very much like Owenism personified. However, on in-
quiry, I found that a combination of seemingly unavoidable circumstances had
produced this singular state of affairs. There were no hotels because there had »
been no travel; no barber shops, because every one chose to shave himself, and
no one had time to shave his neighbor; no stores, because they had no goods to
sell, nor time to traffic; no centre of business, because all were too busy to make
a centre.
"There was abundance of mechanic's shops, of dressmakers, milliners and
tailors, etc.; but they needed no sign, nor had they time to paint or erect one,
for they were crowded with business. Beside their several trades, all must culti-
vate the land or die, for the country was new, and no cultivation but their own
within a thousand miles. Every one had his own lot, and built on it; every one
cultivated it, and perhaps a small farm in the distance.
"And the strangest of all was, that this great city, extending over several
square miles, had been erected, and every house and fence made, within nine or
ten months of the time of our arrival; while at the same time, good bridges were
erected over the principal streams, and the country settlements extended nearly
one hundred miles up and down the valley.
"This Territory, State, or, as some term it, 'Mormon empire,' may justly
be considered one of the greatest prodigies of our time, and, in comparison with
its age, the most gigantic of all Republics in existence — being only in its second
year since the first seed of cultivation was planted, or the first civilized habita-
tion commenced. If these people were such thieves and robbers as their enemies
represented them to be in the States, I must think they have greatly reformed in
point ot industry since coming to the mountains.
"I this day attended worship with them in the open air. Some thousands
of well dressed, intelligent-looking people assembled ; a number of them on foot,
some in carriages, and some on horses. Many were neatly and even fashionably
clad. The beauty and neatness of the ladies reminded me of some of our best
congregations of New York. They had a choir of both sexes, who performed
exceedingly well, accompanied by a band, playing well -on almost every musica'
instrument of modern invention. Peals of the most sweet, sacred and solemn
music filled the air; after which, a solemn prayer was offered by Mr. Grant (a
Latter-day Saint), of Philadelphia. Then followed various business advertise-
ments, read by the clerk. * * * After this, came a lengthy dis-
course by Mr. Brigham Young, President of" the Society, partaking somewhat
of politics, much of religion and philosophy, and a little on the subject of gold ;
showing the wealth, strength and glory of England, growing out of her coal
mines, iron and industry, and the weakness, corruption and degradation of Span-
ish America, Spain, etc., growing out of their gold and silver, and idle habits.
" He further observed that the people here would petition to be organized
into a Territory under the American Government, notwithstanding its abuses.
I04 HISTORY OF SALT LAKE CIT\.
and that, if granted, they would stand by the the constitution and laws of the
United States; while, at the same time, he denounced their corruption and
abuses.
" ' But,' said the speaker, 'we ask no odds of them, whether they grant our
petition or not ! We will never ask any odds of a nation that has driven us from
our homes. If they grant us our rights, well; if not, well; they can do no more
' than they have done. They, and ourselves, and all men, are in the hands of the
great God, who will govern all things for good ; and all will be right, and work
together for good to them that serve God.'
"Such, in part, was the discourse to which we listened in the strongholds of
the mountains. The Mormons are not dead, nor is their spirit broken. And, if
I mistake not, there is a noble, daring, stern and democratic spirit swelling in
their bosoms, which will people these mountains with a race of independent men,
and influence the destiny of our country and the world for a hundred generations.
In their religion they seem charitable, devoted and sincere; in their politics,
bold, daring and determined ; in their domestic circle, quiet, affectionate and
happy, while in industry, skill and intelligence they have few equals, and no
superiors on earth.
"I had many strange feelings while contemplating this new civilization,
growing up so suddenly in the wilderness. I almost wished I could awake from
my golden dream, and find it but a dream ; while I pursued my domestic duties
as quietly, as happily, and contentedly as this strange people."
"These Mormons," says Gunnison, "are certainly the most earnest religion-
ists I have ever been among. It seems to be a constant self-sacrifice with
them, which makes me believe that the masses of the people are honest and
sincere.
"While professing a complete divorce of Church and State, their political
career and administration is made subservient to the theocratical or religious ele-
ment. They delight to call their system of government a ' theo-democracy,' and
that, in a civil capacity, they stand as the Israelites of old under Moses. For
the rule of those not fully imbued with the spirit of obedience, and sojourners
not of the faith, as well as for things purely temporal, tribunals of justice and
law-making assemblies are at present rendered necessary.
"The influence of their nomenclature of 'brethren and sisters' is apparent
in their actions, and creates the bond of affection among those who are more fre-
quently thrown together. It is impressed on infantile minds by the constant
repetition, and induces the feeling of family relationship. A little boy was
asked the usual question, ' whose son are you? ' and he very naively replied, ' I
am Brother Pack's son;' a small circumstance, truly, but one that stamps the
true mark of Mormon society. The welfare of the order becomes, therefore,
paramount to individual interest ; and the union of hearts causes the hands
to unite in all that pertains to the glory of the State ; and hence we see growing
up and prospering the most enterprising people of the age — combining the ad-
vantages of communism, placed on the basis of religious du':y and obedience to
what they call the law of the gospel — transcending the notion of socialistic
HISTORY OF SALT LAKE CIT\. 105
philosophers, that human regulations can improve and perfect society, irrespective
of the revealed word of God,
"Right or wrong, in the development of the principle, and in its applica-
tion, they have seized upon the most permanent element of the human mind in
its social relations — not yielding fully to the doctrines of earnestness and univer-
sal intention, and making man his own regenerator, as the fountain head of truth,
and passing thence into mysticism, pantheism and atheism, neither endeavoring
to cure the ills of society by political notions of trade and commerce, nor by
educating in the sentiment of honor, and by political inculcation of high
thoughts and noble images, independent of being 'born of the water and of the
spirit.'
"Nor must we look upon all as ignorant and blindfolded, guided along the
the ditch of enthusiasm by self-deluded leaders. Indeed, almost every man is a
priest, or eligible to the office, and ready armed for the controversial warfare.
His creed is his idol. And while among the best proselytes we class many that
are least versed in literary attainments, still among them we find liberally edu-
cated men, and those who have been ministers in other denominations — in fact
there seems to be as fair a sample of intelligence, moral probity, and good citi-
zenship, as can be found in any nominal Christian community.
"Sincerity and simplicity of purpose mark the masses, which virtues have
been amply proved by the sacrifices and suffering endured. And among the peo-
ple, so submissive to counsel, are those who watch with eagle eye that first prin-
ciples are adhered to, and stand ready to proclaim apostacy in chief or laymen,
and scrutinizing all revelations to discover whether they are from the Lord, or
given, through his permission, by Satan, to test the fidelity and watchfulness of
the disciples of truth. Litigation is much discouraged, and it is specially thought
improper for brother to go to law with brother, and that before unbelievers ; so
each bishop is a sort of county court judge between man and man, with an appeal
to the whole 'bench,' and a final resort to Brigham, who does good practical jus-
tice without any embarrassment from statute or common law.
" This people are jealous of their rights, and feel themselves entitled to en-
force order by their own laws, and severely punish contempt of them. The ad-
ministration of justice is of the most simple kind, and based on the equity and
the merits of the question, without reference to precedents and technicalities."
Another correspondent writing to a New York paper said :
"It is now three years since the Mormons arrived in Salt Lake Valley, and
their energy in laying out a city, building, fencing farms, raising crops, etc., is
truly wonderful to behold, and is but another striking demonstration of the inde-
fatigable enterprise, industry, and perseverance of the Anglo-Saxon race.
"The Mormons, take them as a body, I truly believe are a most industrious
people, and, I confess, as intelligent as any I have met with when in the East or
West. It is true they are a little fanatical about their religious views, which is
not at all strange when compared with the majority of religious denominations
in the East. But let no man be deceived in his estimation of the people who
have settled here. Any people who have the courage to travel over plains, rivers
io6 HIS TOR Y OF SALT LAKE CITY.
and mountains, for twelve hundred miles, such, probably, as cannot be traveled
over in any other part of the world, to settle in a region which scarcely ever re-
ceived the tread ot any but the wild savages and beasts who roam the wilderness,
must be possessed of an indomitable energy that is but rarely met with."'
W. Kelly, in his "Excursions in California in the Early Days," says:
"The houses are small, principally of adobies, built up only as temporary
abodes, until the more urgent and important matter of inciosure is attended to;
but I never saw anything to surpass the ingenuity of arrangement with which they
are fitted up, and the scrupulous cleanliness with which they are kept. There
were tradesmen and artizans of all descriptions, but no regular stores or work-
shops, except forges. Still, from the shoeing of an ox to the mending of a
watch, there was no difficulty experienced in getting it done as cheap and as well
put out of hand as in any other city in America. Notwithstanding the oppress-
ing temperature, they were all hard at work at their trades, and abroad in the
fields, weeding, moulding, and irrigating; and it certainly speaks volumes for
their energy and industry, to see the quantity of land they have fenced in, and
the breadth under cultivation, considering the very short time since they founded
the settlement in 1847.
"After bathing, we dressed in our best attire, and prepared to attend the
Mormon service, held for the the present in the large space adjoining the in-
tended Temple, which is only just above the foundations, but will be a structure
of stupendous proportions, and, if finished according to the plan, of surpassing
elegance. I went early, and found a rostrum in front of which there were rows
of stools and chairs for the townfolks; those from the country, who arrived in
great numbers, in light wagons, sitting on chairs, took up their stations in their
vehicles in the background, after unharnessing the horses. There was a very
large and most respectable congregation ; the ladies attired in rich and becoming
costumes, each with parasol ; and I hope I may say, without any imputation of
profanity, a more bewitching assemblage of the sex it has rarely been my lot to
look upon."
A still more important authority on Mormon society, in the early days of
Utah, was Captain Stansbury. He says in his official report;
"The founding, within the space of three years, of a large and flourishing
community upon. a spot so remote from the abodes of men, so completely shut
out by natural barriers from the rest of the world, so entirely unconnected by
water-courses with either of the oceans that wash the shores of this continent — a
country offering no advantages of inland navigation or of foreign commerce, but,
on the contrary, isolated by vast uninhabited deserts, and only to be reached by
long, painful, and often hazardous journeys by land — presents an anomaly so very
peculiar, that it deserves more than a passing notice. In this young and pros-
perous country of ours, where cities grow up in a day, and States spring up in a
year, the successful planting of a colony, where the natural advantages have been
such as to hold out the promise of adequate reward to the projectors, would have
excited no surprise ; but the success of an enterprise under circumstances so much
HISTORY OF SALT LAKE CITY. 107
at variance with all our preconceived ideas of its probability, may well be con-
sidered one of the most remarkable incidents of the present age.
Their admirable system of combining labor, while each has his own prop-
erty, in lands and tenements, and the proceeds of his industry, the skill in divid-
ing off the lands, and conducting the irrigating canals to supply the want of rain,
which rarely falls between April and October; the cheerful manner in which
every one applies himself industriously, but not laboriously \ the complete reign
of good neighborhood and quiet house and fields, form themes for admiration to
the stranger coming from the dark and sterile recesses of the mountain gorges
into this flourishing valley; and he is struck with wonder at the immense results,
produced in so short a time, by. a handful of individuals.
"This is the result of the guidance of all those hands by one master mind;
and we see a comfortable people residing where, it is not too much to say, the
ordinary mode of subduing and settling our wild lands could never have been
applied.
"Nothing can exceed the appearance of prosperity, peaceful harmony, and
cheerful contentment that pervaded the whole community. Ever since the first
year of privation, provisions have been abundant, and want of the necessaries
and even comforts of life are unknown. A design was at one time entertained
(more, I believe, as a prospective measure than anything else) to set apart a fund
for the purpose of erecting a poor-house; but, after strict inquiry it was found
that there were in the whole population but two persons who could be considered
objects of public charity, and the plan was consequently abandoned.
This happy external state of universally diffused prosperity, is commented
on by themselves as 'an evidence of the smiles of heaven, and of the special favor
of the Deity; but I think it may be most clearly accounted for in the admirable
discipline and ready obedience of a large body of industrious and intelligent
men, and in the wise counsels of prudent and sagacious leaders, producing a
oneness and concentration of action, the result of which has astonished even
those by whom it has-been effected. The happy consequences of this system of
united and well directed action, under one leading and controlling mind, is most
prominently apparent in the erection of public buildings, opening of roads, the
construction of bridges, and the preparation of the country for the speedy occu-
pation of a large and rapidly growing population, shortly to be still further aug-
mented by an immigration even now on its way, from almost every country in
Europe.
" In their dealings with the crowds of immigrants that passed through their
city, the Mormons were ever fair and upright, taking no advantage of the neces-
sitous condition of many, if not most of them. They sold them such provisions
as they could spare, at moderate prices, and such as they themselves paid in their
dealings with each other. In the whole of our intercourse with them, which
' lasted rather more than a year, I cannot refer to a single instance of fraud or ex-
tortion to which any of the party was subjected ; and I strongly incline to the
opinion that the charges that have been preferred against them in this respect,
arose from interested misrepresentation or erroneous information, , I certainly
never experienced anything like it in my own case, nor did I witness or hear
loH HISTORY Op SALT LAKE CITY.
of any instance of it in the case of others, while I resided among them. Too
many that passed through their settlements were disposed to disregard their claim
to the land they occupied, to ridicule the municipal regulations ot their city, and
to trespass wantonly upon their rights. Such offenders were promptly arrested
by the authorities, made to pay a severe fine, and in some instances were impris-
oned or made to labor on the public works \ a punishment richly merited, and
which would have been inflicted upon them in any civilized community. In
short, these people presented the appearance of a quiet, orderly, industrious, and
well-organized society, as much so as one would meet with in any city of the
Union, having the rights of personal property as perfectly defined and as relig-
iously respected as with ourselves; nothing being farther from their faith or prac-
tice than the spirit of communism, which has been most erroneously supposed to
prevail among them. The main peculiarity of the people consists in their relig-
ious tenets, the form and extent of their church government, (which is a theoc-
racy), and in the nature especially of their domestic relations."
Another early writer says :
"The masses are sincere in their belief: if they are credulous, and have
been deceived by their leaders, the sin, if any, rests on them. I firmly believe
the people to be honest, and imbued with true religious feelings; and when we
take into consideration their general character previously, we cannot but believe
in their sincerity. Nme-tenths of this vast population are the peasantry of Scot-
land, England and Wales, originally brought up with religious teachings at
Protestant parish churches. They place implicit faith in their leaders, who, in a
pecuniary point of view have fulfilled their promise ; each and all of them are
comfortably provided with land and tenements. At first they, of course, suffer pri-
vation, until they build their houses, and reap their crops, yet all their neces-
sities in the meantime are provided for by the Church, and in a social point of
view they are much happier than they could ever hope to have been at their
native homes. From -being tenants at the will of an imperious and exacting
landlord, they suddenly became landholders in their own right, free men, living
on free soil, under a free and enlightened government.
"Considering, again, how all efforts for the improvement of these advantages
must necessarily be self-dependent in such a place, one cannot say they have been
tardily developed. Indeed, to me, the manufactures, few as they were, and the
products and settlements sprung up so extensively in so short a time, spoke not of
a sensual but of a thrifty and industrious population, who, whatever may be their
delusions in matters of belief, or the corrupting influence of their customs, at
least determined to put their hands to the plow, and, looking forward, to work,
out of hardship and adversity, a comfortable, if not an enviable, prosperity.
Observe Salt Lake City — not a San Francisco, certainly — but remember that
eight years ago not a house stood here, nor a stick, nor a stone to build one of.
"The cheerful happy faces, the self-sacrificed countenances, the cordial saluta-
tion of brother or sister on all occasions of address, the lively strains of music
pouring forth from merry hearts in every domicile, as women and children sing
their "Songs of Zion," while plying the domestic tasks, give an expression of a
happy society in the vales of Deseret.
HISTORY OF SALT LAKE CITY. 109
"The}' have determined to keep themselves distinct from the vices of civiliza-
tion. During a residence of ten weeks in Great Salt Lake City, and my observa-
tions in all their various settlements, it is worthy of record that I never heard
any obscene or improper language, never saw a man drunk, never had my atten-
tion called to to the exhibition of vice of any sort. There are no gambling
houses, grog shops, or houses of ill-fame in all their settlements. They preach
morality in their churches and from their stands, and, what is as strange as it is
true, their people practice it, and religiously believe their salvation depends upon
fulfilling the behests of the religion which they have adopted.
" A liquor law, enforced pretty strictly, compels sobriety, which virtue iS;
therefore, no subject for praise. Swearing, at least blasphemous swearing, in the
public streets, is prohibited under pain of a five-dollar fine for each offense; the
fine is scarcely ever imposed, but violation of the law is uncommon, and very
rarely in public or private do you hear an oath. Theft, even in petty things,
such as vegetables and fuel, is prevented, not by prosecution, but by the known
rule, that 'if a man steals two or three times he is ordered to become honest or
leave the country for good. Not that Mormons ever pretend that there are no
bad men among them ; nay, agreeable to their principles, they will tell you that
a Mormon, if bad, will be worse than other men, because he sins against greater
light and knowledge, and after receiving the Spirit of God. Confirmatory of
this, I have met at Salt Lake with two or three very proper scoundrels : but,
leaking the people all around, I consider them as moral, industrious, fair-dealin ;
and hospitable a set as one is apt to fall in with.
"Li social parties and lively meetings the Mormons are pre-eminent, and
their hospitality would be more readily extended to strangers had they suitable
dwellings to invite them into. In their social gatherings and evening parties,
patronized by the presence of the prophets and apostles, it is not unusual to
open the ball with prayer, asking the blessing of God on their amusements, as
well as upon any other engagement ; and then will follow the most sprightly
dancing, in which all join with hearty good will, from the highest dignitary to
the humblest individual; and this exercise is to become part of the temple-wo;-
ship, to 'praise God in song and dances.'
" These private balls and soirees are frequently extended beyond the time of
cock-crowing by the younger members, and the remains of the evening repast
furnish the breakfast for the jovial guests.
" Toward the end of April, in 1854, about ten days previous to the depart-
uie of Governor Brigham Young, on his annual visit to the southern settlements
of Utah, tickets of invitation to a grand ball were. issued in his name. I had the
honor to receive one of them.
"At the appointed hour I made my appearance, chaperoned by Governor
Young, who gave me a general introduction. A larger collection of fairer and
more beautiful women I never saw in one room. All of them were dressed in
white muslin, some with pink and others with blue sashes. Flowers were the
only ornaments in the hair. The utmost order and the strictest decorum pre-
vailed. Polkas and waltzes were not danced ; country dances, cotillions,
quadrilles, etc., were permitted. At the invitation of Governor Young I opened
no HISTORY OF SALT LAKE CITY.
the ball with one of his wives. The Governor, with a beautiful partner, stood
vis-a-vis. An old-fashioned cotillion was danced with much grace by the ladies,
and the Governor acquitted himself wery well on the ' light fantastic toe.' After
several rounds of dancing, a march was played by the band, and a procession was
formed; I conducted my first partner to the supper room, where I partook of a
fine entertainment at the Governor's table. There must have been at least two
hundred ladies present, and about one hundred gentlemen. I returned to my
quarters at twelve o'clock, most favorably impressed with the exibition of public
society among the Mormons."
In 1852 the people had a grand celebration of the Fourth of July. This was
the first notable celebration of our national birthday by the Mormons since their
arrival in the valley, though it was kept by the Pioneers on the way, both at
Winter Quarters and as they approached the haven of their' search. They had
afterwards, in a manner, blended the idea and spirit of the Fourth with the
Twenty-Fourth, which they esteem as the natal day of Utah. On the first cele-
bration of the Twenty-Fourth, the Constitution of the United States was, as we
have seen, presented to the Governor of the State of Deseret, and the Declara-
tion of Independence read, but the honor of the year in 1852, was given to the
Fourth of July.
At the first session of the Territorial Legislature, held in 185 1-2, in Salt
Lake City, memorials to Congress were adopted, praying for the construction of
a national central railroad, and also a telegraph line from the Missouri River, via
Salt Lake City to the Pacific. The following memorial was signed and approved
by Governor Young, March 3d, 1852 :
'■^To the Honorable the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States,
in Congress assembled :
"Your memorialists, the Governor and Legislative Assembly of the Terri-
tory of Utah, respectfully pray your honorable body to provide for the establish-
ment of a national central railroad from some eligible point on the Mississippi
or Missouri River, to San Diego, San Francisco, Sacramento, or Astoria, or such
other point on or near the Pacific Coast as the wisdom of your honorable body
may dictate.
" Your memorialists respectfully state that the immense emigration to and from
the Pacific requires the immediate attention, guardian care, and fostering assistance
of the greatest and most liberal government on the earth. Your memorialists are
of the opinion that not less than five thousand American citizens have perished
on the different routes within the last three years, for the want of proper
means of transportation. That an eligible route can be obtained, your
memorialists have no doubt, being extensively acquainted with the country. We
know that no obstruction exists between this point and San Diego, and that iron,
coal, timber, stone, and other materials exist in various places on the route ; and
that the settlements of this Territory are so situated as to amply supply the
builders of said road with material and provisions for a considerable portion of the
route, and to carry on an extensive trade after the road is completed.
"Your memorialists are of opinion that the mineral resources of California
HISTORY OF SALT LAKE CITY. m
and these mountains can never be fully developed to the benefit of the United
States, without the construction of such a road; and upon its completion, the
entire trade to China and the East Indies will pass through the heart of the
Union, thereby giving to our citizens the almost entire control of the Asiatic and
Pacific trade; pouring into the lap of the American States the millions that are
now diverted through other commercial channels; and last, though not least, the
road herein proposed would be a perpetual chain or iron band, which would ef-
fectually hold together our glorious Union with an imperishable identity of
mutual interest; thereby consolidating our relations with foreign powers in times
of peace, and our defense from foreign invasion, by the speedy transmission of
troops and supplies in times of war.
^'The earnest attention of Congress to this important subject is solicited by
your memoralists, who, in duty bound, will ever pray."
On the 31st of January, 1854, there was another movement of the people
for a Pacific Railroad. The citizens of Salt Lake and surrounding country, men
and women, gathered en masse to make a grand demonstration in its favor.
As the Salt Lake Temple, when completed, will be one of the finest and most
unique architectural piles in America, it will be proper for us to give a synopsis
of the laying of the corner stones. We cull the following from the Deseret
JVewi:
"Wednesday, April 6th, 1853, could not have dawned a more lovely day,
or have been more satisfactory to Saints or Angels. The distant valleys sent
forth their inhabitants, this valley swarmed forth its thousands, and a more glori-
ous sight has not been seen for generations than at Great Salt Lake City this day.
"The Deseret national flag was unfurled to the breeze. The Nauvoo Brass
Band, Captain Ballo's Band, and the Military Band enlivened the air with their
sweetest strains. The Silver Greys made a venerable appearance, and the minute
men, true to their duty, were at their posts at an early hour. The police, under
the efficient management of Captain Hardy, were at their posts at the time ap-
pointed ; and the countenances of the Saints were as glad and cheerful as though
each had been favored with the visitation of an angel. * * * 'pj-jg
procession then formed at the vestry door in the following order:
" ist. Martial music. Colors. 2d, Nauvoo Brass Band. Colors. 3d, Ballo's
Band. Colors. 4th, Captain Pettegrew with relief guards. Colors. 5th, Singers.
6th, First President and Counselors, and aged Patriarch. 7th, The Twelve
Apostles, first Presidency of the Seventies, and President and Counselors of the
Elders' Quorum. 8th, President of the High Priests' Quorum, and Counselors,
in connection with the President of the Stake, and the High Council. 9th, Pre-
siding Bishop, with his Council, and the Presidents of the lesser Priesthood, and
their Council. loth, Archiiects and workmen selected for the day, with banner,
representing ' Zion's Workmen.' nth, Captain Merrill, with relief guard, in
uniform.
"The procession then marched through the line of guards to the southeast
corner of the Temple ground, the singers taking their position in the centre, the
Nauvoo Brass Band on the east bank, Captain Ballo's Band on the west bank, and
112 HISTORY OF SALT LAKE Ciry.
the Marshal Band on the mound southwest. Captains Pettigrew, Hardy, and
Merrill, with their commands, occupying the front of the bank (which was six-
teen feet deep,) and moving from corner to corner with the laying of the several
stones, prevented an undue rush of the people, which might, by an excavation,
have endangered the lives of many, -when Presidents Young, Kimball, and Rich-
ards, with Patriarch John Smith, proceeded to lay the southeast cornerstone, and
ascended the top thereof, when the choir sang; President Young delivered
the chief oration, and Heber C. Kimball offered the consecration prayer.
"The procession again formed, and proceeded to the southwest corner,
when the Presiding Bishop, Edward Hunter, his counsel, and the various Presi-
dencies of the lesser Priesthood, with their associates, laid the southwest corner
stone, when, from its top, Bishop Hunter delivered the oration, and Bishop
Alfred Cordon offered the consecration prayer.
The procession again formed, and moved to the northwest corner stone,
accompanied with martial music, when John Young, President of the High
Priests' Quorum, with his Council, and the President of the Stake, with the High
Council, proceeded to lay the stone.. That being done they ascended the stone,
and President John Young delivered the oration, and George B. Wallace offered
the consecration prayer.
The procession again formed, and proceeded to the northeast corner stone,
which was laid by the Twelve Apostles, the First Presidency of the Seventies,
and the Presidency of the Elders' Quorum. The Apostles then ascended the
stone, and Elder P. P. Pratt delivered the oration, and Orson Hyde offered the
consecration prayer.
On the 31st of October, 1853, Governor Young received an express giving
an account of the massacre on the i6th of that month, by Indians, of Captain
John W. Gunnison and seven of his party, near the swamps of the Sevier River.
Captain Gunnison and twelve of his party had departed from the rest, and while
at breakfast, a band of Indians, intending to destroy a Mormon village near at
hand, came upon them and fired with rifles, and then used bows and arrows-
Shots were returned by the Gunnison party, but they were overpowered, and only
four escaped. Gunnison had twenty arrows shot into his body, and, when found,
had one of his arms off. The notes of the survey, which had been nearly com-
pleted, instruments, and the animals, were taken by the Indians. Governor
Young immediately sent aid to Captain Morris, to release him from his critical
position in the midst of the Indians, and endeavor to obtain the lost property.
In his message to the Legislature that year, the Governor said :
"In the military department of the Territory there is but little change from
last year's report, except an increase of about seven hundred names to the mus-
ter rolls. In the southern settlements a great portion of the troops have been
kept in almost constant service in order to preserve the inhabitants and their
property from Indian aggressions. * * *
" During the late troubles, twelve of our citizens have been killed at differ-
ent times, and many wounded ; and seven of the exploring party, including the
lamented Captain Gunnison, have been killed on the Sevier."
liig" ujahaaAi i. Sons, New iary.
HISTORY OF SALT LAKE CITY. uj
CHAPTER XIV.
CARSON COLONY. THE GREAT FAMINE IN UTAH. THE HAND-CART COM-
PANIES. CONSTITUTIONAL CONVENTION. DEATH OF J. M. GRANT.
MAYOR OF GREAT SALT LAKE CITY. BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCH.
In 1854-5, the Mormon colonists pushed forward to the western frontier of
the Territory, and settled a large portion of the country now known as Nevada.
This mission was given to about seventy families, who were directed to go to
Carson Valley under the supervision of Orson Hyde, President of the Apostles.
Soon afterwards the Legislature of Utah organized the whole of that district un-
der the name of Carson County, appointing at the same time Orson Hyde as
probate judge. Hon. Enoch Reese was its representative. Governor Young, in
his message to the Legislature, in the winter of 1855-6, said : " In accordance
with a law passed by the Assembly in 1854-5, the Hon. Orson Hyde repaired to
Carson County, accompanied by the Hon. Judge Stiles and Marshal Ileywood,
and, in connection with authorized persons from California, approximately es-
tablished the boundary line between this Territory and that State in the region of
Carson Valley, and fuUv organized the county."
The first house in Genoa was built by Col. John Reese, of Great Salt Lake
City, in 1850. It was called Reese's Station. A few persons — namely, Orson
Hyde, Chester Loveland, Christopher Merkley, Seth Dustin, George Hancock,
Reuben Perkins, Jesse Perkins, and William Hutchings — colonized that country
in 1855, but in the spring of 1856, an organized colony of about seventy families
went, among were Christopher Layton, William Jennings, William Nixon, Joseph
R. Walker (in the employ of Nixon), Peregrine Sessions (the founder of Sessions'
settlement), Albert Dewey, farmer Cherry from Bountiful, William Kay (founder
of Kaysward), George Nebeker, and a number of others who would rank as first
class men in the formation of a new colony.
In the winter of 1855-6, the Legislature was removed from Great Salt Lake
to Fillmore, which had been designated as the capital in former sessions.
There was a famine in Utah in 1856. The crops of the two previous years
had failed, and in some of the settlements the winters had been very severe, and
the cattle ranging in the valleys died in great numbers. The best provided families
throughout the winter of 1855-6 had to ration themselves to the smallest amount
of breadstuffs per day in order to subsist until the following harvest. The con-
dition of the poor was appalling; and nothing but the semi-patriarchal character
of the community preserved thousands from perishing.
The following letter from Heber C. Kimball to his son in England, gives a
graphic picture of the famine of 1856:
"Great Salt Lake City,
February 29, 1856.
To my dear son William, and to all whom it may concern. — My family,
114 HISTORY OF SALT LAKE CITY.
with yours, are all in good health and spirits. I have been under the necessity
of rationing my family, and also yours, to two-thirds of a pound of bread stuff
per day each; as the last week is up to day, we shall commence on half-a-pound
each. This I am under the necessity of doing. Brother Brigham told me to-day
that he had put his family on half-a-pound eachj for there is scarcely any grain
in the country, and there are thousands that have none at all scarcely. We do
this for the purpose of feeding hundreds that have none.
"My family, at this time, consists of about one hundred souls, and I sup-
pose that I feed about as many as one hundred besides. My mill has not brought
me in, for the last seven months, over one bushel of toll per day, in consequence
of the dry weather, and the water being frozen up — which would not pay my
miller. When this drouth came on, I had about seven hundred bushels of wheat,
and it is now reduced to about one hundred and twenty-five bushels, and I have
only about twenty-five bushels of corn, which will not provide for my own family
until harvest. Heber has been to the mill to-day, and has brought down some
unbolted flour, and we shall be under the necessity of eating the bran along with
the flour, and shall think ourselves doing well with half-a-pound a day at that.
Martin Wood stated to him that he had ground thirty bushels yesterday, but last
night was a very cold night, which will check the water again, as the weather has
not modified a great deal. Although the sun shines pleasantly through the day,
the nights are still quite cold. You must remember that I did not raise one
spoonful of wheat last year, and I have not received any from any other source
than the mill. Brother James planted some late corn from which we obtained
about forty bushels, and rather poor at that. We have some meat and, perhaps
about seventy bushels of potatoes, also a very few beets and carrots ; so you
can judge whether or not we can ^et through until harvest without digging roots ;
still we are altogether better ofT than the most of the people in these valleys of
the mountains. There are several wards in this city who have not over two
weeks' provisions on hand.
"I went into the tithmg ofifice with Brother Hill, and examined it from top
to bottom, and, taking all the wheat, corn, buckwheat and oats, there were not.
to exceed five hundred bushels, which is all the Public Works have or expect to
have, and the works are pretty much abandoned, the men having been all turned
off, except about fifteen who are at work on Brother Brigham's house, and mak-
ing seed drills for grain, as we shall be obliged to put in our grain by drilling,
on account of the scarcity, which probably will not take over one-third of the
grain it would to sow broadcast.
"We shall not probably do anything on the Public Works until another har-
vest. The mechanics of every class have all been counseled to abandon their
pursuits and go to raising grain. This we are literally compelled to do, out of
necessity. Moreover, there is not a settlement in the Territory, but is in the
same fix that we are. Some settlements can go two months, some three, some
can, probably, at the rate of half-a-pound per day, till harvest. Hon. A. W.
Babbitt, even, went to Brother Hyde's provision store the other day, and begged
to get twenty or twenty-five pounds of flour, but could not. This I was told by
William Price, who is the salesman of the store. Money will not buy flour or
HIS TOR Y OF SAL T LAKE CI2 K 775
meal, only at a few places, and but very little at that. I can assure you that I am
harassed constantly; I sell none for money, but let it go where people are truly
destitute. Dollars and cents do not count now, in these times, for they are the
tightest that I have ever seen in the Territory of Utah. You and your brethren
can judge a little by this. As one of the old 'prophets said, anciently, ' As with
the people, so with the priest,' we all take it together."
This second famine was likened to the famine of Egypt. For months some
families knew not the taste of bread. Settlements usually noted for good crops
were so destitute that they sent teams several hundred miles to other settlements
to get bran and shorts, and even that supply was considered a great luxury. The
community had also to feed the thousands of emigrants who arrived that year in
a starved condition in the handcart companies. The famine was the great sub-
ject of the discourses of the Tabernacle; and, much to the credit of Governor
Young and other leading men of substance, it is to be observed that they urged
all the community to share with each other, and faithfully set the example them-
selves. So much were the people appalled with the prospect of famine at some
future period, by the experience of this year, that for nearly twenty years there-
after they every season stored surplus wheat to be prepared when famine should
come again. It took the railroad to dissipate this terror o.f famine from the peo-
ple's mind.
It was also the year of the handcart emigration, in which several hundred
perished in the snows and for lack of food. The story of the terrible sufferings
of the poor emigrants and of the victims whose graves daily marked the journey
can never be fully told, and it is too harrowing to the feelings of the people,
even to-day, to render the effort desirable for the historian's pen. It is a page of
history in the peopling of Utah which the people would fain have forgotten; but
it is due to Brigham Young and the noble conduct of the entire community to
record something of the rescue of those companies. The following passages are
culled from Mr. John Chislett's very graphic chapters on the handcart emi-
gration : ^
" We traveled on in misery and sorrow day after day. Sometimes we made
a pretty good distance, but at other times we were only able to make a {o.'fi miles'
progress. Finally we were overtaken by a snow-storm which the shrill wind blew
furiously about us. The snow fell several inches deep as we traveled along, but
we dared not stop, for we had a sixteen-mile journey to make, and short of it we
could not get wood and water.
'' As we were resting for a short time at noon a light wagon was driven into
our camp from the west. Its occupants were Joseph A. Young and Stephen
■ Taylor. They informed us that a train of supplies was on the way, and we
might expect to meet it in a day or two. More welcome messeiTgers never came
from the courts of glory than these two young men were to us. They lost no
time after encouraging us all they could to press forward, but sped on further
east to convey their glad news to Edward Martin and the fifth hand-cart company
who left Florence about two weeks after us, and who it was feared were even
worse off than we were. As they went from our view, many a hearty ' God
bless you' followed them."
ii6 HISTORY OF SALT LAKE CLTY.
"Joseph A.," as the Prophet's eldest son is familiarly termed, was the last
of the returning missionaries to leave the emigrant camp on the banks of the
Platte River. Though ignorant of the apprehension that he felt for their welfare,
and the presentiments he had of the inevitable suffering that awaited them, many
of the emigrants clung to him with more than ordinary affection, and detained
him till the warning of approaching night urged him to follow his companions.
When he bade them good-by, he could scarcely say more than '' You shall see me
again soon." All speed was made by him and his companions, and imme-
diately on arrival in Salt Lake City he reported to his father how far the emi-
grants were yet behind.
Brigham comprehended their situation in a moment. Though his son had
been absent two years from his home, he ordered him instantly to make ready to
return to the assistance of the emigrants and gave him authority to take all the
provisions, clothing, and vehicles that he could find on the way and press them
forward to the rescue. Brigham Young on that occasion earned the good opinions
of foes as well as friends. Mr. Chislett continues :
"The storm which we encountered, our brethren from the Valley also met
and, not knowing that we were so utterly destitute, they encamped to await
fine weather. But when Captain Willie found them and explained our real con-
dition, they at once hitched up their teams and made all speed to come to
our rescue. On the evening of the third day after Captain Willie's departure,
just as the sun was sinking beautifully behind the distant hills, on an eminence
immediately west of our camp several covered wagons, each'drawn by four horses,
were seen coming towards us. The news ran through the camp like wild-fire,
and all who were able to leave their beds turned out en masse to see them. A
few minutes brought them sufficiently near to reveal our faithful captain slightly
in advance of the train. Shouts of joy rent the air ; strong men wept till tears
ran freely down their furrowed and sun-burnt cheeks, and little children partook
of the joy which some of them hardly understood, and fairly danced around with
gladness. Restraint was set aside in the general rejoicing, and as the brethren en-
tered our camp the sisters fell upon them and deluged them with kisses. The
brethren were so overcome that they could not for some time utter a word, but in
choking silence repressed all demonstration of those emotions that evidently mas-
tered them. Soon, however, feeling was somewhat abated, and such a shaking
of hands, such words of welcome, and such invocation of God's blessing have
seldom been witnessed.
" I was installed as regular commissary to the camp. The brethren turned
over to me flour, potatoes, onions, and a limited supply of warm clothing for
both sexes, besides quilts, blankets, buffalo robes, woollen socks, etc. I first dis-
tributed the necessary provisions, and after supper divided the clothing, bedding,
etc., where it was most needed. That evening, for the first time in quite a period,
the songs of Zion were to be heard in the camp, and peals of laughter issued from
the little knots of people as they chatted around the fires. The change seemed
almost miraculous, so sudden was it from grave to gay, from sorrow to gladness,
from mourning to rejoicing. With the cravings of hunger satisfied, and with ■
HISTORY OF SALT LAKE CITY. iij
hearts filled with gratitude to God and our good brethren, we all united in prayer,
and then retired to rest.
''Among the brethren who came to our succor were Elders W. H. Kimball
and G. D. Grant. They had remained but a few days in the Valley before start-
ing back to meet us. May God ever bless them for their generous, unselfish
kindness and their manly fortitude ! They felt that they had, in a great measure,
contributed to our sad position ; but how nobly, how faithfully, how bravely they
worked to bring us safely to the Valley — to the Zion of our hopes !
"After getting over the Pass we soon experienced the influence of a
warmer climate, and for a few days we made good progress. We constantly met
teams from the Valley, with all necessary provisions. Most of these went on to
Martin's company, but enough remained with us for our actual wants. At Fort
Bridger we found a great many teams that had come to our help. The noble fel-
lows who came to our assistance invariably received us joyfully, and did all in
their power to alleviate our sufferings. May they never need similar relief !
"After arriving in the Valley, I found that President Young, on learning
from the brethren who passed us on the road of the lateness of our leaving the
frontier, set to work at once to send us relief. It was the October Conference
when they arrived with the news. Brigham at once suspended all conference
business, and declared that nothing further should be done until every available
team was started out to meet us. He set the example by sending several of his
best mule teams, laden with provisions. Heber Kimball did the same, and
hundreds of others followed their noble example. People who had come from
distant parts of the Territory to attend conference, volunteered to go out to meet
us, and went at once. The people who had no teams gave freely of provisions,
bedding, etc. — all doing their best to help us.
" We arrived in Salt Lake City on the 9th of November, but Martin's com-
pany did not arrive until about the ist of December. They numbered near six
hundred on starting, and lost over one-fourth of their fiumber by death. The storm
which overtook us while making the sixteen-mile drive on Sweetwater, reached
them at North Platte. There they settled down to await help or die, being unable
to go any farther. Their camp-ground became indeed a veritable grave-yard
before they left it, and their dead lie even now scattered along from that point to
Salt Lake. They we.re longer without food than we were, and being more exposed
to the severe weather, their morcality was, of course, greater in proportion.
" Our tale is their tale partly told ; tfee same causes operated in both cases,
and the same effects followed.
" Immediately that the condition of the suffering emigrants was known in
8alt Lake City, the most fervent prayers for their deliverance were offered up.
There, and throughout the Territory, the same was done as soon as the news
reached the people. Prayers in the Tabernacle, in the school-house, in the family
circle, and in the private prayer circles of the priesthood, were constantly offered
up to the Almighty, begging Him to avert the storm from us. Such intercessions
were invariably made on behalf of Martin's company, at all the meetings which I
attended after my arrival.
" But it was the stout hearts and strong hands of the noble fellows who came
ii8 HISTORY OF SALT LAKE CITY.
tJ our relief, the good teams, the flour, beef, potatoes, the warm clothing and
bedding, and 7iot prayers nor prophecies, that saved us from death."
In March, 1856, a constitutional convention was held at Great Salt Lake
City, and a constitution drafted, the preamble of which stated that the last cen-
sus showed a sufficient population to justity the people to petition Congress for a
State government. The State was named Deseret.
At the close of the year 1856, Great Salt Lake City met a sad bereavement
in the death of its first mayor, to whose distinguished memory is dedicated the
following brief biographical sketch :
Jedediah Morgan Grant , first mayor of Great Salt Lake City, was the son of
Joshua and Thalia Grant, and was born in Windsor, Broome County, New York,
February 21, 181 6. We have been unable to procure definite intelligence of his
childhood and education, but the foundation for mental pursuits and the love of
books and study was evidently laid at that early period of life, before he appeared
as a candidate for baptism in the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.
He was baptized by Elder John F. Boynton, afterwards one of the Apostles, on
the 2rst of March, 1S33. In the spring of the following year, when he was
eighteen years of age, he accompanied "Zion's Camp" in the wonderful march
to Missouri, '•' and in the fatigues, privations, trying scenes and arduous labors en-
dured by that handful of valiant men, exhibited a goodly portion, for one so
young, of that integrity, zeal, and unwavering effort and constancy in behalf of
the cause of truth, that invariably characterized his life." The experience the
young men of this expedition obtained, on this memorable journey, was such as
few ever passed through in life.
He was among the first who left Nauvoo in the exodus of 1846, crossing the
river in February, and with the body of the Saints turning his back upon the
tyrannical oppression of mobs and treacherous friends to seek an asylum of peace
in the fastnesses of the mountains of the great West.
He went east from Winter Quarters in the winter of 1846-/, on a short mis-
sion, during which he purchased the materials for making a flag, which tor several
years floated over " the land of the free and the homes of the blest " in this city,
and was familiarly known as "the mammoth flag." After transacting important
business in the interests of the exodus, he returned in June, 1847, to the Missouri
River, and was appointed Captain of the Third Hundred of the emigrating
Saints, which he successfully led to the Salt Lake Valley, arriving in the follow-
ing October. A year after, with characteristic energy and promptness, he went
out beyond Fort Bridger with several men and teams to relieve President Willard
Richards and accompany and assist them in.
May 26, 1849, he was elected Brigadier General of^ the first brigade of the
Nauvoo Legion, and October 23d, 1852, was promoted to the Major Generalship
of the First Division, which military office he held unto his death. He was an
efficient officer, valiant, energetic and just. In the difficulties with the Indians
he manifested considerable skill, and always was regarded as eminently jealous of
the rights of the red men as well as of the safety of the whites.
In the fall of 1849, Elder Grant went to the States on business, together with
about forty missionaries, who elected him captain of the company. Among the
HISTORY OF SALT LAKE CITY. ng
number were President John Taylor, Apostles Erastus Snow, Lorenzo Snow, F. D.
Richards, Bishop Hunter, Colonel Reese, Curtis E. Bolton, and several other
prominent elders.
Great Salt Lake City was incorporated on the 19th of January, 1851, and
at the first election held under the charter, on the first Monday of the next
April, Jedediah M, Grant was elected mayor, which office he magnified in an
eminent degree and held uninterruptedly, by the unanimous vote of the people,
until his death. During the period of his administration, the first ordinances for
the government, safety and general welfare of the people were enacted^ forming
the basis of the municipal regulations under which the city has grown and pros-
pered to the present time.
The following introduction to his famous series of letters, published in the
New York Herald, yx^ow the "runaway judges," will fitly represent Mayor
Grant's bold, independent style, and thoroughly honest character:
11 1
Sir: I will thank you to print, as soon as you can, the substance of this
letter. Considered only as news, it ought to be worth your while. There is
great curiosity everywhere to hear about the Mormons, and eagerness to know all
the evil that can be spoken of them. Announce you that I am a Mormon Elder,
just arrived from Utah — mayor, in fact, of Salt Lake City, where my wife and
family are still living — a preacher, brigadier of horse, and president of the
quorum of Seventies, and the like; and not one subscriber that waded overshoe-
tops through the slime of details you gave of the play-actor's divorce trial lately,
will not be greedy to read all I have to say about the filthier accusations that have
been brought against me and my friends and brethren. This is what I have to
count upon, thank falsehood. And if you publish my letter entire, 1 will ask for
no editorial help from you. I am no writer; but, with the help of the Power of
Light, I am not afraid of what you can say against us. So long as I walk by the
rule of my Master, you walk by the rude working of your fancies.
"I must say I have had my doubts about writing out upon these mat-
ters ; my doing so not being approved by our Delegate in Congress, Dr. Bern-
hisel. The Doctor is one of our gentlemen at home, a real gentleman, and
would not say a rough word or do a rough thing to hurt the feelings or knock off
the spectacles of any man for the world. But I am no gentleman, in his sense at
least, and have had slights enough put upon me, personally, since I came east-
ward, to entitle me to any amount of stand-up self-defence. Dr. Bernhisel's
official course in this matter, I suppose I am bound to accept ; for I have under-
stood that he had the advice of experienced men, who said to him : 'Take up
the report of the three officers criminating your constituents, when it comes from
the State Department into the House ; ask for a special committee with power to
send for persons and papers, and put the false witnesses on oath; but don't stoop
to wrangle upon your religion, morals and political opinions with Mr. Webster
or the Congressmen at large, whom the country considers to have enough to do
to take care of their own.'
"This is all very well, and very high and mighty and dignified, certainly;
but while the grass grows, the cow starves ; while Congress is taking its months to
J 20 HISTORY OF SALT LAKE CIJ^.
do the work of a day, the verdict of the public goes against us, as the law-word
is, by default, and we stand substantially convicted of anything and everything
that any and every kind of blackguard can make up a lie about. And now I
hear that the. charges are not to be pushed ; two of the officers want to come
back to us as friends — they are to be virtually abandoned after doing us all the
harm they can. What Mr. Webster thinks, we care a little; what is the opinion
of most members of Congress, you can hardly believe, in your part of the
world, how very little, but Public Opinion, that power we respect as well as
recognize; and, therefore, I am now determined, on my own responsibility, to
write myself, and blurt out all the truth I can. I may not be discreet, but I will
be honest."
J. M. Grant was chosen Speaker of the House of Representatives in the Leg-
islative Assembly of the Territory in 1852, and at three subsequent sessions,
filling that office with dignity and honor, to the fullest satisfaction of the mem-
bers over whom he presided. As a legislator he was quick and^ talented, and
brought to the law-making department a high practical sense of justice and right,
which qualified him to propose and render valuable aid in framing wholesome
laws for the political and domestic welfare of the community.
On December ist, 1856, Mayor Grant breathed his last, and his spirit went
joyfully to mingle with those of his friends, family and brethren that had gone
before. He was forty years of age when he died, but had spent those years to
such advantage in laboring for the welfare of his fellow-men that he was mourned
bv thousands, and left in their memories a name that will be forever cherished as
a symbol of virtue, integrity and honor. The editor of the Deseret News in
closing his obituary, says:
" Brother Grant needs no eulogy, and least of all such an one as our language
could portray, for his whole life was one of noble and diligent action upon the
side of truth, of high-toned and correct example to all who desire to be saved in
the Kingdom of our God. As a citizen, as a friend, a son, a husband, a father,
and above all as a Saint, and in every station and circumstance of life, whether
military, civil, or religious, he everywhere, and at all times, shed forth the steady
and brilliant light of lofty and correct example, and died as he lived and coun-
seled, with his 'armor on and burnished.' Though all Saints deeply feel his
departure, yet they can fully realize that it redounds to his and our ' infinite
gain.'"
11
HISTORY OF SALT LAKE CITY. 72/
CHAPTER XV.
EXPOSITION OF THE CAUSES AND CIRCUMSTANCES OF THE UTAH WAR. GEN-
ERAL SCOTTS CIRCULAR AND INSTRUCTIONS TO THE ARMY. MAGRAW'S
LETTER TO THE PRESIDENT. DRUMMOND'S CHARGES. THE REPUBLI-
CAN PARTY ASSOCIATES UTAH WITH THE SOUTH. THE " IRREPRESSIBLE
CONFLICT." FREMONT AND DOUGLAS.
The subject of the Utah Expedition occupies nearly the entire history of
Salt Lake City, and of Utah in general, from the year 1857 to 1861, when Camp
Floyd was evacuated. On the part of the U. S. Government the extraordinary
record commenced with the issuing of the following
CIRCULAR.
To the Adjutant General, Quartermaster General, Commissary General, Surgeon
General, Paymaster General, and Chief of Ordnance.
Headquarters of the Army,
May 28, i8s7-
Orders having been dispatched in haste for the assemblage of a body of
troops at Fort Leavenworth, to march thence to Utah as soon as assembled, the
general-in-chief, in concert with the War Department, issues the following in-
structions, to be executed by the chiefs of the respective staff departments, in
connection with his general orders of this date :
1. The force — 2d dragoons, 5th infantry, loth infantry and Phelps' battery
of the 4th artillery — to be provided with transportation and supplies, will be esti-
mated at not less than 2,500 men.
2. The Adjutant General will, in concert with the chiefs of the respective
departments, issue the necessary orders for assigning to this force a full comple-
ment of disbursing and medical officers, an officer of ordnance and an Assistant
Adjutant General, if the latter be required.
He will relieve Captains Phelps' 4th artillery and Hawes' 2d dragoons from
special duty, and order them to join their companies. He will also give the
necessary orders for the movement of any available officers, whose services may
be desired by the Quartermaster General or Commissary General in making
purchases. Lieutenant Col. Taylor and Brevet Major Waggaman will be ordered
to exchange stations.
All available recruits are to be assigned to the above named regiments up to
the time of departure.
3. About 2,000 head of beef cattle must be procured and driven to Utah.
Six months' supply of bacon (for two days in a week) must be sent — des-
122 HIS TOR Y OF SALT LA KB CITl .
iccated vegetables in sufficient quantity to guard the health of the troops for the
coming winter.
4. Arrangements will be made for the concentration and temporary halt
of the 5th infantry at Jefferson Barracks.
The squadron of dragoons at Fort Randall taking their horse equipments
with them will leave their horses at that post, and a remount must be provided
for them at Fort Leavenworth. Also, horses must be sent out to the squadron at
Fort Kearney, and the whole regiment, as also Phelps' battery, brought to the
highest point of efficiency.
Besides the necessary trains and supplies, the quartermaster's department
will procure for the expedition 250 tents of Sibley's pattern, to provide for the
case that the troops shall not be able to hut themselves the ensuing winter.
Storage tents are needed for the like reason. Stoves enough to provide, at least,
for the sick, must accompany the tents.
5. The Surgeon General willcause the necessary medical supplies to be pro-
vided, and requisition made for the means of transporting them with the ex-
pedition.
6. The chief of ordnance will take measures immediately to put in position
for the use of this force, three travelling forges and a full supply of ammunition,
and will make requisition for the necessary transportation of the same.
WINFIELD SCOTT.
The command of the Expedition was at first given to Brigadier General W.
S. Harney, but was afterwards transfered to Col. Albert Sidney Johnston. It is
due to the Government to accompany this circular with the letter of instructions
to General Harney, explanatory of its views and designs concerning Utah and
her people :
Headquarters of the Army,
New York, June 29, 1857.
Sir: The letter which I addressed to you in the name of the general-in-
chiet, on the 28th ultimo, his circular to the chiefs of staff departments same date ;
his general order No. 8, current series, and another now in press, have indicated
your assignment to the command of an expedition to Utah Territory, and the
preparatory measures to be taken.
The general-in-chief desires me to add in his name the following instruc-
tions, prepared in concert with the War Department, and sanctioned by its au-
thority, whenever required.
The community and, in part, the civil government of Utah Territory are in
a state of substantial rebellion against the laws and authority of the United States
A new civil governor is about to be designated, and to be charged with the estab-
lishment and maintenance of law and order. Your able and energetic aid, with
that of the troops to be placed under your command, is relied upon to insure the
success of his mission.
The principles by which you should be guided have been already indicated
in a somewhat similar case, and are here substantially repeated.
If the governor of the Territory, finding the ordinary course of judicial pro-
HISl OR V OF SAL T LAKE CITY, 123
ceedings of the power vested in the United States' Marshals and other proper
officers inadequate for the preservation of the public peace and the due execution
of the laws, should make requisition upon you for a military force to aid him as
posse comilatus in the performance of that official duty, you are hereby directed
to employ for that purpose the whole or such part of your command as may be
required; or should the governor, the judges, or marshals of the Territory find
it necessary directly to summon a part of your troops, to aid either in the per-
formance of his duties, you will take care that the summons be promptly obeyed.
And in no case will you, your officers or men, attack any body of citizens what-
ever, except on such requisition or summons, or in sheer self-defence.
In executing this delicate function of the military power of the United
States the civil responsibility will be upon the governor, the judges and mar-
shals of the Territory. While you are not to be, and cannot be subjected to
the orders, strictly speaking, of the governor, you will be responsible for a jeal-
ous; harmonious and thorough co-operation with him, or frequent and full con-
sultation^ and will conform your action to his requests and views in all cases
where your military judgment and prudence do not forbid, nor compel you to
modify, in execution, the movements he may suggest. No doubt is entertained
that your conduct will fully meet the moral and professional responsibilities of
your trust; and justify the high confidence already repdsed in you by the govern-
ment.
The lateness of the season, the dispersed condition of the troops and the
smallness of the numbers available, have seemed to present elements of difficulty,
if not hazard in this expedition. But it is believed that these may be compen-
sated by unusual care in its outfit, and great prudence in its conduct. All dis-
posable recruits have been reserved for it.
So well is the nature of this service appreciated, and so deeply are the honor
and the interest of the United States involved in its success, that I am authorized
to say that the government will hesitate at no expense requisite to complete the
efficiency of your little army, and to insure health and comfort to it, as far as at-
tainable. Hence, in addition to liberal orders for its supply heretofore given
— and it is known that ample measures, with every confidence of success, have
been dictated by chiefs of staff departments here — a large discretion will be made
over to you in the general orders for the movement. The employment of spies,
guides, interpretors or laborers may be made to any reasonable extent you may
think desirable
The prudence expected of you requires that you should anticipate resistance,
general, organized and formidable, at the threshold, and shape your movements
as if they were certain, keeping the troops well massed and in hand when ap-
proaching expected resistance. Your army will be equipped, for a time, at least,
as a self sustaining machine. Detachments will, therefore, not be lightly
hazarded, and you are warned not to be betrayed into premature security or over
confidence.
A small but sufficient force must however, move separately from the main
column, gmrding the beef cattle and such other supplies as you may think
would too much encumber the march of the main body. The cattle may require
124 HISTORY OF SALT LAKE CITY.
to be marched more slowly than the troops, so as to arrive in Salt Lake Valley in
good condition, or they may not survive the inclemency and scanty sustenance of
the winter. This detachment, though afterwards to become the rear guard, may,
it is hoped, be put in route before the main body, to gain as much time as possi-
ble before the latter passes it.
The general-in-chief suggests that feeble animals, of draught and cavalry,
should be left ten or twelve days behind the main column, at Fort Laramie, to
recruit and follow.
It should be a primary object on arriving in the valley, if the condition of
things permit, to procure not only fuel, but materials for hutting the troops.
Should it be too late for the latter purpose, or should such employment of the
troops be unsafe or impracticable, the tents (of Sibley's pattern) furnished will,
it is hoped, afford a sufficient shelter.
It is not doubted that a surplus of provisions and forage, beyond the wants
of the resident population, will be found in the valley of Utah; and that the
inhabitants, if assured by energy and justice, will be ready to sell them to the
troops. Hence no instructions are given you for the extreme event of the troops
being in absolute need of such supplies and their being withheld by the inhabi-
tants. The necessities of such an occasion would furnish the law for your
guidance. •
Besides the stated reports required by regulations, special reports will be ex-
pected from you, at the headquarters of the army, as opportunity may offer.
The general-in-chief desires to express his best wishes, official and personal,
for your complete success and added reputation.
" I have the honor to be, sir, very respectfully, your obedient servant,
GEORGE W. LAY,
Lieutenant Colonel Aid- de- Camp.
Brevet Brigadier General W. S. Harney,
Commanding dr'c., Fort Leavenworth, K. T.
P. S. — The general-in-chief (in my letter of the 26th instant) has already
conveyed to you a suggestion — not an order, nor even a recommendation — that
it might be well to send forward in advance a part of your horse to Fort Laramie,
there to halt and be recruited in strength, by rest and grain, before the main
body comes up.
Respectfully,
G. W. L., Lt. Col.-, Aid-de-Camp.
Though the foregoing document shows no desire on the part of the Govern-
ment to destroy those colonies of Mormons which were fast spreading over this
western country, yet upon its face it bears remarkable evidence that the Bu-
chanan expedition was projected without a sufficient knowledge of the real con-
dition of Utah at that precise period, or of the feelings of her people towards
the parent Government, whether loyal or disloyal. Take for instance the passage
of instructions from the general-in-chief relative to supplies: "It is not doubted
that a surplus of provisions and forage, beyond the wants of the resident popu-
lation will be found in the Valley of Utah," etc.
HISTOR V OF SAL T LAKE CLT V. 12^
The great military capacity and experience of General Scott, to say noth-
ing of- his humane character, would be sufficient evidence in the history that,
when these instructions were given, he knew absolutely nothing of the real con-
dition of the people of Utah during the year preceding; for that was the very
year of the great famine in Utah, described in the foregoing chapter, which was
likened to the famine in Egypt. There were thousands of people in Utah who
had been hungry an entire year when those instructions were penned, and multi-
tudes of little children in her valleys who had so often cried themselves to sleep,
and forgotten the gnawings of hunger, till, sleeping or waking, hunger became
as second nature to them; nor were there sufficient supplies in all the valleys of
Utah to satisfy that hunger till the harvest of 1857, three months later than the
date of General Scott's circular. Yet that general was about to quarter an
army in or near Salt Lake City, with the full assurance that there were, at the
time of the issuance of his orders, abundant supplies in the "Valley of Utah" " be-
yond the wants of the resident population " to feed his army. In view of this
famine how suggestive of the ignorance of the Government concerning the con-
dition of Utah, and the loyalty or disloyalty of her people, is the addendum of
the commander-in-chief to General Harney: " Hence no instructions are given
you for the extreme event of the troops being in absolute need of such supplies
and their being withheld by the inhabitants. The necessities of such an occa-
sion would furnish the law for your guidance." Had an army been ordered to
Utah before the harvest of 1857, for the very purpose to literally devour the
country and destroy the Mormon community root and branch by famine, rather
than by the sword, the order, though inhuman, would not have been so incon-
sistant as General Scott's instructions with his undoubted humane intentions.
The only justification indeed of the Buchanan administration for sending
the expedition, which all America soon confessed was the most humiliating blun-
der to be found in the whole history of the nation, was just in the fact that the
Government knew scarcely anything of Utah affairs; and the simple explanation
of this ignorance is that for six months preceding the inception of the expedi.
tion there had been no postal communication between Utah and the Eastern
States. The mails had failed ; Utah had been shut out from the rest of the
world by an early and extraordinaryly severe winter; the handcart companies of
Mormon emigrants came nearly perishing on the plains, buried in the snows ■
the entire Territory had risen to the rescue ; the leaders had been absorbed in
saving the community from perishing in the valleys in consequence of the
famine, and their companies on the plains from a disaster which, but for the res-
cue, would have been as frightful to those emigrants as the retreat of Napoleon's
army from Moscow, and withal the devoted people, whose homes were even then
threatened with invasion, and their social and religions organization with utter
dissolution were oblivious of the war cloud gathering over their heads. Mean-
time, a few Government officials, principal among whom were Judge Drummond
and the very mail contractor who had failed to carry the mails, had betrayed the
Government into the commission of a series of blunders, which soon provoked a
general public condemnation and the investigation of Congress. The New York
Herald, at the time, stated :
126 HISTORY OF SALT LAKE CITY.
"Some of our cotemporaries have been publishing long letters dated from
Utahj and containing heart-rending accounts of the sufferings inflicted on poor
helpless women, by the brutality of the Mormon leaders. It is perhaps as well
that the public should know that these letters are made up on this side of the
Mississippi, and we have no doubt do more credit to the imagination than to the
memory of their writers. No journal has a correspondent in Utah at the present
time. It reflects some credit on the ingenuity of our cotemporaries to have be-
thought themselves of getting up an excitement about Utah just as Kansas
died out.
*' Of the facts of the case in Utah, it is very difficult to form a reliable judg-
ment, simply because our most reliable authorities, such as Judge Drummond,
now in Washington, are tainted with a suspicion of interested motives. * *
"There is no authority in the Constitution to justify an interference by
Congress or the Federal Government with such an institution as polygamy in a
Territory. It is as clearly without the pale of Congressional or executive regu-
lation as slavery; if Congress may not pass a law to govern the one, it may not
pass a law to govern the other; if the President cannot interfere to drive slavery
out of Kansas; neither can he assume to drive polygamy out of Utah. Marriage,
a civil contract, is essentially subject to the control of local, municipal, or civil
laws; the Federal Government has nothing to do with it, and Congress can make
no laws defining its nature, altering its effect, or prescribing penalties for
breaches of its obligations committed by people residing within a Territory of
the United States.
"Those, therefore, who assumed that Mr. Buchanan was going to carry fire
and sword among the Mormons because they were polygamists, and to put down
polygamy by force of arms, gave the President very little credit for judgment or
knowledge of the instrument under which he holds his powers."
The passage of the general-in-chief's instructions relative to "a surplus of
provisions and forage," in a land of famine, is not more remarkable in the history
than the information given to General Harney, as the reason and justification for
the invading expedition which he was to command : "The community and, in
part, the civil government of Utah Territory are in a state of substantial rebellion
against the laws and authority of the United States. A new civil governor is
about to be designated, and to be charged with the establishment and mainten-
ance of law and order. Your able and energetic aid, with that of the troops to
be placed under your command, is relied to issue the success of his mission."
Read a century hence, issolated from the well connected history of Utah,
whose every fact and circumstance now can be verified, the circular and letter of
instructions, representing the views of the Administration, would be received as
an established record that the people of Utah had made public demonstrations of
rebellion ; that Brigham Young was in actual usurpation, and that defiant word
had been sent by the citizens that they would not receive any Governor other
than of their own choice ; nor would even this view be sufficient coupled
with the following passage indicating that Utah was in actual attitude of war at
that moment against the United States : "The prudence expected of you requires
that you should anticipate resistance, general, organized and formidable, at the
HISTORY OF SALT LAKE CITY. 127
threshold, and shape your movements as if they were certain, keeping the troops
well massed and in hand when approaching expected resistance. * * *
You are warned not to be betrayed into premature security or over confidence."
Nothing, however, up to this date, had occurred to warrant the conclusion
that the people of Utah were "in a state of substantial rebellion." No mass
meetings had been held during 1856 to utter any protest, not even of the mildest
form permitted by the Constitution, much less had they made any public demon-
stration that could reasonably be construed either into an act or intent of rebellion
against the United States government. But in the reverse of this, as noted in
the preceding chapter, a constitutional convention was held that very year ; a
republican constitution adopted, with the declaration of rights already exhibited,
and delegates were sent to Congress to ask for the admission of Utah into the
Union.. For historical suggestiveness, lay by the side of the documents proceed-
ing from General Scott the following extract from the Deseret News :
"The delegates of the convention, from the various counties, except Green
River, met in the Council House on the 17th inst. (March). The event was an-
nounced by the firing of cannon and music from Captain Ballo's band.
Throughout the day flags floated from the cupolas of the Governor's mansion
and Council House, also from the tall flag poles on the Temple Block and in
front of the Deseret, and Livingston, Kinkead & Co.'s stores, from flag staff's
on the roof of Gilbert & Gerrish's store, and from those on the roofs of many
other public buildings.
" At an early hour a large concourse of citizens had assembled, anxiously
awaiting the commencement of those deliberations and acts, which have for their
object the addition of another star to the brilliant and thickly spangled constel-
lation styled, B Pluribus Unum.
"The convention organized by unanimously electing the Hon. J. M. Grant,
president; Mr. T. Bullock, secretary; Mr. J. Grimshaw, assistant secretary;
Mr. R. T. Burton, sergeant-at-arms; Mr. W. C.Staines, messenger; Mr. T-
Hall, doorkeeper ; and Messrs. G. D. Watt and J. V. Long, reporters. At 12:30,
adjourned until 2 p.m. * * ^ *
"In the afternoon the freedom of the convention was unanimously tendered
to His Excellency the Governor, the United States officers of the Territory,
President H. C Kimball, the members of the Legislative Assembly, Hons. E.
Snow, A. Lyman and E. Hunter, Hon. Elias Smith, Probate Judge of G. S. L.
County, and the Aldermen of G. S. L. City.
"After a remarkably short, efficient, and harmonious session, the conven-
tion dissolved on Thursday, March 27.
" Hon. George A. Smith, and Hon. John Taylor, editor of the Mormon,
were unanimously elected delegates to proceed to Washington, and lay before
Congress Utah's request for admission into the Union.
"The Constitution of the State of Deseret was signed by every member of
the convention, though they were from various climes and of diverse creeds,
government officials, merchants, etc., etc., thus indicating, beyond controversy,
the represented feelings of all classes of our Territorial population. If our
memory correctly serves us, so general and fair a representation of the views and
128 HIS TOR y OF SALT LA KE C/Tl .
feelings of the various districts of Territory, and so frank and hearty a blending
of party interests, have never been excelled, if even equalled, in the initiatory
action required for the admission of a nev^^ state. * * *
" Is Utah loyal? Aye, most loyal, beyond successful challenge or contra-
diction, as is and always had been proved by all her sayings and doings. But
does she love corruption and oppression? Verily no, for her sons and daughters,
with few exceptions, have been reared m the cradle of liberty, in common with
the citizens of the States, and the pure mountain breezes keep that love fanned
to a bright and unquenchable flame. And the few exceptions just named, those
who were not born citizens of our Republic, are congenial descendents of that
stock from which sprang our ''Revolutionary Sires." They have left their
fatherlands, as did our forefathers, to escape the oppressor's rod and find a loved
asylum "in the home of the free." Then can Congress refuse to extend the
broad folds of equal rights and constitutional liberty over that portion of the
public domain, whose inhabitants will stand by the Union while a vestige thereof
exists and blood flows in their veins? It is not to be presumed that any Congress
could wish so to do, but if it might, by any possibility, be imagined that an op-
posite feeling could be indulged, who would like to face the mingled whirlwind
of scorn and indignation that would then arise in the breast of every lover of
truth and justice throughout the world ?
"Utah is isolated, is full of rugged mountains, desert plains, and barren
valleys, and peculiarly uncomely in the eyes of lovers of rich, well timbered soil,
broad rivers, extended seaboards, and commercial marts. Let her present popu-
lation leave her borders, and the few oases, now gladdened with the busy hum of
civilized life, would soon revert to the occupancy of the rude savage, and crumb-
ling desolation would mark the site of stately edifices.
"Utah, with but little aid from the parent, has grown rapidly amid all her
disadvantages, and, amid the jealousy and hostility of numerous Indian tribes, to
high position in wealth and numbers. And are not the intelligence and energy
which have so rapidly produced such laudable results, where none others would
thrust in their sickles, sufficient guarantee that Utah is most emphatically deserv-
ing of a state organization?
"She has wealth, a numerous, intelligent, and highly patriotic population,
is accustomed to make her own public buildings, roads, and bridges, has success-
fully conducted the Indian wars waged within her boimdaries, has nearly ex-
pelled litigation through a wise system of legislation and policy, furnishes few
abominable and illegal acts to swell the record of earth's corruptions, not even
enough to make her news spicy and interesting to the corrupt taste of a perverse
generation; then is there any good, fair, valid reason why Utah should not be
speedily admitted into the Union as a free, sovereign, and independent State
named Deseret? Not one. Hence it is but fair to infer that Senators and Rep.
resentatives in Congress will grant the prayer of Utah for admission as unani-
mously as she presents it, independent of sectional prejudices, strife and debate
of every name and description, for only two questions are to be asked, viz: is
her constitution republican? Is she willing and able to maintain a state govern-
HISTORY OF SALT LAKE CITY.
I2Q
ment ? Every one knows that those questions, and every legitimate question that
can be asked, admit of only afifirmative answers."
The people of Utah waited hopefully for the favorable action of Congress
until December, when Governor Young, in his annual message to the Legislature,
thus reported upon the matter :
"In accordance with Acts of the Legislative Assembly, a Constitution was
formed and adopted, the census taken, and delegates chosen to present our ap-
plication to Congress for admission into the Union as a sovereign and indepen-
dent State. Recent advices from our delegates show that our application has not
been presented, owing to the intolerance evinced by the predominant party in
the House of Representatives.
" The enumeration of the inhabitants showed a population of near 77,000 in
this Territory, and it is presumed that the addition to our numbers, since that
was taken, would amount to about twenty thousand. This gives an aggregate
equal to or exceeding the ratio of representation for Congressmen, removing
every objection, if any were made, to our admission, on the score of insufficient
population."
Simply a bare notice is here seen of opposition in Congress to the admission
of Utah ; but no indignant protest, much less anything to indicate a condition of
rebellion ; yet a ievf months later the United States ordered a military expedition
to Utah to put down rebellion, restore its rule which had not been broken, while
the President appointed a new Governor for the Territory, Hon. Alfred Cum-
ming, of Georgia who when he did come was recieved by them with a loyal good
will.
The Buchanan administration, however, had not acted without some infor-
mation and prompting, which were considered by it sufficient at the time, but
very insufficient soon afterwards; and it is with that information and prompting,
or rather conspiracy, that this historital exposition has now to deal.
When in less than a year from the issuing of General Scott's circular, the
House of Representatives passed a resolution requesting President Buchanan " to
communicate to the House of Representatives the information which gave rise
to the military expedition ordered to Utah" Lewis Cass, Secretary of State, re-
ported that "the only document on record or on file in this department, touching
the subject of the resolution, is the letter of Mr. W. F. Magraw to the President,
of the 3rd of October last, a copy of which is hereto annexed : "
MR. MAGRAW TO THE PRESIDENT.
Independence, Missouri, October 3d, 1856.
"Mr. President: I feel it incumbent upon me as a personal and political
friend, to lay before you some information relative to the present political and
social condition of the Territory of Utah, which may be of importance.
"There is no disguising the fact, that there is left no vestage of law and
order, no protection for life or property; the civil laws of the Territory are over-
shadowed and neutralized by a so-styled ecclesiastical organization, as despotic,
dangerous and damnable, as has ever been known to exist in any country, and
I JO HISTORY OF SALT LAKE CLTY.
which is ruining not only those who do not subscribe to their religious code, but
is driving the moderate and more orderly of the Mormon community to despera-
tion. Formerly, violence committed upon the rights of persons and property
were attempted to be justified by some pretext manufactured lor the occasion,
under color of law as it exists in that country. The victims were usually of that
class whose obscurity and want of information necessary to insure proper investi-
gation and redress of their wrongs were sufficient to guarantee to the perpetrators
freedom from punishment. Emboldened by the success which attended their
first attempts at lawlessness, no pretext or apology seems now to be deemed re-
quisite, nor is any class exempt from outrage; all alike are set upon by the self-
constituted theocracy, whose laws, or rather whose conspiracies, are framed in
dark corners, promulgated from the stand of tabernacle or church, and executed
at midnight, or upon the highways, by an organized band of bravos and assassins,
whose masters compel an outraged community to tolerate in their midst. The
result is that a considerable and highly respectable portion of the community,
known from the Atlantic to the Pacific, whose enterprise is stimulated by a laud-
able desire to improve their fortunes by honorable exertions, are left helpless vic-
tims to outrage and oppression, liable at any moment to be stripped of their
property or deprived of life, without the ability to put themselves under the pro-
tection of law, since all the courts that exist there at present are converted into
engines and instruments of injustice.
"For want of time I am compelled thus to generalize, but particular case?,
with all the attendant circumstances, names of parties and localities are not
wanting to swell the calendar of crime and outrage to limits that will, when pub-
lished, startle the conservative people of the States, and create a clamor which
will not be readily quelled; and I have no doubt that the time is near at hand,
and the elements rapidly combining to bring about a state of affairs which will
result in indiscriminate bloodshed, robbery and rapine, and which in a brief
space of time will reduce that country to the condition of a howling wilderness.
" There are' hundreds of good men in the country^ who have for years en-
dured every privation from the comforts and enjoyments of civilized life, to
confront every description of danger for the purpose of improving their fortunes.
These men have sufifered repeated wrong and injustice, which they have en-
deavored to repair by renewed exertions, patiently awaiting the correction of
outrage by that government which it is their pride to claim citizenship under,
and whose protection they have a right to expect; but they now see themselves
liable, at any moment, to be stripped of their hard earned means, the lives of
themselves and their colleagues threatened and taken ; ignominy and abuse,
heaped upon them day after day, if resented, is followed by murder.
"Many of the inhabitants of the Territory possess passions and elements of
character calculated to drive them to extremes, and have the ability to conceive
and have the courage to carry out the boldest measures for redress, and I know
that they will be at no loss for a leader. When such as these are driven by their
wrongs to vindicate, not only their rights as citizens, but their pride of man-
hood, the question of disparity in numerical force is not considered among their
difficulties, and I am satisfied that a recital of their grievances would form an
HISTORY OF SALT LAKE CI'IY. iji
apology, if not sufficient justification, for the violation on their part of the usages
of civilized communities.
"In addressing you, I have endeavored to discard all feelings arising from
my personal annoyances in the Mormon country, but have desired to lay before
you the actual condition of affairt", and to prevent, if possible, scenes of lawless-
ness which, I fear, will be inevitable unless speedy and powerful preventives are
applied. I have felt free to thus address you, from the fact that some slight re-
quests made of me when I last left Washington, on the subject of the affairs of
Kansas, justified me in believing that you had confidence in my integrity, and
that what influence I could exert would not be wanting to terminate the unfortu-
nate difficulties in that Territory; I have the pleasure of assuring you that my
efforts were not spared.
"With regard to the affairs and proceedings of the probate court, the only
existing tribunal in the Territory of Utah, there being but one of the three
federal judges now in the Territory, I will refer you to its records, and to the
evidence of gentlemen whose assertions cannot be questioned ; as to the treat-
ment of myself, I will leave that to the representation of others ; at all events,
the object! have in view, the end I wish to accomplish for the general good,
will preclude my wearying you with a recital of them at present.
"I have the honor to be very truly yours, etc.
W. M. F. MAGRAW."
John B. Floyd, Secretary of War, was only able to furnish to the House the
correspondence of the expedition itself, commencing with the foregoing circular,
and including the proclamation of Governor Young and the correspondence be-
tween him and Col. Alexander; the Department of the Interior furnished several
letters from David H. Burr, Surveyor General of Utah , the office of Indian
affairs made up a budget from the Indian Agents of the Territory, and the
Attorney General's office supplied the following:
" Attorney General's Office, February 24, 1858.
"Sir: In reply to so much of the resolution of the House of Representa-
tives, of the 27th ult., referred by you to this offce, calling for 'information
which gave rise to the military expeditions to Utah Territory,' etc., I have the
honor to transmit herewith :
"i. The letter of resignation of W. W. Drummond, Associate Justice of
Supreme Court of Utah Territory.
"2. The letter of Curtis Bolton, deputy clerk of the Supreme Court of
Utah Territory, in reply to allegations contained in W. W. Drummond's letter of
resignation; the above being all the correspondence on the files of this office re-
lating to the subject.
"I am, very respectfully,
J. S. BLACK.
The President.'"
"New Orleans, La, April 2, 1857.
"Dear Sir: When I started for my home in Illinois, I designed reaching
132 HISTORY OF SALT LAKE CITY.
Washington before the executive session adjourned, but could not accomplish the
long and tedious journey in time; thence I concluded to come this way, and go
up the Mississippi river to Chicago.
''You will see that I have made bold charges against the Mormons, which I
think I can prove without doubt. You will see by the contents of the enclosed
paper, wherein is inserted my resignation, some of the reasons that induced me
to resign. I now refer you to Hon. D. W. Burr, surveyor general ot Utah Ter-
ritory, Hon. Garland Hurt, Indian agent; also C. L. Craig, Esq., D. L. Thomp-
son, Esq., John M. Hockaday, Esq., John Kerr, Esq., Gentiles of Great Salt Lake
City, for proof of the manner in which they have been insulted and abused by
the leading Mormons for two years past. I shall see you soon on the subject.
In haste, yours truly,
W. W. DRUMMOND.
Hon. Jeremiah S. Black, Attotney General, etc.""
resignation of judge drummond.
" March 30, 1857.
"My Dear Sir: As I have concluded to resign the office of Justice of the
Supreme Court of the Territory of Utah, which position I accepted in A. D.,
1S54, under the administration of President Pierce, I deem it due to the public
to give some of the reasons why I do so. In the first place, Brigham Young, the
Governor of Utah Territory, is the acknowledged head of the 'Church of Jesus
Christ of Latter-day Saints,' commonly called ' Mormons;' and, as such head,
the Mormons look to him, and to him alone, for the law by which they are to be
governed: therefore no law of Congress is by them considered binding in any
manner.
"Secondly. I know that there is a secret oath-bound organization among
all the male members of the Church to resist the laws of the country, and to ac-
knowledge no law save the law of the 'Holy Priesthood,' which comes to the
people through Brigham Young direct from God ; he. Young, being the vice-
gerent of God and Prophet, viz: successor of Joseph Smith, who was the founder
of this blind and treasonable organization.
"Thirdly. I am fully aware that there is a set of men, set apart by special
order of the Church, to take both the lives and property of persons who may
question the authority of the Church; the names of whom I will promptly make
known at a future time.
"Fourthly. That the records, papers, etc., of the Supreme Court have been
destroyed by order of the Church, with the direct knovvledge and approbation of
Governor B. Young, and the Federal officers grossly insulted for presuming to
raise a single question about the treasonable act.
"Fifthly. That the Federal officers of the Territory ^re constantly in-
sulted, harrassed, and annoyed by the Mormons, and for these insults there is no
redress.
" Sixthly. That the Federal officers are daily compelled to hear the form of
the American government traduced, the chief executives of the nation, both liv-
HISTORY OF SALT LAKE CITY. ijj
ing and dead, slandered and abused from the masses, as well as from all the lead-
ing members of the Church, in the most vulgar, loathsome, and wicked manner
that the evil passions of men can possibly conceive.
''Again: That after Moroni Green had been convicted in the District Court
before my colleague, Judge Kinney, of an assault with intent to commit murder,
and afterwards, on appeal to the Supreme Court, the judgment being affirmed and
the said Green being sentenced to the penitentiary, Brigham Young gave a full
pardon to the said Green before he reached the penitentiary ; also, that the said
Governor Young pardoned a man by the name of Baker, who had been tried and
sentenced to ten years' imprisonment in the penitentiary, for the murder of a
dumb boy by the name of White House, the proof showing one of the most
aggravated cases of murder that I ever knew being tried ; and to insult the Court
and Government ofificers, this man Young took this pardoned criminal with him,
in proper person, to church on the next Sabbath after his conviction ; Baker, in
the meantime, having received a full pardon from Governor Brigham Young.
These two men were Mormons. On the other hand, I charge the Mormons, and
Governor Young in particular, with imprisoning five or six young men from Mis-
souri and Iowa, who are now in the penitentiary of Utah, without those men
having violated any criminal law in America. But they were anti-Mormons —
poor, uneducated young men en route for California ; but because they emigrated
from Illinois, Iowa, or Missouri, and passed by Great Salt Lake City, they were
indicted by a probate court, and most brutally and inhumanly dealt with, in
addition to being summarily incarcerated in the saintly prison of the Territory
of Utah. I also charge Governor Young with constantly interfering with the
federal courts, directing the grand jury whom to indict and whom not ; and after
the judges charge the grand juries as to their duties, that this man Young invar-
ably has some member of the grand jury advised in advance as to his will in re-
lation to their labors, and that his charge thus given is the only charge known,
obeyed, or received by all the grand juries of the federal courts of Utah Ter-
ritory.
"Again, sir, after a careful and mature investigation, I have been compelled
to come to the conclusion, heart-rending and sickening as it may be, that Cap-
tain John W. Gunnison, and his party of eight others, were murdered by the
Indians in 1853, under the orders, advice, and direction of the Mormons; that
my illustrious and distinguished predecessor, Hon. Leonidas Shaver, came to his
death by drinking poisoned liquors, given to him under the order of the leading
men of the Mormon Church in Great Salt Lake City; that the late secretary of
the Territory, A. VV. Babbitt, was murdered on the plains by a band of Mormon
marauders, under the particular and special order of Brigham Young, Heber C.
Kimball, and J. M. Grant, and not by the Indians, as reported by the Mormons
themselves, and that they were sent from Salt Lake City for that purpose, and
that onlv ; and as members of the Danite Band they were bound to do the will
of Brigham Young as the head of the church, or forfeit their own lives. These
reasons, with many others that I might give, which would be too heart-rending
to insert in this communication, have induced me to resign the office of justice
of the Territory of Utah, and again return to my adopted Slate of Illinois.
134 HISTORY OF SALT LAKE CITY.
My reason, sir, for making this communication thus public i?, that the dem-
ocratic party, with which I have always strictly acted, is the party now in power,
and, therefore, is the party that should now be held responsible for the treason-
able and disgraceful state of affairs that now exists in Utah Territory. I could, sir,
if necessary, refer to a cloud of witnesses to attest the reasons I have given, and
the charges, bold as they are, against tho5e despots, who rule with an iron hand
their hundred thousand souls in Utah, and their two hundred thousand souls out
of that notable Territory; but I shall not do so, for the reason that the lives of
such gentlemen as I should designate in Utah and in California, would not be
safe for a single day.
In conclusion, sir, I have to say that, in my career as justice of the supreme
court of Utah Territory, I have the consolation of knowing that I did my duty,
that neither threats nor intimidations drove me from that path. Upon the other
hand, I am pained to say that I accomplished little good while there, and that
the judiciary is only treated as a farce. The only rule of law by which the in-
fatuated followers of this curious people will be governed, is the law of the
church, and that emanates from Governor Brigham Young, and him alone.
I do believe that, if there was a man put in office as governor of that Ter.
ritory, who is not a member of the church, (Mormon), and he supported with a suffi-
cient VLi\\\\.z.xy aid, much good would result from such a course ; but as the Territory
is now governed, and as it has been since the administration of Mr. Fillmore, at
which time Young received his appointment as governor, it is noonday madness
and folly to attempt to administer the law in that Territory. The officers are in-
sulted, harassed, and murdered for doing their duty, and not recognizing Brig-
ham Young as the only law-giver and law-maker on earth. Of this every man
can bear incontestable evidence who has been willing to accept an appointment
in Utah ; and I assure you sir, that no man would be willing to risk his life and
property in that Territory after once trying the sad experiment.
With an earnest desire that the present administration will give due and
timely aid to the officers that may be so unfortunate as to accept situations in that
Territory, and that the withering curse which now rests upon this nation by virtue
of the peculiar and heart-rending institutions of the Territory of Utah, may be
speedily removed, to the honor and credit of our happy country, I now remain
your obedient servant,
W. W. DRUMMOND,
"yustice Utah Territory.
Hon. yeremiah S. Black, Attorney General of the United States, Washington
City, D. a
"Great Salt Lake City, Utah Territory.
"Sir: My attention having been drawn to the letter of Justice W. W. Drum-
mond, under the date of March 30, 1857, addressed to yourself, tendering his
resignation as associate justice for Utah, wherein my office is called in question,
I feel it incumbent upon me to make to you the following report :
"Justice W. W. Drummond, in his 'fourth' paragraph, says: 'The re-
HISTORY OF SALT LAKE CITY. /jj
cords, papers, &c., of the supreme court have been destroyed by order of Gover-
nor B. Young, and the federal officers grossly insulted for presuming to raise
a single question about the treasonable act.'
"I do solemnly declare this assertion is without the slightest foundation in
truth. The records, papers, &c., of the supreme court in this Territory, to-
getlT£r with all decisions and documents of every kind belonging thereto, from
Monday, September 22, 185 1, at which time said court was first organized, up to
this present moment, are all safe and complete in my custody, and not one of
them missing, nor have they ever been disturbed by any person.
"Again, in the decision of the supreme court in the case of Moroni Green,
the which decision was written by Judge Drummond himself, I find the following
words: 'That as the case, for which Green was convicted, seems to have been
an aggravated one, th's court does remit the costs of the prosecution, both in
this court and in the court below.' Green was provoked to draw a pistol in self-
defence, but did not point it at any one. He was a lad of 18 years old. Much
feeling was excited in his favor, and he was finally pardoned by the governor,
upon a petition signed by the judges, and officers of the United States, courts,
the honorable secretary of state, and many of the iufluential citizens of Great
Salt Lake City.
"Again: in relation to the ' incarceretion of five or six young men from
Missouri and Iowa, who are now (March 30, 1857,) in the penitentiary of Utah,
without those men having violated any criminal law in America/ &c. This state-
ment is also utterly false.
"I presume he alludes to the incarceration, on the 22d January, 1856, of
three men, and on the 29th of January, 1856, of one more; if so these are the
circumstances :
"There were quite a number of persons came here as teamsters in Gilbert
and Gerrish's train of goods, arriving here in December, 1855, after winter had
set in. They arrived here very destitute; and at that season of the year there is
nothing a laboring man can get to do. Some of these men entered the store of
S. M. Blair & Co., at various times in the night, and stole provisions, groceries,
«S:c. Some six or eight were indicted for burglary, and larceny. Three plead
guilty, and a fourth was proven guilty; and the four were sentenced to the pen-
itentiary for the shortest time the statute allowed for the crime; and just as soon
as the spring of 1856 opened, and a company was preparing to start for Cali-
fornia, upon a petition setting forth mitigating circumstances, the governor
pardoned them, and they went on their way to California. It was a matter, well
understood here at the time, that these men were incarcerated more particularly to
keep them from commiting further crime during the winter.
" Since that time there have been but four persons sentenced to the peniten-
tiary, one for forgery and three for petty larceny, for terms of sixty and thirty
days, to wit: One on the 19th November, 1856, for larceny, thirty days; two on
the 24th November, 1856, for aggravated larceny, sixty days and one on the 26th
January, 1857, for forgery, thirty days. So that on the 30th March, 1857, (the
date of W. W. Drummond's letter,) there was not a white prisoner in the Utah
ij6 ■ HISTORY OF SALT LAKE CITY.
penitentiary; nor had there been tor several days previous, nor is there at this
present writing.
"I could, were it my province in this affidavit, go on and refute all that
Judge W. W. Drummond has stated in his aforesaid letter of resignation, by re-
cords, dates, and facts; but believing the foregoing is sufficient to show you
what reliance is to be placed upon the assertions or word of W. W. Diumraond,
I shall leave this subject. «
"In witness of the truth of the foregoing affidavit, I have hereunto sub-
scribed my name and affixed the seal of the United States supreme court
[l. s.] for Utah Territory, at Great Salt Lake City, this twenty-sixth day of
June, A. D. 1857.
CURTIS E. BOLTON,
Deputy Clerk of said U. S. Supreme Court for Utah,
in absence of W. J. Appleby, Clerk.
Hon. Jeremiah S. Black,
Attorney General of the United States. Washington, D. C.^^
But these documents furnished to the House alone give no sufficient expo-
sition of causes, though there is seen much relation between the letters quoted
and the action of the Government. For a thorough exposition commensurate
with the aims and purposes of a true and impartial history, we must go to a
general review of Utah affairs, not only as regards the Mormon community in their
own conduct, but also the conduct of the people of the United States towards
them, whether friendly or hostile, which exposition will show that the Utah
question has long been intensely a national question.
Strange as the assertion may appear, the real beginning of the train of causes
and circumstances which led to the "Utah War," and its many complications,
was the continuation of Brigham Young by President Pierce in the governor-
ship, in 1855. That is to say, the United Slates gave the chief cause of offence
against itself, and afterwards, by construction, made the potent and thorough
administration of Governor Young, and the Submission of the community to
Federal rule under him, to signify a condition of actual rebellion. That which
in the Governor and people of any other Territory or State would have been
esteemed by the nation as legitimate and admirable was, in Brigham Young and
the Mormons, a present treason and a direct intent to overturn and supplant the
national rule with a Mormon Theocracy. The case had entirely changed since
Stansbury had said in his report to the Government, " I feel constrained to say,
that in my opinion the appointment of the President of the Mormon Church, and
the head of the Mormon community, in preference to any other person to the
high office of Governor of the Territory, independent of its politicial bearings,
with which I have nothing to do, was a measure dictated alike by justice and
^^ound policy. This man has been their Moses. * * * He had
been unanimously chosen as their highest civil magistrate, and even before his
appointment by the President, he combined in his own person the triple char-
acter of confidential adviser, temporal ruler, and projjhet of God."
So far as Governor Young and the Mormons were concerned, this was also
HISTORY OF SALT LAKE CITY, 137
all true when he was re-appointed by President Pierce, and therein was the in-
harmony which developed between Utah and the nation, resulting in the expe-
dition. That which at first so eminently fitted Brigham Young for Governor of
the colony which he led to these valleys, and multiplied substantially into a
little State of the Union, now unfitted him in the eyes of the nation. To be the
President of the Mormon Church and Governor of Utah Territory was made to
signify the existence of a politicial Mormon Theocracy. The Mormon Moses,
clothed with the mantle of Federal authority at the head of his people, appeared
to the "Gentile" as an Israelitish rebeldom in the heart of the American re-
public. Thus the wording of a Stansbury, a Gunnison and a Thomas L. Kane^
was substituted by the wording a Drummond and a Magraw, without any real
change of subject, or substitution of some new and reversed cause. In his mas-
terly treatise of the Mormons and their institutions Gunnison had said: "For
those who desire facts in the history of humanity, on which to indulge in reflec-
tion, is this offered. It were far easier to give a romantic sketch in lofty meta-
phors, of the genesis and exodus of the empire-founding Saints — the subject is
its own epic of heroism, whose embellishment is left to imaginative genius, and
its philosophy to be deduced by the candid philanthropist." This treatise of
Gunnison is the loftiest exposition of the Israelitish theocracy of the Mormons
ever written by Gentile pen. As his wording shows,, he has treated his historical
subject as an "Israelitish epic" wrought in modern times. In view of this epic
monument of their history which the hand of Gunnison essayed to rear for the
Mormons, it is both astonishing and monstrous that Judge Drummond, in his
resignation, should charge Brigham Young with the instigation of his murder by
the Indians. Such an act is not within our comprehension of human atrocities
and ingratitude, especially when applied to a leader of Brigham Young's cast and
sagacity, whose every act marked his deliberate anticipation of a sufficient com-
pensation to himself or his people. The cruel and cowardly murder of Gun-
nison, by the order of Brigham Young, could not possibly have brought to him
or his community such compensation ; for, next to Colonel Thomas L. Kane,
Captain Stansbury and Lieutenant Gunnison had done Governor Young and the
Mormon community more service than any other men in America.
And it is scarcely less astonishing and monstrous that Drummond in his resig-
nation should charge Governor Young and the Mormons with the poisoning of
Associate Justice Shaver, and the tomahawking on the plains of Secretary Babbitt,
seeing that Judge Shaver, was mourned by Salt Lake City, and his funeral sermon
preached by its Mayor, just as the untimely fate of Gunnison was mourned in the
message of Governor Young to the Legislature, and his memory thus honorably
preserved on the official tablet of Utah's early history ; while Secretary Babbitt
was himself a Mormon, the chief politician of the community, the man whom
the citizens chose and sent to Congress as their Delegate, when they set up the
Provisional State of Deseret. Monstrous, however, as these charges of the mur-
der of Government officials at the order of Governor Young must appear in any
iust exposition of the times of 1856-7, they were sent to the House of Repre-
sentatives as among the chief causes of the Utah Expedition ; yet it is worthy of
note that there is an air of protest to the Drummond document in the presenta-
jj8 HISTORY OF SALT LAKE CITY.
tion of the Attorney General. It is probable that, had the Hon. Jeremiah S.
Black been the Executive, as well as the Judicial head of the Administration at
this juncture, he would have viewed Utah and her affairs very much as Daniel
Webster had done before, when Brocchus, Brandebury, Harris, Day and Ferris
deserted three departments of the newly created Territory, and sought the inva-
sion which was accomplished in 1857. Indeed, the sequel does actually show
that the Attorney General, after the Proclamation of Pardon, by his constitu-
tional decision prevented the re-opening of difficulties, and perhaps an actual
war, between General Johnson and his troops on the one side, and Governor Gum-
ming and the Utah militia on the other, which decision restored the Territory to
the exact place where it stood, under Governor Brigham Young.
The true historical exposition, then, is that Utah was not in rebellion when the
expedition was projected; and that the cause of all the offence on the Mormon
side was simply t^at which the community has given from the beginning — in
Ohio, in Missouri, in Illinois, in Utah. They were seeking to build up the
Kingdom of God upon the earth ; and Brigham Young, their Prophet and Pres-
ident of their Church, was also now, for the second time. Governor of Utah, in
virtue of his being the great colonizer and founder of the Territory. ''The
strange and interesting people " were just as admirable when Drummond and
Magraw wrote their communications to the Government, making the community
hideous and instigating a war crusade against them, as they were when Stansbury
reported them to the nation as the most wonderful colony of modern times, wor-
thy of acceptance into the Union as a model state. But, as observed, a change
had come over the vision; and the presence of the Mormon community, in 1857,
had become as intolerable to the majority of the. people of the United States as
they had been to Missouri and Illinois. The spirit and temper which had pos-
sessed those States which had driven the Mormons from their borders, now pos-
sessed the whole of the United States. That little colony of religious exiles which
had planted itself in the Valley of the Great Salt Lake in 1847, ^^''<^) lifting rev-
erently the Stars and Stripes on foreign soil, claimed it for the nation in that na-
tion's own august name, had grown by their wonderful emigrations into a hun-
dred colonies; but for this very reason, of their marvelous growth and organism,
the people of the States east and west desired to rid themselves of the Mormons
altogether; and, if needs be, to drive them with guns and bayonets from Auieri-
ican soil. Senators and Representatives saw clearly that if the Mormons were
allowed to remain within the American domains, they must inevitably become a
State of the Union, and in the end play, perhaps, a controling part in party pol-
itics and the national destiny. This had been illustrated in Illinois, where they
had held the balance of power between the Democrats and the Whigs. Their
colonies were now fast spreading over this western country ; they would settle
territory which would come within the political boundaries of half a dozen States,
in which they would cast their potent united vote ; they would, by continued im-
igrations and rapid increase of offspring by their polygamy, which had offspring
for its aim, multiply into a million of United States citizens within the century,
whose united political power would be really formidable. Such were the antici-
pations and talk about Mormon Utah in those times in the newspapers of the
HISTORY OF SALT LAKE CITY. ijg
country, as may be seen by consulting their files of 1855-6-7. The New York
Herald in one of its leaders declared seriously, and with some admiration withal,
that the Mormons held "the whip handle'" over the United States, Fillmore and
Pierce had given it into the hands of Brigham Young. With Brigham, Governor,
Utah was always right, and the United States always wrong. Such was the in-
ference, and the reason clearly because such men as Brocchus, Ferris and Drum-
mond were the representatives of the United States, as versus Brigham Young
the Governor of Utah and President of the Mormon Church. And the New
York ^(f^-^A/ was verily right. It was just the difference in the officials who
represented the United States versus Mormondom, and the governor who repre-
sented the United States to the glory and political destiny of the Utah which he
had founded. Let alone for another decade, and what would this man, Brigham
Young, and his Utah amount to in our national affairs? — he as Governor, exercis-
ing almost absolute authority in the name of the United States, in consequence
of the potency of his own character, in consequence of the impotency of those
sent against him to overbalance him, and in consequence of the constitutional
rights of the people of Utah, as citizens of the United States, who earnestly and
loyally supported his lawful and potent administration of Federal authority over
the Territory; and, furthermore, in consequence of the fact that nearly all the
other Federal officials, except the Mormon branch; first measured arms with the
great Mormon Governor, and then deserted their posts, leaving the sole govern-
ment of the Territory almost entirely in his hands. Invariably it was the anti-
Mormon branch of the admmistration that commenced hostilities. They con-
stituted themselves as missionaries delegated to put down Mormon rule in Utah,
and this they did even when not a score of Gentiles were in the Territory, thus
tantalizing the entire community and opposing the legitimate administration of
the Governor. The opposing Judges were the most conspicuous, as also very
potent, they usually forming a majority of the judicial branch of the Territorial
administration antagonistic not only to Mormon rule, but to Mormon citizenship,
as subsequent issues have shown. The Indian agents, on their part, though sub-
ordinate to Governor Young as Superintendent of Indian Affairs, aimed to frus-
trate his Indian policy, sought to stir up the Indians under his superintendency
against him and the Mormons, spied upon his actions, and like spies made in-
sidious and hostile reports against him as their chief, not only impeaching him,
but recommending to the Government not to pay his accounts for expenditure in
the Indian wars of the Territory,
^Every time this " irrepressible conflict " between Governor Young and the
anti-Mormon branch was manifested to the Government and the nation, result-
ing as it always did in the discomfiture and generally in the resignation of the
antagonists of the Governor, the administration at Washington was both perplexed
and provoked, and the country thrown into a state of excitement, and exasperated
anger over Utah, and the Mormons. It was evident to the nation that this conflict
and anomalous condition in the affairs of one of the Territories could not be per-
mitted to continue another decade, and the demand for the removal of Brigham
Young from the Governorship, and the appointment of a Gentile Governor in his
place was very generally made by the country as the only solution ta the Utah
140 HISTORY OF SALT LAKE CLT^.
difficulty. This President Franklin Pierce had sought to accomplish in the ap-
pointment of Colonel Steptoe, at the expiration of Governor Young's first term;
but the declining and the petition which Steptoe and his officers headed, recom-
mending the re appointment of Governor Young forced the action of the Presi-
dent and Brigham into a second term of office. The re-appointment was prob-
ably quite in accord with President Pierce's own mind, but he soon found that
the sentiment of the country was decidedly against it, and that a Gentile Gov"
ernor was in popular demand, and that too for the very purpose of putting down
Mormondom. Indeed the expressive epithet " Mormondom '' was coined to fit
the case, used first in the New York Herald and made to signify, in this connec-
tion, that the Mormon Church should be tolerated vvith all other Churches, but
that the "Mormon theocracy'' must be invaded and overthrown. This was first
proposed to be accomplished by a Gentile Governor, supported by a new corps
of Federal officers in accord with him, but later on as the irrepressible conflict
grew, and the rage for an anti-Mormon crusade became general, the overthrow
of politicial Mormondom was given to a United States army, sent to depose Brig-
ham Young as a rebel Governor and to set another in his place.
President Pierce was charged with a political mistake in the continuation
of Brigham Young, froni the exception taken to his act both by political
friends and politicial enemies, but the administration of Pierce was drawing to a
close and it did not choose to inaugurate any new measures, which seeming indif-
ference on the part of the Government only stirred up the opponents of
Brigham Young to greater exertions, and every measure was adopted to secure
some decided action. President Pierce, in disgust over this dissatisfaction of
political friends and political foes, declared that he would make no more appoint-
ments for the Governorship of Utah as long as he held office, and thus Governor
Young remained a colossus on his pedestal, on which anti-Mormon rage spent
itself in vain, so far as disturbing the condition of affairs in Utah, but an action
was worked up in the States against Utah and the Mormons scarcely less virulent
in its animus than that which prevailed in the Republican party against slavery
and the South.
The rise of the Republican party into power lifted Utah into a political sit-
uation, which while it gave her no political advantages, such as her admission as a
State, exposed her to danger and left her open to the assault of her enemies. In
the framing of its first platform the Republican party raised her to a kindred as-
sociation with the South and, in every campaign where John C. Fremont was the
standard bearer of the party, there could be read
" T7ie abolishment of slavery and polygamy; the twm relics of barbarism."
Undoubtedly General Fremont had much to do with the sharpening of this
politicial directness that associated Utah and the South in the " irrepressible
conflict," which the Republican party was inspiring in the country for the over-
throw of the Democratic party, and which struck Utah vvith a military expedition
before it struck the South. And though it would fall short of Fremont's dignity
and national reputation to class him with Drummond, or to charge him with
malice towards Utah, yet it should not be forgotten that there had existed a re-
HISTORY OF SALT LAKE CITY. 141
lation between him and the Mormons for many years, in which there was nascent
much of the "irrepressible conflict" which he sought to infuse into the political
contest of the nation against Mormon Utah. He was the son-in-law of Senator
Thomas H. Benton, whom the Mormons at that time looked upon as the greatest
political enemy they ever had, and there had been something of a rivalry between
the Mormons and Fremont, relative to the possession of California. This had
dated as far back as the lifetime of Joseph Smith, who, at the very moment
when Fremont was designing the conquest of California with a volunteer army,
had petitioned the President of the United States and Congress to allow him to
occupy that Mexican province with a colony of a hundred thousand Mormons.
Senator Douglass favored "General" Smith's project versus General Fremont's;
and accompanied with Fremont's report on California, which had just been
printed by the Senate, but not yet made public, the Senator from Illinois dis-
patched his urgent advice to " General " Smith to at once start for the possession
of the Pacific coast with his Mormon colony. It was undoubtedly a knowledge of
the Mormon Prophet's design to possess California by his colony, as preferred by
Douglass to the somewhat filibustering character of his son-in-law's proposed ex-
pedition, that so strongly set Benton against this Mormon colonization in the
west, the wonderful success of which the simple relation of the historical fact is
proving to be the real cause, not only of the Utah Expedition, but also of all the
special legislation in Congress to this day against " Mormon Utah." This at the
last effort was very strikingly illustrated by General Cullom in his affirmation to
the Senate, substantially to the effect that, if the successful Mormon colonization
of the west was not stopped by some radical measure of Congress, the Mormons
would control half a dozen States in the west, and thus give the balance of power
in the national politics against the Republican party, which at its birth made
proclamation of war against Mormondom. Now it is just in this political vein
that the historian finds the real cause and animus of the Utah Expedition, and
of all the action and special legislation against Mormon Utah to this day, and not
in the charges of Magraw and Drummond, nor even polygamy, though the
former furnished excuse for the Expedition, as the other does protest for special
legislation.
In Missouri and Illinois, this political vein of the Mormon question was only
locally defined. It was Senator Benton who first gave it a national significance,
and now, upon the political banners of his son-in-law, it was proclaimed with
mottoes classing Utah and polygamy with slavery and the South. This develop-
ment of the history, gives interest and significance to a brief review of the case
of Fremont and the Mormons, in the occupation of the Pacific Slope.
Destiny led the Mormon pioneers to the valleys of Utah. Destiny went
with the Mormon battalion to California in the expedition of General S. W.
Kearney, whose instructions from the Secretary of War were to "conquer" Cali-
fornia, and set up a provisonal military government there in the name of the
United States. California, however, was won by Fremont and his volunteers,
and the United States flag was hoisted in the Bay of San Francisco by Commo-
dore Stockton before the arrival of General Kearney. A battle or two, by the
regular troops, under Kearney, completed the conquest. Had not the General
142 HJS TOR Y OF SALT LAKE CL TV.
been forestalled by Fremont, the Mormons would have been among his most re-
liable soldiers in the conquest of that country. As it was, Kearney found the
situation claimed by several rival governors. Fremont was the hero. Fremont
was his great rival. The hero was in rebellion. He refused at first to resign to
the military chief the government of the conquered Province. He might have
even won the position from the rightful Governor on the strength of his claims
as conqueror, supported by his popularity; but at this crisis of affairs, Col. Phillip
St. George'Cooke arrived in California with his command — the Mormon bat-
tallion. Their coming gave to Kearney the victory over his rival. He consulted
with Colonel Cooke, who assured him that he could rely on his Mormon soldiers
to a man. This decided the General. He resolved to force the issue and arrest
his rival. This was consummated, and Fremont was carried to Washington for
trial, under a Mormon guard. The famous case of Kearney and Fremont, forms
quite a chapter of American history, but it is not so well known how conspicuous
a part the Mormon soldiers played in the case.
The political banners of Fremont as a candidate for the Presidential chair,
with their motto, "The abolishment of slavery and polygamy; the twin relics of
barbarism," are scarcely more significant than the foregoing review, touching the
personal case of himself and the Mormons.
After the rise of the Republican party, this political vein of the Mormon
question grew so broad and rapidly in the political mind of the great parties, at
this time struggling for the supremacy, that even Senator Douglass was over-
whelmed with the necessity of taking up the conflict against the Mormons, whose
united vote had sent him to the Senate, and towards whom, up to the present
time, he had manifested not merely political gratitude, but even personal
friendship.
In politics, Senator Douglas and the Mormons were in perfect accord. His
'^squatter-sovereignty" was their political creed, and while they sought his in-
fluence at the seat of Governrnent, he found in them the living exponents of the
sovereigi.ty doctrine to which he devoted his life. Just here, his advice to the
Mormon Prophet, as reported by Orson Hyde may be repeated with much his-
torical pertinence :
" We have this day [April 26] had a long conversation with Judge Douglass.
He is ripe for Oregon and California. He said he would resign his seat in Con-
gress, if he could command the force that Mr. Smith could, and would be on the
march to that country in a month. ' In five years,' he said, ' a noble State might
be formed, and then if they would not receive us into the Union, we would have
a government of our own.' "
The Mormons had not gone to the extent of Senator Douglass' counsel.
They had, indeed, built up what they considered a " noble State " of the Union
and had repeatedly offered it to Congress for acceptance, which had been re-
jected ; but they had not in consequence of this rejection "set up an indepen-
dent government of their own," which fidelity to the nation doubtless Douglass
approved seeing that the treaty had ceded this then Mexican Territory to the
United States. There had been then no political change between Douglass and
HISTORY OF SALT LAKE CITY. j^j
the Mormons. The case was simply that Douglass was at that time an aspirant for
the Presidency of the United States, and this position he could only reach as
the candidate of the State which had expelled the Mormons.
In the spring of 1856 Senator Douglass delivered a great speech at Spring-
field, Illinois. It was the announcement of his platform before the assembling
of the conventions that were to nominate the successor of President Pierce. In
that speech the senator characterized Mormonism as "the loathsome ulcer of the
body politic" and recommended the free use of the scalpel as the only remedy
in the hands of the nation. But there were those in the States,' such as Thomas
L. Kane, who had given Douglass' name to President Filmore as surety for Gov-
ernor Young, and Mr. Fred. Hudson, the great manager at the time of the New
York Herald, who viewed the speech of the Senator from Illinois in its true
light. Hudson's confidant, an assistant, on Utah affairs, noticing this passage in
American politics of himself, wrote : " My first impulse was to notice the speech,
but a careful examination of it rendered the expediency of such a course very
doubtful. There were so many 'ifs,' and so often 'should it be,' that it was at
last concluded to leave it alone, for the senator might, after all, have said what
he did from the necessity of sailing with the popular tide against the Mormons,
while, at the same time, he might in the Senate demand evidence of the crimi-
inality of the Mormons before any action was taken against them."
But the Mormon leaders were so incensed at the action of Douglass that it be-
came impossible for him to prompt the Senate to an investigation of Utah affairs
by a commission. An irreconcilable breach was made. The Deseret News (un-
doubtedly speaking with Governor Young's voice) replied to the speech, and the
Illinois statesman was reminded of the lime when he was " but a county judge,"
and when the Prophet Joseph told him that he would some day be an aspirant for
the chair of Washington ; that, if he continued the friend of the Mormons, he
should live to be President of the United States; but if he ever lifted his finger
or his voice against them, his plans should be frustrated and his hopes utterly dis-
appointed. All this, the successor of the Mormon Prophet circumstantially re-
lated to the senator in reply to his Springfield speech and closed in the name of
the Lord, with the prediction that Douglass should fail, and never attain the goal
of his ambition.
The prediction of the Mormon Prophet in his conversation with Douglass is
singularly authentic and was published years before the Illinois Senator recom-
mended the Government to "cut the loathsome ulcer out," which recommenda-
tion makes the story pertinent here as referring to Utah and the causes "of the
Buchanan expedition.
The Democratic convention meet in Cincinnati soon after the speech, and
Senator Douglas was a candidate for the Presidency of the United States : Bu-
chanan was nominated and Douglass defeated.
But neither the defeat of Douglass nor the triumph of Buchanan changed the
"manifest destiny" that so singularly made Utah the political scapegoat of the
times. She was declared to be the sister of the South, with a common fate, but
the South had not yet chosen to recognize her. During that campaign, in the
fall of 1856, Republicans carried the banner hostile to polygamy, and Democrats
144 HISTORY OF SALT LAKE CITY.
made speeches against the same institution. The only difference was, that the
Republicans saw more clearly, or sensed more instinctively than the Democrats,
that the Mormons and the Democrats had a common cause and a common fate.
In fine the political action in the country in the fall of 1856 left the Mormons no
friends in any of the States and it was this very fact and not their right doings
nor their wrong doings, in Utah that determined the Government to send the
expedition.
On the 4th of March, 1857, Mr. Buchanan was inaugurated President of the
United States, and he and his cabinet, like Douglas, was soon overwhelmed with
the popular wave that rose at that time, to lash to fury in vain upon the Rocky
Mountain Zion ; but which, astonishingly to be told, immediately thereafter
swept over the South and baptized the United States in the blood of civil war.
CHAPTER XVI.
REVIEW OF JUDGE DRUMMONDS COURSE IN UTAH. HE ASSAULTS THE PRO-
BATE COURTS AND DENOUNCES THE UTAH LEGISLATURE AT THE CAPI-
TOL. JUDGE SNOWS REVIEW OF THE COURTS OF THE TERRITORY! HIS
LETTER TO THE COMPrROLLER OF THE TREASURY. JUDGE DRUMMOND
LEAVES UTAH AND COMMENCES HIS CRUSADE. THE CONSPIRACY TO
WORK UP THE "UTAH WAR." THE CONTRACTORS. CHARGES OF INDIAN
.\GENT TWISS. POSTAL SERVICE. CONTRACT AWARDED TO MR. HYRUM
KIMBALL. GOVERNOR YOUNG ORGANIZES AN EXPRESS AND CARRYING
COMPANY. NEW POSTAL SERVICE. WAR AGAINST UTAH. POS I'OFFICE
DEPARTMENT REPUDIATES ITS CONTRACT. "TROOPS ARE ON THE WAY
TO INVADE ZION! "
Thus it appears in reviewing the political history of 1856, that the compli-
cations of the nation herself, tending towards the great war conflict between the
North and the South, drew Utah into the vortex, almost without any action of
her own, whether good or bad; but no military expedition could be sent against
her without circumstantial causes. The charges of Drummond and Magraw were
considered to be sufficitni, which fact makes a review of themselves and their
action in Utah affairs necessary to the development of the history of a crusade
that cost the nation fifty millions of money, and, for awhile, threatened these
valleys with desolation.
The following passage from a letter of a member of the Utah Legislature,
Samuel W. Richards, to his brother in England, dated Fillmore City, December
7th, 1855, gives a very suggestive opening to Judge Drummond's administration
in this Territory:
HISTORY OF SALT LAKE CITY. 145
''You have, no doubt, heard of the appointment and arrival of Judge Drum-
mond in this Territory. He has lately been holding court in this place, which
has given him an opportunity to show himself. * * * }j[e h^g i,rass
to declare, in open court, that the Utah laws are founded in ignorance, and has
attempted to set some of the most important ones aside. This being the highest
compliment he has to pay to Utah legislators, we shall all endeavor to appreciate
it, and he, no doubt from his great ability to judge the merits of law, will be
able to appreciate the merits of a return compliment some day. His course and
policy so far seem to be to raise a row if possible, and make himself notorious.
" In speaking of Judge Drummond, I might have named the fact that he
compliments a Mormon jury by taking his wife on to the judgment-seat with him,
which she occupies almost constantly. There was one case, however, of such a
character that she did not appear."
In a letter of a later date (January 5th, 1856,) the same correspondent
wrote.
"Some little excitement prevails in town to-day. An affair took place be-
tween Judge Drummond and a Jew trader here, which was rather amusing at the
time, but may be something more \\id,nfun for the Judge before he gets through
with it. A grand jury is meeting this evening, which will bring in an indictment
against the Judge and his negro, Cato, for assault and battery with intent to mur-
der; and he will be arrested and brought before the probate court on Monday
morning next, a 9 o'ctock, just at the time he should answer to his name in the
supreme court, which sits at that hour. * * *
" He has virtually ruled our probate courts out of power in his decisions,
but we will now know whether probate courts can act or not, especially in his
case. ^ * *
"Judges Kinney and Stiles, Babbitt, Blair, and nearly all the lawyers in the
Territory, United States' Marshal, etc., are expected in here to-morrow, as the
supreme court opens on Monday. There is only one case that I am aware of to
come up before that court, and that of not much account. * *
• Evening.
"The party alluded to just above have arrived. A. W. Babbitt comes in a
prisoner. He has been arrested by order of Judge Drummond, on the suppo-
sition that he was concerned in the escape of Carlos Murray, who was brought
here a prisoner some time since, but is not here now. There is quite an excite-
ment in town about matters and things. I wish this letter was to go one week
later, so as to give you the result of the present commotion, which will probably
decide the jurisdiction of our probate courts."
The case of the "wife" was a greater outrage both to the government and
the community than this indignant member of the Legislature knew at the time.
Associate Justice Drummond had brought with him to the Territory a " lady
companion," while his wife and family were left in Illinois. After the notice of
his arrival had been published in the Deseret News, some of the relatives of Mrs.
J 46 HISTORY OF SALT LAKE CITY.
Drummond paid a visit to the judge's "companion," and, nnfortunately for the
honor of the bench, the "lady" from St. Louis did not arswer to the descrip-
tion of the wife in Oquawkee. The discovery was noised abroad, yet so shame-
less was the conduct of this judge and his paramour that she tiaveled with him
wherever he held court, and on some occasions sat beside him on the bench.
"Plurality of wives," comments Stenhouse, "was to the Mormons a part of
their religion openly acknowledged to all the world. Drummond's plurality was
the outrage of a respectable wife of excellent reputation for the indulgence of a
common prostitute, and the whole of his conduct was a gross insalt to the Gov-
ernment which he represented, and the people among whom he was sent to admin-
ister law. For any contempt the Mormons exhibited towards such a man, there
is no need of apology."
Here is exhibited the very onset of the conflict, relative to the jurisdiction of
the probate courts in this Territory, and the existence and business of a Terri-
torial marshal, a conflict that continued to the days of Chief Justice McXean ;
but it is clear from the record that, whether the Utah Legislature made its laws in
ignorance or not, it had shown no intent to subvert the federal rule, or to set aside
United States Courts to give the jurisdiction to the probate courts; yet this is
the very charge made against Governor Young and the Utah Legislature — namely,
that they did both with intent and treason so set aside federal rule, substituting,
an ecclesiastical rule under the guise of probate courts. " With regard to the
affairs and proceeding of the probate court, (wrote Magraw to the President) the
only existing tribunal in the Territory of Utah, there being but one of the three
federal judges now in the Territory, I will refer you to its records, and to the
evidence of gentlemen whose assertions cannot be questioned," while the asso-
ciate justice wrote, "The judiciary is only treated as a farce. * * jj
is noonday madness and folly to attempt to administer the law in that Territory.
The officers are insulted, harrassed and murdered for doing their duty, and not
recognizing Brigham Young as the only lawgiver and lawmaker upon earth."
In the reverse of this the foregoing notes, from one of the legislators to his
brother, show us a judge, who was sent to execute the laws of the Territory,
rudely assaulting the lawmaking department and ruling out of power the probate
courts, which it h»d endowed with a jurisdiction necessary to the commonwealth
under peculiar circumstances. This conflict thus begun by Judge Drummond, in
1855-6, against the Territorial commonwealth, falsely interpreted to Buchanan's
administration, is rendered in General Scott's instructions as "state of substan-
tial rebellion against the laws and authority of the United States."
The burden of the subject resting then, at this point with the jurisdiction of
our probate courts, and the Territorial business generally^ it is needful that we
enlarge the review of previous chapters relative to the reasons of the superior
jurisdiction given to those courts, and the creation of the ofiices of Territorial
Marshal, Attorney General and District Attorney. The reason in fine was the
desertion of the Chief Justice and one of his associates, accompanied by the Sec-
retary of the Territory and Indian Agent, carrying away all the government
funds. It is not necessary to again review their conduct, or to reaffirm the jus-
tification of Governor Young and the Mormon community, but simply to repeat
HIS TORY OF SALT LAKE CI2 K 147
th-e connecting cause of the powers which the legislature conferred upon the pro-
bate courts and the creation q{ the Territorial officers. Associate Justice Snow
was not set aside by the Legislature, but an enabling act was passed authorizing
him to hold United States Courts in all the districts; at the same time Jurisdic-
tion was given to the probate courts in civil and criminal affairs in the interest of
the commonwealth, lest it should be left altogether unable to administer in the
departments of Justice, which would have been the case at that moment had
Associate Justice Snow died or le(t the Territory. Mr. Migraw himseif uninten-
tionally illustrated this point, when he told the President that the probate court was
the only existing tribunal in Utah, "there being but one of the three federal
judges now in the Territory." This was the exact case at the onsei when the
probate court was created.
Already extracts have been made from the correspondence between Judge
Snow and the Hon. Elisha Whittlesey, who drew a strong line of demarcation
between United States and Territorial business, making it absolutely necessary
for the Territory tto assume the responsibility and cost of its own business.
This, however, the legislature did against its own judgment, holding that the
TerritoriaS District Courts were really United States Courts. Judge Snow, con-
tinuing the correspondence, discussing the subject with the comptroller of the
treasury in behalf of his court and the legislature, said in his letter of February
s, 1853:
" To enable you to fully understand the present situation of things, before
proceeding further, I will inform you that the Legislative Assembly passed an act,
approved October 4th, [851, authorizing and requiring me, for a limited time, to
hold all the courts in the Territory, but said nothing about jurisdiction, appellate
or original. (See Utah Laws, p. 37.)
"February 4, 1852, another act was approved, giving jurisdiction to the dis-
trict courts in all cases, civil and criminal, also in chancery. (See ?'3., p. 2i^, sec.
2.) The same law gave jurisdiction to the probate courts, civil and criminal, also
in chancery. (See ib.^ p, 43, sec. 36.) An act was approved March 3d, 1852,
providing for the appointment of a Territorial Marshal, Attorney General and
District Attorneys, to attend to legal business in the district courts when the Ter-
ritory should be interested. (See ib., pp. 56, 57.)
" I do not intend to be understood as expressing any opinion in relation to
the legality of these several enactments, but I only mention them to enable you to
understand the present views of the Legislative Assembly, as expressed in a report
to which I shall soon refer. This report was called out by reason of the non-pay-
ment of these costs. I having referred the claimants to the Legislative Assembly,
they procured my certificate of their correctness and petitioned for payment. The
petition was referred to a committee on claims, and, to enable that committee to
understand the subject, the Council passed a resolution, requesting me to inform
them of the amount of costs of holding the courts for the past year, distinguish-
ing those which in my opinion should be paid by the general government from
those payable by the Territory.
"With this request I complied, and gave the reasons of my opinion, acting
1^8 HISTORY OF SALT LAKE CITY.
on the principle that the reasons of an opinion are often of far more value than
the opinion itself. In so doing I laid before them my correspondence with you,
and referred to such of the laws of the United States as in my opinion had a bear-
ing on the subject, and to the enactments. I also went minutely into the usual
officers of the courts and expenses attendant upon them, and showed how these
officers and courts are usually paid, in both civil and ctiminal cases, together with
the payment of the incidental expenses, making my answer quite lengthy, too
much so for insertion in this communication.
"This committee reported adversely to payment by the Territory, but upon
what principle I have not been informed. The subject was then referred to a ju-
diciary committee, composed of some of the best members of the council. This
committee reported adversely to payment by the Territory, and gave their reasons.
This report was adopted, therefore I proceed to notice the positions taken by them.
"They commence with what they call the equity of the principle involved in
the question presented, saying that nearly all the costs of courts here have accrued
by reason of emigration passing through here to California and Oregon, and that
justice requires the United States to pay such expenses.
" My experience in the courts thus far justifies the firm belief that the facts
here assumed are correctly stated. See my concluding remark in my letter of July
ID. But with this equitable consideration, I am unable to see what I have to do,
though I can see its bearing when addressed to the political branches of the gov-
ernment by whom and to whom that matter was then addressed.
"They further take the position that the United States and the Territory of
Utah respectively must sustain and bear the expenses, direct and incidental, of
the officers and offices of its own creation, that the supreme and district courts
were created, not by a law of Utah, but by a law of the United States ; and as
such, by the Organic Act, they have jurisdiction, civil and criminal, in all cases
not arising out of the constitution and laws of the United States, unless such jur-
isdiction should be limited by a law of the Territory; that congress, by extend-
ing the constitution and laws of the United States over the Territory, and
creating courts and appointing officers to execute these laws, had done what was
her right and duty to do, but, as she had seen fit to go further and give jurisdic-
tion to her courts and require her officers to execute the laws of the Territory, it
had become her duty to sustain these courts and officers, and bear their expenses;
that the Territorial Legislature, by giving jurisdiction to these courts and divid-
ing the Territory into districts, had done nothing but discharge a duty which
Congress had required at their hands, but this did not require them to bear any
part of the expenses; that these courts took jurisdiction in all cases, not by
virtue of the Territorial laws, but by a law of Congress; that the Territories, by
their Organic Acts, are not independent governments within the meaning of the
term that all just powers emanate from the government, but are subordinate, de-
dependent branches of government ; that Congress did not intend to give any
court jurisdiction in civil and criminal cases at common law and in chancery, but
the supreme and district courts, and, as she had reserved the right to nullify any
act of the Legislative Assembly, she could enforce obedience to her mandates;
that, with such a state of things, it is contrary to every principle of justice and
HISTORY OF SALT LAKE CITY. j^g
sound legislation to require so dependent a branch of government to bear any
part of the expenses of enforcing the laws; that the officers, having charge of
that branch of public service, ought not to so construe the acts of Congress as to
produce such results, so. long as the long as the laws will admit of a construction
consistent with justice and sound legislation; that, in their opinion, the acts of
Congress did not require such a construction, but on the contrary they strongly
indicated, if they did not require, the construction contended for by them ; and
that the same principle which would require such dependencies to pay a part (of
the expenses) would require them to pay the whole, and with that construction
Congress might, at the expense of the Territories, impose upon them any embod-
iment of officers she, in her discretion, might see fit to send, which never
could have been intended by the framers of the constitution.
" This report concludes by recommending that these costs be referred to me,
with the opinion of the council that they are payable out or the annual appro-
priations made by Congress for defraying the expenses of the circuit and district
courts of the United States, and by recommending that the laws of Utah be so
amended as to take away the jurisdiction of the probate courts at common law,
civil and criminal, and in chancery, and abolish the offices of territorial marshal,
attorney-general, and district attorneys, so that the United States, by her judges,
attorneys and marshals may execute the> laws of the Territory. But, as this re-
port was not made until a late day in the session, the laws were not so amended.
Should the next Legislative Assembly in these matters concur with this, the laws
above referred to will either be repealed or modified."
It will be seen by this report of the committee that the Utah Legislature, as
early as 1852-3, desired to do what, after twenty years of conflict, was accom.
phshed, — namely, to limit the jurisdiction of the probate court and to abolish
those Territorial officers which had been created from necessity, "so that the
United States, by her judges, attorneys and marshals may execute the laws of
the Territory."
It appears, then, from this review made by Associate Justice Snow, long
before the date of the Utah Expedition that the conflict which arose in the courts
of Judges Drummond and Stiles, furnishing the most direct cause of said expedi-
tion, was not in consequence of the Legislature desiring to limit the legitimate
rule of the federal officers, much less to put the Territory in the attitude of re-
bellion, but rather that Drmmond and others sought the conflict with the very
design so soon afterwards expressed in the Utah war. Such, at least, was the
opinion of the Mormon people.
In the Spring of 1857, Associate Justice Drummond went to Carson Valley
ostensibly to hold court, instead of which he immediately left Carson for Cali-
fornia to commence his crusade. As soon as he reached the Pacific Coast he
made a fierce attack upon the Mormons in the papers of San Francisco. He
next from New Orleans April 2, 1857, dispatched his resignation to the Govern-
ment that it might reach Washington before the executive session adjourned.
His exposure — much of it false and much of it exaggerated — added to the affidavit
of Judge Stiles who was then in Washington, arroused Congress to demand im-
mediate action.
ISO HIST OR Y OF SAL T LAKE CI TV.
Meantime; while this war crusade was being worked up against Utah, she
was making extraordinary efforts to bring herself into closer relations with the
Eastern States, and a broader intercourse with the world generally. As already
seen, early in the year 1856, she had made a grand demonstration for admission
into the Union, and now the close of the year saw her undertaking a great en-
terprise to aid the Government in its postal service, enlarge her own commerce,
and establish a line of settlements between Great Salt Lake City and the Eastern
frontiers. One of the citizens of Utah, Mr. Hiram Kimball, had obtained the
contract from the Post Office Department for the transportation of the United
States mails across the plains between Independence, Missouri, and this city.
Hitherto the postal service with Utah had been very unsatisfactory, the contracts
being exceedingly low, which gave the contractors, who were only commercially
interested in Utah, nothing of the citizen's impulse and ambition to perfect the
mail service. Feramorz Little, indeed, as a sub-contractor, had on former occa-
sions made exceedingly short time, but up to the letting of the contract to Mr.
Hiram Kimball, the enterprising men of Salt Lake City, whose commercial
facilities would be greatly enhanced by the organization of a grand carrying com-
pany, had found no opportunity for such a design. The contract of Mr. Hiram
Kimball amounted to only ^23,600 for the mail service, but Governor Young saw
in it the foundation of a gigantic express company, such as only he could possibly
organize, having at his back an entire community who was so vitally concerned
in the enterprise.
Locked out by deep snows on the mountains from nearly all intercourse with
the Eastern States during the terrible winter of 1856, and almost as destitute of
news from the Pacific, the Mormons had little idea of the stir which Utah had
created everywhere throughout the Union since the former contractor, Magraw,
had written his letter to the President of the United States, dated Independence,
Missouri, October 3, 1856, since which time, they had received no mail; much
less did they know of the inception of the "contractors' war," as in the sequel
the Utah Expedition was very generally considered to be.
Taking up the mail contract of the Government in good faith, and with
■that executive promptness and confidence in his recources which were so charac-
teristic of the man, Governor Young bent all his energies to organize the "B. Y.
Express." He gathered around him the most intrepid men of the mountains,
urged the brethren who had stock to join in the enterprise, and suceeded in con-
trolling all that was necessary to make such a gigantic company as that which he
designed successful. There were many companies organized with outfitting
teams, tools, farming utensils, etc., to form settlements over the entire line,
though at that date there were only a few mountaineers living between Salt Lake
City and the terminal point.
The winter snows of 1856-7 had tarried long on the mountains and the
plains, and this rendered the stocking of the road and the building of stations
over the long distance of 1,200 miles a very severe task. But there was every
incentive to more than ordinary diligence. The Government had never exhib-
ited much favor to any Mormon citizen. The acting postmaster at that time.
Judge Elias Smith, was only a deputy of the gentile postmaster, Mr. William
HISTORY OF SALT LAKE CITY.
'51
Bell. Any delay now in commencing the new mail contract might be seized as
a pretext for repudiating the new contractor, which really turned out to be the
case when the expedition made it convenient for the Government to find such a
pretext. With this fully impressed upon their minds, the most daring and hardy
of the mountaineers were called by Governor Young to assist, and in an incredi-
bly short space of time, and in the midst of very severe weather, stations were
built and relays of horses and mules were strung all the way along the traveled
route, from the mountains to the Missouri river. There was a fair prospect that
the "B. Y. Express Carrying Company" would soon grow into the vast enter-
prise as designed, conveying all the merchandise and mails from the East and
placing Utah, by means of express messengers, in daily intercourse with the rest
of the world, a decade before that desired end was accomplished by the railroad.
But this very enterprise, undertaken in the service of the Government, having
for its aim also the general good and commercial advancement of this western
country, and for the safety of the emigrations, which were fast peopling these
young States and Territories, was construed against the Mormons as one of the
causes which gave rise to the Utah Expedition. This will be exemplified in
document. No. 2iZi furnished to the House from the Indian Department.
" Indian Agency of the Upper Platte,
On Raw Hide Creek, July 15, 1857.
"Sir: In a communication addressed to the Indian Office, dated April
last, I called the attention of the department to the settlements being made
within the boundaries of this agency by the ' Mormon Church,' clearly in viola-
tion of law, although the pretext or pretence under which these settlements are
made is under the cover of a contract of the Mormon Church to carry the mail
from Independence, Missouri, to Great Salt Lake City.
"On the 25th May, a large Mormon colony took possession of the valley of
Deer Creek, one hundred miles west of Fort Laramie, and drove away a band of
Sioux Indians whom I had settled there in April, and had induced them to
plant corn.
"I left that Indian band on the 23d May, to attend to matters connected'
with the Cheyenne band, in the lower part of the agency.
"I have information from a reliable source that these Mormons are about
three hundred in number, have plowed and planted two hundred acres of prairie,
and are building houses sufficient for the accommodation of five hundred persons,
and have a large herd of cattle, horses and mules.
"I am persuaded that the Mormon Church intend, by this plan thus partially
developed, to monopolize all of tlie trade with the Indians and whites within, or
passing through, the Indian country,
" I respectfully and earnestly call the attention of the department to this in-
vasion, and enter my protest against this occupation of the Indian country, in
force, and the forcible ejection o( the Indians from the place where I had settled
them.
"I am powerless to control this matter, for the Mormons obey no laws en-
acted by Congress. I would respectfully request that the President will be
'
IJ2 HISTORY OF SALT LAKE CITY.
pleased to issue such order as, in his wisdom and judgment, may seem best in
order to correct the evil complained of.
" Very respectfully, your obedient servant,
THOS. S. TWISS,
Indian Agent, Upper Platte.
"Hon. J. W. Denver,
Commissioner of Indian Affairs. ' '
The date of the communication referred tb, (of April, 1857), is prior to
the circular of General Scott, and cotemporary with the letter of Judge Drum-
mond to the Attorney General, which was dated April 2d, 1S57, enclosing his
resignation^ dated March 30th, 1857. These three letters quoted — from the con-
tractor, Magraw, Associate Justice Drummond, and Indian Agent Twiss — are the
very documents which, both in subject and date, bore most directly upon the
" information which gave rise to the military expedition ordered to Utah Terri-
tory, * * * throwing light upon the question as to how far said
Brigham Young and his followers are in a state of rebellion or resistance to the
government of the United States.". Moreover, in most of the documents fur-
nished to the House, excepting those from the War Department, of date subse-
quent to the determination of the Expedition, there is seen not only a marked,
and almost serial connection with the three documents in example, but the
evidence of a decided conspiracy; that is to say, those documents were con-
cocted both with malice and intent to bring on the "Utah War," by leading the
Government astray with false information that " Brigham Young and his follow-
ers" were "in a state of rebellion or resistance to the government of the United
States." It will be noticeable, that two of the six " Gentiles of Great Salt Lake
City," to whom Judge Drummond refers the Attorney General " for proof of the
manner in which they have been insulted and abused by leading Mormons for
two years past," are Garland Hurt, Indian Agent, and John M. Hockaday, mer-
chant and mail contractor. There was no call for proof from the Chief Justice,
John F. Kinney, then in the east, nor from such Gentile merchants as Livingston
and Bell, the latter of whom was also the postmaster of Great Salt Lake City,
nor from William H. Hooper, who in that period must be considered as a Gen-
tile merchant rather than as a Mormon.
Now, the pertinency of this mail business in the historical exposition of
causes which led to the Utah war will apj^ear at the very naming of the fact that
Hockaday and Magraw were the former contractors to carry the mail between
Independence, Missouri, and Great Salt Lake City.
Notice at this point a remarkable connection of causes suggestive of con-
spiracy, when laid side by side with subsequent events, and the acts of the prin-
cipal factors who gave to the Government the information that led to the sending
of the Expedition to put down a rebellion, which had no existence in fact or
intent, so far as the citizens of Utah were concerned.
In the fall of 1856, Hockaday and Magraw lost the mail contract, which, as
noticed, was awarded to Mr. Hiram Kimball, a citizen of Utah. This award
was not as any favor from the department^ Which, there is every reason to believe.
31
HISTORY OF SALT LAKE CITY. ijj
preferred the former contractors, but in compliance with the rule, requiring the
lowest responsible bid. The mail service for Utah was now in the hands of the
community so vitally concerned in its success, rather than in the mere emolu-
ments of the contract ; and Governor Young, in the interest of the commerce
of the Territory, and of their emigrations, as well as for the quick and reliable
postal intercourse with the Eastern States, had already designed the gigantic " B.
Y. Express Carrying Company." Doubtless the former contractor, one of whom,
Mr. Hockaday, was a resident merchant of Salt Lake City, knew of the concep-
tion of such a design of Governor Young, some time before the new contract
was awarded, seeing the contract was sought for that very purpose. The gieat
Mormon colonizer and city founder, had already proclaimed his intention of
establishing a line of settlements from Great Salt Lake City to Carson Valley,
and a line of intercourse east to the Missouri River; and it was quite certain
that, on this eastern line, a chain of settlements would spring up out of the Mor-
mon emigrations, as soon as permitted by the Government in its treaties for In-
dian lands. This example was given by the Mormons in their exodus, when they
established "stakes of Zion " on the route to the Mountains — laid the founda-
tions indeed of what have since become our great frontier cities. No sooner did
the Indian agent, Thomas S. Twiss, see the establishment of the mail stations, by
the " Y. X. Company," than he predicted to the Government, the Mormon con-
trol of the trade of the plains, and urged hostilities to prevent this colonization
of the eastern line, exaggerating a mail station into a settlement of five hundred,
and charging the Mormons with driving off the Indians and unlawfully settling
on their lands.
The contractor, W. M. F. Magraw, on the side of his personal interest,
seems to have been in full understanding and perfect accord with Indian Agent
Twiss; and immediately upon the award of the contract to Mr. Hiram Kimball,
upon which was to be based the operation of the " B. Y. Express and Carrying
Company," he wrote to the President of the United States, addressing him "as
a personal and political friend," to lay before him " some information relative to
the present political and social condition of the Territory of Utah, ' ' in which "there
is left no protection for life or property," but a condition of things, which, (to
follow the contractor's words) "will, when published, startle the conservative
people of the States, and create a clamor which will not be readily quelled; and
I have no doubt that the time is near at hand, and the elements rapidly combin-
ing to bring about a state of affairs which will result in indiscriminate bloodshed,
robbery and rapine, and which, in a brief space of time will reduce that country
to a condition of a howling wilderness."
Very suggestive is this prediction of the contractor Magraw, in view of the
fact that it was afterwards nearly fulfilled. It was the prospect of the ensuing
two years — a prospect, moreover, which was known in the States, and even in
Europe, quite six months before it was known to the people of Utah — which
reasonably suggests that it was an anticipation not of prescient sagacity, but of
a direct conspiracy to accomplish that foreshadowed in Magraw's letter, presented
by Secretary Cass as the first link of the imformation which gave rise to the Utah
Expedition. And the prediction is the more striking the closer it is viewed, and
6
154 HISTORY OF SALT LAKE CITY.
the nearer the altar is approached upon which the sacrifice to be offered up was
laid. The Mormon community is the sacrifice seen upon the altar, just as it had
been in Missouri and Illinois, — a sacrifice which, when it was revealed in the
actual offering to the gaze of the good wife of Governor Cummings, caused that
lady to weep, and in anguish to implore her noble-hearted husband to use his in-
fluence with the Government to save the devoted people. It was the " country"
which the Mormons had changed from " the desert to the fruitful field," and
made it "blossom as the rose," that in "a brief space of time" was to be re-
duced "to a condition of a howling wilderness," which, when General Johnston
and his army were brought face to face with the prospect, as they rode through
the deserted city of the Great Salt Lake, appalled even those familiar with the
desolations of war.
The prediction of this mail contractor, then, has a deep significance in the
history, especially when coupled with his statement to the President, to the effect
that there was about to be " published " charges against the Mormon community
which would "startle the conservative people of the States, and create a clamor
which will not be readily quelled." This was fulfilled to the letter, when a few
months later Judge Drummond fulminated his monstrous charges, both in Cali-
fornia and the Eastern States, and aroused a fury in the nation to "wipe " the
Mormon community out.
But there is another part of the narrative to be yet told, relative to the mail
service and the contracts in question, that ramifies itself in every branch of the
history, from the date of Mr. Magraw's letter to the President, to the time of the
repudiation of the Kimball contract by the General Post Office Department, and
the arrival of the news in Utah that an army was on the way. The major thread
of this subject shall be left to the hereafter review, in the next message of the
Governor Young to the Legislature, so ponderous and important is the matter ;
but a few minor threads is here necessary for the completeness of the historic
story.
The failure of the contractor Magraw to bring the last mails, which kept
Utah and "the world" so long without news of each other, made it necessary
for the postmaster of Great Salt Lake City, to make a special contract to carry
the mail east tO' the terminal point,. Independence, Missouri. Feramorz Little
was entrusted with the contract, and he and Ephraim K. Hanks left Great Salt Lake
City with the mail^ December ii, 1856. Beyond the Devil's Gate on the way
they met the former contractor's outfit — Mr. Magraw and company. They were
bringing their last mail through and picking up their stock. Having tarried so
long, however, this contractor and his company failed to come through, in con-
sequence of the deep snows in the nvountains, and they returned to the Platte
River Bridge and wintered. The important item will by and by appear in Gov-
ernor Young's message, that the official letter of the award of the new contract
to Mr. Hiram Kimball wintered with them, in the pocket of one of the con-
tractor's agents, which circumstance had a sequel not greatly to the honor of the
post office department, in its repudiation of Mr. Kimball's contract, on the pre-
text of the service not being commenced by him in the stipulated time.
Mr. Little with the special mail arrived at Independence, Missouri on the
HIS TOR V OF SAL T LAKE CIl F. rjj
27th of February, 1857, after a very severe trip. He forthwith proceeded to
Washington to collect his money for taking the mail down, which having accom-
plished, he went to New York. The charges of Judge Drummond were just at
that moment published in the Eastern papers, creating a great excitement. The
following letter to the public from Mr, Little was called forth in answer:
"Merchant's Hotel, N. Y., April 15, 1857.
"Editor Herald.
"Sir: As myself and Mr. E. K. Hanks are the last persons who
have come to the States from Great Salt Lake City, I deem it my duty to bear
testimony against the lying scribblers who seem to be doing their utmost to stir
up a bad feeling against the Utonians. We left our homes on the nth of De-
cember, brought the last mail to the States, and certainly should know of the
state of things there. The charges of Judge Drummond are as false as he is cor-
rupt. Before I left for the States, I was five days every week in Great Salt Lake
City, and I witness to all the world that I never heard one word of the burning
of nine hundred volumes of law, records, etc., nor anything of that character,
nor do I know, or ever heard of anything of the dumb boy story he talks of.
"There is only one house between my house and the Penitentiary, said to
contain "five or six young men from Missouri and Iowa," and I do know that
up to the day I left, there were only in that place of confinement three Indians,
who were convicted at the time of Colonel Steptoe's sojourn there, for having
taken part in the massacre of Captain Gunnison and party, which Drummond
now charges upon the Mormons, even though Colonel Steptoe and the United
States' officers then in Utah investigated the aff'air thoroughly and secured the
conviction of the three Indians alluded to. This is an unblushing falsehood,
that none but a man like Drummond could pen.
"The treasonable acts alleged against the Mormons in Utah are false from
beginning to end. At Fort Kearney we learned all about the murder of Colonel
Babbitt, and do know that that charge against the Mormons is but another of
Drummond's creations.
"I have but a short time at my disposal for writing, but must say, that I am
astoni>^hed to find in the States, rumors againt Utah. We left our homes in
peace, dreaming of no evil, and we come here and learn that we are the most
corrupt of men, and are preparing for war.
"Yours, etc.,
FERAMORZ LITTLE."
At New York, Mr. Little learned from Mr. James Monroe Livingston, one of
the firm of Livingston and Kinkead, of Great Salt Lake City, that the " Y. X."
company for carrying the mails had been started, and that he, Mr. Little, was
expected to take charge of the returning mails. He immediately hastened to
Independence, Missouri, where he found the agents who had come down from
the mountains with the Utah mails. There was at Independence a large accum-
ulation of mail matter, amounting to several tons. The men in charge fitted up
two or three wagons, and Mr. John R. Murdock, with the latest mail selected,
started home on the ist of May, while Mr, Little remained to get up the June
156 HISTORY OF SALT LAKE CITY.
mail, and on the ist of June, he started himself with three wagon loads of postal
matter.
While at Independence, gathering up the mails, Mr. Little had much inter-
course with the numerous contractors at that point, who were waiting the con-
tracts for the Utah Expedition, with which, though not yet announced officially
from the War Department, they were well posted in the design. The Mormon
mail agent at first could not believe it possible that the Government was about to
send an army against Utah for being in a state of rebellion which, he assured
them was not the case, while they in turn assured him that such an expedition
was projected and certain. What a suggestion of '■'■the Contractor s war"" !
A short distance from Fort Laramie, Mr. Little met Abraham O. Smoot,
Esq., the then Mayor of Great Salt Lake City, in charge of the June mail going
east. Of his trip Mayor Smoot furnishes us the following:
'' On the 2d of June, 1857, I left Salt Lake City in company with a young
man from the Thirteenth Ward, by the name of Ensign, (whose father still re-
sides in that ward), in charge of the last mail going east by the Y. Express.
"We met between Fort Laramie and Kearney, some two or three hundred
United States troops, who said they were reconnoitering the country in search of
hostile Indians, who at that time were very troublesome on the plains. The offi-
cer in command (whose name has gone from me) treated us very kindly, and
proposed to furnish us an escort as far east as Fort Kearney, I thanked him for
his kind consideration in offering the escort, but told him I feared his escort
would not be able to keep up with me, as I proposed to drive about sixty miles a
day, until 1 reached Fort Kearney, and at that speed I thought there would be
little, if any, danger of the Indians overtaking us.
"About one hundred miles west of Independence we began to meet heavy
freight teams. The captains and teamsters all seemed to be very reticient in re-
lation to giving their destination, and all I was able to learn from them was that
they had Government freight, and were bound for some western post, and the
trains belonged to William H. Russell.
" In less than two days from that time I reached Kansas City, twelve miles
west of Independence, where I met Nicholas Groesbeck who had charge of the
Y. X. Company at that end of the route. In company with him we immediately
proceeded to the office of William H. Russsell, and there learned that the desti-
nation of his freight trains was Salt Lake City, with supplies for Government
troops who would soon follow^, I also learned from William H. Russell of the
appointment of Governor Gumming and other Federal officers that came out
with the United States troops that year.
"The next morning Mr. Groesbeck sent the mail into Independence and I
remained in Kansas City to learn more of the movements of the Government, if
possible.
"The mail we took down was received by the postmaster and he informed
the carrier that he had received instructions from the Government to deliver no
more mail for Salt Lake City at present.
That denial implied that we had no more use for our stock and mail stations
on the route 3 so, in consultation with Bro. N. Groesbeck and others, we con-
HISTORY &F SALT LAKE CITY. j^y
eluded to move our stock and station outfits homeward. Myself and Judson
Stoddard were given the responsibility, and two or three other young men (Bro.
•Ensign being one) were detailed to assist us.
'•' We moved slowly gathering everything as we went, until we reached Sou^h
Platte about 120 miles east of Fort Laramie where we met Porter Rockwell with
the July mail from Salt Lake City, he proceeded no further east but returned with
us to Fort Laramie, 513 miles east of Salt Lake, arriving there on the 17th of
July.
" On the i8th Bro. O. P. Rockwell and myself, believing that we had passed
all danger of Indian troubles, concluded to leave the stock in the care of Bro. J.
Stoddard and others to bring in at their leisure and we would make our way
home by the 24th of July, the tenth anniversary of the arrival of the Pioneers
in Salt Lake Valley. This arrangement did not meet with the approval of Bro.
Stoddard against which he strongly protested but without effect, so he finally
accepted the alternative of leaving his stock (some eight or ten which were his
personal property) with his trusty hired men and accompany us to the Salt Lake
Valley.
" We hitched up two span of our best animals to a small spring wagon and
left Fort Laramie on the evening of the i8th of July, and reached Salt Lake City
on the evening of the 23rd of July, making the 513 miles in five days and three
hours.
Yours respectfully,
A. O. SMOOT.
Provo City, Utah, February 14th, 1884.'"
CHAPTER XVIL
THE PIONEER JUBILEE. CELEBRATION OF THEIR TENTH ANNIVERSARY.
ARRIVAL OF MESSENGERS WITH THE NEWS OF THE COMING OF AN
INVADING ARMY. THE DAY OF JUBILEE CHANGED TO A DAY OF INDE-
PENDENCE. CAPTAIN VAN VLIET AND THE MORMON PEOPLE.
The people were celebrating the twenty-fourth of July — the anniversary of
the pioneers — in Big Cottonwood Canyon, when the news reached them of the
coming of the troops to invade their homes.
They had conquered the desert. Cities were fast springing up in the soli-
tary places, where cities had never been planted before, and in valleys that had
once been the bed of the great sea; civilization was spreading.
A plentiful harvest was promised that year, and every circumstance of their
situation seemed favorable, except the lack of postal communication with the
1^8 HISTORY OF SALT LAKE CITY.
East. Their isolation, in this particular, had kept them in ignorance, up to that
time, of the movements of the Government concerning them.
On the 2 2d of July, 1857, numerous teams were seen wending their way, by
different routes, to the mouth of Big Cottonwood Canyon, where they halted for
the night. Next morning Governor Young led the van of the long line of car-
riages and wagons, and before noon the cavalcade reached the camp ground
at the Cottonwood Lake, which nestles in the bosom of the mountain, 8,000 feet
above the level of the sea. Early in the afternoon, the company, numbering
2,687 persons, encamped, and soon all were busy with the arrangements for the
morrow. It will be seen, at a glance, that this was intended to be a pioneer's
jubilee indeed; not in a city, but in primitive surroundings, suggestive of their
entrance into these valleys ten years before.
There were in attendance: Captain Ballo's band, the Nauvoo brass band,
the Ogden City brass band, and the Great Salt Lake City and Ogden martial
bands; also, of the military, the ist company of light artillery, under Adjutant-
General James Ferguson ; a detachment of four platoons of life guards and one
platoon of the lancers, under Colonel Burton ; and one company of light in-
fantry cadets, under Captain John W. Young. Colonel J. C. Little was marshal
of the day.
Early on the following morning the people assembled, and the choir sang :
" On the mountain tops appearing."
Then, after prayers the Stars and Stripes were unfurled on the two highest
peaks, in sight of the camp, on two of the tallest trees. At twenty minutes past
nine a. m., three rounds from the artillery saluted the First Presidency, and at a
quarter past ten three rounds were given for the ''Hope of Israel," Captain
John W. Young, with his company of light infantry, answered to this last salute,
and went through their military evolutions to the admiration of the beholders.
This company numbered fifty boys, at about the age of twelve, who had been uni-
formed by Governor Young.
At noon. Mayor A. O. Smoot, Elder Judson Stoddard, Judge Elias Smith,
and O. P. Rockwell, rode into camp, the two former from the "States" (Mis-
souri River), in twenty days. They brought news of the coming of the troops.
It was the first tidings of war. Any other people in the world would have been
stricken with a terrible fear; but not so these Mormon Saints. The well-known
war cry of Cromwell, when he entered into battle, " The Lord of Hosts is with
us!" was the undaunted explanation of every heart, and soon it was the burden
of every speech.
In a moment the festive song was changed to the theme oT war ; the jubilee
of a people swelled into a sublime declaration of independence. Never before did
such a spirit of heroism so suddenly and completely possess an entire community.
Men and women shared it alike. The purest and most graphic passage of Sten-
house's "Rocky Mountain Saints" is the description of this eventful day. It it
worthy of quotation. He says :
"On the 24th of July, 1857, there were probably gathered at the lake about
two thousand persons — men women, and children — in the fullest enjoyment of
HISTORY OF SALT LAKE CITY.
159
social freedom. Some were fishing in the lake, others strolling among the trees,
climbing the high peaks, pitching quoits, playing cricket, engaging in gymnastic
exercises, pic-nicking, and gliding through the boweries that were prepared for the
mazy dance. It was a day of feasting, joy, and amusement for the silver-haired
veteran and the tottering child. The welkin rang with the triumphant songs of
Zion, and these, accompanied by the sweet melody of many-toned instruments
of music, thrilled every bosom with enthusiastic joy. Their exuberance was the
pure outgushing of their souls' emotion, and owned no earthly inspiration, for
their only beverage was the sparkling nectar of Eden, while their sympathies were
united by a sacred and fraternal bond of affectionate love, which for the time ren-
dered them oblivious of the artificial distinctions of social life. The highest and
the lowest rejoiced together, rank and authority were set aside; it was a day in
which the dreary past C3uld ba favorably contracted with the joyous present, and
hearts were mide glad in the simple faith that the God of their fathers was their
protector, and that they were his peculiar people.
"But before the sun had crimsoned the snowy peaks that surrounded the
worshiping, rejoicing Saints, Brigham was in possession of the news, and the
people were listening with breathless attention to the most stirring, important ad-
dress that ever their leader had uttered, for upon his decision depended peace or
war.
"Brigham was undaunted. With the inspiration of such surroundings — the
grandeur of the Wasatch range of the Rocky Mountains everywhere encircling
him, the stately trees whose foliage of a century's growth towered proudly to the
heavens, the multitude of people before him who had listened to his counsels as-
if hearkening to the voice of the Most High — men and women who had followed
him from the abodes of civilization to seek shelter in the wilderness from mobs,
prattling innocents and youths who knew nothing of the world but Utah, and
who looked to him as a father for protection — what could he not say?"
To say that the Mormons were taken with astonishment would be to misstate
the case. They had long looked for this issue. They had seen mobs marshaled
against them from the beginnimg, but they had also been told by their Prophet
Joseph Smith, early in his career, that "Some day they would see the United States
come against them in war, and that the Lord should deliver them pnd bring glory
to His name." Nothing more unlikely could have been uttered by , lis prophet of
a few hundred disciples ; as likely was it that the stars of heaven should make
war upon the earth in impotent wrath. They were not even in a location at that
time where this was possible. The very prophecy foreshadowed their removal
to the mountains, as though to invite the nation to the issue; and its fulfillment
bespoke a destiny in them superior to the destiny even of the United States.-
The nation was now coming against them, to verify the prophecy in the most
literal manner. Hence, doubtless, the extraordinary trust and fortitude of the
people, and the self-possession of their leaders. They had no doubt as to the-
issue, though how God would work out their deliverance they saw not fully.
Everything the Mormons did at that time was done in the most deliberate
earnestness. Two messengers were immediately dispatched to England, to call
home the American Elders in Europe, and ten thousand British Saints would
i6o HISTORY OF SALT LAKE CLTY.
have gathered that year, had it been possible, to share the fate of their brethren
and sisters in the mountains; but all emigration was, of course now cut off.
Never was there so much enthusiasm in the foreign missions as then. One could
judge of the sublime enthusiasm at home by that which animated the Saints
abroad. Yet they saw a mighty nation moving against the handful in the moun-
tains, and moving with a settled resolve to annihilate the Mormon power at once
and forever, leaving no seed on American territory from which that power might
re-germinate. The papers of America and Europe teemed with these anticipations.
It was broadly suggested that volunteers from every State should pour into Utah,
make short work of the Saints, possess their cities, fill their Territory with a
gentile population, and take their wives and daughters as spoil, thus breaking up
the polygamic institution. For a time there was a prospect of this. Tens of
thousands were eager for this thorough work of regeneration for Utah ; and, had the
Government dared to encourage it, the attempt would have been made. For such
a crusade, however, a civilized judgement could have found no excuse, not even
on the plea of rebellion. At least, President Buchanan was made to see this
much, and to appreciate that he could only use United States regular troops, and
these only in the guise oi a. posse comitatus to the new Governor.
The sentiments that actuated the Mormon community at that time were of no
doubtful tenor, as may be judged by the following extracts from Brigham's dis-
courses to his people immediately after the receipt of the news.
"Liars have reported that this people have committed treason, and upon
their misrepresentations the President has ordered out troops to aid in officering
this Territory. If those officers are like many who have previously been sent
here — and we have reason to believe that they are, or they would not come where
they know they are not wanted — they are poor, broken down political hacks, not
fit for the civilized society whence they came, and so they are dragooned upon us
for officers. I feel that I won't bear such treatment (and that is enough to say,)
for we are just as free as the mountain air. * * * This people are free ;
they are not in bondage to any Government on God's footstool. We have trans-
gressed no law, neither do we intend so to do; but as for any nation coming
to destroy this people, God Almighty being my helper, it shall not be! * *
* We have borne enough of their oppression and abuse, and we will not bear
any more of it, for there is no just law requiring further forbearance on our part.
And I am not going to permit troops here for the protection of the priests and
the rabble in their efforts to drive us from the land we possess. The Lord does
not want us to be driven, for He has said, * If you will assert your rights, and
keep my commandments, you shall never again be brought into bondage by your
enemies' * * * They say that the coming of their army is legal;
and I say that it is not ; they who say it are morally rotten. Come on with your
thousands of illegally-ordered troops, and I promise you in the name of Israel's
God, that they shall melt away as the snow before a July sun. * * *
You might as well tell me that you can make hell into a powder-house as to tell
me that they intend to keep an army here and have peace i * * *
I have told you that if this people will live their religion all will be well; and I
have told you that if there is any man or woman who is not willing to destroy
HISTORY OF SALT LAKE CIIY. i6t
everything of their property that would be of use to an enemy if left, I would ad-
vise thenfi to leave the Territory. And I again say so to-day ; for when the
time comes lo burn and lay waste our improvements, if any man undertakes to
shield his he will be treated as a traitor; for 'judgement will be laid to the line,
and righteousness to the plummet.' >!« ^ * j^q^v tl^g faint-hearted
can go in peace; but should that time come, they must not interfere. Before I
will again suffer as I have in times gone by there shall not one building, nor one
foot of lumber, nor a fence, nor a tree, nor a particle ot grass or hay, that will
burn, be left in reach of our enemies. I am sworn, if driven to extremity, to ut-
terly lay waste this land in the name of Israel's God, and our enemies shall find
it as barren as when we came here."
It was at such a moment, as the picture suggests, that Capt. Van Vliet ar-
rived in the city of the Saints. The Governor, the Lieut. General, Daniel H.
Wells, Adjt. General Furguson, and the Apostles, received him with marked cor-
diality, but with an open programme, They took him into their gardens. The
sisters showed him the paradise that their woman hands would destroy if that invad-
ing army came. He was awed by the prospect — his ordinary judgment con-
founded by such extraordinary examples. To the wife of Albert Carrington, in
whose garden he was walking, in conversation with the Governor and his party
he exclaimed :
"What, madam! would you consent to see this beautiful home in ashes
and this fruitful orchard destroyed? "
"Yes!" answered Sister Carrington, with heroic resolution, "I would not
only consent to it, but 1 would set fire to my home with my own hands, and cut
down every tree and root up every plant ! "
The following extracts from conversations between Governor Young and
Captain Van Vliet, on the 12th and 13th of September, 1857, will be of interest,
insomuch as they were had previous to the receipt, in Salt Lake City, of the
news of the Mountain Meadow Massacre. Their accuracy may be relied on, as
they are transcribed from Apostle Woodruff's private journal, and were originally
recorded within a {t\^ hours of their occurrence, and are amply verified by many
persons then present :
^^President Yoiinj. We do not want to fight the United States, but if they
drive us to it, we shall do the best we can ; and I will tell you, as the Lord lives,
we shall come off conquerers, for we trust in Him. * * * Q,odi has
set up his kingdom on the earth, and it will never fall. ^ * * -yy^ <^^2\\
do all we can to avert a collision, but if they drive us' to it, God will overthrow
them. If they would let us alone and say to the mobs : ' Now you may go and
kill the Mormons if you can, but we will have nothing to do with it,' that would
be all we would ask of them; but for the Government to array the army against
us, is too despicable and damnable a thing for any honorable nation to do , and
God will hold them in derision who do it. * * ;ic 'p|^g United
States are sending their armies here to simply hold us still until a mob can come
and butcher us, as has been done before. * * '^ We are the sup-
porters of the constitution of the United States, and we love that constitution
i62 HISTORY OF SALT LAKE CITY.
and respect the laws of the United States ; but it is by the corrupt administra-
tion of those laws that we are made to suffer. If the law had been vindicated in
Missouri, it would have sent Governor Boggs to the gallows, along with those
who murdered Joseph and Hyrum, and those other fiends who accomplised our
expulsion from the States. * ^i^ * Most of the Government officers
who have been sent here have taken no interest in us, but, on the contrary, have
tried many times to destroy us.
"Capl. Van Vliet This is the case with most men sent to the Territories.
They receive their offices as a political reward, or as a stepping-stone to the Sena-
torship; but they have no interest in common with the people. ^ ^ -^
This people has been lied about the worst of any people I ever saw. * *
The greatest hold that the Government now has upon you is in the accusation
that you have burned the United States records.
^^ President Young. I deny that any books of the United States have been
burned! All I ask of any man is, that he tell the truth about us, pay his debts
and not steal, and then he will be welcome to come or go as he likes. * *
If the Government has arrived at that state that it will try to kill this people be-
cause of their religion, 710 honorable man shoald be afraid of it. * * *
We would like to ward off this blow if we can ; but the United States seem deter-
mined to drive us into a fight. They will kill us if they can. A mob killed
Joseph and Hyrum in jail, notwithstanding the faith of the State was pledged to
protect them. * ^i; * j have broken no law, and under the present
state of affairs I will not suffer myself to be taken by any United States officer,
to be killed as they killed Joseph.
^^Capt. Van Vliet: I do not think it is the intention of the Government to
arrest you, but to install a new governor in the Territory.
''President Young: I believe you tell the truth — that you believe this — but
you do not know their intentions as well as I do. When you get away from here
you will think of a great many things that you have seen and heard : for instance,
people have accused us of coUeaguing with the Indians against the Government:
they were much afraid that Joseph Smith would go among the Indians, and they
wanted to keep him away from them ; but now they have driven us into their
midst. I want you to note the signs of the times; you will see that God will
chastise this nation for trying to destroy both the Indians and the Mormons.
* * * If the Government persists in sending an army to destroy us,
in the name of the Lord we shall conquer them. If they dare to force the issue,
I shall not hold the Indians by the wrist any longer, for white men to shoot at
them; they shall go ahead. and do as they please. If the issue comes, you may
tell the Government to stop all emigration across this continent, for the Indians
will kill all who attempt it. And if an army succeeds in penetrating this valley,
tell the Government to see that it has forage and provisions in store, for they
will find here onlv a charred and barren waste.
" Cafit. Van Vliet: * * * If our Government pushes this matter
to the extent of making war upon you, I will withdraw from the army, for I will
not have a hand in shedding the blood of American citizens-
"President Yotmg: We shall trust in God. * * 4: Congress
HISTORY OF SALT LAKE CITY. 163
has promptly sent investigating committees to Kansas and other places, as occa-
sion has required; but upon the merest rumor it has sent 2,000 armed soldiers to
destroy the people of Utah, without investigating the subject at all.
" Capt. Van Vliet. The Government may yet send an investigating com-
mittee to Utah, and consider it good policy, before they get through.
''President Young. I believe God has sent you here, and fhat goodwill grow
out of it. I was glad when I heart you were coming.
"Capt. Van Vliet. I am anxious to get back to Washington as soon as I can.
I have heard officially that General Harney has been recalled to Kansas to offi-
ciate as Governor. I shall stop the train on Ham's Fork on my own respon-
sibility.
''President Young. If we can keep the peace for this Winter I do think
there will something turn up that may save the shedding of blood. "
The reader cannot fail to perceive that the terrible butchery at the Mountain
Meadow — was farthest from Brigham Young's policy at that time, to say nothing
of humanitarian considerations.
But, though Governor Young was aiming for some such consummation as
that which came, he neither allowed himself nor his people to retreat a step from
their chosen position. Indeed, in their stern fidelity to their cause was their
only safety and successful outcome.
Captain Van Vliet thus reported to the commanding general of the army :
Ham's Fork, September 16, 1857.
"Captain: I have the honor to report, for the information of the command-
ing general, the result of my trip to the Territory of Utah.
"In obedience to special instructions, dated headquarters army for Utah,
Fort Leavenworth, July 28, 1857, I left Fort Leavenworth, July 30, and reached
Fort Kearny in nine travelling days. Fort Laramie in ten, and Great Salt Lake
City in thirty-three and a half. At Fort Kearny I was detained one day by the
changes I had to make and by sickness, and at Fort Laramie three days, as all
the animals were forty miles from the post, and when brought in all had to be
shod before they could take the road. I traveled as rapidly as it is possible to do
with six mule wagons. Several of my teams broke down, and at least half of my
animals are unserviceable and will remain so until they recruit. During my
progress towards Utah I met many people from that Territory, and also several
mountain men at Green river, and all informed me that I would not be allowed
to enter Utah, and if I did I would run great risk of losing my life. I treated
all this, however, as idle talk, but it induced me to leave my wagons and es-
cort at Ham's Fork, 143 miles this side of the city, and proceed alone. I
reached Great Salt Lake City without molestation, and immediately upon my
arrival I informed Governor Brigham Young that I desired an interview, which
he appointed for the next day. On the evening of the day of my arrival Gov.
ernor Young, with many of the leading men of the city, called upon me at my
quarters. The governor received me most cordially and treated me during my
stay, which continued some six days, with the greatest hospitality and kindness.
i64 HISTORY OF SALT LAKE CITY.
In this interview the governor made known to me his views with regard to the
approach of the United States troops, in plain and unmistakeable language.
" He stated that the Mormons had ben persecuted, murdered, and robbed in
Missouri and Illinois both by the mob and State authorities, and that now the
United States were about to pursue the same course, and that, therefore, he and
the people of Utah had determined to resist all persecution at the commencement,
and that the troops now on the march for Utah should not enter the Great Salt
Lake valley. As he uttered these words all those present concurred most heartily
in what he said.
" The next d^y, as agreed upon, I called upon the governor and delivered
in person the letter with which I had been entrusted. In that interview, and in
several subsequent ones, the same determination to resist to the death the en-
trance of the troops into the valley was expressed by Governor Young and those
about him.
^'The governor informed me that there was abundance of everything I re-
quired for the troops, such as lumber, forage, etc., but that none would be sold
to us. In the course of my conversations with the governor and the influential
men in the Territory, I told them plainly and frankly what I conceived vvould be
the result of their present course. I told them that they might prevent the small
military force now approaching Utah from getting through the narrow defiles and
rugged passes of the mountains this year, but that next season the United
States government would send troops sufficient to overcome all opposition. The
answer to this was invariably the same: "We are aware that such will be the
case ; but when those troops arrive they will find Utah a desert. Every house
will be burned to the ground, every tree cut down, and every field laid waste.
We have three years' provisions on hand, which we will ' cache,' and then take
to the mountains and bid defiance to all the powers of the government." I at-
tended their service on Sunday, and, in course of a sermon delivered by
Elder Taylor, he referred to the approach of the troops and declared they should
not enter the Territory. He then referred to the probability of an overpowering
force being sent against them, and desired all present, who would apply the
torch to their own buildings, cut down their trees, and liy waste their fields, to
hold up their hands. Every hand, in an audience numbering over 4,000 persons,
was raised at the same moment. During my stay in the city I visited several
families,. and all with whom I was thrown looked upon the present movement of
the troops towards their Territory as the commencement of another religious
persecution, and expressed a fixed determination to sustain Governor Young in
any measures he might adopt. From all these facts I am forced to the conclu-
sion that Governor Young and the people of Utah will prevent, if possible, the
army for Utah from entering their Territory this season. This, in my opinion,
will not be a difficult task, owing to the lateness of the season, the smallness of
our force, and the defences that nature has thrown around the valley of the Great
Salt Lake.
" There is but one road running into the valley on the side which our troops
are approaching, and for over fifty miles it passes through narrow canyons and
over rugged mountains, which a small force could hold against great odds. I am
HISTORY OF SALT LAKE CITY. 165
inclined however, to believe that the Mormons will not resort to actual hostilities
until the last inonient. Their plan of operations will be, burn the grass, cut up
the roads, and stampede the animals, so as to delay the troops until the snow com-
mences to fall, which will render the road impassable. Snow falls early in this re-
gion, in fact last night it commenced falling at Fort Bridger, and this morning
the surrounding mountains are clothed in white. Were it one month earlier in the
season I believe the troops could force their way in, and they may be able to do so
even now; but the attempt will be fraught with considerable danger, arising from
the filling up of the canyons and passes with snow. I do not wish it to be consid-
ered that I am advocating either the one course or the other. I simply wish to lay
the facts before the general, leaving it to his better judgment to decide upon the
proper movements. Notwithstanding my inability to make the purchases I was or-
dered to, and all that Governor Young said in regard to opposing the entrance of
the troops into the valley I examined the country in the vicinity of the city, with
the view of selecting a proper military site. I visited the military reserve. Rush
Valley, but found it, in my opinion, entirely unsuitable for a military station. It
contains bit little grass, and is very much exposed to the cold winds of win-
ter; its only advantage being the close proximity of fine wood. It is too far from
the city, being between thirty-five and forly miles, and will require teams four
days to go there and return.
I examined another point on the road to Rubh Valley, and only about thirty
miles from the city, which I consider a much more eligible position. It is in
Tuelle Valley three miles to the north of Tuelle city, and possesses wood, water,
and grass ; but it is occupied by the Mormons, who have some sixty acres under
cultivation, with houses and barns on their land. These persons would have to
be dispossessed or bought out. In fact there is no place within forty, fifty or sixty
miles of the city suitable for a military position, that is not occupied by the in-
habitants and under cultivation. On my return I examined the vicinity of Fort
Bridger, and found it a very suitable position for wintering the troops and grazing
the animals, should it be necessary to stop at that point. The Mormons occupy
the lort at present, and also have a settlement about ten miles further up Black's
Fork, called Fort Supply. These two places contain buildings sufficient to cover
nearly half the troops now en route for Utah ; but I was informed that they would
all be laid in ashes as the army advances. I have thus stated fully the result of
ray visit to Utah, and trusting that my' conduct will meet the approval of the
commanding general, I am, very respectfully, your obedient servant,
STEWART VAN VLIET,
Captain A. Q. M.
'■'■Captain Pleasanion,
A. A. Adft Gen. Army for Utah, Foit Leavenworth.
"P. S.— I shall start on my return to-morrow, with an escort often men."
1 66 HISTORY OF SALT LAKE CITY.
CHAPTER XVIir.
GOVERNOR YOUNG PLACES THE TERRITORY UNDER MARTIAL LAW. THE
MILITIA ORDERED OUT. THE SEAT OF WAR, CORRESPONDENCE BE-
TWEEN GOVERNOR YOUNG AND COLONEL ALEXANDER. BURNING THE
GOVERNMENT TRAINS. LOT SMITH'S STORY, CONGRESS DECLARES
UTAH IN A STATE OF REBELLION.
The next day after the departure of Van Vliet, the Governor issued the fol-
lowing proclamation, placing the Territory under martial law:
'■'■ Citizens of Utah : — We are invaded by a hostile force, who are evidently
assailing us to accomplish our overthrow and destruction.
' 'For the last twenty-five years we have trusted officials of the Government, from
constables and justices to judges, governors and presidents, only to be scorned,
held in derision, insulted and betrayed. Our houses have been plundered and
then burned, our fields laid waste, our principal men butchered w^hile under the
pledged faith of the Government for their safety, and our families driven from
their homes to find that shelter in the barren wilderness, and that protection
among hostile savages which were denied them in the boasted abodes of Christi-
anity and civilization.
"The constitution of our common country guarantees to us all that we do
now, or have ever, claimed.
"If the consdtutional rights which pertain to us as American citizens were
extended to Utah according to the spirit and meaning thereof, and fairly and im-
partially administered, it is all that we could ask — all that we ever asked.
" Our opponents have availed themselves of prejudices existing against us
because of our religious faith, to send out a formidable host to accomplish our de-
struction. We have had no privilege, no opportunity of defending ourselves
from the false, foul and unjust aspersions against us, before the nation.
"The Government has not condescended to cause an investigating commit-
tee or other persons to be sent to enquire into and ascertain the truth, as is cus-
tomary in such cases.
"We know those aspersions to be false, but that avails us nothing. We are
condemned unheard, and forced to an issue with an armed mercenary mob,
which has been sent against us at the instigation of anonymous letter-writers,
ashamed to father the base, slanderous falsehoods which they have given to the
public; of corrupt officials who have brought false accusations against us to screen
themselves in their own infamy; and of hireling priests and howling editors, who
prostitute the truth for filthy lucre's sake.
"The issue which has been thus forced upon us compels us to resort to the
great first law of self-preservation, and stand in our own defence, a right guar-
anteed to us by the genius and institutions of our country, ar>d upon which the
HISTORY OF SALT LAKE CITY. 167
government is based. Our duty to ourselves, to our families, requires us not to
tamely submit to be driven and slain, without an attempt to preserve ourselves;
our duty to our country, our holy religion, our God, to freedom and liberty, re-
quires that we should not quietly stand still, and see those fetters forging around
us which are calculated to enslave, and bring us in subjection to an unlawful mil-
itary despotism, such as can only emanate in a country of constitutional law,
from usurpation, tyranny and oppression.
"Therefore, I, Brigham Young, governor and superintendent of Indian affairs
for the Territory of Utah, in the name of the people of the United States, in the
Territory of Utah, forbid :
"First. All armed forces of every description from coming into this Terri-
tory, under any pretence whatever.
" Second. That all the forces in said Territory hold themselves in readiness
to march at a moment's notice to repel any and all such invasion.
" Third. Martial law is hereby declared to exist in this Territory from and
after the publication of this proclamation, and no person shall be allowed to pass
or repass into or through or from this Territory without a permit from the proper
officer.
" Given under my hand and seal, at Great Salt City, Territory of Utah, this
fifteenth day of September, A. D. eighteen hundred and fifty-seven, and of the
independence of the United States of America the eighty-second.
BRIGHAM YOUNG."
While Captain Van Vliet was listening to the discourses of the Mormon
leaders and witnessing the heroic demonstrations of the people of Great Salt
Lake City the militia of the Territory was everywhere preparing for active ser-
vice. Six weeks before the proclamation of martial law the following evtraordi-
nary despatch was issued to the district commanding officers:
Headquarters Nauvoo Legion,
Adjt. General's Office, G. S. L. City, Aug. i, 1857.
"Sir: Reports, tolerably well authenticated, have reached this office that an
army from the Eastern States is now en route to invade this Territory.
" The people of this Territory have lived in strict obedience to the laws of
the parent and home governments, and are ever zealous for the supremacy of the
Constitution and the rights guaranteed thereby. In such time, when anarchy
takes the place of orderly government and mobocratic tyranny usurps the power
of rulers, they have left the inalienable right to defend themselves against all
aggression upon their constitutional privileges. It is enough that for successive
years they have witnessed the desolation of their homes ; the barbarous wrath of
mobs poured upon their unoffending brethren and sisters; their leaders arrested,
incarcerated and slain, and themselves driven to cull life from the hospitality of
the desert and the savage. They are not willing to endure longer these unceas-
ing outrages; but if an exterminating war be purposed against them and blood
alone can cleanse pollution from the Nation's bulwarks, to the God of our fathers
let the appeal be made.
i68 HISTORY OF SAL7 LAKE CITY.
"You are instructed to hold your commend in readiness to march at the
shortest possible notice to any ])art of the Territory. See that the law is strictly
enforced in regard to arms and amunition, and as far as practicable that each
Ten be provided with a good wagon and four horses or mules, as well as the
necessary clothing, etc., for a winter campaign. Particularly let your influence
be used for the preservation of the grain. Avoid all excitement, but be ready.
"DANIEL H. WELLS.
Lieutenant General Conunandmg.
^^ By James Ferguson, Adjutant General. "
Copies of this letter were sent to the following: Colonel W. H. Dame,
Parowan ; Major L. W. McCuUough, Fdlmore; Major C. W. Bradley, Nephi;
Major Warren S. Snow, Sanpete; General Aaron Johnson, Peteetneet ; Colonel
William B. Pace, Provo; Major Samuel Smith, Box Elder; Colonel C. W. West,
Weber; Colonel P. C. Merrill, Davis; Major David Evans, Lehi ; Major Allen
Weeks, Cedar; Major John Rowberry, Tooele.
Within a few days these instructions reached the various districts and were
quietly acted upon. There was a universal cleaning of arms, filling up of car-
tridge boxes, and attention given to the equipment of horses, teams and camping
outfits.
Tne Nauvoo Legion (the territorial militia), consisted at this time of all able
bodied men between the ages of eighteen and forty-five, and was organized into
military districts. The general officers of the Legion detailed for the campaign
were: Daniel H. Wells, Lieut. General, commanding; Generals Geo. D. Grant,
Wm. H. Kimball, James Ferguson, H. B. Clawson ; Colonels R. T. Burton, N.
V. Jones, James Cummings, C. W. West, Thos. Callister, John Sharp, W. B.
Pace, Lot Smith, Warren Snow, Jos. A. Young, A. P. Rockwood ; J. L. Dun-
yon, Surgeon ; Majors H. W. Lawrence, J. M. Barlow, Israel Ivins, R. J. Gold-
ing, J. R. Winder, J. D. T. McAllister. Besides these officers, scouts and rangers
were detailed to perform special duties. Among these were O. P. Rockwell,
Ephraim Hanks and many others. The nature of the campaign was such that in-
dividuals were selected for certain service without regard to their official station -
thus officers of the highest rank were found performing the duties of company
captains, or sharing the labors of men of the line.
On the thirteenth of August orders was issued for the first movement of
the forces. It was directed lo Col. Robert T. Burton, instructing him to take
the field with one hundred and sixty men from the first regiment. He, however,
started on the fifteenth with but seventy men from the Life Guards. Among the
officers accompanying this expedition were Col. James Cummings, of the general
staff, Maj. J. M. Barlow, quartermaster and commissary, Maj. H. W. Lawrenc<',
Capt. H. P. Kimball, Lieuts. J. Q. Knowlton and C. F. Decker. They were af-
terwards joined by a company from Provo, commanded by Capt. Joshua Clark.
The instructions given Col. Burton were to march to the east on the main trav-
eled road, afforing aid and protection to the incoming trains of immigrants, and
to act as a corps of observation to learn the strength and equipments ot forces
reported on the way to Utah, and report to headquarters ; but not to interfere
HISTORY OF SALT LAKE CITY. i6g
with life or property of any one they might encounter on the road. Speaking of
this trip, Gen. Burton says:
"We arrived at Fort Bridger August atst, and met the first company of im-
migrants at Pacific Springs on the 26th. On the following day we met Moody's
company from Texas, also several large supply trains, entirely unprotected by
any escort. On the 29th I left my wagons and half of the men and animals on
the Sweetwater, proceeding with pack animals. On the 30th I arrived at Devil's
Gate, with Kimball, Cummings and Decker's command coming up the next day;
here on the 31st we met Jones, Stringham, and others, on their way from Deer
Creek to Salt Lake City, and on the day after Captain John R. Murdock from
the States. The latter brought word of the intense bitterness expressed all over
the Union against the Mormons, and of the expectations that many entertained
that the people of Utah were about to be annihilated by the strong arm of the
military power."
These companies proceeded immediately on their way to the city, while Col.
Burton and command were engaged cacheing provisions for future use. On Sep-
tember 8th, he sent an express to the Platte; which returned on the 12th. From
this time the expedition returned slowly towards the city, thoroughly examining
the country and posting themselves upon all points likely to be of advantage later
in the campaign. They also kept a good lookout on the scouting and other mili-
tary movements, forwarding by express all information of interest to General
Wells and Governor Young. On the 17th they received an express from Salt
Lake, by J. M. Simmons and O. Spencer, and from this date men were kejit in
the saddle night and day between the front and headquarters. September 16th,
N. V. Jones and Stephen Taylor brought an express from the city, and on the
2ist Colonel Burton took three men, H. W. Lawrence, H. P. Kimball, and John
Smith, and again moved east to the vicinity of Devil's Gate, and camped. Sep-
tember 22d; within half a mile of Colonel E. B. Alexander's command. Here
they first met the advance of the Utah army, and from that time were its imme-
diate neighbors until it arrived at Ham's Fork.
On September 29th, Lieut. Gen. D. H. Wells left Salt Lake City and pro-
ceeded to establish headquarters in the narrows of Echo Canyon. He was ac-
companied by Adjt. Gen. James Ferguson, Col. N. V. Jones, Maj. Lot Smith,
and other staff officers. Companies of militia from the several military districts,
aggregating about 1,250 men were ordered to report at Echo, with provisions for
thirty days.
At Echo, Gen. Wells divided his staff, leaving Col. N. V. Jones and J. D.
T. McAllister in command of the force there. These engaged in digging
trenches across the canyon, throwing up breast works, loosening stones on the
heights, and in every way preparing to resist the progress of any body of men
that might attempt to pass through the canyon.
The day after reaching Echo, Gen, Wells, with a small escort, proceeded to
Fort Bridger, where he met Col. Burton and Gen, Robison, and was informed
of all movements that had been made by the troops, of the location of their sup-
ply trains, their strength, probability of reinforcements, etc.
From this information it was ascertained that for several days previously the
8
ijo HISTORY OF SALT LAKE CITY.
army had been making very rapid forced marches, to overtake and protect their
supplies on Ham's Fork, which had been forwarded several weeks before. It was
apprehended, as they had been successful in securing these advance supply trains
so near the mountain passes, that the troops would shoulder rations for three days
an attempt to force their way on to the city.
In view of this a Mormon writer on the " Echo Canyon War" thus explains
the situation:
"The activity of the enemy required the utmost vigilance and some decisive
action on the part or our forces to delay any such movement. It was the policy
to 'fight this war without bloodshed.' How to do it successfully was the ques-
tion. It was a difficult one to solve while the weather remained fair, the advan-
cing troops well supplied with food and ammunition, and eager to try their
strength with their Mormon foes. Yet it was extremely necessary that the ad-
vance should be checked and the power of the people of Utah to defend them-
selves felt."
Just at this point the extraordinary correspondence commences between
Governor Young and the commanding officers of the U. S. Expedition, as pre-
sented to Congress by President Buchanan, opening with the following to Col.
Alexander :
Fort Bridger,
September 30, 1857.
'•'Sir: I have the honor to forward you the accompaning letter from His
Excellency Governor Young, together with two copies of his proclamation and a
copy of the laws of Utah, i856-'57, containing the organic act of the Ter-
ritory.
"It may be proper to add that I am here to aid in carrying out the instruc-
tions of Governor Young.
"General Robison will deliver these papers to you, and receive such com-
munication as you may wish to make.
"Trusting that your answer and actions will be dedicated by a proper re-
spect for the rights and liberties of American citizens.
"I remain, very respectfully, etc.,
"DANIEL H. WELLS,
^'■Lieutenant General Commanding, Naiivoo Legion.'^
Governor's Office, Utah Territory,
Great Salt Lake City, September 29, 1S57.
"Sir: By reference to the act of Congress passed September 9, 1850, or-
ganizing the Territory of Utah, published in the Laws of Utah, herewith for-
warded, pp. 146- 7, you will find the following:
" ' Sec. 2. And be it further enacted. That the executive power and authority
in and over said Territory of Utah shall be vested in a governor, who shall hold
his office for four years, and until his successor shall be appointed and qualified,
unless sooner removed by the Pre'iiident of the United States. The governor
shal! reside within said Territory, shall be commander-in-chief of the militia
thereof,' etc., etc.
HISTORY OF SALT LAKE CITY. iji
" I am still the governor and superintendent of Indian affairs for this Terri-
tory, no successor having been appointed and qualified, as provided by law; nor
have I been removed by the President of the United States.
"By virtue of the authority thus vested in me, I have issued, and forwaided
you a copy of, my proclamation forbidding the entrance of armed forces into
this Territory. This you have disregarded. I now further direct that you retire
forthwith from the Territory, by the same route you entered. Should you deem
this impracticable, and prefer to remain until spring in the vicinity of your
present encampment, Black's Fork, or Green River, you can do so in peace and
unmolested, on condition that you deposit your arms and amunition with Lewis
Robison, quartermaster general of the Territory, and leave in the spring, as soon
as the condition of the roads will permit you to march ; and should you fall
short of provisions, they can be furnished you, upon making the proper applica-
toins therefor. General D. H. Wells will forward this, and receive any communica-
tion you may have to make.
"Very respectfully,
BRIGHAM YOUNG
" Governor and Superintendent of Indian Affairs, Utah Territory.
" The Officer Commanding the forces now invading Utah Territory ''
Headquarters ioth Regiment of Infantry,
Camp Winfield, on Ham's Fork, October 2, 1857.
"Sir: I have the honor to acknowledge the receipt of your communication
of September 29, 1857; with two copies of Proclamation and one of "Laws of
Utah," and have given it an attentive consideration.
" I am at present the senior and commanding ofificer of the troops of the
United States at this point, and I will submit your letter to the general com-
manding as soon as he arrives here.
" In the meantime I have only to say that these troops are hereby the orders
of the President of the United States, and their future movements will depend
entirely upon the orders issued by competent military authority.
I am, sir, very respectfully, etc.,
"E. B. ALEXANDER,
" Col. loth U. S. Infantry, commanding.
" Brigha?n Young, Esq.,
^' Governor of Utah Territory.^''
Headquarters ioth Infantry, October 2, 1857.
"Official.
HENRY E. MAYNADIER,
Adjutant ioth Infantry.''
General Robison and Major Lot Smith were despatched with these docu-
ments, instructed to deliver them personally or send them by a Mexican if it
should be dangerous to enter Col. Alexander's cajnp; the latter course was
adopted. On the return of Major Lot Smith with the answer of Col. Alexander
to Governor Young, General Wells resolved on the immediate execution of his
programme of the campaign.
172 HISTORY OF SALT LAKE CITY.
The plan of the campaign had been thoroughly digested by Brigham Young,
as commander-in-chief of the Utah militia, and his Lieutenant General, before
the latter left Great Salt Lake City for ''the seat of war;" and with General
Wells, Apostles John Taylor and George A. Smith had gone out to Echo Canyon,
undoubtedly to give their voice in the councils of war. Therefore, there was no
need for General Wells to seek further consultation with his chief previous to
the excution of the plan, which was substantially that embodied in the order,
found upon the person of major Joseph Taylor when he was captured :
Headquarters Eastern Expedition,
Camp near Cache Cave, Oct. 4, 1857.
"You will proceed, with all possible despatch, without injuring your ani-
mals, to the Oregon road, near the bend of Bear river, north by east of this
place. Take close and correct observations of the country on your route.
When you approach the road, send scouts ahead, to ascertain if the invading
troops have passed that way. Should they have passed, take a concealed route,
and get ahead of them. Express to Colonel Burton, who is now on that road
and in the vicinity of the troops, and effect a junction with him, so as to operate
in concert. On ascertaining the locality or route of the troops, proceed at once
to annoy them in every posssble way. Use every exertion to stanpede ther ani-
mals and set fire to their trains. Burn the whole country before them, and on
their flanks. Keep them from sleeping by night surprises; blockade the road by
felling trees or destroying the river fords where you can. Watch for oppor-
tunities to set fire to the grass on their windward, so as if possible to envelope
their trains. Leave no grass before them that can be burned. Keep your men
concealed as much as possible, and guard against surprise. Keep scouts out at
all times, and communications open with Colonel Burton, Major McAllister and
O. P. Rockwell, who are operating in the same way. Keep me advised daily of
your movements, and every step the troops take, and in which direction.
"God bless you, and give you success.
" Your brother in Christ.
DANIEL H. WELLS.
"P. S. — If the troops have not passed, or have turned in this direction, fol-
low in their rear, and continue to annoy them, burning any trains they may
leave. Take no life, but destroy their trains, and stampede or drive away their
animals, at every opportunity.
D. H. WELLS.
' ' Major Joseph Taylor.
"Headquarters Army of Utah,
Black's Fork, 16 miles from Fort Bridger,
En route to Salt Lake City, November 7, 1857.
" A true copy of instructions in the possession of Major Joseph Taylor,
when captured.
"F. J. PORTER,
Assistant Adjutant General.''^
%
HISTORY OF SALT LAKE CITY. 173
After delivering the despatch of Col. Alexander, Major Lot Smith was in-
vited to take dinner with his commanding-general and his aides. Among all the
warriors of the Mormon Israel there was, perhaps not one so fitted to open
this very peculiar campaign as Lot Smith. His lion-like courage and absolute
fearlessness of personal danger, when most in its presence, marked him out as the
man of men to execute an exploit of such daring as that designed — to astonish
the American nation into a realization of the Mormon earnestness, yet at the
same time to do it without the shedding of a drop of "the enemy's" blood.
" During the meal," says Maj. Lot Smith, in his piquent narrative of one of
the most daring guerilla exploits on record, "General Wells, looking at me as
straight as possible, asked if I could take a few men and turn back the trains that
were on the road or burn them? I replied that I thought that I could do just what
he told me to. The answer appeared to please him, and he accepted it, tell-
ing me he could furnish only a few men, but they would be sufficient, for they
would appear many more to our enemies."
At 4 o'clock in the evening of October 3d, Major Lot Smith's troop, num-
bering forty-four men rank and file, started on their expedition. They rode all
night and early the next morning came in sight of an ox train headed westward.
On calling for the captain, Maj. Smith ordered him to turn his train and go the
other way till he reached the States. The Captain "swore pretty strongly,"
faced about and started to go east, but as soon as out of sight he would
turn again towards the mountains. The troops met him that day and took out
his lading, leaving the wagons and teams standing. Lot Smith camped near
these troops on that night on the banks of the Green River. His story con-
tinues :
"Losing the opportunity to make much impression on Rankin's train, I
thought something must be done speedily to carry out the instructions received,
so I sent Captain Haight with twenty men to see if he could get the mules of the
Tenth Regiment on any terms. With the remaining twenty-three men I started
for Sandy Fork to intercept trains that might be approaching in that direction.
On the road, seeing a large cloud of dust at a distance up the river, on the old
Mormon road, I sent scouts to see what caused it. They returned, overtaking
me at Sandy, and reported a train of twenty-six large freight wagons. We took
supper and started at dark. After traveling fourteen miles, we came up to the
train, but discovered that the teamsters were drunk, and knowing that drunken
men were easily excited and always ready to fight, and remembering my positive
orders not to hurt anyone except in self-defence, we remained in ambush until
after mid-night. I then sent scouts to thoroughly examine the appearance of
their camp, to note the number of wagons and men and report all they dis-
covered. When they returned and reported twenty-six wagons in two lines a
short distance apart, I concluded that counting one teamster to each wagon and
throwing in eight or ten extra men would make their force about forty. I thought
we would be a match for them, and so ordered an advance to their camp.
"On nearing the wagons, I found I had misunderstood the scouts, for in-
stead of one train of twenty six wagons there were two, doubling the number of
174 HIS TOR y OF SAL T LAKE CI TY.
men, and putting quite another phase on our relative strength and situation.
There was a large camp-fire burning, and a number of men were standing around it
smoking. It was expected by my men that on finding out the real number of
wagons and men, I would not go farther than to make some inquiries and passing
our sortie upon the trains as a joke would go on until some more favorable time-
But it seemed to me that it was no time for joking. I arranged my men, and we
advanced until our horses' heads came into the light of the fire; then I discovered
that we had the advantage, for looking back into the darkness, I could not see
where my line of troops ended, and could imagine my twenty followers stringing
out to a hundred or more as well as not. I inquired for the captain of the train.
Mr. Dawson stepped out and said he was the man. I told him that I had a little
business with him. He inquired the nature of it, and I replied by requesting
him to get all of his men and their private property as quickly as possible out of
the wagons for I meant to put a little fire into them. He exclaimed : ' For God's
sake, don't burn the trains.' I said it was for His sake that I was going to burn
them, and pointed out a place for his men to stack their arms, and another where
they were to stand in a group, placing a guard over both. I then sent a scou
down towards Little Mountaineer Fork, failing to put one out towards Ham's
Fork on the army. While I was busy with the train a messenger from the latter
surprised us by coming into camp. I asked him if he had dispatches and to hand
them to me. He said he had but they were verbal. I told him if he lied to me
his life was not worth a straw. He became terrified, in fact I never saw a man
more frightened. He said afterwards that he expected every moment to be
killed. His orders to the train men were from the commander at Camp Winfield,
and were to the eff'ect that the Mormons were in the field and that they must not
go to sleep but keep night guard on their trains, and that four companies of cav-
alry and two pieces of artillery would come over in the morning to escort them
to camp."
After thus dealing with the first train, the other was treated in like manner.
The closing of Lot Smith's story gives a striking dramatic denouement.
"When all was ready, I made a torch, instructing my Gentile follower,
known as Big James, to do the same, as I thought it was proper for the ' Gentiles
to spoil the Gentiles.' At this stage of our proceedings an Indian came from the
Mountaineer Fork and seeing how the thing was going asked for some presents.
He wanted two wagon covers for a lodge, some flour and soap. I filled his order
and he went away much elated. Out of respect to the candor poor Dawion had
showed, I released him from going with me when we fired the trains, taking Big
James instead, he not being afraid of saltpetre or sulphur either.
"While riding from wagon to wagon, with torch in hand and the wnid blow-
ing, the covers seemed to me to catch very slowly. I so stated it to James. He
replied, swinging his long torch over his head : 'By St. Patrick, ain't it beautiful ! I
never saw anything go better in all my life.' About this time I had Dawson
send in his men to the wagons, not yet fired, to get us some provisions, enough
to thoroughly furnish us, telling him to get plenty of sugar and coffee, for though
I never used the latter myself, some of my men below, intimating that I had a
force down there, were fond of it. On completing this task I told him that we
HISTOR V OF SAL T LAKE CI2 V, z/j
were going just a little way off, and that if he or his men molested the
trains or undertook to put the fire out, they would be instantly killed. We rode
away leaving the wagons all ablaze."
The burning of the Government trains accomplished the very purpose de-
signed. The nation was thrown into a fearful state of excitement over the dar-
ing deed, and at the issue of Governor Young's Proclamation. Congress passed a
resolution declaring Utah in a state of rebellion, and referred a motion to the
committee on Territories to expel the Utah Delegate. Burning the supplies of
an army of the United States, sent by the Government to put down an incipient
rebellion, was declared to be an extraordinary overt act of actual war, while the
proclamation of Governor Young was considered as a veritable declaration of
war as from an independent power. A terrible wrath was aroused against Mor-
mon Utah. At that moment, had the season been favorable, and the Govern,
ment made the call, a hundred thousand volunteers would have quickly mustered
into service to annihilate the whole Mormon community. Yet, be it repeated,
the very purpose had been accomplished which Brigham Young designed. It
was a most dramatic illustration of his words to Captain Van Yliet, " We are
aware that such will be the case ; but when those troops arrive they will find
Utah a desert. Every house will be burned to the ground, every tree cut down
and every field left waste. We have three years' provisions on hand, which we
will 'cache,' and then take to the mountains and bid defiance to all the powers
of the government.'' The nation could now believe that this was not mere bra-
vado or bombast of Brigham Young, nor the insane rage of fanatics, but the ex-
traordinary resolve of a Puritanic people, such as those who fought "in the name
of the Lord" lor the commonwealth of England and founded the American
nation. And though Colonel C. F. Smith of the Expedition wrote to head-
quarters: "As the threats of their leaders to Captain Van Vliet, coupled with
the burning of our supply trains — in itself an act of war — is evidence of their
treason, I shall regard them as enemies, andjire upon the scoundrels if they give
me the least opportunity; " yet from that moment President Buchanan saw cause
for pause. Brigham Young would keep his word! Strange as it may seem his
Proclamation, and the order of Lieutenant General Wells, followed so quickly
by the burning of the supply trains, ultimately brought the Peace Commission,
and the Proclamation of pardon to the entire Mormon people.
176 HIS TORY OF SALT LA KE CI TV.
CHAPTER XIX.
CORRESPONDENCE BETWEEN GOVERNOR YOUNG AND COLONEL ALEXANDER.
UNFLINCHING ATTITUDE OF BOTH SIDES. EXCHANGE OF COURTESIES.
THE GOVERNOR INVITES A PEACEFUL VISIT OF THE OFFICERS TO THE
CITY. A REMARKABLE LETTER FROM APOSTLE JOHN TAYLOR TO
CAPTAIN MARCY.
"Great Salt Lake City, U. T , October 14, 1857.
"Colonel: In consideration of our relative positions — you acting in your
capacity as commander of the United States forces, and in obedience, as you
have stated, to orders from the President of the United States, and I as governor
of this Territory, impelled by every sense of justice, honor, integrity and
patriotism to resist what I consider to be a direct infringement of the rights of
the citizens of Utah, and an act of usurpation and tyranny unprecedented in the
history of the United States — permit me to address you frankly as a citizen of
the United States, untrammelled by the usages of official dignity or military
etiquette.
"As citizens of the United States, we both, it is presumable, feel strongly
attached to the Constitution and institu tions of our common country ; and, as
gentlemen, should probably agree in sustaining the dear bought liberties be-
queathed by our fathers — the position in which we are individually placed being
the only apparent cause of our present antagonism ; you, as colonel command-
ing, feeling that you have a rigid duty to perform in obedience to orders, and I,
a still more important duty to the people of this Territory,
"I need not here reiterate what I have already mentioned in my official
proclamation, and what I and the people of this Territory universally believe
firmly to be the object of the administration in the present expedition against
Utah, viz: the destruction, if not the entire annihilation of the Mormon com-
munity, solely upon religious grounds, and without any pretext whatever ; for
the administration do know, from the most reliable sources, that the base reports
circulated by Drummond, and others of their mean officials, are barefaced calum-
nies. They do, moreover, know that the people of Utah have been more peace-
able and law abiding than those of any other Territory of the United States, and
have never resisted even the wish of the President of the United States, nor
treated with indignity a single individual coming to the Territory under his au.
thority although the conduct and deportment of many of them have merited, and
in any other State or Territory would have met with summary punishment. But
when the President of the United States so far degrades his high position, and
prostitutes the highest gift of the people as to make use of the military power
(only intended for the protection of the people's rights) to crush the people's
liberties, and compel them to receive officials so lost to self respect as to accept
HISTORY OF SALT LAKE en Y, lyy
appointments against the known and expressed wish of the people, and so craven
and degraded as to need an army to protect them in their position, we feel that
we should be recreant to every principle of self-respect, honor, integrity, and
patriotism, to bow tamely to such high-handed tyranny, a parallel for which is
only found in the attempts of the British government, in its most corrupt stages,
against the rights, liberties and lives of our forefathers.
" Now, Colonel, I do not charge you, nor those serving under you, with the
instigation of these enormities. I consider that you are only the agent made use
of by the administration, probably unwillingly so, to further their infamous
designs. What high-minded gentleman can feel comfortable in being the mere
catspaw of political jugglers and hucksters, penny-a-liners, hungry speculators and
disgraced officials? Yet it is from the statements of such characters only that the
adminstration has acted, attaching the official seal to your movements. Now, I
feel that, when such treason is perpetrated, unblushingly, in open daylight, again st
the liberties and most sacred rights of the citizens of this Territory, it is my duty,
and the duty of every lover of his country and her sacred institutions, to resist
it, and maintain inviolate the constitution of our common country.
"Perhaps, colonel, you may feel otherwise; education and associations have
their influences ; but I have yet to learn that United States officers are implicitly
bound to obey the dictum of a despotic President, in violating the most sacred
constitutional rights of American citizens.
"We have sought diligently for peace. We have sacrificed millions of dol-
lars worth of property to obtain it, and wandered a thousand miles from the con-
fines of civilization, severing ourselves from home, the society of friends, and
everything that makes life worth enjoyment. If we have war, it is not of our
seeking; we have never gone nor sought to interfere with the rights of others,
but they have come and sent to interfere with us. We had hoped that, in this
barren and desolate country, we could have remained unmolested ; but it would
seem that our implacable, blood-thirsty foes envy us even these barren deserts.
Now, if our real enemies, the mobocrats, priests, editors and politicians, at whose
instigation the present storm has been gathered, had come against us, instead of
you and your command, I should never have addressed them thus. They never
would have been allowed to reach the South Pass. In you we recognize only the
agents and instruments of the administration, and with you, personally, have
no quarrel. I believe it would have been more consonant with your feelings to
have made war upon the enemies of your country than upon American citizens.
But to us the end to be accomplished is the same, and while I appreciate the un-
pleasantness of your position, you must be aware that circumstances compel the
people of Utah to look upon you, in your present belligerent attitude, as their
enemies and the enemies of our common country, and notwithstanding my
most sincere desires to promote amicable relations with you, I shall feel it my
duty, as do the people of the Territory universally, to resist to the utmost every
attempt to encroach further upon their rights.
"It, therefore, becomes a matter for your serious consideration, whether it
would not be more in accordance with the spirit and institutions of our country
to return with your present force rather than force an issue so unpleasant to all,
iy8 HIS TORY OF SALT LAKE CI TY.
and which must result in great misery and, perhaps, bloodshed and, if
persisted in, the total destruction of your army. And, furthermore, does
it not become a question whether it is more patriotic for officers of the United
States army to ward off, by all honorable means, a collision with American citi-
zens or to further the precipitate move of an indiscreet and rash administration,
in plunging a whole Territory into a horrible, fratricidal and sanguinary war.
" Trusting that the foregoing considerations may be duly weighed by you, and
that the difficulties now impending may be brought to an amicable adjustment,
with sentiments of esteem,
I have the honor to remain most respectfully etc,
BRIGHAM YOUNG."
'* Headquarters Army for Utah.
Camp on Ham's Fork, October 12, 1857.
"Sir: Yesterday two young men, named Hickman, were arrested by the
rear guard of the army, and are now held in confinement. They brought a let-
ter from W. A. Hickman to Mr. Perry, a sutler of one of the regiments, but
came under none of the privileges of bearers, of despatches, and are, perhaps,
liable to be considered and treated as spies. But I am convinced, from conver-
sation with them, that their conduct does not merit the serious punishment
awarded to persons of that character, and I have accordingly resolved to release
the younger one, especially in consideration of his having a wife and three chil-
dren, dependent upon him, and to make him the bearer of this letter. The elder
I shall keep until I know how this communication is received, and until I receive
an answer to it, reserving, even then, the right to hold him a prisoner, if, in my
judgment, circumstances require it. I need hardly assure you that his life will
be protracted, and that he will receive every comfort and indulgence proper to
be afforded him.
**I desire now, sir, to set before you the following facts: the forces under my
command are ordered by the President of the United States, to establish a mili-
tary post at or near Salt Lake City. They set out on their long and arduous
march, anticipating a reception similar to that which they would receive in any
other State or Territory in the Union. They were met at the boundary of the
Territory of which you are the Governor, and in which capacity alone I have any
business with you, by a proclamation issued by yourself, forbidding them to come
upon soil belongmg to the United States, and calling upon the inhabitants to re-
sist them with arms. You have ordered them to return, and have called upon
them to give up their arms in default of obeying your mandate. You have resorted
to open hostilities, and of a kind, permit me to say, far beneath the usages of civi-
lized warfare, and only resorted to by those who are conscious of inability to re-
sist by more honorable means, by authorizing persons under your control, some of
the very citizens, doubtless, whom you have called to arms, to burn the grass ap-
parently with the intention of starving a few beasts, and hoping that men would
starve after them. Citizens of Utah, acting, I am bound to believe, under
HISTORY OF SALT LAKE CITY. lyg
your authority, have destroyed trains containing public stores, with a similar
humane purpose of starving the army. I infer also from your communications
received day before yesterday, referring to " a dearth of news from the east and
from home," that you have caused public and private letteis to be diverted from
their proper destination, and this, too, when carried by a public messenger on
a public highway. It is unnecessary for me to adduce further instances to show
that you have placed yourself, in your capacity of governor, and so many of the
citizens of the Territory of Utah as have obeyed your decree, in a position of re-
bellion and hostility to the general government of the United States. It becomes
you to look to the consequences, for you niust be aware that so unequal a contest
can never be successfully sustained by the people you govern.
"It is my duty to inform you that I shall use the force under my control,
and all honorable means in my power, to obey literally and strictly the orders
under which I am acting. If you, or any acting under your orders, oppose me,
I will use force, and I warn you that the blood that is shed in this contest will be
upon your head. My means I consider ample to overcome any obstacle; and I
assure you that any idea you may have formed of forcing these troops back, or
of preventing them from carrying out the views of the government, will result in
unnecessary violence and utter failure. Should you reply to this in a spirit which
our relative positions give me a right to demand, I will be prepared to propose
an arrangement with you. I have also the honor to inform you that all persons
found lurking around or in any of our camps, will be put under guard and held
prisoners as long as circumstances may require.
" I remain sir, very respectfully, your obedient servant,
E. B. ALEXANDER,
Colonel loth Infantry, Commanding.
''His Excellency Brigham Young,
Governor of Utah Territory.'"'
"Governor's Office,
Great Salt Lake City, Utah Territory, October i6, 1857.
"Sir: I have the honor to acknowledge the receipt of your letter of the
1 2th instant, at 8:30 this morning, and embrace the earliest opportunity to reply,
out of courtesy to your position, at this late season of the year.
" As you officially allege it, I acknowledge that you and the forces have been
sent to the Territory by the President of the United States, but we shall treat
you as though you were open enemies, because I have so many times seen armies
in our country, under color of law, drive this people, commonly styled Mormons,
from their homes, while mobs have followed and plundered at their pleasure,
which is now most obviously the design of the general government, as all candid,
thinking men know full well. Were not such the fact, why did not the
government send an army here to protect us against the savages when we first
settled here, and were poor and few in number? So contrary to this was their
course, that they sent an informal requisition for five hundred of our most effi-
i8o HISTORY OF SALT LAKE CITY.
cient men, (while we were in an Indian country and striving to leave the borders
of the United States, from which its civilization (?) had expelled us,) with a pre-
concerted view to cripple and destroy us. And do you fancy for a moment that
we do not fully understand the tender (?) mercies and designs of our government-
against us? Again, if an army was ordered here for peaceful purposes, to pro-
tect and preserve the rights and lives of the innocent, why did government send
here troops that were withdrawn from Minnesota, where the Indians were
slaughtering men, women, and children, and were banding in large numbers,
threatening to lay waste the country?
" You mention that it is alone in my gubernatorial capacity that you have any
business with me, though your commanding officer, Brevet-Brigadier General
Harney, addressed his letter by Captain Van Vliet to ' President Brigham Young,
of the society of Mormons.'
" You acknowledge the receipt of my official proclamation, forbidding your
entrance into the Territory of Utah, and upon that point I have only to again
inform you that the matter set forth in that document is true, and the orders
therein contained will be most strictly carried out.
" If you came here for peaceful purposes, you have no use for weapons of
war. We wish, and ever have wished for peace, and have ever sued for it all the
day long, as our bitterest enemies know full well ; and though the wicked, with the
administration now at their head, have determined that we shall have no peace,
except it be to lie down in death, in the name of Israel's God we will have peace,
even though we be compelled by our enemies to fight for it.
" We have as yet studiously avoided the shedding of blood, though we have
resorted to measures to resist our enemies, and through the operations of those
mild measures, you can easily perceive that you and your troops are now at the
mercy of the elements, and that we live in the mountains, and our men are all
mountaineers. This the government should know, and also give us our rights and
then let us alone.
"As to the style of those measures, past, present, or future, persons acting in
self-defence have of right a wide scope for choice, and that, too, without being
very careful as to what name their enemies may see fit to term that choice ; for
both we and the Kingdom of God will be free from all hellish oppressors, the
Lord being our helper. Threatenings to waste and exterminate this people have
been sounded in our ears for more than a score of years, and we yet live. The
Zion of the Lord is here, and wicked men and devils cannot destroy it.
"If you persist in your attempt to permanently locate an army in this Ter-
ritory, contrary to the wishes and constitutional rights of the people therein, and
with a view to aid the administration in their unhallowed efforts to palm their
corrupt officials upon us, and to protect them and blacklegs, black-hearted scoun-
drels, whore masters, and murderers, as was the sole intention in sending you
and your troops here, you will have to meet a mode of vvarfare against which
your tactics furnish you no information.
"As to your inference concerning ' public and private letters,' it contains an
ungentlemanly and false insinuation ; for, so far as I have any knowledge, the
only stopping or detaining of the character you mention has alone been done by
HISTORY OF SALT LAKE CITY. i8i
the Post Office Department in Washington ; they having, as you must have
known, stopped our mail from Independence, Missouri, by which it was but fair
to presume that you, as well as we, were measurably curtailed in mail facilities.
"In regard to myself and certain others, having placed ourselves 'in a posi-
tion of rebellion and hostility to the general government oT the United States,'
I am perfectly aware that we understand our true and most loyal position far bet-
ter than our enemies can inform us. We, of all people, are endeavoring to
preserve and perpeiuate the genius of the Constitution and constitutional laws,
while the administration and the troops they have ordered to Utah are, in fact,
themselves the rebels, and in hostility to the general government. And if
George Washington were now living, and at the helm of our government, he
would hang the administration as high as he did Andre, and that, too, with a far
better grace and to a much greater subserving the best interests of our country,
"You write: ' It becomes you to look to the consequences, for you must be
aware that so unequal a contest can never be successfully sustained by the people
you govern.' We have counted the cost it may be to us; we look for the
United States to endeavor to swallow us up, and we are prepared for the contest,
if they wish to forego the Constitution in their insane efforts to crush out all hu-
man rights. But the cost of so suicidal a course to our enemies we have not
wasted our time considering, rightly deeming it more particularly their business
to figure out and arrive at the amount of so immense a sum. It is now the king-
dom of God and the kingdom of the devil. If God is for us we will prosper,
but if He is for you and against us, you will prosper, and we will say amen; let
the Lord be God, and Him alone we will serve.
"As to your obeying 'orders,' my official counsel to you would be for you
to stop and reflect until you know wherein are the just and right, and then,
David Crocket like, go ahead. But if you undertake to come in here and build
forts, rest assured that you will be opposed, and that you will need all the force
now under your command, and much more. And, in regard to your warning, I
have to inform yoa that my head has been sought during many years past, not
for any crime on my part, or for so much as even the wish to commit a crime,
but solely for my religious belief, and that, too, in a land of professed constitu-
tional religious liberty.
" Inasmuch as you consider your force amply sufficient to enable you to
come to this city, why have you so unwisely dallied so long on Ham's Fork at
this late season of the year?
" Carrying out the views of the government, as those views are now devel-
oping themselves, can but result in the utter overthrow of that Union which we,
in common with all American patriots, have striven to sustain; and as to our
failure in our present efforts to uphold rights justly guaranteed to all citizens of
the United States, that can be better told hereafter.
"I presume that the 'spirit' and tenor of my reply to your letter will be
unsatisfactory to you, for doubtless you are not aware of the nature and object of
the service in which you are now engaged. For your better information, permit
me to inform you that we have a number of times been compelled to receive and
submit to the most fiendish proposals, made to us by armies virtually belonging to
i82 HISTORY OF SALT LAKE CITY.
the United States, our only alternative being to comply therewith. At the last
treaty forced upon us by our enemies, in which we were required to leave the
United States, and with which we, as hitherto, complied, two United States Sena-
tors were present, and pledged themselves, so far as their influence might reach,
that we should be no more pursued by her citizens. That pledge has been broken
by our enemies, as they have ever done when this people were a party, and we
have thus always proven that it is vain for us to seek or expect protection from
the officials or administrators of our government. It is obvious that war upon
the Saints is all the time determined, and now we, for the first time, possess the
power to have a voice in the treatment that we will receive, and we intend to use
that power, so far as the Constitution and justice may warrant, which is all we
ask. True, in struggling to sustain the Constitution and constitutional rights
belonging to every citizen of our republic, we have no arm or power to trust in
but that of Jehovah and the strength and ability that He gives us.
"By virtue of my office as governor of the Territory of Utah, I command
you to marshal your troops and leave this Territory, for it can be of no possible
benefit to you to wickedly waste treasures and blood in prosecuting your course
upon the side of a rebellion against the general government by its administrators.
You have had and still have plenty of time to retire within reach of supplies at
the east, or to go to Fort Hall. Should you conclude to comply with so just a
command, and need any assistance to go east, such assistance will be promptly
and cheerfully extended. We do not wish to destroy the life of any human
being, but, on the contrary, we ardently desire to preserve the lives and liberties
of all, so far as it may be in our power. Neither do we wish for the property of
the United States, notwithstanding they justly owe us millions.
*' Colonel, should you, or any of the officers with you, wish to visit this city,
unaccompanied by troops, as did Captain Van Vliet, with a view to personally
learn the condition and feelings of this people, you are at liberty to do so, under
my cheerfully proffered assurance that you will be safely escorted from our out-
posts to this city and back, and that during your stay in our midst you will receive
all that courtesy and attention your rank demands. Doubtless you have supposed
that many of the people here would flee to you for protection upon your arrival,
and if there are any such persons they shall be at once conveyed to your camp in
perfect safety, so soon as such fact can be known.
"Were you and your fellow-officers as well acquainted with your soldiers as
I am with mine, and did they understand the work they are now engaged in as
well as you may understand it, you must know that many of them would immedi-
ately revolt from all connection with so ungodly, illegal, unconstitutional and
hellish a crusade against an innocent people, and if their blood is shed it shall
rest upon the heads of their commanders. With us it is the kingdom of God or
nothing. I have the honor to be,
Your obedient servant,
BRIGHAM YOUNG,
Governor and Superintendent of Indian Affairs, U. 7. "
"^. B. Alexander, Colonel loth Infantry, U. S. A.^^
HISTOR V OF SAL T LAKE CL7 Y. jgj
" Headquarters Army for Utah,
Camp on Ham's Fork, October 19, 1857.
''Sir: I have received by the hands of Lieutenant Colonel Beatie your
letter of the i6th instant. It is not necessary for me to argue the points ad-
vanced by you, and I have only to repeat my assurance that no harm would have
happened to any citizen of Utah through the instrumentality of the army of the
United States, in the performance of its legitimate duties without molestation.
My disposition of the troops depends upon grave considerations not necessary to
enumerate, and considering your order to leave the Territory illegal and beyond
your authority to issue, or power to enforce, I shall not obey it.
"I am, .sir, with respect, your obedient servant,
E. B. ALEXANDER,
Colonel Commanding, loth Lnfantry U. S. A.
" His Excellency Brigham Young,
Governor of Utah Territory. ' '
''Governor's Office,
Great Salt Lake City, October 28, 1857.
"Sir: Having learned that Mrs. Mago, with her infant child, wishes to join
her husband in your camp, also that Mr, Jesse Jones, who has been in this city a
few weeks, was anxious to see Mr. Roup, it has afforded me pleasure to cause the
necessary arrangements to be made for their comfortable and safe conveyance to
your care, under the conduct and protection of Messrs. John Harvey, Joseph
Sharp, Adam Sharp, and Thomas J. Hickman, the bearers of this communica-
tion.
" Mrs. Mago and her infant are conveyed to your camp in accordance with
my previously often expressed readiness to forward to you such as might wish to
go, and is the only resident of that description in Utah, as far as I am informed.
Her husband made his first appearance here in the capacity of a teamster for
Captain W. H. Hooper. He was then in very destitute circumstances; and has
since been in the employ of the late United States surveyor general of Utah,
and I am not aware that he has any property or tie of any description in this
Territory, except the wife and child now conveyed to him in your camp. Should
Colonel Conby and lady wish to partake of the hospitalities proffered by Mr.
Heywood and family, and should Captain R. B. Marcy desire to favor me with a
visit, as I infer from his letter of introduction forwarded and in my possession,
or should you or any other officers in your command wish to indulge in a trip to
this city, you will be kindly welcomed and hospitably entertained, and the
vehicle and escort now sent to your camp are tendered for conveyance of such as
may receive your permission to avail themselves of this cordial invitation.
" It is also presumed that your humane feelings will prompt you, in case
there are any persons who wish to peacefully leave your camp for this city, to
permit them to avail themselves of the protection and guidance of the escort
now sent.
i84 HISTORY OF SALT LAKE CITY.
" Trusting that this communication will meet your entire approval and
hearty co-operation, I have the honor, sir, to be your obedient servant,
BRIG HAM YOUNG,
Governor and Superintendent of Indian Affairs , U T.
" Colonel E. B. Alexander,
Tenth Infantry, U. S A., Camp Hani's Eork.''
"Great Salt Lake City, October 21, 1857.
" My Dear Sir: 1 embrace this the earliest opportunity of answering your
communication to me, embracing a letter from Mr. Fuller, of New York, to you,
an introductory letter to me, and also one from VV. I. Appleby to Governor
Young ; the latter, immediately on its receipt, I forwarded to His Excellency;
and here let me state, sir, that I sincerely regret that circumstances now existing
have hitherto prevented a personal interview.
" I can readily believe your statement, that it is very far from your feelings,
and most of the command that are with you, to interfere with our social habits or
religious views. One must naturally suppose that among gentlemen educated for
the army alone, who have been occupied by the study of the art of war, whose
pulses have throbbed with pleasure at the contemplation of the deeds of our
venerated fathers, whose minds have been elated by the recital of the heroic
deeds of other nations, and who have listened almost exclusively to the declama-
tions of patriots and heroes, that there is not much time, and less inclination, to
listen to the low party bickerings of political demagogues, the interested twaddle
of sectional Reclaimers, or the throes and contortions of contracted religious
bigots. You are supposed to stand on elevated ground, representing the power
and securing the interests of the whole of a great and mighty nation. That
many of you are thus honorable, I am proud, as an American citizen, to acknowl-
edge; but you must excuse me, my dear sir, if I cannot concede with you that
all your officials are so high-toned, disinterested, humane and gentlemanly, as a
knowledge of some of their antecedents expressly demonstrates. However, it is
not with the personal character, the amiable qualities, high-toned feelings, or
gentlemanly deportment of the officers in your expedition, that we at present
have to do. The question that concerns us is one that is independent of your
personal, generous, friendly and humane feelings or any individual predilection
of yours; it is one that involves the dearest rights oi American citizens, strikes
at the root of our social and political existence, if it does not threaten our entire
annihilation from the earth. Excuse me, sir, when I say that you are merely the
servants of a lamentably corrupt administration ; that your primary law is obedi-
ence to orders, and that you came here with armed foreigners with cannon, rifles,
bayonets, and broadswords, expressly, and for the openly avowed purpose of
'cutting out the loathsome ulcer from the body politic' I am aware what our
friend Fuller says in relation to this matter, and I entertain no doubt of his
generous and humane feelings, nor do I of yours, sir; but I do know that he is
mistaken in relation to the rabid tone and false, lurious attacks of a venal and
\
HISTORY OF SALT LAKE CIT\. 185
corrupt press. I do know that they are merely the mouthpiece, the tools, the
barking dogs of a corrupt administration. I do know that Mr. Buchanan was
well apprised of the nature of the testimony adduced against us by ex- Judge
Drummond and others; for he was informed of it, to my knowledge, by a mem-
ber of own cabinet, and I further know, from personal intercourse with members
of the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States, that there have
been various plans concerted at headquarters for some time past, for the over-
throw of this people. Captain, Mr, Fuller informs me that you are a politician ;
if so, you must know that in the last presidential campaign the republican party
had opposition to slavery and polygamy as two of the principal planks in their
platform. You may know, sir, that Utah was picked out, and the only Territory
excluded from a participation in pre-emption rights to land. You may also be
aware that bills were introduced into Congress for the persecution of the Mor-
mons ; but other business was too pressing at that time for them to receive atten-
tion. You may be aware that measures were also set on foot, and bills prepared
to divide up Utah among the Territories of Nebraska, Kansas, Oregon and New
Mexico (giving a slice to California), for the purpose of bringing us into collision
with the people of those Territories, not to say anything about thousands of
our letters detained at the postofifice at Independence. I might enumerate
injuries by the score, and if these things are not so, why is it that Utah is so
'knotty a question ?' If people were no more ready to interfere with us and our
institutions than we are with them and theirs, these difficulties would vanish into
thin air. Why, again I ask, could Drummond and a host of others, mean
scribblers, palm their barefaced lies with such impunity, and have their infamous
slanders swallowed with so much gusco? Was it not that the administration and
their satellites, having planned our destruction, were eager to catch at anything
to render specious their contemplated acts of blood ? Or, in plain terms, the
democrats advocated strongly popular sovereignty. The republicans tell them
that, if they join in maintaining inviolable the domestic institutions of the South,
they must also swallow polygamy. The democrats thought this would not do, as
it would interfere with the religious scruples of many of their supporters, and
they looked about for some means to dispose of the knotty question. Buchanan,
with Douglass, Cass, Thompson and others of his advisers, after failing to devise
legal measures, hit upon the expedient of an armed force against Utah ; and thus
thought, by the sacrifice of the Mormons, to untie the knotty question ; do a
thousand times worse than the republicans ever meant; fairly out-Herod Herod,
and by religiously extirpating, destroying, or killing a hundred thousand innocent
American citizens, satisfy a pious, humane, patriotic feeling of their constituents;
take the wind out of the sails of the republicans, and gain to themselves immortal
laurels. Captain, I have heard of a pious Presbyterian doctrine that would incul-
cate thankfulness to the all-wise Creator for the privilege of being damned.
Now, as we are not Presbyterians, nor believe in this kind of self-abnegation, you
will, I am sure, excuse us for finding fault at being thus summarily dealt with, no
matter how agreeable the excision or expatriation might be to our political, patri-
otic or very pious friends. We have lived long enough in the world to know that
we are a portion of the body politic, have some rights as well as other people,
10
j86 history of salt lake cit\.
and that if others do not respect us, we, at least, have manhood enough to respect
ourselves.
" Permit me here to refer to a remark made by our friend Mr. Fuller, to
you, viz : ' That he had rendered me certain services in the city of New York,
and that he had no doubt that when you had seen us and known us as he had,
that you would report as favorably as he had unflinchingly done.' Now, those
lavors to which Mr. Fuller refers were simply telling a few plain matters of fact
that had come under his own observation during a short sojourn at Salt Lake.
This, of course, I could duly appreciate, for I always admired a man who dare
tell the truth. But, Captain, does it not strike you as humiliating to manhood
and to the pride of all honorable American citizens, when among the thousands
that have passed through and sojourned among us, and knew as well as Mr.
Fuller did our true social and moral position, that perhaps one in ten thousand
dare state their honest convictions; and further, that Mr. Fuller, with his knowl-
edge of human nature, should look upon you as a rara avis, possessing the
moral courage and integrity to declare the truth in opposition to the floods of
falsehood that have deluged our nation. Surely, we have fallen on unlucky
times, when honesty is avowed to be at so great a premium.
"In regard to our religion, it is perhaps unnecessary to say much; yet, what-
ever others' feelings may be about it, with us it is honestly a matter of conscience.
This is a right guaranteed to us by the Constitution of our country ; yet it is on
th's ground, and this alone, that we have suffered a continued series o*" persecu-
tions, and that this present crusade is set on foot against us. In regard to this
people, I have traveled extensively in the United States, and through Europe^
yet have n^ver found so moral, chaste, and virtuous a people, nor do I expect to
find them. And, if let alone, they are the most patriotic, and appreciate more
fully the blessings of religious, civil, and political freedom than any other por-
tion of the United States. They have, however, discovered the difference be-
tween a blind submission to the caprices of political demagogues and obedience
to the Constitution, laws, and institutions of the United States; nor can they, in
the present instance, be hoodwinked by the cry of 'treason.' If it be treason to
stand up for our constitutional rights; if it be treason to resist the unconstitu
tional acts of a vitiated and corrupt administration, who, by a mercenary armed
force, would seek to rob us of the rights of franchise, cut our throats to subserve
their party, and seek to force upon us its corrupt tools, and violently invade the
rights of American citizens; if it be treason to maintain inviolate our homes,
our firesides, our wives, and our honor from the corrupting and withering blight
of a debauched soldiery; if it be treason to keep inviolate the Constitution and
institutions of the United States, when nearly all the States are seeking to trample
them under their feet, then, indeed, we are guilty of treason. We have care-
fully considered all these matters and are prepared to meet the ' terrible ven-
geance ' we have been very politely informed will be the result of our acts. It is
in vain to hide it from you that this people have suffered so much from every
kind of official that they will endure it no longer. It is not with them an idle
phantom, but a stern reality. It is not, as some suppose, the voice of Brigham
only, but the universal, deep-settled feeling of the whole community. Their cry
HISTORY OF SALT LAKE CIIY. jSj
is, * Give us our Constitutional rights ; give us liberty or death ! ' A strange cry
in our boasted model republic, bat a truth deeply and indelibly graven on the
hearts of 100,000 American citizens by a series of twenty-seven years' unmiti-
gated and unprovoked, yet unrequited wrongs. Having told you of this, you
will not be surprised that when fifty have been called to assist in repelling our ag-
gressors, a hundred have volunteered, and, when a hundred have been called, the
number has been more than doubled; the only feeling is 'don't let us be over-
looked or forgotten.' And here let me inform you that I have seen thousands
of hands raised simultaneously, voting to burn our property rather than let it fall
into the hands of our enemies. They have been so frequently robbed and de-
spoiled without redress, that they have solemnly decreed that, if they cannot
enjoy their own property, nobody else shall. You will see by this that it would
be literally madness for your small force to attempt to come into the settlements.
It would only be courting destruction. But, say you, have you counted the cost?
have you considered the wealth and power of the United States and the fearful
odds against you ? Yes; and here let me inform you that, if necessitated, we
would as soon meet 100,000 as 1,000, and, if driven to the necessity, will burn
every house, tree, shrub, rail, every patch of grass and stack of straw* and hay,
and flee to the mountains. You will then obtain a barren, desolate wilderness,
but will not have conquered the people, and the same principle in regard to other
property will be carried out. If this people have to burn their property to save
it from the hands of legalized mobs, they will see to it that their enemies shall
be without fuel; they will haunt them by day and by night. Such is, in part,
our plan. The three hundred thousand dollars' worth of our property destroyed
already in Green River County is only a faint sample of what will be done
throughout the Territory. We have been twice driven, by tamely submitting to
the authority of corrupt officials, and left our houses and homes for others to in-
habit, but are now determined that, if we are again robbed of our possessions, our
enemies shall also feel how pleasant it is to be houseless at least for once, and be
permitted, as they have sought to do to us, ' to dig their own dark graves, creep
into them, and die.'
"You see we are not backward in showing our hands. Is it not strange to
what lengths the human family may be goaded by a continued series of oppres-
sions? The administration may yet find leisure to pause over the consequences
of their acts, and it may yet become a question for them to solve whether they
have blood and treasure enougn to crush out the sacred principles of liberty from
the bosoms of 100,000 freemen, and make them bow in craven servility to the
mendacious acts of a perjured, degraded tyrant. You may have learned already
that it is anything but pleasant for evei a small army to contend with the chilling
blasts of this inhospitable climate. How a large army would fare without re-
sources you can picture to yourself. We have weighed those macters; it is for
the administration to post their own accounts. It may not be amiss, however,
here to state that, if they continue to prosecute this inhuman fratricidal war, and
our Nero would light the fires and, sitting in his chair of state, laugh at burning
Rome, there is a day of reckoning even for Neros. There are generally two
sides to a question. As I before said, we wisla for peace, but that we are deter-
i88 HISTORY OF SALT LAKE CITY.
mined on having it if we have to fight for it. We will not have officers forced
upon us who are so degraded as to submit to be sustained by the bayonet's point.
We cannot be dragooned into servile obedience to any man.
"These things settled, Captain, and all the like preliminaries of etiquette are
easily arranged ; and permit me here to state, that no man will be more courteous
and civil than Governor Young, and nowhere could you find in your capacity of
an officer of the United States a more generous and hearty welcome than at the
hands of his excellency. But when, instead of battling with the enemies of our
country, you come (though probably reluctantly) to make war upon my family
and friends, our civilities are naturally cooled, and we instinctively grasp the
sword; Minie rifles, Colt's revolvers, sabres, and cannon may display very good
workmanship and great artistic skill, but we very much object to having their
temper and capabilities tried upon us. We may admire the capabilities, gentle-
manly deportment, heroism and patriotism of United States officers; but in an
official capacity of enemies, we would rather see their backs than their faces.
The guillotine may be a very pretty instrument, and show great artistic skill, but
I don't like to try my neck in it.
" Now, Captain, notwithstanding all this, I shall be very happy to see you if
circumstances should so transpire as to make it convenient for you to come, and
to extend to you the courtesies of our city, for I am sure you are not our personal
enemy. I shall be happy to render you any information in my power in regard to
your contemplated explorations.
"I am heartily sorry that things are so unpleasant at the present time, and I
cannot but realize the awkwardness of your position, and that of your com-
patriots, and let me here say that anything that lays in my power compatible with
the conduct of a gentleman you can command. If you have leisure, I should be
most happy to hear from you. You will, I am sure, excuse me, if I disclaim the
prefix of reverend to my name ; address John Taylor, Great Salt Lake City.
"I need not here assure you that personally there can be no feelings oi
enmity between us and your officers. We regard you as the agents of the
administration in the discharge of a probably unpleasant duty, and very likely
ignorant of the ultimate designs of the administration. As I left the East this
summer, you will excuse me when I say I am probably better posted in some of
these matters than you are, having been one of a delegation from the citizens of
this Territory to apply for admission into the Union. I can only regret that it is
not our real enemies that are here instead of you. We do not wish to harm you
or any of the command to which you belong, and I can assure you that in any
other capacity than the one you now occupy, you would be received as civilly
and treated as courteously as in any other portion of our Union.
"On my departure from the States, the fluctuating tide of popular opinion
against us seemed to be on the wave. By this time there may be quite a reaction
in the public mind. If so, it may probably affect materially the position of the
administration, and tend to more constitutional, pacific and humane measMres.
In such an event our relative positions would be materially changed, and instead
of meeting as enemies, we could meet, as all Americans should, friends to each
other, and united against our legitimate enemies only. Such an issue is devoutly
HISTOR Y OF SAL T LAKE CI2 V, i8g
to be desired, and I can assure you that no one would more appreciate so happy
a result to our present awkward and unpleasant position, than yours truly-,
JOHN TAYLOR.
Captain Marcy.
Headquarters Army of Utah, Black's Fork,
l6 miles from Fort Bridger, en route to Salt Lake City,
November yth, i8^y.
Official: F. J. PORTER,
Assistant Adjutant General.
CHAPTER XX. '
REVIEW OF THE EXPEDITION, KANSAS TROUBLES. GENERAL HARNEY
RELIEVED OF THE COMMAND. GENERAL PERSIFER F. SMITH APPOINTED
IN HIS STEAD. HE DIES AND COLONEL ALBERT SIDNEY JOHNSTON
IS APPOINTED. DISASTROUS MARCH OF THE SECOND DRAGOONS TO
UTAH. SCENE OF THE ARMY IN WINTER QUARTERS.
At this point must be given a circumstantial review of the history ot the
Expedition from the issuing of General Scott's circular to the close of the winter
of 18^7-8, so bitter in its experience to the ill-fated troops who composed the
array sent to invade the Rocky Mountain Zion.
The force consisted of two regiments of infantry — the Fifth and Tenth;
one regiment of cavalry — the old Second Dragoons; and two batteries of
artillery — Reno's and Phelps'. Of the equipments, it may be said there was
nothing forgotten and nothing grudged, to make the Expedition a splendid and
thorough success.
"So well is the nature of this service appreciated," wrote the commander-
in-chief to General Harney, by the pen of his aid de camp, "and so deeply are
the honor and interests of the United States involved in its success, that I am
authorized to say that the government will hesitate at no expense requisite to
complete the efficiency of your little army, and to insure health and comfort to
it, as far as attainable. Hence, in addition to the liberal orders for its supply here-
tofore given — and it is known that ample measures, with every confidence of suc-
cess, have been dictated by the chiefs of staff departments here — a large discretion
will be made over to you in the general orders for the movement. The employment
of spies, guides, interpreters or laborers may be made to any reasonable extent
you may think desirable."
And the officers were as eminent as the amplitude of the supplies and effi-
ypo HISTORY OF SALT LAKE CITY.
ciency of the equipments. The chief officers were gentlemen of thorough mili-
tary education. There were names connected with that army, which rank to day
in the national galaxy of America's great generals. There was General Harney,
who at that period held the reputation of being the greatest Indian fighter of all
the commanding officers of the American army; and for that reason he was
probably singled out at the onset for this campaign against the Mormons, which
in a mountainous country must necessarily have partaken much of the guerilla
warfare, if it came to the action. There was General Persifier F. Smith, a dis-
tinguished officer; Captain Van Vliet, afterwards a Major-General; Colonel
Philip St. George Cooke, also afterwards a Major General, and of before time
the honored commander of the Mormon Battalion ; Captain Marcy a distin-
guished officer and father in-law of General McClellen ; Colonel Alexander who
himself was able to command an expedition; and greater than all besides Colonel
Albert Sidney Johnston, the brilliant soldier who afterwards commanded the
Confederate army ot the battle of Shiloh, and fell as one of the laurelled heroes
of Southern rebeldom, but in 1857 he was sent as the commander to put down
Mormon rebeldom. What a strange fatality ! and what a parallel !
It was the flower of the American army that was sent to Utah, and its his-
tory is more remarkable from that very fact. When the order was given for the
march of the troops, no one of that command could have divined that such ter-
rible disasters were in store as befel them before the close of the year. The
prospect appeared auspicious at the commencement of the march. Writing from
Fort Kearney, August loth. Colonel Alexander reported all well. ''The men
are in good health and condition, and have surprised me by the endurance they
exhibited from the commencement. The march from Fort Leavenworth here
occupied nineteen days, giving an average of fifteen and a half miles per day."
Writing from Fort Laramie, September 3d, he congratulates with the following
passage :
"On the 5th the march to Utah will be resumed, and although the accounts
of the road as regards grass makes it much more difficult than anything we have
yet experienced, I hope to give as favorable a report upon my arrival at the Salt
Lake City.
" I may be excused from expressing the pride I feel in the successful accom-
plishment by my regiment of so much of its first arduous duty, and I confidently
express the belief that unless some very unforeseen accident occurs, I will reach
the Territory of Utah in a condition of perfect efficiency and discipline."
Meantime a change had come in the disposition of the Expedition, that the
Mormons might well consider as fated, both to themselves and the troops; for
had that expedition under General Harney reached the Great Salt Lake Valley
that year, it certainly must have been after a desperate battle or two with the
" Nauvoo Legion" under General Wells; then if the word of Brigham Young
had been kept, as faithfully as the burning of the government trains indicated.
General Harney, even though a victor, would have found Great Salt Lake City
in ashes ; and, in his spring campaign, every city in Utah would have shared
"^HISTORY OF SALT LAKE CITY.
IQT
the same fate, or that United States army would have been baptized in its own
blood.
But no sooner had Colonel Alexander started with his advance troops than
the Kansas troubles revived. " Bleeding Kansas" had for several years been the
national sensation, and "Border Ruffianism " was a real terror to the American
mind, while Mormon rebellion was much of a myth, and at its worst was no sub-
ject of political terrorism to the nation. The presence of General Harney and
the Second Dragoons was now needed in Kansas by this new development of
affairs. His supposed fitness, above other generals to command the Utah Expe-
dition, made him more abundantly fit now to grapple with Kansas. Captain Van
Vliet sensed the strange fatality of this new development when he said to Brig-
ham Young : ''I am anxious to get back to Washington as soon as I can. I have
heard officially that General Harney has been recalled to Kansas, to officiate as
Governor."
Thus the General who, from his experience in Indian warfare, was supposed
to be sufficient to put down the Indians and Mormons combined — that being one
of the suppositions of this war — never took command of this expedition, and the
dragoons weie, therefore, absent from the Plains when they were most required.
General Persifer F. Smith was assigned to the command in the place of
General Harney, but he fell ill and died at Fort Leavenworth. The infantry and
artillery, with all the quartermaster and commissary stores, were then on the
plains, and the command of the expedition, by seniority of rank, devolved upon
Colonel Alexander, of the Tenth Infantry. The expedition was, therefore, with-
out any instructions from the Government ; all that its commander, Colonel
Alexander, knew was its destination. The next link of the strange history is
found in the following military order :
"Washington, August 28th, 1857,
" Colonel: In anticipation of the orders to be issued placing you in com-
mand of the Utah expedition, the general-in-chief directs you to repair, without
delay, to Fort Leavenworth, and apply to Brevet Brigadier General Harney for
all the orders and instructions he has received as commander of that expedition,
which you will consider addressed to yourself, and by which you will be governed
accordingly. You will make your arrangements to set out from Fort Leaven-
worth at as early a day as practicable. Six companies of the 2d Dragoons will
be detached by General Harney to escort you and the civil authorities to Utah,
to remain as part of your command instead of the companies of the ist Cavalry,
as heretofore ordered. Brevet Major T. J. Porter, assistant adjutant general, will
be ordered to report to you for duty before you leave Fort Leavenworth.
"I have the honor to be, colonel, very respectfully, your most obedient
servant,
iRViN McDowell,
Assistant Adjutant General.
" Colonel Albert S. Johnston,
2d Cavalry, Washington, D C.
jg2 HISTORY OF SALT LAKE CIT\.
As the army passed the boundary line of Utah, Governor Young's Proclama-
tion was forwarded, with his order to arrest the advance of " the forces now in-
vading Utah Territory." This was the juncture when either General Harney or
C ) lonel Johnston should have been on the spot, with the entire force, to have
opened the campaign, but at that very moment Colonel Albert Sidney Johnston
wasstill at Fort Leavenworth, a thousand miles from the army to which he
had been appointed, while Colonel Philip St. George Cooke, commanding 2d
Dragoons, and Colonel C. F. Smith commanding Battalion loth Infantry were
also far away from the seat of action. Colonel Cooke in command of six com-
panies 2d Dragoons commenced his march from Fort Leavenworth, on the 17th of
September, and arrived at Fort Bridger November 19. Of his onset he has thus
reported :
" The regiment has been hastily recalled from service in the field and al-
lowed three or four days only, by my then commanding officer, to prepare for a
march of eleven hundred miles over an uninhabited and mountain wilderness ;
in that time the six companies of the regiment who were to compose the expedi-
tion were re-organized; one hundred and ten transfers necessarily made from and
to other companies; horses to be condemned and many obtained; the com-
panies paid, and about fifty desertions occured ; the commanders of four of them
changed. To these principle duties and obstacles, implying a great mass of writ-
ing, were to be added every exertion of experience and foresight to provide for a
line of operation of almost of unexampled length and mostly beyond communi-
cation. On the evening of the i6th, at the commencement of a rain-storm, an
inspector general made a hurried inspection by companies, which could not have
been very satisfactory to him or others — the company commanders, amid the
confusion of Fort Leavenworth, presenting their new men, raw recruits, whom
they had yet scarcely found or seen, under the effects usually following the pay-
table."
Governor Gumming, also, who should have been at the seat of war to have
met Governor Young's proclamation with a counter proclamation, giving to Col-
onel Alexander the power to act as hh posse commitatus, before the winter set in,
was under the escort of Colonel Cooke, and did not issue his proclamation before
the 2ist of November.
Brigham and the Mormons alone were prepared for the issue, notwithstand-
ing the Government had taken every precaution to prevent the news of the
projected expedition reaching Utah in advance, by cutting off the postal com"
munication. (It is so charged by Governor Young.) In six days after the news
reached the Pioneers of the coming of the army, the Utah militia is ordered out ;
in twenty-one days the first detachment of the Mormon Life Guards has taken
the field, under Colonel Burton; in one month and eleven days Lot Smith has
burnt the supply trains of the Expedition.
In May, General Scott's circular was issued for the march of the army ; in
the latter part of November Colonel Albert Sidney Johnston and Governor Alfred
Gumming were at headquarters. Camp Scott, powerless to act, locked out from
Salt Lake Valley by the commanding general of the year — inexorable winter.
HISTORY OF SALT LAKE CITY. igj
General Sam Houston had said to the Government at the onset: /'If you
make war upon the Mormons you will get awfully whipped ! " which, when it
was told to Brigham Young, he said, " General Sam Houston had it right."
Hearing nothing from his commander, without instructions and fearing
everything. Colonel Alexander concentrated his forces at Ham's Fork, until
some course should be resolved upon by a council of the officers. It was then
the latter part of September ; winter was approaching, the stock of forage was
rapidly decreasing, and the country was altogether unfitted for winter-quarters.
Every day's delay was disastrous, and threatened the very existence of the ex-
pedition, for the mountains were already covered with snow and the daring Mor-
mon cavalry were constantly harassing the supply trains and running off the
animals. The troops began to show signs of demorilization ; they were in a
bleak and barren desert, with an enemy surrounding them that knew every inch
of the ground, and who, to all appearance, could easily destroy them without shed-
ding a drop of their own blood.
On the loth of October the officers of the Expedition held a council of war
and determined that the army should advance from Ham's Fork, but to change
the route of travel and make Salt Lake Valley, if they could, via Soda Springs, a
distance of nearly three hundred miles, and at least a hundred and fifty miles
farther than the route through Echo Canyon. The order was issued, and next
day the troops commenced a dreary march.
"Early in the morning," says Stenhouse, in his ''Rocky Mountain Saints,"
"the sky was surcharged with dark, threatening clouds, and as they started the
snow fell heavily. A few supply-trains were kept together and guarded by the
infantry, but the travel was slow, vexatious and discouraging. The beasts of
burden were suffering from want of forage, as, in anticipation of this movement,
the grass had been burned all along that route. The animals were completely
exhausted, and, before they were a week on the new route, three miles a day
was all the distance that could be made.
"Another council of war was held, but the only topics of discussion were
the suffering, disaster, and heavy losses of the company. The soldiers were mur-
muring, and dissatisfaction reigned everywhere. Some gallant officers were desir-
ous of forcing an issue with the Mormons, cutting their way through the canyons^
and taking their chances of what might come. This course might have afforded
some gratification to individuals, but to the company at large it was impracticable :
every effort was necessary to save the Expedition from total ruin."
In explanation of the unprecedented slow march, it should be stated that
every movement was really a military manouvre. Colonel R. T. Burton, with a
force of about 200 Mormon soldiers was, constantly harassing the army, which
in return resorted to every strategy to deceive the Mormon soldiers in regard to
their real intent.
Every day they moved a short distance, but realizing that their movements
were constantly watched by the Mormon soldiery. Colonel Alexander was in
doubt as to what course to pursue, as while moving north, every means of annoy-
ance without actual warfare was employed by this little body of defenders of
their Utah homes. Finally, as the result of this continued vigilance, on the
11
ig4 HISTORY OF SALT LAKE CITY.
part of^the little army of Mormons, Colonel Alexander retraced his steps and
counter-marched down stream and went into Winter Quarters.
"In this forlorn condition the new commander was heard from, and the
troops were instantly inspired with new life. Colonel Johnston comprehended
the situation and ordered the Expedition to retrace its steps. The snow was six
inches deep, the grass all covered, the animals starving. The advance had been
slow, the retreat was simply crawling. On the 3rd of November they reached
the point of rendezvous, and next day Colonel Johnston joined them with a small
reinforcement and the remainder of the supply-trains.
"The morale of the army was restored by the presence of an efficient com-
mander with instructions in his pocket, but the difficulties of the Expedition were
increasing every hour. The supply-trains were strung out about six miles in
length, the animals worrying along till, thoroughly exhausted, they would fall in
their tracks and die.
" All this long line of wagons and beef cattle had to be guarded to prevent
surprise and the stampede of the animals. The snow was deep on the ground
and the weather was bitterly cold. Many of the men were fatally rrost-bitten,
and the catte and mules perished by the score. In Colonel Philip St. George
Cooke's command fifty-seven head of horses and mules froze to death in one
night on the Sweetwater, and from there to Fort Bridger, where the Expedition
finally wintered, the road was literally strewn with dead animals. The camp on
Black's Fork, thirty miles from Fort, Bridger, was named 'The Camp of Death.'
Five hundred animals perished around the camp on the night of the 6th of
November. Fifteen oxen were found huddled together in one heap, frozen stiff.
"In this perilous situation the expeditionary army to Utah made the distance
to Bridger — thirty-five miles — in fifteen days! Often the advance had arrived at
camp before the end of the train left. On the i6th of November, the army
reached their winter-quarters, Camp Scott, two miles from the site of Fort
Bridger and one hundred and fifteen from Salt Lake City."
The official report of Colonel Philip St. George Cooke is still more desolate.
The experience of several days, as noted by the Colonel, will illustrate his report
of the march of the Second Dragoons from Fort Leavenworth to Camp Scott :
^^ November 6th, "^Q. found the ground once more white and the snow fall-
ing, but then very moderately; I marched as usual. On a four-mile hill the
north wind and drifting snow became severe; the air seemed turned to frozen fog;
nothing could be seen; we were struggling in a freezing cloud. The lofty wall
at 'Three Crossings' was a happy relief; but the guide, who had lately passed
there, was relentless in pronouncing that there was no grass. The idea of find-
ing and feeding upon grass, in that wintry storm, under the deep snow, was hard
to entertain ; but as he promised grass and other shelter two miles further, we
marched on, crossing twice more the rocky stream, half choked with snow and
ice; finally he led us behind a great granite rock, but all too small for the
promised shelter. Only a part of the regiment could huddle there in the deep
snow; whilst, the long night through, the storm continued, and in feaful eddies
from above, before, behind, drove the falling and drifting snow. Thus exposed
HISTORY OF SALT LAKE CITl. ypj
for the hope of grass, the poor animals were driven, with great devotion, by the
men, once more across the stream and three-quarters of a mile beyond, to the
base of a granite ridge, but which almost faced the storm ; there the famished
mules, crying piteously, did not seek to eat, but desperately gathered in a mass,
and some horses, escaping the guard, went back to the ford, where the lofty pre-
cipice first gave us so pleasant relief and shelter.
" Thus morning light had nothing cheering to reveal; the air still filled with
driven snow; the animals soon came driven in, and, mingled in confusion with
men, went crunching the snow in. the confined and wretched camp, tramping all
things in their way. It was not a time to dwell on the fact that from that moun-
tain desert there was no retreat, nor any shelter near; but a time for action. No
murmurs, not a complaint was heard, and certainly none saw in their com-
mander's face a doubt or clouds ; but with cheerful manner he gave orders as
usual for the march.
^^ November 10. The northeast wind continued fiercely, enveloping us in a
cloud which froze and fell all day. Few could have faced that wind. The
herders left to bring up the rear with extra, bat nearly all broken down mules,
could not force them from the dead bushes of the little valley ; and they re-
mained there all day and night, bringing on the next day the fourth part that
had not frozen. Thirteen mules were marched, and the camp was made four
miles from the top of the pass. A wagon that day cut partly through the ice of
a branch, and there froze so fast eight mules could not move it empty. Nearly
all the tent pins were broken in the last camp; a few of iron were here substi-
tuted. Nine trooper horses were left freezing and dying on the road that day,
and a number of soldiers and teamsters had been frost-bitten. It was a desper-
ately cold night. The thermometers were broken, but, by comparison, must
have marked twenty-five degrees below zero. A bottle of sherry wine froze in a
trunk. Having lost about fifty mules in thirty-six hours, the morning of the
eleventh, on the report of the quartermaster, I felt bound to leave a wagon in the
bushes, filled with seventy-four extra saddles and bridles, and some sabres. Two
other wagons at the last moment he was obliged to leave, but empty. The
Sharp's carbines were then issued to mounted as well as dismounted men.
''November ir. The fast growing company of dismounted men were
marched together as a separate command by day ; the morning of the 12th, a
number of them were frost-bitten from not being in motion, although standing
by fires.
''November t^. The sick report had rapidly run up from four or five to
forty-two; thirty-six soldiers and teamsters having been frosted.
"Yo^T^^iDG^K, November ig. I have one hundred and forty-four horses,
and have lost one hundred and thirty-four. Most of the loss has occurred much
this side of South Pass, in comparatively moderate weather. It has been of
starvation; the earth has a no more lifeless, treeless, grassless desert; it contains
scarcely a wolf to glut itself on the hundreds of dead and frozen animals, which
for thirty miles nearly block the road ; with abandoned and shattered property,
they mark, perhaps, beyond example in history, the steps of an advancing army
with the horrors of a disastrous retreat."
ig6 HISTORY OF SALT LAKE CITY.
The winter experience of the troops after their arrival at Camp Scott was
quite in keeping with the march to Utah as described by Colonel Cooke. Rations
were short, and many articles of daily necessity were altogether unattainable.
Whiskey sold at $12 a gallon; tobacco $3 a pound, and sugar and coffee about
the same rate. Flour for a time was a luxury at a very high figure; *'and the
possession of a good supply with no other protection than the covering of a tent
was as dangerous to its owner as a well-filled purse is to a pedestrian in a first-
class city after sunset." The cattle, too, were miserably poor, but their hides
furnished mocassins for the soldiers. Every day, all through the winter, bands
of fifteen or twenty men might be seen hitched to wagons, trailing for five or six
miles to the mountain sides to get loads of fuel for the use of the camp. But the
greatest privation of all was caused by the lack of salt. Learning of this distress
of the soldiers, and knowing that with poor meat and no vegetables, the craving
for salt to season the dish must be almost as intolerable as the burning thirst for
water in the desert, Brigham sent a load of salt to Colonel Johnston, accompanied
with a letter of gift, which forms one of the Government documents. (See
appendix.) But Colonel Johnston ordered the messengers from his camp with
every expression of contempt for Brigham Young, the great Mormon "rebel."
" How mutable are human affairs!" comments Stenhouse, noting this incident.
"Five years later, that same Colonel Johnston was himself designated a ' rebel,'
and became one of the most distinguished generals in the Confederate army.
The Colonel Johnston of Utah became the General Albert Sidney Johnston of
Shiloh!"
The salt, however, by indirect means was returned to the camp. Johnston's
army, after all, did eat Brigham Young's salt; and the soldiers knew it, but the
high-spirited commander shared it not. The Indians, however, soon furnished a
supply for the Colonel and his officers, and hurried through the snow with their
packs of salt and sold it at ;^5 per pound, but the increase of the supply reduced
the price.
Probably Colonel Johnston thought that Brigham Young was wantonly
tantalizing the high spirit of himself and officers with a realization of their con-
dition; but, if he had read the following entry in Apostle Woodruff' s diary, at
a later date, he would probably have revised that opinion.
"I spent the evening at President Young's office (at Provo). He said, *I
am sorry for the army; and thought of sending word to the brethren in Great
Salt Lake City to sell vegetables to them. I have also had it in my heart, when
peace is established, to take all the cattle, horses and mules, which we have taken
from the army, and return them to the officers.'"
Here is another similar entry of a later date :
"Colonel Alexander called yesterday and had a short interview; and it was
very agreeable. President Young said, ' I was much pleased with him, and am
satisfied that, if he had the sole command of the army, and I could have had
three hours' conversation with him, all would have been right, and they could
have come in last fall as well as now.' "
With this couple Colonel Alexander's statement in his letter, " I have only
to repeat my assurance that no harm would have happened to any citizen of
HISTOR Y OF SAL T LAKE CLl V, ipy
Utah, through the instrumentality of the army of the United States in the per-
formance of its legitimate duties without molestation. Together, these simple
notes combine a volume of historical explanations. The people of Utah regarded
it as an unhallowed crusade not a United States army that they were resisting.
CHAPTER XXI.
THE NAUVOO LEGION ORDERED IN FOR THE WINTER, PICKET GUARD
POSTED, MARCH OF THE LEGION TO GREAT SALT LAKE CITY: RE-
CEIVED WITH SONGS OF TRIUMPH. A JUBILANT WINTER IN ZION.
SUMMARY OF GOVERNMENT MOVEMENTS FOR THE SPRING CAMPAIGN.
The army having gone into Winter Quarters at " Old Fort Bridger " and
"Henry's Fork," the Nauvoo Legion was called in and concentrated at Camp
Weber, situated at the mouth of Echo Canyon. As soon as the Territorial troops
had all arrived, provisions were made for a picket-guard, consisting of fifty
picked men under the command of Captain John R. Winder, to remain at Camp
Weber during the winter, and the following order was issued :
" Head Quarters Eastern Expedition,
Camp Weber, December 4th, 1857.
'' Capt.John R. Winder.
"Dear Bro: You are appointed to take charge of the guard detailed to
remain and watch the movements of the invaders. You will keep ten men at
the lookout station on the heights of Yellow Creek. Keep a constant watch from
the highest point during daylight, and a camp guard at night, also a horse guard
out with the horses which should be kept out on good grass all day, and grained
with two quarts of feed per day. This advance will occasionally trail out towards
Fort Bridger, and look at our enemies from the high butte near that place. You
will relieve this guard once a week. Keep open and travel the trail down to the
head of Echo, instead of the road. Teamsters or deserters must not be permitted to
come to your lookout station. Let them pass with merely knowing who and
what they are, to your station on the Weber and into the city. I'" officers or
others undertake to come in, keep them prisoners until you receive further ad-
vices from the city. Especially and in no case let any of the would be civil
officers pass. These are, as far as I know, as follows : A. Cumming (governor),
Eckels (chief justice), Dotson (marshal), Forney (superintendent of Indian
affairs), Hockaday (district attorney). At your station on the Weber you will
also keep a lookout, and guard the road at night, also keep a camp and horse
guard. Keep the men employed making improvements, when not on other duty.
Build a good horse corral, and prepare stables. Remove the houses into a fort
jg8 HIS 7 OR Y OF SAL T LAKE CIl V.
line and then picket in the remainder. Keep a trail open down the Weber to
the citizen's road. Be strict in the issue of rations and feed. Practice economy
both in your supplies and time and see that there is no waste of either. Dry a
portion of the beef and use the bones in soup with the hard bread, which, as it
will not keep equal with the flour, it is desirable to have first used so far as
practicable.
"Instruct each mess to save their grease and ashes, and make soap, and
wash their own clothes. Dig out trouughs to save the soap, and learn to be saving
in all things. If your lookout party discover any movement of the enemy in this
direction, let them send two men to your camp on the Weber, and the remainder
continue to watch their movements, and not all leave their station, unless it
should prove a large party, but keep you timely advised so that you can meet
them at the defences in Echo, or if necessary render them assistance. Where
you can do so at an advantage, take all such parties prisoners, if you can without
shooting, but if you cannot, you are at liberty to attack them as no such party
must be permitted to come into the city. Should the party be two strong and
you ate compelled to retreat, do so after safely cacheing all supplies ; in all cases
giving us prompt information by express, that we may be able to meet them be-
tween here and the city. Send into the city every week all the information you
can obtain, and send whether you have any news from the enemy or not, that we
may know of your welfare, kind of weather, depth of snow, etc.
"The boys at the lookout station should not make any trail down to the
road, nor expose themselves to view, but keep concealed as much as possible,
as it is for that purpose that that position has been chosen. No person without a
permit must be allowed to pass from this way to the enemy's camp. Be careful
about this. Be vigilant, active and energetic and observe good order, discipline
and wisdom in all your works, that good may be the result. Remember that to
you is entrusted for the time being the duty of standing between Israel and their
foes, and as you would like to repose in peace and safety while others are on the
watchtower, so now while in the performance of this duty do you observe the
same care, vigilance and activity, which you would desire of others when they
come to take your place. Do not let any inaction on the part of the enemy lull
you into a false security and cause any neglect on your part.
"Praying the Lord to bless and preserve you in life, health and strength,
and wisdom and power to accomplish every duty incumbent upon you and bring
peace to Israel to the utter confusion and overthrow of her enemies.
"I remain, your brother in the Gospel of Christ,
[Signed,] DAN'L H. WELLS,
Lieut. Genrl. Comdngy
"P. S. Be careful to prevent fire being kindled in or near the commissary
storehouse."
The guard having been selected, the Legion marched to Great Salt Lake
City and on arriving there was greeted by the enthusiastic citizens with songs of
victory. The poetess, Eliza R. Snow, saluted with her war son.', which the fol-
lowing lines will illustrate :
HISTORY OF SALT LAKE CITY. igg
" Strong in the power of Brigham's God,
Your name's a terror to our foes ;
Ye were a barrier strong and broad
As our high mountains crowned with snows.
5i< * *
Then welcome ! sons of light and truth.
Heroes alike in age and youth."
m about two weeks Captain Winder reported to Governor Young that a deep
snow had fallen in the mountains and he was instructed to release all but ten
men. This guard was continued during the winter.
There was no need of scouts or spies to keep the city well posted relative to
the army, for all through that winter, so cheerless to the Expedition, deserters
and army teamsters were constantly arriving from Bridger, in many instances
in a starving and destitute condition. They were kindly treated by the Mormon
guard, provided with food and passed on to Great Salt Lake City. Through this
channel, Governor Young and General Wells were kept well informed of the
condition and contemplated movements of the army.
In December the Utah Legislature met in Great Salt Lake City, and Gover-
nor Young delivered his annual message, in which he reviewed the conduct of
the Administration towards Utah, and at great length expounded the funda-
mental principles of the American Confederation. It is a remarkable document,
and will be read a century hence with deep interest. [See Appendix.]
On the 2oth of December the Legislature unanimously passed resolutions ap-
proving of Governor Young's course, and each member, signing his name to the
document, pledged himself to maintain the rights and liberties of the people of
Utah.
Notwithstanding that Governor Young and the chief men of the community
had been indicted for high treason, in the self-constituted court of Chief Justice
Eckels, held at Camp Scott; notwithstanding that Governor Gumming had also
issued his proclamation to nullify that of Governor Young; and notwithstand-
ing that the prospects were that before the close of the coming year the
cities of Utah would be in ashes, and the Mormon women and children
have fled to the "chambers of the mountains," while their husbands,
fathers, sons and brothers would be doing battle with a re-inforced army ;
yet the winter of 1857-8 is to this day spoken of as the "gayest winter ever
known in Utah." One of the literati of Salt Lake City, writing to a brother
scribe in New York City, said : " Peace is enjoyed throughout this Territory by the
citizens, from north to south, and every heart beats with the love of liberty — relig-
ious, political and social. During the winter festivities were very prevalent, and
entertainments of various kinds were enjoyed. Dramatic and literary associations
were attended to overflowing ; balls and parties were frequent and numerously
filled, and every amusement suitable for an enlightened and refined people was a
source of profit to the caterer and pleasure and benefit to the patronizers. Indeed,
had you seen the manner in which they enjoyed themselves, you would never have
surmised for one moment that within a few miles of us there was an army — repug-
nant to every feeling of the people — who were only waiting to kill, corrupt and
debase an innocent and virtuous community."
200 HISTORY OF SALT LAKE CITY.
There is the great sagacity and remarkable common-sense leadership of
Brigham Young seen in all this jubilee. He was preparing to make his second
exodus, if necessary, and did not intend to play his Moses to a dispirited Israel.
Early in the Spring a large number of the soldiers of the Nauvoo Legion
were again in the field, occupying their old camping grounds, where they con-
tinued until peace was proclaimed.
Of the state of affairs on the government side Stenhouse thus summarizes :
"Notwithstanding the difficulty experienced at that time of traveling across
the plains in winter, an express occasionally carried to the Government the un-
welcome news of the disaster that had befallen the expedition and the sufferings
and privations that ensued. At one time there were grave fears of its ultimate
success, but brave men and the unlimited resources of the Government were
destined to overcome every obstacle. Captain Marcy with a company of picked
men undertook a perilous journey from Fort Bridger to Taos, New Mexico, to
obtain provisions, cattle and mules, for the relief of the expedition, and after
most terrible suffering and heavy loss of animals, and many disabled men, he
reached the point of supply, and was eminently successful.
" The misfortunes that had befallen the troops aroused the Government to a
realization of the necessity of rendering every aid, both in men and material, to
save the expedition and make it successful. Lieut. -Gen. Scott was summoned to
Washington to consult with the Secretary of War, and at one time the project of
entering Utah from the west was seriously entertained. The intimation that two
regiments of volunteers would probably be called for in the spring met with a
ready response from all parts of the Union. It was very evident that the nation
was thoroughly dissatisfied with the state of affairs in Utah, and wanted to bring
the Mormons to a settlement.
"Ready to take advantage of anything which promised wealth, there were
multitudes of solicitous contractors seeking to supply the army in the West; and
with a prodigality beyond all precedent, the War Department was perfectly reck-
less. The Sixth and Seventh regiments of infantry, together with the First
Cavalry, and two batteries of artillery — about three thousand in all — were ordered
to Utah, and every arrangement made for speedy and colossal warfare with the
Prophet. Political writers charged to the administration of Mr. Buchanan an
utter recklessness of expenditure, intended more for the support of political
favorites and for the attainment of political purposes in Kansas than for the over-
throw of the dynasty of Brigham. It was estimated in Washington that forty-
five hundred wagons would be required to transport munitions of war and pro-
visions for the troops for a period of from twelve to eighteen months, besides
fifty thousand oxen, four thousand mules, and an army of teamsters, wagon-mas-
ters, and employees, at least five thousand strong. It was very evident that the
Government was playing with a loose hand, and the consideration of cost to the
national treasury was the last thing thought of. The transportation item for 1858,
provided for the expenditure of no less than four and a half millions, and that
contract was accorded to a firm in western Missouri, without public announce-
ment or competition.
HISTORY OF SALT LAKE CITY. 201
While all this was occupying the attention of the public, and the Govern-
ment seemed determined that the war against the Mormons should be carried out
with vigor, there was another influence at work to bring '' the Utah rebellion " to
a peaceful termination.
CHAPTER XXII.
BUCHANAN COERCED BY PUBLIC SENTIMENT INTO SENDING A COMMISSION
OF INVESTIGATION. HE SENDS COLONEL KANE WITH A SPECIAL MIS-
SION TO THE MORMONS. ARRIVAL OF THE COLONEL IN SALT LAKE
CITY. HIS FIRST INTERVIEW WITH THE MORMON LEADERS. INCI-
DENTS OF HIS SOJOURN. HE GOES TO MEET GOVERNOR GUMMING,
AND IS PLACED UNDER ARREST BY GENERAL JOHNSTON. HIS CHAL-
LENGE TO THAT OFFICER. HE BRINGS IN THE NEW GOVERNOR IN
TRIUMPH. RETURN OF COLONEL KANE.
The reaction came. The leading papers, both of America and England,
declared that President Buchanan had committed a great and palpable blunder.
He had sent an army, before a committee of investigation, and had made war
upon one of our Territories for rejecting (?) a new Governor before that Gov-
ernor had been sent. Brigham Young had clearly a constitutional advantage
over the President of the United States — for in those days the rights of the citi-
zen, and the rights of a State or Territory, had some meaning in the national
mind. The idea of " Buchanan's blunder " once started, it soon became uni-
versal in the public mind. The Mormons were not in rebellion, as they them-
selves stoutly maintained. They were ready to receive the new Governor with
becoming loyalty, but not willing to have him forced upon them by bayonets.
There was nothing more to be said in the case, excepting that by the common
law of nature, a man may hold off the hand at his throat to say in good old
scriptural language,/' Come let us reason together."
All America, and all Europe, "perceived the error," and a storm of con-
demnation and ridicule fell upon the devoted head of the President. Peace com-
missioners alone could help him out of the trouble.
At this critical juncture Colonel Kane sought the President and offered
his services as mediator. Buchanan wisely recognized his potency and fitness,
and without a moment's loss of time the Colonel set out on his self-imposed
mission, although in such feeble health that any consideration short of the
noble impulse that actuated him at the time would have deterred him from
making the attempt. The undertaking was as delicate as it was important. Its
202 HISTORY OF SALT LAKE CITY.
success alone could make it acceptable, either to the Mormons or to the nation.
For prudential reasons he registered himself as " Dr. Osborne'" among the
passengers on board the California steamer, which left New York in the first week
of January, 1858. On reaching the Pacific coast, he hastened, overland, to
Southern California, there overtaking the Mormons who had just broken up their
colony at San Bernardino, re-gathering to Utah for the common defense. An
escort was immediately furnished him, and he reached Salt Lake City in the fol-
lowing February.
Governor Young called a council of the Presidency and Twelve, at his house,
on the evening of the day of Colonel Kane's arrival, and at 8 o'clock the " mes-
senger from Washington" was introduced by Joseph A. Young, as "Dr.
Osborne."
The introduction was very formal. The Colonel had a peculiar mission to
fulfill, and was evidently desirous to maintain the dignity of the Government.
Moreover, it was more than eleven years since he had met his friends of Winter
Quarters. They had, with their people, become as a little nation, and the United
States was making war upon them as an independent power. Notwithstanding
that his great love for them had prompted him to undertake the long journey
which he had just accomplished, at first he must have felt the uncertainty of his
mission, and some misgivings as to the regard in which they would hold his
mediation. But perhaps no other man in the nation at that critical moment
would have been received by the Mormon leaders with such perfect confidence.
The Colonel was very pale, being worn down with travel by day and night.
An easy chair was placed for him. A profound silence of some moments
reigned. The council waited to hear the mind of the Government, for the
coming of Colonel Kane had put a new aspect on affairs, though what it was to
be remained to be shaped from that night. With great difficulty in speaking he
addressed the council as follows :
" Governor Young and Gentlemen : I come as an ambassador from the
chief executive of our nation, and am prepared and duly authorized to lay before
you, most fully and definitely, the feelings and views of the citizens of our com-
mon country, and of the executive towards you, relative to the present position
of this Territory, and relative to the army of the United States now upon your
borders.
"After giving you the most satisfactory evidence in relation to matters con-
cernmg you, now pending, I shall then call your attention, and wish to enlist
your sympathies, in behalf of the poor soldiers who are now suffering in the cold
and snow of the mountains. I shall request you to render them aid and com-
fort, and to assist them to come here, and to bid them a hearty welcome into
your hospitable valley.
"Governor Young, may I be permitted to ask a private interview for a few
moments with you? Gentlemen, excuse my formality."
They were gone about thirty minutes, when they returned to the room.
Colonel Kane then informed the council that Captain Van Vliet had made a
good report of them at Washington, and had used his inflnence to have the army
stop east of Bridger. He had done a great deal in their behalf.
HIS TORY OF SALT LAKE CITY. 203 '
"You all look very well," said the Colonel, " you have built up quite an
empire here in a short time."
He spoke upon the prosperity of the people, instancing some of its phases ;
and then the enquiry came from some one present: " Did Dr. Bernhisel take his
seat?" No news whatever of the Utah delegate had yet reached them.
"Yes," he answered, "Delegate Bernhisel took his seat. He was opposed
by the Arkansas member and a few others, but they were treated as fools by more
sagacious members; for, if the delegate had been refused his seat it would have
been tantamount to a delaration of war."
Speaking of the conduct of the Mormons, he said :
"You have borne your part manfully in this contest. I was pleased to see
how patiently your people took it."
" How was the President's message received?" asked Governor Young.
" The message was received as usual. In his appointments he had been
cruelly impartial. So far he has made an excellent President, He has an able
cabinet. They are more united, and work together better than some of our
former cabinets have done."
"I suppose," observed Governor Young, caustically, "they are united in
putting down Utah?"
" I think not," replied the Colonel.
Then came conversations on the affairs of the nation — of Spain, Kansas, the
Black Warrior affair, financial pressure, etc.
By this time all restraint between the brethren and their noble friend was
gone.
"I wish you knew how much I feel at home," he observed. ' "I hope I
shall have the privilege of ' breaking bread with these, my friends.' "
" I want to take good care of you," returned Governor Young warmly. " I
want to tell you one thing, and that is, the men you see here do not look old.
The reason is, they are doing right, and are in the service of God. If men would
do right they would live to a great age. There are but few in the world who
have the amount of labor to do which I have. I have to meet men every hour
in the day. It is said of me that I do more business in an hour than any Presi-
dent, King or Emperor has to perform in a day ; and that I think for the people
constantly. You can endure more now than you could ten years ago. If you
had done as some men have done you would have been in your grave before
now."
The Colonel replied, "I fear that I can endure more than I could ten years
ago. The present life doesn't pay, and I feel like going away as soon as it is the
will of God to take me."
"I know, to take this life as it is, and as men make it," answered President
Young, "it does not appear worth living, but I can tell you that, when you see
things as they are, you will find life is worth preserving, and blessings will follow
our living in this life, if we do right."
" Now," continued the President, warming with his subject, "if God should
say, I will let you live in this world without any pain or sorrow, we might feel
life was worth living for. But this is not in his economy. We have to partake
204 HISTORY OF SALT LAKE CLTY.
of sorrow, affliction and death ; and if we pass through this affliction patiently,
and do right, we shall have a greater reward in the world to come. I have been
robbed several times of my all in this life, and my property has gone into the
hands of my enemies; but as to property, I care no more about it than about the
dirt in the streets, only to use it as God wishes. But I think a good deal ot a friend
— a true friend. An honest man is truly the noblest work of God. It is not
in the power of the United States to destroy this people, for they are in the hands
of God. If we do right, He will preserve us. The Lord does many things which
we would count as small things. For instance, a poor man once came into my
office; I felt by the spirit that he needed assistance; I took five dollars out of
my pocket and gave to him. I soon after found a five-dollar gold piece in my
pocket, which I did not put there. Soon I found another. Many think that the
Loro has nothing to do with gold ; but he has charge of that as well as every
other element. Brother Kimball said in Nauvoo, ' if we have to leave our houses
we will go to the mountains, and in a few years we will have a better city than we
have here.' This is fulfilled. He also said, ' We shall have gold, and coin twenty-
dollar gold pieces.' We came here, founded di c'xiy , and coined the first twenty-
dollar gold pieces in the United States. Seeing the brethren poorly clad, soon
after we came here, he said, ' It will not be three years before we can buy cloth-
ing cheaper in Salt Lake Valley than in the States.' Before the time was out, the
gold-diggers brought loads of clothing, and sold them in our city at a wanton
price.
"Friend Thomas," concluded Governor Young, "the Lord sent you here,
and he will not let you die — no, you cannot die till your work is done. I want
to have your name live to all eternity. You have done a great work, and you
will do a greater work still."
The council then broke up, and the brethren went to their homes.
The straightforward, noble simplicity of what was thus done and said between
Thomas L. Kane and Brigham Young, in the presence of the apostles, cannot but
strike the attention of the intelligent investigator.
After ihe council had ended, word was sent to Elder Wm. C. Staines that a
Dr. Oaborne, traveling with the company from California, was sick, and desired
accommodation at his house; and late in the evening "Dr. Osborne" was duly
introduced to, and cordially welcomed by. Elder Staines. The elder had no idea
that his guest was other than the person represented, for when Colonel Kane was
at Winter Quarters, he (Staines) was among the Indians, with Bishop Miller's camp.
However, in a few days Elder Staines learned who his guest was, and, as a
favorable opportunity presented itself, said to him :
"Colonel Kane, why did you wish to be introduced to me as Dr. Osborne?"
"My dear friend," replied the Colonel, "I was once treated so kindly at
winter quarters that I am sensitive over its memories. I knew you to be a good
people then ; but since, I have heard so many hard things about you, that I
thought I would like to convince myself whether or not the people possessed the
same humane and hospitable spirit which I found in them once. I thought, if I
go to the house of any of my great friends of Winter Quarters, they will treat me
as Thomas L K^ne, with a remembrance of some services which I may have
HISTOR V OF SAL T LAKE CI2 V. 205
rendered them. So I requested to be sent to some stranger's house, as ' Dr.
Osborne,' that I might know how the Mormon people would treat a stranger at
such a moment as this, without knowing whether I might not turn out to be
either an enemy or a spy. And now, Mr. Staines, I want to know if you could
have treated Thomas L. Kane better than you have treated Dr. Osborne."
''No, Colonel," replied Elder Staines, "I could not."
"And thus, my friend." added 'Dr. Osborne,' "I have proved that the
Mormons will treat the stranger in Salt Lake City, as they once did Thomas L.
Kane at Winter Quarters."
In a few days, under the inspiring spirit and affectionate nursing of his host.
Colonel Kane was sufficiently recovered to carry out his design of proceeding to
the head quarters of the army (Fort Bridger, then called Camp Scott).
Governor Young's policy had changed it nought, excepting in that which
was consistent with the improved situation. The Mormons would receive their
new Governor loyally, but would not have him accompanied by an army into
their capital; neither would they allow an army to be quartered in any of their
cities. The agent of the administration could ask no more nor desire more. It
was the basis of a fair compromise, which would give to President Buchanan a
plausible out-come, and at the same time maintain the Mormon dignity.
The visit of Colonel Kane to Camp Scott was attended with a chain of cir-
cumstances that give to the narration of it a decidedly dramatic cast. At the
worst season of the year, in delicate health, he made his way through the almost
impassable snows of the mountains, a distance of 113 miles. Arrived on the
loth of March, in the vicinity of the army outposts, he insisted, out of consid-
ation for the safety of his friendly escort, on entering the lines unaccompanied.
Reaching the nearest picket post, the over-zealous sentry challenged him, and at
the same time fired at him. In return, the Colonel broke the stock of his rifle
over the sentry's head. The post being now full arroused and greatly excited.
Colonel Kane, with characteristic politeness as well as diplomacy, requested to
be conducted to the tent of Governor Gumming. The Governor received him
cordially.
The Colonel's diplomacy in seeking the Governor, instead of General John-
ston, is evident. His business was not directly with the commander, but with
the civil chief, whose posse commitatus the troops were. The compromise which
Buchanan had to effect, with the utmost delicacy, could only be through the new
Governor, and that, too, by his heading off the army sent to occupy Utah.
The General was chagrined. Here was Buchanan withdrawing from a ser-
ious blunder as gracefully as possible ; but where was Albert Sidney Johnston to
achieve either glory or honor out of the Utah war?
Affecting to treat Colonel Kane as a spy, an orderly was sent to arrest him.
It was afterwards converted into a blundering execution of the General's invita-
tion to him to dine at head-quarters. The blunder was no doubt an intentional
one. Colonel Kane replied by sending a formal challenge to General Johnston.
Governor Gumming could do nothing less than espouse the cause of the
•'ambassador," who was there in the execution of a mission entrusted to him by
the President of the United States. The affair of honor also touched himself.
2o6 HIST OR V OF SAL T LAKE CLl Y.
He resented it with great spirit, extended his official protection to his guest, and
from that moment there was an impassable breach between the executive and the
military chief. The duel, however, was prevented by the interferance of Chief
Justice Eckels, who threatened to arrest all concerned in it if it proceeded
further.
The conduct of General Johnston was looked upon by the Mormon leader
as very like a bit of providential diplomacy interposed in behalf of his people.
With the Governor and the commander of the army at swords' points, the issues
of the ''war" were practically in the hands of Brigham Young. From that
moment he knew that he was master of the situation ; and the extraordinary
moves that he made thereupon, culminating with the second exodus, shows what
a consummate strategist he was, and how complex were his methods of mastering
men. He was now not only in command of his own people, who at the lifting of
his finger would move with him to the ends of the earth, but substantially dic-
tator both to the Governor and the army. Johnston could only move at the call
of the Governor, and was hedged about by the new policy of the President,
while this shaping of affairs converted the Mormon militia, then under arras,
into the Governor's /^j'J"(? commitatus, instead of the regular troops.
The mission of Colonel Kane to the seat of war was to induce the Governor
to trust himself through the Mormon lines, under a Mormon escort of honor that
would be furnished at a proper point, and to enter immediately upon his guberna-
torial duties. The officers remonstrated with the Governor against going to the city
without the army, predicting that the Mormons would poison him, or put him out
of the way by some other wicked ingenuity ; but the camp was now no longer the
place for him, and with a high temper and a humane spirit, he trusted himself to
the guidance of Colonel Kane.
The Governor left Camp Scott on the 5th of April, en route for Salt Lake
City, accompanied by Colonel Kane and two servants. As soon as he had passed
the Federal lines, he was met by an escort of the Mormon militia, and welcomed
as Governor of the Territory with military honors.
On the 12 of April they entered Salt Lake City in good health and spirits,
escorted by the mayor, marshal and aldermen, and many other distinguished
citizens.
Arrived at the residende of Elder Staines, Governor Young promptly and
frankly called npon his successor at the earliest possible moment ; and they were
introduced to each other by Colonel Kane.
"Governor Gumming, I am glad to meet you!" observed Brigham, with
unostentatious dignity, and that quiet heartiness peculiar to him.
"Governor Young, I am happy to meet you, sir! " responded His Excel-
lency warmly, at once impressed by the presence and spirit of the remarkable
man before him.
" Well, Governor," said Elder Staines, after the interview was ended, " what
do you think of President Young? Does he appear to you a tyrant, as repre-
sented?"
" No, sir. No tyrant ever had a head on his shoulders like Mr. Young. He
HISTORY OF SALT LAKE CITY. 207
is naturally a very good man. I doubt whether many of your people sufficiently
appreciate him as a leader."
The brethern were apprised of the fact that the officers at Camp Scott had
warned the Governor that the Mormons would poison him, so it was contrived
that Elder Staines and Howard Egan should eat at the same table with him and
partake of the same food. Of course he understood the delicate assurance that
"death was not in the pot."
Three days after his entrance into the city, Governor Gumming officially
notified General Johnston that he had been properly recognized by the people ;
that he was in full discharge of his office, and that he did not require the presence
of troops.
On his part, ex-Governor Young set the public example, and on the Sunday
following introduced him to a large assembly as the Governor of Utah.
Thus successfully ended the mission of Col. Kane, who shortly thereafter re-
turned to Washington, to report in person to the President. Journeying by the
overland route, a body-guard of Mormon scouts accompanied him to the Mis-
souri River. It is no more than simple justice to here testify of him, that a more
gentle and noble man has rarely been found, and for his disinterested kindness
toward the Mormon people they will ever hold his name in honorable and affec-
tionate remembrance.
CHAPTER XXIII.
REPORT OF GOVERNOR GUMMING TO THE GOVERNMENT. THE GOVERNMENT
RECORDS FOUND NOT BURNED, AS REPORTED BY DRUMMOND. THE
MORMON LEADERS JUSTIFIED BY THE FACTS, AND THE PEOPLE LOYAL.
GRAPHIC AND THRILLING DESCRIPTION OF THE MORMONS IN THEIR
SECOND EXODUS. THE GOVERNOR BRINGS HIS FAMILY TO SALT LAKE
CITY. HIS WIFE IS MOVED TO TEARS AT V^ITNESSIN.G THE HEr6iC
ATTITUDE OF THE PEOPLE.
Governor Gumming immediately reported the condition of affairs in Utah,
and the re-action that it caused in the public mind, both in America and Europe,
can well be imagined. It was a new revelation, to the age, of Mormon character
and Mormon sincerity. The peculiar people were never understood till then,
notwithstanding their previous exodus, for only Missouri and Illinois seemed con-
cerned in their early history and doings; but now that the United States Gov-
ernment was a party in the action, all the world became interested in the extra-
traordinary spectacle of a peculiar, little, unconquerable people, braving the wrath
of a mighty nation.
The current events of those days, including the "second exodus," which
2o8 HISTORY OF SALT LAKE CITY.
was begun in anticipation of a breach of faith, on the part of the United States
authorities, in this instance, as in the previous case of the State authorities at
Nauvoo, are well recounted in the following report of Governor Gumming, ad- I
dressed to Geneial Gass, then Secretary of State:
"Executive Office, Salt Lake Gity, U. T., May 2d, 1858.
"Sir: You are aware that my contemplated journey was postponed in con-
sequence of the snow upon the mountains, and in the canyons between Fort
Bridger and this city. In accordance with the determination communicated in
former notes, I left camp on the 5th, and arrived here on the 12th ult.
" Some of the incidents of my journey are related in the annexed note, ad-
dressed by me to General A. S. Johnston, on the 15th ult:"
"Executive Office, Salt Lake Gity, U. T., April 15th, 1858.
"Sir: I left camp on the 5th, en route to this city, in accordance with a
determination communicated to you on the 3d inst, accompanied by Golonel
Kane as my guide, and two servants. Arriving in the vicinity of the spring,
which is on this side of the " Quaking Asp " hill, after night, Indian camp fires
were discerned on the rocks overhanging the valley. We proceeded to the spring,
and after disposing of the animals, retired from the trail beyond the mountain.
We had reason to congratulate ourselves upon having taken this precaution, as we
subsequently ascertained that the country lying between your outposts and the
' Yellow Greek ' is infested by hostile renegades and outlaws from various tribes. "
" I was escorted from Bear River Valley to the western end of Echo Ganyon.
The journey through the canyon being performed, for the most part, after night,
it was about ii o'clock p. m., when I arrived at Weber Station. I have been
everywhere recognized as Governor of Utah; and, so far from having encount-
ered insults or indignities, I am gratified in being able to state to you that, in pas-
sing through the settlements, I have been universally greeted with such respectful
attentions as are due to the representative authority of the United States in the
Territory.
"Near the Warm Springs, at the line dividing Great Salt Lake and Davis
counties, I was honored with a formal and respectful reception by many gentle-
men including the mayor and other municipal officers of the city, and by them
escorted to lodgings previously provided, the mayor occupying a seat in my car-
riage.
" Ex-Governor Brigham Young paid me a call of ceremony as soon as I was
sufficiently relieved from the fatigue of my mountain journey to receive company.
In subsequent interviews with the ex-Governor, he has evinced a willingness to
afford me every facility I may require for the efficient performance of my adminis-
trative duties. His course in this respect meets, I fancy, with the approval of a
majority of this community. The Territorial seal, with other public property,
has been tendered me by William H. Hooper, Esq., late Secretary /r^ tern.
"i have not yet eximined the subject critically, but apprehend that the
records of the United States Gourts, Territorial Library, and other public prop-
erty, remain unimpaired.
12
HISTORY OF SALT LAKE CJTY.
20g
" Having entered upon the performance of my official duties in this city, it
is probable that I will be detained for some days in this part of the Territory.
" I respectfully call your attention to a matter which demands our serious
consideration. Many acts of depredation have been recently committed by the
Indians upon the property of the inhabitants — one in the immediate vicinity of
this city. Believing that the Indians will endeavor to sell the stolen property at
or near your camp, I herewith inclose the Brand Book (incomplete) and memor-
anda (in part) of stock lost by citizens of Utah since February 25th, 1858, which
may enable you to secure the property and punish the thieves,
" With feelings of profound regret I have learned that Agent Hart is charged
with having incited to acts of hostility the Indians in Uinta Valley, I hope that
Agent Hart will be able to vindicate himself from the charges contained in the
inclosed letter from William H. Hooper, late Secretary /ri? ^em., yet they demand
a thorough investigation.
"I shall probably be compelled to make a requisition upon you for a suffi-
cient force to chastise the Indians alluded to, since I desire to avoid being
compelled to call out the militia for that purpose,
"The gentlemen who are intrusted with this note, Mr. John B. Kimball and
Mr, Fay Worthen, are engaged in mercantile pursuits here, and are represented
to be gentlemen of the highest respectability, and have no connection with the
Church here. Should you deem it advisable or necessary, you will please send
any communication intended for me by them. I beg leave to commend them to
your confidence and courtesy. They will probably return to the city in a few
days. They are well known to Messrs. Gilbert, Perry and Burr, with whom you
will please communicate.
Very respectfully, your obedient servant,
A. GUMMING,
Governor Utah Territory.
To A. S. Johnston, commanding Army of Utah, Camp Scott, U. T.
"The note omits to state that I met parties of armed men at Lost Creek
and Yellow Creek, as well as at Echo Canyon. At every point, however, I was
recognized as the Governor of Utah, and received with a military salute. When
it was arranged with the Mormon officers in command of my escort that I should
pass through Echo Canyon at night, I inferred that it was with the object of con-
cealing the barricades and other defenses, I was, therefore, agreeably surprised
by an illumination in honor of me. The bonfires kindled by the soldiers from
the base to the summits of the walls of the canyon, completely illuminated the
valley, and disclosed the snow-colored mountains which surrounded us. When I
arrived at the next station, I found the 'Emigrant Road' over the 'Big Moun-
tain' still impassable. I was able to make my way, however, down ' Weber Can-
yon.' Since my arrival, I have been employed in examining the records of the
Supreme and District Courts, which I am now prepared to report as being per-
fect and unimpaired. This Avill doubtless be acceptable information to those
who have entertained an impression to the contrary.
"I have also examined the Legislative Records, and other books belonging
to the Secretary or State, which are in perfect preservation. The property re-
13
210 HISTORY OF SALT LAKE CITY.
turn, though not made up in proper form, exhibits the public property for which
W. H. Hooper, late Secretary of State //-<? tern., is responsible. It is, in part, the
same for which the estate of A. W. Babbitt is liable, that individual having died
whilst in the ofifice of Secretary of State for Utah.
" I believe that the books and charts, stationery and other property apper-
taining to the Surveyor-General's office will, upon examination, be found in the
proper place, except some instruments, which are supposed to have been disposed of
by a man temporarily in charge of the office. I examined the property, but can-
not verify the matter in consequence of not having at my command a schedule
or property return.
" The condition of the large and valuable Territorial library has also com-
manded my attention, and I am pleased in being able to report that Mr. W. C.
Staines, the librarian, has kept the books and records in the most excellent con-
dition. I will, at an early day, transmit a catalogue of this library, and a schedule
of the other public property, with certified copies of the records of the Supreme
and District Courts, exhibiting the character and amount of the public business
last transacted in them.
" On the 2ist inst. I left Salt Lake City, and visited Tooele and Rush Val-
leys, in the latter of which lies the military reserve selected by Colonel Steptoe,
and endeavored to trace the lines upon the ground, from field-notes which are
in the Surveyor-General's office. An accurate plan of the reserve, as it has been
measured off, will be found accompanying a communication, which I shall address
to the Secretary of War, upon the subject.
"On the morning of the 26th inst., information was communicated to me
that a number of persons who were desirous of leaving the Territory were unable
to do so, and considered themselves to be unlawfully restrained of their liberties.
However desirous of conciliating public opinion, I felt it incumbent upon me to
adopt the most energetic measures to ascertain the truth or falsehood of this
statement. Postponing, therefore, a journey of importance which I had in con-
templation to one of the settlements of Utah County, I caused public notice to
be given immediately of my readiness to relieve all persons who were, or deemed
themselves to be, aggrieved, and on the ensuing day, which was Sunday, requested
a notice to the same effect to be read, in my presence, to the people in the tab-
ernacle.
"I have since kept my office open at all hours of the day and night, and have
registered no less than 56 men, 38 women and 71 children, as desirous of my pro-
tection and assistance in proceeding to the States. The large majority of these
people are of English birth, and state that they leave the congregation from a
desire to improve their circumstances, and realize elsewhere more money for their
labor. Certain leading men among the Mormons have promised them flour, and
to assist them in leaving the country.
" My presence at the meeting in the tabernacle will be remembered by me
as an occasion of interest. Between three and four thousand persons were assem-
bled for the purpose of public worship; the hall was crowded to overflowing; but
the most profound quiet was observed when I appeared. President Brigham
Young introduced me by name as the Governor of Utah, and I addressed the
HISTORY OF SALT LAKE CITY. 211
audience from 'the stand.' 1 informed them that I had come among them to
vindicate the national sovereignty; that it was my duty to secure the supremacy
of the constitution and the laws; that I had taken my oath of office to exact an
unconditional submission on their part to the dictates of the law. I was not in-
terrupted. In a discourse of about thirty minutes' duration, I touched (as I
thought best) boldly upon all the leading questions at issue between them and the
General Government. I remembered that I had to deal with men embittered by
the remembrance and recital of many real and imaginary wrongs, but did not
think it wise to withhold from them the entire truth. They listened respectfully
to all I had to say — approvingly, even, I fancied — when I explained to them
what I intended should be the character of my administration. In fact, the
whole character of the people was calm, betokening no consciousness of having
done wrong, but rather, as it were, indicating a conviction that they had done
their duty to their religion and to their country. I have observed that the Mor-
mons profess to view the constitution as the work of inspired men, and respond
with readiness to appeals for its support.
"Thus the meeting might have ended; but, after closing my remarks, I rose
and stated that t would be glad to hear from any who might be inclined to address
me upon topics of interest to the community. This invitation brought forth in
succession several powerful speakers, who evidently exercised great influence over
the masses of the people. They harangued on the subject of the assassination of
Joseph Smith, Jun., and his friends, the services rendered by the Mormon Bat-
talion to an ungrateful country, their sufferings on ' the Plains' during their
dreary pilgrimage to their mountain home, etc. The congregation became greatly
excited, and joined the speakers in their intemperate remarks, exhibited more
frenzy than I had expected to witness among a people who habitually exercise
great self-control. A speaker now represented the Federal Government as desir-
ous of needlessly introducing the national troops into the Territory, 'whether a
necessity existed for their employment to support the authority of the civil offi-
cers or not; ' and the wildest uproar ensued- I was fully confirmed in the opin-
ion that this people, with their extraordinary religion and customs, would gladly
encounter certain death rather than be taxed with a submission to the military
power, which they considered to involve a loss of honor.
"In ray first address I informed them that they were entitled to a trial by
their peers; that I had no intention of stationing the army in immediate contact
with their settlements, and that the military posse would not be resorted to until
other means of arrest had been tried and failed. I found the greatest difficulty
in explaining these points, so great was the excitement. Eventually, however,
the efforts of Brigham Young were successful in calming the tumult and restoring
order before the adjournment of the meeting. It is proper that I should add
that more than one speaker has since expressed his regret at having been betrayed
into intemperance of language in my presence. The President and the Amer-
ican people will learn with gratification the auspicious issue of our difficulties
here. I regret the necessity, however, which compels me to mingle with my
congratulations, the announcement of a fact that will occasion great concern.
"The people, including the inhabitants of this city, are moving from every
212 HISTORY OF SALT LAKE CITY.
settlement in the northern part of the Territory. The roads are everywhere
filled with wagons loaded with provisions and household furniture, the women
and children often without shoes or hats, driving their flocks they know not
where. They seem not only resigned but cheerful. ' It is the will of the Lord,'
and they rejoice to exchange the comforts of home for the trials of the wilder-
ness. Their ultimate destination is not, I presume, definitely fixed upon. ' Go-
ing south,' seems sufficiently definite for the most of them, but many believe
that their ultimate destination is Sonora.
"Young, Kimball and most of the influential men have left their com
modious mansions, without apparent regret, to lengthen the long train of wan-
derers. The masses everywhere announce to me that the torch will be applied to
every house indiscriminately throughout the country, so soon as the troops at-
tempt to cross the mountains. I shall follow these people and try to rally them.
''Our military force could overwhelm most of these poor people, involving
men. women and children in a common fate; but there are among the Mormons
many brave men, accustomed to arms and horses; men who could fight desper-
ately as guerrillas; and if the settlements are destroyed, will subject the country
to an expensive and protracted war, without any compensating results. They
will, I am sure, submit to 'trial by their peers,' but they will not brook the idea
of trials by 'juries' composed of 'teamsters and followers of the camp,' nor of
an army encamped in their cities or dense settlements.
" I have adopted means to recall the io."^ Mormons remaining in arms, who
have not yet, it is said, complied with my request to withdraw from the canyons
and eastern frontiers. 1 have also taken measures to protect the buildings which
have been vacated in the northern settlements. I am sanguine that I will save a
great part of the valuable improvements there.
" I shall leave this city for the South to-morrow. After I have finished my
business there, I shall return as soon as possible to the army, to complete the
arrangements which will enable me before long, I trust, to announce that the road
between California and Missouri may be traveled with perfect security by trains
and emigrants of every description.
"I shall restrain all operations of the military for the present, which will
probably enable me to receive from the President additional instructions, if he
deems it necessary to give them.
Very respectfully, your obedient servant,
A. GUMMING,
Governor of Utah.
To Hon. Lewis Cass, Secretary of State, Washington, D. C.
" To the Senate and House of Representatives:
" I transmit the copy of a dispatch from Governor Gumming to the Secre-
tary of State, dated at Great Salt Lake City on the 2d of May, and received
at the Department of State yesterday. From this there is reason to believe that
our difficulties with the Territory of Utah have terminated, and the reign of the
Constitution and laws has been restored. I congratulate you on this auspicious
event.
\
%
I
HISTOR Y OF SAL T LAKE CI7 V, 2 rj
"I lost no time in communicating this information and in expressing
the opinion that there will be no occasion to make any appropriations for the
purpose of calling into service the two regiments of volunteers authorized by the
Act of Congress approved on the 7th of April last, ' for the purpose of quelling
disturbances in the Territory of Utah, for the protection of supply and emigrant
trains and the suppression of Indian hostilities on the frontier.'
" I am the more gratified at this satisfactory intelligence from Utah, because
it will afford some relief to the treasury at a time demanding from us the strictest
economy ; and when the question which now arises upon every appropriation is,
whether it be of a character so important and urgent as to brook no delay, and to
justify and require a loan, and most probably a tax upon the people to raise the
money necessary for its payment.
" In regard to the regiment of volunteers authorized by the same act of Con-
gress to be called into service for the defence of the frontier of Texas against In-
dian hostilities, I desire to leave this question to Congress, observing, at the same
time, that in my opinion, this State can be defended for the present by the regu-
lar troops, which have not yet been withdrawn from its limits.
JAMES BUCHANAN.
Washington City, June 10, 1S58.
On the 13th of May, Gov. Curaming started for Camp Scott, for the pur-
pose of moving his family to Salt Lake City. Meanwhile the "exodus" had been
quietly going forward, and when the Governor returned he only found a itw men
who had been left in the city to burn it in case the army attempted to quarter
there.
The Governor and his wife proceeded to the residence of Elder Staines,
whom they found in waiting with a plentiful cold lunch. His family had gone
south, and in his garden were significantly heaped up several loads of straw.
The Governor's wife inquired their meaning, and the cause of the silence
that pervaded the city. Elder Staines informed her of their resolve, to burn the
town in case the army attempted to occupy it.
" How terrible ! " she exclaimed. " What a sight this is ! I never shall
forget it,! It has the appearance of a city that has been afflicted with a plague.
Every house looks like a tomb ot the dead ! For two miles I have seen but one
man in it. Poor creatures ! And so all have left their hard-earned homes? "
Here she burst into tears.
" Oh ! Alfred (to her husband), something must be done to bring them
back ! Do not permit the army to stay in the city. Can't you do something for
them?"
" Yes, madam," said he, " I shall do all I can, rest assured. I only wish I
could be in Washington for two hours ; I am persuaded that I could convince
the Government that we have no need for troops."
214 HISTORY OF SALT LAKE CIT\.
CHAPTER XXIV.
THE ARRIVAL OF PEACE COMMISSIONERS. EXTRAORDINARY COUNCIL BE-
TWEEN THEM AND THE MORMON LEADERS. A SINGULAR SCENE IN
THE COUNCIL, ARRIVAL OF A COURIER WITH DISPATCHES. "STOP
THAT ARMY! OR WE BREAK UP THE CONFERENCE." "BROTHER DUN-
BAR, SING ZION!" THE PEACE COMMISSIONERS MARVEL, BUT AT LAST
FIND A HAPPY ISSUE. RETROSPECTIVE VIEW OF THE MORMON ARMY.
The honorable course of Van Vliet, in protesting against an exterminating
war upon a religious people, coupled with the guarantee which Colonel Kane had
personally given to the Government for the essential loyalty of the Mormons,
made the sending of peace commissioners imperative. An example of the right
course once set by the noble Kane, President Buchanan hastened to send Gov-
ernor L. W. Powell, of Kentucky, and Major Ben McCullough, of Texas, to
negotiate a peace. They arrived in the city in June, 1858. Wilford Woodruff's
Journal contains the following minute of their first council with the Mormon
leaders :
" 'yune iiih. The Presidency and many others met with the Peace Com-
missioners in the Council House. Governor Powell, a Senator-elect from Ken-
tucky, and Major McCullough, from Texas, were then introduced to the assembly,
as the Peace Commissioners sent by President Buchanan. Governor Powell
spoke to the people, and informed us what the President wished at our hands.
President Buchanan has sent by them a proclamation, accusing us of treason and
some fifty other crimes, all of which charges are false. Yet he pardons us for
all these offenses, if we will be subject to the constitution and laws of the United
States, and if we will let his troops quarter in our Territory. He pledged him-
self that they should not interfere with our people, nor infringe upon any city,
and said that he had no right to interfere with our religion, faith or practice.
"The Peace Commissioners confirmed the same. They did not wish to en-
quire into the past at all, but wished to let it all go and talk about the present
and the future.
"■Reflections. President Buchanan had made war upon us, and wished 10
destroy us because of our religion, thinking that it Avould be popular, but he
found that Congress would not^ustain him in it. He has got into a bad scrape,
and wishes to get out of it the best he can. Now he wants peace, because he is
in the wrong, and has met with a strong resistance from a high-minded people in
these mountains, which he did not expect to meet. We are willing to give him
peace upon any terms that are honorable ; but not upon terms ivhich are dishonor-
able to tis. We have our rights and dare maintain them, trusting in God for
victory. The Lord has heard our prayers, and the President of the United
States has been obliged to ask for peace."
H
HISTORY OF SALT LAKE CITY. 215
The naivete of Apostle Woodruff, in his idea of giving peace to James
Buchanan, is something amusing, yet is there a severe democratic philosophy in it.
'' He wants peace because he is in the wrong and has met with a strong resistance
from a high-minded people," is a passage that any President of the United States
might profitably lay under his official pillow, whether in his administration towards
a Utah or a Louisiana. But Brother Woodruff's emphatic view that the Mormons
could only consent to a peace on honorable terms; with his brave assertion that,
"we have our rights, and dare maintain them, trusting in God for victory," has
in it a touch of sublimity.
That day also witnessed a striking example of Governor Young's tact and reso-
lution :
The Peace Commissioners had laid their message before the council. Brig-
ham had spoken, as well as the Peace Commissioners. The aspect of affairs was
favorable. Presently, however, a well-known character, O. P. Rockwell, was seen
to enter, approach the ex-Governor and whisper to him. He was from the Mormon
army. There was at once a sensation, for it was appreciated that he brought some
unexpected and important news. Brigham arose; his manner self-possessed, but
severe,
"Governor Powell, are you aware, sir, that those troops are on the move
towards the city?"
"It cannot be ! " exclaimed Powell, surprised, for we were promised by the
General that they should not move till after this meeting."
"I have received a dispatch that they are on the march for this city. My
messenger would not deceive me."
It was like a thunderclap to the Peace Com iiissioners : they could offer no
explanation.
" Is Brother Dunbar present ?" inquired Brigham.
"Yes, sir," responded the one called.
What was coming now ?
" Brother Dunbar, sing Zion."
The Scotch songster came forward and sang the following soul-stirring lines,
by Chas. W. Penrose :
O ye mountains high, where the clear blue sky
Arches over the vales of the free ;
Where the pure breezes blow,
And the clear streamlets flow.
How I've longed to your bosom to flee,
O Zi on ! dear Zion ! land of the free.
My own mountain home, now to thee I have come,
All my fond hopes are centered in thee.
Though the great and the wise all thy beauties despise,
To the humble and pure thou art dear ;
Though the haughty may smile
And the wicked revile.
Yet we love thy glad tidings to hear,
O Zion ! dear Zion ! home of the free ;
Thou wert forced to fly to thy chambers on high.
Yet we'll share joy or sorrow with thee.
210 HISTORY OF SALT LAKE CIT\.
In thy mountain retreat, God will strengthen thy feet;
On the necks of thy foes thou shalt tread,
And their silver and gold,
As their prophets have told,
Shall be brought to adorn thy fair head.
O Zion ! dear Zion ! home of the free ;
Soon thy towers shall shine with a splendor divine.
And eternal thy glory shall be.
Here our voices we'll raise, and we'll sing to thy praise,
Sacred home of the prophets of God ;
Thy deliverance is nigh.
Thy oppressors shall die.
And the gentiles shall bow 'neath thy rod.
O Zion ! dear Zion ! home of the free ;
In thy temples we'll bend, all thy rights we'll defend.
And our home shall be ever with thee.
The action of Brigham had been very simple in the case, but there was a
world of meaning in it. Interpreted it meant — "Gentlemen, we have heard
what President Buchanan and yourselves have said about pardoning us for stand-
ing up for our constitutional rights, and defending our»lives and liberties. We
will consent to a peace on honorable terms ; but you must keep faith with us.
Stop that army! or our peace conference is ended. Brethren, sing Zion. Gen-
tlemen, you have our ultimatum ! "
With the theme before him, the reader will fully appreciate what the singing
of "Zion" meant. There have been times when the singing of that hymn by
the thousands of saints has been almost as potent as that revolutionary hymn o 'i
France — the Marsellaise. This was such a time.
After the meeting McCullough and Governor Gumming took a stroll together
for the purpose of chatting upon the affairs of the morning.
"What will you do with such a people? " asked the Governor, with a mix-
ture of admiration and concern.
"D n them ! I would fight them if I had my way," answered McCul-
lough.
" Fight them, would you? You might fight them but you would never whip
them. They would never know when they were whipped ! Did you notice the
snap in those men's eyes to-day? No, sir; they would never know when they were
whipped ! "
At night the Peace Commissioners and the Mormon leaders were again in
council, in private session, until ten o'clock.
Next morning, at nine o'clock, the conference again convened, and the
doors were thrown open to the public. Elders John Taylor, George A. Smith and
Adjt.-Gen. James Ferguson gave expression to their views and feelings, and then
President Young spoke at some length, with a will and a purpose in every word.
Woodruff, in his journal, says:
" Then the Peace Commissioners heard the roar of the " lion of the Lord."
The following brief synopsis of his speech, furnished by one present, will give
the reader an idea of what the " roar of the lion of the I-ord" was at that criti-
cal moment, when the issue of peace or war was pending :
HISTOR Y OF SAL T LAKE CL2 Y, 217
President Young arose. He said: "I have listened very attentively to the
' commissioners, and will say, as far as I am concerned, I thank President Buchanan
for forgiving me, but I really cannot tell what I have done. I know one thing,
and that is, that the people called ' Mormons ' are a loyal and a law-abiding
people, and have ever been. Neither President Buchanan nor any one else can
contradict the statement. It is true. Lot Smith burned some wagons containing
Government supplies for the army. This was an overt act, and if it is for this we
are to be pardoned, I accept the pardon. The burning of a {tv^ U. S. wagons is
but a small item, yet for this, combined with false reports, the whole Mormon
people are to be destroyed.
"What has the United States Government permitted mobs to do to us?
Gentlemen, you cannot answer that question ! I can, however, and so can thou-
sands of my brethren. We have been whipped and plundered ; our houses
burned, our fathers, mothers, brothers, sisters and children butchered and mur-
dered by the scores. We have been driven from our homes time and time again ;
but have troops ever been sent to stay or punish those mobs for their crimes ?
No ! Have we ever received a dollar for the property we have been compelled to
leave behind ? Not a dollar ! Let the Government treat us as we deserve ; this
is all we ask of them. We have always been loyal, and expect to so continue ;
but, hands off ! Do not send your armed mobs into our midst. If you do, we
will fight you, as the Lord lives ! Do not threaten us with what the United States
can do, for we ask no odds of them or their troops. We have the God of Israel
■ — the God of battles — on our side ; and let me tell you, gentlemen, we fear not
your armies. I can take a few of the boys here and, with the help of the Lord^
can whip the whole of the United States. These, my brethren, put their trust in
the God of Israel, and have no fears. We have proven him, and he is our friend.
Boys, how do you feel? Are you afraid of the United States? (Great
demonstration among the brethren.) No! No! We are not afraid of man,
nor of what he can do.
" The United States are going to destruction as fast as they can go. If you
do not believe it, gentlemen, you will soon see it to your sorrow. It will be with
them like a broken potsherd. Yes, it will be like water spilled on the ground ; no
more to be picked up.
"Now let me say to you Peace Commissioners, we are willing those troops
should come into our country, but not to stay in our city. They may pass
through it, if needs be, but must not quarter less than forty miles from us.
" If you bring your troops here to disturb this people, you have got a bigger
job than you or President Buchanan have any idea of. Before the troops reach
here, this city will be in ashes, every tree and shrub will be cut to the ground,
and every blade of grass that will burn shall be burned.
"Our wives and children will go to the canyons, and take shelter in the
mountains; while their husbands and sons will fight you; and, as God lives, we
will hunt you by night and by day, until your armies are wasted away. No mob
can live in the homes we have built in these mountains. That's the programme,
gentlemen, whether you like it or not. If you want war you can have it ; but, if
you wish peace, peace it is; we shall be glad of it."
14
w
2 J 8 HIS TOR y OF SAL T LAKE CI7 1 .
The Commissioners "wished peace;" and the result of their negotiations
was embodied in the following note to General Johnston :
"Grjeat Salt Lake City, Utah Ter,,
June 1 2th, 1858.
" Dear Sir: We have the pleasure of informing you that after a full and
free conference with the chief men of the Territory, we are informed by them
that they will yield obedience to the Constitution and laws of the United States ;
that they will not resist the execution of the laws in the Territory of Utah; that
they cheerfully consent that the civil officers of the Territory shall enter upon the
discharge of their respective duties, and that they will make no resistance to the
army of the United States in its march to the valley of Salt Lake or elsewhere.
We have their assurance that no resistance shall be made to the officers, civil or
military, of the United States, in the exercise of their various functions in the
Territory of Utah.
" The houses, fields and gardens of the people of this Territory, particularly
in and about Salt Lake City, are very insecure. The animals of your army would
cause great destruction of property if the greatest care should not be observed in
the march and the selection of camps. The people of the Territory are some-
what uneasy for fear the army, when it shall reach the valley, will not properly
respect their persons and property. We have assured them that neither their per-
sons nor property will be injured or molested by the army under your command.
"We would respectfully suggest, in consequence of the feeling of uneasiness,
that you issue a proclamation to the people of Utah, stating that the army under
your command will not trespass upon the rights or property of peaceable citizens
during their sojourn in or march through the Territory. Such a proclamation
would greatly allay the existing anxiety and fears of the people, and cause those
who have abandoned their homes to return to their houses and farms.
"We have made inquiry about grass, wood, etc, necessary for the subsist-
ence and convenience of your army. We have conversed with Mr. Ficklin
[U. S. deputy marshal] fully on this subject, and given him all the information
we have, which he will impart to you.
"We respectfully suggest that you march to the valley as soon as it is con-
venient for you to do so,
" We have the honor to be, very respectfully, your obedient servants,
L. W. POWELL,
BEN McCULLOUGH,
Commissioners to Utah.
" To General A. S- Johnston, commanding Army of Utah, Camp Scott, U. Z."
To this came the following reply:
"Headquarters, Department of Utah,
Camp on Bear River, June 14th, 1858.
" Gentlemen : Your communication from Salt Lake City was received to-
day. The accomplishment of the object of your mission entirely in accordance
with the instructions of the President, and the wisdom and forbearance which you
HISTORY OF SALT LAKE CITY. 219
have so ably displayed to the people of the Territory, will, I hope, lead to a more
just appreciation of their relations to the General Government, and the establish-
ment of the supremacy of the laws. I learn with surprise that uneasiness is felt
by the people as to the treatment they may receive from the army. Acting under
the two-fold obligations of citizens and soldiers, we may be supposed to compre-
hend the rights of the people, and to be sufficiently mindful of the obligations of
our oaths, not to disregard the laws which govern us as a military body. A refer-
ence to them will show with what jealous care the General Government has guarded
the rights of citizens against any encroachments. The army has duties to per-
form here in execution of the orders of the Department of War, which, from the
nature of them, cannot lead to interterence with the people in their varied pur-
suits; and if no obstruction is presented to the discharge of those duties, there
need not be the slightest apprehension that any person whatever will have any
cause of complaint.
"The army will continue its march from this position on Thursday, 17th
instant, and reach the valley in five days. I desire to encamp beyond the Jordan
on the day of arrival in the valley.
With great respect, your obedient servant,
A. S. JOHNSTON,
" Colonel Second Cavalry and Brevet Brigadier- General United States Army,
Commanding.
" To the Hon. L. W. Powell and Major- General McCullough, United States Com-
missioners to Utah.^^
Although a minute statement of the Mormon military force and the methods
by which it was turned to good account in the " Utah war," might be of interest
to many, it will doubtless satisfy the general reader to simply know that only so
much of that force was used as was necessary to effectively carry out President
Young's policy, /. e., to harass aind retard the advance of the U. S. army until a
more peaceful solution of the question at issue could be reached. In the execu-
tion of that policy an effective body of scouts was sent forward, with orders of
which the following is a sample, which orders were scrupulously obeyed and
executed with precisely the results desired :
"On ascertaining the locality or route of the troops, proceed at once to
annoy them in every possible way. Use every exertion to stampede their animals,
and set fire to their trains. Burn the whole country before them and on their
flanks. Keep them from sleeping by night surprises. Blockade the road by fell-
ing trees, or destroying the fords when you can. Watch for opportunities to set
fire to the grass on their windward, so as, if possible, to envelop their trains.
Leave no grass before them that can be burned. Keep your men concealed as
much as possible, and guard against surprise."
They were also ordered to not " shed blood" if it could possibly be avoided,
and then only and strictly in self-defence. Although often fired upon by the
soldiers, in no single instance did they return the fire.
220 HISTORY OF SALT LAKE CITY.
CHAPTER XXV.
REFLECTIONS UPON THE "UTAH WAR." THE REACTION. CURRENT OPIN-
ION, AS EXPRESSED BY THE LEADING JOURNALS OF EUROPE AND
AMERICA.
«
That the Mormons would have fought; that they would, in the language of
their leader, have made a "Moscow of Utah, and a Potter's Field of every can-
yon," had the United States pushed the issue to extermination, there can be little
doubt, knowing how terribly so large a number as 75,000 or 80,000 earnest re-
ligionists could have avenged themselves, at that day, in those far-off mountains
and valleys.
But the opinion expressed to Van Vliet, relative to the reaction which would
come in the public mind over Utah affairs, and his fixed resolve, if possible, to
prevent the shedding of blood, as declared in that conversation, and still more
emphatically pronounced in all his orders to Lieut. -Gen. Wells, best denote what
was Brigham's policy and first desire. True, it had been as much as he could do
to keep his people from fighting the "enemy," notwithstanding the "enemy"
was the United States. A quarter of a century's injustice had fired them with
an indignation that made them feel a superhuman strength. But though the
founder of Utah had resolved to conquer the issue, he had no wish to lose the
nucleus of a nationality which his people had evolved in their isolation.
Why then this second exodus? Why! It was the very backbone of Brig-
ham's triumph. As great a triumph was in that exodus as in any battle the great
Napoleon ever fought. It was in fact the exodus which. forced the "reaction,"
It carried such an overwhelming power that it became like an irresistible impulse
in the public mind. Not only was this so with the American people, but it was
so with every nation in Europe. Deep sympathy, blended with a mighty admir-
ation, was felt for a people who could at once dare a war with the United States,
in defence of their religious cause, and rise to such a towering heroism as to sanc-
tify their act by a universal offering of their homes for sacrifice. This was no
common rebellion. These were no unworthy rebels. No rude defiers of "the
powers that be " were they : their act placed them on a level with the men who
won the independence of America: their women were fitting mates of the
mothers, daughters and sisters of the revolution.
The Londo7i Times called the Mormons a nation of heroes. It said :
"The intelligence from Utah is confirmatory of the news that came by the
last steamer. This strange people are again in motion for a new home, and all
the efforts of Governor Gumming to induce the men to remain and limit them-
selves to the ordinary quota of wives have been fruitless. We are told that they
have left a deserted town and deserted fields behind them, and have embarked
for a voyage, over 500 miles of untracked desert, to a home, the locality of
HISTORY OF SALT LAKE CITY. 221
which is unknown to any but their chiefs. Does it not seem incredible that, at
the very monaent when the marine of Great Britain and the United States are
jointly engaged in the grandest scientific experiments that the world has yet seen,
30,000 or 40,000 natives of these countries, many of them of industrious and
temperate habits, should be the victims of such arrant imposition? Does it not
seem impossible that men and women, brought up under British and American
civilization, can abandon it for the wilderness and Mormonism? There is much
that is noble in their devotion to their delusions. They step into the waves of
the great basin with as much reliance on their leaders as the descendants of Jacob
felt when they stepped between the walls of water in the Red Sea. The ancient
world had individual Curiatii, Horatii, and other examples of heroism and devo-
tion ; but these western peasants seem to be a nation of heroes, ready to sacrifice
everything rather than surrender one of their wives, or a letter from Joe Smith's
golden plates."
The following from the New York Times will give a specimen of what the
American press generally said upon the subject:
" Whatever our opinions may be of Mormon morals or Mormon manners,
there can be no question that this voluntary abandonment by 40,000 people of
homes created by wonderful industry, in the midst of trackless wastes, after years
of hardships and persecution, is something from which no one who has a particle
of sympathy with pluck, fortitude and constancy can withhold his admiration.
Right or wrong, sincerity thus attested is not a thing to be sneered at. True or
false, a faith to which so many men and women prove their loyalty, by such sac-
rifices, is a force in the world. After this last demonstration of what fanaticism
can do, we think it would be most unwise to treat Mormonism as a nuisance to be
dihd.\.tdihy a posse commitaius. It is no longer a social excresence to be cut off
by the sword; it is a power to be combated only by the most skillful political
and moral treatment. When people abandon their homes to plunge with women
and children into a wilderness, to seek new settlements, they know not where,
they give a higher proof of courage than if they fought for them. When the
Dutch submerged Holland, to save it from invaders, they had heartier plaudits
showered upon them than if they had fertilized its soil with their blood. We
have certainly the satisfaction of knowing that we have to deal with foemen
worthy of our steel. * * >i< jf j.|-jg conduct of the recent operations
has had the effect of strengthening their fanaticism, by the appearance of perse-
cution, without convincing them of our good faith and good intentions, and
worse still, has been the means of driving away 50,000 of our fellow-citizens from
fields which their labor had reclaimed and cultivated, and around which their
affections were clustered, we have something serious to answer for. Were we not
guilty of a culpable oversight in confounding their persistent devotion with the
insubordination of ribald license, and applying to the one the same harsh treat-
ment which the law intends for the latter alone? Was it right to send troops
composed of the wildest and most rebellious men of the community, commanded
by men like Harney and Johnston, to deal out fire and sword upon people whose
faults even were the result of honest religious convictions? Was it right to allow
222 HISTORY OF SALT LAKE CITY.
Johnston to address letters to Brigham Young, and through him to his people,
couched in the tone of an implacable conqueror towards ruthless savages? Were
the errors which mistaken zeal generates ever cured by such means as these? And
have bayonets ever been used against the poorest and weakest sect that ever
crouched beyond a wall to pray or weep, without rendering their faith more in-
tense, and investing the paltriest discomforts with the dignity of sacrifice?
* * * We stand on the vantage ground of higher knowledge,
purer faith and acknowledged strength. We can afford to be merciful. At all
events, the world looks to us now for an example of political wisdom such as few
people, now-a-days, are called on to display. Posterity must not have to ac-
knowledge with shame that our indiscretion, or ignorance, or intolerance drove
the population of a whole State from house and home, to seek religious liberty
and immunity from the presence of mercenary troops, in any part of the conti-
nent to which our rule was never likely to extend."
Reynolds^ Newspaper, in an editorial written specially to represent the British
Republicans, views of the Mormon community in their great struggle for their re-
ligious and social liberties, gave the following strong passages:
"It may be that Mormonism has originated in imposture, and that many, if
not all, of its peculiar rites and customs are the 'abomination of desolation.'
Let this point, though not yet proved, be conceded; still, the social and political
problem is by no means solved. After we have demonstrated the fabuU.usness of
the gold tablets, convicted Joseph Smith of all sorts of possible and impossible
scoundrelisms, and proved his followers to be a mixed multitude of the gravest
knaves and idiots that ever walked the earth, Mormonism still remains a great
human fact — perhaps the greatest — certainly the most wonderful fact of this
nineteenth century. As such, it is entitled to our earnest and respectful consid-
eration.
"There can be no doubt that, in one thing at least, Mormonism has been
eminently successful. It has, in the great majority of instances, really improved
the earthly condition of those who have embraced it. More than this, it has
inspired with hope and with courage thousands of despairing and heart broken
wretches, who, prior to their conversion, seemed abandoned of God and man.
This new faith has, so to speak, created a soul under the ribs of death. It has
given to thousands of once destitute and despised Englishmen something to live
for, to fight for, and, if need be, to die for. On this ground, then, were it for
nothing else, the Mormons, not as fanatics or sectaries, but as heavily- oppressed,
long-suffering, and earnestly struggling men, are entitled to the sympathy of the
enslaved classes throughout the world.
"But they have a claim to something more than sympathy. Their heroic
endurance and marvellous achievements entitle them to the respect and admira-
tion of their fellow-creatures. Twice were the Mormons driven from their settle-
ments in the United States before they had resolved upon their stupendous
pilgrimage to the Valley of the Salt Lake. How that gigantic journey was ac-
complished ; how a thousand miles of untrodden desert — untrodden, save by the
I
HISTORY OF SALT LAKE CITY. 223
wild beast or wilder Indian, where death in a hundred forms had to be encoun-
tered and defied — had to be traversed; how the poor, hungered, and toil-worn,
but still dauntless pilgrims reached their destination; how they built a city,
founded a civil and ecclesiastical polity; how law and order were established;
how skill and industry converted barren wastes into fruitful fields, howling forests
into smiling gardens, until, under the talismanic wand of Labor, the wilderness
was made to blossom as the rose , how their missionaries were employed with
startling success in every European country; and how many thousands of the
down-trodden and penury-stricken victims of European tyranny were leaving the
land of their birth, in order to find in the Mormon territory, that hope and en-
couragement denied to them in their native countries; — how all this has been
accomplished by the reviled followers of Joseph Smith, all Eiirope and America
have heard, and, though hating, admired."
The famous African explorer. Captain Burton, of the British army, closing
his description of the great man who took his people successfully through that
crisis, gives us the following suggestive passage in his "City of the Saints: "
" Such is His Excellency, President Brigham Young, 'Painter and Glazier'
(his earliest craft), prophet, revelator, translator and seer; the man who is revered
as king or kaiser, pope or pontiff, never was ; who, like the old man of the moun-
tain, by holding up his right hand could cause the death of any man within his
reach ; who, governing as well as reigning, long stood up to fight with the sword
of the Lord, and with his few hundred guerrillas, against the then mighty power
of the United States; who has outwitted all diplomacy opposed to him; and,
finally, who made a treaty of peace with the President of the great Republic, as
though he had wielded the combined power of France, Russia and England."
Substantially, the word of Brigham Young was fulfilled, in that he had said
an invading army should not enter the city.
General Johnston and his army came not as conquerers into Zion. The
entire chain of circumstances, from the start of their expedition, had been most
humiliating to the brave men who deserved better service. Their march had
been but a series of disasters and failures.
They were merely permitted to pass through the streets of Salt Lake City on
their way to a location in the Territory well removed from the Mormon people.
Zion was a forsaken city that day. The Saints were still south with their great
leader. If faith was not kept with them they did not intend to return, and war
would have been re-opened in deadly earnest.
It was a sad spectacle to see a community of earnest religionists who could
not trust in the parent power, even after the proclamation of the President. But
the history of the Mormons in their minds to this hour shows a constant justifica-
tion of this lack of confidence.
On the 13th of June, the army commenced its movement towards the city ;
and, on the morning of the 26th, it might have been seen advancing from the
mouth of Emigration Canyon to make what once was expected to have been a
triumphal entrance into conquered Zion, with all " the pomp and circumstance
224 HISTORY OF SALT LAKE CITY.
of glorious war." Here is a picture of it as it was, from the pen of an army
correspondent :
" It was one of the most extraordinary scenes that have occurred in Ameri
can history. All day long, from dawn until after sunset, the troops and trains
poured through the city, the utter silence of the streets being broken only by the
music of the military bands, the monotonous tramp of the regiments, and the
rattle of the baggage wagons. Early in the morning, the Mormon guards had
forced all their fellow religionists into the houses, and ordered them not to make
their appearance during the day. The numerous flags that had been flying from
staffs on the public buildings during the previous week were all struck. The only
visible groups of spectators were on the corners near Brigham Young's residence,
and consisted almost entirely of Gentile civilians. The stillness was so profound
that during the intervals between the passage of the columns, the monotonous
gurgle of the City Creek struck on every ear. The Commissioners rode with the
General's staff. The troops crossed the Jordan and encamped two miles from the
city, on a dusty meadow by the river bank."
But the army correspondent did not properly construe the death-like stillness
and desertion of the city, when he says the Mormon guard had '* forced all their
fellow religionists into their houses." They were not in their houses, but in the
second exodus. It is estimated that there were no less than 30,000 of the Mormon
people from the city and northern settlements in " the move south." They took
with them their flocks and herds, their chattels and furniture. When that army
marched through the streets of Zion, grass was growing on the side walks, and
there were only a few of " the boys" left on the watch in the city, to see that the
people were not betrayed. Some of the officers were deeply moved by the scene
and the circumstances. Lieutenant Colonel Philip St, George Cooke, who had
commanded the Mormon battalion in the Mexican war, rode through the city
with uncovered head, leading the troops, but forgetting not his respect for the
brave Mormon soldiers who had so nobly served with him in their country's
cause.
Cedar Valley, forty miles west of the city, was chosen as their permanent
camping place, which was named Camp Floyd, in honor of the then Secretary
of War.
HISTORY OF SALT LAKE CITY. 223
CHAPTER XXV.
GOVERNOR CUMMING PLEADS WITH THE SAINTS. THEY RETURN TO THEIR
HOMES. THE JUDGES. CRADLEBAUGH'S COURT, HE CALLS FOR TROOPS.
PROVO CITY INVADED BY THE ARMY. CONSPIRACY TO ARREST BRIG-
HAM YOUNG. GOVERNOR CUMMING ORDERS OUT THE UTAH MILITIA
TO REPEL INVASION. TIMELY ARRIVAL OF A DISPATCH FROM GOVERN-
MENT STAYS THE CONFLICT, ATTORNEY-GENERAL BLACK'S REBUKE TO
THE JUDGES. GENERAL JOHNSTONS FRIENDS DEMAND THE REMOVAL
OF GOVERNOR CUMMING. THE SITUATION RECOVERED BY THE PATRI-
OTISM OF THOMAS L. KANE, DIVISION LN THE CABINET. PARALLEL
OF THE BLAINE REMINISCENCE OF JERE S. BLACK.
Return we now to the Saints in their flight. It had taxed their faith and
their means to an absolute consecration of their all, and called forth as much re-
ligious heroism as did their first exodus from Nauvoo. Gallant old Governor
Gumming was almost distracted over this Mormon episode. He was not used to
the self-sacrifices and devotion of the peculiar people whom he had taken under
his official guardianship. They were more familiar than he with this part of their
eventful drama. Familiarity had bred in them a kind of contempt for their own
sufferings and privations. So they witnessed their new Governor's concern for
them with a stoical humor. They were, indeed, grateful, but amused. They
could not feel to deserve his pity, yet were they thankful for his sympathy. They
sang psalms by the wayside. He felt like strewing their path with tears. He
followed them fifty miles south, praying them, as would a father his wayward
children, to turn back. But the father whom they knew better was leading
them on.
"There is no longer danger. General Johnston and the army will keep faith
with the Mormons. Every one concerned in this happy settlement will hold sacred
the amnesty and pardon of the President of the United States ! By G d,
sirs. Yes."
Such was tlie style of Governor Cumming's pleadings with the " misguided "
Mormons. But Brigham replied with a quiet fixedness of purpose :
" We know all about it. Governor. We remember the martyrdoms of the
past ! We have, on just such occasions, seen our disarmed men hewn down in
cold blood, our virgin daughters violated, our wives ravished to death before our
eyes. We know all about it, Governor Gumming."
It was a terrible logic that thus met the brave meditation of the fine old
Georgian successor of Governor Young, who coupled patriotism with humanity,
and believed in the primitive faith that American citizens and American homes
must be held sacred.
1
226 HISTORY OF SALT LAKE CITY,
Brigham Young alone could turn the tidal wave, and lead back the Mormon
people to their homes/ Had he continued onward to Sonora, Central America,
anywhere — to the ends of the earth — this people would have followed him.
The Mormon leaders, with the body of the Church, were at Provo on the
evening of the 4th of July ; General Johnston and his army being about to take
up their quarters at Camp Floyd. It was on that evening that Governor Gum-
ming informed his predecessor that he should publish a proclamation to the Mor-
mons for their return to their homes.
"Do as you please. Governor Gumming," replied Brigham, w-ith a quiet
smile. "To-morrow I shall get upon the tongue of my wagon, and tell the
people that /am going home, and they can do as they please."
On the morning of the 5th, Brigham announced to the people that he was
going to start for Salt Lake City; they were at liberty to follow him to their
various settlements, as they pleased. In a few hours nearly all were on their
homeward march.
But scarcely had the people returned to their homes, ere they had abundant
proof how much they could have trusted a united Federal power, in an anti-Mor-
mon crusade, with an army at its service to subvert the civil and religious liberties
of the people.
The machinery of the Federal power was soon set in motion. Chief Justice
Eckles took up his quarters at Camp Floyd; Associate Justice Sinclair was as-
signed to the district embracing Salt Lake City ; and Associate Justice Cradle-
baugh was assigned to the judicial supervision of all the southern settlements ;
and Superintendent of Indian Affairs, Jacob Forney, and Alexander Wilson, U. S.
District Attorney, entered upon the discharge of their duties.
The Governor from the beginning assumed a pacific attitude, in which he
was seconded by Superintendent Forney and District- Attorney Wilson. But the
three Judges, in concert with the Marshal, united in the prosecution of past
offences that had naturally arisen out of the condition of the hostility, just
brought to a happy and peaceful issue.
Judge Sinclair convened the First, now the Third Judicial District Court in
Great Salt Lake City in November, 1858, and in his charge to the Grand Jury he
urged the prosecution of the leading men of the Territory for treason, for intimi-
dation of the courts, and for polygamy. President Buchanan's pardon, the
Judge admitted, was "a public fact in the history of the country," but "like
any other deed, it ought to be brought judicially by plea, motion or otherwise."
In fine. Judge Sinclair wanted to bring before his court ex-Governor Young,
Lieut. -General Daniel H. Wells, and the leading Mormons generally, especially
the Apostles, "to make them admit that they had been guilty of treason, and
make them humbly accept from him the President's clemency." So explains Mr.
Stenhouse. But it was something more radical and serious than a vainglorious
effort to humble Utah to the footstool of a Federal Judge. It was an attempt to
reopen in the courts the entire conflict which had so nearly come to the issue of
war. U. S. District Attorney Wilson, however, would not present to the jury
.bills of indictment for treason, pleading that the Commissioners had presented
41
HISTORY OF SALT LAKE CITY, 227
the pardon, and the people had accepted it, and the Governor had proclaimed
that peace was restored to the Territory.
"But the young Judge," relates Mr. Stenhouse, "was more successful in his
efforts to bring forward the charge of intimidating the courts. It could not be
expected that the charge to the jury on polygamy would secure much attention.
It was regarded little better than a grand farce to ask a Mormon jury to find
indictments against their brethren for polygamy. The term of Judge Sinclair's
judicial service was a failure, only memorable for one thing — he sentenced the
first white man who was ever hanged in Utah, and he was a Gentile, to be
executed on a Sunday! Of course, the day had to be changed."
But the most extraordinary judicial action, and that which continues the
historical thread of those times, was in the important district assigned to Judge
Cradlebaugh. The criminal cases which he sought to investigate were those com-
monly known as the Potter and Parrish murders at Springville, and the Mountain
Meadows Massacre in Southern Utah. On the 8th of March, 1859, at Provo,
Judge Cradlebaugh delivered an extraordinary address to the Grand Jury, and
commenced extraordinary proceedings, which in their sequel nearly made Salt
Lake City the seat of actual war between Johnston's troops and the Utah militia
under Governor Gumming, and which was barely prevented by the timely inter-
ference of the General Government. The history of Salt Lake City, however,
cannot follow in detail the entire history of Utah, only so far as its subject and
action find therein its proper centre of unity. Suffice here to mark that Judge
Cradlebaugh in his investigations and prosecutions aimed chiefly to implicate the
leaders of the Mormon Church in all the criminal offenses and deeds of violence
done within the Territory, In summing up the evidence in the case of the
murders at Springville, the Judge concluded with the following address:
"Until I commenced the examination of the testimony in this case, I always
supposed that I lived in a land of civil and religious liberty, in which we were
secured by the Constitution of our country the right to remove at pleasure from
one portion of our domain to another, and also that we enjoyed the privilege of
worshipping God according to the dictates of our own conscience. But I re-
gret to say, that the evidence in this case clearly proves that, so far as Utah
is concerned, I have been mistaken in such supposition. Men are murdered here :
coolly, deliberately, premediatatedly murdered — their murder is deliberated and
determined upon by the church council-meetings, and that, too, for no other
reason than that they had apostatized from your church, and were striving to
leave the Territory.
"You are the tools, the dupes, the instruments of a tyrannical church des-
potism. The heads of your church order and direct you. You are taught to
obey their orders and commit these horrid murders. Deprived of your liberty
you have lost your manhood, and become the willing instruments of bad men.
"I say to you it will be my earnest effort, while with you, to knock ofT your
ecclesiastical shackles and set you free."
It is easily to be seen that with such a grand jury, charged in this manner by
such a judge, it was impossible to accomplish the ends of justice ; — equally im-
228 HISTORY OF SALT LAKE CITY.
possible whether they had been " the willing instruments" of a "tyrannical
church," or a grand jury of honest, innocent men.
In the course of one of these prosecutions, Judge Cradlebaugh made a requi-
sition upon General Johnston for troops to act as protection to certain witnesses,
and also, in the absence of a jail, to serve as a guard over the prisoners. The
mayor of Provo (Kiuiball Bullock) protested that the presence of the military
was an infringement upon the liberties of his fellow-citizens; but the judge
answered that he had well considered the request before he had made it. A pe-
tition was sent to Governor Gumming, and he asked General Johnston to with-
draw the troops, asserting that the court had no authority to call for the aid of
the military, except through him. The judges interpreted General Johnston's in-
structions from the War Department adversely to the statement of the Governor,
and the troops were continued at Provo. On the 27th of March (1859), the
Governor issued a proclamation protesting against the continuance of the troops
at Provo, taking open ground against the action of the military commander.
About this time was concocted a conspiracy to arrest Brigham Young. It
was proposed that a writ be issued for his apprehension. The officers entrusted
with its execution presented themselves at the Governor's office, to request his
co-operation. But Governor Gumming stoutly resisted the attempted outrage.
He himself afterwards thus related this conspiracy to arrest his predecessor:
"They had 'got the dead wood on Brigham Young this time,' so they said,
as they unfolded to me their plans. If Brigham resisted, General Johnston's
artillery was to make a breach in the wall surrounding his premises, and they
would take him by force and carry him to Camp Floyd.
"I listened to them, sir, as gravely as I could, 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 G — d, gentlemen,
you can't do it ! When you have a right to take Brigham Young, gentlemen, you
shall have him without creeping through walls. You shall enter through his door
with heads erect as become representatives of your government. But till that
time, gentlemen, you can't touch Brigham Young while I live, by G — d! '"
"Such was the story," says Stenhouse, "told by the Governor to the author
a few years latter, and as he related it all the fire of his nature was depicted on his
countenance and told unmistakably that he would have made good every word
with his life."
The officers returned to Camp Floyd discomfited, and immediately the news
was circulated that General Johnston would send two regiments of troops and a
battery of artillery to enforce the writ for the apprehension of Brigham.
The New York Herald of date May 25, 1S59, gave to the country a graphic
picture of affairs in Utah at that moment :
OUR SALT LAKE CITY CORRESPONDENCE.
"Great Salt Lake City, U. T., April 23, 1859.
"In my last letter 1 informed you of the threat of Judge Sinclair that he
would hold court in this city during May, with three-fourths of the army now at
HISTORY OF SALT LAKE CITY. 229
Carnp Floyd, quartered in Union Square, ready to carry out his orders. The
apprehension of a collision which that threat inspired measurably died away in
the bosoms of the people generally, and the youthful judge was beginning to get
credit for idle braggadocia, and his tongue was regarded as having only divulged
what was in his heart to do, if he only could get the chance; but, alas! the day
after the departure of the last mail from here, rumors of his intentions were in
circulation at Camp Floyd, which leaves us no reason to doubt that his threat was
no idle boast, but is in reality the fixed determination of his heart, to lead to a
collision between the citizens and the troops. Of this Governor Gumming is ap-
parently fully convinced, as also the other officials outside of the judicial clique.
By the departure of the next mail, plans will be better developed, if not even
then carried into execution, or at least attempted; and should you then hear of
the eagerly-sought-for collision having taken place, it can be witnessed that we
have not sought it, but that it is the deep-laid scheme of sutlers, degraded judges,
and disappointed officers of our great republican army, for the sake of perishable
gold, gratification of personal revenge, and the empty glory of swords to be
crimsoned with the blood of fellow-citizens, who so love the liberty bequeathed
to them by illustrious sires that they will fight for its maintenance, though
their homes should be made desolate and their wives and children left without
protectors in the land of freemen's inheritance.
"An express from Camp Floyd arrived here on Sunday night with the intelli-
gence that two regiments were coming to the city to make arrests, and it was ex-
pected that they would have orders for forced marches, to come in upon us un-
awares. Imtnediately on Governor Cuniming being made acquainted with the re.
port and circumstances, which leave no room to doubt of the plans of the judges, he
notified General D. H. Wells to hold the militia in readiness to act on orders.
By two o' clock on Monday motningfive thousand men were under arms. Had the
United States' troops attempted to enter the city, the struggle must have com-
menced, for the Governor is determined to carry out his instructions. What has
deferred their arrival here we know not; but now that this plan is known, a
watchful eye is kept on the camp, and the shedding of blood seems inevitable-
We have confidence in the overruling care of our heavenly Father; and what"
ever does take place, will eventually turn out for good.
"Major told me yesterday that General Johnston was resolved to carry
out his orders, and he affirms that they are to use the military on the requisition
of the judges, and not on the requisition of the Governor only. I have just
learned that 500 soldiers were on the march to Sanpete settlement to arrest per-
sons there whom the judges are seeking after. The judicial-military-inquisitorial
farce played at Provo satisfies everybody that it is not violated justice that seeks
redress, but the madness of men drunken with whisky and vengeance, that seek
satiety in blood. There is not an official in any settlement outside this city but
what expects to be handled as were those at Provo; and the only safety they have
from judicial vengeance — not personal, but vengeance against the community —
is in flight to the mountains. In the south, where the weather has been excel-
lent for early agricultural operations this spring, the fields have been left unculti-
vated, and the seed that should be fructifying in the soil is still lying in the barn,
i
230 HISTORY OF SAL T LAKE CITY. ^ |
the end of which must be famine; for unless the Governor has power to restrain
the judges from calling the military to act as a posse comitafus, no man of any '
influence will trust himself at home. We fear no judge of the United States. i
The Supreme Judge of all we fear, and in His fear we live, and earthly tribunals \
have no terror for us : but the insolence of men like Cradlebaugh and Sinclair ;
and the despotism of their military aids drive the iron to our souls. The very !
latest news now in circulation in the city is that the judges have hired the Indians
to scour the mountains in search of the persons that the Marshal and military have
been unable to discover at home. What next? Shall a price be offered the red
men of the forest for the scalps of our citizens? Oh, my God ! what shall we be
driven to? My heart sickens at the outrages to which we have been subjected,
and I dread the future. Nothing shall be done on our part to hasten hostilities;
but if it is impossible to avoid them, the responsibility is theirs.
" Governor Gumming has no disposition, nor has this community any, to
screen any man or men from the punishment due for any crime or misdemeanor
they may be accused of; but he will not suffer military terrorism to reign in the
Territory over which he is Governor, and we are to a man ready to sustain him.
We appeal to the American nation, and ask any man whose soul is not absorbed
with the acquisition of perishable pelf only, what can we do more than we have
done to preserve peace? and what course is open to us but to defend our rights
as citizens of the Union?"
Happily at this juncture an official letter from Washington decided that the
military could only be used as a posse on a call from the Governor. This com-
munication from the U. S. Attorney- General is a valuable historical review of
Utah affairs at that juncture, by the U. S. Government itself:
"Attorney-General's Office, May 17, 1859.
"Gentlemen — The President has received your joint letter on the subject
of the military force with which the Court for the Second District of Utah was
attended during the term recently held at Provo City. He has carefully con-
sidered it, as well as all other advices relating to the same affair, and he has
directed me to give you his answer.
"The condition of things in Utah made it extremely desirable that the
Judges appointed for that Territory should confine themselves strictly within their
own official sphere. The Government had a district attorney, who was charged with
the duties of a public accuser, and a marshal, who was responsible for the arrest
and safe-keeping of criminals. For the judges there was nothing left except to
hear patiently the causes brought before them, and to determine them impartially
according to the evidence adduced on both sides. It did not seem either right
or necessary to instruct you that these were to be the limits of your interference
with the public affairs of the Territory; for the Executive never dictates to the
Judicial department. The President is responsible only for the appointment of
proper men. You were selected from a very large number of other persons who
were willing to be employed on the same service, and the choice was grounded
solely on your high character for learning, sound judgment, and integrity. It
HISTORY OF SALT LAKE CITY. 231
was natural, therefore, that the President should look upon the proceedings at
Provo with a sincere desire to find you in all things blameless.
"It seems that on the 6th of March last, Judge Cradlebaugh announced to
the commanding officer of the military forces that on the 8th day of the same
month he would begin a term of the District Court at Provo, and required a
military guard for certain prisoners, to the number of six or eight, who were
then in custody, and would be triable at Provo. The requisition mentions it as
a probable fact that *a large band of organized thieves' would be arrested; but
the troops were asked for without reference to them. Promptly responding to
this call the commanding-general sent up a company of infantry, who encamped
at the Court House, and soon afterwards ten more companies made their appear-
ance in sight, and remained there during the whole term of the court. In the
meantime, the Governor of the Territory, hearing of this military demonstration
upon a town previously supposed to be altogether peaceful, appeared on the
ground, made inquiries, and, seeing no necessity for the troops, but believing, on
the contrary, that their presence was calculated to do harm, he requested them
to be removed. The request was wholly disregarded.
"The Governor is the supreme Executive of the Territory. He is respon-
sible for the public peace. From the general law of the land, the nature of his
office, and the instructions he received from the State Department, it ought to
have been understood that he alone had power to issue a requisition for the move-
ment of troops from one part of the Territory to another, — that he alone could
put the military forces of the Union and the people of the Territory into rela-
tions of general hostility with one another. The instructions given to the Com-
manding-General by the War Department are to the same effect. In that paper a
^requisition'' is not spoken of as a thing which anybody except the Governor can
make. It is true that in one clause the General is told that if the Governor, the
judges, or the marshal shall find it necessary to sunmion directly a part of the
troops to aid either in the pertbrmance of his duty, he (the General) is to see the
summons promptly obeyed. This was manifestly intended to furnish the means
of repelling an opposition which might be too strong for the civil posse, and too
sudden to admit of a formal requisition by the governor upon the military com-
mander. An officer finds himself resisted in the discharge of his duty, and he
calls to his aid first the citizens, and, if they are not sufficient, the soldiers.
This would be directly summoning a part of the troops. A direct summons and
a requisition are not convertible terms. The former signifies a mere verbal call
upon either civilians or military men for force enough to put down a present
opposition to a certain officer in the performance of a particular duty; and the
call is to be always made by the officer who is himself opposed upon those per-
sons who are with their own hands to furnish the aid. A requisition, on the
other hand, is a solemn demand in writing made by the supreme civil magistrate
upon the commander-in-chief of the military forces for the whole or part of the
army to be used in a specified service. In a Territory like Utah, the person who
exercises this last-mentioned 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
232 HISTORY OF SALT LAKE CITY.
I
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.
''Besides, the matter upon which Judge Cradlebaugh's requisition bases itself
was one with which the Judge had no sort of official connection. It was the duty
the marshal to see that the prisoners were safely kept and forthcoming at the
proper time. For aught that appears, the marshal wanted no troops to aid him,
and had no desire to see himself displaced by a regiment of soldiers. He made
no complaint of weakness, and uttered no call for assistance. Under such cir-
cumstances it was a mistake of the Judge to interfere with the business at all,
"But, assuming the legal right of the judge to put the marshal's business
into the hands of the army without the marshal's concurrence, and granting also
that this might be done by means of a requisition, was there in this case any oc-
casion for the exercise of such power? When we consider how essentially peace-
able is the whole spirit of our judicial system, and how exclusively it aims to
operate by moral force, or at most by the arm of civil power, it can hardly be
denied that the employment of military troops about the courts should be avoided
as long as possible. Inter anna silent leges, says the maxim ; and the converse of
it ought to be equally true, that inter leges silent arma. The President has not
found, either on the face of the requisition or in any other paper received by him,
a statement of specific facts strong enough to make the presence of the troops
seem necessary. Such necessity ought to have been perfectly plain before the
measure was resorted to.
"It is very probable that the Mormon inhabitants of Utah have been guilty
of crimes for which they deserve the severest punishment. It is not intended by
the Government to let any one escape against whom the proper proofs can be
produced. With that view, the district attorney has been instructed to use all
possible diligence in bringing criminals of every class and of all degrees to justice.
We have the fullest confidence in the vigilance, fidelity and ability of that officer.
If you shall be of opinion that his duty is not performed with sufficient energy,
your statement to that effect will receive the prompt attention of the President.
" It is very likely that public opinion in the Territory is frequently opposed to
the conviction of parties who deserve punishment. It may be that extensive
conspiracies are formed there to defeat justice. These are subjects upon which
we, at this distance, can affirm or deny nothing. But, supposing your opinion
upon them to be correct, every inhabitant of Utah must still be proceeded against
in a regular, legal, and constitutional way. At all events, the usual and estab-
lished modes of dealing with public off"enders must be exhausted before we adopt
any others.
"On the whole, the President is very decidedly of opinion —
" I. That the Governor of the Territory alcne has power to issue a requisi-
tion upon the commanding-general for the whole or part of the army :
" 2. That there was no apparent occasion for the presence of the troops at
Provo :
"3. That if a rescue of the prisoners in custody had been attempted, it
*l
HISTORY OF SALT LAKE CITY. 233
was the duty of the marshal, and not of the judge, to summon the force which
might be necessary to prevent it :
'' 4. That the troops ought not to have been sent to Provo without the con-
currence of the Governor, nor kept there against his remonstrance :
" 5. That the disregard of these principles and rules of action has been in
many ways extremely unfortunate.
"I am, very respectfully, yours, &c.,
J. S. BLACK.
^^ Ho7i. J. Cradlebaugh, Hon. C. E. Sinclair, Associate Judges, Supreme
Court, Utahy
A great Constitutional pronouncement like the foregoing from a jurist so
distinguished as Attorney-General Jeremiah S. Black, given by the direction of
the President of the United States, was too authoritative and potent to be set
aside. Governor Gumming had clearly won the victory over his rivals, at least
in the Constitutional aspects of his position.
The anti- Mormon influence everywhere was now invoked to have Governor
Gumming removed, and for a time this was under consideration in the Cabinet.
The probabilities were all against the Governor being retained, but a fine stroke
of strategy, executed by Col. Thos. L. Kane, recovered his position. Stenhouse,
who was present as reporter for the New York Herald, relates the circumstance
thus:
"Soon after the return of Col. Kane to the Eastern States, that gentleman
was invited to deliver a lecture before the Historical Society of New York upon
'The Situation of Utah.' Though in very feeble health, and unprepared for such
a lecture, his devotion to what he no doubt sincerely believed to be the welfare
of the Mormons and the honor of the Government, overcame all impediments,
and the lecture was delivered. In that audience were two Mormon elders listen-
ing eagerly for a sentence that might help "the cause" in the West. By previous
arrangement the agent of the Associated Press was to be furnished with a notice
of the lecture, and thus a dispatch next morning was read everywhere throughout
the Union to the effect that there was a division among the Mormons, that some
were eager for strife, others for peace, but that Brigham Young was on the side of
peace and order, and was laboring to control his fiery brethren. This was a
repetition of a part of the diplomacy of the Tabernacle. Governor Gumming
was complimented by the gallant Colonel as a clear-headed, resolute, but prudent
executive, and the very man for the trying position.
"Before such an endorsement, sent broadcast over the Republic, coming
from the lips of the gentleman who had warded off the effusion of blood, and
saved the nation frooi the expense and horror of a domestic war, the Cabinet of
Mr. Buchanan silently bowed, but they were terribly chagrined."
Apostle George Q. Cannon, who was one of the "two Mormon elders"
present at the lecture, relates this singular and quite dramatic episode of Utah
history with several additional points, which have a national significance. The
story is told in an obituary sketch of Thomas L. Kane, with an affectionate
simplicity that gives it a special value in the History;
234 HISTORY OF SALT LAKE CITY.
"As I write, another illustration of his forgetfulness of self and his ardent
zeal in behalf of Utah comes to my mind. It was during the Buchanan admin-
istration. Governor Gumming, who had been sent out by President Buchanan
with the army as Governor of the Territory, did not work harmoniously with the
army officers. Differences had arisen between them at the time they were in
camp during the winter at Ham's Fork and Fort Bridger.
" These differences increased after they came into the valley, and the influ-
ence of the army people was used with the administration to have Gumming
removed. President Buchanan was inclined to yield to the pressure of Albert
Sidney Johnston's friends. Johnston at that time was quite an influential per-
sonage; in fact influences were being used to prepare the way for him to succeed
General Winfield Scott as commander of the army of the United States. Presi-
dent Buchanan made inquiries of some of General Kane's friends as to how the re-
moval of Governor Gumming would be received by him. He heard of this, and,
though at the time confined to his room with an attack of pleurisy, saw that
something must be done to prevent the removal of Governor Gumming, which
he viewed at the time as a move that would be unfortunate to Utah. The His-
torical Society of New York Gity — a very influential society — had solicited him
to deliver a lecture upon Utah affairs; but he had postponed accepting the offer.
He saw that this was the opportune moment to deliver it, and though suffering
from severe pain he resolved to go to New York and deliver the lecture. His
friends tried to dissuade him from the step, as they felt that he was endangering
his life. But he was determined to go, and wrote to the President of the Society,
who was pleased to accept the proffer of the lecture. Accompanied by his physi-
cian, he traveled from Philadelphia to New York, delivered the lecture, in which
he eulogized Governor Gumming, and gave him the praise that was due to him for
his conduct after reaching Utah, and the next morning there appeared in all the
newspapers of the country, through the associated press, a brief epitome of the
lecture, commending Governor Gumming's administration of affairs. It had the
effect to turn the scale in Gumming's favor. President Buchanan relinquished
the idea of removing him, and he remained Governor until he had served out his
full term. I was in the East at the time and familiar with all the circumstances,
and I was deeply impressed with the General's conduct on that occasion."
There is to be discerned in these two statements a division growing up in the
views and purposes of the members of Buchanan's Gabinet at that critical juncture
of our national affairs, which is capitally presented in Mr. Blaine's great book of
reminiscences, in which he presents, on the one side, John B. Floyd, Secretary of
War with President Buchanan preparing the way for secession; on the other,
Gen, Lewis Gass, Secretary of State, and Attorney-General Jeremiah S. Black,
taking the alarm both for the Democracy and the Union, and setting their faces
against the secession movement, which General Albert Sidney Johnston was fated
to represent as one of its chiefest military captains. Mr. Blaine has not intended
any reference to Utah, but that which he describes touching a division in the
Cabinet, relative to our national affairs, is strangely to be traced at the same
moment in the Gabinet over Utah affairs. So far as secession and Secretary
Floyd is concerned, the statement of ex-Delegate Gannon suggests a very striking
HISTORY OF SALT LAKE CITY. 235
parallel to the Blaine reminiscences of the state of Buchanan's Cabinet at that
juncture.
The historical pertinence of the case is the more striking from the fact that
it was subsequent to the decision of the Attorney-General against ihe Judges' and
General Johnston's action. After the receipt of that dispatch a mass meeting of
Gentiles was held at Camp Floyd, on the 23rd of July, at which the Judges and
the Indian Agent — Dr. Garland Hurt — were present, and in which they took a
prominent part. An address was penned, rehearsing all the crimes charged to
the Mormons, asserting that they were as disloyal after the President's pardon as
when they were in arms in Echo Canyon, that the President was deceived and
badly advised, and had done a great wrong in withdrawing the protection of the
military from the courts.
Thus it would seem that there was before the country, emanating from
Johnston and his friends, who were seeking to make him commander-in-chief of
the armies of the United States, not only a demand for the removal of Governor
Gumming, but a virtual impeachment of the Attorney-General as an ill adviser
on Utah affairs, for it was undoubtedly Jeremiah S. Black who had given the new
impulse to the Buchanan movement, as represented in General Kane and Governor
Gumming, and his Constitutional decision had most likely saved Great Salt Lake
City from the "baptism of blood," and made valid the President's pardon. But
it seems that he would have failed at last, in his revision of the Buchanan policy
touching Utah, had not Thomas L. Kane risen from his couch and, in his noble
regard for the honor of his country, made valid the proclamation of peace and
pardon which had been granted in the august name of the American Republic.
A supplementary page from Mr. Blaine's great book may be given here to
illustrate the reorganization of the Buchanan Cabinet, by Judge Black, and the
radical change in its policies, so strongly marked both in the affairs of Utah and
the greater affairs of the nation; and a bankrupt U. S. Treasury will be very sug-
gestive of Secretary Floyd's expenditure of from fourteen to twenty millions of
dollars on the Utah Expedition :
''Judge Black entered upon his duties as Secretary of Sta'e on the 17th of
December — the day on which the disunion convention of South Carolina as-
sembled. He found the malign influence of Mr. Buchanan's message fully at
work throughout the South. Under its encouragement only three days were re-
quired by the convention at Charleston to pass the ordinance of secession, and
four days later Governor Pickens issued a proclamation declaring ' South Caro-
lina a separate, sovereign, free and independent State, with the right to levy war,
conclude peace and negotiate treaties.' From that moment Judge Black's posi-
tion towards the Southern leaders was radically changed. They were no longer
fellow-Democrats. They were the enemies of the Union to which he was de-
voted, they were conspirators against the Government to which he had taken a
selemn oath of fidelity and loyalty.
"Judge Black's change, however important to his own fame, would prove
comparatively fruitless unless he could influence Mr. Buchanan to break with the
men who had been artfully using the power of his Administration to destroy the
j^O HISTORY OF SALT LAKE CITY.
Union. The opportunity and the test came promptly. The new ' sovereign,
free and independent ' government of South Carolina sent commissioners to
Washington to negotiate for the surrender of the national forts and the transfer
of the national property within her limits. Mr. Buchanan prepared an answer
to their request which was compromising to the honor of the Executive and peril-
ous to the integrity of the Union. Judge Black took a decided and irrevocable
stand against the President's position. He advised Mr. Buchanan that upon the
basis of that fatal concession to the disunion leaders he could not remain in his
Cabinet. It was a sharp issue, but was soon adjusted. Mr. Buchanan gave way
and permitted Judge Black and his associates. Holt and Stanton, to frame a reply
for the Administration.
"Jefferson Davis, Mr. Toombs, Mr. Benjamin, Mr. Slidell, who had been
Mr. Buchanan's intimate and confidential advisers, and who had led him to the
brink of ruin, found themselves suddenly supplanted, and a new power installed
in the White House. Foiled and no longer able to use the National Administra"
tion as an instrumentality to destroy the national life, the secession leaders in Con-
gress turned upon the President with angry reproaches. In their rage they lost
all sense of the respect due to the Chief Magistrate of the nation, and assaulted
Mr. Buchanan with coarseness as well as violence. Senator Benjamin spoke of
him as 'a senile Executive under the sinister influence of insane counsels.' This
exhibition of malignity towards the misguided President afforded to the North
the most convincing and satisfactory proof that there had been a change for the
better in the plans and purposes of the Administration. They realized that it
must be a deep sense of impending danger which could separate Mr. Buchanan
from his political associations with the South, and they recognized in his position
a significant proof of the desperate determination to which the enemies of the
Union had come.
" The stand taken by Judge Black and his loyal associates was in the last
days of December, iS6o. The reorganization of the Cabinet came as a matter
of necessity. Mr. John B. Floyd resigned from the War Department, making
loud proclamation that his action was based on the President's refusal to sur-
render the national forts in Charleston Harbor to the secession government of
South Carolina. This manifesto was not necessary to establish Floyd's treason-
able intentions towards the Government ; but, in point of truth, the plea was
undoubtedly a pretense, to cover reasons of a more personal character which
would at once deprive him of Mr. Buchanan's confidence. There had been
irregularities in the War Department tending to compromise Mr, Floyd, for which
he was afterwards indicted in the District of Columbia. Mr. Floyd well knew
that the first knowledge of these shortcomings would lead to his dismissal from
the Cabinet. Whatever Mr. Buchanan's faults as an Executive may have been,
his honor in all transactions, both personal and public, was unquestionable, and
he was the last man to tolerate the slightest deviation from the path of rigid
integrity.
"Mr. Thompson, the Secretary of the Interior, followed Mr. Floyd after a
short interval. Mr. Cobb had left the Treasury a few days before General Cass
resigned from the Cabinet, and had gone to Georgia to stimulate her laggard
f
I
HISTORY OF SALT LAKE CITY.
237
movements in the scheme of destroying the Government. His successor was
Philip Francis Thomas, of Maryland, wlio entered the Cabinet as a representative
of the principles wliose announcement had forced General Cass to resign. The
change of policy to which the President was now fully committed forced Mr.
Thomas to retire after a hionth's service. He frankly stated that he was unable
to agree with the President and his other advisers 'in reference to the condition
of things in South Carolina,' and therefore tendered his resignation. Mr. Thomas
adhered to the Union and always maintained an upright and honorable char-
acter; but his course at that crisis deprived him subsequently of a seat in the
United States Senate, though at a later period he served in the House as Repre-
sentative from Maryland.
"Mr. Cobb, Mr. Floyd and Mr. Thompson had all remained in the Cabinet
after the Presidential election in November, in full sympathy, and so far as pos-
sible in co-operation with the men in the South who were organizing resistance
to the authority of the Federal Government. Neither those gentlemen, nor any
triend in their behalf, ever ventured to explain how, as sworn officers of the
United States, they could remain at their posts consistently with the laws of
honor — laws obligatory on them not only as public officials who had taken a
solemn oath of fidelity to the Constitution, but also as private gentlemen, whose
good faith was pledged anew every hour they remained in control of the depart-
ments with whose administration they had been intrusted. Their course is un-
favorably contrasted with that of many Southern men (of whom General Lee and
the two Johnstons were conspicuous examples), who refused to hold official posi-
tions under the national Government a single day after they had determined to
take part in the scheme of disunion.
"By the reorganization of the Cabinet the tone of Mr. Buchanan's admin-
istration was radically changed. Judge Black had used his influence with the
President to secure trustworthy friends of the Union in every department. Edwin
M. Stanton, little known at the time to the public, but of high standing in his
profession, was appointed Attorney-General soon after Judge Black took charge
of the State Department. Judge Black had been associated with Stanton per-
sonally and professionally, and was desirous of his aid in the dangerous period
through which he was called to serve,
"Joseph Holt, who, since the death of Aaron V. Brown in 1S59, had been
Postmaster-General, was now appointed Secretary of War, and Horatio King, of
Maine, for many years the upright first assistant, was justly promoted to the head
of the Post-office Department. Mr. Holt was the only Southern man left in the
Cabinet. He was a native of Kentucky, long a resident of Mississippi, always iden-
tified with the Democratic party, and affiliated with its extreme southern wing.
Without a moment's hesitation he now broke all the associations of a lifetime,
and stood by the Union without qualification or condition. His learning, his
firmness and his ability were invaluable to Mr. Buchanan in the closing days
of his administration.
"General John A. Dix, of New York, was called to the head of the Treasury.
He was a man of excellent ability, of wide experience in affairs, of spotless char-
acter and a most zealous friend of the Union. He found the Treasury bankrupt.
2sS HISTORY OF SALT LAKE CI7Y.
the discipline of its officers in the South gone, its orders disregarded in the States
which were preparing for secession. He at once imparted spirit and energy into
the service, giving to the administration of this department a policy of pronounced
loyalty to the Government. No act of his useful and honorable life has been so
widely known or will be so long remembered as his dispatch to the Treasury
agent at New Orleans to take possession of a revenue cutter whose commander was
suspected of disloyalty and of a design to transfer his vessel to the Confederate
service. Lord Nelson's memorable order at Trafalgar was not more inspiring to
the British Navy than was the order of General Dix to the American people,
when, in the gloom of that depressing winter, he telegraphed South his per-
emptory words: * If any man attempts to haul down the American flag, shoot
him on the spot.'
"Thus reconstructed, the Cabinet as a whole was one of recognized power,
marked by high personal character, by intellectual training, by experience in
affairs, and by aptitude for the public service. There have been Cabinets perhaps
more widely known for the possession of great qualities; but, if the history of suc-
cessive administrations from the origin of the Government be closely studied, it
will be found that the reorganized Cabinet of President Buchanan must take rank
as one of exceptional ability."
CHAPTER XXVI.
JUDGE CRADLEBAUGH DISCHARGES THE GRAND JURY AND TURNS SOCIETY
OVER TO LAWLESS RULE. THE INDIANS ENCOURAGED TO DEPREDA-
TIONS ON THE SETTLEMENTS. A DARK PICTURE OF SALT LAKE SOCIETY.
WHY GOVERNOR GUMMING DID NOT INVESTIGATE THE MOUNTAIN
MEADOWS MASSACRE.
Having failed to obtain the indictment of the leaders of the Mormon Church,
the judges resolved that they would close their courts and give society into the
hands of the numerous desperadoes with which the Territory now abounded. In
discharging the grand jury. Judge Cradlebaugh uttered one of the most remark-
able passages to be found in the whole history of criminal jurisprudence :
"If it is expected," he said, "that this court is to be used by this com-
munity as a means of protecting it against the peccadilloes of Gentiles and In-
dians, unless this community will punish its own murderers, such expectations
will not be realized. It will be used for no such purpose. When the people
shall come to their reason and manifest a disposition to punish their own high
offenders, it will then be time to enforce the law also for their protection. If this
HISTORY OF SAL 2' LAKE CIIY. 239
court cannot bring you to a proper sense of your duty, // can at least turn the
savages held in custody loose upon you. ^^
Accordingly Judge Cradlebaugh dismissed the prisoners and adjourned his
court ''without day."
On his part D. Hurt, the Indian agent, had, both before and after the en-
trance of Johnston's troops, spent his official service in inciting hostile Indians
to commit depredations upon the Mormon settlements. This, indeed, was the
specific charge which Governor Gumming reported to Secretary Gass against
Indian Agent Hurt, both as inimical to the peace of the Territory and interrup-
tive of his own executive duties representing the Federal Government, Upon
this Indian line of the history, George A. Smith, just prior to the entrance of
Johnston's troops, writing to T. B. H. Stenhouse, said :
" It has been the policy of Governor Young and our people to keep the In-
dians neutral, should a contest ensue. I read in the last papers received from the
States loud boasts of having secured the Utah and other Indians as allies against
the Mormons. Strange as it may seem to civilized persons, all the reckless and
unprincipled Indians of the mountains have been hired, with new guns, blankets,
clothing, ammunition, paint, etc., to steal, rob, murder, and do anything else
that can be done to destroy the Mormons. Indian agents have sent messengers
to all the peaceable Indians to incite them to deeds of rapine and bloodshed. A
number of scattering settlements have been attacked, and innocent blood stains
the skirts of the present administration, whose agents have procured the murders.
"I am an American, as you well know. I love my country, and hate to see
her rulers trample under foot her glorious institutions, and re-enact barbarism
more cruel than that inflicted by the King of Great Britain, through the hands of
the red men upon the scattered settlements of the colonies, in the war of inde-
pendence. We wish ' life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness.'
" With 3,500 bayonets, rifles, revolvers, and heavy ordnance pointed at us,
and within three days' march of our city, 4,500 more eti route to reinforce them,
carte blanche on the United States treasury, would seem enough to satisfy our
most bitter persecutors, without hiring as allies the savage hordes of the deserts
and mountains to murder, scalp, roast, and eat their fellow-citizens, because they
forsooth differed on the subject of religion.
' Who can believe it !^the cause is rather odd —
Men hate each other for the love of God ! '
"You are aware that all the outrages in the country, heretofore, have been
caused by men who are enemies to the inhabitants of this Territory — who have
passed through our borders and recklessly shot at and otherwise abused the
Indians.
"Experience shows that Indians, like Congressmen and Government. officials,
have their price."
Mr. William G. Mills, writing to the same person, who at that time was a
special attache of the New York Herald on Utah affairs, said :
240 HISTORY OF SALT LAKE CITY.
" The officials and others among the troops are employing their influence
and means to bribe the Indians to steal the cattle, and horses, and mules from
the settlers here ; and already some have succeeded in stealing, and have mas
sacred several persons in the outer settlements. The cattle w^ill be conveyed to
the army. One poor fox skin from an Indian will be paid for with a quantity of
powder, lead, caps, blankets, and shirts — more than a hundred times its value —
in order to buy over the rude savages to rob from and murder those who have
hitherto fed and clothed them. This is done whenever an Indian visits them. It
is not, of course, bribing or buying the Indian — it is only paying for the fox or
buckskin; and significant nods, winks, and signs accompanying the gift are
easily interpreted, and robbery and murder are the result. Dr. Hurt, the Indian
agent, who decamped from the Indian farm, to create an excitement in his favor,
in pretence for personal safety — 'The wicked fleeth when none pursuer h ' — has
collected a band of Indians in Uintah Valley, among whom is the murderer
Tintic, and placed himself as their chief at their head, to make an attack on the
southern settlements, and promising not only blankets, powder, etc., but a share
of the pillage, as the reward of their nefarious acts. Murder in the north is to
be responded to by murder of quiet and peaceable citizens in the south. Every
mule and horse that the Indians steal is blamed on the Mormons, though the lat-
ter may be a hundred miles from the scene of action. A good supply of whisky
is furnished to the Indians by the officers and others, and they seem to enjoy
themselves well together. Drinking among the troops was carried on to excess
during the winter, which was calculated to excite their bitterest feelings and to
enter in every scheme to annoy and kill the citizens. White men and murderous
Indians are 'hail fellows well met.'
"The Indians, by the presence of the troops, are emboldened to annoy the
various settlements, because the Mormons would rather not fight. In Tooele
County — the most westerly in the Territory — those Indians who were hitherto
friendly have become excited by the conversations and bribes of the army, and
have stolen about one hundred and fifty head of cattle and sixty horses, and fired
upon the men who were guarding. At Salmon River settlement, two hundred
and fifty head of cattle were stolen about the 4th of March, and several Mormons
killed and scalped, and again attacked subsequently. It is expected that Dr.
Hurt and his tribe will make an attack soon upon the southern settlements ; but
the people are prepared for every emergency, and will repulse them.
"The war chiefs of several tribes of Indians, during the time af the excite-
ment last fall and winter, applied personally to Governor Young for his advice
and permission to go out with their tribes and 'use up' the soldiers, which they
deemed themselves amply capable to do; but he, in every instance, told them to
keep away from the army and show no bad feelings whatever, and requested them
to avoid killing the white men. I have seen the chiefs exhibit sanguine feelings
in relation to killing the soldiers, but entirely softened down by the counsel and
expressions of Governor Young. He wrote to Ben Simons, the Delaware Indian,
chief of the Weberites, in reply to a letter, to stand in a neutral position, neither
take part with the Mormons nor the soldiers, in the event of a collision, and has
HISTOR Y OF SAL 7~ LAKE CL I Y. 241
always endeavored to suppress that bloodthirsty spirit of the treacherous red
men."
The action of the judges, in suspending altogether the administration of
justice, and by semi-proclamation turning loose upon society the desperadoes,
produced such a condition of things, compared with which the history of Great
Salt Lake City was stainless before the onset of the Buchanan Expedition.
Mr. Stenhouse in his Rocky Mountain Saints has painted the dark picture of
those times thus outlined and colored :
''With such a large body of troops there were, as usual, numerous camp-
followers plying their petit industries, gambling, thieving, and drinking. Gen-
eral Johnston, with strict surveillance and severe military punishment, had been
able to control them on the march and at Camp Scott ; but when they found
in the valleys of the Saints a wider and safer field for operations, they gave rein
to their vilest passions, and a worse set of vagabonds never afflicted any com-
munity with their presence than did the followers of Johnston's army the inhabi-
tants of the chief city of Zion, Quite a number of young Mormons — and some
not so young — became as reckless and daring as any of the imported Gentiles,
and life and property for a time were very insecure in Salt Lake City.
" The programme of the police authorities seemed to be to give the desper-
adoes the largest liberty, so that they might, in their drunken carousals, ' kill off
each other,' and what they left undone invisible hands readily accomplished.
During the summer and fall of 1859 there was a murder committed in Salt Lake
City almost every week, and very rarely were the criminals brought to justice.
''The Mormon leaders taught the people to attend to their fields and work-
shops, keep out of ' Whisky Street,' and let 'civilization' take its course. They
had plenty of hard work to engage their attention, and no money, so that the
business street was seldom visited by them, and they saw little of what was trans-
piring in their midst. The Church weekly paper took pride in reporting, as it
occurred, 'another man for breakfast,' and with that 'the people of God' were
satisfied that 'the good work was rolling on,' Israel would one day be free from
his oppressors.
" The rioting and killing that were traceable occupied little more than pass-
ing attention, but the midnight work of invisible hands created a sensation of
terror in the minds of all who were inimical to the priesthood. The Valley Tan,
notwithstanding its true boldness, felt the danger of the hour, and in one of its
doleful wails ejaculated: 'How long, oh ! how long are scenes like this to con-
tinue ? * * * It would seem as if the insatiable demon and enemy
of man must himself be gorged with the flow of human blood in our midst.'
* * * ' No man's life is secure as long as the scenes of violence
and bloodshed, which have been of such frequent occurrence among us for
months past, continue to be repeated, and the perpetrators escape unpunished or
not detected.'
"The bloody work continued, and finally terminated with the murder of
Brewer and Joaquin Johnston, two intimate friends, who were shot at the same
instant as they were walking home together. The author well remembers seeing
3
242 HISTORY OF SALT LAKE CITY.
very early the next morning the marshal of the city and the chief of police who
gravely informed him of the 'sad news' — 'Johnston and Brewer had quarreled,
and killed each other! ' This story was feeble enough, but no one cared to ques-
tion it: the people had got used to the record of scenes of blood.
" In the ' swift destruction' that fell upon the desperadoes, there was no miti-
gation of punishment on account of faith or family relationship, and very respect-
able Mormon families had to mourn the untimely end of boys who, before the
entrance of the army, gave promise of lives of usefulness and honor. All the
bad and desperate Mormons were not brought to judgment, but the pretext alone
was wanting for carrying more extensively into execution the general programme.
Resistance to an officer, or the slightest attempt to escape from custody, was
eagerly seized, when wanted, as the justification of closing a disreputable career,
and in more than one case of this legal shooting, there is much doubt if even
the trivial excuse was waited for. The Salt Lake police then earned the reputa-
tion of affording every desperate prisoner the opportunity of escape, and, if
embraced, the officer's ready revolver brought the fugitive to a 'halt,' and saved
the country the expenses of a trial and his subsequent boarding in the peniten-
tiary. A coroner's inquest and cemetery expenses were comparatively light.
"With the troops themselves there was no collision. The Governor had
requested General Johnston to withhold furlough from the soldiers, and few of
them ever had the opportunity of visiting the City of the Saints. With some
officers there had been, in the city, slight difficulties, which were, however, easily
settled. Only one serious aff"air occurred, ending in the death of Sergeant Pike.
This person was charged with violently assaulting a young Mormon and cracking
his skull with a musket. During the Sergeant's trial in Salt Lake City, while on
the public street at noon, passing to his hotel, a young man shot him down, and
shortly afterward he died. The young man, with the aid of others, escaped, and
was never arrested. There was great excitement at Camp Floyd, but the Ser-
geant's comrades were too far away to retaliate.
" From the time of the arrival of the troops in the valley, Brigham was per-
sonally very cautious, and never exposed himself to attack. For a long time he
absented himself from the public assemblies, kept an armed door-keeper at the
entrance of his residences, and by night was protected by an armed guard of the
faithful. Every ward in the city took its turn in watching over the Prophet, and
the floors of his offices were nightly covered with a guard, armed and equipped,
and ready at a moment's notice to repulse the imaginary foe.
"During the day, when Brigham ventured beyond the outer walls of his
premises, half a dozen friends always accompanied him wherever he went. It is
pleasing to add that no one ever so much as said to him an unbecoming word."
In this condition of society, and the antagonistic complication of aff"airs
existing between the Governor and General Johnston and the Judges, is to be
found the exact historical exposition why the Mountain Meadow Massacre was
not brought to judgment and avenged years before the execution of John D.
Lee.
Ex-Governor Young has often, yet most senselessly been reproved and held
guilty for not causing an investigation of the tragedy in question, and bringing
HISTORY OF SALT LAKE CITY. 243
its executors to justice immediately after the bloody deed was done. One of the
questions and its answer from the deposition of Brigham Young, taken at the
trial of Lee, bears directly upon this point:
" Q. Why did you not as Governor institute proceedings forthwith to
investigate the massacre and bring the guilty authors to justice?
"A. Because another Governor had been appointed by the President of
the United States, and was then on the way here to take my place, and I did not
know how soon he might arrive ; and because the United States Judges were not
in the Territory. Soon after Governor Gumming arrived I asked him to take
Judge Cradlebaugh, who belonged to the Southern District, with him, and I
would accompany them with sufficient aid to investigate the matter and bring the
offenders to justice."
But the action of the Judges, at the very onset, made it impossible for ex-
Governor Young or Governor Gumming to move far in the matter. Though
Brigham Young had been Justice personified, had he proceeded he must have
walked into the death-trap set for him.
The following editorial excerpt from the New York Tribune, July 3rd,
1858, describes the case of Governor Gumming before the entrance of the troops,
which was more abundantly illustrated afterwards :
"The latest accounts from Utah present the affairs of that Territory in rather
a queer light. All the correspondents of the newspapers who write from Camp
Scott most zealously contend that Governor Gumming, in representing the Mor-
mons as having submitted to his authority, has either been grossly deceived him-
self, or else is seeking to deceive the Government and the country. Possibly, as
to this matter, the good people of Camp Scott, civil and military, judge the
Mormons a little too much by themselves. If the disposition to obey the Gov-
ernor and to second and sustain him in the exercise of his office is not greater
within the valley than it seems to be at Camp Scott and Fort Bridger, the extent
of the Governor's authority is certainly limited enough. Whether or not Brig-
ham Young and his people have combined together, while seeming to acknowl-
edge Gumming as Governor — in fact to set aside and override his authority, at
least it is very certain that such a combination exists in full force at Camp Scott,
with Mr. Chief Justice Eckles at its head. Perhaps there is something in the air
of Utah that stimulates to treason, rebellion, and resistance to authority.
Whether that be so or not, the authority of Gumming as Governor seems just
now quite as much in danger from the Chief Justice, the civil officers, and the
army sent to Utah at such an expense to place him and sustain him in the Gov-
ernor's chair, as from those whose anticipated opposition to his authority led to such
costly preparations to uphold it. In fact, it would seem that, on the question of
due respect to Cumming's gubernatorial authority, the people inside the valley
and those out of it had completely changed ground. The resistance to Governor
Gumming is not now on the part of Brigham Young and the Mormons generally,
but on the part of Chief Justice Eckels, Marshal Dotson, General Johnston, the
camp, and the camp-followers.
"In this resistance to the authority of Governor Gumming and combination
to reduce him, if possible, to a cipher, the recently arrived Peace Commis-
244 HISTORY OF SALT LAKE CITY.
sioners, according to all accounts, have joined, actuated possibly by a feeling of
jealousy that they should have been anticipated by Governor Gumming and the
work of pacification taken out of their hands. Nor, if we are to believe the
letters from the camp, do these gentlemen confine themselves merely to thwart-
ing the policy of Governor Gumming and nullifying his authority as Governor.
They go, indeed, much further than that. The President's proclamation, of
which they are the bearers, does not meet their approbation, or appear to them
adapted to the exigencies of the case. They harmonize completely, we are told,
with Judge Eckles and General Johnston, and not content with upsetting and
overriding the Governor, are resolved to upset and override the President too.
The proclamation is, therefore, to be construed — by the help, we suppose, of
that profound jurist. Judge Eckles — in conformity to their ideas. In other words,
it is to be nullified and set aside.
" We have heard a great deal heretofore about the danger of personal vio-
lence and loss of property to which the Gentiles in the Territory of Utah have
been exposed on the part of the Mormons. At present, the danger seems to be
entirely the other way. Nothing can exceed the rancorous and even ferocious
feelings against the Mormons with which the army at Camp Scott appears to be
penetrated. They regard themselves as engaged not so much in a public service
as in the prosecution of a private quarrel. They regard the Mormons as having
subjected them to all the hard service of this campaign — as having kept them en-
camped all winter on short rations amid the mountains — as having derided, ma-
ligned, and insulted them; and even the very common soldiers are represented as
having put on an air of offended dignity at the idea that the Peace Commis-
sioners had arrived to snatch their intended victims from their revengeful grasp.
This state of feeling on the part of the soldiers affords an abundant justification
for Governor Cumming's objections to their entry into the valley and for the
dread and horror with which the Mormons regard their presence there. If it be
deemed proper or necessary to station troops in Utah, they ought to be some
fresh corps, and not a body of men filled with such hatred and prejadice. Let
some of the troops now on their march across the plains be employed in this ser-
vice, and the force now collecting under General Johnson be sent in some other
direction. That ofificer, however, would seem bent upon entering the valley, in
spite of the remonstrances of Governor Gumming, whose authority over the
troops he denies, with the very object, it would seem, of driving the Mormons to
destroy their houses and to prevent them from gathering their crops, thus subject-
ing thousands of wom'en and children to the danger of starvation."
The Peace Commissioners, however, in the sequel accomplished their mis-
sion, but the breach between Governor Gumming and General Johnston and the
Judges, extended, as we have seen, to the impeachment of his course and a
demand from Camp Floyd for his removal.
But his inability to investigate and bring to justice the authors of the Moun-
tain Meadow Massacre, during his term of office, is known to have been a thorn
in Governor Cumming's side. After him no Governor could be specially held
HISTORY OF SALT LAKE CITY, 245
responsible; and thus justice tarried long, impeded at the onset by the Judges
themselves, which is the unmistakable import of Attorney-General Black's rebuke
to them.
CHAPTER XXVII.
.AFTER THE UTAH WAR. CELEBRATION OF THE FOURTH OF JULY. BENEFITS
OF CAMP FLOYD TO THE COMMUNITY. TRADE WITH THE CAMP. THE
PONY EXPRESS. THE BULK OF THE TROOPS MARCH FOR NEW MEXICO
AND ARIZONA. JOHNSTON LEAVES FOR WASHINGTON. THE DEPARTURE
OF GOVERNOR GUMMING. THE REMNANT OF THE ARMY ORDERED TO
THE STATES. SALES OF CAMP FLOYD. GOODS WORTH FOUR MILLION
DOLLARS SOLD FOR ONE HUNDRED THOUSAND. DESTRUCTION OF ARMS
AND AMMUNITION. LINCOLN'S NEW APPOINTMENTS FOR UTAH. COM-
PLETION OF THE TELEGRAPH LINE. FIRST MESSAGE FROM EX-GOV-
ERNOR YOUNG— "UTAH HAS NOT SECEDED." THE GOVERNOR TO PRESI-
'! DENT LINCOLN AND HIS RESPONSE. UTAH'S MANIFESTO ON THE CIVIL
, WAR.
I
Soon after the attempt of the military, instigated by the Judges, to arrest
ij Brigham Young, the Lieut. -General of the Utah militia issued the following:
"special order no. 2.
" "Headquarters Nauvoo Legion,
Adjutant-General's Office, G. S. L. City, July ist, 1859.
"Monday, the 4th, will be the eighty-third anniversary of the birth of
American freedom. It is the duty of every American citizen to commemorate
the great event; not in a boisterous revelry, but with hearts full of gratitude to
Almighty God the Great Father of our rights.
"The Lieutenant-General directs for the celebration in the city as follows :
" ist. — At sunrise a salute of thirteen guns will be fired, commencing near the
residence of His Excellency the Governor, to be answered from a point on South
Temple Street, near the residence of President Brigham Young.
" The national flag will be hoisted at the signal from the first gun, simul-
taneously at the residences of Governor Gumming and President Young, at the
office of the Territorial Secretary, and the residence of the United States At^
torney. Captain Pitt's band will be stationed at sunrise opposite the residence
of Governor Gumming, and Captain Ballo's band opposite the residence of
President Young.
"At the hoisting of the flags the bands will play the 'Star Spangled
Banner.'
246 HISTORY OF SALT LAKE CITY.
I
tf
2d. — After the morning salute the guns will be parked at the Court House
till noon, when a salute of 33 guns will be fired.
" 3d. — At sunset a salute of five guns, in honor of the Territories, will be
fired, and the flags lowered.
"4th. — For the above service Lieutenant Atwood and two platoons of
artillery will be detailed. Two six-pounder iron guns will be used for the
salutes. Also a first lieutenant and two platoons of the ist cavalry will be de-
tailed as a guard, and continue on guard through the day. The whole detach-
ment will be dismissed after the sunset salute.
"5th. — Col. J. C. Little, of the General's staff, will perform the duties of
marshal of the day, with permission to select such deputies as he may require to
assist him. The Declaration of Independence will be read by him from the steps
of the Court House at noon.
"6th. — The bands and the services to be performed by them will be under
the direction of Col. Duzette.
" By order of
Lieut.-Gen. DANIEL H. WELLS.
Adjt.-Gen. JAMES FERGUSON."
When the danger of conflict between Camp Floyd and Salt Lake City was
passed, the citizens began to realize many material benefits from the camp.
The famine of 1855-6 had impoverished the Territory in its agricultural re-
sources; the handcart emigration had brought to the country several thousand
poor people, destitute, after their terrible journey, of even the barest clothing,
whereas in former years the "Independent Companies," and the "Ten-pound
ox-team companies," had brought moderate, and in some cases rich and plentiful
supplies, which had lasted the emigrants several years before they were entirely
exhausted. But now for a long while the common sources of supplies had been
stopped ; and commerce with the east had been suspended by the expedition it-
self. The Gentile merchants had broken up their houses at the approach of the
army, and General Johnston on his joining his army issued orders that no trains
of merchandise bound for Great Salt Lake City should be allowed to pass his
lines.
Thus the community had become utterly destitute of almost everything
necessary to their social comfort. The people were poorly clad, and rarely ever
saw anything on their tables but what was prepared from flour, corn, beet-
molasses, and the vegetables and fruits of their gardens. They were alike desti-
tute of implements of industry, and horses, mules, and wagons for their agricuL
tural operations. Utah was truly very poor at that period ; indeed, never so poor
since the Californian emigrants poured into Great Salt Lake City in 1849.
The presence of the army soon changed the condition of the community.
It was not to be expected that the leaders of the Church would from the Taber-
nacle encourage much intercourse between the camp and the citizens, but quite a
number of the self-reliant men, who have since represented the business and com-
merce of the Territory, sought directly the intercourse of trade with the camp,
while the more cautious furnished these middle men with the native supplies of
HISTORY OF SALT LAKE CITY. 247
the country, by which the trade was sustained. In this way money was gathered
in freely by the Gentiles and the bold Mormon traders, and the people generally
were thus indirectly clothed and supplied with the delicacies of tea, coffee and
sugar, in return for the produce of the field, the dairy and the chicken-coop.
It was at Camp Floyd, indeed, where the principal Utah merchants and
business men of the second decade of our history may be said to have laid the
foundation of their fortunes, among whom were the Walker Brothers. Nor
should it be made to appear that this commerce with Camp Floyd marked the
rising of an apostate wave in Utah society. It signified simply the desire of each
to better his own condition and that of society at large. And thus commercial
intercourse and mutual benefits softened the feelings of hostility between the
citizens and the soldiers, and the Utah Expedition became transformed into a
great blessing to Utah, and especially to the Mormon community. A passage
here, from the New York Hetahf s Utah special correspondent, of the novelties
of the Camp Floyd trade, must be quoted for its striking illustration:
"Among the rascalities of those times, contracts were awarded to certain
political hucksters at Washington for an enormous quantity of flour to be supplied
at $28.40 per 100 pounds, which in the course of time was furnished by the
Prophet at $6 in the City of the Saints. That contractor also managed to get an
order from the Secretary of War for the specie at Camp Floyd, failing which he
was to be paid in mules, and of these he had his choice, at figures ranging from
;^ioo to $150 each. Great bands of these animals were driven to California, and
sold on the Pacific at nearly six times their Camp Floyd prices. With such and
many other flagrant facts, it is not surprising that the Prophet and the Apostles
designated Mr. Buchanan's expedition to Utah in 1857, 'The Contractors'
War!'"
The experiment of the Pony Express from the Missouri - River to the
Pacific Ocean was made in the spring of i860. The Deseref News of date April
nth, made note: "The first Pony Express from the west left Sacramento
City at 12 m., on the night of the 3rd instant, and arrived in this city at 11:45
of the 7th, inside of the prospectus time. The express from the east left St.
Joseph, Missouri, at 6:30 on the evening of the 3d, and arrived in this city at
6:25 on the evening of the 9th. This brings us within six days' communication
from the frontier and seven from Washington — a result which we Utonians, ac-
customed to receive news three months after date, can well appreciate."
Among the first news brought was that a bill was before the House to amend
the organic act of this Territory, remove the seat of government from Great Salt
Lake City to Carson Valley, and change the name from Utah to Nevada. The
object stated was to take the controling power out of the hands of the Mormons
of Utah, and give it into the hands of the Gentiles of Nevada.
In May of this year the mass of the troops from Camp Floyd took up their
march for New Mexico and Arizona, Only a few were left to perform the
requisite duties of the garrison.
Just previous, General Albert Sidney Johnston left Camp Floyd for Washing-
ton, via the southern route to California. He never visited Great Salt Lake City
248 HISTORY OF SALT LAKE CITY.
after he passed through it with his army. General Johnston and Brigham Young
therefore never met. After his departure the command devolved upon Colonel \
Philip St, George Cooke, who by a general order February 6th, 1861, changed "
the name of Camp Floyd to Fort Crittenden. The intent was understood to dis-
connect the fort from the name of Secretary Floyd, whose plot for secession was
exposed, and his Utah Expedition, sinking twenty millions of the nation's
money, considered to be a part of that secession plot.
In May, 1861, just previous to the outbreak of our great civil war. Governor
Gumming and his lady departed from Great Salt Lake City with no expectation
of returning. He had entered the city amid great display of welcome, and fain
had the city shown him and his lady like honors in their retirement, but it was
against his wish ; so his departure was not generally known until it was announced
in the Deseret News, in which the thanks of a grateful community were sent after
him for the faithful performance of his service towards them and to the General
Government.
The remainder of Johnston's army was ordered to the States to participate
in the war; and the order was given to destroy the best equipped military post
ever established in the West. But before the evacuation and destruction of arms,
public sales were announced of provisions and army stores of every kind. Many
went from Great Salt Lake City and the nearer settlements to purchase these valu-
able supplies, which were sold by auction, and consisted of flour, bacon, groceries
of all kinds, hardware, carpenters' tools, blacksmiths' tools, wagons, harness,
tents, medical stores, clothing, and, in fine, everything the settlers most needed.
It was estimated that four million dollars' worth of goods were sold for ;^ 100,000.
Flour sold for 52 cents per sack of 100 lbs. in double sacks, for which the Gov
ernment had paid $28.40. Everything else was in proportion.
President Young sent his business manager, Mr. H. B. Clawson, to purchase
all kinds of supplies most needed for his numerous family, dependents and work-
men. He bought about $40,000 worth, among which was the Government safe,
where had been deposited $80,000 in gold, which the Government had freighted
to Camp Floyd in an ox team.
But the most historical article was the flagstaff, which was transplanted from
Camp Floyd to the brow of the hill on the east of Brigham's mansion, where for
many years it stood, though now seen no more.
During the sale Mr. Clawson, in his character of ex-Governor Young's busi-
ness manager, became familiarly acquainted with Quartermaster Col. H. G. Cross-
man and other officers, to whom he extended a courteous invitation to visit
President Young before their departure from the Territory. They politely
accepted, and seized the opportunity to present to the Founder of Utah the flag-
staff which had borne aloft the national banner at Camp Floyd. At such a
moment of secession, the gift was a magnificent compliment to the ex-Governor,
and, indeed, to the Mormon people also ; but Philip St. George Cooke, the com-
mander of the Mormon Battalion, was in command after the departure of General
Johnston, and perhaps he and others of the officers had revised their views of the
"Utah rebellion."
After the sales were over^ 'the arms and ammunition weie taken to a distance
HISTORY OF SALT LAKE CITY. 249
and piled up in pyramids; long trains of powder were then properly arranged,
and at a given signal the fusee was touched and the work of destruction accom-
plished. Several pieces of ordnance that could not be exploded were consigned
to deep wells; but it is said that they were recovered and that they have often
since done good service in the celebration of the Fourth of July, in honor ofjhe
national birth, and of the Twenty-fourth of July, in honor of the arrival of the
Pioneers into these valleys and the founding of Great Salt Lake City.
In the early autumn of 1861 the troops marched Eastward, and thus ended
the famous Utah expedition.
The change of Federal administration incident to the election of Abraham
Lincoln, also, in due course of time gave to Utah a new set of Federal officials.
Excepting the Governor, these proved to be more acceptable to the people than
their predecessors had been. Secretary Wooton, after the departure of Governor
Gumming, on the first announcement of secession sent in his resignation to Presi-
dent Lincoln. John W.Dawson, of Indiana, was then appointed Governor;
Frank Fuller, of New Hampshire, Secretary ; John F. Kinney, who had already
been Chief Justice of this Territory, replaced Chief Justice Eckles ; and Asso-
ciate Justices Crosby and Flenniken were appointed to succeed Sinclair and
Cradlebaugh. Secretary Fuller arrived before Governor Dawson, and, on the re-
tirement of Mr. Wooton, Fuller also became acting Governor. James Duane
Doty was Superintendent of Indian Affairs. It was said that these appointments
were designed by President Lincoln to conciliate ex-Governor Young and the
Mormons at the outbreak of our civil war. Whether this was so or not, it is no
more than just to here record that, notwithstanding the anti-Mormon attitude of
the party that elevated Mr. Lincoln to the Presidency, his course towards Utah
I was uniformly considerate.
Governor Dawson arrived and entered happily upon his official duties, but
he soon fell into temptation, and his gallantries towards a lady of the city be-
coming exposed, he hastily departed, and Secretary Fuller a second time became
the acting Governor.
About the middle of October, 1861, the eastern portion of the Pacific Tele-
graph Line was completed to Great Salt Lake City. The following record of the
event is from the Deseret News of October 23 :
"On Thursday afternoon the 'operator' connected with the eastern portion
of the telegraph line informed the visitors who had gathered around his table to
witness the first operations in communicating with the Eastern States, that the
'line was built," but for some reason there was no through message either sent or
received till the following day.
"The first use of the electric messenger being courteously extended to
President Young, he forwarded the following congratulations to the President of
the Company :
"Great Salt Lake City, U. T., Oct. 18, 1861.
'^ Hon. J. H. Wade, President of the Pacific Telegraph Company, Cleveland,
Ohio.
"Sir — Permit aie to congratulate you on the completion of the Overland
4
2SO HISTORY OF SALT LAKE CITY.
Telegraph line west to this city, to commend the energy displayed by yourself
and associates in the rapid and successful prosecution of a work so beneficial, and
to express the wish that its use may ever tend to promote the true interests of the
dwellers upon both the Atlantic and Pacific Slopes of our continent.
''Utah has not seceded, but is firm for the Constitution and laws of our
once happy country, and is warmly interested in such useful enterprises as the one
so far completed.
BRIGHAM YOUNCx."
On Sunday morning the following very becoming reply was received :
"Cleveland, Oct. 19, 1861.
^^ Hon. Brigham Young, Prest., Great Salt Lake City:
"Sir — I have the honor to acknowledge the receipt of your message of last
evening, which was in every way gratifying, not only in the announcement of the
completion of the Pacific Telegraph to your enterprising and prosperous city,
but that yours, the first message to pass over the line, should express so unmis-
takeably the patriotism and union-loving sentiments of yourself and people.
"I join with you in the hope that this enterprise may tend to promote the
welfare and happiness of all concerned, and that the annihilation of time in our
means of communication may also tend to annihilate prejudice, cultivate brotherly
love, facilitate commerce and strengthen the bonds of our once and again to be
happy union.
"With just consideration for your high position and due respect for you
personally,
" I remain your obedient servant,
J. H. WADE,
Prest. Pac. Tel. Co.''
Acting-Governor Fuller made early use of the wire to extend salutations to
President Lincoln, of which the following are copies of the congratulations and
the acknowledgment :
"G. S. L. City, Oct. 18, 1861.
" To the President of the United States :
"Utah, whose citizens strenuously resist all imputations of disloyalty^ con-
gratulates the President upon the completion of an enterprise which spans a
continent, unites two oceans, and connects with nerve of iron the remote ex-
tremities of the body politic, with the great governmental heart. May the whole
system speedily thrill with the quickened pulsations of that heart, as the paracide
hand is palsied, treason is punished, and the entire sisterhood of States joins hands
in glad reunion around the National fireside.
FRANK FULLER,
^Acting- Governor of Utah Territory. ' '
"Washington, D. C, Oct. 20, 1861.
** Hon. Prank Fuller, Acting- Governor of Utah :
" Sir — The completion of the telegraph to Great Salt Lake City, is auspi-
HISTORY OF SALT LAKE CITY. 231
cious of the stability and union of the Republic. The Government reciprocates
your congratulations. \
ABRAHAM LINCOLN."
" During the business hours on Friday there was quite an interest in the
performances of the electricity, ^d congratulations over the wire to distant
friends were extended in every direction. The day throughout was quite an oc-
casion for the moving celebrities of Main Street,
"The western line, as reported to us, was to have been finished on Monday
evening or yesterday morning — a much earlier day than the most sanguine
friends of Mr. Street anticipated. The last poles being set to the west of Fort
Crittenden, Mr. Street has consequently been detained there, but was expected
in this morning, and will doubtless open his battery on the inhabitants of the
Pacific during the course of to-day ; and thus the inhabitants of the Pacific and
Atlantic States will be united in electric bonds.
"Having expressed our sentiments on the building of the telegraph line
through the Territory in a recent number of the News, we will now only say
that the hope is entertained that at no distant day the 'iron horse' may have a
track prepared for it across the continent."
As might be expected, the great civil war between the North and the South
gave to Utah the opportunity for a unique example in her conduct. She had her-
self just been "in rebellion" ; how would she now act ? This was a most natural
question, and, strange to say, her answer was almost the reverse of the general
pronouncement of what she would do.
And here it might be said that it matters not to the integrity of history
whether or not the Mormons be understood by others, as long as they act con-
sistently with themselves, and their own faith in their religious and national
mission. We have just seen that on the very first occasion after the " Utah
rebellion," as we will style it to illustrate the example, they made haste to
re assert their faith in the Constitution and the Union, by celebrating the day of
American independence very much with the same intention as though they had
sent a manifesto to the States of their views and conduct. And just in keeping
with this was the pronouncement of the Mormon leaders upon secession at its
very birth, as the accompanying Fourth of July military order will suggest:
Headquarters Nauvoo Legion,
G. S. L. City, June 25th, 1861.
GENERAL ORDERS, NO. I.
1. Thursday, the Fourth of July, being the eighty-fifth anniversary of
American independence; notwithstanding the turmoil and strife which distress
the nation established on that foundation, the citizens of Utah esteem it a privi-
lege to celebrate the day in a manner becoming American patriots and true lovers
of the Constitution of their country.
2. The Lieut. -General directs that district commanders throughout the
Territory will conform, as far as practicable, to the requisitions of the various
committees of arrangements for details.
2^2 HISTORY OF SALT LAKE CLTY.
8. In Great Salt Lake City, at the request of the committee of arrange-
ments, the following details will be made, and placed under the direction of
Major John Sharp, marshal of the day, viz :
One company of the ist, and one of the 3d regiments of infantry.
One company of light artillery and two guns.
Two brass bands and one martial band.
By order of
Lieut. -Gen. D. H. Wells,
James Ferguson, Adjt.-Gen.
This military manifesto, just after the national flag had been fired upon at
Fort Sumter, meant simply that Utah was going to stand by the Union.
CHAPTER XXVI IL
MORMON SERVICK OX THE OVERLAND MAIL LINE. PRESIDENT LINCOLN
CALLS ON BRIGHAM YOUNG FOR HELP. THE EX-GOVERNOR'S RESPONSE.
BEN HOLLADAV THANKS BRIGHAM. LOT SMITH'S COMMAND. REPORT
OF THE SERVICE. GENERAL CRAIG COMPLIMENTS THE MORMO.N
TROOPS.
In the spring of 1862 the Indians were troublesome on the Overland Mail
Route and stopped the mails. They destroyed nearly every mail station between
Fort Bridger and North Platte, they burned the coaches and mail bags, ran off
the stock, and killed the drivers.
Acting-Governor Fuller, Chief Justice Kinney, and six other gentlemen
connected with the mail and telegraph lines, joined in recommending to Secretary
Stanton to authorize the Superintendent of Indian Affairs, James Duane Doty, to
raise and put in service immediately, "a regiment of mounted rangers from the
inhabitants of the Territory, with olificers to be appointed by him," etc.
But Acting-Governor Fuller and Chief Justice Kinney had over-rated the
Federal power in Utah, as embodied in themselves, for such a service, when they
overlooked ex-Governor Young, Lieutenant-General Wells and the Utah militia.
Three days after the despatch of Governor Fuller and others to Secretary
Stanton, Brigham Young telegraphed to the Utah Delegate at Washington a
corrected statement in which he said, "the militia of Utah are ready and able,
as they ever have been, to take care of all the Indians, and are able and willing
to protect the mail line if called upon to do so^
But ex-Governor Young, however, did not wait even to be called upon for
help. The need of the service was too imperative to linger for official etiquette,
and to Colonel Robert T. Burton the Commanding-General issued the following-
HISTORY OF SALT LAKE CITY.
253
"INSTRUCTIONS.
"G. S. L. City, April 24, 1862.
" Col. Robert T. Burton and the detachment to guard the mail stage under you:
"You are detailed for this special service, and will proceed from this place;
in company with Captain Hooper, General C. W. West, Judge Kinney, and
probably other passengers in the mail coach for the Eastern States, as a guard to
protect them against the depredations of Indians, who are said to be hostile; and
continue in their company on the route as far as it may be deemed necessary by
yourself and Captain Hooper for their safety. In traveling, the stage must corres-
pond to your time, as it cannot be expected that without change of animals your
detachment can keep pace with the stage, especially where the roads are good.
You will obtain grain for your animals, and some provisions for your command
at the mail stations, for which you will give a receipt to be paid in kind, keeping a
copy of each receipt, and advising President Young by telegraph, so that we can
forward the amounts by the teams going to the States, which are expected to start
in a few days. In traveling be cautious, and vigilant, and keep together and
allow no straggling from camp, either night or day. There must not be any
drinking of spirituous liquors, neither swearing, or abusive language of any kind,
and treat everybody with courtesy, and prove there is no necessity of trouble
with the Indians, when white men act Avith propriety.
" If you can get to speak with Indians, treat them kindly, showing them you
are their friends; and so far as you are able, investigate the cause and origin of
the present difficulties.
"You had better have one or two friendly Indians to accompany you,
through whose agency you may be able to communicate with others, and thus
become apprised of their intentions.
" When you meet the troops from the East said to be on their way, you can
return, but you will remain in the vicinity of the threatened difficulties until
relieved, or so long as it may be necessary.
"* '* ^ Keep a journal of every day's proceedings, and a strict
account of every business transaction, as well of the causes leading to the dis-
turbances, if obtainable.
"Send by telegraph to President Young from every station giving us in short
the current news, and prospects of Indians, state of the roads, weather, and other
matters of interest.
"When you arrive at or near the scene of disaster, feel your way before you,
proceed so that you may not be surprised by a concealed or sudden movement of
the Indian?, or other evil-disposed persons.
"May God bless, prosper and preserve you all.
DANIEL H. WELLS,
" Lieut. -General Commanding N. L. Militia of Utah Territory.''^
A day later Acting-Governor Fuller made an official requisition for the
escort, and the Lieut. -General issued a supplemental order:
254 HISTORY OF SALT LAKE CITY.
"special orders, no. 2.
" Headquarters Nauvoo Legion,
"G. S. L. City, April 25th, 1862.
" ist. In compliance with the requisition this day made by His Excellency
Frank Fuller, Acting-Governor Utah Territory, Col. R. T. Burton will forthwith
detail twenty men, properly armed and equipped, and mounted on good and
efficient animals, provided with thirty days' rations and grain for animals, and
wagons sufficient to carry grain, rations and bedding, and proceed East on the
overland mail route, guarding mails, passengers, and property pertaining thereto.
"2d. It is expected that to have the protection of the escort, the mail
coaches will travel with it, as it cannot be expected that without change of
animals it can keep pace with the mail coaches, especially when the roads are
good.
" 3d. Colonel Burton will immediately offer his services to said Mail Com-
pany, and then proceed upon his journey, and remain on the line until relieved
by the troops said to be coming up from the East, or so long as it may be neces-
sary to quiet the Indians, who are said to be hostile, and the road considered safe
from their depredations.
" God bless and prosper you all.
DANIEL H. WELLS,
Lieut. -General Commanding N. L. Militia Utah Territory.''''
But the historical mark extraordinary of this service is seen in the call of
President Lincoln on Brigham Young for help, and his authorizing of him to
raise a company, just as though he had been still the Governor of Utah :
" ORDER.
"Washington, April 28th, 1862.
"Mr. Brigham Young, Salt Lake City:
"By express direction of the President of the United States, you are
authorized to raise, arm and equip one company of cavalry for ninety (90) days'
service.
" This company will be organized as follows: One captain, one first lieu-
tenant, one second lieutenant, one first sergeant, one quartermaster sergeant,
four (4) sergeants, and eight (8) corporals, two (2) musicians, two (2) farriers,
one saddler, one wagoner, and fifty-six (56) to seventy-two (72) privates.
"The company will be employed to protect the property of the Telegraph
and Overland Mail Companies, in or about Independence Rock, where depreda-
tions have been committed, and will continue in service only until the U. S.
troops can reach the point where they are so much needed. It may therefore be
disbanded previous to the expiration of ninety (90) days.
" It will not be employed for any offensive operations other than may grow
out of the duty herein assigned to it. The officers of the company will be
mustered into the U. S. service by any civil officer of the U. S. at Salt Lake City
competent to administer an oath. The men employed in the service above named
will be entitled to receive no other than the allowance authorized by law to
soldiers in the service of the U. S. Until the proper staff officers for substituting
HISTORY OF SALT LAKE CITY. 255
these men arrive, you will please furnish subsistence for them yourself, keeping an
accurate account thereof for future settlement with U. S. Government.
" By order of the Secretary of War.
L. THOMAS,
Adjutant- General. ' '
This telegram was received at 9 o'clock at night, April 28; but, within the
hour, the following was issued and immediately in the hands of Major Lot Smith :
"Headquarters Nauvoo Legion,
" Great Salt Lake City, April 28th, 1862.
"SPECIAL ORDERS, NO. 3.
" I St. Pursuant to instructions received this day from ex-Governor Brigham
Young, and in compliance with a requisition from the President of the United
States, Major Lot Smith of the Battalion of Life Guards is hereby directed to
enlist by voluntary enrollment for the term of ninety days a company of mounted
men, to be composed as follows, to-wit : One captain, one first lieutenant, one
second lieutenant, one quartermaster sergeant, one first sergeant, four sergeants,
eight corporals, two musicians, two farriers, one saddler, one wagoner, and
seventy-two privates. Major Smith is hereby assigned to the command of the
company with rank of captain, and on mustering the men into service, will
administer the proper oath agreeably to instructions herewith accompanying.
" 2d. The object of this expedition, to which this company is assigned, as
instructed and authorized by the President, is the protection of the property of
the Overland Mail and Telegraph Companies, at or about Independence Rock,
and the adjoining country. Captain Smith will, therefore, as soon as his com-
pany is completed proceed at once to the above named vicinity, and patrol the
road so as to render all necessary aid as contemplated by the instructions. It is
not anticipated that the company, or any portion of it will camp so near any of
the mail stations, as to give trouble or inconvenience; but sufficiently adjacent to
render prompt and ready aid when required. Captain Smith is enjoined to pre-
serve strict sobriety in his camp and prevent the use of all profane language or
disorderly conduct of any kind. No apprehension is entertained by the General
commanding, but that the best and most praiseworthy deportment will char-
acterize the expedition, the officers and men having been selected with care, and
with a view to their ability to render good and efficient service.
"3d. Judging from advices received from the President of the United
States, troops may soon be expected on the road to relieve the company now or-
dered out; the commander of the detachment will receive the necessary instruc-
tions in proper time, and will remain on duty with his command until so in-
structed.
• " 4th. It is desirable to cultivate as far as practicable friendly and peaceful
relations with the Indians.
"5th. The service to be expected from the horses and mules on the expe-
dition will be a sufficient argument in favor of great care in marching and feed-
2s6 MJSTORY OF SALT LAKE CITY.
ing, as well as vigilant guarding and precaution against surprises. The greatest
economy must be used with ammunition ; none should be heedlessly wasted.
DANIEL H. WELLS.
^' Lieut.- General CommanMn ^ Nauvoo Legion, Militia of Utah Territory.'"
BRIGHAM young's TELEGRAM TO ADJT. -GENERAL L. THOMAS, WASHINGTON, D. C.
"Great Salt Lake City, May ist, 1862.
" Adjt.-Gen. L. Thomas, U. S. A., Washington City, D. C:
" Immediately on the receipt of your telegram of the 28 ult., at 8:30 p. m.,
I requested General Daniel H. Wells to proceed at once to raise a company of
cavalry to be mustered into the service of the United States for ninety days, as
per your aforesaid telegram. General Wells forthwith issued the requisite orders,
and yesterday the captain and other officers were sworn by Chief Justice J. F.
Kinney, the enrolling and swearing in the privates attended to, and the company
went into camp adjacent to this city.
"To-day the company, seventy-two (72) privates, officered as directed, and
ten (10) baggage and supply wagons, with one assistant teamster deemed neces-
sary, took up their line of march for the neighborhood of Independence Rock.
BRIGHAM YOUNG."
It will be noticed that about a day and a half had elapsed before the return
telegram of the ex-Governor was sent answering the call of President Lincoln.
At first it might seem that there was a missing link — that a previous answer must
have been sent to the effect that the call would be responded to at the earliest
moment ; but the feature of the case is eminently like the character of Brigham
Young. He answered the moment he could say to the President of the United
States, Your order is obeyed; the company is on the march ! Abraham Lincoln
was just the man to appreciate such a telegram and such executive business ; so
was also the great mail contractor Ben Holladay, who became assured the mo-
ment he knew that Brigham Young was moving in the service and thus acknowl-
edged :
"New York, May 2, 1862.
' ' To Gov. Brigham Young :
"Many thanks for your prompt response to President Lincoln's request. As
soon as the boys can give protection, the mails shall be resumed. I leave for
your city Sunday next.
BEN HOLLADAY."
As a link of the history may be given Chief Justice Kinney's certificate.
"I, John F. Kinney, Chief Justice of the Supreme Court of the United
States for the Territory of Utah, do hereby certify, that in pursuance of the fol-
lowing order from the War Department, I mustered into service of the United
States for the period of ninety days, unless sooner discharged, the following
officers, whose names appear to the certificate by administering the usual oath,
and the oath provided by the act of Congress August 6th, 1861."
The following extracts from Major Lot Smith's letters to Brigham Young,
give a touch of the performance of the service :
HISTORY OF SALT LAKE CITY. 257
"Pacific Springs, June 15th, 1862.
* * Prest. Brigham Yotmg :
" Dear Sir — I had an interview with Brig. -Gen. Craig, who arrived by stage
at this point. He expressed himself much pleased with the promptness of our at-
tention to the call of the General Government, also the exertions we had made
to overcome the obstacles on the road, spoke well of our people generally; he also
informed me he had telegraphed to President Lincoln to that effect, and intended
writing him at a greater length by mail. I received written instructions to the
effect that he had placed the whole of Nebraska Territory under martial law ;
Utah, he remarked, was perfectly loyal, and as far as he knew always had been.
He also remarked, we were the most efficient troops he had for the present ser-
vice, and thought as we had broke into our summer's work, of recommending
President Lincoln to engage our services for three months longer."
"Pacific Springs, June 27th^ '62.
* ' President Young :
" Dear Sir — I have just received orders from General Craig through Colonel
Collins to march my command to Fort Bridger to guard the line from Green
River to Salt Lake City, and start from here to-morrow morning.
"Lieut. Rawlings and command arrived here yesterday; owing to neglect of
the mail, my orders to Lieut. Rawlings did not reach him until eight days after
they were due, consequently there has been no detail left at Devil's Gate.
"There has been built by the command at the former place a log house 20
feet by 16 feet, with bake houses and detached also a commodious corral.
"Lieut. Rawlins has left the above station of Major O'Farral, Ohio volun-
teers, but occupied by Messrs. Merchant and Wheeler, traders, who formerly
owned the station that was destroyed there ; the property is subject to our order
at any time. The command also made a good and substantial bridge on Sweet-
water; three of our teams crossed over; the mail bridge would have been ^200
per wagon, this bridge is free, and also in charge of Major O'Farral. Several
emigration companies crossed during the time the command was there, free.
One company presented us with a good wagon, which Lieut. Rawlins handed over
to Captain Harmon.
" I have had frequent interviews with Col. Collins and officers; they have
behaved very gentlemanly, and expressed themselves much pleased with our ex-
ertions, and seemed disposed to render us every assistance to contribute to our
comfort.
" Col. Collins is decidedly against killing Indians indiscriminately, and will
not take any general measures, save on the defensive, until he can ascertain satis-
factorily by whom the depredations have been committed, and then not resort to
killing until he is satified that peaceable measures have failed.
"Col. Collins and officers all allow we are best suited to guard this road,
both men and horses ; they are anxious to return, and if they have any influence,
I imagine they will try to get recalled and recommend to Utah to furnish the
necessary guard. The Colonel has just left our camp, he has sent for Washakie,
chief of the Snakes, with a view to make treaty or obtain information. No
4
V
2^8 HISTORY OF SALT LAKE CITY.
sickness at all in camp at present. We are attached to Col. Collins' regiment.
Gen. Craig's division, and furnish our muster, descriptive and other returns to
that command. Should General Wells require duplicates, we will forward them.
I am sir, yours respectfully,
LOT SMITH."
" Deer Creek, May i6, 1862.
" Governor Fuller— My detachment arrived here yesterday at 3 p.m., en-
countering no difficulty, save that caused by the mud, snow, etc. We have seen
no Indians on the route; found all the mail stations from Green River to this
point deserted, all stock having been stolen or removed, and other property
abandoned to the mercy of the Indians or white men. We found at the Ice
Spring station, which had been robbed on the night of the 27th, a large lock
mail — twenty-six sacks, a great portion of which had been cut open and scattered
over the prairie. Letters had been opened and pillaged, showing conclusively
that some renegade whites were connected with the Indians in the robbery. The
mail matter, after being carefully collected and placed in the sacks, I have con-
veyed to this point, also ten other sacks of lock mail, from the Three Crossings:
all of which will be turned over to the mail agent at Lapariel. Twenty miles
from this, we will meet men from the East for this purpose. The United States
troops from the East will be in this vicinity to-morrow; and, unless otherwise
directed by yourself or General Wells, I will return immediately, halting on the
Sweet Water to investigate still further the causes of the difficulty, as I have not
been able to learn who or what Indians positively have been engaged in the mat-
ter ; but suppose it to be about thirty renegade Snakes and Bannacks from the
north. Some of the party spoke English plainly, and one the German language.
Hon. W. H. Hooper and Mr. C. W. West will take passage in the coach that
comes for the mail.
R. T. BURTON, Commanding:'
General Burton supplements this with the following :
"This year (1S62) will be remembered as the season of the highest water
ever experienced in the mountains; as a consequence travel (over the mountains)
was almost impossible. Some idea may be formed of this matter from the fact
that it took this command, with all their energy and exertion, nine days to go to
Fort Bridger, a distance of only 113 miles from Salt Lake. Most of our wagons
had to be dispensed with at Fort Bridger, at which point we proceeded mainly
with pack animals. It is proper, also, to state that we received from the Govern-
ment officers stationed at the military fort at Fort Bridger, provisions, tents, camp
equipage, etc., all that was within their power to grant. From this point (Fort
Bridger) all the mail stations were abandoned, many of them burned, some of
the coaches still standing upon the road riddled with bullet holes from the attack
made by the Indians at the time the drivers and passengers were killed. In some
of the mail stations west of the Devil's Gate we found large numbers of mail
sacks which had been cut open by Indians and the contents scattered over the
ground, which were carefully picked up by my company and carried on to the
HISTORY OF SALT LAKE CITY. 2S9
North Platte and turned over to the mail contractor at that point. The coaches
were enabled to come west as far as Lapariel Station, a distance of some thirty
miles east of the Platte.
"The expedition was one of the most hazardous and toilsome we were ever
called upon to perform, but succeeded admirably without the loss of a man or
animal. Returned to Salt Lake City thirty days from the time of starting and
were mustered out of service by Governor Fuller."
CHAPTER XXIX.
UTAH AGAIN ASKS ADMISSION IXTO THE UNION AS A STATE. THE HISTORY
AND PASSAGE OF THE ANTI-POLYGAMIC BILL IX THE HOUSE AND SEN-
ATE. THE BILL SIGNED BY ABRAHAM LINCOLN. PRESENTATION TO
CONGRESS OF THE CONSTITUTION OF THE "STATE OF DESERET,"
At this juncture, in the spring of 1862, it is worthy of special notice that
Utah was again asking admission into the Union. The Legislature of the pro-
posed "State of Deseret " was then in session. Hons. Wm. H, Hooper and
George Q. Cannon were elected senators; the former with the memorial and con-
.stitution, went east under the escort of Colonel Burton and his troop; and a des-
patch was sent to Apostle Cannon, who was then in England, requesting him to
Join Mr. Hooper in Washington early in June, which he did. The senators-elect
labored diligently in Washington during the remainder of that session of Con-
gress, and, notwithstanding that Utah was not admitted to statehood, she pro-
voked much respect from members of Congress over her conduct at that moment,
when it was thought by no inconsiderable portion of the world that the issues of
the war would be won by the South. It was universally understood at that time
that the sympathies of France and England were with the Southern Confederacy.
It is due to the history to here affirm something of the political views of
Utah relative to the Union. Delegate Hooper, December i6th, i860, in a letter
to Apostle George Q. Cannon, said:
" I think three-quarters of the Republicans of the House would vote for our
admission; but I may be mistaken. Many say they would gladly 'swap' the
Gulf States for Utah. I tell them that we shoAv our loyalty by trying to get in,
while others are trying to get out, notwithstanding our grievances, which are far
greater than any of the seceding States; but that I consider we can rediess our
grievances better in the Union than out of it."
Now it was with just this view before them that the people of Utah again
.sought admi.ssion into the Union as a State in the spring and summer of 1862.
26o HISTORY OF SALT LAKE CITY.
Ex-Governor Young and his compeers who were proud that so many of their
sires were among the men who founded this nation, and then, in a later generation,
won for it independence, held, as we see in every view, that the South committed
a grave error in seceding. They affirmed that the Southern States should have
fought out their issue inside the Union, and under the sanction of the Constitu-
tion. They did wrong, the people of Utah thought, in setting up a new confed-
eracy, and firing upon the old flag, thus tarnishing the bright integrity of their
cause.
The Mormon view of the great national controversy then, was, that the
Southern States should have done precisely what Utah did, and placed themselves
on the defensive ground of their rights and institutions, as old as the Union. And
it is worthy of special note in the political record of Utah that her Delegate ad-
vocated the Union doctrine at the capitol and condemned secession, during the
term of the last Congress preceding the dissolution, offering Utah as a political
example with words that deserve to be imperishable in history : "We can redress
our grievances better in the Union than out of it."
In the House of Representatives, April 8, 1862, Mr. Morrill, of Vermont, by
unanimous consent, introduced a bill to punish and prevent the practice of polyg-
amy in the Territories of the United States, and for other purposes, and to disap-
prove and annul certain acts of the Legislative Assembly of the Territory of Utah ;
which was read a first and second time, and referred to the Committee on Ter-
ritories.
April 28. — Mr. Ashley, from the Committee on Territories, reported back,
with a recommendation that it do pass, a bill (H. R. No. 391) to punish and pre-
vent the practice of polygamy in the Territories of the United States and other
places, and disapproving and annulling certain acts of the Territorial Legislature of
Utah.
The bill was read.
Mr. Morrill, of Vermont. I desire to say to the House that this is the iden-
tical bill passed about two years ago, when there was an elaborate report made by
a gentleman from Tennessee, Mr. Nelson, and when it received the almost unani-
mous support of the House. The only difference between the two bills is this :
that bill excepted from its provisions the District of Columbia, and that excep-
tion is stricken out in this bill. I presume there is no member of the House who
is desirous to discuss this measure, and I move the previous question.
Mr. Maynard. I ask the gentleman from Vermont to allow me to suggest a
single verbal amendment, rather a matter of taste than otherwise.
Mr. Morrill, of Vermont. I will hear the suggestion.
Mr. Maynard. It is to strike out the word "nevertheless" in the proviso
to the first section. It has no business there; it is surplusage.
Mr. Morrill, of Vermont. Well, if the gentleman from Tennessee says that
"nevertheless" has no business there, I presume he is right; and I have no ob-
jection to the amendment.
Mr. Maynard. I offer the amendment. I have no speech to make about it.
The amendment was agreed to.
HISTORY OF SALT LAKE CITY. 261
Mr. Cradlebaugh. I ask the gentleman from Vermont to allow me to offer
an amendment.
Mr. Morrill, of Vermont. I prefer to have the bill pass as it is.
Mr. Cradlebaugh. I think if the gentleman understood the character of the
amendment he would not object. It is merely to correct the bill, and not for the
purpose of throwing any impediments in the way of its passage. The bill, in its
present shape, does not amount to anything.
The Speaker. Does the gentleman withdraw the demand for the previous
question ?
Mr. Morrill, of Vermont. I decline to do so.
The previous question was seconded, and the main question ordered.
The bill was ordered to be engrossed, and read a third time ; and being en-
grossed, it was accordingly read the third time.
Mr. Morrill, of Vermont, I move the previous question on the passage of
the bill.
Mr. Biddle. Is all debate necessarily cut off at this time?
The Speaker. It will be if the previous question is sustained.
Mr. Biddle. There are some of us who would like to hear debate, if not to
participate in it.
The Speaker. Does the gentleman withdraw the demand for the previous
question ?
Mr. Morrill, of Vermont, I decline to do so, and call for tellers.
Tellers were ordered; and Messrs. Cox and Chamberlain were appointed.
The House divided; and the tellers reported — ayes sixty-five, noes not
counted. ,
So the previous question was seconded.
The main question was ordered to be put; and being put, the bill was
passed.
In the Senate, June 3d —
Mr. Bayard. I move to take up House bill No. 391. It was reported back
from the Committee on the Judiciary, with amendments, about three weeks ago.
It is a bill that ought to be acted upon.
The motion was agreed to ; and the bill (H. F. No. 391) to punish the practice
of polygamy in the Territories of the United States, and other places, and disap-
proving and annulling certain acts of the Legislative Assembly of the Territory of
Utah, was considered as in committee of the Whole.
The amendment of the Committee on Judiciary was to strike out all after the
enacting clause, and insert, as a substitute :
That every person having a husband or wife living, who shall marry any other
person, whether married or single, in a Territory of the United States, or other
place over which the United States have exclusive jurisdiction, shall, except in the
cases specified in the proviso to this section, be adjudged guilty of bigamy, and
upon conviction thereof, shall be punished by a fine not exceeding ^500, and by im.
prisonment for a term not exceeding five years: Provided nevertheless, Thai this section
shall not extend to any person by reason of any former marriage whose husband or
wife by such marriage shall have been absent for five successive years without being
262 HISTORY OF SALT LAKE CITY.
known to such person within that time to be living ; nor to any person by reason
of any former marriage which shall have been dissolved by the decree of a compe-
tent court ; nor to any person by reason of any former marriage which shall have
been annulled or pronounced void by the sentence or decree of a competent court
on the ground of nullity of the marriage contract.
Sec. 2. And be it further enacted, That the following ordinance of the pro-
visional government of the State of Deseret, so called, namely: "An ordinance
incorporating the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints," passed February
8, in the year 185 1, and adopted, re-enacted, and made valid by the Governor and
Legislative Assembly of the Territory of Utah, by an act passed January 19, in
the year 1855, entitled, "An act in relation to the compilation and revision of
the laws and resolutions in force in Utah Territory, their publication and distribu-
tion," and all other acts and parts of acts heretofore passed by the said Legislative
Assembly of the Territory of Utah, which establish, support, maintain, shield, or
countenance polygamy, be, and the same hereby are, disapproved and annulled :
Provided, That this act shall be so limited and construed as not to affect or inter-
fere with the right of property legally acquired under the ordinance heretofore
mentioned, nor with the right "to worship God according to the dictates of con-
science," but only to annul all acts and laws which establish, maintain, protect, or
countenance the practice of polygamy, evasively called spiritual marriage, however
disguised by legal or ecclesiastical solemnities, sacraments, ceremonies, consecra-
tions, or other contrivances.
Sec. 3. And be it further enacted, That it shall not be lawful for any cor-
poration or association for religious or charitable purposes to acquire or hold real
estate in any Territory of the United States during the existence of the Terri-
torial government of a greater value than ^100,000; and all real estate acquired or
held by any such corporation or association contrary to the provisions of this act,
shall be forfeited and escheat to the United States : Provided, That existing vested
rights in real estate shall not be impaired by the provisions of this section.
Mr. Bayard. I will state, very briefly, the difference between the bill as
proposed to be amended by the Judiciary Committee, and the bill as passed by the
House of Representatives. The bill of the House is intended to punish the crime
of polygamy, or bigamy properly speaking, when committed in any Territory of
the United States ; but, in point of fact, it goes beyond that — it punishes cohabita-
tion without marriage. The committee, in their amendments, have so altered the
first section as to provide for the punishment of the crime of bigamy, leaving the
punishment for a similar offense, where marriage had been contracted elsewhere,
to the State where it was contracted. We thought that clearly preferable, and that
it would be of no utility to carry the act beyond the evil intended to be remedied,
which was to put down polygamy, as a part of the recognized legal institutions of
Utah.
There is a mistake in printing as to the second section. The second section
of the bill is not altered at all; we leave it precisely the same as it was in the
original bill. It repeals the ordinance of Utah, commonly called " An ordinance
incorporating the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints." It is precisely in
HISTORY OF SAL7' LAKE CITY. 263
words like the second section of the House bill, which is not altered in any
respect.
The third section is an amendment of the committee, and it is in the nature oi-
a mortmain law. The object is to prevent the accumulation of real estate in the
hands of ecclesiastical corporations in Utah. Though that Territory is large, the
value of real estate is not of large amount ; and the object of the section is to pre-
vent the accumulation of the property and wealth of the community in the hands
of what may be called theocratic institutions, inconsistent with our form of govern-
ment. In my own judgment it would be wiser to limit the amount of real estate that
could be held by any corporation of that character in a Territory, to the value of
;^5o,ooo, I think ^100,000 is too much. I am satisfied that-there is great danger in
that Territory, under its present government, that the ecclesiastical institutions
which prevail there will ultimately become the owners in perpetuity of all the valuable
land in that Territory, and so afford a nucleus for the permanence of their general
institutions unless a stop be put to it by act of Congress.
I have now stated the provisions of the amendment as proposed by the com-
mittee. The first section of the bill is altered so as to punish the crime of bigamy,
but leaving the question of cohabitation or mere adultery apart from the crime of
bigamy, without reference to any action of Congress. The second section is ex-
actly the same as the section in the House bill. The third section is a new one, the
object of which is to operate in the nature of a mortmain law, to prevent the en-
tire property of that Territory being accumulated in perpetuity in the hands of a
species of theocratic institutions.
The amendment was agreed to.
Mr. Hale. I shall probably vote lor the bill ; but I should like to know from
the chairman of the committee if its provisions are not inconsistent with — ■ —
Mr. Bayard. I move to strike out "^100,000" and insert "$50,000," in
the third section.
Mr. Hale. I will wait until that is decided.
Mr. Bayard. I make that motion.
The Vice President. The Senator's motion is not now in order, the amend-
ment of the committee having been adopted. It will be in order when the bill
shall have been reported to the Senate.
Mr. Hale. I was only going to say that I had been looking at a decision of
the Supreme Court in which the rights of Congress over the Territories are exam-
ined with some care, and it occurred to me that possibly the provisions of this
bill might be inconsistent with some of the doctrines and dogmas of that decision.
I refer to a case decided in the Supreme Court at the December term of 1856,
entitled, " Dred Scott vs. Sandford," and the doctrine was pretty thoroughly gone
over in that decision as to how far the powers of Congress extended over the Terri-
tories. It strikes me that by analogy this bill infringes upon that decision, for I
remember that one of the exponents of the tiue faith on this floor used to illus-
trate this dogma at least as often as once a month by saying that the same
law prevailed as to the regulation of the relations of husband and wife, parent
and child, and master and servant. I think at least once a month for years that
was proclaimed to be the law. If the national Legislature have no more power
264 HISTORY OF SALT LAKE CITY.
over the relations of husband and wife — and that seems to be the one touched
here — than over master and slave, it seems to me that if we mean to maintain that
respect which is due to so august a tribunal as the Supreme Court of the United
States, we ought to read the Dred Scott decision over again, and see if we are not
in danger of running counter to it. It strikes me decidedly that we are; and at
this time when there is so much necessity for invoking all the reverence there is
in the country for the tribunals of the country, it seems to me we ought to tread
delicately when we trench upon things that have been so solemnly decided by the
Supreme Court as this has. But, as the gentleman who reports the bill is a mem-
ber of the Judiciary Committee, if it is clearly his opinion that we can pass this
bill without trenching upon the doctrine of tne Dred Scott decision, I shall inter
pose no objection.
Mr. Bayard. I will not be drawn into any argument. It is sufficient to say
that I have read the decision to which the honorable Senator alludes, I think with
some care, and in my judgment this bill is entirely within its principles as well as
within the decision itself. I cannot see the contrariety. I shall not enter into the
argument now. To me it is very palpable that the bill is within the power of
Congress and is necessary legislation.
The bill was reported to the Senate.
Mr. Bayard. I propose now in the fifth line of the third section to strike
out "one hundred" and insert "fifty," so as to make the limitation of real
estate held by an ecclesiastical corporation, $50,000.
The amendment to the amendment was agreed to.
The amendment made as in the Committee of the Whole, as amended, was
concurred in.
Mr. McDoiigalL It may not be considereed a very judicious thing to object
to this measure here, but I feel called upon to do it. There is no Senator, I think,
who objects more strongly than I do to the vicious practice that obtains in the
Territory of Utah ; but I think we have just at this time trouble enough on our
hands without invoking further trouble. We have had our communication with
California cut off by the Indians on the line of communication. We have already
had a Utah war that cost the Government a large amount of money. We are to
have a controversy with them as to their admission as a State. They are clamoring
for that now. In my judgment, no particular good is to be accomplished by the
passage of this bill at present. When the time does come that our communication
across the continent is complete, then we can take jurisdiction where we have
power, and can employ power for the purpose of correcting these abuses. I sug-
gest to gentlemen, in the first place, that they cut off most likely the communica-
tion across the continent to our possessions on the Pacific by a measure of legisla-
tion of this kind, which will be well calculated to invite, certainly will invite, great
hostility, and interfere with the general interests of the country. It will cost the
Government a large amount if communication is interfered with, and do no substan-
tial good. I do not think the measure at this time is well advised. It is understood
its provisions will be a dead letter upon our statute-book. Its provisions will be
either ignored or avoided. If Senators will look the question fairly in the face,
and consider how important it is that we should have no difficulties now on our
II
HIST OR Y OF SALT LA KE CITY. 265
western frontier between us and the Pacific, how poorly we can afford to go into
the expenditure of a large amount of money to overcome difficulties that will be
threatened on the passage of this bill, and then consider the little amount of sub-
stantial good which will result from it, I think they will hesitate before they pass
it. The impolicy of its present passage will cause my colleague and self, after con-
sultation, to vote against the bill.
The amendment was ordered to be engrossed, and the bill to be read a third
time.
Afr. Howard. 1 ask for the yeas and nays on the passage of the bill.
Mr. Sumner. I was about to make the same request.
The yeas and nays were ordered, and being taken, resulted — yeas 37, nays 2:
as follows :
Yeas — Messrs. Anthony, Bayard, Browning, Chandler, Collamer, Cowan,
Davis, Dixon, Doolittle, Fessenden, Foot, Foster, Grimes, Hale, Harlan, Harris,
Howard, Howe, King, Lane of Indiana, Lane of Kansas, Morrill, Rice, Sauls-
bury, Sherman, Simmons, Stark, Sumner, Ten Eyck, Thomson, Trumbull, Wade,
Wilkinson, Willey, Wilmot, Wilson of Massachusetts, and Wright — 37.
Nays — Messrs. Latham and McDougall — 2.
So the. bill was passed.
The title was amended so as to read, "A bill to punish and prevent the
practice of polygamy in the Territories of the United States and other places,
and disapproving and annulling certain acts of the Legislative Assembly of the
Territory of Utah."
In the House of Representatives, June 5, 1862 —
Mr. Morrill, of Vermont. I ask the unamimous consent of the House to
take up and consider at this time the amendments of the Senate to an act (H. R.
No. 391) to punish and prevent the practice of polygamy in the Territories of the
United States and other places, and annulling certain acts of the Legislative
Assembly of the Territory of Utah.
Objection was made.
Mr. Moorhead. I ask the unanimous consent of the House to introduce a
resolution of inquiry.
Mr. Wickliffe. I object.
Mr. Bingham. I call for the regular order of business.
In the House of Representatives, June 17, 1868 —
The Speaker laid before the House bill of House (No. 391) to punish and
prevent the practice of polygomy in the Territories of the United States and
other places, disapproving and annulling certain acts of the Legislative -Assembly
of the Territory of Utah — reported from the Senate with amendments.
The Speaker. The bill and amendments will be referred to the Committee
on Territories.
Mr. Morrill, of Vermont. I object to these bills being taken up for refer-
ence. There is no necessity for the reference of this bill.
The Speaker. The order has been made.
266 HISTORY OF SALT LAKE CITY.
Air. Morrill, of Vermont. I move to reconsider the vote by which the
order was made ; and on that motion I demand tellers.
Tellers were ordered ; and Messrs. Morrill, of Vermont, and Olin were ap-
pointed.
The tellers reported — ayes sixty-eight, noes not counted.
So the motion to reconsider was agreed to.
In the House cf Representatives, June 17 —
The next bill taken up was (H. R. No. 391) to punish the practice of po-
lygamy m the Territories of the United States and other places, and disapproving
and annulling certain acts of the Legislative Assembly of the Territory of Utah,
with Senate amendments.
The amendments were read.
Mr. Phelps, of Missouri. I think, Mr. Speaker, that this is rather hasty
legislation. I should not be at all surprised if it were ascertained that the
Catholic Church in the city of Santa Fe owns real estate to the amount of more
than fifty thousand dollars under grants made by the Mexican Government. I
was about to submit a motion that the bill be referred to the Committee on
the Judiciary. I recollect very well that, in the hurry and haste of legislation,
a bill passed the House to prohibit polygamy in the Territories, which indirectly
sanctioned it within the District of Columbia, or inflicted no punishment for it
here. I desire that this matter shall be critically examined, and therefore I think
it should be referred to the Judiciary Committee.
Mr. Morrill, of Vermont. I am perfectly willing that the bill shall be
passed over informally until the gentleman from Missouri can inform himself on
the subject.
Mr. Phelps, of Missouri. I have no objection to letting the bill remain on
the Speaker's table. Let the amendments be printed, and let us know what we
are legislating upon.
Mr. Morrill, of Vermont. I have no objection to that.
It was so ordered.
In the House of Representatives, June 24, 1862 —
An act, (H. R. No. 391) to punish the practice of polygamy in the Terri-
tories of the United States and other places, and disapproving and annulling
certain acts of the Legislative Assembly of the Territory of Utah, with Senate
amendments thereon.
Mr. Morrill, of Vermont. I desire to say, in reference to the objection
made by the gentleman from Missouri [Mr. Phelps] last week, to one of the pro-
visions of this bill, that I understand the Roman Catholic church at Santa Fe has
property exceeding $50,000 in amount, but that is protected under treaty stipu-
lations. His objection, therefore, is not valid. I now- move the previous ques-
tion on concurring with the Senate amendments.
The previous question was seconded, and the main question ordered. |
The amendments were read.
The amendments of the Senate were concurred in.
I
HISTORY OF SALT LAKE CITY. 267
Mr. Morrill of Vermont moved to reconsider the vote by which the amend-
ments were concurred in ; and also moved to lay the motion to reconsider on the
table.
'I'he latter motion was agreed to.
In the House of Representatives, June 30, 1862 —
Mr. Granger, from the Committee on Enrolled Bills, reported as a truly en-
rolled bill an act (H. R. No. 391) to punish and prevent the practice of polygamy
in the Territories of the United States and other places, and disapproving and an-
nulling certain acts of the Legislative Assembly of the Territory of Utah.
In the House of Representatives, July 2, 1862 —
A message was received from the President of the United States, informing
the House that he had approved and signed an act (H, R. 391) to punish and
prevent the practice of polygamy in the Territories of the United States and other
places, and disapproving and annulling certain acts of the Legislative Assembly of
the Territory of Utah.
In the House of Representatives, on the 9th of June, 1862, Hon. J. M. Bern-
hisel, Delegate from Utah, presented the Constitution of the State of Deseret and
the memorial accompanying it, asking for admission into- the Union on an equal
footing with the original States, which were received and referred to the Committee
on Territories. On the loth the Vice-President presented the same in the Senate,
when Mr. Latham, of California, moved to print the constitution and memorial,
and to admit the senators-elect, Messrs. W, H. Hooper and George Q. Cannon to
the floor of the Senate, which motion was referred to the committee on Territories,
in that branch of the National Legislature. The next day Mr. Latham offered a
resolution to admit Messrs. Hooper and Cannon, claiming to be senators from Des-
eret, to the floor of the Senate, which w^as laid over.
CHAPTER XXX.
FOURTH OF JULY PROCLAMATION BY THE CITY COUNCIL. THE CITY'S LOY-
ALTY. THE TWO GOVERNORS. GREAT SPEECH OF GOVERNOR HARD-
ING. THE CITY HONORS THE CALIFORNIA SENATOR. THANKSGIVING
PROCLAMATIO.M. A CHANGE IN GOVERNOR HARDING'S CONDUCT.
Great Salt Lake City this year deemed it a duty to make special call for the
Fourth of July, whereas, formerly, either the Governor of the Territory, or
the Lieutenant-General of the militia, made proclamation and gave the order
of the day. It signified that Salt Lake City was, with well-considered for-
mality, making a record that it upheld the Union as an everlasting covenant of the
268 HISTORY OF SALT LAKE CITY.
American States. The following Preamble and Resolutions were passed by the I
City Comicil of Salt Lake City, Jmie 28th, 1862 :
" Whereas, While we lament the deplorable condition of our once happy
country, the independence of which was purchased by the best blood of our sires,
we hail with j)leasure the approaching anniversary of the birthday of the Nation, and
in view of perpetuating our free and liberal institutions which have for so long a
time inspired the patriotism of every true American citizen, and the strangers of
other climes, who have sought an asylum under the protecting aegis of our glorious
Constitution ; therefore,
^'Resolved, That we will celebrate the eighty-sixth anniversary of our National
independence.
''Resolved, That a committee of five be appointed, in behalf of the City Coun-
cil, to arrange the programme and order of celebration.
" Resolved, That Lieutenant-General Wells and staff be respectfully solicited to
co-operate in the celebration of the day, with such of the military of the district,
and the several bands, as may be deemed proper.
''Resolved, That the State, Federal, Territorial and County officers be invited
to take part in the celebration and join in the procession, and that the invitation be
extended to strangers and citizens generally, to participate in the ceremonies at the
Bowery.
"The following appointments for the occasion were then made, viz :
"Committee of Arrangements: Messrs. Wm. Clayton, J. C. Little, Theodore
McKean, Enoch Reese, and Nathaniel H. Felt.
" Furnishing Committee : Alonzo H. Raleigh, Elijah F. Sheets, and Isaac
Groo.
"Marshals of the Day: Col. Robert T. Burton and Majors John Sharp and
Andrew Cunningham.
ROBERT CAMPBELL, City Recorder r
On the 7th of July Stephen S. Harding of Indiana, the new Governor of
Utah Territory, arrived in the city and received a hearty welcome ; Judges Waite
and Drake arrived a few days later.
The Pioneer Day of this year was celebrated with a grand pageantry and ex-
traordinary enthusiasm. The procession halted in front of ex-Governor Young's
mansion, where with his counselors, H. C. Kimball and Daniel H. Wells, he
joined it, accompanied by Governor Harding, Secretary Fuller, Judges Waite
and Drake, Superintendent Doty, Mr. Fred Cook, assistant treasurer of the Over-
land Mail Co., Mr. James Street, of the U. P. Telegraph Co., and H. S. Rum-
field, Esq. It may be said that the " forces of the Gentiles " united this year to
celebrate the anniversary of the Utah Pioneers. It was computed that there were
under the branches of the "Old Bowery" five thousand persons, besides the
thousands congregated outside. The most unique feature of the day was the in-
troduction and speech of Governor Harding.
Governor Young invited Governor Harding to address the people ; and on
the two Governors taking the stand, there was a perfect stillness in the vast
assembly; but, on Governor Young saying, "I have the pleasure of presenting
HISTORY OF SALT LAKE CITY. 269
Governor Harding, who will make a speech," the stillness of the multitude was
broken and the Governor was greeted with cheering.
SPEECH OF GOVERNOR HARDING.
"Fellow Citizens — And in that word, I mean all of you, of all ages, sexes
and conditions — I am pleased at being with you to-day, and of being introduced
in the agreeable manner you have just witnessed. I have desired the opportunity
of looking upon such a vast concourse of the people of Utah, at one time; and,
as such an occasion now presents itself, it is right and proper that I should say a
few things to you.
"You have doubtless been informed before now that the President of the
United States, by and with the advice and consent of the Senate, has appointed
me to the office of Governor of this Territory. I have come amongst you to en-
ter upon the discharge of the high and important duties that have devolved upon
me, and when I greatly distrust my owm ability, yet I cannot but hope that, with
your assistance, I shall be able to discharge those duties to your satisfaction, and
with strict fidelity to the Government, whose servant I am.
" If I know my own heart, I come amongst you a messenger of peace and
good will. I have no wrongs — either real or imaginary, to complain of, and no
religious prejudices to overcome — [applause]. Believing, as I do, that the Con-
stitution of the United States secures to every citizen the right to worship God
according to the dictates of his own conscience; and holding, further, that the
Constitution itself is dependent for its support and maintenance on the preserva-
I' tion of that sacred right, it follows, as a corollory, that, under no pretext what-
ever, will I consent to its violation in this particular, by any official act of mine,
I whilst Governor of this Territory — [tremendous applause.]
"In a Government like ours, based upon the freest exercise of conscience,
I religion is a matter between man and his Maker, and not between man ar.d the
Government, and for the honest exercise of duties inculcated by his religious faith
and conscience, so long as he does not infringe upon the rights of others, equally
as sacred as his own, he is not responsible to any human tribunal, other than that
which is found in the universal judgment of mankind [hear hear]. If the
right of conscience of the minority depended upon the will of the majority, then,
in a government like ours, that same minority in a future day might control the
conscience of the majority of to-day — when by superior cunning and finease a
political canvass had been won in its favor, and thus alternately would it be in the
power of either when elevated to the seat of the law-makers to impose a despot
ism upon the conscience of its adversary only equalled by the * Index Expurga-
toris' against which the Protestant world so justly complained [applause].
" It has long been a maxim and accepted as true by our people, 'That it is
safe to tolerate error, so long as truth is left free to combat it.' Who are in
error, and in what that error consists in matters of speculative theology, are
questions only cognizable at the bar of heaven. It has been the fate of pro-
pogandists of new ideas and religious dogmas, without regard to their truth or
falsity, to meet with opposition, often ending in the most cruel persecution.
Hoary-headed error, claiming for itself the immunity of ages, glares with jaun-
2yo HISTORY OF SALT LAKE CITY.
diced eyes upon all new ideas, which refuse to pay to it its accustomed homage.
I know of no law of the human mind that makes this age an exception to the
rule. Nevertheless, he who founds his ideas and theories on truth, correlative with
his physical and spiritual being, and consequently in harmony with the law of
nature, must ultimately succeed ; whilst he who builds upon falsehood must share
the fate of him who built his house upon the sand. This is not only a declara-
tion of divine truth, but is in accordance with all human experience. The great
highway of man's civilization and progress is strewn with the wrecks of a thou-
sand systems — once the hope of their founders and challenging the confidence
of mankind [hear, hear]. But I must limit this dissertation, and will sum up in a
few words what I have intended to say on this branch of the subject.
"The founders of our Constitution fully comprehended these ideas which I
have so briefly glanced at, and they clothed the citizen with absolute immunity in
the exercise of his rights of conscience, and thence the protecting shield of the
Constitution around him, and over him, in all the diverging paths that lead the
enquirer in his researches after truth in the dim unknown of speculative
theology.
"But I must not detain you, I leave this part of the subject, and address
myself to the occasion that has called together this mighty multitude.
"On every hand I behold a miracle of labor. Fifteen years ago to-day,
and your Pioneers, by their heroism and devotion to a principle, consecrated
this valley to a civilization wonderful 'to the stranger within your gates,' and
in the developments of which a new era will be stamped not only upon the
history of our own country, but on the world. You have indeed 'caused the
desert to blossom as the rose.' Waving fields of gold; gardens containing all
that is necessary for the comfort of civilized man; 'shrubberies that a Shenstone
might have envied;' orchards bending beneath the promise of most luscious
fruit, — now beautify the fields which your industry has filled with new life, and
where but fifteen years ago the genius of solitude, from yon snow capped peak, stood
marking on her rocky tablets the centuries of desolation and death that rested
on these same fields, since the upheaval force of nature formed the mighty zone
that separates the two oceans that wash the shores of our continent.
"Wonderful progress! wonderful people! If you shall be content, as I
doubt not you will be, to enjoy the blessings with which you are surrounded, and
abide your time, and enjoy your privileges under a benign and just government,
'■Imperiiim in Imperio' and not attempt to reverse this order of things absolutely
necessary under our form of government; and above all things, if you will act
up to the line of your duty contained in that one grand article of your faith,
' We believe in being honest, true, chaste, temperate, benevolent, virtuous and up-
right, and in doing ^ood to all men,^ you cannot fail to obtain that ultimate suc-
cess [applause] which is the great desideratum of your hopes. Honestly conform
to the standard of your creed and faith, and though you may for a time be ' cast
down,' you cannot be destroyed [great applause] ; for the power of the Eternal
One will be in your midst, though no mortal eye may behold the ' pillar of cloud
and of fire' [applause]. As the Great Master of sculpture gathered and com-
bined all the perfections of the human face into one divine model, so you, in
i
HISTORY OF SALT LAKE CITY.
2yi
that one grand article, have bound into one golden sheaf, all the Christian vir-
tues that underlie our civilization.
"But this must suffice. I, perhaps, have said more than I ought to have
said, and yet I cannot see how I could have said less. If my words shall be as kindly
received by you as they have been honestly and frankly uttered by me, and we
will act accordingly, my mission among you cannot fail of being alike profitable
to you and to the government that I represent [hear, hear].
"This is the hour when your loyalty to our common country is most ac-
ceptable and grateful to the heart of every patriot. Be but content and abide
your time, and your reward will be as great as it is certain. Duty to ourselves,
to our God and our country calls upon us to cast aside every prejudice and to
rally around the Constitution and the flag of our fathers, and if need be, to bap-
tize them anew with our own blood. The Constitution will not perish, that flag
will not trail in the dust, but they will both come out of the present fiery ordeal,
redeemed, regenerated, and disenthralled, by the genius of universal liberty and
justice [great applause]."
In view of Governor Harding's subsequent course the foregoing speech will
presently assume the character of a page of Utah history.
Senator Milton S. Latham, of California, passed through the city early in
November on his way to Washington. The City Council in its session on the
evening preceding his arrival, adopted a preamble and resolutions tendering him
the hospitality of the city during his sojourn here. The Senator was waited upon
by Councilors Little, Felt and Groo, to whom he returned his thanks for the
complimentary resolutions of the Council, but his short stay prevented his ac-
ceptance. Latham and McDougall, California's two Senators, were the only ones
who voted "nay" on the passage of the anti-polygamic bill of 1862. The honor
shown to Senator Latham signified that Great Salt Lake City was returning
thanks to California for her minority vote in protest of the bill.
Towards the close of the year 1862, an entire change of feeling came over
Governor Harding towards "his Mormon people," especially those of the
leaders; and singularly enough it began with his following
THANKSGIVING PROCLAMATION :
" Man, in all ages of the world, in the development of his moral nature, has
demonstrated that he is not less a religious than a social being.
"Whether we study his attributes at the shrine of Isis in her ancient tem-
ples ; at the rude altar of the wandering Hebrew amidst his flocks and herds ; in
the fierce games of the warlike Greek and Roman, or in that simple and more
touching act of the Hindoo husbandman, as he lays a portion of his harvest at
the feet of his rude idol, still do all these acts of devotion, rude and unseemly as
they may appear to us, demonstrate his character as a devotional being — that his
spiritual nature cannot be satisfied 'with bread alone,' but requires 'that manna
of consolation that comes down from above.'
" That without this, the soul is ever crying out like a wandering outcast,
" ' Oh, Father of Life, withhold not thy mercies from me.'
"If these manifestations have been in all ages of the world, ere the shep-
41'
272 HISTORY OF SALT LAKE CITY. ^ *i
herds of Gallilee heard the song of 'Peace and good will to men,' much more
should we feel it to be our duty, as a Christian people, to inculcate even a higher *
spirit of devotion, and manifest by our acts, our dependence upon God, the God J
of our fathers, the Supreme Ruler of the Universe, from whose boiinteous hands U
* proceed every good and perfect gift.'
"He has kept the people here, guarded by His eternal ramparts, as in the
' hollow of His hand.' He has said Peace, Peace, and the troubled elements be-
came still. The angel of his mercy has stretched out her burning scepter, and
the elements became purified; disease and mildew and blight vanished to their
silent caves, and Plenty poured out upon you from her abundant horn. Your
granaries are full to overflowing; no scourge has fallen upon you, but the God of
Peace has reigned triumphantly in your midst, while in other and fairer portions
of the land, the Demon of Civil War has driven his blood-stained chariot over
desolated fields and deserted cities — the plowshare has been beaten into a sword,
and the pruning-hook into the murderous knife, and waving harvests, ready fcr
the reaper, have not been gathered into barns, but ' plowed under'
■' ■ By gory felloes of the cannon's wheels.'
"It is meet that at such a time as this, that the good people of this Terri-
tory, following, not only the examples of their fathers, but a precedent set by its
first Governor, should dedicate, and set apart at least one day in the year, for
thanksgiving and praise to Almighty God for the manifold mercies and blessings
that he has vouchsafed unto us, and that He will continue his mercies. That He
will put it into the hearts of our rulers to rule in righteousness, and that ' Judg-
ment may not be turned aside in the streets.' That peace may again return to
our bleeding country, and that the institutions of our fathers may come forth
purified from the sins which have weighed down a nation, and brought the keen
displeasure and wrath of God upon us.
"Therefore, I, Stephen S. Harding, Governor of the Territory of Utah, do
hereby set apart Thursday, the first day of January, proximo, as a day of
Thanksgiving and Praise to Almighty God, for all His mercies to us as a
people, and recommend and request a general observance of it to that end, that
here, on the threshhold of a New Year, we may manifest in a proper spirit our
dependence on Him, and supplicate His Omnipotent Power to continue to pro-
tect and guard us from future evils, as a nation and people.
"In testimony whereof, I have hereunto set my hand, and caused
[L.S.] the seal of said Territory to be affiixed.
"Done at Great Salt Lake City, in the Territory of Utah, this second day
of December, in the year of our Lord one thousand eight hundred and sixty-two.
(Signed) STEPHEN S. HARDING.
"By the Governor,
Frank Fuller, Secretary.'''
This proclamation, which greeted Great Salt Lake City with a classic swell,
was passed unheeded, not only by our city, but by the entire Territory. Gov-
ernor Harding took the non-response of the citizens, not only as marked per-
sonal slight to himself, but also as a scoff at the Federal power embodied in his
7
HISTORY OF SALT LAKE CTTY. 27J
Excellency, Stephen S. Harding. But the citizens, in not holding high "temple
service for Thanksgiving and Praise to Almighty God," on the day appointed by
Governor Harding, intended no personal slight towards him or scoff at Federal
authority.
But the salient point of the history to the secular mind would be that, the
non-observance of this Thanksgiving Day, brought Stephen S. Harding to the
full realization of the fact that, though he was Governor of Utah, Brigham Young
was still Governor of the Mormon people. Therein was the intolerable offence
to his Excellency.
A few days afterwards the Utah Legislature met. In the State House, Ste-
phen S. Harding could teach the people that he, and not Brigham Young, was
their Governor. At least such was the intent of the lesson conveyed in his mes-
sage. Mr. Stenhouse notes the example thus:
"The Governor's message to the Legislature, in December, was the tocsin of
war, and was considered a very offensive document. He referred to the passage of
the anti-polygamic law of July of that year, and warned the people against the
pernicious counsels of the apostles and prophets who had recommended it "to be
openly disregarded and defied." The manner of the delivery of the message was
worse than the matter, and probably no Legislature ever felt more humiliated and
insulted. It was painful to observe the legislators, as they sat quiet and immovable,
hearing their faith contemned. It was interpreted as an open and gratuitous insult
on the part of the Executive."
CHAPTER XXXI.
THE CALIFORNIA VOLUNTEERS ORDERED TO UTAH. SKETCH OF GENERAL
CONNOR. HIS FIRST MILITARY ORDER. INTERESTING LETTER FROM
THE COMMAND. PETITION OF THE VOLUNTEERS TO GO TO THE POTO-
MAC. MARCH FROM FORT CRITTENDEN TO SALT LAKE. PREPARA-
TIONS FOR BATTLE AT THE JORDAN. ZION AT PEACE. SURPRISE OF
THE TROOPS. THE HALT AT THE GOVERNOR'S MANSION HIS ADDRESS
TO THE TROOPS. CAMP DOUGLAS.
Although the Utah militia had been offered for the protection of the Over-
land Mail and Telegraph line. Secretary Stanton deemed it prudent to entrust the
permanent service to the California Volunteers rather than to the Utah militia.
Utah was placed under a military surveillance during the war, and California was
made her sister's keeper. At least, such was the interpretation placed upon the
military mission of General Connor and his command, to whom is devoted the
following historical sketch, quickly connecting as it does with the main branch of
the history of Great Salt Lake City.
■JJ4 HISTORY OF SALT LAKE CITY.
General Patrick Edward Connor was born in the south of Ireland, March 17,
1820. At an early age he emigrated with his parents to New York City, where he
was educated. In 1839 he entered the regular army, at the age of 18, during the
Florida war. He left the service in November of 1844, and returned to New York,
where he entered into mercantile business ; but in the early part of 1846 emigrated
to Texas. The war with Mexico broke out that year, and young Connor, as Cap-
tain of the Texas Volunteers, was the second volunteer officer mustered into
service, in the regiment of Albert Sidney Johnston, whom they elected Colonel.
Connor was with his company at the battles of Palo Alto, Resaca de la Palma, and
Buena Vista. In the latter battle he was severely wounded, being the first officer
who bore the scars of war, for which honor he now draws a full Captain's pension.
Shortly after the close of the Mexican war, Captain Connor emigrated to
California, where he engaged in business till the breaking out of our great civil
war. Immediately the gallant officer tendered his services to the Governor of
California, and was appointed by him Colonel of the Third California Infantry.
The California Volunteers entered the service with the full expectation of
being called directly to the theatre of war, for both officers and men were fired
with a martial spirit becoming California in the nation's crisis. It is doubtful, in-
deed, if this military fervor would have been kindled had the Volunteers known
that they were about to be ordered to Utah by the Government, to watch the Mor-
mons, lest their leaders should take advantage of our national calamity and pro-
claim a rebellion. Some of the officers and men, it is understood, gave way to
occasional fits of ill-humor, very pardonable in men who, panting for military
glory, as well as inspired by patriotism, had offered their lives in defense of the
Union, only to find themselves, in the sequel, transported to our then Rocky
Mountain isolation.
It was in May, 1862, that Colonel Connor was ordered with his regiment to
Utah. His command consisted of the Third California Infantry and a part of the
Second California Cavalry. He took up his line of march in July, 1862.
On assuming command of the Military District of Utah, Colonel Connor
issued the following military order:
" Headquarters, District of Utah,
Fort Churchill, August 6th, 1862.
"Order No. i. — The undersigned, pursuant to orders from Department
Headquarters, hereby assumes command of the Military District of Utah, com-
jjrising the Territories of Nevada and Utah.
"In assuming command of the district I especially enjoin upon all disburs-
ing officers the necessity of being particularly attentive, careful and economical
in their disbursements of the public funds; and that they in no instance purchase
from persons who have at any time, by word or act, manifested disloyalty
to the Federal Government.
"Being credibly informed that there are in this district persons who^ while
claiming and receiving protection to life and property, are endeavoring to destroy
and defame the principles and institutions of our Government under whose be-
nign influence they have been so long protected, it is therefore most rigidly en-
HISTORY OF SALT LAKE CITY. 27s
forced upon all commanders of posts, camps and detachments, to cause to be
promptly arrested and closely confined until they have taken the oath of
allegiance to the Government of the United States, all persons who from this
date shall be guilty of uttering treasonable sentiments against the Government;
and upon a repetition of the offense to be again arrested and confined until the
fact shall be communicated to these headquarters. Traitors shall not utter
treasonable sentiments in this district with impunity, but must seek some more
genial soil, or receive the punishment they so richly merit. By order of
P. EDWARD CONNOR,
Col. jd Infantry, C. V., Com. Dist. of Utah.
^' James W. Stillman, A. A. A. General.''
The Deseret News of September 10, notes :
"Col. P. E. Connor, commanding the California Volunteers, arrived in the
city yesterday afternoon. The Volunteers remain at Ruby Valley till the
Colonel's return, when they will afterwards advance to the place that will be
selected as a military post. The Colonel took a stroll about town and looked
around with an air of familiarity that indicated that after all Salt Lake City was
something of a place, and might not be unpleasant, notwithstanding its desert
surroundings."
A correspondent writing to the San Francisco Bulletin in behalf of his com-
rades, gives a very interesting and suggestive page of history:
" Headquarters Utah District,
Ruby Valley, N. T., September 24, 1862.
"The Third Infantry California Volunteers wants to go home — not for the
imrpose of seeing the old folks, but for the purpose of tramping upon the sacred
soil of Virginia, and of swelling the ranks of the brave battlers for the brave old
flag. The action of the San Francisco Quartette and the glory which awaits the
California regiment that first lands on the Atlantic coast, combined to make the 700
hearts camped in Ruby Valley pulse vigorously with the patriotic desire to serve
their country in shooting traitors instead of "eating rations and freezing to death
around sage-brush fires, which two are the only military duties to be performed
hereabouts. Accordingly a meeting of the ofiEicers was called on Tuesday night. A
committee was appointed to draft a dispatch to be sent to Gen. Halleck; and
each captain was requested to draw up a paper to the purport that the subscriber
would authorize the paymaster to withhold from his pay the amount subscribed
by him, on the condition, and no other condition, that the regiment be ordered
east. Each captain was requested to present this document to his company and
report at an adjourned meeting.
"To-day, at i p. m., the following sums had been subscribed by the privates
and company officers:
"Company I, Capt. Lewis, ^3,430; Company K, Capt. Hoyt, $3,475;
Company H, Capt. Black, $2,550; Company F, (part absent on detailed duty)
Capt. Potts, $600; Company C, Capt. May, $3,260; Company E, Capt. Tupper,
$4,674; Company G, Capt. Urmy, $7,431.
"That is excellent evidence of the earnest patriotism of our 700 men. In
II
276 HISTORY OF SALT LAKE CITY.
addition to packing a musket, eating salt pork, and tramping over these abominable
deserts, they are willing, and actually do, out of their $13 per month, subscribe
$25,000 for the privilege of going to the 'Potomac and getting shot. If Cali-
fornia is not proud of them, the God of Washington is; and that is quite as sat-
isfactory. But California cannot help appreciating such a sacrifice upon the part
of men who, after giving their time, labor, and if need be, their lives, to their
country, now give the last mite of their small pittance. Private Goldthaite, of
Company G, alone, subscribed $5000, while the majority of the men gave every
cent of their pay.
"The company officers ranged about thus: Second lieutenants, $100 to
$200; first lieutenants, $200 to $300; captains, $300 to $500. In some instances
that takes more than their pay. The staff officers have not yet pungled, as they
are waiting to see what amount will remain to be raised.
" The three companies at Stockton would most undoubtedly equal their com-
rades, bhould they do so, at the average of $3,000 per company the funds would
reach upwards of $36,000.
"The following despatch was sent to Gen. Halleck, with the consent of
Gen. George Wright:
' ' ' Major- General Halleck, Secretary of War, Washington, D. C.
"The Third Infantry, Cal. Vols., has been in service one year, and marched
6co miles; it is well officered and thoroughly drilled; is of no service on the
Overland Mail route, as there is cavalry sufficient for its protection in Utah Dis-
trict. The regiment will authorize the Paymaster to withhold $30,000 of pay
now due if Government will order it East; and it pledges Gen. Halleck never
to disgrace the flag, himself or California. The men enlisted to fight traitors,
and can do so more effectively than raw recruits; and ask that they may be placed
at least on the same footing in regard to transportation East. If the above sum
is insufficient, we will pay our own passages from San Francisco to Panama.
" ' By request of the regiment.
P. EDW. CONNOR,
*' ' Col. Cofnmanding.
" 'Ruby Valley, N. T., September 24, 1862. '"
" So far as anybody can see, there is not a bit more use for infantry out here
than there is for topographical engineers. Cavalry is the only efficient arm against
Indians, and the companies of the 2d regiment, in the district, are fully compe-
tent to chastise all offenders. Brigham Young offers to protect the entire line with
100 men. Why we were sent here is a mystery. It could not be keep Mormon-
dom in order, for Brigham can thoroughly annihilate us with the 5,000 to 25,000
frontiersmen always at his command."
Towards the middle of October the Volunteers reached the former encamp-
ment of U. S. troops at Camp Floyd. Parties who would have been financially
benefitted by the Volunteers occupying the vacated quarters at Camp Floyd tried
to induce the Colonel to remain there, and, failing that, they sought to intimi-
date him with the intelligence that the Mormon intended to dispute the passage
of the Californians over the Jordan. At the same time, a story was current
HISTORY OF SALT LAKE CITY. 277
among the Volunteers that Brigham Young, on hearing of their advance, had out
of contempt for them and the nation, cut down the United States flag-staff at
Camp Floyd and left it lying on the public road, over which they had to travel.
There was no truth in this reported threat of Mormon resistance; and, as already
told, the flag-staff was presented to ex-Governor Young by the officers at Camp
Floyd.
A few days after the establishment of Camp Douglas the San Francisco
Bulletin published, from the correspondent already noticed, the following very
interesting details of the march of the Volunteers from Fort Crittenden and
their passage through Great Salt City :
"Jordan Springs, U. T., Saturday, October, 18, 1862.
"The Salt Lake Expedition, numbering 750 men, is within twenty-five miles
of the City of the Saints, having marched twenty miles north of Fort Crittenden
to-day. From the slope on which our camp is pitched we can discern the white
specks which constitute the residences of the modern apostles ; but at present we
are more interested in the designs and doings of said apostles than in the general
appearance of their habitations. I closed yesterday's letter [see Bulletin of 30th
October] by mentioning a camp rumor, to the effect that the Mormons would
prevent a nearer approach of our troops to the city than Fort Crittenden, and
that the banks of the narrow stream called Jordan, which empties the waters of
Lake Utah into Great Salt Lake, would form the field of battle. At the time it
caused no further thought than as the starting point of rambling conversations
respecting Mormondom and the mission which the command has been detailed to
execute — both subjects upon which we have but little information. However, at
the present writing — sundown — reliable advices received tend to establish the
probable truthfulness of the report. When information reached the city, as it
did last night, that Col. Connor would not purchase the buildings erected by
Johnson's command in 1858 at what was then Camp Floyd, now Fort Crittenden,
and that he designed to occupy some locality within striking distance of the heart
of Mormondom, the most intense excitement is said to have prevailed. The
leaders are represented to be in conclave, meditating upon the question and
striving to arrive at a determination, while the people were in a high state of
expectancy as to what the leaders would do, what the troops would do, and what
they themselves would be called upon to do. The Chief of the Danites — better
known perhaps as the Destroying Angels, whose duty it is, if report be true, to
place parties odious to the leaders of the Church where they can never tell tales,
is represented as riding through the streets offering to bet ^500 that we could and
should not cross the river Jordan, the bet being untaken. Furthermore, not a
single camp rumor, but reliable parties assert that Brigham Young would, when
we near Jordan, have us met by commissioners empowered to inform us that the
Mormons objected to our close proximity to their city and would forcibly resist
an attempt on our part to cross that stream.
"How much truth there may be in these advices, or how much the real state
of affairs in Salt Lake is exaggerated I know not. As a faithful correspondent it
is only my province to inform you of the exact condition and operations of this
278 HISTORY OF SALT LAKE CITY.
command, but further than that I cannot go, and, of course, will not be held re-
sponsible for the correctness or incorrectness of the rumors which reach this com-
mand. Be they, however, true or untrue, and be the opinion entertained by our
Colonel what it may, certain it is that he is moving with the utmost prudence, |
that thirty rounds of ammunition have just been issued to each man, and that the
two 6-pounders are [abundantly furnished with destructive missiles, and the 12-
pound mountain howitzer amply supplied with shells, that the camp is so pitched
upon an open plain that no force can get to it without a fair fight ; in short, that
every preparation for war that can be made is made, and equally certain is it that
on to-morrow we will cross the river Jordan if it lies within our power.
" Col. Connor sent word to-day to the above-mentioned chief of the Dan-
ites that he would 'cross the river Jordan if hell yawned below him; ' and the
battle-fields of Mexico testify that the Colonel has a habit of keeping his word.
" Thus you see that w'hether we are to have a fight or not rests entirely with
the Mormon rulers. And if it be true that United States troops, when ordered
by Government to occupy United States territory, are to be forcibly prevented
by those living upon United States lands, from executing the order — if this prin-
ciple is to constitute the national policy, then the nation has ceased to be a live
nation, and the sooner it recognizes the Southern Confederacy the better.
But if our troops are to march on United States territory wherever Govern-
ment sends them, and those who resist their march, because of polygamy, are as
really traitors as those who resist because of slavery, and are to be dealt with as
such. This command, from the highest to the lowest, is disposed to treat the
Mormons with true courtesy and the strictest justice, so long as they remain
friendly to the Government; but the moment they become traitors the river Jor-
dan will be as acceptable to us as the river Potomac, for we shall be fighting for the
same precise principle — the flag and national existence — as are our eastern
brethren ; and even should annihilation be our fate, of which we have no fears,
the belief that our countrymen would think of our graves as they do of those in
Virginia, and that the Union men of California, our old friends, would swarm
forth by the thousand to avenge us — such a hope and belief would nerve us for
death.
"Nevertheless, unless he fails to exercise his statesmanship, universally ac-
corded to him, Brigham Young cannot but foresee the results which would flow
from a war of his beginning. Admitting him to have an army of S.ooo well
drilled and effective men, or, for that matter, one of 50,000 — and admitting him
to be able to capture our force and all the forces which California could send
hither, yet, in the course of one, or two, or three years, the Government could
flood his valley with regiments, and sweep it with a gulf stream of bayonets.
That he is prepared to initiate a movement which cannot fail to bring upon his
])eople the full power of the nation I do not believe ; and yet there may be hot
heads over whom he has but partial control. A small spark can ignite the powder
of a vast magazine.
"Having given you the prevalent opinion of the camp, there should also
be given what probably may turn out to be the cause why some, if not most, of
the rumors current in Salt Lake were set afloat. When Floyd at'ter expending
HISTORY OF SALT LAKE CITY. 27Q
$5,000,000 in the erection of quarters in Camp Floyd ordered the disgraceful
and outrageous sale of the same, the buildings were bought for a mere song by
private parties.
'' On several occasions, in fact during the whole march, Col. Connor has
been solicited by the agents of owners to repurchase them. He did not see fit to
do so; but it was expected that the smallness of the command, and the avowal
that the Mormons would not permit him to locate near the city, taken in connec-
tion with the fact that his arrival so late in the season would prevent him from
erecting winter quarters, it was expected, I say, that these and other pruden-
tial reasons would induce him to effect the purchase of Fort Crittenden ; and it
is more than probable that his refusal of the offers was regarded as a financial
maneuver by which to secure the property at low figures. Hence the idea that
we really would not winter at that point has never been realized by them, and so
thoroughly has the belief that we would winter there pervaded the Mormon
I people, that when we marched beyond it they — unable to understand the object
J of the expedition, and fearful that the real, and to them a hostile, design, is
hidden under the avowed one — have their fears a thousand fold quickened and
imagine an attack upon the city possible. In addition it appears that the chief
of the Danites is the principal owner of the buildings and decidedly anxious to sell
and that the agents have from time to time assured him of the certainty
of his prospects. Up to the hour that Col. Connor's decision was unknown at
Fort Crittenden, the city is reported to have been perfectly quiet, but in about
the time it would take to telegraph his refusal to Salt Lake, the excitement is
said to have begun. There can, therefore, be little doubt that the already aroused
suspicions of the Mormons have been worked upon by parties interested in the
sale of the property, and who, failing to persuade Col. Connor into buying, now
seek to frighten him therein by threats of forcible resistance, and mayhap a dis-
play of military power. In this they will most signally fail, for I must say that
he is a blessed hard man to scare. At the same time, if it is the settled Mormon
policy to resist the Federal Government, and if the people have been toned up
to the Union pitch, a few leaders actuated by selfish motives, can easily indicate
its execution. A courier will arrive late to-night with authentic intelligence,
which I will endeavor to obtain.
"Salt Lake City, October 20, 1862.
" When Sunday's reveille awoke the command, it awoke expectant of battle
ere another one should roll out upon the grey day-break. Blankets were never
got out from under and compactly strapped in knapsacks more promptly; cooks
never prepared steaming breakfast with greater alacrity, and upon the principle
that the aggregate stomach of a regiment has a great deal to do with the aggre-
gate prowess of a regiment, they never prepared a more bountiful repast. Upon
the same principle, no breakfast during the whole march was stowed away in a more
cool, nonchalant, jovial manner. The routine of months was dissipated, and,
doubtless each man's curiosity to know how he would personally stand fire, and
the more general question which side would whip, made everybody happy. The
II
28o HISTORY OF SALT LAKE CIT\.
first scene which met my eyes was Colonel Connor seated upon a log, calmly en-
gaged in loading his pistols, and playing with his toddling child. In some direc-
tions were heard the popping of muskets and the thud of ramrods, as the men
made sure of their pieces, while in others could be seen individuals seated on the
ground, vigorously burnishing up their already glittering muskets and brasses —
determined no doubt to die according to regulations, if die they must. No
difference what thoughts raged within each breast, the exterior seemed calm and
determined.
"An incident at the hospital will seive as a criterion of the general animus.
Five men were sick in the hospital and thirty-six sick in quarters. At sick-call
Surgeon Reid, who had been arranging nia abominable knives, saws and probes,
said that this was a day when every man able to carry a musket should do so, and
one that would determine who were loafers and who were soldiers. Twenty-eight
out of the forty-one, many of whom were really unfit for service, shouldered their
pieces, and the remainder did not only because they could not.
"A strong force of cavalry preceded the staff, and the command moved for-
ward in so cornpact a body, and with such a steady, springing step, that General
Wright's heart would have rejoiced at the sight. The fact that the carriages
formed behind the staff as usual was an intimation to the men that a fight was im-
probable, and word presently passed that a courier had arrived with information
that no resistance would be made at the bridge. Before it did so, however, as the
Colonel passed the artillery, he put several questions to Lieutenant Hunneyman,
commanding, respecting the quantity and kind of ammunition in the caissons, and
also the numbers of the ammunition wagons. When through, the Lieutenant,
who has seen service, said, 'Colonel, if you expect an attack to-day, I will over-
haul those wagons and take more cannister,' with the same air that one calls for
fried oysters in a restaurant. The reply was, 'Not to day; but to-morrow do so.'
There were other incidents of the same kind, but I did not happen to see them.
" After a speedy march of fifteen miles — during which not one of the usual
stragglers fell back from his position — we crossed the Jordan at 2 p. m. and found
not a solitary individual upon the eastern shore. It was a magnificent place for a
fight, too, with a good-sized bluff upon the western side from which splendid
execution could have been done ; but all were glad that no necessity existed there-
for, as we heartily desire to avoid difficulty with the loyal citizens.
" While camped for the night, it was definitely ascertained that, although there
had been some excitement in the laity, yet it was far from general, and was insti-
gated by parties interested in selling the Fort Crittenden buildings. Further-
more, that the mass of the people were glad of our near location, as it would
bring many a dollar into the city circulation. Bishop Heber Kimball, who, I am
told, ranks next to President Young, is reported to have spoken thus in his sermon
at the temple: ' Letters have been written to Colonel Connor's command, to Cali-
fornia and the East, that we are opposed to the coming of the troops ; that we are
disloyal to the Government and sympathizers with Secessionists. It is all a d — d
lie." This certainly was a gratifying assurance, though not mildly expressed.
"This morning, Monday, we resumed .the line of march, thoroughly ignor-
ant of the spot that would next receive our tents, but decidedly hopeful that it
HISTORY OF SALT LAKE CLTY. 28 1
would receive them permanently. That it was to be near the city we knew; that
the leading Mormons objected to its proximity because of the danger of difficulties
between the soldiers and citizens, we knew; that in 1858 they had resisted the now
traitor Johnston's 10,000 men, and after compelling him to winter in the mountains,
had, late in the Spring, forced him into a treaty by which he bound himself not to
locate within 40 miles of Salt Lake, we knew ; that they were far stronger and bet-
ter armed now than they then were, we knew ; and that more than one of their lead-
ing men — among them a BishojD — had offered to bet that we would not come within
twenty miles of the Temple, we also knew. A large and influental party was avow-
edly opposed to any near approach, and, in view of the advice received by our com-
mander— which were from reliable sources — the precise animus of the people and
the treatment that would meet us, we did not know. That, should they see fit, it
was in their power to vastly outnumber and in all probability annihilate us, was
more than possible, and that we were 600 miles of sand and draught from reinforce-
ments, was certain. All of these certainties and imcertainties conspired to create
ihe same excitement that passengers in olden days felt when two Mississippi
steamers lapped guards, burned tar, and carried the engineer as a weight on the
safety valve. We had generally supposed, and the people had universally
supposed, that the command would pass around the city, or at the most but through
the outer suburbs, which course, under all the circumstances, was considered deci-
dedly bold, and upon the whole, not so conciliatory a policy as had been adopted
by General Johnston's thousands.
"Accordingly, when some two miles out, a halt was sounded and the cokmin
formed as follows : Advance guard of cavalry, Colonel Conner and staff; cavalry
brass band; Cos. A and M of 2d Cavalry, C. V., light battery; infantry field
band; 3d Infantry Battalion; staff, company quarters and commissary wagons ;
rear guard of infantry.
"'You may imagine our surprise — strive to imagine the astonishment of the
people, and the more than astonishment of the betting bishop — as the column
marched slowly and steadily into a street which receives the overland stage, up it
between the fine trees, the sideAvalks filled with many women and countless children,
the comfortable residences, to Emigration Square, the Theatre and other notable
landmarks were passed, when, about the centre of the city, I should think, it filed
right through a principal thoroughfare to Governor Harding's Mansion — on which,
and on which alone waved the .same blessed stars and stripes that were woven in the
loom of '76. Every crossing was occupied by spectators, and windows, doors and
roofs had their gazers. Not a cheer, not a jeer greeted us. One little boy, running
along close to the staff, said — " You are coming, are you? " to which it was replied
that we thought we were. A carriage, containing three ladies, who sang "John
Brown" as they drove by, were heartily saluted. But the leading greeting was ex-
tended by Governor Harding, Judges Waite and Drake, and Dr. , who met us
some distance out. Save these three instances, there were none of those mani-
festations of loyalty that any other city in a loyal Territory would have made.
"The sidewalk by the mansion was thoroughly packed with Mormons,
curious to know what would be the next feature. It was this: The battalion
8
282 ins TORY OF SALT LAKE CITY.
l\
was formed into two lines, behind them the cavalry, with the battery resting upon
their right, in front of the Governor's residence.
" After giving the Governor the salute due his rank he was introduced by
Col. Connor to the command, and, standing in his buggy, spoke precisely thus:
" Soldiers and Fellow Citizens :
" It is with pleasure that I meet you all here to-day. God forbid that ever I
shall live to see the day that I will not be rejoiced to see the flag of my country
in hands that are able and worthy to defend it. When I say this, I am conscious,
soldiers, that your mission here is one of peace and security, not only to the
government that gives you employment, but to every individual who is an inhab-
tant of this Territory.
"The individual, if any such there be, who supposed that the Government
had sent you here that mischief might come out of it, knows not the spirit of our
Government, and knows not the spirit of the officers who represent it in this
Territory. When I say this, I say what is strictly true; and I say.it that it may
be impressed upon your minds as true, as well as upon the minds of every indi-
vidual who hears me upon this occasion. Never let it be said that an American
soldier, employed under the glorious flag of his country, that emblem of beauty
and glory, has disgraced it by conduct not in accordance with his duty, and the
discipline of the United States array. The duty of a soldier is a plain and stern
duty ; and yet it is one that redounds to the glory and happiness of himself, and
to the happiness of every true and loyal individual in whose midst he may be
placed. If, however, he should break over the bounds of his discipline — if he
should run wild in the riot of the camp, then, indeed, his presence will be a
curse everywhere, and not a security to the institutions of the Government, which
it is his duty to maintain with his life's blood.
" I confess that I have been disappointed, somewhat, in your coming to
this city. I have known nothing of the disposition that has been made of you;
and for the truth of this assertion, I appeal to your commander, and to every
individual with whom I have had communication on this subject. But you are
here, and I can say to you, God bless you, and God bless the flag you carry; God
bless the Government you represent; and may she come out of her present diffi-
culties unscathed; and may the fiery ordeal through which she is passing purge
her of her sins; may her glorious institutions be preserved to the end of time;
may she survive these troubles, and be redeemed, and disenthralled from the
causes of the difficulties and calamities through which she is passing, and through
which she may be yet called to pass-
" I do not know now what disposition is to be made of you, but I suppose
you will be encamped somewhere, I know not where, but within a short distance
of this city. I believe the people you have now come amongst will not disturb
you if you do not disturb them in their public rights and in the honor and peace
of their homes ; and to disturb them you must violate the strict discipline of the
United States Army which you must observe, and which you have no right to
violate. In conforming thus to your duty, you will have my countenance and
support, and every drop of blood in my veins if necessary for the maintenance
|{
HISTORY OF SALT LAKE CITY. 283
of your rights and the Government I represent. But if on the contrary you for
any reason whatever should run wild in the riot of the camp — should break over
the bounds of propriety, and disregard that discipline that is the only possible
safety for yourselves, then shall I not be with you ; but in the line of your duty,
God being my helper, I will be with you to the end, and to death. I thank you."
" At the conclusion of the speech, Colonel Connor called for three cheers
for our Country and Flag, and three more for Governor Harding, all of which
would have drawn forth the admiration of your Fire Department. Thereupon the
march through the city was resumed, the bands continuing their flood of music,
and a tramp of two and a half miles east brought us to the slope between Emigra-
tion and Red Butte Canyons, where a permanent post will probably be established.
" I have very astutely discovered that we could have reached the spot by a
much shorter road, and that we marched over six miles for the purpose of passing
through the well-built metropolis of the modern Saints. There is no reason why
we should not do it that is recognized by the United States Government, and
I for one was curious to see rosy cheeks and sparkling eyes.
" And so ended the long tramp from your good State, and the attempts t j
frighten Colonel Connor into the purchase of Fort Crittenden.
CHAPTER XXXII.
BATTLE OF BEAR RIVER. CONNOR'S REPORT TO THE DEPARTMENT HISTORY
OF THE BATTLE. CONGRATULATIONS OF THE COLONEL TO HIS TROOPS.
BURIAL OF THE DEAD. OUR CITIZENS AT THE FUNERAL, THE BATTLE,
AS RECORDED IN THE MILITARY HISTORY OF CACHE VALLEY,
Soon after his arrival in Utah, Colonel Connor, on the 29th of January,
1863, fought the celebrated battle of Bear River, against the Snake nnd Bannock
Indians under Bear Hunter and other chiefs. There they killed and captured of
the Indians nearly 400. The cemetery of Camp Douglas was consecrated to
receive the relics of the heroes who fell in that battle; but there was compensa-
tion for their loss, as that famous victory forever put a quietus to Indian hos-
tilities in Northern Utah and Southern Idaho.
The following official report of the battle from Colonel Connor is a valuable
page of Utah history :
"Headquarters District of Utah,
Camp Douglas U. T,, Feb. 6th, 1863.
" Colonel:
"I have the honor to report that from information received from various
sources of the encampment of a large body of Indians on Bear River, in Wash*
jS4 history of salt LAKE CIT\.
ington Territory, cne hundred and forty miles north of this point, who had
murdered several miners, during the winter, passing to and from the settlements
in this valley to the Beaver Head mines, east of the Rocky Mountains, and being
satisfied that they were part of the same band who had been murdering emigrants
on the overland mail route for the past fifteen years and the principal actors and
leaders in the horrid massacres of the past summer, I determined although the
season was unfavorable to an expedition, in consequence of the cold weather and
deep snow, to chastise them if possible. Feeling that secrecy was the surest way
to success, I determined to deceive the Indians by sending a small force in ad-
vance, judging, and rightly, that they would not fear a small number.
"The chiefs, Pocatello and Sanpitch, with their bands of murderers, are still
at large. I hope to be able to kill or capture them before spring.
"If I succeed, the overland route west of the Rocky Mountains will be rid
of the Bedouins who have harassed and murdered emigrants on that route for a
series of years.
"In consequence of the number of men left on the route with frozen feet
and those with the train and howitzers and guarding the cavalry horses, I did not
have to exceed two hundred men engaged.
"On the 2 2d ultimo, I ordered Co. K. Third California Volunteers, Capt.
Hoyt; two howitzers under command of Lieut. Honeyman and twelve men of
the Second California Cavalry with a train of fifteen wagons, conveying twelve
days' supplies, to proceed in that direction. On the 24th ultmio, I proceeded
with detachments from companies A, H, K, and M. Second California Cavalry,
numbering two hundred and twenty men, accompanied by Major McGarry,
Second California Cavalry; Surgeon Reid, Third California Volunteers; Cap-
tains McLean and Price, and Lieutenants Chase, Clark, Quinn and Conrad,
Second California Cavalry. Major Gallager, Third California Volunteers and
Capt. Berry, Second California Cavalry, who were present at this post attending
general court martial as volunteers.
"I marched the first night to Brigham City about sixty-eight miles distant ;
and the second night's march from Camp Douglas, I overtook the infantry and
artillery at the town of Mendon and ordered them to march again that night. I
resumed march with the cavalry and overtook the infantry at Franklin, W. T.,
about twelve miles from the Indian encampment. I ordered Capt. Hoyt, with
the infantry, howitzers and train not to move until after 3 o'clock a. m., I moved
the cavalry in about an hour afterward, passing the infantry, artillery and wagons
about four miles from the Indian encampment. As daylight was approaching I
was apprehensive that the Indians would discover the strength of my force and
make their escape. I therefore made a rapid march with the cavalry and reached
the bank of the ravine shortly after daylight, in full view of the Indian encamp-
ment, and about one mile distant, I immediately order Major McGarry to ad-
vance with the cavalry and surround, before attacking them, while I remained a
few minutes in the rear to give orders to the infantry and artillery. On my
arrival on the field I found that Major McGarry had dismounted the cavalry and
was engaged with the Indians, who had sallied out of their hiding places on foot
and horseback and, with fiendish malignity, waved the scalps of white women.
HISTORY OF SALT LAKE CITY. 285
and challenged the troops to battle, at the same time attacking them. Finding
it impossible to surround them, in consequence of the nature of the ground, he
accepted their challenge.
''The position of the Indians was one of strong natural defence, and almost
inaccessible to the troops, being in a deep dry ravine from six to twelve feet
deep, and from thirty to forty feet wide, with very abrupt banks and running
across level table land, along which they had constructed steps from which they
could deliver their fire without being themselves exposed. Under the embank-
ment they had constructed artificial courses of willows, thickly wove together,
from behind which they could fire without being observed.
"After being engaged about twenty minutes, I found it was impossible to
dislodge them without great loss of life. I accordingly ordered Major McGarry,
with twenty men, to turn their left flank which was in the ravine where it eh-
tered the mountain. Shortly afterward Cai)t. Hoyt reached the ford, three-
fourths of amiledistant, but found it impossible to cross footmen, some of whom
tried it, however, rushing into the river but finding it deep and rapid, retired.
I immediately ordered a detachment of cavalry with led horses, to cross the in-
fantry, which was done accordingly and upon their arrival on the field I ordered
them to the support of Major McGarry's flanking party who shortly afterward
succeeded in turning the enemy's flank.
''Up to this time, in consequence of being exposed on a level and open
plain, while the Indians were under cover they had the advantage of us, fighting
with the ferocity of demons. My men fell thick and fast around me, but after
flanking them we had the advantage and made good use of it. I ordered a flank-
ing party to advance down the ravine on either side, which gave us the advantage
of an enfilading fire and caused some of the Indians to give way and run towards
the mouth of the ravine. At this point I had a company stationed who shot
them as they run out. I also ordered a detachment of cavalry across the ravine
to cut off the retreat of any fugitives who might escape the company (Capt.
Price) at the mouth of the ravine. But few, however, tried to escape, but con-
tinued fighting with unyielding obstinacy, frequently engaging hand to hand
with the troops until killed in their hiding-places. The most of those who did
escape from the ravine were afterward shot in attempting to swim the river or
killed while desperately fighting under cover of the dense willow thicket which
lined the river banks. To give you an idea of the desperate character of the
fight, you are respectfully referred to the list of killed and wounded transmitted
herewith. The fight commenced at about six o'clock in the morning and con-
tinued until ten. At the commencement of the battle the hands of some of the
men were so benumbed with cold that it was with difficulty that they could load
their pieces. Their suffering during the march was awful beyond description,
but they steadily continued without regard to hunger, cold or thirst, not a mur-
mur escaping them to indicate their sensibilities to pain or fatigue. Their un-
complaining endurance during their four nights' march from Camp Douglas to
the battle field is worthy the highest praise. The weather was intensely cold
and not less than seventy-five had their feet frozen and some of them, I fear, will
be crippled for life.
286 HISTORY OF SALT LAKE CI7Y.
"I should mention here that in my march from this post no assistance was
rendered by the Mormons, who seemed indisposed to divulge any information
regarding the Indians and charged enormous prices for every article furnished
my command. I have also to report to the General commanding, that previous
to my departure, Chief Justice Kinney, of Salt Lake City, made a requisition for
the purpose of arresting the Indian Chiefs, Bear Hunter, Sanpitch and Sagwitch.
I informed the Marshal that my arrangements for an expedition against the In-
dians were made and that it was not only my intention to take any prisoners, but
that he could accompany me. Marshal Gibbs accordingly accompanied me and
rendered efficient aid in caring for the wounded.
" I have great pleasure in awarding to Major McGarry, Major Gallagher
and Surgeon A. K. Reid the highest praise for their skill, gallantry and bravery
throughout the engagement. And to the company officers the highest praise is
due, without invidious distinction for their courage and determination evinced
throughout the engagement; their obedience to orders, attention, kindness and
care for the wounded are no less worthy of notice. Of the good conduct and
bravery of both officers and men, California has reason to be proud.
'' We found 224 bodies in the field, among which were those of the chiefs
Bear Hunter, Sagwitch and Lehi. How many more were killed than stated I am
unable to say; as the condition of the wounded rendered their immediate removal
a necessity, I was unable to examine the field. I captured 175 horses, some arms,
destroyed over seventy lodges, and a large quanity of wheat and other provisions
which had been furnished them by the Mormons. I left a supply of provisions
for the sustenance of 160 captive squaws and children who were released by me
on the field.
"The enemy had about three hundred warriors, mostly all armed with rifles
and having plenty of ammunition, which rumor says they received from the in-
habitants of this Territory in exchange for property of massacred emigrants.
The position of the Indians was one of great natural strength and had I not suc-
ceeded in flanking them the mortality of my command would have been terrible.
In consequence of the deep snow the howitzers did not reach the field in time
to be used in the action.
" I have the honor of remaining, very respectfully,
Your obedient servant,
(Signed) P. Ed. Connor,
Colo7icl jrd Cal. Vol., Co/rid. District.
*' To Lt. Col. R. C. Drum, Asst. Aiijt. Gen. U. S. A., Department of the
Pacific:'
" Headquarters of the Army,
Washington, D. C, March 29th, 1863.
'^ Brig.- General Geo. Wright,
Cotnd'g Dep't of the Pacific, San Francisco, Cal.
"General:
"I have this day received your letter of February 2oih, inclosing Col. P. Ed.
Connor's report of his severe battle and splendid victory on Bear River, Wash-
HISTORY OF SALT LAKE CITY. 287
ington Territory. After a forced march of one hundred and forty miles in mid-
winter and through deep snows, in which seventy-six of his men were disabled
by frozen feet; he and his gallant band of only two hundred, attacked three hun-
dred warriors in their stronghold and after a hard fought battle of four hours
destroyed the entire band, leaving 224 dead upon -the field. Our loss in the
battle was fourteen killed and forty-nine wounded. Colonel Connor and the
brave Californians deserve the highest praise for their gallant and heroic
conduct. Very respectfully.
Your obedient servant,
(Signed) H. W. Halleck,
General- in - chief.
The following order, bearing the same date as that of Col. Connor's letter
to the Department of the Pacific, was read to the volunteers, while on dress
parade, by Adjutant Ustick:
" Headquarters District of Utah,
Camp Douglas, U. T., Feb. 6, 1863.
"The Colonel commanding has the pleasure of congratulating the troops of
this Post upon the brilliant victory achieved at the battle of Bear River, Wash-
ington Territory.
"After a rapid march of four nights in intensely cold weather, through deep
snow and drifts, which you endured without murmur or complaint, even when
some of your number were frozen with cold, and faint with hunger and fatigue,
you met an enemy who have heretofore, on two occasions, defied and defeated
regular troops, and who have for the last fifteen years been the terror of the emi-
grants, men, women and children and citizens of those valleys, murdering and
robbing them without fear of punishment.
"At daylight on the 29th of January, 1863, you encountered the enemy,
greatly your superior in numbers, and had a desperate battle. Continuing with
unflinching courage for over four hours, you completely cut him to pieces, captured
his property and arms, destroyed his stronghold and burnt his lodges.
"The long list of killed and wounded is the most fitting eulogy on your cour-
age and bravery. The Colonel commanding returns you his thanks. The gallant
officers and men who were engaged in this battle, without invidious distinction,
merit the highest praise. Your uncomplaining endurance and unexampled con-
duct on the field, as well as your thoughtful care and kindness for the wounded, is
worthy of emulation. While we rejoice at the brilliant victory you have achieved
over your savage foe, it is meet that we do honor to the memory of our brave
comrades, the heroic men who fell fighting to maintain the supremacy of our arms.
"While the people of California will regret their loss, they will do honor to
every officer and soldier who has by his heroism added new laurels to the fair
escutcheon of the State.
"By order of Colonel Connor.
(Signed) WM. D. USTICK,
" First Lieutenant and Adjutant, Third Infantry, C. V.,
Acting Assistunt Adjutant General^
The burial of the dead who fell in the battle of Bear River was a solemn
288 HISTORY OF SALT LAKE CITY.
occasion to the city as well as to the camp. The day was cold and raw, yet a
large number of our citizens were present at the burial. Up to this time scarcely
any of the citizens had set foot within the encampment, but now there was quite a
score of carriages from the city, many equestrians and a large concourse of people
on foot, and had it been generally known, thousands from the city would have
paid reverent tribute to the slain, for it was duly appreciated that they had fallen
in the service of Utah.
"Up to I p. m. the sixteen coffins lay side by side in the Quartermaster's
store-room, where the dead were visited by their surviving comrades. At that
hour the entire command formed in procession and escorted the bodies to the
military graveyard, where Parson Anderson officiated in the burial service. Three
volleys were fired over the bodies as they were laid in their graves, and the last
solemn rites were ended. The band, that before led the measured, solemn step of
the procession to the funeral dirge and Dead March, now moved away gaily, re-
viving the thoughtful, and recalling to the duties and obligations of life those who
had not yet finished their page of history.
"The remains of Lieutenant Chase were consigned to their resting-place by
the brethren of the Masonic fraternity attached to the command, together with a
few from the city. The deceased was a Royal Arch Mason, but the small number
of that grade in attendance rendered the adoption of the Master Mason's burial
service necessary. At the solicitation of the brethren. Sir Knight Frank Fuller,
Secretary of the Territory, officiated as W. M., and Colonel Evans, of the Second
Cavalry, as Marshal, Chief Justice Kinney and United States Marshal Gibbs
walked in the procession, which consisted altogether of some twenty members.
The services at the grave were of a highly impressive character, and were witnessed
by nearly the whole of the command, together with numerous citizens. At the
close of the solemnities, the fraternity changed their position while a dirge was
performed by the band, and gave place to a detail of forty-eight soldiers, who
fired three volleys over the grave. The procession then returned to camp in re-
versed order."
It may be noted that Lieutenant Darwin Chase in his youth was one of the
most promising of the Mormon Elders; his name and labors in the ministry was
-ofcen associated with Apostle Erastus Snow. It was supposed that the Indians
mistook Lieutenant Chase for Colonel Connor and made him a particular mark.
The Lieutenant's horse had more attractive trappings, which drew the attention
■of the Indians towards him and away from the real commander, who is said to
have " sat almost motionless on his charger, within easy distance of the Indians'
rifles, watching the progress of the fight and giving his orders."
For the integrity of history, it must be noted that Colonel Connor in his
report to the War Department did an injustice to the people of Cache Valley when
he said : j
" I should mention here that in my march from this post no assistance was
rendered by tlie Mormons, who seemed indisposed to divulge any information|
regarding the Indians, and charged enormous prices for every article furnished my
command.'^
HISTORY OF SALT LAKE CITY. 28g
Accompany the above with an historical note in the Logan Branch records,
from which the author himself copied it :
" Jan. 28th, 1863, Colonel Connor passed through Logan with a company of
450 soldiers, and on the 29th he came upon and attacked a band of Indians in a
deep ravine through which a small creek runs west of Bear River and twenty miles
north of Franklin. The Indians resisted the soldiers and a severe battle ensued
which lasted four hours, in which eighteen soldiers were killed and [many]
wounded. About 200 Indians were killed and a great many wounded. Colonel
Connor captured about 150 Indian ponies, and returned through Logan on Jan. 31.
The weather was so intensely cold that scores of his men had their feet and hands
frozen. We, the people of Cache Valley, looked upon the movement of Colonel Con-
nor as an intervention of the Almighty, as the Indians had been a source of great
annoyance to us for a long time, causing us to stand guard over our stock and
other property the most of the time since our first settlement."
This historical minute was made early in 1863, just after the battle of Bear
River. Notice the striking proof of this in the naming of Connor's rank —
" Colonel Connor." He was not yet created Brigadier-General, for fighting that
battle, when Secretary Farrell made that minute. Records are invaluable ! This
one justifies Cache Valley. A misrepresentation of the Mormon people was made
to the War Department, though we are quite as confident that " Colonel Connor"
was too honorable to so design his report. The above will show General Con-
nor's views of the Mormon people at the date of the writing of his official letter,
and of the sympathy of the people of Cache Valley with the Indians. The
records of Cache speak of the absolute sympathy of the entire people of Cache
with the California Volunteers, and their gratitude to them for redeeming them
from Indian depredations.
Col. Martineau, in his most interesting sketch of the military history of
Cache Valley, gives the following account of the battle :
"In January, 1863, Col. P. E. Connor, with about 400 United States troops,
fought the battle of Bear River, about twelve miles north of Franklin. Thi^
action, though more properly belonging to the annals of the United States army^
we think should be noticed in this connection, as it had an immense influence in
settling Indian affairs in Northern Utah, and especially in Cache County. Indian
outrages against settlers and travelers had grown more and more frequent and
audacious, until they became unbearable, and Colonel Connor determined to put
an end to them. Making forced marches from Camp Douglas to Franklin during
an intensely cold winter and through deep snow, his command left Franklin some
hours before daylight, and after a march of twelve miles, found the Indians,
numbering about 400 warriors, very strongly posted in the deep ravine through
which Battle Creek enters Bear River. To attack this natural fortress the troops
had to cross an open plain about half a mile in width, in plain view of the In-
dians, who were hidden behind the steep banks of the stream. The troops
reached Bear River early in the morning of an intensely cold day. The river
was full of running ice, but was gallantly forded, many of the mengetting wet>
and afterwards having their feet and legs frozen.
2go HISTORY OF SALT LAKE CITY.
"As the troops advanced they met a deadly fire from the Indian rifles; but
without wavering pressed steadily on, and after a bloody contest of some hours>
in which the Indians fought with desperation, the survivors, about loo in number,
fled. Pocatello and Saguich, two noted chiefs, escaped, but Bear Hunter was
killed while making bullets at a camp fire. When struck he fell forward into the
fire and perished miserably. For years he had been as a thorn to the settlers,
and his death caused regret in none. A simultaneous attack in front and on both
flanks finally routed the Indians, whose dead, as counted by an eye-witness from
Franklin, amounted to 368, besides many wounded, who afterwards died. About
ninety of the slain were women and children. The troops found their camp well
supplied for the winter. They burnt the camp and captured a large number of
horses. The troops suffered severely in killed and wounded, besides a great
number who had their feet and legs frozen by fording Bear River. The morning
after the battle and an intensely cold night, a soldier found a dead squaw lying
in the snow, with a little infant still alive, which was trying to draw nourishment
from her icy breast. The soldiers, in mercy to the babe, killed it. On their
return the troops remained all night in Logan, the citizens furnishing them supper
and breakfast, some parties, the writer among the number, entertaining ten or
fifteen each. The settlers furnished teams and sleighs to assist them in carrying
the dead, wounded and frozen to Camp Douglas. In crossing the mountains be-
tween Wellsville and Brigham City the troops experienced great hardships. They
toiled and floundered all day through the deep snow, the keen, whirling blasts
filling the trail as fast aa made, until, worn out, the troops returned to Wellsville.
Next day Bishop W. H. Maughan gathered all the men and teams in the place
and assisted the troops through the pass to Salt Lake Valley.
"The victory was of immense value to the settlers of Cache County and all
the surrounding country. It broke the spirit and power of the Indians and
enabled the settlers to occupy new and choice localities hitherto unsafe. Peter
Maughan, the presiding bishop of the County, pronounced it an interposition of
Providence in behalf of the settlers; the soldiers having done what otherwise
the colonists would have had to accomplish with pecuniary loss and sacrifice of
lives illy spared in the weak state of the settlements. This was the universal sen-
timent of the County. It made the flocks and herds and lives of the people
comparatively safe ; for though the survivors were enraged against the people of
the County, whom they regarded as in a manner aiding and abetting the troops,
they felt themselves too weak to forcibly seek revenge."
HISTORY OF SALT LAKE CITY.
2gr
CHAPTER XXXIII.
GREAT MASS MEETING OF THE CITIZENS TO PROTEST AGAINST THE CONDUCT
OF GOVERNOR HARDING AND JUDGES WAITE AND DRAKE. THE READ-
ING OF HIS MESSAGE TO THE LEGISLATURE. DEEP INDIGNATION OF
THE PEOPLE. STIRRING DENUNCIATIONS BY THE LEADERS OF THE
PEOPLE. RESOLUTIONS. PETITION TO ABRAHAM LINCOLN FOR THE
REMOVAL OF THE GOVERNOR AND JUDGES. A COMMITTEE APPOINTED
TO WAIT UPON THEM AND ASK THEIR RESIGNATION IN THE NAME OF
THE PEOPLE. THE COMMITTEE'S REPORT.
In the Spring of 1863 there occurred a demonstration of the people of Great
Salt Lake City over the conduct of Governor Harding and Judges Waite and
Drake, An immense mass meeting was held in the city on the 3rd of March
As a prelude to the proceedings Captain Thomas' brass band played " Hail Col-
umbia," after which the meeting organized with the Hon. Daniel Spencer, chair-
man. Next came a prayer from the chaplain, Joseph Young, for divine guidance
in their important business, followed by the band playing the " Star Spangled
Banner," after which the Hon. John Taylor arose and briefly stated the object
of the meeting. They had met together, he said, for the purpose of investi-
gating certain acts of several of the United States ofificials now in the Territory.
It was a mass meeting of the citizens, and he, for one, desired to hear a proper
statement of the course of the persons alluded to, so far as that affected the
citizens of the Territory, laid before the people, and that such action might be
I adopted as they thought proper, and as the circumstances demanded.
The time had come for certain documents to be placed before the people
and before' the country, and on which they could not avoid taking action.
Though the Legislature was under no obligation at the opening of the session to
publish the Governor's message — as such action on their part was purely compli-
mentary— they did at first contemplate doing so, but on reflection, considered
that the character of that message was such that they could not with respect to
themselves and to the community do so, and many were of opinion that its pub-
lication at that time might have subjected his Excellency to the insult which his
intemperate language had provoked. Mr. Taylor then gave place to the Hon.
Albert Carrington, who read the message from the printed Journals of the Leg-
islature.
" Gentlemen of the Council and House of Representatives of the Territory
of Utah :
"Since the adjournment of the eleventh annual session of this body, the
office of Governor of this Territory has been conferred upon me according to
law. On the 7th day of July last I arrived in this city and assumed the duties
of my office. I had heard much of the industry and enterprise of the people of
2g2 HISTORY OF SALT LAKE CITY.
Utah, but I must admit that my most sanguine expectations were more than real-
ized upon my arrival here. A few years since this Territory was only known as a
desert. I found it the home of a large and thriving population, who have ac-
complished wonders in the short period that it has been settled ; and under the
steady progress of labor, protected in its indefensible rights, the whole area em-
braced in the Organic Act establishing this Territory must present a spectacle to
the people of the United States as satisfactory to them as it is creditable to your-
selves.
"The present season has been one of unusual abundance, not only here, but
throughout the entire Union; and, notwithstanding civil war has made desolate
many of the fairest districts which have ever been the abode of a civilized
people; yet He who has promised 'seed time and harvest,' and ' the rain to fall
upon the unjust as well as the just,' has still remembered the whole American
people with superabundant mercies. If the harmony of the world has been
marred, it has not been through the withholding of His kindness from the
nation.
"It is not necessary for me to dwell upon the causes which have superin-
duced the unhappy troubles now existing in the States of the American Union.
That African slavery, and the unnatural antagonisms which grow out of tliat re-
lation, lie at the foundation, I have no doubt. I am aware that other reasons
have been assigned, but such reasons are confined to but very few in comparison
to the many who will agree with me in my proposition. That it is the duty of
every lover of human liberty and friend of republican institutions on this conti
nent to stand by the Government in its present trials is, to my mind, a proposition
too clear for argument. Notwithstanding organized treason is still making
gigantic efforts to carry out its purpose of the destruction of the Union, yet I am
happy in the belief that the rebellion has culminated; that it can never be as
strong again as it has been for a few months past. The extremest measures have
been resorted to in the rebel States to put the last man in the field for the pur-
pose of sustaining the rebel flag ; nevertheless, that flag has been compelled to
retreat step by step before the victorious legions of the Union, and still there are
millions of men to be called into the field, if it shall hereafter be found that
those millions are needed.
"CONSERVATISM OF THE ADMINISTRATION.
"The most conservative advocate of the Union, no matter what his opinions
heretofore may have been on the question of slavery, cannot complain of the
policy of the Administration of President Lincoln in dealing with this question.
While it was known to all men ihat 4,000,000 of chattel slaves were supplying
their rebel masters with means to prosecute their work of ruin to the Govern-
ment, and for the overthrow of the Constitution — the joint labors of our common
ancestors; yet that same Government, through its civil ministers and military
commanders, it must be confessed, hesitated long to strike the rebel interests
where its blows could be made to tell with most terrible effect.
"OBJECTS OF THE WAR.
"The present war has not been prosecuted by the Federal Government be-
HISTORY OF SALT LAKE CITY.
293
cause of any hostility towards the institutions of the Southern States, but to pre-
serve the union of the great family of States. The question of emancipation, or
no Union, has been thrust upon the President. In meeting that question he has
shown a patriotic wisdom worthy the head of a great nation. If the Union
could have been preserved and slavery still suffered to remain intact, that institu-
tion would never have been disturbed by the American people, but would have
been suffered to expand its malign influences in the impoverishment of the soil
where it exists, until finally it must have perished by the inexorable law of retri-
bution, which, like an avenging Nemesis, is ever following in the track of wrong.
But no matter when or how the present difficulties may be settled, slavery is
doomed — it must perish, from the very nature of things.
"proclamation of emancipation.
"On the first day of January, proximo, the time given by the President to
the slave masters of the rebel States will have expired. If madness shall still rule
m their councils and no returning sense of duty or patriotism shall have been
awakened in their hearts, and they shall still refuse to return to that allegiance
which is their plainest duty, then the President, exercising that power which he
holds as commander-in-chief, and which, as a war power, no man, whose opinions
are entitled to the least respect, has ever denied, will by proclamation declare the
freedom of every slave in the States or districts of States, where such rebellion
shall then exist. This new order of things may for a time jostle the commercial
interests of not only this country, but of the whole civilized world; but order
and harmony will soon be restored, and our system of Government will still be
preserved, with no disturbing element remaining — a beacon-light to the nations,
and a refuge to countless millions who will come after us.
"ADMISSION OF THE STATE OF DESERET INTO THE UNION.
"After the adjournment of the last session of this body, in accordance with
a joint resolution emanating therefrom, the people of this Territory proceeded to
elect delegates to form a Constitution for the State of Deseret ; and after such
Constitution was formed and adopted, the people proceeded to elect a Governor,
Lieutenant-Governor, and other officers, amongst which was a representative to
Congress; and also two United States Senators were elected. One of the gen-
tlemen elected as a United States Senator proceeded to Washington City and
caused to be laid before Congress the object of his mission. He was treated with
that courtesy to which a gentleman on so grave a mission should ever be entitled.
He was permitted to occupy a seat within the bar of the Senate chamber, and
was otherwise received with the kindest consideration. In consequence of the
lateness of the session, it could not be expected that more would have been done
than was m the premises. The Constitution and other documents were referred
to the appropriate committee, where the matter now rests. That the question
will be taken up at the approaching session of Congress and acted on in that spirit
of fairness that becomes a great and generous nation, I have no doubt.
" I am sorry to say that since my sojourn amongst you I have heard no sen-
timents, either publicly or privately expressed, that would lead me to believe that
2g^ HISTORY OF SALT LAKE CITY.
much sympathy is felt by any considerable number of your people in favor of the
Government of the United States, now struggling for its very existence ' in the
valley and shadow ' through which it has been called to pass. If I am mistaken
in this opinion no one will rejoice more than myself in acknowledging my error.
1 would, in the name of my bleeding country, that you, as the representatives
of public sentiment here, would speedily pass such a resolution as will extort
from me, if necessary, a public acknowledgment of my error, if error I have
committed.
"I have said this in no unkind spirit; I would much rather learn that the
fault has been on my part and not on yours.
" I regret also to say, I have found in conversing with many gentlemen of
social and political influence, that because the question of the admission of this
Territory into the Union was temporarily postponed, distrust is entertained in re-
gard to the friendly disposition of the Federal Government, and expressions have
been used amounting to inuendoes at least, as to what the result might be in case
the admission should be rejected or postponed. Every such manifestation of
spirit on the part of the objectors is, in my opinion, not only unbecoming, but is
based on an entire misconception of the rights of the applicant, and the duties
of the representatives of the States composing the Union.
"The Constitution of the United States provides, in Art. 4, and Sec. 3,
' that new States may be admitted by Congress in this Union,' etc. The question
properly arises, when and how are they to be admitted? Not, surely, upon the
demand of the people of the Territory seeking to be admitted, but upon the con-
sent of Congress. When that consent becomes a right to be demanded, depends
on circumstances. It is doubtless the interest and policy of the Federal Govern-
ment to admit the Territories belonging to it to the status and condition of States
whenever there is a sufficient population to warrant it, and they apply to Con-
gress with a Constitution republican in spirit and form.
" But still the Congress has not only the right but it is one of their gravest
duties, to see that this great boon is not conferred upon a people unprepared to
enter into the great political family on a basis that is unjust to other members of
the Union. Amongst the first inquiries is that in relation to the population of
the Territory knocking for admission. Is it such as to entitle a State to a mem-
ber in the House of Representatives? If such is the case, and the Constitution
which has been adopted as the organic law is such as the Constitution of the
United States contemplates; if the same has been adopted in good faith, and the
people are loyal to the Constitution and the laws, and desire the welfare of the
Federal Government, then it becomes not only the duty of the Congress to ad-
mit such applicant, but the latter has a right morally and politically to demand
such admission. But on the other hand, if it is not clearly shown that there is a
sufficient population, that the Constitution is republican in form and spirit, that
the same has been adopted in good faith, and that the people are loyal to the
Federal Government and to the laws, then the right to make such demand does
not exist, nor should the application be entertained after these facts appear.
''The admission of a new State into the Union is, or ought to be, attended
with gravest consideration. For instance, suppose the population of the Terri-
HISTORY OF SALT LAKE CITY. zpj
tory is known to fall far short of the number that entitles the present members of
the Union to a representation in Congress, should it be thought hard or strange that
objections should be made? Is it thought a hardship that the people of the State
of New York, comprising 4,000,000, are not willing that their voices should be
silenced in the Senate of the United States by 60,000 or 80,000 in one of the
Territories? I am aware that precedents may be cited in some few instances,
where these reasons have been overlooked and disregarded, but that fact does not
atfect the question under consideration. The reasons which controlled Congress at
the time referred to were never good and sound ones, but we found in the wishes
and ambition of political parties, anxious to control the vote in the electoral col-
lege, for chief magistrate. If the precedent was a bad one, the sooner it is
changed the better for all parties concerned.
"In connection with this subject, I respectfully recommend the propriety of
passing an act whereby a correct census may be taken of the population of the
Territory. If it shall be found that the population is sufficient to entitle it to one
representative in Congress, on the present basis, I shall be most happy in aiding
you to the extent of my humble abilities, in forwarding any movements having
for their end, the admission of the Territory into the Union as a State.
" POLYGAMY.
" It would be disingenuous if I were not to advert to a question, though seem-
ingly it has nothing to do with the premises, is yet one of vast importance to
you as a people, and which cannot be ignored — I mean that institution which is
not only commended but encouraged by you, and which, to say the least of it, is
an anomaly throughout Christendom — I mean polygamy, or, if you please, plural
wives. In approaching this delicate subject, I desire to do so in no offensive
manner or unkind spirit; yet the institution, founded upon no written statute of
your Territory, but upon custom alone exists. It is a patent fact, and your own
public teachers, by speech and pamphlet, on many occasions, have challenged its
investigation at the bar of Christendom. I will not on this occasion be drawn
into a discussion either of its morality or its Bible authority; I will neither affirm
or deny any one of the main proceedings on which it rests. That there is seem-
ing authority for its practice in the Old Testament Scripture, cannot be denied.
" But still there were many things authorized in the period of the world
when they were written which could not be tolerated now without overturning the
whole system of our civilization, based, as it is, on the new and better revelation
of the common Savior of us all. While it must be confessed that the practice of
polygamy prevailed to a limited extent, yet it should be remembered that it was
in that age of the world when the twilight of a semi-barbarism had not yielded
to the effulgence of the coming day, and when the glory and fame of the kings
of Israel consisted more in the beauty and multitude of their concubmes than in
the wisdom of their counselors. "An eye for an eye, and a tooth for a tooth,"
was once the /ex talionis of the great Jewish law-giver. So capital punishment
was awarded for Sabbath breaking ; and there were manv other statutes and cus-
toms which at this age of the world, if adopted, would carry us backward into
the centuries of barbarism.
2g6 HISTORY OF SALT LAKE CITY.
" I lay it down as a sound proposition that no community can happily exist
with an institution as important as that of marriage wanting in all those qualities
that make it homogeneal with institutions and laws of neighboring civilized communi-
ties having the same object. Anomalies in the moral world cannot long exist in
a state of mere abeyance; they must form the very nature of things, become ag-
gressive, or they will soon disappear from the force of conflicting ideas. This
proposition is supported by the history of our race, and is so plain that it may be
set down as an axiom. If we grant this to be true, we may sum up the conclu-
sion of the argument as follo-ws: either the laws and opinions of the community
by which you are surrounded must become subordinate to your customs and
opinions, or, on the other hand, you must yield to theirs. The conflict is irre-
pressible, i '»
"But no matter whether this anomaly shall disappear or remain amongst you,
it is your duty at least, to'guard it against flagrant abuse. That plurality of wives
is tolerated and believed to be right, may not appear so strange. But that a
mother and her daughter are allowed to fulfill the duties of wives to the same hus-
band, or that a man could be found in all Christendom who could be induced to
take upon himself such a relationship, is perhaps no less a marvel in morals than
in matters of taste. The bare fact that such practices are tolerated amongst you
is sufflcient evidence that the human passions, whether excited by religious fa-
naticism or otherwise, must be restrained and subject to laws, to which all must
yield obedience. No community can long exist without absolute social anarchy
unless so important an institution as that of marriage laws is regulated by law.
It is the basis of our civilization, and in it the whole question of the descent and
distribution of real and personal estate is involved.
" Much to my astonishment, I have not been able to find any laws upon the
statutes of this Territory regulating marriage. I earnestly recommend to your
early consideration the passage of some law that will meet the exigencies of the
people.
"act of congress against polygamy.
"I respectfully call your attention to an Act of Congress passed the first day
of July, 1862, entitled "An Act to punish and prevent the practice of polygamy
in the Territories of the United States, and in other places, and disapproving
and annulling certain Acts of the Legislative Assembly of the Territory ot Utah."
(Chap. CXXVII. of the Statutes at Large of the last Session of Congress, jiage
501.) I am aware that there is a prevailing opinion here that said Act is uncon-
stitutional, and therefore it is recommended by those in high authority that no
regard whatever should be paid to the same — and still more to be regretted, if I
am rightly informed, in some instances it has been recommended that it be
openly disregarded and defied, meanly to defy the same.
" I take this occasion to warn the people of this Territory against such dan-
gerous and disloyal counsel. Whether such Act is unconstitutional or not, is not
necessary for me either to affirm or deny. The individual citizen, under no cir-
cumstances whatever, has the right to defy any law or statute of the United
States with impunity. In doing so, he takes upon himself the lisk of the penal-
HISTORY OF SALT LAKE CITY. 297
ties of that statute, be they what they may, in case his judgment should be in
error. The Constitution has amply provided how and where all such questions of
doubt are to be submitted and settled, viz : in the courts constituted for that pur-
pose. To forcibly resist the execution of that Act would, to say the least, be a
high misdemeanor, and if a whole community should become involved in such
resistance, would call downu pon it the consequences of insurrection and rebellion.
I hope and trust that no such rash counsels will prevail. If, unhappily, I am
mistaken in this, I choose to shut my eyes to the consequences.
"LIBERTY OF CONSCIENCE.
"Amongst the most cherished and sacred rights secured to the citizens of
the United States, is the right ' to worship God according to the dictates of con-
science.' It would have been strange indeed, if the founders of our Government
had not thrown around the citizen this irrevocable guaranty, when it is remem-
bered that so many of the framers of the Constitution must have been familiar
with the acts of the British Parliament against ' non-conformists,' and had wit-
nessed the injustice and hardship resulting therefrom. They had seen men of the
most exalted abilities and virtues excluded from places of public trust for no
other reason than that they would not subscribe to all of the dogmas of a church
established by law. They had witnessed, at the same time, other men of the
most questionable integrity and morality clothed in the robes of prelate and
bishop, exacting without stint or mercy, enormous revenues from an unwilling
people, and spending the same in the pursuit of an unholy ambition, and in a
luxury that better befitted some Eastern satrap than the followers of ' the meek
and lowly Jesus,' in whom they professed to believe. In the light of their past
experience, and inspired' by the great primal truths of the Declaration, the 'in-
defeasible rights of man to the enjoyment of life, liberty and the pursuit of hap-
piness' still sounding in their ears, they founded a government on the basis of
religious tolera;ion, before unknown to mankind. This could not well have been
otherwise, from the very nature of things. It was the inevitable corollary that
proceeded from the premises, and thus was it that religion was made a matter be-
tween man and his Maker, and not between man and the Government.
"But here arises a most important question, a question perhaps that has never
yet been asked or fully answered in this country — how far does the right of con-
science extend? Is there any limit to this right? and, if so, where shall the line
of demarcation be drawn, designating that which is not forbidden from that which
is? This is indeed a most important inquiry, and from the tendency of the times,
must sooner or later be ansAvered. I cannot and will not on this occasion pretend to
answer this question, but will venture the suggestion that when it is answered the
same rules will be adopted as if the freedom of speech and of the press were in-
volved in the argument.
"Let us refer to this provision of the Constitution; it is found in the first
article of the amendments: ' Congress shall make no laws respecting the establish-
ment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof, or abridging the free-
dom of speech or of the press ' Can we logically infer from the above provision
that these rights are not co-relanve, or that they do not rest on the same princi-
10
2gS HISTORY OF SALT LAKE CITY.
pies? that one of these rights is of more importance to the citizen than the other,
and that his duty in their ' free exercise' is not the same? I think not.
"Let us briefly examine this proposition. Because 'the freedom of speech
and of the press' is guaranteed, can the citizen thereby be allowed to speak
slanderously and falsely of bis neighbor? Can he write and print a libel with
impunity? He certainly cannot^ and his folly would almost amount to idiocy if
he should appeal to the Constitution to shield him from the consequences of his
acts. But the question may be asked — why not? The answer is at hand. Simply
because he is not allowed to abuse these rights. If, upon a prosecution for slan-
der or libel, the defendant should file his plea setting up that provision of the
Constitution as a matter of defense, the plea would not only be bad on demurrer,
buc the pleader would be looked upon as a very bad lawyer. Will any one in-
form me why the same parity of reasoning should not apply in one case as the
other ?
"That if an act, in violation of law and repugnant to the civilization in the
midst of which that act has been committed, should be followed by a prosecution,
could be justified under the guaranty of the Constitution securing the 'free ex-
ercise of religion' more than in the case above cited? I shall pause for an
answer. There can be no limits beyond which the mind cannot dwell, and our
thoughts soar in their aspirations after truth. We may think what we will,
believe what we will, and speak what we will, on all subjects of speculative the-
ology. We may believe with equal impunity the Talmud of the Jew, the Bible
of the Christian, the Book of Morrnon, the Koran, or the Veda of the Brahmin.
We cannot elevate, other than by moral forces, the human soul from the low plane
of ignorance and barbarism, whether it worships for its God, the Llama of the
Tartars, or the Beetle of the Egyptians. But when religious opinions assume
new manifestations and pass from mere sentiments into overt acts, no matter
whether they be acts of faith or not, they must not outrage the opinions of the
civilized world, but, on the other hand, must conform to those usages established
by law, and w^hich are believed to underlie our civilization.
" But, the question returns — Is there any limit to the 'free exercise of re-
ligion?' If there is not, then in the midst of the nineteenth century, human
victims may be sacrificed as an atonement for sin, and "widows may be burned
alive on the funeral pile." Is there one here who believes that such shocking
barbarisms could be practiced in the name of religion, and in the ' free exercise
thereof in any State or Territory of the United States? If not, then there
must be a limit to this right under consideration, and it only remains for the
proper tribunal at the proper time to fix the boundaries, as each case shall arise
involving that question.
" POWERS VESTED IN THE GOVERNOR BY THE ORGANIC ACT.
"The Act of Congress organizing the Territory of Utah, and providing a
Government therein, defined with sufficient certainty the duties of each depart-
ment in said Government. These several departments were made to consist of the
Executive, the Legislative and the Judicial. Amongst the duties imposed upon
the Governor, is that of nominating certain officers, by and with the advice and
consent of the Council, The first question that arises under this head is, what
k
n
HISTORY OF SALT LAKE CITY.
299
officers are to be nominated by the Governor? The seventh section of said Act
is in the following words: *And be it further enacted, that all township, dis-
trict and county officers, not herein otherwise provided for, shall be appointed, or
elected, as the case may be, in such manner as shall be provided for by the Gov.-
ernor and Legislative Assembly of the Territory of Utah.' The Governor shall
nominate, and by and with the advice and consent of the Legislative Council
(not Assembly) appoint all officers not herein otherwise provided for, etc. Town-
ship, district and county officers are to be appointed or elected, as the case may
be, in such manner as the Governor and Legislative Assembly may direct. It is
clear to my mind that the Organic Act contemplates two classes^of officers, viz:
township, district and county, and another class not included in the former,
which embraces all officers strictly Territorial, such as attorney-general for the
Territory, marshal, auditor, treasurer, etc.
''I cannot arrive at any other conclusion in the examination of the Act, than
that the officers not included in the first class ffiust be appointed by the Governor,
by and with consent of the Legislative Council, and cannot be elected, as in the
former instance, by joint ballot of the Legislative Assembly, have held such
offices contrary to law and have been removed upon the prosecution of a writ of
quo warranto. It follows further, that if such officers acted without authority of
law their acts were void, and are not binding upon the citizens. This becomes a
question of much importance when we consider the hardship and inconvenience
that may hereafter grow out of the same. I respectfully submit for your consider-
ation, whether it would not be safer either to pass some law legalizing the acts of
such persons, while in the supposed discharge of their duties, or it may be that
it would require an Act of Congress legalizing such assumed official acts.
"Before dismissing this part of my subject, I feel it to be my duty to suggest
to you whether a very grave question may not hereafter arise as to the authority
of the Legislative Assembly to elect by joint ballot any of the officers denomin-
ated as 'township, district or county officers.' I have been unofficially advised
that the word ' election ' as used in the Organic Act, might be held to refer to the
people, and not to the Legislative Assembly. If such a question should hereafter
arise, and such a possible view should be taken in deciding this question, it would
involve the most serious consequences. I will express no opinion on the subject.
I only raise the question for your consideration.
"REVISION AND CODIFICATION OF THE STATUTES.
" I respectfully call your attention to the necessity of a thorough revision
and codification of the statutes of this Territory. I am aware that something
was attempted at your last session in that direction ; but it seems to me that the
committee which had that duty under their charge stopped far short of what was
required at their hands. It is the duty of the law makers to leave the statutes by
which the people are to be governed so plain in their several requirements that
the stranger cannot be misled. It is extremely difficult to ascertain what precise
statutes are in force on many subjects in this Territory. Besides this, there are
many provisions in the statutes manifestly unjust, and whilst they remain must be
considered anomalies I will not consume time in any argumentation on this
II
joo HISTORY OF SALT LAKE CITY.
subject, believing that it will be only necessary to call your attention to the facts
as they exist.
"Amongst the most objectionable of these provisions, may be found the fol-
lowing in the revised statutes of 1855, and which are still in force:
"Chap. 5, relating to justices of the peace. Sees. 8, 15, 19.
"Chap. 3, relating to the procedure in civil cases. Sec. 28.
"Chap. 6, relating to attorneys-at-law. This whole chapter should be re-
pealed.
"Chap. 12, relating to estates of decedents. Sees. 14, 24, 25, 26. The
great objection to these sections is, that no limit whatever is fixed to the value of
the estate, thereby cutting off claims which ought to be paid, Avhen there is
enough to do so, and still the family will be left in comfortable circumstances.
"Chap. 18, in relation to divorces. There should be a specified time when
such notice of the pendency of the application should be given to the defendant.
Sec. 18, in the same chapter, gives the probate judge power too plenary. In ques-
tions of so much importance, the party should have the benefit of a trial by
jury.
"Chap. 32 should be stricken from the statute. No such crime as treason
against a Territory is known to the laws.
"I call your attention especially to sections 112 and 113, under the title of
'Justifiable Killing, and the Prevention of Public Offences.' These provisions
are too palpably unjust to stand a day on your statutes. It would be an easy
matter for a man to be murdered, and yet under these provisions his murderer
could escape under the plea that the circumstances were such as to excite his fears
that certain acts either would be done or had been, for which he claimed the
immunity of the statute. If your laws against the offenses therein named are
not sufficiently penal, make them so; but to authorize by a public statute the kill-
ing of a man on mere suspicion that he has committed or will commit certain
acts, which are less than capital upon his conviction after a fair trial, seems to be
most cruel and unjust. In China, it is said that a high Mandarin of the ' blue button '
may kill with impunity a person suspected of stealing rice, and cut open his
stomach to find the evidence of his guilt. In no other instance have I been able
to find any statute or custom analogous to the one under consideration. No com-
munity can adopt the principles contained in that statute without soon becoming
(dropping the figure) ' as a whitened sepulchre filled with dead men's bones.
"VOTING BY BALLOT.
"I respectfully call your attention to Chap. 47, Sec. 5, in relation to voting
at elections by ballot. Said section is as follows: 'Each elector shall pro-
vide himself with a vote containing the names of the persons he wishes elected,
and the offices he would have them fill, and present it neatly folded to the judge
of the election, who shall number it and deposit it in the ballot-box. The clerk
shall then write down the name of the elector opposite the number of his vote.'
Why the elector should be required to provide himself a vote and present it
neatly folded, perhaps can be satisfactorily explained ; but I confess that the ob-
ject of voting by ballot is completely defeated by the above provisions. Why
HISTORY OF SALT LAKE CITY. 301
not vote viva voce at once. The great object to be obtained in voting at our
popular elections is absolute freedom of the elector in depositing his vote. Hence
it is that in most, if not all the States, the right of voting by secret liallot is
secured to the elector by stringent laws. The reason is obvious. A thousand
circumstances might so completely surround the elector'that he would be com-
pelled oftentimes to vote against the convictions of his judgment, and yet could
not, if interested and powerful parties were permitted to exercise their control
over him in the discharge of one of his most sacred duties.
"In connection with this subject, I take pleasure in adopting the language
of my worthy predecessor, Governor Gumming, as being eminently fit and
proper: 'Many of the laws now on the statute book were passed under a con-
dition of things which will soon cease to exist. You cannot reasonably anticipate
a continuance of the partial isolation which has characterized your early his-
tory in this region. It must be borne in mind, that you are situated upon the
great highway between the oceans, which is already traversed by expresses and
telegraphs, and is soon to witness the establishment of a railroad trans-
porting through your valleys the commodities of the world. It would be
well that you make timely preparation for changes that are fast approaching you,
and are ultimately inevitable. New relations between yourselves and the outer
world must occur. I would therefore urge upon ^ou that you appoint a com-
mittee to prepare a code of laws suitable for the present and future requirements
of this community. The judges are constituted your legal advisers in these
matters — to them I refer you.' If this was true in i860, how much more is it
true to-day ? The constantly increasing travel over the great Overland Mail
route, the thousands of emigrants passing yearly through your Territory, many of
whom become permanent citizens, admonish all of us that your days of isolation
from the outside world have forever passed. Even if it were desirable, you can-
not longer remain i:olated and walled in by these natural ramparts around you.
Every canyon susceptible of improvement will be converted into some thorough-
fare where the never-ceasing tide of our population will be poured along. Every
nook and valley, which for ages have been trodden by wild beasts or savage men,
will become the home of some enterprising citizen whose right it will be to claim
ihe protection of just and wholesome laws.
"FINANCIAL.
"I herewith annex the auditor's and treasurer's reports for the year 1862.
They have been made out with so much clearness in their details that it is only
necessary for me to refer them to you, accompanying the former with a few brief
suggestions. By reference to appended statement "A" in the auditor's report,
it will be seen that the aggregate amount of taxable property assessed within the
said Territory for the year 1862 is ^4,779,518; and the same statement shows a
tax due the Territorial treasury for the current year, estimated at one per cent.,
of ^47) 795- 18, from which will have to be taken, for cost of assessing, collecting
and remittances by county courts, at least 12 per cent.; leaving a probable net
revenue of $42,059.76.
" The whole Territorial liability, including the direct tax assessed by the
J02 HISTORY OF SALT LAKE CITY.
United States, and assumed by the Territorial Legislature, January 17, 1862,
amounts to the aggregate sum of ^40,199.31. The assets out of which this sun
is to be paid, by reference to the same report, amounts to the sum of $50,612. 10,
leaving a balance still in the treasury on the ist day of November, 1862, of
$10,412.99. The above result cannot fail in being satisfactory to you. The
report of the treasurer is so clear and concise that it is not necessary for me to
add one word more than what is contained in the report itself.
"Before dismissing the subject I call your attention especially to the auditor's
report for the year 1861, in regard to the aggregate value of taxable property
within this Territory for that year. By examining the same you will find that
such aggregate amount was $5,032,184 — thereby showing the strange fact that
since that assessment was made there has been a falling off in the value of taxable
property within this Territory in a single year of $252,666, and what is still
more remarkable, this apparent loss in Great Salt Lake County alone has been
$140,280, whilst, on the other hand, in the County of Davis, there has been an
apparent gain of $410,514. I am advised that the cutting off a portion of this
Territory, and adding the same to that of Nevada, cannot account for this phe-
nomenon.
"If there is no mistake in these computations it presents a most remarkable
fact indeed. I shall not attempt to account for it here, but call your attention to
the same, merely adding that in the absence of great local calamities, which affect
in their nature whole communities, I question whether such an instance can be
found in the history of any people. But it remains with you to account for this
phenomenon. This city is the heart and centre of the county where so remark-
able a deficiency has developed itself, and yet there certainly has been no
natural causes for this condition of things. Not only have the people stood
still in all of their industrial pursuits, absolutely earning nothing over and above
their current expenses that goes to swell the aggregate wealth, but there has been
a positive loss, if we are to be governed by these data, in Great Salt Lake County
alone, in one year, of $140,280. Can this be so, when we take into considera-
tion that the present year has been one of unusual prosperity, while the labors of
the husbandman have been most bountifully paid, and on every hand of this
thriving city unmistakable evidences of prosperity are apparent? This result can
only be accounted for on one hypothesis, viz: in former years the valuation of
property has been too high, or the present year it has been too low. These fluctu-
ations to some extent will always exist from factitious causes alone, in spite of the
greatest precaution ; but it is the duty of the Legislature to guard not only the
people but the treasury, against abuses of the kind, if any exist. There can be
no wrong to the people in the collection of an ad valorem tax, providing the
property has been fairly assessed and its value fairly determined. The revenue is
the common fund of the people, and there should be no favoritism in the collec-
tion of the same. No matter whether the individual property-holder possesses
ten, twenty or a hundred thousand dollars' worth, he should submit to the same
rules in determining its value, as if he was the owner only of one hundred or ten
hundred dollars' worth.
HISTORY OF SALT LAKE CITY. J03
"miscellaneous.
" On the 29th of October last tlie Secretary of the Interior addressed me a
letter informing me that he had designated me to receive for the Territorial Li-
brary here, two sets of the documents of the 2d session of the 36th Congress;
that by the Act approved the 14th March, 1S62, making appropriations for the
Legislative, Executive and Judicial expenses for the Government for the )ear
ending 30th June, 1862, there is the following provision: 'Provided, that the
said journals and documents shall be sent to such libraries and public institutions
only as shall signify a willingness to pay the cost of transportation of the same.'
Upon inquiry I find that no funds were at my disposal with which to pay for such
transportation, and I notified the Department accordingly.
''There will doubtlefs be other important documents to be distributed on
the same terms hereafter, and I recommend that you provide the necessary means
whereby you can avail the people of this Territory of the benefits of these
donations.
" I am advised that the penitentiary of this Territory is in a dilapidated
condition, and that some repairs are absolutely necessary in order to make the
same a safe or proper receptacle for public offenders. I recommend that you me-
morialize Congress upon that subject.
"I have not been able to find any law upon your statutes inaugurating a
common school system, or that any money has been appropriated with a view to
that end, although you have appropriated money to other objects of much less
importance, for instance, in keeping up a quasi military establishment at a con-
siderable expense to the people. As much as this condition of things at one
period of your history may have been required, it seems to me that the time has
passed when the Territorial fund should be used for that purpose at the expense of
so important a measure as that which looks to the education of the rising genera-
tion amongst you. I need not dwell here upon the importance of common
schools; your intelligence must supply any argumentation on my part.
" The condition of the militia of this Territory is unknown to me, Althouo-h
the statute organizing the ^ame makes it the duty of the lieutenant-general com-
manding to report to the Governor, who is recognized as commander-in-chief, on
or before the ist day of December, annually; yet no such report has been made
to me, and therefore I am wholly uninformed on the subject. If I shall hereafter
deem it my duty, I may require that such report be made.
" There are many other topics to which, perhaps, I ought to refer, but I have
no data from which to draw conclusions. If reports on any of these subjects shall
hereafter be made to me I will communicate them to you, with such suggestions as
I shall deem proper.
" INDIAN TROUBLES.
" Complaints have been frequently made to me during the past summer and
up to a recent period by immigrants who have suffered great loss and violence from
hostile Indian bands who infest some parts of this and adjoining Territories, whilst
peacefully pursuing their travel to such points of destination as was their right to
do; and from statements which I believe to be reliable, certain residents of this
304
HISTORY OF SALT LAKE CITY.
Territory have been known openly to barter and trade with the Indians for cloth-
ing and other articles which they at the time must have known were the spoils and
plunder from murdered citizens. These practices have, in my opinion, a direct
tendency to encourage these outrages against humanity. I respectfully .suggest
for your consideration whether any legislation is demanded at your hands to pre-
vent these outrages in the future. The presence of a military command here will
doubtless have a tendency to prevent many of these horrors.
" I am glad that I am enabled to inform you that the Federal Government
has made arrangements to hold treaties with some if not all the tribes of Indians
that have so long infested this and neighboring Territories, and it is to be hoped
that this will be done at an early day, and the Indian title to the lands therein be
speedily extinguished, and such disposition will be made of their former occupants
as becomes a great, generous and just Government.
" HOMESTEAD ACT.
"On the I St day of January, 1863, the Homestead Act passed on the 20th
May last will go into effect, thereby enabling any person who is of the age of 21
years, or who is the head of a family, or who has performed service in the army
or navy of the United States, and who has not been in arms against the United
States, or given aid or comfort to the enemies thereof, and has declared his inten-
tion to become a citizen of the same, to enter on and take possession of 160 acres
of any of the public lands not otherwise appropriated, and by cultivating the
same for the term of five years, and paying $10, will, upon the compliance with
these conditions, be entitled to a patent for the same. Thus will it be in the
power of every loyal citizen to possess a homestead of 160 acres of land, secured
from all liabilities from any debts which he may have contracted prior to his
patent for the same. When it is remembered that the beneficent act was intended
to secure a home to every loyal citizen, on terms so easy and just, its consequences
for good cannot well be estimated to the present and future generations. What
patriotic devotion does the recipient of this great boon not owe to the Govern-
ment that thus shields himself and his family from the possibility of want, if he
will make use of the means that God and nature have given him! What should
be the character of that loyalty due from the citizens from such a Government —
a Government which enables him at one bound, although ruined in his fortunes,
to spring from indigence and poverty to comparative ease and independence?
The Indian title to the lands in our vast territories will soon be extinguished, and
they will be open to settlement on the terms above presented. What inducements
are there which are not held out to those just beginning life, and who may reason-
ably hope to witness thriving cities springing up where the wild Indian now lights
his camp fires and pitches his rude lodge !
" When it is also remembered that every rood 01 land in this Territory will
be open to the citizens, upon no harder terms than that they will occupy and
cultivate it, and remain loyal to our common Government, who should doubt for
a moment that such a golden opportunity shall be offered in vain, or that one
link shall be stricken from the chain of sympathy that should ever bind us alike
in interest, in body and soul, to that same benign and just Government?
HISTORY OF SALT LAKE CITY. 305
*
" CONCLUSION.
"I have felt it my duty to urge upon your earnest consideration the sugges-
tions and measures herein recommended; at the same time I felt that I would be
wanting in proper respect to you were I to accompany each of these recommenda-
tions with an assignment of all the reasons which might be urged in their favor.
I am accountable to the Government of our common country for these recom-
mendations. You too are accountable to the same tribunal and to your immediate
constituents for the disposition that you make of them. It is your province and
duty to consider and discuss them, and either adopt or reject them as your wis-
dom shall determine.
"I desire to assure you, gentlemen, that nothing in my power shall be want-
ing to demonstrate my honest regard for the interest and welfare of the people of
this Territory. They deserve much at the hands of the Federal Government for
their persevering industry ; and, so far as my humble efforts may contribute to
that end they shall never be wanting. No matter what differences of opinion
may exist between us on many subjects, I will endeaver to convince you of my
sincerity by the uprightness of my conduct, and shall always be satisfied with the
discharge of my official duties, when I know that they stand approved by the
general voice of the people.
"May each one of you be clothed with wisdom from on high, in the dis-
charge of the important duties which devolve upon you, and may your delibera-
tions be such as not only to secure the lasting peace, happiness and prosperity of
the people of this Territory, but also redound to the welfare and glory of our
common county.
STEPHEN S. HARDING.
*' Great Salt Lake City, U. T., Decembers, 1862:'
The reading of the message was listened to with great attention, and at its
conclusion, the audience unmistakably indicated their uneasiness over the insult
offered to their representatives, who had been forced to listen to its delivery by
the Governor in person. There was one deep feeling of contempt manifest for
its author. Mr. Carrington then alluded to the inconsistences of the Governor's
professions and his actions. He said his Excellency reminded him of the man
and his cow. He commenced with sweet apples and at every opportunity threw
in the onions. The Governor commenced with admitting that the Constitution
debarred him from interfering with their religious rights, and at every oppor-
tunity throughout the message he attacked them. He said he would neither
affirm nor deny with regard to the question of polygamy, yet at the same time, he
held it up to ridicule and obloquy, and everywhere affirming that it was
not only contrary to civilization, but anomalous, and that it could not be en-
dured, was contrary to the law and unconstitutional, while at the same time he
conceded that it was a religious rite and a matter of faith with the people. These
were, he ?aid, a few of the reasons which induced the Legislative Assembly
to waive the complimentary publication of the message, in hopes that his Excel-
lency might consider his folly, mend his ways and pursue the course which he
promised in the latter part of his message; but how consistently he had acted
11
jo6 HISTORY OF SAL T LAKE CITY.
since that time, the audience would be able to judge after the reading of other
documents during the meeting.
IMPORTANT DOCUMENTS FROM WASHINGTON.
Mr. Carrington then read correspondence from Hon. John M. Bernhisel,
Delegate to Congress, and from the Hon. Wm. H. Hooper, Senator-elect, in
which the unjustifiable proceedings of Governor Harding and the Associate-Jus-
tices Waite and Drake were exposed. Mr. Carrington read an extract from a
letter, dated Washington, 2 2d January, in which Governor Harding was repre-
sented to have communicated to the Hon. Hannibal Hamlin, Vice-President of
the United States and President of the Senate, his message, accompanied by a
letter stating that the message had been suppressed through the influence of one
of our prominent citizens, referring, unquestionably, to Governor Young. The
following is the last paragraph of the letter referred to :
" I entertain strong hopes that we shall be able to obtain, before the termi-
nation of the session, an appropriation to liquidate your Indian amounts, unless
prevented by Governor Harding's insinuation of the disloyalty of our peopled
The following is an extract from a letter, dated Washington, February, 1863 :
"On the nth of December last, Senator Browning introduced a bill in the
Senate, which was referred to the Committee on the Judiciary. This bill was pre-
pared at Great Salt Lake City, and its enactment by Congress, recommended by
Governor Harding and Judges Waite and Drake. The leading and most exceptional
features of this bill are the following: ist: It limits the jurisdiction of the Pro-
bate Court to the probate of wills, to the issue of letters of administration and the
appointment of guardians. 2 : It authorizes the Marshal to summon any persons
within the district in which the court is held that he thinks proper as jurors. 3 :
It authorizes the Governor to appoint and commission a// militia officers, including
Major-General, and remove them at pleasure. It also confers on the Governor
authority to appoint the days for training."
On the 27th of January, the Hon. Win. H. Hooper writes from Washington
that "Governor Harding is, of course, doing all he can by letters" against the
people of Utah. His letter was chiefly occupied with the bill presented by Mr.
Browning. The Senator's letter was entirely confirmatory of those from the pen of
our Delegate. He says :
"The bill has been presented, and referred back. There does not appear to
have been any action on it. It has not been printed ; should it be, I will forward
a copy. The bill was drawn up at Salt Lake City, and attached with eyelets. Also
attached was as follows: "The bill should be passed." Signed : S. S. Harding,
Governor; Waite and Drake, Associate Justices."
The reading of these extracts created quite a sensation. When the insinuation
of the disloyalty of the people was read, there was a loud murmur of dissatisfaction
throughout the audience. Mr. Carrington's sarcastic reference to the Governor's
promise "to help us" and his allusion to His Excellency's private room being a
new place for drafting bills for the action of Congress, had a telling effect upon the
meeting.
HISTORY OF SALT LAKE CITY. joy
SPEECH OF HON. JOHN TAYLOR.
After the applause had subsided, which greeted his rising, Mr. Taylor said, " It
has already been stated that these documents speak for themselves. They come from
those who are ostensibly our guardians and the guardians of our rights. They come
from men who ought to be actuated by the strictest principles of honor, truth,
vrtue, integrity, and honesty, and whose high official position ought to elevate
them above suspicion, yet what are the results?
'' In relation to the Governor's Message, enough perhaps has already been said.
We are not here to enter into any labored political disquisitions, but to make some
plain matter-of-fact statements, in which are involved the vital interests of this com-
munity. There is one feature, however, in that document which deserves a passing
notice. It would seem that we are by direct implication accused of disloyalty.
He states that he has not heard any sentiments expressed, either publicly or pri-
vately, that would lead him to believe that much sympathy is felt by any consid-
erable portion of this people in favor of the Government of the United States.
Perhaps we may not be so blatant and loud-spoken as some people are ; but is it
not patent to this community that the Legislature, during the session of 1861-2,
assumed the Territorial quota of taxation, and at the very time that his Excel-
lency was uttering this infamy, a resolution passed by the House, lay on the
table, requesting the secretary to place a United States flag on the State House
during the session. This was a small affair, yet significant of our feelings.
"It is not a matter of very grave importance to us generally what men may
think of us, whether they be Government officials or not ; but these allegations
assume another form, and their wickedness is now rendered vindictive from the
peculiar circumstances in which our nation at the present time is placed. When
treason is stalking through the land, when all the energies, the wealth, the power
of the United Slates have been brought into requisition to put down rebellion,
when anarchy and distrust run riot through the nation; when, under these cir-
cumstances, we had a right to look for a friend in our Governor, who would, at
least, fairly represent us, we have met a most insidious foe, who, through base in-
sinuations, misrepresentations and falsehood, is seeking with all his power, pri-
vately and officially, not only to injure us before Government, but to sap the very
foundations of our civil and religious liberty ; he is, in fact, in pursuit of his un-
hallowed course, seeking to promote anarchy and rebellion, and dabbling in your
blood. It is then a matter of no small importance (hear, hear). Such it would
seem were Governor Harding's intentions when he read this message, such were
his feelings when he concocted it. The document shows upon its face that it was
not hastily written; it has been well digested and every word carefully weighed.
It most assuredly contains the sentiments of his heart (hear, hear), of which his
Washington letters are proof positive in relation to our alleged disloyalty.
" We are told about the generous reception of our senators-elect; of this we
are most profoundly ignorant. Their reception was not so gracious as he would
represent. He labors under error, for which we do not feel to reproach him; but
what are we to think of his official letters to Washington ? They are facts.
What of his gracious acts of kindness to this people and to their representatives.
From the statements of our representatives in Congress, he is the most vindictive
jo8 HISTORY OF SALT LAKE C/TY.
enemy we have. The only man, it would seem, who is insidiously striving to sap
the interests of the people, and to injure their reputation, yet he is our Governor,
and professes to represent our interests and to feel intensely interested in our wel-
fare. Let us investigate for a short time the results of his acts, should his designs
be successful, leaving the allegations of treason out of the question.
"We have been in the habit of thinking that we live under the auspices of a
republican government; that we had the right of franchise ; that we had the privi-
lege of voting for whom we pleased, and of saying who should represent us ; but it
may be that we are laboring under a mistake, a political illusion. We have
thought too that if a man among us was accused of crimes, that it was his privi-
lege to be tried by his peers ; by people whom he lived among, who would be the
best judges of his actions. We have farther been of the opinion that, while act-
ing in a military capacity, when we were called to muster into service, to stand
in defence of our country's rights, we had a right to the selection of our own
officers. It is a republican usage — we have always elected our own militia officers ;
but if the plotting of Governor Harding and uur honorable Judges should be
carried into effect we can do so no more ; we shall be deprived of franchise, of
the rights of trial by an impartial jury, and shall be placed in a military capacity,
under the creatures of Governor Harding or his successors' direction ; in other
words, we shall be deprived of all the rights of freemen, and placed under a mili-
tary despotism; such would be the result of the passage of this act. Let us
examine it a little. An act already framed by the Governor and Judges, passed
in the congress of Governor Harding's sitting room, is forwarded to Washington
with a request that it be passed. Now suppose it should, what would be the
result? As I have stated, we suppose that we possess the rights of franchise; that
is a mistake, we do not, we only think we do. The Governor has already taken
that from us. How so? Have we not the privilege of voting for our own legis-
lators, our own representatives in the Legislative Assembly? Yes. But the Gov-
ernor possesses the power of veto. This old relic of Colonial barbarism ingrafted
info our Territorial organization was always in existence among us, but never
was so foully abused as in the person of our present Governor; he has done all
he could to stop the wheels of government, and to produce dissatisfaction, and
has exercised his veto to the fullest extent of his power. As an instance of this,
there were twenty laws passed the Legislative Assembly, only six of which
are approved ; two of those were resolutions, one changing the place of meeting
from the Court House to the State House, and the other the adjournment to next
session. The other four are matters of minor importance, while everything con-
nected with the welfare of the community, fourteen acts, are just so much waste
paper. Now, I ask, where is your franchise? In Governor Harding's pocket, or
stove.
"Again, in regard to juries, already referred to, you know what the usage
has been, in relation to this matter. Governor Harding and the Judges want to
place in the hands of the United States Marshal the power of selecting juries
whom he pleases, no matter whither they come, or who they are. This is what
our honorable Judges and Governor would attempt. Your liberties are aimed at,
and your rights as freemen; and then, if you do not like to be disfranchised, and
HISTORY OF SALT LAKE CITY. jog
your liberties trampled under foot by a stranger — if you do not like to have
blacklegs and cutthroats sit upon your juries. Mr. Harding wants to select his
own military, and choose his own officers to lead them, and then if you will not
submit, 'I will make you' [voices all over the house, 'Can't do it,' with loud
applause-] We know he cannot do it, but this is what he aims at, [Clapping
and great applause.] When these rights are taken from us, what rights have we
left? [Cries of ' None.'] It could scarcely be credited that a man in his posi-
tion would so far degrade himself as to introduce such outrageous principles, and
it is lamentable to reflect upon, that men holding the position of United States'
Judges could descend to such injustice, corruption and depravity [applause].
These things are so palpable that any man with five grains of common sense can
comprehend them ; ' he that runneth may read.' It is for you to judge whether
you are willing to sustain such men in the capacity they act in or not. [One
unanimous cry of * No! ' and loud clapping].
"governor young's speech.
"On Governor Young responding to the invitation to address the meeting,
and approaching the speaker's desk, he was greeted with prolonged deafening ap-
plause. He stated that he had no intention of delivering a lengthy address, but
while he spoke he would solicit the quiet of the assembly. He knew well the
feelings of his auditory; but would prefer that they should suppress their demon-
strations of applause to other times and places, when they might have less busi-
ness and more leisure. On the resumption of perfect silence, he said that they
had heard the message of the Governor to the last Legislature of Utah. They
would readily perceive that the bread was buttered, but there was poison under-
neath. It seemed to him that the enemies of the Union, of the Constitution and
of the nation, were determined to ruin if they could not rule. A foreseeing
person might suppose that they conspired to bring about a revolution in the west,
so as to divide the Pacific from the Atlantic States, for their acts tended to that
end. He believed that no true Democrat, no true Republican desired to see the
nation distracted as it now was, but the labors of fanatics, whether they had plans
which they comprehended or not, were in that direction. When Governor Hard-
ing came to this Territory last July, he sought to ingratiate himself into the es-
teem of our prominent citizens, with whom he had early intercourse, by his pro-
fessed friendship and attachment to the people of Utah. He was then full of
their praises, and said that he was ready to declare that he would stand in the de-
fense of polygamy, or he should have to deny the Bible, and that he had told the
President of the United States b2fore he left Washington, that if he was called
upon to agitate the question, he would haveto take the side of polygamy, or he
should have to renounce the Bible. He said, in the Bowery, on the 24th of July,
and at other places and at other times that if he ever learned that he was obnox-
ious to the people, and they did not wish his presence, he would leave the Territory.
[Voices everywhere, ' He had better go now.']
" He was not aware whether the two Associate Judges were tools operating
with him, or whether they knew no better. The success sought in their schemes
was the establishment of a military government over the Territory, in the hopes
Vi
J 10 HISTORY OF SALT LAKE CITY.
of goading on the people to open rupture with the general government. Then,
they would call out that Utah was disloyal ! He was aware that nothing would
please such men better than the arrest of all progress Westward ; they would, no
doubt of it, be delighted to see the stoppage of travel across the plains and all
intercourse by mail or telegraph destroyed. Any amount of money had been
employed by parties interested in mail transportation and passenger travel to the
Pacific, by way of Panama, to destroy the highway across the plains ; and there
were men among them not above operating to the accomplishment of that end,
under the pretence of other purposes.
" He then alluded to the law that was drafted in this city and sent to Wash-
ington for adoption by Congress, to take from the people their rights as free
American citizens, and portrayed the despotism that would follow placing the
power of selecting jurors in the hands of a United States Marshal. Any such
power could in the hands of designing men, destroy and subvert every right of
free citizens. For that purpose, any class of disreputable men could at any time
be imported into the Territory, and with a residence of a few hours be the ready
tools for the accomplishment of any purpose. When their rights and the protec-
tion of their liberties were taken from them, what remained ? [Voices, ' Nothing,
nothing.'] Yes, service to tyrants, service to despots !
" He concluded his address by expressing that his feelings were that the
nation might be happy and free as it had been, and exhorted the people to be
true to themselves, to their country, to their God, and to their friends. Gov-
ernor Young resumed his seat amidst great applause and cheering.
"Wm. Clayton, Esq., then read the following
' 'RESOLUTIONS:
^'Resolved, That we consider the attack made upon us, by his Excellency
Governor Harding, wherein our loyalty is impugned, as base, wicked, unjust and
false ; and he knew it to be so when uttered.
^^ Resolved, That we consider the attempt to possess himself of all military
authority and dictation, by appointing all the militia officers, as a stretch at mili-
tary despotism hitherto unknown in the annals of our Republic.
^'■Resolved, That we consider his attempt to control the selection of juries,
as so base, unjust and tyrannical, as to deserve the contempt of all freemen.
^^ Resolved, That we consider the action of Judges Waite and Drake, in
assisting the Governor to pervert justice and violate the sacred palladium of the
people's rights, as subversive of the principles of justice, degrading to their high
calling, and repulsive to the feelings of honest men.
^'Resolved, That we consider that a serious attack has been made upon the
liberties of this people, and that it not only affects us as a Territory, but is a di-
rect assault upon Republican principles, in our own nation, and throughout the
world ; and that we cannot either tamely submit to be disfranchised ourselves,
nor witness, without protest, the assassin's dagger plunged into the very vitals of
our national institutions.
^^ Resolved, That while we at all times honor and magnify all wholesome laws
of our country, and desire to be subservient to their dictates and the equitable
I
HISTORY OF SALT LAKE CITY. 311
administration of justice, we will resist, in a proper manner, every attempt upon
the liberties guaranteed by our fathers, whether made by insidious foes, or open
traitors.
^'Resolved, That a committee be appointed, by the meeting, to wait upon
the Governor and Judges Waite and Drake, to request them to resign their offices
and leave the Territory.
^^ Resolved, That John Taylor, Jeter Clinton and Orson Pratt, Senior, be
that committee.
^'■Resolved, That we petition the President of the United States to remove
Governor Harding and Judges Waite and Drake, and to appoint good men in
their stead.
"The Chairman called upon the meeting for an expression of their wishes
and the building rang with a glorious ' Aye' for their adoption.
"The following petition was likewise read and committed to the people for
their action :
THE PETITION TO PRESIDENT LINCOLN.
** To his Excellency, Abraham Lincoln, President of the United States :
"Sir — We, your petitioners, citizens of the Territory of Utah, respectfully
represent that:
" Whereas, From the most reliable information in our possession, we are sat-
isfied that his Excellency Stephen S. Harding, Governor, Charles B. Waite and
Thomas J. Drake, Associate Justices, are strenuously endeavoring to create mis-
chief and stir up strife between the people of the Territory of Utah and the
troops now in Camp Douglas (situated within the limits of Great Salt Lake City,)
and, of far graver import in our Nation's present difficulties, between the people
of the aforesaid Territory and the Government of the United States.
" Therefore, We respectfully petition your Excellency to forthwith remove
the aforesaid persons from the offices they now hold, and to appoint in their places
men who will attend to the duties of their offices, honor their appointments, and re-
gard the rights of all, attending to their own affairs and leaving alone the affairs
of others ; and in all their conduct demeaning themselves as honorable citizens
and officers worthy of commendation by yourself, our Government and all good
men ; and for the aforesaid removals and appointments your petitioners will most
respectfully continue to pray.
" Great Salt Lake City, Territory of Utah, March j, iSdj.''
The same unanimous appr )val followed the reading of the petition. The
band then played " The Marsellaise," and the chairman dissolved the meeting.
The News says —
" By way of conclusion, we must add that we never saw a more earnest, vet
calm and deliberate assembly in Utah or elsewhere; the rights of the people were
threatened, and they solemnly entered their protest, leaving the results for the
future in the hands of an overruling Providence. Before eight o'clock last even-
ing, upwards of 2,100 signatures were affixed to the petition, and, no doubt, there
will be a large addition to that number in the course of to-day."
312 HISTORY OF SALT LAKE CITY. j
The following is the report of the committee ;
"G. S. L. City, March 5, 1863.
" To the citizens of Great Salt Lake City :
"Gentlemen:
" Your committee, appointed at the mass meeting held in the Tabernacle on
the 3d inst., waited upon his Excellency Governor Harding and their Honors
Judges Waite and Drake, on the morning of the 4th.
"Governor Harding received us cordially, but, upon being informed of the
purport of our visit, both himself and Judge Drake, who was in the Governor's
office, emphatically refused to comply with the wishes of the people, notwith-
standing the Governor had repeatedly stated that he would leave whenever he
learned that his acts and course were not agreeable to the people.
" Upon being informed that, if he was not satisfied that the action of the
mass meeting expressed the feelings of the people, he could have the expression
of the whole Territory, he replied, * I am aware of that, but that would make no
difference.'
"Your committee called at the residence of Judge Waite, who, being absent
at the time, has since informed us, by letter, that he also refuses to comply with
the wishes of the people.
JOHN TAYLOR,
JETER CLINTON,
ORSON PRATT, Sen."
CHAPTER XXXIV.
A COUNTER PETITION FROM CAMP DOUGLAS TO PREST. LINCOLN. IMPEND-
ING CONFLICT BETWEEN CAMP DOUGLAS AND THE CITY. A SUPPOSED
CONSPIRACY TO ARREST BRIGHAM YOUNG AND RUN HIM OFF TO THE
STATES. JUDGES WAITE AND DRAKE HOLD UNLAWFUL COURTS IN JUDGE
KINNEY'S DISTRICT. THE CHIEF JUSTICE INTERPOSES WITH A WRIT TO
ARREST BRIGHAM YOUNG FOR POLYGAMY. IT IS SERVED BY THE U. S.
MARSHAL INSTEAD OF A MILITARY POSSE. THE CITY IN ARMS, EX-
PECTING A DESCENT FROM CAMP DOUGLAS. THE WARNING VOICE OF
CALIFORNIA HEARD. BOOMING OF THE GUNS OF CAMP DOUGLAS AT
MIDNIGHT. THE CITY AGAIN IN ARMS. FALSE ALARM. CONNOR CRE-
.ATED BRIGADIER-GENERAL. »
A counter petition signed by the officers of Camp Douglas and the non-Mor-
moms of Salt Lake City was sent to President Lincoln urging the retention of
Governor Harding, and Judges Drake and Waite.
HISTORY OF SALT LAKE CIT\. j/j
The issue of affairs had now reached the condition of impending war between
the camp and the city, while Chief Justice John F. Kinney occupied a aimiliar
position in the case to that of Governor Gumming, when the conflict was
threatened between the city and Camp Floyd. It was the prevailing opinion of
the citizens that a descent upon the city by Colonel Connor and his troops to
arrest Brigham and his counselors might be expected at any moment. It was also
further believed that could this be accomplished, by a dashing "surprise," the
intention was to run these Mormon leaders off to the States for trial. General
Connor and his officers have indignantly denied any such intentions on the part
of Camp Douglas; but, it is certain, that the citizens thus viewed the prospect in
those days, which to them signified the prospect of a fierce conflict and the shed-
ding of much blood ; for the citizens never would have permitted Brigham Young
to have been taken to Camp Douglas, and held under military guard, as the
Mayor of Great Salt Lake City was a decade later. No mere historical summary
could harmonize the views of the camp and the city ; but for an appreciation of
the situation and the excited condition of the then public mind, both of California
and Utah, we must cull from the chronicles of those times. The first presented
is from the Deseret News of March 1 1, 1S63 :
" We have been aware for a number of days that the issuance of writs against
President Yonng was in contemplation. There has been an unusual stir at Camp
Douglas, the most ample preparations made for the purpose of making a descent
with an armed force upon the President, whenever those writs should be placed
in the hands of the marshal. It was vainly and foolishly supposed that he would
resist the service of a writ issued under the act referred to. Persons desiring col-
lision were anxious to make the pretext of an armed military force in executing
this process, the excuse for gratifying their wicked purposes. But in this they
have been disappointed. As a people we believe in, and have ever taught obedi-
ence and submission to the laws of the land. No one has more earnestly taught
this than the President of this church. It is well known that in his private and
public teachings he has taken the position of obedience to any legal writ emanat-
ing from proper authority, whether against him or any of the people under this
or any otlier law.
"On the loth inst., an afifidavit was made before His Honor Chief Justice
J. F. Kinney, charging Brigham Young with having violated the act of Congress,
by taking another wife. Judge Kinney promptly issued a writ for his arrest and
placed it in the hands of Mr. Gibbs, United States marshal. The marshal
^ adopted the very prudent course of serving the writ himself, without calling a
'posse,' and accordingly waited upon the President, only fortified by the process
and with such civil authority as the law invested him.
"An immediate response was made to the writ, by the prompt appearance of
the defendant before Judge Kinney at the State House, accompanied by two or
three of his immediate friends. An investigation was made of the facts charged
in the affidavit, by the introduction of evidence, resulting in the Judge holding
the defendant to bail in the sum of two thousand dollars, for his appearance at
the next term of the United States Court for the Third Judicial District.
12
jt4 HISTORY OF SALT LAKE CITY. ^m
"The sureties were required to justify under oath, when it appeared that they
were worth some twenty thousand dollars. |
" We have no fault to find with Judge Kinney for issuing the process, or his
determination upon the testimony. As the judge of this district, he can make no t
distinction, and it is his duty to magnify all constitutional law, as we trust it will '
ever be the pleasure of the people to submit to and obey the authority with which '
such law invests him." >
Of simultaneous date the California press on Utah affairs gives the following
pungent views:
[From the Daily Alta California, March ii.] i,
" We have some strange news to-day from Salt Lake, z'/a New York. It is I
to the effect that there is danger of a collision between the Mormons and our
troops there. The despatch goes so far as to state that Governor Harding and
Associate Justices Waite and Drake have called upon Col. Connor to arrest Brig-
ham Young and some of the Mormon leaders. It is strange that we have heard
nothing on this side of these important events, and that the first intimation we
should have of what is going on should reach us via New York. We had, to be
sure, a report, recently of some angry meetings which had taken place there, but
we had no idea that anything serious was going on.
"To get at the facts of the case we telegraphed to Salt Lake last night. The
telegram which we received does not clear up matters fully. Our correspondent
speaks of an anti-bigamy law as the cause of the trouble. We do not know of
any except the one providing for the admission of Utah as a State, provided
polygamy was abolished. The whole affair therefore is still enveloped in some
confusion. There is one thing, however, that we do know; Colonel P. Edward
Connor and his regiment were sent across the mountains to protect the telegraph
and the overland mail, and to fight the Indians, and not to kick up trouble with
the Mormons or any other class of persons The Government has enough of
fighting now on its hands and there is no necessity for increasing it. Perhaps an
expenditure of a few more millions of dollars in a Utah war is deemed necessary
to promote the happiness of somebody behind the scenes."
[From Sacramento Daily Union, March 12.]
" It seems that matters at Salt Lake are in an unsettled and uncertain state.
Some difficulty has grown up between the Governor, the United States Judges,
and the head of the Mormon Church, which may — though we hope not — termin-
ate in a collision. We never deemed it particularly an act of wisdom to order a
single regiment to Salt Lake. It was not needed there for protection, and in the
event of a collision was to weak too be of any particular use. We fear, too, that
the Governor has been imprudent. The Mormons should, of course, submit to
the laws, but laws ought not be forced upon them which are repugnant to a very
large majority of that singular people. A conflict at this time would prove a
great misfortune to California. It would also prove fatal to the Mormons, and
hence we reason that they will avoid any hostile demonstrations except in self-
HISTORY OF SALT LAKE CITY. 315
defense. The pretty-much let-alone policy is the one which should be adopted
toward the Mormons."
[From the Daily Alta California, March 14.]
"In our columns to-day will be found an interesting letter from Salt Lake.
It gives an account of the commencement of the troubles there. Our next will,
in all probability, bring down the narrative to the late proceedings, Mr. Lin-
coln, it must be admitted, has been very unfortunate in the selection of office-
holders. If his intention in sending Harding to rule over the Mormons was to
kick up a row there, he has succeeded. The policy of such a proceeding, just at
this juncture, however, may very well be doubted. We have enough of fighting
on hand at present."
It will be observed, from the above editorial passages, that the two great
journals of San Francisco and Sacramento, speaking for California, manifested a
decided agreement with the judgment of California's senators, as stated by Sena-
tor McDougal in his speech opposing the passage of the anti-polygamic bill and
emphasized by the votes of himself and colleague, Senator Latham. Neither of
these statesmen favored polygamy, much less did they intend to imply by their
solitary "nays" against both Houses of Congress that Utah could continue the
practice of polygamy with the consent of California. Senator McDougal's words
very sagely but simply expounded the case and the situation.
Only a few months had elapsed since the passage of the anti-polygamy bill of
'62 and California and Utah were now nearly brought into a conflict over an im-
proper attempt at its execution, for it is apparent that had a conflict ensued between
the Utah militia and the California Volunteers, these "sister States of the Pacific"
must themselves have been brought into the conflict. Th e warning passage from
the Sacramento Daily Union was very pointed: "A conflict at this time would
prove a great misfortune to California. It would also prove fatal to the Mormons."
This with the stinging passage from the Daily Alia doubtless had the desired effect,
both upon the Volunteers and the people of Great Salt Lake City. Colonel Con-
nor and his officers could not with indifference read California's reminder to them
that they were sent across the mountains to protect the overland mail and to fight
the Indians "and not to kick up trouble with the Mormons."
But in the foregoing excerpts from the Deseret News and the California
press there are merely a few points of detail of the stirring events which came nigh
to the very pitch of battle.
It must be told for a comprehension of the alarm of those times that not only
had Governor Harding vetoed nearly every act passed by the Legislature of that
year, as he soon afterwards overrode nearly all the judicial decisions of the Chief
Justice by wholesale pardons, which whether deserved or not leaves the sequence
of events the same, but Judges Waite and Drake were also setting aside the Chief
Justice in his own district, where they presumed unlawfully to hold courts, and that,
too, while he was holding his regular term with a grand jury at business daily
bringing in their indictments. The Deseret News commenting upon "Judge
Waite and his judicial presumption " said :
" We are not a little astonished at His Honor Judge Waite assuming the pre-
3i6 HISTORY OF SALT LAKE CITY.
rogative of holding court in the third district, when the Legislature had assigned
him to the second.
"We confess we were prepared to witness almost anything from the dis-
affected Judge, but hardly ready to behold so strange a spectacle as a Judge
assuming judicial authority in defiance of law.
"The ninth section of the Organic Law provides as follows:
'"The Territory shall be divided into three judicial districts, and a district
court shall be held in each of said districts by one of the justices of the supreme
court, at such time and place as shall be prescribed by law, and the judges shall,
after their appointmcjit, respectively reside in the districts which shall be assigned
them.''
"This is a plain, unequivocal provision and should be complied with by
those whose duty it is to administer the law. Two months have elapsed since the
Legislature assigned Judge Waite to the second district, and yet, in place of sub-
mitting to and obeying the law, which His Honor has sworn to support, we find
him still in this city issuing writs and holding an examining court.
"Aside from the illegality of the proceeding, common courtesy, it seems to
us, if His Honor had no regard for the law, should have operated to deter the
Judge from assuming judicial power in Judge Kinney's district."
There had been no alarm in the city over a proper warrant of arrest of Brig-
ham Young, to test in his person the constitutionality of the anti-polygamy bill of
1862, or its operative powers, which latter it may be said was at that time as
nothing with a polygamic grand jury, who believed that bill to be unconstitutional
and that it would be so decided when it came before the Supreme Court of the
United States. The alarm was at the prospect of the issuance of a writ for the
arrest of President Young through the same associate Justice Waite who, it was be-
lieved, for this and similar purposes was with Associate Justice Drake administering
in the district of the Chief Justice. It was with this view that the Deseret News
noted: " We have been aware for a number of days that the issuance of writs
against President Young was in contemplation ; " and further, "there has been
an unusual stir at Camp Douglas, the most ample preparations made for the pur-
pose of making a descent with an armed force upon the President whenever those
writs should be placed in the hands of the marshal." In fine, the writ which was
issued by Chief Justice Kinney, upon an affidavit made by one of the citizens,
charging Brigham Young with violating the act of Congress prohibiting polyg-
amy, was designed to prevent the arrest of Brigham Young by those other im-
proper writs in contemplation to be executed by military force. The further
note on the execution is like a volume of history of the case: " Judge Kinney
promptly issued a writ for his arrest and placed it in the hands of Mr. Gibbs,
United States marshal. The marshal adopted the very prudent course of serving
the writ himself, without calling for a posse, and accordingly waited upon the
President, only fortified by the process and with such civil authority as the law in-
vested him." Thus was a very different result obtained from that of the arrest
of Brigham Young by the " descent of an armed force," as a " posse " to execute a
writ issued by Judge Waite to bring the prisoner before his court, to be held at
II
HISTORY OF SALT LAKE CITY. jiy
Camp Douglas or wherever it might have pleased him and his Associate Judge
Drake and Governor Harding. Here may be told a part of the story of those
times by Mr. Stenhouse, from his Rocky Mountain Saints, though in some respects
it is different from his " interesting letters," published in the San Francisco Alta,
the Sacramento Union, and in the New York Herald, which gave the current
views of Utah affairs to the American public, east and west :
"Colonel Connor had visited Judge Waite, and, on leaving his house, one
of the elders, who was loitering about, believed that he overheard the colonel
say: 'These three men must be surprised.' That was sufficient. Instantly the
eavesdropper flew to Brigham. The Prophet believed the story, hoisted a signal
to rally the militia, and in half an hour a thousand armed men surrounded his
premises, and within an hour another thousand were armed and on duty. The
city was in commotion, and rifles, lead, and powder, were brought out of their
hiding places. On the inside of the high walls surrounding Brigham's premises,
scaffolding was hastily erected in order to enable the militia to fire down upon
passing Volunteer?. The houses on the route which occupied a commanding posi-
tion where an attack could be made upon the troops were taken possession of,
the small cannon were brought out and the brethren prepared to protect the
Prophet.
" There was no truth in the rumor of an intended arrest of Brigham and his
counsellors. The Mormon leaders, all the same, believed it to be true, and they
were cautious and watchful. A powerful telescope was placed on the top of
Brigham's 'BeeHive' residence, and every move of the Volunteers in Camp
Douglas was watched with great care. Night and day, for several weeks, there
was a body of armed men around the Prophet, and signals agreed upon, by which
the whole peopjfe could be rallied by night or by day.
*^^ *i^ -j^ \X^ *^ o# «^ ^^
^ 'I^ *!» ^> •!• T* ^^ ^^
" The Volunteers were not numerous enough to 'overawe' the Mormons,
and their presence was on that account, all the more irksome. To know that
they 'could use them up any morning before breakfast,' and yet be forced to
tolerate their presence on the brow of a hill, like a watch-tower, was irritating to
the Prophet's mind. The Tabernacle resounded with fierce denunciations every
Sunday. Mischief-makers poured into the ears of the Prophet every story that
could increase his prejudice against Colonel Connor; and the latter heard quite
as much to incense him against Brigham. A collision for a long time seemed
inevitable.
" Providing for the possibility of a rupture at any moment, it was agreed
that, if the struggle came by night, the citizens were to be summoned to arms by
firing cannon from the hill-side, at the east of Brigham's residence; and, if the
difficulty began during the day, the flag was to be hoisted over his Bee-Hive resi-
dence. To the latter signal the citizens had once responded ; and it was believed
that their readiness to fight for the Prophet had intimidated the commander of
the Volunteers, so that he would be unlikely to make an attack by day. At that
time, it was believed that Colonel Connor, having been foiled in this first attempt,
entertained the idea of making a dash upon the Prophet's bed-room ' in the dead
fl
ji8 HISTORY OF SALT LAKE CITY.
of night,' seizing him, and running him off to the States before the Mormons
could learn of his situation, and render him any assistance.
"General Connor never had orders to arrest Brigham Young, or he would
have done so — or tried. At the time of the conversation with Judge Waite, al-
ready referred to, which created the panic and the assembling of the Mormons in
arms, the Prophet was not the subject of consideration. One of the brethren
had married the three widows of a wealthy merchant within sight of Judge Waite's
residence, and as that was an excellent case in which to try the application of the
Anti-Polygamic Law, the General replied to the Judge that he would arrest him if
the court furnished the order. The anticipation that difficulty would arise, from
Judge Waite acting within Judge Kinney's judicial district while the latter was
present, was the only thing that prevented the arrest.
" On the night of the 29th of March, the citizens were aroused by the boom-
ing of cannon. As hastily as garments could be thrown on, and arms could be
seized, the brethren were seen hurrying from their homes towards the Prophet's
residence. The struggle was apparently at hand. The signal cannon had been
distinctly heard, and, as there was a gentle current of air from the east, those
who lived west of the Prophet could hear the very music to which the Volunteers
were supposed to be marching into the heart of the city !
"For his great victory over Bear Hunter and other Indian chiefs, in a des-
perate battle in the depth of winter, two months before, Colonel Connor had
now been promoted to the rank of Brigadier-General, and the news had only just
reached Camp Douglas 1 The military band had been called out to serenade the
promoted commander, and the cannon was roaring over the mountains in honor
of the victor !
"Fortunately for those concerned, Elder A. O. Smoot, and. not some mad
fanatic, was mayor of the city of the Saints in those troublesome times."
CHAPTER XXXV.
TRIAL OF THE MORRISITES. SENTENCE OF THE PRISONERS. THEY ARE
IMMEDIATELY PARDONED BY GOVERNOR HARDING. COPIES OF THE
EXTRAORDINARY PARDONS. THE GRAND JURY DECLARES THE LAW
OUTRAGED AND PRESENTS GOVERNOR HARDING IN THE THIRD U. S.
DISTRICT COURT FOR JUDICIAL CENSURE. THEIR HISTORY OF THE
MORRISITE DISTURBANCE. THE COURT SUSTAINS THE CENSURE.
At the March term of the Third U. S. District Court the famous Morrisite
trial took place with Chief Justice John F. Kinney presiding. Ten of the pris-
oners were indicted for killing two of the U. S. posse sent to enforce the law which
the Morrisite community openly defied ; seven of these were convicted, one
HISTORY OF SALT LAKE CITY.
jrg
"nolled," and two were acquitted. Sixty-six others were fined one hundred dol-
lars each for resisting the posse. Of the seven convicted of " murder in the second
degree" one was sentenced to fifteen years' imprisonment, one to twelve years,
and five to ten years each. Immediately after the passing of the sentence the fol-
lowing pardons were granted by Governor Harding, embracing the whole of the
Morrisite prisoners.
" Utah Territory,
Executive Department.
To all to wl^07n these presents shall come greeting :
" Whereas, at the March term of the District Court for the Third Judicial Dis-
tiict in said Territory, A. D. 1863. The Honorable John F. Kinney presiding.
Peter Klemgard, Christen Nielsen, Gens Christensen, Kadrup Nielsen, Abraham
Taylor, Andrew Lee, and Andrew M. Mason were convicted of murder in the
second degree, and sentenced each for a term of years, at hard labor in the Peni-
tentiary.
"Now, know ye, that I, Stephen S. Harding, Governor of the Territory of
Utah, divers good causes me thereto moving, by virtue of the power in me
vested, have given and granted, and by these presents do give and grant unto the
said Peter Klemgard, Christen Nielsen, Gens Christensen, Kadrup Nielsen, Abra-
ham Taylor, Andrew Lee, and Andrew M. Mason, and to each of them, full and
perfect pardon for the offense aforesaid, of which they stand convicted, and they
are, and each of them is, hereby forever exonerated, discharged, and absolved
from the punishment imposed upon them or either of them, in pursuance of said
conviction.
" In testimony whereof I have hereunto set my hand, and caused the
[L.S.] Great Seal of the Territory of Utah to be affixed at Great Salt Lake
City this 31st day of March, A. D. 1863.
STE. S. HARDING.
Gov. of Utah Territory.
"By the Governor:
Frank Fuller, Secretary.''
" Utah Territory,
Executive Department.
" To all to whom these presents shall come greeting :
"Whereas, at the March term of the District Court for the Third Judicial
District in said Territory, A. D. 1863. The Honorable John F. Kinney presiding.
Richard Cook, John Parson, Edward Moss, Daniel Smith, John B. Ledgeway,
John O. Mather, James Mather, Richard D. Aloey, Alexander Warrender, Wil-
liam McGhie, Elijah L. Chappel, John E. Jones, John Cook, David Thomas,
Peter John Moss, Joseph Taylor, Mathew Mudd, James Bowman, Robert E. Far-
ley, William W. Thomas, Alexander Dow, John Keehorn, John C. Edwards, John
Gray, Joseph Dove, Thomas L. Williams, William Davis, Alonzo Brown, Edward
Lloyd, Samuel Halse, Elijah Clifford, George Thompson, Goodman Goodmunsen,
Charles Higham, John E. Reese, Soren Peter Gould, Jorjen Jensen, Soren Willis-
sen, Lars Christen Hanson, Andres Jensen, Swen Hagg, Soren Peter Rasmussen,
J20 HISTORY OF SALT LAKE CITY.
Hans Peterson, Peter Peterson, John Peter Sorensen, Neils Larsen, Neils Ander-
sen, Michael Christen Christiansen, Gens Paulsen, Neils Peterson, Lars Christen
Larsen, Hans Aggerson, John G. Looselary, Lebrecht Barr, John Neilsen, Nels
Rasmussen Beck, Christen Jensen, Peter Swenson, Neils Magnus Jorensen, Ras-
mus Rasmussen, James Peterson, Lars Olsen, Gens Christian Senensen, Hans
Peter Smith, Andres Anderson, Andres Christopherson, Hans Hanson, Ole Rosen-
blade, and Peter Sorenson were convicted of the charge of resisting an officer in
the service of process, and sentenced each to pay a fine of one hundred dollars.
"Now know ye, that I, Stephen S. Harding, Governor of the Territory of
Utah, divers good causes me thereto moving, by virtue of th^ power and
authority in me vested have given and granted, and by these presents do give and
grant unto the said Richard Cook, etc., etc., (all of the aforementioned,) and to
each of them full and perfect pardon for the offence of which they stand con-
victed, and they are, and each one of them is, hereby forever exonerated, dis-
charged and absolved from the fine, costs and charges imposed upon them, or
either of them, in pursuance of said conviction.
"In testimony whereof I have hereunto set my hand, and caused the
[L.S.] Great Seal of the Territory of Utah to be affixed at Great Salt Lake
City this 31st day of March, A. D. 1863.
STE. S. HARDING,
Gov. Utah Territory.
" By the Governor:
Frank Fuller, Secretary^
Of the relative merit or demerit of the action of the United States and Ter-
ritorial authorities concerned in the Morrisite affair the historian does not presume
to touch, further than to present the record itself and its significance. The Chief
Justice and the Grand Jury considered the law outraged, as set forth in the fol-
lowing presentment of Governor Harding for judicial censure and the very plain
passage of censure by the Chief Justice in court:
"We trust the court will pardon the Grand Jury lor briefly referring to the
facts connected with the arrest and trial of the men the Governor has seen proper,
in such hot haste, to pardon and turn loose upon the community.
"They are as follows: On the 22d day of May, A. D. 1862, a petition was
filed before Hon. John F. Kinney, the Judge of the Third Judicial District, for a
writ of habeas corpus, alleging that three men were unlawfully imprisoned at South
Weber, in Davis County, and kept in close confinement, heavily ironed, without
any process or authority of law. It may be well to state that, at the place men-
tioned in the petition, a body of some two hundred men with their families had
congregated in what is known as Kington Fort, and for more than a year had re-
mained without cultivating the soil or following any industrial pursuit. What
little property they had was owned in common, and this from time to time was
disposed of to procure the bare necessaries of life.
"At this place and by these men ivere the prisoners confined (mentioned in
the petition for the writ of habeas corpus'). The writ was issued and served upon
those who had the prisoners in custody, on the 24th day of May. No atten-
HISTORY OF SALT LAKE CITY. j2i
tion was paid to it by defendants. The authority of the court was openly
contemned and placed at defiance. Judge Kinney, after waiting for the de-
fendants to produce the prisoners from the 24th day of May till the nth day
of June (some eighteen days) issued, upon another affidavit, a writ for false
imprisonment, another writ of habeas corpus, and a writ for contempt for
disobedience to the first writ. These writs were placed in the hands of the
Territorial marshal, who, being well advised that armed resistance would be
made to the service of any process in said fort, called upon Acting-Governor
Fuller, who furnished the officer with a military posse to enable him to execute
the mandates of the court. On the morning of the 13th day of June, the mar-
shal with his posse arrived near the fort and sent the following proclamation
under a flag, which was received and read by Banks and others, the parties named
in said writs, and to whom said proclamation was directed:
"'Headquarters Marshal's Posse,
Weber River, June 13, 1862.
'"To Joseph Morris, John Banks, Richard Cook, John Parsons and Peter
Klemgard :
" ' Whereas, you have heretofore disregarded and defied the judicial officers
and the laws of the Territory of Utah; and whereas, certain writs have been
issued for you from the Third Judicial District Court of said Territory, and
a sufficient force furnished by the Executive of the same to enforce the law:
This is therefore to notify you to peaceably and quietly surrender yourselves
and the prisoners in your custody forthwith.
" ' An answer is required in thirty minutes after the receipt of this document ;
if not, forcible measures will be taken for your arrest.
'''^Should you disregard this proposition and place your lives in jeopardy,
you are hereby required to remove your women and children; and all persons
peiiceably disposed are hereby notified to forthwith leave your encampment, and
ar
)
informed by this proclamation that they can find protection with this posse.
H. W. LAWRENCE,
Territorial Marshal.
Per R. T. Burton and Theodore McKean, Deputies.'"
"This was unheeded and disregarded. Additional time was given after the
Diration of the thirty minutes for the delivery of the persons called for by the
it ; still no attention was paid to the demands of the officer. At length fire
s opened and for three days, almost continuously, did the belligerents within
, I fort keep up a fire on the marshal and his posse, killing on the first day a man
the name of Jared Smith, and on the third day another man attached to the
irshal's posse. On the evening of the 15th the rebellion was subdued by the
Jrrender of the men, and one hundred stand of arms. Parties on both sides had
en killed in consequence of the defiant position taken against the enforcement
the law, and in defending the position thus unlawfully assumed by more than
le hundred well armed men.
" The disloyal men thus found in arms, fighting against the service of pro-
^ss, were taken prisoners, taken before Judge Kinney, in chambers, who admitted
J22 HISTORY OF SALT LAKE CITY.
all but two to bail for their appearance at the next March term of the court —
said two being committed to await their trial for murder. At the recent sitting of i
the Territorial Court, Judge Kinney presiding, some ninety or more were indicted l|
under the statute for resisting an officer, and ten of the principle men for the ,
murder of Jared Smith, who was shot dead on the first day of the resistance. '
Sixty-six appeared and were tried for resisting the officer, the others having left
the country. After a long, patient and entirely satisfactory trial to the defendants,
the jury assessed a fine of one hundred dollars against each of them — the lowest
sum allowed by the statute and when the law authorized them to fine not exceeding
one thousand dollars and imprisonment not exceeding one year. The least pun-
ishment allowed by the statute was meted out to the prisoners, and that, too, when ■
the testimony of their guilt was overwhelming. Of the ten indicted for murder,
one was nolled, two acquitted and seven convicted of murder in the second degree.
The punishment for murder in the second degree is imprisonment not les-s than
ten years and may be during natural life ; still the jury actuated by feelings of
humanity and mercy, affixed the punishment of five of the prisoners to imprison-
ment for the period of ten years each, one for twelve and one for fifteen years.
;1;*;K ******
"But, the Governor, clothed with \\\^ pardoning power, interposes to prevent
the punishment due to rebels against the law. He sanctions and sustains their
rebellion and, by pardoning them, proclaims to the world that they have acted
rio-htly, wisely and lawfully. No time is allowed for mvestigation, none for re-
pentance or reformation ; but in less than three days from the time of the sentence
of the court, are all of them pardoned by the Executive, to renew their armed
resistance against the power of the Government — a pardon which not only seeks
to release them from fine and punishment, but the costs due to the officers and
witnesses. ********
" Therefore, we the United States Grand Jury for the Third fudicial Dis-
trict for the Territory of Utah, present his ^Excellency' Stephen S, Harding,
Goverjior of Utah, as we would an unsafe bridge over a dangerous stream — jeKp-
ardizing the lives of all who pass over it, or, as we would a pestiferous cesspoo) ''n
our district, breeding disease and death.
"Believing him to be an officer dangerous to the peace and prosperity
this Territory; refusing, as he has, his assent to wholesome and needed legie
tion ; treating nearly all the Legislative acts with contumely; and last of all,
the crowning triumph of his inglorious career, turning loose upon the commun
a large number of convicted criminals.
" We cannot do less than present his Excellency as not only a dangerous mj
but also as one unworthy the confidence and respect of a free and enlighten
people.
"All of which is respectfully submitted.
"George A. Smith, Franklin D. Richards, Elias Smith, William S. Mu
Samuel F. Atwood, Philip Margetts, John Rowberry, Claudius V. Spencer, Ch
J. Thomas, John W. Myers, Alfred Cordon, George W. Ward, Horace Gib
Lewis A. West, Leonard G. Rice, Isaac Brockbank, George W. Bryan, Jam]
Bond, John B. Kelley, Gustavus Williams, Wells Smith, John D. T. McAllist
Andrew Cunningham.
u
of
ila-
asii
ity
in,.
ed
HISTORY OF SALr LAKE CITY. 323
His Honor directed, that in accordance with the request, they be spread upon
the records of the court.
The foreman of the Grand Jury then stated that they had concluded their
labors, and had no further business before them, whereupon the Judge addressed
them as follows :
' ' Gentlemen of the Grand Jury :
" The paper just read by the clerk, is one of great responsibilty, presenting
the Governor of this Territory as unworthy the confidence and respect of the
people.
" I trust you have fully considered the importance of the step which you as a
Grand Jury have felt called upon, under the oaths of your ufifice, to take.
•■' I am well persuaded that in no spirit of malice or undue prejudice have you
been induced to call the attention of the Court and people to what you regard as
the official misconduct of the Executive, but only as the deliberate result of your
investigations for the public good.
"I am perfectly familiar with the facts referred to by you in relation to the
armed resistance to the law in the service of process. Upon affidavit made be-
fore me were the writs issued, the service of which was attempted to be resisted
by an armed rebellion.
" The trial of men thus found in arms very recently took place in the Court
over which I have the honor to preside, and the trial, as you state, was conducted
with deliberation, and the verdict of the jury in each of the cases for resisting the
officer and for murder were such as met with the approval of the court.
"The law and its authority were fully vindicated by the verdicts, but, as you
state, the Governor has granted an unconditional pardon.
" What effect this may have upon the minds of evil di-.posed persons I know
not, but leave the responsibility where it belongs, with the Governor, who, in the
exercise of a naked power, has seen proper to grant executive clemency.
" You have now, as you state, concluded your labors and before discharging
you I desire to tender to you the commendations of the Court for your attention
and diligence in the discharge of your duties.
"Your labors have resulted in the presentation of a number of indictments
for crime — some of the prisoners charged by you having been tried and con-
victed, and others are awaiting their trial.
" It is only by a grand jury discharging their duty faithfuMy and fearlessly
that crime can be suppressed, and offenders punished, for all persons must pass the
ordeal of your body, before they can be introduced by the Government into this
Court for trial and punishment.
"It is possible, and highly probable, that this is the last court over which I
shall have the honor to preside in your Territory. Such are the indications. I
have been the Chief Justice of the Supreme Court of Utah, and Judge of this
district most of the time since 1854 — having come among you a stranger, but I
was treated with kindness, and my authority with consideration and respect.
"Appointed by Mr. Pierce in 1853, and reappointed in i860 by Mr. Bu-
chanan, and continued in office by Mr. Lincoln, and having held many courts,
324 HISTORY OF SALT LAKE CITY.
I
I
I
tried many cases, both civil and criminal, of an important character, I am happy |
in being able to state that I have found no difficulty in Utah in administering the \
law, except where its administration has been thwarted by Executive interference.
' ' Let honesty, impartiality and ability be the characteristic qualifications of the
Judge, and a fearless discharge of duty, and he will be as much respected in this
Territory, and his decisions as much honored, as in any State or Territory of the
Union. And to use an odious distinction, attempted to be made between * Mor- !
mon ' and 'Gentile,' I am also happy in being able to state, that while these |
parties, differing so widely as they do in their religious faith, have been suitors in
my court, the so-called Gentile, has obtained justice from the verdict of a
so-called ' Mormon' jury, 1
" I repeat gentlemen, that the law is, and can be maintained in this Terri-
tory, and that there is more vigilance here in arresting and bringing criminals to
trial and punishment than in any country where I have ever resided. "
"In the discharge of my judicial duties, I have endeavered to be actuated
by a sense of the responsibility of my position ; ever keeping constantly in mind
that I was among a civilized and enlightened people, who were entitled to the
same consideration from the court, as the people of any other Territory; and
that the court here, as well as elsewhere, should be free from bias and prejudice.
" Gentlemen, accept ray thanks for your co-operation, in support of my
efforts to maintain and enforce the law.
" To the Petit Jurors I will say, that I have been well sustained by them in
the trial of causes, and can only hope that when I retire from the bench my suc-
cessor will be an able, honest judge, and have no more difficulty in discharging
his duties than I have had.
" With these remarks, gentlemen, I dismiss you from further attendance upon
the court."
Mr. Ferguson moved that as the Grand Jury were discharged without finding
an indictment against Brigham Young, that he be discharged from his recog- \
nizance.
I
HISTORY OF SALT LAKE CITY. J25
CHAPTER XXXVI.
REMOVAL OF GOVERNOR HARDING, SECRETARY FULLER, AND CHIEF JUSTICE
KINNEY. LINCOLN'S POLICY TO "LET THE MORMONS ALONE." START
ING OF THE UNION VEDETTE. OPENING OF THE UTAH MINES. MILI-
TARY DOCUMENTS. CREATION OF A PROVOST MARSHAL OF GREAT SALT
LAKE CITY.
The counter petitions to the President of the United States from the city
and camp, one for the removal and the other for the retention of Governor Hard-
ing, were responded to by concessions to both parties. Governor Harding,
Secretary Fuller and Chief Justice Kinney were removed; James Duane Doty was
appointed Governor; Amos Reed, Secretary; and John Titus of Pennsylvania,
Chief Justice.
The official decapitation of the Governor was clearly in answer to the petition
of the citizens, while the removal of Chief Justice Kinney and Secretary Fuller
was in consideration of the charge made against them — that they had been "sub-
servient to the will of Brigham Young." The Chief Justice had for months felt
that in maintaining the integrity of the judicial department he was placing him-
self upon the altar of sacrifice, as shown in his parting words to the grand jury ;
but his official relations with Utah were not permitted to end with his removal,
for at the next election, in August, 1863, he was sent to Congress as Delegate
from Utah.
The following noteworthy passage of a letter from President Brigham Young
to Elder George Q. Cannon, then in England, expresses the policy of the Gov-
ernment towards Utah during the remainder of President Lincoln's life :
•'Great Salt Lake City, U. T., June 25, 1863.
* ' President Caniion :
"Dear Brother — * * * Since Harding's departure on the nth
inst. , without the least demonstration from any party, and only one individual to
bid him good-bye, the transient persons here continue very quiet, and apparently
without hope of being able to create any disturbance during the present Adminis-
tration. They certainly will be unable to, if President Lincoln stands by his
statement made to Brother Stenhouse on the 6th inst., viz: 'I will let them alone
if they will let me alone.' We have ever been anxious to let them alone further
than preaching to them the gospel and doing them good when they would permit
us, and if they will cease interfering with us unjustly and unlawfully, as the Presi-
dent has promised, why of course they will have no pretext nor chance for
collision during his rule. * * *
" Your brother in the gospel,
BRIGHAM YOUNG."
On the 20th of November, 1863, the first number appeared of The Union
II
72<5 HISTORY OF SALT LAKE CITY.
Vedette, published, as announced, "by officers and enlisted men of the California
and Nevada Territory Volunteers." \
The initial number of the Vedette contains the following circular letter
from General Connor, relative to mines and mining interests in this Territory: |
"Headquarters, District of Utah,
Great Salt Lake City, U. T. November 14, 1863.
"Colonel:
" The general commanding the district has the strongest evidence that the
mountains and canyons in the Territory of Utah abound in rich veins of gold,
silver, copper and other minerals, and for the purpose of opening up the country
to a new, hardy, and industrious population, deems it important that prospecting
for minerals should not only be untrammelled and unrestricted, but fostered by
every proper means. In order that such discoveries may be early and reliably
made, the general announces that miners and prospecting parties will receive the
fullest protection from the military forces in this district, in the pursuit of their
avocations; provided, always, that private rights are not infringed upon. The
mountains and their now hidden mineral wealth, are the sole property of the
nation, whose beneficent policy has ever been to extend the broadest privileges to
her citizens, and, with open hand, invite all to seek, prospect and possess the
wonderful riches of her wide-spread domain.
"To the end that this policy may be be fully carried out in Utah, the Gen-
eral commanding assures the industrious and enterprising who may come hither,
of efficient protection, accorded as it is by the laws and policy of the nation, and
enforced, when necessary, by the military arm of the Government.
"The General in thus setting forth the spirit o^ our free institutions for the
information of commanders of posts within rhe district, also directs that every
proper facility be extended to miners and others in developing the country; and
that soldiers of the several posts be allowed to prospect for mines, when such !
course shall not interfere with the due and proper performance of their military 1
duties.
"Commanders of posts, companies and detachments within the district are
enjoined to execute to the fullest extent the spirit and letter of this circular com-
munication, and report, from time to time, to these head-quarters the progress
made in the development of the Territory, in the vicinity of their respective posts
or stations.
"By command of Brig.-Gen. Connor:
CHAS. H. HEMPSTEAD,
Capt. C. S. and A. A. A. Geti ir
In March, 1S64, another circular was issued by General Connor which was
t:onsidered to be very pronounced and threatening towards the leaders of the
Mormon community:
"Headquarters, District of Utah,
Camp Douglas, U. T,, March ist, 1864.
'• Circular:
"The undersigned has received numerous letters of complaint and inquiry
HISTORY OF SALT LAKE CITY. J27
from parties within and without the district, the former alleging that certain resi-
dents of Utah Territory indulge in threats and menaces against miners and others
desirous of prospecting for precious metals, and the latter asking what, if any,
protection will be accorded to those coming hither to develop the mineral resources
of the country.
" Without giving undue importance to the thoughtless or reckless words of
misguided, prejudiced, or bad-hearted men who may be guilty of such threats as
those referred to, and indulging the hope that they are but individual expressions
rather than menaces, issued by any presumed or presumptuous authority whatso-
ever, the undersigned takes occasion to repeat what no loyal citizen will gainsay,
that this Territory is the public property of the nation, whose wish it is, that it
be developed at the earliest possible day, in all its rich resources, mineral as well
as agricultural, pastoral and mechanical. To this end, citizens of the United
States, and all desirous of becoming such, are freely invited by public law and
national policy, to come hither to enrich themselves and advance the general wel-
fare from out the public store, which a bountiful Providence has scattered through
these richly laden mountains and fertile plains. The mines are thrown open to
the hardy and industrious, and it is announced, that they will receive the amplest
protection in life, property and rights, againse aggression from whatsoever source,
Indian or white.
" The undersigned has abundant reason to know that the mountains of Utah
north, south, east and west, are prolific of mineral wealth. Gold, silver, iron,
copper, lead and coal, are found in almost every direction, in quantities which
promise the richest results to the adventurous explorer and the industrious miner.
"In giving assurance of entire protection to all who may come hither to
prospect for mines, the undersigned wishes at this time most earnestly, and yet
firmly, to warn all, whether permanent residents or not of this Territory, that
should violence be offered, or attempted to be offered to miners, in the pursuit of
their lawful occupation, the offender or offenders, one or many, will be tried as
public enemies, and punished to the utmost extent of martial law.
"The undersigned does not wish to indulge in useless threats, but desires
most fully and explicitly to apprise all of their rights, and warn misguided men
of the inevitable result, should they seek to obstruct citizens in their rights, or
throw obstacles in the way of the development of the public domain. While
miners will be thus protected, they must understand, that no interference with the
vested rights of the people of the Territory will be tolerated, and they are ex-
pected to conform in all things to the laws of the land which recognize in their
fullest extent the claims of the bona fide settler on public lands.
" While the troops have been sent to this district to protect from a savage
foe the homes and premises of the settlers, and the public interests of the nation,
they are also here to preserve the public peace, secure to all the inestimable bless-
ings of liberty, and preserve intact, the honor, dignity and rights of the citizen,
vested by a free Constitution, and which belong to the humblest equally with the
highest in the land. This, their mission, it is the duty of the undersigned to see
fulfilled by kindly and warning words, if possible, but if not, still to be enforced
J 28 HISTORY OF SALT LAKE CITY.
i\
at every hazard and at any cost. He cannot permit the public peace and the
welfare of all to be jeoparded by the foolish threats or wicked actions of a few. |
P. EWD. CONNOR,
Brig. Gen., U. S. Vol., Comd'g Dist.''
In June a special order was issued creating a
provost marshal of great salt lake city.
" Headquarters District of Utah,
Camp Douglas, Utah Territory,
Near Great Salt Lake City, July 9th, 1864.
"special order no. 53.
" ist. Capt. Chas. H. Hempstead, Commissary of Subsistence, U. S. Vol's,
is hereby appointed Provost Marshal of Great Salt Lake City, U. T. , and will
immediately enter upon the duties of his ofifice. He will be obeyed and respected
accordingly.
"2d. Company L, 2d Cav. C. V., Capt. Albert Brown, is hereby detailed
as Provost Guard, and will immediately report to Capt. Chas. H. Hempstead,
Provost Marshal, Great Salt Lake City, for duty.
" 3d. The Quartermaster's Department will furnish the necessary quarters,
offices, etc.
*' By command of
BRIG.-GEN. CONNOR.
" Chas. H. Hempstead,
Capt. C. S. U. S. Vol's, and A. A. A. Gen I.
\
>»
I
II
This series of circulars was clima.xed by the following letter to the War De-
partment (a copy of which has been furnished to the author by the General him-
self), setting forth his views and policy concerning LTtah.
Headquarters District of Utah,
Camp Douglas, Utah Territory,
Near Great Salt Lake City, July 21st, 1864.
" Colonel:
" Having had occasion recently to communicate with you by telegraph on the
subject of the difficulties which have considerably excited the Mormon community
for the past ten days, it is perhaps proper that I should report more fully by letter
relative to the real causes which have rendered collision possible. - |H
" As set forth in former communications, my policy in this Territory has been !
to invite hither a large Gentile and loyal population, sufficient by peaceful means
and through the ballot-box to overwhelm the Mormons by mere force of numbers,
and thus wrest from the Church — disloyal and traitorous to the core — the absolute
and tyrannical control of temporal and civil affairs, or at least a population
numerous enough to put a check on the Mormon authorities, and give countenance
to those who are striving to loosen the bonds with which they have been so long
oppressed. With this view, I have bent every energy and means of which I was
possessed, both personal and official, towards the discovery and development of
HISTORY OF SALT LAKE CITY.
3^9
the mining resources of the Territory, using without stint the soldiers of my com-
mand, whenever and wherever it could be done without detriment to the public
service. These exertions have, in a remarkably short period, been productive of
the happiest results and more than commensurate with my anticipations. Mines
of undoubted richness have been discovered, their fame is spreading east and west ,
voyageurs for other mining countries have been induced by the discoveries already
made to tarry here, and the number of miners of the Territory steadily and rapidly
increasing. With them, and to supply their wants, merchants and traders are
flocking into Great Salt Lake City, which by its activity, increased number of
Gentile stores and workshops, and the appearance of its thronged and busy streets,
presents a most remarkable contrast to the Salt Lake of one year ago. Despite the
counsel, threats, and obstacles of the Church, the movement is going on with
giant strides.
"This policy on my part, if not at first understood, is now fully appreciated
in its startling effect, by Brigham Young and his coterie. His every efforts, covert
and open, having proved unequal to the task of checking the transformation so
rapidly going on in what he regards as his own exclusive domain, he and his
Apostles have grown desperate. No stone is left unturned by them to rouse the
people to resistance against the policy, even if it should provoke hostility against
a government he hates and daily reviles. It is unquestionably his desire to provoke
me mto some act savoring of persecution, or by the dextrous use of which he can
induce his deluded followers into an outbreak, which would deter miners and
others coming to the Territory. Hence he and his chief men make their taber-
nacles and places of worship resound each Sabbath with the most outrageous abuse
of all that pertains to the Government and the Union — hence do their prayers
ascend loudly from the housetops for a continuance of the war till the hated Union
shall be sunk — hence the persistent attempt to depreciate the national currency and
institute a "gold basis" in preference to " Lincoln skins," as treasury notes are
denominated in Sabbath day harangues.
" Hence it was that the establishment of a provost guard in the city was made
the pretext for rousing the Mormon people to excitement and armed assembling,
by the most ridiculous stories of persecution and outrage on their rights, while the
fanatical spirit of the people, and the inborn hatred of our institutions and Govern-
ment were effectually appealed to, to promote discord and provoke trouble, I am
fully satisfied that nothing but the firmness and determination with which their
demonstrations were met, at every point, prevented a collision, and the least appear-
ance of vacillation on my part would surely have precipitated a conflict. I feel
that it is not presumptuous in me to say that in view of what has already been
accomplished in Utah, that the work marked out can and will be effectually and
thoroughly consummated if the policy indicated be pursued and I am sustained in
my measures at department headquarters. I am fully impressed with the opinion
that peace is essential to the solving of the problem, but at the same time conscious
that peace can only be maintained by the presence of force and a fixed determina-
tion to crush out at once any interference with the rights of the Government by
persons of high or low degree. While the exercise of prudence in inaugurating
measures is essential to success, it should not be forgotten that the display of power
14
3 JO HISTORY OF SALT LAKE CITY.
and the exhibition of reliance on oneself have the most salutary restraining effect
on men of weak minds and criminal intent. Deeply as Brigham Young hates our
Government, malignant and traitorous as are his designs against it, inimical as he
is against the policy here progressing of opening the mines to a Gentile populace,
and desperate as he is in his fast-waning fortunes, he will pause ere he inaugurates
a strife, so long as the military forces in the Territory are sufficiently numerous to
hold him and his deluded followers in check. The situation of affairs in Utah is
clear to my own mind, and, without presumption, I have no fear for the result, if
sustained by the department commander as indicated in this and former communi-
cations. Desirous as I am of conforming strictly to the wishes and judgment of
the Major-General commanding the department, and having thus fully set forth my
views and the facts bearing on the case, I beg leave respectfully to ask from the
department commander an expression of opinion as to the policy of the course
pursued, and such suggestions or instructions as he may deem proper, as a guide in
the future.
"Very respectfully, your obedient servant,
P. EDW. CONNOR,
'■^ Brii^.-Genl. U. S. Vol., Commanding District.
' ' Lieut - Col. R. C Drum,
Asst. Adjt.-Genl. U. S. A., San Francisco, Cal.''
The foregoing documents show that General Connor designed with his troops
to reconstruct Utah. In pursuance of that design undoubtedly the provost guard
was established in Great Salt Lake City and his report to the Department seems
a very decided asking of the Government for the mission of a semi-military dic-
tatorship over Utah. A few years later the mines of Utah were everywhere
opened and thousands of a Gentile population poured into the Territory without
provoking even a desire of hindrance from the Monnon people. The. General's
report, though a true expression of his then views, does not accord with the actual
history as since developed. And it is very suggestive to note that the Provost
Marshal of our city of 1864, was Brigham Young's legal counsellor and advocate
in 1872, and that General Connor offered to go bail for Brigham Young in the
sum of $100,000 when he was on trial in the court of Chief Justice James B-
McKean.
'^^^^^y^'.
HISTORY OF SALT LAKE CITY. jji
CHAPTER XXXVII.
HAPPY CHANGE IN THE RELATIONS BETWEEN THE CITY AND THE CAMP.
GRAND INAUGURAL CELEBRATION OF LINCOLN BY THE MILITARY AND
CITIZENS. CONNOR GREATLY MOVED BY THE LOYALTY OF THE MASSES
OF THE MORMON PEOPLE. THE BANQUET AT NIGHT. THE CITY GIVES
A BALL IN HONOR OF GENERAL CONNOR. THE CITY IN MOURNING OVER
THE ASSASSINATION OF PRESIDENT LINCOLN. FUNERAL OBSEQUIES AT
THE TABERNACLE.
The year 1865 saw a most happy change in the relations between the city
and the camp. It was brought about by a hearty mutual disposition to celebrate
the victories of the Union and the inauguration of Abraham Lincoln on his
second term.
An enthusiastic meeting of the cfificers of Camp Douglas and prominent
citizens was held in the city, at Daft's Hall, on the 28th of February, 1865, and
the following committees were appointed.
Committee of Arrangements : Wm. Gilbert, D. F. Walker, Samuel Kahn,
Lieu. -Col. Milo George, Capt. M. G. Lewis, John Meeks. Committee on
Finance: Frank Gilbert, Charles B. Greene. Committee on Exercises: Capt.
C. H. Hempstead, Col. O. M. Irish, Richard A. Keyes.
The committee on arrangements selected S. S. Walker, Esq., to act as Grand
Marshal who chose as his aids: Richard A. Keyes, G. W, Carleton, Charles King,
Thos. Stayner, Samuel Serrine and John Paul.
On the 2nd of March the grand marshal published by order of the committee
of arrangements the
PROGRAMME OF THE DAY.
The procession will form at 11 a. m., at the eastern end of Market Street
(First South Temple Street) where it will be joined by the military from Camp
Douglas.
Escort— Provost Guard— Co. " D." 3d Inf'y C. V., Capt. W. Kettredge
commanding; Grand Marshal — Sharp Walker, Esq., and Aids; band; His
Excellency the Governor of Utah and General Commanding the District ; Dis-
trict Staff; Chaplain — Rev. N. McLeod ; Orator of the day — Hon. Chief Jus-
tice John Titus; Federal Officers; Mayor, City and County Officers; Civic
Societies and Citizen Military Organizations; Citizens in vehicles ; Citizens on
horseback; Citizens on foot; band; Lieut. Col. Milo George, 1st Cav, N.
Vols, and staff; Detachments from Co.'s A, B, and D 3d Inft'y Bat. C V.
Artillery; Detachments from Go's. C, and F, ist Cav. Nev. Vols.
A Federal salute (13 guns) will be fired by the artilery at meridian.
The procession will march under the command of the Grand Marshal through
the principal streets of Salt Lake City, and assemble at the State House, corner
332
HISTORY OF SALT LAKE CITY.
of Main and South Temple Streets. After appropriate exercises, a national salue
of 36 guns will be fired by the artillery.
All loyal citizens of Great Salt Lake City and vicinity are cordially invited
to participate in the procession and exercises, and the merchants, bankers and others
are requested to close their places of business and take part in the ceremonies.
By order of the committee on arrangement.
SHARP WALKER,
Grand Alarshal.
On the same day the City Council issued the following :
"City Council Chamber,
Great Salt City, March 2nd, 1S65.
" Whereas, Saturday, the 4th instant, being the day of inauguration of the
President of the United States, and
" Whereas, also, by reason of the many recent victories of the armies of our
country ; therefore be it
^'■Resolved, by the City Council of Great Salt Lake City, that we cheerfully
join in the public celebration and rejoicings of that day throughout the United
States, and that we cordially invite the citizens, and organizations, military and
civil, of the Territory, county and city, to unite on that occasion. Be it further
^^ Resolved, that a committee of three be appointed to confer with the Grand
Marshal of the day, and make the necessary arrangements to join in the general
celebration.
A. O. SMOOT,
Mayor.
"Attest: Robert Campbell,
City Recorder,'^
The committee appointed by the City Council consisted of John Sharp,
Enoch Reese and Theodore McKean. Colonel Robert T. Burton of the Utah
militia was appointed Marshal. On learning of this action the following corres-
pondence was had between the chairmen of committees:
"Great Salt Lake City, U. T., March 3d, 1S65.
" Messrs. John Sharp, Enoch Reese and T. McKean, Esqs., Com. of the Common
Cotincil :
■" Gentlemen :
"The undersigned, chairman of committee on exercises on the 4th inst., ap-
pointed at mass meeting of citizens, having selected the Hon. John Titus, Chief
Justice of Utah to deliver an oration on the occasion of the proposed national
celebration, begs leave to say that as the exercises will be brief, the committee
would be pleased to tender the stand and the occasion to some gentlemen, to be
selected by yourselves, to address the concourse at the close of the oration.
" I have the honor to remain, gentlemen, very respectfully.
Your obedient servant,
CHAS. H. HEMPSTEAD,
Chairman Committee on Exercises. ^^
HISTOR V OF SAL T LAKE CITY. 333
"Great Salt Lake City, March 3d, 1865.
" Hon. Chas. H. Llempstead, Chairman Committee on Exercises :
"Sir — Your communication of to-day has been received. The committee
tender their thanks, and accept the proposition, and beg leave to name Hon. Wm.
H. Hooper to deliver the closing address.
Very respectfully,
JOHN SHARP,
Chairman Com. on Arrangements.'''
Of the celebration the Vedette said :
"This was decidedly a notable occasion in Utah. The demonstrations were
so entirely different from anything which has come within the range of our ex-
perience here, that it deserves special notice at our hands as an important event
in the history of this Territory. * * * *
" The whole procession was about one mile in length, and presented a very
imposing appearance. As it moved along the streets, broad and straight, of the
Mormon Capital, the sidewalks, wherever it passed, the windows and even the
housetops being thronged by eager^ and in some instances, enthusiastic lookers on.
The bands awoke the wintry echoes with inspiring strains of music, appropriate
to the occasion, and, what with the profusion of flags floating from many build-
ings and ornamenting the teams and sleighs in the procession, or borne by the
occupants, the rosettes, streamers, and the thousand and one other devices, in all
of which red, white and blue were the pervading colors, the city wore a gala ap-
pearance, which seemed to be participated in by all parties, and it was evidently
the determination, on all hands, to make it a day of general rejoicing.
"Having completed its perambulations, the immense concourse assembled at
the stand, prepared for the purpose, in front of the market, the provost guards
which had acted as escort, formed in front facing the stage, the citizen companies
in their rear, stretching along the streets, and the troops from this post drawn up
in four ranks on the right and with all arms at rest. Around, and on all sides,
completely filling the streets, covering the roofs and hanging out of the windows,
was a dense mass of humanity silent and attentive to the proceedings.
"The stand was occupied by Governor Doty, General Connor and staff.
Chief Justice Titus, orator of the day, the Reverend Norman McLeod, chaplain
of the day, and various of the city authorities and prominent citizens among
whom were Mayor Smoot, Hon. George A. Smith, and Captain Hooper, who de-
livered the closing address.
" Capt, Hempstead opened the ceremonies with some brief and patriotic re-
marks, and on behalf of the Committee of Arrangements, announced His Excel-
lency J. Duane Doty, Governor of Utah, as the presiding officer of the day.
The Chaplain of the day then delivered an appropriate and impressive prayer,
followed by Chief Justice Titus in a most able and exceedingly eloquent oration.
Cap:. W. H. Hooper then delivered a brief and patriotic address, relating some
interesting incidents attending the opening scenes of rebellion at Washington in
1 860- 1. The bands discoursed most excellent music in the intervals of the
several exercises, and both the oration and address were received by the attentive
multitude with rousing cheers and demonstrations of applause.
^j^ HISTORY OF SALT LAKE CITY.
"At the conclusion of the interesting ceremonies at the stand, the vast con-
course dispersed amid rousing cheers and salvos of artillery. The United States
forces from Camp Douglas were placed in line, and the citizen cavalry of Great
Salt Lake City, under Colonel Burton, escorted them on the road to camp.
Afterwards, about four o'clock, Col. George and staff, of Camp Douglas, were
invited to partake of an elegant repast provided by the City Council at the City
Hall. The Mayor presided, and after the cloth was removed the era of toasts,
speeches, and good things generally, seemed to have arrived. Mayor Smoot
opened the ball by proposing the health of President Lincoln, and success to the
armies of the Union. ' Capt. Hempstead responded at some length and closed by
a toast to 'Our hosts, the Mayor and civic authorities of Great Salt Lake City.'
"This was met in most happy style by a toast to General P. E. Connor,
District Commander — responded to on behalf of the General by a member of his
staff. Then came the health of ' Our guests, Colonel George and staff,' neatly re-
plied to by the Colonel in a patriotic speech, followed by a toast to ' the Judiciary,
the mainstay of republican institutions.' This called out Judge Smith, who re-
torted most admirably and appropriately on ' his friends the military, the right
arm of the Government.'
" On the whole, the proceedings at the City Hall were an appropriate cul-
mination of the day's proceedings. It was free, easy, hospitable and a most
kindly interchange of loyal sentiment among gentlemen not wont often to meet
over the convivial board. Like the procession, it was a union of the civil and
military authorities of Utah, and passed off with eminent satisfaction to all con-
cerned.
" Among those present we noticed Mayor Smoot, the members of the City
Council, Judge Smith, Judge Clinton, John Taylor, John Sharp, Councilor Wood-
ruff, George Q. Cannon, Col. Burton, Wm. Jennings, Mr. Lawrence and others,
Col. George and staff. Major O'Neil and a host too numerous to mention in de-
tail. Nearly everybody present responded to a toast most patriotically and fre-
quently most eloquently.
" At a late hour the whole party rose and adjourned to meet at the Theatre.
It was a source of very general regret that General Connor was not present, but as
the whole affair was somewhat impromptu, the General was called to camp before
the committee could meet him, and the members of his staff were constrained to
respond in his name to the sentiments proposed in his honor.
" In the evening, fire-works and general rejoicings testified, to a late hour, the
universal feeling, and the day closed after a general and patriotic jubilee rarely, if
ever before seen in Utah."
Stenhouse says: "General Connor was greatly moved at the sight of the
tradesmen and working people who paraded through the streets, and who cheered
most heartily — and no doubt honestly — the patriotic, loyal sentiments that were
uttered by the speakers. He wanted differences to be forgotten, and, with gen-
tlemanly frankness, approached the author with extended hand, and expressed the
joy he felt in witnessing the loyalty of the masses of the people."
General Connor having been called to take command of the Department of
HISTORY OF SALT LAKE CITY, 335
the Platte, a ball was given by the city authorities at the Social Hall in honor of
the General, preceding his departure.
Within two months after the celebration of his inaugural day the city and
camp were called to unite in deep mourning over the martyrdon of Abraham
Lincoln, which struck the soldier and the loyal citizen alike with horror. At the
receipt of the dreadful news some of the soldiers of the provost guard established
in the city seemed ready to vent their vengeful fury on the citizens, but even the
rudest of them soon appreciated that for once they had done injustice to the
Mormons, both leaders and people, in imagining that they would sympathize with
that crowning infamy. The Mormons too keenly felt the memory of their own
martyrs not to be most genuinely affected by the stroke which had given to the
nation a martyr so pure in his life and patriotism, as was Abraham Lincoln,
The Vedette quickly did the city justice and noted:
"The merchants, bankers, saloon keepers, and all business men of Salt Lake
City, closed their places of business at 10 a.m. on Saturday. The flags on all the
public buildings, Brigham Young's residence, stores, etc., were displayed at half-
mast, with crape drooping over them. Many of the principal stores and private
residences were dressed in mourning. Brigham Young's carriage was driven
through town covered with crape. The theatre was closed for Saturday evening,
the usual night of performance, and every respect was shown for the death of our
honored President. On Sunday the Tabernacle pulpit. Salt Lake City, was
covered with crape, and every one throughout the city, that is, of the right-
minded class, manifested the deepest sorrow at the horrible news conveyed by the
telegraph."
At a meeting of the Federal, civil and military officials of Utah, held at
the Executive, in Great Salt Lake City, April i8th, at 2 p. m., Hon. J. Duane
Doty, Governor, was called to the chair, Capt. C. H. Hempstead and T.'B. H.
Stenhouse, Esq., appointed secretaries.
After preliminary consultation and .!E;xpressiDn of feeling over the sad event
which called this meeting together, resolutions were presented by the Hon. Chief
Justice Titus, which were unanimously adopted. We cull the following:
'^Resolved, that a committee of five be appointed on the part of the Federal
officers to confer with a committee of like number on the part of the city author-
ities, to made arrangements for suitable religious exercises to be held at the Tab"
eanacle, April 19, at 12 o'clock m.
Col. J. C. Little informed the meeting that Elder Amasa M. Lyman had
been selected by the city authorities to deliver an address at the Tabernacle.
" On motion, it was unanimously resolved that Rev. Norman McLeod be
also invited to deliver an eulogium on the life, character and illustrious services of
the late President, on the same occasion and at the same place.
"In accordance with the foregoing resolutions the following gentlemen were
appointed by the chair as the committee of arrangements, viz: Hon. Chief Justice
John Titus, Col. O. H. Irish, Capt. Chas. H. Hempstead, Col. Robt. T. Burton,
and Col. J. C. Little.
j,j<5 HISTORY OF SALT LAKE CITY.
"Following is the committee appointed on behalf of the city authorities, viz:
Hon. Mayor Smoot, Alderman Sheets, Alderman Raleigh, Theo. McKean and
N. H. Felt, Esqs.
" On motion, the secretaries were instructed to transmit a copy of the pro-
ceedings of this meeting to the City Council, and that public notice be given of
the exercises at the Tabernacle.
J. DUANE DOTY,
President.
" T. B. H. Stenhouse, Chas. H. Hempstead, Secretaries.
Of the funeral obsequies in the Tabernacle the Vedette says :
" On Wednesday, pursuant to notice, all business was suspended in Great Salt
Lake City, the stores, public and private buildings were draped in mourning, and
long before the hour named — 12 m. — throngs of citizens were wending their way
to the Tabernacle to render the last sad, solemn, and heartfelt tribute to the great
departed and deeply mourned dead. The Tabernacle was more than crowded,
and upwards of tliree thousand people were present. The vast assemblage was
called to order by City Marshal Little, in the name of the mayor, immediately
after the entrance of the orators, civil and military functionaries, and a large
body of prominent citizens, who occupied the platform. The scene was impres-
sive and solemn, and all seemed to partake of the deep sorrow so eloquently ex-
pressed by the speakers on the occasion. The stand was appropriately draped in
mourning, and the exercises were opened by an anthem from the choir. Franklin
D. Richards delivered an impressive prayer. The address of Elder Amasa M.
Lyman was an earnest and eloquent outburst of feeling, and appropriate to the
occasion. He spoke for forty-five minutes, and held the vast audience in un-
broken silence and wrapt attention.
" The address did credit to Mr. Lyman's head and heart. After another an-
them from the choir, Rev. Norman McLeod, Chaplain of Camp Douglas was
introduced, and delivered one of the most impressive and burning eulogiums on
the life, character, and public services of President Lincoln which it was ever our
pleasure to hear."
HISTORY OF SALT LAKE CITY. jj^
CHAPTER XXXVllI.
Visit of the colfax party to salt lake city, a telegram from the
MUNICIPAL council MEETS THEM ON THE WAY WITH TRIBUTE OF THE
CITY'S HOSPITALITIES. THEY ACCEPT THE WELCOME. ENTRANCE INTO
THE CITY UNDER ESCORT. ENTHUSIASM OF THE PARTY OVER THE
BEAUTIES OF THE ROCKY MOUNTAIN ZION. GRAND SERENADE /ND
SPEECHES. FORECAST OF THE GREAT FUTURE OF SALT LAKE CITY.
The visit of Schuyler Colfax and party to Great Salt Lake City commences
a new epoch in the history both of our city and Territory. The party consisted
of Hon. Schuyler Colfax, the then speaker of the House of Representatives,
Lieutenant-Governor- Bross, of Illinois, Samuel Bowles, editor of the Spring-
field (Mass.) Republican, and Albert D. Richardson, ot the New York Tribime.
Speaker Colfax undoubtedly came in a semi-official capacity. Indeed, in
his address to the people of the West, he told them specifically that Presi-
dent Lincoln, just previous to his assassination, charged him specially to thor-
oughly investigate the affairs and interests of the Pacific States and Territories,
for the Nation's purposes, and that Mr. Lincoln had entertained an extra-
(jrdinary faith in the destiny of the great West, believing it would become the
treasure-house of the Nation. In this view Utah was particularly an object of in-
terest, not only for her prospects as a great silver mining Territory, but extraor-^
dinarily because of her peculiar social and domestic institutions. It was inferred
that President Lincoln had designed some adequate legislation on Utah, conso-
nant with his aims and spirit in the reconstruction of the South. This was to be
gathered from the utterances of his envoy to the West — the character which Mr.
Colfax certainly assumed. It is true that early in the war period President Lin-
coln had said to a representative of Brigham Young — " that if the Mormons
would let him alone he would let them alone j^' but the Republican party which
bad elected him to supreme power, and in their initial platform coupled Utah and
the South in a common and final settlement, now expected of him to adjust the
affairs of Utah simultaneously with those of the '-'conquered South," and in ac-
cordance with the " Chicago platform," which had declared "Slavery and Poly-
gamy twin relics of barbarism."
Such was the significance of the Colfax visit to Utah ; and, though the con-
templated " settlement of Utah affairs " by special legislation was interrupted by
the assassination of President Lincoln, and further interrupted by the great con-
troversy which took place between the leaders of Congress and President Andrew
Johnson, the original design of legislation for Utah quickly came up again when
Colfax was elected vice-president, when it further assumed quite a war aspect. As
tliis first visit of Mr. Colfax and party is the beginning of a chain of events and
circumstances which have an unbroken continuance from the rise of General
Grant and Mr. Colfax to the control of the nation, and perchance may be con-
jj8 HISTORY OF SALT LAKE CITY.
tinued for the next quarter of a century, the narrative of this Colfax visit, and
a digest of the salient points of the speeches and utterances of the party in public
to the citizens, and in private conversations with the Mormon leaders, may be
preserved as a unique and very suggestive chapter of Utah's history.
Along the journey from Atchison to San Francisco, the public was kept
posted and alive with the movements and utterances of the Speaker and his com-
panions, through the medium of the telegraph and Mr. Bowles' letters ; and, at
every stage of the journey, the national importance of this visit to the great West
was made the universal topic throughout the land.
Mr. Bowles in closing his letters frcn Denver announced : "Our week in
Colorado is ended ; we are off this morning for the seven days' stage ride north
and west along the base of the Rocky Mountains, and through them at Bridger's
Pass, to Salt Lake City, where we expect to worship with Brigham "Voung in his
Tabernacle on Sunday week."
In this same letter Mr. Bowles gives a description of INIr. Colfax's person,
life, and public character, in which he said :
"Without being, in the ordinary sense, one of the greatest of our public
men, he is certainly one of the most useful, reliable and valuable, and in any
capacity, even the highest, he is sure to serve the country faithfully and well.
He is one of the men to be tenaciously kept in public life, and I have no doubt
he will be. Some people talk of him for president ; Mr. Lincoln used to tell
him he would be his successor; but his own ambition is wisely tempered by the
purpose to perform present duties well. He certainly makes friends more rapidly
and holds them more closely than any public man I ever knew; wherever he
goes, the women love him, and the men cordially respect him ; and he is sure to
always be a personal favorite, even a pet, with the people."
In the very nature of things, the heralded visit of such a personage to the
Rocky Mountain Zion created an uncommon interest here ; and the City Fathers
hastened to meet him on the way with the following telegram :
"Great Salt Lake City, Utah, June 7th, 1S65.
"Hon, Schuyler Golf ax and Traveli?ig Companions, at Fort Bridger :
"Gentlemen: — The undersigned committee, appointed by the city council
of Great Salt Lake, take pleasure in informing you that the city council have
unanimously passed a resolution tendering to you the hospitalities of the city
during your sojourn in our midst.
Being appointed to notify you of this resolution, we beg to add that a com-
mittee of gentlemen have been also appointed by that body, to meet you before
arrival in the city, and to conduct you to apartments prepared for your use.
"Not being fully acquainted with the names of the gentlemen in the party,
we ask excuse for the omission, by extending a warm invitation to them all.
"We are, gentlemen, yours very respectfully,
W. H. Hooper,
J. H. Jones,
William Jennings,
T. B. H. Stenhouse,
Committee. ' '
HISTORY OF SAL T LAKE CITY. jjg
Fort Bridger, June lo.
" IV. H. ILooper, Committee : — Our party accept. We leave here this morn-
ing about ten o'clock and expect to reach Salt Lake City, on Sabbath morning
about eight o'clock.
Schuyler Colfax."
The committee appointed by the Mayor and city council, to receive Speaker
Colfax and friends, met them as they descended the hill entering the city, about
eight o'clock on Sunday morning. As the stage halted. Captain Hooper, the
chairman of the committee, exchanged salutations with Mr. Colfax, and simulta-
neously both parties descended from their carriages and shook hands. The chair-
man of the committee then made a cordial address of welcome to Mr. Colfax
and friends in the city's name, in which he said :
"In tendering you, and your traveling companions, Mr. Colfax, the hos-
pitality of our mountain home, I do so with pride, that I am able to present to
you a monumental evidence of what American people can do.
"Seventeen years ago, this people, the citizens of Utah, immigrated to these
distant parts, and were the first to unfurl the flag of the United States, when they
fixed their camp where the city now stands, and to-day we are surrounded with
the solid comforts and with many of the luxuries of life.
"While I bid you welcome, sir, we think of the many services you have
rendered us, and of the great good we have derived therefrom, for we are sensible
that no man has done more to establish postal facilities on the great overland
route to the Pacific. No people can appreciate those services more sensibly than
the citizens of Utah, for we have often passed many months in the year without
any communication whatever with our parent government. You, sir, were one of
the first to stretch forth your hand to remedy this evil, and now instead of waiting
months for news from the East, we receive it almost daily, by means of this ser-
vice ; and thousands are blessed in the benefits of that great measure you have so
faithfully advocated.
"The great enterprise of establishing the telegraph wire across the continent,
from which we have derived hourly communication with our sister States and
Territories, is truly a great blessing, and to no one I am sure, Mr. Colfax, is the
country indebted more than to yourself, for its erection. The active support
which you gave the measure, contributed much to the establishment of the line,
a medium through which time and space are nearly annihilated.
"We take pride in introducing you to our city, in calling your attention to
the improvements with which it is surrounded, as well as those of our settlements,
reaching five hundred miles north and south and two hundred miles east and west.
We take pleasure as well as pride, in alluding to our mills, woollen, cotton
and paper factories, orchards, vineyards and fields of cotton and grain, and
to every branch of our home industry introduced to multiply among ourselves,
from the facilities which our country offers, every means of social and national
comfort and independence. We present you these as the result of our industry
and of our perseverance, against almost insurmountable obstacles.
" To you editorial gentlemen, who not only govern, but in a sense manufac-
J
y^a HIS TOR Y OF SALT LAKE CITY.
tiire, public opinion, we offer a hearty welcome. We had the pleasure, some
years ago, of a visit from Mr. Greeley, of the Tribune, who spent some time in
our midst, and I .can say wiih truth that in him we have always found a gentle-
man ready and willing at all times to lend his influence in the cause of human
progress. In conclusion, gentlemen, I again say, welcome."
Mr. Colfax made a fitting reply to the " welcome," and the guests and com-
mittee were then formally introduced to each other. Mr. R. Campbell, city re-
corder, read the resolutions passed by the city council, tendering to Speaker
Colfax and party the hospitalities of the city, after which the guests stepped into
the carriages provided by the committee and were escorted by them into the city.
Letter VIII. in Bowles' Book — "Across the Continent" — gives a graphic
touch of the feelings and views of the Colfax party on their entrance into the
Mormon Zion, amid the hearty welcomes of our citizens, both Mormon and
Gentile. It is his first letter to the Springfield Republican from Great Salt Lake
City, and is dated June 14, 1865 :
" Leaving Fort Bridger for our last day's ride hither," wrote the pen of the
Colfax party, " we leave the first Pacific slopes and table lands of the Rocky
Mountains, drained to the south for the Colorado River, and to the north for the
Columbia, and go over the rim of the basin of the Great Salt Lake, and enter
that continent within a continent, with its own miniature salt sea, and its inde-
pendent chain of mountains, and distinct river courses ; marked wonderfully by
Nature, and marked now as wonderfully in the history of civilization by its peo-
l)le, their social and religious organization, and their material development. This
is Utah — these the Mormons. I do not marvel that they think they are a chosen
people ; that they have been blessed of God, not only in the selection of their
home, which consists of the richest region, in all the elements of a State, between
the Mississippi Valley and the Pacific Shore, but in the great success that has at-
tended their labors, and developed here the most independent and self-sustaining
industry that the western half of our continent witnesses. Surely great worldly
wisdom has presided over their settlement and organization; there have been tact and
statesmanship in their leaders; there have been industry, frugality and integrity
in the people; or one could not witness such varied triumphs of industry and in-
genuity and endurance as here present themselves. >}: * si; :^;
"Early 'sun-up' brought us to the last station, kept by a Mormon bishop
with four wives, who gave us bitters and breakfast — the latter with green peas and
strawberries — and then, leaving number one at his home, went on with us to the
city for parochial visits to the other three, who are located at convenient distances
around the Territory.
" Finally we came out upon the plateau — or 'bench,' as they call it here —
that overlooks the valley of the Jordan, the valley alike of Utah Lake and the
Great Salt Lake, and the valley of the intermediate Great Salt Lake City. It is
a scene of rare natural beauty. To the right upon the plateau lay Camp Douglas,
the home of the soldiers and a village in itself; holding guard over the town and
within easy cannon range of tabernacle and tithing-house; right beneath, in an
angle of the plain — which stretched south to Utah Lake and west to the Salt
HISTORY OF SALT LAKE CITY. J4,
Lake — "and Jordan rolled between" — was the city, regularly and handsomely
laid out, with many fine buildings, and filled with thick gardens of trees and
flowers, that gave it a fairy-land aspect; beyond and across, the plain spread out
five to ten miles in width, with scattered farm-houses and herds of cattle; below,
it was lost in the dim distance ; above, it gave way, twenty miles off, to the line
of light that marked the beginning of the Salt Lake — the whole flat as a plain,
and sparkling with river and irrigating canals, overlooked on both sides by hills
that mounted to the snow line, and from which flowed the fatness of water and
soil that makes this once desert valley blossom under the hand of industry with
every variety of verdure, every product of almost every clime.
"No internal city of the Continent lies in such a field of beauty, unites such
rich and rare elements of nature's formation, holds such guarantees of greatness,
material and social, in the good time coming of our Pacific development. I met
all along the plains and over the mountains, the feeling that Salt Lake was to be
the central city of this West ; I found the map, with Montana, Idaho, and Ore-
gon on the north, Dakota and Colorado on the east, Nevada and California on
the west, Arizona on the south, and a near connection with the sea by the Colo-
rado Kiver in the latter direction, suggested the same; I recognized it in the Sab-
bath picture of its location and possessions ; I am convinced of it as I see more
and more of its opportunities, its developed industries and its unimproved pos-
sessions.
" Mr. Colfax's reception in Utah was excessive if not oppressive. There was
an element of rivalry between Mormon and Gentile in it, adding earnestness and
energy to enthusiasm and hospitality. First a troop cometh, with band of music,
and marched us slowly and dustily through their Camp Douglas. Then, escaping
thus, our coach was waylaid, as it went down the hill, by the Mormon authorities
of the city. They ordered us to dismount ; we were individually introduced to
each of twenty of them ; we received a long speech; we made a long one —
standing in the hot sand with a sun of forty thousand lens power concentrated
upon us, tired and dirty with a week's coach ride : was it wonder that the mildest
tempers rebelled ? Transferred to other carriages, our hosts drove us through the
city to the hotel; and then — bless their Mormon hearts — they took us at once to
a hot sulphur bath, that nature liberally offers just on the confines of the city, and
there we washed out all remembrance of the morning suffering and all the accu-
mulated grime and fatigue of the journey, and came out baptized in freshness and
self-respect. Clean clothes, dinner, the Mormon Tabernacle in the afternoon,
and a Congregational (Gentile) meeting and sermon in the evening, were the
proceedings of our first day in Utah.
"Since and still continuing, Mr. Colfax and his friends have been the recip-
ients of a generous and thougthful hospitality. They are the guests of the city ;
but the military authorities and citizens vie together as well to please their visitors
and make them pleased with Utah and its people. The Mormons are eager to
prove their loyalty to the government, their sympathy with its bereavement, their
joy in its final triumph — which their silence or their slants and sneers heretofore
had certainly put in some doubt — and they leave nothing unsaid or undone now,
towards Mr. Colfax as the representative of that government, or tovvards the pub-
j^2 HISTORY OF SALT LAKE CITY.
lie, to give assurance of their right mindedness. Also they wish us to know that
they are not monsters and murderers, but men of intelligence, virtue, good man-
ners and line tastes. They put their polygamy on high moral grounds ; and for
the rest, anyhow, are not willing to be thought otherwise than our peers. And
certainly we do find here a great deal of true and good human nature and social
culture; a great deal of business intelligence and activity ; a great deal of gen-
erous hospitality — besides most excellent strawberries and green peas, and the
most promising orchards of apricots, peaches, plums and apples that these eyes
ever beheld anywhere."
Passing from Mr. Bowles' gushing description of the entrance of the Colfax
party to the Mormon Zion, we come to the grand serenade and welcome given to
them, on the Monday evening, by the citizens generally.
At an early hour crowds of citizens assembled on Main Street, in front of the
Salt Lake House. After dusk the assemblage grew immense, and anxious silence
was enlivened by patriotic airs from the city brass band, under Captain Charles
J. Thomas. On the appearance of the distinguished visitors on the balcony, es-
corted by the city authorities, Mayor A. O. Smoot was unanimously called to the
chair. Hon. John F. Kinney, the then delegate of Utah to Congress, made some
prefatory remarks, introducing Speaker Colfax, who came forward and favored the
gathered thousands with a speech, in the capacity of a social talk at times, and anon
exalting into the realms of patriotism and eloquence. The points touching on our
city and its people will form links in the chain of history. Speaker Colfax thus
addressed the Mormon people :
"Fellow citizens of the Territory of Utah : Far removed as I am to-night
from my home, I feel that I have a right to call every man that lives under the
American flag in this wide-spread republic of ours, by the name of fellow citizen.
I come before you this evening — introduced by your delegate in so complimen-
tary a manner, fearing that you will be disappointed by the speech to which you
have to listen. I rise to speak to you of the future of this great country of ours,
rather than of the past, or of what has been done for it in the progress of thi^
great republic.
"I was gratified when, on this long journey which my companions and my-
self are taking, we were met at the gates of your city, and its hospitality tendered
to us ; although I must confess I would far rather have come among you in a
quiet way, travelling about, seeing your city and Territory, and making observa-
tions, without subjecting your official dignitaries to the trouble and loss of time
that our visit seems to have entailed upon them, but which they insist is a pleas-
ure. Yet when they voluntarily, and unexpectedly to us, offered us officially this
hospitality, we felt that it should be accepted as promptly as it was tendered, I
accept it the more cordially because I know that every one of you who knows
anything about me and my companions, is sure that, reared as we have been in a
different school from what you have been, and worshipping on a different altar,
we are regarded as gentiles; yet, despite of all this, you have seen fit to request
us to stop, on this journey to the Pacific, to receive the hospitalities which we
have had lavished on us so boundlessly during the two days we have been in your
midst. I rejuice that I came to you in a time like this, when the rainbow of
HISTORY OF SALT LAKE CJTY. j^j
p^ace spans our entire horizon from ocean to ocean, giving the assurance that the
deluge of secession shall not again overwhelm this fair land of ours. (Cheers). I
come to you rejoicing, and I was glad to hear from my old friend, Capt. Hooper,
your former delegate to Congress, when he made his welcoming speech on Sab-
bath morning in the suburbs of your city, that you too rejoiced in the triumph of
this great republic of ours over th^ eneii ies who sought to bayonet the prostrate
form of liberty, and to blot this great country from the map of the world. Thank
God, who rules in the heavens, who determined that what he joined together on
this continent, man should not put asunder ; the republic lives to-day, and will
live in all the coming ages of the future. (Cheers). There may be stormy conflict
and peril ; there may be a foreign war, but I trust not ; I am for peace instead of
war, whenever war can be honorably avoided. I want no war with England or
France. I want the development and mighty sweeping forward of our giant re-
public, in its march of progress and power, to be, as it will be, the commanding
nation of the world, when it shall lift its head like your Ensign Peak, yon tall
clift that lifts its mighty form swelling over the valley, laughing at the
rolling storm clouds around its base, while the eternal sunshine settles on its
nCtifi ^ ^ ^ ^ ^
"I came here to-night, my friends, to speak to you frankly about the object
of our visit in your midst. I know it is supposed, it is almost a by-word, that we
of the sterner sex have adopted, that the ladies, the other sex, are the most in-
quisitive. Having a profound reverence for woman, for I believe that mother,
wife, home and heaven are the four noblest words in the English language, I
have never believed this to be true; but from long experience and observation,
am persuaded that our own sex is quite as inquisitive as the other. I can give
you some proof of this : there has not been a single lady in Salt Lake City that
has asked, 'what have you come out here for?' While there have been several
gentlemen who have inquired, very respectfully, it is true, 'what was the object of
your coming to Utah?' (Cheers and laughter.) Now I am going to tell you
frankly all about it, so that your curiosity shall be entirely allayed.
"I will begin by telling you what we did not come for. In the first place,
we did not come here to steal any of your lands and possessions, not a bit of it.
In the second place we did not come out here to make any remarkable fortune by
the discovery of any gold or silver mines just yet. In the third place, we did
not come out here to take the census of either sex among this people, and to this
very hour I am in blissful ignorance as to whether the committee that met me in
the suburbs of the city, are, like myself, without any wife, or whether they have
been once or twice married, except your two delegates to Congress — they told me
they only had a wife apiece. (Laughter.) In the fourth place, we did not come out
here to stir up strife of any character; we came here to accept the hospitality of
everybody here, of all sects, creeds and beliefs who are willing to receive us, and
we have received it from all. Well, now, you see we could not have any ulterior
design in coming here. >i< * * * >l<
"Now, you who are pioneers far out here in the distant West, have many
things that you have a right to ask of your government. I can scarcely realize,
with this large assembly around me, that there is an almost boundless desert of
j.^^ HISTORY OF SALT LAKE CITY.
1,200 miles between myself and the valley of the Mississippi. There are many
things that you have a right to demand ; you have created, however, many things
here for yourselves. No one could traverse your city without recognizing that
vou are a people of industry. No one could look at your beautiful gardens, which
charmed as well as astonished me, for I did not dream of any such thing in the
city of Salt Lake when I came here, without realizing that 30U, or many of you,
are a people of taste. If anybody doubt that, I think that one of your officers on
the hill, who turned us loose into his strawberries to day, realized that he had vis-
itors of taste. (Cheers and laughter.) I regret yet that I left it; but I was full,
and the truth is I was too full for utterance, therefore I cannot make much of a
speech to night.
"In the first place, to speak seriously, coming cut here as } ou had, so far
from the old States, you had aright to demand i)ostal communication. I heard
something that surprised me, it must be an exaggeration of the truth — that atone
time in your early settlement of this place, you were so far removed from postal
communication, that you never heard of the nomination of President Pierce un-
til he w^as elected and inaugurated as President. (A voice, 'that's so.') That was
some six or eight months — that was a slow coach, and I don't see how any one
who had been in the habit of reading a newspaper ever could get along at all ; he
must have read the old ones over and over again.
"It happened to be my fortune in Congress to do a little towards increasing
the postal facilities in the West; not as much as I desired, but as much as I could
obtain from Congress. And when it was proposed, to the astonishment of my
fellow-members, that there should be a daily mail run across these pathless plains
and mighty mountains, through the wilderness of the West to the Pacific, with
the pathway lined with our enemies, the savages of the forest, and where the lux-
uries and even the necessaries of life in some parts of the route are unknown, the
project was not considered possible; and then, when in my position as chairman
of the post office committee, I proposed that we should vote a million dollars a
year to put the mail across the continent, members came to me and said, 'You
will ruin yourself.' They thought it was monstrous — an unjust and extravagant
expenditure. I said to them, though I knew little of the West then compared to
what I have learned in a few weeks of this trip, I said, ' the people on the line of
that route have a right to demand it at your hands, and in their behalf I demand
it.' (Cheers.) Finally the bill was coaxed through, and you have a daily mail
running through here, or it would run with almost the regularity of clockwork,
were it not for the incursions of the savages. ^ * *
" You had a right to this daily mail, and you have it. You had a right,
also, to demand, as the eastern portion of this republic had, telegraphic commu-
nication— speeding the messages of life and death, of pleasure and of traffic; that
the same way should be opened up by that frail wire, the conductor of Jove's
thunderbolts, tamed down and harnessed for the use of man. And it fell to my
fortune to ask it for you ; to ask a subsidy from the government in its aid. It was
but hardly obtained ; yet now the grand result is achieved, who regrets it, — who
would part with this bond of union and civilization ? There was another great
interest you had a right to demand. Instead of the slov, toilsome and expensive
manner in which you freight your goods and hardware to this distant Territory,
HISTORY OF SALT LAKE CITY. 345
you should have a speedy transit between the Missouri Valley and this intermoun-
tain basin in which you live. Instead of paying iwo or three prices, — sometimes
overrunning the cost of the article, — you should have a railroad communication,
and California demands this. I said, as did many others in Congress, 'This is a
great national enterprise ; we must bind the Atlantic and Pacific States together
with bands of iron ; we must send the iron horse through all these valleys and
mountains of the interior, and when thus interlaced together, we shall be a more
compact and homogenous republic' And the Pacific Railroad bill was passed.
This great work of uniting three chousand miles, from shore to shore, is to be
consummated ; and we hail the day of peace, because with peace we can do many-
things as a nation that we cannot do in war. This railroad is to be built — this
company is to build it ; if they do not the government will. It shall be put
through soon ; not toilsomely, slowly, as a far distant event, but as an event in
the decade in which we live. * * ^ *
"And now, what has the government a right to demand of you? It is not
that which Napoleon exacts from his officers in France, — which is allegiance to
the constitution and fidelity to the emperor. Thank God, we have no emperor
nor despot in this country, throned or unthroned. Here every man has the right,
himself, to exercise his elective suffrage as he sees fit, none molesting him or mak-
ing him afraid. And the duty of every American citizen is condensed in a single
sentence, as I said to your committee yesterday, — not in allegiance to an em-
peror, but allegiance to the constitutiou, obedience to the laws, and devotion to the
Union. (Cheers.) When you live to that standard you have the right to demand
protection ; and were you three times three thousand miles from the national
capital, wherever the starry banner of the republic waves and a man stands under
it, if his rights of life^ liberty and property are assailed, and he has rendered this
allegiance to his country, it is the duty of the government to reach out its arm, if it
take a score of regiments, to protect and uphold him in his rights. (Cheers.)
" I rejoice that I came into your midst. I want to see the development of
this great country promoted. I would now touch on a question which I could
allude to at greater length — that is about mining — but I find that our views differ
somewhat with the views of some whom you hold in great respect here, therefore I
will not expand on this subject as in Colorado or Nevada. But I would say this, for
the truth compels me to say it, that this great country is the granary of the world
everybody acknowledges, at home and abroad. When five of the States in the North-
west produce three hundred and fifty million bushels of grain per year — when you
can feed all your own land, and all the starving millions of other lands besides,
with an ordinary crop, then you are indeed the granary of the world. But this
country has a prouder boast than that — it is the treasury of the world. God has
put the precious metals through and through these Rocky Mountains, and all
these mountains in fact, and I only say to you that if you, yourselves, do not de-
velop it, the rush and tide of population will come here and develop it and you
cannot help it. (Cheers.) The tide of emigration from the old world, which
even war with all its perils did not check, is going to pour over all these valleys
and mountains, and they are going to extend the development of nature, and I
will tell you if you do not want the gold they will come and take it themselves.
3^6 HISTORY OF SALT LAKE CITY.
(Cheers.) You are going to have this Territory increase in population, thei>
there will not b^ much danger about this State matter.
'' Now, with the bright stars looking down upon us here, as they do on our
friends in distant States, I thank you for the kind attention with which you have
listened to me; and while I hold the stand I ask you to join with me, if you
will, in three hearty hurrahs for that Union which is so dear to our hearts, the very
ark of our covenant, which may no unhallowed hand ever endanger in the centuries
yet to come."
The assembled throng joined with the speaker and gave three hearty cheers,
which were followed with three cheers "for Colfax."
Next came Lieutenant-Governor Bross of Illinois, editor of the Chicago^
Tribune, whose speech (given entire) is one of the most hearty, genuine tributes
ever uttered or penned in honor of the early settlers of Utah :
"Fellow citizens: I have no doubt at all but that I could make a very good
speech, if the Honorable Speaker of the House of Representatives of this great
nation had not taken all the wind out of my sails, and left me nothing to say.
(Laughter.) But it is just like him, for though he and I are neighbors, close
neighbors, as he lives in the State of Indiana and I in the State of Illinois, yet
that is the concession I am always obliged to make to the honorable gentleman.
But I can only join my testimony to what the honorable Speaker has said, of my
amazement at the development which I witness around me.
"To see what I have seen to day — your beautiful gardens ; where, less than
twenty years ago, sage brush held undisturbed possession of the soil, now side by
side, grow in luxuriance and tempting sweetness the peach, the apple and the
strawberry, is a matter of astonishment to me beyond anything I ever saw before
in my life, (Cheers.) And it shows to me, my fellow citizens, because we are all
citizens of this great and glorious republic, what industry and energy, guided by
intelligence, can do for this broad land, (cheers.) I can look back over those
wastes of sage brush, over which we have passed in our travel, and wherever
there is a mountain current to water the soil, I see before me in this great city what
can be realized on every acre of the broad plains between the Missouri and this
beautiful valley. And I know that American energy and American enterprise
will soon redeem large tracts of this land through which we have passed, and soon,
instead of being a vast desert, it will bloom and blossom like the rose, as your
city does to-day. (Hear, hear.)
"I have always been a western man, though living down east. I have always
felt that the West was soon to be the centre of wealth and power to this great nation.
When but a boy I studied its geography ; when I grew to manhood, I studied its
resources; now I am here to witness with my own eyes what American enterprise
can do in the centre of the continent. And representing as I do, the great State
of Illinois, that State that can mrnish food for the nation, and that city that sits as
a queen at the head of Lake Michigan, ready with open arms to grasp the wealth
of this North-west, and to pour back her wealth upon it, I feel hereto-night, as
if I had an interest in you, and in the progress and development of this Territory
and every other Territory between the lakes and the Pacific. And whatever I can
do, as editor of what is recognized as one of the chief newspapers in the city of
HISTORY OF SAL T LAKE CITY. J47
Chicago, to advance the interests of this North-west, you may calculate I shall do
for your benefit. (Cheers.)
"Among those things which I shall advocate is the necessity of the further
development and the pushing forward of those great lines of communication
which are to make us neighbors; and then, instead of rolling along in one of Mr,
Holladay's fine coaches, for fine they certainly are, with our good friend Otis, I
expect to have him by the hand, and taking our seat in the cars, come to Salt
Lake City to eat strawberries with you in the short space of three days. (Cheers.)
"I have seen a stage coach and the men who drive these stages across these
great plains and mountains, and I wish to add my tribute of respect not only to
Ben Holladay, but to the humblest stage driver between here and the Missouri.
(Cheers.) They are brave men all, noble men all, everywhere in these stations.
Passing along from one to the other, we found intelligence and that which
charmed us ; and from my position here before you to-night, you can see I must
have fared very well, and in Salt Lake City they have not starved me. (Laughter.)
I can say, from my experience here, I have tested the capacity of man's system to
contain strawberries and I find it large, but it did not equal rhe capacity of our
friend's strawberry bed."
" My fellow citizens, kt me here repeat that in this excursion we have found
a great many things to interest us. I have made a great many discoveries which
I intend to send down home for the benefit of those who shall come here in the
stage coach, for that is an institution I have learned to value. I reverence the
stage coach; there is no such place to sleep in as the stage coach when running
over the rocks and through chuck-holes. A man can sleep in a stage coach, and
four hour's sleep there is worth a whole night's sleep in a bed. I have engaged of
our good friend Otis one of his stage coaches, and I intend to have it sent right
down to Chicago, and have some of Gates' machinery to work it, and I shall sleep
in it the rest of my life. (Laughter.)
" I say, therefore, go on developing this valley as you have done. Build
your canal from L^tah Lake, cut your canal the other side of Jordan ; they say it
is a hard road to travel, but I have not found it so. Cut your canals and water
this whole land, that it may bud and blossom and bring forth abundantly. I have
seen here such an evidence of wealth, cultivation and progress as would surprise
any man, let him come from where he will ; even if he be a western man, it will
surprise him.
"So far as the railroad is concerned, and my friend Colfax has run the en-
gine pretty well, I want to say to )Ou, that we here, connected with the newspa-
pers back east, I and my associates of the quill, will do all that we can do; we
will concentrate our energies for the accomplishment of that great enterprise, to
push it through to the Pacific — we will d^ all we can for you, we will do all we
can to lessen the expense, the va^t expanse, of drawing your goods all the way
from the Missouri to Salt Lake City. You want the railroad — you want it for its
intelligence ; you want it from the fact that it mixes up a people and enlightens
them, and gives them broader and more liberal views. It will place within your
reach here many of the facilities and conveniences of life, now enjoyed by other
sections of the nation. I say, my fellow citizens, let us all feel, in the great work
of developing this continent, that each one must do his share.
348 HISTORY OF SALT LAKE CITY.
"I will say here, and ever hereafter, that, so far as you citizens of Utah are
concerned, you have done your full share in developing the resources of this Ter-
ritory. (Cheers.) If seventeen years, that is the exact time you have been here,
has accomplished what it has, what will not the seventeen years to come accom-
plish, or a quarter or half a century, for this magnificent valley? You will have
these hills swarming with the denizens of New York and Chicago — gentlemen
coming to spend the summer angling on the lakes, and to see what wonders you
have developed among the mountains, as we are doing in our stay during the week.
To-morrow we go down to Salt Lake, to enjoy ourselves the best jxjssible. And
when we go home, we will tell the people what we have seen. We are accustomed
to tell the truth. The newspaper is not what it once was. "We hold this, that the
truth in a newspaper is as essential to its success, as is the truth in social life,
(cheers) and that nothing but the truth, plainly told, will tell on the interests of
this Territory and of this great Northwest, and so far as I am concerned I will tell
nothing but the truth about you. (Cheers.)
"Now, passing over the things in which we differ, leaving time and circum-
stances to bring us together, let me say that I believe in the great principles that
our Creator has established. I believe that the principles of commerce, the prin-
ciples of our holy religion, will in the end fuse mankind together and make us all
love each other as brothers. (Cheers.) I believe in a higher civilization, in a
higher Christianity, being developed in the progress of human events, and such as
shall make all men feel that all men are brothers. (Cheers.)
Now, my fellow-citizens, wishing you all prosperity and happiness, and
thanking you for your kind reception which you have given to us individually, I
bid you good evening."
Mr. Albert D. Richardson, of the New York Tribune, closed the speeches of
the evening in a strain congenial to that of his companions.
* * * "I am impressed," he said, ''with gratification and pleas-
ure at your kind reception and warm and pleasant hospitalities, with wonder at
the natural beauties of your surroundings, and at the artificial beauties which
your skill and perseverance have given to your young and flourishing city. To
me they are full of material for thought, full of suggestiveness.
" The last four years have taught us and the world a great lesson — the lesson
that any community, that any section of States under this government which at-
tempts to resist the laws, will be ground to dust, under the authority of the Amer-
ican people. The next four years will teach a lesson, equally impressive, that
peace hath her victories no less renowned than war. * * *
" There is to be a tide of migration towards the West, such as the world has
never seen before — there is to be a rapid development, such as the world has never
seen before. There are boys here to night who are to see the great regions of the
West, from the Alleghanies to the Pacific, teeming with the life ot a hundred mil-
lions of people. There are old men here to-night who will live to see the accom-
plishment of that grandest of material enterprises — such a one as the world has
never seen — the Pacific Railroad, to see people from New York and San Fran-
cisco, London and China, stopping on the great plains to exchange greetings
and newspapers,. while their respective trains are stopping for breakfast.
HISTORY OF SALT LAKE CITY. 34g
" It is only in the grand material develop.nent of the country — the building
of cities and railroads, the commerce on the river, the establishment everywhere
of farms, that the greatest pride of American development is to consist, but that,
by and bye, when all these mingling and divers nationalities are blended into one,
America is to give the world the best men, the highest average men, the most in-
telligent men, of the purest integrity, of the most varied accomplishments, that
the world has ever seen.
" But what is all this specially to you? In my judgment it is a great deal —
it is everything , because your location is in the very heart, the very focal point
of the new States which are to spring up here. Here is the line of travel, here
are the fields of settlement, here is the path of empire. Here is such a site for
a city as no commercial metropolis in the whole world occupies. I am dazzled at
the thought of the future which may be before it, and of the future which may be
before your people.
"The government of the United States, I believe, will do its part to help
you. The people of the United States, through their pioneer instinct to move
westward, to plant themselves, to build new regions, will help you. Will you do
your part of the work? (Yes, yes.) It is with the profoundest interest that,
during the few days that I have been in your Territory, I have been studying its
features and its developments. I have been in many of your ranches, in your
green fields, in many of your gardens, your residences, your business houses, and
I have looked with wonder at the almost miracles you have performed in the few
years you have been here. And I will tell you, gentlemen, what the development
which I have seen means, what it means to me. When I think of the vast labor
you had to perform, of this terrible journey from the river here, and when I see
what you have done, I am full of wonder and admiration ; they mean to me in-
dustry; they mean to me integrity and justice in your dealings with each other.
(Cheers.) Because I know enough of pioneer life, I know enough from practical
observation and experience of the difficulties that environ and constantly beset
new communities, to know this could not have been done by an idle people, by
a volatile people, by a people who do not deal fairly and justly among themselves
and with each other.
"That to me is a grand augury for your future; if you display in the future
the same industry you have displayed during these pioneer years, and then adjust
yourselves, as you will be compelled to, to the wants, necessities, and associations
of the great communities that will flow in here upon you, to become a part of
yourselves; if you perform your duties, as I doubt not you will, to our common
country, right here in this beautiful valley, in this great basin, is to be one of the
richest and most populous portion of our nation.
"I Vvish I could paint your coming horizon ; I wish I could cast the horoscope
of your future ; but I think it cannot be many ) ears before the new star of Utah
will sail up our horizon to take her place among the other members of our Amer-
ican constellation, (cheers) which we fondly hope, like the stars that light us to-
night, shall 'haste not nor rest not, but shine on forever.' "
Note — The foregoing speeches were reported by the able and faithful pen of the late David
W. Evans, and revised by Mr. Colfax and his companions.
yjo HISTORY OF SALT LAKE CITY.
CHAPTER XXXIX.
THE CITY FATHERS TAKE THE PARTY TO THE GREAT SALT LAKE, MEETING
OF THE SPEAKER OF THE HOUSE AND THE FOUNDER OF UTAH. THE
NATION DINES WITH THE CHURCH. THE PRESIDENT PREACHES IN THE
TABERNACLE AT THE REQUEST OF THE SPEAKER, WHO IN TURN
TREATS THE SAINTS WITH HIS EULOGY ON LINCOLN. ADVICE TO THE
FATHERS OF THE CHURCH TO ABOLISH POLYGAMY, BY A NEW REVELA-
TION, IN EXCHANGE FOR A ST.A.TE. THE COLFAX CLOSET VIEWS. ADIEU
TO THE MORMON ZION. DEATH OF GOVERNOR DOTY. A TALK ON
POLYGAMY WITH THE CHAIRMAN ON TERRITORIES.
Next day Speaker Colfax, Gov. Bros?, Messis. Bowles and Richardson, accom-
panied by the city council and some of the leading merchants, drove over to the
Great Salt Lake. "We have" wrote Mr. Bowles, "been taken on an excursion to
the Great Salt Lake, bathed in its wonderful waters, on which you float like a cork,
sailed on its surface, and picknicked by its shore, — if picnic can be witliout
women for sentiment and to spread table cloth, and to be helped up and over
rocks. . Can you New Englanders fancy a stag picnic? We have been turned
loose in the big strawberry patch of one of the Saints, and we have had a peep
into a moderate Mormon harem, but being introduced to two different women of
the same name, one after another, was more than I could stand without blushing."
But the meeting of President Brigham Young and Speaker Colfax and
party was the crowning circumstance of the visit. -'
The Speaker of the House stood upon his dignity. Esteeming himself a
•chief representative of the nation, he did not think it becoming his national im-
portance to first call on Brigham Young. This was expressed, and President
Young was fully informed of the mountain of etiquette that burdened the spirit of
the honorable Speaker. There could be no doubt that he wished to see the
Prophet. To have gone away without seeing him would have taken away half the
relish of the visit. So Brigham (who was matchless when he undertook to play
the character of simple native greatness) humored him, and went down from his
"Lion House," in company with several apostles and leading men of the city, to
call upon the nation in the person of Mr. Colfax. The circumstance is told by
Mr. Bowles, but with an evident effort to poise the Speaker of the House well as
the principal figure in his meeting with the Mormon Moses.
"In Mormon etiquette," he wrote, "President Brigham Young is called upon ;
by Washington fashion the Speaker is called upon, and does not call ; there was
a question whether the distinguished resident and the distinguished visitor would
meet; Mr. Colfax, as was meet under the situation of affairs here, made a point
upon it, and gave notice he should not call; whereupon President Brigham yielded
the question and gracior.sly came to-day with a crowd of high dignitaries of the
church, and made, not one of Emerson's prescribed ten minute calls, but a gen-
HISTORY OF SALT LAKE CITY. 351
erous, pleasant, gossipping sitting of two hours long. He is a very hale and
hearty looking man, young for sixty-four, with a light grey eye, cold and un-
certain, a mouth and chin betraying a great and determined will — handsome per-
haps as to presence and features, but repellent in atmosphere and without magnet-
ism. In conversation he is cool and quiet in manner but suggestive in expression;
has strong and original ideas, but uses bad grammar. He was rather formal,
but courteous, and at the last affected frankness and freedom, if he felt it not. To
his followers, I observed he was master of that profound art of eastern politicians,
which consists in putting the arm affectionately around them and tenderly en-
quiring for health of selves and families; and when his eye did sparkle and his
lips soften, it was with most cheering, though not warming effect — it was pleasant
but did not melt you."
There were present at this interview, Speaker Colfax, Governor Bross, and
Messrs Richardson and Bowles — the party of distinguished visitors ; — Presidents
Brigham Young and Heber C. Kimball, Apostles John Taylor, Wilford Woodruff,
George A. Smith, F. D. Richards, George Q. Cannon, Hons. John F. Kinney,
J. M. Bernhisel, VVm H. Hooper, Mayor Smoot, Marshal J. C, Little; Bishops
Sharp and Hardy, Wm. Jennings, John W. Young, N. H. Felt, and George D.
Watt, Esqrs.
The Colfax party made a trip to Rush Valley, and on their return to Salt Lake
City, on Friday, June i6th, they were the guests of Hon. W. H. Hooper. Next day
they visited President Young, and afterwards were the guests of Wm. Jennings,
Esq., dining in company with Presidents Young and Kimball; Apostles George
A. Smith and George Q. Cannon; Hons. J. F. Kinney and Wm. H. Hooper;
Col. Irish, Mayor Smoot, Marshal J. C. Little, and Charles H. Hapgood, John
W. Young, J. F. Tracy, H. S. Rumfield and T. B. H. Stenhouse, Esqrs. Of this
dinner Mr. Bowles wrote :
"In the early years of the Territory, there was terrible suffering for want of
food ; many were reduced to roots of the field for sustenance; but now there ap-
pears to be an abundance of the substantial necessaries of life, and as most of the
population are cultivators of the soil, all or nearly all have plenty of food. And
certainly, I have never seen more generously laden tables than have been spread
before us at our hotel or at private houses. A dinner to our party this evening
by a leading Mormon merchant, at which President Young and the principal
members of his council were present, had as rich a variety of fish, meats and
vegetables, pastry and fruit, as I ever saw on any private table in the east ; and
the quality and the cooking and the serving were unimpeachable. All the food
too was native in Utah. The wives of our host waited on us most amicably, and
the entertainment was, in every way, the best illustration of the practical benefits
of plurality, that has yet been presented to us.
"Later in the evening we were presented to another, and perhaps the most
wonderful, illustration of the reach of social and artificial life in this far off city
of the Rocky Mountains. This was the Theatre, in which a special performance
was improvised in honor of Speaker Colfax. The building is itself a rare triumph
of art and enterprise. No eastern city of one hundred thousand inhabitants, —
remember Salt Lake (^ity has less than twenty thousand,-— possesses so fine a the-
j^2 HISTORY OF SALT LAKE CJTY.
atrical structure. It ranks, alike in capacity and elegance of structure and finish,
along with the opera houses and academies of mubic of Boston, New York, Phil-
adelphia, Chicago and Cincinnati. In costumes and scenery it is furnished with
equal richness and variety, and the performances themselves, though by amateurs,
by merchants and mechanics, by wives and daughters of citizens would have done
credit to a first class professional company. There was first a fine and elaborate
drama, and then a spectacular farce, in both of which were introduced some ex-
quisite dancing, and in one some good singing also. I have rarely seen a theat-
rical entertainment more pleasing and satisfactory in all its details and appoint-
ments. Yet the two principal characters were by a day laborer and a carpenter ;
one of the leading parts was by a married daughter of Brigham Young, herself
the mother of several children j and several other of his daughters took part in
the ballet, which was most enchantingly rendered, and with great scenic effect.
The house was full in all its parts, and the audience embraced all classes of society
from the wives and daughters of President Young — a goodly array — and the fam-
ilies of the rich merchants, to the families of the mechanics and farmers of the
city and valley, and the soldiers from camp."
Next day being Sunday, the Colfax party attended the Tabernacle to hear
President Young, who had been asked by Mr. Colfax ''to preach upon the dis-
tinctive Mormon doctrines.''
" Brigham's preaching to-day," wrote Mr. Bowles, "was a very unsatisfactory
performance. There was every incentive in him to do his best ; he had an im-
mense audience spread out under the ' bowery ' to the number of five or six
thousand; before him was Mr. Colfax, who asked him to preach upon the dis-
tinctive Mormon doctrines; around him were all his elders and bishops, in un-
usual numbers; and he Avas fresh from the exciting discussion of yesterday on the
subject of polygamy." The writer continues and gives with great disgust the
subject matter of Brigham's sermon, thus closing his review :
"Brigham Young may be a shrewd business man, an able organizer of labor,
a bold brave person in dealing with all the practicalities of life, — he must, indeed,
be all of these for we see the evidence all around this city and country; but he
is in no sense an impressive or effective preacher, judging by any standard that I
have been accustomed to. His audience, swollen by one or two thousand
more, could not have helped drawing a sharp contrast, — dull in comprehension
and fanatically devoted to him as most of them probably are, — between his speech
and his style, and those of Mr. Colfax, who at a later hour this evening, delivered
in the same place, by invitation of the church and city authorities, his Chicago
eulogy on the Life and Principles of President Lincoln, He spoke it without
notes, and with much freedom to an audience unused to so effective and eloquent
a style, and more unused, we fear, to such sentiments ; and he received rapt at-
tention and apparently delighted approval throughout the whole."
But, if the Colfax party was greatly disgusted with Brigham's sermon of that
Sabbath morning, the "unusual numbers" of "his elders and bishops around
him" were as greatly amused by Brigham's signal failure. It was the talk of the
following week, among some of his friends, that the President, on the Sunday,
had treated Speaker Colfax and party to the worst sermon he had ever preached.
HISTORY 01^ SALT LAKE CITY. 353
They were " glad of it,'' they said. '' Thg Lord intended to read his servant
Brigham a lesson." " The Lord didn't want him to show off before the Speaker
of Congress." There was considerable common sense in this view of the matter
which the Saints took, and though at first, perhaps, somewhat disappointed with
himself probably the "Prophet Brigham" appreciated the "Lord's lesson" to
him in the same spirit — glad that he had not been allowed to show off before the
Speaker of the House.
Brigham Young and Schuyler Colfax were measured that day by two dif-
ferent standards : the one was a great colonizer, and already the founder of a
hundred cities; the other the eloquent Speaker of the House of Representatives.
This is the only salient point of the "sharp contrast " between Brigham's bungling
sermon on Mormonism, and Colfax's magnificent "eulogy on the Life and Prin-
ciples of President Lincoln."
But the chief subject of interest, of that time as well as of all times, till the
peculiar and distinguishing marriage institution of the Mormons shall have been
either reformed or more firmly established, was brought up between Mr. Colfax
and his party, as representative of the Nation, and President Young and the
apostles, as representative of the Mormon Church, in their second interview on
the Saturday when Mr. Colfax and his companions called upon President Young
at his office. Mr. Bowles is the most proper person to relate the conversation.
He wrote :
" Mr. Colfax and his friends have also had two long interviews with Brigham
Young and other leaders of the Church, in one of which the peculiar institution
of the people was freely and frankly but most earnestly discussed by all.
* :^ >i< * * * ^
"The conversation I have alluded to with Brigham Young and some of his
elders, on this subject of polygamy, was introduced by his enquiry of Mr. Colfax
what the Government and the people East proposed to do with it and them, now
they had got rid of the slavery question. The Speaker replied that he had no
authority to speak for the Government; but for himself, he might be permitted to
make the suggestion, he had hoped ihe Prophets of the Church would have a new
revelation on the subject, which should put a stop to the practice. He added,
further, he hoped that, as the people of Missouri and Maryland, without waiting
for the action of the general government against slavery, themselves believing it
to be wrong and an impediment to their prosperity, had taken measures to abolish it,
so he hoped the people of the Mormon Church would see that polygamy was a
hindrance and not a help, and move for its abandonment. Mr. Young responded
quickly and frankly that he should readily welcome such a revelation; that polyg-
amy was not in the original book of the Mormons ; that it was not an essential
practice in the Church, but only a privilege and a duty, under special command
of God ; that he knew it had been abused ; that people had entered into polyg-
amy who Ought not to have done so, and against his protestation and advice.
At the same time, he defended the practice as having biblical authority, and as
having, within proper limits, a sound moral and philosophical reason and
propriety.
354 HISTORY OF SALT LAKE CITY.
"The discussion, thus opened, grew general and sharp, though very good
natured. * * h< *
"In the course of the discussion, Mr. Young asked, suppose polygamy is
given up, will not your government then demand more,— will 11 not war upon
the Book of the Mormons, and attack our church organization ? The reply was
emphatically. No, that it had no right, and could have no justification to do so,
and that we had no idea there would be any disposition in that direction.
"The talk, which was said to be the freest and irankest ever known on that
subject in that presence, ended pleasantly, but with the full expression, on
ihe part of Mr. Colfax and his friends, of their hope that the polygamic question
might be removed from existence, and thus all objection to the admission of Utah
as a State be taken away ; but that until it was, no such admission vvas possible,
and that the government could not continue to look indifferently upon the en-
largement of so offensive a practice. And not only what Mr. Young said, but his
whole manner left us with the impression that, if public opinion and the govern-
ment united vigorously, but at the same time discreetly, to press the question,
there would be found some way to acquiesce in the demand and change the prac-
tice of the present fathers of the church."
Still more important than this conversation, as a connecting vein of history,
is the exposition of the Colfax closet views and forecast of national policy con-
cerning the Mormons and their institutions — views and policy matured while on
this very visit to Salt Lake City, next quickly infused into the public mind on his
return East, and finally brought into sharp administrative action, when he became
Vice-President of the United States. And what is exceedingly significant is that,
when this exposition and forecast of Mr. Colfax's views and national policy was
sent to the American public, in Mr. Bowie's last letter from Salt Lake City to the
Springfield Republican, the expectation was that Schuyler Colfax would be the
next President of the United States — the regular "successor of Abraham Lincoln"
after Andrew Johnson had filled the unexpired term. In the dedication of his
"Across the Continent," to the then prospective President of the United States,
Mr. Bowles said. " Besides the book is more yours than mine ;" so the following
from the same letter, which relates the conversation with Brigham Young on
polygamy, may be read as from Mr. Colfax himself on Utah policy.
"The result of the whole experience has been to increase my appreciation of
the value of their material progress and development to the nation ; to evoke con-
gratulations to them and to the country for the wealth they have created and the
order, frugality, morality and industry that have been organized in this remote
spot in our Continent ; to excite wonder at the perfection of their Church sys-
tem, the extent of its ramifications, the sweep of its influence ; and to enlarge
my respect for the personal sincerity and character of many of the leaders in the
organization ; also, and on the other hand, to deepen my disgust at their polyg-
amy, and strengthen my convictions of its barbaric and degrading influences.
They have tried it and practiced it under the most favorable circumstances, per-
haps under the mildest forms possible, but now, as before, here as elsewhere, it
tends to and means only the degradation of woman. By it and under it, she be-
comes simply the servant and serf, not the companion and equal of man ; and
the inevitable influence of this upon society need not be depicted.
HISTORY OF SAL T LAKE CITY. 355
"Bat I find that Mormonism is not necessarily polygamy ; that the one began
and existed many years without the other ; that not all the Mormons accept the
doctrine, and not one-fourth, perhaps not one-eighth, practice it ; and that the
nation and its government may oppose it and punish it without at all interfering
with the existence of he Mormon Church, or justly being held as interfering with
the religious liberty that is the basis of all our institutions. This distinction has
not been sufficiently understood heretofore, and it has not been consistently acted
upon by either the government or the public of the East. Here, by the people,
who are coming in to enjoy the opportunities of the country for trade and mining,
and there by our rulers at Washington and by the great public, this single issue of
polygamy should be pressed home upon the Mormon Church, — discreetly[and with
tact, with law and with argument and appeal, but with firmness and power.
"Ultimately, of course, before the influences of emigration, civilization and
our democratic habits, an organization so aristocratic and autocratic as the Mor-
mon Church now is must modify its rule; it must compete with other sects and
take its chances with them. And its most aristocratic and uncivilized incident or
fea'ure of plurality of wives must fall first and completely before contact with the
rest of the world, —marshalled with mails, daily papers, railroads and telegraphs
— ciphering out the fact that the men and women of the world are about equally
divided, and applying to the Mormon patriarchs the democratic principle of equal
and exact Justice. Nothing can save this feature of Mormonism but a new flight
and a more complete isolation. A kingdom in the sea, entirely its own, could
only perpetuate it; and thither even, commerce and democracy would ultimately
follow it. The click of the telegraph and the roll of the overland stages are its
death-rattle now; the first whistle of the locomotive will sound its requiem ; and
the pickaxe of the miner will dig its grave. Squatter sovereignty will speedily
settle the question, even if the Government continues to coquette and humor it,
as it has done.
"But the Government should no longer hold a doubtful or divided position
towards this great crime of the Moraiou Church. Declaring clearly both its want
of power and disinclination to interfere at all with the Church organization as
such, or with the latter's influence over its followers, assuring and guaranteeing
to it all the liberty and freedom that other religious sects hold and enjoy, the
Government should still, as clearly, and distinctly, declare, by all its action, and
all its representatives here, that this feature of polygamy, not properly or neces-
sarily a part of the religion of the Mormons, is a crime by the common law of
the Nation, and that any cases of its extension will be prosecuted and punished
as such. Now half or two-thirds the Federal officers in the Territory are polyg-
amists ; and others bear no testimony against it. These should give way to men
who, otherwise equally Mormons it may be, still are neither polygamists nor be-
lievers in the practice of polygamy. No employees or contractors of the Gov-
ernment should be polygamists in theory or practice.
"' Here the Government should take its stand, calmly, quietly, but firmly,
giving its moral support and countenance, and its physical support if necessary
to the large class of Mormons who are not polygamists, to missionaries and
preachers of all other sects, who choose to come here, and erect their standards
356 HISTORY OF SALT LAKE CITY.
and invite followers ; and to that growing public opinion, here and elsewhere,
which is accumulating its inexorable force against an institution which has not
inaptly been termed a twin barbarism with slavery. There is no need and no
danger of physical conflict growing up; only a hot and unwise zeal
and impatience on the part of the Government representatives, and in the com-
mand of the troops stationed here, could precipitate that. The probability is,
that, upon such a demonstration by the Government, as I have suggested, the
leaders of the Church would receive new light on the subject themselves, perhaps
have a fresh revelation, and abandon the objectionable feature in their polity. No
matter if they did not — it would soon, under the influences now rapidly aggre-
gating, and thus reinforced by the Government, abandon them.
"In this way, all violent conflict would, I believe, be successfully avoided;
and all this valuable population and its industries and wealth may be retained in
place and to the Nation, without waste. Let them continue to be Mormons, if
they choose, so long as they are not polygamists. They may be ignorant and
fanatical, and imposed upon and swindled even by their church leaders ; but they
are industrious, thriving, and more comfortable than, on an average, they have
ever been before in the homes from which they came hither ; and there is no law
against fanaticism and bigotry and religious charlatanry. All these evils of relig-
ious benightment are not original in Utah, and they will work out their own cure
here as they have elsewhere in our land. We must have patience with the present,
and possibly forgiveness for supposed crimes in the past by their leaders, because
we have heretofore failed to meet the issues promptly and clearly and have shared,
by our consent and protection to their authors, in the alleged wrongs."
In closing his letters from Salt Lake City Mr. Bowles gives a very notable
adieu to our city :
" But adieu to Salt Lake and many-wive-and-much-children-dom ; its straw-
berries and roses ; its rare hospitality ; its white crowned peaks ; its wide spread
valley; its river of scriptural name; its lake of briniest taste. I have met much to
admire, many to respect, worshipped deep before its nature, — found only one thing
to condemn. I shall want to come again when the railroad can bring me and that
blot is gone."
During the visit of the Colfax party to our city, Governor James Duane Doty
died, whereupon the following order was issued by the city authorities :
" Mayor's Office, Great Salt Lake City,
June 14th, 1865.
" Whereas, intelligence has reached me of the sudden death of Governor
James Duane Doty, who departed this life on the 13th inst., at 9 o'clock,
" Therefore, in token of respect for the dead, I do hereby request that all
secular business in the city be suspended; that all business houses be closed, and
that the flags be draped at half-mast until after the funeral ceremonies.
By order of
A. O. Smoot, Mayor.
J. C. Little, Marshal.
HISTORY OF SAL T LAKE CITY. jj7
On Thursday morning, June 15th. at ten o'clock, the citizens assembled in
large numbers around the residence of the late governor of Utah, and punctually
the ostentatious funeral service was performed by the Rev. Norman McLeod be-
fore the corpse left the house. The coffin was carried to the hearse by the Hon.
Schuyler Colfax, Governor Bross, Chief Justice Titus, Associate Justice Drake,
Superintendent Irish, and U. S. Marshal Gibbs. The carriages of the citizens
and families of the military command formed in a long procession, and moved
northward, thence east by South Temple Street, preceded by the Provost Guard
and the military band to the cemetery at Camp Douglass, " All business was sus-
pended in the city, the flags at half-mast were draped in crape, drooping in the
air, while the unusual sombre clouds lent a sadness to the scene that faithfully de-
picted the heart-felt sadness of the people."
About two weeks later the Honorable Jas. M. Ashley, of Ohio, then chair-
man of the Committee on Territories, visited Salt Lake City. President Brigham
Young met the gentleman frankly, and in the parlor of Delegate Hooper there
was a free conversation upon the probable future relations between the Govern-
ment and the Mormons. The first question from Brigham was : Well, Mr. Ash-
ley, are you, also, going to recommend us to get a new revelation to abolish po-
lygamy, or what are you going to do with us? * * * *
" Now, Mr. President, I don't know what we can do with you. Your situa-
tion reminds me of an experience of Tom Corwin. In the days of Tom's
poverty, somewhere in Ohio, he thought he would hang out a lawyer's shingle and
catch a share of business. One day a smart fellow solicited his legal services;
he wanted Tom to defend him, and proposed to give him a fee of fifty dollars.
That was a big sum to Tom then; but when he heard the situation of his client
he stated that he was under professional obligations to say he could be of no
service to him. The client insisted that Tom should make a speech in
court, and that was all he wanted. The case came on: the evidence was clear,
witnesses had seen the prisoner steal some hams, carry them to a house, and
there the hams were found in the client's possession. It was a clear case of
theft, the evidence was incontestible, and the prosecutor thought it needless
to address the jury. The defendant, however, insisted that Tom should
make his speech. A brilliant effort was made, the jury retired, and in a few
minutes returned with a verdict of 'not guilty." The judge, the prosecutor
and Tom were perfectly confounded. They glanced at each other a look of in-
quiry. Nothing more could be done, and the prisoner was discharged. As they
retired from the court the lawyer said to the thief: ' Now old fellow, I want you
to tell me how that was done ! ' ' Your speech did it,' was the reply. ' No, it didn' t
and I want to know how_>w^ did it?' 'Well^ if you will not speak of it till I get
out of the State, I shall tell you.' Tom accorded to this, and in perfect confi-
dence his client whispered : 'Well, eleven of the jurors had some of the ham.'' "
Brigham roared and laughed. It was Mr. Ashley's pleasant insinuation that
with a Mormon jury the institution was perfectly secure. The story is told by T.
B. H. Stenhouse who was present at the interview between the Mormon President
and the chairman of the Committee on Territories.
Sj8 HISTORY OF SALT LAKE CITY.
CHAPTER XL.
BEGINNING OF THE ANTI-MORMON CRUSADE. THE CHANGE IN THE COLFAX
VIEWS, INITIAL OF THE ACTION AGAINST THE UTAH MILITIA. URGING
THE ADMINISTRATION. CORRECTED VIEWS CONCERNING THE MILITIA.
Out of this Colfax visit to Salt Lake City directly grew what the Mormons
call the crusades against their religion, or as Chief Justice James B. McKean de-
scribed it, the prosecution of "Polygamic Theocracy." It began immediately
on the return of the Colfax party from their tour of investigation of the Great
West, first in the agitation of the public mind by the speeches and expositions of
Speaker Colfax relative to the Pacific States and Territories, in which polygamic
Utah came in constantly for a sharp and special treatment. Uaitil this Colfax
movement commenced to stir up the Nation upon Utah affairs, there had been no
"crusade" of the Government and Congress against Mormon polygamy. In the
causes presented to Congress by the Buchanan administration, for the sending
out of the Utah Expedition, polygamy was not even named. General Winfield
Scott, in issuing his orders to General W. S. Harney, named the specific cause :
— "The community and, in part, the civil government of Utah Territory are in
a state of substantial rebellion against the laws and authority of the United
States." Neither had the action of the Government against polygamy entered
into the early differences between the Gentile part of the Federal officers and the
Mormon community, though Judge Brocchus did offensively rebuke in their pub-
lic assembly, the community relative to their polygamic institutions. It was not
until the Grant-Colfax administration that Government took any action at all
against Utah, touching polygamy. It is true there had been the passage of the
anti-polygamic law by Congress in 1862 ; but it was generally understood to be in-
operative and as a dead letter on our statute books. Indeed the Senators from
California — Latham and McDougall— voted against the passage of the bill, — Mc-
Dougall opposing it in a speech in which he said, "I do not think the measure at this
time is well advised. li is understood its provisions will be a dead letter on our
statute book. Its provisions will be either ignored or avoided, * *
The impolicy of its present passage will cause my colleague and self, after consul-
tation, to vote against the bill." And a year after the passage of that bill, though
President Lincoln signed it, he sent private word, as already noted, to Ex-Gov-
ernor Young concerning the Mormon polygamists with this assurance : " I will
let them alone if they will let me alone."
But with the return of Speaker Colfax, from his visit of observation of the
Pacific States and Territories, the plan and policy over Utah affairs was entirely
changed from a dead letter to a live action, and Government itself became the
prime mover against polygamic Utah, until finally it grew into an administrative
and congressional " crusade " against them as a religion, community. This was
inspired by Mr. Colfax and sustained by President Grant with all the determina-
HIS TOR Y OF SALT LAKE CITY. jjp
tion of the man who had conquered secession in the South, and finished with the
sword what President Lincoln had begun in his proclamation abolishing slavery.
Brigham Young's inquiry of Mr. Colfax as to " what the Government and
people of the East proposed to do with polygamy and the Mormons, now that
they had got rid of the slavery question," was a most pertinent question. It was
substantially the same enquiry which met Mr. Colfax everywhere on his return to
the Eastern States with his expositions and policy relative to the Pacific States and
Territories. All his speeches dealt with Utah consonant with the foregoing ex-
positions of views and policy contained in Mr. Bowles' closing Salt Lake letter.
The warm genuine hospitality which Salt Lake City had extended to Mr.
Colfax and his friends ; the admiration expressed by ail touching what the Mor-
mons had done in these once desert places, and their value as a community to the
Nation ; and, above all, the free and cordial interviews and conversations which
took place between the Colfax party and Brigham and his friends, seemed to
promise a happy union between the general Government and the Mormon leaders,
in the adjustment Df the affairs in question. But, when on his return from the
West, to speak with a permitted national voice of its affairs, the enquiry which
Brigham Young had put came sharply from the public, ** what does the Nation in-
tend to do with the Mormons and polygamy, now it has got rid of the slavery
question ?" Mr Colfax was carried away from the possible adjustment, which he
might at a later date have effected with the leaders of the Mormon church, when
he became as Vice-President the actual dictator of the Government on Utah affairs.
In sending out his book, " Across the Continent," dedicated to Mr, Colfax,
Mr. Bowles strongly marks this change which had taken place in a ^t\y months,
both in the minds of the Mormon leaders and in the policies and intentions of
Mr. Colfax. In his supplementary papers he wrote :
"Since our visit to Utah in June, the leaders among the Mormons have re-
pudiated their professions of loyalty to the Government, denied any disposition
to yield the issue of polygamy, and begun to preach anew, and more vigorously
than ever, disrespect and defiance to the authority of the National Government.
They seem to be disappointed and irate that their personal attentions and assur-
ances to Mr. Colfax and his friends did not win for them more tolerance of their
peculiar institution, and something like espousal of their desire for admission as
a State of the Union. New means are taken to organize and drill the militia of
the Territory and to provide them with arms, under the auspices and authority of
the Mormon Church ; and an open conflict with the representatives of the Gov-
ernment is apparently braved, even threatened.
"Much of this demonstration is probably mere bravado ; means to arouse
the ignorant people, excite them against the Government, make them still more
tlie fanatical followers of the Church leaders, and also to intimidate the public
authorities, and induce them to continue the same let-alone and indulgent policy
that has been the rule at Washington for so long. The Government always seems
to have demonstrated just enough against the Mormons to irritate them and keep
them compact and prepared to resist it, but never enough to make them really
afraid, or to force them into any submissive steps. The bristling attitude of the
Saints has ever had the apparent effect to qualify the Government purpose, and
J
60 MTSTORY OF SALT LAKE CITY.
make it stop short in its proceeding to enforce the laws and National authorit3^
It is no wonder, therefore, that they repeat their frantic and fanatic appeals to
their people, and their defiance to the Government, and grow more and more
bold in them. They find that it works better than professions of loyalty and
half-way offers of submission, one bad effect of which, for their own cause, is of
course to demoralize their followers, and weaken their own authority over them.
"There is no evidence yet of any change in the policy of the executive au-
thorities at Washington. While the new Federal Governor of the Territory, Mr.
Durkee from Wisconsin, the Federal judges, and the superintendent of Indian
affairs are both anti-Mormons and anti-polygamists, all or nearly all the other
Federal officers in the Territory are both leading Mormons and practical polyg-
amists — the postmasters, collectors of internal revenue, etc. The postmaster of
Salt Lake City is one of Brigham Young's creatures, and editor of the Mormon
daily paper there. The returns of internal revenue in the Territory are found to
be, proportionately to similar populations and wealth, quite small ; and there are
reasons to believe that the taxes are not faithfully assessed and collected. Gen-
eral Conner, who has been returned to his old place, as military commander of
the district of Utah alone, is assigned a force of only one thousand soldiers;
though he asked for and expected to have five thousand. The lesser number remote
from all possible reinforcement, is entirely inadequate to support the Governor and
judges in any exercise of authority that they may dare to undertake, and that the
Mormons may choose to resist. One thousand soldiers could very readily be
wiped out — which is a favorite phrase of the Saints towards their enemies — by a
sudden uprising of the fanatical followers of Brigham Young and his apostles.
"Excuse for such uprising is in much danger of being developed from the
growing strength and impatience of the anti-Mormon elements in society at Salt
Lake City, and the reckless, desperate character of some of those elements.
Miners from Idaho and Montana have come into that city to winter, to spend
their profits, if successful, or to pick up a precarious living, if unlucky. Many
discharged soldiers also remain there or in the neighboring districts. The grow
ing travel and commerce across the continent floats in other persons, good, bad
and indifferent as to habits and self-control ; other accessions to the Gentile
strength and agitation are constantly being made. The merchants of that class
are increasing and becoming prosperous ; those who have been silent and submis-
sive under the Mormon hierarchy, dare now to demonstrate their real feelings,
under the protection of sympathy and soldiers ; the Daily Union Vedette con-
tinues to be published as organ of the soldiers and other ' Gentiles,' and is bold
and unsparing and constant in its denunciations of the Mormon church and its
influences ; Rev, Norman McLeod, chaplain of the soldiers, and pastor of the
Congregational Society in Salt Lake City, has returned from a summer's trip to
Nevada and California, with funds for building a meeting-house, and increasing zeal
against the Mormons ; a Gentile theatre has been established ; various social or-
ganizations, in the same interest, are increasing and growing influential over the
young people ; General Connor himself, his fellow officers and soldiers are all
bitter in their hatred of the Mormons, and eager for the opportunities to subdue
them to the governmental authority; Governor Durkee seems less disposed to be tol-
HISTORY OF SAL T LAKE CITY. .^i
^rantof the Mormon control and the Mormon disrespect to federal authority
than his predecessors generally have been; and the judges, goaded like all the resl
of the Gentiles, by Mormom insults and Mormon defiance, and their own inca-
pacity, under goverment neglect, to perform their duties, more than share the
common feeling of antagonism to the Church leaders.
''Thus the two parties are growing more and more antagonistic, more and
niore into a spirit of conflict. Thus, too, while are rapidly aggregating and op^
eratmg the^eans by which the Mormon problem is to be solved, even without the
special help or interference of Government, are also coming into life the elements
and the dangers of a more serious and personal collision, in which the Mormons
from the.r numerical superiority, would most probably be successful and, quite
like y, wreak terrible vengeance on their enemies. Of course such a result would
evoke full retribution on their own head ; for then people and Government would
arou^se, and enforce speedy and complete subjugation,
" But these threatened and dreaded results ought to be and can be avoided
The Government has now the opportunity to guide and control the operation of
natural causes to the overthrow of polygamy and the submission of the Mormon
aristocracy, without the shedding of blood, without the loss of a valuable popula-
tion and their industries. The steps, too, are, first, a sufificient military force in the
Territory to keep the peace, to protect freedom of speech, of the press, and of reli-
lous prosely tism ; to forbid any personal outrages on the rights of the Mormons • an'd
to prevent any revenges by them upon the Gentiles. And, next, the supplanting of
all polygamists in federal offices by men not connected with that distinctive sin and
offence of the church. These steps, wisely taken, firmly administered, would rapidly
give the growing anrti-polygamist elements such moral power as would insure a
speedy and bloodless revolution. It may not be wise or necessary, at least at the pre-
sent, in view of past indulgence, to undertake to enforce the federal law against poly-
gamy; that may be held in abeyance until the effect of such proceedingsas have been
indicated are fully developed. In short, I would change the government policy
from the 'do-nothing' to the 'make-haste-slowly' character; I would have its
influence decidedly and continuously felt in the Territory, against the crime of
polygamy.
"Neglecting to do this, there is danger of anarchy and deadly conflict
springing up on that arena ; there is also sure prospect that the people of the country
at large will, in their impatience and disgust, force upon Congress such radical
measures against the Mormons, as are, in regard to our past neglect and the present
opportunity of peaceful revolution, to be almost as deeply deprecated. In either
event, the responsibility will rest heavily and sharply upon the President and his
Cabinet, who are permitting the affairs of the Territory to drift on in the present
loose and dangerous way, either ignorant of, or indifferent to, the rapidly devel-
oping social conflict there.'"
As regards the Utah militia Mr. Bowles, evidently, was laboring under a very
prevalent mistake. It has always been represented by anti-Mormon writers, and
rehearsed from time to time by the newspapers of the country, that the Utah
mihtia was organized and kept up for the express purpose of rebellion aga'inst the
United States, or, at least, to give the Mormon leaders the power to resist the
mu
362 HISTORY OF SALT LAKE CITY.
Federal rule whenever it became obnoxious to the.ii. In other words, ihe militia
of tlie Territory was looked upon as the military arm of the Mormon Church,
and the nucleus of this army was supposed to be a formidable band of " Danites,"
known also by another name — the " Avenging Angels " of the Church. Hence
the annual muster and drill of the Utah militia, taking place so soon after the
Colfax visit, signified to Mr. Bowles the arming and preparing for rebellion
against the Federal authority : ''an open conflict with the representatives of the
Government is apparently braved, even threatened." It must be confessed that
this view of the militia had been established by the action of the Utah war, when
Brigham Young, as governor, put the Territory under martial law, ordered a United
States army back, and made bold war speeches in the Tabernacle, and that the
militia had gone out under its lieutenant-general to repel invasion. But the Utah
militia had been organized for no such purpose. It has been shown, in this his-
tory, that the people of Utah had not been making any preparation to resist the
expedition, nor had they expected any conflict with the Government, until the
news burst upon them like a bombshell, while they were celebrating the tenth an-
niversary of their pioneer day, that an army was on the way to destroy them as a
community. Then everywhere throughout the Territory the citizens arose spon-
taneously, not so much as a militia, but rather as a community to defend their
church, their homes, their lives and their liberties, and to protect their wives and
children; for it will be remembered that they expected nothing less than extermi-
nation from their Rocky Mountain refuges, if the Utah military expedition pre-
vailed. But the Utah militia was organized with no contemplation of anything
of this, much less with an intent of resistance to ths Federal authority. It was
organized in 1S49, for the protection of the young colonies against Indian depre-
dations, and was kept up for the same purpose. It had, up to 1865, cost the set-
tlers many valuable lives, and millions of dollars in time and substance, and there
had been occasions when nearly all the'able-bodied men in the settlements, both
North and South were, half the year round, either under arms on guard at home,
or away on Indian expeditions protecting distant settlements. Indeed, the often
and continued Indian wars form no inconsiderable portion of Utah's history, and
Salt Lake City, being the headquarters, was always conspicuous in the military
action and display, especially during the annual muster and review of the troops
" over Jordan," when President D. H. Wells figured as lieutenant-general, and
apostles and bishops as major-generals, brigadier-generals and colonels yet this
fact by no means constituted the militia the army of the Church. Just such an
occasion had come in the year 1865. It was the year of the Black Hawk war.
HISTORY OF SALT LAKE Cljy. j6j
CHAPTER XLT.
HISTORY OF THE UTAH AHLITIA FOR THE YEARS 1865, 1863, AND 1857, THE
GOVERNOR CALLS UPON CAMP DOUGLAS FOR AID AGAINST THE INDIANS.
BUT IS REFUSED. THE GOVERNMENT ORDERS THE UTAH MILITIA FOR
THAT SERVICE. SECRETARY RAWLINS SUBMITS THE REPORT TO CON-
GRESS. THE GOVERNMENT'S DEBT TO OUR CITIZENS OF OVER A MILLION
DOLLARS FOR MILITARY SERVICES UNPAID.
The following State documentj which is, in itself, quite a chapter of the In-
dian history of our Territory, gives a very different rendering of the military ac-
tivity in the fall of 1865, of which Mr. Bowles wrote to the public: '-'New means
are taken to organize and drill the militia of the Territory, and to provide them
with arms, under the auspices and authority of the Mormon Church ; and an open
conflict with the representatives of the government is apparently braved, even
threatened."
"War Department, March 25th, 1869.
*' The Secretary of War has the honor to submit to the House of Represen-
tatives the accompanying communication from the adjutant-general of the Terri-
tory of Utah, inclosing a statement of the expenses incurred by the Territory in
the suppression of Indian hostilities during the years 1865, 1866 and 1867.
"Jno. a, Rawlins, Secretary of War.
"Adjutant General's Office, Utah Territory,
" Salt Lake City, Feb. 9th, 1869.
" I have the honor herewith to forward to you the accounts of expenses in-
curred by the Territory of Utah, in the suppression of Indian hostilities in said
Territory during the years 1865, 1S66 and 1867.
" The seat of this war has been chiefly in Sanpete, Sevier and Piute Counties,
and it may be necessary to give a brief description of that part of the Territory to
enable you to more readily understand the situation of those inhabitants, and the
necessity that existed for a strong military force constantly in the field during the
season of hostilities.
" San Pete Valley is one hundred and twenty miles south of this city, and
extends southward some sixty miles, and is from five to fifteen miles wide, sur-
rounded by lofty and rugged mountains, from which streams of water flow down
into the valley at intervals of from six to ten miles. On these streams and near the
base of the mountains, the settlements and towns are mostly located. There are
in this valley, which was first settled in 1849, nine large and, until the war, flour-
ishing settlements, viz : Fountain Green, Moroni, Coalville, Fairview, Mount
Pleasant, Springtown, P'ort Ephraim, Manti, and Fort Gunnison, each with a pop-
ulation of from five hundred to two thousand inhabitants. The San Pete River
runs through the valley from north to south, and empties into the Sevier river be^-
3^4. HIS TOR Y OF SAL T LAKE CITY.
County and on the following day, Barney Ward and M,- Lambson e\r S ,
smmmmm
mounta„,s on boll, sides they could not be flanVM T ° "^^^"^
..a..iy killed and two wonnd'ed. and tbe ^o.^; 'y^tas I^iLd tr'klTT- 7' 7,
itztt:r:;;rt'i:::,y ^t" t' - --' -" -- ""■-
had no.v coZ» cTd a d a^ oT''"'"'"^"' """ "' '' """"'■ ^'" ""
T..°p"in:;tn?::-::r.r:,;:y":lro.i,t:^Vc;,?^^
city, 10 send a sufficient force to protect the sett e .f^nd f "^ ! ' '" ""'
Indians. This was declined. See annla e' "f O H%"T' *^°'^^"^'""S
.e diffic^nS;: rb2n;':rr;: ttrrr ■' -" - — -
:::a : ::t;i;r tpr^ 1';: -™ - ^^ti2::i:
This was refused. „.d .he se^Uets w re rt^ratfc:::^;', T 'T'"' '"''''''■
the depredations. '°^' ^'''^" ^"^''^ ^"g^S^^^ i" committing
"O. H. Irish, Superiniendent. etc.,
Thistle'vdlef SaTl'T r"'"' '"'"''' J°''" ^'^^"' ^i^ -^ four children, near
county, an :; IZ Z^^"^' ''^''""' ""' ^'""' =="<^- '" "^ --
off a large herd o horse; and i! ' ^T' """ "' ^"™ ^'='"™^"'' -" "rove
HIS TOR Y OF SALT LAKE CITY. 36 j
" Notwithstanding every precaution and effort made by the militia and the set-
tlers, in consequence of the rugged nature of the country and the situation of the
settlements, it was impossible to prevent the enemy making an occasional raid on
the settlements or some herd of stock, as they would come down from the moun-
tains in force and return in an hour to an almost impregnable position in the can-
yon, or some previously unknown mountain pass.
''For the better protection of the settlements, all of the able-bodied men in
those counties were mustered into service as home guards, and performed duty in
this capacity, but no returns for this service are included in these accounts.
"The war continued, the Indians gaining accessions to their ranks, and
having, during the summer, massacred between thirty and forty men, women and
children. The last raid in 1865, was on Fort Ephraim, San Pete County, in the
month of October, when five men and two women were killed, and two men
wounded, and two hundred head of stock taken. Many battles were fought dur-
ing the summer and some forty of Black Hawk's warriors killed.
" On the approach of winter the Indians withdrew to the Colorado River,
living on the plunder of the past summer, their successes having furnished them
with horses to mount all who would join their ranks, and plenty of beef to feed
them — strong inducements to Indians.
" Nothing reliable was heard of the enemy for some time, but it was ru-
mored that they were daily increasing in numbers and making preparations for
another campaign so soon as the melting snow in the mountains would permit.
"Early in the month of February, 1S66, their intentions were defined by
making a raid on a small settlement in Kane County, Southern Utah, killing Dr.
Whitmore and a young man by the name of Mclntyre, and driving off a large
flock of sheep, some horses and cattle ; and in a few days making another raid
on Berryville, in the same county, killing two men and one woman, and taking
some horses and cattle; and as the snow disappeared from the mountains north,
so they continued to advance on the settlements in force, having been joined by
a number of the Navajoes and a band of Elk Mountain Utes. The war, which
at its commencement, looked small, began to assume alar.iiing proportions, and,
as the settlers had to rely on the militia of the Territory, Lieutenant-General
Daniel H. Wells ordered all the able-bodied men that could be spared from San
Pete, Sevier and Piute Counties to be immediately mustered into service as cav-
alry and infantry, and organized for defence. Before the organization was com-
pletely effected, another raid was made upon Marysvale, Piute County, April 2d >
two men were killed and a band of hor&es captured. Their next raid was on
Salina, Sevier County, April 20th. Here two men were killed, and two hundred
held of cattle and horses taken. See letters of Colonel F. H. Head, Superinten-
dent of Indian Affairs, Utah Territory, to the Commissioners of Indian Affairs,
Washington, D. C, published in 'Indian Affairs, 1S66,' on pages 128, 130, of
which the following is extracted :
"'Utah Superintendency,
1 "'Great Salt Lake Cuy, April 30, 1866
" ' Sir : Black Hawk, a somewhat prominent chief of the Ule Indians, has
been engaged for more than a year past in active hostilities against the settlements
^66 HISTORY OF SALT LAKE CITY.
in the southern portion of this Territory. His band consisted at first of but forty-
four men, who were mostly outlaws and desperate characters from his own and
other tribes. During the summer and autumn of 1865 he made several successful
forays upon the weak and unprotected settlements in San Pete and Sevier
Counties, killing in all thirty-two whites, and drove away to the mountains up-
ward of two thousand cattle and horses.
" 'Forty of his warriors were killed by the settlers in repelling his different
attacks. His success in stealing, however, enabled him to feed abundantly and
mount all Indians who joined him, and the prestige acquired by his raids was
such that his numbers were constantly on the increase, despite his occasional
losses of men. He spent the winter near where the Grand and Green Rivers
unite to form the Colorado. On the 20th instant he again commenced his dep-
redations by making an attack upon Salina, Sevier County. He succeeded in
driving to the mountains about two hundred cattle, killing two men who were
guarding them, and compelling the abandonment of the settlement.
"'His band, from what I consider entirely reliable information, now num-
bers about one hundred warriors, one-half of whom are Navajoes from New
Mexico.
" 'In view of these circumstances, and for the purpose of preventing acces-
sions to the ranks of the hostile Indians, I have, after consultation with Governor
Durkee, desired Colonel Potter, commanding the United States troops in this dis-
trict, to send two or three companies of soldiers to that portion of the Territory
to protect the settlements and repel further attacks. Colonel Potter has tele-
graphed to General Dodge for instructions in reference to my application. I
should be much pleased to have an expression of your views as to the policy to
be pursued in this matter.
" ' Very respectfully, your most obedient servant,
"'F, H. Head, Superititendent.
" 'Hon. D. N. Cooky,
" ' Comtnissioner of Indian Affairs, Washington, D. C,
" And under date of 21st June, in a similar communication, he states (see page
130 of said published report) :
" ' I advised you in my communication of the 30th April that I had applied
to the military authorities to send two or three companies of troops to protect the
settlers in those portions of the Territory most exposed to Indian raids, and that
Colonel Potter, commanding at this point, had telegraphed for instructions. A
copy of the response to such cammunication is herewith enclosed.
" 'The morning of my departure (from Uintah) I was informed by Tabby,
the head chief, that when he received notice of my arrival in the valley, himself
and all his warriors were on their way to join the hostile Indians in the southern
portion of the Territory, in their war upon the settlements. He also informed
me that Black Hawk, having secured a number of recruits among the Elk Moun-
tain Utes to swell his force to three hundred warriors, was then setting out from
the Elk Mountain country to attack the weaker settlements in San Pete County.
" ' On reaching this city on my return from Uintah, I communicated the facts
HISTORY OF SAL T LAKE CJ7 V. 367
in my possession relative to Black Hawk, to Governor Durkee. General Wells,
one of the principal militia officers, after consulting with the Governor, has
raised two or three companies of militia, and proceeded to the threatened locality
to protect the settlers from the expected attack.
" ' F. H. Head, Superintendent.^
"'Fort Leavenworth, Kansas, May 2d, 1866.
"'General Pope telegraphs that the superintendent of Indian affairs will
have to depend for the present on the militia to compel the Indians to behave at
Salina.
" ' By command of Major-General Dodge.
"'Samuel C. Mackev,
" ^Acting Assistant Adjutant- General,
" ' Col. Carroll H. Potter,
" '■Commanding District of Utah.''
"Accordingly, steps were immediately taken to place all the settlements south
and east of Salt Lake City in a better state of defence, and troops were mustered into
service from Salt Lake and other counties, and despatched to the scenes of hostili-
ties. The weaker settlements in Summit, Wasatch, San Pete, Sevier, Piute, Beaver,
Iron, Kane, and Washington, were abandoned and removed to the stronger.
Substantial forts were built, and all the stock in the above named counties was
gathered up and guarded. Overtures of peace were made by the settlers when-
ever opportunity offered, but were defiantly refused by the Indians; and on the
nth day of June, Lieutenant-General D. H. Wells started from Salt Lake City,
and on the 14th arrived at Fort Gunnison, San Pete County, and took command
in person, remaining in San Pete, Sevier and Piute Counties three months. Not-
withstanding every precaution, and the energy and faithfulness of the militia
troops in service, such was the extent and mountainous character of the country,
that the enemy, lying secreted, 'would occasionally succeed in making a dash on
some weak point and capturing a herd of stock. Thus it continued through the
summer, while all that part of the Territory for three hundred miles in extent
was paralyzed, but more particularly was it the case in San Pete, Sevier and Piute
Counties. No improvements were made. The saw mills in the canyons were
silent; and in many cases were burnt up or otherwise destroyed by the Indians.
Very little grain was raised in consequence of the number of men in the
service in those counties During the summer about twenty persons were
massacred, and a very large amount of stock was taken, and many flourishing set-
tlements were broken up and abandoned. Several skirmishes occurred through the
summer, in which between thirty and forty of the Indians were killed and wounded.
" The Indians again drawing off for winter quarters, on the first day of No-
vember the last of the militia troops were mustered out.
"Peace again reigned for a short time. The mountains and passes were
again blockaded with snow, and the inhabitants had a short interval to prepare
for winter.
"Nothing of importance was heard from the Indians until early in January,
1867, when they commenced the war for another year by making a raid on Pine
Valley, Washington County, the extreme southern part of the Territory, captur-
turing a band of horses. Captain Andrews, with a company of cavalry, followed
j68 HISTORY OF SALT LAKE CITY.
them, recovered most of the horses and killed seven Indians. All was quiet
again till March, when another raid was made on Richfield, Sevier County.
Here they killed one man, one woman, and a girl fourteen years of age. The
the killing of the females was accompanied with great atrocity. Reliable infor-
mation was received that they were still determined on war, and troops were
again mustered into service in San Pete, Sevier and Piute Counties, also one com-
pany of cavalry and one of infantry in Salt Lake and Utah Counties. With the
aid of these two companies, in addition to the forces raised in these three
counties, further depredations were prevented until the 2nd of June, when Major
Vance and Sergeant Houtz were waylaid and killed at Twelve Mile Creek, San
Pete County; and on the 12th, they made a raid on Beaver, Beaver County cap-
turing a large herd of stock. This county is west of Piute County.
"August 14th, they made a raid on Springtown, San Pete County, killing
two men, wounding another, and capturing a band of horses. Colonel R. N.
Allred, with a company of cavalry chased and gave them battle, recovering some
of the horses.
" September iSth, another raid was made on Beaver, Beaver County, and two
hundred head of horses and cattle were taken.
"This was the last raid of the season, as, through the activity of the militia
troops, the depredations were less frequent and not so extensive as previously.
" Great praise is accorded to the superintendent of Indian affairs. Colonel F.
H. Head, for his untiring exertions with the Indians to promote peace. He finally
succeeded in obtaining an interview with Black Hawk, and obtained his promise
that he would refrain from further depredations on the whites, and that he would
use his influence to have the war entirely stopped. He expressed a fear, however,
that some of the outlaws would continue depredations, which has been the case, as
several raids have been made since this interview, but it is generally believed that
Black Hawk has kept his promise. •
" In the spring of 1868, these renegades attacked a company of whites while
camped on the Sevier River, killed two men and wounded one. During the sum-
mer they made several raids on stock in San Pete Valley; and in November at-
tacked a party of emigrants in southern Utah, and took a large band of horses and
mules. Some active service was performed during the summer and autumn of
1 868, but as the returns have not been received at this office, they are not included
in the accompanying accounts, which amount in the aggregate, for the three years,
1865, 1866, and 1867, as per recapitulation sheet herewith forwarded, to the sum
of one million one hundred and twenty-one thousand and thirty-seven dollars and
thirty-eight cents ($1,121,037.38).
"In conclusion, I beg leave to respectfully refer you to a memorial of the
Legislature of this Territory, approved by his Excellency Charles Durkee, Gover-
nor, of which the following is a copy :
■"MEMORIAL TO CONGRE.SS PRAYING FOR AN APPROPRIATION TO DEFRAY
THE EXPENSES OF THE LATE INDIAN WAR IN UTAH TERRITORY.
'' 'To the Honorable the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States
in Congress assembled.
'"Gentlemen: — Your memorialists, the Governor and Legislative Assembly
HISTORY OF SALT LAKE CITY. 369
of the Territory of Utah, would most respectfully represent to your Honorable
Body that, for the last three years, we have had a vexatious Indian war on our
hands, the seat of which has been in Sevier, Piute, and San Pete Counties, extend-
ing more or less to the counties of Wasatch, Utah, Millard, Beaver, Iron, Wash-
ington and Kane, rendering a strong military force constantly necessary in the
field. Colonel Irish, former Superintendent of Indian affairs, called on General
Connor to protect the settlements of this Territory from Indian depredations ;
the General replied that if those depredations were committed upon any settle-
ments remote from the mail line he could not do it. Colonel Head, present
Superintendent of Indian affairs, called on Colonel Potter to protect the settle-
ments of this Territory where Indian hostilities existed. Colonel Potter sent east
for instructions in the case, and received answer from General Sherman that we
must rely on the militia of the Territory. During this war Sevier and Piute
Counties were abandoned by six extensive and flourishing settlements, it being
considered impracticable to defend them there. Their removal was effected at
the loss of nearly all they had, their stock and teams being mostly stolen and
driven away by the Indians, and they were removed by the citizens of San Pete
County. Likewise four settlements on the borders of San Pete County were broken
up and removed at much expense and loss. Also fifteen settlements in Iron, Kane
and Washington Counties, besides two or three small settlements in Wasatch
County. In this war we have furnished our own soldiers, arms, ammunition,
transportation, cavalry horses, and supplies, for the years 1865, 1866, and 1867.
We have borne a heavy burden, and we ask for compensation and aid, as most
of our citizens at and near the seat of this war have become greatly reduced and
impoverished thereby, and likewise the other settlements that have had to remove
are more or less so. We therefore ask your Honorable Body to appropriate
g 1, 500, 00, to compensate the citizens for their service, transportation and sup-
plies in suppressing Indian hostilities in the Territory of Utah during the years
before named, or so much thereof as will cover the expenses, as per vouchers and
testimonies now in the adjutant-general's office, which will accompany this me-
morial, or follow it at an early day, and your memorialists, as in duty bound, will
ever pray.
''All of which is respectfully submitted.
" Your obedient servant,
" H. B. Clawson,
^^ Adjutant- General, Utah Territory.
" Hon. John M. Schofield,
'■'■Secretary of War, Washington City, D. C"
To this State document may be supplemented, from the Adjutant-General's
office, instructions and special orders issued by Lieutenant-General Wells to his
commanding officers, covering the very time, of which it was charged, that the
said General Wells was organizing, mustering and drilling his forces for overt
acts against the Federal administration in Utah.
"Headquarters Nauvoo Legion,
" Adjt.-Gen'l's Office, Great Salt Lake Citv, May 23, 1866.
* ' Major- General Robt. T. Burton :
"Dear Brother : It is considered best for you to have out a patrol guard to
3J0 HISTORY OF SALT LAKE CITY.
watch and protect herds, and to observe the movements and indications of the
Indians, speaking and treating them kindly, and endeavoring to influence those
with whom they shall meet to be peaceable and friendly, and at the same time
let them see that we are on the alert, and do not intend to let them have our
stock without asking for it.
"It is believed that a few men in each settlement in your district can per-
form this service, and extend their patrols and observations up into the canyons,
where people are working at the mills and getting out wood and timber; and ta
all such most likely places for Indians to secrete themselves and steal forth to
make depredations upon the people and their property. Men and not boys
should be entrusted to take charge of herds, and sliould go armed and prepared
to defend themselves.
••■ It may be thought there is no danger of hostile Indians making any dem-
onstration in your neighborhood; but the surest way to avoid it is to be pre-
pared to meet it, and not give them a chance.
" Men should be posted in the night time where they can be concealed and
see without being seen, and thus be able to give timely information, or afford
timely relief, or assistance in the protection of life and property, and not do like
some, make themselves a target for an Indian to shoot at, and stand and be killed
when they ought to be shooting.
"Be vigilant in carrying the same into effect, and make full returns to this
office of all services rendered, &c.
"Respectfully yours,
"D. H. Wells."
SPECIAL ORDERS NO. I.
"Adjutant-General's Office, G. S. L. City, April 15th, 1867.
" ist. Brigadier General Warren S. Snow is hereby temporarily relieved
from the duties of his command over San Pete and Piute Military District and
Brigadier-General W. B. Pace, of the Utah Military District, assigned to that duty.
"2d. General Pace will be provided with a full company of cavalry from Great
Salt Lake and Utah Military Districts, fully armed and equipped, supplied and
provisoned from their respective districts, except flour, meat, and forage, which
will be furnished from San Pete.
" 3d. Gen. Pace will repair to the scene of his duties with the troops aforesaid
as soon as practicable, and locating his command at or near Gunnison, will de-
tail working parties either to go to the canyons, labor on fords, guard stock, or
parties traveling into the canyons, or elsewhere, and to aid and assist the people
exposed to the inroads and depredations of the Indians, in defending themselves
against hostile demonstrations of the foe. He will also lose no time in organiz-
ing the forces herein placed under his command as Avill, in the most efficient man-
ner, render such aid and assistance as is or may become necessary and proper to
secure and protect those settlements from depredations from the Indians.
" 4th. Gen. Pace is hereby directed to see that a strict and correct account
is kept, and prompt returns made to this office of all expenses incurred, and ser-
vice performed, as also any and all movements or dispositions made of all the forces
HISTORY OF SALT LAKE CITY. 371
placed under his command, and in all things exercise that just discretion and
efificiency which should characterize an energetic and yet prudent and careful
"Commander.
"D. H. Wells,
' ' Lieut.- General, Commanding Nauvoo Legion. ^^
special orders no. 2.
" Adjutant-General's Ofeice,
''G. S. L. City, April 15th, 1S67.
" ist. Major-General Robert T. Burton, of the Great Salt Lake Military
District will raise three platoons of cavalry from his command for the San Pete
expedition, and have them properly officered and organized, and in readiness to
march on Monday next, the 22d instant, with arms, ammunition, accoutrements,
and supplies for six months, except flour, meat and forage, which will be provided
elsewhere.
" 2d. Men must be selected, and not boys allowed to go as substitutes, and
must be furnished with suitable transporation, and tools for working parties, which
will be detailed from the command to assist in the construction of forts, etc., as
well as to assist in defending the people against Indian depredations.
"3d. The troops thus organized and provided will rendezvous at Provo,
Utah Military District, and report to Brigadier-General Wm. B. Pace, who is as-
signed to take the command of the San Pete and Piute Military Districts, and
they will act under his direction.
"4th. The horses must be provided with ropes for tying up and hobbles,
and a few pack saddles should also be furnished in case of wanting to make a sud-
den excursion after Indians.
" 5th. General Burton is at liberty to assign a captain or an adjutant as he
and General Pace shall agree upon, as it would be proper for one or the other to
go from his command with this detachment.
Daniel PI. Wells,
Lieutenant- General Commanding Nativoo Legion-.
TO GOVENOR DURKEE.
Adjutant-General's Office, Great Salt Lake City, Dec. 31st, 1867.
^ ' To His Excellency Charles Durkee, Governor of Utah Territory.
Dear Sir : I take pleasure in forwarding to your Excellency the accompa-
nying abstract return of the Nauvoo Legion, the militia of our Territory; made
out from the latest reports that have been received from each district, and show-
i ig the aggregate number of the militia so far enrolled, with their individual
arms, ammunition and equipments. They number twelve thousand and twenty-
four (12,024), including cavalry, artillery and infantry, would doubtless be
largely increased by a full enrollment of all persons liable to military duty, un-
usually seen in attendance at our general musters.
" The apparent difficulty of obtaining fire arms among the infantry arises
chiefly from the annual emigrations of many poor persons, who are destitute of
weapons on their arrival.
"As your Excellency is aware, our settlers have now had a three years' war
JJ2 HISTORY OF SALT LAKE CITY.
with Utah Indians, during which a very large amount of stock has been driven
off from our settlements, and seirenty of our citizens killed and wounded by them.
It has also involved a great loss of their property in breaking up the settlements
throughout Sevier, Piute, Kane and parts of San Pete and other counties. Dur-
ing this time various detachments of troops have been sent from the more densely
settled districts to the settlements more immediately in the scene of actual Indian
hostilities, to assist in repressing the Indians, defending the settlers, and guard-
ing against their sudden attacks.
"A small portion of the outlay for these expenditures has been paid out of
the Territorial funds, but it is believed that an appropriation should be made by
the General Government to reimburse the Territory, and defray all expenses, ac-
counts of which are in preparation accordingly against the General Government.
"Without reliable information of their intentions, it is hoped and believed
that the Indians are now more peaceably inclined, and trust that the ensuing
spring and summer may not open up as they have the last three years with an
Indian war upon our hands.
" With much respect,
" H. B. Clawson,
'■'Adjutatit- General Naitvao Lesion, the Militia of Utah Territory. ^^
accounts sent to hon. \v. h. hooper, m, c.
" Adjutant General's Office,
"Salt Lake City, Feb lo, 1869.
''Hon. W. H. Hooper, M. C, Washington City, D. C
" Dear Sir: By lo-day's express I forward to your address the accounts of
expenses incurred by the Territory of Utah in the suppression of Indian hostil-
ities in said Territory during the years 1865-6-7, amounting to the sum of one
million, one hundred and twenty-one thousand and thirty-seven dollars and
thirty-eight cents ($1,121,037.38); also a communication from myself to the
Hon. John M. Schofield, Secretary of War, to accompany said accounts. By
reference to that communication you will perceive that a large amount of service
was rendered by the male inhabitants of the localities of the war, as home guards,
for which no charge is made; nothing but active service b^ing included in those
accounts, it having been our constant effort to keep the expenses as light as pos-
sible, and it is believed here that an equal amount of service by almost any other
people would have been quadrupled in cost. These accounts will now be in your
hands, and it is believed that the government, at an early day, through the wis-
dom of your efforts, will fully reimburse to the Territory of Utah the amounts of
those expenses.
" Very truly yours,
" H. B. Calwson,
"Adjutant- General, Utah Territory.
The report of the adjutant-general of the Utah militia, to the Secretary of
War, was accompanied by the following voucher :
"Executive Office, Utah Territory,
Salt Lake City, January 9, 1869.
"I, Charles Durkee, Governor of Utah Territory, do hereby certify that the
HIS TOR V OF SAL T LAKE CI 2 V. j/j
military service rendered by the militia of this Territory, comprised in the fore-
going accounts, was absolutely necessary, and was therefore sanctioned and au-
thorized by me at the times specified, and that the accounts are just.
"Charles Durkee, Gov{:r/wr."
This is the same governor — of whom Mr. Bowles wrote, "Governor Durkee
seems less disposed to be tolerant of Mormon control and the Mormon disrepect
to federal authority than his predecessors generally have been," — who certifies to
the General Government that he had "sanctioned and aurhorized" the service of
the Utah militia as "absolutely necessary," and that "the accounts are just."
15ut this debt of one million, one hundred and twenty-one thousand and thirty-
seven dollars and thirty-eight cents, owed by the Government to the citizens of
Utah, to this day remains unpaid.
CHAPTER XLII.
WADE'S BILL. CONTEMPLATED RECONSTRUCTION OF THE MILITIA. ABSO-
LUTE POWER IN CIVIL AND MILITARY AFFAIRS TO BE GIVEN THE GOVER-
NOR. THE MORMON CHURCH TO BE DISQUALIFIED FROM OFFICIATING IN
MARRIAGE CEREMONIES. ACKNOWLEDGEMENT OF PLURAL MARRIAGE
SUFFICIENT PROOF OF " UNLAWFUL COHABITATION." AIMS ON THE
CHURCH PROPERTY AND TREASURY. THE TRUSTEE-IN-TRUST TO BE UN-
DER THE GOVERNOR'S THUMB.
Notwithstanding the Utah Militia was employed in the service of the Gov-
ernment in the years 1S65, 1S66, and 1867, protecting the country against the
Indians; notwithstanding, as it turned out, this service was performed at their
own cost, the impression had been established in the public mind that it was a
standing army of rebellion, and that it ought to be broken up by the strong mili-
tary arm of the Government, should Congress find itself inadequate to the task.
Indeed, from the year 1866 to the year 1870, there was fast working up in the
United States a movement against the Mormon power, very much as it had been
before the Utah War, when the two great political parties laid Utah upon the
altar to appease a common hate of Mormondom, and then worked up the " war of
rebellion" between themselves.
The first exposition of the resolution to put down " Mormon Utah" and sup-
plant it with a "Gentile Utah," presented to Congress during the work of re-con-
structing the South, was the bill of Senator Ben. Wade. In the Senate of the
United States, June 30, 1866, Senator Wade asked, and by unanimous consent ob-
tained leave to bring in his bill, which was read twice, referred to the Committee
on Territories, and ordered printed; and on the 12th of July, 1866, the bill was
reported by Mr. Wade with amendments. Although this bill did not pass,
374 HISTORY OF SALT LAKE CITY.
nearly all its aims have since become operative in subsequent bills; in the Gov-
ernment direction of Utah affairs; in the disbanding of the militia; in the juris-
diction and decisions of the courts ; in the Utah Commission ; in a half-sup-
planted Legislature and the controlling power of the Governor, both in civil
and military affairs. Indeed the salient points of the Wade bill may be reviewed
as very like the face of the history of Utah from that date to the present. First
take,
" Sec. id. And be it enacted, that there shall be in the militia of said
Territory no officer of higher rank or grade than that of major-general, a7id all officers,
civil and military, shall be selected, appointed and commissioned by the Governor ;
and every person who shall act or attempt to act as a?i officer, either civil or military,
without being first cotnmissioned by the Governor, and qualified by taking the proper
oath, shall be guilty of misdemeanor, and upon conviction thereof, shall be subject
to a fine not exceeding one thousand dollars and imprisotied in the Penitentiary not
exceeding one year, or both such fine and imprisonment at the discretion of the court.
"Sec. II. And be it further enacted, That the militia of said Territory
shall be organized and disciplined in such manner and at such times as the Gov-
ernor of said Territory shall direct. And all the officers thereot shall be ap-
pointed and commissioned by the Governor. As commander-in-chief the Gov-
ernor shall make rules and regulations for the enrolling and mustering of the
militia, and he shall yearly, between the first and last days of October, report to
the Secretary of War the number of men enrolled and their condition, the state
of discipline, and the number and description of arms belonging to each com-
pany, division, or organized body. Aliens shall not be enrolled and mustered
into the militia."
"Sec. 22. And be it farther enacted, That all commissions and appoint-
ments, both civil and military, heretofore made or issued, or wliich may be made
or issued before the ist day of January, eighteen hundred and sixty-seven, shall
cease and determine on that day, and shall have no effect or validity thereafter."
In this bill there is no intelligent aim at the purpose and existence of the
Utah militia, nor any knowledge shown of its circumstantial history : all that is
seen is the design of the bill itself. The first aim regarding it was to take the
militia altogether out of the hands of the Territorial Legislature, and to confer
powers extraordinary upon the Governor, not only as commander-in-chief, but
as the originator, sustainer and dictator: "the militia of said Territory shall be
organized din^ disciplined in such manner and at such times as the Governor of
said Territory shall direct," etc. The second aim was to abolish the ofifice of lieu-
tenant-general. He disposed of — his office having no longer an existence^ all the
officers before under him would soon also pass away, their "appointments and com-
missions " expiring before January, 1867. Thereafter all the officers were not only
to be " commissioned," but also selected and "appointed" by the Governor,
and indeed the entire militia re-organized by him as the originating source, under
this contemplated act of Congress. Clearly the militia of the Territory would
have been practically abolished or set aside, as it afterwards was by the procla-
mation of Governor Shaffer, or it would have been transformed to an anti-Mor-
mon force, to act as z posse commitalus for the Governor in the execution of the
HISTORY OF SAL T LAKE CITY. jjj
designs of the bill. Even had such a design been proper for the utter suppres-
sion of the Mornnion power in America, still there would have been no relation
between it and the purpose of the existence of the Utah militia. The followino-,
from the many documents of a similar nature in the adjutant-general's cfitice, will
strikingly illustrate this and be a very favorable contrast to the bills and aims in
question :
REPORT OF THE BOARD OF OFFICERS'.
" The militia of the Territory of Utah (under the governor as commander-
in-chief) shall be commanded by a lieut. -general, and formed into an indepen-
dent military body called the Nauvoo Legion, and shall be organized into
platoons, companies, battalions, regiments, brigades, divisiDns and departlrients
as hereinafter provided for."
The necessity for such a military body will hi seen from the foUowing doc-
uments.
In general orders No. 2, under date of January 21st, 1S54, we find the
following —
" Rule 4. They will preserve a good organization of their entire force, and
fill up the minute companies for prompt and energetic action in accordance with
general orders No. i, of 28th Nov., 1853; and act on the defensive whenever
it becomes necessary for the protection of their respective districts.
" Rule 5. It is wise in time of peace to prepare for war, although peace can
as yet scarcely be said to exist.
" No time should be lost in preparing and completing the forts and defences
in the various districts; as we think it is well understood that our settlements
must be based on a permanent system of defense.
" In enlarging the forts or locating new ones for the accommodation of the
increasing population, great care and judgment should be exercised in selecting
such places as are beyond the reach of covert, (and unless included) beyond the
rifle range of ridges, benches and mountains — and so as to command water for the
use of the forts, and as much of the surrounding country as possible.
" Rule 6. The safety and future success of the settlements depend much
upon guarding a gainst surprise, or being deceived by pretended friendship, at
the same time exercising friendly relations with all, clothing and feeding them
for their labor. It is humane and politic to feed the strangers when they first
come, keeping a good look out for them, and if they remain too long giving them
work, encouraging them by giving them fair wages for what they do, and making
them as comfortable as possible according to the circumstances of the post, when
they evince a disposition to comply with reasonable requirements.
[Signed] Brigham Young,
Daniel H. Wells,
Lieut.- General Co7nmanding Nauvoo Legion.'''
We further review the bill:
"Sec. 2. And be it further enacted. That the marshal or other officer, in
selecting grand or petit jurymen, shall select them from the body of the people
of the district. A-ud in the trial of any case in which the United States shall be
j/d HISTORY OF SALT LAKE CITY.
a party, the United States shall have the same right to challenge jurors that the
other party has.
'' Sec. 3. That it shall be the duty of the United States marshal, in person
or by his deputies, to attend all the courts held by the United States justices or
judges in said Territory, and to serve and execute all process and orders issued or
directed by said courts or by the judges thereof.
"Sec. 5. And be it further enacted. That \.\\t probate Judge shall be ap-
poi7ited by the Governor,'^ etc.
"Sec. 6. And be it further enacted. That the judges of the Supreme Court
of said Territory may make rules and regulations as to the niode and manner of
taking appeals from one court to another in said Territory, so that the just rights
of the parties may be secured and preserved."
"Sec. 12. And be it further enacted, That marriages in said Territory may
be solemnized only by any justices of the Supreme Court, justices of the peace
duly elected and qualified in their proper townships or precinct, or by any priest
or minister of the gospel (not Mormon), regularly ordained and settled or estab-
lished in said Territory, between parties competent to enter into the marriage
contract. And the person solemnizing such marriage shall sign and deliver to
the husband and wife a certificate thereof, wherein shall be set forth the names,
the ages and the places of the parties, and the place and date of such solemniza-
tion, together with the names of witnesses, not less than two, present at such
solemnization, which certificate may be recorded in the office of the proper reg-
ister of the county. * * * ^j-^j g^^^j^ certificates or a certified copy
of the record shall be evidence in any court of the facts therein set forth as above
required,"
" Sec. 13. And be it further enacted. That if any officer herein authorized
to solemnize marriage shall, knowingly and wilfully, solemnize a marriage to
which either of the parties are disqualified to enter into the marriage contract he
shall be guilty of a misdemeanor, and upon conviction before a court having com-
petent jurisdiction, he shall be sentenced to pay a fine of not less than one hun-
dred dollars, and stand committed until the fine shall be paid.
Sec. 14 proposed to annul all the land grants and water privileges to the
first settlers made by the Legislature up to that date. About one-sixth of the bill
was devoted to that part. Had it passed it would have despoiled and ruined hun-
dreds of families who made these Rocky Mountain colonies successful.
"Sec. 15. And be it further enacted, That all that part of Section two, of
the act or ordinance entitled 'An ordinance incorporating the Church of Jesus
Christ of Latter-day Saints, which declares that the real and personal property of
said church shall be free from taxation; and all that part of Section three of said
ordinance, which declares that the said church has the original right to solemnize
marriages compatible with the revelations of Jesus Christ ; and also, all that part
of said section which declares that said church does and shall possess and enjoy
continually the power and authority in and of itself to originate, make, pass and
establish rules, regulations, ordinances, laws, customs, and criterions for the good
order, safety, government, conveniences, comfort and control of said church, and
for the punishment or forgiveness of all offences relative to fellowship, according
HISTORY OF SALT LAKE CITY.. jyy
to church covenant — that the pursuit of bliss and the enjoyment of life^ in every
capacity of public associations and domestic happiness, temporal expansion or
spiritual increase upon earth may not legally be questioned — be, and the same is
hereby disapproved and annulled.
Sec. 17. " Marriage, so far as its validity in law is concerned in said Terri-
tory is hereby declared a civil contract, to which the consent of parties, capable in
law of contracting, is essential."
" Sec. iS. That it shall not be lawful for said church or i/s officers or 7iiein-
bers to grant divorces or solemnize marriages. "
Sections 19 and 20 compelled the Trustee-in-Trust of the Mormon Church
to make a full report on oath every year, between the first and last days of No-
vember, to the Governor of the Territory, of all church properties, moneys in
bank, notes, deposits with the church, etc. The Trustee failing to comply, the
Governor, within the expiration of three days after the time was authorized to file
a complaint before one of the U. S. justices, requiring a warrant for the marshal to
arrest said Trustee, who "shall, on a day set by said justice," be tried, and if
found guilty, be liable to a fine of not more than ^2,000 and imprisonment in
the Penitentiary of not more than two years, or fine not less than five hundred
dollars and not less than six months in the Penitentiary. All church property
and revenues above $20,000 were to be taxed.
"Sec. 25. And be it further enacted. That in prosecutions for the crime
of polygamy, proof of cohabitation by the accused as husband or wife, or the
acknowledgments of the party accused of the existence of marital relation shall
be sufficient to sustain the prosecution."
Evidently the design of Senator Wade's bill was to dismantle both "church
and state," and to take from the people all their inherent powers, placing them
in the hands of Congress and Federal officers appointed specifically for the pur-
pose of suppressing the people of Utah as a Mormon community — styled at that
time the "Mormon hierarchy," and a year or two later. still more acceptably
dubbed by Chief Justice McKean "the Mormon polygamic theocracy." Hence
the grand enabling sections of the bill were, either to altogether abolish the Utah
militia, or to transform it to an anti-Mormon force, to act as the Governor's /^'j-j-^
commitaius, under the directions of the Secretary of War, to whom he was peri-
odically to report.
A few months later Senator Cragin's bill superseded Wade's bill. It was,
however, substantially the same, with trifling addenda and a few idiosyncracies
of its own \ of the latter the following is an extract :
" No man, a resident of said Territory, shall marry his mother, his grand-
mother, daughter, step-mother, grandfather's w'ife, son's wife, grandson's wife,
wife's mother, wife's grandmother, wife's daughter, wife's granddaughter, nor his
sister, his half-sister, his brother's daughter, sister's daughter, or mother's sister.
No woman shall marry her father, grandfather, son, grandson, step-father,
grandmother's husband, daughter's husband, granddaughter's husband, husband's
father, husband's son, husband's grandson, nor her brother, half-brother,
brother's son, sister's son, father's brother or mother's brother."
^y8. HISTORY OF SALT LAKE CITY.
If he or she did either of this, the penalty was to be imprisonment, at hard
labor, in the penitentiary, for not more than fifteen years nor less than six months.
But this special legislation against Mormon Utah was suspended by the greafe
controversy which arose between Congress and President Andrew Johnson,
Moreover, President Jahnson was opposed to the speciaHegislation contemplated:.
Delegate Hooper was consulted in the choice of officers not objectionable to the
people; and in 1868 the delegate succeeded in obtaining the passage of several
bills oi most vital interest not only to Salt Lake City but the entire Territory.
CHAPTER XLiri.
O'PENING OF THE FIRST COMMERCIAL PERIOD. REMINISCENCE^S OF THE EAR-
LIEST MERCHANTS. CAMP FLOYD, THE SECOND COMMERCL-^L PERIOD.,
UTAH OBTAINS AN HISTORICAL IMPORTANCE IN THE COMMERCIAL.
WORLD-. ORGANIZ.ATION OF Z. C. M. L
It is time that we take up the commercial vein of the history of our city and;
Territory, having reached a period when the commercial thread became closely
woven in the general and political history of our most peculiar commonwealth.
The history of Utah commerce is very unique. In some respects there is not
a State ar Territory in America whose commercial history will compare with that
of our Territory, Its character has been as peculiar as its commonwealth, and
that has given to it a typing quite uncommon in its genius ; yet the typing is in
accord with the co-operative policies which the age has devised in solving the prob-
lem between capital and labor. There is also much stirring romance in its his-
tory. Its story and incidents are almost as romantic as the commerce of Arabia,
whose mammoth caravans, in their journeys across the deserts, have given subject
and narrative to the most gorgeous romances in the whole range of literature.
The journeys of the trains of these merchants of the West over the Rocky Moun-
tains and the vast arid plains between Salt Lake City and the Eastern States, and
their arduous tasks and adventurous experiences will fitly compare with the his-
tory of the merchants in the East in olden times when civilization herself was.
fostered by commerce ; and, moreover, in the early days of Utah, it took as
much commercial courage, perseverance and ability to establish the commerce of
this Territory as it did that of any nation known in history. On the very face
of the record, we may discern that the men who did this work were no ordinary
men. They were capable of making their mark in any land ; and if Utah, in
the early days, afforded them great opportunities, it was their boundless energies
and commercial ambitions that first created those opportunities and made a peo-
ple comparatively affluent who had been buried in isolation and in the depths of
poverty.
HISTORY OF SALT LAKE CITY. 3^9
In the year 1849, which was two years after the entrance of the Pioneers, the
first regular stock of goods for the Utah market was brought in by Livingston &
Ivinkead. Their stock was valued at about ^20,000. They opened in John
Pack's adobe house in the Seventeenth Ward. It is novv pulled down. It stood
on the northeast corner of the lot now occupied by the new residence of the late John
Pack and near where is now built the Seventeenth Ward Schoolhouse. In that
•day, it was the most convenient house in the city that these merchants could
obtain and also one of the largest.
The following year, 1850, Holliday & Warner appeared, who constituted the
second firm in the commercial history of our Territory. William H. Hoopet
-came to Salt Lake City in charge of their business. They opened in a little
adobe building which had been erected for a school house on President Young's
block, east of the Eagle Gate. This little school house was esteemed a big store
in those days. Holliday & Warner next removed to the building now occupied as
the Museum.
The merchant's quarter soon began to define itself better than we see it in
the primitive examples referred to, and Main Street grew into importance. The
unerring scent of commerce tracked the direction which business was about to
take, notwithstanding Main Street was dubbed Whiskey Street and often rebuked
in the Tabernacle presumably for its many demerits; but such men as Jennings
and Hooper, J. R. Walker, Godbe and Lawrence — who have been temperate all
their lives,— redeemed it from the odium and made Main Street the quarter of
princely merchants.
Main Street first began to define itself from the extreme upper quarter. John
& Enoch Reese were the third firm in historical date established in Salt Lake
City, and they built the second store on Main Street, upon the ground now occu^
pied by Wells, Fargo & Co. J. M. Horner & Co., was the fourth firm, and they
did business in the building occupied by the Descret News Co. This firm con-
tinued in business but a short time and was succeeded by that of Hooper & Wil-
liams. Livingston, Kinkead & Co., changed to Livingston & Bell. Their com-
mercial mart was the Old Constitution Buildings, which was the first merchant
store erected in Utah. It was undoubtedly in the "Old Constitution" that the
commercial focus of Main Street was best defined in the earliest days ; and wheii
Mr. Bell became postmaster the street also put on some official dignity. Business,
however, gravitated down street. In this quarter, Gilbert & Gerrish, before the
Utah war, became noted as one of the principal Gentile firms; and Gilbert occu-
pied his stand after the settlement of the difficulty with the United States and the
evacuation of the troops. It was also at this quarter of Main Street where William
Nixon flourished and where the majority of the young commercial men of Salt
Lake City of that epoch, including the Walker Brothers, were educated under
him.
William Nixon was an Englishman and a Mormon. His commercial career
was first marked in Saint Louis. To this day the "boys" educated under him
•speak of William Nixon as the "father of Utah merchants;"' it was the name
that he delighted in while he lived. He was proud of the distinction. In some
respects he seemed to be an uncommon man — like William Jennings, a natural
j8o HISTORY OF SALT LAKE CITY.
merchant who did business sagaciously by instinct and found the methods and di-
rections of trade by commercial intuition. The Walker Brothers were his chief
pupils, nnd they speak of William Nixon much in this vein.
On the arrival of the Walker family in St. Louis, Father Walker became ac-
quainted with William Nixon, to whom he sold goods purchased by him at auction-
Nixon, at that time, was a regular merchant doing business on Broadway, in St.
Louis. The elder Walker secured his son, David F. Walker — Mr. " Fred." as he
is more familiarly known — a clerkship under the St. Louis merchant. At that
date young Walker was but thirteen years of age. John Clark,, who was one of
the managers of departments in Z. C. M. L from its commencement, was with
Nixon before the Walker Brothers; so also was ahother of our prominent citizens
and capitalists, Mr. Dan. Clift. These young men emigrated to Utah; Mr.
"Fred" Walker went to fill their vacant place. Soon afterward, William Nixon
himself emigrated, and Father Walker having then recently died, the four sons
with the mother resolved to emigrate to Utah that same season, — the Walker
Brothers, it will be remembered, being originally Mormon boys. As soon as they
arrived in Salt Lake City, which was in September, 1852, Mr. " Fred " again went
to clerk for Nixon and soon afterwards Joseph R. Walker also went into the same
employ, Henry W. Lawrence, John Chislett, George Bourne, James Needham,
David Candland and John Hyde were also commercially educated under Mr.
Nixon ; Thomas Armstrong was his book-keeper. William Nixon soon became rec-
ognized in our commercial history as a very successful merchant doing a large busi-
ness. It was he who built the second store down street, Gilbert & Gerrish, who
had been doing business at the Old Museum followed with a new stock of goods ;
and John Kimball, with his brother-in-law Henry W. Lawrence, as his clerk,
opened next door to Nixon, This removal threw the main business into that
quarter of the street; and it was not until Jennings' Eagle Emporium was reared,
with Kimball & Lawrence on the opposite corner, and Godbe's Exchange Build-
ings were erected on the east side of the street, that business returned towards the
original location, which at length has been crowned with the erection of the mag-
nificent buildings of Z, C. M. L Other Mormon merchants also rose, some of
whom have since left Utah. There was the firm of Staines & Needham, John M.
Brown, Gilbert Clements, Chislett & Clark ; and, after the period of the Utah
war, Ransohoff, Kahn, and other Jew merchants began to pour into the city.
Here something should be noted of Thomas Williams, Hooper's first part-
ner. The merchant Williams was a Mormon young man of much promise in
Nauvoo before the exodus. He was with the people in their exodus and was a
member of the famous Mormon Battalion. He was one of the company of J.
M. Horner & Co., which was afterwards changed to Hooper & Williams, and he
built the third store on Main Street, on the site now occupied by the Deseret
National Bank.
The firm of Hooper & Williams, existed until the spring of 1S57, when Wil-
liams sold his interest to W. H. Hooper, and emigrated, with his family, to
Weston, Missouri, where he engaged in the hotel business. Subsequently, in
1858, he returned to Utah, and in i860 he, together with his brother-in-law,
Pimena Jackman, was killed by Indians while en route to Southern California, to
HIS TOR V OF SAL T LAKE CI 2 V. j8i
which point they were proceeding for a train of merchandise. Thomas Williams
was the man who first took William S. Godbe by the hand and gave him a com-
mercial training. It is said that he was a man of excellent business qualities.
It was the merchants of Utah who first brought the Mormon community fairly
into socialistic importance. And this affirmation is true of them, both in their
results at home and the influence which they exercised abroad for the good of the
people and the glory of Utah. Moreover, in the general sense of the public weal,
this affirmation is as true of the Walker Brothers and Godbe and Lawrence as it
is of Jennings and Hooper, or Eldredge and Clawson. The very construction of
society and the necessities and aims of commerce convert the enterprises and life
work of this class of men into the public good. Over quarter of a century, for
instance, the Walker Brothers and Godbe and Lawrence have been identified with
the material prosperity and destiny of this Territory. The welfare of the country
is their own good as a class ; — the glory of the commonwealth glorifies their
houses and augments their own fortunes. Of all men, the life-work and enter-
prise of the class who establish commerce, build railroads, develop the native
mineral resources of the country, and construct the financial power of the State,
must perforce tend to the public prosperity as well as conserving and preserving
society. And if this is the case with those influential men of commerce and great
enterprises who have gone outside the pale of the Church, yet are still identified
with the community in all their essential interests, how much more, specially
speaking, is it the case with those men who have remained inside the pale of the
Church and built up her commercial and financial power? The Church owes
to her apostles of commerce and finance more than many would like to confess ;
and yet in this point of their extraordinary service to the Church is at once
the significance and potency of Zion's Co-operative Mercantile Institution.
This will be strikingly illustrated in the circumstantial history of Z. C. M. I.
A cursory view has been given of the destitute condition of the Mormon
people during the first period of the settlement of these Valleys. As late as 1856,
there was a famine in Utah, and the community was barely preserved by the
leaders wisely rationing the whole and dividing among the people their own sub-
stance. But it was neither the economy and wisdom of the leaders, nor the
plentiful harvests that followed, that redeemed Utah from the depths of her pov-
erty, and the anomalous isolation of a people reared in lands of civilization and
plenty. She was redeemed from her social destitution by a train of providential
circumstances on the one hand, and the extraordinary activities of her merchants
on the other. As we have seen, the providence came in a United States army; the
temporary existence of Camp Floyd ; the departure of the troops, leaving their
substance to the community ; the needs of the Overland Mail line ; the construc-
tion of the telegraph lines ; and then again the arrival of another U, S. army
under Colonel Connor, and the establishment of Camp Douglass with several
thousand soldiers to disburse their money in Salt Lake City alter their pay-days, be-
sides the constant supplies which the camp needed from our country, and often labor
from our citizens. It was then, under these changed and propitious circumstances,
that our Utah merchants put forth their might, and built up a commercial system
for our Territory as strange and wonderful in its growth and history as that of any
S82 HISTORY OF SALT LAKE CITY.
Stite that has risen in America, As early as 1864, and right in the time of the
great civil war of the nation, when the cities of the bouth were under devastation,
Hooper and Eldredge purchased in New York a bill of goods at prime Eastern
cost of over one hundred and fifty thousand dollars, the freight of which added
to it another eighty thousand. A little later in the same year, William Jennings
purchased of Major Barrows a train of goods in Salt Lake City worth a quarter
of a million, including the freight. In 1865, this merchant purchased in New
York at one time a stock of goods amounting to half a million, Eastern cost, the
freight upon which was $250,000. During these same years Godbe and Mitchell
went East and purchased for the people on commission goods to the amount of
several hundred thousand dollars; and Kimball & Lawrence were at that period
also in their most flourishing condition. And all this commercial activity in-
stanced above was on the Mormon side, exclusive of the mammoth merchandise
business carried on by the Walker Brothers, besides that of ksser merchants not
ranked among the Mormon commercial houses. During this period also, William
Jennings built his Eagle Emporium; Godbe his Exchange Buildings; Wood-
raansee Brothers their stone store now occupied by Osborne & Co.; and Walker
Brothers the new store where they still do business, but which, like the Eagle Em-
porium, has been since enlarged.
Here we pause in the historic record before the era of Z. C. M. L began, not
touching as yet the boundaries of the great commercial period in which has risen
the Deseret National Bank, and the commercial palace reared by Z. C. M. I.,
which will compare favorably with almost any mercantile building in America.
Consider then the primitive condition of the community in their isolation and
destitution, and behold what wonders these apostles of commerce wrought in so
short a time. It was their work, be it repeated, that first brought Utah into so-
cial importance, carving out a material prosperity for the Mormons. This affirm-
ation is not made to underrate the Apostles of the Church, who had done a still
more wonderful part in their missionary operations, their emigrations, peopling
these Valleys of the Rocky Mountains and founding the cities and settlements of
as rare a State as ever sprang up in the history of the world, — and these commer-
cial and financial apostles, whom the Church herself has brought forth have built
a temporal superstructure ui)on the foundation which their prophets and elders
laid.
Utah in her early days was utterly destitute of cash; all her internal trade
being conducted by barter and the due-bill system. Yet as early as 1864, para-
doxical as it may seem, her merchants were dispersing for her millions of gold
and greenbacks. Some of them, as we have seen, could purchase in New York
from a hundred thousand to half a million dollars' worth of goods at a time. The
great wholesale houses of New York, Chicago and St. Louis scarcely ever met
any such customers in all America as their Utah patrons, either in commercial
integrity or weight. These achievements were only possible by these Utah mer-
chants creating the millions before they disbursed them. True, no small amount
of money was brought in by the emigrants from the old countries, but this was
SDon exhausted by their need of States goods and the purchase of homes ; thus sim-
ply exchanging the money into hands eager to send it out of the country for States
Sii^^ijy 3^diali.^3aii5.ii Bni
^i:^^^^^-^^^
HISTORY OF SALT LAKE CITY. 383
goods. In fine, the bulk of the money was created at home by our merchants in
their commerce, turning the produce of the country into cash. For example, one
of Wm. Jennings' contracts with the Overland Mail line was to supply it with
75,000 bushels of grain ; another contract to be filled to General Connor for
6,000 sacks of flour at a time when flour brought five dollars in gold per hundred
weight. On their part the Walkers and others shipped immense quantities of
flour, fruit, etc., to the mining Territories. Thus, it will be seen that these mer-
chants did not take money out of the people, but created it for them ; besides
supplying the home market with gigantic stocks of States goods. It must be con-
fessed that Utah commerce, before the opening of our mines, gave all the money
to a few hands. And this was one of the immediate causes that brought forth
Zion's Co-operative Mercantile Institution ; as the leaders of the Church con-
ceived it to be their duty, at length, to construct for the community a broader
and more equitable system of commercial existence; so that all could participate,
to the extent of their means, in the profits realized and the reduction in price of
the co-operative system. That this was the genuine aim of the Institution its
history will show, notwithstanding some blunders may have been made in the
execution of the design.
As a necessary result of these operations, our merchants not only redeemed
the community from social destitution and converted a rural town into a com-
mercial city ; but they brought Utah into an importance abroad and greatly re-
formed the Eastern mind concerning the "strange people" who inhabit these
distant Valleys. As all know, in the earlier days the Mormon community was
esteemed by the good folks in the Eastern States as a monstrous society which had
grown up in America. The exaggerated stories told of the Mormons by the ex-
Federal officers, together with the existence of the institution of polygamy, had
given them an unenviable notoriety; while their exoduses, the Utah war, and
other unique incidents of their history, attached to them a peculiar distinction as
a troublesome little nation of modern Israelites which had hidden itself in the
solitudes of the Rocky Mountains. But our Utah merchants made the community
more comprehensible. The people abroad could not understand the theology and
peculiar institutions of this Mormon Israel ; but they could appreciate the impor-
tance of the Utah trade ; and when at length the grand commercial organization
of the Z. C. M. I. was formed, the financial potency of the community was
greatly enhanced. The business men of New York, ChicagO;, Boston and St.
Louis have become deeply concerned in preserving the Mormons, and in the gen-
eral prosperity of Utah. The mission of Mormonism has been an enigma in the
age, but the purchase in New York of millions of dollars' worth of goods by the
Mormon merchants was a record easily read by the commercial men of that city,
years ago; and the subsequent history of Z. C. M. I. has financially established
the community in all the great business centres of America. Our Utah merchants
have now long been esteemed as sound-headed, enterprising, honorable men ; and
this is equally true of those who have gone out of the Church, as of those who re-
mained inside and became the pillars of Zion's Co-operative Mercantile Institution.
384 HISTORY OF SALT LAKE CITY.
The foregoing sketches of our commerce and commercial men have prepared
us to comprehend the vital importance of the Church preserving within herself this
vast monetary and mercantile power. Herein was nascent the wisdom of the co-
operative idea, and in it resides the original justification of President Young's
energetic efforts to so preserve the financial power by the construction of some
order of mercantile communism applicable to the Church. The President was at
the onset abundantly reproached for his co-operative movement or — as some
worded it — compulsory mercantile combination ; and several of those who had
been his staunchest adherents up to that period left his side in consequence. The
impartial historian, however, cannot but justify Brigham Young as the head and
guide of Mormon society. The truth is that in 1868-9 the Mormon Church was
brought face to face with implacable necessities which seemed about to weaken her ;
and these necessities were of a commercial and financial character. She had to
subdue or be subdued, — a point on which the dominant will of a man like Brigham
Young could decide in a moment. The issue of those times was — should she hold
her temporal power or loose it? — Should the vast money agencies which had so
grown up among her own people, in the country which she had settled, at length
overwhelm her; or should she, by combinations of her own, place those agencies
at her back and preserve her supreme potency? Brigham Young answered those
vital questions in the organization of Z. C. M. I.
At the time referred to, these financial and mercantile issues were, after Presi-
dent Young, chiefly held in the hands of three men, namely; William Jennings,
William H. Hooper and Horace S. Eldredge. The subject, then, at this stage,
grows so suggestive of the existence of Z. C. M. I. as the neccessary commer-
cial handmaid of the Church that we must dwell awhile on a circumstantial expo-
sition.
Early in our commercial history, there grew up a conflict between the mer-
chants and the Church. To become a merchant was to antagonize the Church and
her policies; so that it was almost illegitimate for Mormon men of enterprising
character to enter into mercantile pursuits ; and it was not until Jennings, Hooper
and Eldredge redeemed Utah from this conflict by resigning to the Church their
own basis that Utah commerce developed into proper forms and became inspired
with the true genius of mercantile enterprise. To-day there is no such commer-
cial war as existed in 1868 and out of which Z. C. M. I. was evolved; and yet
when Mr. T. B. H. Stenhouse wrote his RocJzy Mountain Sai?its the salient part of
the commercial record of his book was all concerning this " irrepressible conflict "
between the merchants and the priesthood. The firm of the Walker Brothers is
described as the head and front of this conflict on the merchant side, as Brigham
Young was on the side of the Mormon Commonwealth. But the Church was too
powerful to be subdued ; and the merchants were desirous at one moment to give
up the fight. Says Mr. Stenhouse:
"With such a feeling of uneasiness, nearly all the non-Mormon merchants
joined in a letter to Brigham Young, offering, if the Church would purchase their
goods at twenty-five per cent, less than their valuation, they would leave the Ter-
ritory. Brigham answered them cavalierly that he had not asked them tc come
HISTORY OF SALT LAKE CITY. 385
into the Territory, did not ask them to leave it, and that they might stay as long
as they pleased.
"It was clear that Brigham felt" himself master of the situation; and the
merchants had to 'bide their time ' and await the coming change that was antici-
pated from the completion of the Pacific Railroad. As the great iron way ap-
proached the mountains, and every day gave evidence of its being finished at a
much earlier period than was at first anticipated, the hope of what it would ac-
complish nerved the discontented to struggle with the passing day."
Here is at once described the Gentile and apostate view of the situation of
those times, and confined as it is to the salient point, no lengthy special argument
in favor of President Young's policies could more clearly justify his mercantile co-
operative movement. It was the moment of life or death to the temporal power
of the Church ! When it be also considered that the organization of Z. C. M.
I. not only preserved this power in the hands of the community, but that it re-
deemed the Territory from this irritating commercial conflict, it is evident that the
scheme was both potent and wise. The historian has nothing to do with the argu-
ment of the conflict at issue in any of its forms, but simply with the fact of its ex-
istence and the necessities of the Mormon community at that time. The point
that stands boldly out in the period under review is, that the organization of Z.
C. M. I. at that crisis saved the temporal supremacy of the Mormon common-
wealth.
But the co-operative idea and genius originated not with the merchants. Co-
operation, indeed, is the true offspring of the Church. It was not conceived in the
spirit of the world but in the spirit of the gospel ; and it was begotten early in the
Mormon dispensation, though it was not successfully applied to the community
until 1869.
Joseph Smith, the founder of the Church of Latter-day Saints, was the
Prophet of a co-operative system designed to be applied not only to this Church
but ultimately to all society. It was the means by which a universal social re-
demption was to be brought about, and in this result was the beginning of a Mil-
lennium for the race. Without social redemption, no millennial reign was possible ;
so taught the Prophet Joseph and such apostles as Parley P. Pratt, Orson Pratt and
John Taylor fifty years ago. These men were the teachers of a co-operative sys-
tem, based on gospel principles, to the disciples of the last generation, whose
children scarcely dream that their fathers were inspired by such a philosophy and
spirit or that they believed that in the success and spread of a true communistic
gospel over the whole earth the reign of righteousness was to be brought in as the
consummation of the Latter-day mission. But such was original Mormonism ;
and it was Joseph Smith who was the Prophet of this communistic gospel in which
was to be evolved the best methods of a co-operative commonwealth inspired by
the spirit of the broadest social benevolence. This system was styled the '' Order
of Enoch," and it signified simply and truly a society based upon a perfect co-op-
erative order, practically worked in all its affairs by co-operative principles and in-
spired by the spirit of a universal Christ-like benevolence. It was, in fine, the
order of the Kingdom of Heaven to be established upon the earth in the last days.
Its peculiar style — the " Order of Enoch "—signified to the Mormon understand-
S86 HISTORY OF SALT LAKE CJTY.
ing that such a perfect communistic system existed in the earliest patriarchal age
among Enoch and his people. Thus socially considered, we may form a pretty
lucid and comprehensive idea of what Enoch's walking with God in the early age
of the world signified; and from the revelations given by the Prophet Joseph his-
torically of Enoch and his people, it appears that their supreme social boast was
that there were " no poor in Zion." Such a Zion was to be established in the last
days; and in the consummation of asocial system which would truly and most
perfectly realize Zion, according to the conception of the Prophet Joseph, was
the grand socialistic aim of the Mormon mission. Co-operation is as much a car-
dinal and essential doctrine of the Mormon Church as baptism for the remission
of sins ; and every Mormon Elder who understands the philosophy of his own
system could affirm that without co-operation society cannot be saved. Further-
more, it has been the ambition of the Mormon leaders to evolve their own social
system. Hence their wonderful "gatherings'' — the emigration of a hundred and
fifty thousand converts from Europe; their founding of hundreds of cities and
settlements under a temporal Priesthood of Bishops, and hence also their patri-
archal and polygamic institutions. We are not, however, in this chapter, about to
treat of the strange religious and social system of the Mormons ; but to speak of
the efforts of Brigham Young in 1868-9 ^^d '70 to transform this people into
a grand co-operative community and afterwards to perfect them as the " United
Order of Enoch."
The co-operative exposition, then, shows us that early in his day, Joseph
Smith attempted to found a communistic church, — not after the order of the
French Communists and sceptics, nor even after that of the more reverent Robert
Owen; but such a communistic church or social and religious brotherhood as the
great English socialist believed Jesus and his apostles attempted to establish on
the earth as the pattern of things in the heavens. Apostasy and persecutions,
however, prevented the Mormon Prophet from consummating this grand "design
of the Heavens" to found, through him, a socialistic-religious brotherhood on
the earth ushering in the earth's Millennium. But the Mormon apostles and the
elders generally believe that all this would be ultimately consummated in their
mission. At home and abroad this splendid ideal — which Robert Owen, in his
latter moments especially, would have reveled in as a vision of New Jerusalem —
often formed the subject of the most inspired sermons of the elders. Thus it
continued as an ideal in the Mormon faith for nearly a quarter of a century after
the death of the Mormon Prophet, before Brigham Young vigorously attempted to
carry the plan into execution.
The reasons of this delay were— first, the extraordinary and unfavorable cir-
cumstances of the Mormon people during that period. There was the exodus
from Nauvoo and then the peopling of these numerous valleys with the tens of
thousands of destitute emigrants from Europe. They had also to convert the
desert into a fruitful field. The law of their condition might have been well ex-
pressed in Lincoln's homely injunction — "Root, hog, or die." This period, there-
fore, was not the one to establish the order of Zion— for such the "Order of
Enoch" is — nor to open effectively a probationary and preparatory period with
some prudent co operative plan upon which the moneyed men of the country as
well as the people could unite.
A
HISTORY OF SALT LAKE CITY. 387
According to these views of the true genius of the Mormon commonwealth
and the proper socialistic aims of the Church, a Zion's Co-operative plan is most
legitimate. Upon it, Mormon society must sooner or later be completely and per-
fectly constructed or the Church will fail to embody her own social philosophy.
This communistic gospel of the Mormons thirty years ago attracted the attention
of the great socialistic apostles of Ei^land and won their admiration. It did so
with George Jacob Holyoak and his class ; and the famous and learned socialist,
Brontier O'Brian, in one of the most powerful and discriminating editorials ever
written upon the Mormons and their commonwealth, said in Reynolds'' Newspaper
that the Mormons had " created a soul under the rib of death ! " It was a matter
of supreme astonishment to these great apostles of socialism to find a Christian
Church in this age working abreast of themselves in social reforms; and they
boldly and justly proclaimed that the Mormons were the only people in Christen-
dom who were building upon the true social base-work as exemplified in the early
Christian Church. And what made the Mormon movement, in its socialistic as-
pects, so singular and interesting to these men was the fact that the Mormons were
working out a new social order harmonious with the co-operative and communistic
plans of a Robert Owen, yet with God in their system and a mighty faith in their
people inspiring them to a great social reconstruction. They frankly confessed
that in this respect the Mormon apostles had the advantage of all other reformers
of the social system.
The Mormons as a community were about to test the strength of their tem-
poral bulwark. They were also, for the first time in their history, to meet an
adequate trial of the communistic genius of their Church, at once in its potency
in the sense of a community's aggregated force and in the adhesive and the pre-
serving qualities of that genius in the sense of a communistic power of resistance.
But we must return to the historical narrative of the period, that we may review
the salient points of the situation during the years 1868-69-70. Early in 186S5
the merchants were startled by the announcement " that it was advisable that the
people of Utah Territory should become their own merchants; " and that an or-
ganization should be created for them expressly for importing and distributing
merchandise on a comprehensive plan. When it was asked of President Young,
" What do you think the merchants will do in this matter; will they fail in with
this co-operative idea?" he answered, "I do not know, but if they do not we
shall leave them out in the cold, the same as the Gentiles, and their goods shall
rot upon their shelves."
This surely was implacable ; but, as already observed, Brigham Young and
the Mormons as a peculiar community had in 1868 come face to face with impla-
cable necessities. They had, in fact, to cease to be a communistic power in the
world and from that moment exist as a mere religious sect, or preserve their tem-
poral cohesiveness. The Mormons from the first have existed as a society, not
as a sect. They have combined the two elements of organization — the social and
the religious. They are now a new society-power in the world and an entirety in
themselves. They are indeed the only religious community in Christendom of
^88 HISTORY OF SALT LAKE CITY.
modern birth. They existed as such in Ohio; in Missouri, in Illinois, and finally
in Utah ; and to preserve themselves as a community they made an exodus to the
isolation of the Rocky Mountains. They intend forever to preserve themselves
as a community; that was the plain and simple meaning of Brigham Young's an-
swer concerning the merchants in 1868. It was not an exodus which was then
needed to so preserve them, but a Zion's X^o-operative Mercantile Institution.
The subsequent history abundantly shows as much ; many times since, as we shall
find by tracing the lines of the Mormon financial influences abroad, Z. C. M. I.
has moved the commercial world everywhere to the preservation of that peculiar
community of which it has become the temporal bulwark. There was, therefore,
at once the extraordinary sagacity of a great society organizer as well as genuine
Mormon fidelity in President Young's answer. If the merchants do not fall in
with Zion's Co-operative movement to preserve herself intact " we will leave them
out in the cold, the same as the Gentiles." President John Taylor or George
Q. Cannon would have answered precisely the same. Indeed, this was the united
decision of the Apostles upon the co-operative necessities of the times, and it
was a co-operation among the mercantile and financial class of the community
that was so essentially required in 186S-69-70. To appreciate the radical necessity
of such a combination of the Mormon moneyed classes at that time will be to
sociologically understand the birth and subsequent history of Z. C. M. I. and the
immense service which three or four of the chief commercial and moneyed men
of the Territory did to the community in resigning their own base-work to a
Zion's Institution, thus setting the example to the lesser mercantile powers
throughout the Territory.
The co-operative plan having been sufficiently evolved in the mind of Presi-
dent Young and his apostolic compeers, the President called a meeting of the
merchants in the City Hall, October, 1868. It was there and then determined
to adopt a general co-operative plan throughout the Territory to preserve the com-
merce and money resources of the people within themselves, and thus also to
preserve the social unity. As yet, however, the methods of co-operation were
not perfected nor the idea of a Z, C. M. I. completely evolved. It was necessary
for the merchants themselves to work out the idea into practical shape, it being
their special movement, though inspired by the Church from the very impulse of
her own genius. To be true to the integrity of history, it must be confessed
that of themselves the merchants never would have re-constructed themselves upon
a co-operative plan. The inspiration of the moment was from the Church, while
its success was in such men as Jennings and Hooper and Eldredge and Clawson ;
but especially was the commercial basework of Mr. Jennings, with his Eagle Em-
porium, required for the foundation of an Institution colossal enough to represent
a community. Brigham Young was wise enough to know the necessary parts of
the combination.
The initial movement of co-operation having been made, meeting followed
meeting ; a committee was appointed to frame a constitution and by-laws, and,
without seeing the end from the beginning, their part of the programme was car-
ried out, and an institution formed on paper; subscriptions were solicited, and
cash fell into the cofTers of the Treasurer pro tern. This was during the winter
HISTORY OF SALT LAKE CITY, j<?p
months of 1868. With the turn of the year a committee was appointed to com-
mence operations. They waited upon the President for advice, who, in his quiet
but decided way, said : " Go to work and do it.'' After a little conversation,
the question was again suggested : " What shall we do?" With the same sen-
tentious brevity, the reply came, "Go to work and do it." " But how ? " the
questioners continued j "we haven't enough money ; we haven't the goods ; we
have no building; we haven't sufficient credit." " Go to work and do it, and I
will show you how," was the President's finality to those who came to seek
counsel.
To some minds these sententious answers of Brigham Young will be merely
illustrations of a despotic resolve 10 force into existence a mercantile co-operation
by the power which he held over the Latter-day Saints in all the world. That
universal dominance of the head of the Church is admitted ; and in 1868, before
the opening of the Utah mines, and the existence of a mixed population, there
was no commercial escape from the necessities of a combination. But while the
imperativeness of President Young's resolve may be frankly confessed, his sagacity
was as strongly illustrated as the absoluteness of his purpose. Indeed, these fam-
ous replies of Brigham, which were current in the public conversations of Salt
Lake City at the time, may be considered, with their significance brought out, as
fine tributes to the commercial power and capacity of three or four men, easily
named, who could "go to work and do it " better than he could advise them. The
co-operative genius evolved in the gatherings of the people into a community in
Ohio, Missouri, Illinois and Utah, had already manifested itself. To fail in Mor-
mon cooperation was, therefore, something that Brigham Young could not under-
stand.
To sum up, then, the people possessed the genius of co-operation, and Brig-
ham Young possessed the will ; while around him there was a small circle of men
who, for commercial energy and honor, instincts for great enterprises, and finan-
cial capacity generally, would be esteemed as pre-eminent in any commercial state
in the world.
Thus considered, Brigham Young's famous words, " Go to work and do it,"
have an extraordinary commercial weight. They signified, in the strongest possi-
ble brevity of expression, first, perhaps, faith in himself; next^ faith in the peo-
ple; and, lastly, confidence in the organic capacity and financial power of a few
men whom he had clearly defined in his mind. Those who have repeated with
any other meaning these words of Brigham Young — words which are as types ot
the period — have but poorly appreciated the historical import of his mighty in-
junction.
Review the commercial and financial combination as defined in Brigham
Young's mind at that moment. There was, perhaps, first, the Hon. William H.
Hooper. He had served the people faithfully in Congress ever since the " Utah
War," and the President esteemed him as the keystone of the commercial arch.
As a far-seeing, watchful politician, also William H. Hooper could perfectly com-
prehend at once the political and commercial complications of the times and fore-
see that, as the people's Delegate, he would soon have to grapple in Congress with
the same essential problem that Brigham Young had to grapple with at home.
390 HISTORY OF SALT LAKE CTTY.
This was, to preserve the community intact and sufficiently resistive toward all an-
tagonistic forces; and scarcely a year had passed ere the Hon. William H. Hooper
fully realized this iiT his defence of the Mormons against the Cullom Bill, He,
therefore, in the crisis of 1869-70 — the date now reached — could well appreciate
Brigham Young's words, "Go to work and do it ! "
There was, probably, next in the President's mind, Horace S. Eldredge.
He had been with the people in their troubles in Missouri and Illinois, had conducted
their emigrations and was one of the commercial founders of the Mormon com-
monwealth in Utah. Therefore Horace S. Eldredge was a proper foundation-
stone of Z. C. M. I.
The third — and in some respects the most important man defined in the
President's mind — was William Jennings. In 1869, he could have carried a mil-
lion dollars to either side in means and credit. He had the goods at that moment
in Salt Lake City ; he had built his Eagle Emporium, which was quite worthy of
Zion's Co-operative Mercantile Institution to open business in, and he had abun-
dance of commercial credit either East or West to sustain the president in his
great design.
After these three first named, came John Sharp, Feramorz Little, Henry W.
Lawrence and William S. Godbe ; besides H. B. Clawson, who was Brigham
Young's son-in-law and late business manager, and at this time in partnership with
Horace S. Eldredge. Undoubtedly, President Young was depending upon all
these above named.
The combinations thus reviewed, reconsider the conversations of the occasion
when that committee waited on President Young, for the record is given with
historical exactness :
"Go to work and do it."
"But how?"
" I will show you — " substantially implying : " you have plenty of money;
you have buildings; you have abundance of goods; you have sufficient credit."
The President was right ; and the merchants realized that there was no get-
ting around his solid views.
To the everlasting honor of William Jennings be it said, he did not betray
the President an& the people in their co-operative movement. Mr. Stenhouse
treats his act as a shrewd piece of business policy : but the true historian can only
consider it as an act commensurate with the needs of those times. William Jen-
nings resigned his business basis to Z. C. M. I., sold his stock to it for over
;$ 200,000, and rented his Eagle Emporium for three years to the institution at an
annual rental of $8,000. Eldredge & Clawson also sold their stock and resigned
their business basis to Z. C. M. I., and other leading firms followed the example.
The organization of Z. C. M. I., was at length effected in the winter of
1868-69. It consisted of a president, vice-president, secretary, treasurer and
seven directors. Brigham Young was very properly chosen president ; J. M.
Bernhisel, vice-president; Wm. Clayton, Secretary and D. O. Calder, treasurer;
George A. Smith, William Jennings, G. Q. Cannon, William H. Hooper, H. S.
Eldredge, H. W. Lawrence, and H. B. Clawson, directors; H. B. Clawson,
superintendent.
HISTORY OF SAL T LAKE CITY
391
Several changes, however, were soon made in the Board and officers of the
Iiistitution. Thomas G. Webber succeeded William Clayton as the secretary,
Thomas Williams was elected at the same time treasurer. Henry W. Lawrence
retired from the Institution and sold his interest in it to Horace S. Eldredge.
The policy which had been wisely and considerately pursued in purchasing the
stock of existing firms, or receiving them as investments at just rates, shielded from
embarassment those who would otherwise have inevitably suffered from the inau-
guration and prestige of the Z. C. M. I.
Simultaneously with the framing of the parent institution, local organizations
were formed in all the settlements of the Territory ; each feeling itself in duty
bound to sustain the one central depot and to make their purchases from it. The
people, with great unanimity, became shareholders in their respective local co-op-
atives, and also in the parent institution ; so that they might enjoy the profits of
their own investment and purchases. Thus, almost in a day, was effected a great
re-construction of the commercial relations and methods of an entire community
which fitted the purposes of the times and preserved the temporal unity of the
Mormon people as well as erecting for them a mighty financial bulwark.
CHAPTER XLIV.
POLITICAL SIGNIFICANCE TO UTAH OF THE ELECTION OF GRANT AND COL-
FAX. THE " FATHERS OF THE CHURCH " SPEAK TO THE NATION ON THE
SUBJECT OF ABOLISHING POLYGAMY. COLFAX'S DISAPPOINTMENT AND
IRE. A DELEGATION OF CHICAGO MERCHANTS VISIT SALT LAKE ON
THE COMPLETION OF THE U. P. R. R ; ALSO DISTINGUISHED STATESMEN.
BRIGHAM YOUNG'S FAMOUS CONVERSATION WITH SENATOR TRUMBULL,
COUNCIL OF THE CHICAGO MERCHANTS, STATESMEN AND UTAH GEN-
TILES HELD AT THE HOUSE OF J. R. WALKER, TRUMBULL RELATES
THE CONVERSATION WITH BRIGHAM. A GENERAL WAR TALK. THE
SECOND VISIT OF COLFAX TO SALT LAKE CITY.
We return to the general history.
The election of U. S. Grant to the presidency of the United States, and of
Schuyler Colfax to the vice-presidency, signified to Utah, a persistent policy on
the part of the Government to grapple with Utah affairs. Originally, as we have
seen, in the letters of Mr. Bowles, from Salt Lake City, the programm.e was in-
tended to be comparatively mild and tolerant toward the Mormon people, though
firm and decisive, and the base of operations a solid ground for the Mormon
people to reconstruct themselves upon, under the direction of the Government.
It is most probable that Mr. Colfax had forecast a settlement of the difficult
Mormon problem through the coalition of himself and Brigham Young, the one
3g2 HISTORY OF SALT LAKE CITY.
representing the government and will of United States, and the other the Mor-
mon Church as a party to a compromise. This seems to have been the meaning
of those passages referring to Mr. Colfax's "suggestion " " that he had hoped
the prophets of the church would have a new revelation on the subject, which
should put a stop to the practice ; " adding " thai as the people of Missouri and
Maryland, without waiting for the action of the general Government against slavery,
themselves believing it to be wrong and an impediment to their prosperity, had taken
measures to abolish it, so he hoped that the people of the Mormon Church tvould
move for the abandonment of polygamy, and thus all objectio7i to the admission of
Utah as a State be taken away : but that until it was, no such admission was
possible, and that the Government could not contifiue to look indifferently upon the
enlaigement of so offensive a practice. And not only what Mr. Young said, but his
whole manner left with us the impression that, if public opinion and the Govern-
ment united vigorously, but at the same time discreetly, to press the question,
there would be found some way to acquiesce in the demand, and change the
practice of the present fathers of the Church."
Speaker Colfax — politician though he was — may well be pardoned for enter-
taining for awhile the pretty plan, suggested in the above, for the solution of the
Mormon problem. On his part, with the presidency of the United States in his
prospect, or at least the vice-presidency, and with the powerful Republican party,
then in its giant strength, at his back, he could doubtless have kept his part of
the compact had it been made. Utah would have become a State — a Republican
State, held in vassalage by the very Mormon vote itself to the parly which had
created it ; polygamy would have been abolished by a new revelation, which of
course to Mr. Colfax simply meant the will and say-so of Brigham Young, and
the Mormon Church would soon have become defunct in every sense of its past ex-
istence. The accomplishment of this project would have been a great triumph in
Mr. Colfax's life, scarcely less than would have been his election to the Presidential
Chair. As President of the United States he would have been but one among
many ; as solver of the Mormon problem he would have stood alone in American
history. Already since the Mormons left " the borders of civilization " in 1846,
up to the date of the first Colfax visit, five Presidents of the United States had
held the Mormon community in their hands. Mr. Polk had designed to occupy
California for the nation, by the Mormon community, two years before the dis-
covery of gold threw the nation on to the Pacific Coast as from a tidal wave;
Mr. Filmore had, in the popular mind, clothed the Mormon Church in the habil-
aments of a Territory and endowed Brigham Young with gubernatorial power
and prestige; Mr. Pierce, much to the disgust of both political friends, and foes
who would gladly have seen Utah dismantled, re-appointed Brigham Young; Mr.
Buchanan had the Utah war forced upon him, first by the action of his prede-
cessors, and finally by the will and pleasure of both political parties; Mr. Lincoln
had sent word "if Brigham Young and the Mormons will let me alone I will let
them alone;" but in the consummation of the whole to Mr. Colfax was to be
given the triumph of dismantling the Mormon Church, by a new revelation from
herself, and the transformation of an Israelitish commonwealth into a Gentile or
apostate State. The plan was well conceived from a politician's point of view,
HISTORY OF SALT LAKE CITY. jgj
and in a worldly sense there was much statesoianship in it. But Brigham Young
and the Apostles understood it, much better than Mr. Colfax and his friends
both as touching the policy of the compromise, the new revelation and the con-
sequences that would overtake their church. It is an old Mormon adage, which
we quote, not apply — "When God and the Devil strike hands, the kingdom of
God is no more."
The "fathers of the Church" hastened to correct the mistakes of Mr. Col-
fax and his friends relative to their being any possibility of a compromise on their
part and rebuked them for giving out to the world that a new revelation might
soon be expected through them, abandoning polygamy. Mr. Bowles in his sup-
plementary papers calls attention to this apostolic utterance. He wrote:
" My readers may be interested to know the reply of the Mormons to my
letters on the subject of polygamy. The Deseret JVews, the official organ of the
church, had such a reply in August, 1865, from which I quote:
"As a people we view every revelation from the Lord as sacred. Polygamy
was none of our seeking. It came to us from Heaven, and we recognized in it,
and still do, the voice of Him whose right it is not only to teach us but tD dictate
and teach all men, for in his hand is the breath of the nostrils, the life and exis-
tence of the proudest, most exalted, most learned or puissant of the children of
men. It- is extremely difficult, nay utterly impossible, for those who have not
been blessed with the gift of the Holy Ghost, to enter into our feelings, thoughts
and faith in these matters. They talk of revelation given, and of receiving counter
revelation to forbid what has been commanded, as if man was the sole author,
originator and designer of them. Granted that they do not believe the revela-
tions we have received come from God ; granted they do not believe in God at
all — if they so desire — do they wish to brand a whole people with the foul stigma of
hypocrisy, who, from their leaders to the last converts that have made the dreary
journey to these mountain wilds for their faith, have proved their honesty of pur-
pose and deep sincerity of faith by the most sublime sacrifice?? Either that is
the issue of their reasoning, or they imagine that we serve the most accommodat-
ing Deity ever dreamed of in the wildest vagaries of the most savage polytheist.
Either they imagine we believe man concocts and devises the revelations which
we receive, or that we serve a God who will oblige us at any time by giving revela-
tions to suit our changing fancies, or the dictation of men who have declared the
canon of revelation full, sealed up the heavens as brass, and utterly repudiated
the affairs of the Almighty in the affairs of men ; by the first of these suppo-
sitions we would be gross hypocrites ; by the other gross idiots.
" Know gentlemen of the press, and all whom it may concern, that though
a repugnance to this doctrine may be expressed by one in a thousand of the people
whom you call 'Mormons,' he is not one, nor recognized as such by that com-
munity of which he may be called a member. If one revelation is untrue, all are
untrue; if one was revealed by God, all have their origin in the same Divine
source."
This now is the true utterance of the Church, whether it pleases or displeases
the State. This is the voice of Brigham Young and his fellow apostles as " proph-
ets, seers, and revelators," and not as a party indulging over "strawberries " and
394 HISTORY OF SALT LAKE CIT K
the dinner table, in "the freest and frankest" conversation "ever known" be-
tween the Church and the State over the subject of the sacred oracles and the fit-
ness of their speech to the times and conformity to the wishes and suggestions of
the State. No church, with a priesthood and the oracles, could faithfully answer
differently to the answer which this one gave through the Dcseret Neitjs. The
Catholic Church in its last four hundred years of controversy with the State, to
say nothing of the early days of the church under the Roman emporers, is proof
that no such church can compromise with the State, or renounce anything that
constitutes its type.
When once the mistake came home to Mr. Colfax, through the apostolic re-
buke of the Deseret News, he, perhaps, also clearly saw, and too keenly felt, the
humility of the State, occupying a false position in the presence of the Church.
He had been self-deceived, — undoubtedly he thought imposed upon by Brigham
Young — but really led away by the plausibility of his plan to solve the polygamic
difficulty, by inducing the " fathers of the Church" to compromise with the govern-
ment for a State, Avith amnesty for all the past, and recognition of existing family
relations up to a certain date.
It is fairly due to Mr. Colfax to believe that his policy of settlement was con-
ceived in the spirit of generosity and consideration, towards the Mormon people
at least, and that the glowing speeches, made very much as a tribute to them, by
himself and companions, were thoroughly genuine, but it is also certain that Mr.
Colfax was, with the sequel, both disappointed and chagrined. From that time,
there was no man in America more indisposed to compromise with the Mormon
Church than he — not even the Apostle John Taylor, with whom Mr. Colfax dis-
cussed the Utah-Mormon question after he became Vice-President. It was in this
stern spirit of uncompromise that Mr. Colfax made his second visit to Salt Lake
City in October, 1869.
In the beginning ot July, 1869, a delegation of Chicago merchants, seeking
the trade of the West, with several distinguished American statesmen, arrived in
Salt Lake City. It was by far the most important body of representative men of
the Nation and its commerce that had visited the West ; and their advent to our
city, at that juncture, had a potent influence in the affairs of our Territory, not
only in its commerce, but in the subsequent congressional legislation. The party
consisted of the following persons — statesmen, bankers, merchants, etc.
Hon. L. Trumbull, U. S. Senator for Illinois ; General R. J. Ogelsby, ex-
governor of Illinois; Hon. N. B. Judd, M. C; Hon. J. V. Arnold; Hon. W.
6. Hinkley; Rev. Clinton Looke, D. D.; J. Medill, editor of the Chicago 7ri-
bune ; J. M. Richards, president of the Chicago Board of Trade; Messrs. J. L.
Hancock, O. S. Hough, J. V. Farwell, J. H. Bowen, F. D. Gray, W. T. Allen,
A. Cowles ,G. M. Kimbark, E. W. Blatchford, G. S. Bowen, C. G. Hammond,
O. Lunt, T. Dent, C. G. Wicker, B. F. Haddock, S. Wait, E. V. Robbins, J.
A. Ellison, C. Tobey, J. R. Nichols, E. F. Hollister, E. G. Keith, C. Gossage.
J. Stockton, D. W. Whittle, Mr. Mead, O. L. Grant, (brother of President
E. G. Squires, and others.
Headed by Col. James H. Bowen, to whom great credit was due for the efficient
manner in which everything connected with the excursion had been managed; the
HISTORY OF SALT LAKE CITY. jgj
Delegation called on President Young, at ii o'clock A. M., July loth, 1869.
Col. Bowen, surrounded by the members of the party, delivered the following
address :
^' Fresidetit Brigham Young: We call upon you this morning as members
of a representative commercial party from the city of Chicago, who are en route
upon a visit to San Francisco, the purpose of which is to facilitate commercial re-
lations with localities made tributary by the completion of the Union and Central
Pacific railroads.
" Esteeming the Territory of Utah one of the important localities, we have
come to its capital to greet you and those engaged in commercial transactions in
your midst, and to invite co-operation in our efforts.
" We also come to congratulate yuu upon the auspicious and speedy com-
pletion of the great national highway, that binds together the distant extremes of
our country, that relieves the people of their long and profound isolation and
places them and their products within a few days of steam locomotion of the
great markets of the Union, thereby increasing the value of their labor and re-
ducing the cost of their goods, and adding immensely to their wealth and their
comforts, and placing them within easy reach of all the social as well as material
enjoyments of life.
'• In passing swiftly through the far-famed Echo and Weber canyons, we were
deeply awed and grandly impressed with the majesty of the scenery and filled with
wonder at the herculean task accomplished in the building of the railway through
and over such seemingly insurmountable obstacles of nature in so incredibly short
a space of time. A considerable share of the credit and honor of this achive-
ment properly belongs to you and your people, who rendered hearty, efficient and
timely aid to the company charged with the completion of this gigantic national
highway, and we hope you will live long to enjoy the fruits of these beneficial
labors. You will have further cause of congratulation when the branch road
is completed which shall connect the capital of Utah with the main line, which
work Ave are glad to learn is rapidly progressing towards completion.
"We have examined and scrutinized your wonderful development and the utili-
zation of the barren nature which surrounded you in your early occupation of the
valley. It demonstrates what can be reached by skillful industry and well di-
rected energy, and is worthy of high commendation.
" Allow me the pleasure of introducing to you the members of our party,
collectively and individually."
President Young replied :
' ' Col. J. H. Bowen, chairman of the representative commercial party of the
city of Chicago, and gentlemen: I will briefly say in behalf of my friends here,
and on my own part, gentlemen, you are each and all welcome ; we are pleased to
see you ; we sincerely hope you are well and enjoying yourselves and that your
excursion to the West will be productive of much benefit to all concerned.
" We congratulate you on the energy displayed by the commercial men of
Chicago in advancing the business interests of the West, and we accept this as an
index of more abundant success in the future. We are with you, heart and hand,
in all that promotes the public good.
396 HISTORY OF SALT LAKE CITY.
" We thank you for your congraculation and duly appreciate the high estimate
which you hold of our labors. It is true we are the pioneers of this Western civ-
ilization, and that we have to some extent assisted in the development of the re-
sources of the great West. It is true that we have built over 300 miles of the
great Pacific Railroad, an enterprise for which, by the way, we memorialized
Congress in 1852 ; but this of the past. Our labors are before the world, they
speak for themselves. Our aim is to press onward, diligently to perform the part
allotted to us in the great drama of life, and, having ever in view the glory of
God and our country, the rights of man, and social independence, strive for the
maintenance of those glorious principles which compose our Federal Constitution.' '
Col. Bowen then introduced the gentlemen of the party, and a general and
very agreeable conversation of upwards of an hour ensued.
This call upon ex-Governor Young, as the founder of Salt Lake City, and
the pomp and formality of the interview, gave a very proper initial to the busi-
ness and purposes of the delegation; but their council on Utah affairs was held at
the residence of Mr. J. R. Walker. There the delegation met representative
Gentiles of the city, Federal officials, military men, and non-Mormon merchants,
among whom were the Walker Brothers, Colonel Kahn, John Chislett, General P.
Edward Connor, Major Charles H. Hempstead, Judges Hawley and Strickland,
O. J. Hollister, R. H. Robertson, Major Overton, and Captain Thomas H, Bates.
Designedly marked was the absence of Chief Justice Wilson, and Secretary
Mann, whose fair standing with the Mormon people rendered them altogether un-
fitted for this very pronounced non-Mormon assembly. The meeting was a sort
or informal national council, held on the spot, over Utah affairs, and it meanc
the determination of capacious special legislation, such as was quickly thereafter
developed in the Cullom BilL General Connor and Major Hempstead were there
to give to the distinguished visitors emphatic views of the Mormon leaders, con-
sonant with the early relations between the City and Camp Douglas, when its guns
were planted on the city and its provost guard paraded our streets; the Federal
officers were there to ask for special legislation, the removal of Chief Justice Wil-
son and Secretary Mann, and the appointment of such men as were soon after-
wards sent by President Grant, in the persons of Governor Shaffer and Judge
McKean, all aiming to make the Federal power absolute in the control of the af-
fairs of the Territory ; and the non-Mormon merchants were there to represent to
the Chicago merchants the commercial crisis of that period, in which, to use the
phrase of the time, they were "left out in the cold." by the establishing of
Zion's Co-operative Mercantile Institution.
The two large rooms of Mr. Walker's residence were filled. Over forty per-
sons were present. The munificent host had abundantly suppled his distinguished
guests with champagne. Colfax and his friends, on their first visit to our city, fell
upon strawberry beds, and discussed social problems with Brigham and the
apostles over the dinner table, where the blessing was surely asked and " peace "
and the " good Spirit '" invoked. But this meeting was belligerent. Champagne
was better suited to its purposes than either strawberries or blessings. The spirit of
war was invoked rather than the " good spirit of peace." There was, they say, that
day " the fullest and freest expression that had ever occurred in Utah," all of course
HISTORY OF SALT LAKE CITY. jgy
with a strong, decided anti-Mormon animus and aim. " Everybody gave vent ;"
"war talk ran around ;" Senator Trumbull related to the company that famous
conversation between him and President Young, in which the latter had said to
the effect that, if the Federal officers didn'c behave themselves, he would have
them ridden out of the city ; and from this meeting the report of that conversa-
tion between Senator Trumbull and President Young ran throughout the United
States ; and gave to Vice-President Colfax the advantage to push General Grant
almost to the verge of actual war against Mormon Utah. Such was the bearing
of that counsel held at the house of Mr. J. R. Walker, over Utah affairs, in July,
1869.
The telegrams from San Francisco brought news that on the return of the
Vice-President from the " Golden State " he would tarry for several days in Salt
J.ake City,
At a meeting of the City Council, held at the City Hall, October ist, 1869,
Aldermen Clinton, Richards and Pyper, committee, presented the following pre-
amble and resolution, which were unanimously adopted :
"Whereas, His Excellency Schuyler Colfax, Vice-President of the United
States, and party, are about to visit our city on their way returning from Califor-
nia to the E^st, and being desirous to contribute to their pleasure by extending
to them a cordial welcome ;
"Therefore, be it resolved by the City Council of Salt Lake City, that the
hospitalities of said city be tendered to the Vice-President and party, during their
stay, as a feeble but hearty demonstration of our sympathies with a great Nation,
who have by their suffrages, conferred upon him such eminence in their political
existence, and that appropriate committees be appointed to carry this resolution
into effect."
In pursuance of the foregoing, Alderman S. W. Richards and Councilor
Theodore McKean were appointed a committee on behalf of the Council to meet
said party, with suitable coaches at Uintah Station and accompany them to
the city.
Mayor D. H. Wells, Hon. W! H. Hooper, Alderman J. Clinton and Mar-
shal J. D. T. McAllister were appointed a committee of reception, on arriving at
the Townsend House, in this city, where ample arrangements would be made for
entertainment during their stay.
On the 3rd of October, the delegation from the City Council met the Colfax
party at Uintah Station, from which point the party was escorted to the city, where
they arrived in the afternoon, and were received by the reception committee,
headed by Mayor Wells and Hon. W. H. Hooper, who was at that time our Dele-
gate to Congress. The hospitalities of the city was tendered to "the distin-
guished visitors," who, however, declined on the ground that the party was travel-
ing in a strictly private capacity; and having spent a brief, but seemingly cordial
interview with the representatives of the city, the Vice-President excused himself
and party on account of fatigue, etc., of the journey.
It was understood, however, by this time, that the vice-President entertained
a deep and abiding resentment towards the Mormon leaders, and an utter indis-
3g8 HISTORY OF SALT LAKE CITY.
position for further intercourse with the " fathers," either of the Church or the city.
Mr. Stenhouse, in his book, thus notes the cause of the offense :
"Mr. Colfax politely refused to accept the proffered courtesies of the city,
Brigham was reported to have uttered abusive language in the Tabernacle towards
the Government and Congress, and to have charged the President and vice-Presi-
dent with being drunkards and gamblers. One of the aldermen who waited up-
on Mr. Colfax, to tender him the hospitalities of the city, could only say that ' he
did not hear Brigham say so.' The weakness of the denial confirmed the infor-
mation obtained from so many sources that the Prophet had really said so, and Mr.
Colfax followed his own programme during his stay."
CHAPTER XLV.
THE VICE-PRESIDENT ARRANGING FOR WAR ON THE SAINTS. H£ IS LET INTO
THE SECRET OF THE PROJECTED GODBEITE SCHISM AND ENCOURAGES
IT. HIS QUESTION-" WILL BRIGHAM YOUNG FIGHT?" OUTBURST OF THE
SCHISM. THE NEW YORK HERALD SENDS ON A SPECIAL AGENT WITH IN-
STRUCTIONS TO SUPPORT THE SECEDERS.
There can be no doubt that Vice-President Colfax came up to Utah this tune
with a war programme very nearly perfected in his mind. His deep chagrin at
the indignity which he believed Brigham Young had put upon the Government
and himself, had made him the uncompromising enemy of the apostolic head of
Mormondom, and the institutions and rule that seemed to derive life from his po-
tent administration and his supreme will. Colfax, in fact, had resolved on the
entire overthrow of Brigham Young and the domination of the Mormon hierarchy
over Utah. He had unquestionably represented to President Grant that Mor-
mondom was nothing less than a standing Rebeldom, which, ever and anon,
hurled defiance or insult in the face of the general Government, and that Brigham
Young had been at the head and front of it for a quarter of a century. To be
convinced, with a man like Grant, was to resolve to conquer " Polygamic The-
ocracy " by a Federal rule in Utah as iron-heeled as that placed upon any of the
rebel States of the South. The method generally approved by the country at that
time was to work up the action by the most summary Congressional legislation,
and to consummate it by military force. Hence, at that moment, the entire
country looked upon another Mormon war as imminent, for an internal revolution
had not been dreamt of then by the Government, or thought possible by any out-
side observer. It was under such an aspect of affairs that the Colfax party made
its second visit to Utah ; and his coming practically meant a warning to the Mor-
mon people, or a proclamation of the war intentions of the Government, just as
they chose.
HISTORY OF SALT LAKE CITY.. jpp
The arrival of the Vice-President found the Jew and Gentile merchants in
consternation over co-operation. The Federal officers were in despair of ever be-
ing able to grapple with the problem, without military invasion of the situa-
tion, and the whole Gentile population saw themselves about to be more than ever
" left out in the cold" Even the Walker Brothers were almost inclined to end
their long controversy with the Church and leave Utah to her fate. But Colfax
sought to rekindle the smouldering fire of a radical Gentile antagonism and
pledged to the opposition the support of the Government to all intents and
purposes.
Just at this crisis, it was deemed prudent, by certain of the confidants, to
entrust the Vice-President with the secret that a number of influential Elders who
were capable of controlling the commercial issue of the times, and able to affect
Mormondom by the local press, were actually on the eve of revolution. This was
better, even, than Mr. Colfax could have hoped to arrange by his visit and official
encouragement; but, at first, he seemed more desirous to see these Mormon Pro-
testants enlist in a crusade inaugurated by the Government, than that they should
occupy the situation by a reform movement. A " Utah Expedition," sent by
General Grant, would be thorough in its work and speedy in its cure. On the
other hand a Protestant reform movement would be conservative, peaceful and
necessarily slow in its issues.
The Vice-President put himself in communication with the heretics. Mr.
Stenhouse was honored with a long drive and a confidential chat with him, be-
fore his departure from the city of the Saints.
" Will Brigham Young fight?'''' enquired Mr. Colfax, bringing the question
home to the issue that he most desired.
''For God's sake, Mr. Colfax!" exclaimed Stenhouse, "keep the United
States off. If the Government interferes and sends troops, you will spoil the
opportunity, and drive the thousands back into the arms of Brigham Young, who
are ready to rebel against the ' one-man power.' Leave the Mormon elders alone
to solve their own problems. We can do it; the Government cannot. If you
give us another Mormon war, we shall heal up the breach, go back in full fellow-
ship with the church and stand by the brethren. What else could we do? Our
families, friends and life-companions are all with the Mormon people. Mr. Col-
fax, take my word for it, the Mormons will fight the United States, if driven to
it in defense of their faith, as conscientious religionists always have fought. The
Mormons are naturally a loyal people. They only need to be broken off from the
influence of Brigham Young. Depend upon it, Mr, Colfax, the Government had
better let us alone with this business, simply giving its protection to the ' New
Movement men.' "
These were substantially the pleadings of Mr. Stenhouse to the significant
question of Vice-President Colfax — "Will Brigham Young fight?"
Mr. S. related to me the conversation between himself and the Vice-Presi-
dent on the same day of this fortunate ride and timely discussion of the Utah
question. Stenhouse's replies will show the tenor of the Vice-President's own
remarks, without my presuming to reproduce him from memory. His capital
^00 HISTORY OF SALT LAKE CITY.
words, however—" Will Brigham Young fight? " were driven like a nail into the
minds of the elders who were just about to commence their schism.
Nor was the conversation between Mr. Stenhouse and the Vice-President upon
the Mormon question and the crisis of the hour, unsupported by similiar views
and utterances, to members of the Government and to Federal officials, by the
men who were undertaking to revolutionize Utah and her institutions. They be-
lieved that they could affect Mormondom to its centre for good, or at least bring
over a large class of influential elders into a Protestant movement with a very
respectable following.
In briefly reviewing the events of those times Mr Stenhouse himself has said :
" The Vice-President and his friends were made acquainted with the forthcoming
opposition from members of the Church, and took much interest in the ' Move-
ment,' believing as they did that the one man power and the infallibility of the
priesthood had seen their day."
As the " New Movement" was fostered by the United States Government,
and became the nucleus of the "Liberal Party" of Utah, it is historically proper
to give it a circumstantial narrative. In coupling the " New Movement" with
the visit of Vice-President Colfax to our City, Mr. Stenhouse says:
"Another and unlooked-for phase of Mormon experience was soon to de-
mand public attention. Two elders were trying to establish a literary paper — The
Utah Magazine — the proprietors were W. S. Godbe and E. L. T. Harrison ; the
latter was the editor. Elder Harrison had essayed once before, with his friend
Edward W. Tullidge, to make literature a profession among the Saints, and had
established the Peep O' Day ; but they met with insurmountable difficulties, and
the paper stopped. The Magazine, with even Mr. Godbe's willing hand and
ready purse to support it, realized that the effort to establish a purely literary paper
in Utah was premature. The career of the Magazine was fast hastening to a
close, and by way of rest and recreation, the editor accompanied the merchant to
New York. * * *
"Away from Utah, and traveling over the Plains, the old rumbling stage
roach afforded the two friends, as every traveler in those days experienced, an ex-
cellent opportunity for reflection. On their way, they compared notes respecting
the situation of things at home, and spoke frankly together of their doubts and
difficulties with the faith. They discovered, clearly enough that they were — in
the language of the orthodox — ' on the road to apostasy,' yet in their feelings
they did not want to leave Mormonism or Utah. A struggle began in their minds.
" One proposition followed another, and scheme after scheme was the subject
of discussion, but not one of those schemes or propositions, when examined,
seemed desirable; they were in tenible mental anguish. Arrived in New York
and comfortable in their hotel, in the evening they concluded to pray for guidance.
They wanted light, either to have their doubts removed and their faith in Mor-
monism confirmed, or yet again to have the light of their own intellects increased
that they might be able to follovv unwaveringly their convictions. In this state of
mind the two elders assert that they had an extraordinary spiritualistic experience.
* * SI-- *
"They returned to Utah, and to a very small circle of friends confided what
HISTORY OF SALT LAKE CITY. 401
has here been only very briefly related, and their story was listened to. Elder Eli
B. Kelsey, a Mormon of twenty-seven years standing, and who was also a presi-
dent of Seventies, was the intimate friend of Mr. Godbe, and Edward W. Tul-
lidge another 'Seventy,' was the bosom friend of Mr. Harrison. Elder Henry
W. Lawrence, a wealthy merchant, a bishop's counsellor, and a gentleman of the
highest integrity, was early informed in confidence of this " New Movement,"
and gave to his friend, Mr. Godbe, valuable material support. The Magazine,
that had before this been hastening to an end, took a new lease of life, and be
came a brilliant, well-conducted paper."
During the absence of the merchant Godbe and Elder Harrison, in the fall
of 1868, the co-operative institution had been projected ; and it is quite a curious
fact, seeing it afterwards antagonized the policies of President Young, that the
Uiah Magizine, which had been left in the charge of Tullidge, had for several
weeks vigorously and enthusiastically sustained the co-operative movement ; this,
however, was fairly paralled by the other fact that Henry W. Lawrence was one
of the first pillars of Z. C. M. L
The organization was effected in the beginning of 1869, with a president,
vice-president, and five directors. Brigham Young, president. Delegate Hooper,
vice-president, George A. Smith, George Q. Cannon, Horace Eldredge, Wm.
Jennings and Henry W. Lawrence, directors; Wm. Clayton, secretary; H. B.
Clawson, superintendent.
At the very time when this organization was formed, the "^ New Movement"
had already been resolved upon ; so that though Henry W. Lawren(:e put $30,000
into the Z. C. M. I. and became one of its directors, he was, to so express the
historical complexity, a " New Movement" leader. The force uf circumstances
in those times, compelled the members of the '• New Movement^' to wait for the
development of events which depended upon the action of President Young him-
self. There was nearly a total suspension. The very times hung on the man.
He had been the " Man of Destiny " to Utah, and was still.
During this period of suspension, there was abundance of opportunity for
pause and reconsideration. There was a year' s intellectual incubation before the
"Movement" opened.
Having by their preliminary action provoked their excommunication from
the Church, the Godbeite leaders, on Sunday, December 19, 1869, commenced
public meetings in Salt Lake City, opening in the Thirteenth Ward Assembly
Rooms, which was granted to them by President Young himself, on the applica-
tion of Messrs. Godbe and Lawrence, through Bishop Woolley.
Immediately on the opening of the Movement, E. W. Tullidge wrote offici-
ally for his party to the New York Herald. The design was to impress upon the
public mind the fact that an important Mormon schism had begun ; that it would
be vigorously prosecuted; that it would infuse Mormondom with new ideas, har-
monious with the age, and that in time a peaceful revolution would be wrought
out by the Mormons themselves, resulting in the very condition of things which
the country desired to see in Utah. The New York Herald took similar views
and urged them upon the American public by strong timely editorials on the Utah
question. Nearly all the journals in the country followed in the wake, proclaim-
i^
402 HISTORY OF SALT LAKE CITY.
ing "a great Mormon schism," and declaring the wisdom of "letting the Mor-
mons alone to solve their own problem."
Of such importance did the events, which were at that crisis occuring in Salt
Lake City seem to the American public, that, immediately on the receipt of Tul-
lidge's letter, the New York //<'r«A/ despatched one of its chief special correspon-
dents—Colonel Findley Anderson — formerly its principal correspondent in
Europe. Colonel Anderson's brother was also the private and confidential secre-
tary of young James Gordon Bennett. The reason of Bennett's sending so im-
portant a "special " to Salt Lake City was that the New York Herald might have
on the spot one trusted to fully represent the leading journal of the country, while
through its editorial columns it gave advice and impulse to the Government and
the public touching Utah affairs in that crisis. Colonel Anderson was instructed
to support the New Movement leaders, as well as to report their doings, and the in-
fluence of dieir action in Mormon society. The Harpers also, and George W, Curtis,
indeed the whole staff of the Harpers, manifested an extraordinary interest in
this "reformation in Utah," as the "Utah Schism" was styled in Harpers
Weekly 3i\-\di Monthly ; while the Springfield (Mass.) i?if//^i^//Va;/ petted the New-
Movement with a paternal spirit. Mr. Bowles' forecasting seemed to be at that
moment fully realized. The New York Tribune was the only one of the great
papers of the country that did not seem quite satisfied with the New Movement,
and this was because the Tribune feared it lacked sufficient revolutionary force
and determination to break up the "powerful Mormon hierarchy of Brigham
Young.'' It was to Mr. Greeley and VVhitelaw Reid merely another Mormon
Church. The philosophers of the New York Tribune were not so far seeing
and knowing as the Utah Gentiles, who were about to make this "other" Mor-
mon Church the nucleus of an anti- Mormon political party.
On the part of the Government^ from the onset, it gave countenance and
favor to the Godbeite rebellion, and would have supported it by its military arm,
had the opportunity occurred ; but this very movement against the parent Church,
composed of apostate Mormon elders and leading Salt Lake merchants, prevented
the interposition of the military arm, and greatly changed and modified the orig-
inal intentions of the Government, as inspired by Vice-President Colfax, and de-
termined by President Grant.
■5 1
HISTORY OF SALT LAKE CITY. ^oj
I
CHAPTER XLVI.
FAMOUS DISCUSSION BETWEEN VICE-PRESIDENT COLFAX AND APOSTLE JOHN
TAYLOR. SPEECH OF THE VICE-PRESIDENT AT SALT LAKE CITY.
APOSTLE TAYLOR'S REPLY AND ANSWER TO THE COLFAX LETTER.
The review of Mormon affairs as made between Vice-President Colfax and
Apostle John Taylor, afterward President of the Mormon Churchy may properly
be embodied as a representative chapter of this history ; as the utterances of Pres-
ident Taylor very closely apply to the aspect of Utah's case at the present time,
1885. The review opens with Mr. Colfax's speech delivered on the portico of the
Townsend House, fealt Lake City, October 5th, 1869:
" Fellow Citizens: — I come hither in response to your call to thank the band
from Camp Douglas for the serenade with which they have honored me, and to
tender my obligations to the thousands before me, for having come from their
homes and places of business ' to speed the parting guest.'
" As I stand before you, to-night, my thoughts go back to the first view I
ever had of Salt Lake City, four years ago last June. After traveling with my
companions. Gov. Bross and Mr. Bowles, who are with me again, and Mr. Rich-
ardson, whose absence we have all regretted, over arid plains, and alkali valleys,
and barren mountains, day after day, our stage coach emerged from a canyon one
morning, and we looked down upon your city, covering miles in its area, with its
gardens, green with fruit trees and shrubbery, and the Jordan, flashing in the sun
beyond. And when, after stopping at Camp Douglas, which overlooks your city,
to salute the flag of our country, and honor tlie officers and soldiers who keep
watch and ward over it at this distant post, we drove down with your common
council to the city, and saw its wide streets, and the streams which irrigate your
gardens, rippling down all of them in their pebbly beds, I felt indeed that you had
a right to regard it as a Palmyra in the desert. Returning now, with my family
and friends, from a long journey on the Pacific coast, extending norih to where
the Columbia river tears its way through the mighty range which bars the way for
all other rivers from the British to the Mexican line, we came to your city by the
stage route from the railroad, through'the fertile region that lines your lake shore,
and find it as beautiful and attractive in its affluence of fruits and flowers as when
we first visited it.
" I am gratified too, that our present visit occurred at the same time with
your Territorial Fair, enabling us to witness your advance in the various branches
of industry. I was specially interested in the hours I spent there, yesterday, with
some of your leading citizens, in your cotton manufactures from the cotton you
^o-^ HISTORY OF SALT LAKE CITY.
raise in Southern Utah, your woolen manufactures, the silk manufacture you have
recently inaugurated, your leather and harness, the porcelain, which was new to
me, your furniture, your paintings, and pictures, the fancy work of the ladies, and
the fruits and vegetables which tell their own story of the fertility of your soil.
I rejoice over every indication of progress and self-reliance in all parts of the
Union, and hope you may realize, by further development, how wise and bene-
ficial such advancement is to communities like yours, remote from the more thickly
settled portions of the Republic.
"I have enjoyed the opportunity, also, of visiting your Tabernacle, erected
since I was here before, the largest building in which religious services are held on
the continent, and of listening to your organ, constructed here, which, in its
mammoth size, its volume of sound, and sweetness of rone, would compare favor-
ably with any in the largest cities in the Union. Nor did I feel any the less inter-
est on my present, than on my former visit, in listening to your leading men in
their places of worship, as they expounded and defended their faith and practice,
because that faith and practice differed so widely from my own. Believing in free
speech, as all of us should, I listened attentively, respectfully, and courteously, to
what failed to convince my mind, and you will doubtless hear me with equal
patience, while I tell you frankly wherein we differ.
" But first let me say that I have no strictures to utter as to your creed on any
really religious question. Our land is a land of civil and religious liberty, and the
faith of every man is a matter between himself and God alone. You have as much
right to worship the Creator through a president and twelve apostles of your
church organization as I have through the ministers and elders and creed of mine.
And this right I would defend for you with as much zeal as the right of every
other denomination throughout the land. But our country is governed by law,
and no assumed revelation justifies any one in trampling on the law. If it did,
every wrong-doer would use that argument to protect himself in his obedience to
it. The Constitution declares, in the most emphatic language, that that instrument
and the laws made in conformity thereto, shall be the supreme law of the land.
Whether liked or disliked, they bind the forty millions of people who are subject
to that supreme law. If any one condemns them as unconstitutional, the courts of
the United -States are open, before which they can test the question. But, till they
are decided to be in conflict with the Constitution, they are binding upon you in
Utah as they are on me in the District of Columbia, or on the citizens of Idaho
and Montana. Let me refer now to the law of 1862, against which you especially
complain, and which you denounce Congress for enacting. It is obeyed in the
other Territories of the United States, or if disobeyed its violation is punished. It
is not obeyed here, and though you often speak of the persecutions to which you
were subject in the earlier years of your church, you cannot but acknowledge that
the conduct of the government and the people of the United States towards you,
in your later years, has been one of toleration, which you could not have realized
in any other of the civilized nations of the world.
"I do not concede that the institution you have established here, and which
is condemned by the law, is a question of religion. But to you who do claim it as
such, I reply, that the law you denounce, only re-enacts the original prohibitions
HIS TOR V OF SAL T LAKE Cll Y. 405
of your own Book of Mormon, on its iiSth page, =^ and your Book of Doctrine and
Covenants, in its chapter on marriage j and these are the inspired records, as you
claim them, on which your church was organized.
"The Book of Mormon, on the same page, speaks twice of the conduct of
David and Solomon, as 'a grosser crime,' and those who follow their practice as
* waxing in iniquity.' The Book of Doctrine and Covenants is the discipline
and creed of your church ; and in its chapter on marriage, it declares, that as the
Mormon church has been charged with the crimes of fornication and polygamy,
it is avowed as the law of the church, that a man shall have but one wife, and a
woman but one husband, till death shall part them.
"I know you claim that a subsequent revelation annulled all this; but I
use these citations to show you that the Congressional law, which you denounce,
only enacted what was the original and publicly proclaimed and printed creed on
which your church was founded. And yet, while you assume that this later revela-
tion gives you the right to turn your back on your old faith and disobey the law,
you would not yourselves tolerate others in assuming rights for themselves under
revelations they might claim to have received, or under religions they might pro-
fess. The Hindoos claim, as part of their religion, the right to burn widows with
the dead bodies of their husbands. If they were to attempt it here, as their re-
ligion, you would prevent it by force. If a new revelation were to be proclaimed
here, that the strong men should have the right to take the wives of the weaker
men, that the learned men should take the wives of the unlearned, that the rich
men should take the wives of the poor, that those who were powerful and influen-
tial should have the right to command the labor and the services of the humbler,
as their bond-slaves, you would spurn it, and would rely upon the law and the
power of the United States to protect you.
" But you argue that it is a restraint on individual freedom ; and that it con-
cerns only yourselves. Yet you justify these restraints on individual freedom in
everything else. Let me prove this to you. If a man came here and sought to es-
tablish a liquor saloon on Temple street without license, you would justify your
common council, which is your municipal congress, in suppressmg it by force,
and punishing the offender besides. Another one comes here and says that he will
pursue his legitimate avocation of bone-boiling on a lot in the heart of your city.
You would expect your council to prevent it, and why? Because you believe it
would be offensive to society and to the people around him. And still another
says, that as an American citizen he will establish a powder mill on a lot he has
purchased, next door to this hotel, where we have been so hospitably entertained.
You would demand that this should be prevented, because it was obnoxious to the
best interests of the community. I might use other illustrations as to personal
conduct which you would insist should be restrained, although it fettered personal
freedom, and the wrong-doer niight say only concerned himself. But I have ad-
*The Book of Mormon denounces David and Solomon for having " many wives and concubines
which thing was abominable before me, saith the Lord." " Wherefore I, the Lord God, will not suffer
that this people shall do like unto them of old. Wherefore, my brethren, hear me and harken to the
word of the Lord ; for there shall not any man among you have save but one wife, and concubines he
shall have none, for I, the Lord, delighteth in the chastity of women."
4o6 HISTORY OF SALT LAKE CITY.
duced sufficient to justify Congress in an enactment they deemed wise for the
whole people for whom they legislated. And I need not go further to adduce
other arguments as to the elevation of woman ; for my purpose has been in these
remarks, to indicate the right of Congress to pass the law and to insist on obe-
dience to it.
" One thing I must allude to, personal to myself. The papers- have published
a discourse delivered last April by your highest ecclesiastical authority, which
stated that the President and Vice-President of the United States were both gam-
blers and drunkards. (Voices in the crowd, ' He did not say so.') I had not
heard before that it was denied, but I am glad to hear the denial now. Whether
denied or not, however, I did not intend to answer railing with railing, nor per-
sonal attack with invective. I only wished to state publicly in this city, where the
charge is said to have been made, that it wa$ utterly untrue as to President Grant,
and as to myself, that I never gambled to the value of a farthing, and have been a
total abstinence man all the years of my manhood. However I may differ on
political questions or others from any portion of my countrymen, no one has ever
truthfully assailed my character. I have valued a good character far more than a
political reputation or official honors, and wish to preserve it unspotted while life
shall last.
"A few words more and I must conclude. When our party visited you four
years ago, we all believed that, under wise counsels, your city might become the
great city of the interior. But you must allow me to say that you do not seem to
have improved these opportunities as you might have done. What you should do
to develop the advantages your position gives you, seems obvious. You should en-
courage, and not discourage competition- in trade. You should welcome, and not
repel, investments from abroad. You should discourage every effort to drive capi-
tal from your midst. You should rejoice at the opening of every new store, or
factory, or machine shop, by whomsoever conducted. You should seek to widen
the area of country dependent on your city for supplies. You should realize that
wealth will come to you only by development, by unfettered competition, by in-
creased capital.
"Here I must close. I have spoken to you, face to face, frankly, truthfully,
fearlessly. I have said nothing but for your own good. Let me counsel you once
more to obedience to the law, and thanking you for the patient hearing you have
given me, and for the hospitalities our party have received, both from Mormon
and Gentile citizens, I bid you all good night and good bye."
"American House, Boston, Mass.,
"October 20th, 1S69.
" To the Editor of the Deseret Evening News :
"Dear Sir — 1 have read with a great deal of interest the speech of the Hon.
Schuyler Colfax, delivered in Salt Lake City, October 5th, containing strictures
on our institutions, as reported in the Springfield Republican, wherein there is
an apparent frankness and sincerity manifested. It is pleasant, always, to listen
to sentiments that are bold, unaffected and outspoken ; and however my views
may differ — as they most assuredly do — from those of the Hon. Vice-President
of the United States, I cannot but admire the candor and courtesy manifested in
i
HISTORY OF SALT LAKE CITY. 407
the discussions of this subject ; which, though to him perplexing and difficult,
is to us an important part of our religious faith.
"I would not, however, here be misunderstood; I do not regard the speech
of Mr. Colfax as something indifferent or meaningless. I consider that words pro-
ceeding from a gentleman occupying the honorable position of Mr. Colfax, have
their due weight. His remarks, while they are courteous and polite, were evidently
calmly weighed and cautiously uttered, and they carry with them a significance,
which I, as a believer in Mormonism, am bound to notice ; and I hope with
that honesty and candor which characterize the remarks of this honorable gentle-
man.
" Mr. Colfax remarks :
■''I have no strictures to offer as to your creeds on any really religious
question. Our land is a land of civil and religious liberty, and the faith of every
man is a matter between himself and God alone; you have as much right to wor-
ship the Creator, throught a president and twelve apostles of your church prgani-
zition, as I have through the ministers and elders and creed of mine; and this
right I would defend for you with as much zeal as the right of any denomination
throughout the land.'
" This certainly is magnanimous and even-handed justice, and the sentiments
do honor to their author; they are sentiments that ought to be engraven on the
heart of every American citizen.
" He continues :
" * But our country is governed by law and no assumed revelation justifies
any one in trampling on the law.'
" At first sight this reasoning is very plausible, and I have no doubt that Mr.
Colfax was just as sincere and patriotic in the utterance of the latter as the for-
mer sentences ; but with all due deference permit me to examine these words and
their import.
"That our country is governed by law we all admit; but when it is said
thai 'no assumed revelation justifies any one in trampling on the law;' I should
respectfully ask, what ! not if it interferes with my religious faith, which you state
' is a matter between God and myself alone? ' Allow me, sir, here to state that
the assumed revelation referred to is one of the most vital parts of our religious
faith ; it emanated from God and cannot be legislated away ; it is part of the
* Everlasting Covenant ' which God has given to man. Our marriages are sol-
emnized by proper authority ; a woman is sealed unto a man for time and for
eternity, by the power of which Jesus speaks, which 'sealed on earth and it is
sealed in heaven.' With us it is ' Celestial Marriage; ' take this from us and you
rob us of our hopes and associations in the resurrection of the just. This is not
our religion ? You do not see things as we do. Your marry for time only, ' un-
til death does you part.' We have eternal covenants, eternal unions, eternal
associations. I cannot, in an article like this, enter into details, which I should
be pleased on a proper occasion to do. I make these remarks to show that it is
considered, by us, a part of our religious faith, which I have no doubt did you
understand it as we do, you would defend, as you state, ' with as much zeal as the
right of every other denomination throughout the land.' Permit me here to sav
4o8 HISTORY OF SALT LAKE C/TY.
however, that it was the revelation (I will not say assumed) that Joseph and Mary
had, which made them look upon Jesus as the Messiah ; which made them flee
from the wrath of Herod, who was seeking the young child's life. This they did
in contravention of law, which was his decree. Did they do wrong in protecting
Jesus from the law ? But Herod was a tyrant. That makes no difference; it
was the law of the land, and I have yet to learn the difierence between a tyran-
nical king and a tyrannical Congress. When we talk of executing law in either
case, that means force, — force means an army, and an army means death. Now
I am not sufficiently versed in metaphysics to discover the difference in its eff"ects,
between the asp of Cleopatra, the dagger of Brutus, the chalice ot Lucretia
Borgia, or the bullet or sabre of an American soldier.
" I have, sir, written the above in consequence of some remarks Avhich follow:
" ' I do not concede that the institution you have established here, and which
is condemned by the aw, is a question of religion.'
" Now, with all due deference, I do think that if Mr. Colfax had carefully ex-
amined our religious faith he would have arrived at other conclusions. In the ab-
sence of this I might ask, who constituted Mr. Colfax a judge of my religious
faith ? I think he has stated that ' the faith of every man is a maUer between him-
self and God alone. '
" Mr. Colfax has a perfect right to state and feel that he does not believe in
the revelation on which my religious faith is based, nor in my faith at all; but has
he the right to dictate my religious faith ? I think not ; he does not consider it
religion, but it is nevertheless mine.
" If a revelation from God is not a religion, what is ?
" His not believing it from God makes no difference ; I know it is. The
Jews did not believe in Jesus but Mr. Colfax and I do ; their unbelief did not
alter the revelation.
" Marriage has from time immemorial, among civilized nations, been con-
sidered a religious ordinance. It was so considered by the Jews, It is looked
upon, by the Catholic clergy, as one of their sacraments. It is so treated by the
Greek Church. The ministers of the Episcopal Church say, in their marriage
formula, 'What God has joined together, XtlwoX. ot^« put asunder ;' and in some
of the Protestant churches their members are disfellowshipped for marrying what
are termed unbelievers. So I am in hopes, one of these times, should occasion
require it, to call upon our friend, Mr. Colfax, to redeem his pledge.
" ' To defend for us our religious' faith, with as much zeal as the right of
every other denomination throughout the land.'
" I again quote :
" ' But to you who do claim it as such, I reply that the law that you denounce
only re-enacts the original prohibition of your own Book of Mormon, on its iiSth
page, and your^Book of Doctrine and Covenants, in its chapter on marriage.'
'' In regard to the latter of these I would state that it was only considered a
portion of the discipline of our Church, and was never looked upon as a revela-
tion. It was published in the appendix to the Book of Doctrine and Covenants
long before the revelation concerning Celestial Marriage was given. That, of
course, superseded the former. The quotation from the Book of Mormon, given
I
HISTORY 01 SALT LAKE CIIY. 409
by Mr. Colfax, is only partly quoted. [ cannot blame the gentleman for this: he
has many engagements without examining our doctrines. I suppose this was
was handed to him. Had he read a little further he would have found it stated :
' " For if 1 will, saith the Lord of Hosts, raise up seed unto me I will com-
mand my people; otherwise they shall hearken unto these things.'
"In answer to this I say the Lord has commanded and we obey the command.
' ' I again quote :
"And yet while you assume that this later revelation gives you the right to
turn your back on your old faith and to disobey the law, you would not yourselves
tolerate others in assuming rights for themselves under revelations they might
claim to have received, or under religions they might profess.'
" Mr. Colfax is misinformed here. All religions are tolerated by us, and all
revelations or assumed revelations. We take the liberty of disbelieving some of
them ; but none are interfered with. And in relation to turning our back on our
old religion we have never done it.
"Concerning our permitting the Hindoos to burn their widows, it is difficult
to say what we should do. The British government has tolerated both polygamy
and the burning of Hindoo widows in India. If the Hindoos were converted to
our religion they would not burn their widows; they are not likely to come to
Utah without. Whose rights have we interfered with ? Whose property have
we taken ? Whose religious or political faith or rights have been curtailed by us?
None. We have neither interfered with Missouri nor Illinois; with Kansas.
Nebraska, Idaho, Nevada, Montana, California, nor any other State or Territory.
I wish we could say the same of others, I hope we shall not be condemned for
crimes we are expected to commit. It will be time enough to atone for them
when done. We do acknowledge having lately started cooperative stores. Is
this anything new in England, Germany, France or the United States? We think
we have a right, as well as others, to buy and sell of and to whom we please.
We do not interrupt others in selling, if they can get customers. We have com-
menced to deal with our friends. We do acknowledge that we are rigid in the
enforcement of law against theft, gambling, debauchery and other civilized vices.
Is this a crime? If so, we plead guilty.
"But permit me here to return to the religious part of our investigations;
for if our doctrines are religious, then it is confessed that Congress has no juris-
isdiction in this case and the argument is at an end, Mr. Webster defines religion
as ' afty system of faith and worship, as the religion of the Turks, of Hindoos, of
Christians,' I have never been able to look at religion in any other light. I do
not think Mr. Colfax had carefully digested the subject when he said 'I do not
concede that the institution you have established here, and which is condemned
by law, is a question of religion.'
"Are we to understand by this that Mr. Colfax is created an umpire to de-
cide upon what is religion and what is not, upon what is true religion and what
is false? If so, by whom and what authority is he created judge? I am sure he
has not reflected upon the bearing of this hypothesis, or he would not have made
such an utterance.
"According to this theory no persons ever were persecuted for their religion,
}
410 HISTORY OF SALT LAKE CITY.
there never was such a thing known. Could anybody suppose that that erudite,
venerable, and profoundly learned body of men, — the great Sanhedrim of the
Jews ; or that those holy men, the chief priests, scribes and pharisees, would
persecute any body for religion ? Jesus was put to death, — not for his religion —
but because he was a blasphemer : because he had a devil and cast out devils,
through Beelzebub the prince of devils; because he, being a carpenter's son, and
known among them as such, declared himself the Son of God. So they said, and
they were the then judges. Could anybody be more horrified than those Jews at
such pretensions? His disciples were persecuted, proscribed and put to death,
not for their religion, but because they 'were pestilent fellows and stirrers up of
sedition,' and because they believed in an ' assumed revelation' concerning 'one
Jesus, who was put to death, and who, they said, had risen again.' It was for
false pretensions and a lack of religion that they were persecuted. Their religion
was not like that of the Jews ; ours, not like that of Mr. Colfax.
"Loyola did not invent and put into use the faggot, the flame, the sword,
the thumbscrews, the rack and gibbet to persecute anybody, it was to purify the
church of heretics, as others would purify Utah. His zeal was for the Holy
Mother Church. The Nonconformists of England and Holland, the Hugenots
of France and the Scottish Covenanters were not persecuted or put to death
for their religion ; it was for being schismatics, turbulent and unbelievers. Talk
of religion, what horrid things have not been perpetrated in its name ! All of
the above claimed that they were persecuted for their religion. All of the perse-
cutors, as Mr. Colfax said about us, did ' not concede that the institution they
had established, which was condemned by the law, was religion ;' or, in other terms,
it was an imposture or false religion. What of the Quakers and Baptists of New
England?
" You say we complain of persecution. Have we not cause to do it ? Can we
call our treatment by a milder term? Was it benevolence that robbed, pillaged
and drove thousands of men, women and children from Missouri, was it Chris-
tian philanthropy that, after robbing, plundering, and ravaging a whole commu-
nity, drove them from Illinois into the wilderness among savages?
" When we fled as outcasts and exiles from the United States we went to Mex-
ican Territory. If not protected we should have been at least unmolested there.
Do you think, in your treaty with Mexico, it was a very merciful providence that
placed us again under your paternal guardianship? Did you know that you called
upon us in our exodus from Illinois for 500 men, which were furnished while flee-
ing from persecution, to help you to possess that country; for which your tender
mercies were exhibited by letting loose an army upon us, and you spent about
forty millions of dollars to accomplish our ruin? Of course we did not suffer;
" religious fanatics" cannot feel : like the eels the fishwoman was skinning, " we
have got used to it.'' Upon what pretext was this done? Upon the false fabri-
cations of your own officers, and which your own Governor Gumming afterwards
published as false. Thus the whole of this infamous proceeding war predicated
upon falsehood, originating with your own officers and afterwards exposed by
them. Did Government make any amends, or has it ever done it ? Is it wrong
to call this persecution? We have learned to our cost *' that the king can do no
HISTORY OF SALT LAKE CITY. ^u
wrong." Excuse me, sir, if T speak warmly. This people have labored under
accumulated wrongs for upwards of thirty years past, still unacknowledged and
unredressed. I have said nothing in the above but what I am prepared to prove.
What is all this for? Polygamy? No — that is not even pretended.
Having said so much with regard to Mr. Colfax's speech, let me now address
a few words to Congress and to the ration. I hope they will not object for I too
am a teacher. And first let me inquire into the law itself, enacted in 1862. The
revelation on polygamy was given in 1843, nineteen years before the passage of
the Congressional act. We, as a people, believe that revelation is true and came
from God. This is our religious belief; and right or wrong it is still our belief;
whatever opinions others may entertain it makes no difference to our religious
faith. The Constitution is to protect me in my religious faith, and other persons
in theirs, as I understand it. It does not prescribe a faith for me, or any one
else, or authorize others to do it, not even Congress. It simply protects us all in
our religious faiths. This is one of the Constitutional rights reserved by the peo-
ple. Now who does not know that the law of 1862 in relation to polygamy was
passed on purpose to interfere with our religious faith? This was as plainly and
distinctly its object as the proclamation of Herod to kill the young children under
two years old, was meant to destroy Jesus; or the law passed by Pharaoh in re-
gard to the destruction of the Hebrew children, was meant to destroy the Israel-
ites. If a law had been passed making it a penal offense for communities, or
churches, to forbid marriage, who would not have understood that it referred to
the Shaking Quakers, and to the priories, nunneries and priesthood of the Cath-
olic Church? This law, in its inception, progress and passage, was intended to
bring us into collision with the United States, that a pretext might be found for
our ruin. These are acts that no honest man will controvert. It could not have
been more plain, although more honest, if it had said the Mormons shall have no
more wives than one. It was a direct attack ui)on our religious faith. It is the
old story of the lamb drmking below the wolf, and being accused by it of fouling
the waters above. The big bully of a boy putting a chip on his shoulder and
daring the little urchin to knock it off.
" But we are graciously told that we have our appeal. True, we have an ap-
peal. So had the Hebrew mothers to Pharaoh ; so had Daniel to Nebuchadnezzar ;
so had Jesus to Herod ; so had Caesar to Brutus; so had those sufferers on the rack
to Loyola ; so had the Waldenses and Albigenses to the Pope ; so had the Quakers
and Baptists of New England to the Puritans. Why did they not do it? Please
answer.
" Do statesmen and politicians realize what they are doing when they pass
such laws? Do they know, as before stated, that resistance to law means force,
that force means an army, and that an army means death? They may yet find
something more pleasant to reflect upon than to have been the aiders and abettors
of murder, to be stained with the blood of innocence, and they may try in vain
to cleanse their hands of the accursed spot.
"It is not the first time that Presidents, Kings, Congresses and statesmen
have tried to regulate the acts of Jehovah. Pharaoh's exterminating order about
the Hebrew infants was one of acknowledged policy. They grew, they increased
412 HISTORY OF SALT LAKE CITY.
too fast. Perhaps the Egyptians had learned, as well as some of our Eastern re-
formers, the art of infanticide ; they may have thought that one or two children
was enough and so destroyed the balance. They could not submit to let nature
take its vulgar course. But in their refined and polite murders, they found them-
selves dwindling and decaying, and the Hebrews increasing and multiplying ; and
no matter how shocking it might be to their refined senses, it stood before them
as a political fact, and they were in danger of being overwhelmed by the superior
fecundity of the Hebrews. Something must be done; what more natural than to
serve the Hebrew children as they had served their own ? and this, to us and the
Christian world, shocking act of brutal murder, was to them simply what they
may have done among themselves ; perhaps more politely a la Madam Restelle,
but not more effectually. The circumstances are not very dissimilar. When
Jesus was plotted against by Herod and the infants put to death, who could com-
plain ? // was law : we must submit to law. The Lord Jehovah, or Jesus the
Savior of the world, has no right to interfere with law. Jesus was crucified ac-
cordino- to law. Who can complain ? Daniel was thrown into a den of lions
strictly accordim^ to law. The King would have saved him, if he could ; but he
could not resist law. The massacre of St. Bartholomew was in accordance with
latu. The guillotine of Robespierre of France, which cut heads off by the thou-
sand, did it according to law. What right had the victims to complain ? But
these things were done in barbarous ages. Do not let us, then, who boast of our
civilization, follow their example ; let us be more just, more generous, more for-
bearing, more magnanimous. We are told that we are living in a more enlight-
ened age. Our morals are more pure (?) our ideas more refined and enlarged, our
institutions more liberal. * Ours,' says Mr. Colfax, ' is a land of civil and re-
ligious liberty, and the faith of every man is a matter between himself and God
alone," providing God don't shock our moral ideas by introducing something
that we don't believe in. If He does let Him look out. We won't persecute,
very far be that from us ; but we will make our platform, pass Congressional laws
and make you submit to them. We may, it is true, have to send out an army, and
shed the blood of many ; but what of that ? It is so much more pleasant to be
proscribed and killed according to the laws of the Great Republic, in the ' asylum
for the oppressed,' than to perish ignobly by the decrees of kings, through their
miserable minions, in the barbaric ages.
" My mind wanders back upwards of thirty years ago, when in the State of
Missouri, Mr. McBride, an old gray-haired venerable veteran of the Revolution,
with feeble frame and tottering steps, cried to a Missouri patriot : ' Spare my life,
I am a Revolutionary soldier, I fought for liberty, would you murder me? What
is my offense, I believe in God and revelation ? ' This frenzied disciple of a mis-
placed faith said, ' take that, you God d d Mormon,' and with the butt of
his gun he dashed his brains out, and he lay quivering there, — his white locks
clotted with his own brains and gore on that soil that he had heretofore shed his
blood to redeem — a sacrifice at the shrine of liberty ! Shades of Franklin, Jeffer-
son and Washington J were you there ! Did you gaze on this deed of blood ? Did
you see your companion in arms thus massacred ? Did you know that thousands
of American citizens were robbed, disfranchised, driven, pillaged and murdered.
HISTORY OF SALT LAKE CITY. ^jj
for these things seem to be forgotten hv our statesmen. Were not these murderers
punished ? Was not justice done to the outraged ? No. They were only Mor-
mons, and when the Chief Magistrate was applied to, he replied ' Your cause is
just, but I can do nothing for you.' Oh, blessed land of religious freedom !
What was this for. Polygamy? No. It was our religion then, it is our religion
new. Monogamy or polygamy, it makes no difference. Let me here seriously
ask : have we not had more than enough blood in this land? Does the insatiate
moloch still cry for more victims?
" Let me here respectfully ask with all sincerity, is there not plenty of scope
for the action of government at home? What of your gambling hells? What
of your gold rings, your whisky rings, your railroad rings, manipulated through
the lobby into your Congressional rings. What of that great moral curse of the
land, that great institution of monogamy — Prostihition ? What of its twin sister
— Infanticide ? I speak to you as a friend. Know ye not that these seething in-
famies are corrupting and destroying your people? and that like the plague they
are permeating your whole social system ? that from your gilded palaces to your
most filthy purlieus, they are festering and stewing and rotting What of the
thirty thousand prostitutes of New York City and the proportionate numbers of
other cities, towns and villages, and their multitudinous pimps and paramours,
who are, of course, all, all, honorable men ! Here is ample room for the Christian,
the philanthropist, and the statesman. Would it not be well to cleanse your own
Augean stables ? What of the blasted hopes, the tortured and crushed feelings of
the thousands of your wives whose whole lives are blighted through your intrigues
and lasciviousness ? What of the humiliation of your sons and daughters from
whom you can not hide your shame ? What of the thousands of houseless and
homeless children thrown ruthlessly, hopelessly and disgracefully upon the world
as outcasts from society, whose fathers and mothers are alike ashamed of them and
heartlessly throw them upon the public bounty, the living memorials of your in.
famy? What of your infanticide, with its murderous, horrid, unnatural, disgust-
ing and damning consequences? Can you legislate for these monogamic crimes,
or shall Madam Restell and her pupils continue their public murders and no re-
dress? Shall your fair daughters, the princesses of America, ruthlessly go on in
sacrificing their noble children on the altar of this Moloch — this demon? What
are we drifting to? This ' bonehouse,' this "powder magazine' is not in Salt
Lake City, a thousand miles from your frontiers ; it is in your own cities and towns
villages and homes. It carouses in your secret chambers, and flaunts in the public
highway; it meets you in every corner, and besets you in every condition. Your
infirmaries and hospitals are reeking with it ; your sons and daughters, your wives
and husbands are degraded by it. It extends from Louisiana to Minnesota, and
from Maine to California. You can't hide yourselves from it ; it meets you in
your magazines and newspapers, and is disgustingly placarded on your walls, — a
iving, breathing, loathsome, festering, damning evil. It runs through your very
blood, stares out your eyes and stamps its horrid mark on your features, as indeli-
bly as the mark of Cain ; it curses your posterity, it runs riot in the land, wither-
ing, blighting, corroding and corrupting the life blood of the nation.
"Ye American Statesmen, will you allow this demon to run riot in the land,
^14. HISTORY OF SALT LAKE CITY.
and while you are speculating about a little political capital to be made out of
Utah, allow your nation to be emasculated and destroyed? Is it not humiliating
that these enormities should exist in your midst, and you, as statesmen, as legis-
lators, as municipal and town authorities, as clergymen, reformers and philanthro-
pists, acknowledge yourselves powerless to stop these damning crimes that are
gnawing at the very vitals of the most magnificent nation on the earth ? We can
teach you a lesson on this matter, polygamists as we are. You acknowledge one
wife and her children ; what of your other associations unacknowledged ? We
acknowledge and maintain all of our wives and all of our children ; we don't keep
a few only, and turn the others out as outcasts, to be provided for by orphan
asylums, or turned as vagabonds on the street to help increase the fearfully growing
evil. Our actions are all honest, open and above board. We have no gambling
hells, no drunkenness, no infanticide, no houses of assignation, no prostitutes.
Our wives are not afraid of intrigues and debauchery \ nor are our wives and
daughters corrupted by designing and unprincipled villains. We believe in the
chastity and virtue of women, and maintain them. There is not, to-day, in the
wide world, a place where female honor, virtue and chastity, are so well protected
as in Utah. Would you have us, I am sure you would not, on reflection, reverse
the order of God, and exchange the sobriety, the chastity, the virtue and honor
of our institutions, for yours, that are so debasing, dishonorable, corrupting, de-
faming aud destructive? We have fled from these things, and with great trouble
and care have purged ourselves from your evils, do not try to legislate them upon
us nor seek to engulf us in your damning vices.
" You may say it is not against your purity that we contend ; but against po-
lygamy, which we consider a crying evil. Be it so. Why then, if your system is
so much better, does it not bring torth better fruits ! Polygamy, it would seem,
is the parent of chastity, honor and virtue; Monogamy the author of vice, dis-
honor and corruption. But you would ^argue these evils are not our religion ;
we that are virtuous, are as much opposed to vice and corruption as you are.
Then why don't you control it? We can and do. You have your Christian as-
sociations, your Young Men's associations, your Magdalen and Temperance asso-
ciations all of which are praiseworthy. Your cities and towns are full of churches,
and you swarm with male and female lecturers, and ministers of all denominations.
You have your press, your National and State Legislatures, your police, your mu-
nicipal and town authorities, your courts, your prisons, your armies, all under the
direction of Christian monogamists. You are a nation of Christians. Whyare these
things not stopped? You possess the moral, the religious, the civil and military
power but you don't accomplish it. Is it too much to say ' take the beam out of
thine own eye and then shalt thou see clearly to remove the mote that is in thy
brother's.'
" Respectfully, etc.,
"John Taylor."
It is not necessary to give Mr. Colfax's reply to Apostle Taylor, as his points
are all reviewed in the following rejoinder:
"Mr. Colfax has replied to my article by another, published in the New
York Independent. December 2nd, headed 'The Mormon Question.'
HISTORY OF SALT LAKE CITY. 415
" I have always been taught to reverence men in authority. My religion has
not lessened the force of that precept. I am sorry to be under the necessity of
differing from the honorable gentleman who stands second in authority in the
greatest and freest nation in the world. My motto has always been and now is :
Honor to whom Ifonor is due; yet, while I feel bound to pay homage to a man
of his talent and position I cannot but realize that ' all men are now free and
equal,' and that I live in a land where the press, thought and speech are free. If
it had been a personal difference I should have had no controversy with Mr.
Colfax, and the honorable gentleman, I am sure, will excuse me for standing up
in the defense of what I know to be a traduced and injured people. I would not
accuse the gentleman of misrepresentation. I cannot help knowing, however,
that he is misinformed in relation to most of his historical details ; and justice to
an outraged community, as well as truth, requires that such statements should be
met and the truth vindicated. I cannot but think that in refusing the proffered
hospitality of our city which, of course, he had a perfect right to do, he threw
himself among a class of men that were, perhaps, not very reliable in histor-
ical data.
"I am not surprised at his apparent prejudices; I can account for his anti-
pathies, but cannot permit Mr. Colfax, even ignorantly, to traduce my friends
without defense. He states that * the demand of the people of Utah Territory
for immediate admission into the Union, as a State, made at their recent confer-
ence meeting and to be presented by their delegate at the approaching session of
Congress, compels the nation to meet face to face, a question which it has appar-
ently endeavored to ignore.'
" Is there anything remarkable in a Territory applying for admission into
the Union? How have other States entered the Union since the admission of
the first thirteen ? Were they not all Territories in their turn, and generally ap-
plied to Congress for, and obtained admission ? Why should Utah be an excep-
tion? She has from time to time, as a constitutional requisition, presented a
petition with a constitution containing a republican form of government. Since
her application California, Nevada, Kansas, Minnessota, Oregon and Nebraska
have been admitted. And why should Congress, as Mr. Colfax says : ' endeavor
to ignore Utah? ' And why should it be so difficult a question to meet ' face to
face?' Has it become so very difficult for Congress to do right? What is the
matter? Some remarkable conversation was had between Brigham Young and
Senator Trumbull. Now, as I did not happen to hear this conversation, I cannot
say what it was. One thing, however, I do know, that I have seen hundreds of
distinguished gentlemen call on President Young and they have been uniformly
better treated than has been reciprocated. But something was said about United
States officers. I am sorry to say that many United States officers have so de-
ported themselves that they have not been much above par with us. They may
indeed be satraps and require homage and obeisance ; but we have yet to learn to
bow the knee. Brigham Young does not generally speak even to a United States
Senator with honeyed words and measured sentences; but as an ingenious and hon-
est man. But we are told that ' the recent expulsion of prominent members of his
Church Jor doubting his infallibility proves that he regards his power as equal
to any emergency and has a will equal to his power.'
4i6 HISTORY OF SALT LAKE C1T\.
" I am sorry to have to say that Mr. Colfax is mistaken here. No person was
ever dismissed from the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints for disbe-
lieving in the infallibility of President Young. I do not believe he is infallible,
for one ; and have so taught publicly. I am in the Church yet. Neither have I
ever heard President Young make any such pretensions. Mr. Colfax is a good
politician, but he makes sad blunders in polemics. He makes a magnificent
Speaker and President of the Senate; I am afraid, however, that as a preacher he
would not be so successful. The honorable gentleman now proceeds to divide his
subject and commences .
" ' I. Their Fertilizing of the Desert. — For this they claim great
credit, and I would not detract an iota from all they are legitimately entitled to.
It was a desert when they first emigrated thither. They have made large portions
of it fruitful and productive, and their chief city is beautiful in location and at-
tractive in its gardens and shrubbery. But the solution of it all is in one word —
water. What seemed to the eye a desert became fruitful when irrigated, and the
mountains, whose crests are clothed in perpetual snow, furnished, in the unfailing
supplies of their ravines, the necessary fertilizer.'
'■Water! Mirabile dictu I ! Here I must help Mr. C. out. This wonder-
ful little water nymph, after playing with the clouds on our mountain tops, frolick-
ing with the snow and rain in our rugged gorges for generations, coquetting with
the sun and dancing to the sheen of the moon, about the time the ' Mormons'
came here took upon herself to perform a great miracle, and descending to the
valley with a wave of her magic wand and the mysterious words, " hickory, dic-
cory, dock,' cities and streets were laid out, crsstal waters flowed in ten thousand
rippling streams, fruit trees and shrubbery sprang up, gardens and orchards
abounded, cottages and mansions were organized, fruits, flowers and grain in all
their elysian glory appeared and the desert blossomed as the rose; and this little
frolicking elf, so long confined to the mountains and water courses proved herself
far more powerful than Cinderella or Aladdin. Oh ! Jealousy, thou green-eyed
monster ! Can no station in life be protected from the shimmer of thy glamour !
Must our talented and honorable Vice-President be subjected to thy juandiced
touch? But to be serious, did water tunnel through our mountains, construct
dams, canals and ditches, lay out our cicies and towns, import and plant choice
fruit-trees, shrubs and flowers, cultivate the land and cover it with the cattle on a
thousand hills, erect churches, schoolhouses and factories, and transform a howling
wilderness into a fruitful field and garden ? If so, why does not the Green River
the Snake River, Bear River, Colorado, the Platte and other rivers perform the
same prodigies? Unfortunately for Mr. Colfax, it was Mormon polygamists who
did it. The Erie, the Welland, the Pennsylvania and Suez canals are only water.
What if a stranger on gazing upon the statuary in Washington and our magnifi-
cent Capitol, and after lubbing his eyes were to exclaim, 'Eureka ! It is only
rock and mortar and wood.' This discoverer would announce that instead of the
development of art, intelligence, industry and enterprise, its component parts were
simply stone, mortar and wood. Mr. Colfax has discovered that our improve-
ments are attributable to water. We next come to another division and quote
their persecutions :
HISTORY OF SALT LAKE CITY. 4/j
"■ 'This is also one of their favorite themes. Constantly it is reiterated by iheir
apostles and bishops, from week to week, and from year to year. It is discourstd
about in their tabernacles and their ward and town churches. It is written about
in their periodicals and papers. It is talked about with nearly every stranger that
comes into their midst. They have been driven from place to place, they claim,
solely on account of their religious belief. Their faith has subjected them to the
wickedest persecution by unbelievers. They have been despoiled, they insist, of
their property ; maltreated in their persons, buffeted and cast out, because they
would not renounce their professions and their revelations.'
"This, sir, is all true; does it falsify a truth to repeat it? The Mormons
make these statements and are always prepared to prove them. I referred to some
of these things in my last ; Mr. Colfax has not disproved them. He now states,
'I do not attempt to decide that the charges against them are well founded.'
Why then are they made ? Has it become so desirable tu put down the Mormons
that unfounded charges must be preferred against them ?
" ' Their church was first established at Manchester, New York, in 1830, and
their first removal was in 1831, to Kirtland, Ohio, which they declared was revealed
to ilieui as the site of their New Jerusalem.^ (A mistake.) ' Thence their leaders
went west to search a new location, which they found in Jackson County, Mo.,
and dedicated a site for another New Jerusalem there, and returned to Kirtland
to remain for five years avowedly to make money; ' (an error) 'a bank was estab-
lished there by them ; large quantities of bills of doubtful value issued, and
growing out of charges of fraudulent dealing. Smith and Rigdon were tarred and
feathered.' This is a gross perversion, Smith and Rigdon were tarred and
feathered in March, 1832, in Hiram, Portage County; the bank was organized
December 2nd, 1836, in Kirtland.
"Mr. C. continues: 'And unjustifiable as such outrages are this one was
based on alleged fraud and not on religious belief.' Allow me to state that this
persecution was based on religious belief and not on fraud, and that this state-
ment is a perversion, for the bank was not opened until several years after the
tarring and feathering referred to. But did the bank fail? Yes, in 1837, about
five years after, in the great financial crisis ; and so did most of the banks in the
United States, in Canada, a great many in England, France and other parts of
Europe. Is it so much more criminal for the Mormons to make a failure than
others? Their bank was swallowed in the general financial maelstrom, and some
time after the failure of the bank the bills were principally redeemed.
" 'They fled to Missouri, their followers joined them there, they were soon
accused of plundering and burning habitations and with secret assassinations.'
Was there no law in Missouri? The Missourians certainly did not lack either the
will or the power to enforce it. Why were not these robbers, incendiaries, and
assassins dealt with? Mr. C. continues: 'Nor do these charges against them
rest on the testimony of those who had not been of their own faith ; in October,
1838, T. B. Marsh, ex-president of the twelve apostles of their church, and Orson
Hyde, one of the apostles, made affidavits before an ofificer in Ray County, Mis-
souri, in which Marsh swore and Hyde corroborated it.
"' They have among them a company consisting of all that are true Mor-
11
41 H HISTORY OF SALT LAKE CITY.
nions, called the Danites, who have taken an oath to support the heads of the
church in all things, whether right or wrong. I have heard the Prophet say that
he would yet tread down his enemies and walk over their dead bodies; that, if
he vvas not let alone he would be a second Mohammed to this generation, and
that he would make it one gore of blood from the Rocky Mountains to the At-
lantic ocean.' I am sorry to say that Thomas B, Marsh did make that affidavit,
and that Orson Hyde stated that he knew part of it and believed the other ; and
it would be disingenuous in me to deny it ; but it is not true that these things
existed, for I was there and knew to the contrary ; and so did the people of Mis-
souri, and so did the Governor of Missouri. How do you account for their acts ?
Only on the score of the weakness of our common humanity. We are living in
troublous times, and all men's nerves are not proof against such shocks as we
then had to endure. Mobs were surrounding us on every hand, burning our
houses, murdering our people, destroying our crops, killing our cattle. About
this time that horrible massacre at Haun's Mill took place, where men, women and
children, were indiscriminately butchered, and their remains, for want of other
sepulture, thrown into a well. Messages were coming in from all parts, of fire>
devastation, blood and death. We threw up a few logs and fences for protection ;
this, I suppose, is what Mr. Colfax calls, ' fortifying their towns and defying the
officers of law.' If wagons and fences and a few house logs are fortifications, we
were fortified ; and if the mob, whose hands were dripping with the blood of
men, women and children, whom they had murdered in cold blood, were ' officers
of the law ' then we are guilty of the charge. I cannot defend the acts of Thomas
B. Marsh or Orson Hyde, although the latter had been laboring under a severe
fever, and was at the time only just recovering, no more than I could defend the
acts of Peter when he cursed and swore and denied Jesus ; nor the acts of Judas
who betrayed Him ; but, if Peter, after going out and ' vveeping bitterly,' was
restored, and was afterwards a chief apostle ; so did Orson Hyde repent sincerely
and weep bitterly, and was restored and has since been to Palestine, Germany
and other nations. Thomas B. Marsh returned a poor broken down man, and
begged to live with us; he got up before assembled thousands and stated : ' If
you wish to see the effect of apostacy, look at me.' He was a poor wreck of a
man, a helpless drivelling child, and he is since dead. A people are not to be
judged by such acts as these. But the Governor of Missouri in his message says :
" ' These people had violated the laws of the land by open and armed resistance
to them ; they had instituted among themselves a government of their own, inde-
pendent of, and in opposition to, the government of this State," (false); " they
had, at an inclement season of the year, driven the inhabitants of an entire county
from their homes, ravaging their crops and destroying their dwellings.'
" Now, if the Governor had reversed this statement it would have been true ;
the falsity of it I stand prepared to prove anywhere, Mr. Governor it was your
bull that gored our ox. We were robbed, pillaged and exiled, were you? Our
men, women and children were murdered without redress; driven from their
homes in an inclement season of the year, and died by hundreds, in the State of
Illinois, in consequence of hardships and exposure.
"The legislature of Missouri, to cover their infamy, appropriated the munifi-
HISTORY OF SALT LAKE CITY. 41 g
cent sum of ^2,000 to help the suffering Mormons. Their agent took a few mis-
erable traps, the sweepings of an old store ; for the balance of the patrimony he
sent into Davis County and killed our hogs, which we were then prevented from
doing, and brought them to feed the poor Mormons as part of the legislative ap-
propriation. This I saw. On this subject I could quote volumes. I will only
say that when authenticated testimony Avas presented to Martin Van Buren, the
President of the United States, he replied, 'Your cause is j'usl ; but I can do
nothing for you.'
" Mr. Colfax, in summing up, says, 'There is nothing in this as to their re-
ligion.' Read the following :
"Tuesday, November 6th, 1S38, General Clark made the following remarks
to a number of men in Far West, Mo. :
" ' Gentlemen, you whose names are not attached to this list of names will
now have the privilege of going to your fields and providing corn and wood for
your families. Another article yet remains for you to comply with, that is, that
you leave the State forthwith, and whatever may be your feelings concerning this,
or whatever your innocence is nothing to me. The orders of the Governor to me
were that you should be exterminated. I would advise you to scatter abroad and
never again organize yourselves with bishops, presidents, etc., lest you excite the
jealousies of the people.'
" Is not this persecution for religion ?
"Mr. Colfax next takes us to Nauvoo and says, 'In Nauvoo they remained
until 1846; the disturbances which finally caused them to leave the city were not
in consequence of their religious creed. Foster and Law, who had been Mor-
mons, renounced the faith and established an anti-Mormon paper at Nauvoo called
the Expositor. In May, 1844, the prophet and a party of his followers, on the
publication of his first number, attacked the office, tore it down and destroyed the
press.'
" This is a mistake. The Expositor was an infamous sheet, containing vile
and libelous attacks upon individuals, and the citizens generally, and would not
have been allowed to exist in any other community a day. ^ The people complained
to the authorities about it; after mature delib2ration the city council passed an or-
dinance ordering its removal as a nuisance, and it was removed. In a conversa-
tion with Governor Ford, on this subject, afterwards, when informed of the cir-
cumstances, he said to me, ' I cannot blame you for destroying it, but I wish it had
been done by a mob.' I told him that we preferred a legal course, and that Black-
stone described a libellous press as a nuisance and liable to be removed ; that our
city charter gave us the power to remove nuisances; and that if it was supposed
we had contravened the law, we were amenable for our acts and refused not an
investigation. Mr. Colfax's history says, 'The authorities thereupon called out
the militia to enforce the law, and the Mormons armed themselves to resist it.'
The facts were that armed mobs were organized in the neighborhood of Carthao-e
•and Warsaw. The Governor came to Carthage and sent a deputation to Joseph
Smith, requesting him to send another to him, with authentic documents in rela-
tion to the late difficulties. Dr. J. M. Bernhisel, our late delegate to Congress,
and myself, were deputed as a committee to wait upon the Governor. His Ex-
^20 HISTORY OF SALT LAKE CITY.
cellency thought it best (although we had had a hearing before) for us to have a
rehearing on the press question. We called his attention to the unsettled state of
the country, and the general mob spirit that prevailed ; and asked if we must
bring a guard; that we felt fully competent to protect ourselves, but were afraid
it would create a collision. He said, 'We had better come entirely unarmed,'
and pledged his faith and the faith of the State for our protection. We went un-
armed to Carthage, trusting in the Governor's word. Owing to the unsettled
state of affairs we entered into recognizances to appear at another time. A warrant
was issued for the arrest of Joseph and Hyrum Smith, for treason. They were re-
manded to jail, and while there were murdered. Not ' by a party of mob,' as Mr.
Colfax's history states, ' from Missouri,' but by men in Illinois, who, with black-
ened faces, perpetrated the hellish deed ; they did not overpower the guard, as
stated, the guard helped them in the performance of their fiendisli act. I saw
them for I was there at the time. I could a tale unfold that would implicate
editors, officers, military and civil, ministers of the gospel, and other wolves in
sheep's clothing.
" The following will show in part what our position was :
" 'A proclamation to the citizens of Hancock County : — Whereas, a mob
of from one to two hundred men, under arms have gathered themselves together
in the southwest part of Hancock County, and are at this time destroying the
dwellings, and other buildings, stacks of grain and other property, of a portion
of our citizens in the most inhuman manner, compelling the defenceless women
ana children to leave their sick beds and exposing them to the rays of the parch-
ing sun, there to lie and suffer without aid or assistance of a friendly hand, to^min-
ister to their wants, in their suffering condition. The rioters spare not the widow
nor orphan, and while I am writing this proclamation, the smoke is arising to the
clouds, and the flime is devouring four buildings which have just been set on fire
by the rioters Thousands of dollars worth of property has already been con-
sumed, an entire settlement of about sixty or seventy families laid waste, the in
habitants thereof are fired up^ii, narrowly escaping with their lives, and forced to
fl;e before the ravages of the mob. Therefore I command said rioters and
other peace breakers to* desist, forthwith, and I hereby call upon the law-abiding
citizens, d.%2, posse commitatus of Hancock County, to give their united aid in sup-
jjressirg the rioters and maintaining the supremacy of the law.
J. B. Backenstos,
Shet iff of Hancock County, Ills.''
" Mr. Backenstos was not a Mormon.
"We set out in search of an asylum, in some far off wilderness, where we
hoped we could enjoy religious liberty. Previous to our departure a committee
composed of Stephen A. Douglass, Gen. John J. Harding, both members of Con-
gress, the Attorney General of Illinois, Major Warren and others, met in my house,
in Nauvoo, in conference with the Twelve, to consult about our departure. They
were then presented the picture of devastation that would follow our exodu";, and
felt ashamed to have to acknowledge that State and United States authorities had
to ask a persecuted and outraged people to leave their property, homes and fire-
sides for their oppres<^ors to enjoy ; not because we had not a good Constitution
HISTORY OF SALT LAKE CITY. 421
and liberal government, but because there was not virtue and power in the State
and United States authorities to protect them in their rights. We made a treaty
with them to leave ; after this treaty, when the strong men and the majority of the
people had left, and there was nothing but old and infirm men, buys, women and
children to battle with, like ravenous wolves, impatient for their prey, they vio-
lated their treaty by making war upon them, and driving them houseless, home-
less, and destitute across the Mississippi river.
"The archaeologist, the antiquarian, and the traveller need not then have
gone to Herculaneum, to Pompeii, to Egypt or Yucatan, in search of ruins or
deserted cities; they could have found a deserted temple, forsaken family altars,
desolate hearth stones and homes, a deserted city much easier : the time, the
nineteenth century j the place, the United States of America; the State, Illinois,
and the city, Nauvoo.
" While fleeing, as fugitives, from rthe United States, and in Indian ter-
ritory, a requisition was made by the Government for 500 men to assist in con-
quering Mexico, the very nation to whose Territory we were fleeing in our exile ;
we supplied the demand and though despoiled and expatriated, were the principal
agents in planting the United States flag in Upper California.
" I again quote :
"'In September, 1850, Congress organized Utah Territory, and President
Fillmore appointed Brigham Young (who at Smith's death had become President
of the Church) as Governor. The next next year the Federal judges were com-
pelled by Brigham Young's threats of violence to flee from the Territory, and the
laws of the United States were openly defied. Col. Steptoe was commissioned
Governor in place of Young, but after wintering with a battalion of soldiers at
Salt Lake, he resigned, not deeming it safe or prudent to accept.'
" So far from this being the case. Col. Steptoe was on the best of terms with
our community, and previous to his appointment as Governor, a number of our
prominent Gentile citizens, judges. Col. Steptoe and some of his officers signed a
I petition to the President praying for the continuance of President Young in office.
He continues: 'In February, 1856, a mob of armed Mormons, instigated by
sermons from the heads of the Church, broke into the United States court room
and at the point of the bowie knife compelled Judge Drummond to adjourn his
court sine die ; " (this is a sheer fabrication, there never was such an occurrence
in Utah) ' and very soon all the United States officers, except the Indian Agent,
were compelled to flee from the Territory.' Now this same amiable and perse-
cuted Judge Drummond brought with him a courtezan from Washington, whom he
introduced as his wife, and had her with him on the bench. The following will
show the mistake in regard to Col. Steptoe and others :
" ' To His Excellency Franklin Pierce,
President of the United States :
"'Your petitioners would respectfully represent that. Whereas, Governor
Brigham Young possesses the entire confidence of the people of this Territory,
without distinction of party or sect, and from personal acquaintance and social
intercourse, we find him to be a firm supporter of the Constitution and laws of
422 HISTORY OF SALT LAKE CITY.
the United States, and a tried pillar of Republican institutions; and having re-
peatedly listened to his remarks, in private as well as in public assemblies, do
know he is a warm friend and able supporter of Constitutional liberty, the rumors
published in the States, to the contrary, notwithstanding ; and having canvassed
to our satisfaction, his doings as Governor and Superintendent of Indian affairs,
and also the distribution of appropriations for public buildings fjr the Territory,
we do most cordially and cheerfully represent that the same has been expended
to the best interest of the nation; and whereas, his appointment would better sub-
serve the Territorial interest than the appointment of any other man,
" * We therefore take great pleasure in recommending him to your favorable
consideration, and do earnestly request his appointment as Governor, and Super-
intendent of Indian affairs for this Territory.
"'Salt Lake City, Utah Territory, December 30th, 1S54. J. F. Kinney,
Chief Justice Supreme Court; Leonidas Shaver, Assistant Justice; E. J. Steptoe,
Lt. Col. U. S. Army; John F. Reynolds, Bvt. Maj.; Rufus Ingales, Capt.;
Sylvester Mowry, La Chett, L. Livingston, John C. Chandler, Robert O. Tyler,
Benj. Allston, Lieutenants; Chas. A. Perry, Wm. G. Rankin, Horace R. Kirby,
Medical Staff; U. S. A. Henry, C. Branch, C. C. Branham, C. J. Bipne, Lucian
L. Bedell, Wm. Mac, J. M. Hochaday and other strangers.'
''There was really no more cause for an army then than there is now, and
there is no more reason now, in reality, than there was then, and the bills of
Messrs. Cragin and Cullom are only a series of the same infamies that we have
before experienced, and are designed, as all unbiassed men know, to create a dif-
ficulty and collision, aided by the clamor of speculators and contractors, who
have of course, a very disinterested desire to relieve their venerated uncle by
thrusting their patriotic hands into his pockets.
" I am sorry to be under the pamful necessity of repudiating Mr. Colfax's
history. It is said that 'corporations have no souls,' and nations are not prover-
bially conscientious about their nomenclature or records. Diplomacy generally
finds language suited to its objects. When the British nation granted to the East
India Company their stupendous monopoly, that company subjugated and brought
really into serfdom about one hundred millions of human beings; and compelled
many to raise poison (opium) instead of bread. History calls that ^ trade and
commerce.'' After the Chinese had made a law making the introduction of opium
contraband, in defiance of this law they sent cargoes of the tabooed article and
illicitly introduced their poison. The Chinese, unwilling to be poisoned, confis-
cated and destroyed these contraband goods. History calls it a casus belli, and
when the Chinese, unwilling to be coerced, resisted the British force, that nation
slaughtered vast hordes of them, because they had the power ; history calls it war.
When they forced them to pay millions of dollars for the trouble they had in
killing them, history calls it indemnification for the expenses of the war. When
President Polk wanted to possess himself of the then Mexican Territory of Upper
California, he sent General Taylor, with an army of occupation, into disputed
Mexican territory, well knowing that an honorable nation would resent it as
an insult, and that would be considered a casus belli and afford a pretext for mak-
ing war upon the weak nation, and possessing ourselves of the coveted Territory;
HISTORY OF SALT LAKE CITY. 423
history calls it conquest and reprisals. It is true that we acted more honorably
than Great Britain in awarding some compensation. President Buchanan, goaded
by the Republicans, wished to show them that in regard to the Mormons he dared
out-Herod Herod, by fitting up an army to make war upon the Mormons ; but it
was necessary to have a pretext. It would not have been popular to destroy a
whole community in cold blood, so he sent out a few miserable minions and rene-
gadoes for the purpose of provoking a collision. These men not only acted in-
famously here, but published false statements throughout the United States, and
every kind of infamy — as is now being done by just such characters — was laid at
the door of the Mormons. They said, among other things, that we had burned
the U. S. records. These statements were afterwards denied by Governor Gum-
ming. Mr. Buchanan had another object in view, and Mr. J. B. Floyd, Secretary
ot War, had also his axe to grind, and the whole combined was considered a
grand coup d' eiai. It is hardly necessary to inform Mr. Colfax that this army,
under pretence of subjugating the Mormons, was intended to coerce the people of
Kansas to his views, and that they were not detained, as stated by Mr. Colfax's
history, which said : " the troops, necessarily moving slowly, were overtaken by
the snows in November, and wintered at Bridger.' I need not inform Mr. Col-
fax that another part of this grand tableau originated in the desire of Secretary
Floyd to scatter the U. S. forces and arms, preparatory to the Confederate rebel-
lion. Such is history and such are facts.
" We were well informed as to the object of the coming of the army, we had
men in all of the camps, and knew what was intended. There was a continual
boast among the men and officers, even before they left the Missouri river, of what
they would do with the Mormons. The houses were picked out that certain per-
sons were to inhabit ; farms, property and women were to be distributed.
' Beauty and booty,' were their watchword. We were to have another grand Nor-
man conquest, and our houses, gardens, orchards, vineyards, fields, wives and
daughters were to be the spoils. Instead of this Mr. Buchanan kept them too
long about Kansas ; the Lord put a hook in their jaws, and instead of reveling in
sacked towns and cities and glutting their libidinous and riotous desires in ravish-
ing, destroying and laying waste, they knawed dead mules' legs at Bridger, ren-
dered palatable by the ice, frost and snow of a mountain winter, seasoned by the
pestiferous exhalations of hecatombe of dead animals, the debris of a ruined
army, at a cost to the nation of about forty millions. We had reason to say then
'the Lord reigns, let the earth be glad.' Oh, how wicked it was for President
Young to resist an army like the above, prostituted by the guardians of a free and
enlightened republic to the capacity of buccaneers and brigands !
" In the spring rumors prevailed of an intended advance of the army. Pre-
ferring compromise to conflict, we left Salt Lake City and the northern part of
the Territory eti masse and prepared ourselves, for what we then considered a
coming conflict. After first preparing combustible materials and leaving a suffi-
cient number of men in every settlement to destroy everything ; had we been
driven to it we should have made such a conflagration as never was witnessed in
the U. S. Every house would have been burned and leveled to the ground, every
barn, grain and hay stack, every meeting house, court house and store demolished;
424 HISTORY OF SALT LAKE CITY.
every fruit tree and shrub would have been cut down ; every fence burned and the
country would have been left a liovvling wilderness as we found it. We were de-
termined that if we could not enjoy our homes in peace, that never again should
our enemies revel in our possessions.
"I now come to Mr. Colfax's next heading, ' their polygamy: '
"As this is simply a rehash of his former arguments, without answering mine,
I beg to be excused inserting his very lengthy quotation, as this article is already
long. In regard to our tolerations of all religions, Mr. C. entertains very singular
ideas. We do invite men of almost all persuasions to preach to us in our tab-
ernacles, but we are not so latiUidinarian in our principles as to furnish meeting
houses for all; we never considered this a part of the programme. Meeting houses
are generally closed against us everywhere, and men are advised not to go and hear
us ; we open ours, and say to our congregation go and hear them, but we do not
engage to furnish all. Neither is the following statement correct: 'About the
same time he (Mr. Taylor) was writing it, God be and others were being expelled
from the Church for disbelieving the infallibility of Brigham Young.' No person,
as I before stated, was ever expelled from the Church for doubting the infallibility
of President Young ; it is but just to say that President Young, himself disclaims
it. Mr. C. again repeats his argument in relation to the suttee, or burning of
widows in India, and after giving a very elaborate and correct account of its sup-
pression by English authority says : —
"' Wherever English power recognized there this so-called religious rite
is now sternly forbid denand prevented. England with united voice said stop !
and India obeyed/
"To present Mr. Colfax's argument fairly, it stands thus: The burning of
Hindoo widows was considered a religious rite, by the Hindoos. The British
were horrified at the practice and suppressed it. The Mormons believe polygamy
to be a religious rite. The American nation consider it a scandal and that they
ought to put it down. Without entering into all the details, I think the above a
fair statement of the question. He says ' the claim that religious faith commanded
it was powerless, and it went down, as a relic of barbarism.' He says: ' History
tells us what a civilized nation, akin to ours, actually did, where they had the
power.' I wish to treat this argument with candor, although I do not look upqn
the British nation as a fit example for us ; it was not so thought in the time of the
Revolution. I hope we would not follow them in charging their cannon with
Sepoys, and shooting them off in this same India. I am glad, also, to find that
our Administration views and acts upon the question of neutrality more honorably
than our trans-Atlantic cousins. But to the point. The British suppressed the
suttee in India, and therefore we must be equally moral and suppress polygamy in
the United States. Hold ! not so fast ; let us state facts as they are and remove
the dust. The British suppressed the suttee, but tolerated eighty-three millions of
polygamists in India. The suppression of the suttee and that of polygamy are
two very different things. If the British are indeed to be our examplars, Con-
gress had better wait until polygamy is suppressed in India. But it is absurd to
compare the suttee to polygamy ; one is murder and the destruction of life, the
other is national economy and the increase and perpetuation of life. Suttee ranks
HISTORY 01 SALT LAKE CITY. 425
truly with Infanticide, both of which are destructive of human life. Polygamy is
salvation compared with cither, and tends even more than monogamy to increase
and perpetuate the human race.
" I have now waded through Mr. Colfax's charges and have proven the falsity
of his assertions and the tergiversation of his historical data. I will not say his
but his adopted history; for it is but fair to say that he disclaims vouching for its
accuracy.
" Permit me here again to assert my right as a public teacher, to address my-
self to Congress and the nation, and to call their attention to something that is
more demoralizing, debasing, and destructive than polygamy. As an offset to my
former remarks on these things, we are referred to our mortality of infants as " ex-
ceeding any thing else known."
'' Mr, Colfax is certainly in error here. In France, according to late statisti-
cal reports on la vwrt d'' enfants, they were rated at from fifty to eighty per cent,
of the whole under one year old. The following is from the Salt Lake City sex-
ton's report for 1869 :
" ' Total interments during the year, 4S4; deducting persons brought from the
country places for interment, and transients, 93 ; leaving the mortality of this
<^ity, 391-
Jos. E. Taylor, Sexton.
'" Having been often asked the question: Whether the death-rate was not
considerably greater among polygamic families than monogamic, I will answer :
Of the 292 children buried from Salt Lake City last year (1869), 64 were children
of polygamists; while 228 were children of monogamists; and further, that out
of this number, there was not even one case of infanticide.
Respectfully,
Jos. E. Taylor.
" We had a sickly season last year among children ; but when it is considered
that we have twice as many children as any other place, in proportion to the
number of inhabitants, the death-rate is very low, especially among polygamists-
" But supposing it was true, ' the argumetituni ad hominiun,^ which Mr. Col-
fax says he ' might use/ would scarcely be an argumentum ad judiciim ; for if all
the children in Salt Lake City or Utah died, it would certainly not do away with
that horrible crime, infanticide. Would Mr. Colfax say that because a great num-
ber of children in Utah, who were children of polygamists, died, that, therefore,
infanticide in the United States is justifiable? and that the acts of Madame Res-
telle and her pupils were right and proper? I know he would not, his ideas are
more pure, generous and exalted. Mr. Colfax says of us, ' I do not charge infant
murder, of course." Now I do charge that infant murder prevails to an alarming
extent in the United States. The following will show how near right I am. Ex-
tract from a book entitled. Serpents in a Dove' s Nest, by Rev. John Todd, D. D.^
Boston. Lee and Shepherd.
*"' Under the head of ' Fashionable Murder," we read the following :
" 'By the advertisements of almost every paper, city and village in the land,
offering medicines to be effectual ' from whatever causes ' it is needed ; by the
11
426 HISTORY OF SALT LAKE CITY.
shameless and notorious great establishments, fitted up and advertised as places
where any woman may resort to effect the end desired, and which now number in
the city of New York alone over four hundred, advertised and abundantly patron-
ized, houses devoted to the work of abortionating ; by the confession of hundreds
of women made to physicians, who have been injured by the process ; and by the
almost constant and unblushing applications made to the profession from ' women
in all classes of society, married and unmarried, rich and poor and otherwise,
good, bad or indifferent,' to aid them in the thing — do we know of the frequency
of this crime ? " (p. 4 and 5.) ' I would not advise any one to challenge further
disclosures, else we can show that France, with all her atheism, that Paris, with
all her license, is not as guilty, in this respect, as is staid New England at the
present hour. Facts can be adduced that will make the ears tingle ; but we don't
want to divulge them ; but we do want the womanhood of our day to understand
that the thing can be no longer concealed ; that commonness of fashion cannot do
away with its awful guilt; it is deliberate and cold-blooded murder.' (p. 13, 14.)
"These facts are corroborated by Dr. Story in a book, entitled. Why Not.
Lee and Shepherd, Boston. By the New York Medical Journal, September, 1866,
by the Boston Commonwealth, Springfield, (Mass.) Worcester Palladium, North-
ampton Free Press, Salem Observer, and, as stated above, 'by the advertisements
of almost every paper, city and village in the land.' I have statistics before me
now, from a physician, stating the amount of prostitution, foeticide and infanti-
cide m Chicago; but bad as Chicago is represented to be, these statements are so
enormous and revolting that I cannot believe them. Neither is the statement made
by some of the papers, in regard to Mr. Colfax's association with the Richardson
case, reliable. Men in his position have their enemies, and it is not credible that
a gentleman holding such strong prejudice about, what he considers, the immor-
ality of the Mormons, and whose moral ideas, in relation to virtue and chastity,
are so pure, could lend himself as an accomplice to the very worst and most re-
volting phase of Free Loveism. And I would here solicit the aid of Mr. Colfax,
with his superior intelligence, his brilliant talents and honorable position, to help
stop the blighting, withering curse of prostitution, foeticide and infanticide.
" I call upon philosophers and philanthropists to stop it ; know ye not that
the transgression of every law of nature brings its own punishment, and that as
noble a race of men as ever existed on the earth are becoming emasculated and
destroyed by it ? I call upon physicians to stop it ; you are the guardians of the
people's health, and justice requires that you should use all your endeavors to stop
the demoralization and destruction of our race, I call upon ministers of the gos-
pel to stop it ; know ye not the wail of murdered infants is ascending into the ears
of the Lord of Sabaoth and that the whole nation is hastening to destruction
whilst you are singing lullaby songs to murderers and murderesses ? I call upon
statesmen to slop it ; know ye not that the statisticians inform us that our original
stock is running out, and that in consequence of this crime we are being sup-
planted by foreigners, and that the enemies of the negro race are already exulting
in the hope of their speedy extinction, by copying your vices. I call upon the
fair daughters of America and their abettors their husbands and paramours to
pause in their career of crime ; you came of an honorable and pure stock, your
HISTORY OF SAL T LAKE CITY. 42-]
fathers, mothers and grandmothers' hands were not stained with the blood of in-
nocence; they could press their pillows in peace, without the fear of a visit from
the shades of their wailing offspring, I call upon municipal and State authorities
and especially upon Congress to stop this withering, cursing and damning blight.
I call upon all honorable men and women to use their influence to stop this grow-
ing evil. I conjure you by the love of God, by the ties of consanguinity, by a
respect for our race and a love for our nation, by the moans of murdered infants
and the fear of an avenging retribution, help stop this cursed evil !
"In the province of Gazaret, Hindostan, parents have been in the habit of
destroying infant children as soon as born ; and at the festival held at Gunga Ser-
goor, children were sacrificed to the Ganges from time immemorial ; both of these
the British nation suppressed. Shall we practice crimes in civilized and Christian
America, that England will not allow heathens to perform, but put them down by
the strong arm of the law? You indeed tell us that these things are " banned by
you, banned by the law, banned by morality and public opinion; " your bans are
but a mockery and a fraud, as are your New England temperance laws ; your law
reaches one in a thousand who is so unfortunate as to be publicly exposed. These
crimes, of which I write, run riot in the land, a withering, cursing blight. The
affected purity of the nation is a myth ; like the whited walls and painted sepul-
chers, of which Jesus spake, ''within there is nothing but rottenness and dead
men's bones." Who, and what is banned by you? What power is there in your
interdiction over the thirty thousand prostitutes and mistresses of New York and
their amiable pimps and paramours? What of the thousands in the city of broth-
erly love, in Boston, in your large eastern, northern and southern cities? What
of Washington ? What of your four hundred murder establishments in New York
and your New England operations in the same line ? You are virtuous are you ?
God deliver us from such virtue. It may be well to talk about your purity and
bans to those wlio are ignorant; it is too bare-faced for the informed. I say, as I
said before, why don't you stop this damning, cursed evil? I am reminded of the
Shakesperian spouter who cried, ' I can call spirits from the vasty deep ! ' 'So
can I,' said his hearer, ' but they won't come ! ' Now we do control these horrid
vices and crimes, do you want to force them upon us? Such things are
'"A blot that will remain a blot in spite
Of all that grave apologists may write ;
And, though a bishop try to cleanse the stain,
He rubs and scours the crimson spot in vain.'
"We have now a Territory out of debt; cur cities, counties and towns are
out of debt. We have no gambling, no drunkenness, no prostitution, foeticide
nor infanticide. We maintain our wives and children, and we have made the
' desert to blossom as the rose.' We are at peace with ourselves and with all the
world. Whom have we injured? Why can we not be let alone ?
" What are we offered by you in your proposed legislation ? for it is well for
us to count the cost. First — confiscation of property, our lands, houses, gardens,
fields, vineyards, and orchards, legislated, away by men who have no property, car-
petbaggers, pettifoggers, adventurers, robbers, for you offer by your bills a pre-
mium for fraud and robbery. The first robs us of our property and leaves us
428 HISTORY OF SALT LAKE CITY.
the privilege, though despoiled, of retaining our honor, and of worshipping God
according to the dictates of our own conscience. We have been robbed before ;
this we could stand again. Now for the second — the great privilege which you
offer by obedience : Loss of honor and self respect ; a renunciation of God and
our religion ; the prostitution of our wives and children to a level with your civ-
ilization ; to be cursed with your debauchery ; to be forced to countenance
infanticide in our midst, and have your professional artists advertise their dens of
murder among us ; to swarm, as you do, with pimps and harlots and their para-
mours; to have gambling, drunkenness, whoredom,, and all the pestiferous effects
of debauchery ; to be involved in debt and crime, forced upon us ; to despise
ourselves, to be despised by our wives, children and friends, and to be despised
and cursed of God, in time and in eternity. This you offer us and your religion
to boot. It is true you tell us you will ' ban it ' but your bans are a myth ; you
would open the flood gates of crime and debauchery, infanticide, drunkenness and
gambling, and practically tie them up with a strand of a spider's web. You can-
not stop these; if you would you have not the power. We have, and prefer
purity, honor, and a clear conscience, and our motto to-day is, as it ever has been,
and I hope ever will be '■ the Kingdom of God or nothing.'
" Respectfully,
"John Taylor."
CHAPTER XLYIL
BIRTH OF THE UTAH LIBERAL PARTY. POLITICAL COALITION OF GENTILES
AND MORMON SCHISMATICS. CONTEST AT THE MUNICIPAL ELECTION
OF 1870. REPORT OF THE FIRST CENTR.\L COMMITTEE OF THE LIBERAL
PARTY.
In the beginning of the year 1870, in January and February, a political plan
was devised to unite the Godbeites with the Gentiles. Both were few in number ;
even when united they were but an insignificant minority, compared with the
party since known as the '' People's" party. The coalition, however, was consid-
ered promising and prospectively formidable. On the one side, the schismatic
Mormon elders and merchants were likely to have a large following throughout
the Territory or, at least, it was expected that the schism would increase greatly
and extend to every settlement, even though it should lack cohesion. Nothing
seemed more probable than that there were thousands of men and women, who
had grown up in the Mormon community, or been long connected with it, apart
from any spiritualistic " New Movement " incubated at nightly seajices at New
York, who occupied similar positions, and entertained similar views regarding
Mormonism, to those of Mr. Godbe and his compeers, and the Walker Brothers,
Chislett and their class, who had left the Church years before. There were also
Tng " Tru lELBMai &, Sons 13 :Barc'
HISTORY OF SALT LAKE CITY. 42g
many influential men who remained in the Mormon Church who said to Mr.
Godbe and his friends, " You should have remained in the Church and fought out
your issues. It was a great mistake to set up new a church."
And thus the " New Movement," or new " Church of Zion " was soon gen-
erally looked upon to be in and of itself a failure, while to the faithful Mormons,
whose head of the Church was so prominent and sound, whose will so strong and or-
ganism matchless, this church of Zion, without a head, or even the power to organize
a quorum of elders, was a thing of scorn. Henry W. Lawrence keenly felt this
and forecasted failure in the object of the schism. The only resolution of any
social potency was in a quick uniting of the Godbeites with the Gentiles, and the
formation of a political party by such a coalition.
"The design was projected, and early in February, 1870, a political caucus
was called, of the leading men concerned, to give birth to the party now known
as the "Liberal" party. The meeting was held in the Masonic Hall. Eli B.
Kelsey was chosen ciiairman, whereupon the leaders made their preliminary
speeches, formulated methods for the city election close at hand, with Henry W.
Lawrence at the head of their ticket for Mayor of Salt Lake City. The Gentiles,
with political sagacity, kept in the background, merely playing the parts as ad-
visers, helpers and voters Of course the object of this maneuver was to make
their coalition party a political entering wedge into the Mormon Church, by call-
ing out the Mormon friends of the men on the ticket. The preliminary work
having been done, the meeting adjourned to be held next at Walker Brother's old
store, where the " New Movement " held its service and public meetings; Eli B.
Kelsey was continued as chairman, and a committee was appointed to make a pub-
lic call for the ratification of the Liberal ticket.
Accordingly the city was duly placarded, informing the public of the meet-
ing and its object ; and the invitation given was " Come one, come all I '' It was
an unfortunate wording; for it was addressed to the "people " of Salt Lake City
to "come one, come all" to nominate their municipal officers for the forthcom-
ing election. The Mormons were "the people" — "The People's party" — a
name, indeed, which came into political significance from that very election.
The People's party resolved to accept the invitation, and give the Liberals a sur-
prise. It was a party coup cV etat, perhaps, not quite fair, yet without that fell de-
sign which the Liberal party has marked in the first chapter of its own history.
It was in fact, merely a political move of party managers to show the people how
futile an opposition party was, and how easily overwhelmed.
But it is necessary to the completeness of the historical data of our city, as
due to the Utah Liberal party, which has since repeatedly contested the elections
for Delegate to Congress to give its first chapter as presented by its own central
committee at the time.
The Deseret News of February 10, 1S70, thus called attention to " the Mass
Meeting: "
" By a placard which is posted up in several places in the city, signed ' many
voters,' we see that it is the intention to hold a public Mass Meeting this,
Thursday, Evening, at half past six o'clock, in the building known as Walker
Brothers' original store, on East Temple Street. The object of the meeting, as
430 HISTORY OF SALT LAKE CITY.
set forth by the placard, is ' for the nomination of a People's Free and Indepen-
dent Ticket for Mayor, Aldermen, Councilors, etc., to be voted for on Monday,
the 14th instant.'
"The placard is headed in large letters, ' Come One, Come All.' A full
meeting is desired, and as the object is one of general interest to all ^classes of
our citizens, we hope there will be a crowded attendance. We want to see a
good ticket nominated for city officers and the occasion is one in which every citi-
zen should be interested."
On Saturday, February 12, 1870, the following appeared in the 7th number
of the Mormon Tribune, published by Godbe & Harrison :
"A CARD BY THE COMMITTEE.
"The Mass Meeting, called by many voters, in Walker Brothers' original
store, Thursday evening, February 10, was overwhelmed by a characteristic maneu-
vering on the part of the Church authorities. The Deseret Evening News
promptly announced the meeting, and gave a significant hint for a grand coup d'
etat. And we are well informed that A. Milton Musser went to the different wards
of the city, and instructed the bishops and teachers to have the people of their
wards turn out en masse, and defeat the object for which the meeting was called.
The principal of the Deseret University, also instructed his pupils to be on hand.
A large crowd took possession of the street in front of the building long before
the hour appointed for the meeting. The pressing demand for admittance, ren-
dered it necessary to open the doors a six o'clock, whereupon the crowd rushed
in with si^reams and yells, jumping over and breaking the seats in the most reck-
less manner. At the head of the crowd marched J. D, T. McAllister, acting
bishop of the Eighth Ward and Territorial marshal, and Bishop J. C. Little. Mr.
Eli B. Kelsey stated that this was an adjourned meeting of which he was the reg-
ular chairman ; but as they took possession by force they were welcome to do so.
Without a moment's delay. Bishop J. C. Little was nominated for chairman of
the meeting, Mr. E. L. Sloan was elected secretary, and Mr. Grimshaw reporter.
Bishop Little called for nominations, when the whole orthodox ticket was nomi-
nated one by one by acclamation ; the more sober and thoughtful portion of the
audience ignoring the whole proceedings, considering that a gross outrage had
been perpetrated by the Church officials. We sincerely regret the unmistakable
animus betrayed in the whole affair ; and we feel more than ever the need of a
change.
"We call upon every free American citizen to rally to the polls on Monday
next, and vote the Independent ticket, thereby manifesting their disapproval of
proceedings rarely equalled — certainly never outdone in the Kansas elections."
"Independent Ticket: Mayor — Henry W.Lawrence; aldermen — First
Municipal Ward, Samuel Xahn ; Second Municipal Ward, J. R. Walker; Third
Municipal Ward, Orson Pratt, Jr.; Fourth Municipal Ward, E. D. Woolley ;
Fifth Municipal Ward, James Gordon. Councilors — Nat Stein, Anthony Godbe,
John Cunningtun, John Lowe, Marsena Cannon, Fred T. Perris, Dr. W. F. An-
derson, Wm. Sloan, Peter Rensheimer ; city recorder, Wm. P. Appleby; city
treasurer, B. G. Raybould; city marshal, Ed. Butterfield.
" By order of the
" Central Committee
M
HISTORY OF SALT LAKE CITY. 431
The following correspondence passed between the Liberal central committee
and the mayor :
"Salt Lake City, Feb. 12, 1870.
' ' Daniel H. Wells, mayor Salt Lake City.
" Dear Sir : — You are doubtless aware there is an Independent ticket nom-
inated by many voters of this city to be submitted to the people for their suffrage,
at the municipal election on Monday, the 14th instant. We, therefore, respect-
fully ask, on behalf of those wishing to sustain said ticket, that one judge of
election and one clerk be appointed from the Independent party, by you or the
city council, to act in these positions at said election ; and would respectfully ask
that John M. Worley, and William P. Appleby hz appointed for those positions,
which is according to the usages of the country.
" This committee is desirous that none but legal votes shall be cast at the
coming election, and to this end ask of you the assurance that the usual challenges
and ballot box shall be protected by you and the police force of this city. "Will
you please return an answer by bearer?
"By order of the committee,
"J. M. Orr, Chairman r
"Mayor's Office, Salt Lake City, Feb. 13th, 1S70.
"■J. J\I. Orr, Esq., Chair. Cen. Com.
" Sir : — Your note dated 12th inst. asking for a change to be made in the
board of judges and clerks of election is just received, and I hasten to answer.
" Col. Jesse C. Little, Seymour B. Young and John Needham, Esqs., have
been chosen judges, and F. A. Mitchell and R. V. Morris, Esqs., clerks of said
election.
" These gentlemen were selected and appointed to act as said judges and
clerks by the city council on Teusday, ist inst., and, I am sanguine, command the
confidence of the entire people, and will doubtless act justly and wisely in the
performance of the duties thus devolved upon them.
"Rest assured that every protection will be afforded for voters to vote their
respective tickets without partiality or hindrance.
" If, as is sometimes the case, during the day, the polls should be crowded,
I would recommend the voters to be patient, for all will have the opportunity af-
forded to them to vote during the day. And it is designed to enforce the strictest
order.
Respecfully,
D. H. Wells, Alayor.''
The municipal election on the Monday, Febuary 14th, was quite peaceful,
showing on either side but little of the animus which the commencement seemed
to promise. The Deseret News merely noted the result of the election, with an
item relative to the counting of votes. The Liberal party were the speakers to
the public on the occasion, as will be seen from the report of the first central
committee of the Liberal party.
' ' To the editors of the Mormon Tribtme :
" The undersigned, a committee representing the Independent voters of Salt
43 2 HIS TOR Y OF SALT LAKE CITY.
Lake City and County, desire to state to the public the circumstances connected
with the organization of the first Independent political party in this Territory, as
also the facts of the recent election.
" On Wednesday, February 9th, a meeting was held at the Masonic Hall, of
those opposed to the existing state of our city government. An organization was
effected, a central committee was appointed to serve for one year, and a ticket
for city officers, composed of old and respected citizens without regard to creed
or religious belief, nominated by acclamauon. A mass meeting was also
appointed for the following night to be held at Walkers' original store, for the
ratification of the nominations, and an exchange of views on the questions before
the people. Long previous to the hour appointed, the street in front of, and the
building itself, were taken possession of by a crowd of men, determined to defeat
the purposes of the meeting. We have already stated in the Tribune the result
of their endeavors, the same number of your journal, however, contained the
original, regularly nominated Independent ticket, as submitted to the people on
Monday last. During the election many irregularities, to say the least, were re-
ported to us (by a sub- committee of challengers appointed by us) which we were
and are powerless to remedy. They state that —
"Many voted who were not citizens of the United States.
" Many who were not citizens of Salt Lake |City.
"Many who were not of lawful age ; and the ballot boxes when filled were set
aside and not properly sealed or guarded.
"It is needless to recapitulate the numerous obstacles thrown in the way of
those desirous of voting the Independent ticket, or the annoyances to which our
challengers were subjected. Suffice it to say that without these, and the existing
law of the Territory compelling the numbering and identifying ot each vote, a
system practically robbing every citizen of his freedom of ballot, the result would
have been far different. The means used by our opponents to prevent a fair elec-
tion and an impartial count prove their fears on this point.
" The result of the election, as announced by the judges — no member of our
committee being allowed to be present at the counting of the votes — shows an
average of about three hundred votes for the Independent ticket, and we regard
our commencement in the great work of vindicating the rights of free speech,
free thought and a free press in this Territory a promising one. To sum up the
reward of five days' work : After twenty years of self-constituted city govern-
ment, to which we have paid thousands in taxation, without an exhibit of receipts
or expenses, and for that time not daring to express a sentiment in opposition to
those held by the dominant party, we have in the election of Monday last demon-
strated to the country the existence of American institutions in this Territory,
and believe that the seed sown on that day will bear such fruits that before many
months the State of Utah, freed from all relics of past tyranny and oppression,
will be found marching with the great sisterhood of States, keeping step with the
progress of the Union.
" In concluding we would return thanks to those of our fellow citizens who
have by their confidence placed us in our responsible and prominent positions
before the public. The responsibility we realize,— the publicity was unsought.
HISTORY 01 SALT LAKE CITY. 433
The duties of our positions we will discharge, as long as honored by their confi-
dence, in the fear of God and love of humanity, unshaken loyalty to our country
and with 'charity for all' who differ from us and ' malice towards none.'
" Respectfully,
"J. M. Orr,
"J. R. Walker,
•'Joseph Salisbury,
" T. D. Brown,
" James Brooks_,
" Samuel Kahn,
" R. H. Robertson,
" Central Comnditee.^''
The People's ticket of that year was:
Mayor— Daniel H. Wells; aldermen — First Municipal Ward, Isaac Groo ;
Second, Samuel W. Richards; Third, A. H. Raleigh; Fourth, Jeter Clinton;
Fifth, A. C. Pyper. Councilors— Robert T. Burton, Theodore McKean, Thos.
Jenkins, Heber P. Kimball, Henry Grow, John Clark, Thos. McLellan, John R.
Winder, Lewis S. Hills ; Recorder — Robert Campbell ; treasurer — Paul A. Schet-
tler ; marshal — John D. T. McAllister.
CHAPTER XLVni.
PASSAGE OF THE WOMAN'S SUFFRAGE BILL. GRAND MASS MEETING OF THE
"SISTERS" PROTESTING AGAINST THE CULLOM BILL, THEN BEFORE CON-
GRESS. EXTRAORDINARY RESOLUTIONS AND HEROIC SPEECHES OF THE
WOMEN OF MORMONDOM.
The year 1870 was also signalized by the passage of the female suffrage bill,
which event was destined to make Mormon Utah politically distinguished among
all the advocates of woman's suffrage throughout the world.
The Phrenological Journal iox November, 1870, in its biographical article on
" William H. Hooper, the Utah Delegate and female suffrage advocate," says:
" Utah is a land of marvels. She gives us, first, polygamy, which seems to
be an outrage against ' woman's rights,' and then offers the nation a ' female suf-
frage bill,' at this time in full force within her own borders. Was there ever a
greater anomaly known in the history of society? The women of Utah hold
political power to-day. They are the first in the nation to whom the functions of
the state have been extended, and it is just as consistent to look for a female
member of Congress from Utah as a member of Congress sent to Washington by
the women's vote. Let the women be once recognized as powers in the state as
well as in society and in the church, and their political rights can be extended to
13
434 HISTORY OF SALT LAKE CITY.
any length, according to the temper of the public mind, of which the female
element forms so large a part.
" There is in our innovative age much discussion on the abstract justice, and
also on the practical propriety of extending political power to the women of
America; and the women ot England have made the same demand in the polit-
ical motions of our old Saxon fatherland. This may be caused by one of the
great impulses of the times, for we are certainly living in an age of impulses. It
is also an age of marvels; not merely in steam and electricity, but in our social
states and philosophies of society. Indeed, until modern times, the phrase 'social
science ' was not known ; but these new problems and marvels of society have led
statesmen and philosophers to recognize a positive 'social science,' and the term
sociology to-day is just as legitimate as the term geology. And it is very singular
that those advanced minds who are beginning to reduce government and the
social development to systems of positive philosophy, bring in the function of
political power for woman. Of course your political gamblers and legislative
charlatans are against the innovations which female suffrage bills would work
out in the age ; but such philosophical lawgivers of society and government as
John Stuart Mill, and also statesmen like Cobden and Bright of England, are
contemplating the extension of political power to the women as one of the grand
methods for the world's future good.
" Our present object is not, however, to contend for the benefits to accrue to
society through the agencies of woman brought to bear upon the State, as they
have been in the Church and in the general spheres of life, but to note the ex-
traordinary circumstances of political power having been first granted to and ex-
ercised by the women of Utah. We see that female suffrage is both accepted and
strongly maintained as one of the great social problems of the future, not only
to advance the world, but to assert the dignity and cause of womanhood ; that it
is thus accepted and maintained by the boldest female reformers of America and
the great masters of social science in England. That is one side of the case, and
in that view we find no subject for astonishment, for the men and women whose
very names represent mind in the reform movements of the times will be certain
to be found in the vanguard of civilization; but that the women of Utah, who
have been considered representatives of womanhood in its degradation, should
suddenly be found on the same platform with John Stuart Mill and his sister-
hood, is truly a matter for astonishment. And moreover, when we look upon
the Mormon " kingdom of God." as the Saints denominate it, as the first nation-
ality in the, world which has granted to woman political power and created her
the chief part of the State as well as the Church, one cannot but confess that the
Mormons in this have stolen a march upon their betters.
" Three years ago a friend of the Mormons informed us that the Delegate of
Utah was in New York, just from Washington, bound for Utah to lay before
Brigham Young the extraordinary design of giving to the women of Mormondom
political power. And the circumstance was the more marked from the singular
facts that the legislative minds, aided by the American press, were proposing just
at that time a scheme for Congress to force female suffrage upon Utah, to give to
the women of that Territory the power to break up the institution of polygamy
II
HISTORY OF SALT LAKE CITY. ^j.5
and emancipate themselves from their supposed serfdom and the degradation of
womanhood. This done, the conclusion, of course, was that Mormonism and
the Mormons would become converted and transformed into respectable mono-
gamic problems, easy of solution by our multitude of Christian and other civiliz-
ing agencies,"
The incident referred to in the Phrenoloi^ical Journal relative to William H.
Hooper as the female suffrage delegate from Utah, may be supplemented with the
narrative itself. Mr. Julian, of Indiana, offered a bill to the House in 1867 in
substance, "A Bill to solve the Polygamic Problem." Upon its presentation and
announcement. Delegate Hooper immediately called upon Mr. Julian, saying,
" That bill has a high sounding title. What are its provisions?" He replied, sim-
ply a bill of one section providing for the enfranchisement of the women of
Utah. "Mr. Julian," said the Delegate, ''I am in favor of that bill." He in-
quired, " Do you speak for your own leading men?" Mr. Hooper replied, "I
do not ; but I know of no reason why they should not also approve of it."
When Mr. Hooper returned to Utah, he held a conversation with President
Brigham Young upon this subject. '' Brother Hooper," inquired the President,
"are you in favor of female suffrage?" "I know of no reason why I should
not be/' he answered. No more was said j but from that time the subject seemed
to develop itself in the mind of the President and soon afterwards it was taken
up by the Legislative body and passed by an unanimous vote.
The following is a copy of the bill :
"An Act, giving women the elective franchise in the Territory of Utah.
"Sec. I. — Be it enacted by the Governor and the Legislative Assembly of the
Territory of Utah : That every woman of the age of twenty-one years, who has
resided in this Territory six months next preceding any general or special elec-
tion, born or naturalized in the United States, or who is the wife, or widow, or
the daughter of a naturalized citizen of the United States, shall be entitled to
vote at any election in this Territory.
"Sec. 2. — All laws, or parts of laws, conflicting with this act are hereby
repealed.
" Approved February 12, 1870."
It has been charged by the anti-Mormons, that woman suffrage in Utah was
only designed to further enslave the Mormon women ; that they took no part in
its passage, and have had no soul in its exercise. Nearly the reverse of this is the
case as the records will show. Here follow the minutes of a general meeting of
the great Female Relief Society, held in Salt Lake City, February 19, 1870 — ^just
seven days after the passage of their bill :
"Minutes. — Most of the wards of the city were represented. Miss E. R.
Snow was elected president, and Mrs. L. D. Alder secretary.
" Meeting opened with singing; prayer by Mrs. Harriet Cook Young.
" Miss Eliza R. Snow arose and said, to encourage the sisters in good works,
she would read an account of our indignation meeting, as it appeared in the Sac-
ramento Union) which account she thought a fair one. She also stated that an ex-
pression of gratitude was due acting-Governor Mann, for signing the document
436 HISTORY OF SALT LAKE CITY.
granting woman suffrage in Utah, for we could not have had the right without his
sanction, and said that Wyoming had passed a bill of this kind over its governor's
head, but we could not have done this.
" The following names were unanimously selected to be a committee for said
purpose : Eliza R. Snow, Bathsheba W. Smith, Sarah M. Kimball, M. T. Smoot,
H. C. Young, Z. D. Young, Phoebe Woodruff, M. I. Home, M. N. H)de, Eliza
Cannon, Rachel Grant, Amanda Smith.
'' Mrs. Sarah M. Kimball said she had waited patiently a long time, and
now that we were granted the right of suffrage, she would openly declare herself
a woman's rights woman, and called upon those who would do so to back her up,
whereupon many manifested their approval. She said her experience in life had
been different from that of many. She had moved in all grades of society ; had
been both rich and poor; had always seen much good and intelligence in woman.
The interests of man and woman cannot be separated ; for the man is not without
the woman nor the woman without the man in the Lord. She spoke of the fool-
ish custom which deprived the mother of having control over her sons at a certain
age ; said she saw the foreshadowing of a brighter day in this respect in the fu-
ture. She said she had entertained ideas that appeared wild, which she thought
would yet be considered woman's rights ; spoke of the remarks made by Brother
Rockwood, lately, that women would have as much prejudice to overcome, in oc-
cupying certain positions as men would in granting them, and concluded by de-
claring that woman was the helpmate of man in every department of life.
'' Mrs. Phoebe Woodruff said she was pleased with the reform, and was heart
and hand with her sisters. She was thankful for the privilege that had been
granted to women, but thought we must act in wisdom and not go too fast. She
had looked for this day for years. God has opened the way for us. We have
borne in patience, but the yoke on woman is partly removed. Now that God has
moved upon our brethren to grant us the right of female suffrage, let us lay it by,
and wait till the time comes to use it, and not run headlong and abuse the privi-
lege. Great and blessed things are ahead. All is right and will come out right,
and woman will receive her reward in blessing and honor. May God grant us
strength to do right in his sight.
" Mrs. Bathsheba W. Smith said she felt pleased to be engaged in the great
work before them, and was heart and hand with her sisters. She never felt better
in her life, yet never felt more her own weakness, in view of the greater responsi-
bilities which now rested upon them, nor ever felt so much the necessity of wis-
dom and light ; but she was determined to do her best. She believed that woman
was coming up in the world. She encouraged her sisters with the faith that there
was nothing required of them in the duties of life that they could not perform.
•'Mrs. Prescinda Kimball said: I feel comforted and blessed this day. I am glad
to be numbered in moving forward this reform ; feel to exercise double diligence
and try to accomplish what is required at our hands. We must all put our shoul-
der to the wheel and go ahead. I am glad to see our daughters elevated with
man, and the time come when our votes will assist our leaders, and redeem our-
selves. Let us be humble, and triumph will be ours. The day is approaching
when woman shall be redeemed from the curse placed upon Eve, and I have often
HISTORY OF SAL T LAKE CLTY. 431
thought that our daughters who are in polygamy will be the first redeemed. Then
let us keep the commandents and attain to a fulness, and always bear in mind
that our children born in the priesthood will be saviors on Mount Zion.
"Mrs. Zina D. Young said she was glad to look upon such an assemblage of
bright and happy faces, and was gratified to be numbered with the spirits who had
taken tabernacles in this dispensation, and to know that we are associated with kings
and priests of God; thought we do not realize our privileges. Be meek and humble
and do not move one step aside, but gain power over ourselves. Angels will visit
the earth, but are we, as handmaids of the Lord, prepared to meet them ? We
live in the day that has been looked down to with great anxiety since the morn
of creation.
" Mrs. M. T. Smoot said : ' We are engaged in a great work, and the prin-
ciples that we have embraced are life and salvation unto us. Many principles are
advanced on which we are slow to act. There are many more to be advanced.
Woman's rights have been spoken of. I have never had any desire for more rights
than I have. I have considered politics aside from the sphere of woman ; but,
as things progress, I feel it is right that we should vote though the path may be
fraught with difficulty.'
" Mrs. Wilmarth East said she would bear testimony to what had been said.
She had found by experience that ' obedience is better than sacrifice.' I desire to
be on the safe side and sustain those above us ; but I cannot agree with Sister
Smoot in regard to woman's rights. I have never felt that woman had her priv-
ileges. I always wanted a voice in the politics of the nation, as well as to rear a
family. I was much impressed when I read the poem composed by Mrs. Emily
Woodmansee — ' Who Cares to Win a Woman's Thought.' There is a bright day
coming ; but we need more wisdom and humility than ever before. My sisters,
I am glad to be associated with you — those who have borne the heat and burden
of the day, and ask God to pour blessings on your head.
" Eliza R. Snow; in closing, observed, that there was a business item she
wished to lay before the meeting, and suggested that Sister Bathsheba W. Smith
be appointed on a mission to preach retrenchment all through the South, and
woman's rights if she wished.
" The suggestion was acted upon, and the meeting adjourned with singing
'Redeemer of Israel,' and benediction by Mrs. M. N. Hyde."
The municipal election in Salt Lake City, which occured but two days after
the approval of the bill in question, presented, as we have seen, the first political
issue in our city, from any organized opposition party ; but the new voting ele-
ment placed in the hands of the People's party by the passage of this bill was not
brought largely into requisition. Only a {^\n of the "sisters " claimed the honor
of voting on the occasion. The first of these was Miss Seraph Young, a niece of
President Young.
But probably the most remarkable woman's rights demonstration of the age,
was that of the women of Utah, in their great mass meetings, held throughout
the Territory, in all its principal cities and settlements, in January of 1870 relative
to the Cullom bill.
438 HISTORY OF SALT LAKE CITY.
On the 13th of January, 1870, "notwithstanding the inclemency of the
weather, the old tabernacle," says the Deseret News, "was densely packed with
ladies of all ages, and, as that building will comfortably seat five thousand per-
sons, there could not have been fewer than between five and six thousand present
on the occasion."
It was announced in the programme that there were to be none present but
ladies. Several reporters of the press, however, obtained admittance, among
whom was Colonel Finley Anderson, special correspondent of the New York
Herald.
The meeting was opened with a very impressive prayer from Mrs. Zina D.
Young ; and then, on motion of Miss Eliza R. Snow, Mrs. Sarah M. Kimball was
elected president. Mrs, Lydia Alder was chosen secretary, and Mrs. M. T.
Smoot, Mrs. M. N. Hyde, Isabella Horn, Mary Leaver, Priscilla Staines and
Rachel Grant, were appointed a committee to draft resolutions. This was done
with executive dispatch; for many present had for years been leaders of women's
organizations. The president arose and addressed a few pithy remarks to the vast
assemblage. She said :
" We are to speak in relation to the government and institutions under which
we live. She would ask, have we transgressed any law of the United States ?
[Loud 'no^ from the audience.] Then why are we here to-day ? We have been
driven from place to place, and wherefore ? Simply for believing and practicing
the counsels of God, as contained in the gospel of heaven. The object of this
meeting is to consider the justice of a bill now before the Congress of the United
States. We are not here to advocate woman's rights, but man's rights. The bill
in question would not only deprive our fathers, husbands and brothers of enjoy-
ing the privileges bequeathed to citizens of the United States, but it would deprive
us, as women, of the privilege of selecting our husbands ; and against this we
unqualifiedly protest."
During the absence of the committee on resolutions speeches were delivered
and then the committee on resolutions reported the following :
''Resolved, That we, the ladies of Salt Lake City, in mass-meeting assembled,
dD manifest our indignation, and protest against the bill before Congress, knovvn
as ' the CuUom bill,' also the one known as ' the Cragin bill,' and all similar bills,
expressions and manifestoes.
" Resolved, That we consider the above named bills foul blots on our national
escutcheon — absurd documents — atrocious insults to the honorable executive of the
United States Government, and malicious attempts to subvert the rights of civil
and religious liberty.
''Resolved, That we do hold sacred the constitution bequeathed us by our
forefathers, and ignore, with laudable womanly jealousy, every act of those men to
whom the responsibilities of government have been entrusted, which is calculated
to destroy its efficiency.
"Resolved, That we unitedly exercise every moral power and every right
which we inherit as the daughters of American citizens, to prevent the passage of
buch bills, knowing that they would inevitably cast a stigma on our republican
HISTORY OF SALT LAKE CITY. 4jg
government by jeopardizing the liberty and lives of its most loyal and peaceful
citizens,
"Resolved, That, in our candid opinion, the presentation of the aforesaid
bills indicates a manifest degeneracy of the great men of our nation ; and their
adoption would presage a speedy downfall and ultimate extinction of the glorious
pedestal of freedom, protection, and equal rights, established by our noble
ancestors.
"Resolved, That we acknowledge the institutions of the Church of Jesus
Christ of Latter-day Saints as the only reliable safeguard of female virtue and in-
nocence ; and the only sure protection against the fearful sin of prostitution, and
its attendant evils, now prevalent abroad, and as such, we are and shall be united
with our brethren in sustaining them against each and every encroachment.
"Resolved, That we consider the originators of the aforesaid bills disloyal
to the constitution, and unworthy of any position of trust in any office which in-
volves the interests of our nation.
"Resolved, That, in case the bills in question should pass both Houses of
Congress, and become a law, by which we shall be disfranchised as a Territory,
we, the ladies of Salt Lake City, shall exert all our power- and influence to aid in
the support of our own State government."
These resolutions were greeted with loud cheers from nearly six thousand
women, and carried unanimously.
CHAPTER XLIX.
BRIEF REVIEW OF UTAH IiN CONGRESS, FROM ITS ORGANIZATION TO THE PAS-
SAGE OF THE CULLOM BILL. GREAT SPEECH OF DELEGATE HOOPER IN
CONGRESS AGAINST THE BILL, IN WHICH HE REVIEW^S THE COLONIZING
WORK OF THE MORMONS IN THE WEST, AND JUSTIFIES HIS POLYGA-
MOUS CONSTITUENTS.
In the exhibition of these wonderful mass meetings of fifty thousand organ-
ized Mormon women held throughout the Territory, to preserve their sacred
institutions, the reader has a marked example typical of the Mormon people ;
but we must now give a more regular review of the Congressional subject relative
to Utah.
Utah can scarcely be said to have possessed any political or congressional
history until the period of the Utah war. Previously her condition and career had
been almost entirely primitive and patriarchal. The Hon. John M. Bernhisel, dele-
gate from Utah through this period, had served his constituents faithfully; but no
feature of that service stands out so prominent as to require special mention. The
^40 HISTORY OF SALT LAKE CITY.
general history, up to this time, may therefore be considered as including the con-
gressional.
The ''Mormon war," of course, had somewhat interrupted the relations be-
tween Utah and the nation. In the eyes of the American public, Utah had been
in rebellion ; although, as we have seen, the controversy had been amicably set-
tled, and the Mormons had been pardoned of all their political offences.
It was under this aspect of affairs that William H. Hooper was elected dele-
gate to Congress, from Utah, in August, 1859. His position was a delicate one,
his task arduous, and the case he had to handle certainly a very peculiar and com-
plex case, looking at it from whatever point of view. Notwithstanding his constitu-
ents held that they were in the right in the late controversy which had nearly
come to bloodshed, and notwithstanding their affirmation that they had stood up-
on their constitutional ground, and had merely resisted, by a practical but a justi-
fiable protest, an unconstitutional invasion of the rights of American citizens,
delegate Hooper well knew that the general public took another view of the case-
But the great advantage which Hooper possessed, and which enabled him to master
the situation, was in his thorough appreciation of the views and shapings of both
sides. Therefore, while the delegate was prepared to stand by his people, in the
defence of all their constitutional rights, and to ward off any new difficulty, he
was equally ready to " see eye to eye " with members of Congress. This was the
exact reason why Brigham Young sent him; indeed, one of Brigham's greatest
gifts is manifested in his choice of the fittest instruments for the work and the
times.
Fortunately, also, when Hooper went to Congress as delegate in 1859, the
members were disposed to humor the Mormon view of the Utah expedition and
troubles, and he in turn humored them most politicly.
As we have seen, the public, and especially journalists and Congressmen, were
only too willing to treat the Utah war as Buchanan's affair, and wipe the hands of
the nation clean of it. With this feeling came the good-natured inclination to let
the Mormons have all they asked for, if they only asked in reason. And Con-
gress had a Utah delegate of a most sagacious, practical turn of mind, who under-
stood his points too well to ask for more than was certain to be granted, content-
ing himself, in the rest, in working up a good feeling towards his constituents.
Delegate Hooper settled everything he touched. There were two sessions of
the Utah Legislature unrecognized and unpaid; Governor Young's accounts
against the U. S. Treasury were unsettled ; and the expenses of the Indian war of
1850, were still due to the Territory. All this the energetic and influential dele-
gate brought to a settlement. Besides this financial triumph, a bill which passed
the House, for the suppression of polygamy, never became a law, and the thirty-
sixth Congress ended, leaving Utah affairs comparatively tranquil.
Notwithstanding that in the thirty-sixth Congress, Utah had met a very
fair adjustment, and that it was indeed the only one in which Utah, up to
this date, had risen to anything like political importance in the nation, the
Hon. John M. Bernhisel was returned to the thirty-seventh Congress. This may
have been intended as a recognition of the past service of that gentleman,
before his final retirement from public life, but it is evident that he was not
HISTORY OF SALT LAKE CITY. 441
so well fitted for the post as Delegate Hooper. Dr. Bernhisel was originally
rather a professional than a political character, — something of a Mormon elder
in Congress, representing a religious people ; whereas, Hooper was a successful
merchant, and full of political sagacities. It is true the latter might not have
been able to have prevented the passage of the anti-polygamic bill of 1862, but
he certainly would have rallied a host of political friends against it. Without wast-
ing his strength to show the "unconstitutionality" of the bill, he would have
adopted the more practical line of argument that the bill must, from its very na-
ture, remain inoperative for years, thus giving, tacitly, a license for the continua-
tion of polygamy. This has been abundantly recognized by members of Congress
since. The bill of 1862 has been considered by them to be as great a nuisance as
polygamy itself. Surely Hooper would have foreshadowed the difficulties of special
legislation, in such a delicate matter as the marriage question of an entire com-
munity. Moreover, in 1862, the whole responsibility of the abolition of thousands
of plural marriages rested entirely with Congress, there having been no primary
agitation of the matter by the people of Utah themselves. But the thirty-seventh
Congress, in its innocence, passed that bill, committing almost as great a blunde^
as did Buchanan in the case of the Utah war.
The Hon. John M. Burnhisel returned to his constituents, and the Hon. John
F. Kinney was elected to succeed him. For a number of years, Judge Kinney
had been Chief Justice of Utah, but he had been just removed by Lincoln, it is
said, for too faithfully serving the Mormons. Be that as the reader may please to
consider, the Mormons were grateful, and resolved that the Chief Justice should
not go from them in disgrace. They accordingly elected him to represent them
in the thirty-eighth Congress; and so the Chief Justice, instead of returning to
his friends in the East, under a cloud, went to Washington in triumph, to take his
seat in the Congress of the United States.
Judge Kinney was a brilliant man, and he soon won golden opinions from
both constituents and strangers, by his eloquent efforts in Congress.
But he was not essentially identified with the destiny of Utah, although a
constant friend of the people, and it became evident that the congressional career
of a Gentile, representing a purely Mormon constituency, must tend more to hig
political advancement than to their potency. He might have built a pinnacle on
their political destiny; they could build nothing on his political fame. They had
the example of Judge Douglas before them — " the Mormon-made Senator " — who
in his career nearly reached the Presidency of the United States, yet who recom-
mended to Congress the expediency of cutting the " loathsome ulcer out" — the
"ulcer" being the people who, in his rise to fame, had done so much to uplift
him. In justice, however, it should be said that Judge Kinney served his con-
stituents well and faithfully.
With the return of Hon. W. H. Hooper to the thirty-ninth Congress, the
prestige of home delegates wvas restored. His influence was greater than ever,
both at home and in Washington. The very change for a time from Mormon to
Gentile had enhanced that influence, and illustrated the eminent consistency of a
man who was politically in harmony with Congress, yet in destiny one with the
Mormon people, representing them as their delegate. We are ever impressed
14
442 HISTORY OF SALT LAKE CITY.
with that law which is described as the '^ eternal fitness of things; " so Congress
could better understand and respect William H. Hooper maintaining the integrity
of the Mormon commonwealth, and reconciling it with the rights of the American
citizen, than it could the representation of Utah in those days, by a Gentile dele-
gate. Hooper had by far the greatest influence in Congress ; his earnestness in
controversy was respected by his congressional colleagues, even when they were
resolutely bent on an anti-Mormon policy; and the very fact that he was a well-
known monogamist only rendered his defence of the religious rights of his poly-
gamic constituents more truly American in spirit.
During the thirty-ninth and fortieth Congresses, to the commencement of
Grant's administration, 1869, nothing very formidable was proposed or carried
out against the founders of Utah. Bills were introduced by Mr. Ashley, then
chairman of the Territorial Committee, and others, looking to the disintegration
of the Territory ; but only a passive recognition was given those measures by
Congress. Gentile delegations also went to Washington from Utah urging legis-
lation against the Mormons; but Congress was busy with the great question of
"reconstruction," and the impeachment of President Johnson, and thus Utah,
a minor question, was overlooked.
The pasive action of Congress towards Utah, coupled with the wholesome
legislation of the Johnson period, among which was the establishment of the pres-
ent land system, the enlargement of the postal service, and a partial recognition
of local self-government, warranted the hope that a brighter day was dawning
fur the Territory, inasmuch as the delegate was consulted in the choice of Federal
officers who were not objectionable to the people.
But, with the commencement of Grant's administration, a new warfare was
opened, and early in the first session under his Presidency, the Cullom bill was
introduced in the House. Its monstrosity was such that scarcely a section did
not propose measures in violation of the most sacred provisions of the Constitu-
tion. It is understood that this bill was framed in Utah. It was like a resume
of the Cragin bill ; and Senator Cragin at once adopted it as his protege. He
could well afford this, for it was a more perfected anti-Mormon measure than his
own, bristling with formidable points of special legislation against " Polygamic
Theocracy," wherever touched. General Cullom fathered the bill in the House;
Senator Cragin introduced it in the Senate. The Cullom bill was published and
reviewed by nearly all the journals in the country. From the standpoint of news-
paper criticism, it was very difficult to tell exactly what was its moral character.
There was, however, a pretty general confession that it was an infamous bill; yet,
with a strange consistency, it was quite as candidly confessed that it was not
nearly bad enough to satisfy the popular desire.
Sargent, Axtell and Fitch spoke against the bill. The Hon. Thomas Fitch's
speech was one of the most powerful efforts of oratory that Congress has had the
privilege of listening to in these latter days. Not, however, from the bill itself
did Mr. Fitch conjure the effectiveness of his speech, but over the prospect of the
blood and the millions of money which it must cost the nation to enforce its pro-
visions. Fitch's speech created so much sensation in the House that General
Cullom himself proposed the temporary recommittal of the bill.
^■^-^m^
li
HISTORY OF SALT LAKE CITY. 443
The Cullom bill not only stirred the entire nation to a desire for special leg-
islation against the Mormons, but also Mormondom to its very centre.
The crowning moment came. Delegate Hooper was on the floor of the
House with his plea for religious liberty, which we quote from the Congressiojial
Record. He said :
"Mr. Speaker, — I wish to make a few remarks concerning the extraordinary
bill now under consideration. While so doing, I crave the attention of the House,
for I am here, not alone as one of the people sought to be cruelly oppressed ; not
only as the delegate representing Utah ; but as an American citizen, to utter my
solemn protest against the passage of a bill that aims to violate our dearest rights
and is fraught with evil to the Republic itself.
** I do not propose to occupy the time of the House by dwelling at length
upon the vast contributions of the people of Utah to the wealth of the nation.
There is no member in the House who does not recollect in his schoolboy days
the vast region of the Rocky Mountains characterized in the geographies as the
' Great American Desert.' 'There' said those veracious text books, 'was a vast
region wherein no man could live. There were springs and streams, upon the
banks of which could be seen the bleaching bones of animals and of men,
poisoned from drinking of the deadly waters.' Around the borders of the vast
desert, and in its few habitable parts, roamed the painted savages, only less cruel
and remorseless than the desert itself.
" In the midst of this inhospitable waste to-day dwell an agricultural, pastoral,
and self-sustaining people, numbering 120,000 souls. Everywhere can be seen
the fruits of energetic and persistent industry. The surrounding mining Terri-
tories of Colorado, Idaho, Montana, Arizona and Neveda, in their infancy, were
fed and fostered from the surplus stores of the Mormon people. The develop-
ment of the resources of these mining Territories was alone rendered possible by
the existence at their doors of an agricultural people, who supplied them with the
chief necessities of life at a price scarcely above that demanded in the old and
populous States. The early immigrants to California paused on their weary jour-
ney in the redeemed wastes of Utah, to recruit their strength, and that of their
animals, and California is to day richer by thousands of lives and millions of
treasure, for the existence of this half-way house to El Dorado.
" To the people of Utah, therefore, is to be attributed no inconsiderable part
in the production of the vast mineral wealth which has poured into the coffers of
the nation from our mining States and Territories.
" This, however, is but a tithe of our contributions to the nation's wealth.
By actual experiment we have demonstrated the practicability of redeeming these
desert wastes. When the Pacific slope and its boundless resources shall have been
developed ; when beyond the Rocky Mountains 40,000,000 of people shall do
homage to our flag, the millions of dwellers in Arizona, Nevada, Idaho, Colorado
and Montana, enriched by the products of their redeemed and fertilized deserts,
shall point to the valley of Great Salt Lake as their examplar, and accord to the
sturdy toilers of that land due honor, in that they inaugurated the system and
demonstrated its possible results. These results are the offering of Utah to the
nation.
444 HISTORY OF SALT LAKE CITY.
" When Robert Fulton's first steamboat moved from New York to Albany, so
far as concerned the value of the vessel, he had made scarce a perceptible addition
to our merchant marine ; but the principle, the practicability of which he then de-
monstrated, was priceless, and enriched the nation more than if she had received
the gift of the vessel, built from and loaded with solid gold.
■ " I will not, Mr. Speaker, tresspass upon the time of the House by more than
thus briefly adverting to the claims of Utah to the gratitude and fostering care of
the American people.
" For the first time in the history of the United States, by the introduction
of the bill under consideration, a well defined and positive eftort is made to turn
the great law-making power of the nation into a moral channel and to legislate
for the consciences of the people.
" Here, for the first time, is a proposition to punish a citizen for his religious
belief and unbelief. We have before us a statute book designating crime. To
restrain criminal acts, and to punish the offender, has heretofore been the province
of the law, and in it we have the support of the accused himself. No man comes
to the bar for trial with the plea that the charge upon which he is arraigned consti-
tutes no offence. His plea is 'Not guilty.' He cannot pass beyond and behind
the established conclusions of humanity. But this bill reaches beyond that code
into the questionable world of morals — the debatable land of religious beliefs;
and, first creating the off"ense, seeks with malignant fury of partisan prejudice and
sectarian hate to measure out the punishment,
" The bill before us declares that that system which Moses taught, that God
allowed, and from which Christ, our Savior, sprung, is a crime, and that any man
believing in it and practicing it — I begbardon, the bill, as I shall presently show,
asserts that belief alone is sufficient — thai any so offending shall not be tried, but
shall be convicted, his children declared bastards, his wives turned out to starve,
and his property be confiscated, in fact, for the benefit of the moral reformers, who,
as I believe, are the real instigators in this matter.
" The honorable member from Illinois, the father of this bill, informs us that
this is a crime abhorred by men, denounced by God, and prohibited and punished
by every State in the Union. I have a profound respect for the motives of the
honorable member. I believe he is inspired by a sincere hostility to that which
he so earnestly denounces. No earthly inducement could make him practice po-
lygamy. Seduction, in the eyes of thousands, is an indiscretion, where all the
punishment falls upon the innocent and unoffending. The criminal taint attaches
when the seducer attempts to marry his victim. This is horrid. This is not to
be endured by man or God, and laws must be promulgated to prevent and punish.
" WHiile I have this profound regard for the morals and motives of the hon-
orable member, I must say that I do not respect, to the same extent, his legal
abilities. Polygamy is not denounced by every State and Territory, and the gen-
tleman will search in vain for the statute or criminal code of either defining its
existence and punishment. The gentleman confounds a religious belief with a
criminal act. He is thinking of bigamy when he denounces polygamy, and in the
confusion that follows, blindly strikes out against an unknown enemy. Will he
permit me to call his attention to the distinction ? Bigamy means the wrong
HISTORY OI SALT LAKE CITY. 44^
done a woman by imposing upon her the forms of matrimony while another wife
lives, rendering such second marriage null and void. The reputation and happi-
ness of a too confiding woman is thus forever blasted by the fraudulent acts of her
supposed husband, and he is deservedly punished for his crime. Polygamy, on
the contrary, is the act of marrying more than one woman, under a belief that a
man has a right, lawfully and religiously, so to do, and witli the knowledge and
consent of both his wives.
"I suppose, Mr. Speaker, that in proclaiming the old Jeffersonian doctrine
that that Government is best which governs least, I would not have even a minority
upon the floor. But when I say that in a system of self-government such as ours,
that looks to the purest democracy, and seeks to be a government of the people,
for the people, and by the people, we have no room for the guardian, nor, above
all, for the master, I can claim the united support of both parties. To have such
a government ; to retain such in its purest strength, we must leave all questions of
morals and religion that lie outside the recognized code of crime to the conscience
of the citizen. In an attempt to do otherwise than this, the world's abiding places
have been washed with human blood, and its fields made rich vi'ith human bones.
No government has been found strong enough to stand unshaken above the throes
of religious fanaticism when driven to the wall by religious persecution. Ours,
sir, would disappear like the " baseless fabric of a vision " before the first blast
of such a convulsion. Does the gentleman believe, for example, that in aiming
this cruel blow at a handful of earnest followers of the Lord in Utah, he is doing
a more justifiable act than would be, in the eyes of a majority of our citizens, a
bill to abolish Catholicism, because of its alleged immorality; or a law to annihi-
late the Jews for that they are Jews, and therefore obnoxious ? Let that evil door
once be opened ; set sect against sect ; let the Bible and the school books give
place to the sword and the bayonet, and we will find the humanity of to-day the
humanity of the dark ages, and our beautiful government a mournful dream of
the past.
"This is not only philosophically true, but, sir, it is historically a fact. In
making the appeal, I stand upon the very foundation-stone of our constitutional
Government. That they might worship God in accordance with the dictates of
conscience, the fathers fled from their homes in Europe to the wilds in America.
For this they bore the fatigues or perished in the wilds of a savage-haunted con-
tinent; for this they poured out their blood in wars, until every stone in the huge
edifice that shelters us as a nation is cemented by the blood of a martyr. Upon
this, however, I need not spend my time or yours; a mere statement of the pro-
position is a conclusive argument from which the people, in their honest instincts,
will permit no appeal. In our Constitution, still perfect and fresh as ever, we
have a clause that cannot be changed and leave a vestige of a free government.
In the original instrument we find this language : "No religious tests shall ever
be required as a qualification to any office or public trust under the United States."
But this was not considered sufficiently comprehensive for a free people, and sub-
sequently we find it declared, " Congress shall make no law respecting an estab-
lishment of religion or prohibiting the free exercise thereof."
" Upon the very threshold of my argument, however, I am met by the advo-
446 HISTORY OF SALT LAKE CITY.
cates of this extraordinary bill with the assumption that polygamy is not entitled
to be considered as a portion of our religious faith ; that under the Constitution
we are to be protected and respected in the enjoyment of our religious faith, but
that we are not entitled to consider as a portion thereof the views held by us as a
people in reference to the marriage relation. One eminent disputant, as an ar-
gument, supposes a case wheie a religious sect might claim to believe in the right-
fulness of murder, and to be protected in the enjoyment of that right. This is
not in any sense a parallel case. Murder by all liw, human and divine, is a crime;
polygamy is not. In a subsequent portion of my remarks, 1 will show, that not
only the authority of the Old Testament writers, but by numerous leading writers
of the Christian church, the doctrine of polygamy is justified and approved.
The only ground upon which any argument can be maintained that our views of
the marriage relation are not to be considered as a portion of our religious faith,
is that marriage is a purely civil contract, and therefore outside the province of
religious doctrine. No sect of Christians can, however, be found who will carry
their beliefs to this extent. The Catholic Church, the most ancient of Christian
churches, and among the most powerful in numbers of the religious denominations
of our country, upon this point is in accord with the Mormon church. Mar-
riage, according to the faith of the Catholic church, is one of its sacraments ; is
not in any sense a civil contract, but a religious ordinance, and the validity of a
divorce granted by a civil court is denied. And not in any Christian church is
the marriage contract placed on a par with other civil contracts — with a swap of
horses or a partnership in trade. It is a civil contract, in that a court of equity,
for certain specified causes, may dissolve it ; but not otherwise. Upon the marriage
contract is invoked the most solemn sanctions of our Christians ; the appointed
ministers and servants of God, by their presence and aid, give solemnity and ef-
ficiency to the ceremonial, and upon the alliance is invoked the Divine guidance
and blessing. To most intents and purposes, with every Christian denomination,
the marriage ceremony is regarded as a religious ordinance. Upon this point,
therefore, and a vital point in the discussion of the question before us, tlie
Catholic church in fact, and the other religious denominations in theory and usual
practice, are with the Mormons in their position, that the supervision and con-
trol of the marital relation is an integral and essential portion of their religious
faith and practice, in the enjoyment of which they are protected by the Consti-
tution.
''The Mormon people are a Christian denomination. They believe fully in
the Old and New Testaments in the divinty of Christ's mission, and the up-
building and triumph of his church. They do not believe, however, that light
and guidance from above, ceased with the crucifixion on Calvary. On the other
hand, they find that in all ages, whenever a necessity therefor existed, God ha-;
raised up prophets to speak to the people, and to manifest to them his will and
requirements. A.nd they believe that Joseph Smith was such a prophet ; that the
time had arrived when there was a necessity for further revelation, and through
Joseph Smith it was given to the world.
" Upon this point of continuous revelation, which is really one of the turn-
ing points of the controversy, we are in accord with many of the most emi-
HISTORY OF SALT LAKE CITY. 44'j
nent divines of the Christian church, and with the most earnest and vigorous
thinkers of our own day.
" Upon the departure of the Pilgrim Fathers from Holland to America, the
Rev. John Robinson, their beloved pastor, preached a farewell sermon, which
showed a spirit of mildness and tolerance truly wonderful in that age, and which
many who claim to be ministers of God would do well to imitate in this :
"'Brethren, we are quickly to part from one another, and whether I may
ever live to see your faces on earth any more, the God of heaven only knows; but
whether the Lord hath appointed that or not, / charge you before God and his
blessed angels, that you follow me no further than you have seen me follow the Lord
Jesus Christ. If God reveal anything to you by any other instrument of His, be as
ready to receive it as you were to receive any truth from my ministry ; for I am fully
persuaded, I am very confident, that the Lord has more truth yet to break forth
out of His holy word.
"' For my part I cannot sufficiently bewail the condition of the reformed
churches, who are come to a period in religion, and will go at present no lurther
than the instruments of their information. The Lutherans cannot be drawn be-
yond what Luther saw. Whatever part of His will our good God has revealed to
Calvin, they will rather die than e?nbrace it; and the Calvinists, you see, stick fast
where they were left by thzX great man of God, who yet saw not all things.
" ' This is a misery much to be lamented, for though they were burning and
shining hghts in their time, yet they penetrated not into the whole counsel of God ;
but were they now living, would be as ready to embrace further light as that which
they first received. I beseech you to remember that it is an article of your cove-
nant, that you shall be ready to receive whatever truths shall be made known to you
from the written word of God.' "
"And says Ralph Waldo Emerson, in one of his golden utterances 'I look
for the hour when that supreme beauty which ravished the souls of those Hebrews
and through their lips spoke oracles to all time, shall speak in the West also.
The Hebrew and the Greek Scriptures contain immortal sentences that have been
the bread of life to millions. But they have no epical entirety ; are fragmentary;
are not shown in their order to the intellect. I look for the new Teacher that
shall follow so far these shining laws that he shall see some full circle ; shall see
their rounding, complete grace ; shall see the world to the mirror of the soul.'
" Conceding, therefore, that new revelation may be at all times expected in
the future of our race, as they have been at all times vouchsafed in the past, and
the whole controversy ends. A man has arisen named Joseph Smith , he claims
to be a prophet of God, and a numerous community see fit to admit the justice
of such claim. It is a religious sect ; it has to-day vindicated its right to live by
works and sacrifices which are the admiration even of its enemies. It brings for-
ward certain new doctrines ; of church government ; of baptism even for their
dead ; of the marriage relation. Upon what point is it more probable that light
from above would be given to our race, than upon the marriage relation ? The
social problem is the question of the age. The minds of many of the foremost
men and women of our days are given to the study of the proper position and re-
lations of the sexes. The wisest dift'er — differ honestly and unavoidably. Endless
448 H J ST DRY OF SALT LAKE CITY.
is the dispute and clamor of those honestly striving to do away with the social
evil ; to ameliorate the anomalous condition of the wronged and suffering women
of to-day. And while this is so; while thousands of the good and pure of all
creeds and parlies are invoking the Divine guidance in their efforts for the good
of our fallen humanity, is it strange that the Divine guidance thus earnestly be-
sought should come — that the prayer of the righteous be answered ? The Mormon
people believe that God has thus spoken; that through Joseph Smith he has indi-
cated that true solution of the social questions of our day; and while they perse-
cute or question no man for differing honestly with them, as to the Divine au-
thority of such revelations, they firmly insist that in their following of what they
believe to be the will of God, they are entitled to the same immunity from perse-
cution at the hands of the Government, and the same liberty of thought and
speech, wisely secured to other religious beliefs by the Constitution.
" Upon the point whether polygamy can properly be considered as a part of
our religious faith and practice, I beg leave humbly further to submit, sir, that the
decision rests solely on the conscience and belief of the man and woman who
proclaim it to be a religious belief. As I have said, it is not numbered among
the crimes of that code recognized by all nations having any form of govern-
ment under which criminals are restrained or punished, and to make it such, a
new code must be framed. My people proclaim polygamy as a part of their re-
ligious belief. If they are honest in this, however much this may be in error,
they stand on their rights under the Constitution, and to arrest tiiat error you
must appeal to reason, and not to force. I am here, not to argue or demonstrate
the truthfulness of their faith; 1 am not called upon to convince this honorable
House that it is either true or false ; but if I can convince you that this belief is
honorably and sincerely entertained, my object is accomplished.
"It is common to teach, and thousands believe that the leaders of the sect
of Latter-day Saints, popularly known as Mormons, are hypocrites, while their
followers are either ignorant, deluded men and women, or people held to their
organization by the vilest impulses of lust. To refute these slanders, I can only
do as the earlier Christians did, point to their sufferings and sacrifices, and I may
add, the unanimous testimony of all, that aside from what they consider" the ob-
jectionable practice of polygamy, my constituents are sober, moral, just, and
industrious in the eyes of all impartial witnesses. In this community, removed
by long reaches of wastes from the moral influences of civilization, we have a
quiet, orderly and Christian community. Our towns are without gambling hells,
drinking saloons, or brothels, while from end to end of our Territory the innocent
can walk unharmed at all hours. Nor is this due to an organized police, but to
the kind natures and Christian impulses of a good people. In support of ray
argument of their entire sincerity, I with confidence appeal to their history.
''The Mormon Church was established at Fayette, New York, in the year
1830. In 1 83 1, the headquarters of the people was removed to Kirtland, Ohio,
and considerable numbers of missionaries were sent out to preach the new religion
in various parts of the Northern States. Many converts were made and removed
to Kirtland, but they were subject to various petty annoyances and persecutions
by the surrounding people. Land not being abundant or easily acquired for the
HISTORY OF SALT LAKE CITY. 449
rapidly increasing numbers, the new converts were advised to locate in Jackson
County, Missouri, where land was abundant and cheap — where, in fact, but few
settlers had preceded our people. The Mormons soon became a prosperous and
wealthy community ; the same habits of industry and thrift which they have ever
maintained being even then vigorously inculcated by their leaders. Many hun-
dred thousand acres of Government land were purchased, fine farms and thriving
settlements were established, and the first printing press in western Missouri put
in operation. But the wealth acquired by the people was desired by our neigh-
bors; the lawless border-men, who afterwards made the frontiers of Kansas their
battlefield, attacked, plundered, and murdered our settlers, and finally drove them
from their delightful homes, which they appropriated to themselves. The title
to much of the land in Jackson and other counties is to-day in Mormons, who
were then driven from their homes. During the trouble incident to the expulsion
of the Mormons, hundreds of men, women, and children were murdered, or died
from diseases caused by exposure to the inclemencies of the weather. The
wretched refugees afterwards located in Clay, Caldwell, and Davis counties, MiF.
souri, where there were almost no settlers, and where, within a few years their
industries had again built up thriving settlements and accumulated large herds of
stock. The outrages of Jackson County were then repeated, the Mormons driven
from their homes, which were seized by the marauders and thousands of women
and children driven forth homeless, and the prey for the border-ruffians whose
cupidity had been excited by the wealth of the industrious exiles. Hundreds per-
ished from cold, exposure and starvation. But their leaders, sustained by an
undying faith, again called together their scattered and impoverished followers and
removing to Illinois, founded the city of Nauvoo,
" For several years they were comparatively undisturbed ; they built up one
of the most thriving and beautiful cities of the State. Far as the eye could reach
from the eminence of their temple, the well-tilled farms and gardens, the comfor-
table farm-houses, the mills and factories, and well-filled schools, attested the in-
dustry, the thrift, and the wealth of the once persecuted people. But again their
wealth created envy in the lawless border-men of the new State. Without what
even their enemies claim was justifiable cause, and in a manner which Governor
Ford characterized as a permanent disgrace to the people of the State, they were
attacked, pillaged, and driven across the river; their houses burned ; their women
and children driven forth unsheltered in the inclement season of the year; their
leaders brutally murdered.
" The annals of religious persecution, so fruitful of cruel abuse, can give noth-
ing more pitiable and heart-rending than the scenes which followed this last expul-
sion. Aged men and women, the sick and feeble, children of tender years,
and the wounded, were driven into the flats of the river, yet in sight of their
once happy houses, to perish from exposure and starvation. While over our
broad land the church bells of Christian communities were ringing out peace and
good-will to men ; while to the churches thronged thousands to hear preached the
gospel of charity and forgiveness ; these poor, heart-sick followers of the same
Redeemer, were driven in violence from their houses to perish like wild beasts in
the swamps and wilderness. The gentlemen charged us with hypocrisy and de-
16
1
4S-0 HISTORY OF SALT LAKE CITY.
praved lust for motives, with such a record as this to mock their charge ! The
world has many hypocrites, and is well filled with wicked men, but they keep
about them the recompense of sin, and have other histories than this I give you,
and which history no man can deny.
" Word went out to the world that Mormonism had finally been annihilated.
But again the scattered hosts ivere gathered together, and set out on a pilgrimage,
that since that of the children of Israel has been without parallel in the history
of the human race. They had no stores, they were beggared in the world's goods
yet with earnest religious enthusiasm they toiled on through unknown deserts,
over unexplored mountain ranges, and crossed plains haunted by savages, only
less cruel than the white Christian who had driven them forth in search of that
promised land, where at last they could worship God in accordance with the dic-
tates of their own consciences, and find unbroken that covenant of the Constitu-
tion which guards this sacred right. Ragged, foot-sore, starving, wretched, they
wandered on. Delicately nurtured women and their children dug roots, or sub-
sisted on the bark of trees or the hides of animals. From Nauvoo to Salt Lake,
the valley of their promised land — 1,500 miles — there is to-day scarce a mile
along that dreary and terrible road, where does not repose the body of some weary
one, whom famine, or sickness, or the merciless savage, caused to perish by the
way.
"It was while on this pilgrimage that an order came from the Government
for five hundred men to serve as soldiers in the Mexican war. The order was
promptly obeyed. These devoted men, who had received only cruel persecution
from the people they were called upon to protect on the field of batttle, dedicated
their poor, helpless wives to God, and themselves to their country. Leaving their
families to struggle on as best they could, these brave, patriotic men followed our
flag into New Mexico and California, and were at last disbanded at San Diego,
with high praise from their officers, but with scanty means to return to those they
loved, and whom they had left to suffer, and perhaps to perish on the way.
" Thus, Mr. Speaker, three times did this persecuted people, before their lo-
cation in Utah, build up for themselves pleasant and prosperous homes, and by
their industry surrounded themselves with all the comforts and appliances of
wealth ; and three times were they, by an unprincipled and outrageous mob^
driven from their posessions, and reduced to abjectest poverty. And bear it in
mind, that in every instance the leader of these organized mobs offered to all who
would abandon and deny their faith, toleration and the possession of their homes
and wealth. But they refused the tempting snare. They rejoiced that they were
thought worthy to suffer for the Master, and, rather than to deny their faith, they
welcomed privation ; they sacrificed all that earth could offer ; they died the
saintly martyr's death.
"Mr. Speaker, is this shining record that of a community of hypocrites?
What other Christian denomination of our country can show higher evidences of
earnestness, of devoted self-sacrifice for the preservation of their religious faith ?
" In further presentation of my argument, Mr. Speaker, that the doctrine of
polygamy is an essential feature in our religious faith, and that in our adherence
thereto we are advocating no new or unsupported theory of marriage, I crave the
HISTORY 01^ SALT LAKE C12Y. 4^1
indulgence of the House while I cite some few from the numerous writers of
weight and authority in the Christian Church, who have illustrated or supported
the doctrine.
" Now, sir, far be it from me to undertake to teach this learned House, and
above all, the Hon. Chairman of the Committee on Territories great theological
truths. If there be any subject with which this honorable body is especially con-
versant, it is theology. I have heard more Scripture quoted here, and more
morality taught, than in any other place it was ever my fortune to serve. With
great diffidence then, I venture to suggest to the supporters of this-bill, that while
polygamy had its origin in holy writ, taught as I have said before by the greatest of
all law-makers, and not only tolerated, but explicitly commanded by the Almighty,
as I shall presently show, monogamy, or the system of marriage now recognized
by so many Christian nations, originated among the Pagans of ancient Greece
and Rome.
" I know, sir, that the report accompanying the bill fetches vast stores of
theological information to bear; informs us that polygamy is contrary to the Di-
vine economy, and refers to the marriage of the first human couple, and cites the
further testimony of the Bible, and that of the history of the world. Setting
aside the last named as slightly too voluminous for critical examination in the pres-
ent discussion, we will take up, as briefly as possible, the Divine authorities, and
the commentaries and discussions thereon by eminent Christian writers, and see
how far my people have been misled by clinging to them. As for the illustrious
example quoted of our first parents, all that can be said of their marriage, is that
it was exhaustive. Adam married all the women in the world, and if we find
teaching by the example, we must go among his descendants, where examples can
be found among the favored people of God, whose laws were of Divine origin,
and whose conduct received sanction or punishment at His hands.
" At the period of the Reformation in Germany, during the early part of the
i6th century, those great reformers, Luther, Melancthon, Zwingle, and Bucer,
held a solemn consultation at Wittenburg, on the question, "Whether it is con-
trary to the Divine law for a man to have two wives at once ?" and decided unan-
imously that it was not ; and upon the authority of the decision, Philip, Land-
grave of Hesse, actually married a second wife, his first being still alive. This
fact is recorded in D'Aubigne's History of the Reformation, and by other authors
of that period.
"Dr. Hugo Grotius, a celebrated Dutch jurist and statesman and most emi-
nent law-writer of the seventeenth century, states ' the Jew's laws allow a plur-
ality of wives to one man.'
" Hon. John Selden, a distinguished English author and statesman, a mem-
ber of Parliament for 1624, and who represented the University of Oxford in the
Long Parliament of 1640, in his work entitled, ' Uxor Hebraica/ the Hebrew
Wife, says that ' polygamy was allowed, not only among the Hebrews, but in most
other nations throughout the world ; and that monogamy is a modern and a
European custom, almost unknown to the ancient world.'
" Dr. Samuel Puffendorf, profifessor of law in the University of Hiedelberg,
in Germany, and afterwards of Lund, in Sweden, who wrote during the latter
452 HISTORY OF SALT LAKE CITY.
part of the 17th century, in his great work on the law of nature and nations, says
that " the Mosaic law was so far from forbidding this custom (polygamy) that it
seems in several places to suppose it ; ' and in another place he says, in reference
to the rightfulness thereof, ' the polygamy of i\\Q fathers, under the old covenant,
is an argument which ingenious men must confess to be unanswerable.'
" Rev. Gilbert Burnet, Bishop of Salisbury, the particular friend of William
III., who was eminent among both historians and theologians, wrote a tract upon
this subject, near the beginning of the i8th century. The tract was written on
the question, ' Is a plurality of wives in any case lawful under the gospel ? ' "
The Hon. Delegate cited passages from the tracts and learned arguments from
the pens of eminent Christian divines allowing polygamy to disciples whose faith
and conscience had been educated by the Hebrew Scriptures to the adoption of
plural marriage. And Mr. Hooper's argument was sonorous with a purer consti-
tutional tone from the fact that he himself, like these divines, was in his own life
a strict monogamist : it was purely the Hon. Delegate's Constitutional plea for
the religious liberty of a conscientious people whom he represented before the
Assembly of the Nation. The close of his argument on polygamy and the peror-
ation of this remarkable speech shall be preserved in their historical entirety ; —
" Rev. David A. Allen, D. D., a Congregationalist, and a missionary of the
American Board of Commissioners for Foreign Missions, after a professional res-
idence of twenty-five years in Hindostan, published a work in 1856, entitled
' India, Ancient and Modem,' in which he says, pp. 551-3 :
" 'Polygamy is practised in India among the Hindoos, the Mohammedans,
the Zoroastricans, and the Jews. It is allovved and recognized by the institutes of
Menu, by the Koran, by the Zendavesta, and, the Jews believe, by their scrip-
tures, the Old Testament. It is recognized by all the courts in India, native and
English. The laws of the British Parliament recognize polygamy among all these
classes, when the marriage connection has been formed according to the princi-
ples of their religion and to their established forms and usages. The marriage of
a Hindoo or a Mohammedan with his second or third wife is just as valid and as
legally binding on all parties as his marriage with his first wife; just as valid as
the marriage of any Christian in the Church of England. * * * *
This man cannot divorce any of his wives if he would, and it would be great in-
justice and cruelty to them and their children if he should. * * * *
His having become a Christian and embraced a purer faith will not release him
from those obligations in view of the English Government and courts, or of the
native population. Should he put them away, or all but one, they will still be
legally his wives, and cannot be married to another man. And further, they have
done nothing to deserve such unkindness, cruelty, and disgrace at his hands.
* * * So far from receiving polygamy as morally wrong, they not unfre.
quently take a second or third wife with much reluctance, and from a painful sense
of duty to perpetuate their name, their family and their inheritance.'
" In an appendix to this work. Dr. Allen informs the world that the subject
of polygamy had been brought before the Calcutta Missionary Conference, a
body composed of the missionaries of the various missionary societies of Great
JBritain and America, and including Baptists, Congregationalists, Episcopalians,
HISTORY OF SALT LAKE CITY. 453
Methodists, Presbyterians, and others, in consequence of the application of Chris-
tian converts, who, having several wives each, to whom they had been legally
married, now desired admittance into the Christian Churches. After frequent
consultation and much consideration, the conference, says Dr. Allen, came unan-
imously to the following conclusion :
^^^If a convert, before becotning a Christian, has married more ivives than
one, in accordance with the practice of the Jewish and primitive Christian churches,
he shall be permitted to keep them all, but such a person is not elii^ible to any office
in the church.^
"These facts, as Dr. Allen asserts them, have a direct and important bearing
upon this bill arid the accompanying report. They prove that one of its main
charges, that polygamy is abhorrent to every Christian nation, is false, for the
British Empire is a Christian nation, and Hindostan is an integral part of that
empire, as much so as its American provinces are, or as Ireland is. Hindostan
is a civilized country, with schools and colleges, and factories and railroads, and
telegraphs and newspapers. Yet the great mass of the people, comprising more
than eighty millions, are polygamists, and as such they are recognized and pro-
tected by the laws of the British Parliament, and the courts of the Queen's
Bench ; and the English and American missionaries of the gospel who reside
there, and have resided there many years, and who know the practical working
of polygamy, have assembled together in solemn conference and unanimously
pronounced it to be right, and in accordance with the practice of the primitive
Christian churches; and the French, the Spanish, the Dutch, the Portuguese,
and other Christian nations are known to pursue a similar policy, and to allow the
different peoples under their governments, the free and unmolested enjoyment of
their own religions and their own marriage system, whether they are monogamous
or polygamous.
" I trust, Mr. Speaker, that I have not wearied your patience by this citation
of learned authorities upon the antiquity and universality of the polygamic doc-
trines. My object in this part of my argument is not to prove that polygamy is
right or wrong, but simply to illustrate that a doctrine, the practice of which has
repeatedly been commanded by the Almighty; which was the rule of life with the
Jews at the time they were the chosen people of God, and were, in all things,
governed by His dictation ; which has among its supporters many of the most
eminent writers of the Christian church of all ages, and which is now sanctioned
by law and usage in many of the Christianized provinces of the British Empire,
is not wrong in itself. It is a doctrine, the practice of which, from the preced-
ents cited, is clearly not inconsistent with the highest purity of character, and the
most exemplary Christian life. My opponents may argue that it is unsuited to
the civilization of the age, or is the offspring of a religious delusion ; but if so,
its remedy is to be sought through persuasion, and not by the exercise of force;
it is the field for the missionary and not for the jurist or soldier. It is a noble
and a Christian work to purify and enlighten a benighted soul ; to life up those
who are fallen and ready to perish; but from all the pulpits of the land comes up
the cry that the fields are white for the harvest, while the laborers are few. So
soon, however, as the Luthers, the Melancthons, the Whitfields of to-day, have
454 HISTORY OF SALT LAKE CITY.
wiped out the immorality, licentiousness and crime of older communities, and
have made their average morality equal to that of the city of Salt Lake, let them
transfer their field of labor to the wilds of Utah, and may God forever prosper
the right.
"I trust, Mr. Speaker, that men abler and more learned in law than I, will
discuss the legal monstrosities of this bill, fraught with evil, as it is, not only to
the citizen of Utah, but to the nation at large ; but must be pardoned for calling
special attention to the seventh section, which gives to a single officer, the United
States marshal, with the clerk of the court, the absolute right of selecting a jury ;
and, further, to the tenth section, which provides that persons entertaining an
objectionable religious theory — not those who have been guilty of the practice of
polygamy, but who have simply a belief in the abstract theory of plural
marriage — shall be disqualified as jurors.
"To see what a fearful blow this is at the very foundation of our liberties;
what a disastrous precedent for future tyranny, let us recall for a moment the his-
tory of the trial by jury ; something with which all are as familiar as with the deca-
logue, but which, like the ten commandments, may occasionally be recalled with
profit. Jury trial was first [known ds z. \x\dX per pais \ by the country; and the
theory was, that when a crime has been committed, the whole community came
together and sat in judgment upon the offender. This process becoming cumber-
some as the population increased, twelve men were drawn by lot from the country,
thus securing, as was supposed, a representation of the average public sentiment
of the whole country, and which was further secured by requiring the finding of
the jury to be unanimous.
''A fair trial by jury, by our Anglo-Saxon ancestors, was regarded as so pre-
cious, that in Magna Charta it is more than once insisted on as the principal bul-
wark of English liberty.
" Blackstone says of it : ' It is the glory of the English law. It is the most
transcendent privilege which any subject can enjoy or wish for, that he cannot be
affected either in his property, his liberty, or his person, but by the unanimous
consent of twelve of his neighbors and equals ; a provision which has, under
Providence, secured the just liberties of this nation for along succession of ages.'
'' Our own people have been no whit behind the English in their high appre-
ciation of the trial by jury. In the original Federal Constitution, it was provided
simply that the ' trial of all crimes, except in cases of impeachment, shall be by
jury.' The framers of the Constitution considered that the meaning of ' trial by
jury' was sufficiently settled by long established usage and legal precedent, and
that by the provision just cited was sufficient. But such was not the view of the
people. One of the most serious objections to the adoption of the Constitution
by the States was its lack of clearness upon this most vital point, and Alexander
Hamilton, in one of the ablest and most carefully considered numbers of The
Federalist, endeavored to explain away this objection. The Constitution was
adopted, but the nation was not satisfied ; and one of the earliest amendments to
that instrument further provided that ' no person shall be held to answer for a
capital or otherwise infamous crime unless on presentment or indictment of a
grand jury ' and that ' in all criminal prosecutions, the accused shall enjoy the
HISTORY OF SALT LAKE CITY. 455
right to a speedy and public trial by an impartial jury of the State and district
wherein the crime shall have been committed, which district shall have been pre-
viously ascertained by law.'
" Thus, Mr. Speaker, it will be observed with what scrupulous solicitude our
ancestors watched over this great safeguard of the liberties of the people. Noth-
ing was left to inference or established precedent, but to every citizen was guaran-
teed in this most solemn manner an impartial trial by a jury of his neighbors and
his peers, residents of the district where the offence was charged.
" Now, sir, is there any member of this House who will claim or pretend that
the provisions of this bill are not in violation of this most sacred feature in our
bill of rights? The trial by jury by this bill is worse than abolished, for its form
— a sickening farce — remains, while its spirit is utterly gone. A packed
jury is worse than no jury at all. The merest tyro in law, knows that the essence
of a trial by jury consists in the fact that the accused is tried by a jury drawn by
lot from among his neighbors; a jury drawn without previous knowledge, choice
or selection on the part of the Government ; a jury which will be a fair epitome
of the district where the offence is charged, and thus such a tribunal, as will agree
to no verdict except such as, substantially, the whole community would agree to,
if present and taking part in the trial. Any other system of trial by jury is a
mockery and a farce. The standard of public morality varies greatly in a country
so vast as ours, and the principle of a jury trial recognizes this fact, and wisely
provides, in effect, that no person shall be punished who, when brought to the bar
of public opinion in the community where the alleged offence is committed, is
not adjudged to have been guilty of a crime. This most unconstitutional and
wicked bill before us, defies all these well established principles and strikes at the
root of the dearest right of the citizen. I have an earnest and abiding faith in the
bright future of my native land ; but if our national career, as we may fondly
hope, shall stretch out before us unending glories, it will be because of the prompt
and decisive rebuke, by the representatives of the people here, of all such legisla-
tion as that sought in the bill before us.
"I have touched more fully, Mr. Speaker, upon the feature of the bill vir-
tually abolishing jury trial, than upon any other, because of its more conspicuous dis-
regard of constitutional right. But the whole bill, from first to last, is most dam-
nable in its provisions, and most unworthy of consideration by the representatives
of a free people. This is an age of great religious toleration. This bill recalls
the fearful days of the Spanish inquisition, or the days when, in New England,
Quakers were persecuted or banished, and witches burned at the stake. It is but
a short time since the country hailed with satisfaction a treaty negotiated on the
part of a Pagan nation through the efforts of a former member of this body, and
whose recent death has filled our hearts with sadness, whereby the polygamous
Chinese emigrants to our shores are protected in the enjoyment of their idolatrous
faith, and may erect their temples, stocked with idols, and perform their, to us,
heathenish worship in every part of our land unquestioned. And while the civil-
ized nations of Europe have combined to sustain and perpetuate a heathen na-
tion practising polygamy in its lowest form, and are hailing with acclamation the
approach of its head, the American Congress is actually deliberating over a bill
456 HISTORY OF SALT LAKE CITY.
which contemplates the destruction of an industrious people, and the expulsion of
the great organizer of border civilization. Can it be possible that the national
Congress will even for a moment, seriously contemplate the persecution or anni-
hilation of an integral portion of our citizens, whose industry and material devel-
opment are the nation's pride, because of a slight difference in their religious,
faith ? A difference, too, not upon the fundamental truths of our common Chris-
tianity but because of their conscientious adherence to what was once no impropriety
even, but a virtue? This toleration in matters of religion, which is perhaps the
most conspicuous feature of our civilization, arises not from any indifference to
the sacred truths of Christianity, but from an abiding faith in their impregnability
a national conviction that truth is mighty and will prevail. We have
adopted as our motto the sentiment of Paul ; ' Try all things ; prove all things,
and hold fast to that which is good.' The ancient Jewish rabbi, in his serene
confidence that God would remember his own, was typical of the spirit of our age :
' Refrain from these men and let them alone, for if this counsel or this work be of
God, ye cannot overthrow it ; but if it be of men, it will come to nought.'
" I have the honor of representing here a constituency probably the most
vigorously lied about of any people in the nation. I should insult the good sense
of this House and of the American people did I stoop to a refutation of the
countless falsehoods which have been circulated for years in reference to the peo-
ple of Utah. These falsehoods have a common origin — a desire to plunder the
treasury of the nation. They are the children of a horde of bankrupt specula-
tors, anxious to grow rich through the sacrifice even of human life. During the
administration of Mr. Buchanan, a Mormon war was inaugurated, in great meas-
ure through the statements of Judge W. W. Drummond, a man of infamous char-
acter and life, and who is cited as authority in the report accompanying this bill.
His statement, as there published, that the Mormons had destroyed all the records,
papers, etc., of the supreme Federal court of the Territory, and grossly insulted
the Federal officers for opposing such destruction, was, as I have been informed
by unquestionable authority, one of, if not the principal cause of the so-called
Mormon war. An army was sent to Utah; twenty or thirty millions of dollars
were expended, before the Government bethought itself to inquire whether such
statements were true ; then inquiry was made, and it was learned that the whole
statement was entirely false ; that the records were perfect and unimpaired.
Whereupon the war ended, but not until colossal fortunes were accumulated by
the hangers-on and contractors for the army, who had incited the whole affair.
These men, and numerous would-be imitators, long for the return of that golden
age. Since the railroad was completed, many of the American people have looked
for themselves. They see in Utah the most peaceful and persistently industrious
people on the continent. They judge the tree by its fruits. They read that a
community given up to lust does not build factories and fill up the land with
thrifty farms. That a nation of thieves and murderers do not live without intox-
icating liquors, and become famous for the products of their dairies, orchards,
and gardens. A corrupt tree bringeth not forth the fruits of temperance, Chris-
tianity, industry and order.
" Mr. Speaker, those who have been so kind and indulgent as to follow me
thus far will have observed that I have aimed, as best I might, to show —
HISTORY OF SALT LAKE CITY.
457
" I. That under our Constitution we are entitled to be protected in the full
and free enjoyment of our religious faith.
" 2. That our views of the marriage relation are an essential portion of our
religious faith.
"3. That in considering the cognizance of the marriage relation as within the
province of church regulations, we are practically in accord with all other Chris-
tian denominations.
"4. That in our views of the marriage relation as a part of our religious
belief, we are entitled to immunity from persecution under the Constitution if such
views are sincerely held ; that if such views are erroneous, their eradication must
be by argument and not by force.
"5. That of our sincerity we have both by words, and works, and sufferings,
given for nearly 40 years, abundant proof.
" 6. That the bill, in practically abolishing trial by jury, as well as in many
other respects, is unconstitutional, uncalled for, and in direct opposition to that
toleration in religious belief which is characteristic of the nation and the age.
"It is not permitted, Mr. Speaker, that any one man should sit as the judge
of another as regards his religious belief. This is a matter which rests solely be-
tween each individual and his God. The responsibility cannot be shifted or di-
vided. It is a matter outside the domain of legislative action. The world is full
of religious error and delusion, but its eradication is the work of the moralist and
not of the legislator. Our Constitution throws over all sincere worshippers, at
whatever shrine, its guarantee of absolute protection. The moment we assume to
judge of the truthfulness or error of any creed, the constitutional guarantee is a
mockery and a sham.
"Three times have my people been dispersed by mob violence, and each
time they have arisen stronger from the conflict ; and now the doctrine of vio-
lence is proposed in Congress. It may be the will of the Lord that, to unite and
purify us, it is necessary for further violence and blood. If so, we humbly and
reverently submit to the will of Him in whose hands are all the issues of human
life. Heretofore we have suffered from the violence of the mob ; now, the mob
are to be clothed in the authority of an unconstitutional and oppressive law. If
this course be decided upon, I can only say that the hand that smites us smites
the most sacred guarantee of the Constitution, and the blind Samson, breaking
the pillars, pulls down upon friend and foe alike the ruins of the State."
16
438 HISTORY OF SALT LAKE CITY.
CHAPTER L.
PASSAGE OF THE CULLOM BILL L\ THE HOUSE. SALT LAKE CITY EXCITED
BY THE NEWS. MASS MEETING AT THE TABERNACLE. MEMORIAL TO
CONGRESS FROM THE MORMON COMMUNITY, AFFIRMING POLYGAMY AS
A DIVINE LAW TO THEM, AND REVIEWING THE UNCONSTITUTIONAL FEA-
TURES OF THE BILL. RESOLUTIONS. A RARE PURITANIC SPECTACLE.
The Cullom bill was passed in the House the same day that Hooper delivered
his speech. He immediately telegraphed the fact home. Mormondom was
aroused in a moment. The excitement was intense. A burning indignation
against Congress possessed the men and women alike, and there was good reason
for this righteous indignation, for not only did the bill contemplate its own exe-
cution, in the most summary manner, by the arbitrary will of the courts, but
troops were expected to be necessary to intimidate the people.
The Mormon leaders alone were cool and self-possessed. Brigham Young
was not moved from his wonted serenity by the prospect of the inevitable conflict
between himself and the man who had conquered the South, and who had already
boasted that he would do as much for Mormondom.
The Cullom bill had passed the House, but it had not yet passed the Senate.
There was the bare chance that, if the people arose en masse, and manifested to
the country that earnest apostolic spirit so becoming of them, the Cullom Bill
might die in the Senate. The Gentiles of Utah, however, looked upon this as
the Mormon "forlorn hope," and decided, beyound all question, that Senator
Cragin would prosecute the action through the Senate to a successful issue, as
surely as had General Cullom done in the House.
But the Mormon people still trusted in the Lord. At midday of the 31st of
March, according to previous notice, the people began to flock en masse towards
Temple Block, to protest against the recent action of the House, of Congress,
and to petition the Senate not to pass the Cullom Bill. At one o'olock every
seat and window of the tabernacle was packed with spectators, the doorways were
crowded, and around the building was a vast multitude that could not find en-
trance. Mayor D. H. Wells was chosen to preside over the meeting. Apostles
Orson Pratt, John Taylor, George Q. Cannon and others addressed the people,
after which the following memorial to Congress was unanimously adopted :
"ZJ? the Honorable the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States,
in Congress Assembled :
" Gentlemen: — It is with no ordinary concern that we have learned of the
passage by the House of Representatives of the House Bill No. 1,089, entitled
"A bill in aid of the execution of the laws in Utah, and for other purposes,"
commonly known as " The Cullom Bill," against which we desire to enter our
HISTORY 01 SALT LAKE CI7Y.
459
most earnest and unqualified protest, and appeal against its passage by the Senate
of the United States, or beg its reconsideration by the House of Representatives.
We are sure you will bear with us while we present for your consideration some of
the reasons why this bill should not become law.
"Gentlemen of the Senate and House of Representatives, of the 150,000
estimated population of the Territory of Utah, it is well known that all except
from 5,000 to 10,000 are members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day
Saints, usually called Mormons. These are essentially the people of this Terri-
tory , they have settled it, reclaimed the desert waste, cultivated it, subdued the
Indians, opened means of communication, made roads, built cities, and brought
into being a new State to add lustre to the national galaxy of our glorious Union.
And we, the people who have done this, are believers in the principle of plural
marriage or polygamy, not simply as an elevating social relationship, and a pre-
ventive of many terrible evils which afflict our race, but as a principle revealed by
God, underlying our every hope of eternal salvation and happiness in heaven.
We believe in the pre-existence of the spirits of men; that God is the author of
our being ; that marriage is ordained as the legitimate source by which mankind
obtain an existence in this probation on the earth; that the marriage relation ex-
ists and extends throughout eternity, and that without it no man can obtain an ex-
altation in the celestial kingdom of God. The revelation commanding the prin-
ciple of plural marriage, given by God through Joseph Smith, to the Church of
Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, in its first paragraph has the following language :
' Behold, I reveal unto you a new and everlasting covenant; and if ye abide no
that covenant, then are ye damned ; for none can reject this covenant and be per-
mitted to enter into my glory.' With this language before us, we cannot view
plural marriage in any other light than as a vital principle of our religion. Let
the revelation appear in the eyes of others as it may, to us it is a divine command,
of equal force with any ever given by the Creator of the world to his children in
the flesh.
"The Bible confessedly stands in our nation as the foundation on which all
law is based. It is the fountain from which our ideas of right and wrong are
drawn, and it gives shape and force to our morality ; yet it sustains plural mar-
riage, and in no instance does it condemn that institution. Not only having,
therefore, a revelation from God making the belief and practice of this principle
obligatory upon us, we have the warrant of the Holy Scriptures and the example
of prophets and righteous men whom God loved, honored and blessed. And it
should be borne in mind that when this principle was promulgated, and the peo-
ple of this Territory entered upon its practice, it was not a crime. God revealed
it to us. His divine word, as contained in the Bible which we have been taught
to venerate and regard as holy, upheld it, and there was no law applicable to us
making our belief or practice of it criminal. It is no crime in this Territory to-
day, only as the law of 1862, passed long years after our adoption of this princi-
ple as part of our religious faith, makes it such. The law of 1862 is now a fact ;
one proscription gives strength to another. What yesterday was opinion is liable
to-day to be law. It is for this reason that we earnestly and respectfully remon-
strate and protest against the passage of the bill now before the Honorable Sen-
46o HISTORY OF SALT LAKE CITY.
ate, feeling assured that, while it cannot accomplish any possible good it may re-
sult in a great amount of misery.
'' It gives us no alternative but the cruel one of rejecting God's command
and abjuring our religion, or disobeying the authority of a Government we desire
to honor and respect.
"It is in direct violation of the first amendment of the Constitution, which
declares that ' Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion
or prohibiting the free exercise thereof.'
" It robs our priesthood of their functions and heaven-bestowed powers, and
gives them to justices of the supreme court, justices of the peace, and priests
w^hose authority we cannot recognize, by empowering such as the only ones to cel-
ebrate marriage. As well might the law prescribe who shall baptize for the re'
mission of sins, or lay on hands for the reception of the Holy Ghost.
"It encourages fornication and adultery, for all such marriages would be
deemed invalid and without any sacred or binding force by our community, and
those thus united together would, according to their own belief and religious con-
victions, be living in a condition of habitual adultery, which would bring the
holy relation of marriage into disrepute, and destroy the safeguards of chastity
and virtue.
"It is unconstitutional in that it is in direct opposition to Section 9, Article
I, of the Constitution, which provides that * no bill of attainder, or ex post facto
law shall be passed.'
" It destroys the right of trial by jury, providing for the impaneling of juries
composed of individuals the recognized enemies of the accused, and of foreigners
to the district where a case under it is to be tried; while the Sixth Amendment
to the Constitution provides that ' in all criminal prosecutions the accused shall
enjoy the right to a speedy and public trial by an impartial jury of the State and
district wherein the crime shall have been committed.'
"It is contrary to the Eighth Amendment to the Constitution, which provides
that excessive fines shall not be imposed, 'nor cruel and unusual punishments
inflicted.'
"It violates Section 8, Article I, of the Constitution, which provides that
Congress shall establish a uniform rule of naturalization throughout the United
States, in that it provides, in Section 17, a new, unheard of, and special rule,
applicable only to the Territory of Utah.
"It is anti-republican, in that in Section 10 it places men on unequal
ground, by giving one portion of the citizens superior privileges over others, be-
cause of their belief.
"It strips us, in Sections 17 and 26, of the land we have reclaimed from
barrenness, and which we have paid Government for; also of all possessory rights
to which we are entitled as settlers.
"It authorizes, by Section 14, the sending of criminals into distant military
camps and prisons.
" It is most unjust, unconstitutional, and proscriptive, in that it disfranchises
and proscribes American citizens for no act, but simply believing in plurality of
wives, which the bill styles polygamy, bigamy, or concubinage, even if they never
have practiced or designed to practice it.
HISTORY OF SALT LAKE CITY. 461
" It offers a premium for prostitution and corruption, in that it requires, in
Sections 11 and 12, husbands and wives ito violate the holiest vows they can make,
and voluntarily bastardize their own children.
" It declares, in Section 21, marriage to be a civil contract, and names the
officers who alone shall solemnize the rite, when our faith expressly holds it as a
most sacred ordinance, which can only be administered by those holding the
authority from heaven ; thus compelling us to discriminate in favor of officers ap-
pointed by the Government and against officers authorized by the Almighty.
" It thus takes away the right of conscience, and deprives us of an ordinance
upon the correct administration of which our happiness and eternal salvation
depend.
"It not only subverts religious liberty, but, in Sections 16 and 19, violates
every principle of civil liberty and true republicanism, in that it bestows upon the
Governor the sole authority to govern jails and prisons, and to remove their
wardens and keepers ; to appoint and remove probate judges, justices of the peace,
judges of all elections, notaries public and all sheriffs ; clothing one man with
despotic and, in this Republic, unheard-of power.
" It thus deprives the people of all voice in the government of the Territory,
reduces them to absolute vassalage, creates a dangerous, irresponsible and cen-
tralized despotism, from which there is no appeal, and leaves their lives, liberties
and human rights subject to the caprice of one man, and that man selected and
sent here from afar.
"It proposes, in Sections 11, 12 and 17, to punish American citizens, not
for wrongs, but for acts sanctioned by God, and practiced by his most favored
servants, requiring them to call those bad men whom God chose for his oracles
and delighted to honor, and even to cast reflections on the ancestry of the Savior
himself.
"It strikes at the foundation of all republican government, in that it dictates
opinions and belief, prescribes what shall and shall not be believed by citizens,
and assumes to decide on the validity of revelation from Almighty God, the au-
thor of existence.
"It disorganizes and reduces to a chaotic condition every precinct, city and
county in the Territory of Utah, and substitutes no adequate organization. It
subverts, by summary process, nearly every law on our statute book.
" It violates the faith of the United States, in that it breaks the original com-
pact made with the people of this Territory in the Organic Act, who were, at the
time that compact was made, received as citizens from Mexican Territory, and
known to be believers in the doctrines of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-
day Saints.
" We also wish your honorable bodies to understand that the legislature of
this Territory has never passed any law affecting the primary disposal of the soil,
but only adopted regulations for the controlling of our claims and possessions,
upon which improvements to the amount of millions of dollars have been made.
" This bill, in Section 36, repeals the law of the Territory containing said
regulations, thereby leaving us destitute of legal protection to our hard-earned pos-
sessions, the accumulated labor of over twenty years, and exposing us to the mercy
of land speculators and vampires.
462 HISTORY OF SALT LAKE CITY.
'' Gentlemen of the Senate and House of Representatives, this bill would de-
prive us of religious liberty and every political right worth having, is not directed
against the people of Utah as men and women, but against their holy religion.
Eighteen years ago, and ten years before the passage of this Anti-Polygamy Act
of 1862, one of our leading men, Elder Orson Pratt, was expressly deputed and
sent to the city of Washington, D. C, to publish and lecture on the principle of
patriarchal or plural marriage as practiced by us.
" He lectured frequently in that and other cities, and published a paper for
some length of time, in which he established, by elaborate and convincing argu-
ments, the divinity of the revelation commanding plural marriage, given through
the Prophet Joseph Smith, and that the doctrine was sanctioned and endorsed by
the highest Bibical authority. For ten years before the passage of the Act of
1862, this doctrine was widely preached throughout the Union and the world,
and it was universally known and recognized as a principle of our holy faith.
We are thus explicit in mentioning this fact to show that patriarchal marriage has
long been understood to be a cardinal principle of our religion. We would re-
spectfully mention, also in this connection, that while hundreds of our leading
elders have been in the Eastern States and in the city of Washington, not one of
them has been cited to appear as a witness before the Committee on Territories,
to prove that this doctrine is a part of our religion ; gentlemen well knowing that
if that were established, the law would be null and void, because of its unconstitu-
tionality.
" What we have done to enhance the greatness and glory of our country by
pioneering, opening up, and making inhabitable the vast western region, is before
the nation, and should receive a nation's thanks, not a proscriptive edict to rob
us of every right worth possessing, and of the very soil we have reclaimed and
then purchased from the Government. Before this soil was United States terri-
tory we settled it, and five hundred of our best men responded to the call of the
Government in the war with Mexico, and assisted in adding to our national do-
main. When we were received into the Union our religion was known ; our early
officers, including our first governor, were all Latter-day Saints, or Mormons, for
there were few others to elect from ; we were treated as citizens possessing equal
rights, and the original bond of agreement between the United States Government
and the people inhabiting this Territory, conferred upon us the right of self-gov-
ernment in the same degree as is enjoyed by any other Territory in the Umon.
"It is declared that the power of the legislature of this Territory, ' shall ex-
tend to all rightful subjects of legislation, consistent with the Constitution of the
United States and the provisions of the Organic Act; and the right of suffrage,
and holding office shall be exercised by citizens of the United States,' including
those recognized as citizens by the treaty with the Republic of Mexico, concluded
Feb. 2d, 1848. This compact or agreement we have preserved inviolate on our part,
and we respectfully submit that it is not in the power of any legislature or congress,
legally and constitutionally, to abrogate and annul such an agreement as the or-
ganic law, which this bill proposes to do, without the consent of both parties.
Our property, lands, and buildings, private and public, are to be confiscated; our
rights of citizenship destroyed; our men and women subjected to excessive pains
r
HISTORY OF SALT LAKE CITY. 463
and penalties, because we believe in and practice a principle taught by the Bible,
commanded by divine revelation to us, and sustained by the Christian monarchies
of Great Britain and France among millions of their subjects in their territories
of India and Algeria.
"We earnestly, we solemnly appeal to you not to permit this iniquitous, un-
justly discriminating, and anti-republican measure to become law, and that, too,
in violation of the Constitution, by which one hundred and fifty thousand indus-
trious, peaceable, and orderly persons will be driven to the desperate necessity of
disobeying Almighty God, the governor of the universe, or of subjecting them-
selves to the pains and penalties of this act, which would be worse than death.
"We beseech of you, gentlemen, do not, by the passage of harsh and despotic
measures, drive an inoffensive. God-fearing, and loyal people to desperation.
" We have suffered, God knows how much, in years past, for our religion.
We fled to the mountain wilds to escape the ruthless hand of persecution ; and
shall it be said now that our Government, which ought to foster and protect us,
designs to repeat, in the most aggravated form, the miseries we have been called
upon to pass through before.
" What evidence can we give you that plural marriage is a part of our relig-
ion, other than what we have done by our public teaching and publishing for years
past ? If your honorable bodies are not satisfied with what we now present, and
what we have previously published to the world, we beseech you, in the name of
our common country and those sacred principles bequeathed unto us by our revo-
lutionary fathers, in the name of humanity, and in the name of Almighty God,
before making this act a law, to send to ihis Territory a commission clothed with
the necessary authority to take evidence and make a thorough and exhaustive in-
vestigation into the subject, and obtain evidence concerning the belief and work-
ings of our religious system, from its friends, instead of its enemies."
This memorial, which was duly signed and attested, along with a set of reso-
lutions more distinctly emphasizing the sentiment of the people upon some of its
cardinal points, was promptly forwarded to Washington.
Just previous to this, as already recorded, a series of mass-meetings had been
held throughout the Territory, by the Mormon women, at which was affirmed,
with great earnestness, their belief in, and determination to maintain, the institu-
tions of the Church.
The puritan aspect of those meetings would have been a rare treat to any his-
torical spectator. They would have reminded him of the times when the God-
fearing men of England defended their religious and political rights under such
leaders as Cromwell, Hampden, Sir John Elliot and Sir Harry Vane, and were
inspired by the republican pen of the divine Milton ; nor would he have for-
gotten that one of Milton's most powerful writings is his defence of polygamous
marriages, based upon the Hebrew covenants and examples.
This united action of the brotherhood and sisterhood created a sentiment
which finally culminated in the overthrow of the Cullom Bill.
464 HISTORY OF SALT LAKE CITY.
CHAPTER LI.
CONSERVATIVE GENTILES OF SALT LAKE CITY AND THE SECEDING MORMON
ELDERS HOLD MEETINGS TO PETITION FOR A MODIFICATION OF THE
CULLOM BILL. THEY MAINTAIN THE INTEGRITY OF MORMON FAMILIES.
FEDERAL OFFICERS AND RADICAL GENTILES OPPOSE THE PETITION, AND
FAVOR THE BILL WITH MILITARY FORCE, TO EXECUTE IT, MR. GODBE
GOES TO WASHINGTON TO INVOKE FORBEARANCE. INTERVIEWS WITH
GRANT AND CULLOM.
Simultaneous with the great mass meeting of the Mormons in the Tabernacle,
to remonstrate with Congress against the bill, the Godbeite leaders, combined
with conservative Gentiles, called a meeting of representative non-Mormon citi-
zens for a similar purpose.
The meeting called at the suggestion of Messrs. Walker Brothers and Col.
Kahn of this city, was held in the Masonic Hall, East Temple Street, to take into
consideration the propriety of memoralizing Congress for such a modification of
the Cullom Bill, as would make its provisions inapplicable to all polygamous mar-
riages and associations entered into previous to the passage of said bill. The
meeting was attended by a number of gentlemen of varied religious and political
opinions, among whom were Gen. Maxwell, Col. Overton, Marshall Orr, Col.
Kahn, T. Marshall, J. M. Carter, R. H. Robertson and J. R. Walker Esqs., with
many others.
Mr. Robertson was called to the chair, and opened the meeting by requesting
a general declaration of opinion on the subject to be brought before the meeting,
which he desired Mr. Eli. B. Kelsey to present.
Mr. Kelsey briefly stated the purpose of the meeting, and reviewed the course
which Congress had adopted since the passage of the act of 1862, and the belief
among the people that no steps would be taken with reference to the enforcement
of the anti-polygamy law. He, therefore, considered Congress responsible, to an
extent, for the present feelings of the people on that subject. He bore testimony
to his desire to uphold the laws and the influence of the government among the
people, but he could not ask people to break up their families and bastardize their
children,
Mr. E. L. T. Harrison said that he came to that meeting upon invitation. The
object of it he understood to be to see if we could unite upon a memorial to be
addressed to the Senate, requesting such modification of the Cullom Bill as would
except all marriages entered into before the passage of the bill. So far as the ab-
stract principle of polygamy went, he did not believe in the interference of the
Government on such a subject, as he believed that the people of Utah, and all
other Territories, were perfectly capable of adjusting all such relations themselves-
HISl OR Y OF SAL T LAKE CI 7 V. 463
Still, inasmuch as the Government is not of his opinion, and he desired to sus-
tain law and order, he would join in any resolution to Congress expressive of a
desire for a modification. He would do this not only out of justice to the people,
but because he believed that it would be in the interest of the Government. He
considered such a modification would greatly tend to promote a loyal and grateful
feeling among the people, and do much to bring about that harmony between
the Government and the people of Utah which was so desirable.
Mr. Gordon did not believe in memorializing Congress. If God originated
polygamy He could take care of it. If not, he was not anxious to have it stand.
He was ready to take his own share of the risk.
Mr. Stenhouse sustained Mr. Kelsey's position. If there had been a wrong
in the past conduct of the Mormons, with respect to the violation of the act of
1862, he considered Government equally as culpable as the people by theirneglect
on the subject. He heard Mr. Lincoln say himself that if the Mormons let him
alone he would let them alone. He, Mr. S., would join in soliciting for a modi-
fication of the act. There were many points to which the attention of Govern-
ment ought to be called. One was that the circumstances of the people would
not permit a separate provision for their families, were they ever so disposed to
obey that part of the act ; and that the carrying out of its provisions so far as ex-
isting polygamous families were concerned, would involve the people in an amount
of loss and suffering of which the Government has no conception.
Mr. Shearman said it was not the object of the meeting to attempt to " dic-
tate " to Congress, as one of the speakers had intimated, but simply to appeal in
a respectful and kindly manner to the justice and humanity of its members. He
(Mr, S.) would feel just as opposed to the bill were it aimed at any other people
than the Mormons, because he considered it unjust, unconstitutional and impolitic,
and, as an American citizen, he felt he had a perfect right to discuss or dissent
from any measures of the Government. He regretted that the people of Utali
had, by their past unwise course, aroused the antagonism of the Nation, but the pro-
visions of this bill were unworthy of so great and magnanimous a government as
ours. A gentleman had referred to the forcible abolition of slavery as a prece-
dent; but it should be remembered that Congress never interfered with that until
it became absolutely necessary to do so to preserve the life of the Nation from
those who were in arms seeking its destruction, and that if the South had sub-
mitted sooner, slavery would not have been abolished in the way it was. But the
Mormons were not in arms, and had no disposition to rebel ; he, therefore, felt
they were entitled to the kindly consideration of the Government as children to
that of a father. One of his most serious objections to this bill was, that while
compiled professedly in behalf of woman, it in reality made her the sufferer and
the scape-goat, as it gave every unprincipled man the right to kick his wives and
children out of doors without provision or redress. In conclusion he said all he
desired to ask Congress was to so modify the bill as not to interfere with existing
social contracts, and thus save the innocent and defenceless from untold misery.
Mr. E. W. Tullidge said, what we ought to do was most clear — namely, to
obey the laws of our country. It was not becoming in us to cavil with this Na-
tion ; and to talk of resistance to her will was not only extravagant, touching our
17
466 HISTORY OF SALT LAKE CITY.
own strength, but decidedly wrong in principle. It is a fundamental requirement
that individuals and communities must obey the laws of the State. The right of
conscience in religious matters cannot be allowed when it sets aside the laws of
the land and the expressed will of a nation ; and we, as a people, have only the
same rights in this as other religious communities. Nevertheless, Congress, in
adjusting this most delicate and complicated matter, should manifest the magna-
nimity becoming her humane character, and the same admirable administration
of justice as in the past. The South had been pardoned after a rebellion; and,
through the generosities of the Nation, even Jeff. Davis was forgiven and at large.
Should the Nation, then, be less magnanimous to this God-fearing people, — who,
if they have erred, have done so through the force of a religious faith and con-
science such as have often led earnest men to the stake? He would emphatically
appeal to this Nation on behalf of the women, whom Congress believe to have
been martyred by polygamy, and would pray that a new martyrdom might not be
inflicted upon them by its special legislation, making them dishonored wives and
dishonored mothers. He, therefore, proposed that we petition the Senate for a
reconsideration and generous modification of the CuUom Bill.
Gen. Maxwell stated his unwillingness to make any such request of Congress,
but said he would join in any effort to have the land and disfranchising clauses so
modified as not to injure any who were disposed to be loyal to the government.
Mr. Marshall, of the firm of Marshall & Carter, said he was glad of the op-
portunity of expressing himself in relation to the Cullom Bill. He wished it dis-
tinctly understood that he was opposed to polygamy and would favor any measure
which confined itself to stopping the spread of the practice. For this reason he
decidedly approved the main measures of the bill, provided existing relationships
were not interfered with. He testified to his personal knowledge of the virtue, in-
tegrity, and loyalty of many gentlemen who were already practicing polygamy in
Utah, and although he believed it to be a very great evil he felt it would be a
still greater evil to break up family associations already formed. To do the latter
he realized would be productive of great suffering and wrong, and, therefore, he
should put his name to the proposed petition even if it stood there alone.
Messrs. Henry Lawrence and William Jennings expressed their readiness to
co-operate with gentlemen in any measures that would be mutually satisfactory
and beneficial to the people of Utah and the Government of the Nation, but they
had no desire to ask any one to move in this matter except upon the broad ground
of humanity and justice.
Several other short speeches were made, and a committee of seven was ap-
pointed to draft and forward to Congress by mail or telegraph a memorial for
such modifications as the prominent non-Mormons would endorse. The follow-
ing gentlemen were unanimously elected members of said committee : Messrs.
J. R. Walker, J. M. Carter, Samuel Kahn, R. H. Robertson, Warren Hussey,
T. Marshall and O. J. Hollister. O. J. HoUister, Esq., subsequently declined to
act, and Bishop Tuttle, being informed that some one had suggested his name as
one of the committee, in a most kindly and Christian spirit, cheerfully consented
to fill Mr. Hollister's place.
The meeting then adjourned after a vote of thanks to the chairman.
HISTORY OF SALT LAKE CITY. 467
Nothing, however, came of this effort of conservative non-Mormon citizens
to have Congress reconsider and modify the Cullom Bill. The reason was, that
while these gentlemen desired simple harmony between the Nation and Utah, the
anti-Mormons, including the Federal officers, were anxious for the passage of the
bill by the Senate in its most rigid form. The former class represented property,
law and order, and Christian benevolence — the latter class represented a desire
for the entire overturning of the then existing state of things, and the transfer of
all power into anti-Mormon hands, under the direction of Congress and the Gov-
ernment, The chairman of the meeting in question — R. H. Robertson — who
" had referred to the forcible abolition of slavery as a precedent," and General
Maxwell, who " stated his unwillingness to make any such request of Congress"
as the reconsideration and and modification of the Cullom Bill, were the men who
gave the real utterance of the Liberal party, and of the will and intentions of the
administration at that critical moment. The " abolition of slavery " by military
force was the precedent which the administration actually designed to apply to
Utah during that year, and the new batch of Federal officials had been appointed
by President Grant for the carrying out of this design.
The passage of the Cullom Bill in the House signified the immediate despatch
to Utah of a large reinforcement of troops to execute the bill. The almost uni-
versal expectation throughout the country was that we were on the eve of another
''Mormon war," — that the Cullom Bill could not possibly be executed only by
military force, and that the Mormons would resist the execution of the bill,
against which they had so resolutely protested. Throughout the nation the affair
was a great sensation, and at home in Utah was very serious in its war aspect.
The Gentiles were most positive in their assurance that the Government would
send on troops to '-'wipe out the Mormon theocracy." Indeed, it was reported
that troops were already on the way for that purpose.
There can be no doubt that the mass meetings of the Mormon women, pro-
testing against the Cullom Bill and affirming the sacredness of their marriage had
greatly impressed the sympathetic heart and magnanimous mind of the American
people. It was frankly confessed in the leading journals, both East and West,
that some of the speeches of such women as "Sister Woodruff," were, for their
bold tone, worthy their ''revolutionary mothers " whose conduct they offered as
their pattern. She said :
" I am proud that I am a citizen of Utah, and a member of the Church of
Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. I have been a member of this church for
thirty-six years, and had the privilege of living in the days of the Prophet Joseph,
and heard his teaching for many years. He ever counseled us to honor, obey and
maintain the principles of our noble Constitution, for which our fathers fought,
and which many of them sacrificed their lives to establish. President Brigham
Young has always taught the same principle. This glorious legacy of our fathers,
the Constitution of the United States, guarantees unto all the citizens of this great
Republic the right to worship God according to the dictates of their own con^
sciences, as it expressly says, ' Congress shall make no laws respecting an estab-
lishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof.' Cullom's bill is in
direct violation of this declaration of the Constitution, and I think it is our duty
468 HIS TOR Y OF SAL T LAKE^ CITY.
to do all in our power, by our voices and influence, to thwart the passage of this
bill, which con^mits a violent outrage upon our rights, and the rights of our
fathers, husbands and sons ; and whatever may be the final result of the action of
Congress in passing or enforcing oppressive laws, for the sake of our religion,
upon the noble men who have subdued these deserts, it is our duty to stand by
them and support them by our faith, prayers and works, through every dark hour,
unto the end, and trust in the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob to defend us
and all who are called to suffer for keeping the commandments of God, Shall
we, as wives and mothers, sit still and see our husbands and sons, whom we know
are obeying the highest behest of heaven, suffer for their religion, without exerting
ourselves to the extent of our power for their deliverance? No; verily no ! God
has revealed unto us the law of the patriarchal order of marriage, and commanded
us to obey it. We are sealed to our husbands for time and eternity, that we may
dwell with them and our children in the world to come ; which guarantees unto
us the greatest blessing for which we are created. If the rulers of the nation will
so far depart from the spirit and letter of our glorious Constitution as to deprive
our prophets, apostles and elders of citizenship, and imprison them for obeying
this law, let them grant this, our last request, to make their prisons large enough
to hold their wives, for where they go we will go also."
The American public admired, but answered the sisters that ''their cause was
not as good as their mother's cause had been in Washington's day." The Mor-
mon people, however, believed in the integrity of their cause, and therein was the
danger to the parties most concerned. Connected with these mass meetings of
women, as we have seen, was that great meeting held by the Mormon people in
the Tabernacle, at which ten thousand people voted by acclamation an extraordi-
nary " Remonstrance " against the Cullom Bill, besides adopting a very elaborate
apostolic statement to Congress, of the polygamic revelation and duties of vhe
Mormon Church ; in it was also incorporated the bold declaration that " this
Church" would stand by her faith and polygamic institutions- This age has
never witnessed another such example of religious defiance of all earthly govern-
ments, not even was that of the " Utah war" its equal, for this was made, not in
isolation now, but in the very face of the American Nation, with the railroad
completed over which, in a few days, troops could have been hurried by the con-
queror of the South.
This condition of things — this manifestation of the " irrepressible conflict"
from both sides — appalled the best men of the Godbeire movement. In most re-
spects touching the situation they were fully in accord with the entire Mormon
people. Mr. William Shearman fully expressed their mind wiien he said, " He
would feel just as opposed to the bill were it aimed at any other people than the
Mormons, because he considered it unjust, uncunstitutional and impolitic, and as an
American citizen, he felt he had a perfect right to discuss or dissent from any meas-
ures of the Government.
During the agitation, and before the passage of the Cullom Bill in the House,
it was resolved, by the Godbeite leaders, that William S. Godbe should at once
proceed to Washington to lay before President Grant the full state of affairs and
"to counsel " with him ; for they had reasons to believe that the President desired
HISTORY OF SALT LAKE CITY. 469
this. There was also an elaborate " budget " written on Utah affairs and policy
and despatched to the President through Government officers to prepare him for
the interview. That " budget" bore date " March 8th, 1870."
Mr. Godbe started for Washington immediately afterwards. He was intro-
duced to President Grant by Vice-President Colfax. " Mr. Godbe," observed
the President, " I am as solicitous as you can possibly be to preserve the Mormon
people; and then he added, with marked significance, that he would himself
"save the Mormon people from their dangerous leaders." If more troops were
sent to Utah they would be merely designed as a " moral force," he said, to give
those leaders " to understand that the Nation intended to enforce her laws in
Utah."
Mr. Godbe also had an interview with General Cullom. Together, these gen-
tlemen went through the " Cullom Bill," section by section, Mr. Godbe suggest-
ing revisions and toning it to better suit the peculiar conditions of the Mormon
people. At length, half provoked, the Hon. Member from Illinois exclaimed,
" My G — d, Mr. Godbe, you would strike out all the points of my bill ! " But
the Utah advocate plead the cause of the Mormon people with so much earnest-
ness and feeling that all the animus of prosecution was killed. He showed how a
devoted Christian people had been moulded by their apostles and their religious
faith ; how polygamy had grown up in the Church years after the conversion of a
hundred thousand disciples to the original Mormon faith; how they had, as a rule,
gone into polygamy sincerely believing it to be the will of God; and how so many
dear good women had been already crucified for their religion and their wifelv
and motherly loves; and he urged that it would indeed be cruel, now, for civiliza-
tion itself to crucify them afresh instead of redeeming them. He also plead that
sufficient time should be given the Mormon people {ox 3. netv education, — enforced
in the argument the new conditions : that isolation was passing away forever, —
that civilization was fast coming up to them.
At that moment, Mr. Cullom w^as touched with conviction. He perceived
that there were events and changes occurring in Mormon society that would, in a
reasonable time, accomplish even more than he could hope to be effected by his
bill. "Well, Mr. Godbe," said he, in closing his interview', " I shall have to
vote for my bill ; " but his words bore the interpretation that he would be satisfied
with its simple passage in the House. It did pass the House but it was never
brought up for action in the Senate, though Senator Cragin had undertaken its
passage there.
470 HISTORY OF SALT LAKE CITY.
CHAPTER LII.
DR. NEWMAN'S EVANGELICAL CRUSADE AGAINST MORMON POLYGAMY. HE AR-
RIVES IN SALT LAKE CITY. CORRESPONDENCE BETWEEN THE CHAPLAIN
OF THE SENATE AND THE PRESIDENT OF THE MORMON CHURCH.
NEWSMAN ACCEPTS THE CHALLENGE. BRIGHAM DENIES THE CHAL-
LENGE, BUT INVITES THE DOCTOR TO PREACH IN THE GREAT TABER-
NACLE. NEWMAN'S INDIGxNATION: HE CHALLENGES BRIGHAM, WHO
ACCEPTS, AND NAMES ORSON PRATT AS HIS SUBSTITUTE. THE GREAT
DISCUSSION BEFORE TEN THOUSAND PEOPLE.
In the meantime, since the passage of the'Cullom Bill, Dr. Newman had been
creating a sensation throughout the country over the subject of polygamy. Vice-
President Colfax, in his discussion with Apostle John Taylor, had confined him-
self principally to the State aspects of the question; but Dr. Newman took up the
discussion on Bibical grounds. The speech of Delegate Hooper on the CuUom Bill
had embodied, for the information of Congress, quite an elaborate Biblical review
and defence of the ^'peculiar institution." This, it was said, provoked the
evangelical ire of the chaplain of the Senate ; and, in turn, he discoursed eloquently
on the subject of Mormon polygamy, to the admiration of his aristocratic con-
stituency of the Metropolitan Methodist Church.
The Saints in Zion were much amused at the scene in Washington, and de-
cidedly pleased that their institutions should at length be theologically glorified in
"high places." So, with journalistic tact, Mr. Edward Sloan, acting editor of
the Salt Lake Daily Telegraph, suggested that the chaplain of the Senate should
discuss the subject in the Mormon Tabernacle, it being out of place in Washing-
ton. Dr. Newn.an, affecting to regard this as a challenge from Brigham Young,
"accepted the challenge," and publicly announced his purpose of visiting Utah
to discuss with Brigham Young the subject of Mormon polygamy. On their side
the Apostles humored the self-delusion of the reverend champion ; and, though
the " Challenge " was a transparent hoax, they were quite ready to give the Chap-
lain of the Senate a taste of their apostolic steel. In the event of the polygamic
tournament, Orson Pratt was universally chosen by the Mormons as their cham-
pion; and soon the Paul of Mormondom and the Chaplain of the Senate of the
United States, were engaged in a preliminary encounter through the columns of the
New York Herald.
The coming discussion in Zion created a great noise. In some sense, it was
a national event. There was just that novelty in it, too, that the public taste so
dearly relishes. The American people were prepared for a treat, and the Chaplain
of the Senate was duly " billed " and "illustrated" in Harper s Weekly for the oc-
casion. Dr. Newman's expectation of a personal discussion with Brigham Young
HISTORY OF SALT LAKE CITY. 4J1
was as absurd as it was presumptuous in the Mormon eye. As well might he have
journeyed to Rome, in the expectation of discussing Catholicism with the Pope.
However, to the last moment of his leaving Washington, the Doctor affected to
believe that he was going up to the stronghold of Mormondom to discuss the sub-
ject of polygamy with Brigham Young, before ten thousand people.
Early in August, 1870, Dr. Newman made his advent in Salt Lake City, ac-
companied by the Rev. Dr. Sunderland, and immediately opened the following
correspondence :
DOCTOR NEWMAN TO PRESIDENT YOUNG.
"Salt Lake City, Aug. 6, 1870.
" 7'o President Brigham Young :
"Sir — In acceptance of the challenge given in your journal, the Salt Lake
Daily Telegraph of the 3d of May last, to discuss the question, 'Does the Bible
sanction Polygamy?' I have hereby to inform you that I am now ready to hold
a public debate with you as the head of the Mormon Church upon the above ques-
tion, under such regulations as may be agreed upon for said discussion ; and I
suggest for our mutual convenience, that either by yourself or by two gentlemen
whom you shall designate, you may meet two gentlemen whom I will select for
the purpose of making all necessary arrangements for the debate, with as little
delav as possible. May I hope for a reply at your earliest convenience, and at
least not later than three o'clock to-day.
" Respectfully, etc.,
"J. P. Newman."
PRESIDENT YOUNG TO DOCTOR NEWMAN.
"Salt Lake City, U. T., Aug., 6, 1870.
" Rev. Dr. J. P. Newman :
" Sir — Yours of even date has just been received, in ansiver to which I have
: to inform you that no challenge was ever given by me to any person through
' the colums of the Salt Lake Daily Telegraph, and this is the first information I
have received that any such challenge ever appeared.
" You have been misinformed with regard to the Salt Lake Daily Telegraph;
it was not my journal, but was owned and edited by Dr. Fuller of Chicago, who
I was not a member of our church and I was not acquainted with its columns.
[ " Respectfully,
j "Brigham Young."
' DOCTOR NEWMAN TO PRESIDENT YOUNG,
" Salt Lake City, Aug. 6, 1870.
' ' To President Brigham Young :
' " Sir — I confess my disappointment at the contents of your note in reply to
' mine of this date. In the far East it is impossible to distinguish the local rela-
tions between yourself and those papers which advocate the interests of your
I church; and when the copy of the Telegraph containing the article of the 3d of
j May last reached Washington, the only construction put upon it by my friends
j was that it was a challenge to me to come to your city and discuss the Bible doc-
trine of polygamy.
472 HISTORY OF SALT LAKE CITY.
" Had I chosen to put a different construction on that article, and to take no
further notice of it, you could then have adopted the Telegraph as your organ and
the said article as a challenge, which I either could not or dared not accept. That
I am justified in this conclusion is clear from the following facts :
" I. The article in the Telegraph, of May 3d, contains these expressions,
alluding to my sermon as reported in the N. Y. Herald, it says : ' The discourse
was a lengthened argument to prove that the Bible does not sustain polygamy.
* * * * The sermon should have been delivered in the New Taber-
nacle in this city, with ten thousand Mormons to listen to it and then Elder Orson
Pratt, or some prominent Mormon, should have had a hearing on the other side
and the people been allowed to decide. * * ^ * j),- Newman,
by his very sermon, recognizes the religious element of the question. * *
Let us have a fair contest of peaceful argument and let the best side win. * *
We will publish their notices in the Telegraph, report their discourses as far as
possible, use every influence in our power, if any is needed, to secure them the
biggest halls and crowded congregations, and we are satisfied that every opportu-
nity will be given them to conduct a campaign. We base this last remark on a
statement made last Sunday week in the Tabernacle, by President Geo. A. Smith,
that the public halls throughout the Terrritory have been and would be open for
clergymen of other denominations coming to Utah to preach. * * *
Come on and convert them by the peaceful influences of the Bible instead of using
the means now proposed. Convince them by reason and Scriptural argument and
no CuUom Bill will be required.'
"2. I understand the article containing the above expressions was written
by Elder Sloan, of the Mormon church, and at that time associate editor of the
Telegraph; and that he was and has since been in constant intercourse with your-
self. The expressions of the said article as above cited, were the foundation of
the impression throughout the country, that a challenge had thus been given
through the columns of the Telegraph and, as such, I myself had no alternative
but so to regard and accept it. I may add that I am informed that an impression
prevailed here in Utah, that a challenge had been given and accepted. Under
this impression I have acted from that day to this, having myself both spoken of
and seen allusions to the anticipated discussion in several prominent papers of the
country.
" 3. It was not till after my arrival in your city last evening, in pursuance
of this impression, that I learned the fact that the same Elder Sloan, in the issue
of the Salt Lake Herald, of Aug. 3d, attempts for the first time to disabuse the
public of the idea so generally prevalent. Still acting in good faith and knowing
that you had never denied or recalled the challenge of the 3d of May, I informed
you of my presence in your city and of the object of my visit here.
" My note this morning with your reply will serve to put the matter before the
public in its true light and dispel the impression of very many in all parts of the
country, that such a challenge had been given and that such a discussion would
beheld.
" Feeling that I have now fully discharged my share of the responsibility in
the case, it only remains for me to subscribe myself as before,
" Respectfully,
"J. P. Newman."
HISTORY OF SALT LAKE CITY., 47 j
PRESIDENT YOUNG TO DOCTOR NEWMAN.
"Salt Lake City, Aug. 6th, 1870.
' ' Rev. Dr. J. P. Newman :
" Sir — It will be a pleasure to us if you will address our congregation to-
morrow morning, the 7th inst., in the small Tabernacle, at ten a.m., or, should
you prefer it, in the New Tabernacle at two p.m., same instant, or both morning
and evening.
" Respectfully,
''Brigham Young.
*' P. S. I hope to hear from you immediately."
DOCTOR NEWMAN TO PRESIDENT YOUNG.
"Salt Lake City, Aug. 6th, 1870,
" 8 o'clock, p.m.,
" To President Brigham Young :
" Sir — In reply to your note just received to preach in the Tabernacle to-
morrow, I have to say that after disclaiming and declining, as you have done to-
day, the discussion which I came here to hold, other arrangements to speak in the
city were accepted by me, which will preclude my compliance with your invi-
tation.
" Respectfully,
''J. P. Newman."
PRESIDENT YOUNG TO DOCTOR NEWMAN.
"Salt Lake City, U. T., Aug. 6th, 1870.
' ' Rev. Dr. Newman :
"Sir — In accordance with our usual custom of tendering clergymen of every
denomination passing through our city, the opportunity of preaching in our taber-
nacles of worship, I sent you, this afternoon, an invitation tendering you the use
of the small Tabernacle in the morning, or the New Tabernacle in the afternoon,
or both, at your pleasure, which you have seen proper to decline.
"You charge me with * disclaiming and declining the discussion ' which you
came here to hold. I ask you, sir, what right you have to charge me with declin-
ing a challenge which I never gave you, or, to assume as a challenge from me, the
writing of any unauthorized newspaper editor? Admitting that you could distort
the article in question to be a challenge from me, (which I do not believe you con-
scientiously could) was it not the duty of a gentleman to ascertain whether I was
responsible for the so-called challenge before your assumption of such a thing ?
and certainly, much more so before making your false charges.
"Your assertion, that if you had not chosen to construe the article in ques-
tion as a challenge from me, I ' could then have adopted the Telegraph as your
[my] organ and the said article as a challenge,' is an insinuation, in my judgment,
very discreditable to yourself and ungentleraanly in the extreme, and forces the
conclusion that the author of it would not scruple to make use of such a subter-
fuge himself.
"You say that Mr. Sloan is the author of the article; if so, he is perfectly
18
474 HISTORY OF SALT LAKE CITY.
capable of defending it, and I have no doubt you will find him equally willing to
do so; or Professor Orson Pratt, whose name, it appears, is the only one suggested
in the article. I am coufident he would be willing to meet you, as would hun-
dreds of our elders, whose fitness and respectability I would consider beyond
question.
" In conclusion, I will ask, what must be the opinion of every candid, reflect-
ing mind, who views the facts as they appear? Will they not conclude that this
distortion of the truth in accusing me of disclaiming and declining a challenge,
which I never even contemplated, is unfair and ungentlemanly in the extreme and
must have been invented with some sinister motive? Will they not consider it a
paltry and insignificant attempt, on your part to gain notoriety, regardless of the
truth? This you may succeed in obtaining; but I am free to confess, as my
opinion, that you will find such notoriety more unenviable than profitable, and as
disgraceful too, as it is unworthy of your profession.
" If you think you are capable of proving the doctrine of 'Plurality of
Wives' unscriptural, tarry here as a missionary; we will furnish you the suitable
place, the congregation, and plenty of our elders, any of whom will discuss with
you on that or any other scriptural doctrine.
*• Respectfully,
" Brigham Young.'*
doctor newman to president young.
"Salt Lake City, Aug. 8th, 1S70.
' ' To Preside fit Brigham Young :
" Sir — Your last note, delivered to me on Sunday morning, and to which, o
course, I would not on that day reply does not surprise me.
" It will be, however, impossible for you to conceal from the public the truth,
that with the full knowledge of my being present in your city for the purpose of
debating with you or your representative the question of Polygamy, you declined
to enter into any arrangements for such a discussion ; and after this fact was ascer-
tained, I felt at liberty to comply with a subsequent request from other parties,
which had been fully arranged before the reception of your note of invitation to
preach in your Tabernacle.
" I must frankly say that I regard your professed courtesy, extended under
the circumstances as it was, a mere device to cover, if possible, your unwilling,
ness to have a fair discussion of the matter in question in the hearing of your
people.
" Your comments upon 'disclaiming and declining the discussion ' are simply
a reiteration of the disclaimer ; while, in regard to your notice of my construction
of the article in the Telegraph of May last, I have only to leave the representa-
tions you have seen fit to make to the judgment of a candid public, sure to dis-
cover who it is that has resorted to 'subterfuge ' in this affair. Your intimation
that Elder Sloan, Prof. Pratt or hundreds of other Mormon elders, would be will-
ing to discuss the question of polygamy with me from a Bible standpoint, and
your impertinent suggestion that I tarry here as a missionary for that purpose, I
am compelled to regard as cheap and safe attempts to avoid the appearance of
HISTORY OF SAL T LAKE CITY. 47s
shrinking from such discussion by seeming to invite it after it had, by your own
action, been rendered impossible. As to to the elders you speak of including your-
self, being ready to meet me in public debate, I have to say that I came here with
that understanding and expectation, but it was rudely dispelled, on being deti-
nitely tested. Were it possible to reduce these vague suggestions of yours to
something like a distinct proposition for a debate, there is still nothing in your
action, so far, to assure me of your sincerity, but, on the contrary, everything to
cause me to distrust it.
" I have one more point of remark. You have insinuated that my motive
is a thirst for ' notoriety.' I can assure you that if I had been animated by such
a motive you give me small credit for good sense by supposing that I would em-
ploy such means. Neither you, nor the system of which you are the head, could
afford me any ' notoriety ' to be desired.
"But, to show how far I have been governed by merely personal aspir-
ations, let the simple history of the case be re-called.
" You send your Delegate to Congress who, in the House of Representatives
and in sight and hearing of the whole Nation, throws down the gauntlet upon the
subject of polygamy as treated in the Bible. Being Chaplain of the American
Senate, and having been consulted by several public men, I deemed it my duty to
preach upon the subject. The discourse was published in the JVew York Herald,
and on thus reaching your city one of your elders published an article which is
construed as a challenge to me to debate the question with you, or some one whom
you should appoint, here in your Tabernacle. Acting upon this presumption, I
visit your city, taking the earliest opportunity to inform you, as the head of the
Mormon Church, of my purpose and suggesting the steps usual in such cases. You
then reply, ignoring the whole subject, but without a hint of your ' pleasure'
about my preaching in the Tabernacle.
" Subsequently other arrangements were made which precluded my accepting
any invitation to speak in your places of worship. The day passed away, and
after sunset I received your note of invitation, my reply to which will answer for
itself. And this you intimate is an attempt on my part to obtain ' unenviable
notoriety.'
"Sir, I have done with you — make what representations of the matter you
may think proper, you will not succeed in misleading the discriminating people
either of this Territory or of the country generally by any amount of verbiage
you may choose to employ.
*' Respectfully, etc.,
" J. P. Newman.
)i
DOCTOR NEWMAN'S CHALLENGE TO PRESIDENT YOUNG.
Salt Lake City, Aug. 9, 1870.
'•' To Mr. Brighatn Young:
"Sir — In view of the enclosed communication, received from several .citi-
zens of this place, asking whether I am ready now and liere to debate the ques-
tion ' Does the Bible saction Polygamy? ' with you, as the chief of the Church
of Latter-day Saints, and in view of the defiant tone of your Church journals of
476 HISTORY OF SALT LAKE CITY.
last evening and this morning ; and in view of the fact that I have been here
now four days waiting to have you inform me of your willingness to meet me in
public discussion on the above question, but having received no such intimation
up to this time of writing, therefore, I do here and now challenge you to meet
me in personal and public debate, on the aforesaid question. I respectfully sug-
gest that you appoint two gentlemen to meet Rev. Dr. Sunderland and Dr. J. P.
Taggart, who represent me, to make all necessary arrangements for the discussion.
" Be kind enough to favor me with an immediate reply.
"Respectfully,
" J. P. Newman.
" Residence of Rev. Mr. Pierce."
CITIZENS TO DOCrOR NEWMAN.
"Salt Lake City, Aug. 9, 1870.
' • RetK J. P. Newman :
" Dear Sir — Pardon the liberty which we the undersigned citizens of this
place hereby take in addressing you in reference to the object of your present
visit. Having seen in the Netus of last evening and in the Herald of this
morning, an attempt to make the impression upon the public that you are, after
all, unwilling to debate the question 'Does the Bible sanction Polygamy?"
with Brigham Voting, as the chief of the Church of Latter-day Saints, and to
debate it vow and here, we desire to know from you directly whether such is the
fact and we would respectfully request a reply, that we may be able to set the
matter in its true light by publishing the whole correspondence, as we will seek
to do, in an extra of the Tribune to be issued at the earliest possible moment.
" Very respectfully,
" Jno. p. Taggart,
"J. H. WiCKIZER,
"Geo. R. Maxwell,
" G. B. Overton,
"J. F. Woodman."
1
doctor NEWMAN TO CITIZENS.
" Salt Lake City, Aug. 9, 1870.
" To Messrs. J. P. Taggart and others :
"Gentlemen — In reply to yours of this date, requesting to know if I
am willing to hold a debate here and 7io7v, on the question ' Does the
Bible Sanction Polygamy?' with Mr. Brigham Young, as the chief of the
Mormon Church, I have to state that this was the express purpose for which I
came here, as appears from my first note to him. The correspondence between
him and myself has, however, developed, on his part, such a line of conduct that
I had fully determined to have nothing more to do with him. But as I came here
in full faith to debate the question with him, regarding myself as the challenged
party, and as he endeavors to escape by a denial that he has ever challenged me, I
will put the matter now beyond dispute by sending him a challenge.
HISTORY OF SALT LAKE CITY. 4'jy
" It shall be done immediately, and a copy of the same shall be furnished for
the extra of which you speak.
"Very Respectfully, etc.,
"J. P. Newman."
PRESIDENT YOUNG ACCEPTS THE CHALLENGE.
" Salt Lake City, 9 August, 1870.
"Rev. J. P. Ne7vmati :
"Sir — Your communication of to-day's date, with accompanying enclosure,
was handed to me a few minutes since by Mr. Black.
"In reply, I will say that I accept the challenge to debate the question,
'Does the Bible sanction Polygamy? ' Professor Orson Pratt or Hon. John Tay-
lor acting for me as my representative, and in my stead in the discussion. I will
furnish the place of holding the meetings, and appoint two men to meet Messrs.
Sunderland and Taggart, to whom you refer as your representatives, to make the
necessary arrangements.
" I wish the discussion to be conducted in a mild, peaceable, quiet spirit,
that the people may receive light and intelligence and all be benefitted ; and then
let the congregation decide for themselves.
" Respectfully,
" Brigham Young."
president young to doctor newman.
" City, Aug. 9, 1870.
' ' Rev. J. P. Newman :
'' Sir — I have appointed Messrs. A. Carrington and Jos. W. Young to meet
with Messrs. Sunderland and Taggart, to arrange preliminaries for the discussion.
" Respectfully,
" Brigham Young."
doctor newman to president young.
"Salt Lake City, Aug. 9, 1870.
' ' To Air. Brigham Yotmg :
" Sir — I challenged ji'^?^ to a discussion and not Orson Pratt or John Taylor.
You have declined to debate personally with me. Let the public distinctly un-
derstand this fact, whatever may have been your reasons for so declining. Here
I think I might reasonably rest the case. However, if Orson Pratt is prepared
to take the affirmative of the question, 'Does the Bible sanction Polygamy?' I
am prepared to take the negative, and Messrs. Sunderland and Taggart will meet
Messrs. Carrington and Young to-night at eight o'clock at the office of Mr. Tag-
gart, to make the necessary arrangements.
Respectfully, etc.,
"J. P. Newman."
PRESIDENT YOUNG TO DOCTOR NEWMAN,
"Salt Lake City, U. T., Aug., 10, 1870.
" Rev. Dr. J. P. Newman :
" Sir — I am informed by Messrs. Carrington and Young that at their meet-
478 HISTORY OF SALT LAKE CITY.
ing last evening with Drs. Sunderland and Taggart they were unable to come to
a decision with regard to the wording of the subject of debate.
" Bearing in mind the following facts : Firstly — That you are the challenging
party. Secondly — That in a sermon delivered by you in the city of Washington,
before President Grant and his Cabinet, members of Congress and many other
prominent gentlemen, you assumed to prove that God's law condemns the union
in marriage of more than two persons, it certainly seems strange that your repre-
sentatives should persistently refuse to have any other question discussed than the
one * Does the Bible sanction Polygamy?' It appears to the representatives .of
Mr. Pratt that if Dr. Newman could undertake to prove in Washington that
' God's law condemns the union in marriage of more than two persons,' he ought
not to refuse to make the same affirmation in Salt Lake City. Mr. Pratt, I dis-
cover, entertains the same opinion, but rather than permit the discussion to fall,
he will not press for your original proposition, but will accept the question as you
now state it, * Does the Bible sanction Polygamy.'
" I sincerely trust that none of the gentlemen forming the committee will
encumber the discussion with unnecessary regulations, which will be irksome to
both parties and unproductive of good, and that no obstacles will be thrown in
the way of having a free and fair discussion.
" Respectfully,
"Brigham Young."
conditions of the debate.
1. The question to be discussed is, "Does the Bible sanction Polygamy? "
Prof. Pratt to take the affirmative and Dr. Newman the negative.
2. The Bible, in the original and English tongues, shall be the only stand-
ard of authority in this debate, the disputants, however, being free to quote from
any other works or sources of information.
3. The place for holding the discussion shall be the New Tabernacle.
4. There shall be three sessions on three successive days, each session to
continue two hours — that is, giving each disputant one full hour at every session,
the affirmative to have the first hour and the negative to have the last hour. The
first session to be held on Friday, August 12th, 1870, at two o'clock p. m., and
the second and third sessions at the same hour successively, on Saturday and Sun-
day, the 13th and 14th of the present month.
5. There shall be three umpires, one to be chosen by Prof Pratt, one by Dr.
Newman, and a third by these two, and the three shall unitedly preside at the
discussion, preserve its dignity and decorum and enforce the usual rules which
govern parliamentary debate.
6. No manifestation of dissent or approval shall be permitted during the
progress of the discussion, nor shall either disputant be interrupted by the other
while speaking, for any cause whatever. Corrections of statements or misunder-
standing shall be made in the body of the subsequent reply.
7. Each disputant to have his own reporters and one other assistant in the
labors of the debate; but such assistant shall take no part in the speaking.
8. The Tabernacle and necessary attendance to be furnished free of charge,
and children under eight years of age not to be admitted.
HIS TOR Y OF SAL T LAKE CITY. 4 7 9
9. At the close of the debate no formal decision to be taken.
10. Each session to be opened and closed by prayer under the direction
of the speakers.
ir. In preparing an account of the discussion for the press, each side shall
be at liberty to chose his own organs and publish his own report, but no pub-
lished report shall be accepted as correct unless subjected to the inspection of the
respective parties and countersigned by the umpires.
Prof. Pratt, on his part, chose Judge Z. Snow as umpire, and Dr. Newman
selected Judge C. M. Hawley.
The grand discussion duly came off in the great tabernacle in the presence
of thousands. Each day's apostolic fight was glorified with a verbatim report in
the Neiv York Herald, and every leading paper in the country devoted its col-,
umns to a daily synopsis of the arguments. Never before, in the whole Christian
era, had polygamy been so elaborately and ably discussed between two divines,
and certainly never was a religious debate so extensively published and read.
Millions of readers followed the arguments of Dr. Newman and Orson Pratt, and
it is safe to estimate that quite two-thirds of them yielded the palm to the Mor-
mon apostle and were convinced, though against their inclination, that upon strict
Biblical grounds Mormon polygamy could not be successfully met.
CHAPTER LIII.
PRESIDENT GRANT BENT ON THE CONQUEST OF MORMON THEOCRACY. HE
APPOINTS SHAFFER GOVERNOR FOR THAT PURPOSE. ARRIVAL OF THE
WAR GOVERNOR. COUNCILS. PREPARATIONS FOR CONFLICT WITH THE
UTAH MILITIA. GENERAL PHIL. SHERIDAN SENT OUT TO VIEW THE
SITUATION. HE IS INTERESTED IN THE MORMONS AND TEMPERS THE
WAR POLICY WITH A " MORAL FORCE." SHAFFERS MILITARY COUP DE
MAIN. GENERAL WELLS AVOIDS A COLLISION. CORRESPONDENCE BE-
TWEEN THE LIEUT.-GENERAL AND THE GOVERNOR.
The design of President Grant to overthrow Mormon rule in Utah was de-
veloped through various methods of action. But first came his war policy, which
at one time meant the absolute conquest of " Mormon Theocracy " by military
force, or at least by military rule. This is what was signified by the appointment
of a " War Governor," in the person of J. Wilson Shaffer.
In 1868, General Rawlins, then Secretary of War, visited Utah. The South
was in process of reconstruction, and the Secretary thought that Utah needed re-
construction quite as much as the South. Casting his eye over the list of his old
war comrades to find the man most fit for the work, he determined to select Gen-
48o HISTORY OF SALT LAKE CITY.
eral Shaffer. Rawlings committed to President Grant his " dying charge," to
appoint " Wils " Shaffer of IlHnois, Governor of Utah, to conquer Brigham
Young. After the death of the Secratary, on the resignation of Governor Durkee,
the appointment was duly made. Surprised at the event, and knowing that the
choice of himself, at that critical juncture of Utah affairs, was not due to political
management, Shaffer hastened to Washington to "inquire" of the President.
It was then that the new Governor learned from the lips of President Grant that
he owed his appointment to the dead Secretary of War, and was informed of the
grand purpose for which he had been chosen. This is Governor Shaffer's own
statement.
Shaffer knew that he himself was gradually dying — that a few short months
must close his mortal career. But he was assigned to a post of honor. He ac-
cepted the appointment as a trust extraordinary from the President of the United
States, and as a legacy left to him by his dead patron and comrade. He under
took the " mission " with the " vow" to execute it before his death. He would
make himself Governor of Utah, to all intents and purposes, if he had to do it by
the sword.
" Never after me," said he, " by ! shall it be said that Brigham Young
is Governor of Utah ! "
Governor Shaffer arrived in Utah in the latter end of March, 1870.
On his arrival in Salt Lake City, Governor Shaffer wa^ under deep chagrin
concerning the passage of the Utah Female Suffrage bill. While at Washington
he had personally charged Delegate Hooper and Hon. Tom Fitch, the member
from Nevada, with betraying both himself and the Government in the signing of that
bill by acting-Governor Mann. Shaffer was Governor of Utah at the time. On the
receipt of the telegrapic news in Washington, that the Utah Legislature had passed
the woman's suffrage bill. Governor Shaffer hastened to the rooms of Delegate
Hooper, calling his attention to the news, declared that the bill must be vetoed
and that he should immediately telegraph to the acting-Governor to veto it; but
Hooper treated the news as a hoax, being too much of a politician to defeat the
very bill of which he considered himself the father. The intended telegram of
the Governor was not sent ; a few hours afterwards the bill was approved ; and
Secretary Mann lost his official head in consequence.
From that moment it was resolved that not a Federal officer should remain
in Utah who could not be trusted to execute the programme of the Government
to its last letter. Secretary Mann was removed and succeeded by Vernon H.
Vaughn ; and Chief Justice Wilson was removed, and he was succeeded by
James B. McKean. There were now in the Utah administration Governor Shaf-
fer, Chief Justice McKean, General Maxwell, O. J. Hollister, brother-in-law of
Vice-President Colfax, Judges Hawley and Strickland, U. S. Marshal Orr, U. S.
District Attorney Charles H. Hempstead; Chief Justice McKean, however, had
not yet arrived in Utah, although he figured in the administrative design.
On the arrival of our " war Governor," just after the passage of the Cullom
bill, and the mass meetings of protest held by the Mormons in this city, the very
air was charged with the elements of war. But, after consulting with his Federal
compeers. Governor Shaffer sought counsel also of Mr. Godbe and his friends.
Eli B. Kelsey was the first who had contact with him.
HISTORY OF SALT LAKE CITY. 481
It was at war heat that Elder Kelsey found him at their first interview. " By
G— d Brigham Young shall no longer be Governor of Utah," was fresh in his
mouth ; but he sat down with Elder Kelsey and entered into a warm discussion of
the Mormon problem, Kelsey taking the Mormon side even to polygamy. The
elder explained to the Governor the painful situation of the people in any view of
the case if a crusade were prosecuted against them, and how certainly the Nation
was about to crucify the Mormon women afresh unless the Government was con-
siderate and just toward them.
'' Governor," said Elder Kelsey, 'I will present my own family case. It is
that of tens of thousands in their family relations. My wives entered into mar-
riage relations with me with the purest motives, and from a conscientious religious
conviction. They have children by me. Before I will forsake my wives and
bastardize my children, I will fight the United States down to my boots ! Gover-
nor Shaffer, put yourself in my place : What would you do ? "
Thus brought face to face with the vital family question of an entire people,
and boldly challenged for his personal answer, Shaffer was at once put upon his
honor and manhood. The very difficulty, and the directness of the challenge,
provoked him to strong feeling. He paced his room several times before he an-
swered and then it came with an emphasis.
'' By G — d, Mr. Kelsey, were I in your place I would do the same !"
And this is substantially what the manliest men of the Nation everywhere say
to the Mormon people — say it in their silence and forbearance, as much as in
their words and actions. After all this fuss over polygamy, America would not
like to see the Mormon people dishonor themselves and betray their wives and
children.
From that time, General Shaffer modified his desire for a war crusade against
the polygamic people. His resolve thereafter was simply (to use his own words)
to make himself "the Governor of Utah in fact and the commander-in-chief of
the militia." Hence he directed all the action of his remaining lifeagainst Lieut-
General D. H, Wells, which amounted to nothing more serious than the disband-
ing of the Utah militia.
Soon after this. President Grant sent General Phil Sheridan to Utah to jud^-e
of the situation and to establish another military post.
"Thereupon, a council was called at Shaffer's room, at which were assembled
the Governor, General Sheridan and staff, certain other Federal officers and W.
S. Godbe and several of his compeers ; and then General Sheridan, with his sim-
ple directness, observed : " The President has charged me to do nothing without
consulting Mr. Godbe and his friends." The Reformers thus honored with the
confidence of the Government, then urged the following views:
That military force was not necessary to solve the Utah problem; that all
which was needed was sufficient troops in the Territory to act as a "moral force"
upon the public mind, convincing the Mormons that the Government intended to
carry out ics policy ; that as more troops were designed for Utah, Provo would be
the best place to station them ; that these military movements should show no de-
sign to intimidate the Mormons, but simply assert the National authority by their
presence.
20
482 HISTORY OF SALT LAKE CITY.
General Sheridan said this advice coincided with his own views and those of
President Grant; and he gave positive assurance that troops in Utah should onl}'
be used as a '' moral force."
The post was duly established at Provo, and President Grant so far modified
the original policy, projected by Vice-President Colfax, of forcing a rupture with
the Mormon leaders. Moreover General Sheridan on his visit was greatly and
favorably impressed towards the Mormon people. Speaking of it Stenhouse says:
" Lieutenant-General Sheridan visited Utah, and made himself acquainted
with the actual situation of affairs. This distinguished soldier expressed the
kindliest sentiments for the people, admired ihe work they had accomplished, and
hoped that nothing would occur to disturb them in the peaceful possessions of
their homes. His visit was at the finest season of the year, and he was truly
charmed with the appearance of the city. Troops, whenever wanted, would how-
ever, be forthcoming, not as a menace to the community, but that at their camp the
oppressed might find beneath the stars and stripes the protection of the Govern-
ment. Governor Shaffer is dead; he cannot answer his traducers ; but these were
his sentiments, and almost his words to the author as well as the words of the
great cavalry-soldier of the Republic."
But Governor Shaffer was resolved not to die before he had executed some
military cot/p de 7fiain against Mormondom. The annual muster of the Territoii il
militia gave him the opportunity. Here is the call for the muster, followed by
proclamations and correspondence between the Governor and the Lieut. -General.
They tell their own story.
the lieut.-general's order.
'•'Adjutant-General's Office, U. T.,
"Salt Lake City, Aug. i6th, 1S70.
"General Orders, No. r.
"No. 1. — Major-General Robert T. Burton, commanding ist Division
Nauvoo Legion, Silt Lake Military Dibtrict, will cause to be held a general mus-
ter, for three days, of all the forces within said district, for the purposes of drill,
inspection and camp duty.
"No. 2. — The commandants of Utah, Juab, Sanpete, Parowan, Richland,
Tooele, Summit and Wasatch military districts, will cause to be held a similar mus-
ter, not to exceed three days, of the forces in their respective districts, to be held
not later than the 1st day of November. Said commandants will cause suitable
notice to be given of lime and place of muster, and all persons liable to military
duty to be enrolled and notified.
"No. 3. — Bands of music may be organized, and musicians required to per-
form duty as per General Order No. 2.
"No, 4. —It is with deep regret that we announce to the Legion the death
of Brigadier-General C. W. West, commandant of Weber military district.
" No. 5. — At the muster of the forces of Cache military district, there will
be elected a brigadier-general, who will take command of said district.
" No. 6. — District commandants will cause all vacancies to be filled in their
respective districts ; they will have a rigid inspection of arms and equipments,
and make full and complete returns to this office, on or before the fifteenth day of
^
HISTORY OF SALT LAKE CITY. 483
November. They are also enjoined to enforce good order and sobriety, and to
take every precaution to avert the occurrence of accident from any cause whatever
during the muster.
By order of
"Lieut. -Gen. Daniel H. Wells,
" Commanding Nauvoo Legion.
"H. B. Clawson.
''Adjutant- General, U. Z."
GOVERNOR SHAFFER'S PROCLAMATION— 1.
"Executive Department, Salt Lake City, Utah Territory,
"September 15th, 1870.
"Know ye, that I, J. Wilson Shaffer, Governor of the Territory of Utah,
and commander-in-chief of the militia of said Territory, by virtue of the power
and authority in me vested by the laws of the United States, have this day, ap-
pointed and commissioned P. E. Connor, major-general of the militia of Utah
Territory; and W. M. Johns, colonel and assistant adjutant-general of the militia
of the Territory. Now, it is ordered that they be obeyed and respected ac-
cordingly.
"Witness my hand and the great seal of said Territory, at Salt Lake
[seal.] City, this the 15th day of September, A. D. 1870.
" J. W. Shaffer,
" Governor.
"Attest": Vernon H. Vaughn,
' ' Secretary of Utah Territory. ' '
GOVERNOR SHAFFER'S PROCLAMATION— 2.
"Executive Department, Salt Lake City, Utah Territory,
" September 15, 1870.
"Know ye, that I, J. Wilson Shaffer, Governor of the Territory of Utah, and
commander-in-chief of the military of the Territory of Utah, do hereby forbid
and prohibit all musters, drills or gatherings of militia of the Territory of Utah,
and all gatherings of any nature, kind or description of armed persons within the
Territory of Utah, except by my orders, or by the orders of the United States
marshal, should he need 2, posse co?nmitatus to execute any order of the court, and
not otherwise. And it is hereby further ordered that all arms or munitions of
war belonging to either the United States or the Territory of Utah, within said
Territory, now in the possession of the Utah Militia, be immediately delivered
by the parties having the same in their possession to Col. Wm. M. Johns, assistant
adjutant-general ; and it is further ordered that, should the United States marshal
need z. posse commitatus, to enforce any order of the courts, or to preserve order,
he is hereby authorized and empowered to make a requisition upon Major-General
P. E. Connor for •iwch posse commitatus or axmtd force ; and Major-General P. E.
Connor is hereby authorized to order out the militia, or any part thereof, as of
my order for said purposes and no other.
"Witness my hand and the great seal of said Territory, at Salt Lake
[seal.] City, this the 15th day of September, 1870.
"J. W. Shaffer,
" Governor.
"Attest : Vernon H. Vaughn,
'' Secretary of Utah Territory.'^
484 HISTORY OF SALT LAKE CITY.
THE LIEUT.-GENERAL'S REPLY TO THE GOVERNOR.
"Ad JT. -General's Office, U. T., Salt Lake City,
"October 20, 1870.
" His Excellency J. W. Shaffer, Governor, and Couvnatider in-chief of the militia
of Utah lerritory :
Sir: — Whereas, a proclamation has been published, emanating from your Ex-
cellency, in which the holding of the regular musters in this Territory is prohib-
ited, except by your order ; and
" Whereas, to stop the musters now, neither the terms of the proclamation,
the laws of the Territory, nor the laws of Congress requiring reports of the force
and conditon of the militia of the Territory could be complied with \ we, there-
fore, the undersigned, for and in behalf of the militia of said Territory, respect-
fully ask your Excellency to suspend the operation of said proclamation until the
20th day of November next, in order that we may be enabled to make full and
complete returns of the militia as aforesaid.
Daniel H. Wells,
Lieut.- Gen. Com g Militia, U. T.
"H. B. Clawson,
"Adjt.-Gen. Militia, U. T"
THE GOVERNOR'S FIAT.
"Executive Department, Utah Territory,
" Salt Lake City, October 27, 1870.
''DafiielH. Wells, Esq. :
" I have the honor to acknowledge the receipt of your communication of
yesterday, in which you sign yourself ' Lieutenant-General commanding the
militia of Utah Territory.' As the laws of the United States provide for but
one Lieutenant-General, and as the incumbent of that office is the distinguished
Philip H. Sheridan, I shall certainly be pardoned for recognizing no other.
"In your communication you addressed me as * Coaimander-in-chief of the
militia of Utah Territory.'' It is now twenty years since the act to organize this
Territory was passed by the Congress of the United States, and, so far as I am
informed, this is the first instance in which you, or any of your predecessors, in
the pretended office which you assume to hold, have recognized the Governor of
this Territory to be, as the Organic Act makes him, the Commander-in-chief, etc.
My predecessors have been contemptuously ignored, or boldly defied. I congrat-
ulate you and the loyal people here, and elsewhere, on the significant change in
your conduct.
^^ You do me the honor to ask me to suspend the operation of my proclama-
tion of September 15th, 1870, prohibiting all musters, drills, etc., etc. In other
words, you ask me to recognize an unlawful military system, which was originally
organized in Nauvoo, in the State of Illinois, and which has existed here without
authority of the United States, and in defiance of the Federal officials.
"You say: 'Whereas, to stop the musters now, neither the terms of
the proclamation, the laws of the Territory, nor the laws of Congress, etc., could
be complied with.' That is, my proclamation cannot be carried out, unless I let
HIS! OR Y OF SAL T LAKE CIl V. 485
you violate it. Laws of the Territory which conflict with the laws of Congress,
must fall to the ground, unless I will permit you to uphold them, and the laws of
Congress cannot be complied with unless I will let you interpret and nullify them !
To state the proposition is to answer it.
"Mr. Wells, you know, as well as I do, that the people of this Territory,
most of whom were foreign born, and are ill acquainted with our institutions, have
been taught to regard certain private citizens here as superior in authority not
only to the Federal officials here, but also at Washington. Ever since my procla-
mation was issued, and on a public occasion, and in presence of many thousands
of his followers, Brigham Young, who claims to be, and is called, 'President,'
denounced the Federal officials of this Territory with bitter vehemence, and on a
like occasion, about the same time, and in his (Young's) presence, one of his
most conspicuous followers declared that Congress had no right whatever to pass
an organic act for this Territory ; that such was a relic of colonial barbarism,
and that not one of the Federal officials had any right to come to, or remain in,
this Territory.
" Mr. Wells, you ask me to take a course which, in effect would aid you and
your turbulent associates to further convince your followers that you and your
associates are more powerful than the Federal Government. I must decline.
"To suspend the operation of my proclamation now, would be a greater
dereliction of my duty than not to have issued it.
"Without authority from me you issued an order in your assumed capacity
of lieutenant-general, etc., calling out the military of the Territory to muster,
and now you virtually ask me to ratify your act.
" Sir, I will not do anything in satisfaction of your officious and unwarranted
assumption.
" By the provisions of the Organic act, the Governor is made the commander-
in-chief of the militia of the Territory, and, sir, so long as I continue to hold
that office, a force so important as that of the militia shall not be wielded or con-
trolled in disregard of my authority, which, by law, and by my obligation, it is
my plain duty not only to assert, but^ if possible^ to maintain.
"I hope the above is sufficiently explicit to be fully understood, and super-
sede the necessity of any further communications on the subject.
" I have the honor to be, etc.
(Signed) J. W. Shaffer,
Governor and Covimander-in- Chief
of Utah Territory.
AN OPEN LETTER TO GOVERNOR SHAFFER.
* * Editor Deseret Eveni?ig News :
" Sir: — I find myself under the necessity of requesting you to give space in
your columns for the enclosed correspondence between myself and His Excellency
Governor Shaffer. His reply to my communication reached me yesterday, and it
was only a few hours afterwards that I saw the entire correspondence in print. I
might have felt some reluctance before this in giving our correspondence pub-
licity, but now I have no alternative ; my duty to the public, my regard for truth,
486 HISTORY OF SALT LAKE CITY.
and my own self-respect will not suffer me to remain silent] and although Gover-
nor Shaffer closes his communication by saying that he hopes what he has written
will supersede the necessity of any further communication on this subject, I am
constrained to write you this letter.
"The first point which I will notice in his communication is the statement
that; —
" ' As the laws of the United States provide for but one lieut. -general, and as
the incumbent of that office is the distinguished Pnilip H. Sheridan, I shall cer-
tainly be pardoned for recognizing no other.'
" What inference does Governor Shaffer wish to draw froai this? The same
law of Congress which provides for one lieut. -general provides for five major-gen-
erals (see Army Register for 1869 ; also General E. D. Townsend's report to Gen-
eral W. T. Sherman, commanding U. S. army for same year) ; must we therefore
conclude that there shall be no major-generals of militia in the States or Terri-
tories? The same law prescribes that there shall be eight brigadier-generals; are
we to understand Governor Shaffer that the distinguished gentlemen who hold
these positions in the regular army are the only ones in the States and Territories
who are to be recognized as such? This being the inference to be drawn from his
language, who shall presume to recognize any officers of militia in any of the
States and Territories as major-generals and brigadier-generals, when the law of
Congress has already provided for but five of the former and eight of the latter ?
''As His Excellency seems to take pleasure in referring to law, permit me also
to direct his attention to the following :
"Section 10 of an Act, approved July 28th, i865, limits the number of offi-
cers and assistant adjutant-generals in their respective corps, prescribing their
rank, pay and emoluments; and section 6 of an Act approved March 3d, 1869,
provides that, until otherwise directed by law, there shall be no new appointments
in the Adjutant-General's department; also an Act of June 15th, 1844, chapter
69, 'entitled, ' an Act to authorize the Legislatures of the several Territories to regu-
late the appointment of representatives and for other purposes,' provides, in sec-
tion 2, ' that justices of the peace, and all general officers of militia in the Terri-
tories, shall be elected by the people, in such manner as the respective Legislatures
thereof shall provide by law.' Also, see Brightly's Digest of the United States
Laws, page 619, on organization of the militia, section 3.
" These extracts are from laws of Congress — the laws for which His Excellency
seems to have so much respect ; and if they are the only laws which obtain in this
Territory, how can His Excellency reconcile with them his recent appointment by
proclamation of a major general, and an assistant adjutant-general for the militia
of Utah ? And what about the five distinguished incumbents of the office of
major-general already appointed under the law? Or, does his Excellency imagine
that it falls to his province to fill the vacancy created by the death of the lamen-
ted George H. Thomas.
"The second point in Governor Shaffer's communication which I will notice,
is wherein he states that —
" ' So far as I have been informed, this is the first instance in which you or any
of your predecessors, in the pretended office which you assume to hold, ever re-
HISTORY OF SALT LAKE CITY. 4S7
cognized the Governor of this Territory to be as the organic act makes him to be,
the commander-in-chief, etc., etc. My predecessors have been contemptuously
ignored or boldly defied.' •
"It is scarcely necessary for me to remark to any resident familiar with the
history of this Territory that Governor Shaffer's information on this subject is
very defective. That which he styles a *' pretended office " I have held by the
unanimous voice of the people of the Territory — the office having been created
by Act of the Legislative Assembly of the Territory of Utah, approved by the
Governor, Feb., 5th, 1852, and not transported from Illinois, as stated by Gover-
nor Shaffer in another part of his letter. Even if it were as he states, can no good
thing, come out of Illinois ? Or is it such a crime to copy after anything emanat-
ing from that distinguished State? I may here add, further, that I have never had
any predecessor in the office since the organization of the Territory. As to this
being the " first instance" in which I have recognized the Governor of this Terri-
tory as the commander-in-chief, Governor Shaffer is either strangely ignorant or
wilfully misrepresents, for during the first eight years after the organization of the
Territory, His Excellency Brigham Young was the Governor of the Territory, and
I presume no one will dispute that he was recognized as the commander-in-chief-
During the next four years, while His Excellency Alfred Gumming was Governor
of the Territory, and also during the administrations of his successors up to
the present time — with the exception of Governor Dawson, who only remained
in the Territory about thirty days — I have abundant documentary evidence
to show that I recognized them as governors and commanders-in-chief of the
militia of the Territory, and have in return been recognized by them as lieut.-
general commanding militia of Utah Territory, Besides being recognized as
lieut. -general by the predecessors of Governor Shaffer, I have in every in-
stance been acknowledged as such in all official correspondence with officers
of the regular army, superintendents of the Indian affairs and other 'Federal
officials,' both here and out of the Territory. His Excellency Governor Shaffer
therefore stands distinguished as the first ' Federal officer ' who, in reply to
a respectful communication, has so far forgotten what is due from a man holding
his position, as to ignore the common courtesies always extended between gen-
tlemen.
" Before ending my reference to this point, permit me, if it does not trespass
too much on your space, to give you copies of one or two communications which
I have received from predecessors of Governor Shaffer :
"Executive Department, Great Salt Lake City,
"June nth, 1862.
" To Gen. D. H. Wells, commanding militia of Utah Territory.
" Sir — A requisition has been made upon me this day by Henry W. Law-
rence, Esq., Territorial Marshal for the Territory of Utah, through his deputies,
R. T. Burton, Esq., and Theodore McKean Esq., for a military force to act as a
posse commitatus in the service of certain writs issued from the Third Judicial Dis-
trict Court of said Territory, for the arrest of Joseph Morris and others, residing
in the northern part of Davis County, in said district.
4^8 HISTORY OF SALT LAKE CJTY.
" It appears that said Joseph Morris, and his associates, have organized them-
selves into an armed force to resist the execution of said writs, and are setting at
defiance the law and its ofificers.
" I therefore require you to furnish the said Henry W. Lawrence, Esq., or his
deputies aforesaid, a sufficient military force for the arrest of the offenders, the
vindication of justice, and the enforcement of the law.
"Frank Fuller,
^^ Acting Gover7tor and Co7nmander-in-chief.
" Executive Department, Great Salt Lake City,
November 26th, 1S62.
^' Lietii,-Gen. D. H. Wells, Commanding Nauvoo Legion:
" Sir — I herewith enclose a communication directed to the Governor of this
Territory, from the War Department at Washington, in relation to arms, etc.,
furnished by the several States since the 4th of March, 1861. If you have any in-
formation on the subject applicable to this Territory, I will be glad if you will re-
port the same to me immediately.
*'I remain, respectfully yours, etc.
H. S. Harding,
Governor and Commander-in- Chief
of the Territory of Utah.
" P. S. — You will please return the communication from the War Deparment
with your report.
" As to Governor Shaffer's next paragraph I fail to see the point as stated
As has been the usage in the Territory for years past, and in accordance with the
laws thereof, orders were issued for the holding of the regular Fall muster of the
military of the Territory in their respective districts. These orders, were dated
August i6th, 1870. Some thirty days after, Governor Shaffer issued his procla-
mation prohibiting the holding of musters, drills, etc. In my communication to
him, I simply asked him to suspend the operation of that proclamation until the
20th of November, that the Fall musters might be completed — they having already
been held in some of the districts— in order that I might comply with the request
of the department made through the Adjt.-General's office, for Washington city,
asking for the annual return of the militia of Utah Territory, in accordance with
the provisions of the Act of Congress (sec. i.), approved March 20th, 1803.
How this can be construed into an attempt to ' nullify ' the laws of Congress
escapes my penetration, but, on the contrary, it appears to me that the proclama-
tion of Governor Shaffer is calculated to produce that result. As to there being
any conflict between the laws of the Territory and the laws of Congress, that is
mere assertion, incapable of proof.
"As to his allusion respecting what has been said at public meetings, I have
to say that public officers, ' Federal officials ' included, are supposed to be public
property, so far as their official acts are concerned, and subject to the scrutiny of
the people. Every man under our Government has the right to free speech, and
to express his opinions concerning the acts of public officers — a right, moreover,
which is generally indulged in by all parties. I am not aware that President
HIS! ORY OF SAL T LAKE CIl V. 489
Brigham Young has ' denounced the Federal officials of this Territory with bitter
vehemence,' or that if he has, I am responsible therefor, or that I should be held
responsible for the opinion of any other gentleman in regard to the power of Con-
gress to organize a Territorial government.
" I am of the opinion that the people of the Territory, according to the Con-
stitution, have the right to bear arms — that the Legislative Assembly had the right
to organize the militia — that Congress had the right to declare that the general
officers should be elected by the people in such a manner as the respective legisla-.
tures of the States and Territories may provide by law ; that the Governors of thci
States and Territories are the commanders-in-chief of the militia, the same as thei.
President of the United States is commander-in-chief of the armies and navies of''
the United States, with generals and admirals under him commanding; that the-
military organization of our Territory follows that of the Federal Government
more closely, perhaps, than that of any other Territory or State in the Union ;
and that governors and commanders-in-chief are as much the creatures of law as
any other officers, and while they exercise a higher jurisdiction, they are as amen-
able to law as the humblest officer or citizen.
" I will not take up your valuable space, neither will I condescend to make
reference to the concluding paragraphs of his letter. My only object has been to
vindicate the Legislative Assembly, myself and the people, as to our rights under
the law, so unwarrantably assailed in the communication of Governor Shaffer.
Respectfully,
" Daniel IL Wells."
" Adjutant-General's Office, U. T.,
Salt Lake City, Nov. 12th, 1870.
" General Orders, No. 2.
" I. — So far as the general musters in various military districts have not al-
ready been held, as contemplated in General Orders, No. i, of August i6th,
1870, they are hereby postponed until further orders.
" By order of " D. H. Wells,
'' Lieut- Gen. Com' g N. L. Mililia, U. T.
H. B Clawson,
Adjutant- General, U. T.
Thus was suspended that famous Nauvoo Legion which, in 1857-58, stood
against the army of the United States. At the time of this occurrence it num-
bered about thirteen thousand men, who were well armed and equipped, and well
drilled. First organized by "Joseph, the Prophet," to whom it owes its name,
it was subsequently brought in this Territory to a condition of great efficiency by
General Wells. Brigham Young was the second lieutenant-general of the Legion,
but, after he had sufficiently filled the calling of a prophet-general, in leading his
"Latter-day Israel "to the Rocky Mountains, he resigned, and Daniel H. Wells
succeeded him. Under this thoroughly military type of man the Legion was per-
fected, having, at the time of its suspension, two major-generals, nine brigadier-
generals, and twenty-five colonels, with their respective staffs.
Of Governor Shaffer's part in the disbanding of the militia Stenhouse has a
very noteworthy passage of history. He says;
21
4go HISTORY OF SALT LAKE CITY.
" That was the last official act of Governor Shaffer, and it was solely his
own, and not the emanation of a '-'ring," as charged by the Mormons. He was
dictating the last words of the letter as the author entered the Executive office,
and there he was lying upon his couch, weak, exhausted, and scarcely able to
to speak. ' I have answered their letter, Stenhouse," he said.
" 'And I expect. Governor, after the acknowledgment of your authority, you
have granted them permission ? '
" 'You think I would ! Stenhouse, if I were not dying, I would get up and
whip you. They are traitors, and I only regret that I shall not live to help bring
them to justice. Brigham Young has played his game of bluff long enough. I
will make him show his hand." * * * The Governor died on the
last day of October — six weeks after the difficulty had begun ; the militia trouble
did not end with his life.
CHAPTER LIV.
CONTEST FOR THE DELEGATE'S SEAT IN CONGRESS. CALL OF THE LIBERAL
CENTRAL COMMITTEE. CORINNE CHOSEN FOR THEIR CONVENTION.
THE CONVENTION IN SESSION. RESOLUTION TO UPHOLD GOVERNOR
SHAFFER. NOMINATION OF MAXWELL. NAMING OF THE PARTY. THE
LIBERALS SHAMEFULLY BEATEN, BUT RESOLVED TO SEND THEIR " DELE-
GATE" TO CONGRESS, HE BEING CHOSEN FOR THE PURPOSE OF CON-
TESTING THE SEAT.
The August election of 1870, gave the Utah Liberal party the opportunity
of contesting for the Delegate's seat in Congress. Hon. Wm. H. Hooper was
the nominee of the People's party. It was not for a moment thought that any
worthy opposition could be made, as regards the relative voting strength of the
parties. In 1870 the People's party could poll 20,000 to 1,000 of the opposition.
The specific object of the liiberal party in the contest was to create an oppor-
tunity to send their nominee to Washington, to contest the seat, and from time
to time to send one there, whether victorious or not. Indeed this party from its
birth entertained the belief that Congress would, upon some cause, give the seat
to the anti-Mormon Delegate, and that Utah never would be admitted as a State,
until the absolute political control was placed in their hands. Nothing, however,
in 1870, had been conceived by them of so radical a character as the disfranchise-
ment of the whole Mormon people, unless some overt act should occur to give the
administration the cause to place the Territory under martial law, for which ob-
ject the anti-Mormons constantly aimed. The ground of this contest in Wash-
ington for Utah's seat was to be made on an accusation against Mr. Hooper of
HISTORY OF SALT LAKE CITY.
491
disloyalty, having taken part against the Government during the " Buchanan
war; " and also as being unfitted as a delegate to Congress, by reason of having
taken the " endowment oath."
The aims thus laid down, the Central Committee of the Liberal party issued
the following call :
" CONVENTION.
" The citizens of Utah residing within the several counties of said Territory,
who are opposed to despotism and tyranny in Utah, and who are in favor of
freedom, liberality, progress, and of advancing the material interests of said Ter-
ritory, and of separating church from state, are .requested to send delegates to
meet in convention at Corinne, Utah, on Saturday, July i6th, 1870, at 10 p. m.,
of said day, to put in nomination a candidate to Congress, to be voted for at
the Territorial election to be held on the first Monday in August next,
*'By order of the committee,
"J. M. Orr, Chairman.
•' S. Kahn, Secretary,
"S. L. City, June 24, 1870."
The reason of the transfer of the political action from Salt Lake City, where
the Liberal party was born, to Corinne was a political move well considered by
the party managers, and designed for the capture of one of the counties. It was
evident from the recent contest, in the municipal election of Salt Lake City, that
no effective opposition could be made at the capital. On the other hand Corinne
was rising as a Gentile city, and though since nearly a deserted place, its founders
believed that it would become the nucleus of the Gentile force, and be not only
able to carry Box Elder County, but also to greatly influence the elections in
Weber County. Hence the managers of the party selected Corinne as its centre
of operations in its first Territorial contest with the People's party, rather than
Salt Lake, where it had met such an overwhelming defeat.
The convention met pursuant to call. On motion from Mayor C. H. Hemp-
stead of Salt Lake City, General P. Edward Connor was elected temporary chair-
man. A permanent organization was quickly effected.
One of the resolutions passed at the convention is very noteworthy :
'■''Resolved, That in the selection of J. Wilson Shaffer, as Governor of Utah,
we recognize an appointment eminently fit and proper ; that his past services in
the cause of his country, and his firm, upright, wise and judicious course in this
Territory, since he came among us, commend him to the confidence of this con-
vention and the people it represents ; and we pledge ourselves to yield to him a
continued, unwearied, and we trust efficient support in the performance of his
high duties and the enforcement of the laws."
On motion of General Connor, it was adopted with three cheers for Governor
Shaffer.
That resolution was made with the knowledge of Governor Shaffer's intention
to forbid the yearly muster of the Utah militia, a few weeks later, and to reor-
ganize it under his special direction with officers of his own choice, P. Edward
Connor being his major-general and Col. Wm. M. Johns his adjutant-general.
492 HISTORY OF SALT LAKE CITY.
Such a design had been contemplated in the Wade Bill, the Cragin Bill and the
Cullom Bill ; and at the date of the convention it was known by those in his con-
fidence that Governor Shaffer had resolved to reconstruct the Utah militia, setting
aside Lieut. -General Wells and the rest of the officers elected by the people. This
was the meaning of the carrying of the above resolution "with three cheers for
Governor Shaffer."
On motion of R. H. Robertson, the convention next proceeded to nominate
a candidate for delegate to Congress. General Connor nominated Gen. George
R. Maxwell of Salt Lake County ; and on motion of E. P. Johnson the nomina-
tion was made unanimous by acclamation, with three cheers.
Before the close of the convention, on motion of E. P. Johnson, the organ-
ization was called the " Liberal Political Party of Utah."
The convention adjourned with three cheers.
Having thus perfected their organization, formulated their platform and nom-
inated their candidate, the Liberal party opened their campaign in Salt Lake
City, on the 19th of July ; for, notwithstanding Corinne had been chosen for pre-
liminary business, Salt Lake City alone could afford sufficient sensation for the
opening of the campaign.
At the election the vote was overwhelming in favor of Hon. Wm. H. Hooper,
who received over 20,000 votes as against a few hundred cast for General Max-
well,-who, however, contested the seat.
CHAPTER LV.
THE "WOODEN GUN REBELLION." ARREST OF MILITIA OFFICERS FOR AS-
SEMBLING THEIR COMPANY. THEY ARE HELD PRISONERS AT CAMP
DOUGLAS; EXAMINED BEFORE JUDGE HAWLEY FOR TREASON; COM-
MITTED TO THE GRAND JURY FOR TREASON AND PLACED UNDER BONDS-
THE GRAND JURY IGNORES THE CASE. THE SERIOUS FACE BEHIND THE
EXTRAVAGANZA OF THE " WOODEN GUN REBELLION."
Governor Shaffer was dead, but his proclamation was in force, and that fact
speedily led to nearly serious consequences, in the arrest of certain militia officers,
their imprisonment at Camp Douglas, and subsequent presentment to the grand
jury for treason, as will be seen in the closing passage of Associate Justice Hawley's
ruling in the preliminary examination :
" How far the defendants may be guilty, I am not called upon to decide, nor
to construe the statutes of this Territory, under which they have been arrested,
except so far as to decide that the defendants, however, have probably committed
a crime. I shall leave the matter, therefore, to be further considered and investi-
gated, and to that end shall leave the defendants to answer to the deliberation of
r
HISTORY OF SALT LAKE CITY.
493
a grand jury. I will fix the bail bond in the case of the higher grade of officers
at the sum of ^5,000, and the lesser $2,000.
This military episode in the history of Salt Lake City is usually treated in the
extragavanza style of " The Wooden Gun Rebellion ;" but it cannot be so con-
sidered in legitimate history. In fine it was a capital circumstance, most serious
and significant in its direct intents, and in its relations to other vital matters then
pending, the very issues of which waited a development which was thus precipitated.
There was involved in the circumstance, on the one hand, the Constitutional
right of the people of this Territory to bear arms, and of their Legislature to
organize and regulate a militia for the protection of the country, and the public
weal, as prescribed by their legislative enactments. On the other hand, there was
an assumption of an extraordinary power, inhering in the Governor, to set aside
and supersede the control of the Legislature in the affairs of the militia, and to
abolish the organization which that Legislature had created for the protection of
the Utah colonies. Indeed, on this hand, it involved all contained in the unpassed
bills of Senators Wade and Cragin, relative to our Territorial militia, the sec-
tions of which may be pertinently repeated, as they connect here with the actual
history :
"And be it enacted that there shall be in the militia of said Territory no
officer of higher rank or grade than that of major-general, and all officers civil
and military shall be selected, appointed and commissioned by the Governor; and
every person who shall act or attempt to act as an officer, either civil or military,
without being first commissioned by the Governor, and qualified by taking the proper
oath, shall be guilty of misdemeanor, and upon conviction thereof, shall be sub-
ject to a fine not exceeding one thousand dollars, and imprisoned in the peniten-
tiary not exceeding one year, or both such fine and imprisonment at the discre-
tion of the Court.
" And be it further enacted, that the militia of said Territory shall be organ-
ized and disciplined in such manner and at such times as the Governor of said
Territory shall direct. And all the officers thereof shall be appointed and com-
missioned by the Governor. As commander-in-chief the Governor shall make rules
and regulations for the enrolling and mustering of the militia, and he shall yearly,
between the first and last days of October, report to the Secretary of War the num-
ber of men enrolled, and their condition, the state of discipline, and the number
and description of arms belonging to each company, division or organized
body. Aliens shall not be enrolled and mustered into the militia.
" And be it further enacted, that all commissions and appointments civil and
military, heretofore made or issued, or which may be made or issued before the
ist day of January, 1867, (or in this case at the date of Governor Shaffer's proc-
lamation) shall cease and determine on that day, and shall have no effect or va-
lidity thereafter."
Had these bills passed the two houses of Congress, it would still have been
an important constitutional question for the Supreme Court of the United States
to decide, whether or not, even with an act of Congress, such extraordinary
powers could be properly conferred upon the Governor, setting aside the local
legislature and all its enactments in the matter ; or at least whether or not this
494
HISTORY OF SALT LAKE CITY.
could be done until the Territory had been first declared by the President and
Congress to be in an actual state of rebellion. In such a case, either the regular
army, or the militia of the Territory, would be properly ordered, as a posse com-
ilatus of the Governor, by which to execute the special purposes of the general
Government concerning said Territory.
But without such acts of Congress, or the existence of such a condition of
rebellion, Governor Shaffer had assumed all these extraordinary powers, super-
seding the Territorial Legislature by arbitrary will, and further by proclamation
attempted to create a military despotism.
In the correspondence between Governor Shaffer and Lieut. -General Wells,
the Governor had said :
"You ask me to recognize an unlawful military system, which was originally
organized in Nauvoo, in the State of Illinois, and which has existed here without
authority of the United States, and in defiance of the Federal officials."
And Lieut. -General Wells had replied through the Deseret News:
*'That which he (Governor Shaffer) styles a pretended office, I have held by
the unanimous voice of the people of the \ Territory — the office having been
created by act of the Legislative Assembly of the Territory of Utah, approved by
the Governor, February 5th, 1852, and not transported from Illinois as stated by
Governor Shaffer. * * * I am of the opinion that the people of
the Territory, according to the Constitution, have the right to bear arms — that the
Legislative Assembly had the right to organize the militia— that Congress had the
right to declare that the general officers should be elected by the people, in such
a manner as the respective legislatures of the States and Territories may provide
by law; that the governors of the States and Territories are commanders-in-chief
of the militia, the same as the President of the United States is commander-in-
chief of the armies and navies of the United States, with generals and admirals
under him commanding; that the military of our Territory follows that of the
Federal Government more closely, perhaps, than that of any other Territory or
State in the Union ; and that governors and commanders-in-chief are as much
the creatures of the law as any other officers, and while they exercise a higher
jurisdiction, they are as amenable to law as the humblest officer or citizen."
But notwithstanding that Lieut. -General Wells and the Utah Legislature held
the constitutional right of the question, and that Governor Shaffer had assumed
powers which did not lawfully belong to his office, he had practically, by a mili-
tary coup de main, set aside the Legislature and suspended the militia.
Disobedience of the Governor's proclamation, and any attempt to muster
in the various military districts, would be construed by the Federal officials as
overt acts of rebellion to the United States authority. To reach such a construc-
tion of the case was the very object of the proclamations.
Governor Shaffer was dead ; but his proclamation remained in force ; while
Vernon H. Vaughn, the former Secretary of the Territory, whose name was also
to the proclamation, was now Governor of the Territory; and George A. Black,
who came to Utah as Shaffer's private secretary, was now Secretary of the Terri-
tory. With these Federal officers in the succession, the proclamation of the dead
HISTORY OF SALT LAKE CITY.
495
Governor was like an inheritance in their hands. Thus stood the case on the
side of the Federal officers.
On the other hand the members of the Legislature, the old officers of the
militia, and the mass of the citizens throughout the Territory regarded the late
Governor Shaff'er's acts, and exercised powers, in relation to the militia as unlaw-
ful and usurpation, subversive at once of the citizen's constitutional right, and also
his duty to the State to bear arms, and subversive of the powers and functions of
the Territorial commonwealth.
In such a view of the case it was, to say the least, very proper in the citizens
to test the matter by some method, in the hope, perhaps, that the obstruction had
been removed ; for evidently Governor Vaughn, living, could reverse the action
of Governor Shaffer, dead. All the Governors of Utah up to Shaffer's time had
recognized the Utah militia, not only as a proper and lawful organization, but
one which had from the beginning been necessary to the safeguard of the Terri-
tory; while President Lincoln had, in 1862, directly called upon a portion of
that militia to aid the Government in the protection of the Overland Mail route ;
and, less than eighteen months previous to the date of Governor Shaffer's procla-
mation, the Secretary of War had submitted to'tte House of Representatives the
report of the adjutant-general of the Utah militia, relative to the employment of
that militia by the Federal officers — Governor and Indian Agent — and that too
by the direction of the War Department, for the suppresssion of Indian hostilities
during the years 1865, 1866, and 1867. It simply needed now that Governor
Vaughn should take the proper and legal view, — that this local military organiza-
tion was the natural and properly constituted militia of a Territory, rather than
a posse comitatus of the Governor, to restore that militia to its former footing.
Hence came the test of the '^Wooden Gun Rebellion," to see in which of
these lights the new Governor would view the military organization of the Terri-
tory. However like an extravaganza on the outside, the affair possessed a very
solid and constitutional inside.
The militia serio-comedy came thus : Certain of the officers of companies
and regiments, without the action of their commanding officers or an order from
the lieutenant-general, decided to have a sort of an unofficial re-union of their
companies, in the absence of the yearly muster. Evidently this was to feel the way
for the coming year, without a violent shock to the dead Governor's proclama-
tion, which would itself also be defunct, unless continued in force by the action
of the new Governor, seeing the proclamation was based upon no act of Con-
gress, nor upon any constitutional ground.
But the popular version of the affair ran thus : The band of the 3rd regi-
ment had just received some new instruments from the East; and the jubilant
musicians invited the men of their regiment to turn out and hear a musical per-
formance, and to glorify the occasion by an accompanying drill. On November
2ist, 1870, the citizen soldiers in question met at the Twentieth Ward School-
house, in which ward most of the regiment resided, but without the order
or presence of their colonel. It was said, they "had a very pleasant time to-
gether, and were all exceedingly pleased with the music of the band and also with
their own evolutions." Meantime the news was heard " down town," and Mr.
49(> HISTORY OF SALT LAKE CITY.
Secretary Black, with two deputy marshals, hastened up to the scene of the "re-
bellion." Immediately after the dismissal of the regiment, a warrant was issued
by Judge Hawley for the arrest of eight of the officers of the regiment, who were
brought before his honor and examined on the charge of treason. The court ap-
pointed a prosecuting attorney, who opened the case by reading Section two of
an act passed by Congress, "to suppress insurrection, to punish treason and re-
bellion, to seize and confiscate the property of rebels and for other purposes,"
which reads :
^^ And be it further enacted, That if any person shall hereafter incite, set on
foot, assist, or engage in any rebellion or insurrection against the authority of the
United States, or the laws thereof, or shall give aid or comfort thereto, or shall
engage in, or give aid or comfort to, any such existing rebellion or insurrection,
and be convicted thereof, such person shall be punished by an imprisonment for
a period not exceeding ten years, or by a fine not exceeding ten thousand dollars,
and by a liberation of all his slaves, if any he have; or by both of said punish-
ments, at the discretion of the Court."
" But the U. S. prosecutor was brought to a pause and his full period reached on
the "dollars." He seemed to appreciate that the "liberation of all his slaves"
was slightly inapplicable to this case, though both the prosecutor and the Court
clearly saw the fittest political and legal application of the rest of the section to
the drill in the Twentieth Ward, Salt Lake City. The following report of the
examination, however, will be sufficient to unveil to a coming generation the for-
midable "insurrection against the authority of the United States," which occurred
in said Twentieth Ward, on the 21st of November, 1870:
"-^. Keyes examined by Mr. Maxwell. —
" Where do you live? In Salt Lake City. Where were you on the morning
of the 27th of November? In this city, at the court room. Were you at the
Twentieth Ward Schoolhouse during the day? Yes, sir. What did you see there?
I saw a company of men drilling there. How were they equipped, had they
guns? Yes, sir. Can you identify any of them? Yes, sir; I can identify Mr.
Burt, Mr. Ottinger, Mr. Phillips, the two Livingstones, — Charles and Archibald,
— Mr. Savage, Mr. Graham and Mr. Fennamore,
" Cross-examined by Judge Snow: —
" What time were you there? Between eleven and twelve o'clock in the fore-
noon. You saw those men there ? Yes, sir. You saw them drilling? Yes, sir.
Had they any music? Yes, sir. Any uniform? Yes, sir. I believe all the
officers were in uniform. Who were the officers? Mr. Ottinger was giving com-
mand when I was there. I don't know whether he was an officer or not. What
others were there? Mr. Burt. Was Mr. Burt an officer? I don't know. Any
others? Mr. Phillips. Do you know whether he was an officer? Don't know
any more than the rest. Mr. Savage, the two Livingstones, Mr. Graham the
same. Mr, Fennamore had a gun, and should judge he was a corporal from the
number of stripes on his clothes. How long were you there ? About ten
minutes. Did you talk with any of those present? With Mr. Savage? Any
other? No. Was there any boisterousness there ? Not any in the least. What
kind of music had they? Martial. Did you observe whether the uniform was
HISTORY OF SALT LAKE CITY.
497
new or old ? It was very nice uniform. I could not see whether it was new or
old. Was there any drunkenness? No, sir. You did not see any liquor on the
ground? No, sir. Do you know ho'v long they kept it up? I was there ten
minutes, and rode on a block or two beyond, and as I came back they were just
dismissing. You went up after Court adjourned here? Yes, sir. You remained
there ten minutes? Yes, sir. How long were you gone before you went back ?
It could not exceed ten minutes. You were not there over twenty minutes? No,
sir. When they dismissed did they march off in different directions? Yes; one
company marched off down Brigham Street, another west of the building. When
you went there did you command them to dismiss? No, sir. Did you see any
women and children there? Yes, sir, there were a good many looking on, both
women and children. Did you see any women and children in the ranks? No,
sir. Were there not as many women and children as men there? Could not say.
Did you see any flags there? Yes, sir. What kind of flags? My impression was
that they were the "stars and stripes." Were they dressed in United States
uniform? I don't know that I know the United States uniform. They had hats
with plumes, swords, etc. Did you ever attend musters in the States ? Yes, sir.
Was this any different to them in any way ? (Objected to by Maxwell). Judge
Snow claimed to show its legitimate bearing, and that there was nothing done
contrary to the laws of the United States. (Allowed to pass). In the States we
are ordered out. I did not see anything different. Did you wear glasses on your
face. I always wear them, and I believe I can discern a person with them as well
as a person who does not wear them.
" Re-examined by Mr. Maxwell —
•' Describe the uniform of Mr. Ottinger, as to its marks and insignia? I
was not near enough to recognize the shoulder strap. He had a blue coat, brass
buttons, a black hat and a black plume. How many men were there in the
ranks ? (Question objected to, but allowed by the court) I guess there were a
hundred. How many boys and women surrounding? Probably one hundred
and fifty. How many women ? I took but very little notice, there were a good
many children. What was the conversation you had with Mr. Savage? As I came
back I met Mr. Savage coming across. I spoke to him and said, ' You have got
through?' He said 'Yes.' I then discovered that the band was composed of
boys, and said, ' You have a young band ? ' He said, ' yes, that band, a year ago
could not play a note.' There was a lot of boys with wooden guns, and he said
they were going to have a drill. That was the substance of it.
" George A. Black, examined by Mr. Maxwell: —
" You are Secretary of this Territory? I am. You were present at the mus-
ter? Yes. What time was it? I judge it was about lo o'clock. Will you state
what you saw ? I saw a number of men drilling. I should judge there ^vere 300
They were armed and equipped with various kinds of guns, muskets and carbines.
Do you know any of these men, can you recognize them ? I can. Witness iden-
tified Mr. Philips, Mr. Charles Livingstone, Mr. Ottinger, Captain Burt and Mr.
Graham. What were they doing particularly ? They were going through the
regular military drill. Did you notice the uniform these men wore, if so de-
scribe the uniform of Mr Ottinger ? On his coat he had shoulder straps, a sword,
a hat and black feather in it.
22
4g8 HIS TOR Y OF SALT LAKE CIl Y.
' ' Cross-examined by Judge Snow: —
" Where do you reside ? In Salt Lake City. How long have you been here?
Seven months the 27th day of this month. You said you were up in the 20th
Ward, what time did you go there? About 11 o'clock. Have you any means of
knowing the precise time ? I have not, it was after 10 and before 12 o'clock.
How came you to go there ? I heard there was a drill up there. Are you ac-
quainted with costume in the States? Ves, sir. The uniform was alike,
with the exception of the hat. I never saw a Colonel wear a hat like Mr. Ottin-
ger wore. What is the difference in head-dress ? They ubually wear a cap. Do
they wear a feather? I never saw one with a feather in it. Have you ever been
in the army ? Yes, sir. Did you ever see a military officer wear a hat ? I never did .
Did you ever see them on dress parade ? Yes, sir. What is the difference
of dress parade and fatigue ? When on dress parade they appear in ful]
dress and when on fatigue they go around loosely. There were about 300
there? Yes, sir. How long did you remain there? Fifteen minutes at
least. What did you do after the fifteen minutes expired? Turned round
and came down town. Where were the men then ? Still drilling. Did
you see any of the men after ? I did in the afternoon. You don't know what
time they left ? I do not. Nor how long they were there? No, sir. Did you
see Mr. Keyes there? I did not. I saw him when I was coming back, when
about half way between that place and the post office. Were you afoot ? I was
in a buggy, and Mr. Keyes was on horseback. Did you come tolerably fast ?
Not very, and he was riding on a slow lope. Did you see any women and children
there? I did. A goodly number? Probably 15 or 20. There were a good
many children I did not notice any women. Did you see anything disorderly
there? No, sir. Any drinking? I did not. Did you hear any cursing? No,
sir. All was order, quiet and peace? Yes, sir. Did you see any flag there? I
did. I think it was the American flag. Don't you know that it was? I did not
go up to examine it. I took it to be the American flag.
" Cross-examined by Mr. Maxtuell: —
" What munitions of war did these men have? I noticed they had old mus-
kets principally; some of them had carbines, and a number had cartridge boxes;
the officers had swords."
The ruling of Judge Hawley is immaterial to the history; further than to
note that he applied the section quoted, and passed the prisoners over to the
Grand Jury on the charge of rebellion, Governor Shaffer's proclamation forming
the groundwork of their "treason," "insurrection," "inciting to insurrec-
tion," etc.
But no Grand Jury ever found bills against these citizen soldiers of the
Twentieth Ward, whose devoted officers remain under bonds to this day.
Indeed the case was supremely ridiculous, even farcical, hence all classes
styled the affair, the " Wooden Gun Rebellion,'' by which name it will be per-
petuated, with its suggestiveness marked.
HISTORY OF SALT LAKE CITY.
499
CHAPTER LVI.
THE TWO CELEBRATIONS OF THE FOURTH OF JULY, 187L RESOLUTIONS OF
THE GENTILE COMMITTEE ADDRESSED TO THE CITY COUNCIL. ANSWER
OF THE MAYOR. THE RUPTURE. GRAND PREPARATIONS ON BOTH
SIDES. PROCLAMATION OF ACTING-GOVERNOR BLACK FORBIDDING
MILITIA COMPANIES TO MARCH IN THE PROCESSION. GENERAL DE
TROBRIAND WITH HIS TROOPS ORDERED OUT. NOTES OF THE GRAND
DAY.
The celebration of the 4th of July, 1871, gave a fitting culmination to the
affairs of the past year, 1870.
Early in June the non-Mormons of Salt Lake City, who had heretofore taken
prominent parts with the city authorities in the celebrations of the Fourth, and
Twenty-fourtli, took active steps for a grand celebration of the National birthday,
of 1S71, on their own account. But at the onset a spirit was manifested on both
sides if possible to unite, whereupon a committee was appointed by the city coun-
cil to confer with the non-Mormon committee relative to the matter.
On the loth of June, the committee of the concil met the non-Mormon com-
mittee at the office of Col. Buell to consult. After a free exchange of views, it
was ascertained that the committee from the city was not empowered to enter into
any arrangements of a final nature ; whereupon the subjoined preamble and reso-
lutions were passed :
" Whereas, At a meeting for conference this day lield by and between a com-
mittee appointed by many citizens of Salt Lake City, to make arrangements for
the proper celebration of the coming Fourth of July, and a part of the committee
appointed by the city council, it has become apparent that seperate programmes
were likely to be adopted by the respective committees ; and
" Whereas, It is desirable that harmony and unanimity should prevail in the
celebration of the Nation's birthday on the broad platform of American citizen-
ship and honor to the flag; therefore, be it unanimously
'•' Resolvedj That the city council be and is hereby respectfully requested to
authorize its committee, or in its wisdom appoint a new committee, to meet a like
committee from the citizens already appointed, with full authority to confer, con-
cert and adopt proper means to ensure, if possible, a single and harmonious cele-
bration of the coming Fourth of July, irrespective of any and all action herero-
fore taken by either of the aforesaid committees.
" i?if^6'/z'<?^, That the chairman and Secretary of this meeting be requested
to transmit, through the committee of the city council, a copy of these resolu-
Soo HISTORY OF SALT LAKE CITY.
tions to the Mayor and common council, and that this meeting adjourn to meet
again on Wednesday, the 14th instant, at 10 o'clock a.m., at Col. Buell's office.
'' Geo. L. Woods, Chairman.
'' Geo. R. Maxwell, Secretary.
"Salt Lake City, June 10, 1S71."
Both committees exhibited a commendable spirit of conciliation, and a desire
for complete harmony in arranging the preliminaries for a splendid celebration,
which could be participated in by all classes and all sects.
In answer the following resolutions were transmitted by Mayor Wells to
Governor Woods: —
" Whereas, the city council of Salt Lake City, according to usual custom,
have appointed a committee of arrangements for the celebration of the 4th prox.,
who are deemed by them ample in number and fully competent in ability for the
occasion; and,
" Whereas, said committee have already made considerable progress in
organizing the citizen element for that event, without any apparent want of
wisdom or energy to provide for the entire community in its most liberal demands,
and in which all are invited to participate; therefore be it
^^ Resolved by the city council of Salt Lake City, that it is deemed un-
necessary and, under the circumstances, unjust, either to set aside the present com-
mittee, or otherwise to interrupt the advanced state of their labors which might
jeopardize the approaching celebration by the mass of the people, believing that
we have through them provided liberal and ample provisions for all who desire to
celebrate the anniversary of our nation's birthday."
"I certify the foregoing is a true copy of a Resolution passed by the city
council, June 12, 1871.
"Robert Campbell,
''City Recorder.''
The non-Mormon committee were highly indignant with the city authorities,
and the Salt Lake Tribune^ which had now fairly become the organ of the Anti-
Mormon party, voiced the indignation and intention of its party on the occasion.
Ample preparations were made on the non-Mormon side to make their cele-
bration worthy the day and themselves, in contradistinction to the celebration by
the Mormon community. These preliminary arrangements having been made, the
following was issued to the miners of the Territory .
" MINERS, ATTENTION !
"The miners of Utah have learned ere this from the columns of The Salt
Lake Tribune, that the Mormon city council of this city, acting upon their old
principle of participating in nothing unless they can be masters and dictators of
the whole affair, have declined the offer of compromise extended to them by the
liberal citizens of this place to participate in a Fourth of July celebration. They
have also learned that the supporters of republican institutions in this Territory
determined to maintain their independence of priestly dictation, have resolved to
get up a celebration of their own worthy of the occasion, and of the cause which
they represent.
" An appeal is now made to the miners of Utah to come in and assist the
HISTORY OF SALT LAKE CITY.
50{_
patriotic citizens of this city, in celebrating the Declaration of our National Inde-
pendence. Certain gentlemen associated with the mining interests in the various
mining camps have been named as a miners' committee, who are requested to
make such arrangements in their respective localities as will facilitate the coming
in of oar mining friends, and their participation in the celebration.
"The gentlemen named are requested to confer with the marshal of the
day and the members of the committee on processions, so that suitable arrange-
ments may be made for their representation in the procession.
" We cordially invite all our mining friends to participate in this first cele-
bration of a double Independence, first from the despotic rule of Europe, and
more particularly from the theocratic control of the Utah Priesthood.
" R. H. Robertson,
" Chairman of Committee on Invitation.'''
The friends of the Liberal Party of Corinne, Ogden and other cities were
also addressed. As the day drew near for the celebration, an extraordinary
interest was given by the issuance of the following from Acting-Governor George
A. Black, forbidding the exercise of a part of the programme of the City Fathers
in honoring the Nation's birth :
PROCLAMATION.
Executive Department, Salt Lake City, Utah Territory,
June 30, A.D., 1871.
'■^Whereas, His Excellency, the late Governor J, W, Shaffer, of the Territory
of Utah, did by Proclamation, proclaim and declare as follows.
PROCLAMATION:
Executive Department, Salt Lake City, Utah Territory,
September 15, 1870.
Know Ye, That I, J. Wilson Shaffer, Governor of the Territory of Utah, and
commander-m-chief of the militia of the Territory of Utah, do hereby forbid and
prohibit all musters, drills or gatherings of Militia of the Territory of Utah, and
all gatherings of any nature, kind or description of armed persons within the Ter-
ritory of Utah, except by my order, or by the order of the United States Marshal,
should he need a posse comitatiis to execute any order of the court, and not
otherwise.
And it is hereby further ordered that all arms or munitions of war belonging
either to the United States or Territory of Utah, not in possession of United
States soldiers, be immediately delivered by the parties having the same in their
possession to Col. Wm. M. Johns, Assistant Adjutant General; and it is further
ordered that should the United States Marshal need a /cj-j-<? ^w;«'/<2/;/;j- to enforce
any order of the Court, or to preserve order, he is hereby authorized and em-
powered to make a requisition upon Major General P. E. Connor for such posse
comitatus or armed force, and Major General P. E. Connor is hereby authorized
to order out the militia or any part thereof, as of my order for said purpose or
purposes and no other.
Witness my hand and the great seal of said Territory at Salt City City, this
15th day of September, A.D. 1870.
J- W. Shaffer, Governor.
Attest: Vernon H, Vaughn, Sec'y of Utah Terr'y.
"Which by its terms, among other things did forbid and prohibit all musters,
S02 HISTORY OF SALT LAKE CITY.
drills or gatherings of any nature, kind or description of armed persons within the
Territory of Utah, except by the order of the Governor of said Territory, or by
the order of the United States Marshal, should he need 2, posse commitatus to exe-
cute any order of the court, and not otherwise, and
WJiereas, one Daniel H. Wells, in violation of said proclamation and order
of said Governor, did, on the 22d day of June, A. D., 187 1, issue or cause to be
issued the following order, to-wit : —
Adjutant General's Office, Salt Lake City, U. T.,
June 22d, 1871.
SPECIAL ORDERS NO. 1.
1. The committee of arrangements appointed by the corporate authorities
of this city, having asked for a detachment of the Territorial militia, with bands
of music, to aid in the celebration, on the 4th proximo, of the 95th anniversary
of our Nation's Independence, it is hereby ordered as follows :
2. The Commandant of Salt Lake Military District will detail from his dis-
trict :
The martial and brass bands under their respective leaders.
One company of artillery with ordnance to fire salutes, etc.
One company of cavalry.
Three companies of infantry.
3. The detail will perform such service during the day as may be assigned
to it by the committee of arrangements.
4. Good order is strictly enjoined. No fast riding is allowed within the
limits of the city. By order of
Lieut. -Gen. Daniel H. Wells.
H. B. Clawson, Adjutant General.
"^«rt^, W/^^r,?aj-, there being no such officer recognized by the commander-in-
chief of the military of this Territory as that of lieut. -general,
^^ Now, therefore, be it known that I, Geo. A. Black, Secretary of the Terri-
tory of Utah, and acting Governor thereof, and Commander-in-chief of the
Militia of said Territory, do hereby make known to all persons whomsoever that
the said military parade, under the said order of the said Daniel H. Wells, is
strictly forbidden. And be it further known that it is hereby ordered and com-
manded, that all persons except United States troops, desist from participating in
or attempting to participate in any military drill, muster or parade, of any kind,
at any place within said Territory from and after this date, or until it shall be
otherwise ordered and commanded by the Governor and Commander-in-chief of
the militia of the Territory of Utah.
*' Witness my hand and the Great Seal [L. S.] of the Territory of Utah, at
Salt Lake City, this 30th day of June, A. D. 1871.
'' Geo. A. Black,
"■^ Scc'y and Acting Governor and Commander-in-
Chief of the Militia of Utah Territory.^'
The issuance of such a proclamation, on such an occasion as the celebra-
tion of the nation's independence, was construed as the greatest outrage that could
have been offered to American citizens, as well as being un-American in letter
and spirit. By citizen soldiers America's independence was won, and by their
blood the fabric of the Republic was cemented; but here, in Utah, in 1S71, an
HISTORY OF SALT LAKE CITY. 503
Acting-Governor of the Territory, makes treasonable any practical remembrance,
in the city's celebration, of the glorious fact, which for nearly a cencury had
been America's boast, that her independence was won by citizen soldiers, m their
heroic battles with the serried hosts of Great Britain's regular armies. The
remembrance that the Fourth of July is supremely the citizen soldiers* holy-day,
is as an epic of exalted patriotism going back, from the children who enjoy the
inheritance, to the fathers who purchased it. for them by their deeds and their
blood, in the grandest and purest epic war known in all human history since
earth was created. This was divine political gospel, uttered or expressed in
action by an anti- Mormon party in their celebration of the Fourth of July,
1871, but was regarded as rank treason in the Mormon Pioneers of Utah, nearly
every man of whom could truthfully say, '■^ our fathers fought in the American
revolution." The man, Daniel H. Wells — to whom the city's committee of
arrangements applied for five companies of citizen soldiers to glorify the
pageantry of the day — was a descendant of the illustrious Thomas De Welles,
fourth Governor of Connecticut, who repeatedly served that Puritanic New Eng-
land State as Governor, and commander-in-chief of the citizen soldiers who pro-
tected her commonwealth in her early days of Indian war^, as his descendant
Lieut. -Gen. Daniel H. Wells had done in the early days of the Utah colonies.
Men of strong measures have asked, "Why, as commander-in-chief, did he
nut order out ten companies of this militia, to take part under his own com-
mander in-chiefship in this Fourth of July celebration ? " If the militia had
honored his call, then his signature — " Acting- Governor and Commander-in-
chief of the militia of Utah Territory," would have shown some historical signifi-
cance ; had it not been so honored his proclamation would at least have been
worthy to lay side-by-side with that of Governor Shaffer, while it would have
given the Anti-Mormon side some ground to charge the Utah militia with in-
cipient treason, or with possessing at best a spurious loyalty.
But the ridiculous phase of the episode was not worthy of mention in his-
tory, apart from its fatal inclining to tragic results. On this Fourth of July
occasion, the Acting Governor, ordered out General De Trobriand with his
troops, with a requisition to fire on the companies of militia, if they attempted
to form in the procession, according to the order of Lieut. -General Daniel H.
Wells.
This celebration of the National anniversary was the largest and most impos-
ing ever witnessed in the interior. Davis, Weber, Box Elder and Salt Lake
Counties were represented, and the greatness of the display was only equalled by
the evident determination on the part of citizens to make it worthy of the
day.
Thr great feature of the day was the grand procession, the divisions of which
commenced taking up position before eight o'clock, and it was a quarter past nine
before it was fully formed and commenced to move on the route indicated in the
programme. The procession was a grand display, and occupied three-quarters of
an hour in passing a given point. On the first division reaching the head of first
East Street, it halted there until the three other divisions passed, when all pro-
ceeded towards the New Tabernacle, but hundreds had to turn back, being unable
to obtain an entrance to that building of vast capacity.
50i HISTORY OF SALT LAKE CITY.
The Tabernacle presented a very animated appearance. Thousands of juven-
iles from the schools, occupied positions in the centre ; and in the front of the
stands was a platform on which sat Columbia (personated by Miss Nellie Cole-
brook) with her attendant train of States and Territories. Among the strangers
from the Pacific and strangers from the Atlantic were Hon. Elizabeth Cady Stan-
ton and Susan B. Anthony, to see how the glorious Fourth was celebrated in Mor-
niondom. There were at least thirteen thousand persons present.
In the absence of ex-Governor B. Young, the chairman of the day. Mayor
Wells was elected chairman.
The assembly was called to order by Col. J. D. T. McAllister, Marshal of
the day. The Star Spangled Banner was sung by the Tabernacle Choir, the Phil-
harmonic Society and the combined city choirs with splendid effect, the audience
joining in the chorus. The chaplain of the day, Apostle Orson Pratt, offered a
fervent, patriotic prayer ; Capt. Croxall's brass band next discoursed a selection
from the "Grand Duchess;" Col. D. McKenzie read the Declaration of Inde-
pendence; "Yankee Doodle" followed, by Capt. Beezley's martial band; and
then came the Hon. George Q. Cannon with a magnificent oration, which was
repeatedly and loudly applauded.
The "Anthem of Liberty" was next delivered by the superb voice of Mrs.
Careless, accompanied by the full chorus. Hon. John T. Caine followed with a
noble speech on " the day we celebrate ; " the united schools, led by Mr. George
Goddard sang " Lovely Deseret ; " Mr. Alexander Majors addressed himself to
the little chidren of "Deseret; " and Hon. Thomas Fitch of Nevada, crowned
the occasion with one of his great speeches.
The non-Mormon procession formed in front of the Liberal Institute.
Among the leading features of this procession were the fine band of the 13th in-
fantry, a car with the Goddess of Liberty, and a bevy of young ladies, represent-
ing the States and Territories; carriages containing officials, citizens and guests ;
six wagons with ore and three of bullion ; large receiving and distributing vans,
representing the mercantile interests, and a number of decorated wagons. After
marching the route indicated in their programme, the procession returned to the
Institute and moved inside tlie building to participate in the exercises, which
commenced with music from the band, whose fine performance swelled the enthu-
siasm of the occasion. Rev, G. M. Pierce offered prayer ; T, A. Lyne read the
Declaration of Independence ; the choir sang the Star Spangled Banner ; Nat
Stein read a clever original poem ; Gen. Geo. R. Maxwell delivered the oration
of the day; A. M. Lyman delivered a noble discourse; Col. Jocelyn was elo-
quent on the subject of patriotism versus the Mormon religion ; W, S. Godbe
adorned the occasion with a speech abounding with patriotism toward the nation,
and with brotherly feeling toward the Mormon people.
Next came Judge Toohy of Corinne in a speech remarkable only for its
misstatements and abuse, in which he said that the town of Corinne had done more
in two years for the material advancement of Utah than all the rest of the Terri-
tory had done in twenty-five years. In his malicious assault upon Mormon Utah
he disgusted the Gentiles.
E. L. T. Harrison, of the " Church of Zion, " held that republicanism was
ji I
HISTORY OF SALT LAKE CITY. 305
theocracy defeated, and for theocracy to celebrate the natal day of republicanism
was preposterous ; they had assembled to celebrate the overthrow of theocracy as
well as the anniversary of the nation's independence."
Major C. H. Hempstead made a few closing remarks and the Rev. Mr.
Kirby offered the benediction.
Each side in this notable celebration ventilated its own special views and
sentiments; but the grand day passed off peaceably, especially considering that
Acting-Governor Black had ordered out U. S. troops to overawe the citizens.
The five companies of militia marched in the procession without arms.
CHAPTER LVII.
LOCAL POLITICS. CAMPAIGN OF 1871. J. R. WALKER HEADS THE LIBERAL
TICKET. FAIR PROSPECTS FOR THE LIBERALS. THEIR RATIFICATION
MEETING. THE SUDDEN CLOUD. BREAK-UP OF THE MEETING. SPLIT IN
THE LIBERAL PARTY, KELSEY'S PROTEST. WITHDRAWAL FROM THE
TICKET. THE COALITION PARTY BURIED AT THE ELECTION.
The August election, in 1871, for awhile seemed most promising with oppor-
tunities to the Liberal Party ;and in the suspended action of the courts, till the
September term, it kept alive the public interest. Nor were the Federal authori-
ties left out of the business. They, indeed, this year were the prime movers.
Gov. Geo. L. Woods presided at the Liberal meetings ; the Secretary of the Terri-
tory, George A. Black, had not forgotten the conspicuous part he had performed
in his Fourth of July proclamation. U. S. District Attorney Baskin, and his as-
sistant. Maxwell, were the political leaders, while it was known, so great was the
interest of Chief Justice McKean in the campaign, that he would fain have taken
the platform with Governor Woods at the ratification meeting, but for the sense
of its unpardonable impropriety. The Governor of the Territory, though in his
office properly the representative of the whole people, and not a section, could,
however^ with better grace show some political leaning, in the choice of members
to the legislature of which he was the executive head. But, perhaps, no man in
Utah was more deeply concerned in the vigor, unity and good showing of the
campaign than Judge McKean; for it was evident that a strong unbroken opposi-
tion in the August election, assailing " polygamic theocracy," which in the Sep-
tember term he was about to bring into court for trial, would greatly strengthen
his hands.
Thus stood the liberal side and cause, in July, 1S71, while the ticket of the
party for Salt Lake County was uncommonly good. It consisted of the following
names: J. Robinson Walker, Samuel Kahn, Wells Spicer and C C. Beckwith,
for the council branch of the legislature.
23
So6 HISTORY OF SALT LAKE CITY.
That the People's ticket would win there was no question ; but there were
names on the Liberal ticket, which were respected by the managers of the People's
party.
But the infinite stu})idity of anti-Mormon malice brought down the bolt that
split the Liberal party, and paralyzed its action, utterly for a year, just as the party
was laying itself out for a year's vigorous campaign, to culminate in the contest
for the delegate's seat in the general election in the fall of 1872.
At the ratification meeting, on Saturday, the 2 2d of July, the Liberal Insti-
tute was filled with citizens of all classes, to listen to the speeches of the leaders
of the Liberal party, and to learn the principles and spirit which was to animate
a contest headed by such representative men as J. R. Walker, Samuel Kahn, Wells
Spicer, and C. C Beckwith. There were many Mormon citizens present, with
whom, perhaps, the opinion was held that with such respectable and conservative
candidates the spirit of the opposition would not be rabidly anti-Mormon, but
rather a legitimate citizens' contest.
The music of Camp Douglas band enlivened the spirits of the meeting, and
added to the interest and promise of a happy evening to the party, after which
the assembly was called to order by U. S. Marshal, J. M. Orr, and the following •
officers elected : president, Governor Woods ; vice-president, Col. Warren ; sec-
retary, Mr. W. P. Appleby. The presiding officer in a few well chosen remarks,
declined to take any part in the discussion, holding as he did an official position,
which made it his duty to administer the law to all persons alike of whatever po-
litical party. He said, however, that he was at all times ready to join any class
of citizens in any effort to built up republican institutions here in Utah, to develop
the resources, promote the cause of education, and add to the prosperity of the
entire Territory. He would gladly do this, not as a partizan, but as an American
citizen. The opening by Governor Woods was well toned, but General Maxwell
quickly broke the harmony of the occasion.
He opened his speech with the extravagant affirmation that " the supremacy
of the law, the safety of life and property in Utah to-day, is owing to the Liberal
party. The supremacy of the law was the first plank of the party laid down a
year ago and that has been won. The second plank in that platform was the de-
velopment of the mineral resources of the Territory and that has also become es-
tablished as the settled policy of the people. The third was that polygamy was a
crime. We said so then ; we say so now, with this proviso, that the authorities
of the United States first bring the leaders to punishment before interfering with
their dupes."
Notwithstanding the extravagance of the statement that it was the Liberal party
which had given to Utah the condition of " safety of life and property," and won
for her people " the supremacy of the law," the statement was so flattering to the
party vanity, that General Maxwell was " cheered to the echo," and the " golden
opinions " which he had won in his contest for Delegate Hooper's seat in Congress
had given him the voice of a leader of the party. But when he rudely assaulted
the domestic relations of the Mormon community, declaring polygamy a crime as
one of the planks of the party, a perceptible shock of anger and indignation ran
over quite one half of the audience, nor was the anger assuaged by " this proviso"
HISTORY OF SALT LAKE CITY. ^07
of the liberal platform " that the authorities of the United States first bring the
leaders to punishment before interfering with their dupes." Had such principles
and aims been laid down at the onset as the political platform, when Eli B. Kelsey
ruled as the first chairman of the party managers, and Henry W. Lawrence for
mayor of Salt Lake City headed their first ticket, the Liberal party would never
have been born out of a coalition of Gentiles with seceding Mormon elders ; nor
would the party have possessed a Salt Lake Tribune, though the Godbeites had re-
tained a missionary magazine; nor owned a Liberal Institute, in which anti-Mor-
mon demagogues might outrage the Mormon community, and falsify the professions
of good faith made by the Godbeite leaders in behalf of their former brethren
and sisters of the Mormon church.
Although not endowed by nature with fine organic sensibilities. General
Maxwell felt rhe rebound of the shock and in a rude way which was more aggra-
vating than the original offence, he hastened to throw oil upon the troubled waters
by saying he could " readily understand how a man may become so entangled in
the meshes of polygamy as not to see his way out in justice to those depending upon
him," and it was not for the Liberal party " to say those family ties shall be sun-
dered at once, but no new relations of the kind shall hereafter be entered into,"
and then he climaxed the party fiat on theanti-polygamic plank with a blunt state-
ment addressed to Kelsey, Godbe, Lawrence and other leaders of the coalition
who had been ''entangled in the meshes of polygamy,'' that the Gentile wing of the
party had protected them as long as they could but how they would have " to give
them up to justice."
The audience could see that during this assault upon the family relations of
the Mormon people, Eli B. Kelsey sat on the platform like a caged lion, sup-
pressing his wrath; but Maxwell, by this time under a full charge of anti-Mormon
heroism, heard not, in his insensibility, the rumbling of the earthquake beneath
his feet, but pushed fiercely on from the Godbeite polygamists to the city author-
ities and the police. On them he spent himself to his heart's content, and the
Liberal party breathed again, for the vials of wrath were not now poured upon
its own devoted head ; and there was a sort of political common sense in calling
down fire and brimstone upon the "corrupt party in power," for their "mis-
management of the city affairs," their " using up the people's taxes " and the em-
ployment of " Danites as policemen " to do the " murderous and dirty work of
the Mormon church." The Liberal party could bear any amount of such talk ;
and General Maxwell sat down amid cheers having closed with the remark : "We
may not succeed at this election, but we shall poll a vote that will astonish them."
Had the meeting closed at this point, the thunderbolt had not split the party;
but Judge Toohy of Corinne, in answer to repeated calls, took the stand and the
rumblings of the thunder were quickly heard. " Here in Utah." he said, " sen-
suality and crime have found a congenial home ; here immorality has been lifted
up where virtue ought to reign. If I had time I could prove the leaders, not the
people, were to blame for this. The people of Utah were originally as good as
as people elsewhere; but have they found freedom and equality in Utah ? No ;
no more than in Turkey; less than in Ireland, and a great deal less than in any
kingdom on the globe."
jo8 HISTORY OF SALT LAKE CITY.
" The priesthood of Utah is not the priesthood of Jehovah, but the priest-
hood of the robber; not a priesthood for the good of the people, but a priesthood
which builds palaces, every stone of which is stained with the blood of the inno-
cent and wet with the tears of widows and orphans. On a recent occasion, in
this hall, I stated I belonged to a certain church, but that the moment that church
should attempt to raise its cross above the flag and law of the Nation, that moment
church and cross would fall. A certain journal [the H€rald~\ in this city, there-
upon stated that if I was a Catholic I must be an apostate. I say in reply, that
the man who wrote that paragraph lies, and there isn't a drop of blood running
up or down his veins, that does not warm the carcass of a coward. After the
breaking out of the rebellion in 1861, the first church in America on which the
Federal flag was raised was the Catholic cathedral in Cincinnati, and the rope that
raised it was held in the hands of the Archbishop himself. I was there upon the
spot, and at that moment, here in Salt Lake, the editors of that paper aud the
people who read it were praying that the rebellion might succeed, and were only
kept in subjection by the soldiers of Camp Douglas." He then launched out
upon the mission of the loyal miners in Utah, but soon drifted back to polygamy,
Catholicism and the Irish again, saying :
"The best blood of Europe has been seduced to come here to Utah, and
bow down before a false shrine ; all except the people of old Ireland, where the
Catholic religion holds them true. Not an honest Irishman ever became a Mor-
mon, not one. The Irishman who could become a Mormon and obey their
priesthood — what flattery to call him a man. "
These forcible but inelegant passages will show sufficient of the subject mat-
ter and style of Judge Toohy's speech at this fatal " ratification meeting. " To
the graphic pen of E. L. Sloan in the editorial columns of the Salt Lake Herald
may be given the description of the strange '' ratification " outburst that Maxwell
and Toohy provoked. He wrote :
" Colonel Toohy as usual devoted his speech to a eulogy of the Catholic
Church, without stating, however, whether he believed in the dogma of Papal in-
fallibility. At this period in his diatribe, a gentleman with a small body but
plentiful brains, called the speaker to order, demanding that he should confine
himself to a discussion of the principle of the party and not obtrude his religious
views upon the audience. This called forth a storm of applause and hisses, which
at once demonstrated the piebald character of the assemblage. Col. Toohy pro-
ceeded but was again interrupted by Mr. Tullidge, when the latter gentleman
was requested to " dry up " until the former had concluded and then take the
stand. The Colonel soon subsided, having evidently exhausted his vocabulary of
vulgar epithets, and Tullidge, with fire gleaming in his eye, mounted the rostrum
and 'spoke his mind' very plainly, perorating with the remark that he was as much
opposed to the theocracy of Rome as that of Salt Lake, and that he could not see
difference enough to split between the Pope and Brigham Young. Cheers and
hisses followed this utterance of Mr. Tullidge.
Several gentlemen, some of whom were present, were vociferously called
upon to take the stand, but none responded — except Judge Haydon, who did so
10 offer as an apology for not speaking that it was neither his fight nor his funeral —
HISTORY OF SALT LAKE CITY. ^op
as each one was afraid of putting his foot in it. After repeated calls, Mr, Eli B.
Kelsey appeared upon the platform, and then the fun which was fast when Tul-
lidge collapsed became furious. He opened by remarking (alluding' to the
speeches of General Maxwell and Col. Toohy) that he was insulted ; that in
identifying himself with the liberal party he did not suppose that he was enlisted
in a crusade against the Mormon people ; and that he was disgusted with the vul-
gar abuse heaped upon them that night. He avowed himself a polygamist ; said
he would sacrifice his life rather than repudiate his wives and children , and hurled
back to Col. Toohy the epithet ' hogs ' which the latter gentleman had applied to
polygamists. The speech throughout was accompanied by volleys of cheers and
hisses and calls for Toohy, and at one time these demonstrations were so obstrep-
erous as to call for the interference of Gov. Woods, who, in a few sensible re-
marks, succeeded in restoring order. Before the conclusion of Kelsey's speech,
the dismay which the outbreak of TuUidge had inaugurated on . the countenances
of the gentlemen on the stand, deepened to funereal sadness, and an earnest con-
sultation among them resulted in a resolution to adjourn to avoid the danger of
further apostacy ; and so they adjourned, although a majority of the audience
favored the prolongation of the performance. The Liberal party is dead, disem-
bowelled by its own hand."
Immediately after this fated ratification meeting of the Liberal party, Mr.
Beckwith repudiated his nomination on their ticket, while the best men of the
party were disgusted with the rank anti-Mormon malice manifested by those who
were aspiring to represent the citizens of Utah in the Legislature of the Territory
and in the Congress of the United States. Mr. Walker and his personal friends
were particularly chagrined and quite as much outraged as the Mormon people
themselves, among whom they had been raised and between whom there still re-
mained much sincere good will. Eli. B. Kelsey in a letter to the Tribune said :
"The spirit of the proceedings in the mass meeting of the Liberal party,
held on Saturday, the 22d instant, convinced me that a portion of those who
assume to lead are bent upon a war upon the people of this Territory on social
and religious grounds. They did not disguise the fact that they utterly ignored
the necessity of affiliating with the reform party in Utah in their efforts to bring
about a peaceful solution of the questions at issue between the Mormon priesthood
and the Government of the United States. The reform party have persistently
striven to convince the people that they are their friends and not their enemies.
Every word of the blatant demagogue who slandered the people of Utah in that
meeting convinced me that the small but active element that seeks control of the
Liberal party is filled with bitterness and would fain inaugurate a social and re-
ligious war upon the people of this Territory. J. Robinson Walker and Samuel
Kahn, who are the nominees of the convention of the Liberal party for Salt Lake
County are men who are almost universally known throughout the Territory, They
are men whose past record is above reproach or suspicion, and I am sure that they
will never do other than work for the best interests of the whole people. As for
myself I am as free from the control and dictation of parties political as I am from
that of parties ecclesiastical. I have frequently borne witness to the integrity of
the Mormon people ; their fidelity to their religion ; their morality, industry and
510 HISTORY OF SAL T LAKE CITY.
«
sobriety; and no party which harbors designs against the peace and welfare of the
people of Utah shall ever have my co-operation.
"I have neither time nor inclination, at present, to go into a full explana-
tion of my ideas on marriage. I will, however, say that although willing to pledge
myself not to extend polygamy, in violation of the expressed will of the nation,
I will never consent to obey an ex post facto law. To let bygones be bygones is
the policy which, I am sure, the wisdom of the nation will approve.
" If there are individuals who aspire to the leadership of the Liberal party in
Utah, I hope they will have the wisdom to avoid the framing of an iron bedstead
upon which to measure the people, — stretching these who are too short, and lop-
ping off the extremities of those who are too long. I trust that they will remem-
ber that the Mormons are a hundred thousand strong in Utah ; that they are a
fruitful people, and that it is not at all improbable that the number of young men
and women who will attain to the age of twenty-one years and enjoy the rights of
franchise every year hereafter, will at least equal the number of outsiders that the
mining interests will draw hither. Any man aspiring to political leadership who
is so dull as not to understand the necessity of living so as to be worthy of the
confidence of, and affiliating with, this growing element of strength in Utah, as
they shall free themselves from the dogmatic faith of their fathers, is a man of too
thick a skull for a successful politician. My advice to the nominees of the con-
vention is not to withdraw, by any means, but to issue a card clearly defining
their position, and run for the offices for which they have been nominated, party
or no party, I will pledge them my vote if they will do so. "
Mr. Walker and his colleagues did not issue the card suggested, but in their
stead the Salt Lake Tribune gave the better mind of the party and a severe rebuke
to the Anti-Mormon ring. It said :
" The Liberal Party of Utah has a noble mission — one worthy the best
efforts of the best men of the Territory. The questions at issue come home to
the people, and should therefore be considered calmly, carefully and dispassion-
ately. Narrowness, uncharitableness, bitterness and prejudice should be banished
from the party councils, and denied a hearing in the public meetings. Fairness,
firmness and moderation should characterize every act of every man who assumes
to speak as a representative of the party. We want no cliques among the Liberals
in this campaign, and no leaders — self-constituted or otherwise — who appeal to
the passions and prejudices of the people. The party has quite enough to attend
to in opposing the rule of the Church over political affairs, without spending time
and fomenting dissensions in its own ranks by useless opposition to particular in-
stitutions of the Church. We can oppose the union of church and state without
stopping to quarrel about church doctrines. Polygamy is a social if not a relig-
ious institution of the Territory, and it is established in such a manner that it can
not be suddenly extirpated.
" Neither is there any necessity for such violent measures. It is an institu-
tion which, if let alone, will die of itself, for the simple reason that it is not in
harmony with its present surroundings. It needs no opposition. On the contrary
persecution will but serve to prolong its life. Having the good of the Liberal
party at heart, and ardently desiring its success, we here protest against the at-
41
HIS TOR Y OF SAL T LAKE CITY. ^it
tempts some weak, misguided men are making to force this political organization
into a raid on the domestic institutions of the Territory, an object entirely foreign
to its original design and present desire of nine-tenths of those who organized
and now compose the Liberal party of Utah. The party has legitimately nothing
to do with the social questions, and with religious questions nothing further than
to opposse the union of priestly with political rule.
" It is not long since one of the mischief-makers proposed to rule out of the
Liberal party all who are connected with polygamy, however honestly and inno-
cently they may have entered into such relations. We felt then like rebuking this
self-constituted censor — this would-be dictator of a party whose liberality of pur-
pose, his contracted mind is incapable of comprehending — but we refrained out
of regard to what we believed to be party policy. We ignored the existence of
such a disturbing element, in hopes that we should hear no more of it, but every day
has added to the utterances of this disorganizer, and at last his captious course has
resulted in the withdrawal of a portion of our party ticket. If he had been an
open and avowed enemy he could not have so injured us. Private appeals and
friendly requests having been of no avail, we feel compelled at last to give public
utterance to this earnest protest against the course that has been so persistently
pursued. "
But these efforts were in vain. The coalition, formed by ex-Mormon Elders
and radical Gentiles, had been an utter failure. The party had professed a polit-
ical mission for the good of Utah, and not its disturbance and ruin, and had even
offered itself to the Mormon community as a natural reconciler between them and
the nation at large ; and it was fondly hoped by, at least some of those seceding
Elders, that this party would use its influence and efforts with the government
and Congress, to temper their policy and measures, with much consideration and
humanity, in the expected legislation to be applied to the Mormon people. The
sacredness and integrity of existing family relations was the first plank of their
platform ; and even Maxwell, in his characteristic way, had admitted as much as
the original compact of the coalition, at the same time that he and his class were
outraging every polygamous family relation in Utah, and making a raid, not only in
the courts, but now in their political campaigns upon the religious and domestic
institutions of the whole Mormon community. From the moment that this fact
became demonstrated, as it was by the late ratification meeting, the compact be-
tween these seceding Elders and the Gentiles ceased ; and the coalition party died
— " disemboweled," as the Salt Lake Herald sa.\d, " by its own hand." It never
could be resurrected Thenceforth the Liberal party was clearly an anti-Mormon
party. The example of that year gave the lesson for all time to come, in our locaj
politics, that no body of Elders coming out from the Mormon church, can unite
in action with an anti-Mormon political party. Mormon Elders have shown that
they have hearts, brains, stiff-necks, and that they are not easily to be captured ;
and whatever maybe their change of mind towards scepticism, or their transition
to individualism, they are not apt to allow the people whom they converted, and
to whom they have stood as fathers, to become the prey of anti-Mormon wolves.
Such was the historical example of our local politics of the year 1871 ; and it will
explain why no more acquisitions of voters from Mormon seceders have joined
the Liberal party.
SI2 HISTORY OF SALT LAKE CITY.
In vain the party tried to recover itself on the election day. More ill-omened
the day and blacker in its prognostications than even the ratification night ; for
there were not only raany who withheld their votes, who had belonged to the Lib-
eral coalition, but some who openly renounced the party at the polls, and voted
with their old Mormon brethren the straight People''s ticket.
At the election of August, 1S71, the coalition party was buried. Maxwell
had said : "We may not succeed at this election, but we shall poll a vote that
will astonish them." The following shows the result of the election for councilors
to the Legislative Assembly for Salt Lake, Tooele and Summit Counties : Wil-
ford Woodruff, 4,720; George Q. Cannon, 4,719 ; Joseph A. Young, 4,714;
William Jennings, 4,714; S. Kahn, 620; J. Rob. Walker, 616; D. E. Sommer?,
614; W. Spicer, 608. The campaign was crowned with the predicted aston-
ishment.
CHAPTER LVin.
HISTORY OF THE JUDICIAL ADMINISTRATION OF JAMES B. McKEAN AS RE-
VIEWED BY U. S. DISTRICT ATTORNEY BATES. THE CHIEF JUSTICE HA-
RANGUES THE GRAND AND PETIT JURIES ON THE 'HIGH PRIESTHOOD
OF THE SO-CALLED CHURCH OF JESUS CHRIST OF LATTER-DAY SAINTS, '•
.\ND SENDS THEM HOME FOR LACK OF FUNDS. A REMARKABLE DOCU-
MENT. THE PRESS OF THE COUNTRY ON IHE ANOMALOUS CONDITION
OF MCKEAN'S COURT.
The history of the judicial administration of James B. McKean, Chief Justice
of Utah, during its most critical period, would form one of the most extraordin-
ary chapters of the whole history of the British and American jurisprudence of the
last three centuries. It was so striking and uncommon that some of the American
journalists spoke of it as a suggestive reminder of the administration of Chief
Justice Jefferies of England, during the reign of James the VI. Whether de-
served or not, it fell to the lot of James B. McKean to be actually dubbed the
"modern Jefferies," much both to his indignation and grief; for whatever
might be the opinion of those who condemned him, he believed himself to be an
upright and merciful judge in whose administration there was no particle of
malice. Not to justify or condemn the man, but to record and review the ad-
ministration of his court, from the year 1870 to 1875, i^ ^^^ purpose of these judi-
cial expositions.
George Caesar Bates, U. S. District Attorney for Utah, during a portion of
McKean's time, and who in fact, by his strong dissent provoked his own removal
from office, has made a very able review of the McKean period and its subject.
He wrote : " The events to which allusion is made occurred during the years
HISTORY OF SAL T LAKE CITY. jij
1870-1-2-3-4, and in the spring of 1875, finally culminating in the removal of
Chief Justice McKean from an office which he had disgraced and abused in a
manner to which the world can furnish no parallel. Appointed through the
Jesuitical influence of the Methodist Church, and sustained by the combined big-
otry of the land, his downfall only came through the sheer recklessness of his
despotic and brutal career.
"A careful search of the records will reveal how, through such instrumentalities
as those of packed grand and petit juries, a corrupt judge, a pretended United
States district attorney, appointed by that judge, and the State's evidence of an
atrocicus murderer, who purchased his own immunity from justice by his perjury,
it was intended to consummate the judicial murder of Brigham Young, Mayor
Wells of Salt Lake City, Hosea Stout, Joseph A. Young and other leading Mor-
mons, on charges the most absurd and untrue.
" Chief Justice McKean and his co-conspirators had their plans apparently
well laid, but 'man proposes, God disposes. ' Chief Justice Chase and his asso-
ciates, inspired by the God of justice, stepped in at the last moment, overwhelmed
the enemies of the Mormons, and scattered to the winds their unrighteous mach-
inations. Before we present the proofs, however, from the records of this most
re.narkable providential interposition to arrest the hands of those would-be judi-
cial murderers, we will give an analysis of the laws bearing upon the case, as
expounded by the Supreme Court of the United States.
" In the case of Dred Scott, Chief Justice Taney said :
" ' But the power of Congress over the person or property of a citizen ( in a
Territory), can never be a mere discretionary power under our constitution and
form of government. The powers of the Government and the rights and privil-
eges of the citizen are regulated and plainly defined by the constitution itself.
And when the Territory becomes a part of the United States, the Federal Gov-
ernment enters into possession in the character impressed upon it by those who
created it. It enters upon it with its powers over the citizen clearly defined, and
limited by the constitution, from which it derives its own existence, and by vir-
tue of which alone it contiimes to exist and act as a government and sovereignty.
It has no power of any kind beyond it ; and it cannot, when it enters a Territory
of the United States, put off-its character and assume discretionary or despotic
powers which the constitution has denied to it. It cannot create for itself a new
character separated from the citizens of the United States, and the duties it owes
them under the provisions of the constitution. The Territory being a part of
the United States, the government and the citizen both enter it under the author-
ity of the constitution, with their respective rights defined and marked out ; and
the Federal Government can exercise no power over his person or property, be-
yond what that instrument confers, nor lawfully deny any right which it has
reserved. '
" A reference to a few of the provisions of the constitution will illustrate
this proposition.
" For example, no one, we presume, will contend that Congress can make
any law for a Territory, respecting the establishment of religion or the/r<?^ exercise
thereof, or abridging the freedom of speech or of the press, or the right of the
24
^14 HISTORY OF SALT LAKE CITl.
people of the Territory peaceably to assemble, and to petition the Government for
the redress of grievances. Nor can Congress deny to the people the right to keep
and bear arms, nor the right to trial by jury, nor compel any one to be a witness
against himself in a criminal proceeding.
" ' These powers and others in relation to rights of person, which it is not
necessary here to enumerate, are, in express and positive terms, denied to the
general Government ; and the rights of private property have been guarded with
equal care. Thus the rights of property are united with the rights of person, and
placed on the same ground, by the fifth amendment of the constitution, which
provides that no person shall be deprived of life, liberty and property, without
due process of law. And an act of Congress which deprives a citizen of the
United States of his liberty or property, merely because he came himself or
brought his property into a particular Territory of the United States, and who
had committed no offense against the laws, could hardly be dignified with the
name of ' due process of law. '
" '■ So, too, it will hardly be contended that Congress could by law quarter a
soldier in a house in a Territory without the consent of the owner, in time of
peace ; nor in time of war except in a manner prescribed by law. Nor could
they by law forfeit the property of a citizen, in a Territory, who was convicted of
treason, for a longer period than the life of the person convicted ; nor take pri-
vate property for public use without just compensation.
'' ' The powers over person and property of which we speak are not only not
granted to Congress, but are in express terms denied, and Congress is forbidden
to exercise them. And this prohibition is not confined to the States, but the
words are general, and extend to the whole territory over which the constitution
gives power to legislate, including those portions of it remaining under Territorial
government, as well as that covered by State government. It places the citizens
of a Territory, so far as these rights are concerned, on the same footing with cit-
izens of the States, and guards the?n as Jinn ly and plainly against any inroads
which the general Government might attempt, under the plea of implied or inci-
dental powers. And if Congress itself cannot do this — if it is beyond the powers
conferred on the Federal Government — it will be admitted, we presume, that it
could not authorize a Territorial government to exercise them. It could confer
no power on any local government, established by its authority, to violate the
provisions of the constitution.'
" Now let us see what Chief Justice Chase said in the Englebrecht decision .
" 'The theory upon which the various governments for portions of the Terri-
tory of the United States have been organized has ever been that of leaving to
the inhabitants all the powers of self government consistent with the supremacy
and supervision of national authority, and with certain fundamental principles es-
tablished by Congress. As early as 1784, an ordinance was adopted by the Con-
gress of the Confederation, providing for the division of all the territory ceded,
or to be ceded, into States, with boundaries ascertained by the ordinance. These
States were severally authorized to adopt for their temporary government the
constitution and laws of any one of the States, and provision was made for their
ultimate admission, by delegates, into the Congress of the United States. We
HISTORY OF SALT LAKE CITY. 515
thus find that the first plan for the establishment of governments in the Territories
authorized the adoption of State governments from the start, and committed all
matters oi internal legislation to the discretion of the inhabitants, unrestricted other-
wise than by the State constitution originally adopted by them.'
"This ordinance, applying to all Territories ceded or to be ceded, was super-
seded three years later by the ordinance of 1787, restricted in its application to
the territory northwest of the river Ohio — the only territory which had been ac-
tally ceded to the United States.
" It provided for the appointment of the governor and three judges of the
court, who were authorized to adopt, for the temporary government of the dis-
trict, such laws of the original States as might be adapted to its circumstances.
But as soon as the number of adult male inhabitants should amount to five thous-
and, they were authorized to elect representatives, who were required to nominate
ten persons from whom Congress should elect five to constitute a legislative coun-
cil ; and the House and Council thus selected and appointed were thenceforth to
constitute the Legislature of the Territory, which was authorized to elect a dele-
gate to Congress, with the right of debating, but nut of voting. This Legisla-
ture, subject to the negative of the Governor, and certain fundamental principles
and provisions embodied in articles of compact, was clothed with the full power
of legislation for the Territory.
" In all the Territories full power was given to the Legislature over all ordi-
nary subjects of legislation. The terms in which it was granted were various, but
the import was the same in all.
"The doctrine, in the early days of this Government, was that the people
who scattered themselves over the Territories, who encountered the Indians, and
who built up towns, cities and villages in the Territories of the United States,
and erected railroads and telegraphs, should be a State ad interim.
" This same doctrine was adopted by Congress in 1850 ; when General Cass
in the great discussion on the compromise bill, — when for the first time in the
history of our Government, Calhoun and his pro-slavery friends, for the purpose
of extending slavery into Territories then free, assumed and declared that Congress
could interfere with the domestic relatiofis in Territories — replied : ' During the
pendency of the Territorial government they should be allowed to manage their
own concerns in their own way. Does not slavery come within this category?
Is it not a domestic concern ? Is not that the doctrine of the South — of common
sense indeed ? No Territorial government was ever established which had not
power to regulate the domestic relations of husband and wife, of parent and child,
of guardian and ward ; and if the inhabitants are competent to manage these
great interests, and indeed the interests belonging to all the departments of so-
ciety, including the issues of life and death, are they not competent to manage the
relation of master and servant, involving the condition of slavery?'
" A prominent journal, in discussing the point, said : ' To us it appears that,
from the earliest times, the policy has been to leave all matters of internal legisla-
tion to the Legislative Assembly, as soon as there was one in a Territory of the
United States. The only deviation to be found from this rule was when the agi-
tation about slavery prompted attempts at exceptional provisions for or against it.
j-/(5 HISTORY OF SALT LAKE CITY.
It was at the very time that Utah was erected into a Territory that adverse pre-
tensions on the subject of slavery in the Territories received a quietus, in the
measures of 1850, advocated by Clay, Webster, Douglass, Cass and other eminent
statesmen. They framed and advocated the several acts, among them the act or-
ganizing Utah, by which, without proscribing slavery or protecting slavery, the
matter was left to the people of the Territory, like all other local subjects, and
with the best results. Slavery never was introduced into either New Mexico or
Utah, both organized on the same principle of leaving all domestic institutions to
the local law. General Cass, in the debate on the subject, gave its true history,
as above quoted.
" Congress, in 1850, acting on this theory of the entire separation of all the
duties and acts of the United States officers in Utah from those of the Territorial
officers thereof, in enacting the organic act for Utah, had provided by sec. 10, as
follows :
" ' There shall be appointed for the District of Utah a United States District
Attorney, who shall continue in office four years unless sooner removed by the
President ; and who shall receive the same pay and emoluments as the attorney
of the United States for Oregon ; and there shall also be appointed a United
States Marshal for the Territory of Utah, who shall execute all processes issuing
from said courts, when exercising their jurisdiction as circuit and district courts
of the United States. He shall perform the same duties and be subject to the
same pay as the Marshal of the present Territory of Oregon.'
" The duties of the United States District Attorney for Utah are thus defined
by the act of Congress of Sep. 24th, 1819, sec. 35, vol. i, U. S. Stat, at Large :
" 'There shall be appointed in each district a person learned in the law to
act as the attorney of the U. S. in such district, who shall be sworn, etc. ; and
whose duty it shall be to prosecute in such district all delinquents for crimes or
offences cognizable under the authority of the United States, and all civil actions
in which the United States shall be concerned, except in the Supreme Court.'
" And by the 2d sec. of the same act, the duty of United States marshals are
thus defined :
"'It shall be their duty to attend the district and circuit courts, when sitting
and to execute, throughout their districts, all lawful processes directed to them,
and issued under the authority of the United States.'
" By the same organic law of Utah it was provided : ' That the first six days
of every term of the Territorial district court, or so much thereof as shall be ne-
cessary, shall be appropriated to the trial of causes under the law of the United
States ; ' and during those six, or any other days, when the courts were engaged in
enforcing the laws of the United States, the U. S. marshal and district attorney-
performed precisely the same duties as the same officers would do in the Federal
courts, in the States of the Union.
" The Territorial Legislature, to enforce Territorial laws, had, on March 3d,
1852, provided by statute for the election of a Territorial marshal and attorney-
general, by a joint vote of both branches of the legislative council, by which al^
the duties of the attorney-general were thus defined. ' To attend to all legal bus-
iness on the part of the Territory before the courts, where the Territory is a party,
HISTORY OF SALT LAKE CITY. 5/7
and prosecute Indians accused of crimes, in the district in which he keeps his office,
under the laws of the Territory of Utah.' And the duties of Territorial marshal
were declared to be ' to execute all orders and processes of the Supreme and Dis-
trict courts of the Territory, in all cases arising under the laws of the Territory.'
" This latter statute had been affirmed by Congress, for over 22 years, by its
tacit approval thereof— and so had become, to all intents, the law of Congress
itself.
It will thus be seen that, by the acts of Congress, the duties of U. S.
district attorney and marshal for Utah were precisely the same as those in all the
States of the Union, while the offices of Territorial attorney-general and marshal,
were the same as those of attorney-general and sheriff of the several States.
"Under this state of things the conspirators deemed it necessary at the outset
to get rid of the Territorial marshal and attorney-general, and vest their duties
in the United States marshal and district attorney. They also wished to nullify
the statutes of Utah, providing for the drawing and impaneling of grand and
petit jurors, as they could not otherwise use the courts as instrumentalities for the
destruction of the Mormons.
"The first move in this direction was made in 1870, in the proceedings of
Chas. H. Hempstead, U. S. District Attorney, agamst Zerrubbabel Snow, Attor-
ney-General of Utah, the result of which was that Snow was removed from office
and his duties devolved upon Hempstead, in violation both of the laws of Utah
and of the United States.
" At the sam.e time a similar course was taken by Hempstead, against the
Territorial marshal, John D. T. McAllister, which ultimated in the removal of
that officer and the assumption of his duties by J. M. Orr, U. S. Marshal.
" So long as these absurd decisions remained unreversed by that of the Su-
preme Court of the United States, which, in the case of Snow vs. Hempstead^
was finally done in October, 1873, the governmental machinery of Utah was held
in the hands of the United States judicial officers, who made use of tlieir power
to vex and punish the Mormons for pretended offenses.
"This was done by means of packed juries, perjured witnesses, and prosecu-
tions conducted by men who were alike ignorant and regardless of law. During
the period embracing the years 1S70 to 1873, until the United States Supreme
Court overruled McKean, and decided that it was ' Snow's duty to prosecute all
those persons charged with crimes against the statutes of Utah, and McAllister's
duty to draw and impanel all grand and petit jurors,' the United States had ex-
pended in this direction over ^30,000, and President Young and some sixty to
eighty of his people had been illegally indicted for alleged crimes of every name
and nature, had suffered many months of false imprisonment at Camp Douglas
and in the jails of Salt Lake City and County, and had paid to attorneys and
witnesses many thousands of dollars.
" The second step on the part of the conspirators was a process entirely ig-
noring and blotting out the statutes of Utah in regard to procuring grand and
petit juries for district courts, and enabling Marshal Patrick to select as such jurors
any persons whom he might choose, the selection in every case being made, of
course, from the most bitter and malignant enemies of the Mormon people.
Sz8 HISTORY OF SALT LAKE CITY.
'^ Pendente lite, Hempstead resigned the office of U. S. District Attorney,
and Justice McKean appointed R. N. Baskin to succeed him in an office which
no one has any right to fill unless nominated by the President, and confirmed by
the Senate of the United States. It was not until November, 1871, that the law-
ful successor of Hempstead was appointed by Grant. At this juncture of affairs
a collision between the judicial authorities of Utah and the Mormon people
seemed inevitable. Great alarm existed all over the United Statei as well as in
Utah. But these gross perversions of law, and Justice McKean's wild and extra-
ordinary charge to the packed grand jury, aroused the public mind ; and the Ad-
ministration at Washington was spurred to action.
" Meantime, the illegally-appointed U. S. Attorney, Baskin, had drawn and
signed various indictments, which were presented and filed in court by the illegal
grand jury, and a very large number of leading Mormons and officers, including
the Mayor of Salt Lake City, were arrested and placed in close confinement at
Camp Douglas under a military guard commanded by Lieut. -Col. Henry Morrow.
This officer had superseded his predecessor, Col. De Trobriand, through the in-
fluence of McKean and Doctor Newman, simply because the Colonel had refused
to consent to fire upon the Mormon people on the 4th of July, if ordered to do so
by the Secretary of the Territory of Utah.
" ' Bill ' Hickman, who had been cut off from the Mormon Church for his
crimes, was one of the persons so indicted, and being promised immunity if he
would turn State's evidence and swcdr against President Young and his people,
confessed to the new district attorney that he had murdered eighteen persons in
cold blood. His confinement, however, was merely nominal."
Here we must leave Mr. Bates' review to circumstantially record the proceed-
ings of the court, and to give full expansion to the history of those times, as it
really constituted the great vein of the history of Salt Lake City, from the ar-
rival of James B. McKean, in the summer of 1870, to the date of his removal
n April, 1875. !
The Chief Justice and his coadjutors had triumphed in the opening of their
plans of prosecutions, setting aside the Territorial attorney- general and Territorial
marshal ; and all seemed straight before them, to push the prosecution quickly
and vigorously through to the designed issue — which was the conviction of every
one brought into court of the class of which Brigham Young was chief. But the
Territorial Legislature, which was in session in the winter of 1870-71, made no
appropriation for the payment of the expenses of the courts. The Legislature in
fact was outraged, by this violence done to its original enactments relative to the
judiciary, and the forcible abolishment of the officers which it had created for
the Territorial business. This had been done without any act of Congress, and
the Territorial legislators held the opinion that the business of the courts, which
was about to be done under the McKean regime, would be illegal, and that it would
be so pronounced, and declared null and void, when it came before the Supreme
Ccurt of the United States, to which it had been already appealed. This opinion was
strongly maintained by the deposed attorney general of the Territory, Judge
Z( rubbabel Snow, and he was the proper adviser of the Legislature in this matter.
Very properly therefore, the Legislature refused to make appropriations from the
Territorial funds for the payment of illegal business.
HISTORY OF SALT LAKE CITY. jyp
In the March term of* 1871, there was a deadlock in the Third U. S. District
Court. No further business could be transacted in consequence of the lack of
funds to carry on the prosecution ; which brought forth the following most re-
markable document, read to the juries by the Chief Justice with great bitterness
of spirit.
Here is the record of the court :
^^ Territory of Utah, in Third Disirict Court, March term, 187 1, Salt Lake City.
"Chief Justice McKean, at the opening of the court, ordered the grand and
petit jurors to be called and then said :
"'Gentlemen of the grand and petit juries, I am not about to deliver a
charge to you, but I am about to send you to your homes. It is right that you
should know why. The reason is this : The proper officer of this court has no
funds with which to pay you the per diem allowance which will be lawfully yours
if you serve as jurors, nor has he the funds with which even to pay your board. I
do not think it right to detain you here without compensation and at your own ex-
pense. You may like to know the cause of this anomalous state of afTairs. You
shall know. As the law now stands, the per diem allowance of the members, and
other expenses, of the Legislative Assembly of this Territory, are paid out of the
United States Treasury, while that Legislative Assembly is left to provide for pay-
ing the per diem allowance of jurors, and other expenses of the United States
courts, while transacting the judicial business of the Territory. I am not com-
menting on the wisdom or unwisdom of such a policy, I am simply stating the
fact. The United States Treasury promptly pays the Legislative Assembly, but
the high priesthood of the so called ' Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints
who control the Assembly and all the officers of, or who are elected by the As-
sembly, refuse to permit the expenses of the United States courts to be paid,
unless they are allowed to control these courts. The high priesthood, acting
through their agents, passed an ordinance requiring the ballots at elections to be
numbered, and the same numbers to be written on the poll list opposite the names
of those who vote the ballots ; thus enabling them to ascertain how every elector
votes, and to keep a record of the same. Under this systeai none but the candi-
dates of the high priesthood are chosen to the Assembly, and the presiding offi-
cers of the two houses of the Assembly are always high functionaries of the
so-called Church of ' Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints.' This Assembly has
elected one of its favorites a marshal, and another a prosecuting attorney and
sent them into the United States courts, the former to summon the grand and
petit jurors and serve process, the latter to take charge of criminal business before
the grand and petit juries. But this district court has held, and the supreme
court of the Territory has affirmed the rulings, that these so-called officers can-
not be recognized by these courts, and that the United States attorney and the
United States marshal, appointed by the President and confirmed by the Senate
of the United States, are the proper officers of these courts. But the high priest-
hood of Utah hold different theories in regard to legal and governmental affairs.
A few months since, in the presence of thousands of the people, and surrounded
by the highest officials of the so-called ' Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day
Saints,' one of the high priesthood, and I heard him say : ' There is not in the
S20 HISTORY OF SALT LAKE CI7Y.
Federal Constitution the dotting of an i, nor the crossing of a t, giving any
Federal officer any right to be in this Territory Congress had no right to pass
any act to organize this Territory, and the Organic Act is a relic of colonial bar-
barism. The Federal officials are usurpers, and have no business here.'
" Gentlemen of the grand and and petit juries, I am a Federal official in
Utah; I apologize to nobody for being here ; I shall stay so long as I choose, or
so long as the Government at Washington shall choose to have me here; and I
shall venture the prediction, that the day is not far in the future, when the dis-
loyal high priesthood of the so-called Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day
Saints, shall bow to and obey the laws that are elsewhere respected, or else those
laws will grind them to powder.
"Gentlemen, one of the consequences of the decisions above referred to of
the United States courts in Utah, is that already several men in high positions in
the so-called Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, have been indicted for
high crimes, some of them for murder; another consequence is, that enterprising
men in large numbers, and capitalists of large wealth, have come into the Terri-
tory to embark in business pursuits, believing that even-handed justice would now
be done them. It is an important fact, that while for about twenty years there
has been a considerable population in this Territory, not only has not the great
mineral wealth of Utah been developed, but the fact of its existence has, until re-
cently, been concealed from the world outside of Utah. Now this mineral wealth
is just beginning to be developed. And here, as everywhere among great business
enterprises, there is much resort to the courts for the adjustment of conflicting
interests. There are now on the docket of this court, awaiting trial, cases involv-
ing millions of dollars.
"And now, gentlemen, the high priesthood of the so-called Church of Jesus
Christ of Latter-day Saints, demand the right to select and summon the grand
and petit jurors, who are to try all criminal and civil Territorial cases in this
court ; and demand that officers selected by them shall take charge of all such
business in this court. And, gentlemen, because this court refuses to surrender
itself into their hands, they refuse to pay your just allowance or to defray any of
the expenses of this court. It is not just that you should be kept here at your
own charges, and I will not keep you. But, gentlemen, do not misunderstand
me. There is to be no surrender to unwarrantable exactions. The Government
of the United States is not accustomed to being thwarted ; and while those who
represent it in Utah may be hindered, they will not be defeated. Let it not be
doubted that after a pause in the path of duty, they will again resume their line
of march with renewed energy. Gentlemen of the grand and petit juries, I thank
you for your attendance, but I will not detain you. You are adjourned sine die.''*
The journals of the country gave considerable space to the discussion of the
state of affairs in McKean's court, and even the great journals of England mani-
fested an interest in the matter ; but though there was manifested a general desire
and aim in the country to deal with polygamic Utah, the soundest journals early
confessed that Judge McKean was pursuing illegal methods to reach the desired
end, and that the deadlock in his court was the logical sequence of his own course.
The Carson Register, commenting on the situation, said :
HISTORY OF SALT LAKE CITY, 321
"The Sacramento Record \% very indignant at the Mormons because Judge
McKean of Utah adjourned the district court for the reason that no compensa-
tion had been provided for jurors. The Record evidently does not understand
the matter. McKean is a violent and unscrupulous judge, who appears to have
more of a mission to stir up bad blood in Utah and raise a disturbance so as to
justify the interference of the Federal Government, than to administer the law
according to his oath and ability. In a case before him he ruled that the district
court was not a Territorial court, but an United States court — that there is no
such court as a Territorial district court. The decision was absurd, being in the
teeth of all the statutes and decisions since the foundation of the Government.
It was made in order to break down the Mormons, law or no law. If his court
is a U. S. Court, of course, the United States is bound to pay its expenses — the
Territorial treasurer has no authority to disburse money out of the Territorial
treasury to pay jurors. Judge McKean was simply caught in one of his own
traps. Like every man who deviates from trodden paths of precedent and law,
he is liable to get scratched with legal briars, and to break his neck over unknown
principles."
The New York Herald, of the fourth of July, under the head ''Utah Troubles,'
contained a resume of Utah affairs, preparing its readers for expected difficulties
in Salt Lake City at the celebration, which was the subject of a former chapter.
Starting with the proclamation of Governor Black, it touched upon the history of
the militia of this Territory, bringing it down briefly to the proclamations issued
by Governor Shaffer, and thus summed up the militia branch of its review :
" With the knowledge of all these facts, the proclamation of Acting-Gov-
ernor Black seems like seeking a quarrel, and is doubtless the result of evil coun-
sellors. Had the order of General Wells been as before — for musters, drills, etc.
— the reproduction of Governor Shaffer's proclamation would have probably been
in order, but to apply it in forbidding citizen soldiers to take part in a military
capacity in a procession of mechanics, artisans, laborers and school children, in
honor of the nation's birthday, the same as will be done all over the Union, looks
doubtful on the side of wisdom."
Touching the judicial branch of the "Utah troubles" the New York Herald
said :
" Judge McKean has done in law what Governor Shaffer did in politics; but
McKean has lived on and been humbled and defeated. The Federal judges had
the same experience as the Federal Governors, and nearly all of them have done
their grumbling but to no effect. McKean was determined to tackle it, and re-
fused the recognition of die Territorial marshal and attorney, as Shaffer did the
Territorial Nauvoo Legion and its lieutenant-general. But the judge comes to
grief for the moment. He held his court with the United States officers ; but
the United States treasury would not honor the marshal's drafts for the expenses of
the court, virtually acknowledging that the Mormon interpretation of the question
was correct. Here is the chief justice of the Territory of Utah, a gentleman of
earning, ability and moral character, completely baffled and smarting terribly
25
522 HISTORY OF SALT LAKE CITY.
under his defeat. He had essayed to do something and had failed. Not for the
want of physical support, for the United States army and all the volunteers that
rould be called for would have rushed to sustain him, but he failed because he
could not sustain himself as the law stood."
CHAPTER LIX.
THE U. S. MARSHAL PREPARING TO RECEIVE PRISONERS. ACTION AGAINST
THE WARDEN OF THE PENITENTIARY AND THE TERRITORIAL MARSHAL-
HEARING OF THE CASE BEFORE JUDGE HAWLEY. FITCH AND BASKIN,
THE U. S. ATTORNEY PREFERS THE GUNS OF CAMP DOUGLAS TO THE
TEDIOUS PROCESS OF LAW. GOVERNOR WOODS COMMITS HIMSELF ALSO ;
WHEREAT »THE COURT IN CONSTERNATION CALLS THEM ALL TO ORDER,
The preliminary action of the September term of court, (1870) was quite
ominous, and indicative of preparations being made by the United States mar-
shal to receive prisoners from the hands of the chief justice; and it was known,
too, that those expected prisoners were Brigham Young, Mayor Wells and others
of the class whom the judge, in his address to the juries, had spoken of as the
" high priesthood of the so-called Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints."
Indeed, he had, through this address, told the public, and the news had gone
over all America, and across the Atlantic to Europe, that "already several men
in high positions in the so-called Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints,
have been indicted for high crimes, some of them for murder." And, whether
he had designed such a purpose or not, his words, all the same, created the im
pression everywhere thai some of the Mormon leaders were about to be sent to
the penitentiary, and perhaps some of them hanged. So when, just previous to
the opening of the September term of court, U. S. Marshal Patrick moved to
eject Warden Rockwood, and to take possession of the penitentiary and the pris-
oners, the Salt Lake public knew what the move signified, and became intensely
excited, thus knowing that Brigham Young and his compeers were the next pris-
oners the U. S. marshal was preparing to receive. The Salt Lake Tribune stated
the case to the public of the U. S. Marshal vs. Warden Rockwood and Territorial
Marshal J. D. T. McAllister. The Salt Lake Tribune said for the Federal author-
ities, with much exaggeration :
"A prisoner by the name of Kilfoyle was serving a sentence of rifteen years in
the penitentiary for manslaughter. This convict belonged to the penitentiary
and to the custody of Marshal Patrick. The latter, by instructions from Gover-
nor Woods, demanded him, but in vain. He was in the city prison, under J. D.
T. McAllister's care. The latter bluffed and sold Marshal Patrick after he had
agreed to give the prisoner up, by displaying two hundred Mormon deputy
r
HISTORY OF SAL T LAKE CITY. ^23
Territorial marshals, and then refused to make the surrender. Goveinor Woods
pursued the retreating official. Then stepped in Associate Justice C. M. Hawley,
on Marshal Patrick's complaint. The result yesterday was the arrest of McAllis-
ter and Rockwood, a brief hearing, an adjournment^ and the bailing out of the
Territorial chieftains to appear again to-morrow morning to answer the serious
charge of resisting United States officers and concealing prisoners. The question
of the United States laws over the Territorial enactments is likely now to be set-
tled on one point. Of course every other one must be settled on its own merits.
Every inch gained by the law must be fought for. Some of these days the church
will get fatigued, we guess."
The Deseret JVews of September 2nd, gave the Territorial side and said :
"This morning at 10 o'clock, U. S. Marshal Patrick entered the court room
of the City Hall and made, in the presence of witnesses, a formal demand of
Warden A. P. Rockwood for the latter to deliver up to his (the marshal's) custody
the prisoner Kilfoyle. Mr. Rockwood asked whether he had any written
authority, from any court of competent jurisdiction, authorizing him to make
such a demand. The marshal said he had not ; whereupon Mr. Rockwood de-
livered to him the following :
"'Warden's Office, Salt Lake City
" ' August 31st, 1871, 6 p. M.
" ' J/. T. Patrick, U. S. Marshal for the Territory of Utah:
" ' On my return to my office this evening, Mr. Hyde the officer in charge
of one of the convicts in my custody, informed me that you had called upon
him, and demanded the surrender of said convict, also that he demanded your
authority for so doing, and that you had no process from any court, on the sub-
ject, but it was the instruction or order of Governor Woods, for you to take pos-
session of the prisoner; whereupon Mr. Hyde informed you that he was not
authorized to deliver him without an order of the court.
" ' This is to inform you that I have an order of court, authorizing me to
retain him until discharged by due process of law and it is my sworn duty so to
do. Under these circumstances I have to inform you that I shall not deliver him
to you, unless you present an order from some court of competent jurisdiction in
the premises, which will be a warrant to me to deliver him to you.
" 'Such further action as you choose to take, will be on your own respon-
bility.
"Respectfully yours,
"'A. P. Rockwood, JVarden.''
"After receiving the above paper the marshal said he would have him (Mr.
Rockwood) arrested for retaining the prisoner. Mr. R. said, 'I have nothing
more to say, you have received my answer to your demand.' The marshal then
enquired of Mr. R. who had the prisoner in custody, and was told that he be-
lieved City Marshal J. D. T. McAllister, and that officer Wm. Hyde was the
jailor.
"Marshal Patrick then made a demand upon City Marshal McAllister, ior
the prisoner in question, in answer to which, Mr. McAllister said he could only
S24. HIS TOR Y OF SAL T LAKE C12 K
deliver him on an order from Warden Rockwood, to whom he was responsible for
him. Marshal Patrick then said, in an excited manner, ' Then I will try to take
him. I will endeavor to muster enough men to do it,' and, looking around the
room, ' I see you have a good many men here.' Our reporter looked round too,
but failed to see the many men, there being about sixteen in the room, most of
whom were merely spectators, who had stepped in to see what was going on.
Mr. McAllister informed Marshal Patrick that when he, Mr. Patrick, delivered
over to the city authorities, for safe keeping, the prisoner McKay, he (Mr. McAl-
lister) would not have been justified in delivering him up to any party without his.
Marshal Patrick's order, and his position was the same as that sustained by him
to Warden Rockwood. Mr. Patrick then said he would have Mr. McAllister
arrested and taken to Camp Douglas. Mr Patrick then left the hall."
Judge Morgan opened for the prosecution.
But the '' true inwardness" of this action was brought out during the speech
of Mr. Fitch, which Acting U. S. Attorney Baskin interrupted, to say that his
way would have been to put the guns of Camp Douglas upon the city, blow down
the City Hall and jail, and force possession of the prisoner with bayonets. Coun-
selor Fitch was arguing :
" If the marshal of the United States, deeming himself, under the law, en-
titled to the custody of this prisoner had applied to your Honor for a writ of
habeas corpus, to test the legal questions involved, and your Honor had upon such
proceeding decided that the marshal was entitled to his custody, then such de-
cision should have been * an order of court ; ' within the meaning of the act of
1790; and, on a refusal to comply with that order, the Territorial officer would
have been liable under the laws of the United States that have been cited here.
But it seems that the marshal determined to proceed without a process of court.
Why he came to this conclusion I do not know. If he was right in his construc-
tion of the act of Congress, an order of the court could have been obtained at
no greater cost or trouble than this prosecution ; and it seems that he will need
the order of court after all, for the counsel who opened the case for the prosecu-
tion stated to your Honor that in the event of the commitment of this defendant,
he should also ask for an order of the court that the prisoner be turned over to
the custody of the United States marshal. He asks now for that which he should
have solicited before, and which, had he obtained it, would have superseded the
necessity of this proceeding. If there had been a successful application for the
custody of Kilfoyle by habeas corpus, or if there had been any kind of an order
of this court issued and directed to the warden of the Penitentiary, commanding
him to surrender Kilfoyle to the U. S. marshal, he would at once have surren-
dered the prisoner, and there would have been no cause for argument in his de-
fense upon this criminal charge. All the defendant asked, as appears from the
testimony, was an order of court. In his written protest, he says, *I will surrender
this convict on the order of some court of competent jurisdiction.' He deems
himself invested by the Legislature of the Territory with certain duties and re-
sponsibilities ; he has given bonds for the faithful performance of those duties
and the discharge of those responsibilities. It is but little to ask, when he is
called upon to divest himself of these responsibilities, and to cease to perform
HISTORY OF SAL T LAKE 017 Y. 525
those duties, that he should do it on some demand more formal and some decision
more binding than the construction of an act of Congress made by the United
States marshal — the United States marshal who is not responsible to the people
of the Territory or the Legislature of this Territory, and whose construction
would not avail the warden as an excuse or defense for official malfeasance if per-
chance he should be charged with such, for thus relinquishing his trust. Habeas
corpus would, it seems to me, have been the better way to test this question ; but
being less calculated to make turbulence and create ill-feeling, than the method
of procedure which has been pursued it may, by some, be thought a matter of
congratulation that it was not invoked. However, we have perhaps cause to con-
gratulate ourselves that the guns of the Fort have not been turned on the city,
and the City Hall surrounded with cavalry, infantry and artillery, and the warden
compelled at the point of the bayonet to surrender his prisoner."
Mr. Baskin — ''That would have been my way to do it."
Mr. Fitch — " I presume that Mr. Baskin would have knocked the City Hall
and city jail down."
Mr. Baskin — " I would that ! "
Mr. Fitch — "The acting law officer of the United States informs us that
he would have ' let loose the dogs of war' had his advice been followed and his
wishes consulted. And why were they not? Where was all the power which
with all the pomp and parade of war once interfered to prevent by arms a peace-
ful parade of American citizens on the Fourth of July. Was it asleep? ashamed?
or afraid? ''
Governor Woods (who was seated on the right hand of Judge Hawley) —
'< Neither, my Lord ! "
Mr. Fitch — " I am assured by the Executive of the Territory of Utah, who
honors us with his audience and encourages the prosecution with approving smiles
that my surmises are incorrect. The Executive of the Territory, who perhaps
agrees with the opinion once expressed by the present President of the United
States, that ' the justices of the supreme court are members of the Governor's
staff", and who deigns to give to your Honor, as his staff" officer, the benefit of
his protecting presence, while at the same time he stands ready to answer ques-
tions of defendant's counsel, whether he be the party interrogated or no —
The Court — This discussion is becoming exciting and I shall not permit
further remarks outside of the case."
Mr. Fitch— "I beg your Honor's pardon, — but I have not traveled out of
the proper line of argument, except to comment upon interruptions, made irreg-
ularly by Mr, Baskin and improperly by Governor Woods. Since, then, we are to
be tried before being punished, I will now proceed to the consideration of the
important questions involved."
The judge was, for the moment in a state of consternation; for evidently, Mr.
Fitch, knowing well enough what U. S. Attorney Baskin's mode of action would
have been, and that Governor Woods was most eagerly ready to back the
courts, even to the letting loose the "dogs of war," had surprised them into the
actual confession in court of their minds and intents.
The Federal officers thus brought to order and caution, Mr. Fitch was al-
326 HISTORY OF SALT LAKE CITY.
lowed to conclude his most nuasterly defense, and was followed by Mr. Baskin in-
what was said by his friends to have been the ablest effort of the day. But the
ability of the arguments on either side is of no consequence in the history ; — the
ease and the issue being the salient points.
Judge Hawley, in closing his decision in the case of the United States vs. the
Territorial marshal and warden of the penitentiary, said :
"An order has been asked on the part of the prosecution upon the defen-
dants to deliver the said convict Kilfoyle to the United States marshal.
"Believing that whilesitting as a committing magistrate I have not the authority
of a court, except for the purpose of such hearing, and determining the probable
guilt of the defendants, I must deny this motion ; and therefore the marshal must
be left to exercise his powers in that regard in conformity to his rights under the
laws, of both those passed by Congress and the Territorial Legislature.
" Holding these views of the law it is my duty to require the defendants to
answer to such charges as the grand jury of the district court of the Third Judi-
cial District at the September term for the present year may prefer,, and abide the
order of said court."
When the U. S. Marshal made a demand for the convict at the door of the
city prison, on the morning after Judge Hawley's decision, he was told that the
former warden, A. P. Rockwood, had him on his premises. Thither the marsha?
repaired and found and took possession of the prisoner.
CHAPTER LX.
OPENING OF McKEANS COURT IN SEPTEMBER, 1871. SELECTING THE GRANO
JURY. ARRESTS OF BRIGHAM YOUNG AND DANIEL H. WELLS. GENERAL,
EXPECTATION IN THE STATES THAT THE MORMONS WOULD RISE IN
ARMS TO RESCUE THEIR LEADERS. BRIGHAM YOUNG IN COURT A
TOUCHING SPECTACLE. THE CHIEF JUSTICE PROCLAIMS FROM THE.
BENCH THAT "A SYSTEM"—" POLYGAMIC THEOCRACY "—IS ON TRIAL IN
THE PERSON OF BRIGHAM YOUNG.
The summoning and passing of the grand jurors formed quite an illustrative
preliminary of the polygamic and criminal trials, which the acting U. S. prose-
cuting attorney, Baskin, was constructing for the September and March terms of
1871 and 1872. Marshal Patrick summoned just enough from the Mormon side of
representative men, to suit the puYpose of the prosecution, in giving the opportu-
nity to question and challenge them. Apostle George Q. Cannon was one of
those chosen for this purpose.
The Salt Lake Tribune, frankly confessing the object for which the Mormon
citizens had been summoned by the U. S. marshal, says : " Chief Justice McKean
r
HISTORY OF SALT LAKE CITY. s^.7
opened the Fal! term of the Third District Court on Monday, (Sept. 18, 1871). A
grand jury had been summoned and was present, together with the regular petit ju-
rors. The only notable feature in the partial organization of the grand jury was the
setting aside by the court of three prominent Mormons, leaders in the Church of
Latter-day Saints, and veritable agents of the Almighty as represented by Mr.
Young, president and treasurer of the Mormon Church, president of the Deseret
Bank, president of the Utah Central Railroad, and general participant in all the
good things seizable in Zion. There were three grand jurors who were Saints."
It was amid these circumstances — with the court of Chief Justice McKean
thus prepared for business, with grand and petit juries satisfactory to the U. S.
prosecuting attorney, that President Brigham Young ard Mayor Daniel H. Wells
were arrested. The words of the prosecutor, Baskin, that his mode of procedure
in enforcing the lavv would be with the guns of Camp Douglas and the bayonets
of U. S. soldiers, were ringing fresh on the ears of the citizens, and the very un-
mistakable assurance of the Governor of the Territory, made in court, that he was
neither "asleep, ashamed, or afraid," to execute such a mode was enough to
make our city tremble with the frightful sensation that the volcano beneath might
at any moment burst. These ominous open utterances of the Federal actors were
made but a few days previous to the arrest of the head of the Mormon Church
and the Mayor of Salt Lake City ; and both of these leaders, too, in this case,
were arrested not for any personal crime, but for the grand offense of their church
— polygamy. So far every Mormon citizen was concerned in the offense or guilty
of the "crime j" and so far Judge McKean was right when he said " polygamic
theocracy," or the Mormon Church, was on trial in the person of Brigham
Young. It was not so, of course, in the sense of the law, but in the interpretation
of the " real case " by a judge who embodied in himself a mission to bring "poly-
gamic theocracy " to trial and judgment, just as he said polygamic theocracy was
embodied in Brigham Young. In this extraordinary and extrajudicial sense there
was no essential difference in the understanding of the case between the Chief
Justice and the Mormon people. The actual intention of the court, the U, S.
prosecutor, and the Governor w^as to arrest "polygamic theocracy;" and when
Marshal Patrick, on the 3rd of October, put his hand on Brigham Young, he did
indeed both in design and fact arrest the Mormon Church, in the McKean sense.
Was it a wonder, then, with such a sense of the case on both sides, that a
fearful suspense pervaded the city at the moment of the arrest of Brigham Young?
It was well known that he had often declared hat he never would give himself up to
be murdered as his predecessor, the Prophet Joseph, and his brother Hyrum had
been, while in the hands of the law and under the sacred pledge of the State for
their safety ; and ere this could have been repeated ten thousand Mormon elders
would have gone into the jaws of death with Brigham Young. In a few hours
the suspended Nauvoo Legion would have been in arms ; and then if the guns of
Camp Douglas had opened fire on " polygamic theocracy " and the U. S. soldiers
had come down with bristling bayonets to arrest the Churchy in the person of
Brigham Young, whatever might have been the after consequences, those guns
would have been silenced and those bayonets resisted. If the United States
judges, Governor, \J . S attorney and marshal did not so understand it, they
^28 HISTORY OF SALT LAKE CITY.
knew nothing really of the dangerous ground upon which they stood, when they
planted in design guns upon the Church and in imagination came down with bay-
onets to arrest its head.
For the historian to treat the case and circumstances of that moment in any
other light, or with any different spirit would not only show a disingeneous effort,
but also be inconsistent with the whole history of the Mormon people. The
" Utah war" or " Utah rebellion," just as it pleases the choice to name it, is an
exact example, in fact and significance, of that which would have transpired, had
the attempt been made with cannon and bayonets to arrest Brigham Young to bring
him into court for trial by Chief Justice McKean. But Marshal Patrick went
without the threatened guns and bayonets and met no show or disposition of re-
sistance to the lawful process of the court.
On Monday afternoon, October 3rd, 1871, President Brigham Young was
arrested in his residence, Salt Lake City, by U. S. Marshal Patrick on a writ
issued by Chief Justice McKean, on an indictment found under an old statute of
Utah, which read as follows :
" Sec. 32. Every person who commits the crime of adultery, shall be pun-
ished by imprisonment not exceeding twenty years, and not less than three years.-
or by fine not exceeding one thousand dollars, and not less than three hundred
dollars; or by both fine and imprisonment at the discretion of the court. And
when the crime is committed between parties, any one of whom is married, both
are guilty of adultery, and shall be punished accordingly. No prosecution for
adultery can be commenced but on the complaint of the husband or wife.
" Sec. 33. If any man or woman not being married, to each other, lewdly
and lasciviously associate, and cohabit together; or if any man or woman, married
or unmarried is guilty of open and gross lewdness, and designedly make any open
and indecent, or obscene exposure of his or her person, or of the person of an-
other, every such person so offending shall be punished by imprisonment not ex-
ceeding ten years, and not less than six months, and fine not more than one
thousand dollars, and not less than one hundred dollars, or both, at the discretion
of the court."
This statute the prosecution construed and the court allowed had been violated
by the said Brigham Young. It was notoriously the fact, known throughout the
world, that the offense of the President of the Mormon Church against the law was
that of polygamy ; and from the onset this contemptible trick of the U. S. attorney
and the court, in prosecuting him upon an old Territorial statute, for an offense
of which he was clearly pure, instead of upon the anti-polygamic act of Congress
of 1862, was most distasteful to every honorable lawyer in America.
Marshal Patrick performed his duty in a delicate and gentlemanly manner,
leaving a deputy in charge of his prisoner, whose ill health had prevented his
leaving the house for several days.
The next morning after the arrest, Hon. Thomas Fitch, of the counsel for
President Brigham Young, made application in the Third District Court for an
extension of time until Monday to prepare, and, as his client was sick and unable
to appear in court, desired that bail should be taken, as he was nominally in
charge of the U. S. marshal. Deputy prosecuting attorney Maxwell objected-
HISTORY OF SALT LAKE CITY. 52^
He wanted the defendant to come into court to plead to the indictment- " The
people," he said, "demanded that Brigham Young should appear in court the
same as anybody else." The court granted the extension of time until the fol-
lowing Monday, but said the bail could not be taken until the defendant plead to
the indictment.
In the afternoon, Tuesday, October 3d, D. H. Wells, Mayor of Salt Lake
City, was arrested, upon a charge substantially the ?ame as that preferred against
President Young, but as the Mayor appeared in court bail was taken in his case
and fixed at ^5,000.
On Saturday, October 7th, Hon. Q. Cannon was arrested on the same charge.
The news of the arrest of the head of the Mormon Church flew over the
wires, and in their next issues the leading journals of the country gave importance
to the case.
The New York Herald oi Sunday, October ist, in its Salt Lake telegraphic
correspondence gave the following to the American public.
" BRIGHAM YOUNG HAS BEEN INDICTED
" (9« several charges, and it is also said that he is likely to be tried the coming week
on one of the indictments.
" THE MORMONS ARMING.
" The sale of muskets and ammunition continues, and it is reported that more arm
than those bought at the recent government auction sale at Camp Douglas has
been disposed of.
"EXCITEMENT AMONG THE SAINTS.
" The feeling of the Alormon people, as reflected by the church organs, the news and
HERALD, is unmistakeably rebellious and warlike. The news, the official or-
gan for Brigham Young, is extremely bitter atid offensive. It advocates
"OPEN RESISTANCE TO THE LAWS,
"Libels United States officials, and endeavors in every way to incite the people to
open rebellion. Under these influences many persons are sending off their
wives and children to points where there will be no danger. The church or-
gans are doing everything in their power to fire the Mormon heart, and the
result cannot but be disastrous if the fanatical element is once aroused and
fully loosed.^ ^
The foregoing were infamous lies, and were quickly after their publication so
declared by the associated press agent of Salt Lake City, whose telegrams appeared
in the papers of the country generally, and so far corrected the mischief done.
But the dispatches to the New York Herald ■show clearly the villainous conspiracy
that was being hatched at that time in Salt Lake City, in which the courts and the
prosecution were concerned, as well as the press agent of the New York Herald,
who was a willing tool in their hands. That special press correspondent of the
Herald was none other than Oscar G. Sawyer, managing editor of the Salt Lake
Tribune, and, as his telegram to the New York Herald will show, (bearing date
September 30th,) his news of the indictment and ot the business to follow was
given three days before that indictment was made public and Brigham Young ar-
26
jjo HISTORY OF SALT LAKE CITY.
rested. It signified that the special correspondent of the New York Herald had
the inside track of the court and grand jury room, just as Chief Justice McKean
had the editorial stool of the Salt Lake Tribune, at his pleasure, to write editorials
sustaining hi 5 own court decisions.
The New York Herald, in its issue of the 3d of October, said :
" Brigham Young was arrested yesterday by the United States marshal in Salt
Lake City on an indictment charging him, under the Territorial laws, with lewd
and lascivious conduct with sixteen different women, whom we may presume were,
according to his creed, his wives This brings the Mormon difficulty to a crisis,
and we have nothing to do but await his utter demolition iti the courts and the
immediate downfall of the last relic of barbarism in this free country.
The Leavenworth Bulletin of the 4th, said :
" The telegraph of this morning informs us of the arrest of Brigham Young
by the United States authorities in Utah, to answer an indictment for bigamy,
and the dispatch says, trouble is anticipated. It is feared that the followers of the
prophet will rise in arms to resist this indignity offered to the head of the church,
and therefore troDps are being sent to Salt Lake to be held in readiness to enforce
the laws. But these fears are altogether unnecessary ; the Mormons don't intend
to fight; neither do they intend to renounce polygamy. The arrest of Brigham
Young niay be the signal for the beginning of the exodus of the Saints from the
valley to some more remote corner of the globe, but not for armed resistance ;
they recognize the power of the National Government, and will not war against
it ; but they will not give up their 'peculiar institution ;' it is their faith and they
will not renounce it. The progress of civilization across the continent will soon
drive polygamy from the valleys and mountains of Utah, but it will ever have an
abiding place in the Mormon heart. The follower of Brigham, like the red son
of the forest, must soon retreat before the spirit of the age, but wherever he goes
he will take his wives with him."
The Sacramento Union of the 6th took quite a common sense view and
observed :
"The arrest of Brigham Young, and Daniel H. VV^ells, another of the high
functionaries in the Mormon Church, with a view to test the stability of polygamy
as a Mormon institution, excites more than usual attention. The public is intei"
ested in knowing what the upshot of the whole affair will be. There is a preju-
dice, whether well or ill founded it is not the province of this article to say,
against the Mormons as a sect, entertained by a majority of the people
of the United States, and it is only made stronger by their polygamous
doctrines audaciously declared to be sanctioned by revelation from heaven. The
prejudice is deep-rooted, and it asks for the conviction of the leaders of the Mor-
mons for practices which the civilization of the day does not approve.
" The demands of the whole world have nothing to do with the case of these
Mormons, and should have no weight when they are to be tried and gauged by estab-
lished la^v. They are entitled to the protection of all the law there is, and are amen-
ble only to the laws there are, and for misdeeds committed while those laws have ex-
isted. These Mormons went to a distant region as our forefathers fled from England,
and founded institutions of their own. They went where no State laws were
HISTORY OF SAL T LAKE CITY. jjr
made to extend, and the Constitution of the United States and laws made in ac'
cordance therewith have not in the past interfered with family relations. Mar-
riage is not one of the institutions the sovereignty of the United States takes
cognizance of and the declaration that the common law steps in, in the absence
of anything else, and makes the polygamist amenable, is made in ignorance of
the fact that the United States knows no common law, and it cannot be recog-
nized anywhere except by statute. Up to a recent period the Mormons having
full sway in Utah, no laws existed that militated against their peculiar institu-
tions, but were in consonance with them. ' Where no laws are, no offense
abounds.' An act of late date cannot go back of its enactment to punish. £x
post facto laws are prohibited, and we conceive that any act of Congress or of the
Territorial Legislature, cannot punish polygamy before the enactment.
''The leading Mormons now imder arrest seem to have been caught up under
an act to prohibit adultery, signed by Brigham Young himself. Now, that law is
to be interpreted by the spirit that dictated its passage. Manifestly not one who
voted for it, or Brigham Young, who approved it, recognized its applicability to
cases of polygamous practice. Their plural marriages were regarded as legiti-
mate, and the law was passed to favor such marriages and to discourage prostitution.
The spirit of that law has not been broken by the Mormon elders, in taking more
wives than one, and it is not in the duty of the judicial authorities of Utah to
give the law a different construction from that intended. If that law is all that
is relied on for conviction, Brigham and Wells may well entertain sanguine hopes
of non-conviction, if a fair trial be given them."
The Omaha Herald of the 6th said :
" In all the past agitations in Utah, relying upon the law-abiding character
cf a people by all odds the most orderly, and in most respects the best governed
whom we have ever known, we steadily refuse to accept the theory of what has
been called a Mormon war. But there is a crisis now impending there involving
imminent danger of outbreak into open violence and bloodshed. We do not say
that this will positively occur, but the danger of it is imminent, and it will not
surprise us at any moment to hear of such a disaster.
'* In view of the vast interests that would be involved in such an event, we
look upon it as a possibility, nay, an imminent probability, that is calculated to
excite the gravest apprehensions. The men who are bent on producing this ca-
lamity must be checked in their mad career, or it will be perfectly certain to oc-
cur. They can neither incarcerate nor hang Brigham Young, Daniel H. Wells,
George A. Smith, George Q. Cannon and other men of this stamp under the forms
of law, without raising a storm which even these men would be powerless to con-
trol, and which would be sure to result in a grea?;' destruction of property and
other interests, as well as of life. The mining and railroad interests would be
vastly damaged if not temporarily destroyed by such a conflict. And there is no
use in mincing matters. Plain talk is what is now wanted, and the authorities at
Washington should be promptly invoked to avert these possible disasters. They
concern great interests outside of Utah, as we shall most certainly ascertain if
matters there are pushed to extremities.
"The Mormon people are an honest people. They are terribly in earnest ia
5J2 HISTORY OF SALT LAKE CITY.
upholding their religion. Deluded they undoubtedly are, but this does not alter
the fact that no people round the earth are more ready to do, dare and die than
they are in defence of their religious faith and institutions. Driven to despair of
justice at the hands of their avowed enemies, there is not a true Mormon in all
Utah who would not put the torch to his own home, and return the garden which
his labors and sacrifices have produced, to its original wilderness of desert. Ar-
mies cannot prevent general ruin and desolation in that Territory, if ever the
flame of war is lighted."
In the afternoon of the appointed day, at about two o'clock, a number of car-
riages were seen coming briskly down the State Road from the President's office
and to turn into Second South Street driving towards Faust's Hall, where the
court was held. In those carriages were Brigham Young, John Taylor, George A.
Smith, Daniel H. Wells, George Q. Cannon and John Sharp, and other repre-
sentative Mormons. The President was evidently under the protecting care of an
escort of picked men whose presence in court would be unpronounced, but who
were not only the guardians of the life and person of Brigham Young, but of the
court itself, and the peace of the city at that critical moment.
The Salt Lake Tribune, in its leading editorial of the loth of October, under
the head of " Brigham Young in court,'' said :
" It was a decidedly novel spectacle yesterday afternoon to see the ' Lion of
the Lord ' sitting in the court room waiting for the coming of his earthly judge
to try him. It suggested the greater and more solemn occasion when he shall go
before the judge of all flesh to give an account of the deeds done in the body,
whether good or evil. If they be good, as his apologists and disciples affirm, then
there is no matter about the contrary opinions of enemies and charges of his ac-
cusers ; if they be evil, the mistaken confidence of his people will not shield him
from condemnation, nor will he be able to employ two archangels of the court of
heaven to defend him,
" There can be no doubt that the President of the Church of Jesus Christ of
Latter-day Saints made several very good points yesterday. His being there a quar-
ter of an hour before Judge McKean patiently waiting his coming, was very wisely
arranged and looked well on an occasion which opens a series of circumstances
destined to form a chapter of history. His appearance in court too — his quietude,
and an altogether seeming absence of a spirit chafing with rage at being brought
to trial, evidently made a good impression. If there were any malice against him
before, the sight of Brigham Young, at least practically acknowledging the authority
of the United States to try him, even for the highest crimes known in the law, and
the respectful bearing which he put on, disarmed much of that malice. The moral
effect of Brigham's appearance and the conviction of innocence which it pro-
duced, brought Major Hempstead to his defense, and he plead very powerfully in
his behalf, occasionally throwing a spice of wit at the prosecution. The editor
of the Vidette, who sought years ago to 'reconstruct and regenerate ' Bro. Brig-
ham, yesterday afternoon eloquently objected to the proposition to reconstruct and
regenerate the prophet and urged the indictment should be quashed.
"It is evident that President Young's thus coming into court, and his resolu-
tion to abide every trial, and contest the charges brought against him, constitu-
HISTORY OF SALT LAKE CITY. jjj
tionally through his counsel, was the very wisest course he could have taken. It
will divide people in his favor and bring many of the Gentiles to the help of Israel
even as it has already brought two of their lawyers to the defense of the prophet.
Perhaps there was more respect and sympathy felt for Brigham Young, when he
left the court-room, feeble and tottering from his recent sickness, having respect-
fully sat in the presence of his judge three-quarters of an hour after bail had been
taken, than ever there was before in the minds of the same men "
This case of the United States vs. Brigham Young for polygamy is rendered
more memorable, as well in the general history of Utah, as in the record of crim-
inal jurisprudence, by the famous opinion of Chief Justice McKean, overruling
the motion of the defendant's counsel to quash the indictment. We give the
document entire that it may be preserved to history.
"OPINION OF JUDGE McKEAN.
' ' On the motion to quash the indictment of Brigham lounq:
" Territory of Utah, Third District Court — ss.
"The People of the United States of Utah, vs. Brigham Young.
"September Term, 1871, Salt Lake City.
"Opinion of Chief Justice McKean. — Statement. — The defendant is in-
dicted for lewd and lascivious association and cohabitation with sixteen women, not
being married to them. The indictment is under the following statute :
" ' If any man or woman, not being married to each other, lewdly and lasciv-
iously associate and cohabit together.' ^ * -^ 'Every such person
so offending shall be punished by imprisonment not exceeding ten years, and not
less than six months, and fined not more than one thousand dollars, and not less
than one hundred dollars, or both, at the discretion of the court.' Laws of Utah
P- 53. Sec. 32.
" The indictment contains sixteen counts and charges as many offenses, ex-
tending from the year 1854 to the present time, there being no statute of limita-
tions. The defendant moves to quash the indictment on the following grounds :
" ist. That in said indictment, as appears upon the face thereof, this de
fendant is charged with sixteen different felonies, alleged to have been committed
at sixteen times and places, with sixteen different persons, the same not being
different parts of one offense, nor different statements of the same offense or such^
alleged felonies being in anywise connected with each other.
" 2nd. That each and every count in the same indictment, as appears upon
the face thereof, is of vague, uncertain and indefinite in the allegation as to the time
when said offenses, or any of them, were committed.
" R. N. Baskin, U. S. Attorney, and G. R. Maxwell, /or the J>eoJ>/e.
"Fitch & Mann, Hempstead & Kirkpatrick, Snow & Hoge, A. Miner, Le
Grand Young, and Hosea Stout, /or de/endant.
" McKean, C. J.
" Although the question of selecting, summoning and empanelling the grand
jury which presented this indictment, is not involved in the motion before the
court, one of the counsel for the defendant saw fit, in his remarks, to denounce the
jury as having been selected and empanelled in a manner unprecedented either in
534 HISTORY OF SALT LAKE CITY.
Europe or America. Had the counsel first investigated this question, he would have
found that when Brigham Young was Governor of the Territory, and his selected
friend, Judge Snow, now one of his counsel, sat both upon the district and the su-
preme bench of the Territory, grand jurors were for years selected, summoned and
empanelled precisely as they now are. And the counsel would also have found that
in repeated cases United States judges, even within the States, have sometimes
found the State statutes inapplicable, and have ordered juries to be procured sub-
stantially as they are procured in this Territory.
" But all this has nothing to do with the motion before the court which is to
quash the indictment — not the grand jury that found it. Let us return, therefore,
to the record.
" One of the counsel for the defendant has rightly said, that the court should
render such decision upon this motion as shall subserve the interests of the public
and the rights of the defendant. What are those interests? What are those
rights? It is agreed by counsel on both sides, that at common law the court
might either grant or refuse the motion, in the exercise of a sound discretion.
Many authorities were cited on the argument, sustaining this proposition. One
of the counsel for the defendant sought to account for the fact that there seems
to be a preponderance of authority against the granting ot a motion to quash, by
conjecturing that when such motions are granted they are not often reported. He
also urged that this court is not bound to respect any decisions rendered outside
of this Territory, unless they be rendered by the Supreme Court of the United
States.
"Without pausing now to consider those arguments, let us proceed to enquire
— what are the interests of the public and the rights of the defendant, as involved
in this motion ? It is unquestionably lo the interests of the public that a man
indicted for crime, if guilty should be convicted ; if innocent, acquitted ; and
that, too, with as little delay as may be consistent with the rights of the accused,
and with those safeguards which experience has approved. But will it promote
the interests and rights either of the public or of an accused citizen, to have many
indictments and many trials for offenses of the .same class, rather than one in-
dictment and one trial covering the whole? The court is bound to presume that
the evidence before the grand jury authorized, nay required, the sixteen charges
contained in this indictment. If now the court should grant the motion of the
defendant, and quash the indictment because it contained these sixteen counts,
the grand jury, which is not yet discharged, would be in duty bound to find six-
teen new indictments. Or if the court should compel the prosecution to elect to
go to trial on some one count only — striking out the others, then the grand jury
would be in duty bound to find fifteen new indictments. Thus, in either event,
the defendant would be subjected to sixteen indictments and sixteen trials. How
this could promote the rights and interests either of the public or of the defend-
ant, it is not easy to perceive ; nay, it is difficult to imagine anything more har-
assing and vexatious to the defendant. Indeed the learned counsel for the
defendant failed to show wherein this would be any favor to their client. Had
sixteen indictments been found in the first instance instead of one, could not the
defendant's counsel urge with irresistible arguments, that they should be consoli-
dated ?
1
HISTORY OF SAL T LAKE CITY. S35
" But is there not some legislation bearing upon the question? By act of
Congress, approved February 26, A. D. 1853, it is provided that 'whenever there
are or shall be several charges against any person or persons for the same act or
transaction, or for two or more acts or transactions connected together, or for
two or more acts or transactions of the same class of crimes or offenses which
may be properly joined, instead of having several indictments, the whole may be
joined in separate counts ; and if two or more indictments shall be found in such
cases, the court may order them consolidated. ' ( 10 Statues at Large, page 162 ;
I Brightly's Digest, page 223, Sec. 117. )
" What is the just construction of this statute ? Notwithstanding the mgen-
ious efforts of one of the counsel to induce the court to disregard the views, reason-
ings and opinions of other courts, still it may be prudent, first to listen to those
courts and see if their decisions be reasonable. The United States vs. Bickford
(4 Blatchford's circuit court rep. 337) the indictment contained one hundred
counts, each one being for a distinct felony, but of the same class. On motion
to quash, the court refused, holding that the joinder of the distinct felonies was
warranted by the statute quoted above. In the United States vs. O' Callahan (6
McLean's circuit court rep., 596), the same doctrine is held. These decisions
are entitled to great respect, having been rendered by eminent judges of the Su-
preme Court of the United States and their associate district judges. Indeed so
obvious, reasonable and just are they that, were the question anew one, I do not
see how I could reach a different conclusion.
" In considering the second ground of motion tD quash, the meaning of the
words 'associate ' and 'cohabit' must be carefully kept in mind. Webster defines
' associate' thus: To join in company, as a friend, companion, partner or confed-
erate. * * :}; It conveys the idea of intimate union. He thus defines
' cohabit ' : To dwell and live together as husband and wife ; usually or often
applied to persons not legally married.
" The offense charged in each count could not be predicated of any one
moment or instant of time. To commit such an offense, a continuous and some-
what protracted period of time is necessary. There is nothing in this objection.
" The learned counsel for the defendant need not be assured that any motion
which they may make in behalf of their client, shall be patiently heard and care-
iully considered. Nor does the court intend to restrict them in their arguments,
except upon questions already adjudicated. But let the counsel on both sides,
and the court also, keep constantly in mind the uncommon character of this case.
The supreme court of California has well said : ' Courts are bound to take no-
tice of the political and social condition of the country which they judicially rule.'
It is therefore proper to say, that while the case at bar is called, ' The People ver-
sus Brigharn Young,'' its other and real title is, ' Federal Aiiihorify versus Polyg-
amic Theocracy.'' The Government of the United States, founded upon a written
constitution, finds within its jurisdiction another government claiming to come
from God — imperium in imperio — whose policy and practices are, in grave partic-
ulars, at variance with its own. The one government arrests the other, in the
person of its chief, and arraigns it at this bar. A system is on trial in the person
of Brigham Young. Let all concerned keep this fact steadily in view ; and let
536 HIS TOR V OF SAL T LAKE Cll \.
that government rule without a rival which shall prove to be in the right. If the
learned counsel for the defendant will adduce authorities or principles from the
whole range of jurisprudence, or from mental, moral or social science, proving
that the polygamous practices charged in the indictment are not crimes, this
court will at once quash the indictment and charge the grand jury to find no more
of the kind.
'' The pending motion to quash is overruled."
CHAPTER LXI.
MASS MEETING CALLED BY THE MAYOR OF SALT LAKE CITY TO ASSIST THE
SUFFERERS OF THE CHICAGO FIRE. RESPONSE OF MORMON AND GEN-
TILE. DONATIONS LED BY BRIGHAM AND THE CITY. "ONE TOUCH OF
NATURE." THE TELEGRAPH TO PIOCHE COMPLETED. CONGRATULA-
TIONS AND THANKS OF CONNOR AND OTHERS TO BRIGHAM YOUNG.
At this moment there occurred in America one of those great calamities, which
though awful in its consequences to a hundred thousand human beings, sounded
to its depths the great heart of mankind, and made every city in the Union re-
sponsive to the call of our National brotherhood and sisterhood. It was the
Chicago fire. The Mayor of Salt Lake City immediately issued the following :
"PROCLAMATION,
" The news having been confirmed of the terrible conflagration by which a
great portion of the city of Chicago has been reduced to ashes, and one hundred
thousand people have been stripped of their homes, clothing, and means of sub-
sistence, therefore,
"I, Daniel H. Wells, Mayor of Salt Lake City, by the wish of the city coun-
cil of said city, call upon all classes of the people to assemble in mass meeting to-
morrow, Wednesday, October nth, at one o'clock p. m. in the old tabernacle in
this city, for the purpose of making subscriptions and taking such measures as are
demanded for the relief of our fellow citizens who are sufferers by this dreadfu
'visitation.
"Daniel H. Wells, Mayor.
"October loth, 1871."
Just at this moment there arrived in Salt Lake City (October loth,) the Hon,
O. P. Morton, U. S. senator from Indiana, one of the most prominent men of the
nation, accompanied by his wife and child, Maior Beeson, W. P. .Fishback, wife
and child, W. Clinton Thompson, Mrs. Lippincott (Grace Greenwood) and Dr.
■ Clark, brother of the last named lady. Their coming at that juncture had there-
after considerable influence in Utah affairs. Senator Morton and his companions
HISTORY OF SALT LAKE CITY. 531
setting their faces sternly against the judicial procedure of those times, while
Grace Greenwood joined with our citizens in raisingsubscriptions for the Chicago
sufferers.
In pursuance of the call of Mayor Wells, a large number of citizens met at
the old tabernacle, when Mayor Wells was called to the chair and Hon. George
Q. Cannon appointed secretary. The following committee was also appointed
by the meeting, to receive subscriptions from the citizens of Salt Lake and the ad-
joining mining camps: John T. Caine, David E. Buell, Warren Hussey, S.Sharp
Walker, A. S. Mann, Theodore McKean, William Jennings and William Calder,
Hon. William H. Hooper and Hon. Thomas Fitch made appealing addresses, and
then Hon. Frank Fuller stated that he was authorized to say that a lady of great
literary distinction, Mrs. Lippincott — Grace Greenwood — would gladly contribute
the proceeds of a lecture to the fund, which announcement was received with ap-
plause, and the distinguished lady invited to the stand by Mayor Wells to make a
few remarks. She said substantially " that the good book informs us that out of
the abundance of the heart the mouth speaketh, but she could not express the
feelings of her heart in view of the terrible calamity which has afflicted Chicago,
where she had many generous friends. She would like to do something to relieve this
sorely stricken people. She rejoiced to see people of all opinions coming together to
carry out the common obligations of humanity. This would do much to heal all
these unhappy differences ; (referring to our local prosecutions). It seems to be
lime for some women to speak of the poor children dying of exposure in the
streets of Chicago. But I cannot talk of them. You gentlemen all know what
is due to the gravity of such an occasion."
Mayor Wells said that the amounts subscribed should be forwarded to him at
the City Hall at once, in order that he might place it in bank subject to the order
of the Mayor of Chicago. He also said that a benefit would be given at the
theatre in aid of the fund. Subscriptions were then announced led off by Brigham
Young, ^1,000; Salt Lake City,. $1,500 ; Daniel H. Wells, $500; William Jen-
nings, $500; William H. Hooper, $500; Buel & Bateman $500, and a number
more of lesser sums, amounting to ^6,286, subscriptions donated at this meeting
alone and nearly all from Mormon hands.
The Masonic Brotherhood al.>^o inaugurated a subscription; other public meet-
ings were held for a similar purpose ; a large benefit was given at the Salt Lake
theatre ; Grace Greenwood gave her lecture, realizing for the fund nearly $300.
Altogether quite a handsome sum, about $20,000, was gathered in Salt Lake City
to relieve the Chicago sufferers.
Mrs. Lippincott seems to have been both surprised and considerably affected
by the hearty manifestation of a deep human nature during the rage of a "Chris-
tian" crusade against them, and she wrote to the New York Herald z.s follows :
" In the old tabernacle, yesterday, we attended a mass meeting, called by the
Mayor, to raise money for the relief of the Chicago sufferers. Here we saw
Brigham Young, and I must confess to a great surprise.
" I had heard many descriptions of his personal appearance, but I could not
recognize the picture so often and elaborately painted. I did not see a common,
gross looking person, with rude manners, and a sinister, sensual countenance, but
27
^jS HISTORY OF SALT LAKE CITY.
a well dressed, dignified old gentleman, with a pale, mild face, a clear grey eye, a
pleasant smile, a courteous address, and withal a patriarchal, paternal air, which of
•course, he comes rightly by. In short, I could see in his face or manner none ot
the profligate propensities, and the dark crimes charged against this mysterious,
masterly, many-sided and many-wived man. The majority of the citizens of Salt
Lake present on this occasion were Mormons, some of them the very polygamists
arraigned for trial, and it was a strange thing to see these men standing at bay, with
'the people of the United States' against them, giving generously to their enemies.
It either shows that they have underlying their fanatical faith and Mohammedan
practices a better religion of humanity, or that they understand the wisdom of a
return of good for evil just at this time. It is either rare Christian charity or mas-
terly worldly policy. Or, perhaps, it is about half-and-half Human nature is a
good deal mixed out here. But I do not suppose it will matter to the people
of dear, desolate Chicago what the motive was that prompted the generous offer-
ings from this fair city among the mountains. The hands stretched out in help,
whether polygamic or monogamic, are to them the hands of friends and brothers.
Certain it is that the Saints seemed to give gladly and promptly according to their
means. President Young gave in his thousand and the elders their five hundred
each as quietly as the poor brethren and sisters their modest tribute of fractional
currency. ■ It is thought that Utah will raise at least $20,000.
"There is to me, I must acknowledge, in this prompt and liberal action of
the Mormon people, something strange and touching. It is Hagar ministering to
Sarah ; it is Ishmael giving a brotherly lift to Isaac."
Coupled with this instance of ready and generous help extended to the Chicago
sufferers by our citizens, which so warmed the hearts of Senator Morton, Grace
Greenwood and their party toward the Mormon community, may be recorded here
one of the many services which Salt Lake city has contributed to the settling and
growth of the Pacific States and Territories. It will be remembered by the
reader, that not only was the virgin city of the Great Salt Lake, in 1S49, the half-
way house of the Nation in her peopling of the west, after Mormon shovels under
their foreman, Thomas Marshal, had turned up the gold of California, but that
Utah for years afterwards aided in settling and feeding the younger Territories
around her, which had grown up since the founding of Salt Lake City, and which
her own colonizing activities had nursed in their infancy. As noted in the early
chapters of this history, in 1854-5, the Mormon colonists pushed forward to the
western frontier of this Territory and settled a large portion of the country now
known as Nevada. These under Orson Hyde organized the whole of that district
under the name of Carson County, which county was represented by Hon. Enoch
Reese, a Mormon pioneer merchant. The iirst house in Genoa was built by Col-
John Reese of Great Salt Lake City, and was called Reese's station. Some of our
principal Salt Lake merchants were also the first merchants of Nevada : William
Nixon, Joseph R. Walker (in the employ of Nixon), William Jennings, Christopher
Layton and a number of others, first class men in the formation of a new colony,
went out from Salt Lake City, to establish Carson County; and now in 1871, our
city continued its good service to Nevada in extending to that State its local tele-
graph line.
HISTORY OF SALT LAKE CITY. jj9
The extension of the Deseret Telegraph line to Pioche, Nevada, was opened
October 23d, 1871, with the following congratulatory messages:
" Pioche, Nev.^ Oct. 23, 2:20 p.m.
^'■President Brigham Young — We thank you for your enterprise in placing us
in telegraphic communication with the outer world.
"P. Edward Connor, Charles Forman, M. Fuller, B. F. Sidis,
Harvey J. Thornton, C. A. Lightner, D. W. Perley."
'■' Pioche, 23.
^^ President B. Young — We opened the office here at noon to-day. Josiah
Rogerson, from the Ogden office, is operator. The citizens are out in full force,
greeting the event most heartily. Firing cannon, speechifying with all the conso-
nants, are the order of the day. With much esteem,
"A. M. Musser."
"■ Pioche, 23.
''Hon. W. Kirkpatrick—l send you greetings by telegraph. The Deseret
Telegraph line is completed and we feel that we have stepped into the world.
" Harry J. Thornton."
" Salt Lake, 23.
'' Col. Harry J. Thornton, Pioche, Nev. — Congratulations in return upon
your escape from barbarism to civilization.
'' W. Kirkpatrick."
"Pioche, Nev., 23.
" Gov. Woods, Salt Lake — The wires of the Deseret Telegraph Company
reached here this morning. The people of Pioche greet their neighbors of Salt
Lake.
" P. E. Conner and others."
" Pioche, 23.
"i/. 6". Grant, President United States of America, Washington, D. C. — ^
We are to-day placed in telegraphic communication with the outer world. We
greet you and through you our brethren of the great nation of which you are
chief.
" P. E. Connor and others."
" Pioche, 23.
" Gov. Badley, Carson, Nev. — The Deseret Telegraph Company has to-day
opened communication with this place. We congratulate you on the event. It
will greatly benefit our mining camp now so prosperously revived from the fire,
and shipping such large quantities of bullion. We do not feel we are any longer
the most distant part of your State.
" D. W. Perley, M. Fuller, and others."
It has b^en often said — more often perhaps by the Gentile than the Mor-
mon— that the footmarks and finger marks of Brigham Young are found everywhere
in these western States and Territories. The Deseret Telegraph line was Brigham
Young's offspring, and General Connor and the principal men of Pioche, very
properly said to liim, "We thank you for your enterprise in placing us in tele-
graphic communication with the outer world."
540 HISTORY OF SALT LAKE CITY.
CHAPTER LXII.
THE HAWKINS TRIAL. HIS POLYGAMY CONSTRUED INTO THE CRIME OF
ADULTERY. FOUND GUILTY AND SENTENCED FOR THREE YEARS TO THE
PENITENTIARY. A CHARACTERISTIC SENTENCE. 7 HE AMERICAN PRESS
OX THE POLYGAMOUS TRIAI-S.
The action of the courts was resumed. The case of Thomas Hawkins came
next. He was tried under the same Territorial statute under which Brigham
Young and others were indicted. His crime was to be construed adultery by Sec.
32 of the statute quoted in a former chapter. A review of this case will be found
in a subsequent chapter in a speech of his counsel, Hon. Thomas Fitch. Suffice
here to say that he was found guilty, and on the 28th of October, 187 1, sentence
was pronounced by Chief Justice McKean as follows :
" Th.omas Hawkins, I am sorry for you, very sorry. You may not think so
now, but I shall try to make you think so by the mercy which I shall show you.
You came from England to this country with the wife of your youth. For many
years you were a kind husband and a kind father. At length the evil spirit of
polygamy tempted and possessed you ; then happiness departed from your house-
hold, and now, by the complaint of your faithful wife and the verdict of a law-
abiding jury, you stand at this bar a convicted criminal.
"The law gives me large discretion in passing sentence upon you. I might
both fine and imprison you, or I might fine you only, or imprison you only. I
mif^ht imprison you twenty years and fine you one thousand dollars. I cannot
imprison you less than three years nor fine you less than three hundred dollars.
It is right that you should be fined, among other reasons to help to defray the ex-
pense of enforcing the laws. But my experience in Utah has been such that were
I to fine you only, I am satisfied that the fine would be paid out of other funds
than yours, and thus you would go free, ab.solutely free from all punishment ; and
then those men who mislead the people would make you and thousands of others
believe that God had sent the money to pay the fine, that God had prevented the
court from sending you to prison, that by a miracle you had been rescued from
the authorities of the United States. I must look to it that judgment give
no aid and comfort to such men. I must look to it that my judgment be not so
severe as to seem vindictive, and not so light as to seem to. trifle with justice.
This community ought to begin to learn that God does not interpose to rescue
criminals from the consequences of their crimes, but that on the contrary he so
orders the affairs of his universe that, sooner or later crime stands face to face with
justice and justice is the master.
"I will say here and now, that whenever your good behavior and the public
good shall justify me in doing so, I will gladly recommend that you be pardoned.
HIS TOR V OF SAL T LAKE CITY. j-.^ t
Thomas Hawkins, the judgment uf the court is that you be fined five hundred dol-
lars, and that you be imprisoned at hard labor for tlie term of three years."
The opinions of the American press relative to these trials, should be pre-
served to history ; but only a {^s\ of the mass can be quoted in illustration here.
The Sacramento Union said : "The conviction of Hawkins, at Salt Lake, for
illicit cohabitation with women other than his first wife, means the conviction of
the whole polygamous set of Mormons from Brigham Young down to the lowest in
authority who is able to keep more than one woman. No doubt such is the object
of the prosecution by the governmental officials. The end of the affair is not,
however, with the decision of a court in Utah. The case will go to the Supreme
Court of the United States for final settlement. If the reports have been correct,
the prosecution of the Mormons for polygamy — for that is what it means — is un-
dertaken, not under a statute of the United States, but a law of Utah, signed by
Brigham Young himself in 1852, and which was not designed to cover a case like
that which the polygamous elders of the Mormon church present. How they can
be held amenable under a statute of their own not intended to be applicable in
cases of plural marriages has not been explained. The intention of the act must
be known to know its meaning. If there is any other law by which these sultans
of the American desert can be puni^-hed, it would seem that the United States
courts ought to resort to that as sure to bring conviction and punishment. The
arraignment under a law that was clearly not intended to strike at polygamy is a
virtual admission that there is nothing better in law to which the authorities can
go. The proposition is not disputed that the Territorial law was not intended to
forbid or punish polygamy, and how it can be used in such cases as that of Brigham
Young has not been elucidated, except that the prosecution is only intended as an
annoyance, or to provoke hostilities, knowing well that the weaker and the despised
will be the sufferers in the end.
"As we have said in former articles we have no sympathy with the peculiar
institutions of the Mormons, nor much respect for their pretended faith. But
laws are laws, and should be executed according to their real intent and meanincr.
* * * We very much fear that this raid on the institutions of the Mor-
mons is dictated more by popular hate than springing from an honest desire to rid
the Territory of Utah of an institution that has not the sanction of the civilized
world."
The Carson Register '&2\(1 in its review of the case :
"To convict Hawkins it was necessary to give a statute a different meaniii"^
from that intended by its authors, and to impute an evil intention where the re-
verse was known to exist. The presiding judge in excluding all Mormons from
the grand and petit juries, cited California authorities to show that courts are bound
to take judicial cognizance of the political and social condition of the countrv
which they judicially rule. If this was true in empaneling the jury, it is difficult
to perceive by what logic the judge refused to take cognizance of the political and
social condition of the country when Hawkins married his second wife. What,
ever opinion one may entertain respecting the Mormons, or polygamy, no un-
biased observer can read the proceedings of this trial as detailed by the journals
342 HISTOR\ OF SALT LAKE CITY.
of Salt Lake, without feeling that the court was organized to convict without much
regard to law. -J(- % -^
" If the verdict and the rulings of the court are sustained, this case is likely
to mark the beginning of a social revolution in Utah and the breaking up of this
extraordinary society ; but even this result will scarcely offset the judicial usurpa-
tions by which it is brought about."
But the Sacramento Union and the Carson Register were in error relative to
the power of the defendants to appeal their cases to the Supreme Court of the
United States. At that date there was no such power of appeal. Had there been
the cases of President Young and others of the Mormon leaders would have been
very different. Mr. Fitch boldly proclaimed to the country that, in the absence
of the power of appeal, for Brigham Young and his compeers to go into Judge
McKean's court was to go " not to justice, but to doom."
The Albany Law Journal published in Judge McKean's own State, and
edited by a legal gentleman who claimed long personal acquaintance with Judge
McKean said :
'• The indictment of Brigham Young and the conviction of Hawkins were
brought about under a statute against adultery and lascivious conduct passed by an
exclusively Mormon legislature in 1852. That the act was intended to cover
cases of the kind no one believes, and it may be fairly questioned whether polyg-
amy can be treated as a crime under it. * =^ * That Chief Justice
McKean is a pure and honest man we know, having known him for years before
his elevation to the bench, but we know him also to be a man of strong convictions
and unyielding prejudices. These latter qualities he has displayed in his present
position scarcely becoming the ermine. Justice ought to be severe and awful, too,
but it ought at the same time to be impartial — to sit calm and unmoved above the
storms of prejudice and passion that rage beneath. His decisions we do not ques-
tion, but the language accompanying those decisions have been often so intemperate
and partial as to remind one of those ruder ages when the bench was but a focus
where gathered and reflected the passions of the people.
"Of the Mormon people much may be said in praise as well as in blame.
-They have, no doubt, trampled upon one of the strongest traditions of civilization,
but they have also done some service to the State. Driven from one point to
another by mobs as bad as the worst of them, they at length made a hegira quite
as remarkable as the 'Flight of the Tartar tribes,' to the wilderness of Deseret
and established a commonwealth which has prospered almost beyond example.
Aside from polygamy they obeyed the laws quite as well as most new western com-
munities, and they have never failed to respond promptly to any calls made upon
them to aid in defending the country or in prosecuting its wars. For a quarter of
a century their peculiar institutions have been tolerated by the Government ; so
long, indeed, as to justify them in assuming tliat they h:id become legilized by
prescription. In view of these facts we have no hesitation in saying that the jus-
tice that is now meted out to them should be tempered with mercy, and that
neither the chief justice nor his followers will gain an imperishable renown by an
uncompromising crusade."
HISTORY OF SALT LAKE CITY. s-^3
The Methodist Church on its part without reluctance owned the parentage of
the crusade against the Mormons. Zions Hetala, their official organ, said :
" We find Brigham Young was not so far out of the way in declaring that the
present judicial movement of the Government against his system, and even against
his own immaculate person, is due to the Methodists; Dr. Newman's argument in the
Temple began the war. Our missionaries organized it by fortifying themselves on
the field, and the camp meeting brethren gave it the last stroke before the arm of
the State was raised to carry out its just decrees. We have seen members from
the committee and from Judge McKean, the brave man who is doing this work
confirmatory of these facts. One of the ministers writes that during the delivery of
the Rev. W. H. Boole's powerful sermon on polygamy in the presence of Brigham
Young, Orson Pratt, George Q. Cannon and three thousand Mormons, the entire
mass literally shook and quailed under the mighty power of God."
Had the Methodist Z/'^J^V ^.fr^A/ designed irony it could have more aptly
said, these Mormon elders " literally shook and quailed in the presence of the
Rev. W. H. Boole as Brigham Young did in the presence of Dr. Newman, and as
did Orson Pratt when he discussed the subject of polygamy with the Chaplain of
the Senate, and provoked him by a signal defeat to vent his evangical wrath in this
crusade."
CHAPTER LXIII.
ARREST OF MAYOR DANIEL H. WELLS ON A CAPITAL CHARGE. HE GIVES
HIMSELF UP. FOR THE SAFETY OF THE CITY AND IS SENT A PRISONER TO
CAMP DOUGLAS. STRUCK BY HIS CONDUCT CHIEF JUSTICE McKEAN, 1;n-
EXPECTED BY ALL, GIVES THE MAYOR BAIL. PRESIDENT YOUNG GOES
SOUTH FOR HIS HEALTH. THE U. S. ATTORNEY CLAIMS THE FORFEIT
OF HIS BONDS. SENATOR MORTON IN COURT. HE CENSURES McKEAN'S
PROCEEDINGS AND CRE.\TES A RE-ACTION IN THE PUBLIC MIND.
On Saturday afternoon, October 28tb, 1S71, Daniel H. Wells, mayor of Salt
Lake City, was arrested for the alleged crime of murder. Hosea Stout and Wni.
H. Kimball were arrested on a similar charge. The indictment charged Daniel H.
Wells, Hosea Stout and others, with having been accessory in the killing of one
Richard Yates at the mouth of Echo Canyon. By his own confession, the notor-
ious Bill Hickman was the man who did, in fact, commit the murder; but he
sought, or was induced by the prosecution, upon the promise of immunity for all
his crimes, to implicate Mayor Wells and others ; and it was upon the indictment
found through the testimony of this notorious murderer that Mayor Wells was
arrested.
The facts were briefly as follows : The said Richard Yates, during the period
of the "Buchanan vvar," was taken a prisoner as a spy. He fell into the hands
544 HISTORY OF SALT LAKE CITY.
of the notorious Hickman to guard; but it is thought that the murderer, knowing
or believing that Yates had considerable money in his possession, at night mur-
dered his victim to obtain it.
During tlie session of the court, on the same afternoon of the arrest, the
marshal came in accompanied by Daniel H. Wells and his counsel Mr. Fitch,
who asked the judge when he could hear an application for bail.
Attorney Maxwell said the indictment was for murder in the first degree,
which was not a bailable offense. Mr. Fitch said the court is the judge of the
case, and may release the defendant, or not, after examining the evidence as to
the probabilities of the crime. The court fixed Monday at lo o'clock a. m., as
the time for hearing the case. Subsequently Hosea Stout was brought into court
under arrest, on the same charge, and the same order taken as to his case. The
gentlemen were conveyed prisoners to Camp Douglas in the evening.
On Monday morning, October 30, there was a large attendance in the Third
District Court, when the prisoners, Daniel H. Wells and Hosea Stout were brought
into court. Mr. Fitch stated that the case would be argued on an application to
the court for a writ of habeas corpus to bring the prisoners before the court to be
held to bail. Mr. Hempstead argued that the grand jury erred in charging the
defendants with murder in the first degree, which was properly the province
of the petit jury, and that it was within the discretion of the court by the rules,
practices and precedents of common law to admit to bail in capital cases, except
where the evidence of guilt is clear and the presumption strong; that the princi-
pal witness in the case is one of the parties charged in the indictment, and by his
own confession the perpetrator of a most bloodthirsty and diabolical murder. He
also called attention to the position of the defendant. Wells, as Mayor of Salt
Lake City ; of his knowledge of this indictment for a month past by common
rumor, and that there had been abundant time and opportunity for escape if it had
been desirable.
Mr. Baskin followed, insisting that bail should not be given, and Mr. Fitch
was about to close the argument in support of the writ when Judge McKean in-
terposed as follows :
" Without intending to have it regarded as a precedent in any other case, I
will hold that I have power to issue a habeas corpus and bring these prisoners
before me, and as they have come in, being brought here by an officer during the
progress of the argument, I will regard them as being here on the return of a
writ of habeas corpus. I will therefore say, that although I was well aware before
this argument, that in Great Britain and the United States a prisoner charged
by indictment with a capital offence is almost never admitted to bail, still I was
willing to be convinced that in this case it would be right to depart from the
almost universal rule. Not only willing but anxious to be so convinced; nay,
more, I have tried to convince myself by arguments in addition to those of the
counsel that it would be right and expedient to do so in this case.
" In the case of the people against Daniel H. Wells, his counsel properly say
that the defendant is the mayor of the city, and is at the head of the police force.
Camp Douglas, the place where prisoners awaiting trial in this court are usually
detained, is some miles distant from the City hall, and from the residence of the
HISTORY 01 SALT LAKE CITY. j^j
mayor. In that case it would be practically impossible for the mayor to attend to
any of the duties of his office, and therefore he could not be held responsible for
the quietude and good order of the city. I will therefore admit him to bail.
( Applause in the court. )
" In the case of the people against Stout, I will further consider the application
and the arguments, and will reach and announce my conclusion hereafter. "
Mr. Maxwell said the prosecution would like to be heard on the question
of the amount of bail, and he would fix it at ^500,000.
The Judge replied, " No, the defendant will give bail in the sum of ^50,000."
Mr. Baskin asked, if it should be found that the court had not power to
grant bail in capital offenses, whether the bond taken would be valid and binding.
The Judge said that he would not allow his decision in this case to be con-
sidered or quoted as a precedent.
Mr. Fitch stated that he would not pursue the argument in the case of Hosca
Stout, as he had intended, but leave it with the court which had so promptly set-
tled the case of Daniel H. Wells.
The decision of Judge McKean, to give bail to Mayor Wells, astonished the
entire city both Mormon and non-Mormon. There was probably not a single
soul ni the city who expected such a decision, excepting the accused himself, who
seems at the moment to have risen to that sublime pitch of trust in Providence
that he would be delivered, which possess some men in the supreme moments of
their life. It was Mayor Wells himself who prompted Mr. Fitch to apply to the
court of Judge McKean for a writ oi habeas corpus to be brought before the court to
be held to bail. Mr. Fitch said it would be in vain ; Judge McKean would not grant
the bail ; but the Mayor persisted in the inward prompting that "the Lord would
interpose" and thus spurred by the faith and judgment of the prisoner, counsellor
Fitch sat down Saturday night and all day Sunday to his work and prepared one
of the most masterly efforts of his life, which, strange to say. Judge McKean pre-
vented in its delivery by granting the bail.
The applause in the court was as genuine as the surprise was great, from non-
Mormon as well as Mormon. There were, perhaps, not half a dozen persons in
the court who were dissatisfied with the act of Judge McKean that day, and the
chief of these were the U. S. prosecuting attorneys. The decision of the Judge
once made, the majority felt that the act was right ; for, however easy it is to lead
men away, through their prejudices and passions, by a quick instinct of nature,
they realize when their leading man unexpectedly pursues a rigiit course. But
Baskin and Maxwell were overwhelmed with astonishment and anger, as their con-
duct showed. Maxwell, in his demand for the bail to be fixed at half a million
dollars, was at once savage and preposterous, and his manner and abrupt state-
ment to the court that the prosecution would like to be heard on the question of
bail, was not the conduct or interruption of his will that James B. McKean usu-
ally tolerated, as his short, sharp reply evinced — " No, the defendant will give
bail in the sum of ^50,000 " — enough, surely, but ten times less than the malice
of the prosecution demanded. Indeed, Baskin probably would of himself
not have consented to bail at a million. When the decision was rendered his coun-
tenance changed to a leaden hue, and his enquiry, hard and biting with sup-
as
5^6 HIS TOR Y OF SAL T LAKE CI 7 Y.
pressed passion — "If it should be found that the court had not power to grant
bail in capital offenses, whether the bond taken would be valid and binding;" was
very much in the spirit of a rebuke to the Judge for failing the prosecution in so
important a case as the commitment of Daniel II. Wells, one of the Presidents of
the Mormon Church, and lieutennat-general of the Nauvoo Legion, to prison for
murder for a lengthy period. Judge McXean saw the Mayor of Salt Lake City
at the bar, and the peace and safety of the city resting upon him, and wisely
made that his own plea for bail, added to the plea of counsel ; but Mr. Biskin
saw the Mormon leader, whose courage in going into the lion's den was behind
the win of Brigham Young, supporting the whole Mormon community at that
moment, just as it had done in 1857, during the Buchanan war.
General Wells, 'however, would have been perfectly safe at Camp Douglas, ii>
the hands of that gallant, honorable soldier. General Morrow, whose guest he was
on the Sabbath, rather than a piisoner, and at whose table he ate with the General
and Mrs. Morrow, at whose respectful request the honored prisoner asked a bles-
sing over the food.
But as before observed, Judge McKean on this occasion took the proper view
of the case of bail, for once at least upon such a charge. The peace, good order
and safety of Salt Lake City needed the presence of its mayor, as Mr. Baskin
would have found in those days, had the acts of Carthage jail been attempted
with these Mormon leaders.
The prosecution had during the past months given a fair prelimmary to such
business, and righteous American statesmen and the soundest American journalists,
as we have seen, had not hesitated to say as much.
On Monday, November 20th, the case was called up in court of the People
vs. Brigham Young, sen.
Mr. Biskin said the prosecution were ready to proceed with the case.
Counsel for defence asked for the postponement of the case till the March
term, according to previous expectation, based upon the promise of the court, im-
plying the grant of time to both sides till the March term.
Mr. Baskin said it was known only from public rumor that the defendant had
gone outside the jurisdiction of this court, and the prosecution should demand a
showing and a forfeiture of his bonds in case of non appearance.
Mr. Hempstead said President Young will be ready for trial whenever the
court shall set down his case ; with the understanding of his counsel that a reason-
able time would be granted for trial, the defendant had taken his usual winter
journey to the south for protection of his health against the severity of the climate.
Mr. Baskin rebuked the counsel for so advising the defendant.
The court said it would take the request for further time into consideration.
The case was called up again on Monday, the 27th.
Baskin said he should insist upon the default of the recognizance.
Judge Snow said the counsel for defendant would only ask a reasonable time
to bring him here.
Baskin — " I insist that I am now entitled to a forfeiture of the bond."
Mr. Hempstead said that if the gentleman was really honest in his desire to
have the forfeiture of the bail of the defendant, he (Hempstead) could not believe
HISTORY OF SALT LAKE CITY. ^47
it was for the purpose of having it heralded to the world that Brigham Young had
forfeited his bail and fled from justice. The counsel reviewed the ineffectual at-
tempts which the defense had made early in the term to have a day fixed for trial.
No bail had ever been forfeited under such circumstances. No defendant is ex-
pected to appear in court room from day to day to await trial. The forfeiture
would be unjust under such conditions. If the court could not continue the case
until the March term, the defense would ask for a day to be. set as far in advance
as possible.
Baskin contended that the bail had been legally forfeited, and that this case
should be treated by the same rules as any other case. The defendant was bound
to hold himself within the jurisdiction of the court, but since the indictments for
several murders had been found against him he had disappeared. According to
his counsel's statement he was three hundred miles away, and he may be out of
the jurisdiction of the Territory. He had not only technically but literally vio-
lated his bond, and the forfeiture was asked because it was a legal right. The
court cannot take the word of the counsel to account for the absence of a defen-
dant who has absconded. The counsel has no legal right to advise a prisoner to
leave the jurisdiction of the court. The prosecution would be ready to open up
when the accused should appear and purge himself of contempt.
The judge said he would not grant the motion but fix Monday next, Decem-
ber 4th, at ID o'clock A. M. as the day for the trial of the case.
The counsel for the defendant said they could not probably be ready at that
time and asked for two weeks. The defendant could not be brought to the city
in a week. The Judge said the counsel should have considered these things be-
fore, and cut off all further objections with the remark: "The day of the trial
has been fixed for a week from to-day,"
On the day set for the trial, the new U. S. district attorney, Bates, was pres-
ent, and, having presented his commission, took the oath of office.
In the case of the People vs. Brigham Young, on motion of Mr, Bates, de-
fendant was called, and, not appearing, a motion was made to forfeit his recogni-
zance, against which Mr. Hempstead entered his protest.
Finally the Judge adjourned the court to the 9th of January, refusino- to
grant the motion to forfeit the recognizance of defendant; and Mr, Bates stated
that on the 9th of January he would call up the case of the People vs. Brio-ham
Young, and press it for trial.
At about this time a change came in the action of the department of justice
in these Utah prosecutions, and fair minded men of the nation demanded of the
U. S. Government that it should stop the disgraceful and illegal proceedings of
McKean's court. The influence of Senator Morton was probably the first and
most potent brought to bear in this matter, and immediately thereafter Senator
Lyman Trumbull threw the weight of his name and statesmanship in the same
direction, which resulted in Baskin and Maxwell being superseded by the appoint-
ment of a new U. S. district attorney and earnest efforts by the Attorney General
Akerrnan and Solicitor General Bristow to purge the U. S. courts of Utah of the
flagrant misrule that had brought the censure of Republican statesmen of the
character of Morton and Trumbull, and finally resulted in the setting aside of two
j4^ HJS TOR 1 OF SALT LAKE CI 7 V.
years of McKean's doings, as illegal, by the august decision of the Supreme Court.
The arrival of Senator Morton and party in Salt Lake City has been noted, and
the part which Grace Greenwood took with our citizens in the relief of the Chicago
sufferers, sufficiently suggest the free and frank exchange of views that passed be-
tween Senator Morton and his friends with the Mormon leaders and their course
relative to the pending affairs of Utah. During the argument of the motion to
quash the indictment against Brigham Young, Senator Morton, being a cripple,
was carried up into Faust's Hall, where McKean was holding court, and where
Newman had preached to a Methodist congregation on polygamy. On this oc-
casion (the writer was present) Senator Morton had an excellent opportunity to
appreciate the doings of the court and the methods ot its law officers; for though
the judge realized in whose presence he sat and was quite enibarrassed occasion-
ally, the prosecuting attorneys were not at all abashed but rather did their very
best after their peculiar style, while Hon. Thomas Fitch and Charles H. Hemp-
stead, the former U. S. prosecuting attorney, were eloquent and legitimate in their
defence of President Young as against his indictment upon the statute in question,
fi)r unlawful cohabitation, while they confessed rather than hid the fact that their
client's case was that of polygamy. Fitch's argument was a masterly legal effort
and a magnificent display of oratory.
Something of the results of this afternoon in court, with Chief Justice
McKean and his prosecuting attorneys in the presence of Senator Morton and his
friends, will be appreciated by the reading of the following letter from the pen
of the Morton visiting party .
"On the Pacific Road,
" October 12, 1871.
"At 2 p. M. to-day we bade farewell to the Saints and sinners of the happy
valley, and were soon whirled away to Ogden, where our car was attached to the
Central Pacific train for San Francisco. The pending and impending troubles in
Utah absorb all other considerations concerning this region, and I shall make
them the subject of this letter, and try to view the Mormon question, as it is now
presented to the public from the standpoint of the various classes immediately
interested in its solution.
" The Mormons of the Territory number nearly one hundred thousand souls,
and in all that pertains to their material well being are a thriving, prosperous
people. They came to Utah twenty-five years ago, when it was IMexican terri-
tory, and after a toilsome march, during which they suffered great privations, they
pitched upon Salt Lake Valley as their home. To-day the whole valley is a gar-
den, and the small band that camped here have become a great people. They
have lived at peace with the Indians; have maintained good order among themselves;
they are sober, industrious, economical ; they have no gambling hells, no houses
of prostitution, no alms houses, no beggars, no vagrants; and, barring their pe-
culiar institution and its deplorable results, are a model people. Their isolation
for many years from the society of other peoples, compelled them to adopt the
co-operative plan of industry and manufactures, and the fruit of their labors has
accumulated in their own hands, until millions of wealth in lands, flocks, cities,
villages, manufactures and merchandise are now owned and controlled by them.
r
HISTORY OF SALT LAKE CITY. S49
It is quite right for Mormons to feel that they have a right to the peaceful enjoy-
ment of these results — achieved as they have been, by their own unaided efforts —
in tlie face of continued and bitter persecution, and in spite of obstacles that
would have daunted a people less courageous, or if you please, less fanatical than
they. Recent events have convinced the Mormons that there is a settled purpose
on the part of the Federal authorities in Utah to force a collision that will result
in their expulsion from their chosen land, and there is a growing feeling of suspi-
cion and distrust throughout the Territory, which, if not soon allayed, will most
surely lead to the most dreadful consequences. After a full and free conference
with the leading Mormons, Federal officers and business men of Salt Lake City,
we predict that a dreadful civil war will soon be raging in this fertile region, re-
sulting in the loss of thousands of lives, the expenditure of millions of public
treasure, and the complete devastation of one of the most beautiful and thriving
regions on the continent, unless the administration interferes with the schemes of
the petty lords of misrule, who are doing their utmost to bring it about.
" It is unfortunate for the nation that it is in the power of such men as Judge
McKean and the deputy district attorneys, Maxwell and Baskin, to precipitate a
collision between the Federal authorities and the Mormons, in a contest in which
the Government occupies a false and untenable position. If an issue is to be made
and settled in the courts between the U. S. authority on the one hand and polyg-
amy on the other, concerning the lawfulness of the practice, it is of the utmost
importance that it be fairly made and impartially tried, with full preparation for
the probable results. We are convinced that the pending prosecutions are con-
ceived in folly, conducted in violation of law, and with an utter recklessness as
to the grave results that must necessarily ensue. How does the matter stand ?
There is a vacancy in the office of United States district attorney for the Terri-
tory of Utah. Judge McKean has appointed two lawyers. Maxwell and Baskin,
to act as deputies. These deputies boast that they have instigated the prosecution
and assume great credit for the disingeneous trickery by which they hope to force
a conflict whose consequences they have not the capacity to measure or under-
stand. It is much to the credit of President Grant's administration that these
deputy prosecutors arrogate to themselves the entire credit of conceiving the dis-
reputable trick to which they have resorted to effect their purpose. Let it be un-
derstood that the indictments pending are not based on the act of Congress of
1862, defining and providing for the punishment of bigamy, but upon Section 32 of
the Territorial laws of Utah. * * * The indictment against Brig-
ham Young charges him with violating this statute by living with his sixteen
wives. By na recognized rule of interpretation can polygamy be punished under
this law. The law itself was passed by Mormons who taught and practiced po-
lygamy at the time, and it was clearly intended by its framers to punish prostitu-
tion and fornication in cases where there was no claim or pretense of marriage.
However illegal, the Mormon marriages are de facto marriages, and were not con-
tracted in violation of this statute. That they are contrary to the act of Con-
gress is clear, and they should be attacked, if attacked at all, by the United States
authority uiider that law. To use the Federal tribunals for the punishment of
polygamists, under the Territorial act, is a manifest perversion of the law, if it is
Sso HISTORY OF SALT LAKE CITY.
anything more than a piece of disreputable trickery, conceived and carried on in the
interest of a gang of unscrupulous adventurers. If the United States desires to
wage war upon Mormon polygamy, let it be done in an open and dignified man-
ner, and not in the pettifogging style which has thus far characterized the prose-
cutions in Judge McKean's court in Salt Lake. No good citizen of the United
States can have any sympathy with polygamists. It is a doomed institution, and it
must disappear from our social system ; but all good people are interested in hav-
ing its destruction brought about by methods stern and effective, if need be, but
so ordered that the judgment of the civilized world shall approve them.
"I shall endeavor in another letter to speak of the probable and appre-
hended results of a speedy trial, conviction and imprisonment of Brigham Young
in the pending case. — F. Editorial Correspondence Indianapolis Journal.
Commenting upon the foregoing letter the Salt Lake Herald %z.\d :
" We place before our readers the deliberate utterances of Hon. Mr. Fish-
back, the social and political friend of U. S. Senator Morton, the leading repub-
lican editor of Indiana, the Boswell of that statesman who more potently than any
other public man influences the administration at Washington and the policy of
the Government. It is folly to say that the opinions expressed by Mr. Fishback
are only the opinions of an intelligent observer ; though even this assertion is a
h'eavy blow to those officers whose hatred and zeal outrun justice and discretion.
The deliberate utterances of this gentleman are vastly more than this. They sig-
nify that however strong may be the determination of the President of the United
States and his cabinet to bring real or fancied offenders in Utah to punishment, no
partial, unjust, unfair or illegal practices will be encouraged, even to effect that
result. We know that President Grant desires to say in his message to Congress
five weeks hence, that polygamy is virtually dead, but we know also, that he be-
lieves in the good sense of the American people and the power of the Govern-
ment, to accomplish legitimate ends without resorting to foul aspersions upon in-
dividual character, to false charges unsusceptible of valid proof, or to tricks which
are clearly unbecoming in a great government and its officers. We have already
seen something of the result of the visit of Senator Morton to this city, in the
public sentiment of Sacramento and San Francisco, in each of which places his
views were listened to with that attention which the utterances of so able and dis-
tinguished a statesman are bound to secure ; and an echo of which has been heard
in the columns of the leading papers of the Pacific Coast. We have no serious
fears of the result, whenever the facts of the case can be fairly represented and
dispassionately weighed ; and we see clearly that the visits of eminent men and
women, distinguished in public affairs, in literature and as journalists, are likely
to secure from the intelligent reading public such an exercise of judgment as will
prove unfavorable to the acts of vicious, intolerant partizans. The leading papers
of the country, of all shades of political sentiment, come laden with criticisms
and denunciations of the course now being pursued by officers of the Government
here. The sober, second thought of the people will be found opposed to all tricks
and shams in the sacred name of Justice."
HISTORY OF SALT LAKE CITY. jjf
CHAPTER LXIV.
PRESIDENT YOUNG RETURNS AND CONFOUNDS HIS ENEMIES. HIS PRESENCE IN
COURT. JUDGE McKEAN REFUSES $500,000 BAIL. BRIGHAM A PRISONER.
IMPORTANT CORRESPONDENCE BETWEEN THE DISTRICT ATTORNFY AND
THE ATTORNEY-GENERAL. SUSPENSION OF CRIMINAL TRIALS.
At half-past two o'clock, Wednesday, January 2nd, 1872, President Brigham
Young, accompanied by Messrs. Fitch, Hempstead and others of his counsel, and a
host of prominent citizens, entered the court room where Chief Justice McKean was
sitting in chambers to hear an application by President Young's counsel for the
admission of their client to bail. When the doors were open the court room was
at once filled to overflowing, and a large number of the gentlemen of the bar were
in attendance.
Mr. Hempstead addressed the court, stating that the defendant, Brigham
Young, sen., who had been jointly indicted with other parties for mui-der, was
now present in the custody of the U. S. marshal, and his counsel appeared to ask
for the exercise of that sound discretion which had been invested in the courts of
the United States upon an application for the admission of their client to bail.
The question as to this discretion had already been fully argued and decided by
this court, and bail granted in the case of Daniel H. Wells, Mayor of Salt Lake
City.
At the time of issuing the warrant for the arrest of the defendant, he was at
a distance of 300 miles from this city ; and in the dead of winter, through the
• terrible storms aud almost impassible roads he has returned here in obedience to
the warrant of the court. He is seventy-one years of age ; his health is poor,
and a protracted imprisonment would seriously jeopardize his health, if not
imperil his life. The object of bail is to secure the attendance of a prisoner. It
is customary to grant bail where it is regarded as a sufficient security for the at-
tendance of the defendant.
A certificate from the defendant's medical attendant. Dr. Anderson, dated
the 2nd day of January, 1872, was read, to the effect that the defendant is over
seventy-one years of age and in very feeble health, and that confinement would
certainly be very injurious to his health and might prove fatal.
The counsel also called the attention of the court to the pending motion to
quash the indictment in the case of Brigham Young, William Kimball and others,
which motion was also applicable to the indictment upon which this defendant
was now under arrest. A delay in the decision of this motion, or a decision in
the affirmative, would subject the defendant to a lengthy imprisonment.
U. S. District Attorney Bates said there was no doubt at all that in the
JJ2 HISTORY OF SALT LAKE CITY.
United States courts under the old statutes all parties may be admitted to bail.
We have seen this course followed in other cases equally important with this one-
Aaron Burr and Jefferson Davis were both admitted to bail. As the sole repre-
sentative ot the Federal Government the district attorney said he asked only that
this defendant should be treated as all others are treated, and that his presence
should be fully guaranteed at the time appointed for his trial. The circumstance
that he is here in obedience to the mandate of the court should be considered,
a.s well as another grave and humilating fact that the government has not within
the Territory a jail or other place to confine its prisoners. It may also be remem-
bered that he is an old and feeble man, whose health might be injured by a long
confinement. He asked the court only to exercise its discretion in the premises,
but if he decided to admit the defendant to bail, he should insist that the amount
b3 fixed in the sum of 1^500,000.
Mr. Fitch said that while the defense would bow to the decision of the court,
and were ready to give whatever bail might be demanded, he regarded the amount
suggested by the district attorney as unprecedented in American criminal history.
The bail of Jefferson Davis for the high crime of treason was only placed at $100,000
by the Chief Justice of the United States, and the counsel for the defense
could not let such a suggestion pass without a challenge and objection.
Judge McKean said :
•" The Government of the United States has no iail in this city for holding
prisoners who are arrested on process issued from the United States courts: the
marshal is therefore required to exercise the discretion which the law vests in him.
Sometimes such prisoners are kept at Camp Douglas, but the military commander
of that post is not obliged to receive them. The defendant now at the bar is re-
puted to be the owner of several houses in this city. If he shall choose to put
nnder the control of the marshal some suitable building in which to be detained,
it will be for the marshal to decide whether or not to accept it. It is at the op-
tion of the defendant to say whether or not he will make such offer, and equally
at the option of the marshal to say whether or not he will accept it. In any
event, where cr however the defendant be detained, the marshal will look to it
that his every comfort be provided for, remembering that the defendant is an old
man. I decline to admit the defendant to bail."
The proceedings ended. A large number of persons pressed forward to shake
hands with President Young as he retired in charge of the U. S. marshal.
The appearance of President Young in court overwhelmed those gentlemen
of the prosecution and the press who had so freely and publicly boasted that
Brigham Young was a fugitive from justice, and would never again be visible in
Salt Lake City, which he had founded. Here in the chief city of the Mormon Zion
Brigham had reached the summit of his glory and power after having successfully
accomplished the most wonderful colonizing work of modern times. Here in Salt
Lake City he had spent nearly a quarter of a century of the best years of his life
directing that matchless band of pioneer State-founders who followed his lead and
surrounded by the thousands emigrated by the plans of which he was the chief de-
signer, and by whom he was venerated as but few men have been in all the cen-
turies down to his day. Yet U. S. Prosecuting Attorney Baskin had positively
HISTORY OF SALT LAKE CITY. S53
declared to the court that Brigham Young was a fugitive from justice, that he would
never again be seen in Salt Lake City unless brought here by the officers of the
law; and upon this presentation of the case the U. S. prosecutor claimed the for-
feiture of Brigham's bonds. This view had been repeated with emphasis in the
local anti-Mormon papers, sent broadcast through the country in associated press
reports and in the correspondence of Oscar G. Sawyer, editor of the Salt Lake
Tribune, to the New York Herald, and reproduced in so many newspapers east
and west until the public began to settle down to the same views. During the last
two months the Mormon citizens had been constantly insulted not only in the
court and through the anti-Mormon press by such affirmations, but personally often
insulted on the street, and a doggerel song was sung in the city with much anti-
Mormon applause, running thus :
" Where now's the Prophet Brigham?
Where now's the Prophet Brigham?
Down in Kanab ;
By and bye we'll go and fetch him,
Down in Kanab."
No wonder then that the appearance of Brigham Young in court humiliated
his enemies and gave cause of great pride and rejoicing among his personal friends
and religious followers. The Salt Lake Herald, elated with the exultant feelings
of the occasion, said :
" Yesterday these distinguished persecutors, though false prophets, had the
pleasure of gazing upon the countenance of the man about whose movements and
motives they had so sagely prophesied. Naturally they took a good look at his
countenance. Could this be a sham appearance? Was it not a counterfeit Brigham
come into court to cheat them of their prey ? No, they were too familiar with
ihe calm, kindly and genial face of this venerable man, who had come here in
open day to face his persecutors — had come through tempests and torrents and
snow-slides, a distance of nearly four hundred miles, to show the little terriers
who had been barking at him, that strong in the conviction of justice and right he had
faith in the ultimate verdict of the people, and in the protecting care of that prov-
idence in whose trust he had never been deceived through a long and most event-
ful career.
"Again have the enemies of President Young and of his people been dis-
appointed in their fondly cherished expectations, and we believe that they are des-
tined to more grievous disappointments in the future. Every fresh discomfiture
to them is a triumph to the people whose representative he is. We say this in no
captious spirit, and without intention to provoke resentment. We can afford, in
view of the reasonable triumphs of tlie past year to the cause of honesty, justice
and equal rights, to be lenient and forbearing. There have been dark days; there
may be darker days for us in the future; but through all and above all, the sunlight
of truth will shine brightly and the persecuting enemies of a free, brave people,
and the false prophets who prophesy evil things concerning us will be utterly dis"
comfitted :
'' 'For ever does truth come uppermost,
And ever is justice done.' "
In the court, on January 9th, U. S. Attorney Bates, under the advice and di-
29
1
354 HISTORY OF SALT LAKE CITY.
rection of the Attorney-General of the United States, nominated and appointed
James L. High as deputy U. S. attorney.
Mr. Bates then stated that he had, on eximination of the circumstances sur-
rounding his position and the duties he was expected to perform, discovered that
there were no funds provided to pay the tees of jurors or witnesses, nor the contin-
gent expenses of court ; a fact of which he had promptly notified the Attorney-
General by telegraph. He had also desired the assistance of associate counsel
and telegraphed for permission to employ Mr. Baskin in conjunction with General
Maxwell, advising the department that it was impossible for him to prepare these
rases for trial without such assistance. In answer to a letter of his of December
4th, he had received the following:
"Department of Justice,
Washington, December 14th, 1871.
'''■George C. Bates, Esq., U. S. Attorney, Salt Lake City, Utah.
"Sir — I have received your letter of the 4th instant and have called the atten-
tion of Senator Cragin to the difficulty in regard to funds ; and I trust Congress
will afford some prompt relief.
" Very respectfully,
"A. T. Akerman, Attorney- General.^ ^
A bill was prepared for the purpose and reported to the Senate by Senator
Cragin. In reply to the telegram asking the appointment of Mr. Baskin, Mr.
Bates received this letter :
" Department of Justice,
Washington, December 20th, 1871.
'^George C. Bates, Esq., U. S. Attorney, Salt Lake City, Utah.
' Your letter of the loth instant is received.
" I have answered by telegraph that you are at liberty to employ Mr. Baskin,
and I herewith enclose a commission for him.
" Under the circumstance I do not feel at liberty to employ other additional
counsel. The Government ought not to show any unseemly zeal to convict
Brigham Young ; and the addition of two lawyers to the regular professional force
of the Government in Utah might have that appearance. The propriety of the em-
ployment of Mr. Baskin is obvious, he having prepared the cases.
"In answer to your other letter of the same date, I have to say that it seems
to me wrong in principle to covenant with regard to bail, while the accused is ab-
sconding. When a man submits himself to the law, it is time enough to consider
what amenities he may receive under the law. Should Mr. Young be arrested,
the question of bail will be altogether a judicial one to be decided by the court
upon the principles which would operate in the case of any other accused party.
"Very respectfully,
"A. T. Akerman, Attorney- General,''
Mr. Bates continued ])ressing the necessity of means upon the department,
showing that Marshal Patrick was not only without means for the purposes re-
quired, but had advanced over eight thousand dollars for government use. On this
subject the following communication had been received by him :
HISTORY 01^ SALT LAKE CITY. 555
"Department of Justice,
"Washington, December, 20th, 187 1.
^^ George C. Bates, U. S. Attorney^ Salt Lake City, Utah.
"Sir — Your letter of the nth instant is received.
" I am troubled on account of want of funds to carry on the Territorial pros-
ecutions. The accounting officers of the treasury, adhering to usage, do not feel at
liberty to allow the marshal credit for expenditures for prosecutions under Territorial
law. This is perhaps inconsistent with the just deduction from the recent decis-
ions of the judges in Utah.
" As the only thing I can do to help you, I have made the matter the subject
of earnest representation to the chairman of the Territorial committees in Con-
gress ; and I vvill communicate to them the contents of your last letter.
"'Very respectfully,
"A. T. Akerman, Attorney General^
And under date of a week later still another, as follows :
"Department of Justice,
Washington, Dec. 27, 187 1.
" George C. Bates, Esq., U. S. Attorney, Salt Lake City, Utah:
"Sir — I have received several letters from you on the subject of the ex-
penses of the courts of Utah in Territorial prosecutions.
"Inconsequence of the construction hitherto followed by the accounting
officers of the Treasury, I have no power to provide the necessary funds. I have
done the only thing that seemed possible in the matter, which was to bring the
subject to the attention of the committee on Territories in the two houses of Con-
gress and to urge prompt action.
" Very respectfully,
"A. T. Akerman."
Mr. Bates also addressed a circular letter to senator Trumbull, chaiiman of
the senate judiciary committee, which reads thus :
"U. S. District Attorney's Office,
"Salt Lake City, Utah, Dec. 30th, 1871.
" Hon. Lyman Trnmbull, chairman judiciary committee of the Senate:
" Sir — It is my duty, as the United States district attorney for this Territory,
to ask, through you, and your committee, advice and instruction upon the fol-
lowing points :
" I. Under the decisions of the supreme court of this Territory, ( from which
there is no appeal ) all felonies committed within its limits are offenses against
United States laws, to be punished only by United States courts, their processes
to be levied by the United States marshal, and prosecutions conducted only by
me as the United States district attorney; and, of course, all expenses of the
trials must be paid out of the U. S. treasury, if paid at all.
" II. Under the Territorial courts, as such, the officers of the several counties
are all Mormons, who it is said, will not punish their fellows or leaders for high
crimes at all, and do frequently punish Gentiles unjustly and unfairly; and so
jS6 HISTORY OF SALT LAKE CITY.
unless the United States courts prosecute criminals, anarchy must soon exist here,
and neither life nor property will be safe.
" III. The United States comptroller, disregarding the ruling of our supreme
court here, decides that all these offenses are against Territorial laws, to be pun-
ished only in Territorial courts by the Territorial officers thereof, and that the
United States treasury must not and shall not pay a penny of these costs ; the result
of which is that all jurors and witnesses' fees and contingent expenses of these
courts for the last year are unpaid, and there is not a cent to pay them for either
the past or the future.
" IV. January 9th, 1872, is set by the court for the trial of Brigham Young
and others for murders and other crimes, and twenty other criminal causes are
assigned for that time; and I, as U. S. district attorney, am required to try these
great causes, while there is no money to pay either the jurors, witness fees, or any
of the contingent expenses of the court, such as rent, fuel, lights, etc. How can
I go to trial without witnesses and jurors? And how can their attendance be se-
cured without money?
"V. A grand jury is required forthwith, in the First District, to investigate
several murders, castrations, and other horrid crimes, and a venire is ordered ;
but the marshal has no money to serve it, the witnesses and jurors will not come
into court unless paid therefor, and we have no money to pay them. What must
I do under these circumstances?
"VI. The United States have no jail, penitentiary or place to keep safely
their criminals, except Camp Douglas, and the cost ot keeping them there and
transportation to and from the courts makes a rapidly accumulating ilebt for some
one to pay, which already amounts to ^15,000, a large part of which has been ad-
vanced by the present marshal, and is due now to him, and to jurors and
witnessses.
"VII. Under these circumstances, I see no other course for the Govern-
ment to pursue than to provide money instantly to pay all jurors, witnesses and
the daily expenses of prosecution of these great crimes, or to order them all dis-
missed forthwith from the United States courts. Am I right ? Please answer.
" Geo. C. Bates,
''U. S. District Attorney:'
The district attorney then read the following letter received from Solicitor
General Bristow:
"Department of Justice,
"Washington, Dec, 25, 1871.
" My Dear Sir : — Your several letters relative to the business of your office
have been turned over to the attorney general, with request that he give you all
possible support and assistance, which, I am happy to say he will do most cheer-
fully. I do not see how the matter of compensation can be satisfactorily adjusted
without further legislation. It seems that while your court holds it to be your
duty to prosecute parties charged with violations of Territorial statutes, the comp-
troller, who settles the accounts of district attorneys and marshals, holds that the
United States cannot pay the expenses of such prosecutions under existing
statutes. Thus we have a deadlock which no power but Congress can unlock.
HISTORY 01 SALTLAKE CITY. ^jy
"If it should ever happen that I can serve you, I trust you will net hesitate
to command me.
" With my best wishes for your personal and professional success, I am,
" Very sincerely, your friend,
"B. H. Bristow.
" Gen. Geo. C. Bates, Salt Lake City.''''
In continuation, the district attorney said he believed he was justified in stat-
ing that no provisions would be made by the Territorial Legislature to carry on
these prosecutions ; and in the name of the attorney general and by his order, he
applied for a continuance of these cases until the second Monday in iVEarch, by
which time it was hoped that Congress will have provided the necessary means to
carry on these prosecutions. He also hoped the Territorial Legislature would see
the propriety of providing funds in order that their leaders might be vindicated
if unjustly accused, and punished, if guilty, of the high crimes charged against
them.
He further stated that he was ordered forthwith to report to the attorney
general, at Washington, that that official might be fully advised of the condition
of affairs here.
The court then announced that all criminal causes and all civil causes to be
tried before a jury would be continued until the next regular term of court, com-
mencing the second Monday in March.
CHAPTER LXV.
GREAT POLITICAL MOVEMENTS IN THE CITY IN THE SPRING OF 1872. GOV-
ERNOR WOODS VETOES THE STATE CONVENTION BILL. THE PEOPLE
ELECT THEIR DELEGATES NOTWITHSTANDING. SALT LAKE COUNTY
ELECTS NINE GENTILES AND TEN MORMONS TO THE CONVENTION. S.
SHARP WALKER DECLINES. ARRIVAL OF THE JAPANESE EMBASSY. THE
CITY PAYS HOMAGE TO THE ANCIENT EMPIRE. GRAND RECEPTIONS OF
THE EMBASSY.
In the spring of 1872, political movements were made and a series of political
events occurred, the most interesting yet developed in the whole of Utah's politi-
cal career. It was in the action of the old leaders of the community, combined with
certain influential Gentile politicians and statesmen, to organize a State with such
a constitution as might be acceptable to Congress— indeed a State constructed
upon such a model plan, and inspired with so true an American genius, as actually
to provoke the admiration of members of Congress and induce admission to the
Union. Not in the whole history of State founding in America has there been
^j8 HISTORY OF SALT LAKE CITY.
work better wrought than was that of the Utah State convention in the beginning
of the year 1872; and, had it been allowed to stand, it would have legitimately
solved the Utah problem. Moreover the movement would have given a fair dis-
tribution of the functions and emoluments of the State into the hands of the
Gentiles— given to them in fact more than their due share, by the very will and
consent of the majority, for not only was it designed to endow them with some of
tlie highest and best offices in the State, but to send to congress two Gentiles and
one Mormon. Of course the whole family of '-'carpet-baggers" would have been
disposed of, and political adventurers and anti-Mormon disturbers would have lost
their day of opportunities in the virgin State.
The initial action for tlie State was in the passage by the legislature, then in
session, of the Convention Bill, but which was disposed of by the veto of Gov-
ernor Woods.
The veto was expected, and the people fell back upon the primary, which is
ihc proper origin of constitutional government and State work.
On the 3rd of February, 1872, a mass meeting of citizens was held in the old
tabernacle to nominate candidates for the State convention. Mayor Daniel H. Wells
on behalf of the committee appointed by the meeting to select names, reported :
Orson Pratt, David E. Buell, Wm. Hayden, Albert Carrington, Aurelius Miner,
Thomas P. Akers, Thomas Fitch, John Sharp, P. Edward Conner, A. P. Rock
wood^ Reuben Miller, E. D. Hoge, Wm. Jennings, Frank Fuller, Geo. Q. Cannon,
S. Sharp Walker, John T. Caine, Z. Snow and Hadley D. Johnson. These names
being put to the meeting by the chairman were elected by acclamation. Of these
nineteen delegates for Salt Lake County, ten were Mormons and nine Gentiles.
Hon. Thomas Fitch, being called for, made a stirring speech. He said :
" It had once before been his fortune to receive a nomination for delegate to
a convention to form a State constitution. That was in Nevada, and the pros-
pects of a State goverment there, at that time, looked less promising than they do
here now. The people of Nevada but a short time before had voted down a State
constitution almost unanimously, and the convention met, with the the press ridi-
culing it and the people advising its members to adjourn and go home. And yet
in a few short months, a revolution in public sentiment was effected and the people
by an immense majority, voted to adopt a State government. They felt unable to
endure the expense, but they felt more unable to endure the rotten Territorial
courts. They made a sacrifice in order to attain self-government. What conces-
sions or surrenders the people of Utah might elect to make in order to have the
jjrivilege of choosing all their officers, he would not venture to predict, but this
movement for a State government was an earnest movement and not a mere farce
as had sometimes been said.
"The Potter amendment to the apportionment bill did not disturb him.
Congress had been known to repeal its laws, to change its mind, to vote on Mon-
day, as an abstract proposition that it would not pass any law of a certain class,
and on the succeeding Friday pass such a law. The law prohibiting the admis-
sion of new States with less than a representative population did not go into effect
until March, 1873- Utah might be admitted before that time, or upon a census
being taken it might be demonstrated that she had the population.
HISTORY OF SAL-r LAKE CITY. 559
" He said in conclusion^ that he wished no person to vote for him as delegate
under a misapprehension. If elected he would give his earnest effort toward
framing a constitution of State government that should recognize the toils and sac-
rifices and services, and protect the rights and interests of the pioneers, who had
built up a prosperous community in the wilderness ; but he would also have that
constitution provide for the necessities and interests of young, progressive Utah.
He would endeavor, if elected, to help frame a constitution that should assimilate
the social and political life of Utah to that of all the other States ; and that
would aid to render her institutions homogeneous with theirs."
These utterances of the Hon. Thomas Fitch, who had served the State of Ne-
vada in Congress, signified, for himself and Gentile compeers, that they were not
about to engage in the work of setting up a " Mormon State," nor an anti-Mor-
mon or Gentile State, but a proper American State.
Mr. S. Sharp Walker, whom the Liberal party at that moment hastened to
place on their municipal ticket for mayor of Salt Lake City, published in the
Tribune his card
"TO THE PUBLIC.
"Being entirely opposed to the admission of Utah as a State at the present
time, I respectfully decline to take any .part in the convention.
"S. Sharp Walker."
General Barnum was substituted, but as the precincts in other parts of Salt
Lake County could hardly be aware of Mr. Walker's declination, the election
being so close after the nomination, it was doubtful, before the returns came in.
which of the gentlemen would be elected ; the returns, however, from twelve of
the precincts of the county gave to E. M. Barnum 2,035, S. Sharp Walker 1,747.
The total for the State in these precincts was 3,803 and one against it. The
anti-State, or Liberal party, cast no vote on the question. Orson Pratt received
the 3,803 votes, so did Judge Haydon, John T. Caine, and Hadley D. Johnson ;
Thomas Fitch 3,798; P. Edward Connor 3,791.
The political action of the time was pleasantly relieved by the arrival in our
city of princely representatives of the ancient empire of Japan, accompanied by
U. S. Minister, De Long.
The committee of reception appointed by the city authorities to meet and
welcome the Japanese embassy proceeded to Ogden by special train on Sunday
morning, February 4th, reaching there before 8 o'clock. About 9 o'clock the
embassy arrived, and after breakfast the formal introduction took place. Judge
Haydon on the part of the committee announcing that they met the embassy in
the name of the chief magistrate and civil authorities of Salt Lake City to tender
them welcome. Prince Iwakura briefly responded, saying he had heard of the pro-
gress made of the people of Salt Lake, and was pleased at the opportunity of seeing
the city. Similar compliments passed between the committee and Hon. Charles
E. De Long, U. S. Ambassador of Japan. The embassy and committee entered
the cars of the Utah Central and arrived in the city about noon, when they pro-
ceeded to the Townsend House.
According to published notice the Japanese Embassy held a levee on Tuesday
^6o HISTORY OF SALT LAKE CITY.
morning, Feb. 6th, in the City Hall. Shortly before ii o'clock. Mayor Wells and
some of the reception committee proceeded from the City Hall in carriages and
met the embassy, with whom they returned and conducted to the room occu-
pied by the House of Representatives, while the numerous officials and gentle-
men to be presented remained in the Council Chamber until the embassy were
seated, when they were ushered in by the committee on reception.
Mayor Wells then read the following address :
" To your excellency SioniiTomomi Iwakura, ambassador extraordinary from
the court of Japan, and Jussammi Takayossi Kido, Suseammi Tosbimitis Okuba,
Jushie Hirobumi Ito and Jushie Massouka Yamagutsi, vice-ambassadors :
" In behalf of the people of Salt Lake City, we extend to you, as the hon-
ored representatives of a friendly nation, a cordial welcome to our midst.
" You will not find here those palaces of industry and trade which elsewhere
on your journey will excite your attention and admiration ; for this is a commu-
nity of pioneers, dwelling in the heart of the North American continent, and its
life and achievements have been wrested from the desert during the last twenty-
five years.
" Our warmest greeting is at your disposal. We have heard of your ancient
and populous empire with its wonderful history. In welcoming you, we greet not
merely the honored ambassadors of a great nation, but the representatives of a
policy which, we understand, seeks to surmount former barriers of exclusiveness
and to place your country in relations of commercial and diplomatic intimacy
with our own. Be pleased to receive again the assurances of our warmest welcome
and most distinguished regard.
"In behalf of the authorities and citizens of Salt Lake City:
Daniel H. Wells, Mayor.
"S. W. Richards, Theo. McKean, George Q. CannoN; John T. Caine,
"Wm. Haydon, Thomas Fitch, Wm. Jennings, John Sharp,
'' Committee.'''
Prince Iwakura, the chief ambassador, through indisposition, not being pres-
ent, Vice-Ambassador Kido responded through Minister DeLong, and said :
" The members of the embassy desire to express their thanks for the kind re-
ception which has been extended to them, and they hope to ever retain and main-
tain the friendly feeling which now exists between them and yourselves. They re-
gret, exceedingly, that the chief ambassador is unable to be here to-day, and he
desires to express to you, through me, that his inability to be present has deprived
him of a great pleasure. He still hopes, before his departure from the city to be
able to meet with you, but if he should be unable to do so he wishes that his views
may be understood."
The introductions then commenced, Mayor Wells introducing Gov. Woods,
who in turn continued the ceremony to the different Federal officials, and General
Morrow presented the officers of the garrison at Camp Douglas ; then followed the
presentation of the members of the Legislature, city and county ofificers and promi-
nent citizens.
After leaving the City Hall, the embassy, on invitation, proceeded to the
mansion of Hon. Wm. Jennings and partook of refreshments. They next went
HISTORY OF SALT LAKE CITY. 361
to the new tabernacle inspected the building and was highly pleased with the organ,
which the builder, Professor Ridges, played, that ihey might appreciate its magnifi-
cent capacity and quality. The embassy then called upon President Brigham
Young and had a pleasant interview, which lasted some time. At night the party
attended the city theatre.
The next day on invitation of General Henry A. Morrow, the embassy,
Governor Woods, the Territorial Legislature, the Federal officials, Mayor Wells,
and a large number of other officials and prominent citizens paid a visit to Camp
Douglas, where they were received by an artillery salute in honor of the embassy
and one in honor of Minister DeLong. General Morrow and staff, accompanied
by General Yamada, of the Japanese imperial army, then inspected the troops.
After the review the distinguished visitors proceeded to General Morrow's quar-
ters, where the Chief Ambassador Iwakura, who was able to attend, held a recep-
tion. General Morrow, in an eloquent speech, welcomed the embassy, as the rep-
resentatives of a great and ancient empire; and congratulated Minister DeLong
upon the success which had attended him in his official position.
Mayor Wells was the next speaker, and in a few appropriate remarks expressed
his gratification on the meeting of so many representatives of one of the youngest
and most vigorous, and one of the oldest and most famous of nations.
Governor Woods, and Mr. Lorenzo Snow, President of the Council branch
of the Legislature, also spoke, and then Minister DeLong responded in behalf of
the embassy. He regretted, he said, that the chief ambassador could not speak to
them in their own language, for he was a great and a good man, an advocate and
exponent of broad and progressive ideas ; one who could appreciate the labors of
the pioneers, before which the civilization of Asia had to give way,"
A complimentary dinner was given by the ambassadors from Japan " on the
first day of the fifth year of the reign of his Majesty, the E.nperor of Japan," at
the Townsend House, Feb. 9th, 1872. Besides the reception committee of the
city, which met the embassy, there were a number of prominent citizens present.
Selecting such an occasion as the first day of their year for entertaining their
guests was the highest honor which these Japanese dignitaries could confer upon
the city.
30
^62 HIS TORY OF SAL T LAKE CIl V.
CHAPTER LXVl.
THE STATE CONVENTION AT WORK. THE CONSTITUTION OF NEVADA PRE-
FERRED AS A BASIS. GENERAL CONNOR DECLINES HIS EL?:CTION AS
DELEGATE. JUDGE HAYDON OPPOSES THE STATE AND MOVES THAT THE
CONVENTION ADJOURN S/NE DIE. HON, THOMAS FITCH'S REMARKABLE
SPEECH FOR THE STATE, IN WHICH HE REHEARSES THE HISTORY OF
THE JUDICIAL PROCEEDINGS IN THE U. S. COURTS OF THE TERRITORY
OF THAT PERIOD, AND APPEALS TO HIS MORMON COLLEAGUES TO ABOL-
ISH POLYGAMY,
On Monday, February 19th, 1872, a large number of the delegates elect as-
sembled in the City Hall. Orson Pratt called the convention to order, and nom-
inated Hon. Lorenzo Snow as president /r^ ^em, who was unanimously elected.
The business of credentials over and the oath administered to the members,
General E. M. Barnum was elected permanent president of the convention, and
was escorted to the president's desk by Hons. Thomas Fitch and Frank Fuller.
Officers were next elected and pending the election of chaplain, Mr. Fitch
offered a resolution that a committee be appointed by the president to wait upon
clergymen of each religious denomination in the city to attend the convention
each day, in turn, and offer prayer at the opening of the proceedings. The reso-
lution was adopted.
Soon afterwards came a discussion on the basis of the constitution, — Mr.
Miner recommended that of Illinois, adopted in 1870; Mr. Fitch that of Nevada.
Finally Mr. Fitch's resolution was carried and the constitution of Nevada chosen
as a basis.
Thirteen standing committees were appoin'^ed and then a communication was
received announcing that Gen. P. Edward Connor had declined the election as
delegate to the convention on the ground that he had been and is still a resident
of the State of California, and consequently is not eligible to serve ; and tendered
his thanks for the confidence reposed in him as evinced by his election.
Judge Wm. Haydon of Salt Lake County, then moved that the convention
adjourn si/?e die. He had been elected a delegate without being consulted and
without his consent j and he was opposed to a State government.
Col. Akers said, he also had been elected without being consulted, but fur-
ther than that he could not say anything in favor of the resolution. He did not
propose to make a lengthy speech, but he thought Judge Haydon's position should
be met by a show of reasons why Utah should have a State government; for if any
Territory required a State government at the present time it was Utah. One thing
would be secured by it — a harmonized judiciary. He did not undertake to hold
the balance between the Federal and Territorial judiciary, nor to say which was
right; but with their wranglings the law was falling into contempt. He proceeded
II
HISTORY OF SALT LAKE CITY. 563
to advocate the necessity of the law being honored, saying where the judiciary
itself pursues a course to bring it into contempt it strikes the severest blow against
right and justice. A State government would infuse life into every industry of
Utah. A man did not feel himself half a man until he enjoyed the right of self-
government, which the citizens of the Territories, and especially of a Territory
where the law is administered as in Utah, do not enjoy. The unparalleled devel-
opment of the United States is due to the fact that its citizens are freemen, and
as such put forth all their energies for progress and advancement. Utah has pop-
ulation enough ; more than any new State admitted for the last decade has had ;
and the new apportionment bill of Congress does not take effect until 1873. The
great secret of the opposition to Utah becoming a State was that the Mormon
people would have control of it. He held that a constitution might be framed,
embodying a provision acceptable to Congress, and Utah be admitted with a Con-
gressional compromise, as was the case with Missouri when it was admitted into the
Union.
Col. Buell was in favor of Utah having a State government because he be-
lieved it would give us peace at home and character abroad.
Mr. Fitch desired to give, at some length, his reasons why Utah should be-
come'a State, but postponed till the next meeting of the convention.
On the next day's session, the convention resumed the consideration of the
motion of Judge Haydon, of yesterday, that this convention do now adjourn
sine die.
Mr. Fitch took the floor and delivered his great convention speech, which is
by far the most elaborate and weighty review of Utah affairs of that period extant.
He said :
" If there be those within or without this chamber, who imagine that the mem-
bers of this convention will be content to go through the form of constructing an
edifice of State government without hope that buch edifice will ever be occupied
by a living tenant, they mistake the spirit of an earnest people and the purpose
of their representatives.
"The object of this convention will not be accomplished until room shall be
found upon our national banner for the star of Deseret ; and the question which
confronts us at the threshold of our labors is, will the necessities for a State gov-
ernment justify some effort and much sacrifice on the part of the people of Utah ?
" An influential Mormon citizen said to me, not long since, upon his return
from a trip east : ' I am satisfied that there is no safety for us without a State
government, and that we can have no State government without concessions.'
He stated the case with mathematical precision. There is no safety for the people
of Utah without a State government; for under the present condition of public
affairs, their property, their liberties, their very lives, are in constant and increasing
jeopardy.
" Let us review the situation. About August, 1870, James B. McKean ar-
rived here as chief justice of the supreme court of Utah Territory, and district
judge of the Third Judicial District. From the hour of his arrival he has been the
leading, controlling spirit of the existing movement against Mormon institutions.
He is not perhaps an immoral man in his private life, and for the purposes of this
564 HISTORY OF SALT LAKE CITY.
argument it is not necessary to inquire whether or not he is a corrupt man either
in private or official transactions, but he certainly is that most dangerous of all
public functionaries — a judge with a mission to execute, a judge with a policy to
carry out, a judge panoplied with a purpose as in complete steel. Whether or not
conscientiously, but with implacable and unswerving determination, he has
steadily subordinated his judicial duties and his judicial character to the fulfilment
of his mission and the execution of his policy. Motions are held under advise-
ment for months, civil business accumulating upon the calendar, great mining cases
are referred, or abandoned by disgusted litigants, and still the judge alternates be-
tween the business of an examining magistrate and the pleasure of thanking the
grand jury for finding indictments. While possessing sufficient knowledge to
comply with some of the forms of law, and sufficient personal courage to forward
his plans, he is yet destitute of the spirit of impartial jurisprudence. We all know
there is a class of minds which after many years of upright and dispassionate con-
duct, v/ill, through lust of power, or gain of fame, or other inordinate aim, sud-
denly develop some insurgent quality which stops nothing short of morbidness,
little short of insanity. It is for the prestige of his past that this man, notwith-
standing his remarkable actions here, continues to receive the support of the Fed-
eral administration, while with some sincerity in the righteousness of his crusade,
he wins for himself the endorsement of thousands of persons who only know that
they desire polygamy shall be destroyed, and who do not ask the price or enquire
' how many Athenians are in mourning ?'
" Whether or not this theory be correct respecting the cause, and it is the
most charitable of any I can conceive, the result is the same. James B. McKean
is morally and hopelessly deaf to the most common demands of the opponents of
his policy, and in any case where a Mormon, or a Mormon sympathizer or a con-
servative Gentile be concerned, there may be found rulings unparalleled in all the
jurisprudence of England or America.
'' Such a man you have among you ; a central sun ; what of his satellites?
" The mineral deposits of Utah have attracted here a large number of active,
restless, adventurous men, and with them have come many who are unscrupulous;
many who are reckless, the hereditary foes of industry, order and law. This class,
finding the courts and Federal officers arrayed against the Mormons have, with
pleased alacrity, placed themselves on the side of courts and officers. Elements or-
dinarily discordant blend together in the same seething caldron. The officersof jus-
tice find allies in those men who differently surrounded, would be their foes; rhe bag-
nios and the hells shout hosannas to the courts; the altars of religions are invested
with the paraphernalia and the presence of vice; the drunkard espouses the cause of
the apostle of temperance; the companion of harlots preaches the beauties of virtue
and continence. All believe that license will be granted by the leaders in order
to advance their sacred cause, and the result is an immense support from those
friends af immorality and architects of disorder, who care nothing for the cause,
but everything for the license. Judge McKean, Governor Woods and the Walker
Brothers and others are doubtless pursuing a purpose which they believe in the
main to be wise and just, but their following is of a different class. There is a
nucleus of reformers and a mass of ruffians, a centre of zealots and a circumfer-
r
HISTORY OF SALT LAKE CI2Y. 565
ence of plunderers. The dram shop interest hopes to escape the Mormon tax of
^300 per month, by sustaining a judge who will enjoin a collection of the tax,
and the prostitutes persuade their patrons to support judges who will interfere by
habeas corpus with any practical enforcement of municipal ordinances.
" Every interest of industry is disastrously affected by this unholy alliance ;
every right of the citizen is threatened if not assaulted by the existence of this
combination. Your local magistrates are successfully defied, your local laws are
disregarded, your municipal ordinances are trampled into the mire, theft and mur-
der walk through your streets without detection, drunkards howl their orgies in
the shadow of your altars, the glare and tumult of drinking saloons, the glitter of
gambling hells, and the painted flaunt of the bawd plying her trade, now vex the
repose of streets, which beforetime heard no sound to disturb their quiet except
the busy hum of industry, the clatter of trade and the musical tinkle of mountain
streams.
" The processes by which this condition of affairs has been brought about, as
well as the excuse for invoking these processes, may here be briefly stated :
" In 1856, a great political party declared itself opposed to polygamy as a relic
of barbarism ; in i860, that party achieved power in the nation; in 1862, an act
of Congress was passed, the object of which was to suppress polygamy in Utah.
This law was permitted to remain a dead letter on the statute books. The war sup-
pressed rebellion, the problems of reconstruction growing out of that war, the
proposed impeachment of President Johnson, the various exciting public questions
of the day, diverted the minds of legislators and constituencies from the Mormon
question ; and not until after President Grant's inauguration did the anti-polyg-
amic plank oi the national republican platform loom up into national consequence.
It was then observed that the anti-polygamic act of Congress of 1862, had never
been enforced. The Territorial laws for drawing and empaneling juries provided,
as in all other communities, for a selection by lot. Nineteen-twentieths of the
persons eligible for jury duty in Utah were Mormons, who naturally declined to
indict or convict their neighbors for a practice which was believed by all to be a
virtue rather than a crime. The law prescribed one rule, the sentiment of the
community where the law existed prescribed another. Similar conditions pre-
vented the trial of Jefferson Davis for treason at Richmond; similar conditions
made it impossible to convict a violator of the fugitive slave law in New England.
"The Forty-first Congress was asked to enact a law to meet the exigency
and the Cullom bill was -framed. The measure provided that the selection of
jurors should be given to the United States Marshal, that polygamists and those
who believed in polygamy should be excluded from the jury box, that the wife
might be witness against the husband, that marriage might be proved in criminal
cases by reputation, and that the statute of limitation should not be applied to
charges of polygamy. The wisdom and justice of this sweeping measure were
seriously questioned by the New York Tribune, and other Republican papers, and
by such leading statesmen as Henry L. Dawes, of Massachusetts, and Robert C.
Schenck, of Ohio ; but the bill passed the House by nearly a party vote, and
ifailed to become a law only because the United States Senate did not find time or
uclination to consider it during the Forty-first Congress.
j66 HIS TOR V OF SAL T LAKE CI7 Y.
" After the adjournment of the second session of the Forty-first Congress,
James B. McKean was appointed Chief Justice of Utah, and with military
promptness he proceeded to establish as rules of law the propositions of the
defeated CuUom bill. He decided in the case of Hempstead 7's. Snow that the
court over which he presided was a United States Court, that it was not a legis-
lative, but a constitutional court, and that the Territorial prosecuting attorney
was not, even when prosecuting offenders charged with violation of Territorial
laws, the proper prosecuting officer of his court, but that the United States district
attorney was such. He decided in the case of Patrick 71s. McAllister that the
Territorial marshal was not, in any case, the proper executive officer of his court,
but that the United States marshal was such in all cases. He decided in another
case that the Territorial legislature of Utah had no power under the organic act
to prescribe rules for obtaining juries to try any cases in his court, and in pres-
cribing rules himself for that purpose, he declined to consult the assessment roll or'
invoke the usual method of selection by lot, but he ordered an open venire to the
United States marshal.
"Thus the first proposition of the defeated Cullom bill, that the marshal
might pick, I will not say pack, the jury was decreed into existence. A tempo-
rary delay in starting the engine of prosecution was caused by a lack of fuel, the
comptroller of the treasury declining to audit the bills for the expenses of this
court thus elevated to a United States tribunal, and the Territorial officers declin-
ing to pay over Territorial funds to persons not authorized by Territorial law to
receive them ; but fuel was found somewhere, and the machinery began to
move.
" In September, 1S71, a grand jury was summoned by the United States mar-
shal to attend the Third District Court of Utah, from the counties of Salt Lake,
Tooele, Summit, Green River, Morgan, Weber, Box Elder, Cache and Rich, con-
taining a population of 60,000 Mormons and 10,000 Gentiles, twenty-three grand
jurors and seventeen talesmen were selected and summoned. Of these forty per-
sons seven were Mormons and thirty-three were Gentiles. Each of the seven Mor-
mons were examined on his voir dire, and to the question of U. S. dis-trict attor-
ney Baskin, each replied in effect that he was a member of the Church of Latter-
day Saints, that he believed that polygamy was a revelation to that church, that in
his own case he would obey the revelation rather than the law. When asked the
further question whether this belief in the revelation would affect the action of the
juror in voting for or against an indictment for polygamy, some jurors replied
that it would affect their action, others that it would not. The United States dis-
trict attorney stated to the court that he intended to bring a number of accusations
of polygamy before the grand jury, and challenged the seven Mormons for bias.
Judge McKean sustained the challenge and dismissed [the Latter-day Saints from
the box. Thus the second proposition of the Cullom bill was established by the
decree of Judge McKean. The seven Mormons whom the LTnited States marshal
had made a show of symmoning were ruled off, and 60,000 people in the Third
District deprived of the privilege of representation in the jury box.
" It is a fact worthy of notice that this grand jury from which Mormons
were excluded because ihey believed in polygamy, never found a single indict-
I
HISTORY OI' SALT LAKE CITY. ^67
raent for the violation of the act of Congress of 1S62, and never, so far as known,
sent for a single witness upon, or attempted to consider anj' accusation for polyg-
amy. Indictments for ' lewd and lascivious cohabitation ' under a rusty old Ter-
ritorial statute were found by the score ; indictments for murder committed
fifteen or twenty years ago were found by the dozen, upon the unaided and un-
corroborated testimony of a witness who confessed himself the principal in these
murders ; but the threat of ' indictment of polygamy' having fulfilled its mission
by furnishing excuse to exclude Mormons from the grand jury was heard no more.
" I pass for the present from this grand jury to review the processes by which
Judge McKean vitalized the abortive Cullom bill.
"A man named Thomas Hawkins had been indicted under a Territorial
statute for the crime of adultery, and in October, 1871, he was tried before Judge
McKean and a jury. Two or three Mormons, who chanced to creep on to the
marshal's venire were asked if they believed in polygamy ; to which question
they replied, yes. They were further asked if they believed a man could be guilty
of adultery who committed the act constituting that offense under a claim of
plural or polygamous marriage ; the reply was no \ whereupon the district attorney
challenged the jurors for bias, and the judge sustained the challenge and directed
the jurors to leave the box ; although there was not a line of pleading or record,
nor a word of counsel or client by which the judge could judicially conjecture,
much less know, that the defendant would set up any polygamous marriage as a
defense to the charge of adultery.
"Hawkins was convicted on the sole evidence of his wife, who in despite
of the protest of counsel, was permitted by Judge McKean to testify in the case,
and thus the third proposition of th»i defeated Cullom bill, that a Avife might testify
against her husband was established by decree of the judge. Hawkins was sub-
sequently sentenced to pay five hundred dollars fine and be imprisoned for three
years — and he is now in the Territorial prison pending an appeal to the supreme
court of the Territory. From present appearances he is likely to serve out his
term, for his bonds pending appeal have been fixed at the sum of twenty thousand
dollars, and his whole property would not suffice to pay his five hundred dollars
fine. Judge McKean refused for three months to sign the bill of exceptions for
Hawkin's appeal to the Territorial supreme court, on the ground that the bill was
too voluminous, that it contained a record of all the proceedings in the case-
proceedings reported by an official phonographic reporter appointed by himself.
When the supreme court of the Territory met on the fifth of February, Chief
Justice McKean presiding, the record of the Hawkins' was not quite ready, be-
cause the clerk had not had time to prepare it in ke short period that had passed
since Judge McKean had signed the bill of exceptions — whereupon the Chief Jus-
tice adjourned the supreme court until the third Monday in June next, I will not
say to prevent the Hawkin's case being heard and reversed by his associates,
although I understand that such is the view Hawkins takes of it. But there
Hawkins is probably prejudiced : his recollection of some of the proceedings in
his case not having increased his confidence in the impartiality of the Chief Jus-
tice. Let me refer to a few of those proceedings.
" The act of Congress governing the mode of procedure in criminal cases in
^63 HIS TOR V OF SAL T LAKE CIl Y.
the courts of the United States, gives to the accused ten peremptory challenges
to the jury against two accorded by the prosecution, while the Territorial law gov-
erning the mode of procedure in criminal cases in the Territorial courts gives the
prosecution and the accused six challenges each. The act of Congress referred
to bars all prosecutions for non-capital felonies (except forgery) not instituted
within two years from the date of the offense, while the Territorial laws contain
no statute of limitations. The Territorial laws provide that in non capital cases
the jury which finds the man guilty may prescribe the punishment. The act of
Congress is silent upon this subject and of course leaves the power of sentence,
where in the absence of statutory regulation it would belong, with the judge.
" As Judge McKean had ruled that his was a United Slates court, the coun-
sel for Hawkins asked the court to give their client the benefit of the ten chal-
lenges allowed by act of Congress. Judge McKean refused, and allowed only the
six permitted under the laws of Utah. The defendant's counsel requested an in-
struction to the jury that the law of Congress protecting the defendant for acts
committed two years before the finding of the indictment. Judge McKean refused
because the Territorial laws prescribed no limit fiDr prosecutions. The counsel
asked the judge to allow the jury to fix the punishment as prescribed by the Ter-
ritorial laws. He refused that also. He pursued the practice of a United States
court when the jury was being selected ; of a Territorial court when the jury were
being peremptorily challenged. He pursued the practice of a Territorial court
when the act of Congress would have limited the prosecution ; of a United States
court when the jury might, under Territorial law, have been more lenient in pre-
scribing punishment than the exigencies of a great, burning 'mission^ would
warrant.
'■'■ What authorities were cited ? What precedents invoked ? What chain of
reasoning offered to sustain these judicial usurpations? — none. The section of
the statute of Utah under which Hawkins was indicted, and his wife permitted to
testify against him, both before the grand and petit jury, reads as follows :
" *No prosecution for adultery can be commenced but on the complaint of the
husband or wife.'
"The statutes of but few States make adultery a felony, and adjudicated
cases upon such statutes are rare. In Minnesota, however, the statute on this sub-
ject is precisely the same as in Utah, and the supreme court of Minnesota in a
case strikingly analogous to the Hawkins case, in the case of State vs. Armstrong,,
reported in the fourth volume of Minnesota supreme court reports, set aside a
similar conviction obtained upon the testimony of the wife.
[Mr. Fitch quoted and applied the opinion.]
" Perhaps I weary the convention with all this, but as the necessity of a State
government in Utah arises largely from the character and conditions of the courts
of Utah, I have thought best to recite some of the history of judicial proceedings
here that all may know the grievances of the people, and that those vvho sustain
the course of Judge McKean may understand what it is they endorse. Perhaps
the legal profession may criticize my action in reviewing before a public assem-
blage, the ruling made at a trial in which I participated as counsel. I can reply
that the prosecution in these Mormon cases have constantly appealed to the pub-
HIS TOR V OF SAL T LAKE CITY. 569
lie for support. They tried tlieir cases on the streets, in the newspapers, at pub-
lic meetings, by petitions and over the telegraph wires by means of their leading
adviser, the Salt Lake agent of the associated press, and I do but follow their ex-
ample in presenting the matter to this convention. Let those who sustain Judge
McKean by petition and mass meeting without knowing whether he is right or
wrong, take heed less the hour arrive when they shall feel the need of courts where
the voice of passion and public clamor cannot enter, and where those rules of law
which the wisdom of ages has prescribed will not for any social or political exi-
gency be set aside.
"Thus it will be seen that the four important provisions of the discarded
CuUom bill, namely, no choice of jurors except by a United States marshal, no
Mormon to serve on juries, the abrogation of the common law rule that a wife
cannot testify for or against her husband, and the new doctrine that marriage in
criminal cases can be proved by admis-iion of the defendant, are all in successful
operation. That legislation to meet a local difficulty in the way of enforcing the
laws, which the United States did not deem it wise or expedient to enact, has been
decreed and established by Jas. B. McKean. The course of procedure which Chief
Justice Salmon P. Chase tacitly refused to pursue, even to meet a great popular de-
mand for the punishment of Jefferson Davis, the Chief Justice of Utah has pursued
to comply with a small popular demand for the punishment of a Mormon poly'
gamist. The judge has made those bold innovations upon precedent, the contem-
plation of which compelled the pause of the law-making power of a great nation.
Who will doubt that whenever the exigencies arise the same judge will overturn
another common law rule, and establish another proposition of theCullom bill by
allowing marriage to be proved in prosecutions for polygamy by evidence of gen-
eral reputation? Who will doubt that any ruling will be made that is necessary to
carry out the crusade ? And what unprejudiced citizen but will regard with appre-
hension the extension of this practice of judicial legislation? If it should ever
reach beyond Utah and be adopted by the judges of our State and National courts
of last resort, either a revolution would be induced, or a people who had lost their
liberties would have occasion to remember John Randolph's epigram, that ' the
book of Judges comes before the book of Kings.'
" Let me now recall some incidents in the history of the grand jury selected
under the patent process to which I have referred. That grand jury found a num-
ber of indictments, not for any alleged violation of the anti-polygamic act of Con-
g ress, not for^dultery as in the Hawkins case upon the evidence of the wife; but
upon somebody's evidence — let us hope that somebody was not public rumor —
they indicted a number of prominent Mormons for the crime of ' lewd and lasciv-
ious cohabitation.' The law under which these indictments were found is a statute
of Utah Territory and reads as follows :
" If any man or woman not being married to each other, lewdly and lasciv-
iously associate and cohabit together, etc., every such person so offending shall be
punished by imprisonment not exceeding ten years, etc.
" But one State in the Union has a statute similar to this — the State of Mas-
sachusetts, and the Supreme Judicial Court of that State in the case of the Com-
31
3 JO HISTORY OF SALT LAKE CITY.
monvveahh %rs, Catlin, ist Massachusetts Reports, page 8, decided that evidence of
secret cohabitation cannot in any degree support an indictment for this offense.'
'' Who supposes that the defendant in any of the cases of this character, now
pending in the Third District Court, will be proved to have committed any public
act of cohabitation? And who does not conjecture that a petit jury, selected as
the grand jury was, and instructed as they doubtless will be, will probably find
verdicts of guilty upon evidence of secret cohabitation ?
" Let me return once more to the record history of the Third Judicial Dis
trict Court.
"Among the indictments for lascivious cohabitation is one charging the crime
against Brigham Young, and charging it as having been committed with sixteen
different persons, at sixteen different times and places, ranging over a period of
nineteen years. The counsel for the defendant asked the court to quash this in-
dictment of multifariousness, or else compel the district attorney to elect upon
which count he would proceed. Let it be observed that there was nothing in this
motion out of the regular course of criminal cases. It was made upon legal grounds
only, and supported by legal authorities. It was nowhere suggested or argued
that * lascivious cohabitation' was not a crime, a felony under the laws of Utah.
It was nowhere suggested or argued that evidence of a polygamous marriage would
be offered, or if offered could be received as a defense of the accusation. The
motion to quash or compel an election was made before plea, and the judge in
passing upon that motion had no right to do anything except to grant or refuse it,
or except, and to give his legal reasons for granting or refusing it.
" What did he do? He went outside of the record; he assumed that the
defendant was guilty before trial. He first denied the motion, giving his legal
reasons therefor, and then he used the following remarkable language :
[He quotes McKean's opinion.]
" What wonder then that the New York Lmo Journal, one of the leading legal
periodicals of the country, thus criticized this remarkable language of Judge
James B. McKean :
" ' His decisions we do noc question, but the language accompanying those
decisions has been so intemperate and partial as to remind one of those ruder ages
when the bench was but a focus where were gathered and reflected the passions of
the people.'
"What wonder then that the counsel for the defendant felt compelled to no-
tice the unprecedented action of McKean by filing the next day the following
protest :
" We the undersigned, of cDunsil fjr the defendant in thi above entitled
cause, respectfully except to the following language of your honor in your opinion
to quash the indictment herein.
[He quotes from the opinion.]
" The indictment in this case charges the defendant with 'lascivious cohabita-
tion' and not with polygamy or treason. The statement of your honor that a
system of polygamic theocracy is on trial in this case in the person of Brigham
Young coupled with your invitation to us to prove by authority that the acts
charged in the indictments are not crimes, is most prejudicial to a fair trial of the
I
HIS TOR Y OF SAL T LAKE CIT Y. ^7^
defendant, in that it assumes that the defendant has been guilty of the acts charged
in the indictment, and that law and not the alleged fact will be on trial.
"No motion has been made to quash the indictment in this case on the
ground that acts charged therein are not crimes, nor has such a proposition been
advanced on argument by any of defendant's counsel herein. We submit that no
political and social condition of the country can relieve the prosecution of the task
of proving one or more of the acts alleged in the indictment, and that unless and
until such proof is made, the guilt of the defendant ought not to be assumed or
even conjectured by the judge before whom he is to be tried.
" ' If any presumption is to be indulged in, it is that the defendant is innocent
of the charges preferred against him, and that he will accordingly plead 'not
guilty' to the indictment, and that presumption remains until the defendant elects
to plead 'guilty' or a special plea of justification, which latter have not been sug-
gested by either defendant or his counsel. In so pleading 'not guilty,' the defen-
dant will not say the acts charged in the indictment are not crimes, but that he is
not guilty of the acts charged in the indictment.
" ' Then there will be a question of fact for a jury, and we submit that in the
determination of that question the language of your honor herein referred to can-
not but tend to the prejudice of the defendant, and we therefore except to the
same.
'''Fitch & Mann, Hempstead & Kirkpatrick, Snow & Hoge, Hosea
Stout, A. Miner, Le Grand Young.'
" Let not the filing of this protest be criticized an an unusual proceeding. If
it be unusual so was the occasion which elicited it. What right had Judge
McKean to thus expose his bias to the world and bring the administration of jus-
tice into contempt. Suppose that in the case of Sickles, indicted for killing Keys,
the seducer of his wife, a motion had been made to quash the indictment for some
technical defect, and in refusing the motion to quash, the judge presiding had
said : Let all concerned keep steadily in mind that while the case at bar is called
' The People of the District of Cohmibia against Daniel E. Sickles, its other and
real title is the peace of society against red-handed murder. The government of
Washington City finds in its midst a social code claiming to come from God, a
code which asserts the right of a husband to vindicate his honor by bloodshed.
The code arrays itself against the laws. A system is on trial in the person of
Daniel E. Sickles. The question is not is the defendant guilty or innocent of the
crime charged, but it is shall men be permitted to walk down Pennsylvania avenue
on Sunday evenings, and murder other men who may have disturbed their do-
mestic relations.'
" A judge who should pursue such a course elsewhere would be apt to lose
his ofificial head, or the opportunity of trying the defendant thus passionately as-
sailed from the bench. I do not believe there is a fair-minded judge in the country
outside of Utah, who if he had been betrayed in such a case into the delivery of
such language, would afterwards consent to sit as judge upon the trial of a defen-
dant thus prejudiced. I do not believe there is another community in the country
that would not with unanimous voice demand that a judge who had so exhibited
his bias should retire during the trial of the defendant in such case.
572 HISTORY OF SALT LAKE CITY.
"And yet I venture to predict that Judge James B. McKean will refuse a
change of venue, refuse a change of judges, and insist upon occupying the bench
upon the trial of Brigham Young; and I predict further that his course in that
respect, will be sustained by hundreds in Utah, who are only anxious that Brigham
Young, whether innocent or guilty, shall be convicted of something or other. It
will be sustained also by that portion of the newspaper press of Utah which has
constantly since the inauguration of these prosecutions, presented the disgusting
spectacle of calling for the conviction and punishment of men accused of crime,
prejudging their cases, denouncing all who defended them, and accusing of cor-
ruption those who declined to bend the high duties of officers of the Governmeet
to the dirty work of malicious injustice. It will be sustained by the editors who
have bitterly abused the United States marshal for according to persons in con-
finement those comforts which are allowed to all prisoners before trial who are
willing to undergo the expense. It will be sustained by those newspapers whose
conductors have found words of encouragement and applause for every insult or
indignity or oppression that has been leveled against the Mormons.
'' But I am not through with the acts of Federal judges in Utah. The pro-
bate courts which for twenty years have exercised jurisdiction in a certain class of
cases, have been swept into nothingness by the supreme court of the Territory,
throwing property rights into litigation, and making invalid and worthless hun-
dreds of divorces, upon the faith of which other marriage relations had been con-
tracted. A liquor dealer whose stock was destroyed for selling without license, in
violation of a city ordinance, sued for damages the Territorial marshal and his
deputies who executed the warrant and the justice who issued it, and obtained
from a selected jury, a verdict of ^57,000; $19,000 for the value of the liquor
destroyed, and ^38,000 as punishment for those who acted at least under the color
of authority. The son of one of the justices of the Territorial supreme court — a
young man whose zeal outran his discretion as a challenger at the polls on election
day — was locked up for a i^i'fi hours for such disorderly conduct, and he has brought
an action against the city officers who detained him, to recover $25,000 damages.
Several persons committed by local magistrates to answer charges of felony, have
sued out writs of habeas corpus before a Federal judge and been discharged from
custody, on the ground that the Mormon judge had no jurisdiction — the universal
rule of law that the acts of a de facto officer cannot thus be collaterally attacked
being coolly ignored.
"The baser elements of society gaining courage and support from those de-
cisions, now commit depredations on the public peace and on private property
with impunity, until within a year Salt Lake, from one of the best, has almost be-
come one of the worst governed cities on the continent.
" I turn again from the proceedings of the court to the proceedings of the
grand jury it impaneled.
" In the guard house at Camp Douglas, associated with felons, and within
the walls of the city jail, are four men of families, four kind, honest, worthy,
harmless men, who are held in close confinement upon the uncorroborated evi-
dence of a self-confessed perjurer. Innocent men over whom the shadow of the
scaffold impends : while the grand jury which indicted them refused to consider,
HISTORY OF SALT LAKE CITY. s73
refused to listen even to evidence of the perjury of the man upon whose uncor-
roborated testimony the indictment W3s found. Before Judge McKean, as mag-
istrate examining persons charged with the murder of J. King Robinson, one
Charles W. Baker swore that he recognized Blythe and Toms as the two men with
muffled faces who ran from the scene of homicide in question upon the night of
October 22, 1866. After giving this evidence, Baker, struck with remorse, or
failing to receive his reward, or for both or other reasons, made the following
affidavit :
" ' Territory of Utah, Salt Lake County — ss.
" 'Be it remembered that on the 3rd day of January, 1872, personally ap-
peared Charles W. Baker who was by me sworn in due form of law, and who on
his oath, did say that he is the identical Charles W. Baker who was a witness in
an examination before tTie honorable James B. McKean, Chief Justice of the Su-
preme Court of the Territory of Utah, commencing on the 14th day of Decem-
ber and terminating on the 22nd day of December, 1871, at Salt Lake City;
wherein John L. Blythe, James Toms, Alexander Burt, Brigham Y. Hampton,
were charged with the murder of J. King Robinson, at Salt Lake City, in the
County of Salt Lake, and Territory of Utah, on the 22nd day of October, 1866.
"' He further says the testimony which he then, on said examination, gave
was wholly untrue and false. He further said he was hired to give said testimony
by S. Gilson. That it was agreed between him and the said S. Gilson and others.
" ' That he was to receive the sum of five-hundred dollars, no matter what
might be the event of the proceedings, and one thousand dollars for each person
that was or might be convicted.
" ' That during the time he was engaged in said testimony and detained, his
board was paid by said Gilson and others, at the Revere House, in said city.
"'He further says that he had a plat of the grounds and of the street in
the city of Salt Lake near to the place where the murder was committed, fur-
nished by S. Gilson.
" ' Which plat, before he gave evidence, was by him carefully studied, so that
he might understand it.
" ' He further says that since he so gave his testimony he has carefully reflected
on the enormity of the crime he has committed and is aiding in carrying out
and he has concluded to make amends, so far as it is now in his power.
" ' He therefore voluntarily now makes this statement, upon his oath.
" ' He further says that on or about the i6th day of December, 1S71, he had
a conversation with Thomas Butterwood, who then informed this affiant that he
was hired to give his testimony, in the above named case, and that his testimony
was not true.
" ' (Signed) C. W. Baker.
" ' Subscribed and sworn to before me this third day of January, A. D. 1872.
"'John T. Qpa^y., Notary Public'
" After making this affidavit, somebody persuaded Baker to go before the
grand jury and repeat the false statement he had made before the examining mag-
istrate. While Baker was giving his testimony the grand jury had in their pos-
session the affidavit I have just read, and yet, will it be believed; they refused to
574 HISTORY OF SALT LAKE CITY.
consider the affidavit ; they refused, although requested to send for the three wit-
nesses by whom the fact of Baker's voluntary signing of and swearing to it could
have been proven ; they refused to even question Baker about it, or to ask him to
explain it, while upon his testimony alone they indicted Blythe and Toms. There
was no evidence so base or worthless but was sufficient to indict a Mormon upon ;
there was no evidence sufficiently damning to indict a man who would swear
against Mormons.
From the closed doors of this grand inquest the counsel for Blythe and Toms
turned to Judge McKean. Upon a proper legal affidavit they asked him to have
Baker brought before him for examination upon a charge of perjury ; he refused to
issue a warrant, or make any examination, on the ground that the grand jury had
had the subject under consideration. Baker was then arrested and taken before
a Mormon justice. The lawyer who acted as deputy district attorney on the ex-
amination of Blythe and Toms appeared as B iker's counsel, and waived an exami-
nation, thereby admitting that there was probable cause to believe Baker guilty
of perjury, and Baker was committed to jail, where he now is in default of $3,000
bail. The usual practice of habeas corpus to procure his release has not been
resorted to, perhaps because unpleasant facts might thereby be made public, and
his confinement will not be lengthy, for he will probably be discharged as soon
as the grand jury can again get together and officially ignore the charge.
" I will not pursue this dreary record further. A volume of details of acts of
injustice and tyranny might ba compiled from the official records, but one more
instance will suffice.
" Brigham Young, an American citizen of character, of wealth, of enterprise;
an old man who justly possesses the love and confidence of his people and the re-
spect of those who know and comprehend him, is to day a prisoner in his own
bouse in charge of an officer. Judge McKean refused to admit him to bail,
although the prisoner is ready to give any sum demanded, and the Attorney-
General of the United States has requested that bail should be taken. There is
nothing but the lenity of the United States marshal and the caprice of his prose-
cutors between the prisoner and the cell of a common guard house. If he takes an
airing in his carriage accompanied by the officer who has him in custody, a howl
goes up from those newspaper organs of th# prosecution, who lustily call for a tin
plate, and irons, and prison fare for him ; and all this upon the uncorroborated oath
of one of the most remarkable scoundrels that any age has produced ; a man
known to infamy as William Hickman, a human butcher, by the side of whom all
malefactors of history are angels ; a creature who, according to his own published
statements, is a camp follower without enthusiasm, a bravo without passion, a mur-
derer without motive, an assassin without hatred.
" Who shall say that no man will ever be convicted by an American jury
upon the testimony of such a witness? That which a peculiarly constituted grand
jury commenced, a peculiarly constituted petit jury may continue, and a peculiarly
constituted court complete. The end may be and doubtless will be, the logical
sequence of the beginning. One year ago no man would have predicted such a
beginning, and who shall say the tide will turn this side the grave? Who shall
prophesy the end ?
ii
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HISTORY OF SALT LAKE CITY. j-^j
" I say deliberately, that with the history of the past behind me, with the
signs of the present be(ore me, with the pervading feeling in the minds of those
from whom alone juries will be taken, with the declared opinions of the judge as
recorded ; I say with sorrow and himiiliation that the Mormon charged with crime
who now walks into the courts of his country, goes not to his deliverance but to his
doom, that the Mormon who in a civil action seeks his rights in the courts of his
country goes not to his redress but his spoliation.
"And there is no prospect of relief except through a State government. It
is true that the lower house of Congress his passed a bill to allow appeals to the
Supreme Court of the United States in criminal cases from the Territories, but it
is not probable that this bill will pass the Senate. The declared policy of the Sen-
ate, and especially of its judiciary committee for some years past, has been adverse
to such a law.
"The present grand jury has found six indictments formurderand seven indict-
ments for 'lascivious cohabitation.' The defendants in these cases include Brigham
Young, Joseph A. Young, Daniel H. Wells, Geo. Q. Cannon, Hyrum B. Clawson,
Hosea Stout, William H. Kimball and others less generally known."
[The speaker next briefly reviewed the history of the drivings of the Mor-
mons and the Utah war, which had produced a Hickman and a John D. Lee, and
climaxed this line of his argument thus:]
"The objection to a State government, an objection urged by a handful of
people and an irresponsible guerrilla press, that in case Utah is admitted the Mor-
mons will control her politics and elect her officers and representatives, is an ob-
jection to which the Congress of the United States will, in my judgment, accord
no weight whatever.
"That body will, I venture to predict, see no good reason why the Mormons
who constitute nine-tenths of the community should not control public affairs here,
and once satisfied the social problem is in the way of a peaceful and just solution
there will I think be a disposition to give Utah the privilege of self-government.
"The question of State government or no State government for the people
of Utah, is simply a question of concession on the part of the people of Utah. I
say a question of concession. I doubt indeed if it be longer than that. The uni-
versal voice of a democratic-republican nation of forty millions of people seems
to be consolidated into a demand with respect to Utah, a demand which may per-
haps be the offspring of prejudiced opinion, but if so, it is an opinion which will
not be enlightened and which cannot be disregarded or overruled. The demand
is that the future marriage laws, and marriage relations of Utah be placed in con-
sonance with the rest of the Republic. The demand is that polygamous or plural
marriages shall cease. Accede to this demand and you may have a State govern-
ment, with condonation of the past, and secure exemption from persecution for
the future. Deny it and you will have neither a State government nor cessation
of persecutions. The war is over, secession is dead, slavery is dead, and in the
absenceof subjects of greater importance, Utah and her institutions will be the
shuttlecock of Amercan politics to be bruised and beaten by the battledoors of
party for the next decade, unless she now grasp her opportunity and gain peace by
gaining power.
576 HISTORY OF SALT LAKE CITY.
"In accordance with a public promise, made when nominated to this con-
vention, I stand here to day to advocate the surrender of polygamy. It may be
that my utterances in this behalf will take from me the friendship and support of
many good men and women ; if so I must even pay the penalty. It is easier to swim
with the current than to seek to stem it, and perhaps it is wiser, but whether or no
it is policy I have seldom been able to practice. I have not permitted myself to
be disturbed by the titles of ' Jack Mormon,' 'Apostate Gentile,' ' Saint Fitch,*
and 'Apostle Fitch,' which have been so freely bestowed upon me during the last
ten months by men whose small souls were incapable of comprehending that it
was possible to pursue a great purpose by a liberal and comprehensive policy.
That I am a friend of the Mormon people, wishing their welfare and happiness,
and willing to do all in my power to advance that end, I have often publicly
avowed by word and deed, and if my course in this respect shall have inclined
this assemblage to-day to give more weight to my utterances than would have been
otherwise accorded to them — then I am more than compensated for being often
traduced and steadily misunderstood by many who in times past honored me with
their confidence and support. In another forum than this it was my fortune two
years ago to stand up almost alone to ask the representatives of a great nation to be
just towards an honest, earnest, calumniated people, and perhaps I may stand
alone to-day in asking the representatives of that same people to be just to them-
selves.
" I am not here to attack polygamy from a theological, a moral, or a physical
— but from a political standpoint. Certainly I do not propose to question the
pure motives or the honesty of those who believe in and practice it. I am in-
clined to agree with Montesquieu and Buckle that it is an affair of latitude, and
climate, and race, and on these grounds alone its existence among a Saxon people,
living in the North Temperate zone, is a climatic anomaly. It did not grow out
of any structural, or race, or social, or climatic necessities, and if it be, as as-
serted, the offspring of revelation here, I can only say that it needed a revelation
to start it. That it has scriptural patriarchal origin and example is probably
true, but that was in another age than ours, and in a different land. If Abraham
had lived on the line of the overland road in the at'ternoon of the nineteenth
century; if Isaac had been surrounded by forty million monogamous Yankees;
if Jacob had associated with miners and been jostled by speculators, there
would, I apprehend, have been a different order of social life in Palestine. The
Mormon doctrine may be the true theology, and the writings of Joseph Smith the
most direct of revelations. The practice of polygamy may be a safeguard against
the vice of unlicensed indulgence, and the social life of Utah the most sanitary
of social reforms. All the advantages, claimed for this system may be actual, but
nevertheless the fact exists that polygamy is an anomally in this Republic, existing
hitherto by the sufferance of a people who now declare that it shall exist no
longer.
"Do you doubt this decision on their part? The evidences are all about
you. Here is a people who expended thousands of millions of treasure and
myriads of life to establish the freedom of the black race from oppression, and
who yet regard with indifference if not with complacency the assault which has
HISTORY 01 SALT LAKE CITY. j77
been made upon the rights and libenies of American citizens in Utah, because
the object of those assaults upholds a hateful doctrine. Here is a people ordi-
narily jealous of the aggressions of rulers and officials, who yet endorse acts of
despotism and applaud assaults upon law and constitution because such assaults are
made for the destruction of polygamy.
" What if judges should be changed, or policies altered? It would bring but
tem];orary relief, for behind all, impelling all, contriving all, demanding all, en-
forcing all, there dwells the unconquerable, all-pervading idea of the American
people that polygamy must be extinguished. On this one thing all parties, all
creeds, and all philosophies are combined. The press calls for it, the pulpit thun-
ders for it, the politicians rage for it, the people insist upon it. You may delay
the issue but you cannot evade it. Your antagonist is hydra-headed and hundred
armed. Whether by bigoted judges, by packed juries, by partizan officers, by
puritan missionaries, by iron limbed laws, by armies from abroad or by foes and
defections at home, the assault is continuous and unrelenting. Your enemies are
ubiquitous. Your friends — ah ! it is your friends who advise you constantly to
baffle your enemies and resign the practice of this one feature of your faith. The
history of all similar movements warns you ; the violatedlaws of latitude confront,
you ; your children unconsciously plot against you, for, while polygamy is with
you the result of religious conviction, with them it is but the result of religious
education, and an inoculated doctrine, like an inoculated disease, is never very
violent or very enduring.
" Can this people hope to retain polygamy against such influences and such
antagonism? Some tell me that they trust in God to uphold them in a struggle to
keep polygamy. Others would doubtless say they trust in God to uphold them in
the struggle to banish polygamy ; and others that there can in the nature of things
be no assurance that the Almighty will interest himself in the matter, or espouse
either side. The early Christians trusted in God when the Roman emperors gave
thera to the wild beasts. The Huguenots trusted in God when the assassins of St.
Bartholomew's Eve made the gutters of Paris reek with their blood. So trusted the
Waldenses when their peaceful valleys were given to rapine ; so trusted the victims
whose despairing faces were lit by the glare of Spanish auto da fes ; so trusted the
martyrs whose fagot fires gleam down the aisles of history, so trusted the Puri-
tans when driven out upon the stormy Atlantic ; so trusted the Presbyterians when
the Puritans persecuted them ; so trusted the Quakers when the Presbyterians ex
pelled them ; so trusted the Arcadians when driven from their homes ; so trusted
the myriads who in all ages have been sacrificed to the Moloch of religious intol-
erance. Who shall say when or in what cases or in what way the ruler of the Uni.
verse will interfere? " Render unto Caesar the things that are Caesar's and to God
the things that are God's." A belief in polygamy is a matter between the citizen
and his God ; the practice of polygamy is a matter between the citizen and his
country. If you think the laws of God call upon you to believe in it — then obey
them unmolested — but the laws of your country call upon you not to practice it,
so obey them — and be unmoested. If for his own purposes the Almighty did not
see fit to interfere by special and miraculous providences to protect those who re-
fused to recant their professions, is it probable that he will so interfere to sustain
32
378 HISTORY OF SALT LAKE CITY.
those who refuse to surrender the practice of an ordinance and that not a saving,
although a sacred ordinance. I do not claim to know, I do not know what the
Mormon doctrine may be with respect to the practice of pol3'gamy. I observe,
however, that not one-tenth of your adult males actually practice it, and I naturally
conclude that you do not consider its practice essential to salvation ; that it is some-
thing to be practiced or omitted as opportunity or ability may warrant. If this be so,
then may not that lack of ability or opportunity arise from the antagonism of others,
from the circumstances of the country, from overpowering laws, as well as from
the circumstances of the individual? If one Mormon is permitted by his creed to
say, I believe in polygamy as a doctrine, but I do not practice it because my con-
dition makes it inconvenient or impossible, why may not another say — why may
not all say — we believe in it as a doctrine, but we agree not to practice it because
the general conditions make it inconvenient or impossible? Why may not the
earnest, conscientious Mormon say, I believe in polygamy as a doctrine, but in
order to relieve my friends and associates from persecution, in order to prevent
the establishment of intolerable oppression; in order to preserve the thrift, the
industry, the wealth, the progress, the temperate life, the virtues of Utah from
spoliation and devastation and ruin ; in order to save a hundred noble pioneer
citizens from outlawry or the gibbet or incarceration ; in order to achieve self-
government, and peace, and liberty, I consent to surrender its practice for the
future. And so consenting I am content to embody my consent in the form of an
organic law. So consenting I mean in good faith to do as I agree to, and so agree-
ing make my agreement public and of record.
"To say, on the other, that you will make no compromise, that you will die
rather than surrender the practice of this one feature of your faith, is the resolve of
neither philosophers nor philanthropists. Such a resolve means another Nauvoo ;
it means that you consent to count more of your religious leaders among your
list of martyrs ; it means death to some, exile to other, ruin to many. If such be
the well considered, deliberate determination of the Mormon people, there is no
weapon in the armory of logic that will prevail against it, for you cannot reason
with him who is bent on suicide. I hope no such conclusion lias been or will be
reached. I hope that the assembling of this convention indicates a different and
wiser resolve. I speak to this people as a friend. I speak to them without thought
uf personal gain or advantage to myself to result from pursuing the course I sug-
gest. Before God and before this convention I do most solemnly assert that did I in-
tend to leave Utah forever on the morrow, I would give the same advice. Before.
God and before this convention I do most solemnly declare that did I know my
little life would go out from earth with to-day's sun I would give the same advice.
"To this convention I say, be wise in time. If you do not by this conces-
sion successfully organize a State government for yourselves now, the day is not
far distant when your foes will organize one over your heads, and organize it upon
such terms as will ostracise your most honored citizens from public peace, if it do
not disfranchise the body of your voters. The political history of some of the
reconstructed States lies to your perusal and for your warning. In politics as in
finance the tendency of the age is to centralization. The triumphant career of a
great political party demonstrates to you that there is no government so strong as
i
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HISTORY OF SALT LAKE CITY..
579
a government of opinion, that there is no law so powerful as the will of a people.
It is a turbulent and resistless torrent ; constitutional barriers are swept down be-
fore it, laws are changed to accommodate it ; courts are overwhelmed or carried
away upon its crest, and institutions that lift up their voices against it are hushed
by its mighty thunders.
" Do not trifle with your opportunity. Do not wait the tardy action of Con-
gress. Do not entail upon yourself years of oppression. Do not play into the
hands of your foes. Do not close the mouths and tie the hands of your friends.
Believe rather that this is the hour of triumph, that this is the ' tide in your affairs
which taken at the flood leads on to fortune.' Believe rather that out of the wise
compromise, the wise concession, which may have a beginning here, a happy
future shall grow. That from this house the lovely State of Deseret shall go
forth, with her errors forgotten, with her virtues shining like rubies upon her
breast, to clasp hands with her sister States and march with them along the high-
way of empire which stretches from sun to sun."
CHAPTER LXVII.
Till': DISCUSSION FOR THE STATE CONTINUED. HAYDON AND BAR.MUM EU-
LOGIZE THE CHIEF JUSTICE. FITCH CHALLENGES THE RECORD, AND
IS UNANSWERED. MOTION TO ADJOURN LOST. AND BUSINESS RESUMED.
DESERET OR UTAH ? THE NAME OF DESERET PREVAILS. THE ALL IM-
PORTANT STRUGGLE OVER THE FIFTH SECTION OF THE ORDINANCE,
INVITING CONGRESS TO PUT IN ITS PLANK, ORSON PRATT LEADS THE
OPPOSITION. GEORGE Q. CANNON THE MEMBERS FOR THE SECTION.
THE FIFTH SECTION PREVAILS. GRAND POINTS OF THE MODEL CON-
STITUTION. WORK OF THE CONVENTION FINISHED. ELECTION FOR
CONGRESSMAN. BALLOTING FOR U. S. SENATORS. EFFORTS TO ORG.\N-
IZE THE CITIZENS INTO THE NATIONAL PARTIES.
On the third day of the convention Judge Haydon replied to Mr. Fitch. He
said the reason why he made the motion to adjourn sine die was to define his pos-
ition on the State government of Utah. He had no thought the discussion would
take so wide a range, nor that so much bitterness of expression would have been
indulged in ; neither did he think that the gentlemen would have taken occasion
to speak in such harsh terms of the Government and its officers. This, he thought,
of itself would militate against the admission of Utah, for the Government would
say that those who abuse the Government and its officers are not fit to join the
sisterhood of loyal States. He had noticed that great wisdom usually marked the
gentlemen present in worldly matters, but in this instance he thought it was a
truant. He had come to Utah to practice his profession quietly, and to keep aloof
as far as possible from conflicting parties ; and he desired to act justly towards all.
^8o HISTORY OF SALT LAKE CITY.
He a was Gentile and by his actions in that convention represented in part the
Gentile sentiment of Salt Lake County; and if his Mormon friends who elected
him thought he could be used to give a Gentile color to the convention they had
mistaken their man. He ventured the opinion that outside the Gentiles on the
floor of the convention there were not more than fifty in Salt Lake County, nor a
hundred in the Territory, in favor of a State government. He raised the point
of increased taxation, against State sovereignty, urging that it would keep for-
eign capital away and retard the development of the resources of the State. He
next gave a eulogistical sketch of Judge McKean's career and character, criticising
Fitch's argument ; and, closing on the polygamic question, said he did not be-
lieve that the Mormons present would be willing to trade off what they believe a
divine ordinance for the bauble of State sovereignty. If they were once to lose
the respect of the world for their honesty in their faith they would go down like
Lucifer — never to rise. What would history write — what vvould the world say, if a
convention composed mainly of Latter-day Saints, among whom were six apostles
and twenty bishops, should be found ready and willing to sacrifice one of their
divine ordinances for a State government ? As a Gentile who was no enemy but
who had many reasons to be their friend, he in conclusion said, " Stay where you
are, and bide your time."
He then moved the previous question, but at the request of numerous gentle-
men he afterwards withdrew.
Mr Fitch replied to Judge Haydon's strictures on his speech and " challenged
thegentleman and the world to point out a false statement therein." He was not
unwilling to believe that Judge McKean had always lived an upright life. It was not
the acts of his past life which were here in review; it was his course as a judge in
Utah which he had criticised. And he submitted thac, in considering a resolution
to adjourn without action, all the evils of the existing system were legitimate sub-
jects for discussion. In conclusion he desired to say that the position of his col-
league differed from his in this, that while Judge Haydon desired the people of
Utah to retain McKean and polygamy, he (Fitch) desired them to get rid alike of
polygamy and McKean.
Col. Akers said his collegue, Judge Haydon, had left all the reasons advanced
in support of his original motion untouched, except taxation. The Judge had
said if he could not lift up men, he gloried in the fact that he was too feeble to
pull down angels ; yet his motion and arguments were directed towards pulling
down the fabric which the convention was endeavoring to rear. It was infinitely
easier to pull down than to build up. The architect's skill and wisdom of the
builder might be employed in erecting a structure which the hand of destruction,
however unskillful or unwisely directed, might lay in ruins. The convention had
met to aid in building a fabric of State government, and one greatly needed for
Utah. The history of this Territory had been one of harshness towards the peo-
ple. He did not allude to the past experiences of the Mormons, in the drivings
and persecutions which they had endured before they turned their backs on civili-
zation and sought a refuge in this then comparatively desert region ; but he re-
ferred to a period still more recent, and to the present; and appealed to the gentle-
men present if the h\\ which should ever be administered with justice, tempered by
r
HISTORY OF SAL T LAKE CITY. 5B1
kindness, and not been administered with severity and harshnesi. This should be
changed and for it should be substituted a policy of kindness and Christianity, a
policy of conciliation. Kindness always softens and melts. The maniac's fury
is soothed by it; under its influence the ferocity of the tiger is subdued, and men
can enter a den of savage beasts that have been made to feel the power of kind-
ness and conciliation. Brute force appeals to the lowest instincts of mankind ;
conciliation appeals to the highest and noblest. It is like the gentle summer cloud
that sheds its grateful moisture upon the parched earth, making nature rejoice.
He desired to see men governed always and in all places in a spirit of conciliatory
kindness, that their better nature might be called out in response to it. He be-
lieved that with a State government for Utah all the wrangling and contention
which unsettled business and kept bitter feelings alive would cease.
Mr. H. D. Johnson did not wish to made a speech, but endorsed the senti-
ments and views of the previous speaker, reviewing the remarks of Judge Haydon
and showing their inconsistency.
Col. Buel said Judge Haydon had stated he was a Gentile. He, the speaker,
was not a Mormon, and he would leave the people to determine where he stood.
There was quite a liberal sentiment among many gentiles with regard to this mat
ter of a State government. If Mormons were elected to office, he would sustain
them in it. They had administered the government of the Territory in the past,
so far as it was in their hands, with prudence and economy. He had to pay less
taxes here than he had ever done before ; and as they had done so well in the past
he was willing to trust them in the future in a State.
General Barnum endorsed the views of his Gentile colleagues as against Judge
Haydon's opposition to the State, but spoke highly of Judge McKean and Gov-
ernor Woods, while differing from them in the policy and methods of their
administration.
In the afternoon of the third day's session Hon. George Q. Cannon, in a
very able speech, brought the issue on Judge Haydon's motion to adjourn. The
vote stood — aye, i ; noes, 95.
But the all-important work of the convention was in the discussion and pas-
sage of the fifth section of the ordinance to the constitution, thus opening :
"We, the people ot the Territory of Utah, do ordain as follows, and this
ordinance shall b^ irrevocable without the consent of the United States and the
people of the State of Deseret :
''Fifth — That such terms, if any, as may be prescribed by Congress as a
condition of the admission of said State into the Union, shall, if ratified by the
majority vote of the people thereof, at such time and under such regulations as
may be prescribed by the first Legislature of said State — thereupon be embraced
within, and constitute a part of this ordinance."
This compromise pJank was the one aimed for in Mr. Fitch's earnest and
most feeling appeal to his Mormon co-laborers in the State work, and which was
anticipated in the prefatory speeches of all the Gentile members of the conven-
tion excepting Haydon. Indeed, not only did the State superstructure rest upon the
fifth section, but the very convention itself, as it is not probable that any one
582 HIS TOR Y OF SAL T LAKE CI 7 V.
of the Gentile members would have accepted their electio:i and work only ii>
anticipation of such a concession as the fifth section implied. As for Judge Hay-
don's opposition to the Mormons giving up polygamy it was appreciated accord-
ing to its motive by both his Mormon and Gentile colleagues alike.
In opening the discussion on the constitution the convention resolved itself
into a committee ot the whole, Col. Akers in the chair, and resumed consideration
of the report of the committee on ordinance.
Mr. Pratt understood a motion had been made to strike out the fifth section,
and moved to amend by inserting the word "constitutional" after the word
"such." He deemed this change very necessary, because with all the wisdom of
Congress it sometimes passed enactments conflicting with the Federal constitution,
and as decided by the Supreme Court of the United States. He cited the Cullom
bill as an instance of an unconstitutional measure which had passed one branch of
Congress; and to the enabling act introduced into the House of Representatives
by Mr. Sargent of California, which also contained what he held tolbe an uncon-
stitutional provision.
Judge Haydon moved that the amendment be adopted.
Mr. Fitch did not see that the amendment would accomplish the gentleman's
object. Should Congress propose terms which he might deem unconstitutional,
would he not be willing that they should be submitted to the people ? Whether
the terms of Congress, if any should be constitutional or not, they ought never-
theless to be submitted.
Mr. Miner held that from the construction of the section in question the
State had to be admitted de facto before such terms would be submitted to the
people, as the legislature of the proposed State was required by it to prescribe
regulations for their being so submitted. There could be no State legislature un-
less there was first a State, and this left it open for the State to be admitted and
then thrown out in the cold if the prospective terms should not be accepted.
Mr. Cannon thought the convention would make the necessary arrangements
before adjourning, and that this objection would be met by the future action of the
convention.
Judge Haydon was in fiivor of Mr. Pratt's amendment.
General Barnum thought the insertion of the word proposed by Mr. Pratt
would accomplish no good purpose, and that it conveyed an insinuation that Con-
gress would impose terms which were or might be unconstitutional. Now, Con-
gress acts under the constitution, and was it reasonable to suppose that it would
seek to impose unconstitutional teims? But suppose it did, who was to decide as
to their constitutionality or unconstitutionality? Tlie acts of Congress are the
law of the land and held to be constitutional until decided otherwise by the
Supreme Court.
Mr. Thurber was surprised to hear gentlemen object to the word constitution,
and as a supporter of the government he would vote for its insertion. As it then
stood it was a bid for Congress to make unconstitutional terms, and see if the
people of Utah would accept them.
Mr. Joseph W. Young could not see that the convention or the Territory were
offering any terms or making any bids. There was a clamor in the country that
HIS TOR V OF SAL T LAKE CITY. s^3
the people of the Territory should make SDme concession and he thought the
people who only desired their rights, should, in asking a State government, give
Congress an opportunity to say if they had any terms to impose, and then the
people could decide on the acceptance of those terms. He was as little inclined
to sacrifice principle as any member of the convention, but he deemed it neces-
sary that it should be left to Congress to say what concessions were required of
the people, who would then have the opportunity of accepting or rejecting them.
He was opposed to Mr. Pratt's amendment.
Mr. Pratt was not sure that he would accept the section even if the word was
inserted. He considered Mr. Miner's objection to the section a very serious one ;
but if the section be not amended, he was in favor of striking it out altogether,
Mr. Cannon said the section was introduced for a purpose. He thought the
exigencies of the times demanded a State government. He need not dwell upon
the reasons for it. Allusion had been made to the prejudice existing against Utah;
and in this section they asked Congress what terms it had to prescribe on which
they might be admitted. He did not care, in one way, whether the terms im-
posed were constitutional or not ; it was for the people to decide. He closed with
a stirring appeal to sustain the section.
Mr. Fuller said Congress would not knowingly impose unconstitutional terms.
He thought Mr. Fitch's proposition was being lost sight of; that if they inserted
the word ' constitutional,' they took from the people the right to say whether they
accepted the required terms or not. Besides, if Congress should impose unconsti-
tutional terms an appeal to the court of last resort would set them aside.
Judge Snow thought the insertion of the word would convey an imputation
that Congress would impose unconstitutional terms, and he would vote against the
motion.
Mr. Pratt's motion was put and lost.
Mr. Cannon said the committee which had presented the ordinance wished to
amend the section by substituting " this convention " for " the first legislature of
said State."
Mr. H. D. Johnson wished the convention to be conducted according to par-
liamentary rules, and held that a member of the committee on ordinance could
not make such an amendment.
Mr. Cannon made the motion as a member of the committee of the whole ;
and it was then put and carried.
The motion to strike out the entire section was then raised, and Mr. Miner
spoke in favor of the motion, as the section seemed like asking Congress to im-
pose conditions other than have ever been required of any other Territory seeking
admission as a State. Utah should ask admission the same as any other Territory
in a dignified manner, neither supplicating nor in a spirit of braggadocio, but in
a spirit of manhood. If Congress had any terms to propose, it would do it in its
sovereign power, and they then could accept or reject them.
Mr. Moses Thatcher would sustain the motion to strike out the section.
Utah presented as honorable claims for admission as any Territory had ever done,
and he believed it shculd be admitted as other States had been.
Mr. J. W. Young contended that in view of existing prejudices, unless there
^84 HISTORY OF SALT LAKE CITY.
should be some section of this nature, something by which Congress would see
that ihe people of the Territory were willing to meet in a spirit of concession
these prejudices, their constitution would be laid on the table and allowed there
to remain. He was opposed to the motion.
Mr. Farr said it was understood what objection Congress had to the admission
of Utah — it was polygamy. Were they willing to yield polygamy for the sake of
obtaining a State government. If they were, say so, and obtain State sovereignty.
Mr. Milner did not think Congress ivas asked to prescribe terms by the sec-
tion ; the inquiry was only made, had it any terms to prescribe? He did not
think Congress would wish to impose conditions which could not be accepted in
honor. He was opposed to the motion.
Mr. Tyler opposed the motion. He could see nothing in the section that
would compromise the honor of any member of the convention, or the people of
Utah. Application had been made before for the admission of Uiah, which had
been refused, and this section only asked, in fact, what were the reasons why ad-
mission had not been granted.
Mr. W. Snow, the proposer of the motion, said the section was materially
changed sinced his motion had been offered, and in view of that change he would
withdraw it. Objection was made and the consideration of the motion was
continued.
Mr. Rich thought the constitution should be republican in form, and he asked
why a section should be introduced which would open a way for something that
was not republican. He said he thought they had a right to ask what they
wanted, and he was in favor of a strictly republican constitution. He favored the
motion.
Mr. T. R. Murdock, of Beaver, was in favor of the section being retained.
He did not think the members of the convention had assembled to tell what they
had done in the past, nor to criticize the parent government, but to frame a con-
stitution that would secure the admission of Utah as a State.
Mr. Pratt was opposed to the section because it was an anomaly, such as no
other State had embraced in its constitution. He held that the Territory had a
right to demand admission, for a Territorial government is not a republican one.
They had once had a republican government in the State of Deseret, but that
right had been taken from them, and he held they were only asking for that right
beint^ returned to them. He treated on the constitutional powers of Congress
and the Government, and said he had been loyal to the Government, and so had
his fathers before him ; and he did not think his rights as an American citizen had
been destroyed because he was one of the early pioneers. His great reason for
wishing to strike out the section was, because it was something unheard of in the
history of States. As this ordinance was irrevocable, unless by the consent of
Congress and the people of Utah, he did not desire to see such a section included
in it. It was a section lugged in independent of all other ordinances that ever
had been framed and should be stricken out.
Mr. Fuller did not consider that they were asking Congress to impose con-
ditions, though it was well understood that conditions would be prescribed. He
opposed the motion.
1
HISTORY OF SAL T LAKE CITY. jSs
Mr. Cannon said there was one point which ought not to be disguised. Mr.
Pratt said the section was anomalous. He admitted it; but they were an anom-
alous people, and in an anomalous condition. The section gave Congress the
opportunity to say what terms were required for the admission of Utah. There
had been a carefully elaborated speech delivered in favor of the prohibition of
polygamy, and if anything could convince the speaker that it should be done it
would have been that speech. He did not want to insert in the constitution a
clause abrogating polygamy ; nor to go into Congress with an ultimatum on the
subject; but to go as one of the contracting parties and learn what terms were
required for admission. Constitutions and delegates had been sent before ; he
had had the honor of being one of the last delegates, and he was satisfied the
retention of this section would have a beneficial effect.
The motion to strike out the fifth section was then put and lost.
The names of the gentlemen on the committee on ordinance who had con-
structed this fifth section which thus prevailed were George Q. Cannon, Joseph
W. Young, nephew of Brigham, John T. Caine, A. O. Smoot, second mayor of
Salt Lake, Thomas Fitch, F. D. Richards, John Rowberry and John Sharp.
After the passage of the fifth section of the ordinance the work of the con-
vention progressed smoothly from day to day. Mormon and non-Mormon dele-
gates vying with each other to make the constitution of the State of Deseret as
broad and perfect as possible. It was a noble piece of work when finished and it
won the admiration of American statesmen, notwithstanding the State was not
admitted. Section 25 was constructed specially to give justice to the minority in
the representation, and it is evident that had the State been admitted, quite a
large element of non-Mormon representative men must have been admitted to
the management and supervision of our public affairs, by the very construction of
the instrument which the convention had wrought, and the precedents which it
had given. Female suffrage was also granted.
Hons Thomas Fitch, George Q. Cannon and Frank Fuller were elected to
l)roceed to Washington, to act with Delegate Hooper in presenting the constitu-
tion to the President of the United States and the two houses of Congress.
The convention adjourned March 2nd, 1872, and immediately thereafter
commenced the election by the people of members to the State Legislature.
On the 9th of March, a mass meeting of citizens was held in Salt Lake City,
and the following State ticket made up :
For representative to Congress, Frank Fuller; for State senators from Salt
Lake, Tooele, and Summit Counties, Wilford Woodruff, George Q. Cannon,
Wm. Jennings and Charles H. Hempstead; for representatives from Salt Lake
County, John Taylor, Brigham Young, Jr., John T. Caine, Thomas P. Akers, A.
P. Rockwood and S. A. Mann.
Several days later the following was issued for the purpose of organizing a
Republican party in Utah :
"TO THE REPUBLICANS IN UTAH.
" The Republicans residing in the several Territories of the United States,
have been invited by the National Republican convention, which is to meet at the
city of Philidelphia, on the 5th day of June, 1872, for the purpose of nominating
33
j86 HJS TOR Y OF SALT LAKE CITl .
candidates for President and Vice-President of the United States, to be supported
at the election in November.
" The opportunity being thus afforded for ihe organization of the Republican
party in Utah, the undersigned have deemed it advisable to unite in a recommen-
dation that a convention be held at the City Hall in Salt Lake City, on Friday
evening, April 5th, at half-past seven o'clock, to which convention delegates may
be sent from all parts of the Territory, on the basis of representation adopted in
the selection of delegates to the late constitutional convention ; the object of the
proposed convention being the selection of two delegates to the National Repub-
lican convention as before mentioned.
" In calling this convention we extend the invitation to all Republicans and to
all citizens who approve of the principle held by the Republican party, and whose
views are in consonance with that great national organization.
" The number of delegates to which each county will be entitled, is as follows :
Salt Lake County, 19; Tooele, 6; Wasatch, 4; Summit, 3; Morgan, 2; Sanpete,
7; Cache, 9; Sevier and Piute, 2; Rich, i; Box Elder, 6; Millard, 4; Beaver,
3; Iron, 4; Washington, 4 ; Kane, 2; Weber, 8.
"Frank Fuller, Daniel H. Wells, Thomas Fitch, Geo. E. Whitney, F.
M. Smith, Warner Earll, Jacob Smith, S. A. Mann, Len Wines, Wil-
liam Jennings and many others.
"Salt Lake City, March 15th, 1872."
On the 3d of April, a call for a Democratic convention was made as follows :
" We, the undersigned, invite all citizens of Utah, who adhere to the princi-
ples of that grand old party of the people — the Democracy — to assemble in mass
convention at the City Hall in Salt Lake City, on Monday, the 8th of April, at 7
o'clock p. M., for the purpose of taking initiatory steps for organization, appoint-
ing a Territorial Democratic central committee, and transacting such other busi-
ness as may be suggested at the meeting."
This call, led off by Col. Thos. P. AkersandGen. E. M. Barnum, was signed
by nearly one hundred representative names, Mormon and Gentile.
On Friday, April 5th, the State Legislature met to elect Senators to Congress,
and, after two good day's work and much sharp balloting. Fitch and Hooper were
elected. In the Senate on the eighth ballot Fitch stood 4; General Morrow 4 ;
George Q. Cannon, 2. On the ninth, Fitch, 5 ; Morrow, 4, Cannon, i.
The senate having failed to elect, adjourned till 11:55 next day; and the
house adjourned to meet with the senate in joint session, when the before named
were elected and a telegram immediately dispatched to them at Washington an-
nouncing the result. The great point of the interest in the balloting was that it
was, especially in the senate, strictly on party lines, General Morrow, as a demo-
crat, tying Fitch as a republican.
The Democratic and Republican conventions met pursuant to call, and set
earnestly to work with spirit and enthusiasm to organize their several parties on
the strict national lines. It is worthy of a special note in our history that this is
the only time when a legitimate effort was made in Utah to organize in accord
1
HISTORY OF SALT LAKE CITY. jc?/
with the great political parties of the nation ; but it was frustrated by anti-Mor-
mon niilice, the majority of Gentiles chosing rather to betray their traditional
parties, and coalising as the Liberal party, to keep up their crusade against the
Mormon community.
CHAPTER LXVIII.
CHIKF JUSTICE McKEAN WRITES EDITORIALS FOR THE SALT LAKE TRIBUNE,
SUSTAINING HIS OWN DECISIONS. THE SENIOR EDITOR IMPEACHED, IN
CONSEQUENCE, BEFORE A BOARD OF DIRECTORS AND RESIGNS. THE
"GENTILE LEAGUE OF UTAH" ORGANIZED TO BREAK UP THE MORMON
POWER, ATTEMPTS TO FORCE THE CITY COUNCIL. REVOLUTIONARY
MEETING. CALL FOR TROOPS.
During t-his action of the old citizens, combined with conservative Gentiles,
to obtain a State government, the Liberal party had, with an uncompromising
persistence, which at times almost reached the pitch of civil war, opposed the State
movement by every means in their power. Public meetings were held, not only
in Salt Lake City, but in the mining camps, and all the anti-Mormon force rallied
and loud threats of revolution made to intimidate the leaders of the State move-
ment ; and those threats were directed perhaps more against the conservative Gen-
tiles, who were dubbed " Jack Mormons," than against the heads of the Mormon
Church. A petition was also gotten up against the admission of Utah to State
sovereignty and forwarded to President Grant and Congress. It was signed by
about five thousand names; the petition was taken from house to house and women
as well as men affixed their names to it. For once the entire anti-Mormon force
of the Territory was called into action ; the Godbeites and the Walker party,
equally with the fiercest anti-Mormon, took action and signed their names against
the State movement. Joseph R. Walker, Henry W. Lawrence and R. N. Baskin
undertook a mission to Washington at their own expense for the Liberal party, to
counteract the favorable impression which the model constitution of the State of
Deseret was certain to create in the minds of many congressmen, and to affirm
emphatically to President Grant and statesmen that the Gentiles and seceding
Mormons were unanimously opposed to a State, excepting a few Gentile politicians
— Fitch and others of his class — whom they denounced in the name of the Gen-
tile party in the strongest terms. Undoubtedly this representation of delegates
from the Liberal party of the weight of J. R. Walker, Henry W. Lawrence and
R. N. Baskin, with a petition bearing five thousand signatures (so it was claimed")
against the State were sufficient, with the temper of President Grant wrought up by
Newman and McKean to a war pitch, to prevent the admission of Utah at that
S88 HISTORY OF SALT LAKE CITY.
lime, no matter how great its claims to and reasons for State sovereignty. Indeed,
it was at the time when President Grant declared to the effect that if Congress did
not pass a bill potent enough to overthrow Mormon polygamic theocracy, he
would put his troops into Salt Lake City and settle the difficulty by military force.
There were also petitions gotten up in Salt Lake both for and against McKean;
the one for his removal the other for his retention. The one affirmed in substance
that McKean's doings were a disgrace to the department of justice, and that his
presence was disturbing to the good order and peace of society, inimical to the
prospects of this great mining country, and forbidding to the investment of for-
eign and eastern capital ; the other petition affirmed the very reverse. The pe-
tition for McKean was signed by about the same names and number affixed to the
petition against the State. Judge Haydon, in the convention, in his opposition had
declared that it v/as " the State versus McKean," and the Liberal party adopted
his words very like as they would have done an inscription on their banners during
the fierce anti-Mormon campaign of that year.
The course of Chief Justice McKean, however, had not passed without a re-
buke even from the inside of his own party — a rebuke in fact scarcely less severe
than the strictures of Hon. Thomas Fitch ; but the affair was kept silent for party
interest, and because, on the whole, McKean was looked upon by the gentlemen
concerned as a good man at heart, notwithstanding he was " a judge witli a mis-
sion." The case is as follows, and the statement is made as a necessary explana-
tion of certain hidden points in the history of those times.
During the prosecutions against Brigham Young, Daniel H. Wells and others.
Judge McKean was permitted by Mr. Oscar G. Sawyer, the then acting editor, to
write editorials for the Salt Lake Tribune sustaining his own decisions. Mr. Saw-
yer was also at this time the special telegraphic correspondent of the New York
Herald, to the staff of which he had been formerly an attache — indeed one of its
special correspondents during the war of the rebellion. Any amount of space was
at his command in that potent newspaper, which the king of American journalists
had made the greatest newsmonger and sensationalist in the world, and no cost
for lengthy telegrams was begrudged by the younger Bennett, when the face of
the matter bore strong sensational marks, with a seeming importance and authen-
ticity. At that time the aspect and probable solution of Utah affairs were deemed
by the American public to be of first class news importance. It will be remem-
bered by the reader, that in 1870 the managers of the New York Herald had
deemed it sufficiently important to their paper to send out one of its principal
special correspondents to Salt Lake City and to keep him here at a high salary,
with a broad margin for expenses, to employ assistant pens from the Godbeite
writers to furnish him with the best news and authentic subjects of the times.
Col. Findlay Anderson was in Salt Lake City more than six months, and during
that period he not only furnished the New York Herald with a fruitful series of
letters, exquisite in their literature and generally acceptable in their spirit, even to
the Mormon community; but he also reported for the New York Herald the dis-
cussion between Newman and Pratt. Indeed, during the term of Col. Anderson
the New York ZA;7'd!A/ made quite a mark in the line of Utah news, while the other
eastern journals, as a rule, gave but the synopsis, and that, too, it appeared gath-
ered from the Herald letters.
HISTORY OF SALT LAKE CITY. j<?p
Col. Anderson had left Salt Lake City at the time of the arrests and prose-
cution of President Young, Mayor Wells and others, or there would undoubtedly
have been a different class of letters and press dispatches sent to the New York
Herald from Salt Lake City; and, even had their leaning been strongly on the side
of the prosecution and the judge, the news would have been fairly authentic, and
its spirit toned with the dignity of a prince of special correspondents.
Oscar G. Sawyer was brought out to Salt Lake by Wm. S. Godbe, at the recom-
mendation of T. B. H. Stenhouse, whose penchant for the members of the New
York Herald ?,\zK may be pardoned, but who as a Utah journalist ought to have
perceived the unfitness of a New York Herald Bohemian to take the editor-in-chief-
ship of the Mormon Tribune, which at that time was a missionary, Godbeite organ.
But Tullidge was in the States writing for the magazines and the New York World,
while Sherman had resigned as assistant editor of ihe Mormon Tribune, and was
in the States with Mr. Godbe on commercial business of his own, and at home E.
L. T. Harrison was worn out, unable to bear the burden of the paper and ''mis-
sion " alone. This condition of things led Mr. Godbe to commit the fatal error of
sending out Oscar G. Sawyer to take charge of his paper as managing editor, forc-
ing Mr. Harrison to retire, as nothing could have induced him to hold a subordi-
nate place on the paper which he and his compeers had founded.
This change gave the Mormon Tribune into the hands of James B, McKean
and the prosecution. It soon changed its name to that of the Salt Lake Tribune,
which was according to the will of its founders ; but it also, from the moment Saw-
yer took the editorial charge, rapidly became a decided anti-Mormon journal.
It was a matter of great importance to Chief Justice McKean and the U. S.
prosecuting attorneys, with such a programme as they had designed to execute in
1871-2, to have the Salt Lake Tribune under their dictatorship and in their service,
with the understanding, not only among journalists in the eastern and western
States, but in the mind of President Grant and his cabinet, that the Salt Lake
Tribune was the organ of the seceding Mormon elders and merchants.
With this explanation be it repeated. Chief Juscice James B. McKean was
permitted, by the managing editor, Oscar G. Sawyer, to write editorials for the
Salt Lake Tribune, sustaining his own decisions; while Sawyer, as shown in his
telegrams to the New York Herald, relative to the arrest of Brigham Young and
the alarming circumstances of the hour, could communicate the secrets of the
grand jury room, and the business marked out by the judge and prosecuting at-
torneys for the coming week, his telegrams dated three days before the indict-
ments were made known to the Salt Lake public and the arrests effected.
With this power in their hands to create public opinion not only in Salt Lake
City, where it would have been comparatively of little consequence, but in the
eastern States, and in the sanctum of the White House, the judge and prosecution,
who were arraigning " Polygamic theocracy " and trying " a system in the person
of Brigham Young," held a most unlawful advantage. Besides the public was
betrayed with the Salt Lake news published in the New York Herald, and the
Herald also misled ; for Sawyer, as the editor of the Salt Lake Tribune, and form-
erly one of the Herald's attaches, enjoyed something like the trust that had been
reposed in Col, Findlay Anderson, as a reporter and expounder of Utah matters.
Sgo HIS TOR Y OF SAL T LAKE CJ7 Y.
Meantime in the Tribune office there was mutiny among the editorial staff.
Tullidge had returned from the States and was now the assistant editor, while
George VV. Crouch, an ex-lMormon Elder of the Godbeite, cast was the local ; and
E. L. T. Harrison one of the directors of the paper. They frequently expressed
their indignation, and at length, knowing the facts and the serious consequences to
the public good, .they resolved to force an issue; whereupon a meeting of the
board of directors of the paper was called and the editorial staff summoned. There
were present, Mr. J. R. Walker, David F. Walker, Henry W. Lawrence, Benjamim
Raybould, John Chislett, Oscar G. Sawyer, the then chief editor, George W.
Crouch local editor, and Elias L. T. Harrison and Edw. W. Tullidge, the original
editors. The meeting was held in the private office (up stairs) of Kimball &:
Lawrence.
Mr. Harrison stated the case, and in very severe language denounced the
course which the managing editor had been taking. He stated the object for
which the paper had been started — namely, to maintain the cause of freedom and
the rights of all classes, without distinction of Mormon or Gentile; that it had
been specially named Tribune, as explained in its opening issues, to signify its
character — " the Tribune of the People; " that it was not the organ of the radi-
cals, nor the enemy of the Mormon people, but rather was it designed to protec"^
and defend them. At first it was called the Mormon Tribune, to show its mission
in this respect, though since it had changed its name to the Salt Lake Tribune, so
that it might more fully represent all classes, yet remain true to its original aims-.
Mr. Sawyer, he said, had been brought out to Salt Lake City, by Mr. Godbe, with
the expectation that he would carry out the design of its founders ; that he, Harri-
son, had resigned the editorship, and control of the paper, to give himself a
temporary rest, with the said understanding; that Mr. Sawyer, having obtained
control had turned the Salt Lake Tribune in a new direction and given it other
aims and purposes from those for which it was established ; but above all he im-
peached the managing editor on the specific charge of having permitted Judge
McKean to write editorials sustaining his own decisions.
All the gentlemen present expressed their views; and in substance, Mr. Saw-
yer, smarting under the general censure, told the directors that they were but
merchants, and knew nothing about journalism, while he was a trained journalist.
In fine, the issue was that Oscar G. Sawyer resigned, and in his valedictory assigned
as the cause of his retirement "a journalistic incompatibility" existing between
himself and the directors- It was not, however, because of any journalistic in-
compatibility between Mr. Sawyer and the directors, but for the reasons herein
given. The valedictory was allowed to pass, and the true reasons kept from the
public, greatly out of consideration for the Chief Justice himself; but the direc-
tors forthwith published a standing notice at the head of the columns of the Trib-
une defining the original character and intentions of the paper.
Sometime after this, a secret society was organized in the city and mining
camps, known as the "Gentile League of Utah." Its mission was to break up
" Mormon Theocracy," made so famous by McKean's extraordinary official state-
ment, that it was on trial in his court, in the person of Brigham Young.
The action of the Chief Justice of Utah was reversed by the Supreme Court
HISTORY OF SALT LAKE CITY. sgi
of the United States. But President Grant sustained him. Until some further
legislation from Congress, however, he was powerless as the " missionary judge."
His work had to be done by the " G. L. U's," and they did not hesitate to impress
on the public mind that they were a semi-military organization.
The radicals, at their public meetings, boldly boasted of this organization and
its purposes ; and Judge Haydon prophesied that the streets of Salt Lake City
would run with blood.
The associated press agent, and the special of the New York Herald, sent
their "blood " despatches broadcast through the land ; a panic was created among
capitalists abroad, preventing local investment. It was supposed East that we
were on the eve of civil war in Utah. But commercial men and bankers of
Salt Lake City published a card to the country counteracting this view. Our
greatest conservator of peace, during these radical agitations, was capital. But
there can be no doubt that Judge Haydon's prognostications of blood had the form
of circumstances deeply lined in the vision.
Again the Tribune was drawn into the radical vortex. The city council
chamber had been open to our reporter. An occasion was seized one evening,
when President (Councilor) Young was in the council. The next morning's paper,
in a flaming heading, proclaimed — " Brigham on the War Path ! "
It was the cry the radicals wanted to hear. For this gross misrepresentation,
our reporter at the next meeting was expelled from the city council, and sensa-
tional despatches flew over the wires east and west.
The " G. L. U's," thought they saw an opportunity to strike a great blow;
so they offered one hundred armed men to go to the city council, the next session,
and force admission for the press. The following statement was made by the loca'
editor near the time of the occurrence:
" I, Joseph Salisbury, late associate editor of the Salt Lake Tribune, make
the following statement, to-wit :
"That on the evening of the 26th of July, 1872, I attended a meeting of the
city council, held in the council chamber, in the city hall. Salt Lake City, and
made a report of its proceedings;
" That on the 30th instant, I attended again, when that honorable body, tak-
ing exceptions to my previous report, demanded of me a public recantation on
pain of expulsion. This I refused when the vote of the council was passed to that
effect ;
"That I was afterwards directed by Mr. Fred. T. Perris, manager of the
paper, to attend at the next regular meeting of the council, and report as usual.
I said, in answer, that I presumed the council would adopt parliamentary rules and
close its doors; whereupon the manager informed me that General Geo. R, Max-
well had promised to be there with 100 men, from the " G. L. U's" and other
secret orders to force an entrance and insist on my taking the minutes ;
" That, on the day previous to the meeting, I was in the editor's office writ-
ing, when General Maxwell came in and asked me if I was ready to go to the
council the following evening. I replied, 'I shall go anyhow.' He intimated
that he was ready, and the 'boys ' would be there ;
" That I understood the programme to be that, if any hostile demonstration
59^
HISTORY OF SALT LAKE CITY.
were made by the mayor and council, each of them would be immediately covered
by a pair of pistols, in the hands of the loo men present ;
"And furthermore, that, if Brigham Young was present, he would be a
special mark ;
" That, for some reason, the project was abandoned ;
"That myself, accompanied by Mr. F. T. Perris and Mr. Abrahams, went to
said meeting, when the motion of the preceding council was confirmed and the
Tribime men again expelled.
"Signed, Joseph Salisuury."*
Immediately afier this attempt to force an entrance to the city council, the
August election for delegate to Congres came off, George Q. Cannon and George
R. Maxwell being the contestants.
An out-of-door mass meeting of the Liberals was called, on the evening of
the 3rd of August, 1872, to ratify the nomination of the Liberal candidate.
At 8 p. M., the street in front of the Salt Lake Hotel was crowded. On mo-
tion, A. S. Gould was elected chairman.
" Mormon Theocracy," as usual, was the subject of attack- This to the
Utah radicals was legitimate political warfare. To the Mormon people, however,
such ever is a religious warfare ; and, as the multitude were mostly of the Mor-
mon faith, as soon as the speakers assailed Mormonism and Brigham Young, they
were interrupted with hisses and exclamations. ,
Speaker after speaker attempted in vain to address the indignant people, for
the radical leaders (one of whom was the Rev. Norman McLeod) vied with each
other in outraging Mormonism and Brigham Young, while the Mormon people
were spoken of as "dupes," "serfs," "the down trodden," and the chair-
man's ardent imagination varied these hackneyed names by also re{>eatedly calling
them " geese."
Now came business for the " G. L. LT's." They sprang to the front. They
were headed by ex-Marshal Orr.
" Follow me ' G. L. U's,' " he cried to his armed troop.
They dashed after him, revolvers in hand, and formed a half circle in front of
the stand. Flourishing their weapons, they awed back the people, each wailing
eagerly for the command to fire into the crowd.
For the anxious space of five minutes, it was almost certain that Judge Hay-
S-NOTE. — The statement of our local editor tells its own story, and is sufficiently suggestive without
much comment. It may be added, however, that, learning of this design, I had resolved if the "hun-
dred men," or any considerable number, attempted to move towards the city hall in parties, I would,
in time to prevent the risk of human life, make a statement of the facts to the mayor. As it was, I asked
Mr. Perris — the Tribune manager — to let me go to the Council in behalf of the paper, but the per-
mission was refused. The reason was that it was thought the city council, believing in my truthfulness
and justice, would allow me to remain, as a member of the press, notwitlistanding the expulsion of our
paper. Harmony with the city council, or fairness towards its administration, was just what the
"liberals" wished to prevent. War, not justice, was their aim. That they did also project the move-
ment against the city authorities, as stated by Mr. Salisbury, the very fact that the Tribune manager,
local editor and foreman of the printing establishment were at the city hall to force the presence of the
opposition press is very evident, as the newspaper reports and the record of the council will sub-
stantiate. The explanation, too, why the ''100 men" were not at their post was, it may be presumed,
no f;^ult of the agitators, but simply because certain well known conservative business men did not
enthusiastically take the responsibility. Without these influential citizens Maxwell knew that his "100
men" would have been but an armod band of rioters. E. \V. TuUidgc, associate editor Tribune^ rSj2.
HISTORY OF SAL T LAKE CITY.
593
don's prophecy would be fulfilled that night, and the streets of Salt Lake run with
blood.
The writer saw their weapons brandished above the heads of their foremost
men, gleaming in the flickering light of the lamps, and heard the excited cries of
men eager for the word to fire.
The " G. L. U's" went to that meeting anxious for the work of revolution,
as the more speedy way of "solving the Mormon problem;" and around the
stand, where for a moment there seemed a favorable opportunity, this was strongly
manifested. All through the anti-Mormon warfare of that period, the judicial pro-
ceedings of McKean (coupled with the idea that Grant would support an anti
Mormon issue, no matter how terrible and summary) had encouraged this invading
class. They had everything to gain and nothing to lose by a conflict with the
primitive settlers. A strange, tiiough deeply rooted idea, was in the radical mind
that Camp Douglas was bound, in its duty to the Government, not to support the
city authorities nor the great community; but. in the case of riot or civil war, to
concentrate its troops against the city authorities ; in other words, it was to be
war upon the Mormon people and their leaders, who had founded the Territory
and to whom, as a property, it chiefly belonged. This idea, too, was always un-
derlined with the certainty that Governor Woods, who, like McKean, had a mis-
sion to put down Mormon rule, would call upon the commander of Camp Douglas
lor troops to support the anti-Mormon side. Fifty reckless men, therefore, in
such a case, was at any time enough for civil war ; and the city and its govern-
ment, in the prospect, were looked upon as their spoil.
Such were the views of those radical leaders who called that out-of-door meet-
ing which had so exasperated the multitude, and in the adjourned gathering that
night, at the Liberal institute, it was singular to hear how "pat" the chairman
was, in mixing the " G. L. U's" and Camp Douglas in the execution of a com-
mon vengeance.
That our city did not witness on this night a mournful tragedy is due alone
to the fact that no weapons were drawn by any, excepting the Liberals.
On the Monday morning the Tribune came out with the following editorial :
" LET US HAVE TROOPS TO-DAY."
Referring to the disturbance of the Saturday night, the editor said :
" In view of such conduct being repeated to-day, and of the intense feeling
aroused amongst the supporters of General Maxwell, and to avert any chances of
a conflict, as also to secure the rights of voters at the polls, we ask the acting Gov-
ernor to make a requisition for troops to be in attendance during the day or near
the polls to insure peace and enforce the rights of loyal citizens. The conduct of
the police on Saturday evening was such that not the slightest dependence can be
placed on either their willingness or ability to preserve the peace.
" In addition to having troops in the city it would also be wise for the saloon
keepers to close their doors to-day, so as to aid in making the election pass off
peaceably. This seems to be demanded in consequence of the strong feeling
aroused which may result disastrously unless great discretion be used.
"Let every man opposed to church domination make this an election day,
34
594- HISTORY OF SALT LAKE CITY.
and set the example of keeping cool in order to be the better prepared to assert
his rights and resist such intolerance at all hazards."
This war utterance of the Tribune was very like an order on board a pirate ship
to clear the deck for action. It was directed, moreover, not against a citizen rabble,
but against the city authorities. As for the reference to the indisposition of the
police to keep the peace, and their ability to do it, the action shows that the pru-
dence of the police in keeping out of the affray was the chief preventative of
bloodshed. Our managing editor well knew that armed spies of the " G. L. U's"
had their eyes on every policeman near, and that, had any of them engaged at the
crisis, they would have been the principal marks for the ready revolvers of the
radicals. The citizens undoubtedly would have helped the police, unarmed as
they were. A massacre would have ensued; but before troops from Camp Douglas
could have been brought into action, a terrible judgment night would have been
met by the armed men who had dared war upon the city. The police knew this ;
none knew it so well as they; and it was they under the direction of Mayor Wells
who did keep the peace and preserve the city from bloodshed.
But that call for troops on the election day was not an unauthoiized outburst
of our managing editor.
''They shall have another mass meeting," said a chief of the anti-Mormon
leaders, " and if they repeat it, there shall be a hundred coffins ivanted next
morning ! ' '
The call for troops on the election day, and the significant suggestions to
saloon keepers to close their doors, and for the radicals to " keep cool " "in order
to be the better prepared " to "assert their rights, and resist such intolerance at
all hazards, " show how eagerly the election day would have been seized as the
grand opportunity for the " hundred coffins.''
Troops, however, did not come upon the city ; aciing-Governor Black, this
time, was not to be seduced into the serious folly of issuing a proclamation and
making a requisition upon the commander of Camp Douglas, and the election was
one of the most orderly Salt Lake City had ever known. Even the radicals were
forced into a sort of good fellowship with the primitive citizens for the day.
This signified that in spite of the oracle, the Mayor and police kept the peace by
the simple manoeuver of seeing that the radicals found no opportunity to break
it. The case is suggestive of many more in the history of Salt Lake City.
Let the reader couple the terribly meant purpose of the " hundred coffins,"
with the following letter headed
"ORGANIZATION DEMANDED.
' ' Editor Salt Lake Tribune.
" I have visited some of our mining camps in the vicinity of Salt Lake City,
and find that there, as well as here, there is a very general feeling of deep burn-
ing indignation towards, and condemnation of the barbarous proceedings in the
city Saturday last.
" Some of those who have hitherto erred on the side of charity towards the
Mormons, and have pleaded for tender consideration and forbearance on their be-
half, are among the most earnest in their expressions of their determination to
manitain for all parties and at tvhatever cost, the rights of citizens of Republican
u
HISTORY OF SAL T LAKE CITY.
595
America. If these rights can only be maintained — if this thrice accursed assump-
tion of the right divine of kings and priests to control and dispose of the property,
liberties, consciences and lives of their fellow beings, can only be pat down by a
conflict of arms, then let it come and the sooner the better. Far better would it
be that the oft repeated threat of the Mormons should be fulfilled — that Utah
should be again converted into a desert, and the whole of its citizens be baptized
in their own blood than that we should live to witness the triumph of those tyran-
nical, cruel, barbarous assumptions of kingly and priestly power which have been
the curse of the world for ages. Let our sons and daughters be buried with us in
bloody graves, rather than live to be the serfs of an ignorant, cruel, priestly
aristocracy.
"It is high time for all who are opposed to the establishment in Utah of a
theocracy or kingdom of any kind, should unite and organize for mutual defense
and for the overthrow of this accursed system. The Liberals should meet in pub-
lic in Salt Lake City or anywhere else — as Henry Ward Beecher advised the
Orangemen of New York, to march every day in the year if necessary, until they
can do so with perfect peace and safety. Let there be an effective organization as
complete as the one we have to fight. The Mormon Church organization includes
a military organization ; let us have one as effective as theirs — better if possible.
Then, if necessary, pass the word and five thousand miners will rally in a few
hours to the defence of free speech and republican principles. Such an event
would be greatly to be deplored as it would be attended with fearful scenes and
lawless violence. But, if nothing else will teach the poor willing tools of priest-
craft to respect the rights of American citizens one dose of Napoleon's treatment
of the Paris mobs will be a lasting and sufificient lesson. But mark it ; we must
have effective organization. We must know who are our leaders, and they must be
men of the sterling kind — wise as well as brave should the crisis come — and many
think it inevitable — the sneaks and hypocrites on both sides will fare badly.
" The majority of the citizens of these United States are unalterably opposed
to the establishment of kingly or priestly assumptions and institutions on Ameri-
can soil, and with them I am willing to pledge our lives, our fortunes and our sacred
honor to prevent such a calamity. Honorius."
The second meeting came, which was to give to our city the "■ hundred cof-
fins." Here is the statement of Mr. Joseph Salisbury:
" The meeting was held in front of the Walker House on the evening of the
1 2th of October, 1872. As on the first occasion, I attended as reporter of the
Tribune. During the day it was whispered around that an organization had been
effected and that prominent men of the city authorities would be watched by
armed members of the " G. L. U's." I subsequently learned that these were un-
der the control of the chairnlan and that at hjs given signal the body were to
move en masse.
" I soon discovered that the programme was well arranged, and saw men
known to me as " G. L. U's," moving in the crowd in twos, with their hands upon
their pistols, threatening those who dared utter the slightest murmer at the wanton
denunciations against the Mormon leaders. It was at this meeting that the pre-
dictions uttered at the Liberal Institute and by Mr. Baskin in the Tribune office,
59^ HISTORY OF SALT LAKE CITY.
were to have found fulfillment, but associate justice Strickland exposed the move-
ment prematurely when at the first sound of an opposing voice he arose and pro-
claimed :
*' ' The first 7nan wJip interrupts this meeting I^vill order shot .' I mean what I
say and say what I mean .' '
''The radicals were extremely dissatisfied at the indiscretion of their chair-
man, who should have given the signal at the opportune moment, instead of an
untimely warning, in a clumsy paraphrase of General Dix's famous order —
' Shoot him on the spot ! '
"The friends of the associate justice explained that their chairman was
' drunk,' but among themselves they did not deny that there was a sober signifi-
cance underlying his indiscretion.
" I subsequently learned, from conversation among the radicals that, had
there been any counter demonstration, the ' G. L. U's' at a given signal would
have fallen back to the side walk, in front of the Walker House, and that a volley
from them, and others stationed in the windows above would have fulfilled the
prophecy of U. S. Attorney Baskin — 'We'll have a hundred coffins at our next
meeting I '
"Signed." Joseph Salisbury,"
CHAPTEP LXIX.
CONGRESSIONAL HISTORY FROM 1870. LOCAL POLITICS CARRIED TO WASH-
INGTON. CONTEST FOR THE SEAT. THE ELECTION OF 1872. HOOPER
RETIRES WITH HONORS. GEO. Q. CANNON ELECTED, AND POLYGAMIC
COLORS NAILED TO THE MAST. MAXWELL AGAIN CONTESTS THE SEAT,
THE "ENDOWMENT OATH" CHARGE AGAINST THE DELEGATE. DE-
NIALS OF THE OATH AGAINS T THE UNITED STATES BEING ADMINISTERED
IN THE ENDOWMENT HOUSE. SCENES IN CONGRESS OVER UTAH AF-
FAIRS. NOTES FROM THE DELEG.A.TE'S PRIVATE JOURNAL. HON. GEO,
Q. CANNON TAKES HIS SEAT IN THE FORTY-THIRD CONGRESS, BUT A
COMMITTEE IS APPOINTED TO INVESTIGATE THE CONTESTANT'S CHARGES.
THE CONTEST CARRIED INTO THE SECOND SESSION, CANNON HOLDS
HIS SEAT.
The election for delegate to Congress in the fall of 1872, requires the con-
tinuation of the Congressional line of the history from the passage of the Cullom
bill to the date of the contest for the delegate's seat between George R. Maxwell
and George Q. Cannon.
In 1870, the said George R. Maxwell, Register of the Land Office of the
Territory, had been a candidate for the office of delegate to Congress against
Delegate Hooper, but had been badly beaten, receiving only a few hundred votes
iiii.
HISTORY 01 SALT LAKE CITY. jp7
as against over 26,000 votes in favor of Mr. Hooper. On the strength of this
meagre vote, he contested the seat, collecting a mass of testimony, and put the
delegate to the trouble and expense of rebutting it. He relied altogether for his
success on the prejudices which he knew existed against the Mormons; he also
accused Mr. Hooper of disloyalty, and of having taken part against the Govern-
ment during the Buchanan troubles ; and of being unfitted as a delegate in Con-
gress by reason of having taken the "endowment oath."
In the fall of 1872, while affairs in Utah were in the condition related in the
preceding chapters it was determined by the leaders of the Mormon community
that the Mormon case in its entirety should be sent to Washington. Delegate
Hooper, who had represented Utah most efficiently and untiringly for ten years
on the floor of the House, and who, in addition to this, had spent nearly two
years in Washington as senator elect for the inchoate State of Deseret, trying to get
the Territory admitted as a State, having served so long and faithfully, it was, by the
People's party, deemed best to relieve him from the arduous duties of the position.
Moreover he needed rest and, as a principal merchant and financier of our city, the
privilege of attending to his affairs at home, and enjoying the society of his family
and friends. He also needed the rest for recuperation, as it was certain should Utah
be admitted as a State, at any time during the near succeeding years, Wm. H.
Hooper would be called from his retirement to serve Utah in the Senate. The ques-
tion then arose, in the People's party, " Who will be sent as delegate? Who is the
most fitted man, at such a critical moment, to manage Utah's affairs in Congress."
Many felt and urged that it would be a great misfortune to lose the service of
Mr. Hooper at such a time. No man was better known in Washington than he.
His reputation was excellent, and though known as a Mormon, it was generally
understood that he was not a practical polygamist. He had served the Territory
efficiently and to the satisfaction of his constituents, while at Washington it was
confessed that Delegate Hooper had more influence than any man who had ever
been sent to Congress from the Territories. This was probably partly due to the
importance of Utah herself in Congress, as the peculiar problem of the Nation
which was ever and anon coming up in Congress, provoking efforts for extraor-
dinary special legislation, in the hope that finally some measure would be devised
with capacity sufficient to solve the problem.
Others, namely the Gentiles, who had voted for the convention and the State
with little faith in the value of the Mormon movement in the age, not only ad'
vised the sending of a conservative Gentile at that period to Congress but the renun-
ciation of polygamy itself, and the practical abandonment of the Mormon mission
in its vast society aims, allowing the church to quietly settle down to a respectable
religious sect. Not so, however, will the Mormons ever think. Brigham Young and
his apostolic compeers were never less willing than at that moment to resign their
mission, nor has the Mormon Church to this day shown the first intention to give
up the fraction even of her institutions. The fifth section of the State constitu-
tion signified nothing of compromise from the Church, nor any promise made to
Congress touching her future conduct ; but simply left the affairs of the State to
the State, and of the Church to the Church. Had Congress at that time ad-
mitted Utah as a State, defining its own terms as invited in the fifth section, the
I
j9? HISTORY OF SALT LAKE CIT^k.
people of Utah must have accepted the State as constructed by Congress ; but as
Congress did not, and as the anti-State party in Utah in this matter prevailed,
the Mormon community naturally returned to their old position.
The general feeling among the clearest thinkers of Utah was, to send a
strictly socialistic representative man. In the person of George Q. Cannon the
Mormons believed they had such a man. " But," it was urged by some timid
persons, " he is an apostle and a polygamist. If you send him, your enemies will
say that you mean to defy public sentiment, and you will be sure to evoke strong
opposition." President Young, however, was in favor of his nomination, and the
people deternined to elect him. They certainly had the right, they said, under
the constitution, to choose whom they pleased to represent them, so long as he
])ossesscd the constitutional qualifications. What had a representative's religion
or family relations to do with his qualifications for Congress? Catholics and Jews
liad been deemed suitable for legislators in free America, and why should Mormons
Le deprived ot this right?
A writer on the matter thus commented :
" It was a grand manifestation of faith and righteousness, when George Q.
Cannon, an apostle and polygamist, was sent to Congress. The Mormon people
have never from the first moment shirked their responsibilities, but have courted
a righteous trial of their cause. Milton's motto : ' Give truth a fair and an open
field ; let her grapple with error ; whoever knew truth worsted ? ' — has been well
applied in their case. They have never shunned investigation, but have ever met
with resignation even their imprisonments and martyrdoms. At this very period
President Young, as we have seen, had just submitted to arrest and imprisonment,
from which he was only relieved by the decision of the Supreme Court of the
United States.
" Upon consideration, the honorable anti-Mormon must confess that next to
giving up their ' institution,' the most proper thing for the Mormon people to do,
was to boldly send tlieir cause to Congress, in the person of a polygamic represen-
tative. It was Congress that gave them an anti-polygamic law, which even a mis-
sionary judge could not twist into an effective form ; Congress, that was everlast-
ingly in travail with special legislation for Utah ; Congress and the President of
the United States, who insisted that ' polygamic theocracy ' must be brought to
trial somewhere or somehow. 'Polygamic theocracy' could therefore have chosen
no better field of mission for one of its ablest apostles than Congress itself. Halt
a dozen earnest Mormon elders in Congress, would be the rarest godsend that the
nation has seen for the last quarter of a century.
"The institutions of that people are truly embodied in President Young, but
he could not go to Congress to stand in their stead. One therefore had to be
chosen worthy both to represent Brigham Young and the Mormons, as a people,
as well as the general interests of Utah, as a Territory. George Q. .Cannon was
the man, and there is no doubt that his election meant as much in the minds of
the whole community."
The grave importance of the contest of the Liberal party with the People's
party in the election for delegate in August, 1872, was not in the number of votes
which the Liberals gave their candidate, Maxwell, but in the nature of the case as
r
HISTORY OF SALT LAKE CITY. S99
thus expounded ; for clearly if a system could be brought to trial in the person of
Brigham Young in a U. S. District Court, in Salt Lake City, similar could be done
in the person of George Q. Cannon in Congress. The logic of facts would have
met the successful delegate at the very threshold of Congress and excluded him,
had the Supreme Court of the United States allowed polygamic theocracy to be
tried, found guilty and imprisoned in the person of Brigham Young. The de-
cision of the Supreme Court, disallowing Judge McKean's doings, had, it is true,
somewhat changed the case from the McKean construction, nevertheless the party
that sent George R. Maxwell to Washington anticipated some very thorough special
legislation before the clCse of the forty-second congress, which would restore the
case substantially to the McKean design by an act of Congress, more legal in form
but identical in spirit and aim. " Polygamic theocracy " could be disfranchised
and made ineligible for office in the persons of its upholders ; and the history of
all the special legislation or attempts of members of Congress to construct and
pass acts to meet the Utah case determine strongly on this line — namely the politi-
cal disabling of the entire Mormon community. Such was the significance of
Maxwell's contest with Cannon ; and preposterous as it would seem, the party that
sent him to Washington actually expected that the Gentile contestant would take
the Mormon delegate's seat.
On the loth of September, 1S72, in Salt Lake City, the Secretary of the Ter-
ritory, George A. Black, in the presence of Governor Woods, opened and counted
the official returns of the election held on the 5th of August last. Hon. Geo. Q.
Cannon was absent, having started for California, but he was represented by Hon.
S. A. Mann, late Secretary and acting Governor of the Territory, and Hon. John
T. Caine ; General Maxwell was present, accompanied by Rev. Norman McLeod.
The total vote cast was 22,913, the distribution of which was: for George
Q. Cannon, 20,969; George R. Maxwell, 1,942; W. H. Hooper, i; P, E.
Connor, i.
General Maxwell read a protest against the certificate of election being given
— the protest being substantially the same as his memorial to Congress in his con-
test with delegate Hooper in the election of 1870. Messrs. Mann and Caine con-
tented themselves with quoting the law, and showing simply that the Governor
had no option in the matter, his duty being i)lain, to grant the certificate to the
candidate having the greatest number of votes; it being the province of the House
of Representatives of Congress, alone, to decide on the qualifications of its mem-
bers. Failing to obtain the certificate the said contestant, George R. Maxwell,
caused a notice to be served on Delegate Cannon that he should contest for the
delegate's seat.
To aid Maxwell in his contest at Washington, certain apostates from the Mor-
mon church, made affidavits that such an oath, disloyal to the United States, as
charged against Geo. Q. Cannon, was administered in the endowment house, and
the intention was that all such affidavits from apostate Mormons, who had been
through the endowment house, were to be furnished by the contestant Maxwell
to the committee on Territories, showing sufficient cause on testimony that Geo.
Q. Cannon was ineligible to Congress, and unworthy of citizenship, by said dis-
loyal oath taken against the United States. Probably had the conspiracy been al-
6oo HISTORY OF SALT LAKE CITY.
lowed to consummate, delegate Cannon never could have taken his seat ; but
many prominent apostate Mormons were equally as concerned as Geo. Q. Can-
non ; and they had given abundant evidence that they never did, and never would
have been induced, even at the penalty of their lives, to take an oath disloyal to
the United States. The Tribune, in behalf of these gentlemen, came out flatly
with a denial in its editorial columns. Eli B. Xelsey also made an affidavit upon
the case, directly testifying that he had been through the endowment house, and
had passed through all the ceremonies and administrations of the house, and no
such oath against the United States had ever been administered to him. His
affidavit was forwarded to the committee on Territories.
It so happened that just at this time, the Salt Lake Tribune was advocating
the policy, and recommending it to the Government, of the appointment of Mr.
J. R, Walker as governor of Utah Territory ; at which Oscar G. Sawyer, smarting
under his retirement from the editorship of the Tribune, in his little paper, the
Salt Lake Mining Journal — not only dubbed Mr. J. R. Walker a "tape seller,"
without capacity for the governorship, but affirmed that he was as inelligible as
Cannon, for similar reasons, he having once belonged to the Mormon Church in
in Utah. This brought Elias L. T. Harrison out in a lecture on the endowments,
delivered in the Liberal Institute, in which he also declared most solemnly to the
public that no such oath of disloyalty to the United States was administered in
the endowment house.
General Maxwell, however, carried his contest to Washington according to
his notice. He did not accuse Mr. Cannon of rebellion during Mr. Buchanan's
time, but persisted in his charge of the "endowment oath," as he had against
Mr. Hooper, with the additional charge of his having conspired with Brigham
Young and others to intimidate voters, under threats of death if they did not
vote for him; and also charged him with living in polygamy in " violation of the
laws of God and his country," with four wives. At the opening of the Forty-
third Congress, Maxwell was present, and with some friends to help him, en-
deavored to create an influence among members adverse to the delegate elect.
When the members were being sworn in, he succeeded in inducing Mr. Merriam,
of New York, to introduce a resolution into the House embodying in brief his
charges against Mr. Cannon. According to the rules of the House, one objec-
tion offered by a member, can prevent the swearing in of another, until it is dis-
posed of by the House. He tlierefore had to step aside until the other delegates
were sworn in; then the resolution came up for discussion. The leading men of
both political parties spoke against the resolution. The reading of his certificate
of election was demanded, and as it stated that his vote was over 20,000 above
his opponent's, it created a sensation. It was clear, according to all precedents,
and the rules of the House, that he had a strong prima facie case, and was fully
entitled to his seat. On motion, the resolution was tabled, only one dissenting
voice being heard, and Delegate Cannon was sworn in.
Every effort was made by the contestant Maxwell, during that session, to get
him unseated, but, the committee on elections, by unanimous vote, decided that
Maxwell was not entitled to the seat, and by a like vote declared that Cannon
was. Upon all subjects connected with the Mormon question, there is great sen-
1
HISTORY OF SALT LAKE CITY. 6oi
sitiveness and timidity manifested by members of Congress. They are strongly
adverse to putting themselves on record in such a manner as to expose them to
the charge of being favorable to Mormonism : therefore, when a resolution was
introduced by a member by the name of Hazelton, appointing a committee to
investigate the Maxwell charges, though many were opposed to it, it received a
majority vote. Action, however, was not had upon it during that session, and
in the second session of that Congress, although the matter was pushed, in com-
mittee, to the extent of recommending a resolution to "exclude" the delegate,
it was never considered by the House.
To the foregoing general sketch may be appended the following very inter-
esting notes of that date, from the diary of a Mormon leader, who was sent to
Washington to assist Delegate Hooper in his unexpired term, and to prepare the
way for Delegate Cannon's work in the next Congress.
^^ January 28th, iSjj. — The amendment which Brother Hooper made to the
Colorado Bill for the admission of Utah, with Sargent's amendment for the pro-
hibition of polygamy, etc., came up to-day. He had heard that a bitter discus-
sion would be evoked, so he tried to withdraw his amendment, having obtained
Mr. Sargent's consent thereto. But Coghlan of California objected. He after-
wards consented to withdraw. Then Negley of Pennsylvania renewed the amend-
ment. He was induced to withdraw ; and then Merriam of New York renewed
again. Claggett of Montana was charged for the occasion, and as it was known
he was very bitter against Utah, and would attack her savagely, our enemies wanted
to fire him off. Several members had each five or ten minutes granted them by
Taffe of Nebraska who had the floor ; he also gave Claggett five minutes. He ful-
filled expectations in the fierceness and brutality of his attack. The five minutes
ended, the House gave him five minutes more. Still eager to hear more of his
brutal and slanderous abuse, they gave him three minutes more — ostensibly thir-
teen minutes, but really upwards of twenty minutes. There were numbers of men
on the floor who had been to Utah, who, if they knew anything, must have known
he told falsehoods and misrepresented the people ; but no voice was raised to cor-
rect his statements, to check the torrent of the vile stream of vituperation which
flowed from his lips ; not even to refuse to grant him more time to the extent he
desired, though one objection was all that was necessary to stop him under the
rules. The fact is the modern politician is a moral coward. He has not the
courage to defend a weak, unpopular side, especially if the question of ' Mor-
monism ' be involved. They are as afraid of being suspected of having any sym-
pathy with that, as they would be of the contagion of the smallpox. The truth is
there is no sympathy between them and it — between vice and purity — error and
truth, fraud and honesty. I am disgusted with them. Col. Sam. Merritt of Idaho,
who resides in Utah, was evidently pleased with the performance. I afterwards went
to where he and Kendall of Nevada — a man whom our people's vote helped to
elect — were sitting talking, and told them a little of my mind. I was indignant.
Kendall soon moved off to his seat. I talked plainly to Merritt and made him
acknowledge that statements made by Claggett were false.
^^ Jan. 2gih. — By appealing to the House Captain Hooper succeeded in ob-
taining half an hour to deliver his speech in. As he finished Claggett jumped up
35
6o2 HIS TOR Y OF SAL T LAKE CI 7 V.
and requested ten minutes for reply. Then succeeded a scene which I scarcely
ever saw paralleled in Congress. The members gathered around him and listened
to him with great interest. When his ten minutes were exhausted, cries of ' go
on, go on,' were heard from all sides. Time was granted him to continue, not an
objection being made. Oh, it was pleasure to many to hear the ' Mormons ' de-
nounced, to hear Brigham Young villified and Utah held up to public odium, and
execration ! He had not finished his tirade when his tmie again expired. Again
his time was renewed; but on motion of Mr. Cox of New York, on the condition
that the Delegate of Utah have five minutes to reply. With these extraordinary
evidences of sympathy from his audience Claggett was greatly fired up. They
were ready to swallow every thing he might say. He gave his imagination reign ;
he reveled in his false descriptions of affairs in Utah and closed with a sensational
C-ttack upon the marriage institution of Utah; and when he closed members and
galleries joined in hearty applause, unchecked by the Speaker.
" Brother Hooper commenced to reply ; but the interest was ended. No one
listened to him. Members all scattered to their seats and engaged in conversation,
writing, etc. He labored through his time and requested more time ; but this
was refused, Bird of New Jersey, a democrat, making objections. He asked as a
boon the privilege of printing his remarks. This was not objected to ; so by their
silence it was assumed by the Speaker that he could print the lemarks he wished
to make.
"Fifteen minutes by a self-possessed, good debater, well posted in Utah
affairs, would only be required before an audience who would listen and judge
fairly to utterly demolish Claggett's fictions and sophistry and lay them bare to
the country.
" Monday, Feb. jd, iSyj. — President Grant was waited on by Claggett and
Merritt of Idaho, and Negley of Pennsylvania, on last Saturday to represent the
terrible condition of affairs in Utah, and ask for action. Grant is reported to have
said that ' the final issue with Utah cannot be avoided.'
"Feb. 4th. — Yesterday, President Grant went to the Capitol. His unusual
presence there excited surprise and comment. It was soon noised about that Utah
affairs had called him there. He had interviews with the judiciary committees
of the Senate and House, and told them that there must be legislative action on
Utah. He appeared to be resolved to get some bill passed that would enable his
myrmidons to carry out the course o^ tyranny and oppression entered upon by
McKean, and in pursuance of which, as the latter said, by the express wish and
approbation of President Grant, he had been checked by the Supreme Court.
Grant is reported to have said, if the 4th of March came without legislation, he
would put his troops into Utah and nail the thing by that means. What he would
do with his troops, of course his hearers were left to imagine.
Wednesday, jth. — Merritt of Idaho presented a memorial to the House yes-
terday from a number of lawyers of the Salt Lake City bar, setting forth the in-
adequacy of the laws of Utah, their hurtful tendency, their opposition to the
genius of the Government, and the disloyal sentiments and actions of the Leg-
islative Assembly of Utah, and asking for Congressional action. He also intro-
duced a bill to promote justice in the Territories, etc., which had all the hateful
HISTORY OF SALT LAKE CITY. 603
features of the Voorhees Bill framed and introduced against us. The "i^assage
of such a bill would put the lives, the liberties and the property of the Latter-day
Saints at the nicrcy of the ring of United States officials and their satellites, and
open wide the doors for every species of corruption to flow in unchecked. We
found by comparing the references made in the memorial to the laws with the
laws themselves, that they have quoted laws which have been repealed, they have
quoted as laws of Utah extracts which have no existence, they have garbled laws,
and they have left out the context of laws. The whole is a tissue of misrepresen-
tation and falsehood. This is the constant practice of our enemies — to lie and
misrepresent. But will Congress be enlightened? Does the President of the
United States want us sacrificed? There are those who would hive no sentiment
of pity for us, if they knew that we were innocent of the charges made against us.
There are those who if the truth were laid before them, would not take the
trouble to examine it and satisfy themselves about the matter in a proper manner.
We must, however, do the best we can and leave the event with the Lord. He is
a friend who never has, nor ever will forsake His people. I have felt tranquil
and joyous this week, I have no fears or apprehensions, though humanly speaking,
the prospects are threatening. This is a time concerning which the Prophets
Joseph and Brigham and others have spoken — the time when we would have the
Government arrayed against us as in a national capacity, as towns, counties and
States had done in their spheres. If the bills framed against U5 should any of
them pass, it would be as gross a violation of the Constitution and the spirit of the
Government as the acts of the mobs in Missouri and Illinois. It would be nothing
more than the law of might. I feel that the Lord will provide a sacrifice in our
stead, as he did the ram in the thicket when Isaac was bound and laid upon the
altar.
" Friday, "^th. — To-day we got a printed copy of the bill introduced by Mr.
Frelinghuysen of New Jersey into the Senate. It is similar to the Merritt Bill.
They will have them grinding at both ends so that there may be no delays about
the passage. Our enemies are sure of catching us this time. Mr. Sam. Merritt
said to-day, so I was told, that on Monday next the Judiciary Committee would
meet to take his bill into consideration ; they would report it to the House, as they
had the right to do at any time under the vote of the House last Monday, and the
House would pass it. Mr. Sam. Merritt does not take the Almighty into account
at all. These are transactions with which, in his opinion, he has nothing to do.
But we shall see. Oh, Lord, defeat these men in their wicked and bloodthirsty
schemes, and save those who put their trust in Thee, for Thou alone can save —
Thou alone hast pity for us : I ask this in the name of Jesus. Amen.
''Feb. II. — The agent of the associated press at Salt Lake City is the cham-
pion liar in his class. Every day we have a batch of inflammatory and lying dis-
patches from there, sent with a view to influence Congress in our case. The
House Judiciary Committee meet to-day to discuss the Merritt bill. Efforts have
been made to get an opportunity to make an oral argument before them ; but the
chairman, Judge Bingham, would not consent. He was, however, induced to say
that if Mr. Fitch, who had written a legal argument against the bill, would attend
the me:ting this morning, he might have time accorded him. Mr. Fitch was
6o4 HISTORY OF SALT LAKE CITY.
there and had about ten minutes given him. The other members would have
liked to have heard Mr. Fitch longer ; but Bingham was evidently anxious to have
him stop, though he complimented him on his written argument which he said he
had read.
"Butler, of Massachusetts, in speaking of the plan proposed in the bill for
the summoning of juries, said that when he was in the army they got up a case
against him at Baltimore, and the United States marshals summoned the jury. He
found among the jurors three men whom he had had in irons !
^' Feb. ijth. — At the House to-day I was told in confidence that President
Grant had a message in course of preparation on Utah which would probably be
sent in to-morrow. It would ask for legislative action so that Utah might be put
under the civil power, (Grant assuming, I suppose, that it is not so at present,) or
he would be under the necessity of putting it under the military.
" Feb. 14th. — Before going to bed last night I asked the Lord to give me a
dream, my mind being occupied with what I had been told concerning Grant's
message. He heard my prayer. I dreamed that a company of brethren were as-
sembled, who were dressed in uniform. I was among them, and was one of the
officers. We were expecting an attack from an enemy, who was formidable in
numbers and equipments, and whom we were looking for every minute. They
were moving upon us, I thought, with rifled-cannon, improved fire-arms and am-
munition, and in great force. I thought we were drawn up in line to receive them.
In falling into line with the other officers, I thought I got into one of the most
exposed positions. I was aware of it, and saw from the direction of the enemy I
should be hit before some of those near me could be reached, as my body covered,
in military parlance, theirs. We were nerved up. expecting each moment the
shock of battle. There was no flinching. I thought my position a very exposed
one, and I seemed to take in all its danger and to feel that a volley of grape
and canister would be likely to hit me ; I was nerved up and had a feeling of sus-
pense that was intense, such as a man might have who expected the next second the
attack of a desperate foe. While in this frame of mind all at once we found the
enemy had disappeared. How they had gone and where they had gone, I do not
now remember; but the reaction when I knew they had gone, was as great and
real as it seems to me it could possibly be if it were a scene in real life. We felt
we had been brought face to face with death and had escaped, and praise and
thanksgiving filled our hearts. I then awoke and thanked the Lord for the com-
fort conveyed to me in the dream. The message was brought in, as my informant
fold me it would be, but was not read. The New York Herald of this morning
gives an account of a conversation that Claggett and Merritt had with Grant ;
they urged him to send a message to Congress. The prospects look threatening.
But God reigns, and as General Grant seems disposed to emulate the example of
Pharaoh of old, we shall see whether he will beany more successful than Pharaoh
was. I have no doubt but that the Lord will make Grant's wrath a cause of praise
to him.
"The message appeared in the morning papers, and whether it was on this
account, or some other, when read in the House to-day it fell like a wet blanket
upon the members. I never saw a document read which appeared to attract less
HISTORY OF SAL T LAKE CITY. 60s
attention than did this. I was around all day conversing as I had opportunity
with members. A better feeling prevails than I could expect under the circum-
stances. Senator Pool of North Carolina, member of the judiciary committee of
the Senate, told me some of the features of the amended Frelinghuysen bill which
they had agreed to report.
"Feb. 22. — General Sherman, whom Captain Hooper met in the Senate
chamber, told hmi that he had said to Grant, with whom he had attended a din-
ner party, that his action in relation to Utah was all wrong. For this advocacy of
our cause they had laughingly called him a Mormon.
" We have a perverse and unscrupulous enemy in John P. Newman, the Sen*
ate chaplain.
" Feb. 2j. — In the evening I went to the Senate, where Captain Hooper had
spent the entire day. The subject of discussion there was the Frelinghuysen bill.
It passed a little after midnight on a vote of 29 for and 10 against it. The Dem-
ocrats, with Carpenter, Trumbull and Schurz voted against it. It was fought inch
by inch by Thurman, Bayard, Carpenter, Trumbull, Casserly, Stewart and Nye ;
the bitter speeches made by Logan of Illinois and Windom of Minnesota had a
telling effect, though composed of illogical, slanderous and untrue statements. The
clause giving the deputy marshals the authority to call on the military when they
were threatened with resistance was discussed with ability by Bayard and Trumbull.
They denounced this ready appeal to the bayonet to enforce civil process. I felt that
the day would yet come when those who were determined to have this feature in
the bill would be made to groan under the tyranny of soldiers and be humbled in
the dust. The Constitution has fallen into disrepute and the will of the majority
has taken its place.
'^ March ist. — To-day our enemies in the House were anxious to get up the
Frelinghuysen bill, which had passed the Senate, and pass it through the House.
They had resolved upon getting it up this evening. All the feelings that I had
in my dream I began to experience this evening. There was a time that I awaited
its advent as I imagined in my dream that I awaited the shock of battle. I was
nerved up in the same way. Claggett acted like a hen that wanted to lay. He
was fidgetty and anxious ; a delivery would relieve him. He got the floor and
was twice recognized by the Chairman of the Committee of the Whole, Mr.
Wheeler, and had his speech prepared, written out and in his hand ; but he was
choked off both times ; the first by Mr. Farnsworth introducing an amendment,
the last time by General Garfield moving the previous question, despite the
remonstrances of Claggett, by which further debate was cut oflf. He intended to
commence by speaking on some claim, I was informed, and then branch off on to
the Utah question, feeling confident from his past success in getting the ear of the
House, that he could secure a hearing again. Merritt had also come down to the
front to be near Claggett to support him. As soon as Claggett found that he
could not interject his speech in then, he went over to Judge Bingham, of Ohio,
chairman of the Judiciary Committee, and had a consultation with him. It was
then arranged, as I afterwards learned, that further on in the evening Bingham
was to try to get it up. Maxwell was back in Claggett's seat waiting for the on-
slaught with great anxiety. Claggett went back and had a talk with him, and
6o6 HISTORY OF SALT LAKE CITY.
then went off to smoke. In the meantime a collation had been prepared in a com-
mittee room down stairs, and some excellent punch, so said, had been furnished.
Of this many partook freely, and about midnight the effects were very visible in
the noise and confusion which prevailed. Beck, of Kentucky, made a motion to
take a recess till 9 o'clock, Monday morning ; other motions to adjourn and take
a recess were also made, but with no effect ; they were voted down two to one.
Every moment I expected the Frelinghuysen bill to come up. The noise and
confusion increased, and finally General Garfield made a motion to take a recess
until Monday morning, 9 o'clock — the same motion they had voted down just
before — and it was carried. We rejoiced exceedingly. We had another day's
grace. We had a quiet Sabbath granted unto us, and I praised the Lord. Mer-
ritt afterwards said that we owed our escape to that punch. Bingham had 'got
tight,' he said, and they could not trust him to present the matter. Claggett,
Merritt, Maxwell & Co. were mad ; but we were gratified.
" Monday, March 3rd. — The rules being suspended for the purpose of get-
ting through the calendar, there appeared no human possibility of escape, for the
Frelin'^huysen bill was on the calendar, low down it was true, but at the rapid
rate they were crowding through legislation it could not be long until it was
reached. Claggett and Merritt were very active and very gleeful. The latter
told me they had got us now, and swore by his maker that they were going m for
results now and not for talk. Brother Hooper saw Claggett, and to see how he felt,
asked him if he thought the bill would pass. He swore and said that it had to
pass, that he would force it through. They, every little while, would go up to
the Speaker's desk where the bills lay and examine the pile to see how far it was
down. Maxwell and they were in great glee. I did not see how we could escape,
but yet I had faith that something would interpose to prevent the passage of the
bill; but I did not know what it would be, or how it would be prevented. At 5
p. M. took recess till 7.30, and still it was not reached. I paced up and down
within hearing of the business, and called upon the Lord in my heart for that
deliverance which I knew that no one but He could give. The exultation of our
enemies was unconcealed. In imagination they already had their feet upon our
necks.
" Two o'clock in the morning of Tuesday came and still they were crowding
through bills. There were but two bills to pass, and they could be passed in two
or three minutes, and then the Frelinghuysen bill would be reached. Confusion
and excitement prevailed, and any attempt to reason upon such a subject, with so
great a feeling of hurry prevailing, would be useless. We had done all in our
jjower, and only the power of God could now prevent the passage of the bill,
fust then the Judiciary Committee brought up the impeachment cases of Judge
Delahay, of Kansas, and Judge Sherman, of Ohio. This subject consumed an
hour. Three o'clock had come, and still no action on the Frelinghuysen bill.
Then members began to present resolutions, bills, etc., upon which they wanted
action. Speaker Blaine recognized them, and half an hour was thus consumed.
Our enemies, active and urgent, tried to press the Frelinghuysen bill on to the
notice of the House, but in vain. I felt faint and hungry, and went down to the
restaurant and got a little refreshment, was only absent a few minutes, and when
HISTORY OI SALT LAKE CITY. 607
I came up, the House had just taken a recess until 9:30. I was surprised and yet
exceeding glad. I thought of my dream again. The dispersion of the members
reminded me of the dispersion in the dream. Our enemies were swearing mad.
Merritt said we had bribed the Speaker and that "damned old Bingham."
Claggett and Maxwell were also furious.
" March 4th. — This morning they commenced at the calendar. The two
hills were soon passed, then came the Frelinghuysen bill ; but Mr. Sargent, of
California, objected to the consideration of so important a bill when there was no
quorum present. It was laid aside informally; and from that time until 11:30,
when upon motion, it was decided to transact no more legislation, it could not be
reached. Business of various kinds was attended to, but that could not be got up.
Our enemies were raging. Maxwell said he would take out British papers and be
an American citizen no longer. Claggett asserted that we had spent $200^000 on
the Judiciary Committee, and Merritt swore that there had been treachery, and
we had bribed Congress. But I praised and thanked God, who was our friend
and mightier than they all. By seemingly small and insignificant means he had
brought to pass marvelous results, and to him all the glory was due.
CHAPTER LXX.
POLITICAL COALITION OF 1874. JENNINGS FOR MAYOR. ELECTION FOR DEL-
EGATE TO CONGRESS IN 1874. BASKIN NOMINATED. ELECTION DAY.
U. S, MARSHAL MAXWELL AND HIS DEPUTIES TAKE CHARGE OF I HE
DAY AND THE POLLS. TUMULT IN THE CITY. THE CITY POLICE AR-
RESTED BY THE U. S. MARSHAL AND HIS DEPUTIES. U. S. DEPUTY MAR-
SHAL ORR ARRESTED BY THE POLICE AND IS HABEAS CORPUSED BY
JUDGE McKEAN. THE MOB ASSAULT MAYOR WELLS AND TEAR HIS COAT
TO PIECES. HE IS RESCUED BY THE POLICE FORCE, AND DOORS OF
CITY HALL CLOSED. THE MAYOR APPEARS ON THE BALCONY AND GIVES
THE ORDER TO HIS FORCE TO BEAT BACK THE MOB, WHICH IS INSTANTLY
DONE. THE SEQUEL. CANNON ELECTED BY A 20,000 MAJORITY AGAINST
A 3,300 VOTE OF HIS OPPONENT; BUT BASKIN CONTESTS THE SEAT IN
CONGRESS.
From its organization, it had been the policy of the Liberal party, in the
municipal elections of Salt Lake City, and also the Territorial elections for menv
bers to the legislature, to construct their tickets with the names of representative
citizens, among whom were some of the founders of our city's commerce. This
was obviously sound policy ; for such men as Henry W. Lawrence, J. R. Walker,
S. Sharpe Walker and William Jennings were very proper men to fill any of the
offices in the municipality or the legislature; but when it came to the election of
delegate to Congress, a straight Gentile was always chosen, who had never in any
6o8 HISTORY OF SALT LAKE CITY.
way been associated with the interests of the Mormon commonwealth, or even
with the founding of Utah,
Indeed, in the first years of the existence of the Liberal party, the Federal
officers, politicians and adventurers, who came to the Territory from about the
beginning of 1869, sought the entire rule of Utah ; and they seemed to have had
nearly as great an antipathy to those influential seceders, who had been connected
with primitive Utah, as to the same class of men who remained inside the Mor-
mon community and who, as the People's party, stood a barrier against their
political and social encroachments. These leaders of the Liberal party only used
the names of such men as J. R. Walker, S. Sharpe Walker, Henry W. Lawrence,
W. S. Godbe, Samuel Kahn, Fred Auerbach and such others, for their own ends.
Of themselves, there was no account of service whatever standing between them
and the city or Territory. In 1870, as before noted, Henry W. Lawrence was
chosen to lead the Liberal ticket for mayor of Salt Lake City. He had been sev-
eral times a member of the city council ; was once the Territorial marshal ; was
one of the founders of the city's commerce, and for many years a prominent man
in the Mormon community. In changing from Mayor Wells, had Lawrence re-
mained with that community, there was no man in Salt Lake City more likely than
he to have been elected its mayor by the People's party. So also, S. Sharp
Walker, J. R. Walker or Fred Auerbach would have been elegible at any time for
the office of chief magistrate of our municipality in the estimation of all classes,
providing their names were unencumbered with the dragon's tail of the Liberal
party. Indeed, it would be safe to say that, at any time during the last twelve or
fifteen years, had Mr. J. R. Walker been nominated to any office in the gift of the
people, on a straight citizens' ticket, aside from both parties, with his personal
honor pledged to serve in the spirit of his nomination, he would most likely have
been elected without opposition, unless it had come from the Liberal party itself.
An example of this was given by the nomination of Mr. S. Sharpe Walker by ac-
clamation, at a mass meeting as one of the delegates to the constitutional conven-
tion, to which he barely escaped being elected, notwithstanding his published
card declining the nomination. Mr Walker's nomination was dissimilar from that
of the Gentile nominees, who were chosen for their influence, and experience in
politics and State-founding. "Sharp" Walker was chosen purely as one of our
prominent citizens and principal men in commerce, finance and the mines of Utah.
In the municipal election of 1872, the Liberal party nominated S. Sharpe
Walker for mayor.
But in 1874, at the municipal election, the managers of the Liberal party
changed their tactics and constructed their ticket with Wm, Jennings, for mayor,
accompanied with other leading citizens of the Mormon community, whose names
were most acceptable, including Feramorz Little, Bishop John Sharp, A. C Pyper
and the regular city treasurer and city recorder.
The policy of this move, on the part of the Liberal managers, was to present
the names of men in the contest who not only were not committed to the Liberal
party, either in association or sympathy, but who belonged to the Mormon com-
munity, and politically to the People's party. It was thought that by this
manoeuver party restraint would be taken from a division of the People's party.
HISTORY OF SALT LAKE CITY. 6og
who would vote their preference for Jennings and others, while the Liberal party
would come in with a solid vote, suspending their own party ticket for the occa-
sion, swelling the split vote of the People's party, and aiming to carry the oppo-
sition into office. The same scheme has been tried in the Ogden and Weber
county elections, and on one occasion the opposition, with Aaron Farr runnino-
against Franklin D. Richards, for the probate judgeship, nearly gained the day.
The operation of the scheme was somewhat similar, in the contest between Wm.
Jennings and Daniel H. Wells, in the municipal election of 1874, in Salt Lake
City. There were four tickets put beiore the public on this occasion, two of which
entered the contest. Here follow the tickets with their history and results.
The People's ticket, nominated at the mass convention held in the Taber-
nacle, January 31 : For mayor, D. H. Wells ; for aldermen, Isaac Groo, George
Crismon, Jeter Clinton, John Sharp, A. C. Pyper; for councilors, Brigham
Young, Theodore McKean, Albert Carrington, J. R. Winder, Henry Grow, N.
H. Felt, David McKenzie^ Feramorz Little, Thomas Williams ; treasurer, Paul
A. Schettler ; recorder, Robert Campbell ; marshal, J. D. T. McAllister.
The "non Mormon ticket": For mayor, Joseph R. Walker; for aldermen.
Dr. J. M. Williamson, Fred. T. Perris, Harvey Hardy, H. C. Goodspeed ; for
councilors, John W. Kerr, C. C. Clements, John Lowe, Louis Cohn, R. N.
Baskin, Joseph Dyer, Don C. Butterfield, T. D. Brown, John S. Atchison; for
marshal, D. R. Firman ; tor treasurer, John Chislett ; for auditor and recorder,
Wm. P. Appleby.
The Working People's ticket: For mayor, Wm. Jennings ; for aldermen,
J. M. Benedict, Fred. T. Perris, N. Groesbeck, H. C, Goodspeed, A. C. Pyper ;
for councilors, Adam Speirs, John Lowe, T. D. Brown, L. S. Hills, Elliot Hart-
well, T. R. Jones, P. Pugsley, F. Auerbach, A. White ; for marshal, D. R. Fir-
man ; for treasurer, Paul A. Schettler ; for recorder, W. P. Appleby.
This third ticket seems to have suggested new ideas to the managers of the
Liberal party; and, for once, to take advantage of the occasion, they laid aside
their anti-Mormon malice and let the sounder judgment of the citizens themselves
prevail over the "ring" policy which had hitherto dominated, and the result was
a strong ticket composed of representative Mormons, five of whom were on the
regular People's ticket. This opposition ticket also bore the regualar name
— "The People's Ticket." For mayor, William Jennings; for aldermen,
J. M. Benedict, A. Miner, N. Groesbeck, John Sharp, A. C. Pyper; for coun-
cilors, L. S. Hills, P. Pugsley, H. P. Kimball, Adam Spiers, Geo. Crismon, E.
T. Mumford, R. B. Margetts, Feramorz Little, Thomas Jenkins ; for treasurer,
P. A. Schettler; for recorder, Robert Campbell; for marshal, Henry Heath.
On Saturday evening, previous to the election on Monday, at the meeting of
non-Mormons in the Liberal Institute, it was intimated that there would be a
change in the ticket ; and early Monday morning that change was announced in
posters circulated throughout the city, signed by all the non-Mormon candidates,
declining election, and calling upon their friends to vote the ticket headed by
William Jennings for mayor.
The election day was full of life, bustle and good humor. At the City Hall the
m:iin forces of each party were centred. Here, the noise, bustle and confusion were
6 10 HISTORY OF SALT LAKE CITY.
intense, yet, withal, the best of feelings prevailed; not a fight nor other disturb-
ance occurred. The canvassers for the opposition worked well for their party.
Carriages and hacks were kept running all day, taking ladies to the polls, who
turned out in greater numbers than ever before at an election in the city. During
the day the National band was driven through the city in a wagon, with " For
n^ayor, William Jennings," on the sides of it, and flags flying therefrom.
At 6:30 P.M , the ballot boxes were returned from the several municipal wards
to the City Hall. The mayor directed the recorder to send invitations to Messrs.
J. R. Walker, Fred. Auerbach, General P. E. Connor and Captain Bates, to be
present to witness the opening of the ballot boxes and the counting of the vote?,
in the interest of the opposition.
Alderman Pyper, and Messrs John T. Caine, B. H. Schettler, John R. Win-
der, T. G. Webber and Paul A. Schettler were invited to assist the recorder in
counting the votes.
There was a larger vote polled on that election day, for our city officers than
ever, either before or since. Daniel H. Wells for Mayor received 3948 votes, and
the other names on his ticket similar votes; while Wm. Jennings received 1,677
votes and the others equal, excepting the names which were alike on both tickets,
which gave the total of votes: For Alexander C. Pyper, 5:482; John Sharp, 5,477;
Feramorz Little, 5,461 ; Paul A. Schettler, treasurer and Robert Campbell, city
recorder, similar. It will be seen that Alderman A. C. Pyper received the greatest
number of votes ever cast for a member of the Salt Lake City council, and that
the opposition ticket was not altogether a failure, having given the very fair minor-
ity vote of 1,677, ^'^^ swelled the majority of five men on its ticket to a total greater
than was likely to be cast on any one side in our city elections for a quarter of a cen-
tury then to come.
But this fusion scheme, so far as the Baskin-Maxwell managers were con-
cerned, was to make preparation for the August election for delegate to Congress,
when it was designed that Baskin should go the next term to contest with Cannon
for his seat. It seemed certain to these Liberal leaders that, could they by their
scheme carry an opposition into power from the People's party itself, it would
induce the minority of that party, for permanence of power and office, to recip-
rocate and coalesce with the Liberal party when its turn came to carry their man.
Nothing, in fact, was more certain to the subtle, directing brain of R. N. Baskin
than that, could he but carry to Congress, if no more than a thousand Mormon
votes, secured throughout the Territory by such a scheme to divide political Mor-
mondom, his claims in Washington would be greatly enhanced.
But the Mormon community, in the August election of the same year, re-
ceived another very striking lesson what an anti-lNTormon party, under whatever
name, signified to Utah, in every case, whether in success or defeat. That most
significant question of the ancients was brought home — " Can the leopard change
its spots, or the Ethiopian his skin? " They learned what Eli B. Kelsey discov-
ered and declared in 1871, namely : that no division of the Mormon community
could coalesce or in any way work with this Liberal party without betraying them-
selves, at least, and aiming (though unwittingly) at the betrayal of the entire
Mormon people.
^
HISTORY OF SALT LAKE CITY. 6ii
Having well laid their plans, the Liberal convention was called, by the Lib-
eral central committee, to meet in Salt Lake City at the Liberal Institute, July
20, 1874, to nominate a delegate to Congress. There were present at the ap-
pointed ti;ne quite a fair assemblage of the ablest men of the party throughout
the Territory, especially from the mining camps.
The name put forward at first was that of H. W. Lawrence, and he, thou>^h
stating his declination to his colleagues, was nominated as " our delegate to Con-
gress," to allow the managers to gracefully bring Mr. Baskin to the front without
seeming ingratitude to one who had served his party well. Henry W. Lawrence
and William S. Godbe had done good service in the building of the Institute,
giving birth to the party, and in many other ways, furnishing a while out of their
own purse two hundred dollars a week to support the Salt Lake Tribune alone.
The nomination was fairly due to Mr. Lawrence; and then it kept up the
pleasing fiction that our represesentative citizens, who had grown up with the
community, and who had long been the architects of Utah's commonwealth, were
not merely used by the politicians for their own purposes.
In the dilemma, in which the nomination of Mr. Lawrence had left the con-
vention, Judge Haydon came to the help, upon a motion from one of the delegates
to make the nomination unanimous. It was against his political principles, the
judge said, to force a nomination upon any man, no matter how much he might re-
spect hun for his services to the party, etc., etc. He, therefore, objected to the
making of the nomination of Mr. Lawrence unanimous. Vent being thus given
by Haydon, others found breath, and then Mr. Lawrence insisted upon the con-
vention's respect to his repeated refusal of the honor. The business was now clear,
and R. N. Baskin was quickly nominated unanimously, not only to contest the
election at the polls, but to contest for the delegate's seat in Congress ; such, in-
deed, was the duty imposed in the discussion of the day. The convention had
done precisely what ic met to do, namely, to send Mr. Baskin to Washington on
a mission ; the August election was merely the pathway.
Never before had there been such an election as that held on Monday, August
3d, 1S74. The occasion of an election of a delegate to Congress that year, gave
to General Maxwell, who was at that time U. S. marshal for the Territory, the
power to apply the election " bayonet law," enacted for the reconstruction of the
South. He engaged a strong posse of resolute deputy marshals, and it would
seem from the development of the action of the day that the purpose was not only
to take possession of the polls, but to place the city for one day under the rule of
the United States marshal and his deputies, setting aside the mayor and the city
police ; hence their action was chiefly directed that day against the police.
Promptly the polls were opened at their several precincts and the rush began.
At each polling place, besides the city police, were U. S. marshals and challengers
for both parties. At the outside precincts there was little trouble, but at the polls
at the Fifth Precinct — the City Hall — there was almost a continual row from the
opening to the closing. The Liberals concentrated their forces at this point, and
from the first they seemed bent on causing trouble of a violent character; for, in-
deed, to the populace, the presence of so many deputy marshals under the com-
mand of their chief, taking such an active and belligerent part could have no
6i2 HISTORY OF SALT LAKE C12Y.
other meaning, to thos3 who desired it, than as a spur to conflict with a promise
of armed aid from the U. S. authorities, as the glittering revolvers of the deputy
marshals were repeatedly displayed during the day, and that too as against the city
police. Every man in that crowd which surrounded the City Hall, knew that
Marshal Maxwell and his deputies signified an armed force engaged in the action
of that election, and being so that conflict was invited between the People's Party
and the Liberal Party, other than that which was going on at the polls in the elec-
tor casting his citizen's vote. There could have been no other intent than such a
conflict, or at least than a desire to make a strongly pronounced demonstration of
the authority and power of a U. S. marshal and his force if he so pleased to call
it into action. The voting power on the side of the People's Party who elected
George Q. Cannon with over a 20,000 majority, as against Baskin's 3,300 votes
polled for him throughout the Territory, renders it absurd to imagine that an armed
force of U. S. marshals were needed to protect Mr. Baskin's interest and hold the
city in awe for a day. Certain is it in any view of the case that many turbulent
spirits interpreted the action of that election day, under the direction of the
U. S. marshal and his deputies, to signify an intent of personal and vigorous con-
flict, not only between the two classes of citizens, but also between the marshals
and the police. At times, around the City Hall, a general melee was imminent,
and it was only owing to the prompt and sturdy action of the police that a mob
fight did not occur.
The first arrest made was that of a Mr. Alhum, who was put in jail by police-
man Philips for disturbing the peace, using profane language and assaulting an
officer. Almost immediately Mr. Philips was taken into custody by a deputy
marshal and marched before U. S. Commissioner Toohy. Captain Burt and
policeman Andrew Smith soon afterwards were escorted to the same place, when
they were held in bonds of $300 to appear before the commissioner on the fol-
lowing Wednesday and answer to the charge of interfering with the election.
Next Deputy Marshal Orr interfered with officer Philips when in the performance
of his duty of keeping the peace of the city, and the latter locked Orr in the city
jail, where be remained, however, but a short time as a ready writ of habeas cor-
pus from Chief Justice McKean released the deputy. Finally, after numerous
trifling brushes in which no one was badly hurt, the mob became almost unman-
ageable. At this time Mayor Wells was standing in the door-way of the City
Hall, when he was seized by some of the mob, and was struck and kicked in a
shameful manner. In his struggle to release himself the Mayor's coat was torn to
pieces, and it was only with difficulty that the mob was beaten back and the
Mayor rescued. The rush at the polls was now so great that it became necessary
ro close the main entrance. In the meantime the Mayor appeared on the balcony,
read the riot act and commanded the police to restore order, and drive the crowd
back from the doors. The order was instantly obeyed, and in the beating back
several men received some severe cuts about the head and face. After that there
were no more fights of a serious character, though numerous assaults occurred till
the closing of the polls at sunset. Immediately a deputy marshal, on a warrant
issued by Commissioner Toohy, senior judge of the election, arrested Justice
Clinton on a charge of ordering the arrest of Deputy Marshal Orr ; and Captain
HISTORY OF SALT LAKE CITY. 613
Burt and policemen Hampton, Philips, Ringwood, Crow and Livingston were
also arrested on charges of arresting the said Orr in the performance of his duty.
They were all marched before the commissioner at the U. S. marshal's office, and
placed under bonds, ranging from $30010 $1,000 to appear on the following
Wednesday for examination. Next morning the Mayor of the city was arrested
and brought before Commissioner Toohy and bound over to appear on the fol-
lowing Thursday, his bonds being $1,000. The police were in the sequel dis-
charged from custody, the commissioner holding that the policemen did their duty
in taking Album into custody for violence and disturbing the peace. The Mayor
was also relieved from his bond, for the cool judgment of the better class of the
Liberal party appreciated that the Mayor and his officers had simply performed
their duty, while the U. S. marshal and his deputies had exceeded theirs in pre-
suming to attempt to take the control of the city out of the hands of its lawful
guardians, instead of confining their duties to the maintenance of the citizens'
rights at the polls, and the prevention of the casting of unlawful votes. Indeed,
the difficulties of that election day grew not out of any interruption of voting the
Liberal ticket, but in the action between the U. S. marshal and his deputies in
arresting the police in their efforts to keep the peace of the city. It was at this
juncture that the mob assaulted the mayor as he stood in thedoorway of the passage
of the City Hall, and assaulted him, too, simply because he was the mayor ; and,
when the mayor appeared on the balcony, voices from the same class in the mob
cried, " Shoot him ! shoot him !" with other like exclamations. But Mayor Wells
had read the riot act ; and all concerned were quickly taught that the Mayor and
his force were the guardians of the city and its peace, notwithstanding a special
act of Congress, made for the South in the reconstruction, gave to U. S. marshals
a certain authority on election day at the polls to Sv.'e that no citizen was hindered
in freely casting his vote.
That neither the candidates, Baskin nor Marshal Maxwell, really expected
any hindrance from the ma) or or the police, or indeed from any one of the
People's party managers is certain. At the election in February, in the city,
three times as many votes were polled for Jennings as those for Baskin, and two-
thirds as many as were cast for him in the entire Territory ; yet was there no
hindrance to the opposition, which the Liberal party by uniting with it had made
quite formidable. The day, though spirited, abounded with humor and good feel-
ing. Mormon lads approached Mayor Wells, as he came along the street towards
the City Hall, and, with their traditional respect for the leader scarcely over-
powered by the. mischief of the time, offered him the opposition ticket, crying,
"Vote for Jennings." But on this election day hostile hands fell upon the
mayor. In fine, the sharp history of the election day of August, 1874, for dele-
gate to Congress is that Salt Lake City for a day was put under U. S. marshals,
so that the contestant Baskin might perchance be able to tell Congress the story
of the resistance of Mormon authorities to U. S. officers while executing an
act of Congress to protect and aid the citizen in the exercise of his suffrage;
and all this, too, after blood had been shed and the nation shocked with the news
of a " Danite slaughter." Such an opportunity was nearly won for the contest-
ant, whether aimed for or not. Had those cries from his supporters been an-
6(4- HISTORY OF SALT L 4KE CIT\.
swered with a pistol utterance — "Shoot him ! shoot him ! " when Mayor Wells
appeared, and from the balcony of the City Hall read the riot act — answered in
the manner of the rioters who fell upon the mayor at the door of the City Hall,
beating him and tearing his his coat in shreads, the press dispatches that night
would doubtless have told a story of horrors.
CHAPTER LXXI.
THE FALL- OF JUDGE McKEAN. THE ANN ELIZA SUIT AGAINST BRIGHAM YOUNG.
ALIMONY AND LAWYER'S FEES GRANTED PENDING THE DECISION. THE
HEAD OF THE MORMON CHURCH SENT TO THE PENITENTIARY FOR CON-
TEMPT OF COURT, THE PUBLIC CENSURE COMPELS PRESIDENT GRANT
TO REMOVE JUDGE McKEAN FROM OFFICE.
The iiih of March, 1875, "^^'^^ ^"^ ^^ ^^^ marked days in the history of Salt
Lake City, and a fated day to James B, McKean. The case of Ann Eliza Young
vs. Brigham Young was resumed, on an order to show cause why defendant should
not be punished for contempt in disobeying the order of February 25th, requiring
him to pay ^3,000 to plaintiff's counsel. The defendant, with his counsel, ap-
peared in court to answer to a warrant of attachment. His counsel represented
that the defendant was in ill-healih ; and asked the court that he might be per-
mitted to withdraw from the room — either on his own recognizance or on a suffi-
cient bond — during the argument on the order to show cause. The judge refused
to grant the request and the hearing proceeded.
Mr. Williams, of the defendant's counsel, read the answer to the order to show
cause, which answer set forth that the defendant, advised by his counsel " believes
that he is by law entitled to an appeal from said order and decree ; " that " an
appeal has been taken and perfected from the said order and decree, to the supreme
court of said Utah Territory;" that " this respondent disclaims all intention or
disposition to disregard or treat contemptuously the said order and decree or
any process of the said court; " "and prays to be hence discharged, and that
further proceedings for the execution of said order and decree, for the payment
of said fees and alimony, be stayed until the determination of said appeal in the
said supreme court."
Long arguments ensued by Hempstead for the defendant, and Hagan and
McBride for plaintiff. At the close the chief justice read the following order:
" This court having, on the 25th day of February last, made an order in this
cause, ordering and adjudging that defendant herein should pay alimony and sus-
tenance, the former within twenty and the latter within ten days thereafter, and
the defendant having disobeyed the said order in this, that he has refused to pay the
sustenance therein ordered to be paid ; and the defendant liaving been brought
HISTORY OF SALT LAKE CITY. dij
before the court by warrant of attachment in order to show cause, and having in
writing and by counsel, shown such cause as he and they have chosen to present
to the court ; and the court holding and adjudging that the execution of the said
order of the 25th day of February last, can be stayed only by the order of this or
some other court of competent jurisdiction ;
"It is, therefore, because of the facts and premises, ordered and adjudged,
that the defendant is guilty of disobedience to the process of this court, and ii
therein guilty of contempt of court.
"And since this court has not one rule of action where conspicuous, and
another where obscure, persons are concerned ; and since it is a fundamental prin-
ciple of the Republic that all men are equal before the law; and since this court
desires to impress this great fact, this great law, upon the minds of all the people
of this Territory ; now, therefore, because of the said contempt of court, it is
further ordered and adjudged that the said Brigham Young do pay a fine of twenty-
five dollars, and that he be imprisoned for the term of one day.
" Done in open court, this nth day of March, 1875.
" Jas. B. McKean,
" Chief Jusiice, etc., and Judge of the Third District Court.''''
McBride asked that the order be made so as to require the defendant to re-
main in jail till the counsel fees were paid. The court said he would let the future
take care of itself.
President Young appeared in court at 10 o'clock am, and notwithstanding
his ill health, there he sat till he was escorted out by Deputy U. S. Marshal Smith,
at one o'clock. The great founder of Salt Lake City manifested not the slightest un-
easiness or excitement during the proceedings, and when he was adjudged guilty of
contempt of court, and sentenced to fine and imprisonment in the penitentiary, he
was not disconcerted in the least. Probably he anticipated what was coming and
was prepared for it. Indeed the native greatness of Brigham Young never appeared
more striking than on these several occasions when he sat in the presence of Chief
Justice McKean waiting for judgment. He was the " Lion of the Lord" still —
but the lion in absolute repose. Sitting a prisoner in the court, he was, in the
sight of his people, superior to the court; in the presence of the judge in-
comparably greater than the judge. McKean himself, in his way, was painfully
conscious of this vast superiority of Brigham Young, and his overwhelming pres-
ence in lion-like repose in his court. This was illustrated in McKean's extraordi-
nary opinion, in which he declared that a system was on trial in the person of
Brigham Young ; and his decision now bore a manifested consciousness that he
was sending " the Mormon Moses " to the penitentiary, for contempt of his court.
The paltry fine of $25.00 was as nothing to this judge who had refused half a mil-
lion for the prisoner's bail; but that one day of Brigham Young in the peniten-
tiary, for a cause which rested directly between himself and the prisoner — con-
tempt— was to the judge as an epoch in his own life; and so, indeed, it was des-
tined to be.
The court took a recess soon after the order had been pronounced. Mr. James
Jack, President Young's chief clerk, paid to the plaintiff's attorneys the three
thousand dollars. Deputy Smith took charge of the prisoner and escorted him to
6i6 HISTORY OF SALT LAKE CITY.
I he President's own carriage, which was in attendance, and drove him to his resi-
dence, where President Young ate his dinner, procured such clothing, bedding,
etc., as he required for a night in jail, and in the midst of a severe snow storm
was then taken to the penitentiary by Dr. Smith, the deputy marshal. Mayor
Daniel H. Wells, Dr. S. B. Young and Mr. Rossiter accompanied them and re-
mained at the warden's house.
Arrived at the penitentiary, President Young was locked in the only cell at
the institution, with a dozen or more convicted criminals, and men awaiting trial
for alleged crimes. However, he was held in that place only a short time, when
he was furnished a room attached to the warden's quarters, where he spent the
night. Many of the President's friends drove out to the penitentiary in the after-
noon and a considerable number remained in the vicinity all night. President
Young's prison quarters were comparatively comfortable, and he was treated by
Dr. Smith with &uch courtesies as were consistent with the gentleman's official
duties, and the circumstances of the case would permit.
On Friday, March 12th, 1875, ^^ ^^^ expiration of "the day" the doors of
the penitentiary were thrown open, and the founder of Salt Lake City walked out
a free man. He was escorted to the city by a number of friends who went out to
see him.
When the news of the incarceration of Brigham Young in the penitentiary
spread throughout the city there was considerable excitement, but not the slighest
demonstration of violent resistance to the judicial tyranny on the part of any one,
none going farther than to express indignation at the course of Judge McKean in
imprisoning a nian of seventy-four years of age and in feeble health, for so slight
an offense, when none was intended, as the defendant's counsel had shown. Out-
side of a certain clique, the act of sending Brigham Young to the penitentiary on
an iniquitious suit, which he, the judge, had fostered, was denounced as an un-
jjaralleled outrage. The intelligent portion of the community— even those openly
opposed to the religious system of which Brigham Young was the head — were
unanimous in the verdict that though McKean may have been technically justified
by the law, he was guilty of an unchristianlike and unfeeling act.
But James B. Mckean had at length provoked his own doom ; and the thun-
derbolt came from the hand of the man who had appointed him, and who had
upheld him so long. The following telegram called the " Halleujah," from the
pent up hearts of a hundred and fifty thousand Utah peofile.
" Washington 16. — The President has nominated Isaac C. Parker of Mis-
souri, chief justice of Utah, vice McKean ; and Oliver A. Patten, of West Vir-
ginia, register of the land office at Salt Lake City. The nomination of ex-Con-
gressman Parker, of Missouri, to be chief justice of Utah, involves the removal
of Judge McKean, but does not indicate any change in the policy of the admin-
tration regarding the question of polygamy. The removal and that of the present
register of the land office in Salt Lake, are caused by what the President deems
the fanatical and extreme conduct on the part of these officers as evidenced by
their violent attacks on Governor Axtell and certain senators who recommended
his appointment, and by several acts of McKean which are considered ill-advised,
tyrannical and in excess of his powers as judge."
HISTORY OF SALT LAKE CITY. 617
Here may be supplemented several clippings from the reviews of influential
papers of America of the fated cause that brought Judge McKean himself to judg-
ment. The New York Post said :
" After more than six months' deep study his Honor, Chief Justice McKean
has given his decision in the case of ' Ann Eliza against Brigham Young,' for 2i}i\-
vAowy pendente lite for divorce. It is embraced in two closely printed columns of
a Salt Lake newspaper, which a correspondent, who sends us a copy of it, writes
that he confesses his inability to comprehend. But therein the judge evinces his
wisdom. If his opinion were written in the language of the Utes or Sioux he
could not be so successful in disguising his reasoning, those aboriginal tongues not
being adapted to the concealment of thought by verbiage. Only one thing is
clear — that is, that the plaintiff is to have her law expenses paid and ^500 monthly
^Sxvaoxiy pendente lite. Thus in order to deplete Brigham's bank account the judge
repudiates his own principles and infringe upon the law against polygamy, which
he has heretofore so strenuously maintained. By this law a man can have but one
wife. Brigham Young fought his case ' on this line,' proving that he was married
to Mary Ann Angell, his still living wife, on January 10, 1834. By the law of
Congress made especially for Utah, and by the common law of the land, any other
woman taken by him to his bed and board after his first legal marriage is not his
wife. This is the very point that Judge McKean has heretofore considered it his
special mission to establish.
" But now comes Mrs. Ann Eliza Webb, and on the 6ih of April, 1868,
(Brigham Young having previously taken to himself, unlawfully, seventeen other
women) and according to the laws of the Mormon Church becomes his nine-
teenth wife, or, according to the laws of the United States, his eighteenth concu-
bine. Married according to the rules of that church, she knew what they were.
They expressly permit a woman to claim divorce at any time, without alimony.
Connecting herself with Brigham in what Judge McKean has always rightly de-
clared to be an illicit way, she renders herself, as well as Brigham, liable to crim-
inal prosecution. By his decision the judge recedes from his own principles,
and may fairly be hailed by the Mormon Church as a convert to the doctrine of
polygamy."
Here is the way the San Francisco Bulletin goes after his Honor, and the
alimony /^////(f/?/,? lite opinion :
"The suit of Ann Eliza Young against Brigham Young for divorce, and the
rulings in the case made by Judge McKean, will be likely to attract much atten-
tion ; not only for the social aspects of the case, but on account of the legal
questions raised.
" The petitioner set forth that Brigham Young was in receipt of an income
of not less than ^40,000 a month, or ^480,000 a year, and asked that ^1,000 a
month might be assigned for her support. Subsequently, on a motion made by
her counsel, the court ordered that Brigham Young should pay over about ^3,000
to aid Ann Eliza in prosecuting her suit for divorce. Young hesitated to comply
with this order, and the court inflicted a fine and ordered that he should be im-
prisoned twenty-four hours after Young had paid over the ^3,000 to the clerk of
37
6i8 HISTORY OF SALT LAKE CITY.
the court. Young disclaimed any intention of committing a con.empt, but desired
to raise the question of his liability before a higher court By this ruling Judge
McKean assumes that Anna Eleza was actually married to Brigham Young, when
all the facts show she was never legally married to him, and could not be, from the
very nature of the case.
" Brigham Young was legally married to Mary Ann Angell, atKirtland, Ohio,
June loth, 1834. This woman has never been divorced, is still alive, living at
Salt Lake City, as the acknowledged wife of Brigham Young. There is no con-
troversy about these facts. How, then, could Anna Eliza at any time since be the
lawful wife of Brigham Young? When Judge McKean assumes that this woman
is the wife of Young, makes an interlocutory decree granting her $3,000 to main-
tain a suit for divorce, when there never was a legal marriage, and commits
Voung for contempt because he hesitates long enough to raise the question of the
legality of the order, he burns some strange fire on the altar of justice.
"Ann Eliza knew that she could not lawfully marry Brigham Young. She
deserted her own husband for the purpose of cohabiting with Young, and at a
subsequent date, we believe, procured a divorce from her former husband by the
aid of the probate court of Utah. This woman lived with Young a year or more
without any ground of complaint. The relation, according to her own admis-
sion, was a satisfactory one, and might have been to this day, had Young devoted
himself exclusively to her. The former, in the pleadings, sets up the one legal
marriage in Ohio, and that the relation between himself and petitioner was only
that known to the church as a celestial or plural marriage, and one, of course, not
known to the law outside of the peculiar ordinances of the Latter-day Church.
If there was no legal marriage it follows that there can be no legal divorce, and
there is not a court outside of Utah which would decree the validity of such a
marriage.
We are not seeking to extricate Brigham Young from his difficulties. If he
is caught in his own net he is not entitled to any sympathy. He has lived a long
time in defiance of law — in fact has been a law unto himself, and has lived in de-
fiance of the highest authority known to the nation.
But there is nothing in the case as presented by Ann Eliza calling either for
relief or special sympathy. She consented to cohabit with Young unlawfully, and
would have sustained that relation until this time if Young had not made more
conquests and added others to his conjugal circle. It is a reproach to the coun-
try that Young was not long ago dealt with squarely on the ground that every po-
lygamous marriage is a crime. But an oblique and cunning interpretation of
law which assumes that to be a marriage which was no marriage, only a scandal-
ous cohabitation, is not a straightforward way out of the difficulty. Instead of
taking the bull by the horns, it is an attempt to grasp him by the tail.
There is another phase of the case which cannot escape notice. When Ann
Eliza Young takes to the platform and recites her assumed wrongs in the ears of
the public, it is competent for the public to inquire whether she makes out any
case calling for special sympathy. The evils which she suffered were incident to
the social economy which was good enough for her so long as she could supplant
the lawful wife of Brigham Young. What were the evils which this wife suffered?
HISTORY 01 SALT LAKE CITY. 6ig
Ann Eliza, who now seeks to make merchandise out of her illegal relations with
Brigham Yonng, entered into that relation in mature years, and after she had been
lawfully married to another man. As a social reformer she does not present any
striking or salient features. Nor can her contribution to platform literature be
very attractive to right minded people. If the three thousand dollars which Judge
McKean has awarded as alimony/^;;^if«/^ lite was in the nature of a fine legally
inflicted upon Brigham Young instead of a blunder, the first step toward justice
might have been taken in the case."
The Chicago Times thus treats the c ui tempt judgment :
"Judge McKean, of the United States district court of Utah, yesterday had
Brigham Young arraigned for contempt in neglecting to pay over the attorney's
fees in the divorce suit of one of his concubines, Ann Eliza. Papers for an ap-
peal from Judge McKean's decision had been filed by Brigham's lawyers, and
bonds had been given for the payment of both the attorney's fees and the alimony
allowed by the court, but notwithstanding this the Prophet was found guilty of
contempt, fined twenty-five dollars, and sent to the penitentiary for twenty-four
hours. The proceeding is a somewhat extraordinary one. I": is customary,
when an appeal has been taken and bonds filed for the faithful performance of the
verdict of a court; to hold judgments in abeyance until the appeal is at least ar-
gued. This summary method of dealing with the Prophet looks very much like
persecution, and will awaken sympathy for him instead of aiding the cause of
justice."
Instead of the Hon. Isaac C. Parker, being appointed chief justice, it turned
out to be the Hon. David P. Lowe, of Fort Scott, Kansas The new chief jus-
tice was an honest, straightforward man, a good lawyer, and an upright judge,
who would not lend himself to any system of fraud or injustice, and, in the case of
Ann Eliza, he determined that the order for alimony should be expunged from the
record. But this did not occur, however, until its victim had been imprisoned,
and had paid over |4,ooo for counsel fees, and two months' alimony.
Ex-Prosecuting Attorney Bates, summarizing the McKean period, says ;
•' The five years of judicial mal administration of McKean in Utah may be
summarized as follows :
" ist. — $100,000, of United States public money, belonging to the Depart-
ment of Justice, have been squandered there.
" 2d. — No Mormon has ever been convicted, during that period, of any of-
fense against the laws of the Territory, or of the United States, except :
" 3d. — The case of the United States vs. Geo. Reynolds, for polygamy, where
the verdict of guilty was found by a jury, nine of whom were Mormon polyg-
amists ; and the witnesses who furnished all the evidence, including the plural
wife herself, were all polygamists — which case is expected to go to the Supreme
Court of the United States, where the validity of the Act of 1862 will be finally
settled, as it would have been in 1872, had not the plan then agreed upon been
frustrated by the Federal officials in Utah.
"4th. — These illegal prosecutions, including the false imprisonment of
620 HJS TOR Y OF SALT LAKE CI 7 ¥'
Brigham Young and the leaders of the people, have cost them in counsel fees,
loss of time, and injuries to their business, at least $500,000.
" 5th. — The panic and alarm created thereby in the States of the Union, and
the fear of a collision between the authorities and the Mormon people have
driven or kept away millions of dollars of capital."
CHAPTEP LXXIII.
THE PRESIDENTIAL VISIT TO SALT LAKE CITY. FEDERAL OFFICERS AND
GENTILES CLAIM THE HONOR OF RECEIVING THE PRESIDENT; BUT THE
CITY FATHERS CHARTER A SPECIAL TRAIN AND "PIONEER" THE PRESI-
DENTIAL TRAIN TO OUR CITY. MEETING BETWEEN U. S. GRANT AND
BRIGHAM YOUNG. CHARACTER MARKS. LONG FAMILIAR CHAT ON THE
WAY BETWEEN MRS. GRANT AND BRIGHAM. PUBLIC RECEPTION GIVEN
TO THE CITIZEN. VISIT TO TEMPLE BLOCK. MRS. GRANT WEEPS FOR
"THESE GOOD MORMON PEOPLE." THE DEPARTURE. GRANT TOUCHED
BY THE TRIBUTE OF THE MORMON SUNDAY SCHOOLS TO HIM AS PRESI-
DENT. " I HAVE BEEN DECEIVED."
The visit of President Grant to Salt Lake City, in the early part of October,
1875, ^^s ^" auspicious event, as it greatly corrected his views, and created quite
a revulsion in his mind favorable to the Mormon people. Indeed, it would seem,
from what is rehearsed of the expressions of the President and his wife relative to
the Mormon people, that had this visit occurred in 1869, with the same party sur-
roundings, in the place of the Colfax visit of that date, our local history of the
last five years would have been markedly different from what it was.
The presidedtial party consisted of the President and Mrs. Grant, Col. Fred
Grant and wife. General O. E. Babcock, ex-Secretary of the Navy Adolph E.
Borie, wife and daughter, and Governor Thayer of Wyoming.
The Federal officers and non-Mormon citizens claimed the honor of receiving
the President of the United States. A meeting was called at the Federal Court
House, and a committee of ten, headed by Governor Emery, was appomted to
meet the President and his party, and extend to them the hospitality of the Federal
officers and Gentile citizens.
But the founders of Utah and the municipal council of Salt Lake City, with-
out the least manifestation of displeasure at being thus characteristically set aside
by the Federal dignities, moved in the matter of the reception of President Grant
with the quietest emphasis possible of their sense that precedence belonged to
them. They were the pioneers of these western States and Territories. They had
led the way across the plains and sandy deserts before the tide of colonization,
apart from that of their own, had fairly started towards the Pacific, and they were
fl
HISTORY OF SALT LAKE CITY. 621
actually the first band of colonists proper who planted the American flag in this
dominion ; and if distinction or precedence were to be made in receiving the first
President of the United States who had visited the Pacific slope, to the fathers of
Utah properly belonged the honor of escorting him to Salt Lake City.
The committee of ten, headed by the Governor, which had been appointed
by the Federal Court House meeting, in pursuance of their programme, started
for Ogden on the early train, and taking the Union Pacific east bound passenger
train, met the presidential train at Peterson Station in Weber, and returned with
it. Thus they had the advantage of the first meeting and it was thought by the
Federal committee that their programme would prevail in all its points.
The Utah Central special train, chartered by the city council, left the station
here at 9:30 Sunday morning, making the trip to Ogden in about an hour and
a half, conveying the aldermanic committee and other members of the city coun-
cil, city and county officers, and several invited guests, including President
Brigham Young, Hon. John Taylor, Hon. B. Young, Jun., Hon. Jos. F. Smith,
Judge Elias Smith, Hon. F. M. Lyman, H. B. Clawson, Esq., Col. F. Little, sev-
eral ladies and representatives of the press. None of the Federal Territorial
officials or military officers availed themselves of the special invitation of the
council. The engine of the special train was decorated with flags and bunting.
About half an hour after the arrival of the Utah Central train the presidential
train approached the station at Ogden. All of the railroad platforms were crowded
with people straining their eyes to get a sight of the President. The Ogden brass
band struck up " Hail to the Chief." The locomotive of the presidential train
was profusely decorated with flags, streamers, etc. O. H. Earll, division superin-
tendent of the Union Pacific, and A. H. Earll, the Ogden agent of the company,
accompanied the presidential party to Ogden, doing the honors to the distinguished
guests. The President was standing on the rear platform, swinging his hat to the
people, with ex-Secretary Borie and General Babcock at his side. Now and then
a boy would jump up and get hold of the President's hand, an event of which he
may boast for years.
The presidential train immediately switched upon the Utah Central track,
when it appeared to be assumed by some of the party, though not by the President
or General Babcock, that the train would proceed by itself to this city in advance
of the Utah Central train. This arrangement, however, was not made, and the
presidential cars were attached in front of those of the Utah Central, and drawn
by the latter's engine; the train started out of Ogden at a good speed, making the
trip to this city in about an hour and a quarter.
While at Ogden, the President cordially received the representatives of our
city council, who were presented to him, and said in reply to Hon. George Q.
Cannon, who tendered him the hospitality of the city in behalf of the munici-
pality, that he had accepted an invitation of the Governor of the Territory to be
his guest ; that he could only remain in Utah until Monday afternoon, and would
be happy to avail himself of any courtesies at the hands of the city that he might
have time to accept. He expressed his obligations for the attention paid him by
the municipal authorities. Other Utah gentlemen were then introduced.
As the train was moving out of Ogden, President Young stepped from the
622 HISTORY OF SALT LAKE CITY.
car of the Utah Central upon the platform where the President was standing, and
was presented to President Grant by Mr. Cannon, both gentlemen uncovering.
President Young said : President Grant, this is the first time I have ever seen a
president of ray country." President Grant nodded, and after a few enquiries and
compliments^ President Young was conducted to the interior of the car, and pre-
sented to Mrs. U. S. Grant, Mrs. Col. Fred Grant, Mrs. Borie and the other
ladies and gentlemen of the party. Mrs. Grant entered into a familiar conversa-
tion wath President Young, which was prolonged for about half an hour, when the
latter took his leave of the ladies and of President Grant, saying a few words to
the Presdent as he passed upon his return to the Utah Central train.
During the entire trip from Ogden to this city, President Grant occupied the
platform of his car with Governor Emery and Delegate Cannon, the latter being
kept engaged in conversation by the President in regard to the various points of
interest in the Territory. The President asked a good many questions which showed
a keen interest in the material resources of the country and the industries of vari-
ous kinds. Indeed he appeared to be far more impressed with these things than
he did with the people whom he met.
At the station in this city, the President and party were taken in charge by the
Federal committee and conveyed in carriages to the Walker House. Many thou-
sands of people had assembled at the depot, and from there to East Temple, on
both sides of the street, were arranged the city Sabbath school children, with their
teachers. The President and Mrs. Grant and Governor Emery rode up in an open
barouche, behind four handsome greys. The President, as he passed along, waived
his hat to the crowds, who saluted him without boisterous demonstration. During
the afternoon the President remained at the hotel, where he received calls from
many officials and leading citizens. A large crowd had also gathered in front of
the Walker House, and to gratify their desire to see the President, Grant stepped
out upon the balcony, and was introduced to the multitude by Gov. Emery, who
stated that the President was suffering from a Rocky Mountain cold, was very
hoarse, and it would therefore be difficult for him to respond to the calls for a
speech.
Early Monday morning, the President, in an open buggy with Gov. Emery,
was driven to the Temple block, when he went into the tabernacle, and looked at
the foundation walls of the temple. He was next driven to the north bench, where
he obtained a fine view of the city ; and afterwards went to Camp Douglas. There
he examined the new stone barracks and officers' quarters in course of erection?
and was waited upon by the officers of the post. The other members of the Presi-
dential party also visited the Temple block and Camp Douglas. It was at the
special request of the President that no salute was fired at the military post in his
honor; also that the band did not come out. He said his visit was strictly a social
and sight-seeing one, and was not in the least of an official character. He desired,
therefore, that there be as little ostentation and display as possible.
After spending a brief time in Camp Douglas, the Governor drove the Presi-
dent a short distance up Emigration canyon, and then returned to the city and his
hotel, where a public reception was held, when several hundred citizens, ladies and
gentlemen were presented to the President. Notably among the others who em-
HISTORY OF SALT LAKE Cn\. 623
braced this opportunity of calling upon the President was Judge McKean, who
walked up with the crowd and in his turn shook the executive right hand. The
reception continued until after 2 o'clock, when the public were excluded and the
federal officials, in a body, were presented to the President. The Presidental party
partook of an early dinner at the Walker House and then proceeded to the depot,
where the special car in which Grant travels was found profusely decorated with
flowers and green — the artistic work of a number of ladies of this city. On the
way to the depot the President and company called at the residence of Hon. Wm.
Jennings, where there were also a few prominent citizens.
As the train was moving off, the President, who stood upon the car platform,
was heartily cheered by the crowd assembled at the depot, and he acknowledged
the salule by waving his hat. He was escorted to Ogden by the city council com-
mittee of welcome, the court house committee, and several invited guests, promi-
nent ladies and gentlemen of the city. After the train had left the depot, Presi-
dent Grant and party entered the car in which were the ladies and gentlemen of
Salt Lake, and passed the time until the arrival at Ogden, in conversation. They
seemed to have thrown off restraint, and resolved upon the enjoyment of a social
visit. They talked freely, and upon taking their farewell, expressed themselves as
having been highly pleased with the appearance of Salt Lake City, and delighted
with their reception. The President and party stood upon the rear platform of
their car when the train moved off eastward, and waved their handkerchiefs to the
Salt Lake ladies and gentlemen, who returned to the city by special train. Gov-
ernor Emery and his committee, who had all along ignored the municipal commit-
tee of welcome, accepted the invitation of the council committee to occupy seats
in the special train, and all returned to the city together.
There were many incidents in this visit of a President of the United States
to our city, that tended to give our citizens favor in the Nation's eyes. Two of
these incidents will be sufficient to note.
When President Grant, on his entrance to our city, in his carriage, passed the
multitude of Sunday School children who, under their teachers, had gathered, ar-
rayed in white to welcome him — in their simplicity of manner, emphasising the
greeting of Brigham Young, "this is the first time I have had the honor of meet-
ing a President of my nation " — he turned to Governor Emery and enquired,
"whose children are these?" He was answered by the Governor, "Mormon
children." For several moments the President was silent, and then he murmured,
in a tone of self-reproach, " L have l?ee?i deceived/ " It was in vain for any anti-
Mormon, after that utterance, to tell him that those children had been arrayed to
give him welcome, for the purpose of making a favorable impression on his mind
in behalf of their Mormon parents. To a man of so strong a religious nature as
that of U. S. Grant, which nature to the end of his days, contrary to the better judg-
ment of the American people, gave Dr. Newman a controling influence over him,
these Sunday School children, brought up in the fear of the Lord, were, on this
Sabbath day of his entrance into our city, more powerful sermons than he had
ever heard in the Metropolitan Methodist Church, from the charmed tongue of
his favorite pastor. And even the depreciatory expounding of the anti-Mormon
— that this array of Sunday School children was " all gotten up for effect " —
624 HISTORY OF SALT LAKE CITY.
would have been entirely lost on a man of simple directness of mind, for Mormon
parents, who could with so much natural sagacity conceive the plot of capturing
the conqueror of southern rebeldom, by an army of their Sunday Schoolchildren,
were surely not wicked parents, nor unworthy of the regard of the representative
" father of his country."
The other incident is of Mrs. Grant, on her visit to the Mormon Tabernacle
in this city, escorted by Hon. VV. H. Hooper and others. As she listened to the
chaste yet sonorous music from the grand organ of the tabernacle, which for com-
pass and quality has but i^vi equals, and which on this occasion was played by a
master organist^ with tears in her eyes she exclaimed with deep feeling, her words
addressed to the ex-Delegate of Utah, " Oh, I wish I could do something for these
good Mormon people !"
CHAPTER LXXIV.
DEATH OF BRIGHAM YOUNG. THE CITY DRAPED FOR ITS FOUNDER, GRAND
SOLEMN FUNERAL. SERVICES AT THE TABERNACLE. TRIBUTE OF THE
CITY COUNCIL TO HIS MEMORY.
On Wednesday, August 29th, 1877, Brigham Young, the founder of Utah,
and one of the greatest colonizers the world has seen in a thousand years, died at
his residence in Salt Lake City. The life and career of this remarkable man,
whose record compasses the whole history of the Mormon people, may be gath-
ered from the entirety of this book, and the personal sketch of him in the sup-
plement of biographies. Suffice in this chapter to give the record of his death
and burial.
On Thursday evening, August 23rd, President Young was attacked with
cholera morbus, which was very severe, and continued throughout the whole of
the night and the following day until the afternoon. The pain was intense, and
quickly prostrated the patient- On Friday afternoon, however, he was somewhat
i-elieved, and was considered by his physician to be convalescing. This favorable
condition continued until Saturday afternoon, when his symptoms suddenly be-
came worse, and the disease assumed an alarming aspect. The pain in his bowels
returned, his bowels began to be distended, and his sufferings were greatly aggra-
vated. These symptoms yielded to the use of morphine; but on Sunday morn-
ing a condition of semi-stupor came on continuing throughout the day and night.
On Monday there was little change, the patient remaining about in the same con-
dition as on Sunday, until Tuesday when his coma deepened. Still he could be
roused, and occasionally spoke to those about him. Suddenly on Tuesday raorn-
ii
HISTORY OF SALT LAKE CITY. 62 j
ing, there was extreme difficulty in breathing, owing to the distension of the
bowels. Artificial respiration was resorted to for about nine hours, with the re-
sult of enabling him to breathe without assistance. His condition from that time
until his death admitted no doubt as to the result of the case. Death ended his work
at 4 p. M. on Wednesday. The technical name of the fatal disease of which he
died is entero colitis — commonly called inflammation of the bowels ; which, of
course, was brought on by cholera morbus. The deceased did not speak for hours
previous to his death, although at times he appeared to be conscious, and would
make an effort to articulate. He was surrounded by most of the members of his
family and a few intimate friends.
During the three last days of his mortal life the people of Utah was in the
most profound and anxious suspense. Telegrams fled frequently throughout the
Territory informing the Saints of the condition of their leader, and prayer circles
met in every settlement to invoke Divine power to stay the stroke, which when it
fell, though it appalled the heart of the church for a moment, and baptized in
tears the State which Brigham Young had founded, yet brought to the people re-
lief from the terrible suspense under which they had stood as with suspended
breath for three days. In the world beyond the angel of destiny tolled his bell :
the spirit of Brigham Young, a son of destiny, winged its homeward way ; and
within the hour every city in Utah was draped in mourning.
The following account of the funeral is culled from the reports of the Descrct
Neius and Salt Lake Herald of that date :
It was the original intention not to admit the public to view the body of
President Brigham Young until Sunday morning, two hours before the commence-
ment of the funeral services. The very general desire to see the deceased, and
the certainty of there being present at the tabernacle on Sunday a tremendous
crowd, has led to the making of a satisfactory change in the programme. The
body will lie in state, in the new tabernacle, from this morning at nine o'clock
until eleven o'clock on Sunday. It will be in the coffin, which will be enclosed
in a metallic case, a glass being over the face. The public will be admitted to the
tabernacle at any time between the hours indicated above.
OFFICIAL PROGRAMME AND INSTRUCTIONS:
"As soon as the probable number of seventies, high priests, elders, and the
lesser priesthood is ascertained, places will be assigned them in the tabernacle,
during the funeral ceremonies of President Brigham Young. These different
quorums will hold meetings this evening for the purpose of learning in relation to
this matter, and will also appoint committees to attend to the seating of their
quorums, and to arrange for them to take part in the procession. It is desirable
that each c[uorum should attend to its own organization for the procession so as
save time, obviate confusion, and lessen the labor of the marshals.
"The procession will leave the tabernacle eight abreast, and walk through
the south gate and up the north sidewalk of South Temple street to the Eagle
Gate, thence up through President Young's grounds to his cemetery. A pro-
gramme will be arranged for the procession, assigning to each body its proper
place. The intentipn at present is for the general authorities to occupy the stand.
For greater convenience, however, it will be well for the presidents of the high
38
626 HISTORY OF SALT LAKE CITY.
priests, of the elders, and the lesser priesthoood, to sit with their respective quo-
rums, so that they can take their places for the procession. The high council of
this stake and the visiting presidents and counsellors of stakes from other places,
and members of high councils of other stakes will have seats assigned to them on
the platform south of the stands. The Tenth Ward brass band, the Glee Club,
which will sing at the vault, and the city council will also be seated south of the
stands on the platform.
"The platform on the north side of the stands will be occupied by the
bishops and their counsellors of this stake, and visiting bishops and counsellors
from other stakes. Seats will be reserved immediately in front of the stands on
both sides of the centre aisle for the family and relatives of the honored deceased.
" It is desired that all who reside in the city and its vicinity who desire to
view the remains of President Young will do so to-day, and once having seen the
body will be satisfied with that view and not try to obtain another to the exclu-
sion of persons who have not had an opportunity of seeing it at all. If this be
strictly observed, the brethren and sisters vvho come from other settlements on
Sunday morning, can have the privilege of getting a view of the body ; and un-
less this be observed it would be difificult for them to get into the tabernacle for
that purpose. We cannot impress this too much upon the residents of this city
and its vicinity.
" Thousands will probably come by the morning trains, all of whom will be
anxious to get a last look at the face of their beloved president, prophet and
leader. Arrangements will be made for as many as possible to have this privilege,
but in the short time remaining, only a limited number can possibly, with the best
arrangements, pass by the cofifin. Too much cannot be said upon the necessity of
observing strict order. There will be a body of men detailed as special police
for the occasion; and we hope that every man, woman and child in the community
will conform to the arrangements that will be made, and not impose unpleasant
duties upon those acting as special policemen. Let us show respect to the memory
of our great leader by observing that order of which he himself was so deep an
admirer and great example. Let no man, woman or child say or do a thing on the
solemn occasion of his funeral, which if he were present in person would grieve
or annoy him. Of necessity there will have to be strict arrangements to save con-
fusion, as there will be doubtless an immense number of people present."
"The remains of the late President Brigham Young were removed from the
Lion house Saturday morning shortly after 8 o'clock, and conveyed on a bier to
the new tabernacle. Employees of the deceased carried the body, the apostles
now in the city acting as pall bearers. A number of President Young's sons fol-
lowed, besides bishops, seventies, elders, etc., forming a procession of between
six and seven hundred people. The coffin containing the body was placed at the
foot of the centre aisle of the tabernacle, directly in front of the stand, the head
being to the west. The coffin is enclosed in an air-tight metallic burial case, a
sheet of plaie glass covering the face, admitting of a good view of the features.
The inside of the coffin is trimmed and dressed plainly, but neatly, with white
satin, quilted ; and the drapery overspreading the case is whi>te merino. A hand-
some floral cross, encircled by a wreath of flowers, is on the lid. The tabernacle
HISTORY 01 SALT LAKE CITY. 627
is profusely draped, the platform, stands, organ and pillars wearing heavy folds of
crape. The features of the dead have undergone much change since his sickness
and indicate plainly the severity of his sufferings.
"It was n o'clock when the gates to the Temple blo;k were opened and the
public admitted to take a last look at the deceased. Probably three thousand peo-
ple had assembled, and for a couple of hours the crowd was tremendous. How-
ever, the arrangements were so complete, that the rush being once over, there was
no more crowding, people passing in and out without hurrying. A constant
stream of men, women and children went in at one door, looked at the features of
the dead, and passed out on the opposite side of the tabernacle, until quite late in
the evening when there was a slight cessation, and those in attendance were en-
abled to rest. The body was kept in state all night, a guard surrounding it and
the building, and it was not until near midnight that people ceased to visit it.
An accurate account was kept of the number of those who saw the body, running
up to within a few of eleven thousand people. The remains will lie where they
are, and the public will be admitted until 11 o'clock to-day, and as all the trains
entering the city last night were crowded with passengers— seven carloads arriving
from the south and thirteen from the north — and as special trains will run overall
the roads this morning to bring people from other places, it can be estimated that
ten thousand more people will visit the tabernacle this morning. The greatest
order and decorum were observed, and nothing occurred to mar the solemnity of
the occasion. * * * *
"Sunday, September 2d, i<S77, will not soon be effaced from the memories of
the people of Utah; not only will it be remembered as the day when the mortal
remains of Brigham Young were laid in the tomb, but on account of the great
popular demonstration on the occasion. On Saturday night, long after the hour
when the city is usually quiet and the inhabitants are hushed in sleep, people could
be seen directing their steps towards the tabernacle to obtain a last look at the
features of the dead leader. Early Sunday morning the rush began again, and soon
it seemed as if the whole of the population was astir and gathering at the Temple
block. Notwithstanding the multitude of people bent on the same purpose, the
utmost order prevailed. The quiet and decorum observed in the tabernacle were
remarked by all. People walked steadily down the aisle, gazed for a moment at
the face of the dead and parsed out, all seemingly deeply impressed with the
solemnity of the occasion. It is gratifying to the family, friends and public gen-
erally, that nothing occurred to mar the proceedings, and it reflects credit upon
the masters of the ceremonies and the communit}'. This stream of people was
not checked until 11.30 Sunday morning, more than 18,000 men, women and
children having gazed upon the corpse within the twenty-four hours. After the
public was restrained the family gathered around the coffin and looked for the last
time upon the loved features. The apostles followed the family, when the met-
allic case was removed, exposing the coffin, which was then elevated on a cata-
falque, in lull view of the entire audience. There was a noticeable absence of all
drapery about the coffin ; however, there was a plain black ir-. 11 over the stand on
which it rested. The tabernacle was deeply draped, all the > .lars wearing heavy
folds of crape, and the stands, platforms, organ and tables were in deep black.
638 HISTORY OF SALT LAKE CITY.
The floral decorations in the tabernacle were grandly beautiful. Besides those of
artificials, festooned from the ceiling and suspended from the gallery, the stands
bore many vases of living flowers. The coffin was a plain caskec of redwood, var-
nished, but devoid of ornament, save the massive silver handles. It was decked
with wreaths and garlands of flowers, a beautiful and artistically arranged flower
harp, being attached to the foot. The east portion of the auditorium and the
galleries were thrown open to the public, and hours before the services commenced
]jeople began to occupy the seats, which at 1 1 o'clock were all full, and thousands
were unable to gain admission. The family and relatives of President Young,
numbermg some hundreds, occupied seats directly in front of the platform and
next the coffin. In their rear, and on the right and left, grouped together, were
the seventies, high priests, elders, and others of the priesthood. The south side
of the platform was occupied by the city council, band. Glee club, presidents of
diff'erent stakes of the church and high councils. On the north platform were
bishops and their counsellors. The upper stand, or that of the first presidency,
was occupied by George Q. Cannon, master of ceremonies; Daniel H. Wells and
John W. Young, counsellors to the deceased; and Brigham \oung, Jr. The
apostles, who were all present except Orson Pratt and Joseph F. Smith, now in
I'mgland, the presidency of the Salt Lake stake, and presiding bishop were in their
usual seats.
A close estimate of the people in the building places the number at thirteen
thousand, while probably as many more were in the yard and around the gates.
The organist and orchestra had been in attendance since 9:30 a. m., and while
the body v/as in state and the tabernacle was being filled, played the '* Dead
March in Saul," organ and orchestra ; " Brigham Young's Funeral March," com-
posed for the occasion by Jos. J. Daynes, organ ; Wilson's Funeral March, organ;
Mendessohn's Funeral March, organ and orchestra.
The services commenced at noon, precisely, George Q. Cannon announcing
the hymn
Hark ! from afar a funeral knell.
This was sung by the tabernacle choir, George Careless leader, and J. J. Daynes
organist. The tune to which the hymn was sung was one composed by Prof.
Careless on the occasion of the funeral of the late Geo. A. Smith, and is called
"Rest."
Then followed the opening prayer by Aposlle F. D. Richards.
The prayer was followed by singing
Thou dost not weep to weep alone.
After which his counselor and faithful friend, Daniel H. Wells, delivered a
brief and feeling address. He said :
'<I arise with an aching heart, but cannot let pass this opportunity of paying
at least a tribute of respect to our departed friend and brother, who has just stepped
behind the veil. I can only say, let the silent tear fall that it may give relief to
the troubled heart ; for we have lost our counselor, our friend, our president ; a
friend to God, a friend to His saints, a friend to the Church and a friend to hu-
manity.
HISTORY OF SALT LAKE CLTY. 62g
" I have no desire or wish to multiply words, feeling that it is rather a time
to mourn. Good bye, Brother Brigham, until the morning of the resurrection day,
when thy spirit and body shall be reunited, and thou shalt inherit immortality,
eternal lives and everlasting glory, and thy life-long companions who will soon
follow after, will meet thee in peace and joy."
He was followed by Apostles Wilford Woodruff, Erastus Snow, George Q.
Cannon and John Taylor; Orson Hyde pronounced the benediction.
The readiness and absence of friction with which the procession was formed
occasioned much comment. The congregation, with the exception of the family,
apostles, bishops, and others, who were to march, withdrew from the tabernacle,
the Dead March playing on the organ, and the choir singing. The procession
then quietly formed — every one falling into his position — and while the band at
the head with muffled instruments slowly played the Dead March, filed out of the
south gate and up the sidewalk to the Eagle gate, moving eight abreast, and
marching with uncovered heads. Following is the order of
THE PROCESSION.
Tenth Ward Band. Glee Club. Tabernacle Choir. Press Reporters. Salt
Lake City Council. President Young's employees. President Joseph Young,
Bishop Phineas H. Young, Bishop Lorenzo D. Young and Elder Edward Young
(President Brigham Young's brothers.) The Body, borne by clerks and work-
men of the Deceased, with nine of the Twelve Apostles as pall bearers.
Immediately following the body, the counselors of President Brigham Young.
The family and relatives. Patriarch of the Church. First seven presidents of the
seventies. Presidency and high council of Salt Lake Stake of Zion. Visiting
presidents, their counselors and high councils of various stakes of Zion. Bishops
and their counselors. High priests. Elders. Lesser priesthood. Seventies.
The general public.
An immense crowd lined the sidewalk, and was kept back by ropes stretched
along the line of shade trees to the Eagle gate, where the procession entered, and
moving up the hill entered the private cemetery of the deceased.
The vault is in the southeast corner, where the family first, and then the pub-
lic had an opportunity of seeing it before the coffin was lowered. A heavy red-
wood box was then let down, and into this the coffin was placed, the family as-
sembling around the vault. The Glee club — male voices — sang the hymn com-
mencing,
O, my Father, Thou that dwellest.
Apostle Wilford Woodruff offered the dedicatory prayer.
At a special meeting of the city council called by Mayor Little to take appro-
priate action, the Mayor formally announced the death of President Brigham
Young, one of the members of the city council ; whereupon Aldermen Sharp and
Raleigh, and Councilors Reynolds, Calder and Winder were appointed a com-
mittee to draft and present resolutions ; they reported the following :
"PREAMBLE AND RESOLUTION.
" ll'/icrcas, President Brigham Young, cur most distinguished and illustrious
6 JO HIS TOR Y OF SALT LA KE CIT Y.
fellow-citizen, and a member of this council, in the providence of Almighty God,
has departed this life ; and
" Whereas, The death of so eminent and good a citizen, leader and mem-
ber of our community, is a calamity so great that the mind seems inadequate to
grasp, or language express, the extent of the loss that this lamentable event has
brought so suddenly upon us ; therefore,
•' Resolved, That while we mingle our tears and condole with each other in
this sad bereavement, we tender this token of respect and love to the one we mourn,
and express our deep sympathy with his family and friends in the overwhelming
affliction which has befallen us all."
The report was accepted and adopted, and the preamble and resolutions were
ordered to be spread upon the minutes of the council.
It was also, on motion, ordered that they be published in the Salt Lake Daily
Herald and Deseret News; also that a copy be engrossed and presented to the
family of the deceased.
It was further resolved, as an additional token of love and respect for the de-
ceased, that the members of the council attend the funeral in a body.
And at a meeting of the directors of the Deseret National Bank, President
Wm. H. Hooper in the chair, the following was unanimously adopted:
" We, the officers of the Deseret National bank, realizing the loss sustained
by the corporation and the community at large, in the death of our beloved asso-
ciate and friend. President Brigham Young, who departed this life on the 29th
day of .\ugust, 1877, in the 77th year of his age, hereby desire to express our deep
sense of the great worth and superlative qualities of the revered deceased.
Therefore,
"■Resolved, That in President Brigham Young we recognize a wise counselor,
a financial genius and a master mind.
" That during the many years he has been a director of this institution, part
of which he was its president, having been associated with us from its inception,
he has invariably exhibited such qualities of head and heart as have secured the
respect, esteem and affection of all its officers.
" That in his death we are deprived of a most valuable director and adviser
whose absence will be sadly missed from our official deliberations.
•'■ That we deeply sympathize with his bereaved family, and condole with the
whole community who mourn the departure of a mighty leader and one of the
great spirits of our age and race.
" That we bow in submission to the decrees of Providence, while we lament
the sad event which has deprived us of so valuable a co-laborer.
" That these resolutions be spread upon the minutes of the board, and that
copies be furnished to the family of the deceased, and to the Salt Lake Herald
and Deseret Netsjs for publica ion.
" By order of the board of directors.
W. H. Hooper, President:'
It was thought by the outsiders that the death of Brigham would convulse,
perhaps destroy the Mormon Church; and that there would arise several rival con-
fl
'^' ?:
4
^k^il^r:
HISTORY OF SAL T LAKE CITY. 631
testants from the family of President Young and the Twelve Apostles to fiercely
strive for the succession to the presidency of the Church. Such had been the
speculations during the last seven years of Brigham's life, and columns of what
seemed monstrous nonsense to the Mormons had from time to time appeared in
the great journals of the country, relative to this succession and the probable dis-
solution of the Mormon Church on the demise of the man who by his marvelous
exodus had become famous in the age as the " Mormon Moses." But to the as-
tonishment of the " unbeliever," the death of Brigham Young produced no vis-
ible shock either in the Church or the affairs of our Territory; the Twelve Apostles
for awhile stood as the presidency ; and, indue time, Apostle John Taylor, was
chosen by the Church as president, as Brigham Young had been before him.*
CHAPTER LXXV.
RETURN TO THE EARLY HISTORY OF THE CITY. EVOLUTION OF THE MOR-
MON COLONIZATION PLAN. THE PATRIA^^CHAL ORDER. EXPOSITION
OF THE FORMATION OF SOCIETY IN SALT LAKE CITY.
The general history having been brought down almost to the present date,
we return to review numerous lines in the development of society in these Rocky
Mountains. In the early chapters, a series of pictures from the pens of travelers
to California, and also from Captain Stansbury and Lieut. Gunnison, gave the
reader glimpses of the work of these Mormon society builders in its first stages.
Since that date the rush of the general history has swept beyond a local scope and
interest into the magnitude and importance of a national social " problem," and
one, too, which, in the later periods, has assumed so much of a political character
that the non-Mormons openly confess that polygamy is the minor part of it.
But, to future generations, the peculiar society work of the Mormons, wrought
in the Pacific States, will be of chief and lasting interest in American history, so
far as the Mormons and the founding of these States will be concerned; and,
therefore, a regular sociological series of expositions are needed at this central
point, covering the thirty-eight years of Utah's social formation.
Taking up the connecting social links, it may be repeated that not only Salt
Lake City, but all the cities of Utah grew up under the most perfect system of
colonization that the world has seen in latter times. Indeed the early travelers to
California invariably spoke of it as a system of religious communism, which
Brigham Young and his apostolic compeers were attempting to establish upon the
*For further note see biography of President Taylor in the Supplement.
632 HISTORY OF SALT LAKE CITY.
1
Old and New Testament plans, in the virgin valleys of the Rocky Mountains,
where a new social experiment seemed eminently proper, viewed from a strict
sociological standpoint.
The pioneers, as the leaders of a colony, or rather of a family of colonies,
having located " the City of the Great Salt Lake," as we have seen, returned to
Winter Quarters to bring up the body of the Church which had been driven from
Nauvoo, while the British Mission of the Mormon Church was waiting to pour
its tide of emigration into America, to populate the State which the leaders were
founding. Meantime, the companies which followed close on the track of the
pioneers, the same season, built the "Old Fort," located in the Sixth Ward of
the city, and they survived the scarcity and hardships of the first winter. In
September, 1S48, Presidents Young, Kimball and Richards arrived in the Valley o^
the Great Salt Lake, with three large companies of the Saints from Winter Quarters'
The parent colony numbered now nearly 6,000 souls. So nmch is repeated to
take up the thread of those vast emigrations, of a later period, which have brought
to America nearly a hundred thousand souls, in ships specially chartered by the
Mormon Church, and given to these valleys, since 1847, in parents and offspring,
not less than a quarter of a million of population. The majority of the parents
and thousands of their children have passed away in the course of nature, but tens
of thousands of their children, most of them American born, survive.
Next we take up a link of the plan and growth of Salt Lake City.
The genius of the social plan of the Rocky Mountain Zion was touched by
Brigham Young on Sunday, July 25th, the next day after his arrival in the valley.
Though feeble with the mountain fever, and scarcely able to stand upon his feet,
the great colonizer arose and "told the brethren," says the historian Woodruff,
." that they must not work on Sunday; that they would lose five times as much
as they would gain by it. None were to hunt or fish on that day , and there
should not any man dwell among us who would not observe these rules. They
might go and dwell where they pleased, but should not dwell with us. He also
said, no man sJiould buy any land who came here ; that he had none to sell ; but
every man should have his land measured out to him for city and farming purpo':es-
He might till it as he pleased, but he must be industrious and take care of it.''
There is a new social system nascent in this diary note which needs, to the
outside reader, and even to "the children of the fathers," an expounding from
Mormon theory and phases of actual Mormon history of the date of the exodus
and the founding of this city.
The note signifies that President Young, and his pioneer compeers, at that
time, contemplated the building up of a Zion in these Rocky Mountains on the
" perfect plan," or the " order of Enoch," laid down by Joseph Smith. Hence
he said, " No man should buy land who came here; that he had none to sell," etc.
It was the design of the Prophet Joseph Smith, at the very opening of the
" Latter-day dispensation," to construct for his followers a new social system, as
well as to reveal a " new" spiritual religion, or rather to restore the "Everlasting
Gospel," as taught to the ancients in the patriarchal ages of the world, and by
Jesus at the opening of the Christian dispensation. Blending thus the genius and
institutions of the Old and New Testaments — or as classified in modern theology,
HISTORY OI SALT LAKE CITY. 633
the patriarv';hal and gospel dispensations, the Mormon Church grew up as the spir-
itual and temporal halves of a divine plan and government. Hence a " gather-
ing dispensation " became, both to the Prophet and his disciples, as the signature
of their " new covenant," and a gathering place was the very base of their mil-
lennial work ; for such to them it was in the highest and broadest sense. ; or, in
the cummon language of modern sociology, there were needed a Mormon Zion
and a constant flow up of Mormon e:nigrations; in fine, a well sustained systeni of
Mormon colonization to evolve and consummate the Prophet's plan. In keeping
with this peculiar plan of social architecture, in a modern age, the Prophet, im-
mediately after the organization of his church, removed from the State of New
York to Ohio, which was then a virgin State, and at Kirtland, Ohio, he established
Zion, to which the disciples "gathered," and there they built the first temple of
the dispensation.
The evolution of these new and marvelous society plans of the Mormon
Prophet was through the temporal institutions and government of the Church :
and, it is important in the historical digest of that evolution, to know that the
bishopric was appointed and in control of the temporal organization several years
(four) previous to the organization of the quorum of the Twelve Apostles. And
bO it will be seen, as the exposition advances, that in Ohio, in Missouri, in Illinois
and Winter Quarters, as in Salt Lake City and Utah generally, religious coloniza-
tion and society founding have been as the alpha and omega of the Mormon work;
and that upon the social plans laid down by Jcseph Smith in Kirtland, Salt Lake
City grew up. It is because of these cardinal social relations vvith the history of
our Territory that the exposition is carried back to the Mormon Zion of fifty-five
) ears ago
In the latter part of January, 1S31, Joseph Smith, his wife Emma, Sidney
Rigdon and Edward Partridge started from New York State for Kirtland, Ohio,
where they arrived on the first of February; and the Prophet and his wife lived for
a while at the house of N. K. Whitney, a merchant of the place and afterwards
presiding bishop of the Church. The disciples at that place numbered one hun-
dred members ; and to the mind of the Prophet these, with the Saints in New York
State, were germs enough to plant in the social soil of a kingdom of God.
It now became necessary to effect the temporal organization of the Saints.
The "gathering" of a Latter-day Israel had commenced. The Saints were fast be-
coming a people.
The great organizing genius of Joseph (subsequently so wonderfully mani-
fested in Brigham) was called into action, and the bishopric which has since grown
into such magnitude — controlling both the social and ecclesiastical organizations
of the people — sprang, as in a monaent, into vigorous life. Its organization com-
menced with a revelation, as seen from the following passage :
* * * "And again, I have called my servant Edward Par-
tridge, and given a commandment, that he should be appointed by the voice of
the Church, and ordained a bishop unto the Church, to leave his merchandise and
to spend all his time in the labors of the Church; to see to all things as it shall be
appointed unto him, in my laws in the day that I shall give them. And this be-
38
634 HISTORY OF SALT LAKE CITY.
cause his heait is pure before me, for he is like unto Nathaniel of old, in whom
there is no guile."
The Mormons from the State of New York — the birthplace of the Church —
now began to come in and Bishop Partridge was directed how to settle the people
and organize their temporal affairs ; and so rapidly did the Mormons increase that
they soon began to colonize certain portions of the State of Missouri, and Jack-
son County was named " Zion." This latter expansion of the system of
Mormon colonization called forth another revelation directed to the bishopric,
which gives the key to the first sermon of Brigham Young delivered in
the valley of ihe Great Salt Lake, on the Sunday morning after the arrival of the
pioneers. From it we excerpt the following passages, touching the settling of the .
Saints, the laying out of Zion, the dedication of the temple spot, and the publish-
ing of the gospel to the ends of the earth :
^" * * * And let there be an agent appointed by the voice of
the church, unto the church in Ohio, to receive moneys to purchase lands in
Zion.
"And I give unto my servant, Sidney Rigdon, a commandment that he shall
write a description of the land of Zion, and a statement of the will of God, as it
shall be made known by the Spirit unto him ; and an epistle and subscription, to
be presented unto all the churches to obtain moneys, to be put into the hands of
the bishop to purchase lands for an inheritance for the children of God, of him
self or the agent, as seemeth him good or as he shall direct. For, behold, verily
I say unto you, the Lord willeth that the disciples, and the children of men should
open their hearts, even to purchase this whole region of country, as soon as time
will permit. Behold, here is wisdom. Let them do this lest they receive none
inheritance, save it be by the shedding of blood.
"And again, inasmuch as there is land obtained, let there be workmen sent
forth of all kinds unto this land, to labor for the Saints of God. Let all these
things be done in order ; and let the privileges of the lands be made known from
time to time, by the bishop or the agent of the church ; and let the work of the
gathering be not in haste, nor by flight, but let it be done as it shall be counselled
by the elders of the church at the conferences, according to the knowledge
which they receive from time to time.
"And let my servant Sidney Rigdon consecrate and dedicate this land, and
the spot of the temple unto the Lord. x'Vnd let a conference meeting be called,
and after that let my servants Sidney Rigdon and Joseph Smith, Jun., return, and
also Oliver Cowdery with them, to accomplish the residue of the work which I
have appointed unto them in their own land, and the residue as shall be ruled by
the conferences. * * * * * *
Let the residue of the elders of this church, who are coming to this land,
some of whom are exceedmgly blessed even above measure, also hold a conter-
ence upon this land. * * * And let them also return, preaching the
gospel by the way, bearing record of the things which are revealed unto them ;
for verily the sound must go forth from this place unto all the world. '^ *
In the above revelation of the Prophet Joseph's social plan of the Zion, which
he sought to establish in Ohio and Missouri, even before Brigham Young came into
•I
HISTORY OF SALT LAKE CITY. 63s
the Church, we have the social prototype of his great successor's plan of the Zion
of the Rocky Mountains, as laid down to the pioneers on their first Sabbath in the
valley where the " city of the Great Salt Lake" grew up, for the first five years
almost perfectly, on that model of social formation. During that period
" the law of inheritance " was written on the family tablet of every household, in
the Zion which Brigham and his apostolic compeers and the bishops sought to es-
tablish in these valleys, as Joseph had before them in Kirtland and Jackson
County. In the original plan, it was not designed that any man should '•' buy
land" in these valleys. The pioneers "had none to sell;" "but every man
should have his land measured out to him for city and farming purposes. He
might till it as he pleased, but he must be industrious and take care of it." These
builders of society were colonists ; and these words the utterances of the master
builder, ere this vast territory belonged to the domains of the United States. Ac-
cording to the primal law of colonization, recognized in all ages, it was their
land, if they could hold and possess. They could have done this so far as the
Mexican government was concerned, which government, probably never would
even have made the first step to overthrow the superstructure of these Mormon
society builders. At that date, before this territory was ceded to the United
States, Brigham Young, as the master builder of the colonies which were soon to
spread throughout these valleys, could with absolute propriety give the above ut-
terances on " the land question." In the early days of the Church, they applied
to land not only owned by the United Slates, but within the boundaries of States
of the Union : the Prophet, laying down the plan, (by revelation or otherwise as
each different sociologist pleases to consider) said, let " an epistle and subscrip-
tion " "be presented unto all the churches to obtain moneys, to be put into the
liands of the bishop lo purchase lands for an inheritance for the children of God;
* * * even io purchase the whole region of country, as soon as time will
permit. * * * Behold here it is wisdom. Let them do this lest they
receive none inheritance, save it be by the shedding of blood.-"
The latter clause of the quotation signifies that the Mormon Prophet foresaw
that, unless his disciples purchased " this whole region of country " of the unpop-
ulated "Far west" of that period, the "land question " held between them and
anti-Mormons would lead to the shedding of blood, and that they would be in
jeopardy of losing their " inheritance." And this indeed was realized, notwith-
standing the Mormons did purchase " this whole region of country." It was
consummated by mobs, greedy for the " inheritances of the Saints," and by the
exterminating order of Governor Boggs. Similar views and fears were entertained
by the Mormon colonists of Utah, who not only obtained possession of the land
by the primal claim of colonization ; but they or their followers, afterwards pur-
chased from the United States, the bulk of the land upon which they had founded
their cities and made their farms. And subsequent events and changes have
rather strengthened than weakened the idea in the minds of the original colonists
of Utah, that it is the '■'inheritances'''' of the Mormons — the possession and con-
trol of Utah that the Gentiles want, and that the crusades against polygamy and
upon other Mormon questions are merely means to the end.
There is another portion of the early history of the Mormon community
6j6 HISTORY OF SALT LAKE CITY.
closely allied with the original plan of the building up of a Zion and the securing
of temporal " inheritances for the Saints," which is also closely related to the peo-
pling of Utah at the onset, and still afterwards in the vast emigrations of the
Mormons from Europe by the operations of the Perpetual Emigration Com-
pany, which company itself shows the genius and plan of the foregoing revelation.
In the month of January, 1S49, Brigham Young inaugurated a movement
which sheds enduring lustre 0:1 his name, and, indeed, upon the Twelve. It was
no less an undertaking than to remove all of the poor Saints out of the State.
When he broached the subject to the presiding bishop he was met with the
di.scouraging answer, " The poor may take care of themselves, and I will take
care of myself." But the prompt reply was ready and emphatic: " If you will
not help them out, I will." Whereupon, at a meeting of the brethren, held Jan-
uary 29th, 1839, as the record shows, "On motion of President Brigham Young,
it was resolved that we this day enter into a covenant to stand by and assist each
other to the utmost of our abilities in removing from this State, and that we will
never desert the poor who are vvorthy, till they shall be out of the reach of the
exterminating order of General Clark, acting for and in the name of the State."
The covenant then made was as follows :
•' We, whose names are hereunder written, do each for ourselves individually
covenant to stand by and assist each other, to the utmost of our abilities, in re-
moving from this State in compliance with the authority of the State ; and we do
herebv acknowledge ourselves firmly bound to the extent of all our available. prop-
erty, to be disposed of by a committee who shall be appointed for that purpose,
for providing means for the removing of the poor and destitute who shall be con-
sidered worthy, from this country, till there shall not be one left who desires to
remove from the State: with this proviso, that no individual shall be deprived of
the right of the disposal of his own property for the above purpose, or of having
the control of it, or so much of it as shall be necessary for the removing of his
own family, and to be entitled to the overplus after the work is effected ; and fur-
thermore, said committee shall give receipts for all property, and an account of
the expenditure of the same."*
•■'•This coven:int was signed by the following names :
John Smith, James McMillan, William Huntington, Chandler Holbrook, Charles Bird, Alexander
Wright, Alanson Ripley, William Taylor, Theodore Turley, John Taylor, Daniel Shearer, Reuben P.
Hartwell, Shadrach Roundy, John Lovvry, Jonathan H. Hale, Welcome Chapman, Elias Smith, Solo
mon Hancock, Brigham Young, Arza Adams, James Burnham, Henry Jacobs, Leicester Gaylor, James
Carroll, .Samuel Williams, David Lyons, John Miller, John Taylor, .Aaron M. York, Don Carlos Smith,
Geo. A. Smith, Wm. J. Stewart, Daniel H. Howe, Isaac B. Chapmin, James Braden, Roswcll Stephens
lonathan Beckelshimer, Reuben Headlock, David (ones, David Holman, Wm. Fawcet, Joel Goddarrl,
Charles N. Baldwin, Phineas R. Bird, Jesse N. Reed, Duncan McArthur, Benjamin Johnson, Allen Tal
ley, Jonathan Hampton, James Hampton, Anson Call, Sherman A. Gilbert, Peter Dopp, James S. Hol-
man, Samuel Rolph, Andrew Lytle, Abel Lamb, Aaron Johnson, Daniel McXrthur, Heber C. Kimball,
Wm. Gregory, George W. Harris, Zenas Curtis, George W. Davidson, John Reed, Harvey Strong,
William R. Orton, Elizabeth Mackley, Samuel D. Tyler, Sarah Mackley, John H. Goff, Andrew More,
Thomas Butterfield, Hafvey Downey, Dwight Hardin, John Mal)a, Norville N. Head, Lncy Wheeler,
Steven V. Footc, John Terpin, Jacob G. Biglcr, William Earl, I'.li Bagley, Zenas H. Gurley, Wm. Milam
Joseph Cooledge," Lorenzo Clark, Anthony Head, Wm. Allred, S. A. P. Kelsey, Wm. Van Ansdell,
Moses Evord, Nathan K. Knight, Ophelia Harris, Zuba McDoaald, John Thorp, Andrew Rose, Mary
GofF, John S. Martin, Harvey J. More, Albert Sloan, Francis Chase, John D. Lee, Stephen Markham,
ICliphas Marsh, J(jhn Outhouse, Joseph Wright, William F. Leavens, John Badger, Daniel Tyler, Levi
Richards, NonhRogers, Erastus" Bingham, Stephen N. St. John, Elisha Everett, Francis Lee, John
Lytle, Eli Lee, Levi lacknim, Benjaniin Co\ey, Thomas Guymin, Michcal Borkdiill, Nahum Curtis,
HISTORY OF SALT LAKE CITY., 637
The foregoing covenant is given to preserve in the history of this city, and
of Utah, the original of the covenant and organic plans by which the Mormon
community was not only removed from Illinois to the Rocky Mountains, but also
by which a hundred thousand Mormons have been emigrated to America from the
old countries, partly by their own means and greatly by the operations of the Per-
petual Emigration Company of the Church. And this covenant, moreover, is
pertinent here, as it was the work of Brigham Young in removing the Saints from
Missouri while Joseph was incarcerated in Liberty jail, just as it was principally his
work in removing the community from Illinois and elsewhere, to colonize the val-
leys of the Rocky Mountains after the martyrdom of the Prophet.
In Illinois the Mormons again attempted their society work as a religious com-
nuinity, with similar results, and then they resolved to remove to the Rocky
Mountains, where they hoped to build up their Zion upon the plan which the
Prophet gave them, and which Brigham Young, as his successor, sought to fulfill.
Having traveled as far as Winter Quarters in 1S46, the community rested and es-
tablished temporary stakes of Zion, at Garden Grove, Mount Pisgah and old
Council Bluffs, and during the winter and the opening spring they more perfectly
unfolded their religio-social methods and organization, upon which they designed
to build up Zion in the valleys of the Rocky Mountains.
It was during the sojourn of the community at Winter Quarters that they
evolved a part of their system, the plan and genius of which, though un-
derstood from the revelations and teachings of their Prophet, had never till then
found an opportunity for social embodiment. Up to this time it was but as seed
sown, with' which their social soil was pregnant waiting for the birth. This was the
" Patriarchal Order :" and it was just at this stage of the evolution that "pluralitv
of wives " came in, originally named " Patriarchal Marriage " — synonymous with
" Celestial Marriage." The patriarchal order is historically worthy of a sufficient
exposition, and this more so, seeing that Mormon patriarchal marriage is the
national question of the present moment as applied to the Federal rule in Utah.
It is a remarkable fact, then, of Mormon history, that while the community
sojourned " in the wilderness" — at Winter Quarters — the Twelve Apostles, who
are the types of the Twelve Patriarchs of the house of Israel, began to organize
the people into grand branch families, symbolical of the twelve tribes of Israel,
and patriarchal marriage among the connnunity was openly declared. They were
going to the unpeopled valleys of the Rocky Mountains and plural marriage, or
polygamy, was at once a social and religious method of peopling those valleys and
applying the Abrahamic covenant — " In thee and thy seed," etc. At that time it
Miles Ranclill, Lyman Curtis, Horace Evans, Philip Ballard, David Dort, William Gould, Levi Hancock,
Reuben Middleton, Edwin Whiting, VVm. Harper, VVm. Barton, Seba Joas, Elisha Smith, Chas Butler,
James Gallaher, Richard Walton, Robert Jackson, Isaac Kerron, Lemuel Merrick, Joseph Rose, James
Dun, David Koote, Orrin Hartshorn, L. S. Nickerson, Nathan Hawke, Moses Daley, Pierce Hawley,
David Sessions, Thos. F. Fisher, P. G. Sessions, James Leithead, Alfred P. Childs, Alfred Lee, James
Daley, Stephen Jones, Noah T. Guymm, Eleazer Harris, David Winters, Eliiah B. Gaylord, John Pack
Thomas Grover, Sylvenas Hicks, Alex. Badlam, Horatio N. Kent, Phebe Kellogg, Joseph W. Pierce,
Albert Miner, Thomas Gates, Wm. Woodland, Squire Bozarth, Martin C. Ahred, Nathan Lewis, Jede-
diah Owen, Philander Avery, Orrin P. Rockwell, Benjamin F. Bird, Chas. Squire, Truman Brace, Jacob
Curtis, Sarah Wixom, Rachel Medfo, Lewis Zobriski, Lyman Stephens, Henry Zobriski, Roswell Evans,
Morris Harris, Leonard Clark, Absolom Tidwell, Nehemiah Harmon, Alvin Winegar, Daniel Cathcart,
Samuel Winegar, Gershom Stokes, John E. Page, Rachel Page, Levi Gifford, Barnet Cole, Edmund
Durfee, Wm. Thompson, Josiah Butterfleld, Nathan Cheeney, John Killian, James Sherry, John Patten
David Frampton, John Wilkins, Eliz. Pettegrew, Abram .\llen,"Chas. Tompson, William P'elshaw.
6j8 HISTORY OF SALT LAKE CITY.
was very likely that their society would grow for fifcy years, in their own methods
and forms, ere the American people would come up to invade their Zion. Be
that, however, as it may, the Mormon Moses of Utah, as soon as he had "deliv-
ered the community from their enemies," and sat down with them at Winter Quar-
ters to wait the opening spring, began to perfect the social organizations of the
people and to bring them into the patriarchal relations as the proper basis of
their society work. Numerous families were also adopted by Brigham as his tribal
sons and daughters, to so speak ; and Heber C. Kimball, Wilford Woodruff,
Willard Richards, George A. Smith and others did the same. This will
explain certain things which were done by the pioneers, in relation to the " land
question," when they took possession of these valleys, and also many other affairs
and features noticeable in the community, especially during the first ten years after
the entrance of the pioneers, in 1847. This exposition of the original plan and
genius of a Zion, as laid down by Joseph the Prophet, leads up to the revelation
concerning the removal of the community to these valleys, and the laws of the
formation of society under Brigham's leadership. It is the last contained in the
Doctrine and Covenants, (late edition) and is entitled :
" The Word and Hill of the Lord, given through President Brigham Young, at
the Winter Quarters of the Camp of Israel, Omaha Nation, West Bank of
Missouri River, near Council Bluffs, January 14th, 1847.
" The word and will of the Lord concerning the Camp of Israel in their
journey ings to the west. Let all the people of the Church of Jesus Christ of Lat-
ter-day Saints, and those who journey with them, be organized into companies,
with a covenant and promise to keep all the commandments and statutes of the
Lord our God. Let the companies be organized with captains of hundreds, cap-
tains of fifties, and captains of tens, with a president and his two counselors at
their head, under the direction of the Twelve Apostles; and this shall be our cov-
enant, that we will walk in all the ordinances of the Lord. Let each company
provide themselves with all the teams, wagons, provisions, clothing, and ether nec-
essaries for the journey that they can. When the companies are organized, let
them go to with Uieir might, to prepare for those who are to tarry. Let each com-
pany with their captains and presidents decide how many can go next spring; then
choose out a sufficient number of able-bodied and expert men, to take teams,
seeds, and farming utensils, to go as pioneers to prepare for putting in spring
crops. Let each company bear an equal proportion, according to the dividend
of their property, in taking the poor, the widows, the fatherless, and the families
of those who have gone into the army, that the cries of the widow and the father-
less come not up into the ears of the Lord against this people. Let each company
prepare houses and fields for raising grain, for those who are to remain behind this
season, and this is the will of the Lord concerning his people. Let every man
use all his influence and property to remove this people to the place where the
Lord shall locate a stake of Zion ; and if ye do this with a pure heart, in all faith-
fulness, ye shall be blessed ; you shall be blessed in your flocks, and in your herds,
and in your fields, and in your houses, and in your families. Let my servants
Ezra T. Benson and Erastus Snow organize a company; And let my servants
Orson Pratt and Wilford Woodruff organize a company. Also, let my servants
HISTORY 01 SALT LAKE CITY. 6^9
Amasa Lyman and George A. Smith, organize a company ; and appoint presidents,
and captains of hundreds, and of fifties, and of tens ; and let my servants that
have been appointed, go and teach this my will to the Saints, that they may be
ready to go to a land of peace. Go thy way and do as I have told you, and fear
not thine enemies ; for they shall not have power to stop my work. Zion shall be
redeemed in mine own due time. And if any man shall seek to build up himself and
seeketh not my counsel, he shall have no power, and his folly shall be made mani-
fest. Seek ye and keep all your pledges one with another, and covet not that
which is thy brother's Keep yourselves from evil to take the name of the Lord
in vain, for I am the Lord your God, even the God of your fathers, the God of
Abraham, and of Isaac, and of Jacob. I am he who led the children of Israel
out of the land of Egypt, and my arm is stretched out in .he last days to save my
people Israel. Cease to contend one with another, cease to speak evil one of
another. Cease drunkenness, and let your words tend to edifying one another.
If thou borrowest of thy neighbor, thou shalt return that which thou hast bor-
rowed ; and if thou canst not repay, then go straight way and tell thy neighbor,
lest he condemn thee. If thou shalt find that which thy neighbor has lost, thou
shalt make diligent search till thou shalt deliver it to him again. Thou shalt be
diligent in preserving what thou hast, that thou mayest be a wise steward ; for it
is the free gift of the Lord thy God, and thou art his steward. If thou art merry,
praise the Lord with singing, with music, with dancing, and with a prayer of
praise and thanksgiving. If thou art sorrowful, call on the Lord thy God with
supplication, that your souls may be joyful." :^ * =f: *
It was upon this practical plan, now fairly developed during the sojourn of our
modern Israel "in the wilderness," and upon the foregoing revelation, that the
community was removed from Winter Quarters to the Rocky Mountains; and in-
deed also thereon all the emigrations were conducted, both from the States and
Europe in crossing "the plains" down to the day of the completion of the
Union Pacific Railroad. Thus, in the peopling of these valleys, the regular Mor-
mon system has prevailed, and that, too, long after society in Utah had become
mixed— as Mormon and Gentile — and after the Federal part of the government
of the Territory had passed entirely out of the hands of its founders. One of the
most striking features of the Mormon emigrations, which has so often attracted
the attention of the world, was the family, or patriarchal character of the Mormon
companies, which yearly crossed the Plains from 1847 to 1868-9. Indeed, while
on ship-board and on the way to the valleys, they have been strictly as an organi-
zation of families, belonging to a peculiar community, and when not that they are
historically as nothing in this Mormon system of colonization. Not only did the
pioneers travel under their captains of hundreds, of fifties and tens ; but so also
did the other companies that followed quickly in their footsteps the same season,
and afterwards in 1848, when Brigham Young, Heber C. Kimball, and Willard
Richards gathered the body of the community to the mountains, in the "second
pioneer journey " from Winter Quarters. And all this was done, too, upon the
communistic patriarchal plan and genius of the Mormon church, and not as a
mere masterly socialistic experiment in peopling a country.
640 HISTORY OF SALT LAKE CnV.
CHAPTER LXXVI.
ORGANIZATION OF SOCIETY IN SALT LAKG CITY. THE LAND RIGHTS. VIEWS
AND INCIDENTS OF THE EARLY DAYS.
The social evolution of the community in the valleys was patriarchal and
Israelitish, not secular and modern, and their " land question" in establishing
the cities of Utah, was typed with the Mormon Prophet's communistic law of giv-
ing the Saints their "inheritances."
In laying off the " city of the Great Salt Lake," the pioneers observed the com-
mandments of the patriarchal revelation given them before leaving Winter Quarters,
relative to the building of houses and planting crops for those who remained or
who were to follow in their track, " dividing their property, in taking care of the
])Oor, the widows, and the families of those who have gone with the army."
As seen m the diary note of historian Woodruff, quoted in the opening chap-
ters, having laid off their city plot, " the Twelve held council. Each one was to
make choice of the blocks that they were to settle their friends upon. President
Young took the tier of blocks south through the city ; Brother Kimball's runs
north and northwest; Orson Pratt, four blocks; Wilford Woodruff, eight blocks ;
George A. Smith, eight blocks, and Amasa Lyman, twelve blocks, according to the
coinpanies organized with each^
This was no "land grab," nor were these blocks personal property of the
])ioneer leaders, but for the giving or apportioning of " inheritances" to the fami-
lies patriarchally organized with their natural families, by adoption, or friends
and brothers for whom tliey were providing homes, in their Mormon system of
colonization.
Having surveyed their city plot, taken up their tiers of blocks, built their
fort and houses, of logs fetched from the mountains, and ploughed and planted
eighty-four acres with corn, potatoes, beans, buckwheat, turnips, etc., on the
morning of the 26th of August, 1847, the pioneers, with most of the returning
members of the Mormon Battalion, harnessed their horses and bade farewell to
the brethren who were to tarry. In this return move to the body of the com-
munity, the pioneers were again strictly carrying out the plan : " Let each com-
pany prepare houses, and fields for raising corn for those who are to remain behind
this season ;" and " let every man use all his influence to remove this people to the
place where the Lord shall locate a stake of Zion." They had done the same
along the route from Nauvoo to the Rocky Mountains, first at Garden Grove, next
at Mount Pisgah, then at Council Bluffs, and finally in the valley, and were now
returning to gather up the residue of the people. They were also about to extend
their plan, with equal fidelity, in the emigration of tens of thousands from
r
HISTORY OF SALT LAKE CITY. 6-^1
Europe to populate the valleys of the Rocky Mountains which as colonists ihey
claimed.
Notwithstanding about two thousand souls, undet their "captains of hun-
dreds," of "fifties," and "tens/' arrived in the valley with seven hundred
wagons, after the pioneers left, the apportioning ol the lands of the city plot was
ended for that year, and indeed until the return of the Presidency. There was no
disposition manifested to "grab" the lands; yet they all were colonists, with
equal rights, at least to city lots and farms not apportioned to the families of the
pioneers proper, who had taken posession of this valley and laid off and surveyed
the city. What they did was done as a community. Indeed it may be noted, as
an illustration of the integrity of the pioneer work for the community, versus^ in-
dividual land-holding to the detriment of the commonwealth, that Wilford Wood-
ruff, who had taken eight ten- acre blocks of the city plot, and Orson Pratt four,
were both bound on missions, the former to the Eastern States, the latter to pre-
side over the British Mission, and that the blocks which they had nominally
claimed were apportioned out during their absence to early settlers of the city,
according to the pioneer order which they approved at the conference held in the
valley before their departure. Those blocks never were their personal property.
During the absence of President Young the colony simply extended and im-
proved their fort and works begun by the pioneers, gathered their crops, hus-
banded their stock, took an inventory of their breadstuffs, by the supervision of
the bishop, to ration the families till harvest time, and anxiously waited the re-
turn of their presiding leaders. But as soon as President Young arrived in the
valley (September 20th, 1848) on his second pioneer journey, bringing with him
a company of 1,299 souls and 397 wagons, followed by Heber C. Kimball, with a
company of 662 souls and 226 wagons, and with the third company of 526 souls
and 169 wagons, under Willard Richards, the growth of Great Salt Lake City took
giant strides. Within a month (at the October conference) the city was divided
into nineteen wards, bishops placed over them, and this stake of Zion organized,
upon which both the society and government of Salt Lake City grew.
The parent colony of the Great Salt Lake numbered, now, in the fall of
I 1848, nearly six thousand souls, and their lands were held not by purchase, but
] by the strict communistic law of the Mormon Church, which " gives to the Saints
their inheritances.'''' They received their apportionment of city lots upon a most
i simple, equitable, social plan. Each family of colonists received its due share of
i the lands, and no sale or purchase of the lands was permitted, in the first instance,
I which, until apportioned, belonged to the community as colonists and not to the
individual.
The following note from the first general epistle sent out from the Mormon
! Presidency in the spring of 1849, ^'^^ ^^^ subject at this point. They said : "A
I field of 8,000 acres has been surveyed south of and bordering an the city, and
plotted in five and ten acre lots, and a Church farm of about 800 acres. The five
I and ten acre lots were distributed to the brethren, by casting lots, and every man
is to help build a pole, ditch or stone fence, as shall be most convenient, around
the whole field in proportion to the land he draws ; also a canal on the east side
for the purpose of irrigation."
39
642 HISTORY OF SALT LAKE CITY.
Upon such simple, equitable plans these Mormon colonists designed to appor-
tion the city and farming lands not only of this Salt Lake valley, but of every
valley of the Rocky Mountains, and to apply their "law of inheritance" to mil-
lions of their own community, who were expected in due time to inhabit these
valleys. So vast a system of colonization has not been conceived, much less at-
tempted, in modern times; and these Mormon leaders would have carried out their
original design to the very letter, traveling nearer constantly to the " order of
Enoch " and the patriarchal relations of Abraham, had they remained in sole pos-
session of these valleys as in 1847, when their primal rights as colonists were su-
preme.
The land portion of each family, as a rule, was the acre-and-a-quarter lot,
designated in the plan of the city, but the chief men of the pioneers, who had a
plurality of wives and numerous children received larger portions of the city lots.
The giving of farms, as shown in the general epistle, was upon the same principle
as the apportioning of city lots — " every man should have his land measured out
to him for city and farming purposes."
The farm of five, ten or twenty acres was not for the mechanic, nor the
manufacturer, nor even for the farmer as a mere persoital property, but for the
good of the community at large, to give the substance of the earth to feed the
1 opulation ; the right of the farmer to the farming land was upon the law of cul-
tivation, oi\\Qrw\SQ he had no claim upon the land. "He might till it as he
pleased, but he must be industrious and take care of it." So also was the law
relative to city lots, owned either by the farmer or mechanic. He must build a
house upon it and plant an orchard ; and while the farmer was planting and cul-
tivating his farm the mechanic and tradesman produced his supplies for the public
good, and thus both classes interchanged supplies and wrought his daily work for
the community. This was the first phase of commerce and trade among the
community in the settling of these vallejs. Money was not the basis, for the
people had none; nor had they as yet imported goods for trade and barter ; each
had about the same family needs, with no surplus. Work, cultivation, produc-
tion, industry, formed the basis of all, and very fitly the beehive was chosen as
the emblem of the State — Deseret. It should further be marked, in the social
formation of these colonies, that there were no land rights or claims held for
several years by any grants from corporations, either of the city or Territory.
The land was held by the simple right of colonization. One dollar and fifty
cents, paid to Thomas Bullock, clerk of Salt Lake County, to pay for the survey
and recording, was the only thing in the transaction that had the least element
of purchase, and this was not for the land, but for labor, clerical work and
records, nor was this dollar and a half paid in money, but in exchange of labor, or
produce.
It can be easily understood how some departures were made from this original
plan. First may be named the extraordinary flow of population to the Pacific
Slope, the coming of Gentile merchants to L^tah, the gradual mixture of society
and the land necessities of the vast emigrations, which have yearly given settlers
to Salt Lake City, and the needs of the first land owners to sell their city lots, or
portions of those lots to obtain "States' goods" required in the household, for
HISTORY OF SALT LAKE CITY. 643
building purposes, for machinery, for material to hel]) home manufactures, and
numerous things which could not be supplied from the native resources of thi.>
Territory. But withal there remained, strongly marked, through the whole
period of the administration of Brigham Young, as Governor of the Territory,
the original features of the community, and many of them to this day are stamped
indelibly on the face of the Mormon part of society in all the cities which have
sprung up in the valleys of the Rocky Mountains.
Here maybe repeated for their excellent pertinency and application, several
passages from the early pictures of society in Salt Lake City. Captain Stans-
bury, in his report to the Government, wrote :
" The founding, within the space of three years, of a large and flourishing
community upon a spot so remote from the abodes of men, so completely shut
out by natural barriers from the rest of the world, so entirely unconnected by
water-courses with either of the oceans that wash the shores of this continent — a
country offering no advantages of inland navigation or of foreign commerce, but,
on the contrary, isolated by vast uninhabited deserts, and only to be reached by
long, painful, and often hazardous journeys by land — presents an anomaly so very
peculiar, that it deserves more than a passing notice. In this young and pros-
perous country of ours, where cities grow up in a day, and States spring up in a
year, the successful planting of a colony, where the natural advantages have been
such as to hold out the promise of adequate reward to the projectors, would have
excited no surprise ; but the success of an enterprise under circumstances so much
at variance with all our preconceived ideas of its probability, may well be con-
sidered one of the most remarkable incidents of the present age.
" Their admirable system of combming labor, while each has his own prop-
erty, in lands and tenements, and the proceeds of his industry, the, skill in divid"
ing off the lands, and conducting the irrigating canals to supply the want of rain,
which rarely falls between April and October ; the cheerful manner in which
every one applies himself industriously, but not laboriously ; the complete reign
of good neighborhood and quiet houses and fields, form themes for admiration to
the stranger coming from the dark and sterile recesses of the mountain gorges
into this flourishing valley ; and he is struck with wonder at the immense results,
produced in so short a time, by a handful of individuals.
" We remained thus shut up until the 3d of April. Our quarters consisted
of a small unfurnished house of unburnt brick or adobe, unplastered, and roofed
with boards loosely nailed on, which, every time it stormed, admitted so much
water as called into requisition all the pans and buckets in the establishment to
receive the numerous little streams which came trickling down from every crack
and knot-hole. During this season of comparative inaction, we received from
the authorities and citizens of the community every kindne^^s that the most warm-
hearted hospitality could dictate, and no effort was spaied to render us comfort-
able as their own limited means would admit. Indeed, we were much better
lodged than many of our neighbors ; for, as has been previously observed, very
many families were obliged still to lodge wholly or in part in their wagons, which,
being covered, served, when taken off from the wheels and set upon the ground,
to make bedrooms, of limited dimensions it is true, but yet exceedingly comfort-
644 HISTORY OF SALT LAKE CllY.
able. Many of these were comparatively large and commodious, and when car-
peted and furnished with a little stove, formed an additional apartment or back
building to the small cabin, with which they frequently communicated by a door.
It certainly argued a high tone of morals and an habitual observance of good order
and decorum, to find w^omen and children thus securely slumbering in the midst
of a large city, with no protection from midnight molestation other than a wagon -
cover of linen and the aegis of the law. In the very next enclosure to that occu-
pied by our party, a whole family of children had no other shelter than one of
these wagons, where they slept all the winter, literally out of doors, there being
no communication whatever with the inside of their parent's house."
Captain Stansbury wrote this simply as of a marvelous society experiment in
this age and country; but he did not so well perceive that all these peculiar society
features, were the results of the patriarchal organizations of the Mormons, and the
spirit of their " order of Enoch," which they were seeking to infuse into their
commonwealth. Women and children " slumbered securely" '■ in the midst of a
large city" of eight thousand inhabitants, for that city was onejamily; '' with no
protection from midnight molestation other than a wagon cover of linen and the
aegis of the law." That law ivas the Mormo7i patriarchal law, not the law of the
United States. Had any brother in that city, (" stake of Zion ") in 1850, broken
that law in "molesting" those " women and children," or in violating the sanctity
of the " family," (though the " Danite Band " is mythical) he would have found a
Danite in Zion to have prevented him from ever doing the like again. This was
illustrated by Major Howard Egan (the " Kit Carson" of the Mormon com-
munity) when he killed his Mormon brother for consorting with his wife, and was
defended in a U. S. court, by Apostle George A. Smith, in the first criminal trial
in that court, in Salt Lake City, U. S. Associate Justice Zerubbabel Snow
presiding.
One other passage from the letter of a California gold seeker, from the New
York Tribune, (date July 8th, 1849) ^^^^^ be repeated to illustrate the patriarchal
society of our city in those primitive days :
" The company of gold diggers which I have the honor to command,
arrived here on the 3d instant, and judge our feelings when, after some twelve
hundred miles travel through an uncultivated desert, and the last one hundred
miles of the distance through and among lofty mountains, and narrow and diffi-
cult ravines, we found ourselves suddenly and almost unexpectedly, in a compara-
tive paradise. * * * At first sight of all these signs of cultivation
in the wilderness, we were transported with wonder and pleasure. Some wept,
some gave three cheers, some laughed, and some ran and fairly danced for joy,
while all felt inexpressibly happy to find themselves once more amid scenes which
mark the progress of advancing civilization. We passed on amid scenes like
these, expecting every moment to come to some commercial centre, some business
point in this great metropolis of the mountains, but we were disappointed. No
hotel, sign post, cake and beer shop, barber pole, market house, grocery, pro-
vision, dry goods, or hardware store distinguished one part of the town from
another; not even a bakery or a mechanic's sign was anywhere discernible.
" Here, then, was something new : an entire people reduced to a level, and
1
HISTORY OF SALT LAKE CITY.. 64^
all living by their labor — all cultivating the earth, or following some branch ot'
physical industry. At first I thought it was an experiment, an order of things
established purposely to carry out the principles of ' socialism ' or ' Mormonism.'
In short, I thought it very much like Owenism personified. However, on in-
quiry, I found that a combination of seemingly unavoidable circumstances had
produced this singular state of affairs. There were no hotels because there had
been no travel ; no barber shops, because every one chose to shave himself, and
no one had time to shave his neighbor; no stores, because ihey had no goods to
sell, nor time to traffic ; no centre of business, because Avere all too busy to make
a centre.
" There was abundance of mechanics' shops, of dressmakers, milliners and
tailors, etc.; but they needed no sign, nor had they time to paint or erect one,
for they were crowded with business. Beside their several trades, all must culti-
vate the land or die, for the country was new, and no cultivation but their own
within a thousand miles. Every one had his own lot, and built on it ; every one
cultivated it, and perhaps a small farm in the distance.
"And the strangest of all was, that this great city, extending over several
square miles, had been erected, and every house and fence made, within nine or
ten months of the time of our arrival ; while at the same time, good bridges were
erected over the principal streams, and the country settlements extended nearly
one hundred miles up and down the valley.
" This Territory, State, or, as some term it, ' Mormon empire,' may justly
be considered one of the greatest prodigies of our time, and, in comparison with
its age, the most gigantic of all Republics in existence — being only in its second
year since the first seed of cultivation was planted, or the first civilized habita-
tion commenced. If these people were such thieves and robbers as their. enemies
represent them to be in the Stales, I must think they have greatly reformed in
point of industry since coming to the mountains."
646 HISTORY OF SALT LAKE CITY.
CHAPTER LXXVIII.
ORIGIN OF THE BRITISH EMIGRATION TO SALT LAKE CITY. ITS CIRCUMSTAN-
TIAL HISTORY, THE P. E. FUND COMPANY. ARRIVAL OF THE FIRST
BRITISH EMIGRANTS. GRAND RECEPTION BY THE CITIZENS. MODE OF
CONDUCTING THE EMIGR.\TION. DICKENS' GRAPHIC DESCRIPTION OF
"MY EMIGRANT SHIP."
The history of the Mormon emigrations is one of the most unique and inter
esting society subjects of modern times. From these sources have come not only
the bulk of the population of this city and Territory, but also a considerable por*
tion of the population of the surrounding States and Territories. Even the city
of St. Louis, a quarter of a century ago, was largely sprinkled with Mormon ele-
ment, as many of the emigrants to Utah tarried on the way, exhausted by the long
sea voyage and destitute of means to pursue their journey to the mountains.
Moreover, the emigrational methods by which this vast communistic result was ac-
complished supplied considerable of the material wealth of the Territory, in the
early days, and gave means and opportunities for its commerce.
In the year 1837, that splendid missionary movement was " revealed " to the
Prophet Joseph Smith, to send the gospel of the latter-day work to Great Britain
and gather from the mother country a people to build up Zion. Speaking of his
efforts to establish Zion in Ohio and Missouri, the Prophet has left the following
notes in his history :
'About this time (1837), the spirit of speculation in lands and property of
all kinds, which was so prevalent throughout the whole nation, was taking deep
root in the church. As the fruits of this spirit, evil surmisings, fault-finding, dis-
union, dissension, and apostacy followed in quick succession, and it seemed as
though all the powers of earth and hell were combining their influence in an
especial manner to overthrow the church, * * * and many became
disaffected towards me as though I were the sole cause of those very evils I was
most strenuously striving against, and which were actually brought upon us by the
brethren not giving heed to my counsel.
"No quorum in the church was entirely free from the influence of those
false spirits who were striving against me for the mastery. Even some of the
Twelve were so far lost to their high and responsible calling as to begin to take
sides, secretly, with the enemy.
" In this state of things God revealed to me that something new must be
done for the salvation of his church. And on or about the ist of June, 1837,
Heber C. Kimball, one of the Twelve, was set apart by the spirit of prophecy
and revelation, prayer and the laying on of hands of the first presidency, to pre-
HISTORY OF SALT LAKE CITY. 647
side over a mission to England, to be the first foreign mission of the church of
Christ in the last days."
Concerning this very important mission and crisis of tlie church, Heber C.
Kimball says :
" On or about the ist of June, 1837, the prophet Joseph came to me while
I was seated in the front stand, above the sacrament table on the Melchisedek side
of the Temple, in Kirtland, and whispering to me, said, ' Brother Heber, the
Spirit of the Lord has whispered to me, Let my servant Heber go to England and
proclaim my gospel and open the door of salvation to that nation.' "
Undoubtedly, had not such a revelation been given, Mormonism would have
amounted to but little in the age, nor would the eyes ot nations have been aston-
ished with those vast emigrations of Mormon converts to America, which have
contributed so much to the peopling of Utah.
The Apostles Heber C. Kimball and Orson Hyde were set apart by the
Prophet to open Great Britain, and to them were added Elders Willard Richards,
Goodson, Russell, Fielding and Snyder. Some of the principal men of the
church were greatly opposed to this missionary movement into foreign lands,
which has since produced such extraordinary results, and given to the Mormon
church a missionary history scarcely paralleled since the days of Paul.
In 1840, after the Mormons had been removed from Missouri to Illinois, the
majority of the Twelve, under the presidency of Brigham Young, took a second
mission to England, and it was during this time that the emigration opened.
The, event is thus noted in church history :
"Saturday, 6th June, 1840, a company of 41 Saints, to-wit : Elder John
Moon, and Hugh Moon, their mother and seven others of her family ; Henry
Moon, (uncle of John Moon) Henry Moon, Francis Moon, William Sutton, Wil-
liam Stritgreaves, Richard Eaves, Thomas Moss, Henry Moore, Nancy Ashworth ,
Richard Ainscough, and families sailed in the ship Britannia, from Liverpool for
New York, being the first Saints that have sailed from England for Zion."
On the 8th of September, 1840, under the agency of Brigham Young, a
company of emigrants, numbering 200, sailed from Liverpool for New York,
bound for Nauvoo, under the presidency of Elder Theodore Turley, one of the
American missionaries, and Elder Wm. Clayton, one of the earliest English con-
verts. William Clayton was afterwards a member of the Pioneer band, and a
prominent man in the history of Salt Lake City.
Owing to the expensiveness of the route via New York, many of this com-
pany fell short of means to complete the journey to Nauvoo ; they, therefore,
divided at Buffalo, a part going to settle in Kirtland and other settlements in Ohio,
and the balance to Nauvoo, to which place Joseph Smith states he had the pleasure
of welcoming one hundred of them in the fall of the year. The third ship sent
under this agency, February, 1841, was the Sheffield, having on board 235 Mor-
mon emigrants; the fourth the Echo, which sailed in the same month with 109
souls; the fifth the Eleste, which sailed in March, with 54 souls; and on the 20th
of April, 1 841, Brigham Young, Heber C. Kimball, Orson Pratt, Wilford Wood-
ruff, John Taylor, George A. Smith and Willard Richards, with a company of
648 HISTORY OF SALT LAKE CITY.
130 Saints, went on board the ship Rochester, bound for New York, and sailed on
the 2ist.
About the time of the sailing of the Sheffield a company, gathered from
Herefordshire and the neighboring counties, sailed from Bristol. Since that time
up to the year 1856, the main emigration was direct from Liverpool to New Or
leans, but numerous individuals sailed between the seasons to New York, Phila-
delphia, Boston and other American ports. Few particulars have been preserved
by the emigration agents respecting the earliest companies, but Parley P. Pratt
stated in June, 1841, that about 1,000 persons had then emigrated.
The second period in the emigration table, for the years 1841-2, gave the
number of ships, 10; and emigrants 1,991. The year 1843, ships, 5 ; emigrants,
769. The years 1844-6, ships, 8; emigrants, 990.
According to these tables of the British agency, nearly 5,000 Mormon emi-
grants landed in America previous to the settling of Utah. Many of these were
in the exodus, and among the pioneer companies which arrived in the Valleys in
1847 ^"<i 184S; and therefore, though the American element predominated, the
British emigrants must be considered as forming a strongly marked vein in the
original population of Salt Lake City. Probably, however, the Mormon emi-
grants from Great Britain, prior to 1850, entered as largely into the population of
St. Louis as into that of Salt Lake City; but, from 1850, the emigration tide,
from the foreign missions, flowed constantly into the population of Utah.
During the period of the removal of the community from Illinois to the
Rocky Mountains, emigration from Great Britain was suspended ; but on the 20th
of February, 1848, the Carnatic, Captain McKenzie, re-opened the emigration,
after a suspension of two years, and conveyed 120 passengers to New Orleans,
under the presidency of Franklin D. Richards. This company was rapidly made
up, and sailed under most pleasing anticipations of at length finding a Zion in the
valleys of the Rocky Mountains. Nearly one hundred of the company were
adults. They arrived at Council Bluffs just in season to be organized in Willard
Richard's company, which followed the companies of Brigham Young and Heber
C. Kimball, when they brought up the body of the community.
Before the return of the pioneers to the mountains, they appointed Orson
Pratt to preside over the mission in Great Britain, and to push on the emigrations
to the fullest extent, while Orson Hyde, George A. Smith and E. T. Benson were
stationed at Council Bluffs to receive the emigrants from abroad, and to promote
their speedy removal to the Valley, as well as the removal of those of the com-
munity who had concentrated there after the exodus from Nauvoo. Orson Pratt's
agency extended to February, 1S51, and comprised twenty-one vessels, carrying
5,369 souls.
At the October conference held in Salt Lake City, in 1849, Heber C. Kim-
ball brought up the subject of the covenant made in the Temple at Nauvoo, " that
the Latter-day Saints would not cease their exertions until every individual of
them who desired and was unable to gather to the Valley by his own means was
brought to that place ; " and it was there and then unanimously voted to raise a
fund for the fulfillment of the covenant.
'' A committee, consisting of Willard Snow, John S. Fullmer, Lorenzo Snow,
HISTORY OF SALT LAKE CITY, 649
John D. Lee and Franklin D. Richards, was appointed to raise the moneys ancf
Bishop Edward Hunter, was appointed to carry it to the States, to purchase
wagons and cattle, and to bring the poor Saints from the Pottawattomie lands.
About five thousand dollars were raised this season. It was resolved, at the same
conference, that Elders A. Lyman and C. C. Rich be appointed agents to
gather up means for the fund in California; also that the Perpetual Emigrating
Fund for the poor, be under the direction of the first presidency of the Church.
" On the 29th of March, 1S50, Elder Franklin D. Richards, one of the
Twelve Apostles, arrived in England, having been appointed at Great Salt Lake
City, on the 6th of October, 1849, to co-operate with Elder Orson Pratt, who
was then presiding there, and immediately introduced the subject of the Perpetual
Emigrating Fund to the British churches. Donations were made straightway,
and the first received was 2s. 6d., from Mark and Charlotte Shelly of Woolwich,
on the 19th of April, 1S50. The next was £\ from Geo. P. Waugh, of Edin-
burgh, on the 19th of June. This fund during the second year of its existence was
increased in value, in Utah, to about $20,000, and at a general conference in
Great Salt Lake City, on the 7th of September, 1850, a committee of three, con-
sisting of Wiilard Snow, Edward Hunter and Daniel Spencer, was appointed to
take care of, and transact the business of the poor fund. It was also agreed to
organize the committee into a company and get it chartered by the State.
In the same month the general assembly of the Provisional State of Des-
eret passed an ordinance incorporating the Perpetual Emigrating Fund Company.
At a special conference of the Church, held on the 15th of the same month
Brigham Young was chosen president of the company; and Heber C. Kimball,
Wiilard Richards, Newel K. Whitney, Orson Hyde, George A. Smith, Ezra T.
Benson, Jedediah M. Grant, Daniel H. Wells, Wiilard Snow, Edward Hunter,
Daniel Spencer, Thomas Bullock, John Brown, William Crosby, Amasa Lyman,
Charles C. Rich, Lorenzo D. Young and Parley P. Pratt, assistants.
The organization was completed by electing Wiilard Richards, secretary ;
Newel K. Whitney, treasurer ; and Thomas Bullock, recorder. Newel K. Whit-
ney died on the 23d of the same month, and Daniel Spencer was elected treasurer
jn his stead. Elders Orson Hyde, Orson Pratt, Franklin D. Richards and John
Brown, were appointed travelling agents.
The Saints in the British Isles contributed liberally to this fund. Donations
as high as ;;^40o were made to it by single individuals. The total amount con-
tributed in that mission up to July, 1854, was ^7,113 o s. 8^^ d. in addition to
the value of the fund in Utah. The following interesting account from the Des-
eret News of the first arrival in Salt Lake City, of P. E. F. emigrants, in the fall
of 1852, is a worthy passage of our city history of that date :
" Captain A. O. Smoot's company, of thirty-one wagons, was escorted into
this city, by the first presidency of the Church, some of the Twelve Apostles and
many of the citizens on horseback and in carriages.
" Captain Pitt's band, in the President's spacious carriage, met the company
at the mouth of Emigation canyon, where the Saints of both sexes, of nearly
seventy years of age, danced and sung for joy, and their hearts were made glad
40
650 HIS TOR V OF SAL T LAKE C17 Y.
«
by a distribution of melons and cakes ; after which the band came in the escort,
and cheered the hearts of the weary travelers with their enlivening strains.
'• Next in the procession came a band of pilgrim!^ — sisters and children, walk-
ing, sunburnt and weather-beaten, but not forlorn ; their hearts were light and
buoyant, which was plainly manifest by their happy and joyful countenances.
"Next followed the wagons. The good condition of the cattle, and the
general appearance of the whole train, did credit to Bishop Smoot, as a wise and
skillful manager — who was seen on horse, in all the various departments of his
company during their egress from the canyon to encampment.
" As the escort and train passed the Temple block, they were saluted with
nine rounds of artillery, which made the everlasting hills to shake their sides with
joy ; while thousands of men, women and children gathered from various parts of
the city, to unite in the glorious and joyful welcome.
'• After coralling on Union Square, the emigrants were called together, and
President Young addressed them as follows : —
" ' I have but a few words to say to the brethren and sisters, at the present
time. First I will say, may the Lord God of Israel bless you, and comfort your
hearts. (The company and b)standers responded Amen.)
"'We have prayed for you continually; thousands of prayers have been
offered up for you, day by day, to Him who has commanded us to gather Israel,
save the children of men by the preaching of the gospel, and prepare them for the
coming of the Messiah. You have had a long, hard, and fatiguing journey across
the great waters and the scorched plains; but, by the distinguished favors of
heaven, you are here in safety.
" ' We understand that the whole company that started under Brother Smoot's
guidance, are alive and well, with but a {qv^ exceptions. For this we are thankful
to our Father in heaven ; and our hearts are filled with joy, that you have had
faith to surmount the difficulties that have lain in your path ; that you have over-
come sickness and death, and are now with us to enjoy the blessings of the people
of God in these peaceful valleys. You are now in a land of plenty, where, by a
reasonable amount of labor, you may realize a comfortable subsistence.
" * You have had trials and sufferings in your journey, but your sufferings
have been {q\v compared with thousands of your brethren and sisters in these
valle)s. -^ -^ % With regard to your circumstances and connexions
here, I am little acquainted ; but this I can say, you are in the midst of plenty.
No person here is under the necessity of begging his bread, except the natives;
and they beg more than they care for, or can use. By your labor you can obtain
an abundance ; the soil is rich and productive. We have the best of wheat, and
the finest of flour ; as good as was ever produced in any other country in the
world. We have beets, carrots, turnips, cabbage, peas, beans, melons, and I may
say, all kinds of garden vegetables, of the best quality.
" ' The prospects are cheering for fruits of different kinds. The grapes that
we have raised this season, are, doubtless, as fine as were ever exhibited for sale in
the London Market. The peach, we expect, will do well also. We had but few
last year; this season we have more. We are under the necessity of waiting a few
years before we can have much fruit; but of the staple articles of food, we have
a great abundance.
HISTORY 01 SALT LAKE CITY. 6s r
"' With regard to your obtaining habitations to sheher you in the coming
winter — all of you will be able to obtain work, and by your industry, you can
make yourselves tolerably comfortable in this respect before the winter sets in.
All the improvements that you see around you, have been made in the short space
of four years; four years ago this day, there was not a rod of fence to be seen,
nor a house, except the Old Fort, as we call it, though it was then new. All thi?,
that you now see, has been accomplished by the industry of the people ; and a
good deal more that you do not see, for our settlements extend 250 miles south,
and almost loo miles north.
" ' We shall want some of the brethren to repair to some of the other settle-
ments, such as mechanics and farmers; no doubt they can provide themselves with
teams, etc., to bear them to their destinations. Those who have acquaintances
here, will all be able to obtain dwellings until they can make accommodations of
their own.
" ' Again, with regard to labor — don't imagine unto yourselves that you are
going to get rich at once by it. As for the poor there are none here, neither are
there any who may be called rich, but all obtain the essential comforts of life.
* * * I will say to this company, they have had the honor of be-
ing escorted into the city by some of the most distinguished individuals of our
society, and a band of music, accompanied with a salutation from the cannon.
Other companies have not had this mark of respect shown to them ; they belong
to the rich, and are able to help themselves. I rejoice that you are here; and that
you will find yourselves in the midst of abundance of the common necessaries of
life, a liberal supply of which you can easily obtain by your labor. Here is the
best quality of food ; you are in the best atmosphere that you ever breathed ; and
we have the best water you ever drank. Make yourselves happy, and do not let
your eyes be like the fool's eye^ wandering after the things of this world ; but in-
quire what you can do that shall be for the best interest of the kingdom of God.
" ' No man or woman will be hurried away from the wagons ; but you may
have the privilege of living in them until you get homes.
" ' I hope the brethren who live near by, or those who live at a distance, will
send our brethren and sisters some potatoes and melons, or anything else they
have, that they may not go hungry ; and let them have them free of charge, that
they may be blessed with us, as I exhorted the people last Sabbath.
" 'I have not anything more to say to you at this time, as my presence is
wanted in another place. I pray the Lord God of Israel to bless you ; and I bless
you in the name of Jesus. Amen.' "
Of the crowning period of the emigration from Europe to Utah, Mr. James
Linforth, business manager of the Liverpool office, and since well known as an
influential merchant of San Francisco, in his " Route from Liverpool to Great
Salt Lake Valley," says:
" On the first of May, 1852, Elder Samuel W. Richards came into charge of
the British Mission, and under his agency the emigration attained to greater per-
fection, and was opened up to a larger number of individuals, in the same amount
of time, than at any previous period. The anxiety of thousands of the Saints to
gather to Utah, had become intense, so much so, that Elder Richards was fre-
6s 2 HISTORY OF SALT LAKE CITY.
quently desired t- organize companies who would walk the entire overland jour-
ney, and assist to haul the provisions and luggage also. Much prudence and
caution were now required to restrain the overflowing spirit which the Saints were
giving way to, and at the same time to promote the emigration of as large a num-
ber as practicable in the approaching season. In the meantime the seventh gen-
eral epistle of the first presidency of the Church had been issued, and on the 17th
of July was published to the British churches. The Saints were, in this epistle,
exhorted to gather to Utah speedily, by tens of thousands. The language was —
• Let all who can procure a loaf of bread, and one garment on their back, be as-
sured there is water plenty and pure by the way, and doubt no longer, but come
next year to the place of gathering, even in flocks, as doves fly to their windows
before a storm.' This needed no interpretation but was reiterated by hundreds
of elders throughout the country, and gave fresh vigor to the desire already burn-
ing in the breasts of thousands to emigrate in the coming season. This anxious
desire had to be met in some way or other, and after much deliberation it was de-
termined to fit out companies of emigrants in 1853, for the entire journey, at ^10
for each person over one year old, and ^5 each for those under that age, and it
was hoped that by sending efficient men in advance to procure the necessary sup-
plies and teams, the emigrants might be got through upon those terms. As many
as 957 persons availed themselves of this arrangement, but it was found necessary
to procure a loan upon the teams to complete the journey.
" Elder S. W. Richards was appointed, September 30th, 1852, an agent to
the P. E. Fund Company, and during this season 400 persons were assisted out by
the P. E. Fund, for whom similar arrangements were made to those for the ;2^io
companies.
" There were 955 emigrants, who either made their own arrangements for
the overland journey, or procured their iteams by sending money forward in ad-
vance of themselves by the agent charged with the superintendence of the P. E.
Fund and the ;j^io emigration. The price of a team consisting of two pairs of
oxen, two cows, and one wagon, was estimated at ^Qa'^, and ;^2,748, los. was
sent forward by this class. The emigration now consisted of four classes; first,
the P. E. Fund emigrants ordered from the Valley ; second, the P. E. Fund emi-
grants selected m the British Isles ; third the ;^io emigrants ; and fourth, the
ordinary emigrants, embracing those who sent money forward to procure teams,
and all the balance. The entire expense involved in this season's emigration
could not have been less than ^30,000. The agent intrusted with the overland
part of the journey, for both the P. E. Fund and ;^io emigration, was Elder
Isaac C. Haight, who had in the previous year assisted Elder Smoot. The presi-
dent of each ship's company, in which there were emigrants of these descriptions,
had charge of them until their delivery to Elder Haight.
"From the experience of 1853, and the increased prices of cattle, wagons,
and provisions, occasioned by the great California and Oregon emigration, which
has scoured the frontiers and many miles around for several years past, it was
found necessary during the last season to charge jQit, per head, instead of ;^io,
for those who went in companies similar to the ;£io companies of 1853. This
amount will possibly cover the expense. The growing interest of P. E. Fund in
HISTORY OF SALT LAKE CITY. 653
the minds of the Saints, however, reduced this class to eighty-six, by inducing
those of the emigrants who were not ordered from the Valley by the P. E. Fund
Company, nor selected by its agent in Great Britain, or who did not provide their
own outfit, to come under the auspices or arrangements of the P. E Fund Com-
pany, and many of them donated to the fund all the money they had, and signed
the bond to pay in the Valley, the whole cost of their passage money to that
place. The amount thus donated was ;;^i,8oo 8s., and, although the benefit of
this was not felt last season, the fund was actually enriched to that amount.
" The ordinary emigration was not so large last season as it was in the pre-
vious season, but more money was sent forward for the purchase of teams, the
amount being ^3,575. The price of a team was estimated at ^45, but it appears
from recent advices to be higher.
" The P. E. F. emigration of last season was very large, and the agent
charged with the superindence of the overland journey is Elder Wm, Empey, a
man of experience in the customs and business of the United States, and in the
purchase of the outfit. He has the assistance of Elder Dorr P. Curtis, and of
other elders of experience en route for the Valley. It is fully anticipated that
their joint labors will be abundantly sufficient to carry the emigration in a pros-
perous state into the Valley. The supervision of the emigrants from Liverpool
until their delivery to Elder Empey^ was given to the presidents of the respective
ships, and they will aid, if directed, until the companies are through to the
Valley.
" The total number of persons shipped under this agency was 4,346, and it
was expected that very few would fail of going through to the Great Salt Lake
Valley. The emigration of this number would involve from first to last an expen-
diture of not less than ^70,000.
" After the Latter-day Saints had established missions upon the continent,
emigrants soon began to pass through Liverpool en route for Great Salt Lake Val-
ley. The first company, numbering 28, was from the Scandinavian mission and
was re-shipped at Liverpool, on board the Italy, for New Orleans, on the nth of
March, 1852, under the direction ot Elder Erastus Snow, one of the Twelve
Apostles and founder of the Scandinavian mission. The next company was from
the same mission, and numbered 297, and was re-shipped at Liverpool on board
\\\^ Forest Monarch for New Orleans, on the i6th of January, 1853, under the
direction of Elder Willard Snow, president of the mission at that time.
" Donations to the Perpetual Emigrating Fund having been commenced
in Scandinavia, particularly in Denmark, ^136 15s. 6d. was appropriated during
Elder Willard Snow's presidency, to the assistance of a number of the -persons
that sailed in the Forest Monarch.
" The next company from the continent was seventeen persons from the Ger-
man mission, who sailed from Liverpool in August or September, 1853.
*'In January, 1854, and under the presidency of Elder John Van Cott, Scan-
dinavia sent out two companies, numbering 678 persons, two of which were as-
sisted by the P. E. Fund. Elders were sent in charge of the Saints, and were to
continue with them from Copenhagen to Great Salt Lake Valley, men who could
speak both English and Danish, and had travelled the whole route before. To
654 HISTORY OF SALT LAKE CITY.
accomplish the overland journey, ^3,667 was sent forward to Elder Empey, to
procure the teams, provisions, etc. The point of embarkation from the Scandi-
navian mission is Copenhagen, and to this place the emigrants gather, and form
one company or more as the case may be. They are then conveyed from Copen-
hagen to Liverpool. The route taken in 1853, was across the Baltic to Kiel, from
thence per railway to Altona, from thence across the North Sea, to Hull and then
per railway to Liverpool. During the last season the route was a little different,
being from Kiel to Gluckstadt, instead of Altona. It will readily bi conceived
that the continental emigration is characterized by more vicissitudes than the
British, and requires a proportionately greater amount of careful and prudent
arrangement to preserve the lives of the people, and guard their pockets. Under
the wisest and most economical guidance, the removal of this 6 78 people from
their various homes in Frederickstadt, Osterzisoer, and Brevig, in Norway; Schana
in Sweden ; and Zealand, Jutland, Lalland, Falster, Moen and Fyen, in Denmark,
to Great Salt Lake Valley, will consume not less than ^10,000.
''In the first vessel occupied by the Scandinavian emigration, in the last sea-
son, were thirty-three persons from the German mission, shipped under the direc-
tion of Elder Daniel Cam, president of the mission at that time.
"The emigration from the French, Swiss, and Italian missions has hitherto,
upon arrival in Liverpool, joined the British, and has been shipped in the vessel
sent out by the president of this mission. Interpreters, ^speaking French, Italian
and English have accompanied them.
" Mode of Conducting the Emigration — Applications for passage are
received by the agent, and when sufficient are on hand a vessel is chartered by him,
and the passengers are notified by printed circulars, containing instructions to
them liow to proceed, when to be in Liverpool to embark, also stating the price
of passage, the amount of provisions allowed, etc. It is often the case that one con-
ference or district furnishes a ship load or the greatest part of it. In such cases
arrangements are made for them to embark together, and the president of the
conference, or some other suitable person, contracts with the railway company for
their conveyance to Liverpool altogether, which saves much expense.
"In contracting for the vessel, it is agreed that the passengers shall go on
board either on the day of their arrival in Liverpool, or the day following, and
although this arrangement may be inconvenient to them, it saves the ruinous ex-
pense of lodging ashore, and preserves many an inexperienced person from being
robbed by sharpers, who make extensive experiments in this port upon the unwary.
When the passengers are on board, the agent, who is always now the president
of the Churcli in the British Islands, proceeds to organize a committee, consist-
ing of a president and two counselors, and, if possible, elders are selected who
have travelled the route before, or, at least, have been to sea. These men are
received by the emigrants by vote, and implicit confidence is reposed in them.
The committee then proceed to divide the ship into wards or branches, over
each of which an elder or priest is placed, with his assistants, to preside. The
president of the company then appoints from among the adult passengers, watch-
men, who, in rotation, stand watch day and night over the ship until her depart-
ure, and after nightfall prevent any unauthorized person from descending the
HISTORY OF SAL T LAKE CITY. 655
hatcliways. When at sea. the presidents of the various wards see that passengers
rise about five or six o'clock in the morning, cleanse their respective portions of
the ship, and throw the rubbish overboard. This attended to, prayers are offered
in every ward, and then the passengers prepare their breakfasts, and during the
remainder of the day occupy themselves with various duties. At eight or nine
o'clock at night, prayers are again offered, and all retire to their berths. Such
regularity and cleanliness, with constant exercise on deck, are an excellent con-
servative of the general health of the passengers, a thing proverbial of the Lat-
ter-day Saints' emigration. In addition to this daily routine, when the weather
permits, meetings are held on Sundays, and twice or thrice in the week, at which
the usual Church services are observed. Schools for children and adults are also
frequently conducted. When elders are on board who are either going or return-
ing to the Valley, and have traveled in foreign countries, they interest the pas-
sengers by relating the history of their travels, and describing the scenes they
have witnessed, and the vicissitudes through which they have passed. From the
fohnM. Wood, which sailed on the 12th of March, 1854, we have accounts that
the Swiss and Italian emigrants studied the English language ; and the English
emigrants, the French and Italian languages. In this they were aided by several
missionaries from Italy and Switzerland, conversant with those languages. Lec-
tures on various subjects also were delivered. These agreeable exercises no doubt
break the monotony of a long sea-voyage, and improve the mental capacities of
the passengers. The good order, cleanliness, regularity, and moral deportment
of the passengers generally, seldom fail to produce a good impression upon the
captain, crew and any persons on board who are not Latter-day Saints. The re-
sult is, they attend the religious meetings or exercises, and few ships now reach
New Orleans without some conversions taking place. In the Olympii-:, which
sailed in March, 1S51, fifty persons were added to the Church during the voyage,
and in the International, which sailed in February, 1S53, forty-eight persons, in-
cluding the captain and other officers of the ship, were added. Not the least good
resulting from the excellent management of the companies is the relaxation of
much rigidity necessarily belonging to captains at sea, and the extension of many
a favor to the passengers in times of sickness, and when they can well appreciate
the kindness. Most of the vessels sent out have had humane and gentlemanly
captains, some of whom have been presented at New Orleans with testimonials
from the passengers.
'' As an instance of the estimation in which the mode of conducting the L.
D. Saints' emigration is held in high quarters, we quote from Morning Advertiser
of June 2. ' On Tuesday, says the Lundon correspondent of the Cambridge In-
dependent Press, I heard a rather remarkable examination before a committee of
the House of Commons, The witness was no other than the supreme authority in
England of the Mormonites, (Elder S. W. Richards), and the su'oject upon which
he was giving information was the mode in which the emigration to Utah, Great
Salt Lake, is conducted. * * * He gave himself no airs but was so
respectful in his demeanor, and ready in his answers, that, at the close of his ex-
amination he received the thanks of the committee in rather a marked manner.
* * * There is one thing which, in the opinion of the emigration
<5jd HISTORY OF SALT LAKE CriY.
committee of the House of Commons, they (the L. D. Saints) can do, viz. —
teach Christian shipowners how to send poor people decently, cheaply and health-
fully across the Atlantic'
" On arriving at New Orleans, the emigrants are received by an agent of the
Church stationed there for that purpose, and he procures suitable steamboats for
them to proceed on to St. Louis without detention. Elder James Brown was the
agent for the last season. It is the duty of this agent, furthermore, to report to
the president of the European mission, the condition in which the emigrants ar-
rive, and any important circumstances that may be beneficial to be known to him.
At St. Louis, another agent of the Church co-operates with the agent sent from
England. From thence the emigrants are forwarded still by steamboat to the
camping grounds, which were last year at Keokuk in Iowa, at the foot of the
lower rapids of the Mississippi, 205 miles from St. Louis, and this year at Kansas,
in Jackson County, Missouri, 14 miles west of Independence. Here the emigrants
find the teams which the agent has prepared, waiting to receive them and their
luggage. Ten individuals are the number allotted to one wagon and ere ter.t
The Perpetual Emigrating Fund Company this year allowed 100 lbs. of luggage,
including beds and clothing, to all persons over eight years of age ; 50 lbs, to
those between eight and four years old ; none to those under four years. The
wagons are procured to order in Cincinnati and St. Louis, and are conveyed by
steamboat 10 the camping grounds. The wagon-bed is about 12 feet long, 3 feet
4 inches wide, and 18 inches deep, and boxes should be made to fit to advantage.
" The cattle are purchased of cattle dealers in the western settlements, and
are driven to the camping grounds. The full team consists of one wagon, two
yoke of oxen and two cows. The wagon-covers and tents are made of a very su-
perior twilled cotton, procured in England for the emigration of 1853 and the
present year. It is supplied to the emigrants before their departure, and they
make the tents and covers on the voyage and thus save expense. A common field
tent is generally used. The material is 27 inches wide, and 44 yards are used for
a tent, and 26 for a wagon-cover. The two cost about two guineas. The poles
and cord are procured by the agent in the United States.
" Each wagon this year containing the ;^i3 and P. E. Fund emigrants was
supplied with 1000 lbs. of flour, 50 lbs, of sugar, 50 lbs. of bacon, 50 lbs. of
rice, 30 lbs. of beans, 20 lbs. of dried apples and peaches, 5 lbs. of tea, i gallon
of vinegar, 10 bars of soap and 25 lbs. of salt. These articles and the milk from
the cows, the game caught on the plains, and the pure water from the streams,
furnish to hundreds better diet, and more of it, than they enjoyed in their native
lands while toiling from 10 to 18 hours per day for their living. Other emigrants
who have means, of course purchase what they please, such as dried herrings,
pickles, molasses, and more dried fruit and sugar, all of which are very useful, and
there is every facility for obtaining them from New Orleans to the edge of the
plains.
" As soon as a sufficient number of wagons can be got ready, and all things are
prepared the company or companies move off under their respective captains.
The agent remains on the frontiers until all the companies are started, and then
he goes forward himself, passing the companies one by one, and arrives in the
HISTORY OF SALT LAKE CITY. 657
Valley first to receive them there, and conduct them into Great Salt Lake City.
From the review we have taken of the modus operandi of the emigration,
although we have merely glanced at the frame-work, it will be readily seen that it
is of no ordinary magnitude, but brings into requisition directly and indirectly,
the labors of hundreds of individuals besides the emigrants themselves, and at the
present time involves an outlay of not less than ^^40,000 to ^50,000 each year,
an amount nevertheless small when the number of emigrants and the distance are
considered. It is only by the most careful, prudent and economical arrangements
that such a number of persons could be transported from their various British and
European homes across the Atlantic Ocean, and three thousand miles into the in-
terior of America, with such a sum of money."
Of the class and character of the British emigrants to Utah, we quote the
following inimitable description from the pen of Charles Dickens :
" BOUND FOR THE GREAT SALT LAKE.
" Behold me on my way to an emigrant ship, on a hot morning early in
June. My road lies through that part of London generally known to the inr
itiated as "Down by the Docks.'' t- -^ ^ Gigantic in the basin just
beyond the church, looms my emigrant ship : her name, the Amazon. Her figure-
head is not <//i-figured as those beauteous founders of the race of strong-minded
women are fabled to have been, for the convenience of drawing the bow ; but I
sympathize with the carver :
A flattering carver who made it his care
To carve busts as they ought to be — not as they were,
My emigrant ship lies broadside-on to the wharf. Two great gangways made of
spars and planks connect her with the wharf; and up and down these gang-
ways, perpetually crowding to and fro and in and out, like ants, are the emigrants
who are going to sail in my emigrant ship. Some with cabbages, some with
loaves of bread, some with cheese and butter, some with milk and beer, some with
boxes, beds and bundles, some with babies — nearly all with children — nearly all
with bran-new tin cans or their daily allowance of water, uncomfortably sugges-
tive of a tin flavor in the drink. To and fro, up and down, aboard and ashore,
swarming here and there and everywhere, my emigrants. And still as the dock-
gate swings upon its hinges, cabs appear, and carts appear, and vans appear, bring-
ing more of my emigrants, with more cabbages, more loaves, more cheese and
butter, more milk and beer, more boxes, beds and bundles, more tin cans, and on
those shipping investments accumulated compound interest of children.
" I go aboard my emigrant ship. I go first to the great cabin, and find it in
the usual condition of a cabin at that pass. Perspiring landsmen, with loose papers,
and with pens and inkstands, pervade it ; and the general appearance of things is
as if the late Mr. Amazon's funeral had just come home from the cemetery, and
the disconsolate Mrs. Amazon's trustees found the affairs in great disorder, and
were looking high and low for the will. I go out on the poop-deck, for air, and
surveying the emigrants on the deck below (indeed they are crowded all about
me, up there too), find more pens and inkstands in action, and more papers, and
interminable complication respecting accounts with individuals for tin cans and
6s8 HISTORY OF SALT LAKE CITY.
what not. But nobody is in an ill-temper, nobody is the worse for drink, nobody
swears an oath or uses a coarse word, nobody appears depressed, nobody is weep-
ing, and down upon the deck in every corner where it is possible to find a few
square feet to kneel, crouch, or lie in, people, in every unsuitable attitude for
writing, are writing letters.
" Now, I have seen emigrant ships before this day in June. And these peo-
ple are so strikingly different from all other people in like circumstance whom I
have ever seen, that I wonder aloud : ' What 7vould di stranger suppose these emi-
grants to be !'
'■' The vigilant bright face of the weather-browned captain of the Amazon is
at my shoulder, and he says, 'What, indeed ! The most of these came aboard
yesterday evening. They came from various parts of England in small parties
that had never seen one another before. Yet they had not been a couple of hours
on board, when they established their own police, made their own regulations,
and set their own watches at all the hatchways. Before nine o'clock, the ship was
as orderly and quiet as a man-of-war.'
" I looked about me again, and saw the letter-writing going on with the most
curious composure. Perfectly abstracted in the midst of the crowd ; while great
casks were swinging aloft, and being lowered into the hold ; while hot agents were
hurrying up and down, adjusting the interminable accounts ; while two hundred
strangers were searching everywhere for two hundred other strangers, and were
asking questions abcut them of two hundred more ; while the children played up
and down all the steps, and in and out among all the people's legs, and were be-
held, to the general dismay, toppling over all the dangerous places ; the letter-
writers wrote on calmly. On the starboard side of the ship, a grizzled man dic-
tated a long letter to another grizzled man in an immense fur cap; which letter
was of so profound a quality, that it became necessary for the amanuensis at inter-
vals to take off his fur cap in both his hands, for the ventilation of his brain, and
stare at him who dictated, as a man of many mysteries who was worth looking at.
On the larboard side, a woman had covered a belaying-pin with a white cloth to
make a neat desk of it, and was sitting on a little box, writing with the delibera-
tion of a bookkeeper. Down upon her breast on the planks of the deck at this
woman's feet, with her head diving in under a beam of the bulwarks on that side,
as an eligible place of refuge for her sheet of paper, a neat and pretty girl wrote
for a good hour (she fainted at last), only rising to the surface occasionally for a
dip of ink. Alongside the boat, close to me on the poop-deck, another girl, a
fresh well-grown country girl, was writing another letter on the bare deck. Later
in the day, when this self-same boat was filled with a choir who sang glees and
catches for a long time, one of the singers, a girl, sang her part mechanically all
the while, and wrote a letter in the bottom of the boat while doing so.
" * A stranger would be puzzled to guess the right name for these people,
Mr. Uncommercial,' says the captain.
" ' Indeed he would.'
" * If you hadn't known, could you ever have supposed ?'
" ' How could I ! I should have said they were in their degree, the pick and
flower of England.'
HISTORY OF SALT LAKE CITY. 659
" ' So should I,' says the captain.
" ' How many are they ?'
" ' Eight hundred in rouud numbers.'
" I went between-decks, where the families with children swarmed in the dark,
where unavoidable confusion had been caused by the last arrivals, and where the
confusion was increased by the little preparations for dinner that were going on
in each group. A few women here and there, had got lost, and were laughing at
it, and were asking their way to their own people, or out on deck again. A few
of the poor children were crying; but otherwise the universal cheerfulness was
amazing. ' We shall shake down by to-morrow.' ' We shall come all right in a
day or so.' ' We shall have more light at sea.' Such phrases I heard every-
where, as I groped my way among chests and barrels and beams and unstowed
cargo and ring-bolts and emigrants, down to the lower deck, and thence up to the
light of day again, and to my former station.
" Surely an extraordinary people in their power of self-abstraction. All the
former letter- writers were still writing calmly, and many more letter-writers had
broken out in my absence. A boy with a bag of books in his hand and a slate
under his arm, emerged from below, concentrated himself in my neighborhood
(espying a convenient skylight for his purpose), and went to work at a sum as if he
were stone deaf. A father and mother and several young children, on the main
deck below me, had formed a family circle close to the foot of the crowded rest-
less gangway, where the children made a nest for themselves in a coil of rope, and
the father and mother, she suckling the youngest, discussed family affairs as peace-
ably as if they were in perfect retirement. I think the most noticeable character-
istic in the eight hundred as a mass, v/as their exemption from hurry.
" I'light hundred what? 'Geese, villain?' Eight hundred Mormons. I, Un-
commercial Traveler for the firm of Human Interest Brothers, had come aboard
this emigrant ship to see what eight hundred Latter-day Saints were like, and I
found them (to the rout and overthrow of all my -expectations) like what I now
describe with scrupulous exactness.
" The Mormon agent who had been active in getting them together, and in
making the contract with my friends the owners of the ship to take them as far as
New York on their way to the Great Salt Lake, was pointed out to me. A com-
pactly-made handsome man in black, rather short, with rich brown hair and
beard, and clear bright eyes. From his speech, I should set him down as an
American. Probably, a man who had ' knocked about the world ' pretty much.
A man with a frank open n)anner, and unshrinking look ; withal a man of great
quickness. I believe he was wholly ignorant of my Uncommercial individuality,
and consequently of my immense Uncommercial importance.
'' UncommerciaL These area very fine set of people you have brought to-
gether here.
" Mormon Agent. Yes, sir, they are a very fine set of people.
" Uncommercial (looking about). Indeed, I think it would be difficult
to find eight hundred people together anywhere else, and find so ranch beauty
and so much strength and capacity for work among them.
66o HISTORY OF SALT LAKE CnV.
^^ Mormon Agent (not looking about, but looking steadily at Uncommercial).
I think so — We sent about a thousand more, yes'day, from Liverpool.
" Uncommercial. You are not going with these emigrants?
'' Mormon Agent ^ Noj sir. I remain.
" Uncommercial. But you have been in the Mormon Territory?
,- " Mormon Agent. Yes; I left Utah about three years ago.
'•' Uncommercial. It is surprising to me that these people are all so cheery,
and make so little of the immense distance before them.
" Mormon Agent. Well, you see, many of 'em have friends out at Utah, and
many of 'em look forward to meeting friends on the way.
' ' Uncommercial. On the way ?
^^ Mormon Agent. This way 'tis. This ship lands 'em in New York City.
Then they go on by rail right away beyond St. Louis, to that part of the banks of
the Missouri where they strike the plains. There, wagons from the settlement
meet 'em to bear 'em company on their journey 'cross — twelve hundred miles
about. Industrious people who come out to the settlement soon get wagons of
their own, and so the friends of some of these will come down in their own
wagons to meet 'em. They look forward to that greatly.
" Uncommercial. On their long journey across the desert, do you arm them?
" Mormon Agent. Mostly you would fine they have arms of some kind or
another already with them. Such as had not arms we should arm across the plains,
for the general protection and defense.
" Uncommercial. Will these wagons bring down any produce to the
Missouri ?
^^ Mormon Agent. Well, since the war broke out, we've taken to growing
cotton, and they'll likely bring down cotton to be exchanged for machinery. We
want machinery. Also we have taken to growing indigo, which is a fine commo-
dity for profit. It has been found that the climate on the further side of the Great
Salt Lake suits well for raising indigo.
'' Uncommercial. I am told that these people now on board are principally
from the south of England.
'■^ Mormon Agent. And from Wales. That's true.
" Uncommercial. Do you get many Scotch?
■ " Mormon Agent. Not many.
'* Uncommercial. Highlanders, for instance.
^^ Mormon Agent. No, not Highlanders. They ain't interested enough in
universal brotherhood and peace and good will.
" Uncommercial. The old fighting blood is strong in them?
*' Mor?non Agent. Well, yes. And besides, they've no faith.
" Uncommercial (who has been burning to get at the Prophet Joe Smith, and
seems to discover an opening). Faith in —
" Mormon Agent (far too many for Uncommercial). Well — in anything.
" Similarly on this same head, the Uncommercial underwent discomfiture
from a Wiltshire laborer; a simple, fresh-colored farm-laborer, of eight-and-
thirty, who at one time stood beside him looking on at new arrivals, and with
whom he held this dialogue : .
HISTORY 01^ SALT LAKE CITY. 66i
" Uncommercial. Would you mind my asking you what part of the country
you come from ?
" Wiltshire. Not a bit. Theer ! (exultingly) I've worked all my life o' Sal-
isbury Plain, right under the shadder o' Stonehenge. You mightn't think it, but
I haive.
" Uncommercial. And a pleasant country, too.
" Wiltshire. Ah! 'Tis a pleasant country.
" Uncommercial. Have you any family on board ? ■
'' Wiltshire. Two children, boy and gal. I am a widderer, I am, and I'm
going out alonger my boy and gal. That's my gal, and she's a fine gal o' sixteen
(pointing out the girl who is writing by the boat). I'll go and fetch my boy.
I'd like to show you my boy. (Here Wiltshire disappears, and presently comes
back with a big shy boy of twelve, in a superabundance of boots, who is not at all
glad to be presented.) He is a fine boy too, and a boy fur to work. (Boy hav-
ing undutifully bolted, Wiltshire drops him.)
" Uncommercial. It must cost you a great deal of money to go so far, three
strong.
•' Wiltshire. A power of money. Theer ! Eight shillen a week, eight shillen
a week, eight shillen a week, put by out of the week's wages for ever so long.
" Uncommercial. I wonder how you did it.
" Wiltshire (recognising in this a kindred spirit). See theer now ! I won-
der how I done it ! But what with a bit o' subscription heer, and what with a bit
o' help theer, it were done at last, though I don't hardly, know how. Then it
were unfor'net for us, you see, as we got kep' in Bristol so long— nigh a fortnight,
it were — on accounts of a mistake wi' Brother Halliday.' Swaller'd up money, it
did, when we might have come straight on.
'' Uncommercial (delicately approaching Joe Smith). You are of the Mor-
mon religion, of course ?
'' Wiltshire (confidently). O, yes, I'm a Mormon. (Then reflectively.)
I'm a Mormon. (Then, looking round the ship, feigns to descrv a particular
friend in an empty spot, and evades the Uncommercial for evermore.)
" After a noontide pause for dinner, during which my emigrants were nearly
all between-decks and the Amazon looked deserted, a general muster took place.
The muster was for the ceremony of passing the government inspector and the
doctor. Those authorities held their temporary state amidships, by a cask or two;
and, knowing that the whole eight hundred emigrants must come face to face with
them, I took my station behind the two. They knew nothing whatever of me, I
believe, and my testimony to the unpretending gentleness and good nature with
which they discharged their duty, may be of the greater worth. There was not
the slightest flavor of the Circumlocution Office about their proceedings.
" The emigrants were now all on deck. They were densely crowded aft, and
swarmed upon the poop-decl< like bees. Two or three Mormon agents stood
ready to hand them on to the inspector, and to hand them forward when they
had passed. By what successful means, a special aptitude for organization had
been infused into these people, I am, of course, unable to report. But I know
that, even now, there was no disorder, hurry or difficulty.
662 HISTORY OF SALT LAKE CITY.
" All being ready, the first group are handed on. That member of the party
who is entrusted with the passenger- ticket for the whole, has been warned by one
of the agents to have it ready, and here it is his hand. In every instance through
the whole eight hundred, without an exception, this paper is always ready.
'• ///jr/(f(r/^r (reading the ticket). Jessie Jobson, Sophronia Jobson, Jessie
Jobson again, Matilda Jobson, William Jobson, Jane Jobson, Matilda Jobson
again, Brigham Jobson, Leonardo Jobson and Orson Jobson. Are you all here?
(glancing at the party, aver his spectacles).
*^ Jessie [obson Number Two. All here, sir.
" This group is composed of an old grandfather and grandmother, their
married son and his wife, and their family of children. Orson Jobson is a little
child asleep in his mother's arms. The doctor, with a kind word or so, lifts up the
corner of the mother's shawl, looks at the child's face, and touches the little
clenched hand. If we were all as well as Orson Jobson, doctoring would be a
poor profession.
•' Inspector. Quite right, Jessie Jobson. Take your ticket, Jessie, and
pass on.
" And away they go. Mormon agent, skillful and quiet, hands them on.
Mormon agent, skillful and quiet, hands next party up.
^^ Inspector (reading ticket again). Susannah Cleverly and William Cleverly.
Brother and sister, eh ?
" Sister (young woman of business, hustling slow brother). Yes, sir.
'^Inspector. Very good, Susannah Cleverly. Take your ticket, Susannah,
and take care of it.
" And away they go.
"■Inspector (taking ticket again). Sampson Dibble and Dorothy Dibble
(surveying a very old couple over his spectacles, with some surprise). Your hus-
band quite blind, Mrs. Dibble?
" Mrs. Dibble. Yes, sir, he be stone blind.
"J//-. X>//^/^/^ (addressing the mast). Yes, sir, I be stone blind.
" Inspector. That's a bad job. Take your ticket, Mrs. Dibble, and don't lose
it, and pass on.
" Doctor taps Mr. [Dibble on the eyebrow with his forefinger, and away
they go.
^^ Inspector (taking ticket again). Anastatia Weedle.
" Anastatia (a pretty girl in a bright garibaldi, this morning elected by uni-
versal suffrage the beauty of the ship). That is me, sir.
" Inspector^ Going alone, Anastatia?
"Anastatia (shaking her curls). I am with Mrs. Jobson, sir, but I've got
separated for the moment.
"Inspector. Oh! you are with the Jobsons? Quite right. That'll do,
Miss Weedle. Don't lose your ticket.
"Away she goes, and joins the Jobsons who are waiting for her, and stoops
and kisses Brigham Jobson — who appears to be considered too young for the pur-
pose, by several Mormons rising twenty, who are looking on. Before her exten-
HISTORY OF SALT LAKE CITY. 663
sive skirts have departed from the casks a decent widow stands there with four
children, and so the roll goes.
" The faces of some of the Welsh people, among whom there were many old
persons, were certainly the least intelligent. Some of these emigrants would have
bungled sorely, but for the directing hand that was always ready. The intelligence
here was unquestionably of a low order, and the heads were of a poor type.
Generally the case was the reverse. There were many worn faces bearing traces
of patient poverty and hard work, and there was great steadiness of purpose and
much undemonstrative self-respect among this class. A few young men were go-
ing singly. Several girls were going two or three together. These latter I found it
very difficult to refer back, in my mind, to their relinquished homes and pursuits.
Perhaps tliey were more like country milliners, and pupil teachers rather tawdrily
dressed, than any other classes of young women, I noticed, among many little orna-
ments worn, more than one photograph-broach of the Princess of Wales, and also
of the late Prince Consort. Some single women of from thirty to forty, whom one
might suppose to be embroiderers, or straw-bonnet-makers, were obviously going
out in quest of husbands, as finer ladies go to India. That they had any distinct
notions of a plurality of husbands or wives, I do not believe. To suppose the
family groups of whom the majority of emigrants were composed, polygamically
possessed, would be to suppose an absurdity, manifest to any one who saw the
fathers and mothers.
" I should say (I had no means of ascertaining the fact) that most familiar
kinds of handicraft trades were represented here. Farm-laborers, shepherds, and
the like, had their full share of representation, but I doubt if they preponderated.
It was interesting to see how the leading spirit in the family circle never failed to
show itself, even in the simple process of answering to the names as they were
called, and checking off the owners of the names. Sometimes it was the father,
much oftener the mother, sometimes a quick little girl second or third in order of
seniority. It seemed to occur for the first time to some heavy fathers, what large
families they had ; and their eyes rolled about, during the calling of the list, as
if they half-misdoubted some other family to have been smuggled into their own.
Among all the fine handsome children, I observed but two with marks upon their
necks that were probably scrofulous. Out of the whole number of emigrants, but
one old woman was temporarily set aside by the doctor, on suspicion of fever ;
but even she afterwards obtained a clean bill of health.
" When all had " passed," and the afternoon began to wear on, a black box
became visible on deck, which box was in charge of certain personages also in
black of whom only one had the conventional air of an itinerant preacher. This
box contained a supply of hymn books, neatly printed and got up, published at
Liverpool, and also in London at the "Latter-day Saints" book depot, 30 Flor-
ence street." Some copies were handsomely bound; the plainer were more in
request, and many were bought. The title ran : " Sacred hymns and spiritual
songs for the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.' The preface, dated
Manchester, 1840, ran thus: — ' The Saints in this country have been very desirous
for a Hymn Book adapted to their faith and worship, that they might sing the
truth with an understanding heart, and express their praise, joy and gratitude in
664 HISTORY OF SALT LAKE CITY.
songs adapted to the New and Everlasting Covenant. In accordance with their
wishes, we have selected the following volume, which we hope will prove accep-
table until a greater variety can be added. With sentiments of high consideration
and esteem, we subscribe ourselves your brethren in the New and Everlasting Cov-
enant. Brigliam Young, Parley P. Pratt, Johti Taylor." From this book — by no
means explanatory to myself of the New and Everlasting Covenant, and not at all
making my heart an understanding one on the subject of that mystery — a hymn
was sung, which did not attract any great amount ot attention, and was supported
by a rather select circle. But the choir in the boat w?s very popular and pleasant;
and there was to have been a band, only the cornet was late in coming on board.
In the course of the afternoon, a mother appeared from shore, in search of her
daughter, ' who had run away with the Mormons.' She received every assistance
from the inspector, but her daughter was not found to be on board. The S lints
did not seem to rne, particularly interested in finding her.
" Towards five o'clock, the galley became full of tea-kettles, and an agree-
able fragrance of tea pervaded the ship. There was no scrambling or jostling
for the hot water, no ill humor, no quarrelling. As the Amazon was to sail with
the next tide, and as it would not be high water before two o'clock in the morn-
ing, I left her with her tea in full action, and her idle steam tug lying by, deput-
ing steam and smoke for the time being to the tea-kettles.
" I afterwards learned that a despatch was sent home by the captain before
he struck out into the wide Atlantic, highly extolling the behavior of these emi-
grants, and the perfect order and propriety of all their social arrangements.
What is in store for the poor people on the shores of the Great Salt Lake, what
happy delusions they are laboring under now, on what miserable blindness their eyes
may be opened then, I do not pretend to say. But I went on board their ship to
bear testimony against them if they deserved it, as I fully believed they would; to
my great astonishment they did not deserve it ; and my predispositions and ten-
dencies must not affect me as an honest witness. I went over the Amazon' s side,
feeling it impossible to deny that, so far, some remarkable influence had produced
a remarkable result, which better known influences have often missed."'"
Dickens was right when he exclaimed, '' I should have said they were in their
degree the pick and flower of England." The founders of the commerce of Salt
Lake City, its business men and clerks, its master mechanics and manufacturers,
its authors, editors and publishers, its artists, musicians, and their kindred classes,
were nearly all from the European mission, and sailed in these emigrant ships
such as Dickens describes.
It may be here noted as a valuable item of emigrational history that the
largest emigration of the Mormon Church from Europe within a limited period
..: „•*" After this Uncommercial Journey was printed, I happened to mention the experience it describes
-to Lord Houghton. That gentleman then showed me an article of his writing, in The Edinburgh Kc-
vieiaiox January, 1862, wliich is highly remarkable for its philosophical and literary research concerning
.these Latter-day Saints. I find in it the following sentences : — ' The Select Committee of the House of
Commons on emigrant ships for 1854, summoned the Mormon agent and passenger broker before it, and
eame to the conclusion that no ships under the provisions of the ' passenger act ' could be depended
upon for comfort and security in the same degree as those under his administration. The Mormon ship
is a family under strong and accepted discipline, with every provision for comfort, decorum, and internal
peace." . .
41
HISTORY OF SALT LAKE CITY. 66j
occurred in 1863, when six vessels left in five weeks, with 3,574 souls of the Saints
on board, as follows :
ApnldO— John J. Boyd, 763 souls. Prest. of Co., W. W. Cluff.
May S-B. S. Kimball, 654 " " H. P. Lund.
May 9>— Consignment 38 " " A. Christensen,
May 21— Antarctic 483 " " J. Needham.
May Zl— Cynosure, 754 " " D. M. Stuart.
June \— Amazon 882 " " W. Bramall.
Total 3574 "
A.11 the above sailed from Liverpool except the Amazon (the one visited by
Charles Dickens), which went from London.
CHAPTER LXXIX.
EARLY RESOURCES OF OUR TERRITORY. EMIGRANT TRAINS LADEN WITH
BRITISH HOMES. THE CHURCH AGENT MAKING PURCHASES ON THE
FRONTIERS. RACE MIXTURE OF THE POPULATION.
The destitute condition of the people in the Valley, in the second year of
settling, has been mentioned in the opening chapters. They were reduced almost to
the condition of the native Indians. Their clothing, their shoes, their hats and
everything most needed by a community, in absolute isolation, were worn out.
There were manufacturers and mechanics, but no manufactories or means within
themselves to replenish their exhausted resources ; nor had an eastern merchant
yet arrived with a train of goods. Even had the people possessed gold to invite a
merchant train to such a distant point, the supplies would have been swallowed up
in a day, scarcely benefitting the community while exhausting their money : but
there was not a dollar in the country. All the monetary resources of the Mor-
mons, numbered in the exodus, had been spent in purchasing outfits to remove
themselves to the Rocky Mountains, (where money was absolutely valueless at the
onset) and in providing themselves with the simplest implements of husbandry,
and builders', manufacturers' and mechanics' tools.
The emigration from Europe and the eastern States were the natural sources
of supplies for colonization, to which these Mormon pioneers looked, when they
set out from the " borders of civilization," to build their cities in the heart of
the " Great American Desert ;" and only these emigrations could have preserved
the community in isolation from utter destitution. There were no anticipations
of the discovery of gold in the unpeopled West when the Mormons set out from
Nauvoo ; and it is not strange that the Gentile world said Brigham Young and his
companion apostles had led the Mormons into the wilderness to perish, and that
none of them would ever be seen within the borders of civilization again. But
42
666 HISTORY OF SALT LAKE CITY.
those pioneer apostles knew that they had a British mission to draw population
from, and that their emigrations from Europe, and the branches of the Church in
the United States, would enable them, in the natural course of their affairs, to ac-
complish their work of colonizing these valleys. The community, possessing no
gold, could not at the onset have sent their merchants down to the States to pur-
chase supplies ; but their emigration agents would have been their merchants;
their vast trains of emigrants with outfits and merchandise would in time have sup-
plied the people with goods and implements, which could not be produced at
home ; considerable money would have been brought into the country by the well-
to-do emigrants for the purchase of machinery, while the community would have
built themselves up by a system of trade and barter, much of the business of the
country being done through the agencies of the Church at home and abroad.
This indeed very nearly accords with the actual history of our city and Territory
down to the completion of the railroads across the continent, and the opening of
the Utah mines; and had not gold been discovered in California, in 1849, ^"d
the mining Territories of Nevada, Idaho and Montana sprung up around us,
it would have«been the exact history of Utah to this day, with all the original
prospects. These valleys would have been peopled with a family of colonies ; and
the community would have preserved their original forms and social types. These
virgin valleys would have given to the farmers land sufficient for a million hands
to cultivate, boundless opportunities for stockraisers, wool growers, and the raisers
of fruit, sugar cane, cotton, etc.; while there would have developed equal oppor-
tunities for home manufacturers, without being brought into competition with the
eastern manufacturer and merchant. This vie\v sustains the early policies of
Brigham Young, especially in his efforts to make the community self-dependent
and self-supportive; to place home manufactures above " States goods," and the
farmer and the home producer above the States' merchant ; hence the conflict
which grew up in the early commerce of our city.
A passage from an autobiographical sketch of the Salt Lake merchant and
banker, Horace S. Eldredge, who, in the early days, was the emigration agent of
the Church, will further illustrate what the emigrations did for Salt Lake City,
and also did in establishing the credit of the community in the Eastern cities, es-
pecially St. Louis and Chicago. He says:
"In the fall of 1852, I was called upon and appointed by the General Confer-
ence of the Church to take a mission to St. Louis, Mo., to preside over the St.
Louis Conference, to act as general Church agent for the emigration and as pur-
chasing agent for the Church.
" In the spring of 1853, our emigration from Europe amounted to about three
thousand souls and required over three hundred wagons and a thousand head of
oxen to transport them. These, with what was termed the American emigration
swelled the number to over four hundred wagons and nearly two thousand head
of cattle. It required an immense labor to deliver these at the overland starting
point, besides purchasing the provisions, outfits and all the necessaries for a three
or more months' camp life.
" On my return to St. Louis, I had to look to some Church matters, and, after
visiting several branches and giving them the necessary counsel, I began, by con-
i
HISTORY OF SALT LAKE CITY. 66j
trading for wagons, etc , to lay my plans and arrange for the coming season's
immigration. Having formed many agreeable acquaintances, I spent the winter
much pleasanter than I had the previous one. The following spring brought its
cares and responsibilities, as a large emigration from Europe as well as many from
St. Louis and vicinity and different parts of the States were preparing to mif^rate
to our mountain home, and all were more or less looking to me as agent to pro-
vide for them their outfit by the way of teams, provisions, and the various
necessities for a trip across the plains. I also received orders from Salt Lake
City to purchase a large quantity of merchandise, machinery, agricultural imple-
ments, and to provide wagons, teams, teamsters, etc., for their transportation."
In this extract from Mr. Eldredge's emigrational notes, we have not only a
view of the vast business done on the frontiers by the Church agents, in outfittino-
companies bound for the Valleys, but the commencement of the mercantile basis
and credit upon which years afterwards Z. C. M. I. was founded, and which will
itself be suggestive of the colossal commercial commonwealth which Brigham
Young had designed to establish throughout the community when the pioneers
first entered these valleys.
In 1852-3-4, of which Mr. Eldredge notes, the original plan was fairly work-
ing, both on the emigrational and mercantile lines; and Salt Lake Mormon mer-
chants began to be favorably known in the Eastern States as well as the emigra-
tion agents. The "over four hundred wagons, and nearly two thousand head of
cattle," with yokes, etc., which Mr. Eldredge purchased for the emigrants and
delivered on the frontiers represented a prime cost of ^120,000. It must be borne
in mind also that these four hundred wagons came into the Valley, in the fall of
1853, laden with almost everything to be mentioned that the settlers most needed,
excepting a competent supply of merchandise and machinery ; and even of the
latter the affluent emigrant brought a goodly share; while, in the year following,
as it is seen, the emigration agent received "orders from Salt Lake City to pur-
chase a large quantity of merchandise, machinery and agricultural implements."
First the emigrants from Great Britain came across the sea to New Orleans,
with the best outfits that they could bring to a new country : the choicest tools of
the mechanic and manufacturer ; the most useful and endurable clothing, enouf^h
to last the family for several years; milliners, dressmakers, etc., came with their
stock in trade, and all their household utilities — indeed, excepting furniture and
cumbersome articles, it may be said that from the opening of the general emigra-
tion to Utah in 1849-50, a thousand English, Scotch and Welsh homes were yearly
transposed to Utah from the mother country. It was with these homes and their
hordings of years that those 400 wagons, with their 2,000 head of cattle, came
laden into the Valley. They were as merchant trains of matchless worth to fur-
nish supplies to the young colonies ; in fine it was those trains of the European
and American emigrants, which yearly poured across the Plains from 1849; that
started and sustamed the commerce and business, not only of Salt Lake City, but
of every settlement of Utah, while the agricultural interests of the country were
equally as well sustained.
The farmers themselves came in those emigrant trains, with their wagonp,
oxen, seed, and implements of husbandry ; the mechanic and manufacturer with
668 HISTORY OF SALT LAKE CITY.
their tools and experienced skill. The agriculturists went into the fresh valleys north
and south where they could obtain farms and lots " without money and without
price," except for the survey, the labor on canals for irrigation, and the fencing
of their lands; while those who chose to settle in Salt Lake City, purchased lots,
or portions of lots, with the supplies which they had brought, and which the pri-
mal settlers of this valley needed more than gold. A pound of tea, of sugar, of
tobacco, a dress, a suit of clothes or a set of mechanic's tools, a paper of needles
or pins, a supply of silk, thread or tape, or a thousand other seemingly trifling ar-
ticles, which had been brought to the valley in those emigrant outfits, afforded
means of purchase and trade; while the emigrant of the "independent com-
panies," who arrived with several wagons and yokes of oxen and a small stock of
merchandise possessed abundance, not only to purchase a lot and build himself a
log or adobe house, retaining one wagon and one yoke of oxen for farm or can-
yon work, but enough to give him a fair start in business life.
The early merchants of Salt Lake did next to nothing for the country, ex-
cepting periodically to bring in a few trains of States goods and to swallow up
the money of the country, which the emigrants had brought in, and which
they had put into circulation in the purchase of their lots and the building and
furnishing of their houses. The Church, the emigrations and the Mormon peo-
ple did almost everything for the country during the first decade. It was not until
after the " Utah war," (1857) the establishment of Camp Floyd with its final aban-
donment, leaving vast supplies in the country, at little money cost, that the Mormon
community realized any real benefit outside the operations of their Church tem-
poral government, their emigrations and their exchange of property and labor
with each other.
In the beginning of the second decade, after Camp Floyd had given oppor-
tunities to a fresh class of enterprising men, the commercial status was changed
and the community began to feel the pulsation of vitalizmg blood of a healthy
vigorous home trade and commerce. A new class of Salt Lake merchants had
risen. They were not merely resident merchants, but truly our home merchants,
whose every interest was identified with Utah in their own life enterprises and in
the generations of their children. They were Hooper, Nixon, the Walker Brothers,
Jennings, Eldredge, Clawson, Kimball & Lawrence, Staines & Needham, Godbe
&: Mitchell, and their compeers, both in and outside the community, in a special
sense, but every man of them a part of the community in a general sense. These
made our commerce reciprocal. If they imported " States' goods " and drained
the city of money for awhile to supply fresh stocks of merchandise from the
Eastern States ann California, they also exported the produce of the country to the
mining Territories, purchased grain for the Overland Mail Company, sent herds
of fat cattle into the neighboring markets, and at a later period, with such men as
John Sharp and Feramorz Little, they have built the railroads and opened the
mines of Utah.
Disposing here of the subject of the emigrations, which have so largely con-
tributed to the population of this Territory, it may be observed that in 1856,
nearly five thousand Mormon emigrants sailed from Liverpool to America. In
consequence of the " Utah war," the emigration was then closed until i860, when
HISTORY OF SALT LAKE CITY. 66g
it was again opened. From that date to the completion of the U. P. railroad, the
Perpetual Emigration Company adopted the policy of sending from 500 to 1,000
teams every year to the frontiers, and later to the railroad points to " gather up
the poor." These trains also brought large stocks of merchandise, ma-
chinery and agricultural implements for their settlements prior to the establish,
ment of Z. C. M. I.; and in 1861 they brought the telegraph wires for our local
telegraph lines. Thus it will be seen much of the mercantile activities went hand-
in-hand with the emigration until the completion of the railroads, since which
time the emigrants to Utah have come direct from New York to Ogden by rail.
Up to present date it is estimated that about 100,000 Mormon emigrants have
landed in America, the majority of whom have come to Utah. The Scandinavians
claim one-fifth of the Mormon population ; the remainder are Americans, English,
Scotch, Welsh, Irish, Fiench, Italians, Swiss and Germans. It has been often
affirmed that there are no Irish among the Mormons. This is not correct. Some
of the most talented men of the community have been Irishmen ; for instance,
General James Ferguson and Edward L. Sloan ; and the author has discovered, in
writing their biographies, that there is a copious infusion of Irish blood in the
veins of the American Mormons. In defining the strong veins of our population,
however, they would have to be classed, American, English, Scandinavian, Scotch,
Welsh, German a few of the other races named, and a mixture of the whole in
their offspring, which are American born, giving a vast preponderance to the Amer-
ican element in our composite population.
CHAPTER LXXX.
SOCIAL GRADING OF UTAH. A COMMUNITY OF MANUFACTURERS. THE PUB-
LIC WORKS. OUR INDUSTRIES AND INDUSTRIAL MEN. BIOGRAPHICAL
SKETCHES. Z. C. M. I. BOOT AND SHOE FACTORY. PROSPECTS OF HOME
MANUFACTURES.
The growth and social grading of Utah have deviated markedly from the
rules and examples of all the rest of the western family of States which have
grown up during her period of existence. Her development, in fact, has been
according to the old and not the new social methods. The other States and Ter-
ritories on the western line have sprung up out of almost superhuman energies in-
duced by the vast mineral wealth of the West, which first appeared in the discovery
of gold in California; but Utah has passed through the regular stages of social
growth which reminds one of the old fashioned style of the founding of New
England, notwithstanding that Utah is second to none in her mineral resources.
Here, in this Mormon Territory, we have had the agricultural period as well
defined as it was in the Eastern Hemisphere four thousand years ago — when the
6-;o HISTORY OF SALT LAKE CITY.
race kept sheep and tilled the land, while empire was being rocked in her cradle.
True, the settlers of these valleys emigrated from the manufacturing nations.
The majority of those who peopled Utah during the first decade were, as we have
seen, from Great Britain ; and there were far more gathered from the manufactur-
ing centres of England and Scotland and the mining district of Wales than from
the agricultural counties.
In grading the settlers of Utah, we should, therefore, consider them chiefly
as a manufacturing people; but who, after they came to these valleys, were greatly
thrown out of the familiar spheres of their lives. Speaking of the emigrants from
Great Britain, they were, as a class, skillful artizans, apprenticed mechanics and
colonies of manufacturers which the Mormon Church every season poured into
the Territory. Arriving here, they soon lost their original character in conse-
quence of the necessities of the country and the strict methods through which the
Mormons have built up their cities and settlements. Devoting their lives and in-
dustries toward general results as a community, the emigrants were directed by the
bishops over the whole extent of country mapped out by the authorities to be sub-
dued by Mormon industry and enterprise. Thus, a people originally artizans and
manufacturers, became agricultural in their pursuits of life; and it was not until the
last decade, under the new era and development of the railroads and mines, that
they resumed their original activities.
The fact is, Utah was necessarily founded upon an agricultural basis. The
very life necessities of the Mormons as a community, and their isolated condition
— so far removed from the centres of our national industries and commerce— for a
time unduly balanced them on the agricultural side.
During the early period, it was in vain to urge the people into home manufac-
tures— though it was certainly judicious in their leaders to so counsel them, for the
ultimate prosperity of the community was in that direction. They had not the
facilities for home manufactures, nor even the raw material ; while the idea of
competition with States' goods was simply preposterous — and yet there were in Utah
all the skilled laborers who could have produced those goods. The case simply
was that Utah had not properly reached her manufacturing period; and it was be-
yond even the power of wise and vigorous leaders to place the country prematurely
on a manufacturing basis, or more strictly stated, beyond their power to build up
trade and commerce excepting according to their own laws. A fresh opening of
a season's stock of States' goods by our merchants, for instance, was quite suffi-
cient to kill a whole year's preaching on home manufactures.
In reviewing the industrial history of our city it may be observed as a singu-
lar feature, that nearly all labor, building and mechanic's business commenced on
the Public Works, under Daniel H. Wells, the superintendent, and the means for
the employment of labor, not only directly on those Public Works, but also in-
directly in the building up of the homes of the citizens, came through the busi-
ness management of the Trusteein-Trust of the Church and his agents, the bishops.
The first development of the city was the Old Fort, with its log cabins and
adobe huts and its school and meeting house. Next the settlers moved out upon
their city lots to build their city proper. Saw and grist mills were erected for
President Young, known as the Chase mills, located iu what is now called Liberty
HISTORY OF SALT LAKE CnY. 671
Park, the remains of which are still standing. In rapid succession the several
canyons were opened and other saw mills erected in City Creek, Neff's Canyon,
Mill Creek and the two Cottonwoods. About this time the Public Works, on
Temple Block, were started under the direction of the First Presidency, with Dan-
iel H. Wells, superintendent. Here nearly all the emigrants were employed dur-
ing the first year of their arrival, or at least so long as they needed such employ-
ment. Until they were enabled t© mark out a line of business or enterprise for
themselves; the Public Works were open to the industrial classes.
On Temple Block there were soon established a carpenters' shop, a large
blacksmith shop and a machine shop, where they manufactured mill and other
machinery, a paint shop, etc. The carpenters and builders were under the fore-
manship of Miles Romney, father of the well known and influential master builder,
George Romney. Thomas Tanner was the foreman of the blacksmiths' shop;
Captain Pitt of the painters, and " old man Derrick " of the machine shop.
In 1850, the men in the blacksmith shop were Phil Margetts, of local cele-
brity as "our favorite comedian;" Jonathan Pugmire and Henry Margetts.
Afterwards came in Hamilton and Thomas Cartwright. In 185 1, Richard
B. Margetts worked there for a short time. A Brother Cook was the horseshoer
of the shop.
The first casting that was done in Utah was done in this shop, under the
supervision of John Kay, Phil. Margetts and Hamilton : Kay was the pattern-
maker. The casting was a large spur wheel, for President Young's mill, to supply
one broken. It was cast out of old hub cast iron boxes. They melted the ore
on a blacksmith's forge, in what they called a pocket furnace. Their furnace in-
vented for the occasion, they made by hollowing out below the tool iron, filling
in with sand, then placing layer after layer of charcoal and cast iron : they used
an old Pennsylvania wagon skein as a spout to carry the molton iron into the
ladle, which was made of old fashioned wagon hub bands.
And so in the other departments of the public works, there were combina-
tions of mechanics some of whom had worked in the best shops in Great Britain,
and who in the history of our city since that day have become quite historical
men. It was on the public works that many of our citizens got their start in life,
and while there they have built themselves homes with tithing office pay, or by
the turns which the hands have been enabled to make with their fellows or by the
managing men of the works. Hundreds of families in this city have obtained
homes, without as much as seeing a dollar in their hands in a year, who to-day
with a gold circulation in our city never could have obtained a home.
Among the representative men of Salt Lake City who in the early days were
associated with the Public Works was John Sharp, often spoken of as the Mormon
"railroad bishop." He was born in the Devon Ironworks, Scotland, November
8th, 1820, and was sent into a coalpit to work when but eight years of age.
In 1847, Mormonism found him in Clackmannanshire, still engaged as a coal
miner. The Mormon gospel was brought to this quarter by William Gibson, one
of the first Scotch elders sent out, — a man who obtained notoriety in the British
mission as an orator and an able disputant. This elder converted the Sharp
brothers (there were three of them) to the faith, and in 1848, they left Scotland
672 HIS TOR V OF SAL T LAKE Cll Y.
for America. They landed in New Orleans, came up the Mississippi to St. Louis,
where they lived until the spring of 1850, and then took up their line of march
for Salt Lake City.
The date of his arrival, August 28th, 1850, makes John Sharp one of the
earlier settlers of Utah, and the sphere that he has filled so many years, properly
classes him among the *' founders." He first went to work in the Church quarry,
getting out stone for the Old Tabernacle and Tithing Office, and next was made
the superintendent of the quarry. Under his direction the stone for the Public
Works, the foundation of the Temple, and the massive wall around the Temple
block, was gotten out ; and it must be understood that the quarrying and
hauling of those huge blocks of granite was no indifferent undertaking. The
sandstone quarry was in Red Butte Canyon and the Church quarry is eighteen
miles from the city, and the rock, of course, had to be hauled by oxen, and
the men employed directly or indirectly on tithing account. The numerous diffi-
culties which the superintendents of the Church works have had to grapple with
in raising teams upon the tithing offerings, the employment of regular hands and
the finding of means generally to carry on the public works, are not easily imagined,
unless one can fancy what the national income would mean if paid in flour, mo-
lasses, potatoes, squashes, and the like, and distributed afterwards for the national
service.
In the spring of 1851, Alderman Raleigh was called upon and appointed by
President Young to take charge of and carry on the mason department of the Pub-
lic Works, which he continued to do until those works were suspended during the
Buchanan war and the " move south."
It is not possible to deal with the industries and enterprises of our city and
Territory, without introducing occasionally a biographical passage of the men
who have developed those enterprises and worn out their lives in the industrial
activities, which have converted our once desert and isolated valleys into impor-
tant commercial cities. Nor need the author apologize for biographically intro-
ducing the class of men who form the subjects of this chapter considering that in
the settling and growth of a new country, the men who struck the first blows of
hard work and enterprise are truly historical personages. The men who founded
our cities; the men who built the first houses ; the men who used the first plows
and the men who made them ; the men who made the first leather and shoes,
built the cloth factories and wove the cloth ; the men who gave birth to Utah
commerce, opened her mines and built her railroads ; these and their class gener-
ally are Utah's real representative men with whom the historian will mostly deal
in the local record of our Territory and its resources. It was they who gave im-
pulses to the country. It was they who created society where, before they came,
no society existed. It was they who laid the foundations of our western cities,
with their own hands, and made the country habitable for the millions. It was
they, in fact, who established the West and gave to it its life and its mighty energies,
which in the short period of thirty-eight years, has made it the rival of the East.
These are the true representative men of the West and they are the most worthy
of historical record.
But we have in this biographical series to treat of those who have promoted and
r
HISTORY OF SALT LAKE CITY. 673
developed the manufacturing industries of our Territory. Tlieir importance in
the history of Utah has never yet been sufficiently emphasized. It is only now,
indeed, that we are beginning to appreciate their real value and mission. The
farmers were from the beginning like the landed aristocracy of the country. Utah
belonged to them; while the merchant on his part held the " money bags," but
the manufacturers had no dispensation, nor to this day have capitalists come to
their help^ excepting in the shoe manufacturing establishment of Z. C. M. I.
Principally the capital that has been invested in manufactures has been by the in-
dustrial classes themselves, and which they have earned by hard work and con-
stant struggles. Indeed, it is due to these men, of whom we are here treating,
that our home manufacturing industries have assumed anything like the impor-
tance needful for the employment of an English and an American people.
The late Mr. R. B. Margetts, whose steel plate accompanies this chapter, is
very suggestive of the subject. There is a record of hard work and enterprise
stamped on his countenance. For over a quarter of a century he was identified with
this country and some of its first industries were wrought by his hands. The fol-
lowing is a brief biographical sketch of the man :
Richard Bishop Margetts was born at Woodstock, Oxfordshire, England, on
the first of February, 1823. He left Woodstock, when he was six years of age
and lived in and around London for seven years. He left school when he was
thirteen years old to learn the trade of a blacksmith, so that he had not a very
liberal scholastic education ; but was fitted by his early training for the hard work
of a new country. He learned his trade under his father on several of the rail-
roads in England, the last place where he worked being Watford, on the London
and Northwestern Railway.
Mr. Margetts, with his brothers, joined the Mormon Church, and they have
all made considerable mark in life. Mr. Thomas Margetts, over a quarter of a
century ago, was famous as one of the ablest of the British elders.
Mr. Philip Margetts is also quite an historical character in Utah. He is as-
sociated in the whole of our theatrical history as one of its principal characters,
and is an old public favorite of the stage. We shall meet him in due time in our
theatrical history.
Richard B. Margetts left England to emigrate to Utah in January, 1850, and
after a voyage of nine weeks arrived in St. Louis. During the summer of 1850
he suffered severely from sickness; which caused him to bind himself, under oath,
that he would not spend another summer in St. Louis, but would go through to
Salt Lake Valley or die in the attempt.
On the loth of March, 1851, Mr. Richard Margetts left St. Louis, taking his
wagon, which he made for the trip across the Plains. We cannot here follow
him through all the vicissitudes of his journey, but will note his arrival in
Salt Lake City on the 28th of September, 1851, he having been six months aod
two weeks on the journey from St. Louis to this place. His narrative continues,
and is strikingly illustrative of the development of the industries of our city.
He says :
" I rested a few days, and October loth I commenced business as blacksmith-
ing in a rented shop, and must say the change from a locomotive and machine
43
674 HISTORY OF SALT LAKE CIT\.
shop to that of a jobbing blacksmitli was both strange and funny; particularly so
as the first job that came in was a horse to be shod and I had to go to work alone
and make the nails out of an old iron chain and the shoes from the iron off an ox
yokcj and then take beef for pay. I did the job, and that satisfactorily, although
it took me a long time and I got rather nervous when the man asked me who
taught me to shoe a horse. After telling him hastily that it was none of his busi
ness, I learned, to my chagrin, that he was going to give me credit for doing the
work so well. I soon got acquainted with the requirements of the country, how-
ever, and turned my attention to the manufacture of mill irons ; and although
there was nothing but the iron off old wagons to use, I made some very heavy
mill irons, and enough to start thirteen grist and saw mills in a short time. I
turned my attention to anything and everything that came along. During the
emigration to California, I was very busy working for the ernigrants ; and when
the overland stages were running through the city, I, in connection with my
brothers, Henry and Phillip, did the work for that company for several }ears.
'•'About the year '55, I saw that something was required for the purpose of ex-
pressing the juice of the cane for molasses, as the farmers were raising consider-
able cane and there were none but wood rollers in use. I planned and made up
the first cane mill. It took the prize at the fair, the whole machine being made
of wagon tires. This led to the manufacture of a great many of those machines,
which could be set to horse or water power and did good work for several years
until foundries were started that could make cast iron rollers much cheaper. The
making of those wrought iron machines was followed by the raising of large
quantities of cane or sorghum, and proved to be a great benefit to the Territory.
About the year '63, a little circumstance occurred which proved to be a turning
point in my business. I wanted to get the patronage of a gentleman who was then
running a tannery, and at the same time I wanted to get a pair of boots for one
of my men. I asked the gentleman of the tannery, as a favor, to let me have a
pair of boots and I would give pay in blacksmithing; but he blankly refused.
This rather nettled me, and that same day I made up my mind to start a tannery
myself; and in less than two months I had vats in place and commenced to work
in hides; and in a very short time had the building in good shape and the busi-
ness in a very satisfactory condition. I now found it necessary that I should
withdraw from blacksmithing and turn my whole means and attention to tiie tan-
ning business, and found it also necessary to add to the same the manufacture of
leather belting — a great want of that article being experienced throughout the
Territory. The whole business was very successful till near the approach of the
railroad, when I found out that leather could be imported cheaper than it could
be made here on account of the scarcity of tanning material. In '71, I con-
cluded to gradually work out of the tanning business, and to establish a brewery
on the premises."
We may now follosv for awhile the leather and shoe trade. It is put first in
the manufacturing series, because the shoe trade is the most primitive branch of
the manufacturing industries — employing more laborers than any other branch
until we reach the period of cloth and cotton factories. Moreover, the shoe fac-
HISTORY OF SALT LAKE CITY. 675
tory, attached to Z. C. M. I., is Salt Lake's manufacturing monument, as the
Provo Wo -len Factory is to City of Provo.
Samuel Mulliner was the father of our Salt Lake tanners. He manufactured
the first leather — a calf skin — which was exhibited at a general conference, before
he went on a mission to Scotland from Utah in 1850.
MuUiner's tannery was where Walker Brothers' business block and banking
house now stand. Ira Ames and Alexander Brim were the next to start tan-
nerries in the city. Brim's was in the First Ward ; Ames', afterwards known as
Pugsley's tannery, was near the Warm Sprmgs.
Among the men who have been foremost in developing the industries of Utah
is Mr. Philip Pugsley. Claiming simply the rank of one of the hard-workers of
the country and promoters of our local enterprises, he has won a legitimate place
in the history of our Territory. He was first known among our early leather
manufacturers ; at a later date Pugsley & Randall built and successfully ran the
Ogden Woolen Factory; still more recently he engaged in the iron and coal in-
dustries, and, indeed, there is scarcely a home enterprise with which the name of
Philip Pugsley has not been identified.
Philip Pugsley was born in Somersetshire, England ; and ranks as a Mormon
emigrant. In his youth he was engaged in the raising and shipping of stock and
was afterwards in charge of a large brewery at Bristol, at which city he learned
the process of the japanning of leather ; this was his start in the leather business in
which he did so much after his emigration to Utah. He left England in 1S53,
emigrating in the famous -^xo companies sent to this country by the Apostle
Franklin D. Richards — His company, under the command of Captain Jacob
Gates, arrived in Salt Lake City on the last day of September. Pugsley's family
at the time consisted of his wife and eldest son, Joseph, who is now " boss " of
the Salt Lake Soap Works. Sister Pugsley was sick and the family possessed not
so much as a cent of money. The first thing to be done on their arrival was to
get something to eat, so Brother Philip went to seek employment down at Brother
Ira Ames', who was just starting in the tanning bu3ine?s. At this juncture Ames'
son, Clark, was called to go on a mission in April with Parley P. Pratt to South
America ; Pugsley was engaged to take his place in the leather manufactory.
Isaac Young and Pugsley ran the tannery for Ames for a year ; and, at the death
of Isaac Young, he ran it himself on shares with Ames, continuing up to the time
of the move South. He also ran Golding & Raleigh's tannery on shares. The
employers furnished the means and he the labor, for one third of the leather.
Those were the days that tried men's souls and the courage and self-sacrifice
of the women not less. Pugsley and his wife shared with the early settlers of Utah
the poverty of those times. The first winter after their arrival was very severe,
and work was stopped. Brother Philip now brought his tools into requisition, in
making chairs, tables and other things for household use. The family lived in a
tent for several months, until very deep snow fell, when they got into an old
house, which appeared ready to tumble down about their ears. Money and pro-
visions were very scarce ; obtaining a few beets the wife boiled them down in a
bake-skillet, pressed the juice out and then boiled it down into molasses.
The first "two-bits " that he got in money was for a piece of leather. With
676 HISTORY OF SALT LAKE CnV.
this he bought a shin of beef, and his wife boiled it every day for two weeks, un-
til broth could no longer be extracted from the bones.
It is only by the narration of such personal experiences, that the reader of
to-day is enabled to realize the privations which the early settlers of this Territory
had to endure, for the experience of one is the story of the whole, with merely
some variety^ and the example of a case is suggestive of a thousand-and-one needs
of the community when a bushel ot wheat was worth its weight in silver.
When the spring opened, and the tanners got out a little leather, times grew
better with Pugsleyand his family, for leather and shoes, being among the most
essential needs of a community, those articles, more readily than any others,
commanded the limited supplies of the country in those times. The women
could even do without their tea and sugar, the men without their tobacco, but
shoes to the workers who plowed the land and went into the canyons to haul wood,
for building purposes and for fuel, were nearly as needful as the "staff of life."
Philip Pugsley " kept pitching in," to use his own homely but suggestive word-
painting of the hard work and constant struggle of those days, when all our self-
made men were "pitching in" to get their own start in life, found cities and set-
tlements in the Great American Desert, and to establish the many industries of
the Territory of which we now can boast. As we have already said, Pugsley was
among the foremost of these industrial men, and the branch of business in which
he engaged was the earliest of our manufacturing activities. He made some means
in the leather trade, which was the basis of the capital which he has since con-
trolled and invested in other branches of enterprise, as fast as they developed.
In the spring of 1858, his folks were with the community in their " move
south," but Captain Pugsley was left with the detail to guard the city, he belong-
ing to the police force. Sometimes there was only himself in the city. But he
kept the tannery going notwithstanding, working by day and guarding by night.
Nathaniel Jones and James W. Cummings at that time owned the Fifteenth Ward
tannery, but being ptincipal officers in the militia they were out with their respec-
tive commands ; so they sent down their unfinished leather to Pugsley — 700 large
kips and calf skins, and 500 sides of harness and sole leather.
The exodus of the people South had suspended the planting of crops, but
there was a great deal of self-sown grain in the fields near the city, which promised
a fair harvest. Much of this was in danger of baing destroyed by the camping of
the companies on their way back to the northern settlements, but Captain Pugsley
was appointed by Marshal Jesse C. Little to station himself on the State Road
from Gordon's to Salt Lake City, to prevent the companies from camping within
that boundary; and this guard duty being effectually performed ,the self-sown
wheat was saved and good crops were cut at harvest.
On the return of the people to their homes, Ira Ames concluded not to start
his tannery again. It was just at this time that Cache Valley attracted so much
attention, and the community having been disturbed by the exodus, multitudes
poured into Cache Valley and founded the cities which now constitute Cache
County ; and with these settlers of the north went Ira Ames, who sold his tannery
and bark to Philip Pugsley. Nobody had peeled bark that season, and Pugsley
had now the only bark in the city ; so he sold bark to re start the other tanneries
IF
HISTORY OF SALT LAKE CITY. 677
— Mr. Wm. Jennings' and also that of Golding & Raleigh — and thus was renewed
the home manufactory of leather. He now left the police service, and attended
altogether to the manufacturing business, and from that time Philip Pugsley has
been one of the foremost in nearly all of our home manufacturing enterprises^
William Jennings and John R. Winder, in partnership, started in the leather
business in 1855. Their place of business at that time was adjoining the property
where the Walker House now stands, and behind Mr. Jennings' old residence.
They associated with their tannery the harness and boot and shoe branches and
also a butcher shop. Just before the " move south," they built the Octagon
House on the corner where the Eagle Emporium now stands, and continued busi-
ness there for awhile in partnership. After the move Brigham Young, Feramorz
Little and John R. Winder started a tannery on Canyon Creek, John R. Winder
being the practical partner of the firm and manager of the business. Brigham
Young also established a shoe shop on his own premises, inside the wall near his
family school house. This shoe shop will be well remembered. He employed
about a dozen hands in this shop and they made boots and shoes for his family
and numerous employees. He also had a butcher's shop, saddle and harness
maker's, carpenter's, large blacksmith's shop, which is still alive and busy under an-
other management, a lumber yard and a store well supplied with States' goods.
Undoubtedly Brigham Young was, in those days, the largest employer of laborers,
mechanics, business managers and clerks in the Territory, and all his establish-
ments were for his own people and employees, and not for trade with the public.
Hiram B. Clawson was his general business manager ; George W. Thatcher, of
railroad fame, as superintendent of the Utah Northern, was his commissary, and the
present apostle, George Teasdale, commenced his life in Utah as the President's
store-keeper. In fine Brigham Young was the great patron and promoter of home
manufactures and home industries, and he took a special pride in the employment
of numerous hands. In one of his sermons, delivered about a quarter of a cen-
tury ago, he made this characteristic utterance ; " I have grown rich by feeding
and employing the poor." He scarcely ever turned an applicant for labor away
unemployed. In some department he made room for the applicant or else he
created a place for him. He also employed female hands, such as shoe binders.
His hands \.-ere better paid in kind and with larger wages than any others in
Salt Lake City, or indeed in the Territory. Hundreds of our citizens have ob-
tained their lots, their houses and their supplies for years in the employment of
President Young. He also, through his agents, brought on a vast amount of ma-
chinery to engage in and to encourage home manufactures and home enterprises
in general. On this head Horace S. Eldredge speaking of his mission to the
States in the spring of 1863, says:
"Having been called upon to go again to New York to superintend the emi-
gration, I left by overland stage in company with F. Little and L. S. Hills — the
two latter to remain at Florence on the frontiers to attend to the outfitting, and I
proceeded to New York to attend to forwarding the immigrants from that point
to Florence. Having some means of my own, I invested between ^8,000 and
^10,000 in machinery for a cotton factory, which was got up under contract by
Messrs. Danforth & Co., of Patterson, New Jersey, with the understanding that
678 HISTORY OF SALT LAKE CITY.
President Brigham Young would hive the sime freighted to Salt Lake City and
erect buildings for them.
'•While in New York, I was induced to purchasesome small lots of staple goods
which I considered would meet a ready sale on their arrival. I therefore invested
a few thousand dollars, and on arriving home found that my friend Hooper had
been doing the same as a similar adventure. On comparing invoices we found
we had a very fair assortment, and including what I had in store of my original
stock, would justify us in opening a retail store which would give us employment
during the approaching winter.
"Having a very fair line of staple goods, we had a successful trade and
realized fair returns for our investment. In the meantime, W. H. Hooper had
invested between twelve and fifteen thousand dollars in woolen machinery for the
sake of encouraging home manufacture, and President Brigham Young proposed
purchasing our interests in the cotton and woolen machinery and to pay us in
freighting merchandise from the Missouri River the coming season. This arrange-
ment was entered into, and in the spring of 1864, we proceeded to New York
and other Eastern cities and purchased our goods, amounting to over one hundred
and fifty thousand dollars first cost, the freight on the same amounting to over
eighty thousand dollars."
Nathaniel V. Jones and James W. Cummings in the early days were also en-
gaged in the leather trade. Their tannery was in the Fifteenth Ward. It was
started by the merchant Hockaday, the partner of the mail contractor Magraw,
who figured prominently in bringing on the Utah war. Howard, the dis-
tiller, and H. E. Bowring, saddle and harness maker, were very extensively en-
gaged in the leather trade under the firm name of Howard & Bowring. Howard's
tannery was the original Mulliner tannery. They soon, however, divided partner-
ship, but each continued largely in the business. They were located near to-
p;ether on the Main Street, occupying the quarter in which the leather business
started, but Bowring purchased the tannery of Jones tSc Cummings in the Fifteenth
Ward, while Howard continued m the Mulliner establishment, the various branches
of his business being conducted by his son-in-law, Isaac Brockbank. They man-
ufactured quite a quantity of boots and shoes, and carried on a busy saddler's shop.
But undoubtedly William Jennings was the greatest of the Salt Lake home manu-
facturers. His large tannery near the Court House was the most conspicuous
manufacturing establishment in the city. President Young had a woolen factory
in Sugar House Ward. This factory is now owned and run by Jennings & Sons.
But the Provo Woolen Mills have, up to present date, made the broadest mark in
the cloth line, and the company established a house in Salt Lake City for the sale
of its goods. It was at first under the charge of Eliza R. Snow, with her lady as-
sistants ; but it was afterwards placed under the management of John C. Cutler,
a young man of energy and much business capacity, who, with his brothers, brought
the concern to a decided success, to the great help of the Provo Woolen Mills.
It being thus closely related to the home manufacturing trade of our city a pas-
sage of its history may be properly quoted from the author's "History of Provo."
It was a leading policy with the men who founded the colonies of Utah to es-
tablish those branches of home manufactures most needed in the settlement of a
HISTORY OF SALT LAKE CI7Y. 679
r
f new country ; but the progress of our home manufactures in the early period was
necessarily very slow.
For nearly a quarter of a century supplies had to be hauled a thousand miles
or further in wagons; and it was, therefore, almost impossible to transmit the
machinery requisite for the construction of the factories requiring heavy metal ap-
purtenances. We had to content ourselves with the simplest forms of machines,
and consequently the home made goods hardly bore comparison with the imported.
Clothing, boots, shoes, and other goods made here were homely indeed. The
advent of the transcontinental railroad made it possible to procure engines, ma-
chinery, etc., with which to furnish work shops. Yet, when the railroad
laid at our doors all manner of clothing and other luxuries of civilization at low
prices, the very desire to support home manufacturers was decreased rather than
increased. But the Provo woolen factory, which was started soon after the com-
pletion of the railroad, restored confidence to our home manufacturing industries.
Indeed, it will be marked in the history of this Territory that it was the Provo
Woolen Mills that brought Utah manufactures from a primitive condition to a
commercial status, placing our home made fabrics on the market side by side with
imported goods, competing with them in quality and price, which was necessary
to be done before home manufactures could possibly become a decided success.
Next to the Provo Woolen Mills came the Salt Lake Shoe Factory of Zion's
Co-operative Mercantile Institution, which, like the Woolen Mills, employs num-
erous hands, and is conducted upon the modern manufacturing system. The
Provo Factory, being the most conspicuous industrial building in our Territory,
turning out fine fabrics which were fully equal to the imported, was un-
doubtedly an example to the capitalists of Z. C. M. I. of what could be done in
a sister branch of manufactures, while the success of the Provo Woolen Factory
and the Salt Lake Shoe Factory has induced Z C. M, I. to handle their goods in
preference to the imported, and that, too, upon a sound commercial basis, rather
than as a mere patron of favored establishments of home industries. Thus con-
sidered, the Provo Woolen Mills will stand as the first monument in the manufac-
ing history of our Territory.
June ist, 1869, a company, known as the Timpanogos Manufacturing Com-
pany was organized with a capital of $1,000,000, in 10,000 shares of $100 each.
The mill site was bought of the Hon. John Taylor, and, as soon as the company
had matured its preliminary business, the ground was broken. The following is
a note from the diary of Secretary L. John Nuttall :
" Saturday, May 28, 1870. The southeast corner stone of the Provo Co-op-
erative Woolen Factory was laid at half-past nine o'clock a. m. by President A.
O. Smoot. Upon the stone being laid. President Smoot offered prayer, after
which Bishops E. F. Sheets, Myron Tanner, and Andrew H. Scott, and Elder
Thomas AUman made appropriate remarks.
" President Smoot prophesied that this corner stone shall remain steadfast
and sure."
The " Provo Woolen Factory " was established very much after the same
pattern and with the same spirit as that of Z. C. M. I. itself; the one represent-
ing the mercantile institutions of Zion, the other her manufacturing institutions.
68o HISTORY OF SALT LAKE CnV.
The erection of the buildings was under the management of Mayor A. O.
Smoot, and were finished in the spring of 1872. From the breaking of the ground
the work progressed with vigor, and skilled workmen came from all parts of the
Territory to assist in building a factory which was designed for the employment of
hundreds of hands and to earn for the Territory millions of dollars by home in-
dustries. The buildings were erected at a cost of $155,000; and the men, as a
rule, who did the work and furnished the material, took stock for their labor.
Associated with President Smoot in the construction of these works was Bishop A.
H. Scott, who rendered most efficient service.
For the purchase of suitable machinery, President Young advanced over
$70,000 in cash, and F. X. Loughery of Philadelphia was engaged to put the ma-
chinery in place and start it.
In 1872 The Timpanogos Manufacturing Company was incorporated, with the
following officers :
Brigham Young, president; A. O. Smoot, vice-president; Myron Tanner,
VVm. Bringhurst, O. Simons, Jos. S. Tanner, A. H. Scott, directors ; H. A.
Dixon, secretary, L. J. Nuttall, treasurer.
In October, 1872, the cards and mules started, and yarn was spun and mar-
keted ; but it was not till June ist, 1873, that cloth was manufactured. Secretary
Nuttall notes in his diary : " Oct. 4th, the first wool was carded at the Provo
Woolen Factory to-day."
Owing to some defect in the constitution, the Timpanogos Company was dis-
solved on the 13th of October, 1873, ^""^ o" ^^^ ^S^^ of •^'"'^ same month the
Provo Manafacturing Company was incorporated with a capital of 5500,000 in
5,000 shares of ^100 each. Officers remained the same as before, excepting that
Myron Tanner was appointed superintendent in the place of A. O. Smoot. The
reason of this reorganization is thus explained : When the Timpanogos company
was organized, there was no Territorial statute authorizing the organization of co-
operative institutions, but in 1870 the Legislature of Utah passed a general incor-
poration act, under which this company v/as reorganized, with the name of the
Provo Manufacturing Company.
The stock was issued and bonds given to the stockholders to the amount of
$200,000, insuring them ten per cent, per annum. As the bonds were held by
the stockholders, and it being of litile benefit to the institution, it was deemed
advisable, in the year 1878, to recall them — nineteen-twentieths being considered
sufficient to accomplish the retirement of the bonds. At the present writing the
bonds are all retired. This is an evidence of the interest which the stock-
holders have taken in this branch of Utah manufacturing industries, when
they were willing to sacrifice a certainty — as these bonds drew len per cent, an-
nually and take their chances upon dividends that might accrue from the stock.
It is something unprecedented in the history of any business corporation.
For some time after the cloth was put upon the market the Provo goods did
not meet the encouragement deserved. They were excellent in quality so far as
durability was concerned, but lacked the finish of the imported article. This, to-
gether with the prejudice manifested against home manufacturers generally, for a
time retarded the progress of the factory ; but with the improved facilities of to-
HISTORY OF SALT LAKE CITY. 68i
r
f day, and its operatives brought to first class proficiency, the Provo fabrics will now
compete with the same class of imported goods.
Myron Tanner was the first superintendent of the manufacturing department,
with efficient foremen. Under his superintendence the first cloth was made and
put upon the market. He served to the general satisfaction of the company till
the fall of 1874, at which time he was succeeded by Mr. James Dunn, under whose
efficient management and under the direction of the board of directors, the Provo
Factory has reached a first class working status and achieved a reasonable success
generally. The Factory was run under the able management of Mr. Dunn until
May, 1884, when he resigned for the purpose of going into business for himself.
By the action of the board of directors Mr. Reed Smoot was appointed to
succeed Mr. Dunn as superintendent, Mr. Smoot having been more or less familiar
with the inside working of the Factory from the time that F. X. Loughery was
foreman.
In the year 1876 the Factory commenced to buy wool and also to ship it
east. The wool business has been reasonably successful.
When the company entered into this wool trade it involved the necessity of
borrowing from twenty to fifty thousand dollars, for which loan the Deseret Na-
tional Bank required President A. O. Smoot, who has been the financial backbone
of the institution from the beginning, to give his personal security.
In 1877, the company established an agency in Salt Lake City, with John C.
Cutler as agent of the commission house.
In 1 88 1, a retail store for the sale of merchandise and woolen fabrics was
started in Provo, under the management of the superintendent of the Factory.
The dimensions of the main building are 145 x 65 feet. It is a four-story
rock building, with a half mansard roof, covered with tin roofing. It has a pro-
jecting stairway, surmounted by a tower 30 feet above the roof. The upper story
is used for the storing and preparing of the wool for the cards. On the floor be-
low there are eight sets of cards and one hand mule of 240 spindles, two reels
and two spoolers. The next floor below is the spinning room, containing four
self-acting mules, of 720 spindles each. The ground floor contains 19 broad
looms and 38 narrow looms, 2 wrappers and dressers, i shawl fringer, i quilling
frame and i beamer, and a machine for a double and twist stocking yarn of 62
spindles. The finishing house is built of adobe, 70 x 30 feet, two and a half
stories high. On the first floor are three washers, three frillers, two large screw
presses, two gigs, one cloth measure, and one hard waste picker.
The factory is run by water power, with two Leffel turbine wheels, one 36
and the other 44 inches. The factory has a rotary pump, which is in operation.
Immediately south of the main building is situated a two-and-a-half story
adobe building, 33 x 134 feet. The upper room is used for the receiving and as-
sorting of wool, and the lower story for an office, salesroom, carpenter shop and
drying room. Attached to this building, on the east side, is a one-story frame
house, 30 X 60 feet, which is used for the dye-house and wool-scouring.
Connected with the Factory was quite a large flouring mill, but it was burned
down in the spring of 1879, involving a loss of $10,000.
44
682 HISTORY OF SALT LAKE CIT\.
The Factory employs on an average from 125 to 150 operatives, who were
mostly trained in the large manufactories of England and Scotland.
The company finds a market for their goods in every town and village tf
Utah, besides exporting some into Montana, Idaho and Colorado. Among it>
complete variety of goods, it manufactures about three thousand pairs of blankets
per year, which will compete with the same class of goods manufactured either,
efast or west. The amount of goods manufactured per annum is about $150,000
J. C. Cutler, as agent, sold from $100,000 to $120,000 per annum. The wool
purchases amount to about one million pounds, out of which the Factory manu-
factures between three and four hundred thousand pounds. The company has
done a' great deal of wholesale tra,de:
We return to the boot and shoe trade as culminating in the factory started
by Z. C. M. I., under the management of that practical and able manufacturer,
Wm. H. Rowe.
These already given of the causes of the slow progress of manufactures in
Utah, combined with a lack of capital, are a it'f^ reasons why manufacturing has
languished in Utah ; but a new era seems now to have dawned upon us. Political
and domestic economy requires the people of the Territory to seriously contem-
])late the fact that it is financially suicidal to continue importing nearly everything
required for use or consumption. No argument is needed to sustain this state-
ment,"every person of ordinary intelligence being able readily to comprehend it.
We are pleased to note, however, indications that ere long there will be many
branches of manufacture established throughout the Territory, providing employ-
ment to the hundreds of skilled artisans who are gathered here, and to the thou-
sands of young people who are rapidly growing up and anxiously seeking for
opportunities to acquire a knowledge of useful trades. , Already there are a {tfi
branches assuming substantial proportions, one of the most noticeable being the.
Shoe Factory of Zion's Cooperative Mercantile Institution. This factory is the
outgrowth of many efforts which had been made to establish a permanent business
in manufacturing boots and shoes, extending back fifteen years or more. It was
apparent to shoemakers and practical men generally, that a business of that char-
acter ought to be successful ; people cannot conveniently go barefoot, and as the
roads in the west are exceedingly rough, and the avocations of its citizens labor-
ious, the number of pairs of boots and shoes required by them exceeds the aver-
age of other countries; therefore, they reasoned, if .any branch of manufacture
could be made to pay in Utah the boot and shoe trade was the most likely to
succeed.
But the results of their trials generally terminated unsatisfactorily. Leather
was seldom allowed to remain long enough in the vats to get thoroughly tanned,
and then it was hurried so quickly through the process of currying, finishing and
making into shoes, that when worn it frequently proved to be lacking in many
essential qualities. The term "valley-tan" soon became, and is now, rather a
derogatory expression, ajjplied indiscriminately to any rough home-made article,
Viicluding \yhisky. In addition to the frequently pjor quality of leather they had
to contend with, master shoemakers had to pay high prices for the manufacture
of boots and shoes, the goods having to be made in the old fashioned rhanner,
fl
HISTORY OF SAL T LAKE CITY. 68
'^
on the lap, compelling them to charge much higher prices than thos.^ for which
imported articles could be purchased. Latterly, after some machinery was intro-
duced for the effort of competing with prices of imported goods, there were tlije
difficulties to encounter of not having experienced men to, manipulate the ma-
chinery, or to organize and operate factories on modern methods.' It was not
until Mr. W. H. Rowe, the efficient manager of Z. C. M. I. Shoe Factory, took
hold of tiie business that any thoroughly satisfactory head way was made in the
yvholesale manufacture of boots and shoes to compete with the imported ; although
great credit is due to the employees of the Workingmen's Co-operative
Association for having, in 1876, by instigation of Mr. D. M. McAllister,
voluntarily initiated a revolution in rates of wages, which demonstrated a
possibility of manufacturing for wholesale trade. The association alluded to
was organized, in March, 1874, by about twenty-five shoe makers, assisted
by a few friends, who made a heroic attempt to create employment for
themselves and others; but, unfortunately their capital was too small for the
purpose, and, although they were sustained by the public, it became evident,
after two years' struggle, that they were fighting against fate. At this juncture
of affairs, Mr. D. M. McAllister was appointed superintendent, and he succeeded
in keeping the business alive for another year, saving it from bankruptcy.
In March, 1877, Mr. Wm. H. Rowe purchased the business of the Working-
men's Co-op., and at once proceeded to lay the foundation of what is to-d^ay the
largest manufacturing enterprise in Utah. In addition to the fact that Mr. Rowe
must hereafter be recognized as a pioneer amongst the successful manufacturers in
this Territory, his natural ability, and the substantial character of the work he
has done for the benefit of the laboring classes and for' the community, demands
that he should receive more than a passing notice, and we therefore insert a short
biographical sketch of his life.
Mr. Wm. H. Rowe was born at Portsmouth,' England, February 14th, 1841.
At the early age of eleven years he commenced to learn the ghOe trad'ej working,
under the instruction of his father, at bottoming childs' shoes, ladies' vVelts, and
pumps, continuing on those classes of work until he was fifteen years of age. He
afterwards spent two years at cutting uppers, in an army custom-work firm at
Portsea. From the latter place he went to London and obtained a position as
foreman in the cutting department of an exporting shoe factory, that of Messrs.
A. & W. Flauto, Leadenhall St.; remaining there three years. He next <b€came
associated with M. &: S. Solomon & Co. of Tuillerie St., Hackney Road, London,
and he continued with them eleven years, until he emigrated to Utah. When
he commenced business with Messrs. Solomon they had but three cutters at work.
The senior members of the firm being unacquainted with the routine of factory
work, the management of the hands, therefore, rested entirely upon Mr. Rowe,
whose assiduity and energy was the principal means of increasing the business,
'until, just previous to his retirement, they had thirty-eight cuttei's ernployed, and
manufactured a daily average of fifteen hundred pairs of fine shoes and slippers. In
this labor he was principally assisted by his wife, who had charge of a large num-
-bier of young women, employed at fitting and machining the uppers, Mrs. Rowe
itl^ijig herselifi; ail, experienced and exceedingly expert machinist.
684 HISTORY OF SALT LAKE CITY.
The thoroughly practical experience obtained by Mr. Rowe, as shown in the
foregoing outline, gives the key to the reasons why it was possible for him to suc-
ceed where others had not, and also indicates plainly to all intending manufac-
turers that the first step taken by them should be to secure foremen who have been
similarly trained in their respective trades.
Mr. Rowe arrived in Salt Lake City with his family in the summer of 1873,
and soon thereafter accepted a position in the shoe and leather department of
Z. C. M. I. Hij unmistakable practical business qualities were quickly observed,
and he was in a short time advanced to the leading position in that department.
Possessing an unusually agreeable and genial disposition, he excelled as a sales-
man, and the branch of business in his charge speedily grew into the largest of
that line in this city or Territory. He occupied this position for nearly four years,
but he was not entirely in his element ; his education and desire were in the di-
rection of manufacturing, and when the opportunity offered, as before stated, he
purchased the business of the Workingmen's Co-op., retained all the hands em-
ployed therein, and with characteristic energy, applied himself to the establish-
ment of a model shoe factory, and exclusive boot and shoe trade. Mr. Rowe at
once brought into action his thorough knowledge of manufacturing, and adopted
the English method of bottoming, using solid iron lasts and brass clinching
screws, a mode of fastening admirably adapted to the requirements and the peo-
ple in this Territory. The result was success. Business grew rapidly, and the
number of hands had to be continually increased.
In the fall of 1878, the Deseret Tanning and Manufacturing Association con-
templated starting a shoe factory, for the purpose of making up the leather pro-
duced in their tannery ; but the officers of the association being loth to conflict
in any manner with the good then being accomplished by Mr. Rowe, considering
that a unity of effort with him would be to the best interests of the community,
therefore made propositions which finally resulted in the amalgamation of his
business with theirs. Mr. Rowe was appointed superintendent of the organiza-
tion, resigning his individual enterprise with the hope that the prominent and
wealthy men with whom he thus became associated would greatly add to the facilities
for manufacturing.
Unity is not merely a pleasing subject for inspiring discourse among the Mor-
mons, it is a living principle which they seek to practice in their moral, social,
and business relationships. Being governed by that feeling, and realizing that it
would not only prevent a business conflict but also aid in increasing manufactur-
ing, and so benefit society by providing more employment, the directors of Z. C.
M. I., who were mostly officers also of the Deseret Tanning and Manufacturing
Association, decided that it would be to the best interests of all concerned to
merge the business of the latter into Z. C. M. I., which was accordingly done in
March, 1879. This movement was a further step in the right direction, because
Z. C. M. I., doing the largest boot, shoe and leather trade in the Territory, and
with abundant capital at command, is better able than any individual or firm to
invest in a manufacturing enterprise of this character, and to find a market for
the goods produced. We are assured it is the determination of the officers of the
institution to foster and increase this successful branch of their vast business, with
n^-
r/w>
HISTORY OF SALT LAKE CITY. 685
the object in view of ultimately making all the boots and shoes they can sell.
There are now one hundred and twenty hands employed in the shoe factory, includ-
ing eighty men, twenty boys, and twenty young women and girls.
When the boot and shoe factory of Z. C. M. I. started, the business of
this branch of that house amounted to $400,000 a year, only $70,000 worth of
which was of their own make ; now over $200,000 of the business of that house
in the boot and shoe trade are home made. This, of itself, shows the rapid pro-
gress made in the home industries of our city in the last few years since Z. C.M.I,
became its active patron and helper. The factory first started on stoga work, but
it now manufactures every class of goods, except babies' shoes. This progress
has been made by the efficient management of the factory and the education of
the employees up to a class of work that completes successfully with the imported
goods.
Not only has the factory built up itself, but it has also built up the tanning
department connected with the factory, in using the leather for which other-
wise it could not have found a market. It should be here mentioned that
all the Utah tanneries suspended work and passed out of existence on the
advent of the railroads, and this one established by Z. C, M. I. is a revival of
the leather-making business. The factory uses up 13,000 sides of leather a year,
made at its tannery, which is about equal to the whole tannage of the city in
early times. All those hides are from the Salt Lake butchers, which would have
to have be sent out of the Territory for a market but for this factory. Here fol-
lows a detailed description of Z. C. M. I. Shoe Factory, as given by the secretary
of this manufacturing department :
In the cutting room a dozen men and boys are employed. In this room the
first part of the manual labor is done. Care, skill and judgment are highly essen-
tial qualifications of the workmen in this department, as the materials used in cut-
ting are expensive, and a considerable degree of ingenuity is required to cut the
stock to advantage and with the least possible waste. The cost of material and
labor in the uppers averages about one-half the value of the finislied article.
There are nearly one hundred styles of boots and shoes made in the establishment,
and the large number of patterns required is surprising. Each shoe upper is made
of six or more pieces, and in cutting a set of sizes of ladies' shoes there are fre-
quently upwards of fifty patterns used. Manager Rowe is the designer of the
multitude of patterns, which constitute an invaluable adjunct of the business.
Nearly all the work in this department is done by hand. There are no two sides
of leather, or skins, exactly alike; it is, therefore, hardly possible to use machinery
in cutting uppers ; a few dies, and some small machines for cutting strips, is all
that is used here. We must not omit noticing, however, a remarkable ingenious
machine placed in this room for measuring leather. No matter how irregular in
form, nor how many holes there may be in the leather, the indicator of the ma-
chine will instantly show the precise quantity of surface in the side or skin placed
on it. Fully half of the material required for the uppers is imported, but we are
pleased to state a large amount is now made at the Z. C. M. I. tannery, and J.
W. Summerhays & Co. of this city furnish most of the lining skins and roans that
are used.
686 HISTORY OF SALT LAKE CITY.
,.'■ : The uppers, after being cbt and stamped with sizes and order numbers, art
assorted in what is called "case lots," that js five dozen pairs of shoes or one
dozen pairs of boots, and are passed into the fitting room. A work ticket accom-
panies each case lot, ob which, is detailed a description of the. goods, order No.,
Avho for, when wanted, .scale of sizes and number of pairs of each size, with lines
on which to write the name of each person who does any of the various desig-
nated portions of the work. We will. here mention that in the making of each
pair, of boots or shoes,' the labor of over thirty persons is represented.
In this room an Otto Silent Gas Engine, of seven horse-power, is located.
A peculiarity which every visitor notes in regard to the engine is that it is kept
locked up in a glass-enclosed room, and that it has no attendant. It needs no
attention except to oil, clean, start or stop it, and can be started or stopped in one
minute. There is no boiler, no fire, no smoke; no dust, no noise, no danger
connected with it; it feeds itself and consumes no more gas than it needs, is
therefore decidedly economical, and is truly one of the wonders of the nineteenth
century. This engine runs seventy-five machines belonging to the shoe and
clothing factories. The process of making the uppers is commenced by passing
the edges of the leather, which have to be sewn, under a revolving knife, which
rapidly takes off a shaving and reduces the edge to uniform thickness. The fitters
pasce the various parts of the uppers in proper position, and otherwise prepare the
work for the sewing machine. The operators receive the uppers thus prepared
and govern the lively moving sewing machine while it stiches the curved, scol-
loped or straight seams. A light pressure of the foot suffices to start or stop the
sewing machine instantly. The exhausting labor of feet and limbs is no longer
■necessary, and the engine thus proves a blessed boon to the young lady employees.
-It is exceedingly interesting to observe the astonishing rapidity of movement anti
beauty of work done by the machines, intricate designs in stitching being worked
with the greatest precision, under the expert guidance of the operators* A but-
ton-hole machine that automatically guides itself, making button-holes at the rate
of two per minute, with a perfection of stitch unequalled by hand, is one of the
most admired of the sewing machines. Several other machines in this room
seem, almost, endowed with intelligence, among them being the puncher and
eyeleter.. This machine punches holes, regulating the distance between, inserts
and fastens eyelets with great rapidity and perfect workmanship. The waxed-
thread machines are large and strong, being capable of easily sewing through
leather a half inch thick, and several of them carry two needles each, for stitch-
ing double seams on shoe fronts, etc.
The rooms described, connected with which are the packing department and
office, are located in the second story, west ^end of Jennings' Emporium Build-
ings. From there we can descend by an elevator to the basement, or sole leather
room. A fifteen horse-power steam engine, built at the Salt Lake Iron Works,
operates the machines in this and the bottoming departments. Connecting with
the south end of the basement is a boiler, room, in which there are two twenty
horse-power boilers, ore furnishes steam for the engine, the other to heat the
.entire premises.
The hands employed in the Sole Leather Room, cut and prepare the material
HISTORY OF SALT LAKE CITY. 687
required for the bottoms and heels of boots and shoes. The number of pieces
thus prepared averages twenty- four to eadh pair of boots or shoes, and as- there is
a daily production of about 400 pairs, there are, consequently, nearly io,oco
pieces of leather cut and fitted up every day in this room. The sole leather used,
is the best quality of California oak tan. The machinery employed includes two
sole-cutting presses; a guillotine knife, for cutting strips; a splitter, to reduce
the leather to uniform thickness; a heavy roller, through which the rough pieces
are passed, under great pressure, making the leather firm and smooth ; a moulder,
which moulds the soles into the curved form of a last ; a powerful heel press, and
a variety of smaller machines for trimming, skiving, etc. One of these small
machines is an ingenious contrivance for making nail holes. It accurately gua:ges
the distance from the edge and between the holes, ^.nd punches them with aston-
ishing rapidity. An important, and costly item in this dep)artment is the exten-
sive assortment of steel dies required for cutting soles, heel lifts, etc.,- used in
connection with the two sole- cutting presses. On the floor above this is^the bottom-
ing room. \y £1''V ::- '?'rr;y:';
The incessant pounding of .shoemakers' hammers, whirr of machinery, lively
movements of the workmen and array of racks filled with boots and shoes in pro-
cess of manufacture, combine to make a picture of industry that instinctively calls
to mind a hive of busy bees. The method of fastening soles on boots and shoes,
adopted in this workshop, is the same as has, for many years, extensively pre-
vailed in England, and is now becoming popular in America; it is called the
clinching screw process ; unquestionably the best in the world. Solid iron lasts
are used; the clinching screws are driven into the soles, with a stout, flat file ,•
the points of the nails turn on the last, after passing through the inner sole, and
they are then firmly riveted, or clinched, by blows of a heavy hammer. After the
soles and heels are securely fastened on, the boots or shoes having passed through
the hands of lasters, nailers and heelers, are then given to the heel breaster, who
manipulates a machine which, at one slice, cuts through the six, or more, thick-
nesses of sole leather comprising the heel and leaves a square breast next to the
shank. The heel trimmer next receives the goods. An old fashioned shoemaker,
accustomed to spend an hour or more in whittling a pair of boot heels into gQod
shape would almost be inclined to think that the magic art had been introduced
in the modern method of heel trimming as done in this establishment ; the' rap-
idity with which heels are trimmed, by machine, into the most perfect forms,- has
the appearance of a slight of hand trick. Although highly interesting to a • per-
sonal observer, it would be tedious to a reader to follow a detailed description of
the many splendid machines used in this department. Each machine is the most
perfect that can be obtained. We will simply name them in the order in which
they are used. Next to the heel trimmer is the heel filer and scourer, then the
edge trimmer; edge setter or burnisher ; heel burnisher ; sandpapering machine,
or buffer, for scouring the soles; following them are the bottom finishing machines,"
including revolving brushes for applying colors, polishing, etc.; also a machine
^ith heated steel stamps of various designs, for stamping a trade mark on the
spies ; and an embossing machine for gilding the tops of boots. -^
»--; From this room the goods are conveyed on the elevator up to the floor where
688 HISTORY OF SALT LAKE CI7Y.
the packing room is located. The process of cleaning and packing boots and
shoes involves more labor than is generally understood. Their attractive appear-
ance, or the reverse, depends greatly on the manipulation of cleaners and
packers. All boots are subjected to three or four rubbing and dressing opera-
tions, on boot "trees," before they are sufficiently smooth and polished to pre-
sent to the public, and ordinary leather or calf shoes are similarly treated.
There are competent foremen in each department of the factory, who are
specially instructed to permit no poor stock to be used, or imperfect work done
on the goods, and their duty is to carefully examine all goods as they pass through
the various hands in each room. By this means every pair of boots and shoes is
subject to frequent inspection. Damaged or poor goods are laid aside, and only
the best are packed for market.
To properly conclude our observations we will now look into the office. In
this quiet corner is generally to be found the principal moving power of the
whole concern, W. H. Rowe, Esq. He is one of those human electric ma-
chines whose business force is felt by all with whom he is associated. The suc-
cessful working of this factory speaks loudly for his acquaintance with details and
managing ability. In addition to supervising the Shoe Factory Mr. Rowe is man-
ager also of the tannery and clothing factory.
The employees of these manufacturing departments of Z. C. M. I. have estab-
lished, by Mr. Rowe's advice, a mutual aid society, which has proved highly ben-
eficial to them. The members of this society pay a very small sum monthly into
a fund from which they receive aid in case of sickness, and they hold meetings
frequently for social enjoyment and mental improvement. In all matters con-
nected wiih the growth of these manufacturing enterprises Mr. Rowe has had
efficient aid in the services of Mr. D. M. McAllister, and other faithful em-
ployees, men, boys and girls.
That these manufacturing concerns are accomplishing much good is a remark
hardly necessary to make ; every person can readily comprehend that the large
number of people employed are not the only persons benefitted, but that the
whole Territory indirectly participates in the advantages. We heartily commend
the laudable example of Z. C. M. I. in establishing and fostering these branches
of industry, and recommend others, who can, to go and do likewise.
To this may be added something more of detail of the overall and under-
wear department, under Mr. Rowe's management. The overall department was
first started by Mr. Spencer Clawson, while he was with Z. C. M. I.; but when
Clawson left to go into business for himself, the department was turned over to
manager Rowe, under whose enterprise it has constantly increased. He im-
mediately added to the original overall making, the underwear, which enabled
them to cut up 25,000 yards of Provo flannel the first year. This enterprise has
entirely cut out the importation of Chinese overalls. The division of labor
being adopted in this branch of business, a single overall going through thirteen
hands, has made it a decided success.
The overalls are cut by folding 72 bolts, about 3,600 yards, placed on a table
and cut into sections by hand, then cut by a power knife, which produces twelve
pairs of overalls per minute ; the stitching is done by sewing machines running
r
HISTORY OF SAL T LAKE CITY. 689
1,400 stitches per minute. The buttons are put on by a magnetic machine. The
production of the room is 400 pairs per day.
It is the nucleus of a clothing factory, on a large scale, towards which the
management is amimg.
In connection with Z. C. M. I. boot and shoe factory it is highly proper to
personally distinguish William Jennings as a home manufacturer.
Mr. Jennings is known to day as the successful merchant and a millionaire
of trade. This he has made of himself, but nature, made him for a manufac-
turer and an employer of the operative classes. The circumstances of the
country changed the bent of his life and threw him into the more profitable
avenues of a mercantile commerce rather than that of manufactures — more profit-
able, however, only for a time, for the commerce of the future will be chiefly con-
structed upon our home industries and native resources.
At first, Mr. Jennings was the manufacturer. He was in Utah nearly ten
years before he became the regular merchant. Dealing in cattle was a family vo-
cation, but notice in his history how soon he constructed several branches ot trade
nearest to his primitive business. He established a successful tannery and manu-
factured leather. He prided himself in this and made the best leather in the Ter-
ritory. The time was when Jennings' tannery was a great public good ; next he
became a large manufacturer of boots and shoes, and when he opened a mer-
chant's store he placed his home-made stock side-by-side with his States goods
and raised it to a cash value, competing in his own store with the imported article.
None of the other merchants of Utah did as much. This is by no means said to
the discredit of other merchants, but to mark out Jennings' proper line of useful-
ness to the community. At one time he employed a hundred men, and stopped
the importation of leather from the States. The co-operative organization of the
'' Big Boot " grew out of his original concern, as did also the Deseret Tannery &
Manufacturing Association, which business is still carried on in Jennings' Empor-
ium building and at the premises in the 19th Ward, under the auspices of Z. C.
M. I. Indeed, he was the original manufacturer of Utah and the only one worthy
of that name in the earlier days, though others are now rising, like hives of busy
bees, as illustrated by the weavers of cloth in Provo, and the boot and shoe man-
facturers of Salt Lake City. Furthermore, it may be noted that Jennings & Sons
are ambitious to make their Wasatch Woolen Mills (the pioneer woolen mills of
Brigham Young) the rival of the Provo Woolen Factory, in which case Salt Lake
City will own a little colony of cloth manufacturers as well as Rowe's colony of
boot and shoe makers.
In c:.nnection with William Jennings we should give a regular biographical
link of his early partner, John R. Winder :
John Rex Winder was born at Biddenden, in the County of Kent, England,
on the nth of December, 1820. In the year 1847 he first heard of Mormonism,
in Liverpool ; in the following year he rendered obedience to the Mormon Gos-
pel; and in February, 1853, sailed from Liverpool on board the Elvira Ozven,
which made the trip to New Orleans in thirty-five days. He steamed up the river
to Keokuk, and camped there until the 19th of July, when the company started
across the plains, arriving in Salt Lake City, October 10, 1853. He genedag
45
690 HISTORY OF SALT LAKE CIT\.
with Samuel Mulliner in the business of manufacturing saddles, harness,
boots, shoes, etc., and remained with him until the spring of 1855. He then
joined in partnership with Wm. Jennings, under the firm name of Jennings
& Winder, butchers, tanners, and manufacturers of boots, shoes, harness, sad-
dles, etc., doing a successful business in each department until the move
South, in the spring of 1858, when this partnership was dissolved. William
Jennings continued the business, and John R. Winder, in connection with
Brigham Young and Feramorz Little, started another tannery on Canyon Creek ;
this was carried on successfully until the railroads brought leather to the Terri-
tory cheaper than it could be manufactured at home. As already noted, the rail-
road caused a general suspension of the tanneries throughout the Territory, but
more particularly was this the case in and near Salt Take City. The last home
enterprise John R. Winder was actively engaged in (associated with Feramorz
Little, Wm. Jennings, W. H, Hooper, Geo. Romney, Elias Morris and others)
was the building and operating a new tannery in the Nineteenth Ward. After
putting it into successful operation, it was disposed of to Z. C: M. L, and is now
carried on by that firm, as detailed in the general history of the leather trade.
People arriving in the Territory to-day, when we have so many of the nec-
essaries and comforts of life — when we have our railroads, street cars, gas works,
foundries, mills and manufactories — seldom stop to think of the early days of
these settlements, when these things did not exist here, nor of the many trials and
difficulties that the early settlers had to encounter in bringing about the present
state of affairs, — many of them without a practical knowledge of what they under-
took to accomplish, without money or influence abroad that would secure credit,
without everything, in fact, except their indomitable will, perseverance, and faith.
Li connection with the lumber business, which forms so important a factor in
the building of cities, are the factories, containing a number of machines, called
wood-working machinery, consisting of planing and grooving machines, mortice
and tenanting machines, moulding and shaping machines, circular, fret and band
saws and a number of other useful machines, nearly all of which were unknown to
our grandfathers, but without which the whole country could not have taken such
giant strides the last half century.
The first successful effort to introduce this class of manufacture in Utah, was
by the firm of Latimer, Taylor & Co., consisting of four partners: Thomas Lati-
mer, Geo. H. Taylor, Charles Decker and Zenas Evans. The first two were sash
and door makers, the last two owned and ran a saw mill. It was in the winter of
1866-7, when the canyons were closed up, that the owners of the saw mill used to
sit around the fire at Latimer & Taylor's little shop (they —Latimer & Taylor —
being agents to sell their lumber). There they would talk about machines and
machinery, and study over an illustrated catalogue of the same, that had found
its way out here, and wish that they could raise the money to purchase the nec-
essary machinery to make a start in that business. They determined at length to
make an effort to borrow five thousand dollars, each one pledging himself and all
he was worth as security. It was also determined that as Latimer and Taylor had
the least of this world's goods, they should do the borrowing, and the other two,
being worth more, could give the security.
HIS TOR V OF SAL T LAKE CITY. 6gt
If the national currency had been then what it is to day, the borrowing
might have been a very difficult task, but as greenbacks then were worth only fifty
cents on the dollar, those who had money were not disposed to hoard it. In a
very short time the five thousand dollars were raised. Mayor Smoot furnished
three thousand at three per cent, per month, and the other two thousand was pro-
cured from various sources at five per cent, per month.
When we consider the high prices of everything in consequence of the depre-
ciation of currency, and the enormous rate of interest paid on the loan, we can
form some idea of the task these men had undertaken.
Orders were immediately sent through Fred. Perris for the necessary ma-
chinery, and in the fall of 1867, it was brought here by ox team, the freight
amounting to twenty cents per pound. A lot was rented opposite the southeast
corner of the Eighth Ward Square. A lumber yard was started and a planing
machine set up, but as yet they had no power to turn it. The first effort to run
was made wich a small two-horse power rig, which they hired for an experiment, to
which they had attached eight mules, but after turning the contrivance upside down
a few times, they came to the conclusion that they could never succeed in running
a four-horse machine with a two-horse power. Learning that Mr. Henry Din-
woodey was expecting a four-horse steam engine from the east, they negotiated iox
the same, and on its arrival, had their mill up, and the machinery all in
place, so that when the engine arrived, it was but a few days before everything
was in order, and they blew the first steam whistle that was ever heard in the
city. Young people, who had never heard one, came from all parts of the city
to witness the novelty.
Many predicted that it would be a failure, and the idea that Latimer and
Taylor, who were to run it, would make a success of it, seemed preposterous,
when it was known that Latimer was a potter by trade, and Taylor a calico en-
graver. Though neither of them had any experience with that class of machinery,
they started out to succeed, and Mr. Latimer being naturally a machinest, they
soon overcome the obstacles that inexperience left in their way. Fortunately for
them it was a busy season, mechanics scarce, and they soon had all they could do
at remunerative prices. By working early and late, and with the assistance of
the lumber from the other partners, they, at the close of the first season, had paid
off all their interest and settled the most pressing part of their principal.
Through the winter they made a stock of sash, doors and flooring from which
during the next season they expected to realize enough to clear off their indebt-
edness.
But they were doomed to fresh trials. On the forenoon of the 23d of June,
1868, their factory took fire, and though they were on the premises at the time, so
strong was the wind and so combustible the building and its contents, that within
twelve minutes the whole concern was burned to the ground. Nothing was saved;
one of the proprietors went home without his coat and the other without his hat.
They were without means, heavily in debt, and out of business.
Taylor here relates an incident that he is always fond of telling : One old
lady living in one of the outside wards, as soon as she heard of the fire, came
down to his house (walking ten blocks) and told him not to be discouraged, as he
6g2 HISTORY OF SALT LAKE CITY,
had burned down in the right time of the moon. He says he has often heard of
the moon having an influence over planting, reaping, and various other events,
but never thought it extended far enough to cover his case at that time.
It being the most extensive fire that had occured here up to that time, they
had the sympathy of the community, which took practical shape through the
efforts of Bishop Thomas Taylor, who collected from the business men of the
place, both Mormon and Gentile, about one thousand dollars, in sums of about
fifty dollars, which Latimer & Taylor would not take as a gift, but gave their
joint notes to pay as soon as they were able, without interest, all of which they
paid within two years, as far as they have any knowledge. They then bought the
burnt and damaged machinery from their former partners for one thousand dollars,
giving to each a note of five hundred dollars. Latimer set to work to repair the
damaged machines, while Taylor worked to support the two families. After a
whole season spent in repairs, they formed a new partnership in 1869 with W. H.
Folsom and George Romney, starting a steam mill on Folsom's lot on South
Temple Street. W. H. Folsom was a leading architect, and Romney had been
for years foreman at the Public Works. For several years previous to the part-
nership they, under the firm of Folsom & Romney, had been the leading con-
tractors and builders in the city. The uniting of these four practical hard work-
ing men made a strong team and insured them success, otherwise the introduction
of capital and lumber from the west about that time from the great Truckee com-
panies would have been too much for the old company.
After a successful business oi'" five years, during which this company built a
number of our principal stores and dwellings, Mr. Folsom sold out his interest to
Mr. Francis Armstrong, and has since held the position of Church architect for
the Manti Temple. The company then purchased the grounds where they now
are, put up a large mill, and continued to run under the name of Latimer, Taylor
& Co. until the death of the senior partner, Mr. Latimer, in October, 1881, when
the remaining partners purchased the interest of their former partner and changed
the firm to Taylor, Romney «S: Armstrong.
It has always been the aim of the company to sustain home industries, and
for a long time after the introduction of foreign lumber, they were the only ones
keeping a yard who dealt_in the home-made article, and to-day, in connection
with their outside stock, they take the entire proceeds of three home saw mills,
besides a large amount from several others, and also manufacture many things
that they could import and make more profit on. Thus the little struggling con-
cern of sixteen years ago is to-day standing in the front rank in contracting,
building and manufacturing. Their lumber contracts for the present year are
about four million feet, and during the building season they have had on their pay
roll about sixty names, paying over one thousand dollars a week in wages. These
hands, with their families, together with the men employed in the saw mill and
their families, must aggregate about five hundred persons who draw their support
from this firm. They have also built a number of houses on the instalment plan,
taking legal interest on the outlay, for people who would otherwise have been
paying rent to-day.
The late Thomas Latimer was born at Burslam, Staffordshire, England, in
HISTORY OF SALT LAKE CITY. 6pj
1828. He served as a potter. When he was about twenty years of age he was
baptized into the Mormon Church at about the same time that the " Eardley
Brothers" an.d " Croxall and Cartwright " came into the Church. They all
worked at the same shop and the latter, as is well known, established the pottery
industries of our Territory, while Latimer branched out into the lumber business
with Mr. George H. Taylor.
Latimer emigrated to St. Louis at about the year 1S50, where he stayed for
two years and then journeyed west with Mr. Eardley.
After his arrival in Salt Lake City in 1852, Latimer engaged in ditching and
adobie making for a season, after which he worked for Mr. Samuel Snyder selling
lumber and making sash and doors, which business he had learned since his arrival
in America. In that day mechanics were scarce; and he, devoting himself ex-
clusively to sash and door making and had all the work he could do the year round,
people coming to him from all the neighboring settlements. Thus commenced
this branch of business in our City as a specialty, the history of which is briefly
sketched in the foregoing.
Thomas Latimer died in the latter part of October, 1881, after two years of
illness in consumption. He was a genial, social, honest man ; his partners would
have trusted him with all they had, and by our citizens generally he was highly
respected.
George H. Taylor was born at Bloomfield, New Jersey, November 4th, 1829.
He was apprenticed to a calico engraver, and served five years.
Mr. Taylor and his wife came to this Territory in 1859, by ox team, landing
without a dollar on the i6th of September. Three days after his arrival in Salt
Lake City he went up to the saw mill in Big Cottonwood to work for Feramorz
Little, as a tail sawyer. There he worked six weeks and got his winter's provis
ions, when he went down to Sugar House Ward to spend the winter, during
which season he hauled lumber for Little from the mill to the city. In the spring
of i860, he moved into the city with his family, and sought employ on the Pub-
lic Works. He went into the carpenter shop, of which Mr. George Romney,
one of his present partners, was the " boss." Here he worked six weeks, learn-
ing his new trade, at a wage of $1.50 per day, at the expiration of which time he
found somebody to give him ^2.00
When Mr, Taylor commenced to learn the carpentry business he was thirty-
one years of age. He served his time with Mr. Charles King, the well known
Salt Lake builder. During his engagement with King, covering a period of two
years, Taylor had a hand in building some of the first principal stores on Main
Street, such as Walker Brothers' old store, the Town Clock store, and others which
at one time gave prominence to the merchants' street.
In those early days of struggle Mr. Taylor devoted his " overtime " at nights
to the engraving business, to which he was apprenticed, engraving on maple wood
for the stamping of embroidery. It was Taylor who started this class of work in
our city, in which he was afterwards succeeded by .Mr. Druce, who had his pat-
terns. After he had left Mr, King he went into business for himself, continuing
till 1867, when he joined partnership with Mr. Latimer, from which date the fore-
going sketches his industrial career.
6g4. HIS TOR Y OF SALT LAKE C12Y.
In the business and industrial history of Salt Lake City, Henry Dinwoodey,
the furniiure maker and upholsterer, stands at the head of his class as a home
manufacturer and employer of labor. Commencing business in the city ere
scarcely a commercial house was established, Mr. Dinwoodey's branch of home
manufactures has grown from small beginnings to his present fine establishment
on First South Street, which carries a stock equal to any Eastern house.
On his arrival in Salt Lake City in September, 1855, Mr. Dinwoodey en-
gaged by himself in the carpentry business^ and soon afterwards in the cabinet
business in partnership with James Bird, occupying a stand just south of the pres-
ent Continental hotel. They continued thus until the fall of 1857, when trade
and commerce were almost entirely suspended by the Buchanan expedition.
In the spring of 1858 he and his partner moved south, as did the whole peo-
ple of the northern cities and counties. With his partner, Mr. Bird, he went
into American Fork Canyon, repaired an old saw and grist mill, and commenced
making lumber. In the fall of this year he returned to Salt Lake City and went
into business for himself, hiring men and manufacturing furniture out of native
lumber.
Mr. Dinwoodey rented a piece of ground of Levi Richards, a little above
the corner where afterwards was erected Kimball & Lawrence's store. At this
time that corner, and the adjacent ground, was distinguished by nothing more
imposing than a pole fence, which will sufficiently suggest the primitive character
of Main Street when Mr. Dinwoodey pulled down a portion of that fence
and built his first furniture shop and store. Previous to this date, on this block,
which is now one of the principal business blocks of the City, the Old Constitu-
tion buildings was the only monument of trade in that part of Main Street ; for,
though commerce commenced at the upper part of Main Street, it very soon
took a direction south towards the " Old Elephant Corner, where both Mor-
mon and Gentile clustered, especially after the date of the return from the
" move south" and the evacuation of Camp Floyd. There were on the two
sides of Main Street, limited on the west side by what is now known as
"Walker's Corner" and ''Jennings' Corner," and on the east side by " Godbe's
Corner" and the '-Old Elephant Corner," nearly all the commercial and
business houses of the City. On the east side there were Gilbert & Gerrish,
William Nixon, Ransohoiif, Walker Brothers, Staines & Needham, John Kimball,
Godbe's Drug Store, the Salt Lake House (which was the first hotel in the City),
and T. D. Brown ; on the west side Gilbert Clements (the first manufacturer of
brushes in the City), Dan Clift, John M. Brown, Howard (tanner, harness and
boot and shoe maker), H. E. Bowring (also carrying on the same business), and
on Jennings' corner his butcher stall and store, which in time gave place to the
Eagle Emporium.
But, Mr. Dinwoodey having pulled down a portion of the fence on the Rich-
ards' lot, building his furniture shop and store thereon, business began to
return towards the Old Constitution Buildings, at the head of Main Street, where
Livingston, Kinkade and Bell opened the commercial activities of the city in
1849, where also Postmaster Bell kept the Post Office; the Council House, in which
HISTORY OF SALT LAKE CITY. 6gs
both the State of Deseret and the Territorial legislature passed their measures and
constructed their governmental work, stood as the crowning edifice of the early
times.
The location which Mr. Dinwoodey chose was at that time very suitable for
the furniture business. It possessed the advantage of being in the front street where
the merchants dwelt and sold ''States goods" for enormous profits, without his
expenses draining the home manufacturer's small percentage of cash needful to
carry on his business, in purchasing imported goods or furnishings, and that class
of material which could not be bought by exchange of home goods. It was im-
possible, at that time, for the home manufacturer to carry on business in a locality
where several hundred dollars in cash were required per month for rent, or to
compete with the merchants who sold States goods, and drained the city of its
cash while the manufacturer had to carry on his business and pay his men by the
primitive system of trade and barter.
Following close after Henry Dinwoodey came John Kimball and Henry W.
Lawrence, who pulled down the fence at the corner and built the Kimball & Law-
rence store. " States goods' " commerce and the home manufacturing trade had
now joined hands, supporting each other on the same block, while the Post Office,
under the management of Postmaster T. B. H. Stenhouse, gave bustle and pas-
sage to this portion of Main Street. Good stores soon sprang up along the entire
block, including stationers, music dealers, jewelers and millinery stores, and Sav-
age's art gallery.
Mr. Dinwoodey stayed on Main Street from 1858 to 1869 ; and it was at his
original stand that he established himself as a successful businessman who was able
to " pull down his old barns and build up greater;" to employ more hands in the
home factory and to import periodically large stocks of the finest eastern furniture.
Being unable to obtain sufficient room on Main Street for his largely in-
creased trade, Mr. Dinwoodey, in 1869, purchased a part of the "Bullock lot,"
where he erected his fine capacious establishment. . When the U. P. R. R. ap-
proached the city, he commenced to import furniture ; he was in the States pur-
chasing machinery and furniture when the last spike was driven, since which time
he has imported all classes of fine " States furniture," without diminishing his
large home manufacturing business.
But it is to Dinwoodey and his class as home manufacturers that the reminis-
cences of our city attach with particular historical interest ; and here may be
noted, as suggestive of this, one of the peculiar features of our home trade and
early industries, which will also illustrate how hundreds of our citizens obtained
houses and lots, and comfortably furnished homes, without scarcely ever handling a
dollar of cash.
Upon the shoulders of perhaps not more than a score of master business men
and employers, the home trade and the life of the city rested ; and it was they,
indeed, who found the ways and means to supply the chief wants of the people,
while less than a score of merchants were sufficient to carry on commerce in
" States goods."
After all the seeming commonality of the home manufacturer and the home
6g6 HISTORY OF SALT LAKE CIIY.
tradesman, the burden not only of the business of the city, but of the provisions
and comforts of the homes of the citizens rested on their enterprise and business
capacity. Indeed to keep their various businesses alive, and to make their own
homes desirable, they had to do very much the same for their employees, and
even for their customers. There were certain classes of home-made goods which
ranked on a par, others nearly so, with " States goods." Among such, most fa-
miliarly named, were furniture, boots and shoes, leather, harness, home-made
cloth and its class, earthenware, and particularly might be named the supplies of
the butcher's stall. Undoubtedly the people, through the sharpening pinch of
necessity, became smart traders, but much had to be done for them by the home
tradesman and employer, or by business compeers helping each other. They is-
sued due bills for the home trade, and for their employees, purchased lots, lumber
for building, adobies, the winter's firewood, etc., placing their workmen perhaps
a year's service in their debt. Indeed, it required no small amount of business
capacity, as well as integrity in honoring " due bills," to carry on the home busi-
ness ; and upon these requirements their own success rested.
It was just in the fulfillment of the requirements of trade in those times, that
Dinwoodey and a few others, made themselves'successful tradesmen in their various
lines. He opened accounts with every tradesman, or honest customer, who sought
him or he them, often opening accounts for his men in his own name, thus also
creating his own business; not a few of his employees since 1857, have obtained
their homes through his management for them. His home-made furniture is seen
from one end of the Territory to the other.
Thus home manufactures have struggled up these thirty-eight years, since Salt
Lake City was founded, to their present prosperous and promising condition.
We are of an opinion that Utah is destined to yet make her mark a? a manu-
facturing State as well as a mining State; and there are many signs already given
that she has fairly entered into her manufacturing period of growth. All who are
familiar with the resources of the Territory know that if Utah is rich in her sil-
ver she is more abundantly wealthy in her coal and iron ; and this should mean a
promise in due time of at least manufacturing importance, and perhaps, also, of
manufacturing greatness.
#1
i
HISTORY OF SALT LAKE CITY, dgy
CHAPTER LXXXI.
OPENING OF THE MINES. EARLY COUNSELS OF BRIGHAM YOUNG TO THE
MORMONS AGAINST THEIR GOING INTO MINING. GENERAL CONNER AND
HIS TROOPS PROSPECTING IN OUR CANYONS FOR GOLD AND SILVER. GODBE
AND HIS PARTY ANTAGONIZE "THE PRESIDENT'S" HOME POLICIES AND
ADVOCATE "THE TRUE DEVELOPMENT OF THE TERRITORY." MINING
OPERATIONS OF THE WALKER BROTHERS. EPITOME OF MINING OPER-
ATIONS.
We reach here the mining industries of our Territory, which since 1870 have
changed the very face of Utah history, and reconstructed the trade and commerce
of Salt Lake City.
When Utah was first settled, General Taylor said, "The Mormons have got
on the backbone of the continent." President Lincoln made a parallel statement :
" Utah will yet become the treasure-house of the nation."
The early history of the Territory is familiar to our readers ; it constitutes
one of the most wonderful chapters in the religious annals of the world. Three
important circumstances have combined to excite an interest in the public mind
regarding Utah, not as the abode of an independent religious community, but as
a region in which American enterprise and American ideas are destined to prevail.
These are : i. The discovery of silver mines everywhere in the Territory; 2.
The opening of the Pacific railroad, followed by the building of Utah railroads;
3. The influx of a Gentile population, influential in numbers, abounding with
men familiar all their lifetime with grappling with large enterprises and experi-
enced in mining operations in the Pacific States and Territories, and these backed
both by American and European capital. The mining population that began to pour
into Utah about the years 1S69-70, from the onset caught a glimpse of a new era and
saw in the future of Salt Lake City one of the principal centres of the continent.
They saw a vast Territory — once devoted exclusively to Mormon colonization and
Mormon ideas — transformed under their new auspices into an important section
of the nation occupied by millions of United States citizens. They have also be-
lieved that ultimately the Gentile population would largely predominate, and that
the Mormon community would be substantially blotted out, while the Mormon
people, as the tillers of the soil, the workers in iron, and as home manufacturers
and mechanics, would survive as the bone and sinew of the country. This pros-
pect has been very pleasing to the Gentile view, but as distasteful to the Mormon
view : hence the social discords of our local history.
The first mining record of Utah is that of the Jordan Mine in favor of one
Ogilvie and some others. Ogilvie, in logging in the canyon, found apiece of ore
which he sent to Colonel Connor, who had it assayed. Finding it to be good ore,
46
6g8 HISTORY OF SALT LAKE Cny.
Connor organized a party of officers and ladies of his camp and went over and
located the mine — the Jordan. A day or two afterwards, Colonel Connor wrote
mining laws and held a miners' meeting at Gardner's mill on the Jordan River,
where the laws were adopted and Bishop Gardner elected recorder. The district
was called the West Mountain Mining District.
It was thereupon that General Connor issued a circular announcing to the
world that he had " the strongest evidence that the mountains and canyons in the
Territory of Utah abound in rich veins of gold, silver, copper and other min-
erals, and for the purpose of opening up the country to a new, hardy and industrious
population, deems it important that prospecting for minerals should not only be
untrammelled but fostered by every proper means. In order that such discoveries
may be early and reliably made, the General announces that miners and prospect-
ing parties will receive the fullest protection from the military forces in this dis-
trict in pursuit of their avocations, providing, always, that private rights are not
infringed upon."
In March, 1864, another circular was issued by General Connor, which was
considered to be very threatening towards the leaders of the Mormon community
in regard to the Utah mines ; and in July of the same year he wrote to the War
Department an account of his action and policy, in which he said :
"As set forth in former communications, my policy in this Territory has been
to invite hither a large Gentile and loyal population, sufficient by peaceful means
and through the ballot-box to overwhelm the Mormons by mere force of numbers,
and thus wrest from the church — disloyal and traitorous to the core — the absolute
and tyrannical control of temporal and civil affairs, or at least a population nu-
merous enough to put a check on the Mormon authorities, and give countenance
to those who are striving to loosen the bonds with which they liave been so long
oppressed. With this view, I have bent every energy and means of which I was
possessed, both personal and official, towards the discovery and development of
the mining resources of the Territory, using without stint the soldiers of iny
command whenever and wherever it could be done without detriment to the
public service. These exertions have, in a remarkably short period, been pro-
ductive of the happiest results and more than commensurate with my anticipa-
tions. Mines of undoubted richness have been discovered, their fame is spreading
east and west ; voyageurs for other mining countries have been induced by the
discoveries already made to tarry here, and the number of miners of the Terri-
tory is steadily and rapidly increasing. With them, and to supply their wants, mer-
chants and traders are flocking into Great Salt Lake City, which by its activity,
increased number of Gentile stores and workshops, and the appearance of its
thronged and busy streets, presents a most remarkable contrast to the Salt Lake of
one year ago. Despite the counsel, threats, and obstacles of the church, the
movement is going on with giant strides."*
Thus the understanding grew prevalent in the public mind throughout America
hat Brigham Young and his compeers were implacably opposed to the opening
"^'These circulars and the communication to the War Department will be found entire in Chapter
XXXVI. of this history.
i
i
HISTORY OF SALT LAKE CITY. 6gg
of the Utah mines; but it is only common justice to them to give a passing ex-
position of the real facts of the case.
It has been seen that the Mormons migrated to the valleys of the Rocky
Mountains as a religious community and to preserve themselves as such, and that
they had not the remotest idea of coming west for the discovery of gold or silver.
Their brethren, however, of the Mormon Battalion were strangely fated to
discover the gold of California jointly with Mr. Marshall. This actually pro-
duced a crisis more seductive and dangerous to the existence of the community
than anything which had occurred in their history from the beginning ; and per-
haps no people in the world but the Mormons could have withstood the awful
temptation of gold. It was most consistent in the case that these Mormon high
priests should steady the ark of their own covenant and counsel the community
which they had transplanted to these Valleys not to go to the mines. The Cali-
fornia gold seekers wrote home and told the public of Brigham's sermons on the
subject of gold, "showing the wealth, strength and glory of England, growing
out of her coal mines, iron and industry, and the weakness, corruption and
degradation of Spanish America, Spain, etc., growing out of their gold, silver,
and idle habits." This passage indeed, from his sermon on gold and silver
hunting, delivered in the summer of 1849, '^ the very index of his social policy
as regarding the Mormon community, to whom, as their leader, it was his duty
to speak and counsel upon such a vital question of the hour. The following is
his counsel to the first company of emigrants from Europe brought out by the
P. E. Fund :
" Do not any of you suffer the thought to enter your minds, that you must
go to the gold mines in search of riches. That is no place for the Samts. Some
have gone there and returned ; they keep coming and going, but their garments
are spotted, almost universally. It is scarcely possible for a man to go there and
come back to this place with his garments pure. Don't any of you imagine to
yourselves that you can go to the gold mines to get anything to help yourselves
with : you must live here ; this is the gathering place for the Saints. The man
who is trying to gain for himself the perishable things of this world, and suffers
his affections to be staid upon them, may despair of ever obtaining a crown of
glory. This world is only to be used as an apartment, in which the children of
men may be prepared for their eternal redemption and exaltation in the presence
of their Savior ; and we have but a short time allotted to us here to accomplish so
great a work."
And in the light of the full history of our Territory as it reaches down to
this day the impartial sociologist would be compelled to admit that the policy and
counsel of Brigham Young as a leader of a peculiar people were well grounded.
Utah is unquestionably destined to become a great mining State of the Union ^
but it will be found (as the author believes) a century hence that the Mormons
will share it as a great manufacturing community, iron workers and farmers ;
while the Gentiles will chiefly be the owners and developers of the Utah mines :
a blessed prospect for all when the country shall rest from its turmoils. Leaving
the social exposition induced by General Connor's communications and circulars,
we return to the mines themselves.
J 00 HISTORY OF SALT LAKE CITY.
Mr. Stenhouse, who was the first to give the early mining history of Utah,
says: " In the summer of 1864, the Jordan Mining Company was incorpor-
ated by General Connor under the Laws of California, and work by a tunnel was
commenced on the mine, at a cost of sixty dollars per foot, which could now be
done for ten dollars. Blasting-powder was at that time twenty-five dollars a keg ;
now it is less than one-sixth of that price, and labor is also more abundant.
"The first smelting-furnace in the Territory was erected at Stockton, in 1864,
by General Connor. He, at this time, became aware of the importance of hav-
ing the mineral interest developed to the fullest possible extent, and induced a
large number of his California friends to enter into tiie enterprise. The Rush
Valley Smelting Company was organized at the same time, by the military offi-
cers at Camp Douglas, and a furnace was built by them at Stockton.
** General Connor followed, with his second iurnace on the reverberatory
plan, with an inclined flue, one hundred and fifty feet long. During the summer
and fall of 1864, furnaces were built by the following parties, in and around Stock-
ton and Rush Valley (mining prospects innumerable having by that time been
located in the neighborhood), viz : The St. James, Finherty, J. W. Gibson,
Nichols & Brand, Hartnet, Davids & Company, and one cupola blast-furnace by
Johnson, Monheim & Company. A cupelling furnace was also built by Stock &
Weberling, in the same year.
"But the treatment of ores by smelting was a task new to these Californians,
and their experience in milling the gold ores of their State was of no service to
them in this task. This disadvantage was increased by the fact that charcoal was
not abundant, that rates of transportation were excessively high, and both the ma-
terials of which the furnaces were built, and those used in the daily operations,
were very dear. These are circumstances which would tax the ability of the most
experienced ; and the Californians, unused to the work, failed entirely. A good
deal of money was spent, with no result, excepting the establishment of the fact
that the ores were easy to treat. During this time of trial, the usual history of
new mining fields was repeated, and companies which were organized with high
hopes spent large sums, and became bankrupt.
The Knickerbocker and Argenta Mining and Smelting Company was organ-
ized in New York, to operate in Rush Valley, and expended about one hundred
thousand dollars in the purchase of mines and the material for working them.
But, owing to the impossibility of making medium and low-grade ores pay, at
such a distance from the market, the company lost their money, and abandoned
tne enterprise. Thus, after two years of steady, earnest, hopeful toil — from the
time of the first discovery in 1863, to the same month in 1865 — the business of
mining had to be suspended to await the advent of the " iron horse," which was
to bring renewed vitality to the occupation of the miner.
With the failure to work the mines profitably, came the disbanding of the
volunteer troops, in the latter part of 1865-6, Their places could now be filled
by the regulars — the rebellion by this time having been suppressed — and, as the
owners and locators (who were principally military men) could not subsist on non-
paying mines, the question arose as to how their rights could be secured while
they were seeking employment elsewhere. Their method of solving the difiiculty
HISTORY OF SALT LAKE CITY.
'Ot
has resulted in the greatest injury to the cause which had its rise in their energy
and determination. They called miners' meetings, and amended the by-laws of
the district in such a manner as to make claims perpetually valid, which had had
a certain but very small amount of work done upon tliem. For the performance
of this work, a certificate was given by the district recorder. This certificate pro-
hibited all subsequent relocation of the ground. In consequence of this provision,
the mines of Stockton long lay under a ban, and it is only since the wonderful
discoveries made in neighboring canyons, that mining has been energetically re-
sumed there. While the operations, detailed above, drew attention chiefly to the
Rush Valley mines, discoveries were gradually becoming numerous in other
districts.
Here the mining history pauses until the years 1868-9, when it connects with
what was familiarly known as the " Godbeite Movement."
Mr. Eli B. Kelsey, thorough breaking off from Mormonism, and believing
that the hour had fully come to develop the mineral resources of the Territory,
started out in the old missionary style to lecture upon Utah in the Atlantic
and Pacific States, in the summer of 1870. He wrote to the papers, spoke to
'boards of trade,' published a pamphlet, and created quite an interest among cap-
italists, and was the means of sending into the mining district a hundred thousand
dollars in the fall of 1870. The first of Eastern capitalists who was converted,
was an enterprising merchant of New York, William M. Fliess, Esq., who joined
Mr. Kelsey, and advanced the " working capital" required to develop some valu-
able mines. From that time capital has flowed into Utah, and wealth has been
dug out of the mountains in such abundance — in proportion to the capital and la-
bor employed — as to justify the hope that Utah will yet be the first mining
country in the world.
The first discovery of silver-bearing lead ore had been made in the Wasatch
range, in Little Cottonwood Canyon, and in Mountain Lake, in the summer of
1S64, by General Connor, but nothing was done towards development until the
district was organized, in the fall of 1868 ; when, for the first time, operations of
any extent were begun on the mines by Messrs. Woodhull, Woodman, Chisholm,
Reich and others. The first shipments of galena ore from the Territory were
made in small quantities by Messrs. Woodman & Co., Walker Brothers, and
Woodhull Brothers, of Little Cottonwood ore, in July, 1868, being the first pro-
ducts of the Emma mine. Several other shipments were made in the fall of that
year, by the same parties. The completion of the Utah Central Railroad to Salt
Lake City, in January, 1870, presented the long-looked-for opportunity of em-
barking with certainty in the business of mining.
During the fall of 1868, and the spring of 1869, mining was taken hold of
with a will, and it was soon proved, beyond a question, that the mines of Utah
were possessed of real merit. What better proof can be looked for than the fact
that from the first discovery they were not only self-sustaining, but highly remun-
erative? The first shipment of ore to market having proved a- success, work was
pushed on with the utmost vigor on the mines already discovered. This was es-
pecially the case in Little Cottonwood district, on such mines as the Flagstaff,
Emma, North Star, Savage, Magnet, Monitor, and others. Thus an impetus was
■J02 HISTORY^ OF SALT LAKE CITY.
given to the business of prospecting for mines all over the Territory, and this led
to innumerable discoveries subsequently made. The export of ores has increased
from a few irregular weekly shipments, as in the fall of 1868, and throughout 1869.
to that of a regular and constant stream, during the summer months, of from four
hundred to six hundred tons weekly. In one month the Walker Brothers shipped
4,000 tons. In the two months — August and September, 1872 — 2,458 tons of
ore, and 1,362 tons of silver-bearing lead and iron, were sent out of the Terri-
tory. The latter item shows what progress has been made in smelting the ores
within the limits of the Territory itself.
It was during the excitement produced by the very rich developments made
on the Emma and other mines of Little Cottonwood, that "horn," or chloride
silver ores, of a very rich character, were discovered in East Canyon — now known
as Ophir District. The first location in this district was made on the 23d of Au-
gust, 1870, and was named Silveropolis. This location was soon followed by
many others of a similar kind of mineral, all proving, at the surface, to be very
rich — such as the Tampico, Mountain Lion, Mountain Tiger, Petaluma, Zella,
Silver Chief, Defiance, Virginia, Monarch, Blue Wing, and many others, with
promising prospects. All were found on what is known as Lion and Tiger Hills,
immediately south of Ophir City ; and the ores (unlike those of Cottonwood) are
adapted to the mill treatment alone.
At the same time, prospecting was going on upon the north side of Ophir,
where many very extensive ledges of lead ore, carrying silver, were found ; which
ores are adapted to the smelting process only. A remarkable distinction is to be
noticed in the character of the ores on either side of the canyon, at the bottom
of which appears to be the dividing line. On the north side, at the distance of
not more than one-third of a mile, is found a combination of sulphides of iron,
lead, arsenic, antimony and zinc — the iron predominating, and carrying silver in
appreciable quantities, with fifteen per cent, to forty per cent, of lead. On the
south side distant from the canyon about one mile, in a direct line, the silver oc-
curs as chloride, with little or no base metal. But, small as the quantity of the
other minerals is, they contain lead, molybdanum, antimony, and zinc, and there-
fore few of the mines yield ore that can be well treated without roasting. Prob-
ably fifty or sixty per cent, may be taken as rhe average yield of those ores in the
mill, when they are treated raw. But a proper roasting increases this to eighty-
five and even ninety per cent., and upwards. Some mines yield a remarkably
pure chloride-ore — a dolomitic limestone containing true chloride of silver in a
very pure condition.
It was at the time of these discoveries that the district now known as
"Ophir" was formed in that part of the Oquirrh range known as East Canyon,
and originally included in the Rush Valley District. Some forty locations had
been made as early as 1864 and 1865. The conditions under which the ore exists
in these mines is somewhat peculiar. It is in concentrations, which are often
small and exceedingly rich, or larger and less concentrated, though still very rich.
Mines were opened, which, when the overlying earth was removed, disclosed a
narrow vein, exhibiting along its length a number of "boulders" highly impreg-
nated with chloride of silver. These frequently assayed from $5,000 to $20,000
HISTORY OF SALT LAKE CITY. joj
a ton; though their value would vary very .nuch in different parts of the same
mass. As a rule, the ore of East Canyon may be estimated at ^80 to $150 per
ton in value, though considerable quantities run much higher. But the marvelous
stories of the ^10,000 and ^20,000 ore, found in boulders, attracted the attention
of prospectors in other parts of the West ; and these discoveries in Ophir, to-
gether with the wealth of the "Emma," have probably done more than any thing
else to bring about that strong tide of immigrating prospectors which have so
rapidly raised Utah to the position of a first rate mining-field. At all events, they
would probably have been sufficient for the work, had the other discoveries been
of less importance than they really are.
The working of these mines not only opened new districts, but revived the
activity of those which had suffered partial abandonment j and at present there is
not one district where important works are not going on. Great encouragement
was also received from Eastern and foreign capitalists. Important sales were
made, and a great deal of money brought in as working capital. At the same
time a number of smelting-works were built. The amount of ore which these
were capable of treating is variously estimated at from 200 to 400 tons per day ;
but itw of them are now running. In June, 1870, the Woodhull Brothers built
a furnace eight miles south of Salt Lake City, at the junction of the State Road
with Big Cottonwood Creek. It did some service in testing practically the ores
of the Territory, and from these works was shipped the first bullion produced from
the mines of Utah, It was smelted from ores of the Monitor and Magnet, and
other Cottonwood mines.
These works were soon followed by the Badger State Smelting Works, about
four miles south of the City of Salt Lake, on the State Road, which were com-
menced in August, 1870. They produced their first bullion on the 18th day of
March, 1870. The next works were those of Jennings & Pascoe, immediately
north of the city, at the Warm Springs. They contained reverberatory furnaces,
which are not well adapted to the average ores of Utah, but are useful for the
preparation of galena ore for the blast-furnaces. A cupola or blast-furnace has
since been added to these works, increasing their value greatly.
The next, and best designed works of any built in the Territory until a late
period, were those of Colonel E. D. Buel, at the mouth of Little Cottonwood
Canyon. The smelting-works of Buel & Bateman, in Bingham Canyon, which
followed, were built on the same plan as those in Little Cottonwood,
During the winter of 1870-1, Messrs. Jones & Raymond built furnaces in
East Canyon for the purpose of treating the lead-ores of that district. A renewal
of operations also took place at Stockton, and the works there have suffered greater
vicissitudes than any others in the Territory. Tintic, a new district, saw the next
establishment built. But, during the year 187 r, furnaces were erected in all
quarters: in Little Cottonwood, by Jones & Pardee; in Big Cottonwood, by
Weightman & Co.; in Bingham Canyon, by Bristol & Daggett ; in American Fork,
by Holcombe, Sevenoaks & Co.; and others. These were nearly all shaft-fur-
naces, rather rude in construction, though with some well built furnaces among
them. The only works which deserve notice, for the introduction of good
metallurgical models, are those of Robbins & Co., who built a large reverberatory
704
HISTORY OF SALT LAKE CITY.
furnace for reducing the ore by charcoal, after preliminary roasting ; and the
works of Colonel Buel, in Little Cottonwood, where the later constructions of
German metallurgists were introduced with good judgment and effect. The fur-
naces which Colonel Buel placed in his Cottonwood and Bingham Canyon works
have been repeatedly copied in later erected establishments, and have proved
themselves as serviceable in this country as abroad.
Thus sixteen furnaces were built in as many months, and the number has
since been increased more than one-half; but it cannot be said that great success
has attended them. Few have continued in active operation, and fewer still work
with the regularity necessary to success. It is impossible to doubt that a history
like this must be the result of inexperience. It is but a repetition of the course
of affairs in Nevada, where men accustomed to the amalgamation of gold under-
took to treat silver ores, which require a very different process. They at first
ascribed their failures to some peculiarity of the ores, which were thought to be
different from any others in the world ; but now they confess that the cause of their
difficulties was simply ignorance. Undoubtedly that is the real secret of the trouble
experienced by smelters in Utah ; and, doubtless, when they have become more
experienced, they will not hesitate to acknowledge that ignorance of the work was
the cause of their first failures, instead of giving the numerous excuses that are
now current.
In addition to the foregoing means of reduction there was built in Ophir Dis-
trict, East Canyon, a first-class crushing and amalgamating mill, in May and June,
1871, by the Walker Brothers, of Salt Lake City. It is known as the Pioneer
Mill. It has fifteen stamps, and was built by the firm to work the ores of the Sil-
veropolis, Tiger, Rockwell, Zella, Silver Chief, and other mines — the mill-process
alone being adapted to the ores of that section of Ophir known as Lion Hill,
where horn chloride silver ores are found. There are also four or five "Mexican
arastas" in successful operation in East Canyon. The mill-men have met with
better success in Utah than the smelters, for they are engaged in a task familiar
to them, the process being the same as that in use in Nevada and some parts of
California.
Notwithstanding all the discouragement which has been met with hitherto
by the smelters, the progress of mining in Utah has been wonderful. Remember-
ing that the first really practical work done towards the development of the min-
ing interests was commenced only in the fall of 186S, and making due allowance
for the inclement season then at hand, which the miners had to pass through in
such high altitudes as those where the mines are situated, it will be understood
how it was the summer of 1869 had progressed so far before work to any apprecia-
ble amount was done. Considering the shortness of the time, the record of what
has been done is most extraordinary.
From the summer of 1S69 to the 25 th of September, 1871, there were shipped
from the Territory 10,000 tons of silver and gold ores, of the gross value of $2,-
500,000 ; of bullion, or pig-lead, containing gold and silver, 4,500 tons, of gross
value of $1,237,000 ; copper ores, 231 tons, of the gross value of $6,000. Salt
has also been exported to the extent of 1,100 tons, of the value of $4,000; and
silver bars, obtained by milling chloride ores, have produced $120,000. The an-
HJSTORl OF SALT LAKE CLTY. yoj
nual product of gold from Bingham Canyon, by improved appliances for washing
and sluicing, has been increased from ^150,000 to ^250,000. The number of
districts by exploration and location has grown from two, as in 1868, to thirty-
two in 1871. Since June, 1870, there have been erected eighteen smelting-fur-
naces, built at an aggregate cost of ^200,000, several of which are producing
bullion.
The above is a comprehensive history of the growth and development of the
mining interests of Utah from the day when General Connor and his men first
discovered the Old Jordan in 1863 until the time when mining was no longer an
experiment, but had become one of Utah's chief industries. Since then the
searching pick of the prospector has been actively bringing to the light of day
mineral deposits in all parts of the Territory ; until an account of even the valua-
ble mines of each district would require a more extended article than the most
industrious reader would desire. There are excellent mineral indications on the
Idaho line ; and developments in the extreme south of the Territory have shown
rich deposits of a peculiar character that have surprised and perplexed the most
practiced mining experts. So, also, the Clifton and Rose Bud districts to the
west give promise of future wealth, and from the almost unexplored southeast
come frequent tales of rich placers and gold-bearing quartz veins.
While research has thus been made as to the extent of the mineral-bearing
portions of Utah, there have been many splendid results from individual mines.
Since the day, when, as it is said, mining was at its hey-day flush of prosperity,
the owners of such mines as the Ontario, Mono, Horn Silver, Flagstaff, Old Tele-
graph, Great Basin, Crescent and others innumerable, have all made great fortunes.
True, to offset this, some then considered permanent and of great value, have be-
come worthless. But who shall lay this to the fault of the mines themselves ?
Who shall say that, in many instances, the supposed durability of these played-out
mines was not, in the main, the misrepresentations of scheming operators? In
other cases, these seeming failures are not real. Mines currently reported of great
prospective value in those days were rich only in the conscientious, but hopeful
and visionary minds of their owners. Still others retain their value, but the ope-
rators are financially unable to carry on the developments necessary to reach a
paying condition of the mines. By this fair method of elimination, it will be seen
that the real and true failures of the mines of Utah are very itw indeed ; on the
contrary, it is considered by miners of extended experience that Utah presents an
unusually safe field for mining adventure.
The mines of Utah have held and will hold their own. The field is so large,
the precious yield so rich and varied, the fortunes in the past so conspicuous, and
the domain of the future so hopeful, that it will be a phenomenon in the economy
of events if Utah does not become a great mining success.
Millions on millions of dollars have been dug from the dark breasts of Utah's
mountains. Towns have been built, expensive works have been erected, the busy
hum of toil has gone on for years; the mountains have echoed with the miner's
blast and the valleys have been made dark with the smoke of furnaces. Piles of
dingy ore have been dragged from the secret chambers of the hills, and streams of
glittering metal have flowed from the smelters. Men and fortunes have come and
40
7o6 HISTORY OF SALT LAKE CITY.
gone ; but the buried wealth of the Territory has only been trifled with. The
restless activity of the American mind has allowed only a superficial examination
of our treasures. The readiest road to a quick fortune has been the only one
traveled. Gold, silver and lead — the cream on the surface of the dish — are all
that have as yet been sought after. Our real treasure trove, the base and founda-
tion of future eminence, our iron and coal, are almost untouched. Within the
borders of this promising Territory lie beds of coal of an immense extent and
value. Near by, are enormous quantities of purest iron which will, one day, en-
able Utah to rival and outvie any State in the Union. At other points have been
discovered the useful minerals necessary to make these principal ones of complete
utility, such as sulphur, parafhne, graphite, etc. Other metals are also to be pro-
cured, including copper, antimony, quicksilver, bismuth and tin.
It is not the purpose nor within the capacity of this chapter (which is but as a
link in the history) to deal with the voluminous detail of the Utah mines ; but,
before closing the subject, it seems proper to review briefly the general mining
operations of the Walkers, who, undoubtedly, were the chief instruments in work-
ing out success for Utah mines in 1870.
At the opening of the year 1870, when the Walker Brothers took hold of
mining, there had been but very little legitimate mining done in Utah, though
considerable prospecting had be«in carried on as shown in the preliminary history
of Utah mines as written by Mr. Stenhouse. Placer mining had been carried on
to a limited extent in Bingham canyon, a few men making a living of it ; but sa-
gacious men of enterprise, like the Walker Brothers, whose attention had for
years been attracted to the mines of Utah, through the prospecting of General
Connor and his troops, saw that quartz mining only could benefit the country,
and at this time quartz mining was very limited. The Walker Brolhers' financial
help having been sought by the discoverers of the Emma prospect, they went to
look at it ; and becoming fully assured that the vast mineral resources of Utah
could be successfully worked, if sufficient capital was brought to the help of the
discoverers of good mines, and being also convinced that the Emma prospect was
such a mine, they purchased an interest in it with Messrs. Woodhull, Woodman,
Chisholra, Reich and others. The new combination was most fortunate ; and as
the Walker Brothers, like the family of the Rothschilds, were known to have at-
tached to their lives that magic something called "luck," a settled faith grew in
the public mind at home that the Utah mines at length were indeed opened, and
soon a kindred faith in the mines of Utah spread throughout America and Europe.
The Emma was the first silver-lead mine in Utah that obtained a paying
status. At the time of its development there were no silver-lead reduction works
in the United States excepting one or two which had just started, the most noted
of which is the Balbach, New Jersey, reduction works.
After becoming interested in the Emma developments, which soon opened up
large bodies of ore, it became apparent to the company that a market should be
opened for the product of the mine; and as there were no works in the United States
available to reduce or smelt the products of the mine, correspondence was opened
with parties in Liverpool and London, and it was soon ascertained that the ores
6f the Emma mine could be shipped to the English market at a profit. This
[
w
HISTORY OF SALT LAKE CITY. J07
problem of the mining enterprise of Utah once solved gave the company a solid base
to work upon, and the Walker Brothers pushed with all their financial might into
the undertaking of making the Utah mines a marked success in the mining his-
tor)' of the great West which had already so stirred the civilized world since the
discovery of gold in California. From time to time large shipments of the Emma
ore were made to the English market, which soon gave an impetus to silver min-
ing in Utah, and caused a large number of our citizens to scatter throughout the
mountains prospecting for mines. The fame of the Emma mine reached the Ter-
ritories and simultaneously a large influx of miners and prospectors poured in to
join in the work of prospecting with the Utah men, thus adding experience to the
local enthusiasm. Capital of course soon followed in the wake, a new era dawned
in the history of Utah, and the Gentile, equally with the Mormon, claimed the
country as his own. The pertinency of this line of review in connection with the
Walker Brothers is that they were at the onset, as capitalists and business men, prin-
cipally instrumental in bringing this result about, but for which the Utah mines
would not have become so famous in 1870, though ultimately of course they would
have been developed by the aid of foreign, if not local, capital.
And here it may be noted, as a suggestive fact, that the Emma was the cause
of the opening up of this class of mines (silver-lead), and also the immense smelt-
ing interests in various parts of the United States, embracing millions of capital.
It is no longer necessary to ship the products to Swansea, Wales, as this industry
in the United States now competes with the smelting works of the Old World.
Of the first Emma company it may be noted that they made a Utah corpora-
tion of it and Mr. Joseph R. Walker was elected president of the company.
Treynor W. Park and Baxter bought half interest in the Emma and they took the
mine to England and placed it upon the ICnglish market, where it was sold. Its
subsequent history was not enviable, Utah mines, exemplified in the Emma, un-
der the controlling hands of the Walkers, grew in honest fame ; in the hands of
foreign capitalists the Emma benefitted neither Utah nor its British purchasers.
After their initial undertaking in the Emma mine the Walker Brothers be-
came interested in numerous other mining operations in the Territory. They
engaged in Ophir District, East Canyon (as noted by Stenhouse), and built the
first quartz mill in the Territory, which is known as the Pioneer Mill ; and they
afterwards branched out into other Territories, notably into Montana,
In the year 1876, Mr. J. R. Walker went to Butte to view the outlook of that
district. A sample of ore having been sent to Mr. J, R. Walker, he went to look
the country over with a view to make ample investments if he found a mine to
warrant it. This led to the purchase of the now famous Alice mine and other ad-
jacent properties, and the erection of large reduction works. These embrace the
largest dry crushing chloridizing works in the United States for the reduction of
silver ores. Subsequently the mine and works were transferred to a Utah cor-
poration bearing the name of the " Alice Gold and Silver Mining Company of
Utah," It still runs under the management of the Walker Brothers, with J. R,
Walker president of the company, they owning a large majority of the stock.
Their mining operations since 1870 have extended into many districts, notably
7o8 HIS TOR Y OF SALT LAKE CI 7 V.
the Cottonwoods, Ophir, Bingham, the Park, American Fork, Montana, Idaho and
Nevada.
The foregoing is simply the history of the opening of the Utah Mines; we
cannot attempt, in a chapter, to grapple with the voluminous record of the mines
of Utah to the present day.
CHAPTER LXXXII.
OUR RAILROADS. BRIGHAM YOUNG MARKS OUT THE TRACK OF THE "NA-
TIONAL CENTRAL RAILROAD " ON THE PIONEER JOURNEY TO THE ROCKY
MOUNTAINS. PETITION OF THE FIRST LEGISLATURE OF UTAH TO CON-
GRESS TO BUILD THE ROAD TO THE PACIFIC. BUILDING OF THE U. P.
R. R. AND C. P. R. R. OPENING OF THE UTAH CENTRAL AND UTAH
SOUTHERN. THE RAILROADS OF LATER D.AYS.
Whatever may be said of the opposition of the Mormon leaders regarding
the opening of the Utah Mines, it cannot be affirmed that they were opposed to
the building of the railroads^ uniting the eastern and western halves of the Amer-
ican continent. True, such was the general opinion ; and it was created by the
often repetition in the American press that the Mormon leaders entertained a sav-
age fear of the approach of the railroads towards their domains, and that they
desired an eternal isolation from the civilized world. Indeed, they and the In-
dians of the West were regarded very much in the same light, touching the pro-
jected railroads across the continent ; and that familiar caricature of the terrified
but enraged chief, standing on the new laid railroad track, gesticulating menaces
against the coming train, whose resistless force a moment hence would crush him
into nothingness, was thought to be quite a happy exaggeration of the Mormon of
the Rocky Mountains. But the reverse of this is true as applied to the pioneers
of Utah.
It is a singular fact, yet one well substantiated in the history of the West,
that the pioneers of Utah were the first projectors and first proposers to the Amer-
ican nation of a trans-continental railroad. It is to be read in Historian Wood-
ruff's diary of the journey of the pioneers that Brigham Young, who, bearing the
military title of lieutenant-general for the occasion, daily with his staff officers
went before the pioneer companies, marking out the way, often pointed out
to them the track that the coming railroad would pass over in its course across the
continent ; and this idea of a railroad following them was so strange that many
of them esteemed it as a prophecy ; but to a Vanderbilt, a Tom Scott, or a Jay
Gould, it would be esteemed as Brigham Young's instinct for railroads, so strik-
ingly manifested in him twenty-one years later.
HISTORY OF SALT LAKE CITY.
709
At the first session of the Territorial Legislature, held in 185 1-2, in Salt Lake
City, memorials to Congress were adopted, praying for the construction of a nat-
ional central railroad, and also a telegraph line from the Missouri River via Salt
Lake City to the Pacific. In connection with this, we give the following note
from George A. Smith's private journal, in which he wrote :
'' I was elected a member of the Senate of the Provisional State of Deseret, and
reported a bill for the organization of the judiciary, which was the first bill
printed for the consideration of members. I also reported a bill in relation to
the construction of a national railroad across the continent, which some of the
members considered a joke, though I was never more in earnest."
It will be perceived, by reference that this bill was dated nearly three years
prior to the memorials to Congress upon the same subject ; and it may be further
observed that George A. Smith, Heber C. Kimball and Wilford Woodruff were
always three of the staff that accompanied " General " Brigham Young in mark-
ing out the pioneer path ; so it can be readily seen that George A. Smith was very
familiar with this projected national railroad across the continent, that there was
" no joke " in his bill, and that he " never was more in earnest.''
The memorial to Congress was given in an early chapter of this history, as
among the first doings of our Territorial Legislature ; but its points are so need-
ful here before the eye of the reader that the memorial must be repeated. It was
approved and signed by Governor Young, March 3d, 1852.
' ' To the Honorable the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States
in Congress assembled :
" Your memorialists, the Governor and Legislative Assembly of the Territory
of Utah, respectfully pray your honorable body to provide for the establishment
of a national central railroad from some eligible point on the Mississippi or Mis-
souri River, to San Diego, San Francisco, Sacramento or Astoria, or such other
point on or near the Pacific coast as the wisdom of your honorable body may
dictate.
" Your memorialists respectfully state that the immense emigration to and
from the Pacific requires the immediate attention, guardian care, and fostering as-
sistance of the greatest and most liberal government on the earth. Your memori-
alists are of the opinion that not less than five thousand American citizens have
perished on the different routes within the last three years, for the want of proper
means of transportation. That an eligible route can be obtained, your memori-
alists have no doubt, being extensively acquainted with the country. We know
that no obstruction exists between this point and San Diego, and that iron, coal,
timber, stone, and other materials exist in various places on the route ; and that
the settlements of this Territory are so situated as to amply supply the builders of
said road with material and provisions for a considerable portion of the route,
and to carry on an extensive trade after the road is completed.
''Your memorialists are uf opinion that the mineral resources of California
and these mountains can never be fully developed to the benefit of the United
States, without the construction of such a road; and upon its completion, the en-
tire trade of China and the East Indies will pass through the heart of the Union,
7/0 HISTORY OF SALT LAKE CITY.
thereby giving to our citizens the almost entire control of the Asiatic and Pacific
trade; pouring into the lap of the American States the millions that are now di-
verted through other commercial channels ; and last, though not least, the road
herein proposed would be a perpetual chain or iron band, which would effectually
hold together our glorious Union with an imperishable identity of mutual interest,
thereby consolidating our relations with foreign powers in times of peace, and
our defense from foreign invasion, by the speedy transmission of troops and sup-
plies in times of war.
''The earnest attention of Congress to this important subject is solicited by
your memorialists, who, in duty bound, will ever pray."
On the 31st cf January, 1854, there was another movement of the people for a
Pacific Railroad. The citizens of Salt Lake and surrounding country, men and
women, gathered en tnasse to make a grand demonstration in its favor.
There are numerous points in the foregoing remarkable document which
should attract the notice of American statesmen.
ist. A transcontinental railroad was contemplated by these Mormon pio-
neers, who had crossed the Plains and had actually, day by day, in the spring and
summer of 1847, indicated the very track of the coming railroad; and it is a curious
fact that for several hundred miles the grade of the great transcontinental railroad
is made upon the old Mormon road.
2d. The pioneers contemplated that their people would be its builders ; and
a clear bid was made to Congress to draw on Utah for laborers, material (such as
ties, rock, station houses, etc.) and provisions, to build the road midway east and
west, should Congress undertake this " natiotial central railroad^ Such an un-
dertaking of the Nation, in 1852, would have lifted Utah to a pinnacle and en-
riched her citizens more than would the gold of California had they settled that
country. The proposition shows a masterly hit of local political ecopomy.
3d. These memorialists not only suggested to the Nation, her duty towards
her citizens who were establishing for her empire in the West, " five thousand"
of whom had " perished on the different routes within the last three years, for the
want of proper means of transportation;" but they exhibited to the Nation her
own paramount interests in the construction of this railroad to be owned by the
United States.
4th. With great sagacity of pioneers, they tell Congress that the mineral re-
sources of California and "■ these mountains can never be fully developed to the
benefit of the United States, without the construction of such a road," which
point shows that the memorialists did expect Utah to become a mining Territory ;
while the counter exposition would show that these leaders desired to make their
people builders of railroads, agriculturists, manufacturers, iron workers, etc., not
miners of gold or silver.
5th. "Upon its completion the entire trade to China and the East Indies
will pass through the heart of the Union/' etc.
6th. " And last, though not least, the road herein proposed would be a per-
petual chain or iron band, which would effectually hold together our glorious
Union with an imperishable identity of mutual interest." A very palpable warning
was this, that unless the East did mind the interests of the great though youthful
^i
HISTORY OF SALT LAKE CITY. yu
West, the West would surely growl and perchance in time dissolve partnership ;
and it may be considered very applicable to the present debated silver question.
We do not think there is anything in the national archives, nor in the con-
gressional records, as early as 1852, relative to a projected railroad across the
continent, so striking and suggestive as this memorial on such a railroad, which
proceeded from the Utah Legislature of that date; and its pertinency to the
U. P. and C. P. in 1868-9, when Brigham Young and the Mormons became con-
tractors and builders of the Utah centre of those lines, is as a close connecting
link of the history of the railroads which now unite the two halves of this conti-
nent in "a perpetual chain or iron band."
On the incorporation of the Union Pacific, Brigham Young was a stockhol-
der in the company ; and, as soon as it approached toward our local working
distance, Brigham Young became a chief contractor. With himself he associated
John Sharp, as his principal sub-contractor on the Union Pacific Railroad, and
with them was also associated Joseph A. Young. Under this contract Sharp &
Young did the heavy stone work of the bridge abutments, and the cutting of the
tunnels of Weber Canyon. In this work they employed from five to six hundred
men, and the contract amounted to about a million of dollars. Afterwards, dur-
ing the strife between the Union Pacific and the Central Pacific, another contract
was taken for Sharp & Young on the Union Pacific, on which they employed four
or five hundred men, the contract amounting to $100,000. There were also
numerous other sub-contractors engaged under President Young in building this
line.
During their work on the U. P. R. R., these now fairly trained Utah railroad
builders projected the Utah Central, and they urged the policy on capitalists of
their own community to secure the routes and built the home railroads, and not
leave these enterprises open to either Eastern or Western companies.
After the completion of the U. P. and C. P., there arose a difficulty with
the U. P. Company in the payment of their indebteduess to the Utah contractors,
which in the sequel greatly facilitated the building of the Utah Central. In these
difficulties of the settlement between Brigham Young and the U. P. Co., John
Sharp, John Taylor and Joseph A. Young were chosen to go to Boston to bring
the business to an issue ; and so vigorously, yet prudently, did they press the
matter with Durant and others that, in the lack of the Company's funds, Brigham
got $600,000 worth of railroad stock, which was used in the construction of the
Utah Central.
The Utah Central Railroad Company was organized March 8th, 1869, by
the following stockholders :
Brigham Young, Sen., Joseph A. Young, George Q. Cannon, D. H. Wells,
Christopher Layton (Kaysville), Bryant Stringham, D. P. Kimball, Isaac Groo,
D. O. Calder, George A. Smith, John Sharp, Sen., Brigham Young, Jr., J. W.
Young, "William Jennings, Feramorz Little, James T. Little. Brigham Young
was elected president. Ground was broken May 17th, 1869.
The next important event in the history of Utah was the laying of the last
rail of the Utah Central. The completion of the Union and Central Pacific lines
was 3 national event affecting greatly the destiny of Utah as well as that of the
712 HISTORY OF SALT LAKE CITY.
entire Pacific Coast ; but the completion of the Utah Central was the proper local
sign of radical changes, affecting the mining and commercial enterprises of our
Territory, as well as the every day life of our citizens. That event put the Ter-
ritory en rapport with the age of railroads, and a world of expansion came to
Mormondom with the laying of the last rail in Salt Lake City, and a community,
originally formed in a state of isolation, appreciated at once that henceforth the
hand of the East and the hand of the West were joined with Utah and fifty mil-
lions of people were at her door.
It was January loth, 1870 : the weather was cold ; a heavy fog hung over the
City of the Great Salt Lake; but the multitude assembled, and by two o'clock
p. M. there was gathered around the depot block not less than fifteen thousand
people. As the train with the invited guests from Ogden, and other Northern
settlements, came dashing toward the end of the track, shouts arose from the as-
sembled city. A large steel mallet had been prepared for the occasion, made at
the blacksmith shop of the public works of the Church, The " last spike" was
forged of Utah iron, manufactured ten years previously by the late Nathaniel V.
Jones. The mallet was elegantly chased, bearing on the top an engraved bee-hive
(the emblem of the State of Deseret) surrounded by the inscription, " Holiness
to the Lord,"' and underneath the bee-hive were the letters U. C. R. R.; a similar
ornament consecrated the spike. The mallet and spike were made and ornamented
by James Lawson. The sun, which had hid himself behind the clouds during
the whole day, burst forth as in joy to witness the event of the laying of the last
rail almost at the very instant. It was like a glad surprise, and the assembled
thousands took it as a happy omen. The honor of driving the last spike in the
first railroad built by the Mormon people was assigned to President Young.
On the platform car, during the performance of the ceremonies of consecra-
tion of the road, were the following gentlemen :
Of the Utah Central : Brigham Young, president ; William Jennings, vice-
president ; Daniel H. Wells, Christopher Layton and Feramorz Little, directors ;
Joseph A. Young, general superintendent ; John W. Young, secretary ; also of
the Mormon Presidency and Apostles, Orson Hyde, John Taylor, Orson Pratt,
Wilford Woodruff, C. C. Rich, Lorenzo Snow, F. D. Richards, George Q. Can-
non, Brigham Young, jun., and Joseph F. Smith.
Of the Union and Central Pacific Roads : J. E. McEwin, Esq., master
mechanic C. P. R. R.; G. Cornwall, Esq., conductor, Utah Division, C.
P. R. R.; James Campbell, Esq., division superintendent, Utah Division,
C. P. R. R.; C. C. Quinn, Esq., master mechanic, U. P. R. R.; T. B.
Morris, Esq., engineer, Utah Division, U. P. R. R.; Charles Carr, Esq., asst.
supt., Utah Division, U. P. R. R.; J. McCormick and S. Edwards, Esqs., agents,
U. P. R. R.; G. B. Blackwell, Esq., agent Pullman's palace cars; Walter McKay,
Esq., cashier, U. P. R. R.
Col. F. Anderson, special correspondent of the New York Herald occupied a
seat at the reporters' table.
From Camp Douglas : Gen. Gibbons, Col. Hancock, Col. Spencer, Capt.
Hollister, Major Benham, Lieut. Benson, Lieut. Brandt, Lieut. Jacobs, Lieut.
Graffan, Lieut. Wright.
HISTORY OF SALT LAKE CITY. yrj
The Camp Douglas, Capt. Croxall's and Ward brass bands; also Capt.
Beesley's martial band were in attendance.
After the performance of the ceremonies, which took place about 9 minutes
past 2 o'clock, a salute of thirty-one guns — one for each mile of the road, was
fired, when Capt. Croxall's brass band burst forth with enlivening strains, after
which the following prayer was offered by Elder Wilford Woodruff:
''O God, our Eternal Father, we have assembled on this occasion to cele-
brate one of the greatest and grandest events of the generation in which we live,
and we offer up the gratitude of our hearts, with thanksgiving, for Thy merciful
and protecting care that has been over us. When we were led into these valleys,
by Thy servant Brigham, twenty- two years ago, we found them a perfect desert,
inhabited only by wild beasts, and a few red men who roamed over the plains.
To-day, we behold teeming thousands of the Anglo-Saxon race, many of whom
have assembled here to celebrate the completion of a line of railroad into this city,
which has opened up commerce between us and all the world. Thou hast enabled
Thy Saints, who have gathered here from the nations of the earth, to fill these
valleys of the mountains with 600 miles of cities, towns, villages, gardens, orchards,
and fields, and the desert has been made to blossom as the rose. We should be
recreant to our duties did we not acknowledge the hand of Thee, O God, in Thy
protecting care over us, which has enabled us to assist in leveling these mountains
and in laying an iron band which has bound this continent together from ocean
to ocean, and has made all the various States and Territories of this mighty nation
neighbors to each other. For all these blessings we feel to render the gratitude
of our hearts unto Thee ; and we pray that Thy blessings may rest upon us
this day.
" We dedicate this railroad unto Thee, the Lord our God ; we pray that Thy
blessings may rest upon it, and upon those who have erected and labored upon it.
We thank Thee for the peace and quietude that we have enjoyed for many years
that we have dwelt in these valleys of the mountains. Continue Thy blessings,
O God, we beseech Thee, unto the inhabitants here and throughout the nation.
" These favors and blessings we ask in the name of Jesus Christ, our Re-
deemer: Amen."
The following speech was made by Hon. George Q. Cannon, on behalf of
President Brigham Young :
" Whilst joining in the pleasing ceremonies of this eventfiil and auspicious
day, our minds naturally revert to the circumstances which led this people to un-
dertake their weary, but hopeful journey across the desert plains and rugged moun-
tains to these, then sterile valleys — to our condition at the time of our advent here,
poor, and destitute of the common necessities of life ; driven from our homes and
posessions and bereft of all that makes life comfortable, in consequence of our
faith in God and in his son Jesus Christ, and our obedience to his holy gospel,
and without a friend in this wide world to whom we could look for help, except
God, our heavenly father, alone, on whom we could rely.
" Since the day that we first trod the soil of these valleys, have we received
any assistance from our neighbors? No, we have not. We have built our homes,
48
yi4. HISTORY OF SALT LAKE CITY.
our cities, liave made our farms, have dug our canals and water ditches, have sub-
dued this barren country, have fed the stranger, have clothed the naked, have im-
migrated the poor from foreign lands, have placed them in a condition to make
all comfortable and have made some rich. We have fed the Indians to the
amount of thousands of dollars yearly, have clothed them in part, and have sus-
tained several Indian wars, and now we have built thirty-seven miles of railroad.
"All this having been done, are not our cities, our counties and the Territory
in debt? No, not the first dollar, Buc the question may be asked, is not the
Utah Central Railroad in debt? Yes, but to none but our own people.
"Who has helped us to do all this? I will answer this question. It is the
Lord Almighty. What are the causes of our success in all this? Union and one-
ness of purpose in the Lord.
" Having by our faith and unaided labors accomplished the work and achieved
the triumph, which we to-day celebrate, we are now asking the parent Govern-
ment to sanction our labors in this commendable work, and the people of this
Territory are also asking to be admitted as a sovereign State into the Union, with
all the rights and privileges of a State government, and I move we have one.
Let all in favor of it say 'Aye.'" A unanimous "Aye" from the assembled
thousands was the response.
" We have felt somewhat to complain of the Union Pacific Railroad Company
for not paying us for the work we did, in grading so many miles of their road.
But let me say, if they had paid us according to agreement, this road would not
have been graded, and this track would not have been laid to-day. It is all right.
" To our friends of the Union and Central Pacific Railroads, we offer our con-
gratulations on their success in iheir mighty enterprise. Receive our thanks for
your kindness to our company ; for, so far as I have learned, you have refused us
no favor. Let us be one in sustaining every laudable undertaking for the benefit
of the human family ; and I thank the companies for their kindness to us as com-
panies, as superintendents, as engineers, as conductors, etc.
" I also thank the brethren who have aided to build this, our first railroad.
They have acted as elders of Israel, and what higher praise can I accord to them,
for they have worked on the road, they have graded the track, they laid the rails,
they have finished the line, and have done it cheerfully ' without purse or scrip.'
" Our work is not one for individual benefit, but it is an aid to the develop-
ment of the whole country, and tends to the benefit and prosperity of the whole
nation of which we form a i)art.
"To all present I would say, let us lay aside our narrow feelings and preju-
dices, and, as fellow-citizens of this great republic, join in the celebration of this
happy day.
"May the blessing of Heaven resc upon us all."
Telegrams expressing regret at their inability to accept the invitation of
President Young to be present at the celebration, were read from Governor Stan-
ford, president; A. M. Towne, Esq., general superintendent; and S. S. Mon-
tague, chief engineer, of the Central Pacific road. Music from the Camp
Douglas Band.
HISTORY OF SALT LAKE CITY, 7/j-
The vice-president of the Utah Central, being called upon for a speech, the
following response was made by William Jennings :
^^ Ladies and gentlemen: I stand before you this day with feelings in my
breast which I feel myself inadequate to express. I am proud that I am a citizen
of Utah, and that I am participating with yDU in this celebration of laying the
last rail and driving the last spike of the Utah Central, — the first line of railroad
that has been constructed in this Territory. I am proud to think that the las':
spike in the last rail of the Utah Central is constructed of our native iron ; but
more because of the wonderful progress in the development of our Territory that
has been made since our arrival here, twenty-two years ago. (Cheers.) The con-
struction of thirty-seven miles of railroad may, in the eyes of some, seem but a
trifling affair : but when the inconveniences attending our isolated position are
considered, and it is remembered that we have not had the ready facilities of com-
merce enjoyed by those who live on or near the sea-board of the Atlantic or Pacific,
and that the Utah Central is the result of home enterprise, and has been con-
structed solely by the laboring population of Utah, I think it is justly entitled to
be considered a great enterprise. The Union and Central Pacific lines and almost
every line of railroad throughout the country, have had to be assistad largely by
State or National aid, when in course of construction ; but the Utah Central has
had neither, but is the result of the enterprise, unity and labor of the people of
Utah. I feel proud of the achievement, and on this occasion, I wish to express
my joy and pleasure at being one with you.
" To the workmen who have aided in the construction of this road, I tender
my thanks. I have been with and travelled amongst them a great deal during the
past summer, and I am happy to be able to say that they have labored content-
edly and with a spirit becoming Latter-day Saints.
" I hope that we shall soon see the day when the ' iron horse ' will not only
place us in direct communication, as it does to-day with San Francisco in the
west, and Boston and New York and all the principal cities of the east, but that
there may soon be a chain of railways extending to every city in Utah and through
our neighboring Territories of the Rocky Mountains."
A salute of one gun and music by martial band, were followed by a speech
from superintendent of Utah Central Railroad, Jos. A. Young:
" I can say to you who hear me to-day, that speaking is not my forfe, — the
part I have taken in connection with the building of this railroad has been the
working part and not the speaking part. But I feel proud to-day that I have lived
to witness the consummation of this great event in our history as a people. When
we came to these valleys over twenty years ago, barefooted, almost without clothing,
without provisions, trusting on the arm ot God for aid and protection, we
found the country barren and desolate, and we have need to be thankfnl to our
Heavenly Father that we have lived to take part in the laying of the last rail and
driving of the last spike of the Utah Central Railroad. I consider it something
that we, as a people, may justly proud be of. We have been accused of being ex-
clusive. Where is our exclusiveness now ? We invite the East and the West, the
North and the South to come up to Zion and learn of her ways. The more our
7i6 HISTORY OF SALT LAKE CITY.
/
actions and works, as a people, are investigated, the higher we stand in the esti-
mation of those whose good opinion is worth having. (Cheers.) I hope that the
last spike of this road will be but the first of the next, which shall extend from this
place to the Cotton Country (Dixie) and I trust to live to see the day when every
nook and place in this Territory, that is capable of sustaining human beings, will
be settled with good, honest, hard working people, and that the same will be ac-
cessible by railroad, that we may travel from one settlement to another and carry
our passengers in comfortable cars ; and thus show those who want to know, what
we are doing." Salute of one gun and music by the Tenth Ward Brass Band.
Col. B. O. Carr, of the Union Pacific line was then introduced to make a
speech. After presenting the regrets of Superintendent Meade, at his inability
to be present, the following remarks were made by Mr. Carr :
" This is an occasion of congratulation to all of you, but to us who are stran-
gers, it is more of an occasion of wonderment than anything else. We, who have
come recently from the East, never expected to find anything like this in this
country. It is something like forty years since the first railroad was laid in the
United States, and twenty years ago there were only six thousand miles laid in this
vast country ; but when the Union and Central Pacific lines were completed there
were over forty thousand miles. The Utah Central Railroad, although only thirty-
seven or thirty-eight miles long, is perhaps the only railroad west of the Mis-
souri River that has been built entirely without Government subsidies ; it has been
built solely with money wrung from soil which, a ^o.-^ years ago, we used to con-
sider a desert, by the strong arms of the men and women who stand before me.
And almost everything used in its construction, but especially the last spike, is the
product of the country.
"Your superintendent, Mr. Young, said that you are not an exclusive people ;
but I think, ladies and gentlemen, that you are very much so, so far as the w^estern
country is concerned, in accomplishing so much as you have with so little means
and so few advantages to do it, (Great cheering). All that I have to say further
in regard to exclusiveness, is that I cannot imagine how any man, whether ' Mor-
mon,' ' Gentile,' saint or sinner, can do other than feel happy at the com-
pletion of this road. I wish it the utmost success on its journey to the far South."
Salute of one gun, and music by Capt. Croxall's Brass Band.
Chief Engineer of the Western Division of the U. P. R. R., T, B. Morris,
Esq., was introduced, and addressed the assembly :
'T have but one word to say to the working men of Utah, and that I will
say briefly: I have been fifteen years engaged in railroad business; but I have
never seen a single road made to which capitalists did not contribute their money,
or the responsibility of which did not fall upon the Government or the Slate in
which said road was made. But here, nearly forty miles of railroad have been
built, every shovel full of dirt of which has been removed by the working men of
Utah, and every bar of the iron of the road has been placed in position by their
labor. (Loud cheers.) You can publish to the world that the working men of
Utah built and own this road.
" I have said one thing, and I want to say one thing more. Do not stop
i
HISTORY OF SALT LAKE CITY. 717
where you are. When you laid the last two rails to-day, they stuck out a little.
That means— "Go on ! "
Salute of one gun, and music by Camp Douglas Band, succeeded by the fol-
lowing remarks from John Taylor.
" I am glad to meet with such a large assemblage of people as are present to
witness and take part in so important an event as that which has brought us here
to-day. Like you all, I have been very much interested in the completion of this
railroad. I hope to see the time when this city will be connected with the re-
motest parts of our Territory by railroads, that we may meet the cars in every
settlement. We have but one railroad among us for the time being ; but there is
a long one east and another west, and we can go east and west; and by and bye
we shall be able to go north and south and stretch out in every direction. Our
course has been onward and will continue to be so from this time forth and for-
ever. I will conclude by saying, success to the Utah Central Railroad."
Music by the martial band.
Mr. Campbell, superintendent of the Utah Division of the Central Pacific
was next introdused, and made a short, and we are informed a very good speech,
but we regret to say that his remarks were inaudible and we were unable to report
them.
Speeches were expected from Hons. G. A. Smith, D. H. Wells, and Geo. Q.
Cannon ; the former requested to be excused on account of indisposition , the
two latter were excused because of the length of exercises and the very cold
weather.
Benediction was pronounced by Elder H. W. Naisbitt, and the immense con-
course of spectators quickly dispersed.
The following toasts and sentiments were handed in :
"Utah Central Railroad extends her iron hand of welcome to the East
and West."
"Our Railroad — The first fruits of the marriage of the oceans."
"Prest, B. Young — Our Pioneer in Peace, Art and Science, and all that is
the true wealth of Utah."
" The U. C. R. R. — May her last tie soon be bedded on the soil of the State
of Deseret.-*'
The Utah Central road was opened for traffic on January loth, 1870. It
continued under the presidency of Brigham Young, Sen., for a short time and
then his son, Superintendent Joseph A. Young, succeeded his father as president
of the company; but in February (17th), 1871, he resigned the presidency and
his original office of general superintendent, when his father resumed the presi-
dency and Feramorz Little was appointed superintendent. John Sharp succeeded
Little in 1871, and in 1873 he was elected president of the company, as well as
continued in the superintendency of the road.
The Utah Southern was the second local railroad enterprise in which our cit-
izens engaged ; for it is worthy of particular remark that the community co-op-
erated with all their faith and means to build these home railroads, under the
counsel and management of their leading men.
jiH HISTORY OF SALT LAKE CITY.
The Utah Southern Company was organized January 17th, 1871, by the fol-
lowing named stockholders:
Joseph A. Young, William Jennings, John Sharp, John Sharp, Jr., Feramorz
Little, James T. Little, LeGrande Young, L. S. Hills, S. J. Jonassen, Thomas W.
Jennings, James Sharp, Geo. Swan, Jesse W. Fox, D. H. Wells, C. Layton.
William Jennings was elected president of the company, John Sharp, vice-presi-
dent and Feramorz Little, superintendent. Jennings afterwards resigned the pres-
idency and was succeeded by Brigham Young, who, however, soon gave place to
William Jennings again, and under this management the road was run until the
re-incorporation of the Utah Southern under the control of the Union Pacific.
On the first of May, 1S71, the Utah Southern ground was broken. The road
was opened for traffic to Sandy, 13 miles from Salt Lake, in September, 1871 ; to
Lehi, 31 miles from Salt Lake, September, 23d, 1872 ; to Provo City, 48 miles,
in December, 1873 ; to York, 75 miles, April ist, 1S75 ; to Juab, 105 miles from
Salt Lake, June i5lh, 1S79.
The Utah Southern, running through a rich agricultural country, passing a
line of the most flourishing settlements of the Territory, greatly developed the
South, created a reciprocal commerce between it and Salt Lake City, and from the
onset was a profitable and well managed road.
The Utah Southern Railroad Extension was organized January nth, 1879, ^y
the following named stockholders:
Sidney Dillon, Jay Gould (New York); S. H. H. Clark (Omaha); A. G.
Campbell, Matthew Cullen (Frisco, Utah); John Sharp, W. H. Hooper, William
Jennings, L. S. Hills, Feramorz Little, J. T. Little, H. S. Eldredge; with Sidney
Dillon president.
The Utah Southern Extension was commenced at Juab and rapidly pushed
througth to its terminus. The road was opened for traffic to Deseiet, 52 miles
from Juab, November ist, 1879; to Milford, 121 miles. May 15th, 1880; to Frisco,
137 miles, June 23d, 18S0.
The Horn Silver Mine was the cause of the Utah Southern extension which
was built to this mine. Campbell, Cullen, Ryan and Byram built one-quarter of
the road and they were also its chief promoters.
The Utah Central Railroad, the Utah Southern Railroad, and the Utah
Southern Railroad Extension were consolidated under the name of Utah Central
Railway Company, July ist, 18S1, with the following named directors:
Sidney Dillon, Jay Gould, Frank G. Brown (New York); Fred L. Ames
(Boston); John Sharp, Feramorz Little, William Jennings (Salt Lake City); S. H.
H. Clark (Omaha); William B Doddridge (Evanston, Wyoming). Sidney Dillon
was elected president ; John Sharp, vice-president and general superintendent ;
James Sharp, assistant general superintendent ; Geo. Swan, secretary ; L. S.
Hills, treasurer ; Francis (.ope was a])pointed freight and passenger agent, and
Jesse W. Fox, chief engineer.
This consolidation of the two parent lines with the Southern Extension gave
an aggregate extent of 280 miles, running from Ogden to Frisco under one man-
agement.
The LTnion Pacific Company holds the control, but Utah has the distinction
II
HJSTORl OF SALT LAKE CITY. yig
of a voice among the directors of the U. P. Co. In the preparation for the
building of the Utah Southern, in 1871, John Sharp went east as the purchasing
agent for this company; and becoming extensively associated w^ith the Union
Pacific directors, he was finally elected one of them. In March (25th), 1885, ^""^
was again elected one of the directors of the U. P. R. R., the board of which
stands at the present thus :
C. F. Adams, F. L. Ames, Jr., Elisha Atkins, Ezra S. Baker, F. G. Dexter,
Mahlon D. Spaulding, S. R. Callaway, Gen. G. M. Dodge, Henry H. Cook, Sid-
ney Dillon, David Dows, Andrew H. Green, John Sharp, Hugh Riddle, James
A. Rumrill.
THE UTAH NORTHERN.
The Utah Northern, now known at the Utah & Northern Railroad, like the
Utah Central and Utah Southern, was eminently a home enterprise. Its builders
were the Mormons, and the people certainly expected, when they constructed
these roads, becoming stockholders for their labor, etc., that they would per-
manently own and control them ; and so undoubtedly" did the organizers and
contractors. But subsequent experience proved to all concerned that in Utah,
as elsewhere, these local roads were sure, from their very necessities of extension,
to pass out of the hands of the original owners and incorporators, into the con-
trol of the great railroad companies of the country that are spreading their
gigantic hands over these Western States and Territories, as their fellows had
before done over the railroads of the Eastern States.
John W. Young, in the spring of 1868, had boldly launched out in taking
contracts in the building of the Union Pacific and Union Central Railroads, which
netted him from forty-five to fifty thousand dollars. This result, coupled with his
natural genius for railroad building, encouraged him to engage in the more com-
prehensive railroad enterprises which grew out of his projects ; and though his
projects and operations for a while fell into disrepute, when his roads passed into
the hands of the Union Pacific com[)any, they became numbered with the perma-
nent railroads of the West.
After taking a prominent part with his brother, Joseph A. Young, under their
father, in organizing and building the Utah Central, serving for some time as
secretary and treasurer of the same, and next taking part in the organization of the
Utah Southern, he started for the Eastern States to induce capitalists to take hold
of a particular project of his own conception, as applied to the railroad system of
Utah. Despite the adoption of the popular gauge by the other roads in Utah,
Mr. Young, with genuine sagacity as to the future requirements of the railroad
system of the Rocky Mountain region, had the nerve to adopt the narrow-gauge on
the Utah Northern and Utah Western. He succeeded in obtaining the potent
financial help of Mr. Joseph Richardson, an eastern capitalist, who undertook lo
purchase the iron and equip the road. Mr. Richardson forthwith came to Salt
Lake City to consult with President Young, who heartily endorsed the enterprise
and undertook to enlist the co-operation of the people of the North to build the
narrow-guage road projected by his son. This much ensured, Mr. Richardson,
with John W. Young and George W. Thatcher, proceeded to Logan, where the
project met great popular enthusiasm. The following telegraphic messages (fur-
Y20 HISTORY OF SALT LAKE CITY-
nished to the author) between Bishop Preston and President Young, relative to
the probable ultimate control of the road, will to-day be very suggestive of the
Bishop's sagacity :
Copy of telegraphic message from Bishop Preston to President Youn^ and answer in
regard to the building of the U. N. R. R.
"Logan, August 15th, 1871.
" Prest. B. Young, Salt Lake City:
" Will it be wisdom for us in Cache County to grade and tie a railroad from
Ogden to Soda Springs, with a view to I'-astern capitalists ironing and stocking
it, thereby giving them control of the road? The people feel considerably spir-
ited in taking stock to grade and tie, expecting to have a prominent voice in the
control of it ; but to let foreign capitalists iron and stock it will, if my judgment
is correct, give them control.
" W. B. Preston."
THE ANSWER-
"Salt Lake City, August 15th, 1871.
' ' Bishop Preston, Logan :
" The foreign capitalists in this enterprise do not seek the control; this is
all understood. What they want, and what we want, is to push this road with all
possible speed, if you decide to have one, so that it shall run through and benefit
your settlements and reach Soda Springs as soon as possible.
" Brigham Young."
In a few days after the receipt of this telegram, Bishop Preston called to-
gether the leading citizens and laid before them the railroad project ; whereupon
they voted that they would go to work and build the railroad, and take stock for
grading and tieing the road.
The organization of the company to build this road was effected August 23d,
1871, with John W. Young, president and superintendent, and Bishop Preston,
vice-president and assistant superintendent.
In less than a month later, ground was broken at Brigham City, Box Elder
County. The first rail was laid at Brigham Junction, March 29th, 1872 ; and the
road was completed to Logan January 31st, 1873, ^^'^^ completed to Franklin,
Idaho, in May, 1874, which for a number of years thereafter was its northern ter-
minus. A branch line of four miles, extending the Utah Northern to Corinne
was completed on June 9th, 1873, and the road was extended south to Ogden,
and opened for traffic February 8th, 1874.
John W. Young was soon succeeded in the superintendence of the road by
Moses Thatcher, who conducted its affairs with marked satisfaction to the com-
pany and the public until he was succeeded by M. W. Merrill. January, 1877,
George W. Thatcher was appointed superintendent. In February, 1879, ^he Utah
Northern went out of the hands of the old company into the hands of the Union
Pacific, and the Utah & Northern R. R. (its present name) had then grown into
gigantic proportions.
Up to the date of its passage into the hands of the Union Pacific Company,
Bishop Wm. B. Preston was vice-president of the Utah Northern, and the people
HISTORY OF SALT LAKE CITY. ^21
of Cache Valley principally owned the road. It was sold at a great sacrifice ; but
the new company for awhile paid due respect to the former ownership by retain-
ing George W. Thatcher in the superintendency. And here it seems due to the
local management to make note of its efficiency. The Salt Lake Inbune said :
" Under the superintendency of George W. Thatcher, Esq., the Utah &
Northern R. R. is the best conducted road in the country." A correspondent of
the Iribime, of date July, 1881, says, "Superintendent Thatcher is congratulated
for his rare executive ability. With a division nearly four hundred miles in length
— the longest on the Union Pacific line — he has worked thirty-eight locomotives,
pushed the construction, running timber, iron and supplies, avoided all delays in
shipment of the enormous freight going to the front, gathered hundreds of car
loads of rock from alongside the road by the section hands for the foundations of
Eagle Rock, — and all this while experiencing difficulties in changing hands, the
constant changing of the nomads experienced in railroading, etc. * * >k
Mr. Thatcher — probably the youngest division superintendent of the Union Pa-
cific Company — has more than average chance of becoming one of the leading
railway men of the West."
The special correspondent of the Dubuque Herald, in reporting " A trip to
the Great West," in company with Assistant Attorney-General Joseph K.
McCammon, of the United States, Thomas L. Kimball, assistant manager of the
Union Pacific, and other distinguished personages, wrote thus of Superintendent
Thatcher, who accompanied them : " But I feel personally under special obliga-
tions to Mr. Thatcher, of Logan, Utah, superintendent of the Utah Northern
Railway. His courtesy and kindness was not the veneering of ordinary polite-
ness; it was the though tfulness and consideration that come from the heart of a
man, who, of whatever creed or position in life, is ' a man for a' that,' and who
regards every other human being, of whatever color or condition, to be ' a man
for a' that.' "
" The party in question was sent out by the government to make a treaty with
the Indians. McCammon, in behalf of the government, went out with these railroad
chiefs to attend a council of the Indians occupying the Ross Fork Reservation, to
learn their feelings in regard to the grant of right of way to the Oregon Short
Line Railway.
" One other testimonial from the journalistic mouthpieceof our local papers :
The Salt Lake Heraldsa.ys : ' It is paying a deserved compliment to the superin-
tendent, George W. Thatcher, Esq., to say that the road is well managed. It is
seldom that a man in his position can do his duty to the company and retain the
genuine esteem of the employees ; but Mr. Thatcher possesses the faculty which
enables him to do this. The road is carefully managed and most efficiently con-
ducted ; accidents rarely, if ever, occur, and every possible emergency is provided
for. Mr. Thatcher's knowledge of the community through which the road runs,
enables him better than any other to fill his position ; while his long connection
with the road and his natural aptitude for the business, have given him an experi-
ence which is indispensable in a man in his position and renders his service of
great value. ' "
49
722 HISTORY OF SALT LAKE CITY.
Under the management of the Union Pacific Company ihe road was rapidly
extended to Butte, Montana, a distance of 416 miles from Ogden. It was next
extended to Anaconda and Garrison where it connects with the Northern Pacific.
The general travel on this line is through Cache Valley, Idaho, to the Soda
Springs, the mines, and to all parts of Montana, and also to the Yellowstone
National Park. It crosses the Oregon Short Line at Pocatello, by which route the
passenger is brought within forty hours of Portland, Oregon. This road has done
much for the development of northern Utah, and everythnig for the development
of Idaho and Montana. It is accounted the best paying road of the Union
Pacific, and is a narrow gauge, which gives plausibility to the " pet idea'' of Mr.
John W.Young, the projector of the Utah Northern, that the narrow gauge is the
railroad system best adapted to these mountain regions. At present W. B. Dod-
dridge is the superintendent of the road, with W. P. P. St. Clair division super-
intendent.
THE DENVER & RIO GRANDE WESTERN RAILWAY.
AUtah corporation wasorganized July 21st, 1881, by the consolidation of three
companies — namely : the Sevier Valley Railway Company, Salt Lake and Park City
Railway Company, and the Denver & Rio Grande Western Railway. William
Palmer was and is to date, January, 1886, the president of the amalgamated lines ;
M. T. Burgess was the first engineer, but he was succeeded by George Goss, under
whose direction most of the construction was accomplished. Henry Wood was
the first superintendent; he was succeeded by W. H. Bancroft. This railway was
leased, August ist, 1882, to the Denver & Rio Grande Railway Company of Col-
orado, which company in July, 1884, repudiated the lease, since which time the
property has been in the hands of the court with W, H. Bancroft as receiver.
The Salt Lake Tribune in its issue of January ist, 1886, gives the following
epitome of the road and its management :
" The Denver & Rio Grande system of railways is very intimately connected
with the business of Salt Lake. Starting at Ogden, where it has a connection
with the Central Pacific, and thus forms a link in a transcontinental line, it passes
southward along the borders of the Great Lake, past Salt Lake City, skirts that
pretty Lake Utah, goes past pretty towns and villages in this great valley, then
passes up Spanish Fork Canyon, and climbing Soldier Summit, the rim of this
Basin, descends into the valley of Green River. All along it is one panorama
after another, of beautiful scenery until the Wasatch Range is passed, and the pas-
senger comes into desert lands. Even there, one finds much of interest, while
whirling through the country. The Denver & Rio Grande Western stretches from
Ogden to Grand Junction, Colorado, a distance of 346 miles, while its Bingham.
Alta and Pleasant Valley branches bring the road up to about 400 miles in length,
This road is well equipped in every particular. Built in haste four years ago, it
has since been improved from time to time, until brought up to first class stand-
ard. It early history was marked with troubles from which it has emerged with
wonderful alacrity, proving that the present management is equal to the situation.
When the road passed into the hands of W. H. Bancroft, receiver, he found
plenty to do. During the past year he has had erected thirty new Howe iruss
HISTORY OF SALT LAKE CITY. 723
bridges, and spanned Green River with an iron bridge 1,100 feet long. This
four span bridge alone cost over ^40,000, while the entire cost of new bridges the
past year aggregates ^125,000. To the rolling stock two first class passenger en-
gines were added.
"When the road was j)laced in the hands of Receiver Bancroft he was author-
ized by the court to make these improvements, and if the earnings of the road
were not ample to pay for them, issue certificates for their payment. All the im-
provements and purchases made so far have been paid for out of the earnings and
not a single certificate has been issued by the receiver. Besides the improvements
named, there has been much spent in placing the road-bed in good condition.
Curves have been lengthened, grades improved, and the track in many places re-
moved to better ground, so that the entire system is of a high standard of excel-
lence. The eating houses have also been greatly improved. The fact that all has
been paid for out of the earnmgs, and that there remains a large bank account to
the credit of Receiver Bancroft, speaks volumes for his management of the affairs of
the company.
While the D. & R. G. W. is our local road, its close connection with the
Denver & Rio Grande, or Colorado system, seemingly unite the two systems in
one, although operated under different managements. The latter system is also
in the hands of a receiver, who has been doing equally good work for his com-
pany. Besides making improvements in bridges, track, rolling stock, etc., all
paid out of the earnings. Receiver W. S. Jackson has also paid the interest on the
first mortgage bonds. The earnings were the past year, between 25 and 35 per cent,
in excess of the preceding year.
Take the two systems together, and theirs is the grandest scenic route of the
world. While the Utah system has in its lakes, valleys, cities, and mountains
enough to interest any lover of the beautiful and grand, the Colorado system, with
its Black and Grand Canyons, Marshall Pass, and scores of other wonderful ob-
jects, offers to the tourist more that is grand and beautiful than is found any where
else in the world. And yet this may all be seen while riding through the country
at thirty or forty miles per hour in palace coaches, and with such ease and luxury
as to not weary. Nearly all the wonderful and noted pleasure resorts of Colorado
may be reached by the Denver & Rio Grande, either on the main line, or by
some of its numerous branches, which climb mountains or run into canyons a few
years ago thought to be inaccessible to steam railways. Besides being a great
scenic route the road offers good and safe passage between the east and west, with
close connections at Pueblo with the Atchison, Topeka & Santa Fe, and at Den-
ver with the Union Pacific and Chicago, Burlington & Quincy. The officers of
the D. & R. G. W., with headquarters in this city, are W. H. Bancroft, receiver;
A. L. Horner, assistant superintendent, and S. W. Eccles, genera! freight and
passenger agent.
THE UTAH & NEVADA RAILWAY.
The road was commenced in 1872; work was suspended in 1873, when some
20 miles had been completed, but was resumed and the road extended to Stockton,
its present terminus. Though but a short line, it is a very important one to the in-
terests and prospects of our city. Indeed in some respects it may be considered more
724 HISTORY OF SALT LAKE CITY.
than any other line the Salt Lake local railroad ; for though there is prospect of
its extension, it has become most famous as the summer excursion line to the chief
bathing places of the Salt Lake. Running due west it strikes the Great Salt Lake
at a point twenty miles distant, where is located the bathing resorts of Black Rock,
Garfield and Lake Point, then swinging round southwest the road continues on to
near Stockton, tapping that prominent ore producing district.
We may here note in connection with this line some reminiscences of the
Lake.
On the third day after their arrival in the Valley, a company of the pioneers,
namely — Brigham Young, Heber C. Kimball, VVillard Richards, Orson Pratt,
Erastus Snow, Wilford Woodruff, George A. Smith, and six others, including
Samuel Brannan of San Francisco, visited the Great Salt Lake at the identical
bathing point of to-day. The Historian Woodruff, noting the incidents of their
journey to the lake, wrote :
" We took our dinner at the fresh water pool, and then rode six miles to a
large rock on the shore of the Salt Lake, which we named Black Rock, where we
all halted and bathed in the salt water. No person could sink in it, but would
roll and float on the surface like a dry log. We concluded that the Salt Lake was
one of the wonders of the world."
Years later, when the Colfax party visited the same point, with the Salt Lake
City Council, and with Mr. J. R. Walker and other prominent citizens, Mr.
Bowles noted the visit very nearly in Woodruff's words : " We have been taken
on an excursion to the Great Salt Lake, bathed in its wonderful waters, on which
you float like a cork, sailed on its surface, and picnicked by its shores.''
The bathing places of the Salt Lake undoubtedly are destined to become the
most famous bathing places in the world, in which event our city in the summer
season will be crowded with visitors from the States and Europe, and this Salt Lake
excursion train to the lake will become as one of the great " institutions " of our
city. It has for years carried from forty to fifty thousand people to bathe in the
lake, during the summer season. Tourists universally pronounce a bath in the
lake as being finer than that of any other waters they have ever bathed in, and year
by year the lake has become more popular with our citizens. In the bathing sea-
son, our city is ever and anon awakened to an excursion enthusiasm by the joyous
bands marching through the city to the train, calling the excursionists to hurry to
the pleasures of the day at Black Rock, Garfield and Lake Point.
During the past year the company spent over $10,000 in improving grounds
at Garfield and Lake Point, with the intention of making these places great bath-
ing resorts ; and the company proposes extensive improvements the coming season,
such as better hotels, and they have in contemplation the introduction of warm
baths in the winter, that the afflicted may have the benefit of those healing and in-
vigorating waters.
W. W. Riter is the superintendent of the now famous excursion line, and S.
F. Fenton is general passenger agent.
II
HISTORY OF SALT LAKE CITY. '^25
CHAPTER LXXXIII.
CIRCUMSTANCES THAT GAVE BIRTH TO Z. C. M. I. ITS INCORPORATION AND
CONSTITUTION. Rp:VIEW OF ITS HISTORY AND FINANCIAL STATUS UP TO
JULY, 1885, BY THE CHURCH AUTHORITIES. THE DIRECTORS AND OFFI-
CERS OF THE BOARD IN 1880, SUMMARY.
The development of the Utah mines in 1868-69-70, and the prospective
changes both in our social and commercial relations which would surely follow the
completion of the railroads to the Pacific coast, coupled with the antagonistic move-
ments inaugurated against the policies of President Young, rendered it necessary
that he should fortify the position of the Mormon community by a commercial
combination of the entire people. Such were his views and the views of his
apostolic compeers, and the community which they directed, in temporal as well
as spiritual affairs, sustained them in the proposed commercial unity of the Church
to hold her position in the rapidly changing circumstances of these times.
Hence the organization of Z. C. M. I.
This commercial institution of the people was organized, as already noted,
in the Winter of 1868; it commenced business in March, 1S69, and was incor-
porated December ist, 1870, upon an act passed by the Utah Legislature, which
was approved by the Governor, February 18th, 1870. The first circular sent out
to the people was in 1868, immediately after the meetings held at the City Hall
and elsewhere to inaugurate a co-operative movement throughout the Territory,
This circular is already a rare historical document, there being perhaps only
one in existence to-day and that one preserved by the secretary of the Institution,
Mr. Thomas G. Webber, and given now to the guardianship of history. The
circular is opened with a title page bearing the Israelitish inscription ot "Holi-
ness to the Lord. Zion's Co-operative Mercantile Institution," and then follows :
"Preamble. — The inhabitants of Utah, convinced of the impolicy of leaving
the trade and commerce of their Territory to be conducted by strangers, have re-
solved, in public meeting assembled^ to unite in a system of co-operation for the
transaction of their own business, and for better accomplishment of this purpose
have adopted the following :
" Constitution — Holiness to the Lord. Zion's Cooperative Mercantile In-
stitution.
'•' Sec. I, — This Association shall be known by the name and style of 'Zion's
Co-operative Mercantile Institution,' and shall have perpetual succession.
" Sec. 2. — The objects of this Institution are to establish and carry on in
Salt Lake City and such other places as may be determined by the board, the busi
ness of general merchandising.
^1
J26 HISTORY OF SALT LAKE CITY.
1 1
Sec. J. — The capital stock of this Institution shall be three millions of dol-
lars ($3,000,000) and may be increased to five millions, (55,000,000) and be di-
vided into shares of one hundred dollars ($100) each.
" Sec. 4. — The officers of this Institution shall consist of a president, vice-
president, board of directors, secretary and treasurer, each and every one of
whom shall be stockholders in this Institution.
" Sec. 5. — The board of directors shall consist of not less than five (5), nor
more than nine (9) persons, including the president and vice-president, who shall
be ex-officio members of the board.
" Sec. 6. — It shall be the duty of the president to preside at all meetings of
the Institution and of the board, and to sign all documents, as are, or may be,
prescribed by the constitution and by-laws, except certificates of dividends to
stockholders. In case of absence or disability of the president, the vice-president
shall perform the duties of the president, and in all meetings of the stockholders
the president shall have the power to adjourn the meetings from time to time to
accomplish the transaction of the business.
" Sec. 7. — It shall be the duty of the board to enact by-laws for the general
management and direction of the business of this Institution and to procure suit-
able places for the transaction of the business by lease, purchase or construction ;
also so far as may be necessary, to employ and appoint committees, delegates,
agents, attorneys and clerks to assist in carrying on the business and promoting
the welfare of the Institution, and to discharge the same at pleasure.
''Sec. 8. — They shall also have full power to bargain, sell, convey and deliver
under the seal or otherwise any and all species of property belonging to this Insti-
tution, which may not be needed for the business thereof, on such terms and
conditions as they may deem for the best interest of the same; provided, that the
sale of shares and merchandise shall be for cash only.
''Sec. g. — It shall be the future duty of the directors to furnish quarterly
statements of the business and balance sheets of the books for the inspection of
the shareholders, the first to be furnished on the fifth of July, 1869, and quarterly
thereafter; said statements and balance sheets shall remain open in the office of the
secretary for not less than thirty days.
"Sec. 10. — There shall also be furnished by the directors, a semi-annual
statement in detail of the business of the Institution, to be read before the gen-
eral meeting of the stockholders to be holden at 2 p. m., on the fifth day of
October and April in each year, at such places as the Directors may designate,
also declaration of dividend, the first semi-annual meeting to be held on the fifth
day of October, 1869. Provided, that if any of said fifth days shall fall on .Sun-
day, said reports shall be furnished and meeting held on the day preceding.
"Sec. J I. — The directors shall have further power to call special general
meetings, at such other times and places as in their judgment may be required,
reasonable notice being given thereof.
"Sec. 12- — The board of directors shall have power by a two-thirds vote of
their number, to remove any director or other officer from his office for conduct
prejudicial to the interest of the Institution ; if the officer sought to be removed
be a director he shall not vote on any matter connected with such removal.
HISTORY OF SALT LAKE CITY. 727
''Sec. yj.— All business brought before the board for consideration shall be
determined by a majority of the whole number, each member being entitled to
one vote and one only, irrespective of shares held by said directors.
''Sec. 14. — The directors shall convene for the transaction of the business of
the institution at the call of the president, and as they shall adjourn from time
to time.
"Sec. 13. — All officers of the Institution shall be elected by a majority of
votes given at the general meeting, holden on the fifth day of October in each
year, provided, that whenever a vacancy shall occur from any cause, the board
may fill such vacancy by appointment, till the next general meeting \ all officerb
shall hold their office until their successors are elected and qualified.
" Sec. 16. — In all matters transacted in general meetings each stockholder
shall have one vote, and one only for each and every share owned by him.
"Sec. ij. — The secretary shall record the minutes of all meetings, and con-
duct all correspondence under the direction of the board, he shall hold the com-
mon seal and attend to all other duties whether prescribed by this constitution or
the by-laws required by the president.
"Sec. 18. — The treasurer shall have charge of all funds belonging to the In-
stitution, and shall employ or disburse the same, as required by the provisions of
the constitution, and shall furnish statements of account when required by the
board.
" Sec. ig. — The funds of the Institution shall be subject to appropriation by
the board only, and disbursed by the treasurer on order signed by the president
or vice-president, and countersigned by the secretary.
"Sec. 20. — No person or persons shall be eligible for membership, except
they be of good moral character and have paid their tithing according to the rules
of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.
"Sec. 21. — The directors of this Institution shall tithe its net profits prior
to any declaration of dividend, according to the rules of the Church mentioned
in the preceding section.
"Sec. 22. — The president, vice-president, board of directors, secretary and
treasurer, before entering upon the duties of their several offices, shall take oath
or affirmation for the faithful performance of all duties required by this constitution.
"Sec. 2j. — The treasurer shall give bonds with approved securities to the
Institution, in such sums as may be deemed necessary by the board, subject to in-
crease, as circumstances may render advisable.
"Sec. 24 — The secretary and treasurer shall be the only paid officers of the
Institution, and their remuneration shall be as determined by the board of directors.
"Sec. 2j. — All certificates of stock issued by the Institution shall be for one
share, or multiple thereof; they shall be signed by the president or vice-president
and secretary, under the common seal, they shall be registered in the office of the
secretary, and shall be deemed personal property, and as such, subject to sale
and transfer. The form of certificate, registration and mode of transfer shall be
prescribed by the board.
"Sec. 26. — All dividends shall be paid if required, within thirty days after
the same shall have been declared.
J2S HISTORY OF SALT LAKE CITY.
'^ Sec. 2J. — The private property of shareholders shall not be held subject to
the liabilities of the Institution.
''Sec. 28. — The seal of the Institution shall bear the inscription ' Holiness
to the Lord,' 'Zion's Cooperative Mercantile Institution, 1869,' with bee-hive
and bees in centre.
"Sec.2g. — This constitution may be amended or altered at any general
meeting or the stockholders, by a two-thirds vote of the shares represented, pro-
vided that thirty days' notice shall have been given in some public newspaper
published in this Territory, of such contemplated amendment or alteration."
The foregoing constitution was the original of the organization of Z. C. M. I.;
but the Utah Legislature having passed an act under which the Institution could
incorporate by law, we next, in the historical links, come to the "Agreement,"
entered into between Brigham Young, George A. Smith, George Q. Cannon.
William Jennings, William H. Hooper and others. The constitution upon which
they organized is substantially the original, but there are several points of differ-
ence, as for example :
" ist. — This association shall be known by the name and style of ' Zion's
Co-operative Mercantile Institution,' the continuance, duration or succession of
which shall be for a period of twenty-five years, from and after the fifth day of
October, A. D. 1870."
The original makes the covenant '' perpetual, ^^ while the term of incorpora-
tion of the said Institution is for the duration of twenty-five years.
Interesting as the historical narrative of Z. C. M. I. may be, it must give
place as chief in importance to the great manifestos of the Church upon her social
and co-operative svstems. The following apostolic circular reviewing the finan-
cial affairs of the Institution to date, July 1875, ^^ itself a chapter of history:
' ' To the Latter-day Satnts :
" The experience of mankind has shown that the people of communities and
nations, among whom wealth is the most equally distributed, enjoy the largest
def^ree of liberty, are the least exposed to tyrrany and oppression and suffer the
least from luxurious habits which beget vice. Among the chosen people of the
Lord, to prevent the too rapid growth of wealth and its accumulation in a
few hands, he ordained that in every seventh year the debtors were to be re-
leased from their debts, and, where a man had sold himself to his brother, he
was in that year to be released from slavery and to go free ; even the land
itself which might pass out of the possession of its owner by his sale of it,
whether through his improvidence, mismanagement, or misfortune, could only be
alienated until the year of jubilee. At the expiration of every forty-nine years
the land reverted, without cost to the man or family whose inheritance originally
it was, except in the case of a dwelling house in a walled city, for the redemption
of which, one year only was allowed, after which, if not redeemed, it became the
property, without change at the year of jubilee, of the purchaser. Under such a
system, carefully maintained, there could be no great aggregations of either real
or personal property in the hands of a few ; especially so while the laws, forbid-
HISTORY OF SALT LAKE CITY. 72^
ding the taking of usury or interest for money or property loaned, continued
in force.
" One of the great evils with which our own nation is menaced at the present
time is the wonderful growth of wealth in the hands of a comparatively few indi-
viduals. The very liberties for which our fathers contended so steadfastly and
courageously, and which they bequeathed to us as a priceless legacy, are endan-
gered by the monstrous power which this accumulation of wealth gives to a few
individuals and a few powerful corporations. By its seductive influence results are
accomplished which, were it more equally distributed, would be impossible under
our form of government. It threatens to give shape to the legislation, both state
and national, of the entire country. If this evil should not be checked, and
measures not be taken to prevent the continued enormous growth of riches among
the class already rich, and the painful increase of destitution and want among the
poor, the nation is liable to be overtaken by disaster ; for according to history,
such a tendency among nations once powerful was the sure precursor of ruin.
The evidence of restiveness of the people under this condition of affairs in our
times is witnessed in the formation of societies, of granges, of patrons of hus-
bandry, trades' unions, etc., etc., combinations of the productive and working
classes against capital.
" Years ago it was perceived that we Latter-day Saints were open to the same
dangers as those which beset the rest of the world. A condition of affairs ex-
isted among us which was favorable to the growth of riches in the hands of a few
at the expense of the many. A wealthy class was being rapidly formed in our
midst whose interests, in the course of time, were likely to be diverse from those
of the rest of the community. The growth of such a class was dangerous to our
union and of all people, we stand most in need of union, and to have our inter-
ests identical. Then it was that the Saints were counseled to enter into co-opera-
tion. In the absence of the necessary faith to enter upon a more perfect order
revealed by the Lord unto the church, this was felt to be the best means of drawing
us together and making us one.
" Zion's Co-operative Mercantile Institution was organized, and, throughout
the Territory, the mercantile business of the various Wards and settlements was
organized after that pattern. Not only was the mercantile business thus organized,
but at various places branches of mechanical, manufacturing and other productive
industries were established upon this basis. To-day, therefore, co-operation among
us is no untried experiment. It has been tested, and whenever fairly tested, and
under proper management, its results have been most gratifying and fully equal to
all that was expected of it, though many attempts have been made to disparage
and decry it, to destroy the confidence of the people in it and have it prove a
failure. From the day that Zion's Co-operative Mercantile Institution was organ-
ized until this day it has had a formidable and combined opposition to contend
with, and the most base and unscrupulous methods have been adopted, by those
who have no interest for the welfare of the people, to destroy its credit. Without
alluding to the private assaults upon its credit which have been made by those
who felt that it was in their way and who wished to ruin it, the perusal alone of
the telegraphic dispatches and correfpondence to newspapers which became public,
50
7 JO HIS TOR y OF SALT LAKE CI I Y.
would exhibit how unparalleled, in the history of mercantile enterprises, has
been the hostility it has had to encounter. That it has lived, notwithstanding
these bitter and malignant attacks upon it and its credit, is one of the most valua-
ble proofs of the practical worth of co-operation to us as a people.
" Up to this day Zion's Co-operative Mercantile Institution has had no note
go to protest ; no firm, by dealmg with it, has ever lost a dollar ; its business
transactions have been satisfactary to its creditors and yet its purchases have
amounted to fifteen millions of dollars. What firm in all this broad land can
point to a brighter or more honorable record than this? During the first four
years and a half of its existence it paid to its stockholders a dividend in cash of
seventy -eight per cent., d,xi^ fifty-two per cent, as a reserve to be added to the capital
stock, making in all a dividend of one hundred and thirty per cent. The Institution
declared as dividends and reserves added to the capital stock, and tithing, during
those four and a half years, upwards of half a million of dollars. So that the
stockholder who invested one thousand dollars in the Institution in March,
1869, had by October ist, 1873, that stock increased to $1,617, ^"d this
without counting his cash dividends, which in the same space of time would
have amounted to $1,378.50. In other words, a stockholder who had de-
posited $1,000 in the Institution when it started, could have sold, in four
years and a half afterward, stock to the amount of $617, collected dividends
to the amount of $1,378.50, thus making the actual profits $1,995.50, or
or within a fraction ($4.50) ^ /?£/(? hundred ^tv ctni. upon the original invest-
ment, and still have had his $1,000 left intact. This is a statement from the
books of the Institution, and realized by hundreds of its stockholders. And }et
there are those who decry co-operation and say it will not succeed. If successs
consists in paying large dividends, then it cannot be said that Z. C. M. I. has not
succeeded. In fact, the chief cause of the trouble has been, it has paid too freely
and too well. Its reserves should not have been added, as they were, to the capi-
tal stock ; for, by so doing, at the next semi-annual declaration of dividends, a
dividend was declared upon them, which, as will be perceived, swelled the divi-
dends enormously and kept the Institution stripped too bare of resources to meet
whatever contingencies that might arise.
"It was not for the purpose alone, however, of making money, of declaring
large dividends, that Zion's Co-operative Mercantile Institution was established.
A higher object than this prompted its organization. A union of interests was
sought to be attained. At the time co-operation was entered upon, the Latter-
day Saints were acting in utter disregard of the principles of self-preservation.
They were encouraging the growth of evils in their own midst which they con-
demned as the worst features of the systems from which they had been gathered.
Large profits were being concentrated in comparatively few hands, instead of be-
ing generally distributed among the people. As a conseqnence, the community
was being rapidly divided into classes, and the hateful and unhappy distinctions
which the possession and lack of wealth gave rise to, were becoming painfully ap-
parent. When the proposition to organize Zion's Co-operative Mercantile Insti-
tution was broached, it was hoped that the community at large would become its
stockholders; for if a few individuals only were to own its stock, the advantages
4
r
HISTORY OF SALT LAKE CITY, yji
to the community would be limited. The people, therefore, were urged to take
shares, and large numbers responded to the appeal. As we have shown, the busi-
ness proved to be as successful as its most sanguine friends anticipated. But the
distribution of profits among the community was not the only benefit conterred
by the organization of co-operation among us. The public at large who did not
buy at its stores derived profits, in that the old practice of dealing which prompted
traders to increase the price of an article because of its scarcity, was abandoned.
Zion's Co-operative Mercantile Institution declined to be a party to making a cor-
ner upon any article of merchandise because of the limited supply in the market.
From its organization until the present, it has never advanced the price of any ar-
ticle because of its scarcity. Goods therefore in this Territory, have been sold at
something liked fixed rates and reasonable profits since the Institution has had an
existence, and practices which are deemed legitimate in some parts of the trading
world, and by which, in this Territory, the necessities of consumers were taken ad-
vantage of — as, for instance, the selling of sugar at a dollar a pound, and domes-
tics, coffee, tobacco and other articles, at an enormous advance over original cost
because of their scarcity here — have not been indulged in. In this result the pur-
chasers of goods who have been opposed to co-operation, have shared equally
with its patrons.
"We appeal to the experience of every old settler in this Territory for the
truth of what is here stated. They must vividly remember that goods were sold
here at prices which the necessities of the people compelled them to pay, and not
at cost and transportation, with the addition of a reasonable profit. The railroad,
it is true, has made great changes in our method of doing business. But let a
blockade occur, and the supply of some necessary article be very limited in our
market, can we suppose that traders have so changed in the lapse of a few years
that, if there were no check upon them, they would not put up the price of that
article in proportion as the necessities of the people made it desirable ? They
would be untrue to all the training and traditions of their craft if they did not-
And it is because this craft is in danger that such an outcry is made against co-op-
eration. Can any one wonder that it should be so, when he remembers that, from
the days of Demetrius who made silver shrines for the goddess Diana at Ephesus
down to our own times, members of crafts have made constant war upon innova-
tions that were likely to injure their business.
"Co-operation has submitted in silence to a great many attacks. Its friends
have been content to let it endure the ordeal. But it is now time to speak. The
Latter-day Saints should understand that it is our duty to sustain co-operation and
to do all in our power to make it a success. At a meeting of the stockholders of
the Institution at the time of the general conference a committee of seventeen
was chosen to select and arrange for the purchase of a suitable piece of ground for
a store and to proceed to erect upon it such a fireproof building as would answer
the purposes of the Institution. The objects in view in this proceeding were to
concentrate the busmess and thereby lessen the cost of handling and disposing of
the goods and to decrease rent and insurance. The saving in these directions
alone, not to mention other advantages which must result from having such a store,
will make a not inconsiderable dividend upon the stock. A suitable piece of
732 HISTORY OF SALT LAKE CITY.
ground has been secured, and upon terms which are deemed advantageous, and
steps have been taken towards the erection of a prop&r building. But the Institu-
tion, to erect this building and carry on its business properly, needs more capital.
The determination is still to sell goods as low as possible. By turning over the capital
three or four times during the year they can be sold at very low figures, and but at
a slight advance over cost and carriage, and yet the stockholders have a handsome
dividend. To purchase goods to the greatest advantage the Institution should have
the money with which to purchase of first hands. To effect this important result,
as well as to unite in our mercantile affairs, the Institution should receive the cor-
dial support of every Latter-day Saint. Every one who can should take stock in
it. By sustaining the Co-operative Institution, and taking stock in it, profits that
would otherwise go to a few individuals will be distributed among many hundreds.
Stockholders should interest themselves in the business of the Institution. It is
their own, and if suggestions are needed, or any corrections ought to be made, it
is to their interest to make them.
"The Institution has opened a retail store within a few weeks, one of the old-
fashioned kind, in which everything required by the public is sold. This should
receive the patronage of all the well-wishers of co-operation. In the settlements,
also the local co-operative stores should have the cordial support of the Latter-
day Saints. Does not all our history impress upon us the great truth that in union
is strength? Without it, what power would the Latter-day Saints have? But it
is not in the doctrines alone that we should be united, but in practice and espec-
ially in our business affairs,
"Your Brethren,
^'Btigham youns;, George A. Smith, DanielH. Wells, John Taylor, Wil-
ford Woodruff, Orson Hyde, Orson Pratt, Charles C. Rich, Lorenzo
Snow, Erastus Snow, Franklin D. Richards, George Q. Cannon,
Brigham Noting Jr., Albert Carrington.
" Salt Lake City, Utah Territory, July loth, 1875."
The group of persons given as frontispiece of this chapter of the directors
and officers of the Institution, as they stood in 1881, presents to the eye of the
reader this extraordinary combination of spiritual and temporal men in accord
upon their great social work. On the side of the Church we have first in this co-
partnership of Zion, John Taylor, Trustee-in-Trust. He is one of the directors
of Z. C. M. I, But he is by a superior office more than a director in the combi-
nation. As president of the Church, he is the spiritual guardian of the Church
and the temporal guardian of the commonwealth of Zion.
George Q. Cannon, the apostle, is not only the second man in the Church as
the spritual organizations stand to-day, but he is one of the original partners in
the co-operative covenant, or the "Agreement," upon which Z. C. M. I. was
incorporated. *
It was George Q. Cannon who wrote the encyclical letter published by the
Church upon co-operation which is given in this chapter. Historically, it was a state-
ment made by the Church relative to Z. C. M. I. as an established success of the
Mormon people in co-operation, and to stimulate the community to perpetuate its
existence.
Il
HISTORY OF SALT LAKE CITY. 7jj,
Joseph F. Smith is one ot the directors of the Z C. M. I. and from many
points of view he is a very important member of the combination. Since the
death of George A. Smith, he has stood to the Mormons of Utah as chief lineal
representative of the founders of the Church. In a sense, he may b ;aid to in-
herit the system, and he is, by his office as one of the First Presidency of the
Church and his election as one of the directors of Z. C. M. I., a legitimate spirit-
ual and temporal guardian of the community.
Moses Thatcher is the last and youngest of the apostolic combination of the
directorate of Z. C, M. I. The family of the Thatchers, with William B. Preston
— a son of the family by marriage — are among the principal founders of Cache
Valley. They are temporal managers as well as spiritual men — founders of
cities, merchants and presidents of the Stake. No young man in Utah has made a
better defined and fairer mark than Moses Thatcher. Though young, he has
risen altogether on his own merits to the apostleship. He has been a Legislator
for years ; was superintendent of the Utah Northern Railroad ; afterwards the
superintendent of the branch Z. C. M. I. at Logan, and president of the Cache
Valley Stake.
Bishop John Sharp, who, for thirty-five years, has been one of the principal
directors of the spiritual and temporal affairs of the community, is one of the
board of Z. C. M, I, The chief vein of his history in Utah is embodied in the
record of our local railroads, and his position as one of the fifteen directors of the
U. P. R. R. gives him an influence among the raUroad magnates of the country.
David O. Calder was elected a director of Z. C. M. L, October 5th,
1875. 0"^ the suggestion of President Brigham Young, he was elected sec-
retary and treasurer of that institution, October 5th, 1876, and he occu-
pied that responsible position for two years, contributing not a little to the
increased prosperity of that colossal establishment, and sustaining his character as
a first class business officer. October 5th, 1878, he resigned as secretary and
treasurer of Z. C. M. L, because his large music business demanded his personal
attention; but he retained his position as a director until his death, July 3d, 1884.
William H. Hooper was one of the chief founders of the commerce of Utah,
and successively a director, vice-president, superintendent of, and finally president
of Z. C. M. L For a number of years he was Utah's Delegate to Congress. He
died in Salt Lake City, December 30th, 1882, lamented by the business and repre-
sentative men of the city, both Mormon and Gentile. He was succeeded in the
presidency of Z. C. M. L by President John Taylor.
William Jennings is known in the history of Salt Lake City as a principal
man in many lines — in stock raising, in commerce, in railroads, in Z. C. M. I.,
in the board of the Deseret National Bank, and in the Salt Lake City Council,
over which he last presided as Mayor. He has been director, superintendent and
vice-president of Z. C. M. I.; and was succeeded in tlie superintendency of tlie
Institution by Horace S. Eldredge in 1883.
In any city Horace S. Eldredge would have been a pillar of society. He is
indeed one of those structural embodiments of social weight and character that
satisfies the eye at once and establishes confidence without a question. No busi-
ness man of even ordinary discernment, meeting Eldredge abroad in a business
1
734-
HISTORY OF SALT LAKE CITY.
transaction, though an entire stranger, would refuse to take his check at its face
value, nor would any foreign banker require to have him identified as the Horace
S. Eldredge of Utah, except from the merest form. Some men going abroad re-
quire a full budget of letters of recommendation and credit, yet they may be men
of honesty and honor, besides of most substantial connections; but Eldredge
carries his budget of recommendation and credit in his personal appearance.
In the history of Z. C. M. I. there is one very representative incident that
ought to be noticed. At the time of the panic in 1873, it was Horace S. I'Udredge
who was sent down to the States to ask for an extension of time; H. B. Clawson
went with him. Again was Eldredge's personal and financial weight tested in the
great business cities of America. The time asked for was granted with absolute
confidence, and repeatedly the creditors of Z. C. M. I. added, "Why, Mr.
Eldredge, you are solider than we are ! " And this remark is very typical of the
personal character and financial stability of Horace S. Eldredge himself. He is
not one of the wealthiest men in America, but he is certainly one of the solidest,
and when we find recorded in his diary, penned simply at the time as a private
note — *' I never contracted the debt of a dollar in my life that I have not paid,"
we conclude that it is the man's commercial life epitomised in a conscientious
memorandum.
Undoubtedly to Thomas G. Webber, secretary and treasurer of the Institution
much of its success is to be credited. For upwards of sixteen years he has con-
trolled the finances of this mammoth establishment with integrity, wisdom, and a
far-seeing judgment that has placed its credit second to no other business house
in America. The Hon. William H. Hooper, an excellent judge, once said in
public that Thomas G. Webber was the best accountant and business manager that
he had ever met ; and both Jennings and Eldredge have greatly leaned upon his
judgment during the respective periods of their superintendency. His position as
secretary makes him the active instrument of the executive mind and purposes of
the Board. Familiar with every detail of the Institution's business ; an indefati-
gable worker; courteous, but at the same time a thorough disciplinarian, he has
won the respect and esteem of all who come in contact with him, and no officer
of the Institution enjoys a greater popularity among its hundreds of employees
than does Thomas G. Webber.
Of the Institution itself, since the review, in 1875, ^7 "^^^ heads of the
Church, of its history up to that date, a brief summary may be made :
Z. C. M. I., at this date, January, 1886, is recognized as one of the solidest
and most reliable commercial houses in America. Its credit stands A. i. Its an-
nual sales, to-day, are not so heavy as they were before the panic of 1873, when
they exceeded $5,000,000. They are now upwards of $4,000,000 per annum.
But the foundation of the Institution is solider, its wholesale operations throughout
the Territory perfected, and its financial security is, to-day, in its own hands. It
keeps a business agent in the East and it is well known to its business relations
that Z. C. M. I. is always ready to pay money down and take discount on
its purchases.
But Z. C. M. I. has not only a commercial significance in the history of our
city, but also apolitical one. It has long been the temporal bulwark around the
HISTORY OF SAL T LAKE CITY. 735
Mormon community. Results which have been sten in Utah affairs preservative
of the Mormon power and people, unaccountable to " the outsider," except on
the now stale supposition that "the Mormon Church has purchased Congress,"
may be better traced to the silent but potent influence of Z. C. M. I. among the
ruling business men of America, just as John Sharp's position as one of the direc-
tors of the U. P. R. R. — a compeer of such men as Charles Francis Adams, Jay
Gould and Sidney Dillon — gives him a voice on Utah affairs among the railroad-
rulers of America.
The first place of business occupied by the Institution was the Eagle Em-
porium building, which was rented of Wm. Jennings, Some additions were made
to the building, as more room was demanded. At length it was determined to
buy a piece of ground and put up suitable buildings for the Insttiution. In 1876
a lot 100 X 365 feet was secured for $30,000, and a brick building erected, having
a frontage of 100 feet, and a depth from east to west of 318 feet — three stories
and basement. The front of the building is of iron, and the other portions are
of rock and brick, with a metallic roof. Without the land the building cost, in
round numbers, $200,000, This new building was occupied by the Institution in
March, 1876. It has branch houses at Ogden and Logan, and a warehouse at
Provo for the Southern trade.
CHAPTER LXXXIV.
THEATRICALS IN THE EARLY DAYS IN SALT LAKE CITY, ORGANIZATION OF
THE FIRST THEATRICAL COMPANY. THE SOCIAL HALL. BOWRING'S
THEATRE. ORGANIZATION OF THE DESERET DRAMATIC ASSOCIATION.
We will now take up the civilizing agencies of the city :
It is well 'known to those who have studied, even casually, the character of that
wonderful Mormon society-founder, Brigham Young, that he supplied his people
with the agencies of both social and physical revivification. Not to say it flippantly
bat with a simple appreciation of his unique character, had Brigham Young been
the leader of ancient Israel, as he was of modern Israel, and typed with his Ver-
mont sagacity, there would have been no rebellion of the congregation in the wil-
derness, and no ''repining for the flesh-pots of Egypt." This was strikingly ex-
emplified in the great Mormon exodus to these mountains. He constantly vivified
the people whom he led, by enlivening instrumental music, by the singing of
familiar songs of home in the spirit of home present and not far away, in the
merry dance and social ball. Like the ark of a new covenant, the people under
his leadership carried with them on their long and tedious journey to the Rocky
Mountains at least a primitive civilization.
It was while on this journey that the " Nauvoo Brass Band," under Captain
1:^6 HISTORY OF SALT LAKE CITY.
William Pitt, made itself historical. This band and the " Nauvoo Legion *'
were the only remembrancers that the Mormons brought to these valleys bear-
ing the name of their forsaken city. Captain Pitt and his band left Nauvoo on
the same day with Brigham Young, crossing the Mississippi on the ice, and with
him journeyed that day to the "Camp of Israel," which waited for the leader on
"Sugar Creek;" and at night, though the weather was bitterly cold, the trumpet,
by the order of Brigham, called the camp out to a concert in the open air, and
the Nauvoo Brass Band performed its best selections, after which the pilgrims
joined in the dance, and the music was as joyous as at a merry-making. Arriving
in the valley of the Great Salt Lake, the dance to the Mormons became almost
like an institution and the ball as a social sacrament.
Out of this Nauvoo Brass Band indirectly grew our first theatrical company.
An amalgamation was effected between the members of the band and certain gen-
tlemen and ladies possessing dramatic instincts and predilections, several of whom
had also been connected with theatricals before they came into the isolation of
these mountains, Phil. Margetts was a member of the band, and Hiram B. Claw-
son had already graduated in a traveling theatrical company.
The project of organizing a theatrical company, with a combination of the
musical and dramatic elements, received the hearty sanction of Brigham Young,
and he at once became the patron of the Salt Lake stage.
The first dramatic company organized consisted of H. B. Clawson, James
Ferguson, Phil. Margetts, John Kay, Horace K. Whitney, Robert Campbell, R.
T. Burton, George D. Grant, Edmund Ellsworth, Henry Margetts, Edward Mar-
tin, William Glover and William Clayton ; the ladies were Miss Orum, Miss
Judd, (Mrs. Margaret G. Clawson) and Miss Mary Badlam. The company's cast
stood, James Ferguson, leading man ; Miss Orum, leading lady ; Miss Judd.
soubrette ; Miss Mary Badlam played general parts and filled in with her clever
dancing business ; Hiram B. Clawson was the company's character actor ; Phil.
Margetts commenced his theatrical career as a character actor and comedian;
John Kay, who was endowed with a fine baritone voice, and an imposing stage
figure, sang star songs and did a corresponding business as an actor ; Horace K.
Whitney was a useful and very efficient actor in those parts which sustain the play,
and which, when not well filled, put out the lights of the stars of the company;
Robert Campbell played old-man character parts ; William Clayton was a princi-
pal instrument in organizing the company, and he also took his parts in the or-
chestra; Generals Burton and George D. Grant, and Elder Edmund Ellsworth,
gave amateur importance to the stock, and Wm. Glover and Henry Margetts, it
is presumed, were useful in their line of business ; however, James Ferguson, Phil.
Margetts and H. B. Clawson were the only professional types in the male cast of
this first Salt Lake theatrical company. It bore the name of the " Musical and
Dramatic Company."
The orchestra deserves naming, for its members were of the Nauvoo Brass
Band, from which the company originated : William Pitt, captain of the band,
was the leader of the orchestra, and William Clayton, James Smithies, Jacob
Hutchinson, David Smith, and George Wardle were liis supports.
There was a company now, but no theatre, nor even a hall of capacity suffi-
II
»
HISTORY OF SALT LAKE CITY. yjj
cient to give a public performance^ while the community were socially starving
for public amusements and recreation to enliven the isolation of a " thousand
miles from everywhere," as their locality was then described. The majority of
the citizens in 1851 and 1852 were fresh from a land of theatres. England, thir-
ty-five years ago, wjls still the England of Shakespeare, and not of Boucicault.
There were those in Salt Lake City who had seen Macready ; some who had seen
John and Charles Kemble, their sister Sarah Siddons and Edmund Kean on the
stage in their native land. The majority of the British people in the valley at
that period were from London, Birmingham, Manchester, Leeds, Yorkshire and
Edinburgh, where the common people for generations have been accustomed to
go to the theatre and to the philharmonic concerts, to see the best of acting and
hear the divinest singing, at a few pence, to the galleries. Such a community
could not possibly have got along without their theatre, nor been content with
their isolation without something to awaken pleasurable reminiscences of the in-
tellectual culture and dramatic art of their native land. Their sagacious head
sensed all this, and he at once gave to the newly formed " Musical and Dramatic
Company" the "Old Bowery," where the congregation of Saints met Sabbath
days, and it was there — in the only temple or tabernacle Zion had in those days
— that home theatricals took their rise. If the Church stooped in this, she but
gave her helping hand to civilization, without losing aught of her own caste, for
those actors and musicians were her own ordained elders and high priests.
Historical interest is always associated with the first programme of every
notable institution, therefore is here presented ;.he first cast of the first dramatic
company of Utah. The play produced on the occasion was Robert Macaire. The
cast was as follows :
Robert Macaire John Kay
Jaques Strop, H. B. Clawson
Pierre Philip Margetts
Marie Miss Orum
Clementina Miss M. Judd (Mrs. M. G. Clawson)
Several other plays were produced during the season, and it is said they were
creditably performed by the company. " Hector Timid " was the opening of the
farcical role.
There were more than a thousand persons who witnessed each of these per-
formances, showing that the theatrical audiences in the " Old Bowery/' in the
winter of 185 1-2, were larger than the average audiences in 1885, with a Madame
Ristori playing her magnificent role oi historical plays in the "Big Theatre"
with the modern audiences of Salt Lake City to support her performances.
The company played in the " Old Bowery " for two years, during which
time a number of high class plays were performed, one of which was the cele-
brated play of "The Stranger; " the brilliant James Ferguson took the title role.
In 1 85 1 the Musical and Dramatic Company was reorganized and named
the " Deseret Dramatic Association," with Bishop Raleigh as its president.
Pieces were cast, written out and rehearsed to prepare for the opening of the
Social Hall. In 1852, this historical hall was built. It is the identical assembly
rooms so often mentioned in those days in the books of travelers, who have
51
738 HISTORY OF SALT LAKE CITY.
sojourned awhile in the Mormon Zion, where they i^rofessed to have had the hon cr
of dancing with the wives of Brighana Young and others of the Mormon chiefs,
and admiringly saw " the Prophet " "trip the light fantastic toe." It was opened
and dedicated for the performances of the Deseret Dramatic Association, and
Bulwer's classical play of the " Lady of Lyons" was produced on the first night.
The company had now greatly strengthened and was enabled to cast first class
plays. To the original members were added John T. Caine, David McKenzie,
David O. Calder, Bernard Snow, William C Dunbar, Henry Maiben, Joseph M.
Simmons, David Candland, (stage manager), William Broomhead and J. M. Bar-
low ; to the ladies Mrs. Wheelock, Mrs. Tucker, Mrs. Bull, Mrs. John Hyde and
Mrs. Cook.
In the opening play of the ' 'Lady of Lyons," the gifted Ferguson played Claude
Melnotte and Mrs. Wheelock, Pauline. In the great plays, the men parts were
strongly filled. Bernard Snow, who was in that day styled the *' Rocius " of the
Rocky Mountains, played Othello ; Ferguson, lago ; Snow, Damon, and Ferguson,
Pythias. Virginius was also played, with Bernard Snow in that character. Phil.
Margetts, in his line of comedy, farce and comic song, by this time, had estab-
lished himself as a public favorite, in whose estimation he grew every season ; Dun-
bar had created a type and style peculiarly his own, both in character parts and
character singing ; while Henry Maiben was fast mounting the ladder of local
fame in another line of comedy character parts and comic singing, to which was
occasionally supplemented the role of professional dancer. David McKenzie had not
as yet found his day of opportunities. Neither had John T. Caine'sday come asa
mere member of the Social Hall company; nor indeed had that of Hiram B. Claw-
son. Mrs. Wheelock rose to a local star magnitude, but she passed out of our sky
and went to California, leaving scarcely a name in the remembrance of the living.
At the Social Hall, the company had a splendid orchestra, with Professor
Ballo, director, and John M. Jones, the leading violin.
But the Utah war broke up the chain of dramatic performances in our city,
and it may be said also the Deseret Dramatic Association itself for several years.
Our dramatic history was continued by Mr. Phil. Margetts organizing a com-
pany, of which he was president, under the name of the Mechanic's Dramatic
Association. The members of the company were Phil. Margetts, Harry Bowring,
Henry McEwan, James A. Thompson, Joe Barker, John B. Kelly, John Cham-
bers, Joseph Bull, Pat Lynch, William Wright, William Poulter and William
Price ; the ladies were Mrs. Marion Bowring, Mrs. Bull, Mrs. McEwan, Elizabeth
Tullidge and Ellen Bowring, with Father John Lyon, critic.
A large room Avas fitted up in the house of H. E. Bowring, with a stage and
good scenery, painted by that excellent artist, William V. Morris, and the place
of performance was called Bowring's Theatre.
It is worthy of note that this was the first place in Utah that bore the name
of theatre.
In the performances of this little theatre, Mrs. Marion Bowring was leading
lady, Mrs. Bull, walking lady, Mrs. McEwan, soubrette. Phil, played Othello,
Beverly in the "Gamester," and Duke Aranza in the " Honeymoon ;" and he sus-
tained those parts admirably, to the surprise of all his theatrical friends, who had
HISTORY OF SALT LAKE CITY.
739
cast him as the comedian par excellence. Henry McEwan played lago to Phil's
Othello, Stukely to his Gamester, and did it excellently well. In that line of
characters, had McEwan remained on the stage, he would have made quite a pro-
fessional mark. He had but one defect — that of voice. Thompson was the walk-
ing gentleman, but it was in the farce of " Betsy Baker," that he made his chief
mark, as Crummy, by which name he is known to this day among his intimate
friends. Bowring played the Mock Duke to Phil's Duke ; Peter White in " Mr.
and Mrs. Peter Whiie " (played for tl.e first time in Salt Lake City at Bowring's
Theatre), and was a rare Bobby Trot to Phil's great Luke the Laborer; and he
was also the first Mouser (in this city) in " Betsy Baker." Mr. Joe Barker made
quite a hit in old man parrs. In the " Gamester" he played the old man part with
great feeling ; so he did also Farmer Wakefield; and, as Lampedo, in the "Honey-
moon," his part was a decided hit. Mr. Joseph Bull and Mrs. Bull sustained their
appropriate parts; the public will remember them as the lago and Desdemona of
the early period of our theatricals. Mrs. Marion Bowring was Juliana in the
" Honeymoon ;" Mrs. Beverley in the •* Gamester;" Emelia in " Othello ;" and,
afterwards, in the Salt Lake theatre, of which for years she was the leading lady
of our stock company, she gave to Lyne's PIzzaro the best Elvira ever played by
any lady of our stock company. Mrs. McEwan in her line of parts, shined as Jenny
in " Luke the Laborer," and as Zamora, in the "Honeymoon."
It was these performances which led indirectly to the building of the Salt
Lake Theatre and the re-organization of the Deseret Dramatic Association.
Phil, waited on President Young and invited him to the performances, with all his
family, naming the evening. Brigham said, " Why can't Heber and I come to-
night ? What are you playing ? " The reply was, " Luke, the Laborer." " I'll
come to-night, said the President, evidently designing to catch them as they were,
without special preparation for his coming. He attended, was greatly pleased,
and the next day Phil, presented him with ninety tickets for his and Heber's fam-
ilies for that evening. The families of the two presidents of the Church came,
including H. B. Clawson ; the play that night was " The Honeymoon," with
Phil, as Duke Aranza, Bowring as the Mock Duke, and McEwan as Orlando.
Speaking with theatrical swell becoming the occasion, the performance was a tre-
mendous success. At the close Phil., from the stage, made a speech to the President,
and Brigham, with his usual gallantry when pleased, in return, from the audience,
made a speech to Phil, and his dramatic company.
Immediately after this the President told Hiram B. Clawson to organize the
Deseret Dramatic Association, unite with it Phil's company, and said that he
would build a great theatre, for, as he sagaciously observed, "the people must
have amusements."
Such is the historic significance of Bowring's Theatre, and soon thereafter
the Salt Lake Theatre rose as the grander symbol of the times.
740 HISTORY OF SALT LAKE CITY.
CHAPTER LXXXV^.
BUILDING AND OPENING OF THE SALT LAKE THEATRE. THE FIRST PLAY.
REMINISCENCES OF THE COMPANY. THEATRICAL CRITICISMS. THE
EARLY STARS. T, A. LYNE. THE IRWINS. PAUNCEFORT. "YOU CANT
PLAY ALEXANDER." JULIA DEAN HAYNE. JOHN T. CAINE'S BENEFIT.
THE FIRST LOCAL PLAY PUT UPON THE SALT LAKE STAGE—" ELEANOR
DE VERE." THE CROWNING DAYS OF THE THEATRE. THE WORLDS
STARS THAT HAVE VISITED ZION.
It was just at the outbreak of the civil war that the theatrical history proper
of our city commenced. The " Utah War " was as a bustling memory of the
past ; Camp Floyd was evacuated ; all in Zion was peace, though the nation was
in civil war, in which neither Utah nor California had the honor of taking part.
It was in the year 1861, our citizens saw a colossal building in the process of
erection, and it was known that Brigham Young designed to give to the Mormons
a great theatre, which, after its erection, was popularly styled Brigham's theatre.
There were those among the heads of the community who would have rather
seen the Temple rushing up; but our citizens, (who at that date were mixed, of
Gentile and Mormon) needed the theatre more than the Temple : so thought
Brigham Young, and his practical mind gave to our city one of the best theatres
in America; and soon it was stocked with a company and furnished with appoint-
ments that bore favorable comparison with the theatres of the East.
And Brigham Young was tight. With the drama, the English civilization
was born ; and though Brigham Young comprehended it not in a learned sense,
his strong Saxon common sense perceived as by instinct the methods of his race ;
and it is remarkable how an uneducated man (uneducated in the sense of the
schools) could have so methodically worked, as to give his people a theatre and
choral classes here simultaneously as he dvd in 1861.
The English common people were educated and their minds drawn out into
art and philosophy not by the pulpit but the stage; not by the Church, the cath-
edral, or the temple, but the theatre and the concert hall ; and as in England
so also has it been in America. We enter the Holy of Holies to worship ; we go
to the theatre to learn the everyday lessons of practical life and to study character
for a knowledge of human nature; nor is it a little singular in this man. Brig-
ham's life, that though he put on capstone of the Nauvoo Temple, he also at
Nauvoo played the High Priest to our T. A. Lyne's Pizzaro, while Apostle Eras-
tus Snow, then a brilliant young elder, played Alonzo. In that day Thomas A.
Lyne, then in the prime of his dramatic power, was at Nauvoo giving perform-
ances. Joseph Smith himself was highly endowed with a dramatic nature. His
whole life was a drama — not a pulpit oration ; and his culmination was a solemn
tragedy. And even in his Temple, the Prophet was a sacred dramatist, and not
HISTORY OF SALT LAKE CITY.
741
like unto a modern minister or a lecturer from college, and all his mysteries were
sacred dramas — revealings in the Temple of the characters and action of the im-
mortal life, as Shakespeare, the prophet of the Theatre, revealed at the Old Globe
in London, the characters and actions of mortal life.
The Mormon theatre was conceived in Nauvoo in Joseph's day. It is as ortho-
dox as the Temple. Thomas A. Lyne was Joseph's actor : an incident in his pro-
fessional life of which this veteran personator of the characters of Shakespeare and
other dramatic masters has often spoken with unction to the author. It was such
a unique episode in his life to play Pizzaro in the city of the Saints at the request
of the Prophet with Brigham performing the high priest of his play, that T. A.
Lyne has cherished the circumstance as a sacred page in the book of reminis-
cences of his professsonal career. Pizzaro was just such a play as Joseph would de-
light in as a study for his people, the subject being the invasion, by the haughty
iron-heeled Spaniard, of the ancient nation of Peru, closely akin to a Book of
Mormon subject ; and Erastus Snow as the young Alonzo, a type of Spanish chiv-
alry at its best temper, was a character to admire, while Brigham as the high
priest holding the ancient temple and calling down fire from the sun-god, per-
formed a part that the Mormons could sympathetically appreciate. The dramatic
episode is pertinent as the play of Pizzaro was performed afterwards by T. A. Lyne
in " Brigham's theatre" in Salt Lake City, with a very similar cast, as it was
played by him in the Masonic Hall at Nauvoo before Joseph and his people.
It was at Nauvoo that Hiram B. Clawson became a regular member of the
Lyne company. Hiram possessed the natural abilities of a good character actor,
which thus early attracted him to the stage. He traveled professionally in Lyne's
company, up the river and around, and was considered by both the management
and the public as a decided hit in his character parts. Herein we find the pro-
logue of Brigham's theatre in Salt Lake City, with Hiram B. Clawson, manager,
and Lyne playing star parts, supported by a local company of Mormon elders and
the daughters of the High Priest of bygone days.
Historically illustrated we may say that the Salt Lake Theatre rose as the
monument of our Rocky Mountain civilization. In this respect it is worthy of
reference to the Old Globe of London, which, when the English nation was emer-
ging from the gorgeous barbarism of the feudal times, was, by the genius of a gal-
axy of supreme minds, endowed with the dramatic voice of a new civilization.
The founders of this Territory had performed their wonderful exodus ; they
had laid the first strata of society in the Rocky Mountains ; they had peopled
these valleys by immense emigrations ; our Territory had survived what was called
the Utah war; Camp Floyd was evacuated, and General Albert Sidney Johnson
had resigned his character role as the conqueror of the Utah rebellion, and gone to
play a principal part in the rebellion of the South. There were certainly the
swell of heroism and the sonorous tones of a gorgeous barbarism in all this, but
Ironti the higher views of civilization, both the history and social conditions were
only semi-barbaric. Though Utah society was made up of the elements of the
superior races, and the people who constituted this new commonwealth had mi-
grated from lands of high culture, yet society itself in these valbys was in its primi-
tive state of formation. The element from the old countries needed a re-culture.
7^2 HISTORY OF SALT LAKE CI'IY.
The exterminations, emigrations, and the first settlings in the " Great American
Desert" hnd returned it as clay to the hand of the potter, for a remoulding into
forms suitable to its own civilization, while the native born of these valleys had
merely the primitive fashioning of an Anglo-Sixon offspring, without any personal
cultured remembrances brought from other lands. In short, in the early periods
of the history of our Territory, all society here needed toning up with the impulses
of a re-culture. President Brigham Young, as a colonist and society-founder, as
we have said, realized this in his own way. But there were other men around him
who realized it in what may be termed the professional sense of civilized society
— the senses which have given birth to the poet, the musician, the painter, the
actor, the architect, the inventor and the journalist, — which at the birth of our
present English civilization, made the Old Globe of Shak^peare's management as
fame resounding as the court of Elizabeth, and Shakspeare's name more splendid
than that of the great queen herself, and which in modern times have made the
press the mightiest power of the age.
About the year i860, those professional instinctj around Brighan You.ig may
have been named as embodied in Hiram B. Clawson, JohnT. Cainea'id David O.
Calder. On his part David O. Calder had been prompting President Young to
the organization of large philharmonic societies throughout the Territory; and un-
der the patronage and by the financial support of the President of the Church.
David O. Calder taught hrge classes of pupils in Brigham's choral free schools,
while under Iliram B. Clawson and John T. Caine, the Deseret Dramatic Associ-
ation, in 1861-2-3, grew into a first class theatrical stock company. The years
1861-2 saw the building and opening of the great Salt Lake Theatre, of which
Julia Dean Hayne afterwards became queen. Its fame spread even to Europe ;
and on his visit to our Zion, Hepworth Dixon was charmed to write upon Brigham
Young's theatre several interesting pages of his book — New America. From the
opening of that theatre, speaking in a professional sense, civilization in the Rocky
Mountains received a fresh impulse. Brigham Young was the jiresident of the as-
sociation ; his daughters played upon the stage ; Mormon elders were the actors ;
Mormon elders painted the scenes and constituted the orchestra ; the managers
were Clawson and Caine ; and apostles, patriarchs, high priests and elders filled
the parquette and the private boxes with their families. It is thus we must view
the management of the Salt Lake Theatre under Clawson and Caine, to under-
stand its import in the history of our Utah civilization.
The Salt Lake Theatre was opened to the public on Saturday evening, March
8th, 1862. The pieces were, " Pride of the Market," and "State Secrets."
But the ceremony of the dedication of the Theatre was the remarkable event of
the opening. Indeed it is not only worthy to constitute a chapter of our local
dramatic history, but of the general history of Salt Lake City itself, for there i.s
nothing in the history of the English and American stage so unique in its object
and sentiment.
Reserved seats were placed before the curtain for the First Presidency of the
Church and a few others. At the appointed hour, these were occupied and Brig-
ham Young, president of the Deseret Dramatic Association, called " the house "
HISTORY OF SALT LAKE CITY. y4j
to order and delivered a brief introduction. The choristers of the occasion sang
an opening hymn :
" Lo ! on the mountain tops appearing,"
After which President Daniel H. Wells offered up the dedication prayer from
which we cull the following characteristic passages :
* -^ * "In the name of our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ, and in the
authority of the holy and eternal priesthood of Almighty God, we consecrate and
dedicate this building, with its surroundings above and below and upon each side
thereof, unto Thee, our Father and God. We dedicate the ground upon which
it stands, and the foundation of the building, and the superstructure thereon, the
side and the end walls, and the chimneys upon the tops thereof, and the flues
within the walls, and the openings for ingress and egress ; and ask for thy blessing
to rest upon thein, that the materials used in the construction of the walls may
cement together and grow stronger and stronger as time shall pass away. To this
end we dedicate unto Thee, our Father, the stone, the adobes, the brick, the
hewn stone and mortar of which they are composed, and all the mason-work
thereof ; and all the timbers within and above and upon the walls, and the frame-
work thereof for the support of the floors, the galleries, the stage, the side rooms,
stairs and passages and entrances thereof and therefrom, for the support of the
roof of the building and the towering dome, * * * ^^^ ^^e dedicate the
parquette, circles, galleries and rooms adjoining for the people, the orchestra, and
the actors and performers ; the stage upon which we stand, and the green-room,
and rooms adjoining above and round about for dressing rooms, for painting and
other conveniences. * * * All and every part of this building we consecrate
and dedicate unto Thee, our Father, that it may be pure and holy unto the Lord
our God, for a safe and righteous habitation for the assemblages of Thy people, for
pastime, amusement and recreation ; for plays, theatrical performances, for lec-
tures, conventions, or celebrations, or for whatever purpose it may be used for the
benefit of Thy Saints. * * ;i« Upon this edifice be pleased to let Thy bless-
ing rest, that it may be preserved against accident or calamity by fire or flood, or
hurricane, or the lurid lightning's flash, or earthquakes. May it forever stand as
a monument of the skill, industry and improvement of those who have labored
thereon, or in anywise contributed thereto, and of the enterprise and ability of
Thy servant Brigham, who is the projector and builder thereof, and also as a mon-
ument of the blessing and prosperity which Thou hast so eminently conferred
upon Thy people since Thou didst bring them forth unto this land. And we pray
Thee to bless this Dramatic Association, the actors and actresses, and all who shall
perform upon this stage, O Lord, may they feel the quickening influence of Thy
Holy Spirit, vivifying and strengthening their whole being, and enabling them to
bring into requisition and activity all those energies and powers, mental and physi-
cal, quick perceptions and memories necessary to the development and showing
forth the parts, acts and performances assigned unto them to their highest sense
of gratification or desire, and the satisfaction of the attending audience. ^ *
And, O Lord, preserve forever this house pure and holy for the habitation of thy
people. Suffer no evil or wicked influences to predominate or prevail within these
walls, neither disorder, drunkenness, debauchery or licentiousness of any sort
J 44- HISTORY OF SALT LAKE C1T\.
or kind ; but rather than this, sooner than it should pass into the hands or con-
trol of the wicked or ungodly, let it utterly perish and crumble to atoms ; let it
be as though it had not been, an utter waste, each and every part returning to its
natural element ; but may order, virtue, cleanliness, sobriety and excellence ob-
tain and hold fast possession herein, the righteous possess it, and ' Holiness to the
Lord' be forever inscribed therein." ■' * * -J'-
After the dedicatory prayer Mr. William C. Dunbar, assisted by the choir
and accompanied by the orchestra, sang the "Star Spangled Banner."
President Young next addressed the audience and the Deseret Dramatic As-
sociation relative to his object in building the theatre, and the mission ot the
drama, in which address he aptly said :
" The Lord looked upon the children of men as they were, saw their deeds
and understood them ; and so should the Saints understand who was in the world
and learn to choose the good and eschew the evil. It was not to learn evil ; but
to know the duplicity and falsehood of false men, guard against the inroads of
vice, and to pursue the undeviating course of rectitude and virtue, that invariably
lead to happiness and honor, * * Brother Wells has prayed that this
building might crumble to the dust and pass away as if it had never been, sooner
than it should pass into the hands of the wicked or be corrupted and polluted,
and to that I say. Amen." * * *
In closing, the President made an impressive invocation in behalf of the dra-
matic company and the audiences which should assemble to witness their perform-
ances. Heber C. Kimball and John Taylor followed in brief addresses in conso-
nance with the dedication.
The Deseret Dramatic Association then gave their opening performance to
the public.
Thus it will be seen that this theatre was dedicated very much after the manner
that the high priests of the Mormon Church would have dedicated one of their
temples; and though probably Brigham Young had, at that time, never heard the
text of the play of **" Hamlet " in all his life, he described the object of the drama,
as it was designed by him for the Salt Lake Theatre, very much like the spirit
and exposition of Hamlet to the players :
* * * " The purpose of playing, whose end, both at the first, and now, was, and is, to
hold, as 'twere the mirror up to Nature; to show virtue her own feature, scorn her own image, and the
very age and body of the time his form and pressure."
The Salt Lake Theatre, in fact, at the onset was elevated to the caste of a
dramatic temple, and made a high school to the public for the study of human
nature, which was the very object of all the plays of our Solomon of the Anglo-
Saxon stage. Not in the whole history of the stage, ancient or modern, was ever
a theatre before thus endowed as a sacred dramatic temple for the people. I'rue
Shakspeare and the rest of the great dramatic composers, with Garrick, the Kem-
bles, the Keans, Macready, Booth, Forrest, and others of their illustrious class,
in their imperial dignity of character, and in the matchless splendor of their
genius, before whose bright constellation the galaxy of the pulpit have bowed in
humility — have affirmed that the Theatre of their designing is a Temple for the
people. Hereafter perchance it may be regarded as one of the *' strange things"
HISTORY OF SALT LAKE CITY. y^^
of dramatic history that Brigham Young, a man of no art culture beyond that which
was self-evolved, but the high priest of a despised church, should have so lifted the
theatre to the conception of the great high priests of the stage; and, if ''Brigham' s
Theatre" has fallen from its pinnacle, we shall not debit the fall to him, nor
his counsellor, whose dedicatory prayer is before our eyes.
During the first season there were performed of the minor and domestic
dramas, "Pride of the Market," " Serious'family," " Porter's Knot," " Lavator
the Physiognomist," "The Charcoal Burner" (a melo-drama), and Charles
Mathews' comedy — " Used Up," with farces : " Sarah's Young Man," " An Ob-
ject of Interest," " Paddy Miles' Boy." "To Oblige Benson," " Pleasant Neigh-
bor," " Love in Livery,*' " Betsy Baker," and, on the last night of the season, a
high class play — " Love's Sacrifice," and the farce " The Widow's Victim."
Before the opening of the second season, the veteran actor Mr. T. A. Lyne,
had been sent for by his former pupil, Manager Clawson ; and he came to Salt
Lake City to take the position as tutor of the company. The following is a brief
sketch of his life up to that period :
Thomas Ackley Lyne (who is still living in Salt Lake City) was born at Phila-
delphia, in August of the year iSo6. His youth and early manhood were spent
on the "ocean wave." At the age of twenty-three, he appeared at the Walnut
Street Theatre, which was then under the management of Blake & Ingsley. He
made his appearance in the popular play of " William Tell," which, in those days,
was presented to the public in five acts. His second appearance was at the Park
Theatre in the same character under the management of Simpson. He at once
took rank as a leading actor ; so it may be seen from the dramatic record that T.
A. Lyne was one of America's great actors over fifty years ago. He was a "star"
before Charlotte Cushman had made any mark in the theatrical world, and he sup-
ported that lady in her early days. He also played leading parts to the elder
Booth, and the principal characters to Miss Ellen Tree before she became Mrs.
Charles Kean. He has had a large share of crossings and disappointments in the
precarious profession which claims " to hold the mirror up to nature." On look-
ing over the old files as far back as the " Old Warren Theatre," under the man-
agement of Wm. Pelby, at Boston, (on the site of the Warren was built the Nat-
ional) we find on the third night of its first season Lyne as the Stranger in Kot-
zebue's play of that name, and Harry Smith as the Francis. So, more than forty
years ago, he v/as a leading serious actor in the Athens of America. We find him
also identified with western theatricals as far back as when Chicago's population
was about three thousand and Milwaukee's about half that number. He was man-
ager and actor and gave to Chicago in Mr. Ogden's theatre, a wooden building,
its first "stars" — Dan Marble and Mrs. Silsby — then imported by steamer from
Detroit. We find T. A. Lyne playing among the Saints at Nauvoo. At the open-
ing of the Salt Lake Theatre he was brought from Denver at the instance of
Brigham Young and installed as dramatic teacher and reader. Thus commenced
his professional history in our city.
The second season opened with a grand ball at the theatre, which was now
receiving the finishing touches in the interior of the house ; and T. A. Lyne was
52
746 HISTORY OF SALT LAKE C1T\.
introduced to the public in a poem composed by him — "Our Country's Flag,"
which was read by John R. Clawson.
On Christmas night, 1862, the fine play "The Honeymoon " was performed
by the stock company, with John T. Caine as Duke Aranza, and Phil. Mar-
getts in his inimitable Mock Duke. W. C. Dunbar's "Paddy Miles' Boy," of
which he made a rare Irish comic type, followed. "Old Phil's Birthday," one
of II. B. Clawson's marked character hits, was repeated on two nights ; as was
John T. Caine's "Charcoal Burner. " The "Two Polls" (Margetts and Bow-
ring) carried off the palm of the farces.
Then came " Virginius" on the night of the 17th of January, 1863, a crown-
ing part, and in the hands of our local company. It is Sheridan Knowles' greatest
character part, in which Vandernoff found scope to take the laurels of the play
even from Macready; yet our Bernard Snow played Virginius up to a high
mark.
On the nights of the nth, 14th and i8th of February, 1863, "Damon and
Pythias" was played with Lyne as Damon. Mrs. L. Gibson played Calanlhe,
Mrs. M. G. Clawson Hermion, James Ferguson played Pythias. This occasion
was his final appearance on the stage.
" Pizarro " was perlormed, for the first time on the Salt Lake stage, on the
night of March 4th: John T. Caine, Pizarro; Lyne, Rolla ; Joseph F. Sim-
mons, Alonzo; George Teasdale took the part of the High Priest, and Mrs. M.
Bowring, Elvira; and for the first time Salt Lake City saw stage business which
perhaps was not surpassed that season in any theatre in America. " William
Tell," Lyne's favorite, followed, and afterwards the "Stranger," in which latter
play Mrs. Fanny Stenhouse sustained the difficult character of Mrs. Haller.
April ist, Lyne played Virginius; and again came his great Damon, in
which he has been acknowledged to have had no equal in America, excepting
Forrest himself. "Pizarro" was repeated, with cast as before, and then the
" Merchant of Venice, " (for the first time played here) in which Lyne gave a
fine exposition of "the Jew that Shakspeare drew," in which Edmund Kean won
the sceptre of the London Stage, after Hazlett, the greatest English critic, had
fought the adverse London critics in his cause.
In the third season (the fall and winter of 1863-4) the Irwins reigned.
They played the " Lady of Lyons," "Ingomar," " Evadne," "Faint Heart
never Won Fair Lady," " Warlock of the Glen," " Ireland as it was," "Chimney
Corner," "'Katharine and Petruchio," "Marble Heart," "Octoroon," "The
Hunchback," "Green Bushes," "Othello," " Corsican Brothers," "Jessie
Brown," " Still Waters Run Deep," "Idiot Witness," "Angel of Midnight,"
and *' Colleen Bawn." Excepting Othello these were a fresh class of plays here
of the second order, giving great scope and variety, and keeping up the dignity
of the Salt Lake stage. It will be gratifying to the lovers of the legitimate drama
tO have recalled this spendid exhibit of the early days. And during these per-
formances our home company did excellent work not only in the support, but also
in their own comedies and farces. In the "Colleen Bawn" David McKenzie scored
a triumph as Danny Mann, and at once raised himself to an equality with Irwin-
As Danny Mann he has never met his match on the Salt Lake stage to this day.
HIS TOR V OF SAL T LAKE CITY. j^j
In the fourth season, (June and July, 1864,) Lyne came on again in Damon,
Pizzaro, and William Tell-
Mr. George Pauncefort, an accomplished English actor, with Mrs. Florence
Bell, appeared in the city at this period, and during the remainder of the season,
alternated his light classics against T. A. Lyne's grander, stately parts of the old
school. They made to each other a fine variation, illustrating for their audiences
the old legitimate and the new legitimate class of plays. Two better types are
rarely to be found heading a stock company, during the same season, in any of
the principal cities either of America or England, than those which were presented
by Lyne and Pauncefort during the unbroken theatrical period from July, 1864, to
January 7th, 1865. Lyne, in the imperial hauteur of the Forrest school, scarcely
deigned to notice the introduction of the modern school of classical drama, which
clothes its character- casts in the naturalness of society of our own times, as
against the grand but stagey portraiture of men and women as they were a century
or two ago. There was ever something about Lyne's stately acting that kept the
audience in remembrance of the dedication of this Mormon Temple of the drama.
It seemed to say to Pauncefort and alike to the audience " take off thy shoes for
the place whereon thou standeth is holy ground." In Pizzaro and Damon, this
was eminently so. He was a martinet over the dignity, virtue and proprieties of
the stage, which told you proudly of the days when he played with the chaste and
irreproachable Ellen Tree. So strict was he that in his character of the " Stran-
ger," he " cut out " the hintings of reconciliation between him and his erring but
repentant wife (Mrs. Haller), for which the emotional meeting of the parents and
their children is introduced to extort forgiveness from society in its passion of
tears, usually produced by the affecting closing scene. T. A. Lyne indeed, above
all the actors that have played on the stage (Couldock alone excepted) has come
up to the mark given by President Wells in his solemn dedication of the house on
the opening night.
George Pauncefort breathed upon the Salt Lake stage a lighter ataiosphere.
The somewhat Puritanic spirit which had hitherto prevailed in our theatre was dis-
pelled, without a shock to the families of apostles, bishops and elders who filled
the parquette, for the plays now introduced were still chaste, though of a lighter
order.
The English actor opened with " The Romance of a Poor Young Man," in
which he wrought out one of the most accomplished and natural works of dram-
atic art. Lyne followed on the next night of the theatre in the " Merchant of
Venice." Pauncefort came again with his " Romance ;" then in his rare person-
ation of William in " Black-eyed Susan." His " Hamlet," (played here for the
first time), was not unworthy of Barry Sullivan himself; and his "Don Csesar De
Bazan," we think, surpassed even the Don Caesar of that most classical Irish actor
whom Liverpool challenged against all England. Charles Matthew's favorite high
comedy character, " Used up" was a congenial part, and the " Corsican Broth-
ers," sustained by David McKenzie, was rendered by Pauncefort in a style excel-
lent in the eyes of those who had seen Charles Kean in the part. " The Duke's
Motto" came next and this actor's first engagement closed with "Don Caesar De
Bazan."
74^ HISTORY OF SALT LAKE CITY.
The stock company then held the stage alone for a while, and here may be
introduced a review of the first critic of the Salt Lake Theatre — Alpha,* to mark
the status of our stock company as they appeared to him in the freshness of daily
memory.
" The development of the dramatic art in our midst forms a page of social
and popular progress. It could be predicted, a priori, that by its side would spring
up musical and literary movements, and in their wake popular movements of every
kind would follow.
"When that national theatre of the Mormons first lifted its stately form, as
a fact in the social and intellectual unfolding of this people, we said, ' There is a
gigantic prophecy materialized to the senses.' The house was large in its external,
and magnificent in its internal. So much the better ; for it prophesied the louder,
and the people understood its vernacular tongue better than they could its meta-
physical speech. It prophesied of popular progress, the birth of the arts and the
establishment of the professions. Figuratively speaking, that magnificent theatre
of ours was an organ of the people, published for them by President Young.
There they select their own favorites ; there they express their own taste ; there
they applaud that which they think deserving. The theatre was not a religious
house, but a secular public institution — a temple of art ; and art is universalian.
Be an audience as varied in their religions and politics as Joseph's coat of many
colors; and, if they possess a cultivated taste, they will express a common ad-
miration and pleasure. You shall see a gentile house make a Mormon artist the
favorite, and a Mormon public flock to witness good professional performances.
The meaning of appearing before the public in the arena of art the management
soon appreciated. Much attention and cost were lavished in putting the plays
upon the stage, graced with exquisite pictorial illustrations and scenic splendor,
for this, with an immense command of means and facilities, was much easier to the
management than to fill parts with first class artists. Indeed theatricals, even in
our professional-looking house, started with a purely amateur corps, with Mr. John
T. Came as its leading member. This gentleman has since given up first parts to
Mr. McKenzieand professional actors, and has made himself very efficient in the
more dignified character of manager, playing in the company less to star in a part
than for the general effectiveness of the whole. This is a mark of good judgment
and correct self-appreciation, for in the long run he would be certain to find many
to eclipse his glory, especially after our theatrical heavens shall have been be-
spangled with professional stars; he always could hold a first position in the man-
agement and not lose caste in the body of a play. Great heaven, how often do
even leading men with abilities to rule a nation, and capacity to legislate for an
empire put themselves in parts in life where a common laborer could overmatch
them, and your veriest vagabond that travels with a show eclipse their glory. All
the crowned heads of Europe could not have furnished in their own persons, a
company of actors to tread the boards by the side of the dramatic corps of old
Richardson's Booth ; nor have shone as stars in the same firmament with those
luminaries who perchance first shot out to public gaze in a ' penny gaff' or a coun-
try barn. They have been your Edmund Keans !
«E. W. Tullidge.
i
HISTORY OF SALT LAKE CITY. 74^
" While it would be too partial to say the management has committed no
<=rrors, it may without reserve be affirmed that it has displayed on the whole ex-
cellent judgment, and not only has the mo^t effectual caste been designed, but the
most fitting and laborious members of the association have won the best parts and
leading characters. The members of the association stand to-day classified and
ranked pretty much in the places where their own talents, study and industry have
marked out for them. Once fairly won upon the public stage of art, in any of its
branches, and all will most certainly find their leveL It is when they cannot
reach the public in the fitting place to appeal to the public judgment, that the
possessors of excellent gifts and fine artistic finish do not take their proper place.
There is nothing in the world more severely just and omnipotent than the public
judgment pronouncing itself upon the artist upon the stage, either in opera or the
plain drama. The public everywhere choose their own favorites, and managers
everywhere accept them. The reasons are too clear to need a pointing out.
** The members of our Deseret Dramatic Association have had the chance of
taking their own places and finding their level. Let those who think differently
take for an example David McKenzie. Now, among regular professionals of the
East where the numerous dramatic corps are found organized with much complete-
ness and classified with the nicety of managers studying profoundly the condition of
their exchequers, we own that it requires much perseverance, artistic training and
slow progress, besides natural talent for actors and actresses to find their level.
Why, not even by their equals may your Garricks, your Kembles, your Siddonses,
your Keans, your Macreadys and your Forrests be displaced. Could their doubles
come they would have to wait until their originals were dead before they could
find their level and take their places. But, it is very different with our Deseret
Dramatic Association, when all were as on probationary examinations before the
public, to have pointed out their proper places and receive their diplomas and
their due degrees. For instance, it is most evident that had any of the lady can-
didates proved equal to fill principal places, not even yet filled, ample opportun-
ities have been offered. Indeed the management have necessarily somewhat tres-
passed upon the consideration of the public in their good natured trials of lady
amateurs. These facts should at once be significant hints aud encouragement to
aspiring members of our dramatic association, and they should remember that in
every profession much labor and training, as well as talent, are necessary for ex-
cellence and eminence.
" Since their rtV(^?// in our theatre the association has made much improve-
ment, and some of its members have written their marks and stamped their indi-
vidualities. Our comicalities of the company were the first to classify themselves,
and Margetts, Dunbar and others, became decided portraits and distinctive cari-
catures. The professional element has also been introduced, and moreover, even
the association itself has put on somewhat of a professional character and show
features of the professional face. Doubtless this mixing of our home talent with
trained and legitimate artists has tended much to the training and accomplishments
of our amateur corps, and created both for the theatre and the company, a pro-
fessional character. In time both will assume a professional caste, and its amateur
750 HISTORY OF SALT LAKE CITY.
type be only remembered as forming the first pages in the history of theatricals
in Utah.
" The professional element having been once introduced in the persons of
Mr. Lyne and the Irwins it was not enough that the plays should be put upon the
stage in that solid magnificence and pictorial illustration which has so delighted
everybody, but the public looked to see the dramatic corps show the features and
style of the profession. It was a mixed house in the first place, and in the second,
theatricals here are commercially the same as everywhere else, and the public had
paid for admission to a first class looking theatre ; what wonder then that it
should almost ignore the fact that an amateur company were on the boards. The
management has had to nicely calculate this and make bath the theatre and the
company as professional in their character as possible. This has been partly ef-
fected by the mixing of foreign artistes with home talent, and partly by the style
and completeness with which the plays have been put upon the boards.
" Even the most good-natured in a ward meeting become most unmerci-
fully critical and sourly inconsiderate in a theatre — aye, even to our very bishops;
for the public are in a secular house for artistic exhibition and not in a tabernacle
or religious temple. Not even is justice done an amateur corps, and we never ex-
pect to be so generally censured for critical severity as we were by the public for
too much praise and considerate wording of our criticisms last year. We have a
painful sympathy for the writers of the theatrical notices and descriptions found in
the Deseret News and Daily Telegraph. The public ranks them, as of course it
will ours, frightfully below the mark ; and doubtless the dramatic association puts
them twenty degrees lower still. There is nothing that concerns any one except-
ing praise; and that soon gets stale and meaningless, and it would be quite a re-
lief to the members to have the public view. It would preserve them from ennui.
There are only one or two occasionally for whom ttiey possess interest. Sister
Marion when her 'cadence' is touched of course is interested, and Brother Hardie
who was rather stiltish upon the stage in his first appearafice, is also doubtless a
good natured subject to offer upon the altar. But great Jupiter, and all the other
heathen gods, why select Sister Marion when this same defect of cadence and
modulation is one of the most noticeable defects of the association generally.
" The most marked individuality yet offered by the association from its own
corps \sM.x. David McKenzie. This gentleman is by natural instincts an artist.
In the public judgment he took the laurels from Mr. Irwin, a professional actor,
and obtained first parts for himself. Mr. Lyne is an actor of the old school, of
great experience and no mean standing. In fact in his role he is a power upon
the stage in Salt Lake City, yet Mr. McKenzie held his ground with him in
' Damon and Pythias.' The most striking personality, however, and the most
refined and finished artist that has yet appeared before the theatrical world in
Utah, is Geo. Pauncefort."
Lyne opened another engagement in the famous old English play of Massin-
ger — "A New Way to Pay Old Debts." Nothwithstanding Lyne's preference for
his Damon and William Tell, his Sir Giles Overreach was a superior character ex-
ecution to that of either. It was one of those characters to which he was organ-
ically fitted. It is of a higher class than either Damon or William Tell. Edmund
11
HISTORY OF SALT LAKE CITY. ;?5/
Kean laid Sir Giles Overreach along side of his Richard III. and Shylock, but it
is doubtful if he would have condescended to Damon or William Tell. Lyne's
Richelieu and Richard III. followed, and scored his greatest dramatic marks.
Pauncefort alternated with him in " Don Caesar de Bazan ; " "Black-Eyed
Susan;" " The Duke's Motto ; " "Hamlet;" " Belphegor, the Mountebank ; "
and, on January 5th, 1865, he played Macbeth. Locke's music to " Macbeth ''
was rendered in character by the Tabernacle choir. Phil. Margetts, H. E.
Bowring and Wm. C. Dunbar took the parts of the three weird sisters, who
lead the witches in their demoniac music, and George Teasdale, as Hecate, led
the theme, "We fly by night."
The stock company again held the stage. They were now capable of execut-
ing star plays of the second class. Their casts for the season were: "Colleen Bawn,"
"Rob Roy," "The Octoroon." " Uncle Tom's Cabin," "The Rag-Picker of
Paris," and other plays of a similar class, with some good comedies and "roar-
ing farces." David McKenzie also played Macbeth ; which was the second time
of the performance of Shakspeare's greatest play on the Salt Lake Stage. Mrs.
Gibson was Lady Macbeth, the character which she had sustained to Pauncefort's
Macbeth. Lyne came in one night of the season as Sir Edward Mortimer in
the " Iron Chest;" and McKenzie, having scored a triumph in the character,
repeated Macbeth, The stock company held the stage from January 14th to
to August nth, excepting one night with Lyne and three nights with Mr. and
Mrs. George Chapman. This was a splendid achievement of the stock in contin-
uing the season, playing to full houses, with Lyne and Pauncefort fresh in the
public mind. ,
But it was the coming of Julia Dean Hayne, in the Potter troupe, that gave
professional caste to the Salt Lake company, for, though she ran her first engage-
ment in the Potter troupe, she was so charmed with the feeling of restfulness
which came over the painful tumult of her life, that she sought, as it were,
sanctuary in the dramatic temple of the Mormon people. Her professional
opportunities in Salt Lake City were rare; her salary $300 a week ; her frequent
benefits golden harvests ; but it was her pleasant associations on the Salt Lake
stage, and in the private circles with the actors and their families, that induced
Julia Dean to tarry in Salt Lake City nearly two years, and to condescend to take
the sceptre of a local company of Mormon amateur actors and actresses.
Julia Dean Hayne had gone to California in the flower of her youth, but ere
she left the east she was famous as Julia Dean, and when, two years after her
arrival in Salt Lake City, she returned to New York, it was as Julia Dean that she
figured on the play bills in her initial engagement at Winter Gardens Theatre,
once famous as Edwin Booth's Theatre. In her maiden days she made her debut
in the Old Bowery, New York, in Julia, in the ""Hunchback, " and before she
came West she had won national fame. But for the matchless dramatic power of
Charlotte Cushman, the Siddons of America, Julia Dean would unhesitatingly
have been pronounced by the American public the queen of the American stage.
As it was, Mr. S. R. Wells in his famous book — New Physiology — which embodies
the types of characters of every class, engraved the likeness of Julia Dean in his
group of the greatest actors and actresses that had sprung from the Anglo-Saxon
7J-2 HISTORY OF SALT LAKE CITY,
race, up to the time of his writing, ranking her in the group with Garrick, John
Kemble, Edmund Kean, Junius Brutus Booth, Edwin Forrest, Sarah Siddons,
Charlotte Cushman and Mrs. Mowatt Ritchie. After an absence of a number of
years in the west, she was returning to the east in the maturity of her woman-
hood, to take the sceptre of the American stage left by Charlotte Cushman, who
had entered another life, and which at the time she started from Calitornia, the
theatrical profession east and west deemed would be fitly swayed in the hand of
Julia Dean. There could still be seen, and seen perhaps to this day, in the club
houses where actors' resort, the likeness of Julia Dean in costume in her charac-
ters played in New York in her maiden days. Perhaps she lost her opportunity
in the east, before the advent of Ristori and Mrs. Landor as Queen Elizabeth, by
tarrying in Salt Lake City in the autumn of 1865, instead of proceeding at once
to New York. But the Salt Lake company paid quick and heartfelt homage to
her as their queen, the Salt Lake public worshipped her in their dramatic temple ;
and, being a woman of deep feeling, her heart was touched, and in love she took
the throne of the Salt Lake stage, where she reigned with peace and comfort.
Julia Dean Hayne made her debut in Salt Lake City in the Potter troupe, on
the night of the nth of August, 1S65, in the play of " Camille. " On the 12th
she played Mrs, Haller and the Jealous Wife; these were immediately followed
with her Griseldis, Julia, in the "Hunchback," "Leah the Forsaken,"
"Fazio," " Katherine and Petruchio, " "Love," "Romeo and Juliet,"
"Women in White," "EastLynne" and "Camille," at which we pause for
review.
Mrs. Hayne's personation of the character of Camille most affected the
theatre-going public of our city. The extraordinary emotion which she put into
the part, her perfect imitation of the consumptive cough and the actual consump-
tive condition which she threw herself into, it is said so affected by sympathy the
constitution of Mrs. Gibson, who had reigned on the stage before Julia Dean
Hayne came, that it hastened her decline to the grave ; thus exquisitely do the
children of genius feel the crossings of human life and enter by sympathy into all the
emotions of the human heart. Julia Dean dared not play often the class of parts to
which Camille belongs, as they always made her sick, and in six months, repeated
every night, the intensities of the part would have taken her also to the grave.
Upon her performance of this play, "Alpha, " who was still the critic of the Salt
Lake Theatre, wrote :
"September i, 1865.
^^ Editor Telegraph :
"I said, in a former communication, that an engagement robbed me of the
privilege of seeing Mrs. Julia Dean Hayne in her great character of "Camille. "
"Last night I saw "Camille." It was indeed a painful illusion of individu-
ality. No person sensible to the subtle sympathies of nature, which communicate
feeling from soul to soul, and no one acquainted with the realities of society, but
what must have felt that in her very self Camille had come to live, to agonize and
die before us. It is true our knowledge, in disregarded undertone, said, it is Mrs.
Julia Dean Hayne playing a part on the mimic stage, but the logic of feelings, in
its strong emphasis, drowned that undertone of our knowledge and said it is
Camille.
HISTORY OF SALT LAKE CITY. yjj
" Fictions ! What are they ? All that we read in books or see upon the stage
which the superficial call so much made up lie? No, no; these are not fictions.
Often times in books and upon the stage, we are made to see and feel realities,
more than in real life we see and feel them. We meet them in life, but in the buz-
zing of the busy world around us, and in the crowd of our own concerns, we are
not struck by them in their marked individualisms, nor affected with their experi-
ence and their lives. In the practical world, we almost exclusively feel ourselves
and our own concerns. Enough, most times are these, to fill our daily page; but
in the books and at the theatre, we lay aside ourselves awhile, to see the personal-
ities that move around us daily. We live with them in communion there, feel their
joys and sorrows, and sympathize in their experience.
" The stage is a great humanizer and a powerful preacher, when properly ful-
filling its mission. We are in communion with humanity through it, and callous
must be the nature that feels not the brotherhood and sisterhood of mankind, and
depraved indeed when it answers not to a noble sentiment, justifies the good and
condemns the wrong. Very few are wicked or unjust in their sympathies with a
play. The seducer likes not his own character there, the iron-hearted are sensible
to more of nature's tenderness, society asks forgiveness of its victims, and weeps
for them. It may be somewhat heterodox in expression, but true in fact, that the
world is more human, — sometimes more divine in the theatre, than at the church.
" Camille is no fiction ; and because she is not, she is so affecting. How much
sympathy and tears society will give her at the theatre, when it will outcast her in
life, and denounce her from the pulpit. She is, on the stage, society's victim, and
there we are just enough to own it, and tender enough to weep for her. What a
painful lesson does she teach? It is that the best of human beings often are fallen,
and the divinest of God's creatures are sometimes clothed in sin's scarlet robe,
when the white one belongs to them. The history, beautiful nature and sad fate
of Camille, is too painfully that of thousands of her class. Some of the best of
womankind by nature, in some respects, are among them, fallen,
" Camille comes upon the stage to show us the two phases of her character and
history, one of which she shows not in every-day life. She has there to conceal it
and coquette with a tortured soul and commit her daily suicide, with a hopeful
recklessness to reach the end. She comes that society may see its victims, and in
her history and sufferings drink deep of reproaches against itself.
" Not only is Camille herself no fiction, but Mrs. Dean Hayne's personation
of her, was also no fiction . Of all that she has represented before us, I think this her
most perfect character. She made it so replete with consummate touches of na-
ture and art, that it would be difficult to conceive anything more perfect.
"The whole company played Camille well. Mrs. Leslie and Miss Douglass
are always satisfactory. They have much public favor and several of the gentle-
men nightly win upon us. Mr. Mortimer was very good last night. He always is
efficient in the company and plays naturally. Mr. Potter is an experienced actor
and well suits the parts he takes ; Mr. Leslie and the rest, though not aspiring to
be stars, make up, as far as their number, an efficient stock company of profes-
sionals. As for Mr. George B. Waldron, I like him better than at first. He is a
very promising young man, a careful artist, and what is so necessary to success,
53
J J 4- HISTORY OF SALT LAKE CITY.
shows much ambition and enthusiasm in his profession. A softening of a few
features and a copy of a few of the examples that he always has in the lady he sus-
tains, and Mr. Waldron may hope from his natural abilities to win a high esteem
in public favor."
After her second performance of Camille, Mrs. Hayne played "Medea;"
" The Love Chase ; " " Lucretia Borgia ; ' Lady Macbeth; "School for Scan-
dal;" Parthenia, in " Ingomar ; " " Our American Cousin ; " "The AVife ; "
" Lady of Lyons ; " " Masks and Faces ; " " The Wife's Secret ; " Evadne ; "
" The Fatal Mask; " Portia; Gamea, and other plays of a similar class; and,
strange to say, "Aladdin," during the new year holidays of 1866. She next ap-
peared in " Eleanor De Vere," written for her by Edward W. TuUidge, who had
won her friendship by his theatrical reviews of her many superb parts, every one
of which in her hands were works of the highest dramatic art. In this respect of
art work Julia Dean Hayne had, perhaps, no equal, either in America or England
— certainly no superior. Ristori and several others may have surpassed her in
genius, but everywhere her exquisite art execution was accounted near perfection ;
grace was in all her motions ; she wrote poems in her pictures on the stage, and
her imperial presence commanded universal homage.
Manager Caine visited the Eastern States, to recuperate his health and take
professional points 10 place the Salt Lake Theatre on the highest grade of manage-
ment. Learning of this intention, our influential citizens, both Gentiles and Mor-
mon, united to give Manager Caine a grand testimonial benefit. During the sea-
son a similar testimonial had been given Julia Dean Hayne, but this was the first
benefit ever given to a member of the Deseret Dramatic Association. It was known
that President Young was not favorable to the introduction of the benefit system
among the home company, he looking upon " liis " theatre very much as a dra-
matic Tabernacle, and the giving of a testimonial benefit to the manager was, in his
sense, very much like the public extending to himself a testimonial benefit, as the
builder of the theatre and the president of the Deseret Dramatic Society. We
believe he would very much have preferred to have given Manager Caine a hand-
somer benefit out of his private purse, but the public generally had resolved to ex-
press its own sincere appreciation of the manager's work, and the President, with
his fine diplomatic tact in dealing with a strongly expressed will or pleasure of
the public, graciously yielded the point. This is the history of the beginning of
benefits in the Salt Lake Theatre.
Immediately thereupon the Salt Lake Daily Telegraph announced
"The original historical play of ' Eleanor De Vere,' written for Julia Dean
Hayne, by Mr. E. W. Tullidge, of this city, has been chosen by the management
for the complimentary benefit of Mr. John T. Caine."
The night of the performance was on February 5th, 1S66. It was said that
Julia Dean Hayne made her greatest triumph in Salt Lake City on that night.
The applause vvas great and very prolonged ; the audience clamoring for the ac-
tress, the author and the manager, who with his sensitive judgment pressed the first
honors of the call on the former; and, on a renewed insistence for his appearance
closed with the following speech, which in itself is quite a suggestive passage of
our dramatic history:
HISTORY OF SALT LAKE CITY. 7jj
'■^ Ladies and gentlemen. — I am highly gratified with the compliment which
your presence here this evening confers upon me, and feel more the deep sense of
my obligation than I am able to express ; there is no human nature insen-
sible so a compliment of this kind ; there is no human nature that is insensible to
expressions of personal regard. If I am permitted to judge from the very flat-
tering terms in which my humble abilities and labors in connection with this
theatre have been spoken of, since the subject of this testimonial was first sug-
gested, I fear they have been over estimated ; but — be this as it may — it is none
the less gratifying to realize that my efforts have given some degree of satisfaction
to the patrons of the house.
" Isolated as we are in this country — as we used to say ' a thousand miles
from everywhere,' it is pardonable to be proud of so noble a structure as this —
conceived, designed and executed by a master mind, it stands to-day, a noble
tribute to the refining and elevating influence of the drama. Carrying out the de-
signs of its founder, it has been the aim of my worthy colleague — Mr. H. B. Claw-
son — and myself, never to present anything on this stage that was debasing or de-
moralizing in its tendency, or that would cause the blush of shame to crimson the
cheek of purity and innocence- If at any time anything has been presented that
would have such tendency, it has been the result of accident, not design. For
while striving to ' hold the mirror up to nature,' we have sought to draw a pall
over that which was not calculated to benefit and elevate fallen humanity — so may
it ever be -and may the drama, occupying its legitimate sphere, go hand in hand
with the sister arts, music, sculpture and painting, on its mission of exaltation
to man,
"I contemplate leaving you for a short time, with the purpose of visiting the
great eastern cities, to recuperate my somewhat exhausted energies, and to collect,
from experience, information and material which may tend to render cur theatre
still more attractive, interesting and worthy of patronage.
" A feeling of regret steals over me when I think of leaving those with whom
I have so long held such pleasant relations, but hoping to meet you on my return,
thanking you for your kind patronage to-night, and still more for the kind feeling
you have manifested toward me, and thanking those who have contributed to this
entertainment I beg to say farewell to one and all, and wish you, ladies and gen-
tlemen, a very good night, and all the prosperity your hearts can desire."
During his professional visit to the States, Mr. Caine assisted in the immigra-
tion of that year. After his return he resumed his place in the management of
the theatre, and in 1867-8-9, Clawson & Caine were its lessees.
After the close of the season, in the latter part of April, 1866, Julia Dean
Hayne left for the East; and at the next season, opening in November, the
Irwins played two nights, and then the stock company ran alone until March,
when Lyne resumed his great characters for a month, and the stock continued
with Miss Adams and Miss Alexander starring. George Pauncefort was next en-
gaged and his role repeated with some fresh plays of his line. The fine old actor,
Couldock, (with his talented daughter) was the next star that held its course for
awhile in our firmament. "The Willow Copse,'' *'Louis XT.," "Dot," "Jew
of Frankfort," "Richelieu," " Waiting for a Verdict," marked his class of plays
J ^6 HISTORY OF SALT LAKE CITY.
in some of which he had no equal, Mr. and Mrs. Langrish interspersed the season,
and Amy Stone ran the lighter drama for nearly three months, and then Coiildock
came on again with the " Stranger," " Merchant of Venice," "The Hunchback,"
"King Henry IV.," "Old Phil's Birthday," "Porter's Knot," "Chimney Cor-
ner," and repetitions of his parts. Mr. James Stork from California ran in the
opening of the year 1868, with "Brutus," "Money," "Merry Wives of Wind-
sor," and " Jack Cade; " and the stock resumed with Margettsand Lindsay star-
ring, the latter in "Hamlet." Mr. and Mrs. Waldron were engaged awhile, and
"King Lear" was played for the first time in Salt Lake Theatre. Madame
Scheller and Charlotte Compton appeared about this time, Scheller starring for
several months in a fine line of parts ; her Ophelia, which she had played to
I'ldwin Booth's Hamlet, was pronounced by him the best on the American stage.
Miss Annette Ince (a great actress) followed in a number of plays of Julia Dean
Hayne's cast, to which was added Ristori's "Mary Stuart," and "Elizabeth
Queen of England." Edward L. Davenport, in his Julian St. Pierre, in "The
Wife," gave the most finished piece of acting ever witnessed here; T. A. Lyne
repeated his " Pizzaro, and the stock followed alone, playing during their course
" Louis XL," and " Jack Cade." Parepa Rosa interspersed with a grand concert,
and John McCullough came on with his role, with Geo. B. Waldron and Madame
Scheller starring with him ; " Romeo and Juliet " being in the role. McCullough
ran a month and Waldron and Scheller continued. In February, 1859, Miss
Annie Lockhart came, and remained the leading lady of the stock till her death,
in the fall of 1869. Mr. J. A, Heme and Lucille Western were engaged, and for
the first time " Rip Van Winkle" was performed here. Fanny Morgan Phelps
was the next star, Annie Lockheart holding the stage with her. Mr, Charles
Wheatleigh starred awhile, and the Howsons varied the season with opera. G. G.
Chapman, Lotta with her exquisite Little Nell, Mr. and Mrs, Kennedy, Miss Ger-
aldine Wardon, and Murphy & Mack's Minstrels filled up the season, Neil War-
ner was engaged the next season, and his "Richard III.," among his Shaks-
pearian role, was pronounced the best Plantagenet performed on this stage. After
the death of Annie Lockhart, whose remains the Deseret Dramatic Association
followed to the grave, Madame Scheller again reigned awhile, but Kate Denin
superceded her, and held the stage with John Wilson. Charlotte Thompson
played an interval, and Denin and Wilson resumed, bringing up the seasons to
May, 1870, when the stock company resumed. Couldock and daughter returned
with their parts in December, and Miss Sallie Hinckley and G.'W. Thompson ran
the opening month of the year 1871, when Milton Nobles relieved them, and the
stock resumed their business, followed by a number of minor stars, alternating
with the stock company. During this time up to 1871, Waldron played a long
engagement, Joseph K. Emmet appeared and W. T. Harris, afterwards manager
of the Salt Lake Theatre, made his debut. Couldock and his daughter held an-
other engagement, two months, and the Lingard company and others followed,
the stock company having been now nearly displaced. The famous and most
classical actor, Edwin Adams, reigned awhile, and John McCullough exchanged
characters with him, giving to the Salt Lake public the rarest classical treat.
With the retirement of David McKenzie from the stage, in December, 1869,
HISTORY OF SALT LAKE CITY. j^-j
the old Deseret Dramatic Company may be said to have ended its career. There
was left now of the founders of the Salt Lake stage Phil. Margetts only, though
some of the later members were occasionally mixed in with the new stock. For
awhile longer John Lindsay and James M. Hardie remained. Their lines will be
sufficiently marked by naming that Lindsay played lago to Neil Warner's Othello,
and Hardie, Cassio.
During the years 1S71-2-3-4, the names of the stock casts, changing from
time to time, were J. M. Carter, J. M. Dunne, E. B. Harden, H. Haines, Mark
Wilton, W. T. Harris, W. J. Coggswell, the leading man, and in 1874, James
Vinson, Wm. C. Crosbie and Mr. Frank Rae, a veteran of the eastern stage, as
Vinson was of the California stage. These were all actors " from abroad," though
now combined as the Salt Lake stock company. The professional ladies Avere
Carrie Coggswell (once the wife of T. A. Lyne), Kate Denin (principal lady),
Mrs. Frank Rae and Mrs. Crosbie, and later, Jean Clara Walters. The local
names were A. L. Thorne, M. Forster, D. J. Mackintosh, Harry Taylor, Logan
Paul, H. Horsley, with the favorites Margetts and Graham returning occasionally;
and, on the engagement of Mrs. Landor, McKenzie returned to support her Mary
Stuart and Marie Antoinette, in the parts of Leicester and Louis XVI. The lo-
cal ladies were Miss Adams, Mrs. M. Bowring, Mrs. Grist, Miss Susie Spencer and
Miss Napper, the three former ladies, however, only playing in the early date of
the new combination. John Lindsay, having joined the Godbeites, had retired
from the company, and James M. Hardie had gone to the States seeking national
fame. In 1874, James Vinson was stage manager and practical director of the
company, while John T. Caine was still the generalissimo of the institution.
While this stock combination, in a professional sense, may, in some features,
be said to resemble more the ever changing stock companies of the large cities of
America, it came not up to the old Deseret Dramatic Association in enthusiasm
and the endowment of a dramatic mission to our city, for our local members, who
played at the onset without " wages," really showed themselves the kin of the
poets who " lived and died in garrets," but who created the literature of nations-
while at times the old stock company, when running their seasons under a Julia
Dean and G. B. Waldron, a Lyne and a Pauncefort together, a Couldock, a Dav-
enport, and an Edwin Adams and John McCullough, the Irwins and an Annie
Lockhart, surpassed the new combination many degrees. Indeed the "■ stars " have
confessed, admiringly, that there was no stock company in America that could
equal the Salt Lake company at such times, nor would those great actors of na-
tional fame have owned themselves the heads of a local company, for the time being,
as they did here where the charms of a unique association made them almost for-
get for awhile that they were of the national dramatic stars. Perhaps only in the
great theatres of London, where the stock companies are the constant "stars of
the town," has there been so exact an example of the theatrical origins of the
Anglo-Saxon stage as illustrated in the times when Garrick, the Kembles,
Macready, the Keans, the Brooks and the Phelps reigned as the kings of the stock,
as that shown in the first ten years of the history of the Salt Lake Theatre. True,
Wallack^s Theatre, Booth's Theatre, and the great theatres of Boston and other
eastern cities have, taken together in the round, each sustained almost perfect
758 HISTORY OF SALT LAKE CITY.
companies, in their several special Shakspearian plays and classical comedies ;
but here, in Salt Lake City, with the very stars of these companies fast succeed-
ing each other, and sometimes in combinations, supported by the local stock, the
plays performed in those theatres from the highest range of the heavy legitimate
drama, to the limits of the range of the light legitimate, as seen in the foregoing
casts, running through a period of ten years, with the seasons scarcely broken by
short intermissions, all have been performed on the Salt Lake stage. It is indeed
a most worthy theatrical history, which will be noted in coming generations with
admiration.
Here we may pause for personal sketches of leading members of the old home
stock, whose achievements will remain in the attached remembrance of the present
generation of the Salt Lake public, who traced them in their respective lines, with
a personal kinship of fellow citizens, from their first appearance to the close of
their professional career. First in rank of that "dear old stock" (for as such they
live in the hearts of our people) is David McKenzie, who fairly by his own talents
as an artist, and his perseverance as a student, won his way from the bottom to
the top of the ladder of local fame.
David McKenzie was born at Edinburgh, Scotland, December 27th, 1833.
He was bound apprentice to engraving, June, 1845, ^"d served seven years as an
apprentice and two years as journeyman. He joined the Mormon Church in
Glasgow, February nth, 1853, ^"d emigrated to Utah, March 6th, 1854, where
he arrived October nth, of the same year.
Two days after his arrival in Salt Lake City, he was voted in a member of the
Deseret Dramatic Association ; he made his first appearance on a theatrical stage
(in the Social Hall) the same week in a supernumerary part in " All is not Gold
that Glitters." At the opening of the Salt Lake Theatre he appeared in a second
class part as a gendarine in the "Pride of the Market,'" itself but a second-class
piece of the minor drama; but it was soon noticed that the tuition of T. A. Lyne
was not lost upon upon him. He gradually won his way up, in the ascent playing
Pythias to Lyne's Damon; but it was as Colonna in "Evadne," to Irwin's Ludov-
ico, that called marked attention of the public to his ability. Alpha, the critic,
as seen in his foregoing review, at once pronounced McKenzie a dramatic artist,
and ranked him at the head of the stock. He had seen the great Vandernoff as
Colonna to Davenport's Ludovico, in Liverpool a year or two before, and with
the character of one of that proud Italian house, that had often made a Pope for
Rome, fresh in his memory, he was struck with McKenzie's conception of the
character, which, while it lacked, of course, the mighty weight of Vandernoff,
was rendered in its proper type. His Danny Mann in the "Colleen Bawn," was
a rare piece of character acting, which has never been excelled to this day on the
Salt Lake Stage. Father Jean, in the " Rag-Picker of Paris, was also a rare part.
His Jacob McClosky to Irwin's Salem Scudder, in the " Octoroon,'* fairly held
the stage in rivalry with the star, and this was the more marked from the fact that
JjLcob McClosky is the repellant part, though in the hands of a principal actor it
is the character of the play. Irwin seemed not to have measured the steel he was
crossing, for he was really playing seconds to the local actor. In the " Hunch-
back " Mrs. Irwin was Julia ; her husband Sir Thomas Clifford, and McKenzie
HISTORY OF SALT LAKE CITY. y^g
Master Walter. McKenzie had now Macready's part (played first to Fanny Kem-
ble's Julia) but Master Walter was pre-eminently in McKenzie's line. Had he
failed (speaking exaggeratingly) he would have earned a coffin ; he succeeded and
won a laural. He was now head and shoulders above Irwin. Quickly after
George Pauncefort's Macbeth, McKenzie played Macbeth, and it is sufficient
praise for a critic to say he did not fall in his leap. His Macduff was pronounced
a great part, and his Col. Dumas was a rare piece of character acting. But his
Polonius, to a Shakspearian judgment, would place him the highest as a dramatic
artist. When he played the part to John McCuUough, that prince of the Ameri-
can stage remarked " Mr. McKenzie's Polonius is the best I ever saw." Polonius
is not a small part, but a great Shakspearian part ; Horatio is a third class Shaks-
pearian part compared with it. It is not a mile of text that constitutes a great
character, but some distinctive type. Polonius is not only a type, but a Shaks-
pearian creation. His profound self-wisdom, in which he is utterly lost, is inimi-
table; and, like Sir John Falstaff, he utters sentences of common philosophy that
will live through all time :
" Though this be madness, yet there's method in it."
There is not half a dozen actors in a nation that can play Polonius. A quar-
ter of a century ago, when the Liverpool critics were wont to challenge Barry
Sullivan's Hamlet against London, they always added, "Old Baker (Liverpool's
favorite) is the best Polonius in England." So when John McCullough made his
remark it signified, " Mr. McKenzie is the best Polonius in America."
Having sustained the leading business for years, David McKenzie retired from
the company in December, 1869, and became President Brigham Young's cor-
responding secretary. In June, 1874, he was appointed to the British Mission,
where he presided over the Scottish conference, until he was called to the Liver-
pool Office to assist in editing the Millennial Star, and in the general business
of the office. Returning home in 1876, he resumed his position in President
Young's office ; and, at the incorporation of the Salt Lake Dramatic Association,
he was appointed its secretary ; and from that time until the present he has also
been acting manager of the Salt Lake Theatre. His first appearance for several
years was in October, 1880, as Jacob M'CIoskey, in "The Octoroon," the occa-
sion being a benefit tendered him by the " Home Club," for services as instruc-
tor to the Club. The house was "crowded to suffocation."
Bernard Snow, whose name in the order of date ranked before that of David
McKenzie, but who retiring early can only be placed at the head of the amateur
dramatic corps of the Social Hall, possessed considerable native talent for the
stage, and had he passed a regular training under such masters as Macready, Van-
dernoff, or Forrest, may have reached a star magnitude. He played Virginus,
Othello, Damon, Rolla, Sir Edward Mortimer, Matthew Elmore, and Ingomar,.
his proper line of characters ; but when he came to the task of interchanging
in his chosen parts with the veteran T. A. Lyne, the public which named him the
" Rocius of the Rocky Mountains " realized that he was eclipsed many degrees.
It was perhaps this realization of the public judgment which caused him to retire.
He could not, as McKenzie did, hold his own with the stars without constant
j6o HISTORY OF SALT LAKE CITY.
sense of eclipse, yet still in our theatrical history he is worthy to be remembered
IS a local star of the amateur days.
General James Ferguson, a man of brilliant intellect, an officer in the Mor-
mon Battalion, adjutant general of the Nauvoo Legion, and editor of the Moun-
taineer, was as a brother of Bernard Snow, to whom he played Pythias, and in his
own sphere shined as Claude Melnotte, and played a fitting Don Caesar De Bazan
and lago to Snow's Othello in the Social Hall. He died early in the history of
our theatre, and his memory lives apart from the sphere of the stage.
Hiram B. Clawson, as before noticed, was a member of Lyne's company at
Nauvoo, and it was he and John T. Caine who were instrumental in moving
President Young to build the theatre, which was run so many years under the
management of Clawson and Caine. He possessed considerable native talent for
such a line of character parts indicated by his " Old Phil's Birthday," " Porter's
Knot," and in the ''Chimney Corner," which were three of the favorite char-
acters in which Couldock starred. Hiram B. Clawson retired at an early period
from the stage, and occupied the position of the first superintendent of Z. C. M. I.,
but still retained his position in the management.
John T. Caine at the onset headed the stock company. He played Duke
Aranza in the "Honeymoon," "The Charcoal Burner," Sir Charles Coldstream
in "Used Up," Pizarro to Lyne's RoUa, Eustache Baudine, Stephen Plumb, in
"All is not Gold that Glitters," and other leading parts, but he had also retired
to the fitter sphere of the management, and also became one of the founders and
editorial managers of the Salt Lake Herald, city recorder, and later was elected
the delegate from Utah to Congress. His general biography will be found
elsewhere.
John S. Lindsay first appeared in " Thompson's Theatre," but attracting the
attention of the management was soon called into the stock company of the Salt
Lake Theatre. Of him the local critic wrote in 1869 : " Mr. John S. Lindsay has
treated us to some very fine playing of late. His Michael Feeney, in " Arrah-na-
Pogue " was a masterpiece of its kind. He ever plays well. There is vim in his
action and force in his character. He is constant in his efficiency, always ready
in his scenes, never lacking in his parts. He has played among numerous charac-
ters on our stage, Ludovico, lago, Hamlet, Richelieu, Romeo, and Macbeth.
For years now he has been traveling in his profession both in the Western States
and Territories and also in the East.
James M. Hardie, a favorite pupil of T. A. Lyne, with considerable of his
master's style, early became a favorite of the public. He played the principal male
character, Raphael, in "The Marble Heart," to Annie Lockhart's Marco,
" Jack Cade," and other star parts of a similar line. The critic wrote of him in
1869: "James M. Hardie is decidedly a rising actor. We expect to see him
■ make a name in the world. There is in him metaphysical force and physical
weight, combining a fine appearance. In heroic parts he can reach the top of the
tree. He must aim for professional perfection. That is a work of art. Nature
has given him all the force." For years now he has been starring in the Eastern
States.
Mr. Philip Margetts has been treated in the dramatic history as one of the
il
HIS TOR V OF SAL T LAKE CITY. ^53
" Fictions ! What are they ? All that we read in books or see upon the stage
which the superficial call so much made up lie? No, no ; these are not fictions.
Often times in books and upon the stage, we are made to see and feel realities,
more than in real life we see and feel them. We meet them in life, but in the buz-
zing of the busy world around us, and in the crowd of our own concerns, we are
not struck by them in their marked individualisms, nor affected with their experi-
ence and their lives. In the practical world, we almost exclusively feel ourselves
and our own concerns. Enough, most times are these, to fill our daily page; but
in the books and at the theatre, we lay aside ourselves awhile, to see the personal-
ities that move around us daily. We live with them in communion there, feel their
joys and sorrows, and sympathize in their experience.
" The stage is a great humanizer and a powerful preacher, when properly ful-
filling its mission. We are in communion with humanity through it, and callous
must be the nature that feels not the brotherhood and sisterhood of mankind, and
depraved indeed when it answers not to a noble sentiment, justifies the good and
condemns the wrong. Very few are wicked or unjust in their sympathies with a
play. The seducer likes not his own character there, the iron-hearted are sensible
to more of nature's tenderness, society asks forgiveness of its victims, and weeps
for them. It may be somewhat heterodox in expression, but true in fact, that the
world is more human, — sometimes more divine in the theatre, than at the church.
" Camille is no fiction ; and because she is not, she is so affecting. How much
sympathy and tears society will give her at the theatre, when it will outcast her in
life, and denounce her from the pulpit. She is, on the stage, society's victim, and
there we are just enough to own it, and tender enough to weep for her. What a
painful lesson does she teach? It is that the best of human beings often are fallen,
and the divinest of God's creatures are sometimes clothed in sin's scarlet robe,
when the white one belongs to them. The history, beautiful nature and sad fate
of Camille, is too painfully that of thousands of her class. Some of the best of
womankind by nature, in some respects, are among them, fallen.
" Camille comes upon the stage to show us the two phases of her character and
history, one of which she shows not in every-day life. She has there to conceal it
and coquette with a tortured soul and commit her daily suicide, with a hopeful
recklessness to reach the end. She comes that society may see its victims, and in
her history and sufferings drink deep of reproaches against itself.
" Not only is Camille herself no fiction, but Mrs. Dean Hayne's personation
of her, was also no fiction. Of all that she has represented before us, I think this her
most perfect character. She made it so replete with consummate touches of na-
ture and art, that it would be difficult to conceive anything more perfect.
"The whole company played Camille well. Mrs. Leslie and Miss Douglass
are ahvays satisfactory. They have much public favor and several of the gentle-
men nightly win upon us. Mr. Mortimer was very good last night. He always is
efificient in the company and plays naturally. Mr. Potter is an experienced actor
and well suits the parts he takes; Mr. Leslie and the rest, though not aspiring to
be stars, make up, as far as their number, an efificient stock company of profes-
sionals. As for Mr. George B. Waldron, I like him better than at first. He is a
very promising young man, a careful artist, and what is so necessary to success,
53
75/ HISTORY OF SALT LAKE CITY.
shows much ambition and enthubiasm in his profession. A softening of a few
features and a copy of a few of the examples that he always has in the lady he sus-
tains, and Mr, Waldron may hope from his natural abilities to win a high esteem
in public favor."
After her second performance of Camille, Mrs. Hayne played "Medea;"
" The Love Chase ; " " Lucretia Borgia ; ' Lady Macbeth; "School for Scan-
dal;" Parthenia, in " Ingomar ; " " Our American Cousm ; " "The Wife;"
" Lady of Lyons ; " " Masks and Faces ; " " The Wife's Secret ; " Evadne ; "
" The Fatal Mask; " Portia; Gamea, and other plays of a similar class; and,
strange to say, "Aladdin," during the new year holidays of iS66. She next ap-
peared in " Eleanor De Vere," written for her by Edward W. Tullidge, who had
won her friendship by his theatrical reviews of her many superb parts, every one
of which in her hands were works of the highest dramatic art. In this respect of
art work Julia Dean Hayne had, perhaps, no equal, either in America or England
— certainly no superior. Ristori and several others may have surpassed her in
genius, but everywhere her exquisite art execution was accounted near perfection ;
grace was in all her motions ; she wrote poems in her pictures on the stage, and
her imperial presence commanded universal homage.
Manager Caine visited the Eastern States, to recuperate his health and take
professional points to place the Salt Lake Theatre on the highest grade of manage-
ment. Learning of this intention, our influential citizens, both Gentiles and Mor-
mon, united to give Manager Caine a grand testimonial benefit. During the sea-
son a similar testimonial had been given Julia Dean Hayne, but this was the first
benefit ever given to a member of the Deseret Dramatic Association. It was known
that President Young was not favorable to the introduction of the benefit system
among the home company, he looking upon " his " theatre very much as a dra-
matic Tabernacle, and the giving of a testimonial benefit to the manager was, in his
sense, very much like the public extending to himself a testimonial benefit, as the
builder of the theatre and the president of the Deseret Dramatic Society. We
believe he would very much have preferred to have given Manager Caine a hand-
somer benefit out of his private purse, but the public generally had resolved to ex-
press its own sincere appreciation of the manager's work, and the President, with
his fine diplomatic tact in dealing with a strongly expressed will or pleasure of
the public, graciously yielded the point. This is the history of the beginning of
benefits in the Salt Lake Theatre.
Immediately thereupon the Salt Lake Daily Telegraph announced
"The original historical play of ' Eleanor De Vere,' written for Julia Dean
Hayne, by Mr. E. W. Tullidge, of this city, has been chosen by the management
for the complimentary benefit of Mr. John T. Caine."
The night of the performance was on February 5th, 1S66. It was said that
Julia Dean Hayne made her greatest triumph in Salt Lake City on that night.
The applause was great and very prolonged ; the audience clamoring for the ac-
tress, the author and the manager, who with his sensitive judgment pressed the first
honors of the call on the former; and, on a renewed insistence for his appearance
closed with the following speech, which in itself is quite a suggestive pa^^sage of
our dramatic history :
HISTORY OF SALT LAKE CITY. 735
'■^ Ladies and gentlemen. — I am highly gratified with the compliment which
your presence here this evening confers upon me, and feel more the deep sense of
my obligation than I am able to express; there is no human nature insen-
sible so a compliment of this kind ; there is no human nature that is insensible to
expressions of personal regard. If I am permitted to judge from the very flat-
tering terms in which my humble abilities and labors in connection with this
theatre have been spoken of, since the subject of this testimonial was first sug-
gested, I fear they have been over estimated ; but — be this as it may — it is none
the less gratifying to realize that my efforts have given some degree of satisfaction
to the patrons of the house.
" Isolated as we are in this country — as we used to say ' a thousand miles
from everywhere,' it is pardonable to be proud of so noble a structure as this —
conceived, designed and executed by a master mind, it stands to-day, a noble
tribute to the refining and elevating influence of the drama. Carrying out the de-
signs of its founder, it has been the aim of my worthy colleague — Mr. H. B. Claw-
son — and myself, never to present anything on this stage that was debasing or de-
moralizing in its tendency, or that would cause the blush of shame to crimson the
cheek of purity and innocence- If at any time anything has been presented that
would have such tendency, it has been the result of accident, not design. For
while striving to ' hold the mirror up to nature,' we have sought to draw a pall
over that which was not calculated to benefit and elevate fallen humanity — so may
it ever be —and may the drama, occupying its legitimate sphere, go hand in hand
with the sister arts, music, sculpture and painting, on its mission of exaltation
to man.
"I contemplate leaving you for a short time, with the purpose of visiting the
great eastern cities, to recuperate my somewhat exhausted energies, and to collect,
from experience, information and material which may tend to render our theatre
still more attractive, interesting and worthy of patronage.
" A feeling of regret steals over me when I think of leaving those with whom
I have so long held such pleasant relations, but hoping to meet you on my return,
thanking you for your kind patronage to-night, and still more for the kind feeling
you have manifested toward me, and thanking those who have contributed to this
entertainment I beg to say farewell to one and all, and wish you, ladies and gen-
tlemen, a very good night, and all the prosperity your hearts can desire."
During his professional visit to the States, Mr. Caine assisted in the immigra-
tion of that year. After his return he resumed his place in the management of
the theatre, and in 1867-8-9, Clawson & Caine were its lessees.
After the close of the season, in the latter part of April, 1866, Julia Dean
Hayne left for the East ; and at the next season, opening in November, the
Irwins played two nights, and then the stock company ran alone until March,
when Lyne resumed his great characters for a month, and the stock continued
with Miss Adams and Miss Alexander starring. George Pauncefort was next en-
gaged and his role repeated with some fresh plays of his line. The fine old actor,
Couldock, (with his talented daughter) was the next star that held its course for
awhile in our firmament. "The Willow Copse,'' "Louis XL," "Dot," "Jew
of Frankfort," "Richelieu," " Waiting for a Verdict," marked his class of plays
75d HISTORY OF SALT LAKE CITY.
in some of which he had no equal. Mr. and Mrs. Langrish interspersed the season,
and Amy Stone ran the lighter drama for nearly three months, and then Couldock
came on again with the " Stranger," " Merchant of Venice," "The Hunchback,"
"King Henry IV.," "Old Phil's Birthday," "Porter's Knot," "Chimney Cor-
ner," and repetitions of his parts. Mr. James Stork from California ran in the
opening of the year 1868, with "Brutus," "Money," "Merry Wives of Wind-
sor," and "Jack Cade; " and the stock resumed with Margetts and Lindsay star-
ring, the latter in " Hamlet." Mr. and Mrs. Waldron were engaged awhile, and
"King Lear" was played for the first time in Salt Lake Theatre. Madame
Scheller and Charlotte Compton appeared about this time, Scheller starring for
several months in a fine line of parts ; her Ophelia, which she had played to
l''-dwin Booth's Hamlet, was pronounced by him the best on the American stage.
Miss Annette Ince (a great actress) followed in a number of plays of Julia Dean
Hayne's cast, to which was added Ristori's "Mary Stuart," and "Elizabeth
Queen of England." Edward L. Davenport, in his Julian St. Pierre, in "The
Wife," gave the most finished piece of acting ever witnessed here; T. A. Lyne
repeated his " Pizzaro, and the stock followed alone, playing during their course
" Louis XL," and " Jack Cade." Parepa Rosa interspersed with a grand concert,
and John McCullough came on with his role, with Geo. B. Waldron and Madame
Scheller starring with him ; " Romeo and Juliet " being in the role. McCullough
ran a month and Waldron and Scheller continued. In February, 1859, Miss
Annie Lockhart came, and remained the leading lady of the stock till her death,
in the fall of 1869. Mr. J. A. Heme and Lucille Western were engaged, and for
the first time " Rip Van Winkle" was performed here. Fanny Morgan Phelps
was the next star, Annie Lockheart holding the stage with her. Mr. Charles
Wheatleigh starred awhile, and the Howsons varied the season with opera. G. G.
Chapman, Lotta with her exquisite Little Nell, Mr. and Mrs. Kennedy, Miss Gei-
aldine Wardon, and Murphy & Mack's Minstrels filled up the season. Neil War-
ner was engaged the next season, and his "Richard III.," among his Shaks-
pearian role, was pronounced the best Plantagenet performed on this stage. After
the death of Annie Lockhart, whose remains the Deseret Dramatic Association
followed to the grave, Madame Scheller again reigned awhile, but Kate Denin
superceded her, and held the stage with John Wilson. Charlotte Thompson
played an interval, and Denin and Wilson resumed, bringing up the seasons to
May, 1870, when the stock company resumed. Couldock and daughter returned
with their parts in December, and Miss Sallie Hinckley and G. W. Thompson ran
the opening month of the year 1871, when Milton Nobles relieved them, and the
stock resumed their business, followed by a number of minor stars, alternating
with the stock company. During this time up to 1871, Waldron played a long
engagement, Joseph K. Emmet appeared and W. T. Harris, afterwards manager
of the Salt Lake Theatre, made his debut. Couldock and his daughter held an-
other engagement, two months, and the Lingard company and others followed,
the stock company having been now nearly displaced. The famous and most
classical actor, Edwin Adams, reigned awhile, and John McCullough exchanged
characters with him, giving to the Salt Lake public the rarest classical treat.
With the retirement of David McKenzie from the stage, in December, 1869,
HISTORY OF SALT LAKE CITY, y^y
tlie old Deseret Dramatic Company may be said to have ended its career. There
was left now of the founders of the Salt Lake stage Phil. Margetts only, though
some of the later members were occasionally mixed in with the new stock. For
awhile longer John Lindsay and James M. Hardie remained. Their lines will be
sufficiently marked by naming that Lindsay played lago to Neil Warner's Othello,
and Hardie, Cassio.
During the years 1871-2-3-4, the names of the stock casts, changing from
time to time, were J. M. Carter, J. M. Dunne, E. B. Harden, H. Haines, Mark
Wilton, W. T. Harris, W. J. Cuggswell, the leading man, and in 1874, James
Vinson, Wm. C. Crosbie and Mr. Frank Rae, a veteran of the eastern stage, as
Vinson was of the California stage. These were all actors " from abroad," though
now combined as the Salt Lake stock company. The professional ladies were
Carrie Coggswell (once the wife of T. A. Lyne), Kate Denin (principal lady),
Mrs. Frank Rae and Mrs. Crosbie, and later, Jean Clara Walters. The local
names were A. L. Thorne, M. Forster, D. J. Mackintosh, Harry Taylor, Logan
Paul, H. Horsley, with the favorites Margetts and Graham returning occasionally;
and, on the engagement of Mrs. Landor, McKenzie returned to support her Mary
Stuart and Marie Antoinette, in the parts of Leicester and Louis XVI. The lo-
cal ladies were Miss Adams, Mrs. M. Bowring, Mrs. Grist, Miss Susie Spencer and
Miss Napper, the three former ladies, however, only playing in the early date of
the new combination. John Lindsay, having joined the Godbeites, had retired
from the company, and James M. Hardie had gone to the States seeking national
fame. In 1874; James Vinson was stage manager and practical director of the
company, while John T. Caine was still the generalissimo of the institution.
While this stock combination, in a professional sense, may, in some features,
be said to resemble more the ever changing stock companies of the large cities of
America, it came not up to the old Deseret Dramatic Association in enthusiasm
and the endowment of a dramatic mission to our city, for our local members, who
played at the onset without " wages/' really showed themselves the kin of the
l)oets who " lived and died in garrets," but who created the literature of nations;
while at times the old stock company, when running their seasons under a Julia
Dean and G. B. Waldron, a Lyne and a Pauncefort together, a Couldock, a Dav-
enport, and an Edwin Adams and John McCullough, the Irwins and an Annie
Lockhart, surpassed the new combination many degrees. Indeed the " stars " have
confessed, admiringly, that there was no stock company in America that could
equal the Salt Lake company at such times, nor would those great actors of na-
tional fame have owned themselves the heads of a local company, for the time being,
as they did here where the charms of a unique association made them almost for-
get for awhile that they were of the national dramatic stars. Perhaps only in the
great theatres of London, where the stock companies are the constant "stars of
the town/' has there been so exact an example of the theatrical origins of the
Anglo-Saxon stage as illustrated in the times when Garrick, the Kembles,
Macready, the Keans, the Brooks and the Phelps reigned as the kings of the stock,
as that shown in the first ten years of the history of the Salt Lake Theatre. True,
Wallack's Theatre, Booth's Theatre, and the great theatres of Boston and other
eastern cities have, taken together in the round, each sustained almost perfect
75<? HISTORY OF SALT LAKE CITY,
companies, in their several special Shakspearian plays and classical comedies ;
but here, in Salt Lake City, with the very stars of these companies fast succeed-
ing each other, and sometimes in combinations, supported by the local stock, the
plays performed in those theatres from the highest range of the heavy legitimate
drama, to the limits of the range of the light legitimate, as seen in the foregoing
casts, running through a period of ten years, with the seasons scarcely broken by
short intermissions, all have been performed on the Salt Lake stage. It is indeed
a most worthy theatrical history, which will be noted in coming generations with
admiration.
Here we may pause for personal sketches of leading members of the old home
stock, whose achievements will remain in the attached remembrance of the present
generation of the Salt Lake public, who traced them in their respective lines, with
a personal kinship of fellow citizens, fro.n their first appearance to the close of
their professional career. First in rank of that "dear old stock" (for as such they
live in the hearts of our people) is David McKenzie, who fairly by his own talents
as an artist, and his perseverance as a student, won his way from the bottom to
the top of the ladder of local fame.
David McKenzie was born at Edinburgh, Scotland, December 27th, 1833.
He was bound apprentice to engraving, June, 1845, ^""^ served seven years as an
apprentice and two years as journeyman. He joined the Mormon Church in
Glasgow, February nth, 1853, and emigrated to Utah, March 6th, 1854, where
he arrived October nth, of the same year.
Two days after his arrival in Salt Lake City, he was voted in a member of the
Deseret Dramatic Association ; he made his first appearance on a theatrical stage
(in the Social Hall) the same week in a supernumerary part in " All is not Gold
that Glitters." At the opening of the Salt Lake Theatre he appeared in a second
class part as a gendarme in the "Pride of the Market,'' itself but a second-class
piece of the minor drama; but it was soon noticed that the tuition of T. A. Lyne
was not lost upon upon him. He gradually won his way up, in the ascent playing
Pythias to Lyne's Damon; but it was as Colonna in "Evadne," to Irwin's Ludov-
ico, that called marked attention of the public to his ability. Alpha, the critic,
as seen in his foregoing review, at once pronounced McKenzie a dramatic artist,
and ranked him at the head of the stock. He had seen the great Vandernoff as
Colonna to Davenport's Ludovico, in Liverpool a year or two before, and with
the character of one of that proud Italian house, that had often made a Pope for
Rome, fresh in his memory, he was struck with McKenzie's conception of the
character, which, while it lacked, of course, the mighty weight of Vandernoff,
was rendered in its proper type. His Danny Mann in the "Colleen Bawn," \vas
a rare piece of character acting, which has never been excelled to this day on the
Salt Lake Stage. Father Jean, in the " Rag-Picker of Paris, was also a rare part.
His Jacob McClosky to Irwin's Salem Scudder, in the " Octoroon,'-' fairly held
the stage in rivalry with the star, and this was the more marked from the fact that
JjLcob McClosky is the repellant part, though in the hands of a principal actor it
is the character of the play. Irwin seemed not to have measured the steel he was
crossing, for he was really playing seconds to the local actor. In the " Hunch-
back " Mrs. Irwin was Julia ; her husband Sir Thomas Clifford, and McKenzie
4i
HISTORY OF SAL'S LAKE CITY.
759
Master Walter, McKenzie had now Macready's part (played first to Fanny Kem-
ble's Julia) but Master Walter was pre-eminently in McKenzie's line. Had he
failed (speaking exaggeratingly) he would have earned a coffin ; he succeeded and
won a laural. He was now head and shoulders above Irwin. Quickly after
George Pauncefort's Macbeth, McKenzie played Macbeth, and it is sufficient
praise for a critic to say he did not fall in his leap. His Macduff was pronounced
a great part, and his Col. Dumas was a rare piece of cliaracter acting. But his
Polonius, to a Shakspearian judgment, would place him the highest as a dramatic
artist. When he played the part to John McCuUough, that prince of the Ameri-
can stage remarked " Mr. McKenzie's Polonius is the best I ever saw." Polonius
is not a small part, but a great Shakspearian part ; Horatio is a third class Shaks-
pearian part compared with it. It is not a mile of text that constitutes a great
character, but some distinctive type. Polonius is not only a type, but a Shaks-
pearian creation. His profound self- wisdom, in which he is utterly lost, is inimi-
table; and, like Sir John Falstaff, he utters sentences of common philosophy that
will live through all time :
" Though this be madness, yet there's method in it."
There is not half a dozen actors in a nation that can play Polonius. A quar-
ter of a century ago, when the Liverpool critics were wont to challenge Barry
Sullivan's Hamlet against London, they always added, "Old Baker (Liverpool's
favoiite) is the best Polonius in England." So when John McCullough made his
remark it signified, " Mr. McKenzie is the best Polonius in America."
Having sustained the leading business for years, David McKenzie retired from
the company in December, 1869, and became President Brigham Young's cor-
responding secretary. In June, 1874, he was appointed to the British Mission,
where he presided over the Scottish conference, until he was called to the Liver-
pool Office to assist in editing the Millennial Star, and in the general business
of the office. Returning home in 1876, he resumed his position in President
Young's office ; and, at the incorporation of the Salt Lake Dramatic Association,
he was appointed its secretary; and from that time until the present he has also
been acting manager of the Salt Lake Theatre. His first appearance for several
years was in October, 1880, as Jacob M'CIoskey, in "The Octoroon," the occa-
sion being a benefit tendered him by the " Home Club," for services as instruc-
tor to the Club. The house was "crowded to suffocation."
Bernard Snow, whose name in the order of date ranked before that of David
McKenzie, but who retiring early can only be placed at the head of the amateur
dramatic corps of the Social Hall, possessed considerable native talent for the
stage, and had he passed a regular training under such masters as Macready, Van-
dernoff, or Forrest, may have reached a star magnitude. He played Virginus,
Othello, Damon, Rolla, Sir Edward Mortimer, Matthew Elmore, and Ingomar,
his proper line of characters ; but when he came to the task of interchanging
in his chosen parts with the veteran T. A. Lyne, the public which named him the
" Rocius of the Rocky Mountains " realized that he was eclipsed many degrees.
It was perhaps this realization of the public judgment which caused him to retire.
He could not, as McKenzie did, hold his own with the stars without constant
76o HISTORY OF SALT LAKE CITY.
sense of eclipse, yet still in our theatrical history he is worthy to be remembered
IS a local star of the amateur days.
General James Ferguson, a man of brilliant intellect, an officer in the Mor-
mon Battalion, adjutant general of the Nauvoo Legion, and editor of the Moun-
taineer, was as a brother of Bernard Snow, to whom he played Pythias, and in his
own sphere shined as Claude Melnotte, and played a fitting Don Caesar De Bazan
and lago to Snow's Othello in the Social Hall. He died early in the history of
our theatre, and his memory lives apart from the sphere of the stage.
Hiram B. Clawson, as before noticed, was a member of Lyne's company at
Nauvoo, and it was he and John T. Caine who were instrumental in moving
President Young to build the theatre, which was run so n)any years under the
management of Clawson and Caine. He possessed considerable native talent for
such a line of character parts indicated by his " Old Phil's Birthday," "Porter's
Knot," and in the "Chimney Corner," which were three of the favorite char-
acters in which Couldock starred. Hiram B. Clawson retired at an early period
from the stage, and occupied the position of the first superintendent of Z. C. M. T.,
but still retained his position in the management.
John T. Caine at the onset headed the stock company. He played Duke
Aranza in the "Honeymoon," "The Charcoal Burner," Sir Charles Coldstream
in "Used Up," Pizarro to Lyne's RoUa, Eustache Baudine, Stephen Plumb, in
"All is not Gold that Glitters," and other leading parts, but he had also retired
to the fitter sphere of the management, and also became one of the founders and
editorial managers of the Salt Lake Herald, city recorder, and later was elected
the delegate from Utah to Congress. His general biography will be found
elsewhere.
John S. Lindsay first appeared in " Thompson's Theatre," but attracting the
attention of the management was soon called into the stock company of the Salt
Lake Theatre. Of him the local critic wrote in iSbp : " Mr. John S. Lindsay has
treated us to some very fine playing of late. His Michael Feeney, in " Arrah-na-
Pogue " was a masterpiece of its kind. He ever plays well. There is vim in his
action and force in his character. He is constant in his efficiency, always ready
in his scenes, never lacking in his parts. He has played among numerous charac-
ters on our stage, Ludovico, lago, Hamlet, Richelieu, Romeo, and Macbeth.
For years now he has been traveling in his profession both in the Western States
and Territories and also in the East.
James M. Hardie, a favorite pupil of T. A. Lyne, with considerable of his
master's style, early became a favorite of the public. He played the principal male
character, Raphael, in "The Marble Heart," to Annie Lockhart's Marco,
" Jack Cade," and other star parts of a similar line. The critic wrote of him in
1869: "James M. Hardie is decidedly a rising actor. We expect to see him
make a name in the world. There is in him metaphysical force and physical
weight, combining a fine appearance. In heroic parts he can reach the top of the
tree. He must aim for professional perfection. That is a work of art. Nature
has given him all the force." For years now he has been starring in the Eastern
States.
Mr. Philip Margetts has been treated in the dramatic history as one of the
I
HISTORY OF SALT LAKE CITY. y6i
fathers of the Salt Lake Stage, but here, in these brief biographical passages, a few
of Phil's great comedy parts may be instanced as theatrical record. His Valen-
tine Verdict, the grand juryman, in the " Charcoal Burner," was immense ; so also
was his Jeremiah Clip, in the " Widow's Victim ; " his Dickory, in the " Spectre
Bridegroom," and his Mock Duke may "challenge the world" for their match.
He was great in Toodles, first Grave Digger in " Hamlet;" and immense in the
Illustrious Stranger. The last few years he has traveled through the Territory with
companies of his own, and sometimes with provincial companies, playing charac-
ter parts, such as A Party by the Name of Johnson, in the " Lancashire Lass j"
Old Phil, in "Old Phil's Birthday;" Peter Probity in " Chimney Corner;" Post
Boy, in the play of that name ; Martin (Old Fidelity) in the " Will and the Way;"
and Middlewick, in "Our Boys."
John C. Graham, in his line of comedy, stood unrivalled in the Salt Lake
company from his first appearance on our stage. In Liverpool, his native place,
he first showed his dramatic talent, and his friend, E. W. Tullidge, who at that
time was reading Hazlett and others of the best English critics, encouraged him
to train himself for the theatrical profession of Salt Lake City. Though he had
scarcely reached the age of young manhood, at the festivals given in the Liver-
pool branch, J. C. Graham was always put down on the programme for a dramatic
personation, which he generally selected from the fine English comedies. Sheri-
dan's Sir Peter Teazle, from the "School for Scandal," was at that time his favor-
ite. "JohnC." continued his dramatic practice for several years in Liverpool,
and, on his arrival in Salt Lake City, in November, 1864, he immediately became
the leading comedian in his line, as Mr. Phil. Margetts was in his ; indeed these
favorites alternately took the laurels of comedy, each in his own characters.
Graham for a period of ten years held the favor of the Salt Lake public ; and his
benefits in the old times were quite ovations. His low comedy parts embraced
the entire range ; yet critical friends have cast him at his best in the higher role,
and pronounced his Lord Dundreary scarcely inferior to Southern's. Graham was
for a time the acting manager of the Salt Lake Theatre ; and to-day he holds a
similar position in Provo, in theatrical management and theatrical performances,
as he did for so many years in Salt Lake City.
William C. Dunbar wa? of all the comedians of our company the most unique
in his type. He entered the Deseret Dramatic Association in 1853, and played
first at the Social Hall. Paddy Miles' Boy was one of his initial hits in the ama-
•teur days, before the building of the Salt Lake Theatre; and besides his comic
character parts, he won loud local fame as a singer of character comic sono-s. In
this line he was nearly inimitable. We never heard, even in England, a rarer
comic singer than Dunbar. When the Salt Lake Theatre opened, W. C. Dunbar
appeared in the initial farces. "Paddy Miles' Boy," figured on the second
night. " The Irish Tutor" was personated by him with infinite drollery and the
true Irish typing. In the " Colleen Bawn," his Miles da Coppaleen, equaled in its
line, McKenzie's Danny Mann. In " Rob Roy," his Nicholei Jarvie was " im-
mense," his Scotch conception and mannerism enabling him to render Balie Jar-
vie in Sir Walter Scott's own style. In " Hamlet," Dunbar was one of the grave-
diggers, a part which always requires a good Shakspearian comedian, or Hamlet's
54
762 HISTORY OF SALT LAKE CITY,
own scene at Ophelia's grave is half spoiled before he comes on. It is praise to
say Dunbar gave to his Gravedigger Shakspearian tones. There were various
other characters of mark in which he appeared, while on the stage, but the above
named will show his peculiar line, in which he must be marked in our dramatic
history with local fame. He will also appear among the founders of the Salt Lake
newspapers, still in association with John T. Caine as he was with him on the stage.
Mr. Joseph M. Simmons was one of the origmal members of the Deseret
Dramatic Association, He was elected a member of the Association in the spring
of 1852. In his line of parts as the gentleman of the company, he became at
once very useful ; and in the plays where the tender romance of love abounded,
he was nearly always the hero of the love episode. True he was never cast for a
Claude Melnotte ; but Sir Thomas Clifford to a Ferguson's Sir Walter, or later,
to McKenzie's Sir Walter, was the part which the manager would always cast to
Mr, Simmons. In Pizarro he played Alonzo to Mrs. Gibson's Cora ; and he per-
formed the part with that genuine enthusiasm and generous fearless spirit so be-
coming in a Spanish cavalier, and the pupil of the good Las Casas, in defence of
his Indian princess and her peaple, as against Pizarro, the haughty invader who
had loved his talented Alonzo as an adopted son. The character is quite difficult,
lest, in playing for love, his child, and the Peruvian people, he should seem to the
audience an ingrate to Pizarro and traitor to his own country. But Simmons'
Alonzo manifested all the best elements of the character; and he will stand in
our theatrical history as the representative Alonzo of the Deseret Dramatic Asso-
ciation.
Horace K. Whitney was also one of the founders of the Deseret Dramatic
Association ; and in his character as one of the pioneers of the Salt Lake Stage,
he fitly kept up the personal interest which attached to him as one of the Pioneers
of the country. He was enrolled in the " Musical Dramatic Association " formed
in 1850 ; continued in the re-orgauization under the style of the Deseret Dramatic
Association and played through the theatrical days of the Social Hall, and during
the first years' performances at the Salt Lake Theatre, He played Jasper Plumb,
in " All That Glitters is Not Gold;" Duncan in '' Macbeth ;" Sunnyside in the
"Octoroon;" Admiral Kingston in "Naval Engagements," and characters gen-
erally of a similar line.
Henry Maiben was enrolled with the re-organized company that played in the
Social Hall, and, therefore, though not one of the organization of 1850, he was
one of the first members of the Deseret Dramatic Association. He was associated*
with an amateur company in England, and being a coach painter and an artist in
heraldry painting he had a natural inclination to art performance. He was a typical
comic singer; his " Man That Couldn't Get Warm " was inimitable. He was a good
comedian and in a certain line of parts none of the other comedians could so
well have filled the place. His Tobias in the " Stranger," though a small part was,
a gem. He was the fancy dancer of the company and in Christmas Pantomime he
was Pantaloon and Harlequin,
Briefly must be noticed the ladies of the Deseret Dramatic Association. Pre-
cedence belongs to Mrs, Margaret Clawson. As Miss Judd this lady stands alone
in a niche of fame, she being one of the founders of the drama, in 1850. For
4
HISTORY OF SALT LAKE CITY. ^63
nearly twenty years thereafter she sustained the company in a class of characters
of a representative line, for which no other lady of the stock was fitted. Judy
O'Trot was one of her great parts.
Mrs. L. Gibson was a lady endowed with dramatic genius, as was exemplified
in her Lady Macbeth, in which she was never surpassed on our stage excepting
perhaps by Miss Ince. Had Mrs. Gibson not died so early in our theatrical his-
tory her name would have become famous as a local star.
Mrs. Marian Bowring long held the Salt Lake stage as a local actress. Her
Elvira is remembered to this day as a powerful and impassioned peaformance.
Even Lyne as Pizarro was fully matched by Mrs. Bowring's Elvira. She also made
an excellent Emilia in " Othello,'' as she did Juliana in "The Honeymoon,"
Maggie Thomas, sister of Professor Charles J. Thomas, was a public favorite
in chambermaid and comedy parts, and was a specialty as a stage songstress
— "Barbara Jones with a song." In the burlesque tragic opera of " Bombastus
Furioso," she "made a hit" in the burlesque character of Distafifins. She re-
tired from the stage on her marri-ige to Mr. George Romney,
Miss Alexander was Utah's favorite soubrette actress. Good-for-Nothing Nan
was one of her best. She is the actress of whom Hepworth Dixon wrote : " Miss
Alexander — a girl, who besides being pretty and piquant, has genuine ability for
her work. A story, which shows that Young has a feeling for humor, has been
told me of which Miss Alexander is the heroine. A starring actor from San Fran-
cisco, fell into desperate love for her, and went up to the President's house for
leave to address her. * Ha ! my good fellow,' said the Prophet, ' I have seen you
play Hamlet very well, and Julius Caesar pretty well, but you must not aspire to
Alexander ! ' " George Pauncefort was the hero of the story.
Miss Adams made her debut at about this time. She long held the favor of
the public, and has for many years traveled, both in the East and West, as a pro-
fessional actress. She has occasionally returned to Salt Lake, her native place,
to star an engagement with the home stock.
Mrs. Alice Clawson, daughter of Brigham Young, was in the early days as a
flower in the play; but she never claimed for herself special dramatic talent.
Miss Nellie Colebrook has reigned as the local queen of the stage. She early
made her debut, and during her seasons the star characters have been entrusted to
her, and rendered to the satisfaction of the public. She has a fine stage appear-
ance, is graceful and artistic in her style, and her acting always manifests dramatic
fire. Julia in the " Hunchback " marks her highest line. In the " Banker's
Daughter," Nellie Colebrook won for the Home Dramatic Club its greatest
triumph.
Annie Lockhart, though not a local star, must be named with tender remem-
brance. She was an excellent actress and a gentle lady. She died in our midst
in November, 1809, and was reverently followed to the grave by the Deseret
Dramatic Association.
Miss Couldock, the beloved daughter of the veteran actor, and worthy of her
father's fame, also died in our midst and was buried by the association. She was
the first person buried in the I'>piscopal cemetery ; but her remains have since been
removed to Mount Olivet.
■j64 HISTORY OF SALT LAKE CIT\.
Under the management of James H. Vinson, after the retirement of the old
Deseret Dramatic Association, the theatre for awhile kept up its former prestige,
and with the combination of stars with the imported stock, it was not quickly
realized, even by the management, that theatricals were really on the decline,
much of the local interest having retired with the home company and the home
stars.
During this management a few notable names appeared on the bills : Miss
Fanny Cathcart, (from a famous English family of actors), James A. Heme, John
McCullough, J. T. Raymond, Dion Boucicault, T. A. Lyne, William Hoskirs
(one of London's best comedians), Agnes Booth, W. J. Florence, Katharine
Rogers. These were the only names of special note during a period of neai ly
two years. Jean Clara Walters was the leading stock lady; and she was a bef er
actress than the majority of the " stars " passing across the continent.
After Vinson, the active management fell into the hands of Mr. W. T. Harris.
Returning from the Eastern States, Vinson tarried in Salt Lake City for a short
engagement, opening in TuUidge's play of "David Ben Israel," he sustaining
the title role. Then came the prince of actors, Edwin Adams. After their de-
parture the stock company lingered, languished and died in the spring of 1879,
when Manager Harris found it impossible to cast an ordinary piece, with all the
auxiliaries of the city to fill the minor parts. Indeed there had really been no
standing stock company for several years, but periodically there had appeared
theatrical people, interspersed with minstrel companies, which in a way supplied
a link between the fine theatrical history of our city as seen in the past with that
of the future, when it is to be hoped the enthusiastic soul of that past will be
transmigrated into a higher cast of home professionals.
The lesson to be gathered from the review seems to be, that this revival and
the inspiring of the public with a sustained local interest, can only be brought
about by similar methods and means as those which gave the 'former triumphs —
a home company of talented artists. This review brings us at once to the history
of the young Home Dramatic Club, as sketched by one of its members :
A new era in the theatrical history of the city may be said to have begun in 18S0,
when a number of young people belonging to well-known families, organized the
Home Dramatic Club, and inaugurated a series of performances that has not yet
ended, and which we hope will continue to entertain the citizens for years to come.
The venture was probably an outcome of the many private entertainments of the
Wasatch Literary Association, which from 1876 to 1879, "^^^ weekly at the homes
of the members and naturally developed, among the other exercises, a good de-
gree of dramatic ability. The original members of the Home Dramatic Club
were Heber M. Wells, Orson F. Whitney, Laron A. Cummings, John D. Spencer,
Miss Lottie Claridge and Mrs. Cummings (nee Dellie Clawson), with H. L. A.
Culmer and H. G. Whitney as managers. For their opening piece they chose Les-
ter Wallack's adaptation, of " The Romance of a Poor Young Man," which was
presented on the evening of April ist, 1S80, to a well filled house. The wide ac-
quaintance and well known ability of the players, together with the energy of their
young managers, had predisposed the public to look at least for a respectable rep-
resentation; but a general surprise was expressed at the singular excellence of their
1
HISTORY OF SALT LAKE CITY. 763
first performance. Only a few days before it came off, an old-time player on the
Salt Lake stage, taking one of the managers aside; said, with well meaning con-
cern, " Don't you know you young folks have made a great mistake in choosing
the ' Romance ' for your opening piece ? It is one of the most difficult plays out-
side of Shakspeare. You ought to have taken some easy little piece to begin on."
The listener took great care not to repeat what he had heard, but urged the others
on to further rehearsals and greater care. The performance was a complete suc-
cess, was presented again and again to still larger audiences, and the members
shared a nice dividend in addition to the glory they had won. The readiness of
the citizens to support any respectable company of local players was again shown,
proving that the decadence of home drama, to whatever else it might be attrib-
uted, was not due to weariness of appreciation on the part of a people who had
ever loved the Salt Lake stage from the night when the footlights first blazed
there.
From the time this Club first produced the " Romance " until the present, it
has continued to be the only dramatic organization of importance to which the
city could lay claim. It is true that, its members being engaged iii other pursuits,
it is a company of amateurs, after all, but the character of its productions have
been such as to once more establish the dignity of the stage and prove the dra-
matic talents that exist among us. It is fitting that the young Whitneys and the
young Clawsons took part in this revival, and there is no doubt that their connec-
tion with the new Club did much to predispose the public in its favor. It was a
wise feature of their policy that they drew to their assistance whatever other
young people of the city gave promise of dramatic ability, thus giving opportun-
ities to prove the marked talents of Misses Edith Clawson, Birdie Clawson, Mr.
B. S. Young, and not a few others.
So long a time had elapsed between the old time vigor of the Deseret Associa-
tion and the advent of the Home Dramatic Club, that the methods of the latter, when
they once got fairly to work, seemed quite revolutionary. Instead of the heavy
dramas and tragedies which afforded the triumphs of early days, they aimed at
modern methods. For the fire and passion of the romantic and classical plays,
they substituted the polish and finesse of emotional dramas and eccentric com-
edies of the present school. Compared with their own stupendous tragedies of
by-gone days, the old-time actors, what few of them remained, failed to see much
in these performances, but they were "up to date," and when their drift was
learned they became popular. The first attempt of this kind on the part of the
Club was the performance of " Ours," a few weeks after their initial appearance,
and it is safe to say that the public Were more indulgent than amused by it ; but
the young actors were on the track which has since led them into great public
favor and unfailing support. The comparative failure of this comedy frightened
them for a time, however, and they returned to more demonstrative pieces, such
as "Extremes," "Rosedale," and further repetitions of the " Romance." The
following Christmas they presented "Pique" to crowded houses, and on New
Year's put on the most successful piece they ever played, " The Banker's Daugh-
ter." By this time a new play by the Home Dramatic Club meant an overflow-
ing audience of our best citizens, and, of course, large earnings. The four ren-
ii
766 HISTORY OF SALT LAKE CITY.
ditions of "The Banker's Daughter" drew over $3,500, of which $2,221.72 was
profit, and the Club felt that they could well afford to put pieces on in the hand-
somest manner possible. About this time, the owners of the building ,nade an
arrangement with Henry C. Tryon, Esq., a noted scenic artist of Chicago, to en-
tirely refit the Salt Lake Theatre with scenery, and the splendid work he did con-
tributed in no small degree to the brilliancy of their efforts. The Club itself was
by no means niggardly, often venturing an outlay approaching a thousand dollars
in its preparation for some special entertainment ; and when fitting occasion
offered itself was free in giving its talents for the relief of charity. Thus, in
January, 1881, when an awful snowslide buried the town of Alta, with many of its
occupants and drove the homeless survivors to this city, the Club hastily impro-
vised an entertainment and gave the entire profits, over $750.00, to the sufferers.
Perhaps it is due to such a policy that in the six years career of the Club it has
yet to give a performance on which it has not made a profit. At any rate, its
uniform prosperity is an undying testimony to the liberal appreciation of our citi-
zens towards earnest attempts to furnish them with dramatic amusement. The
records of the Club show the average nightly receipts to have been $475.17 of
which $204.35 ^'^s been profit. It is doubtful whether a dramatic organization in
any other city of America has had such support extending over so long a period.
Their last, and perhaps in most respects their greatest, success was in ''Confusion,"
in which Mr. John D. White shone out as director and manager and played a
leading role.
In this dramatic revival the building of the Walker Opera House has played
a very influential prompting part.
The Walker Opera House was opened on the night of the 5th of June, 1882,
with a concert given by the Careless Orchestra. Of the occasion and the house
the Salt Lake Herald, on the next morning, said :
" This pretty theatre was opened to the public last evening, and attracted an
audience of several hundred ladies and gentlemen, the orchestra chairs and par-
quette circle being fairly filled, and there were many people in the two galleries.
Much has been said in the newspapers lately descriptive of the house, its arrange-
ment and finish, hence the company were in a measure acquainted with the place ;
but the quite general suprise manifested and the pleasure expressed, plainly showed
that the people had but a faint conception of the beauty, even elegance, of the
handsome interior. The artistically frescoed ceiling, the richly papered walls,
the luxurious upholstery, the charmmg scence on the curtain, the profusion of
gold, the richness and completeness everywhere apparent attracted attention and
delighted the senses. All is new and bright) and the appropriateness of every-
thing struck everybody as remarkable. Taste and skill have made this a most de-
lightful place for amusement, and the audience appreciated the fact, for they were
profuse with praise of the work of the artizan and the artist, and loud in expres-
sions of admiration for the beautiful to be seen on all sides. Some finishing
touches are yet lacking, and the furnishings are not yet complete, but their ab-
sence detracts little from the appearnce of the charming auditorium.
" Very appropriately the Opera House was inaugurated by a concert given by
local talent, and if the entertainment is an indication of what will follow, the
r
HISTORY OF SALT LAKE CITY. 767
public may expect a series of gQod things at this new hooie of the song and the
drama. The programme comprised selections by the Careless Orchestra, instru-
mental solos, songs, etc., under the musical conductorship of Mr. George Care-
less, and there was nothing done that did not excite enthuiastic applause. We
believe everything was encored. The company seemed unable to get enough of
the sweet voice of Mrs. Careless, who could only quiet the audience by re-appear-
ing twice and singing a third song. The lady was also the recipient of magnifi-
cent bouquets. Mr. R. Gorlinski, who is a well known local favorite, delighted
ihe audience with an aria from * E Puritani,' and was especially happy in an
encore. Mrs. J. Leviberg, as a debutante, we believe, so far as relates to Salt
Lake, made a highly favorable inipression as a vocalist, Those who heard her
will hope to often be charmed by her sweet singing. One of the most enjoyable
parts of the programme was ' The Night before the Battle,' by the quartette,
Misses Olsen and Richards and Messrs. Whitney and Spencer. Altogether the
entertainment was artistic and extremely pleasurable, and such as can be often
repeated without wearying the public. A concert by the Careless Orchestra will
be given at the Opera House this evening.
''The proprietors of the Opera House, and the public are to be congratu-
lated upon the successful opening of this new temple of amusement which is a
. "edit to the owners, the builders and the city."
The concert was repeated on the following evening.
On the 8th of June, the first dramatic performance was given, by one of
liaverly's companies, in the play of " My Partner. " Louis Aldrich, as Joe
binders, starred in the play, and George D. Chaplin, who had on several occa-
-ons starred at the Salt Lake Theatre, performed the comedy.
The Home Dramatic Club, at a later period, also gave several dramatic per-
i rmances at the Opera House. Since its opening, a number of the stars of the
'•'' orld, dramatic and operatic, including the great Janauschek have performed at
:.l.is house.
1
768 HISTORY OF SALT LAKE C1T\.
'CHAPTER LXXXVI.
MUSICAL HISTORY OF OUR CITY. GRAND PERFORMANCE'OF THE -MESSIAH."
PERSONAL SKETCHES OF THE MUSICAL PROFESSORS.
Musical development is very much the index of civilization, and its variations
of quality the signs of national character. Nations highly advanced and refined
have fine musical taste, such as the Germans, the Italians and the English, Their
educated classes cannot endure crude compositions. Nothing less than exquisite
strains of melody, and the grandest harmonies will satisfy the soul attuned to the
beautiful and the sublime. On the other hand the Chinese, the American In-
dians, and the races generally who are crude in their natures, and unprogressive
in their national characters have very poor perceptions of sweet melodic strains
or harmonic grandeur. Kettle drums, and noisy discordant instruments would
afford them more delight than the matchless oratories of Handel and Haydn, or
the solemn majesty of the Masses of Mozart.
In the growth of the arts, music springs up among their first outshoots, tak-
ing the precedence, in the unfolding of civilization, of every genius but that of
poetry — as the second born of the Muses, she starts out with her divine mission.
In her first stage she takes the form of simple song. Like as poetry, when far ad-
vanced, brings to its aid writing and printing, with their magician-like powers
and agencies, so music, in her advancement, arranges her alphabet, notation, and
her art becomes elaborated in science. Like also as poetry from the crude body
of verse receives a massive and infinitely capacitated transformation into universal
literature, so music rises from her primitive form of simple song and clothes her-
self in grand gigantic harmonies. No longer a hymn or a ballad from untutored
voices and inartistic votaries, but a volume of Creation from the creator Haydn;
from the harmonic Handel, a Messiah, bearing the almighty majesty of his Halle-
lujah chorus to the Lord God Omnipotent, and from Mozart a consecrated mass
to Deity. The genius of music develops capacities and forms for all the exposi-
tions of the harmonies of nature and the human soul, and for her interpretation
she is no longer dependent on unlearned composers, nor upon uncouth utterance
from untutored voices.
The history and schools of music agree with the stages of civilization. In
cathedral times we have cathedral music. Their solemn, massive forms and eccle-
siastical sublimity resemble the religious service of the age to which they belong .
Masses, anthems, and Luther's hymns show their quality. The Oratorio resembk -
the epic poem translated into another tongue of art, with the same principles, tht.
same style, the same majestic elaboration. It is, however, Hebraic and not Gre-
cian in its spirit, prophetic and not heroic in its themes. As yet the Oratorio ii
the best form and style that has been given in modern times of music suitable f<jr
Temple service. It is more Hebraic in its quality than the masses of the Catholic ;
•\
HISTORY OF SALT LAKE CITY. 769
there is in its composition the declamatory moods, and bursts of bold inspiration
that so wonderfully characterized the Jewish prophets, while the choruses describe
the lofty exultation of the congregations of Israel when they were the people of
Jehovah's special care. The mass music of the Catholics is, it is true, very impos-
ing and seductive, but it is burdened with the superstitions of a church rather
than with the bold inspirations of Prophets and Psalmists. Even its Gloria in
Excelsis is more like choruses performed by priests and virgins of heathen tem-
ples than the wondrous exultation in music of the vast congregation of the Zion of
God. However near they may approximate to it in classical forms and treatment,
there are no mass compositions burdened with such pure Hebrew subject, nor
breathing so much divine theme as the oratorio of the "Messiah," and no Gloria i?t
Excelsis equals the triumphant majesty of Handel's "Hallelujah, for the Lord God
Omnipotent reigneth," in which one can imagine when Zion from above comes
down to unite in worship with the Zion of all the earth, unnumbered millions of
mortals and immortals will take their parts to swell the mighty theme.
This general view of music is pertinent in the history of the people who
founded Utah. They were certain, in the early stage of their peculiar civiliza-
tion, to manifest the genius of music. Being so eminently religious in their tone
of character, music would naturally form one part of the basework of their wor-
ship; and being also Hebraic in their type and history, the genius of praise was
born in them. It is quite natural, therefore, that they should be a congregation
of singers. They would love the exercises of singing more than the duty of
prayer. Hence we find the Mormons, at home and abroad, always and every-
where singing the "songs of Zion." We meet some very touching musical ep-
isodes in the history of their exodus to the Rocky Mountains. Colonel Thomas
L. Kane, in his famous historical discourse upon the Mormons, tells the follow-
ing touching story. He said .
" Well as I knew the peculiar fondness of the Mormons for music, their or-
chestra in service on this occasion (the departure of the Mormon Battalion from
Winter Quarters) astonished me by its numbers and fine drill. The story was
that an eloquent Mormon missionary had converted its members in a body at an
English town, a stronghold of the sect, and that they took up their trumpets,
trombones, drums and hautboys together and followed him to America.
"When the refugees from Nauvoo were hastening to part with their tableware,
jewelry, and almost every other fragment of metal wealth they possessed, that
was not iron, they had never thought of giving up the instruments of this favorite
band. And when the battalion was enlisted, though high inducements were
offered some of the performers to accompany it, they all refused. Their fortunes
went with the camp of the Tabernacle. They had led the farewell service in the
Nauvoo Temple. Their office now was to guide the monster choruses and Sun-
day hymns; and like the trumpets of silver made of a whole piece, ' for the call-
ing of the assembly, and for the journeying of the camps,' to knoll the people
into church. Some of their wind instruments, indeed, were uncommonly full
and pure toned, and in that clear dry air could be heard to a great distance. It
had the strangest effect in the world, to listen to their sweet music winding over
the uninhabited country ; something in the style ot a Moravian death- tune blown
55
770 HISTORY OF SALT LAKE Ciry.
at day-break, but altogether unique. It might be when you were hunting a ford
over the great Platte, the dreariest of all wild rivers, perplexed among the far-
reaching sand bars, and curlew shallows of its shifting bed; — the wind rising
would bring you the first faint thought of a melody; and as you listened, borne
down upon the gust swept past you a cloud of the dry sifted sands, you recognized
it — perhaps a home-loved theme of Henry Proch or Mendelssohn, Mendelssohn
Bartholdy, away there in the Indian marches ! "
In the earliest days of Salt Lake City the Nauvoo Brass Band, under Captain
William Pitt, attached to itself the first musical reminiscences of the Mormon
people, though it did not reach the professional eminence of that of Captain
Ballo's famous band.
Dominico Ballo, an Italian, highly endowed with the musical genius of his
race, was, before he came to Utah, band-master at West Point for a number of
years. He is said to have been one of the best clarionetists in the United States.
He was a fine composer and arranger and a great solo player, having played solos at
musical festivals in New York and other Eastern cities. Ballo's band is famous
in the musical history of our city. He also trained and organized the Provo band.
The old musical amateurs of the city speak of him with reverence. Professor
Ballo has been dead over twenty-three years.
After Professor Ballo we come to David O. Calder, the pioneer class teacher
of vocal music in Utah.
David O. Calder was born in Thurso, Caithness, Scotland, June i8th, 1823.
He moved with his parents to Edinburgh in 1824. His father died in 1839.
David was then taken from school and entered in the service of the Union Canal
Company as a messenger boy. On the 31st of August, 1840, he joined the
Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints under the administration of Orson
Pratt.
When the Hullah classes were organized in Edinburgh in 1842, for instruc-
tion in the Wilhem method of singing, Mr. Calder joined one of them ; and hav-
ing prosecuted the studies through the entire course, graduated as a teacher of
the system.
In Scotland, Mr. Calder began his mission as a pioneer class teacher to the
Saints, thus early aiming for musical education in the Church ; and be organized
and taught the first choir in the Edinburgh Conference.
Having risen rapidly, step by step, in the outdoor and office departments of
the canal company's service he was appointed by the directors of the company to
the office of manager of the intermediate stations of the service, between Edin-
burgh and Glasgow, with headquarters at Falkirk. Shortly after taking up his
abode there, in 1846, he called a meeting of the members of the choirs of the
several religious denominations and the instrumental performers of the town, at
the " Town Hall," and after a few such meetings succeeded in organizing the
"Falkirk Musical Association " and obtained the consent of the Earl of Zetland
to act as honorary president of the society, and several of the nobility of the
country to act as honorary vice-presidents. He was elected manager and secretary
of the society. The association went into immediate practice of the oratorio of
the "Messiah," and subsequently, with the assistance of professional soloists, gave a
HISTORY OF SALT LAKE CITY. 777
performance which was highly approved by the critics, and largely patronized by
the nobility and general public. The " Creation " was afterwards given with
like results.
In January, 1851, he left for Utah, accompanied by his mother and her
family, in the George IV. Bourne, which sailed from Liverpool to New Orleans ;
and after two years' detention in Cincinnati, in consequence of the sickness and
death of his elder sister, he arrived here in September, 1853, and settled over
Jordan, where he taught a singing school during the fall and winter of 1853-4.
In 1855, he entered the service of the Church as a clerk in the President's office,
and from 1857 to 1867 was the chief clerk.
In 1861, under the patronage of President Brigham Young, Mr. Calder or-
ganized two classes of two hundred members each, and commenced giving vocal
instruction in his school room, using the Curwen tonic sol-fa method ; which was
the first introduction of the system in America. He compiled, arranged and
printed the class books used. In December, 1862, he organized and taught two
other classes of two hundred each, and the progress made by the pupils in the
study of vocal music was a genuine surprise to the public and to local musicians.
He organized the " Deseret Musical Association " with over two hundred picked
singers from several classes — thus creating the material for the first musical asso-
ciation. The society practiced the higher classes of anthems, choruses and glees,
and gave several concerts in the tabernacle and in the theatre with success. With
the intention of performing the opera of "La Somnambula," Mr. Calder trans-
lated, transposed and printed the choruses of that opera into the Curwen nota-
tion. After a number of rehearsals, diphtheria entered his house and carried off
five of his children. This sad calamity, with the continuous waiting upon them
during their sickness, so impaired his health that he was compelled to discontinue
his labors as conductor of the association, and teacher of the several classes under
way, which resulted in the disorganization of both the association and the classes.
The next musical personage of local fame is Professor Charles J. Thomas,
He belonged to the London profession, and for years was associated with several
of the principal orchestras of the metropolitan theatres. In 1862 he came to Salt
Lake City, where he was already known by reputation, which the American elders
had imparted to President Young and Messrs. Clawson and Caine.
The Salt Lake Theatre being about to open at the time of his arrival in the
City, an experienced conductor of a theatrical orchestra was much in demand by
the management ; and so Professor Thomas stood to the Deseret Dramatic com-
pany in orchestral business, as T. A. Lyne did as theatrical master and profes-
sional actor to the amateur company. John M. Jones, in the Social Hall had,
as the first violin and leader, acquitted himself with honors ; but in this new
theatre an orchestral conductor from London was more acceptable to an audience
who had paid first-class admission price ; and the conductor showed to the public
that he was experienced in theatrical business, and to the management his general
usefulness.
Professor Thomas was also appointed the leader of the Tabernacle Choir,
which, until he took its charge, had been under Father James Smithies, as choir
master. Indeed the Tabernacle choir had never risen above the musical status of
JJ2 HISTORY OF SALT LAKE Cliy.
an ordinary choir of a country church ; but under C. J. Thomas it soon became
fairly metropolitan, and good anthem music was frequently performed on Sundays
to the delight of the congregation, the majority of whom had come from the mu-
sical cities of Great Britain, who until Professor Thomas took the leadership had
seldom heard in the Salt Lake Tabernacle those fine English anthems with which
they were familiar. In fine, the advent of Charles J. Thomas marks an epoch in
the musical history of the city; and he gave the first "grand vocal concerts"
here, as benefits, and reaped a financial harvest. He long held a ruling musical
position.
Professor John Tullidge (the father of Edward and John TuUidge) arrived in
Salt Lake City, in September, 1863.
John Tullidge, Sen., was born in Weymouth, Dorsetshire, England, Novem-
ber 5th, 1807. In his childhood he was the musical prodigy of his native town.
He sang in a Methodist choir at the age of six, and in his young manhood was
ranked as the principal tenor singer of the county. Unsatisfied with local fame
he left his native place and went to London, in 1837, to study under the great
English masters. There he was engaged as principal tenor, of the famous Evans'
Saloon, and while occupying this position he studied harmony and counterpoint
under the greatest English master of those times, the world-renowned Hamilton.
He next conducted the best glee party out of London, and traveled with them
through the musical provinces, taking engagements to sing at the grand fetes of
the nobility. In the year 1838, or 1839, ^^ ^"^ his glee party sang at the Count-
ess of Westmorland's in honor of the visit of the Duchess of Kent and Princess
Victoria. Grisi and Mario, the then greatest singers in the world, were the mu-
sical stars of the occasion. The Princess Victoria did him the honor to '•' chat "
with him a few moments to express her pleasure over a fine old English madrigal
which the glee party had rendered, which charmed the English taste of the royal
maiden more than did the classical pieces of the great Italians. Mario, struck
with the compass and quality of Tullidge's voice, after the close of their service,
asked Mr. T. if he would allow him to test his full voice capacity and execution,
which condescension of the great singer was gratefully met. At the close of the
trial Mario exclaimed, "My God, I never knew the English had voices till I
heard yours;" and adding that his voice was equal to his own, he offered to
bring him out in Italian opera. Perhaps Mario, in his condescension and gener-
osity paid the English singer too high a compliment. Mr. T. would fain have
accepted the offer of Mario, but he knew not the Italian language and was not
fitted for the operatic stage, which requires the actor combined with the star singer.
After singing at the Countess of Westmorland's, before the lady who became
Queen of England, in the following year Mr. Tullidge wen? to the city of York,
where he quickly won the position as principal tenor of the York philharmonic
concerts, and became one of the four conductors of the York " Harmonicus So-
ciety." His name may be found on its roll as John Elliot (Tullidge) his mother's
maiden name. Mrs. Sunderland, known as the " Yorkshire queen of song," and
later, succeeding Clara Novello as the greatest oratorio singer in England, was at
that time the leading soprano of the society, and with her Mr. Tullidge was fre-
quently sent out by the society to fill engagements as the principal singers at the
HISTORY OF SALT LAKE CITY. yyj
oratioro concerts of the northern counties of England. It was one of these pro-
fessional tours that lead him into Wales.
Mr. Tullidge was conductor of St, Mary's Cathedral choir, Newport, South
Wales, and was founder of the Newport Harmonic Society, in 1843, the offspring
of which, years later, at the Crystal Palace, London, took the laurels from the
choral societies of all England.
In 1863, he emigrated to Utah, and in September, 1864, gave his first con-
cert in Salt Lake City, the first part of which consisted of the following selections :
Overture, "Tancred," A'ossini. Anthem, " Zion's Harp," (Choir). Recitative, "And God Created
Man," (Tullidge), Havdn. Aria, " In Native Worth," (Tullidge), Haydn. Recitative, (basso) "And
God Saw Everything," (Tullidge), Haydn. Chorus, ' 'Achieved is the Glorious Work," Havdn. Orchestra
C. d' Albert. Recitative, " In Splendor Bright, (Tullidge), Haydn. Grand Chorus, "The Heavens are
Telling," Haydn.
He composed the Latter-day Saints' Psalmody, a number of whose hymns
and anthems are sung at the Tabernacle.
In 1873, he fell down the theatre stairs, as he came from his music room, where
he copied and arranged for the orchestra, and was killed in the fall. His anthem,
" How Beautiful upon the Mountains," the favorite of the Tabernacle, and the
delight of the lamented Mrs. Careless, will perpetuate his name in the musical
history of our city.
But the man who has done the most for the musical progress of Salt Lake
City, and for the establishment of the legitimate profession, is undoubtedly Mr.
George Careless.
George Edward Percy Careless, (known as Professor George Careless) was
born in London, Sept. 24th, 1839. Early in youth he showed musical talent, and
having become fairly proficient as an amateur, without a teacher, he studied in
the Royal Academy, and under the tuition of Alexander Simmons — a pupil of
Sainton, and a member of the Queen's private orchestra. In London he played
with the great instrumentalists of the day, under the batons of Sir Michael Costa,
Sir Jules Benedict, Dr. Arnold, G. W. Martin, Wm. Ganz, Randegger, Barnard
and other famous conductors in oratories, operas, concerts, etc., with from thirty-
five to four thousand performers, in Exeter Hall, Crystal Palace, Drury Lane
Theatre, Italian Church and other places. He left London, for Utah, June 3d,
1864, and arrived in Salt Lake City, November 3rd.
In 1865, Professor Careless took the leadership of the Salt Lake Theatre
orchestra, which he held five or six years, during which time he produced a num-
ber of musical plays, including " Macbeth, " " The Brigands" and " Aladdin. "
For the latter he composed the entire music, (for over forty numbers), comprising
solos, duets, choruses and dramatic music. Professor Tullidge copying the parts.
For several years many of the melodies were sung around the streets. He also
composed the music for " Cinderella; " and did all the composing and arranging
work for the orchestra to the close of his leadership. It was during this engage-
ment he conducted the first opera given in Utah — ''The Grand Duchess" — with
the Howson troupe, and an act from " Der Freischutz, " and several operettas.
He was appointed the conductor of the Tabernacle choir soon after taking
the orchestra, and was conductor of this chcir over fourteen years, during which
period the Tabernacle musical service reached its crowning excellence.
774- HISTORY OF SALT LAKE CIIY.
But above the personal efforts of ihe Professor is the great event of the per-
formance of the " Messiah " in our city in June, 1875. ^" ^'"'^ musical history of
our city it marks an epoch.
Professor Careless was engaged as conductor of the " Handel and Haydn
Society," which afterwards changed its name to the "Philharmonic Society,"
under his conductorship. On the occasion of the performance of the " Messiah "
the Deseret News said : " Several months ago something over a hundred [over
two hundred] ladies and gentlemen, including and comprising the best musical
talent, vocal and instrumental, of this city, organized themselves into a society for
promoting musical culture and raising the standard of musical taste in this com-
munity. This was a most praiseworthy object, for the excellence which a com-
munity attains in musical science and art is no mean criterion by which to judge
of its local status. "
Among the principal vocalists and instrumentalists who distinguished themselves
in the delivery of this vast musical epic, were Mrs. Careless, Mrs. Haydon, Mrs.
Hamilton, Mrs. Waterbury, Miss Colebrook, Miss Sarah Olsen, Miss Belle Clay-
ton, Mrs. Tester, Mrs. Grow, Mrs. Allen, Miss Haydon, Mrs. Hollister, Mrs.
Groo, Miss Nebeker, Mr. Black, Mr. Hollister, Mr. Barnes, Mr. Williams, Mr.
Podlech, Mr. Horn, Mr. Griggs, Mr. Foster, Mr. Emery, Mr. Morgan, Mr. Owen,
Mr. Sanders, Mr. Schnell, Orson Pratt, A. C. Smyth, J. Broughton, Charles
Smyth.
The following invitation was issued to the musical people :
Salt Lake City, January 9th, 1875.
You are respectfully invited to be present at a meeting to be held at the
Fourteenth Ward Assembly Rooms on Wednesday evening next, the 12th inst.,
at 7 o'clock, to take into consideration the desirability of giving a performance
in Salt Lake City, of Handel's great oratorio "The Messiah, " by the associated
musical talent of this city and vicinity, on some date to be hereafter decided upon,
said performance to be solely for the furtherance of the divine art, (music) and
not for the benefit of any institution or person.
This invitation was signed by the invitation committee, consisting of Mrs.
Haydon, Mrs. Careless, Mrs. Hamilton, Messrs. George Careless, Orson Pratt, Jr.,
and Jos. Broughton.
Ot the performance (which was given in the Salt Lake Theatre, with over
two hundred performers and a full orchestra) a reviewer in the Salt Lake Herald
said: "Taking the orchestra as a whole, and laboring under the difficulties
already described, from the fact of the impossibility of placing them on the stage,
the effect and result was simply a marvel of excellence — especially with the first
violins, whose singing tones so nearly approached the vox humana on several
occasions, as to defy all recognition of which was the voice and which the violin.
Mr. Kennicott's organ accompaniment also for some of the recitativos and arias
was charmingly delicate and yet supporting. Of the solo singers it is difficult to
do justice to and not praise in the very highest manner one and all, though we
will be pardoned if we make particular mention of Mrs. Haydon, Mrs. Careless,
and Miss Haydon among the ladies, and Mr. Williams, Mr. Black and Mr. Hol-
lister among the gentlemen. Mr. Home also, as well as Mr. Podlech, deserve
m
HISTORY OF SALT LAKE CITY. ;7j-
great praise for their admirable singing of music which must be doubly trying to
them to sing in English. The gems among the solos were " Oh thou that tellest,"
(by Mrs. Haydon) ; "Rejoice greatly," (by Miss Haydon) ; "He was de-
spised," (by Mrs. Haydon); "But thou didst not leave," (by Mrs. Careless);
"Why do the nations," (by Mr. Black); "Thou shalt break them," (by Mr.
Podlech) ; but if we must give the palm of excellence to any it must be in all
justice to Mrs. Careless for her beautiful rendition of " I know that my Redeemer
liveth. " Her singing was simply perfection. We have already called attention
to the disadvantages under which the solo singers labor, but with all these Mrs.
Careless' young, fresh voice seemed to defy all difficulties, coming forth with its
rich "tombre timbre" bell like and sympathetic. If angels had human voices,
surely hers would suggest heavenly music indeed. Fine, however, as the solo sing-
ing was, we must confess that the choruses were the great achievement of the
whole entertainment, and taking into consideration the fact that very {^^ of the
singers concerned either sing at sight or are entirely familiar with music, Mr.
Careless deserves unqualified praise for the masterly way in which they have been
trained. Of the choruses the finest were, "For unto us a Child is Born," "All
we like Sheep," the " Hallelujah " chorus, and " Worthy is the Lamb."
It is a great thing to be able to say (as the writer can truthfully) that, taken
as a whole, the " Messiah," as performed last night, was far superior — both as re-
gards the solos, choruses and orchestra — than the oratorio given in San Francisco
some eight months ago, with Madame Anna Bishop, Mrs. Morrison, and several
other vocal celebrities. On that occasion the trumpet obligato was played so
badly as to nearly compel Madame Anna Bishop to stop smging. Compare with
this the excellence of the cornet obligato in Mr. Black's solo, "The Trumpet
shall Sound," by Mr. Croxall, and here is proof of it.
To musical adepts who understand what a worthy execution of a complete
oratorical composition means this performance of the "Messiah" in Salt Lake
City may fitly be considered as one of the capital events in the musical history
of America. There are only a few cities either in England or America, where
the " Messiah " can be executed by their local philharmonic societies; and even
when given in London itself, the principal vocalists and instrumentalists of all
England are sometimes combined to render the oratorio in its full capacity, and
that too with a profound realization among the artists that the composition will
call into play all the human powers of voice, of soul, of intellect and instrumen-
tal execution. And even with such a combination of performers it requires the
highest class audience to fully appreciate such music ; so that if we can say that
Salt Lake City is up to the standard of the "Messiah," (which is too much to affirm
in the supreme sense at present) we substantially affirm that Salt Lake City is one
of the greatest musical cities in the world. In this view the performance of the
"Messiah" in our city in the summer of 1875, ^7 ^ local philharmonic society
under the conductorship of Professor Careless was a prophecy of such a culmina-
tion even in his own generation.
In Handel's day London itself was not up to the standard of the " Messiah."
London rejected it. Dublin, /-in the month of April, 1742, had the honor of giv-
ing to this immortal work its acceptance.
776 HISTORY OF SALT LAKE CITY.
The '^ Messiah " is an epic in music. It is the most complete in construe
tion and voluminous in subject of all the oratorios. The reviewer of the Herald
defined the oratorio " as a kind of a sacred composition either purely dramatic or
partaking both of the drama and the epic, in which the text is illustrative of some
religious subject." In this definition the critic has confounded the oratorio with
dramatic compositions of the class of the Shakspearian plays, which though very
high as comparison is not theoretically correct. The oratorio is always an epic,
never a drama in that sense, though true the epic does compound dramatic ele-
ments. The oratorio has the subject and harmonies of the two worlds combined
as the two halves of one whole ; just as the epic poem has the subject and actiofi of
the two worlds combined. Take examples. In the "Creation," by Haydn, the
Recitatives and Arias are delivered by the Archangels — Gabriel, Uriel and
Raphael. This combination in the epic poem is denominated the celestial ma-
chinery. The principal leading subject of Uriel (the tenor) is
"And God created man in His own image ; in the image of God created he him, male and female
created he them. And he breathed into his nostrils the breath of life and man became a living soul."
And from this grand announcement the Archangel develops his beautiful theme in
an aria — " Native worth :"
" In native worth and honor clad, with beauty, courage, strength, adorn'd, erect with front serene
he stands, a man, a king of nature all,"
In Man the mortal half of creation is now brought into the subject, and into
its compound harmonies, and in Man the whole mortal world is in conception.
The Recitativo :
"And God saw ev'rything that He had made, and behold it was very good ; and the heavenly choir
in song divine, thus closed the sixth day :
•'Achieved is the glorious work, etc."
This brings the two worlds — the immortal and the mortal into combination
in chorus. Such is the nature of this oratorio —the " Creation."
This is not " text illustrative of some religious subject," any more than it is
of " some " profane subject. It is the subject of all mankind and all Deity; —
all the Heavens and all the Earth, and if you please, all the hells:
Affrighted fled hell's spirits black in throngs,
Down they sink in deep abyss, to endless night.
Despairing, cursing rage attend their rapid fall.
The " Messiah" is the theme of " Creation " continued in the still grander
evolution of the two worlds in combined action ; which examples show that the
oratorio is not a musical drama, as the opera is, but a musical epic. " Comfort
ye, comfort ye, my people, saith your God ; speak ye comfortably to Jerusalem,"
is Jehovah's r^r/Za/Zt/f? (now above the archangels), and "Every valley shall be
exalted,'^ is Jehovah's rtr/tz. In the "Hallelujah Chorus " we have the heavens
and earth combined in exultant theme. " For the Lord God Omnipotent reigneth;
King of Kings and Lord of Lords." " Hallelujah." The chorus of the universe
swells the theme.
The " Messiah" properly is an Hebraic subject, but it not having reached
its proper resolution in Handel's day, and in Hancjcl's Christian conception, he
mixed it with the Christian subject. " Messiah " is transposed to Jesus, and
HISTORY OF SALT LAKE CITY. yjy
Handel's critics, being Christians and not Hebrews, acrept his resolution. When
the pure Hebrew genius comes, however, — the Isaiah of musicians — he will give
'^ Messiah " a new rendering, but some of his themes in strict accord with Han-
del's settings of the poet Isaiah, yet even in these with some new musical work-
ings. " Comfort ye My People " will be retained in substance as the opening of
the theme; so will the '•' Hallelujah Chorus;" while the Christian mixing will be
expunged. The "Trumpet shall sound and the dead shall be raised," etc., is
Paul, not "Messiah.*' Ezekiel in his vision of the "dry bones" of the whole
house of Israel has the subject : " Come from the four winds O breath, and breathe
upon these slain that they may live ;" and " My servant David shall be prince
over them, and Messiah King of Kings." " Worthy the Lamb " is Christian, not
of Hebrew genius. But Daniel's vision of Messiah's Kingdom is, and then the
"Hallelujah Chorus :"" For the Lord God Omnipetent reigneth : King of
Kings and Lord of Lords."
Now the great and relative significance of the performance of the oratorio of
the "Messiah " in Salt Lake City is, that it marks the beginning of the musical
culture in their supreme line of a people with the genius and subject of the
"Messiah" actually embodied in their whole history, running now through a
fifty-six years' period. The Mormon Temple, if it survive, will as certainly bring
the oratorio into its service as that its dispensation has brought in the "gather-
ing" of a modern "Israel fro.n all nations." The work of a George Careless
and others like him, then, has only just begun. The very prophecies, in the his-
tory of the past of this peculiar community, proclaim with trumpet tongue that
Salt Lake City in the coming time will be the city of America pre-eminent in the
oratorio performances. The gentile artists as well as well as the " musicians of
Israel " will help to accomplish this grand musical result, for art is not sectarian,
but universalian.
Apropos of this latter remark may be noted particularly the fact that Pro-
fessor Careless succeeded in combining the principal singers and instrumentalists
in a "Handel and Haydn Society," for the performance of the "Messiah," with-
out the thought even occurring to the artists whether their fellows were Mormons
or Gentiles. This of itself was a great musical triumph; and the fact that the
"Messiah" was performed in Salt Lake City in 1875, i"^ ^ style as it never was
in any city west of Chicago, is most worthy of a page in our local history; and,
as we pass on to the biography of Salt Lake musicians, the historian may be al-
lowed the personal expression of a hope that Salt Lake City may witness many
repetitions of the example and many such triumphs in musical art.
Of Professor Careless' engagements as a conductor, it may be noted that he
conducted the celebrated Parepa Rosa concerts, in November, 1868 ; also the
Madame Anna Bishop concert in the large Tabernacle, and the grand Wilhemj
concert in the Theatre, March 6th, 1880. Our talented citizen received the
highest praise from the great virtuoso and many marks ot his esteem. Since his
presentation of the "Messiah," in 1875, he has given the 46th psalm ; beautiful
cantata " Daughter of Jairus ; " made a brilliant success in April, 1879, ^'^^^"^ Sir
Arthur Sullivan's opera, "Pinafore" and in November, 1885, Gilbert and SuUi-
56
jj8 HISTORY OF SALT LAKE CITY.
van's latest and most difficult opera, the " Mikado ; " these compositions were
rendered by home talent.
In March, 1879, he organized the "Careless Orchestra, which gave a num-
ber of a orchestral concerts; and in 1885, he succeeded in organizirg the largest
local orchestra ever brought together in this city, consisting of forty-five members.
Of the musical business, of which he and D. O. Calder were the pioneers,
it may be noted that these two gentlemen formed a co-partnership about 1873,
which continued seven years, during which period the firm published the Salt
Lake Musical Times, the first musical publication in the Rocky Mountains, though
10 the Utah Magazine belongs the honor of importing the first musical type, and
publishing the first musical sheets under the editorship of Professor John Tullidge.
In fine in Professor Careless' career in Salt Lake City may be traced the principal
germinations of the musical development of our city, which is said without de-
traction from the diligent art labors and excellent public performances of musi-
cians of a later date.
To Lavinia Careless, the lamented wife of Professor George Careless, belongs,
by the sacred claims of her rare genius, a high niche of fame among our musi-
cal stars. Indeed, she is worthy of more than local fame. She possessed one of
the best English voices of her generation ; and had she traveled as a star she
would undoubtedly have won a world-wide name, for not only was her voice of
the purest quality, but her singing was burdened with soul and her exquisite de-
livery intense with feeling, which, in oratorio, rose to the exalted pitch of epic
song. She died m Salt Lake City July i6th, 1885. The following brief, but
well told story of her life and genius we clip from the Salt Lake Herald of Au-
gust 2d, 1885 :
"It is curious to reflect that the songstress whose death has occasioned so
profound an impression in our musical circles might have gone to her grave
lamented as Tietjens or Parepa was lamented, and with all the honors and tributes
which an admiring world paid to those artists, but for the one circumstance that
she preferred a domestic career to an artistic one, and chose rather to exercise her
genius for the delight of her friends than to shine as a prima donna in the world's
great coterie of lyric stars. It did not need the assurance of Carl Rosa, of Mad-
ame Bishop, or of the many other distinguished singers, musicians and impres-
sarii who heard Mrs. Careless' voice, to acquaint her with the fact that a brilliant
career lay open before her, if she but chose to enter upon it. All who ever listened
to the noble melody of her voice knew that she had received from nature one of
those gifts which are conferred but a few times throughout the course of centuries ;
when a girl she sang her first simple melody in a small English choir, her voice
was already such as many an artist who had spent )ears with singing masters might
vainly envy ; what it might have been with the care bestowed upon that of a Pa-
repa or a Patti, we can only conjecture — it would be hard to realize.
" Mrs. Careless would have been thirty-nine years of age next December; her
father, George Triplett, was always musically inclined, and his daughter com-
menced singing in London when she was eleven years old ; at fifteen, her voice
had developed into a full, resonant soprano, and she sang for a long time in the
London Conference choir as leader of the trebles ; Professor Careless was then
HISTORY OF SALT LAKE CITY. jyp
director of that body, and he often instructed her in particular pieces, little think-
ing by what an near tie they would one day be united. They met in Utah some
years later, and were married in 1865. Mrs. Careless' improvement from that
time was marked and rapid, and under the excellent instruction of her husband,
she acquired a further knowledge of music and kept up a systematic course of
practice which greatly benefitted her. The fourteen years which she led the treble
in the Tabernacle Choir, while her husband was leader, is a period in the history
of local music of which the lovers of the art will not need to be reminded. Hers
was one of the few voices which did not appear lost in the vast echoes of that
building. Of all her sacred selections, perhaps the solo in Tullidge's beautiful
iinthem, ' How Beautiful Upon the Mountains,' will live longest in the memory
of her admirers; of the great variety of songs we have heard her render in con-
cert, we think that she gave none more exquisitely than the glorious composition,
* O, Loving Heart, Trust On.' Her voice was very much of the same quality
as that of Parepa, and her upper limit was E flat, the same as that distinguished
singer. Her higher notes were her best, but her voice was of extreme purity
throughout the whole register.
"Mrs. Careless will long be remembered and mourned as distinctly the first
and foremost of all Utah's singers. She leaves a daughter of twelve, of whom it
is not too early to say that she bears promise of possessing to a marked extent the
musical gifts of both her parents. Mr. Careless, who occupies to orchestral music
in Utah the same position which his wife held to vocal, sustains his bereavement
with becoming philosophy and fortitude. In the education and care of his
daughter he will find ample means for occupying his thoughts, and his friends
all trust that the great healer Time, with the tender hand of Him ' who wipes the
tear from every eye,' may yet bring to him peace of soul and resignation of
mind."
She was singing twenty-five years ; was first taught in London by Mr. Care-
less when she was a child eleven years of age. Her voice was as fresh when she
died as ever.
Professor Careless having resigned the conductorship of the Salt Lake Phil-
harmonic Society, letters were written by Mrs. Dr. Hamilton, in behalf of the so-
ciety, to Mr, Tourjee of the New England Conservatory, at Boston, for him to
select a competent conductor; on this application to the Conservatory, Professor T.
Radcliffe came to Salt Lake City and took the vacant position ; and a year later
after much practice, the society, under liis directorship, gave the oratorio of the
" Creation," in the Salt Lake Theatre. The concert was a musical success but
not a financial one. Professor RadclifTe soon resigned the conductorship of the
society to devote himself to teaching the piano, since which his courses of teach-
ing have produced some very efficient pupils from the best families in Utah, This
gentleman is acknowledged to be a great organist and he has recently attracted
much interest to himself by private recitals on the Tabernacle organ. In a late
issue the Deseret News said :
" A number of persons had the pleasure of listening to Mr. Radcliffe — one
of the best organists in the country — perform on the Tabernacle organ last even-
ing, and all were enthusiastic in their praise of both the organ and performer."
j8o HISTORY OF SALT LAKE CITY.
Mr. Radclifie graduated among the great English organists, as the following
testimonials will show, the first being from the celebrated W. T. Best :
" I consider Mr. T. Radcliffe a very able organist and perfectly qualified to
undertake the duties of any church appointment.
" W. T. Best
*'St. Georg-'s Hall, Liverpool, December 27th, 1866 "
" I have much pleasure in bearing my testimony to the merits of Mr. T. Rad-
cliffe as a solo organist and accompanist. The organs at this institution have been
performed upon by the firsc organists in this Kingdcm, including Messrs. Hop-
kins, Chipp, Adams, H. Smart, Best and Dr. Wesley, but without depreciating
their abilities, lam bound to say, from the opportunities I have had of listening
to Mr. Radcliffe's accompaniments to the oratorios of the ' Messiah ' and the
* Creation ' that 1 have not heard accompaniments to sacred music, for solo or
chorus, more effectively given thaa by him, and I have also reason to know that
this is also the opinion of that eminent vocalist, Mrs. Sunderland. As a solo per-
former Mr. Radcliffe is one of the most rising men of the day, and if he con-
tinues to devote to his noble instrument the same untiring energy which he has
displayed, he cannot fail to place himself in the most distinguished position in
his profession. I have the honor to be, gentlemen,
" Yours very respectfully,
"S. Gregory Jones,
** December 27lh, 1866." ^^ Secretary of the Liverpool College.
The work on construction of the Tabernacle organ was commenced in 1866,
by Mr. Joseph Ridges, to whose skill and design the outward case and much of
the interior work is accredited.
The musical and mechanical work was left by him in an unfinished state seven
years ago, and the instrument was subsequently injured by incompetent tuners be-
ing employed. The work of completing the instrument was assigned to Mr. N.
Johnson about two years since, who has, up to the present, devoted most of his
time to the work.
Organ-building has made immense progress during the last few years, and Mr.
Johnson has introduced many of the best modern improvements.
The interior of the organ is so arranged that all parts of the mechanism are
easy of access.
The pneumatic lever is applied to the great organ and its couplers rendering
the touch — even with all the couplers on — as light as that of a piano.
Another improvement is the putting in of a solo organ with six stops. This,
together with the addition of other stops to the great, swell, choir, and pedal or-
gans makes an addition of about 1,300 new pipes.
The organ has now four manuels and a pedal, the number of stops being 57.
The total number of pipes is 2,648.
The wind is supplied to the organ by three large bellows, which are operated
by two hydraulic motors
The instrument has been almost entirely reconstructed in its interior parts ;
HISTORY OF SALT LAKE CITY. ySi
and in its now completed form, it is justly an object of pride to our city, and is
one of the chief objects of the visiting tourist.
Mr. Joseph J. Daynes is the organist of the Tabernacle. His father was an
amateur musician and a bass singer in an English glee club, whose rehearsals at
his house were partly the means of developing the musical talent of his gifted son,
who was esteemed as a prodigy by the musical friends of the elder Daynes.
Soon after arriving in Utah, in 1862, the lad and his father were invited to
the residence of President Young. After hearing him play, the President advised
Mr. Daynes to put him under the tuition of Professor Raymond. The father took
his prodigy to the professor, who asked to be shown some of the music the lad had
been playing, that he might be able to tell where to begin the lesson ; on seeing
which. Professor Raymond remarked that he had better take lessons of tlie lad
instead.
In the spring of 1867, when only just fifteen years of age, Mr. Daynes wa:i
appointed the organist of the Tabernacle, which position he has held ever since.
In the fa'l of 1879 he went to New York to study the church organ and piano ;
and, before leaving for home, he played on the church organ at Chickering Hall,
at a very fashionable concert of Mr. G. W. Morgan, was applauded and encored,
and was afterwards noticed in the Art Journal.
We have no doubt that, had Mr. Joseph J. Daynes lived in New York or Bos-
ton, with the opportunity of appearing often before large musical audiences, win-
ning frequent applause, so necessary to stimulate the artist's nature and ambition,
he would be widely known as one of the great organists of the day.
Orson Pratt, Jr., ranks, in the estimation of all the musicians of the city, as an
excellent teacher of the piano and organ. In painstaking with his pupils he has no
equal among the Salt Lake profession. As a theorist, he is one of the best on the
Pacific Coast. He is as familiar with the great works of Albrechtsberger, Cheru-
bini, and Dr. Marx as a scholar with his alphabet. Indeed, as a teacher of har-
mony and counterpoint there will be found in all America but few so able and effi-
cient as Orson Pratt.
Professor H. S. Krouse was born in the city of New York, March 22d, 1853.
He began the study of music at the age of nine, and received instructions from
Herr Von Arx in theory and piano. After several years' study he changed to S.
B. Mills and played piano for the Italian opera chorus under Carl Auschutz. la
1867 he went to the Leipsic school of music, where he studied with Moschelles,
Reinecke, and Wenzel. After a course of several years' study he went to Paris and
studied piano with Mathias. He received a diploma after one year's study there and
returned to New York and joined the Clara Louise Kellogg company, traveling
through all the principal cities of the United States, and then joined the Adelaide
Phillips Concert Company, making the same circuit, including the principal
places of South Atnerica and Central America. He returned to New York and
then accepted an engagement in San Francisco with lima de Murska and Camillo
Urso, and also taught at Madam Sitkas, and gave private instruction on piano.
A few years afterward he accepted the position as chorus master with Chas. E.
Locke, of Melville Opera Company and was afterwards conductor.
782 HISTORY OF SALT LAKE CITY.
Mr. Krouse came to Salt Lake City in March, 1881, and was warmly wel-
comed to the professional musical corps by the late David O. Calder, who con-
stantly spoke of him as a very efficient and thorough musician, whose musical ser-
vice in our city was greatly needed. Though a foreign artist, his talents and ef-
forts coupled with a five years' residence entitles him to be considered among our
principal local professors of music. He is a musical enthusiast, which type of
nature is so eminently required in a matter of this most exquisite art whose cul-
ture is above all other branches of art ; for while in poetry and general literature
a man may bound at once into fame as an author, in music it takes years of train-
ing to make a fine executant, whether of the voice or the instrument, and three
times seven years apprenticeship to perfect a master of theory.
Mr. Krouse has worked hard to cultivate the musical taste of our city, and
the courses of his training are mentioned as an example of his fitness. He is at
present engaged in teaching piano, thorough bass and harmony, and has many
proficient pupils.
He recently produced with local talent. Sir Arthur Sullivan's very popular
and highly artistic opera " lolanthe," adding much to the fame of himself as a
musical conductor and manager thereby.
Mr. B. B. Young, professor of singing, was born in Salt Lake City, April 23,
1856. He is the youngest son of President Joseph Young and Jane Bicknell.
His talent for music is inherited both from his father's and mother's families.
Mr. Young's first lessons in music were received from Professor George Care-
less. He also studied the piano with Professor Orson Pratt, Jun. In May, 1879,
he went to London to study music in general and especially the art of singing,
taking with him letters of introduction to a great London musical publisher. He
entered the national training school for music, of which Sir Arthur Sullivan was
principal. Signor Albert Visette, principal professor of singing, examined him and
gave the opinion that he would make a fine artist.
Mr. Young was admitted in the school as a paying pupil ; and by merit in
the second year obtained a free sholarship, which was renewed in the third year,
lasting till the close of the school in 1882, when he was appointed professor of
singing at the Watford school of music. He now began to receive engagements
for concerts, and sang before the Prince of Wales at the Duke of Edinburgh's
concerts. Last year he sang at the Crystal Palace concerts and at other noted
places; and at the production of Wagner's "Parcifol" in London, in Novem-
ber, 18S4, he was selected to sing one of the baritone parts, in the execution of
which he won from the professors especial praise for his voice, pronounciation and
phrasing, it being sung in German. His singing has mostly been confined to the
concert platform, but last winter he sang with the English opera company with
marked success.
Since Mr. Young's return to his native city he and Madame Young have
given concerts in which he has been favorably received by the Salt Lake public as
a professional vocalist. He is only twenty-nine years of age and will doubtless
yet be known on the lyric stage.
Madame Mazzucato Young was born in Milan, Italy, in 1846. Her mother
was Donna Teresa Bolza, daughter of Count Bolza. Her father was the Chev-
HISTORY OF SALT LAKE CITY. jSj
alier Alberto Mazzucato, whose name became celebrated throughout Europe as a
musician and as a teacher of music ; and by his compositions and his essays on
the esthetics of music. Among his pupils as vocalists may be chiefly mentioned
Mr. Sims Reeves, and among those as composers Signor Boito. He was professor
at the Milan Conservatory of music forty years and finally become director of that
famous institution, a position he held at the time ot his death.
Mme. Young began the study of music under her father when she was eight
years old ; but her father being constantly engaged with his appointment at the
conservatoire and at the theatre of La Scala (where he was musical director for
about eighteen years), and with his writings, he was not able to give her regular
lessons. He would, however, provide her with heaps of music to read, encour-
aging her constantly and giving her invaluable advice every day.
At the age of fourteen she began to play operatic accompaniments for her
father's pupils. At about that time her mother died and her father began to take
lierto almost all the rehearsals (which he conducted) and to the performances at
the Scala, then the leading opera house of Europe, so that she had opportunities of
hearing repeatedly the best operas as sung by the greatest singers.
She soon began also to attend classical concerts, and these became her chief
pleasure.
She studied singing (always under her father's direction) not for the purpose
of appearing in public, but so as to know the art thoroughly and become an ear-
nest teacher. After her father's death most of his pupils asked her to continue
their lessons, but she soon left Milan with her brother to settle in London, where
before a year was over she was appointed professor of singing at the National
Training School of music, which position she held till he close of the school in
1882. The next year the Royal College of music was inaugurated by the Prince
of Wales, when she was again appointed professor of singmg, with such associates
as Signor Visetti, Mr. Deugon and Madame Jenny Lind. Mme. Young met Mr.
B. B. Young in London in 1880; was married to him three years afterward, and
came to Salt Lake City v/ith her husband in January, 1885.
Evan Stephens, under the patronage of the Church, has wrought a general
movement in class teaching of Sunday schools in several principal counties, as
well as in this City, resulting in repeated concerts at the Tabernacle. In this
movement he found an earnest, influential patron in George Goddard, general
assistant superintendent of Sunday schools. Crowned with success in this juv-
enile mission, Mr. Stephens recently left for training and study in the New Eng-
land Conservatory of Music, in Boston, and it may be reasonably expected that
when he shall return with his diploma of professor, which his talent and perse-
verance will doubtless earn, he will engage in class teaching of a higher grade,
passing the practical work of the Sunday schools over to assistants, should he still
hold their general musical superintendence. Evan Stephens is the only man who
has had the opportunity of taking up the movement laid down by Mr. Calder,
and this he has done so far as Sunday schools are concerned, and that, too, with
the old notation and a system of his own for class teaching. He has been pushed
forward and fairly supported by a similar patronage to that which made David O.
Calder potent, and he has the extra advantage of being a practical musician and
1
784. HISTORY OF SALT LAKE CIIY.
composer, of considerable native genius, and after professional study and training
in the colleges East, he may be expected to return a finished master. And should
Evan Stephens on his return undertake the accomplishment of that which David O.
Calder undertook in 1861, there will be in Utah, in the Mormon Church, before
another decade has passed, a vast improvement in the musical status of the
people.
A. C. Smyth is one of the elder members of the Salt Lake profession ; and,
though unassuming and modest to a fault, he is generally esteemed a sound mu-
sician, both in theory and practice. Mr. Smyth received his early training at
Manchester Cathedral, and it is said that he could read music before his alphabet.
The gentleman has made some very fine singers from the local talent of Salt Lake,
and is highly respected as a leader and choir instructor. Some few years ago he
trained a company of children so well that they played with immense success the
operas of " H. M. S. Pinafore," "Grand Duchess," and the "Pirates of Pen-
zance." He is equally at home in musical composition, both sacred and secular,
and has taken several first class prizes, at home and abroad.
Willard Erastus Weihe, the present leader of the Salt Lake Theatre orchestra,
was born in Christiana, Norway, in the year 1856. He began the study of the
violin at a very early age, receiving instruction from some of the best masters of
that instrument in that country. When only ten years of age he played for the
world-renowned Ole Bull, who was so delighted with his performance that he of-
fered to take him to Paris and have him educated at the Musical Conservatory,
free of expense to his parents, but they rejected the kind offer because of his
youth. In 187 1 he emigrated to Salt Lake City, and being introduced to the
the public by Clawson and Caine as a protege of Ole Bull, though so young he
quickly became locally famous as a solo violinist. In December, 1877, he went to
the Conservatory at Brussels. He at once passed a successful examination, which
admitted him to the very highest class, where he had the celebrated violinist, H.
Vieuxtemps, for a tutor. This master soon became so interested in him that he
gave him private lessons free of charge. He studied one year at the Conservatory
at Brussels, and returned to Salt Lake City in May, 1879. After his return he
appeared at the jubilee concert given in the Tabernacle, and he has appeared in
all the principal concerts up to the present time. In 1885, he took the position
of conductor of the Salt Lake theatre orchestra, which enjoys at present a first-
class reputation.
W. C. Clive is the first violin. He is is the son of Claude Clive, of old-time
theatrical memory. His lamented sister, Little Miss Clive, will be remembered
by the public as their favorite dancer.
Mr. Anton Pederson, the talented conductor of the Walker Opera House
Orchestra, is a native of Norway, and though young, he has won considerable
local fame. He commenced the study of the violin and piano when quite young
and made very rapid progress. Later on he studied the organ under one of Ger-
many's-great masters. Mr. Pederson came to this country about ten years ago,
and established himself at once as a teacher of violin, piano, organ and brass in-
struments. As a composer he ranks high, and possesses much ability and knowl-
HISTORY OF SALT LAKE CITY. 785
edge of the requirements of orchestral and local music. Magnus Olsen is the
first violin of this orchestra, and George Hedger, the flutist, is an instrumentalist
of considerable local fame.
The foregoing embodies a tolerably complete history of the rise and progress
of music in Salt Lake City, with sufficient biographical notes of the professors
whose lives have been compounded in that history and who have given it caste
and the present musical status of the City as illustrated in the profession of both
the vocal and instrumental branches of the art.
CHAPTER LXXXVir.
LITERATURE AND THE FINE ARTS. UTAH AUTHORS AND POETS. SPECIMENS.
SALT LAKE PAINTERS. OUR YOUNG SCULPTORS. ART DESCRIPTION:—
"OUR DESOLATE SHORES."
In treating of literature and the poets of Utah, the reviewer must chiefly pre-
sent the works and authors of Mormon origin ; for though there are classic Gen-
tile pens among us, their scintillations belong to general literature rather than to
local authorship and local art.
The first name which presents itself is that of Parley P. Pratt, the Isaiah of
the Mormon people and one of the founders of Salt Lake City. He was endowed
pre-eminently with that quality of poetic genius typically classified as the Hebraic
genius ; and though its exaltation in his nature and works may be somewhat as-
cribed to his apostolic endowment and ministry, yet was it derived from an or-
ganic quality and instinct. His little book entitled the "Voice of Warning,"
not only dealt with the lofty subjects and themes of the ancient Hebrew prophets,
but the poetic fire and treatment were closely akin to those subjects and themes of
which he wrote. It is a prose Hebrew poem adapted to the " Latter-day Dispen-
sation," rather than a mere theological treatise ; and so great was its charm over
kindred minds that its reading and study brought into the Mormon Church thou-
sands of converts. Perhaps there never was a book published in the English lan-
guage excepting the Hebrew Bible and the New Testament, of which so much
can be said, not even of John Bunyan's Pilgrim's Progress, which has been a sort
of a sacred novel for the reading of pious folks; but Parley P. Pratt's " Voice of
Warning" was as a veritable Testament of a new dispensation, converting thou-
sands of souls, and infusing new thoughts and inspirations into the minds of its
readers.
A book of such a character and with such a history must be pronounced a
wonderful book ; and the less that is ascribed to its subject of these well-known
results of the book, the more must be ascribed to the book itself, and to the au-
thor's rare genius in a certain line of poetic composition.
57
786 HISTORY OF SALT LAKE CIIY.
Another feature of this prose poem of Parley P. Pratt's on the Hebrew proph-
ets is that the book is a specimen of almost pure Saxon, and this merit of his com-
positions was not from poverty of words, or his illiteracy, but from choice and
real art appreciation, for Parley P. Pratt was profuse in language and a natural
orator, as well as poet, from whose tongue inspired thoughts and rich fancies took
a world of forms.
An elaborate review of Parley P. Pratt's works — "Voice of Warning" and
"Key to Theology" is not necessary in a general chapter on Utah literature. To
those works themselves the reader is referred ; but to his Autobiography must be
given enough pages for its examples, introduced with a brief exposition of the
species of authorship to which Parley P, Pratt's Autobiography belongs.
Biographies and autobiographies, when they are worthy in subject and excel-
lent in authorship, are ranked among the first class works of a nation's literature.
They are, however, of a class v^^hich, unless the personal subject be one of great
dignity and reputation, and the work wrought by a master hand, produces more
disgust in the public mind than any other species of writings. The most famous
example of the biographical species, ready to the memory of the English or Amer-
ican reader, is "Boswell's Life of Johnson." Dr. Samuel Johnson was as the
thundering Jove of his club, and in his presence seated a galaxy — such personages
as Edmund Burke, statesman and Parliamentary orator; Gibbon the historian ;
Goldsmith the matchless poet of his day; Sir Joshua Reynolds, the great English
painter; Garrick, the actor ; Sheridan, the statesman and "wit," and Boswell
the note-taker of the club, endowed by Nature with a sort of classical sycophancy
which produced a graphic book of the personages who created the English litera-
ture of his times. Bourrienne's Memoirs of Napoleon Bonaparte is a similar book.
It is rarely that such books can be written, worthy of rank as standard works.
The autobiography is still a more difficult composition and even more liable
to provoke public contempt rather than public admiration ; for this species of au-
thorship requires not only a worthy subject, but the author himself must be nearly
equal to it in his own personal character and life, — that is to say, his book must
have a principal subject superior to himself, notwithstanding it is an autobiog-
raphy, )et himself scarcely inferior to it, while the execution of his work must
show the noble simplicity of a great mind. The autobiography of Parley P.
Pratt is of such a character. In this sense of authorship it is the best and highest
class work produced by any of the authors of the Mormon people.
In the opening of his manhood, reverses befall him, but they are as the ways
of Providence, leading on to the mission of his apostolic career. In his narra-
tive he says:
" Time passed ; harvest came; a fine crop, but no market ; and consequently
the payment came due on our land and there was no means of payment.
" The winter rolled round ; spring came again ; and with it a prosecution on
the part of Mr. Morgan for money due on land.
"The consequence was that all our hard earnings, and all our improvements
in the wilderness, w^ere wrested from us in a moment. Mr. Morgan retained the
land, the improvements and the money paid.
HISTORY OF SALT LAKE CLTY. ySy
" Weary and disconsolate, I left the country and my father, who took charge
of our crops and all unsettled business.
" I spent a few months with my uncles, Ira and Allen Pratt, in Wayne
county, N. Y., and in the autumn of 1826 1 resolved to bid farewell to the civil-
ized world — where I had met with little else but disappointment, sorrow and un-
rewarded toil ; and where sectarian divisions disgusted and ignorance perplexed
me — and to spend the remainder of my days in the solitudes of the great West,
among the natives of the forest.
" There, at least, thought I, there will be no buying and selling of lands, — no
law to sweep all the hard earnings of years to pay a small debt, — no wranglings
about sects, and creeds, and doctrines. I will win the confidence of the red man;
I will learn his language ; I will tell him of Jesus ; I will read to him the Scrip-
tures ; I will teach him the arts of peace ; to hate war, to love his neighbor, to fear
and love God, and to cultivate the earth. Such were my resolutions.
'•' In October, 1826, I took leave of my friends and started westward. I paid
most of my money in Rochester for a small pocket Bible, and continued my jour-
ney as far as Buffalo. At this place I engaged a passage for Detroit, on board a
steamer ; as I had no money, I agreed to work for the same.
" After a rough passage and many delays, I was at length driven by stress
of weather to land at Erie, in Pennsylvania; from whence I traveled by land till
I came to a small settlement about thirty miles west of Cleveland, in the State of
Ohio. The rainy season of November had now set in ; the country was covered
with a dense forest, with here and there a small opening made by the settlers, and
the surface of the earth one vast scene of mud and mire; so that traveling was
now very difficult, if not impracticable.
Alone in a land of strangers, without home or money, and not yet twenty
years of age, I became discouraged, and concluded to stop for the winter ; I pro-
cured a gun from one of the neighbors ; worked and earned an axe, some bread-
stuff and other little extras and retired two miles into a dense forest and prepared
a small hut, or cabin, for the winter. Some leaves and straw in my cabin served
for my lodging, and a good fire kept nie warm. A stream near my door quenched
my thirst; and fat venison, with a little bread from the settlements, sustained me
for food. The storms of winter raged around me ; the wind shook the forest, the
wolf howled in the distance, and the owl chimed in harshly to complete the dole-
ful music which seemed to soothe me, or bid me welcome to this holy retreat.
But in my little cabin the fire blazed pleasantly, and the Holy Scriptures and a
few other books occupied my hours of solitude. Among the few books in my
cabin were McKenzie's Travels in the Northwest, and Lewis and Clark's Tour up
the Missouri and down the Columbia Rivers.
Spring came on again ; the woods were pleasant, the flowers bloomed in their
richest variety, the birds sang pleasantly in the groves ; and, strange to say, my
mind had become attached to my new abode. I again bargained for a piece of
forest land ; again promised to pay in a few years, and again commenced to clear
a farm and build a hou^e.
" I was now twenty years of age. I resolved to make some improvements
and preparations, and then return to my native country, from which I had been
788 HISTORY OF SALT LAKE CITY.
absent several years. There was one there whom my heart had long loved, and
from whom I would not have been so long separated, except by misfortune.
" It was the Fourth of July, 1827. The morning was beautiful and gay, the
sun rose without a cloud over the pine-clad hills of my native land, where in boy-
hood I had often toiled and sported, just as I came within a mile of the farm of my
good old aunt Van Cott, of Canaan, Columbia County, after an absence of three
years. I had, during this time, exchanged the features of the bashful boy for
those of the man ; and, instead of a laughing careless countenance, a forehead
of marble and a cheek of rose, stern care had marked me as her child, and the
sun had given a shade of brown to my features ; these added to a heavy growth of
beard and whiskers, disguised me so far that I could pass through the neighbor-
hood of people, known and familiar to me, unnoticed and unknown.
" With a quick step, a beating heart, and an intense, indescribable feeling of
joy, sorrow, hope, despondency and happiness, I approached the door of Mrs
Halsey, and knocked ; it was opened by an aged female, a stranger to me ; I en-
tered, and inquired for Miss Thankful Halsey — in a moment more she had me by
the hand, with a look of welcome which shewed she had not forgotten me.
" I spent the day and evening with her; explained to her all my losses, my
poverty and prospects, and the lone retreat where I had spent the previous win-
ter ; and the preparations I had made for a future home. I also opened my relig-
ious views to her, and my desire, which I sometimes had, to try and teach the red
man.
" ' In view of these things,' said I to her, ' If you still love me and desire to
share my fortune you are worthy to be my wife. If not, we will agree to be friends
forever; but part to meet no more in time.' 'I have loved you during three
years' absence,' said she, ' and I never can be happy without you.'
'' Eighteen months," he wrote, " had passed since our settlement in the wil-
derness. The forest had been displaced by the labors of the first settlers for some
distance around our cot'age. A small frame house was now our dwelling, a gar-
den and a beautiful meadow were seen in front, flowers in rich profusion were
clustering about our door and windows; while in the background were seen a
thriving young orchard of apple and peach trees, and fields of grain extending in
the distance, beyond which the forest still stood up in its own primeval grandeur,
as a wall to bound the vision and guard the lovely scene. Other houses and farms
were also in view, and some twenty children were returning from the school actu-
ally kept by my wife, upon the very spot where two years before I had lived for 1
months without seeing a human being. About this time one Mr. Sidney Rigdon }
came into the neighborhood as a preacher, and it was rumored that he was a kind
of Reformed Baptist, who, with Mr. Alexander Campbell, of Virginia, a Mr.
Scott, and some other gifted men, bad dissented from the regular Baptists, from
whom they differed much in doctrine. At length I went to hear him, and what
was my astonishment when I found he preached faith in Jesus Christ, repentance
towards God, and baptism for remission of sins, with the promise of the gift of the
Holy Ghost to all who would come forward, with all their hearts, and obey this
doctrine !
*' Here was the ancient gospel in due form. Here were the very principles
41
i
HISTORY OF SALT LAKE CITY, 78^
which I had discovered years before ; but could find no one to minister in. But
still one great link was wanting to complete the chain of the ancient order of
things; and that was, the authority to minister in holy things — the apostleship, the
power which should accompany the form. This thought occurred to me as soon
as I heard Mr. Rigdon make proclamation of the gospel.
" Peter proclaimed this gospel and baptised for remission of sins, and prom-
ised the gift of the Holy Ghost, because he was commissioned so to do by a cru-
cified and risen Savior.. But who is Mr. Rigdon? Who is Mr. Campbell? Who
commissioned them ? Who baptised them for remission of sins ? Who ordained
them to stand up as Peter ? Of course they were baptized by the Baptists, and
ordained by them, and yet they had now left them because they did not administer
the true gospel. And it was plain that the Baptists could not claim the apostolic
office by succession, in a regular, unbroken chain from the Apostles of old, pre-
serving the gospel in its purity, and the ordinances unchanged, from the very fact
that they were now living in the perversion of some, and the entire neglect of
others of these ordinances; this being the very ground of difference between the
old Baptists and these reformers.
" Again, these reformers claimed no new commission by revelation, or vision
from the Lord, while they had not the least shadow of claim by succession,
" It might be said, then, with propriety : ' Peter I know, and Paul I know,
but who are ye ? ' However, we were thankful for even the forms of truth, as
none could claim the power, and authority, and gifts of the Holy Ghost — at least
so far as we knew.
" After hearing Mr. Rigdon several times, I came out, with a number of others,
and embraced the truths which he taught. We were organized into a society, and
frequently met for public worship.
" About this time I took it upon me to impart to my neighbors, from time to
time, both in public and in private, the light I had received from the Scriptures
concerning the gospel, and also concerning the fulfillment of the things spoken by
the holy prophets. I did not claim any authority as a minister ; I felt the lack
in this respect ; but I felt in duty bound to enlighten mankind, so far as God had
enlightened me.
" At the commencement of 1830, I felt drawn out in an extraordinary man-
ner to search the prophets, and to pray for an understanding of the same. My
prayers were soon answered, even beyond my expectations; the prophecies of the
holy prophets were opened to my view; I began to understand the things which
were corning on the earth — the restoration of Israel, the coming of the Messiah,
and the glory that should follow. I was so astonished at the darkness of myself
and mankind on these subjects that I could exclaim with the prophet : surely,
'■'darkness covers ihe earth and gross darkness the poopie^
" I was all swallowed up in these things. I felt constrained to devote my
time in enlightening my fellow men on these important truths, and in warning
them to prepare for fhe coming of the Lord. * * *
" In August, 1830, I had closed my business, completed my arrangements, and
we bid adieu to our wilderness home and never saw it afterwards. On settling up,
at a great sacrifice of property, we had about ten dollars left in cash. With this
790
HISTORY OF SALT LAKE CITY.
small sum we launched forth into the wide world, determining first to visit our
native place on our mission, and then such other places as I might be led to by
the Holy Spirit.
" We made our way to Cleveland, thirty miles. We then took passage on a
schooner for Buffalo, a distance of two hundred miles. We had a fair wind, and
the captain, being short of hafids, gave me the helm, the sails being all set, and
turned in. I steered the vessel most of the day, with no other person on deck.
Of course, our passage cost us little besides my labor. Landing in Buffalo, we
engaged our passage for Albany on a canal boat, distance, three hundred and
sixty miles. This, including board, cost all our money and some articles of
clothing.
"Arriving at Rochester T informed my wife that, notwithstanding our passage
being paid through the whole distance, yet I must leave the boat and her to
pursue her passage to our friends, while I would stop awhile in this region. Why,
I did not know; but so it was plainly manifest by the Spirit to me. I said to her,
' we part for a season ; go and visit our friends in our native place ; 1 will come
soon, but how soon I know not ; for I have a work to do in this region of country,
and what it is, or how long it will take to perform it, I know not ; but I will
come when it is performed.'
"My wife would have objected to this, but she had seen the hand of God so
plainly manifest in His dealings with me many times, that she dare not oppose the
things manifest to me by His spirit.
She, therefore, consented ; and I accompanied her as far as Newark_, a small
town upwards of one hundred miles from Buffalo, and then took leave of her and
of the boat.
"It was early in the morning, just at the dawn of day, I walked ten miles into
the country, and stopped to breakfast with a Mr. Wells. I proposed to preach
in the evening. Mr. Wells readily accompanied me through the neighborhood to
visit the people, and circulate the appointment.
" We visited an old Baptist deacon by the name of Hamlin. After hearing
of our appointment for evening, he began to tell of a book, a strange book, a
VERY STRANGE BOOK! in his possession, which had been just published.
This book, he said, purported to have been originally written on plates either of
gold or brass, by a branch of the tribes of Israel ; and to have been discovered
and translated by a young man near Palmyra, in the State of New York, by the
aid of visions, or the ministry of angels. I inquired of him how or where the
book was to be obtained. He promised me the perusal of it, at his house the next
day, if I would call. I felt a strange interest in the book. I preached that even-
ing to a small audience, who appeared to be interested in the truths which I en-
deavored to unfold to them in a clear and lucid manner from the Scriptures.
Next morning I called at his house, where for the first time, my eyes beheld the
' BOOK OF MORMON,' — that book of books— that record which reveals the
antiquities of the ^ New World' back to the remotest ages, and which unfolds
the destiny of its people and the world for all time to come ; — that Book which
contains the fulness of the gospel of a crucified and risen Redeemer; that Book
which reveals a Ic^st remnant of Joseph, and v/hich was the principal means, in
the hands of God, of directing the entire course of my future life.
HISTORY OF SALT LAKE CITY. 7p/
"■ I opened it with eagerness, and read its title page. I then read the testi-
mony of several witnesses in relation to the manner of its being found and trans-
lated. After this I commenced its contents by course. I read all day; eating was
a burden, I had no desire for food ; sleep was a burden when the night came, for
I preferred reading to sleep.
''As I read, the spirit of the Lord was upon m^, and I knew and compre-
hended that the book was true, as plainly and manifestly as a man comprehends
and knows that he exists. My joy was now full, as it were, and I rejoiced suffi-
ciently to more than pay me for all the sorrows, sacrifices and toils of my life.
I soon determined to see the young man who had been the instrument of its dis-
covery and translation.
" I accordingly visited the village of Palmyra, and inquired for the residence
of Mr. Joseph Smith. I found it some two or three miles from the village. As I
approached the house at the close of the day I overtook a man who was driving
some cows, and inquired of him for Mr. Joseph Smith, the translator of the
' Book of Mormon.'' He informed me that he now resided in Peimsylvania ;
some one hundred miles distant. I inquired for his father, or for any of the family-
He told me that his father had gone a journey ; but that his residence was a small
house just before me; and, said he, I am his brother. It was Mr. Hyrum Smith.
I informed him of the mterest I felt in the book, and of my desire to learn more
about it. He welcomed me to his house, and we spent the night together; for
neither of us felt disposed to sleep. We conversed most of the night, during
which I unfolded to him much of my experience in my search after truth, and my
success so far ; together with that which I felt was lacking, viz : a commissioned
priesthood, or apostleship to minister in the ordinances of God."
Parley P. Pratt meets the Prophet Joseph Smith, believes in the " Marvelous
work and a wonder," to be accomplished in the "last days," and is ordained to
the ministry. It is then he swells his exultant theme in song, afierwards con -
piled as the first hymn of the Church :
The morning breaks, the shadows flee;
Lo ! Zion's standard is unfurled !
The dawning of a brighter day
Majestic rises on the world.
The clouds of error disappear
Before the rays of truth divine ;
The glory, bursting from afar,
Wide o'er the nations soon will shine.
The Gentile fulness now comes in,.
.' nd Israel's blessings are at hand ;
Lo! Tudah's remnant, cleansed from sin.
Shall in their promised Canaan stand.
Jeliovah speaks ! let earth give ear, *
And Gentile nations turn and live ;
His mighty arm is making bare,
His cov'nant people to receive.
Angels from heaven and truth from earth
Have met, and both have record borne ;
Thus Zion's light is bursting forth.
To bring her ransomed children home.
In these first raptures of his opening views of Israel ransomed and the Jews
yg2 HISTORY OF SALT LAKE CITY.
again under Jehovah's favor, Mr. Pratt repeats the subject in a yet more trium-
phant strain :
Come, O Thou King of Kings!
We've waited long for Thee,
With heahng in Thy wings,
To set thy people free ;
Corr\^, thou desire of nations, come.
Let Israel now be gathered home.
Another hymn is of a similar strain :
Let Judah rejoice in this glorious newj,
For the sound of glad tidings will soon reach the Jews,
And save them far, far from oppression and fear.
And de'iv'rance proclaim to their sons far and near.
Long, long thou hast wandered an exile forlorn,
And all that have seen thee have laughed thee to scorn,
Thou naught but affliction and sorrow hast seen.
Heartrending and cheerless thy pathway has been.
«• * » iS «- ■»
But the days of thy mourning are near at an end,
WHien Messiah will come, thy Redeemer and friend.
To cheer thee, and bless thee, and dry up thy tears,
And calm thy sad bosom, and chase all thy fears.
Thy olive shall flourish, thy fig tree shall grow,
And with wne, milk and honey thy mountains shall flow,
"Neath tlje fig tree and vine, in their cool spreading shade.
Thou shalt worship thy God, and none make thee afraid.
Thy Messiah will come, and His right will maintiiin,
Over thee and all nations in majesty reign.
Thou shalt with his presence forever be blest,
And from pain, grief and sorrow eternally rest.
Orson Spencer, the first chancellor of the Deseret University, was one of the
greatest theological writers of the Mormon Church. " Spencer's Letters " are fa-
mous. They were written in answer to a " letter from the Rev. William Crowel,
A. M., to Orson Spencer, A. B," The first of these letters bear date as early as
October, 1842, but they extend over a period of correspondence to December,
1847. The author afterwards compiled them in a book, in the preflice of which
it is said :
" The author was extensively known in the New England Middle States, as a
preacher of the Baptist denomination. Reference for his character is given to
his Excellency George N. Briggs, Governor of the State of Massachusetts, by
whom he was once invited to take the pastoral charge of the church where His Ex-
cellency resided, and of which he was a member; also to G. Reade, Esq., Con- ii
necticut ; and Eliphalet Nott, D. D., L. L. D., president of Union College, New 1 1
York, under whose presidency he graduated in 1824 ; and also to N. Kendrick,
D. D., president of Hamilton Literary and Theological College, from whence
the author graduated in 1829. The records of both these institutions will show
that the author held the first grade of honorable distinction at the time he left
them."
" Spencer's Letters " rank as the first standard theological work of the Church,
but is not of that class of literature from which a page can be culled to the advan-
tage of the author and his argument.
Orson Pratt was the chief theological writer of the Church. Hundreds of
H
HISTORY OF SAL T LAKE CITY. /p
'J
thousands of his series of tracts have bee.j in circulation in Great Britain at a
time ; and in those series he has discussed theology and philosophy with the
learned, as well as expounded all the branches of the doctrines of his church.
In point of learning, however, his works on mathematics and astronomy rank him
the highest. He is, in this scientific department, recognized by the professors both
of Great Britain and America, who have read his works ; and not unlikely Orson
Pratt will yet be claimed by the scientific world as one of its lights. His " Key
to the Universe" Professor Pratt considered his masterpiece.
Passing from Utah's learned authors to general literature and poetry, Eliza
R. Snow looms up as the long-admired star of her people. She has been their
poetess and high priestess a full generation.
When quite young she commenced writing for publication in various jour-
nals, which she continued to do for several years, over assumed signatures — wish-
ing to bs useful as a writer, and yet unknown except by intimate friends.
" During the contest between Greece and Turkey," she says, "■ I watched
with deep interest the events of the war, and after the terrible destruction of
Missolonghi, by the Turks, I wrote an article entitled 'The Fall of Missolonghi.'
Soon after its publication, the deaths of Adams and Jefferson occurred on the same
memorable Fourth of July, and I was requested, through the press, to write their
requiem, to which I responded, and found myself ushered into conspicuity. Sub-
sequently I was awarded eight volumes of Godey's Lady' s Book for a first prize
poem published in one of the journals."
But she is even more sensitive to the heroic and patriotic than to the poetic
— at least she has most self-gratification in lofty and patriotic themes.
" That men are born poets," she continues, " is a common adage. I ivas
born a patriot, — at least a warm feeling of patriotism inspired my childish heart,
and mingled in my earliest thoughts, as evinced in many of the earliest produc-
tions of my pen. I can even now recollect how, with beating pulse and strong
emotion I listened when but a small child, to the, tales of the Revolution.
" My grandfather, on my mother's side, when fighting for the freedom of our
country, was taken prisoner by British troops and confined in a dreary cell and so
scantily fed that when his fellow-prisoner by his side died from exhaustion, he re-
ported him to the jailor as sick in bed, in order to obtain the amount of food for
both — keeping him covered in their blankets as long as he dared to remain with a
decaying body.
" This, with many similar narratives of Revolutionary sufferings recounted
by my grand-parents, so deeply impressed my mind, that as I grew up to woman-
hood I fondly cherished a pride for the flag which so proudly waved over the
graves of my brave ancestors."
It was the poet's soul of this illustrious Mormon woman that first enchanted
the Church with inspired song, and her Hebraic faith and life have given some-
thing of their peculiar tone to the entire Mormon people and especially the sister-
hood just as Joseph Smith and Brigham Young gave the types and institutions to
our modern Israel.
She has written several volumes of poems, and has edited the autobiography
58
7p^ HISTORY OF SALT LAKE CITY.
of her brother Lorenzo Snow. Of all her poems and hymns the following, entitled
"Invocation, or the Eternal Father and Mother," is pronounced the gem :
Oh ! my Father, thou that dwellest
In the high and holy place ;
When shall I regain thy presence,
And again behold thy face?
In thy glorious habitation.
Did my spirit once reside ?
In my first primeval childhood,
Was I nurtured by thy side ?
For a wise and glorious purpose.
Thou hast placed nie here on earth ;
And withheld the recollection
Of my former friends and birth.
Yet oft-times a secret something,
Whisper'd, " You're a stranger here;"
And I felt that I had wandered
From a more exalted sphere.
Phid learned to call thee Father,
Through thy spirit from on high ;
But until the key of knowledge
Was restored, I knew not why.
In the heavens are parents single ?
Mo ; the thought makes reason stare ;
Truth is reason ; truth eternal
Tells me I've a Mother there.
* When I leave this frail existence —
When I lay this mortal by,
Father, Mother, may I meet you
In your royal court on high.
Then at length, when I've completed
All you sent me forth to do,
With your mutual approbation.
Let me come and dwell with you.
Her tender funeral hymns have solaced the hearts of thousands of the be-
reaved of her people., "At the Sea of Galilee," is one of her poems written in
the Holy Land :
I have stood on the shore of the beautiful sea,
The renowned and immortalized Galilee,
When t'was wrapp'd in repose, at eventide.
Like a royal cjueen in her conscious pride.
No sound was astir — not a murmuring wave —
Not a motion was seen, but the tremulous lave,
A gentle heave of the water's crest —
As the infant breathes on a mother's breast.
I thought of the present — the past : it seemed
That the silent Sea, with instruction teem'd;
For olten, indeed, the heart can hear
What never, in sound has approached the ear.
Full oft has silence been richly fraught
With treasures of wisdom, and stores of thought.
With sacred, heavenly whisperings, too.
That are sweeter than roses, and honey dew.
■» * *- -;s- «■ »
Again, when the shades of night, were gone.
In the clear, bright rays of the morning dawn,
I walked on the bank of this selfsame Sea,
Where once, our Redeemer was wont to be,
1\
HISTORY OF SALT LAKE CIT\. 7P5
Where, '' Lord sive, or I perish," was Peter's prayer,
Befitting the weak and the faithless elsewhere.
And here while admiring this Scriptural Sea,
Ih' bold vista of Time, brought th' past up to me ; .^
Emboss'd with events when the Prince of Life,
Endured this world's hatred — its envy and strife ;
When, in Him, the Omnipotent was revealed,
And, by Him, the wide breach of the law, was healed.
The gates. He unbarred, and led the way.
Through the shadow of death, to the courts of day;
And " led captivity captive," when
" He ascended on high, and gave gifts unto men."
Sarah E. Carmichael, a gifted daughter of Mormon parents, introduced an-
other class of poetry. Here is a gem of the first water, entitled,
THE STOLEN SUNBEAM.
There's a light that burns with a quenchless glow.
In the wide, deep caverns of earth below;
Like the fire that lives on the Parsee's shrine
Is the amber torch of the lighted mine.
Burning forever, steadily bright ;
Flickering never, a changeless light ;
Proud and passionless, still and fair;
Burning forever without a glare ;
Burning forever, so still and deep,
A quenchless flame in a dreamless sleep ;
And Time's broad ocean may roll its waves
While space hath room for the centuries' graves,
It hath not billows to dim the shine
Of the wizard fagot that lights the mine.
Beware ! beware ! of a starless beam !
The nightmare spell of a miser's dream.
Emotionless ever, its subtle art
Tugs at the strings of the world's strong heart.
The stars of the earth at its bidding stoop;
Awed by its menace, life-roses droop ;
And the fairest blossoms that earth can twine
Fade near the taper that lights the mine. ^
The Fallen looked on the world and sneered :
" I guess, he muttered, "why God is feared;
For eyes of mortals are fain to shun
The midnight heaven that hath no sun.
I will stand on the height of the hills and wait
Where the day goes out at the western gate,
And reaching up to its crown will tear
From its plumes of glory the brightest there ;
With the stolen ray I will light the sod,
And turn the eyes of the world from God."
He stood on the height when the sun went down —
He tore one plume from the day's bright crown ;
The proud orb stooped till he touched its brow,
And the marks of that touch are on it now,
And the flush of its anger forever more
Burns red when it passes the western door!
The broken feather above him whirled.
In flames of torture around him curled,
And he dashed it down from the snowy height
In broken masses of quivering light.
Ah ! more than terrible was the shock
Where the burning splinters struck wave and rock;
The green earth shuddered, and shrank, and paled,
The wave sprang vip and the mountain quailed.
Look on the hills — let the scars they bear
Measure the pain of that hour's despair.
yg6 HISTORY OF SALT LAKE CITY.
The Fallen watched while the wliirlwind lanned
The pulsing splinters that plowed the sand ;
Sullen he watched, while the hissing waves
Bore them away to the ocean caves;
Sullen he watched, while the shining ill's |
Throbbed through the hearts of the rocky hills;
Loudly he laughed: " Is the world not mine?
Proudly the links of its chain shall shine; i
Lighted with gems shall its dungeons be; I
But the pride of its beauty shall kneel to me ! "
That splintered light in the earth grew cold, i
And the diction of Mortals hath called it " gold! "
\
There is little among the breathings of the nation's poets, more rare than the
" Stolen Sunbeam " of our own "Lizzie " Carmichael, as we were wont to call
her in her bright maiden days, when this was written. Her " Moonrise on the
Wasatch," is not less beautiful as a poem, yet not so dazzling in splendor. An- '
other, entitled " Stanzas," is toned with the same rich fancy and a touch of exquis-
ite tenderness. The opening poem of her book — '' April Flower?," is painfully
suggestive of our gifted sister's life : i
Pa'e flowers, pile fl nvers, ye came too soon ; •
The North, with icy breath, I
Hath whispered hoarsely through the skies
A word that spoke of death.
Ye came too soon— the Spring's first glance,
In this cold clime of ours,
Is but the sheen of Winter's lance —
Ye came too soon pale flowers 1
Pale, rain-drenched flowers, ye came to greet
The young Spring's earliest call,
As untaught hearts leap forth to meet
Loved footsteps in the hall :
Ye came — beneath, the snow-wreath lies;
Above, the storm-cloud lowers ;
Around, the breath of winter sighs —
Ye came too soon, pale flowers.
Pale, blighted flowers, the summertime
Will smile on brigliter leaves ;
They will not widier in their prime.
Like a young heart that grieves ;
But the impulsive buds that dare
The chill of April showers
Breathe womnn-love's low martyr prayer —
I kiss your leaves, pale flowers.
Mrs. Emily Woodraansee, a companion poetess of Sarah E. Carmichael, was
endowed with a different tone of mind to that of her friend, yet gifted in her
line of devotional poetry. The following verses from her pen are in another vein :
WHAT DOES IT MATTER TO ME?
If a storm cloud be over us riven,
The very ne.\t thing that we know —
Right over us bending —
A glory transcending,
Is the [jromised, the beautiful Bow.
So if justice be from us withheld ;
Or there's something we'd like that we see ;
If we can't now obtain it.
In time we may gain it,
I won't let it matter to me.
HISTORY OF SALT LAKE CITY. 7P7
Dame Fortune herself, like a see-saw,
Pulls even her pets up, and down;
While some are lamenting,
She's something inventing —
To lift them to wealth or renown.
But 'tis best not to trust to her always,
" Work and wait," to success, 'tis the key,
What if fortune be blind?
Or to others more kind.
Need it matter to you or to me?
If you needs must appear out of dale —
To hold up your head have a care ;
If somebody dashing —
Should snub you in passing.
Don't wilt 'neath their insolent stare.
Some, lacking more wisdom than style.
By dress, count your class and degree ;
Shall we ape their condition.
To win recognition ?
What matters their notice to me?
For thanks be to Providence ! surelv
We've friends, who are sterling as steel.
Who ask not our station.
Our income, or nation —
Caring less for our looks than our weal ;
While such are vouchsafed us we will not —
We cannot disconsolate be ;
Whilst for friends we are gt-ateful.
Folks haughty and hateful —
Matter little or nothing to me.
Oh ! what should they matter indeed ;
If our hands and our hearts are but clean,
'I here's One high above us.
Will own us, and love us —
Though lowly our pathway has been.
,'\nd so, when my body shall rest.
In peace with the quiet and free,
If I slumber protected.
By marble erected
Or no, will it matter to me?
And yet, I would like that a few
Should tenderly think o'er my dust,
Here lies a frail woman.
Like all the world human,
Who was honest and true to her trust.
In place of a monument grand —
Pbint near me a flower or tree;
So friendship undying.
May mark where I'm lying.
But I doubt if 'twill matter to me.
Mrs. Hannah Tapfield King has long worthily sustained her reputation as a
Salt Lake authoress. She was known in literary circles in England, and was on
corresponding terms with the celebrated English poetess, Eliza Cook. Her best lit-
erature is in the line of biographical romances, literal in their subject and narra-
tive, but dressed with the author's admiring fancy. Such are her interesting
stories — '•' The Diamond Necklace," " The Victorian Era," '' Josephine, Wife of
Napoleon," and "Mary, the Bride of Suffolk" — sister of Henry VIH. of Eng-
land. The latter is a rare specimen of old English romance and composition.
Mrs. Emeline B. Wells is not only one of our Salt Lake authors, but is also
the editor and manager of the Woman's Exponent, which has for many years been
sustained by her literary enthusiasm and business perseverance. The following
poem, entitled, " The Wife to her Husband," is a tender fragment from her pen :
79^ HISTORY OF SALT LAKE CrjY.
THE WIFE TO HER HUSBAND.
It seems to me that should I die,
And this poor body cold and lifeless lie,
And thou should'st touch my lips with thy warm
breath ,
The life-blood quicken'd in each sep'rate vein.
Would wildly, madly rushing back again,
Bring the glad spirit from the isle of death.
It seems to me that were I dead.
And thou in sympathy should'st o'er me shed
Some tears of sorrow, or of sad regret,
That every pearly drop that fell in grief,
Would bud, or blossom, bursting into leaf,
To prove immortal love could not forget.
I do believe that round my grave.
When the cool, fragrant, evening zephyrs wave,
Should'st thou in friendship linger near the spot.
And breathe some tender words in memorv.
That this poor heart in grateful constancy,
Would softly whisper back some loving thought.
I do believe that should I pass.
Into the unknown land of happiness,
And thou should'st wish to see my face once more.
That in my earnest longing after thee,
I would come forth in joyful ecstacv.
And once again gaze on thee as before,
I do believe my faith in thee.
Stronger than life, an anchor firm to be.
Planted in thy integrity and worth,
A perfect trust, implicit and secure;
That will all trials and all griefs endure.
And bless and comfort me while here on earth.
I do believe who love hath known.
Or sublime friendship's purest, highest tone.
Hath tasted of the cup of ripest bliss.
And drank the choicest wine life hath to give.
Hath known the truest joy it is to live;
What blessings rich or great compared to this ?
I do believe true love to be
An element that in its tendency.
Is elevating to the human mind ;
An intuition which we recognize
As foretaste of immortal Paradise,
Through which the soul will be refined.
To Mrs. Crocheron was awarded the prize for a Christmas story published in
the Contributor of January, 1883. She has also published a little volume of
poems.
William Gill Mills, an author of more than local fame, is a native of the Isle
of Man, and received a classical education in his native island. Previous to his
emigration to Utah, he obtained considerable repudiation as an author.
A number of Mr. Mills' early poems were published in the Millennial Star
and also in the Deseret News ; and several very fine hymns from his pen were
compiled in the various editions of the " Latter-day Saints' Hymn Book."
During the early residence of Mr. Mills in Salt Lake City, he sent several
poems to Godey's Lady's Book, for which the editress, Mrs. Sarah Jane Hale,
herself one of America's sweetest poets, sent complimentary letters requesting
further effusions. One of these poems furnished a leader for the Monthly Liter
ary Gazette of Boston. It was entitled " Our Good Time is in the Present."
I
HISTORY OF SALT LAKE CITY.
799
The following sweet morceaux, of conjugal affection, simple as sweet, and
unique, yet enjoyed by millions of young hearts, appeared also in Gode/s Book,
and received compliments from Mrs. Hale :
TO MY WIFE.
{On my first visit to my parents home after marriage.)
I'm seated 'neath my parents' roof,
This old familiar place ;
And, as I cast a glance around,
Can each fond relic trace.
My mother clasps her first-born son.
With all a mother's feeling;
My father's smile and heaving breast
His inmost soul's revealing.
My brothers clasp me by the hand.
Each sister round me clings ;
Here words are true, and hearts sincere —
O, rare and priceless things.
The joyous welcome breathings fall,
Like music on my ears ;
The tales they tell, and questions bring
The life of other years.
Well I can prize this happy scene.
And feel its sweet control ;
And every word and smile can find
A place within my soul.
I love them all, but there is one
Is dearer still to me,
Without whose presence this fair earth
A dreary waste would be.
She spreads a charm through every scene,
That mocks the cares of life ;
She leans her trusting heart on mine —
My own endearing WIFE.
For her I'd leave friends, kin and place —
All I have known before ;
Not that I love them aught the less,
But that I love her more.
Mr. Mills' translations of some of Anacreon's lyrics have been pronounced
by Greek scholars as equal, in purity of translation and versification, to any that
have ever appeared. His great poem of Cleanthes, the Stoic philosopher, entitled
" Hymn to Jove,'' will illustrate Mr. Mills' classics :
HYMN TO JOVE.
Greatest of Gods ! by many names adored,
Ruling all things, and Ever-ruling Lord!
Zeus ! All nature's origin and source,
Governing by Law creation in its course.
We mortals, Thee address in praise and prayer,
As it is due, for we Thy offspring are.
To whom, alone, of all that move or live.
The power of imitative speech dost give ;
Hence will I praise Thee ever, and make known
Thy power and glory through all nature shown.
» The sparkling heavens that round our planet roll
Obey Thy will, submit to Thy control ;
Whither thou leadest following the way.
And freely the eternal Law obey.
. I
800 HISTORY OF SALT LAKE C1T\.
Thou boldest in Thy mighty hand at ease, —
As minister of power to worii I by purposes —
The deathless thunderbolt, two-edged, a flame,
Whose flashing roar appal great nature's frame ;
Thou guid'st the common Reason that does all
Things permeate, passing through great and small.
Filling the radiant orbs that whirl afar.
From sun and moon and every midnight star
To the minutest particle that is,
Making It King of all existencie'^.
Without Thee naught is done, Oh, Deity,
From the ethereal pole to earth's deep sea, —
Save the great evils wrought and seen and heard
By sinful, senseless, wicked men preferred.
But order out of chaos. Thou canst make.
Beauty from grossness, chord from discord wake ;
So from variety bring unity,
That even out of evil good shall be :
Thus, throughout nature, one great Law is known.
Which but the wicked disobey alone.
Deceived are they for happiness who pine
That will nor see nor hear the law divine.
Which, if obeyed, would truly lead to life;
But each his own way joins the hapless strife,
Some strive, in battle, glory to attain ;
Others, inglorious lost, are seeking gain ;
Others to sensual joys and pleasure trend,
While seeking life in hasting ruin end
But Zeus! All-bestower Cause and Force
Of clouds. Ruler of thunder in its course! ,
Do thou guard men from error'.s sad control ;
Dispel the clouds that gather round the sovd,
And let us follow, to eternal gain.
The laws all-governing Thy righteous reign.
That we be honored we will honor Thee,
Hymning Thy love and deeds harmoniously.
As mortals should to make them truly great. —
For, nor for gods nor men in their estate,
Can ought be nobler than, adoring, raise
Their voices in perpetual songs of praise
Of the eternal Law and Reason found.
Common to all, the universe around !
There is a pensive plaint in his last beautiful effusion :
THOUGHTS ON A STARRY NIGHT.
Oh, beautiful and glorious orbs of light
That thus have glistened round the throne of Night,
Unnumbered cycles in your ether wave
And radiant still, but .silent as the grave!
How many yearning hearts like mine, on earth.
Have questioned you to know your holy birth?
In vain the thought our deepest feelings stirred.
Ye shine, and shine, but answer not a word.
Why is it thus? Why your vast discs be less
By lifeless, cold, illimitable space?
'I he music, too, is lost of your grand motion
In the wide waves of your ethereal ocean ;
Or if some meditative poet-ear
Catch the sweet cadence, flowing from you here.
It is so soft, so faint, so e.xquisite
It vibrates only through the soul made fit
To listen to the " music of the spheres,"
Rather than vibrates on the outward ears.
But, then, ye are so distant, and with all
Your vast and bright immenseness are so small.
That a bat's wing, nay, ev'n a tiny leaf
Which trembles by a zephyr, soft and brief,
If intervening can your brightness shade —
An eclipse to our raptured vision made :
HISTORY OF SALT LAKE CITY. 801
What! a lone feather on a bird unfurled,
Or tiny fading leaf eclipse a world !
But, ah ! 'tis thus, ev'n on our globe itself
The veriest trash, the lure of filthiest pelf.
The hidden mischief of the secret earth.
The claim of title, blood, descent and birth,
If interposing, 'twixt the priceless gem
Of genius forming in tlie mine, to stem
The current of the warm sun's fostering r.iys.
Will intercept the bright creative blaze.
And let the glorious jewel lie in doom
To waste in grand prolific Nature's womb.
Ay! but there are some souls of holy fire
That will shine out and other hearts inspire,
Whose light will sparkle with increasing rays
Till genial natures kindle in the blaze.
With natures such as those 'tis purest joy
The hours in blest communion to employ.
And we can gaze upon the stellar light
In lustre beaming in the dome of night:
Behold the self-same stars that Byron viewed
When in his Grecian skiff he skimmed the flood ;
Or when the sprightlier Moore oft glanced amon^
Translating them into his glowing song,
And those that sparkled in the skies of Greece
Inspiring Homer into extacies.
Who deemed them exquisitely beautified
That ev'n the gods might dwell in them with pride;
Nay more — perchance the very stars that shone
Which David in Judea gazed upon,
Whose glorious beauty filled the vaulted span,
He wondered God should think of puny man.
Oh, holy Night! seen by thy distant beams !
If thou can'st wake so many luminous dreams
Can'st bring us into one immortal feeling
Past, present, future with their grand revealing.
Oh, let me from thy influence and power
Draw inspiration for this musing hour,
Let me mount up thy mystic atmosphere.
Let shapes of heroes, poets, gods appear
To my impassioned gaze amid the clouds,
And have the greeting of those noble crowds.
My soul is pensive, wayward, lonely new ;
And so the silvery moon, that from her brow
Shoots her mild rays across the misty deep,
Or on the rugged mountain lies asleep,
seems brighter, grander and more glorious than «
The glaring sun that shines upon the haunts of man.
Mr. Mills obtained two prizes for poems in London literary papers, compe-
tition for which was open to all writers in Great Britain. The principal and pro-
fessors of St. Bees College, in England, presented great marks of esteem to Mr.
Mills for his beautiful " Monody on the Death of a Young Lady."
Mr. Henry W. Naisbitt has long held a foremost place among our Salt Lake
poets. His poems are typical of the man. His subjects exhibit the native dig-
nity of his own thoughts. Following are specimens:
TO-DAY.
"As thy day is so shall Ihy strength be." — Bible.
Strength for to-day is all we need,
1 here never will be a to-morrow,
For to-morrow will prove another to-day,
With its measure of joy and sorrow.
59
802
HISTORY OF SALT LAKE CIIY.
Strength for to-day is all we get,
'Tis well to have that when needed;
Full oft when the sun in the west is set,
Our strength has our hope exceeded.
Strength for to-day, is all we ask ;
Why grasp like the miser reaching ?
When many are tired, though small their task,
And they perish while life beseeching.
Strength for to-day ; what more to say, —
What use for a soul to borrow ;
Life's troubles are surely enough to-day,
And we never shall sue a morrow.
Strength for to-day, I bless that \v\)rd ;
Ah, it falls like a sunset's glorv ;
My Father, 'tis not too long deferred,
Each day brings the self-same story.
Strength for to-day ! No trouble now
Seems worthy of thought or sorrow ;
Thy promise spans, like yon arching bow.
The day-life, which knows no morrow.
THY NAME BE PRAISED!
Swells there a grand inspiring thought ;
It comes from God,
And breaks with lofty purpose fraught ;
On earth's green sod !
With tidal force it ebbs, it flows,
As centuries pass ;
Man knows not whence it comes, or goes.
Or why it was !
'Tis meteor like, now here, now there, —
Impulsive seems;
Now in the summer's morning air.
Then, midnight dreams !
In zones apart, in lands afar,
With us,— to-day ; '
Then moveless as von radiant star.
Or Milky-way ! '
Erratic, yet there is design,
And wondrous plan ;
What sage hath lore to help define
For fellow-man ?
This inspiration shall be felt,
And wide extend ;
Till fertile hearts our earth shall belt.
And time shall end !
Hail glorious age, hail latter-day ; —
The days of light!
Hail Priesthoods grasp, hail its full sway,
'I he rule of right !
For purpose is its end and aim,
From sire to son ;
To give to God, earth, back again.
Which will be done !
How proudly beats the true man's heart.
But God's can know;
For they to him that fire impart.
Whose intense glow, —
Shall light the world to higher spheres
That day of earth's, one thousand years!
BESIDE THE GARDEN GATE.
The stars had lit their ruddy fires
O'er all the crowning arch of night;
For day had fled to gild the spires
Of western lands, with living light.
The silent beauty bade me wait,
Beside the swinging garden gate.
'T was Springtime then and perfume filled
The evening air as twain wc stood;
While love-tones through my being thrilled.
As hand pressed hand, to say, I should.
And bright eyes told that lips would wait,
A kiss beside the garden gate.
As gently round my arms I swept,
I clasped her to my bounding heart ;
'Twas then the love which long had slept,
Made two hearts one no time could part.
And now — no need to w-ish or wait.
My kiss beside the garden gate.
HISTORY OF SALT LAKE CITY. 'soj
For weal or woe, Love's impulse swells
And that true heart is mine, my own;
My every pulse and action tells
That happy hours from Love have grown.
But memory knows I once did wait,
My first kiss by the garden gate.
DRIFTLXG!
Drifting apart, two fallen leaves.
On the rippling face of a laughing tide,
Yet each coquetting with jnake-believes.
That still tney are iloating side by side !
Dancing and drifting to music sweet, —
Murmuring music 'neath Autumn's sun ;
They, in the Springtime and Summer's heat,
On the same tree had their life as one !
Drifting apart, obstructions tell, —
Further and further they now divide ;
One goes down where the rapids swell,
The other finds rest on a peaceful tide !
Quiet it floats, and a peaceful nook
Controls its end, where it sinks away ;
The other, — is dashed and wildly shook,
Yet, like its fellow, meets sad decay !
Drifting apart. — two human hearts.
Though life's sun glows in their azure skies.
And ever from each, the one thought starts, —
'■ ' I'is only a moment," — they both despise !
A moment of life, yet fraught with death
From chilling words, from a dark surmise,
"I'is drifting apirt, — yet, neither saith,
" The distance is creeping," ah, sad disguise !
Tlie one by a quiet pathway lies,
Out of the current, in shady nook ;
The other, the whirl of excitement tries.
For pleasure is followed for garish look !
Destiny, — acting on self — is met,
Through self delusion; the end portray ;
Dancing or silent, life's sun cloth set,
In drifting apart. Love meets decay!
Mr. Orson F. Whitney, the youngest of our poets is working on a poem of
the epic order. His jubilee poem, written in 1880 to celebrate the jubilee of his
people, brought him into prominent notice. It is a noble picture of the Mormon
Pioneers, and the subject of their first sight of the Valley of the Great Salt Lake.
At a later period he struck a loftier theme, under the style of "A Christmas
Idyl," published in the Cotitributor. This is also an epic fragment, which he has
re-named " Immanuel." His last effort of a similar class is entitled
THE ANCIENT OF THE MOUNT.
Alone upon the mount ; a mighty hill
Capped with the lingering snows of vanished years,
Where towering forms the etherial azure fill.
Swept by the breath of taintless atmospheres ;
"Where .Mature throned in solitude, reveres
The God whose glory she doth symbolize.
And on the altar watered by her tears
Spreads for around the fragrant sacrifice
"Whose incense wafts her sweet memorial to the skies.
S04. HISTORY OF SALT LAKE CITY.
Here let me linger. O my native hills —
Snow-mantled wonders of the western waste! —
With what a joy the bounding bosom thrills,
V.'hose steps aspiring mar your summits cliaste!
Not Language with her robes of rarest taste,
Could clothe the swift-born thoughts in fitting dress,
Surging upon the mind with torrent haste.
Wrapt in mute wonder's conscious littleness
Where loom the cloud-crowned mouArchs of the wilderness,
Whereo'er 1 roam, and still have loved to roam
From early childhood's scarce-remembered day,
And found my pensive soul's congenial home
Far from the depths where human passions play.
Born at their feet, my own have learned to stray
Familiar o'er these pathless heights and feci,
As now, my mind assume a loftier swav.
Soaring for themes that past its portals steal.
Beyond its power to reach or utterance to reveal.
Oh, that my words were written in the rock,
Graven with iron pen whose letters bold.
Surviving still the crumbling ages shock,
Should stand when seas of change around them rol'ed !
In kindred phrase lamented one of old.
Knew he not well, ye mighty tomes of clay.
How firm the trust your flinty page might hold?
Have ye not spurned the fia's of Decay?
Are ye not standing now where nations passed away?
Ye hoary sentinels, whom heaven willed
Should guard the treasures of a glorious land !
Had primal man the sacred garden tilled,
Ere yet terrestrial scenes your vision scanned ?
Were ye of miracles primeval, planned
Ere rolled the world-creating fiat forth ?
Or came at fell Convulsion's fierce command.
'Mid loud-tongued thunders bursting from the earth —
The martial music that proclaimed your war-like birth?
Ye voiceless oracles, whose intelligence
Sleeps in the caverns of each stony heart,
Yet breathes o'er all a silent eloquence.
What wealth historic might your words impart !
Lone hermit of the hills, that loom'st apart
From where thy banded mates in union dwell ;
A chosen leader seemingly thou art,
The spokesman of the throng that round thee swell !
And oh, were speech thy boon, what vo!umes could'st thou tell !
Thiice wondrous things were thine to wisely scan.
And stranger yet than dreamed of mortal lore —
Had'st thou that gift full oft misused by man,
Though deemed his glory — thou might'st all restore,
Till learning's tide o'erwhelmed its shining shore.
And doubting souls, ill-fated to deny
Bright truths exhumed from wisdom's buried store,
Might in yon stream persuasion's force descry,
And gladly drinking live, who doubting thirst and die.
Vain, vain the unavailable. Firm sealed
Those rigid lips whose accents might disclose
Marvels and mysteries yet unrevealed.
Realms rich with joy, or wastes of human woes ;
Or names of mighty empires that arose
And fell like frost-hewn flowers before thy face ;
Causes which wrought them an untimely close,
Dark crimes for which a once delightsome race
Was doomed to sink in death or live 'ncath foul disgrace.
And like the laboring brain that burns to speak
Unutterable thoughts, deep in its dungeons pent;
Or liker still to inward boiling j)cak
Of fires volcanic, vainly seeking vent
Where rock-ribbed walls an egress e'er prevent,
«
i
11
HISTORY OF SALT LAKE CITY. 805
Thou'rt doomed to utter stillness, and shalt keep
The burden of thy bearing till is rent
Yon heavenly vail, and earth and air and deep
Tell secrets that shall rouse the dead Irom solemn s'eep.
Thus musing, lone upon a beetling brow.
Clothing with utterance the thoughts that sprung
Swift as the sun fused flood's impetuous fl iw,
Methought from out the rocky caves there rung
A voice, whose tones bewrayed no mortal tongue,
But deeply clear though darkly mournful broke,
As notes fror off the weird-toned viol flung.
Or, as the heavens lowly rumbling spoke,
Heralding th^ storm-king with vivid flash and stroke :
" Son of man ! " — the solemn sound rose echoing high —
" Why lingerest here upon the mountain's brow?
Deem'st thou no stranger ear was listening nigh?
No louder tongue than thine, which did but now
Powers of mine own so boldly disallow ?
What would'st thou ? Speak ! And haply thou shalt find
These silent rocks their story may avow.
In words such as the will of human-kind
Hath mide the wings whereon thought flits from mind to mind."
Amazed I listened. Did I more than dream ?
Had random words aroused unhoped reply ?
Or was it sound whose import did but seem ?
Hark! — for again it breaks upon the sky:
'■ Then query hast thou none, or none would'st ply,
S ive to thy soul in meditative strain.
Or heedless winds that wander idly by?
So be it; still to me thy purpose plain,
Thy hidden wish revealed, nor thus revealed in vain."
Whi'e yet upon the circumambient air
Weird echoes trembled of that wilder tone ;
While, as on threshold of a lion's lair.
Speechless I stood, as stricken into stone ;
Methought the sun with lessening splendor shone.
As if some wandering cloud obscured his gazr.
Expectant of such trite phenomenon.
Turning, mine eyes beheld with rapt amaze
What memory ne'er should lose were life of endless dai s,
A stately form of giant stature talL
Of hoary aspect venerable and grave,
Whose curling locks and beard of copious fall
Vied the white foam of ocean's storm-whipt wave.
The deep-set eye flashed lightning from its. cave,
Far-darting penetration's gaze, combined
With wisdom's milder light. Of learning, gave
Deep evidence that brow by labor lined.
Thought's ample throne where might but rule a monarch mind.
The spirit's garb — for spirit so it seemed —
Fell radiant in many a flowing fold.
Of style antique, by modern limners deemed
Befitting monk or eremite of old.
The hoary head was bare, the presence bold
With majesty, e'en as a God might wear
When condescended to a mortal mould.
It spake — the voice no longer thrilled with fear.
Like solemn music's swell it charmed the listening ear.
" Mine is the burden of the mighty past;
Far ages flown find oracle in me;
Reserved of all my race, on earth the last,
Alike thy minstrel and thy muse to be.
For this my doom, fixed by a firm decree —
Wherefore or whence it suits me not to say :
But hence to pass might I no more be free,
Till destiny should guide or hither stray
One who would quest my ta'e and list my solemn lay.
8o6 HISTORY OF SALT LAKE CIT\.
" Long have I watched nnd waited ; but no sound
Broke the deep stiHness of my drear abode —
Save 'twere the thunder smote the trembUng ground.
Or far beneath some torrent's fury flowed ;
Anon the screaming eagle past me rode ;
The seeker after gold, with toilsome stride,
And eager eyes to fix the shining lode,
Hath paused and panted on the steep hill-side; —
But none for greater things till now have hither hied.
" List, son of man, for I am one by whom
ridings of times forgotten thou shalt hear ;
Thy mission to dispel in part the gloom
1 hat wraps the mystic past and chams me here.
Thou, my deliverer from durance drear.
Hearken till I the record have unrolled ;
Then, rest not thou, nor toil nor danger fear,
Till all that I may tell or yet have told
Shall blaze in letters bright on history's page of gold."
The ancient paused, and, unespied till then,
A mammoth harp his bosom swung before ;
Such as, perchance, tuned Israel's psalmist when
An evil sprite his monarch tossed and tore,
And music's magic quelled Satanic power;
Seated, his form against a crag reclined.
He waved me to his feet, and forth did pour
In rolling numbers on the mountain wind,
The song whose surges swept the channels of his mind
'* The soil whereon thou stand'st is Freedom's own,
Redeemed by blood of patriots o'er and o'er ;
When all else was defiled, this land alone
Was sacred kept — a consecrated shore.
The Gods of freedom and of justice swore
No tyrant should this chosen land defile ;
And nations here, that for a season wore
The robe of power, must righteous be the while.
Or Ruin's torch should swiftly light their funeral pile.
" Three races nursed upon this goodly land;
And nations glorious as the stars of heaven
Have fallen by Retributiori's blood-red hand
Before mine eyes, since that dread word w'as given;
Empires and realms, as trees by lightning riven ;
Cities laid waste and^ands left desolate ;
The wretched remnant, blasted, cursed and driven
Forth by the furies of revengeful Fate —
Till Wonder asks in vain, • What of their former state? ' "
Mr. Whitney is still working upon this poem, which gives promise of
great capacity and variety of treatment. It is designed to embody the epic story
of three races of this continent — two of the ancients who have passed away,
whose history in a poem is co be revealed by " The Ancient of the Mount," and
the present race of Americans whose future is to be outlined by this august shadow
of the olden times.
The veteran poet, John Lyon, in his native Scotland, now nearly sixty years
ago, entered the sphere of authorship and earned his daily bread by his pen.
This note of itself is a suggestive reminiscence of his life, for sixty years ago were
days when authors lived and died in garrets, and the " fittest alone survived." As
an author he came into the Mormon Church and has held his place as an author
to the good old age of eighty-three. His best line of authorship was in his char-
acteristic Scottish stories. His description of Scottish scenery not only shows
the professional author's hand, but sometimes they remind the reader of the
touches of Sir Walter Scott. It is not possible in a general chapter to give ade-
HISTORY OF SAL T LAKE CITY. 807
quate examples of his stories ; they are published and will occupy a place in Utah
literature; but the following reflections from his venerable pen may be repeated as
the closing talk to the reader from a dear old friend :
YOUTH AND AGE.
The thoughts of infancy and childhood seem
Like dreams that vanish at our waking hours,
While boyhood's actions is a fresher theme,
Ere age is weak'ning the reflective powers.
Well we remember most we've said or done,
What others said or sung in sport or play.
Of thoughts and feelings long since past and gone,
We see and hear, as if 'twere yesterday.
The smile parental approbation gave,
The pedant's birch that o'er the truant played ;
The shallow brosk, we, wading, stem'd the wave.
Or played at hide-and-see'c in bushy glade.
The tempting treasure of the ripened fruit ;
The yellow cream the cupboard hid from view ;
The stolen sugar and the quick pursuit,
When grandmi with ths broomstick di 1 pursu-^.
The old graveyard, so lonely on the hill.
We've thoughtless roamed, and on the tombstones read
Of severed friendship, graved by human skill.
That would have raised the blushes of the dead ;
The burning fever, stung by Cupid's dart.
That longed for something death had nameless made.
Which we could feel, yet dared not to impart
Of what we felt for some bewitching maid.
The favors granted that no toil had won ;
The praise or blame we earned for good or bad ;
The tricks we played ; the races we had run ;
The proud contentions and the fights we had ;
The giant thoughts by emulation sown,
How great we would be if with learning fraught ;
Graved golden scenes of life, with riches strewn.
Without a thorn to gall youth's happy thought.
Beyond the hoary age of four score years
The best of life is tainted with disease —
A semi-lameness, blindness, half-closed ears !
But youth's reflection minds all things with ease.
Beyond this date we grow a child again.
Minus of all the pleasures of our youth.
With here and there a little touch of pain.
And wav'ring step would tumble us forsooth.
" If not to know the tale of ages past,"
'Tis said, " we will continue still a child ; "
Alas ! when mem'ry fades, a dark cloud cast
O'er manhood, Wc looks mystified and riled.
Search where we may to find some truth revered,
It seems a phantom fading from our sight;
Our boyhood life starts up, loved, loathed or feared,
Instead of what we looked for in another light.
All these remain in mem'ry's passing thought.
And moulds reflection of our by-past years ;
The time and place, like spectres, all unsought.
Passing before us, joyous or in tears,
Till sight and mem'ry dims the vital spark.
And lame and weary on our crutch we lean.
Forgetting all, so childlike, in the dark.
We pass in dotage from this mortal scene.
So8 HISTORY OF SALT LAKE CITY.
Still, 'midst the changes of this mortal scene,
One hope remains, unaltered and and secure —
That nothing yet could ever come between
To make the hope of after life obscure.
While faith and hope grow brighter in old age,
Though all the framework of the body's riven;
The chinks of time but lighten up life's stage
To show the actor on his way to heaven.
Judge C. C. Goodwin is one of the ablest journalists on the Pacific Coast,
and an author of high culture, speaking in the old classical sense of authorship.
Modern journalists are rarely authors, still rarer poets ; and, when such an one is
found in the editorial chair, we are reminded of " the days past and gone," when
Douglas Jerrold edited Lloyd's (London) Newspaper, Thackeray the Cornhill Mag-
azine, and Dickens, Household Words. Such an editor we have in Judge Good'
win of the Salt Lake Tribune, whose morning leaders frequently rise to the dig-
nity cf prose poems. The following is a touch of his poetic pen :
ERNEST FAITHFUL.
'Twas the soul of Ernest Faithful
Loosed from its house of clay —
Its mission on earth completed.
To the judgment passed away.
'Twas the soul of Ernest Faithful
-Stood at the Bar above.
Where the deeds of men are passed upon
In justice, but in love.
And an angel questioned Faithful
Of the life just passed on earth !
What could he plead of virtue?
What could he count of worth ?
And the soul of Ernest Faithful
Trembled in sore dismay ;
And from the judgment-angel's gaze, ^
Shuddering, turned away.
For Memory came and whispered
How worldly was that life;
Unfairly plotting, sometimes
In anger and in strife —
For a selfish end essaying
'l"o tre isures win, or fame ;
.And the soul of Ernest cowered 'neath
The angel's eye of flame.
Then from his book the angel drew
A leaf with name and date,
.\ record of this Ernest's life,
Wove in the loom of Fate.
And said, " O Faithful, answer me;
Here is a midnight scroll.
What did'st thou 'neath the stars that night?
Did'st linger o'er the bowl ?
" Filling the night with revelry.
With cards and wine and dice,
.■\nd adding music's ecstasy,
To give more charms to vice? "
T'hen the soul of Faithful answered:
" By the bedside of a friend
I watched the long hours through ; that night
His life drew near its end."
<i
HISTORY OF SALT LAKE CITY.
" Here's another date at midnight ;
Where wast thou this night, say ? "
" I was waiting by tlie dust of one
Whose soul had fled that day."
"These dollar marks," the angel said:
" What mean they, Ernest, teh? "
" It was a trifle that'l gave
To one whom want befell."
" Here's thine own picture, illy dressed ;
What means this scant attire? "
" I know not," answered Faithful, " save
That once 'mid tempests dire,
" I found a fellow-man benumbed,
And lost amid the storm ;
And so around him wrapped my vest
His suffering limbs to warm."
" Here is a woman's face, a girl's,
O Ernest, is this well ?
Know'st how often woman's arms
Have drawn men's souls to hell? "
Then Ernest answered : " The poor girl.
An orphan was ; I gave
A trifle of my ample stores
The child from want to save."
" Next are some words, what mean they here? '
Then Ernest answered low ;
"A fellow-man approached m» once,
Whose life was full of woe,
" When I had naught to give, except
Some words of hope and trust ;
I bade him still have faith, for God,
Who ruled above, was just,"
Then the grave angel smiled and moved
Ajar the pearly gate,
And said, " Oh, soul! we welcome thee
Unto this new estate."
" Enter! nor sorrow more is thine,
Nor grief; we know thy creed —
Thou who has soothed thy fellow-man
In hour of sorest need —
" Thou who hast watched thy brother's dust,
When the wrung soul had fled ;
And to the stranger gave thy cloak.
And to the orphan bread —
"And when all else was gone, had still
A word of kindly cheer
For one more wretched than thyself,
Thou, soul, art welcomed here.
" Put on the robe thou gav'st away,
'Tis stainless now and white;
And all thy words and deeds are gems ;
Wear them, it is thy right."
And then from choir and harp awoke
A joyous, welcome strain,
Which other choirs and harps took up
In jubilant refrain.
Till all the aisles of Paradise
Grew resonant, as beat
The measures of that mighty song
Of welcome, full and sweet.
Sop
60
8 10 HISTORY OF SALT LAKE Cn^.
The late E. L. Sloan was, in his line, the ablest of our writen-. He figured
first in his native country, Ireland, as a minor poet. He published a little volume
of his poems, a copy of which he sent to the Millenmal Star office, which at-
tracted the attention of E. VV. Tullidge, who wrote to him and offered a brother's
helping hand. Mr. Sloan replied with an article entitled "The Destiny of Nations.'
which was the first prose effort of his pen published. The circumstance brought
him from Ireland, and finaUy he succeeded Tullidge as assistant editor of the Mil-
lennial Star. That article marks the commencement of E. L. Sloan's professional
career, and he never forget to acknowledge the friend who opened his way in life-
Mr. Sloan was an able magazine writer, but his distinguishing place was that of
a journalist.
Charles W. Penrose is also principally historical in Utah as the founder of a
journal — the Ogden Junction — and more recently as the editor of the Dcsetet
News. But Mr. Penrose first became famous among the Mormon people as a
poet. His most popular characteristic song of his people is — 'Oh! Zion.'*
It is too familiar to need quoting.
John Jaques is one of our eider poets, a journalist, and historian.
E. W. Tullidge has contributed to literature and published a magazine.
Robert W. Sloan is well known among local writers. Among other honors he
won the prize offered by Mr. George A. Meears, at the fair of the Deseret Agri-
cultural and Manufacturing Society, for the best essay on "Utah; her Re-
sources and Attractions," in which contest were engaged several able and dis-
tinguished pens. He is an apt and interesting writer in the line of journalistic
correspondence and in literature generally has marked talent.
We next come to our painters.
Many influences have aided to develop an early taste and love for pictures
in the community, far in advance of that in surrounding Territories and greater
than the newness of the country would seem to promise. A large proportion of
our citizens are from the old world, fresh from the memories of countless art gal-
leries which, abroad, are cast open to the inspection of all classes, however poor.
By these means they have unconsciously acquired much judgment and taste, and
a regard for the beautiful by association with the artistic developments of Europe.
It must also be remembered that they are the reverse of a floating population.
Immediately on their arrival, they have made themselves homes^ and possessing,
from the beginning, a definite intention of remaining here, have, in some degree,
been disposed to patronize the artists in the embellishment of their parlors.
Art in Utah has at least kept pace with the other branches of civilization.
There is no cause for wonder that, among us, the treatment of landscapes should
exhibit such progress, for this Territory possesses sufficient elements of grandeur
and beauty to give impulse and inspiration to any artist ; while in some portions,
notably in the Southern counties — Utah scenery has lines of individuality that
are unique, and have contributed to the fame of Thomas Moran and other artists
of celebrity. Utah also possesses, at many points, the ponderous outlines be-
longing to Rocky Mountain scenery; and with its crystal atmosphere presents
new effects of distance — clear and sometimes hard, yet with their own serial
HISTORY OF SALT LAKE CITY. 8ii
beauties — whose just expression is reserved for the brush of some native artist un-
trammelled by mannerisms acquired in European studios.
Confined to this local sense, it may be said Utah has been a nursery to the
painters who have grown in her own soil ; but it is rather of the fruitfulness of
the artistic element that we may boast than of superlative quality of local names.
If in half a century Utah should give but ox\^ great painter to the world, she will
have contributed her full quota to the immortal role.
The first artist who followed his profession in Utah was William Majors. His
works were principally small profile portraits in water colors, specimens of which
may occasionally be found in the possession of the families who came in with the
pioneers. Mr. Majors, going to England in 1853, died shortly afterward in
London.
About this time, William Ward — who had considerable ability as a sculptor
— arrived in the Territory ; but after a {q.'n years' residence, returned to the
Eastern States. Tiie lion which lies couchant on the portico of the '' Lion
House " is quite a public specimen of his work.
Among the best artists of Utah, the late William V. Morris may claim a
niche of lasting fame. Nature endowed him with rarer gifts than his sphere as an
ornamental house painter brought into artistic practice. Had he received a first
class art training under some great master and spent his life in the higher branches,
he would probably have reached the rank of a master figure pamter. He came
to Salt Lake City in 1852, started the first painter's shop in Utah, on Main Street
of this city. He ranks historically as the pioneer decorative painter of Utah.
He did the first graining in the Territory, the work being done for President
Young, in the Lion House and the Bee-Hive House. He next executed some
fine work for the late Mr. William Jennings.
In 1 861, George M. Ottinger arrived in Salt Lake City and permanently es-
tablished himself in his profession. At this time, the people of the Territory had
somewhat emerged from the straightened circumstances of earlier days; and build-
ings were being erected with some pretentions towards ornamentation. The
theatre was shortly completed and Ottinger, the painter, and William V. Morris,
the decorator, found employment in painting the scenery and decorations.
Much of their work in this direction remains to-day in excellent preservation,
giving evidence of originality, care and conscientiousness. It has recently been
carried to greater completion by Morris' son, Wm. C. Morris, on whose shoulders
the mantle of his father's talents seems to have fallen.
The following year Daniel A.Weggeland, and, in 1863, John Tullidge, came
to Utah — both being men of artistic taste and accomplishments — and quite a
little society of artists and art-lovjrs was thus formed. Before the close of the
year 1863, these instituted an organization under the title of the Deseret Academy
of Arts. Its objects was the extension of the various branches of the Fine Arts,
and an advantageous manner of teaching drawing and painting to aspirants. A
building was rented (Romney's Hall, Main Street) and anight school for drawing
classes commenced ; but the effort seemed premature for, after a izw month's
trial, the project was abandoned and the society shortly after dissolved.
Since then, the only public patronage that the artists have received has been
8i2 HISTORY OF SALT LAKE CnV.
by means of the Deseret Agricultural and Manufacturing Society who, at their
fairs, have stimulated our painters by the offer of gold and silver medals.
Later on, towards 1870, Alfred Lambourne came into notice. He arrived
in Utah in 1866, when a boy of sixteen, and began his career as an artist in this
city, being the first of any note that the Territory had produced from the native
school. He is scrupulously original in his work, rarely painting except from his
own sketches from nature. His choice of subjects is such as to give strength and
dignity to his pictures.
About this date Phineas H. Young, son of " Uncle Joseph Young," not only
attracted the attention of the art patrons of our city, but the warm encourage-
ment of the elder members of the profession, who welcomed with a sort of family
pride the promise of a rising painter native born. He first studied under Dan
Weggeland. His best line seemed to be in the painting of figures and faces,
though he also painted landscapes. That he possessed the talent of a painter of
more than ordinary quality there is no doubt, but death claimed him in his youth
and ended the promise of future fame.
In 1866, Mr. Arthur Mitchell, an Englishman, made his residence here, ad-
ding to the number of artists. Although his works are few in number, they give
evidence of skill in the delicate manipulation of textures, and his familiar know-
ledge of painting and painters abroad has made him an acquisition to our art
circle. The principal works that we have seen from his brush have been fruit
pieces and a few small landscapes.
Mr. Reuben Kirkham (formerly of Salt Lake City but now residing in Logan)
is another artist whose career began in Utah. His works, during the few years he
has devoted to the profession, have been numerous and varied, embracing land-
scape, portrait and figure painting. His landscapes possess the decided merit of
originality. An ardent lover of the sublime and picturesque in nature, he has en-
deavored to paint the most stupendous subjects that the magnificent scenery of
Utah can suggest.
Of the elder painters a few biographical touches may be given.
Dan Anthony Weggeland was born March 31st, 1829, in Christiansand,
Norway, where, his early taste for drawing and painting being manifested, his
studies were directed by the artists of that city. Going to Copenhagen, he was
there admitted, at the the age of eighteen, as a pupil in the Royal Academy of
Fine Arts. Here he continued his studies for three yeais, at the expiration of
Avhich he left Denmark and returned to his native country. Six years later, he
visited the north of England, pursuing his profession of portrait painter, and re-
mained in that country until the spring of 1861, when he emigrated to America-
Remaining for a season in Ne\v York, he then started westward and arrived in
Salt Lake City in the fall of 1862. He at once found employment in the decora-
tive work of the new theatre and has since found patronage among our citizens in
many different departments of art.
At the various art exhibitions, the merits of Mr. Weggeland's works have
always been conspicuous, making him the recipient of several gold and silver
medals and diplomas. Until a few years ago, his works were chiefly confined to
portraits in oil ; bu^. latterly a variety of subjects have shown a wide range of
HISTORY OF SALT LAKE CITY. 81
J
ability and a high degree of excellence in each. Weggeland is a painter full of
devotion to his art, and one whose skillful touch and grace of outline give life and
vigor to all he undertakes.
It is probable that an adherence to one branch of art — either that ,of his-
torical painting or ge?ire — would have more fully developed his abilities; but the
demands of a new country for pictures have not been sufficiently active to admit
of such concentration. In technique, however, and in skill of application, Mr.
Weggeland has no superior in the city. He knows well what combinations of
colors will produce certain effects, and he applies them with a rapidity of touch
that marks the man of experience.
John Tullidge was born April 17th, 1836, at Weymouth, a noted seaport on
the southwest coast of England. Evincing at an early age a decided passion for
art, his love of pictures was so great that he would frequently make the round of
the picture shops of his native town, eager to contemplate the beautiful in what-
ever new production chanced to be on exhibition. Reared on the sea shore, his
mind learned to appreciate nature in its sublimest phases, and the invigorating
impulses thereby acquired have given him a degree of energy that has stood him
in good stead in his later life. Mr. Tullidge is not only a good painter, but he is
a man of aesthetic faculties and pure taste. To one in whom such qualities are
inborn, the effects of early impressions found among the varying scenery of a fine
sea shore are of lasting benefit. A crude and lowly mind may rarely, even in the
experience of a lifetime, feel the exhilarating impulses of the grand old ocean
and may look with apathy on its finest moods ; but to the discriminating eye of a
person of natural taste and refinement, the sea, in its every condition of calm or
storm, has elements .of beauty peculiarly its own. How then, must the mind of
young Tullidge have been filled with delight at the changing splendors of Wey-
mouth Bay — for it is said to be the second in the world for beauty, that of Naples
being scarcely superior — when its waters were stirred by the approaching storms
of the rough coast or lay sleeping in placid beauty under the misty light of a
summer moon. His home was near the beach and in stormy seasons the surf
rolled nightly with a roar that broke his slumbers; but in times of calm, the
quiet grays of the shores and the misty atmospheric effects upon the ocean gave
to him an equal interest.
As the result of these early impressions, Mr. Tullidge shows his greatest in-
dividuality in the treatment of subjects involving effects of waves or sky ; and he
excels in grays and in delicate atmospheres and distances.
George Martin Ottinger was born in Springfield, Montgomery County, Penn-
sylvania, February 8th, 1833. His early ancestors were German, and settled in
America about 1740. Being industrious and enterprising, they soon acquired
considerable property ; but during the war for Independence, having espoused
earnestly the cause of the colonies, they lost nearly all of it. Mr. Ottinger's
father, however, came into the possession of a good farm, in the management of
which he was very successful. In 1840, he was persuaded by an uncle to embark
in merchandise, and to. that end sold his farm^ and removed to Bedford, Penn-
sylvania. For a few years the venture promised well, when suddenly certain spec-
ulations in which he had invested his property failed, and left him almost penni-
8 14 HIS TOR y OF SAL T LAKE CI 7 Y.
less. Young Ottinger was then thirteen years old, and cherished strongly the de-
sire to become a painter. As far back in his boyhood as can be remembered, he
kept a box of paints, and spent a great part of his leisure in drawing and paint-
ing. His relatives did not encourage him in the way of his inclinations, but per-
mitted him to drift about without instruction or advice on the subject of art.
His early education in other respects does not appear to have been neglected ; for
besides the training received at the district school of Bedford, he attended for
nearly two years the Mechanic's Society School in New York City, and subse-
quently schools in Philadelphia.
At the time Mr. Ottinger was pursuing his studies in the Eastern States, con-
siderable controversy existed among the painters, not only in America but in
Europe.
The old canons of art were just falling into disuse, the academic rules im-
ported by Trumbull, AUston and other artists of note in the present century were
fast giving way to the precepts of the " realists " and "pre-Raphaelites." Rnskin's
Modern Painters became the text-book for many, and was by them re-christened
"The Painter's Bible." And with the revolution, painter as well as patron saw
the necessity and justness of a change and an advance towards a school of paint-
ing distinctly American.
Determined not to be carried to extremes by either party's methods, Mr.
Ottinger chose a middle course, knowing that there were good rules taught by all
schools well worth studying — that by going to nature for inspiration, any rule or
method that best aided the interpretation, come from what theory it might, was
for the time correct. Using his own words: "I believe that if ever the Amer-
ican painters originate a distinct school of American Art, k will originate with
those painters who are rot influenced by any particular foreign academic teaching,
and who are thoroughly eclectic in technique and composition. And individually I
have gone further than this. When I first commenced painting, I grew tired of
the repeated ' Evangelines,' ' Mary Stuarts' and 'Joan of Arcs' annually on ex-
hibition. I wondered if there was any new field for the American painter to glean
subject-matter, especially in his own country, that had not been painted to death :
In Landscape? Yes; a superabundance. Of history? But little that was un-
painted as far back as the discovery ; but what was there beyond the advent of
Columbus? Ah, here is a vast, almost unexplored vista, mysterious, new and pic-
turesque ! Old America with all her pre-historic treasures, a storehouse of ma-
terial, that needed only study, time and patience to make interesting and of value;
and in this direction my studies have been chiefly directed for years. But it is an
' uphill ' work ; the history of ancient America is not familiar to the public, and
the people are slow to recognize or appreciate that of which they know nothing.
Still I have letters of praise from artists and antiquarians of distinction, that lead
me to hope that some day I may produce a picture worthy of being pronounced
meritorious,"
J. T. Harwood, of Lehi, Utah County, is esteemed as one of the most prom-
ising of our young native artists. He studied under Dan Weggeland ; but is at
present at the School of Design, San Francisco. His particular line so far has
been in studies of ''still life" and landscape; what his real line will be the
(I
HISTORY OF SALT LAKE CITY. Sij
future will show ; but there is no doubt of his talent as a natural artist, which cul-
ture will develop and tone.
Mr, John Hafen, another of our young local artists, has during ihe past five
or six years, gradually risen in public appreciation for his many excellent crayon
works. He has also painted landscapes ; but his works in crayon portraiture mark
his most successful and profitable line ; his pictures adorn the homes of many of
our leading citizens.
Loris Pratt, son of the late Orson Pratt, has chosen the sphere of a portrait
painter proper, his works being executed in oil colors. A good portrait painter
(and Mr. Pratt is considered to be one) is always to the public one of the most
useful members of the profession, and one whose works from their very subject
are endeared to the family circle, as they transmit, in some cases through many
generations, the faces and characters of a family's love and pride. Already has
Mr. Pratt painted such portraits, which live in the homes of our citizens and
speak for the absent dead.
Mr. John W. Clawson is a young painter of considerable talent ; his partic-
ular line is in the painting of portraits and figures. He excels in pastelle, but
works cleverly and effectually in all media. The early germinations of his talent
and instinct for art induced his father to send him to a first class school of design
in New York, at which he was under training for over a year, when he returned to
Salt Lake City, established a permanent studio and is now practicing in the regu-
lar profession. One of his portraits is that of the late Hon. W. H. Hooper.
John W. Clawson is the grandson of the late President Brigham Young, being the
son of Hiram B. Clawson and Alice Young Clawson.
F. A. Billing, Esq., a local artist of some fame, and much ability, has pro-
duced most excellent works. Landscape is his specialty, and into it he throws a
fire and vigor of handling, combined with such refinement as to place him in the
ranks of the best painters on the coast.
One of the most recent to come into notice as an artist is Mr. H. L. A. Cul-
mer, whose natural tastes and critical understanding of artistic requirements have
together led him to take up the brush in this fascinating pursuit. Like most other
artists of our city, the magnificence of our scenery has impelled him to landscape
painting, in which department his works show much knowledge and refinement.
His aim is the expression of truth and fidelity to nature, and he seems, so far, to
have avoided sensationalism or vivid effects of color lest they draw him from the
simple truth. How far he may be able to extend the compass of his works com-
patible with this aim, his development in the future will show; he has already
carried his rock and mountain painting to a high standard.
With this brief notice, we give his following exquisite fragment of local art
literature, descriptive of our " Desolate Shores."
DESOLATE SHORES.
A burning sun, high in heaven, flinging his fierce shafts upon a parched and fruitless earth ; his rays
reflected a hundred times from a broad watery expanse that gleams also upon the hot land ; hills, white,
rocky and bare ; dismal hollows dotted with cedars— a few living weakly amidst a ghostly concourse of
their dead fellows, whose stark and ashen limbs writhe grimly about their shattered trunks ; a grimy
beach, darkened with millions of decaying larvte and strewn with clumsy crumbling boulders ; the si-
lence of a desert.
8i6 HISTORY OF SALT LAKE CITY.
Such are the common aspects of the mountainous islands of the Great Salt Lake. They are elements
of scenes fraught with melancholy, death and utter desolation. To wander along these dreary shores,
silent and alone, is to commune with nature in her bitterest moods, and to hunger and thirst for the
beauties she so lavishly displays elsewhere. There are surely no other places on the face of the earth so
devoid of every charm, so totally lacking in human interest or association. The deserts of Asia and
America have their histories — dreary enough, it is true, but yet associated with human experiences, even
though they be of suffering and travail ; but these wild and wind swept shores have risen from the sur-
face of a bitter sea, and have never, till now, known the tread of human foot or sound of human voice.
Whosoever has desire to witness the earth's poverty and degradation, let him traverse these gray
wastes one single summer's day, when all the outer world is smiling and fruitful, and let him contrast
what meets his gaze with God's munificence in other places. Toiling wearily over rotten rocks, whose
unshapely hulks have been scooped out and hollowed into a thousand caverns by centuries of salt sea
winds, he will come at intervals upon ragged plains where the only plant that thrives is the thorny sage
He will see this straggling vegetation stretch from the hills down to the beach, growing among the
crevices of the rocks even to the water's edge, and there, where the salt crusts upon its branches, he will
see it set upon by swarms of great black spiders, who weave their nets of filmy white over it all, and lie
in wait for the mvraid gnats, their prey ; and then he will be where the lazy surf flings feebly in its flakes
of sailed foam, skimmed from distant shoals to be strewn along this dreary beach. From these sights he
will turn with sinking heart and wander on his way, scorched with the blaze from sea and sky, impatient
for relief, yet finding none. No grateful shade, no limpid spring, varies the hot march or offers chance
to slake his burning thirst ; a vast sea stretches to the horizon, mocking his desire, for he dare not lave
in its depths, nor taste its poisonous waters. Lizards hasten across his path, and stay upon some rocky
crest to watch him with their glittering eyes; mosquitoes swarm to his annoyance, and he hastens on to
avoid the pains they would inflict. At kist, weary and depressed, he may find a hollow in the hills of the
wilderness, where a feeble spring of warm and brackish water seeps from the rocks, flows a few feet and
sinks again in the thirsty soil. Here he will rest, despondent and alone, surrounded by the frail skeletons
of coyotes less fortunate than he, that have wandered hither to perish when even this weak spring
was dry.
Now what magic power shall compass these desolate shores to transform them into realms of beauty
and deli""ht ? Naught but the power which can touch with omnipotent wand the bleak and barren sands
and turn them into gold. That scene which at noon was dre?r, may become rich and glorious in the
changing phases of the day. 1 1 is God's providence to bestow upon the desert in the evening a flood of
radiant beauty, in compensation for the emptiness of mid-day. Trembling vapors which the hot sun has dis-
tilled, now hover over the land to catch the sunset hues, filling the shady hollows of the hills with purple
and blue, and reddening the shafts of hght that are cast upon the mountain tops. Low to the west, on
the distant lake, lie streaks of amethyst and amber, through which the sun shall descend, alternately
kindling these islands into a golden blaze, its flames vibrating on every twig and rocky edge ; or immers-
ing them in purple shadow, whose depths are yet again colored by reflected lights from rosy clouds that
are scattered across the sky. Then, many a summer evening, the Wasatch Mountains, in compassion
for the sterility of these shores, will send forth a company of water bearers to their relief; and these will
come trooping overhead from the east, their breasts flushed with faint and opalescent tints that are soon
to develop through a glorious scale of saffron, scarlet and crimson, and bathe with a ruddy glow the
whole sea and sky and land. They cross the heavens a grand and thrilling spectacle, curtains of fire that
flow towards the sun and droop to cover his face with a veil of scarlet and gold. Fold afler fold passes
rapidly onward, blotting out all the glory in the west, except a great red ball that slowly sinks through
the gathering mist, and all grows gray. The color has faded from the heavens and gloom is settling over
the land.
For a few minutes the peace and quiet of cool twilight is broken only by the sad cry of the moaning
dove and a lazy lapping of the waves along the beach. Then, from for out at sea, comes a faint sound
like the distant roar of a multitude of voices; it increases in depth and volume with every instant, and
from the northwest there sweeps a wild blast, that gathers up the sands of the beach and drives them
whirling along the shore. The surface of the lake quivers for a moment, as though struck by a mighty
hand, then sends a succession of swelling waves, that gather strength as they approach and break upon
the land. Soon the white caps come rolling in from afar, running a mad race landward, bringing with 1 1
them a flock of screaming gulls, white as the foam itself, and whose erratic flight carries them now through '
the hollow of a wave and now vaulting upwards to the skies. There is a grand commotion where the
steep reefe extend out into the sea, for ponderous billows are rolling in upon them and crashing against
their sides with a tumult that is deafening. The foam gleams pale in the gathering night, as the breakers
I
HISTORY OF SALT LAKE CITY. Hjj
leap among the rocks ; it streams down their drenched sides in a thousand tiny torrents, and mingles with
the restless surf that booms in upon the beach in ever increasing strength and fury. And so the dav
closes among whistling winds and driving clouds along these bleak and desolate shores.
Cyrus E. Dallin, a sculptor of more than local fame, was born of English
parents, in the town of Springville, Utah County, Utah, on November 22d,
1861. At the age of eight he attended school, and at once showed a fondness
for drawing in preference to any other branch of study. He was frequently
reprimanded on account of the neglect of his routine lessons, preferring, as he
did, the pastime of sketching on his slate. Until 1869, he kept up his habit of
sketching any familiar or striking object, and without instruction, succeeded in
impressing some of his friends with the idea that he had talent of an artistic
nature.
In the summer of 1880 he, while working with his father, Thomas Dallin, in
his mine at Tintic, Utah, was struck Avith the peculiar quality of some white clay
which had been taken out of the shaft. Tliinking it would prove a good material
to model in, he set to work and made a bust of a man, half life-size. The work
was, of course, very crude, but it attracted much notice from the miners. The
interest attaching to this work induced him to make a companion piece, and he
accordingly modeled a bust of a woman, from the same material. The growing
interest manifested in these rough productions drew the attention of Mr. C. H.
Blanchard, formerly of Boston, and he urged that the boy be sent East to study.
Soon afterwards the good offices of Mr. Joab Lawrence were exerted in behalf of
the young artist, and with the efforts of his father, the boy was sent to Boston in
April, 1880.
In the summer of 1881 he engaged with Mr. S. H. Morse, of Boston, to assist
in modeling figures for granite work. While with this gentleman, Mr. Dallin
modeled the bust of Voltaire, a work which received much praise from the Boston
papers, and the artists of that vicinity.
In October, 1882, he opened a studio in Boston, and among his productions
at that time, was a very fine statuette of the celebrated comedian, William War-
ren. He sold several copies of this meritorious work, which were much admired.
He modeled a bust portrait of a little girl, which was highly praised, and
exhibited in the Institute Fair in Boston, 1882. Then came his Paul Revere,
which gave him much fame. There were ten competitors, and three prizes of
three hundred dollars each, which were awarded to the best three of the number.
Mr. Dallin won one of the prizes.
The models were placed in the exhibition of the Art Club, April, 1883.
Afterwards they were submitted to a rigid investigation, and it was discovered
that they were all historically incorrect. Revere, in each, had been represented
as looking for the light, when it appears that the signal was not intended for him,
and it is probable that he never saw it at all. As soon as this point was decided,
Mr. Dallin called upon the committee to obtain permission to submit another
model. It was granted, and simultaneously with one by the celebrated Boston
sculptor, Mr. Thomas Ball, it was placed with the committee. Since then nothing
definite has been heard from the committee, further than that they are waiting
61
8i8 HIST OR y OF SAL 7 LAKE CI 7 Y.
the procurement of funds before making their decision. The second Revere
model was shovvn at the art exhibition of 1883, and the critics had an opportunity
to compare his work with that of the eminent sculptor, Ball. The press and the
profession unite in awarding the palm to the young man, who, though compara-
tively'unknown, had made an impression upon the art critics, which caused them
to waver in their decisions. The final result of course, can not be foretold.
He modeled a portrait bust of a boy, which is a fine study, and is pronounced
a perfect likeness. This was shown in the Cotemporary Art Exhibition, Boston,
and it drew forth many flattering notices.
The bust of Oliver Wendell Holmes was then produced by Mr. Dallin, and
from it he received much additional fame, Bostonians are unanimous in their
praise of this piece of portrait modeling.
CHAPTER LXXXVIII.
GENERAL HISTORY RESUMED. DEATH OF JUDGE McKEAN. MEMORIAL OF
THE BAR ON THE EVENT. THE MILES' CASE. D. H. WELLS SE^T TO THE
PENITENTIARY FOR CONTEMPT. GRAND DEMONSTRATION OF CITIZENS
ON HIS RELEASE.
The social development of our city having been brought up with a brief re-
view of those agencies of civilization — literature and the fine arts — which in mod-
ern history occupy a chief place, we resume the thread of the political and ju-
dicial record to the close of the year 1885.
From the death of President Brigham Young, August 29th 1877, ^^ '^'''^
death of ex-Chief Justice James B. McKean, Sunday morning, January 5th, 1879,
at his residence in Salt Lake City, no event of marked historical importance had
occurred, such as had characterized the preceding period when Judge McKean was
upon the bench. His death called forth from the legal profession an eulogistic
memorial to his memory. On the loth of January, 1879, ^^ one o'clock, p. m ,
the members of the Salt Lake bar assembled in the court room in this city, when
a " memorial address," with resolutions which had been adopted by the bar, were
presented to the court by R. N. Baskin, Esq., who said :
May ii please the Court :
"Hon. James B. McKean, a former chief justice of this court and lately a
member of this bar, having departed this life on the 5th of the present month,
the members of the bar on the following day assembled at the court room, in this
city, and in honor of our deceased brother's memory passed resolutions expressive
of their esteem for him, their condolence for his family and their regret on ac-
count of his untimely and sudden demise.
I
i
r
HISTORY OF SALT LAKE CITY. Sjg
"I have the honor ot being deputed by that meeting to present these
resolutions to this Honorable Court and move that they be entered in the journals. ' '
They were as follows :
"Resolved, That in the death of Judge McKean the profession has lost one
of its noblest and most honorable members, whose career in this Territory for the
last nine years has won and has fully entitled him to the esteem and affection of
the attorneys of Utah Territory.
" Resolved, That as Chief Justice of this Territory, he at all times possessed
our fullest confidence as an honest, upright, courteous and impartial jurist, and as
a practicing attorney he has but riveted the friendship and esteem which he had so
well earned, while filling the responsible position of Ciiief Justice.
" Resolved, That we lament his death not only as a brother in our profession,
but as a citizen of our common Territory, and as one to whom all classes might
well have looked upon as the true type and model of a brave soldier, an accom-
plished lawyer, a brilliant orator, a thorough gentleman, an exalted patriot and
an exemplary Christian.
"Resolved, That to the family of the deceased we tender our most smcere
condolence and sympathy ; and that while realizing as we do that our expressions
of regret and condolence can but slightly alleviate their sense of inestimable loss,
yet we hope it may be some satisfaction to them, that one so dear was esteemed
and valued by his daily associates and friends, and that his death will be regretted
by all.
"Resolved, That the secretary of this meeting be and is hereby authorized to
present a copy of these resolutions to the family of our deceased friend.
" C. K. Gilchrist,
" Thomas Marshall,
"R. N. Baskin,
"J. B. ROSBOROUGH,
" Z. Snow,
' ' Committee. ' '
These resolutions were accompanied by an address from Mr. Baskin, thus
closing :
"The history of Utah, which is yet to be written, will record the name of James
B. McKean among the most upright judges and disinterested patriots, and the
sculptured marble will be erected upon his resting place, by a grateful public, to
perpetuate his memory and ' rehearse to the passing traveler his virtues.' "
Hon. Jacob S. Boreman, from the bench, addressed himself to the resolutions.
His address was of the nature of a funeral sermon, extolling the Christian char-
acter of the departed, which he closed with the following touching passage:
" The familiar voice of our brother is hushed forever upon earth. It will
never more cheer us here, in these halls or elsewhere. We shall never in this
world again meet that cheery countenance, that happy face, nor clasp that warm
right hand. But although his body is cold in the grave, he lives — lives where
neither sorrow, nor tears nor death can enter, but where he can partake of joys un-
speakable forevermore in the paradise of God. And on earth his memory lives
820 HISTORY OF SALT LAKE CITY.
and will continue to live fresh and green in the innumerable hearts of those who
revered and loved him in life, and now mourn his death. And although he is gone
from us, never more to return, I can truthfully say of him, in the language of the
Book of books, that 'he rests from his labors and his works do follow him.' "
On such an occasion, as the death of a man like Judge McKean, the pen of
criticism may reserve itself in general silence.
In resuming, however, the thread of the history it must be noted that from
the death of the ex-Chief Justice, the anti-Mormon action, which had for several
years subsided, revived with all its former intensity.
First was presented the trial of Mr. George Reynolds on a case of polygamy
which had been constructed by counsel for the purpose of obtaining a constitutional
decision from the Supreme Court of the United States on the anti-polygamy
act of 1862.
The next polygamy suit presented to the Third U. S. District Court for trial
was the famous Miles' case, which though it possessed not the dignity of a test
case and the constitutional consequence of that of Mr. Reynolds, afforded more
local sensation. This the prosecuting attorney, with an aimed intent, succeeded
in reaching through his examination of Daniel H. Wells, counsellor of the Church
and ex-mayor of Salt Lake City.
President Wells being sworn as a witness. District Attorney Van Zile attempted
to force from him, under the instruction of the court, a revelation of the dress
and ceremony of the endowment house, or to bring him into contempt of court.
The witness declined to describe the dress, and the prosecution insisting upon the
answer, the court directed the clerk to enter an order compelling the witness to
appear before the court to show cause why he should not be punished for con-
tempt in refusing to answer the question. In the meantime he was remanded to
the custody of the marshal.
On the next day President Wells was again questioned :
Attorney Van Zile — I want to know if it is usual for a candidate for marriage
to wear a green apron in the endowment house ?
President Wells — I declined to answer that question yesterday, and do so to-
day, because I am under moral and sacred obligations to not answer, and it is in-
terwoven in my character never to betray a friend, a brother, my country, my
God or my religion.
The punishment for contempt was about to be enforced, when Judge Suther-
land asked that the matter be postponed until seven o'clock, which request was
granted ; at which time the proceedings were resumed by President Wells filing
the following affidavit :
''■In the Third Judicial District Court of Utah Territory.
" The People vs. Daniel H. Wells.
" Salt Lake County — ss.
" Daniel H. Wells bemg duly sworn says: In respect to the charge of con-
tempt now pending against me, for refusing to answer the two questions relating
to the apron and slippers of persons going through the ceremony of the endow-
ment house of the Mormon Church, I meant no disrespect to this court. I de-
li
HISTORY OF SALT LAKE CnV. 821
clined wholly upon conscientious grounds. I was willing to testify to any ma-
terial fact not covered by any previous obligation, and had I been interro^^ated
while on the witness stand to elicit these facts I should have stated, and the truth
is, that persons going through such ceremonies wear special garments, and these
are precisely the same whether the wearer in the course of those ceremonies is
united in marriage, plural or otherwise, or not, and those married are not distin-
guished by any difference of dress from those who do not enter into the marriage
relation.
" Daniel H. Wells.
" Sworn to and subscribed before me this third day of May, 1879.
" C. S. Hill, Clerk,
" By B. P. Hill, Deputy Clerk."
An argument was made for the defense by Judge Sutherland; Van Zile waived
further argument for the prosecution, and Judge Emerson, deciding, ordered that
the defendant pay a fine of one hundred dollars and be confined for a period of
two days. A short time after the decision was rendered Marshal Shaughnessy
took his prisoner to the penitentiary.
This was the second time that President Wells was a prisoner, first, as will be
remembered, at Camp Douglas, when as mayor he gave himself up for the safety
of the city, and now at the penitentiary for refusing lo disclose the affairs of the
endowment house. In the latter case the public enthusiasm over his conduct was
swelled into a grand ovation of citizens from all parts of the Territory to his
honor.
A special meeting of the city council was called relative to the occasion and
the following preamble and resolutions were adopted : 1
" PREAMBLE AND RESOLUTIONS.
" Whereas^ Our much respected friend and fellow-citizen, Hon. Daniel H.
Wells, ex-mayor of Salt Lake City, is at present suffering what we deem to be an
unjust imprisonment, in the Territorial penitentiary, under the order of the act-
ing judge of the Third Judicial District Court of this Territory, for alleged con-
tempt of court in refusing to answer questions which would violate what he es-
teemed to be sacred obligations, as set forth in his affidavit filed with said court,
May 3d, 1879; ^i^d
" Whereas, We further approve of his declarations, 'I am under moral and sa-
cred obligations to not answer; and it is interwoven in rny character, never to betray
a friend, a brother, my country, my religion or my God ;" and honoring his de-
termination rather to suffer imprisonment than to do violence to sacred principles,
" Therefore be it resolved by the City Council of Salt Lake City, That, to
manifest our symyathy, respect and honor for the man who w^ould sooner suffer
wrong than do wrong, we proceed in a body to meet him upon his liberation
from custody and escort him back to his home and the society of his family and
friends.
'^ And be it further resolved, That we invite all citizens sympathizing in the
movement, to participate in this demonstration of respect.
"Upon motion, the preamble and resolutions were unanimously adopted.
" Fer.\morz Little, Mayor.""
822 HISTORY OF SALT LAKE CIlY,
The council then appointed the necessary committees on behalf of the coun-
cil, to be associated with the citizens' committees in making the necessary arrange-
ments for carrying into effect the great popular demonstration.
The following order of procession was issued : " Captain Burt, marshal of
the day ; band ; President Taylor and escort ; Territorial, county and city officers;
mayors and city councils from various places, and invited guests ; representatives
of the press; Salt Lake fire brigade; band ; relief societies with banners; bard;
mutual improvement and retrenchment associations with banners ; band ; seven-
ties ; high priests ; elders; bishops and lesser priesthood with banners; band;
Scandinavians and German citizens with banners; band; general citizens on foot
and on horseback.
" Instructions : The bishops of all the wards are requested to organize their
lespective quorums, societies, associations and Sunday schools, and report to the
marshal at 9:30 A. M. on East Temple Street.
" The First, Second, Third, Eighth and Ninth wards, on the east side of said
street, between Fifth and Sixth South Streets.
•' The Tenth, Eleventh, Twelfth and Thirteenth wards, on the east side of
said street, between Fourth and Fifth South Streets.
"The Eighteenth, Twentieth, and Twenty-First wards, on the east side of said
street, between Third and Fourth South Streets.
" The Fourth, Fifth, Sixth and Seventh wards, on the west side of said street,
between Fifth and Sixth South Streets.
"The Seventeenth, Fourteenth and Fifteenth wards, on the west side of said
street, between Fourth and Fifth South Streets.
"The Sixteenth and Nineteenth wards, on the west side of said street, be-
tween Third and Fourth South Streets.
" The several organizations will then concentrate, and the marshal will assign
them positions in the procession,"
The next morning's issue of the Salt Lake Tribune said :
"The streets of this city yesterday from nine o'clock in the morning until late
in the day, presented a sight seldom, if ever witnessed before. Never has such a
crowd thronged the streets, nor such a cavalcade of human beings and brutes, in
point of numbers, promiscuousness and motley confusion, been witnessed before,
as that presented on our public streets on the occasion of the triumphal entry into
town from the penitentiary of Daniel H. Wells, first counsellor in the Mormon
Church. So far as concerns the magnitude in a numerical point of view of this
demonstration, not even the event of the death and funeral of Brighani Young
could at all rival it. Hundreds of poor dupes were forwarded by all the trains
centering in this city, to participate in a celebration, which in spirit and substance,
was designed as a i)ublic defiance of the national judicial authorities. The flag of
our country was ruthlessly profaned by association with banners, upon which were
inscribed incendiary mottoes and devices. The immense procession as it moved
up Main Street, presented a spectacle which should have roused the patriotic
heart to indignation, had its supreme ridiculousness not been so apparent."
The Salt Lake Ilet'aldsdXd : "The demonstration was one of the most remarka-
ble that has ever taken place in this or any other country or age. It is estimated
3 I
J I)
1 i
i^u
HISTORY OF SALT LAKE CITY. 823
that not less than ten thousand persons were in the procession, while more than
that number lined the streets on either side from the Tabernacle to the suburbs.
And yet there was no disorder, no accident, no brawling, nothing that indicated
any other than the happiest peace. The brief addresses contained no incendiary
word, and implied no offensive sentiment. We question if the world has ever be-
fore seen an impromptu demonstration of this magnitude, and this character,
where nothing was said or done that could be found fault with, or which gave no
occasion for alarm. It is easy to understand how such a multitude assembled on
such an occasion, could become excited and lose its power of reasoning, but it is
not plain how it could be so readily gathered, with so little apparant effort, kept
in such orderly and happy control, and dispersed so quickly without harm being
done, accident occurring, or unpleasantness being occasioned.
"The demonstration of May 6th, 1879, i" honor of one who was regarded by
the people as having been made to suffer unlawfully, to gratify the malicious spite
of officials, will long be remembered in this Territory."
CHAPTER LXXXIX.
"RENEWAL OF THE POLITICAL ACTION. FORESHADOWING THE EDMUNDS BILL
IN HAYES' MESSAGE. GOVERNOR MURRAY GIVES THE ELECTION CERTIF-
ICATE TO CAMPBELL. CONTEST FOR THE DELEGATE'S SEAT. GREAT
SPEECH OF CANNON ON HIS RETIREMENT FROM CONGRESS.
In the fall of 1880, the political action of Utah was renewed ; and Salt Lake
City, which for several years had witnessed no contests at elections, either munic-
ipal or Territorial, was awakened to a new campaign by the loud calls of the
leaders of the Liberal party.
After repeated defeats in the contests for delegates to Congress, with Max-
well contestant against Hooper, and Baskin against Cannon, the Utah Liberal
party languished notwithstanding the great increase of the Gentile population.
Such was the condition of this party for several years, but in 1880, as the
time drew nigh for the election of delegate to Congress, the Liberals throughout
the Territory were moved with a common desire to resuscitate their organization
and once more open the contest with the People's party. A new standard bearer
was needed to be chosen to rally the Liberal party for the irrepressible conflict.
Even Mr. Baskin, the last contestant, felt this need, and though his personal
record was acceptable to his party, he knew it was quite useless for him to again
contest the seat with Cannon. There were other strong men of the bar, such as
Judge McBride, quite capable of assuming a political leadership, but the common
judgment of the time, among the leaders of the Liberal party, was that they
needed for the revival of their cause a man of considerable strength of character
who represented the mining interest, and who could, without a dissenting voice,
824 HISTORY OF SALT LAKE CnV.
unite the mining constituents throughout the Territory. In this view of the case
Allen G. Campbell stood head and shoulders above all other men, and before they
met in caucus for the nomination it was known among the leaders that the "Camp-
bells were coming."
The night ot the nomination came and the Liberal Institute was crowded
with those in sympathy with the cause of the Liberal party. For years there had
not been such an enthusiastic gathering of that party, and evidently the enthusi-
asm was generated by the conviction that the fitting man was found to bear the
standard of that cause, not only in the contest at home, but one who would fight
it out in Washington to the last syllable of his term. In keeping with this feel-
ing the brass band from Fort Douglas was there to give a martial swell to the oc-
casion of the revival of the war between the tv/o powers. The strongest men of
the party were on the platform, and delivered stirring speeches, among whom
were Judges McBride, Hagan, and the former contestant, Baskin ; while from the
body of the hall, upon loud calls, Governor Murray, in a short ringing speech,
gave a bold declaration of war between " the American Republic and the Mormon
Polygamic Theocracy." Such was the wording by all the speakers. None of
them pretended that it was a mere political fight. Judge Hagan indeed, dwelt
upon it as the " irrepressible conflict," in the same sense as it was once under-
stood as existing between the North and the South, and while affirming that it
must be fought out to the bitter end, he admitted that the prospects then were
that years might elapse ere the Liberal party would wm the day. The name of
Allen G. Campbell was announced amid acclamations as the man for the times, \\
and on the rest for committee business. Maxwell called for the Fort Douglas band
to play " The Campbells are coming," and the band struck up the theme, ac- !
companied with vociferous cheering by the audience. i
Mr. Campbell was in New York when he received the nomination. As he |
was returning to Utah he met Mr. Cullen at Chicago, who told him of the nomi- \
nation, whereupon he communicated his acceptance to the central committee of j
the Utah Liberal party. ' \
Utah affairs were about to be brought before Congress and the country by
new and surprising methods ; and, though the measure had not then been divulged
to the public, the Edmunds Bill had doubtless already been conceived, and the
political coup (V etat of giving to Mr. Campbell the certificate of the election was
constructed as the initial move upon the board.
There were more than the leaders of the Utah Liberal party working on this
plan. Senator Edmunds and other principal statesmen of the republican party
were, probably, well advised of the design and engaged in shaping the action in
Congress upon this very contest of Cannon and Campbell.
The first indication given to the country of the "new departure" on Utah
affairs in Congress was in the message of President Hayes, delivered in December
1879, in which he said :
" The continued deliberate violation by a large number of the prominent
and influential citizens of the Territory of Utah of the laws of the United States
for the prosecution and punishment of polygamy, demands the attention of every
HISTORY OF SALT LAKE CITY.
825
department of the Government. This Territory has a population sufficient to en-
title it to admission as a State, and the general interest of the Nation, as well as
the welfare of the citizens of the Territory, require its advance from the Terri-
torial form of government to the responsibility and privileges of a State. This
important change will, however, never be approved by the country, while the cit-
izens of Utah, in very considerable number, uphold a practice which is con-
demned as a crime by the laws of all civilized communities'throughout the world.
The law for the suppression of the offense was enacted with great unanimity by
Congress more than seventeen years ago, but has remained until recently a dead
letter in the Territory of Utah, because of the peculiar difficulties attending its
enforcement. The opinion widely prevailed among the citizens of Utah that the
law was in contravention of the constitutional guarantee of religious freedom.
This objection is now removed. The Supreme Court of the United States has de-
cided the law to be within the legislative power of Congress, and binding as a
rule of action on all who reside within the Territories. There is no longer any
reason for delay or hesitation in its enforcement. It should be firmly and effect-
ively executed. If not sufficiently stringent in its provisions, it should be amended,
and, in aid of the purpose in view, I recommend that more comprehensive and
searching methods for preventing, as well as punishing, this crime be provided.
If necessary to secure obedience to the law, the enjoyment and exercise of the
rights and privileges of citizenship in the Territories of the United States, may be
withheld or withdrawn from those Avho violate or oppose the enforcement of the
law on this subject."
Evidently the foregoing utterance of President Hayes, in his last message to
Congress, was in anticipation of some such a measure as that of the Edmunds
Bill, the appointment of the Utah Commission, the disfranchisement of polyga-
mists and the final design of of taking all political power out of the hands of the
Mormon leaders, to be followed by the admission of Utah as a State.
In this view, the great contest between Allen G. Campbell and George Q.
Cannon forms one of the principal chapters in the political history of our Terri-
tory. Judge McBride conducted the legal action of the case for his client,
Campbell; and the following protest was the initial of the contest after the
election :
To His Excellency Eli H. Murray,
Governor of the Territory of Utah :
The time will soon arrive for the final canvass, under your supervision, of the returns of votes given
at the late election for delegate to Congress from this Territory.
I am not ignorant of what the public generally know in respect to the voting at this election and its
supposed result. On the surface the returns will not show, probably, that a majority of the votes ac-
tually cast were given for me. But if it be true, as I insist it is, that all the votes not polled in my favor
are legally blank, then I owe it to those who placed me in nomination, and by a still greater obligation
to the whole community, in the interest of good government to protest, and I do protest, against the
counting of any votes for George Q. Cannon.
The performance of this duty, however, would be productive of no result except to mortify and dis-
gust legal voters whose choice is nullified, unless there is a power conferred on you to so conduct this
canvass that legal voters shall only be included.
If it were a matter of indifference whether the names voted for as candidates represented actual per-
sons or mere mythical characters, persons qualified or persons ineligible ; if it were immaterial to dis-
62
826 HISTORY OF SALT LAKE CnV.
criminate between votes given by those entitled to exercise the elective franchise and those given b)- per-
sons whom the law excludes on the ground of sex, minority, or alienage from the privilege of voting,
then a mere count of votes, and comparison of aggregates, would decide to whom your certificate of
election should be given. It is not, however, consonant to the American theory of popular elections to
office to ignore such disqualifications, nor to confer such limited powers upon those charged with the
duty to ascertain the result, that there can be no elimination of votes illegally received.
It cannot be said that the laws have so imperfectly guarded the ballot box and provided for pure and
regular elections that if illegal votes are once received, t>y some error of judgment or failure of duty by
officers registering voters or having the immediate control of election, the wrong is forever incapable of
rectification.
No remedy is adequate or effective in respect to offices for short terms which does not administer
the corrective during the canvass, for before any other remedy can be sought and applied, the motive to
pursue it ceases by the expiration of the term ; the wrong prospers and the authors are thereby en-
couraged to repeat it, and generally do.
This subject has such local importance that I venture some suggestions in support of your powers
in the premises, at the risk of incurring your criticism for assuming to defend the executive jurisdiction.
Section 25 of the Utah Compiled Laws provides ; ' That so soon as all the returns are received, the
secretary, in the presence of the governor, shall unseal and examine them, and furnish to each person
having the highest number of votes for any Territorial office a certificate of his election.' The returns
here spoken of are : A brief abstract of the offices and names voted for and the number of votes each
person receives.
By sections 23 and 24 it will be observed that the duty imposed by section 25 is to give the certifi-
cate to the person having the highest numberof votes, and that it is not required by the termsof that sec-
tion that the highest number of votes shall be determined from the returns. The duty to examine the
returns, and that to give a certificate, are successive and distinct duties. The returns from certain coun-
ties, or the vote of certain precincts, may have to be rejected, for causes apparent on the face of the re-
turns, or other evidence may afford grounds for such rejection.
The direction to you and the secietary as final canvassers is to issue the certificate to the person hav-
ing the highest number of votes, not to him appearing by the returns to have the highest number;
therefore, since the mode of ascertaining tlie important fact is not prescribed, and since on general prin-
ciples, when a general duty is required to be performed, there is conferred by necessary implication the
incidental power to adopt any suitable means necessary to the doing of that duty, evidence may be re-
ceived in connection with the returns, to assist in coming to a correct conclusion. This construction of
the statute harmonizes your functions in respect to this office with those of similar offices generally.
In Cushing's Law and Practice of Legislative assemblies, page 52, the author quotes from another;
'There can be no doubt that in thosebranches wherein the law has marked out a definite line it is ministerial
but as regards the two material branches of deciding upon the capacity or incapacity of candidates, or
upon the qualifications or disqualifications of electors, the subject requires some investigation ; but if the
returning officer (you are clearly one) be fully apprised of some notorious disqualification, whether of a
candidate or of an elector, such as their being minors, or claiming in the right of property, which
clearly does not entitle them to the privilege, he is so far a judicial officer as to prevent their voting or
being returned.' and the author adds: ' Injudicial decisions of this country, when the point is adverted
to, it seems to be considered tliat the functions of returning officers are chiefly judicial in their cnaracter.'
If so, it follows, of course, in the absence of a legislative rule to the contrary, that you are to act
upon evidence, and on any evidence which applies to the subject and would be competent before any
other judicial tribunal having the same question to decide.
I shall, in accordance with these views, address this my protest to you as a quasi-judicial officer,
Drotest against the issue of any certificate of election to George Q. Cannon, and I demand the issue of
one to myself, because he has not, and I have, the highest number of votes for the office of delegate to
Congress of the United States, on the following grounds :
First. It will appear by the returns to the secretary that 1,357 votes were given for me for said
office, and there is no evidence tending to gainsay my qualifications for the office, or those of the elec"
tors voting for me.
Second. George Q. Cannon is an unnaturalized alien. Being such, he is not eligible to the office;
all the votes given for him are void. I quote from the author before referred to : " If an election is
made of a person who is ineligible, that is, incapable of being elected, the election of such person is abso-
lutely void, even though he is voted for at the same time with others who are eligible, and who are ac-
HISTORY OF SALT LAKE CITY. 827
cordingly elected and this is equally true whether the disablity is known to the elector or not ; whether a '
majority of all the votes, or a plurality only, is necessary to the election, and whether the votes are given or-
ally or by ballot." (Id., p. 66.) According to this author and the authorities which he cites, it is the law in
this country, and also in England, that not only will the election of a disqualified person be held as void
but if such election takes place after notice of the disqualification is given to the electors, the candidate
having the nex t highest number of votes will be elected. (Id., pp. 66, by.)
Notice of Mr. Cannon's disqualification has been very thoroughly published in this Territory before
the election.
This legal objection of alienage derives great force from the political and moral aspect of his life and
conduct. George Q. Cannon is a polygamist, having lived for many years and is still living with four
women as wives, in violation of the law. He openly advocates polygamy in his public addresses in
Utah, and thus incites others to break the law enacted by Congress on that subject in harmony with the
moral sentiment of the civilized world.
Not only is he not naturalized, but he is not qualified to be naturalized; without thorough recon-
"^truction he could not be proven to be a man of good moral character, nor could he, while in his present
criminal contumacy, sincerely make oath that he is "attached to the Constitution of the United States
and well disposed to the good order and happiness of the same."
Third. Under void legislation of this Territory, females have voted in large numbers ; they are par-
tisans of said Cannon, and it must be taken for granted that they voted for him at the last election.
Calculating the present number of votes in this Territoiy by adding to the vote given six years ago
/about 27,000) according to the ratio of popular increase from 1870 to 1880, as shown by the census
returns, there were at least 40.000 de facto voters in the Territory when the last election took place. The
entire vote polled at this election, including the votes of females, was less than 20,000 ; therefore, at least
20,000 voters stayed at home, and less than half the total vote was actually polled and returned.
The females in this Territory claiming the right to vote outnumber the males having that right; the
poll lists show also that they outstrip the males in voting. Thus it will be seen that there are more fe-
males in this Territory claiming the right to vote than the whole number of votes polled at the late elec-
tion. As these votes are illegal, how can you avoid the conclusion that they have vitiated the election by
rendering it impossible to determine without proof that the pretended majority reported for Mr. Cannon
does not consist of such votes. The fact that there was such an enormous illegal vote known as certain
to be polled, will account for the absence of so many legal voters from the polls.
That the act of the Territorial Legislature purporting to establish female suffrage is void, is now
generally conceded. It is so because it attempts to confer the privilege by a special act on different and
easier terms of qualification than those required by existing general law applicable to the other se.x, thus
violating the rule of uniformity.
In conclusion, be it understood that I protest against the issuance of any certificate to George Q.
Cannon as the substantive matter and purpose of this paper ; and it seems clear beyond all controversy
that if he is not qualified to hold the office, that no majority of legal votes can be said to have been given
for him, that it is within your power for these causes to withhold the certificate of election.
On reaching this conclusion as a secondary matter, I trust you will find it consistent with your
views and in the line of your duty to hold that the votes given for me entitle me to the certificate.
With great respect I have the honor to be, your obedient servant,
Allen G. Campbell.
Frisco, December 12, 1880.
A copy of this protest was sent to Mr. Cannon, who filed an answer to its
allegations, and then controverted most of the facts stated (except the charge that
he was a polygamist), and also contesting the positions of law assumed by Mr.
Campbell.
On the issues thus made before the Governor, the two contestants for the cer-
tificate of election appeared before that functionary on the 7th day of January,
1 881, and the questions involved were fully argued by the counsel for each.
On the 8th of January, 1881, the Governor made a decision in writing,
which was filed in the secretary's office, and issued a certificate of election to Allen
G- Campbell, as the delegate elected to the House of Representatives lor the
828 HISTORY OF SALT LAKE CITY.
Forty-seventh Congress, and it was delivered to Mr. Campbell. In February fol-
lowing this certificate was filed in the office of the clerk of the House of Repre-
sentatives at Washington.
About the same time Mr. Cannon brought an action in the United States
District Court, Salt Lake County, Utah, praying for a writ of mandamus to com-
pel the acting governor to issue a certificate of election to him as delegate, basing
his suit upon the position that in granting the certificate the governor was only
performing a ministerial duty, and was not permitted to pass upon the returns of
the election, or the eligibility of the candidates, or any questions of the kind.
The case was elaborately argued on the return to the writ, and the court dis-
missed the application, holding that the governor had a discretion in issuing the
certificate and was not, in determining the result, confined to the returns of the
county officers.
Next followed the governor's justification and issuance of the certificate to
Allen G. Campbell :
The record of the court is the only means of ascertaining its judgments and orders. The clerk's
certificate of the judgments and orders of a competent court, and not his individual statements without
seal, is the only guide in all cases, and therefore must be in this case. The records of the court fail to
make Mr. Cannon a citizen, and he as I, must stand by the Record. Mr. Cannon, under any other cir-
cumstances might, perhaps, acquire citizenship by the time his term of office commences, but it is
charged in Mr. Campbell's protest, and not denied in Mr. Cannon's answer, that he is living in polyg-
amy, a violation of the act of Congress of 1862, making it a crime. This being the case he is not "well
disposed towards the government of the United States." Therefore he cannot, in good faith, take the
oath of naturalization, and the courts of this Territory uniformly enforce this rule. The House of Rep-
resentatives, Congressional record, June 16, i884, page 5 046, affirmed the same principle in House bill
3,679, providing that delegates in Congress should be twenty-five years of age, seven years a citizen, and
an inhabitant of such Territory, " and no such person who is guilty of bigamy or polygamy shall be eli-
gible to a seat as such delegate."
It having been shown that Mr. Cannon is not a citizen, and that he is incapable of becoming a citizen
I cannot, under the law certify that he is " duly elected," and Mr. Campbell having received the greatest
number of votes cast for any citizen was therefore duly elected and must receive the certificate
accordingly.
I am aware that my action on this question is not final. The house is the judge of the qualifications
and election of its members, but in the discharge of my sworn duty under the law to give the certificate
to the person duly elected, I cannot do otherwise than give it to Allen G. Campbell.
Eli H. Ml rk.\y.
Certificate p/ election issued to Allen G. Campbell, Delegate to the Forty-seventh Congress.
United Statk.s of America,
Territory of Utah, Executive Office — ss.
I, Eli H. Murray, governor of the Territory of Utah, do declare and certify that at a regular elec-
tion for delegate to the Forty-seventh Congress, held in said Territory on the first Tuesday after the first
Monday in November, A. U. 1880, returns whereof were opened in my presence by the secretary of
the Territory, Allen G. Campbell was the person being a citizen of the United States, having the greatest
number of votes, and was therefore duly elected as d legate from said Territory to said Congress, and I
do give this certificate accordingly.
In testimony whereof, I have hereunto set my hand and caused the great seal of the Territory to be
affixed. Done at Salt Lake City this 8th day of January, A. D. 1881.
[L, S.] ELI H. MURRAY, Governor,
By the Governor :
Arthur L. Thomas,
Secretary of Utah Territory.
il
HISTORY OF SALT LAKE CITY. Sig
Territory of Utah,
Secretary's Office — ss:
I, Arthur L, Thomas, secretary of the Territory of Utah, do hereby certify that the foregoing is a
lull, true and correct copy of the " decision of the governor in the matter of issuing a certificate to the
person duly elected delegate to the Forty-seventh Congress," and of the " certificate of election issued to
Allen G. Campbell, delegate to the Forty-seventh Congress," as appears of record in my office.
Attest my hand and the great seal of the Territory of Utah, this loth day of Februarys A. D. 1881.
[L. s.] ARTHUR L. THOMAS,
Secretary of Utah Territory,
CREDENTIALS OF HON. A, G CAMPBELL.
United States of America,
Territory of Utah, Executive Office — jj,
I, Eli H. Murray, governor of the Territory of Utah, do declare and certify that at a regular elec-
tion for delegate to the Forty-seventh Congress, held in said Territory on the first Tuesday after the first
Monday in November, A. D. 1880, to-wit, the 2d day of November, 1880, returns whereof were opened
in my presence by the secretary of the Territory, Allen G. Campbell was the person, being a citizen of
the United States, over the age of twenty-one years, having the greatest number of votes, and was,
therefore, duly elected as delegate from said Territory to said Congress, and I do give this certificate
accordingly.
In testimony whereof, I have hereunto set my hand and caused the great seal of the Territory to
be affixed.
Done at Salt Lake City this eighth day of January, A, D. 1881.
• [SEAL.] ELI H, MURRAY. Governor,
By the Governor :
Arthur L. Thoma.S, Secretary of Utah Territory"
NOTICE OF CONTEST.
" Washington, D. C, January 20th, 1881.
"Allen G. Campbell, EIsq.:
"' Sir : I have the honor to notify you that I shall contest your right to hold a seat in the House of
Representatives of the 47th Congress of the United States, as Delegate from the Territory of Utah, and
also your right either to be sworn or enrolled, or to hold a certificate of election as such Delegate, on the
following grounds :
"1. That the returns of the election of Delegate to the 47th Congress of the United States, held on
the 2d day of November, 1880, in the several counties of the Territory of Utah, which were prepared and
forwarded to the Secretary of the Territory, under sections (23) and (24) of the Compiled Laws of the
Territory of Utah, copies of which returns marked respectively, A, B, C, D. etc., are hereto annexed,
showed, as the fact was, that 18,568 votes were legally cast tor me at said election, that only 1,357 votes
were cast for you, and that only 8 votes were cast for all other candidates, and that I was therefore legally
elected to said office of Delegate from the Territory of Utah in the 47th Congress, and was also entitled
to receive the certificate of election, and to be enrolled and sworn as such Delegate.
" 2. That said returns showed, as the fact was, that you received less than one- thirteenth of the votes
legally cast at said election, and therefore were not entitled to hold the said office of Delegate from the
Territory of Utah in the 47th Congress, or to be enrolled or sworn as such Delegate, or to receive the cer-
tificate of election to said office.
" 3. That the action of the Governor of the Territory of Utah, in withholding the certificate of elec-
tion from me, and giving it to you, was illegal and fraudulent.
"Very respectfully,
"Geo. Q. Cannon."
The continuation of the history of this famous suit is from Mr. Campbell's
claim submitted to the Forty-seventh Congress of the United States. Mr. Camp-
bell filed his answer to Mr. Cannon's contest. The answer was as follows :
"Salt Lake City, Utah, February 26th, 1881.
"Geo. Q. Cannon, Esq.:
•' Sir : To your notice of January 20th, 1881, served on me on the 4th day of the present month,
8jo HISTORY OF SALT LAKE CIIY.
to the effect that you will contest my right to hold a seat in the House of Representatives of the Forty-
seventh Congress of the United States, as Delegate from the Territory of Utah, etc., I have the honor to
answer in respect to the facts alleged by you, and to state the grounds on which I rest the validity of my
election as follows :
"I. I admit that the returns of the election of Delegate to the Forty-seventh Congress of the United
States, held on the 26. day of November, 1881, in the several counties of the Territory of Utah, were
made to the Secretary of said Territory, of which copies are annexed to your notice and referred to
therein as rtiarked A, B, C, D, etc. But I deny that said returns showed, or that the fact was,
that 18,568 votes \vere legally cast for you at said election, or that you were legally or otherwise elected
to said office of Delegate from the Territory of Utah in the Forty-seventh Congress, or entitled to re-
ceive the certificate of election, or to be enrolled, sworn, or otherwise in any manner recognized as such
Delegate. I deny that said returns showed, or that the fact was, that I received less than one-thirteenth of
the votes legally cast at said election, or that I was not entitled to hold the said office of Delegate from
the Territory of Utah in the Forty-seventh Congress, or to be enrolled and sworn as such Delegate, or
to receive the certificate of election to said office.
"I deny that the action of the Governor of the Territory of Utah in withholding the certificate of
election from you and in giving it to me, was illegal or fraudulent.
"And I allege as the grounds of the foregoing denial and of my claim that my election was valid,
as follows :
"I. No statute Federal or Territorial, required or authorized said returns of said election to be placed
before the Governor of said Territory ; or authorized or required him to open or inspect said returns as
iht whole or any part of the evidence, on which he was required to determine the result of said election.
and this state of the law has been judicially declared in said Territory.
" 2. Said returns do not disclose the names, sex or qualifications of the voters whose votes are
therein aggregatedly stated.
"3. A large number of the voters who voted for you were females, and therefore not qualified to
vote for members of the Legislative Assembly in said Territory, and consequently not qualified to vote
for Delegate to Congress at said election. The number of such illegal votes can only be estimated, but
such votes were given in all the counties in relatively large numbers, and are an undistinguishable part of
the votes mentioned in each of said returns.
"4. You were not at the date of said election eligible or qualified, nor capable of being made eli-
gible or qualified to be elected to, or to serve in, said office of Delegate, because you were born a subject
of Great Britain, and have never been naturalized as a citizen of the United States ; you are not a man
of good moral character; you are not attached to the principles of the Constitution of the United States,
nor well disposed to the good order and happiness of the same ; you have been for many years a polyg-
amist, living and cohabiting with four women as wives, to whom you have joined yourself by a pretended
ceremony of marriage; you do not loyally yield assent and obedience to the act of Congress against polygamy
in the Territories ; you have for many years last past publicly endeavored to incite others to violate that
statute in the Territory of Utah — therefore all the votes given for you at said election are void.
" 5. At the time of said election on the second day of November, 1881, you were known through-
out the Territory of Utah to be an alien and not eligible to said office of Delegate. All the persons vot-
ing for you were aware, and had full notice, that you were an alien, unnaturalized, and disqualified to
hold any office under the laws of the United States, or of any of the Territories thereof
"6. I am a native born citizen of the United States and qualified by age and residence in said Ter-
ritory to be elected at said election to said office of Delegate to the House of Representatives of the
Forty-seventh Congress of the United States, and besides eight scattering votes cast at said election, I re-
ceived all the legal votes given at said election for said office of Delegate in the Forty-seventh Congress
from the Territory of Utah; that on the 8th day of January, 1881, the Governor of said Territory, in pur-
suance of the statute in such cases made and provided, and in the due and regular exercise of the power
in him vested, did declare and certify under his hand and the great seal of said Territory, that I was the
person having the greatest number of votes, and therefore duly elected as Delegate froin said Territory
to said Congress.
" Respectfully Yours,
"A. G. Campbell."
•' I hereby admit service of the within and foregoing notice to me directed by a copy delivered to me
personally at Washington, this the fifth day of March, A. D. 1881.
" Geo. Q Cannon."
4
HISTORY OF SALT LAKE CITY. 8ji
On a suit instituted before Chief Justice Hunter, at Salt Lake City, on the
8th day of June, 1881, in the name of the " United States ex rel. Allen G. Camp-
bell vs. George Q. Cannon," that court pronounced its judgment as follows:
"/« the District Court for the Third Judicial District of Utah Territory.
"The United States on the relation of Allen G. Campbell, Plaintiff, vs. George Q. Cannon,
Defendant.
" Complaint to annul a Certificate held by Defendant and used by him as a Cer-
tificate OF Naturalization.
" The demurrer of the defendant to the complaint filed in this action having been heretofore argued
by counsel for the respective parties, and taken under advisement ; and the court having duly considered
the same ; and it appearing to the court that the Attorney-General of the United States should file com-
plaint in behalf of the Government in such cases; and that from the facts stated in the complaint, which
are admitted by defendant's demurrer, that there is no record of defendant's naturalization, and that no
proceeding for that purpose ever took place in court, and that the certificate held by defendant as a cer-
tificate of naturalization was obtained by fraud and has been fraudulently used, and is void on its face in
not professing to be the copy of a record and not certifying a regular naturalization, and therefore that
there is no sufficient cause shown for annulling it, it is ordered that Ihe said demurrer be and the same is
hereby sustained, and that the complaint be and is hereby dismissed.
•'John A. Hunter. ///a^^.
"Attest, October 31st, 1881.
" H. G. McMillan, Deputy Clerk.
[SEAL.]
" Filed October 31, 1881."
Notwithstanding that Mr. Campbell did not obtain the seat in Congress,
which was scarcely expected either by himself or his political friends, the Utah
Liberal party considered that he won for it a great triumph in Congress, and on
his return he was received as a victor, not a defeated candidate.
The following review of the case from Hon. George Q. Cannon's great
speech, delivered to the House of Representatives on his retirement from Congress
after the passage of the Edmunds Bill, is the other half of this remarkable chap-
ter of our Territory:
" On the 2d day cf November, 1880, in a convention of delegates from all
parts of the Territory of Utah, I received, on my part, the unanimous nomina-
tion for delegate to this House. Notwithstanding all that has been said about
church and state, I assert here that there is no place in the United States where
there is greater freedom and greater liberty for the expression of opinions by the
people respecting the men whom they wish to serve them, than there is in the
Territory of Utah. Our political organization is entirely distinct from our church
organization. It is true that the members of the church are members of the
political party, because they are all — that is, the great bulk of the people, now
numbering over 120,000 according to the last census — members of that church.
We have no salaried ministers. Every man is a preacher who is a reputable man
among us. From the midst of the congregation men are called to preach, very
frequently without any previous notice. All the males over twenty-one years of
age of good repute hold office in the church. It is this, and this alone, which
can give any color to the statements that there is a connection between church
and state.
" Now, I wish to say here, though I have had probably as much influence in
8j2 HISTORY OF SALT LAKE CITY.
political matters as most of the men in the Territory of Utah, occupying as I do
a position of confidence among the people, I can state on my honor that beyond
the expression of an opinion as a citizen when asked, at no time and under no
circumstances have I endeavored to influence any man or any body of men in
the Territory of Utah respecting the selection of any one they had in view for
office. I have not myself used any influence of that kind that could possibly be
called by any one improper. When I speak this of myself of course I speak of
my own personal knowledge. But I think I can say the same for the rest of the
leading men of Utah. Whatever influence they have used has been always to
have the people select and vote for men who would worthily fill the offices.
Knowing the jealousy there is abroad respecting this matter, there is the greatest
care exercised so as to prevent anything from occurring which would give color
to the prejudice existing upon this point ; yet of course where men have influence,
if their opinions are asked their views will always have considerable weight.
"All the forms of political procedure prevail in Utah as in other Territories
and in the States. The people hold their primary meetings, elect delegates, and
those delegates ra^et in convention, sometimes instructed whom they are to vote
for and sometimes not, and every delegate has the right to express his views in
favor of or against any candidate, and to vote for whom he pleases, and as the se-
cret ballot prevails in Utah there can possibly be no interference on the part of
any one to prevent citizens from expressing their unbiased choice for any candi-
date. It was a convention of this kind, composed of delegates from all parts of
the Territory, which nominated me as Delegate to Congress. I had given my
friends to understand that I was not a candidate, and done so upon every previous
occasion when I had been nominated; for you know, gentlemen, the position I
have occupied here now for nine years is one which no one capable of filling the
place would desire to occupy. It is not pleasant to be made a target for every
man who wishes to gain credit for his morality to aim arrows at. In coming here,
however, I have been sustained by the consciousness that I was at a post of duty
where it was necessary for some one to represent the people and that I had the
sole support of my constituents. It was the unanimous feeling of the delegates
coming from all parts of the Territory that I should be nominated, and I received
their unanimous vote. At that time I was occupying the position of Delegate to
Congress. No question as to my eligibility had risen or could arise ; my consti-
tuents had the best of evidence in their possession that I was eligible from the
fact that I was at that time a Delegate in good standing in this House with an un-
questioned right to my seat, and was in the same position when I was voted for
and elected. Directly after the election I came here and took my seat and served
through the last session of the last Congress.
"But the governor of Utah Territory, having an idea that he had the oppor-
tunity to gain fame and make himself popular, entered, as I have full reason to be-
lieve, into a conspiracy with others to precipitate upon the country this question
for the agitation of which a favorable opportunity had been long sought, to fur-
nish some excuse for nullifying the election, and, either making the seat of the
delegate vacant, or have a man occupy it whom the people had refused to elect.
I having been born in a foreign land, he affected to entertain the belief that I was
1
II
ii
HISTORY OF SALT LAKE CITY. 833
not properly naturalized. At our last interview, before I came to Washington to
occupy my seat at the last session, he told me he thought some question would
arise on that point. I told him then that it was a matter which the House had
decided in the Forty- fourth Congress, that the question had been fully examined
and adjudicated, and I thought there ought to be some time in a man's life when
the statute of repose should intervene to prevent his being annoyed upon a ques-
tion of that kind, especially after it had been so thoroughly investigated. I told
him further that it was the province of Congress to decide upon the qualifications
of its members. But in accordance, as I believe, with this pre-arranged pro-
gramme, he withheld from me the certificate of election.
" I came here, as you know, and claimed my seat as I had done before. I
courted investigation. I have been willing that this charge should be thoroughly
re-examined, although, as I said, it was thoroughly investigated by the committee
on elections of the Forty-fourth Congress, who unanimously reported that I was
a citizen of the United States. Since this session began, a distinguished Repub
lican member of the committee on elections well-known, if not personally, at least,
by reputation, to every member of this House, Hon. Martin I. Townsend, told
me — and I will be pardoned for mentioning his name, because I have no doubt he
would be quite willing I should use it — *' Mr. Cannon, there is nothing whatever
in this charge about you not being a citizen. I went to the bottom of that case my-
self in the Forty-fourth Congress, and if you are not a naturalized citizen, I do not
know where to look for one." But at this session my case was referred, and four-
teen of a committee, composed of fifteen members of the House, have decided
that I was properly elected. Of that there can be no question ; for the governor
himself in my presence gave to the clerk of this House last winter his decision
upon the election ; and in response to my question, in the presence of the then
clerk of the House, ''Governor, do you admit that this is your official action?"
he replied that it was. In that decision he stated (and it is his duty under the
law to declare the result of the election) that I had received 18,568 votes and my
competitor 1,357. This is the decision also of your committee ; and further, they
decided after thorough discussion and examination that I am a citizen, and so far
as election and citizenship are concerned, am entitled to my seat.
" Mr. Speaker, it is now clear, that if 1 had my rights I should have come
here by law with a certificate from the Territory of Utah under the seal of the
Territory, signed by the Governor and countersigned by the Secretary of the
Territory. That would have been my position if I had not been defrauded of my
rights. I say "defrauded ; " it is not too strong a term. I was defrauded of my
rights and thus prevented from taking my seat on this floor; and the country has
been inundated with falsehood since the election eighteen months ago to make the
public believe that I was not eligible to a seat. I have been held in that position
until within a it^ weeks a law of Congress has been passed which now disqualifies
me in the opinion of many gentlemen on the other side who previously favored
my case and said that I could not be kept out of my seat on account of any
alleged disqualification arising out of my marital relations. I have been held in
this position, bound hand and foot, until the passage of this act, and now it is
63
8s4 HISTORY OF SALT LAKE CITY.
proposed to make this law operative against me to expel me literally from the
House, not by a two-thirds vote, but by a majority vote.
"If any gentlemen feel that they can vote thus to exclude me, and thns be jus-
tified because of the clamor that is raised about Utah, and the people of Utah,
and the religion of the people of Utah, I do not envy their feelings, but from the
bottom of my heart I pity them. Of course every man must be responsible to
himself and his constituency and his God for whatever vote he may cast. I do
not question the right of any man to vote as he thinks best. T do not quarrel
with any man on that account. His is the responsibility. I do not do so now ;
but I say it is a great wrong to thus act. Whatever may be said about my con-
stituents or myself does not justify the violation of the Constitution and the laws
in my case.
"It is conceded by the best lawyers in this House, if that recent law had not
been passed, my case would have been a good one, notwithstanding the report of
ihe committee on elections, and I could not have been kept out of my seat by that
report nor by any reasoning embodied in it. This is the unanimous opinion of
the best lawyers in the House. I h?d no fears about the subject myself. I was
undisturbed as to what the result would be. But when this law was passed, I knew
it was intended to furnish ground of justification for voting against me for many
who were doubtful previously as to what vote they should cast.
"Mr. Speaker, if religious prejudice, if religious animosity, if allegations against
the people of Utah are to be accepted as the foundations upon which action in my
case is to be based, then it is clear I am to be excluded, and cannot take my seat.
If these are to be accepted as reasons why Utah should not have representation,
then certainly all representation will be stricken down on this floor, and the seat
of the Delegate from Utah Territory, legally elected under the laws and under the
Constitution, will be declared vacant.
" But I ask you, gentlemen, all of you, who say the people of Utah shall obey
the law, will you who say we should comply with the law, religion or no religion,
will you set us the example by smiting law down here, in what ought to be the
temple of justice? Will you do this? Will you who ask equity from the people
of Utah do equity, or will you deny us equity, and say we shall not have it because
there are allegations made against Utah Territory; because they are falsely ac-
cused of everything that is vile, and charged with being bad men, just as the first
Christians were when Nero burned them, made torches of them, and justified him-
self in doing so — will you, because of the alleged bad character of the people of
Utah, be guilty of this great wrong ?
" I say to you, Mr. Speaker, that before I would be guilty of that, I would want
my right hand to loose its cunning and my tongue to cleave to the roof of my
mouth — ay! before I would tear out the corner-stone of this grand and glorious
temple of liberty which has been reared with so much costly toil and sacrifice,
tear out the corner-stone of the right of the people to representation.
"That, sir, has been conceded to Utah from the beginning. You now pre-
scribe by law certain disqualifications. This, upon no principle of fairness can ap-
ply to me. It would be an outrage to have it do so. It would be giving legisla-
tion a retro-active effect. I am just as eligible to this seat in Congress to day, as
I
HISTORY OF SALT LAKE CITY.
S35
I was the first Monday in December, 1873, when the Forty third Congress con-
vened in this Hall of Representatives ; for this new law does not affect me. I have
not exposed myself to its disqualifying clauses. My eligibility has not been inter-
fered with in the least. I have not committed any act which makes me any more
unsuitable to that position than I was at that time. And if this idea shall prevail
— which is the ground upon which the majority of the committee base their re-
port—that every Congress shall have the right to prescribe new qualifications for
Delegates to Congress, imagine the condition of the people of the Territorv.
They elect a man in good faith, believing they have a right to elect him, and
because of some whim or caprice, through some change in popular majorities,
when he presents himself, for some reason or other, he is objected to, and is told
he cannot have a seat in this House, because in the opinion of the majoritv he is
disqualified.
" It may be plural marriage to-day; it may be something else to-morrow, or
some offense, real or imaginary, the next day ; it may be the Mormon to day, the
man who believes in marriage, and it may be to-morrow the Shaker, the man who
does not believe in marriage. It may be the Catholic the next day, and so on to
suit the ever-varying whim of popular caprice, if Congress can prescribe new
regulations for the Delegates from the Territoiies. Such will be the inevitable
condition if the conclusions adopted by the majority of this committee shall
prevail.
'•'It has been stated that I represent a church; that I am the ambassador of
a church. Mr, Speaker, I represent the people of Utah Territory. I represent
no church, and yet I represent every church that exists in that Territory. I am
not here as an ambassador from any church. I am here because the voice of the
legally qualified people of Utah Territory have chosen me to represent them here.
It has been asserted also that I have no votes outside of the community of which
I am a member. I dispute that statement also. It is not true, if the testimony
of voters themselves can be believed, for they have stated to me, many of them,,
that they voted for me.
" We have a secret ballot in Utah Territory, and there is no means of know-
ing the candidates for whom votes are cast. I was voted for, if I may believe what
I am told, by many non-Mormons. My last contestant, that was in the Forty-fifth
Congress received over 4,000 votes. There has been an increase of the non-Mormon
element since that time, and as one prominent man from Utah said to me in this
city recently, 'Mr. Cannon, when we wish to get the seat of the Delegate from
Utah, we will send some man here with more votes than 1,357 to get the seat.'
This was said by a prominent non-mormon of that Territory, and if the entire
vote had been cast in the Territory at the last election, I have no doubt there
would be nearly 5,000 in opposition at that time. I am, therefore, a representa-
tive of the people of Utah, and if I do not represent them, certainly there is no
one to represent them; but I am here because the law of Congress says that Utah
Territory is entitled to a Delegate on this floor, and because the law said who
should vote for the Delegate, and because the votes were cast for me.
"But in regard to licentiousness concerning which so much has been said, I
wish to say a few words. Do gentlemen understand that if the people of my
8j6 HISTORY OF SALT LAKE CITY.
Territory, those who are accused of violating law in having more wives than one
— I say do gentlemen, in considering this question not understand that if licen-
tiousness and lechery were the objects to be accomplished, that the people could
reach this in a much cheaper and much more popular manner than by marrying
women and sustaining and making legitimate their children? Why it needs no
argument upon this point. The mere suggestion brings conviction to the mind
of any person who reasons that the methods in vogue elsewhere and which pro-
voke no wrath would be much more likely to have been adopted to accomplish
such a purpose if that had been the object. -^
♦'Why should I stand here and be assailed, abused, and denounced as I have
been for lechery, because of marrying wives. W^as it necessary that wives should
be taken to gratify sensuality ? I have no need to take any wife to accomplish
that. I have no need to take to myself the burden and responsibility of a family
for that purpose. The people I represent would not need to be kept out of the
Union (that being, we are told, the great reason that Utah has not sooner been
admitted as one of the States) if the motives which have been attributed to them
on this floor were the ones which have prompted them to contract marriages.
There would be no necessity to place themselves in such a peculiar position if the
gratification of passion were, as alleged, the sole object. What then, is it ?
"Mr. Speaker, the people of Utah have profound convictions concerning
many things. They have left their homes more than once for the sake of religion,
and have been forced to make themselves new homes in a distant land. Marri-
age is an institution concerning which they have strong convictions. It may be
.said that this is not religion ; but whether it is or not, they believe it to be re-
ligion. The Catholic has ideas as to what is religion. The Episcopalian has his
ideas also upon the same subject ; so with the Presbyterians the Methodists, the
Baptists, the Quakers, the Unitarians, and others ; and who shall decide, until
the great day when men shall be judged and rewarded or punished for the deeds
done in the body, between them.
" My constituents believe that God has given a command concerning marri-
age, and that he never gives a command without an object, and the object in this
instance is to redeem the human family from the terrible evils under which in mod-
ern society it groans. It may be asked how redeem them ? We answer by mak-
ing marriage honorable ; by uplifting it, by elevating it above its present condi-
tion ; by giving every woman an opportunity to be a wife and mother. To cut
off opportunity for prostitution and concubinage, and to leave no margin for lust
to prey upon. It may be said that the sexes are so evenly divided that there is
not sufficient disparity between their numbers to justify the adoption of such a
principle.
"The people of Utah do not believe that plural marriage ought to be or can
be universal. In Utah itself it is not possible, for the males out number the fe-
males. But give every woman the opportunity to marry, punish fornication and
adultery, and what woman would occupy an illicit relation with the other sex ?
The people of Utah believe marriage at the present time is falling into desuetude,
and in consequence corruption is spreading over the land, and we have felt that the
country was big enough to allow us in that far-off Utah, not interfering with others.
HISTORY OF SALT LAKE CITY. 837
not forcing our views upon others, to lest the effect of the patriarchal system of mar-
riage in checking the tide of vice and preventing the spread of evils which mod-
ern society acknowledges its powerlessness to extirpate.
" I do not think it would be wise under present circumstances, that I should
say anything more on this question. You may depend upon it, however, that
there are more arguments in its favor than you have heard here or are likely to
hear, and that the men and women choosing to embrace that principle are able to
assign good and sufficient reasons for doing so.
"I shall not allude to it from a scriptural standpoint. I may say, however,
that so far as the condemnation of the world is concerned, we are willing to be
placed upon the same plane with Abraham. And when we pray to go to Abra-
ham's bosom we expect he will not look upon us as aliens or law-breakers ; and
when we pray to go to the New Jerusalem over each of whose twelve gates is
written the name of each one of the twelve patriarchs, the sons of Jacob, we ex-
pect when we pass through these gates we shall not be ashamed to be known for
what we are.
" Since the commencement of this debate, the statement has been made so
frequently, that I feel as though I ought to say something in regard to it in con-
nection with this case ; I mean the statement respecting the alleged conduct of
the people of Utah in absorbing all the public lands. In the first speech on the
Utah case, the allegation was made that the people of Utah in pursuance of a
well-defined and settled policy, had absorbed all the public lands. It would seem
a^ though it were unnecessary for any person, and for myself particularly, to say
one word in relation to this matter, it being so well known that in Utah Territory,
as well as in the other Territories and States over which the land laws have been
extended, every person can obtain land that is not occupied, every citizen who
has the right to pre-empt or homestead land, and that there is no power in the lo-
cal legislatures to alienate the lands or to take away the title and bestow it upon
any individual. Acts of the Legislative Assembly of Utah Territory have been
quoted to sustain the idea that they have really given title or sought to dispose
of the public lands. At no time and under no circumstances was any action of
this kind taken with a view to bestow the ownership or title upon any person
who might occupy the land or to whom any grant might be given.
" But our canyon roads had to be made, and it required some action on the
part of the Legislature to induce men to build costly roads into our mountains
and to build bridges over our canyon streams. I have known canyon roads there
costing over 1 12,000 to be swept away in a single storm. Grants of this kind were
given in the early days of the Territory for such purposes, and also for herd
grounds and other purposes, that local rights might be preserved. If such had
been the design it would have been futile. We lived in Utah. Territory twenty years
before the land laws were extended over us ; we had to do the best we could. As
soon as these laws were extended over our Territory we then obtained title to our
lands. These towns which have been spoken of could only get the same amount
of land to their population that towns in other parts of the United States obtained.
Where the inhabitants number one hundred, the law says, and less than two hun-
dred, sites shall embrace not exceeding 320 acres, and s The highest r.uni-
8j8 HISTORY OF SALT LAKE CITY.
ber that was allowed was 1,280 acres. That was to a town containing 5,000 inhab-
itants. Now, Salt Lake City had outgrown the conditions for which the town-
site act was designed, and the inhabitants could not obtain title under it to their
homes My predecessor, Hon. W. H. Hooper, succeeded in getting a special
act of Congress passed to meet the exigency.
"The boundaries of the incorporated cities of Utah Territory were made
very extensive. There was a very good reason for this. It is to be found in the
facts that the settlements of Utah Territory were differently situated from those
of every other part of the country. We had to do our farming by means of irri-
gation. We had to adopt the Mexican system of living in pueblos or villages.
And it was thought a wise thing for municipal authority to be extended over the
farms, the fields, the water, so that the water could be controlled and come within
municipal regulations, and that men who farmed in the country might be within
the towns, and have the social advantages, the school advantages and other ad-
vantages that there were to be obtained. Besides, it was an Indian country, and
we had to live in villages to secure protection. But under the old law no man
could pre-empt inside of an incorporated city. This was found out after the land
laws were extended over the Territory.
" It was not supposed at the time these corporations were granted that they
would thus interfere with the settlement of lands outside of the town-side limits ;
and it put the Mormon people as much as it did all others to great inconvenience.
They could not obtain title to their lands any more than any one else until a la'v
was passed by Congress which relieved the people in that respect in that Terri-
tory and in all the Territories; so that every settler that came within the limits
of an incorporated city could obtain his land if it was open to pre-emption or
homestead entry. That is all there is connected with this allegation that the
people of Utah have plastered the whole country with their incorporations in
order to prevent settlement.
"Another point, Mr. Speaker, in connection with this case. Let the resolu-
tion that has been proposed by the majority of the committee on elections be
adopted and what will be the result ? Nearly eighteen months have elapsed since
the election for this Congress. President Hayes was President of the United
States at that time. President Garfield succeeded him. President Authur now
fills the executive chair. During these three administrations the Governor of
Utah Territory, who ruthlessly violated the law and robbed the people of their
franchises, still occupies that position.
" Let this seat of the Delegate from Utah be declared'vacant, and you say to
every Governor in the United States who acts as a ministerial officer, in declaring
the results of elections, 'You can give certificates to men not elected with im-
punity if we are in power, as was done in the Utah case, and no one will call you
in question.' And the returning board which goes to Utah Territory under the
law just passed, if not superior men, will feel emboldened to do the same thing
with every man who may be elected under that law, and who may be displeasing
to a majority of the board. They may assume the same right, and say to the
man, 'You have received the votes, but we question your right, your eligibility,
II
HISTORY OF SALT LAKE CITY.
&j9
and we refuse to give you the certificate.' Gentlemen can you see what -ihe effect
will be?
" You may depend upon it that the consequences of this action, if the report
of the majority of the committee be adopted, will not end with Utah Territory.
Crystalize this fraud, make it effective by your votes, and its consequences will
be far-reaching and extensive The delegate-elect from Utah may be an insig-
nificant person, but a great principal is involved in this case. It will not be the
Mormons always. There will be some one else, perhaps, who will be unpopular.
There will be some party in the minority against whom strong prejudices will be
aroused and strong feehngs evoked. I'his case will be cited as a precedent for
refusing right and justice to such persons and it will be pleaded in justification
that this Forty-seventh Congress indorsed such action by sustaining the report of
the majority of the committee on elections. A great wrong of this character can-
not be perpetrated even upon the people of Utah without producing terrible
results, which will be far-reaching and wide-spread.
" There is one statement which I feel that I ought not to permit to pass un-
challenged. It was stated upon this floor by the gentleman from Pennsylvania,
[Mr. Beltzhoover,] and he assigned it as a strong reason for joining in the majority
report, that in the Forty-third Congress I had unequivocally denied that I was
what I have since acknowledged myself to be. And the gentleman from Ten-
nessee, [Mr. Pettibone,] made that the foundation for his argument. He read
from the statement which I made in the Forty-third Congress, and he certainly
has an admirable way of reading anything so as to make it suit the purpose of his
own argument. He read :
" I deny that I am now living with four wives.
"And then he paused. Well, if that was without qualification it would look
as though the gentleman from Pennsylvania was quite correct in saying that I had
unequivocally denied the accusation. But there is something else in the sentence.
There is a parenthetical sentence — ' or that I am living or cohabiting with any
wives ' — which may be omitted. It will read then in this way.
" I deny that I am now living with four wives in defiance or willful violation of the laws of Con-
gress, etc
'T denied it then and I can deny it now. I never defiantly or wilfully violated
any law. In response to the tenth allegation contained in the statement, I said :
'' I deny that I am now living or have ever lived in violation of the laws of God, man, my country,
decency, or civilization, or any law of the United States,
" Every lawyer knows that in pleading for the purposes of the action in con-
troversy, allegations are denied and proofs are called for, or a defendant might
violate the old common-law rule that a man is not bound to accuse himself, but to
leave the burden of proof to rest upon his opponent. But to show that the mem-
bers of the committee in the Forty-third Congress understood exactly my position,
fori want to make it so clear that it cannot be disputed, that that issue was
raised and was accepted and was recognized as the true issue, I will read from
their report. Before doing so I may say that the full committee decided, not-
withstanding the accusation that had been made that I was not entitled to my
840 HISTORY OF SALT LAKE CITY.
seat because of marital relations, that the^e relations were not a disqualification
for a seat upon this floor, and the majority reported these resolutions :
1, Resolved, That George R. Maxwell was not elected, and is not entitled, to a seat in the House
of Representatives of the Forty-third Congress as Delegate from the Territory of Utah.
2. Resolved, That George Q. Cannon was elected and returned as a Delegate from the Territory
of Utah to a seat in the Forty-third Congress.
" There the majority of the committee stopped. But a minority of the com-
mittee reported the following resolution :
'■'Resolved, That George Q. Cannon was duly elected and returned as Delegate from the Territory
of Utah, and is entitled to a seat as a Delegate in the Forty-third Congress.
*' The issue in controversy, and upon whicii the contest was based, was
brought plainly before the House, and the House by about a two thirds vote
adopted the majority report and the supplemental minority report. In the re-
port which was made by the minority of the committee it was stated that —
" The majority of the committee have failed and decline to report a resolution to the effect that
George Q. Cannon was entitled to the seat upon the ground that he was disqualified by reason of the
fact thas he was the husband of more than one wife, and, as is assumed, is guilty of a violation of the act
of Congress, etc.
" You will see by this that the issue was fairly brought before the committee
on elections ; it was not only brought fairly before the committee on elections, but
it was brought fairly before this House. And this House, with the full knowledge
of all the facts, thoroughly conversant with the statement made concerning me
upon this point, and which I neither disputed nor denied, this House of a Repub-
lican Congress, by a vote of about two-thirds of the members present, confirmed
me in my seat.
" In the Forty fourth Congress the same issue was made and the same resolu-
tions were adopted. The House being pressed for time on account of business,
the sub-committee did not report to the House thinking it unnecessary to do so,
as I already had my seat.
After I had been confirmed to my right to a seat in the Forty-third Congress,
a resolution was introduced by a member of the committee on elections, making
charges against me concerning marriages, and the committee was authorized to
investigate the matter. The committee in submitting their report, made this
statement :
" Your committee think the evidence, unchallenged as it is by the Delegate, establishes, etc.
" That is, that I was living with more wives than one. The committee then
reported a resolution that George Q. Cannon, Delegate from Utah, being found,
upon due consideration and the evidence submitted and not controverted by said
Cannon, to be an actual polygamist, etc.,
" The committee was authorized to report to the House, but when it did re-
port, the House refused to consider the report, and the case was dismissed.
"That was in the Republican Foity-third Congress.
" Mr. Speaker, I rind myself in this position : I am here as the delegate from
Utah Territory, regularly elected, properly qualified, fully entitled to the seat.
My constituents, as well as myself, believed at the time of my election that there
was no barrier to prevent me from taking my seat. Nothing has occurred since
HISTORY OF SALT LAKE CITY.
841
my election to interpose any such barrier. All these charges which are made
against my constituency, which I have not time to allude to in detail or to dis-
prove, but which I do state are false, all these charges were in existence years and
years ago. They were in existence in the Forty-sixth Congress, in the Forty-
fifih, in the Forty-fourth, in the Forty-third Congress. I have sat here during
those Congresses. My right to my seat has been fully vindicated by the House.
I came here under precisely the same circumstances then that I come now. But
it is now said that a law of Congress has been enacted which prevents me from
taking my seat ; that by the operation of this law I am excluded, and the seat is
to be declared vacant. If this proposed resolution be sustained, then I say fraud
will be supplemented by this method of strangling, of murdering the representa-
tion of the Territory of Utah on this floor.
"If the report of the majority of this committee shall be sustained, I shall
leave this Hall of Representatives with a feeling and a conscience which will give
me far more satisfaction in the days to come than if I were a member of this House
and voted in favor of the adoption of the report of the majority declaring this
seat vacant. I am a resident of Utah Territory, and one of those people who
are everywhere spoken against, and against whom many vile charges are made,
as were made against their predecessors, the Church of Christ, in the early days,
and as Jesus predicted would be the case ; yet I do respect my oath, and I pity
any gentleman who, with nothing to sustain him but popular sentiment, is willing
to trample upon the Constitution and the law, and to strike down a people against
whom popular sentiment is strong.
[Here the hammer fell.]
''Mr. Speaker and gentlemen of the House, I thank you for your kind
indulgence."
CHAPTER XC.
POLITICAL CAMPAIGN OF 1882. NOMINATION OF JOHN T. CAIXE. VAN ZILES
CHALLENGE. THE CANDIDATES BEFORE THE PEOPLE. VICTORY OF THE
PEOPLE'S PARTY,
The action opened with the meeting of the Convention of the People's Party,
in the City Hall, Salt Lake City, on Monday, the loth of October, The Conven-
tion soon adjourned until the following Thursday without having effected its regu-
lar organization , the temporary chairman was R, K. Williams, now of Ogden, late
chief justice of Kentucky.
On the nth of October, the Convention of the Liberal Party met at the
Walker Opera House. Business commenced by a temporary organization with M.
M. Kaighn, Esq., as chairman; the organization was perfected with Judge Mc-
Bride as regular chairman. The delegates quickly came to the adoption of the
following platform of the Liberal Party of Utah.
64
842 HISTORY OF SALT LAKE CITY.
"The Liberal Party of Utah Territory, composed of citizens of all shades of
political opinion, finding itself confronted by a condition of local affairs so anom-
alous in character as to make the partizan distinction known in other portions of
the United States of minor importance ; and being assembled in convention for
the purpose of nominating a candidate for Delegate to the Forty-eighth Congress
from this Territory, and being desirous that the public may fully understand the
reasons which influence us in discarding the current political distinctions prevailing
elsewhere, and justifying our independent action, do hereby proclaim the follow-
ing platform of principles :
" I. That the highest political duty of every American citizen is to be loyal
to the nation under whose flag he lives, and to yield ready obedience to all the laws
enacted by its authority to effect its conduct and government.
" 2. That we are in favor of equal and exact justice to all citizens with-
out regard to nativity, creed or sect, and the honest enforcement of the laws against
all off'enders, without regard to their opinions, social, religious or political.
"3. That the laws of Congress heretofore passed for the purpose of suppress-
ing polygamy, practiced in Utah under the pretense of a religious right and duty,
and to prevent the Mormon Church from perverting the local government provi-
ded by the Organic Act, into a means of advancing the interests of that sect in
disregard of the rights of those not of that faith, have our emphatic approval and
support, and the effort thus far successful of that Church to prevent the execution
of those laws stamp it as a law- defying organization, of which we express the most
positive condemnation,
"4. We arraign the Mormon power in Utah on the following grounds : it
exalts the Church above the State in matters of purely administrative and political
concern. It perverts the duty of the representative in official and legislative mat-
ters by demanding that the interests and wishes of that sect and of the priesthood
shall be made paramount considerations. It destroys the freedom of the citizen by
assuming the right to dictate his political action and control his ballot. It teaches
that defiance of the law of the land when counseled by its priesthood is a relig-
ious duty. It encourages jurors and witnesses, when attempts are made in the or-
dinary course of law to punish the crime of polygamy, to disregard their duties in
order to protect offenders who are of their faith. It discourages immigration and
settlement upon the public lands, except by its own adherents, and by intolerance
and gross personal outrages on non-Mormon settlers, drives them from the com-
mon domain. It restricts commerce and busmess enterprise by commanding its
members to deal only with houses of which it approves, thus creating vast monop-
olies in trade in the interests of a ^qw men, who engross the favor of its hierarchy
and enjoy the income of its people. It oppresses the people by taxation, unequal
and unjust, and its officers neither make nor are they required to give any satisfac-
tory account of the disbursement of public funds. It taxes the people to build
school houses and therein teaches the tenets of the sect by teachers licensed only
by its priesthood — most of whom are incompetent and unlearned except in Mor-
mon doctrines. It fills the public offices v/ith bigoted sectarians and servants,
without regard to capacity for official station or public employment. It divides
the people into classes by religious distinction and falsely teaches its adherents
f
Ji
HISTORY OF SALT LAKE CITY. 843
that those not of their faith are their enemies, thus sowing suspicions and bigotry
among the masses. It confers on woman the suffrage and then forces her to use it
under the lash of its priesthood, to perpetuate their power and her own degredation.
It robs thousands of women of honorable wedlock and brands their children with
dishonor, so that they may be forever deterred from any effort for relief from its
grasp. In a word, it has made Utah a land of disloyalty, disaffection and hatred
toward the Government ; has retarded its growth, prosperity and advancement;
set its people at variance and discord with the fifty millions of people in the Uni-
ted States, and made its' history a reproach to the Nation. For these offenses, to
which many more might be added, we arraign the Mormon power in Utah, and
invoke against it and its monstrous pretentions and practices the considerate judg-
ment of the citizen voter, the statesman and the Christian, and humbly submit
that our attitude toward it is not only justified but demanded by every considera-
tion that ought to control the true American citizen in the discharge of political
duty.
" 5. That while this organization, calling itself a church, asks immunity for
its acts on a plea of religious belief, it is in reality a social, commercial and polit-
ical body ; and while we recognize the fact that many of its members are con-
trolled by honest motives, and would, if freed from their obligations to the body,
be faithful citizens, we equally assert that the organization is an enemy of all gov-
ernment except its own, and that there can be no fair and impartial civil govern-
ment in Utah while the Mormon Church is permitted to control the law-making
power.
" 6. That while the act of June, 1874, commonly known as the Poland Bill,
the act of March, 1882, commonly known as the Edmunds Bill, with the Hoar
amendment of July, 1882, have all given great relief to the non-Mormons of
Utah, and while for this legislation we express our sincere thanks to the senators
and representatives who originated and passed it; we here repeat the resolve of our
last Territorial Convention, that no attempted remedy which leaves the political
power of the Territory under the control of the Mormon priesthood will ever be
successful in reforming the evils we complain of, and that the peaceful, thorough
and effective remedy will only be found by the adoption of a measure by which
the legislative power of the Territory shall be given to a Council or Commission
appointed by and under the authority of the United States, and answerable to it
for the faithful performance of its duties.
" 7. That we hail with joy the dawn of a brighter day for priest-ridden
Utah, and we invite the loyal, independent members of the Mormon Church to
co-operate with us in an honorable political effort to confine the churcli to its le-
gitimate work, and free every voter from priestly dictation ; to drive from office
the men who have squandered our municipal, county and Territorial funds, and
to hold our official servants to the strictest accountability ; to establish and main-
tain a system of unsectarian free schools ; to develop the varied material inter-
ests of this wonderfully rich Territory; to harmonize the antagonism engendered
by the arbitrary, intolerant rule of the now defunct polygamous dynasty ; and, in
fine, to lay broad and deep the foundation of a loyal, intelligent and enduring
commonwealth.
844 HISTORY OF SALT LAKE CITY.
" 8. That in Eli H. Murray, our present governor, we recognize a faithful,
fearless, and patriotic public officer, one who, in denying a certificate of election
to an alien and polygamist as a delegate to the Forty-seventh Congress, and in
granting such certificate to the only person eligible at that election, performed
his official duty in a bold, manly, and patriotic manner, and opened the way to a
contest which resulted in the defeat and rout of the representative of polygamy
from the hall of the National Congress ; and we further give to Governor Murray,
in his attempt to discharge the duty imposed by the Hoar amendment, our cordial
approbation, and announce it as our opinion that but for the treasonable counsels
of the Mormon hierarchy, urging resistance to the appointments made by his Ex-
cellency, the present unseemly contest to nullify the laws by opposition in the
courts would not have been made.
<'9. That in the Edmunds law, and the Hoar amendment, the latter sug-
gested by the judicious wisdom of the patriotic and faithful judges of our Supreme
Court, we recognize that Congress has determined that means shall be adopted
adequate to reform the political condition ot Utah ; that we express our gratitude
for those measures, and pledge ourselves to labor to make them effective for the
purposes intended.
" lo. That the judicious conduct of the Utah Election Commission in con-
ducting the registration of voters for 1882, under circumstances of great and pe-
culiar difficulties, challenges our admiration and approval, and we truly tender to
the Commission the thanks of citizens who have learned to appreciate the pros-
pect of a fair vote and an honest count.
" II. That this convention represents, in the non-Mormon population, not
less than thirty thousand fair-minded, loyal, just and patriotic people, and we
resent with indignation the assertion and imputation that in urging the reforma-
tion of notorious abuses in the government of this Territory, we are organizing a
scheme to plunder the Mormons of their property and worldly possessions ; and
whether such imputations emanate from the priesthood, whose political power we
oppose, or their tools of the press, or any other power, subsidized or not, we de-
nounce it as without color of support in fact, and the vile concoction of villifiers
and slanderers.
" 12. That to Allen G. Campbell, the standard-bearer of the Liberal party
for the last two years, we express our admiration and gratitude for his services and
his faithfulness to the Liberal cause."
One after the other the counties nominated Allen G. Campbell and quickly
the nomination was made unanimous. A committee was appointed to wait upon
Mr, Campbell who on his appearance, gracefully declined the nomination.
Most likely this was expected. Philip T. Van Zile was doubtless intended as the
standard-bearer of the Liberal party of Utah in this campaign, but all felt that the
offer of the nomination was first due to Allen G. Campbell for past services.
Philip T. Van Zile was next nominated by E. P. Ferry of Park City, chairman of
the delegation from Summit County. Other delegates briskly followed upon the
same name, after which there came a division in favor of Judge McBride.
Against this division several members protested, and both Van Zile and McBride
declined the nomination that afternoon. This caused an adjournment to the next
HISTORY OF SALT LAKE CITY. 845
morning, when Judge Philip T. Van Zile was again nominated by the delegate
from Summit County, and chosen by the unanimous vote ot th^ convention. A
committee was appointed to notify Judge Van Zile, who, on making his appear-
ance in the convention, was received by the members standing, and welcomed
with great enthusiasm. He accepted the nomination and made a very conserva-
tive, effective speech, in which he confessed the prospect of defeat, but affirmed
that the influence of their work in the coming campaign would, in effect, be a
victory for the Liberal party.
On Thursday, pursuant to adjournment, the convention of the People's party
again met, organized, and proceeded to business, electing Wilson H. Dusenberry,
president. Much important business was done for the People's party on this day,
but the crowning work was reserved for the following day.
Friday, October 13th, in the afternoon the committee on resolutions and de-
claration of principles, reported through its chairman, Mr. S. R. Thurman, and
the reading of the platform of the People's party was given to Mr. F. S. Richards.
DECLARATION OF PRINCIPLES.
" The People's party, struggling for supremacy of constitutional law and the
sacred privilege of local self-government, submit the following declaration of
principles :
" I. We believe that the protection of life, liberty and the pursuit of hap-
piness is the object of free government, and that the Constitution of the United
States was ordained and established to secure the greatest possible liberty to man,
woman, and child, consistent with public welfare.
" 2. We believe that free government can only exist where the people gov-
erned participate in the administration thereof.
" 3. We believe that any party or faction of a political community that
seeks to subvert the institutions of local self-government, aims a deadly thrust at
the Constitution, and that such party or faction is unworthy the suffrages of a free
people.
4. We believe that any official who attempts to stifle the popular voice as ex-
pressed at the ballot box, is guilty of treason against the sovereign people.
5. We believe that the right to frame laws suited to the requirements of the
lerritory having been vested by Congress in the Legislature elected by its citizens,
to deprive them of that right by substituting a commission, arbitrarily appointed,
and thus disfranchise a hundred and fifty thousand people, and reduce them to a
condition of serfdom, would be unprecedented in the history of the nation — an
act that could not be justified by any actual necessity, and that the attempt by a
pretended political party to create such a revolution in the government of this
Territory is worthy only of conspirators and political adventurers.
6. We believe in the right*of the people of a Territory, as well as of a State,
to test, in the courts established by the government, the constitutionality or con-
struction of any enactment, local or congressional, and express our astonishment
at the public declaration of a high Federal official of this Territory, and the enun-
ciation by a so-called political party that the people have no rights except such as
Congress may grant to them, and that to differ with the Territorial executive
84^^ HISTORY OF SALT LAKE CI2Y.
about the construction of a statute is nullification. We utterly repudiate such a
monstrous doctrine as worthy alone of the most absolute despotism, and claim
that the United States Constitution, in its benign provisions, extends alike over
the States and Territories of the American Union, and that it is the bounden
duty of the Governor, as much as the humblest citizen, to yield obedience to the
laws as they are construed by the courts. We utterly repudiate the unconstitu-
tional attempt by any executive to usurp judicial or legislative functions, and to
hold the American citizen bound by the partial, prejudiced, unfair, and illegal
construction which he may see fit to place upon any statute.
"7. Citizenship is the basis of the right of suffrage. While the elective
franchise is a privilege conferred by law, the qualifications for its exercise grow
out of the condition of citizenship, and as citizenship is not dependent upon
sex or regulated thereby, whatever right of voting originates in the citizenship of
men inheres also in the citizenship of women. Female citizens, equally witli
male citizens, are amenable to the law, therefore they are entitled to an equal
voice with men in the framing of the law. As all just powers of government are
derived from the consent of the governed, and that consent is expressed by the
suffrage, and as women as well as men are made subject to the government of this
country, the denial of the suffrage to women is inconsistent with the principles
which underlie our national institutions. The mural and intellectual, as well as
physical excellence of our sons and daughters being largely dependent upon the
mothers who bear and train them, the women of the nation should be endowed
with full political freedom, that, being made familiar with political rights and prin-
ciples, they may be able to instill into the hearts of the rising generation the
spirit of patriotism, the love of liberty, and a reverence for republican institu-
tions. For twelve years the women citizens of Utah have enjoyed the right to
vote at all elections in this Territory, and have exercised it with credit to them-
selves and to the benefit of the community, and the People's party hereby de-
nounces the attempts which have been made to deprive women voters of the right
of suffrage, as illiberal and unmanly assaults upon vested rights and upon justice,
equality, and the principle of popular sovereignty.
" 8. We believe in an honest and economical administration of government,
and point with pride to the economy and honesty with which the public affairs
have been administered by officers elected from the ranks of the People's party,
and also to the fact that the taxes in Utah are lighter than any other Territory ;
the Territory is out of debt ; the counties, with one or two exceptions, are in the
same satisfactory condition. The records fail to furnish any instance of embez-
zlement or misappropriation of public funds by any official of that party. On the
the other hand, when, by frauds committed at the polls, Tooele County was
wrested from the popular control, the taxes of the county were shamefully misap-
propriated and embezzled ; county scrip depreciated from par to less than fifteen
cents on the dollar, and even by the economy and honesty of the People's officials,
who have resumed control of its affairs, and although its paper is now worth
ninety per cent., Tooele County is not yet quite out of debt and has not fully re-
covered from the evils of * Liberal ' rule.
9. We repudiate and deny the charges of lawlessness which have been
li
HISTORY OF SALT LAKE CITY.
847
e
made against the people of Utah, and as proof that those slanders are without
foundation, we point to the records of the courts, the chief of which are not in any
way in the control of the people, and which demonstrate the striking fact that th
so-called * Liberal ' class, constituting less than twenty pur cent, of the population
of the Territory, furnishes over eighty per cent, of the criminals.
" 10. We further repudiate and deny the charges that in Utah a church
dominates the slate; that priestly control is exercised in any manner to infringe
upon the freedom of the individual, either at the polls, in convention or in any
official capacity ; that perjury or falsehood of any kind is justified, whether for
the protection of persons from the action of law or for any other purpose what-
ever; that intolerance is exhibited either for the discouragement of emigration,
the settlement of the public domain or invasion of the rights of any individual ;
that any unequal taxation is either encouraged or permitted ; that public accounts
are not given of the expenditure of public moneys ; that the tenets of a church are
taught in the district schools, or that the people are influenced to disloyalty cr
antagonism to the'government of the United States or any of its representatives.
"11. We affirm that it is the duty of every American citizen to render obe-
dience to the Constitution of the United States and every law enacted in pursu-
ance thereof. •
" 12. We affirm with confidence that the Territory of Utah, having the
requisite population and exhibiting all the qualifications necessary to self-govern-
ment, its people being exceptionally honest, thrifty, sober, frugal and peaceable,
is entitled to admission into the Union as a sovereign State.
" 13. We pledge ourselves as a party to the maintenance and defence of
constitutional principles and the inalienable rights of mankind, and proclaim our-
selves the friends of true liberty — civil, political and religious, to all people in
every part of the habitable globe."
The reading of the resolutions was received with prolonged applause, and a
vote of thanks was tendered to the committee that framed them.
Mr. Penrose said that to be consistent with one of the planks in the platform
the women citizens should have some representation in the Territorial Central
Committee. He therefore moved that the lady delegates be permitted to nomi-
nate two ladies as members of that committee. Carried.
Mrs. Home nominated Mrs. E. B. Wells, and Mrs. Howard nominated Mrs.
M. I. Home. Those ladies were added to the committee.
The convention then proceeded to nominate candidates for the office of del-
egate to Congress, and on motion of R. K- Williams, nominations were left free
to every delegate. Judge Williams nominated F. S. Richards, of Ogden. The
nomination was seconded, but Mr. Richards firmly and respectfully declined, and
in a neat but brief speech nominated Hon. John T. Caine. Seconded by C. W.
Penrose. J. R. Murdock nominated W. H. Hooper and urged his claims to the
position. Seconded by S. R. Thurman. Mr. J. R. Winder announced that
Captain Hooper having heard that his name had been mentioned as delegate
wished to decline.
Mr. Thurman stated that he had come here prepared to nominate Warren 8,
Dusenberry, but as he had requested that his name should not be presented, he
848 HISTORY OF SALT LAKE CITY.
endorsed the nomination of W. H, Hooper, and passed a deserved eulogy on that
gentleman.
Mr. Penrose endorsed the sentiments expressed in relation to Captain W. H.
Hooper, but urged the qualifications of Hon. John T. Caine as a man of ability
and experience in many positions.
Mr. Crecr supported the nomination of Capt. Hooper.
Mr. Richards being again mentioned, that gentleman with thanks for the
honor asked that his name be not mentioned in this connection, but that his
friends would cast their votes for Mr. Caine.
Judge Williams was in favor of voting, and then if either gentleman was
nominated who wished to decline he could do so.
Mr. Dunn supported Mr. Hooper.
On motion, the Convention proceeded to ballot. The chairman of each dele-
gation collected the ballots of his county. On the first ballot John T. Caine re-
ceived 53 votes, W. H. Hooper 12 ; F. S. Richards 3; necessary to a choice 46.
On motion of Judge Williams, the nomination was made unanimous.
John T. Came was declared to be the nominee of the Convention.
On motion of Mr. Graham a committee of three was appointed to wait upon
Mr, Caine, as follows : J. C. Graham, Geo. M. Ottinger, and Mrs. M. I. Home.
On motion of Mr. Penrose, the Convention proceeded to nominate a delegate
for the unexpired term of the Forty-seventh Congress.
Captain Hooper's claims were urged with great force by several delegates.
Mr. Richards again nominated Mr. Caine. C. W. Penrose explained the pro-
priety of sending the same man to the remaining session of the Forty-seventh
Congress as for the full term of the Forty-eighth.
The first ballot resulted : John T. Caine, 48; W. H. Hooper, 22; necessary
to a choice, 46. John T. Caine received the nomination, and it was made unani-
mous.
Mr. Stanford offered the followmg:
Mr. Chairman — I move that the delegations composing this convention see
that mass meetings in their several counties throughout the Territory are held to
ratify the principles contained in our platform and canvass for a mammoth vote in
favor of our nominee for the Delegateship to Congress. Carried.
Hon. John T. Caine being escorted to the Convention hall by the committee,
responded as follows :
"Mr. President, Ladies and Gentlemen : — I am informed by your committee
that you have been pleased to select me as your nominee for Delegate to Congress.
I thank you sincerely for this manifestation of your confidence. If you think it
is for the best, if you, as the representatives of the people want me, I can only say
that I have always held myself in readiness to obey any call of the party to which
I owe allegiance ; and, relying on your confidence and your support, I accept the
nomination. I do not by any means consider the position an enviable one, for it
involves much labor and many unsatisfactory outcomes ; but since some one has
to endure it, since some one must be abused, why not I be the target as well as
any one else? I have no set speech prepared. I am not a professional speech-
maker, for it has not been my occupation ; neither are those who compose the
HISTORY OF SALT LAKE CITY. 849
People's party speech-makers by profession — we are workers, rather; but we know
our rights, and dare to defend them against any opposition. I can say that I am
proud of being a citizen of Utah, despised though she may be by many ; I am
proud of being a member of the People's party and to be associated with those
heroes (for so I look upon them) who labored and toiled and suffered hardships to
make this Territory a delightful habitation for us who now enjoy the fruits that
have resulted from their trials and sufferings. Who made the roads? built the
bridges? subdued the savages? destroyed the snakes? and made this once barren
waste a fair spot on the earth? Who but the founders of the People's party? and
to them I think all honor is due. I do not wish to disparage the labors of others,
those who have developed the mines and established useful and profitable indus-
tries. I would accord to them full honor and fair words for what they have done ;
but had they come here when many of the necessities of life had to be freighted
by ox teams a distance of 1,000 dreary miles ; had they to pay the almost unbear-
able prices that these commodities commanded ; had they been forced to subdue
all the conflicting conditions which were rank when the people came here, I would
like to know how many of the mines would have been developed, and what would
be the condition of this Territory to-day? And yet a certain class would deprive
these pioneers, these heroes, of the meagre right of casting their votes for the per-
sons who are to labor for them as public servants. Is this right ? Is this mag-
nanimous on the part of the parent government ? It is not ; it is not right ; it is
not magnanimous, and it is this injustice that calls for our indignation. We have
some rights which are guaranteed to us by the Constitution and laws of the coun-
try, and we propose to show such persons that we know how to defend these rights.
We can no longer submit silently and endure as we have done, but we will fight it
out this time, if it takes all summer, if it takes all winter, or if it takes all the time
we live upon the earth ! "
The speech was frequently interrupted by applause, and the conclusion called
for an additional burst.
The following was offered by Mr. C. W. Penrose :
^^Resolved, That in the Hon, George Q. Cannon the people of Utah have had
an able, upright and fearless gentleman as their Delegate in Congress for several
sessions ; that his exclusion from the present Congress was a cruel blow aimed at
the right of representation ; that the honorable gentleman has the confidence, es-
teem, and admiration ot the People's party, and that we hereby tender him the
thanks of the people for his faithful services in their behalf."
On motion of Mr, R. Baty, 20,000 copies of the resolutions and declaration
of principles was ordered printed in pamphlet form for distribution by the Terri-
torial Central Committee.
On motion of Mr. A. Hatch, a vote of thanks was tendered to the president
and all officers of the Convention.
The minutes were read and accepted. Benediction by the chaplain. Ad-
journed sine die.
The Central Committees of both parties had resolved at this great test election
on a thorough and most vigorous campaign throughout the Territory, the standard
bearer of each party taking the platform with his ablest lieutenants. It was the
8so HISTORY OF SALT LAKE CITY.
first time in our elections that the two parties had fairly recognized each other
frankly and conjointly accepting the idea of the "irrepressible conflict " between
them, to be fought out by political leaders and the votes of American citizens.
Hitherto our election contests had been rather between the Mormons, as a church,
and the anti Mormons, as a body of crusaders in deadly conflict to overthrow
that church. This time, at least in profession, they informally agreed to accept
each other as purely political parties, contesting for the rule of the Territory by
the sovereign votes of American citizens. Strictly and conscientiously this seems
to have been the case with the leaders of the People's party, and the reasons for
this judgment are obvious and sound. In the first place, the Mormon Church, as
such, may be said to have been politically outlawed by the Edmunds bill and the
action of the Utah Comission. The principal churchmen had been disfranchised,
and so the entire burden of the conflict rested upon the people as a political
party.
Immediately upon the nomination of John T. Caine, Judge Van Zile sent to
him the following challenge :
"Salt Lake Citv, Utah, Ociober 13, 1882.
" Hon. John T. Caine :
" My Dear Sir: — You have to-day received and accepted the nomination for Congress at the hands
of the " People's party," and I understand your party is anxious to make a thorough canvass of the 'I'er-
ritory. Believing that the principles and claims of the two parties can be better understood by the voters
by listening to a joint discussion, I do most respectfully challenge you to discuss with me the political
issues, at public meetings to be arranged for by the two central territorial committees throughout the Ter
ritory. The time to be divided between us at each joint discussion as follows:
" The opening speaker to have forty r-five minutes to open, the speaker to follow to have one hour to
answer. The one who opens to have fifteen minutes to close the debate. As the time is very short be-
fore election day I am anxious for an early reply, and hope to hear Irom you by to-morrow (Saturday)
evening.
" Hopinj you will accept this challenge, I am youis very respectfully,
Philii^ T. Van Zile,
Nominee of the Liberal Party of Utah.
The response of Mr. Caine was as follows :
'■ Salt Lake City, Oct, i6th, 1882.
' ' Hon. Philip T. Van Zile, Salt Lake City:
"Dear Sir: — Referring to your favor of the 13th inst., which I did not receive until Saturday
afternoon, I beg to say that I do not agree with you in believing that the princii)les and claims of the
two parties can be better understood by the voters by listening to joint discussions, as I fail to see that
my party has anything to gain by such discussions. Its members are fuliy confirmed in their princi-
ples and claims and care nothing for the views of the so-called Liberals ; and I cannot ask my friends
to attend meetings under the pretense of listening to a discussion of political issues, when judging
from the past, so far as the Liberals are concerned, it would be nothing but an attack upon their re-
ligious principles,
" I propose to conduct my campaign in the interest of my friends, the party who nominated me
and not in the interests of my opponents, and I do not propose to furnish the latter with audiences
which they could not otherwise obtain ; nor in any other manner give thetn either aid or comfort.
" I therefore most respectfully decline your challenge, and remain,
" Very truly yours,
" John T Caine."
The next movement was made by the central committee of the People's party
for ratification meetings to be held at Ogden, Farrnington, Brigham City, Logan,
HISTORY OF SALT LAKE CITY. 851
Morgan City, Coalville, Plain City, Prove, Ephraim, Nephi, American Fork and
Tooele City, which were addressed by Hons. John T. Caine, W. N. Dusenberry,
C. W. Penrose, Samuel R. Thurman, F. S. Richards, James Sharp and others.
Ogden, where the parties are nearly equal in strength, was the great battle-
field cf the campaign. There the grand ratification began, and there the action,
so far as the leaders were concerned, may be said to have ended in a splendid
demonstration on both sides, on the night of the 6th of November, previous to
the casting of the votes of the citizens the next day.
The Liberal party also held their first rally at Ogden. Indeed, the able can-
didate of the opposition and his lieutenants were foremost in opening the cam-
paign. The majority of those of that party who went out to stir up the people of
this Territory to a lively interest, touching the imperative duties and vital issues of
the present and future, were experienced political leaders and able electioneering
orators. Though, of course, they could neither carry the Territory on the Lib-
eral side, nor hope to do so, yet they fought through the campaingn with as much
courage and genuine party zeal as if victory were certain.
On Saturday evening, November 4th, a grand ratification meeting of the
People's party was held in Salt Lake City. At six o'clock a procession, consist-
ing of the Central Committee, the People's candidate, the various brass and mar-
tial bands of the city, and a host on foot bearing torches and Chinese lanterns,
formed in front of the theatre and proceeded to march through the principal
streets. As they marched, Roman candles were shot into the air, and the music
of the bands and shouting of the populace gave a grand enthusiasm to the affair.
Cheers were given at several points for the Hon. John T. Caine.
By seven o'clock the procession had returned to the point of starting, and
the doors of the theatre were thrown open, which was soon packed from pit to
dome with the enthusiastic multitude. Thousands went away unable to gain
admission.
Hon. John' Sharp called the meeting to order, and nominated Mayor Jen-
nings as chairman. The nomination was unanimously carried.
After thanking the audience for the honor conferred on him, the chairman
introduced the People's nominee, Hon. John T. Caine, who, on rising to address
the meeting was received with loud and prolonged applause.
The great speech of Mr. Caine delivered on this occasion, is too capacious
to be incorporated in the nanative ; as is also that of Mr. "Van Zile, delivered
to his constituents at Salt Lake City in closing his action in the campaign.
The grandest demonstration, however, occcurred at Ogden, November 8th,
on the eve of the election. The leaders of the People's party bore the standard of
victory, for the battle was substantially fought and the spendid issue of their to-
morrow was certain. Not alone did the People's party make triumphal march
with blazing torches and stirring music, but the Liberal party did the same,
though its procession, of course, was not so imposing, nevertheless worthy to be
styled a grand party rally and parade. It was indeed as the meeting of armies,
and though victory perched on the standards of the People's party, yet the Lib-
erals stimulated their enthusiasm with courageous hopes and ringing prophecies of
certain victories in the near future.
Sj2 HISTORY OF SALT LAKE CITY.
On the following day, Tuesday, November 7th, 1882, the election was held
closing the campaign which forms a political epoch in the history of our city and
Territory.
The gentlemen appointed by the commission as a canvassing board to can-
vass the returns of the delegate election, held November 7th, met at the commis-
sion room at 10 A. M., Thursday, November i6th. There were present, besides the
commission — excepting Colonel Godfrey who was away — Col. E. Sells, Judge C.
C. Goodwin, Mr. McLaughlin of Park City, F. S. Richards, Esq., of Ogden, and
Judge Dusenberry of Provo, who composed the board. There were also in atten-
dance Hon. John T. Caine, Hon. P. T. Van Zile, and other gentlemen, friends
of the candidates. The following protest was submitted to the commission, and
afterwards made to the board of canvassers also :
•■ Territory of Utah, City of Salt Lake, November 16, 1882.
To the Utah Commissioners, and to the Board of Canvassers by them, selected :
" Gentlemen : — I have the honor to submit to you the following objections to canvassing the votes
claimed to be cast for the Honorable John T. Caine at the late election for Delegate to Congress, viz:
" First — The ticket used and voted at the late election by the so-called " People's party," and which
bore the name of John T. Caine, was not in accordance with law, but, on the contrary, was one \s-hich
embodied two distinct tickets, and for two different offices, to-wit :
" I. One for Delegate to the Forty-seventh Congress, and one for Delegate to the Forty-eighth
Congress.
"That there is no authority for electing a delegate for the unexpired term of the Forty-seventh
Congress, which was well known to the persons voting said ballots, and especially to John T. Caine. the
nominee and candidate named on said ticket.
" 2. That by reason of the unusual size and shape of said ballot, it marked the envelope which
your Honorable Body caused to be used for enclosing said ballot at the time of voting the same,
and which the law required, and thus caused said ballot to be other than a secret ballot, as is contem-
plated and required by law.
" 3. That the said envelopes were so marked by reason of the size and form of said ticket, that it
could be easily determined which ticket was contained within the envelope.
" 4. That John T. Caine, the person voted for by the so-called " People's party," and whose name
is contained on their tickets, is not eligible for said office, which was well known by persons casting said
ballots, in this, to-wit:
" I. That said Caine is, within the meaning and fair construction of the law of Congress, commonly
called the Edmunds Bill, a polygamist. That for proof of the allegations contained within this objec-
tion, the undersigned now offers to make satisfactory proof to this Honorable Body.
" Yours very respectfully,
•' Philiv T. Van Zile,"
Upon the presentation of the above protest, Mr. Caine said that if the Com-
missioners determined to hear the matter discussed, he desired the privilege of
making a reply, in the meantime denying all the allegations the document con-
tained. The Commission held the matter under advisement, and the Board pro-
ceeded with the duty of opening and canvassing the returns. Subsequently, the
Commission sent for Judge Van Zile and asked him if he were prepared to prove
his charge of polygamy against Mr. Caine, his answer being that he was i)repared
to prove the truth of it on the ground only that he presumed Mr. Caine to be a
believer in polygamy. Upon this answer the Commission made the following
ruling, covering the whole protest:
"' The Commissioners having considered the communication addressed to us by Hon. P. T. Van
-Zile, hold:
" 1st. That the objections in relation to the envelopes and ballots, and for the voting for the vacancy
l!
HISTORY OF SALT LAKE CITY. 853
for the Forty-seventh Congress ought to be oven tiled, because ft is not shown that the law of the Terri-
tory or the orders of the Commission have been violated.
" 2d. That a candidate for Delegate to Congress having other legal qualifications is eligible, unless
he is actually guilty of entering into the condition of polygamy, bigamy or unlawful cohabitation with
more than one woman, within the meaning of those offenses as described in the ist and 3d sections of
the act of March 22d, 1882, and that the objection in regard to polygamy should be overruled, unless it
is specifically charged and croved that John T. Caine has been guilty of entering into a polygamist rela-
tion of unlawful cohabitation with more than one woman in the marriage relation."
This difficulty being overcome, the labors of the Board proceeded without
interruption until the evening session, when Judge McBride, on behalf of Judge
Van Zile, presented the following protest :
" To Messrs, Sells, Goodwin, Dusenberry, Richards, and McLaughlin, members of the Board ap-
pointed to canvass the returns of the election f.r Delegate to Congress, held in the Territory
of Utah, November yth, 1882.
"Gentlemen: — I hereby protest against the issuance of any certificate to any person — or any cer-
tificate of election to any person voted for as Delegate to Congress, either the Forty-seventh or Forty-
eighth, at the election held on the 7th day of November, 1882, in the Territory of Utah, on the ground :
" That by law you are only authorized to receive the returns from the various precincts of the differ-
ent counties of the Territory and make an abstract of the same, which abstract must be sent to the sec-
retary's office and the Governor and the secretary are then required to canvass the same, and the certifi-
cate of election can only be issued by the Governor of the Territory to the person whom he shall
find to have received the highest number of votes.
" Second: — I protest against any return of the vote at the late election aforesaid for the reason that
the returns are incomplete in that the precincts of Pahreah and Johnson, in Kane County; Bluff City
and Montezuma, in San Juan County; Arizona, in Sevier County; Deep Creek, in Tooele County;
Leeds Precinct, Poll No, i, in Washington County, and Pine Valley in the same county, have made no
return of any vote to your Board ; and any canvass at this time is premature.
" The above protest I make as a candidate voted for at the above election for Delegate to Congress.
" Philip T. Van Zile."
, "Salt Lake City, November i6th, 1882.
"This protest was overruled by unanimous vote of the canvassing board.
" Elijah Sells, Chairman."
This was debated by Judge McBride, claiming that the Commission, in au-
thorizing the Board to issue a certificate, exceeded its power ; he also claimed
that all the Board had a right to do, under the law, was to canvass the returns and
to report the result to the Governor of the Territory, whose duty it was to issue a
certificate as provided in the Organic Act. He did not consider that the Ed-
munds bill divested the Governor of any power, holding that its operation was
confined wholly to temporal officers; and that the Governor was exempted. Gen-
eral Ramsey, Senator Paddock, Judge Carleton and Colonel Pettigrew, all replied,
defending the action of the Commission ; their point was that the Edmunds bill
vacated all registration and elective offices, "and that each and every duty rela-
ting to the registration of voters, the conduct of election, the receiving or rejec-
tion of votes and the canvassing and returning of the same, and the issuing of
certificates, or other evidence of election, in said Territory, shall, until other pro-
vision be made by the Legislative Assembly of said Territory, ^= * *
be performed under the existing law of the United States and of said Territory
by proper persons who shall be appointed to execute such offices and perform such
duties by a board of five persons to be appointed by the President, by and with
the consent of the Senate," etc. Under this authority the Commission had ap-
pointed this Board, after mature deliberation. The matter was submitted to the
854 HISTORY OF SALT LAKE C1T\.
Board of Canvassers, who joined in the discussion, and came to the conclusion
that they had been appointed to perform a specific duty by the Commission, and
that the legality of this duty rested entirely with the Commissioners, and all they
could do wai) to perform the duty assigned them. They therefore proceeded to de-
clare the result of the canvass and give the certificate to the person having the
greatest number of votes. The returns showing that P. T. Van Zile had 4,884,
John T. Caine 23,039, and scattering 12, Mr. Caine was formally declared elected
and the certificate was signed by all the members of the Board, and in the pres-
ence of the Commissioners, and others present, handed to Mr. Caine. The board
having concluded its labors, adjourned.
CHAPTER XCI.
ORGANIZATION OF " THE DEMOCRATIC CLUB OF UTAH." THE ELECTION WITH
ITS TICKET IN THE FIELD. THE ORGAN OF THE CLUB— THE SALT LAKE
DEMOCRAT.
In 1S84, Utah for the first time took an active part and manifested a genuine
interest in a presidential election. Theretofore the political parties had been so
confounded, that the names Republican and Democrat were eschewed in our local
politics; and though it may be noted for historical exactness that once every four
years a few representative men on either side met together in our city to send del-
egates to the Republican and Democratic National conventions, there was no pop-
ular interest displayed in any local sense. But in 1S84, the fair prospect of the
return of the old Democratic party to power by the affiliation with it of a party
of reform from the Republican leaders themselves, affected Utah scarcely less
than it did other States and Territories ; and in the fall of the year the celebra-
tions in Salt Lake City of the Democratic victory vied with those of other cities,
though still the party face here wore the unpleasant distinction of Mormon and
Gentile features.
This year the Gentile Democrats of Utah sent Messrs. Ransford Smith and J.
R. Wilkins to the national convention of the Democratic party, held at Chicago,
July 8th, 1884, while Hon. John T. Caine has been for some time a member of
the Democratic Congressional campaign committee, which recognition of Utah's
delegate to Congress signified that Utah is regarded as a Democratic Terri-
tory. Messrs. Caine and Smith were rival candidates for the Delegate's seat
in the Forty-ninth Congress, the former being the nominee of the People's Party,
composed chiefly of Mormons, and Mr. Smith the nominee of the Gentile Derao-
ocrats; but the campaign, in its local importance and interest, bore no equal com-
parison to that which occurred in 1882, narrated in the foregoing chapter.
HISTORY OF SAL T LAKE CITY. 855
At the first exultation of the Democrats of Salt Lake City, over the election
of Cleveland and Hendricks, there seemed a fair prospect that Gentile and Mor-
mon were about to recognize each other as political brothers, on the return of the
"Grand Old Party" to power. ''Late in the afternoon of the 7th," says the
Salt Lake Herald, "a movement was started for the assembling of the principal
Democrats, to consider the question of having a monster meeting of the party
for jollification and rejoicing generally. The news spread as if by magic, and,
without any effort by any one in particular, there came together at the Deseret
National Bank about fifty of the representative men of the party." Col. Samuel
A. Merritt was voted to the chair, and committees of arrangements and finance
were appointed ; Saturday evening, November 8th, was named for the celebration
with the understanding that every Democrat in Utah should be welcomed to take
part in the general rejoicing. Telegrams were immediately dispatched to neigh-
boring cities, north and south ; and the committees met that night, and again on
the morning of the 8th, but the offensive distinction of Mormon and Gentile dis-
turbed the momentary harmony, and the project of the two classes uniting in the
celebration was abandoned. The general public, however, had caught the en-
thusiasm ; and another movement was started "to paint the town red" that
night, the late William Jennings promptly leading the financial donations.
At sundown one hundred guns were fired from the head of Main Street —
those guns for the first time heard since Governor Shaffer's proclamation in 1870.
Piles of barrels filled with tar were v/aiting for the torch at the Deseret Bank cor-
ner, and at the City Hall, which, as soon as darkness spread over the city, were
ignited, and blazes of red light from the Herald office corner and the housetop
of Godbe's Exchange Buildings, illuminated the scene. At about 7 o'clock, the
multitude which had gathered in front of the Herald office began to move in the
direction of the City Hall, following numerous bands of Salt Lake, Ogden, and
Provo, rending the air with shouts for Clevelajid and Hendricks, and swelling the
general joy with exultant music.
From the balcony of the City Hall Hon. Wm. Jennings called the assemblage
to order, and proposed Hon> John T, Caine, " our Delegate to Congress, and
Utah's Representative in the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee,"
to preside at this meeting.
Delegate Caine, in a brief speech, which had the true Democratic tone, gave
a fair political character to the occasion. He was followed by Mr. A. Miner and
Judge Warren N. Dusenberry; after which the chairman introduced Hadley D.
Johnson, the "Old War-horse of Democracy," who was received with cheers.
"Professor" S. P. McKee, a representative of the colored Democracy, was next
called by the multitude, and T. V. Williams, S. A. Kenner and H. J. Faust closed
the speeches ; but before dispersing, Mr. Caine announced that the Herald had
just received a private dispatch from an autheiuic source in New York, saying that
Cleveland's election was conceded by two thousand majority. The announcement
was answered with cheers from thousands of Democratic voices, after which the
meeting adjourned, but a large portion of the multitude reassembled in front of
the Salt Lake Herald office.
The following dispatch from the committee was sent to the president elect :
836 HISTORY OF SALT LAKE CnV.
" Salt Lake City, Utah, November S, 1884.
*' To Hon. Grover Cleveland , Albany, New York:
" Ten thousand citizens of Salt Lake, to-night are enthusiastically celebrating
your election. Their joy is as sincere and honest as their jollification is demon-
strative. We heartily greet you because of our confidence that your administra.
tion will be as pure and glorious as has been your administration in the Empire
State, which has sustained you in the great struggle just ended. Accept our warm
congratulations.
"John T. Caine, Chairman^
On Wednesday, November 19th, the regular Democrats held a meeting at the
Walker Opera House to celebrate the signal victory of their party ; and they also
" painted the town red," and a troop of torch-bearers paraded the streets.
The outside demonstration having performed its part in the proceedings of
the evening, the assemblage inside took up the programme, and Judge Ros-
borough was chosen chairman of the meeting.
The chairman came forward and delivered an introductory address, chiefly
directed against the Mormon Church, declaring it to be, in its aims and genius,
repugnant to the genius of this Nation,
Judge Sutherland followed with a masterly effort, reviewing the history of the
rise and growth of the Nation under the rule of the old Democratic party and
elaborating the principles of Democracy,
Captain Ransford Smith, who had then recently ran his unvictorious tilt
with John T. Caine for the Utah seat in Congress, in his speech declared that it
had been "left to the Democrats to wipe out the remaining twin relid ;" and he
read out all polygamists from the Democratic party.
Hon. Thomas Marshall was the next speaker. He compared the records of
the Democratic and Republican parties, very ably discussed the tariff question,
and closed on "the triumph of the party of right."
Professor L. E. Holden read a speech, ably prepared, on the questions of the
hour.
P. L. Williams was next introduced as a representative of " Young Utah,* '
and he delivered a characteristic anti-Mormon address.
D. B. Canfield, publisher of the American Law Register, of Philadelphia,
closed, and the meeting adjourned.
Meantime, however, namely — between the action of the election for delegate
in 1882, and that of 1884 — a young Democratic party was projected, the nucleus
of which consisted chiefly of young men reared in Utah, born of Mormon par-
ents. The name of "Young Mormondom" had already become quite familiar
to the public ear, and Van Zile in his campaign earnestly courted their favor and
vote. The presidential election of 1884, also gave to them the opportunity of a
political formation, under the name of the Democratic club of Utah.
The following is from notes of their history, as officially given in the first
number of the Salt Lake Democrat :
" Among those most thoroughly dissatisfied with the deplorable condition of
political affairs in this Territory, and whose devotion to Democratic principles
I
HISTORY OF SALT LAKE CITY, S57
would permit them to co-operate with neither the Liberal nor People's party ele-
ments, were J, L. Rawlins, Alfales Young, Frank Jennings, Ben Sheeks, John M.
Young, John H. Burton, Bolivar Roberts, L. S. Hills, D. O. Miner, J. T. Kings-
bury, C. R. Barratt and H. Pembroke. These gentlemen discussed the matter
among themselves, and, as a result of their deliberations, held a meeting in the
law office of Messrs, Sheeks & Rawlins on the evening of November 12th.
Alfales Young presided over this meeting, and preliminary steps were taken in the
organization of the Democratic club of Utah."
A temporary organization having been perfected, the next important step was
the adoption of a platform of principles. After some discussion the following
platform was unanimously adopted :
" This club shall be known as the Democratic Club of Utah.
" The members of this club do hereby reaffirm and endorse the principles
embodied in the platform adopted by the national convention of the Democratic
party, held at Chicago on the eighth day of July, 1884.
" For a more specific statement of the principles to which the members of
this club will adhere and struggle to make predominant we do hereby declare :
" First — That the afifairsof the government can be safely entrusted to the in-
telligence of free people.
" Second — That all just government is derived from the consent of the gov-
erned. That every citizen should be allowed the exercise of the largest liberty
consistent with the public good and safety.
'^ Third — That in such government a trust is devolved upon every citizen, af-
ter informing himself upon any question of policy or government, to act, polit-
ically, as his best individual judgment would direct, absolutely free from coercion,
control, or dictation, ecclesiastical or otherwise. While the State has given a
constitutional pledge not to interfere with religion, there is a reciprocal obliga-
tion on the part of religion not to interfere with the State. For it to do so is dan-
gerous, both to itself and the existence of free government. This would become
the more evident, if each of the many denominations should independently en-
gage in a struggle for political supremacy.
"Fourth — Politically, all men are created free and equal, the priest and the
layman must stand upon the same plane. Therefore, we reaffirm that the affairs
of church and State ought to, and must be forever separate and distinct, locally
and nationally.
*' Fifth — Local self-government is a cardinal principle of Democracy, and as
such we affirm and endor:,e it. On the one hand, a local political organization
appeals for the abrogation of all local self-government in this Territory by the es-
tablishment of a legislative commission. On the other hand an opposing political
organization has afforded, by the conduct and declarations of its most influential
members, the means by which the former might make its appeal successful.
"Sixth — The withdrawal of all powers of government from the people, im-
plied in the establishment of a legislative commission, would be to remove all in-
ducement or encouragement to political activity and independence, and by the
lethargy which would ensue, engender utter indifference to the exercise of free and
intelligent political thought and action. This would but aggravate the evils which
66
tt'iE.
8s S HISTORY OF SALT LAKE CITY.
it is designed to cure, and can, of course, find no support, except by those who
believe the application of free principles inadequate to human government.
" Seventh — To obtain local self-government, the Territory must be redeemed
from the discredit that has been brought upon it.
" Eighth — We firmly repudiate the idea that any citizen is under obligation
to take his political counsel from those whose avowed purpose is a continued viola-
tion of law.
" Ninth — We shall struggle to make predominant the sentiment that every
citizen should and must obey every law until, by legitimate agitation, if obnoxious
or unjust, its abrogation or repeal can be secured.
" Tenth — Religious belief or fidelity should never be made a test of political
or official preferment. The application of such a test tends to the promotion of
an inferior grade of officials, and often of persons utterly disqualified or unfit for
the positions they are called to occupy. In the selection of officers to administer
and execute the laws, fitness for the office should be the only qualification
required.
" Eleventh — To the end that free local self government may be secured and
participation in national affairs had and maintained, upon the basis of these prin-
ciples, we severally pledge ourselves to support them and to struggle that they may
become predominant, and invite all good citizens, who believe that the prin-
ciple thus enunciated should be supreme, irrespective of religious belief, or pre-
vious political affiliations, to unite with and aid us to consummate this end.
"J. L. Rawlins, President.
"John H. Burton, Secretary.'" .
The organization of the club was perfected by the election of the following
officers : J. L. Rawlins, president ; Alfales Young, vice-president ; L. S. Hills,
treasurer; Geo. A. Meears, corresponding secretary. At the annual election held
in January, the above officers were all re-elected with the exception of George A.
Meears, who was succeeded by Professor J. T. Kingsbury.
Several hundred copies of the following circular were mailed to possible
friends of the movement. Replies were received in several instances, which in
the main gave but faint sign of appreciation. It was headed :
"J. L. Rawlins, president, Alfales Young, vice-president, John H. Barton,
secretary, George A. Meears, corresponding secretary, Lewis S. Hills, treasurer,
Theodore Burmester, Charles A. Clark, J. G. Sutherland, A. L. Williams, John
M. Young, Ben Sheeks, Frank W. Jennings, J. T. Kingsbury, executive commit-
tee; A. L. Williams, chairman executive committee; John M. Young, secretary
executive committee.
"Headquarters Democratic Club of Utah,
" Salt Lake City, Utah, i8S—
'^^ Dear Sir . — As a representative Democrat of the county in which you re-
side, we submit herewith for your consideration the platform of the Democratic
party, as adopted by the National Democratic Convention, and also the platform
of the Democratic Club of Utah. We desire, for the purpose of the furtherance
of Democratic interests, the establishment of kindred organizations in every
county of this Territory, and would be pleased to have you procure the organiza-
HISTORY OF SAL T LAKE CITY. 859
tion of a Democratic Club at your very earliest convenience, so that your club
may advise us of the probable strength of the party in your vicinity.
'' Immediately after its establishment, we will, upon receipt of the names of
the ofificers and members of your club, enroll them as honorary members of this
club, with your president as one of the vice-presidents, so that thereby a commu-
nity of interest may be maintained for mutual advantages.
"We respectfully ask that you acknowledge the receipt hereof, by return
mail if possible, that we may know of your intentions. If it be impracticable for
you to proceed to the creation of such a club as we propose, will you kindly in-
form us of your opinions regarding the project, so far as it affects your neighbor-
hood ?
" We send you a copy of our by-laws, and will be pleased to assist you in any
way towards the organization of your club.
" By order of the executive committee.
" Corresponding Secretary."
The harmony of the Young Democracy of Utah split upon the same rock as
that of the old Democrats, whose inharmony in the recent celebration they had
censured. Section 8 of the platform caused much feeling among the members of
the organization, and was the precursor of secession, which finally distracted the
ranks.
The obnoxious section was finally stricken out and the platform adopted as
amended ; but it was plain to see that no unity could be maintained. The revul-
sion of feeling engendered by the remarks of some of the representative speakers
on the occasion of the ratification meeting of the club led to the result predicted
by conservatives. The organization was ignored by all the political fragments in
the Territory, and as the old Liberal party especially loved it not, but a meagre
showing was made at the election wherein the Democratic Club nominees ran
against the People's ticket.
The old Democrats of the city were rather chagrined than pleased with their
occupancy of the field in the Democratic name and held a counter meeting before
the election day with Major Nounan and Camp Douglas band to expound old
Democracy to young Utah. The occasion partook much of the character of a
burlesque, which the old Liberal party of Utah helped to display. Thus ended
our politics of the year 1885.
The Young Democrat party of Utah, however, continued in their work dur-
ing the year 1885, started the Salt Lake Democrat, March 2d, 1885, held political
out-door meetings and ran the following ticket in the Territorial election of
that year :
" For councilors to the Legislative Assembly, from the council district com-
prising Salt Lake, Davis and Tooele Counties — Robert C. Chambers, Joseph L.
Rawlins, John A. Marshall, C. E. Mitchener ; for representatives to the Legisla-
tive Assembly from the representative district comprising Salt Lake, Davis and
Morgan Counties— William G. Sharp, Joseph M. Benedict, Abram F. Doremus,
A. L. Williams, H. D. Rippeto, Stephen Hales; for the county superintendent of
schools for Salt Lake County— Joseph T. Kingsbury ; for selectman for Salt Lake
county — Bolivar Roberts."
S6o HISTORY OF SALT LAKE CITY.
The vote cast for the above was so amazingly small, that the movers lost all
hope of bringing about a revolution, and indeed, the encouragement extended
was, to say the least, not very inspiring. It was at once tacitly understood that no
further efforts should be made under that banner. Since that time, but few refer-
ences to the outcome have been made. The enemies of the cause speak only oc-
casionally by way of ridicule, while its friends seldom find it advisable to speak
boastingly.
CHAPTER XCII.
DIGEST OF THE MUNICIPAL ADMINISTRATION. CITY NOTES.
In the foregoing chapters of this history, there has regularly appeared, from time to time, the rec-
ord of the action and resolutions of the city council, so far as they entered into general affairs and events
transpiring in the city or were related thereto ; in this chapter we give a digest of the municipal admin-
istration with city notes and references ; thus presenting the whole in a connected narrative before the
eye of the reader. It may be further observed that the subject matter following is copied from the city
recorder's books, with the exception of the author's historical linkings and explanations.
"State House, G. S. L. City, January ii, 1851.
" An ordinance having been passed by the General Assembly of the State of
Deseret, January 9th, 185 1, incorporating Great Salt Lake City, which received
the sanction of his Excellency Governor Brigham Young, Jedediah M. Grant,
mayor, Nathaniel H. Felt, William Snow, Jesse P. Harmon and Nathaniel V.
Jones, aldermen, and Vincent Shurtliff, Benjamin L. Clapp, Zera Pulsipher, Wil-
liam G. Perkins, Harrison Burgess, Jeter Clinton, John L. Dunyon and Samuel
W. Richards, councilors, met pursuant to notice from the clerk of Great Salt Lake
County Court, in the state house and having been severally sworn to observe the
Constitution of the United States and this State, they organized in due form.
*' The ordinance incorporating Great Salt Lake City was then read by the
clerk of the county, when the mayor informed the council that it would be nec-
essary to appoint a recorder, treasurer and marshal for the city.
"Motioned that Robert Campbell be the recorder of Great Salt Lake City.
Seconded and carried.
" Motioned that Elam Luddington be the marshal, and assessor and collector
of Great Salt Lake City. Seconded and carried.
"They being notified of their appointment, appeared and accepted their offices.
" His Excellency the Governor, addressed the council, and said, you have
now been sworn to fulfil the duties of your office ; the next thing will be to file
your bonds, then attend to such business as shall be for the welfare of the city.
You will have to regulate markets ; keep streets clear ; remove nuisances ; you
will want a city police, city inspectors, and you will appoint the different officers.
HISTORY OF SAL T LAKE CITY. 86 1
who will see to the cleanliness of the city. The municipal council will meet in
every month, and the city council as often as necessary.
" D. H. Wells, attorney-general of the State, addressed the council and said,
' I am very glad that the city council is now organized. 1 hope to see the officers
proceed in seeing that the original design of beautifying the city by planting
trees in the streets is carried out, and that the water is carried into its proper
channels and not run down the middle of the streets.'
"The governor suggested to the city council to appoint a supervisor of streets
and levy a tax forthwith, and said to the council : ' You will attend to the duties
of your office in this time and receive your pay in the next time; but as alder-
men and magistrates they will receive their fees;' he wished them to counsel the
Saints not to go to law one with another.
"The mayor, Jedediah M. Grant said, ' I am on hand to do what good I can,
and the council have similar feelings In my opinion it should be the pride of
this city council to be men of piety, and men that will do their duty, and have a
pride in it. We should work for the welfare of the people, as we have the license
to do all the good we can. We should move what nuisances there may be in the
city. We should be constantly awake to the interests of the city, have as little
law as possible, and attend to peace and good order, and as we know what is
right have the firmness to do it.'
"The clerk then read the rules of the city council of Nauvoo, which had been
appointed by the Prophet Joseph Smith, defining their duties which are somewhat
similar to the rules of Congress and those of the Legislature of Deseret. At
12:30, on motion adjourned to 2 p. m.
"Thomas Bullock, Clerk of G. S. L. County Court
"2 p. M. — City council met. Roll called, majority present. Robert Campbell
sworn in as city recorder, Thomas Rhodes, treasurer, and Elam Luddington as-
marshal and assessor and collector, by the clerk of county court.
" The mayor brought forward the subject of a division of the city into wards
for city purposes.
"The mayor stated that'^he Governor has recommended the city divided into
four wards, that the only thing to be a'ttended to is the boundary lines — it would
require an alderman in each ward.
"Councilor Clapp recommended that East Temple Street be the dividing line
for the eastern and western wards so that Emigration Street and South Temple
Street would form the boundaries of the wards.
"The county clerk then laid a city plat before the council, and at the sugges-
tion of the Governor the following wards were laid out from the map and their
proper boundaries designated in the following manner as the jurisdiction of the
city aldermen :
"Jesse P. Harmon, ist ward. — Bounded on the N. by S. 3d St., S. by southern
limits, W. by East Temple St., E. by eastern limits.
"Nathaniel V. Jones, 2d ward.— E. by East Temple St., S.by southern limits,
W. by Jordan River, N. by South Temple St.
" Nathaniel H. Felt, 3d ward.— E. by East Temple St., S. by South Temple
St., W. by Jordan River, N. by northern limits.
862 HISTORY OF SALT LAKE CJTy.
"William Snow, 4th ward. — E. by eastern limits, S. by 3d S. St., W. by East
Temple St., N. by northern limits.
"Mayor instructed the marshal asassessor and collector to proceed to assessing
property and levying a tax. Mayor appointed Aldermen N. V. Jones, Harrison
Burgess, Vincent Shurtliff and S. W. Richards a committee on finance.
"Great Salt Lake City, State House, January 13, 1851.
"The secretary of State said that the Old Fort had been declared a nuisance
two years ago by the council, and the grand jury had referred it to the highest
ccurr.
" Governor Young spoke of the right that this city council had in determin-
ing that it should be removed ; as for making provisions for property sacrificed
by its removal, it does not come under the purview of this city council. If a man
has bought property then he can refer the matter to the bishops to adjust all diffi-
culties that may arise therefrom.
" The committee on municipal laws presented a bill for an ordinance re-
quiring the public ground on which the Old Fort now stands to be vacated by the
first of April next, Council adjourned till 2 p. m.
"An ordinance was presented to the council by Alderman Felt requiring
holders of lots to set out trees, for the improvement of the city, in front of their
lots, within a reasonable time.
"A discussion ensued by the mayor. Councilors Pulsipher, Burgess and Clin-
ton, recommending the Balm of Gilead, Cottonwood and such trees as would
tend to beauty and usefulness.
" The mayor said the citizens are too dormant in the setting of trees. Sug-
gested that certain men should be appointed for this purpose who understood it ;
if neglected the men appointed may do it at the expense of those holdmg them."
"State House, G. S. L. City, January, 16, 1851.
"Appointment of supervisors of shade trees. On motion of Councilor Clapp,
Charles Drown was appointed supervisor of public streets in the city.
" Motioned that Samuel Moore be assistant supervisor of 3d city ward.
Carried.
" Motioned that Thomas Thurston be assistant supervisor of 2d city ward.
Carried.
" Motioned that Stillman Pond be assistant supervisor of ist city ward.
Carried.
" Motioned that Heman Hyde be assistant supervisor of 4th city ward.
Carried."
"Post Office, G. S. L. City, February ist, 1851.
" Alderman Felt expressed himself doubtful as to the jurisdiction of this
board over the waters of the city as an infringement upon the legislative powers
of the bishops who had the prior right of control before the city organization.
"The mayor contended that the bishops virtually resigned their jurisdiction
over the waters, and it is now thrown upon us.
" On motion Jacob Gibson was elected sexton of Great Salt Lake City."
HISTORY OF SALT LAKE CITY. 863
"State House, January 30, 1851.
'' The committee on municipal laws presented an ordinance called 'An or-
dinance dividing the city into wards.' After its third reading it passed the council.
" A petition was presented by Brigham Young and others praying for a char-
ter for constructing a railroad from different points of the city to the Red Butte
Canyon and mountain south of the Red Butte Canyon to convey stone and other
material."
"State House, March 24th, 1851.
" On motion, the council ordered fifty copies of the city ordinances to be pub-
lished forthwith.
" On motion, Robert Campbell was appointed clerk of the ensuing election."'
The literal record of the acts and business of the original city council is
given, as it exhibits the simple process and methods by which this municipal gov-
ernment of Salt Lake City was evolved ; and this exhibit is more pertinent from
the fact that nearly all writers, who have described the early government of our
city, have made it appear that it was purely ecclesiastical, proceeding from devices
of church councils ; how much of this statement is correct, the foregoing notes
from ihe city recorder's books will show.
It will be observed that the original city council was not elected by the peo-
ple, but created by the Legislature of the State of Deseret, according to the clos-
ing section of the city charter :
" Sec. 47. The mayor, aldermen, and councilors of said city shall, in the
first instance, be appointed by the Governor and Legislature of said State of Des-
eret ; and shall hold their office until superseded by the first election."*
It will also be observed that the Governor of the State (Brigham Young),
the Secretary of the State (Willard Richards), and the attorney-general of the
State (Daniel H. Wells), took part in behalf of the commonwealth, and as repre-
senting the Legislature, and that they made several initial suggestions and remarks
for the purpose of harmonizing the first business of the city council with previous
acts of the Slate. This action of the State — through its Governor, Secretary and
Attorney- General — occurs merely in the two first sessions of the council, during
the very process, in fact, of the creation of the provisional city council. After
the election of the city council by the people, in April 1851, there is no interfer-
ence of the State, whatever, in the municipal business, the city government being
no longer as the ward of the State, but a creature of the people.
If, in the formation of this city government, there should seem to the reader
a relic of the primitive features of a colony, the explanation is very simple : All
Utah at that date was a colony, and was under the provisional government — State,
county and city — which the people had formulated in the capacity of a colony.
The provisional government of the State of Deseret was, as before noted, set
up in March, 1849 5 Salt Lake, Davis, Weber, Utah, Sanpete, Tooele and Iron
counties were organized by this provisional State government in 1849-50 ; and
Salt Lake City, Ogden City, Manti City, Provo City and Parowan City were in-
*See city charter, Chapter IX. of this HISTORY, page 72.
864 HISTORY OF SALT LAKE CnV.
porated by the State in January, 1851, previous to the arrival of the news of the
passage of the Organic Act of the Territory ; hence a slight tracing is found of
the provisional government in the opening of our municipal business.
It is further seen, in the city notes, that the bishops of the wards of "Great
Salt Lake City," are named by Alderman Felt in relation to the water question.
The explanation is that those bishops had been duly elected magistrates of those
wards by the people on their State ticket, nearly two years prior to the city incor-
poration ;* and they were, therefore, up to the formation of the city council, the
proper executive officers in all such local matters ; but the mayor decided that
these magistrates (the bishops) were superseded by the organization of the city
council, and the members of the council coincided. After that decision, as the
records show, the affairs of the city, in every department, have been admin-
istered through regular municipal methods, upon the ordinances passed by the
city council.
On the first Monday in April, 1851, the first municipal election for Great
Salt Lake City was held as provided for by the charter, and the following mem-
bers were returned :
Mayor— Jedediah M. Grant. Aldermen— Jesse P. Harmon, First ward; N. V. Jones, Second ward;
Nathaniel H. Felt, Third ward; William Snow, Fourth ward. Councilors — Lewis Robinson, Robert
Pierce, Zera Pulsipher, Wm. G. Perkins, Jeter Clinton, Enoch Reese, Harrison Burgess, Samuel W.
Richards, Vincent Shurtliff.
The members elected took the oath of office at their first session, held at the
state house, April 14th, and proceeded at once to business. One of the acts of
the opening session was to appoint Dr. Jeter Clinton as physician to attend on the
quarantine ground during the season of emigration.
The city council from the onset attempted to suppress the sde and use of in-
toxicating liquors of every kind, and so far as necessary for medicinal purposes,
to strictly control it by the city authorities. Here are the council notes :
"Bowery, G. S. L. City, June 21st, 1851.
" After mature discussion the council instructed the committee to draft an
ordinance regulating the sale of intoxicating liquors within this corporation and
providing for its immediate inspection, and placing all liquors brought for sale
within the limits of the city in the hands of such physician or physicians as may
be appointed by this council.
"Bowery, June 23, 1851.
" The committee also introduced an ordinance regulating the sale of spir-
ituous liquors and appointing an inspector of liquors to give proof of the same
and giving said liquors in charge of the marshal to be handed over to the physi-
cian or physicians for sale."
In November, Mayor Grant left the city for the Eastern States, and the coun-
cil appointed William Snow president pro fern, in his absence, during which time
nothing of marked importance occurred.
In July, 1852, Mayor Grant returned from the States.
*See this HISTORY page 59.
HISTORY OF SALT LAKE CITY. 865
In October following, the city council adopted measures to organize fire bri-
gades throughout the city. A resolution was passed authorizing the Bishops in
their several wards to organize a fire company for each, to elect their own officers,
furnish their own apparatus and report to the council.
In 1853 the municipal election resulted as follows :
Mayor — J. M. Grant. Alderman— N. H. Felt, William Snow, Abraham Hoagland and Jesse P.
Harmon. Councilors— Zera Pulsipher, Wm, G. Perkins, Lewis Robinson, Harrison Burgess, Jeter
Clinton, Enoch Reese, Seth Taft, Elijah Sheets and Joseph Home. Recorder — Robert Campbell.
Marshal and Assessor and Collector — Jesse C. Little. Treasurer — Hiram B. Clawson. Supervisor of
Streets — A, P. Rockwood.
O'ft June 25, 1853, Enoch Reese was removed, and Bryant Stringham was appointed in his place. •
September 9, 1854, A. H. Raleigh was appointed alderman of the Third Mu-
nicipal Ward to fill the vacancy occasioned by the resignation of N. H. Felt, who
had gone on business to St. Louis ; at the same time A. O. Smoot was appointed
alderman of the Sugar House district, in the First Municipal Ward, and S. W.
Richards was appointed a councilor to fill the vacancy of Jeter Clinton, who had
gone on business to New York.
A. H. Raleigh and S. W. Richards were added to the committee on finance \
and A. O. Smoot, S. W. Richards and A. H. Raleigh were added to the commit-
tee on municipal laws.
At its session, Oct. 21st, a resolution was passed instructing the committee on
revision to examine, revise and prepare the ordinances and resolutions of the city
council for publication ; and another resolution was passed instructing the recor-
der to get them published in book form and furnish the members of the council
and the officers of the city, each with a copy of the same. This was the first
book of municipal laws published.
The city election of 1855, was held at the Council House, on Monday,
March 5th, when the following were elected;
Mayor— Jedediah M. Grant. Aldermen — First ward, Jesse P. Harmon ; Sugar House District, A.
O. Smoot; Second ward, Abraham Hoagland; Third ward, A. H. Raleigh; Fourth ward, Wm. Snow;
Councilors — Ira Pulsipher, Seth Taft, William G. Perkins, E. F. Sheets, Lewis Robinson, Bryant
Stringham, Harrison Burgess, S. W. Richards and Joseph Horn.
The committees 3f the council by this time were well defined. They now
stood :
On municipal laws — Wm, Snow, A. O. Smoot, A. H. Raleigh. On improvements — J. P. Harmon,
Zera Pulsipher, Joseph Horn, Bryant Stringham. On finance — Harrison Burgess, S. W. Richards, A.
H. Raleigh. On revision — Robert Campbell, Harrison Burgess, E. F. Sheets, A. H. Raleigh, On ways
and means — Bryant Stringham, Jesse P. Harmon, A. O. Smoot. On claims — Abraham Hoagland, E.
F. Sheets, Harrison Burgess. On unfinished business — Seth Taft, Zera Pulsipher. On elections — Lewis
Robinson, Abraham Hoagland. On police — Joseph Horn, E. F. Sheets. On public grounds— Seth
Taft, Lewis Robinson. On Public works — Abraham Hoagland, W. G. Perkins.
City officers — Board of examination of teachers — Orson Hyde, Albert Carrington, W. W. Phelps.
Captain of police — L. W. Hardy. Water master — Phineas W, Cook. Sexton — Jacob Gibson, Sur-
veyor— J. W. Fox. Sealer of weights and measures, inspector of spirituous and malt hquors — Robert
Campbell. ^
On the morning of June 29ih, 1855, the Hon. Judge Shaver was found dead
in his bed, in Great Salt Salt Lake City. The council paid due honor to his
memory; and Mayor Jedediah M. Grant preached his funeral sermon,
67
866 HISTORY OF SALT LAKE CITY.
In July (20lh), 1856, the liquor question came up again on a petition pre-
sented from Mr. San ford for a license to sell spiritous liquors. The following are
the notes of the discussion in the council at its stssion :
''A petition was presented from Mr. Sanford for license to sell spirituous
liquors. The ordinance declaring distilleries, breweries, liquor and beer shops
in Great Salt Lake City a nuisance, was read to the council.
"The mayor stated that Mr. Moon and others had now closed business in
the sale of liquor. Since that period, Messrs. Sanford, Banning & Co., had
brought a quantity of liquors into the city, had sold no liquors only as he (the
mayor) had by order given permission — and now he left the matter with the
council to say whether they would repeal the prohibitory ordinance and make one
to meet the case before them or continue the present ordinance. Said no doubt
quantities of liquor would be imported during the season, spoke of the peace,
harmony and good effects produced by enforcing the existing law, but left the
matter entirely with the council.
" S. W. Richards made some excellent remarks on the good effects produced
by the working of the existing law ; he considered that the present regulation
was necessary and the discretionary power now exercised by the mayor in grant-
ing permits to obtain liquor in small quantities was quite sufficient for any emer-
gencies and contingencies that might arise.
" E. F. Sheets felt to acquiesce in the remarks of the last speaker, and urged
the continuation of the existing ordinance.
" H. Burgess would sustain the course taken by the mayor in the disposal of
liquors.
"A. H. Raleigh took rather a different view from the gentleman who had
previously spoken, that the ordinance declaring the manufacture and sale of spir-
ituous liquors a nuisance, was passed at a time when drunkenness and disorder
seemed to be very prevalent in our streets, and had a very salutary effect in put-
ting a stop to the evil, that that law had produced the effect it contemplated —
that now he did not consider any inpropriety in repealing it. He did not think
the liquor and beer shops were an evil of themselves, but it was the abuse the
public made of them that created the nuisances ; and thought this council might
repeal the ordinance and grant the gentleman a license.
"A. Hoagland did not think that this community was so perfect yet, or that
the time had come that we could with propriety grant licenses, but felt to give
the mayor discretionary power to regulate the sale of it.
" S. W. Richards considered that there was sufficient to annoy and disturb
the peace of society last season when grog and beer shops were everywhere open
to the public. He was satisfied that were the ordinance repealed and the licenses
granted, we should be called upon to give a score of licenses, and hoped the gen-
tleman would withdraw his petition. (Here Mr. Sanford withdrew his petition.)
"The following was offered :
'^Resolved, by the city council of Great Salt Lake City, that discretionary
power be and hereby is vested in the mayor of said city, to regulate the sale of
intoxicating liquors within the limits of the corporation of said city.
HISTORY OF SALT LAKE CITY. iidy
"It was moved and carried unanimously that the resolution pass."
On the ist of December, 1856, Mayor Jedediah M. Grant died at his resi-
dence in the City at 20 minutes past 10 o'clock p. m., and on the following day,
at I o'clock p. m., the City Council held a special session relative to the City's
bereavement; and Daniel Spencer, President of the Stake of Zion, being invited,
was present. Alderman Snow was called to the chair.
The following are the minutes of that special meeting:
" The recorder directed notices to the aldermen and city council to convene
to deliberate upon measures respecting the interment of its honored head, the
Mayor, Jedediah M. Grant, who died the previous evening, the ist inst., at 20
minutes past 10 o'clock, at his residence.
"At I p. m. all the council convened except Councilor Burgess. Daniel
Spencer offered the openmg prayer.
"The marshal and deputy marshal, who had been appointed by His Excellency
Governor Young, a committee to make arrangements for the funeral of the de-
ceased, were present.
" Marshal Little suggested to the council that the city was without a pall to
use on funeral occasions, that he, as sexton, had selected two lots in the graveyard
for the deceased and family, and wanted to be advised if they designed following
him to the grave in the capacity of a council, and of any measures the city might
adopt in relation to the burial.
" Deputy Marshal Hardy said as the city was without a pall, hearse or carri-
age devoted to funeral purposes, he hoped the council would devise means to inter
th-^ dead with proper respect, and suggested also that a proper head and foot stone
be placed at the grave of the deceased.
" Ihe council took into consideration the suggestions made by the committee
and adopted the following resolution :
'' Be ii resolved by the city council of G. S. L. Ci/y, That we deeply lament
the loss by death of our late President and Mayor, Jedediah M. Grant, and that
the marshal, J. C. Little, and Deputy Marshal L. W. Hardy, be instructed to
make such arrangements for his burial as in their wisdom may be deemed most
suited to the importance of the occasion.
" It was motioned by S. W. Richards, and carried, that the city appropriate
two lots to be selected by the sexton for the burial of the dead and use of the
family of the deceased.
" It was motioned and carried, that this council appropriate out of the city
treasury a sufficient amount to defray the expenses incurred by the committee of
arrangements in the interment of the deceased mayor.
" The council consulted upon further measures for attending the funeral ob-
sequies of the dead, and publishing expressions of their respect and esteem for
his memory, and a committee was appointed consisting of S. W. Richards, A. H.
Raleigh and A. O. Smoot, to draft a preamble and resolutions and report their
doings this evening.
"President Spencer expressed his satisfaction at the proceedings of the
meeting.
86S HISTORY OF SALT LAKE CITY.
" The council adjourned to nneet at 6 p. m. at this place. Benediction by A.
O. Smoot."
The council met at 6 o'clock p. m., and the committee on preamble and res-
olutions submitted the following, which were adopted :
^^Wliereas, It has seemed good in the ordering of the dispensations of Al-
mighty God to take from us by death, our beloved mayor, Jedediah M. Grant, a
man in Israel whose intrinsic worth was but in a very limited degree represented
by the important stations he so ably filled, as one of the First Presidency of the
Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints ; as mayor of Great Salt Lake City
since its incorporation, as major-general of the Nauvoo Legion, and for a suc-
cession of years as speaker of the House of Representatives in the Legislative As-
sembly of the Territory of Utah ; and one whose character and life as a citizen,
husband and father, endeared him to every honest and virtuous person with his
familiar associations,
^^Be it Resolved, That while we recognize the hand of God in all things we
most deeply lament the loss we have sustained as a council in the removal of our
president, and we sincerely sympathize in common with the citizens in the be-
reavement sustained by his family, relatives and friends.
^^ Resolved, That we in a body attend the funeral ceremonies to be held at the
Tabernacle at lo o'clock a. m., on the 4th inst., and that each member and officer
of the council wear a badge of crape thirty days on the left arm, significant of
our heartfelt sympathy and respect for the departed.
''Resolved, That the foregoing preamble and resolutions be published in the
Deseret News.
"The committee on arrangements selected Aldermen Snow, Harmon, Raleigh,
Smoot, Councilors Home, Taft, Richards and Davis, bearers; they also in-
structed the city council to be at the residence of the deceased, at 9 o'clock
A. M., to take carriages to join the funeral procession.
" The council adjourned. Benediction by A. O. Smoot."
The following was the military order of proceedings at the funeral of Major-
General Jedediah M. Grant, Dec. 4th, 1856.
" ist. At 9 o'clock a. m., an escort will be formed under the command of
Lieutenant Gen. D. H. Wells, in front of the residence of the deceased.
"2d. At half-past 9, the military will be formed in open lines extending
from his residence to the Tabernacle, through which the corpse, preceded by a
band of music will be conveyed, followed by his relatives, friends and members of
his staff. The bands in waiting in the Tabernacle will play alternately until the
procession be seated.
" 3d. At 10 o'clock the services will commence.
" 4th. At 12 o'clock, the services being ended, the procession to convey the
body to the cemetery will be formed as follows :
"An advanced guard; band of music; lieutenant-general and staff; escort,
(cavalry) ; lancers ; first presidency, twelve and presiding bishop ; eight bearers ;
hearse conveying corpse, covered by the deceased major-general's staff; major-
general's horse, fully caparisoned and led by his groom ; family and relatives ;
I
HISTORY OF SALT LAKE CITY.
86g
band of music; city council ; presidency of stake and council ; high council •
bishops; members ot the Legislative Assembly; members of Masonic Fraternity •
friends and citizens in carriages ; band of music ; rear of the escort, cavalry and
infantry; citizens generally (on foot.)
The proceetiings of the day were under the direction of J. C. Little and
L. W. Hardy."
At its session, January 2d, 1857, the city council deliberated on the subject
of filling the vacancy caused by the death of the late mayor, and A. O Smoot
was appointed to fill the vacancy.
On the first Monday of April, 1S57, the regular election confirmed this selec-
tion by the popular vote. The result of the election of April 6, 1857 was :
Mayor-A. O. Smoot. Aldermen-J. P. Harmon, Abraham Hoagland, A. H. Raleic^h William
Snow and Edmund Ellsworth. Councilors-Zera Pulsipher, Harrison Burge s, Joseph Ho:"' Wm G
Perku.s, Seth Taft, E. F. Sheets, Samuel W. Richards. Nathan Davis and Nathlniel V "nes:
In May, 1857, A. O. S.Tioot was selected (with Feramorz Little, Ephraim K.
Hanks, John R. Murdock and others) by the - Y. X. Company " to carry their
mail and establish mail stations along the route from Salt Lake City to Indepen-
dence, Missouri. He started with the mail June 2d ; but previous to his depart-
ure, at a meeting of the city council, May 15th, he stated that he should be ab-
sent for several months and suggested the appointment of A. H Raleigh to act
in his stead, whereupon the council elected Alderman Raleigh mayor /r^ tem.^
On his arrival at Independence with the mail, Mayor Smoot learned news of
the orders of General Scott to the army designed for Utah, and the repudiation
of the mail contract by the government ; and he hastened back to Salt Lake City
which he reached on the evening of July 23d, and on the 24th, carried the news
to the pioneers, who were celebrating their tenth anniversary in Bio- Cotton-
wood Soon thereupon the Territory was put under martial law, but Great Salt
Lake City was continued under the municipal rule very much as before, subject
merely to the general bent of aff'airs.
Tne mayor was in charge of the city during the war period when the citizens
arose to arms and went out to Echo Canyon to prevent the entrance of the army
that year; and in the spring the people moved south, but a strong detail of the
pohce force was left in the city to lay it in ashes should the order be -iven by the
acting Governor, Brigham Young, to prevent its occupation by the army Mean
time Col. Thomas L. Kane arrived, and with Governor Young and his counselors
entered into preliminary arrangements of peace, whereupon Governor Gumming
entered the city amid welcomes by the citizens, but the people, notwithstanding,
in the spring of 1858, moved south to await the faithful performance of the peace
compact ; after which they returned to the city and the municipal council re-
sumed Its suspended control. f
«See Mayor Smoofs letter, page 156 of this history, and chapters XVI and XVII generally in re
lation to the mail contract, the Buchanan expedition, and the arrival of Mayor Smoot on the 23d of
July with the news of the coming of the army.
tFor the full record of events of those times, and the affairs generally, see chapters XVI to XXVII.
870 HIS TOR y OF SALT LAKE ClI Y.
After the return of the people from the south and the resumption of the
municipal rule, the condition of society rendered it necessary for the organization
of a powerful police force. At a meeting of the city council held September i6,
1858, it was moved that the police force be increased to 200. The names of per-
sons chosL-n for this force were presented and accepted by tJie council, and
they were afterwards enrolled by the marshal of the city and his deputies, who
were A. Cunningham, N. V. Jones, Robert Burton, John Sharp, R. J. Golding,
John Kay, James Barlow, Lewis Robison, Seth M. Blair, Alexander McRae and
W. G. Mills. Andrew Cunningham was captain of police and Robert T. Burton
his lieutenant. This police force, by severe discipline, at length restored the city
to its former order and suppressed the lawlessness of desperadoes, which for
awhile had reigned, terrorizing the citizens and impeding public affairs.*
In April (4th), 1859, the city election occurred, when the following were
eleeted to the council :
Mayor — Abraham O. Smoot. Aldermen — Elijah F. Sheets, Nathaniel V. Jones, Alonzo H.
Raleigh, Jeter Clinton and Nathan Davis. Councilors — Samuel W. Richards, Harrison Burgess, James
W. Cummings, Robert T. Burton, Leonard W. Hardy, Wm. H. Hooper, Isaac Groo, Wm. C. Staines
and Samuel Malin.
The city officers now stood as follows :
Recorder — Robert Campbell. Treasurer — Hiram B. Clawson. Assessor and collector — [eter Clin-
ton. Marshal — Jesse C. Little. Auditor of public accounts — Robert Campbell. Captain of police-
Andrew Cunningham. Water master — Elijah F. Sheets. Surveyor— Jesse W. Fox. Superintendent
of cemetery — Jesse C. Little. Inspector of spirituous liquors — Robert Campbell. Inspector of pro-
visions— Andrew Cunningham.
There was a grand celebration of the Fourth of July, in the city, in the year
i859-t
In the spring of 1S60, the experiment of the Pony Express from the Mis-
souri River to the Pacific Ocean was made. The first Pony Express from the
west left Sacramento City at 12 p.m., on the night of the 3d of April, and arrived
in Salt Lake City at 11:45 p. m.; and from the east it left St. Joseph, Missouri, at
6:30 on the evening of the 3d, and arrived in this city at 6:25 on the evening of
the 9th.
During the year i860, the relations between Great Salt Lake City and Camp
Floyd were of a peaceful and conciliatory character, and our citizens received
much financial benefit in their dealings with the Camp.
The good order of society was now restored and the municipal rule returned
to its ordinary ways and means, there being no longer need for the extra police-
January 20th, i860, a new city charter was passed by the Legislature, which
changed the election day from "the first Monday in April" to "the second
Monday in February," to occur biennially. The charter provided for the elec-
tion of mayor, five aldermen and nine councilors.
The passage of this new charter threw the next election on the second Mon-
day of February, 1S62 ; consequently there was no municipal election in 1861.
In May, 1861, just previous to the outbreak of the civil war. Governor Gum-
ming and his lady departed from Salt Lake City with no expectation of returning.
•■■See chapter XXVI.
fSee chapter XXVII.
HISTORY OF SALT LAKE CnY. 871
Special interest was attached to the celebration of the Fourth of July this
year, in consequence of secession, which our citizens deprecated. The lieutenant-
general of militia, D. H. Wells, in his general orders No. i, issued from head-
quarters. Salt Lake City, June 25th, 1861, said :
"Thursday, the Fourth of July, being the eighty-fifth anniversary of Ameri-
can Independence, notwithstanding the turmoil and strife which distress the
nation established on that foundation, the citizens of Utah esteem it a privilege
to celebrate the day in a manner becoming American patriots and true lovers of
the constitution of their country."
About the middle of October, 1861, the eastern portion of the Pacific Tele-
graph Line was completed to Salt Lake City. The first message which passed
over it from this point was from ex-Governor Young to Hon J. H. Wade, presi-
dent of the Pacific Telegraph Company, in which he said : " Utah has not se-
seceded, but is firm for the constitution and laws of our once happy country,"
to^which Wade replied, as did Abraham Lincoln, to the congratulations of our city
sent by acting- Governor Frank Fuller.*
The following officers were elected in 1862 :
Aldermen — First Municipal Ward, Elijah F. Sheets; Second Municipal Ward, Wm. Clayton;
Third Municipal Ward, A. H. Raleigh; Fourth Municipal Ward, Jeter Clinton; Fifth Municipal
Ward, Nathan Davis. Councilors— Robert T. Burton, Leonard W. Hardy, Isaac Groo, Theodore
McKean, A. Cunningham, N. H. Felt, Enoch Reese, Ehiathan Eldredge, John Sharp. .
Li the spring of 1862, President Lincoln called for the service of our citizens
in the protection of the Overland Mail Line ; and two companies went out, one
under the command of Col. Burton and the other under Major Lot Smith. f
In 1862 the city council issued a document very much of the character of a
proclamation to our citizens relative to the celebration of the Fourth of July, as
a mark of loyalty to the Union. J
October 20th, 1S62, Col. Connor and his command arrived in Salt Lake
City.§
In the latter part of January, 1863, Gen. Connor and his troops fought the
battle of Bear River ; and at the burial of the dead in Camp Douglas Cemetery,
Salt Lake City was becommgly represented by the presence of several thousands
of citizens to pay tribute to the slain.
In the spring of 1863 there were great mass meetings held in the city to pro-
test against the continuance in office of Governor Harding and United States
Judges Wait and Drake, and resolutions and a petition were sent to President
Lincoln asking their removal. ||
On the nth of February, 1864, the election occurred, when the following
were elected to the council and the city officers stood as given :
Mayor — Abraham O. Smoot. Aldermen — Elijah F. Sheets, William Clayton, Alonzo H. Raleigh,
Jeter Clinton and Nathan Davis. Councilors — Robert T. Burton, Isaac Groo, Andrew Cunningham,
«See History, pages 249-50-51.
fSee Lincoln's call, Weh's orders, and the reports of the commanders, HISTORY, Chapter XXVIII.
JSee Document, History, Chapter XXX.
gSee History, Chapter XXXI.
||See History, Chapter XXXIII.
872 HISTORY OF SALT LAKE C1T\,
Nathaniel H. Felt, John Sharp, Leonard W, Hardy, Theodore McKean, Enoch Reese, and Elnathan
Eldredge. Recorder— Robert Campbell. Treasurer— Hiram B. Clawson. Marshal— Jesse C. Little.
Auditor of Public Accounts — Robert Campbell. Supervisor of Streets — Elijah F. Sheets. Surveyor —
Jesse W. Fox. Attorney — A. Miner. Board of School Inspectors — Henry L Doremus, Geo. \V.
Mousley and Bartlett Tripp. Sealer of Weights and Measures — Nathan Davis. Captain of Police —
Andrew Burt. Watermastcr — Elijah F. Sheets. Inspector of Buildings — A. H. Raleigh. Inspector
of Wood and Lumber — John C. Gray. Inspector of Liquors — Robert Campbell, Inspector of Pro-
visions— Leonard W. Hardy. Quarantine Physician — Jeter Clinton. Chief Engineer, Fire Depart-
ment—J. C. Litde, Board of E.xamination of Physicians — Dr. J. M. Bernhisel, Dr. Jeter Clinton and
H, .1 Doremus.
In March, a conflict impended between Camp Djuglas and the city, and on
two occasions the citizens made ready to defend their city. During this year
there were continued demonstrations of hostility, and in July, 1864, a "provost
marshal of Great Salt Lake City " was created and a provost guard quartered in
the " Museum '"" buildings.*
In the year 1S65 there was a happy change between the relations of Camp
Douglas and our city brought about by their uniting to celebrate the inauguration
of Abraham Lincoln on his second term. The officers of Camp Douglas com-
menced the movement and appointed a committee of arrangements with Mr.
S. Sharpe Walker grand marshal ; and simultaneously the city council issued
resolutions to celebrate, whereupon the two committees united, a grand procession
of the soldiers and citizens was constructed and the day was made one of the
most notable m the whole history of our city. After the ceremonies a ball was
given at the City Hall by the City Fathers and the officers of Camp were the
honored guests.
In the following month, April iSth, the Federal, civil and military officers
again united, but this time to mourn together over the assassination of President
Lincoln. f
The Hon. Schuyler Colfax and party were guests of the city, m June, 1865,
and the City Fathers devoted much attention to the occasion. |
About this time Governor Doty died in the city, and the mayor issued pro-
clamation suspending business and ordering flags to be draped at half-mast until
after the funeral ceremonies.
On the 8th of January, 1S66, the present City Hall was dedicated. The fol-
lowing is from the record on the occasion :
"City Hall, G. S. L. City, January 8th, 1866, 10 o'clock a. m.
" The city council met pursuant to adjournment to dedicate the City Hall.
" Present of the invited guests. Presidents Brigham Young, Heber C. Kim-
ball, Daniel H. Wells, Joseph Young, Sen., Governor Charles Durkee, Amos
Reed, secretary of the Territory; Hon. Geo. A. Smith, president and members
of the council, the Hon. Speaker and members of the House of Representatives
of the Legislative Assembly of the Territory of Utah, Hon. Elias Smith, judge of
probate, and county and city officers.
»See History, Chapters XXXIV, XXXV.
fFor a fuller account of both occasions see History, Chapter XXXVII.
iSee History, Chapters XXXVI II., XXXIX.
HISTORY OF SALT LAKE CITY. 873
"Reporters Geo. D. VVati, E. L. Sloan and Mr. Davis, also T, B. H. Sten-
house, Esq., editor of the Daily Telegraph.
"The exercises of the day were opened with singing " The City I love so
well," by Elder Wm. Willis.
The roll of the city council was called, and the following gentlemen re-
sponded to their names : Mayor A. O. Smoot, Aldermen Elijah F. Sheets, Alonzo
H. Raleigh, Jeter Clinton, Nathan Davis; Councilors Robert T. Burton, Leonard
W. Hardy, Isaac Groo, Theodore McKean, Andrew Cunningham, Enoch Reese,
Elnathan Eldridge, John Sharp and Henry W. Lawrence; Recorder Robert
Campbell ; Treasurer Paul A. Schettler and Marshal J, C. Little.
" Aldermen Clayton was absent through sickness. President Young made the
following announcement :
" ' I will announce to those assembled here, that we are here for the purpose
of dedicating this house and the material thereof, the grounds, and all pertaining
to the building and its surroundings, to the Lord our God whom we serve ; and
we do it in the name of Jesus Christ, His son. Brother George Q. Cannon will
offer the dedicatory prayer.'
" After the dedicatory prayer, came the opening speech by the mayor, which
was followed by a speech from Governor Charles Durkee, who concluded thus :
" ' You have before you an interesting event — the dedication of this building.
You have been here long ; you settled here early ; you have endured privations
and hardships, and for the scene of progress and perfection that now surround
you, you have reason to be proud, and to thank God for such blessings, hence you
should feel a degree of gratitude and I do not doubt that you do, and that you are
doing your best to serve the community, to elevate the people, to set a good ex-
ample and to officiate for the good of the Territory, the country and the people
at large. You certainly deserve a great deal of credit; those who have provided
the means for the erection of such a beautiful building, and have exhibited such a
fine specimen of architectural genius have reason to be proud ; it is creditable to
the people, to the artists and the community, and I can only say I wish that the
council here may be as perfect and as harmonious as this architecture. I doubt
not that it will be so, and hope it may be, for we all know the purer we can be,
the more truth we can have, the higher we can rise, the more harmony with God,
the more happy we are here and hereafter. You have my prayers and my efforts
that this building may be dedicated really, as you have prayed today, to the
cause of humanity, progress, religion, to the welfare of the Territory and the wel-
fare of the world.'
" This was followed by a speech from Hon. George A. Smith, president of
the council, after which Hon. John Taylor, speaker of the House delivered an
address. ,
"" President Brigham Young came next in an interesting speech, and was fol-
lowed by President Heber C. Kimball.
Mayor Smoot made a few closing remarks, and the meeting was dismissed by
prayer by President Daniel H. Wells.
" The exercises throughout were interspersed with songs, by Win. Willis.
"In the evening a grand banquet and ball was held, at which were present
68
874 HISTORY OF SALT LAKE CI7Y.
many distinguished guests, such as the First Presidency of the Church, members
of the Twelve, presiding bishops, Federal officials including Governor Durkee
and others.
" The party occupied the entire second story, and everything was fitted up for
the convenience and pleasure of the guests assembled."
In February the municipal election occurred when the following were re-
turned to the council :
Mayor — Daniel H. Wells. Aldermen — Elijah E. Sheets, Samuel W. Richards, Jeter Clinton,
Alonzo H. Raleigh and Alexander C. Pyper. Councilors — Robert T. Burton, Isaac Groo, Theodore
McKean, Elnathan Eldridge, John Sharp, Henry W. Lawrence, William S. Godbe, Claudius V. Spencer
and Joseph F. Smith. Recorder — Robert Campbell. Treasurer — Paul A. Schettler. Marshal — J. I). T.
McAllister.
Here we give a biographical sketch of A. O, Smoot, second mayor of Salt
Lake City on his retirement :
Hon. Abraham O. Smoot, the second mayor of Great Salt Lake City and
afterwards the mayor of Prove City, was born on the 17th of February, 1815, in
Owen County, Kentucky. His father, George W. Smoot, was from Prince Edward
County, Virginia, and his mother, Ann Rowlett, was from the same state and
county. They migrated from Virginia to Kentucky in 181 2. On the father's
side he is of Scotch origin. Grandfather Smoot emigrated from Scotland and
settled on the eastern shores of Maryland. His wife, Nancy Beal, was from Eng-
land. They emigrated about the same time and were married in America.
When A. O. Smoot was seven years old his parents moved from his native
place to the western district of Kentucky, and when he was about thirteen years
old to a short distance across the State line into Tennessee, where he lived till he
embraced the Gospel and came west.
In the exodus he led a company to Winter Quarters and was the captain of
one of the pioneer companies in the journey to the Valley of the Great Salt Lake.
His company, which was organized at the rendezvous on Horn River, consisted of
120 wagons. It was the largest company on the road that season, and was the
second company that arrived in the Valley after the Pioneers — Daniel Spencer's
being the first.
He was elected one of the first high council in the organization of the
Great Salt Lake Stake, which existed several years before the incorporation of the
city. He was the first justice of the peace that ever acted in Utah. The next
year was the great gold emigration to California, when, as the only justice of the
peace found between the Missouri River and Salt Lake, he was called upon by the
gold-seekers to adjudicate in about forty cases, some of which involved thousands
of dollars.
In the falhof 1849 ^^ returned east to establish a carrying company with Jede-
diah M. Grant, on the Missouri River, twelve miles from Winter Quarters, which,
however, was not accomplished, but they established a ferry there and started the
largest portion of the emigration of that year. In the spring of 1850 he engaged
to bring out two trains of merchandise, one for Colonel John Reese, and conducted
one for Livingston & Kinkade — the former by his partner, Jedediah M. Grant, the
latter conducted by himself. These were the earliest of the merchant trains that
HISTORY OF SALT LAKE CITY. 875
supplied the Salt Lake market after the one brought by Livingston & Kinkade the
previous year.
After the death of Jedediah M. Grant, the first mayor of Great Salt Lake
City, A. O. Smoot, in November 1856, was elected by the city council to take bis
place, and in February, 1857, he was elected mayor of Great Salt Lake City, by
the unanimous vote of the people at their regular election. He went to the States
in charge of the mail carried by the Y. X Company, and brought the news of the
coming of the Utah Expedition, a full account of which has been given in the
History of Salt Lake City. He remained in charge of the city during the Utah
war, moved with the people south and located for the time at Salem, where there
was feed for his stock. After the conclusion of peace he returned with the people
to Great Salt Lake City and resumed his duties as its chief magistrate. He was re-
elected mayor in February, 1859, and was by repeated elections continued in ofifice
till February, 1S66. He was alderman of the Fifth Municipal Ward^ four years
before being elected mayor. He was also one of the members of the Provisional
Government, and after declining the mayorship in 1866 he served twelve years in
the Council branch of the Legislature. He went to Provo on the first of February,
1868 and was elected mayor of Provo on the second Monday in February. He
served Salt Lake City as mayor for ten years, and has since served Provo for
twelve years in the same capacity.
In 1868, Salt Lake merchants held meetings at the City Hall and Z. C. M. I.
was established.
In July, 1869, a delegation of eastern merchants arrived in Salt Lake City,
and Vice President Colfax and party made their second visit.*
In November and December, the Godbeite Movement was started in the city
and for awhile occupied public attention.
The Utah Central Railroad was completed and the last spike driven, in this
city, by President Young, January 10, 1870, in the presence of fifteen thousand
citizens. f
In the beginning of this year (1870) the Liberal party was organized and the
municipal election contested by that party with Henry W. Lawrence as candidate
for mayor. The returns of the election gave the following members to the
council :J
Mayor -Daniel H. Wells. Aldermen— First Municipal Ward, Issac Groo ; Second, Samuel W.
Richards ; Third, A. H, Raleigh ; Fourth, Jeter Clinton ; Fifth, A. C. Pyper. Councilors— Robert T.
Burton, Theodore McKean, Thos. Jenkins, Heber P. Kimball, Henry Grow, John Clark, Thomas
McLelland, John R. Winder, Lewis S. Hills. Recorder — Robert Campbell. Treasurer — Paul A.
Schettler. Marshal— John I). T. McAllister.
February 12th, 1870, the female suffrage bill was passed, and on the 14th of
February the first female votes were cast at the city election. Female mass meet-
ings were also held about the same time against the Cullom Bill; and, on the last
day of March a mass meeting was held in the city and Congress petitioned against
the Cullom Bill.§
«See Chapter XLIV.
fSee Chapter LXXTI. for particulars of the occasion and railroad history.
.tSee Chapter XLVH.
^Chapters LXVHI, L and LI.
f
876 HISTORY OF SALT LAKE CITY.
In March, 1870, Governor Shaffer arrived and began his administration.*
Judge James B. McXean arrived August 30th, 1870/ and commenced his
court proceedings September 7th.
In August, Dr. Newman arrived and discussed polygamy with Apostle Orson
Prattf
In August, 1870, the Liberal party opi)osed the People's party in the election
for delegate to Congress.];
Governor Shaffer, in September, issued his proclamation forbidding the mus-
ter of the Utah militia, whereupon a correspondence took place between him and
Lieutenant-General Wells. §
Governor Shaffer died in Salt Lake City on the 31st of October, 1870.
In November the " Wooden Gun Rebellion " occurred. |!
April 4, 1871, a petition of Brigham Young, president of the Utah Southern
Railroad Company, was brought up before the council, asking a grant to said com
pany of the right of way through the corporate limits of the following portion of
the city, viz: " Beginning at the terminus of the Utah Central Railroad, thence
south on Third West Street, to Ninth South Street ; thence east on Ninth South
Street to Third East Street ; thence south on an open street through the five
acre plat A. to the southern line of corporation."
On motion of Alderman Clinton the right of way was granted.
On the loth of June, 1871, a communication, signed by Governor Geo. L.
Woods, chairman, and Geo. R. Maxwell, secretary, was addressed " to the mayor
and common council," by a committee of arrangements which at a meeting had
^'■Resolved, That the city council be and is hereby respectfully requested to
authorize its committee, or in its wisdom to appoint a new committee, to meet a
like committee from the citizens already appointed, with full authority to confer,
concert and adopt proper means, if possible, for a single and harmonious celebra-
tion of the coming Fourth of July, irrespective of any and all action heretofore
taken by either of the aforesaid committees."
To which the city council replied by formal resolutions stating, "that it is
deemed unnecessary, and under the circumstances, unjust, either to set aside the
present committee, or otherwise to interrupt tlie advanced state of their labors,
which might jeopardize the approaching celebration by the mass of the people,
believing that we have through them provided liberal and ample provisions for all
who desire to celebrate the anniversary of our Nation's birthday."
The arrangements of the city, however, were interrupted by a proclamation
of acting Governor George A. Black, forbidding the granting of a " detach-
ment of the Territorial militia, with bands of music to aid in the celebration of
the ninety-fifth anniversary of American Independence,', which was applied for
by the City of the lieutenant-general of the militia.^
"*See Chapter LI 1 1.
tSee Chapter LI I.
jSee Chapter LIV.
|See Chapter LI 1 1.
IJSee Chapter LV.
f'For the documents and ti>e narrative of the celebration of tlie Fourth of Tulv, 1871 see Chap-
ter LVI. " '
HISTORY OF SALT LAKE CITY. 877
In August (31st) 1871, U. S. Marshal Patrick made a demand upon City
Marshal McAllister, for a prisoner in his custody, belonging to the penitentiary.
He also brought a suit against the warden of the penitentiary and the city marshal
before U. S. Associate Justice Hawley, in the prosecution of which U. S. District
Attorney Baskin intimated that he would have surrounded the City Hall with cav-
alry, infantry and artillery and " knocked the City Hall and city jail down."*
On the 3d of October, 1871, D. H. Wells, mayor of Salt Lake City, was ar-
rested by U. S. Marshal Patrick, on the charge of polygamy, but was released on
bonds.
On the loth of October, the mayor issued a "proclamation" calling for a
mass meeting of "all classes of the people" to assemble to relieve the sufferers of
the Chicago fire. The proclamation was nobly responded to and among the wor-
thy subscribtions, the city corporation appropriated $1,500, and the mayor him-
self personally $500. 1
On Saturday the 28th of October, 1871, Mayor Wells was arrested on a cap-
ital charge, and was sent by Judge McKean, a prisoner to Camp Douglas, but on
the Monday following he was admitted to bail by the chief justice, on the ground,
that if held a prisoner at Camp Douglas, " it would be practically impossible for
the mayor to attend to any of the dnties ot his office, and, therefore, he could
not be held responsible for the quietude and good order of the city."|
A committee appointed by the city, on the 4th of February, 1872, met the
Japanese Embassy, at Ogden, and " in the name of the chief magistrate and civil
authorities of Salt Lake City " tendered them welcome , and on the sixth, the Em-
bassy held a levee at the City Hall, where, in the room occupied by the House of
Representatives, Mayor Wells greeted them with a very becoming address, after
which he introduced to them Governor Woods, who in turn introduced the dif-
ferent Federal officials, and General Morrow presented the officers of the garri-
son at Camp Douglas; then followed the presentation of the members of the Leg-
islature, city and county officers and prominent citizens. §
On the second Monday of February, 1872, the municipal election occurred
when the following were returned :
Mayor — Daniel H. Wells, Aldermen — -Isaac Groo, Aurelius Miner, Nathaniel H. Felt, Jeter
Clinton and John Van Cott. Councilors — Theo. McKean, Henry Grow, John Clark, John R. Winder,
Lewis S. Hills, Alexander C. Pyper and Joseph F. Smith. Recorder — Robert Campbell. — Treasurer
—Paul A. Schettler. Marshal — John D. T. McAllister.
At the municipal election of 1874, there were four tickets put into the con-
test : the People's party's regular ticket and the opposition ticket of the Liberal
party first appeared followed by the " Working People's " ticket, upon which a
fourth ticket was constructed, supported by the Liberal party who withdrew their
own, leaving two tickets in the field both bearing the name of the " People's
Ticket," with Daniel H. Wells for mayor on the regular ticket, and William Jen-
nings on the opposition ticket. The result of the election was :
Mayor — D. H Wells. Aldermen — Isaac Groo, George Crismon, Jeter Clinton, John Sharp, A. Q.
*See chapter LIX.
fSee chapter LXI.
iSee chapter LXIII.
iSee chapter LXV for further account of the Japanese Embassy's visit.
878 HISTORY OF SALT LAKE CITY.
Pjper. Councilors — Brigham Young, Theodore McKean, Albert Carrington, j. R. Winder, Henry
Grow, N. H. Felt, David McKenzie, Feramorz Little, Thomas Williams. Treasurer — Paul Shettler.
Recorder— Robert Campbell. Marshal— J. D. T. McAllister.*
At the August election of 1874, for delegate to Congress the control of the
polls was assumed by the United States marshal and his deputies, who in the ex-
ercise of their duties attempted the control of the city, among other acts arresting
the captain of the city police and several members of his force. Towards even-
ing there was a riot at the City Hall, when the mayor read the riot act, and or-
dered the police to beat back the rnob which had previously assaulted his person
and were shouting "shoot him ! shoot him ! " while he stood on the balcony of
the hall ordering them to disperse. f
In October, 1875, President Grant visited Salt Lake City. He was met at
Ogden by the city council, county officers and other distinguished citizens, in-
cluding Erigham Young, John Taylor, George Q. Cannon and Joseph F. Smith.
The special train chartered by the city authorities, brought the train of President
Grant to the city. J
The returns of the municipal election in February, 1876, gave the following
to the city council :
Mayor — Feramorz Little. Aldermen— Adam Spiers, Henry Dinwoodey, A. H. Raleigh, John
Sharp, and Alexander C. Pyper. Councilors— Brigham Young, John Henry Smith, Nicholas Groes-
beck, John R. Winder, David O. Calder, Geo. Reynolds, Elias Morris, Elijah Sheets and Harrison
Sperry. Recorder — John T. Caine. Treasurer — Paul A. Shettler. Marshal — Andrew Burt. Auditor
of Public Accounts— John T. Caine. Assessor and Collector — John R. Winder. Supervisor of Streets,
Watermaster and Jailor — Wm. Hyde. Captain of Police, Market Master, and Inspector of Provisions
— Andrew Burt. Superintendent of Hospital and Insane Asylum— A. H. Raleigh. Sexton — Joseph
E. Taylor. Surveyor — Jesse W. Fox, Jr. City Attorney — Joseph L. Rawlins. Sealer of Weights
and Measures — Martin H. Peck. Superintendent of Water Works — T, W. Ellerbeck. Chief Engi-
neer of Fire Department — C. M. Donelson. Quarantine, Asylum, Hospital and City Physician — Dr.
Seymour B. Young.
Here we pause in the city notes to give a biographical sketch of ex-Mayor
Wells :
Daniel H. Wells, who in the history of Utah has become famous as the lieu-
tenant-general of the Utah militia, mayor of Salt Lake City, and second coun-
selor of the Mormon Church, was born in Trenton, Oneida County, New York, j,
October 27th, 1814.
His father, Daniel, served in the war with Great Britain, in 181 2, and his
mother, Catherine Chapin, was the daughter of David Chapin, a revolutionary
soldier who served with General Washington.
In the rise of the British colonies in America, this man's ancestor was one of
the governors. He was none other than the illustrious Thomas Wells, fourth gov-
ernor of Connecticut, who held rhe offices of governor and lieutenant-governor
alternately a number of times. In all the land there was no American more illus-
trious than this ancestor of General Wells, to whom we give the rank on the Mor-
•■■■See Chapter LXX., for the history of the contest.
fSee Chapter LXX.
|See Chapter LXXIII.
HISTORY OF SALT LAKE CITY. Syg
mon side, as first citizen of Utah to-day in historical importance. Gideon Wells,
Secretary of the Navy in the Lincoln administration, is from a branch of the
same family, but the Utah Wells is descended directly from the inheriting line.
On his mother's side, also, his descent is scarcely less distinguished.
His father died in 1826, when Daniel H. was but twelve years of age. When
he was eighteen, the family, consisting of his mother, himself and six sisters, sold
their estate in Trenton and removed to Ohio. In the spring following (1834),
he settled at Commerce, afterwards famous as Nauvoo. This was the year suc-
ceeding the Black Hawk War, and before Carthage, the county seat, was located.
Ere be was twenty-one years of age, he was elected constable, and soon afterwards
justice of the peace. He was also elected second sergeant in the first organization
of the militia of the district ; and so great was the confidence of all parties and
sects, including the Catholics, in his integrity and impartiality, that he was often
selected as arbitrator of differences between neighbors, and administrator of the
estates of deceased persons. In politics he was a Whig, and was an influential
member of many of the political conventions of Hancock County from its organ-
ization to the time of the expulsion of the Mormons.
In 1839, he became acquainted with the Mormons. When they fled from
Missouri, he was among the foremost to welcome and give succor to the refugees.
That severe American spirit, for which he has ever been marked, was aroused to
indignation at witnessing the expulsion of free-born American citizens from a
neighboring State, many whose forefathers, like his own, had helped to found the
nation, and to fight for its independence in later generations. Indeed, it would
seem, from the tenor of his life, that the chain which at first bound him to the
Mormons was his uncompromising Americanism and stern republican integrity,
rather than a sentimental sympathy with a religious sect, or from any constitu-
tional tendency to be carried away by a love of the marvelous, which is popularly
supposed to have been the moving cause with the majority of those who embraced
the new faith.
When Nauvoo was organized, and charters were granted by the Legisla-
ture of Illinois to the city, university, and Nauvoo Legion, Daniel H. Wells
was elected alderman and member of the city council, one of the regents
of the universityand commissary-general on the staff of the major-general with
the rank of brigadier-general. After the murder of Joseph and Hyrum Smith,
when the Governor of the State of Illinois sent Lieutenant Abernethy to de-
mand the arms of the Legion, General Wells protested against the order, as
an infringement of his constitutional right to bear arms as a member of the
militia of the State. After the exodus of the main body of the Mormon Church,
under the Twelve, and at the time the mob was gathering, he became a mem-
ber of the Church, and, six weeks later, he took part in the famous battle of
Nauvoo, — fighting for the freedom of his conscience, and the rights of Ameri-
can citizens. In this battle, Colonel Johnson having been taken sick, he as-
sisted Lieutenant- Colonel Cutler in the command, acting as the latter's aid-de-
camp. During the three days of the battle he was especially conspicuous on his
white horse, encouraging and directing the men, and was often made a target by
the enemy.
88o HISTORY OF SALT LAKE CITY.
On the surrender of Nauvoo, he resolved to go to Winter Quarters, but was
among the very last to leave the doomed city. As the mob advanced, coming
down the street, only two blocks behind the expelled citizens, Colonel Cutler and
himself brought up the rear of the refugees. On the other side of the river they
were met by a patrol guard, who demanded their arms, which they refused to give
up, it being in violation of the treaty, which provided that the arms should be re-
stored to the Mormons as soon as they reached the Iowa side of the river. From
the portico of the temple the enemy fired their cannon on the defenceless camp
across the river. Gathering up the balls he sent one of them, with his compli-
ments, to the Governor of Iowa, whose Territory had been thus invaded. He
then took a one-horse buggy and rode day and night, with Colonel Cutler, to the
Mormon headquarters, to send back teams for the expelled remnant, to whose res-
cue he soon returned. In the second journey of the pioneers to the valleys he
was aide-de camp to General Brigham Young.
Since that day, in the history of Utah, Daniel H. Wells has figured among
the most conspicuous, in its great events and important places in the Church, in
the city and in the Territorial government. He was a member of the Legislative
Council in the Provisional State of Deseret, superintendent of public works,
after the death of Jedediah M. Grant, Second Counselor of the Church, and lieu-
tenant-general of the Utah militia, which he comminded in the "Utah war"
in 1857-8.
Daniel H. Wells was elected Major-General of the Nauvoo Legion by the
General Assembly of the Territory of Utah, May 26th, 1849 ; ^"^ to the rank of
lieutenant-general, March 27th, 1852, receiving his commission from Governor
Brigham Young, March 8th, 1855. He was again re-elected lieutenant-general by
the people, as provided by law, April 6th, 1857.
In 1864-5 he was president of the European mission, and since then has been
mayor of Salt Lake City a number of terms.
Daniel H. Wells is a thorough American. His loyal and stirring speech,
stimulating the patriotism of the Mormons soon after their entrance into the Val-
ley, we give here as proof of his ardent love of his native country and its institu-
tions. He said :
" It has been thought by some that this people, abused, maltreated, insulted,
robbed, plundered, and finally disfranchised and expatriated, would naturally
feel reluctant to again unite their destiny with the American Republic. No won-
der that it was thought by some that we would not again submit ourselves (even
while we were yet scorned and ridiculed) to return to our allegiance to our native
country. Remember, that it was by the act of our country, not ours, that we were
expatriated , and then consider the opportunity we had of forming other ties; let
this pass while we lift the veil and show the policy which dictated us. That
country, that constitution, those institutions were all ours — they are still ours.
Our fathers were heroes of the Revolution. Under the master spirits of an
Adams, a Jefferson and a Washington, they declared and maintained their inde-
pendence ; and under the guidance of the spirit of truth, they fulfilled their mis-
sion whereunto they were sent from the presence of the Father. Because dema-
gogues have risen and seized the reins of power, should we relinquish our interest
HISTORY OF SALT LAKE CITY. b8i
in that country, made dear to us by every tie of association and consanguinity ?
* * * Those who have indulged such sentiments concerning us, have
not read Mormonism aright; for never, no never, will we desert our country's
cause ; never will we be found arrayed by the side of her enemies, although she
herself may cherish them in her own bosom. Although she may launch forth the
thunderbolts of war, which may return and spend their fury upon her own head,
never, no never, will we permit the weakness of human nature to triumph over our
love of country, our devotion to her institutions, handed down to us by our hon-
ored sires, made dear by a thousand tender recollections."
General Wells was very strong in his condemnation of the late war upon the
Union and the rational flag. His peculiar expression was that the South should
have '' wrapped the time-honered flag of their country around them, and fought
for their constitutional rights as we did !" Daniel is the author of that view. He
remembers that he is the direct descendant of the fourth Governor of Connecti-
cut, and all through his life has aimed to be worthy of his illustrious descent.
On Wednesday, August 29th, 1877, Brigham Young, the founder of Salt Lake
City, died at his residence, whereupon Mayor Little called a special meeting of
the city council and formally announced the death of one of its members, Presi-
dent Young being at the time of his death a city councilor. Aldermen Sharp and
Raleigh, and Councilors Reynolds, Calder and Winder were appointed a com-
mittee to draft and present resolutions.*
The election of February, 187S, returned tlie following to the council :
Mayor — Feramorz Little. .Aldermen — Adam Spiers, Henry Dinwoodey, A. H. Raleigh, John
Sharp and Alex. C. Pyper. Councilors — Wm, L. Ball, Isiac Brockbank, Elias Morris, James W' Cum-
mings, Joseph F. Smith, John Henry Smith, David O. Calder, Francis Armstrong. Recorder — John
T. Caine. Treasurer — Paul A. Schettler. Marshal — Andrew Burt.
On the 5th of May, 1879, ex-Mayor Wells having been sent to the peniten-
tiary by Judge Emerson, for refusing to describe the ceremonial dresses of the en-
dowment house, the city council ordered a grand procession at the release of its
former chief magistrate. f
The election of February, 1S80 returned :
Mayor — Feramorz Little. Aldermen — Elijah F. Sheets, Henry Dinwoodey, A. H. Raleigh, D. O.
Calder and A. C. Pyper. Councilors — Joseph Booth, Jacob Weiler, John Clark, Thomas E. Taylor,
Harrison Sperry, Joseph F. Smith, John Henry Smith, O. F. Whitney and Francis Armstrong. Re-
corder— John T. Caine. Treasurer — Paul A. Schettler. Marshal — Andrew Burt. Assessor and col-
lector— John R. Winder.
Feramorz Little served Salt Lake City as its mayor three terms, and his ad-
ministration of municipal affairs was acceptable to all classes of the citizens.
Liberty Park was purchased by the city while he was in office; many improve-
ments were made in public works and the financial business of the municipality
was well contiucted. He retired from office at the election of 1882.
The election of February, 1882, gave the following city officers :
Mayor — William Jennings. Aldermen — E. F. Sheets, Henry Dinwoodey. A. H. Raleigh, David
O. Calder and Ale.x. C. Pyper. Councilors — Samuel Peterson, Adam Spiers, T. E. Taylor, James C.
»See History Chapter LXXIV.
tSee History Chapter LXXXVHL
69
B82 HISTORY OF SALT LAKE CITY,
Watson, John Clark, Joseph F. Smith, Geo. Romney, James P. Freeze and Daniel H. Wells. Recor-
der—John T. Caine. Treasurer— Paul A. Schettler. Marshal— Andrew Burt. Assessor and collector,
John R. Winder.
On July 28th, 1882, Aldermen A. C. Pyper died. He was one of the oldest
and ablest members of the council, having served sixteen years.
June 13th, 1882, it was resolved by the city council that Liberty Park should
be opened to the public on and after Saturday, June 17th, 1882, at 12 o'clock
noon, and subject to such rules and regulations as the city council shall prescribe.
Programme: — Procession of the city, federal, territorial and military offi-
cials to join in the procession under the direction of the marshal and to start from
the City Hall at 10 o'clock a. m., to proceed to and enter the park at the main
gateway, thence around the drive to the stand. Exercises : music ; reading of
resolutions by deputy-recorder, H. M. Wells; singing, glee-club; dedicatory
prayer. Alderman Raleigh ; singing, glee club; speech, Prof. T. B. Lewis ; music ;
speech, Hon. Ben Sheeks ; music; toasts and responses; declaration by the mayor
of the formal opening of the park ; music.
The city council afterwards granted the park to the public for the celebration
of the 4th of July, 1882.
It was during the period of this council that the Edmunds Bill was passed,
which, as interpreted by the Utah Commission, disqualified the elder members of
the council from further service to the city.
The municipal election of February, 1884, returned the following gentlemen
to the council :
Mayor — James Sharp, Aldermen— Adam Spiers, I. M. Waddell, Joseph H. Dean, Robert Pat-
rick, and George D. Pyper. Councilors — Geo. Stringfellow, Orson H. Pettit, John Clark, Thomas G.
Webber, Albert W. Davis, Joseph A. Jennings, Andrew N. McFarlane, Heber J. Grant, and Junius
F. 'Wells. Recorder — Heber M. Wells. Treasurer — Paul A. Schettler. Marshal — Wm. G. Phillips.
Assessor and Collector — Wm. W. Taylor.
Undoubtedly the Hon. Wm. Jennings would have been returned a second
term as mayor, but for the constrained interpretation put upon the Edmunds Bill,
excluding from the suffrage and office all who had ever been in polygamy. He
was legally eligible to the office, notwithstanding the Edmunds Bill. Considerable
of the record of the public service of Mr. Jennings will be found interspersed
throughout the foregoing chapters; also of his connections with the commerce of
our city and the building and management of the Utah Central and Utah Southern
Railroads.*
On the retirement of the late council Feb, i6th, 1884, it was ordered by the
succeeding council, on motion of Councilor Junius F. Wells, that a portrait be
painted of Alderman A. H. Raleigh, at the expense of the city, and suspended
upon the wall of the council chamber.
It is becoming for his long service to the city, and he being probably also the
" oldest alderman in America," to here give a brief biographical sketch of Alder-
man Raleigh, accompanying his steel plate.
It is about thirty years ago since A. H, Raleigh was made an alderman of
*For further respecting Mr. Jennings, see his biography.
^jT:/, A/, //^L^^^^'^
HISTORY OF SALT LAKE CITY, 883
Great Salt Lake City, which was the full name of our city when he first became
a member of the municipal government. Speaking of the length of his service,
as the oldest alderman in America, this fact alone would make his portrait quite a
unique and very fitting illustrative plate in the history of Salt Lake City.
Alonzo Hazeltine Raleigh was born in Francistown, Hillsboro' County, State
of New Hampshire, November 7th, 1818. His father's name was James L.
Raleigh, and his mother's name Susan McCoy. They were also born in the State
of New Hampshire. His grandfather, Major Raleigh, was born and bred in old
Concord, Massachusetts, near the line of Lexington; and he was in the battle of
Lexington, so called, though grandfather Raleigh always claimed that it was
fought on the Concord side of the line.
Creat grandfather Philip Raleigh came to America, from Ireland, in 1744
and settled, being the first settler in the town of Antrim, Hillsboro' County, New
Hampshire. At the time the place where he settled was a wilderness. The great-
grandmother's name was Sarah Joiner. She was an English woman and emi-
grated from England about the same time that Philip Raleigh came over from
Ireland. The grandmother's name was Sarah Hazeltine, whose family name
(Hazeltine) our alderman bears.
Alderman Raleigh in his youth received an ordinary common district school
education. He left school early, and labored on a farm till he was fourteen years
of age, when he was apprenticed to the mason's trade. He was a good bricklayer,
became a master builder, and took contracts.
After learning the mason's trade Raleigh went to Boston, and in that great
city he joined the Mormon Church, being baptized by that once famous elder,
George J. Adams, who in the theatrical history of this country in his day ranked
as one of America's great actors.
In the spring of 1843, Raleigh gathered to Nauvoo, where he was at the
time of the martyrdom ot Joseph and Hyrum, He left Nauvoo in the great
Mormon exodus of 1846, but did not come to the mountains with the pioneers
in 1847. However, on the second pioneer journey in 1848, became in President
Heber C. Kimball's company and arrived in the city of the Great Salt Lake in
September.
In the spring of 185 1 Alderman Raleigh was called upon and appointed by
President Young to take charge of and carry on the mason department of the
public works, which he continued to do until those works were suspended during
the Buchanan war and the " move south."
In the year 185 1 he was also called upon by President Young to preside over
the Deseret Dramatic Association at its first organization, to which association he
devoted his evenings for about three years.
In 1853, October 21st, he was made superintendent of and trustee for the
Nineteenth Ward portion of the city wall, the building of which he accomplished
satisfactorily.
Alderman Raleigh's services in the municipality of Great Salt Lake City
commenced in 1854. On the 12th of September he received notice of his ap-
pointment to the office of alderman of the Third Municipal Ward, and took the
834 HISTORY OF SALT LAKE CITY.
oath of office. At the next election, March 5th, 1855, he was duly elected to the
same position. In 1857, Mayor Smout having been called and appointed by
Governor Young to go and establish a settlement at Deer Creek, near Fort Lar-
amie, in the interest of the mail service, Alderman Raleigh was elected mayor
pro tern., May 29th, which office he filled till the 4th of September, when Mayor
Smoot resumed his duties.
Alderman Raleigh has also for many years filled the office of bishop of the
Nineteenth Ward of Salt Lake City.
He was called to be a bishop at the April Conference of 1856, and was or-
dained and set apart by Presiding Bishop Edward Hunter, May 6th of the same
year, to preside over the Nineteenth Ward, he having been counselor to Bishop
James Hendricks from about the organization of said ward.
In the "Utah War" he served as a commanding officer. He was elected
major in the Nauvoo Legion, April 20th, 1857 ; was appointed adjutant, 2nd
regiment, 2nd brigade, ist division, September 12th, 1857. In the spring of 1858,
March 31st, he started with 135 men for Echo; there his number was increased to
180. April 5th, he inspected the earth works and stone batteries and made his
report to the lieutenant-general.
April 7th, Governor Cummings and Col. Thos. L. Kane passed through the
camp in Echo for Salt Lake.
On the 13th, having been selected, he started for Lost Creek Station with two
battalions of infantry (having been reinforced), and after exploring, sent on the
15th the entire force up the creek twelve miles to build a station, clear roads, etc.,
after which, on the 19th, he took 175 men four miles further up the canyon to
build batteries, etc. After building nineteen batteries, at about equal distances
apart for about a mile and a half, he was ordered to detail fifty men and station
them at the mouth of the canyon, send twenty-five to Echo, and return with the
remainder to Salt Lake City. ^
Before the organization of Great Salt Lake City the bishops acted as magis-
trates of their wards, but on the incorporation of the city, A. H. Raleigh was
elected justice of the peace for Salt Lake City precinct, for Salt Lake County, and
occupied that office until the city was divided into five municipal precincts, since
which for several years he was justice of the Third precinct.
He was appointed inspector of buildings for Salt Lake City, about the time
of the passage of the law prescribing the duties thereof, March 17th, i860, and
has been the only incumbent of the office ever since.
As an alderman he has served the city from September, 1854, to February,
1884, excepting one term. Of his administration it may be said that A. H. Ral-
eigh is not only the oldest of our " city fathers," but also a veteran legislator in
this municipality. Raleigh, indeed, is very defined in the history of Salt Lake
City as a strong, persistent man. He generally carried his measures, and showed
remarkable self-reliance and independence of character. Our city could ill af-
ford to lose from the public service such men as A. H. Raleigh, D. H. Wells,
Henry Dinwoodey, and William Jennings, but the Edmunds law was more
powerful than the people's will.
The municipal term of 1884-5 ^^^ critically related to general events, and it on
HISTORY OF SALT LAKE CITY. 8S5
several occasions required at once prudence and firmness in the council to sustain
the dignity of the city, yet to take such action as to meet the public approval.
This was particularly the case relative to certain doings of city officers on the
Fourth of July, 1885.
On that day the flags of the City Hall, County Court House, Salt Lake
Theatre, Z. C. M. I., Deseret News Office, the Tithing Office and the Gardo
House, the residence of President Taylor, were placed at half-mast. This being
observed a great excitement was produced, and finally a committee of citizens,
consisting of Marshal Ireland, Major Wilkes, Captain Evans and C. L. Haines,
and others went to the City Hall to ascertain the reason of the flag being at half-
mast at the City Hall. The officers of whom the enquiry was first made knew
nothing further than that Marshal Philips had ordered it. The Marshal, who
with Mayor Sharp, was attending a meeting at the Tabernacle, was sent for, and
on his appearance at the office, where the committee awaited him. Major Wilkes,
as spokesman, said :
" Marshal, we are here as a committee of citizens to ascertain the reason for
the flag of this building being at half-mast."
The city marshal replied that it was " a whim " of his, and further added in
explanation remarks to the effect that Salt Lake City had cause for mourning, and
that the half-masting of the flag expressed the feelings of the majority of the cit-
izens. The mayor, however, on his arrival ordered the flag to be raised to its
proper position ; and the officers of Z. C. M. L did the same at a later hour in
the day, it having been placed at half-mast at that institution by an irresponsible
person. During the entire day the city was greatly disturbed, and both at the
City Hall and Z. C. M. L riot was threatened. That there was any intention to
dishonor the flag, few seriously believed, though many affected such an opinion.
The Deseret News thus explained the case :
" The Mormon people have never at any time insulted the national ensign.
They have sustained and upheld it under the most trying and extraordinary cir-
cumstances. When they were, like the Pilgrim Fathers, driven from their homes
and sought a place where they could enjoy liberty of conscience, they planted
the emblems of union and liberty in these mountains, and they will continue to
sustain it, and should the occasion arise, doubtless they will be ready to lay down
their lives in the maintenance of the principles ovfer which it should forever wave.
" Four years ago on Saturday the nation's flag was at half-mast throughout
the land. The people had been thrown into the depths of sorrow because one of
the leading sons of the Republic had been shot down by the bullet of an assassin.
But the victim was not yet dead. The man who would have accused the country
of insulting the flag because it was then placed in a drooping position, would have
been treated as an idiot. The people of U ah joined in that universal grief.
They are now sorrowful over the decadence of their liberties. And a feeling of
depression was to some extent expressed on Saturday as it was on July 4th, 1881.
" Who could rejoice on the Fourth of July, and make it a day of revelry and
mirth, and indulge in gratulations over liberty when some of our best men are
h86 HISTORY OF SALT LAKE CITY,
languishing in prison, committed there, as we believe, in gross violation of law
and of every right that belongs to citizens of this Republic?
" It will only be a few days until thirty-eight years have elapsed since the
Latter-day Saints trod the soil of this valley. With reverent hands and patiiotic
hearts they hoisted their country's flag, unfurling it to the breeze, in these moun-
tains, and from that day until the present they have maintained that flag loyally
and truthfully, and have never feared to denounce every attempt of governors,
judges, marshals, secretaries and other petty officials who have held office for a
brief space, to trample upon the rights of the people guaranteed by the Constitu-
tion under the flag of the country. These are the patriots of the land — men who
knowing right dare maintain it, and who have never crouched nor been dis-
posed to
" Crook the pregnant hinges of the knee
That thrift may follow fawning — "
But have dared tell men the truth as it is, and stand up for the rights of men."
The Salt Lake Tribune under the head of " Insulting the Flag," said :
" The Mormons made a shameful record for themselves yesterday. As the
people of the city awoke to the light of Independence Day they saw from the
chief centres of Mormon power the American flag drooping at halfrnast. It was
a startling sight. Every one wondered what it meant, and many were the surmises.
But no one hit at first on the true reason — that it was the Mormon method of ex-
pressing their hatred of this Nation and their contempt for its power. * *
And this is the boasted loyalty of the Mormon people ! We have all known,
those of us who have been here any length of time, that all their profession in
this respect was damnable hypocrisy, sheer falsity to deceive candid people. The
occurrence of yesterday will forever stop them from pleading loyalty any more.
In their despair they threw off their mask. They will not be able to escape the
consequences of their treason. Let us hear no more of Mormon love for the
Stars and Stripes "
It was this latter view that was telegraphed East, causing a great stir in the
country ; and it was supposed an official report was sent to President Cleveland
with a similar tone. For several days the eastern journals kept the public under
the impression that troops were needed in Salt Lake City to quell Mormon treason,
and President Cleveland ordered General Howard to hold troops in readiness
for this service. It was expected that on the Twenty-fourth — the Mormon pio-
neer day — the city, following its usual custom, would use the flag again. Would
it be again at half-mast, was the sensitive question of the hour^ but the death of
General Grant gave the occasion of half-niasting by common consent.
The affair of half-masting the flag came up before the city council, and a
committee was appointed to report on the case, which they did, giving a similar
explanation to that of the marshal and the Deserct N'ews — namely, that the city
had cause for mourning. But this was not satisfactory to the non-Mormons, who
held an indignation meeting, at which the speakers gave vent to many belligerent
expressions.
At the close of the year 1885, there was again great excitement in the city over
HISTORY OF SAL T LAKE CITY. 887
the shooting of Joseph W, McMurrin, a night watchman, by Deputy Marshal
Collin. According to the evidence, it appears that Deputy Collin was approach-
ing his residence near the Social Hall, on the evening of November 28th, 1885,
when he and McMurrin came together, either accidentally or by design. It ap-
pears that McMurrin struck at Collin, when the latter fired several shots from a
revolver, severely wounding his assailant. Mr. Collin being a U. S. deputy mar-
shal and Mr. McMurrin a member of the Mormon Church, coupled with the fact
that other men were near and ran from the scene of the encounter, gave rise to
many stories and much excitement. Rumors were started that the Mormons were
arming for resistance. The city council promptly investigated the matter. The
following is from the council minutes :
" City Hall, Salt Lake City,
"Saturday, December 5th, 1885.
"The city council met in special session at 3 o'clock p. m., pursuant to call
of the mayor. Roll called.
"Present — Mayor Sharp; Aldermen Spiers, Waddell, Dean, Patrick, Pyper ;
Councilors Stringfellow, Clark, Webber, Macfarlane, Wells; Attorney Richards.
" Absent — Councilors Petit, Davis, Jennings, Grant.
"The mayor stated that the object of calling a special session was to con-
sider the advisability of the council's investigating certain rumors that were in
circulation affecting the peace and good order of the city and its inhabitants, and
which he was informed had been telegraphed to the national authorities in Wash-
ington, with a view to securing military interference with the local government.
" After various inquiries by the members relative to the nature of the rumors
and the impression they had created abroad, and a full and free discussion of the
injurious effects likely to result to the community in case they were not thoroughly
investigated and the exact truth ascertained and made known, on motion of Al-
derman Waddell, it was decided that an official investigation of the many current
rumors affecting the general welfare of the people of the city be made by the
council, commencing Monday, December 7th, at ten o'clock a. m.; and that in-
vitations be issued to persons who, there was reason to suppose, had any informa-
tion concerning the rumors, to be present and make statements.
"On motion of Alderman Patrick, the recorder was instructed to address
communications to the following-named gentlemen inviting them to be present at
the investigation : His Excellency, Eli H. Murray, Governor of Utah ; Hon.
Arthur L. Thomas, Secretary ; Major-General Alexander McD. McCook, com-
manding Fort Douglas ; Lieutenant S. W. Groesbeck, Post Adjutant ; Hon. C.
S. Varian, Assistant U. S. Attorney; Hon. E. A. Ireland, U. S. Marshal; Hon.
William Jennings, Hon. John Sharp, Hon. Feramorz Little, Hon. John Q. Can-
non, P. L. Williams, Esq., J. L. Rawlins, Esq., S. A. Merritt, Esq.
" On motion of Councilor Clark, the special session adjourned to Monday,
December 7th, at ten o'clock a. m.
" City Hall, Salt Lake City,
"Monday, Dec. 7th, 1885.
" The city council met pursuant to adjournment in special session. Roll
called.
888 HISTORY OF SALT LAKE Ciry.
"Present — Mayor Sharp; Aldermen Spiers, Waddell, Dean, Patrick, Pyper ;
Councilors Stringfellow, Clark, Webber, Pettit, Macfarlane, Wells, Grant ; At-
torney Richards.
" Absent — Councilors Davis and Jennings.
" The minutes of the special session of December 5th, were read and
approved.
" The following report was submitted :
"Salt Lake City, December 7th, 1885.
" The Hon. the Mayer and City Council:
Gentlemen — I have the honor to report to you that in compliance with your instructions of the 5th
inst., I have forwarded to the gentlemen named by you each a communication, of which the subjoined
is a copy :
" ' Sir — At a sj^ecial session of the City Council of Salt I^ke City, held Saturday, December 5th, it
was decided that an official investigation of the rumors in circulation at the present time affecting the
peace and welfare of the city and its inhabitants be had, commencing Monday, December 7th, at 10
A.M. I am directed to respectfully invite you to attend said investigation, and to furnish the council
any inform ition csacerning the matter that you may be in possession of.'
"Very respectfully,
•' Heber M. Weli.s, Recorder."
" On motion of Councilor Stringfellow the recorder's report was accepted
and approved.
" The following communications were read ;
" Fort Dougl.'VS, Dec. 6th, \i
^D-
"Heber M. Wells, City Recorder, Salt Lake City, Utah:
" Sir — Referring to your communication of yesterday, requesting my presence at an official investi-
gation ordered by the city council concerning the origin of certain rumors ' affecting the peace and wel-
fl^re of the city,' I have the honor, in reply, to say that I can only communicate facts coming to my
knowledge in my official capacity to and through my superior officer.
"As to i>ersonal knowledge ot said rumors and their origin, I know nothing which to me seems of
material value, or could aid the council in its work.
" While appreciating the courtesy extended, I beg you will consider that in declining to appear as
requested, 1 am acting within the customary and legal restraints of my office.
" Very respectfully,
" Your obedient servant,
"S. W. Groesbeck,
" First Lieut., Adjt. Si.xth Infantry and Post."
" Office U. S. Attorney, Salt Lake City, Dec. 7th, 1885.
*'■ Heber M. Wells, Est]., Ciiy Recotder, Salt Lake City:
Sir — ^I have the honor to acknowledge the receipt, late yesterday afternoon, of your communication
of Saturday's date, wherein you inform me that the City Coimcil had decided " that an official investiga-
tion of the rumors in circulation at the present time, affecting the peace and welfare of the city and its
inhabitants " be had, commencing Monday, December 7th, at 10 o'clock .\. M., and that you were di-
rected to request my attendance upon the occasion of said investigation, and that I furnish the council
an8 information I possess concerning the matter.
" In reply thereto, I have to request that you be pleased to communicate to the Honorable the City
Council my respectful acknowledgment of the Council's invitation. I regret to say that the obligations
of office will prevent me from disclosing at the present time any information possessed by the district at-
torney relative to the subject mentioned. Be also pleased to convey to the Council my desire to be ad-
vised of any facts which can aid the office in its endeavors to secure the public tranquillity and enforce
;he laws.
" Very respectfully,
"C. S. Varian, Asst. U. S. Attorney."
HIS TOR Y OF SAL T LAKE CI7 Y. 88p
"Territory of Utah, Executive Office,
"Salt La.ke City, December 6th, 1885.
" Sir — I have the honor to acknowledge the receipt of your communication, in which you state
that 'at a special meeting of the City Council of Salt Lake,' held last night, ' it was decided that an
official investigation of the rumors in circulation at the present time affecting the peace and welfare of
the city, etc., be had,' and inviting me to attend, and to furnish the council any information concerning
the matter that I may be in possession of. I have to state that I have for several days been engaged in
investigating and communicating for the information of the President the condition of affairs pertaining
to the peace and welfare of the people of this city in common with other parts of the Territory, and to
say that I am pleased to know that the council of this city propose to investigate the matter. I beg that
you will say to the council that I will be gratified to receive from that body any facts bearing on the sub-
ject that may be of service to the President, the Governor, or the District Attorney, who is charged with
the duty of the prosecution of offenses against the laws of the United States and of Utah, and that it
will be my pleasure at all times to support the mayor in his efforts to preserve the peace and in uphold-
ing the law.
" Respectfully,
" Eli H. Murray, Governor.
"ToHeber M. Wells, Esq., City Recorder."
■• Utah Territory, Secretary's Office,
" Salt Lake City, Dec. 7th, 1885.
"5/r — I have the honor to acknowedge the receipt of your communication, dated Dec. 5th, 1885, in-
viting me, on behalf of the City Council, to be present at a special meeting of that body, called to inves-
tigate ' the rumors in circulation at the present time affecting the peace and welfare of the city and its
inhabitants,' and to return my thanks for the same.
" Please say to the gentlemen of the Council that I have no information bearing upon the subject
mentioned, other than that which is now in possession of the Governor.
" I am, sir, very respectfully,
" Arthur L. Thomas, Secretary of Utah Territory.
*' Heber M. Wells, Esq., City Recorder."
'•'On motion of Councilor Wells the communications were ordered to be
filed.
" On motion of Councilor Clark, it was decided to proceed with the investi-
gation, by requesting those present who had any information on the subject to
make their statements and be interrogated, beginning with his Honor the mayor.
"REPORT OF SPECIAL COMMITTEE
"Salt Lake City, December 8th, 1885.
" The Hon. the Mayor and City Council :
" Gentlemen — Your special committee to whom was referred the matter of
drafting a preamble and resolutions embodying the result of the investigation by
the council into the rumors that have been circulated throughout the country, det-
rimental to the peace and welfare of the city and its inhabitants, beg leave to re-
port the accompanying resolutions and recommend their adoption.
** Very repect fully,
"Joseph H. Dean,
"H. J. Grant,
"T. G. Webber,
"John Clark,
"George Stringfellow,
"Junius F. Wells,
* ' James Sharp, mayor,
" F. S, Richards, city attorney,
" Orson F. Whitney, city treasurer,
" Special Commiti-e€.
70
Spo HISTORY OF SALT LAKE. CIIY.
" Qn motion of Alderman Pyper, the report was approved. The resolutions
were read as follows :
" Resolutions in relation to current rumors respecting the peace, reputation and we I-
fate of Salt Lake City.
" Wliereas, Certain rumors affecting the peace, reputation and welfare of
Salt Lake City and its inhabitants are prevalent, and have been circulated abroad
to the injury of the same, and
** H'/iereas, To the knowledge of the city officials (here was no cause exist-
ing on which these evil reports could be justly based, and
" JP/iereas, Official notice appears to have been taken of said rumors by the
general and military authorities of the nation, it became expedient that the mayor
and city council of said city institute a thorough investigation of the same, that
the facts upon which they were founded, if any existed, might be made known, and
" U'hereas, Such investigation has been held, at which Federal officials of
the Territory, military authorities of Fort Douglas and prominent residents and
business men, and the citizens generally, were invited to be present to give such
information as they might be in possession of respecting the peace and good or-
der of said city, and the injurious rumors affecting the same, and
" U'hereas, After diligent and searching inquiries and the taking of reli-
able testimony, such rumors as had taken definite form and as were reported to
the city officials, were refuted. Among these were the following, namely :
" A body of armed men is said to have been seen riding into the city along
West Temple Street befDre daylight on Monday morning, November 30th. This
rumor was traced back by the city marshal from the person who first gave the in-
formation to the mayor, to one Mr. Van Horn, of the Continental Hotel, the
only one who was reported to have seen the armed men, and he denies any knowl-
edge whatever of the matter.
" The rumor that armed men lined the road to the penitentiary for the sup-
posed purpose of taking Henry Collin from the custody of the United States
officers, came to the city marshal from United States Marshal Ireland, who ad-
mitted, however, that on going over the road he had seen nothing himself to jus-
tify the report, and could not name anyone who had. The city marshal then
rode out to the penitentiary, traversing both routes, making diligent inquiries of
residents along the way, but could not learn that any armed men had been seen
anywhere in the vicinity.
" The rumor of threats made to lynch Collin after the shooting of McMur-
rin, on Saturday night, November 28th, was refuted by City Marshal Phillips, who
testified that he had heard no such threats on the night in question, and that the
crowd at the City Hall did not exceed two hundred people and was quiet and or-
derly. The assertion of Assistant District Attorney Varian to the city marshal,
that a rope had been seen in the crowd by one Thomas Curtis, was refuted by
Curtis himself, who denied being at or near the City Hall at any time on Satur-
day, and heard nothing of the shooting until Sunday morning.
'• The rumors that quantities of arms and ammunition were secreted in the
general tithing store was ascertained to be false by a personal visit to the premises
by General McCook and his adjutant, Mayor Sharp and City Attorney Richards.
HISTORY OF SALT LAKE CI7Y. 8gi
The General expressed himself as perfectly satisfied that the rumor wasi without
foundation.
" The report that the Mormons were arming themselves, and organizing for
an outbreak under the direction of their leaders, and that in the outer settlements
they had been ordered to be ready at a moment's notice to march to Salt Lake
City, was met by the testimony of Apostles Lorenzo Snow, Franklin D. Richards,
John Henry Smith, Heber J. Grant and John W. Taylor, each of whom declared
that from their own personal knowledge the rumors were utterly untrue. Hon. John
Sharp, William Jennings, and other prominent citizens testified to the same effect,
and that such a condition of affairs as had been reported could not exist among
the people without their knowledge.
" Other rumors of insecurity to life and property were refuted, and others
still were of so vague a character that it was impossible to trace them to any defi-
nite source, or give them tangible form. Therefore,
" Be it Resolved by the Mayor and City Council of Salt Lake City, that the
reports or rumors of any condition of affairs other than of the most peaceful
character prevailing at the present time in this city, are false.
" That at no time in the history of this city have the lives and property of
its non-Mormon inhabitants been more secure than now.
"That the reports to the contrary have been accredited and circulated by
federal officials of this Territory for some purpose best known to themselves.
" That to the extent they or any others have circulated these false reports
abroad, they have defamed the city and injured its people.
"On motion of Alderman Waddell the resolutions were unanimously
adopted.
" On motion of Alderman Waddell the Council adjourned.
"James Sharp, Mayor.
Attest :
" Heber M. Wells. Recorder.
On April 24th, 1883, E. W. TuUidge presented a petition to the city council
proposing to write and publish the History of Salt Lake City, which was accom-
panied by the following recommendation :
"The undersigned, having been made acquainted with the proposition of Mr.
E. W. Tullidge to collect and publish the historical facts pertaining to the estab-
lishment and growth of Salt Lake City, do hereby recommend him as one well
qualified for the work, and also recommend such appropriations as the officers of
this City and County may deem necessary for the prosecution of this important
undertaking.
Daniel H. Wells, David F. Walker, Jos. F. Smith, Samuel S. Walker, Elias Smith, William Jen-
nings, M. H. Walker, Angus M. Cannon, Joseph R, Walker, D. Bockholt, Feramorz Little, Anthony
Godbe, H. S. Eldredge, John A. Hunter, T. G. Webber, A. O. Smoot, F. D. Clift, James W. Cum-
mings. Philip T. Van Zile H. Dinwoodey, W. Woodruff, John Cunnington, John Sharp, John P,
Taggart, Paul A. Schettler, Albert Carrington, C. E. Pomeroy, L. S. Hills, Benjamin Hampton, James
Jack, R. T. Burton, J. M. Goodwin. Byron Groo, Allan T. Riley, D. McKenzie, Edward Hunter, S.
H. Auerbach, N. Groesbeck, E. L. T. Harrison, George Goddard, C. W. Penrose, E. Kahn, L. W.
Hardy, C. C. Goodwin, Philip Pugsley, Wm. Eddington, E. Sells, E. F. Sheets, George F. Prescott,
H. W. Naisbitt H. B. Clawson, J. E. Dooly, Geo. |. Taylor, Samuel Kahn, James Dwyer, David O.
Calder, W. S. Godbe, J. Woodmansee, Godbe, Pitts & Co,, J. Jaques, Thomas Taylor, Thomas C.
Armstrong. Philip Margetts, Jacob Alt, Heber M. Wells, A. H. Raleigh, Benj. G. Raybould, H. K.
Whitney, H. W. Lawrence, j. M. Benedict, George Dunford, Eli B, Kelsey, W^illiam H. Rowe, Auer
8g2 HISTORY OF SALT LAKE CITY.
& Murphy, Jesse W. Fox, Frank W. Jenning":, O J. Hollister, Theo. McKean, Geo. A. Meears, N.
A. Empev, J. T. Little, G. M. Pierce". Milando Pratt, John W. Lowell, B. H. Schettler, Elias Morris,
Eli H. Murray, W. W. Riter. T. R. Jones, Wm. B. Barton, C. H. Bassett, Daniel Dunne, Charles W.
Sayner. Abram Gould Divid James, W. C. Dunbar, J. E. S. Russell, Ben Sheeks, A. H. Kelly, Geo.
Reynolds, ^L Merrill, E D. Hoge. Adam Spiers, D. R. Firman, Amos Howe, Geo. H. Taylor. Geo.
A. Luke, Spencer Claw on, S J. Jonasson, G. E. Bourne, T. V. Williams, John Paul, Bowring Bros. ,
H P. Mason, O. P. Miles, S. B Young, S. A. Shoemaker. H. P. Richards," M. Paul, jr.. Samuel H.
Hill, F. Armstrong, Thomas J. Almy. J. E. Reese, G. M Forbes, Joseph H. Felt, H G Park, H. \L
R. Atkinson D. C. Dunbar, Joseph Salisbury, |. L. Rawlins, D. L. Davis, John Farmer, W. G. Youn?.
Geo- A. Lowe, G. H. Snell, S. H. B. STiith,'Afihur Brown, Careless & Croxall, H. E. Smith. R. W.
Sloan, William L Binder, E Benner, C. J. Thom.as, Wm. Gill Mills, C. H. Lenzi, George G. Bvwater,
Moore, Allen & Co , T. N. Olsen, F. T. Lee. W. S. Burton, W. C. Burton, A. N. Hamilton, George
R. Jones Henry Wagner, E. Stevenson, G. B. Wallace Sam Levy, C. R. Savage H. Spiers, A. IVI,
Musser, Henrv Grow, Charles H. King, Isaac M. Wnddell, R. C. Chambers, T. R. Ellerbeck, John C.
Cutler, Henry Saddler, L. D. & A. Young, N. H. Ransohoff, S. A Kenner, John Smith, C."K. Gil-
christ. B. H. Young, Wm. F. Raybould. Isaac Brockhank, Jos. C Kingsbury, James F. Bradley, H.
J. Doremus, M. M. Bane, John Sears, A W. Carlson, George R. Maxwell, John Kirkman,
.\. L. Thomas, D. M. McAllist"er, J. E. Callister, Herbert Van Dam, W. J. Be.itie, C." E. Silverwood
Thomas Aubrey, T. Pierpont, Watson Bros., A. F. Barnes, White & Sons, John S Lewis, James H.
Raddon. R. G. Taysum, John South, John Lvon, Sen . G. A. Wiscombe, Capt J D. Wright, John R.
Park A. B. Dunford, Junius F. Wells, Jos. E. Taylor, H. J Faust S. W. Darke & Co., James Sharp,
(jeorge -Swan, S W. Sears, Henry Tribe. W. H. Shearman, C. V. Spencer. Win. Xaylor, Cooper
Bros:, John N. Pike, Silas T. Smith, T. B. Lewis. Jos. W. Johnson, N. H. Felt, Eliza R' Snow, Zina
D. H. "Young, Phebe W. Woodruff, Mrs. E. B. Wells, Mrs, E. Howard, M. Isabella Home, M. M.
Barratt, Louisa F. Wells, Dr. R. B. Pratt, P. L. Kimball, Ruth V. Savers, Dr. E. B. Ferguson, Sarah
M. Kimball, Helen M. Whitney. Sarah E. Russell. Elmina S. Taylor, Ellen C. S. Clawson, Mrs. P.
Jennings, Hannah T. King, C. C. Raleigh,
It was referred- to a special committee, who reported as follows :
" Your special committee, to whom was referred the petition of Edward W.
Tullidge, proposing to write the history of Salt Lake City, and the accompany-
ing endorsement of 241 of the influential and representative citizens of all classes,
recommendmg that the city council make an appropriation to assist in the enter-
prise, together with the subsequent communication of Mr. Tullidge and the re-
port of this committee, which was returned to be made more definite, having
given the matter thorough and careful consideration, beg leave to report as follows :
" We find that Salt Lake City was settled about thirty-six years ago under
very peculiar and interesting circumstances, and although at that time of very lit-
tle importance to any one except its founders, it has since prospered and grown
until a great city has been established — a city ranking in commercial importance
with any of the same population and facilities in the LTnited States — a city of in-
dustry, and thrift and magnificence, attracting the attention of capitalists, fur-
nishing employment to laborers, providing homes for settlers and commanding the
respect of the civilized world.
** We also find that many of the citizens who have helped to build the city,
who have spent the best part of their lives in working the miracle which has
changed a ' half-way house ' into a midland metropolis, are justly proud of their
magnificent achievements, and purpose lending their support towards the perpetu-
tion of the events connected with their past, in history.
" Your committee announce themselves to be heartily in accord with the
project, and believe, in the interests of justice and enlightenment, for the benefit
of the citizens at large, the stranger and posterity, that a knowledge of the facts
attendant upon the founding and growth of Salt Lake City should be preserved —
that an accurate and reliable history of the city, unbiased with partisanship, should
be written and published with as little delay as possible, and that a portion of the
expense incurred in the work should be borne by the public, in whose direct inter-
est the publication is made.
HISTORY OF SALT LAKE CITY. 8gj
" Furthermore, we are of opinion, from a thorough knowledge of his abilities
as a writer, and his candor as a historian, that Edward W. Tullidge is a compe-
tent and suitable person to be entrusted with this important undertaking.
" Therefore your committee respectfully recommend that the sum of ;^i,5oo
be appropriated to assist in defraying the expenses of writing and publishing the
history of Salt Lake City, and for the purchase of copies of said history.
" That Edward W. Tullidge be required to give a bond to the corporation of
Salt Lake City in the sum of ^1,500, with good and sufficient security, to be ap-
proved by the city council, and conditioned that he will write and publish, first
in parts, and afterwards in bound volume form, a history of Salt Lake City, which
shall contain at least 500 pages of printed matter and be a concise and impartial
account of the events of importance that have occurred from the first settlement
of this city down to the present time.
" That before any of the writings of said historian shall appear either in pam-
phlet or volume form, the manuscript or proof sheets, whichever shall be more
convenient, shall be submitted to the inspection of a committee of five competent
persons three of whom should be selected by the city council, and the other two
by Edward W. Tullidge, whose duty it shall be to carefully peruse the writings
submitted to them, and to approve or correct the same as their judgment shall dic-
tate ; and that any alterations, additions, or deductions to the text suggested by
said committee shall be noted and corrected by said historian ; and that the his-
tory shall be printed, independently of any other matter, in form and style suita-
ble for compiling and binding in a volume which shall be approved by the com-
mittee. That he will complete the writing and publication of said history, and
deliver to the mayor copies thereof, before the first day of July, 1885 > that
after said bond shall have been given and approved by the city council, the mayor
be authorized to issue an order on the city treasury for $500 in favor of Edward
VV. Tullidge, and when two-thirds of the history shall have been published in
pamphlet form as agreed by the mayor and said historian, and to the acceptance
of the city council, the mayor be authorized to issue an order on the city treas-
urer for the second payment of $500, and when said history is completed and
copies thereof in bound volume form delivered to the mayor, that he be author-
ized to issue an order on the city treasurer for the third and final payment of $500.
That the mayor be authorized to act for and in behalf of Salt Lake City to enforce
the terms under which said history is to be written and for the convenience of the
historian in consulting the wishes and intent of the council, and that the committee
on revision hereinbefore provided for, shall receive such reasonable compensation
for their labors as may hereinafter be decided by the council.
"Respectfully,
"Henry Dinwoodey,
"Daniel H. Wells,
"A. H. Raleigh,
*'■ Special Committee.
" Salt Lake City, May 1st, i,?83.
Adopted May 23d, 1883.'"
"May 26th, 1885, a petition was presented from E. W. Tullidge, represent-
ing that in the process of preparing the history of Salt Lake City, he found ttiat
8g4 HISTORY OF SALT LAKE CITY.
the work demanded considerable increase of capacity, and by and with the advice
of the supervisory committee, the petitioner asked for an additional appropriation
of one thousand dollars and the extension of the time for the completion of the
history to the end of the present year, 1885"
The mayor appointed Alderman Patrick, Councilors Webber, Clark and
Wells, who reported favorably, June 9th. An appropriation of ;g 1,000 was made
and the time extended.
ASSASSINATION OF CAPTAIN ANDREW BURT.
On the 25th of August, 1883, Captain Andrew Burt was assassinated in Main
Street, Salt Lake City, by a colored man, W. H. Harvey, who immediately after
the murder was taken from the police and lynched in the prison yard.
The assassination of Captain Andrew Burt was a tragical event in the history
of our city, upon which almost an universal judgment was pronounced, notwith-
standing there was involved in it the execution, by lynching, of the assassin. No
such a case had before occurred during all the troublesome and critical times of
the past as a lynch law execution, but the murder on the public street, in broad
daylight, of an officer who had so many years commanded the police, and whose
personal courage and moderation were proverbial, wrought the temper of the
populace to a pitch of fury that neither reason nor a Christain spirit could restrain.
When Captain Bart's body was brought out from Smith's drug store an awful
burst of rage, not loud but deep, ran through the vast multitude and the cry
"lynch him, lynch him," was followed by a general rush to the City Hall. In
a few minutes the terrible judgment was executed, and the murderer of Captain
Burt had paid his fearful account to public vengence. That there was a profound
regret the day after the execution there is no doubt, but it was rather that a lynch
law precedent had occurred in the history of our city than in a tone of condemna-
tion of the public wrath, which had so fearfully supplemented the tragedy of
Captain Burt's taking off.
The following document will show the action of the city council in the case :
" Resolutions of Respect to the memory of Captain Andrew Burt, City Marshal.
" Whereas, In the mysterious providences of Almighty God, our beloved
brother and fellow officer, Captain Andrew Burt, city marshal, has. been stricken
down by the hand of an assassin, and
" Whereas, An intimate relation to the deceased in his official capacity for
a long period, makes it fitting that we should place on record our sentiments of
sorrow and affection which this melancholy affliction has awakened ; therefore
^^ Be it resolved by the mayor and city council of Salt Lake City, That we
deeply deplore and execrate the cruel, atrocious act that has deprived the corpor-
ation of a true and valiant officer, the community of an honest and upright cit-
izen, the Church of a zealous and faithful official member, and a large family of
a kind, generous, loving husband and father ;
" Resolved, That we recognize in the career of Captain Burt the highest
expression of the noble qualities of a true man. In 1859, he became as-
sociated with the police force, of which he was appointed chief three years later.
HISTORY OF SALT LAKE CITY. 895
In 1876, he was elected city marshal, and discharged the varied duties of the
office promptly and efficiently to the hour of his death. In these important pos-
itions of trust and of danger, Captain Burt has had opportunity to display the
highest character and principle which have distinguished him among his fellow
men, as an officer of the municipal court, custodian of the corporation property,
and conservator of the public peace. Marshal Burt proved himself competent,
incorruptible, and vigilant, creating friends among all classes of men, and earn-
ing their universal respect and admiration. In the history of Salt Lake City cir-
cumstances have frequently placed the police force in the foremost position of
danger, calling forth from them manifest actions of great courage, intrepidity
and daring, as well as the employment of the detective's cunning and strategy.
On such occasions Captain Burt was pre-eminently a leader of his men. He was
cool, deliberate and cautious in planning; quick, decisive and complete in exe-
cuting. His work was always well done, and while mercy and a humaneness, not
often accredited to men in his position, have ever accompanied his measures of
enforcing obedience to the police regulations; the law has ever been vindicated
by him, and peace, good order and quietness preserved, even under the most
trying and difficult circumstances ;
'■'■Resolved, That we sincerely sympathize with the bereaved family of the de-
ceased and earnestly beseech the comforting influences of the Great and Holy
Spirit to be ever around them, and that we commend the example of their hus-
band and father as a worthy guide and stimulant to success and happiness in life.
" On motion of Councilor Smith it was ordered that the resolutions be spread
upon the minutes and engrossed copies be furnished to the family of the deceased.
"Adopted August 28th, 1883."
FIRE DEPARTMENT RECORD.
September igfh, 1856 — N. Davis presented a motion " for the prevention and
extmguishing of fires and the necessity of placing a patrol on the Temple Block."
October !•] th, i2,z^6 — An ordinance passed organizing the Fire Department.
(See original ordinance). Jesse C. Little appointed chief engineer. Five hun-
dred dollars appropriated to purchase a fire engine. ^903.88, balance on cost of
engine house also appropriated.
Total cost of engine house, April 2d, 1858, ^1,684.26.
Very little was done for fire protection after the passage of the ordinance,
but two or three incipient fires occurring, no alarm or apprehension was felt. The
fire engine remained partially constructed, the engine house unfinished. How-
ever in the beginning of the year 1870, an impetus was given to the matter,
mainly through insurance agents located in the city, and prominent merchants in-
terested. At a session of the council held March ist, 1870, the old ordinance
was revised and improved. John D. T. McAllister was appointed chief engineer
with authority to organize two or more companies, volunteers. Three dozen
buckets, hooks and ladders ordered to be purchased, and at the same time, "plans
and the cost of constructing a fire engine (the one already partially built) was
submitted. About this time the insurance agents and a few prominent business
men organized a fire company, and ordered from the Silsbury manufacturing
company of New York, a steam fire engine. Wisely concluding that this ap-
896 HIS TOR Y OF SALT LAKE CI TV.
paratus would be more efficient under the control of the city council than in pri-
vate hands, arrangements were made with the city fathers, and the engine turned
over to them upon its arrival in the city. A hose cart with hose, 500 feet, and a
hook and ladder truck, with the necessary hooks and ladders ; also a covering
built. A hand engine was also purchased.
February i^th, 1871. — The engine house enlarged by order of the council,
and the ordinance regulating the fire department passed.
March 2-jth, 1871. — A fire ordinance for the prevention of fires passed, and
Pioneer No. i, and Eagle Hook and Ladder No. i, two fire companies ordered lo
be organized, as volunteer firemen, consisting of fifty and thirty men respectively.
On the 20th of December, 1871, Alert Hose Company No. i was organized.
On the 8th day of February, 1872, Wasatch Engine Company No. 2 was organized.
March, 1873, Vigilant Engine Company No. 3, was organized. This com-
pany never went into service.
December ist, 1876, Alert Hose Company No. i, changed to Engine Com-
pany No. 3.
January 19th, 1881, Vigilant Company No. 4 was organized.
July 4th, 1883, Mutual Company No. 5 was organized.
At the sessions held by the city council in September, 1883, the volunteer fire
department was disbanded and a paid department organized, consisting of paid
permanent and paid call men, forty-seven in all. A horse was purchased for the
hose cart, attached to Engine Company No. i, and the companies reduced from
six to four, viz : Engine Companies Nos. i, 2 and 3, Hook and Ladder No. i.
An alarm of fire at 5:15 P. m., September 30th, 1883. This was the last
alarm responded to by the old volunteer fire department after twelve years of good,
faithful and vigilant service, and to their last call there was a unanimous and
general turnout, the boys responding to the alarm with a vim determined to make
their last work a fitting wind-up to their years of good service.
OFFICERS OF THE DEPARTMENT FROM 1856 TO 1886.
Chief engineers.— ]tsse C. Little, 1856 to 1871. John D. T. McAllister, 1871
to 1876. Charles M. Donelson, 1876, May to October. Geo. M. Ottinger, 1876,
appointed November 14th.
Assistaftt engineers. — Andrew Burt, 1871 to 1875. Ivar Isaachson, 1871 to
1872. Geo. M. Ottinger, 1871 to 1876. Henry Dinwoodey, 1872 to 1884. John
Reading, 1876 to 1885. Wm. J. Hooper, 1884. Samuel R. Skidmore, 1885.
FIRES AND LOSS BY FIRES FROM 1871 TO 1885,
1871, Fires, 1 Loss bv fire, $ 1,000
1872 •■ 7 " 5,750
1873 " 13 " 75,000
J874 " 15 " 4 525
]875 " 15 " 291,500
187(5 «• 21 " 22,745 Insurance, ^ 6.000
1877 ' ' ' ..." 21 " 14.845 ' 4.600
1878 !•••... . " 20 " 21,645 " 9,133
1879 ■ ■ "18 " 15,340 " 13,500
1880 ! '. '. " 25 '■ 21,<)G0 " 745
1881 . . " 22 " 6,090 " 1,400
1882 ' ' "26 " 19.960 " 1,000
1883' ' ' '. '. " 42 " l;W.275 " 42,700
ia'<4' ' " 51 " 11>9:^0 " 3,100
1885 " 33 '• 19,965 " 11,5U0
330 $671,530 $93,408
HISTORY OF SSLT LSKE CITY.
BIOGRAPHIES.
LIFE OF BRIGHAM YOUNG.
Brigham Young was born in Whitingham, Winriham County, Vermont, June 1st, 1801.
His parents were devoted to the Methodist religion, to which, in his maturity, he also in-
clined. He was married October 8th, 1824, in Aurelius, Cayuga County, New York, where for
twelve years he followed the occupations of carpenter, joiner, painter and glazier. In the spring
of 1829 he removed to Nfendon, Monroe County, where his father resided, and here the next
spring, he first saw the Book of Mormon, which was left with his brother Phineas Young, by Sam-
uel H. Smith, brother of the Prophet.
In January, 1832, in company with Phineas Young and Heber C. Kimball, he visited a branch
of the Church at Columbia, Pennsylvania, and returned deeply impressed with the principles of
Mormonism. In this state of mind he went to Canada for his brother Joseph, who was there on a
mission, preaching the Methodist faith. This prompt action, after he had resolved on his own
course, is quite typical of the man.
Joseph Young "received and rejoiced in the testimony," and returned home with his brother;
and both immediately united themselves with the Saints,
Brigham was baptized April 14th, 1832, by Elder Eleazur Miller, who confirmed him at the
water's edge, and ordained him to the office of an elder that same night.
About three weeks afterwards his wife was also baptized, but in the following autumn she died,
leaving him two little children (girls). After her death he made his home at Heber C. Kimball's.
In the same month, with his brother Joseph and Heber C. Kimball, he started for Kirtland, to
see the Prophet. Arriving at Kirtland, they found him , with several of his brothers, in the woods,
chopping and hauling wood. " Here my joy was full," says Brigham, "at the privilege of shaking
the hand of the Prophet of God, and receiving the sure testimony by the spirit of prophesy that he
was all any man could believe him to be, as a true prophet. He was happy to see us, and bid us
welcome. In the evening a few of the brethren came in, and we conversed together upon the
things of the kingdom. He called upon me to pray. In my prayer I spoke in tongues.
As soon as we arose from our knees, the brethren flocked around him, and asked his opinion con-
cerning the gift of tongues that was upon me. He told them it was the pure Adamic language.
Some said to him they expected he would condemn the gift, but he said ' no it is of God ; and the
time will come when Brother Brigham Young will preside over this Church," The latter part of
this conversation was in my absence.
After staying about a week in Kirtland they returned home, and then, with his brother Joseph,
he started on a mission to Upper Canada, on foot, in the month of December, and returned home
in February, 1833, before the ice broke up.
For a little while he made his home at Heber C. Kimball's, preaching in the neighborhood,
but on the first of April he started on foot for Canada again, where he raised up branches of the
Church, He then "gathered up" several families, and started with them to Kirtland about the
first of July, where he tarried awhile " enjoying the society of the Prophet," and then returned to
Mendon.
2 HISTORY OF SALT LAKE CITY.
Taking his two children, in the month of September, he "gathered" to Kirtland with Heber
C. Kimball. Here he commenced working at his former trade.
When the elders "went up to redeem Zion," in Jackson County, a missionary expedition
famous in Mormon history, the Prophet was particularly anxious that Brigham should go with him.
Meeting the Prophet one day, in company with Joseph Young, Brigham told him his brother was
doubtful as to his duty about going, to which the Prophet replied, " Brother Brigham and Brother
Joseph, if you will go with me in the camp to Missouri, and keep my counsel, I promise you in the
name of the Almighty, that I will lead you there and back again, and not a hair of your head shall
be harmed ; " at which each presented his hand to the Prophet and the covenant was confirmed.
The organization of " Zion's Camp" being completed, they started for Missouri, where they
arrived at Rush Creek, Clary County, on the "iSd of June, when the camp was struck with the
plague. Here they remained one week, attending to the sick and burying their dead. About seventy
of the brethren were attacked with the cholera, of whom eighteen died.
The Prophet assembled the " Camp of Zion," and told the brethren that " if they would humble
themselves before the Lord, and covenant that they would, from that time forth, obey his counsel,
the plague should be stayed from that very hour;" whereupon the brethren, with uplifted hands,
covenanted, "and the plague was stayed according to the words of the Lord through His
servant. "
The journey to Missouri and back was performed in a little over three months, being a distance
of about 2,000 miles, averaging forty miles per day, on foot, while traveling. On the return the
brethren were scattered. Brigham and his brother Joseph arrived home safe, July 4, fulfilling the
covenant made with them. He tarried in Kirtland during that Fall and Winter, quarrying rock,
working on the Temple, and finishing the printing office and schoolroom.
On the 14th of February, 1835, the Prophet called a council of Elders, at which the quorum of
the Twelve Apostles were selected in the following order :
Lyman E. Johnson, Brigham Young, Heber C. Kimball, Orson Hyde, Luke Johnson, David
W. Patten, William E. M'Lellin, John F. Boyington, Wilham Smith, Orson Pratt, Thomas B.
Marsh and Parley P. Pratt.
In May, Brigham Young was called to go and preach to the Indians. " This, " said the
Prophet, "will open the doors to all the seed of Joseph. " He started on his mission in company
with the Twelve, returning to Kirtland in September, where he spent the Fall and Winter preach-
ing, attending a Hebrew school, and superintending the painting and finishing of the Temple.
In March, 1836, the Temple, being nearly finished, was dedicated. " It was a day of God's
power, " says the record; " the glory of the Lord filled the house." It is known in the church as
the Latter-day Pentacost, on which the Elders were specially. " endowed with power from on high. "
The Twelve held the " solemn assembly," and received their "washings and anointings." The
"washing of feet" was administered to Brigham by Joseph himself.
Soon after this, in company with his brother Joseph Young, he started on a mission to the
Eastern States, traveling through New York, Vermont and Massachusetts. In the Fall and Winter
of 1830, he was at home again with the Prophet, sustaining him through the darkest hour which the
Church had yet seen.
It was at this time that a "spirit of apostacy" manifested itself among the Twelve, and ran
through all the quorums of the Church. It prevailed so extensively that it was difficult for many to
see clearly the path to pursue.
On one occasion several of the Twelve, the " witnesses " to the Book of Mormon, and others of
the authorities of the Church, held a council in the upper room of the Temple. The question before
them was to ascertain how the Prephet could be deposed, and David Whitmer, who was one of the
"witnesses," appointed President of the Church.
" I rose up," says President Young, "and told them in a plain and forcible manner that Joseph
was a Prophet, and I knew it ; and that they might rail at and slander him as much as they pleased,
they could not destroy the appointment of the Prophet of God ; they could only destroy their own
authority, cut the thread which bound them to the Prophet and to God, and sink themselves to hell.
Many were highly enraged at my decided opposition to their measures, and Jacob Bump (an old
pugilist), was so exasperated that he could not be still. Some of the brethren near him put their
hands on him and requested him to be quiet; but he writhed and twisted his arms and body, say-
ing, ' how can I keep my hands off that man? ' I told him if he thought it would give him any relief
he might lay them on. The meeting was broken up without the apostates being able to unite on
any decided measures of oppositiDU. This was a crisis when earth and hell seemed leagued to over-
I
B RICH AM VOUNG. s
throw the Prophet and Church of God. The knees of many of the strongest men in the Church
faltered.
"During this siege of darkness I stood close by Joseph, and with all the wisdom and power
God bestowed upon me, put forth my utmost energies to sustain the servant of God, and unite the
quorums of the Church.
"Ascertaining that a plot was laid to way-lay Joseph tor the purpose of taking his life, on his
return from Monroe, Michigan, to Kirtland, I procured a horse and buggy, and took Brother Wm.
Smith along to meet Joseph, whom we met returning in the stage coach. Joseph requested William
to take his seat in the stage, and he rode with me in the buggy. We arrived in Kirtland in
safety. "
The strength of Brigham Young's character broke the tide of apostacy arising among the very
leaders of the Church. There were in it no less than four ol the Twelve Apostles, several of the
" witnesses of the Book of Mormon," and many influential Elders. To this day it has been a won-
der among " Gentile" writers that the Prophet dared to excommunicate so many of his first Elders
at one grand sweep. It means that Joseph and Brigham, " with the Lord on their side, " were equal
to anything. The part that Brigham Young acted then made him the successor of Joseph Smith.
About this time Brigham's cousins, Levi and Willard Richards, arrived in Kirtland. Willard,
having read the Book of Mormon, came to enquire further concerning the book. His cousin invited
him to make his home at his house during his investigation, which he did, and was baptized on the
last day of the year 1836, in the presence of Heber C. Kimball and others, who had spent the after-
noon cutting the ice to prepare for the ceremony. Willard Richards became one of the greatest
men of the church.
On the first of June, 18-37, Brigham's birthday, there were a few missionaries appointed to Eng-
land, under the direction of Heber C. Kimball and Orson Hyde of the Twelve. Heber was very
anxious thit President Young should also go, but Joseph said he should keep Brigham at home with
him. This was a sacrifice to the man who had so well earned the right " to unlock the dispensation "
to foreign nations ; but the moment was two critical for him to be spared. Before tlie mission to
England started, Willard Richards was added to the number appointed. It is scarcely necessary to
say that the opening of the mission to Great Britain has proved to be one of the most important
events in the history of the Mormon church.
The policy of keeping Brigham home was soon apparent. "On the morning of December
22d," he says, " I left Kirtland in consequence of the fury of " the mob, and the spirit that prevailed
in the apostates, who threatened to destroy me because I would proclaim, pulicly and privately, that
I knew by the power of the Holy Ghost, that Joseph Smith was a prophet of the Most High God,
and had not transgressed and fallen as apostates declared."
The prophet and Sidney Rigdon also fled and joined Brigham at Dublin, Indiana, where Joseph
made enquiry concerning a job at cutting and sawing wood, after which he came and said: " Bro-
ther Brigham, I am destitute of means to pursue my journey, and as you are one of the Twelve
Apostles, who hold the keys of the kingdom in all the world, I believe I shall throw myself upon you,
and look to you for counsel in this case."
" At first," says Brigham, " I could hardly believe Joseph was in earnest, but on his assuring me
he was, I said, ' If you will take my counsel, it will be that you rest yourself, and be assured, Bro-
ther Joseph, you shall have plenty of money to pursue your journey.' "
A providential sale of a tavern, owned by a Brother Tomlinson, brought the Prophet a gift of
three hundred dollars, and he proceeded on his journey.
After a variety of incidents, Joseph and Brigham found themselves together in the Far West,
but the Missourians soon commenced again to stir up the mob spirit, riding from neighborhood to
neighborhood, making flaming speeches, priests taking lead in the crusade. This brought the exter-
minating army of Governor Boggs, under Generals Lucas and Clark, to drive the Mormons en masse
out of Missouri.
Some of the mob were painted like Indians. Gillum, their leader, was painted in a similar man-
ner. He styled himself the " Delaware chief." Afterwards he, and the rest of the mob, claimed and
obtained pay, as militia, from the State.
Many of the Mormons were wounded and murdered by the army, and several women were rav-
ished to death. " I saw," says Brigham, " Brother Joseph Smith, Sidney Rigdon, Parley P. Pratt,
Lyman Wight and George W. Robinson delivered up by Colonel Hinkle to General Lucas, but ex-
pected they would have returned to the city that evening or the next morning, according to agree-
ment, and the pledge of the sacred honor of the officers that they should be allowed to do so, but
4 HISTORY OF SALT LAKE CITY.
they did not so return. The next morning General Lucas demanded and took away the arms of the
militia of Caldwell County (Brigham refused to give up his arms), assuring them that they should be
protected ; but as soon as they obtained possession of the arms, they commenced their ravages by
plundering the citizens of their bedding, clothing, money, wearing apparel, and every thing of value
they could lay their hands upon, and also attempted to violate the chastity of the women in the pres-
ence of their husbands and friends. The soldiers shot down our oxen, cows, hogs and fowls at our
own doors, taking part away and leaving the rest to rot in the street. They also turned their horses
into our fields of corn."
At this time General Clark delivered his noted speech. He said:
" Gentlemen : You whose names are not attached to this list of names, will now have the priv-
ilege of going to your fields and of providing com, wood, etc., for your families. Those that are
now taken will go from this to prison, be tried, and receive the due demerit of their crimes ; but you
except such as charges may hereafter be preferred against, are at liberty, as soon as the troops are
removed that now guard the place, which I shall cause to be done immediately.
" It now devolves upon you to fulfill the treaty that you have entered into, the leading items of
which I shall now lay before you. The first requires that your leading men be given up to be tried
according to law; this you have complied with. The second is, that you deliver up your arms; this
has also been attended to. The third is, that you sign over your properties to defray the expenses
that has been incurred on your account ; this you have also done. Another article remains for you
to comply with, and that is that you leave the State forthwith. And whatever may be your feelings
concerning this, or whatever you innocence is, it is nothing to me. General Lucas, whose military
rank is equal with mine, has made this treaty with you; I approve of it. I should have done the
same had I been here, and am, therefore, determined to see it executed.
"The character of this State has suffered almost beyond redemption, from the character, con-
duct and influence you have exerted ; and we deem it an act of justice to restore her character by
every proper means.
"The order of the Governor to me was, that you should be exterminated, and not allowed to
remain in the State. And had not your leaders been given up, and the terms of the treaty complied
with, before this time your families would have been destroyed and your houses in ashes.
- "There is a discretionary power vested in my hands, which, considering your circumstances, I
shall exercise for a season. You are indebted to me for this clemency. I do not say that you shall
go now, but you must not think of staying here another season, or of putting in crops; for the mo-
ment you do this the citizens will be upon you, and if I am called here again in case of your non-
compliance with the treaty made, do not think that I shall act as I have done now. You need not
expect any mercy, but extermination, for I am determined that the Governor's order shall be ex-
ecuted.
,.- "As for your leaders, do not think, do not imagfine for a moment, do not let it enter into your
minds that they will be delivered and restored to you again, for their fate is fixed, the die is cast, their
doom is sealed.
" I am sorry, gentlemen, to see so many apparently intelligent men found in the situation that
you are; and oh! if I could but invoke that great spirit of the unknown God to rest upon and de-
liver you from that awful chain of superstition, and liberate you from those fetters of fanaticism with
which you are bound — that you might no longer do homage to man 1
" I would advise you to scatter abroad, and never again organize yourselves with bishops, priests,
etc., least you excite the jealousies of the people and subject yourselves to the same calamities that
have now come upon you,
" You have always been the aggressors. You have brought upon yourselves these difficulties, by
being disaffected, and not being subject to rule. And my advice is, that you become as other citi-
zens, lest by a recurrence of these events, you bring upon yourselves inevitable ruin."
" I was present," says Brigham, "when that speech was delivered, and when fifty^seven of our
bpethren were betrayed into the hands of our enemies as prisoners.
" General Clark said that we must not be seen as many as five together; ' if you are," said he,
the citizens will be upon you and destroy you ; you should flee immediately out of the State. There
is no alternative for you but to flee ; you need not expect any redress ; there is none for you.' "
"With respect to the treaty mentioned by Gen. Clark, I have to say that there never was any
treaty proposed or entered into on the part of the Mormons, or any one called a Mormon, except
by Col. Hinkle. And with respect to the trial of Joseph and the brethren at Richmond, I did not
BRIGHAM YOUNG. 5
consider that tribunal a legal court but an inquisition. The brethren were compelled to give away
their property at the point of the bayonet.
" In February, 1839, I left Missouri with my family, leaving my landed property and also my
household goods, and went to Illinois, to a little town called Atlas, Pike County, where I tarried a
few weeks; then moved to Quincy.
" I held a meeting with the bretbren of the Twelve and the members of the Church in Quincy,
on the 17th of March, when a letter was read to the people from the committee, on behalf of the
Saints at Far West, who were left destitute of the means to move. Though the brethren were poor
and stripped of almost everything, yet they manifested a spirit of willingness to do their utmost',
offering to sell their hats, coats and shoes to accomplish the object. We broke bread and partook
ot the sacrament. At the close of the meeting $50 was collected in money, and several teams were
subscribed to go and bring the brethren. Among the subscribers was the widow of Warren Smith,
whose husband and two sons had their brains blown out at the massacre at Haun's Mill. She sent
her only team on this charitable mission."
It was Brigham Young who superintended the removal and settling of the Mormons in Illinois.
for the Prophet was now in prison with Parley P. Pratt and others.
A revelation had been given the previous year, July 8th, 1836, in answer to a petition : " Show
us thy will O Lord, concerning the Twelve." The answer came thus:
" Verily thus saith the Lord, let a conference be held immediately. Let the Twelve be organized;
and let men be appointed to supply the places of those who are fallen. Let my servant Thomas
remain for a season in the Land of Zion to publish my word. Let the residue continue to preach
from that hour, and if they will do this in all lowliness of heart, in meekness and humility, and long-
suffering, I the Lord, give unto them a promise that I will provide for their families, and an effectual
door shall be open for them from henceforth ; and next spring let them depart to go over the great
waters, and there promulgate my gospel, the fulness thereof, and bear record of my name. Let
them take leave of my Saints in the city of Far West, on the 26th day of April next, on the building
spot of my house, saith the Lord.
"Let my servant, John Taylor, and also my servant, John E. Page, and also my servant,
Wilford Woodruff, and also my servant, Willard Richards, be appointed to fill the place of those
who have fallen, and be officially notified of their appointment."
But the Saints were now in banishment, and the Twelve could only return to Far West at the
imminent risk of their lives. Many of the authorities urged that the Lord would not require the
Twelve to fulfill this revelation to the letter, but would take the word for the deed. " But I felt
differently," said Brigham, "and so did those of the quorum who were with me. I asked them,
individually, what their feelings were upon the subject. They all expressed their desire to fufill the
revelation. I told them the Lord had spoken and it was our duty to obey, and leave the event
in his hands, and he would protect us."
There was a world of wisdom in this decision. The revelation was a special one concerning the
Twelve Apostles themselves, and the success of their mission "across the great waters." Brigham
was the master spirit of the Twelve. It would not do for that revelation to fail, now that the Church
was resting on the shoulders of the Twelve; and Brigham Young was not the man to let it fail !
The Twelve started. Far West was reached in safety. They hid themselves in a grove. The
mob came ijito Far West to tantalize the committee, boasting that this was one of Joe Smith's rev-
elations which could not be fulfilled, and threatened the committee themselves if they were found in
Far West the next day.
Early on the morning of the elect day, April 26th, the Twelve held their conference, " cut off"
31 persons from the Church, and proceeded to the building spot of the " Lord's House," where El-
der Cutter, the master workman of the house, recommenced laying the foundation by rolling up a
large stone near the southeast corner. There were present of the Twelve, Brigham Young, Heber
C Kimball, Orson Pratt, John E. Page, and John Taylor, who proceeded to ordain Wilford Wood-
ruff and George A. Smith to the office of the Twelve, in place of those who had fallen. The
quorum then offered up vocal prayer, each in their order, beginning with President Young, after
which they sang ''Adam-on-di-ahman," and took leave of the Saints according to the revelation.
"Thus," says the President, "was this revelation fulfilled, concerning which our enemies said,
if all the other revelations of Joseph Smith came to pass, that one should not be fulfilled, as it had
date and place to it."
After being in prison in Missouri about six months, the Prophet, with Parley P. Pratt and
others, made their escape.
6 HISTORY OF SALT LAKE CITY.
" It was one of the most joyful scenes of my life," says Brigham, " to once more strike hands
with the Prophet, and behold him and his companions free from the hands of their enemies; Joseph
conversed with us like a man who had just escaped from a thousand oppressions, and was now free
in the midst of his children."
The Prophet was highly pleased with Brigham and the Twelve for what they had done ; and at
a conference which he immediately held at Quincy, resolutions were passed expressing the approval
of the whole church,
Joseph and the Twelve next founded Nauvoo at a place th'-n called Commerce, in Hancock
County, Illinois, and soon again tlie Mormons gathered together as a people.
But the unhealthy labor of breaking new land on the banks of the Mississippi, for the founding
of their city, invited pestilence. Nearly every one " was down " with fever and ague. The Prophet
had the sick borne into his house and door-yard, until his place was like a hospital. At length,
even he succumbed to the deadly contagion, and for several days was as helpless as his diciples. He
was a man of mighty faith, however, and "the spirit came upon him to arise and stay the pestilence."
"Joseph arose from his bed," narrated the President, "and the power of God rested upon him.
He comiuenced in his own house and door-yard, commanding the sick in the name of Jesus Christ
to arise and be made whole; and they were healed according to his word. He then continued to
travel from house to house, and from tent to tent, upon the bank of the river, healing the sick as he
went, until he arrived at the upper stone house, where he crossed the river in a boat, accompanied
by several of the quorum of the Twelve, and landed in Montrose. He walked into the cabin where
I was lying sick, and commanded me, in the name of Jesus Christ, to arise and be made whole. I
arose and was healed, and followed him and the brethren of the Twelve into the house ot Elijah
Fordham, who was supposed, by his family and friends to be dying. Joseph stepped to his bed-side,
took him by the hand and commanded him, in the name of Jesus Christ, to arise from his bed and
be made whole. His voice was as the voice of God. Brother Fordham instantly leaped from his
bed, called for his clothing and followed us into the street. We then went into the house of Joseph
S. Nobles, who lay very sick, and he was healed in the same manner ! And when, by the power of
God granted unto him, Joseph had healed all the sick, he recrossed the river, and returned to his
home. This was a day never to be forgotten."
While yet emaciated from their recent sickness, the Twelve started on their mission to England.
President Young started from his home in Montrose on the 14th of September, 1839. Being
still feeble, he was carried to the house of Heber C. Kimball, where he remained till the 18th.
Kimball was in a similar condition ; but these two chief apostles, nevertheless, resolutely set out for
England, visiting Kirtland by the way.
On the 19th of March, 1840, Brigham Young, Heber C. Kimball, George A. Smith, Parley P.
Pratt, Orson Pratt and Reuben Hedlock, sailed from New York on board the Patrick Henry, a
packet of the Black Ball line. A large number of the Saints came down to the wharf to bid them
farewell. When the elders got into the small boat to go out to the ship, the Saints on shore sa g
" The gallant ship is under way," in which song the elders joined until the voices were separated by
the distance.
Liverpool was reached by these apostles on the 6th of April. It was the anniversary of the
organization of the church, ju^t ten yeirs before. Brigham left the ship in a boat, with Heber C.
Kimball and Parley P. Pratt, and when he landed he gave a loud shout of Hosanna! They pro-
cured a room at No. 8 Union Street, and here they partook of the sacrament, and returned thanks
to God for his protecting care while on the waters, and prayed that their way might be opened to
the successful accomplishment of their mission.
Next day they found Elder Taylor and John Moon, with about thirty Saints who had just re-
ceived the work in that place. On the following day they went to Preston by railroad (which was
built just at the period that the Mormon mission was introduced to that country).
In Preston, the cradle of the British mission, the apostles were met by a multitude of Saints,
who rejoiced exceedingly at the great event of the arrival of the Twelve in that land.
Willard Richards immediately hastened to Preston and gave an account of the churches in the
British Isles, over which he had been presiding during the interval from the return of Heber C.
Kimball and Orson Hyde to America. The President of the Twelve was so emaciated from his
long journey and sickness, that Willard did not at first recognize him ; yet he at once commenced
to grapple with the work in foreign lands, convened a conference, and wrote to Woodruff to attend.
Apostles Woodruff and Taylor had arrived in England on the first of the year, since which
time Taylor had founded a church in Liverpool; and Woodruff, in Herefordshire, had built up a
4
BRIGHAM YOUNG. y
conference, consisting of many branches, numbering nearly a thousand souls The President, there-
fore, had come at the very moment when he was most needed to give organic form to that great
mission, out of which Utah itself has largely grown.
It was on the 14th of April, 1840, that the first council of the Twelve Apostles, in a foreign
land, was held at Preston, There were present, Brigham Young, Heber C. Kimball, Parley P. Pratt,
Orson Pratt, John Taylor, Wilford Woodruff and George A. Smith. These proceeded to ordain
Willard Richards to their quorum, and then Brigham Young was chosen, by a unanimous vote, the
standing President of the Twelve.
Then followed during the next two days, "a general conference of the Church of Jesus Christ
of Latter-day Saints," held in Temperance Hall, Preston, with Heber C. Kimball presiding and
William Clayton clerk. There were represented at that time, 1,671 members, 34 elders, 52 priests,
38 teachers, and 8 deacons.
During this conference the Apostles resolved to publish a monthly periodical — The Millennial
Star — to be edited by Parley P. Pratt, assisted by Brigham Young, and to compile a new Hymn
Book. Brigham Young, Parley P. Pratt and John Taylor were appointed a committee to select
the hymns suitable for the service of the Saints ; and Brigham Young, Heber C. Kimball and Parley
P. Pratt, a committtee for the publication of the Book of Mormon. Upon this Brigham wrote the
following characteristic letter to the Prophet :
" To President Joseph Smith and Counselors :
" Dear Brethren : — You no doubt will have the perusal of this letter and minutes of our con-
ferences; they will give you an idea of what we are doing in this country.
" If you see anything in or about the whole affair that is not right, I ask in the name of the Lord
Jesus Christ, that you would make known unto us the mind of the Lord and his will concerning us.
" I believe that I am as willing to do the will of the Lord, and take counsel of my brethren, and
be a servant of the Church, as ever I was in my life; but I can tell you, I would like to be with my
old friends; I like my new ones, but I cannot part with my old ones for them.
" Concerning the Hymn Book: when we arrived here, we found the brethren had laid by their
old hymn books, and they wanted new ones ; for the Bible, religion and all, is new to them. * * *
" I trust that I will remain your friend through life and in eternity.
■■BRIGHAM YOUNG."
From the conference the President accompanied Willard Woodruff into Herefordshire, which
was the most important field of labor in the British mission. Here he obtained most of the money
for the publication of the Book of Mormon and the Hymn Book; Brother John Benbow furnishing
250 pounds and Brother Kington 100 pounds sterling.
On the 6th of June, President Young sent off the first company of the Saints, numbering 41
souls, in the ship Britannia. They were bound for the " Land of Zion." He then, with his
quorvmi held the second general conference, July 1st, in Manchester, at which were represented 41
branches, 2,513 members, 56 elders, 126 priests, 61 teachers, and 13 deacons, being an increase in
three months of 842 members, 22 elders, 74 priests, 23 teachers and 5 deacons. At this conference
twenty of the native elders volunteered to devote themselves exclusively to the ministry.
Soon after this conference. Parley P. Pratt, leaving for America to bring his family to England,
Brigham took more immediate charge of T//e Millennial Star, assisted by Willard Richards.
In September he organized the second company of emigrants — 200 souls — on board the North
America., which sailed on the 8th.
On the 6th of October the third general conference was held at Manchester, at which 3,626 mem-
bers were represented, with 81 elders, 222 priests, 74 teachers, and 26 deacons, showing an increase
in the three months of 1,113 members, 2.5 elders, 96 priests, 15 teachers, and 13 deacons.
By this time the work had penetrated into Wa'es and Scotland ; yet with great difficulty into the
latter country.
The work in London was also opened about this time by Heber C. Kimball, George A. Smith,
and Wilford Woodruff; and, notwithstanding that it afterwards became the stronghold of Mormon-
ism in England, the elders found the metropolis hard to penetrate.
While he was in England, President Young visited London several times. On one occasion, as
he passed the chapel in which John Wesley preached, he paused and respectfully uncovered his
head. It was the instinctive reverence of one great man paid to another.
On the 20th of April, 1841, Brigham Young, Heber C. Kimball, Orson Pratt, Wilford Wood-
ruff, John Taylor, George A. Smith, and Willard Richards, with a company of 130 saints, went on
8 HISTORY OF SALT LAKE CITY.
board the ship Rochester, bound for New York. The following passage from the President's journal
will give a view of what was done by the Twelve during the mission to England :
"It was with a heart full of thanksgiving and gratitude to God, my heavenly father, that I re-
flected upon his dealings with me and my brethren of the Twelve during the past year of my life
which was spent in England. It truly seems a miracle to look upon the contrast between our land-
ing and departing from Liverpool. We landed in the Spring of 1840, as strangers in a strange land,
and penniless, but through the mercy of God we have gained many friends, established churches in
almost every noted town and city of Great Britain, baptized between seven and eight thousand souls,
printed 5,000 Books of Mormon, 3,000 hymn books, 2,500 volumes of the Millennial Star, and
50,000 tracts; emigrated to Zion 1,000 souls, establishing a permanent shipping agency, which will
be a great blessing to the Saints, and have left sown in the hearts of many thousands the seeds of
eternal life, which shall bring forth fruit to the honor and glory of God ; and yet we have lacked
nothing to eat, drink or wear; in all these things I acknowledge the hand of God."
A multitude of the Saints stood on the dock to see these successful apostles start for their native
land, among whom was P. P. Pratt, who was left in charge of the British mission, and Apostle Orson
Hyde, bound on a mission to Jerusalem.
On the 1st of July President Young, with Heber C. Kimball and John Taylor, arrived in
Nauvoo. They were cordially welcomed by the Prophet, who several days after received the fol-
lowing revelation :
"Dear and well beloved brother Brigham Young, verily thus saith the Lord unto you. my ser-
vant Brigham, it is no more required at your hand to leave your family as in times past, for your
offering is acceptable to me; I have seen your labor and toil in journeying for my name I there-
fore, command you to send my word abroad, and take special care of your family from this time
henceforth and for ever, amen."
The Prophet also wrote in his history concerning the Twelve :
"All the quorum of the Twelve Apostles who were expected here this season, with the excep-
tion of Williard Richards and Wilford Woodruff, have arrived. "We have listened to the accounts
which thev give of their success, and the prosperity of the work of the Lord in Great Britain, with
pleasure.
" They certainly have been instruments in the hands of God of accomplishing much, and must
have the satisfaction of knowing that they have done their duty, Perhaps no men ever undertook
such an important mission under such peculiarly distressing, forbidding and unpropituous circum-
stances. Most of them, when they left this place, nearly two years ago, were worn down with sick-
ness and disease, or were taken sick on the road. Several of their families were also afflicted, and
needed their aid and support. But knowtng that they had been called by the God of heaven to
preach the gospel to other nations, they conferred not with flesh and blood, but, obedient to the
heavenly mandate, without purse or soip, commenced a journey ol five thousand miles entirely de-
pendent on the providence of that God who had called them to such a holy calling.
" While journeying to the sea board, they were brought into many trying circumstances; after
a short recovery from severe sickness, they would be taken with a relapse, and have to stop among
strangers, without money and without friends. Their lives were several times despaired of, and
they have taken each other by the hand, expecting it was the last time they should behold one
another in the flesh.
" Notwithstanding their afflictions and tria's, the Lord always interposed in their behalf, and
did not suffer them to sink into the arms of death. Some way or other was made for their escape;
friends rose up when they most needed them, and relieved their necessities, and thus they were en-
abled to pursue their journey and rejoice in the holy one of Israel. They truly went forth weeping,
bearin'^ precious seed, but have returned rejoicing, bearing their sheaves with them."
The Prophet had now nearly reached the zenith of his power. His marvelous career was draw-
ing to a close. But he had lived long enough to see his mission planted firmly in the United States
and Europe, He had seen, too, the very man rise by his side who, perhaps, above all men in the
world, was the one most fitted in e;very respect to succeed him and carry the new dispensation to a
successful issue. Every move which Joseph made from that moment to his death manifested his
instinctive appreciation of that fact. At the next conference the Prophet called upon the Twelve
to stand in their place and "bear off the Kingdom of God" victorious among all nations. From
that time, too, the burden of his sayings was that he was " rolling off the kingdom from his own
shoulders on to the shoulders of the Twelve." The mantle of Joseph was falling upon Brigham.
B RICH AM YOUNG. p
He lived barely long enough to make this appreciated, and to prepare the church for his martyrdom.
A thousand times did the Prophet forshadow his death. Every day he told his people in some
form of the coming event. They blinded their understanding; yet, to-day, they remember but too
well the prophetic significance which indicated the close of his mortal career. If any man could
have averted the stroke of fate, that man was Brigham Young. Had he been in Nauvoo he would
have probably prevented the martyrdom. But strange to say, in spite of the foregoing revelation,
and Joseph's evident feeling of safety with Brigham by his side, he sent him again on a mission, dur-
ing which period the tragedy occurred.
But during the last two years preceding his martyrdom, the star of the Prophet burst forth in its
full brilliancy. Nauvoo rose as a beautiful monument of a new dispensation. The city numbered
twenty thousand souls. In its legion were mustered several thousand militia soldiers. They were
the flower of Israel, and in the prime of manhood. Joseph was their lieutenant-general. With the
thousands that were now expected to flock to Zion from the British mission, had his triumphant
career continued, a hundred thousand of his disciples would, in a lew years, have been gathered to
Illinois and adjacent States. Their united votes would have controlled those States. Success
would have multiplied the opportunities for success. Long ere this, following up such a prospect,
the Prophet would have held half a million votes at his command among his disciples. Even some
of his wisest elders were carried away by this view, while brilliant politicians and aspiring spirits out-
side the Church pointed the Prophet out to the nation as the " coming man," and sought to unite
their destiny with his. In short, Joseph Smith became a canditate for the presidency of the United
States. The first contest would of course have been lost ; the second and third perhaps lost also :
but ere this, the Mormon elders would have swept over the States in a political mission like an ava-
lanche down the mountain.
There was one man, whose clear strong judgment was not glamored by this delusive view. It
is scarcely necessary to say that that man was Brigham Young. His genius would have led him just
where his destiny led him — namely, to the Rocky Mountains. In the very certainty that the Mor-
mons, by their united vote, would soon rule the elections in several States consisted the Prophet's
greatest danger. This people never have been guilty of crimes, but they have been guilty of unity,
and have been damned by the prospect of a great destiny.
The only course that could have saved the Prophet, would have been an earlier removal to the
Rocky Mountains. An expedition to explore this country had not only been planned, but was in
process of organization, when the electioneering campaign, for Joseph Smith as President of the
United States, came uppermost, and absorbed every other interest.
Events have since proved that had Joseph led a band of pioneers in the spring of 1844, to the
Rocky Mountains, Brigham was quite equal to master an exodus and remove the entire Church.
When the mob force threatened Nauvoo, and the Governor with an army, prepared to march against
the devoted city, under the excuse of forestalling civil war, making the demand on the person of the
Prophet for high treason, Joseph essayed to flee to the mountains. He had even started, crossing
the river to the Iowa side, where he waited the enrollment of a chosen band of pioneers ; but a mes-
senger from his wife and certain of his disciples, reproaching him as a shepherd who had deserted
his flock, recalled him to Nauvoo. Such a reproach was, beyond all others, the last that the lion
heart of Joseph could beir and he returned and give himself up to the authorities of Illinois. But
had Brigham Young been home he never would have permitted that return. He would have thun-
dered indignation upon the craven heads of those who thus devoted their Prophet to almost certain
death. Rather would he have sent a thousand elders to guard him to the mountains, for none loved
Joseph better than did Brigham Young.
It was one of those cases in which Providence overrules for the accomplishment of its wiser
purposes. A triumphant career leading to empire was most in accordance with human desires, but
from the hour of his death, the Church realized that a martyr's blood was necessary to consecrate a
new dispensation of the gospel. Christ was a greater success than Mohammed ; Joseph was more
immortal in his martyr's gore than he had been in the seat at Washington. The Church mourns
the event to this day — ever will look upon it as one of the darkest of earth's tragedies, but all ac-
knowledge the hand of God in it. '
Brigham was away with the majority of the Twelve when the martyrdom took place. Two
only were in Nauvoo ; they were Willard Richards and John Taylor. Both of these were in prison
with the Prophet when the assassins, with painted faces, broke into Carthage jail, overpowered
the guards, and martyred the brothers Joseph and Hyrum. No pen can describe the universal
2
10 • HISTORY OF SALT LAKE CIT\.
shock felt among the Saints, when the news burst upon them, and sped throughout the United
States and Europe.
Brigham Young and Orson Pratt were together at Peterboro, N. H., at the house of Brother
Bemet, when a letter from Nauvoo came to a Mr. Joseph Powers, giving particulars of the assas-
sination. The rumor met them first at Salem. Awful as it was to him, the President too well re;il-
ized that unless the Twelve were equal to the occasion, the Church was in danger of dissolution or
a great schism. At best, the Saints must feel for a moment as sheep without a shepherd.
Those who have followed him in his eventful career, know that Brigham was always greatest on
great occasions. He never failed in a trying hour. The disciples of Christ, with Peter at their head,
went sorrowfully to their fishing nets after the crucifixion ; but not so with these modern apostles.
" The first thing that I thought of," said the President, " was whether Joseph had taken the keys of
the kingdom with him from the earth. Brother Orson Pratt sat on my left ; we were both leaning
back in our chairs. Bringing my hand down on my knee, I said, the keys of the kingdom are right
here with the Church,"
The President immediately started for Boston, where he held council with Heber C. Kimball,
Orson Pratt and Wilford Woodruff, relative to their return to Nauvoo. Heber and Brigham re-
mained there a week awaiting the arrival of Apostle Lyman Wight. During their stay they ordained,
at one evening me3ting, thirty-two elders. This act was conclusive evidence that these apostles did
not intend to let the Church die.
As soon as Lyman Wight arrived the three set out for Nauvoo, and at Albanv they were joined
by Orson Hyde, Orson Pratt and Wilford Woodruff.
A stupendous burden rested upon the shoulders of the Twelve. The Church had not only to
be comforted in its great affliction, and made to realize by a sufficient manifestation of apostolic
power, that the keys were " right here with the Church," but to establish an authorized succession.
Sidney Rigdon was already at Nauvoo. He had been the second counsellor to the Prophet, and
Hyrum the first counsellor, was a martyr with his brother. Sidney was now a claimant for the lead-
ership. The Twelve knew that they should have first to grapple with this brilliant but unfit man,
and knew that Sidney would, if possible, wreck the Church in his vain-glorious ambitions.
Granting that the keys of the kingdom remained on earth, who held them? This was the all-
important question before the Saints, when Brigham Young and the Twelve arrived at Nauvoo on
the 6th of August, 1844.
Sidney Rigdon, the second counsellor of the martyred Prophet, arrived at Nauvoo before the
President of the Twelve. He had for some time been as an unstable staff to his chief, and the
Saints were not in a frame of mind to look upon him as " the man whom God had called " to sustain
the Church in that awful hour. But the vain-glorious Rigdon had come to claim the guardianship
of the Church, in the absence of the majority of the Twelve. There were enough, however, of that
quorum in Nauvoo to prevent Sidney from beguiling the people into an untimely action.
When Rigdon appeared before the congregation, he related a vision which he said the Lord had
shown him concerning the situation of the Church, and declared that there must be a guardian
chosen " to build up the kingdom to Joseph." He was the identical man, he said, that the prophets
had sung about, wrote about and rejoiced over; he was to do the identical work that had been the
theme of all the prophets in every preceding generation.
Elder Parley P. Pratt remarked " I arn the identical man the prophets never sung nor wrote a
word about."
Marks, the president of the stake, appointed a day for a special conference, for the purpose of
choosing a guardian.
Willard Richards proposed waiting till the Twelve Aposdes returned, and advised the people to
" ask the wisdom of God."
, Elder Grover proposed waiting to examine the revelation.
And thus the elders were variously moved.
Rigdon sought to evade coming in council with such men as Willard Richards, Parley P. Pratt,
John Taylor and George A. Smith, but at length he was forced to a meeting with them. Entering,
he paced the room and said :
" Gentlemen, you are used up; gentlemen, you are divided; the anti-Mormons have got you;
the brethren are voting every way, some for James, some for Deming, some for Coulson and some
for Bedell. The anti-Mormons have got you ; you can't stay in the country ; everything is in con-
fusion ; vou can do nothing. You lack a great leader ; you want a head ; and unless you unite
BRIGHAM YOUNG. ji
upon that head, you're blown to the four winds. The anti-Mormons will carry the election ; a guar-
dian must be appointed,"
" Brethren," said George A. Smith, " Elder Rigdon is entirely mistaken. There is no division ;
the brethren are united; the election will be unanimous, and the friends of law and order will be
elected by a thovisand majority. There is no occasion to be alarmed. Brother Rigdon is inspiring
(ears there are no grounds for."
With the return of President Young and the remainder of the Twelve vanished Rigdon's last
chance of being elected Guardian of the Church ; " but," says Apostle Woodruff, in his journal,
" when we landed in the city a deep gloom seemed to rest over Nauvoo which we never experienced
before. The minds of the Saints were agitated; their hearts sorrowful, and darkness seemed to
cloud their path. They felt like sheep without a shepherd. Their beloved Prophet having been
taken away."
President Young immediately called a special conference, to give Sidney Rigdon the opportu-
nity to lay before the Church his claims for the leadership. It was August 8th, 1844. That dav
it was practically to be decided who was to ' ' lead Israel."
At the hour appointed, Sidney took his position in a wagon, about two rods in front of the
stand, where sat the Twelve. For nearly two hours he harangued the Saints upon the subject
of choosing a guardian for the Church. But his words fell upon the congregation like an untimelv
shower.
" The Lord hath not chosen you!" Thus felt the Mormon Israel as his words died upon
the ear.
At two P. M. the second meeting was convened.
" Attention all !" The voice rang over that vast congregation; it was the voice of Brifham
Young. " This congregation," he said, " makes me think of the days of King Benjamin, the multi-
tude being so great that all could not hear. For the first time in my life, for the first time in
your lives, for the first time in the Kingdom of God, in the nineteenth century, without a prophet at
our head, do I step forth to act in my calling in connection with the quorum of the Twelve, as
Aposdes of Jesus Christ unto this generation — Apostles whom God has called by revelation through
the Prophet Joseph Smith, who are ordained and anointed to bear off the keys of the Kingdom of
God in all the world. This people have hitherto walked by sight and not by faith. You have had
a prophet as the mouth of the Lord to speak to you, but he has sealed his testimony with his blood,
and now for the first time are you called to walk by faith — not by sight.
" The first position I take in behalf of the Twelve and the people is to ask a few questions. I
ask the Latter day Saints, do you, as individuals, at this time, want to choose a prophet or a guar-
dian ? Inasmuch as our Prophet and Patriarch are taken from our midst, do you want some one
to guard, to guide and lead you through this world into the Kingdom of God or not ? All who
want some person to be a guardian, or a prophet, a spokesman, or something else, signify it by
raising the right hand. (Xo votes).
" When I came to this stand I had peculiar feelings and impressions. The faces of this people
seem to say, we want a shepherd to guide and lead us through this world. All who want to draw
away a party from the Church after them, let them do it if they can, but they will not prosper.
■' If any man thinks he has influence among this people, to lead away a party, let him try it,
and he will find out that there is power with the Apostles which will carry them off victorious through
all the world, and build up and defend the Church and Kingdom of God.
"What do the people want? I feel as though I wanted the privilege to weep and mourn for
thirty days at least, then rise up, shake myself, and tell the people what the Lord wants of them.
Although my heart is too full of tnourning to launch forth into business transactions and the organi-
zation of the Church, I feel compelled this day to step forth in discharge of those duties God has
placed upon me.
"There has been much said about Brother Rigdon being President of the Church, and leading
people, being the head, etc. Brother Rigdon has come 1,600 miles to tell you what he wants to do
for you. If the people want Brother Rigdon to lead them, they may have him ; but, I say unto vou
the Twelve have the keys of the Kingdom of God in all the world.
" The Twelve are pointed out by the finger of God. Here is Brigham, have his knees ever fal-
tered? Have his lips ever quivered? Here is Heber and the rest of the Twelve ; an independent
body, who have the keys of the priesthood, the keys of the Kingdom of God to deliver to all the
world ; this is true, so help me God ! They stand ne.xt to Joseph, and are as the first presidency of
the Church.
12 HISTORY OF SALT LAKE CITY.
•' I do not know whether my enemies will take my life or net, and I do not care, for I wait to
be with the man I love.
" You cannot fill the office of a prophet, seer and revelator: God must do this. You are like
children without a father and sheep without a shepherd. You must not appoint any man at your
head ; if you should the Twelve must ordain him. You crMinot appoint a man at your head; but if
you do want any other man or men to lead you, take them, and we will go our way to build up the
kingdom in all the world.
" I tell you there is an over an.xiety to hurry matters here. You cannot take any man and put
him at the head ; you would scatter the Saints to the four winds; you would sever the priesthood.
So long as we remain as we are, the heavenly head is in constant co-operation with us ; and if you
go out of that course God will have nothing to do with you.
" Again, perhaps some think that our beloved Brother Rigdon would not be honored, would
not be looked to as a friend ; but if he does right, and remains faithful, he will not act against our
counsel nor we against his, but act together, and we shall be as one.
" I again repeat, no man can stand at our head except God reveals it from the heavens.
" I have spared no pains to learn my lesson of the kingdom in this world, and in the eternal
worlds. If it were not so I could go and live in peace ; but for the gospel and your sakes, I shall
stand in my place. We are liable to be killed all the day long. You never lived by faith.
" Brother Joseph, the Prophet, has laid the foundation of a great work, and we will build upon
it. You have never seen the quorums built one upon another. There is an Almighty foundation
laid. And we can build a kingdom such as there never was in the world ; we can build a kingdom
faster than Satan can kill the Saints off.
" Elder Rigdon claims to be a spokesman to the Prophet. Very well, he was; but can he now
act in office ? If he wants now to be a spokesman to the Prophet, he must go to the other side of the
veil, for the Prophet is there; but Elder Rigdon is here. Why will Elder Rigdon be a fool? I
am plain.
" I will ask, who has stood next to Joseph and Hyrum ? I have, and I will stand next to them.
We have a head, and that head is the apostleship, the spirit and the power of Joseph, and we can
now begin to see the necessity of that apostleship.
" Brother Rigdon was at his side — not above. No man has a right to counsel the Twelve but
Joseph Smith. Think of these things. You cannot appoint a prophet, but if you will let the Twelve
remain and act in their place, the keys of the kingdom are with them, and they can manage the af-
fairs of the Church, and direct all things aright."
Much more was said by the President, but this brief synopsis will be sufficient to show the mas-
ter spirit stepping into the place to which destiny had appointed him. On all these grand occasions
of his life, Brigham Young has towered above his fellows, not so much in the character of a "spokes-
man," as in that of a great and potent leader, whose spirit could inspire a whole people with his own
matchless confidence and energy.
That day, " all Istrael " felt that the spirit which had moved Joseph to his work was living in
Brigham Young. Apostle Cannon, describing the circumstance, says :
'• It was the first sound of his voice which the people had heard since he had gone East on his
mission, and the effect upon them was most wonderful. Who that was present on that occasion can
ever forget the impression that it made upon them? If Joseph had risen from the dead, and again
spoken in their hearing, the effect could not have been more startling than it was to many present
at that meeting ; it was the voice of Joseph himself; and not only was it the voice of Joseph which
was heard, but it seemed in the eyes of the people as though it was the very person of Joseph which
Stood before them. A more wonderful and miraculous event than was wrought that day in the pres-
ence of that congregation we ever heard of. The Lord gave his people a testimony that left
no room for doubt, as to who was the man he had chosen to lead them. They both saw and heard
with their natural eyes and ears ; and then the words which were uttered came, accompanied by the
convincing power of God to their hearts, and they were filled with the Spirit and with great joy.
There had been gloom and, in some hearts probably, doubt and uncertainty; but now it was plain
to all that here was the man upon whom the Lord had bestowed the necessary authority to act in
their midst in Joseph's stead."
That day saved the Church. The anti-Mormons had imagined that it was only necessary to
murder the Prophet and Mormonism would cease to have a name in the earth. But " the blood of
the Prophet was the seed of the Church ; " and a great man had risen to fulfill his mission.
BRIGHkM YOUNG. 13
The Twelve was sustained as the first Presidency by the unanimous vote of the people. Rig-
don left for Pittsburgh, and gathered around him a few of his disciples, while the apostles at Nauvoo
set to work to enlarge their superstructure.
" You have never seen the quorums built one upon another," Brigham had said on that great
occasion. " There is an almighty foundation laid, and we will build a kingdom such as there never
was in the world."
This was more fully comprehended when, at the next October conference, there was about sixty
high priests and four hundred and thirty seventies ordained. And to-day his words have still a
broader meaning, for there are now nearly one hundred quorums of the seventies, who constitute
the grand missionary army of the Church, under the Twelve Apostles.
But turn we now to the more secular history of the Mormon people.
On the 27th of September, 1844, Governor Ford marched five hundred troops into Nauvoo.
He came ostensibly to bring the murderers of Joseph and Hyrum Smith to justice ; for as they were,
at the time of their assassination, State prisoners, under the plighted faith of the State, the Governor
could do nothing less than support an investigation. On the day of his arrival, Brigham Young
received his commission as Lieutenant-General of the Nauvoo Legion, previously held by Joseph
Smith, and the next day the following was sent to His Excellency:
" Head-quarters Nauvoo Legion, Sept. 28th, 1844.
^;>.-— The review of the Nauvoo Legion will take place this day at 12 M., at which time the
Commander-in-chief, with his staff, is respectfully solicited to accept an escort from the Legion, and
be {wesent at the review.
"Brigham Young,
'^ Lieut, -Gen. Nauvoo Legion."
The Lieutenant-General reviewed the Legion, the Governor, General J. J. Harden and staff
present. Salutes were fired, and the Legion made a soldier-like appearance ; several of its staff
officers, however, came in uniform but without arms, which the Governor regarded as a hint to re-
mind him of his having disarmed the Legion previous to the massacre of Joseph Smith.
Soon afterwards the Governor issued the following very suggestive order, accompanied with
instructions:
"State of Illinois, Executive Department,
"Springfield, Oct. 9th, 1844.
" To Lieut.-General Brigham Young, of the Nauvoo Legion.
" Sir : — It may be probable that there may be further disturbances in Hancock County by those
opposed to the prosecutions against the murderers of Joseph and Hyrum Smith. They may com-
bine together in arms to subvert justice and prevent those prosecutions from going on. They may
also attack or resist the civil authorities of the State in that county, and they may attack some of the
settlements or people there with violence.
" The sheriff of the county may want a military force to guard the court and protect it, or its
officers or the jurors thereof, or the witnesses attending court, from the violence of a mob.
" In all these cases you are hereby ordered and directed to hold in readiness a sufficient force,
under your command, of the Nauvoo Legion, to act under the direction of the said sheriff, for the
purpose aforesaid ; and also to suppress mobs which may be collected in said county to injure the
persons or property of any of the citizens.
" In testimony whereof, I have hereunto set my hand and affixed the seal of the State, the day
and year first herein above written
"Thomas Ford,
'' Governor and Commander-in-chief."
" The inclosed order is one of great delicacy to execute. I have conversed with Mr. Back-
enstos and others, and my opinion is the same as theirs, that employing the Legion, even legally,
may call down the vengeance of the people against your city. If it should be the means of get-
ting up a civil war in Hancock, I do not know how much force I could bring to the aid of the Gov-
ernment. A force to be efficient would have to be called out as volunteers ; a draft would bring
i^ HIS TOR y OF SALT LAKE CITY.
friends and ei.cmies nlike. I called for twenty-five hundred before ; and, by ordering out indepen-
dent companies, got four hundred and seventy-five. Three of those companies, the most efficient,
have been broken up, and would refuse to go again. I should anticipate but a small force could
be raised' by volunteers. I would not undertake to march a drafted militia there. Two-thirds
of them would join the enemy. The enclosed order is more intended as a permission to use the
Lection, in the manner indicated, if upon consideration of the whole matter it is thought advisable,
than a compulsory command.
»' Your most wise and discreet counsellors and the county officers will have to act according to
their best judgment.
"THOMAS FORD."
This order, with the private instructions, is very significant, in connection wiih the history of
the Mormons in Missouri and Illinois. Constitutionally they were right. The murder of the
Prophet and his brother had brought them into the service of the State. Thus employed, Brigham
Youno- and the Legion could have taken care of their people, and, if necessary, could have main-
t lined the Go-vernor through the issue of a civil war. This would, however, have given Illinois to
the dominance of the Mormons. Hence the " delicacy" of his Excellency in calling the Legion
into service • doing substantially what Joseph Smith had done, which in him had been construed as
high treason against the State.
The anti-Mormons were keen to perceive the advantage which the people of Nauvoo had gained
not. only from the intrinsic righteousness of their cause, but in their patient bearing of intolerable
wrongs. It became their policy from that moment to repeal the charter of Nauvoo and the char-
ter of the Legion. This the legislature of Illinois did in the month of January, 18-15. The Mor-
mon peoole were now virtually outlawed, and all constitutional powers for their preservation taken
away from them.
The members of the legislature were but too ready to execute any plan proposed for the ex-
tinction of the Mormon community. One of the members of the senate, Jacob C. Davis, was un-
der indictment tor the murder of the Prophet and his brother. In relation to this action of the
Icislature the attorney-general of the State, Josiali Lamborn, wrote to President Young thus :
" 1 have always considered that your enemies have been prompted by religious and political
nreitidices, and by a desire for plunder and blood, more than for the common good. By the repeal
of vour charter, and by refusing all amendments and modifications, our legislature has given a kind
of sanction to the barbarous manner in which you have been treated. Your two representatives ex-
erted themselves to the extent of their ability in your behalf, but the tide of popular passion and
frenzy was too strong to be resisted. It is truly a melancholy spectacle to witness the law-makers of
a sovereic'n State condescending to pander to the vices, ignorance and malevolence of a class of peo-
ple who are at all times ready for riot, murder and rebellion."
Of Jacob C. Davis, he said .
'"Your senator, Jacob C. Davis, has done much to poison the minds of members against any-
thing in your favor. He walks at large, in defiance of law, an indicted murderer. If a Mormon
was in his position, the senate would afford no protection, but he would be dragged forth to the jail
or to the gallows, or to be shot down by a cowardly and brutal mob."
On the I9th of May, the trial of the men indicted by the grand jury for the murder of Joseph
and Hyrum Smith, was begun at Carthage, Hon. Richard M. Young of Quincy on the bench. The
men on trial were: Col. Levi Williams, a Baptist preacher ; Thomas C. Sharp, editor of the War-
uico Si'^nal- Jacob C. Davis, senator; Mark Aldrich and William N. Grover. They were outrage-
ously held to bail, upon \\\e\r personal recognizances, \n the unpreccdentedly insignificant sum of
one thousand dollars each, to make their appearance in the court each day of the term. They made
two affidavits, asking for the array of jurors to be quashed, obtained the discharge of the county
commissioners, the sheriff and his deputies, and the appointment by the court of two special officers
to select jurors. Ninely-six were summoned, out of whom the defence chose a suitable panel. One
of the lawyers for the accused, Calvin A. W^arren, in his defence of them, said : " If the prisoners
were guilty of njurder, then he himself was guilty. It was the public opinion that the Smiths ouij'bt
to be killed, and the pubhc opinion made the laws ; consequently it was not murder to kill them! ";
This was strange doctrine to be affirmed in a great murder case, in which the State was a party,,
not in an ordinary but an extraordinary sense ; affirmed loo and sustained in open court.
It is scarcely necessary to add that the assassins were ' ' honorably acquitted !" ,
BRIGHAM YOUNG. 15
But the tragedy of thoss days was not without an occasional-relief. One of the richest practical
jokes ever perpetrated is thus related by one of the actors :
" By the time we were at work in the Nauvoo Temple," says President Young, "officiating in
the ordinances, the mob had learned that 'Mormonism' was not dead, as they had supposed. We
had completed the walls of the temple, and the attic story from about half-way up of the first win-
dows, in about fifteen months. It went up like magic, and then we commenced officiating in the
ordinances. Then the mob commenced to hunt for other victims; they had already killed the
Prophet Joseph and his brother Hyrum in Carthage jail, while under the pledge of the State for
their s.ifety, and now they wanted Brigham, the President of the Twelve Apostles, who were then
acting as the presidency of the Church. I was in my room in the temple ; it w.-vs the southeast
corner of the upper story, I learned that a posse was lurking around the temple, and that the
United States Marshal was waiting for me to come down, whereupon I knelt down and asked my
Father in heaven, in the name of Jesus, to guide and protect me, that I might live to prove advan-
tageous to the Saints ; I arose from my knees, and sat down in my chair. There came a rap at my
door. Come in, I said : and Bi other George D. Grant, who was then engaged driving my carriage
and doing chores for me, entered the room. Said he, 'Brother Brigham, do you know that a posse
and the United States Marshal are here ?' I told him. I had heard so. On entering the room.
Brother Grant left the door open. Nothing came into my mind what to do until looking across the
hall, I saw Brother William Miller leaning against the wall. As I stepped towards the door I beck-
oned to him; he came. Brother William, I said, the marshal is here for me ; will you go and do
just as I tell you? If you will I will serve them a trick. I knew that Brother Miller was an excellent
man, perfectly reliable, capable of carrying out my project. Here take my cloak, said I ; but it
happened to be Brother Heber C. Kimball's ; our cloaks were alike in color, fashion and size. I
threw it around his shoulders, and told him to wear my hat and accompany Brother George D.
Grant. He did so. George, you step into the carriage, said I to Brother Grant, and look towards
Brother Miller, and say to him, as though you were addressing me, are you ready to ride? You
can do this, and they will suppose Brother Miller to be me, and proceed accordingly ; which they
did. Just as Brother Miller was entering the carriage, the Marshal stepped up to him, and, placing
his hand upon his shoulder, said. 'You are my prisoner.' Brother William entered the carriage, and
said to the marshal, ' I am going to the Mansion House, won't you ride with me?' They both went
to the Mansion House, There were my sons Joseph A., Brigham Jr., and Brother Heber C. Kim-
balls boys and others, who were looking on, and.all seemed at once to understand and participate in
the joke. They followed the carriage to the Mansion House, and gathered around Brother Miller
with tears in their eyes, saying, father, or President Young, where are you going? Brother Miller
looked at them kindly, but made no reply ; and the marshal really thought he had got ' Brother
Brigham.'
'' Lawyer Edmonds, who was then staying at tlie Mansion House, appreciating the joke, volun-
teered to Brother Miller to go to Carthage with him and see him safe through.
•' When they arrived within two or three miles of Carthage, the marshal, with his possoi, stopped.
They arose in their carriages, buggies and wagons, and, like a tribe of Indians going to battle, or
as if they were a pack of demons, yelling and shouting, exclaimed : ' We've got him ; we've got
him ; we've got him !'
'' When they reached Carthage, the marshal took the supposed Brigham into an upper room of
the hotel, and placed a guard over him, at the same time telling those around that he had got him.
Brother Miller lemaitied in the room until they bid him come to supper. While there, parties came
in, one after the other, and asked for Brigham. Brother Miller was pointed out to them. So it con-
tinued, until an apostate Mormon, by the name of Thatcher, who had lived in Nauvoo, came in, sat
down and asked the landlord where Brigham was,
" ' That is Mr, Young,' said the landlord, pointing across the table to Brother Miller,
" ' Where? I can't see any one that looks like Brigham,' Thatcher replied.
" The landlord told him it was that fleshy man, eating,
" ' Oh, H — 1!' exclaimed Thatcher, ' that's not Brigham ; that's William Miller, one of my old
neighbors.'
" LIpon hearing this the landlord went, and, tapping the sheriff on the shoulder, took him a few
^teps to one side, and said :
" ' You have made a mistake. That is not Brigham Young. It is William Miller, of Nauvco.'
" The marshal, very much astonished, exclaimed : ' Good heavens! and he passed for Brigham.'
i6 HISTORy OF SALT LAKE CITY,
He then took Brother Miller into a room, and turning to him, said: ' What in h — ^1 is the reason
you did not tell me your name ?'
" ' You have not asked me my name,' Brother Miller replied.
" ' Well, what is your name?" said the sheriff, with another oath.
" ' My name is William Miller.'
" ' I thought your name was Brigham Young. Do you say this for a fact ?'
"'Certainly I do,' returned Brother Miller.
" ' Then.' said the marshal, 'Why did you not tell me that before ?'
" ' I was under no obligation to tell you,' replied Miller.
" The marshal, in a rage, walked out of the room, followed by Brother Miller, who walked oif
in company with Lawyer Edmonds, Sheriff Backenstos and others, who took him across lots to a
place of safety ; and this is the real birth of the story of ' Bogus Brigham,' as far as I can recollect."
The energy, referred to by the President in the completion of the temple, signifies that the au-
thorities were an.xious for the Saints to receive their endowments before their removal, which was
every day becoming more matured and pressing in their minds. They did not wish to make their
flight in haste, and it was pretty evident that ihey had not a moment to spare for a well-planned
exodus.
It may seem strange to some, who do not appreciate the earnest, genuine faith of these singular
people, that they should thus finish their temple merely, as it would seem, to leave it as a monument
for a triumphant mob. But the Saints had been commanded by revelation to build that temple;
and the administration of their ordinances was of more than earthly importance to them.
From their retreats, where they had secreted themselves to avoid arrest, President Young and
the apostles came forth on the morning of Saturday, the 24th of May, 1845, to lay the cap-stone
on the southeast corner of the temple.
"The singers sang their sweetes notes," writes one of the apostles; "their voices thrilled the
hearts of the assemblage, and the music of the band, which played on the occasion, never sounded
more charming ; and when President Young placed the stone in its position and said :
" The last stone is now laid upon the temple and I pray the Almighty, in the name of Jesus,
to defend us in this place and sustain us until the temple is frnished, and we have all got our
endowments.' And the whole congregation shouted, 'Hosanna! Hosanna! Hosanna, to God and
the Lamb, amen, amen, and amen;' and repeated these words the second and third time. The
Spirit of God descended upon the people; gladness filled every heart, and tears of joy coursed
down many cheeks. The words of praise were uttered with earnestness and fervor; it was a relief
to many to be able to give expression to the feelings with which their hearts were overcharged.
Altogether the scene was a very impressive one, and we doubt not that angels looked upon it and
rejoiced."
"So let it be," said President Young, concluding the ceremonies; "this is the seventh day of
the week, or the Jewish Sabbath. It is the day on which the Almighty finished his work and rested
from his labors. We have finished the walls of the temple, and may rest to-day from our labors."
The workmen were dismissed for the day, the congregation dispersed, and the Twelve Apostles
returned to their places of retreat.
Governor Ford, in a letter to President Young, under date of April 8th, 1845, urging the migra-
tion of the Mormons to California, said:
" If you can get off by yourselves you may enjoy peace; but, surrounded by such neighbors, I
confess that I do not see the time when you will be permitted to enjoy quiet. I was informed by
General Joseph Smith last summer that he contemplated a removal west; and from what I learned
from him and others at that time, I think, if he had lived, he would have begun to move in the mat-
ter before this time. I would be willing to exert all my feeble abilities and influence to further your
views in this respect if it was the wish of your people.
" I would suggest a matter in confidence. California now offers a field for the prettiest enter-
prise that has been undertaken in modern times. It is but sparsely inhabited, and by none but the In-
dian or imbecile Mexicin Spaniards. I have not enquired enough to know how strong it is in men and
means. But this we know, that if conquered from Mexico, that country is so physically weak and
morally distracted that she could never send a force there to reconquer it. Why should it not be a
prettv operation for your people to go out there, take possession of and conquer a portion of the
vacant country, and establish an independent government of your own, subject only to the laws of
nations? You would remain there a long time before you would be disturbed by the proximity of
HEBER C. KIMBALL. ij
other settlements. If you conclude to do this, your design ought not to be known, or otherwise it
would become th« duty of the United States to prevent your emigration. If once you cross the
line of the United States Territories, you would be in no danger of being interfered with."
Knowing the intention of Joseph Smith to remove the Mormon people, Senator Douglass and
othei* had given similiar advice to him ; and the very fact that such men looked upon the Mormons
as quite equal to an establishment of an independent nationality, is most convincing proof that not
their wrong-doing, but their empire-founding genius has been, and still is, the cause of the "irre-
pressible conflict" between them and the Gentiles.
The advice of Governor Ford, however, was neither sought nor required. Brigham had nearly
matured every part of the movement, shaping also the emigration from the British mission; but the
Rocky Mountains not California proper, was the place chosen for his people's retreat — TuUidge s
Life of Brighatn Young .
From this point the history of Brigham Young will be found in the body of the work.
HEBER C. KIMB.ALL.
Heber Chase Kimball was born June 14th, 1801, in the town of Sheldon, Franklin County,
Vermont. His father (Solomon Farnham Kimbali) and his mother (Anna Spaulding Kimball) were
American born, although of English extraction. Up to the age of nineteen his life was about the
same as that of the other lads of his day and situation ; a few months of attendance at the common
school, and ordinary labor with his father, making up the sum of his opportunities and experiences.
W about the age mentioned, however, a change occurred in his father's circumstances which resulted
in throwing young Kimball upon his own resources. Being extremely diffident in disposition, and
inexperienced in the ways of the world, he suffered many hardships — two or three times nearly per-
ishing from hunger. His condition being finally brought to the attention of an older brother, he was
offered by him an opportunity to learn the potter's trade, which offer he gladly accepted, remaining
in apprenticeship until he was twenty-one years of age, and afterward working for his brother as a
journeyman. While with his brother they removed to Mendon, Monroe County, New York, where
the latter established another pottery. Although this incident was commonplace in itself, it never-
theless brought young Kimball within the circle of those influences that afterward outwrought for
him a most wonderful career.
In the Fall of 1823, he was married to Miss Vilate Murray, of Victor, Ontario County, New
York, and shortly thereafter purchased his brother's business, and settled down to the quiet prosecu-
tion of the same.
While thus employed, it must not be forgotten, he often brought his mind to the consideration
of the subject of religion, and was finally persuaded to an expression of faith which led him to join
the Baptist Church. Only a few weeks elapsed thereafter, however, when the fame of certain elders
of the Church of Latter-day Saints reached his ears, and, being prompted by curiosity, he went to
see them at the house of Phineas H. Young, in Victor, when he, to use his own words, " for the
first time heard the fulness of the everlasting gospel." Speaking of his subsequent confirmation, he
said, "under the ordinances of baptism and laying on of hand , I received the Holy Ghost, as
the disciples did in ancient days, which was like a consuming fire; and I was clothed in my right
mind, although the people called me crazy. I continued in this way for many months, and it seemed
as though my flesh would consume away ; at the same time the Scriptures were unfolded to my
mind in such a wonderful manner that it appeared to me at times as if I had formerly been familiar
with them."
Being ordained an elder by Joseph Young, he, in company with him and Brigham Young,
labored in Genesee, Avon and Lyonstown, where many were baptized and church organizations
3
\
i8 HISTORY OP SAL7 LAKE CITY.
effected. About this time these three went to Kirtland, Ohio, where for the first time they saw the
Prophet, Joseph Smith.
In the Fall of 1833, he removed to Kirtland, being accompanied on the journey by Brigham
Young.
Passing over the less noteworthy events which followed, we come at once to the incident yhich
was the determining point in his marked career. Of that event his journal says :
On or about the first day of June, 1837, the Prophet Joseph came to me, while I was seated
in the front stand, above the sacrament table, on the Melchisedec side of the Temple, in Kirtland.
and whispering to me, said: " Brother Heber, the .Spirit of the Lord has whispered to me, let my
servant Heber go to England and proclaim my gospel, and open the door of salvation to that
nation."
I was then set apart, along with Elder Hyde, who was likewise appointed to that mission, by
the laying on of the hands of the Presidency, who agreed that Elders Goodson, Russell, Richards,
Fielding and Snider should accompany us. After spending a few days in arrangmg my affairs and
settling my business, on the thirteenth day of June, A. D. 1837, I bade adieu t"> my family and
friends, and the town of Kirtland, where the hou'-e of the Lord stood, in which I had received my
annointinir, and had seen such wonderful displays of the power and glory of God.
Having obtained as much money as would pay our passage across the Atlantic, we laid in a stock
of provisions, and on the first day of July went on board the ship Garrick, bound for Eiverpool,
and weighed anchor about 10 o'clock, a. m., and about 4 o'clock, p. m., of the same day, lost sight
of my native land. When we first got sight ot Liverpool, I went to the side of the vessel and poured
out my soul in praise and thanksgiving to God for the prosperous voyage, and for all the mercies
which he had vouchsafed to me, and while thus engaged, and while contemplating the scenery which
then presented itself, and the circumstances which had brought me thus far, the Spirit of the Lord
rested upon me in a powerful manner ; my soul was filled with love and gratitude, and was humbled
within me, while I covenanted to dedicate myself to God and to love and serve Him with all my
heart. Immediately after we anchored, a small boat came alongside, and several of the passengers,
with Brothers Hyde, Richards, Goodson and myself got in and went on shore. When we were
within six or seven feet from the pier, I leaped on shore, and for the first time in my life stood on
British ground, among strangers whose manners and customs were different from my own. My feel-
ings at that time were peculiar, particularly when I realized the object, importance and extent of my
mission, and the work to which I had been appointed and in which I was shortly to be engaged.
Having no means, poor and penniless we wandered in the streets of that great city, where
wealth and luxury, penury and want abound. The time we were in Liverpool was spent in council
and in calling on the Lord for direction, so that we might be led to places where we should be most
useful in proclaiming the gospel and in establishing and spreading His kingdom. While thus en-
gaged, the Spirit of the Lord, the mighty power of God, was with us, and we felt greatly strength-
ened, and a determination to go forward, come life or death, honor or reproach, was manifested by
us all. Our trust was in God, who we believed could make us as useful in bringing down the king-
dom of Satan as He did tlie rams' horns in bringing down the walls of Jericho, and ingathering out
a number of precious souls who were buried amidst the rubbish of tradition, and who had none to
show them the way of truth.
Feeling led by the Spirit of the Lord to go to Preston, a large manufacturing town in Lancashire,
we started for that place three days after our arrival in Liverpool. We went by coach and arrived on
Saturday afternoon about 4 o'clock. After unloading our trunks. Brother Goodson went in search
of a place of lodging, and Brother Fielding went to seek a brother of his, who was a minister, re-
siding in that place.
It being the day on which their representatives were chosen, the streets presented a very busy
scene ; indeed I never witnessed anything like it before in my life.
On one of the flags, which was just unrolled before us the moment the coach reached its desti-
nation, was the following motto : "Truth Will Prevail," which svas p.iinted in large gilt letters. It
being so very seasonable and the sentiment being so appropriate to us in our situatio.n, we were in-
voluntarily led to exclaim, "Amen ! So let it be."
Brother Goodson having found a room where we could be acconmiodated, which belonged to
a widow woman, situated in Wilford Street, we moved our baggage there. Shortly after. Brother
Fielding returned, having found his brother, who requested to have an interview with some of us
that evening. Accordingly, Elders Hyde, Goodson and I went and were kindly received by him and
Mr. Watson, his brother-in-law, who was present at the time.
HEBER C. KIMBALL.
19
We gave them a short account of the object of our mission and the great work which the Lord
had commenced, and conversed upon those subjects until a late hour. The next morning we were
presented with half a crown, which Mr. Fielding's sister had sent us.
It being Sunday, we went to hear Mr. Fielding preach. After he had finished his discourse,
and without being requested by us, he gave out an appointment for some one of us to preach in the
afternoon.
It being noised abroad that some elders from America were in town and were going to preach
in the afternoon, a large concourse of people assembled to hear us. It falhng to my lot to speak, I
allied their attention to the first principles of the gospel, and told them something of the nature of
the work which the Lord had commenced on the earth. Brother Hyde afterwards bore testimony
to the same, which I believe was received by many with whom I afterwards conversed
Another appointment was given out for us in the evening, at which time Brother Goodson
preached and Brother Fielding bore testimony. An appointment was then made for us on Wed-
nesday evening at the same place, at which time Elder Hyde preached. A number now being con-
vinced of the truth, believed the testimony and began to praise God and rejoice e.Kceedingly that the
Lord had again visited His people, and sent His servants to lay before them the doctrine of the gos-
pel "and the truth as it is in Jesus."
The Rev. Mr. Fielding, who had kindly invited us to preach in his chapel, knowing that quite
a number of his members believed our testimony and that some were wishful to be baptized, shut
his doors against us and would suffer us to preach no more in his chapel. For an excuse, he said
that we had preached the doctrine of baptism for the remission of sins, contrary to our arrangement
with him.
I need scarcely assure my friends that nothing was said to him from which any inference could
be drawn that we should suppress the doctrine of baptism. No ! we deemed it too important a doc-
to lay aside for any privilege we could receive from mortals. Mr. Fielding understood our doctrines
even before we came there, having received several communications from his brother Joseph, who
wrote to him from Canada, explaining the doctrines of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day
Saints. We likewise had conversed with him on the subject at our former interview. However, he
having been traditioned to believe in infant baptism, and having preached and practiced the same for
a number of years, he saw the situation he would be placed in if he obeyed the gospel. Notwith-
standing his talents and standing in society, he would have to come into the sheepfold by the door ;.
and after all his preaching to others, have to baptized himself for the remission of sins by those who
were ordained to that power.
These considerations undoubtedly had their weight upon his mind, and caused him to act as he
did, and notwithstanding his former kindness he soon became one of our most violent opposers.
An observation which escaped his lips shortly after this circumstance, I shall here niention.-
Speaking one day respecting the three first sermons which were preached in that place, he said that
" Kimball bored the holes, Goodson drove the nails and Hyde clinched them."
However, his congregation did not follow his example; they had for some time been praying
for our coming, and had been assured by Mr. Fielding that he could not place more confidence in
an angel than he did in the statements ot his brother respecting this people. Consequently, they
were in a great measure prepared for the reception of the gospel, probably as much so as Cornelius
was anciently. Having now no public place to preach in, we began to preach in private houses,
which were opened in every direction, while numbers believed the gospel. After we had been in that
place eight days, we began to baptize in the name of the Lord Jesus for the remission of sins. One
" reverend " gentleman came and forbid us baptizing any of his members ; but we told him that ail
who were of age and requested baptism we should undoubtedly administer that ordinance to.
One Saturday evening I was appointed by the brethren to baptize a number the next morning
in the river Ribble, which runs through that place. By this time, the adversary of souls began to
rage, and he felt a determination to destroy us before we had fully established the gospel in that land ;
and the next morning I witnessed such a scene of satanic power and influence as I shall never forget
while memory lasts.
About day-break, Brother Russell (who was appointed to preach in the market-place that day>,
who slept in the second story of the house in which we were entertained, came up to the room
where Elder Hyde and I were sleeping and called upon us to arise and pray for him, for he was so
afflicted with evil spirits that he could not live long unless he should obtain relief.
We immediately arose, laid hands upon him and prayed that the Lord would have mercy on
His servant and rebuke the devil. While thus engaged, I was struck with great force by some in-
20 HISTORY OF SALT LAKE CITY.
visible power and fell senseless on the flaor as if I had been shot; and the first thing that I recol-
lected was, that I was supported by Brothers Hyde and Russell, who were beseeching a throne of
grace in my behalf. They then laid me on the bed, but my agony was so great that I could not en-
dure, and I was obliged to get out, and fell on my knees and began to pray, I then sat on the bed
and could distinctly see the evil spirits, who foamed and gnashed their teeth upon us. We gazed
upon them about an hour and half, and I shall never forget the horror and malignity depicted on the
countenances of those foul spirits, and any attempt to paint the scene which then presented itself,
or portray the malice and enmity depicted in their countenances would be vain.
I perspired exceedingly, and my clothes were as wet as if I had been taken out of the river.
I felt e.vquisite pain, and was in the greatest distress for some time. However, I learned by it the
power of the adversary, his enmity against the servants of God and got some understanding of the
invisible world.
The Lord delivered us from the wrath ot our spiritual enemies and blessed us exceedingly that
day, and I had the pleasure (notwithstanding my weakness of body from the shock I had exper-
ienced) of baptizing nine individuals and hailing them brethren in the kingdom of God
A circumstance took place while at the water side which I cannot refrain from mentioning, which
will show the eagerness and anxiety of some in that land to obey the gospel. Two of the can-
didates who were changing their clothes and preparing for baptism at the distance of several rods
from the place where I was standing in the water, were so anxious to obey the gospel, that they ran
with all their might to the water, each wishing to be baptized first. The younger — George D. Watt
— being quicker on foot than the elder, out-ran him, and came first into the water. The circumstance
reminded me of Peter and another disciple, who went to see the sepulchre where the Savior w.\s
laid : their anxiety was so great to find out whether He was yet there or not that they had a race for
it. The ceremony of baptizing being somewhat novel, a large concourse of people assembled on
the banks of the river to witness the ceremony. In the afternoon Elder Russell preached in the
market place, standing on a pedestal, to a very large congregation, numbers of whom were pricked
to the heart
Thus the work of the Lord commenced in that land (notwithstanding the rage of the adversary
and his attempt to destroy us) — a work which shall roll forth, not onJy in that land but upon all the
face of the earth, even "in lands and isles unknown."
The next morning we held a council, at which Elders Goodson and Richards were appointed to
go to the city of Bedford, there being a good prospect, from the information received, of a church
being built up in that city. Elders Russell and Snider were appointed to go to .Alston, in Cumber-
land, near the borders of Scotland, and Elders Hyde, Fielding and the writer were to remain in
Preston and the regions round about.
The next day, the brethren took their departure for the different fields of labor assigned them.
As an illustration of his wonderful mission we give the following page from his autobiography :
"There being something interesting in the establishing of the gospel in Downham and Chat-
burn, I will relate the circumstances of my visit to those places, and the prospect we had of success
prior to our proclaiming the truth to them.
" Having been preaching in the neighborhood of these villages, I felt it my duty to pay them a
visit and tell them my mission. I mentioned my desires to several of the brethren, but they endeav-
ored to dissuade me from going, informing me that there could be no prospect of success, as several
ministers of different denominations had endeavored to raise churches in these places, and had fre-
quently preached to them, but to no effect. They had resisted all the efforts and withstood the at-
tempts of all sects and parties for thirty years, and the preachers had given them up to the hardness
of their hearts. I was also informed that they were very wicked places and the inhabitants were
hardened against the gospel.
" However, this did not discourage me in the least, believing that the gospel of fesus Christ
could reach the heart when the gospels of men were found abortive. I consequently told those who
tried to dissuade me from going that these were the places I wanted to go to, and that it was my
business ' not to call the righteous, but sinners to repentance."
"Accordingly I went in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ, and I soon procured a large barn
to preach in, which was crowded to excess. Having taking my stand in the middle of the congre-
gation so that all might be able to hear, I commenced my discourse, spoke with great simplicity on
the subject of the gospel of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, the conditions of pardon for a fallen
world, and the privileges and blessings of all those who embraced the tiuth. I likewise said a little
on the subject of the resurrection.
HEBER C. KIMBALL. 21
" My remarks were accompanied by the spirit of the Lord and were received with joy, and
those people who were represented as being so hard and obdurate, were melted with tenderness
and love, and such a feeling was produced as I never saw before ; and the effect seemed to be
general.
" I then told them that, being a servant of the Lord Jesus Christ, I stood ready at all times to
administer the ordinances of the gospel. After I had concluded I felt some one pulling at my coat.
I turned around and asked the person what it was he desired. The answer was, ' Please sir, will
you baptize me?' 'and me!' 'and me!' exclaimed more than a dozen voices.
" We accordingly went down into the water, and before I left, I baptized twenty-five for the
remission of sins — and was thus engaged until four o'clock the next morning.
"Another evening the congregation was so numerous that I had to preach in the open air, and
took my stand on a stone wall, and afterwards baptized a number.
" These towns seemed to be affected from one end to the other ; parents called their children
together, spoke to them of the subjects upon which I had preached, and warned them against
swearing and all other evil practices, and instructed them in their duty, etc. Such a scene I pre-
sume was never witnessed in this place before ; the hearts of the people appeared to be broken, and
the next morning they were all in tears, thinking they should see my face no more. When I left
them my feelings were such as I cannot describe. As I walked down the street, followed by num-
bers, the doors were crowded by the inmates of the houses, waiting to bid us a last farewell, who
ci uld only give vent to their grief in sobs and broken accents.
"While contemplating this scene we were induced to take off our hats, for we felt as if the
place was holy ground. The Spirit of the Lord rested down upon us, and I was constrained to
bless that whole region of country.
. " I cannot refrain from relating a circumstance which took place, while Brother Fielding and I
were passing through the village of Chatburn ; having been observed drawing nigh to the town, the
news ran from house to house, and immediately on our arrrival, the noise of their looms was
hushed, the people flocked to the doors to welcome us, and see us pass. The youth of the place
ran to meet us, and took hold of our mantles and then of each other's hands. Several, having hold
of hands, went before us, singing the songs of Zion, while their parents gazed upon the scene with
delight, poured out their blessings upon our heads, and praised the God of heaven for sending us to
unfold the principles of truth and the plan of salvation to them.
" Such a scene, and such gratitude, I never witnessed before. ' Surely,' my heart exclaimed,
'out of the mouths of babes and sucklings, thou has perfected praise!'
" What could have been more pleasing and delightful than such a manifestation of gratitude to
Almighty God from those whose hearts were deemed too hard to be penetrated by the gospel,
and who had been considered the most wicked and hardened people in that region of country !
"In comparison with the joy I then experienced, the grandeur, pomp and glory of the kingdoms
of this world shrank into insignificance and appeared as dross, and all the honor of man, aside from
the gospel, to be vain."
In 1840 he took a second mission to England with President Brigham Young, and the majority
of his quorum, nine in number, when was performed one of the greatest missionary works since the
days of Christ's discipks.
After his reiurn from the British Mission, Heber labored in his apostolic calling chiefly, being
but little with his family. At the time of the martyrdom of Joseph and Hyrum Smith, he was out,
with nearly every member of his quorum, on a mission to the Eastern States. He was the right
hand man of Brigham Young in the exodus, and was one of the 143 pioneers. He returned with
his chief to Winter Quarters to gather up the body of the Saints, and while there was chosen first
counselor of Brigham in the re-organization of the first presidency of the Church. To the end of
his eventful life he continued the faithful counselor and friend of his chief, between whom and him-
self there had existed for forty-three years, one of those remarkable friendships which authors love
to immortalize. The friendship of Damon and Pythias wis not of a stranger type than that of
Brigham Young and Heber C. Kimball, and Heber was as jealous of the love of Brigham as a
woman is of the love of her husband. Heber was a very singular, very genuine, and an extraordi-
narily earnest man, with a character of so much strength and rugged honesty as to make him one of
the most noticeable men in the world. Though born among the humble, it was both physically and
metaphysically impossible for him to make other than a strong mark in the world. His personal
appearance was powerful and uncommon ; his structure as of iron ; and no one could well forget
the man who had seen him once. He was just such a character as one would imagine as a bosom
22 HISTORY OF SALT LAKE CITY.
friend of Oliver Crcmwell. Heber C. Kimball, aiter Joseph Smith and Brigham Young, was de-
cidedly the greatest character the Mormon Church has brought forth. They are indeed the Mor-
mon trinity. He died on the 22d of June, 1868.
The universal esteem in which he was held may be inferred from the following notice of his
funeral, by the Daily Telegraph, in its issue of the day succeeding that event :
"Yesterday the last sad offices of affection and friendship were rendered to the mortal remains
of our beloved President, Heber Chase Kimball.
" Throughout the city, stores and business houses were closed and ordinary business was sus-
pended, out of respect to the memory of the deceased. Draped flags swung to the breeze on the
tops of public buildings, stores and private residences. The streets were exceedingly quiet, the few
people passing being apparently imbued with the solemnity of the occasion.
"The day also was in perfect harmony. The oppressive sultriness ol the few preceding days
gave way to a cooler atmosphere. Black clouds draped the skies, heaven's artillery roared, the wind
moaned and swept along in fitful gusts, and as the appointed hour for the obsequies drew nigh, the
rain, like tear drops from heaven, fell heavily, mingling with the tears of the mourners, and contin-
uing almost without intervals of cessation during the ceremonies, although relieved toward evening
by brief snatches of sunshme, to show the silver lining to a cloudy day, and to indicate the smiling
Providence that rules and overrules all things for good. * •■■ * *
" While the masses congregated in the Tabernacle, Presidents Brigham Voung and Daniel H.
Wells, the Twelve Apostles, the First Presidents of the Seventies, the Presidents of the High
Priests' quorum, the Presiding Bishop and his counselors, the President of this Stake of Zion, the
High Council and Captain Cro.xall's band, with the pall-bearers and relatives, repaired to the late
residence of President Kimball. Here was beheld the Chieftain of Zion, with whom the illustrious
departed, tor a full third of a century and more, had stood shoulder to shoulder when men's souls
were tried, with more than fraternal interest personally overseeing even the minutest item of ar-
rangement in those last solemn offices. -••• *
" To the ' Dead March in Saul,' by Cro.xall's band, the procession moved from the residence
down North Temple Street,, turned south on West Temple Street, passed through the west gate of
Temple Block, entered the Tabernacle at door No. 32. north side, and occupied the seats reserved
for the purpose in front of the stand, the band still playing as the procession entered. When the
band ceased, the powerful tones of the organ swelled forth in a selection from Beethoven.
''The remains were deposited upon a draped bier, raised from the middle aisle, so as to be
plainly observable by all the vast audience. Seven elegant vases of roses and other beautiful
flowers were placed upon the coffin.
" In consonance with the solemnity of the scene, the interior of the Tabernacle was also draped
in mourning. ■""" * ®
"The vast assemblege was called to order by President Young, and the choir sang a hymn
composed by Miss E. R. Snow, after which Apostle Cannon offered up a prayer, and the choir sang
•Farewell all earthly honors.'
The assembly was then addressed by Elders John Taylor, Geo. A. Smith, Geo. Q. Cannon,
Presidents Daniel H. Wells, and Brigham Young, who said: "Brother Kimball was a man of as
much integrity, I presume, as any man who ever lived on the earth I have been personally ac-
quainted with him forty-three years, and I can testify that he has been a man of truth, a man of be-
nevolence, a man that was to be trusted."
At the close of President Young's remarks, the choir sang " O my father, thou that dwcllest,"
after which the procession reformed in its previous order, the band playing the Belgian dead march,
and the remains of the deceased were escorted to a spot in his private burying ground, previously
selected by himself, where they were laid by the side of Vilatc, the partner and companion of his
youth.
He was mourned by the whole Church, and principal men from all parts of the Teiritory
honored by their presence the memory of the dead.
JOHN TA YL OR. 23
JOHN TAYLOR.
President John Taylor was born in Winthrop, Westmoreland County, England, November ist,
1808. He received a common school education, and remained in his native country until about the
year 1832, when he rejoined his father's family in Canada, to which province they had emigrated
two years previously. Before leaving England he joined the Methodist Church, and was made a
local preacher in that body. Shortly after arriving in Canada, he made the acquaintance of, and
married, Miss Leonora Cannon, who had left England for Canuda as a companion to the wife of
the Secretary of the Colony, but with the intention of returning. She was a God-fearing woman,
a daughter of Captain Cannon of the Isle of Man, and sister of the father of George Q. Cannon.
They settled in the city of Toronto and there they first heard the preaching of the Gospel of the
Latter-day Church under the inspired ministry of Parley P. Pratt.
At this point, — illustrative of his history and character, — it is worthy of note that John Taylor
had already made a distinguishing mark in the Methodist Church of Toronto as a religious reformer.
He and another of the local ministers having boldly preached some apostolic doctrines very conso-
nant with his subsequent Mormon faith, but which were deemed innovative and heretical by the
regular Methodist ministry, John Taylor and his compeer were brought to trial before a ministerial
body ; but they refused to recant their Gospel truths. This incident throws considerable light upon
the transformation of President Taylor from a Methodist local minister to a Mormon Apostle.
Parley P. Pratt in his autobiography speaks of a little congregation of Gospel truth-seekers in
Toronto, among whom he found Mr. Taylor and his wife; and Mr. Taylor is brought into the
Mormon Apostle's narrative as one of the ministerial leaders of this little congregation of Methodist
reformers.
Soon after his entrance into the Mormon Church, John Taylor was called to the apostleship.
Several of the Twelve had apostatized, and David Patten, one of the stanchest members of that
quorum had fallen in battle against the anti-Mormon mob : this David is styled the first martyr of
the Church. In a revelation given July 8th, 1836, is found the following passage :
" Let my servant John Taylor, and also my servant John E. Page, and also my servant Wil-
ford Woodruff, and also my servant Willard Richards, be appointed to fill the place of those who
have fallen, and be officially notified of their appointment."
John Taylor was duly notified of his call to the quorum of the Twelve, which brought him over
from Canada into Missouri. On the 19th of December, 1838, the High Council of Zion met in Far
West, on which occasion John Taylor and John E. Page were installed in the apostleship. Subse-
quently, Wilford Woodruff and George A. Smith were" ordained to the quorum of the Twelve ;
and, in 1840, when nine ot that quorum were on missions to England, Willard Richards was or-
dained, he having gone to England with Heber C. Kimball and Orson Hyde in 1837.
John Taylor was, now a pillar of the Church, and he took his position as one born to it. His
whole career since has fully justified his call. Never has he shown weakness of purpose, nor
has he stumbled in the faith. Being niturally of a self-reliant and independent character, with
much natural courage, he has sustained his quorum and the whole community in the most trying
circumstances. Next to Brigham Young, he is, perhaps, not only the most astute, but the most
self-sustained man that ever came into the Mormon Church. He has never been in any place or
circumstances that he has not shown the power to fall back upon himself, and take the whole weight
of responsibility of acting when it properly rested with him. This is the true test of the leader, and
it undoubtedly at length made him President of the. Mormon Church ; for after all, it is the law of
fitness which brings man aiound to his destiny ; and it is this same trait of character which will
make John Taylor equal to the needs of the present hour as-th? leader of the Mormon people.
After the removal of the Latter-day Saints from Missouri to Illinois, the Twelve were called on
a mission to Great Britain. posdes Taylor and Wilford Woodruff started together from Nauvoo
in the fall of 1839 They were both sick with fever and ague, and Elder Taylor came near to death
on the way, the companions having to separate in consequence thereof; but they met again at New
24 HIS70RY OF SALT LAKE CITY.
York, and together embarked for Liverpool. The following interesting sketch of his mission he
wrote for the Millennial Star before his return to America :
"We arrived in Liverpool, after a pleasant voyage, on the nth of January, 1840, from which
place we proceeded to Preston, where we met with many Saints, who rejoiced to see us— re-
joicing before God that we had been thus far enabled to brave the storms and opposition, and that
we had arrived in safety at the place of our destination.
"After resting a few days, and visiting with our brethren, we held a council, at which I was ap-
pointed to go to Liverpool, and Elders Woodruff and Turley to go into the Potteries, and from thence
as their way might open. Elder Fielding accompanied me to Liverpool, and we commenced our
labors in this place. We visited a chapel belonging to ^Tr. Aiken the first Sunday, and also a body
of Baptists that met in the Music Hall, Bold Street. .A.fter a young man in the Hope Street Chapel
had done preaching, having advanced many correct principles in his sermon, I arose after the meet-
ing was concluded and stated that I was much interested in many things that I had heard, that I
was a stranger, and should be pleased to make a few remarks, with their permission. I was im-
mediately asked by one what society I belonged to, and another said that they would hear me in
the vestry after the congregation was dismissed. Accordingly we repaired to the vestry, where I met
with about twenty leaders and teachers, to whom I delivered my testimony, and while I was unfold-
ing what God had done, and the message I had come on, some wept, and others exclaimed 'glory
be to God ; ' others of them were hardened, and raged against us, stating that they had heard a very
bad report of us from their pastor, Mr. Matthews.
" We took a room the next Sunday, and while I preached to the people and told them of the
things that God had done, I asked them if it was not good news? They answered yes. Elder
Fielding bore testimony to what I had said. Many came to me after the meeting and shook me by
the hand, and many wept and rejoiced; ten gave me their names to be baptized. We visited many
of the leading ministers in Liverpool. I delivered our testimony to them, but we found them gen-
erally so bigoted and wrapped up in sectarianism that there was very little room for the truth in
their hearts ; the work, however, continued to roll on till the present. Prejudice is fast giving way,
and upwards of two hundred Saints are now rejoicing in the truth ; while those people that I visited
and delivered my testimony among, (many of whose preachers rejected and wickedly opposed it,)
although there was at that time, as I have been informed, upwards of 1,200 members, they are all
scattered, and not one left, and their chapel is turned into a church of England.
" I also visited Ireland on the 27th of July, 1840, in company with Elder M'Guffie, one that had
been ordained in Liverpool, and a priest from Manchester by the name of Blake. We landed at
Warren Point, and went from thence to Newry, where I preached in the Session House, it being the
first time that ever this Gospel was declared in that land. From thence I went to a part of the
country called the Four Towns of Bellinacrat, and preached, and baptized a farmer by the name of
Taite, who was the first baptized in Ireland. From thence I proceeded to Lisburn, where I preached
several times in the market place. From thence to Belfast, when I had an opportunity of preach-
ing if I had time to stay, but as I had engagements in Scotland, I was prevented. Elder Curtis has
since been laboring there, and there is now about thirty members in the Church. From thence I
went to the City of Glasgow, in Scotland, where I preached, and also in Paisley, and then returned
to Liverpool. Soon after I started to the Isle of Man, when I delivered my testimony for the first
time in that island. I met with much opposition. I held a debate with one minister, published
three pamphlets in reply to another, and replied in the papers to certain falshoods and misrepresen-
tations made in them, and answered another minister who lectured against me. I had much oppo-
sition, but the truth has come off triumphant, and there is now in that place about one hundred
members, two elders, four priests and two teachers ; and the work of God is rolling on. I feel to
rejoice before God that He has blessed my humble endeavors to promote His cause and Kingdom,
and for all the blessings that I have received from this island ; for although I hare traveled 5,000
miles without purse or scrip, besides traveling so far in this country on railroads, coaches, steam-
boats, wagons, on horseback, and almost every way, and have been amongst strangers in strange
lands, I have never for once been at a loss for either money or friends, or a home from that day until
now ; neither have I ever asked any one for a farthing. Thus I have proved the Lord and found
Him according to His word. And now, as I am going away, I bear testimony that this work is
of God — that he has spoken from the heavens— that Joseph Smith is a prophet of the Lord— that
the Book of Mormon is true ; and I know that this work will roll on until • the kingdoms of this
world will become the Kingdoms of our God and His Christ." Even so, Amen.'"
JOHN TAYLOR. 25
After his return to Nauvoo, Apostle Taylor was editor of the Times and Seasons, a chief man in
the city council, and a right-hand man to the Prophet, scarcely less than Brigham Young himself.
But the great circumstance of that day, which has left him so strongly marked in the history of the
Church, was the scene of the martyrdom, for he was in prison with the Prophet and his brother,
and was himself wounded. It is not necessary to give the full chapter of those times, but the nar-
rative of the tragedy itself, though often republished, is an historical link which could not well be
left out of the sketch of President Taylor's life.
The following is e.xtracted from President John Taylor's own minutes:
"June 26th. 9:57 A. M. The Governor, in company with Colonel Geddes arrived at the jail,
when a lengthy conversation was entered into in relation to the existing difficulties.
" The Governor left [at 10:30 A. M.] after saying that the prisoners were under his protection,
and again pledging himself that they should be protected from violence, and telling them that if the
troops marched the next morning to Nauvoo, as he then expected, they should probably be taken
along in order to insure their personal safety, * * * *
'' While Joseph was writing at the jailor's desk, William Wall stepped up, wanting to deliver a
verbal message to him from his uncle John Smith. He turned around to speak to Wall but the
guard refused to allow them any communication. ® •■'■■
"Joseph remarked, ' I have had a good deal of anxiety about my safety since I left Nauvoo,
which I never had before when I was under arrest. I could not help those feelings, and they
have depressed me. * *
" The Prophet, Patriarch and their friends took turns preaching to the guards, several of whom
were relieved before their time was out because they admitted they were convinced of the innocence
of the prisoners. They frequently admitted that they had been imposed upon, and more than once
it was heard, ' Let us go home, boys, for I will not fisrht any longer against these men.'
"During the day Hyrum encouraged Joseph to think that the Lord, for His Church's sake,
would release him from'prison. Joseph replied, 'Could my brother Hyrum but be liberated, it
would not matter so much about me.' * *
" 2:30. Constable Bettisworth came with Alexander Simpson and wanted to come in with an
order to the jailor demanding the prisoners, but as Mr. Stigall the jailor, could find no law author-
izing a justice of the peace to demand prisoners committed to his charge, he refused to give them
up until discharged from his custody by due course of law. * "*'
"20 minutes to 4. Upon the refusal of the jailor to give up the prisoners, the constable, with
the company of Carthage Greys, under the command of Frank Worrell, marched to the jail and by
intimidation and threats compelled the jailor, against his will and conviction of duty, to deliver
Joseph and Hyrum to the constable, who forthwith and contrary to their wishes, compulsorily took
them.
" foseph, seeing the mob gathering and assuming a threatening aspect, concluded it best to go
with them, and putting on his hat, walked boldly into the midst of a hollow square of the Carthage
Greys, yet evidently expecting to be massacred in the streets before arriving at the court house,
politely locked arms with the worst mobacrat he could see, and Hyrum locked arms with Joseph,
followed by Dr. Richards, and escorted by a guard. Elders Taylor, Jones, Markham and Fullmer
followed outside the hollow square, and accompanied them to the court room. ■■• -•'
" On motion of counsel for the prisoners, examination was postponed till to-morrow, at 12
o'clock, noon, and subpoenas were granted to get witnesses from Nauvoo, twenty miles distant,
whereupon the prisoners were remanded to prison. "•■■• *
"5:30. Returned to jail, and Joseph and Hyrum were thrust into close confinement. * *
" 8 P. M. Counselors Woods and Reid called with Elder J. P. Greene, and said that the Gov-
ernor and military officers had held a council which had been called by the Governor, and they de-
cided that the Governor and all the troops should march to Nauvoo at 8 o'clock to-morrow, except
one company of about fifty men, in order to gratify the troops, and return next day, the com-
pany of fifty men to be selected by the Governor from those of the troops whose fidelity he could
most rely on to guard the prisoners, who should be left in Carthage jail, and that their trial be de-
ferred until Saturday, the 29th. * *
" They retired to rest late. ® * 5:30 A. M., arose. Joseph requested Daniel Jones
to descend and inquire of the guard the cause of the intrusion in the night. Frank Worrell, the
officer of the guard, in a very bitter spirit said : 'We have had too much trouble to bring old Joe
here to ever let him escape alive, and unless you want to die with him, you had better leave before
4
26 HISTORY OF SALT LAKE CITY.
sundown ; and you are not a d — d bit better than him for taking his part ; and you'll see that I can
prophesy better than old Joe, for neither he nor his brother, nor anyone who will remain with them,
will see the sun set to-day.' •••" *
■' 1:30. Governor Ford went to Nauvoo sometime this afternoon, escorted by a portion of his
troops, the most friendly to the prisoners, and leaving the known enemies to the Prophet (the Car-
thage Greys), ostensibly to guard the jail, having previously disbanded the remainder. * *
"3:15 r. M. The guard began to be more severe in their operations, threatening among them-
selves, and telling what they would do when the excitement was over. * *
"4 r. M. The guard was again changed, only eight men being stationed at the jail, while the
main body of the Carthage Greys were in camp about a quarter of a mile distant, on the public
square. * *
"4:20 p. M, Jailor Stigall returned to the jail and said that Stephen Markham had been sur-
rounded by a mob, who had driven him out of Carthage, and he had gone to Nauvoo. * *
" Before the jailor came in, his boy brought in some water, and said the guard wanted some
wine. Joseph gave Dr. Richards two dollars to give to the guard, but the guard siid one was
enough, and would take no mote.
" The guard immediately sent for a bottle of wine, pipes, and two small papers of tobacco, and
one of the guard brought them into the jail soon after the jailor went out. Dr. Richards uncorked
the bottle and presented a glass to Joseph, who tasted, as also Brother Taylor and the Doctor, and
the bottle was given to the guard, who turned to go out. When at the top of the stairs some one
below called him two or three times and he went down.
" Immediately there was a little rustling at the outer door of the jail, and a cry of surrender,
and also a discharge of three or four firearms followed instantly. The Doctor glanced an eye by
the curtain of the window, and saw about a hundred armed men about the door."
The following statement by Willard Richards, one of the survivors of the tragedy that fol-
lowed the events last stated, is probably the most trustworthy record of the matter e.xtant. It is
entitled "Two Minutes in Jail," and is as follows :
" C'arthage, June 27th, 1844.
"A shower of musket balls were thrown up the stairway against the door of the prison in the
second story, followed by many rapid footsteps,
"While Generals Joseph and Hyrum Smith, Mr. Taylor and myself, who were in the front
chamber, closed the door of our room against the entry at the head of the stairs, and placed our-
selves against it, there being no lock on ihe door, and no catch that was unscalable.
" The door is a common panel, and as soon as we heard the feet at the stairhead a ball was
sent through the door, which passed between us, and showed that our enemies were desperadoes,
and we must change our position.
" General Joseph Smith, Mr. Taylor and myself sprang back to the front part of the room, and
General Hyrum Smith retreated two-thirds across the chamber, directly in front of and facing the
door.
" A ball was sent through the door which hit Hyrum on the side of the nose, when he fell
backwards, extended at length, without moving his feet,
" From the holes in his vest (the day was warm and no one had their coats on but myself),
pantaloons, drawers and .shirt, it appeared evident that a ball must have been thrown from without
through the window, which entered his back on the right side, and passed through, lodging against
his watch, which was in his right vest pocket, completely pulverizing the crystal and face, tearing
off the hands and mashing the whole body of the watch. At the same instant the ball from the
door entered his nose.
"As he struck the floor he exclaimed emphatically, ' I am a dead man.' Joseph looked
toward him and responded, 'Oh dear! Brother Hyrum,' and opened the door two or three inches
with his left hand, discharged one barrel of a six-shooter (pistol) at random in the entry, from
whence a ball grazed Hyrum's breast, and entering his throat passed into his head, while other
muskets were aimed at him and some balls hit him.
" Joseph continued snapping his revolver around the casing of the door into the space as be-
fore, three barrels of which missed fire, while Mr. Taylor, with a walking stick, stood by his side
and knocked down the bayonets and muskets which were constantly discharging through the door-
way, while I stood by him, ready to lend any assistance, with another stick, but could not come
with striking distance without going directly before the muzzles of the guns.
JOHN TAYLOR. 27
" When the revolver failed we had no more firearms, and expected an immediate rush of the
mob. and the doorway full of muskets, half-way in the room, and no hope but instant death from
within.
" Mr. Taylor rushed into the window, wliich is some fifteen or twenty feet from the ground.
When his body was nearly on a balance, a ball from the door within entered his leg, and a ball from
without struck his watch, patent lever, in his vest pocket near the left breast and smashed it into
" pi," leaving the hands standing at 5 o'clock, 16 minutes and 26 seconds, the force of which ball
threw him back on the floor, and he rolled under the bed, which stood by his side, where he lay
motionless, the mob from the door continuing to fire upon him, cutting away a piece of flesh trom
his left hip as large as a man's hand, and were hindered only by my knocking down their muzzles
with a stick, while they continued to reach their guns into the room, probably left-handed, and
aimed their discharge so far round as almost to reach us in the corner of the room to where we
retreated and dodged, and then I recommenced the attack with my stick.
"Joseph attempted, as the last resort, to leap the same window from which Mr. Taylor fell,
when two bullets pierced him from the door, and one entered his breast from without, and he fell
outward, exclaiming, ' O, Lord, my God !' As his feet went out of the window my head went in,
the balls whistling all around. He fell on his left side, a dead man.
"At this instant, the cry was raised, 'He's leaped the window !' and the mob on the stairs and
in the entry ran out.
" I withdrew from the window, thinking it of no use to leap out on a hundred bayonets, then
around General Smith's body.
"Not satisfied with this, I again reached my head out of the window and watched some
seconds to see if there were any signs of life, regardless of my own, determined to see the end of
him I loved. Being fully satisfied that he was dead, with a hundred men near the body, and more
coming round the corner of the jail, and expecting a return to our room, I rushed towards the
prison door at the head of the stairs, and through the entry from whence the firing had proceeded,
to learn if the doors into the prison were open.
" When near the entry, Mr. Taylor cried out, -take me.' I pressed my way until I found all
doors unbarred, and returning instantly, caught Mr. Taylor under my arm and rushed by the stairs
into the dungeon, or inner prison, stretched hnn on the fleer and covered him with a bed in such
manner as not likely to be perceived, expecting an immediate return of the mob.
" I said to Mr. Taylor, ' This is a hard case to lay you on the floor, but if your wounds are not
fatal, I want you to live to tell the story.' I expected to be shot the next moment, and stood be-
fore the door awaiting the onset. WiLLARD Richards."
" Upon the tide of grief that swept over Nauvoo, and the consternation that filled the hearts of
the mob when the awful deed became known, we will not dwell. Neither will we attempt to depict
that scene of woe which occurred when the bodies of the .slain were delivered into the hands of
their families.
"A whole people had been cruelly, fiendishly betrayed and bereaved. Awful, beyond the
power of words to picture was the lament."
Apostle Taylor was with the Saints in the exodus, but the condition of the British Mission ren-
dered it necessary for the Twelve to send three of their quorum to England to set the Church in
order. John Taylor, Parley P. Pratt and Orson Hyde were the ones chosen. '1 hey returned to
Winter Quarters just at the moment the Pioneers were about to start for the Rocky Mountains, so that
they were not in the Pioneer band, but Apostles Taylor and P. P. Pratt followed quickly in the first
companies. Elder Taylor's next important mission was to France, and while on that mission he
published the Book of Mormon in the French and German languages. He was afterwards sent to
preside at New York over the churches in the States, and also to ask for the admission of the "State
of Deseret." While on this mission he published TAe Mormon, in New York City, which, during
its existence, was the most vigorously edited paper that the Church had issued. At the time of the
Utah expedition, his bold, manly speeches stirred the heart of the whole community. During such
times the native courage of John Taylor has always been most conspicuous. In this respect he has
perhaps stood next to the Prophet Joseph himself who, for lion-like courage was a marvel, even to
his enemies For this trait of character in his life, John Taylor has long been styled in the Church,
"Champion of the Truth." At no period of his life has he shown himself more sufficient for the
times than at the death of Brigham Young. Those outside the Church believed it certain that at
the death of this most remarkable man who had led the Mormons for thirty-three years, the Church
would experience a terrible convulsion and very likely split info fragments under rival leaders. But
2S HISTORY OF SALT LAKE CITY.
it was soon seen that the man of the times had verily risen in John Taylor ; and if any of his com-
peers ever doubted concerning the "coming man," they quickly discovered who was there leader
after Brigham Young. At the burial of him who had been as a Moses to them, while his body was
laying before the congregation in state, Apostle Taylor spoke over the dead a becoming eulogy, but
plainly told assembled "Israel" that Brigham Young's mission was fully accomplished, and that he
was no longer needed for the safety of the Chnrch. The work would continue triumphant as be-
fore. It was not the work of man. One greater than Brigham Young was at their head. The
King of Zion was their leader. For the first few weeks thereafter it was the talk even among the
Gentiles that no revolutionary shock had come to the Mormon Church, but all went on as before.
For several years the Twelve ruled the Church as a quorum, and then at the October Conference
of 1880, the First Presidency was restored with John Taylor, President of the Church in all the
world, and George Q. Cannon and Joseph F. Smith as his counselors.
President Taylor is the third man who has risen to lead the Mormon People; and during his
presidency there has come a crisis scarcely less in its historical issues than that of the e.Kodus of the
Church from Nauvoo to the Rocky Mountains. The question of the day concerning the Mormon
Church is, will it survive, or will it be swept away by the present action of a mighty nation risen,
as it were, in arms against it? And this question involves the most vital question of all, which, in
fact, gives pertinency to every other — Will the Church give up its institution of patriarchal mar-
riage, commonly known as polygamy? President Taylor, in all the manifestoes and epistles to the
.Saints bearing his name, has answered with no uncertain voice, " Never! the Kingdom of God or
nothing." It is the motto of this apostle's life.
GEORGE Q. CANNON.
George Q, Cannon was born in Liverpool, England, on the nth of January, 1827. His par-
ents joined the Mormons when he was 12 years of age. Previously, however, his father's sister left
England, for Canada, as a companion to the wife of the Secretary of the Colony, but with the in-
tention of returning. While in Canada, however, she met Elder John Taylor, then a Methodist
minister, whose wife she afterwards became.
At this time Elder Parley P. Pratt was on a mission to Canada, preaching the doctrines of
Mormonism, to which Mr. Taylor and wife were soon converted. Mr. Taylor having been chosen
one of the Twelve Apostles of the Mormon Church, visited England in 1839, as a Mormon mis-
sionary, where he first made the acquaintance of his brother-in-law, Mr. Cannon's father, whom,
with his wife and family he succeeded in baptizing into the Mormon Church. Mr. Cannon states
that " as soon as my mother saw Mr. Taylor, and before she knew he was a religious man, she said,
' he is a man of God.' "
The headquarters of the Mormon Church was then at Nauvoo, to which place the new con-
verts were very desirous to emigrate, but active operations in that direction were for some time de-
layed on account of Mrs. Cannon having strong premonitions that she would not reach " Zion."
These were supported by certain analogous dreams by Mr. Cannon, all of which were literally ful-
filled in the death of Mrs. Cannon while crossing the Atlantic Ocean. The rest of the family
reached Nauvoo in safety.
Two months after the massacre of Joseph and Hyrum Smith, Mr. Cannon's flither left Nauvoo
on a business tour to St. Louis, and, while there, died, leaving seven orphan children.
After reaching Nauvoo, George Q., then but a lad, went to work in the office cf the Nauvoo
Neighbor and Times and Seasons, where he learned the printing business.
In 1847 young Cannon crossed the plains with the emigrants, and, during the winter following,
JOSEPH F. SMITH. 2g
and up to the fall of 1849, he was engaged in house building, farming operations, canyon work,
adobe making, and other labor incident to the settlement of a new country.
In the fall of 1849, he accompanied Apostle Charles C, Rich to California, where he worked
jn the gold mines until the summer of 1850, when he, with five others, was called to go a mission
to the Sandwich Islands. They sailed from San Francisco, and after a three weeks' voyage, landed
at Honolulu, on the 12th of December of that year. Mr. Cannon acquired the Hawaiian language
very rapidly, and, after being there six weeks, he started out to travel among, and preach to, the
natives. In a few months he succeeded in organizing branches of the Church in various places.
While there he translated the Book of Mormon into the Hawaiian language, and with the
other missionaries made arrangements for the purchase of a press and printing materials nec-
essary for its publication.
He returned to Salt Lake Valley in the winter of 1854. In 1855 he went on a mission to Cali-
fornii, and established a printing office and a newspaper, the Western Standard, of which he was
editor.
The news of what is known as the "Utah War" reached California in in 1857, and Mr. Cannon
soon after returned to Salt Lake to take part in the defence.
In April, 1858, the abandonment of Salt Lake commenced, and Mr. Cannon was appointed to
take the press and printing materials belonging to the Deseret A'ews to Fillmore City, where he pub-
lished that paper from April to September of that year.
He was then sent on a mission to the Eastern States, which duty he performed until he received
an official notification that he had been elected on the 23d of October, 1859, ^s one of the Twelve
Apostles, to act in the place made vacant by the death of Parley P. Pratt. In the fall of i860 he
returned to Salt Lake City, where he remained six weeks, during which time he was called to fill a
mission to England. He was appointed to take charge of the emigration in Europe, and of the
Millennial Star office ; and to act as president of the European Mission.
In May, 1862, he received a dispatch to the effect that he had been elected United States Sen-
ator by the legislature of the inchoate State of Deseret, and was requested to join Mr. Hooper in
Washington eaily in June, which he did.
Both Senators-elect labored diligently in Washington to get Utah admitted into the Union as a
State during the remainder of that session of Congress.
Upon the the adjournment of Congress, Mr. Cannon returned to England, where he labored
with marked success until August, 1864, when he returned home, having, while in England, shipped
upwards of 13,000 souls, as Latter-day Saints, for Utah.
For three years after his return to Salt Lake he acted as private secretary to President Brio-ham
Young, having been elected in the meantime a member of the Legislative council. In the fall of
1867 he took charge of the Deseret AVwj,— then published semi-weekly, — as its editor and pub-
lisher. He immediately commenced the publication of the Deseret Evening News (daily), and his
connection with that paper continued until the Fall of 1872, when he was elected Delegate to Con-
gress, and served his constiuency to their entire satisfaction until he was retired by the Edmunds
law. [See Congressional history in foregoing chapters.]
JOSEPH F. SMITH.
Joseph F. Smith was born November 13th, 1838, at Far West, Caldwell County, Missouri.
He is the son of Hyrum Smith, who with his brother, the Prophet Joseph, was assassinated in Car-
thage jail. He was born at the time of the expulsion of the Mormons from Missouri. The follow-
ing is a passage from " The Women of Mormondom," relative to Joseph F. Smith's mother and
his own birth :
"On the first day of November, 1838, her husband and his brother, the Prophet, with others,
JO HISTORY OF SAL! LAKE CI7Y.
were betrayed by the Mormon Colonel Hinkle into the hands of the armed mob under General
Clark, in the execution of Governor Boggs' exterminating order. On the following day Hyrum was
marched at the point of the bayonet, to his house, by a strong guard, who with hideous oaths and
threats commanded Mary to take her last farewell of her husband, for ' his die was cast, and his doom
was sealed,' and she need never think she would see him again ; allowing her only a moment, as it
were, for that terrible parting, and to provide a change of clothes for the final separation. In the
then critical condition of her health this heartrending scene came nigh ending her life ; but the
natural vigor of her mind sustained her in this terrible trial. Twelve days afterward she gave birth
to her first-born a son ; but she remained prostrate on a bed of affliction and suffering for several
months. In January, 1839, she was taken in a wagon, with her infant, on her sick bed, to Liberty,
Clay County, Missouri, where she was granted the privilege of visiting her husband in jail, where
he was confined by the mob, without trial or conviction, because, forsooth, he was a ' Mormon.' "
Joseph F. Smith's youth was spent amid the scenes and vicissitudes incident upon the martyr-
dom of his father and uncle, and in the journeying of the Church from Nauvoo and the early set-
tlement of Utah. He came to the mountains with his widowed mother and brother John, in the
migration of the body of the Church from Winter Quarters in 1848. In 1852 his mother died.
His youth and early manhood were fraught with struggles, but the Church at an early period saw
that Joseph F. would make a strong mark, and for many years now past, the Saints have been pro-
phetic that he is destined some day to be their leader.
In 1854 he went on a mission to the Sandwich Islands, where he labored with very encouraging
success. Ke was at that time but sixteen years af age. "According to promise," he says, "and by
the blessings of the Almighty, I acquired the language of the islanders and commenced my labors,
preichinj;, baptizing, etc., amang the natives, in one hundred diys after my arrival at Honolulu."
He returned at the time of Johnston's expedition. In i860 he went on a mission to England, re-
turning in 1863, and in 1864, again went to the Sandwich Islands, in company with Elders E. T.
Benson, Lorenzo Snow, W. W. Cluff and A. L. Smith, remaining about one year. In 1865 he was
elected a member of the House of Representatives of the Utah Legislature, and was returned in
i866-7-8-9-'70 and '72. In 1866, he was ordained an Apostle, and in 1867 was called to fill a
vacancy in the Quorum of the Twelve. He has served a number of terms in the council of Salt
Lake City.
He also served once in the same capacity in the City of Provo, where he resided a portion of
the year 1868. During 1874 and a part of 1875 he presided over the British Mission, and had
charge of the Church emigration. He went again in the Spring of 1877, and was called home by
the death of Brigham Young. During his charge of the European emigration, he was instrumental
in breaking the conference combination which had been formed by the great shipping companies of
Liverpool. For years the Saints had come to America on the Guion & Co's line. The fare had
risen to six guineas per passenger. A Philadelphia company sought the Mormon emigration,
Guion & Co, sought to recover it and the shipping combination, being in contention with itself,
broke up, and Joseph F. succeeded in making contracts for three seasons for the taking of passen-
gers at three pounds per head, saving to each of the Mormon passengers three pounds, ten shillings.
On the reorganization of the First Presidency of the Church, Joseph F, Smith was chosen one
of the presidency.
In 1879 he was elected to the Council of the Legislature, and re-elected in 1881 ; and in the
organization of the next Legislature he was chosen President of the Council. He was retired from
the Legislature and city council by the Edmunds law.
Joseph F. Smith holds the hearts of the entire Mormon people. The whole community trust
in him. He is a man of strong idiosyncrasies, but he is withal a just and thoroughly honest man.
Of his uncle Joseph he testifies, '' I am as confident of the divine mission of Joseph Smith as I am
of mv own existence."
WILFORD WOODRUFF. 31
WILFORD WOODRUFF.
Wilford Woodruff, ihird son of Aphek Woodruff and Beulah Thompson Woodruff, was born
March ist, 1807, in that part of Farmington now called Avon, Hartford County, Conn. His an-
cestors for several generations were also residents of that district. Up to his 21st year he remained
at home, assisting his father in attending to the Farmington mills.
At a very early age his mind was considerably exercised upon religious subjects, although in a
somewhat different view from the orthodox teachings of those days. A notable point of difference
was his firm conviction that the gifts and graces that belonged to the ancient apostles ought still to
obtain among the the true disciples of Jesus, although the ministers of his acquaintance taught that
such things had been done away. This difference in belief caused him to hold aloof from any es-
pousal of particular doctrine until 1833, when he, in company with his brother Azmon (being at
that time in Oswego County, New York), chanced to hear two Mormon elders preach. A single
sermon convinced both him and his brother, and they thereupon presented themselves for baptism.
Young Woodruff was an enthusiastic convert, and ""oon gravitated to Kirtiand, where he was
kindly received by and temporarily domiciled with the Prophet Joseph, Surrounded by influences
S3 congenial to his natural cast of mind, his spiritual nature developed rapidly, and in a few riionths'
time he had reached the point of joyfully accepting an ordination as an elder, and a commission to
go on a mission. He had in the meantime removed to Clay County, Missouri.
He straightway, in company with an elder by the name of Brown, started out on a tour in
which which was traversed a most desolate and perilous section of country, viz: southern Missouri,
northern Arkansas, and western Tennessee. It is worthy of note that this journey (on foot) was
made to embrace the traversing of the Mississippi Swamp, a distance of 175 miles, most of the wav
in mud and water up to their knees. Young Woodruff being stricken with rheumatism in the
inidst of the swamp, his companion abandoned him. But, kneeling in the water, he cried to God
for succor, and was immediately healed. He thereupon continued his journey and in due time re-
turntd to his brethren.
His life thereafter was made up almost entirely of mission work. In January, 1837, he was set
apart to be a member of the first quorum of Seventies, and remained for a while in Kirtiand. Here,
oi the 13th of April of that year, he was married to Miss Phoebe W. Carter, at the house of Joseph
Smith.
Shortly thereafter he went on a mission again, and continued in that work until appointed a
member of the quorum of the Twelve. In the following fall, 1839, he started on the mission to
England. His ministry in that country was very successful. During the seven months of their
labors in Herefordshire, Gloucestershire and Worcestershire, he and his confreres of that mission
baptized over eighteen hundred persons, including over two hundred preachers of various denomi'
nations ; their success so greatly alarming the orthodox ministers of those localities, that it was
made the subject of a petition to Parliament.
Returning in 1841, he was shipwrecked on Lake Michigan, but escaped with his life, and
reached Nauvoo in October of that year.
It is not the design of this sketch to give more than a general view of this faithful apostle ; suf-
fice it to say, therefore, that he was on a mission in the Eastern Statss at the time of Joseph and
Hyrum's martyrdom ; that he thereupon returned and prominently participated in the events suc-
ceeding that monstrous wrong; that he was a member of the famous mission to England in 1844,
remainmg there a year, and returning to join the exodus ; that he was one of the 143 pioneers ;
that he again went on a mission to the Eastern States in 1848, returning to Salt Lake in 1850; and
in December of that year was elected a member of the Senate of the Provisional State of Deseret.
Since that time Apostle Woodruff has been one the very foremost in all the affairs at home.
The Church history is mostly compiled from his journals, and the success of his mission to England
is to this day a marvel in the Church. He is emphatically one of the founders of Utah, and as
an apostle well deserves the name of '' Wilford, the Faithful."
At the present time Wilford Woodruff is President of the Twelve Apostles and the principal
historian of the Church, his assistant being Apostle Franklin D. Richards His portrait, in the
,^2 HISTORY OF SALT LAKE CITY.
body of this HISTORY, which contains many items of interest from his life, will illustrate to the eye
of a judge of character, the type of this Apostle, It is a most remarkable likeness of a New Eng-
land Puritan of the days of the nation's purity and moral might. A century hence, that likeness
will preach a sermon to a coming generation of the Mormons, as a grand type of a God-fearing
people and of Wilford Woodruff as an honest man and an apostle in character as in name.
ORSON PRATT.
We have named Orson Pratt the St. Paul of the Mormon Church. He was also one of the
Pioneers of Utah. Of his family descent in America he wrote :
"The genealogy runs thus; Our father, Jared Pratt, was the £on of Obadiah. who was the son
of Christopher, who was the son of William Pratt, who was the son of Joseph Pratt, who was the
son of Lieutenant William and Elizabeth Pratt, who is supposed to have come with his brother.
John Pratt, from Essex County, England, about 1633, who were found among the first settlers of
Hartford, Connecticut, in the year 1639. They are supposed to have accompanied the Rev.
Thomas Hooker and his congregation, about one hundred in number, from Newtown, now called
Cambridge, Massachusetts, through a dense wilderness, inhabited only by savages and wild beasts,
and became the first founders of the colony at Hartford, Connecticut, in June, 1636, and thence to
Saybrook about the year 1645,"
Apostle Orson Pratt, was the last surviving member of the first quorum of the Twelve. He
was born September 19th, 1811, in Hartford, Washington County, New York, and may justly lay
claim to be of semi-apostolic stock, — being descended from the Puritan founders of New England.
The first quorum of the Twelve Apostles, which included Parley P. and Orson Pratt, was or-
ganized in 1835, when the Prophet Joseph gave to them the commission to preach the gospel to all
the nations of the earth. In 1840, Orson, with nine of that quorum, were in England, and it fell to
his lot to open a mission in Scotland. After much labor and great privation he succeeded in build-
ing up the Edinburgh Conference. Subsequently he has served several times as president of the
European mission.
He and Erastus Snow were the two first Mormons who entered the Valley of the Great Salt
Lake.
During Orson Pratt's second mission to England, beginning in 1849, in about two years, there
were nearly 18,000 souls brought into the Church under his ministry and presidency, and their con-
versions were mainly through his own writings, and the impulse which those writings gave to the
splendid corps of elders under his direction. It was the period when the great Mormon preachers
flourished — men who almost worshipped Orson, and in whom he delighted, because of their mag-
nificent ability as oratois and logicians. Indeed, he may have been said to have been their theo-
logical father. Not in all England among any of the denominations were there greater pulpit orators
and disputants than several of those elders. The most famous were John Banks and James Mars-
den. Perhaps England never produced a man of the pulpit who possessed more of the natural
genius of oratory than John Banks. We doubt if either Spurgeon or Beecher was his equal in
spontaneous gift. Native eloquence flowed from his mouth as a river. Marsden on his part beat
the most famous sectarian champions in England in public discussion on Mormonism — beat the
very men who became themselves famous in discussion with George Jacob Holyoak, Joseph Barker
and Charles Bradlaugh, the great ' Iconoclast' of England. Holyoak and his class greatly admired
Orson Pratt and these splendid disputants and logicians whom Orson Pratt created.
During those periods of Orson's presidency over the British Isles, he wrote numerous tracts,
and published in all, several millions, scattering them broadcast over the whole British realm. At
/^^^c^^
a^ZAi^t^ Izx ^-^^^^^^
ERASTUS SNOll^. 33
that time the organized tract societies of the British Mormon Mission were, we beheve, not equalled
in all Christendom for their thorough working and missionary results. These, united with the active
ministry, comprising (we should estimate) 5.000 elders, constituted the vast missionary machinery
by which Orson Pratt brought into the Church, in two years, nearly 18,000 souls.
Orson Pratt was truly a great apostle in every sense of the term. As for his life, no man ever
lived a purer one. From his birth he never drank scarcely as much as a glass of ale, nor used a bit
of tobacco: his beverage was pure water.
He also possessed real apostolic courage. We may give an anecdote of this : Orson Pratt
with Ezra T. Benson, Edward L. Sloan, and John Kay, went on a visit to the Isle of Man. Much
excitement was produced by this visit and the preaching of these elders. On the return by steamer
to liverpool, the crowd of passengers became quite as a mob arrayed against these Mormon
apostles. E. T. Benson escaped below, while this mob on shipboard surrounded Orson Pratt
and clamored to cast him into the sea as a Jonah who troubled the ship. They seized him to cast
him into the sea. Orson calmly stood in their midst, and placing his hand on the side of the ship,
♦'Sirs," he said, " do with me according to your threatenings. If it be God's will, I am ready."
This genuine apostolic courage conquered. The mob was awed; the captain interposed, and there
was peace in the ship the remainder of the passage.
Scarcely need we enlarge on his famous discussion on polygamy with Dr. Newman, before ten
to fifteen thousand people in the great Tabernacle of Salt Lake City. Daily were those discussions
published in the New York Herald, and reproduced entire or in part in nearly every paper in
America ; while almost the universal decision throughout the land was that Orson Pratt was victor.
The Paul of the Mormon Church is verily his fitting name. Orson Pratt will live throughout
a dispensation.
ERASTUS SNOW.
The Hon. Erastus Snow, who so long and ably represented Southern Utah in the Legisla-
ture, was, with Orson Pratt, the first of the Mormon Pioneers who set foot in the Valley of the
Great Salt Lake. He is very properly also classed in our history as the founder of Southern Utah
— that is of those settlements and counties comprised in what at the outset was styled our Utah
•' Dixie."
Briefly touching his origin : Erastus Snow was born at St. Johnsbury, Caledonia County,
Vermont, November 9th, 1818. His father's name was Levi Snow ; and his family were anions the
early settlers of the Massachusetts colony. His grandmother on his mother's side was of the
Mason family.
When the subject of this sketch was fourteen years of age, Mormonism came into his part of
the country. His elder brothers, William and Zerubbabel, were the first of the family to embrace
it; shortly after Orson Pratt and Lyman E. Johnson, in 1832, visited his father's house. While
listening to Orson Pratt conversing on the Scriptures and reading and reciting the revelations o-iven
to the Prophet Joseph Smith, he says: "The Holy Ghost descended upon me, bearing witness that
it was the truth, and that these men were the messengers of God. This testimony has never de-
parted from me, but has often been renewed and confirmed in the experience of my life."
In the following February, 1833, young Erastus Snow went to Charleston, where he was bap-
tized by his brother William, February sd, 1833. His mother had seven sons and two daughters.
All the family came into the Church excepting two of the sons and his father. His brother Zerub-
babel was afterwards, in the early history of Utah, an United States judge of this Territory, and
Willard Snow was a famous missionary who died while on his way to his ministry in Scandinavia
and was buried in the sea. Erastus was a preacher at the age of fifteen, being ordained as an elder
under the hands of Luke Johnson, one of the first Twelve apostles. We here pass over the interval
of his life up to the time of the removal of the Saints to the Rocky Mountains, continuing the nar-
rative from our notes of his own words. He said :
'■ On the 6th of April, 1847, 1 took my departure from Winter Quarters with the Pioneers, headed
5
SI-
HISTORY OF SALT LAKE CITY.
by President Brigham Young, to search out the location for the Saints. For the details of this
journey I must refer the reader to my private journal, or the works already published.
" Many interesting episodes occurred both going and returning, but among the trying and af-
fecting ones was the appearance of the mountain fever among us, first attacking E. T. Benson, at
onr encampment at the South Pass of the Rocky Mountains on the 21st of June. From one-third
to one-half of our entire company were attacked with this malady before we reached the valley of
the Great Salt I^ke and among the number was President Brigham Young. I, myself, had a severe
attack, from which, however, I recovered in about a sveek. This affTiction detained us so, that with
the labor on the roads through the Wa5atch Mountains we were unable to reach the Salt Lake Val-
ley until the 21st of July, when Orson Pratt and myself, of the worlcing parties, who were explor-
ing, first emerged into the Valley and viewed the site of the future city of Salt Lake; and when we
ascended Red Butte, near the mouth of Emigration Canyon, which gave us the first glimpse of the
blue waters of the Great Salt Lake, we simultaneously swung our hats and shouted, Hosannah !
for the Spirit told us that here the Saints should find rest. After about six weeks' labor here, laying
out the City and Fort, plowing and planting fields, and building cabins around the Fort block. I
started with the rear camp of the Pioneers on the return trip, early in August, and, on the last day
of October, reached Winter Quarters, on the Missouri River, where I had left my family, having
been about six weeks witho it tasting bread. The sweet joy of this meeting was mingled with deep
grief, at the loss of a dear little daughter, Mary Minerva, who had died during my ■absence.
" Soon after our return to Winter Quarters there was a general stir and bustle of getting ready
for starting with our families to Salt Lake Valley, and gathering our year's supply of seeds and pro-
visions. Most of my oxen had perished during the winter, or had been eaten up by the Indians,
aud I was under the necessity of yoking up my cows and all my young stock to work with the few
oxen I had left, to haul the wagons for the journey. I traveled in company with Presidents Young
and Kimball and had a very pleasant and agreeable journey, my teams holding out well and my
family enjoying good health. We reached our destination with much joy.
" In the month of September, soon after our arrival in Salt Lake, I was appointed one of the
presidency of the stake; and during the following winter I was called and ordained into the quorum
of the Twelve Apostles, together with C. C. Rich, Lorenzo Snow and F. D. Richards, these all
filling vacancies caused by the apostacy of Lyman Wight and the organization of the quoruni of
the First Presidency out of the quorum of the Twelve.
" This year the Perpetual Emigration Fund Company was organized, and the system of emigra-
tion inaugurated, which has so largely contributed to the gathering of our people and the building
up of Utah Territory. I was appointed one of the committee of three in gathering funds to put
into the hands of Bishop Hunter to send back to our poor brethren, left on the Missouri River.
At that time our settlements extended only to Provo on the south and Ogden on the north. We
gathered about $2,000. About this time also, I participated in the organizing of the Provisional
Government of the State of Deseret ; and at the semi-annual conference in October, I was ap-
pointed on a mission to Denmark, to open the door of the gospel to the Scandinavian people. At
the same time Elder John Taylor was appointed to France. Lorenzo Snow to Italy, F. D. Rich-
ards to England, with several elders accompanying each of us. We all took our departure from
.Salt Lake on the 19th of October. Our little party numbered about thirty elders and Mr. Kinkade,
of Livingston & Kinkade, merchants, bound for St. I.,ouis for goods.
"Most of the missionaries journeyed together till we reached St. Louis, whence we expected to
take different directions through the States to visit the remnants of the Saints, remaining in the
States and gathering means for crossing the water.
"I sailed from Boston on the 3d of April, on a Cunard steamer, for Liveipool, where I landed on
the 15th ; and the following day Lorenzo Snow arrived in a sailing vessel from New York. We vis-
ited many of the churches in England, Scotland and Wales. During the next four weeks I re-
ceived many contributions in aid of our missions. On the ist of June, 1850, I landed in Copen-
hagen, the capital of Denmark, in company with G. P. Dikes and John Forsgreen — the former an
American and the latter a native of Sweden. We were met at the wharf by P. O. Hansen, a native
of that city, who had embraced the gospel in America, and had left Salt Lake with us, but had made
his way in advance of us to his native land."
We pass over the detailof Apostle Erastus Snow's ministry among the Scandinavians, sufficing
to say that he established that great misson which has done so much to people Utah. He returned
to Salt Lake City and afterwards was sent by his quorum to preside over a stake of the Church
GEORGE A. SMITH. j5
which was organized at St Louis, and to superintend the emigration to Utah from the western point.
Since that day his great work has been in founding and developing the counties of Southern Utah,
over which he has presided spiritually, and which for many years he represented in the Council
branch of the Legislature.
GEORGE A. SMITH.
George Albert Smith was born in the town of Potsdam, St. Lawrence County, New York,
on the 26th day of June, 1817. It may be claimed for him that he was of purely American descent,
for his America-born ancestry date back to 1666. On the maternal side he was descended from
the Lymans, a family of patriotic revolutionary record ; and on the paternal side he was cousin
to Joseph Smith the Prophet.
His cousin Joseph's seership was first brought to his attention in 1828, by a letter written to his
grandfather by Joseph Smith, sen., in which was recounted several visions that the writer's son had
received; and also in which letter was the remark; '' I always knew that God was going to raise up
some branch of my family to be a great benefit to mankind."
A subsequent letter from Joseph himself, in which he declared that the sword of the Almighty
liung over that generation, and could only be averted by repentance and works of righteousness,
made a profound impression upon the mind of George A., and elicited from his father the declaration
that "Joseph wrote like a prophet." An investigation of the Book of Mormon resulted in the conver-
sion of his parents, and the consequent bigoted opposition of their neighbors. One ot these, an influ-
ential and wealthy man offered young Smith,— if he would leave his parents and promise never to
become a Mormon, — a seven years' education, without e.xpense, and a choice of profession when his
education should be complete. His answer was worthy an everlasting record: "The commandment of
God requires me to honor my father and mother." He did so honor them as to fully embrace their
f^ith, and was baptized in their presence, September loth, 1832. Concerning events immediately
following, his journal states :
" My father sold his farm in Potsdam, and on the ist of May, 1833, we started for Kirtland,
Ohio, the second gathering place of the Saints, where we arrived on the 25th, having traveled 500
miles. We were heartily welcomed by cousin Joseph. This was the first time I had ever seen him;
he conducted us to his father's house.
" I was engaged during the summer and fall in quarrying and hauling rock for the Kirtland
temple, attending masons, and performing other duties about its walls. The first two lo?ds of rock
taken to the temple ground were hauled from Standard's quarry by Harvey Stanley and myself.
" In consequence of the persecution which raged against Joseph, and the constant threats to do
him violence, it was found necess.iry to keep continued guard, to prevent his being assassinated.
During the fall and winter I took part in this service, going two miles and a half to guard."
Although but seventeen years of age, he was a member of the company that went up to " re-
deem Zion" in Jackson County, Mo. He started with " Zion's Camp," May 5th, 1834, and re-
turned on the 4th of August, of the same year, having traveled about 2,000 miles in three months,
mostly on foot.
On the 1st of March, 1835, he was ordained a member of the first quorum of seventies, and on
the 5th day of May, following, in company with Lyman SiiKth, started on a mission through Ohio,
Pennsylvania and New York. They returned in November, having traveled 1,850 miles on foot,
without purse or scrip, holding numerous meetings, and making several converts.
From this time forward his life was a series of missions, and adventures incident thereto, up to
April, 1839, when he was ordained one of the Twelve apostles, on the corner-stone of the temple,
at Far West.
He was a member of the quorum of the Twelve who went on a mission to England in 1839-40,
^d HISTORY OF SALT LAKE CITY.
traveling and preaching in the counties of Lancaster, Chester, Stafford, Hereford, Worcester,
and Gloucester, and preaching the first Mormon sermon in London.
Soon after his return, in 1841, he was married to Miss Bethsheba W. Bigler, and after a tefh-
porary settlement in Zarahemla, Iowa, became a resident of Nauvoo. He was thereafter engaged
in mission work in various States until recalled, in 1844, by the martyrdom ol the Prophet.
He was with the Twelve in their exodus from Nauvoo, and with the Pioneers in their journey
from Winter Quarters to the Rocky Mountains. He planted the first potato that was put into the
ground in Salt Lake Valley, and to the day ot his death was permanently identified with the various .
projects for settling and redeeming the valleys of Deseret
When the Provisional government of the State of Deseret was erected, he was chosen a mem-
ber of the State Senate, and at that early date presented a bill concerning the construction of a
national railroad across the continent.
In speaking of his mission to Jerusalem, which, in company with Lorenzo Snow, Albert Car-
rington, Feraniorz Little, and others, he accomplished in 1873, it will be necessary to explain that
one of the most peculiar and characteristic phases of the Mormon religion is the linking of the des-
tinv of this modern Israel, raised up by Joseph Smith, with the destiny of ancient Israel. The Jews
of course are the proper representatives of the former, the Mormons of the latter.
As observed elsewhere, the Mormons themselves are supposed to be the literal seed of Abraham
•'mixed with the Gentiles," but now "in these last days" gathered by the mysterious providence of
the House of Isael into the " new and everlasting covenant."
In 1840, Apostle Orson Hyde performed the first mission to Jerusalem, and thirty-two years
later this second mission was appointed. Here is the commission :
"Salt Lake City, U. T., October 15, 1872.
" Prest. G. a. Smith:
" Dear Bto: — As you are about to start on an extensive tour through Europe and Asia Minor,
where you will doubtless be brought in contact with men of position and influence in society, we
desire that you observe closely what openings now exist, or where they may be effected, for the in-
troduction of the gospel into the various countries you shall visit.
"When you go to the land of Pale tine, we wish you to dedicate and consecrate that land to the
Lord, that it may be blessed with fruitfulness preparatory to the return of the Jews in fulfillment of
prophecy and the accomplishment of the purposes of our Heavenly Father.
" We pray that you may be preserved to travel in peace and safety ; that you may be abun-
dantly blessed with words of wisdom and free utterance in all your conversations pertaining to the
holy gospel, dispelling prejudice and sowing seeds of righteousness among the people.
" Brigham Young,
" Daniel H. Wells."
These missionaries from the modern to the ancient Zion, visiting the President of the United
States and President Thiers of France on their way, reached Palestine in March, 1873. They vis-
ited the most famous places of Bible mention, and also the places made famous by the exploits of
the crusaders. The Jerusalem missionaries returned to Utah in July, 1873.
Upon the death of Heber C. Kimball, the elevation of George A. Smith to the second place in
the Mormon Church, thus made vacant, was pronounced by the people of his faith an honor wor-
thily bestowed.
The construction of the temple at St. George furnished the occasion for this apostle to unite
with Brigham Young in the administration of ordinances in -'high places," thus fitly crowning the
labors of his life. On his tiblet might thereafter be written, " It is finished."
Shortly after his return from St. George he was prostrated with a sickness which finally resulted
in his death, September ist, 1875. Although, mortally considered, he has passed away, in the hearts
of the Mormon people George .\. Smith will never die.
WILLARD RICHARDS. jj
PARLEY P. PRATT.
Parley Parker Pratt was born in Burlington, Otsego County, New York, April 12th, 1807, He
was a distinguished member of the first quorum of the Twelve, and, for his marked Hebraic char-
acter and tone, was counted the Isaiah of his people. He was one of the first missionaries of the
Mormon faith, and some of his earliest writings were pronounced by the Prophet Joseph standard
works of the Church. One of the marked circumstances of his life was the bringing of President ■
John Taylor into the Church while on his mission to Canada and between these two distinguished
apostles there existed a lifelong friendship. He was on a mission to England with a majority of his
quorum in 1840, and was the first editor of the Latter-day Saints Millennial Star. He was also
left m charge of the British Mission when President Young and the majority of the Twelve returned
to Nauvoo. During the period of the exodus while the Saints were at Winter Quarters, Parley P.
Pratt, Orson Hyde and John Taylor were selected by their quorum to go speedily to Great Britain
to set the churches in order and bring to a sharp account the "Joint Stock Company " which cer-
tain presiding elders in that mission had formed professedly for the emigration of the Saints to
America, but which resulted in the misuse of the people's funds. Having dissolved the Joint Stock
Company, and settled the people's accounts as equitably as the case permitted, and restored the
British churches to their wonted stability, these apostles returned to America, expecting to journey
to the mountains in the spring of 1847 with the pioneer company, which, however, had just started
at the moment of their arrival. Presidents Taylor and Pratt quickly followed with the companies
that settled the valleys in 1847, and upon their shoulders principally rested the responsibility of the
colony until the return of the First Presidency with the body of the Church from Winter Quarters,
in September, i848r During the wintei of 1847, Parley and others explored Utah Lake and Valley,
Cedar Valley and Tooele Valley. In March, 1851, he left Great Salt Lake City for the Pacific, on
a mission to its islands and coasts, and returned from San Francisco in May, 1853. He took a sec-
ond mission to the Pacific in May, 1854, and made his headquarters at San Francisco. George Q.
Cannon was his principal assistant on these missions, from which he returned to Salt Lake City in
August, 1855. In September, 1856, he started on a mission to the Eastern States to labor in unison
with Apostle John Taylor, who was at that time presiding over the Eastern churches, and publishing
the Mormon.
In the fifty-first year of his age, while traveling in Arkansas, he was assassinated. An autobi-
ography of this distinguished apostle, edited by his son, assisted by President John Taylor, has been
published, from which may be gathered those matters of interest concerning his life and labors ; we
have already culled numerous pages in Chapter LXXXVII. on our authors and poets, giving
the first niche of fame to Parley P. Pratt.
WILLARD RICHARDS.
On the first of December, 1836, Doctor Willard Richards was baptized at Kirtland, under the
hands of President Brigham Young, in the presence of Heber C. Kimball and others, who had
spent the afternoon in cutting the ice to prepare for the baptism, He was born at Hopkintown,
Middlesex County, Mass., June 24, 1804. At the age of ten years he removed with his father's
family to Richmond, in the same State, where he witnessed several sectarian revivals and offered
himself to the Congregational church in that place, at the age of seventeen, having previously
passed through the painful ordeal of conviction and conversion according to that order.
In the summer of 1835, while in the practice of medicine, near Boston, the Book of Mormon,
which Lad been left with a relative at Southborough, accidently fell m his way, which was the first he
j8 HISTORY OF SAL2 LAKE Cl'lY.
had seen or heard of the Latter-day Saints, except the scurrilous reports of the public prints, which
amounted to nothing more than that "a boy named Jo Smith, somewhere out West, had found a Gold
Bible." He opened the book without regard to place, and totally ignorant of its design or contents,
and before reading half a page, declared that God or the devil has had a hand in that book, for man
never wrote it;" read it twice through in about ten days, and so firm was his conviction of the
truth, that he immediately commenced settling his accounts, selling his medicine, and freeine him-
self from every incumbrance, that he might go to Kirtland, seven hundred miles west, the nearest
point he could hear of a Saint, and give the work a thorough investigation ; firmly believing that if
the doctrine was true, God had some greater work for him to do than peddling pills. In October,
1836, he arrived at Kirtland, where he gave the work an untiring and unceasing investigation, until
the day of his baptism.
He was an intimate friend and close companion of Joseph. He was in the same prison, side
by side with the two martyred prophets, when they fell under a shower of bullets ; and a bare drop
of his own blood mingled with theirs on that memorable occasion. The blood of his brethren that
flowed copiously around him, and the mangled body of his fellow survivor. Elder John Taylor,
and the hideous spectacle of painted and armed murderers, found in Dr. Willard Richards, on that
occasion, an embodiment of presence of mind, of quickness of conception, and boldness of e.xecu-
tion, that will never be forgotten. During that catastrophe and the emergency into which the church
was suddenly thrown, Dr. Richards felt the burthen of giving direction to the affairs of the church
in Hancock County, in consequence of the absence of the Twelve Apostles. Though standing in
the midst of the murderous mob at Carthage, with the mangled bodies of his martyred friends, and
that of Elder Taylor, under his charge, his letters and counsels at that time indicated great self-
command and judgment. His ability was happily commensurate with such an occasion.
In the Spring of 1848, he was unanimously elected, by the voice of the whole church, as sec-
ond councilor to the first President; eleven years previously he was chosen by revelation, through
the Prophet Joseph, to be one of the Twelve Apostles, and ordained accordingly, at Preston, Eng-
land, while on a mission to that country.
In the Spring of 1847, he was enrolled in the memorable band of pioneers, under President
Young, that first marked out a highway for the emigrating Saints to the Great Salt Lake. He sub-
mitted to the hardships and privations of that rugged enterprise, in common with his associates.
As a civil officer, he served as secretary to the government of the State of Deseret, and did the
greatest share of the business of the secretary of the Territory of Utah after its organization, and
presided over the council of the Legislative Assembly for about the same period.
He was also postmaster for Salt Lake City up to the day of his death (which occurred on the
nth of March, 1854), an efficient member of the emigrating fund company, general historian of
the Church and founder of the Deseret News. Much of the action of his life's history, with letters
and official documents from his pen, is contained in the body of our book.
NEWEL K. WHITNEY.
The first presiding bishop of the Church in Utah was Newel Kimball Whitney, and tliough he
died in the early days of our city, his name is too historical to be omitted in these sketches.
Newel K. Whitney was born February 5th, 1795, in Marlborough, Windham County, Ver-
mont. At the time when the Prophet Joseph Smith established Zion in Kirtland Whitney was a
Kirdand merchant, of the firm of Gilbert & Whitney. He and his wife, so familiarly known in Mor-
mon history as "Mother Whitney," belonged to that branch of the Campbellites of which Sidney Rig-
don was the local head. Parley P. Pratt and other elders visited Kirtland in the fall of 1830, and
converted Rigdon and his church, to which Parley himself had formerly belonged.
Bishop O. F. W^hitney has given a very complete sketch of his grandfather's life in the Con-
tributor. We cannot follow it in full, but will quote the closing pages for their pertinency to polyg-
amy, which is the supreme Utah subject of to-day. He says:
NEWEL K. WHITNEY. jg
"We have before spoken of the friendship and intimacy existing between the Prophet and
Bishop Whitney. This bond of affection was strengthened and intensified by the giving in marriage
to the former of the Bishop's eldest daughter, Sarah, in obedience to a revelation from God, This
girl was but seventeen years of age, but she had implicit faith that the doctrine of plural marriage,
as revealed to and practiced by the Prophet, was of celestial origin. She was the first woman, in
this dispensation, who was given in plural marriage by and with the consent of both parents. Her
father himself officiated in the ceremony. The revelation commanding and consecrating this un-
ion is in existence, though it has never been published. It bears the date of July 27, 1842, and was
given through the Prophet to the writer's grandfather. Newel K. Whitney, whose daughter Sarah,
on that day, became the wedded wife of Joseph Smith for time and all eternity.
"The ceremony preceded by nearly a year the written document of the revelation on celestial
marriage, which was first committed to paper on July 12, 1843. But the principle itself was made
known to Joseph several years earlier. Among the secrets confided by him to Bishop Whitney
while they were in Kirtland, was a knowledge of this self-same principle, which he declared would
yet have to be received and practiced as a doctrine of the Church ; a doctrine so far in advance then
of the ideas and traditions of the Saints themselves, to say nothing of the Gentile world, that he was
obliged to use the utmost caution lest some of his best and dearest friends should impute to him
improper motives. No wonder he should smite himself upon the breast which treasured up his
mighty secrets, and exclaim, as we are told he often did : "Would to God, brethren, I could tell
you who I am, and what I know! "
"The original manuscript of the revelation on plural marriage, as taken down by W^illiam
Clayton, the Prophet's scribe, was given by Joseph to Bishop Whitney for safe keeping. He re-
tained possession of it until the Prophet's wife Emma, having persuaded her husband to let her see
it, on receiving it from his hands, in a fit of jealous rage threw it into the fire and destroyed it. She
triumphed in the wicked thought that she had thus put an end to the doctrine she so feared and
hated — as though the parchment vipon which it was written, the ink with which it was inscribed was
all that made it valid or binding. But she was doubly deceived. She had not even destroyed the
words of the revelation. Bishop Whitney, foreseeing the probable fate of the manuscript, had taken
the precaution before delivering it up, to have it copied by his clerk, Joseph C. Kingsbury, who is
a living witness that he executed the task under the Bishop's personal supervision. It was this same
copy of the original that Bishop W^hitney surrendered to President Brighani Young at Winter Quar-
ters in 1846-7, and from which ''polygamy " was published to the world in the year 1852.
" Passing by the horrible tragedy which deprived the Church of its Prophet and its Patriarch,
and the almost incessant storm of persecution which raged until it culminated in the exodus of the
Saints from Nauvoo across the frozen Mississippi, in the winter of 1846, we next find the subject of
our memoir at Winter Quarters, officiating as presiding bishop and Trustee-in-trusf for the Church.
To the latter of these offices, he, in conjunction with Bishop George Miller, succeeded at the death
of President Joseph Smith. Bishop Miller apostatizing, the office continued with Bishop Whitney
until his death. From Winter Quarters in the spring of 1847, two of his sons, Horace K. and
Orson K., went west with the Pioneers. He himself remained where his services were most needed,
until the year following, when he led a company of Saints across the plains to Salt Lake Valley, ar-
riving on the,eighth of October. As his wagons rolled into the settlement, the General Conference
of the Church was just closing.
" But one more incident remains untold. It was the morning of Monday, September 23, 1850
An anxious group was gathered about the doorway of an unpretentious abode on City Creek, in
what is known as the Eighteenth Ward. There are women and children weeping, and strong men
struggling to control their own feelings, while administering consolation to the weaker ones and
urging them to calm their fears and hope for the best. Presidents Brigham Young, Heber C. Kim-
ball and others are there, exerting all their faith that God will spare the life of one who lies within
stretched upon a bed of pain and suffering. Two days before he had returned home from the
Temple Block, where the labors of the bishopric occupied much of his attention, complaining of a
severe pain in his left side, of a character different to any he had ever felt before. It was pro-
nounced billions pleurisy. He never recovered, but grew rapidly worse through the remaining
thirty-six hours of his mortal existence. Eleven o'clock came, and as the final sands of the hour
passed, the immortal spirit of Newel K. Whitney, freed from its coil of clay, soared upward to the
regions of the blest.
"From a post mortem tribute in the Deseret Weekly Neivs of September 28, 1850, we take the
following : ' Thus, in full strength and mature years, has one of the oldest, inost exemplary, and useful
40 HISTORY OF SAL7 LAKE CITY.
members of the Church, fallen suddenly by the cruel agency of the King of Terrors. In him the
Church suffers the loss of a wise and able counselor, and a thorough and straightforward business
man. It was ever more gratifying to him to pay a debt than to contract one, and when all his debts
were paid he was a happy man, though he had nothing left but his own moral and muscular energy.
He has gone down to the grave, leaving a spotless name behind him, and thousands to mourn the
loss of such a valuable man.' "
BISHOP HUNTER,
Edward Hunter, the late presiding bishop of the Mormon Church, was born in Newtown, Del-
aware County, Pennsylvania, June 22d, 1793. He was the son of Edward and Hannah Hunter, of
the same county and State. His great grandfather, John Hunter, was from the north of England
and served under William of Orange, as a lieutenant in the cavalry, at the battle of the Boyne.
Edward Hunter, sen., the father of the Bishop, was a man of standing in the State of Penn-
sylvania, holding the ofifice of justice of the peace in Delaware County for forty years.
On the mother's side was Robert Owen, of North Wales, who, on the restoration of Charles
II., refused to take the oath of allegiance, for which he was imprisoned. He subsequently came to
America, and purchased property near Philadelphia. His son Gee rge was early in life called to the
public service, being elected to the Legislature of his native State, and during his lifetime holding
many posts ot trust, among which was that of sheriff of Chester and Delaware Counties. The
Owen family were Quakers, and from them the Mormon Bishop inherited many of his religious
and character traits.
He was brought up as a regular farmer, and given a thorough faimer's education. His father
was in the habit of causmg him to read, as a constant lesson in his education, the Declaration of
Independence, which so impressed his imagination that in his ardent enthusiasm he would affirm
to his father that it was surely written by the inspiration of God, and his father would reply, with
something of prophetic solemnity, " Edward it is too good for a wicked world." Among his father's
constant instructions to him were the admonitions that he should sustain the principles of worship-
ping God according to the dictates of conscience, that men should rise in life by merit only, that he
must never fail in business to the putting of himself within the power of wicked men ; and, as a
comprehensive rule in life, to ''be invited up but never ordered down ; " all of wlijch he aimed
to regard most religiously.
Edward Hunter, sen., was, for many years, a justice cf the peace, and in his native State was
known as a man of marked character and integrity ; and on his death his son, though only twenty-
two years of age, was proffered his father's office, but would not accept it on account of his youth.
He was also offered the certain election as representative in the Legislature of Pennsylvania on the
popular side — the old Federal — but refused, he being a Democrat, which political preference he
faithfully maintained till his death.
When about thirty years of age he removed to Chester County, where he purchased over five
hundred acres of farming land, about thirty miles from Philadelphia, which he brought under the
highest cultivation, and became noted as one of the best graziers in that country. Here, in 1839,
he was visited by three Mormon elders, but though they made their home in his house, he did not
come into the Mormon Church until the succeeding year. Both himself and his father before him
had maintained a conscientious independence of the sectarian churches. Going, however, one
evening, a distance from the neighborhood to a place called Locust Grove, to affirm in behalf of a
certain Mormon elder the sacred right of liberty of conscience, he made a decided stand in defence
of the new faith. The trustee of the school having first challenged the elder for his views on the
gospel, and then essaying to crowd him from the stand by his local influence, the honest farmer in-
I).
i
WILLIAM B. PRESTON. 41
dignantly arose and maintained the elders' right to preach the gospel uninterrupted. As it was
known that Hunter employed a good lawyer, and had the best character and most money of any
man in the country around, he carried the day for the Mormon preacher. At night, however, sleep
was interrupted by the question uppermost in his mind, "Are these men the servants of God?"
Addressing the question to heaven, immediately a light appeared in his room, from the overpower-
ing glory of which he hid his face. This was his first testimony to the Mormon work.
Soon after this, the Mormon Prophet, — having visited Washington to invoke President Van
Buren's protection of the Mormons who had just been driven out of Missouii, — returned by way
of Pennsylvania, and stopped at Mr. Hunter's house. While there his host, who had been for
many years interested in Swedenborgianism, asked the Prophet if he was acquainted with that doc-
trine, and what was his opinion of its founder, to which he replied : " I verily believe Emanuel
awedenborg had a view of the world to come, but for daily food he perished." This visit was in
1839, but Mr. Hunter was not baptized into the Mormon Church until October of the following
year, when the ordinances were administered to him by Apostle Orson Hyde, who was then on his
way to Jerusalem. •
The summer after his baptism he "gathered" to Nauvoo, and purchased a farm of the Prophet.
His wealth did much to endow the Church, for he donated thousands to the " Trustee-in-Trust,"
and for the assistance of the poor. He assisted the Church to the amount of fifteen thousand dol-
lars during the first year.
Bishop Hunter was with his people in their exodus from Nauvoo, and entered the Valley with
the first companies after the Pioneers. Soon afterwards, on the death of Newel K. Whitney, he
became presiding bishop of the Church.
Bishop Hunter died October i6th, 1883, at the age of over ninety years, beloved and respected
by all.
WILLIAM B. PRESTON,
The present presiding bishop of the Church was born in Franklin County, Virginia, November
24, 1830. His family branch belongs to that stock of Prestons who have figured with distinction
in Congress for Virginia and North Carolina. William Ballard Preston of Virginia and W. C.
Preston of North Carolina were cousins of his father. When he was a boy, hearing of the gold
fields in California and of the rush of men of all nations to the " Golden State," he was prompted
with a great desire to see this wonderful gathering and fusion of many peoples and races. As he
grew older his enthusiasm increased with the comprehension of the national importance of this
marvelous migration to California ; and at the age of 21, in the year 1852, he also migrated to that
State, which had already become famous in the growth of our nation. After his arrival, his early
enthusiasm still predominating, he took more satisfaction in beholding the people of many nations
gathered together in the founding of the new Pacific State than he did in the exciting pursuit of gold
hunting ; so he turned his attention to the more healthy and legitimate life of a farmer and stock-
raiser, settling in Yolo County, California. Father Thatcher's family located also in Yolo and were
his adjoining neighbors.
Father Thatcher was in one of the first companies of the Mormon Pioneers. He was not, how-
ever, of the special pioneer band, but was in the company of pioneers under P. P. Pratt. With
his family, he went from Utah to California, where he formed the acquaintance of Wm. B. Preston
who subsequently married his daughter, Harriet A. Thatcher.
Having become acquainted with the Mormons, through his association with neighbor Thatcher.
Wm. B. Preston was baptized by Heniy G. Boyle, in the year 1857. As soon as baptized, he was
called to the office of an elder and sent on a mission by George Q. Cannon, who was then presiding
over the Pacific Coast mission. He was sent to labor in Upper California. Here he continued in
his ministry until President Young called home all the elders and Saints in consequence of the Utah
war. This was in the fall of 1857. It being too late to cross the plains that season, they traveled
6
^2 HISTORY OF SALT LAKE CITY.
from Sacramento down the coast, by way of Los Angeles and San Barnardino, into Southern Utah,
and thence to Salt Lake, at which place they arrived January ist, 1858. The company consisted
of Wm. B. Preston, John B. Thatcher, A. D. Thatcher, Moses Thatcher, H. G. Boyle, Wm. H.
Shearman, F. W. and C. C. Hurst, Marion Shelton, David Cannon, Mrs. Elizabeth H. Cannon
(wife of George Q.) and her infant son, John Q, Cannon. There were also several families from Aus-
tralia and a few families from Upper California. H. G. Boyle, who was one of the Mormon bat-
talion and knew the road, was the leader of this company.
Wm. B. Preston married Miss Harriet A. Thatcher, on the 24th of February, 1858, He was
in the Utah exodus and went south as far as Payson.
Early in the Spring of 1858, as soon as they could travel. President Young called a company
of 23 of the " boys," among whom was Wm. B. Preston, to go to Platte Bridge and bring on the
goods and merchandise which had been cached there. These goods, freighted by the " Y. X. Com-
pany," belonged principally to Nicholas GrOesbeck. Some of the goods also had been consigned
to a mountaineer to be commercially disposed of, and in the settlement with the trader a fair and
honorable account was rendered of them.
One of the reasons why President Young called this company was to give assurance to General
Johnston and his army, that the Mormons intended to keep the treaty which had been made with
the Peace Commissioners, which President Buchanan had sent to conclude the Utah war. But the
army and its officers were suspicious, which was itself proof of the wisdom of Brigham's policy in
sending out this company thus early after the conclusion of the treaty. This fact, however, was
the cause of the expedition running considerable personal risk ; but after some narrow escapes from
the soldiers at Bridger, the company which was under Captain Groesbeck, with his efficient assist-
ant, Abram Hatch, succeeded in effecting a passage to the Platte; and on their return the advance
of Johnston's army had gone in, and they met no further difficulty.
After his return, during the summer of 1858, Wm. B. Preston built himself a house in Payson,
making the adobes and shingles with his own hands.
In consequence of the war, the people of Utah were still short of clothing and merchant goods
generally, so Wm. B. Preston, with a company of others, went into California in the winter of
1858-9, and he brought in two wagons of goods for Father Thatcher. In this necessary mercantile
trip into California, Wm. B. Preston had quite an eventful winter's work in crossing and recrossing
the desert. He got back in the spring of 1859.
Finding they had not sufficient land to cultivate of their own in Payson, the Preston and That-
cher families resolved to remove into Cache Valley.
In 1860-61, there was a new apportionment made by the Utah Legislature, by which Cache
County was entitled to two representatives and a councilor. At the next election Bishop Preston
was elected one of the representatives, Peter Maughan the other, and Ezra T. Benson councilor.
The winter of 186263 was spent in the Legislature.
In the spring of 1863, President Young called for 500 ox teams to go to the Missouri River to
bring the poor across the plains. Cache Valley was called on for fifty of those teams, and Bishop
Preston was appointed their captain. This emigrational business filed up the Bishop's labors dur-
ing the principal part of the remainder of that year. In 1864 Bishop Preston made another emigra-
tional trip to the Missouri River, he being appointed to take charge of the teams from Cache, Box
Elder and Weber Counties. In the winters of 1863-4-5 he was in the Legislature.
At the April conference of 1865, Wm. B. Preston's name was among the forty-six missionaries
called on missions to Europe. He was appointed by President Young to take charge of this com-
pany of missionaries as far as New York. They started from Salt Lake City on the 20th of May to
cross the plains in the usual manner, there being as yet no railroad any portion of the way this side
of Omaha. On arriving at New York he decided to go into Virginia to visit his father and mother,
whom he had not seen for thirteen years, and of whom he had heard nothing during the civil war.
He found them, with hundreds of other families, broken up in their property by the devastations of
war, scarcely knowing where to get their bread. After making a short but pleasant visit with his
relatives, he proceeded on his mission to England.
He arrived in Liverpool Wednesday, August 23d, 1865, and was appointed to preside over the
Newcastle and Durham conferences. At a conference held at Birmingham, in January, 1866, he
was called to the business department of the Liverpool Office, under the direction of Presidents
Brigham Young, jun. and Franklin D. Richards. President Young, by letter, had instructed his son
to place the business management of the mission in the hands of Bishop Preston. For three years
he labored in the office. In the fulfilment of his duties, he did the correspondence and the general
FERAMORZ LITTLE. 43
business of the European mission, including that of the emigration. During his stay in England,
in company with Elder Charles W. Penrose, of the Millennial Star department, and A. Miner,
missionary, he visited the Paris Exposition, in August, 1867.
After being on a three and a half years' mission abroad, he returned home. He left Liverpool
fuly 14th, 1868, and arrived in Salt Lake City in September, bringing with him a company of 650
Saints. As soon as he came home he went out into Echo Canyon to assist in building the U. P.
R. R , as one of the contractors under President Young, during that winter. On his return, he
resumed his labors as bishop of Logan, and at the next election was again sent by his county to the
Legislative Assembly.
In 1872, John W. Young and William B Preston organized the company for the building of
the Utah Northern Railroad. John W. Young was president, and Bishop Preston vice-president
and assistant superintendent. (See chapter on Railroads.)
In the organization of the Cache Valley Stake by President Yoiing, in May, 1877, (it being the
last stake the President organized) Wm. B. Preston was appointed first counsellor to President
Moses Thatcher. This position he occupied until Moses was called into the quorum of the Twelve,
when he was appointed in his stead. He was ordained President of the Stake under the hands of
Apostle John Taylor and others of the Twelve. After the death of Bishop Hunter he was chosen
and ordained Presiding Bishop of the Church.
FERAMORZ LITTLE.
Feramorz Little, fourth mayor cf Salt Lake City, was born in Aurelius, Cayuga Co., New York
June 14th, 1820. On his father's side he is of Irish descent ; on his mother's, American, she being
the sister of Brigham Young. James Little emigrated from Ireland when he was about sixteen
years of age, and settled in Cayuga County, New York State. About the year 1815 he married
Susan Young, who bore him four children, namely — Edwin, Eliza, Feramorz, and James A. Little.
He was killed in the fall of 1S24, by his wagon going over a sand bank as he was coming home in
the darkness of the night on a narrow road, the sand bank having caved in since he last saw it.
After the death of her husband, the widow Little, with her children moved to Mendon, Mon-
roe County, where grandfather Young and several of his sons lived. At this time, however, her
brother Brigham Young was living in Aurelius, Cayuga County, where for twelve years he followed the
occupations of carpenter, joiner, painter and glazier. John Yc ung, Phineas Young and Lorenzo Youno-
followed other branches of trade, working with their hands, while Joseph Young, who was after-
wards president of all the quorums of the Seventies of the Mormon church, was a Methodist
preacher.
After a time widow Little was married again to William B. Stilson, and in the year 1828, her
family moved from Mendon to Springwater Valley, Livingston County. In the spring of 1829,
Feramorz, at his own option, went to live with a Mr. Chamberlain, while Mr. Stilson, his mother, and
a portion of her children returned to Mendon.
In the spring of 1829 Brigham Young removed from Aurelius to Mendon, where his father re-
sided, and in the spring of 1830 he first saw the Book of Mormon, which was left with his brother
Phineas Young by Samuel H. Smith, brother of the Prophet. Thus began the connection with the
Mormon church of the Young family, of which Feramorz Little, on his mother's side, is its most
prominent living representative.
In January, 1832, in company with Phineas Young and Heber C. Kimball, Brigham visited a
branch of the Church at Columbia, Pennsylvania, and returned with his mind deeply impressed with
the principles of Mormonism. In this state of mind he went to Canada for his brother Joseph,
who was there on a mission preaching the Methodist faith. The brothers returned to Mendon
and the Young family, in the spring of 1832, joined the Church of Latter-day Saints, incl iding
Feramorz Little's mother and his elder brother Edwin.
In the fall of 1833 Brigham and his father, brothers and sisters gathered to Kirtland to the
44 HISTORY OF SALT LAKE CITY.
body of the Church, but previous to their removal west Mr. Stilson visited his step-son at Spring-
water to offer him the privilege of going to Kirtland, Ohio, with the rest of the family; whereupon
Mrs. Chamberlain harnessed up and drove the boy to Mcndon to see his mother. The result of the
visit and consultation was that his family gave him the option of ^oing with them or returning with
Mrs. Chamberlain, and he chose the latter. Thus was Feramorz Little separated from his familv
for twelve years, until he himself came west to Illinois in the Spring of 1842. His younger brother,
James A. Little was also separated from them, he like Feramorz being left in service to another mas-
ter in the State of New York ; and before James A. joined his family in Utah he had served as a
subordinate officer in the regular army under General Taylor in the Mexican war.
Feramorz Little remained in Springwater and its vicinity till the spring of 1842, when, with
three/ companious he started west to seek his fortunes, St. Louis being his objective point. At this
time he thought nothing of joining the Mormon Church, although his uncle Brigham was President
of the Twelve Apostles ; his motive was simply to go west to work out his business career in life.
The companions journeyed on foot, seventy miles, to Olian Point, on the Alleghany river ; there
they bought a skiff and went down the river to Pittsburgh, and from there by steamboat to Cincin-
nati. At this point the travelers separated, Feramorz and a companion by the name of T. J.
Irish continuing the journey together. They stopped at Shoney Town, and next went out twelve
miles to the town of Equality, the county seat of Gallatin County, Illinois. There they both tarried
and taught school till the fall of 1843, when they struck across the country — then uninhabited — on
horseback to St. Louis.
Having reached the city for which he started the year before, Feramorz Little pushed into bus-
iness with that pluck and energy which has so markedly characterized his life, commencing with his
stall at a convenient corner of one of the business streets of St. Louis, where he sold such articles
as butter, eggs, etc. Hfs industry, push and economy attracted the attention of a wealthy customer,
who owned at that time much of the real estate of the city, numerous stores, and employed many
hands. This patron offered the enterprising young man one of his stores and a fair stock of mer-
chandise ; so our ex-mayor became a small merchant in the fast-growing city of St. Louis, where,
undoubtedly had he remained to this day he would have become one of its principal business men,
and perhaps served that city in similar capacities in its municipality as those which he has filled in
our own, for Feramorz Little is eminently a self-made man.
In the spring of 1S44, his brother, Edwin Little, and Charlie Decker came down from Nauvoo
to St. Louis to hunt up Feramorz, whom they found ; and in the fall of the same year he went up
with them to Navuoo, and met his mother and his uncles whom he had not seen for twelve years.
He staid with them a week and then returned to St. Louis. Soon after this his mother, his brother
Edwin and wife, Harriet Decker, who was afterwards the wife of Ephraim Hanks, well known in Utah
history, and her sister, Fannie M. Decker, caine to live at St. Louis, where they remained a year and
then returned to Nauvoo; for their people were about to make their exodus to the Rocky Mountains.
During this visit of the family to St. Louis, Feramorz Little and Fannie M. Decker became en-
gaged; and in February, 1846, he again went from St. Louis to Nauvoo where he arrived on the
i2th, and on the same day he was married by his uncle Brigham, at his house, to Fannie M.
Decker. Three days later, .Sunday, February isth, Brigham Young with his family, accompanied
by Willard Richards and George A. Smith and their families, crossed the Mississippi from Nauvoo
and proceeded to the " camps of Israel," which waited on the west side of the river, a few miles on
the way, for the coming of their leader. Feramorz Little crossed on the same boat with his uncle
Brigham, and with his wife returned to St. Louis, where they remained until the spring of 1850. It
is here worthy of note that Clara Decker, wife of Brigham Young and sister of Feramorz Little's
wife, and Harriet Decker, their mother (married to Lorenzo D. Young), were two of the three
women who accotnpanied the pioneers on their famous journey to the valley of the Great Salt Lake.
In the spring of 1850, Mr. Little with his wife left St. Louis for the Pacific slope, designing,
however, to pass through Utah on to California there to make his home, after sojourning awhile
with his family in the valley. He brought across the plains, for Livingston and Kinkade their sec-
ond train of goods, wliich they opened in the Old Constitution building, which the Church had
built to rent to that firm. He was induced to remain in Utah but he did not join the Church until
1853. His inother died in Salt Lake City, May 5th, 1852.
His first business ventures in Utah, were in connection with the U. S. mail service across the
plains, which he had more or less to do with for several years, to the period of the Buchanan
expedition when the post office department set aside its contract with Mr. Kimball, upon which the
Y. X. CoiHpany was projected.
FERAMCmZ LITTLE. 4^
Feramorz Little was engaged in carrying the mails across the plains nearly from the onset. In
1850, Samuel W. Woodson of Independence, Missouri, contracted with the U. S. Post Office Depart-
ment, to carry a monthly mail between that place and Salt Lake City for four years, commencing
the first of July of that year. This was the first mail service performed between Salt Lake City and
any point east of the Rocky Mountains, under the auspices of the Government. Afterwards Mr.
Feramorz Little contracted with Mr. Woodson to carry the mail between Salt Lake City and Fort
Laramie on the Platte River, for two years and eleven months, the balance of the term of the four
years for which Mr, Woodson had contracted Mr. Little was to put on service August ist, 1851.
In this business he associated with him Messrs. Ephraim K. Hanks and Charles F. Decker, The
carriers from each end of the line were expected to meet at Laramie on the fifteenth of each month.
There was at that time no settlement between Salt Lake City and Laramie, and the only trad-
ing post was Fort Bridger, no miles east of Salt Lake City. The four hundred miles between
Fort Bridger and Laramie was at first run without any station or change of animals, There was
afterwards a trading post established at Devil's Gate which afforded the mail carriers further facilities,
Messrs. Little and Hanks, as per contract, left Salt Lake City on the first of August with the eastern
mail and extra animals with which to stock the road.
We cannot follow in detail Mr. Little's eventful and romantic experience as a contractor and
carrier of the mails in those early days amid dangers among the Indians and the storms of winter;
suffice it to say that in the mail service he won a name for grit, energy and expedition second to that
of none of the mail carriers of those days who ran between the Missouri River and the Pacific
Coast. In December, 1856, when the mail contractor Magraw failed to bring in the mails, the post-
master of Great Salt Lake City made a special contract with Mr, Little to take the mail east to the
terminal point, Independence, Missouri ; and while on this service the Y. X, Company for carrying
the mails having been started he was chosen by the company to take charge of their returning mails.
It was while on his trip to Washington at this time, relative to the postal service, that the Drummond
charges burst upon the country, resulting in the Buchanan expedition ; whereupon Mr. Little, hav-
ing with Mr. Hanks carried the last mail from Salt Lake City to the States, made a statement to the
public, through the New York Herald, on Utah affairs. [See chapter XVI, on the mail service and
the Utah war.]
In 1854-5, Mr. Little superintended the construction of the Big Cottonwood Canyon wagon
road, and the erection of five saw mills on the canyon stream. The company that constructed that
road were Brigham Young, D. H. Wells, A. O. Smoot, Frederick Kesler, Charles F. Decker and F.
Little. The company afterwards divided up, and Little went into the lumber business on his own
account, which he finally sold to Armstrong & Bagley. During the period of the building of this
road he also built the Territorial penitentiary ; and in 1858, he superintended the building of the
first passable wagon road in Provo Canyon.
In 1863, he went to Florence as emigration agent for the Church, where he spent the whole
summer superintending the outfitting of 500 hundred wagons and 4,000 Latter-day Saint emif^rants
for Utah. In February, 1864, in connection with Brigham Young, he purchased the Salt Lake Citv
House, himself becoming its proprietor for the succeeding seven years.
a In 1868-9, he was engaged in railroad work on the Union Pacific, and afterward became promi-
nently idendfied with, the Utah Central and Utah Southern, of which latter line for a number of years
he was superintendent. His name repeatedly occurs in our local railroad history. He was one of
the founders and directors of the Deseret National Bank, and is now its vice-president.
The most unique episode of Mr. Little's life was his visit to Jerusalem among the Jerusalem
missionaries which started from Salt Lake City in October, 1872.
Of his connection with our municipal government it may be briefly summarized that in 1874
Feramorz Little was elected a councilor; in 1876 the mayor of Salt Lake City. He served the city
as its mayor three terms, and, as observed in the body of this history, his administration of munic-
ipal affairs was acceptable to all classes of the citizens. Many improvements were made in public
works, and the financial business of the municipality was well conducted. He retired ftom office at
the election of 1882. ,
46 HISTORY OF SALT LAKE CJTY.
JAMES SHARP
Ex-mayor of Salt Lake City was born at Falkirk, Stirlingshire, Scotland. He is the son of
Bishop John Sharp, the railroad king of Utah, whose assistant superintendent he is. The family
left Scotland and came to America in 1848, stayed in St. Louis till the spring of 1850, when they
took up their line of march for Salt Lake City, where they arrived in August of the same yqjr.
James Sharp is the second son ; his brother John is the elder. They have both been to England
on missions, James went in 1867 and came home in the fall of 1869. He labored in Scotland and
was president of the Edinburgh Conference. He went again in 1875, labored in the Liverpool
office, and, during this mission he traveled over the Continent of Europe. To send a sound-headed
young man like James Sharp (who came into these mountains at the age of seven), on a tour
through Europe, was equivalent to giving him a revolution of ideas. He says that he discovered
that there was something outside of Utah, and also something even outside of the United States;
and, as to himself he leamed the very salutary lesson that he knew nothing in comparison to the
knowledge of the great world. Some of our young elders, in whom the love of home is a pardon-
able weakness, have gone abroad and have returned discovering nothing outside our mountain Zion ;
but these practical men, who build railroads and travel over them, get their veneration and self-
esteem sadly disci[)lined down to the common time and measure. But they are the better class of
men to grapple with our issues of the future.
James Sharp was elected to the Legislature from Salt Lake County in 1878. He has served a
number of terms as a member cJf the House, and in the session of 1884 was elected Speaker.
On his retiring from the office of Mayor of Salt Lake City, the Salt Lake Herald said :
" The people of Salt Lake part reluctantly with their late Mayor, HTon James Sharp, who re-
tired from office last evening. When Mr, Sharp accepted the place two years ago the Herald
predicted a successful administration. We knew the man, and could safely put forth the prediction.
The record of the city government for two years has more than verified our words, for Mr, Sharp
has proven himself a most capable, energetic and progressive head of the municipality. Being
familiar with the city, its needs and capabilitits, he knew what could be done for its advancement
and good, and was ever in the lead of movements having for their object the best interest of Salt
Lake. His thorough business knowledge and training, and his excellent practical ideas of men,
measures and things, have proven of incalculable value to the corporation. As illustrating this in
one particular, it may be mentioned that notwithstanding the many and costly street improvements
that have been made during the year, which include many miles of grading, and though there have
been heavy public expenditures in other directions, as for City Creek Canyon, for the increase of
the water supply, and so on, water bonds to the amount of 550,000 have been redeemed, and the
floating debt of the corporation been reduced fully ^50,000, Wise economy as distinguished from
parsimony, has been a characteristic of Mayor Sharp's administration, and the result has been that
while the city government has been carried on in a manner not at all suggestive ot stinginess, but
rather of progressiveness, the corporation has saved money. The Mayor's idea has evidently been
that it was better to expend less and get the full value of the money, than to indulge in extravagance
and the people not obtain all they paid for. The Mayor's close attention to the details of the cor-
poration's affairs involving the outlay of means, is what has told so well in Mr. Sharp's financial
administration.
" It is not the Herald's purpose to enumerate the public improvements that have been made
during Mayor Sharp's term, nor to tell of what has been accomplished under his successful administra-
tion ; but there are two things which we think should be mentioned here. One of them is the
bringing of water on to the north bench from Dry Canyon, and the consequent practical relief of
the distressed people of that section. We have reason to know that a grateful feeling towards Mr.
Sharp and the late council is entertained by many of the " Dry Benchers." If nothing more had
been accomplished by the retiring city government than securing to the city of the ownership of
City Creek Canyon, that alone would have placed the present and future generations under great
obligations to Mayor Sharp and associates. The value of the purchase cannot be estimated in dol-
:i/fA^cJ . y7/7/^ ^/>
FRANCIS ARMSTRONG, 47
lars, as it insures to the city for all time and with none to dispute, the absolute conlrol of the cor-
poration's only pur,e water supply.
" James Sharp was the Herald's candidate for Mayor two years ago, and his record has been
such that this paper is proud that it advocated his election and stood by his administration. The
gentleman may also retire with the perfect assurance that he enjoys the gratitude, the esteem and the
confidence of the public he has served so faithfully, and with so much ability, intelligence and in-
tegrity. It is ever a pleasant thing to be able to conscientiously approve the course of a public offi-
cer when he retires, and in Mr. Sharp's case it is doubly enjoyable."
FRANCIS ARMSTRONG.
One of the most prominent of the business men of Salt Lake City is its present Mayor, Francis
Armstrong. He is emphatically a self-made man, and his present posiUon as the chief magistrate
of our city is a substantial mark of the estimation of the general public of his probity and executive
ability.
Francis Armstrong is by birth an Englishman. He was born at Plainmiller, county of North-
umberland, England, October 3d, 1839, being the son of William Armstrong and Mary Kirk. For
seven generations his family were natives of Northumberland. His father was a machinist, and l^e
worked in the Stevenson & Harthorn machine shop in Newcastle-on-Tyne, building the first loco-
motives made in I^ngland— namely, the Rabbit and Comet.
In the year 1851, the Armstrong family left England for Canada, and settled near Hamilton,
Wentworth County, where his father and mother still live. Their family consisted of the parents
and twelve children.
Our Mayor left his home in Canada and came to the United States in 1858, and made his way
to Richmond, Missouri, where he engaged in a saw mill for a man by the name of Dr. Davis, and
continued in the lumber business with him until the spring of 1861, when he started west for Utah,
During his residence at Richmond he formed a familiar acquaintance with David Whitmer, one of
the witnesses of the Book of Mormon, and from Whitmer and his family, he received their per-
sonal testimony of the coming forth of that book and its divine origin.
Mr. Armstrong crossed the Plains in one of the independent coinpanies, under the command of
Captain Duncan. There were three teams which started from Richmond for Utah, two ox teams
and a mule team. The company consisted of widow Russell from Canada, wife of Isaac Russell, one
of the first missionaries to England, with her four daughters and a son, William Wanless and wife,
now of Lehi, three young men, Andrew Grey, William Jemmerson, and Francis Armstrong.
These journeyed together up to Florence and started from that place immediately after Captain Dun-
can's train, with which they quickly united and traveled with him across the Plains, and arrived in
Salt Lake City about the middle of September, 1861. Not long since the three families which
started from Richmond, numbering eleven persons, had a reunion, and found that they number to-
day seventy-eight souls living and ten dead. This example will illustrate what Mormon emigration
does in peopling these valleys, and how impossible it would be to root up such a community.
On his arrival in Utah Mr, Armstrong commenced hauling wood from Mill Creek Canyon for
a gentleman by the name of Mousley. He ne.xt engaged to work in President Young's flouring
mill, at the mouth of Parley's Canyon. In the spring of 1862 he commenced in the lumber busi-
ness for Mr. Feramorz Little in his mill in Big Cottonwood Canyon. He worked for hitn seven
years, at the expiration of which time Armstrong purchased Little's mill, paying him ^21,000 for
his claim, and started in business for himself in partnership with Mr. Bagley, under the firm name
of Armstrong & Bagley. He also entered into partnership with Latimer, Taylor and Romney.
This firm was originally started by Thomas Latimer, George H. Taylor, Charles F. Decker and
Zenos Evans, in the lumber business and the manufacturing of doors and sash. In i86g, a new
partnership was formed, consisting of Latimer, Tavlor, Folsom and Romney. The two latter gentle-
48 HJS70RY OF SALT LAKE CITY.
men, under tlie firm name of Folsem & Roniney, hokl been the leading contractors and builders of
the city. After a successful business of several years, during which this company built a number of
our principal stores and dwellings, Mr. Folsom sold his interest to Mr. Francis Armstrong. The
company then purchased the grounds where they now are, put up a large saw mill and continued
to run under the name of Latimer, Taylor & Co., until the death of the senior partner, Mr. Latimer,
in October, i88r, when the remaining partners purchased the interest of their fornrer partner and
changed the firm to TayJor, Romney & Armstrong.
Mr. Armstrong has engaged in numerous lines of trade and business and has become known
as one of the most enterprising men of our Territory, as well as being one of the most substantial
in his financial rating. In 1872, he purchased the old Kimball flour mill, which he ran for a num-
ber of years until the incorporation of the Pioneer Rolling Mill, when he became one of iis incor-
porators. He has taken pride in introducing thorough bred horses and cattle. Mountain Dell
Farm is said to be the best stock farm in the country, and he has stocked it with thoroughbreds.
Of horses and cattle of this grade he owns 80 head. Several of his race horses are quite famous.
The record of Mr. Armstrong in public affairs is recognized by our citizens with general ap-
proval, both for its integrity and cajxicity. He has served both Salt Lake City and Salt Lake
County. In 1878 he was elected a member of the city cwuncil, and he was again elected in 1880.
In August, 1881 he was elected- one of the selectmen of the county court and served a term of
three years, and in 1885 he was again elected a selectman. Towards the close of the year 1885,
when it became known that Mr. James Sharp was about to retire from office, the public eye looked
around for a strong practical man suitable to take the helm of our city government in these trouble-
some times, and very quickly it was decided that Francis Armstrong was the " coming man," and
thus it proved to be at the election in February, 1886. Of the event, the Salt I^ake Herald said :
" The election of Mr. Armstrong to the office of Mayor of Salt Lake City not only does that
gentleman honor, but it is a tribute to that class of our community, of which the People's party is
so largely composed, men of brawn and muscle, who have made their own fortunes by the persistent
energy with which they liave fought obstacles and beaten down barriers to their progress. Frank
Armstrong was an obscure boy, raised in the family of Hon. Feramorz Little, and engaged in the
mountains lumbering for that gentleman. A few years ago he was a driver of " bull " teams, but
his never tiring industry has won for him substantial wealth in pretentious, real estate, flouring and
lumbering mills, stock farms, railroad and other stocks and bonds, etc. In the accumulation of his
property, he has acqutrctl that practical experience which has qualified him to execute public trusts
imposed upon him in the most creditable manner. As a city councilor, and a county selectman his
record is among the best ever made in this city and county. From his past record, we may, there-
fore, confidently expect the future to add to his popularity, and that his administration as chief ex-
ecutive of Salt Lake City will be crowned with that signal success which has thus far followed him
through life."
ALEXANDER C. PYPER.
With the general approbation of all classes of citizens, in 1874, Alderman Alexander C. Pyper
was appointed Judge ol the Police Court of Salt Lake City, The appointment of Judge Pyper to
this important position was very acceptable to the Gentiles and seceders, for he bore a character of
unswerving impartiality. True, he was a Mormon, but, in his own words, the stamp of his admin-
istration had been gi\'en. He said : "My education and religion have taught me to deal fairly and
justly towards all men, under the law, irrespective of their conditions or opinions, and regardless of
offenses."
It was also peculiarly satifactory to the " authorities " that Judge Pyper was so acceptable to the
general public on the retirement of Judge Clinton, for there was at that moment a fast growing de-
sire among all classes to see the city under a manageinent suitable to the changed times, and espec-
ALEXANDER C. PYPER. 4p
iallv to have an unsectarian adminstrat'on of the law. The Third United States Judicial Court had
become quite an ecclesiastical inquisition, where the constant questions put by the United States Pros-
ecuting Attorney, and allowed by the Chief Justice, and indeed often put by him, especially in
"McKean's rejgn," were : " Are you a Mormon ? Have you been through the Mormon Endow-
ment House? Do you i5f//Vir that polygamy is a divine revelation?" etc. This became so finely
drawn between the Chief Justice and the Prosecuting Attorney that it had no practical limit to the
person guilty of polygamy, but was extended to those inerely guilty of the condition oi faith in
Mormonism. And these questions were also constantly put not only to jurors, but to applicants for
United States citizen=-hip. It was this condition of things that rendered Judge Pyper's words just'
quoted so pertinent ; and in all his administration he made good those words.
Juige Pypsr was a native of Ayreshire, Scotland. He emigrated to the United States when a
boy and subsequently graduated at Jones' Commercial College of St. Louis, Mo. '
From 1853 to 1858 he conducted a very successful mercantile business at Council Bluffs, Iowa,'
and'at Florence, Nebraska, being one of the principal founders of the last named place — and assisted
in the Church emigration matters at that point, under the direction of H. S. Eldredge. for a period
of four years. He moved to Utah in 1859, •''"d in i860 built a chemical manufacturing laboratory,
producing, in large quantities, a nuinber of useful articles, used principally in heme manufactures.
In August, 1874, lis was elected police justice of the Fifth Precinct of this city, a position which
he held to the time of his death. It is in this capacity, probably, that he is most widely known in
this vicinity. As a rule the duties of this position are anything but satisfactory, and it is one which is
open to much abuse, and one which can be greatly abused. But Judge Pyper combined those rare
characteristics which enabled him always to acquit himself with dignity and to maintain his self-re-
spect. So fair and impartial had been been his course, so great a friend had he been to right, and
so anxious to be just to all, that, despite the disagreeable character of the office he won for himself
in its administration, the respect of every person, and was admired and feared alike by those of his
own faith and those whose religious views were diametrically opposed to his own. While many may
occupy the position he has left vacant, very, very few can fill it.
For sixteen years he had been a merriber of the city council of Salt Lake, and in this, as in all
other spheres, distinguished himself for his good, sound judgment, his zeal in the public welfare, and
his integrity to the trusts reposed in him.
In June, 1877, he was appointed bishop of the Twelfth Ward of this city, and won for himself
the affection and love of those over whom he presided. Of late years he took a great deal of inter-
est in the production of silk, and has probably contributed more towards the establishment of the
silk industry than any other individual.
His life has been one of unceasing activity, not only in personal pursuits but in the interest of
the public. In the latter he has displayed especial assiduity. Possessed of a clear and far-reaching
mind, his judgment was necessarily sound, and was highly valued by all who knew him. He was
free, fair and liberal, and his mind was so constituted that his perceptions of right and wrong were
always clear. He had also a faculty of being on the right side, and of being a fearless and con-
sistent defender of what he believed to be just : hence he made the office of police justice —
usually degraded — an office clothed with dignity which commanded respect. He was homely in his
manner, good-natured and generous; and in his death an unmistakable loss will be felt which can
only be made up with great diffTculty.
;On the evening of his death the city council met to draft resolutions of respect to the memory
of the deceased. Mayor Jennings and the members of the council generally spoke with great
feeling. The mayor stated that the object of the meeting was to afford the council an opportunity
to express their respect and esteem for their fellow-laborer.
Judge Pyper's position in our municip.ility is at present occupied by his son, George D. Pyper.
50 HISTORY OF SALT LAKE CITY.
HENRY W. LAWRENCE
Was born July i8th, 1835, near Toronto, Canada.
When Joseph Smith, the Mormon Prophet, took his mission to Canada, he, with John Taylor,
y^ho had joined the Church in the British province, visited '1 oronto, and among their converts were
Edward Lawrence und Margaret his wife, the parents of the subject of this sketch. In 1838 the
Lawrences moved to Illinois to join the body of the Saints, but in 1840, the father died at Lima,
from which place the family removed to Nauvoo. In 1850 the mother and children crossed the
plains to Salt Lake City.
After having served as a clerk for several of the pioneer firms, Mr. Lawrence, in the spring of
1859, went into business with his brother-in-law, John B. Kimball, a Gentile, who was. known as a
prominent merchant of Salt Lake City before the period of the Utah war. Soon the firm of Kim-
ball & Lawrence became lamous both at " home and abroad," for its commercial integrity, solidity
and prudence. John Kimball, though a gentile merchant, had always been on the most friendly terms
with the Mormon people, to whom he was so nearly related, and was as faithful as any brother in
paying his tithing to the Church, and as liberal as a prince in his donations to the poor. Undoubt-
edly, however, it was Lawrence who gave to the firm its substantial influence with the community,
for the strict moral life and uprightness of character of the young merchant, coupled with his e.xcel-
lent commercial ability, established him at once in the public regard and in the confidence of Presi-
dent Young.
The record of Mr. Lawrence in connection with the Godbeite movement has been given in the
general history, but this gentleman has since figured considerably in the political action of the Gen-
tile " Liberal party," being in this particular the exception from his compeers. Nevertheless, Henry
W. Lawrence stands high in the public mind for his integrity, and is still respected by the Mormon
people, who, however, regret his subsequent anti-Mormon course, while they do not so much con-
demn his record as a Mormon reformer.
But the course of Mr. Lawrence is altogether and pre-eminently acceptable to the Gentile portion
of the community. He prides himself in being represented purely as an American citizen rather
than by his early connection with the Mormon people. Mr. Lawrence was among the earliest and
ablest of our citv fathers, and he was also Territorial marshal.
WILLIAM S. GODBE. •
William S. Godbe, who was a member of our city council cotcmporary with Mr. Lawrence,
was born in London, England, June 26th, 1833. Endowed with much natural daring and that ele-
rinent of selfhood which so eminently characterizes all self-made men, these qualities maniftstcd
themselves in his early yoijth in leading him to choose the adventurous life of a sailor. His consti-
tutional daring and natural love of enterprise, coupled with his organic sympathy for the grand and
expansive, owned the charms of the mighty waters ; but it was chiefly the desire of travel to see
the classical wonders of the great world that induced the boy to go to sea. Thus, early in youth,
he read with the passion of a poetic nature of the classic lands, and longed to visit them himself.
He had absorbed books on Egypt, Greece, Turkey and Russia and other places of historic interest,
and was specially captivated with the question between the Greek and the Turk. He sailed up il.c
Mediterranein, visited Ejypt and the Grecian Isles, and was for awhile in Constantinople,
Southern Russia and the Danube. He also went to the co-'St of Africa, to Brazil and Northern
Europe. When the ship which bore him neared some famous place, he w-as full of enthusiasm, and
felt repaid for the toils and monotony of the sea if permitted to land and revel in the historic scenes
WILLIAM S. GODBE. 57
familiar fo the dreams of his youth. He spent some time in France, Germany and Denmark and
during his sea life more than onre experienced the disaster of shipwreck. But, apart from this ar-
dent desire to see the world, a nautical life was most unsuited to William S Godbe, who is a man of
eminent iaspirations and rare idealities. He would have soon reached the rank of captain, and,
doubtless sailed his own ship, but in manhood's aspiring days, he never could have been satisfied
with an unhumanized and unpeopled ocean. It was fortunate, therefore, tor the general usefulness
of his life, that at an early period his instinct for adventure was corrected and his constitutional am-
bition directed to broader life purposes. His apprenticeship to the sea not having quite expired,
young Godbe had to render service for a limited period to a shipchandler — which his captain had
become — at Hull. There his life was one of severe drudgery and stingy fare. From day to day he
dragged his truck, laden with ship stores, to the docks ; and it was while thus engaged that he was
first attracted by the preaching of a Mormon elder. The preacher possessed considerable talent, and
his themes were at once bold and new. Young Godbe was immediately captivated, and he com-
menced a course of Mormon reading with the same avidity that he had before read books on travel.
Parley P. Pratt's writings charmed him greatly, as they have charmed tens of tlnusands of ardent
minds. The poetic fire of Parley's pen, dealing with the most glorious themes of prophecy, wrought
up this youth's mind to a high pitch of inspiration and enthusiasm. A grand life of prophetic ro-
mance opened before him in this wonderful Mormonism, as he pulled his cart through the streets of
Hull, lost in glorious dreams. At the Mormon meetings the youth "bore his testimony, " ofttiints
with such a passionate fervor and inspiration as to astonish strangers present. Mormonism was al-
most a miracle to them in that lad.
After a time, young Godbe left Hull in a vessel to visit his mother in London. On the passage
he got into conversation with a man of intelligence on the subject of religion, to whom he began in
glowing phrases to tell the story of the restored gospel in all its former power and purity. " Stop,"
said his fellow passenger, interrupting him. " Is your name William ?" "Yes," was the answer.
And then the man told the youth that a short time before, in response to much prayer and fastino-,
an angel had appeared to him in a vision and said that he would meet a boy by the name of William
who would tell him what to do, and that he was to give heed to his words. On their arrival in Lon-
don, the man was baptized into the Mormon Church, The history of Mormonism in England is
full of such incidents.
These episodes are told of the boy's life to illustrate that William S. Godbe in his youth was
deeply captivated with Mormonism ; for the fact also explains something of the part he has since
played in Utah as the leader of a spiritual movement with his compeer. Elder Elias Harrison. Thus
viewed, his commercial career expresses the direction of his life rather than his essential character
and mission in society.
William S. Godbe soon emigrated to America to join the body of his people in the performance
of their wonderful work of founding Utah, Landing in New York from Liverpool with but little
means — the earnings of the passage— the stripling boldly set out on foot to walk the entire distance
to Salt Lake City. Excepting the journey from Buffalo to Chicago, which was performed on the
lakes, he mea.sured every step of the road to the frontiers, frcm which point he worked his way
across the Plains in a merchant train.
After his arrival in Salt Lake City in 1851, he engaged with Thomas S. Williams, a first class
merchant, and in a few years, the youth whose energy and uncommon " grit " had made on foot a
journey of thousands of miles, had himself grown to be one of the most substantial men in the Mor-
mon community.
In the early days of Utah, an agent to go east and purchase goods for the people was a necessity
and W. S. Godbe was the man of their choice, for already his public spirit was recognized and ap-
preciated by the community, even in a commercial career, where a public spirit is truly uncommon:
Yearly, he went east on the people's commercial business as well as his own. The day of starting
was advertised in season, and then men and women from all parts of the Territory thronged his
office with their -commissions. Thus, Mr. Godbe purchased hundreds of thousands of dollars worth
of goods for the people of Utah, and the arrival of his trains gave periodical sensa'ions to the city,
so many being personally interested.
Prior to the completion of the Union Pacific Railroad, Godbe made no less than twenty-four
trips across the Plains to the Missouri River, besides several passages to Calitornia by the Northern,
Central and Southern routes, aggregating a distance of nearly 50,000 miles— performed for the most
part on horseback and with his own c( nveyance. In some instances, only one man would accompany
52 HISTORY OF SALT LAKE CITY.
him, owing to the hostility of the Indians, he deeming it safer to go that way than to attract atten-
tion by a large party. He has also crossed the Atlantic seventeen times.
This popular merchant was also the first who brought down prices. When there were any com-
mercial aims to specially benefit the people, Mr. Godbe took the lead m working them out. In the
case in question, he ])urchased a large stock of goods to be sold off immediately at cost and freight,
thus bringing down prices to a figure never before known in Utah. The result of this venture bene-
fitted the community more than it did the public-spirited merchant; but benevolence was the policy of
his life, not only in his private but also in his commercial character.
Mr. Godbe, having by this time accumulated a substantial fortune, erected the ''Godbe E.x-
change Buildings," which, with Jennings' " Eagle Emporium," first gave an important commercial
appearance to Salt Lake City ; and the Walker Brothers soon af.crwards followed the example in
erecting their fine stores and p.ilatial residences.
But William Godbe's crowning mark in our Rocky Mountain civilization was in his becoming
the patron of literature. It is true, from first to last, his civilizing mission has cost him a fortune —
not less than two hundred thousand dollars — but it is just which will give him an enduring name,
not only in Utah, but among America's representative men ; for the patrons of literature live for
generations classed in the same genus with the architects and founders of civilization.
WALKER BROTHERS.
The career of the Walker brothers has constituted no inconsiderable part of the commercial
history of Utah. In their sphere they are pre-eminently among her founders ; and without their rec-
ord as a family and a firm, the social and commercial history of our city would be very incomplete ;
while each of the brothers has a strong individual line of personal subject for biography that dis-
tinguishes them to-day apart from the firm name.
The native place of the Walkers is the town of Yeadon, Yorkshire, England. Their father's
name was Matthew Walker ; their mother's maiden name was Mercy Lone. They had si.x children
— four sons and two daughters. Samuel Sharpe Walker, the eldest of the sons, was born September
22d, 1834; Joseph Robinson Walker, born August 29th, 1836; David Frederick Walker, born April
tgth, 1838, and Matthew Henry Walker, born January i6th, 1845, all of the town of Yeadon, York-
shire, England.
The elder Walker had amassed a competency in his extensive business transactions and he re-
tired from business in 1845; but in 1847 he went into railroad speculations under Hudson, the Eng-
lish railroad king of those times, and lost his fortune. It was during his days of adversity that the
family became connected with the Mormon people, which was the direct cause of their emigration
from their native land.
In the spring of 1850, the mother with her four sons and two daughters embarked at Liverpool
in a sailing vessel bound for New Orleans, being nine weeks on the ocean ; and thence by steamboat
they continued their journey to St. Louis. Mr. Walker himself came to America by way of New
York. On his arrival at St. Louis he commenced to purchase merchant goods by auction. In fol-
lowing this line of business he became acquainted with Mr. William Ni.xon, a gentleman quite fli-
mous in the early commercial history of Utah. Mr. Walker sold goods to Mr. Ni.xon, with whom
he placed his son David E. Walker as a clerk in "Nixon's Store," No. 13, Broadway, St. Louis. At
this period Mr. John Clark and Mr. Dan Clift had graduated as clerks under Mr. Ni.xon, but they
left for Utah at this date. In St. Louis, J. R. Walker and S. S. Walker obtained positions under
Mr. Hill a merchant of that city ; thus the three elder of the Walker Brothers commenced their
commercial training at St. Louis.
But Mr. Walker, the father, did not survive long in America. He died in St. Louis at the age
of thirty-four, and within si.x weeks after his death his two daughters were carried off by the cholem,
■which was then raging in that city.
WALKER BROTHERS. SJ
Shortly after this family bereave:nent. Mrs. Walker with her four sons concluded to go to
Dtah. They arrived in Sa'it Lake City, in September, 1852.
Immediately upon their arrival Mr. William Nixon commenced his career as a Utah merchant,
and the youth David F. Walker began with him as a clerk ; J. R. Walker also soon engaged with
Mr. Nixon while the eldest brother, Samuel Sharpe Walker, went into farming life. It was at this
period that the foundation of Utah's commerce was laid, William Nixon being decidely one of its
founders and tlie commercial teacher of nearly all our first principal merchants : the W^alker
Brothers, Henry W. Lawrence, John Clark, John Chislett, Dan Clift, and others.
In 1826, Mr, Nixon was called with other colonists to go to Carson, Nevada, to settle and build
up that country. Joseph R. Walker was engaged by Ni.xon to go through in charge of his merchant
train and also to take general charge of his business. After the breaking up of the Nixon store in
Salt Lake City and the departure of his brother ''Rob," "Fred" went into farming, in which pursuit
the elder brother, " Sharpe," was still engaged.
While at Carson Joseph R. Walker frequently went to California to purchase goods for Nixon
which he packed over the mountains on mules, there being no other way of transporting goods over
tlie Sierra. Nevada Mountains. While at Carson, just below where Carson City is now located, he
took a small stock of goods and started a store in Gold Canyon, which lies near the present Corn-
stock Lode at Johnstown, where a few miners were at work taking out placer gold. During the
winter of 1856, while he resided there, the two Gouche brothers were at Gold Canyon working a
placer claim, and having had some experience in silver mines in Mexico, they prospected the hills
around Gold Canyon and brought in some silver ore; no doubt to them belongs the honor of beini^
the real discoverers of the famous Comstock Lode. This was some time before Mr. Comstock ar-
rived in that country. ^
During the absence of the merchant Nixon and Mr. J. R. Walker, the other brothers went into
farming.
When the "Utah War" broke out the Carson colony was called home, and Nixon and J. R.
Walker returned to Salt Lake City in the fall of 1857, and Nixon soon resumed business and Mr. D.
F. Walker returned to his former employ.
On the establishment of Camp Floyd in the summer of 1858, an opportunity was offered for
the enterprise of our Salt Lake merchants, and after awhile Nixon bought one of the suttlerships at
Camp Floyd and Mr. "Fred " Walker went to take charge of the store in the soldier's camp, while
Mr. "Rob" remained at Salt Lake City. They would, however, occasionally alternate.
Just at that time to plant the store of a civilian merchant, from the Mormon capital in John-
ston's camp, with an army enraged by the proclamation of peace and with the idea burnint^ in the
minds of both officers and men that they had been betrayed by the Buchanan compromise re-
quired no inconsiderable nerve ; but the " Walker Boys " have never been known to be intimidated
or subdued.
Soon after the establishment of Camp Floyd the firm of Walker Brothers rose. It occurred
thus: A wholesale merchant by the name of P.J. Hickey every winter brought goods by the
Southern route across the desert v/a San Barnardino with mule teams, and sold to William Nixon,
This year in question — it being the first year after Camp Floyd was settled— the merch3.nt offered
to allow the Walkers to select ^10,000 or ^15,000 worth of goods. The Walker boys at that time
possessed only very little capital ; but the merchant had entire confidence in their business integrity
and was willing to let them have the goods. " Fred" accordingly wrote to "Rob" that if he viewed
the offer favorably to come up to the city directly. He came and concluded to pick out a slock of
goods suitable to a soldiers' camp. They immediately started to build a store at Camp Floyd and
started business. They were very successful the first year. Thus commenced the firm of Walker
Brothers.
When Camp Floyd was evacuated, in the spring of 1861, and the Government supplies were
sold at an immense sacrifice, the Walker Brothers made another fortunate hit in their purchases.
[See Chapter XXVII.] After the departure of the troops the firm removed to Salt Lake City and
at the onset opened business in '' Daft's old store." They subsequently built the "old Walker
store" now occupied by Kahn Brothers, and at a later period the magnificent commercial
block known as "Walker Brothers' corner."
Since their start in business their career has been extraordinary, indeed in their lives and suc-
cessful enterprises has been nascent mnch of the commercial history and material prosperity of our
Territory. [Relative to their engagement and operations in our Utah mines see mining chapter
LXXXL]
54 HISTORY OF SALT LAKE CITY.
It has been the opinion of many of our leading citizens that when Utah becomes a State, Mr.
J R. Walker will almost be certain to be one of its earliest governors. This subject was first
started in the Salt Lake Tribune, in 1872, by the editors ot that day. President Grant in his mes-
sage had expressed himself in favor of "home rule" in the Territories, so far as the governors and
other executive officers were concerned. Many of our sagacious citizens cast their eyes around for
the most available man for governor, acceptable to both Mormons and Gentiles, and above all
others that choice fell upon Joseph R. Walker. For a while the Salt Lake Tribune pursued the
pieliminary nomination vigorously ; Eli B. Kelsey came out in a strong letter, endorsing Mr. Wal-
ker's name, and from all part of the Territory similar correspondence came in from old residents —
of ihe Liberal party too — entluisiaslically supporting our man for his manifest fitness. The idea
of Joseph R. Walker being one of the most likely men, if he lives, destined to rank as one of the
first governors of the State of Utah, still dwells in the minds of our citizens. The following sketch
from Tultidi;es Quaticrly Magazine (July, 1885), written by an able writer well familiar with the
men of whom he speaks may be here very pertinently quoted :
JOSEPH R. WALKER.
Among the familiar faces of Utah men with which this issue is adorned, none are more thor-
oughly identified wiili the interests of our growing Territory than that of Joseph Robinson Walker,
of 4he great mercantile and mining house of Walker Brothers. Accustomed to all the intricacies
of modern business matters, with a mind sufficiently comprehensive, and an astuteness equal to
every occasion, Mr. Walker has enjoyed the fullest confidence of his three brothers, who have al-
ways accorded him the leadership of the firm.
Realizing the importance of the trust confided in him, he has never permitted the interests of
the firm to suffer when its protection depended upon uritiring attention, skillful manipulation and
competent guidance Considering the vast and varied interests of the concern of which this gen-
tleman stands at the head, it is but justice to acknowledge that his achievements are unexcelled b/
any man among us. Of course he has always been ably assisted by his gifted brothers, and as they are
all unlike in many important qualities, one can readily understand that a mind which could assimi-
late the views and plans of four prominently marked individualisms, and guide them without a jar;
must certainly be of a high order. That he has shown himself capable of this, in no sense reflects
upon the qualifications of his brother partners. It speaks well for their keenness of insight that
they have allowed the utilization of such qualities as those possessed by Mr, Rob, as he is usually
designated by those who are not sufficiently familiar to dispense with the prefix.
He is not, as is often supposed, the oldest member of the firm. His brother Samuel S. is the
senior. Next comes Joseph Robinson, the subject of our notice. The four brothers have spheres
of their own and are by no means merged in the central sun, so as to lose their identity, but all
realize the value of the great acumen of their honored brother, and all repose in him the same con-
fidence as they would have done in their talented father, had his life been spared to them.
The mercantile qualifications of these gentlemen are inherited. Each possesses characteristics
peculiarly valuable, and indeed neces.sary to success, but the happy blending of pre-requisites was
especially prominent in one and the others rallied to his support with a loyalty and sagacity which
does them honor, and h.is resulted in the accumulation of princely fortunes and a name unques-
tioned in the commercial marts of the World.
Four brothers working harmoniously and so successfully under the peculiar circumstances at-
tending the growth of this great house, is something rarely seen, and their efforts can only be ap-
preciated when thoroughly understood. Pulling steadily along, no matter what winds or waves
were opposing, these gallant sailors on life's stormy sea have shown their skill and pluck to an extent
unparallelled in Utah's history.
They are all young men ; Iheir ages being approximately as follows: Samuel Sharpe 48, Joseph
Robinson 46, David Frederick 44, and Matthew Henry 38. They have been able for some time to
draw checks with seven figures, and their commercial standing is such, that if another were added
their paper would be honored. Their growth has been steady, and their interests have been and are
attached to Utah with hooks of steel. There is nothing ephemeral, nothing flighty or even specula-
tive in their record. Sound business principles have been their helm, and sound business honor, has
been their guiding star.
No one has a rightful claim upon them which will not be promptly met and adjusted upon
JOSEPH R. WALKER. SS
presentation. No one can show a flaw in the armor of these financial giants, whose four heads are
practically one, whose interests are thoroughly identified with this region, and whose success is in-
dicative of the growth of the surrounding country. To have achieved such a position, to have ac-
complished such results, it is clear that vast executive ability has been utilized. To attempt to' ex-
plain the cause of such unqualified success by attributing it to fortuitous circumstances, is puerile
to a degree, only appreciated by those who, like the writer, are cognizant of the untoward environ-
ment.
The determination manifested, the hard labor expended, the privations endured by these men
can never be known, unless they choose to detail their experience in these p:\iticulars.
The tenacity displayed by many of our self-made men, and the trying circumstances attentlint
upon their progress through life, have been delineated by histriographers for the instruction of the.
youthful mind the world over, but in many respects the history of the men of whom we speak, is
vastly different from all others.
It is unnecessary to rehearse the many vicissitudes which form a part of the checkered history
of the Territory of Utah. It is to be regretted that these vicissitudes have afforded scope for sensa-
tion-mongers, who have been, and are, the great stumbling-block in the pith of progress; but it is
stating the fact to say that the history of the Walker Brothers has been so intimately interwoven
with the Territorial existence as to render them a very important factor. Their influence has ever
b^en on the side of progress. Their growth has been the harbinger of success to all. Their exem-
plary commercial rectitude has given character to Utah enterpri.ses everywhere.
So much of this is due to Joseph R. Walker, so much of his personality has been stamped upon
the current result of his consistent adherence to well-tried commercial princi])les. that he stands in
the minds of the people as the very head and front of Utah's representative men, far above the
reach or understanding of a few petty demagogues, whose inherent insolence inspires them to attain
^o honors as inappropriate as they are to them unattainable.
The crises through which our Territory has passed are numerous, and the sound judgment of
this gentleman has always maintained its equilibrium, at critical junctures which have turned the
heads of many prominent men of our times. His interests have for a long time been very extendpdi
and his views have always been comprehensive and entirely free from that unprincipled radicalism,
which has been the curse of this Territory. His mind was always clear. His ideas were always
based on practical experience and keen insight into human nature. He never faltered, never failed
to stand true to his colors, and never viewed anything from one standpoint alone. He was quite
reticent, very thoughtful and observant, ever on the alert to convince himself of the truth of his
position, or to undo the falsity he may have accepted.
A close and intelligent contact with the various interests of our Territory, has given him a
thorough knowledge of everything pertaining to its material welfare, and has developed his exper-
i<Mice to a point of perfection, which always leads to rational and conservative observation. Totally
unlike many superficial observers, he has had at all times great faith in humanity, and human ca-
pacity to right itself under all circumstances.
He has never seen the necessity of radical measures, and Consequently has failed to gain the
admiration of a small circle of irresponsibles, whose respect he however, holds against their will.
The influence of petty cliques is fortunately growing ''smaller by degrees and beautifully less," for
which let us rejoice. No man has had greater cause to appreciate the importance of cool demeanor
and constant vigilance, as they have served him faithfully in many trying situations, and kept him
from extremes which good judgment thus always warned him against. If Mr. Rob. Walker, as the
head of the influential firm of Walker Brothers, had but listened to the various schemes proposed
by the different cliques which have held ephemerally the destinies of Utah in their hands, and l)ad
countenanced any one of the many schemes which the authors thereof would now blush to name,
our thriving commonwealth would have been in a far less desirable condition.
Men who, from the standpoint of intellectual strength alone would have been accounted his
equal in every respect, have been compelled to differ widi him as to what was his duty in this or
that crisis, and it would have been as difficult to change their base at that time as it would be now
to persuade them to admit that they were the progenitors of schemes long since dead of unfitness.
What was it, then, which gave this man such breadth of comparison, such, impartial and cosmopol-
itan comprehension ? What was it which always caused him to move slowly when others advised
dashing impetuosity ?
Simply, common sense — that quality of which the average agitator knows nothino;_pthat
cautious foresight which bids you " look before you leap.','
S6 HISTORY OF SALT LAKE CITY.
When men at the foot of fortune's ladder, and who are too often at the bottom of everything-
through the force of gravitation, become desperate and recklessly advocate ''anything for a change,"
it is well that others, who occupy a more elevated position, should be allowed to say a word in
moderation, and in such instances calm judgment seems to be given only to those entrusted with
vast interests, the care of which has developed qualities unknown to the blatant advocate ol revo-
lution.
When the countenance of solid men is withheld from certain schemes, and the fact becomes
apparent that whatever endorsement is given is under protest, such schemes lose force, and either
recoil upon their creators or die of vacuity.
Such men as Walker Brothers are as much of a necessity in the political weal of Utah, as the
free air and pure water are to physical life. Their influence has naturally been toward conservatism.
Radical and revengeful projects could never be endorsed by men whose interests were as extended
as those controlled by the subject of our sketch, and it should never be forgotten that the wise utter-
ances of a few clear-headed ones, chief among whom was Mr. Joseph R. Walker, have quietly
averted dangers unknown of and unheard of by many of the plodding citizens of this mountain
region.
Always independent, never vacillating, this gentleman his walked steadily to a line of con-
duct which does him honor, and which as surely as the rising of the sun will continue until the few
self-sufficient ones who " strut their brief hour upon the stage " awaiting admiration, are lost in the
vastness of their own appreciation. The great public well kncws the character of Mr. Walker;
the better elements of our community know his worth, and his influence is far beyond what he him-
self comprehends, so that the near future must demand his services in positions to which his am-
bition would never lead him. We congratulate Utah on the possession of such men as Mr. f. R.
Walker, and we feel proud that our representatives come from such stock. We have asked the
attention of the chief magistrate to his peculiar fitness for gubernatorial honors, and we have never
swerved in our fiiith that fitting recognition will be made of the eminent services of this gentleman.
When the proper times comes, we believe we shall have the pleasure of greeting Utah's most
eminent citizen. Governor Joseph R. Walker.
" For ever ihe right comes uppermost.
And ever is justice done."
D.AVID F. WALKER.
In the establishing of the firm of the Walker Brothers David Frederick Walker was, as we have
.seen for many years shoulder to shoulder with his brothers in all the activities and business aspira-
tions of their house; but the time came when a revolution was wrought in his life which has led him
apart from his brothers into another sphere and retyped his character end purposes. The cause was
his earnest and fearless investigation of the subject of another life, resulting in an extraordinary exper-
ience that has brought to him a knowledge of immortality, to his mind beyond all doubt and given hini
a familiar association with beings of another world. This experience was probably superinduced
by the death of his wife, about ten years ago, and her often visitation to him since. With such ex-
periences as these, Mr. Walker was not the man to shrink from the responsibility of declaring the
truth to his friends or hesitating to take up the mission of his intellectual and spiritual new birth.
He was still the business man, but business for the mere accumulation of money had lost it charms;
and the aspiration daily grew in his soul to devote the future of his life to help the human family in
their spiritual and social welfare. The recent dissolution of the Walker Brothers' original imion has
given him the tair opportunity to design and perfect his plans, and Utah will be the place of his
operations. With his vast wealth, and his great persistency in carrying out his purposes, Mr. D.
F. Walker has the opportunity and power to take his place in our local history as the social bene-
factor of Utah. Several years ago he sent a fragment of his writing, but not his name to a lady in
t.™> 'it/ UB Hm;i i'
uJa^'d (^/^OM^C^
D. i'. WALKER. ^y,
Brooklyn, who gave what is styled psychometric readings of character. He further hid himself by
havmg the rep v addressed to the P. O. box of a friend. The reply duly came ; and it i so rue
a descr,.t,on of hts character, and so like D. F. Walker's literal biograph of thl last few Je rs ha
It may be en,bod.ed ni this sketch as a suggestive personal page :
"417 SUMMER AVE.. Brooklyn, N. Y.. Aug. loth, 1883
PKOPHETIC AND PSYCHOMETRIC READING OF THE PERSON TO XVHOM THIS IS ADDRESSED
■^Brought en rappo,-t, or pyschometric sympathy with this gentleman through the subtle emanations
of h,s wnttng, I find a nervous, s.nguine temperament, with great decisiol. of d.aracter "d w ,
pDwer. and a person of marked individuality, in many resnects On^ wh. . ,
for himself and never stands still but by nat^i-e is int Jtl^^ pro^s;:^^ ir;:^!^:;^ ::o^
nonal senfment, :s enthusiastic and zealous, and whatever he enters into he puts hifw o l ene".:
and soul ,nto ,t, and >s very persistent in all he undertakes. Naturally verv actL and s^tib" '
has made hts w,.y through life thus far in a sort of independent way, carrying out his o n pi n Id
me hod of domg thtngs. Being very susceptible and receptive through'hi: emotion^ Lfd s mpa
th t,c nature, he ,s eas y approached through that avenue. He is in some respects self made and
individualized and has had a varied e.vperience.
It appears to me that early in manhood he began to assume hisindividuality and was attracted
. conditions and surroundings, out of curiosity and zealous enthusiasm, which did nrme t wi h
the entire approval and encouragement of his personal friends and l-in v. tK
before him and he must have his own wav, so he n^P font ht 1; w T" " "'"""
who is destined to a charmed life and he h s b=en verv succelf I '' "^"^' '° ""^ ^"'^
tions. Where many others would have failed irhls/ctrnamol :;"";;' '"^""^^ "P^^'^"
E.xperience has been a great teacher to him and his nr-ir-t.Vni ^k
him to make many discoveries in human nat. of a'c^ 1^^^^^^^^^^ ^"'t'T'"^ "^^"^'
m a certain fi.xed hne of purpose and association for' a per^d"" 1 an ^e TitrmalT^ure
experiences ; but in the course of his mental and moral discipline he became nn IZ 7.
oped in the higher attributes of his spiritual nature, to change h s' v ewfaJs "em of th
I discover a marked change and a departure from his pre;ious couraXTri ce and t^^
wnich seemed agreeable and pleasant to him in his former hfe became distasteful and rep™ td
a conflict of moral and religious sentiment and feeling ensued, and I am forcibly impre^^ed ti^t ,'
took a decided position and remained firm to his highest convictions
h .'7^^"^,7,d '"^"^"^^'>^°---^. helped to sustain him in his new relations, whereas without
both, he would have met with greater opposition and trouble. His present surromHinr
husmess and finances are concerned, seem to be very successful and'^sp i ^o t; ^ u' dr
sired. at.d here ,s an atmosphere of more or less independence, yet in a physical and men aT sense
I seem to be consaous of a feeling of disquietude and restlessness, a void unsatisfied all 1,
for a change of some nature more agreeable and satisfactorv. Tl ere i a Tucfneed d h """^r
scene and surroundings for this person, and a desire on his part to a comohr? "^^' °'
which present demands upon his time and attention precludL thrposZ 'o o nT^er: see^:
o be a certain restraint and restriction upon his movements and inclinations altogetl.er dis as eM
to him, and he environed with circumstances and conditions over which h. K '°^etuer distasteful
at p.esent, but changes are in store for him by which he J i: rds ore fr e^Lm 'IT^^ '"''"''
real personal liberty. I can see him approached by a proposition rdln'rcem nTto S ^ m
a:;ir2t ""^'°"'°" ''^"' ' " ""'""^ °^"^ '^^"'^^'^^"^ - '-^p'"^" -^'h his inciin:;;::^:;
" I see before him a trip across the ocean and a visit to foreicrn lands and hi. i , . r
in a new enterprise, which will occupy his attention and time in at y i'eeable man 7 He",
travel for a while extensively, and cover a great deal of ground in thil c'o.: ry as wi r;s abroad
He will be_ interested ,n some humamtarian work and system which will gi'e him Lorit^a^^^^
popularity ma certain degree There are many novel experiences in sto^e for him, and he w^U
lead truly a charmed life; but he will be obliged to get rid of certain old conditions and influenc
m o.der to feel free and happy. It is impressed upon me that he is greatly interested in some par
ticular work or book upon some subject he is quite familiar with, but his views and habits harbeen
S8 HISTORY OF SAL T LAKE CITY.
changed in connection witli it. 1 may be mistaken, yet I feel to write as I am impressed to do. f
see a very active and useful future before liim, and I would advise bim to act upon his highest con-
victions under all circumstances, and heed his own personal imjiressions. Many novel experiences
are in store for him, and this Fall and Winter will disclose to him many changes. He should look-
well to his health, and see& a change of climate occasionally. I sec disturbances of a conflicting
nature around him, and he does not feel at ease; but there will be a change for the better, and he will
be glad to entertain the propositfon which will be made him. He will never want for worldly means
and comforts and he will suffer more from a social sense and through affliction in his family and
among his friends than from any business disparagements or disappointments. The coming year
will be eventful of many important changes for him and those associated with him. Here the veil
or curtain of the future falls, and no more is given me to disclose. I therefore submit the reading
to his criticism and investigation, and with every wish for his welfare and happiness, I am,
" Very respectfully,
" Mrs. M. a. Gkidley."
Mr. D. F. Walker is ant>ong the most prominent of the art patrons of our city. At his home ir>
this city are a number of pictures, an accumulation of years of careful and kindly purchase, yet
chosen with a distinct view of promoting the development of art at home, while beaulifyiug at the
same tin>c his own walls. True, not a few of the works have been painted away from here by artists
not at all identified with the West, but these are specimens of the best work of America's best artists
and also some from the eminent painters of Europe.
In getting together the works that adorn his home, Mr. Walker has thoughtfully directed his
purchases to the encouragement of originality and individual t-ilcnt among our local painters ; in so
doing, he has shown a purpose uncommon an'jong picture buyers here or elsewhere; yet it is this
course that alone will foster worthy attainments in art. Mr. Walker has shown in his labor of col-
lection an appreciation of local talent and originality, and he has been ever ready with an open h<ind
to reward the legitimate pursuit of excellence. There is scarcely a Utah artist — high or low — who
has not received encouragement from him. Mr. D. F. Walker's art gatherings began with the pur-
chase, many years ago, of an autumn-river subject by a painter named Boyde, and his art collection
has increased until he now possessess about one hundred pictures, many of them from the hands of
our local artists, but crowned with a choice selection from master painters of Europe and America.
As intimated at the opening of this sketch, in the rcn-vaining periods of David F. Walker's life —
and his age is scarcely beyond its prime — we may expect to see plans and purposes in tlieir fruition
which are already in a state of incubation, for the endowment of some institution, to foster and
make blessed the closing days of our poor but w-orthy citizens ; such a consummation to his life-
work would be a lastincr monument to the name and memory of David Frederick Walker.
BENJAMIN G. RAYBOULD.
Benjamin G. R.i_\bould, whose name for so many years has been so closely associated with the
Walker Brothers, as their confidential aid, was born in Birmingham, England, October aglh, 1839.
He is the son of Charles and Caroline Grundy Raybould. The family emigrated to America in
1859, landing in Boston. Here young Raybould worked for a while at his trade— an engraver—
and subsequently at New York. Two years after his landing in America, he started west for Utah,
which was the place of his original destination. In 1861 there were four very large trains sent from
Ut^h to bring on the emigrants. Those trains consisted each of from 50 to 100 wagons, under the
command of Captain Ira Eldredge, Captain Joseph Horn, Captain John R. Murdock and Captain
Rollins. Eldredge's train led the van, and in his company was young Raybould and his affianced
lady, (Elizabeth Tame) to whom he was married November 30, 1863.
BENJAAIlIy G. RAYBOULD. jp
His first experience in Salt Lake City wus the necessity of work. At that date no branch of
art had been established, and there were no patrons to encourage it in all Utah sufficient to "ive
half a dozen artists of every class their daily bread. The house and decorative painter was the only
worker, that approached the art class, who could find employment to provide for the wants of
home. It is true Professor Ballo had taught band music, and the day was approaching when an
orchestral conductor— C. J. Thomas— was to be employed in the Salt Lake Theatre ; but, when
Mr. Raybould arrived in Salt Lake City, there was no more a sphere for him as an engraver than
there was for this writer— as an author— who crossed the plains with him, in Captain Horn's com-
pany, which followed Eldredge's train and nightly camped near it. Engraver and author alike
found no congenial sphere, nor even the barest employment in their professions, twenty-five years
ilgO.
But the native pluck and self-reliance of Benjamin Raybould stood by him in t^ood earnest
the several succeeding years ; while, from time to time, he reconstructed and reconsidered his life
work and purposes, at each step decdidely advancing his social grade. At the time of his arrival m
the city, Brigham Young, by the management of Clawson and Caine, was building the Salt Lake
Theatre. On this building Mr. Raybould sought employ ; and, having had no training or exper-
ience in either branch of the builders' trade, the skilled engraver became, for awhile, the common
laborer. He carried the hod in building the theatre and, though at first the labor punished him se-
verely, he stuck to it until finished. After tiiis, in the spring of 1862, he dug ditches, hauled wood,
iuid performed other like work. In May of this year he went to the frontiers, in Captain Horn's
train, to bring on the poor, returning to the city early in October 0} that year.
After he came back from the frontiers, Mr. Raybould apprenticed himself to the carpenter's
trade for a year, to William Salisbury, at that time a well known Salt Lake builder. This was an
advance a step beyond the laborer towards his former social grade ; but his native ambition pushed
him above the mere trade level and another step was made in the summer of 1864.
Mr. Raybould at this date was engaged by T. B. H. Stenhouse as his assistant postmaster. At
a later period he went into the Daily Teleg>aph office, in the same employ, to assist Thomas G.
Webber as a bookkeeper. Webber is a first class business manager and accountant, and under
him Raybould obtained an insight into the science and practice of bookkeeping, and to it he de-
voted his surplus time in study and practice, to render himself efficient for a clerical position in a
first class mercantile establishment.
At the very juncture when Mr. Raybould felt himself fully qualified to take such a position, to-
wards the close of the year i335, the Walker Brothers advertised for just such a man. Mr. Rav-
bould answered them and obtained the situation, and engaged in their employ on the ist of Jan-
uary, i853. His first balance sheets were highly satisfactory to the firm, and he at once became es-
tablished ni their favor as an efficient business aid. From that day to the present (over twenty years)
he has risen by his merit, ability, untiring industry and trustworthiness, until the name of Benjamin
G. Rty'jould is known, as chief assistant of the Walker Brothers, in all the principal cities of America
and Europe, where the name of Walkers is as familiar as that of any bankers in the West. He has
been their business manager, cashier and credit man, and is now the cashier and one of the directors
of the Union National Bank. Ever since the incorporation of the Alice Gold and Silver Mining
Company, Mr. Raybould has been its secretary, and he is also one of its directors. Besides these
his miscellaneous positions and trusts in the settlement of estates and business may be mentioned.
On the failure of Nounnan, Orr & Co., in 1870, he was assignee in the settlement of that business,
and he has been administrator and executor of numerous estates of deceased persons. He was
president of the Salt Lake Tfibiiue Publishing Company, when Godbe, Lawrenc and Chislett
ware chief directors, and it was he who transferred that paper over into the hands of the Prescott &
Company's management. He is now a director, and the secretary and treasurer of Ogden Citv
Electric Light Company ; director and treasurer of the Salt Lake Power, Light and Heating Com-
pany ; director and treasurer of the Walker Brothers Company ; vice-president and director of the
Kentucky Liquor Company, and vice-president of the Conklin Sampling works. The foregoing is
properly mentioned to show the extensive and numerous enterprises and concerns of the Walkers,
over which J. R Walker has presided, with Benjamin G. Raybould as the chief and trusted servant
of his house.
Among our citizens Mr. Raybould is esteemed an influential and a prominent man ; and
though not classed among the capitalists of the country, his close and extensive association and
management, for the last twenty years, in connection with Walker Brothers, of some of the largest
enterprises and financial transactions of our Territory and adjacent Territories, have made him a
II
6o HISTORY OF SALT LAKE CITY.
power in the estimation of the financiers and business men of tiic West. He is a gentleman of ir-
reproachable moral character and integrity; he is liberal in his ideas yet decidedly a conservative so-
ciety man; he is of an intellectual and artistic turn of mind and is altogether a man of culture.
"Self-made" is a mark of distinction to which Benjamin G. Raybould is eminently entitled.
t
CALEB W. WEST.
Caleb Walton West, the present Governor of Utah, was born on the 25th, day of May, 1844.
at Cynthina, Harrison County, Kentucky. His father's name was Andrew Jackson West, which
name signifies that grandfather West was a Jackson r>emocrat ; his mother's name was Catharine
Murphy. They were both natives of Harrison County, Kentucky. His father's fimily were Ameri-
can born for several generations. HLs grandfather Mur[)hy came from Ireland to America, where
he married Milinda Remington, of old Virginian stock. Father West was a hotel keejxjr ; in politics-
he was a Henry Clay Whig, but his grandfather was a Democrat, as is his grandson, our Governor.
After attending primary schools in his native town, Caleb W. West, at the age of fourteen,
went to Millersburg, Bourbon County, Kentucky, to finish his education at the Collegiate Institute
of that town, conducted by Dr. George L. Savage.
The war between the North and the South broke out when he was in the seventeenth year of
his age ; and at the very onset he entered into the action, taking part in the raising of the first com-
pany organized in bis county for the Confederate service. He was elected orderly sergeant of this-
company, which with other companies were the first troops to leave the State. At the onset they
went to Na&hville, thence to Lynchburg, and from there to Harper's Ferry, where Col. Thomas J.
Jackson, afterv^ards known as the famous Lieut. -General Stonewall Jackson, was in command.
Young West served over a year in the Army of Northern Virginia. He was next in Gen. Jos. E.
Johnson's army, and with that General started from Winchester to join General Beauregard at the
battle of Manassas. His regiment had embarked on the train when an order was made for the
Fourth Alabama Regiment to take its place ; and West's regiment was left at Piedmont, and did not
taKe part in the battle. He was with Gen. Jos. E. Johnson's army at Fairfax Court House and Cen-
treville, and his company was part of the force that marched from Centreville and was engaged in
the battle of Drainesville under the command of the celebrated cavalry general, J. E. B. Stewart.
West's company suffered a loss of seventeen killed and wounded. They went into Winter Quar-
ters with Johnson's army ; next marched from Winter Quarters to Orange Court House and thence
to the Peninsula to meet the advance of McClellan's army on Richmond.
Early in the summer of 1863, the time of his company having expired, the men were discharged
at Richmond; but young West, with enthusiasm, desired to continue in the service. He went south,
and, meeting General Morgan at Montgomery, .Alabama, joined his command and proceeded to
Chattanooga, where he was mustered in as a private in Company E of the regiment that was com-
manded by General Basil W. Duke. When General Morgan organized bis brigade, West was
detached from his company and became a member of the advance guard and served with it until the
invasion of Kentucky by Kirby Smith's army, when West was appointed a Lieutenant by Gen Mor-
gan and assigned to Company I, in Duke's regiment. He served with this command until they in-
vaded Indiana and Ohio, and until he was surrendered, with the command, by Gen. Morgan, near
Salienville, Ohio, in July, 1863. He was carried to Campchase military prison, where he remained
until October, 1863, when he was transferred, with a number of other officers, to Johnson Island
military prison, set apart exclusively for officers. There he remained a prisoner until the nth day
of June, 1865.
On his release, the war being over, he returned to his native State, and in September, 1865, he
became deputy circuit court clerk and resumed his study of law, which had been interrupted by his
entering the army. He continued in that position until the latter part of December, 1866, when
having obtained his law license, he began the practice of the law early in 1867.
In June, 1867, Caleb W. West married Nannie Frazer, eldest daughter of Dr. Hubbard Frazer,
ARTHUR L. THOMAS. 6i
a native of his CDunty. FJy her he h:"is a son, Caleb Frazer West, born July 31st, 1871. His wife
died in May, 1882.
Returiiing to his public life we note that he was appointed county attorney to fill a vacancy,
and was re-elected to the same office, and at the expiration of liis term was elected judge of his
county, which position he afterwards resigned to confine his attention to the practice of the law. He
was a candidate before his party convention for the nomination as chancellor of his district, in 1880.
His friends claimed that he was fairly entitled to the nomination but he yielded and was not a can-
didate. His name was placed before the State convention as a candidate for Lieut. -Governor of his
native State in the last convention, in 1884 ; and though he had not been before the people until his
name was brought before the convention, and while there were six or seven other candidates he was
the contending one for the election.
Caleb W. West was appointed Governor of Utah by President Cleveland, in April, 1886, and
was confirmed by the Senate on the 29th of April. Speaker Carlisle was his sponser, and the whole
delegation of his State supported his appointment. He arrived in Utah on the 5th of May and
took the oath of office before Chief Justice Zane on the following day.
ARTHUR L. THOMAS.
Arthur Lloyd Thomas, Secretary of Utah Territory, was born in Chicago, Illinois, August
22d, 1851. He is of Welsh descent on both sides. His father Henry ]. Thomas, was born
near Swansea, Glamorganshire, South Wales. The mother's name is Ellinor Lloyd. She was
born at Beulah, Cambria County, Pennsylvania, and is of Welsh jjirents. Soon after his birth. Sec-
retary Thomas was taken by his parents to Pitsburg and there he was educated at the public schools
of that place. In April, 1869, when Secretary Thomas was between the seventeenth and eighteenth
years of his age he was appointed by Hon. Eiward McPherson to a position as clerk in the House
of Representatives, Washington, D. C. He remained an employee at the Capitol building until his
appointment May ist, 1879, as Secretary of lUah.
Secretary Thomas arrived in Salt Lake City, May 12th, 1879; George W. Emery was Governor
of Utah at the time. In the Spring of 1880, he was appointed supervisor of census for Utah, and
the same year was appointed special agent to collect the school statistics of the Territory ; also the
statistics of the different church denominations, especially the Mormon Church. The manner in
which he conducted this' census work has been commended by the press and the people of Utah
Territory and the supervisor of census.
In March, 18S2, he was appointed by the Utah Legislature one of a committee of four to
compile and revise the laws of Utah ; and was also, by the Legislature of 1886, appointed one of the
commissioners to compile laws, but the measure was vetoed by Governor Murray. During tne session
the first Legislature after he came to Utah, he was acting Governor, all but five days of the session, and
fully one-half of the session of 1882. In 1883 he was re-appointed Secretary of the Territory for
four years. At various times during his terms of office he has been the acting Governor. Probably the
most exciting and trying time in his exercise of the functions of the executive office was in his connec-
tion with the celebrated Hopt case. This man had three times been convicted and sentenced to death
for the crime of murder, but on appeal to the U. S. Supreme Court he was enabled to secure a new trial.
.A.fter this third conviction and sentence Judge Hunter, and afterwards the Territorial Supreme
Cour refused to grant a stay of execution and the Marshal made all arrangements for the execution.
Hopt's attorneys made application to apting Governor Thomas for a respite pending an appeal to the
U. S. Supreme Court. This was denied on the ground that there was nothing in the record indi-
cating that complete justice was not done by the verdict and sentence. The only thing to consder was
did the appeal work a stay of the execution, and Mr. Thomas said this was a judicial matter for the
Executive to decide.
The refusal to grant the respite was considered by the public as sealing the doom of Hopt ; but,
62 HISTORY OF SALT LAKE CITY.
the day before the morning set for the execution, public feeling ran so liigh that the leading mem-
bers of the bar appeared before the supreme court of the Territory, then in session, and submitted
that it was a monstrous propoMtion that a man should be executed pending his appeal to the higher
court; and, thus urged, at a special session held that evening, the court unanimously recommended
the acting-Governor to grant a respite. When the action of the court became known there was an
intense excitement throughout the city, people gathering in crowds to discuss the action of the
court. Next morning a citizens' mass meeting was held at the Walker Opera House and a
committee appointed to wait on the acting-Governor to protest against the respite being
granted ; during which time the principal streets were thronged with people ; but Mr. Thomas de-
cided that as the law granted to Hopt an appeal he was entitled to live until the appeal was heard,
and granted the respite. His course was at first condemned but a reaction in public feeling imme-
diately followed, and his action was approved and commended by the entire press and people of the
.Territory.
Another nDtableinstance was his connection with the celebrated Cannon -Campbell flection case.
Gov. Murray issued the certificate to Campbell. Immediately afterwards acting-Governor Thomas
was served with a writ of mandamus from the Third District Court to issue a certificate to Mr.
Cannon; but Mr. Thomas declined on the ground that that function of the Executive office in con-
nection with the last delelegate election, had been performed by Governor Murray.
As acting-Governor he has approved of many important statutes. One of great interoit
to Salt Lake was the amendment to the City Charter empowering the city authorities to license mid
regulate the liquor traffic, which is the first amendment of the City Charter with re erence to the
regulation of the liquor traffic not broken by the courts.
By the Edmunds act Secretary Thomas was made ex-officio Secretary of the Utah Commission,
created by this act; and subsequently by an appointment of the Secretary of the Treasury he was
made its disbursing agent.
Of his immediate family it may be noted that Arthur L. Thomas, was on the 6th of February,
1872, married to Miss Helena H. Reinburg, ofWashington, D. C, daughtei of Louis and Anora Rein-
burg, by whom he has a family ot five children now living. Of the results of his official course durr
ing his two terms as Secretary of the Territory, including the superadded functions of the com-
mission, it may be observed that he has won the good will and respect of the general public and of
the most intimatelv concerned with him in the exercise of his official duties.
JOHN T. CAI.NE.
John T. Caine, our De'egate to Congress, v/as born January 8th, 1829, in the parish of Kirk
Patrick, near the town of Peel, Isle of Man All his f:imily were natives of that island, being con-
nected with its old families. He received in his youth a fair common school education ; but he can
scarcely be said to have commenced life until he came to America. Being early impressed with a
desire to emigrate to the New World, feeling the limits of the old romantic island which had given
him birth, and learning of the vast advantages which America afforded to the laudable ambition
of men starting life, he resolved to cast his destiny among the people of this grand Republic. Not
as a Mormon, but simply as an emigrant to .America, at the age- of seventeen, he started, it may
be almost said alone, being accompanied only by a cousin, two ye.irs his junior, whose life has had
very little connection with his own. He arrived in New York early in the spring of 1846, where
he remained till the fall of 1848.
It will be remembered, by those familiar with the history of the emigrations from Great Britain
to this country, that about the year 1846 that tidal wave of emigration from England to this country
rose, which qas since done so much to develop American industries, and indeed the American civi-
lization itself. It brought over a class who are to-day known as the self-made men in every great
citv of the United States, and who, though not of native birth, rank among the best representatives
JOHN T. CAINE. d?
of this nation. Mr. John T. Caine was early among that class who felt this great emigrational im-
pulse of the age ; and, as already observed, it came to him before his connection with the Mormon
people.
Mr. Caine. however, had not been long in America before he was brought to a thoughtful and
very thorough investigation of the Mormon religion and movement. In the Isle of Man he
had heard Apostle John Taylor preach, but it was the stirring events oi the great Mormon exodus
from Nauvoo that so strongly arrested his attention to a study of this strange people. At this time
also, though young, he was investigating the complex subject of the religions and sects of the dav
generally; and, being of a self-reliant turn of mind and marked individuality of character, he
chose to identify himself with the Mormon people in the very crisis of their destiny. Rejoined
the Church in the spring of 1847, just about the time when Brigham Young and the Pioneers
started from old Council Bluffs on their first journey to the Rocky Mountains.
Joining the Mormons changed the whole course of Mr. Caine's life. It first led him to St.
Louis, in October of 1848. There he became thoroughly identified with the Mormon work, and
among other official duties, acted as secretary of the conference. While at St. Louis he married
Margaret Nightingale a distant kinswoman of the illustrious Florence Nightingale, the Crimean
heroine. This is the only wife our present delegate to Congress has ever had ; she is still living, has
a large family, and several of her eldest sons are young men of mark.
Mr. Caine and his wife remained in St. Louis till the spring of 1852, when he left and came
direct to Salt Lake City, arriving here in September of the same year. That fall and winter he
taught school on Big Cottonwood, It was during that winter he first became connected with the
old Deseret i:)ramatic Association, which was then giving performances in the Social Hall. After
awhile he was employed in the Trustee-in-Trust's office, where commenced his association with
President Rrigham Young, which ultimately brought Mr. Caine into first class society prominence,
he being for vears known as one of the President's most reliable and confidential men.
At the .April Conference of 1854, he was called to go on a mission to the Sandwich Islands.
He was gone from home two years and a half, during which time he labored on the Islands and in
California, returning to Salt Lake City in the winter of of 1856-7.
Immediately on his return from the Sandwich Islands his connection with the Utah Legislature
coinmenced, he being elected assistant secretary of the Legislative Council for the session of 1856-7
and re-elected to the same position for the session of 1857-8. For the session of 1859-60, he was
elected Secretary of the Legislative Council, and re-elected to the same position for the session of
1860-61.
His position as secretary of the Council brought Mr. Caine into intimate relations with Gover-
nor Cumming and other Federal ofificers ; and being a man ofbram, not given to extreme views, and
vv^ithal a naturil leader in society, he exercised considerable influence with the Governor and his class.
Indeed, it may be said that, down to the present time, few men in Utah representing the Mormon
people have exercised so much influence over the best part of our Gentile population as John T.
Caine.
It was just after Utah began to revive from the social "break-up," consequent of the "Utah
war," that the Salt Lake Theatre rose, under the management of Clawson and Caine. Those ac-
quainted with the history of our Territory will remember that, in the earlier periods, its dramatic
pages were quite marked — indeed, in the second decade, really magnificent. [See Chapters
LXXXIV. and LXXXV.]
During his professional visit to the States, Mr. Caine assisted in the immigration of that vear.
.After his return he resumed his place in the management of the Theatre, and in 1867-8-9 Clawson
& Caine were its lessees.
In 1070, the "more important duties of the State " called Mr. Caine into its service, and new
spheres opened to him of legislator and journalist, culminating at length in his election as delegate
to Congress.
Early in the spring of 1S70, when the Cullom Bill excitement was at its height, Mr. Caine was
was sent to Washington with the people's remonstrance and petition to Congress against that bill.
At the request of Delegate Hooper, he remained with him from March till the latter part of July,
the end of the session. Hooper frankly acknowledged the help, and from that time the present
delegate's career was forecast in Congress.
On his return, Mr. Caine found the Salt Lake Herald had just been started by Dunbar and
Sloan. He bcc.ime associated with them in this journalistic enterprise, assuming control both of
the editorial and business departments. The combination and the paper both soon became a marked
64 HISTORY OF SALT LAKE CITY.
success ; and, to this day, the Herald has hid a most important journalistic career in the history of
modern Utah, which began with the advent of our railroads, the opening of our mines, the rise of
our local political parties, and the almost simultaneous birth of the Silt Lake Tribum and the Salt
Lake Herald.
Mr. Caine was a member of the justly famous State Constitutional Convention of Utah, in 1872,
( 5ee Chapters LV. and LVL) In the whole of the action of this convention, John T. Caine voted
for the advanced measures, on the side of political reform, and social adjustment, and the Salt Lake
Herald daily supported the work.
In 1874 o'^'' delegate was elected a member of the Council branch of the Utah Legislature.
The following year he made a flying trip to Europe to recover his he.ilth. He was again in
t'.ie Council in the session of 1876, and was re-elected for the sessions of 18S0 and 1882. He was
elected Recorder of Salt Lake City in 1876, and was serving his fourth term in that office when he
was elected delegate to Congress. He was in the State convention of 1882, and was one of the
delegates sent to Washington to present the constitution to Congress and ask for the admission.
Of his election as the regular delegate to Congress from this Territory, we have fully ti-eated in the
history of our recent political campaigns.
Years ago we forecast him for service in Congress, when Utah should need her strongest avail-
able man for the timss. The veteran Hooper, than whom no more sagaciou? politician ever went
to Washington, decided that Caine was the man for Utah in the crisis then pending, and an eigh-
teen thousand majority of the people of this Territory so decided.
During the entire time that Hon. John T. Caine has been in Congress efforts have been made
by the minority party of Utah to secure legislation which would deprive the majority party of the
political control of the Territory and to procure more stringent measures against the practice of po-
lygamy. The most important of these anti-Mormon measures is the new Edmunds' Bill, which is
now pending in the House of Representatives. Mr. Caine has been indefatigable in his efforts to
defeat the enactment of these unconstitutional and oppressive laws. He has several times appeared
before the committees of Congress and made able arguments in defense of his constituents and to
correct the misrepresentations of their enemies. During the present session of Congress, Mr. R.
N. Baskin (who was sent to Washington by the anti-Mormons of Utah), assisted by Miss Kate
Field and others, appeared before the Judiciary Committee of the House and made lengthy argu-
ments in favor of the pending bill ; Delegare Came on his side replied in an effective speech and
conducted an able defense of his people. Mr. Caine is himself a monogamist, as his present po-
sition as Utah's Delegate in Congress would show ; but he understands the faith and religious in-
tegrity of his people. To him, as to them, the marriage system of the Mormon Church is essen-
tially a religious institution, and, therefore, though himself a monogamist, he consistently maintains
the religious rights of the Mormons as American citizens. In fuic it may be truthfully said, that in
the Hon. John T. Caine, the people of Utah has an efficient and courageous representative who has
dared to defend an unpopularcause and justify the conscientioas lives of his people.
HORACE S. ELDREDGE. 6s
HORACE S. ELDREDGE.
AUrOBIOGRAPHY. SKETCHES FROM HIS LOG BOOK AND REMINISCENCES OF
EARLY DAYS.
From the records of our old family Bible, — wliich in those days was more frequently used than
of late, — I learned that I was born on the 6th day of February, 1816, in the town of Brutus, Cay-
uga County, State of New York, where I was tenderly nurtured by kind and indulgent parents,
until I was eight years old, when death called my mother to another sphere. From early influences
and moral training, both by precept and example, I began, at an early age, to reflect much and con-
sider the necessity of preparing for a future state in order to again meet a pious mother who had
gone before. The watchful care of my eldest sister and a pious aunt who, at this time was one of
our household — I well remember her frequently leading me to Sabbath school and church — still cul-
tivated in me the principles of morality and a desire to be associated with good and honorable peo-
ple ; and at the age of sixteen, to the great satisfaction of my friends, I united myself with the Bap-
tist Church. But after study and reflection, I found I could not subscribe fully to the Calvanistic
doctrines of effectual calling, total depravity, the final perseverance of the Saints, etc. However, I
continued my connection with them until the Spring of 1836, when, for the first time, I heard a ser-
mon from an Elder of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, which prompted me to
a further investigation, and I became convinced that it was the only true order of religion that ex-
isted ; for it was the exact pattern of the Apostolic Church. In taking this step it is needless for me
to say that I was much opposed by real friends and persecuted by pretended ones ; but, disregard-
ing both, I resolved to take that course that would best satisfy my own conscience — "Choosing
rather to suffer affliction with the children of God than to enjoy the pleasures of sin for a season."
During the summer of 1836 I married and settled on a farm near Indianapolis, in the State of
Indiana, with every prospect before me of the enjoyment of a quiet and happy life. But feeling
desirous of associating myself with the people with whom t had thus become identified, I sold my
farm and in the fall of 1838, started, with the most of my effects, for the State of Missouri. I
wended my way towards the northwestern portion of the State, and stopped at Far West, then the
county seat of Caldwell County, where I purchased two hundred and thirty acres of land and a
comfortable house and lot in town, trusting, by prudence, industry and economy, to secure a com-
fortable living and a permanent home. But it appears that my anticipations were not to be real-
ized ; for difficulties and jealousies, both in political and religious questions, soon arose between
some of our people and other settlers ; and the Mormons, in some settlements in upper Missouri.
were forbidden to vote or to come to the polls to exercise their franchise. This finally resulted in a.
very serious quarrel on an election day in an adjoining county. Thus started, the difficulty was not
easily quelled, as the feud was encouraged and the spark thus ignited fanned by hireling priests and
political demagoges until it became very serious, and finally culminated in the exterminating order
of L. W. Boggs, then Governor of the State of Missouri. Scores of our people were then ruth-
lessly murdered, women ravished, and helpless women and children turned out of doors in the
bleakness of a severe winter, and added to all, our prophet and several other leading men were in-
carcerated in prison. But these atrocities have been published to the world ; and it is not a pleas-
ant theme for me to write about ; but I would mention that about twelve thousand of our people
were banished from the State to seek refuge in a more congenial clime.
I had purchased my land, secured my title and placed the same on record, having traced the
title to a legitimate entry from the Government of the United States. I felt that I had a right to pro-
tection in life and property, never having violated any law that would deprive me of the same ; but
as it was frequently stated by some of the Missourians, there was no law for Mormons in that State,
and no one that professed to be a Mormon was allowed to remain unless he would renounce his re-
ligion. I therefore left in the month of December and returned to my friends in the State of In-
diana. I will here state thit I still hold the titles to my land in Missouri, having never received the
first dollar for them. The most of our people moved into the State of Illinois, where they found a
9
66 HISTORY OF SALT LAKE CITY.
temporary asylum, while our Prophet, Joseph Smith, and several of his friends and brethren, were
held in prisons in the State of Missouri. After his escape from prison, and during the summer of
1839, he purchased a townsite and a quantity of land on the Mississippi River, at a point formerly
called Commerce — afterwards N'auvoo— where our people commenced to gather, and in the fall of
1840 proceeded to build a temple. During the fall I, with my little family, moved to Nauvoo, to
again unite my destiny with this persecuted people. I was present when the first ground was broken
for the erection of the temple in Nauvoo, and assisted in its erection until it was completed, in the
spring of 1846.
1 was in our exodus from Nauvoo in the spring and summer of 1846, and remained at " Winter
Quarters" during that year, where we commenced building log cabins and rude huts to winter in;
and on the 20th day of November I got my little family under the first and only roof that had
sheltered them since the early spring.
Much hardship, privation and suffering were also endured by our people during the two winters
we remained at Winter Quarters. There I buried two of my children, and many others were called
to mourn the loss of friends who fell victims to privation and want, for in that new and uncultivated
country but few of the comforts of life could be obtained for either love or money.
In the spring of 1848, I joined the company of President Brigham Young who, with about five
hundred teams, and Heber C. Kimball with another company of about the same number, started
on their second Pioneer trip for our new home in the mountains, hoping to enjoy a season of rest,
at least for a short time, far from our persecutors. We arrived in Salt Lake Valley on the 22d day
of September, having been over four months on our way, living in tents and wagons. Many of the
families that came in this season were compelled to live in their tents and wagons during the long
and tedious winter that followed; for the season being far advanced when they arrived, they were
not able to build. The timber and lumber for building had to be obtained from the mountains,
which were early filled with snow, rendering it impossible, with our worn out teams, to penetrate
them and obtain building material.
Notwithstanding the various difficulties and disadvantages labored under, however, and trying
circumstances that we were called to pass through, during the first season, in which the crickets
came and destroyed our crops, we felt to take courage, relying upon the Lord, and believing that
he would sustain us as he had hitherto done. Being nearly on a level as to worldlv goods, we could
sympathize with each other and were willing to e.xtend a helping hand to the sveak ; and as we di-
vided with the destitute, none could perish with hunger; but if that selfishness which characterizes
many communities had been indulged in and encouraged, the suffering would have been great.
During the summer of 1849, our agricultural prospects were more encouraging, and on the 24th
of July — the anniversary of the entrance of the Pioneers into the valley — we had a grand celebra-
tion and a general harvest feast at which all were invited to participate. Long tables being set in
the Bowery and loaded wfth the rich products of the valley, all were made welcome, and there being
many strangers present who were on their way to the gold mines of California, it was a day to be
remembered by those present. Being myself one of the committee of arrangements and marshal
of the day, I had plenty to do ; but it gave me pleasure to see so happy an assemblage of peopi'
after all we had passed through.
In speaking of myself, the first winter after I arrived in this valley I was appointed marshal of
the Territory, and assessor and collector of taxes; and as it was necessary for us to effect and keep up
a military organization for our protection, I was appointed to take charge of the ist brigade of in-
fantry and received there a commission of brigadier-general of the militia.
Being desirous to encourage agriculture and taking great pleasure in that pursuit, I commenced
a small farm in the country, which has since been a source of great pleasure as well as small profits,
enabling me to better provide for the wants of a family. I also built a comfortable residence in the
city, and moved into it in the spring of 1852, this being the first comfortable house we had enjoyed
since we left Navvoo in the spring of 1846.
In the fall of 1852, I was called upon and appointed by the general conferencs of the Church
to take mission to St. Louis, Mo., to preside over the St. Louis Conference, to act as general
Church agent for the immigration and as purchasing agent for the Church.
In the spring of 1853, our immigration from Europe amounted to about three thousand souls
and required over three hundred wagons and a thousand head of cattle to transport them.
These, together with what was termed the American emigration, swelled the number to over
four hundred wagons and nearly two thousand head of cattle. It required an immense
amount of labor to deliver these at the overland starting point, besides purchasing the provi-
HORACE S. ELDREDGE. 67
sions, outfits and all the necessaries for a three or more months' camp life. After seeing the
last company started, I returned to St. Louis to enjoy the sliort season of rest which very much
needed ; but about this time I received an extremely kind letter from President Brigham Young,
suggesiing that, as the heated and perhaps sickly season was coming on I had better not remain in
St. Louis but take a trip north. This suggestion I accepted and went to New York State where I
spent a few pleasant weeks with my relatives and iriends in the place of my birth and early child-
hood. On my return to St. Louis, I had to look to some Church matters, and, after visiting several
branches and giving them the necessary counsel, I began, by contracting for wagons, etc., to lay
my plans and arrange for the coming season's immigration. Having formed many agreeable ac-
quaintances, I spent the winter much pleasanter than I had the previous one. The following spring
brought its cares and responsibilities, as a large emigration from Europe as well as many from St.
Louis and vicinity and different parts of the States were preparing to migi-ate to our mountain
home, and all were more or less looking to me as agent to provide for them their outfit by the way
of teams, provisions, and the various necessities for a trip across the plains. I also received orders
from Salt Lake City to purchase a large quantity of merchandise, machinery, agricultural imple-
ments, and to provide wagons, teams, teamsters, etc., for their transportation. Having but little or
no help that I could rely upon, nearly this whole labor devolved upon me, and I was compelled to
give it my personal attention.
Several of our brethren organized what they called the " Mormon Social Club," and spent their
leisure evenings in meeting together and enjoying themselves with singing, recitations, instrumental
music, etc. They kindly proposed to give me a complimentary benefit, and accordingly they rented
a theatre, and got up a very respectable programme. The entertainment was quite a success, and
was liberally patronized, as the house was filled. This was highly appreciated by me, more from the
kind spirit manifested by my friends than the pecuniary aid it gave me, yet both were acceptable un-
der the circumstances. Near the close of the performance one of the committee requested me to
step behind the scene and when the curtain dropped to announce a .short recess while thev were pre-
paring for the closing farce. The curtain was immediately lifted and I stepped forward to the foot-
lights and was met by one of the committee who presented me with a letter, and as I extended my
hand to receive it, he replied I will read it for you, to which I bowed assent. This took me by sur-
prise as I had not the least idea of what the letter was or what they meant in placing me in that
seemingly awkward position. I stood motionless while he read, as one listening to his death war-
rant. * Having the original letter before me, I here give it verbatim, as well as my answer, which I
have preserved with great care.
"St. Louis, January 30th, 1854.
" H, S. Eldredge, President of the St. Louis Conference .
" We, the ' Mormon Social Club,' having viewed with entire satisfaction, your labors in the re-
sponsible situation which you occupy, and having seen with what anxious care you have discharged
arduous duties, and with what impartiality you have ministered to the Saints. We approbate the
same with pleasure, and therefore we voluntarily g\\& \o you this compli7nefttary beneft, and z\so
herewith present to you this gold ring as an abiding testimony of the same.
"That we, the 'Mormon Social Club' have not alone been the interested observers of your conduct
is manifest by this crowded hall of Saints and friends, who have assembled with us to contribute
their meed of praise, and by their presence to express approbation of this testimony of our esteem.
"Our wishes are for you in the future that your course may continue prosperous, and always
found in the path of goodness.
"Signed on behalf of the St. Louis M. S. Club.
"S. J. Lees, Andrew Sprowl, J. Seal,
"Committee of Management."
At the close of his reading the foregoing letter the other two committee stood at my left with a
beautiful gold ring, suspended on a ribbon ornamented with two beautiful rosettes, and stepped for-
ward, placed the ring on my finger, and then stepped back again. I replied :
" It is with a heart full of gratitude to my brethren of the ' Mormon Social Club,' that I accept
of this token of their love and esteem for me. As well do they have my heartfelt thanks for their
perseverance and untiring zeal which they have manifested in preparing and presenting this com-
plimentary benefit.
" I also tender my thanks to this assembly for the liberal patronage which they have favored us
with on the present occasion. And as my past course has been viewed with entire satisfaction by
68 HISTORY OF SAL7 LAKE CITY.
you, my brethren of the club, as well as the good feeling that seems to be manifest upon the present
occasion, so may I ever live and conduct myself that I may secure the confidence, esteem and
kind feelings of all good people, both in time and in eternity."
During the winter of 1854-5, I remained home with my family, having been elected a member
of the Legislative Assembly. Forty days of the time was employed in assisting to enact laws for
our young and growing Territory.
In the fall of 1856, I entered into an arrangement with W. H. Hooper to take a stock of goods
to Utah County, and on the 23rd of October, started a train well loaded with merchandise, amount-
ing to $15,000. I proceeded to Provo, rented our store and opened our goods. Our adventure
was tolerably successful, as I sold quite a quantity of goods and bought several hundred head of
cattle. It was my first mercantile transaction with W. H. Hooper. In the month of February, I
was notified that I was requested to return to St. Louis and to be ready to start the ist of March
to again resume the Presidency of the St. Louis Conference, and to act as a general Church and
emigration agent. I therefore commenced arranging my business, turned over my goods and cattle
to W. H. Hooper, effected a satisfactory settlement and was ready to start at the appointed time.
During this season, great excitement prevailed throughout the United States regarding the
" Mormon War" — or President Buchanan's war upon the Mormons, — in which General Johnston
was placed in command of two thousand, five hundred men, who were called the "Flower of the
American Army," and with all the necessary supplies, arrangements, arms, ammunition and imple-
ments of war, to march against and, as many supposed, to put to the sword and annihilate the
Mormons. It was frequently remarked to me, while attending to busine s in St. Louis, that they
would " use up " the Mormons and not even leave a " grease spot." One prominent business gen-
tleman expressed himself, in the kindest feeling, I believe:
" If I were you, I would immediately fetch my family away from Utah, for they are bound to
use up your people."
I remarked that I considered iny family safer in Utah than I would if they were in St. Louis.
He seemed surprised and almost ridiculed the idea ; but during the late war between the North
and the South — if my memory serves me it was in 1864 — I stood in St. Louis in company with the
same gendeman, viewing a regiment of soldiers marching down to a steamer that was waiting to
bear them to the battle-field. He said to me:
'' I would to God that my family and effects were in Utah."
Circumstances had somewhat changed his feelings in the intervening six years.
I continued my labors as usual until July s^st, when I started for the Eastern cities, having
business in Washington, Philadelphia and New York. On my way, I called at Indianapolis, where
I had formerly resided, and called on several of my old acquaintances. On the 4th of August, I
arrived in Washington, antl as is very difficult to hurry business in Washington, sometimes difficult
to accomplish it at all, I was detained longer than I anticipated. Having business with the auditor of
the U. S. Post Office Department, and also with the Treasury Department, Mr. Suter, of the firm
of Suter, Lee & Co., rendered me what assistance he could, and closing my business on the 8th, 1
left for Philadelphia, where I remained until the loth, and I then proceeded to New York. On the
nth, I took the steamer Isaac Newttt, for Albany, and landing there on the morning of the 12th,
took the cars for the west and arrived in St. Louis on the i6th.
Pefore reaching St. Louis I overtook the previous train, a perfect wreck, — several persons killed
and many injured. I was expecting to have been on this train, but had been persuaded by some of
my friends to remain over one train, otherwise I might have been one of the unfortunates. My
business now required me to do a great amount of traveling. I received several remittances from
Washington, in compliance with arrangements made while there.
On September 17th I left St. Louis for Florence and other places up the Missouri River, tojk
the cars to Jefferson City, steamed from there to St. Joseph, and staged to Florence.
While in Florence I enjoyed the hospitality of Brother Alexander C. Pyper, who always wel-
comed me to his house, for which I always felt grateful, as my business called me there frequently ;
and the kindness that I received from him and his fimily will ever be remembered with feelings of
gratitude.
Having been absent over a year. General Eldredge felt anxious to return to his mountain home.
On his arrival in Salt I^ake City he found that the community hai removed South at the approach
of [ohnston's army. The autobiography continues :
HORACE S. ELDREDGE. 6g
Myself and animals were very much fatigued with the long and tedious journey, and after rest-
ing a day I started for Provo to find my family, who, like the rest, had forsaken their home and
taken to almost a camp life. My animals being so worn down, it t.iok.me nearly two days and a
night to reach there.
About this time it was considered safe and advisable to return to our homes; and as the exodus
had been general, there was now a general moving north, the roads being thronged with teams and
stock.
After getting my family and effects moved back to our home, I began to make preparations for
another trip to the States ; and on the 14th of September, I took le?.ve of my family and friends
and started, being joined by several other parties that were going east. Our company included
G. Q. Cannon, J. W. Young, H. D. Haight, and F. Kesler, my wife and child forming a part of
the company.
My trip to the States this time was for the purpose of purchasing merchandise and machinery
and freightmg the same the coming spring. I arrived in St. Louis November ist, and on the
morning of the 2nd, I made my deposit in the bank of J J. Anderson & Co , having brought with
me ^26,000 in gold, and it being rather bulky and heavy to handle I was very glad to get it off my
hands in a safe deposit ; and in the evening I removed to private boarding.
I left on the 9th for Chicago, where I arrived on the loth and put up at the " Brigs House "
I called on Mr. P. Schuttler and settled with him for wagons that bad been previously bought of
him, and contracted with him to furnish me nearly two hundred wagons for the next season, advan-
cing him ^3,000 on the contract, and on the i2fh, started on the return to St. Louis, arriving on
the 13th.
Having a large amount of machinery and merchandise to purchase, I concluded to visit the
Eastern cities and manufacturing districts, and accordingly left St. Louis per steamer Skenango, for
Cincinnati, arriving on December 3d. After spending several days in Cincinnati, examining ma-
chinery, we proceeded to New York and other Eastern cities. From New York I visited several
manufacturing districts in the New England States, New Jersey and Pennsylvania, and spent several
days in Washington. While in New York I made purchases of merchandise and settled consider-
able business for W. H. Hooper. I soon left for the West and arrived in St. Louis February 23d.
April 2d, I again left St. Louis for Chicago to purchase more wagons, finding that I needed
more than I had engaged. After settling vdth Mr. Schuttler for the wagons already engaged, I con-
tracted for seventeen more for my own individual use, and returned to St. Louis.
On April 23d I left St. Louis for Parkville, Mo., to purchase more cattle. While on board the
steamer yfA« D. Parry, on our way up the river, we came into collision with the steamer Michigan,
in which the latter and her freight were much damaged. I purchased seventy-five yoke of oxen and
eight mules of Mr. Thomson, sent them on to Florence in charge of James Brown and James
Lemmon, and returned to St. Louis on May 3d.
Having completed purchases for n\y first train, I shipped the balance of my freight for this
train, and a number of passengers on the steamer Isabella for Florence, leaving St. Louis on the
1 8th of May.
On the 19th, I closed my business up to that time, and having negotiated a loan from J. J. An-
derson & Co. for ^4,000 on my own account, I proceeded to Florence, where I loaded my own
wagons, and moved out into camp. It was the handsomest train that I ever saw on the plains. It
consisted of seventy-two wag >ns, all of uniform style, each drawn by three yoke of oxen, and
rolled out under the charge of Capt. Horton D. Haight, provided with all the necessary outfit. It
reached Salt Lake in ?eventy-two days, all in good trim, about the quickest trip that a freight train
of that size ever made.
On June 12th, I visited James Brown's camp, a few miles from Florence, consisting of about
fifty wagons of emigrants. Having organized them, on the 13th they also moved out and proceeded
on their journey. After attending to the loading and starting of my own train, under the charge ot
Jas. Lemmon, with seventeen wagons, loaded with my owa merchandise, I returned to St. Louis,
accompanied by F. Little and his son, James, to make further purchases and to load several mule
teams that had been sent from the Valley by Prest. B. Young, H. C. Kimball and others.
July 5th, we closed the most of our purchases, and settling our bills, shipped the goods and
prepared to leave. On July 6th, I left for Florence and arrived on the loth. I there commenced
preparations for a start as soon as the steamer Emigrant arrived with our goods. Leaving the mule
train in charge of F. Little, I left Florence with a light carriage and mules, taking with me J. W.
70 HISTORY OF SAL7 LAKE CIIY.
Coward, accompanied by Joseph W. Young and a few others with light vehicles for making good
time, intending to overtake the trains that had started.
We arrived in Salt Lake City, August 15th, with tired teams and ourselves pretty well worn
out
On the arrival cf my train, in charge of James Lemmon, I sold to \V. H. Hooper an interest
in the goods, and we opened them in a part of the building since occupied by the Salt Lake Herald.
We were very successful in our business during the winter, George Cronyn and myself managmg
the business, for Hon. W. H. Hooper having been elected Delegate to Congress, proceeded to
Washington.
In the spring of i860. President Brigham Young desired me to go East again and purchase
machinery for a paper mill, and other machinery and merchandise. We made preparations to re-
plenish our stock, and I left my home again on the 2nd day of April, engaging H. I). Haight to
accompany me to take charge of our train on the return.
I arrived in Florence, May 9th, and leaving H. D. Haight in charge of the mules and wagon,
proceeded to Washington and called on W. H. Hooper. I spent a day and a half looking around,
visiting the Capitol and White House, had an introduction to President Buchanan, and on the 23rd
of May left Washington, in company with W. H. Hooper, for New York, to make our purchases.
After accomplishing these, I returned to Philadelphia and purchased and shipped the machinen,- for
the paper mill, after which I left for the West.
Having purchased wagons from P. Schuttlcr, of Chicago, our arrangements were pretty well
completed, and I proceeded on to Florence. On the arrival of our goods, we commenced loading
the wagons, and started our ox train in charge of Capt. H. D. Haight, and a mule train in charge of
John Y. Green. In the meantime, Capt. Hooper had arrived, to return with me to Utah, and hav-
in^ arranged for a baggage wagon, and driver and night watch, together with a comfortable phaeton
drawn by good mules for ourselves, we again set out for our mountain home.
On the arrival of the train, we opened our goods in a store then owned by \V. H Hooper,
which has since been torn awav to give place to the Deseret National Bank, and commenced a suc-
cessful business under the firm name of Hooper, Eldredge & Co. — George Cronyn being the silent
partner, with a small interest in the firm. During the fall and winter our business was as successful
as we could have expected, and I remained in Utah during the spring and summer of 1861.
There seemed to exist, for some unknown cause, a degree of prejudice against merchants, par-
ticularly Mormon merchants, to that extent that we concluded to retire for a season at least. Hence
we wound up our business in the fall and divided our goods on hand, I concluding to store mine
for the present.
In the spring of 1862, after the close of the session of the Legislature, of which he had been
elected a member. General Horace S. Eldredge was again requested by Brigham Young to go to
New York to superintend the emigration, and to purchase machinery and merchandise. This year's
mission was performed with the fidelity and executive ability which has ever characterized Horace
S. Eldredpe's missions and business journeys to the States. In the spring of 1863, he was again
,^ppointed to the same work for the Church, and at this point we reach another link of our commer-
cial history. He says :
Having been called upon to go again to New York to superintend the emigration, I left by
overland stage in company with F. Little and L. S. Hills — the two latter to remain at Florence, on
the frontiers, to attend to the outfitting, and I priceeded to New York to attend to forwarding the
immigrants from that point to Florence. Having some means of my own, I invested between $8 ,000
and $10,000 in machinery for a cotton factory, which was got up under contract by Messrs. Dan-
forth & Co., of Patterson, New Jersey, with the understanding that Prest. Brigham Young would
have the same freighted to Salt Lake City and erect buildings for them.
While in New York, I was induced to purchase some small lots of staple goods which I con-
sidered would meet a ready sale on their arrival. I therefore invested a few thousand dollars, and
on arriving home found that my friend Hooper had been doing the same as a similar venture. On
comparing invoices, we found we had a very fair assortment and including what I had in store of
niv original stock would justify us in opening a retail store which would give us employment during
the approaching winter.
Having a very fair line of staple goods, we had a successful trade and realized fair returns for
our investment. In the meantime, W. H. Hooper had invested between $12,000 and $15,000 in
woolen machinery for the sake of encouraging home manufiicture, and President Brigham Young
proposed purchasing our interests in the cotton and wco'.en machinery, and to pay us in freighting
I
HORACE S. ELDREDGE. 7/
raerchmdise frjm ths Missouri River the coming season. This arr.ingement was entered into, and
in the spring of 1864 we proceeded to New York and other Eastern cities and purchased our
goods, amounting to over ^150,000 first cost, the freight on the same amounting to over ;^8o,ooo.
Our goods arrived in due time in the fall, and we opened them in the store then known as the
Livingston & Bell building, since known as the " Old Constitution Building." We had a very suc-
cessful trade during the winter, and in the spring of 1865 W. H. Hooper sold out his interest to H.
B. Clawson, and the firm was changed from Hooper & Eldredge to Eldredge & Clawson.
In the spring of 1865 H. B. Clawson went to New York to purchase goods for the firm and con-
tracted with parties known at the time as the Butterfield Co. to freight our goods from the Missouri
River to Salt Lake City. This company having inexperienced managers, and knowing but little about
freighting over the plains, were late in starting, and the consequence was that the fall storms overtook
them and much of their stock perished. Their trains were snowed in in the mountains and never
reached here until the next spring. But our goods had to be paid for and were not received until
twelve months after they were purchased; this very much embarrassed us, and the loss that we sus-
tained by this delay could hardly be estimated. However, we were not discouraged, for in the spring
of 1866 Mr, Clawson went east and purchased a fine stock of goods and effected a settlement with
the Butterfield Co. for our freight the previous year.
During this season, we were more successful in getting our goods freighted, being fortunate
enough to find responsible parties for freighters ; but the following year, in 1867, we m t with another
misfortune. Mr. Clawson purchased a fine stock of goods and shipped the same to the care of the
U. P. R. R. at Omaha to be forwarded to Julesburg, or the terminus of the U. P. R. R. A train
with about twenty thousand dollars worth of our goods was attacked by Indians near Plum Creek
on the Platte River, and burned, and the goods destroyed. On learning of this, Mr. Clawson re-
turned to New York and duplicated the purchases. The loss of these goods, and the delay in
getting the second purchase were great drawbacks to us. The managers of the U. P. road at that
time refused to settle for our loss, and we were compelled to commence a suit against them and
obtained a judgment for about f 19,500. They took an appeal and seemed disposed to keep us out
of our money for an indefinite time, but we finally settled with them for ^16,500, and got our money
in 1871 — after waiting about four years.
Our second purchases arrived safe, but quite late in the season. During the season of 1868,
we were more fortunate, and by a strict application to business succeeded in satisfying all our credit-
ors. Notwithstanding our various reverses, no one ever lost a dollar by them except ourselves, we
always paying principal and interest, and never asking a discount. Considerable business in mer-
chandise was done here by men having no local interest, and liberal profits were made, and while
they made their money here they would go elsewhere to spend it and do little or nothing to en-
courage or build up the Territory. It was therefore thought best to adopt a plan by which the
profits of at least a portion of the business would be retained here and give the real settlers and
consumers some of the benefits. Hence "Zion's Co-operative Mercantile Institution" was organ-
ized in October, 1868, and in the spring of 1869 commenced business, and an opportunity was
given for all who wished, to take stock in the Institution. Between four and five hundred persons
availed themselves of this opportunity and thus became partners, as it were, and could purchase
their own goods and share in the profits. Eldredge and Clawson sold out their stock of goods to
the Institution, and I took twenty-five thousand dollars stock in the same to start on, I afterwards
bought in and increased my stock to over sixty thousand dollars. I was elected one of the di-
rectors in the first organization, and have held the position ever sinne, except six months in 1872.
during which time I was president of the Institution.
In June, 1869, W. H. Hooper, H. S. Eldredge and L. S. Hills opened a bank in a small
adobe building under the name of Hooper, Eldredge &. Co., with L. S. Hills, cashier, with a paid-
up capital of ^50,000. In 1870, we increased our capital and organized under the name of the
"Bank of Deseret," and in 1872 we increased our capital to ^200,000, and organized as the"Deseret
National Bank," deposited the necessary bonds and issued §180,000 National Currency, with W.
H. Hooper, President, myself Vice-President, and L. S. Hills, cashier.
In the fall of 1869, 1 made a trip to San Francisco, California, for business and pleasure com-
bined. I spent a few weeks very pleasantly and profitably, and returned in December. On the
morning of January 27th, 1870, I received notice that I was wanted to start for New York on the
the 29th in the interest of Z. C. M. I.
Having accomplished my business in New York, I left on the evening of February 24th for the
72 HISTORY OF SALT LAKE CITY.
West, and stopping over one day in Chicago, I arrived home on March 3d, having had a very
pleasant and prosperous trip.
Our fortieth annual conference met on the 6th of April and adjourned until the 6th of May to
meet in the new Tabernacle, which was being completed. At this conference I was called and set
apart to take a mission to England to preside over the European mission. Accordingly I made
preparations and started on the 13th of May, accompanied by my wife Chloe. There were about
twenty-five missionaries accompanying us.
We arrived in New York on the 21st and stopped at the St. Nicholas hotel. We engaged pas-
sage on the steamer Idaho, which was to start on the 25th ; this gave us little time to spend in New York.
Mr. Costes, agent of the Williams & Guion line, presented me with a complimentary ticket for my-
self and wife, and according to appointment we left pier 36, North River, at 3 p. m. on the 2Sth.
The first few days we experienced some sea-sickness, but it soon wore off and we had a pleasant
and prosperous trip. We arrived in Liverpool on the 6th of June, 1870. We repaired to the Mor-
mon office at 42 Islington. Brother Albert Carrington was absent at Bristol, but returned the next
day. On our arrival, however, we found Elders John Jaques and A. W. Carlson, who received us
very kindly. After looking around and resting a little, I was prepared to enter upon the duties as-
signed me, and in a few days Elder Carrington sailed for America, and left the responsibility of the
office and mission upon me. But with the faithful labors of Elders Jaques and Carlson I got along
very well. The former was assistant editor of the Millenial Star, and the latter was book-keeper
and assistant in the emigration, both of which required a large amount of labor and attention. At
intervals between the sailing of the vessels, I spent much time in visiting the principal cities in Eng-
land, Scotland and Wales. I enjoyed myself very well during the summer season, but when the
fall storms commenced, with the heavy fogs, I took a severe cold and it settled on my lungs. I suf-
fered constantly with a cough that seemed to rack my whole system. I could get no relief, but it
seemed to increase with every little exposure I was subjected to. After enduring it until about the
middle of February, 1871, I resolved to try the Continent and the mild climate of Italy, and get
relief if possible. Accordingly I left Liverpool February 21, 1871, accompanied by my wife. We
stopped over night in London, and were joined for the trip by Elder Lorin Farr. On the 22d we
crossed from Dover to Ostend, and from thence to Brussels in Belgium. We stopped at the Hotel
de Europe. This being about the close of the Franco- Prussian war, we deemed it more prudent
to postpone our visit to Paris until our return, when we anticipated that matters would be settled,
peace restored, and that we could enjoy our visit better then than at this time, hence we concluded
to go by the way of Brussels, Cologne and up the Valley of the Rhine.
Having escaped the fogs and smoke of old England, we concluded to remain a few days and
look around, as we found Brussels to be a very interesting place, and General A. L. Chetland and
his kind lady took great pains in showing us around and visiting with us the places of interest. On
the 25th we proceeded to Cologne and were much interested with the immense Cathedral, said to be
the largest in the world and has been two hundred years in the course of erection and not com-
pleted yet.
From thence we traveled by rail up the valley of the Rhine, as the river at this season of the
year was not open to navigation. The scenery was beautiful and the old towers and castles and
fortifications were very interesting, as we could catch a hasty glimpse of them as the train was hastily
moving along. I have no doubt that views and scenery were much pleasanter as viewed from a
steamer. We arrived at Basle and stopped for the night.
From thence to Berne, on the 27th. We were met at the depot by Brothers G. H. Snell and
Edward Schoenfeld, at 2 P. M.
We remained one night in Berne, and left an appointment to meet with them in their confer-
ence on April 2d. G. H. Sncll joined our company for a trip into Italy, and at 1:45 v, M., February
28th, we took the cars for Lucerne and stopped at hotel Du Lac. On the morning of the first of
March we were aroused by the porter at 4 o'clock, to take the steamer up the Lake Lucerne to
Fluellen, where we were to commence to ascend the Alps via the St. Gothard Pass. We had a
very pleasant ride up the lake, but our ascent and descent over the Alps might be considered ro-
mantic, but not so pleasant to me as some other rides I have taken. However, by making several
changes from diligences to sleighs, and from sleighs to one horse pungs and back again to diligences
we dined at Andernort, a small hamlet in a little valley ; here we commenced a more rapid ascent
with one horse sleds and an Italian driver ; at 3:30 we passed the summit of the Gothard Pass
the snow-capped mountains still towering high on either side, and a fierce, cutting wind blowing
through the gap. Here we changed horses and drivers, the latter being equally as anxious for gra-
HORACE S. ELDREDGE. jj
tuities as those we left, but we found we had only commenced to realize the annoyance of Italian
beggars. Our descent was rapid and sometimes perilous, as a misstep of a horse under full head-
way would have sent us down thousands of feet. There were fourteen sleds in the company, and
the sled that carried our baggage was drawn by a refractory horse and upset several times, at one
time rolling over horse, sled and all four or five times, but fortunately the road curved around and
when the horse stopped rolling he was within a short distance of the track below him, hence we
were only detained a short time. At 5:30 we arrived at Irolo, a small, filthy, Italian village, and
dismissed our sleds and took diligence and arrived at Bellizona at 11 p. M. tired and hungry, and
with but a poor prospect of satisfying our hunger except with Italian hard bread and wine, but hav-
ing been traveling nearly twenty hours, rest and sleep were equally as desirable as the rough fare
set before us, and we soon retired. On March 2d, we proceeded to Milan, a beautiful city in
northern Italy. We visited the great cathedral and ascended to the top, which gave us a fine view
of the city and surrounding country. This cathedral has over six thousand beautifully carved mar-
ble statuaries, besides a large amount of other beautifully carved marble ornaments, but time and
space here will not allow me to follow the particulars of my diary, so we will pass on to Berona and
from thence to Venice, where we spent several days very pleasantly. The Piazza, St. Mark's Ca-
thedral, the Tower, the Palace of Days, the Prison, the Bridge of Sighs, etc., would all offer inter-
esting items to write upon, as well as the romantic rides in the gondolas on the grand canal and
bay, but we must hasten on, leaving the description of the gallery of fine arts and many other items
of interest for others to contemplate. We will pass on through a beautiful level country to Bologna,
from thence through a more romantic and mountainous country to Florence, visiting the galleries of
fine art, the King's palace, the park, Zoological Gardens, etc. We then pass on to Rome through a
mountainous and romantic country, many old towers, castles and ruins of former days, and arrive
in Rome on the 9th of March at 8:10 P. M. and take rooms at Hotel D^ LMineve. We spent eight
days and nights in Rome, and went from thence to Naples, and also to the ruins of Pompeii ; there
had been a very severe storm which prevented us from ascending Mt. Vesuvius. After spending a
day amid the ruins of Pompeii, we returned to Naples. While going through the museum at Na-
ples, we met General Tom Thumb and wife and Minnie Warren, they having passed through Salt
Lake City a few months previous to our leaving, traveling west on a tour around the world.
We concluded to ascend Mt. Canaldoli, where we had a beautiful view of the Bay ot Naples
and the surrounding country from an old monastery. An old monk was very courteous to us.
The only way to reach it was by narrow paths and defiles only wide enough for a footman and
a donkey. Our little donkey took us safe to the summit and back, a distance of six miles.
Among many other things that I noticed in Naples, was the peculiarity of the milk dealers.
A man with ten or fifteen goats and a dog to assist him to drive, would pass from house to house and the
man would clap his fingers to his mouth and give a shrill whistle; the dog wotild round the goats to,
the servant girl would come to the door and hand the man a cup or measure, and he would step up
to a goat and milk it full, receive his change and pass on to the next, and so on. It occurred to me
that if a similar custom was adopted in our country with milk venders, peoDie would know better
what they were getting and could water it to suit themselves. At i p. M. March 21st, we left Naples
and arrived in Rome that evening and remained until the next day, from thence to Leghorn and
from Leghorn to Pisa, where we made another halt. Pisa is said to be one of the oldest cities in
Italy, has about 50,000 inhabitants, has beautiful surroundings and many places of interest. We
visited the cathedral, the baptismo, the Leaning Tower and Carpo Satito or burial ground. There
were fifty-three shiploads of earth brought from Mt. Calvary, in order that the dead might repose in
holy ground. From Pisa we proceeded to Genoa via La Spezia, crossing the mountains by dili-
gence. On our arrival in Genoa, we learned more particulars about the breaking out of the Com-
munists in France ; and calling on the U. S. Consul, Mr. Spencer, he advised us to return through
Germany instead of France, as we had anticipated, as there seemed so be no safety in France.
Consequently after spending a few days very plea.santly in Genoa, we turned our course and pro-
ceeded to Verona and spent a short time there very pleasantly ; from Verona we went through
Austria and Bavaria to Munich in Germany, then from Munich to Zuriet, and Berne in Switzer-
land, where we arrived at 5 P. M. March 29th.
On the 31st we went to Geneva and spent one day and night and returned to Berne to fill the
appointment that I had made to meet with them in conference on April 2d. Accordingly we at-
tended conference on Sunday the 2d of April, at 10 A. M., and at 2 and 6 P. M.,and on Monday,
the 3d, we took our leave of G. H. Snell, E. Schoenfeld and C. W, West, and started for Copenha-
gen in Denmark, stopping one day and night at Frankfort-on-the-Main ; from there to Hamburg,
10
74 HISTORY 01' SALT LAKE CITY.
and on the morning of the 7th we left Keil by steamer for Corsor, and were met on landing by W.
W. Ciuff, who accompanied us to Copenhagen
On the 9th, according to appointment, we attended conference, commencing at 10 A. M. and 2
and 8 P. M. Monday loth, attended meeting at 10:30. and at 2. P. M. attended the Sunday school
examination, which was very interesting and gratifying to see the improvement made by the chil-
dren under the superintendence and instruction of Elder W. W. Cluff.
On the nth we visited the Rosenberg Palace, the deposit of the relics of the Kings of Den-
mark, The wealth of the wardrobes and various articles and ornaments and armory was astonishing,
as well as the paintings and tapestry. We were shown a saddle which belonged to Christian IV.
of the i6th Century, which, with the ornaments, cost ^^30,000.
April 15th went to Malma in Sweden, and on the i6th attended meeting ; on the ijdi returned
to Copenhagen. The weather was cold and I suffered much with a cough ; having enjoyed a very
pleasant time in Copenhagen, we left on the 20th, and stopped a day or two at Hamburg, and a gen-
tleman by the name of Bolin, paid us much attention and added much to the pleasure of our visit.
On the 23d we left Hamburg for Liverpool, via Cologne, Ostend, Dover, and London; arrived in
Liverpool on the 25th, having been absent two months and five days. I remained in Liverpool until
the 5th of May, making arrangements for the emigration for the season. Succeeded in making sat-
isfactory arrangements with Mr. Ramsden, to take our continental pa.ssengcrs from Copenhagen
and other ports to New York via Hull and Liverpool.
May 5th went to Port Maddock in North Wales, to inspect the narrow gauge railroad and roll-
ing stock of the same. May 6th took a ride from Port Maddock up into the mountains about 13
miles on tlie narrow gauge road, it being 23K inches wide. Was pleased with the working of the
road; it wis said to be one of the best paying roads in the Briti.sh Isles. On my return to Liverpool
called at Carmarthen and took a walk around the Castle of Carmarthen where the first Prince of
Wales was born.
May 13th left Liverpool for Glasgow to attend Conference. Held three meetings on the 14111,
a number of American Elders being present.
May 15th went to Loch Lomond for a pleasure trip, called at the Castle of Dunfermline and
ascended to the top, had a pleasant ride on the lake and returned to Glasgow.
May i6th left Glasgow for Edinburgh, visited many places of interest, among which was the
Old C-istle, Holyrood Palace, Scott's Monument, etc., and returned to Liverpool.
May 20th I went to Newcastle-upon-Tyne to attend a conference, was met at the station bv sev-
eral American Elders and they accompanied me to Shields, where the conference was to be held.
Sunday, 21st, held three meetings ; 22d, called a counsel to settle some business or difficulties
that seemed to e.xist, which was amicably arranged and I returned to Liverpool. Elder Albert Car-
rington and several other Elders having arrived during my absence, we proceeded to assign them
to their fields of labor.
May 27th, I went to Bradford to attend a conference. Sunday 28th, attended three meetings.
Monday 29th, returned to Liverpool. June 3d, went to London to attend conference, and on the
4th held three meetings. June 5th, visited Hampton Court. Tuesday 7th, returned to Liverpool.
■ As Elder Carrington had been sent to release me, I commenced preparing to return to my
mountain home. On Sunday, June nth, I attended meeting in Liverpool for the last time, Elder
George Reynolds occupying part of the time and myself the balance. On Wednesday 14th, we
took passage on the steamship NevuJa for New York. Mr. G. Ramsden, the agent of the Williams
& Guion line, welcomed my wife and I on board, giving us the first choice of staterooms. We
had a very pleasant and prosperous trip, our genial Captain Green taking great pains to make things
pleasajit and agreeable; myself and wife were not seasick after we left Queenstown, but some of the
passengers were not so fortunate for the sea was quite rough much of the way; had no severe storm,
but headwinds. We arrived in New York the 27th, and remained for several days, then proceeded
on our way home to Utah, where we arrived on the 6th of July, 1871, having been absent about
fourteen months. We were much pleased to again enjoy our mountain home and the society of
friends.
In June, 1872, I made another trip to San Francisco. In January, 1873, ^ ^^''is called upon to
go to New York in the interest of Z. C. M. I. I left home in company with Hon. W. H. Hooper
and Alexander Majors, Esq., the former gentleman returning to Washington as Delegate, and the
latter on business of his own.
I returned in the early part of March, having been detained some time on account of the block-
ade of snow on the Union Pacific Railroad.
HORACE S. ELDREDGE. 75
In April, 1872, I was elected President of Z. C. M. I., and resigned the following October, at
which time W. H. Hooper was elected superintendent and took charge of the Institution November
ist. During the Summer and Fall of 1873, a general panic seemed to sweep over the land and af-
fect more or less the commercial interests of the whole nation. Our Territory was not exempt from
the effect of the same, and in November I was called upon to go again to the Eastern Cities in the
interest of Z. C. M. I., visiting St. Louis, Chicago, Philadelphia, New York and Boston, and re-
turned December 25th.
My health being very poor, and suffering from a severe cold that seized upon me while travel-
ing, I was under the necessity of remaining very quiet at home for some time.
In the early part of February, W. H. Hooper, Supt., requested me to go East and assist in
purchasing goods for the Spring trade. Consequently, I left on the loth for New York accompanied
by O. S. Clawson. We were quite successful in making our purchases, and on the arrival of Joseph
F. Smith and Wm. Sadler in New York, I concluded to visit Hon. Geo. Q. Cannon at Washington,
and left with them on the 6th of March for the Capitol. After having a very pleasant visit with Mr.
Cannon, we returned to New York, and after laboring with O. S. Clawson very attentively for sev-
eral days, purchasing and filling orders received from Supt. Hooper, we went to Philadelphia and
purchased several bills of shoes and obtained samples, etc., and returned to New York. On April
loth, I received a telegram from W. H. Hooper intimating for me to return home, and I immedi-
ately closed my business and at 8 p. m., left for the West and arrived on the 17th, glad to once more
enjoy a rest at my own home.
I now anticipated a little rest from the cares and responsibilities of public business, and had re-
solved not to take upon myself any further cares than those of one of the Directors of the Institu-
tion and Vice-President of the Deseret National Bank. I remained in this quiet way until October,
1876, when I was solicited to take charge of the Institution and was elected Superintendent; and on
the 1st of Nov. entered upon the duties thereof. Although at the time, I had no idea that I should
continue over twelve months, I remained in charge of the Institution four years and three months,
or until February ist, 1881, when I retired, my resignation being accepted and Hon. Wm. Jennings
succeeded me as Supt. During this time I made some improvements. In the Spring of 1879, t^^
Directors authorized me to build an addition to the store in Salt Lake City, which was completed I
believe to the satisfaction of all concerned — the addition being fifty by one hundred and fifty feet. In
the Spring of 1880, the Directors authorized me to build a suitable building at Ogden for our busi-
ness which was also satisfactorily completed. It is one hundred by one hundred and fifteen feet,
three stories high exclusive of the basement, and contains a respectable banking house and office.
I felt that the cares and responsibilities of the position were wearing upon me, and the duty,
that I owed to myself and family prompting me to tender my resignation, January 20, 1881, I
retired with kind feelings towards all, leaving the Institution in a prosperous and healthy condition.
I hope it may continue in the same, and be a source of increased prosperity and profit to the Stock-
holders and a blessing to all the sons and daughters of Zion..
Since the above was written. Gen. H. S. Eldredge was again appointed superintendent of the
Institution, namely on June 2d, 1883, which responsible office he holds to the present time, and in
January, 1886, after the demise of Hon. W. Jeiuiings, he was elected vice-president, which honor-
able position he continues to fill with satisfaction to the stockholders, the institution's patrons, and
public at large. The General is a'so one of, if not the oldest director of Z. C, M. I. now living.
j6 HISTORY OF SAL 7 LAKE CITY.
WILLIAM JENNINGS.
In the personal illustration of the commercial history of Utah, we will now biographically sketch
the Hon. William Jennings, in whose Eagle Emporium Z. C. M. I. opened its career.
Certainly one of the most marked of the commercial men of Utah was William Jennings. He
was the son of Isaac Jennings and Jane Thornton, and was born at Yardley, near Birmingham, Wor-
cestershire, England, September 13th, 1823. His father was a wealthy butcher of Yardley, and he
is also of good family stock. Some years ago, the elder Jennings was one of the claimants in the
famous Jennings chancery suit for the immense sum of several million pounds sterling; he proved
himself a lawful claimant to the estate — hence connected with numerous aristocratic families who
were also claimants ; but the great Jennings property was never allowed to pass out of chancery ; so
William Jennings comes not from an impecunious family but one in which money inheres. As the
son of the thrifty opulent butcher of Yardley, it can b; also readily comprehended that the Utah
merchant prince was familiar with the uses and advantages of money in his early youth. At the same
time, he was strictly trained to the necessary economy and industry of successful business ; and this
early training stood him in good service in his after life when he became possessed with the resources
of a millionaire.
At the age of seven, a disaster befell young Jennings, which was the cause of scholastic defici-
ency, and he believes it indirectly led to his leaving home in his early manhood for America. At
the age named, he broke his thigh bone and for fifteen months thereafter he was on crutches. He
was also naturally ot a fine temperament and a delicate constitution, so that it was difficult for his
parents to rear him. He was treated as a tender branch of the family tree, and allowed to have his
own way, and it was his pleasure to leave school when he was eleven years of age, up to which time
his accident and delicate health unfitted him for scholastic studies. The rest of his father's children
— five brothers and five sisters — went to boarding-school and received a solid English education.
This scholastic deficiency Mr. Jennings has keenly felt, and he has sought to compensate for it in his
patronage to artists and art, in his cultivation of the beautiful around his grounds and home, and in
giving substantial education to his sons and accomplishments to his daughters.
But his disinclination of youth for the hard dry studies of the school-room found an earlier com-
pensation in his love for business. In the healthy exercises of a country life, and in the purchase of
stock for his father in the cattle markets and of the farmers around, he both improved his constitu-
tion and acquired the sagacious habits of trade for which Nature had so abundantly fitted him. The
following characteristic story of William Jennings' boyhood will illustrate thii natural capacity as
well as his father's confidence in his excellent business judgment.
On this occasion, when he was fourteen years old, his father sent him to Coalsell market to buy
cattle. Having carefully looked around, the boy selected a prime lot of about half a dozen head,
and in the true off-hand style of trade, asked the owner what he would take for his cattle. I he
farmer, amused with the boy, in a spirit of banter set a very low market price upon them. " I will
take them," said the boy; and the farmer, to keep up the joke, he confessed when too late, con-
cluded the sale, whereupon young Jennings slipped out his scissors, quickly cut the Jennings' mark
on each of the beasts and paid down the purchase money. By this time, the joking fiirmer discov-
ered that he had also sold himself; and with considerable bluster he sought to retreat from his bar-
gain, but young Jennings appealed to the circle of farmers around wlio had witnessed the sale and
they maintained him in the fairness of the purchase. Reluctantly the f;\rmcr gave u]5 the discussion
and the youth drove tlic cattle into " Jennings' herd." Every one who knows our successful Utah
merchant, will at once recognize the man in tliat plucky, sagacious boy trader of Yardley.
In the year 1847. William Jennings emigrated to .America. As he was not a Mormon at the
time, we may reasonably seek the inspiring cause. The accident of his youth as already noticed,
had indirectly led to this event, which gave thereafter the whole shaping of his life. Having been
permitted by his parents and elder brother to have so much of his own way in his youth, his self-
reliance and great natural ambition inclined him, in early manhood, to seek a broader field than
his native place afforded for his energies and enterprises. In fact, at the age of twenty-four, he
WILLIAM JENNINGS. 77
felt capable of miking his marlv in the world in his own line— which was that of commerce — and
his subsequent career has shown that he did possess the genuine impulse which inspires all self-
made men at about that age. It will be remembered by those familiar with the emigrational history
between England and America, that from about 1837 to 1850, throughout all the towns and cities
of Great Britain, there was an agitation and a talk among such youths as William [ennings — bold
self-reliant spirits — relative to the subject of emigration to America. The migratory impulse was,
and still is, the very impulse of the age. It has peopled the New World and has given to it fresh
vitality in our own times. This impulse of the age possessed William Jennings in his young man-
hood without his having any connection with the Mormon people or there being any ordinary
necessity for him to leave home to seek his fortunes. His desire was to come to America. His
parents and brothers gave to his purpose no cordial approbation ; but with the true spirit which we
all recognize as belonging to your self-made men, he set out for the New World without his "family
portion" and landed in New York early in October of 1847.
On his arrival in America, young Jennings had but little means; yet he was courageous with
his primitive resolution to make his mark in the world. The non-approbation of his family con-
cerning his emigration to this country, at once piqued his personal esteem and his self-reliance ;
and he made up his mind to prove to his flimily that he could succeed in life by his own native
energies. At the onset of his career in America, he set the space of seven years before he would
again see the face of his parents. It was nineteen years, however, before their meeting came; and
when at length they met, though all his family in England had risen to social independence, the
successful merchant prince of Utah had overtopped them all in wealth. But we must return to the
early part of his career.
On his arrival in New York, after looking around a few weeks, he engaged for the winter with
a Mr. Taylor of Manchester, England, a pork packer, at a wage of six dollars per week. The
next year he crossed the A'leghany mountai:is, by the way of Cumberland and Wheeling, to Cin-
cinnati, thence to Chillicothe, Ohio. During that year he was robbed of between four and five
hundred dollars, leaving him absolutely destitute. Being in this reduced condition, he next en-
giged as a journeyman butcher at a small salary.
Leaving Ohio in March, 1849, he went to St. Louis, but finding that place unsuited to his pur-
pose he left in April for St. Joseph, where he engaged to work for one Carby, to trim bacon ; but
afterwards went to the butchering again. In die fall ef the same year he was seized with cholera,
which prostrated him four weeks, at the expiration of which time he found himself penniless, and
two hundred dollars in debt.
,\lthough broken down by sickness and robbed of his money, his grit, backed by strong com-
mercial ambitions, was unconquerable, and he set to work again to renew his fortunes. This native
courage and industry, coupled with his general good conduct, brought to his assistance a benevo-
lent Roman Catholic Priest whose name was Scanlan. Prompted by his sympathies for the young
emigrant just convalescent and re-engaging in the struggle ot life, and having faith in his strict bus-
iness honesty, the worthy Priest loaned William Jennings ^50. With this money he made his really
successful start in life ; for hitherto, as we have seen, it had been for him hard work at low wages
varied by the losses of his savings by robbery and sickness. But his business career had now com-
menced. With this little capital he set to work, sagaciou.sly turned every dollar to good account
and relieved himself of all his liabilities. Thus with the lucky fifty dollar loan of a benevolent
priest, William Jennings laid the foundation upon which he has since amassed an immense fortune,
ranking him to day among the millionaires of America, To his honor be it said that he ever re-
members, in the reminiscences of his life, to speak with gratitude of " Father Scanlan," ascribing
to him the beginning of his fortune and success.
In the year 1851, and while in St. Joseph, William Jennings married Miss Jane Walker, a
Mormon emigrant girl This was the beginning of his relations with the Mormon people whom he
did not, however, join in church membership at that date; but this marriage, and the providence of
his life, soon thereafter led him to Utah, where he was destined to become one of the chief founders
of the commerce of the West. In the spring of 1852 they left St. Joseph en route for Utah and
arrived in Salt Lake City early in the fall. Having an eye to commercial business before he left
St. Joseph, Mr. Jennings invested all his means in a stock of groceries and brought across the
plains three wagons loaded with this class of merchandise from which he realized a handsome profit
in Salt Lake City. Shortly after his arrival, he joined the Mormon Church and became fairly iden-
tified with the social and religious interests of the community. At that datp, Utah stood in great
need of such men as Jennings, Hooper, Eldredge, the Walkers, Ciodbe and Lawrence; and, as ob-
J 8 HIS TORY OF SALT LAKE CIl Y.
served in the opening chapter, it was at this time that such a class of men began the work out of
which has grown the business and commerce of our Territory.
But the earher activities of Mr. Jennings were engaged in the Butchery business, and in the
establishment of several branches of manufacture niturally connected therewith. In the spring of
1855, he added to his butchery business, — which he established on his arrival in Salt Lake, — a tai.-
nery, which in turn gave him supplies for saddle and harness making and his boot and shoe manu-
factory. This line of business was as grand a success for the country as it was remunerative to
himself.
In 1856, William Jennings was called on a mission to Carson Valley. It was the policy of the
Church at about this period to send out men of his class to found new Territories which, however;
at that time meant the extension of Utah. Thus Nevada was founded by the Mormons, and Car-
son was the point for the mission of these business and commercial men. William Ni.\on was also
sent to Carson Valley, and with him went Mr. " Rob " Walker as his wagon master, carrying with
him a small train of merchandise. On his part, Mr. Jennings started butchery in connection with
his mission, supplying the mining camps in that region with meat. He also cut logs from the sur-
rounding mountains, with which he built a substantial house. Having remained sixteen months in
Carson Valley, in the spring of 'S7 he returned to Salt Lake. This was the period of the "'Utah
war." When he arrived home he found the people much excited over the Buchanan expedition.
But in spite of the fact that Johnson's army was marching on Utah, for the avowed purpose of
"wiping out" the Mormons, he set to work and built a large butcher shop, at a cost of $1,000, on
the site where the Eagle Emporium now stands. Perhaps no example more striking in his career
could be noted to show William Jennings' sagacity and foresight. Evidently he did not believe in
Utah being turned into a desolation either by a United States army ur the command of Brigham
Young. Indeed, in building up the commercial corner on which he has since raised his colossal
Emporium, he was very much forecasting the policy of Brigham Young and the real direction of
coming events. In the Spring of '58, however, he joined in the general exodus of the Saints, and
took his family and household effects to Provo ; but continued his business in Salt Lake City.
After the return of the Saints to their homes, Mr. Jennings purchased in i860, some ^40,000
worth of dry goods of Mr. Solomon Young, and started in the mercantile business. From this
date he became the leading Utah merchant ; and his example and gigantic enterprize did much to
inaugurate a new era in our Utah commerce. In fact, the mercantile ambition of Wiliiam Jennings
became now well defined. He was aiming to make himself one of the great merchants of the
West.
The following year he was engaged in supplying telegraph poles for the line between Salt I^ake
and Ruby Valley. The same year he went to San Francisco to purchase merchandise, traveling to
Sacramento, a distance of 800 miles, by stage,
In the year 1863, in conjunction with his merchandising, he carried on a banking and broker's
business. In flict, he was the first of Salt Lake's merchants to buy and ship Montana gold dust.
He was also owner of the first steam flouring mill in Utah.
In 1864 he built the Eagle Emporium, a large and substantial stone building, in which he done
a business amounting to $2,000,000 per annum, — thus making himself the leading merchant of the
western country.
During the year 1869, he assisted in organizing the Utah Central Railroad Company, himself
becoming its Vice-President, and remaining as such until the time of his death. He also took part
in organizing the Utah Southern Railroad, and succeeded President Brigham Young as its President,
At a later period he became one of the founders and directors of the Deseret National Bank.
He was elected a member of the Territorial Legislature under Governor Doty's administration,
who also gave him his commission as lieutenant-colonel of the Xauvoo Legion of the militia of
Utah.
Mr, Jennings being a strong believer in the principle of self-insurance, adopted this method of
protecting himself against losses at an early period after his business transactions in Utah warranted
such protection, using cattle as a basis. The amount he would have to pay insurance companies
as a premium, he invested annually in cattle, until the income from this source netted him ,?io,ooo
per annum ; this he invested in railroad stock until his insurance amounted to the enormous
sum of ^100,000, and his herd to nearly 3,000 hea d. He was an owner in Utah railroads to the
amount of about $400,000, and was a bona fide millionaire.
William Jennings' commercial career was marked with as many salient points as that of the
Walkers, and he has been quite as prominent a figure in history. On the Church side, he occupied
WILLIAM JENNINGS 7p
a corresponding position to tliat of the Walker Brothers on tlie Gentile side. In their relations to Utah,
among its founders, they are equally from tiie Mormon people; but, while the latter tlirew all their
weight into a commercial warfare against the church and its co-operative movements, the former
directed all his money, potency and enterprise toward'- its commercial supremacy.
Jennings was in business long before the Walker Brothers, but chiefly in the home-manufac-
turing line, in connection with his extensive stock dealing and butchering. As the great home-manu-
facturer of Utah, he filled a sphere of usefulness to the community, not only in starting several
branches of home industry, upon which the very life and prosperity of the communities depend,
«ind also thus emphasizing the home policy of the Mormon leaders. In this, Jennings has been the
exception to all the other merchants, both Mormon and Gentile, particularly when speaking of the
■earlier times. Until the opening of the mines, he alone was the merchant-apostle of home-indus-
tries, and even then, true to his precedents, he became a railroad builder with Brigham Young, and
moved with sagacity towards the devedopment of the solider resources and capacities of the Ter-
ritory.
1 hus William Jennings rose above the mere home-manufacturer to the merchant, the ban-
ker and the railroad director. His great hit as a merchant was in 1864, the year in which he built
his " Eagle Emporium; " he bought early in that year a large amount of goods in San Francisco.
:^50o,ooo in New York and St. Louis, besides $100,000 of Farr & Co., and several smaller lots of
goods in Salt Lake City in the same year. Major Bairows had brought to Salt Lake City a mam-
moth train of goods, worth a quarter of a million dollars, at a wholesale bargain, which he desired
to sell to one house. Jennings was the only one who could dare the venture at that period, and
this he did against the earnest protest of his business managers, who feared so great a risk. He pur-
chased the quarter of a million's worth, and " came to time" handsomely. It was the luckiest hit
■of his life, for, independent of large profits, it raised him at once among the great merchants of
America, and enhanced the commercial standing of Utah herself. He said this was his chief object
in purchasing that train of goods, rather than the temptation of a hai^gam. From that time Jennings
■was the merchant prince of Utah, and he held the sceptre until he resigned it to Brigham Young, as
president of " Zion's Co-operative Mercantile Institution."
Undoubtedly Mr. Jennings' greatest service to the Mormon people, and especially his value to
President Young, was in the establishment of that famous institution. This is more apparent from
the fact that the President had to force it in the face of a commercial rebellion. The great merchant
■was of more service to him at that moment than a quorum of Elders.
Mr. Jennings was a lover of home magnificence. To his examples Salt Lake City owes greatly
its fine solid appearance of to-day. With h5s Eagle Emporium he commenced the colossal im-
provements on Main Street, in which he was followed by William S. Godbe and the Walker Bro-
thers. His home is quite palatial, and, during the last five years, many of our most distinguished
visitors, including General Grant, have partaken of his hospitality.
The following is culled from our article on the " Beautiful Homes of our City."
The first mansion reared in Utah that could fairly claim the initial place under the classification
of the " beautiful homes of our city " was, undoubtedly, that of William C. Staines, E;q., which has
since been transformed into the princely residence of the Hon, William Jennings. The grounds
originally consisted of two very fine garden lots, of an acre and a quarter each, so that the ample
grounds with their delightful cottage, made quite a mark in the growth of the city. Mr. Staines was
an English gentleman of considerable natural refinement, and love of culture. Home, to his chaste
and artistic mind, was a thiiig of beauty ; and horticulture being his profession his gardens were
soon distinguished as the ornament of the locality near Temple block. The first flow.ers for the mar-
ket were grown in his garden ; and his orchard was a rare one and under high culture. Deviating
somewhat from the strict plan of the c'ty, which was that every house should be erected in the
centre of the lot, but only twenty feet fro n the front, Mr. Staines built his neat mansion near the
centre of the grounds, on the spot where now stands the Devereux hiuse, and set out in front the
finest part of his orchard, consisting of the choicest fruit tre"s of every kind.
About the year 1865, Mr. Staines sold his home to the late Joseph A. Young, eldest son of
President Young, for $20,000 ; Mr. Young also purchased the corner lot of the block, thus enlarging
the grounds to three lots. In 1867, Mr. Jennings purchased ttie home and gardens of Joseph A,
for $30,000. He afterwards boaght out tlie Cooper property for $3,000; the Tripp property for
$3,000 ; another part of the block of Brigham Young for $3,000 ; and Omar Duncan's lot for $6,000.
The grounds now aggregated over five full city lots, being more than half the block and the entire
frontage of the block on South Temple Street. After the purchase of the property by Mr. Jennings.
8o HISTORY OF SALT LAKE CITY.
it changed from its distinctive character of gardens to ornamental grounds of a palatial residence ;
while by the addition of the adjacent lots it lost nothing of its former garden importance. The area
in front of the mansion was cleared of the fruit trees and transformed into ornamental grounds
with iron gates at the entrance and broad carriage ways sweeping up to the mansion, giving to the
place quite an aristocratic appearance. The magnificent piece of property now consists of the man-
sion, ornamental grounds, the finest kitchen garden in the Territory, besides grapery, hothouses,
thoroughly appointed stable, and carriage house as seen in the picture of Devereux House.
Here, after this property came into the possession of Mr. Jennings, a meeting was brought
about by the tact of the merchant citizen between President Young and a personage of far greater
national importance than Governor Gumming. That personage was Secretary Seward. The visit
of this famous statesman to our city, after surviving the tragedy which put our nation in mourning^
will doubtless be remembered by many of our citizens, as also the very favorable impression which
was made upon the Secretary's mind by the opportune visit. Not unlikely, that visit for a period
counteracted some of the pernicious effects of the Golfax visit at an earlier date ; and something of
the pleasurable tone of Seward's experience in the " City of the Saints " was due to the sagacious
management of Mr. Jennings.
The Secretary dined at the house of the munificent merchant. Brigham, at the time, was away
from home on a visit to the settlements ; but Seward expressing a desire to meet the founder of Utah,
Mr, Jennings invited the statesman to dinner again on Saturday, this being Thursday, promising the
presence of Brigham Young. Seward was pleased with the arrangement, and the appointment was
made for a private dinner and a cosy interview between the two great men. Mr. Jennings thereupon
telegraphed to President Young and was answered by him that he accepted the appointment to dine
with Mr. Seward at Jennings' house. The Saturday came; the famous personages met and dined
and drank wine together. Mr. Jennings, on all notable occasions, cultivated the style of the Eng-
lish table, especially that prolonged intercourse of guests, so pleasing both to the genial nature of
the gentleman of society and to the luscious self-love of the epicure ; so that the founder of Utah
and the illustrious American statesman could have met nowhere to better advantage for rehearsal of
national reminiscences and the exchange of personal courtesies than at the epicurean table of William
Jennings. Brigham Young, too, had infinite tact in conversation. He was not the man to play the
august priest and oracle to a Seward. He was simply an historical .\n)erican, meeting one not
more historical than himself; and Seward was quite conscious that Brigham Young was his equal.
National affairs rather than the " Mormcn problem " formed the topic of conversation. Brigham
sustained the conversation of several hours with his marvellous natural sagacity, ever and anon put-
ting in his wise appreciative views of national policy, which at length he climaxed with a fine com-
pliment to Seward. Drawing back from the table, he enquired, admiringly :
•' Mr. Seward, how is it possible that you can carry the multitudinous affairs of this vast republic
so perfectly and connectedly in your head? "
" Mr. Young," replied the statesman, " my life training has made me as much at home in the
complex affairs of the nation as you are as the religious leader of a people ! "
Secretary Seward afterwards visited President Young at his office ; but the interview at the
house of Mr. Jennings was the marked historical meeting between these two famous personages.
A few years afterwards, General Phil. Sheridan and staff come to Utah to plant another mili-
tary post in our Territory. At the time, it was apprehended by the Government that the Mormons
would resist the rigorous measures which were then contemplated. President Grant, prompted by
Vice-President Colfax, had resolved to end forever the dominance of the Mormon authorities over
this Territory.
Probably President Grant, himself, at the time, desired to place our Territory under a semi-
military rule ; it is certain that CJovernor Shaffer directed all his movements to that end. But Phil.
Sheridan was not insensible to the social influence of the Mormon people. Like General Sherman
afterwards, he stole away from the anti-Mormon circle, which fain had captured him, to enjoy an
hour's social intercourse in the elegant home of Mr. Jennings. Here, though our merchant citizen
had been a polygamist, the General met nothing suggestive of the necessity of harsh measures to
be applied to Mormon society Here was a home of refinement and wealth, with an estimable
lady presiding over it who had united two branches of her husband's family together as her own.
General Sheridan was susceptible to this home influence. Mormon society, after all, was not bar-
baric. The people had made the wilderness blossom as the rose; but this was not the whole, nor
the most promising to the eye of an intelligent visitor. Here, in a Jennings and a Hooper, the one
a native American, the other English, Sheridan saw growing up, representative of the Mormons.
WILLIAM JENNINGS. 8i
wealthy society men who belonged naturally to the commercial progressive class rather than to the
hierarchal orders ; and it is' a social axiom, held by practical men of the world as well as by States-
men, that the class who represent wealth and social independence are the best hostages of civiliza-
tion. President Grant had positively instructed Sheridan to take counsel with Mr. Godbe and his
friends, so the General himself stated, and now, when reconnoitering on our social basework, he
saw other strong independent men. who, while remaining inside the pale of the Church, were, in
their social potency, outside of all priestly dominance. With such a view, General Sheridan hon-
ored William Jennings, and it is a similar appreciation which has led so many illustrious personages
in latter years to visit the homes of Hooper and Jennings, even when they have not so condescend-
ed to the President of the Church ; nor is it too much to say that those visits have brought Mormon
society into better repute both in America and Europe.
On the visit of President Grant to our city, Devereux House was again honored. The Presi-
dential party remained in Salt Lake City but a day and a half. The president and his wife gave
audience at the Walker House to ladies and gentlemen of the city, but excepting a call upon a rela-
tive, the only home he visited in this city was that of William Jennings.
On their way to the train, the President and his party drove up to Devereux House and alighted
Here they tarried for nearly an hour. The President drank wine with the wealthy Mormon mer-
chant and encouraged a cordial social spirit which he could not have done in the home of a Mormon
apostle — at least he would not have done so, which was significantly exemplified in the meeting be-
tween him and President Young.
Mr. Jenningsand his daughters, Jane and Priscilla, when in Washington, returned the visit and
were received with particular consideration by the President and his wife. When they were leaving,
Mrs. Grant sent a bouquet down to the coach to the young ladies. Their father got the bouquet pre-
served at Philadelphia, and it is still treasured in Devereux House as a souvenir of the exchange of
visits between President Grant and wife and the Jennings familv.
Mr. William S. Godbe was at an earlier date received in like manner by President Grant. Such
examples afford proof of the fact that though anti-Mormon delegations sent to Washington may be
encouragingly patted on the back by members of Congress, yet after all these representative society-
men, who have come up from the Mormon people, are esteemed as the best guarantee that Utah and
the United States will by and by come into family harmony.
A similar view may be taken of a more recent visit of General Sherman in the Hayes party.
It will be remembered that two committees offered to do the honors to President Hayes on his visit
to our city. The one was that of the City Council; the other that headed by Governor Murray.
The latter was accepted ; but Pres'dent Taylor, with a select party, also went to Ogden by special
train to receive President Hayes. On their way to the city General Sherman enquired for his "friend
Jennings," whom he presently met with much warmth of manner, and soon the two were in cosy
conversation. During the journey, some disparaging remarks were made about the Mormons by
the Governor's party, which General Sherman rebuked.
"You must not attempt to tell me anything against this people," he said, " I know all about
them."
And then the General expatiated upon what the Mormons had done in the West, and of their
great service to the nation. Their religion aside, this is the proper view of the people ; and no man
could speak with better point on the question than General Sherman, one of the founders of Cali-
fornia.
The Presidential party were scarcely two hours in the city when General Sherman with ladies
s'ole away to visit the home of his " friend Jennings." Mrs. Hayes alterwards expressed her regrets
to Mrs. Jennings that she was not one of the party ; for the ladies had spoken to her enthusiastically
of their visit io Devereux House
Many distinguished persons from abroad have also honored Devereux House with their pres-
ence. The Japanese Embassy came down and drank wine with the merchant prince. The wife of
Sir John Franklin was several times entertained by Mrs, Jennings. Lady Franklin expressed great
delight m finding a home in Utah so like the elegant homes of her native England. She was charmed
with the English style of the family and especially interested in Mrs. Jennings and ber daughters.
During her stay, the merchant citizen took Lady Franklin to the Lake and other places of local note.
Among the many distinguished visitors may be named Lord Dufferin, Governor of Canada and
his Countess: but enough has been said of the historical memories of Devereux House, illustrating
the rare social influence which these beautiful homes of our city exercise over the minds of visitors
11
82 HISTORY OF SALT LAKE CITY.
who are equally conscious as our own people that not long since this spot where now is found the
Zion of the Mormons was marked on the map as a part of the American Desert !
William Jennings was elected Mayor of Salt Lake City in 1882, and his administration gave
general satisfaction. Undoubtedly he would have been returned a second term as Mayor, but for
the constrained interpretation put upon the Edmunds' Bill, for he was legally eligible to the office.
The general record of his public life and of his connections with the commerce of the entire Terri-
tory, the building and management of our local railroads will be found interspersed in the foregoing
chapters of this history. He died January 15, 1886, and his memory was honored by the citizens
generally.
T. G. Webber and J. R. Winder, a committee appointed by the directors of Zion's Co-opera-
tive Mercantile Institution at their meeting on January l6th, 1886, to draft resolutions of respect
to the late Hon. William Jennings, Vice-President of the Institution, made their report, which was
accepted and adopted, as follows :
Preamble and Resolutions of respect to the late Honorable William Jennings, Vice-President of
Z. C. M. I.
Whereas : On Friday, the 15th day of January, 1886, it pleased the Almighty Creator and
Father of all to remove from our midst, by the hand of death, Hon. William Jennings, Vice-
President of this Institution ; and
Whereas. He was closely connected with this Institution from its inception, having been
appointed a director in the winter of 1868, holding that position continuously till November, 1873,
when he was elected Vice-President, an office he retained until his demise ; he also held the office
of Superintendent from 1881 till 1883 ; and,
Whereas, In all these important positions he has manifested a deep interest in the welfare of
Zion's Co-operative Mercantile Institution, which is largely indebted for success and prosperity to
his capable efforts, his judgment in all commercial matters being necessarily — owing to his
imusual experience and ability — of great value ; and
Whereas, While bowing submissively to the decree of an Allwise Providence, we have a
keen sense of the loss that Zion's Co-operative Mercantile Institution has sustained by the death
of so energetic and able a supporter as Hon. William Jennings. It was Dot alone in a business
capacity that we prized him, but also in the closer bond of personal friendship, as he was endeared
to us by his many noble traits of character, general kindness of heart and lavish hospitality being
among the amiable qualities of his nature ; nor are we alone in placing a high estimate upon the
value of our late departed friend and brother, the community having lost the presence in their midst
of one who has acquitted himself honorably and efficiently in the public service, as a member of
the Territorial Legislature, as Mayor of Salt Lake City and in many other prominent positions ;
therefore be it
Resolved, As the sense of the officers and directors of Zion's Co-operative Mercantile Institu-
tion, that in the death of Hon. William Jennings we have not only been deprived of the services
of an honorable, energetic and capable business man, but association with a loved and esteemed
brother, and properly considering ourselves as among his intimate, personal friends, and viewing his
many excellent qualities of head and heart with admiration, we not only hold his memory in the
highest degree of respect, but accord to him a foremost place in our affections ; also
Resolved, That our heartfelt sympathy be tendered to the bereaved family who, in the depar-
ture from this life uf a loVing husband and affectionate father, have suffered an irreparable loss ;
also
Resolved, That the above preamble and resolutions be spread upon the minutes of this board
meeting in full, and that a copy thereof be engrossed and presented to the family of our late
■esteemed associate and friend.
li
WILLIAM H. HOOPER. 83
WILLIAM H. HOOPER.
The late Honorable William Henry Hooper was the son of Henry Hooper and Mary Xoel
Price. He was born at the old homestead known as Warwick Manor, Dorchester County, Eastern
Shore of Marylaud, December 25th, 1813.
His father, who died when the subject of our sketch was but three years of age, was of English
descent ; while his mother, as her name would indicate, was of Scotch extraction. He attended
country school for about a year and a half, this being all the schooling he ever received in his youth.
At the age of fourteen he went into a store as a clerk with a man named Brambei, up to which
time he had lived at home with his widowed mother, helping on the farm as best he could.
Two years later he entered the employ of a Mr. Parrott, a merchant at Newmarket, E. S., with
whom he remained twelve months, until his employer removed to the West.
Being again out of a situation, he went to Baltimore, where he engaged in his former business ;
but his health failing him, he returned to his native place. Eastern Shore, with a small stock of goods
—furnished him by his employer. On arriving at home, he took charge of his mother and two sfs-
ters, the younger of whom is still alive.
In connection with his business thus established, he, at the age of nineteen succeeded in build-
ing a coasting schooner which he christened the Benjamin D. Jackson. About this time much inter-
est was being manifested in the West, Illinois being the extreme western frontier; and in 1832, W.
H. Hooper, selling his vessel and other effects, paid a visit to St. Louis, intending to go to the lead
mines, at Galena, Illinois. The prevalence there of cholera, however, prevented him from carrying
out his project and he wintered in St. Louis, then a city of but 6,000 inhabitants.
Early in the spring of 1833, he returned to Maryland, and again took a clerkship in Baltimore,
During the same season he made a trip up the Potomac to Washington, being a guest of Thomas
H. Hicks, who subsequently became governor and died a senator.
While in Washington he, in company with Mr. Hicks, attended the exciting discussions then
going on at the Capitol on the currency question during President Jackson's administration. He
was in the Senate gallery when Jackson sent his memorable message to that honorable body pro-
testing against their action looking to his impeachment.
In 183s his eldest sister and her husband died, leaving two daughters , aged respectively two
and four years, who came under his charge,
In the fall of the same year he, in company with George Wann, took a stock of goods to Ga-
lena, Illinois, where they started business under the firm name of Hooper & Wann. In 1836 Mr.
Wann returned to his native State, selling out his interest to Charles Peck and Samuel H. Scales,
the house now becoming Hooper, Peck & Scales, afterwards well known upon the frontiers as mer-
chants, miners and smelters, as well as being considerably concerned in the steamboat interest.
It was during the year 1836 that Hooper married his first wife. Miss Electa Jane Harris, by
whom he had two daughters, both of whom are now dead, as also is their mother, who died in 1844.
His youngest daughter. May Dacre, died in 1855, near Galena ; the eldest, Wiihelmina, died in
1866, at Platteville, Wisconsin. She was the wife of Mr. John McArthur.
The firm of Hooper, Peck & Scales went down in the panic of 1838, which suspended the mer-
cantile and banking interests of the whole country. After giving some two or three years' attention
to winding up the business, it was turned over to Mr. Peck, a man of private means and without
family, who also received incidental aid from Mr. Hooper, he having to seek his living in other di-
rections. After several years of hard struggle, the firm debt, amounting in the aggregate to about
^200,000, was paid,
During this period, his mother and family, with the two daughters of his sister, emigrated to
Galena, where they remained in his charge until the death of his mother, in 1855, fi'id the marriage
of his two nieces, whom he had educated, and who graduated at the Cooper Institution, Dayton,
Ohio.
The family owned three slaves, 'Old Charley" and his wife and child. Charley had been the
playmate of Mr. Hooper's father. They were taken from Maryland to Illinois, where they became
free, but they never left the family. ''Old Charley" died recently at a very advanced age. For the
last ten years he was bed-ridden. He was not forgotten, however, nor forsaken, by him to whose
84 HIS TOR V OF SAL 7 LA KE Cll Y.
rearing he had contributed in earher times. He was cared for to the last, receiving a liberal stipu-
lation regularly from Mr. Hooper.
In 1843 the latter engaged in steamboating, being clerk on board the little steamer Otter, then
plying between Galena and St. Paul, near Fort Snerling. The Otter was owned and commanded
by his brothers-in-law, the Captains Harris, who were the pioneers of steamboating on the Upper
Mississippi, One building only — a Catholic missionary chapel — then marked the spot where now
stands the large and flourishing city of St. Paul, Minn , and from which the city derived its name.
At that time there were but few white settlers above Dubuque and Prairie Duchein. The country
was then a wilderness, which is now embraced in the flourishing States of Iowa, Wisconsin, and
Minnesota.
■ In 1844 he built for the American Fur Company the steamer Lynx. During the memorable
high water of that season she was grounded by her pilot, however, on her first trip, near or upon
the point of land where the City of Winona now stands. He remained on the river, building and
commanding several boats. The last, built in 1847, was known as the Alexander Hamilton, and
owned principally by Messrs. Corwiths, of Galena, and Messrs. C. H. Rodgers, of New York.
This boat was burned, with twenty-two others, at St. Lcuis, in May, 1849, 'he disaster again leaving
him penniless in the world. Being thus reduced, he took charge of the books of the then well
known house of the West, the Planter's House. St. Louis.
In the spring of 1850, he emigrated to Salt Lake City, under an engagement with Holliday &
Warner, merchants. This event, insignificant as it may appear, changed the tenor of his future life.
At the time he made the engagement with Mr. Holliday, Captain Hairis of Galena and himself
were arranging with a Pittsburg company for the construction of an iron steamer, which they pro-
posed to ship around the Horn in pieces, with the view of putting her on the Sacramento River.
The money for the carrying out of this design was to be furnished by Capt. Harris, and had this
project been carried out, in all probability they would have owned the first steamer ever put on that
river. It was on account of extreme ill health that Mr. Hooper preferred to make a trip to Salt
Lake, where he arrived in the month of June, 1850, but remained with Holliday & Warner till 1853.
In December of 1852, he married Mary Ann Knowlton, by whom he had nine children, three
sons and six daughters, the first two being sons, who are now dead. In 1853, ^"^ while in com-
pany with Holliday and Warner, he went to California with a large adventure of cattle, horses, flour,
etc., which latter he disposed of to a large company of emigrants on the road. While in California,
he sold his interest in the profits to Holliday & Warner, clearing ^10,000 by the transaction, and in
company with four other men, including his old friend, John Reese, returned to Salt Lake in the
fall, reaching the city in the month of December.
This journey was attended with considerable danger, the country being infested with hostile
Indians, and without a house, from where Virginia City, Nevada, now stands, to the settlements of
Utah, a distance of about 700 miles.
In 1854, he embarked in mercantile pursuits, and in 1855 was elected a member of the State
convention to frame a Constitution for the State of Deseret. In 1857, he was appointed by Gov.
Brigham Young, Secretary pro tern of the Territory, to fill the place made vacant by the death of
Almon W. Babbitt. This position he held undl 1858, when he was relieved by Secretary John
Hartnet of St. Louis, who came out with Johnston's army. Mr. Hooper's appointment as Secre-
tary pro tern was recognized by the Federal Government.
His coming to Utah changed the course of Mr. Hooper's life, and turned the fates in his favor;
for in 1859, he was elected Delegate from Utah to the Thirty-sixth Congress of the United States.
This gave him an opportunity of witnessing the culmination of matters at the Capitol, which re-
sulted in the rebellion ot the Southern States.
Rkeamble and Resolutions of Respect to the late Hon. William
H. Hooper, President of Z. C. M. I.
Whereas, On Saturday, December 30th, 1882, it pleased the Allwise Creator to remove from
our midst, by the h;.nd of death, the Hon. Wm. H. Hooper, President of this Institution; and
Whereas, He was intimately associated with this Institution, as a Director, from the date of its
first organization, in the winter of 1868, until October, 1877 ; as Superintendent from 1873 until
1875, and as President from 1877 until death called him hence ; and
Whereas, During the whole time he was associated with us, in the several important positions
enumerated, his energy in the interest of the Institution was unflagging, and his capacity and judg-
ment unsurpassed ; its success being greatly due to his intelligent efforts ; and
THOMAS G. WEBBER. 85
Whereas, While bowing in humble submission to the Divine will, we deeply realize the fact
that Z. C. M. I. has, in the departure to the other life of Brother Wm. H. Hooper, lost an able,
active and indefatigable supporter, and in considering his beneficial relations with us in a business
capacity, in which he shone pre-eminently, we cannot refrain from also referring to his many
estimable qualities manifested in other important spheres. As the Representative of the people of
Utah, in the Congress of the United States, for a long series of years, he exhibited statesmanlike
ability, associated with unflinching fidelity to his constituents. As a husband and father he was
tender and affectionate in the highest degree ; and as a friend, he was steadfast and true as the ever-
lasting hills. Nor were his sympathies confined within a limited circle, being as comprehensive as
the family of man ; therefore, be it
Resolved, That it is the sense of the officers and directors of Z. C. M. I. that we have not only
suffered, by the death of Brother Wm. H. Hooper, the loss of a gifted, quick-sighted, sagacious and
upright man of business, but are thus compelled to part from one whose tenderness of heart, and
kindly and genial nature, caused him to be beloved wherever known, and numbering ourselves as
we do among his most ardent admirers and sincere friends, we not only hold his memory in the
highest respect and esteem, but accord to him a foremost place in our affections ; and
Resolved, That our heartfelt sympathy be tendered to the bereaved family, who have suffered,
by the death of their head and protector, an irreparable loss ; and further be it
Resolved, That the above preamble and resolutions be spread upon the minutes of this Board
meeting in full, and a copy thereof presented to the family of our late lamented associate and
friend.
THOMAS G. WEBBER.
Thomas G. Webber, secretary, treasurer, and assistant superintendent of Z. C. M. I., was born
at Kxeter, England, September 17th, 1836, the eldest son of Thomas B. Webber, by Charlotte, his
wife, who died at Exeter December 12th, 1852. He comes from an old and well known Devon-
shire family, who for generations have lived at and in the vicinity of Exeter, the celebrated old
cathedral town on the Exe. ■
Webber's father, a man of scientific attainments, an engineer, inventor and electrician, took a
prominent part in introducing the electric telegraph at an early day in England. For upwards of
forty years past he has been connected with the telegraphic systems of England as engineer and
superintendent. A scientific man himself, and realizing the importance of educational training, Mr.
Webber gave to his boy, the subject of this sketch, a good English education. An apt scholar, the
boy made good progress; m.ithematics and drawing were his especial likings, in both of which he
became proficient.
But, with his mother's death, homj seemed to lose its charm, and at length his father was in-
duced to place him in a civil engineers' office. Here his mathematics and drawing served him well,
and with a natural liking for the profession he made good progress.
One of his companions and a fellow student of engineering having about completed his studies,
accepted a position on one of the railways then under constraction by the Brazilian government and
lelt England for America. Young Webber determined to follow at an early day to the New World,
which appeared to offer abroad and promising field. Accordingly in the Fall of 1855, having formed
the acquaintance of a German named Kraus, who was soon to start for America, he left Eng-
land and sailed with Mr, and Mrs. Kraus for New York. Here Kraus and himself opened
an engineer's and surveyor's office under the firm name of Kraus & Webber, and by dint
of hard work and perseverance they managed to make a living. But the partnership did not
last a great while. It was dissolved by mutual consent and in 1857 Webber entered the army. He
86 HISTORY OF SALT LAKE CITY.
served in Arizona and California, and in the Fall of 1861, was, with a squadron of his regiment, or-
dered to proceed, by way of the Isthmus of Panama and New York, to Washington. Early in 1862,
he went to Fortress Monroe with McClellan's army of the Potomac; shared in the Peninsular and
other campaigns of that army; was present at Yorktown, Williamsburg, Gaines Mill, White Oak
Swamp, Malvern, Fredericksburg, Kelly's Ford, Chancellorsville, Upperville, Gettysburg, Williams-
port and Falling Waters. He was for a while Commissary and Quartermaster of the First Cavalry ;
Quartermaster of the Cavalry Brigade and subsequently Adjutant of his regiment. A good draughts-
man and topographer, a fearless and accomplished horeman, he was frequently engaged while serv-
ing imder McClellan in reconnoissances, undertaken for the purpose of gaining information and
sketching the country, as the Virginia Peninsula was practical'y terra incognita for military pur-
poses, when the army landed at Fort Monroe. The maps at hand were inaccurate and misleading,
and the only trustworthy information obtainable was that procured by reconnoissance, frequently
made .under fire and at considerable loss of life.
In the winter of 1863 he resigned to join his friend Mr. E. Miller, who some years before had
presented the principles of Mormonism to him, and who was then at Florence on his way to Utah»
At St, Joseph he learned that Miller would proceed no further west that winter, so he started alone
to Atchison and crossed the plains by stage to Salt Lake. Here he early made the acquaintance of
business and commercial men, and he now numbers among his most intimate and valued friends
verv many, the date of whose acquaintance goes back to the early days of his arrival here.
In the following spring, with T. B. H. Stenhouse, he was busy preparing for the publication of
the first daily newspaper in Utah, and on the morning of ]uly 4th, 1864, the Salt Lake Daily Tele-
graph was issued.
In 1865, he was commissioned by Governor Doty a colonel of the militia of Utah Territor)'.
and appointed on the staff of the second brigade, then commanded by Gen. Franklin D. Richards.
On May 25th, 1867, he married Mary Ellen Fox Richards, eldest daughter of Gen. Y. D. Rich-
ards, by Charlotte Fo.x, his wife. In May, 1869, with his friend Stenhouse, and his old-time asso-
ciate, John ]aques, he went to Ogden to publish a daily paper, and on the morning after the last
rail, connecting the Union and Central Pacific Railroads, was laid on the promontory, they published
the Ogden Telegraph. ITius Colonel Webber took an active part in giving to Utah her first daily
papers: the Telegraphs of Salt Lake City and Ogden.
In June, 1869, he left Ogden and the newspaper business, and entered the service of Z. C. M. I..
and in October, 1870, was elected secretary of that Institution. His old friend, Thomas Williams,
was elected treasurer at the same time. Subsequently the secretary and treasurerships were merged
in one, and he was elected to the dual office.
In October, 1876, he resigned to go on a mission to Germany, and was succeeded as secretary
and treasurer by David O. Calder, Esq. Early in the following November, with his friend, Gen.
H. B. Clawson, he went east to Chicago, the Centennial exhibition and New York, whence he
sailed in the Dakota for Liverpool.
After visiting in Devonshire, he again returned to Liverpool, where he met F. S. Richards and
H. B. Clawson, Jr., Esqrs., and the three friends traveled through England, France and Switzer-
1 md together. From Bern, Switzerland, Webber went to Baden and Bavaria, remaining in the
Rhine country until the winter of 1877, when he was telegraphed to come home.
Returning to Devon to say good-bye to relatives and friends, he crossed the Atlantic in Novem-
ber, meeting his wife, who under the kindly escort of Hon. John Sharp, reached New York City
soon after he landed. After visiting Iriends in Eastern cities, he and his wife returned by way of
Niagara, reaching home in January, 1878. During the greater portion of 1878, he was engaged
in the settlement of the estate of the late Presitlent Young, and at the annual meeting of the
stockholders, in October of that yeir, he was again elected secretary and treasurer of Z. C. ^L \.
On the second Monday of February, 1884, he was elected a city councilor, and at the last muni-
cipal election, February 8th, 1886, alderman, from the second municipal ward.
A warmer or more devoted friendship is rarely seen than that which, for near a quarter of a cen-
tury, has characterized the intimacy of Jennings, Hooper, E^dredge and Webber. The two first
named have now passed away, but each in his last will and testament, as a further mark of friend-
ship and confidence, named Webber as one of his executors, without bonds or sureties, notwith-
standing the estate of each will aggregate near a million dollars in value.
From the above brief sketch, it will be seen that Col. Webber has been identified with the great
Institution of which he is secretary, treasurer and assistant superintendent almost from the very
beginning. Possessing executive abilities of a high order ; with a quick, almost intuitive perception.
H. n: NAISBllT. Sy
and a worker in the broadest acceptation of the term, he has labored diligently and well in the great
cause of co-operation. Long association with Z. C. M. I. having familiarized him with every detail
of its business, he is thus enabled to handle its complicated and vast transactions with readiness and
ability, and the Institution is not a little indebted to him for its complete organization, perfect busi-
ness systems and success.
He is eminently a self-made man, having risen altogether by superior ability, coupled with in-
tegrity, and to these traits he owes his present important and responsible position. He came to Utah
an entire stranger, yet at once became a representative man of the country, a joint founder of the
first daily paper in Utah, and for fifteen years he has held his present position in the executive depart-
ment of one of the greatest mercantile institutions in America,
H. W. NAISBITT. •
Among the common people of Utah — that is the non-official class — few names are more gener^
ally known than that of our subject. For over thirty years a resident of Salt Lake City and en-
gaged in public business and duty, it is easy to account in quite a measure for this.
An Englishman by birth, yet of Scotch origin, and belonging to the Naisby's or Naseby's of the
Covenanters, it is seen that characteristics are not unseldom hereditary, and marked in this, as in
hosts of life histories by the influence of " blood."
The grandfather was in the British service, and was paymaster in the navy when drowned at
New Orleans in the war of 1812. The immediate father and uncle were linen manufacturers in the
North Riding of Yorkshire, England, but the introduction of cotton fabrics paralyzed that industry,
and made the busy northern villages of that County the habitat of idle weavers, whose craft and
memory are now obsolete and near forgotten
When our boy was but nine years of age, and pardy as a consequence of this trade crisis, the lov^
ing father passed away, leaving his widow and five children alone in the battle of life; no, not alone,
for the religious sentiment of the household was voiced, by the dying husband when he said,
" mother don't cry, ' I never yet saw the righteous forsaken nor his seed begging bread,' "
At the age of thirteen, it was necessary that labor should claim the powers of the oldest of the
family, and so it came to pass that school was abandoned, and that taste was indulged in the attempt
to acquire a knowledge of the hat business, of tinning, of cabinet work, of gardening, and of the
grocery and tea business, all of which had an influence felt even unto now.
The death of one or two employers broke up apprenticeship, and a drift was made to Bolton,
Lancashire, then after a year or two to Liverpool, thence to Shrewsbury, all in the grocery busi-
ness ; from the latter place, the inclination to visit America was established, Salt Lake City being
the objective point.
From this period, life seemed to branch into three separate and distinct, yet intermingled lines,
business, literature and religion. A career in the former was commenced in the old firm of J. M,
Horner & Co., who occupied in 1854, the now Deseret News Office. Fresh from the system and
order of the old world, it was amusing how mucli of an attraction there was in the manipulation of
goods and packages; President Young, Captain Hooper and many others were struck by the deft
and ready method of handling and tying up.
But this position only lasted for a time, and with the grasshopper war, with thirteen weeks, ex'
perience in Echo Canyon, with trying to build a home and supply furniture to the public, the move
south found a financial cripple, though probably not more so than in many other cases.
A few weeks in tjie south, then a return, and renewal of the furniture business, the completion
of the first job and receipt of the much needed pay for a little family, when the night cry of fire
sounded, and the home, books, furniture, tools and general effects went up in smoke — four years'
labor in forty minutes fire.
Then came clerkship with Gilbert & Gerrish, then with "Wm. Nixon, then with Wm. Jennings,
a broth er'in-law,- for the latter, business trips were made to California, then to New York, wd
88 HISTORY OF SALT LAKE CITY.
Panama, afterwards to St. Louis and Chicago, finally, loadinj^ all purchases in wagons on the Miss-
issippi River, then leaving tor home.
This was repeated for years, and as showing the business of those times, $175,000 was pur-
chased one season of one dry goods house in New York, besides the necessary proportion of all other
goods, including plows, threshing machines, wagons, cattle, etc., and facing the Indian difficulties
enroute to Utah or eastward, such as were not uncommon.
After this engagement closed, a partnership was entered into, goods were bought on commis-
sion, this merged into an established business when the little spot of co-operation appeared on the
business horizon of our Territory. These things had been of a local character, but in " the School
of the Prophets " our now broadened business man made the first elaborate and systematic discourse,
indicating the possibility and advisability of general co-operation, really as a measure of defense
against extortionate trade, and, as a preliminary to the final supremacy of home manufacture as de-
veloped and encouraged under and sustained by one gigantic importing establishment.
A full meeting realized that the key note had been struck, and at subsequent meetings in the City
Hall, with President Young presiding, further elucidation was made, and the organization of some
company or firm determined upon for the purpose of dealing in and supplying with rrerchandise
the people of Utah Territory.
The ne.xt appointment was as one of three to prepare a constitution and by-laws for the creation
and control of such an institution. Z. C. M. I. was determined upon, when subscriptions for stock
were solicited ; several of t)»e leading merchants were being bought out entirely, others were re-
lieved of surplus merchandise which they placed in stock; quite a number of outsiders were panic-
stricken and sold out, and finally, in the stores of Wm. Jennings and Eldrerige & Clawson, the
business was commenced. Mr. Naisbitt was active in buying and receiving goods on stock or pur-
chase from W. Jennings, Eldredge & Clawson, Ransohoff & Co., Godbe & Mitchell, Needham &
Sears, David Day, H. W. Lawrence, Liddell and others; he then was selected as purchasing agent
in the east, on account of prior experience and knowledge of the markets.
In this capacity he visited Chicago, New York, Boston and other cities, reaching there, as he
expressed it, when Z. C. M. I. was void of credit, prestige or means, when everything like co-oper-
ation was an object of suspicion, when far off Utah was as great a mystery as the Sphynx, and
when commercial standing was to be secured through darkness as impenetrable as that of Egypt.
By patience, by the influence of old busines friends, and by means used cautiously and wisely for
eight long months, on returning he presented the report that " had it been desirable, he could on
leaving the east have bought half New York."
Long after this the position of buyer was filled, until President Brigham Young gave a special
mission to preach co-operation all through the Territory, which mission was repeated some years
later, and once again under the instruction of President Taylor, who, like President Young, was
President of the Institution.
For some years after this first mission, charge was had of the wagon and machinery depart-
ments,and then came a separation, and after two years spent in England, a situation was again pre-
sented, and in one capacity or another the now oldest or longest employed, still finds interest and
business in the Institution so well understood and so often defended in years gone by.
It is no discredit to others to say that no more indefatigable speaker, writer or worker has been
in connection with the Institution, and during its early history and dark financial days, no official doc-
uments or reports were more graphic and telling than those emanating from his pen.
Much of business experience, acquired during a long series of years, is now seen in the pages
of Z. C, M. I. Advocate, published by the Institution. The series of " Talks," in the first volume
of that periodical are invaluable to new beginners, as well as many older ones now engaged in bus-
iness. The new series of ''Talks" in Volume II. promises to be even more attractive, dealing, as
they do, with public questions and topics of general interest to the growing people.
Arriving at this point in the biography naturally brings in the intellectual or mental aspect of
the man ; and, while it is not claimed that anything profound or scientific has been produced, those
who are familiar with the potency of the press will not hesitate in saying that in the infancy, material,
mental and spiritual, of a community, those who understand the every-day life of a people, whose
sympathies are in unison with the majority, and whose interests are indissoluble with theirs, must
have even more influence than when elevated too far above the people by education, by association,
o-r by wealth.
Yet, not to all is given such tastes as lead or determine a drift in this direction, natural aptitude
H. W. NAr^BITT. g^
makes easy that which, when sought without it, is irksome, distasteful and apparently undesirable
however, m our subject.
An early tendency toward hlerature, was established by soniewhat of a liberal education and
festered afterward by an insatiable appetite for , cosmopolitan reading; originally circumscribed by
rehg,ot>s books and the opportunities of a country town, these were expanded by the broader
opportunities of Liverpool, England, in institutes, lyceums. etc., supplemented bv the proximity of
ability on the platform, the pulpit and the stage. Here first attempts at composition began and
before the "teens" were o'^r a drift was created which remains to the present day
On arriving in Utah, the early pages of the Dcsercl Ae.vs received bis contributions, and when
the Polysophical institution was in its glory, our subject never failed by poem or essay to -ive his
proportion to the entertainment. From thence as a lecturer before kindred associations somewhat
ot local appreciation was created, and in that field, then trodden bv but few, there was steadv
progress in an intellectual direction.
The training of the ministry, which falls to the lot of most of the Elders of the Church was
not without its influence in the same direction, and many discourses delivered in this city 'after
publication in the Aews were republished in the Church Journal of Discourses, while essays
lectures and fugitive poems, found place in every form of local literary publication.
Hence the pages of the O'iah A fa^azine, \.he Juvenile Instructor, Snell's Advocate \h^ Utah
Farmer, the Contributor, Tullidges Magazine, and Parry s Journal, have all had more or less of
tiie productions of this writer.
As a welcome contributor to the general columns of the Deseret Nexos, and as a contributor to the
Mountau,eer,^\^^ y-^/^i^'-'T/Z^ and the //^ra/rf in succession, it catne to pass in 1876 that selection
was made of the now somewhat experienced writer, for the position of assistant editor of the
Millennial Star, in Liverpool ; on arriving there the full responsibility of that publication fell to his
l=t. and included the issuance of ih^ Journal 0/ Discourses, a large edition of the Hymn Book and
some sixty thousand small tracts for the use of the elders ; the original intent of President Young
was that he should also superintend the publication of a new edition of the Doctrine and Covenants
with marginal references by Apostle Orson Pratt ; the death of President Young interfered with
this arrangement, and after two years faithful labor the elder was released.
Since his return in 1878. literature has more than ever engaged his attention, as all the local
p.apers will testify, sometimes as editor, then under a nom de plume. The desire of the author is yet
to embody in a permanent condition, a now large accumulation of manuscript and matter in varied
forms and on a variety of topics, in the hope that such publication will become part of the perma-
nent literature of Utah, or more particularly of the "Mormon" people.
Several of the author s hymns are now in the standard Hymn Book of the Church; the one
most used of these, is the touching refrain of " Rest for the weary soul. Rest for the aching head "
which has been sung at most of the prominent funerals of late years, in connection with special
music written by Prof. Careless. Many others have been published as Sabbath School songs, and
are used in all gatherings of that kind, in this and adjoining Territories.
These literary recreations have been independent of the claims of a busy mercantile, social
and ministerial life ; and now in the former capacity, as the oldest employee of Z. C. M. I and with
a varied business experience, he is called to the editorial labor of its Advocate and Commercial
Register, which after asuccessful year's issue, is now running upon its second, with prospect of larger
circulation and appreciation than before.
As a criterion of poetic style and taste, seme illustrations will be found in the literary section of
the History of Salt Lake City, page 8or. These may not be brilliant, but for sentiment they claim a
measure of consideration, and being varied in mood, are evidence of more than usual versatihty,
and indicate at least, the impress of the divine afflatus.
H, W. Naisbitt was early brought into religious ways, Methodists, Primitives, Calvinists, Con-
gregational ists and Episcopalians were in his native town, but all were working to a common end, and
the stormy polemics of larger towns and schools had never disturbed the serenity of this dead sea
level of religious theory and thought.
An apparent accident drew to another town, a now studious boy, and an unknown church (the
Baptist) was presenting its claims on the strength of Bible teaching; to hear was to believe, to believe
was to be baptized, and then came greater consciousness of religious diversity and finally of religi-
ous strife.
The pulpit now loomed up as the objective point in life, to stand as his fathers had done before
him was a worthy ambition, and moving to a large manufacturing town gave our youth increased
it
go HISTORY OF SALT LAKE CITY.
opportunities of hearing and rending. Swedenborgianism with its revelations and mysterious inner
sense; Catholicism with its sensuous ceremony and priestly assumption ; Unitarianism, with its
cold yet learned disquisition and lauded intellectuality ; each had in their turn such mental consid-
eration as youthful training claimed for real religion.
Further drift encountered Joseph Barker, G. J. Holyoake, Gerald Massey, Thomas Cooper,
Robert Cooper, Henry Vincent, Fergus O'Connor and Daniel O, Connell, all iconoclasts in their
way, hewing down the dagons of superstition, whether of religion or crowns.
Secularism became the ism, not, however, without grave thoughts, and with some compunctions
at the rejection of the life work of fathers and mothers, and keen personal feeling at the apparent
overthrow of authority and the enjoyments of a loved and happy home.
At this timely juncture, "Mormonism" was presented, and the dubiety felt in regard to religion
ingeneral seemed to attach this to itself in particular, forsometime suspected, yet earnestly observed,
its harmonies began to dawn upon the soul, the defects experienced, the inconsistencies heretofore
realized in others, began to assume "form and feature" in it, and not long ere enough was under-
stood to give assurance that trial only could once more be realized as it had been before.
Years sped by, gathering to a new — a strange land, the testing crucible of circumstances, the
loss of many precious things of life, founding a home in the desert, far from books, institutions, so-
ciety was much of a trial, losses by fire, in trade, from friends; probable misunderstanding, misappre-
ciation, jealousy, etc : the cares of life, the crowding demands of family, the acceptance and prac-
tice of the patriarchal order, these have all been tests of strength, of faith, of endurance and nerve;
the strain of " a busy life," its business, its mental labor, its eijlesitstlcal demind as evinced in mis-
sionary and other work, these all try the stamina of the man ; the prospect of prosecution, of con-
finement among felons and violaters of fundamental law, the penalties of integrity to covenant and
contract, these all loomed up m the life of this earnest man.
Half a century of probably not always intelligent endeavor, has fled away ; its lights and
shadows, its clouds and sunshine, are among the memories of the p ist, and no deliberate choice of
evil, spectre-like looms up to darken the horizon of the coming years. Twelve lively boys, and as
many girls, besides the care and raising of four adopted ones, and many wives beside, are not likely
to leave much leisure in a common life; the few who gone have with their mothers to the other side are
the present inexpensive adjuncts and appendages of the patriarchal order; if those who think this
is child's play, and that it calls for "bonds and imprisonment," would but assume for one short
year, the responsibility, thought, ambition and labor, rather would they not feel that the multiplica-
tion of good, honest, honorable citizenship, should enjoy the recognition of the authorittes of the
land, and that these should rpther be the recipients of its largesse and laurels than the subjects of
its prosecution, its contumely and penalty. Time will vindicate the right, truth will triumph, man
will indeed be free, and the relations of life, social and religious, will be as between a man and his
Maker, so long as universal right and liberty is unmenaced and uninfringed.
FRANKLIN D. RICHARDS.
A scholarly divine of New England some years ago compiled a genealogical register of the de-
scendants of several ancient Puritans. Among them is the family of Richards. In the introduc-
tion to this genealogy, the conscientious author and collator says : "In Europe the name of Rich-
ards has long been illustrious. « * * But it is no part of my design to import and
regild the fiided honors of the name. * -•■ "•■■ I offer a fresher and nobler lineage, one
emblazoned with the brilliant ensigns of sacrifices and sufferings, of victories and triumphs, for truth
and conscience." Grand words, breathing something of prophecy destined to find a great measure
of its fulfillment in the lives of Apostle Franklin and his close kindred.
Puritan sturdiness, coupled with constantly increasing intellectual force, characterized the dc-
luc'JJreE.B.I&J]
^
/ ^C^Aco^L^cZ^
FRANKLIN D. RICHARDS. gi
scendants of the founders of ihis family upon Nfassachusetls shores. If ihey did not reach (he high-
est point of worldly cxaltption, they were always held in honorable consideration ; and from their
number were drawn more than a proportion of divines, doctois, lawyers, legislators, scholars, and
jjatriot soldiers.
In the year when American Independence was declared, we find among many others of the
name, one particular scion of this house marching to the wars. Joseph Richards enlisted with the
Continental forces when he was but fourteen years of age ; and, despite his youth, he fou'^ht cral-
lantly at the siege of Boston at Crown Point, Bennington, Tioga, West Point and Cowpens. Five
years of the wars doubtless "brought branze and beard upon his face;" for at nineteen he married
RhodaHowe, a descendant of John Howe, who was a coadjutorof Eliot the preacher to the Indians.
The younger sister of Rhoda Howe became the mother of President Brigham Young.
The second son of Joseph and Rhoda Richards was Phinehas ; the fourth and fifth sons were
Levi and Willard — all three with a record for devoted adherence to conscience which doesnoshame
to their Puritan ancestry. Phinehas learned the staunch trade of carpenter in his native State of
Massachusetts. When the sound ol war again arose in the land, he enlisted in the Massachusetts
militia; and, in 1813, he was serving on the colonel's staff with the rank of sergeant major. At
thirty years of age, Phinehas married Wealthy Dewey, of another old Massachusetts family. 'Ihey
had numerous children, of whom two — true to the inherent devotion and the fortunes of their race,
have already lost their lives in a patriotic cause.
The pleasant little town of Richmond, in the county of Berkshire, Old Bay State was the
original dwelling place of Phinehas and Wealthy after their marriage. Here, on the second day of
April, 1821, a son was born to them whom they called Franklin Dewey Richards. He was the
fourth born and is the oldest surviving of nine children who came to blefs his father's house. In
the first quarter of this century. Western Massachusetts was a close neighbor to the wilderness-
and in the radiant lir and stirring scenes of farm and forest the boyhood of Franklin was spent. He
had much of the manliness and vigorous devotion to duty of his roldier sire and grandiire; for at
the close of his tenth year the chronicler sees the boy at Pittsfield — whither he had walked from
Richmond, a distance of about 10 miles, to accept employment which would in part relieve the
cares of his father. Previous to this time his life had been the toilsome, heartv one of a thousand
New England boys; performing the labor for which his years made him capable ; toiling steadily
through the summer that he might be enabled to snatch a few brief hours for school in the winter.
At Pittsfield the sturdy chap spent three years, working in turn for John Weller, Justin Hale
and Jeremiah Stevens. This labor brought its reward — grand, indeed, to this boy of 13 years, but
most trivial as it would appear to the more favored but less worthy youths of a later generation —
a winter at Leno.x Academy. This boy who had read every book in the Sunday school library,
comprising some scores of volumes, before he was ten years old, and who had pursued such a
rigid course of study throughout three succeeding years of heavy labor that he was an exemplary'
scholar at the county academy, was not to be overlooked by shrewd Yankee eyes.
A scholarship was created by the religious women of Richmond, to be placed in one of the
leading New England colleges, to fit some youth for the ministry. Little Franklin Richards was
selected unanimously as the object of .this valuable benefice ; but, strange to worldly sense, he, the
ardent student, hesitated. At last, more strange, he peremptorily declined the honor.
The parents ot this boy were devout and respected Congregationalists — belonging to the church
which held as members Franklin's military grandsire, Joseph, and the devout grandam, Rhoda.
Phinehas and Wealthv had trained their offspring in the pious way ; earnest themselves, they wished
their children to understand and obey the truth. Once, when Franklin was in early childhood, he
went with his mother to hear a powerful discourse from the Rev. Samuel Shepard. At the conclu-
sion of the impressive services the good We:ilthy whispered to her awe-struck son, " How glad
mother would be if her little boy would grow up to be such a good shepherd." Prophetic
wish! Many times before this momentous hour of consideration, Franklin had been oppressed by
solemn views. Religious excitement prevailed in New England ; the staple of conversation was
the horrors of the damned, But our destined apostle, so far from accepting the common and almost
universally favored theories, searched the Scriptures and found the proffered popular creeds but
Dead Sea apples. When the scholarship was solicitously tendered, the natural ambition of the pa-
rents would have dictated the son's acceptance. But they knew his conscientiousness, and
Phinehas said to Wealthy: "We have dedicated Franklin to the Lord, and I believe he
will be inclined to do the way which will he the best for us all." 'VN'hen Franklin rejected the
II
92 HISTORY OF SALT LAKE CITY.
brilliant offer in order to remain at daily labor for the maintenance of his father's house until the
true call should come, the Gospel of Jesus Christ as proclaimed by Joseph Smith, had not been
heard in the quiet county of Berkshire. If Franklin had become a " student of divinity " at the
New England College, he would doubtless have been through life a sectarian preacher of the word.
Who now can doubt the Providence, then so mysterious but now so manifest, which dictated his
refusal ?
After this period the boy student found his necessary vocation with his uncles, William and
Levi Richards, who had local prestige as lumber and shingle sawyers and cider makers. Two
years he labored, gaining stores of practical knowledge, and then the trump sounded for the hour
of awakening. In the summer of 1836, Joseph and Brighain Young— full of the .<.pirit of apostolic
ministry came from Ohio to Richmond. With the family devotion of their class Ihey desired to
lift their kindred into the radiance of truth. They gave to Joseph and Rhoda, to Phinehas and
Wealthy, to Levi and Willard, and the score of younger relatives the wondrous gospel of a new
prophet arisen — not the Savior but His vicegerent— to lead men back to everlasting truth and make
them fit for His coming in glory. The Youngs lefi a copy of the wonderful Book of Mormon with
the Richards family, and it was carefully and intelligently perused. Franklin brought all the ardor
of his studious mind to bear upon it. His few spare hours of daylight were not sufficient for the
entrancing work, so he gave his nights. In the mill where he worked a cauldron of cider was to be
kept constantly boiling. He obtained the watch of darknesj Candles were out of the question;
so his habit was to thrust a mighty plank into the furnace and, while one end of the slab was giving
heat to the simmering ciderand flickering light to the still house, he would lie outstretched upon
the other end, poring over the pages of this newly revealed sacred history. He studied and
believed.
In the autumn of that year, 1836, Willard and Levi went to Xirtland, Ohio, as delegates and
leaders of the family to the truth. They accepted the gospel and lemaincd. In the succeeding
April, Phinehas with Franklins younger brother, George Spencer — aged 14 \cars — also journeyed
to Kirtland. They in turn received and acknowledged the truth. In the autum of 1837, Phinehas
returned to Richmond. He found Franklin awaiting bnptitm ; and en the 3rd day of June, 1838.
Phinehas had the heavenly pleasure of immersing his son within the waters of Mill Creek in
Richmond, his native town.
Now the young disciple felt the quickening. He abandoned his employment ; and, on the
22nd day of October, 1838, he left Richmond for Far West, Missouri — making his devoted
pilgrimage to the altar of the Most High. It was a lonely, toilsome journey. On the 30th day of
that month of October, Franklin crossed the Alleghanies ; and almost at the same hour his be-
loved brother, George Spencer Richards, was slain by an assassin mob at Haun's Mill. But the
news of his brother's tragic death and the hideous stories of the ''Mormon War" were alike power-
less to restrain his purpose and he journeyed on eventfully. .A.fter visiting Far West and gaining
confirmation of his faith, the young disciple found employment along the Mississippi River.
In May, 1839, he first gazed upon the face of the Prophetjoseph, and the following spring he
was ordained to the calling of a Seventy and was appointed to a mission in Northern Indiana.
This time of preaching was a significant hour for him ; among many great experiences which it
gave to him, it made him the familiar friend of the saintly Robert Snyder — a youth filled with grace
and visionary power, whose favored sister Franklin subsequently married. With the spirit of
apostleship upon him, he labored mightily. L'ntler his strenuous efforts his health declined ; but
he persevered. He journeyed and preached with great success; established, by his own personal
efforts, a branch of the church in Portei County; and before he was 20 years of age delivered, at
Plymouth, a series of public lectures which attracted much attention. 1 he April conference for
the year 1841, saw him at Nauvoo an adoring witness to the laying of the corner stone of the
temple ; and at this eventful gathering he was called to renew his labors in the region of Northern
Indiana. Just before he was to start en this momentous journey he saw Joseph and Sidney take
the lead of nearly five hundred baptisms and confirmations; and the glorious sight made his zeal
mightier than ever.
In the summer of that year ht was at Laporte — sick nigh unto death, and yet determined to
progress with his mission. He found consoling care under the parental roof of Isaac Snyder, the
father of his friend Robert, and through several weeks he was nursed as a beloved son of the house.
When the family of Father Snyder took up its march for Nauvoo, Franklin was carried back by
them to the beautiful city; Vjut soon after the succeeding October conference he was once more mov-
ing in the m!siionary field — this time being the companion of Phinehas H. Young, in the vicinity of
FRANKLIN D. RICHARDS. pj
Cincinnati. He fortunately visited Father Snyder's family again in the summer of 1842, just as he
vv.is convalescing from an almost fatal attack of Typhoid fever ; and in December of that year he
wedded the youngest daughter of the house -Jane Snyder, whose helpful love sustained him then
and blesses him to-day. He dwelt with the Saints at Nauvoo until the latter part of May, 1844. in
the meantime being ordained a High Priest; and then was called to depart with Apostle Brigh'pm
and ethers upon a mission to England. He reached the Atlantic States, but before setting s^il for
Europe he heard the dreadful news of the Carthage tragedy, and was called back to the d'esolated
Nauvoo.
The opening months of the next year, 1845, were spent by him in traveling more than a thou-
sand miles among the branches of the Church in Michigan and elsewhere to gather tithes for the
lemple. He returned to Nauvoo with nearly five hundred dollars for this sacred purpose • and
then was chosen by his uncle Willard to be a scribe in the office of the Church Historian, In July,
184s, President Brigham Young said to the ardent young elder, " After you are favored with the
blessings of the temple, you must depart for a mission to England." This was good news to the
devout young man. The mechanical work upon the holy edifice needed every available skilled
hand; and Franklin labored through the spring of 184635 carpenter and joiner in the lower main
court of the temple, until the structure was completed and dedicated— having previously partici-
pated in the administration of the sacred ordinances there.
When these duties were concluded and the hour for the exodus had come he sacrificed the
pleasant little home, built by his own toil; and with the meagre proceeds he purchased a wagon and
cattle and such few necessaries as he could compass for the use of his family — an invalid wife and
baby girl. With the heroism of the martyrs, he saw his loved ones starting on that melancholy
journey into the western wilderness. He committed them to the great Creator's care and then he
turned his face resolutely towards the East — without money or sufficient clothing, to make his way
by fliilh alone, across continent and ocean into a strange land. His younger brother Samuel was
called to accompany him ; and the two missionaries crossed the river to Nauvoo and slept the first
night of their arduous journey in a deserted building there. The God whom they so unselfishly served
opened their way; they pursued their journey zia the Mississippi and Ohio rivers to Pittsburg, and
across the mountains to the coast; and on tlie 22d day of September, 1846, they sailed from New
York in company with Apostle Parley P. Pratt and others. The last word which Franklin received
from the Camp of Israel, before his ship put to sea, was that the noble Jane amidst all the priva-
tions of the exodus was lying at the point of death — that a little son had been born to her, but the
child had quietly expired upon its mother's devoted bosom. This was the comfort brought to the
courageous missionary to speed and solace him upon his trying voyage !
On the 14th day of October he landed in Liverpool. A few days later he was appointed to pre-
side over the Church in Scotland, with Samuel as his assistant. Apostle Orson Hyde \vas at this
epoch the president of the British mission and editor of the Millennial Star ; though he was soon
to depart for America and was to be succeeded by elder Orson Spencer. But at the hour when the
change was expected to be made, a false report of Elder Spencer's death reached Liverpool. The
rumor was believed and Apostle Hyde appointed Franklin, then only twenty-five years old. to both
of the positions which he, himself, was vacating. The public announcement of this event was made
by the retiring president and editor in the second number of the Star, for the year 1847, in the fol-
lowing language :
"Brother Franklin Richards, a worthy young min, who has received the fulness of the priest-
hood in the temple of God, will be our successor to the editorial department of this paper, and will
also take the presidency of the whole Church in the British Isles, under the direction and instruc-
tion of the council of the Twelve .Apostles. With all confidence we resign our trust into his hands,
being satisfied of his competency and ability to perform the work assigned him ; and what is still
better, we know that God is with him. We leave our blessing upon him in the name of the Lord,
and say to the Saints, listen to his counsel and instruction ; in doing so you shall be blessed with
life and salvation."
Just as Elder Richards was entering upon his high trust Elder Spencer arrived in England and
Franklin at once gave place to his ecclesiastical chief; but he was selected as counselor, and during
the subsequent serious illness of the President, Franklin was obliged to sustain the responsibilities
and perform the duties of that calling. He was a devoted soul. His entire being was immersed in
the glorious work of the ministry. He labored there until the 20th day of February, 1848, when
he was appointed to take charge of a considerable company of Saints who were p.Tiigrating to the
landZion, in the bosom of the Rockv Mountains.
g4 HISTORY OF SALT LAKE CITY.
During the time of Franklin's stay in the British Isles, the Saints there had been relieved of the
treacherous "Joint Stock Company." The dishone'^t projectors of the despicable scheme had fled
to other regions ; and hope and confidence again held sway. But while all in the mission was pros-
perous, and the young elder could justly feel proud and happy in the great work of proselyting,
melancholy news came to him from the wilderness. His brother Joseph William Richards, a mem-
ber of the glorious Mormon Battallion had succumbed to the rigors of the march and his wearied
form had been laid in a lonely grave by the banks of the troubled Arkansas. Franklin's fair little
daughter Weiithy had also died, and left [ane heart-broken, childless and alone. Thus early in life
did the elder and his patient wife learn all the " sweet "uses of adversity," schooling them to unselfish
endurance.
The home journey via New Orleans and St. Louis to Winter Quarters was completed by the
middle of May, 1848, and there Franklin found Jane and such of their relatives as had survived the
perils and privations of the times. In June he was sent through Western Iowa negotiating for cattle
with which to move the company of Willard Richards across the Plains to the Salt Lake Basin. His
effort was completely successful, and on the 5th day of July the train started, with Frankhn acting
as captain over fifty wagons. The journey was a most distressful one to his wife. Much of the
time it seemed as though each day would be her last. But they found kind and helpful friends who
ministered to their wants ; and on the 19th day of October they entered the Valley through Emigra-
tion Canyon and camped in the fort, more grateful to God than words can express to find a resting
place for wearied frames worn with toil and sickness.
Franklin sold his cloak and every other article of clothing which he could spare, and with the
proceeds purchased building material. Before the violence of the winter was felt he was able to con-
struct a small room of adobies without roof and without floor. Here they had a modest feast on the
first day of 1849 ; and from this rude mansion on the succeeding 12th day of February, Franklin was
called to receive his ordination to the holy apostleship. His time was new engro.ssed in the duties of
his exalted calling.
On the 20th of |une, 1849, glatlness was again restored to the loving hearts of Franklin and
Jane bv the birth of a son whom they subsequently called Franklin Snyder Richards and who has
lived to perpetuate his father's fame and his mother's devotion.
The young Apostle became immediately associated wiih the other leading minds of the commu-
nity in the Provisional Government of the State of IJeseret. in general legislative and ecclesiastical
work, and in the labors of creating a Perpetual Emigration Fund.
In October, 1849, he was once more called to leave home with its tender ties and its responsibili-
ties of love, and renew his great missionary labor in the British Isles. He traveled in company with
President John Taylor and Apostles Lorenzo and Erastus Snow and had a most eventful journey.
Hostile Indians, inclement weather and turbulent, icy streams, combined to delay and imperil their
progress. But the hand of Providence protected them and the opening month of the year 1850,
found them at St. Louis, visiting with dear old friends and brethren.
What delight and heavenly ambition must have animated this devoted band. After years of
tribulations they had seen the altar of Christ's family established in a place of peace; and now they
were journeying hopefully to foreign lands to proclaim the law of gathering and lead the honest in
heart to the safe and chosen home of the Saints, for a time beyond the reach of persecution.
This was among the grandest missionary movements in the history of the Church, President
Taylor was on his way to France, Lorenzo and Erastus were destined for It.dy and Scandinavia,
and Franklin, with the zeal of his young manhood and his endowment as an Apostle, was to officiate
once more in the British mission.
Orson Pratt had been presiding and editing at Liverpool ; but when FranKlin arrived there on
March 29th, 1850, he found that the elder Apostle had been called on a hurried trip to Council
Bluffs, and the 5/a^ contained a notification that during his absence Apostle Franklin D. Richards
would preside over the Church affairs in Great Britain. The young president immediately began
the establishment of the Perpetual Emigration Fund, and founded it upon a basis which has en-
abled its beneficent power to endure until the present hour. Later in the season Orson returned to
England and Franklin relinquished his place as chief, and became Apostle Pratt's associate for a few
months ; but with the opening of the next year, 1851, Orson was called to the Valley, and Apostle
Richards was instated as the president. Within the twelve months following; his energy and zeal,
with that of his brethren, had spread the truth with irresistible sway throughout the Isles ol Britain,
while Franklin, with tireless hand and brain, doubled the business at the Liverpool Office; revised
and enlarged the Hymn Book and printed an edition of 25,000 copies ; prepared his pamphlet, the
FRANKLIN D. RICHARDS. p^-
iPearl of Great Price; stereotyped the Book of Mormon and arranged for stereotyping tlie Doc-
trine and Covenants ; issued a new edition of Parley's Voice of Warning ; and devised a plan whicli
made the Star a weekly instead of a semi-monthly periodical and increased the number of its issue.
He had also paid an interesting visit to President Taylor at Paris ; had sent to Zion the first com-
pany of Saints whose passage came through the Emigration Fund; and with Apostle Erastus Snow
had made arrangements for the organization of a company to engage in the manufacture of iron in
Utah. In January, 1852, pursuant to advice from the First Presidency of the Church, who contem-
plated a visit from him to the Great Salt Lake Valley, he installed in the Liverpool Office, his brother
Samuel, who had been formerly his associate during his ardent and successful Scottish ministry, in
order to fit the younger Richards to maint.iin the increasing work in Franklin's temporary absence.
The baptisms in the Briti.sh mission durmg these two years of Franklin's stupendous labor, ex-
tending from the summer of 1850 to the close of spring in 1852, aggregated about si.vteen thou-
sand; while the perfected organization of conferences, branches, pastorates, etc., was commensu-
rate with this marvelous increase. Such accessions required increa.sed emigrational facilities,
especially as the long water voyage to St. Louis, by way of the tropical gulf, closely followed by a
tedious overland journey, gave premonitions of fatal results to some among the pilgrims. After
exhaustive investigation Franklin rejected the theory of emigrating the Saints by way of Panama to
the California coast ; and instead adopted the project of sending one ship to each of the three ports
Boston, Philadelphia and New York. The latter received the decided preference, after the experi-
ment ; and the plan of voyage between Liverpool and Castle Garden, insntuted by the young but
thoughtful Apostle Richards for the European Saints, a third of a century since, is still the univer-
sally favored route.
On the 8th day of May, 1852, he sailed from Liverpool for New York. Scanned under the
bright light of his self-sacrificing life, the hour of his departure from English shores must have been
a time of trial mingled with exultation. After a dreary absence he was returning to the beloved
home and hearts, where suffering had been a constant and unforbidden guest for his dear sake* with
the glory of the Apostleship still radient upon him, he was modestly about to render up the testi-
mony of his worthiness; and a thousand works of industrious goodness, with thousands of true con-
verted souls left in Europe, or already journeying upon the deep, were all proclaiminf for him re-
ward and prayer. Yet on the other hand the mission of the man was strongly manifest upon him-
he was leaving the work at the very inception of the growing destiny foretold by his prophetic in-
tuition and made possible by his holy constancy ; zeal and sanctified ambition both must have
prompted regret for his departure ; but though this mantle of providential weaving ran some threads
of comfort; he was to see his loving family in Utah ; his brother Samuel, the latter possessing a full
share of the family honor and ability, would remain in Britain to add numbers, wealth and "lory to
the mission, and the absence of Franklin would be but temporary. There was with him no thought
that his loving duty was a painful task or an ill-paid sacrifice.
On the 28th day of the succeeding August he was attending the special conference in Salt Lake
City at which was promulgated to the world the famous revelation, which Franklin had loner before
heard and received, upon the subject of the eternity and plurality of the marriage covenant.
On the 13th day of December, 1852, in the Territorial Legislative Assembly he renewed his
labors as a law maker. The truth of theology and the power of discriminating legislation has
^seemed instinctive in the family of Richards.
In the opening of the year 1853 he participated in the dedication of the Temple grounds at Salt
Lake, and in laying the corner stones of the superb structure which now shines in chaste mag-
nificence.
In the succeeding month of July, he journeyed with Jane and their two little ones to Iron
County to proceed with the establishing of the iron works ; and on the trip encountered, but with-
out any immediate disaster, several parties of hostile Indians. At Cedar City military orders were
received from Governor Young and Lieut. -General Wells, in view of Indian disturbances: and
Franklin engaged immediately in the work of bringing in the outposts, changing the site of Cedar
City, and fitting the people for the resistance of savage aggressions.
He returned to his home in Salt Lake in time to soothe the closing hours of his mother's life;
but was again on the march for the iron region on the 22d day of October. His mission there ac-
complished, he came to Salt Lake to take part through the winter in the legislative councils; and
while thus engaged he was requested by President Young to prepare for another mission to Europe.
On the nth day of March, 1854, Willard Richards, one of the leaders of the Mormon people.
g6 HISTORY OF SALT LAKE CITY.
as he was the eminent leader of his family, departed this hfe. FrankHn, notwithstanding the fact that
he was a young man, was at once looked to by his kindred as being their chief.
Just before departing for England, he held a family gatheirng. at which he set the example of dedi-
cating his home and all he possessed to the I^ord. He reached Liverpool in safety on the 4th day of
June, 1854. His letter of appointment from the First Presidency, published in the Millennial ktar,
authorized him to preside over all the conferences and all affairs of the Church in the British Islands
and adjacent countries."
This was the signal for the closer amalgamation of all the European missions under one head^
the presidency of the zealous Apostle Franklin D. Richards. He traveled on the Continent promoting
peace and harmony as well as increase to the branches there. Emigration facilities were perfected
and enlarged.
In 1855 he engaged for the better accommodation of the growing business in Liverpool, the con-
venient premises known now as 42 Islington, which have been occupied as the chief offices of the
Church in I^urope fron> that day until the present time. In October of this year, the Saxon mission
was originally established in Dresden under his personal direction — a mission which has yielded intel-
ligence and numerical strength to the cause.
His travels were constant and extended to nearly every part of Western Europe — until he was
probably better informed than any other man regarding the work in foreign lands. He gathered
around him a most devoted band of American and foreign elders; and the cause progressed amaz-
ingly. It was also within his province to direct the branches of the Church in the East Indies, Africa,
Australia, New Zealand and other parts — making altogether a sphere which no man could fill unless
every ambition were centered in the cause.
On the 26th day of July, 1856, President Richards, accompanied by Elder C. H. Wheelock,
sailed from Liverpool, homeward bound, on the steamer Asia. The A/illennial S/ar, now p\acc(i
under the editorial charge of Apostle Orson Pratt, in announcing this fact, used the following
language :
" In noticing the departure of these our brethren from the field of their labors, it is difficult to
express those warm feelings of approval and blessing towards them which fill our bosom and which,
we are confident, will meet with a cordial response in the hearts of thousands of faithful Saints to
whom, through the rich blessings of the Lord, they have so abundantly administered the principles
of present and eternal salvation.
' ' For nearly ten years Presidents R ichards and Wheelock have spent most of their time in labor-
ing in the ministry in Britain ; and, from the beginning, a constant and abundant increase of strength
and power in the priesthood has been manifested, in the growth and efficiency of their labors.
" During the past two years, in which Elder Richards has presided over the churches in Europe,
some 8,000 Saints have left its shores for the land of Ephraim. When the circumstances under
which this great work of gathering has been accomplished are taken into consideration, in addition
to the many other complicated duties that have devolved upon him, it is evident that he has sought
diligently after, and has had the revelations of heaven to guide him in the plans and devices of his
heart ; and that the Lord has had great regard for him in making him an instrument in accomplish-
ing His mighty purposes in the earth.
"Brother Franklin has not only had the revelations of the Sr-irit to guide him, but he has
sought after the counsels of the Prophet Brigham, and when he has received them he has also had
the light of the same Spirit in which they were given, to direct him in carrying them out; hence,
constant success has attended his labors, and they have been crowned with blessings to himself as
an Apostle of Jesus, to the Saints under his immediate charge, and to the general interests of the
Kingdom of God on the earth.
"A rapid extension of the work of the gathering has been a prominent feature of his administra-
tion, the last great act of which— the introduction of practicing the law of tithing among the Saints
in Europe — is a fitting close to his extensive and important labors.
" We receive the work from the hands of President Richards with great satisfaction and pleas-
ure, on account of the healthy and flourishing condition in which we find it. During much of his
mission he has labored under great bodily debility and weakness, and w^e trust that the thousands
of Saints in Europe will unite their faith and prayers with ours, that he may experience a great re-
newal of the spirit and power of life, health and strength, upon him during his journey home, and
ever after; and that he may not lack in any good thing to cheer his heart, and enable him to fulfill
the duties of his holy calling."
At a meeting of the presidents of conferences, held in London previous to the departure of
FRANKLIN D. RICHARDS gy
President Richards, an affectionate and glowing tribute of esteem was unanimously dedicated to him.
On the 4th day of October, 1856, he arrived once more in his mountain home; and in Decem-
ber became again a member of the Utah Legislature. January 5th, 1857, he was again elected a
Regent of the University of Deseret. He soon became immersed in the settlement of the estate of
his deceased and revered uncle Willard. He was, on Monday, April 20th, 1857, elected and com-
missioned Brigadier-General of the second brigade of Infantry of the Nauvoo Legion. Soon after-
ward, he paid a visit of observation, with other dignitaries, to Fort Limhi on Snake River,
When the coming of Johnston's army was announced, Brigadier-General Richards was called
into council upon measures for public safety and defense ; and later, was engaged with four hun-
dred men of his brigade in giving support to Lieu.-General Wells in Echo Canyon. He, with other de-
voted citizens, lefthis valuable property under the charge of a trusty friend, who was to apply the torch
and offer it all as a burning sacrifice before it should be seized or desecrated by the boastful inva-
ders. And, after the tragic folly of tlie invasion was brought to its proper clo'e, he, with others, re-
ceived a somewhat unnecessary pardon from James Buchanan, President of the United States.
July 2ist, 1859, hs began a political tour through Southern Utah, to advise and arrange for the
election of delegate to Congress ; and immediately upon his return to Salt Lake he departed with
President John Taylor, to meet two companies of emigrants — many of whom were endeared by old
and affectionate association with Apostles Taylor and Richards.
During the years from 1859 to 1866, his labors were multifarious ; he was engaged in ecclesias-
tical, political legislative, military and educational works— besides having a large family responsi-
bility and such growing private interests of agriculture and mill building as his public duties would
permit him to inaugurate. He was upon three occasions very ill, but each time he recuperated and
renewed his labor with increased energy.
On the 29th day of July, 1866, he was once more appointed to England, and in a fortnight was
on his journey. Arriving in Liverpool on the nth day of the September following, he began the
welcome and grateful labor of visiting the principal conferences of the European mission ; including
the Scandinavian and other continental branches. If he rejoiced to be back among his children of
religious love, how joyous must the patient, toiling Saints have felt to greet once more their tender
father in the gospel.
In July, 1867, this '' tried warrior in the cause of truth" was again instated as president
over the European missions. His predecessor. Apostle Brigham Young, Jr., prophesied that under
Franklin, fresh impetus would be given to the work in those lands. These words met with a won-
drous fulfillment. He gathered once more a stuff of enthusiastic elders to his support; and in the
year lollowing, in Great Britain alone, there were baptized into the glory of this new gospel, three
thousand four hundred and fifty-seven souls ; and in the same length of time, from the same country
there were emigrated to the land of Zion more than three thousand two hundred Saints.
Always projecting his thoughts into the future to find means for advancing the work of God,
he at this time decided that emigration by sailing vessels was inadequate for the needs of the renewed
proselyting work in Europe. He, therefore, made all the necessary changes — at that early day not
inconsiderable — and two large companies of Saints were sent out from Liverpool by the steamships
Miniies:ta and Colorado bound for New York. This change from sailing vessels to steamships has
continued till the present time.
If there had been any fear in the minds of the leaders in Utah that the European countries had
already given up to the Church all their truth-seekers, this superb result must have dealt the fear a
lasting blow. It was again the triumph of the zeal which knew no other object than the progress of
the new dispensation. When Franklin returned to his treasured home in Zion, on the first day of
October, i853, President Brigham Young met him with these very significant words : "Brother
Franklin, welcome home ! I am glad to see you. I congratulate you upon your revival of the
work in the British mission."
This was the last foreign mission of Apostle Richards ; and his active work in the field had a
fitting close. Eight times he had crossed the mighty deep and four eventful periods he had spent
in the ministry abroad. His last effort had demonstrated that the soil of humanity in Europe would
still produce rich fruits.
Although his ardor as a missionary had not waned, his value as a home counselor had in-
creased ; and with the opening of the following year a new epoch was commenced in his career.
On ihe 19th day of February, 1869, he was elected Probate Judge of Weber County ; and from
that event Ogden and Weber County may date no small share of the worthy progress which has
made them respectively, in importance, the second city and county of Utah.
13
g8 HISTORY OF SALT LAKE CITY.
This was a critical hour in the history of that region. The locomotive whistle had sounded the
advance ; and the people, so long isolated, must be prepared for the contest of the world. Culti-
vated intelligence and cultured experience were needed. And the man whose earnestness and
ability had made him the instrument for the resuscitation of the British mission was deemed the fit-
ting regenerator.
Accordingly in May, 1869, Franklin D. Richards established his residence in Ogden. In all the
intervening years he has been the presiding ecclesiastical authority of the Weber Stake of Zion.
Many of his assistant laborers possessed a measure of his own paramoimt quality of generous loy-
alty to the caue ; and these men cime readily to his support in the revival work of the home min-
istry. But every reader who has so far followed this sketch will readily understand the
self abnegation and the zeal of Apostle Franklin in his religious calling in Weber County.
We pass to a brief summary of his social and political labors. When he reached Ogden to at-
te'nd his first term of court the town had no newspaper ; before a year had passed, he established,
and for a time edited, the Ogden yu/ic/ion, ovei which he long exercised a guardian care and which
practically exists to-day under the name of the Daily Herald. Schools had been all that the people
felt they could support, but they were still not up to a high grade ; he wrote, preached, and labored
personally — and with his accustomed success, to advance the educational interests of the people.
The young people, in many cases, lacked cultured associations and ambition for education and re-
finement ; he organized societies which were the heralds, if not the direct progenitors, of the later
Mutual Improvement Association^ which permeate the Territory — and he originated a plan by which
the youth of Weber County might hear, without cost, lectures by the best scientists and most tal-
ented orators of Utah. With the advent of the railway came an influx of worldly persons and sen-
timent; he taught his people how to preserve from this rude aggression, their political and moral
integrity, and he showed them by precept and example how to make home beautiful and home pleas-
ures attractive for the youth.
When he came first to examine the records and the condition of public and private business in
the county offices, he found almost a chaos. This state of affairs was due more to community care-
lessness than to incapacity of officials. But reform was absolutely necessary ; for public lands were
coming into market ; the probate court had general, civil and criminal jurisdiction ; the county was
rapidly increasing in wealth and varied population ; and legal ends must be accomplished by legal
means wliich would bear careful scrutiny. He gathered the best help available and proceeded with
the good work.
He was Probate and County fudge of Weber County continuously from the ist day of March,
1869, until the 25th day of September, 1883. During this period of more than 14 years, hundreds
of suits for divorces and cases of estates for settlement were brought before him. In no single instance
has his decision in these matters been reversed by a higher tribunal. He adjudicated all the land titles
in the important city of Ogden and the populous towns of Huntsville, North Ogden, and Plain City.
No one of these adjudications has ever been set aside by any court. For the first five years follow-
ing his induction into office, his court had original and appellate jurisdiction in all common law and
chancery cases; before him were tried a multitude of civil suits, habeas corpus cases and trials of
offenders charged with all crimes from misdemeanor to murder. Not one single judgment or de-
cree rendered by him in all this lengthy general judicial service was reversed on appeal. His justice
and humanity, united with keen legal sense, made his name proverbial.
In his admistration of county financial affairs he was no less successful, aided by associates of
shrewdness and integrity. During his regime the finest Court House in Utah was erected in Ogden ;
roads and bridges innumerable were built; the only toll road in the county— extending through the
mao^nificent Ogden canyon, was purchased and made free; taxes were kept low but were collected
promptly; the county was maintained clear of debt ; and during all this period his position carried
with it no salary.
But even with such a m iss of business at home, he found time to travel and observe throughout
the Territory. He had previously been, when in Utah, a member of the successive Legislative As-
semblies and Constititioual Conventions — in which his scholarship, legal lore, and patriotism made
him conspicuous. He traveled with President Young to organize nearly all the Stakes of Zion ; and
attended the dedication of Temple sites and Temple buildings. After the death of the great Brig-
ham, and especially since his own retirement from political life, Franklin has been entirely immersed
in the councils and labors of the Church. At the present trying hour, his dictation and advice are in
more than usual demand by the entire body of his people.
The passage of the notorious "' Edmunds Act" found Franklin D. Richards still the judicial
FRANKLIN D. RICHARDS. pp
head of Weber County. And as his situation at that hour, coupled with subsequent events of histori-
cal value brought him into most prominent individual contact with the political provisions of this
law and its amendments, the biographer deems this the proper place in which to review the most re-
doubtable effort ever made by the minority to gain political ascendancy in Utah Territurv.
The object asserted to be attained by the Edmunds Act was three-fold : The punishment of
polygamy and bigamy ; the ostensible punishment of unlawful cohabitation, and the disfranchise-
ment and disqualification from office of all polygamists, bigamists, and persons practicing unlawful co-
habitation. It is to the third branch of this trifoliate object that we now refer.
This was the most important feature in the law, in the estimation of the chief workers in the
Liberal party of Utah, and they began very early the effort to secure the supposed vast political ad-
vantages of its enforcement. When the President of the United States failed to appoint the com-
missioners in time to enable them to prepare for the general election of August, 1882, it became
apparent that the then incumbents — almost universally belonging to the People's Party — would
find it legally requisite to hold over, at least until the August of 1883, and until their successors
could be elected and qualified. In this emergency, the arch-schemers prevailed upon the three Jus-
tices of the Supreme Court of the Territory to address a letter to Congress, requesting immediate
intervention to prevent anarchy. This supererogatory document was extremely adroit, and it was
explained and amplified in persan^^il communications with influential men at Washington. It is
given herewith;
" The undersigned Judges of the Supreme Court of the Territory of Utah, respectfully repre-
sent: That the Edmunds bill, so called, vacates all registration and election offices in Utah ; that
by reason of this, no registration of voters has been made in this Territory this year, which the local
law requires to be done in May and revised the first week in June, and none but registered voters
can vote ; that by reason of such failure of registration and lack of election officers, the election
fi.Ked for the first Monday in August, 1882, cannot be held; that at such election there would have
been chosen successors to all the present county officers, and also to the Territorial Auditor and
Treasurer as directed by Territorial statutes ; that those successors cannot now be chosen for the
reasons given ; that this failure to elect is liable to cause general disturbance and trouble, and es-
pecially in view of the well-known fact that many of the present incumbents are understood to be
polygamists, and so disqualified under the law above referred to, to hold office. We therefore ask
that Congress shall take such measures as will provide for legal successors to all the present incum-
bents of office whose successors would have been chosen at the August election, and thereby se-
cure the continuance of good order and the regular and undisputed support of organized govern-
ment, which otherwise would be seriously jeopardized.
" We have delayed this representation as long as possible, hoping for the advent of the election
commissioners, but they have not yet come.
"Dated July 20th, 1882. " JOHX A. Hu.nter, Chief Justice;
" Philip H. Emerson, Associate Justice;
"Stephen P. Twist, Associate Justice;
''■Supreme Court of Utah."
The dire effects which might have flowed from the hints contained in the letter and the insidi-
ous suggestions made personally by the projectors, were measurably obviated by the earnest effort
of Utah's friends ; and the following comparatively mild, but thoroughly useless enactment, since
known as the "Hoar Amendment," was passed as a rider to an appropriation bill ;
■' The Governor of the Territory of Utah is hereby authorized to appoint officers of the said
Territory, to fill vacancies which may be caused by a failure to elect on the first Monday in August,
1882, in consequence of the provisions of an act entitled 'An Act to amendsection 5,352 of the re-
vised statutes of the United States, in reference to bigamy, and for other purposes,' approved March
22d, 1882, to hold their offic s until iheir successors are elected and qualified under the provisions
of said Act. Provided, that the term of office of any of said officers shall not e.Kceed eight months."
The difference between the request and the grant must Ije apparent to every thoughtful reader.
The effort was to obtain an enactment, dispossessing the vast majority of officials holding place un-
der the expressed will of the people of Utah, and instate in their stead, by executive appointment or
other undemocratic method, some hundreds of persons repugnant to the majority of citizens : while the
result was to secure for the Governor merely the right to fill vacancies occasioned by the failure to
elect in August, 1882— a most significant difference.
But in pursuance of the original plan, which had not contemplated and could not brook defeat.
103 HISTORY OF SAL 7 LAKE CITY.
this Hoar amendment was assumed as full authority for the project of arbitrary political confiscation;
and the Governor and his advisers appointed persons of their affiliation to nearly all of the Terri-
torial, county pnd precinct offices — aggregating some hundreds,
Among the early and important appointments made was that of James N. Kimball to be Pro-
bate Judge of Weber County; and on the 2d day of October, 1882, he demanded the office from
Franklin D. Richards. Being refused, he made application to one of the judges, whose name is at-
tached to the letter quoted above, for a writ of mandate compelling the relinquishment of the office
and its records, powers and emoluments in his behalf. This was the first movement of the kind on
the part of the Governor's appointees; and it placed Franklin D. Richards at once in the breach to
maintain a defense for himself and all his coadjutors. It had been the desire of many of the ap-
pointees and their backers, to organize a general plan of attack all along the line ; but Mr. Kimball
desired the honor of leading the van against a fortress which he thought would surely be easily won
and might possibly be surrendered without a struggle. The usual method of testing a question of
this character, where each party claims to be the legal officer, is by proceeding in quo wurranto, un-
der which the legal title to the office is first carefully and judicially determined, without the haste
characterizing mandamus. When the plaintiff sought the latter remedy, he was reaching lor what
seemed a conclusive advantage. With courts already committed in his behalf, he assumed that the
title was not even in dispute and that the court, under its strangely unnecessary and partisan prejudg-
ment, could not fail to grant him a peremptory writ. All the parties interested on either side in the
Territory now prepared to await the issue of this particular contest.
Judge Richards had not held the office for personal or family pleasure and profit ; he had been
intending to withdraw at the next election ; and there was considerable financial risk and personal
annoyance and jeopardy in an attempt to defeat before the courts of Utah, in that e.xcited, ambitious
hour, this project to seize his office. If he failed the pecuniary loss would be his own, but the dis-
aster would affect the whole Territory ; if he won, the gain would be for the people and for the
man whom they would ne.\t .select for the office. These considerations decided his unselfish mind.
His son Franklin S. Richards was engaged as leading counsel for the defense with able associates ;
and a vigorous fight began in the First District Court and continued through the Supreme Court of
the Territory.
The points raised by the plaintiff were that the term of office of the defendant Franklin D.
Richards as Probate Judge, expired on or about the first Monday in .August, 1882 ; that he was at
that time and dunng the progress of the suit, a polygamist, and therefore not entitled to hold office ;
that plaintiff had been appointed and commissioned to this office by Eli H. Murray, Governor of
Utah Territory ; that plaintiff had vainly demanded said office with its records from defendant ; and
that plaintiff had no plain, speedy, or adequate remedy at law for the wrongs alleged to be suffered
by him; wherefore plaintiff prayed for a writ of mandamus compelling the defendant to deliver to
him the office of Probate Judge and the records thereof.
In demurrer, subsequent answer, and later on appeal, the principal points made by the defense
were briefly these : Proceedings for writ of mandate could not be maintained to test the disputed
title to an office. Plaintiff" had filed no bond for the faithful performance of his official duties. The
Hoar amendment only authorized the Governor to appoint officers to fill vacancies; but there was
not and could not be any vacancy in this case, and therefore the Governor's appointment and com-
mission were absolutely worthless, for Franklin D. Richards had been elected under the law and
commissioned by the same governor to hold this office "for the term of two years [from the first
Monday in August, 1S80] and until his successor should be elected and qualified." This latter
provision, in case of a failure to elect a successor at the regular period, has been universally held to
extend the term of the then incumbent until such time as the legal election could be htld— be
that space long or short, and such time of "holding over" becomes a part of the legal term itself;
this Hoar amendment did not create vacancies, the language of the enactment having been evidently
chosen to prevent that result. If the defendant was a polygamist he could not for that reason be
ousted from his office until his status had been judicially determined ; and this had never been done.
Notwithstanding the strong showing made by the defense, every point was ruled against Judge
Richards by the District and Supreme Courts of the Territory. Even then the case was not yielded,
but was appealed to the Supreme Court of the United States.
Judge Richards held the office, maintained the rights of the people, and defended the position
of his hundreds of coadjutors in Utah " until his successor was elected and qualified." After the
term for which Mr. Kimball was appointed had expired, as no further public good could be
achieved by a maintenance of the suit, and as Mr. Richards had no private interests at stake, a
FRANKLIN D. RICHARDS.
lOI
satisfactory compromise was effected and the matter was forever settled without having been passed
upon by the Supreme Tribunal of the land.
Franklin's devotion to duty was ably seconded by the skillful manner in which delay was ob-
.tained and the advantage possessed by his opponent before the courts was neutralized. In the
shrewd management and laborious work connected with this case he had two constant assistants in
the persons of two of his sons, Franklin S. and Charles C. Richards, lawyers of understanding and
probity, who are now defending the religious rights of the people, with the same vigor exhibitcdln the
political contest of their father.
Thus the offices were retained in the hands of the people, and soon the humiliating discovery
was made by the ambitions Liberal politicians that their project of disfranchisement had ''also failed
of its object. It was only after this discovery that the Edmunds Act held no political comfort for the
minority here, that the " raid " against the practicers of plural marriage was begun. The historical
continuation of this Congressional and Judicial attack upon the people of Utah, is comprised in
other articles succeeding this biographical sketch.
The exigencies of printing this volume have made the biography but the tame chronological
narration of events in the life of Franklin D. Richards. But at the hour of publication the reviewer
seizes a moment in which to give a warmth of truthful coloring to this panorama of a human
career.
Franklin Dewey Richards had inherently the qualities fitting him to become an unselfish dis-
ciple of a sainted but unpopular prophet. Viewing all his early surroundings and the devotion and
steadfastness of his first years, the apostolic destiny of the man is clearly manifest to the eve of the
historian. Mark the almost miraculous manner in which he was preserved from becominga tram-
meled student of divinity in a theological seminary, and graduating asan orthodo.x preacher of a sec-
tarian gospel ; observe the glorious, lonely pilgrimage of the boy from a comfortable home across an
unknown land into the cruel wilderness already gory with martyr blood ; see him in all the trying
hours of those first years of want and wandering, of toil and sickness, marvelously preserved from
physical death or religious decay — knowing no other courage than faith in Christ, and seeking no
higher reward than to be accounted His most humble instrument. The flint of truth struck fire to
his soul; and his first ministry showed an enthralling desire to kindle the sacred flame in other
hearts. Throughout his entire life this wondrous unselfish earnestness in the gospel cause has irra-
diated his conduct ; it has impressed thousands of truth-seekers with reverential love; and it has en-
abled him to reach converts and gather helpers where a man of less exalted devotion would have
failed. All the boasted but shallow learning of a New England theological university might have
been vainly expended in an effort to win to the gospel such a ripe scholar and cultured gentleman
as Karl G. Maeser, the German professor, and his relatives and associates ; but the fiery zeal and un-
taught eloquence of the young Franklin were irresistible. It was so with the aids whom he obtained;
for in England the native elders who rallied to the support of his presidency were such men
as George Teasdale, Thomas Wallace, William Budge, Joseph Stanford, James Linforth, Thomas
Williams, John Jaques, Charles W. Penrose, Edward W. Tullidge, and a score of others who were
then or have since become eminent.
The Richards family is noted for the precocity of its members; and Franklin was of too pure a
strain to lack this hereditary trait. There is a popular opinion that early bloom of the intellectual
powers is followed by early decay; but this Apostle proves that the theory is not universally true, for
he was worthily famous at twenty-five years of age, and he has steadily progressed for more than a
third of a century. This is no less true of his physical strength than of his mental qualities ; at fif-
teen he was delicate, atsixty-flve he is robust. The Richards's are also noted for their family pride
and family devotion ; the greatness of one is the greatness of all ; the misfortune of one is the mis-
fortune of all. They like to have their chief; and when Willard died, they chose, regardless of age,
the most eminent among them for his successor.
As an Apostle, Franklin merges into his exalted calling all the ardor of his youthful ministry ;
upon the open pages of his apostleship are written the words; "To follow Thee steadfastly and
humbly, my Savior."
As a student of law he sought its majesty and avoided its chicanery. This principle he main-
tained in expounding the law in his court and to his sons.
As a legislator he was discriminating and sagacious — drawing from a well of thought and knowl-
edge, wisdom and equity.
As a Judge, he carried ''in the one hand chast'scmcnt — in the other, mercy."
102 HIS 7 OR V OF SAL T LAKE CITY.
As a soldier, in his brief experience, lie evinced the courageous and patriotic characteristics of
his ancestors.
As a scholar, he has outstripped the majority of collegians. Wherever his lot has been cast,
books have been his constant companions ; and he has compared their lessons with his own clear ob-
servation of men and things ; until to-day, for general information, he is probably the peer of any
man in the church.
As a humane and courteous gentleman, he is the delight of his acquaintenances. His polite-
ness is not a mask; it springs from tenderness of soul, His kindness shows best and greatest when
most needed by the recipient. His is the simple greatness which has to place no cruel guard upon
its own dignity, but can stretch down from its shining height to lift into his pure air the unfortunates
of earth. He has never felt the fear that he would sully his own grandeur in the public gaze by giv-
ing sympathy and aid to those who are struggling against adversity— no matter whether their fate has
been wrought by their own follies or by innocent misfortune. There may be among this
people, men who are more distinguished, men who are more exalted — more self concentrated,
men who are greater politicians and orators; but this biographer ventures the assertion that there is
not the man who has in his heart more real goodness than has Franklin D. Richards.
But the man has one conspicuous weakness. He is not what the word calls a financier; for
with his opportunities he might have been almost a money king, and yet he is a poor man. He has
been lacking in selfishness and in personal aggressiveness; he has been deficient in a desire for per-
sonal or family financial aggrandizement, which desire, though very estimable, is somewhat likely to
detract from successful labor as a simple, modest proclaim.'r of the word. Franklin has always
been able to manage with ability and integrity such financial affairs of the Church as have come
within his purview; but he has not schemed for himself. Wealth is great and useful. We all ac-
knowledge its power, and most of us kneel before it. But, after all, it is refreshing occasionally to
encounter a man who would never allow money getting to stand for an instant between him and his
whole soul's devotion to the everlasting gospel. With this view, Franklin's great weakness may be
deemed to be a monumental virtue.
Here we leave the subject of this sketch. He is more full of industry and vigor than
he was thirty years ago, if that be possible ; and before his marked destiny shall have completed
its course, he may well expect to see the next century past its infancy and his people sailing in less
troubled waters.
LORENZO SNOW.
The distinguished .'\postle of the Mormon Church, Lorenzo Snow, was bt rn \\)u\ 3d, 1814, in
Mantua, Portage County, Ohio. His father and mother were New England born, being descended
from the genuine Puritan stock.
In childhood Lorenzo exhibited a decision of character which has been conspicuously apparent
in subsequent life. After improving the best advantages afforded in common schools, he went to
"Oberlin College " to complete his education.
Two of his sisters being residents of Kirtland, Ohio, where the Latter-day Saints were then lo-
cated, on leavmg college he went there on a visit, but without the most distant thought of ever uni-
ting his interests with that people. However, on acquaintance, he became convinced of the truth
of the doctrines they professed, was baptized, and soon ordained an elder, and sent forth "withou'
purse or scrip," to preach the gospel, like the disciples of old.
Like a veteran soldier constantly at his post, from that time to this, Lorenzo Snow has been an
active mi.-^sionary in the cause he espoused — either at home or abroad, wherever his labors were re-
quired— having performed several missions in this as well as in foreign countries.
In 1837, with his father's family, he moved to Daviess County, Missouri, and in the next spring,
when he was filling amission in the South, his people were driven from Missouri into Illinois, where
/^U^/-^^l
-^u^y-
LORENZO SNOW. loj
he joined them, and, after performing a mission to the Eastern States in 1840, he was sent on his
first mission to Europe. In England he succeeded his predecessors in the presidency of the Lon-
don conference, and after the Twelve had left England, he acted as counsellor to Parley P. Pratt,
who presided over the European mission.
A pamphlet entitled "The only Way to be Saved," which Elder Snow published while on this
mission, has been translated into every language, where the fulness of the gospel has been preached
under the Mormon dispensation.
At the close of this mission of nearly three years, he took charge of a large company of Saints,
with whom he safely landed in Nauvoo, via New Orleans and the Mississippi River.
Before leaving England, President Brigham Young, who had succeeded in raising means to
publish the Book of Mormon, gave directions for copies to be specially prepared and richly
bound for presentation to her Majesty and the Prince Consort. The honor of this devolved upon
Lorenzo Snow, who was at that time president of the London conference. The presentation was
made in 1842, through the politeness of Sir Henry Wheatly ; and it is said her Majesty conde-
scended to be pleased with the gift. Whether she ever read the Book of Mormon is not known,
although if the presentation has not altogether faded from her memory, Mormonism has been
since that date sensational enough to provoke even a monarch to read the book, if for nothing better
than curiosity ; so, not unlikely Queen Victoria has read some portions, at least, of the Book of
Mormon. The unique circumstance called forth from the pen of Eliza R. Snow a poem, entitled
"Queen Victoria "
In the winter of 1845-6, he, with his family, crossed the Mississippi River, and joined the mass
of pilgrims from their beautiful city, in that strange and eventful exodus of the nineteenth century,
'From the L^ind of the Free and the Home of the Brave" (!) ; stayed in Pisgah until the spring of
1847, when, taking charge of a train of one hundred wagons, he arrived in Salt Lake City in the
autumn following. The ne.xt winter he was ordained into the quorum of the Twelve, and in the en-
suing autumn called to go to Italy to introduce and establish the gospel in that land; his mission
also extended to other nations and countries wherever opportunity should present.
After an absence of nearly three years he returned home via Malta, Gibraltar, Liverpool and
New York, and in the following autumn was elected a member of the Utah Legislature.
The next mission of importance was to locate fifty families in Box Elder County, sixty miles
north of Salt Lake City, where a small settlement had been formed, which, for want of the right
master-spirit, had lost every vestige of enterprise, and was minus all aim in the direction of advance-
ment. To diffuse active energies into this stereotyped condition of things, was not unlike raising
the dead, and a man of less strengh of purpose would have faltered. Not so the one in question.
He went to work, laid out a city, naining it "Brigham," in honor of the President of the Church,
moved his family to the new city, and thus laid the foundation for the great financial co-operative
enterprise that he there built up.
When the county was organized, by the authority of the Legislature, he took the presidency, as
a stake of Zion, which position he still holds. He was elected membei of the Legislative Council
to represent the district composed of the counties of Box Elder and Weber, and served for a long
while in that capacity.
A number.of years ago, with Elders E. T. Benson and J. F. Smith, he visited the Sandwich
Islands on important matters relative to the interests of the Saints on those Islands.
In 1872 he accompanied President George A. Smith on a tour through Europe, Egypt, Greece
and Palestine. While in Vienna, on his return, he received information of his appointment as
assistant counselor to President Young.
As a missionarv he has traveled over one hundred and fifty thousand miles. Probably none of
his compeers have been longer in the field, or traveled more, in preaching the gospel among the
nations of the earth.
The foregoing brief passages of his life are given, not as an adequate sketch, but to introduce
that noble scene in his life when he, as an apostle of his church, stood in the court of an earthly
judge to receive sentence for his religious faith.
On Saturday, January i6th. Apostle Snow's case came up in the First District Court at Ogden.
His attorney, F. S. Richards, made a few remarks setting forth the general good character of defen-
dant, and requested that Apostle Snow's age and the fact that he had been convicted on three separ-
ate indictments be taken into consideration.
Judge Powers then said : Mr. Snow, you may stand up. In indictment No. 743, Mr. Snow,
you were indicted by the grand jury of this district and charged with the crime of unlawful cohab-
104 ^^^ TORY OF SAL T LAKE CITY.
itation during the year 1884. In in lictment No. 742, you were charged with the crime of cohabi-
itation during the year 1885, and in indictment No. 741 you were charged with cohabitation during
the year 1883. You have been tried by a jury in each of these ca'^es, and in each case a verdict of
guilty has been found. Have you anything to say now why the sentence of the law should not now
be passed in each case ?
Mr. Snow — I will say, your honor, that I will not detain the court more than five or fen min-
utes, and will be as brief as possible.
"Your Honor, I wish to address this Court kindly, respectfully and especially without giving of-
fense. During my trials under three indictments, the Court has manifested courtesy and patience,
and I trust your honor has still a liberal supply, from which your prisoner at the bar indulges the
hope that further e.\ercise of those happy qualities may be anticipated. In the first place, the
Court will please allow me to express my thanks and gratitude to my learned attorneys for their able
and zealous efforts in conducting__my defense.
''In reference to the prosecuting attorney, Mr. Dierbower, I pardon him for his ungenerous ex-
pressions, his apparent false coloring and_seeming abuse. The entire lack of evidence in the case
against me on which to argue, made that line of speech the only alternative in which to display his
eloquence ; yet, in all his endeavors, he failed to cist more obliquy on me than was heaped upon our
Savior.
"I stand in the presence of this Court a loyal, free-barn American citizen ; now, as ever, a true
advocate of justice and liberty. 'The land of tlie free, the home of the brave," has been the pride
of my youth and the boast of my riper years. When abroad in foreign lands, laboring in the inter-
est of humanity, I have pointed proudly to the land of my birth as an asylum for the oppressed.
"I have ever felt to honor the laws and institutions of my country, and, during the progress of my
trials, whatever evidence has been introduced, has shown my innocence. But, like ancient Apostles
when arrainged in Pagan courts, and in the presence of apostate Hebrew judges, though innocent,
they were pronounced guilty. So myself, an Apostle who bears witness by virtue of his calling and
the revelations of God, that Jesus lives — that he is the son of God ; though guiltless of crime, here
in a Christian court I have been convicted through the prejudice and popular sentiment of a so-
called Christian nation.
''In ancient times the Jewish nation and Roman empire stood versus the Apostles. Now under
an apostate Christianity, the United States of America stands versus .Apostle Lorenzo Snow.
"Inasmuch as frequent reference has been made to my Apostleship, by the prosecution, it be-
comes proper for me to explain some essential qualifications of an Apostle.
"First, an Apostle must possess a Divine knowledge, by revelation from God, that Jesus lives —
that He is the Son of the living God.
"Secondly, he must be divinely authorized to promise the Holy Ghost; a Divine principle that
reveals the things of God, making known His will and purposes, leading into all truth, and showing
things to come, as declared by the Savior.
"Thirdly, he is commissioned by the power of God to administer the sacred ordinances of the
pospel, which areconfirincd to each individual by a Divine testimony. Thousands of people now
dwelling in these mountain vales, who received these ordinances through my administrations, are
living witnesses of the truth of this statement.
"As an Apostle, I have visited many nations and kingdoms, bearing this testimony to all classes
of people — to men in the highest official stations, among whom may be mentioned a president of
the French Republic. I have also presented works embracing our faith and doctrine to Queen Vic-
toria and the late Prince Albert, of England.
"Respecting the doctrine of plural or celestial marriage to which the prosecution, so often re-
ferred, it was revealed to me, and afterwards in 1843, '^""y explained to me by Joseph Smith, the
Prophet.
"I married my wives because God commanded it. The ceremony, which united us for time and
eternity, was performed by a servant of God, having authority. God being my helper, I would pre-
fer to die a thousand deaths than renounce my wives and vie late these sacred obligations.
"The Prosecuting Attorney was quite mistaken in saying ' the defendant Mr. Snow was the most
scholarly and brightest light of the Apostles; * and equally wrong when pleading with the Jury to
assist him and the ' United States of America,' in convicting Apostle Snow, and he ' would predict
that a new revelation would soon follow changing the Divine law of celestial marriage." Whatever
fame Mr. Bierbower may have secured as a lawyer, he certainly will fail as a prophet. The severest
LORENZO SNOW. y^j
prosecutions hive never been followed by revelations changing a Divine law, obedience to which
brought imprisonment or martyrdom.
"Though I go to prison, God will not change His law of celestial marriage. But the man, the
people, the nation, that oppose and fight against this doctrine and the Church of God will be over-
thrown,
" Though the Presidency of the Church and the Twelve Apostles .should suffer martyrdom,
there will remain over 4,000 Seventies, all Apostles of the Son of God, and were these to be slain."
there would still remain many thousands of High Priests, and as many or more Elders, all possess-
ing the same authority to administer gospel ordinances.
■• In conclusion, I solemnly testify, in the name of Jesus, the so-called Mormon Church is the
Church of the living God ; established on the rock of revelation, against which ' the gates of hell
cannot prevail." '
"Thanking your Honor for your indulgence, I am now ready to receive my sentence."
At the close of the reading the Court said :
" Mr. Snow, the Court desires to ask you, for its own information, what course you propose to
pursue in the future concerning the laws of your country ?"
Mr. Snow.— "Your Honor, in regard to that question ; I came into this court— the prosecuting
attorney had, perhaps, sixteen witnesses. By the evidence of thdse witnesses I was provfd guiltless
of the charge contained in the indictments. I had three witnesses. Only two of them were able to
testify anything in relation to my case. There was not, your Honor, one scintilla of evidence show-
ing that I had cohabited during the last three years, or since the passage of the Edmunds law, with
more than one woman. This, your Honor, I believe, would readily concede. Well, I have obeyed
that law. I have obeyed the Edmunds law. Your Honor, I am guiltless, I am innocent. Well,
now, your Honor asked me what I am going to do in reference to the future. Having laeen con-
demned here and found guilty after having obeyed that law, I am sorry — I regret that .your Honor
should ask me that question, and, if your Honor please, I should prefer not to answer it."
Court.— "The Court, Mr. Snow, from its own knowledge of you and from your reputation, which
came to the Court before you ever were arraigned here, became and is aware that you are a man of
more than ordinary ability. The Court is aware that you are schrlar. The Court is aware that you are
naturally a leader of men; that you have a mind well adapted to controlling others, and for influenc-
ing and swaying others, and for guiding others. No matter in what land you might have lived, or
in what position you might have been placed, you have those attributes which would naturally have
caused people to turn towards you for advice and for counsel. You are a man well advanced in
years, and you have been favored by time, because it seems to have touched you but lightly with its
finger.
" The Court feels that, in view of your past life, of the teachings that yon have given to this
people, of the advice and counsel that you desire to stand as an example of one who advocates, and
the jury has found, also, practices in violation of the law, the Court must pass sentence in these
cases in a way and manner that will indicate to this people that the laws of the land cannot be vio-
lated with impunity, even by one as aged, as learned and as influential as yourself.
" The sentence of the court, therefore, is : That in Indictment No. 741 you will be confined in
the penitentiary for the period of six months; that you pay a fine of ^300 and the costs of prosecu-
tion, and that you stand committed until the fine and costs are paid ; and that at the expiration of
your sentence in that case, that to you tnust be given — believing as you state to me you do believe
concerning the laws of your country ; and recognizing, further, that you are among the very leaders
— a leader of leaders among those who advocate that it is right that the law of the land sliould be
violated, it cannot exercise the leniency and the mercy that it would be glad to extend to a man of
your age, if it were not for your great influence and your great power for good or for evil. I sin-
cerely believe that Lorenzo Snow could cause this people to obey the laws of the Union, and put
an end to the trouble and discord in this Territory, if he chose so to do. Believing that, and being
fully aware that you will not do that — aware of indictment No. 742 — you will be confined in the peni-
tentiary of Utah for the period of six months and pay a fine of ^300 and the costsof prosecution, and
that you stand committed until the fine and costs are paid; and that at the expiration of your sentence
in that case, that in indictment No. 743 you will be confined in the penitentiary for the period of six
months, and that you pay a fine of ^300 and the costs of prosecution, and that you stand committed
until the fine and costs are paid.
"You will be remanded into the custody of the United States Marshal."
The case of Lorenzo Snow was carried up to the Supreme Court of the United State? [see
14
io6 HISTORY OF SALT LAKE CITY.
sketch on his attorney F. S. Richirds] ; and after its decision, the new Governor, Caleb W. West,
visited the Penitentiary, accompanied by Marshal Ireland, Secretary Thomas, Mr. Adam Patterson
(the court reporter) Mr. W. C. Hall and Mr. Webb.
Apostle Snow havingbeen brought into the room where the Governor awaited him, his Excellency
informed him that he had come to submit to him a proposition consented to by Judge Zane and
Mr. Dickson, as follows: " I have come to say to you and your people here that wc would unite
in a petition to the Executive to issue his pardon in these cases upon a promise, in good faith, that
you will obey and respect the laws, and that you will continue no longer tcf live in violation of them ;"
to which .Apostle .Snow replied :
" Well, Governor, so far as I am concerned personally, I am not in conflict with any of the laws
of the country. I have obeyed the law as faithfully and conscientiously as I can thus far, and I am
not here because of disobedience of any law, I am here wrongfully aonvictcd and wrongfully sen-
tenced."
A long conversation then ensued, the pith of which will be found in the subjoined document.
After this conversation the rest of the Mormon prisoners were called out and addressed by the
Governor, with his proposition ; the answer was not required until they had duly weighed the
matter. In due time the answer came, as follows;
* "Utah Pem ie.nitiaky, May 24th, i836.
" To His Excellency, Caleb IV. West, Governor of Utah:
''Sir. — On the 13th instant you honored the inmates of the penitentiary with a visit, and of-
fered to intercede for the pardon of all those enduring imprisonment ^yn conviction under the Ed-
munds law, if they would promise obedience to it in the future, as interpreted by the courts. Grati-
tude for the interest manifested in our behalf claims from us a reply. We trust, howevei, that this
will not be construed into defiance, as our silence already has been. We have no desire to occupy
a defiant attitude towards the Government, or be in conflict with the Nation's laws. We have
never been accused of violating any other law than the one under which we were convicted, and
that was enacted purposely to oppose a tenet of our religion.
" We conscientiously believe in the doctrine of plural marriage, and have practiced it from a
firm conviction of its being a divine requirement.
" Of the forty-nine elders of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints now imprisoned
in the penitentiary for alleged violation ot the Edmunds law, all but four had plural wives from its
passage to thirty-five years prior to its passage. We were united to our wives for time and all eter-
nity by the most sacred covenants, and in many instances numerous children have been born as a
result of our union, who are endeared to us by the strongest paternal ties.
'What the promise asked of us implied you declined to explain, just as the courts have done
when appeals have been made to them for an explicit and permanent definition of what must be
done to comply with the law.
'■ The rulings of the courts under this law have been too varied and conflicting heretofore, for
us to know what may be the future interpretations.
'* The simple status of plural marriage is now made, under the law, material evidence in secur-
ing conviction for unlawful coh.abitation, thus, independent of our act, ruthlessly trespassing upon
the sacred domain of our religious belief.
"So far as compliance with your proposition requires the sacrifice of honor and manhood, the
repudiation of our wives and children, the violation of sacred covenants, heaven forbid that we
should be guilty of such perfidy ; perpetual imprisonment, with which we are threatened, or even
death itself, would be preferable.
"Our wives desire no separation from us, and were we to comply with your request, they would
regard our action as most cruel, inhuman and monstrous, ourchilden would blush with shame, and
we should deserve the scorn and contempt of all just and honorable men.
The proposition you made, though prompted doubtless by a kind feeling, was not entirely new,
for we could all have avoided imprisonment by making the same promise to the courts; in fact, the
penalties we are now enduring are for declining to so promise rather than for acts committed in the
past. Had you offered us unconditional amnesty, dearly as we prize the great boon of liberty, it would
have been gladly accepted ; but we cannot afford to obtain it by proving untrue to our conscience,
aur religion and our God.
As loyal citizens of this great Republic, whose Constitution we revere, we not only ask for, but
claim our rights as freemen and, if from neither local or national authority w« are to receive equity
ANGUS M. CANNON. 107
and mercy, we will make our appeal to the Great Arbitrar of all human interests, who in due time
will grant us the justice hitherto denied.
" That you may, as the Governor of our important but afflicted Territory, aid us in secunn<T
every right to which loyal citizens are entitled, and find happiness in so doing, we will ever pray."
This document was signed by Lorenzo Snow, Abram H. Cannon, Hugh S. Gowans, Rudger
Clawson, Wm Wallace Willey, David M. Stuart, Henry VV. Naisbitt, L. D. Watson, Culbert
King, Wm. D. Newsom, William Grant, John Price Ball, Amos Maycock, Oluf F. Due, John Y.
Smith, John Wm. Snell, Henry Gale, Thomas C. Jones, John Bowen, Wm. G. Sanders, Andrew
Jensen, John Bergen, Joseph H. Evans, James E. Twitchell, Geo. C. Lambert, George H. Taylor,.
Helon H. Tracy, James Moyle, Hyrum Goff. H. Dinvvoodey Joseph McMurrin, Herbert J.
Foulger, Stanley Taylor, James H. Nelson, Frederick A. Cooper, James O. Poulson, Robert
McKendrick, Robert Morris, Samuel F. Ball, S. H. B. Smith, Geo. B. Bailey, Nephi J. Bates,
John Penman, Thos. Burmingham, Wm. J. Jenkins, Thomas Porcher, C. H. Greenwelt, William
H. Lee.
The conduct of Governor West, in the case, exhibits a noble example of the Nation's magnanimity
and his own great heartedness and humanity. Doubtless it also fiiirly represented the wish and intent
of President Grover Cleveland towards the Mormon community. But Apostle Lorenzo Snow, and
his compeers in bonds, could only answer as they have done, maintaining the integrity of their
cause and the righteousness of their lives. Even were it possible to accept the amnesty, it would
have to be done by the voice of the whole Chuich. judge Powers and the Governor, as also all
others of their class generally, have a misconception when they think that any one of <he Apostles
could lead the Mormon people in a schism over the patriarchal systems of their church, of which
plural m irri.ige is the keystone of the arch. Hid Lorenzo Snow accepted the offer of Governor
West — noble and magnanimous in him, the mediator — he, the Apostle, would have been transformed
in the eyes of his Church, to the image of deformity and would no longer have been one of its
Apostles. In fine, the last act and conduct of Lorenzo Snow is eminently consistent with his dis-
tinguished Apostolic life and character.
ANGUS M. CANNON,
The brother of the distinguished Apostle, George Q. Cannon, is the son of George C'annon
and Ann Quayle, whose mothers were first cousins. They were born at Peel, Isle of Man.
Angus was born in Liverpool, Lancashire, England, May 17th, 1834. At the age of three and
a half years he went to live with his grandmother Quayle. This is his earliest recollection. His
father and mother were baptized in Liverpool on the nth of February, 1840, by Apostle John Tay-
lor, who had married Leonora, sister of Captain Cannon. Angus was blessed in the Church the
same year.
The family, composed of parents and children— George Q., Mary Alice, Angus M., Ann,
David Henry and Leonora, in the summer of 1842, took passage with a company of Saints in the
ship Sidney, presided over by Elder Levi Richards. On the second day out the mother was taken
sick, and after a six weeks' illness, she died and was buried in the ocean. She had anticipated this
fate [see sketch on George Q.]— but she could not be deterred from undertaking the voyage to
gather her children to the bosom of the Church ; such was the exalted religious nature of this Apos-
tolic mother, two of whose sons were destined to become leaders in the Church.
After a voyage of eight weeks the family reached New Orleans and finally St. Louis, where they
spent the winter, and in the spring of 1843, they went up to Nauvoo with a company of Saints on
the Maid of lozoa; the boat was owned by the Church and commanded by Captain Dan Jones.
In the summer of 1843, Angus and his brothers and sisters were prostrated with fever and ague,
and young Angus was anxious to be baptized for fear he would die without the administration of the
io8 HISTORY OF SALT LAKE CITY.
ordinin'jc. In his youthful e^rneUne3s he delighted to hear the instructions of Joseph and Hyrum,
and was especially inspired with the Prophet's forecast of the future. When the Prophet delivered
his famous speech to the Nauvoo Legion, in full dress as their Lieut. -General, these feelings were in-
tense ; but beyond the power of his description is the memory still retained in Angus Cannon's
mind of the awful night of the martyrdom — June 27th, 1844.
In 1844 'i'^ f^ither married Mary Edwards, a widow from North Wales. He went to St. Louis
and died during that foil. His daughter Elizabeth is the issue of that marriage. Tlie same fall
Angus was baptized at Nauvoo by L. O. Littlefield, and was confirmed on the river bank.
Charles Lambert married Mary Alice Cannon, and became administrator of Mr. Cannon's es-
tate and guardian of the children.
In tlie fall of '46, after the battle of Nauvoo the family were driven with the Saints across the
river, on the banks of which they laid for a while, exhausted and suffering from hunger, which was
relieved by the miracle of a flock of quails flying into their camps and even into their tents. The
famishing e.^ciles caught the birds and thus preserved themselves from starvaiion.
On his W)y to Winter Quarters Angus worked for supplies, .^t Winter Quarters they built a
house. The Indians killed their cattle in the winter, and Angus, in company with Charles Lam-
bert, went to Missouri to get an outfit. He started West in 184S, but his outfit went through the
ice on the .Missouri River and he had to return to Missouri, which hindered his journey till the
Spring of 1849, when he walked from Missouri to S?.lt Like Valley, driving stock and carrying a
gun for hunting. He reached this city in October, 1849, the day after his brother George Q.
started on his mission for California and the Sandwich Islands.
The \\f.\X summer Angus farmed and hauled wood, and in November he went in George A.
.Smith's compmy that settled Iron County. They got there January, 1851. Angus herded the stock
and made the first adobies. In May he returned to Salt Lake City and continued farming and can-
yon work till the fall of '52, when he went into the Deseret Neias office in the printing business.
At the April conference of 1S52, he was ordained a seventy in the Thirtieth Quorum. In the
fall of 1854, he went with Apostle Taylor on a mission to New York, to assist in the publication of
the Mormon. His motlier's brother. Captain Joseph Quayle, gave him money, and his mother's
sister gave him a home in Brooklyn.
He was next sent to Hartford, Connecticut, to preach, which he did in various parts of that
State. He returned to New York in May, and was next sent to labor in the Philadelphia confer-
ence under Jeter Clinton. During the, summer he baptized ten persons. He next went to
Franklin County, Pennsylvania, where he baptized twenty-one jjersons within one month. There he
was joined by Geo. J Taylor, and others were baptized. In the spring of 1856, he succeeded Clin-
ton in the presidency of the Philadelphia conference, which included New Jersey, Delaware and
Eastern Maryland. In the spring of 1857, W\ I Appleby was appointed to preside over the mi.ssion
and Angus was appointed his first counselor and to superintend the emigration on this side of the
Atlantic. The same fall the elders were released to come home in consequence of the "Buchanan
war." Angus left Philadelphia in March, 1858, and started tor the West, but he was taken down
with lung fever and stayed at Crescent City a month. He had also previously the lung fever at
Pliiladelphia.
In the beginning of May, i85'8, he with one hundred elders started wtst and had an eventful
journey; they arrived on the 21st of June. The Saints were on their " move south." Angus
joined his brother George Q. at Fillmore. The brothers had not seen each other for eleven years.
He returned to Salt Lake City and engaged in farming, teaming and printing as his health
permitted.
In the fall of i860, he started a company to manufacture potteryware, under the firm name of
Cannon, Eardley & Fkothers. In tlic f.iU of 1861, he was called on the "cotton mission." He lo-
cated on the Rio Virgin and was associated on a committee to locate the City of St. George with
Rrastus Snow and Jacob Gates. A charter was granted during the winter, and .Angus M Cannon
was elected the first mayor of the city. He held the office two terfns. He was also prosecuting
attorney for Washington County, which ofitice he filled for four years. He was afterwards elected
by the legislature, prosecuting officer for the second Judicial District, for two years. In 1865, in the
militia, he was elected major of the Iron Brigade, cavalry; and was afterwards elected lieutenant-
colonel of the same regiment and commissioned by the governor.
In the f.dl of 1868 Angus was called to the management of the business department of the Des-
eret News, his brother, George Q., being the editor. He remained in that position till 1874, during
which time he filled a six months' mission to the Eastern States, and traveled about 34,000 miles
ANGUS M CANNON, log
inside of two years and a half. His health being feeblp he resigned, August, 1874, ^■'"1 traveled ex-
tensively through the Territory to recruit his health, and engaging in business pursuits. In 1874 ^'^
was ordained a High Priest and set apart as a member of the High Council of the Salt Lake Stake
ijf Zion, and at the April conference of 1876, he was called to ]3reside over the Stake. In August
of the same year he was elected Recorder of Salt Lake County for a term of four years, and re-elected
in August, i38o. When the Descrct News Company was incorporated he was elected a director
and vice-president of the company, and has been several times re-elected.
In 1883 he went east and ordered machinery for the new paper mill ; and in these miscellaneous
notes it may be named that in the spring of 1874 ^^ was set apart as counselor to Bishop Thomas
Taylor. He was with the expedition that went south to locate Call's Fort, on the Colorado, and
with the company that recovered the body of Dr. Whitmore, killed by the Indians.
The life sketch of Angus M. Cannon, thus far, culminates with, to the Mormon people, the
distinguishing historical circumstance of his going to the Penitentiary to maintain the integrity of
the marriage relations of his church. We cannot follow the details of his case and trial (the subject
of which is embodied in the sketch of his attorney, F. S. Richards), but will close with his marked
conduct and address to the Court on the day when sentence was passed upon him, Saturday, May
9th, 1885.
The Court said: " Mr. Cannon, will you stand up, please?"
Mr. Cannon stood up.
The Court.^'i' As you are aware, the jurors who tried the charge against yoii for unlawful co-
ciabitation found you guilty, and the motion for a new hearing having been entered and overruled,
it now becomes the duty of the Court to pronounce the judgment of the law. Have you anything
further that you desire to say before sentence is pronounced ? If so you can say it."
Mr. Cannon. — "Nothing."
The Court. — "As you are aware, the law gives the Court quite a wide discretion in the punish-
ment imposed for this offense ; in fact, the laws of the United States do that— give the court a dis-
cretion. The punishment here may be a fine not exceeding $300, or imprisonment not e.xceeding
six months, or both ; so that the Court has a discretion between a nominal fine, or a fine of $300,
and imprisonment for six months. That being the case I would be very glad if you can suggest any-
thing that would enable the Court to exercise its discretion in the light of all the facts which the
Court has the right to take into consideration. One of these facts is— the Court is of the opinion,
and it has so held on former occasions, particularly as the offense is a continuing one, like unlawful
cohabitation— that the Court may inquiie of the defendant as to what his purposes are in respect to
obeying the law in the future and in his respect to his advice to others. I do not ask this, I wish
you to understand, for the purpose of humiliation, or for the purpose of extorting from you, under
pressure of circumstances, any statement whatever. You are at perfect liberty to answer or not an-
swer, just as you please. Of course, if a man charged with a crime, convicted of a crime by a jury,
says that he intends to obey the law in the future, and that he intend^ to use his influence upon the
side of the law, it ought to be taken in his favor, ought to be so considered by the court, as I think.
And if any man satisfies me that he is in good faith in making this statement I should be very much
disinclined to impose upon him imprisonment in the penitentiary. Information has come to my
e.nrs that some persons regard this as rather an imposition by the Court, intended by the Court to
humiliate and oppress the defendant. I do not so regard it. The best men that have ever lived in
this country have been proud to declare that they believe in the laws of their country. They glory
in thousands of brave men that have died in its defense, to vindicate its laws. Now, if you desire
to make any statement on that point you are at liberty to do so. I do not wish you to understand
that I desire to oppress you or humiliate you in the least ; but I would love to know if there are any
paliating circumstances which the Court has not a knowledge of, I would love to know them before
pronouncing sentence."
Mr. Cannon — " If your Honor please : It has been the rule of my life, since I have been mar-
ried especially, to make my acts the evidence of my good faith. It has been the rule of my life, in
the presence of my children, to invite their scrutiny of my conduct as evidence of my love. It has
been the rule of my life, in the country that has become my adopted home, to which I have sworn
allegiance, to make my conduct the evidence of my loyalty. I have scanned closely the evidence
produced before the jury that returned a verdict of 'guilty.' I listened to Clara C. Cannon's state-
ment, in answer to the prosecution, that she had been my wife up to the passage of the Edmunds
act. As to my conduct towards her since that time she was debarred from answering by the objec-
tions of the prosecution. I was anxious to have the Court made f\\miliar with my conduct. The onlj
no HISTORY OF SALT LAKE CITY.
evidence that I heard that would imply that I acknowledged one wife, or more than one wife, was
from a son— my son, George M. Cannon — who stated that he had heard me say that I married my
wives when there was no law against it. I was debarred from introducing any evidence to prove
my good faiih as evinced by my conduct. From the time that the Edmunds act became a statute —
from that time to this— I have no knowledge that there was a scintilla of evidence given before the
jury to justify a verdict of ' giilty.' It was said by your honor that if there was any evidence to
show that I had held out these two women as wives, then, if that evidence were reliable, they must
return a verdict according. I reposed in calmness and serenity at that thought. For me to stand
here and state what I will do in the future, conscious of having violated no provision of that statute;
to give assurance that I will do a thing that may be beyond my control an hour hence ; to tell what
1 may do with my allegiance to my country, 1 cannot. With all my .soul 1 love the country, and
love its institutions, and have sworn allegiance to it. When I did so I had no idea that they would
pass a statute making my faith and my religion a crime. But having made that allegiance I can
only say I have used tht' utmost of my power to honor my God, my family, my country and its laws.
I have loved my children and I was gratified in hearing your honor say that the law had made my
children equal heirs. From this I infer that had I died intestate my children would have been equal
heirs before the law. This law was passed by men who had no sympathy with my children, that is,
no such sympathy as a father is cap.able of exercising for his offspring. In eating with my children
day by dav, in showing an impartiality in meeting with them around the board where their mother
was wont to wait upon them I was not conscious of crime. If the law-makers <Jf my country pro-
vide that mv children shall be treated impartially in the settlement of my estate, certainly I, their
father ought not to be held a criminal for having eaten with them and shown that impartiality and
that care which eveiy true father always will feel for his offspring. My record is before my country;
the conscientiousness of my heart is visible to the God of heaven, who created me ; and the rectitude
that has marked my life and conduct with this people bears me up to receive such a sentence as
your honor shall feel to impose upon me. I was pleased also when your honor stated to the jury
and to the members of the court that my conduct towards these respective wives, and the expressions
I mif^ht have used towards them, were those that should enter into consideration when sentence was
being pissed. As I have been debarred from giving evidence of my intention to maintain the laws
of my country, and to honor the institutions that are provided under the Constitution, which 1 have
loved and honored, my heart was made glad in the anticipation that your Honor would probably
consider these things. Hence, I now submit and humbly bow to the decrees of this court, trusting
to be able to bear up under any sentence that you may inflict in such a manner that shall give evi-
dence to mv children that 1 have not, at least, lost my manhood if I have been convicted." [Loud
applause, against which the Judge protested, remarking, "This is a court house; you must keep
quiet here !"]
The Court. — "I infer from your remarks that you have nothing further tosay ?"
Mr. Cannon.— "Nothing."
The Court. — •'You decline, I see, to make any promise as to the future, which you would not be
able to keep an hour hence ?"
Mr. Cannon, — 'T have never been in the habit of making my children promises ; 1 have de-
clined making them promises lest 1 should fail."
The Court. — " When a man has been convicted of an offense like this, which is, to some extent
a continuing one, and when you decline to state whether you will obey the law in the future or not,
whether you will advise others to obey it or not, the court, of course, cannot presume that that is your
intention at this time. And further, if it is your intention not to obey the law as it was expounded and
not to use your influence, so far as you may have it, on the side of the law, of course, the Court
must take this circumstance, this fact, into consideration. The object of this law, the purpose of the
discretion the Court has, is to prevent this crime of unlawful cohabitation. That is the purpose of
the law, and the court is here to use the discretion which the law has given it, as the judgment of
the Court will be, most likely to carry out the purpose of the law, that is to say, to prevent the recur-
rence of the crime of which the jury has convicted you, by the example of punishment. Under
these circumstances I am of the opinion that the Court in this case — considering the extent of this
punishment as compared with that for polygamy — would not be justified in giving you anything less
than the extent imposed by the law — a fine of three hundred dollars and imprisonment in the peni-
tentiary for six months."
11
A. MILTOJV MUSSEJl. in
A. MILTON MUSSER.
Immediately after Mr. Cannon had been sentenced, the case of ^Tr. Musser was then called
■And Mr. Brown moved for a new trial, which motion was opposed by Mr, Varian.
The court overruled the motion, and then, addressing the defendant said : " Mr. Musser wil]
you stand up, please?"
Mr. Musser stood up.
The Court. — "You are aware of the fact that the jury found you guilty of the crime of unlawful
cohabitation. It now becomes the duty of the court to pronounce the sentence of the law. Have
you anything to say ?"
Mr. Musser, — "I have a communication, may it please the court, which Mr. Staytier, one of my
counsel, will read, if the cqurt will grant permission."
The Court. — "He may read it."
Mr. Stayner then read the following letter:
"Salt Lake City, May 9, 1885.
" To His Honor, Chief Justice Charles S. Zane, Third Judicial District , Utah Territory,
''Dear Sir. — In view of my having done in the past, according to my best understanding, alt
that I thought was required of me as a law-abiding citizen by conveying to my wives and to their
heirs and assigns, respectively, their separate homes and homesteads, and finding that my conduct
in this and other regards has not had the warrant of your honor's endorsement, I feel that I am jus-
tified in asking the court for the personal peace and safety of myself and my dear family, to defi-
nitely and specifically define what line of conduct will be the correct one for me to follow when I
am released from the penitentiary, where I cheerfully go for the inestimable privilege I have hereto-
fore enjoyed in 'holding out' my several wives before the public, without the least attempt to con-
ceal the holy relations. I would also call your honor's attention to the noonday fact that my wives
and children, individually and collectively, are as dear to me as your Honor's wife and children can
possibly be to you, and that they have equal claims upon me, under the holy covenant I have made,
to love, cherish, honor and tenderly care for tiiem ; all of which I have done to the best of my abil-
ity, and, as far as I know, to their entire satisfaction ; also that my obligations to each and to all of
them are of the most sacred, binding, and, as they and I firmly believe, eternal character,
" I now desire to have it clearly defined what course will be the rafe and proper one for me to
pursue to keep my contracts honorably with them, and yet live within the law as interpreted by
your honor during my trial, which rulings seem to me to be very cruel and oppressive, not to say
subversive of good law and morals. Having used my very best judgment all through life respect-
ing these vital matters, and it now being deemed unsound by your Honor, as witnessed by my pos-
ition before the court to-day as a criminal, I most anxiously desire to obtain an expression from the
Chief Justice of Utah, at this juncture of the court's proceedings in my case, respecting my definite and
specific duties, as to what I am to do as a husband, father and good citizen, after I emerge from the
Bastile, where I suppose the court will send me for havmg openly and affectionately 'held out' and
cared for my lovable wives and children, who in all the mental and physical graces and endowments,
natural and acquired, are the peers of their sisters elsewhere; for I cannot persuade myself to be-
lieve that this mighty and magnanimous republic, which your honor represents in such a dignified,
distinguished and obviously impartial manner, would wittingly punish its citizens who are in every
other respect law abiding and upright.
" Very respectfully, your humble servant,
"A. Milton Musser."
The Court : " Is the communication which you have presented, Mr. Musser, through your friend,
Mr. Stayner, the limit of your proposition? (Mr, Musser bowed in affirmation). It calls, at least
it is proper, for the court to make a few remarks upon it. You ask what is necessary for you to do
in order to comply with the law, A general statement would be. that it is necessary for you to live
with but one wife, and treat but one of these ladies as your wife. The law does not forbid you
from supporting your other wives— I think you state you have three— it does not forbid you from
supporting these wives, and if they need your assistance and support, it would be your duty to assisT
112 HISTORY OF SAL7 LAKE CITY.
them if you have the means; but the law won't allow you to live with them ostensibly as your
wives. The law permits you, of course, to bring up your children as best you can It is a duty you
owe to them.
" The law does not prevent you from using you'- means and your counsel to fit your children, by
any proper training, for the duties of life, and in fact, whether they are legitimate or not — I will say
in fact, I suppose no one will deny it — it is a duty you owe to society to make good citizens of them
by properly training them so fir as you can; the law don't forbid that; but it will not permit you
to live with but one of these women as your wife, and to live with more than one woman as a wife
is a crime. Whatever your religious belief may be about it, the law of the United States has de-
fined it as a crime. From the tenor of your communication I infer that you don't consider it a
crime for a man to have more than one wife— to cohabit with them as such— and I infer that you
claim that as a matter of religion. I wish here to correct an error — that is, in the judgment of the
court — into which you have fallen right there. The church has its sphere and the State has its. It
is true the Constitution of the United States says that "Congress shall make no law respecting the
establishment ofreligion or prohibiting the free exercise thereof." But the. Supreme Court of the United
States have given an interpreation to that provision ; Congress has given an interpreation of it in
this act ; the chief executive of the nation has given an interpretation of it by approving the law,
and it is this: That so long as your religion consists of belief and worship it is protected by the
(Constitution; but when acts — overt acts — occur, the State has a right to control, and as there seem.s
to be so much misunderstanding on this [X)int, I wish to impress upon you the distinction. The
Supreme Court ol the United States (gSth United States Reports, page 164), in the case of Reynolds
vs. United States, referring to the views of the various statesmen who lived contemporaneous with
the adoption of this first amendment, quote from Thomas Jefferson, who, in reply to an address to him
by a committee of the Danbury Baptist Association, took occasion to say :
" 'Believing with you, that religion is a matter which lies solely between a man and his God,
that he owes account to none other for his faith or his worship, that the legislative powers of the
government reach actions only, and not opinions, I contemplate with sovereign reverence that act
of the whole American people which declared that their legislature should ' make no law respecting
the establishment of religion or prohibiting the free exercise thereof,' thus building a wall between
church and state. Adhering to this expression of the supreme will of the Nation in behalf of the
rights of conscience, I shall sec with sincere satisfaction the progiess of those sentiments which
tend to restore man to all his naural rights, convinced he has no natural right in opposition to his
social duties.'
" This was the statement of Thomas Jefferson, who was as strong an advocate of religious
liberty, perhaps, as any salesman that has ever lived in this country. Then the Supreme Court,
through the present Chief Justice, says :
" Coming as this docs from an acknowledged leader of the advocates of the measure, it may be
accepted almost as an authoritative declaration of the scope and effect of the amendment thus
secured. Congress was deprived of all legislative power over mere opinion, but was left free to reach
actions which were in violation of social duties or subversive of good order.
"And further along in the opinion the chief justice, speaking for the court, defines the matter
with equal clearness.
' ' Laws are made, says he, ' for the government of actions,' and while they cannot interfere with
mere religious belief and opinion, they may with practices.
" The Supreme Court regard polygamy as a practice, and unlawful cohabitation as a practice,
and therefore it is within the powers of the legislative department to forbid it. This must necessarily
be so ; because if any man or any church has a right to lay down a rule of conduct for its followers
contrary to the law of the land, then the church is made superior to the state ; the state if left to
control such conduct only as the church don't choose to call religion; and if one church may lay
down the line of conduct for its followers contrary to the will of the state, another may, and there
would be a great conflict among those different believers, different religions, as to certain classes of
conduct without any common arbitrator. Plence it is necessary, in the nature of things, that the
state should have the power to control the actions of its citizens so far as it is necessary for the jiro-
tection of life, liberty and property, and the protection of society. I make these remarks because I
infer from your communication that you do not think that the state had the power to regulate this
institution of marriage, or to prohibit polygamy and unlawful cohabitation.
Mr. Musser. — "Your honor's explanations are certainly very lucid, very logical, and very conclu-
A. MILTON MUSSER. i/j
slve. I have tliree wives, as I have admitted here in this communication. Now, am I at liberty
to choose w'hich one of the three I may continue to live with?
"The Court.— You may live with either one, as you choose, provided you live with her as your
wife. Unlawful cohabitation consists in living with more than one woman as your wives. It would
not be a violation of this law forbidding unlawful cohabitation if you weie to live with one, and only
one, even though the might not be your lawful wife.
" Mr. Musser.— May I ask the judge how intimate my relations may be with the other wives
vviih whom 1 have made covenants the same— all of them alike, in fact. I mean outside of illicit re-
lations-what must be my conduct and deportment in relation to the other two? I want to do what
is right in regard to these matters; for in view of the evidence that was presented here in my case I
thought I had been living pretty circumspectly ; but it does seem, let the evidence be ever so frivol-
ous and irrelevant, that a man is committed— indicted, in the first place, on a mere shadow— and
convicted and punished when, to my mind, the evidence has been very insignificant. Now, I do not
want to be entrapped again ; 1 desire to keep out of this trouble and difficulty; and if the court will
please define with a httle more minuteness than it has done respecting my future course, habits, man-
ners, customs and deportment, etc.. I will be exceedingly pleased and gratified. I mean no disre-
spect whatever to the court in asking these questions.
" The Court. — I undertook to state the general course as to what conduct you may indulge in
towards your wives. I stated that you might live with one of them as your wife ; and —
'• Mr. Miisser.— Pardon the interruption, judge. May I visit the others and be on familiar and
fraternal terms with them ?
" The Court. — You may treat your oilier wives as your friends.
" Mr Musser. — Would you suggest that I should divorce them ?
" The Court. — You must divorce them so far as living with them is concerned.
" Mr. Musser. — No; I mean a legal divorce.
"The Court. — I do not understand that it is absolutely necessary — having married them long
before this law came into effect — that you should obtain a divorce. But in order to —
" Mr. Musser. — If you will excuse me just one moment. If the ladies to whom I am married
—or rather sealed to me— they having made covenants with me and I with them — and these cove-
nants, as I have stated in this communication, are of a very sacred character; now, if I am not per-
mitted to be a husband to them in everything that that implies, they, in turn, might proceed against
me for a violation cf contract, and claim ihat I was not performing my part of the obligation that I
took when we were married.
" The Court. — Any covenant you may have made wi'h your wives that was polygamous, or
would require you to violate the law forbidding unlawful cohabitation, of course would be invalid,
not binding; and I will state to be a little more explicit that you cannot live in the same house with
two or more of your wives and treat them apparently to the world as your wives — that is to say, it
would be almost impossible. I presume, for you to live in the same house with them and occupy the
middle room, with one wife on either side, and the door opening out of your room into their sleep-
ing apartments — I think it would be impossible to live in that way. The only safe way to live is tc
let these other women live by thems Ives, as all of us have to do, and if you have any means and
wish to assist them, why, you can assist them ; but of course you cannot associate with them and
live in the same house with them as your wives. It would be impossible to lay down every act that
you might do and that you might not do ; it wotild be impossible for the human mind to anticipate
all these acts. I think it is not difficult to understand now what is required.
" Mr. Musser. — Well, I am a little woody in my understanding; and I mean no disrespect in
asking whether attending, taking these ladies to the theatre, or to the meetings, or to any public cele-
bration or public exhibition — whether this would be construed as unlawful cohabitation under the
law ?
'"The Court. — Well, if you was living with them in the same house, the fiict that you took
them to the theatre without your wife, taking them around in public places would be strong circum-
stantial evidence against you.
" Mr. Musser. — It is this circumstantial evidence that I vvant to avoid appearing against me
hereafter, and it is for these reasons that I have respectfully submitted the questions, both verbally
and in writing, which I have done. But I must admit that my obtuseness is still so great that I do
not clearly and definitely understand my duties in regard to these ladies. Yet for fear I may be en-
trapped, as I have already been, (and I expect to be fined and imprisoned for doing what I supposed
15
114 H^^ 7 OR Y OF SAL T LAKE CITY.
was strictly right and proper, and honorable in relation to my wives and children) I r.sk these ques-
tions.
" The Court. — There will be no danger of your being entrapped if you treat one of these women
as your wife — and treat the others as though they were not your wives.
" Mr. Musser. — Well, you can see, Judge Zane, from my communication, that I could not make
such concessions. I will not, in a defiant manner — I have not the spirit of defiance upon me — or
in a threatening, ostentatious manner, say what I will do in regard to these matters. But my family
is too dear to me to accept any terms of the character that your suggestions seem to impose. With
all due respect to your honor and your honor's judgment and opinion, and the respect I have for
the members of the court and bar, it would be impossible for me to comply with such, or to make
such, concessions or demands. If a gentleman were to meet me in the street and were to ask me to
make concessions of that character, 1 should tell him without hesitation it was a personal insult ; I
should feel insulted, and I should tell him so. I do not mean any disrespect— pardon me for using
the language. I mean no disrespect — I mean that if a gentleman on the street — I see Mr. Dickson
nodding as well as taking snuff— if a gentleman was to meet me in the street and propose that I
should abandon my wives — divorce them, either by implication or act, legal or otherwise— I should
tell him — I would feel as though it was a personal insult, and that he might as well ask mc how much
money I would take for my mother, or how much money I would take for one of my sons, or for
one of my daughters, or for how much money I would sell one of my wives. I cannot consent to
anything of the kind, and am willing to meet any consequences that the court feels in duty bound to
impose.
"The Court. — Mr. Musser, as you cannot consent to obey and respect the laws of your country
you must take the consequences of your disobedience.
'■ Mr. Musser. — I am willing to do so.
"The Court. — This punishment is not for the purpose of persecution, neither for punishment
alone, but for the purpose of protecting society and against polgyamy and unlawful cohabitation,
and
" Mr. Musser. — I am aware of that.
" The Court. — And in imposing the punishment I impose it for that purpose ; not out of ill-will
towards you or any other man, or any sect or creed, for you have just as good a right to your beliel
as anybody ; but you have no right to adopt a practice contrary to the laws of your country. And
I must say that, inasmuch as you do not propose to submit to the law in the future, you will prob-
ably, when your term expires, if you live that long, be involved in trouble again.
" Mr. Musser. — I anticipate that, judge.
"The Court. — I think that it would be — according to my standpoint — better for you, and bet-
ter for everybody else, if you would just stand up, as every good citizen would do, and say you will
obey the laws of your country and place your influence on the side of your country; and, further,
it would be better if that venerable man at the head of your church would stand up and say he will
support the laws of his country, and if he did so he never could get into the penitentiary, neither
could you. You go there because you will not submit to the laws of your country, and it is not for
persecution or anything of that kmd. The sentence in your case will be a fine ot $300 and impris-
onment in the penitentiary for the term of si.x months.
" Mr. Musser then sat down amid considerable hubbub in the court."
Amos Milton Musser, the son of Samuel Musser and Anna Barr, was born in Donegal Town-
ship, Lancaster County, Pennsylvania, on the 20th of May, 1830. His father died in 1832, leaving
his mother with four children, two sons and two daughters. Three years after the death of his
father, the mother married Abraham Bitner, who, with his family, in 1837, moved to Illinois and
located near Quincy, in Adams County, where the family remained three years, then returned to
Washington Borough, on the Susquehanna River, Lancaster County, where, in 1841, the step-
father died. Three years after this event the family moved to Bart Township, below Lancaster
City. Here the gospel taught by the Latter-day Saints was first heard and embraced by Milton's
mother and eldest sister, also by some members of his uncle John Neff 's family.
In 1846 the widow Bitner and the Neff family moved to Nauvoo, and joined their dtstinies
■with the Mormon people. They found that city deserted, the main body of the Saints having
started for the Rocky Mountains. While in Nauvoo, preparing for their long westward journey, an
rtrmy of mobocrats laid siege to the city. During the three days' siege of Nauvoo young Musser
took an active part, and on two occasions narrowly escaped being killed. He was very near young
A. MILTON MUSSER. j,^
Anderson (about Milton's age) when that young man was almost cut in two by a cannon ball The
few remammg families were brutally hurried across the Mississippi River at the point of bayonet
and pistol, and wh.le the aged, the sick and the helpless lay at Montrose, Iowa, opposite Nauvoo
the inhuman wretches planted their cannon in front of the beautiful temple which they had dese-
crated, and fired six-pound balls into the camp of the helpless Saints
From Nauvoo Mr. Musser went to Eddyville. Iowa, where he remained as a clerk in a store
till I8SI, in winch year he came to Utah, where his mother, who had married Tared Starr and her
family had preceded him '
During the brief outfitting stay at Council Bluffs Mr. Musser received baptism and confirma
tion at the hands of Father James Allred. After a weary march of three months over the Plains
Captam Al red s con^any-of which Mr. Musser was historian and aide-de-camp to the captain-
reached Salt Lake City in September, 1851. '
He remained here till October, 1852, when, with eight other elders, he started on a mission to
Hindoostan, British India. These missionaries traveled by team south to San Barnardino and San
Pedro, thence by sail to San Francisco, thence in the ship Monsoon over the Pacific and China seas
through the straits of Singapore into the Bay of Bengal to Calcutta, making the voyage in 87 davs
Elder Musser remained and labored as a missionary and historian for the mission, in Calcut'ta'
Bombay and Kurrachee some three years, making but few converts. Returning to Calcutta from
kurrachee he sailed for England in the ship Viking, via Cape of Good, Hope and reached London
in 130 days. He labored as a missionary in England and Wales till the spring of 1857 then re
turned to Utah. He sailed from Liverpool to Boston in the ship George Washinoton, in nominal
charge of over 800 immigrating Saints. He remained at Boston to dispose of extra ship supplies
and to settle the commutation of such emigrant; as remained in Massachusetts ; thence to St. Louis
to purchase supplies for the emigrants ; and thence to Florence by steamer with the supplies" and a
company of St. Louis emigrants. There he remained as the chief outfitting agent for the emi-
grants, and crossed the Plains with the last company of that season. He reached^this city in Sep-
tember, 1857, havinj been absent five years, during which period he traveled in the neighborhood
of one hundred thousand miles, literally encompassing and circumscribing the earth "without
purse or scrip."
From 1857 to 1876, Elder Mus~.er was engaged as general traveling agent of the Church in the
varied and multiplied duties of its traveling bishop, under the direction of the First Presidency and
Bishop Edward Hunter, as the following document attests :
" To Whom it may concern:
" It is my opinion that there is no man in Utah with as large a personal acquaintance with the
people of this Territory and Southern and Southeastern Nevada, Northern Arizona, Southern Idaho
and Southwestern Wyoming, as Elder A. Milton Musser, certainly no one of my knowledge has trav-
eled among the people so extensively as he.
" For twenty years past he has maintained direct and general business relations with the citizens
of these sections which has given him unequalled opportunities to become familiar with their social
status.
"During this long period he has labored much with me personally, and under the direction of
President Young, his counsellors and myself, in the multiplied interests of the Church and Territorv;
and so far as I know, to the entire satisfaction of all concerned.
"As a co-laborer, I have everfound Brother Musser active, thorough, courteous and reliable,
and I esteem him entirely worthy of the respect and confidence of his fellow-citizens,
"This statement is cheerfully and voluntarily made.
"Salt Lake City, Utah, October sth, 1878.
"EDW. HUNTER,
"Presiding Bishop of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints."
During nine years of the period vouched for by the presiding bishop Mr. Musser was also sup-
erintendent of the Deseret Telegraph Company, was the active manager of its business and lines and
a director in the company. Under his superintendency lines were built from St. George, Utah, to
Pioche, Nevada; from Toquerville to Kanab ; from Moroni to the other settlements of Sanpete
County, including Gunnison ; thence up to the Sevier to Monroe; from Payson to Tintic mines •
from Beaver to the Star Mining District; from Salt Lake City to Alta and Bingham ; from Brigham
City to Corinne and to Logan via Mendon ; from Logan to Franklin and thence to Paris, Idaho.
In fact, Mr. Musser has been identified with a great many home industries and enterprises,
ii6 HJS70RY OF SAL 7 LAKE CL7Y.
which have materially added to the wealth of the community. When co-operation was first mooted
he at once became a warm and earnest advocate and did much to give the system prominence and
character. For many years he was a director of the Deserct Agricultural and Manufacturing So-
ciety of Utah, and is its secretary and treasurer. He is also president of the Territorial Bee Asso-
ciation, a director, secretary and treasurer of the Deseret Silk Company, and for many years a di-
rector of the Artificial Fish Raising Association, and is now general fish commissioner for Utah.
Many years ago when the necessity for introducing fine grades ol s'ock was agitated, Bishop Musser
took a lively interest in the movement, being on two of the stock committees and secretary of the
organization, He has also been engaged in farming, milling and brick making, and has been an
able aide-de-camp, as a historian, statistician, electrician, accountant and home missionary. The
Bishop was the first to introduce the telephone (the Bell system) into Utah, Blso the phonograph.
In 1876, Elder Musser was appointed a missionary to his native State, He reached Philadel-
phia in time to see the great e.xposition. He labored zealously from pulpit pnd press to disabuse the
public mind of anti-Mormon misrepresentations. While in Philadelphia he penned an able and
seasonable epistle to the press and people of the United States. It went through two editions and
was republished in pamphlet form in IJverpool, under the caption " Malicious Slanders Refuted,"
and received a wide circulation. He also published a work on the celestial order of marriage,
which also passed through two editions. The late Orson Hyde, in referring to this brochure, said :
"Your argument in favor of plural marriage is one of the most able I ever read. Ignorance can-
not answer it, and intelligence will not try. It is intiltuin in parvo." While in the east, Elder Mus-
ser visited Washington and was the guest of Hon. George Q. Cannon. He witnessed the delibera-
tions of the Electoral Commission and of the two Houses of Congress while engaged in determining
whether Hayes or Tilden should be President of the United States.
On the Bishop's return to Utah he published his famous tract — "Fruits of Mormonism" — which
is regarded by the missionaries of tlie Church as being one of the best proselytmg aids ever pub-
lished. Of this paper Elders Orson Pratt and Jos. F. Smith wrote to him ; "We are anxious that a
copy of your p.imphlct entitled ' Fruits of Mormonism,' by non-Mormon witnesses (read to us in
inanuscript), when published, be placed in the hands of every officer of the government, member
of Congress, governor and ruler in Christendom. In the possession of our missionaries it will be a
valuable work, and should be circulated as widely as possible."
In April, 1885, Bishop Musser was tried and convicted for unlawful cohabitation, under the
Edmunds Act, as shown in the opening of this sketch.
Mr. Musser merged from the Penitentiary with the proud feeling that he had been imprisoned
for conscience sake and the cause of his people. The question of separating from his family and
abandoning them is not a debatable one with the Bishop. His wives and children, who are said to
be of a superior type, one and all applaud his course and commend his example, and his aged
mother, now in her 84th year, was exceedingly pleased with the reliant position of her son at the try-
ing hour.
JOHN NICHOLSON.
John Nicholson was born at St. Boswells, Roxburgshire, Scotland, a small village near the
English border, and reared in Edingburgh. He became identified with the Mormon Church in
April, 1861. Since then he has been actively engaged in different capacities, in forwarding its in-
terests. He came to Utah in 1866, and is a professional journalist.
He was one of the the earlier victims of the anti-Mormon legal crusade under the Edmunds
law. He was arrested on a charge of unlawful cohabitation on the 17th of March, 18S5, but was
not indicted till the following June. When arraigned to plead he declined to make any plea. Judge
Zane gave him one week to further consider his action. When he again appeared, he was asked
what he had to say to the indictment; he simply replied, "Nothing." The court then ordered a
plea of not guilty to be entered.
Having great repugnance to the idea of having his family dragged into court and compelled to
testify against him, he offered to supply all the evidence necessary to insure conviction, if the Dis-
trict Attorney would not molest them. This proposition was accepted, and at the trial, early in
October, 1885, he went upon the witness stand, and, in answers to questions, admitted to having
JOHN NICHOLSON. uy
lived with and acknowledged his wives. He was convicted within five minutes after the conclusion
of the trial.
When called for sentence, on the 13th, of October, 1886, the Court said :
" Mr. Nicholson, I suppose it is hardly necess.iry for me to state to you— you are already ad-
vised that the jury found you guilty of the crime of unlawful cohabitation. Have you anything
further to say why sentence of the law should not be pronounced against you ?"
Elder Nicholson, whose manner was calm and deliberate, looked directly into the eye of Jud^^e
Zane and made the following response:
" If your Honor please, I will take advantage of the privilege that the Court affords me of
stating my position before the Court from my own standpoint. I have been connected with the
Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints for about a quarter of a century. I accepted its doc-
trines, including the law that is called in the Church "celestial marriage," which includes plurality of
wives. At the time I entered upon that relationship I had not the slightest idea that I was infringing
upon or acting in contravention to any law made in pursuance of the Consntution of the country,
the supreme law of the land. I entered into that relation in 1871, and, to give the Court an idea
of my position in reference to the law, I will illustrate it by stating that when the Reynolds case was of-
fered in order to test the constitutionality of the statute of 1862, enacted against polygimy, at the
request of the defendant in that suit, I went upon the stand and testified for the prosecution that a
conviction might be obtained. There is no need for me to state to your Honor that the essence of a
crime is the intent to commit it. There could be no intention on my part to commit a crime in en-
tering into the relationship which I have mentioned.
" Years afterwards the Edmunds law was enacted, which made my status criminal — that is to
say, from my standpoint — my conduct was tnade by it milium prohibitum, because in my opinion it
cannot be made malum in se. That law requires that I should give up a vital principle of my re-
ligion, and discard at least a portion of iny family and consequently disrupt my family organization.
" This places me, as your Honor will perceive, in a very painful position ; because I have a
large family, and the ties which bind them to myself are sacred, and the affection which I entertain
for them is as deep, and I do not think that these ties can possibly be severed by any law of what-
ever character it may be, or from whatever source it may spring; because there are sentiments and
feelings that are engendered in the human heart that the law cannot touch. I will say here, also,
tliat the lady who would have been the principal witness in this case liad I not testified against my-
self, stated to me that she would decline to testify against me, or do anything that would have the ef-
fect of sending me to prison. And now after such an exhibition of devotion to me on her part, the
bare contemplation of cutting her adrift is revolting to my soul, and I could not do it.
"People's ideas differ in regard to what constitutes religion. Some hold that it is merely senti-
ment and faith, and does not necessarily embody action. I differ from this view; and I have alwavs
been bold to express my opinions on every subject without fear, flavor or hope of reward. I ain of the
opinion expressed by the Apostle James who stated that faith without works is dead. The religion
that 1 believe in is a religion that finds expression in action.
■' I am aware of the attitude of the Court and I presume of the country, towards the peculiar
institution of religion in the Church with which I am identified, and which I have honestly ac-
cepted and have honestly practiced. It is held that this conjugal relationship threatens the exist-
tence of monogamous marriage. I must say that, judging from the attitude of this Court, which
represents, I presume, the attitude of the nation, and in view of the assaults that are made on plural
marriage, it appears to me that there is not very much ground for apprehension of danger in that
respect.
" It is also true that some people hold that my relations in a flimily capacity are adulterous.
From my point of view, however, I have the consoling reflection that I am in excellent company,
including Moses, the enunciator, under God, of the principles which constitute the foundation of
modern jurisprudence.
" Not to weary the Court I will simply say that my purpose is fixed and, I hope, unalterable.
It is, that I shall stand by my allegiance to God, fidelity to aiy family, and what I conceive to be my
duty to the constitution of the country, which guarantees the fullest religious liberty to the citizen.
" I thank your Honor for bearing with me, and will now simply conclude by stating that I am
prepared to receive the pleasure of the Court."
While Mr. Nicholson was speaking a deep stillness pervaded the entire assemblage, who listened
with almost breathless interest to his remarks.
jiS HISTORY OF SALT LAKE CITY.
The court then said : " Mr. Nicholson, you have stated your belief and convictions and feelings
very candidly and honestly. I am of the opinion that you are more sincere than many of your
Ijreihren are. You state that the essence of crime consists in the intent with which the acts are per-
formed which constitute the offense. While that is so, yet when a person wilfully violates law he
commits a crime against the law and is liable to be punished In regard to your allegiance to God,
as I understand you, you place that above your allegiance to your country, the laws of your country,
and you referred to the Constitution of the United States, and, as I infer from your remarks, you are
acting in accordance with what your views as to your religious liberty and rights are under the Con-
stitution of the United States. The sages of the day in which this great instrument was framed —
and which instrument constitutes the foundation upon which this government stands with all of its
institutions — believed in religious liberty; but they defined their beliefs, some of them, at least,
among others the immortal Jefferson and men of his tinie. They did not understand that that in-
strument protected a man in committing overt acts against society, contrary to the public good ; they
understood that it was confined to belief and worship. But their view was that when these internal
states of the soul, of the human mind — when parties chose in pursuance of such beliefs to commit
ac'.s which were injurious to society, that instrument did not protect these acts as religion, and so the
Congress of the United States interpreted that instrument in adopting the law under which you have
been tried, and the courts of this Territory have interpreted that law as it was understood by the
founders of this government, by the authors of the Constitution of the United States, and the Su-
preme Court of the United States, which is the final judge, the final tribunal to determine all of
these questions relating to the Constitution of the United States and the laws passed in pursuance
of it, and it there is any one thing settled in this country it is that the Edmunds law is constitutional
and valid. '1 hat being so, it won't do for this court, and it seems to me it won't do for anybody who
claims the protection of the I'nited States, who claims to be a citizen of the United States, to say
that that law is no law and to set up his belief against it, and set it at defiance. (Waxing warm) the
pathway of man through all ages is strewn with the errors and follies of those who have gone to their
long account.
"A civilization has come on which has thrown off many superstitions. In some lands the
mother sacrifices her child. The Hindoo mother casts it into the foaming tide of the Ganges, under
a religiousbelief. Others let the car of Juggernaut roll over their bodies in pursuance of a religious
belief. In other countries human beings, wives and daughters and friends are sacrificed at the
graves of the departed. Under religious belief men have been broken upon the wheel, have
been tortured upon the rack simply for their beliefs. Yet it will not do to say that all of these re-
ligious beliefs could be tolerated in any civilized country. Men have mistaken very often the feel-
ings which attend certain desires for religion. In some instances they have had the feeling which
tends to sexual passion, and imagined that it was a communication of the will of the Almighty to
the individual. 'J'hey have mistaken animal passion for religion — lust, if you please, for religion —
in seme instances. I do not say it is so in your case, but that it is the case with many I am satis-
fied. (Growing warmer still.) When any man or any sect attempts to set up what they conceive
to be a revelation against the laws of the country they must be prepared to take the consequences.
It is thought, it seems, by your church that there lias been a communication with respect to polyg-
amy and unlawful cohabitation fro n the Almighty. The civilized world have interpreted the will of
that infinite Source that manifests all things — the Author of all wisdom and all power and all good-
ness— they have interpreted that through their intellects and through their consciences, and have
said that polygamy and unlawful coliabitation are wrong. That is the expression of that infinite
Source of infinite wisdom and goodness, as expressed by the intelligence and by the wisdoin and
conscience of the whole civilized world. (Striking the desk with his hand.) And the American Con-
gress have taken that as the expression of the truth on that question, and I have no doubt that thev
are right in it; not the slightest doubt about it. I have no doubt that this truth of a marriage of
one man to one woman is right. The whole civilized world, with a few exceptions, have so inter-
preted it.
" Being the truth it has survived all other contrary truths on that subject, and I have no doubt
that it will stand — that it will stand forever. The stars may fade away, the sun himself grow dim
with age and nature sink in years; but that truth will flourish, as I believe, in immortal youth ; and it
is idle for any sect, or for any man to set hiinself up against this expression of the will of that infi-
nite Source of all wisdom and all power, and say ihat he will not submit to that truth. If you do
not submit to it of course you must take the consequences ; but the will of the American people is
expressed, (severely) and this law will go on and grind you and your institutions to powder.
JAMES MOYLE. ug
"I believe I have nothing more to say. The sentence of the Court is, in view of your position,
that you be confined in the penitentiary for the term of six months, and that you pay the costs of
the prosecution and a fine of $300, and stand committed until the term of imprisonment expires and
costs are paid."
Elder Nicholson entered the penitentiary the same day. He endured his imprisonment un-
complainingly, although a portion of his experience there was most pathetic and bitter. His father,
who had lived with him for ten years, was seized with a deathly sickness. He expressed a wish to
see his son before passing away. Friends of Elder Nicholson made a request of Marshal Ireland
to allov/ him to visit his liither's deathbed. He not only peremptorily refused to grant this privilege,
but, after the death of the veteran, declined to permit the grief-stricken son to be present at the
funeral rites.
While in prison Elder Nicholson framed "A bill to lessen the terms of imprisonment of con-
victs for good conduct," and placed it in the hands of a member of the Legislature, to be intro-
duced during the session of 1S86. The measure was passed by both Houses and signed by the
Governor, It was intended to apply to all terms pending at the date of the passage of the act, as
well as future ones. At the instance of District Attorney Dickson, a test case under it was insti-
tuted, and Judge Zane decided that it could only operate upon future terms. Its provisions are
liberal, being based on the idea that all punatory processes should be reformatory.
Elder Nicholson was released from prison, having undergone the penalty, March 12th, 1886.
JAMES MOYLE.
James Moyle, the foreman of the stone cutting and mason wotk of the Salt Lake City Temple,
is one of the Mormon brethren now in the penitentiary serving out his term of imprisonment for the
frank acknowledgement in court of his wives and families. He is one of our respected, but retiring
citizens, whose natural disposition would shrink from notoriety; but the circumstance of his impris-
onment with his compeers for the religious cause of his people — for such it is — brings him, with them,
conspicuously into our local history of the present momentuous times.
James Moyle, son of John Rnwe and PhiUipa Beer Moyle, was born October 31st, 1835, at
Rosemelin, in the county of Cornwall, England. His grandfather, J^mes Moyle, was a commis-
sioned officer in the British navy. He was a man of education, as his books and some fragments
of his handwriting, still in the possession of his grandson, sufficiently attest, as does also his rank as
an officer in the British navy, which could only have been attained in his day by a scion of the Eng-
lish gentry. He died, however, while young, leaving the father of the subject of this sketch but
eight or nine years of age, which event explains the change in the social status of his immediate
family.
The great-grandfather of James Moyle (on his mother's side), William Beer, was an officer in
the British Army, and his son, William Beer, the grandfather of James Moyle, received a pension
for his service as a master mason in building forts and fortifications for the British government. He
was a man of wertlth, an elector for Parliament and an active participant in the politics of his
country, as was his father before him, which was a mark of social distinction in those days. Two
of his sons also held commissions in the British army.
The occupation of father fohn R. Moyle was that of a mason and stonecutter and his son
James was brought up to the same business.
The father and fiimily joined the Church of Latter-day Saints, in the county of Devonshire at
about the year 1852, and he emigrated to Utah in one of tlic first handcart companies in 1856. His
son James, however, emigrated two years previous to that date. He left England March 12th,
1854, and landed in New Orleans May 4th, of the same year. Thence he continued his journey to
the Valleys of the Rocky Mountains and arrived at Salt Lake City, September 30th, 1854. In a few
days after his arrival he was employed by President Brigham Young to work on the basement of the
Lion House. After its completion he went to work on the Temple Block.
July 22d, 1856, James Moyle was married to Elizabeth Wood, daughter of Daniel and Mary
120 HISTORY OF SALT LAKE CnV.
Snyder Wood. In December, 1856, he bought property in the Fifteenth Ward, where his home has
been ever since and there his children have been born.
In the fall of 1857, at the time of the Buchanan expedition Mr. Moyle went out with the Utah
militia to repel invasion. He left the city with others for Echo Canyon in a severe snow storm, and
stayed in that service until the militia troops were called in for the season to winter, after Johnston
and his army had gone into their winter quarters.
In the spring, when the people of the northern settlements made their temporary exodus into
the southern settlements, Mr. Moyle moved his wife to i^pringville, while he himself was detailed as
one of the guard to stay in S.alt Lake City and burn it if necessary; which would certainly have
been accomplished had the compact made between Buchanan's peace commissioneis and the Mor-
mon leaders been broken by General Johnston and his army, before the people could return under
the protection of Governor Cumming to defend the city by the efficient force of the Nauvoo Legion.
After this militia service James Moyle was elected captain of ten and subsequently he received
a commission from Governor Cummingas captain of a company in the Nauvoo Legion.
In the spring of 1859, he became a contractor and builder, and erected a number of stores and
public buildings in Sdt Lake City. After finishing the cityjail he erected the rock work of the principal
bridges on the western division of the Union Pacific Railroad, and also constructed the large U. P.
" roundhouse" at Evanston, Wyoming.
He continued to work for the U. P. R. R. Company until called by President Young to take
charge of the mason work on the Temple. This position he siill holds— namely, foreman of the
Temple.
During the September term, 1885. of the Third Distiict Court three indictments were found against
.Mr. Movie for unlawful cohabitation with his wivt-s and he was put under bonds. In the last Febru-
ary term of that court his first case came up for trial. Being a man of sensitive honor and courage, to
save his family the humiliation of an examination in court, he took the witness stand and testified
against himself, that he had lived with, acknowledged and honored his wives and families. There-
upon the jury brought in a verdict of guilty, and on the first day of NLarch. 1886, he was sentenced
bv Judge Zane to six months' imprisonment in the Utah penitentiary and thepaymentof $30o5ne and
costs. He is now serving his term of sentence.
Though Mr. Moyle received but a common Eng'ish school education, he has always been of
a studious disposition; and, priding himself in the knowledge that his ancestors, on both sides,
were of the educated classes, he has, since his maturity, diligently cultivated his inherent
desire for learning. He is well read in geology, chemistry and mineralogy. The geological forma-
tion of rocks has commanded his special attention. He is a man of intellectual type and in his
habits has always been studious. Since his incarceration he has been greatly devoted to bis
studies, both from his native love of them, and to spend the term of his imprisonment profitably in
mental culture and for future usefulness as a master worker in stone, with the formations of which
his studies of geology and chemistry have made him very familiar.
In keeping with his own native desire for mental culture and acquirement of knowledge, Mr.
Moyle had a great desire to educate his children. As an example of this, he kept his son, James H.
Moyle, at the Deseret University for three years. He then sent him to the University of .Michigan,
where he also spent three years. This son entered the literary college where he took a general
course of instruction, jiarticularly devoting himself to the work in the school of political science,
and he latterly graduated with honors in the law school of the university, and w.is admitted to prac-
tice in the Supreme Court of Michigan. In July. 1885, the young lawyer returned home to Salt
Lake City, and on the 3d day of September, 1885, he was admitted to the Supreme Court of Utah.
During the same month he was appointed assistant city attorney for Salt Lake City, and deputy
prosecuting attorney for Salt Lake County, which positions he still fills with honor to himself and
satisfaction to his compeers and the public. He is a young man of intellect, with a liberal educa-
tion, and of a legal turn of mind. He already gives promise of becoming one of our local lumi-
naries of the law.
In returning to the father, James Moyle, with a closing remark it may properly be said that
thou^'h at present in bonds for the "gospel's sake " — as the ancient Christians had deemed it— or as
we might say, for maintaining the marriage relations of his church and family, when we visited Mr.
Movie in the Penitentiary it was apparent that he perfectly retained the moral tone of his li e and
character. In fine, it may be said that James Moyle possesses the confidence and respect of his
people, and the love and pride of his family, whose worthy head and representative he is.
JOSEPH C. KINGSBURY 12 r
JOSEPH C. KINGSBURY.
Joseph Corrodon Kingsbury, whose name is historical in the eventful career of the Mormon
people, was born in the town of Endfield, Hartford County, State of Connecticut, May 2d, 1812.
His father's name was Solomon Kingsbury, and his mother's name Basheba Pe^se. Thev were both
of Connecticut, as indeed were the family of the Kingsburys for generations.
Soon after -the birth of the subject of this sketch his parents moved from Connecticut to Ohio,
town of Painsville, Geauga County ; and when he was but two years of age his mother died leaving
four children, himself being the youngest. After the death of his mother his father's sister came and
kept house for the family until she got married, when the care of the household fell upon the shoul-
ders of Joseph's sister Melvina, the eldest of the children. Thus the family coutinued until Joseph
was nine years of age. when his father married again to a lady by the name of Caroline Fobes. The
social standing of the Elder Kingsbury was that of judge of the county.
His son Joseph lived at home most of the time, till he reached the age of sixteen, when he
went to work on his own account in an office to superintend the weighing of ore and coal for the
Geauga Iron Company furnace He ne-vt went to the town of Ashtabula and clerked ina merchant's
store. This was in the fall of 1830.
At this time the neighborhood in which young Kingsbury lived, was greatly stirred with the
news of the golden bible. It was reported that a young man— Joseph Smith — had found this strange
book, purporting to be the sacred history of this continent, revealed by the visit of an angel to him
who was himself one of the ancient prophets of the land. The testimony produced its effect upon
Kingsbury's mind, and he was impressed with the belief that there was truth in these wonderful
tidings, though he was not yet nimbered with the disciples of the Church, which at that time was
only a few months old.
He left Ashtabula in the fall of 1831, and returned to Painsville, but directly went to Chagrin
to assist his brother in the mercantile business. In December of 1831, he went to Kirtland to assist
a man by the name of Knight for a few weeks, and this indirectly was the means of leading him into
the Church and associating him with the office of the presiding bishopric, which has contiuued almost
uninterruptedly to the present day.
While he was yet a lad, Joseph C. Kingsbury becime acquainted with Newel K. Whitney, who
was afterwards the presiding bishop of the Church. Mr. Whitney had boarded awhile with the
elder Kingsbury at Painsville; and in 1829, Joseph C. Kingsbury went to Kirtland on a visit to
Whitney, who was at that time a Kirtland merchant, and he stayed at his house three weeks; and
when he went to Kirtland a second time, in December, i83i,he found his friend, the merchant
Whitney, a leading elder in the Church, though not yet ordained to the bishopric.
After the labors of the day were done, young Kingsbury usually spent his evenings at the house
of Elder Whitney, frrm whose lips, and the inspired memory of "Mother Whitney," he heard re-
lated more fully the wonderful narrative of Joseph the Prophet, who for awhile had with his wife
Emma, lived at Whitney's house, and where he, the Prophet, received some of his earliest revela-
tions to the ('hurch.
In January, 1832, after the expiration of his engagement with Mr. Knight, Kingsbury went to
help Whitney, who was then unwell, and thus began his business relationships with the presiding
bishops of the Church ; for soon thereafter the temporal administration of the Church grew up, car-
rying a certain class of the elders out of their private affairs into the temporal government of the
Aaronic Priesthood ; and among these was Joseph C. Kingsbury at an early day. He was bap-
tized into the Church on the 15th of January, 1832, by Elder Burr Riggs and confirmed by Elder
Wm. E. McLellin, one of the first quorum of the Twelve Apostles.
Kino'sburv remained with Whitney until he took a mission to the Eastern States, in 1835.
When Zion's Camp was organized, in 1834, he volunteered to go with it; but Bishop Whitney be-
in" alone obtained the Prophet's consent for his assistant to stay with him at Kirtland. Kingsbury
o-ave his little money to help the camp and the Prophet blessed him as one of the volunteers and said
it should be accounted to him the same.
At the laying of the corner stone of the Kirtland Temple, Joseph C. Kingsbury was ordained
an elder under the hands of the Prophet. The occasion and the ordination were specially marked
14
122 HISTORY OF SALT LAKE CITY.
in the history of the Church. Twenty-four elders were to lay the corner stone, he being
one of the twenty-four. Don Carlos Smith was also one of the select number. In 1835, he
received his patriarcjjal blessing under the hands of Father Joseph Smith. It is here preserved in his
biography as one of the first blessings bestowed by the patriarch :
" Joseph C. Kingsbury, I lay my hands upon thy head and pronounce a father's blessing upon
thee. The Lord loveth thee, and the he.ivens are full of blessings for thee, and thou art blessed be-
cause of thy diligence in keeping the commandments of the Lord ; and thou shalt be blessed and
thy posterity after thee ; and thou sh ilt go forth and thy tongue shall be loosed and thy mouth shall
be opened and thou shalt be an instrument in bringing many to a knowclgde of ihe truth ; and thou
shall have power with God and thy heart shall expind like Enoch's of old ; and thou shalt stand
upon Mount Zion when the Lord comes. These blessings I pronounce and seal upon thy head in
the name of Jesus<Christ, Amen."
On the 6th day of July, 1835, [oieph C. Kingsbury left Kirtland on his first mission to preach
the Gospel. He went to the State of New York, staring in company with John and Lorenzo D.
Young. He was absent about three months, during which time he baptized four. On his return he
was again employed by Bishop Whitney ; and on the Sunday after his arrival he was called upon
tha stand by the Prophet to preach to the people of Zion. In November (13th), 1835, he was or-
dained a high councilor in Kirtland and in the winter of 1836, he received his wasliings and anoint-
ings with his quorum of high councilors, in the house of the Lord.
In noting Joseph C. Kingsbury's family links, it is to be named that on the 3d of Feb., 1836.
he married Miss Caroline Whitney, a relative of Bishop Whitney. Their first child was born on
the 13th of February, 1837. He was named Joseph W., but he died August 13th, on their journey
into Missouri.
On the 23d of May, 1838, in company of Thomas Burdock, Kingsbury and family started for
Missouri, and arrived at Far West on the 13th of September, being four months on the nad.
There he remained through all the wars and mobbings. until the Saints were expelled from tiie St ite.
In the winter of 1838-9 he started for Illinois, to which State the refugees were boimd, but in con-
Siequence of the sickness of his wife he stopped on the way, twenty-five miles from Quincy, with a
man by the name of Gardner, with whom he remained nearly a year. In the fall of 1839 thev had
sufficiently recovered to pursue their journey to Quincy, where they were warm'y welcomed bv
Bishop Whitney and the Saints at that place, with whom they remained two days and went on to
Nauvoo in company of Lyman Whitney, brother of the bishop. Mr. Kingsbury did not remain,
however, at Nauvoo, but crossed the river to Montrose, where they occupied some rooms of the
fort remaining from the Black Hawk war For two seasons he was engaged working on the river; in
1841 he moved across to Nauvoo. Bishop Whitney was agent at this time for the Prophet Joseph,
taking care of his store, and he called upon Kingsbury to assist him, which the latter did till the fall
of 1842. On the i6th of October, his wife, Caroline, died in childbed
On the 25th of July, 1843, Elder Kingsbury left Nauv.)o on a mission to the Eastern States
He labored amongst some of his relatives and the peop e gener.illy in that region, and during this
m ssion he baptized some into the Church, .^fter being absent about a year he started for hqme in
J. me, 1844. He was in company with Horace K. Whitney, eldest son of the bishop. On their
way, in Ohio, they heard of the murder of the Prophet and his brother Hyrum. 'I'hcy arrived in
N luvoo on the 28th of July, and mourned with the Saints the loss of their beloved leaders.
On the 22d of November, 1844, Elder Kingsbury was employed by Bishop Whitney, who was
then Trustee-in Trust of the Church; and who received the titliin<;s and donations for the Temple.
On the 4th of March, 1845, Joseph C Kingsbury married Dorcis A. Moor. The ceremony
was performed by President Heber C. Kimball.
Joseph C. Kingsbury had the historical honor of being with his people on their exodus from
Nauvoo to the Rocky Mountains. On February 28th. 1846, he started on the journey with the
leaders of the Church, and traveled up to Winter Quarters with Bishop Whitney and family in the
company of Brigham Young and Heber C. Kimball. In the spring the Pioneer band set out
for the Rocky Mountain valleys, leaving general orders for larger companies, composed of fam-
ilies of the colonists, to follow quickly on their track, under the orginization of resolute and exper-
ienced captains. They were organized into grand divisions of hundreds and fifties, that is to say,
one hundred wagons laden with the families of the Saints ; each of the fifties under a captain, and
a grand captain over the whole hundred. Kingsbury and his family was organized in A. O. Smoot's
hundred and George B. Wallace's fifty. The company was organized on the rendezvous on Horn
River and though called by the regular organic name of " hundred" it consisted of one hundred
JOSEPH BULL. 123
and twenty wagons. It started in June and arrived in the valley on the 26th of September, 1847.
Is was the largest company on the road that season, and was the second company that arrived in the
valley after the pioneers — Daniel Spencer's being the first ; though Joseph Kingsbury was not one
of the one hundred and forty-three men of the Pioneer band, he is properly considered one of the
pioneers of 1847 and one of the founders of Salt Lake City.
He was one of those who built the "Old Fort," and he remained in the fort for a year and a
half and then with his family he moved on to his city lot in the Second Ward. John Lowry was
Bishop of the Second Ward and Joseph Kingsbury was chosen one of his counsellors; he also soon
succeeded Lowry as bishop of the Ward. He was ordained to the office of a bishop July 13th,
1851. He occupied this position and remained in Salt Lake City until October i6th, 1852, when he
moved to Ogden, and in the following summer he moved over to what was then called East Weber,
on Weber River. There he remained till the people moved south in the Spring of 1858, when
Johnston's army entered the valley. He located at Provo and there remained till September of
that year when he moved to Salt Lake City to make it his permanent home.
From this period dates Joseph Kingsbury's long connection with the General Tithing Store of
the Church in Utah. He went to work in this office in September, i860. In 1867, he was appointed
superintendent of the Tithing Office under the direction of the late presiding bishop, Edward Hun-
ter. He holds the office of superintendent to present date. It is a position of great trust, requiring
much patience, care and impaitiality in dealing wtth the people and public hands that they might be
satisfied. He has more direct contact with the people than any other officer in the presiding bishop's
department.
Of his various ordinations and callings it may be recapitulated in the summary. In Kirtland
Joseph Kingsbury was ordained one of the elders to lay the foundation stone of the temple. Next
he was ordained one of the high council of the Kirtland Stake, which signifies that he was one of
the first high council in the Church. In Nauvoo he was in the Tithing Office under Bishop Whit-
ney, as his assistant. In Salt Lake City he was counsellor to Bishop Lowry and afterwards bishop
of the Second Ward, which entitles him to the rank and name of bishop, and historically to the note
as one of the original bishops of Salt Lake City. January 25th, 1883, he was ordained a patriarch
under the hands of Apostles Wilford Woodruff and Franklin D. Richards. Joseph Kingsbury was
a great favorite of Edward Hunter, as he is indeed with the authorities and people generally. He
miy properly be considered as one of the representative men of the Mormon Church.
JOSEPH BULL.
Joseph Bull, the oldest attache of the Deserct News, was born at Leicester, England, January
25th, 1832. He is the son of Daniel and Elizabeth Burdett Bull. His mother died in his infancy.
He received a common school education, and was apprenticed to printing at the age of fourteen :
but his master failing in business before his time was out, he went to Birmingham for improvement,
and having first class credentials he obtained a situation in a leading book and job printing establish-
ment. He remained in this situation until 1850, graduating to a journeyman's position.
In 1846, he for the first time heard an elder of the Church preach ; from that time he occasion-
ally visited the Saints' meetings and in Febeuary, 1848, he joined the Church, being the only mem-
bers of his father's family who ever embraced the Mormon faith. On the 6th of January, 1851, he
s-iiled from Liverpool in the ship Ellen for New Orleans, with a company of Saints under the presi-
dency of James W. Cummings, Crandall Dunn and Wm. Moss. He was assistant steward. He
arrived at New Orleans March 14th and on the 19th proceeded by steamer to St Louis, and thence
by another steamer to Council Bluffs, where he worked a short time .at the office of the Frontier
Guardian. An opportunity was offered him to go to the valley to drive a herd'of loose stock for
Mr. David Wilkin for his board and the hauling of seventy-five pounds of luggage. Wilkin's out-
fit left Council Bluffs on the loth of May and was organized in Luman A. Shurtliff 's fifty of Eli B.
Kelsey's hundred. Arriving at the Elk Horn the company found the river swollen to about four
124 HISTORY OF SALT LAKE CITY.
miles wide, it being a very wet season. It was deemed advisable to take an entire new route and
rench the head waters of that stream, then strike the old pioneer road on the north side above Chim-
ney Rock. After traveling over a hundred miles a messenger overtook them and ordered them back
to the Missouri River to travel in larger companies in consequence of Indian hostilities ; whereupon
they returned, and took the old pioneer road near Fort Kearney, having traveled nearly five hun-
dred miles, but only gaining about two hundred and fifty. Mr. Wilkin having ten wagons of mer-
chandise and nearly two hundred head of loose horned stock, decided to leave the company and
travel alone, which they did and arrived in Salt Lake City on the 15th of September, two weeks ahead
of the main company, Mr. Bull having driven the loose stock the entire journey on foot.
During the fall of 1851, Mr. Bull worked tending masons, going to the canyons, etc., until
early in January, 1852, when Dr. Richards engaged him on the primitive staff of the Deseret A'eivs
•printing office. In February he printed the first ball ticket in colored inks, for the first typographi-
cal ball held m this city.
On the 28th of October, 1854, Joseph Bull married Miss Emma Green, formerly of Birming-
ham, England, she also being the only member of her family who joined the Church. She was a
member of the early dramatic associations, and also the pioneer professional dress maker of the city.
At the April conference of 1855, Mr. Bull was appointed on a mission to California with Elder
Geo. Q. Cannon and Matthew F. Wilkie to print the Book of Mormon in the Hawaiian language,
and afterwards to print the Western Standard. President Young gave him permission to take his
wife with him, but it was preferred for her to stay.
These missionaries left Salt Lake City on the loth of May, in company with Apostle C. C. Rich,
"with mule teams for San Bernardino; thence proceeded to San Pedro and took passage to San
Francisco, which they reached in the latter part of June, and commenced the printing of an edition
of two thousand copies of the Book of Mormon which kept Elders Cannon, Bull and Wilkie busily
employed until January, 1856. Elder Cannon had translated the work while on a previous mission
to the Islands. February 23d, they also issued the first number of the Western Standard, an able
weekly newspaper in the interest of the Church.
At a conference held at San Francisco April 6th, 1856, Elder Bull was appointed president of
the San Francisco conference, which office he held until July i8th, when at another conference held
July, 1857, he was appointed on a mission to the Sandwich Islands, as publisher of a paper in the Ha-
waiian language. He had made his arrangements and was on the point of starting when a call from
President Young for the elders to return to Utah in consequence of the "Buchanan War" broke up
the western missions. In December, 1857, Mr. Bull in company with Elders Pratt, Benson, Cannon
and others returned by way of San Bernardino and arrived home about the middle of January. He
found his wife in good health, and for the first time saw his first born son, Joseph, who was two and
a half years old, having been born after he left.
He resumed his labors in the Deseret Neivs office and was appointed by President Young to ex-
ecute the first copper plate work done in the Territory for the Deseret Cattle Association, David
McKenzie having engraved the plates. He was engaged in this work during the summer, and at
the general move went to Provo and to ik the presses and material there; in the fall he resumed
work in the Aews office.
Owing to the war status of the Territory, the A'ews had been unable to get its usual supply of
material from the east, and Mr. Bull was despatched to San Francisco to purchase a supply. He
started on the 21st of February, 1859, performed the trip by mule teams to San Barnardino, from
thence by stage to San Pedro, where he took steamer for San Francisco, arrived on the 26th, of
March, and was successful in purchasing and shipping the material. On his homeward journey
from San Pedro he assisted in driving one of the eight mule teams until reaching Santa Clara, Jrom
which place he traveled night and day by stage with a small supply of paper and reached Salt Lake
City, May 27th, making an unprecedented trip, having traveled nearly three thousand miles during
an absence of a little over three months. After his return home he became a member of the "Me-
chanics Dramatic Association " of which Mr. Plilip Margetts was president. While a member he
appeared as "Old Mike " in Luke the Laborer; "Duke Aranza," in the Honeymoon, and "lago"
in Othello.
Mr. Bull resumed work in the office until the fall when he was appointed a special agent to make
a business trip through the Territory in the interest of the paper. He was thns engaged until the
following April, i860, traveling horseback. In September he was appointed foreman of the printing
department, but he was soon thereafter appointed by President Young on a mission to Europe with
Apostle George Q. Cannon and other elders. They left Salt Lake City, September 27 h i860,
JOSEPH BULL. 125
crossed the Plains with mule teams and arrived at Liverpool December 12th, of the same year
Elder Bull s first appointment was to the presidency of the; Bedfordshire conference and in
1853, he was appointed president of the Leeds District, comprising the Sheffield. Leeds and Hull
conferences. During this mission he also labored in the printing department of the Millennial Star
office from January to June, 1862 ; March to June, 1863 ; March to May, 1864; superintending
the publication of several of the standard works of the Church. He left Liverpool for home May
2ist. 1864, on board the ship General McLellan, with a company of 802 Saints under the charge
of Thomas E. Jeremy, Joseph Bull and George G. Bywater. He reached home in September
1864, crossing the Plains in Captain Rollins' train, acting as chaplain. '
He resumed work in the A'cu's office till the summer of 1865, when he was sent south as farasSt.
George, on special business, and in October he was again despatched to San Francisco, by Albert
Carrington,'editor of the A'ews, to purchase a year's supply. Having made his purchase he left San
FVancisco January 5th, 1866, per steamer with the material, and arrived at San Pedro on the 8th,
where he found the teams which he had engaged, waiting for him. He also purchased and freighted
a year's supply of paper for Apostle George Q. Cannon to print the first volume of the Juienile
Instructor.
On his return in B'ebruary, 1866, he resumed labor in the office until the fall of this year, when
he was released by President Young, to take charge of the publication and business of the Juvenile
Instructor for George Q. Cannon ; and on January ist, 1867, the histructot appeared in its new
dress, enlarged to eight pages. In December, 1867, E. L. Sloan and Joseph Bull started the
"Curtain," for the Salt Lake Theatre, it being the first theatrical programme printed in the
Territory.
When Apostle Cannon, who had succeeded Albert Carrington, started the daily Deseret Evenina-
Aews, he released Mr. Bull from the Instructor and appointed him foreman of the Deseret News
printing establishment, and in February, 1868, editor Cannon sent him him on a special business
trip to the Eastern States, to purchase material and solicit advertisements and subscriptions for the
News. Mr. Bull visited many of the manufacturing and commercial cities where our Salt Lake mer-
chants had been purchasing supplies for this market and set before the wholesale houses the advan-
tages of advertising in the A'ews, as a new era in mercantile matters was about to take place on the
completion of the U. P. R. R. At that time only three business firms of Chicago had been doing
business with Utah. Having an autograph letter of recommendation from Brigham Young, Mr. Bull
quicl-cly formed the acquaintance of several members of the Board of Trade who used an influence
with many leading firms to seek for the Utah trade. He remained several weeks in Chicago filling
the advertising columns of the the News ; and he also visited other cities as far as New York with
like success. He also purchased presses, printing material, supplies for the paper mill, etc. He re-
turned home after an absence of about seven months, and Editor Cannon, who had constructed the
enterprise for his agent, was well satisfied with his financial hit. The same year Mr. Cannon again
sent him on a similar mission with like results ; and, with the exception of several trips made by
business manager, Angus M. Cannon, Mr. B, coutinued every year to go east for the News on this
line until the fall of 1877, resuming charge of the printing department on his return home.
At the October conference, 1877, he was a^ain appointed on a mission to Great Britain ; his
wife accompanied him on a visit to her relations. They arrived in Liverpool November i6th, Mrs.
Bull received a cordial welcome from her relations at Birmingham. Elder Bull labored during the
first year of this mission portions of the time in the Liverpool and Birmingham conferences until
October, 1878, when he was appointed by President William Budge to labor exclusively in the
printing department of the Liverpool office ; while his wife, having spent a very pleasant year with
her relations, left for Utah, October 19th, on the steamer Viyomin^ nnd arrived in Salt Lake City
November, 6th, 1878.
Apostle Orson Pratt, on December 21st, arrived in Liverpool from Utah, having been appointed
to get the Book of Mormon electrotyped with foot notes — two sets of plates— Elder Bull having
been appointed to assist him. They proceeded to London and completed the book in about three
months when Mr. B. resumed his labors in the Liverpool office. About the same time O. Pratt re-
ceived instructions from President Taylor to remain in England and obtain electro plates — two set's
— of the Doctrine and Covenants with references. In this work which was done in London, Mr.
B. superintendented his department. On its completion, August 15th, he returned to the Liverpool
office.
During this period, besides superintending the general printing of the British Mission, he is-
126 HISTORY OF SALT LAKE CITY.
sued from the press editions of the Book of Mormon, I3octrine and Covenants, Spencer's Letters,
Pearl of Greit Price and O. Pratt's Key to the Universe, also about 250,000 tracts.
On the i8th of October, he left England to return to Utah on the Arizona with 224 Saints in
charge of Wm. Bramall, J Bull and Andrew Watson, and arrived home November 12th, 1879.
On his arrival he resumed his labors in the A'i-ms office, in the newspaper and job departments.
In February, 1880, he went on his usual eastern business, and has continued making the yearly
trips. During his connection with the A'e7vs he has had several opportuuities to engage in other
printing enterprises, also other business, but preferred to remain with the A'ews ; and with the ex-
ception of the different periods when he has been absent on foreign missions, he has been continu-
ously with the establishment since January, 1852, which makes him the oldest attache now connected
with that paper.
HERBERT PEMBROKE,
One of our young and clever citizens is the subject of this sketch. His Ime of art is in job printing,
but he is a decided artist and not a mere compositor. He is acknowledged to be the best printer that
has ever worked in Salt Lake City, and he has also won reputation in New York, San Francisco,
and other cities,
Herbert Pembroke was born in Bedford, England, in 1853. He is the son of James Earl and
Sarah Day Pembroke, who were amongst the first of Willard Richards' converts to Mormonism in
England, and who remained the wheel-horses of their section of the English mission till 1866, when
Ihev left for America. The family remained in New York two years. Herbert commenced to work
at the printing trade, and to such a degree did he love the trade chance had thrown in his way, that
after beinf in Salt Lake a year, he determined to back to go New York and endeavor to master his
calling. He was a journeyman printer at the age of eighteen, and soon after left for his home in
Salt Lake, where he was foreman of the Tribune job office, under the management of Fred Perris
for a year. At the end of that time he felt still that there must be a great deal to learn and left for
for San Francisco, where he soon became foreman of H. S. Crocker & Co's large printing office.
This position was held for three yerrs until he determined to make Salt Lake City his home. Leav-
ing a bright future there, he came home ; finding the printing trade in a very unsatisfactory condi-
tion, he engaged as clerk in mining and mercantile business for four years.
During this time he married a daughter of the late Richard B. Margetts, In January, 1882,
having received a call from his old employers, he again went to California to take charge of the Sac-
ramento printing business af H. S. Crocker & Co., but in 1884, feeling that with the commercial
capacity which the previous four years had developed within him, he could steer a mercantile cr.ift
safelv, he left California, came home and engaged in the book, stationery and news business, where
by strict and untiring attention to business he has demonstrated that success is attending him. Be-
ino- still a printer at heart, he associated himself as nearly as possible with the craft of Utah, by at-
taching to his business several printer's supply agencies, which he still carries on. Referring to Mr.
Pembroke as a printer it may not be out of place to extract from the American Model Printer the
fo'.lowing :
" H. Pembroke, late superintendent of H. S. Crocker cS: Co's, Sacramento, California, is a man
of remarkable skill as a printer, and the specimens before us bears full evidence of this fact. *
The most elaborate piece of work in his samples is a business card in colors, representing a set stage
with side scenes ; doors are represented in each of the two scenes, a centre panel in one of them dis-
plays a red devil carrying off a silver composing stick, and in the other a steam press ; these appear
on gold grounds surrounded with black circles. The ru'e work on this job is certainly well carried
HENRY GROW 127
out, the tint plates were cut out of cardboard, and have been so well printed that little remains but
to consider it a novel and interesting piece of handicraft."
Mr. Pembroke is not in any sense an orthodox religious man. He is perfectly liberal and tol-
erant in his views, and believes in a grander spirit of humanitarianism than the sectarian strife of the
present day makes possible, and he likes to dream of the day to come when all mankind will be
united in a universal brotherhood.
HENRY GROW,
The superintendent of the Temple Block, was born October ist, 1S17, at Philadelphia, Penn-
sylvania. His father's name was Henry Grow; his mother's, Mary Riter. His grandfather, Fred-
erick Grow, and his grandmother emigrated from Germany to Pennsylvania. This was before the
war of the revolution. He took up a large tract of land and m.ade it into five farms of 60 acres each
and divided them among his five children, four sons and one daughter. The estate still remains in
the family. This grandfather was in the war of the revolution. The British army camped within a
mile of his farm house. The family were farmers.
The subject of this sketch, Henry Grow, was the youngest of seven children, five girls and two
sons. He served his business as a carpenter and joiner in his native State. After serving his time he
superintended all the bridges, culverts, etc., on the Norristown and Germintown railioads, both in
constructing and repairing the works, under the direction of Giorge G. Wnatmore, president of the
roads and ex-mayor of Philadelphia.
Henry Grow was baptized in the Delaware River, Philadelphia, in May, 1842, by William Mor-
ton. He emigrated to Nauvoo in March, 1843, arriving May isth. His first work at that place was
in building a barn for the Patriarch Hyrum Smith ; he also worked on the Nauvoo Temple until it
was finished. He w is all through the troubles of those days and was one of the members of the
Nauvoo Legion He was one of the remnant that remained at Nauvoo after the departure of the
Twelve with the advanced companies of the Saints for the Rocky Mountains. The covenant made
between the four commissioners chosen by the State of Illinois — namely. General Hardin, com-
mander of the State militia, Senator Douglas, W. B. Warren and J. McDoiigal — and the Mormon
' Apostles gave ample time for the removal of the people of Nauvoo. But in April, ere the van-
guard of the pioneers had got fairly on their journey west, the anti-Mormons begin to rise and the
mob outrages on the Saints were horrible ; yet W. B. Warren, m.ajor commanding the Illinois Vol-
unteers, on the 20th of May, 1846, in his reports in the Quincy Whig, said : ''The Mornvms are leav-
with all possible dispatch. During the week four hundred teams have crossed at three points, or
abaut 1,350 souls. They are leaving the State and preparing to leave, with every means God and
nature have placed in their hands."
Notwithstanding this statement from the commander of the Volunteers, the mob marched upon
th2 doomed city and on the 19th of September, 1846, commenced the famous Battle of Nauvoo,
which lasted three days. Henry Grow was in this battle. The mob force of two thousand well
armed men with 13 pieces of ariilleiy camped in front of his house, within an eighth of a mile's
distance. After they had camped, on the first night, in his bed he heard a voice distinctly say, "Get
up and get out here in the morning." He arose in the mDrninj. hitched a yoke of cattle to his
wagon, put in utensils, bedding and tent, leaving every other thing in the house, got his wife and
three children in the wagon, and had moved about fifty yards from his house, when the mob fired a
twelve pound ball through the house which was a frame building. He was in the three days' engage-
ment with the mob, the defenders being under the command of General D, H. Wells ?nd Col.
Cutler. After the entrance of the mob into Nauvoo, he crossed over to Montrose, Iowa side,
where he had his flimily in a tent during the battle.
128 HISTORY OF SALT LAKE CITY.
From this starting p Dint toward the Rocky Mountains, Mr. Grow traveled alone with his family
across the prairies to Winter Quarters where they arrived late in the month of October. He,
first built a log cabin at Winter Quarters, and then went to Kimball's, six miles above, where he
built himself a house and settled for a year ; but in the fall of 1847, after the departure of the pio-
neer companies, he moved with his family down into Missouri, on Little Platte, twenty miles above
Weston, where dwelt many of the old Missourian mobocrats. There he kept the saw and grist
mill in repair, and did other carpenter work for two years for Colonel Estel, who sold out to Hol-
ladny & Warner, merchants well known in the early history of Salt Lake City. Mr. Grow worked
for Holladay & Warner till the spring of 1851. He and his family then again came up to the Mis-
souri River bound for the Valleys of the Mountains, where his people had established themselves.
He was organized in Captain James Cummings' hundred, in Alfred Cordon's fifty and Bishop Kes-
ler's ten ; Orson Pratt commanded the other fifty. The Mormons still traveled across the Plains at
this date on the old pioneer plan of organization of hundreds, fifties and tens. On account of high
.water the companies headed the Horn River and came on to the Platte below Laramie; on the
Sweetwater, below Independence Rock, the company was surrounded by a war party of Cheyennes.
Kesler's ten got separated from the other tens, but they succeeded in sending a message to Captain
Cordon, who was Ciunped with the remainder of his fifty at Independence Rock, and he sent relief
and they went up and camped with their company. Next day, above Independence Rock, they met
a thousand Snake warriors waiting for the Cheyennes.
Henry Grow arrived in Salt Lake City on his birthday, October ist, 1851. He went to work
for a year on the Public Works, under Miles Romney, the first superintendent of the carpenter's
shop. In the winter of 1851, he worked on the Old Tabernacle, which occupied the spot where the
Asembly Hall now stands ; he also worked building the Social Hall, the weather being mild that
winter. In 1853, he built the first suspension bridge built in the Territory, across the Ogden River,
for Jonathan Browning. In 1854, he went to work at Sugar House to build the sugar works, un-
der Bishop Kesler ; and in 1855, under the same he worked in the building of the two saw mills
in Big Cottonwood known as B and A. In 1856, he moved a saw mill from Chase's Mill in the
"Big Field," up City Creek seven miles, for President Young, and the same fall he went up Big
Cottonwood again and framed and put up Mill D, sawed two logs and lef; on the 17th of December,
with five men on seven feet of snow with snow shoes; it took them two days to get out of the snow;
they ran great risk of their life. In 1857, he went up and built Mill E, at the head of the canyon,
near Silver Lake ; in 1858, he went to Provo and put up all the temporary buildings of the "move,"
and he also built the suspension bridge over Provo River. In 1859, he tore the works out of the
old grist mill at the mouth of Canyon Creek and placed the cotton and woolen machinery in the
mill for President Young, which was the first machinery of the kind put up in the Territory ; this
machinery was afterwards taken down to St. George.
In 1861, he built suspension lattices across Weber and across Jordan, which are standing there'
to-day. At the time of putting up the theatre he built a waterrwheel on the water ditch, opposite
Dr. Sprague's, to hoist all the rock and timbers for the theatre. He also made the heavy beams and
principal rafters out of plank, for the work, and fitted up the foot-lights. In 1863-4, he did a great
de.al of mill work for President Young at different places. In 1865, the President called on him in
regard to the construction of the Big Tabernacle. He designed the shape, planned, framed, put up
and finished this Tabernacle in the fall of 1867. In 1868 the President called on him to put up the
Z. C. M. I. building ; the plan was drawn by Obed Taylor and superintended by Grow throughout.
From that time on till the spring of 1876, he had charge of all the carpentry work on Temple
Block, when he went to build the warehouse attached to Zion's Co-operative building. At the Oc-
tober conference in 1876, he was appointed on a mission to preside over Pennsylvania, Delaware and
Maryland. He left Salt Lake City on the ist day of November. During this mission he visited all
his relatives and the homestead. He left Philadelphia for Salt Lake City, June 12th, 1877 ; and en
his return immediately was engaged tearing down the Old Tabern.acle and commenced building the
Assembly Hall, superintending the r-ractical work under architect Obed Taylor ; it was completed
in the fall of 1878.
Since that time Mr. Grow has built two brick houses for President Taylor ; and superintended all
the buildings and carpentry work for the Church, including the scaffolding and hoisting apparatus
for the Temple.
In 1880 he was called by President Taylor to go east to look at improvements of paper mills,
for the purpose of putting up a n^w piper mill at the mouth of Big Cottonwood.
^ "m
^^^^-^2^^--^^^.
'BlShll S. Sons, 13 iai-clmj SvV.T
HENRY GROW. J2g
Mr. Grow traveled through Chicago, Cleveland, Buffalo, Springfield (Mass.). Albany Holv-
oak, Boston, Philadelphia, Pittsburg and other cities, to get all the information he could relative \o
the projected work. This part accomplished he returned to Salt Lake City and drafted and at the
mouth of Big Cottonwood, commenced the foundation of the new Deseret Paper Mill The ma
chme room (two story) is 60 by 100 feet in the clear, the engine and rag room (three storv) is 60 by
61, and m addition to that there is a rotary boiler and rag cutter room above, 25 bv 61 feet in the clear
There are two paper machines, five rag engines, two rotary boilers, iwo rag cutters, loo-horse power
engine, and all other machinery and fit-out for making first class quality of paper. This paper mill
was completed and put in running order in 1883 ; it is a good, substantial granite rock building.
The foregoing busy record will show how extensively and constantly Henry Grow has-been
engaged in the building enterprises of our Territory for more than thirty years. He is known as a
skillful mechanic and an exprienced practical builder, and is well liked by all Ihe hands who have
worked under his superintendency. Among all his works the roof of the Big Tabernacle in Salt Lake,
covering the largest hall in America west of Chicago, is the most unique and stupendous of his
works.
The outside dimensions of the Tabernacle are: Length, 250 feet ; width, 150 feet. On the
inside it measures 232 x 132 feet ; height of ceiling. 65 feet. The roof rests on 44 columns, aver-
aging 20 feet high, and is self-supporting. The seating capacity is 9,000, with standing room for
fully 3,000 more.
The inside measurement of the Assembly Hall is 116 x 64 feet. Height of ceiling, 36 feet.
A gallery, 18 feet wide, extends around the building. Seating capacity. 3,000.
HIR.\M B. CLAVVSON.
Our respected citizen, Hiram B. Clavvson, was born in Utica, Oneida Co.. New York, Novem-
ber 7th. 1826. He was educated at the Ulica Academy. Through the loss of his father he was verv
early thrown upon his own inherent resources; and. thus left to battle with life, he became master of
three or four trades, and in youth laid the foundation of a self-made man.
After the death of his father, his mother joined the Mormon Church in the year 1838; and in
1S41, the family, consisting of Mrs. (Hawson and her two sons, Hiram and [ohn, and two daughters,
removed from Utica to Nauvoo. There a circumstance worthy of note in his life occurred, which
indirectly led to his connection with the dramatic profession, in which both he and several members
of his f irnily have made quite a distinguished mark in the social and artistic culture of our own Ter-
ritory. Hiram, in Nauvoo, wanted to join the Debating Society, which was held in a room over
Joseph's store; but some of the principal members opposed his admission on account of his youth.
'Ihe Prophet, who was always a warm admirer of lofty aspirations in the young men of his people,
stood as Hiram's advocate and would have promoted his admission ; but, with a becoming sense of
sell-respect young Clawson withdrew his application. This event led to his connection with the
stage; for at that time Thomas A. Lyne, then in the prime of his dramatic power, was at Nauvoo
giving performances.
In the year. 1848, when the Pioneers made their second journey to the Rocky Mountains, bring-
ing up the body of the Church under the leadership of Brigham Young, who had already been elec-
ted as President, Hiram B. Clawson came with them. He was. therefore, one of the pioneers and
founders of Utah. He was now twenty-two years of age, was looked upon as a man of mark, and
it was soon understood by the whole Church, both at home and abroad, that Hiram B. Clawson had
won the heart of Brigham Young.
He had charge of the first building work that was done in the valley by the Church. The first
adobe building, a little ofifice adjoining the Council House on the south, was built by him. The
Council House itself was built by him, he having charge of the masons, and Truman O. Angel
being the architect.
17
/ja HISTORY OF SALT LAKE CITY.
Bat this is merely incidental as among the primitive work of our Territory. 'I'he fabric of so-
ciety Itself was in rapid process of erection, Brigham Young in this being the chief builder. H. B.
Clawson was called into the President's office as clerk, and he was soon put in charge of the Presi-
dent's entire private business, which he managed for many years. During this period he assisted in
the erection and afterwards in the management of the great Salt Lake Theatre. [His theatrical
record will be found in Chapters LXXXIV. and LXXXV'.
Here may be noticed .something of H. B. Clawson's military career, which gave to him the
rank of Adjutant General of the Utah militia. At the the time of the Indian wars in Southern
Utah, in 1850, he took an active p.art in suppressing the difficulties. He was aide-de-camp to Gen-
eral D H. Wells, and subsequently, at the death of James Ferguson, he became Adjutant General
of the Territory, which office he still holds.
In the spring of 1865, W. H. Hooper, of the firm of Hooper & Eldredge, sold out his interest
to H. B. Clawson, and the firm name was changed to Eldredge & Clawson. The latter immediately
went to New York to purchase goods, contracting with the Butterfield Company for the freighting
from the Missouri River to Salt Lake City, but the trains, starting late, were snowed in and they did
not receive their goods until tvvetve months after they were purchased. The fiim, however, was
not discouraged, for in the spring of 1856, Mr. Clawson went east again and purchased a fine stock
of goods and effected a settlement with the Butterfield Company for their freight of the previous year.
Mr. Clawson thus continued yearly to go east for the purchase of goods, and was thus personally
brought into relations with the principal commercial houses of the great mercantile cities, so that he
was well prepared for his subsequent management of Z. C. M. I. When the great co-operative
movement started, the firms of William Jennings and of Eldredge & Clawson agreed to sell out
their entire stocks to Z. C. M. I.; and on the institution commencing business, H. B. Clawson was
appointed by the directors the superintendent.
The design, from the onset, was to arrange the business of the Z. C M. I. upon the best
known commercial methods, and the superintendent adopted them. All the internal arrangements
were left to Mr. Clawson, and also the choosing of the heads of departments and clerks. The busi-
ness went on and increased steadily, until the time of the panic of 1873, when the yearly sales
amounted to four million five hundred thousand dollars.
When the panic of 1873 burst upon the country, it was thought wisdom for Z. C. M. I. to ask
an extension of credit to provide against the result that was sure to follow the panic in the east, and
H. S. Eldredge and H. B. Clawson were accordingly sent down East for this purpose.
They were very successful in this mission and within eight months Z. C. M. I. redeemed its pa-
per, amounting to ons million one hundred thousand dollars.
Previous to going east to adjust these matters, it was deemed advisable to change the manage-
ment for a time ; and the Hon. Wm. H. Hooper assumed the superintendency. Hooper remained
eighteen months in this position, during which time the institution met all its liabilities. He then
resigned and H. B. Clawson was again appointed superintendent.
During Clawson's second superintendency, the institution built its colossal new store and re-
moved from their old location into it, Superintendent Clawson designing the internal arrangements.
In consequence of the large increase of their regular departments, and wishing to consolidate all
their business in this mammoth store, the directors deemed it advisable to retire from the agricultural,
hide and wool departments, and H. B. Clawson made a proposition to buy those departments out.
His offer was accepted, and, on the 4th of October, 1875, he resigned the sttperimendency, and
Horace S. Eldredge was appointed in his stead. Mr. Clawson claims that during his management
of the institution, his losses on the yearly sales did not exceed a quarter of one per cent.
After resigning the superintendency of Z. C. M. I. Mr. Clawson went into business for himself,
in which he remained until the indictment for unlawful cohabitation with his wives caused his retire-
ment. His presence and noble conduct before Judge Zane and his impiisonment for conscience
sake is the crowning event of his life, and with its record we close this sketch .
Shortly after the opening of the Court Judge Harkness, of counsel for Mr. Clawson, stated
that his client desired to withdraw the plea of not guilty formerly entered by him, and enter one
of guilty to the charge.
The rccjuest was granteel, and Bishop Clawson was then asked what plea, if any, he wished to
make, to which he replied, " Guilty "
Court. — Do YOU wish to take .any further steps now?
Harkness — It is in the hands of the prosecuting attorney.
Court. — You are entided to a couple of days, if you desire to take if.
HIRAM B. CLAIVSON. jjj
Harkness.— No, he does not care for any time. We waive the time.
Court (to Mr. Ciawson). You understand, I suppose, what the indictment is; you have
plead to it?
Ciawson. — Yes, sir.
Court. — Have you anything to say farther before the judgment is pronounced?
Ciawson. — Yes, sir.
The Bishop then arose, and in a firm, clear voice, made the following statement:
"With your honor's permission, I would like to sny a few words in regard to this matter. I am
arraigned before this court to answer to the charge of a misdemeanor in this: That I have been livinc
in polygamy, and that I have been living with those that I have claimed and do claim to be mv
wives.
''I have been in the Church, or rather I have been identified with the Church of Latter-dav
Saints for forty-five years, and for thirty years or over I have lived in my present marriage relations.
When I entered those relations I believed I was doing just exactly what I ought to do. I believed
that in doing that, I was doing something in this life that in the hfe to come would be for my ben-
efit. I have endeavored through this life, up to the present time, to live a life that would justifv
that belief. When I mirried these, my wives, they were young and I was young. They believed
the same thing that I did. We made the most solemn covenants that men or women can make in
regird to this marriage, and I and they have endeavored up to the present time to live those cove-
nants. Now they are along in years; streaks of grey show in their hair; they have families of chil-
dren that have grown up and man led and have children ; and nov/ at this time, at mv age and at
their age, to ask me to renounce those ties and cast these women off and leave them and mv chil-
dren, and say that I will have nothing more to do with them — your honor, is a thing that seems im-
possible for me to say. When I believe as I have believed, and I say now that what I believed
thirty years ago and over, I believe to-day just as I did then; and I believe, that were I to say that
I will cast them off, that all I have done in all these years has gone for nothing. It is better, your
honor, far better for me to go to prison, if that is the decision of your honor. Again, let that
be one reason why I plead guilty to this indictment, and why I am now standing before this court.
" Another reason is: How is this thing? How is it looked at? What is there in it? If I make
any promises so far as regards the future, I am ostracised ; I am looked down upon ; I =im dishon-
ored in this community among my brethren — those that I respect and honor; and among all honor-
able men. There is not a man, I believe, in this court room, who has occupied the position 1
have, but what, were he to stand in my place, to-day, would do just as I say that I would feel to do
to-day. Can I bear the scorn, and the indignation, and the feelings that these my wives would cast
upon me, after all these years, if I can say that I will turn them away and have no more to do with
them ; and can I bear what my children would say, and how my children would feel in regard to
this matter? I sav no. It is only a few years that I have to live, and I had better do something
else than go back on what I have said I believe is true.
"To me there are only two courses. One is a prison and honor, the other is liberty and dis-
honor. Your Honor I bave done."
The speaker was calm and earnest in his demeanor, betraying no sign of fear or anger, his words
and action manifesting the sincerity of his belief in the righteousness of the course he was pursu-
ing. His speech was listened to with rapt attention, and at its close, after a short pause, the Court
proceeded to pronounce judgment, in the course of which he said :
" As a man, I have nothing to say whatever against you. I regret that you have not the courage
and the manhood to stand up in defiance of asect and say that you will obey the laws of your coun-
try, and that you will advise other men to abide by them. This timidity and cowardice is not be-
coming to an American citizen. You seem to acknowledge that in your second reason, because you
say that you would be ostracised and would become an outcast if you were to obey the laws of your
country— if you were to promise to obey them ; though many men have died— not become ostra-
cised—but died in its defense ; that reason constitutes no justification In view of the fact that you
propose, as I understand, to continue your polygamic relations; to continue your adulterous con-
nections with women who are not your legal wives; however much I may respect you as an indi-
vidual, my duty, representing as I do, a great and glorious government, will not allow me to indulge
in any personal feelings ; but the discretion which I possess must be so used as to strike down these
crimes of polygamy and unlawful cohabitation.
" When men will not agree to obey the law, my du'y as the JuJje of this Court, requires that
the extreme penalty be imposed upon them.
132 HIS 70RY OF SALT LA KE CI T Y.
''You will be s>ntenc3cl, therefore, to imprisonment in the penitentiary for the term of six
months, and to piy a fine of $300 and costs, and be confined until the term of your imprisonment
has expired and the fine and costs are paid."
Bishop Ciavvson was then placed in charge of a deputy, and was allowed to visit his family and
friends. He was in the best of spirits and left for the penitentiary on the day of sentence, being ac-
companied on the way by members of his family.
FRANKLIN S. RICHARDS.
To this able yo'.in^ constitutional lawyer of Utah have been intrusted the causes of the Mormon
p°ople in the very crisis of their affairs ; which, having been carried to the Supreme Court of the
United States, have brought him into close association with some of the most distinguished jurists of
the age. This sustained intercourse has been important in its bearings upon our local issues; and,
in the sequel, may greatly tend to promote a happy solution of the delicate relations which have so
long existed between Utah antl the nation. The value of Mr. Richards' service as the legal expo-
nent of the Mormon question, not only to the judges of the Supreme Court of the United States,
but also to the apostolic councils of his own Church, was quickly appreciated by that eminent jurist
and statesman, Jere S. Black. Thus viewed, a biography of F. S. Richards, the present city attorney
of Salt Lake, is pertinent to the City History.
Franklin Snyder Richards is to-day one of the very foremost representatives of " Young Utah."
.\<i a constitutional lawyer and statesmanlike legislator he has already made a record, to whi'-h every
succeeding year of his life must add new lustre. He is a'rong Utah's first-born, having first opened
his eyes to the light of day at Salt Lake City, on the 20th of June, 1S49. le^s than two yenrs after the
entrance of the Pioneers, and before the organization of the Territorial government here. He is the
oldest living son of the eminent Apostle Franklin D. Richards, and Mrs. Jane Snyder Richards, who
ranks 3S one of the most distinguished women of the Mormon church — of whi^ih cinirch the subject
of this biography has been from his childhood a consistent, intelligent and fearless member. He was
early placed at the best schools, and as he advanced in years he received such special instruction as
was afforded in this region. Immediately following the completion of his seventeenth year, he re-
ceived from Governor Charles Durkee a commission as second aide-de-camp on the staff of the Second
Brigade of the First Division of the Militia of Utah, with the rank of Captain of cavalry. About
this same time. Apostle Richards departed for Europe to continue ♦here his very successful work of
proselyting and emigrating; and the young Franklin at once relinquished the pleas.int life of the
pupil to take up the sterner duties of the master. As he shared by inheritance his mother's intellec-
tual force and perseverance; so at this trying time he volunteered to share her responsibilities. He
obtained an honorable and lucrative position as the teacher of a large and soiuewhat select school in
his native city; and devoted his income to the nnintenance of his fither's fimily For three years
lie followed this calling successfully ; but did not neglect to pursue his own higher stu lies under pri-
vate masters. Apostle Richards returned from I'Airope in i863 ; and on the iSth day of Uect-mber,
of that year, Franklin S. Richards wis united in marriage with Emily S. Tanner, at Silt Lake City.
In the scientific researches of his student life, the young Franklin's attention had been most at-
tracted by anatomy, physiology and kindred branches of knowledge; and for a time — since he was
personally determined to fit himself for one of the learned professions, his friends advised him to
pursue the study of medicine and surgery. Fortunately, before this choice was irrevocably made,
though not until he had gained such general and technical knowledge of medical science as to be of
material value in criminal law cases, his talents were directed into their most fitting channel. In May,
1869, he removed with his f ither to Ogden, in Weber County. Here he was soon appointed Cleik
of the Probate Court, and subsequently was elected County Recorder. There was at this time no
lawyer resident in Ogden ; there were few established legal forms ; the public lands were just coming
into market; and a prodigious responsibility at once rested upon the young man. With such dili-
gence and acuteness did he apply himself to the task of formulating methods and devising systems
for keeping the public records that he soon achieved more than a local fame. It was remaikcd by
FRA NKL IN S. R iCHA RDS. rjj
President Brigham Young that the records of the office of Franklin S. Richards were without equal
in the Territory, At the conclusion of his eighth year of service as recorder and his ninth year of
service as clerk he retired from these offices, positively declining re-election.
From the moment when Providence brought him into close communion with the law he felt,
what others were quick to observe, that he had come to his destined calling. He marked out a course
of reading of the most severe and comprehensive character, and this he followed with a persistent
ardor which loneliness in the study could not abate, and which mental or physical weariness could
not discourage. He did not attend a law lecture nor read a page with any law firm. But on the
i6th of June, 1874, he was admitted to the bar of the Third District Court at Salt Lake City. On
that same afternoon the veteran Frank Tilford, famous as a brilliant orator and as a sagacious and
well-read lawyer— without any solicitation— moved in the Supreme Court for the admission of Mr.
Richards to practice. Chief Justice McKean, remarking that the young lawyer had but that morn-
ing made his entrance into the District Court, said that he thought this rather rapid promotion.
Tilford rephed: "Very true, yonr honor, but the gentleman deserves the promotion ; he would do
honor to the bar of any court." The Chief Jusdce at such an emphatic endorsement from such an
eminent source, changed his judicial severity into graciousncss and said, in good-natured prophecy,
which has been more than fulfilled: " Mr. Richards, we take pleasure in admitting you to the bar
of this court, and we trust that your progress in the profession may be as rapid as your promotion
has been to day."
Far removed from the usual surroundings of the law student, Mr. Richards had developed
habits of self-concentration and continuous study. His isolation had strengthened his independence
of thought, made him a purer reasoncr, and fitted him to become an able defender of constitutional
riglits and the inherent liberty of man.
His first defense was that of a man charged with murder. The prosecution was conducted by
W. C Gaston, a very able and eloquent California lawyer. Young Franklin was alone for the pris-
oner. Fully conscious of die gravity of the case, but with no weak hesitation or timidity, he fought
for the prisoner with a skill and vigor which astonished even his familiar friends. His argument is
still remembered for its analytical power and touching eloquence. His client was discharged.
The talents of this young man were needed in the public service; and during many yeirs he was
chosen to act as attorney for Weber County and Ogden City
In the spring of 1877, Mr. Richards attended conference and the dedication of the Temple at
St. George. He was called to go to Europe as a missionary; and his parting from President Young was
marked with great solicitude upon the part of the President, who blessed him and charged him to
return home should the climate of England prove injurious to his health. The eye of the President
had been upon Franklin from his youth, for he was not only born in the Zion of the Rocky Moun-
tains which that great colonist founded, but he was also his kinsman. They parted never to meet
again in mortal life ; for, before Franklin's return our great statefounder slept with the fathers.
The lawyer-missionary crossed the Atlantic with Apostle Joseph F. Smith, arriving in Liverpool
on the 27th day of May, 1877. The rigors of the climate of England just at that season affected
him so seriously that he was accorded leave for a period of continental travel. Sometimes with
.such congenial companions as Col. T. G. Webber and H. B. Clawson, Jr., but usually alone, he
wandered over Europe ; gaining needed recreation and health, visiting historic and classic lands,
and gath-'rins; new stores of knowledge for his highly intellectual and observant mind. With these
objects in view he did not pass post-haste over the Continent ; but remained for a time in various
parts of France, Italv, Switzerland, Germany and other countries. After a considerable time spent
in thest glorious ramblings he returned to England. There he dwelt in London for a period, but
subsequently went to the South Coast between Hastings and Southampton. Here he was again
seriously aff^-cted bv the humid atmosphere ; and pursuant to instructions he returned home in the
autumn of 1877 in company with Apostles Orson Pratt and Joseph F. Smith. Before he had fairly
recuperated his usual vigor in his native air, a multiplicity of legal business was thrust ui)on him.
In the spring of 1878, the litigation commenced over President Young's estate, and Mr. Rich-
ards was employed with Sheeks.& Rawlins, as attorney for the executors. This difficulty was set-
t'e i bv wise and judicious management, but the following year the main litigation was begun,
whxh brought Mr. Richards into great prominence in all the legal business of the Church.
M;. Richards, in the summer of 1S78, formed a partnership with Judge Rufus K. Williams,
formerly Chief fustice of the Supreme Court of the State of Kentucky, the firm name being
Richards & Williams.
Ne.xt commenced the great suits, involving over a million of dollars, instituted by several of
134 HISTORY OF SALT LAKE CITY.
President Brigham Young's heirs against the executors and trustees of his estate, which assumed
such consequence that Geo. Q Cannon, Albert Carrington, and Brigham Young, jr.. were held as
prisoners, and the 'I'rustee-in-trust of the Church was placed under heavy bonds. In thisgreat suitthe
firm of Richards & Williams was retained as the leading counsel for the Church. The case required
not only the finest legal subtlety, with perfect conscientiousness, but an almost apostolic concern for
the honor and reputation of the dead and living. The case was conducted with such skill for the
Church and the executors, that satisfactory compromises were effected and the suits forever settled.
In the fail of 1880, a mandamus suit was commenced in the Supreme Court of this Territory
against Robert T. Burton, Assessor of Salt Lake County, by which it was sought to compel him to
strike frotu the registration list the names of all tlie female voters, which was in effect, an attempt to
disfranchise the women of Utah. Richards & Williams appeared, with other counsel, for the de-
fense. The case was dismissed and the right of suffrage preserved to the women.
In the spring of 1881 Mr. Richards was admitted to the bar of the Supreme Court of Cali-
fornia. In the succeeding autumn the partnership of Richards & Williams was dissolved. The
firm had taken a high professional rank, but Mr. Richards had found the general business too great
a task upon him when coupled with his duties as church counsel and his continuous researches into
constitutional law. When he withdrew from this connection he practically abandoned the most lu-
crative branch of legal work; in order to pursue studies and analyses of national powers and the in-
alienable rights of individuals.
A call was made for a Constitutional Convention, in 1882, to seek the admission of Utah into
the Union. With this event the greater period of Mr. Richards' life opened, for it called him to
Washington as one of the delegation to present the constitution, brought him into association with
the renowned legist, Jere S. Black, and drew him to the front as a political leader in the People's
party.
He was elected a delegate to that convention from Weber County, was chairman of the commit-
tee on executive department and was a member of the committee on revision and consoli-
dation, which reported the constitution to the convention, he taking an active p.irt in its con-
struction and in all the business of the convention. He was also elected as one of the
delegates to present the constitution to Congress. In company with Hons. John T. Caine
and D. H. Peery, he started for Washington, June 12th, and labored with the delegation to thecom-
])letion of all that could be accomplished that season. During his sojourn in Washington, he made
the aquaintance of many of the senators and representatives and while there inet Judge Black, who
came to the capital to see him on legal business in behall of the people of Utah. Several days were
spent with the judge in consultation. Our young advocate evidently made a favorable impression
upon the venerable chief among American constitutional lawyers. With his nice sagacity of long
experience, ludge Black discerned in a moment that he could read and study the peculiar case of
the Mormon people with exactness from the ingenious inind of the young Mormon advocate. He
realized that he was consulting with one who understood all the inner views of his people and all the
relations of their case, and at the same time had a legal mind, and a knowledge of rights and reme-
dies which enal^led him to thoroughly comprehend the principles of constitutional law.
The judge returned to his home at York, Pennsylvania; and in a few days Mr. Richards fol-
lowed him in acceptance of an invitation. On his arrival at York he was met by the judge and
taken to his home— a beautiful country seat about two miles from the central part of the town. There
he remained for several days with the judge's family, treated with marked consideration, spending
the time from an early hour till late in the evening in consultation upon the great constitutional
question of the rights and remedies of the people ot Utah. Their conference embraced the whole
situation, including congressional legislation and the relation of this Territory and its people to the
General Government. There were three great questions for them to determine : First, the situation,
involving a knowledge of the history of the people and of the local statutes; second, to determine
therefrom and from the laws of Congress what were the constitutional rights of the people ; next, tlie
legal remedies, or how to maintain those constitutional rights.
The study of the case accomplished, the judge journeyed homeward with Mr. Richards as far
as Chicago, The parting between the illustrious jurist and the young L'tah lawyer was almost like
that of compeers and old acquaintances, so warmly had the former become attached to the latter
With the passing of the Edmunds Bill, Utah was deprived of her right to be represented in
Congress by the delegate of her choice— George Q. Cannon ; and in the autumn of 1882, a con-
vention of the People's party was held to nominate a successor. To fill the place of a keen diplo-
mat like William H. Hooper or George Q. Cannon, a man of unusual strength and intelligence was
FRANKLIN D. RICHARDS. /jj
required. For years Utah had enjoyed the fame of being moie ably represented in Congress than
any other Territory, and equally as well as any State in the Union ; and it was a point of honor as
well as a necessity that this high reputation should not be lost Volumes could not say more of the
personal and professional prestige of this young lawyer, Franklin S. Richards, than that he was con-
fidently mentioned by many prominent and observant persons as the man for the occasion.
The convention met with Mr. Richards as a delegate. He was placed in nomination for Con-
gress, and it was evident that his friends and admirers were determined to overlook his protest and
secure his nomination, if possible. John T. Caine, a gentleman of long legislative experience,
had also been frequently and vigorously advocated for the place. But before there was any opportunity
to test the strength of the candidates in the convention, Mr. Richards restored complete harmony.
He thanked his friends for the mark of their confidence, but positively declined, in a very neat and
modest speech, the honor which they tendered him ; then he nominated the Hon. John T. Caine,
and requested all his friends to give their support to this gentleman. The speech and conduct
called forth murmurs of admiring surprise from the Utah Commissioners, who were present, and
who thought it most uncommon for a young man of his talent and fitness to throw away so rare an
opportunity, frankly preferring another man for so distinguished a mark of public favor. But in
reality this was only a seeming sacrifice ; for Mr. Richards showed his good sense and indomitable
purpose when he again chose the course of severe study and labor in his profession, It must be ap-
parent to all who are acquainted with the legal history of the Mormon question during the past
fjur years, that no political success possible of achievement by one of his people, could have com-
pensated Franklin S. Richards for the loss of the experience and reputation which he has gained as
the advocate of the Mormons in their struggle before the highest judicial tribunal on earth.
.\tthis convention a new departure was made by the People's party, in the adoption of its first
political platform. Mr. Richards was a member of the committee which drafted it, and in the cam-
paign which followed, was one of its ablest exponents.
In the autumn of 1882, the now noted mandamus suit was planted against Judge Franklin L).
Richards by James N. Kimball— a suit of supreme importance to the people of Utah as it directly
involved almost every important oftice in the Territory. Franklin S was chief counsel for his fa-
ther in this matter and with his associates succeeded in carrying the case to a satisfactory conclusion.
The latter part of November in the same vear, with his colleagues, Hons. John T. Caine and
D. H. Peery, he again went to Washington to present to Congress the constitution of the proposed
State of Utah, and to ask the admission of the Territory into the Union. George Q. Cannon,
whose politcal influence in Mormon affiiirs had not declined at the capital, accompanied the delega-
tion. There was no real expectation that statehood would be granted at that time ; but the ap-
plication gave to the Utah question a fresh interest. It also afforded to Judge Black an opportunity
to deliver before the Judiciary Committee of the House of Representatives his great constitutional
argument upon "Federal Jurisdiction in the Territories." This splendid effort is a virtual arraign-
ment of the Edinunds Bill ; and in its pure democratic genius is a grand reminder of the golden age
of the American Republic. Our young lawyer was with Judge Black constantly during the month that
the argument was under preparation ; and it is not difficult to trace his ardent, loyal thought for his
people in its pages, nor to realize that the profound legist must have taiien great delight in the in-
spiration afforded by such an interested representative.
The friendship between the great )ere S. Black and Mr. Richards was most sincere. The ven-
erable jurist suggested the introduction of young Franklin to the bar of the Supreme Court of the
United States ; and he made the motion upon which the order was entered on the 30th day of Jan-
uary, 1883, admitting our Utah lawyer to practice before that august tribunal.
Before the close of February, 1883, the labors of Mn Richards at Washington were completed
for the time being; and he journeyed homeward, traveling from New York to Utah with Serjeant
William Ballantine, the famous English barrister, and Mr. Phil. Robinson. These gentlemen were
making a visit of observation to the Zion of the Rocky Mountains; and the serjeant eagerly seized
the opportunity of conversing with the Mormon advocate. Before they parted the eminent Eng-
lishman promised that the enlightenment which he had received should be used to illuminate the
Mormon question in high circles of the mother country.
On the 19th day of August, 1883. at his home in York, Pennsylvania, Jere S. Black died, and
the people of Utah were deprived of one of their bravest, truest friends, and this Nation lost a pure
patriot and one of its greatest constitutional lawyers.
Through the attempted arbitrary disfranchisement of thousands of citizens by the Utah Com-
mission, poUtical complications arose; and as Judge Black was dead tt became now desirable to
/?<5 HISTORY OF SALT LAKE CITY.
secure the services of some other eminent and able lawyer; and in October, 1883, NTr. Richards,
with George Q. Cannon and John T. Caine, journeyed to Washington. Senator Vest was retained
as counsel for the cause of the people of Utah before the courts. I3uring this visit to the East, Mr.
Richards renewed his acquaintance with General Thomas L. Kane, whose death in that same year
filled thousands of hearts in Utah with sorrow,
Mr. Richards returned to his home in the latter part of November, and about the ist of Jan-
ary, 1884, lie again took his departure for Washington with Hon. Moses Thatcher, to labor in be-
half of the people of Utah. He was obliged to leave the national capital in less than a month to
take part in the legislative proceedings at Salt Lake, he having been elected to the council from
Weber and Box Eider Counties at the August election preceding. He was not able to reach Salt
Lake until after the opening of the session ; but he had been appointed chairman of the judiciary
committee, and immediately upon taking his seat he assumed a prominent and active part in the
labors of the Legislature.
On the i8th day of March, 1884, he was appointed city attorney for Salt Lake. He has held
the position ever since, having been re-appointed by the new municipal government which came into
office in February, 1886. When he accepted this position he removed from Ogden to Salt Lake;
thus after fifteen years of absence, he became once more a resident of his native city.
In October, 1884. Mr. Richards appeared as one ot the counsel for Rudger Clawson, charged
before the Third District Court with polygamy and unlawful cohabitation. The defendant was con-
victed ; but a certificate of probable cause was obtained from the judge who presided at the trial
and the case was appealed to the Supreme Court of the Territory. Bail was applied for, pending
appeal, but was refused ; and a writ of habeas corpus was sued out and the question was appealed
to the Supreme Court of the United States. In December, Mr. Richards went to Washington
and with Wayne MacVeagh, ex-Attorney General of the United States, pre' ented the matter before that
tribunal. This case possesses a great and growing historical value, and an epitome of some of the
points raised by the Utah advocate are not inappropriate here :
Under the statute the certificate of probable cause stayed the execution of the judgment The
punishment prescribed by the sentence could not possibly proceed against the defendant pending his
appeal without a most flagrant violation of the law. The only place of imprisonment over which
the U. S. Marshal had any jurisdiction was the penitentiary; and when bail was refused, awaiting
the result of the appeal and Rudger Clawson was incarcerated there, he was subjected to the same
punishment as would have been suffered by him in actual fulfillment of the sentence. Thus the right
of appeal, instead of being a boon was made a burden ; for if the judgment should not be reversed,
on the theory of the prosecution he was not to be credited upon the judgment with the time of
such imprisonment. It would, therefore, speaking merely in a personal sense, have been better for
Rudger Clawson to submit to the judgment of the court, however illegal and unjust it might be,
than to stay the execution and prosecute his appeal in what might prove to be an illusory hope of
gaining redress. Under such a manifestly unjust ruling, if a defendant were sentenced 10 death,
and pending his appeal upon a certificate of probable cause, were to be subjected to the identical
punishment prescribed in the sentence, he might be executed at the very hour when a superior tri-
bunal was reversing the judgment of the trial court. A judicial murder would be perpetrated.
It is true that in Utah the law accords to judges discretionary power in allowing bail after con-
viction ; but for more than a third of a century it had been the unifonn practice in Utah courts to
u'-e that discretion mercifully, and to allow the defendant his freedom under bonds until his case
had been finally decided. Further than this, in face of the statutory declaration that the granting of
a certificate of probable cause shall stay the execution, the refusal of the court to admit to bail was
illegal and inhuman.
The Supreme Court of the United States avoided the issue and declined to review the exercise
of discretionary power by the trial judge. From this opinion Justices Miller and Field, the two
oldest and ablest judges on the bench, dissented and stated that the refusal to admit Rudger Claw-
son to bail was the arbitrary refusal to grant him what was expressly accorded to him by statute.
Mr. Richards next appeared in the Supreme Court with the "Commissioners Cases," in which
Senator Vest had already been retained and in which Wayne MacVeagh also appeared. Franklin did
not address the court orally in this case ; but he took his usual active part in the preparation of the
brief and arguments. The most important points raised in these fainous causes were as follows :
Under section viii. of the Edmunds Bill, and by an autocratic wholesale disfranchisement, the
Utah Commission excluded from political privileges about twelve thousand citizens of this Territory.
Among these were thousands who were no longer living in polygamy cr unlawful cohabitation ; and
FRANKLIN S. RICHARDS. tjy
the names of these as well as of all others disfranchised were stricken from the registraticn lists be-
cause they failed to take the test oath formulated by the Commission. Certain citizens thus arbi-
trarily deprived oi political rights brought suit against the commissioners and their appointees. The
lower courts ruled adversely to the citizens and the cases, now known under the abbreviated title of
'Murphy and others vs. Ramsey and others," were carried to the Supreme Court of the United
States. It was argued for the appellants that the law was made to operate as a bill of attainder and
therefore as an unconstitutional measure; for it punished people without trial. Further, the act
was interpreted as an i-.r/w/yaf/*? law, also under constitutional prohibition ; for people were ex-
cluded from office and denied the ballot, who for thirty years had not lived in polygamy nor unlaw-
ful cohabitation. Notwithstanding the fact that in a former case the Supreme Court had held that
the deprivation of a political right for past conduct was punishment ; it was declared in these
"Commissioners Cases" that the disfranchisement was not punishment, and the eighth section of
the act was not a bill of attainder, for the only punitive provisions of the statute were in the first and
third sections, and the eighth section merely defined a proscribed status. But the court held that
the law was operated as an ex post facto measure wherein it was made to disfrpnchise people who
were not living in actual violation of the statute at the time when they applied for registration. If
the entire theory of the counsel for the appellants had been accepted by the Supreme Court, no per-
son could have been deprived of his political rights under this bill until he had been judicially
proven to be a polygamist, or bigamist, or to be living in the practice of unlawful cohabitation. As it
was, doubtless some thousands of people were restored to their political privileges.
In April, 1885, Mr. Richards was again at Washington with Wayne MacVeagh arguing the case
of Rudger Clawson on its merits before the Supreme Court. The important questions involved
were whether the grand jury which found the indictment and the petit jury which sat in the case
were legal juries. The grand jury was made up, by careful selection, of the avowed social oppo-
nents and political enemies of the defendant. Every Mormon had been excluded from the jury; al-
though many Mormons when called had declared that, while they might have personal faith in the
righteousness of polygamy, they would not hesitate to find indictment wherever the evidence showed
a violation of law. It was maintained that this exclusion was illegal; for the rejected men pos-
sessed all the statutory qualifications. The only law quoted m justification of their exclusion was
section v. of the Edmunds Bill, providing that believers in polygamy, etc., could not serve in prose-
cutions for those offenses. But the impaneling of the grand jury was not a " prosecution for po-
lygamy." It was a proceeding had prior to the beginning of a prosecution; and was not under any
statute of the United States, for the impaneling of grand juries is governed entirely by Territorial
law. Further, this grand jury was impaneled to inquire^not alone into violations of the Edmunds
act, but into all offences against the commonwealth ; and yet the entire representation upon the jury
was given to a class possessing less than one-fifth of the population. Objection was made to the
manner of obtaining the trial jury, which was by open venire, when the statute provided another
method for selecting and drawing jurors. The open venire system is an outrage in any land aiming
at purity in its judicial tribunals. Armed with the open venire, the marshal may become almost
the absolute autocrat of verdicts. From whim or venal purpose he may summon either the friends
or enemies of the accused in a criKiinal case, or the friends or enemies of either party in a civil
contest.
The Supreme Court affirmed the decision of the lower court; and Rudger Clawson is now
serving the sentence imposed upon him.
With the exception of the sporadic prosecutions against Rudger Clawson, the earlier efforts of
Federal officials seemed centered upon making the Edmunds law an effective political weapon.
The- first general application of any portion of the bill was of section viii. with the wholesale polit-
ical proscriptions attempted thereunder. It was not until the people of Utah had demonstrated that
the public offices of the Territory could not be wrested from them by persons arbitrarily and un-
necessarily appointed, and that the disfranchisement of twelve thousand of their number could not
give the Territory over to "Liberal" rule, that a vigorous and systematic plan was projected for crim-
inal prosecutions against Mormons for infractions of the first and third sections of the act. These
prosecutions were doubtless all the more unrelenting because of political failure. And early in 1885,
what is commonly known as tne "raid" w?s emphatically begun.
The extent to which the people could be assailed by political proscriptions, under section viii
had been defined by the Supreme Court; but there had been no such authoritative declaration of
how far the people might be assailed by criminal prosecutions, A definition was wanted for the
word " cohabit " As it originally stood in the bill it seemed simple enough ; but when the Utah
138 HISTORY OF SALT LAKE CITY.
Commission had attached to it the words, "in the marriage relation," it heir.ii c coi sicerably mys-
tified ; and when the courts of the Territory had given their various ambiguous interpretations, it
became confusion worse confounded. Under these circumstances an authoritative construction be-
came necessary ; and in September, Mr. Richards went to Washington to secure a writ of error in
the case of Angus M. Cannon and to have that cause advanced in the Supreme Court. Ahhough
it was believed by the bar very generally that the case was not appealable, and the writ had been
refused by the Chief Justice of the Supreme Court of the Territory, Mr. Richards suiceeded in ob-
taining the writ from Justice Miller, and in securing the advancement of the cause. In November,
1S85, the case came on for hearing, and Mr. Richards made a long and very powerful argument.
Soine of the salient points were these :
Angus M. Cannon, during the time charged in the indictment, liad lived in the same house with
two of his wives, but had ceased to occupy the bed of one of them. Indeed, his counsel on the
trial offered to prove that no sexual intercourse had taken place between the defendant and his plural
wife; but such proffered proof was rejected by the court. Mr. Richards maintained that a precedent
could not be found where anything less than sexual intercourse had been held to be criminal co-
iiabitation. He challenged the Government to quote any such case ; but it was conceded that
none existed. The Utah advocate reminded the court that this bill was vaunted as a moral
measure for the sexual purification of the Nation 1 he language of the act was general and had
an ostensible claim to fairness. And yet, under the partial construction given by the lower courts
to the plain words'" cohabit with more than one woman," a man might live openly and notoiiously
with two or a dozen women and call them mistresses; he might eat and sleep with them: might ac-
knowledge their children to be his own; mi?ht flaunt his lasciviousness in the faces of judges, prose-
cutors and grand jurors, and their wives, mothers and daughters — and this boasted law to protect the
sanctity of Ainerican homes could not touch him ; but if he dwelt under the .same roof with two wo-
men and called them his wives — though he should never have .sexual intercourse with either of them ;
though he should never intrude his family affiiirs vipon the sensitive morality of the public ; though
he should merely retain the passive status of the polygamist, which status this Supreme Court has
said he need not tern-kinate— he would be brought before the courts, and, regardless ot age or cir-
cumstances, would be thrust into a vile corral, disgracing the name of governinent prison, to be the
companion of degraded and desperate felons. Thus arises the pertinent inquiry : "Is it actions or
words which the law declares against?" Two men live in a similar manner— each cohabiting
with three women. One says, " mistresses," and he is a free voter ; the other says, ' wives " and
he is a disfranchised convict. Mr. Richards, in the most moving terms, besought the Supreme
Court to give to the term cohabitation a clear, fixed and humane definition, that people honestly
seeking to understand the law might have some interpretation to rely upon which would be more
trustworthy than the shifting, evasive, treacherous meanings given to the word by the lower courts.
This latter point the Supreme Court utterly ignored. The decision affirmed the judgment of
the lower court; but Justices P'ield and Miller dissented upon the ground stated in the argument cf
Mr. Richards, that— according to all precedent, criminal crhabitation implied sexual interccurse.
In April, 1886, Mr. Richards was once more at Washington presenting to the Supreme Court
the three cases of Lorenzo Snow for unlawful cohabitation. Some of the notable features of these
causes and their trial in the lower courts were raised as follows : One alleged offence covering one
continuous space of time was segregated into three charges, each covering an arbitrary period — thus
making three punishments where at most but one could have been legally and justly inflicted. Also,
the defendant was proved not to have lived with more than one woman during the time charged in
anv of the indictments. It was admitted by the defendant that he recognized and "held out " the
women named in the indictments as his wives ; but at the same time it was proved by incontrover-
tible evidence that the parties had not lived together. And, as the definition of cohabitation promul-
gated from the Supreme Court is "the living together as husband and wife," it was maintained that
under the evidence no legal conviction could be secured. In the defense of these causes the people's
advocate entered with an especial devotion. From Franklin's childhood .Apostle Snow had been the
close friend of the Richards Aimily. Now he was in the sunset of life ; his apostolic career had been
one of marked vigor and brilliancy; and there was some reason to fear that, despite the lack of evi-
dence against him, an effort was being made to punish him for all the other leaders of the Church
whom officers were unable to find. The cases were fought step by step, but all the time the grim,
heedless determination to convict became more apparent. Knowing the legal innocence, and yet
realizing the jeopardy of his friend and client, Mr. Richards made some of his most forcible and
touching arguments. In addressing the juries, he showed them how Lorenzo Snow was being wil-
FRANKLIN S. RICHARDS. jjg
fully offered as a sacrifice to the insensate clamor of the multitude. He implored them to exert the
lorce of their position to stay the wave of reckless, partisan condemnaticn which was sweeping over
the Territory; and to hold the zeal of the self-avowed reformers within the bounds of law and jus-
tice. These appeals to courts and partisan juries were ineffectual; and the cases went up to the Su-
preme Court, where tliey were heard in the latter pirt of April, i835.
In tlie jiresentation of these causes to the Supreme Court, Mr. Richards became associated with
George Ticknor Curtis, a man whose legal and literary fame is of the brightest. The exposition of
the cause of the Mormon people, as involved m these cases against Lorenzo Snow, was fully, fear-
lessly and patriotically made. Mr. Curtis, with his eminent ability as an expounder of the Constitu-
tion engaged his heart and intellect in the work. He was tireless in obtaining information upon the
subject from Mr. Richards; and the arguments of the two advocates— the famous Washington legist
and the eloquent Utah lawyer, together constitute a masterpiece of law and logic.
The well known result of the hearing of these causes is not uncomplimentary to the illustrious
jurist and his associate. When they had completed their work, there seemed no possibility that the
Supreme Court could fail to give the desired relief. And when, after the long hearing which -was
accorded, the court took the novel position that it lacked jurisdiction; the feeling was generally en-
tertained that the arguments for the plaintiff in error had been found unanswerable.
It is cleir that Mr. Richards has full faith in the righteousness of the Mormon cause. He de-
clares that the s ime principles of law and ruks of evidence obtaining in other cases should he applied
in these questions. For this common justice, he has constantly appealed to the Supreme Court of
the United States ; at the same time expressing an absolute certainty that, if fair treatment were ac-
corded, many of the useless persecuting proceedings would be checked.
But it seems the fltte of the Mormons as a class or as individuals to find religious bigotry and
political hate always thrown into the scales against them. And when Mr. Richards has seen his
appeals for impartial treatment ignored ; as the advocate of a people already suffering martyrdom,
he has not hesitated to sound the warning note even to the highest tribunal in the land. Mr. Rich-
ards claims that the history of jurisprudence upon the Mormon question shows a steady descent,
each final decision marking a downward step. He says that continued progress in this direction
must ingulf all the inherent rights and guaranteed privileges of the citizen in the abyss of unconsti-
tutional laws and decisions ; and when that dread day shall come, though his clients may lead the
van of the sufferers, they will not be the only martyrs nor their religion the only one proscribed.
Mr. Richards has had a considerable measure ot professional success. As a counselor-at-law
he has declined cases not manifestly meritorious ; and when he has taken a case, he has gone to his
labor conscientiously and hor.efully. His nature is charged with a lolty enthusiasm, which in his
speaking to a jury or to a public audience is highly contagious, affecting the sensibilities, while his
argument aims to appeal to men's better judgment and their love of right. There is one especial
quality in his arguments before the Supreme Coiut which has commanded both attention and re-
spect— namely, his earnestness. The causes of his people are also the causes of the advocate, and
oldlawers of national fame, attracted by his ardor, have rested awhile the study of theirown briefs.
The personal qualities of Mr. Richards are strongly marked. He possesses great moral cour-
age and dignity ; and is yet affable and entertaining. His memory is retentive and his mind is
highly cultured. Such characteristics, added to legal fitness, have made professional advancement
easy and rapid.
The biographer must view Franklin S. Richards as having been predestined to becoine the
legal defender of the Mormon cause. We believe that he was providentially set apart to b- onecf
'the instruments in effecting a settlement of the Utah social and political problems. He has been
fitted and shaped fur the work ; for with an apostolic relation to the cause of the Mormon people,
he has the lawyer's mind to deal with it from a purely political point of view. He understands the
peculiar case of his people front the religious standpoint of the leaders of the Church and the high
constitutional standpoint of Judge Black; as well as from that other standpoint, the one taken by
the Federal prosecutors and courts in Utah. It is this comprehensive knowledge— including in its
view the gospel and the law. which gives him such a peculiar fitness for his position as chief advo-
cate for the Mormon people in the courts.
The Mormon cause was not obliterated by the Edmunds law; and there will be a constant
-Struggle by the people for the application of just and constitutional principles to their case.
Franklin S. Richards had a grand intellectual inheritance, being descended Irom a long line of
staunch p itriots and strong-willed professional men. Possessing high aspirations and hereditary ca-
pacity for growth, he has not stopped at knowing the law of the books, but has sought to learn the
140 HISTORY OF SALT LAKE CITY.
laws written upon the heart of liumanity as well as those underlying principles of justice which are
the only sure foundation forthe government of an enduring, free republic. His independent study
and training in the law peculiarly fit him to become an exponent of tlie Constitution ; just as the sit-
uation of his people is such as to call for a lofty patriotism and a j)ure and fearless exposition of the
Nation's charter before the court of last resort. The cawse of the Mormon people is the greatest
one which has ever been l>efore the supreme tribunal of this land, except the (juestion of human
slavery ; and the people do well to choose a lawyer whose intellect and conscience unite in advocacy
of the cause. The day is past for a common-place defense or for a defender who is hampered by a
regard for popular clamor or ill-founded, unconstitutional precedents. No politician of the schools
would d.) for the crisis when the Union was in jeopxirdy — the destiny of the Republic required the
unhampered will snd simple grandeur of the backwoods Lincoln. Now that conventional legisla-
tors, jurists and legists — forgetting that there is an eternal divinity in our charter of liberty, are join-
ing in the new fashion of universal unbelief and are casting away the Constitution as a worn out
garment ; may we not hopefully look for exponents and defenders of that sacred instrument to arise
like Lincoln, the emancipator?
Here let us leave the subject of this brief sketch— just as his people and himself are entering
the shadow of those coming events which include the salvation or the destruction of a church and a
commonwealth.
CHARLES VV. PENROSE
Charles William Penrose, one of the foremost citizens of Utah, and one whose name is a syn-
onym for rapid thought and untiring activity, was born at Camberwell, London, England, on the
4th of February, 1832, and is a scion of well known Cornish families, who were stockholders of tin
mines. Being naturally of a studious and inquiring turn of mind, with quick perception and re-
markable memory, he speedily mastered at school the common rudiments of education. He read
the Scriptures when only four yers old, and was well versed in the doctrines of the Bible, the won-
derful sayings and predictions of the Savior, and the ancient Prophets and Apostles. This paved
the way for his acquaintance with, and his subsequent acceptance of, Mormonism, which, from its
Scriptural character, its reasonable and substantial doctrines, feasible theories, and sound ])ractical
results, attracted his attention while a mere lad, and, in due time, after he had thoroughly investi-
gated and compared its teachings with the Bible, numbered him among its converts.
He joined the Church of Jesus Christ ot Latter-day Saints in London, May 14, 1850, and is
the only member of his father's family who has ever embraced the faith. His scriptural attainments
and spiritual ii.clinations soon brought him under notice of the presiding authorities of the London
Conference, and in January, 1851, when not yet nineteen years old, he was ordained an Elder, and
two months later was sent on a mission to Maldon, in Essex, to preach the Gospel, "break new
ground," and build up branches of the church. This movement was much in opposition to the
wishes of his friends, and to his own pecuniary interests, as he had been oflered, on condition of his
remaining home, a life situation at in a government office. Shutting his eyes to the gilded bait of
temptation, he took up the cross of the master, and literally " without purse or scrip," taking not
not a penny in his pocket, nor even a change of dress, started out afoot upon his mission as a ser-
vant of the Lord.
With bleeding feet but undaunted heart, he reached the town of Maldon, having slept out of
doors for the first time in his life the chilly night previous. He was an utter stranger in the place,
and the first " Mormon" Elder to visit that region of the country. He met with much opposition,
but steadily worked his way in the town of Maldon and the country round about, and succeeded in
raising up branches of the Church in Maldon, Danbury, Chelmsfortl, Colchester and other places,
baptizing a great number of persons of both sexes, many of whom are now in Utah, and being in-
strumental, by the laying on of hands, in the restoration to health of many persons afflicted with
disease. He possessed the gift of healing to a remarka'ole degree, and several of the cures per-
formed were of a miraculous order. He labored for seven years in poor agricultural districts, open-
CHARLES IV. PENROSE. i^i
ing new missionary fields, building up branches, suffering many hardships and trudging on foot be-
tween three and four thousand miles every year. It was during this period, on'the 21st of January,
1885, that he married Miss I.ucetta Stratford, of Maldon, sister of Bishop Edward Stratford of Og-
den, who with all the family he had brought into the Church, Elder Penrose was next called to pre-
side over the London Conference, and subsequently over the Cheltenham Pastorate, consisting of
the Cheltenham, Worcestershire and Herefordshire Conferences; and later over the Birmingham
Pastorate, consisting of the Birmingham, Warwickshire, Staffordshire and Shropshire Conferences.
His pen, ever brilliant and keen, at this time was almost as busy as his ready tongue. He wrote
many theological articles for the Millennial Star, principal Church organ of the European mission,
and out of the silken and golden threads of his poetical thoughts and emotions, wove the fabric of
those beautiful songs of Zion which have cheered the hearts and fired with patriotism and holy zeal
the drooping souls of thousands.
In the year 1861, after over ten years of gratuitous and successful service in the ministry, he
was released from his labors and emigrated to America. He crossed the sea in the sailing ship Un-
derwriter, assisting in the charge of 620 passengers, and living with them in the steerage during the
thirty days passage from Liverpool to New York. He also helped to cape for them during the jour-
ney through the States and up the Missouri river. He crossed the plains, driving his own o.x team,
with his family and his wife's relatives, and was eleven weeks on the toilsome way.
Arriving in Utah he settled in Farmington, Davis County, and for the first time in his life went
to work in the fields, climbing the mountains for firewood, and laboring at the hardest kind of phys-
ical work, for which he was naturally unfit, and teaching school in the winter. He made headway,
however, and acquired a small home. Durmg his three years residence there, he was ordained one
of the presidents of the 56th quorum of Seventies. In the fall of 1864, at the solicitation of Apos-
tle E. T. Benson, he removed to Cache Valley and again labored for a home, teaching school in the
winter. He had scarcely more than secured some land, a log cabin and lot, when he was called,
in April, 1865, to go to England on a mission, and was notified to be in Salt Lake City by the first
of May, prepared with means to carry him on his journey. ^
In company with forty other missionaries, in charge of Captain Wm. B. Preston, Elder Pen-
rose set out upon his second journey across the plains, with mule teams, but walking most of the
way. They were thirty-six days in reaching Omaha. The Indians were very hostile at the time,
and people were killed before and behind the little band of missionaries, but they got through in
safety, despite many fears and predictions to the contrary, and reaching New York, sailed for Liver-
pool. Elder Penrose arrived in England, labored first among the colliers in Lancashire, with suc-
cess, and on the first of February, 1866, was sent to preside over the Esse.K Conference, which he
had built up several years before. On the 6lh ot June following he was appointed to preside over
ihe London Conference. He traveled all over the British Isles and visited Paris during the great
e.xposition. The last two years of his mission he assisted to edit the Mil/cnial Star, under President
F. D. Richards; also preaching on Sundays indifferent jjlaces, baptizing many in Liverpool, and
helping to ship many companies of emigrating Saints. At the close of the emigration season of
1868, he was released from his mission and sailed for home; taking rail from New York to Point
of Rocks, and thence by stage line to Salt Lake City, arriving in Utah after an absence of three and
a half years.
He next engaged in mercantile pursuits, with W. H. Shearman, in Logan, under the firm name
of Shearmin & Penrose, and did a fine business until the co-operative movement was instituted,
when the whole stock was turned over to the new institution. On the first of May, 1869, Mr. Pen-
rose became secretary and treasurer of the Logan Co-operative Institution, and bookkeeper for the
store. He acted as a home missionary, traveling and preaching on Sundays, often in company with
Apostle Benson; was a member of the high council, and took an active part in all Church move-
ments in the county.
In January, 1870, he resigned his position in the Co-operative Institutton, bade adieu to Logan
and took up his residence inOgden, having been invited by Apostle F. D. Richards to take editorial
charge, under his supervision . of the Ogden Jiinciion, which had just been started as a semi-weekly,
This was an occupation for which he was peculiar'y well fitted, not only by nature— which un-
doubtedly designed him for a journalist— but by education and experience ; and the p.iper which he
did so much to build up and render popular, and which lived and prospered as long as he was con-
nected with it, will be long remembered for the interest and pointed vigor, the " snap and ginger "
of his pungent writings. He was assistant editor one year, and was then made editor-in-chief, and
afterwards business manager as well. He started the Daily Junction in September, 1872, and
T42 HISTORY OF SALT LAKE CITY.
much of the time was its editor, local, business manager, and traveling agent, and— to use his own
terse expression — was "worked half to death."
Having previously become naturalized, he was elected, February 13. 1871. a member of the
Ogden City Council, He took active part in all the affairs and improvements of the municipality
as long as he remained in Ogden, and he was re-elected to the council every term; his name was
found on both tickets whenever there were two parties in the field. He served, in all. four terms,
and before the expiration of the last one had removed to Salt Lake City. At the organization of
the Weber Stake of Zion he was ordained a High Priest and made a member of the High Council,
and remained so for a long time alter his removal from Ogden. He also acted as a home missionary
both in aS take and Territorial capacity.
His political record in the municipality having won him influence and the confidence of his as-
sociates and the people generally, he was chosen delegate from Weber County to the Constitutional
Convention of 1872, being elected by the popular vote on February 5th, of that year. He helpe 1
to frame the Constitution of the State of Deseret and the memorial to Congress, being on the com-
mittees having that work in hand. The same year he represented Weber County in the Demo-
cratic Territorial Convention, which was composed of both Mormons and Gentiles, and nominated
for his wing of the party, Hon. George Q. Cannon as delegate to Congress, making a pointed
speech in the convention. He was a member and secretary of the People's County < entral Com-
mittee, and a live worker in all political movements, making speeches and using his influence in
every way for the success of the People's party. During the same period, he was busily engaged
in ecclesiastical affairs under President Richards.
In August, 1874, he was elected a member of the Legislature, representing Weber County in
the Territorial Assembly. He took an active part in all general measures, introduced a number of
bills, drafted public documents, and rendered other valuable service for which his literary ability and
native legal acumen well qualified him. At the same time he wrote all the editorials and reports of
the Legislature for the OgA<ix\ Junction. In 1875 he found himself so overworked that he resigned
the%)usiness management of the Junction, but continued as editor, and did all the literary work,
local and telegraph included, for both the d.iily and semi-weekly issues. He also continued ac-
tive in municipal and Church affairs.
In the fall of 1876, Mr. Penrose went to California to represent Thomas and Es'her Duce,
mother and son, in the adjustment of a pecuniary issue; In September of that year the Duces had
been shot by a Wells, Fargo & Co 's guard who dropped his gun, a double-barrelled we. ipon loaded
with slugs; the whole contents being fired into them. Thomas was literally riddled, and his mother
was shot through the windpipe. Mr. Penrose, assisted the doctor to dress the wounds; both pa-
tients recovered. The company disclaimed responsibility for the accident, but Mr. Penrose met
with the managers in San Francisco, prevailed on them and obtained five thousand dollars com-
pensation for the Duces.
In June, 1877, by request of President Brigham Young, he came to Salt Lake Ci'y and be-
came connected with the ZJe-.tj/'f/ AVti/.r, under the general editorial management of Hons. George
Q. Cannon and Brigham Young, Jr. The Junction Company keenly felt his loss, and offered to
give him the paper entirely. On the organization of the Deseret Ne-ius Company, at the first meet-
ofthe Board of Directors held September 3d, 1880, C. W. Penrose was made editor-in-chief of that
veteran journal, and still remains so. He became a home missionary of the Salt Lake Stake, and
traveled and preached in many places.
At a special election in 1879. ^^^''J f'^r the purpose of filling the vacancy caused by the death of
Hon. A. P. Rockwood, member elect of the Legislature for Salt Lake County, Hon. C. W. Pen-
rose was the people's choice for that office, which he filled with credit to himself and to the satisfac-
tion of his constituents. He served during the session of 1880 on various important committees,
including the judiciary, and introduced many bills, among them a bill 1 1 take away all political disa-
bilities from women. The bill created no end of discussion, comment and debate, its author making
able and pithy speeches in its favor, and finally it passed both houses but was vetoed by the Gover-
nor. Following is one of his speeches on this question which will serve to show his style:
" Utah is the home of liberty for all, and pejuliarly the smctuary for women ; here all her rights
are popularly acknowledged and accorded Here siie is protected and defended. Here the cf)nven-
tionalities which have kept her m bondage for ages arc thrown aside by the force of an enli_.;hiened
estimate of her capabilities and an enlarged view of her claims is an integral part of the body politic.
'The right to vote has already been conferred upon her. The laws of the nation declare her a citizen
equal with man ; the laws of this Territory give her equal rights with man at the polls. This has
CHARLES IV. PENROSE. 14J
worked no injury to any, but will necessarily result in good. For the power of the suffrage will de-
velop thought, and its responsibilities give occasion for reflection, and the enlarged capacities of
women which will be the natural consequence, will be transmitted to her offspring, and benefits will
thus accrue to the State in the coming generation.
" None of the disasters predicted by the opponents of woman suffrage have occurred in this
Territory. The women have exercised their power in wisdom, and have shown their fitness ior the
trust reposed in them. They have not been degraded nor polluted in the waters of politics, and are
just as good wives, mothers, sisters, cousins and aunts, as before receiving the elective franchise. Re-
cently they have had some voice in our caucuses and conventions and nominating committees, and
who can say truthfully that this has been in any way inimical to the communitv. Giving them the
right to vote without the right to a voice in the arrangement of a ticket or platform on which to
vote, would be partial and inconsistent.
" Having done so much for woman's cause, why halt in timid hesitation before the last
barrier to her politic! il freedom? The word ' male ' in our statutes, defining the qualifications of
citizens for holding offices, is a relic of die old system of woman's vassalage. It is a standing reflec-
tion upon her sex. It is a plain assertion of her inferiority. It says, virtually, no matter how wise,
intellectual, honest, thrifty, able and gifted a woman may be, she is not fit to be entrusted with the.
responsibilities of the smallest office in the gift of the people. If this is not iis meaning, then it is a
selfish declaration that all the honors and emoluments of every office shall be reserved to the stront^er
sex, because man has the power to elbow woman out in*o the cold and keep her there. There are
some offices for which women are not adapted. But are there not also some offices for which
many men are not adapted? Yet no man, however inefficent, is debarred by statutory provisions
from such positions. But woman is shut out from all and this purely and solely because she is
woman.
" The good sense of the great body of electors of both sexes must determine what those offices
may be, and as in the case of men, which persons are the most competent to fill them. The bill
will not secure a single office to a single woman — or a married one, either. But it will break down
in Utah a wall which is in the way of the march of progress, and every stone and brick of which
will yet be entirely removed in every nation that is really civilized.
'■ Massachusetts and other States have commenced the work. Women there can not only vote
on school matters, but hold official positions on school boards and other State educational organ-
izations. Thev have the same privileges in Kansas. In Utah, where the elevation of woman as
man's companion, not his slave, is the prevailing social theory, she cannot, under the law, hold any
office of any kind whatever. Cache County would have elected a lady to the office of County Super-
intendent of Schools, one who has proven to the people her ample qualifications for the post. But
the liw forbade it. Salt Lake County contemplated nominating a talented lady for the office of
County Treasurer, but the disability which this bill seeks to remove stood grimly in the way.
"It is not asked that certain offices be set apart for either sex. We are simply requested to
remove this ugly and staring brand of woman's politicial inferiority from our statute book. To
render it possible for women to fill such offices as they maybe fitted to occupy with honor to them-
selves and profit to the people.
" Now, I do not cite these as sample offices to which women should be elected, but merely to
refer to these facts in illustration of the subject and to show reasons why the discriminating and
egotistical word 'male' should be expunged from the statutes relating to qualifications for office.
Used in this light, it is a slur on our wives and sisters and mothers. It is a vestige of the barbaric
estimate of the gentler sex. ,\way with it! Blot it out with the pen of a progressive age and the
ink of advanced ideas! Let it go with its companion that once stood in the way of woman suffrage,
but was swept into the limbo of antiquated measures by the besom of the act of 1870. Give to the
womsn of Utah— there are no better in the world— full, perfect and coinplete political liberty."
Mr. Penrose was re-elected and served in the Legislative session of 1882 ; he was chairman of
the committee on claims, and did a great deal of work on various committees; being particularly
useful in drafting public documents and correciing errors in the framing of bills. He was elected
to the constitutional convention and helped to frame the Constitution of the Slate of Utah, which
was making another effort— under a change of name from ' Deseret '--for its long withheld right of
admission i^nto the Union. He also assisted to prepare the memorial to Congress. All this time he
was performing editorial work for the Darret A'czvs.
The death of David O. Calder, in the summer of 1884 cause;: a vacancy in the Presidency of
the Salt Lake Stake of Zion, which was filled August 2d, 1884, Elder Penrose being then appointed.
144 HISl OR Y OF SAL T LAKE CITY.
at the qmricrly st.ike conference, second counselor to President Angus M. Cannon. His voice
was often henrd in the Tabernacle and in other congregations of the Saints; he was an ever ready
and apparently unfailing fountain of instruction. As one of the Presidency ol the Salt Lake Stake
of Zion it was also a part of his duty and labors to sit in the High Council in judgment upon all
matters before that tribunal.
In the fall of 1883, in order to recuperate his energies, which were sorely faxed by overwork,
he took a trip, in company with C. R. Savage, Esq., over the D. and R. G, Railway to Denver,
thence through Colorado, south to New Mexico. Arizona and California, returning to Utah via the
Central Pacific route. He now resumed his manifold duties. He had previously written a valuable
work entitled " Mormon Doctrine." In the fall of 1884, he delivered several Sunday evening lec-
tures in the Twelfth Ward Assembly Hall, answering anti-Mormon objections and charges against
the faith and practice of the Latter-day Saints. Chief of these lectures were those on " Blood Atone-
ment" and the ' Mountain Meadows Massacre," completely refuting the common stories in relation
thereto Both lectures were published at the Juvenile Instructor office. He continued to defend
the '■ Mormon " cause politically and religiously, by press discussions as well as public speeches and
private interviews with strangers. These vigorous labors excited the hostility of the anti-Mormon
ring, and he was singled out, in the crusade under the Edmunds law, as a conspicuous target for
their animosity. In the beginning of January, 1885, he was sent on a brief mission to the States,
and during his absence his legal wife and family, down to a boy eight years old, were compelled to
go before the grand jury. The wife refused to testify against her husband, but the evidence desired
was extorted from the children.
While in the States Elder Penrose was appointed on a mission to England, and forthwith bade
farewell, by letter, to those he held most dear this side of the water, and once more crossed the
bosom of the mighty deep. After a rough passage and safe landing at Liverpool, he was appointed
bv President D. H. Wells to preside over the London Conference, and assist editorially on the Mil-
lennial Star." He revived the work in London, his old field of labor, was gladly hailed by former
acquaintances, wrote several articles for London papers, helped to ship emigrants of every company
from Liverpool, and attended conferences with President Wells all over England, Scotland and
Wales. He also visited Ireland and preached in the open air in the city of Belfast to three thou-
sand people. A great uproar ensued, followed by a spirited discussion in the Belfast papers. He
visited Dublin and the Isle of Man, and from there went to the Lake District of England. He accom-
panied President Wells on his continental tour through Denmark, Sweden, Norway, Germany and
Switzerland, prex;hing in Copenhagen, Christiania, Stockholm, Berlin and Berne, returning to Eng-
land by way of Paris. He made a stir in several English towns and brought many persons into the
Church, besides writing articles for the Star and alsj for the Dcserct News to the interest of which
he is devoted though in " exile,"
He is still engaged in laboring and writing for the cause to which he h.is consecrated his time and
talents for so many years. He has a firm and thorough belief in the truth and triumph of Mor-
monism, and is kept from the society of a loving family and a wide circle of cordial friends by the
same merciless persecution which has thrust so many good men behind prison doors.
At the age of filty-four he retains apparently all his original activity of mind and physical en-
ergies. Time and toil have made but moderate inroads upon his extraordinary vitality. This is all
the more remarkable from his not being ofa robust constitution — though of healthy physique and
strictly temperaie habits— and his persistent and almost incessant mental activity. It exemplifies
anew the truth of the proverb that it is better to wear out than to rust away. Mr. Penrose is of a
highly sensitive and nervous organization ; quick to think, speak and act. His talents are so versa-
tile it is almost a question as to "wherein kind nature meant him to excel." He is poeticil, mu-
sical, has fine spiritual perceptions, and also leans to science and law. His f irte is generally thought
to be journalism, in which he shines with lustre, while as a preacher and polemical writer and debater
he has but few equals. His t dents and energy fit him e ninontly for a missionary, in which impor-
tant calling he meets invariably with success. His practical experience in various walks of life gives
him an insight into the thoughts and workings of all classes of society ; his advice is sought in diffi-
culty and doubt, and he wins his way easily to the hearts of his fellow-men. Charles W. Penrose
is a remarkable man. Nature stamped him as such, and his life work, thus far, confirms the truth
of her decree.
GEORGE REYNOLDS. j^^
GEORGE REYNOLDS.
To Mr. George Reynolds must be given the honors of being the first ^mong the polygamous
martyrs. The narrative is thus given in the Conltlbii/or under the caption of " A Living Martyr •"
'■ In the summer and fall of 1874, while James B. McKean was Chief Justice of the Territorial
Supreme Court and Judge of the Third District Court, and William Carey was United States Pros
ecuting Attorney for Utah, efforts were made to find indictments, under the Congressional law of
1862, agamst polygamy and bigamy, and the arrest and trial of several of the leading authorities
was threatened. As those whom the prosecuting attorney had set upon, were known ''not to have
violated that law, their so-called offenses, having been committed previous to its passage, it was ap-
parent that any effort to convict them would be futile and their trials would simply amount to an-
noyance and persecution. It was therefore agreed by the prosecuting attorney, and others, that if
a suitable person were provided, the contemplated prosecutions would be abandoned, a fair trial
would be given him, as a test case, and the constitutionality of the law would be tested. Our peo-
ple believing that the act of 1862 would be annulled on appeal to the Supreme Court.
"After this arrangement had been made, the selection of some one to stand the trial was considered
and Elder George Reynolds, who had not been thought of by the officers, was approached on the
subject, and consented to be the victim. He furnished the witnesses and testimony to the grand
jury, and his case was accepted by the attorney as a fair test case. Accordingly on Friday, October
23d, 1874, the grand jury, John Chislett, foreman, reported a true bill against him. and on the fol-
lowing Monday he presented himself in court and plead not guilty to the felony alleged in the in-
dictment. He was admitted to bail in the sum of twenty-five hundred dollars. On March 31st,
187s, the trial commenced and lasted two days. 'I he jury returned a verdict of guilty, and on the
lolh of April, the prisoner was sentenced to one years' imprisonment, and to pay a fine of three
hundred dollars An appeal to the Territorial Supreme Court was immediately taken, and Brother
Reynolds was liberated on a five thousand dollar bond.
"The most intense feeling of emnity and persecution, was manifest during and immediately
after this trial, by the prosecuting officers, William Carey and R. N. Baskin. They even went so
far as to demand the iniprisonment of the defendant, pending the appeal to the higher court. This
was, however, overruled by the judge. On the 19th of June, the Supreme Court, comprised of
Chief Justice Lowe and Associates Emerson and Boreman, reversed the decison of the lower court,
set the indictment aside on the ground of the illegality of the grand jury which found it, (that bodv
being composed of twenty-three instead of fifteen men, which the law requires,) and Elder Reynolds
was released from his bonds.
" On the 30th of the following October, however, the new grand jury, Horace Bliss, foreman,
found another indictment against him, and he was again arrested November ist, 1875, plead not
guilty and was admitted to bail. On December 9th his second trial commenced, before Chief Jus-
tice White, Lowe having removed, and the following jury : Henry Simons, foreman, Emanuel
Kahn, Eli Ransohoff, B. F. Dewey, Charles Read, George Hogan, Ed. L. Butterfield, Frank Cis-
ler, Samuel Woodard, Nathan J. Lang, John S. Barnes, Lucien IJvingston.
" During this trial the unfair efforts of the prosecuting attorney, aided by the arbitrary rulings
of the court against the prisoner, showed that Carey had departed from his agreement to try the
case as a test on the constitutionality of the law, and that he was doing his utmost to fasten crimi-
nality upon the prisoner and to secure his punishment. When this treachery was discovered, the
defendant, of course, did his utmost to thwart the prosecution and to save himself. An incident
of the trial will indicate to what extreme measures the zeal of the court and prosecuting attorney
carried them. Mrs. Amelia Reynolds, Brother Reynolds' second wife, could not be found when
the second trial came, and the vicious efforts of the court to punish her husband, instead of to pro-
ceed as agreed upon before, were manifest. In coiisequence of the failure of the prosecution to
produce this witness, the court permitted the attorney to call the lawyers and others in attendance
on the first trial, and accepted their testimony of what Mrs. Reynolds said at that trial as pertinent
evidence ; a most unheard of proceeding in any court. The jury vk turned a verdict of guilty, and
on December 21st, Brother Reynolds was sentenced to two years at hard labor in the Detroit House
of Correction, and to pay a fine of five hundred dollars. An appeal was taken to the Territorial
19
145 HISTORY OF SALT LAKE CnV.
Supreme Court, pending which he was liberated under bonds of ten thousand dollars, W. H. Hooper
and H. B, Clawson sureties.
•'The case came up on appeal June 13, 1876, and was argued before the three judges, Judge-
Shaffer being now chief justice, the associates the same as before. They listened to the argument,
and on July 6th, unanimously confirmed the decision of the District Court. An appeal was at once
taken, as contemplated from tlie first, to the Supreme Court of the United States, ihe court of last
resort. Over two years passed before the case came in its order before that august body, when, on
the r4th of November, 1878, it was called up. The attorneys for the appellant were G. W. Biddle,
of Philadelphia, and Ben Sheeks, of Salt Lake City. Solicitor General Phillips appeared for the
United States. The arguments occupied two days, and the case was taken under advisement. On
the 6th of January, 1879, Chief Justice Waite delivered the decision of the court, confirming the pre-
vious decisions of the lower courts. It was unanimous but that Justice Field non-concurred on a
minor point.
" As soon as this decision became known efforts were made for a re-opening of the case, on the
ground that the sentence rendered included " hard labor," which e.xceeded the law in this case and
the authority of the judge to pronounce. When this matter came before the United States Supreme
Court, instead of setting aside the verdict and ordering the proceedings to be quashed, that body
issued the following order, dated May 5, 1879: "And that this cause be, and the same is hereby re-
manded to the said Supreme Court \i.e. of the Territory,] with instructions to cause the sentence of
the District Court to be set aside, and a new one entered on the verdict in all respects like that Ije-
fore imposed, except so far as it requires the imprisonment to be at hard labor."
" During the time occupied in remanding from the higher courts to the Third District Court,
wiiere the case was tried and the sentence pronounced, a monster petition to the E.xecutive at Wash-
ington was prepared, setting forth that the prisoner's was a test case, and asking for his pardon. The
petition was signed by over thirty-two thousand names but was unheeded by the President.
" On June 14, 1876, the corrected sentence of two years imprisoninent and five hundred dollars
fine was pronounced by Judge Emerson, and on the morning of the i6ih. Brother Reynolds started
in custody of Deputy Marshals Geo. A. Black and Wm. T. Shaughnessy for Nebraska State Prison
at Lincoln, where he had been ordered by the Department of Justice. He arrived on the 19th, and
was subjected to the usual indignities, which prisoners there must submit to: his beard being shaved,
hair cut and clothes exchanged for the prison garb ; he was assigned the duties of bookkeeper in
one of the industrial departments of the prison. He remained in Lincoln but twenty-five days,
when he was ordered back to Utah. Arriving on the 17th of July, he was conveyed directly to the
Penitentiary where he remained until the 20th of January, 1881, when with the remission of one
hundred and forty-four days, provided by the good conduct act of 1880, his term of imprisonment
expired.
" On Brother Reynolds' return to Utah he was permitted, as are all of the prisoners here, to
occupy his time as he chose. This liberty together with the privilege of seeing his fainily and friends,
when they wished to call upon him, did much to mitigate the distress of his confinement. He being
a student and writer spent much time in study and writing for the press, contributions from his pen
being published in the Contributor, Juvenile Instructor, Millennial Star, Aews, and other papers,
periodically, during the whole time of his imprisonment. During the last five months he has been
engaged in preparing a concordance of the Book of Mormon, on the general plan of Cruden's con-
cordance of the Bible. He has already compiled over twenty-five thousand references. It is to be
hoped that we shall soon see this important work completed and published, as it will be of the great-
est assistance to missionaries and all students or readers of the Book of Mormon.
'' In the Utah Penitentiary there are an average of about fifty prisoners. Many of them, be-
coming interested in the good advice and example of Elder Reynolds, were enrolled as pupils in a
school, which he volunteered to teach, and in which he was quite successful for several months.
The influence he exercised over the prisoners was most salutary. It was said that from the time of
his advent among them until his departure, there was less difficulty or disturbance among Ihem
than would formerly be met with in a single week. General Butler, the warden remarked that
' Reynolds was worth more than all his guards in preserving good order among the prisoners.'
Even among the wildest and most wicked it was noticed that they would not indulge in their evil pro-
pensities, when he was around, as other times; thus showing the respect in which he was held.
In consequence of this assistance to the officers and in appreciation of his deportment and
bearing as a man, Marshal Shaughnessy and Warden Butler did all in their power, without depart-
ing from the line of duty, to mike him comfortable and help him in his writing. He had many
I
GEORGE REYNOLDS. i^j
difficulties to contend with in the winter time, having no shelter for his paper, or stand on which to
wnte. We would think it a particular hardship to be obliged to nail out copy on the prison wall
and. as we sat on a small stool facing it, write on a lap-board. In this manner Brother Reynolds
has spent many a day in the preparation of matter for publication ; the cold often benumbing his
fingers, the dust blinding his eyes, and gusts of wind flurrying his paper all over the prison yard.
For the last few months, the warden permitted him to occupy the guards' dining room, during the
day, which very greatly promoted his comfort and enabled him to do much more work'.
■• His health was good all the time, and but for the nervousness, which nearly always accom-
panies confinement, no change can be detected in him ; from that a few days of liberty among fam-
ily and friends will effect entire recovery. He savs he was never happier, for he felt that lie was
suffering for a just cause, and had a living testimony that God was with him. Yet to a man of his
temperament, fondly attached to hoine and family, the trial must have been a hard one; not only
upon him but upon his heroic family, who suffered equally in all but the loss of phvsical liberty.
The patient, forbearing, and uncomplaining manner in which they have helped to bear this cross,
for Zion's sake, deserves the warmest praise from all. Their example of faith and integrity is an
an undying one to those who believe as they do, and of itself forever refutes the wicked imputation
of the Supreme Court of the United States, that the principle for which thev have suffered is not
a fundamental and sacred one of a pure religion.
" Efforts were made while Brother Reynolds was in prison to secure his pardon. Elder Geo Q
Cannon doing all in his power in that direction, but the President turned a deaf ear to all petitions.
Among those who have interested themselves in this respect, it is but just to record the manly effort
of the marshal. Col. Shaughnessy prepared a petition, setting forth the good character of the
prisoner, and the material assistance his deportment and teachings among the prisoners had been^
to the officers in preserving order, etc. To this he secured the signature of Chief Justice Hunter,
Associate Emerson and Attorney Van Zile declining, and forwarded it to Washington. ThouH: noth-
ing resulted from it, it is creditable to the officers who prepared it. But petitions are now not nec-
essary; without executive clemency or special favors, Elder Reynolds has paid the penaltv our
country has imposed upon her children, who desire to serve God as well as the Constitution. He
has proved himself a man of God; and though restricted iu the exercise of citizenship, has mani-
fested nobler qualifications for citizenship than those who have degraded themselves by persecutino-
him for conscience sake.
"On the 20th of January, 1881, Elder George Reynolds was released from imprisonment, in the
Utah Penitentiary, having served the legal term to which he was sentenced. He emerc'es from the
prison walls a living martyr to the cause of Zion, with a history hardly paralleled in the lives of the
martyrs of olden or modern times. He was not only a prisoner for conscience sake, but a lepre-
sentative prisoner suffering for the conscientious faith of the whole people. He has stood the test
that God suffered to be put upon him, and has been found true and faithful, having never mur-
mured or complained, but patiently endured the unholy persecution, which he was willing to suffer
for the sake of his brethren, his religion and his God. We welcome him home again and feel to
praise him in the gates. All Israel honors him. He will be held in remembrance forever for his
heroic integrity in suffering martyrdom for conscience sake, and his example will nerve the failh of
thousands in the day of similar trial."
George Reynolds was born in the Parish of St. Marylebone, London, England, January ist,
1842. His father was George Reynolds, of Totnes, Devonshire ; his mother (/;^^) Julia .Ann Tautz.
He first heard Mormonism when nine and a half years old, and then desired baptism, but owing to
the opposition of his parents it was deferred until he was fourteen. The date of baptism is May
4th, 1856.
In December, 1856, he was ordained a deacon, and in the May following, a priest ; and sent out
to preach in the streets of London, being then only fifteen. When nineteen (May, 1861) he was
called to succeed E. W. Tullidge in the charge of the branches in the western portion of the me-
tropolis comprising between eight and nine hundred members. He was called to act as emigra-
tion clerk in the Liverpool office by President George Q. Cannon, in February, 1863, and the next
year became chief clerk. During the greater portion of the time he was in Liverpool he acted as
president of the Church in that town. He emigrated on Cunard steamship Persia, June, 1865, and
crossed the Plains with Messrs. W. S. Godbe and W. H. Shearman as far as Denver, by stage,
whence the mail company, on account of the Sioux Indian war, would take them no further. At
Denver Mr. Godbe purchased a wagon and team, and the three travelers came on alone to Salt Lake
Citv, making the journey from Denver in ten clays.
148 HIS TOR Y OF SALT LAKE CITY.
Elder Reynolds went on a mission to Great Britain in May, 1871, where he labored in the Liv-
erpool office as assistant editor of the Millennial Star to Elder Albert Carrington. In the following
September, when President Carrington was telegraphed to return to Utah he was left in charge of
the spiritual concerns of the European Mission, beinc virtually its p'^esident until the return of
President Carrington in the following May. During this mission Elder Reynolds had a severe at-
tack of smallpox which left him in such a poor condition of health that on Carrington 's return in
Liverpool he was released to return home, where he arrived July, 1872.
He became secretary to President Brigham Young in 1868, and was again his secretary at the
time of the President's death in 1877. He continued to act in the same capacity for the Twelve
Apostles, and since his return from prison has acted as one of President John Taylor's secretaries,
George Reynolds was married July 22d, 1865, to Miss Mary Ann Tuddenham and on the 3d
of August, 1874, to Miss Amelia Jane Schofield. He has occupied numerous positions : Regent of
University of Deseret ; City Councilor; director Z. C. M. L, Zion's Saving Bank, Deseret Tele-
graph Company, trefisurer of Deseret Sunday School Union and the chairman of its publication
committee. He has written largely for the church publications, and is also the author of several
small works: "The Myth of the Manuscript Found, "Are We of Israel?" "The Book of Abia-
ham," etc. He acted for a considerable time as local editor of the Deseret A^ews, and in 1872-3 was
treasurer, manager, and lastly lessee (in connection with W. T. Harris) of the Salt Lake Theatre.
In the history of his church, undoubtedly George Reynolds is destined to rank as one of its rep-
resentative Elders, His nature is highly spiritual and fervent and the organic quality of his mind is
of the intellectual type. He is one of the most apostolic characters that the British mission has pro-
duced.
GEORGE ROMNEY.
George Romney is a man of rather large frame. His height is 5 ieet, g% inches. His hair,
well sprinkled with grey, was originally auburn. His face is large, and the features strongly
marked, giving, in connection with its normal e.xpression, an appearance of distinct individualism.
His complexion tends to sallowness, and the eyes are a clear blue. While he is neighborly and
genial, his countenance, while at rest, wears that thoughtful and almost sombre aspect that denotes
the man impressed with an idea that life was not intended to be spent in frivolity, but its battles
must be seriously met and resolutely handled. He is much more than ordinarily conscientious.
While he is not specially reserved in expressing his repugnance to the wrong doings of men, yet
were he in a position requiring him to pass judgment upon transgressors, it would, on account of
his large sympathy, be a duty from which he would naturally shrink.
He is the son of Miles Romney and Elizabeth Gaskell, and was born at Dalton, Lancashire,
England, August 14, 1831. When he was two years old the family removed to Preston, and shortly
afterwards to Pcnworthen, about two miles from tiiat town. His father was among the first to em-
brace the gospel in Great Britain in the last dispensation, having identified himself with the Church
in 1837, under the administration of Heber C. Kimball and Orson Hydi.-, about a month after those
two elders landed in that country. The two missionaries were in the habit of holding prayer meet-
ing every Sunday morning at the Romney residence, and going from thence to the meeting at
Preston, generally taking George with them, and returning regularly in the evening. This was done
so long as thev remained in that section, George was baptized in tlie riv(»r Ribble as soon as he
reached the age of eight years.
On the 28th of February, 1841, the entire family left Liverpool in the ship Sheffield, with a com-
pany of Saints, and arrived at New Orleans after a voyage of seven weeks, that being the first instal-
ment of Church emigrants that traveled via that port. From thence they were conveyed by steamer
up the Mississippi, Nauvoo being their destination, \\nicn proceeding up the river the elder Rom-
ney was taken dangerously ill and his condition became so precarious that his life was despaired of.
On arriving at Nauvoo, Mrs. Romney, George's mother, went ashore and ]Hirchascd a small log
room, giving in payment for it a Paisley shawl. To this humb'e shelter her husband, being too
GEORGE ROMNEY. 14^
feeble to walk, was carried in a blanket. He soon afterwards revived, however, and went to work
on the Temple. While thus engaged, he carved one of the twelve oxen upon which the baptismal
font rested. During the same season of the arrival of the Romneys there was great sickness in Nau-
voo. It took the form generally of fever and ague, which carried off about one-third of the com-
pany with which the family had traveled. The people also sufllered greatly from poverty, food and
clothing not only being scarce, but it was very difficult even to procure lights. This was exceedingly
distressing in case of sickness, there being, in many instances no taper to give a cheering ray while
the anxious watchers sat by the bedsides of the afflicted and dying. This was the case with one of
George's sisters, who, after a severe illness, finally expired, and as she died in the night, the sorrow-
ing family, being without a light, were unable to note the moment when the spirit lelt the body and
was wafted to a brighter world. George worked on the Temple with his father, and there learned
his trade of carpenter. That building was erected under great hardships, but Romrey and son re-
mained at work upon it until it was completed, and in it the elder Romney received his annointings.
The f^imily also shared the persecutions that were directed against the Saints. In 1846 all of the
Romneys except George went to Burlington, Iowa, on a steamboat, for the purpose of going to
work and accumulating enough means with which to purchase an outfit to enable them to move west-
ward with the main body of the Church, driven from Nauvoo by mobocrats. George started (or
the same destination overland, accompanied by another boy named Robinson and a man named
Ralph. They took with them a number of cows and horses. On the first night out, at a point about
twelve miles distant from Nauvoo, the trio reached a deserted log cabin, which showed numerous in-
dications of having been but recently occupied, the late tenants having left behind them a cat, a
number of chickens, etc. They afterwards learned that the family who had fled were *' Mormons,"
and had made their escape on account of mobocratic persecutions and their lives having been threat-
ened. The three travelers took up their quarters in this cabin for the night, but soon repented hav-
ing done so. Near midnight they were awakened by a violent knocking at the door, and loud de-
mands for admittance. A dog on the inside kept up an incessant barking, the terrified trio trying to
induce it to be silent by calling '' whish." The mob on the outside became more and more furious,
and fired a shot through the door, at the same time threatening that if those within did not come out
they would batter it down, enter the cabin and kill them. Still the scared inmates refused to speak
The mob procured a log and used it upon the door as a battering-ram^ Seeing that their case was
becoming more and more desperate, Ralph, Romney and Harrison concluded to go out and did so.
When they emerged from the doorway they were confronted by a howling mob armed with swords,
guns and pistols. They were told that the mob understood them to be " Mormons" and it was the
intention to kill them. •
Ralph, being the only grown man among the three, acted as spokesman for the other two. He told
the mobocrats they were laboring under a mistake ; that they were travelers and had come from La
Harpe, giving an alleged name of a street of that town where he said they had resided. He finally
made the mob believe that they had committed an error, and they left without further molestation.
At Burlington, during the winter of 1846-7, the elder Romney, not being able to procure work
at his own trade, got employment, at a mere pittance, cutting ice; while George engaged himself to
a farmer as a sort of boy-of all-work, feeding about a hundred pigs being one of his duties.
In the following spring the head of the family was awarded a contract to build a church, and
George worked with him. In the fall the two went to St. Louis and obtained employment, the rest
of the fimily following soon afterwards, all remaining there for some time.
On the fifteenth of March, 1850, George married Jane Jamieson. The entire family then pro-
ceeded to Alton, Illinois, where they purchased two ox teams, with which they started westward.
They met with considerable misfortune on the way. Corn, which was selling at ten cents a bushel
when they bought their outfit, immediately raised to a dollar and a quarter. The result was that
their purchasing power was soon exhausted, and so were the oxen, most of them dying before they
reached Council Bluffs. At that point, however, they were furnished with fresh animals by Bishop
Hunter. They started with the first Perpetual Emigration Fund company froiu Bethlehem— now
Council Bluffs— and camped twelve miles west from that point. On the sth of July the real start for
Salt Lake Valley was made, and the company reached this city on the nth of October, 1850.
George camped near the spot where the Temple now stands, a wagon box being the habitation
of himself and wife, and in it their first child, a daughter, was born, on the fifteenth of Deceinber.
The weather was at the time cold and stormy, the ground being covered with snow.
The subject of this sketch labored on the Temple Block till the spring of 1852, when he re-
sponded to a call for carpenters to proceed to Fillmore to build a State house. He worked there
yjo HISTORY OF SALT LAKE CITY.
till fall and then returned to this city. He resumed upon the public works and continued thus en-
gaged till the spring of 1855. In the latter year he formed a co-partnership with Michael Katz and
George Price, and this firm erected the County Court House, the residences of Judge Elias Smith.
A. W. Babbit, and other buildings. The following year he returned to the public %vorks. In the
fore part of 1856. his father. Elder Miles Romney, was sent on a mission, and having been foreman
of the carpenters on the Temple Block, he was succeeded in that position by James Stevens. The
fatter held the post about six months, when it was offered to George, who accepted it. He re-
mained in that situation until 1864, when the shops were temporarily closed.
Going back some years in order to enumerate other incidents in George's career, it is necessary
to say that, m 1857, when the Territorial Militia was thoroughly organized, he was ar.pointed captain
of the First Company of the Third Regiment of Infantry, of iVIajor Blair's battalion. He went to
Echo Canyon the lollowing winter, in charge of a company of men. and remained there two
months, until callerl in by President Young, in order to build a number of granaries in the rear of
the Tithing Office.
In the spring of 1858, the move south was inaugurated. George's family joined in the genera)
e.xodus, but he remained constructing storing facilities for flour and grain, When the family
reached Lehi his son Heber y. was born in a wagon box. Some time afterward George went to
Provo. After completing some building operations at that place he returned to this city. He had
been, for a considerable time previous to this, identified with tlie Twenty-ninth Quorum of Sev-
enties, of which he was made one of the presidents.
In 1864 he formed a co-partnership with William H. Folsom, the firm erecting a large number
of the principal buildings of the city, among them being the City Hall, Ransohoff' s, W^oodmansee's
and other buildings. In the fall of 1868 he identified himself in the business of steam wood-work-
ing, lumber dealing, contracting, building, etc., with Latimer & Taylor.
In 1869 he went to England on a mission, and labored for one year as president of the Liver-
pool conference, and the remainder of his stay abroad as president of the London conference, being
absent about eighteen months. He came home in 1870.
Among the first of his achievements in connection with the firm of which he was a member,
was the erection of the Deserct Bank block, probably the finest structure in the city of its class at
this date. The firm has undergone quite a number of changes, being, as now constituted, Taylor,
Romney & Armstrong.
In February, 1882, Brother Romney was elected a member of the city council of Salt Lake
City, and served in that capacity two years. He has also been for some years one of the directors-
of Z. C. M. I., and has serve* the people of the Twentieth Ward, of which he is an old resident,
in various capacities.
Proceedings having been entered against him for unlawful cohabitation under the Edmunds
.Act, he was indicttd and, on October loth, 1885, he withdrew a plea of not guilty formerly entered,
and pleaded guilty to the charge. On the same day he was sentenced to suffer the extreme penalty
of the law, imprisonment in the Utah penitentiary for six monjhs and to pay a fine of three hun-
dred dollars and costs. He entered the prison the same day, satisfied the judgment, and emerged
from confinement on the 13th of March, i886.
HENR Y DIN WO ODE Y. 151
HENRY DINVVOODEY.
Our respected ind enterprising citizen, Henry Dinwoodey was born at Latchford, Cheshire,
near Warrington, a town i8 miles from Liverpool, on the nth of September, 1825. His father's
name was James Dinwoodey ; his mother's maiden name Elizabeth Mills, she was from Somerset-
shire. The Dinwoodeys were from Scotland, from which country they went to the Isle of Man.
This subject of this sketch was apprenticed to the trade of a carpenter and builder; and, after
he was out of his time, he went to cabinet making. Henry Dinwoodey was married to Ellen Gore,
February 8th, 1846. She was a native of Warrington and was the daughter of John and Alice Gore.
He was baptized into the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, on the 24th of January, 1847.
She also came into the Church about the same time, both belonging to the Warrington branch of
the Liverpool Conference. They sailed from Liverpool September 5th, 1849, o"^ beard the ship
Berlin. During the voyage cholera broke out and forty-three of the passengers were buried in the
sea. They arrived at New Orleans, October 20th, and remained there during the winter and in the
spring of 1850 went to St. Louis. There Mr. Dinwoodey tarried till the year 1855, having gone into
business as a pattern maker for machinery. He with his wife emigrated to Salt Lake City, arriving
September, 1855. He came in one of the independent companies, commanded by Captain John
Hindley. His business career in Utah has already been sketched among our chief industrial men
in Chapter LXXIX.
Mr. Dinwoodey is one of the wealthiest and most substantial busness men of Salt Lake City,
and but fev/ have done so much as he in building up the industries of the city and contributing to
its material grovvth. This very iact (seeing that his property has been acquired in developing
the industries of the country and the employment of labor) shows how ill the city could spare
such men as he, and how much this judicial crusade, which has thrown a George Romney and a
Henry Dinwoodey into the penitentiary, interrupts the business of the city, and strikes at some of
our chief labor-employing industries and home enterprises. In their incarceration the community
at large has suffered.
Mr. Henry Dinwoodey was indicted for unlawful cohabitation, or, in the language of the court,
for " holding out" his wives, and sent to the penitentiary for si.x months and sentenced to pay a fine
of three hundred dollars and costs.
During the incarceration of Mr. Dinwoodey his first wife (the Ellen Gore already named)
died. A few days before her death he was permitted to leave the penitentiary and come to his home
for a few liours, to visit her sick bed. The ne.-ct time he saw her was just before her corpse was
taken 10 the Seventh' Ward meeting-house, preparatory to burial. Her bereaved husband was
allowed to attend the funeral service, but was not permitted to follow the remains, to their last
resting place.
Of the public services of Mr. Henry Dinwoodey to Salt Lake City, it must be noticed in closing
this sketch that he served our City seven years. He was first returned in February, 1S76, as alder-
man of the Second Municipal Ward. In 1878 he was again returned as alderman, also in 1880 and
in 1882. At these elections he carried the largest vote, many of the Gentiles supporting him. He
was popular with both parties, relying on his business sagacity and official integrity. He went out
of office February i6th, 18S4, having served during the entire terms of Mayor Feramorz Little and
Mayor William Jennings.
In the Territorial militia he held the position of major's adjutant, ranking as captain, and for
several years w§s the assistant chief engineer of the fire brigade, preferritig that position to being
its chief on account of his defective hearing.
Alderman Dinwoodey was usually appointed by the council upon the most important commit-
tees, in matters where business experience and financial prudence and knowledge were particularly
required. He was retired from office by the Edmund's bill ; nevertheless, in the history of our mu-
nicipal government, the name ot Henry Dinwoodey will stand as one of the most efficient, trust-
worthy and popular in the list of the aldermen of Salt Lake City. He is decidedly to-day one of
the most influential and representative of the citizens of Utah Territory.
JS2 HISTORY OF SALT LAKE CITY.
ELIAS MORRIS.
Elias Morris, the Salt Lake mason and builder, was born at IJanfair, Talhairn, Denbigshire,
North Wales, June 30th, 1825. He was the son of John Morris and Barbara Thomas, both of the
some village. His father was a builder and contractor; he was for many years engaged in build-
ing bridges and prisons for the counties of North Wales. Elias served his time under his father,
and, then, at the age of nineteen, he went over to England to get more experience in the bricklay-
ing line and furnace building.
The parents were Calvanistic Baptists, but the Congregation church, to which they belonged,
minister and all went over to the Campbellite church, to which Sidney Rigdon, Parley P. Pratt,
and numerous others of the earliest disciples of the Mormon Church in America, originally
belonged.
On the 17th of March, 1849, Elias Morris joined the Mormon Church. He was the first man
baptized in the town of Abergele, in his native county, by John Parry, who years afterwards had
charge of building the Logan Temple. The same summer his father, mother, his brother Hugh
and sister Barbara, also jomed the Church ; and in less than a year he, in connection with others,
raised up a branch of about sixty members, among whom was his brother, R. V. Morris, the
late bishop of the Nineteenth Ward. The following spring he went to Manchester to visit his
bvother Price, and to Liverpool to visit his brothers William V. and John, all three of whom were
baptized.
In the year 1850, he was called to travel through the Flintshire Conference as a traveling elder.
He was also appointed first counselor to William Parry, president of that conference. There he
labored till the fall of 1851, when Apostle John Taylor visited that conference, having in view the
organization of the sugar company to send to Utah. Elias Morris was called as one of its me-
chanics, and at this conference, held at Holywell, September 28th, 1851, he was released to emi-
grate with the sugar company in the spring.
Meantime he returned to his trade to provide an outfit ; and, while thus engaged as a mason,
on a three story building at Abergele, November 20th, 1851, pointing the front of a building, on a
hanging scaffold, on the third story window, the scaffold gave way and he fell down into the
street, alighting on his thigh ; with presence of mind as he touched the ground, he put his hand on
a course of rock, under the large shop window, and leaped inside of the building, barely escaping
death from the scaffold, which was falling after him. Strange to say, he was uninjured by the fall ;
and, after be got over the fright, he assisted in putting up a new scaffold.
In the spring of 1852, Mr. MoiTis met the sugar company at Liverpool, and was put in charge of
it. There were among them experts in the manuficturing of sugar, several of whom were selected
in Liverpool. In this company there were L. John Nuttall and his two brothers and father and
mother, who were kinsfolk of President John Taylor.
While waiting at Liverpool for the sugar macliinery, Mr. Morris sent on his betrothed wife,
Mary Parry of New Market, on board the ship Ellen Maria. On the 28th of March his own
company sailed from Liverpool, on board the ship Rockaway; and, after a tedious voyage of eight
weeks, they arrived at New Orleans, where President Taylor met the company. Having discharged
the machinery at Leavenworth, the President requested Mr. Morris to accompany him to Council
Bluffs, to fetch the wagons down. .\t Council Bluffs he met his betrothed, and they were married
there, by Apostle Orson Hyde, at the house of the bride's uncle, Joseph Parr^ May 23d, 1852,
In due time the sugar company proceeded on their journey, and reached S^lt Lake City in the
latter part of November. Mr. Morris immediately proceeded to Provo, and there the company
turned over the sugar machinery to the Church, the enterprise having resulted in a failure. He re-
mained at Provo during the winter; and, in the spring of 1B53, he walked to Salt Lake City to
attend the April conference, to see the laying of the foundation stone of the Salt Lake Temple.
While at this conference he was requested by the authorities to go to Cedar City, Iron Countv, to
take charge of the masonry on the iron works and blast furnaces. There he labored tor seven years,
off and on, till the failure of those works, when he returned to Salt Lake City in the spring of i860.
After his return from the South, Mr. Morris went to work on the Temple Block. He took a
contract with Henry Eccles to cut the flagging of the foundation of the Temple.
ELIAS MORRIS. j^j
In the year 1864, on the 7th of February, Elias Morris and his men commenced work on the
hagle Lmponum ; in June he commenced Wm. S Godbe's Exchange Buildings, and in July
Ransohoff s store, south of (ennings'. It was at this date that Main Street began to assume fully the
.mposmg appearance of a merchant street. On these buildings Mr. Morris paid to his masons
from five to seven dollars per day ; but. at that time, flour was selling in Salt Lake City at from
|2S.oo to #30.00 per hundred.
At the April conference, 1865, Elias Morris was called to take a mission to Wales. There he
stayed four years and one month, during which time he was a conference president and the last
year was president of the Welsh mission. He again left his native land in May, 1869, in charge of
a company of Saints (365 souls) who were mostly helped by the Church and their friends in Utah.
This was the first company that came through after the completion of the railroad in the year 1869.
After his return from this mission, Elias Morris, in the spring of 1870, entered into partner-
ship with Samuel L. Evans. This partnership, which existed for eleven years, was of a veiy pecu-
liar and unique kind. They entered into an agreement that all their earnings should be left in their
business, each family being allowed to draw out what they severally needed. Donations, etc., were
paid in like manner by the firm, neither of the partners questioning the doings of the other. Thus
they went on for eleven years, in the conduct of their business, in their private buildings and im-
provements for their families; in the supplies and money for their families; in pocket money for
themselves ; in donations, taxes, etc., indeed, in every other private or public draw on their united
finances. This they did to the last, when death ended their partnership, without disagreement or a
question ever being raised as to which family had received the least or the most. In this respect
they never even so much as investigated their accounts. Their method from first to last was upon
the pure United Order principle — each partner simply drawing or building according to his personal
or family needs. Samuel L. Evans was the bookkeeper and cashier of the firm ; and Elias Morris
the superintendent of the practical work and of their men employed. Mr. Evans died March, 1881.
Administrators were appointed to appraise the property belonging to the firm, which paid all the
debts of the deceased. Mr. Morris offered to buy or sell the half of the business and property, and
the family of the deceased partner very properly sold out, Mr. Morris purchasing for ^10,000 in
money and property, Evans' family being allowed their choice of property. Of the history of their
business it may be thus summarised: Morris & Evans opened up the first marble monumental yard
in Salt Lake. Soon after this the mining operations opened throughout the Territory and from Mr,
Morris" past experience in furnace building their firm obtained the run of the business in building
nearly all the furnaces throughout Utah and the adjacent Territories. At about this time they
bought a fire clay mine in Bingham, and commenced the manufacture of fire brick of every kind, and
supplied Nevada, Montana, Idaho, Wyoming and Utah, giving great satisfaction. Morris still manu-
factures this brick. The firm took a contract for the Ontario Mill, and Mr. Morris has done all the
mason work of that company, including the Cornish pump in No. 3 shaft, which is considered by
experts to be equal to anything in the Comstock mine, Nevada. He built two Stetefeldt furnaces at
the Ontario, another for the Marsac on an improved plan, and another fdr the Bullionville Smelting
Company ; also two of the same kind at Butte, Montana, and the two White & Howell at the Alice
mill, and one at the Moulton mill. His work in No. 3 shaft of the Ontario, in putting in the Cor-
nish pump, attracted the attention of every visitor to that wonderful mine. The Salt Lake Herald,
at the time, thus described the work :
'' In order to reach a firm bed it was necessary to dig a pit fifty-two feet deep, when solid rock
was encountered, and from this they are building a piece of masonry that will stand till the end of
the world, defying earthquakes and grimly smiling at mundane convulsions. The average depth
of the foundation is forty-five feet, and the width twenty-one feet, and when finished it will contain
6,000 tons of rock, firmly united by 6oo bushels of Portland cement. Not only this but it is tied
together by numerous iron anchor bolts, three inches in diameter, and 36.5 feet long. The coping
is of cut Cottonwood granite, transported by rail, the massive blocks being from five to seven feet
long, two to three feet wide and two feet thick. Other large blocks of rock have been brought from
the sandstone quarries at Croydon, in Weber Canyon, while the bulk of the stone came from a
quarry below Park City. That the foundation will be firm it is only necessary to remark that it is
being laid by Mr. Elias Morris, who has been the Ontario mason from the beginning, and who does
nothing by proxy. For two months Mr. Morris and his gang of masons have been at work on the
foundation which will be ready for the machinery in about five weeks. This piece of masonry is
simply for the bed of the pumping engine to be used for hoisting water. Much of the engine is
20
154 HISTORY OF SALT LAKE CITY.
already on the ground, and the balance is lying at the railroad depot in Park City. The engine
was manufactured by I. P. Morris, Philadelphia, is of 2,500 horse-power, and, it is estimated, will
hoist 2,000 gallons of water per minute from a depth of 1,800 feet. There is no larger pump en-
gine in any mine on the Pacific Coast. The other masonry and machinery at No. 3 shaft corres-
pond in size, capacity and ability to the above, and the whole will make not onlv the most complete
but the largest work of the kind in the United States."
RICHARD B. MARGETTS.
\ sketch of the life of the late Richard B. Mirgetts, as related to the early industries of our
city and Territory, was given in Chapter LXXX, but further notes may be made of the later efforts
of his busy life.
In 1871, Mr. Margetts gradually worked out of the tanning business and established a brewery
on the premises formerly occupied by his tannery. For the ne.xt three years his means and atten-
tion were divided between brewing and mining. After spending several thousands of dollars in
trying to develop silver mines, he gave that up; but being satisfied that coal and iron would yet be
the founditlDn of lasting weilth for Utah, he thenceforth devoted his efforts and means in the de-
velopment of those interests. At the time of the disorganization of the Salt Lake Foundry Com-
pany, through a law suit between Thomas Pierpont and his partners, Mr. Richard B. Margetts,
Philip Pugsley and others came to the help and the company was re organized under the name of
the Salt Lake Foundry and Machine Company. Richard B. Margetts was president ; Elias Morris,
vice-president ; P. Pugsley, secretary and treasurer; directors, William White, William Howard,
Thomas Pierpont, and G. F. Culmer, Pierpont superintendent of the works.
Richard B. Margetts and Philip Pugsley also purchased coal lands of the Government in Pleas-
ant Valley and patented it. At the onset there were associated with them W. S. Godbe and
others, who, however, went out of the concern, leaving the coal claims in Pleasant Valley to Mar-
getts and Pugsley. Under Pugsley 's direction the first coke ovens were built and started up. The
Coke was brought to the city and sold to the smelters. Margetts and Pugsley next agitated the
question of the iron and coal enterprises in the Salt Lake Herald. Their project was digested by
both but the communications were in the name of Richard B. Margetts. A few extracts will illus-
trate their projects. He wrrte :
''It is a very remarkable thing that there is scarcely one industry in this Territory that is worked
upon the natural productions of the country. True, we have our foundries and machine shops,
our blacksmiths and wagon makers, and various other industries in our midst, but the material they
work on is mostly imported.
" To come to the point: The first question to be asked in this case is, what stands in the way
and where is the hindrance to the development of our home industries? The answer flashes back
like lightning— the lack of cheap fuel ! We have abundance of the raw material. We have at
hand very large deposits, I might say mountains, of rich iron ore carrying from 40 to 65 i)er cent, of
metallic iron ; we have very large deposits of good coal, suitable for all purposes, right in this Ter-
ritory, and much better than that imported; we have a railroad running directly to the coal beds;
this coal can be put on the cars at say 75c. or $1 per ton ; the cars will run at least fifty miles of the
distance without a puff of steam, and yet we lack cheap fuel. The question arises, why is this?
The answer is very plain, and will bo understood by all — the railroad companies own coal land;
other parties own coal land also, containing as good coal as that owned by the railroad companies,
and in some cases easier of access, but the railroad companies are not common carriers and will not
transport coal over their roads for other parties, hence all competition is shut off. The only alterna-
tive is to pay the price demanded, or go without and "grin and bear it." I do not hesitate to say
if we could get a good quality of coal put down in this city, or the nearest point to iron ore, at a
11
PHILIP PUGS LEY. 135
reasonable price, iron smelling would be cominencecl, and when started on a proper basis who can
form any idea how it would extend? and then would start up many other industries equally depen-
dent for success on chenp fuel.
The only way to accomplish this is to build a railroad of our own from this city to the coal
■fields of Pleasant Valley. Experience has taught us that no private enterprise of this kind can be
long held in the interests of the people, and it appears to me the only way to obtain relief from the
burdens we are now oppressed with, is for Salt Lake City to obtain a special grant from the
Legislature to build a railroad and issue bonds for the construction of the same ; then run the road
for all parties, not so much for large profits, but for the benefit of the people ; it would require
very little, if any, extra taxation to pay the interest on the bonds. If any were necessary it would
only be during the construction of the road, and who would not gladly respond to a demand of
that kind, when the benefits to be derived therefrom are imderstood? "
The partners, however, were not able to accomplish this public enterprise, and Richard 13.
Margetts dying during their efforts, the Pleasant Valley coal claims were sold by Pugsley to the
Utah Central directors for $33,900, in behalf of himself and the heirs of his late partner.
Mr. Margetts also contemplated establishing chemical works on an extensive scale, supersed-
ing his brewery, but death also interrupted this and other laudable designs which occupied his ac-
tive industrial mind to the end of his mortal career,
Mr. Richard B. Margetts died at his residence in the Nineteenth Ward, March ist, 1881. He
was born at Woodstock, Oxfordshire, England, on the ist of February, 1823, His disease was a
fibrous tumor in his stomach, which made its appearance a long time previous to his demise but
was not at all painful till within about four or five months of his death. He was buried on the 3d
of March, Bishop R. V. Morris of the Nineteenth Ward, directing the services, which were attended
by a very large company of the relatives and friends. Professor E. Beesley of the Tabernacle
choir, on this occasion led the Nineteenth Ward choir; Elder George Romney offered prayer;
President Angus M. Cannon and Bishops Morris, R. T. Burton, and George Dunford delivered the
funeral addresses, and Bishop L. W. Hardy pronounced the benediction. One of the most exten-
sive corteges ever seen in this city followed the remains to the last resting place in the cemetery,
where President H. S. Eldredge offered the dedicatory prayer. Gentiles and Mormons alike were
present, and thus was the memory of the life and works of the late Richard B. Margetts honored
bv all classes of our citizens.
PHILIP PUGSLEY.
The early portion of the life and activities of Mr. Philip Pugsley, down to the date of 1865, has
already been sketchedin chapter LXXX on our heme industries, from which date the following is
the supplement :
In 1865 Philip Pugsley was sent to the Sandwich Islands, by President Young, to investio-ate
the propriety of starting a tannery there, to be worked by the native Mormons, but he found it not
practicable or promising and so reported. He traveled over the Islands, visited Kalakaua Bay, saw
the spot where Captain Cook was massacred and wrote his name on the stump of the cocoanut tree
— covered with copper by a sailor — on which visitors write their names in honor of the great voy-
ager who " sailed round the world three times " and then was massacred by the natives of the
Sandwich Islands.
Pugsley returned from the Islands and arrived home in October, 1865, and again turned his
attention to home manufacturing industries In 1867 Randall, Pugsley & Co. built a woolen fac-
tory, near the mouth of Ogden Canyon, of rock, at a cost of |6o,ooo. They commenced the man-
ufacture of linseys, jeans, cassimeres and all kinds of domestic goods. The water right was
bought of Lorin Farr for ^6,000; Lorin Farr and W. C. Neal were the Co.; Randall was the man-
aging partner for awhile, but James Whitehead was the practical man in charge of the factory.
Pugsley put into the concern ^20.000; and with President Young, R. T. Burton and Abraham O.
r56
HISTORY 0I< SALT LAKE CITY.
Smoot he may be classed in the industrial list as one of the first importers of woolen machinery
into our Territory. Randall continued with the firm about four years, after which the firm became
Pugsley, Farr & Neal, by whom the concern is still owned.
Our enterprising citizen has also been largely identified with the Utah iron and coal interests,^
About eleven years ago he bought out the Salt Lake Foundry from the New York company and
organized a new company, with George Atwood, William Howard, Philip Pugsley, George W.
Thatcher, John W. Young, R. J. Golding, and Albert Dewey as the incorporation. William
Howard was president ; George Atwood, vice-president ; Philip Pugsley, treasurer and secretary;
William Silver, superintendent and manager.
Having this industry in view Pugsley went to Iron City, Iron County, and bought $76,000
worth of stock in the Great Western Iron Co. For the foundry he purchased the first iron made
in the company's works — about 400 tons. This company tried to get the privilege of making the
water pipes for the city but did not succeed, and finally failed for the want ,of public patronage
necessary for so vast an undertaking.
As noted in the forgoing sketch of Mr. Margetts, Mr. Pugsley and others ne.xt reorganized the
Salt Lake Foundry and Machine Company, and with Mr. R. B. Margetts he purchased coal lands
of the government in Pleasant Valley. The account of their joint enterprises are recorded in the
foregoing, including the sale of the Pleasant Valley coal claims to the Utah Central directors for
]g33,ooo in behalf of himself and the heirs of his late partner.
There have been numerous other interests of the industrial and manufacturing class in which
Mr. Pugsley has invested his money. After the move south he purchased the flouring mill in the
Nineteenth Ward, originally known as Old Samuel Snyder's flour mill, which has been running ever
since. About fifteen years ago he added a salt mill to it, which has ground in a year as high as
900,000 pounds of salt brought from the Great Salt Lake. It has ground nearly all the fine table
salt used in the country. A few years ago he also helped to start a soap factory, of which Pugsley,
Snell and R. T. Burton were the principals, Burton being j^resident of the company and Pugsley 's
son superintendent of the soap works. In fine as recorded in the chapter on home industries, Philip
Pugsley, since his arrival in Salt Lake City in 1853, has been one of the foremost men in developing
those home industries ; and therefore, he is entitled to be classed in our history as one of Salt Lake
City's representative men.
JUDGE SMITH.
Elias Smith, the chief and best representative of the Mormon jurisprudence in the history of
Utah, is the first cousin of the Prophet and founder of the Mormon Church. His fither Asahel
Smith, was one of seven brothers— namely : Jesse, Joseph, Asahel, Silas, John and Stephen.
There were also four sisters — Priscilla, Mary, Susannah and Sarah. His grandfather's name was
also Asahel. The Judge has somj leaves of a geneological record in his grandfather's handwriting,
quite a hundred years old, in which he traces the Smith line back in America to 1665, giving names,
l)irths. marriages, deaths, etc., so that the family which gave birth to the founder of the Mormon
Church were among the founders of the American nation itself.
Grandfather Asahel Smith married Mary Duty, of Irish descent, daughter of Moses and Mary
Duty of Essex County, Massachusetts. Father Asahel Smith married Betsy Schellenger, of Dutch
descent. Her ancesters were among the first settlers of New Amsterdam — afterwards named New
York. Grandfather Abraham Schellenger was born on Long Island.
Judge Elias Smith, of Utah, was born September 6th, 1804, in Royalton, Wmdsor County.
Vermont, near Sharon, where his cousin, the Prophet was born. In 1809 his father emigrated to
the town ol Stockholm, St. Lawrence County, New York. There Elias was raised in the wilder-
ness, with but few opportunities for schooling. Most of his knowledge was acquired by observa-
tion and " study without a master." In his youth he assisted his father in clearing the wilderness
and making a farm. After he was twenty-one years of age he entered public life and held various
offices of trust in the new town, Stockholm. He also taught school several terms.
The announcemeiit of the mission of the Prophet and the rapid growth and strange career of
EiLt °- Ijy K.B JialLs E oiis ,New Tori. ,
wmS
JUDGE SMITH. 157
the " Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints " very naturally drew into the faith several of the
Smith family. The famous apostle, George A. Smith, who was decidedly one oi the very greatest
men of the Mormon dispensation' was a missionary of the Church at the age of i6, but his elder
cousin Elias was 31 vears of age when he embraced the faith. His mind was well matured, for lie
had already been ten years in public life.
Soon after the Prophet had his remarkable visions which resulted in the raising up of the great
Latter-day Church, he communicated with his uncles Asahel, Samuel, Silas and John, all of whom
lived in the same neighborhood. After the organization of the Church Uncle Joseph Smith, first
Patriarch of the Church, with his son Don Carlos, paid the families of his brothers a visit in August,
1830, and brought them the Book of Mormon. They all believed it pretty much but none of them
ware baptized till 1835, excepting Uncle John Smith, afterwards the Patriarch of the Church and
father of the Apostle George A. Uncle John was baptized on the 9th of January, 1832, and started
for Kirtland on the ist of May, 1833,
In 1835, in the month of June, Hyrum Smith and David Whitmer came into the neighbor-
hood, and the families of Asahel and Silas were baptized, most of them on the first day of July,
but Elias was not biptized until August 27th, 1835, his cousin Hyrum administering ; the next
morning he was ordained an elder. '
In the town and neighborhood of Stockholm they raised up a branch of the Church, and in
May, 1836, the tvvo families of the Smiths before named, with their converts, making quite a little
company, started for Kirtland, Ohio. The company tooK steamer at Ogdensbursr, St. Lawrence
County, and sailed up the St. Lawrence River to Rochester, where a portion of the company d's-
embarked, at the mouth of the Genesee River, on account of the boat being so loaded, one part of
the company, including the brothers Asahel and Silas, continuing by land, while the other part un-
der Elias, came from Buffalo by steamer, where he landed the company of Saints bound for Kirt
land. With him was his grandmother, aged 93 years During the landing of the company, he
sat her on the wharf to give her fresh air, but a shower coming on, he sought a public house near
by for a room for her during the night, but was refused ; whereupon he went to a hotel on the
same block, and was cordially treated. While he was taking his grandmother to the hotel, Joseph,
the Prophet, his brother Hyrum and T. G. Williams from Kirtland, came down to the wharf to
meet them. They followed to the hotel, and Joseph and Hyrum went into the room to see their
grandmother, but would not make themselves known that night. They left their grandmother
there for the night in comfortable quarters, and with their cousin Elias returned to Kirtland, in the
midst of the storm, arriving very late. Next morning they took carriage and drove down for their
grandmother, while Elias hired teams and went down to the emigrants, whom he had sheltered for
the night in a warehouse.
The meeting between the grandmother and her prophet descendant and his brother was most
touching ; Joseph blessed her and said she was the most honored woman on earth. She hSd de-
sired to see all her children and grandchildren before she died, which, with one exception was prov-
identially granted her, and she passed away contented. Mary Duty Smith arrived in Kirtland on
the i/lh of May, 1836, died en the 27th, aged 93, and was buried near the Kirtland Temple.
Elias Smith and his cousin Joseph had not seen each other since they played together when
small boys until they met at the hotel at Fairport.
In 1837-8 Elias Smith taught school at Kirtland ; but in the latter part of 1837 the great apos-
tacy occurred at Kirtland, when several of the original Twelve and two of the witnesses ol the
Book of Mormon — Oliver Cowdery and David Whitmer — sought to divide the Church. The
Prophst, his brother Hyruna, Sidney Rigdon ,Brigham Young, and others of the leaders fled from
Kirtland to save their lives, while a company of over six hundred of the faithful was organized to
follow them to Far West. The company was under seven captains, namely: James Foster, Josiah
Butterfield, Z;ra Pulsipher, Josepli Youig, Henry Herriman, Elias Smith and B. S. Wilder. The
company was principally organized and sustained by the Seventies, of whom Elias Smith was at
this time secretary. They undertook the removal of this part of the Church from Kirtland to Mis-
souri ; and it was done greatly on the co-operative plan. Not having sufficient means to get through
the company stopped ontheir way and took a big job on the Springfield and Drayton turnpike.
They left Kirtland on the 5th 01 6th of July and arrived at Far West on the 2d of October. From
Far West they went to Adam-Ondi-Ahman, where they disbanded.
But scarcely had the company disbanded when the exterminating army of Governor Boggs, un-
der Generals Lucas and Clark, marched upon Far West to drive the Mormons en masse out of
Missouri. The brethren nobly took up arms to defend their people, as massacres and extermination
/j8 HISTORY OF SALT LAKE CITY.
threatened the whole, from the Prophet leader down to their last horn hnbc. Already, before the
fall of Far West, had occurred the horrible massacre at Haun's Mill, where men, women and chil-
dren were actually butchered by the mob. During the dreadful scenes of the exteimination of the
Saints many were wounded and murdered and several women were ravished to death. That the
defenders would have fought heroically in defence of their people is certain, but they were be-
trayed by their own commander into the hands of General Lucas.
"I saw, "says Brigham, ' Brother Joseph Smith, Sidney Rigdon, Parley P. Pratt, Lyman
Wit'ht and George W. Robinson delivered up by Colonel H inkle to General Lucas, but e.xpected
that they would have returned to the city that evening or the next morning, according to agreement
and the pledge of the sacred honor of the officers that they should be allowed to do so, but they
did not so return. The next morning General Lucas demanded and took away the arms of the
militia of Caldwell County, assuring them they should be protected ; but as soon as they obtained
possession of the arms, they commenced their ravages by plundering the citizens of their bedding,
clothing, money, wearing ajiparel, and everything of value they could lay their hands upon, and
also attempted to violate the chastity of the women in the presence of their husbands and friends.
The soldiers shot down our oxen, cows, hogs and fowls at our owa doors, taking part away and
leaving the rest to rot in the street. They also turned their horses in our fields of corn."
At this time General Clark delivered his noted speech, in which he said : " You need not ex-
pect any mercy, but extermination, for I am determined that the Governor's orders shall be
executed.
" As for your leaders, do not think, do not imagine for a moment, do not let it enter your
minds that they will be delivered and restored to you again, for their fate is fixed, the die is cast,
their doom is sealed.
"I would advise you to scatter abroad, and never again organize yourselves with bishops,
priests, etc., lest you excite the jealousies of the people, and subject yourselves to the same calami-
ties that have now come upon you."
Judge Elias Smith was present at the time when tlie speech was delivered, and when fifty-seven
ol their brethren were betrayed into the hands of the enemy as prisoners.
General Clark told the Mormons that they must not be seen as many as five together. " If you
are," said he, ''the citizens will be upon you and destroy you ; but you should flee immediately out
of the State. There is no alternative for you but to flee ; you need not expect any redress; there is
none for you "
Elias Smith was one of those defenders of Far West, who were forced to give up their arms,
and one of the Committee chosen to effect the removal of the Saints from Missouri into Illinois.
After the exterminating address to them of General Clark, a meeting was held at Far West, January
26th, 1839, to devise plans for the removal. The meeting was called to order by Don C. Smith ;
and on motion, John Smith was unanimously called to the chair, and Elias Smith appointed secre-
tary. Several gentlemen addressed the meeting on the subject of the removal of the Saints from
that State • and the following committee were appointed to formulate the initial plans, namely :
John Taylor, Alanson Ripley, Brigham Young, Theodore Turley, Heber C. Kimball, John Smith
and Don C. Smith. On the 29th of January, the brethren met according to adjournment, when
John Smith was again called to the chair, and Elias Smith appointed secretary.
" On motion of President Brigham Young, it was resolved that we this day enter into a cove-
nant to stand by and assist each other to the utmost of our abilities in removing from this State,
and that we will never desert the poor who are worthy, till they shall be out of the reach of the ex-
terminating order of General Clark, acting for and in the name of the State.
"After an expression of sentiments by several who addressed the meeting on the propriety of
takin<T efficient means to remove the poor from the State, it was resolved that a committee of seven
be appointed to superintend the business of our removal, and to provide for those who have not
the means of moving, till the work shall be completed.
" The following -^vere then appointed, viz : William Huntington, Chas. Bird, Alanson Rip-
ley, Theodore Turley, D.iniel Shearer, Shadrach Roundy and Jonathan H. Hale.
" Resolved, That the secretary draft an instrument expressive of the sense of the covenant en-
tered into this day, by those present, and that those who are willing to subscribe to the covenant
should do it, that their names might be known, which will enable the committee more judiciously
to carry their business into effect. The instrument was accordingly drawn, and by vote of the
meeting the secretary attached the names of those who were willing to subscribe to it.
"We whose mmes are hereunder written, do each for ourselves individually hereby cove-
JUDGE IMITH. isg
nant to stand by and assist each other to the utmost of our abilities in re.noving from tliis State in
compliance with the authority of the State ; and do liereby acknowledge ourselves firmly bound to
the extent of all our available property, to be disposed of by a committee who shall be appointed for
that purpose, for providing means for the removing of the poor and destitute who shall be considered
worthy, from this country till there shall not be one left who desires to remove from the State; with
this proviso, that no individual shall be deprived of the right of the disposal of his own property for
the above purpose, or of having the control of it, or so much of it as shall be necessary for the re-
moving of his own family, and to be entitled to the overplus, after the work is effected ; and further-
more, said committee shall give receipts for all property, and an account of the expenditure of the
same."
The committee who had been appointed for removing the poor from the Statt of Missouri,
namely : William Huntington, Charles Bird, Alanson Ripley, Theodore Turley, Daniel Shearer,
Shadrach Roundy and Jonathan H. Hale, met in the evening of that day at the house of Theodore
Turley, and organized by appointing William Huntington chairman, Daniel Shearer treasurer, and
Alanson Ripley clerk, and made some arrangements for carrymg the business of removing the poor,
into operation. President Brigham Young, got eighty subscribers to the covenant the first day, and
three hundred the second day.
"Thursday, 31st. Mr. Turner's bill of the i6th instant, passed the Senate. I sent the poor
brethren a hundred dollar bill, from jail to assist them in their distressed situation.
"Friday, February rst. The committee met according to adjournment at the house of Theodore
Turley ; John Smith was present and acted as chairman, and Elias Smith as secretary. The meet-
ing was called to order by the chairman.
"On motion, Resolved, that the covenant entered into at the last meeting be read by the secre-
tary ; which was done accordingly.
"The chairman then called for the expression o( sentiments on the subjects of the covenant.
" Resolved, That the committee be increased to eleven.
"The following were then appointed: Elias Smith, Erastus Bingham, Stephen Markham, and
fames Newberry.
"Ssveral of the committee addressed the meeting on the arduous task before them, and exhorted
all to exert themselves to relieve and assist them in the discharge of the duties of their office, to the
utrnost of their abilities. *
*' Elders Taylot and Young, in the most forcible manner, addressed the assembly on the pro-
priety of union m order to carry our resolutions into effect, and exhorted the brethren to use wis-
dom in the sale of their property.
"John Smith, President.
"Elias Smith, Secretary."
Elias Smith was one of the last that left Far West. Hastily gathering up the remnant whose,
lives were again threatened by the mob, he started with them from Far West on the 19th of April,
1839, but, meeting the Twelve on the way, he returned with them to fulfil a revelation concerning
a conference to be held at Far West on the 26th of April, 1839, when the corner stone of the temple
was to be laid and certain men to be ordained to the quorum of the Twelve. Notwithstanding the
threatenings of the mob this imposing ceremony was performed, and Wilford Woodruff and George
A. Smith ordained. After taking part in the solemn performance Elias Smith journeyed with the
Twelve to Quincy, then went to Commerce (Nauvoo,) and returned to Quincy where a general con-
ference of the Church was held after the escape of the Prophet from prison ; and the committee set-
tled up the affairs of the emigration of poor Saints from Missouri.
After the removal into Illinois, Judge Smith settled at Nashville, I.ee County, four miles from
Nauvoo. In the organization of the stake of Lee County, he was taken out of the seventies and
made a high councillor, and subsequently was ordained the bishop of the stake, which position he
held until the stake was broken up, when he went to Nauvoo.
At Nauvoo he was associated with the press as business manager of the Times and Seasons and
the Nauvoo Neighbor. After the martyrdom of his cousins Joseph and Hyrum, he followed the lead-
ership of Brigham Young, as did also the Apostle George A . Smith, with his lather John, who was now
the chief patriarch of the Church. Thus, notwithstanding that Emma, first wife of the Prophet,
with her sons and " Mother Lucy " Smith, remained at Nauvoo with the relics of their martyred
dead, the surviving leaders of the Smith family were with the Saints in their exodus, and are among
the founders of Utah. The sorts of Hyrum Smith also came with the people to build up with them
the religious fabric which the blood of their father and uncle had sanctified.
i6o HISTORY OF SALT LAKE CITY.
With his family Elias Smith took up the pioneer journey from Nauvoo in May, 1846, intend-
ing to go with the lx)dy of the Church to the Rocky Mountains that year, but the call of the Mor-
mon battalion soon afterwards hindering this he sojourned a while in lowaville, Van Buren Counly,-
Iowa, where his mother died in October, 1846, and his father in July, 1848. In 185I he emigrated
to Utah, and soon after was elected, by the Legislature, probate judge of Salt Lake County, in
which office he was continued up to 1882. His terms of office have ranged from four years to one.
In 1852 he was also appointed one of a Code Commission of three, with Albert Carrington and
William Snow, he being chairman. Their duty was to present to that legislature of pioneers, un-
skilled in legal science, those laws best adapted to the peculiar condition and character of the peo-
ple ; and whatever may be the criticism of the lawyers of to-day upon their work, undoubtedly
these men acted with strict fidelity, and the most conscientious intention.
Judge Smith has eminently filled the most important judicial sphere in Utah, the probate courts
l.)eing, until the AtcKean period, practically the Courts of Justice for the people. Indeed, he is
known in all the acts of his life, and in his essential character and quality of mind, to be conscientious
in the highest degree. It is not his nature to administer unrighteously; and in the peculiar case of
Utah, with Gentile and Mormon in chronic conflict, that quality of mind and judgment has had
ample opportunity to manifest itself. In this quality of justice his peer was D-aniel Sjjencer, who
occupied an office in the Church analogous to that of Chief Justice of the State, and to whose ec-
clesiastical court — the High Council — Gentiles have in the early days repeatedly taken their cases for
arbitration in preference to " going to law " either in the federal or probate courts. Elias Smith
and Daniel Spencer may therefore be offered to the Gentile reader as the proper types of the judges
of the Mormon Israel.
Besides his judicial sphere. Judge Smith has filled other important callings. He was business
manager of the Deseret Nevis, under Dr. Richards, in the early rise of journalism and literature in
the West, and was postmaster of Salt Lake City from July, 1854, until the army came in 1858. In
1856 he became editor of the Deseret Neivs, retaining the position until September, 1863, when he
was succeetled by Albert Carrington ; since which time he has e.xclusiuely confined himself to his
judicial duties. In 1862 he was a member of the Constitutional Convention, and one of the com-
mittee who drafted the Constitution for the State. His general history is the history of his people.
While in his private capacity he is universally respected, in his public sphere he n:>ay also be said to
be without an enemy, notwithstanding he has so long administered law and equity.
Judge Elias Smith was a bachelor until he was forty-one years of age. He married Lucy
Brown, a native of England, at Nauvoo, August 6th, 1845. She was born at Biggleswade, in Bed-
fordshire, January 4th, 1820; came into the Church in 1842. and arrived in Nauvoo. May, 1843.
She is the mother of Elias A. Smith, the present of judge Salt Lake County, and his father's suc-
cessor to the office.
Our steel plate frontispiece is a most excellent type of an upright judge. It has been engraved
from a portrait taken when he was at the age of 65 — he is now over 80 — and will show to the eye of
ne.xt generation what kind of a man Judge Elias Smith was at his ripe maturity.
JUDGE Z. SNOW.
The following is condensed from an autobiographic sketch of Zerubbabel Snow, one of the first
U. S. judges appointed for Utah, at the organization of the Territory. He says :
I was born March 29th, 1809, in the township of St. Johnsbury, County of Caledonia, State of
Vermont. My parents were both born in New England, one in 1783, the other in 1787. I am their
third son and fourth child. My parents were married when my father was nineteen and my mother
fifteen years of age.
Shortly before their marriage my grandlather on my father's side died, leaving a small estate to
his children, and as is not unusual in such cases my father, not haviTig any experience in business.
JUDGE SNOW. i6i
soon lost his share anJ became poor. They then moved to and settled in a place then known as
Chesterfield Corner, in St. Johnsbury. He settled on a farm and entered on the farmin'^ business.
The country was new and the land poor. For this reason it required of my parents a constant
effort to live and support their growing family. Frugality, industry, integrity and temperance were
the leading features of their characters.
Schools at that time were scarce in that vicinity. The only ones then known to me were what
was known as common schools, in which were taught reading, spelling, writing, arithmetic, geog-
raphy and grammar ; no more. Our spelling book was Noah Webster's, who subsequently pre-
pared and published Webster's Unabridged Dictionary ; a book which I esteem more highly than
Uniled States bonds, railroad stock or Jin e gold.
These common schools were taught in the summer by a woman, in the winter by a man each
taught only a ten weeks' term. In these schools I obtained all the education I ever got till I was
about twenty years old.
At the early age of eighteen I began to teach in these schools, and while living in that region
I taught school in Vermont four and in Canada East, then called Lower Canada, two winters.
In the spring of 1832, Mr. Lyman E. Johnson and Mr, Orson Pratt, two elders of the Church
of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints — Mormons so called — came into that section of country. From
them I, for the first time, learned concerning the Prophet Joseph Smith and the Book of Mormon.
Here it seems proper for me to make a few remarks concerning my political and religious
views.
In 1826, the cry known as the Morgan act rage of Masons was in full vogue ; a book was pub-
lished which contained what was alleged to be the secrets of Masonry. This book I obtained, and
read. Several of my friends were Masons and I, through their influence, became what was called
a Jack-Mason.
From this time till 1828, I looked a little into political matters and in that year I hurrahed for
Jackson. From this time till 1832, I looked a little further into political matters, studied a little his-
tory and became what is known as a States rights man.
I sometimes read and often heard people talk about the divine right of kings, in which I learned
that George the Third held to the divine right of kings, which was to govern civilly and religiously.
That he demanded unconditional obedience from his subjects ; that under no conceivable circum-
stance could a subject be justified in opposing, much less resisting the will of the king. I also occa-
sionally heard the remark about kissing the Pope's great toe. That the Pope claimed the right to
dethrone kings and grant dispensations to the king's subjects to fight and war, kill their king and
such of his subjects as adhered to him unless the king recognized the absolute supremacy of the
Pope.
I also often heard people speaking of the right of individual judgment on subjects of religion
and civil law, and of opposing and resisting by force of arms these so-called divine rights and
those who attempted to enforce them.
In the country where I resided there were persons who believed in the doctrine ol universal
.salvation of men, others who believed that hell was lined with infants not a span long, others who
believed in predestination and foreordination, others in free will.
There were churches known as Methodists, Presbyterians, Baptists and Congregationalists. In
this stale of civil and religious controversy I was raised from youth to manhood.
As before stated I, in the spring of the year 1832, for the first time learned concerning the
Prophet Joseph and the Book of Mormon.
Here there was a branch of ths Churjh built up, among whom was the Farr family, now living
in Ogden, my brother William, who died some years ago, and myself.
In June of that year I was selected by this branch of the church to go to Ohio, which I did, ar-
riving at Hiram, Portage County in that State, July 14th.
Here I became acquainted with the vSmith family, among whom was Joseph, the Prophet ; the
Whitmer family, among whom was David ; Oliver Cowdery, Martin Harris, Sidney Rigdon, Fred-
erick G. Williams, and many others then in the Church.
Soon after my arrival, I was shown the vision of Joseph and Sidney, as we call it, then in man-
uscript, but now in print. Joseph e.xplained to me quite minutely his visions of April, 1820, of
September 21st and 22d, of 1823, including his seeing the plates, and of 1827, the time he took
them, together with what the angels said to him. These being now matters of history I omit them.
From July 17th to x'\ugust 22d of that year, I was witli Joseph nearly every day. He was
mainly engaged in translating the Old Testament, he having completed the translation of the New
21
i62 HISTORY OF SALT LAKE CITY.
before my arrival. I heard him translate nearly the whole of the book of Genesis. He showed
me a vision given to Moses before he commenced the history of the creation and of the fall, which
was revealed unto Joseph.
In one of the chapters near the close of the creation and of the fall were two verses included
in parenthesis. These were not in Moses' writings, but in Joseph's. These stated in substance that
God had shown to Joseph what he showed to Moses, and added, See thou show it to none except
to him that believes. With these and a careful study of the Bible, King James' translation, and
the Book of Mormon, my mind, as I then thought and still believe, was greatly enlightened.
For the purpose of explaining statements hereafter to be made, I here remark that a part of
our religious doctrine is by us called the dispensation of the fulness of times and the gathering dis-
pensation, meaning by these that we ought to gather together insurable places and prepare for the
second coming of our Savior, which gathering and coming have been more or less definitely spoken
of by holy writers.
To accomplish this, Independence, Jackson County, Missouri, was selected as a central shoe
for this gathering. To this place many of our brethren had moved and settled. They had estalj-
lished a printing press there and issued a newspaper. I was a subscriber to that paper. In Julv,
1833, one of its issues contained two sections of the constitution of Missouri recognizing slavery and
religious freedom in that State, and two sections of law in their statute prohibiting, under a penalty,
free people of color from settling there. With this publication the editor remarked that he printed
it so that free people of color might not go there to reside.
Now, behold ! how great a fire a little spark kindleth ! This was the liltle spark. Under the
rules of the freedom of speech and of the press, the publication was perfectly innocent, still it kin-
dled a flame that is not yet extinguished. In a short time after this, news reached us in Vermont
that a mob arose there which drove our people from Jackson County to Clay County, in that State.
This aroused our people in Kirtland and other eastern places ; and they determined to go to Jack-
son County. A camo was organized and news sent east of its organization.
In the winter of 1833-4 I taught school in Vermont; during the winter I also converted what little
property I had there into money, bought me a span of good horses and a good wagon, for those
days, took my wife and one of her sisters and my brother Willard, and on the loth of April, 1834,
left that place to join this company. My brother-in-law, Jacob Gates, and my sister, his wife, went
with us, he furnishing his own team. We, without accident, proceeded to Kirtland, a distance of
more than seven hundred miles. The whole distance the roads were muddy and very poor. We
arrived in May, a day or two after the camp started. I then in one day provided for my wife and
her sister till I returned. With my brother Willard and my brother-in-law Jacob Gates and his
wife, I then started for the camp, which we overtook on Saturday evening. Monday morning I
was elected commissary, and, with my team, entered upon its duties. This brought me into a po-
sition which required acquaintance with the route and the inhabitants along the route. I had no
difficulty with the inhabitants, nor any very great difficulty in procuring supplies. I found no pro-
fanity among the people on the route. In Missouri this was very great. The doings of tliis camp
has become a matter of history with us, so I omit comments, except one or two incidents.
On arriving at Richmond, in Ray County, I went ahead with my team and teamster into Rich-
mond. I called at a provision store to buy supplies ; the owner of the store was there with some
four or five others. I sought to buy from him, but he refused to sell to me, assigning as a reason
that we were there on unlawful business. To this I called his attention to the proceedings in Jack-
son County, and to the fact that we were citizens of the United States, under the protection of the
Constitution of the United States, and entitled to freedom of speech and of the press ; and added
that it seemed to me these all had been disregarded. A good looking man sat by and heard my
remarks. He said, " Mr. Snow," — how he learned my name was Snow I know not — " all our con-
stitutions, all our States, all of the decisions of the Courts, are a mass of inert matter, only as the
minds of the people give ihem life and force." My request to purchase provisions was candid;
the answer of the merchant to me was candid; my answer back was candid; the remark of the
other man to me was candid — all was candid. No threat from any one. But that gentleman's re-
mark to me made a deep impression on my mind. It has remained there from that day to this
I candidly left the store, and in less than twenty minutes made my purchases, and soon my loaded
team was on its way to camp.
The other incident is some sixty or seventy members of our camp had the cholera, among
whom was my brother Willard. On the cholera beginning, it came vividly into my mind my own
csndition and that of my dear wife in Kirtland, with the further thought, you have laid your life.
JUDGE SNOW.
i6j
your fortune and your sacred all in the tmti-, ^f , ^
the Sick. This in unction I obe e At 1 i tin e allfe:' f" ' ^"' "^"" "" ^'^^^"'^ "-'' ^-^ ^«
about fifteen days, son.e sixty or'sixty-fi ve per o" o 1 d he ' I'T "' T'^'"'' ^ ^'^'•^^' '"^
help to bury several. "^ "'^ '='^°''^''«' '^"d with my own hands
During this time an interview was held with some of the most honor k,
and the members of the camp concluded to return except a few wlohH T" " ""''' ''°'''''^'
determined to return: saw Joseph, the Prophet. l^lTJ^'o WHl " ?"'" "'' ^'^"'•
kept the accounts with me as commissary su^sted a set.Iem . r ,^'"'""^'' '^e secretary, who
an answer that my accounts were all setttd^"- Mtlmp v hoi """ 'T^"'"'^ ^"^ ---^<^ f-
and two teams, my team being one of them m! I K nIi "TT' °' ''^°'^^ "^'^^ P^^^°"^
E Johnson and Mr. Luke Johnson were mthe co n'ptnv w; ITctv ^"^ ^T' "^^^ ^^"^^"
July, and arrived in Kirtland in August, mv team stSl .'ood "^ '' "''°"'"'' '^^'^ '"
When I arrived in Kirtland I found mv wif^ ^^^ u ' •
anxious, yet calm and candid. I alio flu7d . ma^, h T"!" "' °"'" '^'^"'^^ ^^ "y ---y
Canada West, who through the preacL! of'/.r ZllritT ^^'^"^"^^ ^^°"^ ^°™"--
New York, learned concerning the d.spenltion of e^u™ ;f imef'T,;'^ ''''''l^' ^^33, in
me to go to Canada. I consented and in l.« ,1. , "ess ot times. Thi. man solicited me to
.. ro..^ that Place. I remainel'trre 't^ ^ laiCrtTMr rs^;"^^ ^^^ ^ ^^^ --
.hoo^;::^ r rareS:r ;i -::;l, °;: - --^ - --- -re, each member
the middle of April. At this time we found ,1 T f ".'""""y- ^e arrived at Kirtland about
seventies had been selected andCnfirmed „ , '"'" '"' ''' "^"" ^'""'''^"•^ °^ 'h^
who were in Zion's Camp. I was oda ned i 1^ T:'"^"'^"'" ^'^'^^'^^ ^" °^ -■^°- -- '"^-e
.;.;>.^sasthis.uor^wa3selecte;rr:^rT=;^r^^
the Hebraic and Chaldean Languages aL ente'rTd"' . h' "'"°'' ^ ^^'^^ °' ''^'^ *™^ ^'"^^^
n^onths I learned the Hebrew aL Sa.de nla:gu:ess"L7c::M t '" T '"'T°^^ ^'^" ^'^^^
son and John Boyington. Afterward [purchased he r stock LdererTd",: ' ''•^"^" ^^ ■^°'^"-
In the month of May, 1837, nearly everv bnnl- in tt. ', "'^'^'^"^ ^"f^'^'^d business as a merchant.
There was a large amou f of counterfeTt mone ?"'' ^'''" ^"^^^"^^'^ ^P^^ P'^y"-nt.
had no existence' I was in Lbt H ^I ea^ed'^^te^ ^"' '"^ '"' °' "^^"^ ^^"^^ ^^'-'^
but determined to p.y my just debts if it took my cling ' "I T'l ""'^'^ ^° "°"^^ ""•^^^'
half to collect the money due me and nav mv deh^^ ^ t ™' ''^°"' *'"° y^'^"-^ and a
ourir^ thi time I studiid law t jz^::^:^':!":^ :: ^^ ^ --^^"- ^ --
rui, un^"^ S" e ;x: t=:^t;:rs^-.;;:r^r^ ^t^ " "^'- ^- ••--- -
there residing. Nearly every person w th whom I had becom "" , " ''' '^" °' ''^ ^^^P'^
treated me well, and this though they knew I l^s \. ^'^q^a.nted in that part of the State
I intended, if our people found a 11^.1 L " 1 7"- "^'"^ ' "^^ =^''"'"^^ ^° "- '^-
hfe, my fortune, and my sacred all whhihen ' " ''"' '° ^^ ' '^^ ^°"^ '^^^°— -X -y
to cS^si^rMi^^r^t "is^r 'si"f 7' T''' ^" ""^"^ ^^^ - -- -^ --
people there they went and settl d in Fa \v' st " ^ n" T'T'"^" ''*"^^" *'^"^*^'^-" ^^ "^^
West the Independence of the Uni d Sta Js S.dn" ^'h J^'' ''''' ''"' ^^'^^^^'^'^ ^^ ^-
tion remarks were made at which offense w'tnUr';'^ '''"""'' '" °'"^''°"- ^" *'- -^-
which the little spark had kindled F !, " ^ ^"^""^ P""'""'- '^''^^^ ^^""^^ the flame
^iven .om Far ^est, ^i::r:r;o ^z: nii^r r::^:;:z;::;tr r ^ --
Nauvoo early in rSs. From this you will see that when ^af J^nl" e^^'h^t^'i,:::':;":
1 64 HISTORY OF SALT LAKE CITY.
UMS yet no resting place for our people. I, from 1839 till September, 1850, practiced in the courts
of common pleas, as they were then called, in the counties of Portage, Summit, Stark, and other
adjoining counties, and in the Supreme Court of the State. My practice was confined to civil
business, equity cases, and cases in settling accounts of guardians and administrators of estates of
deceased persons. For six years I was what was then called a commissioner in chancery. To this
I was appointed by the court of chancery and acted under its direction analogous to our referees.
During this practice I became acquainted with many of the judges of the Supreme Court, and with
some of the members of Congress from that Sta'e.
In the spring of 1841, my wife, Susan S., was delivered of a daughter to whom she gave the
name of Susan L. She is now the wife of Orson Pratt, jun., of this city. From this sickness my
wife did not recover ; she was buried on the 29th day of March 1841, my birthday. There was not
a relative of hers or of mine within eight hundred miles of us. I was the only mourner to fol-
low her to her grave. I had then my darling daughter to rear, a motherless child.
In a reasonable time after the death of my first wife I again married. Her name was Maiy
Augusta Hawkins ; her parents' names were Jessie G. and Sally C. Hawkins. This wife has borne
me four daughter, three of whom are now living, and four sons. The day this marriage
was solemnized I was taken sick, which continued for about six weeks, at least three of which
niv recovery was deemed nearly hopeless. The kindness received by me from the inhabitants there
residing during these several sicknesses knit my heart to them most tenderly. I never forgot it.
In the fall of 1850, the Organic act of Utah was passed by Congress, and I seeing this, applied
for the judgeship here. In the application I stated to President Fillmore tliat I was a Mormon and
for my legal attainments I referred him to our representative in Congress. Judge Carter w.is there
so was the Hon. John M Bernhisel and the Hon. A. W. Babbitt. I got the appointment under
President Millard Fillmore. My commission is dated September 30th, 1850. This was sent me to
Ohio late this fall ; I could not come here till the next spring. I left there .March 25th, 1851, and
arrived in Utah July 19, being a little less than four months on the road. Of this time I was sixty-
three days coming from Omaha to Salt Lake. There was here that seison a celebration of the 24th
of yuly, the Pioneer day I attended it and took dinner with his Excellency Biigham Young at
his residence.
I had not been long here before it became apparent to me that my feelings toward the people
of the United Statts and the feelings of the people here were not quite harmonious. I had been at
all times well treated by the peop'e of the United States, and for that reason my feelings were very
kind; mv treatment from my brethren had also been good, and I was kindly disposed toward them.
This brought me into an entire new field of action, that of reconciliation. Governor Young, pur-
suant to the authority conferred by the organic law, divided the Territory into judicial districts, and
assigned the judges to their districts. An election was held and the members of the Legislative
Assembly elected. Thus things seemingly were moving on quietly until about the beginning of
September, when an eruption was made by Judge Brocchus in a meeting held in the Old Bowery.
[See Chapter X.] This circumstance produced a break in the officers. Judges Brandebury
and Brocchus and Secretary Harris determined to leave. Secretary Harris concluded to take with
him the money appropriated by Congress to pay the expenses of the Legislative Assembly. I tried
to make peace, but failed. Governor Young, by proclamation, convened the Legislative .Assembly.
\ was sent for and administered to the members the oath of otfice. Soon thereafter a resolution
w.as passed and approved authorizing certain persons to seize the money appropriated by Congress
in the hands of Harris and retain it to pay the legislative expenses. This being done H-rris filed a
bill in chancery in the supreme court against these persons, praying for an injunction.
At this time no law had been passed defining the time and pLace of the sitting of the Su-
preme Court, but Judges Brandebury and Brocchus determined to hold a session of the Supreme
Court, and I was sent for to attend, which I did. There was a difference of opinion in the mem-
bers of the court. I held that this court could not thus be legally held ; that the Supreme Court
had not original jurisdiction in chancery, and that the bill ought to have been filed in the district
court of the district in which Judge Brandebury was the judge. But I was overruled and the in-
junction granted. This ended that conflict. No further proceeding was had in the case. Harris
left the Territory and took with him the money. The Legislative Assembly proceeded with their
business.
On the 4th of October an act was passed by the Legislative Assembly and approved by the
Governor, authorizing and directing me to hold district court in each of the three districts of the
Territorv. This caused me, at the appointed time, to examine each act of Governor Young to see
JUDGE SNOW. 165
if his proceedings were all legal. I arrived at the conclusion that they were, and that my duty was
to hold courts as required by this act. These proceedings, and my judgment thereon, were re-
ported by Governor Young and myself to Daniel Webster, Secretary of State. Governor Young's
proceedings and my proceedings were approved by the Department of State. The action of the
two judges and the Secretary who left the Territory were disapproved.
The first session of the court under this act was held in Salt Lake City. [For a full account of
the judicial history of the Territory under Judge Snow see chapters X. and XVI.]
Two cases occurred in the courts, which in my judgment ought to be noticed. The first was the
United States against Howard Egan. Egan was indicted for the murder of James Monroe in this
Territory after the Organic law took effect and befoje any law had been passed authorizing the
courts to punish for acts done or omitted. The alleged cause of the murder was an alleged
adultery by Monroe with Egan's wife. There was no law of the United States applicable to the
case.
In this case I held that no act done or omitted by a person could be punished by the courts
except such act or omissions had first been prescribed by statute. In other words, there was no
common law offenses in this 'lerritory. Egan was acquitted.
The second was the case of a boy about thirteen years old who, after the act of this Territory
on the subject of crimes took effect, killed another boy. about his own age. He was indicted in my
first court held in Iron County, in June, 1852. On his being arraigned I found there was not im-
partial jurors enough in that district to obtain an impartial jury to try him so I changed the place
of trial from that district to this. On the trial there was no suitable person th attend to his defense ;
but still I appointed the best person I could get. A trial was held and the boy convicted.
I, after a minute examination of the indictment and the testimony given in the trial, called on
Governor Young privately and informed him that in my judgment the indictment was insufficient in
law to justify a sentence of death, and farther, that the boy was so young and the counsel indiffer-
ent, that every reasonable effort should be made in his behalf. In this conference it was agreed
between us that I should sentence the boy to be put to death and set die time of execution off about
six months. That he should be detained in confinement till a day or two before the tin-.e set for ex-
ecution, when Governor Young was to grant him a pardon of his crime. This was done. I men-
tion this in justice to myself. Governor Young and the people here, for the reason that when John-
ston's army was sent here there was among other evil charges against Governor Young that he par-
doned murderers. It is within my knowledge that this was the only case to which such a charge
could apply. There was then no penitentiary or other prison in the Territory in which to confine
him if a conditional pardon had been granted. What was done in this case was the only thing
which could have been done except the execution of this boy. In September, 1854, my term of
office expired, and Mr. George Stiles was appointed to fill my place.
Here we must end the autobiographic form of Judge Snow's sketch, and briefly summarise the
subsequent periods of his life.
At the expiration of his judgeship he went into the mercantile business for about two years,
svhen he was sent by the Church on u mission to Australia. He was gone two years and a half,
and returned late in December, 1858. In January, 1859, he was elected probate judge of Cedar
County which office he occupied for three years. In 1862 he was elected by the Legislative As-
sembly probate judge of Utah County, which position he filled for three years. In the spring of
1865 he was appointed prosecuting attorney of Salt Lake County by Judge Elias Smith ; and in
the August election of 1876 he was elected by the people to the same office, and was continued by
by re-elections until the August election of 1884. He has also been attorney-general of the Terri-
tory. Having previously been assistant of Attorney-General Albert Carrington, in 1869 Judge
Snow was elected attorney-general by the Legislature, and in 1874 he was re-elected to that office,
which he occupied until the passage of the Poland Bill abolished the office. During the time be-
tween 1865 and 1876 he also acted as city attorney, by appointment of the city council.
While occupying the office of attorney to the city, a conflict grew up between the city and the
liquor dealers. This was produced by the internal revenue act of Congress, under which liquor
dealers were required to take out license, not as now, to pay a special tax. This act did not
specially name Territories but did name States. The Liquor dealers took out license under the
act of Congress, claiming that they had a right to deal in liquors in a Territory without complying
with Territorial laws or city ordinances. The question was brought before Chief Justice Titus.
Judge Snow argued and won the case : Titus decided for the city. This was one of the most im-
portant cases to the city on the liquor question. The famous Englebrecht case, in 1S71, was another
r66 HISTORY OF SALT LAKE CITY.
of a similar kind. Judge Snow also managed that. It was sent to the Supreme Court of the
United States, and the decision, which was given in April, 1872, broke down the indictinents of
about seventy cases of the McKean regime, including tliose of Brigham Young and Daniel H. Wells.
In 1869 the Legislature verbally requested Judge Snow to assist it in getting up a law author-
izing private corporations to incorporate in certain cases ; this he did, and at their next session he
aided in getting up the civil practice act. In 1876 he aided in the revision of the criminal code and
presented the present act of criminal procedure, which was passed in 1878. In the same session he
aided in revising the law on the subject of wills and of succession; also the act of procedure in the
probate courts ; and during this li:ne he aided in getting up the liw of conveyancing of real estate
In fine it may be said that from the beginning, in the judicial procedure ol the Territory, of the
county and the city, Judge Z. Snow's legal work is everywhere to be found; and it is worthy of
note that he is one of the original U. S. judges appointed at ths organization of the Territory, His
name, as connected with Utah, is decidedly historical.
DANIEL SPENCER.
In the history of Sj.lt Like City no name better deserves honor and perpetuition ihtn that of
Daniel Spencer, an upright " Judge in Israel," and a man of exceeding purity of life. It was un-
der his administration, as " president of the Stake," that Salt Lake City grew up previous to its in-
corporation under the Territorial government. The following is a brief sketch of himself and
family.
Daniel Spencer, the son of Daniel Spencer and Chloe Wilson, was born at the town of West
Stockbridge, Berkshire County, Mas.sachusetts, July 20th, 1794. Orson Spencer,, a learned and dis-
tinguished Baptist mininister, afterwards an elder of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints,
ihe first chancellor of the University of Deseret, and one of tlie early presidents of the British
mission, was a brother of President Daniel Spencer.
The American branch of the Spencers came from a good English stock and was identified with
the Puritan emigration to this country at an early period. The Hon. John C. Spencer, of New
York, Secretary of the Treasury of the United States in 1843-4, ^^^s connected with the family of
Daniel Spencer. Orson Spencer was on visiting terms with the Secretary, and during his presi-
dency of the Church in Great Britain he assisted his distinguished relative in searching the Her-
aldry office to trace the family in their connections.
Tracing the immediate line of the Spencers, who have made a distinguished mark in the
Church and among the Representative men of Utah, we find them in character noted for their love
of independence and justice. The father of the subject of this memoir took up arms at the com-
mencement of the Revolutionary war for the inalienable rights of man and the independence of
the American nation. He volunteered at the age of sixteen and remained througl* the entire
struggle; he was in General Washington's body guard and witnessed the surrender of Lord Corn-
wallis at Yotktown.
There were ( f the branch of the family of this veteran of the Revolution, whose name was
''Iso Daniel, seven sons besides daughters. The second son was Daniel, the subject of this sketch,
and Orson and Hyrum were two of his younger brothers, who came into the Church of Latter-
day Saints, following their natural leader and elder. Hyrum was a good and true man, wcl!
known for his integrity among the Nauvoo Saints. He was in effect a martyr to the cause he had
espoused. About the time of the exodus from Nauvoo he and his nephew (Claudius) drove away
a herd of cattle from their pursuers, the mob. They rode on in their flight through the night un-
til Hyrum fell exhausted, and in the morning he was beyond all mortal pursuit. Orson Spen-
cer, the other brother, has a first class historical name in the Church, as distinguished as that of
its apostles.
Daniel, before he reached the age of twenty-one, bought his time out from his father, and
made a manlv and true /Kmerican push into the grc.U world to establish his character and social pos-
' DANIEL SPENCER. i6j
jtion in life. At tliat period a new commercial intercourse was opening between New England
and the Southern States. The sagacious and enterprising youth, who afterwards so distinguished
himself for a quarter of a century as the chief justice of the Mormons, even then weighed in the
balances of his mind the commercial situations of his country, and started into the Southern
States. There he opened the way for five of his brothers, in the State of Georgia and also in North
and South Carolina. For himself he established a flourishing mercantile house at Savannah, which
he followed for thirteen years. As an example of the extent of his mercantile transactions in the
South, his son has informed the writer that the btisiness of his father while at Savannah, some days
reached the magnitude of a hundred thousand dollars.
Daniel not only opened the way in the Southern States for five of his brothers, but with them
gave to his brother Orson a collegiate training, bearing chiefly the expenses of that classical edu-
cation for which Orson is so celebrated in our Church as a theologian and a highly accomplished
author. It is well known that Orson was lame and his elder brother educated him for the pulpit
instead of the counting house, and while his brothers were pursuing the calling of merchants in the
South, he was rising to the sphere of an influential clergyman in the Baptist Church in Massa-
chusetts,
At the close of his commercial career in the South Daniel Spencer returned to his native place
West Stockbridge, Massachusetts. Me was then about thirty-five years of age, in the very prime
of manhood. After his return he married Sophronia, daughter of General Pomeroy. The familv
of his bride was of the old Puritan stock, high in social rank and respected by all for their mora!
worth and representative character. Some of the branches of her family are to-day figuring largely
in the affairs of the nation, and are in high repute in the best circles of the land. Of this union
came Claudius Spencer, and he was their only issue.
On his return to his native place, Daniel established a large mercantile house. He also be-
came the proprietor of a first class hotel, and engaged largely in farming operations. His business
was very prosperous and all his commercial relationship at that period most happy. Besides his
more personal and extensive business concerns, he also became connected with a mercantile house
in partnership with the Me.ssrs. Boyingtons, celebrated marble dealers. So much trusted by the
firm was he that the whole supervision of the firm fell upon his shoulders. Among his townsmen
he was universally respected, and he enjoyed the unbounded confidence of the people in all the
region around, just as he ever did after he became a member of the Church of Latter-day Saints,
by all who knew him, whether followers of his profession or disbelievers in the Mormon mission.
At least every one who knew him believed in Daniel Spencer.
We now come to the period when Daniel Spencer became connected with the Mormon Church,
cf which he has been acknowledged by all — and by none more cordially than by Brigham Young
— to be one of the leaders of its representative men. It was in JaifUary, 1840. Until this date no
elder of the Mormon Church had preached in his native town. Our late esteemed citizen, John Van
Cott, however, belonged to the same region, and already his relatives, the Pratts, had been laboring
to impress Van Cott with the Mormon faith. But Daniel Spencer, up to this date, had no relation-
ship whatever with the people with whom himself and his brother Orson afterwards became so
prominently identified, in all their destiny, establishing for themselves among that people historical
names.
At this time Daniel Spencer belonged to no sect of religionists, but sustained in the community
the name of a man marked for character and moral worth. It was, however, his custom to give
fi-ee quarters to preachers of all denominations. The Mormon elder came ; his coming created an
epoch in Daniel Spencer's life. Through his influence the Presbyterian meeting house was ob-
tained for the Mormon elder to preach his gospel, and the meeting was attended by the elite of the
town.
At the close of the service the elder asked the assembly if there was any one present who
would give him " a night's lodging and a meal of victuals in the name of Jesus." For several min-
utes a dead silence reigned in the congregation. None present seemed desirous to peril their char-
acter or taint their respectability by taking home a Mormon elder. At length Daniel Spencer, in
the old Puritan spirit and the proud independence so characteristic of the true American gentle-
man, rose up, stepped into the aisle, and broke the silence : ''/ luill entertain ycu, sir. for human-
ity't sake," said our noble, departed brother, in answer to the appeal of the brother to be taken
into some benevolent house for Jesus' sake.
Dmiel took the poor elder, not to his public hotel, as was his wont with the preachers gener-
ally who needed hospitality, but he took him to his own house, a fine family mansion, and the next
i68 HISTORY OF SALT LAKE CITY.
morning he clothed him from bead to foot with a good suit of broad cloth from the shelves of his
store. But how stood he at that time regarding the mission of the Prophet of this new dispensation
opened in America ? He stood a firm, conscientious unbeliever, and would not hear anything
from the preacher concerning Mormonism. He was prejudiced against his doctrines. He did not
for a moment believe that )esus had anything to do with the matter, and he took no merit to him-
self for winning his title to that blessed plaudit from the Lord, promised to such as he i " When 1
was ahungered ye fed me; naked, and ye clothed me; a stranger and ye took me in." He
merely felt his duty to his fellows, and manifested that spirit of kindness and gentleness which so
abundantly marked his life. Daniel Spencer loved his fellow man.
The elder continued to preach the new and strange gospel, and brought upon himself much
persecution. This produced upon the mind of Daniel Spencer an extraordinary effect. Seeing
the bitter malevolence froni the preachers and the best of professing Christians, and being nat-
urally a pjiilosopher and a judge, he resolved to investigate the cause of this enmity and imchris-
tianlike manifestation. The result came. It was as strongly marked as his conduct during the
investigation. For two weeks he closed bis establishment, refused to do business with any one,
and shut himself up to study ; and there alone with his God he weighed in the balances of his
clear head and conscientious heart the divine message, and found it not wanting. One day,
when his son was with him in his study, he suddenly burst into a flood of tears, and exclaimed:
" My God, the thing is true, and as an honest man I must embrace it ; but it will cost me all
1 have got on earth!" He had weighed the consequences, but his conscientious mind com-
pelled him to assume the responsibility and take up the cross. He saw that he must, in the
eyes of friends and townsmen, fall from the social pinnacle on which he then stood to that of
a despised people. But he stepped out like a man — like himself.
At mid-day, about three months after the poor Mormon elder came into the town of West
Stockbridge, Daniel Spencer having issued a public notice to his townsmen that he should be bap-
tized at noon on a certain day, took him by the arm and, not ashamed, walked through the town
taking the route of the main street to the waters of baptism, followed by hundreds of his towns-
men to the river's bank. It was quite a procession to witness the wonderful event, for thus it seemed
in the eyes of his friends and fellow-townsmen. The profoundest respect and quiet were mani-
fested by the vast concourse of witnesses, but also the profoundest astonishment. It was nothing
wonderhil that a despised Mormon elder should believe in Joseph Smith, but it was a matter of
astonishment that a man ot Daniel Spencer's social standing and character should receive the
mission of the Prophet and the divinity of the Book of Mormon.
On the same day of his baptism, which was in April, 1840, he was confirmed into the Church
bv lames Burnham, who officiated in the two initiatory ordinances; and, in the same month, he
was ordained to the office of airiest.
The conversion and conduct of Daniel Spencer carried a deep and weighty conviction among
many good families in the region around, which, in a few months, resulted in the est.ablishment of
a flourishiiig branch of the Church. This branch which he was the chief instrument in founding,
and over which he presided, has contributed its full quota of respectable citizens to N'auvoo and
Utah. John Van Cott, the man so long identified in the history of the Scandinavian mission, and
a representative man also came from that region.
About the period of Daniel Spencer's connection with the Mortnon Church, the partners in
the firm to which he belonged, took the benefit of the bankrupt law, which resulted in his financial
depression. He then gave himself much to the ministry, and soon after brought into the Church
his brother Orson. He continued for two years laboring in the ministry in that region, and then
(1842) he removed to Nauvoo. He bad scarcely arrived in the city of the Saints, when he was ap-
pointed on a mission to Canada. On his return, he was elected a member of the Nauvoo city
council ; but soon afterwards was sent on a mission to the Indian nation. From the hardships of
that mission be never recovered to the day of his death. The ne.\t year, he was sent on a mission
to Massachusetts, returned and was elected mayor of Nauvoo.
So high was the Prophet Joseph's estimate of his character and justice that he said of him,
" Daniel Spencer is the wisest man in Nauvoo."
At the time twelve men were selected by Joseph Smith to explore the Rocky Mountains, witli
the view of the Saints locating there, Daniel Spencer was called as one of them, but the exploring
expedition was interrupted by the martyrdom of the Prophet.
At the time of the great exodus from Nauvoo in 1846, Daniel started among the first of the
Pioneers to the Rocky Mountains. He was a captain of fifty. But the leading companies finding
DANIEL SPENCER. • . i6g
tlial the journey could not be accomplished that year, and the news of the extermination of the
remnant from Nauvoo reaching the President, Brigham departed from his first intentions and the
Saints went into Wmter Quarters. When the city was organized — then known as Winter Quarters
but now as the city of Florence — Daniel Spencer was chosen to act as a bishop of one of the wards.
He spent a large amount of his means in his benevolent administration to the suffering and dying
of the sorely tried and afflicted '' Camp of Israel." It was at the period when the dreadful plague
struck the camps of the Saints just following their flight from Nauvoo.
In the spring of 1847, when the Pioneers, under President Young, took the lead of the main
body of the Church, Daniel was appointed President of two companies of fifties to follow in the
Pioneer van. There was considerable emulation between most of the captains of the com-
panies, that year, to see who sholud reach the terminus of the journey first. A distinguished
captain one day passing Daniel's company, which was encamped for the day recruiting the
strength of both man and beast, with good-natured sarcasm asked Brother Spencer if he had any
message for the Pioneers. He answered significantly, "Tell them I am coming, if you see them
first." Then turning to the camp he said, " Sisters, take plenty of time to wash, bake, rest, and go
picking berries, and we will get to the terminus first and come back and help Brother Parley in,
for we shall have it to do." This turned out to be the case ; and Daniel Spencer's company was
the first of the Winter Quarters' emigration that followed the Pioneers into the Great Basin.
To help the organization of the Pioneer company, he had, at Winter Quarters, outfitted three
men with provisions, clothing, seed grain, farming implements, team and wagon, and the first winter
after the arrival he fed twenty-six souls. In the organization of the high council of the stake, he
was appointed a member ; and soon afterwards was elected its president, which position he filled
up to his death. He was a member of the Legislature for years, and for some time sat in the Senate of
the Provisional Government of the State of Deseret, and acted in connection with those who framed
its constitution. He was appointed on a mission to England; and filled the place of first coun-
selor to Franklin D. Richards. He arrived in England just at the important period of the publica-
tion of the revelation on polygamy, and by his wisdom very much sustained the Church. Having
honorably fulfilled his mission to Europe he returned to his native land in 1856.
We all know the history of Daniel Spencer since his return ? The public heart was deeply
touched by that splendid funeral sermon which President Young preached over the mortal relics of
Daniel Spencer in honor of his memory.
After his return to Salt I^ake City, President Spencer resumed his duties as the administrative
head of the Salt Lake Stake of Zion, which position he held to the day of his death; and here may
be given a brief historical exposition of this stake and its administration in the organic growth of
our city and Territory. >
At the organization of the stake, he was, under the First Presidency and Twelve, made the spir-
itual head of the entire colony ; and under his administration Salt Lake grew up several years be-
fore its incorporation under the civic government. At that time the president of the stake occupied
something like the position of the mayor of the inchoate ccity, and chief justice of the Church. All
cases were tried under him. in the court of the High Council, he sitting with his counselors as pre-
siding judge; and not only did this court adjudicate all the differences arising between members of
the Church, but the gentile emigrants to California, on their arrival in Salt Lake City (or Stake),
brought their difficulties before this court for equitable settlement. It is to be observed that, in
1849, there was no courts of any kind to which the " gold-finders " could bring their difficulties
after they left the Missouri River until they reached this stake of Zion, where a court of justice of
the Mormon Church existed, over which Daniel Spencer presided. Strange as it may seem in his-
tory, many of the Gentile emigrants brought their cases for adjudication before this court, some of
them involving tens of thousands of dollars; and with such equity did Daniel Spencer administer
justice that the Californian emigrants very generally conceded that they obtained more equitable
settlements than they would have done by litigation in the courts. In their "letters home," pub-
lished in American and English papers, may be found often acknowledgments of this kind from the
gold seekers of 1849-50. Two other instances, of a later date, may be told in closing this sketch.
One of the most influential of the bishops of the Southern settlements got many thousand
dollars into the debt of Joseph Nounnan, a Salt Lake banker; and such was Nounnan's confidence
in the ecclesiastical court over which Daniel Spencer presided, that he brought suit against the
bishop in that court in preference to going to law. The trial occupied one hour and a half, when
decision was rendered that the bishop should pay the full amount within twenty-eight days, or be
170 HISTORY OF SALT LAKE CITY.
fuspended from his bishopric. At the close the banker tendered his thanks to the court and offered
a liberal pecuniary present to the members, which were declined, for suits in this court were without
costs. Another case involving some §4,500 occurred between Mr. Ellis, a Salt Lake City merchant,
and an influential Mormon. Ellis took his case to the same court and recovered his entire claim
Daniel Spencer died December 8th, 1868, aged 74.
JOHN C. CUTLER.
John C. Cutler was born Febrnary 5th 1846, in Sheffield England. He is the son of |ohn
Cutler and Elizabeth Robinson His father was an edge tool manufacturer ; and both father and
mother were Methodists; in the year 1857, his father joined the Mormon Church and came toUtah,
remaining until the year i860, when he returned to England to try to bring on his family. InApril,
1864, his father, mother and six children (including himself) left England for Utah, arriving here in
October, having crossed the Plains by ox team. The subject of this sketch, when a little over
twelve years of age, was offered a situation with S. & J. Watts & Co. of Manchester, England,
where he remained clerking until 1864, and durmg this time, bemg away from his relatives, he
learned economy and dependence upon himself. The day after arriving in Utah he, with his
brother (now the Bishop of Lehi) and his father commenced digging beets, carrots and potatoes on
shares, and digging on what is called the Church Canal to pay their assessment for water on a small
farm that they bought in East Mill Creek, and John C. continued at such work until the fall of
1865. When Thomas Taylor, the merchant, offered him a position to clerk for him, he started back
with Mr. Taylor to Sweetwater, and assisted in bringing in the last company of emigrants that year,
and a stock ol goods, which was disposed of in Salt Lake City, and the following season went to New
York and St. Louis to assist as purchasing agent for another stock of goods, and continued clerk-
ing for him until 1871, when he was taken into partnership. In 1876 the partnership war dissolved
by mutual consent, Mr. Taylor continuing the business. Shortly afterwards John C. Cutler took
the agency of the Provo Woolen Mills, President Brigham Young kindly renting a portion of the
Old Constitution building to him at a n0min.1l rent, as he wished to encourage the enterprise. The
sales of goods the first year amounted to twenty-eight thousand dollars, and from then they steadily
increased until 1884, when the sales amounted to the sum of one hundred and fifty thousand dol-
lars. In 1884 the company thought to increase their sales by adopting another method, and took
their agency away from him, Finding that their sales decreased, they again, in 1885, offered him
the agency. He then associated himself with his brother Joseph G. Cutler, under the firm name
of Joseph G. Cutler & Brother, as agents of the Provo Woolen Mills, and though their connection
with their customers had been broken, they sold about a hundred thousand dollars' worth of goods.
In August, 1885, John C. Cutler purchased a portion of the Old Constitution Building, 27 feet
front by 124 feet deep, and in the spring of 1886, having remodelled the store and made it one of
the finest on that block, the firm of John C. Cutler & Brother moved into it. They have also
added to it a tailoring establishment, which has proved quite a success.
In August, 1883, John C. Cutler was elected county clerk of Salt Lake County for the une.x-
pired term. In 1884 he was re-elected for the term of two years, and has just been nominated by
the county convention county clerk for the coming election in August, 1886.
As a county officer it may be affirmed that Mr. Cutler possesses the entire confidence of the
public, both as to his integrity and ability.
LEONARD W. HARDY. lyi
LEONARD W. HARDY.
Leonard Wilford Hardy, one of the earliest of our city officers and a presiding bishop of the
Church, was born in Bradford, Essex County, Massachusetts, on the 31st day of December, 1805,
and was baptized into the Church on the 2d of December. 1832, by Apostle Orson Hyde. He was
soon afterwards ordained an elder and began to labor in the ministry. On the 6th day of Decem-
ber, 1844, in company with Apostle Wilford Woodruff and wife, Milton Holmes, Dan Jones and
wife, and Hyrum Clark and wife, Elder Hardy went on board the John R. Skiddey and sailed for
Liverpool to fill a mission to England. He labored for a while in the Manchester Conference, and
afterwards took charge of the Preston Conference. At Preston he was attacked with small pox, but
was healed through the administration of the elders. On the 19th of November, 1845, he took
passage for his return to New York.
On the return of the Pioneers to the Valley in 1848, Wilford Woodruff was sent to Boston to
gather up the remainder of the Saints in the Eastern States. Elder Woodruff, leading the last com-
pany himself towards the Rocky Mountains, was joined by Elder Hardy and his family at Boston,
who left there on the 9th of April, 1850, with a hundred Saints, and in the organization of the com-
pany on the frontier. Elder Hardy was appointed capUiin of the first fifty. The cholera visited all
the traveling camps that season, and Elder Hardy was attacked by the disease, but the administra-
tion of the elders again preserved him. After his arrival in the Valley he was ordained a bishop on
the 7th of April, 1856, and called to preside over the Twelfth Ward, and afterwards also over the
Eleventh Ward. In October, of the same year, he was ordained one of the presiding bishops of
the Church. In 1870 he went on a mission to his native State, Massachusetts. He served the city
in various capacities. On the organization of the municipal government he was appointed captain
of police, and his services were rendered without pay. He was elected a member of the city
council in 1859, and again in 1862 and 1864. During the latter period of Edward Hunter's presi-
dency. Bishop Hardy, as his first counselor, was really the acting presiding bishop, his good old
chief relying on him with the utmost confidence. Bishop Hardy was an honest man, and those
who knew him most valued him for his sterling qualities and character. The Salt Lake Herald of
August ist, wrote as follows on his death :
" Last evening, at about 8 o'clock, we received the following sad telephone message:
'*' Bishop Hardy passed peacefully away at 7 p. m.'
" Hardly a year has passed since the knell was sounded for Bishop Hunter, which seems to have
been the forerunner of many others of his class so soon to follow. We now have to chronicle the
death of one of Salt Lake's leading citizens, and a trusty, good man. The death of Bishop Hardy
leaves a big void, for such men cannot easily be found. Humble and retiring in all his movements
among men, never courting position, but never shrinking from a single duty. A man who dropped
a tear for the sufferings of others, but who faced the dangers and hardships of life with unflinching
courage. Full of integrity, and a true friend, he was known by almost the entire adult population
of the Territory, and we think it may be truly said of him — to know him was to love him.
" Bishop Hardy seemed to be enjoying excellent health until the first day of July, when he re-
ceived a slight stroke of paralysis, affecting his entire right side and depriving him of his speech.
Since then he has had several severe attacks of the same affliction, but so strong was his hold upon
vitality that it seemed to be a hard struggle for him to finally give up to what he must have known
was his death warning. Last Friday fears were entertained for his life, but he rallied again Saturday
and would drive his own team down to his farm a little south of this city, and seemed to be in the
best of spirits. Saturday night about 12 o'clock he suffered another attack, and Sunday morning
found him exhausted and unable to speak ; Sunday noon he walked to the outside door of his
dwelling and looked out upon his farm ; again, just before evening, with the help of two of his sons,
he hobbled to the door, gently pushed the wire screen away and took a long, fond gaze at all the
familiar surroundings of his peaceful home, and with one last look at the setting sun his head fell
upon his breast and he was taken to his bed to rise no more."
7/2 HISTORY OF SALT LAKE CITY.
JOHN KIRKMAN.
John Kirkman, one of the members of the present city council of Salt Lake City, was birn in
Manchester, England, November ist, 1830. He is the son of Henry Kirkman and Sarah Holmes.
In 1836, his parents moved to I^ublin, where his father put up some of the first steam-power looms
worked in that city. Having accomplished this and set them going the family returned to
Manchester.
Councilor Kirkman's own business when he was a boy was in calico printing and weaving.
He worked for the firm of WooUey & Sons until he left England. He came into the Mormon
Church in Manchester, in 1849, and was a leader of the Manchester choir for five years. He emi-
i'rated to America in November, 1855, and arrived in Salt Lake City October, 1856, having crossed
the plains in John Bank's company. He settled in Nephi, Juab County, immediately on his arrival,
and on the 13th of December, 1856, he was married to Elizabeth Jackson, a native of Manchester,
who came in Edward Martin's handcart company. In the year i860, he moved to San Pete County,
and settled at Moroni. There he taught school two or three years, and about the year 1866 he was
appointed county treasurer. At the organization of the city council of Moroni, he was elected city
recorder, which position he held till he moved to Salt Lake City in 1871. He was commissioned
notary public lor San Pete County, by Governor Durkee and he also held the position of post-
master for Moroni. After his removal to Salt Lake City he was appointed by the presiding bishop
one of the principal clerks of the Tithing Office, his labors being in the receiving and disbursing de-
partment, in which position he still remains. At the last municipal election of Salt Lake City, in
February, 1886, John Kirkman was elected to the city council as councilor from the first precinct.
APPEiNDIX
History of Salt Lake City.
APPENDIX
JOURNALISM.
The Deserei News was the first paper published in the Rocky Mountains It
was issued June 15th, 1850, being a weekly, eight pages, 7 x 10 inches, 3 columns
in brevier and long primer type ; Willard Richards was its editor. As "a relic we
give its "prospectus :"
'' Deseret News-Motto-^ 'lr^M^^r^^ Liberty.'-We propose to publish a
small weekly sheet, as large as our local circumstances will permit, to be called
neseretNews, designed originally to record the events of our State, and in con-
nection, refer to the arts and sciences, embracing general education, medicine
law, divinity, domestic and political economy, and everything that may fall under
our observation, which may tend to promote the best interest, welfare, pleasure
and amusement of our fellow-citizens.
" We hold ourselves responsible to the highest court of truth for our inten-
tions, and to the highest court of equity for our execution. When we speak we
shall speak freely, without regard to men or party, and when, like other men, we
err, let him who has his eyes open, correct us in meekness, and he shall receive a
disciple's reward.
"We shall take pleasure in communicating foreign news as we have oppor-
tunity; in receiving communications from our friends, at home and abroad, and
solicit ornaments for the News from our poets and poetesses.
"The first number may be expected as early in June as subscriptions will war-
rant—waiting the action of three hundred subscribers.
II Terms, six months, $2,50, invariably in advance. Single copy 15 cents.
" Advertising : ^1.50 per square of 16 lines, and 50 cents each succeeding
insertion ; ^i.oo per half square, or 8 lines.
" Travelers and emigrants, 25 cents per copy, with the insertion of their
names, places of residence, time of arrival and leaving. Companies of twenty and
upwards entered at once, 20 cents each.
" A paper that is worth printing is worth preserving ; if worth preserving, it
IS worth binding ; for this purpose we issue in pamphlet form ; and if every sub-
scriber shall preserve each copy of the News, and bind it at the close of the vol-
ume, their children's children may read the doings of their fathers, which other-
wise might have been forgotten; ages to come."
4 HISTORY OF SALT LAKE CITY.
Thus commenced journalism in Utah ; and the Neivs is itself an example
how almost utterly the early record of a colony becomes lost in thirty or forty
years, seeing that scarcely a volume of this first issue survives ; but small as it was
the Neicjs in that day was almost as welcome periodically as a "letter from home"
to a community so isolated from the rest of the world.
Its second volume commenced November 15th, 1851, when the paper was in-
creased to double its original size and printed in bourgeois, minion and nonpareil
type, and issued semi-monthly, Willard Richards being still the editor.
On the nth of March, 1854, Willard Richards died. Albert Carrington suc-
ceeded him as editor of the Deseret News and the paper ran its yearly course
without any special mark in its journalistic history until the period of the " Utah
War," when for awhile it was published at Fillmore, but soon returned to Salt
Lake City when peace was restored.
The next newspaper published in Utah was the Valley Tan. It originated at
Camp Floyd, but was published in Salt Lake City. Its special mission was to make
war upon the Mormon power, and from time to time reprove and criticise the acts
of Governor Altred Gumming, between whom and General Albert Sidney John-
ston (it will be remembered) an irreconcilable feud had occurred over the occu-
pation of Utah. The following was its prospectus and introductory paragraphs :
" Custom has made it necessary upon the event of a new paper, that the
editor should present himself before the footlights of public opinion, and indicate
his course and policy. We shall not trouble our readers with any lengthy disquis-
ition. Our saluation shall be short and, we trust, understood.
"We have embarked in the enterprise of publishing a paper in this Valley,
because we believed the interests and wants of a large portion of the people of the
Territory required an exponent differing essentially from any hitherto published
in their midst, that the necessity of a neivspaper in its true signification was de-
manded, local in its nature, catching the current of events upon its mirror and
reflecting them back to the people.
" We did not come here to make war upon 'this people,' but it is our inten-
tion so far as our efforts and abilities can extend, to aid in correcting abuses and
errors, and particularly those relating to the administration of public affairs. We
are satisfied that many exist, and in the discussion of them we shall be guided by
their rules of courtesy, which should always be manifested in an open, fair argu-
ment. People are appealed to through their reasoning faculties, and discussion is
the legitimate means used to accomplish it ; the barrier of exclusiveness which has
so peculiarly surrounded the people of this Territory, should be broken down and
a more free and candid interchange of sentiment be maintained. If in develop-
ing the resources of this Territory, and thus contributing to the prosperity of the
people, is a matter of consideration, then all proper appliances to bring about this
result should be encouraged. The spirit of exclusiveness which views a brother
with a jealous eye, disturbs the harmony of the political system and creates
distrust.
" This Territory is the common property of the people of the United States,
and any attempt by legislation or otherwise, which seeks to violate it interferes
with individual and constitutional rights. Emigration should be invited, and the
APPENDIX. s
emigrant should be met, not with barricades and bloody hands, but in the spirit
of friendship.
" There are questions /^r«//ar to ' this people ' which must from necessity as-
sume a legal diX\di political aspect and we shall discuss them fearlessly and fairly.
*' We design to make, so far as we are able to make, our paper eminently
local, and present from week to week a faithful record of events and condition of
affairs generally, thus endeavoring to present to the people, far removed from us
and those at home, a true and faithful transcript, and not leave them to draw their
own conclusions from the too often highly colored representations of corres-
pondents.
'* We shall endeavor to present to our readers a summary of interesting news
generally, so far as our limited space will permit. With this declaration upon our
part, we submit our case and will await the verdict.
" Our christening — Valley Tan. — This name will doubtless excite some curi-
osity in the * States ' as to what it signifies, and we will therefore make an expla-
nation.
" Valley Tan was first applied to the leather made in this Territory in contra-
distinction to the imported article from the States ; it gradually began to apply to
every article made or manufactured, or produced in the Territory, and means in
the strictest sense, home manufactures, until it has entered and become an indis-
pensable word in Utah vernacular, and it will add a new word to the English lan-
guage. Circumstances and localities form the mint from which our language is
coined, and w'e therefore stamp the name and put it in circulation.
" Our paper. — We are not disposed, neither do we make an apology for this
our first number, circumstances themselves will furnish an explanation, and if need
be, a justification. The train containing our materials arrived last Saturday,
boxes had to be opened, press set up, etc. Without stands, and short of cases,
we used boxes, and in some instances the floor, a very uncomfortable condition of
things, but which our compositors had the backbone to accomplish, so that it can
readily be understood the confusion of affairs we are in and the disabilities we
labor under.
Our frontispiece, looks naked and blank, but it was the best we could do, and if
Its bleakness strikes the eye of the critical observer, let him charitably conclude
that we are in the Rocky Mountains, and ' pass our imperfections by.'
"Our paper is not as large as we have been used to, or as we intended, but our re-
mote distance from the States, requires that we should economize. In this connec-
tion we will state that we are prepared to execute plain job work and blanks at
reasonable prices."
The Valley Tan indirectly gave birth to the Mountaineer. The antagonism
to the Mormon Church required a bold and brilliant advocate to take up for the
community the gauntlet thrown down by the attachees of Camp Floyd, and Gen-
eral James Ferguson and Mayor Seth M. Blair were the most fitting men for the
work and the times. Ferguson was a man of capacious intellect, a brilliant writer
and a gallant soldier, who was as ready to defend his people with his weapon as
with his pen ; and Blair, who was one of General Sam Houston's Texas Rangers,
and the first U. S. district attorney of Utah, was a compeer every whic worthy of
6 HISTORY OF SALT LAKE CITY.
his dashing journalistic brother. Undoubtedly Ferguson and Blair gave for awhile
spirit and progress to Utah journalism, but with the evacuation of Camp Floyd,
and the death of the Valley Jan, the Mountaineer lost its mission, there being no
longer an enemy in the field to fight.
The arrival of the California Volunteers soon repeated the journalistic neces-
sities of the days of Camp Floyd.
On the 2oth of November, 1863, the first number appeared of The Union
Vedette, published, as announced, " by officers and enlisted men of the Califor-
nia and Nevada Territory Volunteers. " Its prospectus follows :
''Salutatory. — In the wide sea of newspaper literature, the launching of another
bark whose tiny sails will woo the' variable and ever shifting breeze of popular favor
is, we are aware, a matter of little moment to the great buzzing world on either con-
tinent. In these latter days of improvement, enterprise and civilization, the great
lever of human society, lifting it up to a higher point, and the mighty regulator
of man's doings is a free, untrammeled, unwarped and independent press.
Throughout the civilized world, it is the boast of the nineteenth century, that it
has spread its broad pinions until the silver linings of its thousand wings shed
brightness over all the land, and its Briarian arms penetrate every village and al-
most every hamlet. ' As the waters cover the sea ' so does the press cover both
great continents, wherever civilization and progress have stamped the character of
nations, circling the world with its halo of light, and life and joy. On this wide
ocean, among the multitude of crafts which dot its surface, do we to-day launch
our little vessel, hoping for gentle breezes on our onward course, and trusting in
a conscious rectitude of purpose, to keep us clear of the shoals and breakers and
shipwreck which threaten such undertakings on every hand.
*' Unimportant as is our appearance and modest our page, ' a decent respect
for the opinion of mankind,' as well as established usage, makes it incumbent on
us to make our bow to the great public and ' declare the motives which impel us to
our course.' Firstly, then, we find here a wide field for the independent efforts of
the journalist. We are dwelling in the heart of an organized Territory of ihe United
States, boasting a population of 80,000 souls, who possess but one general news-
paper from which to gather news and sentiments^ and through which they can
communicate with the outer world. This fact, in itself, is an anomaly, and has no
parallel within the boundaries of the United States. Secondly, the Gentile (so-
called ) portion of the community — including the military within this district —
has no medium of publicly setting forth its opinions, or communicating its
thoughts, correcting misapprehension, or rebutting misrepresentation, either at
home or abroad. The want of a press for these and similar purposes, has been
sorely felt since the troops arrived in these valleys, and we propose to supply the
want so far as our ability and limited space will permit.
" To every rightly constituted mind it has been a source of regret that the
relations existing between the mass of the people and the military in Utah, have
not been of either a cordial or amicable nature. The misrepresentation which
has brought about this untoward state of feeling between Mormon and Gentile —
which has led the former to believe that the latter were their chosen and appointed
enemies and persecutors— that they were but the representatives of a government
APPENDIX.
7
seeking the destruction and annihilation of the Mormons for opinion's sake — and
all such trash it will be our province to attempt to correct. The efforts of evil dis-
posed persons to bring about conflict in this Territory, between the military and
the civil inhabitants, the appeals of ambitious, crafty, designing men, to wean the
people from the government, that their own ends may be subserved — who con-
stantly vilify and abuse the officers of the best government with which this or any
other people was ever blessed — it will be our duty to expose. The bold denuncia-
tion and the covert sneer uttered against the nation, more becoming a foreign foe
or the open rebel, than those who here enjoy the protection, care and blessings of
the freest, greatest and most paternal government on earth — grate harshly on the
ear, and come not, we would fain believe, from the heart of the people. The
teachings which border on treason, if indeed they fill not the measure of iniquity,
the whisperings of some- and the defiant speech of others, appeahng to the pas-
sions, prejudices, and religious fervor of the multitude, seeking to wean them
from loyalty to the nation, we trust have found no deep abiding place in the mind
and heart of the great mass of the people of Utah. If they have, we propose to
calmly argue the question with them. If, in excitement and mispresentation, they
have indeed been led astray, we ask them to hear us in the quiet and peace of
their own retired homes. We propose to appeal from 'Csesar drunk to Caesar sober'
— from an excited and impassionate populace to the calm reflection of a thinking,
reasoning community, from the teachings and narrow prejudices of scribes and el-
ders, high or low, to the plain common sense of plain, common, honest men.
For those bold, bad men — if such there be — who, to compass their own ends,
seek to mislead the multitude — as to the intentions and wishes of the Government
and its representatives, civil and military, in Utah, we have little respect and far
less care ; but for the mass of the people whom we know to be honest and sin-
cere, though mistaken, and it may be, prejudiced, we have both. To them we
propose to talk in our own plain, homely way. With their domestic relations and
interior life we have naught to do, other than as good citizens, we may entertain
and, on proper occasions, properly express our own opinions on any subject touch-
ing the general weal. While as soldiers, we came not to make war on this people,
neither in this enterprise is it our design to intrude upon their every day life.
" When we say that the primary object of sending troops to Utah last year,
was the protection of the Overland Mail and Telegraph lines, we but repeat what
every man of ordinary intelligence knows to be a fact ; and when we add that the
constant effort of some has been to array the people against the Government and
the soldiers, and inculcate the erroneous idea that the latter were sent hither to
persecute and destroy, we but say what the signs of the times and the present state
of feeling prove, and what it were mere hypocrisy to attempt to deny. With the
consciousness of stating the truth, we affirm that this bad state of feeling has not
been occasioned by any intentional act of the officers of this command, and know
not a single instance of oppression or wrong on the part of the troops, which has
not met with the discountenance and prompt rebuke of the general in command.
On the other hand, who cannot cull from recent memory, repeated acts and
teachings tending to provoke difficulty, if not indeed designed to court trouble
with the military authorities. But all ebullition of feeling under instances of pro-
8 HISTORY OF SALT LAKE CITY.
vocation, has been quelled, and the utmost leniency extended towards public ex-
pressions— which were far better left unsaid.
" Without indulging in threat or menace, we feel called upon to say, that
while it is the desire of the military authorities to live in peace, protect the inter-
ests and advance the welfare of the people of Utah, respect for the Government
and the institutions of the land, should be voluntarily accorded by one and all,
high and low, and toleration for disloyal sneers is no part of the duty of the true
citizen, whether official or otherwise. It is the earnest wish of every man attached
to the command, to live on terms of amity and good will with the people of this
Territory, so long as we shall sojourn with them; and lit were a burning shame to
permit that feeling to be jeopardized by a meagre intriguing {itw. While, there-
fore, it is not the mission of the California column in Utah, to insult, oppress,
or persecute the people of these valleys, it must not be forgotton that the Nation
— our own native or adopted home — is to-day struggling with a gigantic, unholy
rebellion, and the duty of every good citizen to sustain by word and thought and
deed our common country, is as plain as it is imperative. We say this — as we
have begun our enterprise — in the best of feeling, trusting and believing that our
language will not be distorted into aught that savors of threat or unkindness, but
as the friendly voice of those who seek the good and prosperity of every man,
woman and child in Utah, who have not voluntarily placed themselves beyond the
pale of charity and friendship.
"Our first duty is to the Nation, whose preservation and advancement every
good citizen holds next to his heart. Our second, in Utah, the happiness, free-
dom and progress, of whose people we know to be the desire of the general com-
manding and those united with him in the discharge of public duty."
A journalistic foil to the Vedette was deemed necessary in the city, and Mr.
T. B. H. Stenhouse projected the Salt Lake Telegraph. Mr. Thomas G. Webber
was its business manager, John Jaques its practical editor, and Stenhouse its editor-
m-chief and publisher.
The very useful mission of the Telegraph was at once appreciated both by the
Mormon leaders and their people. Evidently it would not do for Camp Douglas
to classify and claim the Mormon people as worthy to be owned as a part of the
American nation while their leaders were proclaimed unworthy and disloyal at their
heart's core. This seemingly fine Gentile diplomacy of separating the Mormon
*' sheep from the goats," has been even more offensive to the people than to the
leaders, for nearly every Mormon is an elder of his church, which makes the dis-
tinction a personal affront. It was not becoming in the Deseret News to enter
the arena with the Vedette to champion the leaders, but the Telegraph seized the
ready lance and expressing the ineffable scorn of the Mormon people, dubbed the
folks at Camp Douglas — " Regenerators !"
But the Vedette obtained quite a lively circulation in Salt Lake City among
the Gentiles and seceders ; and when it became a daily, January 5th, 1864,
there was quite a sensation of triumph produced among its supporters in the city
as well as among the soldiers at Camp. The Daily Union Vedette was the first
daily newspaper published in Utah, Mr. Lucius A. Billings, of the Salt Lake Post
Office, was its first carrier.
APPENDIX. g
October 20th, 1S64, there was issued the first number of the Peep o' Day,
" a Salt Lake magazine of science, literature and art ;" " edited by Harrison and
Tullidge; published in the Twentieth Ward." It was the first magazine pub-
lished west of the Missouri River, and was printed at the Vedeite office, Camp
Douglas.
The financial backers of the Peep 0' Day were the Walker Brothers, John
Chislett and Col. Kahn ; but through inexperience too large an edition was pub-
lished and several thousand dollars capital was lost in the inception. This oc-
curred at the time of the paper panic in America. Paper in Salt Lake City was
worth sixty cents per pound ; and the slock of the Vedette was no longer able to
supply the issues of the Peep o' Day. Even the Deseret N'ews suspended awhile
for lack of paper.
The Utah Mas;azine was really the offspring of the Peep o' Day with the
same editors, but with a new backing, Wm. S. Godbe being its patron ; and
Godbe and Harrison proprietors. This magazine ran through two series, and
three volumes. The second series signified the period while it was working with a
defined mission, bringing forth the "Godbeite Movement ;" both this movement
and the magazine proper have been sufficiently treated in former chapters.
The Mormon Tribune (which was simply the l/tah Magazine transformed)
ran off its first copy on the night of January ist, 1870, which date it bore. Its
original editors were Harrison and Tullidge, with Eli B. Kelsey, business manager.
William S. Godbe was its financial guardian. William H. Shearman soon after-
wards became business manager and associate editor, and Kelsey and Tullidge
retired.
The Daily j^^r^/c/wds issued on June 5th, 1S70. Its size was four pages,
14x20, in five columns. E. L. Sloan may editorially be considered the founder;
Mr. William C. Dunbar was its business manager, and in this respect he was a
joint founder, both of these gentlemen going into the enterprise together. The
times were propitious for its start, for the Salt Lake Daily Telegraph had just been
discontinued, leaving a field open for a new paper. During the latter part of its
career, Sloan was the editor and Dunbar the business manager of the Telegraph.
Notwithstanding the Telegraph had been moved to Ogden by counsel, these gen-
tlemen sagaciously saw that a secular newspaper, conservative of the Mormon cit-
izen's rights as well as supportive of the just claims of the Gentile, who had now
become an influential factor in our mixed society, was needed most in Salt Lake
City. This was the basic idea of Edward Sloan as a journalist. But there was
also another view that made this paper a necessity. The Tribune had started and
it was, it must be confessed, an anti-Church paper. The Herald hd.d, therefore,
the chance of a more purely ji urnalistic mission before it, and those who six
months before might have discountenanced its starting saw the then present need
of the times and the surroundings ; thus the Herald started with a decidedly win-
ning advantage.
On September 2d, 1S70, the Semi-Weekly Herald was issued; October 2d,
1870, the daily was enlarged to seven columns ; March it, 1S71, it was again en-
larged to eight columns ; and on September 26ih, 1871, it was enlarged to nine
72
JO ■ HISTORY OF SALT LAKE CITY
columns, being then just twice the size of tlie first issue. On March 4th, 1S80,
the weekly was issued.
In 1S74, in the month of July, the Herald Printing and Publishing Com-
pany was incorporated, and the shares distributed somewhat, though the three
original proprietors still retained a large portion of the stock. John T. Caine has
been president of the company from the first, and up to 1S76, when he was
elected city recorder, was actively connected with the management of the paper.
The editors have been, first — Edward L. Sloan. In 1S74, in the month of
August, death took from the pa[ier this man of rare journalistic genius who had
founded it. He was succeeded by Mr. E. N. Fuller, the brother of the Hon.
Frank Fuller, who was princijjal editor from August, 1S74, to November, 1877.
Daring 1871, Mr. Fuller had assisted Mr. Sloan. During a portion of 1872 and
1873, "^ - H- Harrington was news ana telegraphic editor. Byron Groo was the first
local editor on the paper, commencing with the beginning of 1873 > ^'''^' o^^ ^'^^
the departure of Mr. Fuller for the east, Mr. Groo took the place of managing
editor, which he still occupies. He is the son of Isaac Groo, a well known rep-
resentative citizen, who for years served in our city council. The editor was born
in Sullivan County, New York, and came with his parents to Utah in 1854. He
was trained in journali>m under Sloan, who took a great interest in him, for which
the present editor reverences the memory of the founder of the paper. Mr. Groo
possesses many good points, both as an American citizen and a journalist. He is
decidedly of the secular cast, and is a staunch Democrat in his political princi[jles.
The ff'<?/«^«'j ^A7*(7«(?«/ was established June ist, 1872. Eliza R. Snow was
its projector, and Mrs. Levi Richards, jun , its first ediior. This lady, however,
soon retired and Mrs. Emiline B. Wells succeeded her, and under her editorial
management the IVoinan s Exponeni has become quite popular with the Mormon
people. It is published by the women of the Mormon ("hurch, having a com[)any
organization, ot which Eliza R. Snow is president. It is the official organ of the
societies of Mormon women, which exist in every city and settlement of Utah,
and which with the exercise" of female suffrage have held the balance of political
power in Utah since 1870. This fact has given much of a political character and
mission to the Exponent and Mrs. Wells has several limes been to the Eastern States
to meet in conference with the leaders of the woman's rights movement of America,
in fact forlhe last fifteen years a constant fellowship has been fostered between the
"Women of America" and the "Women of Mormondom," the former fre-
quently championing the cause of their Mormon female suffrage con)peers. Of
the Exponent itself they have said, " the Mormon women hive a press." Few of
the church organizations of the country can l.-oast a woman's journal. There
are but few in the world and they are mostly edited and supported by the hetero-
dox rather than the orthodox element.
The iPoman's Exponent, in a general sense, may be considered heterodox,
seeing il is an advocate of woman's rights on the marriage question and female
suffrage, but is also apostolic and devoted to the Mormon mission. It represents
the opinions and sentiments of the Mormon women. All of their organiziiions
are represented in its columns, and it is thus a means of intercommunication be-
, APPENDIX. II
tween branches, bringing the remotest into close connection with the more cen-
tral ones, und keeping all advised of the various society movements.
In iS66, January i, the first number of the Juvenile Instructor \\:x% issued ;
George Q. Cannon, editor. The special design of this magazine was to educate
the rising generation of the Mormon ])eople, and to secure select readings for the
homes, adapted to both parents and children. In tliis special mission, the Juven-
ile Instructor has been a power in every city and hamlet throughout Utah. Its
class of literature for variety, instruction and entertainment, and also in the
quality of its subjects, entitles \.\\q Juvenile Instructor \.q a first rank among church
magazines. In many respects it resembles the once famous " CasselT s Paper, "
started in London nearly forty years ago, for the special purpose of educating the
English homes, and whose mission was of a semi-religious order. The volumes
of the Juvenile Instructer are not only copiously illustrated with wood-cuts to ac-
company their subjects, but it frequently i)ublishes original music from Utah com-
posers. Indeed, though others of our home magazines have appeared with a few
sheets of music type setting, to the Juvenile office belongs the honor of sustain-
ing a semi- musical magazine. Mr. George C. Lambert, nephew of George Q.
Cannon, was for many years the assistant of his uncle in all the publishing enter-
prises of ihe Juvenile Instructor establishment. *
Tne Contributor, a monthly magazine, was established in October, 1879, ^Y
Junius F. Wflls. It is the representative organ of the young men's and young
ladies' mutual improvement associations of the Latter-day .Saints, and is an out-
growth of those associations, drawing its support of matter and means, very
largely, from them.
It is regirded as the leiding exponent of the feelings and faith of what is
sometimes called "Young Mormondom." Its coluinns are filled with matter from
the pens ot the young and progressive men and women of the Church, whose
sentiment as regards literature, as well as religion^ is expressed in the motto of the
magazine: " The glory of God is intelligence."
The prosperity and growth of the Contributor has been phenomenal. It
started out to represent the young men and women of Utah, depending upon
them for matter to make it a magazine of original home literature, and has so far
succeeded that above a hundred and fifty names are already added to its list of con-
tributors, mostly names of )oung men and ladies who never before wrote for pub-
lication.
The Contributor was at first a small octavo of twenty-four pages, issued
monthly ; but, at the commencement of the second volume, was enlarged by an
addition to its size and an increase to thirty-two pages. The third volume intro-
duced steel engraving portraits, which have been a notable feature of the succeed-
ing volumes.
Early in the present year— January nth, 1SS6, t'.ie Contributor Company
was incorporated under the laws of Utah, Tne incorporators are among the
leading men of the community, whose connection with the magazine insures its
future prosperity. They are: Joseph F. Smith, Moses Thatcher, F. M. Lyman,
John Henry Smith, Heber J. Grant, Orson F. Whitney, Richard W. Young, B.
H. Roberts and Junius F. Wells. The ofificers of the company are Junius F.
12 HISTORY OF SALT LAKE CITY.
Wells, president; Moses Thatcher, vice-president; B. H. Roberts, secretary and
treasurer; H. J. Grant, O. F. Whitney, directors.
Junius F. Wells continues to occupy the editor's chair and to manage the
publishing department.
In closing the history of Salt Lake journalism, we return to the Dcseret
News and the Tribune.
The Salt Lake Tribune is a culmination of other papers which accomplished
a mission and passed away. Its original, undoubtedly, was the Valley Tan, whose
offspring was the Vedette. The Mormon Tribune was but its parent in name.
After the political coalition of 1870, which brought forward Henry W\ Lawrence,
as candidate for the office of mayor of Salt Lake City, on the ticket of the Lib-
eral party, the common cense of the party quickly appreciated that the name
" Mormon " Tribune must be resigned or another paper started in its stead. The
transition to the Salt Lake Tribune was comparatively easy, yet scarcely was the
change of name effected ere the new policy required that the editorial control
should also change. This forced the retirement of Mr. E. L. T. Harrison, who
was succeeded by Mr. Oscar G. Sawyer, who was brought on from the New York
Herald staff to take the editorial charge.
The first issue of the Salt Lake Daily Tribune was on the 15th of April, 1871.
The names of W. S. Godbe and E. L. T. Harrison still stood at the head of the
paper; William H. Shearman, business manager; Oscar G. Sawyer was intro-
duced as the managing editor.
The following is the prospectus of the Salt Lake Daily Tribune, under the
caption " Our Programme :"
" The Daily Tribune will be a purely secular journal devoted entirely to the
presentation of news and to the development of the mineral and commercial in-
terests of the Territory. It will have no sectarian bias and will be the organ of
no religious body whatever. The aim of the publishers will be to make it a news-
paper in every sense of the word.
" The weekly Tribune having been the pioneer of the present mineral devel-
opments of the Territory, it will continue to lead in this direction. Mineral mat-
ters will, therefore, be one of its chief specialties. Correspondence has been se-
cured in every mining camp, and arrangements entered into for obtaining perfect
reports of the progress of mining operations throughout the lerritory. The Tri-
bune will be a complete record of mineral facts and statistics, the determination
of the j)ublishers being to make it the great mineral paper of the Territory.
" On political and social questions the policy of the paper will be to sustain
the governmental institutions of the country. It will oppose all ecclesiastical in-
terference in civil or legislative matters and advocate the exercise of a free ballot
by the abolition of ' numbered tickets.'
'Tn municipal matters the Tribune \\\\\ insist on uniformity and fixed rates of
charges for licenses, such as permit of no discrimination between parties. It will
also demand regular and full accounts of income and expenditures from all city,
county, or other officers entrusted with public funds.
" Commercially, it will advocate the development of the mineral wealth of
APPENDIX jj
Utah as its chief specialty. It will labor for the breaking down of the present
sectarian boundaries which have surrounded matters of trade in this Territory ;
and work for the extension of its commercial relations with the rest of the world.
"■ As a journal the Zr/^//;/,^ will know no such distinctions as ' Mormon ' or
' Gentile, ' and where sectional feelings exist it will aim for their abolishment by
the encouragement of charitable feelings and the promotion of a better ac-
quaintance.
" Correspondence is invited on all public questions of general interest from
all who have anything to say and know how to say it with due regard for the
opinions of others. We shall lay our columns open to the public for the freest
criticism on public questions, provided disparaging personalities are avoided, and
principles are handled rather than men."
The Sa/f Lake Tribune ran for awhile under the editorial direction of Mr.
Sawyer; with him were associated George W. Crouch and E. W. Tullidge, ex-
Mormon elders, and a Mr. Slocum, a leading Spiritualist from California. That
■Such a strange combination could not possibly give unity of purpose or consis-
tency of tone to the paper was soon evident, especially as a similar inharmony
existed among the board of directors. The Tf-ibune, in fine, changed its char-
acter, or rather mixed its characters with every issue. This "incompatibility of
ournalism," as Mr. Siwyer explained to the public in his valedictory, which ex-
isted between him and the directors forced him also to retire from his position as
editor-in-chief, after which Mr. Fred. T. Ferris became manager both in the edi-
torial and business departments.
The Salt Lake Tribune next passed into the hands of another management.
Three experienced journalists from Kansas took the paper on trial, relieving the
.original Tribune Publishing Company of the heavy burden of their subsidies,
which had hitherto sustained it, and soon afterwards that company itself became
obsolete.
Mr. George F. Presscott, Mr. Hamilton and Mr, Fred. Lockley were each
very able men in their several spheres. Prescott as manager of the paper saga-
ciously retained in his department George Reed, who had been assistant business
manager both of the Utah Magazine and the Tribune from the beginning, thus
retaining the local business acquaintance. It was Mr. Fred. Lockley, however,
that gave the marked and pungent anti-Mormon character to the Salt Lake Trib-
une, for which it has become famous in the Gentile mind, infamous in the Mormon
mind. But the Tribune is read at home and abroad — read by Mormon and Gen-
tile. To accomplish this object was the primal aim of Mr. Prescott and his com-
peers, and though they much offended the Mormon community, they won golden
opinions from the anti-Mormons. VndiOVihtedXy iht Salt Lake Tribune represents
•' the irrepressible conflict." In this conflict towards the Mormon Church its po-
tency has resided ; but the Sa/t Lake Tribune is also a great newspaper, apart
from any anti-Mormon mission ; and this is the salient point for notice in a re-
view of Salt Lake journalism.
September 9th, 1S83, the Salt Lake Daily Tribune passed into the hands of
Mr. P. H. Lannan, and Judge C. C. Goodwin as business manager and principal
editor. The paper is owned at present by Lannan, Goodwin and Mrs. O. J.
14 HISTORY OF SALT LAKE CITY.
Hollister. Under this new management the Trihuw has culminated both in po-
tency and editorial ability.
Numerous ether papers have started, meantime, since the issue of the Mormon
Tribinie, January ist, 1870; and the whole class have chosen as a mission to an-
tagonize the Mormon Church. The latest of these is the Salt Lake Evening
Democrat, March 2d, 18S5. Its editor for one week was a Mr. Clark. He was
succeeded by Alfales Young under whose editorial impulse the Democrat obtained
considerable influence among a certain class of our citizens.
The Deseret Ne70S, which we left at an early date to continue the various
lines of our journals, is to-day, as at the beginning, the apostolic exponent of the
Mormon community. Its editors have been, first, Willaid Richards, one of the
Presidency of the Mormon Church, he having been chosen as the second coun-
selor of Brigham Young on the re-organization of the Churcli after the assassina-
tion of Joseph Smith, the founder. Willard Richards was a man of very marked
character and an accomplished mind. He possessed considerable education be-
fore he joined the Mormon people, and was also naturally a man of intellectual
parts. Dr. Richards was the style by which he vr-as known from the origin, nor
did even the superior style of President Richards supersede his professional name.
Undoubtedly Dr. Willard Richards gave much intellectual toning to the Mormon
community; and he may be considered as the proper man to have been the four.der of
the official organ of the Church, for such the Deseret News undoubtedly must rank.
The paper from the onset was stamped with Willard's character and influence, and
the position he had held first as Joseph Smith's secretary, and afterwards as the sec-
ond counselor to his dominant cousin, President Brigham Young, gave the Nezifs
the voice of the Church.
Willard Richard's death, in 1854, gave the paper into the editorial hands of
Albert Carrington, under whom it was continued. Judge Elias Smith succeeded
Carrington. Under Smith's control the News manifested much character and in-
dependence. His retirement was caused by the publication of an ediioiial in
1863, which .seemed to breathe the tone of the Southern cause, and, though the
the article was written by a subordinate. Judge Elias Smith was too much like his
cousin Joseph, the Prophet^ to shift the responsibility from his own shoulders.
Judge Elias Smith was succeeded by Albert Carrington, who continued the
paper till 1867, when the Deseret News passed into the hands of George Q. Can-
non. Under Cannon the Neivs culminated its potency and was made a success
as a newspaper as well as a Church organ. Previous to his time the paper had to
be sustained greatly by the Church, but Cannon, in 186S, started Joseph Bull to
the Eastern States to obtain advertisements from the merchants who held the
Utah trade, or desired so to do. Bull carried with him an autograph letter from
President Young, and the Eastern merchants saw the commercial wisdom of sus-
taining the Salt Lake Deseret News. The " mission " of Bull to the States was a
marked financial result, and thus by a business eo?ip dc main, Cannon made a bus-
iness success of the Deseret Neics.
On October 8th, 1865, the Semi-weekly Deseret News was started by Albert
Carrington, and in 1867, November ist, George Q. Cannon started the Deseret
Evening News, continuing also the semi and weekly. During Cannon's adminis-
APPENDIX.
15
tration the Z)rj-(?rif/ AVtcj Institution became a publishing house. In 1871, he
established a type and stereotype foundry in connection with the Deseret News
Office, aud published the first Utah edition — 2,500 copies — of the Book of Mor-
mon. He also published an edition of the Latter-day Saint's Hymn Book and
other Church works. His editorial assistants were E. L. Sloan and David W.
Evans ; his business manager, was his brother, Angus M. Cannon.
In 1873, on his return from Europe, David O. Calder was appointed, by
President Young, business manager and managing editor of the Deseret Netvs
Publishing Establishment, George Q. Cannon being then in Congress. Under
Calder's administration, the publishing department of the Church obtained a fi-
nancial prosperity and an efficient business system that entitled him to the full
credit of a successful business manager. He remained in this position four years,
during which time he published the standard works of the Church, and put the
paper mill, connected with the establishment, in a prosperous financial condition.
His editorial assistants were John Jaques, David W. Evans and John Nicholson;
his assistant business manager, William Perkes.
After the retirement of Calder, the Deseret News passed into the hands of
Cannon & Young, as publishers, Brigham Jr. being at the head of the business de-
partment, and " George Q." of the editorial; this management, however, was
rather nominal than real, their assistants in each department being the daily
workers.
In the summer of 1S77, Charles W. Penrose became the editor -of the Des-
eret News, for awhile under George Q. Cannon, but soon his name was raised at
the head of the paper as the editor, where it still stands. From its stare in June,
1850, to present date, the names thus placed as the representatives of the official
organ of the Church are six in number — VVillard Richards, Albert Carrington,
Elias Smith, George Q. Cannon, David O. Calder, Charles W. Penrose.
During the absence of Mr. Penrose on a mission, Mr. John Nicholson was
the practical editor until, towards the close of the year 1885, he was sent to
the penitentiary by the decision of Judge Zane, Nicholson being a polygamist.
His editorial writings during the eventful period, when it fell his lot to speak tor
the Church, through its official organ, were very pronounced, and his address to
the court previous to the passage of his sentence, won a plain conlession from
Judge Zane, to the effect "that the said John Nicholson was an honest man, con-
scientious in his religious persistency, yet an offender in the eye of the law, deser-
ving imprisonment as an example to his people."
The name of Charles W. Penrose still remains at the head of the Deseret
Nexus as editor, and by the public, both Mormon and Gentile, he is esteemed as
the chief journalist of the Church. His assistant editors have been John Nichol-
son, George J. Taylor, John Q. Cannon, 0. F. Whitney, George C. Lambert
and James H. Anderson.
HISTORY OF FREE MASONRY 'iN UTAH.
BY CHRISTOPHER DIEIIL.
Among the command of A. S. Johnston, who arrived in Utah in 1857, were
a few Free Masons, who were desirous to practice in their solitude the teachings
J 6 HISTORY OF SALT LAKE CITY.
of the fraternity, and for that purpose resolved to organize a Lodge. They peti-
tioned the Grand Lodge of Missouri for a Dispensation, which was granted and
under which they opened a Lodge at Camp Floyd, on March 6th, 1859. Under
this Dispensation the Lodge worked until the first day of June, i860, when it
received a charter from the Grand Lodge of Missouri under the name of the
Rocky Mountain Lodge No. 205. In 1861, the conimand of Col. Johnston was
ordered to New Mexico, and thereby the Lodge was forced to close its labors.
It surrendered its charter to the Grand Lodge of Missouii, also all its records,
jewels, etc. Every thing was found in perfect order and so much so that the
Grctnd Secretary said of it ; " The relationship between this Grand Lodge and her
daughter in the then ' Far West ' was of a very affectionate character and the same
spirit has ever prevailed between her and the former members of the Rocky
Mountain Lodge No. 205." Thus ended the first attempt to plant Masonry on
Utah soil.
In 1863, Gen. P. E. Connor arrived with two regiments of California volun-
teers in this city and established Camp Douglas. This attracted the attention of
disappointed miners and business men in our neighboring Territory Nevada, who
immigrated hither. Some of these were Masons. They considered the advisa-
bility of establishing a Lodge in this city, and for the purpose of organizing, as^
sembled on the nth day of November, 1865, at the Odd Fellows' Hall. Among
the assembled Brethren we find the names of James M. Ellis, William G. Higley,
Louis Cohn, William L. Halsey, Theodore F. Auerbach, Oliver Durant, Charles
Popper and James Thurmond.
A resolution was passed to organize a Lodge, and. to petition the Most Wor-
shipful Grand Master of Nevada, for a Dispensation. James M. Ellis was nomi-
nated as the first Master, William G. Higley as Senior Warden, and William L.
Halsey as Junior Warden. Lander Lodge, No. 8, at Austin, Nevada, recom-
mended the petition. The then Grand Master of Masons in Nevada, Most
Worshipful Joseph DuBell, responded immediately to the request and issued his
letter of Dispensation for Mount Moriah Lodge, to be located at Salt Lake City,
Utah. But to this Dispensation was an edict attached, requiring the Lodge to be
careful, and "exclude all who were of the Mormon faith."
The first meeting of Mount Moriah Lodge was held February 5th, 1866.
The thousand volunteers in Camp Douglas and the discovery of gold mines in
Montana made Salt Lake City lively and business improving ; and with this the
Lodge prospered. Master Masons gathered around her altar and "good men and
true" from the profane world petitioned for the degrees. For a while perfect
peace and harmony prevailed, but the above cited edict disturbed the waters t'rom
underneath and with it the rolling waves soon showed on the surface.
For three consecutive meetings of the Grand Lodge of Nevada the Mount
Moriah Lodge petitioned for a charter, which, however, was refused, and in Sep-
tember, 1877, even the dispensation was recalled. The Mormon question was
the cause ; some of the members of Mount Moriah wanted to be their own judges
and say for themselves whom to admit and whom not ; the Grand Lodge of Nev-
ada took a different view of the matter and closed the Lodge entirely.
But the members did not lose their courage, they were still united, and on
APPENDIX. 17
petitioning the Grand Master of Kansas for a Dispensation, they received it, and
under which they worked for nearly a year. At the meeting of the Grand I^odge
of Kansas a charter was granted to Mount Moriah Lodge No. 70, bearing date
October 21st, 1S6S. Among the early members of this Lodge the following^well
known men in Salt Lake City should be named : Louis Cohn, Sol. Siegel, S. J.
Nathan, Henry Wagener, Christopher Diehl, Jos. F. Nounnan, Charles Popper
and R, N, Baskin. They are all members of the Lodge this very day and woik
for its interest and growth.
In 1S66 Wasatch Lodge was organized under a dispensation granted by the
Grand Master of the Grand Lodge of Montana. The late R. H. Robertson was
its first Worshipful Master, and the Lodge prospered under his leadership. In
October, 1867, Wasatch Lodge No. 8 was chartered by the Grand Lodge of Mon-
tana. Since then this Lodge has done its Masonic work faithfully and well.
Up to the spring of 1867 Mount Moriah and Wasatch Lodges and Utah
Lodge No I, I. O. O. F., met jointly in the upper part of a building on East
Temple Street, known as Odd Fellow's Hall. (At present the building is occu-
j)ied by the mercantile firm of Barnes & Davis.) The hall was anything but in-
viting ; it was small and the ceiling not over nine feet high. It was not suitable
for the purposes, and arrangements were inaugurated for new and more elegant
epartmenis, which were found in a stone building on the east side of East Tem-
ple Street, on the same lot where the Masonic Hall now stands. The three Lodges
moved into their new hall in the summer of 1867. In this hall they remained till
February 5th, 1872, when the Masons separated from the Odd Fellows and rented
a hall by themselves in Trowbridge's building, where they met till November,
1876. The present Masonic Hall, on the third floor of the First National Bank*
building, was dedicated for Masonic purposes by M.*. W.-. Edmund P. Johnson,
assisted by the Grand Lodge of Utah, November 14th, 1S76.
The third Lodge in Salt Lake City received a Dispensation from Grand Mas-
ter Henry M. Teller, of Colorado, and a charter from that Grand Lodge on the
2ist day of September, under the name of Argenta Lodge No. 21.
In 1S72, these three Lodges concluded to form a Grand Lodge, to which,
under the laws of Masonry, they had a right to. A meeting was called for the
purpose, and on the 17th day of January, 1872, the Grand Lodge of Utah was
organized, O. F. Strickland beii'g its first Grand Master and J. F. Nounnan its
first Grand Secretary. At the organization of the Grand Lodge of Utah, Wasatch
Lodge No I had forty-eight members on its roll ; Mount Moriah No. 2, fifty-two ;
and Argenta No. 3, twenty-four; total, 124.
None of the Lodges were over-burdened with funds and a large increase of
members was, under the circumstances, not probable. Let no one think that the
founders of the Grand Lodge considered its maintenance an easy work and light
task; on the contrary, every Brother knew the importance of (he step that had
been taken and a close observer could read in every eye that the grave responsi-
bilities resting upon them were deeply felt. At this moment of despondency
Brother Robertson arose and delivered, before the final adjournment, a short ad-
dress to the assembled Brethren, closing with: " Now we launch our little craft
upon the great Masonic sea. We doubt not but in the future, as in the past,
i8 HISTORY OF SALT LAKE CI7Y.
storms will arise, the wind will howl, and whistle above, and the troubled waters
roll beneath us, but with a steady hand at the helm, with the Bible as our Polar
Star, the compass as our guide, and ' Brotherly Love, Relief and Truth,' as our
motto, we can wrestle with the contending waves and ride upon their billows.
We need never cast anchor for repairs."
During the delivery of the address, which was wholly without preparation,
not a breath could be heard in the Hall, but at the conclusion, all went to their
feet, joy beamed in every eye, one grasped the other's hand, and with a firm reso-
lution to succeed in the undertaking, parted in peace and harmony.
The Grand Lodge having been firmly established, soon received recognition
from all Grand Lodges in the United Stntes, and from many beyond the seas, as
the supreme Masonic authority in Utah, and it has up to this day maintained its
position as such, and although small in Lodges and membership, is looked upon
as one of the best Grand Lodges on the face of the globe.
Since its organization the Grand Lodge has chartered five more Lodges
in the Territory of Utah, viz: Story Lodge No. 4, at Provo, October 8th,
1872; Corinne Lodge No. 5, at Corinne, November nth, 1873; Weber Lodge
No. 5, at Ogden, November 12th, 1874; Uintah Lodge No. 7, at Park City,
November 24th, 18S0; and St. John's Lodge No. 8, at Frisco, Jaimary iSth, 1882.
These eight Lodges had at the close of the year 1885, a membership of 482, and
llieir cash in the treasuries and value of properties amounted to ^20,607. For
charitable purposes the Grand Lodge since its organization and the eight Lodges
have expended ^22,159.50, which shows that the Masons of Utah practice what
they teach.
The following is a list of the Grand Masters of the Grand Lodge of Utah
since its organization :
O. F. Strickland, R. H. Robertson, Louis Cohn, C. W. Bennett. E. P.
Johnson, J. M. Orr, John S. Scott, Thomas E. Clohecy, Frank Tilford, P. H.
Emerson, William F. James, James Lowe, Parley L. Williams. On the 7th day
of October, 1S72, Christopher Diehl was elected Grand Secretary, who has held
the office ever since.
MASONIC LIBRARY.
Soon after the election of Christopher Diehl as Grand Secretary, he formed
the idea of establishing a Masonic Library, and devoted himself to collecting
books upon Masonic subjects and upon the history of Utah and Mormonism. The
Grand Lodge assisted him liberally with funds, so that in November, 1874, there
were on the shelves 179 volumes. But this alone did not suit his taste. A general
library was needed in Salt Lake City, and in this opinion he found a companion
in Grand Master C. W. Bennett, who, in his annual address in 1875, ^^^'^ '■
"At present most of our books treat of Masonic subjects, and it would be
hard to find a more complete collection. An extension of the plan will soon
make the library embrace books of Science and general literature, with history,
biography and the like. If you will take the scheme to your good Masonic
hearts, and fasten it, I can foresee that the lime will speedily come when Brethren
who may be among us, far from the sacred influences of happy homes, seeking
APPENDIX. ig
fortunes in our Rocky Mountain treasure vaults, and our own ycung men who are
liable to the thousand temptations of the frontier life, may be shielded from evil
by the kindly influences which our library of the future may offer them. But
should you think this, my vision, too highly tinted with the rosy hue, you will
agree that every Mason should industriously store his mind with useful knowledge,
and that so far as we can, we should encourage all to do so, and render all the aid
in our power to that end."
These sentiments of Brother Bennett were the opinion of the Grand Libra-
rian at the founding of the library, and their echo produced the greatest happiness
in his heart and mind. But owing to the limited room at the Masonic Hall the
suggestion of Brother Bennett, though well received and approved by the Grand
Lodge, could not be carried into effect. The five Masonic Bodies at Salt Lake
City, in renting their present hall, secured with it a large room on the second
floor of the building, designing it for a library and reading room.
With this addition the library project received a new impetus. The former
Ladies' Library Association donated, under certain conditions, for our use over
nine hundred volumes, and a committee appointed by the Grand Lodge, consist-
ing of Brothers Charles W. Bennett, Frank Tilford and Samuel Kahn, collected
in aid of the librory from citizens of this city the large sum of twenty-five hun-
dred dollars. New books were immediately purchased, and on the first of Sep-
tember, 1877, the library was open for the use and benefit of the Craft and gen-
eral public, and kept open two hours every day. At that time the library con-
tained seventeen hundred and sixty-eight books of a general character, and three
hundred and sixty of a Masonic character. The library soon became the pride of
every Utah Mason, and to the honor of the Wasatch, Mount Moriah and Ar-
genta I^odges and Utah Chapter and Commandery be it here recorded, that each
contributed nobly towards its maintenance.
Since its first opening the library has constantly increased. It has added an-
nually from 500 to 700 books, so that it has at the close of the present year, 6,740
volumes of a general character and 772 volumes on purely Masonic subjects. The
library loans out for home reading an average of 1,500 books per month, and is
visited by about 100 persons daily. The character of the books on the shelves
is far superior to many older libraries; the greatest care is taken that none but the
productions of the best authors get there. The collection of books on Mormon-
ism, pro and con, and early Utah publications, such as newspapers, magazines,
etc., cannot be surpassed by any library on this continent or in Europe. Another
specialty is made of books on chemistry and mining for the use of the mining
population in Utah. He also claims that it has an excellent collection of books
on the early settlement of the continent and histories of America and biographies
of its great patriots.
INDEPENDENT ORDER OF ODD FELLOWS.
The first Lodge of the Lidependent Order of Odd Fellows instituted in the
Territory, was Utah No. i, which received its dispensation from the Grand Lodge
of the United States (now the Sovereign Grand Lodge) on the 4th day of May,
1865, the charter members being R. T. Westbrook, Past Grand ; J. M. Ellis, Past
20 HIS2 DRY OF SALT LAKE CITY.
#
Grand; Willard Kittredge, Past Grand; Max Wohlgennith, Fred. Auerbach, T,.
J. Whitney, Cliarles Popper and Joseph E. Merrill. This Lodge struggled along
alone for years, and at one time it was thought the members would have to aban-
don it entirely. In the early j)art of 1S72, however, an application was made for
a dispensation to organize Salt Lake Lodge No. 2, with the following charter mem-
bers : William Haydon, Past Grand Master, W. A. Perkins, A. Leebes, Past Grand,
E. M. Barnum, Past Grand Master, and H. A. Reid. This Lodge was duly insti-
tuted on the twenty-eiglilh day of March, 1S72, under and by authority of the
Grand Lodge of the United States. \\\ the following year Jordan Lodge, No. 3,
was brought to life witli the following charter members: William Samson, Julius
Jordan, Fred. G. Willis. Alexander Czoniser, George Arbogast and A. J. Kent,
Past Grand. This Lodye w,as duly instituted on the seventeenth day of Novem-
ber, 1873, '^y '^'^^ same authority as the preceding Lodges. The order now having
been firmly planted, tlie advisability of forming a Grand Lodge was taken into
consideration — the three lodges above mentioned being att:'ched to the Grand
Lodge of Nevada for working purposes made it somewhat inconvenient. The fol-
lowing year, 1874, brought Corinne Lodge, No 4, into existence., which was in-
stituted on the 27th of February, when the Past Grands petitioned the Grand
Lodge of the United States for a charter to establish a Grand Lodge in this Ter-
ritory. The petition was received and a dispensation granted, and the Grand
Lodge of Utali was duly instituted on the twenty- ninth day of June, 1874, by
special Deputy Grand Secretary J. C. Hemingray, Fred. H Auerbach being the
first Grand Master, William Sampson, Grand Secretary, and J. C. Hemingray the
Representative to the Grand Lodge of the United States. Since the institution of
the Grand Lodge of the Territory, the order has been steadily increasing. At the
close of the year 1885, there were eight subordinate or w^()rking lodges, namely:
Utah No. I, Salt Lake City; Salt Lake No. 2, Salt Lake City; Jordan No. 3,
Salt Lake City; Union No. 6, Ogden ; Park City No. 7, Park City; Olive Branch
No. 8, Park City ; Ridgely Lodge No. 9, Salt Lake City, and Bingham Lodge
No. 10, Bingliam. These lodges have an a^rgregate membership of nearly five
hundred. They are under the jurisdiction of the Grand Lod'4e of Utah, which
meets annually on the third Tuesday in April. It is formed of representatives
from the subordinate lodges, at present numbering forty-two. Tiiis grand body has
control of the order here directing its affairs.
KNIGH IS OF PYTHIAS.
On the 15th day of February, 1S64, a number of gentlemen assembled for
the jiurpose of organizing or founding a society to be of a secret character, its ul-
timate object being friendship, charity and benevolence, and on the i6'li of Feb-
ruary, 1864, the first member of the order took the obligation and ouh of brother-
hood. The first Lodge and Order was instituted February 19th, 1S64, at Wash-
ington, D. C; the first Grand Lodge on April 8th, 1S65. The Supreme Lodge
of the Knights was organized and established as the head of liie order, the nth
day of August, 1868. During the years 1867 and 1868, Lodges were instituted in
several States, and it has continued to spread until it has obtained a footing in
every civilized quarter of the globe. In August, 1877, at the session of the Su-
APPENDIX. 21
|.reme Lodge, held at Cleveland, Ohio, an Endowment Rank was adopted. The
object of this rank is to secure to families of deceased members of the rank a
sufficient sum to keep them from immediate want. The Endowment fund has paid
to families of deceased Knights in five years, ending March 3d, 1884, $2,135,936.
The nun>lier of policy holders March, 1S84, was 26,947. The Uniform Rank
shows a membership of 4,3^9 Sir Knights. The total membership of the order is
139,230, and they have a surplus in the exchequer of ^i, 427, 624. 06.
There are 43 Grand Lodges, 1,866 subordinate Lodges and 82 subordinate
Lodges under control of the Supreme Lodge, with a total membership of 139,230.
The last report shows that the subordinate Lodges in the Grand jurisdiction have
a surplus of $408,904.25, and those under the 'Supervision of the Supreme Lodge,
$18,719.81; cash held in the exchequer's hands of the subordinate and Grand
Lodges is $1,235,591.61, making a total of $1,427,624.06.
THE DESERET UNIVERSITY.
In 1S50, on the 2Sth of February, the Legislature of the provisional State
passed an ordinance incorporating the University of the State of Deseret. The
charter designated Salt Lake City as the location of the institution, and vested its
powers in a chancellor and a board of twelve regents, to be elected annually by
the joint vote of both houses of the general assembly. A treasurer was also pro-
vided in the same way, while the board was empowered to elect its own secretary.
The chancellor was made the chief executive officer of the board.
During the same session of the Legislature, the first chancellor, board of re-
gents and treasurer were elected. They were Orson Spencer, as chancellor ; Dan-
iel Spencer, Orson Pratt, John M. Bernhisel, Samuel W. Richards, W. W. Phelps,
Albert Carrington, VVm. P. Appleby, Daniel H. Wells, Robert L. Campbell,
Rosea Stout, Elias Smith and Zerubbabel Snow, as regents, and David Fullmer,
as treasurer.
The first meeting of the board of regents was held March 13th, 1850. At
this meeting James Lewis was elected secretary, and three members were appointed
as a committee to select, in connection with the Governor, a site for the university
building, and also locations for primary school buildings.
By an act of the Legislature approved October 4th, 1851, the chancellor and
board of regents were authorized to appoint a superintendent of primary schools
to be under their supervision and discretionary control, and to award him such
salary for his services, at the expense of the Territory, as they might deem expe-
dient; provided, such salary should not exceed one thousand dollars per annum.
On the second Monday of November following its incorporation, the Uni-
versity was for the first time opened for the reception of students under the name
of the ''Parent School." Doctor Cyrus Collins, A. M., a sojourner in the Ter-
ritory on his way to California, was employed under the supervision of the chan-
cellors to ti\-e immediate charge of the school.
The Parent School commenced on Monday, November nth, at Mrs. Pack's
house. Seventh Ward, under the direction and supervision of Professor Orson
Spencer.
The second term of the Parent School was advertised to begin on Monday,
22 HISTORY OF SALT LAKE CITY.
the 17th of F'ebruary, 1851, in the upper room of the State House, afterwards
known as the Council House.
Dr. Collins had retired from the school and Chancellor Orson Spencer and
Regent W. W. Phelps assumed the role of instructors. The school opened with
about forty pupils. Both male and female pupils were now admitted to the school.
The price of tuition had been reduced from eight dollars to five per quarter.
The third term opened October 27th, 185 1, in the Thirteenth Ward school
house under the same general management and tuition, with the exception that
Professor Orson Pratt had been added to the corps of instructors, and that as-
tronomy and the higher mathematics were included in the course of study.
October 4th, 1851, the Legislative Assembly passed an act making it the duty
of the chancellor and board to appoint a superintendent of common schools, to
be under their supervision and discretionary control, and to award him such salary
for his services, at the expense of the Territory, as they might deem expedient ;
provided, such salary should not exceed one thousand dollars per annum. Elias
Smith was first appointed to this office, which he continued to hold till July ist,
1856, when he was succeeded by Wm. Willis, who was then appointed superinten-
dent by the chancellor and board of regents. Mr. Willis continued to act in this
capacity until he was succeeded by the appointment of Robert L. Campbell in
1S62. Mr. Campbell continued to hold the office under the appointment of the
chancellor and board of regents until 1866, when a new, or revised school law
left the University without further dictation or control in common school matters.
Owing to the immature condition of the finances of the University and the
limited patronage the parent school received, it was discontinued at the close of
its fourth term in the spring of 1852. From that time until December, 1867, the
University had no department of instruction or school specially its own.
On the 27th of November, 1867, Mr. David O. C'alder was elected by the
board of regents to reorganize the department of instruction and to act as its
principal. The school was opened the following month, December, and con-
ducted chiefly as a commercial college till in February, 1869, when Mr. Calder
resigned his position as principal. At a meeting of the board of regents held on
the ist day of March following, Doctor John R'. Park was elected to succeed Mr.
Calder in the management of the school and as its principal.
Under the superintendence of Doctor Park, the school was reorganized on a
new and more extensive basis, including in its curriculum of studies, scientific
and classical instruction. The school opened for the reception of students March
8th, 1869. Five courses of studies were provided ; namely, preparatory, com-
mercial, normal, scientific and classical. The school opened with encouraging
patronage, the number of students amounting to two hundred and twenty-three
during the first year, or rather for a semester of two terms, endmg in July. This
patronage was divided chiefly among the preparatory, the commercial and the
scientific courses. The classical course received but a limited patronage, being
too advanced in general, for any preparation found among the students, and the
business of teaching had not attained sufficient prominence as a profession, or a
permanent or profitable calling, to encourage many to make it an object of special
training.
APPENDIX.
23
The University had nearly five hundred vohimes of books. Though these
were not select nor standard in their character, yet they served as a nucleus of a
library. To thfs collection, Doctor Park added his private library, consisting of
two thousand standard and miscellaneous works, which, together with those of the
University, at the beginning of the academic year, in the fall of 1869, were
made accessible to the students of the University.
The private cabinet of Dr. Park was also placed at the service of the institu-
tion and proved a valuable adjunct to illustration in the department of science.
At the beginning of the second year, a model school, as it was called, was
organized with the double purpose of supplying a graded course of study, that
might fit pupils for entering the more advanced courses in the institution, and
to afford the means of exhibiting the best methods of teaching, discipline and
classification in connection with the normal course of the University. The model
school was divided into three departments, a primary, intermediate, and acad-
emic, having three grades each. It proved to be a valuable adjunct to the
University. •
The number of students was more than doubled the second year, aggregating
546, of whom 307 were males and 239 females. At this time a literary society,
the Delta Phi, was organized among the students, having for its object a theoreti-
cal and practical training of its members in oratory, debate, declamation, com-
position, parliamentary rules and order. Also a literary journal was published this
year by the students, named the College Lantern.
During the third academic year, 1870-1, the number of students of the Uni-
versity had increased to 580' with a slight excess of females.
On the 15th of September, 1876, the school was removed from the building
it had occupied since 1S67, known as the Council House, to a building in the
Seventeenth Ward, of the city, known as the Union Academy building, where it
continued till the fall of 1884.
The normal department of the University, established in 1875, immediately
» grew into popular favor and became in every way a success. Thirty-six graduates
received diplomas the first year. In 1S79, a successful effort was made to re-es-
tablish a graded or model school under the auspices of the University, in connec-
tion with this department.
At the session of the Legislature in 1879-80, an effort was made by the chan-
cellor and board of regents to secure an appropriation with which to purchase
suitable grounds, and to erect thereon a building for University purposes. The
effort was partly successful, and the sum of ^20,000, was appropriated for the ob-
jects named. This amount being scarcely more than sufficient to purchase the nec-
essary grounds, an appeal was made to the municipal council of Salt Lake City for
aid in this direction. The result was a generous donation to the institution for
University purposes of the finest public square in the city.
The appropriation from the Legislature, or the greater part ot it, was imme-
diately expended towards the erection of the new building, which it raised to the
height of the basement story. It was confidently expected that an amount suffi-
cient to complete the building would be appropriated by the Legislature at its next
session in 1881 2, but a bill for that purpose failed to receive the Governor's
24 HIS TOR V OF SAL T LAKE 017 Y.
approval. By loans and voluntary contributions from citizens, a sufficient amount
was raised to erect the entire walls and roof the building in, and to prepare two
rooms in it to accommodate a large class of students during the winter of 1883-4.
It was again hopefully expected that a legislative appropriation would come to the
relief of the institution in 1883-4, and not only reimburse those citizens who had
so generously contributed to aid the institution, but to provide a sufficient fund to
complete the structure. Executive disapproval, however, of a bill for that pur-
pose again left the school without its much needed support. A portion of the
new building, however, v>ras put in a condition to be occupied by the school at the
beginning of the academic year,^ 1884-5.
HOT SPRINGS.
The Hot Springs, situated four miles from Salt Lake Cit]^, is probably the
most wonderful spring in the world on account of its medicinal qualities. It is
the essence of mineral water itself. The spring furnishes three hundred gallons
per minute. It oozes out of a bluff of rocks and runs thence into the Hot
Springs Like, which is a beautiful sheet of water, three-cjuarters of a mile in width
by two miles in length, averaging a depth of three feet; and it is well stocked
with fish. The lake is a distance of about two hundred yards from the spring,
and a liiile nearer the D. & R. G. and Utah Central railroads, as well as the
county road leading from Salt Lake City to the northern country.
The facilities for bathing m the Hot Springs baths are superior to any in the
West. There is a plunge bath 30 by 75 feet, erected with commodious dress-
ing rooms. There is also a large private plunge bath, 40 by 80, with twelve
private plunges, 10 by 10, with nicely furnished dressing rooms connecting with
the plunges. These are in constant use for ladies, families and invalids ; and Le-
t,ides these there are a great number of top baths.
The hotel accommodations are first class in every respect, and, no doubt, in
a short time, it will be constantly crowded with visitors to these already famous
baths; and invalids fiom all parts of the world will find, for awhile, a restful
iiome at Beck's hotel, with restoration of health and prolongation of life, through
the medicinal virtues of his Hot Springs baths. Already wonderful cures have
been effected by bathing in and drinking of these waters, especially in rheumatism,
paralysis, kidney complaints and skin diseases.
The bottling of the water is one of the great features of the Hot Springs es-
tablishment. The finest bottling machinery in Salt Lake City has been put in a
very commodious building, at the Hot Springs, for the bottling of the mineral
waters in the shape of a seltzer and Hot Springs' ginger ale, as well as soda water,
sarsjiparilla and various kinds of mineral water, which supersedes in quality any
mineral waters that have been put upon the market. As far as Beck's bottled
preparations of the Hot Springs waters have been tried, they meet with universal
approval, and orders are being sent in daily from all directions East and West.
Thus prepared, the waters are very palatable as a beverage, both as a table water
and for medicinal purposes.
APPENDIX. ^-5
Up in the hills, half a mile from Beck's Hot Springs establishment, there is
a beautiful cold spring, which is piped down to the bath, furnishing debc.ous fresh
water, cold as ice. . , ,
The whole grounds of the Hot Springs is a natural pleasure resort, provided
with every facility for recreation and health. Six flowing wells have already been
struck and are used to irrigate lawns and shade trees, which have been planted out
by the thousands. On the lake there are a number of row and sail boats, which
add to the picturesque view of the scene and surroundings, and give variety and
zest to the pleasures and revivification sought by visitors to this already famous su-
burban resort of our city.
\nd connected with Beck's establishment proper, besides the accomodations
already named, there are commodious shades erected with dancing floors for
dancing and excursion parties. On the premises are a bar room, lunch stand, bil-
liard tables and refreshment arrangements in general. , , , ,
For accommodation of visitors to the Springs a livery stable has been opened
at Salt Lake City especially for the Hot Springs traffic, and a line of coaches,
bu.gies and carriages are running every hour of the day regularly to and rom
the Springs at twenty-five cents the round trip. The regular trains to and from
the city also stop at the Springs. r.u^,^
Taking into consideration the wild nature of the surroundings of those
Springs six months ago, when Mr. John Beck purchased the property, a wonder
has been wrought. A city has already been started, and a vast amount of money
has been spent in improvements. This place will be the coming sanitarmm of the
West • for no doubt the Hot Springs is destmed to become one of the principal
resorts of America, on account of its altitude and the wonderful Salt Lake, which
is situated only four miles from the Springs, from which a canal to the lake has
been opened for boarders at Beck's Hot Springs hotel. ,..,,,
That which has been accomplished at the Hot Springs location, in the short
space of these six months, by Mr. Beck and his aids, greatly interests the public
,n the prospective growth and permanent fame of the place. It is evident that
our enteprising citizen is infusing into this Hot Springs adventure, s.mi ar expan-
sive ideas and purposes, that have made him one of the foremost in the mining
operations of our Territory. He has designed a large number of cottages fot
families visiting these Springs for their health ; and they are now in process oi
erection. A large hotel, on the latest improved style, will also be e-cted on an
elevated piece of ground, which will aff-ord a grand view o the Great Salt L ke
and the surrounding country. Thus is the prospect daily expandmg ; and the
Hot Springs pleasure resort bids fair to be known far and near not only for tf
healing w^aters and its revivifying influences generally, but as a beautiful suburban
village of the parent "City of tV.e Great Salt Lake."
25 APPENDJX.
THE UNION NATIONAL BANK.
Tne Union National Bank is the natural outgrowth of the once familiar bank
of Walker Brothers. In the early days of Utah's history many banks were opened
from time to time, and in the course of events one after another closed from the
chief fact that the originators were not actual residents of the Territor); while
ihey had certain business to watch and care for, their real homes and interests
were outside of the Territory, and the natural result was that the banks started by
men who were not thoroughly identified and their whole interests centered in
Salt Lake and the various enterprises of the Territory, when the time came they
silently folded their tents and stole away. The conditions were different, how-
ever, with men whose aims were to found a home and to become first and fore-
most in all of the pursuits and enterprises of a growing country, and developing
its resources; men who were not afraid to risk their capital, expend their energies
in the opening up of the industries of this vast domain of our country. Such
men were the founders of the house of Walker Brothers.
From a mercantile business they branched into a private banking business,
also put in capital in a liberal and lavish manner, for the development of Utah's
greatest wealth, the mines; and, as is well known, they first made it possible to work
the mines of Utah by opening up a market in a foreign country for the first ores
extracted in quantities, at a time when there were no reduction works for silver-
lead ores in the United States. After a successful business career of a quarter of
a century the house of Walker Brothers, including their immense business of bank-
ing, mining and mercantile and its various branches, concluded to wind up and
go into liquidation and divide up their capital. Ambition and the natural aim of
mankind, however, to be doing something, was not yet dampened in the breasts of
some of the members of the firm and a desire to perpetuate a business laid on so sure
a foundation caused some of them to organize a National Bank, with ample capi-
tal ; hence it is seen that while the Union National Bank is comparatively a new
institution, organized February 19th, 1885, under the National Banking Act, yet
its foundation was commenced twenty-seven years ago, when the Territory was
young, far away from civilization, and it may be said that the growth o^ the Ter-
ritory and of the subject in hand went side by side.
In fact such is history, whether applied to animate or inanimate subjects. An
institution like the Union National Bank, having such deep root, is sure of suc-
cess and commends itself silently and surely to all. When the bank was contem-
plated, not only financial strength was considered, but science and mechanical
skill was brought to bear to make it safe against the common enemies of all
moneyed institutions, and that is, burglars and thieves. The result was the erec-
tion of immense Safe Deposit and Bank Vaults for the use of all who desire to avail
themselves of a place to deposit their money and valuables. Hundreds of boxes
of various sizes and suited to the wants of the poorest and richest, wherein to de-
posit their treasures in safety and known only to themselves. These vaults were
I
THE SKFETY DEPOSIT VRULTS
OF THE
Union I^aWonal Bant^
V
/(
UNION NATIONAL BANK. ^7
..u . .e. «pe„se and a. -^^::^^^ ::r:^:^
of iron and sleel alone being u.ed in the "'^'™« > f^^ „, tuilt on
b.a and cedent .o n.aUe .he sa^e «re p^o T e a. „o ^^^ ^^^^ ^^^^ ^^^^^^
r.;:rt.=rre;To:;:an.and^^
The Union National, while new ,„ name ,s old .n growth, >"^; ''^^^
sister banks th.ongnont the country and f^^^^^^^^lZ.
only locally bnt ^^^^^^^^ ^-:^^:^Xl^XZ^ ^^^ I-Ho. gives
,n the Territory of Utah, ^he acco^npany g ^^^ ^^ ^^ thoroughly
some idea of the masstveness a^rd '=°" ™;"°' °' ,, ^i„ ,pp,eciate these safety
appreciated it must be seen a,rd ^^^f ^, J ^^P^/ „, „o,es,'bonds, mortgages,
deposit vaults ,n t,me and use "'™ "/^^^^ J ,„, „„„,Ues of all k.nds.
•n ^,^A r^tlipr naners as well as diaraouus, jcwv.ii_)'
"■"%t ut: ^Na^tional Ban. has a ^^^^^f-^:ZJ::Zi
all accessible points, and the returns are promptly made as
special attention to the sales of ore and bullion.
Its correspondents are: ,1 P,„l,. Chicaeo, First National
New York, Importers' and Traders' National Ban . L*-.^. Denver, Ger-
Bank; Omaha, Omaha National Bank, C°>-«--' ^^^ ""/'^'^ "'V. . National
man National Bank; Helena, F-Vfational Bank Bu City ^^^^^,^^,^^
Bank; San Francisco, B-^^,° ,,^» X' j ,^0 Eutpe, including London.
It draws exchange on all the leadin„ <=' Boulogne, Genoa, Berne,
Dublin, Edinburg, Glasgow, Pans, Havre, ^°'^l'"'''2Z B ussels, Luxum-
Lucerne, Zurich, Florence, Milan, Naples, ^^^'^f ";;2'„ .e™ Go henburg,
bourg, Amsterdam, Rotterdan. C-.tia.a Bergen ^tava^ g^^. ^^^^^^^^_
Stockholm, Malme, Copenhagen, St. P""''""?' "' ' , ^ g„„^„ States.
""' b"r :" jt:;rw;iket Samuel S. walker Matthew H. Walker, Ben-
jarrin Raybould, Morton J. Cheesman, Joseph R. Walker, Jr.
28
HISTORY OF SALT LAKE CITY.
THE DESERET NATIONAL BANK.
Hills, (Cashier). """'"S^, Jota Sharp, Faramorz Little, Lewis S.
Nation fZlT^" '"■ :"'• ""^ ^""^ °f °'='<^--'^' «= ^"cceeded by the Desere,
Nat onal Bank orgamzed under the National Bank act of the U S i ,
;^e b:„, re°ai„4^:;: Dt't^^sLir^'r^rS " T "1""^ ''
William H. HooDcr On th. w r t ^"^^^eeded in the presidency by
eiected Director Jfil; ^l^!:.':: ;;::!• ^'J^^ Q. Cannon, was
uary .jth, ,8So, Nicholas Grcesbeck was elec ed Dir c^L ,1 .""T J"""
George Q. Cannon, who was absent from the Terriforv fin '° """"'i ""= H°".
the Utah Delegate to Congress, ' "« ''■" P"''''"= """<== ^'i
S. E,rdg"as"p3;!,f ",?:"''" -^r"' "'^' ="" "-^ ^■-"'■^•i "^ Horace
^assnccefde^^r^lrorzl^tt-ra^r^SLT'"^" ''""""' '"'-' "^
The present Board and officers are—
Assistant Cashier. oroesbeck, L, S. Hills, Cashier; J. T. Little,
The Desere. National Bank was U. S. Depository from ,88, to ,886.
Financial statement :
Capital, 5200.000 ; Surnlus FiinrI <s->r^r. ^..^ r\
Dividends 5 per cent, per qt^rter. ' "'°"'' ''"'^' S'.°-,ooo.
.t=: „ d^i~c:;::i r r:":;tr --^^^^-^^
means are nearly as valua'hle 'as rea^ r^L T Tiirb:!:;-"'""^^"' ''"'
Zion, therefore, may be esteemed as one'of .he s^lidl „ u„1.eTs.r " ,"'
far as ,ts name-Deseret National Bank-signifies it reo esentf ,h t
community. =o""ies, it represents the Mormon
DESERET NATIONAL BANK
SALT LAKE CITY.
APPENDIX
2g
THE ONTARIO MINE.
himself a. ist inci Worn a H ' f""''' f""' f"""""'? "« -owd, l:e found
of the Gold'e„\ea.e : d he Sre sTaTeVo ' "'"^ '= ™-^d over the hi„s
Utah about .he vear i8,; I, H , , >'"'■''' ^"^ at last found himself in
by the run,ots:f^:L\'*L^t :X I'h Tn'd '-.f ^he"? °V'^ ^^t "™™^ ^"''
Parley's Parle and for a l„n„ ,i , , Territory. He drifted to
One day, re.u n,n! from a b "'' '""^ '" ""' ""-y»'ithout success.
-. thrt'iut.:™ '::. z^z::^''\r:;:z ''\ --r^ '-' -
ing upon/, and next morni g t y 1^ t vorl Thi " T'''']' ™"" ^'"'■
on the great ™ine. The humWe 'pros c tori wer; J r^ir ^^e '"T7 "t
yer vault which contained millions of treasure h!t H ^ '" ""^ * '"'
only a small portion was to be fo ht> Vhe; 'h v iT 'T "T' '"'""''' '"^
holding out and widening, they ofl-et^\l e rt ' ^ oT "^^^l,' '""-^°^-^
purchasers, so the work was continued, and', as 'the p™s ; Lwe betTeTa::
better, they continued lo advance the price until Al r ' .; "" '^^"" ""'^
drawn to it and secured a fifteen days' bond on L " "" ""^ °'''"' '""'
IS its owners gave a writing that f rfi , ,u t ^'"^"'^ '°' fe°.°°°-'h«
.hemthesunfof ,3o,rc L^-rr; ::pr:reny"'it^;:- tt:t^^
Te- h;T:::.°"rrfti:r:rMr'rr :f"-^7?
Montana-who had seen the prospec't^d" "^r G^ hI; t^ftn"? ''"' °'
.-:ratrr.trt-:;::t'';:r:rr; -i'?. r '" r?^^
Hearst visited the claim, w'hich was tteTop c nl/b/rcu "si '"fi.''r''"'H'
Jhree fee. deep, took some specimens and «nt to SaU Lai Cit^ I t a 't™
R. C Chambers, who was managing the Webster and Bully Boy mines „ M '
vale District, in ,he interest of Hearst and himself went ud in <i i ^"
his partner and Hearst mentioned to him that he haJb t te"^- loot t"-''! ^ Zl
hmg called t e " Ontario " at Parley's Park. Chambers did loo and h pa
I ced eye at a glance took in the possibilities of the find. He be»an nuie n
■ations for a purchase, but in the meantime it was discoveredlhatr vas X
friend of Geo Hearst, and the owners at once raised the price so hi.h th,Vrh
bers retired from the field. But he never relinquished Tpiirpose He pic^^d
.JO HISTORY OF SALT LAKE CITY.
up a friend and sent him as a stranger to secure the property. In the meantime
the bond to Guiwits had been given. By careful managemtnt the stranger se-
cured a bond for ten days, to take effect at the expiration of Guiwits' bond, and
on the 24th of August, 1872, the prospect was purchased by Hearst and Chambers
for $30,000. Twelve days later Chambers, with a force of fifteen men, began work
on the mine, and that work has never stopped for a moment since, and never has
had any other superintendent than R. C. Chambers. The first work was to build
a log cabin : the first nights superintendent and men slept under a pine tree on
the ground, but never had sleep been sweeter than that which came to the super-
intendent there. For just twenty years had he battled for a fortune in the West,
and now he felt in every nerve of his body that the anxiety was over and that his
fortune was secure. No one knows the benediction of that thought who has not
experienced it. There is enough in it to make the ground more elastic than a
spring bed ; to make the stone which does duty as a pillow seem softer than
down.
But while the anxiety was over, he knew that the work was but just begun.
He knew that he was on the crest of a mountain 8,000 feet above the sea, that
there a mining plant must be established, that a stubborn mine and evidently a wet
one — for it was in quartzite and quartzite fissures are invariably great water
carriers — was to be opened and worked. But his heart was light, for work never
kills. It is only care of the heart-breaking kind that does that. Slowly and cau-
tiously he proceeded, every new development showing a greater and greater prop-
erty. In November the surveys for a patent were made and the patent secured in
September, 1873. I'"' January, 1874, under the old law, the mine was incorpor-
ated in San Francisco. The capital stock ,was placed at $5,000,000, in 50,000
shares, with J. B. Haggin president and treasurer, Wm. Willis secretary, R. C.
Chambers, superintendent, and Haggin, Hearst and others directors. No stock,
however, was issued. In the meantime $180,000 had been expended upon the
mine and only $41,000 had been returned from the mine from ores that had been
sold. But the ore had accumulated to a great mass and many breasts of ore,
ready for stoping, had been exposed, so the old McHenry mill, of 20 stamps, was
leased and set in motion. The mill was a wet crushing mill, adapted only for free
milling ores. From the surface the Ontario ores have been rebellious : the mill
was rot adapted to its reduction ; it was moreover an old mill requiring continued
repairs and all the results were unsatisfactory. After a fair trial it was given up
and the Marsac Mill was leased. This was also a wet crushing mill, and not to
exceed So per cent, of the precious metal in the ore could be saved in it. Still,
in these two mills, 16,000 tons of ore were reduced and $900,000 was saved. In
1876, the mine had so greatly developed that a new incorporation was decided
upon, with capital stock and shares doubled. In the meantime the Ontario had
grown famous. While this work was going on the Ontario mill had been placed
under construction. In the building of it every resource of the inventor, en-
gineer and mechanic, D. P. Bell, assisted by the experience of the Coast, was
exhausted, and the consequence is that it is still hammering away and doing as
good work as any mill on the continent.
The pay roll of the mine for labor, which begun at $1,140 per month, has
APPENDIX. J J
increased to ^50,000 per month, until 2,000 people draw their daily support di-
rectly from mine and mill. The outside expenses, which were less than $500 at
first, have increased until during some months $60,000 has been paid, which has
supported quite as many more people. Thus the mine is a providence to all the
people near it.
It is hard to describe the work which has been necessary to keep this prop-
erty going. The water very near the surface began to be a troublesome factor.
Steam pumps were resorted to, at first six inch Knowles pumps. As depth was
attained the flow of the water became stronger and more pumps were ordered.
At length, seeing that it was only a question of time when the mine would have
to be abandoned because of the water, unless something more effectual was done,
a tunnel was commenced to tap the vein 600 feet deep. That tunnel was drivers
5,765 feet to the shaft, at an expense oi $22 per foot, and though driven night and
day it required two years to complete it. The water meantime increased until
it discharged 7,000 gallons per minute. The pumps were increased in size and
number until the manufacturers made, expressly for the company, larger pumps
than they had ever manufactured before, and twenty-three of these pumps were
ceaselessly at work to drain the river which flowed into the fissure. Fearing that the
water would flood the mine before the tunnel could bs completed, a three com-
partment shaft was begun and a Cornish pump of 2oinch plungers and lo-foot
stroke was got in position and the great shaft was driven down as swiftly as pos-
sible. It was a life and death struggle with the water for the possession of the
mine, but pluck and money won the battle. The tunnel reached the shaft and
drained the mine to the 600-foot level, and the water below that was but play for
the great Cornish pump. The machinery is now prepared and in position to sink
3,000 feet. The mine is opened 1,000 feet deep and has paid in dividends up
to this writing— July i8th, 1886—^7,000.000. The main ore chute of the On-
tario is 1,400 feet in length of continuous pay ore. No other such ore chute was
ever found in all the history of mining. As no one has ever yet seen an ore body
that was not as deep as it was long, the future of the Ontario for many years is
assured. Inasmuch, too, as the water is under perfect control, the expense of
working in future will be greatly lessened. It is altogether a wonderful mine.
When Haggin, Tevis and Hearst advanced the first ^30,000 purchase money they
looked upon it as purely a gamble. They have received that money back two
hundred times and every month the mine pays in dividends more than double
what it originally cost. The chief owners are wide awake enterprising men, the
proof is that since the purchase of the Ontario they have spent more than
$1,000,000 in prospecting and mining in other districts in Utah and Idaho,
The yield of the Ontario has been over $15,000,000 and the mine has paid in
dividends over $7,000,000.
ROBERT CRAIG CHAMBERS.
It is said that a shepherd boy, tending his flock high up among the cliffs of
the Andes, one day saw something glittering in the rocks, and, prying it out,
carried it to the owner of the flock, who pronounced it silver. The boy had
taken it from the outcrop of what proved to be the famous Potosi ore channel
j2 HISTORY 01 SALT LAKE CITY.
which, in the next 250 years, gave to the world $2,000,000,000, and which still
yields $2,250,000 per annum. What the shepherd boy was to the Potosi, Her-
man Budden was to the Ontario. Doubtless in the old Spanish archives will be
found the name of some man who took charge of the lofty mountain crest; built
roads to it; opened it out, gave to it a working system and made it a success; fight-
ing all obstacles until he triumphed, enriching his company and giving to Peru
world-wide fame. What that man was to the Potosi ore channel, R. C. Chambers
has been to the Ontario, and a history of the Ontario without a notice of Cham-
bers, would be the play of Hamlet with the Prince omitted. Mr. Chambers was
born in Lexington, Richland County, Ohio, January 16, 1832. His family came
from Scotland shortly after the Revolution. He grew up, trained to work from
cnildhood, and through that work acquired the discipline and self-reliance neces-
sary to a life-work. When but a lad he determined that there was not more than
enough in the family heritage for his brothers and sisters, and so he bade them
good bye, and turned his facj to the far West. He crossed the Plains, going by
the Soda Springs route, and reached Sacramento, California, in July, 1850. He
at once turned to the mines and did his first work as a miner on Mormon Island,
American River. The next year he followed an excitement to the Upper
Feather River mines, in Plumas County, He lived in Plumas eighteen years.
There he met Judge Goodwin, the accomplished editor of the Salt Lake Tribune
between whom and himself there was formed a lasting friendship. He went there
as a miner. When his sterling worth began to be understood he was elected and
re-elected sheriff, serving two full terms; then he employed his means in mer-
chandizing— that is he sold goods to the miners and bought their gold dust — later
he engaged in both quartz and placer mining until 1869, when he closed up his
business and moved to Nevada. He wandered that State over but could not find
what he desired ; he extended his search as far as Helena, Montana. He finally
made an arrangement with George Hearst, and, as stated above, was managing
the Webster and Bully Boy mines in Southern Utah when the Ontario was discov-
ered and purchased. Since then his life has been a part of that enterprise.
His ability as a mining manager is consummate. He ranks with the fore-
most mine managers of the Coast, and in their field they have distinct per-
sonalities, as much as Vanderbilt, Gould, Huntington and Garrett have as
railroad managers. He has a large, evenly poised head, most prominent in
the organs that give a man endurance, tenacity of purpose, clear sagacity, ad-
ministrative ability, and that judgment which supplies faith and self-reliance.
He has a strong face, which indicates clear judgment, always under the restraint
of the original Scotch caution which has come down from his far-back ancestors.
He is one of the most of ai)proachable of men, and has not changed in face or
manner for twenty years. His monument is the Ontario Mine. A visit to it
shows what R. C. Chambers is better than any pen picture can. When we say
that he started across the plains a poor boy and by his own energies and charac-
ter has accomplished what he has, it is not worth while to extend the description,
for the naked fact carries with it the full story of the courage that falters not;
the industry that never flags; the judgment that never proves false; the self-
reliance that i- enough to control stormy men above ground and rivers of water
APPENDIX. 33
below, and the tenacity of purpose which holds on when hope and faith are both
ready to faint under the burdens put upon them.
It would be A. curious study to try to analyze through what preparation a man
is best fitted to bring out all that is latent within him. Of course discipline is
necessary ; a knowledge of business and of men is necessary to the carrying for-
ward of a great enterprise. But in the case of Chambers it is not improbable
that his life in Plumas County was worth to him more than so many years in the
schools would have been. The high sierras are a wonderful inspiration to a young
mind. Especially was it so in the old flush days. In no place is the mighty moun-
tain range more imposing than in Plumas County. The heights are tremendous;
the rivers are torrents rushing through gorges, the valleys and the forests that
crown the hills are wonderfully beautiful. Everything carries with it a sense of
largeness and power and man grows brave in the presence of the brave pictures
that nature paints. The roads are all grades built on dizzy mountain sides;
where the hills become so precipitious thac roads are impracticable, trails are sub-
stituted ; in winter, in the old days, there was no communication with Califor-
nia's lower valleys except by snow shoes or dog sleds, and at times a mountain
storm would rock those heights like an earthquake; filling the canyons with thirty
feet of snow and causing the great pines to toss their giant arms as waves are
tossed by the winds, and, as waves roar when in fury they meet a headland, so the
gale, making those pines its harp strings, would fill the nights with a diapason as
deep and awe-inspiring as Niagara.
Every day there were new discoveries of gold reported on some river bar, or
gold quartz on some mountain crest ; every day there were calls upon the people's
charities to help some one who was ill, or who in the battling forces around him
had become cowed and had ceased to try ; there were free lessons supplied of every
phase of human life and there were incessant calls upon every latent resource of
brain and heart. At the same time hope was ever whispering in eager ears and
failures did not daunt brave souls, for the belief was omnipotent that the evil
spell could be exorcised ; that the misfortunes of today would make a theme for
jist in the fruition of the morrow.
In summer it was incessant toil; in winter the brightest spirits which all sec-
lions of the Union and of foreign lands could supply, mingled together there.
O, what stories were told; what songs were sung; what hearts of gold drew in-
spiration from each other; what other life had ever half so much of pathos and
of excitement !
The outcome of such a school meant for those who could battle successfully
against its hardships; its joys; its enchantments and its temptations, cool and
steady brains. All the great miners that we know of took lessons in a school like
that. They eai>}y absorbed some of the grandeur, the hope, the pluck the endur-
ance, the patience and the discipline which high mountains give as an inheritance
to the children who love them. Equipped with this schooling, R. C. Chambers
entered the desert looking for something large enough to meet the demands of
his ambition. He found it, and his work on the Ontario shows how high he
graduated in the mountain school.
34 HISTORY OF SALT LAKE CITY.
JUDGE C. C. GOODWIN.
The Salt Lake Tribune is a great newspaper. Published one thousand miles
from the Missouri river and nearly as far from S^n Francisco, ic eich morning
presents the news from all parts of the world.
Its local page is bright, sparkling and keen, and all of its departments are
well sustained, but what has given it fame and influence, is its clear, strong and
incisive editorials. These have made it an authority to the Gentile population,
and caused it to be known throughout the land. They indicate that upon its
force, are men of brains, and that its destiny is shaped and guided by a master-
mind. We therefore call attention to one of the leaders of thought upon the
Pacific slope, and one of the truest friends, and a brave man, Judge C. C. Good-
win, editor-in-chief and part owner of this well known paper. He was born in
the Empire State, that grand commonwealth, that has given so many great men
to the world. He is 54 years of age, and in 1852 he located at Marysville in the
State of California. He first embarked in the lumber business, afterwards he
taught school, and devoted his spare moments to the study of the law.
In 1859, he removed to Plumas County, that region of lofty pines and giant
mountains, where he was admitted to the bar. In those days men's occupations
were sometimes manifold, and while young Goodwin followed the practice of
the law, he also turned an honest penny in mercantile pursuits. In i860 he re-
moved to Washoe, near Virginia City, Nevada, and there he was elected and served
a full term as district judge. He was also a prominent and influential member of
the constitutional convention of that State. He was interested in the develop-
ment of the mineral resources of Nevada, and to him belongs the credit of build-
ing at Eureka the first smelting furnace. This venture proved a success in every
way. In 1874 he became associate editor of the Virginia City Enterprise, which
was then owned by the bonanza kings, Sharon and Mackay. He occupied this
position until 1880, when he removed to Salt Lake and took charge of the
Tribune.
Judge Goodwin has^ charming wife and a family of two children. He is
naturally modest and retiring and possesses a genial and kindly nature. He is a
hater of shams and is fearless and outspoken. Socially he is exceedingly pleasant
and entertaining. He has an inexhaustible fund of anecdote, gathered from the
rich and varied experience upon the Pacific coast. He is a charming after din-
ner talker and is always the life of the social circle. As a writer he is exceed-
ingly versatile. His style ranges from the bitterest sarcasm to the tenderest
pathos. At times he seems to write with gall, and again with the tears of chil-
dren. Running through all his lines there is a vein of poetry. No matter how
rough and broken the groundwork of his composition may seem, there is always
to be found the vein of pure gold. It is no wonder that this is so. His life has
been spent amid men and scenes that bring out the poetry in one's nature. He
has slept under giant trees and watched for the coming of the sun over craggy
APPENDJX. 35
peaks. He has lived the wild romantic life of the miner. He grew up in the
golden days of the Golden State. He has wandered amid the solitudes of nature
and listened to God's voice in the fir trees branches or the thunder that rever-
berated from crag to crag. He graduated with the highest honors from the great
university of nature, and her lessons shine through his every thought. One of
the most beautiful lyric gems in the English language is a poem from his pen,
which first saw light in The Inland Etnpire, published at White Pine, Nevada,
in 1869. [t is so well worthy of preservation and illustrates Judge Goodwin's gen-
ius so admirably that we submit it herewith :
THE PROSPECTOR.
How strangely to-night my memory flings
From the face of the past its shadowy wings,
And I see far bacK through the mist and tears
Which make the record of twenty years ;
From the beautiful days in the Golden State,
When Life seemed taking a lease of Fate ;
From the wond'rous visions of " long ago "
To the naked shade that we call '' now.''
Those halcyon days; there were four with me then —
Ernest and Ned ; wild Tom and Ben.
.Now all are gone ; Tom was first to die ;
I held his hands, closed his glazed eye ;
.\nd many a tear o'er his grave we shed,
As we tenderly pillowed his curly head
In the shadows deep of the pines that stand
Foiever solemn, forever fanned
By the winds that steal through the Golden Gate,
And spread their balm o'er the Golden State.
And the others, too, they all are dead ;
By the turbid Gila perished Ned;
Brave, noble Ernest, he was lost
Amid Montana's ice and frost ;
And Bennie's life went out in gloom
Deep in the Comstock's vaults of doom.
And I am left, the last of all.
And as to-night the cold snows fall.
And barbarous winds around me roar,
I think the long past o'er and o'er —
What I have hoped and suffered, all.
From the twenty years roll back the pall
From the dusty, thorny, weary track,
As the tortuous path I follow back.
In my childhood's home they think me, there
A lailure, or lost, till my name in the prayer
At eve is forgot. Well, they cannot know
That my toil through heat, through tempest and snow,
While it seemed for naught but a portion of pelf.
Was more for them, far more than myself.
Ah well, as my hair turns slowly to snow,
The places of childhood more far-away grow ;
And my dreams are changing ; 'tis home no more
But shadowy hands from the other shore
Stretch nightly down, and it seems as when
I lived with "Tom, Ned, Ernest and Ben.
And the mountains of earth seem dwindling down :
And the hills of Eden, of golden crown
Rise up, and I think in the last great day.
Will my claims above bear a fire assay?
From the slag of earth and the baser stains
Will the cupel of Death show of precious grains
Enough to ensure me a welcome above,
In the temples of Peace, in the mansions of Love ?
J
6 HISTORY OF SALT LAKE CITY.
The history of this poem will be seen in the following correspondence be-
tween editorial gentlemen :
'a literary gem."
' ' To the editGr of the Examiner:
"Sir. — I found the enclosed fragment some years ago at Kanagawa, Japan.
It had evidently been copied in a California paper that had wandered over to the
far East, and was handed to me by an Englishman, who asked me if I had ever
read it complete. I think it is a lyric gem and should be saved from oblivion.
With the hope that some of your numerous readers may have and will publish a
fiilbcopy of the original, I ask that you print it in the Exavmier.
"Jeremiah Lynch."
— San Francisco Examiner, June 20ih.
"THE prospector."
" To the editor of the Examiner :
" Sir. — Through the columns of your paper, with \our permission, I will in-
form your correspondent, Jeremiah Lynch, that the 'literary gem' (;f a poem
entitled 'The Prospector,' which first saw the light of print in the Inland Em-
pire, published at Hamilton, White Pine County, Nevada, is the production of
C. C. Goodwin, now editor of the Salt Lake Iribune, I remember the poem
well, having given out tlie manuscript to compositors myself, I being one of
the publishers of the Inland Empire at that time. The poem first appeared some
time in the latter part of 1869 or early in 1870. I am sorry that I have no copy
of this poem to furnish your correspondent, but doubtless he can obtain one by
addressing the author at Salt Lake City.
"C. A. V. Putman.
"Virginia, (Nev.,) June 23."
— Examiner, June 26.
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