CHAPTER
5
THE COOPERATIVE AND UNITED ORDER MOVEMENT 1 \ | ineteenth-century Mormonism was, in many respects, communitarian. Founder Joseph Smith sought both a religious and economic Utopia that he called Zion—a place where people would be of one heart and one mind, live together in righteousness, and be free of poverty. Brigham Young and Lorenzo Snow embraced this outlook, and once the initial phase of settlement was over they sought to bring the dream of cooperation and unity closer to Zion through what became known as the United Order Movement. Brigham City proved to be an ideal beginning point for the movement that spread throughout Utah and surrounding territories and lasted until well after the death of Brigham Young in 1877. Leonard Arrington tells of the inception of the Brigham City cooperative: "With a city of almost 1,600 inhabitants to provide for, Apostle Snow supervised the organization in 1864 of a cooperative general store. It was his intention to use this mercantile cooperative as the basis for the organization of the entire economic life of the community and the development of the industries needed to make the community self-sufficient."1
