Panoramic
view of Fort Douglas,
1868, looking southwest
toward Salt Lake
Valley.
THE U.S. ARMY OVERLOOKS SALT LAKE VALLEY At the outbreak of the Civil War, the federal government became worried about the safety of the Overland Mail route. With the exception of an enclave of Mormons in Utah and miners in several other areas, the United States was essentially two nations. To the east of Utah, the frontier line stood at about the first tier of states west of the Mississippi River; to the west, settlements and states had been created on the West Coast. The connection between these two areas was, at best, tenuous. Although the wires of the transcontinental telegraph were joined on October 24, 1861, they were menaced, as were the Pony Express and Overland Mail, not by dissident Confederates, but by hostile Indians. The press of wartime conditions forced the government to pull troops from Camp Floyd (renamed Fort Crittenden) in July 1861. In April 1862 President Abraham Lincoln authorized Brigham Young to raise and equip one company of volunteers for 90 days to protect the lines of communication. Led by Captain Lot Smith, a full company of 100 men saw limited service until mustered out in August. This was only a temporary expedient, Leonard Arrington is professor of economics, U t a h State University. Thomas Alexander, assistant professor of history at Brigham Young University, was visiting professor of economic history at U t a h State University at the time the article was written. This is the seventh of a series of articles on the history and economics of defense installations in U t a h , all of which have been supported by grants from the U t a h State University Research Council.
