Book Reviews

Mormon Arts, Volume I. Edited by LORIN F. WHEELWRIGHT and LAEL J. WOOD­BURY. (Provo: Brigham Young University Press, 1972. vii + 88 pp. $13.95.)

Mormon Arts: Volume I deals with the important matter of the cultural impact of Mormonism. The book combines an introduction and six essays on the aesthetics of Mormon art by Lorin F. Wheelwright, general editor, together with samplings of painting, sculpture, music, poetry, prose, drama, and photography selected from the past five Mormon Festivals of Art held at Brigham Young University. Included are forty-five full color plates, eighty-two black and white illustrations, and a stereo recording of musical and dramatic selections. Interspersed throughout the book are statements by the artists whose work is represented.

By way of introduction, Mr. Wheelwright raises the question "Is there a Mormon art?" The answer, he feels, is that at present there is no unique or focused style expressive of Mormonism because, the elements that could compose such a style are now diffused. In keeping with the sanguine tone that permeates much of the book, Mr. Wheelwright feels optimistically that Mormon artists are about to bring the disparate elements together. Mormon culture, he feels, is on the "threshold of development" as a result of the growing awareness of the "spiritual power" of the Mormon religion to "inspire artistic endeavor."

The six essays that follow the introduction attempt to deal in a detailed and technical manner with the aesthetics of Mormon art. The quality of the essays, while coming from the same writer, varies widely as does the subject matter touched upon. The essays range from an outline of the steps to be followed in seeking the aesthetic experience to appreciating the earth as natural art.

Mormon Arts: Volume I is essentially a call to action—an appeal to Mormon artists to use the Mormon view of life as a base for serious artistic creation. While using Mormon artists as a focal point, the book also issues a clear challenge to all Mormons to give artistic expression to their beliefs. Such a cultural call to arms bears a clear resemblance in tone to a similar effort made in 1837 by Ralph Waldo Emerson who called for Americans to express America in art and to stop provincial copying of European taste. It is ironic that in the years immediately after Emerson made his appeal in a speech at Harvard University, Mormons on the frontier became a major force in native American cultural innovation. Taken together, pioneer artists like C. C. A. Christensen (whose work is represented in Mormon Arts), early Mormon achievements in domestic, public, and religious vernacular architecture, and perhaps most importantly the great social experiments practiced by Mormons in the West made Mormonism, however unconsciously, a strong force in nineteenth century American cultural innovation.

This mid-nineteenth century cultural vitality was severely dampened late in the nineteenth century by the attempt to accommodate Monnons to the main stream of middle class America. The continuing accommodation to middle class mores in the twentieth century has created an environment indifferent, if not hostile, to the arts.

Thus, it can be interpreted as a glad sign of developing maturity and confidence that Mormon Arts: Volume I has issued a call for Mormons in general to examine their way of life in terms of its aesthetic and cultural content and for Mormon artists to create a new cultural synthesis for the late twentieth century. One can only hope that it is now becoming possible for such a call to bear fruit.

GIBBS M. SMITH, Kaysville

The Depletion Myth: A History of Railroad Use of Timber. By SHERRY H. OLSON. (Cambridge, Mass.: Harvard University Press, 1971. xvii + 228 pp. $9.00.)

In 1905 President Theodore Roosevelt predicted that timber resources in the United States would be insufficient for future demand and proposed, therefore, that the United States begin to produce timber as a crop in order to increase its output. Roosevelt's advice was not taken; neither did we have a timber famine. How the United States was able to avoid a timber shortage and, by implication, how we might avoid shortages of other natural resources now in short supply is the subject of this timely monograph.

The book proceeds chronologically. Railroad consumption of timber, sources of supply, and public anxiety over feared depletion of the forests are discussed first. Next, the attempts by the railroads to effect economies of scale by consolidation, by materials substitution, and by other methods are discussed, but little is really changed in the timber industry because the price of railroad ties did not rise significantly until the 1890s. Tree farms were established with only mixed success when prices for ties increased thereafter, but by 1910 the railroads were becoming increasingly disillusioned with the depletion theory advanced by the Forest Service. Instead, the railroads concentrated on better wood preservation, better road preparation, and substitutions for wood production.

During the 1920s railroad expansion tapered off, trucks began to compete with railroad shipping, and tie production increased dramatically, largely owing to new and faster-growing sprouts from previously cut stumps. These developments essentially ended the fear of timber shortages. During the Great Depression there was a return to certain modified forms of the depletion theory, but after that depression was over "use" rather than shortages was emphasized.

The final chapter explodes the "myth" of timber depletion and suggests a moral to this story. The "myth" was caused by confusing physical supply with economic supply. That is, we thought there would be a timber shortage because demand was greater than known supplies. But although the physical supply of trees was relatively stable, the economic supply was greatly increased by improved access to timber forests, mechanization of the cutting process, and reversion of large tracts of farm land to forests because of more efficient farming practices. These facts plus an increased substitutability of wood, particularly in bridge building, were the causes of our underestimation of forest productivity. The moral of this story is that we should not view our other natural resources as physically limited so much as a finite product that can be better utilized.

In general this book is well researched, readable, and convincing. It is not a product of the new economic history, nor is it intended to be. Perhaps it would have been a better book if it were, but it would also probably have fewer readers. Some will perceive a mild bias in favor of corporations and a slight tendency to put down the Forest Service. Others will resist the author's attempt to separate moral and aesthetic ecological issues from those discussed in this book. But on the whole Professor Olson has given us a valuable antidote to the widely held belief among the clerisy that business is generally more selfish and less enlightened than government.

JAMES L. CLAYTON, Professor of History, University of Utah

The American Buffalo in Transition: A Historical and Economic Survey of the Bison in America. By J. ALBERT RORABACHER. (Saint Cloud, Minn.: North Star Press, 1970 [1971].' xiii + 146 pp. $6.50.)

The Time of the Buffalo. By TOM MCHUGH. (New York: Alfred A. Knopf, Inc., 1972. xxiv + 339 + xv pp. $10.00.)

These two books illustrate the points of similarity and divergence commonly found in the more recent treatment of the story of the buffalo. Long a familiar theme in western historical writing, Bison bison still attracts a publisher almost every year. Rorabacher's book is small, extensively and attractively illustrated, and written for rapid reading. His chief concern, as his title suggests, is the "decimation," and then rather belatedly, the "conservation" of the American bison. His subtitle, A Historical and Economic Survey of the Bison in America, is accurately descriptive. The book will serve admirably for school use and for the reader w-ho wants a short, fastmoving account of the destruction of the buffalo and the more recent movement to save it from extinction, together with oddments concerning its modern use for food and the future of "cattalo."

McHugh in The Time of the Buffalo presents a highly comprehensive and well-balanced account of the buffalo. He is concerned with the "ancestors and relatives" of the animal, the extent of its range and the earliest reports of its existence. Major attention is given to the value of the bison to the Indians; their methods of hunting; its use for food, clothing, and shelter; and its value as a symbol in native American thought, folklore, and religion. The disaster which overtook the Plains Indians in both their economic and cultural life when the buffalo was so suddenly and completely destroyed is especially well portrayed.

Another major segment, and a valuable contribution to the lore of the buffalo, is the discussion of the biological nature of the animal. Extensive in-the-field research as a part of scientific academic research has enabled the author to contribute new information concerning the individual and group activity of the buffalo and to question a number of previously held theories of long standing. He presents his conclusions quietly, but within the bison fraternity considerable discussion may arise. McHugh acknowledges the assistance of Victoria Hobson in the final presentation of a skillfully organized and readable book.

In his last chapters McHugh picks up the theme of extinction and return which is the center of Rorabacher's book. Other than certain key men, laws, and refuges, the two accounts are widely divergent in the details which are used. They do not disagree, fortunately; they simply choose different incidents to illustrate the development. A reading of both books is useful at this and other points. Both writers have in mind the present emphasis upon conservation and write from a background of astonishment, as well as emphatic disapproval, that an animal so numerous, so hardy, and so important as was the buffalo could have been virtually exterminated within a decade. Both view with approval the vigorous movement by governments and private enterprise to conserve the buffalo for the use and enjoyment of future generations.

MERRILL G. BURLINGAME, Professor of History Montana State University

Anthropology of the Numa: John Wesley Powell's Manuscripts on the Numic Peoples of Western North America, 1868-1880. Edited by DON D. FOWLER and CATHERINE S. FOWLER. Smithsonian Contributions to Anthropology, no. 14. (Washington, D.C: Smithsonian Institution Press, 1971. xiv 4- 307 pp. $3.25.)

John Wesley Powell's contributions to the study and exploration of the American West are many and varied. Especially important was his field work with the aboriginal inhabitants. He collected material when the aboriginal culture was still functioning, an opportunity not presented to the anthropological investigator of the twentieth century. Until the publication of this book, Powell's material was not readily accessible.

Numa was the term Powell used for these people, a word which means "person" or "Indian." Today, they are normally referred to as the Numicspeaking peoples. They live in the Great Basin and surrounding areas, and belong to the far-flung Uto-Aztecan language family. There are three divisions: Western Numic (Mono, Paviotso, Northern Paiute, Bannock), Central Numic (Panamint, Shoshoni, Gosiute, Comanche), and Southern Numic (Kawaiisu, Chemehuevi, Southern Paiute, Ute).

An introduction (pp. 1-34) provides a context for understanding Powell's anthropological work. It includes a short biography, along with information on his expeditions, field methods, manuscripts, and informants. This is followed by a presentation of his material, arranged according to the three major divisions of the Numic speaking peoples. The largest section is on the Southern Numic, reflecting his very intensive work with the Southern Paiute whose language he is reported to have spoken passably well. Three kinds of material are found: ethnographic, linguistic, and mythological.

The ethnographic material includes some of the first notes and observations on kinship terminology, ceremonialism, curing practices, subsistence, leadership patterns, and material culture. His linguistic material consists mostly of word lists written in an orthography that would not be considered adequate today but was surprisingly good for his day. It includes quite a number of terms that are difficult to collect today, such as the names for the months. His mythological material was unfortunately collected entirely in translation, edited and "cleaned up" so as not to offend his nineteenth-century audience.

The book ends with several comparative word lists (including one of the related Hopi language), a twenty- page bibliography, and an index. Scattered throughout are a number of useful maps and early photographs, including some of Hillers's.

The book is well organized and well put together. Don and Catherine Fowler have done us a service by organizing this valuable material, which the anthropologist, ethnohistorian, linguist, and interested amateur will find useful for a number of tasks.

WICK R. MILLER, Associate Professor, Department of Anthropology Linguistics, University of Utah

Soldier in the West: Letters of Theodore Talbot during His Services in California, Mexico, and Oregon, 1845-53. Edited by ROBERT V. HINE and SAVOIE LOTTINVILLE. (Norman: University of Oklahoma Press, 1972. xxvi + 210 pp. $7.95.)

The year was 1845 and the frontier folk of the Ohio and Mississippi valleys fully sensed the expansive mood of the nation. Western travel narratives were in great demand, and the journals of Meriwether Lewis and William Clark, Zenas Leonard, Thomas Jefferson Farnham, and John Charles Fremont were "read and passed from hand to hand for information till worn out." Some deliberated but others acted, and the number of overland immigrants to Oregon and California reached into the thousands. That spring as Fremont and his wife put the finishing touches to the narrative of his second expedition, the "indomitable young man of Benton's manufacture" was already readying the men of the topographical corps for his third and, historically speaking, most significant overland crossing. Among those accompanying Fremont was Theodore Talbot, a rather shy young gentleman who looked to the United States Army for his profession and to the American West for his health. Nearly sixty of Talbot's letters, written from California, Mexico, and Oregon, are here published for the first time.

That Talbot shared with his mother and sister the details of his frontier experiences is a stroke of good fortune for the historian. In his lengthy and perceptive letters, spanning a period of over seven years, Talbot depicts the preparations for the third expedition, the overland trek to California by way of Bent's Fort and the Great Salt Lake, the outbreak of hostilities within California, and his tours of duty in Vera Cruz ("a dull town") and in Oregon Territory ("a genteel Botany Bay for Army Officers"), sandwiched around a delightful voyage to the Pacific. In the course of his various assignments Talbot comments candidly about his acquaintances, a number of whom were figures of importance in the history of the Far West—from Fremont and Lieutenant J. W. Abert to Captain B. L. E. Bonneville ("a perfect old fogy"), and from Peter Skene Ogden to Christopher Carson and Joseph R. Walker ("the best man in the Country"). Throughout, there is a refreshing objectivity to Talbot's observations, whether about persons or events.

The Talbot letters shed additional light on three questions of particular interest to the readers of this quarterly. First, was California, from the beginning, the ultimate destination of the Third Expedition? Talbot's letter of June 4, 1845, written from Saint Louis nearly a month before departure, strongly suggests that it was. If Talbot, a civilian member of the expedition, knew they were going to "winter in California," then surely the enlisted

men—including the son of Fremont's commanding officer in Washington— also knew. And, if young Abert knew, it would seem entirely unlikely that his father didn't. Second, exactly what route did Fremont follow between Bent's Fort and the Great Salt Lake? Talbot's letter of July 24, 1846, supplies some helpful answers in tracing the journey across the various tributaries of the Grand and Green rivers. Third, w-hat were the circumstances surrounding Lansford W. Hastings's decision to promote travel on the Hastings Cutoff in 1846? Again, Talbot's July 24 letter reinforces the importance of Fremont's March visit to the Sacramento Valley following the Hawk's Peak incident. This unscheduled encampment of the entire third expedition gave Hastings a chance to talk with the men of Talbot's party who had crossed the westernmost portion of the cutoff the previous fall. From the moment of that visit Hastings set his sights on Fort Bridger and that year's migration.

The editors of the Talbot letters, Robert V. Fline of the University of California, Riverside, and Savoie Lottinville of the University of Oklahoma, are certainly no strangers to students of the American West. They merit our gratitude for their full but unobtrusive annotation. A minor flaw (p. 82) does not detract from a work that is important in scope and solid in scholarship.

THOMAS F. ANDREWS, Associate Professor of History, Pasadena College

The Nicaragua Route. By DAVID I. FOLKMAN, JR. (Salt Lake City: University of Utah Press, 1972. xiv + 173 pp. $7.50.)

Between 1849 and 1868 the crossing of the Isthmus of Nicaragua was an attractive alternative to Panama for the California-bound traveler who sought the relatively speedy intercoastal journey which the isthmian routes offered. Although harrassed by international complications, filibustering expeditions, and local disorders so that it was almost entirely closed from 1856 until 1864, well over eighty thousand westbound travelers crossed Nicaragua and nearly as many used the route eastward.

David I. Folkman, Jr.'s book, The Nicaragua Route, is an outgrowth and something of a condensation of his master's thesis and doctoral dissertation at the University of Utah. In it he has succeeded in presenting the colorful and complex history of the route between 1849 and 1868 in excellent fashion. The business connections and rivalries of Cornelius Vanderbilt, Charles Morgan, Cornelius K. Garrison, and others; the filibustering activities of William Walker; the combinations and interrelations of business and filibustering; the rivalries of Great Britain and the United States in Nicaragua; and the ambitions and animosities of Nicaraguan and Costa Rican leaders all make for an unusually complicated set of events. Folkman has succeeded in handling these well and yet has not permitted them to obscure the basic story of the operation of the Nicaragua Route for the transportation of passengers, mail, express, and treasure. He provides material on the construction and operation of steamers on the San Juan River and Lake Nicaragua, the opening of a paved road for stage coaches between the lake and the Pacific, the establishment of repair and supply depots, and the provision of hotels for travelers. The operation and coordination of steamers between New York and New Orleans and the mouth of the San Juan River on the Caribbean as well as between San Juan del Sur and San Francisco also receive his attention. He presents fascinating accounts of the experiences of travelers on the route as well as data on costs and its attractiveness in comparison with Panama.

The book contains no bibliography, but the notes which are located annoyingly at the conclusion of the text show that Folkman has used a wide variety of sources from newspapers to printed and manuscript official records, correspondence, diaries, and standard secondary works. In an appendix there is a listing of steamers sailing between New York, New Orleans, and San Francisco and Nicaragua with departure or arrival dates and numbers of passengers carried.

The volume is handsomely made and is well illustrated, although the splendid Squier map of Nicaragua which serves as endpapers is printed on so dark a background as to be difficult to use. There are several unfortunate slips in the text such as the appearance of Point Arguello as "Point Arquilla" and the United States sloop-of-war Jamestown with a British commander. James P. Baughman's Charles Morgan and the Development of Southern Transportation was published in 1968, and the author should have been able to cite it rather than Baughman's manuscript doctoral dissertation on the same subject which, by the way, is dated 1962 rather than 1862 as given in the notes.

These are minor flaws, however. The book as a whole is a fine one and is a welcome addition to the literature of travel to and from California, the penetration of economic and polititcal influence from the United States into Hispanic America, and the history of American maritime enterprise.

JOHN HASKELL KEMBLE, Professor of History, Pomona College Claremont, California

The Zunis: Self-Portrayals. By the ZUNI PEOPLE. Translated by ALVINA QUAM. (Albuquerque: University of New Mexico Press, 1972. xvii + 245 pp. Cloth, $7.95; paper, $3.95.)

This book is a result of the efforts by the Pueblo of Zuni to record and translate into English a body of oral literature, consisting of the legends, myths, and history of the Zuni people with the aim of transmitting the traditions and experiences of the Zuni Indians to the younger generation of the tribe. Recording of the oral traditions began in 1965 with the cooperation of the Zuni storytellers, and, from 1968 until the publication of the present volume, Quincy Panteah and Alvina Quam recorded and translated the taped stories with the support of the Zuni tribe and the Duke Indian Oral History Project of the University of Utah. Some of these translations had already been placed for use in the Zuni High School for educational purposes. The present volume consists of a selection of the translations made with the approval of the governor and the council of the Pueblo of Zuni and is accompanied by a foreword by Floyd A. O'Neil of the Duke Project and an introduction by Robert E. Lewis, governor of the Pueblo.

Publications of this nature are by no means rare. For the Hopi, one recalls Nequatewa's Truth of a Hopi, still an important work, and more recently The Book of the Hopi by Frank Waters. An attempt to provide educational materials in the form of indigenous tales to the Indian children has also been done for the Navajo and the Hopi.

The book is divided into six sections with the headings of Society, History, Fables, Fables of Moral Instruction, Religion, and War and Defense. Apart from the fables, however, the tales collected in each section are not always homogeneous, and, in particular, those under Society contain myths, traditions, and accounts of individual experiences. Some stories identify storytellers, while a majority do not. This is somewhat unfortunate because the book is illustrated with beautiful reproductions of the portrait photos of the storytellers.

These minor shortcomings aside, the book succeeds in creating a sense of immediacy between the reader and the storytellers who make their presence felt in the course of following the tales in the book. This is particularly the case with the tales of individual experiences which are told with almost Hemingway esque economy and precision. Unfortunately I am yet to listen to a Zuni storyteller, but the tradition and myths published here strongly reminded me of those evenings during the storytelling month in Hopiland. After harvest, the Hopi old men invite the young children to a kiva, and in the cold of a night they surround a fire and the old man begins a story. As he tells, the children respond, "Oh-ui," and the story and response go on in an atmosphere of ritual communion. Stories are sometimes serious, sometimes hilarious. It is the context in which the cultural values of the tribe are being transmitted. And so it is with this book.

If the manner of developing themes or the symbols employed in the tales are somewhat alien to those cultivated in the literature of larger American society, that should not discourage the wider reading public from appreciating the book. The peculiar style and apparent contradictions are the clues to Zuni culture, and for those willing to delve into them the riches of a unique and ancient American subculture will be opened.

SHUICHI NAGATA, School of Comparative Social Science, Universiti Sains Malaysia Minden, Pulau Pinang Malaysia

Reminiscences of Oscar Sonnenkalb, Idaho Surveyor and Pioneer. Edited by PETER T. HARSTAD. (Pocatello: Idaho State University Press, 1972. vi + 68 pp. Free upon request from W. N. Harwood, Director, Idaho State University Press, Idaho State University, Pocatello, Idaho 83201.)

If any cultural item has been impressed upon Cisappalachian America, it is the Jeffersonian grids of townships, sections, and quarter sections of the federal land surveys. Farms are described, fenced, and hedgerowed by its metes and bounds; highways follow its meridians and ranges; towns are located at the crossings of its lines.

The fact that in most instances the federal surveys preceded or very shortly followed initial settlement meant that the stage upon which the pioneering era of western history was acted had been set by the surveyors working with their professional implements and an arbitrary pattern developed in the library at Monticello. The story of the settlers has been recorded in at least outline form. The surveyors are less well known.

Reminiscences of Oscar Sonnenkalb, Idaho Surveyor and Pioneer, edited by Peter T. Harstad, professor of history at Idaho State University, is a valuable contribution to the history of the federal surveys in general and to Idaho history in particular. A veteran of the Prussian army, Sonnenkalb came to Idaho in 1881 to visit a friend, August Duddenhausen, registrar of the Federal Land Office at Oxford. Like countless others in Cache, Marsh, and Gentile valleys, he began ranching, homesteading, and preempting bottomlands for a headquarters and grazing his animals on the unclaimed mountain ranges. He worked first as an agent making out papers for prospective settlers and then as deputy county surveyor of Oneida County. After the transfer of the land office from Oxford to Blackfoot in 1887, Sonnenkalb was appointed a deputy United States surveyor. Between then and 1904 he held twenty contracts for surveying in all parts of Idaho: the mining districts, the timberlands in the panhandle, the agricultural regions in the south. A dispassionate observer, Sonnenkalb's many references to Mormon settlement in eastern Idaho are full of praise for and insight into the Mormon agricultural and social experience.

His Reminiscences written in 1925 provide a good view of the surveyor's work; the multitudinous frauds associated with the Homestead, Desert Land, and the Timber and Stone acts; and a description of the country with enough passage of time between observation and recording to provide a valuable perspective. As a pioneer of the petty railroad junction which became Pocatello, Sonnenkalb's narrative is that of the urban pioneer, the boomtown entrepreneur whose works and speculations provided the crucial leaven of western settlement.

Professor Harstad's copious notes effectively illuminate the text and point the direction for dozens of studies in area history. His appendix on "The Oxford-Blackfoot Land Office Controversy" is an excellent essay on the causes of the decline of the one-time Gentile capital of Cache Valley.

The Idaho State University Press and editor Harstad are to be commended for this publication. May we hope to see more studies on eastern Idaho from these sources.

A. J. SIMMONDS, Special Collections Librarian Utah State University

History of Nevada. By RUSSELL R. ELLIOTT. (Lincoln: University of Nebraska Press, 1973. xii 4- 447 pp. $9.50.)

Dr. Elliott's History of Nevada is the first comprehensive history of the state to appear in the 108 years since the granting of statehood. W 7 hile publications on Nevada are increasingly common none has been presented in such depth and scope.

Dr. Elliott presents the best of qualifications. He is a lifetime resident of the state and has been a student, teacher, and writer of Nevada history throughout his long career. He takes advantage of the ever increasing quantity of research that has come from all fields of historiography for a well-ordered perspective view of the state from the prehistoric era to the current cultural revolution.

Emphasis is placed on the recurrent periods of boom and depression with the influences and contributions of each such cycle. The Comstock era so frequently overweighted in the total picture of the state's history—with undue play on the glamour of the life—is analyzed in detail in light of the engineering, economic, and social impact. Significant attention is given to the corrupt and sordid political scene dominated by the mining and railroad interests. The depression period following the mining boom is a challenge to the permanent resident to turn to the development of agricultural and water resources, a search for new mineral deposits, and a fight to maintain marketable values of silver.

The new century is ushered in with a return of prosperity occasioned by mineral discoveries at Tonopah and Goldfield and the opening of the great copper deposits of White Pine County. The period was also highlighted by progressive influences on the political scene and the introduction of the highly important reclamation projects. Also featured in this period is the introduction of new and prominent personalities into the political field who were to dominate in state affairs through the first half of the century.

On the social scene the company towns of the copper area, with their attendant foreign-born minority problems and related labor troubles, present an interesting study.

World War I was significant to Nevada in the greatly increased demands for metal and for the effect on the everyday life of the people. The Great Depression struck Nevada hard when the Wingfield banking chain was forced to close. The sagging economy was aided, however, by the construction of Boulder Dam and other government projects.

World War II brought more development to the state with the construction of the giant Basic Magnesium complex, the establishment of air bases, and the subsequent development of the atomic research center at the Nevada Test Site.

The unprecedented Nevada boom, dominated by tourism, had a humble beginning with the legislation permitting gambling in 1931. The development of lavish entertainment by the large casinos, supplemented by the attractions Nevada holds for the outdoor sports enthusiasts, has resulted in unprecedented growth and activity.

Of special value to the student of Nevada history is the comprehensive bibliography with brief but sound evaluations of Nevada resource material.

ELBERT B. EDWARDS, Member, Board of Trustees Nevada Historical Society Boulder City