Drawing
from
the Utah
State
Historical
Society
collections.
The Finest of Fabrics: Mormon Women and the Silk Industry in Early Utah BY C H R I S RIGBY
ARRINGTON
\ y HEN ZINA D. H. YOUNG LOOKED at worms she felt a horror that came, in part, from a birthmark in the palm of her hand shaped like a curled-up worm. Considering this fear, it was one of the ironies of her life that she should be called by Brigham Young to be handmaiden to millions of silkworms, the fundamental basis of the silk industry in Utah. She accepted the call but felt revulsion each time she faced the wriggling hordes. After a day of handling the worms, her sleep was troubled with nightmares, and it was only with the firmest resolve that she could force herself each day to work with them again.1 A prominent leader among Mormon women in early Utah, Zina was not alone. Women who carried the burden of the silk industry found that Ms. Arrington, a writer, lives in New York City. She is grateful to Janet Daines Stowell and Leonard J. Arrington for tbeir assistance. 1 K a t e B. Carter, comp., "Silk Industry in U t a h , " Heart Throbs of the West, 12 vols. (Salt Lake City: Daughters of U t a h Pioneers, 1 9 3 9 - 5 1 ) , 11:84.
