Utah Historical Quarterly, Volume 59, Number 3, 1991

UTAH HISTORICAL QUARTERLY

(ISSN 0042-USX)

EDITORIAL STAFF

MAX J EVANS, Editor

STANFORD J LAYTON, Maruiging Editor

MIKIAMB. MvRPH\, Associate Editor

ADVISORY BOARD OF EDITORS

KENNETH L CANNON ii, Salt Lake City, 1992

ARLENE H EAKLE, Woods Cross, 1993

JOELC jANETSKi, Provo, 1991

ROBERTS MCPHERSON, Standing, 1992

CAROLA O'CONNOR , Logan, 1991

RICHARD W SADLER, Ogden, 1991

HAROLD SCHINDLER, Salt Lake City, 1993

GENE A SESSIONS, Ogden, 1992

GREGORY C. THOMPSON, Salt Lake City, 1993

Utah Historical Quarterly was established in 1928 to publish articles, documents, and reviews contributing to knowledge ofUtah's history The Quarterly is published four times ayear by the Utah State Historical Society, 300 Rio Grande, Salt Lake City, Utah 84101 Phone (801) 533-6024 for membership and publications information. Members of the Society receive the Quarterly, Beehive History, and the bimonthly Newsletter upon payment of the annual dues: individual, $15.00; institution, $20.00; student and senior citizen (agesixty-five orover), $10.00; contributing, $20.00; sustaining, $25.00; patron, $50.00; business, $100.00

Materials for publication should be submitted in duplicate accompanied by return postage and should be typed double-space, with footnotes at theend Authors are encouraged tosubmit material in a computer-readable form, on 5V* inch MS-DOS or PCDOS diskettes, standard ASCII text file. Additional information onrequirements is available from the managing editor Articles represent the views of the author and are not necessarily those ofthe Utah State Historical Society

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JEAN BiCKMOREWHITE, ed. ChurckState, and Politics:The Diaries ofJohn Henry Smith ... WAYNEK HINTON 320

PAUL A. OLSEN, ed. The Struggle for the Land: Indigenous Insight and Industrial Empire in the Semiarid

World MARSHALL E. BOWEN 321

THOMAS A. RUMER. The Wagon Trains of'44: A Comparative View ofthe Individual Caravans in the Emigration of 1844 to Oregon; and THOMAS A. RUMER, ed. This Emigrating Company:The 1844 Oregon Trail Journal ofJacob Hammer RUSHSPEDDEN 322

ALFRED RUNTE. Yosemite:The Embattled Wilderness JOHN L ALLEN 324

FRANCIS PAUL PRUCHA Atlas ofAmerican Indian Affairs JIMVLASICH 325

PEGGY POND C HURCH; SHELLEY A RMITAGE, ed Wind's Trail The Early Life ofMary Austin ... DAVID HARRELL 326

In this issue

with more nadonal parks and monuments than any other state, Utah has become a popular tourist destination; but the creation and management of some of these wonders have generated controversy, as the first two articles in this issue relate Achieving national park status for Canyonlands in the 1960s launched a flash flood of verbiage from politicians, ranchers, miners, and conservationists with differing opinions on the proposed park's size and "purity." Management of Dinosaur National Monument, on the other hand, slowly eroded the patience of Uinta Basin residents who felt that eastern museums had, with federal approval, stripped Utah of part of its past and thwarted attempts to develop a local museum.

Questioningfederal motives, an automaticreaaion for many Utahns, has a long history. When the Corps of Topographical Engineers set out to survey the Great Salt Lakeand itsenvirons in 1849, CapL Howard Stansbury, to allay Mormon suspicion, appointed Brigham Young*ssecretary,Albert Carrington, as an assistant Carrington and Stansburyssecond in command, I st LL John Williams Gunnison, became ft-iends. Eight letters of Gunnison to Carrington, included in the third anicle, illustrate the extent of their friendship.

The final two articles focus on white-Indian conflict in ways that underscore the importance of communication. The so-called White Pine War of 1875 created hysteria among somewhiles that led to inaccurate accounts of events and ultimately had aprofound effect on the Gosiutes. Twenty-five years earlier the pungent talk of Mormon leaders, found in a variety of records, shows that colorfiil rhetoric and surprisingly tough statements were used to orchestrate white responses to the Indijms. As has often been the case in history, however, fiery words did not always ignite the desired responses.

Visitors inspecting fossil specimens, October 193 7. USHS collections, gift of Dinosaur National Monument

The Canyonlands

National Park Controversy, 1961-64

BY THOMA S G SMITH

The Needles area of Canyonlands. USHS collections, gift of Robert C. MttchetL

Dr Smith is professor of history at Nichols College, Dudley, Massachusetts

Canyonlands Controversy217

I N THE GROWING FIELD OF ENVIRONMENTAL HISTORY few topics have drawn as much attention as the establishment of national parks. Scenic preservationists haveoften quarreled bitterlywith commercial interests over the protection of pristine wildlands. The effort to create Canyonlands National Pairkin southeastern Utah proved no exception to that traditional clash of interests. U.S. Sen. Frank E. "Ted" Moss of Utah, who introduced Canyonlands legislation in 1961, attempted to strike a balance between preservation and resource development by creating a park that permitted limited commercial use. That proposal, however, provoked four years of discord and nearly jeopardized the establishment of the park. A detailed study of the Canyonlands controversy should provide insights ini:otheconservation movement of the 1960s and add to our understanding of national park history and Utah politics ^

Remote, arid, and uninhabited, the canyon country surrounding the confluence ofthe Green and Colorado rivers in southeastern Utah is a land of rugged grandeur It is characterized by buttes, pinnacles, arches, multicolored sandstone cliffs, serpentine gorges, and sweeping vistas Besides this imposing scenery, piaographs and petroglyphs give archaeological testimony to the ancient Anasazi civilization.^

Efforts to protect the canyon country date back to the New Deal In 1936 Secretary of the Interior Harold Ickes proposed setting aside nearly 7,000 square miles ofland as the Escalante National Monument, but opposition from state commercial interests and the coming of World War II doomed the Escalante project.^

During the 1950s, at the height of the uranium boom, a few individuals worked to safeguard the prominent features of the canyon country Bates Wilson, superintendent of Arches National Monument, firequendy explored the nearby canyon region and pushed for national protection Kent Frost, who ran ajeep tour business out of Monticello, urged his guests to write their congressmen recommending park status for the area He credited one of his clients, Frank Masland, Jr., with having done more to create Canyonlands National Park than any other individual. Masland chaired the National Parks Advisory Board, an

Alfred Runte, National Parks: The American Experience, 2d ed., rev (Lincoln: University of Nebraska Press, 1987) This fine monograph does not deal with Canyonlands

Descriptions of the canyon country abound For one of the best see Weldon F Heald, "A Canyonlands National Park," National Parks Magazine 37 (1963): 4-9

Elmo R Richardson, "Federal Park Policy in Utah: The Escalante National Park Controversy of 1935-1940," Utati Historical Quarterly 33 (165): 109-33

influential volunteer body that recommended areas for park status to the National Park Service (NPS).'^

Urged on by Masland and Wilson, the NPS in 1959 and I960 undertook field investigations of three wild areas surrounding the junction of the Green and Colorado rivers: the Needles, Island in the Sky, and the Maze. A land of red sandstone spires and colossal natural arches, the Needles islocated southeast of the confluence. North of the confluence. Island in the Skyfeatures an expansive overlook ofthe river bottoms nearly 2,200 feet below. The Maze, a virtually inaccessible region west of the confluence, offers Indian ruins, a field of pillars known as the Land of Standing Rocks, and a vast labyrinthine canyon network Impressed by the natural and archaeological wonders, NPS planners recommended national protection of the three areas.^

Meanwhile, the state of Utah also had plans for the region. In the late 1950s the newly formed State Parks and Recreation Commission, under the direction of Harold Fabian, launched field studies of its own. In 1959 C. J. "Chet" Olsen, Fabian's successor, recommended the acquisition of federal lands in the Needles distria in order to create a state park that would permit the multiple uses of hunting, grazing, and mineral development Worried that the areas would be withdrawn by the National Park Service and closed to commercial development, Olsen asked U.S Sen Wallace F Bennett of Utah to push for state stewardship over the area. Agreeing that multiple use was "essential to the welfare of the people of Utah and the West," Bennett promised to use his influence toblocktheestablishment ofasingle-purpose national park He proved prophetic when he prediaed that amy park proposal would likely "involve considerable controversy." The controversy began in 1961 when an energetic group of New Frontiersmen entered the White House.^

Disdainful of the environmental achievements of the previous two presidencies, the Kennedy administration, guided by forty-one-yearold Secretary of the Interior Stewart Udall, promised "a new conservation effort in the 1960s worthy of the two Roosevelts." An outdoorsman, Udall took a keen interest in preserving open space,

''"Conversation with Bates Wilson," Western Gateways 7 (1967): 45-53; Kent Frost, oral history interview, 1973, Brigham Young University Library, Provo, 13-14; telephone interview with Frank Masland, Jr., September 18, 1990.

^Lloyd M Pierson, "The First Canyonlands New Park Studies; 1959 and 1960," Canyon Legacy 1 (1989): 9-14

•"C.J Olsen toWallaceBennett,June 17, 1960, Bennett to Olsen,June23, 1960, box 9, Wallace Bennett Papers, BYU Library (hereafter BP)

protecting the wilderness, and enlarging the national park system The administration actively supported the establishment of national seashores at Cape Cod, Massachusetts; Point Reyes, California; and Padre Island, Texas. And it championed the creation of a new national park in southeastern Utah. ^

Early in 1961 Udall announced that two areas in southern Utah were being considered for national park status: Rainbow Bridge National Monument on the Arizona border and the "sdU untouched" canyon country near the junction of the Green and Colorado rivers.^

Returningfi:-oman inspection tour to Rainbow Bridge on May 2, Udall had his Denver-bound planeflyover the Canyonlands area. Awed by the "scenic masterpiece" below, he prompdy jotted a letter to Senator Moss: "These lands have an extraordinary diversity of physical features, and a wild beauty and color which madce them, in my opinion, superior to most of our National Parks." He strongly recommended "an on-the-ground survey of this extraordinary area" sometime in the summer. ^

More than thirty people joined Udall for the five-day inspection tour during the first week ofJuly. Guests included Bates Wilson, Frank Masland, Secretary of Agriculture OrviUe Freeman, and several reporters. Utah's Democratic congressional delegation, Senator Moss and Representatives David King and M. Blaine Peterson, made the trip. And George Clyde, Utah's Republican governor, met the group for the final two days. The state's senior U.S. senator, Wallace Bennett, declined to accompany the "two wandering secretaries" on a "publicity stunt" that would waste the taxpayers' money. Like many Utahns, he was skeptical about any plan that might inhibit the opportunity of commerciad interests to develop natural resources, produce jobs, and generate tax revenues. ^^

Departing firom Moab on July 2, 1961, a flotilla of thirteen motorboats carried Udall's party down the Colorado. They spent three days on the Colorado and Green rivers and then, joined by Governor Clyde, they toured the landscape by foot, jeep, and helicopter. " I do not

'E E Gillham,"MeetMr SecretaryofInterior,'Fi>WGr'5frram65(1961): 43; Udall, "Issuesand Answers," ABC television typescript, April 23, 1961, box 91, Stewart Udall Papers, University of Arizona, Tuscon (hereafter UP)

*Udall, press conferences, February 28, March 28, 1961, box 91, UP.

^Oral history inteiviewwith Stewart Udall, April 7, 1970, John F Kennedy Library, p 90; Udall to Frank Moss, May 2, 1961, box 30, Moss Papers, University of Utah Library, Salt Lake City, (hereafter MP)

^'^Salt Lake Tribune, June \, 1961; Bennett to Udall, June 16, 1961, box 93, UP

Stewart

believe there was a person on the trip who was not impressed by the grandeur of the country, by its loneliness, its beauty and its form," Masland wrote, adding that"With complete unanimity all agreed thatas a National Park it would rank second to none." At a nocturnal news conference on the Green River, Udall declared his intent to establish a new nationad park in the canyon country.''

Utahns greeted the announcement with only modest enthusiasm. The Salt Lake Tribune, the state's largest newspaper, considered the park

"interview with Frank Moss, Salt Lake City, August 14, 1990; diary entry, July22, 1961, Orville Freeman Papers, microfilm, John F Kennedy Library, Boston, Mass.; memorandum, Frank Masland to members of the Advisory Board on National Parks, July 17, 1961, box 190, UP; Rocky Mountain News, July 10, 1961; Udall, Report to the President, July 11, 1961, box 88, UP

Udall's July 1961 tour of Canyonlands included boating on the Coloracb and Green rivers. Courtesy of Special Collections, Stewart Udall Papers, University ofArizona Library.

plan "exciting and forward looking," but it was unwiUing to forego resource development Governor Clyde acknowledged the scenic splendor of the Canyonlands area but objected to its projected size of 1,000 to 1,200 square miles. And, like Senator Bennett, he raised the issue of commercial use. Utah, he warned^ could not "afford to consent to locking up vast areas containing valuable naturad resources." '^

Not surprisingly, the Canyonlands proposal alarmed mining and petroleum interests R Lavaun Cox, executive director of the Utah Petroleum Council, expressed his concern to Clyde. Since outright opposition would be unpopular, the two men decided to support a multiple-purpose park of limited size^ Still, Cox firetted over Udall's commitment to a large park "He's quite a young man. Ifsomeonegetsa bit in his mouth, perhaps he'd be of a litde more value." ^^

Clyde acted quickly to mobilize opposition to Udall's large park scheme. In latejuly he invited 200 Utali civic leaders to hear his views on the Canyonlands proposal "I am not against parks," he informed his audience, but parks must be small so as not to hinder resource development The governor then appointed a committee to make recommendations on the park proposal ^*

Senator Bennett shared Clyde's hostility to the park plan. A graduate of the University of Utah, Bennett had operated a successfiil paint business and automobile dealership before entering politics. President of the National Association of Manufacturers, he first ran for public office as a Republican against Elbert D. Thomas who had served as U. S. senator for eighteen years. Victorious, Bennett went on to be reelected three times A fiscally conservative Mormon with a vinegary tongue and a caaus personality, Bennett was user-oriented in terms of the public domain. He criticized Udidl for attempting to lock up millions ofacres in national parks. That" colossal empire" would permit only one use: viewing the scenery. "All commercial use and business activity would be forever banned and nearly all of Southern Utah's growth would be forever stunted," Bennett said. He sought to undercut Ud2drs "grandiose pie-in-the-sky scheme" by introducing legislation calling for the creation of a 75,000-acre multiuse national park in the Needles region. That measure was not given serious consideratioa *^

^^Satt Lake Tribune, editorial, July 10, 1961; Denver Post, July 16, 1961

'Memorandum, George Clyde telephone conversation with R, Lavaun Cox, July 20, 1961, box 12, Clyde Papers, Utah State Archives, Salt Lake City (hereafter CP)

^^Deseret A^^i, July 28, 1961; Clyde to Bennett, Augusts, 1961, box 12, CP.

'Memorandum, "Position of Senator Wallace F Bennett on New National Parks in Utah," to Merrill R. MacDonald, August 14, 1961, box 17, BR

Utah's Democratic congressional delegation. Senator Moss and Representatives David King and M. Blaine Peterson, were infiiriated by the "patendy political" opposition of Clyde and Bennett to the Canyonlands project Still, theywished to avoid aprotracted batde between those who wished to protect scenic wonders and those who wanted to utilize natural resources in those same wildlands. Otherwise, Canyonlands might meet the same fate as the Escalante projea twenty years before. ^^

Udall considered the possiblity of having the president declare the canyon country a national monument The Antiquities Aa of 1906 permitted the president to preserve historic and scientific landmarks on federal lands by proclaiming them national monuments. That act initially was used by president Theodore Roosevelt to protea Devil's Tower in Wyoming and the Grand Canyon in Arizona Because many members of Congress considered such executive action ausurpation of legislative authority, Udall did not wish to offend Congress and thereby

Gov. George D. Clyde, left and Sen Wallace F. Bennett, righ; fought to scale down the size of Canyordands and for multiple use. USHS collections.

'Moss to Bennett, July 14, 1961, Bennett to Moss, July 20, 1961, Moss to M Blaine Peterson, July 27, 1961, box 29, MP; Moss to Udall, July 17, 1961, box 156, UR

jeopardize other New Frontier environmental measures. In addition, a national park had more tourist appeal than a national monument and would be regarded politically as a major conservation achievement for the Kennedy administration. ^^

Pushing for legislation, however, posed a dilemma—namely, Canyonlands would havetoadheretostandards defined inthe National Park Act of 1916. As interpreted by Congress and the NPS, that meant no hunting, grazing, lumbering, or mineral development In the past, as historiain Alfi~ed Runte has shown, preservationists were able to obtain national park status only by showing that the proposed scenic wonder lacked economic worth except as a tourist attraction. '^

Canyonlands enthusiasts could not dismiss the mineral potential of southecistern Utah Consequendy, they sought some middle ground between scenicpreservation and commercial use Udall did not want to be pinned down to "an either-or choice." And Moss believed that without some multiple use a park f»roposal stood litde chance of success. ^^

The National Parks Advisory Boaird faced "a precedent establishing decision." Frank Masland, the chairman, preferred a park where a visitor could gaze upon nothing "except the work of the Master Architect" Yet, in defending that principle, the board might be gamblingwith theheritageoffuture generations. He recommended the establishment of a park with "hostile uses" that could be defined, regulated, and oudived Udall and Moss agreed with the board's recommendation. Udall asked the Bureau of Economic and Business Research at the University of Utah to prepare a study of the impact of a national park on the economy of southeastern Utah. He hoped the study would show that the economic benefits brought by park tourism would outdistance the gains of unfettered mineral development Senator Moss, meanwhile, began draJfting Canyonlands legislation.^^

Born to Mormon parents in Salt l^^e City in 1911, Moss attended public schools and the University of Utah. Upon graduation hewent to law school at George Washington University. Returning to Utah, he

"interviewwithStewartUdall, Tucson, Arizona, August6,1986; Robert W. Righter, "National Monuments to National Parks: The Use of the Antiqu ities Act of 1906," Western Historical Quarterly 20 (1989): 281-301

'*Runte, Natiorml Parks, pp 48-64

^'^Denver Post, J\Ay 16, 1961; Moss interview

^Memorandum, Masland to members of the Advisory Board on National Parks,July 17,1961, box 190, UP; Masland to Clyde, August 30, 1961, box 12, CP; Udall interview

served asan eleaedjudge in the 1940sand an elected county attorney in the 1950s. In 1958 he was elected to the first of three terms in the U.S. Senate. As a liberal Democrat he was committed to civil rights and environmental causes.

In early August 1961 Moss introduced legislation to establish Canyonlands National Park Likecompanion measures introduced into the House by Congressmen Kingand Peterson, the Moss bill called fora park of300,000 acres, about half the size of Udall's original proposal. It would protect the three major scenic areas—Island in the Sky, the Needles, and the Maze Ninety percent of the landwas federally owned. The remainder, held by the state of Utah, would be obtained by purchase or through an exchange of public domain outside the proposed park boundaries. The bill included multiple-use provisions that permitted grazing and mining but not hunting. Grazing permits held at the time ofthe bill'senactment would be honored for the lifetime of the lessee. If permits were transferred to another party they would expire in twenty-five years. Mining claims held at the time of the measure's enactment could be worked for as long as they were productive.^'

Sen Frank E Moss. USHS collections

Canyonlands Controversy 225

Intially, the Canyonlands bill received a warm reception. Pleased by the generally favorable public response. Moss chortled to Udall: "I think we have Bennett and Clyde on the run . . . . " Actually, the two Republicans were preparing a major offensive. Joined by sportsmen, they assailed the vast size of the park, the lack of connecting roads, and the ban on hunting. ^^

In mid-August Governor Clyde's Canyonlands study group suggested an alternative to the Moss bill It proposed a "string-of-pearls" plan that would create several noncontiguous small parks without multiple use. These pure parks would be surrounded by a large buffer area open to unrestriaed commercial use and hunting. Influenced by that plan. Senator Bennett introduced legislation calling for the establishment of three such parks totaling 11,000 acres. Congress adjourned in September 1961 without considering either the Moss or the Bennett proposals. ^^

During the remaining months of the year the Canyonlands controversy intensified Udall sought to protect the proposed park lands from vandalism and the scars of commercial development by directing the Bureau of Land Management to deny anyuser application that did not meet the "high public vaJues of the land." In all, Udall's directive covered 1 million acres in the Canyonlands regions. Bennett regarded the order as "an arrogant flaunting" of popular opinion and urged Utahns to resist lest the state "become a Udall-created wasteland" Udall eventually rescinded the order. ^*

Weary of the carping over Canyonlands, Utahns urged the protagonists to workout theirdifferences. Toward thatend, Udall agreed to meet with Governor Clyde in Salt Lake* City in October. Privately, Udall hoped "to get Clyde in a corner" so that he would "have to go along" with the park proposal. Both men left that meeting believing they had worked out a compromise. As Udall understood it, Clyde had agreed to support a large parkwith limited commercial use. Clyde assumed that he had persuaded Udall to accept a park of a minimal size with unrestriaed multiple use ^^

"Moss to Udall, August 26, 1961, box 29, MP; Clyde to Don R Barton, September 19, 1961, box 12, CR, Bennett to Merrill R MacDonald, August 14, 1961, box 17, BR

^^New York Times, August 13, 1961; Bennett, press release, September 22, 1961, box 19, BP.

^*Department of the Interior, press release, September 26, 1961, box 30, MP, Bennett, press releases, September 26, 28, 1961, box 19, BP; memorandum, Clyde telephone conversation with Udall, September 26, 1961, box 12, CR

^\jdall to Moss, by hand, undated, box 30, MR, Clyde to Udall, December I, 1961, Udall to Clyde, February I, 1962, box 156, UR

Before the year was out Udall and park proponents also came under fire fi'om conservationists. Devereux Butcher, publisher and editor of the National Wildlands News, scored Udall for his acceptance of multiple use in the proposed park Allowing commercial aaivity in Canyonlands would violate traditional park values and set a dangerous precedent. Butcher asserted, rhetorically questioning the secretary: "Shall we drill for oil inYellowstone, bulldoze for uranium in Big Bend, dam the Merced in Yosemite Valley and log the hemlocks of Crater Lake.^" Udall, he said, should be commended for his "enthusiasm for new parks," but the concession on mutiple use "was going too far."^^ Stung by the editorial, Udall sought to clarify his position. As a general rule, he explained, he opposed multiple use in the national parks. There were, however, occasions "when certain non-conforming uses" must be tolerated for certain lengths of time In the past, grazing and mining had been permitted in some of the parks and monuments, "but these are unique exceptions to the principles on which our national park system is founded" That statement pleased neither the park purists nor the champions of multiple use. Still, Udall's middle of the road position had support even within the environmental community. David Brower of the Sierra Club pushed the Canyonlands project and became "boiling mad" with purists who insisted upon "100% standards or forget about new parks." ^^

Concerned by the strength of the opposition, Udall worked to build "a conservation backfire" in Utah. He asked the prominent literary figure, Wallace Stegner, to try to organize Utah conservationists behind the Canyonlands proposal A graduate of the University of Utah and regarded as a native son, Stegner enjoyed considerable influence As he saw it, the Mormon church posed the greatest difficulty in securing park legislation. The church leadership, because of its wealth and conservatism, was user-oriented in terms of the public domain. Moreover, it controlled one of the state's largest newspapers, the Deseret News. "Since the hierarchy is generally on the Clyde-Bennett side," Stegner said, "and since it controls the media of communication, and since it absolutely controls Brigham Young University, largely controls Utah State University, and considerably dominates the University of

Utah, the organization of any opposition opinion will be difficult and slow." Stegner suggested forming a conservation council to mobilize public opinion behind Canyonlands. Headed by a partisan Democrat named William Bruhn, the council was not very effective Fortunately for park proponents, Stegner had exaggerated thechurch's resistance to the creation of a park^^

While Stegner worked to rally conservationists in Utah, Udall and Moss decided to adjust the boundaries of the Canyonlands preserve They enlarged the size of the park to 332,000 acres, mainly by adding land in the Maze region west of the Green River. As a courtesy, Udall informed Clyde of the move, pointing out that the boundary revision included only "superlative^' scenic territory located in "such a rough terrain" that it would be virtually inaccessible to mineral development^^

Clyde was not persuaded. The park, he argued, should be downsized to no more than 50,000 acres. He was also disturbed by Udairs evasive stand on multiple use All in all, the governor believed that Udall had violated his pledge to guarantee multiple use and to shrink the size of the park Consequendy, Clyde gave a series of speeches seeking to mobilize opposition to the park plan. Sportsmen swelled the ranks of the critics because the Moss bill forbade hunting. Mining interests considered the bill's commitment to multiple use disingenuous. Finally, Clyde appointed another committee to devise a state plan for the Canyonlands region.^°

The dissent from Utah prompted Udall to arrange a "strategy conference" with Moss, Peterson, and King At that meeting the Democrats agreed to revise the Canyonlands bill to meet some of the objections raised against it Informing President Kennedy of his meeting with the Utah Democrats, Udall pointed out that the Canyonlands "are equal to the most superb of our scenic places" and it "would beamajor conservation accomplishment ifthis legislation were enacted." But if Clyde and Bennett managed to kill the bill "for parochial special interest reasons," he argued, then the president might wish to consider proclaiming it a national monument^^

^^Stegnerto Udall, Oaober 23, 1961, box 190, UR

^\jdall to Clyde, December 11, 1961, box 156, UR

^°Clyde to Udall, December 11, 1961, box 156, UR Deseret News, January 24, 1962 For opposition to the Moss bill see numerous letters in box 29, MP.

^'UdalltoMoss, December21, 1961, box30, MP; memorandum. Report to the President from Secretary Udall, December 27, 1961, box 88, UP, Udall, Report to the President, February 6, 1962, box 98, UR

Moss's revised bill, introduced on February 7, 1962, sought to compromise the differences between "scenery purists " and "resource hogs." To placate environmentalists Moss made mining, grazing, oil drilling, and other uses secondary in importance to scenery. Commercial uses could be undertaken onlywiththeapproval ofthesecretary of the interior andwith the understanding that theywould not seriously mar the landscape To win over mining groups Moss permitted the continued location and filing of mineral claims after the bill's enaament He sought to soothe sportsmen by adopting a program developed at Grand Teton National Park that permitted hunting under certain conditions. If the secretary of the interior and the Utah Department of Fish and Game joindy determined that the mule deer population was excessive, then licensed Utah hunters would be permitted to harvesttheherd toamanageable level Finally, Moss provided for the construction of access roads to the park ^^

On theverydaythatMoss introduced his revised Canyonlands bill, Bennett delivered a scathing attack on Udall Unfortunately for park proponents, Bennett's speech grabbed most of the publicity. Udall intended to create a"gargantuan" park"in keeping with the grandiose dreams of empire of his idol, Harold Ickes," he charged. The park would lock up mineral resources of vast economic potential Had Canyonlands been created adecade earlier Utahwould have missed out on the economic benefits of the uranium boom. The park would deny Utahns the pleasure of hunting and the profits of water power development In short, Bennett asserted, Utah residents were being "sold a bill of goods" by a "huckstering" secretary of the interior. ^^ Bennett's "insulting and irresponsible attack" enraged Moss. Privately, he referred to the speech as"vitriolic madness" because Udall was "the best firiend that Utah ever had in the Secretary of Interior's chair." Convinced that the issue had "turned into a real political fight," Moss determined that"wewill have to defend our position in everyway we can." That meant resorting to political tactics of questionable propriety. Moss had his staff" prepare letters to the editor assadling the positions of Clyde and Bennett Then he had the state Democratic chairman find loyal partisans to plant those letters in newspapers. ^^

^Moss to udall, January 29, 1962, box 156, UP, Deseret News, January 30, February 8, 1962

^^CR, 87th Cong., 2nd Sess., pp. 1784-88.

^Memorandum from Moss to VR (Virginia Rishel, administrative assistant), undated, box 73, MP; Moss to William Bruhn, February 7, 1962, Moss to Lucy Redd, February 9, 1962, box 29, MP. Samples of the "plants" are attached to ibid

For the most part Utahns remained noncommittal in the park dispute The Deseret News and Salt Lake Tribune urged the adversciries to put aside partisanship and with "open minds and cooperative spirits" produce a compromise settlement in the best interests of the state and nation. Residents of San Juan and Grand counties, where the park would be located, offered similar counsel^^

That advicewent unheeded aseach sidemaneuvered towin public support for its position. Utah Republicans, especially Clyde and Bennett, reiterated the charge that alarge park would lock up resources

^^ditor'idls in Deseret News, February 8, 1962, c\nd Salt Lake Tribune, February 9, 1962; San Juan Record, February 22, 1962

Map showingproposed boundaries ofCanyonlands National Park, 1962. Cartography by Eric Bishop.

and impair economic development

Moss continued to portray opponents as obstructionists who were the tools of special interests. ^^

On March 19, ten days before the commencement of Senate hearings on the Canyonlands bill. Governor Clyde released the report of his special study commission. Not surprisingly, the commission opposed locking up 332,000 acres of rich mineral resources in the canyon country. It recommended the creation of a "hybrid" reserve Approximately 102,000 acres would be zoned as a single-purpose national park That pure park, made accessible by federally built roads, would be surrounded by a208,000-acre national recreation area open to mining, oil drilling, grazing, and hunting. Both areas would be administered by the NPS. Senator Bennett hailed the report and promised to introduce legislation implementing its recommendations. Utah's Democratic congressional delegation and Udall dismissed the commission's recommendations. Angered at being"dry-gulched" with some new plan virtually every month, Udall privately described the commission's report as an "anti-park study thinly disguised" Canyonlands had consumed more of his attention than any other park proposal, and he would not make additional concessions.^^

Udall counterattacked by releasing the University of Utah study of the economic ramifications of a new national park in the canyon country. The detailed report stressed the tourist potential In its first twenty-five years, the study prediaed, Canyonlands would generate $220 million in expenditures from tourists and the Interior Department To be sure, the extractive industries would also produce wealth, but mineral resources were exhaustible whereas toursim was not The study was a ringing economic endorsement of a large national park ^^

The Senate Subcommittee on Public Lands, chaired by Alan Bible of Nevada, held hearings on the Canyonlands proposal in Washington, D.C., on March 29 and 30, 1962. The day before the hearings began Moss again amended the Canyonlands bill, eliminating 1,000 acres in the northeast comer of the park because a producing oil well had been

^^Salt Lake Tribune, March 2,1962; Department of the Interior, pressrelease, March 9,1962, box 55, MR

C J Olsen, et aL, Report ofthe Govemofs Committee on Canyonlands Natiorml Park (Salt Lake City, 1962); Clyde to Moss, March 20,1962, box 12, CP; Bennett, pressrelease, March 20,1962, box 19, BP, Udall, handwritten notes, March, 1962, box 156, UP

^^Robert Edminster and Osmond Harline, An Economic Study ofthe Proposed Canyonlarub National Park arui Related Recreation Resources (Salt Lake City: University of Utah Bureau of Economic and Bijsiness Research, 1962), pp. 5-35; Moss to Udall, March 27, 1962, box 30, MP; Salt Lake Tribune, March 28, 1962.

discovered and excluding another 1,000 acres in the south because they might be flooded by Glen Canyon Dam. A final change permitted the secretary of the interior to exchange federal lands outside the park for state lands within. ^^

On thefirstday of the hearings, M;OSS, Udall, and King testified in favor of the bill The stunning wild beauty of the Canyonlainds, they argued, qualified it for national park status. As might be expected, Canyonlands was compared favorably with the Grand Canyon. Proponents defended the size of the park as the absolute minimum necessary to protea its many scenic landmarks. It took up less than 1 percent of all land in Utah and was only 15 percent the size of Yellowstone and 39 percent the size of Grand Canyon. The proposed park contained no private land to be purchased, aind the 26,000 acres of state land would be exchanged for public land of equal value In short, the cost to taxpayers would be inconsequential The principle of multiple use, they declared, had precedent Mount McKinley National Park in Alaska permitted mining, and Grand Teton National Park allowed controlled hunting.

While defending multiple use, park proponents simultaneously downplayed the commercial value of the park lands: It was too dry to be farmed. It had no trees to lure loggers. The Federal Power Commission had no plans to erea dams in the area. And its mineral potential was suspect True, there were potash, oil, and uranium developments on the outskirts, but no known discoveries inside the proposed park The remoteness of the region militated against exploration. A shortage of water and grass made it inhospitable to livestock and game In the previous year the government had colleaed only $2,000 in grazing fees firom the area and only 41 deer had been killed Finally, Canyonlands supporters dismissed the Bennett-Clyde hybrid park proposal as inconsistent with park standards and vasdy inferior to the Moss bill Surrounding a national park with a rcCTcation area open to commercial use would be regrettable. Moss contended, because "there would be no effective way to prevent for long the despoiling of the natural wonders by a honkey-tonk of roadside stands and motels, or by oil derricks or slag heaps, outside the park limits."*^

Clyde and Bennett vigorously assailed nearly every provision ofthe proposed bill Utahns would not support a huge park that locked up

*\j.S., Senate, Subcommittee on Public Lands, Proposed Canyonlands National Park in Utah, hearings on S.2387, 87th Cong., 2d sess., March 29-30, 1962, pp 1-4

^'^Ibid., pp 12-22, 48-57, 59-83, 143-52

resources and hindered commercial use. Only the most distinct and spectacular scenic areas should be protected, they insisted Both Utah Republicans wanted the area open to hunting. They also stressed the mineral potential of the region. Virtually the entire area was under oil, gas, and mineral lease. The region was rich in uranium, and no doubt the Atomic Energy Commission would be looking for new sources in theftiture. Sen. ClintonAnderson, chairman ofthejoint Committee on Atomic Energy, discounted that notion: "We have got more uranium rolling out of our ears than we know what to do with.'"^^

Despite their zeal for commercial development, Clyde and Bennett saved their severest criticism for the multiple-use provisions of the bill They regarded the section relating to mining asa sham. Mining and oil drilling would be permitted only if, in the opinion of the secretary of the interior, they did not "impair the primary use of the park" Since Udall and the National ParkServicewere"openly hostile to mining," secondary uses would never be allowed. In brief, the bill gave too much discretionary power to the secretary of the interior. "^^

To the delight of Clyde and Bennett, conservation groups also raised objeaions to the Moss bill Permitting grazing, hunting, and mining, they argued, would contradia national park values and set an intolerable precedent *^

After a three-week recess, the subcommittee reconvened in Utah. The hearings began in Monticello on April 20, moved to Moab the following day, and concluded in Salt Lake City on April 23. More than 100 Utah witnesses testified Not surprisingly, thevast majority favored both scenic preservation and resource development

Proponents argued that the primary purpose of the bill was to create a park of grand size in order to protect scenery and to lure tourists. That argument swayed Democratic subcommittee members Bible, Oren Longof Hawaii, and LeeMetcalfofMontanawho suggested enlarging the park "Let me tell you," Moss asserted, "I haven't been criticized very often for making it too small " An admirer of the American frontier tradition, Metcalf wanted to include the Six Shooter Peaks. Bible agreed and recommended renaming one of the mountain ranges after Metcalf Bennett sarcastically inteijeaed "I'm delighted with the Chairman's generosity in renaming the North Six Shooter

Canyonlands Controversy233

Peak, and I thinkwecould find anarrow neckofland somewhere in here diat we could call the Bible Belt"**

Canyonlands enthusiasts tried diligendy to persuade preservationists to accept the concept of secondary use because the population was growing and resources were diminishing. Purists should recognize the"changing situation" and accept limited secondary uses as the price for new parks. Utah conservation groups, like their national counterparts, were not won over. *^

For entirely different reasons, resource interests were dissatisfied with the provisions relating to multiple use Catdemen objeaed to the termination of leasing permits after twenty-five years if they were transferred to another party. Nor did they understand why grazing sheep and catde were considered hostile to national park standards. Hunters protested that the southern portion of the park contained valuable mule deer tertitory and wanted it excluded from protection. Commercial interests insisted that multiple use was "a pig in a poke" because the Interior Department would never allow mineral or oil production in national parks. *^

Strong support for the park, if not for secondary use, left Moss ebullient The hearings clearly demonstrated, hewrote to afriend,"that Bennett and Clyde are on the wrong side of this one" Flushed with confidence and enthusiasm, he suggested to Udall thatthey should seek the"orderly development" of other natural wonders thatwould "make Southern Utah the tourist mecca" that was "its manifest destiny." For Moss, that meant enlarging and conveying national park status on Arches, Capitol Reef, and Natural Bridges National Monuments. Udall advised caution, warning that efforts to implement that plan might "seriously impair" Canyonlands legislation.*^

In late August 1962 the Senate Subcommittee on Public Lands approved the Moss bill by a vote of 9 to 2. Unfortunately for park proponents, the subcommittee aaion occurred too late in the session to permit the full Senate to act Nor had the House considered the measure. *^

**Hearings, pp 218, 379-80 En route to Utali, Moss asked his Democratic subcommittee colleagues to fly over the canyon country They agreed and were "completely won over," Moss later recalled Moss interview

*^bid., 205, 237, 274-77, 381-85, 480-81, 502-03

*^bid., 83-85, 201-04, 262-63, 294-98, 332, 338-41, 356-61, 409-11, 427

*Moss to William Thurman, April 30,1962, box 29, MP, Moss to Udall, May 16, 1962, Udall to Moss, June 11, 1962, box 55, MR

"U.S., Senate, Proposed Canyonlands National Park in Utah, Report 2121, 87th Cong., 2d sess., September 24, 1962, pp 1-22

Meanwhile, Moss and Udall worked to build momentum and support for their version of the park "If everyone could see it," Udall lamented, "the controversy would evaporate." Toward that end, Udall asked the NPS to make a film on the Canyonlainds. The Sculptured Earth, produced by Charles Eggert, wais the product of that request*^

Udadl scheduled the premiere for Sadt Laike City in late October His request to show the 45-minute color film at the University of Utah wais denied A. Ray Olpin, president of the university, and Governor Clyde refiised to permit the use of Kingsbury Hadl because it wais am election yeair amd the film might be considered politicad After adl, in Utah, Camyonlamds wais one of the most controversiail issues in the congressional races, with Democratic camdidates supporting amd Republicams opposing the Moss bill ^^

*\jdall, handwritten notes, March, 1962, box 156, UP ^°Salt Lake Tribune, Oaober 12, 1962, Deseret News, editorial, Oaober 13, 1962

Angel Arch Canyonlands National Park, was discovered and named in 1955. USHS collections.

Udall was stunned by the decision. His staiff, however, helped him laugh off the incident with the following spoof

Now!

The picture they banned in Utah!

Eartha and the sculptor (Formerly the Sculptured Earth)

what was the mile-high secret they shared? Frank! Revealing! Stark!

The story all Washington is whispering!

What was the governor's strange practice of multiple use.^ They dared to make id

No one under 18 admitted!^^

With Udalltheretodelivertheintroduction, thefilmwaisshown before a packed house at the Hotel Utaih. The response was overwhelmingly favorable One influential member oftheaudience, President David O. McKayoftheMormon church, remairkedprivatelythat"Bennettwaison the wrong side of the road this time."^^

Though well received, the film hardly ended the controversy. In late October, Udadl amd Bennett engaged in a verbail brawl over pau^k legislation. Udadl berated Bennett for opposing the administration's environmentad proposals In a scathing rebuttal, Bennett scored Udadl for being hostile to the mining industj-y and for intruding himself into Utadi politics. The showing of the Sadptured Earth was pure "politicad propaganda" designed tomadceUdadlaindDemoaaticcamdidates "look good." Udall's repeated trips to Utaih for politicad purposes had waisted at leaist$200,000 in taxpayer's money. Bennett cladmed: "The people of Utaih stdl remember the originad oriental opulence which surrounded yourJuly 4, 1961, safari to Utadi accompamied by Air Force plames in regal splendorwith sixmaimmoth helicopters alsomamned byAir Force personnel"^^

Astheyear drew to aclosetheprospects did not lookpromising for Canyonlands legislation The Salt Lake Tribune gave its editorial support to the Bennett smadl park bUl All three of Utadi's Democratic congressional camdidateswho had backed the Moss bill lostto Republicans in the fall election. Bennett retaiined his Senate seat by defeating David

"Box 156, UR

"David O McKay to William Davoren, October 22, 1962, Elva Bell(Moss's assistant) to Udall, October 22, 1962, box 29, MR

^\jdall to Bennett, November 2, 1962, Bennett to Udall, November 2, 1962, box 16, BP, Ogrffn Standard Examiner, November 4, 1962

King, amd Republicams Shermam Lloyd amd Laurence Burton were elected to the House^*

Realizing that the Canyonlamds proposal wais in trouble. Moss agaun revised it to meet some of the criticism brought out in the committee heairings. Introduced on Jamuaury 14, 1963, the amnended measure reduced the size of the park from 330,000 to 258,000 acres. The cuts were made primarily in the Maize, because lamds there would be naturadly protected by their inaccessibility, amd in the southern portion of the pao^k, because lamds there were prized for graizing amd hunting. Shrinking the size of the pairk risked alienating conservationists, but Moss believed "it more important to establish a smaller pau"k than to stir agaiin the fires of controversy . . . ."^^

Moss also made the multiple-use provisions more padatable Because prime mule deer ramge had been excised from the proposed pairk, the revised bill prohibited hunting. He liberalized the section on graizing. Permits held at the time of the bill's enactment could be extended for the lifetime of the holder. If the originad lessee had died, the immediate heirs would have lifetime grazing privileges. But if the permit wais transferred, grazing rightswould end aiftertwenty-fiveyeairs. Existing oil, gas, and minerad cladms could be worked indefinitely. Prospecting, however, would be phaised out aifter twenty-five yeairs. Any minerals found during the phaise-out period could be extraaed until they were exhausted. ^^

Moss also sought an accommodation on Camyonlamds with Utah's Republicam congressionad delegation and Governor Clyde The conference took place at the governor's mamsion on April 6, 1963. All of the principads attended except Lloyd who had to remaiin in Waishington on legislative business. At a lengthy breaddiast discussion, the pairticipamts aigreed to take a"bipaurtisan cooperative approach" to the Canyonlamds issue. The Republicams aigreed to support the concept of a sizable pairk with limited multiple use In return, they wanted fiirther modifications in the bill

Moss agreed to delete thousamds of acres of known minerad lamds from the northeastern comer of the pau'k, but to compensate for that loss he would expamd the pau'k boundauries in the south. He would maike it cleaurthat commercial interests had a right to use pairk access roads. He

^*Salt Lake Tribune, editorial, October 19, 1962 "C/?, 88th Cong., 1st sess., pp. 242-43. ^^bid

Canyonlands Controversy 237

also agreed to consult with his colleagues on the redrawing of pairk boundauies. Indeed, Bennett offered to accompamy Moss when he went to the NPS to set the boundairies. "Of course if they see us walking together," Bennett joked, "they will all probably drop dead." Finally, Moss agreed that he would fight amycongressional attempt to establish the pau-k without multiple use "Creation of a Camyonlamds Nationad Park," noted one newspaper, "appeairs closer tham at any time since the idea wais born."^^

Confident of success. Moss rushed back to Waishington to put the agreement into effect He added two amendments The first adjusted the pairk boundaries by removing 18,000 acres of mineral lamd in the north amd adding 19,500 acres of scenic lamd in the south. The second added clau-ifying language relating to park access roads. Moss informed Clyde of the chamges over the telephone The governor expressed disappointment that more minerad lands had not been withdrawn but gave his tentative approval. Delighted, Moss predicted quick Senate passage of the bill His optimism was misplaced ^^

The Canyonlamds compromise collapsed on the eve of the Senate heairings. Upset that he had not been consulted in the preparation of the aimendments, Bennett withdrew his support He criticized Moss for not excluding more mineral lands. He doubted that the amendment granting developers access to producing wells amd mines went far enough. He rebuked Moss for not inviting stateofficials amd Republicam congressmen from Utah tojoin with NPS personnel in drawing the park boundauies. Finally, Bennett asked Moss to delay the hearings in order "to develop wholehearted support behind the park" Moss refused the request ^^

Chaired by Moss, the hearings of the Senate Subcommittee on Public Lands proceeded as scheduled on April 25 Witnesses on both sides of the issue reiterated familiar airguments. Expressing regret over the collapse of the Canyonlamds compromise, Bennett, Burton, and Lloyd asked for more time in order to "continue our search for a united front on the bill" Mosswas reluctamt to gramt the request Three years of deliberations had already occurred and it was time to "get down to cases." Moreover, further talks and aimendments might delay con-

Provo Herald, April 6, 7, 1963; Ogden Standard Examiner, April 6, 7, 1963; Clyde, notes on meeting, April 6, 1963, box 12, CR

Clyde, confidential notes on telephone conversation with Frank Moss, April 17, 1963, Clyde to Bennett, April 19, 1963, box 19, BP, Deseret News, April 18, 1963

^'Bennett to Moss, undated, box 19, BP. See also several news clippings in ibid.

gressional action until 1964. He also raused the specter of vandalism: Indiam ruins amd autifacts were being defaced Naturad wonders, too, were threatened One formation, the Goblet of Venus, had been destroyed when vamdads hooked a chadn around its fragile stem amd pulled it over with a jeep. The au-ea needed protection, he pleaded, "before it is too late" Moss, firustrated by the "taaics of delay" but hoping for am accord, agreed to keep the record open until May 15.^^ Bennett amd Clyde seemed to take pleasure in Moss's discomfort "Well, Ted is heairtbroken," Bennett chortled to Clyde over the telephone "He is telling the newsmen the bill is dead" Bennett attributed the bdl's demise to the collapse of the compromise and Moss's failure to win over "the birds amd the bee boys." To force additional concessions from Moss, Bennett suggested amother meeting of the Utadi congressionad delegation amd the governor That meeting would be followed by a field trip to explore additionad aireais that might be cut from the pairk If Moss boycotted the conference then he could be portrayed as a "difficult mam"who refused to compromise "We've readlycrossed him up," Bennett bragged "Well, that's good," responded Clyde. Canyonlamds, one newspaper lamented, had gone "back on the politicad see-saw." ^^

Moss did refiase to participate in such a meeting and field trip. Instead, he cadled for the congressmen to meet with the NPS in Washington. The meeting concluded without an agreement ^^

Unable to win fiirther concessions from Moss, Bennett prepared several amnendments to reduce the park's size, permit hunting, amd guarantee commercial access to naturad resources. The Senate subcommittee rejected them adl Undaunted, Bennett persuaded Burton to prepare a House bill baised on these amnendments. Introduced in eau-ly June, the Burton bill withdrew 960 acres in the north amd 19,500 acres in the south, thus reducing the size of the pairk to 238,000 acres. ^^

Already under fire from a vairiety of sources, the Moss bill wais fiirther threatened by am unexpected cause in the summer of 1963. Moss learned that the Defense Depairtment wais about to begin a

*\j.S., Senate, Proposed Canyonlands National Park in Utah, hearings on S.27, 88th Cong., 1 st sess., April 25, 1963, p 1-3, 17-20, 32-36, 70, 72-74

Memorandum, morning telephone conversation between Bennett and Clyde, April 25,1963, memorandum, afternoon telephone conversation between Bennett and Clyde, April 25, 1963, box 12, CP, Ogden Standard Examiner, April 26, 1963

"Moss, telegram to Clyde, April 29, 1963, box 29, MR

^^earings, 1963, pp 56-58; Bennett, press release May 17, 1963, box 19, BP, Cfl, 88 th Cong., Istsess., pp. 10675, 10745.

Canyonlands Controversy239

claissified projea cadling for 84 Athena missdes to be fired over the canyon country from a launch site near Green River, Utaih. The impaa area for the first stage of the booster rocket included pauts of the proposed pairk Irate, Moss aisked the Federad Aviation Administration to deny the Defense Department the use ofthe airspace. He airgued that utilization "of the airspace over the proposed pairk would be wholly inconsistent with its best use as a scenic amd spectaculair national park For reasons of saifety, it would be impossible to combine the proposed use of aurspace over the pairk with normad operation of a nationad park Visitors would be discouraiged from visiting the area, and the whole reaison for the establishment of the pisirkwould be thwairted"^*

Eventuadly, Moss and Udadl reached am accord with the Defense Depairtment The interests of national security, they admitted, must temporau"ilyprevail over theprotection ofscenery. As itwas unlikely that a parkwould be established until 1964 at the earliest, the missile firings would continue until the park bill passed ^^

Despite the many obstacles to the pau'k proposad. Moss remained optimistic He was heartened by the continued public support of David Brower, executive directorofthe Sierra Club. Conservationists, Brower asserted, needed to undergo "heavy soul-seaurching" about multiple use. He felt that limited nonconforming uses in national pairks must be tolerated in order to acquire more p>airk lamds. "We believe firmly," Brower said, that the Moss bdl "will help immeaisurably to resolve lamd use conflias amd at the same time to provide a major addition to the National Pairk system." Utahns, he concluded, must recognize "their nationad responsibdity " to help Moss achieve that goail^^

In latejuly 1963 the Senate Committee on Interior amd Insular AfFaurs unanimously endorsed the Moss bill and forwau"ded it to the floor for aaion. Bennett considered proposing aimendments but eventuadly decided agaunst that move because it"would be interpreted as opposition to the baisic pairk idea" He then gave his support, amd the Camyonlamds meaisure paissed by a unanimous vote on August 2. "My long fight ended upwith everyone being for the bill,'' Mosswrote,"even with Senator Bennett coming adongreluaandy." The legislative batde in the House, however, stdl needed to be won.^^

Voss to Najeeb Halaby, director ofthe FAA.,June 5, 17, 1963, box 29, MP OSS interview.

T)avid Brower, letter to the editor Salt Lake Tribune June 11, 1963 67,

U.S., Senate, Providing for the Establishment ofthe Canyonlands National Park in the State of Utah, Report 381,88th Cong., 1st sess.,JulySl, 1963, p 1-16; CA, 88th Cong., Istsess., pp 13984-86; Moss to Maurine Whipple, August 6, 1963, box 29, MP

Wayne Aspinadl, chaurmam of the House Interior and Insulau* Affiairs Committee, wais in no hurry to move on the Camyonlands bill. The proposal, he explained to a constituent, did "not conform to the idea of a national pairk area A nationad pairk is supposed to be pretty much a single use aurea amd mining is not permitted The Senate bill would permit mining amdminerad development Ifweairegoing to have this kind of operation, then it should be a recreation airea and not a nationad park airea." The House adjourned in December without aaing on the bill^^

Aspinadl eventuadly scheduled hearings for the Canyonlands bill in theeau^lysummer of1964. The House Subcommittee on Nationad Parks, chaired by Thomas Morris of New Mexico, took testimony on the park proposad in Monticello, Utadi, onJune 20 amd in Waishington, D.C., on June 29.

Most of those who gave testimony shared the sentiments of a Mexicam Hat resident who wamted Congress to remove the legislation from its political "bog hole" and create a park Witnesses generally preferred the Moss bdl over the Burton version because it called for a larger park Allfavored multiple use, but fewwerewillingto riskthe loss of the pairk to defend that principle. ^^

The House subcommittee struck multiple usewhen itreported the bill to the Committee on Interior Affairs. When the full committee received the bill, it added severad amendments and reported it to the House for floor action The first amendment slighdy reduced the sizeof the park by removing 960 acres of minerad lands in the northeastern corner ofthe park It rejected all ofthe other provisions ofthe Burton bill A second amendment cadled for the prompt phasing out of grazing by refiising to grant permit renewals A third scratched all provisions that allowed the production and exploration of minerals. A fourth omitted aprovision permitting the commerciad useofaccess roads. And a fifth did awaywith theinterior secretauystimetablefor theexchange of state amd federad lamds. On April 19, 1964, the House unamimously approved the aimended Moss bill which, in effect, created a singlepurpose pairk '^^

*\j.S., House, Subcommittee on National Parks, Bills to Provide for Establishment ofthe Canyonlands National Park in Utah, hearings on H.R 6925 and S 27, 88th Cong., 2d sess., June 20 and 29, 1964, pp 18-19, 25-39, 48, 55-57, 65-69

^\j.S., House, Canyonlands National Park, Utah, Report 1823, August 17, 1964, pp 708; CR, 88th Cong., 2d sess., pp 20304-10

^^Vayne Aspinall to Peter C. Pumphrey, December 23, 1963, box 141, Aspinall Papers, University of Denver

Disappointed that Burton and Lloyd had not done more to retain multiple use Moss nonetheless resigned himself to support the biU with its"crippHng" aimendments. Senator Bennett, however, reminded him of his earlier promise to fight for multiple use in the Senate ifthe House rejeaed it Moss reluaamdy called for a Hous^ Senate conference on the bill 7'

As a conferee Moss fought to retain multiple use, but the House conferees, including Burton, would not budge. Their lone concessions related to grazing and the time period ;allowed for the exchange of state

Secretary Udall and Senator Moss examining proposed additions to Canyonlarub in 1967. Courtesy of Special Collections, Frank E Moss Papers, University of Utah Library.

''MOSS to Ben Stong, August 13,1964, Bennett to Moss, August 21,1964, box 29, MP

and federal lands. They gave the secretary of the interior 120 days to make the lamd exchange. As for graizing, they permitted the renewal of leaises for a period not to exceed ten years. After a four-year battle, the Moss bill waispaissed on September 3, 1964. Two weeks later, President Lyndon B. Johnson signed it into law. Canyonlamds became the first nationad park since the creation ofVirgin Islands Nationad Pairk in 1957. Fittingly, Bates Wilson was naimed pairk superintendent ^^

Having secured the pairk. Moss moved during the next few yeairsto expamd itsborders. He introduced legislation, eventuadlyapproved amd signed into law in November 1971, that added four paircels totading 79,618 acres to the pairk Horseshoe Camyon, a noncontiguous traa of 3,178 acres seven miles west of the pairk, was included to preserve prehistoric piaographs. Three other additions adjoined the park The Maze, included in Moss's original bdl, was a remote camyon area of 47,313 acres west ofthe confluence. Lavender Camyon, located in the southeast corner ofthe park, included 11,952 acres. And the North Side added 17,175 acres to the northern boundary. With these additions, Canyonlands totaled 337,258 acres, about 5,000 more than Moss's proposad of 1962.^^

MostoftheCTeditforthecreation of Canyonlands must go toMoss. Colleagues praised hispatience, persistence, andvision. He also proved willing to compromise to obtain his objective Nothing in his career, he later noted, was "more satisfying" than being known as "the father of Canyonlands." Udall, too, contributed significandy to the establishment ofthe park He worked harder for Canyonlands, he recalled, than for any other park, monument, seashore, or reaeation area He drew national attention to the area amdhelped spark park legislation with his visit to Utadi in the summer of 1961. He made Canyonlands a priority item on the administration's environmental agenda Park proponents, firustrated by delays and attempts to establish a park of minimal size, received in the end a large park without the deleterious effeas of multiple use The crownjewel in the sandstone kingdom, Canyonlands remains one of the major monuments of the 1960s conservation movement^* U.S., HousezndSendXe, Canyonlands National Park, Utah, Conference Report 1881, September 2, 1964, pp 1-7; CR, 88th Cong., 2d sess., pp 21559-61; memorandum Moss to Udall, October 12, 1964, box 29, MR

'\j S., House, Revising the Boundaries ofthe Canyonlarub National Park in the State of Utah, Report 92536, September 30, 1971, pp 1-14

*Moss interview; Udall interview

Men identified as Kay, Ainge, and Neilson removing a dinosaur femur from the Carnegie Quarry during 1912-14. Earl Douglass photograph courtesy of

Utaih, the Nationad Park Service, amd Dinosaur Nationad Monument, 1909-56

BY MARK W T HARVEY

Carnegie Museum.

Dr. Harvey is assistant professor of history at North Dakota State University in Fargo.

LIK E OTHER STATES IN THE AMERICAN WEST in which the federal government owns agreat dead of land, Utah has had along and sometimes stormy historyofentamglementswithvarious publicland agencies One chapter of that story centers on the state's relationship with Dinosaur National Monument under thejurisdiction ofthe National PairkService (NPS). For many yeairs Utah residents have enjoyed vairious benefits associated with this monument which spans the border of northeast Utaihand northwest Colorado. Deep canyons spliced by the Green amd Yaimpa rivers beckon river runners and sightseers alike, and with the world renowned dinosaur quarry neairJensen, the monument has long been one of the major tourist attractions between Sadt Ladce City amd Denver Coupled with the Flaiming Gorge National Recreation Area north of it. Dinosaur National Monument contributes greatly to the economy ofthe Uinta Basin and the state's northeast corner.

Yet, Dinosaur Nationad Monument hais not alwaysbeen asourceof pride amd profit For many years residents of the Beehive State felt deeply frustrated with the preserve, particularly during its early history when scientists from the Carnegie Museum and other institutions competed over rights to gadn access to the precious skeletons. Utadi residents felt at the time that avitadpart ofthe state*snaturad history was being"mined" for thebenefit ofscientists and institutions from outside the state, amd they held the federad government—and in particulair the Nationad PairkService partlyresponsible. Thefederal government had originally established the monument to regulate scientific excavations, but thisnobleadmdid notworktoUtah'sadvamtagebecause institutions "back Eaist" continued to enjoy the primary benefits ofthe dinosaur quarry. Formore than three decades after theexcavations bitter feelings persisted towaird the Carnegie Museum amd other institutions outside Utadi aswell ais towaird the NPSwhich had ahand in helping them The story of Utah's relationship with Dinosaur National Monument brings to light the primairy dilemma of most western stateswith large aimounts of federad land: how to maintain "rights" to the resources. In this caise the resources happened to be rare skeletons

Attitudes towaird the monument developed from the economic conditions present in the northeast corner of the state Much like northwest Colorado, the Uinta Baisin amd surtounding region were isolated from thecortidorsofeconomic development amdthecenters of population in the Intermountain West Fairfrom Salt Lake City amd the Waisatch Front, the remote Uinta Baisin amd neighboring territory in Colorado developed relatively late in the nineteenth century, lairgelyin

response to the open ramgecatde industry amd the efforts of afew hardy homesteaders. Tiny towns like Vernad amd Roosevelt, Utah, amd Craug amd Ramgely, Colorado, sprouted in the 1880s amd 1890s. The region's economy grew slowly, itsfate determined bythevagairies ofthe weather, distant catde and sheep mairkets, amdthe decisions of people like David Moffat, aDenverbusinessmam whosev.^eadth amd influence cairried great weight in northeaist Utah amd northwest Colorado. Moffat stirted great excitement in the region aifter he promised to budd a raulroad from Denver to Sadt Lake City. But Moffat's death in 1911 daished those hopes. The Denver & Rio Gramde purchaised the Moffat line amd built the Dotsero cutofFwhich bypassed Rauigely amd Vernad. As a result, this border region remauned isolated from the more prosperous aireais in Colorado and Utaih. ^

Whatfinallybrought this remote corner ofColorado amd Utah into the spodight wais no economic boom but a remairkable scientific discovery—one ofthe most remau^kable in the American West amd one ofthe most memorable in the history of North American padeontology. The story begam airound 1900 when Andrew Caimegie, the weadthy steel magnate, opened his New York newspaper amd gazed at a picture of a huge skeleton of a brontosaur, a long necked, long-tadled dinosaur now cadled a sauropod Caimegie exaimined the piaure amd accompamying story with fascination. Leairning that the beaist had been found in Wyoming, he begam to make plams to uncover a simdair skeleton amd place itin his own prestigious Carnegie Museum in Pittsburgh. He soon dispatched his scientists to the Americam West to search for remadns of the enormous animals. ^

In 1902 padeontologist Eairl Douglaiss took employment with the Cairnegie Museum. A Minnesota native, Douglaiss taught school in South Dakota before eaurning a maister's degree at the University of Montama Then, airmed with afellowship from Princeton University, he continued his graduate work in paleontology, collecting dinosaur amd

'Few studies ofthe border region of northeast Utah or northwest Colorado exist In addition to scattered references in general state histories see Frederic J. Athearn, An Isolated Empire: A History of Northwest Colorado (Denver Colorado State Office, Bureau of Land Management, 1977) On Moffat and the railroad see Steven F Mehls, "David H Moffat, Jr.: Early Colorado Business Leader," (Ph.D diss.. University of Colorado, 1982), and Robert G. Athearn, Rebel of the Rockies: A History of the Denver arui Rio Grande Western Railroad (New Haven: Yale University Press, 1962); Vernal Express, April 3, 1914

^his information was presented byjohn S Mcintosh at Dinosaur National Monument injune 1984 Professor of physics at Wesleyan University, Mcintosh is a leading authority on Jurassic sauropod dinosaurs, and he has extensively researched the history of the Carnegie Quarry at Dinosaur National Monument

Earl Douglass. Courtesy ofSpecial Collections, University of Utah Library. This photograph was probably taken early in the distinguished paleontologist's career.

maunmal remains between theYellowstone amdMusselshell rivers neair Melville, Montama In 1908 his keen interest in mamnmads took him to the Uinta Basin in northeaist Utadiwhere reports of maimmadbones had been made Rumor had itthatdinosaur bones existed theretoo In 1909 Douglaiss's superiors at the Cairnegie Museum aisked him to devote adl his time to the seairch for dinosaur remadns.^

Douglaiss wais not entirely certaun where to look, but he had one good clue. Among the numerous layers of rock strata north ofJensen, Utah, he sawthedistinaive purple, red, and graycolorsofthe Morrison formation running for severad miles eaist and west Some yeairs earlier Jurassic aigedinosaur quairries had been found in the same layer at two locations in Wyoming, Como Bluff amd Sheep Creek, and at amother neairCamon City, Colorado. Awaireofthese finds, Douglass spent weeks walking adongthe Mortison outaops, his eyes scanning the slanted cliff faces for dinosaur remadns. Finadly, one day in August 1909, he looked up atthe haurdlayerofsandstone and feasted hiseyeson aportion ofthe tadl section ofdiBrontosaurus, nowadays properly called Apatasaurus, the amcientbones stillintheiroriginadposition. "Itwasabeautifiilsight," he

^My information about Earl Douglass comes from a variety of sources, including an interview of his son, Gawin Douglass, in the summer of 1984 He furnished additional information by correspondence(Douglass to author, March3, 1986); copies ofEarl Douglass's correspondence are in the paleontology library at Dinosaur National Monument The bulk of his papers are in Special Collections, Marriott Library, University of Utah

excladmed. "Part of the ledge had weathered out amd the beautifiilly petrofied [sic] centra lay on the ground It is by far the best looking Dinosaur prospea I have ever found"^

Thetailsection seemed to Douglass likeafinenuggetofgold, amdit proved to beonlyone nugget in atreasure chest ofskeletons lyingin the Morrison layer Within afewweeksherejoiced that thealmost complete skeleton of Brontosaurus was there, an unprecedented discovery He uncovered sixty-four tadlvertebrae, more than twiceasmany ais had ever been found in specimens of this dinosaur. The nearly complete neck demonstrated that the animal had avery long body from head to tail, a much longer bodythamscientists had previouslybelieved.Just afewleg, foot, amd breaist bones were missing. In subsequent weeks his astonishment grew ais he uncovered a second huge skeleton ofBrontosaurus lying underneath the first Now aware ofthe incredible potential of this quarry, Douglass wrote to W. J. Holland, direaor of the Carnegie Museum, and excladmed, "so far as I know no dinosaur quarry like this has ever been found before. Sheep Creek is not in the saime class with this. One couldn't have prayed for anything better and have been atadl reasonable in his requests."^

For the next severad years, ftirnished with Cairnegie's funds, Douglaiss spent his time on the cliff face to the west of the original skeletons Workingwith a smadlaew he removed outer rock layers with chaurgesof dynaimiteamdrock drdls, taking extreme caure not to damage the bones During the 1917 work season thewestern face ofthe outcrop ceaised to reveal padeontological treaisures, so he turned to the cliff face eaist of the originad finds. The excellent specimens he found there occupied his time for amother seven years ^ Douglaiss amd his crew sometimes worked year round, fighting the cold and snow amd using bulky rock haimmers, steel chisels, and cread^y block and tackles to uncover amd remove the heavy bones. Unlike other bone quairries, this one saton asteeply amgled sandstone cliff and the men had to cling to it while doing the backbreaddng work When a bone appeaired, they

*Earl Douglass to W J Holland, August 19, 1909, in "Douglass Letters to the Carnegie Museum," Dinosaur National Monument; see also William Goetzmann, Exploration and Empire: The Explorer arui the Scientist in the Winning ofthe American H'^i^ (New York; W W Norton & Co., 1978), pp 425-28

Douglass to Holland, December 2, 1909, 2incljune4, 1910, in"Douglass Letters," Dinosaur National Monument Linda West and Dan Chure, Dinosaur: The Dinosaur National Monument Quarry (Jensen, Ut: Dinosaur Nature Associadon, 1984), pp 5-9 For another well-written account oTDouglass and his discoveries seeWallace Stegner, "Notes on a Life Spent Pecking on a Sandstone CliflF..." in his Morrrwn Country (Bison Books edition; Lincoln: University of Nebraska Press, 1981), pp 302-18

removed itwith smadlwedges amdsledgehammers, then covered itwith a plaster of pairis material Douglaiss drew detailed maps to record the exaa position ofeach bone on the cliff^face The bones had to be placed carefiilly in wooden aates before being hauled by horse-drawn wagon to the radlroad at Watson, Utah, for shipment to Pittsburgh Over 350 tons of fossd bones were lifted from the quarry face. ^

For fifteen years Eairl Douglaiss dedicated himself to the Cau^negie Quamry, as itcame to be known Itwais adecade amdahadfthat chamged his life and earned him a reputation as a distinguished padeontologist Yeairbyyeairhegrew more aimaized.The quaurycontained neairlytwenty complete skeletons of major Jurassic dinosaurs, including Diplodocus, Dryosaurus, Stegosaurus, Barosaurus, amd Camarasaurus. One of the Camarasaurus skeletons waisthat of ayoung amimad. Only seventeen feet long, thelitde Camarasaurus wais the prize skeleton ofthe quairry, lacking only a few ribs amd tail bones. It had a perfecdy preserved skull—a highly unusual find—amd proved to be the most complete sauropod skeleton ever found amywhere in the world Most of Douglaiss's twenty skeletons were beautifully preserved. Thejuvenile specimens helped to revead the growth pattern of the beasts. The vairiety of adult genera mairkedthe Carnegie Quarry asone ofthe bestwindows into the middle period of dinosaur history ever opened George Otis Smith ofthe U.S Geological Survey cadled the quairry "an unrivaded deposit of extraordinairy paleontological interest"^

All of this naturally focused attention on northeast Utah and the small towns lying in the shadow of the Uinta Mountains Vernal residents especially grew excited about activities at the nearby quarry, and somevisited Douglass regularly. Douglass, inturn, began to seethat the dinosaur quarry offered a rare glimpse into an ancient world. As he noted in his diary in 1915, the educational possibilities were impressive:

How appropriate that [the fossils] or pan of them be exposed in relief as they were buried, to show the tragedy of their death and to reveal

West and Chure, Dinosaur, pp 5-9 The physical content ofthe material that Douglass and his crew removed (as well as what is now exposed in the quarry) has been a source of confusion The remains are composed of silica, a material that replaced the original components such as blood cells and marrow, and also some of the original nonorganic bone (calcium phosphate) Since the material contains both bone and fossil, thecorrect term is"Tossil bones." The author is indebted to Linda West ofthe Dinosaur Nature Association for a careful explanation of this (West to author, November 21, 1989)

\Vest and Chure, Dinosaur, pp 5-9; Mcintosh presentation, June 1984; Smith to Stephen Mather, January 15, 1916, box 580, Dinosaur Nationail Monument containers National Park Service Central Classified Files, 1907-39, 79, National Archives Washington, D.C Hereafter cited with the appropriate box number, NPS, RG 79, NA

something of their lives and surrounding s. How appropriate to build a fair sized building over them to protect them, to have this a thing of substantial beauty modeled after nature, to have this lcU"ge enough to contain related fossils and other curiosities... to help to appreciate nature in her wonderful ways

Douglaiss soon becamne a leading proponent of a public display of skeletons and, in time, a spokesmam for the town of Vernad to the Nationad Pau'k Service But his vision would not be realized for mamy yeairs. While Douglass dreaimed of maiking the quairry known to the public with some type of public exhibit, his employers at the Cairnegie amd other scientists had their own designs on the quamry's wonders. Some ofthe most interested observers of Douglaiss's quairry caime from the Smithsoniam Institution, a faa that had great beauringon the fiiture ofthe quaurry. Douglaiss first becamfieawaireoftheir interest in the fossd bones around 1912when he began tolookfor awayto protect the quairry from vamdads. Since the lamd v/aispublic domain, the Cairnegie Museum had been obliged to request a permit to excavate from the Depaurtment ofthe Interior, amd pemdssion had been gramted After a few yeairs, however, Carnegie Museum director W. J. Hollamd becamne concerned that theprecious skeletons could not beadequately guairded unless Douglass took stronger control over the land. That implied ownership. In 1912 Hollamd wrote to Secretaury ofthe Interior Walter Fisher asking to purchase the lamd under the Timber amd Stone Act *^ Douglaiss then filed for the land, cladmingthat theboneswere minerals Unfortunately, from the Carnegie's point of view, neither the Timber and Stone Act nor federad mining statutes allowed lamd containing dinosaur fossils to be purchaised. Only lands contadning "vaduable deposits of budding stone" were avadlable under theTimber amd Stone Act, amd the commissioner ofthe Generad Lamd Office amd an aissistamt secretary of the interior refused to regard dinosaur bone as a minerad. ^^

This legal blockade by the GLO masked certain professionad jealousies among scientists and their institutions The government's refusad of the land purchase had been deliberate, am effort to protect

'journal ofEarl Douglass, October 28, 1915, Diary 33, box 7, Earl Douglass Papers, Special Collections, Marriott Library, University of Utah

'^Holland to Fisher, February 12, 1912, "Carnegie Museum Permits " file, box 1982, Department ofthe Interior Central Classified Files, 1907-36, Office ofthe Secretary, 48, National Archives Hereafter cited with the appropriate box number, CCF, RG 48, NA

"Holland to Secretary ofthe Interior, March 12, 1912; Acting Secretary ofthe Interior to Holland, (day not given] February 1912; Andrieus A Jones to Douglass, August 6, 1915, "Ciirnegie Museum Permits" file, box 1982, CCF, RG 48, NA

scientific resources from falling into the hands ofprivatemuseums.For many years thefederal government's ownNational Musuem had had high hopes of adding dinosaur skeletons to its fossd collection atthe Smithsoniam Institution Scientists there had become intrigued with the skeletons Douglass had found inUtah, and nearly everyweekit seemed that more treasures might soon be found. Atthesame time, they felt increasingly dismayed bywhat they regarded asanarrogant attitudeon the part ofthe Carnegie Museum, which seemed completely unwdling to share the treasures ofthe Utah quarry. When theNational Museum inquired about thepossibility ofobtaining an original skeleton or at leaist a caist replica—it received a stiff refusal.

The Carnegie Museum reftised to send any original material anywhereexcept toPittsburgh, amd atthesametimeitbegam tosend cast replicas to museums abroad This gready irtitated the curators at the National Museum, especially direaor Charles Walcott He thought that if replicais ofthe beasts should be sent anywhere they should be sentto theprincipal museum ofthe United Statesgovernment, not abroad; but the opposite was taking place and Walcott resented it^^ Moreover,

"Elder 'Dad' Goodrich," who assisted Earl Douglass in 1909, with the first bones uncovered at the Carnegie Quarry. USHS collections.

^Valcott's concern with private museums taking advantage of scientific resources on public lands first appeared in 1909 even before Douglass located the first skeleton. See Charles Walcott to Richard Ballinger, April22,1909; BalHnger to Walcott, May 12,1909, "General Permits," 1900-1910, box 1982, CCF, RG48, NA; see also George Otis Smith to Stephen Mather, January 15, 1916; Walcott to Mather, January 25, 1916, box 580, NPS, RG79, NA

Dinosaur National Monument251

Andrew Carnegie had the money to remove every laist bone from the quamry if he so wished, amd perhaps none would be left for the Nationad Museum. George Smith of the Geologicad Survey, who worked closely with scientists at the Nationad Museum, noted that the Cairnegie Museum "if it is so inclined, [would] be able praaicadly to gut the fossdiferous pocket amd rob it of its best contents." ^^ With totad control over the raure specimens, the Cairnegie might choose to withhold adlthe originad remadns or refuse to send amy caists to the National Museum.

Wadcott soon begam to pressure the Depairtment ofthe Interior to tad^efirmercontrol over the Utah quaury. The meams to establish such control were certadnly avadlable Since the land wais public domain a presidentiad proclamiation could be drawn up under authority of the Antiquities Act to madce the Cau'negie Quarry into Dinosaur Nationad Monument Such a move would protea the interest of the Nationad Museum ais well ais other private institutions by strengthening regulations for excavation at the quairry. In practical terms, establishment of a nationad monument would enable the Nationad Museum to review the amnuad requests from the Caurnegie Museum for rights to excavate amd have veto power over them. Walcott especially wamted the Nationad Museum to be able to shairein the work at the quairry, although in 1915 he well knew that he did not have the needed fiinds. Stdl, he wamted to ensure that there would be no obstacles blocking his path when such funds becamneavadlable ^'^ In other words, the Carnegie could proceed at the quaurry for the time being, but the creation of a nationad monument would guairamtee that the Nationad Museum would have the power to prevent the Cairnegie from monopolizing the quarry.

In the Progressive Era ensuring a method of fair competition seemed the best solution to Walcott amd Smith, amd they recommended this to Secretary ofthe Interior Framklin K. Lamein 1915. The secretairy soon wrote to President Woodrow Wilson recommending establishment of Dinosaur Nationad Monument Such a step would protea the Nationad Musuem, Lane informed Wdson, amd prevent Douglaiss's rare treaisures from being "scattered aimong institutions of leairning the world over." '^Wilson issued the necessary proclamation on October 4, 1915. Dinosaur National Monument, inshort, resulted not merely from a routine presidential signature but from apoliticad decision to prevent

'^Smith to Mather, January 15, 1916, box 580, NPS, RG 79, NA.

'Valcott to Mather, January 3, 1916, box 1982, CCF, RG 48, NA

'Vranklin Lane to Woodrow Wilson, September27, 1915, box580, NPS, RG79, NA; Smith to Jones, December 21, 1915, Walcott to Mather, January 3, 1916, box 1982, CCF, RG 48, NA

the Carnegie Museum from hoarding the fossil bones for all time. This fiindamental fact underlay the stormy relations between the state of Utah amd the cairetakers of Dinosaur National Monument for the next severad decades. ^^

From Earl Douglaiss's point of view litde had chamged. He continued his work under Holland's direction, still hoping that a public exhibit of skeletons could be ereaed Yet the following yeairs proved disappointing to Douglaiss amd to the stateof Utaih. Despite the presence of a nationad monument, the Cairnegie Museum continued to reap the primairy benefits ofthe quarry. The federad government did litde to aid other interested parties, including scientists from Utah. In 1916 Congress created the Nationad Park Service, which took control over the Cairnegie Quaury. The NPS found itself atthe center of agrowing rivadry aimong museums amd forced to act ais a referee In the yeau-s to come mamy residents of Utadi felt that it performed the task with litde distinaion. Utahns continued to be frustrated by the rapid amd effective "mining" ofthe quarry by the Cairnegie Museum.

As it happened, so did Chau-les Wadcott, who quickly readized that nationad monument status had done litde to weaken the Cairnegie Museum's stronghold over the quamry. Hollamd continued to behave ais if his institution alone should have rights to the quairry, exacerbating relations with the Nationad Museum amd other institutions amd padeontologists. Wadcott constamdy reminded Hollamd that the Nationad Museum wished to display one of the skeletons or receive caist duplicates, amd he grew dismayed by Holland's resistamce ^'' According to David White of the Geologicad Survey, Hollamd ignored the National Museum's requests, citing the expense of maiking replicais. But White told Horace Albright of the Nationad Park Service that the duplication process wais not so cosdy. ^^ While Hollamd gave the impression of performing a noble scientific endeavor at the quairry, his devotion to science did not seem to include a spirit of shairing.

'TloUand told George Smith ofthe USGS in 1915 that he suspected" that cenain parties in Utah would like to take possession of this quarry, which we have opened up at large expense, under the impression that there is something exceedingly wonderful there which it would be to their credit and glory to acquire Personally Iam sure that ourworkought not to be interrupted by anyone, but that we should be permitted to carry it on to completion there." Holland to Smitn, December 11, 1915, box 1982, CCF, RG48, NA

"A reading of the correspondence of Walcott and Holland reveals Walcott's growing exasperation. See Walcott to Mather, January 25, 1916; Holland to Mather, February 24, 1919, box 580, NPS, RG 79, NA. See also Walcou to the secretarv ofthe interior, January 30, 1922, and F. M. Goodwin to Holland, January 31, 1922, box 1982, CCF, RG48, NA

'"David white to Horace Albright, May 12, 1919, box 580, NPS, RG 79, NA.

Padeontologists from the University of Utaihadsoresented Hollamd amd the Carnegie "monopoly." In 1919 they requested a permit to excavate from the Nationad Park Service. When NPS officials approached Hollamd, the Carnegie director brisded He would not agree to concede access to thequarry toany other institution, airguingthat the demamds of scientific reseairch made such amauramgement unwise No more than one museum at a time should be allowed to remove skeletons. Sciencecould not stand tohavehadfamanimadatthe Caurnegie Musuem, the other hadf in SadtLake City. Since 1909, Holland pointed out, approximately $100,000 had been spent on thequarry, an aimount that reflected Andrew Carnegie's strong commitment to science. Hollamd advised the NPS that the Carnegie Musuem would eventuadly complete itswork"but that time has not yet airrived" In the meantime.

This 1942 map ofDinosaur National Monument, showing the principal natural and historic features ofthe area, was mctuded in informatioruil materials produced by the National Park Service.

he saw no reaison to adlow the University of Utaih to work at the quairry, unless of course those paleontologists were too incompetent to find other bone quaurries elsewhere in the West^^ When NPS direaor Stephen Mather asked Hollamd where other such quauries might be, Hollamd wadfled He had not meant to imply that he knew exaa locations, only that amy reputable scientist ought to know where to look 20

Hollamd directed his most sau'acastic remairks to residents of Vernal, mamy of whom had taken a strong interest in the dinosaur quairry from the beginning. Douglaiss's unbelievable discoveries had been noted in the Vernal Express for yeairs. For a decade residents had made the twenty-mde trip to the quairry from their homes, curious about dinosaur remains. Douglaiss, for his part, was proud of his work amd had adways been glad to show them au'ound Local people had sold him food amdsupplies amd occaisionadlypitched in amd aissisted him. To mamy of these residents it now seemed only just that the government rewaurd them properly by construaing some type of dinosaur exhibit The Vernad Commercial Club amd Chaimber of Commerce, mindful of potential profits from such a plam, urged the Nationad Pau'k Service to provide needed public facdities amd personnel amd to place a skeleton on display. To encourage visitors, the Chamnber of Commerce placed a sign on the maun highway south ofthe quarry. ^^

When Hollamd leaimed of Vernal's interest he scoffed at the town's sentimental dreamns. After the Cairnegie Museum completed its work Dinosaur Nationad Monument would only be a hole in the ground, the quairry"agaishin the rockson the mountain side"^^ No skeletons would remain, so obviously none could be displayed Taking note of Douglaiss'sideaofapublic display, Hollamdwrote to the NPS that he did not doubt that"the erection of such a building would give employment to some of the unemployed in Vernad amd might enhance the value of certaunacres at present covered with sage-brush inthatvicinity. I do not, however, think that the people ofthe United Stateswould bejustified in undertaking amy such wdd scheme" Noting that he padd alau'ge aimount of federad taxes, he added that the government would be foolish "to preserve what is in truth only a'hole in theground,' so that people living

'•^Holland to Arno Cajnmerer, December 2, 1919, box 580, NPS, RG 79, NA

^'^HoUand to Mather, September 29, 1921, box 580, NPS, RG 79, NA.

^'Douglass to Mather, August 17, 1924; William Anderson to National Park Service, May 9, 1922, box 580, NPS, RG 79, NA.

^^Holland to Arno Cainmercr, November 8, 1921, box 580, NPS, RG 79, NA

Dinosaur National Monument255

twenty-five milesawaymayhaveaplacetoresorttogratify their curiosity when they have nothing else to do."^'^

Douglass, nevertheless, pressed ahead with efforts to persuade the NPS to erect some type of public exhibit Having spent fifteen years at the quarry, Douglass knew it intimately amd thought it likely that more bones might be embedded in the cliff amd could be removed if additionad funding was avadlable. During his last year of excavation he located amother lairge section of sandstone beneath the initial layer he had found so rich in skeletad remains. He becamne convinced that the quarry's wonders had been only pairtially revealed^^^

With Vernad's Chaimber of Commerce amd Commericad Club in mind, Douglaiss emphasized in letters to the NPS that Dinosaur Nationad Monument had rich potential asa tourist attraaion. He noted that the Viaory Highway from Denver to Sadt Ladce City had recendy been completed amd that Utah and the federad government had begun to madce plams for amother road to connea the Victory Highway with Wyoming to the north. These roads would soon place Dinosaur in the spodight of a tri-state region. Within the space of a few miles, travelers could enjoy the scenic Uinta Mountains with their "beautiful groves, forests, parks, cleairstreams, and laikes" amdvisitthe quairry on thesamne afternoon. In correspondence with the NPS Douglaiss lauded the quamy s educationad value, much ais he had in his diauy yeau's before. Employing eloquent prose, he wrote that

people are naturally impressed by the past and are eager to know more of its mysterious records, to know the stories and histories which are revealed by the rocks The spirit is similar to that which makes the Mesa Verde Park, the tombs of Egypt, and ruins of Ninevah [sic] so attractive, but this takes us immensely farther back^^

With encouragement from Douglass, the Commerciad Club and Chaimber of Commerce sought help from Utah Congressman Don B. Colton in 1924 He soon introduced abill to fund additionad excavation amd wrote to NPS director Stephen Mather strongly objecting to characterization of the quarry as a hole in the ground and urging development ofthe site ^^It was not to be The NPS had no money for

^^bid

"Douglass to Mather, January 30, 1926, box 580, NPS, RG 79, NA

^^bid; Douglass to Don B Colton, April 21, 1926; Charles DeMoisy, Jr., to Colton, March 25, 1924, box 580, NPS, RG 79, NA; Vernal Express (n.d) May 1924

"Colton to Mather, April 17, 1924; Colton to Albert B. Fall, February 26, 1923, box 580, NPS, RG 79, NA. Colton introduced his bill, H. R. 9064 for the first time on May 3, 1924, in the first session ofthe 68th Congress

Dinosaur amd insisted that Hollamd's view was correct Mather sympathized with Douglass's dream, but the hard truth was that the NPS could bairelymadntain theother thirty monuments under itscare, many of them fragile au-chaeologicad sites in the southwest threatened by vamdads amd the elements. In fiscal year 1923 Congress appropriated only $12,500 for these monuments.^^The NPS also had to maintain national parks ofatruly sterling quality. Clearly, adisplay for an out-oftheway sandstone ridge in Utah did not rank high in Mather's mind. The agency refused to support Colton's bill, and it died almost as quickly as it was introduced.^^

Colton's efforts, Douglass's eloquence, amd petitions from businessmen in Vernad could not change the situation. The Park Service agreed only to send Douglass some metal signs to place on the quairry face to discourage private excavation. There would be no exhibit, no building, no display. After 1924 the NPSvirtually abandoned Dinosaur National Monument Fiveyears later the agency sent Rocky Mountain National Park superintendent Roger Toll to examine the quarry. Toll reported that the sandstone ridge had been leveled, that Douglass had stripped it of its bones, and that nothing remained to indicate the fantastic graveyard of beasts, except "a few fragmentary bones "^9 This came as litde surprise to the NPS, and it confirmed the wisdom of the decision not to expend funds on the quairry.

Plamsfor some typeofpublic displaywererevived ever sobriefly in the 1930s. AJensen man offered his services to the NPS to help watch over the remadning fossds; hewas hired with atoken stipend of$12 per year ^^Meanwhile, the town ofVernal maintained contactwith the Park Service, continuing to hope that thequarry might befurther developed. The NPSassisted theAmericam Museum of Natural History in theeairly 1930s with its plam to send paleontologists to excavate and expose another dinosaur skeleton and to restore public interest in the quarry.

Cammerer to William Anderson, May 17, 1922; Cammerer to C C Case (director of Geological Musuem, University of Michigan), December22, 1924, box 580, NPS, RG79, NA Seealso Robert Shankland, Steve Mather ofthe National Parks, 3rd ed (New York; Alfred A Knopf, 1970), pp 243-75, concerning Mather's role as Park Service director in the 1920s For a keen analysis of how national monuments were treated as "second class sites" during these years see Hal Rothman, Preserving Different Pasts: The American National Monuments (Urbana; University of Illinois Press 1989) pp. 89-116.

^"Cammerer to William Anderson, May 17, 1922; Cammerer to Colton, April 18, 1924; Cammerer to Mather, May 27, 1924; Cammerer to Douglass, August 25, 1924, box 580, NPS, RG79, NA

^Iloger W Toll, "Repon to the Director, National Park Service, on Dinosaur National Monument," November 29, 1929, box 580, NPS, RG 79, NA

"National Park Service to Thomas Smith, December 13, 1930, box 580, NPS, RG 79, NA

The agency adsoplanned to build apau'kinglotamdasmadlshed over the quairry face, something it had been unwilling to do just a few yeairs eairlier.^^

However, when the nation entered the Great Depression all plams for the monument were shelved Under legislation enacted during the New Deal, Roosevelt's Works Progress Administration allowed some workatthequarry but itwasnot paleontological innature Asameamsof helping unemployed in Vernad amd Jensen, the WPA hired men to widen the gap in the softer beds in front ofthe quaurryface Then, if the NPS could some day find funds for additionad excavation the rock face would be more accessible. WPA workers also completed a number of smadl building projeas at Dinosaur ^^

Hope that the quamry might become a mecca for tourists amd scientists had faded fast Theyeau-s between Earl Douglaiss'sdiscovery of theremau-kableskeletons amdthe Great Depression had been exciting to the spau-se population of northeaist Utah. Never before had their tiny corner ofthe world been given national,attention by such distinguished scholairs and institutions. After enjoying a bit of nationad publicity, however, residents felt disappointed by the "abamdonment" of the quamry amd gready disillusioned by the government's mamagement of what now seemed to be a rather peculiaur national monument Douglaiss's find had provided a measure of hope that the region itself might be discovered; now that hope seemed to be rapidly fading away.

Utah residents who blamed the National Park Service for abandoning the quarry overlooked two important points The lamd wais public domadn, amd the federad government had not aaed dlegadly in establishing the national monument Moreover, the NPS had litde control over its own budget, which was surely inadequate for properly developing the vairiety of parks amd monuments under its jurisdiction. Residents of Vernal amd nearby communities, however, continued to resent the faa that the agency lacked funds to continue excavations amd that the NPS made no effort to place amy remaining fossil bones on display. In their minds the federal government amd outside scientists had mined the quairry until nothing remained. As they watched the dinosaur skeletons transported out of Utaih to a distant museum in

''Horace Albright to Thomas Vint, May 14, 1931, along with other pertinent correspondence, is contained in box 580, NPS, RG 79, NA

^^Barnum Brown to EarlTrager, March24, 1937, box2159, NPS, RG79, NA; West and Chure, Dinosaur, p 13

Pittsburgh, residents felt that an important part of the state*s naturad history had been removed forever amd that Utah had litde to show for the whole affair

Determined to prevent a repetition of this episode, some Utaihns began to plan for a state museum where fossils uncovered in the future might be housed Such a museum had not been considered during the 1920s or 1930s since Utah had lacked the needed funds amd had struggled to survive economicadly. However, World Wau" II brought lairge-scade chamges to the state. A maissive influx of industry, mamufacturing, oil refineries, and federad defense contracts adtered the economy tremendously and also brought additionad funding for the state to promote its tourist attraaions. As partof this effort aifter thewar, the state's Depautmentof Publicity provided funds to establish the Utaih Field House of Naturad History. The museum opened in Vernal on Oaober 29, 1948, accompanied by much locad fanfare It had been more tham twenty yeairs since Eairl Douglaiss left the quaury and the Cairnegie Museum finished its work, but Utadi residents had not forgotten their interest in finding a home for fossds found in the state

According to the museum's director, G. E. Untermamn, the primairy reaison for the new museum waisto preserve amd place on display fossils from Utah"in the place of their origin."^^ Untermann's words cairrieda sense of determination, adongwith faint echoes ofthe bittermemories of the Cairnegie Museum amd Nationad Pairk Service

Much to the dismay of Untermann amd other residents of Utah, the entangled relationship between the state and Dinosaur Nationad Monument had by no meams ended, as events ofthe following years stairkly revealed. In 1948 Untermann traveled east to the Cairnegie amd other museums to try to find "surplus Utadi fossds" that might be returned amd placed in the Field Museum. Not surprisingly, he found the majority of such fossds at the Carnegie Museum (although the Smithsoniam Institution had also performed excavations at the quarry in 1923). Upon his return, having compiled a list of surplus materials, Untermann requested $5,500 from the Depairtment of Publicity to pay for shipping costs.^* Untermann corresponded with Leroy Kay of the Caimegie Museum over the next several months to madce the needed arramgements. A former resident of Utaih, Kay understood Unter-

**Untermann to Clinton Vernon, October 23, 1949, Field Museum Records, Vernal The author is grateful to Sue Ann Bilbey, present curator of the museum, for supplying copies of the correspondence from the late 1940s and early 1950s.

Dinosaur National Monument259

mamn's interest in securing some ofthe originad Caunegie materiad amd worked diligendy to satisfy the request ^^

Unfortunately, Untermann's request did not tadte into account the federad government's continuing role in managing the originad fossil bones or the fact that the NPS had a renewed interest in Dinosaur Nationad Monument The agency had recendy taken the view that additionad bones might be found in the monument quairry amd had developed plams to resume excavations in the eairly 1950s under the direction of Theodore E. White, formerly of the Smithsoniam Institution. It appeaired that Earl Douglass's original vision of a dinosaur display atthemonument might be readized ^^Asmatters developed, the NPS amd the Field Museum soon clashed, reviving Utaih's old wounds from the early history of the quairry. Within a few months adl the old suspicions toward the federad government amd the Cairnegie amd other museums were reawakened in Utah.

With plans to resume excavation at the quairry proceeding, NPS officiads hoped that the monument would become the major "dinosaur"attraction in northeaist Utaih. Untermamn amd his colleaigues atthe Field House Museum inVernadhad informed the Paurk Service that they did not seek to take: public attention aw^ayfromthe monument—which might have been eaisy to do had they wished to display a great deal of dinosaur materiad. Instead, they wamted the Field Museum to house a wide vau'iety of geological, historicad, and padeontologicad materials from the Uinta Baisin to highlight a broader part ofthe region's naturad history. The museum's founders had no wish to madt.e the facdity into a dinosaur exhibit According toJohn Doerr, chief naturadist ofthe NPS, am understamding had been reached that the Field Museum would have only "a very modest display of dinosaur materiad to serve ais am introduaion to the madn dinosaur display to be developed" at the monument Doerr amd other NPS phmners felt comfortable with the Field Museum plams, certaun that they would not detract from the neau'by monument ^^

Then late in 1949 when Doerr auid other NPS officiads leaurned of Untermann's efforts to retrieve "surplus" materiad from the Caurnegie Museum, they feaured that the Field Musuem had chamged its plams to

'"ibid

^^Steven F Mehls, "Dinosaur National Monument AStudy ofthe Evolution of Private SectorPublic Sector Support of Science in the West," Forest and Conservation History 34 (April 1990): 80.

"Doerr to Untermann, March 3, 1950, box 8, G E Untermann Papers, Special Collections, Marriott Library, University of Utah.

suit locad opinion amd intended to compete direcdy with the quaury for the public's attention. Without intending to stir Utaih's wrath, the NPS took steps to thwaurt Untermamn's plams. In the first place, ais Doerr informed Untermamn, the Paurk Service might need some ofthe surplus materiad itself for display purposes—paurticulaurly if the renewed excavations at the quaurry did not revead additionad fossil bones. Moreover, the originad dinosaur materiad had been colleaed under authority ofthe Antiquities Act—which meamt that the Carnegie had been legadly designated ais the depository ofthe dinosaur materiad. This legal designation remauned in effect amd could not be eaisily ignored, despite the paissaige of three amd a hadf decades since establishment of the monument The federad government remauned interested in guaurding scientific resources. Doerr told Untermann, "we must not overlook the interests ofthe Smithsonian Institution in amy redistribution ofthe scientific objects," adding that "it is to be expected that the Caurnegie Museum should retaun the materials collected under the Aa until proper use amd distribution cam be determined by the Federal Government" The Nationad Paurk Service stood fast Doert would not approve shipment of surplus materiad from the Caurnegie to the new Field House Museum in Vernad ^^ Taddng such a stance did not win the NPS much applause in Utah. Once again the state's interest in exhibiting specimens of its natural history seemed thwauted by a distant federal government

An enraged G. E. Untermamn lost no time in responding. He told Doerr that the surplus material he sought from the Caurnegie was not dinosaur fossil bone but mammal material, quickly adding thatthe only reason that Doerr questioned the Field Museum's request wais because the Park Service suspeaed it to be dinosaur material. Second, Untermamn thought it ludicrous that the Carnegie Museum could stdl be regaurded asadepository for thefederal government after so manyyears; he wryly suggested to Leroy Kay that his museum should collect rent from the government ^^

Untermamn scolded Doerr most emphatically for what appeared to be a move to delay development of exhibits at the Field House Museum until the NPShad achance toreturn to thequaurryand excavate additionad skeletons. Insisting that the Field Museum's plams would not interfere with resumed excavations at the monument, Untermamn sadd

'*ibid

^'Untermann to Kay, April 20, 1950, box 8, Untermann Papers.

that Utah residents resented having "to waut untd some distamt and unknown future for thePaurkServiceto make thefirstmove, amoveithas been unable tomadceinthepast35years.Wearepeopleofactionwho do things out here, and wedon't relish being haunstrung bya Government Agency which has been unable to get its wheels rolling."^^Letting off steamn to Leroy Kay, Untermamn shauply criticized Doerr and the Park Service: "His suggestion isfamtaistic Ifhe thinks weauregoing to sit here sucking our thumbs until the Quaurryisdeveloped, he's craizy.""^^ Quite obviously, Utadi residents stdl felt at the mercy of NPS officiads amd scientists outside of Utadiand frustrated by their inabdity to control the naturad history inside state boundauries.

The story did not end there. As the situation unfolded in the following months the Field Museum in Vernad finadly won rights to obtadn some ofthe surplus materiad from the Cairnegie Museum. The NPS eventually gramted the Field Museum's request, in pam because most of the materiad was not dinosaur related amd some had been colleaed from placeswellbeyond thequaurry. InAprd 1950 Untermamn happily accepted the first shipment of fossds from the Carnegie Museum, returned to Utah adteram absence ofageneration. Additionad materiad camne in the following yeaurs, and the Field Museum quickly

*\jntermann to Doerr, March 8, 1950, box 8, Untermann Papers

*'Untermann to Kay, March 9, 1950, box 8, Untermann Papers.

Natural history museum in Vernal, Utah USHS collections, Thome Studios photograph, gift of Ernest E. Untermann

becamne a major tourist attraaion in Vernad, nicely supplementing the quaurry and adding to interest in northeast Utaih's fossil heritaige'^^ Still, Utaih's relationship with Dinosaur Nationad Monument wais amything but calm at the onset ofthe 1950s. In 1938 the boundauries of the monument had been substantially enlaurged to protect the Green and Yaunpa rivers amd surrounding canyons. A new phaise in the relationship between the stateamd themonument had begun, though in some ways it appeau^ed to mamy in northeaist Utah that litde had chamged The Nationad Paurk Service, its budget gready reduced during thewaur, could do litde to build roads orotherwise open thisvastaureafor public use Locad residents in Colorado amd Utadi once agaun found themselves frustrated Untermamn, ever adert to the pulse of locad opinion in the Uinta Baisin, informed John Doert of the resentment haurbored towaurd the NPS. With a vaist preserve all but inaccessible, Vernalites blamed the agency for being miserably slow to provide for public use As Untermamn vividly summaurized their point of view toward the monument, the Park Service "ain't doin' nothin' with it"*^

Not suprisingly, Vernad residents amd the great majority of those who lived in Utah and neaurby states applauded when am entirely different plam for Dinosaur Nationad Monument emerged aifter thewau~. Issued from the Salt Lake office ofthe Bureau of Reclamnation, theplam cadled for construction of a multiple-purpose damn below Echo Pau'k in the heaurt of Dinosaur Nationad Monument As the bureau made its plams public and indicated that the dam would play a prominent role in the Centrad Utah Project, mamy in Utadi rejoiced With a huge daun amd

*^Untermann to Kay, April 20, 1950, box 8, Untermann Papers; Untermann to Kay, Augusts, 1952 (The author thanks Elizabeth Hill ofthe Carnegie Museum of Natural History for mentioning this second letter, contained in the museum's archives.) See also Vernal Express, August 13, 1953

^^Untermann toJohn Doerr, October 1, 1949, box 10, Untermann Papers

Dinosaur National Monument263

reservoir, the monument would finadly provide tourist dollaurs to the state amd fulfill the promise that it once held when Earl Douglaiss uncovered dinosaur skeletons

Itwaisnot to be The proposed Echo Park dam spaurked the biggest conservation crusade to date in the twentieth century. A host of orgamizations, including the Sierra Club, Wddemess Society, amd Nationad ParksAssociation, opposed the daun with a flurry of publicity. Appealing to Congress to protea the spirit behind the nationad park system, conservationists and wilderness enthusiasts eventuadly forced lawmad^ers to delete the damn from the Colorado River Storage Project

In Aprd 1956 the damnmet itsfinaddefeat ^^ The controversy left a great dead ofbitterness throughout Utaih, in someways even deeper than that generated by years of wramgling with the Paurk Service over dinosaur remadns. Once agaunresidents felt exploited by"outside" organizations amd the federal government amd gready disappointed with the turn of events at the national monument

The wounds infliaed by the loss of Echo Park dam were deepened by decades of antagonism over the federad government's management ofthe preserve. With the end ofthe dam controversy in 1956 came am unhappy reminder ofthe old dilemma about access to the resources in Dinosaur National Monument The loss of the damn reaiffirmed the desire of state residents to have greater power in determining how the lamd in the preserve could be used amd at the samnetime suggested the ftitility of that goal How waisit possible to live with Dinosaur National Monument without having to cater to pressures from scientists or conservationists who generadly did not reside in Utah.^ That question had been a dominant one for more than a generation, and it took a number of yeaurs before increased visitation to the monument finadly helped to provide am answer. Certainly Dinosaur was not the only federal reserve in Utadithat caused residents ofthe state frustration, nor waisitthe only one that seemed to preclude them from having avoice in how itshould be managed. Bythe end ofthe 1950s, however, more tham a few in Utaih felt that they had been reminded of their coloniad status with regaurd to this particulaur federad reserve at leaist one too many times.

^^he author is completing a monograph on the Echo Park controversy for publication For summaries ofthe batde see Michael P Cohen, The History ofthe Sierra Club, 7592-7970 f San Francisco: Sierra Club Books, 1988), and Roderick Nash, Wilderness and the American Mind (3d ea. New Haven: Yale University Press, 1982) See also Wallace Stegner, ed. This Is Dirwsaur: Echo Park Country and Its Magic Rivers (2d ed., Boulder, Colo.: Roberts Rinehart Inc., Publishers, 1985)

John Williams Gunnison, 1853, in Nolie Mumey, John Williams Gunnison . . . , 1955.

John W. Gunnison's Letters to His Mormon Friend, Albert Carrington

BY BRIGHAM D MADSEN

O N MAY 31, 1849, CAPT HOWARD STANSBURY amd his second in command, I st Lt John Wdliams Gunnison of the Corps of Topographical Engineers, left Fort Leavenworth with a small support paurty for the new Mormon setdement at Great Sadt Lake City Their chief mission waisto explore amd survey the valleys ofthe Great SadtLake and Dr. Madsen is professor emeritus of history. University of Utah, Salt Lake City.

Utadi Lad^e, amd thejordam River After a typicalCTossingofthe Great Pladns in compamy with thousamds of Cadifomia-bound gold rushers, the expedition arrived at Sadt Lake City to find BrighamnYoung and the Mormon leadership apprehensive about thegovernment's intention in sending theaurmyengineers to Utah. Stansburywais able toconvince the Mormon prophet ofthe above-boaurd nature ofthe survey assignment, especially when the captadn hired Young's private seaetaury, Albert Caurington, ais am"aissistamt on the survey." In a private letter toAmaisa Lymaun, a Mormon aposde in Cadifomia, Brighamn Young noted that having Caurington adongin the Stamsbury paurty"will enable us to know at adl times what their movements & discoveries aure" ^

Then, whde Stamsbury spent the autumn of 1849 in exploring a newroad to Fort Hadlamdinmaikingareconnadssamceauound GreatSadt Lake, Gunnison amd Caurington directed two aews in a survey of the Jordam RiveramdUtaihLaike The two men veryearly developed awarm friendship that was to last untd Gunnison's untimely death on Oaober 26, 1853. The Stamsbury party spent the winter in Sadt Lake City which afforded Gunnison the opportunity to gather materiad about the theology and culture ofthe Utaih Sadnts that he later incorporated in his book The Mormons, published in 1852. Albert Caurington waishis chief source for the volume, amd the two shaured a deep interest in subjeas concerned with religion

During the springamdsummer of 1850 Stamsbury, Gunnison, amd Caurington conducted an exploration, survey, amd triamgulation ofthe Great SadtLakethat resulted in the first accurate map ofthe lake and its surtoundings aisfau"south as the south end of Utah Lake Caurington, although theholderofadiploma from Dartmouth College, had toleaun the intricacies of surveying. He accomplished the task so well that Stamsbury hired him to return with the expedition to Fort Leavenworth and then go on to Waishington, D.C, there to add Gunnison in the prepau-ation of the maps amd notes of the survey for the report the captadn was to write for the Corps of Topographical Engineers. Cartington supervised the tramspoitation of all the records amd instruments of the expedition across the plains amd to the nation's capital, which he reached in mid-December 1850. Gunnison amd Caurington worked closely together on the report every day in their Waishington offices untd May 9, 1851, when Caurington left for his home in Sadt Lake City, leaving the captadn engaiged in writing up the

'Brigham D Madsen, ed., Exploring the Great Salt Lake: The Stansbury Expedition of 1849-W (Salt Lake City: University of Utah Press, 1989), pp. 155, 189.

The journals, two maps, letters, amd published documents of the Stamsburyexpedition were compiled amd edited bythe author of this auticle and copublished by the University of Utadi Press amd the Tamner Trust Fund ofthe University of Utadi Libraury in March 1989.

Although both Gunnison and Carrington had New Englamd backgrounds, the former from Goshen, New Haunpshire, amdthe latter from Royalton, Vermont, the two men's lives had dramnaticadly diverged. Gunnison graduated with high honors from West Point in 1837 amd begam his military cau'eer as am active paurticipamt in the Seminole War in Florida before being transferred to the Corps of Topographicad Engineers ayeau" later. After some survey work in Florida, during which he maurried MarthaA. Deloney on Aprd 15,1841, he wais sent towork on projects in the Great Laikes region where he was still engaged when the order camne directing him to join the Stamsbury expedition.

Albert Caurington chose a different road aifter completing his work at Dammouth College in 1834. He taught school amd studied law for a while in Pennsylvamia; moved then to Wisconsin to engage in lead mining; amd maurried Rhoda Maria Woods in Hamnilton, Wisconsin, on December 6, 1838. On July 18, I84I, he joined the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Sadnts, much to the dismay of his mother amd other members of his family. Carrington then moved to Nauvoo where he was given some leadership positions in his new faith amd embraced polygamny by maurrying a second wife, Maury Ann Rock, on January 31, 1846. Winning the confidence of Brighaun Young, he wais chosen to accompamy the paurty of Mormons to Sadt Lake Valley in 1847. He returned to Council Bluffs that fall with Young amd brought his families back to the new Sadt Lake setdement the following yeaur. From this time on he played a prominent role in Utah aiffairs. ^

Having described the background ofthe Stamsbury expedition of 1849-50 amd the aunicable relationship that developed between army officer Gunnison amd stadwart Mormon Caurington, it is now appropriate to explain acircumstamce thatgives further insight into the lives of these two individuads. By coincidence, at about the samne time ais the publication of the book. Exploring the Great Salt Lake, a descendamt of Albert Carrington gave to the Marriott Librauyat the University of Utaih am extensive series of letters from amd to Carrington covering the years

^Nolie Mumey, John Williams Gunnison- The Last ofthe Western Explorers (Denver, Colo , 1955); Andrew G Booth, "Notes of Biography of CapL John W Gunnison" (Goshen, N H., 1860); Steven H Heath, "Biographical Sketch of Albert Carrington" (Marriott Library, University of Utah), Ace

1847 to 1881 Among them aure eight letters from John Williams Gunnison toAlbert Carrington, staurtingwith one dated August 8,1851, Waishington, D.C, amd ending with one written at Mamti, Utadi, on Oaober 18, 1853, just eight days before Gunnison wais killed The Gunnison letters aure significant in providing new information about events in Waishington, D.C, that affected Utadi adfadrs as well as additionad faas concerning the Stamsbury expedition. The eight letters that follow wdl be given brief introductions amd explanatory footnotes where necessaury. The two letters from Waishington were written while Gunnison wais still helping Captadn Stamsbury complete the official report of the Stamsbury expedition.

Washington August 8th 1851

My Dear Carrington

YouwillseebythisthatIambacktotheoldstandandagainatourworkof mapping and calculation None ofthe work has gone to engravers yet, ofthe topogworkI mean, butthedetailmap isaboutready Mytimeatbalinarin [?] farm^ passed off quite rapidly & it was with much regret that I was so soon recalled, expecting that you had so finished matters that the one map of our triangulation would have gone at least but you know how these things are managed &now it shall be off directly It looks beautifully in the copy, &it ought to do so,you wdlsay,when ithas taken somuch longer to copy than to project, prepare thedata, plot& draw in thefirstinstamcd—Theother map of reconnaissance*willbeamonth onthestocksyet&wehavenearlyalltheother Work to prepare for the press—The Capt has been poorly all summer, he thinks you have slighted us in not writing back from the river or some of the forts Weshouldlikemuch toKnowhowyougetalong and Iassureyou that ImissmyfidesSchates[faithful shadow], myold friend intheoffice and at the table—For one week my quarters have been Mrs. MacPherson's to Keep the Captn inheartduringtheabsenceofhisfamily^whoarespendingafewdaysat Fortress Monroe Va He often speaks of you and of having some more information about thevalley& thegeology Ibelieveon thewayback—And he saystheremust beaf)aper chapter onwhatconstitutesyou inthemountains a peculiarpeople,& ashewilldepend much onwhatInoteddownto make itup, I haveconcluded towriteyou, sothat ifthereistime& you pleasetogivemea fewheadsitmayassistinplacingsuch remarks inthetruelight You Know full

^h e farm cannot be identified, but Gunnison's family, his wife and three children, usually lived at Grand Rapids, Michigan, while he was away on his trips According to a Carrington letter of May 7, 1851, to his wives, Gunnison left Washington early in April 1851

^h e two maps reproduced in Madsen, Exploring the Great Salt Lake, are (1) Salt Lake and Utah valleys and (2) reconnaissance between Fort Leavenworth and Salt Lake City Captain and Mrs. Stansbury were the parents of a daughter and a soa The son, Howard E. Stansbury, later graduated fi"om West Point and distinguished himself at the Batde of Murfireesborough in the Civil War

well my desire to do justice to the character, doarines and polity of the Mormons—amd this will constitute my letter official in asking you to write me whether communicating anything or trusting to our present knowledge—

I found in Mich, quite am excitement on the Spiritual rappings. The Spirits have progressed & make their medicines, write out answers to questions, instead of calling over the Alphabet sometimes twisting over the hamd & having the pencd between the fingers, according (ais they say) to the manner in which they cam control the hamd the best—I fought them by adopting in full your theory of evil spirits or "Seducing Spirits" ais Paul cadis them-amd Ithink did agood deal of good in checking the enthusiasm of some who were cauried away by the subject We had one on a visit to Rapids while I waisthere itwould have done me avaistdead of good to have had you there to expose the true character of the witches ^

I have tried our Lunaursat Fort Lauramie, they aure a litdewild, perhaps the means may do-have worked out only two—

Bythis time you doubdess have had the satisfaction of meeting with your amiable faunily^—please to remember me in the kindest terms to them all I leaurnthatmy brother from California, tadksofcomingtoyrCity, R I. Delany, if so hewill find you out bymy direaions Ithink itbetter to tellyou this than to

interest in Spiritualism was very high at this time In 1848 two girls, Margaret and Kate Fox, of Hydesville, New York, reported hearing "strange knockings in the cottage where they lived They spoke to the spirit who produced the knockings, suggested a code, and began to receive messages." Encyclopaedia Britannica (Chicago, 1974), vol. 17, p. 512.

'At this time the Carrington family was composed of his two wives, Mariah and Mary Anne, amd three children—Jane Maria, tne oldest daughter, a younger daughter, Frances; and Albert Rock, the son of Mary Ann who was born November 9, 1849 Stansbury and Gunnison had evidently taken a great interest in the infant, Albert Rock, whom they fondly referred to as "The Deacon."

Albert Carrington USHS collections.

send aformal letter, ofintroduction for Iknowyouwilldo him allthegood you can, even to make him a "believer"-at leaist the latter by showing him the prosperity ofthe valley

The weather is hot and close and Washington does not agree with my internal artamgements; boarding isnot like one's home where he caui regulate his diet Ireceived your noteofcorteaion to theodom [odometry] notes at the Rapids—Do write us &tell adlabout thejourney, who you met at the Forts & how old Bridger gets along*—and particularly of our friends in the valleyRemember me most kindly to the Presidency, Genl. Wells, Mr & Mrs Heywood^and anywho should inquire after such abody asmyself purports to be-

I remain my dear sir

Yrs Sincerely

JW Gunnison

P.S.Don'tforget totellmehowmuch the Deaconweighs& hislitdesisters [?]— My love to Miss I am— J.W.G

Washington March 6th 1852—

My Dear Carrington

Your highly esteemed favors have been received, but two of them were retained here until I came on about4w» one month>^since Iwas glad to heau you gotback saifelyand found your family allwelland waspleased toknow they remembered me with so much favor.

I have delayed writing, presuming the maul would not go through until April, amd have not yet received your promised letter telling about the new Capitad'^and PaurvanValley—You had quite aflare up with theJudges it seems and I laugh at their being frightened so easily. Have seen Judge Brocchus once—he complained ofyour wantoffeeling on thejourney, innot asking him in the momings "how d'ye do!"—and that you refused to pay him twenty dollau"s, Ithink but thatyou put inacounter charge&brought him in debt—It was but afew minutes confab &that was the aunount of it I can't leaumthat the returned judges are saying or doing amything further tham what wais done by the Reportwhich you must haveseen Some Senators haveasked my opinion

*Jim Bridger, at this time owner of Fort Bridger with his partner, Louis Vasquez, had accompanied Stansbury as guide during the Captiiin's reconnaissance of a new route from Fort Bridger to Salt Lake Valley and also had guided the party on its return trip from Fort Bridgei; td Fort Laramie Madsen, Exploring the Great Salt Lake, pp 130, 619, 694

*rhe LDS First Presidency at this time was composed of President Brigham Young with Heber C Kimball as first counselor and Willard Richards as second counselor Daniel H Wells was the commander of the Nauvoo Legion, as the first Utiih Territorial Militia was called Joseph Leland Heywood was bishop of the Seventeenth Ward and Salt Lake City postmaster The first Mrs Heywood, who was to share her husband with three other wives, was one ofthe social leaders ofthe city, described by Mrs Benjamin G Ferris as "pretty, well-informed and accomplished," in The Mormons at Home (New Yrk, 1856), pp 137, 266

'"in a diary entry of October 22, 1851, Carrington noted, "Started for Parowan as one of the committee to locate the site for our seat of government Located said site in Parowan Valley, near its eastern side or both sides of a creek called Nu-quin, called it Fillmore City." "Diary of Albert Carrington," inKateB Carter, comp., Heart Throbs ofthe West, 12 vols (Salt Lake City: Daughters ofthe Utah Pioneers, 1939-51), 8:126.

about the matter, & I told them it was a matter of moonshine, fright and homesickness, that the Mormons felt their feelings outraged, perhaps by mistaddngthe laingudge [sic] and replied pretty pointedly. You Know that Iwas awareofthe feeling entertadned about the"ladiesman," amdItold them hewas not the one to lecture on chastity under that prejudice—All seemed to think theJudges were more scaured than hurt''

Ihavebeen auixiousto getout the[Stamsbury expedition] Report in order to enlighten the world on the subjea ofthe true rights ofyour people to self government I shall not appeaur in it as Appendix, as at first thought The report is enormously large adready. It pradses you to the skies, & has a condensed view of religious cladms & expectations from my auticle. I have somelectures on the mountains &peoplewhich Fm urged to print My object would be to prevent collision between the two governments by giving the Mormons, rulers out of their own citizens. Perhaps, ifprinted you will think I have gone far beyond my depth in Theology—that, if ertoneous, can be correaed but Ihavetried togiveyour peculiar teachings aftilldisplay, ifthey are true you may find me a pretty good preacher of them; & if the doctrines don't suit the world they will know what is in the world & reject them if they pleaise Ithinknothing isstated but there ischapter& versefor what is com common to the religious world has not been given, except in taking "The Latter Day Sadnts' faith," as published by Orson Hyde^—in extenso to comment upon—

Some think Tm rather heretical in sticking up so for "the awful Mormons"—it ishigh time thatyou come out&defend plurality itisnow so

President Millard Fillmore was friendly toward the Mormon people, and, after territorial status was given Utah on September 9, 1850, he appointed the following individuals to office: Brigham Young asgovernor, BroughtonD Harris ofVermont as secretary; Lemuel H Brandeburyof Pennsylvania as chiefjustice to replacejoseph Buffington who refused to serve; and Perry E Brocchus ofAlabama as an -'.ssociatejustice Judge Brocchus aroused the anger ofthe Saints when, in an address to them at the Bowery on Septemer 8,1851," He directed a portion of his discourse towards the ladies, and libertine as he boasted himself, strongly recommended them to become virtuous." Although the judge later disclaimed any intent to "offer indignity" to Mormon women, the Saints regarded his remark as an insult directed at polygamy and the women who praaiced it The federal officials soon clashed with the Mormon leadership, chiefly over what Secretary Harris maintained were certain irregularities in the way elecdons were held Unsuccessful in gaining their way Judges Brocchus and Brandebury and Secretary Harris fled the territory on September 28, 1851, and forever after were known as the "runaway officials." The trio filed a report with the federal govenment listing all their charges against the Mormons in Utah but were faced with powerful figures in Washington who were supportive ofthe Saints: CoL Thomas L Kane, Sen Stephen A Douglas, and Secretary of State Daniel Webster The case gainst the Mormons was brought to a close by Senator Webster's advising the runaway officials to return to their dudes in Utah or resign For a full discussion of this affair, see Brigham H Roberts, A Comprehensive History ofthe Church , 6 vols (Salt Lake City, 1930), 3:501-44; and U.S., Congress, "Report of Messrs Brandebury, Brocchus, and Harris to the President ofthe United States, December 9, 1851," in "Speeches and Important State Papers," The Congressional Globe, appendbc, voL 25, 32d Cong., 1st sess. (Washington, D.C: John C. Rivers, 185,2j.

'^Orson Hydejoined the Mormon church in 1831, was made an apostle in 1835, and served as president ofthe quorum from 1847 until his death in 1878. At the dme ofGunnison' sreference, Hyde was in charge ofthe Saints atWinter Quarters, Iowa, untilthespringof 1850 when he first visited Utah At Kanesville (now Council Bluffs), he published the "Fronder Guardian the only newspaper published at that time within a radius of 150 miles." Orson Hyde was an articulate iind literate defender ofthe Mormon faith AndrewJenson, Latter-day Saint Biographical Encyclopedia, 4 vols., (Salt Lake City, 1901-36), 1:80-82

vaguely understood that prejudice is worldng you mischief—Dr. Bernhisel^^ tells me you auresoon to put a book in circulation showing its propriety—& since Br Hyde has come out amd avowed that the Savior had three wives, the matter cam't be dodged amy longer '*

We have a rumor that the Saints have declared independence of the general government-that isof course nonsense You have only to hold on &in a politic way get along a few years &then be admitted as a state-amd yet all the whole be your own rulers de facto. That, I suppose is the object of the new Captial City for the civil gentile officers, who wdl have, from the nature of things only to draw their pay& eat their grub, for you haveno lawsuits for them to adjudicate—

My family is in MichigauT-& I was ordered to the Lake service in the Autumn & returned here to help the last touches—The maps are not quite done yet—but the Report is all written out—The Captain wdl mention our nauneseulogisticadly and hewants togo back again todistinguish his namieas a travelling Explorer. He is not very well—rheumatick

Congress has done next to nothing thus far, and aire president making amd settling platforms. The contest on persons is to be settled by National Conventions inJune^^—Your surveyor generalship [for Utah Territory] shadl be attended to if I remain—The Delegate told me he had the papers

Givemyregaudstoyourwives,&MissJane, and theyounger scions Kisses innumerable for me Your sweet daughter will soon be ayoung lady & I invite her to pay us a visit when she travels to finish her education

Did you get a Patent Office Report, which I sent to you per mail from Thos. Eubank Com

The old lady, Mrs. Stansbury died two weeks since very suddenly—of apoplexy

The "Spirit Rappers" are busy as ever, but give such contradictory statements that they wdl fall into ridicule—I preach just as you did, that they

John M Bernhisel was a practicing physician in New York City when hejoined the Mormon church early in its history He moved to Nauvoo in 1843 and finally emigrated to Utah inJuly 1851 On August 4, 1851, he was elected Utah's first delegate to Congress. Ibid., 1:723-24.

'*Dr Bernhisel advised Brigham Young in a letter of August 14, 1851, not to publish an explanation ofthe Mormon practice of polygamy because "the public mind is exceedingly sensitive on that subjecL " And yet, earlier, in a March 28th letter ofthe same year, Albert Carrington had written his family from Washington, D.C, that the president had just appointed Brigham Young governor of Utah "& all this when it was currently reported that Prest Young& others had more wives than one, & that we believed in & practised the system of plurality, still I do not think that Prest Fillmore or many of them believed it, though one member of Congress said what if thev do, that is their business " But the leader ofthe Saints had determined to make ain official announcement of the doctrine that the church had been denying and instructed Aposde Orson Pratt to deliver a public statement, made on August 29, 1852, at a conference ofthe church membership in Sadt Lake Cirv Richard S. Van Wagoner, Mormon Polygamy: A History (Salt Lake City, 1986), pp. 83-84; letter of Albert Carrington to his family, Washington, D.C, March 28, 1851, in Albert Carrington Papers, Ace 32, Marriott Library-, Universirv of Utah

'The Democratic nominating convention of 1852 at Baltimore endorsed the compromise of 1850 and nominated "dark horse" candidate Franklin Pierce of New Hampshire for the presidencs' The Whigs, in their meeting at Baltimore, ignored President Millard Fillmore and chose Gen Winfield Scott as their candidate Pierce won an overwhelming victorv with 254 electoral votes to onlv 42 for Scott

are "Seducing Spirits"—amd they aure about as big devils ais the "Mediums" themselves.—

Please write me often, direct to Gramd Rapids, Mich, until next October, then to Detroit I remaun truly yr friend

J W Gunnison

The next four letters addressed from Clevelamd, Mackinac, amd Detroit were written by Gunnison while he wais engaged in survey work in the Great Laikes region He waissent to Green Bay injuly 1852 to serve in a party under the command of CapL J. M. Macomb to "make prepaurations for the determination of the latitude of a point of triamgulation upon which he wais formerly engaged there." By the end of the yeaur, Gunnison was at the Straits of Mackinac engaged, amnong other duties, in a compau"ison ofthe stage of water in the straits amd reported it to be 2.2 feet higher tham in 1849 when first meaisured. ^^ He wais promoted to captadn on Mau-ch3,1853, amd, stdl under Macomb, begam preparing "a new computation of the positions of the triangulation points in Green Bay" amd adso spent some time in drawing maps ofthe au-ea.^^

Cleveland Ohio March 19th 1852

My Deau Caurington

Two or threeweeksago Iwroteyou aletterwhileatWashington, amd since have staurted for home again to be attached to the LaikeSurvey[Great Ladies]— Now Iwant toadd apostscriptum amdaiskyou towritemeat Detroit and tell me something about the Hieroglypicks that aue found on the rock in Utaih amd Deseret—Will you particularly reply to these queries—

On what Kind of rock, & in what situation, they are usually placed'—

In what mamner and by what instrument aurethe figures cut!—

Are they generally of the same size, or cut between the samne paradlel lines—

Are these lines verticad or horizontad.^—

Do you or your tramslators regard them aisthe satmeof those from which the B. of Mormon was tramslated.^—

And if you have amy translated, besides those I obtadned from Sam Pete, translated byW. W. Phelps Esqr willyou please to send me afew lineswith the figures. What was the rock at Sam Pete^ Samdstone or limestone or trop!—

'\l.S., Congress, Senate, Report ofthe Colonel of Topographical Engineers, Ex. Doc 1, vol. 2, 32d Cong., 2d sess., 1853, serial no 659, pp 219-20

U.S., Congress, Senate, Report of the Colojul of Topographical Engineers, Ex Doc 1, vol 2, 33rd Cong., 1st sess., 1854, serial no 692, pp 22-23

Youknowthatconsiderable interest isnowtaken inpreservingthe relicks of the past and it was with regret that I found that those we brought down, which-y©»wasquiteabundant, wererejected—But probably theywillbe Kept & cambe referred to at a future time. I only took a copy of a few and Phelp's translation beginning with "I Mahanti" etc etc-but I did not write down a description of their position.

We saw a few figures on Bitter Creek, cut on a limestone, at Sulphur Springs,-perhaps you remember the circumstamce of our Sunday walk together '^

I saw Dr Bernhiseljust before leavingW.—he appeared in good health and Ireckon isaveryjudicious Delegate for yoa Bytheletter ofMr. Grant we judge that hewould hardly have done for the place '^Babbitt Ionly passed in the street once or twice Does he belong to yr. church.^-^^

The returnedjudges I hear are rather mortified at their hasty move and perhapswouldliketotryagain,allbutthespeech maker. TheyhaveKeptshyof us, probably they heard of our views on the subjert ofthe giveing [sic] proper men for your governors—

On March 13, 1850, Gunnison had noted the following in his journal: Hiroglypicks found on Rock in Sampiche valley Great Basin [A pencil sketch is located here.]

" I Mahanti the2 Kingofthe Lamanites in 5 vallies in the Mountains make this record in the 12 hundreth year since we came out ofJerusalem—And I have three sons gone to the South country to live by hundng antelope & deer." Translated by W W Phelps

Found 100 miles south of Litde Salt Lake Valley—(on high escarpment) [A peiicil sketch of hieroglyphics is on the page facing sketch above, which latter is on the page

Following the first sketch.]

From Sampiche quarry

The Melchisedek Priest Toand blew his trumpet thrice for the people to assemble & the multitude stood about him until the third hour, when the glory ofthe Lord appeared by the side ofthe burning altar & they fell on their faces to the ground while Toand receivea the following commandmentsremainder not copies (guessed by ****)

Sketches of these petroglyphs and their "translations" were included by Gunnison in his book

The Mormons... (Philadelphia, 1856), p. 63, but he failed to idendfy the supposed translator whom he names asW W Phelps in hisjournal William W Phelpsjoined the LDSchurch injune 1831 and very early became prominent"toassist in wridng and prindng for the Church." From tne beginning of his membership he exhibited an interest in spiritual manifestations and at one dme, on August 11,1831, while at the Missouri River, he "saw in open vision, by daylight, the Destroyer in his most horrible power ride upon the face ofthe water." He was later made acounselor in the church presidency of Far West, Missouri, butwas excommunicated on May 17,1849 Hewas later reinstated and came to Utah He was elected speaker ofthe House in the first Utah Territorial Legislature, September22,1852, and died in the Mormon faith, March 7, 1872, in Salt Lake City AndrewJenson, Church Chronology, (Salt Lake City, 1886), pp 6, 7, 9, 11, 13, 14, 16, 37, 44, 87, 91, 196 From Madsen, Expbringthe Great Salt Lake, pp 312-13

'*rhis apparently refers toJedediah M Grant, the first mayor of Salt Lake City, who signed three letters published in the New York Herald and refuted the charges made by the runaway federal officials According to an entry in the History of Brigham Young manuscript forJune 1852, p 56, CoL Thomas L Kane was the real author See Roberts, A Comprehensive History ofthe Church, 3:528-29

AlmonW Babbitt, alawyer by profession, joined the Mormon church very early in its history and continued to play a prominent part in church affairs He was a contentious and controversial figure, being disfellowshipped twice, but, being readmitted to membership each dme, he finally moved to Utah in 1848 where hewas elected as the first delegate to Congress from the proposed state of Deseret Arriving in Washington, D.C, later in 1849, he was not permitted to take his seat In 1853 hewas made secretary of Utah Territory, which posidon he maintained until his death in 1856 during an attack of Cheyenne Indians near Fort Laramie Jenson, LDS Biographical Encyclopedia, 1:284-86

The Report wais to go to the Bureau the day after I left-if no procraistination Kept itbackthen itisnow inthe hamdsofthe printer. ^^ Mypauton your History amd Theology will be printed separately at Phila amd I suppose it wdl not pleaiseanybody, for Igivemere faas with scauceany commentaury in order to leteach one form hisown opinion. People seem toexpea either pradseto the skies or blame down to the bottom ofthe bottomless pit, amd of course I shadl catch it-; but if controversy aurises on any side & I'm attacked, then it will be time to put forth opinions No good comes from bitter denunciation of those we think wrong in opinion amd chairity is much wamted in adl religious discussion now-a-days. The publisher to whom I submitted the manuscript remaurked, "I see you are very apologetic for the Mormons"—let that be as it may, you will think I'm severe enough no doubt-but don'tflaureup to shaurp, but write me, if you receive a copy, about any point on which I may be mistaiken I have seen several books this yeaur which were long ago printed which bestow a lot of curses on the doings at Nauvoo, amd yesterday I met a man, from Illinoiswho thinks you were"awfiil bad" people &aure to be a most terrible thing one of these days But so long as you madntaun right amd justice between mam amd maui-amd treat emigrants well & sell them provisions at a reaisonable rate, we shall have no reaison to complain but think your empire a good thing in the Mountadns^^—Give my Kindest respects to your wives and little ones—Also make my regards Known to the Governor, Mr. Kimbadl, Heywood and adl friends—Yours truly

J W Gunnison

Survey of the Lakes

Mackinac Mich, Sept 18th 1852-

My Deau Carrington

Your highly esteemed favor ofJune waisreceived by me a few days since and it did me a great deal of good as well as improvement in topographical Knowledge of your country all your explorations possess great interest for me&I camseem to follow you &seeall the hdls, ravines&laikeswhich you well described. Indeed themountadn scenery isindelibly impressed upon my mind amdthe trip to theSaltLakewillno doubt be thecrowning incident for the page of individual memory—

You flatter me by the confidence in which yourself and the respected presidency &others have expressed themselves. Some havegone sofar among

^'Both Gunnison and Carrington were highly criucal of Captain Stansbury" s habit of taking his time about fulfilling commitments. For example, in his journjd entry for May 9, 1850, while in New York City on his way home from Washington, Carrington recorded, "our barometer not ready owing to the shiftlessness of Captn S in not informing Green— " Madsen, Exploring the Great Salt Lake, p 768

^^An analysis of many emigrant journals and diaries offers evidence that, in the main, the Utah Saints did "treat emigrants well" and sold "them provisions at a reasonable rate...." See Brigham D. Madsen, GoW Rush Sojourners in Great Salt Lake City, 1849 and 1850 (Salt Lake City: University of Utah Press, 1983)

the"gentiles" astocensureme for partiadity, even CapL Lee^^whom you Know & esteem says I have pradsed the Mormons too highly. But I shall wamt to heaur the criticisms ofthe Utadisamdthen shadlbe better abletojudge whether I have attadned the objea ofholding even the scalesofJustice between the two pauties ais an impartial looker on No doubt you will secure a copy of my notes before this and Ibegyou to send me the News, ifitpublishes amyremarks no matter how severe One copy has been sent to me only-it is full of verbal errors, but nothing to materially alter the sense I aunnso out of the world in these wdd woods that it is out of my power to send you an account of the doings in the peopled world other than is common to both of us, namely the newpapers when we get thern.^*

We have received a Base Appau^atus, which compensates for chamge of temperature, has a Level to show the contact & is a most delicate scientific adfair-& ifwe only had the Sadt Laikeground itwould be fine indeed But we aureon ridges between which are swaunps& wegrade&dig& after adlhave most sorry ground Just send down six mdes of that "deau old" shore & we'll measure itin style. Capt Leeishere superintending amdoften speaks ofyou, or rather we have mamy talks about your peopde&my fides Schates in particulau". Did the Colonel send you our(Stamsbury*s) Report You perceive that he tjikes all the credit-quite modest But we can stand it you Know—the work takes well Ileft before themaps wereoff the stone& ofcourse some mistaikesare in them—

Dr Blaikehas been out with another attack on S_ y& swore to his former statements, but hewdl haveto back up, in person, adlstatements of this kind amd get some underground influence to obtadn a hearing. If he returns with lots of gold I should not wonder if he made a ftiss yet^^ Congress has just adjourned, or rather we have lately heaud of it— Nothing was done for the Army interests, & we must wait for amother War before being considered meritorious-amd a bill maiking certain Lieutenants into Captadns failed in the House for want of time to reach it—We who are direaly connected with the business ofthe country instead of wauting to fight, appeau to have work enough cut out in the Riv. & Haub. bill

^^ThomasJ Lee was a graduate of West Point (1830) and joined the Corps of Topographical Engineers onjuly 7, 1838. Hewas an assist£mt in the Topographical Bureau from 1851 to 1855 when he resigned from the service George W Cullum, Biographical Register ofthe Officers and Graduates ofthe United States Military Academy CWashmgton, D.C, 1839|, vol 1, pp 362-63

^*Most gentile reviewers of Stansbury's /?«^ort and Gunnison's book. The Mormons, were highly critical ofthe two authors' flattering notices about the Utah Saints One editor noted that despite the lieutenant's penchant for putting "the most favourable construction on their [Mormon hosts] doings," he could record such damaging charges that 'The Danite Band" was sworn to .exterminate certain enemies ofthe Saints Gunnison had tried to give a balanced analysis of Mormon theology and culture Most reviewers preferred Stansbury's style of writing over that of Gunnison For a fuller discussion of reactions to the two works, see Madsen, Exploring the Great Salt Lake, pp. 799-807.

^^he geologist and physician Dr James Blake, left the expedidon at Salt Lake City after a rancorous quarrel and some court appearances with Stansbury. Gunnison, Carrington, and the Mormon leadership supported Captain Stansbury throughout the prolonged controversy which was finally settled when the secretary of war refused to pay the extra compensation Blake had demanded For a full discussion ofthe case, see ibid., pp. 553-91.

Your Surveyor Generalship is sleeping yet &when it will be made is uncertada^^ Pleasetell mewho the newJudges are which aue sent out& what they may be expeaed to do. We have heardthatJudgeSnow hais rejoinedyour church and thatwas the reason he "was suffered to remain" ^^

My family are at Detroit& all well, & I wishyou hadcome our way when you wentbackforbeingmymostparticularcortespondent itwould have been asatisfaction forthem to knowwhatakind amd sincere heartedgendemamyou are-PerhapsthePresident[Brighaun Young] will send you onaMissionbefore longand thenI shallexpea avisit, but I presumeyouhavegivenup the ideaof making me over in theological matters—Yourold Seven hour disputer [.^]— Lucius Lyon—died suddenly last year. He wais struck speechless amdlived a few hours It would have been a satisfaction to haveheauda fewwords, ifhe was in good sense, just before his exit from the stage^*—There aure curious thingsgoingon in Virginia-the spiritual company there are printinga copy of theBibledirecdyrevealedby the spirits-& the"develish fools" madce the most absurd thing of it possible—With their ineffableness, transcendentad cases & allthe superlativesofthe languagecombined they pass up intothemysterious far enough to suit those minds that simphcity &common sense have such antipathies for—

The political world is fermenting again and if any one is eleaed by the people it must be Pierce He is afine,liberal man& a gendemam whom you would like I reckon—Webster is to be a side candidate in order to run the election intothe Ho. ofReps, wherehewdl stand achance—The Freesoils run Hale for President, which wdl draw from both parties, but most from the Whigs.

I aun gladto hearyou aueflourishingsowell& seeoccaisionadlyyr.naunneas Clerkofthe Assembly& on other duty Itisverygratifying to Know thatthe Gov. the LL Gov ^^ and other esteemed persons remember me so Kindly. Please make myregaurds Known to all myfriends, asyou Knowwho theyare V11 not stop to mention them—My kindest remembrance to your wives & Miss Jane, amd when I mad^e that gramd triamgulation we'll taike the deacon as

Carrington never received the appointment he sought as surveyor general of Utah Territory although Governor Young did appoint nim on April 12, 1852, to be topographical engineer ofthe Nauvoo Legion with the rank of^colonel. Albert Carrington Papers.

^'Zerubbabel Snow, a resident of Ohio before moving to Utah, was a brother of Mormon apostle Erastus Snow and was appointed an associate jusdceTor Utah at the same time as Perry C Brocchus When the latter, Brandebury, and Harris left Utah, Snow remained and served out his full term. Lazarus H. Reed of New York succeeded Brandebury, Leonidas Shaver took the place of Brocchus; and Benjamin G Ferris replaced Harris as secretary Orson F Whitney, History ofUtah, 4 vols. (Salt Lake City, 1892-1904), 1:451, 476; see also CHfford L Ashton, The FederalJudiciary in Utah (Salt Lake City, 1988), p 1

^*Here Gunnison is referring to a seven- hour debate that took place in the winter of 1850 in Salt Lake City between Carrington ana Lucius Lyon, who was at the time assistant surveyor general ofthe United States in charge of the Northwest Lyon was a believer in Swedenborgianism Gunnison devoted most of a letter to his wife to explaining in great detail the arguments advanced by Lyon and his Mormon opponent Marguerite Beck Blocl^ The New Church in the New World[New York, 1968), p 132; Madsen, Exploring the Great Salt Lake, pp. 271-73.

^Tieber C Kimball was lieutenant governor of Utah under Gov Brigham Young in the provisionad state of Deseret

aissistamt &by the time it is over he will never forget me—as long aishe lives Beingingreat haiste& havingtheboat cabin towriteinwith threecompamions & theytalking&jabbering& laughing, no doubtyou'11finditbaudtomadteout amy sense or coherence, but I hope you will see that I remaun dear Sir your friend etc

J. W. Gunnison

Detroit Oct 5th 1852My Deau Caurington

Adayor twobefore leavingMackinaw in conversation with CapL Lee, he told me that he thought you could procure yourself perhaps a pecuniary benefit amd otherwise further your desires by sending to CoL Abert, for the Secretary of War,^° or requesting him if he thought proper to lay before the Secrysome account&maps ofyour explorations—TheColonel wiUno doubt be glad to get additionad information for the maps we have published, amd when the Secryapproves Ibelieve it isusuad to payout of some appropriation for surveys for such things

Youcould taketheprojection ofFremont off upon amotherpaper, & then maurk where he conjeaures, the true account of the vadlies & mountains & streauns,& giveasuccina description likeyouhavealreadydonetome. Icould eaisily do so from your notes-but you must Keep yourself before the departments as a Topographer & Surveyor in order to secure the Surveyor General ship—Think of this subject & try to get a litde winter leisure [?] between the wood haulings amd fire buildings to give the Bureau a"touch of your quadity"—It is surprising how far a litde thing, or what the author may deem of small moment, camgowith the i^reatmen of a nation—Even if there should not be amything sent that circumstamces should called for its publication, stillthe Colonel&theSecretaurywould feel theflattery&compliment of being remembered &noticed—

Much sicknessprevadlsinthecountry Ibelieve& especiadlyinour cities— Iaunwritinginthechaimberofadead child, one& theonlyofoneofa friend— My family have stood it remaurkably well on Homeopathy though some of them have had serious dysentery attacks—And this system seems to be growing more populau every day, whether on the tendency to isms so rife in these"United States"—orfrom readmerit, isyetto be made mamifest in order to unamimous opinion—^^

Iwrote you twoweeks since, in time probably for this month's mail and shadllook anxiously for your answer Bytheway, the Editor ofthe Free Press (of Detroit), which paper isthe leading Democratic one in this region, isvery

^'Homeopathy is defined in Webster's New International Dictionary (1957) as "the art of curing, founded on resemblances; the theory and its practice that disease is cured by remedies which produce on a healthy person effects similar to the symptoms of i;he complaint ofthe patient, the remedies being usually administered in minute doses."

*°Col.JohnJ Abert was in charge ofthe Corps ofTopographical Engineers; Charles M Conrad was secretary of war.

well disposed to do your people Kindness and has a high opinion of your merits on various scores and as am importamt element in our national development He isa friend of mine and he doubtless would like to exchange his large weekly for the Deseret News-will you try to effect the matter if agreeable to Dr. Richards—The Drwrites sopleasantly& forcibly that I should like to see some of his au'ticles myself & if the exchange is made it will not be difficult^^

Ifyou get Hauper*sMonthly for October look at the literauy notices The world is flooded with new publications & who reads them or buys them all I cant imagine-By the way ifyou cam glean anything curious in Indiam matters, traditions or present history, send it with a letter to Henry R Schoolcraft, LL.D. Washington City & if he puts it into that great nationad work of "Historical &Statistical" etc etc of the Americam tribes, you become entitled toacopy ofallthevolumes at publicexpense&can haveitsentyou bymaul. Itis a superb work; & the three volumes now out probably cost fifty to seventy five dollaus ^^

But good night; remember me to those Kind ladies ofyour heart & the sweet Fraues [?] & I remaun yrs truly at midnight

J. W. Gunnison

Detroit Mich. Deer. 25th 1852. My Deau Caurington

What has madeyou so suspicious of my not appreciating very highly your correspondence amd that I aun not wdling to abate ajot in length or breadth of it Now here haiscome to hand only ahalf sheet, but verygood what there isof it, written the 12th of September—but I have two or three letters somewhere on the way since that date which I hope reached their destination or will do so before you entirely break off from brother G Now I have not concluded "tofall into the ranks," asyou say, but not for the reason you hint at, "not populau enough," though I must say, that of all dissenters the"Sadnts" of Utaih present the most rationad and brotherly example of any. There is a consistency of reasoning amd correspondent aaion among them that I very much admire Yet I do not seethe truth ofthe premises, the basis on which the new Church isfounded requires a sanction Itwill not do to point to success to prove its religious truth, for the Methodists claim that to prove that God had accepted them in their asserted priesthood of Bishops, priests etc—

But I am glad to heau ofyour prosperity as a community and cam readily allow that the that the [sic] feeling of brotherhood-like that ofthe eauly Church isblessed of God. You haveapracticad system ofsociadism thatworks wonders.

willztrd Richards served as secretary of state for Utah Territory after B D Harris fled the scene On June 15, 1850, Richards became the editor of the Dwer?^ A^ez^iiwhich he continued to edit until his death on March 11, 1854 Whitney, History of Utah, 4:23-25

T^enry R Schoolcraft eventually produced six volumes of his famous work during the years 1851 to 1857. The complete title was Historical and Statistical Information Respecting the History, Condition, and Prospects ofthe Indian Tribes ofthe United States.

amdwhen I relateyour feats of heroism &enduramce and point out the future which acontinuance ofsuch pradseworthyefforts willgiveyou, itmakes people starewidely enough Buteverybody are on the high road tofortune, or striving mighty haurd to make money It is a terrible slavery in the working world just now. The country is properous beyond precedent Rail roads are multiplying in every direction. The channels of trade are chamging in vau^ious parts ofthe country and prices of provisions, though the harvests are abundamt, are ruinously high with us salauied persons, for we dont go up in purse according to thegeneral prosperity—Anydiscussion ofdoctrineswith thegreedy seekers of wealth is useless and most others will enter into or rather upon theological subjects only for dialectical amusement

What kind of a muss the new doctrine of "plurality" will Kick up I can't imagine Probably a few newspapers' notices will be given and impatiently read by some as they turn to the items ofthe price of flour, corn &cotton. No doubt the Senatewill be talked to on the subject General Cass told me that he intended to advocate the giving a section of land to every settler in Utah as in Oregon-and he thought that would caury in so mamyof other creeds that you would not then be dangerous Icould not help laughing&saying that was the verypolicyyou wished and that Ihad long advocated & printed that you ought to have the land and that it would be absorbed quite quick ^*

Asyou write to askabout the Report inwhich you took so great a part on public account, I shall consider this a "Pub Doc" enough to send to Dr. Bernhisel to ask him to call on Col. Abert to ftilfil his promise. Indeed you ought to write to the CoL yourself^you were a favorite with him in thought Stansbury has tried his best to please you jmd no doubt hopes to have you get him back on a larger work ^^Iunderstand the Col Says he did nothing he was sent todo-no not that, but thatwereported on nothing & that the information was not practical. The surveyingwhich was our work cannot be gainsaid. That was as I expected. The work is for the people to read, a book of travels & popular pictures &itsuits the market He had plenty of help, the family were a year in getting the manuscript ready; auid Lippincott has published it on private account ofwhich S. has a consideration of course, & Lippincott writes me that itsellswell. IfDr. B. has not sent on both works Ishall ask him to do so immediately-for the information in my litde book was gotten under government auspices, & waswritten-(the first part I mean) for the Report &is almost literally given there by S.-without credit to me-But I can show you plenty of sentences taken out of the manuscript bodily—I have the original paper returned to me which S. had for months to write & re-write & then say, "I believe Lt G intends to publish etc"—I altered or wrote the matter

As indicated in a letter of February 6, 1852, to botanist John Torrey, Stansbury hoped to be assigned "to make an exploration from somewhere near the heads ofthe Yellow Stone, Northward, embracing the heads ofthe Columbia, & all that region " He never achieved this desire Madsen, Exploring the Great Salt Lake, p 781

^ewis Cass was elected senator from Michigan in 1845 and served until 1848 when he resigned to run for the presidency as the candidate ofthe Democratic party He was reelected to the Senate in 1851.

printed in mine, much from recollection ofthat& the notes used in maddngit up;-at anyratethewholeis legitimate matter for franking. Ifhe has not acopy to send, Iwdl seethat you have one myself—& the beauty ofthe new postage laws aue felt, in the privilege we have of mauling books

I reciprocate the Kind feelings of yourself &wives &MissJane—pleaise maikeKnown mycordial regards and good wishes for theirwelfare. When you bring the Deacon down we will compare boys, for if you have one "hard to beat," then if Ishould beatwhat agreat victory itwill be Butyou beat me on numbers, havingtwostringstoyourbow,whileIhaveonlyone& thatone dont makethat Kindofmusicnow-a-days.TheEditorofthe FreePressliveswith me amd he sawyour letter and to day gives an article on the subject of plurality, amusing & instructuive, but not at all denunciative—He has never spoken disparagingly ofyou &this paper is called Genl Cass' organ &is the leading paper in this section. Soyou see the doctrine islikely to become Known, but some ofthe Senators wdl think themselves deceived for Col. Kane said itwas notyourpractice^^& then theyvoted foryour excellentgovernor Prest Young for his office It was told me that Fdlmore wais puzzled when those judges reported, but Iinformed theSenator[Cass] that itwould bebad policy to turn out brother Brighaun Remember me Kindly to all acquaintamces & friends who have not forgotten me, amd I remain Truly yr. friend

Gunnison

The last two letters from Gunnison to Carrington are concerned with the au-my officers' assignment to head am expedition to locate a suitable route for arailroad to theWest Coaistthrough the central paut of the country.Jefferson Davis, secretary ofwaur,on March 3,1853, the day ofGunnison's promotion to captadn, ordered an exploration and survey of a possible route for a tramscontinental railroad between the thirtyeighth and thirty-ninth parallels. Much to his surprise, Captadn Gunnison wais selected, on May 3, 1853, to head this expedition. He now looked forward to a return visit to Mormon country as the route would take him by way of the Huerfano River, across the Rocky Mountauns through Cochetopa Pass, amd along the present Gunnison and Green rivers to Sevier River.

After atrip toWashington, D.C, for further instruaions, he left for St Louis, reaching thereonjune 3,1853. He began purchasing supplies amdinstruments amdwassoonjoined byhisaissistamt, LL E.G.Beckwith,

^^n an exchzmge of correspondence between Millard Fillmore and the steadfast friend ofthe Mormons, Col Thomas L Kane, injuly 1851, the president asked for assurances ofthe "moral character" of Brigham Young as the chief execudve considered the Utah leader for the governorship Kane responded that he could tesdfy to Young's "irreproachable moral character, because I was able to speak of this from my own intimate personal knowledge." Whitney, History of Utah, 1:477.

Gunnison's Letters 281

amd by five other topographers and scientists. Gunnison described his journey across the plains and Rocky Mountains in a series of letters to his wife and mother. This interesting correspondence is now part of the Gunnison CoUeaion at Huntington Library

Leaving St Louis onjune 9, the expedition reached Fort Leavenworth byJune 14 and theArkamsais River byjuly 12. Arriving at the town of Mamti, Utaih Territory, on October 18, 1853, the captain penned his laist letter to his wife, indicating that because it was so late in the yeaur he would not be able to return east until the next spring.^^

Camp Ind. Tery [Shawnee Reservation]:June 19 1853

My Dear Carrington

I am on my way agaun to the Mts: on survey of "Pacific RR Routes"& have the"Benton" onewhich paissesthe south ofyr setdements or mostly^^— Itdoes notgiveyou thelinealongthevalleywhichwould make you thegrauiaury of the Pacific Coast & open a splendid mau^ket both ways But I hope to demonstrate the feasibility of that route for Iaun to return in the vicinity ofthe old track we caume down upon—

Imay havetowinteraunongtheMts. agaun&beoncemorethe partaker of your hospitality, & Iwamt to know what you think of me as author, but I cam't getanything but aparagraph that"you're down upon me" etc—however, this 2d trip will enable me to correct ertors of the former- and you most certainly will not be backward in giving me the chance to do you all the justice possible

Idelayed aday inWashington tomeet the President,[Franklin Pierce] who isan old acquaintance ofmine&tell him alitdeabout you asapeople amd how highly I esteemed you-amd at other times I have had a finger in the pie. I do hope that no change will be made in the Governorship &I saw no indications ofany intention to replace friend Brigham Ihavejust finished a hasty note to him My orders were very sudden I have had to hurry everything &all other pau~ties being fitted out, to take the poorest of the lot, & am deficient in some instruments now—My Civil Engineer was taken sick on the road in N.Y. &is back with two Barometers—& it is doubtful if hejoins me at all—

I am forming camp, buying horses & mules & hiring green teamsters. You'll see descriptions of my party & route in the St Louis papers ofthe 10th

Madsen, Exploring the Great Salt Lake, pp 812-13 Sen Thomas Hart Benton vigorously promoted the central railroad route from St Louis by way of Cochetopa Pass and opposed the other proposed routes, especially that adong the 32nd parallel. See William H. Goetzmann, Army Exploration in the American West, 180J-186J (New Haven, Conn., 1959), pp 266-67, 183-86 In a letter drafted bv Carrington for the signature of Delegatejohn Bernhisel and addressed to W B Phillips of Washington, D.C, Carrington discounted any advantages for the "northern," "Gila River" and "Scinta Fe" routes and came out strongly for the " Kansas" route He explained that the best way through Utah was down the Provo River to the North end of Utah Lake and thence across Nevada to Walker Pass in the Sierra Nevada Albert Carrington Papers.

Your maul passed a day or two since & I wanted to see ifthere was not a letter from you in answer to several that I've written, since getting an answer—

If there's any way of communicating at Litde Salt Lake^^do write thereand ask the Governor to loam me a guide from the Vegas Santa Clara, (west point of my south S.) if he caui, through the best vadlies North to L Utah In truth it seems to me that you will do all you can to aid me in preventing the Great Road from going through Texas on the South to Rio Gila, on from Minnesota to Pugets Sound on the North-& let me add that most untiring efforts are making to cairry it either one way or the other-

There aue people prejudiced against you stdl, though I've done much to disabuse them. My statement of facts, as I understood them, has done better tham indiscriminate praise would have done—

Also let me Know ifyou can level through the Weber Kanyon (lower) in thefall& whether aRaulRoad could bebudt along itssides byalitdeblastingat places-at any rate ifyou will make a reconnaisance through it&report to me I will pay any reaisonable sum for the information If the Road was brought to Mud island*^wecan bridge easily to Promontory Point aaoss BeauRiver baygreaterworlds [?] thamthatauredone now-a-days, in& alongrockbluffs they cut out tracks for "old iron horse."

I left my family at Grand Rapids again mywife says Ilike too well to go back among the Mormons, and looks rather incredulous when I assure her that Ihavenone there& willnot add tomypresent number of" better halves."I went to see Orson Pratt, but that day he had started for England-hiswork I did not obtain &wish now to have it

*' The Spiritualists are about to break up, havingdone immense damage&filledinsane hospitals their day isover You were right in calling them "ofthe devil"—

Give my regards toyour wives and MissJane, the Deacon &litde girl-the others I must see in order to appreciate. And my friend, in all the haste of camp, excuse my scribble, for I remain Truly yrs

J. W. Gunnison

MantiOctlS 1853 My Dear Carrington

Bythe blessing of God you see I am again near the old ground where we were friends together—And Imost heartilywishyouwereheretogowith me to Lake Sevier, about which you wrote me I left my train on the Sevier R this

^'Little Salt Lake was a small body of saline water located in the desert just west of present Parowan, Utah. This community was first colonized in December 1850 by about thirty families under the leadership of George A Smith Whitney, History of Utah, 1:433

Vlud Island, although located on the Stansbury map near the mouth of Weber River, was hardly an island at all and does not exist today Madsen, Exploring the Great Salt Lake, p 336

Orson Pratt, an early convert to Mormonism, was appointed an aposde in the church and became perhaps the most literate and articulate defender and explainer of Mormon theology of his dme Established in Washington, D C, inJanuary 1853, Pratt began a monthly publication entided The Seer and devoted its first twelve issues to a discussion of preexistence and polygamy Gunnison is here probably referring to Pratt's treatise on plural marriage, "Celestial Marriage," which was printed in The Seer. Breck England, The Life and Thought of Orson Pratt (Salt Lake City, 1985), pp 178-79

morning & brought John Bellows'*^ to send express for you, but so much danger Ilearn from Indians, he can't go—I've hired the Gents [?] Potter*^ for guides round to Utaih Ladce-& leave in the morning for the purpose—This is my intent at least

We haveopened anew road into Utadi-awagon road, for we havea large train Emigrants aue close following us. Two of your fiith are among them who are to tarry.[.^]There are many things Iwant to saybut must omit them— PleasewritemetoProvoorTimpanogas orwhatever itiscadled tellme where Icanwinter thestock best; whether itisbest toherd or hirethe mules&horses herded. I have someverygood officers with me, not given to spreeing Iwish to makeup mymaps thiswinter*'*& havetheuseofthe Libraryfor reference to history—My respects to Mr Stains, the Librarian I learn—"^^

Also saywhether Ican hireahouse for office, & ifIcamKeep housewith a few of my men &the rest can board All thc^sethingswillgiveyou trouble, but you are used to such on myaccount& willpardon it Isee4 letters advertised for me & for others of my party Do not let them go back dead.

Now what do you think ofthe R R to the Pacific—Will Gov. Young back mewell to haveitcome plenar [?] through Utaih^ Wemust have iton one of these central routes, by Laramie Plains or Sevier River.—

If possible I must examine Timpanogas Kamyon this fall So if you cam find out for me how to winter to best advantage it will be much to my adavantage & leave me time to work

Itender myrespectful regaurdstoyour ladies& theyoungladyMissJane Also remember me kindly to adl my friends at the City Much would Igiveto have you with me for a month; it would do you good to get into caunp for awhile, though no doubt you would not like to leave a lovely home very longHave been long without news& can get but litde I find here from abroad—

In haste—yrs truly

J W Gunnison

With this laist ofthe eight letters from John WiUiauns Gunnison to Albert Caurington, it is only necessary to report the captadn's tragic end

^^ohn Bellows served with the Stansbury expediton of 1849-50 as the man in charge of caring for the instruments Hewas listed in the Utah census of 1850 as being twenty-five years of age and a native of Illinois Madsen, Exploring the Great Salt Lake. pp 10, 218

^^VhileatManti, Utaih, Gunnison hired as guides the brothers, G G Potter and William Potter, who were to travel with the expedition to Sevier Lake Mumey, John Williams Gunnison, p 52

^''in the letter to his wife ofthe same date, October 18, 1853, Gunnison expressed his feelings about having to spend the winter in Salt Lake City away from his family:" I have hurried hard to escape the awful tedium of this wintering in the mountains—as you know, but the route has been longer, harder & more laborious than andcipated—" J W Gunnison Collection, Hundngton Library, San Marino, California

^^Villiam C Staines, a native of England, joitied the Mormon church at age twenty-three, emigrated to America in 1843, and arrived m Salt Lake City in September 1847 Hewas a linguist, a horticulturist, and a merchant, and in his later life he b(?came the church emigration agent in England. When a territorial library was opened in Salt Lake City in February 1851, with an appropriation of $5,000 to purchase books, Staines was named the territorial librarian. Whitney, History ofUtah, 1:483; 4:116-19.

atthehamdsofsomeSouthern PaduteIndiams.Appaurendyin revenge for amearlier attack agaunst them by a paurty of white emigramts, a band of Pahvant Indiams, on the morning of Oaober 26, aissaulted Captain Gunnison amdeleven of his pautywhile theywere in camp on the Sevier River Four of the group were able to escape, but Gunnison amd the other seven men were killed amd their bodies mutdated. The maissacre was discovered the next day by CapL R. M. Mortis and his militaury escort, soon joined by Lieutenant Beckwith and the rest of the expedition which had been detached from the Gunnison paurty The remadns ofthe bodies ofthe slain men were buried a few days later by a group of Mormon setders. ^^

The first reaction of most people in the United Stateswaisto blaune the Mormons who, it was believed, must have joined the Indiams to perpetrate this deed. Most scholars today, however, agree with Beckwith'saissessmentofthetragedy: "The statementwhich hais from time to time appeaured (or been copied) in vaurious newspapers of the country since the occurtence of these sad events, chaurging the Mormons or Mormon authorities with instigating the Indiams to, if not actuadly addingthem in, themurder ofCaptain Gunnison amdhisaissociates, is,I believe, not only entirely false, but there is no accidental circumstamce connected with it aiffording the slightest foundation for such a chaurge.'"^^

Beckwith wrote Gunnison's widow assuring her that the Indians weresolelyresponsiblefor thecaptain's death. BrighamYoungalso sent condolences. The Mormon leader expressed regret that aifter thewolves had eaten away the flesh, all that was left of the captain's body were a thigh bone and alockofhadr. He added," Ilaythe hair intheletter loose to prevent it from chafing.""^^ Eventuadly, a slow-moving Congress, on June3, 1858, finally recognized Mrs. Gunnison's lossbyawarding her a pension of $25.00 a month.'^^

In his February 27, 1855, Report on the Several Pacific Railroad Explorations, the secretary of war commended the work of the dead captadn:

*%\umey, John Williams Gunnison, pp 113-15

'''U.S., Congress, Senate, Ex Doc No 78, "Report by Lieutenant E G Beckwith" in Reports of Explorations and Surveys.. .from the Mississippi River to the Pacific Ocean (\% 5?)-5\), 33dCong., 2d sess., 1855 serial no 759, p 74

*^righam Young and Albert Carrington to Mrs J W Gunnison, Salt Lake City, November 3, 1853, Brigham Young Papers, Ms fd 219, reel 32, box 13, fd 9, LDS Church Archives, Salt Lake City

*^ W Gunnison Collection

ROUTE NEAR38TH PARALLEL OF NORTH LATITUDE

The exploration of this route, conducted by Captain Gunnison, ofthe Corps ofTopographical.Engineers, exhibits the high professional skill and sound judgment which characterized that officer. The extensiveand reliable information which he collected, andtheexactmannerinwhichhisoperationswereconducted, upto the period when he lost his Hfein the discharge of his duty, show how thoroughly he would have completed the task he had commenced, and howgreatalossthe serv^ice sustained in his untimely death 50

Lieutenamt Beckwith continued the survey staurted with such hope by John

W Gunnison

In theAlbert Cartington Papers at Maurriott Librauy, there aure adso two letters concerned with Gunnison's death. A brother-in-law, W. G Deloney, wrote Cartington from Athens, Georgia, on December 7, 1853, requesting particulaur detadls aibout the Gunnison Massacre. Carrington responded on March 31, 1854, in a long letter, expladning that he and Gov. Brighaun Young had adready written Mrs. Gunnison, giving a complete description ofthe events surtounding the captadn's death. In addition, Caurington assured Deloney that he amd the governorwereprepauingtosend thepersonal effects amdother property of Gunnison to his widow

From September 1849 until his death in October 1853 John Williaims Gunnison maintadned a remaurkable friendship with Albert Carrington. They worked comfortably together as surveyors amd engineers, shaured a keen interest in geology and science, and enjoyed each other's company. Theirjournals amd cortespondence revead two well-trained amd intelligent men who kept up with nationad adfadrs and who especiadlywereintrigued byone anothef sviewson religion. Itwais possible, even in the maelstrom ofcontroversy over Mormonism in the eaurly 1850s, for the army engineer and the Utah Saunt to agree to disagree about theological matters amdyetto continue am aunicableamd rewarding relationship

Mormons Charged with Inciting the Outrages

Great Excitement intheFrontier Towuii of Nevada.

Farmers Fleeing to the Settlement! with their Families.

Settlors, In Sprin? Yallfy Well Armed and Prei>ared to j>Yithstand au Attae);.'

Troops from C&lirornia,; Nevada and UUli In tbe Fl!«ld.

San Francisco Chronicle

September 7 and 8, 1875.

Uprising of Sarages in Eastem Nerada andWestem Utah.

tf urder of Seittlers and limers and i- k •Destmction of Property

Troopi I^patcbed to th« Seen* of Action

TT^tien and j Children Beinj Ee^ mored to Places of Safetj

RCPORTEci CA6SE S OF THE OUTBRVAK.

A ** Chronic)* " Ww* Corrotpend< ent to tn« Front.,

The "White Pine War" of 1875: A Case of White Hysteria

BY STEVEN J. CRUM

O N SEPTEMBER?, 1875, MORE THAN one western newspaper reported that alarge-scale Indian campaign was either developing or had already begun against thewhitesetders livingalongthe Utah-Nevada border In bold print the San Francisco Chronicle reported that an "Uprising of Savages in Eastern Nevada and Western Utah" had surfaced and that the Indians were out to"exterminate thewhites." The Salt Lake Daily Tribune declared on itsfront pagethat the Indians ofDeep Creek, Utah, near the Nevada line, were "preparing for war." And the Pioche Daily Record, published in southeastern Nevada, asserted that "All the Indians in

Dr Crum is aissistant professor of Native American studies University of California, Davis

The "White PineWaf287

Eastern Nevada are on the Warpath" ;and that the loc2d ranches were "surrounded with hostile Indians and several men killed." ^

Yet these same newspapers changed their early stories within a matter of days. The SanFranciscoChronicle humbly admitted on September 9 that the Indians were not out to secure white "scalps." On the same day the PiocheDailyRecord emphasized that the Indians of eastern Nevada were "all peaceful," "not hostile," and that the local ranchers were not being threatened. The White Pine News, also published in eastern Nevada, went further on September 11 by stating that the whole incident was a farce, a "stupendous fizzle," and an "excruciatingly funny" occurrence Its editor wrote that in "our own opinion... the whole 2iffair grew out of a too hasty action by the setders." ^ He was correct, for the so- called White Pine W;ir or the Eastern Nevada War, as it was dubbed, never existed except aj; a case of white hysteria ^

Events started on September 1 when Toby, a Gosiute Indian, murdered mining prospector James Toland near Mount Moriah in White Pine County in extreme eastern Nevada, near the Utah border. According to more than one account, Toland and his companion Albert Leathers agreed to pay Toby to locate rich mineral deposits that could be mined But when a particular lode proved to be worthless, the whites refused to pay. Thus on September I when Toby was alone with the two miners at an isolated place near Mount Moriah, he shot Toland. Toby and Leathers then exchanged shots, but neither was injured Toby quickly retreated, and Leathers imme^diately left the site to seek help from a nearby ranch. *

It was Albert Leathers who ignited the hysteria after leaving the scene. On his way to seek help for his dead companion, he heard "noises" and saw" more Indians." He falsely concluded that the Indians

""Indians in Arms," San Francisco Chronicle; "Deep Creek, Utah," Salt Lake Daily Tribune; "Indians" and "Cherry Creek," IHoche Daily Record.

^'The Indian Scare," San Franciso Chronicle; "Dispatch to W E Griffm" and "Spring Valley Indians," Pioche Daily Record; "The Bloodless Campaign" and "The Latest News," White Pine News.

Vor the names of this "vs'ar," see "The Bloodless Campaign," White THne News, September 11, 1875, and Myron Angel, ed.. History ofNevada (Ne-w York: Arno Press, 1973), p. 183. The mcident also receives limited attention in Jack D. Forbes, Nevada Lidians Speak {Reno: University of Nevada Press, 1967), pp. 123-2^; Newe: A Western Shoshone History {Reno: Inter-Tribal Council of Nevada, 1976), pp. 65, 67; and Harlan D. Unrau, Basin and Range: A History of Great Basin National Park (Denver U.S. Department ofthe Interior, National Park Service, 1990), pp 226-28

^Although minor details ofthe accounts vary, all the sources tell essentially the same stoiy. Levi GheentoE.P Smith, September22, 1875, pp 1-2, Letters Received(LR), (M 234, R541, F793-809), Office of Indian Affairs (OIA), Record Group fRG) 75, National Archives (NA); Jaeger to Stacey, September 24, 1875, p. 7, Letters Received by the Office ofthe Adjutant General (M 666, R 228, F 1080-1091]; Uoyd Hauger, "Eastern Nevada War Pcmic," March 1930, unpublished manuscript, Nevada Historical Society; "Indian Troubles," Salt Lake Daily Tribune, September 10, 1875

were gathering to conduct a massive campaign against the whites and that the killing of his firiend Toland was the beginning. Upon his arrival at the Cleveland Ranch in SpringValley, about twenty-five miles west of Mount Moriah, he reported that the Indians were on the warpath. Without hesitation, Abner C. Cleveland, rancher and Nevada state politician, believed Leathers since the prospeaor was a well-known public figure ofthe region. In fact, itwas hewho had ignited the mining rush to eastern Nevada in 1869.^

The whites of the area quickly became suspicious of the Gosiute tribe, native to the valleys of eastern Nevada and western Utah. Cleveland and his ranch hands organized a scouting party to search for Toland's body. On this trip they met an Indian and, considering him to be hostile, killed him when he resisted arrest The next day cinother Indian, out hunting in the immediate vicinity, wcis killed when the whites tried to disarm him. Later, a third Indian, named Solomon, was killed about eighty miles south of Cleveland's ranch when the whites assumed that he was traveling north to join the campaign. ^

By September 3 the white residents, led by Abner Cleveland, Albert Leathers, and others, had created an atmosphere of war. In this state of mind they telegrammed Nevada governor L. D. Bradley and requested military support, stressing that Cleveland's ranch in Spring Valley was surrounded by 500 bloodthirsty Indians. The Indians supposedly were encouraged to initiate this action by white Mormon Utahns who had been converting the natives along the Nevada-Utah border in recent times and who reportedly disliked thewhite gentiles of the region.^ As a matter of fact, the Mormons were not stirring up trouble. Rather, this facet of the incident was a case of intolerance toward and dislike of the Mormons whose lifestyle in the nineteenth century did not fully conform to that of miiinstream America.

On September 4 and 5, in response to his white constituents, Governor Bradley telegraimmed John M. Schofield of San Francisco, commander of far western military forces, and asked for immediate military support Bradley added to the emotion by stressing that more than one white setdement, including Cherry Creek, had been surrounded by the Indians. He beefed up his story two days later by

^Gheen to Smith, September 22, 1875, p. 2, LR, RG 75, NA "A Large Scare and Nothing More," Pioche Daily Record, September 10, 1875.

^"A Large Scare and Nothing More," Pioche Daily Record, September 10, 1875

'j.C Kelton to John Schofield, September 4, 1875 (M 666, R 228, F 358-359), RG 94, NA "Indians in Arms," San Francisco Chronicle, September 7, 1975.

•I Gosiute Reservation

0 15 30 Miles

The scene ofthe so-called White Pine War, 1875. Courtesy ofthe author maintaining that "all Indians in Eastern Nevada appear to be on the warpath."^ Based on these communications coming out of Nevada, the newspapers ofthe FarWest concluded that an Indian war existed along the Nevada-Utah border.

*Bradley to Schofield, September 6, 1875 (M 666, R 228, F371), RG 94, NA.

General Schofield, because of his experience as a military leader, could sensethat an Indian warwas not takingplace, nor wasone likely to erupt anytime sooa Even at this early date, he suspeaed that a case of hysteria existed in the Great Basin. By telegram Schofield spoke to Bradley: "Are you not misinformed about Cherry Creek being surrounded^ ... Thus far, I can learn only of difficulty between one or two Indians and some white men."^ Schofield noted to one of his subordinates that the situation was "litde more than a big scare" and "the reports so far indicate that the whites are perhaps more in the wrong than the Indians." ^° But to prevent a possible conflict, Schofield authorized the sending of federal troops to White Pine County with instructions "not to make war nor to punish anybody, but to preserve the peace." ^^

Thus on September 6 LL Georgejaeger ofthe 12th Infantry, based at Fort Halleck in Elko County, Nevada, about 150 miles northwest of the scene, was sent southward to maintadn the peace. Before his arrival an important development had occurred. Levi Gheen, hired as subagent in 1869 and later as "Farmer-in-Charge for the Western Shoshones," with headquarters in Hamilton, White Pine County, decided it was his responsibihty to look into the matter since he was employed by the Indian Bureau. Gheen knew the Indians quite well and spoke both Gosiute and Shoshone since the two languages are nearly identical except for some differences invocabulary and dialect He had taught the Gosiutes of Snake Valley, near Mount Moriah to the southwest, how to farm He was also fully aware that some whites in eastern Nevada had mistreated the Indians after the setdement of the region in the late 1860s; threeyears earlier, inApril 1872, he had written that"the Indians in this locality, aswell as many others, have been wronged by the white people." ^^ It was his duty to mediate the difficulty between the two groups.

On September 7 Gheen organized his own small investigative team, including some Indian friends, to look into the so-called war. He selected the Lehman Ranch of Snake Valley, owned by Absolem Lehman, as his temporary headquarters. He chose this site for two reasons. First, it was the setdement closest to the place of Toland's

'Schofield to Bradley, September 1875 (M 666, R228, F373), RG94, NA

"Schofield to Elliott, September 6, 1875 (M 666, R228, F 377-379), RG94, NA.

'Schofield to Elliott, September 12, 1875 (M 666, R 228, F 383-384), RG 94, NA

'GeorgelaegertoM.A Stacey, September24, 1875(M234, R541, F 1080-1091), RG75, NA

Levi Gheen to George Dodge, April 4, 1872, p 2 (M 234, R 903), RG 75, NA

The "White Pine War"291

murder. Second, Gheen was familiar with Snake Valley since he had worked closely with the Gosiutes living there. Using his influence, he persuaded a large number of Gosiutes from Snake and Spring valleys and other nearby places to congregate at the ranch. ^^ His objective was to clear up the misunderstandings bec^veen the whites and Indians.

Gheen aind the Gosiutes were not the only ones to congregate at Lehman's ranch. BySeptember 13 LieutenantJaeger had arrived there to find over a hundred Gosiutes and about forty to fifty white ranchers from the surrounding valleys. Still convinced that awar was imminent, the angry whites were in no mood to have a healthy exchange They asked some challenging questions: "Why did all the Indians flee to the mountauns at about the same time.^" The Gosiutes responded that they had left to harvest the bumper crop of pine nuts in the nearby mountains. This abundance of nuts had been preceded by four bad years, and the Indians left en masse to gather their important winter food supply. The whites also asked, "V/hy did the Indians... refuse to work anymore . . . ?" (The ranchers were referring to the fact that a number of Indians had worked as ranch hands since the 1860s). The Gosiutes responded that the ranchers had been unfair to them They received only meager wages and their pay was not immediately forthcoming Therefore, with the bumper crop ofpine nuts awaiting harvest, they had left the ranches in late August and early September. ^"^

Besides these direa questions, the white ranchers also threatened Gosiute leader Gunista and his follovv^ers. Assuming that the Indians were going to use their firearms against the whites, the ranchers demanded that those at the Lehman Ranch be disarmed. Levi Gheen, who tried his best to play the role of peace mediator, saw to it that this request was met The whites also wanted the Gosiutes removed to a reservation, supposedly awayfrom their setdements in eastern Nevada ^ost of all, they wanted them to bring in Toby and turn him over for punishment'^

The Gosiutes at Lehmain's ranch had to make a difficult decision* whether or not to find Toby and give him to the proper authorities for punishment In the end, leaders such as Antelope Jake decided that Toby must be surrendered since he had a history of unruly behavior.

'^Gheen to Smith, September22, 1875, pp 3,7; Gheen to Smith, Octobers, 1874, p 2 (M 234, R541, F212-214), RG75, NA

'jaeger to Stacey, September 24, 1875 (M 234, R541, F 1080-1091), RG 75, NA; Gheen to Smith, September 22, 1875, pp 4-5

''Gheen to Smith, September 22, 1875, pp 7, 12 ^, :•;;.,.!-•. , t>Ah

Additionally, they recalled the year 1863 when Col. Patrick E. Connor conducted warfare against them, resulting in many deaths. The Gosiute leaders of 1875 did not want a repeat of this earher event Fearful that more troops might be sent to eastern Nevada, they made the decision to capture Toby. The Indians found him at Deep Creek, Utah, and brought him to Lehman's ranch on September 14. '^

Once there, Toby was turned over to Levi Gheen since he was serving as mediator. Gheen, however, realized that mob violence might develop in which case the resdess and angry whites would surely hang Toby.Jaeger's small force of only nine men was vasdy oumumbered by forty-five tofiftywell-armed ranchers seeking revenge. Gheen therefore made the decision to hurry to the nearby Cleveland Ranch to secure more troops to guard Toby until an appropriate trial could take place. Of course, Gheen was aware that Maj. John H. Dennis had been stationed there for several days. Earlier, Dennis had organized a volunteer militia in Eureka, Nevada, moved eastward to Cleveland Ranch, and then waited for further orders.' ' ^

While Gheen was gone, Toby was guarded byJaeger and his eight troops. The ranchers decided to take advantage of the situation and demanded that Jaeger surrender Toby. Not knowing how quickly Gheen would return with Dennis's force, Jaeger was now the one to make a decision. He concluded in haste that if his men kept Toby, a batde might ensue between his troops and the ranchers and lives would be lost overaworthless"savage.''Jaeger reasoned thatthe ranchers were •"not a mob but the citizens of this country."'^ Therefore, these respectable men were fully capable of determining the fate of Toby. Having rationalized the situation, Jaeger asked that the ranchers draft and sign a statement requesting that Toby be turned over to them for punishment In response, twenty-eight individuals, including Absolem Lehman and Albert Leathers, signed the petition. Once this was done,Jaeger relinquished custody ofToby, and the ranchers seized him and hanged him near Lehman Ranch. '^ Thus, on September 14, the White Pine War came to an end for the whites of eastern Nevada

A close look reveals that the "war" had been caused by several factors. One related to Albert Leathers's initial observation. Leathers

'^bid., pp. 6, 12-13; Jaeger to Stacey, September24, 1875, pp. 6-7; Ronald R Bateman, Deep Creek Reflections (Salt Lake City: author, 1984), p 179; Camp Ruby, Nevada, September 1862-1869, Returns from U.S Military Posts (M 617, R 1047), RG 94, NA

Jaeger to Stacey, September 24, 1875, pp. 4, 8-10.

'5aeger to M.A Stacey, September 24, 1875, p 9-10 (M 234, R541, F 1080-1091), RG 75, NA

'^bid.; signed statement of ranchers (M 666, R 228, F 412-413), RG 94, NA

The "White Pine Waf293

was correct when he heard noises and saw large numbers of Indians in the hills and mountains while traveling toward Cleveland's ranch on September I. But these Gosiutes were not preparing for war, rather, they were holding round dances and singing songs in conjunction with the harvesting of pine nuts. As already indicated, they were highly excited because ofthe bumper crop following four bad years. The Gosiutes had also started campfires to shell and rojist the nuts to make them fully edible. Leathers, who was emotionally distressed over the death of his partner, falsely interpreted these fires as war signals In short, he assumed that a major Indian uprising was about to surface.

Another faaor had to do with the ranchers' belief that the white Mormons, who had been converting the Gosiutes in recent years, disliked the non-Mormon ranchers because of their economic dominance over the area along the Nevada-Utah border. Rumors surfaced that the Mormons were troubled by Dan Murphy, a Spring Valley rancher, because he grazed thousands of catde near Deep Creek, Utah, a Mormon stronghold and also a place where many Gosiutes had traditionally lived Therefore, the ranchers falsely assumed that the Mormons were urging the Gosiutes to push them out so that they could step in and take over. ^^

Without doubt the ranchers of eastern Nevada were fully aware of the northern Utah Indian "scare" that occurred a few weeks earlier, in August 1875. This incident happened at Corinne, Utah, after a local Mormon bishop had baptized a good number of Northwestern Shoshpnes living nearby. Immediately, the non-Mormons assumed that the Indians and Mormons had united against them The local newspaper, the CorinneMail, featured a story on August 9 entided "Mormons Meddling with the Indians! Mountain Meadows to be Repeated!!" This referred to the incident that took place in 1857 in southern Utah where a group of Mormons and Indians massacred a large party of emigrants passing through the territory. The nonMormons of northern Utah charged that another massacre was imminent in 1875 and that they were the intended victims They succeeded in creating a "scare" to the extent that federal troops were called in. In the end, the Northwestern Shoshone population, native to the area, dispersed and the emotionaJ edge subsided^'

^"Rosencrans to Schofield, September 12, 1875 (M 666, R228, F 387-388), RG94, NA; "The Indian Outbreak," San Francisco Chronicle, September 8, 1875; Gheen to Smith, September 22, 1875, p 6

^'Brigham D. Madsen, The Northern Shoshoni (Caldwell, Ida: Caxton Printers, Ltd, 1980), pp. 9599

A third factor was the decade ofthe 1870s itself, a period filled with continuous Indian-white wars in the West These included the Red River War of Indian Territory in 1874-75 and numerous skirmishes between the Lakota amd the military in the northern Great Plains. The whites of eastern Nevada were fully aware of these conflicts and felt uneasy. They concluded by 1875 that the Gosiutes in their backyards were now planning wjir against them and that it was time to act Because of their insecurity, many whites living in rural areas held a low opinion ofthe Indians. Those in eastern Nevada regarded the nearby Gosiutes as naturally "hostile," "degraded," "red devils," and persons who were a " nuisance" to the whites. The editor of the IHoche Daily Record wrote that the Indians should be exterminated. ^^ The setders wanted the Indians removed from eastern Nevada and sent elsewhere. Perhaps there were also economic motives behind the White Pine War The ranchers may well have wanted the Indian population eliminated so that all available land could be used for catde grazing. The whites were fiilly aware that the Gosiutes, some of whom possessed small gardens in Spring Valley, were in the way of their economic objectives. At least one newspaper hinted that the catde business might have been an issue in another way. On September 10, the editor ofthe ReeseRiver ReveUle, published in Austin, Nevada, speculated that the "Indian scare " was created by Abner Cleveland so that the consequent publicity would make it easier for him to market his catde. ^^

II

If the White Pine Wcir or Eastern Nevada War ended for the whites on September 14 with the hanging of Toby, it did not end for the Gosiutes. On September 16, at the request ofthe whites who did not want the Indiams around, Levi Gheen escorted most of the Nevada Gosiutes to Deep Creek, Utah, adjacent to the Nevada border and about fifty to sixty miles northwest of Spring and Snake valleys. Deep Creek was already a traditional home of the Gosiutes. ^^

^^Tndians," Pioche Daily Record, September 7, 1875; "The Moral Indian," Pioche Daily Record, September 8, 1875; "Indians," White Pine News, January 8, 1876. 'The Gold Hill Nevv^s , " Reese River Reveille.

^*Gheen to Smith, September 22, 1875, pp 15; Edwin Sumner letter, September24, 1875 (M 666, R228, F424-426), RG94, NA For information about the Utah Gosiutes, see Dennis Ray Defa, "A HistoryoftheGosiutelndiansto 1990," M.A. thesis, University of Utah, 1979; andjames B. Allen and TedJ. Warner, "The Gosiute Indians in Pioneer Utah," Utah Historical Quarterly 39 (Spring 1971): 1627 7. Unfortunately, these sources give very little information about the Gosiutes who traditionally lived in eastern Nevada

There was talk in late 1875 of removing the Gosiutes either to Fort Hall or to the Uintah and Ouray Reservation Courtesy ofthe author.

Once atDeep Creek, therewas talkthatthe Gosiutes should also be removed from there, perhaps to be taken outside the Great Basin completely. This talk of further removal was started by Lt Edwin V. Sumner who came to the Cleveland Ranch shordy after Toby had been hanged. Having hstened toJaeger and the ranchers, Sumner concluded that Mormon influence was the greatest detriment to Indian-white relations in eastern Nevada He therefore suggested to his superiors that thegovernment needed"to collea allthese Indians and remove them to a reservation . . . away from Mormon or other influence."^^

^Sumner letter, September 24, 1875, p. 3.

Sumner*srecommendation had amarked impact on the highest of authorities in Washington, D.C. On November 9 William W. Belknap, secretary of war, wrote to Zachariah Chandler, secretary of the interior, requesting that Sumner's proposal be initiated. At the same time the secretary of war distorted the situation by stating that the Gosiutes needed to be removed because they "make trouble between the Mormons and Gentiles."^^Whether Belknap was aware of it or not, he had now placed the blame entirely on the Indians. Chandler channeled Belknap's letter and Sumner's recommendation to Edward P. Smith, commissioner of the Indian Bureau, for definite action. Without hesitation. Smith supported the measure and wrote on November 10 that "the recommendation of Captain Sumner is approved by the Department and I am directed to tcike the necessary steps to Ccirry the same into effect with a view to the removal of the Indians referted to beyond Mormon influence."^^

Before Gosiute removal could take place, however, the Indian Bureau needed to find a new location for them. Commissioner Smith called uponJohn Wesley Powell to collect information about the tribe. Powell was selected because he was one of two persons who had visited the Gosiutes and other Basin tribes in 1873-74 with the objeaive of placing them on existing reservations.^^ His new instructions in late November 1875 were to count the number of Gosiutes living in the Basin, identify an existing reservation where they could be sent "free from the Mormon influence and where they would find other Indians with whom they could readily affiliate," and then identify the shortest possible travel route from Deep Creek to the reservation selected.^^

Since Powell had recendy visited the Great Basin and had coauthored alengthyreport about theBasin tribes, hefelt no need to make another field trip. Based on his prior research he reported that there were approximately 460 Gosiutes. He suggested two possible reservations. One was the Uintah-Ouray Reservation in eastern Utah, about 320 miles from Deep Creek and the home of the Northern Ute. The second was the Fort Hall Reservation in southern Idaho, about 425 miles to the north and the home of the Shoshone and Bannock tribes.^^

^^elnap to Chandler, November 8, 1875 (M 666, R 228, F 428-429), RG 94, NA

"Smith to Chandler, November 20, 1875 (M 666, R 228, F 434-435), RG 94, NA

^^'Report of J.W Powell and G.W Ingalls," December 18, 1873, pp 409-29, Executive Documents ofthe House of Representatives, 43rd Cong., 1st sess, 1873-74, Serial 1601.

^'Smith to Powell, November 23, 1875 (M 21, R 128, p 77), RG 75, NA

^"Powell to Smith, November 26, 1875 (M 234, R905,), RG75, NA

Powell pointed out the positive and negative aspects of both places. The Uintali had good farmland and wa.s slighdy closer to Deep CreeL However, the Gosiutes and Utes were c:ulturzJly different In addition, the Uintah Reservation was located in eastern Utah and Mormon influence would soon prevail there, Pov^ell surmised Fort Hall also had good farmland, and the Gosiute language was neairly identical to Shoshone. But Fort Hadl was overcrowded with roughly 9,000 Indians even though it was "further removed from Mormon influence." In the end Powell could not make a firm recommendation. But he did say that if the bureau favored immediate removal, then the Fort Hall Reservation was the better choice since it would be easier to relocate th^ Gosiutes there before the harsh Intermountain winter set in. ^^

The matter of removing the Gosiutes was further complicated by Richard Komas, a Ute from the Uintah Reservation who had been educated at Lincoln University in Pennsylvamia. He visited the Gosiutes at Deep Creek in early December and reported that they preferred the Uintah over Fort HalL Whether this was actually the case, or whether Komas simply favored the Uintah since it was his home, will probably never be known. ^^ What is known is that Powell favored Fort Hall whereas Komas favored the Uintah. Faced with conflicting recommendations, the Indian Bureau could not make a decision. It finally dropped the subject of removal, and the Gosiutes remained at Deep CreekIII

The white setders never did admit guilt over the vigilante execution of Toby or the killing ofthe three innocent Indians They kept quiet or treated the whole affair as ajoke. The White Pine News referred to Abner Cleveland as "the great Indian warrior of Eastern Nevada." When Cleveland went to Carson City in Jiinuary 1876 for business, one observer reported that he had a" merry twinkle of his eye when he spoke to us concerning the Indian war," an event" too comical to think of or to refer to." ^^ No whites were ever punished and the publicity surrounding the affair disappeared after 1876. rs I ^.^.4^^.„...;>

Perhaps the whites were embarrassed to bring up the matter because of their earlier unfounded fear of an Indian war. In fact, those living in Baker, Nevada, near the Utah border, actually constructed a ^ Ibid

^^owell to CIA December 21, 1875 (M 234, R 905), RG 75, NA. > iujT oi -ntnwc J-.A ^^'Personal," White Pine News, January 29, 1876. ; - " ^osihri! ''

moat for protection in the early days of September ^^ Others believed that the Western Shoshones in Nevada were planning or had already instigated war against the white Nevadans. Rumors surfaced that Shoshones around Batde Mountain had attacked anearby mining camp and killed two miners. There was also talk that Shoshones living in the Reese RiverValleyhad quit their ranchjobs and headed eastward tojoin forces with the Gosiutes. These stories, however, were completely false and quickly discounted by mid-September.^^

The military, on theother hand, lighdy criticized oneofitsown and also the ramchers. One official concluded that LieutenamtJaeger "committed agrave error" bygiving in to the demamd ofthe ramchers. He adso maiintauned that "trooper firmness would have secured the prisoner without much damger of collision." Lieutenamt Sumner later called the ramchers who hamged Toby am "unauthorized bamd of citizens."^^ Appairendy no other comments were made or official aaion taiken

One result of the aiffair became readily apparent The whites quickly missed the Gosiutes since they had become the major source of mamual labor by 1875. The editor of the White Pine News refleaed ais follows on January 8, 1876:

What has become of cdl the Shoshone Indians.^ We have not seen onesincethefirststormscommenced thisWinter. Whoistosawour wood.^ Who is to shovel paths in the snow.^ Who is to do the drudgeryworkforourwives.^When theyarearound wethinkthem a great nuisance, and do not appreciate their services until they are badly needed They willprobably return from thevalleyswhen the snow is gone ^^

The editorwas mistaken, ofcourse, for hewaisactuadly referring to the Gosiutes, most of whom were now located at Deep Creek, Utah. Regardless, within three months. White Pine County experienced a labor shortage, especially in the centrad and southern areaiswhere a large number of Gosiutes once lived.

In the end, the so-cadledWhite PineWar had alasting impact on the Gosiutes. If most of the tribe had lived in eaistern Nevada up to September 1875, only a handful could be found in the yeairs thereafter.

^\Vhite Pine Lang Syne {Denver. Big Mountain Press, 1965), p 139

^^'The Indian Outbreak," San Fraru:isco Chronicle, September 8, 1875; "The Wild Red Man," San Francisco Chronicle, September 10, 1875

^^.C. Kelton to Camp Halleck, October 11, 1875 (M 666, R 228, F 415-416), RG 94, NA Sumner to Tutherly, September 24, 1875, p 3 (M 666, R228, F 424-426), RG 94, NA

^"Indians," White Pine News, January S, 1876

The "White Pine War"299

Levi Gheen determined that there were 200 Gosiutes in Snadc^e Vadley and amother 150 in Spring Valley in 1873. In 1875 the state of Nevada conducted its own census and found 340 Gosiutes in Spring and Snake vadleys. But in 1880 the U.S. Census Bureau could find only30 Gosiutes in Snake Valley amd another 42 in SpringValley Twenty yeairs later, in 1900, the census talkers could identify only 55 Gosiutes in adl of White Pine County, and 21 of them lived in Snake Valley.^^Thus the White Pine War of 1875 caused most Nevada Gosiutes to leave their native vadleys in eaistern Nevada permanendy and move to Deep Creek, Utaih, where their descendamts remain today They live on a reservation encompaissing Deep Creek, established by the government in 1914. It wasenlarged in 1928, and about hadfofthereservation nowextends into Nevada

"What Virtue There Is in Stone" and Other Pungent Talk on the Early Utah Frontier

BY HOWARD A. CHRISTY

A s ONE EXAMINES THE THOUSANDS OF DOCUMENTS that make Up th e historicad record of the pioneer days in Utaih it is impossible not to be stairded, intrigued, amd sometimes aimused by the communications of those who lived the momentous amd tryingevents of those times. All au:"e interesting amd mamy aire fascinating. Whereas most of the speech or writing of common folks wais not much different from today, the lamguage used by prominent persons is aistonishingly different Leaders in high political amd ecclesiaistical offices often spoke amd wrote in a mamnerthatwould shock us today ifindividuads in similairpositions wereto speakorwritein asimilairmamner. On theother hand, ais often ais not heaurers seem to have reacted ais strongly as the speakers.

In this essay I quote and discuss some of the language of those times— the strong counsel, the colorful rhetoric, the dairk humor, the use of euphemisms, amd, in many instances, tough talk—tough to the point of sounding hard heaurted amd meam spirited from today's perspective. Additionally, I comment on the effect, or lack of it, such communications might have had on the intended audience. Wais the communication effective.^ That is, did the recipient respond obediendy.^ Dutifully.^ Defiamdy.^ Smilingly.^ Or not at all? The essay cam therefore be read on twolevels: itcam be enjoyed ascolorful lamguage or it cam be perused as rhetoric

I concentrate on communications for the record (e.g., minutes of conferences and militia reports to higher authority) amd communications for effect (e.g., orad discourses to the people and orders and letters of counsel to subordinate militia commanders)—all deadingwith policy regarding amd conflict with the locad Indiams during the eairly 1850s. This colorful materiad is tadcen from church and territorial

Mr. Christy is the senior editor of the office of Scholarly Publications at Brigham Young University

archives, most of it readily avadlable but litde of it hitherto published The materiad treated here is but a taist(;of those rather vast resources; still, it is a representative taiste and one that adlows for some focus. In the winter of 1850 waur erupted in UtaihValley neau*present-day Provo. There had been trouble brewing since the preceding summer between the newly airrived white inhabitants of Utaih Fort amd the Utes neairby. Thewhitepresencewais resent^rdamdsome hostilefeelings were exchamged In the fall of 1849 alocad Indiamwaisaccosted, ostensibly for steading a shirt off the line, by three setders. The Indian waisshot down, his stomach slit open ("nepo'd," or "open'd" spelled backwards in the crypticvernaculairofthe day), filled with rocks, amdthe body dumped in the river. The Indiam's mutilated body wais found by members of his band who then "kicked up afiiss." ^ IsatacHigbee, the ecclesiastical and militairy leader at Utaih Fort, sent a letter to Brigham Young that mentioned trouble with Indiams bui: slyly avoided mention of the killing. Young responded with counsel that, had it been acted upon, would probably have averted further bloodshed and war

In reply to your letter ofthe 15th instant, requesting counsel concerning the Indians. Wereply, tal^e careofyour com, Brethren, andgrainofallkinds,andpursuethecourseprepared inour former letters and counsel to you. Stockade your fort and attend to your affairs, and let the Indians take care of theirs Letyour women and children stayinthefort, andtheIndiansstayout, but,whileyou mix with them promiscuously, you must continue to receive such treatment from themwhich theyplea.setogive.Thisiswhatwehave told you continually, and you will find it true ... A steadyamdupright and preservingcoursemayyet restore or gain the confidence ofthe Indians, and you be safe.^

Here airethe elements of Brighairn Young's most consistent policy toward the Indiams: headmonished his chaurgesto"stockade their forts" amd maintadn am "upright amd preserving course." Simple, straightforwaurd, amd sensible as that policy w;is, itwas, ais will be seen, possibly the most unpopular policy he ever enunciated

There is no evidence that Young's counsel to Isaac Higbee had much positive effea on the Provo settlers, amd the tension amd hostility continued to build In latejamuauy 1850 a delegation from Utaih Fort came to Great Sadt Lake City for amaudience with the First Presidency,

'SeeBrigham Young Manuscript History, 1850:17-18, LDS Archives, Salt Lake City (hereafter cited as HBY).

^'Journal History ofthe Church," October 28, 1849, LDS Archives (hereafter cited asJH)

with the intention of getting miHtia support for a campaign against the Indiams to quell the disturbamce—or, in the words appended to the Brighaun Young Collection, in the au-chivesofthe church, they asked for "the privilege of defending themselves and chaistising the Indians."^ Here aurethe minutes of that meeting, which wais attended by Brighaun Young, his counselors, Damiel H. Wells (the newly eleaed commamder of the tertitoriad militia), and others:

Higbee [Isaac]: The Indians are continually killing our cattle and stealing horses, and they shot at our boys—wehavelost between 50 and 60 head The Indians fired two guns at our boys—and they found one ox with 4 arrows—another with a tomahawk in it—they say the Mormons are[cowards]—they want to fight and will live on our catde—they say they mean to keep our catde—and go get the other Indians to kill us

Pratt[Parley P.]: Myown mind isIcan only see3ways theplace be abandoned—or we see to defend—or leave them [the Utah Valley setders] to destruction.

Higbee: We cannot defend our catde unless there is a company of men—there are 25 [Indians] close by—and 50 or 75 on the other side of the lake.

Pratt I feel it best to kill the Indians

Higbee: Every man and boy held up their hand to killthem off—we have 60 men and our arms—they say we are afraid to kill them.

Pratt Walker's[UteChiefWalkara] men are different tothese There can beno communication [with setdements further south]without a setdement at Utah.

Willard Richards: My voice is for war and exterminate them

Brigham Young I say go and kill them (all hands held up).

Higbee: We thought we should want help to do it

Young Tell Dimmick Huntington togoand killthem—also Barney Ward—let the women and children live if they behave themselves.

Pratt I would taike the women and children and clothe them and [illegible word] make them do what we want and don't let them prowl about

Young We have no peace until the men are killed off—never treat the Indian asyour equal There areacompany of50 men get them and take them up with you. They [the Indians] strengthened up the lastyearand theygather men from othertribes tocomeand steal our catde and horses *

*Ibid.

^Brigham Young Collection, January 31, 1850, microfilm reel 80, box 47, folder 6, LDS Archives (hereafter cited as BYC) "Chastise" was the favorite term for punitive action against Indians during these times

In seeming total contradiction of his policy and subsequent counsel, Brigham Young ordered the destruction of the Ute people in Utadi Vadley. But other evidence indicates that Young's extermination order waisgiven only when failure of the setders to adhere to his defensive policy forced him to take ruthless action to madntaun control of the vitad lines of communication toadlthe setdements south of Salt Lake Valley.^Whatever his motivation, or whether he waisjustified in such a draistic move, he waisresolute. Ifit had to be done, it should be done forcefully amd thoroughly. Note the very cleaur terms, paurticulaurly"exterminate^' amd "kill" These men—or at leaist Willaurd Richards, who took the minutes for this confidentiad meeting certainly minced no words.

Orders for the caunpaign were drafted immediately. Special Order No 2, addressed by General Wells to Capt George D Grant, states in relevant part "You are hereby ordered .. . to cooperate with the inhabitants of sadd Valley in quelling and staying the operations of all hostile Indians and otherwise act, as the circumstances may require, exterminating such, as do not separate themselves from their hostile clans, amd sue for peace."^ Agaun, "exterminating" waisused, ais wellais "quelling."

^hat Young took this action reluctandy, and only later found out what had provoked the trouble in the first place, is discussed in Howard A Christy, " Open Hand and Mailed Fist MormonIndian Relations in Utah, 1847-52," Utah Historical Quarterly 46 (1978): 224-27

''Utah Territorial Militia Correspondence, ST-27, 3 microfilm reels, reel 1, doc 5, Utah State Archives, Salt Lake City (hereafter cited as UTMC).

Brigham Young ca. 1850. Marsena Cannon photograph USHS collections

Utah Historical Quarterly

Gramt's force plunged south through deep snow in sub-zero cold, linked up with the Utadi Fort contingent, amd on Februaury 7 launched am aissault aigaunst the Indiams, who were entrenched on the far side ofthe river neau*the fort The two foes exchamged fire for severad hours; then the Indiams broke contaa amd withdrew, leaving severad dead, amd escaped up RockCamyon totheeaist Areport of the river batde (amd its indecisive results) wais dispatched to General Wells in Great Sadt Lake City adong with a request that he come to Utah Valley amdpersonally takechaurgeof further operations. He left immediately, appaurendy determined to see that his orders, backed up by instructions from Brigham Young "not to leave the vadley until every Indiam wais out," were cauried out in full. ^

To this point all significamt communications seem to have been straughtforwaurd But follow-up orders to Grant the saune day Wells left for Provowere euphemistic by comparison. Wellsadmonished Grant to "taike no hostile prisoners" amd "let none escape but do the work up cleam."^ And further communications were also couched in euphemistic language On February 13 General Wells wrote a dispatch to Governor Young, which reads in significant part

Captain Lyde retraced his steps and joined Captain Grant about darkwhowasfound encamped atthisplacewith 15 or20 Indians

Daniel H. Wells. USHS collections

'Daniel H. Wells, "Daniel H. Wells' Narrative," Utah Historical Quarterly 6 (1933): 126.

*UTMC, Special Orders No 10, February 9, 1850, reel 1, doc 16 Another example of euphemistic language is in the orders to militia Col John Scott, who a year earlier was sent against a band of Indian catde thieves near present-day Pleasant Grove "to take such meaisures as would put a final end to their depredations in future." All four men in the resulting skirmish were killed, their families taken prisoners SeeJH, February 27 and28, 1849, and March 10, 1849; seealso HoseaStout Diary, 8 vols., 4:48-56, and Oliver B Huntington Diary, pp 53-55, both in the Harold B Lee Library, Brigham Young University, Provo, Utah The term "depredation" was commonly used to identify all sorts of unfriendly acts by Indians, for which they were more often than not "chastised." A classic recent example of euphemism comes from the Vietnam War where the sardonic expression "terminate with extreme prejudice" was coined for the assassination of certain marked individuals.

It appears that they came rather through fear than otherwise and seemed [illegible three-letterword] to giveup refusing to smoke the pipeofpeace Weshalldealwiththem in themost summary manner as soon as another day favors us with light and proceed in quest of other Indians in this direction.^

The dispatch seems purposely vague, amd the hastily written holograph is difficult to read, but it is apparent that prisoners were in hand and that some forceful action would be taiken against them the next day. Wells substamtiadly clarified what he meant by"summary" in a postscript, dated February 14, that he appended to the February 13 dispatch: "Pleaiseto maikesome suggestions in relation to the disposaJ of some 15 or 20 Squaws amd children who probably belonged to some 11 waurriors who met their fate in a small skirmish this morning."'^

Ambiguity notwithstamding, the two staitements taken together indicate that Wells, already under instructions " not to leave the valley until every Indiam was out" and who had only a few days before ordered Captain Gramt to "take no hostile prisoners," either ordered or approved the shooting down of prisoners in cold blood.' ^ It is important to note that there is no category "hostile prisoners" in the rules of war A prisoner, regaurdless of his deportment, is expected lo be humamely treated

Brighaun Young responded the next day to "the cheering amd gratifying intelligence of your success over your enemies yesterday morning, in which the courage, and valor ofthe boys, as heretofore wais manifested. If the Indians sue for peace, grant it to them, according to your descretionaury Judgment in the caise—If they continue hostile, pursue them until you use them up—Let it be peace with them or extermination'' ^'^ Did Governor Young misunderstamd Wells's covered lamguage.^ It ishaurdto believe that Youngwould have complimented the shooting of prisoners, hostile or not, as being a courageous or valorous act It is possible that in his haiste Young missed the all-importamt point

''UTMC, Daniel H Wells to Brigham Young, February 13-14, 1850, reel 3, doc 1,309

'libid., postscript

One particularly wordy and self-justifying euphemism was penned by Edward W Tullidge to describe another incident of shooting down Indian prisoners who apparently attempted to escape— in this case in 1851. Tullidge wrote that a posse under the command of Orrin Porter Rockwell "deemed it unwise to turn the thieves in their power loose to commit more depredations and perhaps shed the blood of some useful citizen and they were sacrificed to the natural instincts of self-defense."

Tullidge, Tullidge's Histories {SaitLake City: EdwardW Tullidge, 1889), 2:83-84 In the case of the Utah experience, altnough both clear language and euphemisms were employed to describe atrocities, it appears that clear language was more prevalent in confidentiad, "your eyes only," correspondence, and euphemisms were oitener employed in more open communications such as orders to militia units and reports intended for the record.

'^UTMC, Brigham Young to Daniel H Wells, February 15, 1850, reel 3, doc 1,312 (emphasis Brigham Young's)

about the Indiams having surrendered before they "met their fate," a possibility that would explaun his comment regaurdinggramting peace to the Indiams if they sued for it Surely, surrender should have been considered amacceptable first step towaurd a suit for peace. Whatever his understanding of Wells's report and postscript. Young still urged extermination for those who remauned hostile. On the other hand, perhaps Wells intended nothing more tham that Indiams were killed in the line of duty amd Young understood the dispatch as such. Nevertheless, Wells's comments of Februaury 13 foretelling the actions ofthe next morning, amd Young's response, strongly imply that selective extermination wais fully intended by both pauties, even ifitmeant killing prisoners.

One might aisk how atrocities are normally reported or otherwise handled by military authorities. How, say, might an officer report am atrocity committed (with or without orders) by an individuad or unit under his command.^ First, he might not report such amevent at adl. An officer would almost instinctively resist the urge to report something that would possibly redound to his discredit or disgrace—or serve to thwart his aims. Isaac Higbee's silence regaurding the above-mentioned killing amd disemboweling of an Indian is a useful example Second, he might forthrighdy amd accurately tell the truth, especiadly ifthe incident was the responsibility of somebody else, or ifthe incident waisso obvious that attempting to hide it might ultimately have serious repercussions. Third, he might report am incident, but in the fewest words and in the best light Fourth, he might give a euphemistic account, especiadly if he is reporting an action to the party sanctioning it in the first place. And fifth, he might give a deliberately false account that would cover or justify whatever occurred. Or several such approaches might be employed

The killings on February 14 are a case in point The episode wais reported in different ways amd in different mediums. The immediate report from the battlefield, using euphemistic(amd possibly misleading) lamguage, is described above. But there is also a secondary account of the incident—am account that in its severad versions hais become the stamdaurd in popular histories that states that the prisoners somehow escaped from their captors amdwere shot down ais they attempted to flee across the frozen laike. But in the light of Generad Wells's communication of Februaury 13-14, an escape wais highly unlikely. Surely, Wells would have reported am escape because it would have provided him a militaurily acceptablejustification for killing the Indiams. That the

secondary account lacksamyexplamation ofhow theIndiams might have made good their escape adso invites suspicion. The account only hais it that the Indiams somehow mamaged to get away, withtheir weapons, and without eventhehintofascuffle; then, instead ofescapingsouth into the hillsor mau-shes,wheretheyhad areaisonablechamceofeluding pursuit, they stupidly dashed out onto the frozen lad^^ewhere theycould be eaisily spotted, chaised down, amd killed one by one. The only rationad explanation for such am eventuadity iseven worse tham that indicated by Wells in his report to Governor Young—the possibdity that the prisoners -weretold to run out onto the ice, in the"time-honored" fashion of warfare where prisoners have been allowed to mad^e a "run for it" ^^

The more-or-less officiad account of the incident is a classic exaunple of fewest terms and in the best light "Upon reaching Promontory Point at the south end of Utadi Lake, thevolunteers encountered amd killed a pauty of Indiams, except the women amd children, all of whom were spau-ed; thewomen, in accordamce with the Indiam custom, claimed the protection ofthe volunteers." ^"^ And, finadly, there is am account written by Wells mamy yeau-slater which simply states that "we encountered the Indians near the north end on the west side of the mountain, eaistofthe south end of UtaUiLake, amd completely defeated them." ^^Note that more space was given to describing humanitariam care ofthe widows and children in the official account, and getting the location straight in Wells's later account

What really happened.^ It is possible that none of the above accounts accurately describes the event The most plausible answer indicated by the conflicting evidence is that the Indians surrendered to the militia, were deliberately killed while in captivity, and that false or misleading reports ofthe atrocity were deliberately submitted Such an

'¥or accounts ofthe February 14 killings seeJohnW Gunnison, The Mormons, orLatter-day Saints (Philadelphia, 1852), p \ M; and I^ovo: IHoneer Mormon City, comp Writer's Program, Work Projects Adminstration(Portland, Ore.: Binfords and Mort, 1942), pp 58-59 Gunnison's account, although not published as a government document, can be considered a report for the record in that he was on active duty with the U. S.Army at the time the above tide was published. Other accounts ofthe killings and subsequent decapitations of the Indians can be fou nd in the autobiography of EpsyJane Williams Pace and tne supposedly eyewitness account in the autobiography of Aoner Blackburn, both in Archives and Manuscripts, Harold B. Lee Library, Brigham Young University. See adso Christy, "Open Hand and Mailed Fist," p 226 That the Indian prisoners could have been "given a chance" to escape, then shot down, isnot a ridiculous possiblity Such a twisted rationale to ease the guilt of brutal killings occurred in Utah seven years later. The militiamen who planned and carried out the Mountain Meadows Massacre, although willing to kill the men of tne Fancher party themselves, apparently determined to allow the Indians to slaughtf r the women and children so that" no Mormon would be forced to shed innocent blood." See Juanita Brooks, The Mountain Meadows Massacre (Norman: University of Oklahoma Press, 1950), p 73 and passim.

'^H, February 14, 1850

'Veils, "Narrative," p 126

eventuality is entirely consistent with past mditary practice. That is, atrocities have been commonly committed on the battlefield and false accounts of such dark deeds have been commonly reported to higher authority. And as discussed later, such an eventuality in the case of 1850 is also consistent with later actions against Indians in Utah. Hostilitieswith the Utes ceaised, only to flare up agaunin 1853 but under much different circumstamces. Between February 1850 amdJuly 1853 the strategy regaurding Indiams had once again changed back to the more magnanimous approach recommended by Brighaun Young before the events of February 1850, but other fartors overwhelmed any hope of peaceful accommodation. ^^ Young, determined to put an end to the Utes' practice of stealing children from surrounding non-Ute tribal groups for sade to the Mexicans, in April 1853 signed a proclamation that prohibited the slave trade in Utah Territory—which action precipitated theWalker War. In this instance Young not only had to deadwith the Utes, but he adso had to deadwith his own people. When itbecamneobvious that Ute fury over the proclamation would likely lead to wau". Governor Young delivered an address from the Tabernacle pulpit apparently intended to put everyone on guard The speech, which can be entitled his "Watch Address," used hard language:

Take up the history of the first settling of America, and you cannot read of a colony ever being settled in the midst of savages, without having trouble, and suffering more from them than this people have in Utah What isthe reason? It isbecause these people did not knowhowtotakecaureofthemselves.Wecanscarcelyreadof one colonyfounded amongtheaborigines inthefirstsettlingofthis country, wherein the tomahawk of wild Indians did not drink the blood of whole families. Here there have been no such deeds committed; becausewhen wefirstentered Utah, wewere prepared to meet all the Indians in these mountauns, and kill every one of them ifwe had been obliged so to do. This preparation secured us the peace....

'^he new strategy has since been popularly known as Brigham Young"s"feed them rather than fight them policy." For a discussion ofthe reverszd of strategy tnat developed after the events ofthe winter of 1850 see Christy, "Open Hand and Mailed Fist," pp 215-35 Not that the strategy was followed with any enthusiasm—either during the Walker War or during the Black Hawk War that occurred in the mid-1860s For evidence of other recorded instances of "chastisement," to include summary executions of prisoners, see UTMC, letter of Erastus Snow,July 27, 1864, reel 2, doc 1,307, pp. 3-4; Col. Daniel D. McArthur to Mai. R. Bendey, January 21, 1866, reel 2, doc 1,307 pp. 11-12; Brig Gen Warren S Snow to Col William B Pace, March 18, 1866, reel 2, doc 822; Brig Gen Warren S Snow to George A Smith, March 18, 1866, reel2, doc 823; and commander ofthe San Pete Military District to Daniel H. Wells, April 14, 1866, reel 2, doc 835. See also the Tullidge account at note 11 above The last outright attempt to exterminate Indians occurred in 1851 when a militia commander requested arsenic and/or strychnine to poison the water and food supplies of a sizeable camp of Indian men, women, and children. There is no evidence that the request was honored See UTMC, Capt William McBride to Daniel H Wells, June 24, 1851, reel 3, doc 1,328

1 haveprayed manytimes, and had aman atthedoor towatch for the murderers who thirsted for my blood. Then hewould pray, and I would watch. What for.^ To kill the blood thirsty villain. I would not goand seekfor him, but when he came to killme in my own home Iwished to beprepared to disembody his spirit, tosave myowntabernacle, and send hisdown tothedust, andlethimgoto the place prepared for murderers, even to hell.'''

Hau'd lamguage, indeed. Amonth later Youngaigain addressed his people, but this time his rhetoric wais ;cdongdifferent lines. The tough tadkgave way to irony amd gende ridicule in what could be entided his "Cats amd Kittens Address." But the message, amd the intent, seems to have been the saune

Youwillfindthattherewillbecatsandkittensleapingout ofthe bag continually. "What can come next, Iwonder.^" Ido not know; but thisIknow, theLordAlmightywillnot suffer theSaints, neither theworld,toslumberupontheiroars Thetimeispassedforthemto fold theirhands,and say, "Alitdemore sleep,alittlemore slumber, alittlemorefoldingofthe hands." Thispeople luillneversee thatday, for theLordwillkeepthemonthealertallthetime;theywillcontinually have something to contend with; to keep them from dropping to sleep, and it isno matter to meas towhat means he shall use to do it'8

Whatever the merits of the lamgiaage amd style employed in the above two exaunples, the extamt evidence gives no hint that the counsel had the intended effect Actuadly, the first speech may have had am opposite effect Aside from seeming to be entirely consistent with a purely defensive strategy, a crossed signad may have resulted from the very toughness ofthe lamguage used. There is no way to prove that this address generated or reinforced am offensive spirit on the pau'tof militia leaders in UtaihVadley,but itisat leaistironic thatwhen the first shot was fired in amger, the first militia response waisimmediately to go into the attack, figuratively to go out amd"kill those blood thirsty villains." The waurcaune, again triggered by the killing of amIndiam by a white setder, albeit in this case the aa wais unintentional, '^ and for the next severad months mostof Governor Young's hard rhetoricwould be reserved not for the villaun at his door but for the setder down the road

"JD, May 8, 1853

'*Ibid., June 19, 1853 (emphasis Brigham Young's)

'Tor circumstances leading up to the commencement of hostdities, see Howard A Christy, "The Walker Wan Defense and Conciliation as Strategy," Utah Historical Quarterly 47 (1979):396401

When the shooting commenced Young issued two general orders. Generad Order One, dated July 21, wais precise amd clear—and devoid of colorful rhetoric It essentiadly ordered all in the territory, first, to go on the defensive, and second, to extend conciliation to the Indiams. Specificadly, the order required that adl offensive action in response to the marauding Indians was to cease forthwith, that all setders and militia were to return to their setdements and fort up, amd that adl stock wais to be put under guaurd The closing paragraphs read:

VIII We wish it distinctly understood that no retaliation be made and no offense applied but for all to act entirely on the defense until further orders.

IX It isdesirable... that no threats or intemdations [sic] be made or exersied [sic] toward the Indians no more than if nothing unusual had occured [sic] to disturb peaceful relations heretofore existing.^°

But early reports indicated that mamy opposed such a strategy and that most of its provisions were ignored, especially by militia commanders who seemed to have had aggressive action uppermost in their minds That is, regardless ofthe wishes of higher authority, "using up" wais preferred over "no retadiation being made." Determined to see his defense amd conciliation strategy strictly carried out, and almost at amy cost, on July 25 Governor Young issued Generad Order Two, which lamguage leaves no doubt ais to his intent The entire order deserves reading:

I Colonel G. A Smith ishereby assigned to the command of all the Military Districts ofthe Territory South of Great Salt Lake County amd is strictly enjoined and commanded to enforce Orders No 1of the 21st instant

II It isdistincdy understood that all the people shall assemble into large and permanent forts amd no man is at liberty to refuse to obey this order without being dealt with as our enemy

III All surplus stock that is not particularly needed for teams and milk must be driven to this city and placed in the charge of the Presiding Bishop of this city until further orders.

IV Colonel Smith is fully authorized and required to carry out the instructions which have heretofore been occasionally given by the Governor and other authorities ofthe Territory in regard to defense and all the people are now required to obey these instructions as Colonel Smith shall direct ^\JTMC, General Order No. I.July 21, 1853, reel 3, doc 1,334.

V Colonel George A. Smith's instructions and orders will be those ofthe Executiveofthe Territory, and wewill be sustaiined byhim in enforcing the orders which in hisjudgment he may think proper.^^

Byplacing George A Smith in commamd over the entire war zone Governor Young neady preempted all other militia commanders who may have opposed his strategy. And he could not have chosen a better man for the job. Although Smith had had little or no part in militia activity previously (both his rank of colonel and his Southern Militia Department commamd were initiated on the spot by General Order Two), he was a powerful figure in every respect He was a giamt of a man in body and aforceful and resolute man in styleamd personality. And he was am aposde who was extremely loyid to Brigham Young Additionally, Young made the order personad That is, he seemingly determined that by General Order Two he would make General Order One stick by informing everyone that such orders would now be carried out in person by a powerful individuad everyone knew would resolutely do his duty

But Young didn't stop there He instructed Smith, with General Orders One amd Two firmly in hand, to travel to every settlement south of Great Salt Lake City to make absolutely sure that every setder wais informed. Then, apparently still not satisfied, he dispatched to Smith, who had already departed south, the following additional letter, which reads in part

We now as the First Presidency of tlie Church ofJesus Christ of Latter Day Saints, as Governor, Superintendent of Indiam Affaris of Utah Territory and Commander in Chief of the MiHda and Lieutenant General of the Nauvoo Legion, Appeal to you, the Commandates [sic] of all the Military Districts South, to all the Officers and Authorities ofthe Church ofthe Legion and ofthe Territory, aindto all the People, And sayunto you all do not in the least degree relax your efforts ... to save your grain, your stock, and all your property, And Fortup strongand permanent thatyour Families and your selves may be living and that you not be massacred by the Indians, and do not feel afraid that wewant your property because we have ordered Surplus Stock to be driven to this place in order to keep you from feeding Indians with it, for we do not want it but expect thatyouwill,drawitoutwhen you can takecareofit, although you had better put it into the Church tithing herd .... And we say further that inasmuch as you do not second our efforts, carry into effect our ordersand instructions, and listen toour counsel, weshall

^'ibid.. General Order No. 2, July 25, 1853, reel 1, doc 288.

consider you aisaliens and not Brethren, asenemies and not friends; that we shadl not hold you by our Fadth nor aissist you by our influence nor our works. Enough hais been sadd; works and not words aure now required Let your works speaik and show for itself

Respectfully your Brethren in the Covenant of Truth

Brigham Young, Heber C. Kimbadl, amd Willard Richards Brigham Young, Governor, Superintendent of Indiam Affairs^^

Although there is no humor in this terse, clear directive, in retrospect one cam smde to see to what extent Governor Young went to assure that he meamt business; note the formality ais to tides and ecclesiaistical lamguage—and agaun the generad absence of rhetorical embellishments. But did these last two communications have amy better effect^ Surprising as it may seem, in the case of numerous individuals, and of at leaistone entire setdement, not at adl. The people of Cedaur City, or perhaps more importamt their leaders, openly mutinied despite the best efforts of both Brigham Young amd George A. Smith. Appaurendy, these settlers could not accept the temporary loss of their cattle to say nothing of having to teaur down adl outbuddings and to crowd into a hastily constructed fcrt What followed is a sad episode of haurd heauted defiamce met with haird heaurted force. Agaun, read itfrom the record in this case George A. Smith's report, written in journal style, of his expedition to warn and instrua the people of the southern setdements.

August 7 Had Adjutamt Greene read Generad Orders I amd 2 amd letter to the people at the meeting house in Pau"owam

2 amd a quaurter p.m Headed agaun for Cedaur Fort At 3:20 p.m read express regarding a mutinous outbreak amnongthe citizens of Cedaur Fort, and am open opposition to carrying the Governor's orders into effect Arrived Cedar Fort about 5 p.m. Had General Orders I and 2amdletter read again Welearned thatseverad men of this fort had risen in the morning opposing Lt Col. James A Litde amd CaptainJ. L Smith who had been chosen by the people amd appointed by Lt Col William Kimbadl to carry out the Governor's order in relation to the surplus stock of this place Some of them had threatened to shoot their stock and to shoot amd bayonet men.

8 August Kimball arrested 5 men. Again addressed citizens in the evening relative to their fort, Indian aggressions, amd proteaion

9 August I spent the morning among the citizens ^^

"ibid., Brigham Young et al to George A Smith, July 30, 1853, reel 1, doc 314 ^^bid., George A Smith to Daniel H Wells, August 12, 1853, reel 1, doc 357 This is an extensive journal account of Smith's entire trip to the southern districts

Appaurendy the amger amd defiance of the Cedar City setders was widespread, haursh, and sustained. A week later, aifter a short visit to Parowaui. Smith found that the people at Cedai' Fort were still openly defiamt Determined to achieve compliance, he "gathered all officers amd leaders, read [reread] General Orders 1 and 2, instructions [no doubt the July 30 letter from the First Presidency], then aisked the officers if they would exonerate [him] from adlfurther responsibilities relative to their surplus stock—they unanimously answered no.''^"^ The determined Smith continued his resolve:

Oneofthe officers verygravelybegan tothamkGod, that theywould havean aposdewith them to help bear their burthens [sic] (referring to chap. F. L Richaurds, whowaisintended to stay).When on seeing their spirit manifested and the desire to throw all responsibility off from themselves, or to someone else, and not to obey the orders, I said immediately, they could not have him, amd ordered him to be ready to march with me in one hour, telling them Iwould not risk the life of any good men with them, or with any people that would not obey those orders of the governor I then spoke of men obtaining amd holding influence by their works, etc [W]hen I sat down Maj. M. Cauiithers presented his resignation, which I accepted, and after givingthem some strongadvicerequiring them to obey the Governor's orders, and to see them carried out, ... I dissolved the council and at3!^o'cl PMstarted for Paurowan, taking Chaplain Richards along with me.^^

It appeaurs that the "grave thamking of God" for Aposde Richards was intended aisa direa insult to Aposde Smith—amd perhaps even to the Prophet Brighaun Young—to which insult Smith immediately responded with some"strongadvice." Smith did not return to Cedar City, however, his August 15joumad entry indicates that the people of Cedar City finally acquiesced but only aifter the aurrests of severad of their

George A. Smith

USHS collections

number and the threat of direct force Smith stated that "catde from Cedaur Ft arrived," and on August 17: "Left Parowaui, aur(rived] Beaver, withcattler^^

At this point it isonly faur to state that, sensible as the defense amd conciliation strategywais, full compliamce required enormous personad sacrifice. Literally, the setders had to abamdon everything they had strived so haurd to budd for themselves. Some communities complied, some did not For prime exaunple, it is interesting to compaure the colleaive response of the people of Cedaur City amd that of neaurby Paurowaui, a setdement of compaurable size amd circumstamces. Both communities were relatively distamt from the open fighting, both were given the sauneorders, amdboth suffered the saunesacrifices. But where the people of Cedau" City openly rebelled, the people of Parowan willingly complied Smith had property in Parowam amdwais therefore a citizen ofthat community, which may havegenerated apositive attitude towaurd him there, but it is appaurent that the attitudes of locad leaders toward higher authority generadly made the big difference ^^

This episode isonlythemost dramatic example ofwhat turned out to be continued opposition to the defensive strategy. There are numerous exaunples of written admonitions to carry out the general orders—to setders far from the action as well as those in imminent danger. That individuals asfar away as Ogden (seventy-five miles north of the nearest hostilities) questioned the need to fort up amd to send stockto SadtLakeValley south toward thefighting—is understamdable. No matter For example, Generad Wells admonished David Moore, the Weber District militia commander, that"if men resist or refuse to obey orders likejas. Davis put them in irons with ball and chaun."^^

Unfortunately, regaurdless of the style employed, appeals to the setders for constraunt were either too late or were ignored, amd the

'^bid.(emphasis Smith's)

'^For further details on the events in Cedar City and Parowan see ibid., reel 1, doc 357; and reel 3, docs 1,348 and 1,352 See AsoDeseret News, October 15, 1853 GeorgeA Smith was also a property owner in and citizen of Provo where hewas received almost as rudely as he was in Cedar City. See note 28 below

^^UTMC, Wells to Moore, September 1, 1853, reel 1, doc 375. For other examples see ibid., reell, docs 317,328,410, and424, and reel 3, docs 1,337 and 1,359 On his return north and upon passing through Provo, Smith was so furious with the lackadaisical atdtude regarding forting up there that he ordered Col Peter W Conover, the Provo district militia commander, court-martialed for "noncompliance." Conover was relieved of his command but was soon reinstated Not that Smith enjoyed taking such actions In the case of charging Conover and receiving harsh opposition to it— this after an exhausting and trying nine-hundred- mlietrip to the southern settlements and the mutiny there he wrote: "Myheadache increased to that extent that produced blindness that 1 was obliged to get a mjui to lead me home." See ibid., reel 1, docs 353, 356, 358, and 359, and reel 3, doc 1,363.

bloodshed that resulted wais entirely unnecessary. Killings led to retadiation and more killings. A tragic caisein point is the incident that occurred at Nephi Fort on October 2, 1853, only a week after severad Indians were shot down in cold blood at Manti Fort Probably in retadiation for the Mamti Fort killings, Indiams crept up on and slaughtered four setders, who had gone out to bring in paut of the wheat harvest, ais they slept in their unguarded caunpat Fountain Green on the mountain road between Mamti amd Nephi. When the mutilated bodies were brought into Nephi Fort the next morning, the setders were dismayed amd enraged Knowing of a caunp of supposedly friendly Indians neaur the fort, a mditia paurty wais sent out to bring them to the fort, ostensibly for questioning.

Accounts of what happened next vaury drasticadly. The militia commander*saccount explained that theIndiams"weretold tolay down their au'msbut theyrefused amdshowed fight Iordered their aurmstaken whereupon two shot aurrowsamdwounded onewhitein theaurm amd one aurrowwent through the coat of amoth<?rupon which I ordered them to be fired upon."^^ Eight ofthe Indiams were kiUed But Martha Spence Heywood, aresident ofthat place, entered quite amother account in her journal Shewrote that thegrisly sight ofthe men murdered at Fountain Green "actuated our bretheren ... to do quite aisbaurbaurous amact the following morning, being the Sabbath Nine Indians coming into our camp looking for proteaion amd bread with us . . . were shot down without a minute's notice."^^ Another joumad entry, by Adelia Almira Wdcox, amply backs up Mrs. Heywood by reporting that the Indiams "were shot likesomamydogs, picked up with pitchforks [put] on a sleigh amd hauled away."^^ As might be expeaed, only the Nephi miHtia commander*saccount found itswayto Great SadtLaikeCity, where, ais in the caise ofthe killing of prisoners in 1850, it was boiled down to the baurest minimum for the record In the Brighaun Young mamuscript history for that date adl that isgiven isichat"in a skirmish at Nephi, Juab Vadley, eight Indiams were killed and one squaw amd two boys tadcen prisoners."^^

^^TMC, George W Bradley to Daniel H Wells, October 2, 1853, reel 1, doc 396

^^uanita Brooks, ed., Not by Bread Alone: TheJownal ofMartha Spence Heywood 1850-56 (Salt Lake City: Utah State Historical Society, 1978), p. 97.

^'Adelia Almira Wilcox Memoirs, October 2, 1853, Utah State Historical Society, Szdt Lake City.

^^JH, October2, 1853 Seealso Christy, "WalkerWar," pp 411-12

The militia field report of the incident could be true, but it is unlikely. As in the case ofthe 1850 atrocity, the story raises serious questions. In particulaur is the statement that the Indians refused to give up their weapons but were nonetheless adlowed inside the fort That the militia would have been foolish enough to aUow eight Indians into the fort with their weapons and that at leaist two ofthe Indiams could have been adroit enough to draw arrows and shoot while surrounded with militia aurmed with guns is at best suspect

In mid-October, following the above-described rash of killings on both sides, Brigham Young may have begun to despair that his people would ever comply either with friendly counsel or terse orders. On Oaober 16 he personally, appeaded to three of the setdement militia commanders: "Brethren we must have peace. We must cease our hostilities and seek by every possible means to reach the Indians with a peaceful message." ^^ No colorful rhetoric No tough talk. No threats. Although this message could be interpreted ais a directive. Young rather seemed to be beseeching these men to seek peace rather than seek more blood amd thereby perpetuate thewar. Not thatYoungwaswead?.eningin his resolve; norwould he ever stoop to groveling. But few will aurgue that he wais not a praigmatic mam, one capable of reversing a decision or taking a new tack if it might solve the problem at hand. Indeed, the defensive strategy employed in the 1853 Walker War wais a draunatic reversal of previous, much haurder, meaisures. The evidence indicates that at some point Young may have decided that the Walker Waurmust end no matter what price had to be paid perhaps even if it meant begging for compliamce Thus, his Oaober 16 letter can be considered still amother style of communication, a humble request indicating a willingness to pay whatever price necessaury to gadn am objective, am objective that, in the case ofthe Walker Waur,seems in retrospea to have been worthy and justified^*

In the face of continuous opposition by the setders, the strategy decreed by Governor Young was stubbornly insisted upon and paun-

Brigham Young's actions leading up to and during the peace negotiations seem to corroborate his pragmatism As a first gesture, severad months before the peace parley, he offered total amnesty Then, when the peace parley commenced, he went to the tent of his substantially defeated adversary and blessed a child And, when Chief Wcdkara, seemingly as a last gesture of defiance and pride, demanded that Young trade for a slave—recall that Young& s prohibition ofthe slave trade is what brought on the war in the first place—without hesitation Young handed over the two blankets and gun that were asked-and apparendy took the child For a discussion ofthe peace negotiations see Christy, "Walker War," pp 415-18

^^BY, Brigham Young to Peter W. Conover, Stephen Markham, and George W. Bradley, October 16, 1853.

fully forced through to the very end. Even after the fighting had long ceased and a peace was about to be negotiated. Young had occaision to hurl one last stinging rebuke—and threat—at a bishop in Utaih County for not "suitably responding" to one of his requests.

ImadeapubliccaJlinyour placeyesterdayfor somefatcatdetotake toWalker which has not been suitably responded to.... Ifthere is theleast hindramce ordifficulty inobtiininggoupon therange and pick them up and send them .... I must and will have amd if the peoplehavenotlearned thatwhen I order athingtobedoneImean to haveaccomplished itistime they had. And thiswillleavethem a lesson. I am determined not to hold amyperson in fellowship who will tred lightly on things of God.^^

Many communications during this period aurejust aisfaiscinating— and haurdhitting. Two communications aurepauticulaurlyinteresting, one for its dark humor amd the other for its eloquence. George A Smith, in his "Setde in Forts!" address, presented at general conference in Oaober 1853, declaured

Iwenttoeverysettlement, andattempted toencouragethem to fort but failed toaccomplish anything towards gettingthem to obey the word of the Lord on this matter ....

Sometime in the summer, however, a man known in these mountains by the name of Walker, found that the people cared nothing about God, nor the instructions of Brother Brigham, and Brother George A. Smith. So he said, "I wonder if you will mind me," and in less than one solitary v/eek he had more than three hundred families on the move; houses thrown down in every direction, and I presume one hundred thousand dollars worth of property wasted.^^

Smith went on to state that"if the cou nsel of President Young had been observed, not one of the Sadnts would have lost their lives by am Indiam"^^—an observation that is well borne out by the evidence. Indeed, offensive action taken or provoked by individual settlers in the first instance and by mditia units in defiance of orders thereaifter was at the root of ^^ry death ofthe wau*—wliite amd Indian. Notice adso that, like Brigham Young, when appropriaite to "tell it Hke it is," George A.

^^YC, Brigham Young to Bishop Blackburn, May 8, 1854, reel 32, box 13, folder 13.

^^iscourse of George A. Smith at the semiannual conference ofthe church, October 7, 1853, Deseret News, November 24, 1853 Such discourses could also be rather long-winded Smith's discourse of October 7, although both sharply focused and witty in places, also rambled on at length

^''ibid For an in-depth discussion ofthe war that leads to this same conclusion, see Christy, "Walker War," pp. 404-20.

Smith could do so with equad clarity. In the case of his Oaober 7 discourse he employed both colorful rhetoric, here, amd straight talk, there. Smith ended that speech with appaurent humor, although he might have been at leaist pautly serious:

Walkerhimselfhasteaisedmeforawhitewife; amdifanyofthe sisters will volunteer to marry him, I believe I camclose the war forthwith .... Ifany ladywishes to be Mrs. Wadker, ifshewillreport herself to me, I will agree to negotiate the match."^*

But no rhetoric of the period exceeds the following communication for sheer eloquence. To a query ais to what to do about am Ogden settler who had refused to tad^edown amd remove his house to the fort, GeneradWells, taddngpart ofhis text from aprevious letterwritten by the First Presidency, answered:

Now in the caiseof Brother Baurnes, my council to you is go to him showhim thisletteroffer toaissisthim kindlytoremovehishouseais cau'efully as possible into the fort, amd ten chances to one in my opinion hewillprompdy comply.... [W]eshould sustain ourselves free and unbiased in allofour official actsand seekto conciliate the feelings of adlgood men amd still pursue the even tenor of our way regardless of every obstacle. You remember the old proverb "If gentle means will not prevadl["—]"if neither grass nor tufts will amswer then Iwdl trywhat virtue there is in stone." This isthe case with us precisely[;] the authorities have preached to us[,] to this People(,] adl the day long to build forts to secure ourselves[;] have kindly told us time amd aigain [that] the first we know the Indians would beupon us[;]butalltonoavaul[. But]wefindthatCaptWadker cam elucidate the subjea in a clearer more striking amd Effectual manner. I aun actually ashamed to confess that our People have to learn bywhatthey suffer allthedaylonginstead ofprofiting bytheir own paist Experiences. As it was saud of Israel of old so now it may well be applied: "My people do not consider! How short auretheir memories! How forgetful!"^^

It is interesting to contemplate how mamy times in history men have been deaf to the biblical complaunt "My people do not consider!

'Ibid

'\JTMC, Daniel H Wells to David Evans, August 24, 1853, reel 3, doc 1,359, which borrows substantially from Brigham Young, Heber C. Kimball&cto Allen Weeks,July26,1853, inibid., reel3, doc, 1,337. Wells's (Young's.^) tantalizing references to "grass nor tufts" and "what virtue there is in stone" are nowhere to be found in the scriptures—nor could they be found in the several concordances and collections of proverbs at hand. (The letter to Allen Weeks somewhat less elegantly puts it, "if tufts and grass only will not prevail stones must be used."j Only Wells's "My people do not consider" could be found, in another context, at Isaiah 1:3 The closest proverb founu is from Pierre Corneille's Heraclius, which in translation, and rather less elegandy than Wells, reads: "Severity is allowable where gentleness has no effect"

How short are their memories! How forgetfuL'" This eloquent quotation of aun amcient lamentation raises the question ofjust how effective such communications ever aure, especially when severe sacrifices au'e asked or demamded. Perhaps most people respond only to what they wamt to heaur regaurdless ofthe style employed—or respond only to force direcdy applied, even at the risk of imminent death. In the caise ofthe Utah frontier, leaders employed every style of communication they knew, including shocking harshness, to warn of and guaurd against the damgers ahead amd then applied corrective meaisures when the waurnings went unheeded Sometimes they got positive results and sometimes thery were ignored or outright defied. The caises of Cedaur City amd Parowam during the Wadker Waur aure the best example of this contraist Often, ais in the extreme case ofthe citizens of Cedar City, when it came to push giving way to shove, when "giaiss nor tufts" did not "amswer," the only workable "virtue" seemed to have been in stone.

Book Reviews

Church State, and Politics: The Diaries ofJohn Henry Smith

Edited

JEAN BICKMOREWHITE

John Henry Smith served as second counselor in the First Presidency ofthe Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints and was president of the 1895 Utah Constitutional Convention, cofounder ofthe Utah Republican party, and an active participant in many businesses. He had a lively and informed interest in public affairs as he played an important role in Utah's religious, political, and business history Injune 1874, as he prepared to leave for a Mormon mission to England, he began writing thirty-six volumes of personal diaries that detailed the next thirty-seven years of his life

The editor's purpose in presenting this work is to provide diary accounts that show the kinds of complex matrices from which political, religious, business, and personal decisions flowed White never lets her presence as editor get between the reader and the material She allows the words of John Henry Smith to carry the story, as she intrudes only occasionally and gently to introduce some of the leading figures and to insert footnotes and annotations A good introduction also summarizes much of the diaries' content

Within the diaries one can discern the dynamics of nineteenth-century Mormon mores and standards as they related to marriage, divorce, social responsibility, child rearing, personal

sin, and political and religious authority. Included are a host of topics that provide insights into the historical and ideological context of nineteenth-century Utah There indeed is some grist here for scholars of Mormon and Utah history.

The reader laments the fact that as John Henry Smith assumed more responsibility in church and state matters, he became increasingly circumspea in what he revealed of his life and the lives of others. Seldom did he express his feelings and views One can only infer the more intimate revelations lurking beneath the text as Smith's emotions remained covert Since the diaries evolve into an internal or institudonal story where few critical Judgments are made,they would have benefited from an epilogue wherein the editor could fill in critical blanks.

The work, though attraaively designed, does contain a few minor printing errors R xxiii places Joseph Fielding Smith as president ofthe Mormon church from 1907 to 1972. The bibliography is very limited. The index is inadequate; it does not even include place names of cities and states

One finishes the book wishing there had been more of the candor that appears on p. 85 when Smith says, "A. M Cannon. got badly muddled and made some wild ruHngs I would spank

by

(Salt Lake City. Signature Books in association with Smith Research Associates, 1990 XXX + 700 pp $75.00.)

my boys for such lack of justice and judgment" Instead there are too many entries such as that on p. 506, "I was at the president's office most ofthe day. I paid the State Bank $1,005.77 I had a bath at the springs." Nevertheless, this

work is a valuable window providing material relating to important people and events.

WAYNEK HINTON Southern Utah University

In 1986 the Center for Great Plains Studies of the University of NebraskaLincoln sponsored a symposium on "The Meaning of the Plains Indians' Past for Present Culture." This volume, edited by Paul A. Olson, foundauon professor of English at the University of Nebraska, contains symposium papers and two essays thatwere commissioned especially for this work

The book is divided into four parts ("The History of Insututional Transformation," "Traditional Use and Modern Alienadon," "European and Indigenous Institudons," and "Indigenous Religion and the Struggle for Land"), preceded by a lengthy introducdon by the editor. In each part an essay focusing largely on the North American Great Plains, its indigenous peoples, and the impact of Europeanbased civilization is followed by one or more essays concerned with somewhat parallel circumstances in such widely separated places as Australia, the Kazakh steppes, southern Africa, and Alaska The authors are drawn from a broad spearum of academic disciplines, with representatives from anthropology, economics, and environmental studies most numerous.

Most essays are thoughtful and informative, and many remind me of what first attracted me, years ago, to the study of arid and semiarid lands and

their inhabitants: the wide-open spaces, nomadic peoples, the social, political, jind economic rivalries between pasloralists and sedentary agriculturalists, ;md the colonization of these lands by outsiders with strikingly different culi:ural values. One of the best contributions is made by the anthropologist fohn W Bennett, whose paper, developed firom decades of work on the northern plains, expresses concern about the lack of conservation in the region and stresses the need for fundamental changes in its institutions in order to reverse on-going environmental degradation. Another is written by Solomon Bekure of the World Bank and Ishmael Ole Pasha, a Maasai civil servant, who describe the changing location of Maasai territory in Kenya and northern Tanzania, contrast the land policies affecting the Maasai before and after establishment of Kenyan independence in 1963, and analyze the development and subsequent subdivision of "group ranches" in Maasailand. All essays are supplemented by extensive bibliographies that collectively constitute a remarkably comprehensive listing of classic and less well known works that should be essential reading for anyone seriously concerned with the semiarid world and its inhabitants.

As might be expected from a col-

The Strugglefor theLand: Ind^enous Insight and Industrial Empire in the Semiarid World. Ed ited by PAUL A. OLSON. (Lincoln: University of Nebraska Press, 1990. x + 317 pp. $35.00.)

lection of papers, some essays do not quite "fit," despite the editor's efforts to hammer them into the book's overall context For example, C. Patrick Morris's paper, "Hydroelearic Development and the Human Rights of Indigenous Peoples," which emphasizes thevulnerability of native peoples' economies when hydroelectric development occurs, is on target when dealing with circumstances on the Great Plains but is less compelling when its attention turns to Norway and Mexico. Similarly, neither the essay by J Baird Callicott nor that by O. Douglas Schwartz, both ostensibly concerned with the interplay between indigenous religions and the land, contributes much to our understanding ofthe plains or any other part of the semiarid world Each floats through the thin air of philosophical musing and rarely provides the reader

with a sense of place or much understanding of people interacting with semiarid environments

In the final analysis, the quality of this ambitious book is compromised by its too-broad scope and the inability of the editor to keep atight rein on some of the contributors For readers of this journal who wish to learn about the interplay between cultures in the semiarid world, it does offer some keen insights But if they are seeking a common thread, a consistent intellectual theme, or perspective that might be useful for interpreting past and present life in and around Utah, they will find that the rewards are negligible

MARSH ALL E BOWEN Mary Washington

College FredericksImrg Virginia

The Wagon Trains of'44: A Comparative View ofthe Individual Caravans in the Emigration of 1844 toOregon. ByTHOMAsA. RUMER (Spokane: Arthur H. Clark Co., 1990. 274 pp. $35.50.)

This Em^rating Company: The 1844 Oregon TraUjoumatofJacob Hammer. Edited by THOMAS A. RuMER(Spokane Arthur H. Clark Co., 1990. 274 pp. $35.50.)

By taking a comparative view of the caravans of 1844 on the Oregon Trail, Thomas A. Rumer has provided us with an insightful image of the people who unknowingly played such an important part in American history. That influx of nearly a thousand individuals into the Oregon country in 1844 tipped the balance in favor of the United States and convinced President Polk and Congress in April 1845 to terminate the joint occupation treaty that had been in effect with England since 1818. This led ultimately to the incorporation of the Pacific Northwest into the United States.

Statements excerpted from the many diaries and the later reminiscences of

the 1844 Oregon pioneers allow the author to show some ofthe factors that motivated the men to uproot their families and head west (One man said " the United States has the best right to that country, and I am going to help make that right good" He also commented that without slaves, which he refused to keep, he could not prosper at farming in a slave economy The farming families had heard the widely publicized stories about the rich soil of the Willamette Valley and the faa that a couple could claim 640 acres of land) To get there however, careful preparations had to be made; companies had to be organized along military lines, and then all the problems of a long and

hazardous journey had to be overcome. Rumer has ferteted out numerous personal experiences of many of the people involved and has made this a vibrant story, enhancing the historic epicas itevolves. Sufficient background history is presented so that the events of 1844 blend as they should into the overall development of the West He has combined the colleaive experiences of the three main parties that started out firom Independence, St Joseph, and Council Bluffs, respectively.

The party that left from Council Bluffs had been commonly referred to as the Stephens-Murphy party but in The Wagon Trains of'44 it is identified as the Hammer family of Northsiders Merrill J. Mattes in the foreword emphasizes that this party traveled on the north side of the Platte River as far as Fort Laramie, thus firmly establishing a route that was later to be followed by as many as 166,000 emigrants Of that total, a minority using this northern route, or what was later known as the Council Bluffs Road, were Mormons; yet this has now been designated as the Mormon Pioneer National Historic Trail

Rumer has separately considered the many faaors that affeaed the caravans Weather was a major consideration, since 1844 was charaaerized by a particularly wet and stormy spring season that delayed the start of all the parties and contributed to sickness and some deaths. The author has been able to account for twelve deaths on the trail to Oregon that year From journal entries he analyzes the causes, including cholera and similar diseases, and he tells how the pioneers attempted to contend with their health problems. Among other factors serving as the bases of separate chapters are prepara-

tions for the journey, leadership, trail traffic, and Indians

The Wagon Trains of'44 is valuable in that it covers many diverse views of related events in a delightfully readable form. What might be called a companion volume, edited by the same author, is This Emigratir^ Company: The 1844 Oregon TraUjoumatof Jacob Hammer. This newly discovered and previously unpiublishedjournal isone ofthe few dayt>day narratives ofthe Oregon-bound contingent of the Stephens-Murphy party of 1844 Rumer's technique of interspersing both background data amd his own explanatory material as separate chapters between sections of the actual Hammer journal makes this history stand by itself His map illustrations are commendable for their uncluttered clarity They are completely adequate for supplementing the text ;md are detailed enough sothat any trail buff could use them with maps such as Franzwa's to follow the trail.

In the preface to 7 ^ Emigrating Company, Aubrey L Haines notes that the Council Bluffs Road on the north side of the Platte River had been used by fur trappers at least as early as 1827 and that the Whitmans had driven their buggy over that route in 1835. Mattes states that the famous scout James Clyman had traveled east over this trail in 1824. By the time that Jacob Hammer started for the Oregon country the Northside Road was apparendy well established; thus, Rumer's well-written and carefully researched editorial treatment of the journal is a valuable addition to Oregon Trial history. It is also most enjoyable reading.

RUSHSPEDDEN

Utah Crossroads Chapter

Oregon-California Trails Association

Yosemite: The Embattled Wilderness. By ALFRED RUNTE (Lincoln: University of Nebraska Press, 1990 xii + 271 pp $24.95.)

Alfred Runte's newest book, Yosemite: The Embattled Wilderness, is the latest in a growing list of books on the disjunctions among political philosophy, publicpolicy, environmental management, and popular perceptions and use of America's national parks. Like Richard Bardett's Yellowstone: A Wilderness Besieged and Alston Chase's Playing God in Yellowstone: The Destruction of America's First National Park, Runte*s environmental history of Yosemite takes a hard look at the growing conflia between the original intent of national park creation and the increasing demands of a recreationally minded American public often heedless of the greater values of wilderness preservation Although Runte's work (as the author himself acknowledges) invites obvious comparisons with Bardett's and Chase's excellent studies of Yellowstone, there are distinctions. Chief among those distinaions is that Runte examines most closely the consequences of changing park management for the natural ecosystem of the Yosemite valley and its surrounding highlands region Where most tend to think of Yosemite simply as a place of geological grandeur, the author deals with the park as part of a natural system that includes both organic jmd inorganic components

Runte notes that public park policy has been intentionally vague, seeking only to protea areas in order that they might be left "unimpaired for the enjoyment of future generations" and then leaving it up to those future generations to define what is meant by "protect," "unimpaired," and even "enjoyment" He contends that each succeeding generation of Yosemite

users has developed its own notions of proteaion, impairment, and use and, further, that those changing perspectives have been imposed upon public management policies He sees in this process a logical contradiction in which even the strictest preservationists have contributed to environmental modification, a sort of social and political version of the Heisenberg Uncertainty Principle of the physicists in which observation itself alters the phenomenon observed This contradiaion serves as a focal point for his study. But it is not the dominant focal point; the real core of this book is the concept of environmental change itself Runte submerges the social history of Yosemite in the environmental history ofthe greater Yosemite ecosystem with remarkable effectiveness

Those who pick up this book expecting to read lengthy quotations from John Muir or a catalogue of events and anecdotes from the park's history may be, at first, disappointed. This is not a puff piece designed for the Yosemite visitor who wishes to recapture the wonder of a childhood visit to one of America's greatest natural wonders. This is not to say that the reader interested in the history of both Yosemite and the national park movement in the United States will not learn from and appreciate this work Runte does provide an excellent running commentary on the evolving management philosophies and policies that have directed Yosemite's course for a century and a quarter. But he does so, for the most part, within the context ofthe impact of those philosophies and policies on the natural environment As the author himself states in his introduction

"natural resources, like people and events, appear in the narrative as barometers of change." In Runte's opinion, those natural resources, particularly vegetation and wildlife, have been accurate barometers indeed. In this sense, the history of Yosemite is sym-

bolic of the environmental history of America itself Those who read this fine siudywill come to understand that and, perhaps, to learn firom it

JOHNL ALLEN University of Connecticut, Storrs

Atlas ofAmerican IndianAffairs. By FRANCISPAULPRUCHA.( Lincoln: University of Nebraska Press, 1990 x+ 191 pp $47.50.)

To appreciate the ebb and flow of historical events over a long period of time, a quick glance at a map can be very revealing. This is especially true in American history where expansion was such a key faaor in nineteenth-century developments. However, maps can reveal more than tertitorial acquisition or border realignments The everchanging demographics of our society can best be expressed in cartographic form In his book Atlas of American Indian Affairs, Francis Paul Prucha focuses on Native Americans in order to demonstrate the impact of national trends on the country's original inhabitants in graphic form. Long recognized as the foremost authority on American Indian policy, Prucha provides students, experts, and buffs with an important reference book

The book is made up of chapters containing maps that emphasize various aspects of Indian history and culture These categories include tribal areas, demographics, land cessions, reservations, agencies, schools, hospitals, military posts, and important events in frontier history. Each of these areas is further broken down into chronological order. For example, a map showing Indian population by counties in the United States for 1910 is followed by another for 1920 and so on up to the present As the reader flips

lirom one map to another, he can gain a j^eat deal of appreciation for the changes that NativeAmericans haveex]3erienced under the dominant culture

For thosewho havelittle background m the subject matter, the section on Indian land cessions will have the greatest impaa Even a quick perusal of this chapter will leave the reader with a sense of despair and tragedy There are nine maps spanning the nineteenth century that demonstrate quite vividly the loss of ancestral homelands Experts in the field may not be so awed by this information, but they should be intrigued by other seaions The locations of agencies, schools, and forts over the decades of time provide information that is often hard to obtain Many of these maps are also excellent teaching aids.

In addition to the maps previously mentioned, Prucha includes a coUection firom cartographer Rafael D. Palacios A dozen ofthe maps that Palacios produced for a book published in 1964 emphasize major military engagements between soldiers and Indians This addendum, while informative, seems to be included merely to pad the book It adds litde new information and completely ignores theAmerican Southwest Also, if Wounded Knee deserves two maps, should not Custer's Last Stand have more than one.^

For experts in the field the notes and reference section will be the most informative seaion of the book Here Prucha provides sources for the maps and also includes precise statistical information. This is especially important for those who need these data for their own research, because the maps show only approximations through the use of bar graphs and the like. Many Indian historians will also appreciate

Wind's Trail The Early life of Mary Austin

the special focus on Alaska, Oklahoma, and the eastern part of the United States

This reviewer would strongly recommend this book for academic libraries. Private individuals, however, may find the cost too high for the amount of information provided

JIMVLASICH Southern Utah University

By PEGGY POND CHURCH Edited by SHELLEY A RMITAGE (Santa Fe Museum of New Mexico Press, 1990 xxii + 215 pp $14.95.)

This book is a surprise. Under one tide there are four compositions by three authors: not only Peggy Pond Church's account of Mary Austin but also Shelley Armitage's introduction, Armitage's analysis of Austin's work, and one of Austin's own compositions, "The Friend in the Wood," included, the editor says, to strike " a significant balance... in the consideration of the woman artist and her life'' ( p. xx). These various contents present no problem, of course, but the title is also misleading in a more significant way: rather than a true biography covering a defined period, as the phrase "early life" suggests. Church's book is more a personal memoir of limited scope.

Church's orginal plan, Armitage explains, was to write a full-scale biography of a woman whom she had met only briefly but whom she recognized as a kindred spirit Both women, Armitage says, were dedicated to "writing nature," to being "a tongue for the wilderness" (p. xiii). The original plan was soon amended, however, as Church's fascination with her subject ended with Austin's twentieth year. After following Austin only that far, Church "seems to have exhausted the

biographer's resources" (p xv) Indeed, the memoir does not actually end; it merely stops in mid-idea, "where we now leave her" (p 180), Church says abrupdy.

Within these limits Church presents a generally engaging portrait of a frustrated and contradictory personality, one who all her life, "would walk the fine line between humility toward the creative powers and the most outrageous identification of her own human ego with them" (p 163) One finds here a number of interesting incidents from Austin's difficult childhood and youth, when her unique, headstrong inclinations often ran afoul of what was expected of her either from society at large or her temperance-preaching Methodist mother In this respect the book serves as an unsetding reminder of the restriaions imposed upon women not too many years ago

Church's focus is also limited in another way. Although Armitage credits her as being especially qualified to write the biography and contends that she employed the"obligatory sources," there is scarcely a line in the book not derived from Austin herself, from letters, fiaion, or autobiography Little

wonder, then, that Church's analysis of her subject "agrees with Austin's own philosophy" (p xv) Perhaps it is this derivative quality that accounts for the times when Church seems overcome by the mystique she perceives surrounding Austin and her ideas. At these times the book lapses into melodrama while at others it resorts to gossip To be sure, there are some fine passages, like the one ne;ir the end about Austin's forced move to California; on the whole, however, readers impressed by the unique perspective and fresh, evocative imagery of House at Otowi Bridge will be disappointed by Church's performance here The one piece is inspired, the other almost perfunctory

Armitage's own essay, "Mary Austin: Writing Nature," flows faster and more smoothly than her somewhat labored introduction, probably because Armitage is freed from the obligation of imputing significance to Church's observations A concise catalog of

Austin's fife and philosophy, this piece concludes that Austin serves modern readers as a good example of the quester, one who continues "the pilgrimage writing—because one does not know the whole story" (p. 30). From the standpoint of literary criticism, however, this essay is another incomplete story as Armitage's bibliography is nearly as restricted as Church's.

Ultimately, this volume is pleasant enough but of a limited value As bio^p^aphy it is superseded by another recent but earlier book, Esther Lanigan

Stineman's Mary Austin: Song of a Maverick (Yale University Press, 1989); iis literary scholarship, it offers few glimpses of recent work in a very active field Still, one is glad to see the book if for no other reason than that it may encourage continued interest in Mary •Austin and Peggy Pond Church.

DAVID HARRELL Santa Fe, New Mexico

^WM' Book {iMm^^ Notices

Quest for Refuge: The Mormon Flight from American iHuralism By MARVIN S HILL (Salt Lake City: Signature Books, 1989. xxiv+288 pp. $19.95.)

In this stimulating book Marvin Hill looks at the early years of Mormonism and finds that the religious and political developments of the Mormon story before their exodus to Utah reflected a rejection ofthe basic American idea of

pluralism and early nineteenth-century American society. This rejection of pluralism and the attempt to establish religious, political, economic, and social unity brought Joseph Smith and his followers into conflict with their neighbors and created internal tensions that made the history of early Mormonism so violent and chaotic

Although the Utah period is not covered, it is noted that the continued

rejection of pluralism and secularism was a fundamental reason for the exodus to Utah Brigham Young would continue to pursue the ideal of unity there, insisting, "I wiU not have divisions & contentions" (p. 179). Ultimately, even though the ideal of unity remained, Mormonism surrendered to the practicality of pluralism and by 1907 " Mormons would become a somewhat grudgingly accepted denomination among many, thus enabling them to make their own distinctive contribution to the pluralism that nlirtures American freedom" p. 182).

Morgan County School Buildings: An Illustrated History. Compiled by MORGAN COUNTYH ISTORICAL SociETY (Morgan, Ut: Morgan County Historical Society, 1989 xiv+ 155 pp.)

This volume is described as an illustrated history of the school buildings in Morgan County and contains nearly a hundred photographs and illustrar dons documenting education in the Morgan area from the first log school buildings to the present-day facilities

Despite the emphasis on an illustrated history, the volume includes a strong narrative history divided into seven parts that examine the early history of Morgan VaUey and the establishment of community schools; the early elementary school system; consolidation of schools that led to the abandonment of community schools and the construaion ofa central elementary school; the establishment of Morgan High School in 1908 which followed the operation of Morgan Stake Academy by the LDS church between 1888 and 1904; the establishment of the Middle School in the 1970s; auxiliary buildings, including administrative offices, school bus garages and shops,

a food canning center, utilities, and school grounds; and a list of school superintendents and a chronology of events in the history of the school buildings and education

The book provides an interesting overview of the development of education in one Utah county from pioneer times to the present

Geronimo and the End ofthe Apache Wars. Edited by C. L SONNICHSEN.(Lincoln: University of Nebraska Press, 1990 v+ 136 pp Paper, $6.95.)

First published in 1986 by the Arizona Historical Society, this paperback reprint commemorates one ofthe most significant events in the history of the Southwest—the surrender of Naiche, the hereditary Chirichahua chief, and Geronimo, the Apache shaman and war leader, to Gen. Nelson A. Miles on the Mexican border on September 4, 1886 It was the end of an era for both whites and Indians. The documents and articles included herein shed light on the personalities and events that changed the course of Arizona history Perhaps the most interesting of these is editor Sonnichsen's retrospective piece "From Savage to Saint A New Image for Geronimo."

Myths andLegends ofthe Sioux. By MARIE L MCLAUGHLIN.(Lincoln: University of Nebraska Press, 1990 200 pp Paper, $6.95.)

Orginally published in 1916, these stories were told to the author by her mother, who was half Sioux and half Scot, and by other tribal elders in the Wabasha, Minnesota, area, part of Indian country when the author was bom there in 1842 The thirty-eight pieces in this coUeaion are rich in humor, animal lore, otherworldly encounters, wisdom, and insight

Department ofCommunity and Economic Development Division ofState History

BOARD OF STATE HISTORY

MARILYN CONOVER BARKER, Salt Lake City, 1993

Chairman

PETER L GOSS, Salt Lake City, 1995

Vice- Chairman

MAX J EVANS, Salt Lake City

Seaetary

DOUGLAS D. ALDER SL George, 1993

LEONARDJ ARRINGIGN, Salt Lake City, 1993

DALE L BERGE, Provo, 1995

BOYD A BLACKNER, Salt Lake City, 1993

HUGH C GARNER, Salt Lake City, 1993

DEAN L MAY, Salt Lake City, 1995

AMY ALLEN PRICE, Salt Lake City, 1993

PENNY SAMPINOS, Price, 1995

JERRY WYLIE, Ogden, 1993

ADMINISTRATIO N

MAX J EVANS, Director

WILSON G MAKTIN, Associate Director

PATRICIA SMITH-MANSFIELD,/Iiiwtan< Director

STANFORD J LAYTON, Managing Editor

DAVIDB MADSEN, state A rchaeologist

The Utah State Historical Society was organized in 1897 by public-spirited Utahns to collect, preserve, and publish Utah and related history. Today, under state sponsorship, the Society fulfills its obligations by publishing the Vtah Historical Quarterly and other nistorical materials: collecting historic Utah artifacts; locating, documenting, and preserving historic and prehistoric buildings and sites; and maintaining a specialized research library. Donations and gifts to the Society's programs, museum, or its library are encouraged, for only through such means can it live up to its responsibility of preserving the record of Utah's pasL

This publication has been funded with the assistance of a matcning grant-in-aid from the Department ofthe Interior, National Park Service, under provisions ofthe National Historic Preservation Act of 1966 as amended

This program receives financial assistiuice for identification and preservation of historic properties under Tide VI of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 and Section 504 ofthe Rehabilitation Act of 1973 The U.S Department ofthe Interior prohibits discrimination on the basis of race, color, national origin, or handicap in its federjilly assisted programs If you believe you have been discriminated against in any program, activity, or facility as described above, or ifyou desire further information, please write to: Office of Equal Opportunity, U.S Depanment ofthe Interior, Washington, D.C 20240