In This Issue

Enterprises that were derailed, detoured, or delayed: in this issue are the stories of people who set out to do one thing and ended up doing another.

For instance, with a wildly optimistic view of what twelve inches of rain can accomplish, the Promontory-Curlew Land Company set out to sell marginal agricultural lands in Utah and Idaho. The directors used every promotional gimmick they could devise, but what they could not offer was good farmland. Our first article describes their efforts and eventual failure.

The Iwakura Mission, an 1872 Japanese delegation to the United States, was also detoured in its project, both literally and figuratively. A snowstorm stranded them in Salt Lake City, but our next article explains that the wait provided the Japanese the opportunity to revise the purpose of their mission.

The next two articles tell of individuals who failed in their goals—but only on the surface. Obadiah Riggs, territorial superintendent of schools, went head-to-head with John Taylor and Brigham Young over his proposals for school reform. He lost, but his visionary ideas later became reality. Photographer-prospector Charles Goodman always hoped to find the big gold strike, but instead he left a rich collection of images documenting southern Utah and Colorado.

Interestingly, our final article pays tribute to a man who seems to have accomplished everything he set out to do and more At his death, Jesse D Jennings, the larger-than-life archaeologist, left a strong legacy of scholarship.

All of these people put enormous energy into their work But different goals, different circumstances, personalities, and approaches affected each enterprise in unique ways The resulting stories provide for fascinating comparisons.

Photo: Charles Goodman was on site to photograph this oil well on the lower San Juan, 1908. Courtesy of special collections, Marriott Library, University of Utah.