Utah Historical Quarterly, Volume 75, Number 3, 2007

202

INTHISISSUE 204

A Young Man Goes West:The 1879 Letters of Leonard Herbert Swett

By

Dove

Menkes

220 “Places That Can Be Easily Defended”:A Case Study in the Economics of Abandonment During Utah’s Black Hawk War

By W.Paul Reeve

238

In the Footsteps of Timothy O’Sullivan: Rephotographing the 1869 King Survey in the Headwaters of the Bear River,Uinta Mountains

By Jeffrey S.Munroe

258 “In Deed and in Word”:The Anti-Apartheid Movement at the University of Utah,1978-1987

By Benjamin Harris 277 BOOK REVIEWS

Richard W.Etulain. Beyond the Missouri:The Story of the American West

Reviewed by Brian Q. Cannon

Sherman L.Fleek. History May Be Searched in Vain:A Military History of the Mormon Battalion Reviewed by M. GuyBishop Richard T.Stillson. Spreading the Word:A History of Information in the California Gold Rush

Reviewed by John Barton

Sandra Ailey Petree,ed. Recollections of Past Days,The Autobiography of Patience Loader Rozsa Archer

Reviewed by Audrey Godfrey

David P.Billington and Donald C.Jackson. Big Dams of the New Deal Era:A Confluence of Engineering and Politics

Reviewed by Jared Farmer

William A.Wilson. The Marrow of Human Experience:Essays on Folklore

Reviewed by Polly Stewart

Our perspectives are influenced by many factors—age,education, upbringing,experiences,to name just a few.As we seek to learn more about Utah’s past,fresh perspectives are always welcome.The first article for our summer issue offers just such a perspective.The twenty-one-year-old Leonard Swett made his first trip West in 1879 as a member of a United States Geological Survey expedition conducting scientific studies of the remote Colorado Plateau of southern Utah and northern Arizona.In a series of letters written to his parents in Chicago,Swett provides interesting insights about nineteenth-century Utah and Utahns as he describes his stays in Salt Lake City,Nephi,Cove Fort,Beaver,and Kanab.

The events of Utah’s Black Hawk War that began in 1865 have been carefully documented.Our second article goes beyond an account of the causes,the raids,the pursuits,and the deaths to examine the economic impact of the war on the southwestern Utah settlements of Clover Valley, Shoal Creek,and Hebron when Brigham Young ordered the abandonment of outlying communities on the Mormon frontier.The policy created immediate economic and social hardships,especially for small and isolated settlements.However,abandonment and relocation also offered potential advantages that emerged in the aftermath of the Black Hawk War.

At about the same time Mormon settlements south of Utah Valley were being abandoned and consolidated under the threat of attack by the Ute leader Black Hawk,Clarence King conducted a reconnaissance survey of the north slope of the Uinta Mountains in northeastern Utah along the UtahWyoming border as part of the United States Geological Exploration of the 40th Parallel.Timothy O’Sullivan,photographer for the survey,captured the

majesty of the pristine wilderness in photographs he took in August 1869. Beginning in 2001,photographer and author Jeffrey S.Munroe,returned to the Uinta Mountains to relocate and rephotograph the scenes first recorded by O’Sullivan.We invite you to make an arm-chair summer trip to the Uinta Mountains to study the one-hundred-thirty-eight-year-old O’Sullivan images and compare them with the recent photographs to see what has remained the same and what has changed during the intervening years. When agents of the Dutch East India Company first landed on the southern tip of the African continent in 1652,their interaction with native Africans began a three-hundred year process that culminated in an official policy of apartheid by the South African government in 1948.In the aftermath of the horrendous legacy of the recent Holocaust in Europe and with the seeds of a civil rights movement beginning to germinate in the United States,the discrimination and racial separation that characterized apartheid in South Africa seemed to go against the forces carrying the nations of the world toward a more humane and enlightened treatment of all citizens.The struggle over apartheid was intense,bitter,and,at times,deadly. As our final article in this issue illustrates,the anti-apartheid campaign reached all the way from South Africa to the campus of the University of Utah as protesters challenged the propriety of the school owning stock in companies that supported apartheid in the troubled African nation.After a series of petitions,demonstrations,protests,lawsuits,and arrests,the University of Utah Institutional Council voted in 1987 to divest the university’s stock in companies that supported apartheid in South Africa.Seven years later,the official policy of apartheid ended with the 1994 election of Nelson Mandela as president of South Africa .

LEFT: Visitors to Canyon Crest (Bountiful Peak) in Davis County May 14,1906.

ABOVE: A forest ranger on the Mt.Timpanogos trail in 1930.

ONTHECOVER: This scene in City Creek Canyon was photographed on July 12,1916.

PHOTOCREDIT:SHIPLER COLLECTION, UTAH STATE HISTORICAL SOCIETY

A Young Man Goes West:The 1879

Letters of Leonard Herbert Swett

BYDOVEMENKES

In 1879,twenty-one year old Leonard Herbert Swett left his upperclass Chicago home for Utah where he became a member of a United States Geological Survey expedition sent to continue the study of the Colorado Plateau.The scientific study of the Colorado Plateau began a decade earlier when John Wesley Powell and his men undertook their heroic journey down the Green and Colorado Rivers and through the Grand Canyon in 1869.Powell made a second expedition of the Green and Colorado Rivers in 1871-1872,when he established the survey base in Kanab from which later systematic topographic and geological surveys of the Colorado Plateau were conducted.1

Powell was besieged by requests from individuals for positions with his survey.Some requests were from people with relevant training or experience.Others were motivated by the possibilityof travel and

C.D.Walcott,geologist with the 1879 USGSexpedition.

Dove Menkes is a retired aerospace manager who has researched the history of the Colorado Plateau for more than thirty years.He is a coauthor of Quest for the Pillar of Gold:The Mines & Miners of the Grand Canyon published in 1997 by the Grand Canyon Association.The author thanks the staffs of the Huntington Library, the Fullerton Public Library,and the Utah State Historical Society Library for their help.

1 John Wesley Powell continued his investigations as The Geographical and Geological Survey of the Rocky Mountain Region.In March 1879 his survey and those of others including Clarence King, were organized as the United States Geological Survey.Clarence King was named the first director of the survey,while John Wesley Powell became the first director of the Bureau of American Ethnology, which was established at the same time.In March 1882,King resigned and Powell was appointed director of the United States Geological Survey.For diaries,documents,and biographical sketches relating to John Wesley Powell and his exploration of the Colorado Plateau see “The Exploration of the Colorado River in 1869,” Utah Historical Quarterly 15 (1947);“The Exploration of the Colorado River and the High Plateaus of Utah in 1871-72,” Utah Historical Quarterly 16-17 (1948-1949);and “John Wesley Powell and the Colorado River Centennial Edition,” Utah Historical Quarterly 37 (Spring 1969).Three excellent accounts of John Wesley Powell’s work include:William Culp Darrah, Powell of the Colorado (Princeton,NJ:Princeton University Press,1950);Wallace E.Stegner, Beyond the Hundredth Meridian: John Wesley Powell and the Second Opening of the West (Boston:Houghton Mifflin,1954);and Donald Wooster, A River Running West:The Life of John Wesley Powell (Oxford:Oxford University Press,2001). For a comprehensive bibliography of works about John Wesley Powell see,“A Bibliography of the Grand Canyon and Lower Colorado River,”http://www.g randcanyonbiblio.org

adventure.Still other requests came from politicians such as Illinois Senator David Davis,on behalf of their constituents and supporters.In his letter of January 29,1879,Davis wrote to Powell:“A young friend of mine in Chicago,is very anxious to go with Some Government Surveying party going upon the plains in the Spring.His Father writes me ‘he is a good mathematician and understands geometry,trigonometry and surveying very well for one of his age,(about 20,) his habits are good and he is an agreeable companion.’”The senator then came to his request.“I would like to assist him if I could in his desire.Do you know of any surveying party going out this Spring and what are the prospects? Any suggestions you can give me in this direction,will be thankfully received.”2

Leonard Herbert Swett was born to Leonard Swett and Laura Quigg Swett in Bloomington,Illinois,on November 11,1859.He was an only child of a warm and loving family.He attended Phillips Exeter Academy in 1875-1876.His father was a prominent attorney in Bloomington from 1848 to 1865,and then practiced law in Chicago from 1865 to 1889.He was a friend and confidant of Abraham Lincoln.Young Swett was from a family of privilege,with high connections.3

Powell responded to Senator Davis that a position was available for Swett, who in turn informed young Swett in person of his good fortune in early July 1879.Swett wrote Powell on July 9 indicating that “I have been informed by Judge David Davis—who has recently been here—and by Mr. Wickizer that I am to go with you upon your expedition to the West.” Swett continued the letter with three questions:“…when you will start…what outfit I will require,and where you will go.”4

Leonard Swett left Chicago by train for Salt Lake City on July 22,1879, with four other individuals:Sumner H.Bodfish of Washington D.C.,a topographer in charge of the survey,Charles D.Walcott,a geologist from New York,Richard Urquhart Goode,the son of Congressman John Goode of Norfolk,Virginia,and Philo B.Wright,who also joined the group at Chicago.5

2 Letter,David Davis to John Wesley Powell,January 29,1879,in Letters Received by John Wesley Powell,Director of the Geographical and Geological Survey of the Rocky Mountain Region, microfilm series,MC 156/9 , National Archives,Washington,D.C.Senator Davis had been a lawyer from Bloomington,a circuit judge in Illinois,a colleague of Leonard Swett,and a supporter of Abraham Lincoln. In 1862 Lincoln appointed him to the United States Supreme Court where he served as a Supreme Court Justice until 1877 when he left the court to become a United States Senator from Illinois.

3 For information on the Swett family,see Leonard Herbert Swett,“A memorial of Leonard Swett,a lawyer and Advocate of Illinois,”in Transactions of the McLean County Historical Society of Bloomington Illinois 2 (1900):332-65,Huntington Library,San Marino,California;and Samuel Paul Wheeler,“New England’s Son:Leonard Swett and the American Struggle,1825-1850”(Master’s Thesis,University of Illinois, Springfield,2002).

4 Letter,Leonard Swett to John Wesley Powell,July 9,1879,Records of the Bureau of Ethnology, Correspondence,“Letters Received 1879-1888,”National Anthropological Archives,The Smithsonian Institution,Washington,D.C.

5 Charles Doolittle Walcott,(1850-1927) was hired in 1879 as an assistant geologist,and later became Director of the USGS,then Secretary of the Smithsonian Institution.Sumner Homer Bodfish (1844-1894) was born in Massachusetts.He joined the Union Army in 1863 and served in the infantry and artillery.He

Swett wrote nine letters to his mother between July 23 and August 18, 1879.Proud of his son and his writing skills,the elder Swett provided copies of some of these letters to the Chicago Times newspaper that published excerpts of them in a lengthy article on September 3,1879.In a letter to his son dated September 6,Swett wrote:“We have sent your printed letter every where you had friends so far as we could think.For instance Grandmother…Maj.Powell,Wickizer….All your friends complement me upon the neatness & style of it & like it.”6

A month later,Swett’s father wrote: We have received a bushel of literature from you lately and all of us are very greatly obliged for it.I have no more right to flatter you than if you were not my son and do not intend to do so;it is however but justice to say that your books containing the diary of events from Salt Lake to Kanab and also from Kanab to the present time are as interesting and well prepared as any diary I have ever read.The beauty about them is that all the little threads of each day have been honestly gathered up and the story is told simply and without any effort to exaggerate,and consequently it is very natural and interesting. I am inclined to believe,if you persevere,you can make a book upon your return which will bear publication and pay you something.7

Leonard Swett’s description of his travel,his impressions of Salt Lake City, Nephi,Cove Fort,Beaver,Fort Cameron,and Kanab,along with his personal experiences with a variety of Utah residents offer an interesting and revealing glimpse into life and people in late nineteenth century Utah. Written with the innocence and enthusiasm of an adolescent,Swett’s letters convey the workings of a government scientific survey team in the aftermath of the initial work done by John Wesley Powell and his men a decade earlier.

Swett’s excerpted letters from Utah published in the Chicago Times is headlined “Among the Mountains,”followed by a series of attention getting subheadings:“A Young Chicagoan’s Account of the Trip of the U.S.G.Survey to Southern Utah”;“Some of the Beauties of Utah Scenery as Seen on the Trip from Salt Lake to Kanab”;“A Model Frontier Hotel with its Appointments and Adornments”;“The Way the Women Run Things on Election Day in Beaver”;“The Glories of a Summer Sunset Among the Pink Cliffs;”and “The Frontier Dandy and the Pleasant People He Has Met.” “Among the Mountains”is introduced with the following short paragraph.

A Young Chicagoan’s Account of the Trip of the U.S.G.Survey to Southern Utah Some of the Beauties of Utah Scenery as Seen on the Trip from Salt Lake to Kanab....The follow-

received an appointment to West Point from President Lincoln and graduated in the class of 1868.From 1871 to 1878 he worked as a civilian engineer when he joined the Powell Survey as a topographer.Later he worked for the Irrigation Survey and in private engineering practice.Richard Urquhart Goode (18581903) was the son of Virginia Congressman John Goode.He attended the University of Virginia,and in 1877 and 1878 worked in the Army Engineer Corps.He joined the USGS in the Division of the Colorado under Bodfish in 1879.Philo B.Wright was a topographer.

6 Leonard Swett’s September 6,1879,letter to his son is in the Swett Family Correspondence HM 50227-50449,Huntington Library,San Marino,California.For all items quoted,I have made only minor changes in format and punctuation for clarity.Words that could not be deciphered are indicated by [ ].

7 Swett Family Correspondence,Huntington Library.

ing letters were written by Leonard H.Swett who is a member of the United States geographical and geological survey, now in northern Arizona and along the banks of the Colorado river.The party to which he belongs design to finish up the work commenced by Maj.Powell in his explorations of the Colorado several years ago.Mr. Swett is the son of Leonard Swett,and the letters from which extracts have been made were written to his mother.The party left Chicago on July 22.8

ON THE ROAD

Glenwood,Iowa,July 23, 1879 – DEAR MOTHER: Yesterday was simply an ordinary ride in a railroad car,but was pleasant,and devoted to forming acquaintances among our party,who were generally strangers to each other.Col.Bodfish,of Washington,who is in charge and takes general supervision of everything;Mr.Wolcott,of New York,the geologist;Mr.Goode,son of Congressman Goode of Norfolk,Va.;Mr. Wright,who joined us at Chicago,and myself,at present constitute the party.

1873.JohnWesley Powell is second from the left. Photo by J.Hillers.

I know nothing yet of our destination,except that we are going to northern Arizona and the Colorado river,and nothing of the objects of the expedition except that it is to be devoted to geological and geographical surveys.Mr.Wolcott was out last year with Clarence King;Mr.Wright is about twenty-four years old,and was with Col.Bodfish last year;Mr.Goode was upon the surveys last year in North Carolina,but has never been to the mountains,and I,as I need not tell you,am a green hand from top to bottom.We shall go to Salt Lake and thence by rail as far as we can and then to Arizona,but how,I do not know.

SALT LAKE

SALT LAKE CITY,July 25.At last after a long but pleasant ride,we are at Salt Lake City.We arrived last night about 8:20.I was very tired and am

8 Microfilm copy of the Chicago Times available at the Chicago History Museum,Chicago,Illinois..

Members of the Powell Party in the Kaibab Forest of Northern Arizona in

yet,but am well otherwise.We shall leave here Sunday or Monday and travel one hundred and twenty-five miles south by the Utah Southern railway, thence by stage about one hundred and fifty miles to the place where we shall “outfit,”as they call it,and then set out for somewhere upon mule-back.At Colorado Junction we met another member of the expedition,Mr.Phillips of Kansas.9 He is about twenty years of age,and his appearance is prepossessing.Our party has this morning been to the United States signal office at work with the barometers,and I have been purchasing a few things for camp life.The baggage will be limited to one valise each besides blankets.Everybody brought trunks,but we leave them here,and in a few minutes I expect Col.Bodfish will come up to my room and tell me, out of a trunk full,what few things I may take.

Col.Bodfish keeps his plans to himself,but I think another person is to join our party,and when we “outfit”that Mr.Wolcott,the geologist with one cook,will go alone and the rest will be divided into two parties,one under Col.Bodfish and the other commanded by a Mr.Renshaw,who was with Maj.Powell in his earlier expeditions.10 This evening we shall go over to Salt Lake and have a swim.The bathing place is about eight miles away, but we go by cars at 5 o’clock and return at 9.Salt Lake valley is about forty miles wide,and the mountains rise grandly on either side.The weather is hot and it is very dusty,as this season there is little or no rain.I had no idea that fifteen hundred miles was so long a ride.It is,I believe,the longest consecutive ride by rail that I have ever taken.

AT NEPHI

Nephi,Utah Territory,July 29.– We are off at last,and Salt Lake City is a thing of the past.My visit was as pleasant as I could have desired had I been allowed to plan it beforehand.I bathed in the waters of the Great Salt lake, rode over the city and out to Camp Douglas with the most delightful of companions,a young lady whose acquaintance I made since leaving home.I attended the Mormon church,theatre,base ball,and “did”the city generally. As I arrived Friday and left Monday,you will see I have been busy and have had a season of pleasure.

When we left Salt Lake we intended to go directly to Chicken Creek,the southern terminus of the Utah railroad,and there take the stage for Beaver, where we “outfit,”but upon the train we learned that we could not all get seats in today’s stage,so Mr.Wright,Mr.Goode,Mr.Phillips and myself got off the train fifteen miles from the stage station,and will wait until tomorrow.We stay here because it is a better place to spend the night than Chicken Creek.11 I am glad to have one uninterrupted night’s rest after my

9 Colorado Junction is six miles west of Cheyenne,Wyoming,where the Union Pacific Railroad meets with the Colorado Central Railroad.James S.Phillips shows up only once in USGS records for 1879.

10 John Henry Renshawe (1851-1934),was born in Illinois.After teaching school,he was with John Wesley Powell and the USGS from 1872.He retired from the USGS in 1925.

round of visitation at Salt Lake,and as the stage ride is to be one hundred and twentyfive miles,and to occupy thirty-six hours,I want to get well rested for it.

Nephi is a very small village about 100 miles south of Salt Lake.It is at the foot of Mount Nebo,one of the most prominent peaks of the Wasatch range,and twelve thousand feet high.

I have rolled up my overcoat,one pair of pants and a rubber blanket in my bed blankets,and these,with a valise full,are all the clothing I am to have.

The road from Salt Lake to Nephi is pleasant and the Salt Lake valley,with the great Wasatch mountains resing on either side,constitutes an ideal picture of pastoral beauty.The valley is very fertile and generally covered with wheat.Green pastures with great herds grazing upon them intervene, and the landscape of the ripe and the green is set by the mountains as the frame is set in the picture.Part of the way the road runs in sight of Utah lake,a body of fresh water twenty-five miles long by twelve wide,and the scene of fields,meadows and mountains,as the train like a weaver’s shuttle passed them,was soothing and restful.

Mr.Bodfish has just telegraphed for our party to come on without fail to-morrow.All I know of the expedition more than I have stated,is that the barometer has been assigned to me,and I understand my work generally will be to read it and make proper records and reports.We know that one of our party is to be left with one cook in a canon of the Colorado river,5000 feet deep,to read and report the barometer once in two hours,every day for three months.Naturally we are all interested to know who is to be detailed to this solitude.The others will be divided into two parties,and we are wondering and guessing who will go with Mr.Renshaw and who with Col.Bodfish.I am in fine health and greatly pleased with the party.

STILLATNEPHI

NEPHI,Utah Territory,July 30.We do not leave here until noon so I have time to write you again.Our hotel is just the smallest little place I ever got into,but the people are all cordial and talkative,so I am having a pleasant time.

As one enters the house he comes directly into the sitting-room,which is

11 Chicken Creek was established in 1860 and was the location for John C.Widbeck’s Overland Stage Station.When the Utah Southern Railroad reached Chicken Creek in 1876 the settlement was renamed Juab.As the railroad extended further south,Juab became less important and was finally abandoned.See John W.VanCott, Utah Place Names (Salt Lake City:The University of Utah Press,1990),208.

Sumner Homer Bodfish. USARMYMILLITARYHISTORYINSTITUTE

covered with a rag carpet and furnished with an old fashioned wide sofa covered with a bright quilt and pillow to match.There is also a wooden table with leaves,a few wooden chairs,a stove and a high mantel shelf.It is neatly papered and the walls covered with prints.“A Storm at Sea,”Scott’s “Lady of the Lake”with her red dress,black waist and Scotch cap and the verses of “The Silver Strand”and the hunter leaving “his stand,”underneath. Froiseth’s large map of Utah and a general map of the west,prepared by a manufacturing company at Racine.These,with the illustrated advertisements of a mowing-machine complete the furniture of the room.The stairs lead up to the second story from this room without any hall.Upstairs the ceiling is so low that I can touch it in the highest place.Here there are three beds and windows not four feet square.Of course the people here do not know how to cook well,but that is nothing as I am so well I can eat almost anything.

The words “U.S.G.survey”are in this country equivalent to the “open sesame”of the Arabian Nights.Last night at the post office I engaged in conversation with the assistant postmaster.When I told him I was going to Arizona he asked me if I was an emigrant,but when I said “U.S.G.survey” that altered everything.He invited me into the back part of the post-office and introduced me to the postmaster,who was very civil and treated me to some lemonade and all the luxuries of his back-room.

We start soon,and I will write you again from Beaver and tell you how I stand the thirty-six hours’stage ride.

A STAGE RIDE TO BEAVER

Beaver.Utah territory.July 31,two hundred and fifty miles south of Salt lake.– We left Nephi yesterday at 11:50 A.M.,and after fifteen miles’ride by rail,took a dinner at Chicken Creek and at 1:15 P.M.left by stage for this place.The ride was not as long as I supposed,being only twenty-six and one-half hours and the distance one hundred and twenty-five miles.We stopped twice to change horses and half an hour for supper at 8 o’clock and then rode until 1 at night when we stopped six hours,leaving at 7 in the morning and dining at 12 o’clock at a Mormon fort which was built in 1867 to protect the neighboring farmers from the Indians.12 From there we came directly through,arriving at 3:30 P.M.I was tired when the journey ended but not as much so I expected to be and this evening I am feeling quite well.

Our stage was a small one of Abbot,Downing & Co.’s make,of Concord, N.H.,and our party of four were the only passengers.The ride was very dusty for the first fifteen miles but then it rained just enough to lay the dust. You may judge how dusty it was when I tell you this was the first rain that had fallen for four months.

12 “Mormon fort.”Located twenty-five miles north of Beaver at the present junction of Interstate 15 and Interstate 70 it is better known today as Cove Fort.

At one o’clock at night we stopped six hours until 7 in the morning.Our party and a strange man all occupied one room.The stranger slept on the floor while the four occupied two beds. When I awoke in the morning at a quarter past 6, the stranger had gone and the floor having been left open,there was a little fawn snuffing about the room.

The Mormon fort was built of stone and square, the walls being about five feet thick and twenty feet high.Inside this wall and perhaps fifteen feet away from it there is an interior wall about the same height which goes around the entire square formed by the outer wall except at the gates.These two walls are joined by a roof and formed a house where the people who farmed the surrounding country might gather at a moment of danger.The intention in constructing the fort was to have the space between the outer and inner walls to be occupied by men fighting Indians,who might surround the fort,while their families would be inside the interior wall and thus protected.So far as we know there are no hostile Indians in the country now,but a few years ago there were. 13 The scenery coming from Nephi is not fine.The Rocky Mountains are approached by high table-lands,so that the mountains whose summits are eight or nine thousand feet above the sea do not seem to be mountains at all,or,at least are very tame.The ground is covered with sage-bushes of a drab-green color and about a foot high,and the sides of the mountains are mostly bare.The soil is white and very poor because it is so dry;but wherever water can be procured from the mountains for the purposes of irrigation,everything can be raised in abundance.The surface of the country,as one looks out upon it,is that of a desert,except where green fields produced by irrigation intervene.The air is so dry that when an animal dies it dries up,and there is scarcely any odor.I saw the remains of three or four horses that had died,and their bodies were slowly drying up,

13 For an account of the most serious encounter between Indians and Mormon settlers see John Alton Peterson, Utah’s Black Hawk War (Salt Lake City:The University of Utah Press,1998).

John H.Renshawe

leaving only the bones.I had to use some vaseline I happened to have with me almost constantly for two days to keep my nose and lips from cracking.

ARMY LIFE AT FORT CAMERON

KANAB,Kane County,Utah Territory,Aug.12 –

The last part of my stay at Beaver was very pleasant,for I formed several new acquaintances there.

Sunday evening,Aug 3,I was going to the Mormon church with “Mormon Joe,”one of the packers,we stopped to talk with a group of soldiers from Fort Cameron,and among them I found Mr.Edwards from Bloomington,who knew father and had heard him speak.On Monday,at his invitation,I visited him at the fort,and found him at work in his shop for he is shoemaker for company “C.”I spent the afternoon with him and stayed to supper,where I ate with about forty soldiers at a long table.We had stewed apples,hard-boiled eggs,bread and butter,and a bowl of coffee for each.During my stay at the fort,I met Lieut.Goodwin,also from Bloomington.He proved to be the Percy Goodwin for whom father,about 1861,procured a position as page in congress,and who took care of me when I was sick in Washington.He is 30 years old and has a wife and a beautiful little daughter.I promised to dine with him the next day,and then walked back to town with Edwards.That evening I went to a ball and stayed until 12 o’clock.Having a note-book with me I assumed the role of a reporter,and thus got a place upon the platform with the musicians and a chance to ask questions.The last hour I spent talking to a Mormon who was explaining to me the attractive features of the Mormon religion.He has been county clerk of Beaver county for fifteen years,and is reputed to be a good man.14

I forgot to say that election took place while I was there,and an eventful day it was for Beaver.I knew one of the judges of the election and the postmaster,and through them was invited into the room where the ballot-box was kept,and talked politics for an hour or more as well as I could.Out here the women vote,and I saw whole families come to the polls together.One woman was so enthusiastic that she brought her wagon three times full of women.15

The next day Lieut.Goodwin came for me with a post-ambulance and I went to dine with him at the fort.There I met Mr.Harry Douglas,son of

14 William Fotheringham served as Beaver County Clerk from 1866 to 1884.He was born in Clackmannan,Scotland,on April 5,1826,and joined the Mormon church in 1848.He was one of the first settlers of Lehi in 1850.From 1861 to 1864 he presided over the LDS mission in South Africa.Andrew Jenson, Latter-day Saint Biographical Encyclopedia 4 vols.(Salt Lake City:Andrew Jenson History Company, 1914),2:190-192;and G.Merkley,ed, Monuments to Courage:A History of Beaver County (Beaver:Daughters of Utah Pioneers,1948),176.

15 The Utah Territorial Legislature granted women the right to vote in 1870.For accounts of early women suffrage in Utah see,Carol Cornwall Madsen,ed. Battle for the Ballot:Essays on Woman Suffrage in Utah,1870-1896 (Logan:Utah State University Press,1997).

the commandant,who is about to enter West Point and had just returned from the east.

After dinner we sat on the veranda until “retreat,”when the sunset-gun was fired and the officer of the day received the reports from the different companies,and the bugle-calls were sounded.We then walked to what is called the “park.”Just south of the fort is a willow grove with a beautiful mountain stream full of trout running through it.It has been improved and has several cascades,a lake,rustic seats,etc.After our return the little Goodwin girls and their mother sang for us,accompanied by a parlor organ. Soon after we were joined by Col.and Mrs.Douglas and Capts.Crouse and Burke.16

Fort Cameron was built by Col.Sheridan in 1872,and is one of the prettiest forts in the west.All the officers’houses are constructed of volcanic stone,which is a mottled gray,and each has its yard and flower-beds,so that the view is very picturesque.The fort is in the form of a hollow square,with a large parade-ground in the centre sown with grass;and,directly in the rear,tall mountains add much to the beauty of the view.

I shall not in a long time forget Fort Cameron,with its pleasant people, and hope to revisit it if we should return by way of Beaver.

When I left,my new acquaintances gave me little mementos.Edwards gave me a badge of the 14th infantry,and the little Goodwin girls a bouquet.The druggist wanted to treat me to champagne,and,as I declined, he insisted I should bear away some substantial gift,and so presented me a large box of diarrhea pills.In this country,considering its bad water,such a token of friendship is not to be laughed at,but is the evidence of real and sincere fondness.

The influential manager of the “mint saloon,”and the postmaster,also, wished me “luck”as we departed,and thus cheered and sustained by these

16 Lt.Col.Henry Douglas was commander of Ft.Cameron.

Fort Cameron Officers’Barracks.

new and sincere friendships,we marched slowly over the unknown desert that spread out its hills and valleys before us and Beaver faded from my view.

FAR UP IN THE MOUNTAINS

KANAB,Utah Territory.Aug 13.There were twelve in our party from Beaver,and we made quite a procession as we started into the desert.There were eight upon mules and four in a wagon drawn by two mules and two horses.The first night we stopped at Fremont pass.The wagon was loaded heavily so that we had to walk the horses,and our places of encampment were regulated by the springs and their distances apart.Wednesday we went twenty-five miles and camped on the Sevier river.Thursday we went twenty-five miles and passed through Panguitch,a small town where John D.Lee of the Mountain Meadow massacre fame,was captured.Friday night we camped on a hill near the Sevier river and a mountain spring.The view at sunset was most beautiful,as we were in sight of the Pink cliffs,which are of pale-red sand-stone,and at sunrise and sunset they contrast finely with the tall blue mountains which form the backbone in the distance.We next crossed the divide between the basin of the Colorado and the Salt Lake valley,and that night camped at Upper Kanab,a town of a few houses.17 Sunday we had a hard day’s march,passing over sandy roads and going twenty-three miles without water.Before attempting this distance we filled a ten-gallon keg and all our canteens and got along without suffering.As a

17 Upper Kanab,located along Kanab Creek near present-day Alton in the northwest part of Kane County,was first settled by Lorenzo Wesley and Susanna Wallace Roundy in 1865.Roundy was a member of the original 1847 Mormon pioneer group.See Martha Sonntag Bradley, A History of Kane County (Salt Lake City:Utah State Historical Society and Kane County Commission,1999),65.

Officers at Fort Cameron.

way of relieving the travel through the sand,a line was stretched from the foremost mule to the one in the rear and fastened to the horn of each saddle.It is thought this is an easier way to get the mules through the sand as they help each other in bad places.We arrive at water at 7 o’clock,having made thirty-three miles that day.Kanab is to be our headquarters and here we commence reading the barometer.We shall stay here until our wagon goes back to Beaver and returns with additional supplies.

PREPARING TO MOVE

KANAB,Kane County,Aug.16.Every body is very busy just now shoeing mules,jerking beef,overhauling tents,saddles,blankets,etc.A good many of our things were used last year by Col.Bodfish and hence need repairs and looking over.I take care of the barometers.There are three of us who are detailed for this work.Each is on duty for six hours a day.We received instructions in this duty at Beaver.The work is to read and record the tenths,hundredths,and thousandths by means of an upper and lower Vernier scale.We also read the thermometer and have charge of an instrument for noting the force and direction of the winds.We also observe and record the percentage of clouds in the sky and their species.This work I did for six hours a day before yesterday,twelve hours yesterday and will have six to-day.18

A FRONTIER DANDY

KANAB,Aug.18.If you were to rub your ring and command your general to describe Kanab and that member of the United States geological survey in whom you are interested,they would say:Kanab is the most southern town in Utah,situated about two and a half miles from the line of northern Arizona,and near the Colorado river.It has about two hundred inhabitants and is at the foot of high rocky,sandstone cliffs which seem to throw their great arms around it on the east,north and west,as if to protect it from the hot dry winds which sweep over the surrounding desert.Toward the north there is a break in the cliffs through which flows a small mountain stream supplying the town with water.This water is not so good as that from the wells and contains impurities from the soft sandstone.To the south,and blue from their distance,rise the lofty mountains of northern Arizona,with Mount Trumbull lying cloudlike and indistinct on the far horizon.The days are very warm at this season,the thermometer rising to 95 degrees in the shade by noon,but this is what brings the perfection of pink to the peach, the green to the melon,the purple to the plum and the grape,and that deliciousness of taste which accompanies all fruit when in the perfection of ripeness.This is indeed a great fruit country,and there is a delicacy and rich-

18 The cloud cover would not have been of interest to the USGS.No doubt they took data for the Signal Corps weather service.

ness in the taste which I have never found anywhere else.

The twilight and early evening is the pleasantest time of the day,and,as that member of the survey in whom you are interested sits with an old Mormon,the owner of a grist mill,at the door of his home,talking over early times in Utah,over a bunch of the juiciest grapes,watching Venus sinking into the west,and,later,Jupiter rising over the cliffs to the eastward, and listening now and then,I am afraid to the music of a little Venus inside of the name of Harriet,I think I hear the old man exclaim,and I indorse the sentiment,“This is the loveliest climate in the world.”Then after a little pause the boy says good-night and wanders off into the starlight toward our camp.

I fear you would not know that boy,so rapidly he is changing to a frontier dandy.He has a nose pealed with the heat,lips cracked,hands brown,and lumps of hair standing at irregular intervals all over his face.He wears high boots with high Mexican spurs,pants with a buckskin seat, buckskin trimming at the bottoms,over the knee and around the pockets, with a stray star of buckskin here and there for ornament;a blue shirt,gray duck jacket with plaits in front and trimmed with black braid;and to complete the suit a broad brimmed,white felt hat with buckskin strings to tie under the chin or behind,when the wind blows.This is at present his photograph,and as he is tired now he refuses to be interviewed any further, and vanishes into the air,leaving you to call up his figure thus described, from the mystic forms of the desert.

As I pass to my home I go near an Indian camp where they have a sick old man,and they fire guns all night and make strange wild noises to frighten the devil off.

LEONARD H.SWETT

Main Street in Beaver.

With this description of Swett’s appearance and clothing and the nearby Indian camp,the Chicago Times account ends.Leonard Swett’s father circulated the Chicago Times article widely and proudly.However one reader, Clarence King,Director of the United States Geological Survey under whose administration the work in southern Utah and northern Arizona was being carried out,was not pleased and in a direct and sarcastic letter to Sumner Bodfish dated September 10,1879,ordered that such publications cease.

My Dear Mr.Bodfish:-

Certain letters addressed to his fond mother by Mr.Leonard Swett of your party are finding their way,in good [purview?],in the Chicago newspapers,to the eyes of the world.

I will trouble you to say to all members of your party that they are directed to abstain from such publications of whatever kind relating to the Survey, its operations,and the country which it covers.

Should any member of your party have his life or health endangered by overflowings of literary matter,he should relieve himself by venting his lucubrations on me in future [purview?] Our collections of kindling wood in the central office will be enriched.

I hope that you are having a good time and that the Grand Canyon will not swallow you.Trusting that you are having a good time and that I shall hear from you in December.

I am

Very truly and unofficially yours, Clarence King Director 19

Swett’s parents were also asked not to publish any more of their sons letters.The senior Swett reported to his son in a letter dated October 4,1879, “I received a dispatch dated the 26th of September asking we not to publish anymore of your letters,and I telegraphed in reply that I would not.We are curious to know what this means.Time of course will reveal.As I have previously stated,if you have been censured for this publication,it is fair that you lay the blame on me.”20

Just why Clarence King objected to such published reports of the work being done under his direction is not known.Perhaps King perceived potential political problems from such reports.It may be that he wanted to maintain control of publicity regarding the agency’s work,or perhaps he feared that the publication of individual reports might foster discontentment and contention within the surveys.It is also possible that King wanted to avoid a flood of applicants who might be seeking work with the Survey to

19 Clarence King Papers.C1,Letter Press Book,USGS,1879-1882,James Duncan Hague Collection, Huntington Library.The cover of the book is marked “Private USGS.”The contents did not become part of official records that were microfilmed.

20 Swett Family Correspondence,Huntington Library.

further their literary careers and ambitions. The exact source of friction between Swett and Bodfish is not entirely clear.However, King’s admonition did not help.It is likely that Swett,a privileged young man who hobnobbed with Bodfish’s superiors,might have created an awkward situation for the former colonel who was used to discipline and subordinates who followed the chain of command.Whatever the reason or reasons,the hard line taken by Clarence King and the pain of reprimand that both Bodfish and the younger Swett felt were the likely cause of a rift between the two men that led to Swett seriously considering leaving the survey and returning home.21 In three letters written to his son on October 4,6,and 10,1879,the elder Swett offered the following advice and support.

The letter which you sent personally to me has been received and all your instructions will be carefully followed.I will write you personally upon this question…

Enclosed in this letter please find the five one dollar bills which you wrote for.I assume that you will not need the twenty dollar draft immediately but I will send it in a little while.If you need anything you had better send in a message as you did before,always remembering with your requests to state how your health is.

I think you have done splendidly in sticking to this wild life.Although you may have annoyances,it is exactly the thing you need and will do you good all the balance of your life.This with the trip to Europe which I am still determined you shall take,will round your education and experience and qualify you well to put on with earnestness and success as I believe,the harness of life.If you once get your health and have a strong physique,there is no profession which you need fear and none in which you cannot compass full measure of success.

Your letters and your course of conduct on this trip have commended themselves to me and I really think more of you than I ever did before.

This morning we received a letter at the house embarrassing one to Mother and one to me & as I came to the office,I found yours of the 24th asking permission to leave the party and come home.

In reply to this I would state

I remit this question to you,leaving you to decide it as you think proper. If you decide to come home & come that will end the matter.And although

21 Bodfish,however,was

(152/2).

Clarence King.

praised by Dutton and Powell—by Dutton in the First Report of the United States Geological Survey,and by Powell,who highly recommended him to the Secretary of the Navy.

I should regret the necessity from which the action rises I shall acquiesce & not complain.Decide the whole question as your judgment dictates for your own good is the question involved.

In my judgment the following are the considerations which ought to control.If your health is in danger you ought to come,but if this is a question of [feeling ?],Mr.Bodfish,as you say making it disagreeable to you,that will not hurt you and if I was in your place I should stay.I would say also stay as long as you can.Even if you do not stay through.By the time this will reach you,you will be nearly through.Tough it out if you can & if you cant come.

2.As I understand your Col Bodfish if you should come home,would pay you 83 # and you have $100 at Salt Lake & you will need no more.This is what I understand from your letter & if I am wrong you must advise me.

If you come home I should if I [ ] come to Kanab & then telegraph me. If you need more money I can send it to you there.It will only take about a week.From there you can come to Salt Lake & if necessary I could telegraph you money there.

I enclose herewith a letter to Col.Bodfish in reference to the publication and one in reference to leaving the party.You can present them or not just as you think best.Your other requests for letters of introductions and cards will be attended to but not today,as I wish to get this off without delay.

I enclose in this letter five one dollar bills I also sent five dollars to you Saturday.I believe.I send these small sums because I am not sure the letter will reach you.I shall probably send other small sums in future letters. Remember my friendship & [ ] does not depend upon staying or coming.I shall try to be with you in love and sympathy always.Do whatever you think best & you will find me always sustaining you.

Yours Truly Leonard Swett22

Leonard Swett did stay with the survey until the fall of 1879.The following year he returned with the United States Geological Survey to Kanab where he resumed his work under the supervision of Sumner Bodfish.23

22 Swett family correspondence,Huntington Library.In Swett’s letter to his son on October 10,1879,he admonished him “…not to desert the party.If you leave at all it should be by amicable arrangement.You must see some safe way in which you can get to Kanab.The desert you know is implacable and starves & kills [off?] all who venture rashly upon it…..No one knows of your letter asking to come home Except Mother,Col.Quigg and Mr.Haskell.WE all think the question should be one of necessity.If your health breaks down or is impared that is a good reason,but feeling don’t account for much and as that will pass away with the cause I think you should know that for a month rather than leave.Mr.Haskell will right you today.All the party will get homesick.All will soon begin to count the days,and if you can bear it you will all be glad.”

23 The 1880 letters will be published in the Fall 2007 issue of the Utah Historical Quarterly

“Places that Can Be Easily Defended”: A Case Study in the Economics of Abandonment During Utah’s Black Hawk War

ByW.PAUL REEVE

It was December 1862,when Mormon colonizer James Jepson arrived at Virgin City,Utah,a small agricultural community crouched at the bottom of a shallow pocket along the banks of the Virgin River. Jepson had received his call to the Cotton Mission just three months earlier;he shortly sold his home at Salt Lake City and began the tedious journey south.1 For Jepson,this was only the latest in a string of dislocations he and his family had endured since converting to The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints or Mormonism decades earlier.In 1842,he and his wife left their native England to join the main body of saints at Nauvoo,Illinois,and then relocated three more times before settling for seven years at Mill Creek in Salt Lake County.It was the longest Jepson had stayed in one place since becoming a Latter-day Saint and in the words of his son,“the future looked bright with promise”—that is until the call came from Mormon leader Brigham Young to move south.

For Jepson’s family the first winter in Utah’s Dixie proved challenging as they began the rigorous task of building a new life in the harsh desert environment of southwestern Utah.Initially they lived in a tent and wagon, but,come spring,Jepson commenced work on a new,more permanent dwelling.He hauled logs from Kolob Mountain,had them “sawed on shares,”and then fastened them to smoothed cedar poles with wooden pegs which his family whittled “at odd times.”Jepson topped the new abode with a lumber roof,which his son,James Jr.,remembered let the rain “sift through the knot holes and cracks during storms.”2 Nevertheless,it was home and served the Jepson family well.

A few years later,in 1866,word arrived at Virgin City from Brigham Young that would yet again disrupt Jepson’s life.Young’s instructions stipu-

of Utah.

1 Brigham Young formed the Cotton Mission in 1861 as part of his overall effort to achieve economic self-sufficiency.That year he sent more than three hundred families beyond the southern rim of the Great Basin to settle what became known as Utah’s Dixie,and charged them with growing cotton and other warm climate crops.St.George became the capital of the mission from which local Mormon leaders directed the founding of additional towns throughout the region.See Andrew Karl Larson, “I Was Called to Dixie”;The Virgin River Basin:Unique Experiences in Mormon Pioneering (Salt Lake City:Deseret News Press, 1961) and Douglas D.Alder and Karl F.Brooks, A History of Washington County:From Isolation to Destination (Salt Lake City:Utah State Historical Society and Washington County Commission,1996) for broader studies of the region.

2 Etta Holdaway Spendlove,“Memories and Experiences of James Jepson,Jr.,”12,typescript,Utah State Historical Society Library,Salt Lake City.

W.Paul Reeve is an assistant professor of history at the University

lated that due to “Indian trouble small settlements should be abandoned, and the people who have formed them should,without loss of time,repair to places that can be easily defended.”3 According to James Jepson Jr.,Virgin residents “were ordered to move into forts at Rockville and Toquerville.”In response the elder Jepson disassembled his lumber home and hauled the entire structure about ten miles upriver to Rockville.This time Jepson was able to secure nails,saving his family the task of whittling new wooden pegs.However,the day Jepson finished rebuilding the house two riders charged into Rockville at full speed,spreading the news that there would be a fort erected at Virgin City after all.As a result,James Jr.recalled,“father and I tore the house down again and hauled it back to Virgin,where we rebuilt it and lived in it for two years.”4

Clearly for Jepson this “Indian trouble”interrupted an already difficult community building effort.Similar dislocation stories repeated themselves throughout central and southern Utah among Mormons and Native Americans alike.The Black Hawk War (1865-1872),as the “Indian trouble” came to be called,proved the worst Indian uprising in Utah history. According to John Alton Peterson,the war’s foremost historian,at least

3 Brigham Young,Salt Lake City,to Erastus Snow and the bishops and saints of Washington and Kane counties,May 2,1866,in James G.Bleak,“Annals of the Southern Utah Mission,”vols.A and B,A:226-29, typescript,accn.#194,special collections,manuscripts division,University of Utah Marriot Library,Salt Lake City.

4 Spendlove,“Memories and Experiences of James Jepson,Jr.,”10-11.

5 John Alton Peterson, Utah’s Black Hawk War (Salt Lake City:University of Utah Press,1998),2,32935.The Black Hawk War officially began on April 9,1865,at the central Utah town of Manti where a confrontation between Mormons and Utes produced a spark that ignited complex and long standing tensions.See Peterson chapters one,two,and three for a thorough analysis of the forces that led to the outbreak of war in 1865.

6 Peterson, Utah’s Black Hawk War, 329-35.

seventy whites were killed and perhaps twice as many Native Americans. Young’s abandonment policy led to the closure of dozens of major settlements and hundreds of ranches,as Mormons built forts and banded together for safety.5

For the Mormons,dislocations prompted by the Black Hawk War were only the last in a string of ousters which Peterson contends took their place in the Latter-day Saint psyche next to the saints’earlier banishments from Ohio,Missouri,and Illinois.There was an ironic difference in the Black Hawk War relocations however.Desperate,dispossessed,and starving Native Americans,by raiding and plundering Mormon communities,set Mormons in southern and central Utah in motion,but it was the two decades of dislocations suffered at the hands of ever-encroaching Mormon settlers that fueled the Native American hostilities in the first place.6

Even though Young’s abandonment policy no doubt saved lives,Peterson contends that at times it conversely produced “serious frictions”among members of disparate communities forced to merge under already tense circumstances.At some places town consolidations quickly created overcrowding as refugees occupied any available cover,including dugouts, chicken coops,and sheds.Elsewhere residents expressed resentment over their town being selected for abandonment and suggested priesthood favoritism in the process.Others bemoaned the economic impact that leaving their homes and land created:Robert W.Glenn,for example,upon being ordered to leave Glenwood in 1866 lamented losses of about $1,700. Farther south,Levi Savage especially resented his lost rights to grazing lands near Kanab,because,he contended,“local churchmen”took advantage of abandonment and jumped his claims.7

Young’s mandated frontier population shifts no doubt burdened already struggling Mormon towns,the economic impact of which begs further study.Clover Valley and Shoal Creek,two Cotton Mission settlements forced to merge as a result of the Black Hawk War,offer a notable opportunity to do just that.Under orders from Mormon apostle and Cotton Mission president,Erastus Snow,Clover Valley saints abandoned their community in 1866 and moved more than thirty miles east to combine with a small kinship group already occupying Shoal Creek Fort,an outpost resting on the southern end of the Escalante Desert in Washington County. By 1868 Snow deemed it safe to abandon the fort.Most residents responded by founding Hebron,a new town just outside the walls of the former fort. Some settlers,however,rejected Snow’s admonition and quickly returned to reoccupy land at Clover Valley.

It is evident that the forced mixing of Clover Valley and Shoal Creek caused social tension and power conflicts that persisted long after the Black Hawk War,but what of the economic impact on residents of both towns?8

7 Ibid.

8 Many of the assumptions concerning social strife made in this paper are based upon W.Paul Reeve’s,

Clover Valley denizens abandoned their crops and homes,placing themselves at the mercy of Shoal Creek residents.But,those at Shoal Creek also sacrificed as they voluntarily redistributed land to make room for the Clover Valley refugees.Were the social tensions manifest at the fort merely surface manifestations of underlying economic anxieties as these two communities struggled to unite? Were Clover Valley movers relegated to the monetary margins while Shoal Creek residents maintained advantages critical to determining their positions of wealth?

Tax assessment records for the ten years surrounding life at the fort (1865-1875) highlight the economic impact this coming together had upon total wealth,land,livestock ownership,and social stratification. Young’s abandonment policy also raises intriguing questions concerning key economic principles.For example,economists J.R.Kearl,Clayne L. Pope,and Larry T.Wimmer,contend,after studying household wealth in Utah from 1850 to1870,that “time of entry into the economy was critical in the determination of a typical household’s wealth position.”This is true they argue,for two reasons.First,land of the highest quality is brought into production first,leaving only marginal land available to alleviate pressure from population growth and capital accumulation.Second,those who participate in an economy for a longer period of time generally amass “a larger stock of useful and valuable economic information”about prices and skills relating to a particular region.They conclude for nineteenth-century Utah, “time of entry or duration in an economy to be a significant determinant of wealth”and that “the distribution of wealth becomes increasingly unequal through time.”9 These findings,when applied at a community level suggest that settlers uprooted by relocation would be at a decided disadvantage due to their late entry into an established economy.

In southwestern Utah,hostility between Mormon settlers,silver miners, and Southern Paiutes predated the Black Hawk War.However,it was the heightened nature of that conflict that eventually led Young to order the abandonment of outlying communities on the Cotton Mission frontier.10 Those orders came in May 1866,when Young instructed Erastus Snow that in order “to save the lives and property of people in your counties ...there must be thorough and energetic measures of protection taken immediately”;he then ordered the abandonment of all “small settlements”deemed “too weak to successfully resist attack.”Young left the selection of towns for relocation in the hands of Snow,but did stipulate that gathering sites

“Cattle,Cotton,and Conflict:The Possession and Dispossession of Hebron,Utah,” Utah Historical Quarterly 67 (Spring 1999):148-75.

9 J.R.Kearl,Clayne L.Pope,and Larry T.Wimmer,“Household Wealth in a Settlement Economy: Utah,1850-1870,” Journal of Economic History 40 (September 1980):447-96.Kearl’s,Pope’s,and Wimmer’s explanations are centered upon key Ricardian economic principles named for British economist David Ricardo (1772-1823).

10 For a more complete discussion of these competing forces and of the Southern Paiutes’role in the Black Hawk War see W.Paul Reeve, Making Space on the Western Frontier:Mormons,Miners,and Southern Paiutes (Urbana and Chicago:University of Illinois Press,2006),69-72.

should be chosen “that can be easily defended,and that possesses [sic] the necessary advantages to sustain a heavy population.”Young further added that “there should be from 150 to 500 good and efficient men in every settlement;but not less than 150 well armed men....Where there are several settlements which do not have this number of men,there should be places selected at which the requisite number can concentrate.”11

In implementing this advice Snow apparently modified it to suit local circumstances as well as to fit his own vision of colonization in southern Utah.Snow had presided over southern Utah from the Cotton Mission’s beginning in 1861 and would continue to be an influence there until his death in 1888.As Mormon apostle and colonizer he was responsible for the spiritual,economic,and social well being of southwestern Utah Mormons. He involved himself in a variety of economic pursuits,including cattle ranching,the Washington Cotton Factory,and the Southern Utah Cooperative Mercantile Association.In these various capacities he developed an overarching vision for southern Utah,which no doubt,came into play as he began to implement Young’s directive.12

Snow traveled to Shoal Creek in July 1866,and complimented its residents on the “good place”they had selected to build a fort and predicted that in the near future “there will be a flourishing settlement here.”He then significantly reduced Young’s suggested numbers and advised Shoal Creek denizens:“I feel that you need a good Ft.& 40 good men filled with the power of god and well armed ”and proceeded to announce that he would instruct Clover Valley settlers to vacate their homes and settle at Shoal Creek.13

Clover Valley had more residents than Shoal Creek and had a longer established fort,but Snow still selected the latter as a gathering spot.A closer examination of the two communities prior to their merger helps explain Snow’s rationale as well as set the stage for exploring the economic effect the forced blending of towns produced.

John,Charles,and William Pulsipher,along with David Chidester,first settled the Shoal Creek region of Washington County in 1862.Snow sent them off from St.George the year before to find good herd ground to graze the ever-increasing number of livestock being brought to the Cotton Mission.They selected a site more than forty-five miles northwest of St. George along Shoal Creek and soon spread out to tend the large herds under their charge.Before long Chidester abandoned the small ranching

11 Young to Snow and the bishops and saints of Washington and Kane counties,May 2,1866,in Bleak, “Annals of the Southern Utah Mission,”A:226-29.

12 See Andrew Karl Larson, Erastus Snow:The Life of a Missionary and Pioneer for the Early Mormon Church (Salt Lake City:University of Utah Press,1971),especially chapters 22 and 30 and pages 519-21 for evidence of his leadership and economic activities in southern Utah.

13 Hebron Ward General Minutes,1862-1897,3 vols.,1:78-82,emphasis in original,microfilm,Church History Library,Family and Church History Department,The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, Salt Lake City (hereafter cited as Hebron Ward General Minutes).

outpost,but the Pulsipher brothers,joined by their father Zera and brother-in-law Thomas S.Terry,persisted in what quickly became a family business.14 Occasionally others came to Shoal Creek looking to take advantage of the good herd grounds the Pulsiphers had found and settled at different spots along the creek.In response,the Pulsiphers expanded their ranching operations and moved to occupy more land.By 1865,one report described the settlers’strewn condition,noting that they had built “two or three houses in a place and the locations from 2 to 7 miles apart.”15

Apparently friendly relations with Native Americans allowed such a dispersal.John Pulsipher,for example,recalled first exploring the area and visiting a band of Southern Paiutes living there.He remembered that “they expresst themselv[e]s well Pleased with our coming to live with them”and later commented that “we were blessed wonderful[l]y & we had no trouble with th[e] natives altho we were few,but always ready.”In 1864,Pulsipher did note that the scattered families at Shoal Creek coalesced for a time “for mutual Defense,”against the Indians,but this temporary gathering only lasted for about a month before the ranchers returned to their homes.16

At Clover Valley,in contrast,increasingly hostile relations with Native Americans directly affected the settlers,making fort life the most logical choice.In early 1864 a group of Mormons under the direction of Edward Bunker founded Clover Valley,approximately thirty miles southwest of Shoal Creek in present-day Nevada.According to Orson Welcome Huntsman,who arrived at Clover Valley in 1865,the “valley was only about one mile wide and three or four miles long,running east and west,carpeted with green meadows,watered by nice springs ...and surrounded by low rolling hills,which were covered with wild sage brush and cedar trees and a very good stock range.”17 By 1865,the county surveyor had laid out a “little village”at Clover into twenty-five lots,eight rods by sixteen,and the townspeople had built a “well finished school and meeting house ...of squared logs.”18 Rather than spreading out with their herds like the Shoal Creek group,those at Clover Valley “were mostly all living in a little fort.” Huntsman recalled that the people “had built their log houses close together,forming a hollow square,in order to protect themselves from the indians [sic] as they had been hostile.”19

14 There were consistently four members of the Pulsipher group listed as taxpayers throughout the ten years under study,although not always the same four.Charles Pulsipher spent considerable time away from Shoal Creek on church business,but he returned as a taxpayer in 1873,likely taking over for his father Zera who disappears from the tax rolls that same year.The other three members of the group,John and William Pulsipher and Thomas S.Terry remain constant throughout the time period.See Washington County tax assessment rolls,1865 - 1875,microfilm,Utah State Archives,Salt Lake City (hereafter cited as tax rolls).

15 Bleak,“Annals of the Southern Utah Mission,”A:195.

16 Hebron Ward General Minutes,1:6-7,8,29.

17 Orson Welcome Huntsman,Diary of Orson W.Huntsman,typescript,vol.1:12,L.Tom Perry Special Collections Library,Harold B.Lee Library,Brigham Young University,Provo,Utah.

18 Bleak,“Annals of the Southern Utah Mission,”A:195.

19 Diary of Orson W.Huntsman,1:12-13.

In early 1864,even before the Black Hawk War began,Mormons at Clover,as well as neighboring Eagle and Meadow valleys (all in present-day southeastern Nevada),fought with their Southern Paiute neighbors.In August 1864,according to Mormon reports,a “large number of Thieving Indians”raided these tiny outposts perched on the Cotton Mission’s western frontier and drove off “considerable stock & tried to kill several of the men.”In the process the Mormons took three Paiute prisoners. Apparently,the prisoners dared an escape attempt,but the Mormon guards killed them in the ensuing confusion.Needless to say,this “greatly enraged” other local Indians and set the frontier settlers on edge.Upon learning of these difficulties Erastus Snow recommended to Edward Bunker,the ecclesiastical head over the frontier settlements,“the policy of taking no prisoners,but of killing thieves when taken in the act.”Snow did “hope,” however,“that God will over rule it for the best.”Beyond that,he admonished the settlers at Panaca and Eagle Valley to “either concentrate and adopt the measure of defense recommended,or abandon the place with your families and stock.”He then added,with uncanny foresight,“what is said of Panaca,will apply with still greater force to Clover Valley.”20

It seems,then,that relations with Native Americans proved a determining factor in the type of spatial arrangements chosen at the two hamlets as well as the primary consideration behind Snow selecting Shoal Creek as the gathering spot.Clover Valley had a longer established fort,three times as many families,and a “well finished”meetinghouse;nevertheless,Snow advised its residents to relocate to “Shoal Creek & other Places where u will be more safe.”21 Snow’s implication is clear:Clover Valley would likely continue to suffer from hostile relations with Native Americans,while Shoal Creek might be spared.

Besides its more favorable Indian relations,Snow seems to have envisioned Shoal Creek as a “flourishing settlement”and perhaps saw more economic potential there.The tax assessor in 1865 collected taxes from seven property owners at Shoal Creek:Hyrum Burgess,Zera,William,and John Pulsipher,E.R.Westover,Moses N.Emmett,and Thomas S.Terry. This group controlled a total of $5,245 in wealth,producing a median of $650.The two largest property owners,William and John Pulsipher,commanded 47 percent of the Shoal Creek total and,when combined with the next two largest holders,Zera Pulsipher and Thomas Terry,this kinship group’s portion rose to 76 percent.22 Clearly the Pulsipher clan dominated

20 Hebron Ward General Minutes,1:29-30;Erastus Snow to John D.L.Pearce,Meltiar Hatch and Samuel F.Lee,in Journal History of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (chronology of typed entries and newspaper clippings,1830 to the present),August 27,1864,1-3,Church History Library, Bleak,A:170-71;see also Reeve, Making Space on the Western Frontier, 49-58,69-72 for additional context on Mormon relations with Southern Paiutes before and during the Black Hawk War.

21 Hebron Ward General Minutes,1:82.

22 Tax rolls,1865.

23 Hebron Ward General Minutes,1:61.

1.1885 Shoal Creek Total Wealth

the area economically,a factor that carried over into persistence at Shoal Creek.John Pulsipher,for example,lamented in September 1865,the rapid turnover of settlers,writing that “of all that have lived here there has been but few that we could depend upon regular to keep up the settlement.”23

Economic considerations likely played a role in the fluid nature of the settlement at Shoal Creek and illustrate a key economic principle.As Shoal Creek founders,the Pulsipher clan enjoyed an advantage over later arrivals. They claimed the best land early and gained a working knowledge of the region so that when newcomers attempted to encroach upon their herd grounds they simply spread out to occupy additional lands.24 Of the seven taxpayers listed in 1865,only four,the Pulsipher group,remained by 1868 to move into the fort,the rest sought refuge elsewhere.

The least wealthy,Hyrum Burgess,for example,reported owning no land or improvements,two cows,three horses,one vehicle,and $25 worth of additional property for an impoverished total of $265.Burgess it seems, possessed somewhat of a wandering spirit,a character trait that may help to account for his lack of wealth.He was a grandson of Zera Pulsipher and a nephew of John Pulsipher.He came to Utah in 1850 at the age of thirteen. Four years later he was in southern Utah as part of the Southern Indian Mission.By 1861 he was married and had a son who was born in Summit County,Utah.Three years later he was back in southern Utah living at Shoal Creek where he stayed for one year.In 1865,he moved to Nevada because,as John Pulsipher put it,“he thinks there is more money somewhere else—(at the mines West).”25

The vast majority of the 1865 holdings at Shoal Creek,76 percent, existed in the form of livestock,including cattle,horses,sheep and goats (see Figure 1).Interestingly,land and improvements only comprised 8 percent of the total wealth;however,within a decade,this category’s importance rose as population pressure escalated and available lands grew increasingly marginal,a factor that would once again give the Pulsipher bunch an important edge.In short,Shoal Creek denizens controlled very little wealth,and most of that which they did have was portable.

As for Clover Valley,the 1865 assessor levied taxes on sixteen men,who shared a total wealth of only $5,968,just $700 more than the much smaller group at Shoal Creek.Clearly those at Clover Valley were poor,with a

24 For a detailed description of the Pulsipher clan’s response to newcomers see Reeve,“Cattle Cotton, and Conflict,”156-58.

25 Hebron Ward General Minutes,1:22,25,62,emphasis in original;Tax rolls,1865.

Figure

Source:Washington County Tax Rules, 1865.

median wealth of $255, almost a third of the Shoal Creek median.Dudley Leavitt topped the Clover Valley list,reporting a total wealth of $1,260,most of which ($955) existed in the form of 52 head of cattle.Jonathan Hunt,the poorest at Clover Valley,reported owning two cows,one horse,and six sheep or goats,worth only $83.There was no kinship domination of wealth at Clover Valley;the top third of the property owners controlled 62 percent of the wealth,the middle third 23 percent, and the bottom third,15 percent.Only one person at Clover Valley,Samuel Knights,claimed any land or improvements,the rest apparently did not view their cabins at the fort as personal property.Like Shoal Creek,Clover Valley was clearly a pastoral community with cattle,horses,sheep and goats representing 82 percent of the townspeople’s total wealth (see Figure 2).26

By the end of 1866,ten families from Clover Valley—Amos,James,and Jonathan Hunt;James,Joseph and Hyrum Huntsman;Dudley and Jeremiah Leavitt;Zadock Parker,and Benjamin Brown Crow—moved to combine with the Shoal Creek group while the remaining Clover families relocated to Panaca and “other places,”leaving Clover Valley entirely abandoned at least temporarily.27 Even under the best of circumstances,a merger of towns would be trying for people of both groups.Clover Valley settlers essentially became refugees,dependent upon the mercies of those at Shoal Creek.Shoal Creek inhabitants,too,faced challenges as they attempted to fit these new families into previously established geographic,social,and economic orders.

Clover Valley settlers were accustomed to life in a fort and likely had little difficulty adjusting to physical conditions at Shoal Creek.Orson Huntsman remembered the new accommodations this way:“we all built in a fort with houses joined together with most of the doors and windows facing the inside of the square or fort,some houses built of logs,some of rock and some of adobie [sic],and all of the houses were covered with dirt.”He also described the locale as “a very dry desolate looking place” and complained that “when it rained ...our houses would leak mud for a day or two after the rain was all over.”28

Issues of land ownership quickly surfaced at the fort,especially for Clover refugees.According to Huntsman,at the time of the merger there were only “two or three acres of land farmed on the creek all told and a very small piece of land that hay was harvested off of.”He also despaired that for more than the five families already located at Shoal Creek “it was a

26 Tax rolls,1865.

27 Diary of Orson W.Huntsman,1:14-15;Hebron Ward General Minutes,1:88.

28 Diary of Orson W.Huntsman,1:15-16.

Figure 2.1865 Clover Valley Total Wealth

Source:Washington County Tax Rolls, 1865.

very discouraging outlook.”In Huntsman’s eyes “there was nothing for them [the Clover Valley brethren] to subsist on,only in raising stock,this was a good place for that but there was no market for stock,butter or cheese.” 29 Understandably,then,the dismal economic outlook for the Clover Valley group became a point of concern.

Not long after moving together,the “Shoal Creek brethren”and the “Clover brethren,”as they called themselves,met to address the issue of land distribution.Zera Pulsipher chaired the meeting while the Clover brethren selected father James Huntsman as their spokesman.Huntsman began by expressing “some fear that there was not land enough”for everyone,especially because the Shoal Creek brethren “claimed the best.” Without hesitating,the Shoal Creek settlers responded with ingrained egalitarian principles:they “offered,not only their claims,but their enclosed & cultivated lands—all to be used for the public good.”Those gathered then selected father Huntsman,Thomas S.Terry,and John Pulsipher as a committee to divide the land and before adjourning also decided to drop the “Clover brethren”and “Shoal Creek brethren”labels.As John Pulsipher put it,“we are all citizens of this place.So let us be united.”30

By May 1867,the committee had laid out one public field for gardens, one as a pasture or hay field,and a third for unspecified use.Of the garden spot,each family received about half an acre,the hay field,one acre and the last field,two or three acres depending upon the size of the family.As was customary among Mormons,the settlers drew for land by ballot and “the people were very well satisfied.”31

And well they should have been,especially former Clover Valley denizens,as it seems that their move to the fort proved economically advantageous.In 1868,median wealth at the fort equaled $427,a vast improvement for former Clover residents,but a loss for Shoal Creek persisters.In fact,the nine traceable Clover Valley taxpayers living at Shoal Creek Fort in 1868 enjoyed a combined 28 percent increase in total wealth over their 1865 total.32 A significant portion of that increase came in the form of land and improvements,no doubt due to the Shoal Creek residents’willingness to redistribute land.Interestingly,in doing so the Shoal Creek settlers parceled themselves into minority holders. The Clover Valley movers collectively reported $675 worth of land and improvements,or 55 percent of the total land value at Shoal Creek Fort.Even Jonathan Hunt,the poorest of the Clover Valley movers, managed to improve his standing,doubling the number of his cattle to

29 Ibid.

30

Hebron Ward General Minutes,1:95-96,emphasis in original.

31

Hebron Ward General Minutes,1:110-11.See also,Reeve,“Cattle,Cotton,and Conflict,”161-65.

32 James William Huntsman was part of this traceable group,but did not arrive at Clover Valley until October 1865,after the tax assessor made his stop there.Consequently,for the purposes of the collective comparison of total wealth for those who moved to Shoal Creek,I have used Huntsman’s 1866 Clover Valley assessment with the eight other 1865 assessments.See Tax rolls,1865,1866.

four,picking up $50 worth of land and nearly tripling his total wealth to $242.33

While it seems evident that Clover Valley movers benefited economically from the merger with Shoal Creek,it does not necessarily signify the converse among Shoal Creek persisters.True,by 1868 Shoal Creek settlers controlled only 45 percent of the community’s total land value,but even still the value of that 45 percent increased dramatically over its 1865 amount,likely due to the road work,fence building,and ditch digging spurred on by life at the fort.It is evident too,that the land being distributed was farmland,while the two communities primarily relied upon livestock for subsistence,giving Shoal Creekers the advantage over available herd grounds by virtue of their experience in the area.The Shoal Creek brethren enjoyed an edge in other ways as well.Their 1868 median wealth,for example,grew to $1,403,more than double what it was before moving to the fort.In terms of distribution of total wealth,however,life at the fort seemed to end the Pulsipher clan’s strangle hold on economic power as two of the wealthiest fort dwellers, Amos Hunt and Dudley Leavitt,came from Clover Valley.The top third of the fort community controlled 61 percent of the wealth,the middle third, 24 percent and the poorest third 15 percent.34

Certainly,then,despite the discouraging outlook reported by Huntsman upon arriving at Shoal Creek,and the perceived inequality of land holdings,the Shoal Creek group’s willingness to redistribute land proved a boon to the Clover Valley movers so that by 1868 as residents prepared to leave the fort they did so on average better off than when they arrived.

It was August 1868,when Erastus Snow deemed it safe to abandon the fort at Shoal Creek and to found a proper Mormon village.Accompanied by G.A.Burgon,the county surveyor,Snow traveled to the area for that purpose.Before long the Mormon grid system scarred the earth as the surveyor laid out three streets running east and west and five north and south. Burgon also surveyed four areas into fields for farming.In choosing a name for the new town John Pulsipher borrowed from Old Testament scripture and suggested Hebron,after the site where the ancient prophet Abraham had tended his flocks and herds.The people voted to accept the name and Snow then blessed and dedicated the locale for a new town.35

Even before founding Hebron,however,some settlers began moving away. Pulsipher,as early as the spring of 1867,noted a dispersal from the fort as several Clover brethren returned to their former lands at Clover Valley, initially to farm,and later to settle.He wrote of the removal of Jeremiah Leavitt and Jonathan Hunt,for example,and then chided them:“The brethren have had no counsel to go—nor did they ask for any that I know of—They cant see inducements sufficient to stay here & work altho this is

33 Tax rolls,1868. 34 Ibid. 35 Diary of Orson W.Huntsman,vol.1:29-31;Hebron Ward General Minutes,2:34-35.

the place we are couns[e]led to live by the Presidency ...of the mission.”36 Apparently Snow felt similarly.After dedicating Hebron he expressed sorrow over the families that had gone to Clover Valley.He remarked that he “wished they had stayed here & tried to fulfil the counsel that he gave to build up this place.... [He] Wished [the] Sts to feel the Spirit of gathering–build good houses &c & make themselves comfortable homes,have good schools & meetings & Educate the children & not scatter off & live like Piutes.”37

Despite Pulsipher’s perception of a dispersal,and perhaps in response to Snow’s admonition,only three members of the 1868 fort population were tax payers at Clover Valley by 1870.Benjamin Brown Crow,James W.Hunt, and Jonathan Hunt elected to try and reclaim property at Clover,and, according to Huntsman,several others,at least temporarily,did too.In September 1868,Huntsman traveled to Clover Valley where his brother Hyrum and mother Hannah had just moved,preparing to make that place their home.Huntsman,however,told them that Snow had just supervised the creation of Hebron and had informed the settlers he did not want them returning to Clover Valley,but they should “help build up the new town.”Hyrum and Hannah “did not like it very well,”Huntsman recalled, but they “were soon reconciled to it and were willing to comply with Brother Snows [sic] request,to go back and try to make a living of it.”38

Devotion to authority undoubtedly played a role in at least some of the fort dwellers’decision to remain along Shoal Creek and help pioneer Hebron.However,it is difficult to determine which was the better choice, staying at Hebron or returning to Clover Valley.Clover Valley resurfaces on the tax rolls in 1870,for the first time since its abandonment,with a list of primarily new family names among its taxpayers,suggesting that there was little regard among settlers in the region for the Clover Valley refugees’ former claims.Apparently,the town was thrown open for settlement anew, although Huntsman,in describing his mother’s and brother’s attempt to return to Clover,noted one reason for doing so was because “the place we left in the fall of ‘66 had not been sold,”suggesting that the old Clover refugees had some chance of selling their former claims.39

The three former denizens who chose to return to Clover,the two Hunt brothers and Benjamin Brown Crow,became part of a community that by 1870 shared a median wealth of $570,only slightly lower than that of Hebron ($585) for that year.Judging by broader standards,the poverty of both Hebron and Clover Valley becomes clear:both towns clung to holdings that were below Utah Territory’s 1870 average wealth per household,a mere $644,which in turn was significantly lower than the $1,782 national average.40

36

Hebron Ward General Minutes,1:111;2:20,21.

37 Ibid.,2:38,emphasis in original.

38 Diary of Orson W.Huntsman,vol.1:31.

39 Tax rolls,1870;Huntsman,vol.1:22.

40 Tax rolls,1870;see also Kearl,Pope,and Wimmer,“Household Wealth,”484.

Figure 3.1870 Distribution of Wealth

Source:Washington

In selecting a community,then,it seems that neither Hebron nor Clover Valley allured settlers with prospects of riches.The true difference between the towns,however,lay in the spreading of what riches were available among their peoples.On the surface Hebron’s and Clover Valley’s 1870 distribution of wealth closely mirrored each other:the top third at Hebron controlled 71 percent of the wealth versus 68 percent at Clover,the middle third 20 percent and 24 percent respectively,and the poorest third survived with only 10 and 8 percent of the Hebron and Clover totals.41 Interestingly,the Clover distribution seems to defy a key economic principle regarding the likelihood of a more equal sharing of wealth in the initial periods of settlement,but a closer look reveals a significant outlier in the data.John and William Sherwood,taxed collectively as a business entity called the “Sherwood Brothers,”are listed as the wealthiest of the Clover taxpayers in 1870,yet they reported owning no land or improvements. Their $3,920 worth of wealth consisted primarily of cattle and company stock.The Sherwoods operated a sawmill at Clover Valley and a lumber yard on Main Street at Pioche,Nevada.They likely took advantage of the Mormon abandonment of Clover Valley as a good time to locate their sawmill there.Relations between the Sherwoods and the returning Mormons proved friendly,so much so that by 1879 the Sherwoods fully integrated into the community when they were baptized members of the LDS faith. 42 Economically,however,the small size of the community dictates removing the Sherwood brothers as outliers.Doing so produces a remarkably flat distribution of wealth,as expected for a new community. Excluding the Sherwood brothers,the wealthiest third at Clover controlled only 46 percent of the total assets,the middle third,31 percent,and the poorest third a respectable 23 percent.Juxtaposed against other available data,it becomes clear that if economic equality was important in deciding where to live following the break up of Shoal Creek Fort,Clover Valley offered it,Hebron did not.Hebron,in fact,gave rise to an increasingly stratified society (see Figure 3).43

41 Tax rolls,1870.

42 Huntsman,vol 1:118-19;Hebron Ward General Minutes,1872-1897,vol.3:145-47 holograph photocopy,Enterprise Branch,Washington County Library,Enterprise,Utah.

43 Tax rolls,1870.

County Tax Rolls, 1870.

For the three fort residents who decided to disobey Snow and try their luck at Clover Valley,it did not prove a bad decision economically.Each increased his holdings over what he controlled at the fort and collectively the three men’s wealth grew 66 percent from 1868 to 1870.This is certainly not to suggest that similar growth was unavailable at Hebron.By 1870, Hyrum and Hannah Huntsman,who begrudgingly complied with Snow’s request to stay at Hebron,experienced a combined 37 percent growth over their 1868 total,a rate not equal to those who chose Clover,but respectable nonetheless.In the end,whatever allured the three away from Hebron after the break up of the fort,two of them,the Hunt brothers,had made their way back to Hebron by 1875.44

The true significance of the forced mingling at Shoal Creek becomes apparent by 1875.Of the taxpayers at Hebron for that year only two of the original nine Clover Valley movers,Benjamin Brown Crow and Dudley Leavitt,had settled elsewhere,the rest responded to ecclesiastical orders and cast their lots with Hebron.The infant town also attracted outsiders,so that by 1875 the total number of taxpayers grew to twenty and included a coop store and co-op herd,two vestiges of the town’s miserable failure at implementing Young’s communitarian United Order.Median wealth in 1875 remained low,growing only five dollars in five years,in large part likely due to the influx of poor newcomers who kept the average down. The distribution of that wealth,however,grew increasingly stratified by 1875,so that the top third of taxpayers controlled 78 percent of the wealth, the middle third only 16 percent,and the bottom third,a pittance of but 6 percent,a distribution terribly top heavy.All four members of the Pulsipher clan were in the top third and collectively controlled 57 percent of the total wealth.45

Unquestionably,the Shoal Creek region continued to hold good fortune for the original settlers (the Pulsipher clan) and conclusively demonstrates the importance of time of entry into an economy.Even still,those from Clover Valley were by no means shut out of opportunities for upward mobility.While median wealth for the entire community remained relatively low from 1865 to 1875,the merger at the fort and then newcomers at Hebron pulled it down.Separating out the Pulsipher core,for example, produces a median wealth of $2,850,over three times the Pulsipher’s median ten years earlier.Those who moved from Clover Valley enjoyed a $795 median in 1875,also over three times that of their 1865 wealth (see Figure 4 on next page).46

Hebron definitely provided opportunities for economic growth,but for the Clover Valley group it seems to have offered an additional attraction: land for its next generation of settlers.Four sons of Clover Valley movers,

44 Tax rolls,1868,1870,1875.

45 Tax rolls,1875.

46 Tax rolls,1865,1875.

Figure 4.Median Wealth Over Time

for example,became property owners by 1875 and as a group enjoyed a median wealth of $358,over $100 greater than the Clover Valley median when their parents left ten years earlier.Orson Huntsman’s experience is likely typical.While living in the close quarters of Shoal Creek Fort,he recalled spending all of his leisure time with his “girl,”Mary Ann Terry, whom he called “the Bell of the fort.”She was a daughter of Thomas S. Terry,and on December 29,1867,she married Huntsman in a small,pineslab room at the fort.According to Huntsman it was “not a very public” wedding on account of the room being small and “so wet and muddy” from the dirt roof leaking rain.47

Despite the obscurity of the occasion,Huntsman’s wedding illustrates a key point.Life at the fort offered opportunities for social interaction that in Huntsman’s case resulted in marriage into the locale’s key family group. Upon wedding,Huntsman detailed his economic situation:“My wife and I had two cows each,but I now claimed all four.I had a very good horse team,and I had very little land of my own....My father-in-law,who I soon got in the habit of calling father Terry,had some stock that he was tending on shares.He let me have some of them which helped me out.”

Huntsman also described occasionally trading for more land,and when the surveyor laid out the Hebron town site he recalled getting nearly an acre town lot,“the first piece of land that I ever had,together with my one and one half acres of meadow land.”He then added,sarcastically,“I am getting to be a large real estate owner,this making in all,two and a half acres.”48

Hebron plainly offered opportunities for not only Clover Valley movers, but for their children as well.By 1875,Huntsman paid taxes on $250 worth of land and controlled $565 in total wealth,almost even with the community median.Besides Huntsman,his brother David and two additional Hunt brothers,Amos P.,and Jefferson,also became new property holders at Hebron by 1875.49

47 Diary of Orson W.Huntsman,vol.1:21-22;Tax rolls,1875.

48 Diary of Orson W.Huntsman,vol.1:21-23.

49 Tax rolls,1875.

Source:Washington County Tax Roles.

Figure 5.Shoal Creek/Hebron Distribution of Wealth Over Time

The final story at Hebron is of the changing importance of land over time.The value of land and improvements at Hebron had jumped from 8 percent in 1865,to 32 percent by 1875.The four members of the Pulsipher clan dominated 42 percent of that land value,while the other sixteen taxpayers had to split the remaining 58 percent.It seems that by 1875 the Pulsiphers had begun exploiting their stock of useful information about the region to claim more land and increase their herd sizes.50

That fact becomes even more evident when exploring the Pulsiphers’ actions following the break up of the fort.In January 1869,John and William Pulsipher moved south of Hebron a few miles to little Pine Valley where they built a saw mill and dairy.Their brother-in-law,Thomas Terry did likewise,moving to the group’s old “upper”herd location and establishing what came to be called Terry’s ranch.It is no wonder that Terry claimed $2,000 worth of land by 1875,the most land value of any Hebronite.51

Another economic principle suggests that inequality in an economy grows over time,a factor equally evident at Shoal Creek and then Hebron (see Figure 5).Given the religious nature of Hebron colonists and their attempted devotion to nineteenth-century Mormon communitarian ideals, the imbalance of wealth evident by 1875 shouts for attention.Most likely, ranching,as an occupation of independence accounts for this stratification. It allowed the Pulsipher clan to benevolently redistribute small parcels of farmland at the fort with little effect upon their ranching operations.They were not farmers,so they were easily able to give up the small acreage of lands under cultivation for the good of the community,while still increasing herd sizes year after year,as well as dominating herd grounds.One Clover Valley mover,Amos Hunt,also wisely accumulated wealth through dramatic growth in the size of his herd,adding additional imbalance to an already skewed distribution.

50 Tax rolls,1875.

51 Tax rolls,1875;Reeve,“Cattle,Cotton,and Conflict,”167.

Source:Washington County TaxRoles.

The other important shift in the makeup of wealth at Hebron was the move away from sheep and goats toward an exclusive cattle and horse based economy.Sheep and goats plummeted from their 20 percent chunk of the total assets in 1865 to a minuscule half of one percent by 1875.Only one Hebronite,Thomas S.Terry,still herded any sheep or goats,the rest of the town wealth clearly resided in land,cattle,and horses (see Figure 6).For the Pulsipher clan,herd sizes increased dramatically in the ten-year period under scrutiny.In 1865,the four men grazed an average twenty-three horses and cattle,whereas ten years later the average herd had swollen more than four times to reach eighty-seven.The Clover Valley movers,on the other hand,had the same average herd size (fifteen horses and cattle) in 1875 as they started with in 1865,once again demonstrating the Pulsiphers’ dominance of the ranching economy.52

Even though the conclusions that can be drawn from a case study of this sort are limited to the small number of people inhabiting Clover Valley and Hebron,such close scrutiny of the economic impact of Black Hawk War relocations can teach important lessons.Only by slogging through the historical minutiae of tax records,ward records,journals,and diaries,does the full impact of Brigham Young’s abandonment policy begin to accrue the weight it deserves.Mormon dislocations did not end with the faith’s troubled sojourn through Ohio,Missouri,and Illinois.Nor did it end with the better known move south during the Utah War.The major difference for the Black Hawk War dislocations is that they were of the Mormons own making,both as a result of Indian relations and as a matter of policy.

There is no doubt that Young’s abandonment policy created considerable economic hardships across Utah Territory,but particularly among small settlements on the Mormon fringe.It set frontier populations in motion and forced peoples of separate communities into what appears to be,in the case of Shoal Creek and Clover Valley,troublesome attempts to wed their diverse social and economic orders into one.As argued elsewhere,their attempt at social unification proved challenging and perhaps never fully occurred.53 However,the economic integration of the two towns appears more successful and leads to suggestive conclusions about the nature of these two peripheral Mormon ranching communities.

52 Tax rolls,1875.

53 Reeve,“Cattle,Cotton,and Conflict,”148-75.

Figure 6.Shoal Creek/Hebron Distribution of Wealth Over Time.

Source:Washington County Tax Rolls.

Key economic principles manifested themselves as Shoal Creek and Clover Valley merged and later became Hebron.The Pulsiphers,as original ranchersat Shoal Creek,maintained an economic advantage over the area, which they simply exploited as time progressed.

Despite the perceived dearth of economic opportunities expressed by some Clover Valley refugees upon arriving at Shoal Creek Fort,the evidence detailed here seems to hint otherwise.The ranching nature of these two communities likely played an integral role in the Clover Valley brethren’s ability to integrate into an established economy.The majority of the ranchers’wealth existed in livestock,not land,and therefore was easily transportable.Clover brethren,in essence,brought their economy with them.True,division of land quickly became an issue at the fort,but Shoal Creek settlers instantly responded by parceling their claims for the good of the whole.It was a generous act that reflected Mormon egalitarian aims and gave Clover refugees a majority share of the land value at the fort.Yet, in looking beyond this sharing of small agricultural spots it appears to have had little effect on the Pulsiphers’ability to make a living.They were dividing up farmland,not grazing land,allowing their ranching economy to continue to expand unencumbered.Shortly following the founding of Hebron the Pulsiphers established ranches outside of town and vigorously enlarged their operations,all of which led to a remarkably top heavy distribution of wealth at Hebron by 1875.

The ranching economy at Shoal Creek seems to be the key variable producing these curious results and raises questions that demand further study.What economic impact did the Black Hawk War’s forced relocations have upon Mormon agricultural communities where wealth lay in the soil and was not transportable? The findings at Shoal Creek seem to suggest that such mergers would generate a much greater shock to agricultural communities than is evident at these two ranching outposts.Perhaps,too, Hebron and Shoal Creek are anomalous and additional ranching to ranching comparisons would be more appropriate.

For Hebron itself new questions also bubble to the surface.Given the town’s early economic inequality and its expanding herd sizes,how long could the region sustain such growth and how long could the impoverished middle and bottom thirds of the wealth distribution hold out in an economy that highly favored the original settlers? By 1882,due to overgrazing,Amos and James Hunt elected to move elsewhere in search of good herd grounds;the Pulsiphers,however,stayed put,suggesting that their dominance continued into the next decade.54 Perhaps for Shoal Creek and Clover Valley the final answer to the economic nature of the disruptions spawned by the Black Hawk War lies in that decade,or beyond.

54 See Newell R.Frei,“History of Pioneering on Shoal Creek,”(master’s thesis,Brigham Young University,Provo,Utah,1932),45.

Lake Lal and Mount Agassiz,Uinta Mountains,Utah.Timothy O’Sullivan,1869. (National Archives NWDNS-77-KW-212 ARC 519650).

In the Footsteps of Timothy O’Sullivan: Rephotographing the 1869 King Survey in the Headwaters of the Bear River, Uinta Mountains

ByJEFFREY S. MUNROE

Many students of nineteenth century exploration of the West are familiar with the Geologic Exploration of the 40th Parallel, which surveyed the route of the Transcontinental Railroad under the direction of Clarence King.Between 1867 and 1870 the King Survey examined the Comstock silver mine in Nevada,spent two months surveying the Great Salt Lake,and added greatly to our knowledge

Jeffrey S.Munroe is professor of geology at Middlebury College,Middlebury,Vermont.

Mt.Agassiz over Ryder Lake.Jeffrey S.Munroe,August 16,2004.This photopoint is near the top of the prominent quartzite ledges rising from the western shore of Ryder Lake.The ledges are considerably more forested now,with trees blocking much of the original view.This photograph was taken near the spot of the original,but with a slight shift to allow sighting around some of the new trees.Trees are also growing thicker on the opposite side of the lake.Note the field case lying on the rock (right side of the original photograph),and the figure on the cliff (in both photographs).

of the geology of the northern Great Basin.It is less widely known, however,that the King Survey also conducted a reconnaissance of the north slope of the Uinta Mountains.During this investigation,the immensely talented photographer for the King Survey,Timothy O’Sullivan,captured more than a dozen photographs of the High Uintas landscape in the headwaters of the Bear River.Today these photographs provide a unique perspective on what these pioneering explorers saw with their own eyes.

The King Survey visited the Uintas in August 1869 near the end of their third year of fieldwork.From the vicinity of Evanston,Wyoming,they traveled south,ascending the Bear River towards its source in the jagged peaks east of the modern Mirror Lake Highway.A few miles south of the Utah-Wyoming line,they followed the Stillwater Fork of the Bear River away from the Hayden Fork,passing through Christmas Meadow and up

into the Middle Basin.They eventually made camp at Ryder Lake,which they called “Lake Lal,”and commenced a multi-day exploration of the Middle Basin,including the area around McPheters Lake,which they named “Lake Jan.”

King was fascinated by the glaciated landscape of the High Uintas,and after months of working at lower,drier,elevations across the Great Basin,it is easy to understand why.His letters contain lucid descriptions of the scenery merged with geologic interpretation including:“The view from one of the upper summits is varied by open,green,Alpine pastures,varied by innumerable lakes of transparent water which occupy erosion-hollows of the old glacier beds.”1 He also presents astute observations of the evidence for former glaciation of the Uintas in his final report,concluding that “…the Uinta [glacier complex] was therefore comparable with the present Alpine system,but decidedly grander in its accumulation of snow and ice.”2

While the Survey studied the geology of the Middle Basin and cataloged evidence of the ancient glaciers,O’Sullivan documented the subalpine and alpine landscape around Ryder and McPheters Lakes.O’Sullivan first rose to prominence as a photographer during the Civil War,working with the preeminent photographer of the period,Matthew Brady.After the war,King hired him as the official photographer of the U.S.Geological Exploration of the 40th Parallel.Working with fragile glass plates and a complicated wetcollodion process,he produced spectacular landscape photographs and detailed views of scenes throughout the Great Basin.Many of his images have become icons of the West,famous for the stark manner in which they present a raw landscape,often appearing devoid of human influence.3

In the Middle Basin,O’Sullivan’s eye was particularly drawn to the relationship between the lakes and the surrounding mountains.The majority of the photographs O’Sullivan made there show Mount Agassiz,Hayden Peak,or the ridgeline between them,along with some portion of the surface of Ryder or McPheters Lakes.4 In many of his pictures,rocky peaks are reflected in a smooth water surface,producing a dramatic mirroring effect.As O’Sullivan circumnavigated Ryder Lake he also photographed panoramic views to the northeast across the headwaters of the Basin,including the profiles of Spread Eagle and Ostler Peaks.

1 R.A Bartlett, Great Surveys of the American West (Norman:University of Oklahoma Press,1962),178.

2 C.King,Systematic Geology,Vol.I in the Report of the Geological Exploration of the 40th Parallel (Washington D.C.:U.S.Government Printing Office,1878).

3 An excellent critique of O’Sullivan’s photography is provided by Joel Snyder “Aesthetics and documentation:remarks concerning critical approaches to the photographs of Timothy H.O’Sullivan”in Peter Walch and Thomas Barrow ed., Perspectives on Photography (Albuquerque:University of New Mexico Press, 1986).For further discussion of O’Sullivan’s photography see William L.Fox, View Finder:Mark Klett, Photography,and the Reinvention of Landscape (Albuquerque:University of New Mexico Press,2001).

4 Louis Agassiz was a Swiss geologist who compiled evidence from the Alps for his theory of Ice Ages proposed in his masterwork Etudes sur les glaciers,published in 1840.In 1847 he accepted a professorship at Harvard University.Ferdinand Vandeveer Hayden led the Hayden Survey that explored the Western United States (including the northern Uintas) throughout the 1870s.

5 M.Klett,E.Manchester,J.Verburg,G.Bushaw,and R.Dingus, Second View:The Rephotographic Survey

O’Sullivan’s photographs from the Middle Basin are notable in that they capture the same scenic climaxes photographed by myriad visitors to the area over the ensuing decades.As the expedition’s official photographer, O’Sullivan was charged with documenting all aspects of the Survey’s observations and discoveries.Yet under the influence of such spectacular scenery he chose to record the dramatic sweep of the landscape instead of focusing on details of its geology.One could certainly argue that the two are inextricably intertwined,especially in the case of a landscape affected by alpine-style glaciation.But it remains striking how obvious the subjects of his compositions are when visiting the Middle Basin today.

Because the features O’Sullivan photographed are so recognizable,this collection provides a tremendous opportunity to envision changes in the subalpine environment over centennial timescales through “rephotography.” Specifically,by locating the positions from which O’Sullivan aimed his camera and rephotographing the scenes he captured,landscape changes can be identified over an interval of time that is long by human standards.This technique has been widely employed using photographs taken as part of the early western surveys.For instance,members of the Rephotographic Survey Project replicated dozens of O’Sullivan photographs (including at least four from the Middle Basin) in the 1970s.More recently,many O’Sullivan photographs were replicated for a second time by the Third View Project, along with a more complete documentation of the spatial and cultural context of the photopoints.5 To apply this approach in the Middle Basin,I acquired copies of fifteen O’Sullivan photographs from the National Archives and Records Administration and from the George Eastman House. These were rephotographed in July 2001,and in August 2003 and 2004, yielding fifteen photo-pairs,which are presented here,that document change and stasis in the Middle Basin landscape over more than 130 years.6

Comparison of O’Sullivan’s photographs and the modern rephotographs allows two broad generalizations.First,although the composition of the subalpine fir and Engelmann spruce forest has remained constant,there are notably more trees on the landscape today.Almost all of the rephotographs illustrate that the forest is denser,with trees growing closer together. Krummholz,such as that seen along the shoreline of Ryder Lake in 1869,

Project (Albuquerque:The University of New Mexico Press,1979).M.Klett,K.Bajakian,W.L.Fox,M. Marshall,T.Ueshina,and B.Wolfe Third Views,Second Sights:A Rephotographic Survey of the American West (Santa Fe:Museum of New Mexico Press,2004).

6 To facilitate comparison between the paired photographs,I obtained 300 dpi .jpg files of photographs from the George Eastman House [www.eastmanhouse.org/] and scanned copies of the National Archives photographs (printed at 8x10 in) on a flatbed scanner.For the modern photographs,I used either a) digital images taken with a wide-angle lens (for photographs with a portrait orientation),b) scanned negatives (with scratches and dust removed manually in Corel PhotoPaint),or c) scanned negatives combined into a panorama view with Panorama-Maker (for photographs with an extremely wide field-ofview).All of the digital image files were scaled to publication size and resampled to 400 dpi.Financial support from Middlebury College and the American Alpine Club and field assistance from D.Berkman,E. Carson,and C.Rodgers are greatly appreciated.

has also grown into upright mature trees over the years.In many instances, this new growth obscures the view from the former photopoint.Finally, many individual trees that feature prominently in the 1869 photographs are still alive,and tree growth has even expanded in seemingly less hospitable locations such as the ledges west of Ryder Lake and near McPheters Lake. Overall these results match those revealed by a similar rephotographic study from approximately twenty miles away in the north-central Uintas using photographs from the 1870 Hayden Survey.7

On a local scale,forest health is influenced by numerous factors,including insects,disease,fire,and management decisions,and all of these have undoubtedly affected the subalpine forest of the Middle Basin in the past. However,the similarity of the changes noted in this study,and those revealed by rephotography of the Hayden Survey images,suggests that an agent capable of more widespread synchronous impacts is responsible.In the case of high-elevation forests,the upper limit of tree growth is ontrolled primarily by growing season temperature,and therefore climate change is the most likely candidate behind the differences noted in the rephotographs.Considered this way,the denser forest growing at higher elevations in the modern images suggests that summers have become warmer,allowing trees that were established in 1869 to persist,trees in formerly marginal settings to flourish,and new trees to germinate in previously inhospitable sites.The modern forest also contains fewer dead trees,suggesting that overall growing conditions are less rigorous today. These changes are understandable when one considers that O’Sullivan visited the Uintas not long after the culmination of the Little Ice Age,an interval of climatic cooling that led to glacier expansion and treeline depression nearly worldwide.8 Thus,at least some of the forest changes can be attributed to the natural warming that followed the Little Ice Age maximum ca.1850.The abundance of young trees in some of the rephotographs,however,indicates that the climatic amelioration has accelerated in recent decades,likely in response to the accumulation of anthropogenic greenhouse gases in the atmosphere.9

In contrast to the dramatic changes in the forest of the Middle Basin, physical aspects of the landscape around Ryder and McPheters Lakes have remained strikingly constant.Snowbanks appear in the same places,and several rephotographs reveal that conspicuous boulders remain in similar positions on the talus despite the passage of more than a century.At first this seems an unexpected result because a visit to the Middle Basin can easily yield the impression that this is a fairly active landscape;minor rockfall events are heard frequently during the summer,and the impressive

7 J.S.Munroe,“Estimates of Little Ice Age climate inferred through historical rephotography,northern Uinta Mountains,U.S.A,” Arctic,Antarctic and Alpine Research 35 (2003):489-98.

8 A thorough discussion of the Little Ice Age is provided by Grove,Jean M., The Little Ice Age (New York:Routledge,1990).

9 Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change Fourth Assessment Report,2007.

amounts of snow that accumulate on the higher slopes encourage avalanching that could be expected to effectively modify the piles of scree.Upon reflection the message of this apparent contradiction becomes clear:even when the evidence is obvious,geologic changes remain difficult to grasp in the context of a human timeframe.Rocks steadily erode through processes that act too slowly for their effects to be appreciated in decades or centuries. Mount Agassiz and the other mountains surrounding the Middle Basin may be lower today than in 1869,and blocks on the talus may have shifted ever so slightly in response to minor rockfall.Yet most landscape changes occur through dramatic,infrequent events,and the more efficacious events are those that occur less frequently.Such events may still be encompassed within a uniformatarian framework if the time scale is long enough,but if one of these events occurs in a human lifetime it is considered “catastrophic”or “unprecedented,”with our choice of words revealing how tightly our comprehension of natural events is bound to our restricted human time frame. Rephotography offers a unique opportunity to transcend this limitation and to expand our appreciation of both time and rates of landscape change.

Map of the Middle Basin of the Stillwater Fork Bear River showing the locations of Ryder and McPheters Lakes and the O’Sullivan photopoints (identified by negative number).Selected topographic contours are shown,and the ridgeline enclosing the Basin is identified by the dashed line.The surface elevation of Ryder Lake is 10,640 ft,while McPheters Lake is at 10,843 ft.

Ridgeline and Ryder Lake.Jeffrey S.Munroe,June 24,2001.This pair of photographs was taken along the north shore of Ryder Lake just west of the lake outlet.The width-of-field of the modern photograph is narrower than the original,so the extreme right side was not captured.Trees are growing in thicker clumps on the far side of the lake,but there is still considerable unvegetated talus.There is also a prominent area extending upward from the far shoreline between the two denser tree clumps that appears to contain less vegetation. Despite the different timing of the two photographs,the topographic control that encourages snowbanks to form in the same locations each year is obvious.

Lake Lal,Summit of Uinta Mountains,Utah.Timothy O’Sullivan,1869. (National Archives NWDNS-77-KN-166 ARC 519522).

Lake Lal,Uinta Mountains, Utah.Timothy O’Sullivan,1869. (National Archives NWDNS-77-KW219 ARC 519654).

Ryder Lake outlet.Jeffrey S. Munroe,August 16,2004.This pair of photographs was taken at the northeast corner of Ryder Lake,where the Stillwater Fork of the Bear River begins.The low krummholz visible just to the right of the outlet in 1869 has grown dramatically upward, blocking much of the view from the original photopoint.To compensate,the modern photograph was taken a few feet to the south.Trees have also grown up on the far side of the stream.More emergent vegetation is present in the stream, and a new island has formed. Rocks on the stream bottom appear to be in the same positions.Note the two figures that appear to be fishing in the original photograph.

Lake Lal,Uinta Mountains, Utah.Timothy O’Sullivan,1869. (National Archives NWDNS-77-KW222 ARC 519656).

Ridgeline and small lake south of Ryder Lake.Jeffrey S. Munroe,August 16,2004.This photograph was taken from the east side of the small lake immediately south of Ryder Lake.Trees are growing thicker on the far right side,and smaller tree clumps appear more numerous in the background.The foreground shoreline has changed slightly,with more emergent vegetation,and erosion has uncovered part of a rock that was hidden in 1869.

Lake Lal,Uinta Mountains, Utah.Timothy O’Sullivan,1869. (National Archives NWDNS-77-KW220 ARC 519655).

Looking north across Ryder Lake.Jeffrey S.Munroe, August 12,2003.The section of shoreline along the southeast side of Ryder Lake has changed considerably.The rock the figure is sitting on in 1869 is still visible at the shoreline (center),but the leaning tree to the left of the figure has grown dramatically upward,and other trees have greatly obscured the original view necessitating a slight shift in the perspective of the modern photograph.The prominent staircase of cliffs in the distant ridgeline is still obvious,while the diagonal white rock in foreground of the original photograph is partially hidden by litter layer.The trees on the background ledges have also grown larger.

(GEH NEG: 9290 81:1888:0037)

North face of Mt.Agassiz. Jeffrey S.Munroe,August 12, 2003.This photograph was taken from the western end of the narrow ridge separating Ryder Lake from the small lake immediately to the south. Once again trees block the original photopoint,necessitating a slight shift in the position of the modern photograph. The foreground landscape has been greatly disturbed by treetip and the prominent tree in the right foreground in 1869 has fallen and rotted.More trees are visible on the far shoreline. The largest rocks on the talus appear in the same position.

Mount Agassiz,Uinta Mountains.Timothy O’Sullivan, 1869.

Courtesy George Eastman House.

Near Lakes Lal and Jan, Uinta Mountains,Utah. Timothy O’Sullivan,1869. (National Archives NWDNS-77KW-224 ARC 519658).

Ledges and Spread Eagle

Peak.Jeffrey S.Munroe, August 16,2004.This scene was photographed along the narrow outlet of the small pond south of Ryder Lake, which flows into the lake in the distance.More vegetation is visible overhanging the cliff,and trees are more numerous and more robust. Many loose rocks along the ledges are in identical positions,although some have disappeared.

The Middle Stillwater Basin.Jeffrey S.Munroe,August 12,2003.This panoramic view looks northeastward over the headwaters of the Stillwater Fork Bear River from a position on the talus rising above the south side of the Basin.The lack of immediate foreground features made it difficult to locate the exact 1869 photopoint,however the perspective here is quite similar.The small pond south of Ryder Lake is visible at the extreme left of the 1869 photograph,while the ledges shown in the previous photograph are partially visible near the center.Trees are growing much thicker everywhere.Rocks at the foot of the talus in the foreground are in similar positions.Dead and downed trees in the foreground of the 1869 photograph are represented by linear concentrations of rotting wood (not obvious in the photograph).

View in Uinta Mountains.Timothy O’Sullivan,1869. (GEH NEG: 50622 81:1888:0004) Courtesy George Eastman House.

View northeastward over Ryder Lake.Jeffrey S.Munroe,August 12,2003.In this view from the ledges southwest of Ryder Lake,Spread Eagle Peak (12,540 ft) is visible on the right while Ostler Peak (12,718 ft) is visible in the background center.A new tree completely blocks the original photopoint so this photo was taken a few feet to the northeast;branches of the new tree are visible along the left margin of the modern photograph.The large downed tree visible in the lower left of the 1869 photograph (note figure for scale) is still present and notably intact in 2003.The tree appears larger due to the shift in photopoint.A photograph from a nearby point was taken by the Rephotographic Survey Project in 1979.

View in Uinta Mountains.Timothy O’Sullivan,1869. (GEH NEG: 33175 81:1888:0005) Courtesy George Eastman House.

Ridgeline southwest of Ryder Lake.Jeffrey S.Munroe,August 12,2003.This view looks westward from the ledges southwest of Ryder Lake at the dramatic ridgeline forming the wall of the Middle Basin.The prominent tree in the center of the 1869 photograph is still recognizable, and many other trees appear to have survived and grown during the intervening 134 years. Note that the large rocks visible near the top of the right talus cone are in the same positions.

Uinta Mountains.Timothy O’Sullivan,1869. (GEH NEG: 19427 81:1888:0017) Courtesy George Eastman House.

Mt.Agassiz over Ryder Lake.Jeffrey S.Munroe,August 12,2003.The first of two similar scenes captured from the northwestern shore of Ryder Lake,looking southeast at Mt.Agassiz (12,428 ft).The forest along the far shore is considerably denser,and appears healthier with fewer standing snags.A photograph from a nearby point was taken by the Rephotographic Survey Project in 1979.

Mount Agassiz,Uinta Mountains.Timothy O’Sullivan,1869. (GEH NEG: 9293 81:1888:0010) Courtesy George Eastman House.

Uinta Mountains.Timothy O’Sullivan,1869. (GEH NEG: 9288 81:1888:0002) Courtesy George Eastman House.

Mt.Agassiz over Ryder Lake.Jeffrey S.Munroe,August 12,2003.The second scene captured from the northwestern shore of Ryder Lake.Again the forest along the far shoreline is denser and healthier.The prominent leaning tree in the 1869 photograph is obvious in 2003.A new tree has also grown up to block part of the extreme left-hand side of the modern photograph. Note the large white rock along the shoreline in the center of both photographs,which was useful in locating the photopoint.

Ryder Lake.Jeffrey S. Munroe,August 12, 2003.New trees almost completelyblock the view from this photopoint located to the west of the Ryder Lake outlet. These trees may be greatly enlarged versions of the krummholz that appears along the shoreline in the 1869 photograph.The striped (labeled) rock visible in the original photograph was hidden under branches in 2003.

Lake Lal,Uinta Mountains,Utah.Timothy O’Sullivan,1869. (National Archives NWDNS-77-KW-215 ARC 519651).

Uinta Mountains.Timothy O’Sullivan,1869. (GEH NEG: 46908 81:1888:0027) Courtesy George Eastman House.

Spread Eagle Peak over McPheters Lake.Jeffrey S.Munroe,August 12,2003.This photograph was made from the extreme western end of McPheters Lake,located half a mile north of Ryder Lake.Spread Eagle Peak is visible in the background.The water level was lower in 2003,and other rocks are visible around the taller rock that was emergent in the 1869 photograph.Trees are growing denser on the ledges forming the far shoreline. A photograph from a nearby point was taken by the Rephotographic Survey Project in 1979.

Uintah Mountains.Timothy O’Sullivan,1869. (GEH NEG:50621 81:1888:0020)Courtesy George Eastman House.

Spread Eagle and Ostler Peaks over McPheters Lake.Jeffrey S.Munroe,August 12,2003. This scene encompasses the length of McPheters Lake from a vantage point above the western shore.Spread Eagle (right) and Ostler (center) Peaks are visible in the background.The exact photopoint was difficult to locate,but this is a reasonable approximation.A small spring is present at this site,which may have provided a source of water for O’Sullivan to use in washing the exposed plates in 1869.Trees are more numerous on the ledges at left,and a new tree along the shoreline at lower right obscures the rock(s) in the water in the previous photograph.A photograph from a nearby point was taken by the Rephotographic Survey Project in 1979.

“In Deed and in Word”:The Anti-Apartheid Movement at the University of Utah, 1978-1987

BYBENJAMIN HARRIS

One early June morning in 1978 Leon Brown,Jr.,a twenty-sevenyear-old African American student,requested a meeting with University of Utah President David P.Gardner.When President Gardner’s assistant,Wendy Smith,asked what the meeting concerned,Brown politely indicated that he had questions about the University Investment Program.His concern was that the University of Utah held nearly $448,000 in stock with corporations that supported the exploitative and repressive policy of apartheid in South Africa and he explained that the university had a moral duty to divest,or sell off,these holdings. 1

When told that President Gardner was unavailable,Brown offered to wait.

Meetings between

students and adminis-

Apartheid Never/Freedom Forever.This protest structure was erected on the University of Utah campus in 1986.

Benjamin Harris is a graduate of the University of Utah history department.He wishes to thank professors Robert Goldberg,Eric Hinderacker,and L.Ray Gunn for their support.

1 The idea to confront universities over their investment portfolios grew from the corporate divestment campaigns in the 1960s and 1970s when activists sought to persuade U.S.banks and corporations to sever all ties with the South African government.See Robert Massie, Loosing the Bonds:The United States and South Africa in the Apartheid Years (New York:Doubleday,1997).

trators were not uncommon at the Universityof Utah,but Brown’s insistence on seeing the president over a little-known university policy struck Wendy Smith as highly unusual and she promptly called university police. Minutes later,as police descended on the Park Administration Building, Brown left abruptly,telling Smith the administration would be forced to confront the issue.2

If Leon Brown’s actions seemed odd to some at the University of Utah, student protest of South Africa’s racial policy was not.For nearly three decades,students participated in religious,civil rights,and community organizations that formed the backbone of the U.S.anti-apartheid movement and,by 1986,forced hundreds of institutions to divest.3 Despite such success,scholars have generally ignored the significance of student divestment campaigns,focusing instead on national organizations such as the American Committee on Africa or Trans-Africa and their influence on U.S.policy toward South Africa.4 While these organizations are undoubtedly important to the history of the movement,a significant gap in the literature remains.Little has been done to explain how and why Americans at the grassroots became actively involved in the cause. 5 The purpose of this article,then,is to rectify the undervaluation of student activism within the anti-apartheid movement by reconstructing events during the 1980s at an institution at the grassroots—the University of Utah.

When classes resumed in the fall of 1978,so,too,did anti-apartheid agitation.Leon Brown,frustrated with President Gardner’s refusal to discuss the University Investment Program,personally organized the first campus anti-apartheid organization,the Utah Committee for University Divestment (UCUD).The twenty-five member organization attempted to “facilitate further serious discussion and debate”on campus about U.S.business activities in South Africa through leafleting,educational films,and a lecture series, and repeatedly calling on the Gardner administration to divest.6

Against this backdrop of agitation over apartheid,Utah administrators began discussing the investment program.President Gardner formed an ad hoc advisory committee to review the university’s South Africa policy and issue a report with recommendations for action.After several meetings,the committee members found an uneasy balance between competing

2 Information Report Intelligence Investigation,February 23,1978,David P.Gardner Papers,Box 57, Folder 3,University of Utah Archives.

3 Jon Wiener.“Divestment Report Card:Students,Stocks,and Shanties” The Nation 243 (Oct.11, 1986),337.See also Eric Hirsch,“Sacrifice for the Cause:Group Processes,Recruitment,and Commitment in a Student Social Movement,” American Sociological Review 55 (April 1990):243-354;Tony Vellela, New Voices:Student Political Activism in the ‘80s and ‘90s (Boston:South End Press,1988).

4 For example,see Donald Culverson, Contesting Apartheid:U.S.Activism,1960-1987 (Boulder,CO: Westview Press,1999);Steven Metz,“The Anti-Apartheid Movement and the Populist Instinct in American Politics,” Political Science Quarterly 101 (Fall 1986):379-95;Francis Nesbitt, Race for Sanctions: African Americans against Apartheid,1946-1994 (Bloomington:Indiana University Press,2004).

5 An important exception is Janice Love’s influential book The U.S.Anti-Apartheid Movement:Local Activism in Global Politics (New York:Praeger,1985).

6 “Group Urges U.to Divest Itself of S.African Investments,” Salt Lake Tribune,October,21,1978.

positions.All agreed that apartheid was wrong and should be ended,but they also believed that complete divestment was not a viable solution. Citing the State Money Management Act of 1953,the committee concluded that the effect of divestment would be minimal as compared to the cost to the university.7 In the end,the committee suggested retaining its financial holdings with the condition that the corporations involved sign the Sullivan Principles,an employment code of conduct for U.S.companies doing business in South Africa drafted in 1977 by General Motors board member Reverend Leon Sullivan.President Gardner then recommended this position to the Institutional Council on October 6.8

The Sullivan Principles drew bitter opposition from activists on the Utah campus who felt that such reforms would not significantly reduce the financial and psychological aid that American corporations provided to the South African government or change the fundamental structure of apartheid.When the Institutional Council (the governing body) voted in favor of Gardner’s proposal on October 9,the UCUD circulated petitions and organized demonstrations to disrupt meetings of the Institutional Council,hoping to force the administration to reconsider the resolution.

In supporting the Sullivan Principles,the administration reduced the intensity of student divestment activism.Many members of the UCUD realized that the administration’s posture was now fixed and the momentum established during the fall semester of 1978 faded.Moreover,several factors common to campus life acted to break the movement’s stride. University holidays,the exam schedule,and summer vacation made it increasingly difficult for activists to maintain a strong presence on campus. A transient student population also hampered movement leadership, direction,and intensity.Utah students were,as well,susceptible to external priorities such as work and family.In this atmosphere,the UCUD found its support on campus slipping and as summer vacation approached, anti-apartheid activity at the University of Utah came to a halt.

For six years,anti-apartheid activity at the University of Utah lay moribund.Events in 1985,however,revived the movement.Widespread violence against black South Africans and dismay at President Ronald Reagan’s foreign policy inspired many at the University of Utah in the fall of 1986,and anti-apartheid activism grew bolder and stronger on campus.

Dayne Goodwin was working as a staff member at the University of Utah and was actively involved in the Central America Solidarity Coalition to protest the Reagan Administration’s involvement in Central America. Goodwin decided to form a new campus organization,which called on the

7

The State Money Management Act of 1953 prevented universities from deciding policies based on political,moral,or ethical considerations.Cedric Davern to David P.Gardner,n.d.,Students Against Apartheid Collection,Box 1,Folder 1,University of Utah Archives.

8 The Sullivan Principles called on corporations to provide equal pay for equal work,equal opportunity for advancement,equal educational rights,and to outlaw racially segregated facilities.

United States government, corporations,the state of Utah,and the University of Utah to end all support to the South African government.In September 1985, Goodwin and three others—students Michael Saperstein,Salem Ajluni, and professor Al Campbell —officially established the Coalition to Stop Apartheid (CSA).9

Given the distance between Salt Lake City and South Africa,how had Goodwin arrived at this moment? The violence in South Africa cannot fully answer this question.What had come together on campus had begun,for Goodwin,almost two decades before in classrooms at American University in Washington,D.C.Dayne Goodwin was born in 1946 in Madison, Wisconsin.His family moved thirteen times until his father finally settled the family in Logan after accepting a position at Utah State University in 1956.In high school,Goodwin was a serious and dedicated student, thoughtful and articulate,qualities that earned him a place in American University’s selective School of International Service,a high-powered program aimed at training people for careers in the State Department.

As Goodwin focused on his career,he increasingly realized that he did not agree with U.S.foreign policy,particularly the war in Vietnam,and became convinced that he needed to oppose those policies.Dropping out of American University after three years,Goodwin was drawn to the anti-war movement and the Poor People’s March on Washington in the spring of 1968.In 1970 Goodwin returned to Utah on a different track.“I came into contact with socialist ideas,left-wing ideas which led me to a critique of the social structure and the conviction there needed to be wide-scale social change.”10 He decided to devote his life to fighting for civil rights.

9

10 Ibid.

Dayne Goodwin,interview by author,Salt Lake City,January 26,2006.

David P.Gardner,President of the University of Utah,1973-1983.

SPECIALCOLLECTIONS, J. WILLARDMARRIOTT LIBRARY, UNIVERSITYOFUTAH

The CSA wasted no time confronting the university.In October, it sponsored a forum on campus to discuss the state of South Africa and invited students and the administration to respond publicly to calls for complete divestment.During the event,students charged the administration with skirting the divestment issue and demanded the university take a firm stand against apartheid.Anthony Morgan,executive assistant to President Peterson,fired back that the university would never make financial investment decisions based on political criteria.Activists had hoped the forum would politicize the campus but student apathy frustrated the CSA. Said one activist,“In the ‘60s,they [students] weren’t afraid to voice their opinions and work for what they believed in.Today,lots of students feel it’s not worth it because it might jeopardize their careers.” 11 Part of the problem,activists believed,was the lack of information on events in South Africa.A Dan Jones and Associates poll conducted for the Hinckley Institute of Politics on campus found that 40 percent of Utah’s students were “slightly knowledgeable”to “totally ignorant”of South Africa’s racial problems.The poll also revealed students cared little for other issues such as the U.S.raid in Libya,abortion,or even campus tuition increases. 12 Education,CSA leaders decided,had to take priority before mobilization.

For weeks,CSA activists manned several tables around campus,passing out literature on South Africa and apartheid.But as activists quickly discovered,their efforts failed to mobilize students.As Christmas vacation approached,it seemed CSA would soon be defunct.

The spring of 1986,however,witnessed a return to activism.Heightened media attention to apartheid around the United States did make the issue more salient.Becoming aware of apartheid in South Africa and incensed at the ongoing violence,a few students rejected apathy for involvement.A reinvigorated CSA found heightened interest and support in its call for university divestiture and an end to South African apartheid.For years Utah students were docile and uninvolved.Now student activism became a visible choice for change.

The move toward activism became evident on February 11,1986. Responding to repeated demands for complete divestment,the university Institutional Council invited CSA leaders to its meeting.Mike Saperstein, co-founder of CSA and a graduate student in economics,told the council “we feel that the apartheid system is not reformable [sic] in any meaningful sense.The Sullivan Principles are basically inadequate in ridding South Africa of apartheid.”13 Others like Una Stevenson claimed that total divestment of funds could bring about a peaceful solution.“If this doesn’t occur,” she said,“then there will be a revolution in South Africa like we’ve never seen before.And there will be your divestment—and your money will be

11 Students Against Apartheid Collection,Box 3,Folder 1,University of Utah Archives.

12 Ibid.,Box 1,Folder 2.

13 “Council passes apartheid resolution,” TheDaily Utah Chronicle (University of Utah),February 11, 1986.

absolutely no good to you.” 14 Their arguments failed to persuade the Institutional Council.Citing testimony from university vice president for Administrative Services Walter P.Gnemi that the overwhelming majority of the university’s investments were not in stocks but securities and certificates,the council unanimously passed a resolution which reaffirmed its support of human rights in South Africa and opposition to apartheid but also its faith in the Sullivan Principles.15

The council’s decision had important consequences.On February 24 at 4:30 a.m.,four students—Alan Chandler,Darin Dockstader,Connie Spencer,and Spencer Hammond—constructed a wooden-framed and cardboard shanty on the lawn between the Student Union Building and Orson Spencer Hall to dramatize the plight of black South Africans and to protest the university’s investment policies.The group,calling itself the University of Utah Students Against Apartheid (SAA),produced a position paper that stated:“Believing in Coretta Scott King’s words to Salt Lakers on February 6 that injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere,we have erected this shanty to protest apartheid.”More pointedly,and somewhat defiantly,the petition announced that SAA “intend it [the shanty] to remain on campus until the University of Utah divests its holdings in corporations that do business in South Africa.”16 If aroused by CSA rhetoric and action,this group acted independently.

In retrospect,shanty construction seemed the best choice for a struggling campus movement.Despite their best efforts,activists had attracted little public attention and failed to mobilize large numbers of students.Yet, unlike sit-ins and petitions,shanties were effective at “communicating truth”about apartheid and,more importantly,had proven valuable in galvanizing opposition and repression on other campuses.17 Student activists believed that similar success could be achieved at the University of Utah.

The shanty dubbed “Bishop Desmond Tutu Hall”was at the heart of campus and attracted much attention.“We staffed the shanty from about dawn on,”recalled sophomore activist Darin Dockstader.“One of the first visitors we had was a representative from Student Affairs,who informed us that we had better exist as an official student organization in order to have a legitimate presence on campus.” 18 Ironically,after completing the necessary paperwork to become an official campus organization,SAAers learned that they had failed to fill in a termination date for the organization on the form.This “error,”many later recalled,allowed SAA and the shanty to remain on campus indefinitely.

14 Ibid.

15 “U club unhappy with Council ruling,” The Daily Utah Chronicle,February 11,1986.The University of Utah held stock in twelve companies with South African investments with a market value of $2,143,000 in 1986.

16 Students Against Apartheid Collection,Box 3,Folder 7,University of Utah Archives.

17 See especially Sarah Ann Soule,“The Student Anti-Apartheid Movement in the United States: Diffusion of Protest Tactics and Policy Reform”(Ph.D.diss.,Cornell University,1995).

18 Darin Dockstader,phone interview by author,Salt Lake City,October 3,2005.

Most importantly,the shanty drew the attention of the university administration, particularly President Chase Peterson.When asked about the presence of the protest shanty, Peterson responded that it served a useful purpose on campus and that he had no plans to remove it.He also expressed hope that the shanty would further the debate concerning the “untidy”issue of apartheid.Quoting John Milton,Peterson stated:“where there is much desire to learn,there of necessity will be much arguing,much writing,many opinions…all are essential in a free and open campus environment.”Yet,while he fully supported the right to academic freedom of expression,Peterson opposed decision-making based on political considerations.Peterson believed that even if the University of Utah were to try to influence other institutions, the impact would be minimal.Moreover,he insisted that Africans were divided on the merits of corporate disinvestment,and American corporations could have a positive effect on the South African regime by implementing fair employment principles.19 The shanty’s presence on campus revived the fledgling anti-apartheid movement,and the CSA took the opportunity to create structure and better coordinate the cause.CSA felt that a viable anti-apartheid movement demanded effective communication so that it and SAA could share ideas and resources.Yet,while shared outrage over university policy brought the two groups into contact,this was often not sufficient to overcome the groups’differences in personality,philosophy, and style.Underlying these tensions was a fundamental discrepancy about

19

“U.president stoutly defends dissent and the right to invest in South Africa,” Deseret News,March 5, 1986.

SPECIALCOLLECTIONS, J. WILLARDMARRIOTT LIBRARY, UNIVERSITYOFUTAH

University of Utah Students in the early 1980s on the west side of Milton Bennion Hall.

the main objective of the movement.CSA,comprised of older,more experienced activists,was more hierarchically minded and fundamentally a political group aimed at ending U.S.support for the racist South African government.Thus,divestment was merely a part of a larger vision that dictated that activists unite under a more formal organization that could coordinate political actions and speak for the movement with a single voice. Such a broad vision also entailed networking with other sympathetic leftist organizations to share resources.In contrast,SAA was comprised of younger,less experienced student activists with only a divestment agenda. Having existed less than twenty-four hours,SAA lacked a formal organizational structure,though it seemed to many that Alan Chandler assumed the leading role and assigned others to ad hoc tasks.

Much of the tension between CSA and SAA derived from differences in style.SAA was reluctant to accept direction from a “bunch of radicals”that desired to build a sustainable movement but lacked the necessary creativity. CSA,on the other hand,felt betrayed that an upstart student group without prior experience in activism would not follow its lead.Said Goodwin:“Here I was:I was fifteen to twenty years older than most of those people.Up comes this younger,more privileged group of students who expected immediate results.I think they were ignoring [CSA’s] advice.”20 The conflicts that developed between CSA and SAA threatened to undermine the strength and effectiveness of the campus movement’s ability to challenge and defeat the university’s investment policy—one issue that both organizations agreed was an immediate problem in need of resolution.But it would be misleading to exaggerate the discord between the groups.In most instances,relations between activists were complementary and respectful.Reflecting back on the issue,one activist stated:“things could have gone to Hell.People could have been very egotistical.I’ve been involved in many organizations and,in this case,the shit did not hit the fan.”21 As the divestiture controversy heated up,both CSA and SAA agreed to present a unified front on campus.22

The shanty served as the perfect tool for CSA and SAA to mobilize the campus community.Chris Allen,in an editorial in the The Daily Utah Chronicle,admitted that despite his conservatism,the shanty had forced him to examine his political views and to take a stand.He decided:“individually and collectively,we also must wash our hands of the blood of apartheid and dedicate ourselves…to hasten the fall of this evil system.”23

Mark Nelson’s story illustrates a link between involvement in the anti-

20 Goodwin interview.

21 Mark Nelson,interview by author,Salt Lake City,October 22,2005.

22 There exist differing interpretations concerning the relationship between CSA and SAA.Some recall that members of both organizations eventually formed one organization (though they retained both CSA and SAA in their name:CSA/SAA).Others argue that both groups remained autonomous but collaborated on campus projects.

23 “U.must wash its hands of blood by hastening the fall of apartheid,” The Daily Utah Chronicle, February 27,1985.

Winnie

apartheid movement and later social activism.“I was an undergraduate in the honors program taking upper-division economics,” he recalled,“and felt like I didn’t have time to understand what was going on.”24

The shanty served as Nelson’s political awakening.Taking a more active interest in apartheid,Nelson put his heart and soul into the movement.He even persuaded his wife Ruth to join the movement.This experience,he vividly remembered twenty years later,dramatically changed his life.

Allen and Nelson joined a handful of like-minded activists on the lawn outside of the Olpin Student Union on February 28 for the first campus “Divestment Day”in which students planned to erect another shanty.The previous night,a campus newspaper reporter witnessed students Lara Stein and Camilla Hutton—both natives of South Africa—attempting to tear down the shanty walls.CSA/SAA gained much free publicity from this act of defiance.For days, TheDaily Utah Chronicle allocated generous space to the event,extensively reporting accusations and reactions from all sides.The women attempted to justify their actions,asserting that CSA/SAA knew “absolutely nothing”about events taking place in South Africa. 25 CSA/SAA responded that this incident exemplified events taking place in South Africa on a grander scale.

Many believed that activists were merely mimicking events across the nation and had no real concern for black South Africans.They charged that student protests were largely theatrical,designed to revive the radical days of the 1960s because it was the “cool”thing to do.26

A variety of conservatives—including members of the John Birch Society,CAUSA (the political front for Reverend Moon’s Unification Church),and the Ultra-Conservative Center for Constitutional Studies (formerly the Freeman Institute under the direction of Cleon Skousen)—

24 Nelson interview

25 Students Against Apartheid Collection,Box 1,Folder 1,University of Utah Archives.

26 Some students took this position even farther,arguing:“deep down inside,most,if not all,of the male supporters of the divestiture movement are only in it so they can get into a female supporters’[sic] pants.” “Anti-apartheid is ‘cool,’” The Daily Utah Chronicle,March 15,1986.

Mandela Hall.Shanty built in 1986 by students protesting apartheid in South Africa.

presented the most vocal challenge.27 Their letters to the editors of The Daily Utah Chronicle and the Deseret News depicted activists as dangerous subversives attempting to control world shipping and spread communism to South Africa.28

Although such rhetoric was dismissed by CSA/SAA,the fear of communism led some on campus to launch occasional attacks against its supposed sympathizers.On April 3 and again five days later,CSA/SAA reported to Salt Lake City police that unknown intruders broke into the apartment of Benjamin Medina,a university student and political activist who spoke in favor of the campus anti-apartheid movement.His political artwork was ripped and broken and intruders spray-painted furniture,clothing, photographs,and his rare book collection.On the wall,the vandals left a note warning Medina to curb his “leftist pinko activities.”29

Critics of the campus movement failed to understand the roots of student activism.The beliefs first expressed in SAA’s political manifesto,that direct action could help bring freedom and equality to South Africa,inspired many students to join the movement.There were also a few who embraced dissident politics as a way of gaining campus notoriety or revolting against the values with which they were raised.This was clearly the case for Chris Allen,whose editorial reflected disdain for his family’s conservatism.30

More significantly,anti-apartheid activism represented a positive community that helped break down feelings of social and cultural isolation. Reflecting back on the roughly two year period of activity,graduate student and CSA co-founder Salem Ajluni fondly recalls,“Those were very special and formative years for me…Those years,more than any other, confirmed for me how ‘American’my identity had become…it was during the years of the anti-apartheid movement in Utah that a balance was tipped toward confirmation of my ‘idigeneity.’”31

By March 1986,the activities of CSA/SAA had made an impact on campus.Yet,the number of students who became actively involved in anti-apartheid activity remained quite small.With the daily demands of school,family,and work,apartheid remained a distant issue for most students.Activist Ruth Heidt expressed her frustration with married students.Known among her fellow activists as the “Mother Mormon for divestment,”Heidt repeatedly urged parents,especially Mormons,at the university to get involved in the effort to end apartheid in South Africa for moral and ethical reasons.“Many Mormons have strong opinions on this

27 Students Against Apartheid Collection,Box 2,Folder 9,University of Utah Archives.

28 Students Against Apartheid Collection,Box 1,Folder 2,University of Utah Archives.

29 Despite the destruction of property,Medina continued to sell his artwork to support the student anti-apartheid movement.“Vandals trash apartment and art work of U.student involved in shanty protest,” Deseret News,April,3,1986.

30 “U.must wash its hands of blood by hastening the fall of apartheid,” The Daily Utah Chronicle, February 27,1985.

31 Salem Ajluni,email message to author,February 5,2006.

issue,but they are unwilling to speak out. I’m hoping to show that this is not only for liberals and radicals,but for the common people.”32

Despite such obstacles,CSA/SAA pressed on.The shanty had created a buzz on campus that activists sought to exploit and for the next two months,CSA/SAA invested much of its energy in the construction of a shantytown to drive home the brutality of South African racism.33 Activists also picketed,rallied,and lobbied to attract media attention to their cause. The largest protest occurred on March 13,1986.Fifty students and faculty members congregated around the shanties early in the morning to prepare for the first large-scale political demonstration on the university campus since the Vietnam War.At 1 p.m.on the granite steps of the university’s Park Administration building,activists presented President Peterson with a petition containing 1,722 signatures that asked the Institutional Council to divest.Nineteen eighty-four Democratic vice-presidential candidate Geraldine Ferraro was also on hand to provide support for the student demonstration.“You’re all terrific to take a stand and let your voice be heard,”she said.“I congratulate you.This is probably the most American thing you can be doing.”34

Adding to CSA/SAA’s prestige were two well-publicized national events,the Spring Mobilization ’86 and testimony before the United Nations Special Committee Against Apartheid.On April 23,members of CSA/SAA participated in a march in San Francisco from Mission Park to

32

“Anti-apartheid protesters greet those arrested at IC meeting,” The Daily Utah Chronicle,May 12, 1987.

33 Between February 1986 and June 1986,three shanties would be constructed on campus.

34 Geraldine Ferraro accepted an invitation by SAA to visit the shanty after a speech sponsored by the University of Utah’s Women’s Resource Center.“Anti-Apartheid Students Find Sympathetic Ear in Ferraro,Not Peterson,” Salt Lake Tribune March,14,1986.

Ben Medina,University of Utah student activist.

LYNNR. JOHNSON, SALTLAKETRIBUNE

the Civic Center in solidarity with groups protesting U.S.military intervention in Central America.While most of the participants were Californians,Salem Ajluni told The Daily Utah Chronicle “the Utah contingency made up the largest out-of-state group to attend the march.”35 Then,on June 27,Connie Spencer and Darin Dockstader,co-chairs of SAA,joined representatives from twenty-five other universities in New York City to report on its progress toward divestiture.36

Many in CSA/SAA engaged in quieter,less controversial activities such as letter writing,film screenings,benefit concerts,and sponsoring discussion groups to raise campus awareness.In doing so,CSA/SAA attracted a number of individuals who may have remained outside of the movement had it only engaged in confrontation.These tactics reflected the need to appeal to different campus constituents and still provide a sense of efficacy for participants.

CSA/SAA also attempted to gain acceptance within the greater Salt Lake City community.In a series of community forums,activists invited the public to share views on the apartheid question and to debate the pros and cons of divesting university funds.The largest forum took place on Thursday,April 11,in the Union Ballroom and featured Palmer DePaulis, mayor of Salt Lake City,Gordon Ottley,president of Central Federation Utah AFL-CIO,Utah Senator Terry Williams,E.K.Hunt,professor of economics,and a cross-section of the student population. 37 Despite CSA/SAA’s intention to look beyond campus and encourage people to participate,the shanties remained the focal point of protest.

From the day the shanties appeared on campus,student activists had expected controversy.A string of violent incidents,however,added a new dimension to the struggle.Early in the morning of March 8,1986,a Molotov cocktail was thrown at one of the wooden-framed shanties, exploding ten feet from where Darin Dockstader and Spencer Hammond stood.“We were standing inside the door talking when we heard the sound of breaking glass and a whoosh of fire.I went running out of the shanty and there was a big fire on the sidewalk.”38 Two weeks later arsonists struck again.Nobody was inside but a firebomb destroyed a considerable portion of the structure. 39 Then,in May,CSA/SAA reported that vandals had destroyed all of the shanties.Eye-witnesses pointed to members of the Beta Theta Pi and Sigma Nu fraternities as the culprits while articles in the campus newspaper speculated that right-wingers had destroyed the shanties though no one was ever officially charged in the incident.40

Responding to the string of violent incidents,President Peterson took a

35

Students Against Apartheid Collection,Box 1,Folder 1,University of Utah Archives.

36

“U.anti-apartheid movement goes to NYC,” The Daily Utah Chronicle,July 9,1986.

37 Students Against Apartheid Collection,Box 1,Folder 4,University of Utah Archives.

38 “Firebomb thrown at U.protest shanties,” Deseret News,March 9,1986.

39 “Fire Scorches Protest Shanty at U.;2nd Incident in as Many Weeks,” Salt Lake Tribune,March 20, 1986.

40 “Shanties Destroyed,Rebuilt Again,” The Collegiate (University of Utah),June 2,1986.

strong stand on the issue.He announced that the shanties were useful for calling attention to the divestiture controversy but had become an “attractive nuisance.”41 His comments were telling as they indicated a shift in administration policy.In a letter to SAA representative Darin Dockstader,Peterson encouraged CSA/SAA to continue with its plans to raise awarenessabout apartheid and human rights on campus but asked whether a viable alternative was available.He suggested that students could wear hats with anti-apartheid slogans or the university could designate a permanent spot where students could engage in free speech. 42 In its reply, CSA/SAA argued that the university was morally obligated to take a stand against apartheid and insisted that activists would not yield ground.

The negotiation process proved difficult and time consuming.Administrators were caught between an increasingly vocal and well-organized student group and pressure from Utah legislators and citizens to maintain control on campus.An article in the Salt Lake Tribune blamed Chase Peterson for not immediately removing the “clandestinely-erected”shanties and allowing students “unlimited license for protest.”43 As a publicly funded institution,the university was vulnerable to such criticism and sought to maintain the semblance of order while protecting the right of dissent and academic freedom.

What furthered the conflict between CSA/SAA and the university administration were their very different answers to the question,“How should the United States respond to events in South Africa?”Activists claimed that,as an institution charged with the development of responsible citizens,the university had a moral duty to divest.Conversely,the university argued that it should take no part in such a debate.Moral concerns about apartheid and divestiture,administrators believed,were not the province of a public institution.In a report to the Senate Executive Committee, Peterson outlined a three-point argument against divestiture.He said that approximately $10,656.26 was spent on surveillance and police protection for the shanties at a time when the state legislature had cut the university’s budget. 44 In addition,information obtained from the Investor Responsibility Research Center in Washington,D.C.,warned that reducing

41 Students Against Apartheid Collection,Box 1,Folder 2,University of Utah Archives.

42 Ibid.,Box 3,Folder 7.

43 “Students’Idealism Blinds them to Shanties Issue,” Salt Lake Tribune,August,25,1986.

Chase Peterson,President of the University of Utah,1983-1991.

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the university’s stock portfolio would result in substantial negative longterm effects.Finally,Peterson asserted that the university should not hold U.S.corporations “hostage”when South Africa was the real culprit.The best course of action,in Peterson’s estimation,was to make sure that all university investments were in companies rated as making progress under the Sullivan Principles.45

Peterson also presented the committee with possible short- and longterm plans for effectively addressing anti-apartheid protests.He stated that the administration was sincere in its desire to continue free speech on campus but viewed the shanties as an immediate threat to the safety of university students.He professed that administrators were trying to persuade students to take the shanties down voluntarily in exchange for a seat on the university Investor Responsibility Committee (a subcommittee created to ensure that all university investments fell under the Sullivan Principles).In addition,Peterson noted that the administration was diligently working to formulate clear-cut regulations governing the use of university facilities.46

On July 20,1986,Alan Edwards of the Utah State Department of Administrative Services,Office of Risk Management,informed Peterson that the university risked losing its liability coverage for any accident that concerned the shanties.The administration knew the decisive moment had arrived.As Peterson confided in a letter to a former colleague at Harvard University,“the University is rapidly approaching a crisis of decision with ramifications of great academic significance.”Peterson opined that he had no other choice but to inform students that the shanties would be removed before the next school year.47 Later that day,Peterson dashed off another letter to CSA/SAA requesting that both sides meet to determine the fate of the shanties.

On August 6,1986,Mark Nelson and Dayne Goodwin met with President Peterson and Vice President for University Relations Ted Capener in the Park Administration building.Peterson assured the activists that he would commit every resource to the preservation of free speech on campus.Yet,he reiterated that free speech was not the issue.Rather,the administration’s primary concern was the violence associated with the presence of the shanties and the potential loss of insurance.Nelson,fearing that the university had already made its decision,responded with a number

44 Students Against Apartheid Collection,Box 3,Folder 3,University of Utah Archives.

45 Chase Peterson to the Senate Executive Committee,1985-1987,Chase Peterson papers,Box 12, Folder 8,University of Utah Archives.In fact,the university continued to purchase stock in companies with operations in South Africa,which violated university policy.In a memo to Chase Peterson on July 14,A.E.Rothermich,who served as director of administrative policies,mentions that the university had bought stock in USX Corporation,Squibb,and Pfizer.

46 Undated correspondence between Chase Peterson and Virginia Smith,Ted Capener papers, University of Utah Archives.

47 Chase Peterson to Chris Foreman,n.d.Chase Peterson papers,Box 12,Folder 5,University of Utah Archives.

Anderson’s courtroom,and during the next several months,the legal proceedings surrounding the shanties played out. 51

Assistant Attorney General Evans told the court that the shanties were costly to the university,invited violence,and were not protected forms of free speech.

Brian Barnard countered that the shanties represented forms of symbolic speech (like hanging an American flag upside-down or burning a draft card) protected under the First and Fourteenth Amendments.On December 8,Anderson presented his decision.He declared that the university did not have “clearly stated,non-discriminatory rules and regulations on free expression as to time,place,and manner”and thus ruled in favor of CSA/SAA. 52 But,he ordered the shanties to be removed each night to prevent further violence.He also advised the university to create more applicable time and place regulations to govern future protest activities.53

Members of CSA/SAA had reason to be proud of their accomplishments.The previous spring,activists and administrators were deadlocked in debate over the existence of the shanties.The court case brought a partial victory.The movement was also bolstered by national events such as the passage of the Comprehensive Anti-Apartheid Act over President Reagan’s veto and the announcement that large firms such as General Motors and IBM had decided to withdraw from South Africa,on account of the deteriorating conditions in South Africa and economic pressure from within the United States. 54 Nevertheless,CSA/SAA struggled to attain their real goal—university divestment.

In April 1987,the movement approached a crossroads.Though participation was constant,CSA/SAA’s activities remained limited.“It was

51 Brian Barnard,interview by author,Salt Lake City,February 6,2006.

52 University of Utah Students Against Apartheid v.Chase Peterson,649 F.Supp.1200 (C.D.Ut.1986).

53 The university would form an ad hoc committee headed by Professor John Flynn to draft new time and place regulations.Approved on January 5,1987,the regulations stated that students must staff any structure they erect during regular school daytime hours and must apply for a renewable thirty-day permit.

54 Wall Street Journal,October 21,1986.

Free South Africa.

SPECIALCOLLECTIONS, J. WILLARDMARRIOTT LIBRARY, UNIVERSITYOFUTAH

approaching summer,”says Tom Price,“and we knew we needed to do something dramatic that would earn us a lot of leverage.”Yet,there was uncertainty as to what course of action to take.During one of CSA/SAA’s weekly strategy sessions,Tom Price,Roy Kasten,Miriam Harper,and others expressed their desire to confront directly the Institutional Council during its final meeting at the Alumni House in hopes of getting a resolution before the end of the school year.Moreover,the activists were willing to risk arrest in order to achieve their goal.Others,like Dayne Goodwin,still committed to peaceful protest wondered about the usefulness of this tactic and cautioned students against the idea.“I told them you are risking your college degree…but when people determined to do it,of course,then I supported them.”55

On the morning of May 11,student protestors congregated outside the Alumni House waiving protest signs to urge the Institutional Council to take a firm stand against South African apartheid.As the council adjourned for lunch,eight student activists—Kathy Aldous,Dano Blanchard,Roy Kasten,Darin Dockstader,Tom Price,Celeste Staley,Ruth Heidt,and Andrew Hunt—entered the meeting room and took seats at the council table.Each held a prepared statement listing reasons for divestiture.“We have a statement we would like to read,”Kasten told council chair John Dahlstrom when the meeting was called to order.When asked if they were on the agenda,Kasten replied no and began reading the statement,ignoring Dahlstrom’s repeated calls for order and threats to have the students removed.56

Immediately after Kasten’s arrest,another student began reading where Kasten left off.In all,four protesters read from the statement and were arrested.Four others who had the statement taken from them before they could read were told they were not under arrest unless they continued to disrupt the meeting.The students paused and then broke into a chant of “Divest Now!”The first three activists to be marched outside in police custody smiled and waved to the crowd.Before getting into the police car, activist Dano Blanchard raised a defiant fist to the cheers and applause from other demonstrators.Tom Price yelled that being arrested would “teach the Institutional Council that they can’t [sic] keep screwing people over.” 57 After the students were taken away, the remaining demonstrators began yelling in unison,“Trustees,you know,there’s blood on your portfolio!” and “We see,we see,the IC hates democracy!”One by one,the students were marched out of the Alumni House to awaiting demonstrators.The media,which had been alerted earlier in the day to the protest,captured the scene for print and television.

The demonstration did little to sway administrators.The Institutional

55 Goodwin interview.

56 “Students busted for disrupting IC,” The Daily Utah Chronicle,May 12,1987. 57 Ibid.

Council dismissed the protest as a minor agitation and refused to acknowledge students’demands.President Peterson expressed disappointment that reason had been lost.The university also charged the eight students with class-B misdemeanors,which carried a possible fine of $299.Yet,the demonstration had a pronounced effect on campus.The stories about it appearing in the city’s media angered both community members and university alumni who demanded that the university put an end to the “crisis”on campus.The demonstration also occurred in the midst of stories from other schools that had decided to divest,adding to the impression that the time had come for change.58

A month later,in a stunning announcement on Tuesday,June 9,the Institutional Council voted eight to one to divest all holdings in corporations with operations in South Africa.Activists were thrilled.CSA/SAA had rallied sympathetic students,faculty,and community members against authorities’persistent refusal to divest and claimed an important,though long-overdue victory.

By July 1987,the movement had largely dissolved,although a few activists would continue the fight to end apartheid in South Africa.Unlike the student movement of the 1970s,the campus anti-apartheid movement’s demise was a product of its success.Divestment was the immediate goal and,with success,most activists disbanded,particularly after the charges were dropped against those arrested at the university’s Alumni House.

Despite the dissolution of CSA/SAA,the effects of the anti-apartheid movement were not lost on campus.There remained a few committed students who,thrilled with their recent victory,turned their sights on other pressing social issues such as the presence of the Aryan Nations in Salt Lake City,homophobia,and the Nuclear Test Site in Nevada.The university also weighed in publicly on the significance of the anti-apartheid movement. The Institutional Council argued that its decision to divest was independent of campus anti-apartheid activity and was based largely on national political events and the actions of other academic institutions that had determined that the Sullivan Principles were no longer a viable alternative.59 Privately,however,council members told a different story.As council member Donald Pugh admitted,there was general agreement that the council was forced to take a stand on the issues of apartheid and divestiture. “While a university’s best interests are served by not taking a political action,we had gotten ourselves into a political action,like it or not….”60 The Institutional Council’s ruling was also a response to widespread campus support for divestment.Anti-apartheid activists had gained crucial

58 Vellela, New Voices,34;The University of California system voted to divest approximately $3.1 billion in stocks and bonds in twelve companies with ties to South Africa.Divestment also occurred at the University of North Carolina,Illinois,and Florida.

59 Prior to the Institutional Council’s decision,119 colleges and universities had withdrawn nearly five hundred million dollars from companies with operations in South Africa.Massie, Loosing the Bonds,621.

60 Students Against Apartheid Collection,Box 1,Folder 3,University of Utah Archives.

allies in the university’s Academic Senate and on the campus newspaper and thus effectively brought pressure and public opinion to bear on the university,forcing a recalcitrant administration to respond.Activists took a measure of justifiable pride in knowing that their sustained challenge to the university’s investment policy had succeeded.A week after the Council’s decision,the university had divested one-fifth of its stock in companies with ties to South Africa.At the end of August 1987,the university had withdrawn the remainder of its investments.61 A small group of activists had succeeded in rallying sufficient support from students and faculty to challenge campus authority.If in public denial about the success of mobilization,administrators had capitulated to effective protest.

The campus movement was directly responsible for a legal reexamination of campus speech codes and symbolic speech.Judge Aldon Anderson’s decision that the shanties were protected under the First and Fourteenth Amendments set a precedent that allowed shanties to remain on other campuses.62 Moreover,the movement also promoted greater educational awareness about issues of social justice on campus,even though few students actively participated.As one participant recalled:“I think we were successful in creating occasions for discussions about race,rights,and duties which might otherwise not have taken place.”63

Perhaps the most profound impact of the movement was expanding the base of grassroots activism among university students.Through political participation,a small group of students became part of the activist subculture.For others,participation in the movement strengthened their commitment to grassroots activism.As Darin Dockstader recalled:“People’s lives were dramatically transformed.The experience of coordinating and leading an organized activist movement was powerful.I learned to organize and motivate people,and felt the satisfaction of seeing an important task fulfilled.”64

61 Chase Peterson to Ted Capener,n.d.,unprocessed collection,University of Utah Archives.

62 Wiener,“Students,Stocks,and Shanties,”338.

63 Dockstader interview.

64 Ibid. 276

BOOKREVIEWS

Beyond the Missouri:The Story of the American West. By Richard W.Etulain. (Albuquerque:University of New Mexico Press,2006.xiii + 466 pp.Cloth,$39.95; paper,$24.95.)

IN THIS ENGAGING NARRATIVE,Richard W.Etulain,professor emeritus of history at the University of New Mexico,traces the history of the western third of the continental United States.The author emphasizes two overarching themes: rapid-fire change occasioned by forces such as mineral rushes and defense spending and social complexity and diversity.Rejecting both the triumphal,Turnerian school of frontier history and the generally condemnatory,pessimistic vision of the New Western historians,Etulain strives for a “nuanced”account that avoids forcing historical actors into “molds of heroism or villainy”(5).For instance,the author describes both the fur trade’s destructive environmental impact and the trappers’promotion of America’s national interests.

Etulain treats standard topics in western history including Native Americans, imperial rivalries,the fur trade,Mormonism,extractive industries,homesteading, and the impacts of World War II and the Cold War.The book’s treatment of the region’s cultural history is exceptionally rich and vibrant.Major western writers, art and film are effectively described and interpreted.Delightful anecdotes, quotations from historical documents and memorable details enliven the book. The book lacks footnotes but does offer suggestions for additional reading at the end of each chapter.Etulain’s familiarity with western American historical writing enables him to summarize other scholars’findings,quote key interpretive conclusions of their work,and offer a state-of-the-art overview of the field. Frustratingly,he furnishes names for only some of the scholars whom he quotes.

In describing nineteenth-century Utah and Mormonism Etulain draws upon classics by Wallace Stegner,Thomas O’Dea,and Leonard Arrington and upon recent work by authors including Richard Bushman and Will Bagley.Etulain characterizes Brigham Young as “one of the most remarkable of all westerners” because of his abilities as an organizer and colonizer (149).The Mountain Meadows Massacre is portrayed as a joint attack perpetrated by Indians and Mormons,the direct result of orders by local civil and ecclesiastical leaders but the indirect result of Mormon leaders’behavior,including their “abuse of Indian allies”(154).In a minor error,Etulain conflates the generally discredited idea of an Outer Cordon of settlements with the concept of a Mormon Corridor of settlements.The peculiarities of pioneer Utah’s theodemocracy,economic relations between the Mormons and non-Mormon capitalists,and plural marriage are cogently summarized,as is Mormonism’s accommodation of the forces of modernization late in the nineteenth century.

Readers who are familiar with Utah’s history will find many parallels between the developments Etulain describes for the West at large and Utah’s economic development and social diversity.To the casual reader,though,these parallels may

be obscured by the author’s emphasis upon Utah’s uniqueness as a Mormon stronghold.For instance,the author appropriately contrasts the social structure of Mormon settlements in Utah with that of western mining communities but implies that Utah lacked mining towns;the book’s map of the mining frontier identifies mining towns or regions in every western state except for Utah and New Mexico.The author contrasts the racial and ethnic diversity of other western cities early in the twentieth century with Salt Lake City,alleging that “racial and ethnic diversity ...had little impact on Salt Lake City”(310).In relative terms,the contrast is apt,but it is also misleading in the sense that it obscures the presence of substantial numbers of Italian,Greek,and Japanese residents in the city.Utah’s significant concentration of World War II defense installations and industries is also not acknowledged.Etulain’s map showing “Military Sites and Major Industries in the West,1940s-1950s”shows at least one facility in every western state except for Utah and Montana.

While Etulain’s portrayal of Utah’s role in western history is uneven,he nevertheless offers an up-to-date,lively and objective survey of western American history.

BRIAN Q.CANNON Brigham Young University

History May Be Searched in Vain:A Military History of the Mormon Battalion. By Sherman L.Fleek.(Spokane:The Arthur H.Clark Company,2006.414 pp.Cloth,$37.50.)

HISTORY MAY BE SEARCHED IN VAIN provides a fresh perspective on the march of the Mormon Battalion.The author,a retired military officer,is clearly smitten with the legacy of the Battalion.He perceptively observes in the book’s introduction,“History loves incongruities,turnabouts,and reversals”(21).The Mormon Battalion provides a plethora of each for the author to extrapolate from. Other satisfactory looks at the general subject have appeared over the years, including Daniel Tyler’s A Concise History of the Mormon Battalion in the Mexican War,1846-47 first published in 1881,B.H.Roberts The Mormon Battalion,Its History and Achievements in 1919,John F.Yurtinis’unpublished 1975 dissertation “A Ram in the Thicket:The Mormon Battalion in the Mexican War,”Mary Baldwin Ricketts’narrative history The Mormon Battalion:U.S.Army of the West,1846-1848 published in 1996,and a superb documentary edition by David Bigler and Will Bagley in 2000, Army of Israel:Mormon Battalion Narratives.However,never before has the Mormon Battalion’s story been told in the main from “the perspective of professional arms,”Fleek writes.“The military world can be puzzling and difficult for some,”with its “obsolete”terms,practices,and methods used,the author argues (26).

Fleek also shows that much of the severe discipline and harsh punishment seen by Mormon Battalion volunteers as unwarranted and unnecessary was common

in the army of the day.So,too,were the onerous demands made by commanding officers on the enlisted men.

Only a small number of soldiers have encountered more arduous circumstances than those faced by these volunteers in 1846.Husbands and fathers left their families alone on the harsh,demanding plains to answer Brigham Young’s call to undertake an unpredictable nineteen-hundred mile crossing of the American Southwest under the command of Lt.Col.Phillip St.George Cooke.The dogged commitment manifest by this sobering act left a lasting legacy for the Battalion. “Few have faced the difficult circumstances that the Mormon Battalion experienced,”Fleek observes (28).The author’s chosen tack,writing a military history of the Battalion,reflects his many years of service as an officer in the U.S.Army.Thus he brings a perspective to the march of the Mormon Battalion shared by few others.Rather than only focusing on the motivations,personalities,and faith promoting stories of these volunteers,Sherman Fleek approaches the undertaking, above all,as an armed,military venture.The Battalion’s march is correctly viewed, in his opinion,as an act of arms,not as a pioneer journey.As he reminds readers, the Mormon Battalion was first and foremost a military entity.Therefore,to truly understand the Battalion’s place in history,“one must study the profession of arms” (34).The common way of viewing the experience until now has been to see the Battalion as a “group of pioneers,”not specifically as soldiers (26).

Fleek also deserves the appreciation of future scholars when he calls attention to the 2003 acquisition by the University of Utah’s Marriott Library of the writings of Dr.George B.Sanderson—known to the edgy Mormon volunteers as “Dr.Death.”

In summary, History May Be Searched in Vain, may possibly be,in this reviewer’s consideration,the most important narrative on the Mormon Battalion to appear in years.The author is convincing in his sense that the march was,first and foremost,a military undertaking.And his use of recently uncovered materials,such as the Sanderson journal,breathes new life into the story.

IN THIS NEW AND UNIQUE STUDY of the California Gold Rush,Richard T.Stillson,analyzes how word of the discovery of gold spread rapidly from California to the eastern regions,and how that information mobilized tens of thousands to speed westward.Stillson is well qualified for this study possessing

M. GUY BISHOP Woods Cross

Spreading the Word:A History of Information in the California Gold Rush. By Richard T.Stillson.(Lincoln:University of Nebraska Press,2006.viii + 274 pp.Cloth, $55.95.)

Ph.D’s in both economics and history,and is a published scholar on the theory and history of information in financial markets.He teaches history at George Mason University.Stillson utilizes impressive research from period newspapers, from small-town to national newsprint,guidebooks and maps,rumors,and private communications.Pulling these many sources into a manageable study was a monumental work.

Stillson demonstrates how information of the discovery quickly spread from the 1848 discovery of gold at Sutter’s Mill and resulted in “the largest internal migration in U.S.History”(1).He points out that the majority of gold seekers were from the East or Midwest and had little reliable knowledge of the West, Western travel,or gold mining.Most understood that the trip was dangerous. Stories of mountain men,Native American tribes,and an incredible geography of vast plains,rugged mountains,and deserts frequented discussion and fueled caution.Intuitively the gold seekers understood that their preparations would mean the difference between life and death.Undaunted,they had to sift through rumor and printed information,little of which was credible,decide on a course of action, and put life on the line in the hope of striking it rich.Stillson demonstrates that after the first wave of gold seekers reached California in 1849,their letters to family and friends in the east rapidly changed perspectives from the wild and speculative with more reliable and solid information.Because these letters and journals were often published,the next wave of gold rushers could use the information to travel better routes,avoid some of the worst delays and pitfalls,and,after arriving in California,understand better where and how to look for gold.

Spreading the Word is an interesting and important study for the gold rush, California,and media historians.It is a significant fresh look at what many may consider an over examined subject.Stillson’s research and methods are notable;his conclusions valid and logical.Most important are his contributions in showing how communication and technology,with its connection of media,myth,and reality,impacted society during the hazardous and exciting Gold Rush Era.The only drawback to this study is that while it is written in straightforward,easy to read prose that follows a logical organization of information,its appeal will be of limited interest to a general audience.

JOHN D. BARTON

Recollections of Past Days,The Autobiography of Patience Loader Rozsa Archer.

Sandra Ailey Petree,ed.(Logan:Utah State University Press,2006.xii + 267 pp. Cloth,$32.95.)

PART OF UTAH STATE UNIVERSITY PRESS’S Life Writings of Frontier

Utah State University Uintah Basin Campus

Women’s Series, Recollections of Past Days,edited by Sandra Ailey Petree,associate professor of English at Northwestern Oklahoma State University,joins an abundance of recent books and articles on the Martin and Willie Handcart Company remembering their overland ordeal in 1856.Writing thirty years after the event, Patience Loader used three notebooks and 335 hand-written pages to record her handcart experience and the events of her long life.

It is the completeness of her account that makes this volume so valuable. Patience not only narrated her handcart journey,but told of her early life in England,her marriage to Camp Floyd soldier John Rozsa,and her time in Washington,D.C.during the Civil War when John served in the Army of the Potomac.After his discharge and his death near Leavenworth,she returned to Utah.

Patience spent hard years making a living for her family.She worked under terrible conditions as a cook for miners in a Utah canyon.Later,she married John Archer and spent the remaining years of her life caring for her children and grandchildren and participating in civic and church affairs in Pleasant Grove. Patience narrates it all in detail.

Petree’s organization of her record and extensive research is evident in the introduction and in the informative footnotes,photos,maps,and appendices.The discussion in the Introduction of autobiographical writing and specifically women’s writing is an excellent introduction to Patience’s record.Through Petree’s research we are introduced to village life in England with pictures of the Loader home,as well as scenes Patience described in her diary.For instance,the reader might puzzle over her mention of a nineteenth century bathing wagon had not Petree found a drawing of and an advertisement for one.

The autobiography is just as thorough and honest.When the respectable and educated Loader family arrived by ship in New York City they worked until they were assigned to a handcart company.Patience wrote of their dismay and the family’s fear that their mother was too frail to make such a journey.Personally such a plan did not appeal to Patience either.She wrote,“I could not see it right at all to want us to do such a humeliating [sic] thing to be...harnest up like cattle and pull a handcart....”(57).Patience wrote to her brother-in-law John Jacques,still in Liverpool,and asked him to see if they could be reassigned to a wagon train. John responded with a scathing letter of chastisement and must have reported their reluctance to go on foot.After overhearing rumors that his name had been reported in the Millennial Star as apostatizing,John Loader said,“Mother I am going to Utah[.] I will pull the hand cart if I die on the road”(57).Unfortunately that is what happened to him.

A review can do little justice to the quality and content of Patience’s record of their overland travel.Needless to say,they endured the problems of suffering, death,hunger,and cold,and each event is faithfully entered in her record.

AUDREY GODFREY Logan

Big Dams of the New Deal Era:A Confluence of Engineering and Politics. By David P.Billington and Donald C.Jackson.(Norman:University of Oklahoma Press,2006. xiv + 369 pp.Cloth,$36.95.)

I CAN’T THINK OF ANOTHER TITLE like this one even though it covers a familiar topic:the big dam era in the western United States.There are,of course, many books about the politicians who authorized the dams and the companies that built them.But there are few books that pay attention to the engineers who actually did the design work.This sweeping regional survey—much of it based on archival research—marries bureaucratic history to the history of technology. Unlike most dam historians (myself included),Billington and Jackson know a lot about the science and engineering of dams.The result is a singular achievement.

The authors begin with two chapters that consider the origins of the Bureau of Reclamation and the Army Corps of Engineers.They explain how the former agency got into the power-producing business and how the latter agency got into the dam-building business.Then the book separately discusses four watershed systems and their keystone dams—the Colorado (Hoover Dam),the Columbia (Bonneville and Grand Coulee dams),the Missouri (Fort Peck and Garrison dams),and the Sacramento-San Joaquin (Shasta and Friant dams).Strictly speaking, Big Dams covers the interwar period rather than the New Deal era;the authors demonstrate that many of these projects had been planned before the Depression-era administration of FDR gave them momentum.New Deal power had its limits,however:proposals for TVA-style regional authorities failed to win support in the West.

Big Dams offers more facts than interpretations,yet one suspects that the authors agree more with Donald Pisani than Donald Worster about the relationship between dams and authority.Billington and Jackson avoid a teleological narrative about the planned rise of a technocratic elite.They highlight the role of contingencies like the Mississippi flood of 1927,the Columbia flood of 1948,and the Great Depression itself.Furthermore,by placing dam design at the center of their story,they demonstrate that anonymous mid-level bureaucrats shaped the western waterscape as much as anyone.Uncomfortable with “blind boosterism or knee-jerk opposition”about dams,the authors prefer to dispassionately and painstakingly describe the technical work of dam engineers.

Billington and Jackson make the interesting point that these dams that now symbolize technological modernity and progress were actually designed conservatively.Engineers had two basic design choices,one old and one new:the “massive”dam type (which commandingly holds back water with its sheer bulk) and the “structural”dam type (which artfully displaces water pressure onto its rock abutments).Although the “massive”tradition required far more labor and material, the Bureau of Reclamation and the Army Corps consistently went back to the old trough.Their big dams were far bigger than they had to be.Without the Art Deco

flourishes added to Hoover Dam as an afterthought,we might see the edifice for what it is:comparatively wasteful and inefficient.

Generalists may find this book hard to digest.Its very virtues—its comprehensiveness,its evenhandedness,and its technical detail—make it far less readable than Marc Reisner’s Cadillac Desert .However, Big Dams of the New Deal Era will become a standard reference for specialists.Scores of illustrations (maps,diagrams, photographs) enhance the text.I have come to expect that books from the University of Oklahoma Press will be handsomely designed and produced,and this one is no exception.

JAREDFARMER University of Southern California

The Marrow of Human Experience:Essays on Folklore. By William A.Wilson,Edited by Jill Terry Rudy.(Logan:Utah State University Press,2006.vi + 321 pp.Paper,$24.95.)

THE LIFE WORK of folklorist William A.(Bert) Wilson,whose book of selected essays, The Marrow of Human Experience,has been edited by his BYU colleague and fellow-folklorist Jill Terry Rudy,exemplifies what we might call lived scholarship. Whatever Bert Wilson teaches and writes is grounded in and motivated by the ethos imprinted upon him through membership in his family and through participation in the life of the small,vital southern Idaho community of his childhood and adolescence.While claims about the power of early experience could be made about practically anyone,not everyone is sufficiently aware of the significance of that early experience to direct it mindfully toward the fulfillment of his or her calling.But as the seventeen essays in The Marrow of Human Experience (and his daughter Denise Wilson Jamsa’s biographical sketch of him at the end of the volume) show repeatedly,the primal motivations of this scholar-teacher’s life–love of learning,faithful keeping of his LDS religion,ongoing fostering of community and connectedness with others,love of story–are inscribed in everything he has produced.

Personal involvement with one’s scholarly material,known as reflexivity,has until quite recently been anathema in many academic fields,though attitudes have been changing in the crucible of post modernity,and it must be noted that Wilson’s reflexivity–his candor,as an academic,about his life-concerns—has been at times costly and painful to him.Nonetheless,we can read the cover of this book,which juxtaposes a sepia-tinted snapshot of his mother as a young woman with a contemporary color image of a derelict log cabin,the only structure remaining in the southern Idaho ghost town that had been his mother’s childhood home,as a testament to Bert Wilson’s ongoing and unapologetic and wholehearted reflexivity.

The essays in the volume are arranged into three thematic categories–first,folk-

lore as a subject of study and folklorists as players in the world of public arts and education policy;second,Finland and the problematic,two-edged role that nineteenth-century Romantic Nationalism played in Finland’s development as a nation (the subject of Wilson’s doctoral dissertation,which in 1976 became a groundbreaking,prize-winning book, Folklore and Nationalism in Modern Finland); and third,the areas closest to the author personally–religion and family.Were we to rearrange these essays chronologically,we would see that Wilson has been speaking and writing about all three areas throughout his four-decade career. Twelve of the essays,over two-thirds,were originally speeches that he delivered to live audiences (three are published here for the first time),a fitting indication of the author’s devotion to connectedness with others.His passion for building bridges with others is further attested in the variety of audiences addressed.Only seven of the essays were originally directed to folklorists;the rest were directed to various audiences of non-folklorists:historians,musicologists,general humanities faculty,students just beginning to learn about folklore,Mormons.The author’s bridge-building propensity,his care to ensure that everyone be included,means that the early part of every address to a non-folklorist audience is devoted to basics:what folklore is,its provenance,its necessity.

Utah historians know Bert Wilson as the fellow who brought the Utah State Historical Society into an extended and mutually satisfying association with the Folklore Society of Utah.He tells the story in the essay “Something There Is That Doesn’t Love a Wall,”his dinner address to the 1991 joint annual meeting of the two scholarly societies.Here he shows similarities between folkloristics and historiography (also acknowledging distinctions) and delineates the value for historians in making judicious and informed use of folklore materials.

Folklorists internationally know Bert Wilson as the first to throw light on Romantic Nationalism as a theorized and effective plan of action for oppressed peoples (and embraced by the Finns,who had been under Swedish domination for six hundred years before being catapulted into Russian fiefdom) and to show how this construct of nineteenth-century German philosopher Johann Gottfried Herder was to be contrasted with the contemporaneous “evolutionary anthropology”dear to English theorists.

Closer to home,folklorists know Bert Wilson both as a mentor and a scholar of high stature and as a humane and fearless friend.Editor Jill Terry Rudy has arranged to preface each essay in the volume with a short introductory piece by a folklorist whose work is related to the subject of the essay.Every essay is thus burnished by the evaluation of a fellow-professional,and the anthology as a whole is made even more valuable in classrooms and on reading lists in history,humanities,and social-science courses across the board.This book builds bridges.

POLLY STEWART Salt Lake City

Tales From Utah Valley. By D.Robert Carter.(Provo:The Daily Herald,2005. 147 pp.Paper,$19.95.)

This book is a collection of twenty-five absorbing accounts of Utah Valley history,originally composed for the Provo Daily Herald ’s History Page.The stories,recounted by Utah Valley historian D.Robert Carter,concern incidents that few know and subjects that few study.One article,“Making Sugar—A Bittersweet Experience,”recounts the early efforts of settlers to produce sugar.It describes everything from John Taylor’s investigations in France to the arduous trek to carry the machinery for sugar production across the plains to the “manna”discovered on the leaves of cottonwood trees in a time of drought.These are fascinating pieces of history and Carter relates them in clear,straightforward language. The sugar article is one of five in the first chapter entitled “Pioneer Life.” There are six chapters that follow.“Parks and Monuments”affords snapshots of the history of Provo’s Pioneer Park.“The Wasatch Mountains” contains stories that took place in the peaks surrounding Utah Valley. “Crime and Punishment”gives the history of two criminal cases in territorial Utah,one of adultery and one of murder.“Around Town”details miscellaneous happenings in Provo such as its May Day celebrations and the 1938 visit of composer Sergei Rachmaninoff.“The Dinky Durban”presents a history of the Salt Lake & Utah Railroad,and “Utah Lake”gives an idea of the role of this body of water in the history of the valley.These articles not only provide interesting historical information but they are also an example of how distinct and fascinating Utah history can be.

Derricks and Determination:Oil Exploration in a Portion of Southwestern Wyoming,1847-1982. By Walter R.Jones.(Casper,WY:Mountain States Lithographing,2005.xiii + 189 pp.Paper,$19.95.)

This book covers almost 140 years of the history of the Wyoming oil industry.Focusing on Evanston and Uinta County,it deals with many aspects of this history,from exploration and discovery to settlement and organization.Author Walter Jones is head of Western Americana at the University of Utah Marriott Library.He divides his book into two parts:“History of an Oil Boom,”with four chronological chapters covering the years 1847 to 1982 and “Life and Labor in the Evanston Oil Fields,”

which includes four chapters on five individuals—“Charles O.Richardson, Superintendent of Oil Fields,”“Clem Morrison,Recluse of Spring Valley,” “Arthur Whiteman,Daddy of the Spring Valley Oil Fields,”and “Maude Byrne and Ira Taylor,an Oil Field Tragedy.”

Utah at the Beginning of the New Millennium:A Demographic Perspective. Edited by Cathleen D.Zick and Ken R.Smith.(Salt Lake City:The University of Utah Press, 2006.xvi + 270 pp.Paper,$22.95.)

While statistics certainly do not reveal the whole story,they are a good start,and this collection of Utah’s demographic statistics provides valuable information about Utah as it enters the twenty-first century. This volume uses nearly two hundred figures and tables to demonstrate a wealth of statistics about Utah and how it compares with the rest of the United States.Thirty-two scholars have written twenty-two chapters to explain the data.The book has three parts.Part One,“Basic Demographics” includes chapters on the age structure in Utah,the implications of Utah’s high fertility rate,past and present family papers,marriage and divorce, death,and the impact of migration.Part Two,“Quality of Life Issues,” examines the economics of Utah households,consumption patterns,social risk factors,health,education,crime,religion,and the wellbeing of children and adolescents.Part Three,“Emerging Population Issues,”considers singleparent households,the elderly population,immigration,race and ethnic segregation and inequality,political change,life in urban and rural Utah, and concludes with an essay on how data helps policy makers plan for the future. Utah at the Beginning of the New Millennium is a valuable resource for anyone interested in the state of Utah and where it is headed.

The Willie Handcart Company By Paul D.Lyman.(Provo:BYU Studies,2006.279 pp. Paper,$21.95.)

This fine presentation of the Willie Handcart Company takes the reader day-by-day from the embarkation of Mormon emigrants onboard the Thornton in Liverpool,on May 1,1856,until the arrival of the company in the Salt Lake Valley six months later on November 9th.This account includes the company’s desperate struggle in the early winter snows of Wyoming and arrival of rescuers sent out by Brigham Young. Using the company journal as the basis for the account,supplemented by

three other records—the Journal of Peder Madsen from April 23 through September 8;Levi Savage’s Diary from June 15 through October 25;and the History of William Woodward for July 5 through October 2,the story of the ill-fated company unfolds in the words of the participants.Their accounts are supplemented with explanatory paragraphs by the author, detailed maps of the route,and driving directions to reach important sites along the trail.

Beneath These Red Cliffs:An Ethnohistory of the Utah Paiutes. By Ronald L.Holt. (Logan:Utah State University Press,2006.xxiv + 197 pp.Paper,$21.95.)

This history of Utah’s Paiutes by Weber State University Professor Ronald Holt was originally published in 1992 by the University of New Mexico Press and reviewed in the Summer 1993 issue of the Utah Historical Quarterly. This is an updated version with a new foreword and comments by the author.The book begins with a general overview of Paiute society,making it clear that knowledge before contact with white settlers in the 1850s is scarce.Holt focuses on how white settlement impacted the Paiutes in a process that moved from occupation to dependency, neglect to lethargy,termination to forgetfulness,and finally restoration.

Touched by Fire:The Life,Death,and Mythic Afterlife of George Armstrong Custer. By Louise Barnett.(Lincoln:University of Nebraska Press,2006.xi + 540 pp. Paper,$17.95.)

In its second edition (the first being published in 1996),this biography of George Armstrong Custer is full of fascinating,detailed information and aims to provide a realistic view of Custer and his life while also taking a serious look at the myths which,along with the efforts of his widow,have kept him in the public’s eye.In addition to the account of Custer’s life,the book also presents valuable information regarding life on the American frontier.

American Indian Education:A History. By Jon Reyhner and Jeanne Eder.(Norman: University of Oklahoma Press,2004.x + 370 pp.Paper,$19.95.)

Covering a span of more than four hundred years, American Indian Education examines the methods and motives of European immi-

grants to the Americas and their descendants as they attempted to educate the indigenous people they encountered.From the Colonial Era up to the twenty-first century,each chapter deals with a general subject such as “Mission Schools”and “Government Boarding Schools,”or a specific period like “Reservations:1867-1887,”and “Termination and Relocation, 1944-1969.”With an extensive bibliography and helpful subheadings,this book is a great resource for anyone interested in the educational and social history of Native Americans and the efforts by churches and the federal government to “Christianize and civilize American Indian children.”

Taking Charge:Native American Self-Determination and Federal Indian Policy, 1975-1993. By George Pierre Castile.(Tucson:University of Arizona Press,2006.164 pp.$35.00.)

The sequel to an earlier book by the same author entitled To Show Heart:Native American Self-Determination and Federal Indian Policy, 1960-1975 ,this book picks up where the other left off,covering the administrations of Jimmy Carter,Ronald Reagan,and George Bush,as well as the actions of Congress throughout the period.It examines how each of these addressed Native American concerns,especially the question of selfdetermination and concludes that many of the questions and issues remain unresolved.

Tribal Water Rights:Essays in Contemporary Law,Policy,and Economics. Edited by John E.Thorson,Sarah Britton,and Bonnie G.Colby.(Tucson:University of Arizona Press,2006.xii + 291 pp.Cloth,$50.00.)

The intended audience for this book includes professionals in water management or inter-jurisdictional conflict resolution,and those already introduced to topics related to tribal rights in the United States. The book consists of fourteen essays that discuss the general issues surrounding tribal water rights,such as “Groundwater,Tribal Rights,and Settlements”and “‘What Makes Water Settlements Successful?”plus a concluding essay that explains “The Significance of the Indian Water Rights Settlement Movement.”The writers of these essays are experts in law and land.While the book focuses on contemporary law and policy, it traces their emergence back more than a century and a half to the establishment of the first Indian reservations.

The Mormon History Association’s Tanner Lectures:The First Twenty Years. Edited by Dean L.May and Reid L.Neilson with Richard Lyman Bushman,Jan Shipps,and Thomas G.Alexander.(Urbana and Chicago:University of Illinois Press,2006.xi + 406 pp.Cloth,$70.00;paper,$30.00.)

More than twenty years ago the Mormon History Association decided to invite non-Mormon scholars to lecture at their annual meetings.In these lectures the scholars were to discuss Mormonism and its history,drawing on their “outsider”perspectives and their knowledge in a particular field.With men such as Gordon S.Wood,professor of history at Brown University,using his expertise in early American history to lecture on Mormonism’s origins and place in Evangelical America,and women such as Laurie F.Maffly-Kipp,an associate professor of religious studies at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill analyzing the growth of Mormonism in the Pacific Islands this volume is full of unique insights and thoughtful interpretations.This book compiles essays from the first twenty years of Tanner lectures,with brief explanatory introductions to the entire collection and to specific sections.The three sections are “Beginnings,”“Establishing Zion,”and “Mormonism Considered from Different Perspectives.”These essays make for an enlightening and educational read.

Race,Religion,Region:Landscapes of Encounter in the American West. Edited by Fay Botham and Sarah M.Patterson.(Tucson:University of Arizona Press,2006.viii + 190 pp.Cloth,$40.00.)

The American West has a history of race and religion unique to the region and this history does not always coincide with the eastern experience.Eight essays aim to address how race,religion,and the region known as the American West interacted to form unique communities and identities.In addition to an essay by Armand L.Mauss,“Children of Ham and Children of Abraham:The Construction and Deconstruction of Ethnic Identities in the Mormon Heartland,”other essays focus on Los Angeles in the first half of the twentieth century,the Ku Klux Klan in California, Chinese and Islamic concepts of religion,race,and ethnicity.An introduction by the editors provides a helpful overview of the book and its major points.

San Juan Bonanza:Western Colorado’s Mining Legacy. By John L.Ninnemann and Duane A.Smith.(Albuquerque:University of New Mexico Press,2006.xv + 85 pp. $24.95.)

San Juan Bonanza gives a visual and historical tour in its attractive presentation of mining in southwestern Colorado’s San Juan Mountains.There,among passes and peaks thousands of feet high,miners long attempted to find fortune.San Juan mining had a rough beginning, middle,and end,and the pictures illustrate this with views of the landscape and historical remnants.The history written by Duane Smith,one of the foremost mining historians of the West,is straightforward and the writing full of feeling.The book is an interesting exploration of a rugged mountain range and the people who sought after its wealth.

Exploring the Bancroft Library. Edited by Charles B.Faulhaber and Stephen Vincent. (Berkeley and Salt Lake City:The Bancroft Library and Signature Books,2006.vi + 190 pp.Cloth,$39.95.)

The Bancroft Library is one of the world’s elite research institutions.Its holdings on the American West,Utah,and Mormons have drawn serious scholars since its opening in 1906.This attractive volume,with nearly two hundred black and white and color illustrations,celebrates the one hundred year anniversary of the library.Hubert Howe Bancroft began building the reference collection in 1860 and he sold his library to the University of California in 1905. In addition to chapters that provide an introduction to the regional oral history office,technical services,preservation and conservation,public programs,and publications,other chapters cover the six major collections—Western Americana, Latin Americana,pictures,rare books and literary manuscripts,the history of science and technology,and the University of California Archives.

Indian War Veterans:Memories of Army Life and Campaigns in the West,18641898. By Jerome A.Greene.(New York:Savas Beatie LLC,2007.387 pp.Cloth,$45.00.)

This compilation of accounts by soldiers serving in the American West during the last third of the nineteenth century offers the soldiers’perspectives on various aspects of day-to-day army life and first hand accounts of battles and campaigns on the Plains,in the Mountain West,the West Coast,and the Southwest. Jerome A.Greene,a historian with the National Park Service,also provides an

interesting introduction that describes the establishment of veterans’organizations including the National Indian War Veterans and the United Indian War Veterans, both included veterans of Utah’s Black Hawk War in their membership.

Reminiscences of Early Utah with Reply to Certain Statements by O.E.Whitney

By Robert N.Baskin.(Salt Lake City:Signature Books,2006.xxxii + 282 pp.Paper, $19.95.)

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This edition is a reprint of the 1914 book Reminiscences of Early Utah and the twenty-nine page 1916 publication “Reply to Certain Statements by O.F.Whitney.”The latter was written in response to Orson F.Whitney’s History of Utah published in four volumes between 1892 and 1904.Published as part of the Signature Mormon Classics series,this edition includes a twenty-six page Foreword by Brigham D.Madsen.Robert N.Baskin graduated with a law degree from Harvard University and arrived in Utah in 1865 where he spent the rest of his life as an anti-Mormon in the struggle against polygamy and church involvement in government and politics.The book includes twenty chapters with such titles as “The Conditions in Utah which Caused the Opposition of the Gentiles;” “Bill Hickman’s Confession;”“The Danites,or Destroying Angels;”“The Mountain Meadows Massacre and its Resulting Investigations;”“Securing Free Schools in Utah;”and “The Mormon Business System.”

I Am the Grand Canyon:The Story of the Havasupai People By Stephen Hirst. (Grand Canyon:Grand Canyon Association,2006.xvi + 276 pp.Paper,$18.95.)

This book first appeared in 1976 under the title Life in a Narrow Place:The Navasupai of the Grand Canyon and again in 1985 as Havsuw ’Baaja: People of the Blue Green Water. Now in its third edition,the book is richly illustrated with with historic black and white images and color photographs taken by the author’s wife Lois.The Hirsts lived in Havasupai from 1967 until 1983 where Lois oversaw the education programs and Steven was asked by the Havasupai to research and document their history as part of their efforts to regain their ancestral lands.The photographs and engaging text provide an interesting portrait of a people and their home in one of the most remote and beautiful locations on earth.

LETTERS

Editor, Utah Historical Quarterly 300 Rio Grande SLC,UT 84101

In his Fall 2006 article,“The Mountain Meadows Massacre:An Analytical Narrative Based on Participant Confessions,”Robert H.Briggs is to be commended for his excellent summary of the standards historians use to evaluate sources.Anyone wading into the evidentiary swamp surrounding this atrocity must recognize that “accomplice testimony involving blame shifting or accusations against others are the least reliable of all and [must be] treated with skepticism” (314).

Unfortunately,Mr.Briggs did not follow his own standards on a crucial point. Ignoring the transparent blame-shifting in the militia accounts concocted twenty to forty years after the crime,he presents without challenge the claims that “the number of Paiutes at the Mountain Meadows ranged from three hundred to six hundred”and Nephi Johnson’s report “that they incited 150 Paiutes to attack in the main massacre”(324).No knowledgeable anthropologist,historian,or member of the Southern Paiute Nation finds these numbers credible.One of the leading experts,Martha C.Knack,concluded “the number of warriors needed for such an attack far exceeded the capacity of local Paiute bands”(Boundaries Between:The Southern Paiutes,1775–1995.Lincoln:Univ.of Nebraska Press,2001,79–80).

Unfortunately,Mr.Briggs ignores Indian and participant statements given to several federal investigators in 1859,disregarding another essential historical standard:that evidence collected closest to the event is the most reliable.The earliest sources indicate John D.Lee led the initial attack at Mountain Meadows with about sixty local citizens “in the guise of Indians,”as Capt.Albert Tracy reported in the pages of the 1945 Utah Historical Quarterly.Briggs’s statement that “The first Indian attack was a sudden assault”perpetuates the most cowardly and despicable lie to come out of the trials of John D.Lee:that Indians initiated the event and then compelled the stalwart pioneers of Southern Utah to commit a mass murder. Could there be a more classic example of blame-shifting?

The claim that participant confessions made decades after the event “form the bedrock of what we can know about the Mountain Meadows Massacre”(333) is false.It ignores the compelling evidence collected shortly after the murders and the statements of the young survivors,which have something the participants’evasive and self-serving “confessions”lack:consistency and the ring of truth.

Sincerely, Will Bagley

Polly Aird

John R.Alley,Ph.D.

David Bigler

Ed Firmage,S.J.D.

Ronald L.Holt,Ph.D.

Jeffrey Nichols,Ph.D.

Shannon A.Novak,Ph.D. W.L.Rusho

Douglas Seefeldt,Ph.D.

Editor,Utah Historical Quarterly 300 Rio Grande Salt Lake City,UT 84101

I write in reply to the letter from Will Bagley and his co-signatories.Since the letter tacitly raises the significant question of responsibility for the massacre,I will address that first.

Responsibility for the Massacre

Of course,neither the Paiute nation nor any living Paiute bears any responsibility for what occurred in a massacre one hundred fifty years ago.But what about the involved Paiutes? The evidence shows that the Iron County militia incited the involved Paiutes to gather at Mountain Meadows,attack the emigrant train,persist in sporadic attacks throughout the week and finally,assist in the final massacre.In their incitement efforts toward the Paiutes,the militia distorted and misrepresented the emigrants’misconduct while they provided other inducements.Given all the circumstances including the Paiutes’subaltern position relative to the Mormon settlers,the misrepresented reports conveyed to them,the key role played by Indian Farmer John D.Lee and other factors,it is my judgment that the involved Paiutes bear a relatively small portion of the moral blame for the massacre.My study supports this conclusion.

Methodological Questions

As to the particular points raised in the letter let it be recalled that the article sought to identify a defensible methodology,provide justification for it,and apply that methodology to an incomplete and conflicting body of documentary evidence.The narrative of the massacre consisted of two component parts:seventytwo statements containing confessional elements plus other narrative supported by the evidence.

The letter of Mr.Bagley et al.challenges two particular statements.These statements are found in the two sections dealing with how the militia leaders planned the attacks and how they incited Indians to join them.The statement,“The first Indian attack was a sudden assault ...”was not a confession but I consider it supported in the evidence.Confession 21 deals with Indians at Mountain Meadows and is in the section discussing militia efforts to incite Indians to join their efforts. Its significance is not in the estimate of the number of Indians involved.These were only estimates and I agree that they could be wildly inaccurate.Its significance lies in that it is yet further evidence of militia involvement.In other words,not only did militia leaders plan to incite the Indians and execute these plans but their plans were successful.There is strong evidence supporting the conclusion that the Indians did not arrive unbidden at Mountain Meadows.Rather,the Paiutes’arrival and participation were in direct response to militia solicitation.

Some still believe that Indians may have independently instigated some actions. But the admissions of the militiamen regarding their repeated efforts to incite local Indians show that this view is unfounded.The section on “incitement” summarizes these efforts:Majors Haight and Lee made plans to attack the emigrants;Lee carried orders to Carl Shirts in Fort Harmony to incite Paiutes; Samuel Knight received similar orders at Mountain Meadows and headed to the lower Virgin River to incite Paiutes.In Cedar City,Nephi Johnson admitted attending a meeting in which Haight revealed a plan to incite Paiutes and destroy the emigrant train.It was included in the section treating militia efforts to incite local Paiutes because it shows the planning and intentionality of the militia leaders toward the emigrants,including their incitement of Indians to join their conspiracy. The confessional element is in the “incitement.”

The Number of Indians Involved and the Extent of their Involvement

The letter challenges the estimates of the number of Indians involved and appears to challenge Indian involvement in the massacre.If the main point of my critics is that the number of Indians was not as high as estimated,particularly John M.Higbee’s estimate,I agree.As to the question of Indian involvement,the evidence is substantial for their involvement in the main massacre.As to the first attack,I gave weight to Lee’s statement that he was the only white man there.I reasoned that since in his statements Lee made every effort to distance himself from criminal responsibility,it was a significant (and perhaps unintentional) admission that he was the only white man with the Indians in the first attack that produced seven to ten emigrant deaths.However,I agree that the evidence for Indian involvement in the first attack is conflicting and that reasonable minds may disagree.In acknowledgment of the conflicting evidence,perhaps rather than stating “first Indian attack”I should have said,“first attack.”

Mr.Bagley’s letter also cites the evidence from the 1859 federal investigation and appears to challenge whether Indians were involved at all.But the evidence for Indian involvement is considerable.Further,the earliest evidence is not in 1859 but in 1857,within two weeks of the massacre.It supports the conclusion of white-incited Indian involvement.The first massacre accounts reached Indian Agent Garland Hurt in central Utah within days of the massacre.His informants included Spoods,a Pahvant Ute,who reported the involvement of “Piedes”(i.e., Paiutes) but also stated that the Piedes had been “set upon the emigrants by the Mormons.”Another informant was an Indian boy named Pete who had encountered a “large band of Piedes”who acknowledged “having participated in the massacre”but said “the Mormons persuaded them into it.”Pete reported that John D.Lee had “prevailed on [the Paiutes] to attack the emigrants ...and promised them that if they were not strong enough to whip them,the Mormons would help them.”Further,the Paiutes “made the attack,but were repulsed on three different occasions,when Lee and the bishop of Cedar City,with a number of

Mormons,approached the camp of the emigrants,under pretext of trying to settle the difficulty,and with lying,seductive overtures,succeeded in inducing the emigrants to lay down their weapons of defense....” These reports,made within days of the massacre,are remarkably consistent with the accounts of Lee and other militiamen two decades later.

Finally,Mr.Bagley cites his preference for the 1859 investigation and child survivor accounts over the confessions of primary militia witnesses.The irony here is that given the evidence from 1857 for Indian involvement in the massacre,if we don’t resort to the militia confessions of inciting the Paiutes,it weakens the case for exculpating the Paiutes from responsibility.While I doubt whether that was Mr.Bagley’s intention,that is the conclusion to this line of reasoning.That is,the child survivor accounts can only be read as implicating rather than exculpating the Indians.As for the findings in 1859,they are equivocal at best.Yet if Mr.Bagley et al.will reconsider the article and the statements about Indian involvement in context,I believe they will see that while Indians were involved,they were incited at every turn.The fact that this evidence comes in the form of “admissions against interest”from first-hand or reliable second-hand militia accounts makes it doubly valuable.A reasonable reading of my study is that the involved Paiutes do not bear moral responsibility for the massacre.It is precisely the militia confessions which give weight to this conclusion.

Robert Briggs

UTAHSTATE

HISTORICALSOCIETYFELLOWS

THOMAS G.ALEXANDER JAMES B.ALLEN

LEONARD J.ARRINGTON (1917-1999) MAUREEN URSENBACH BEECHER FAWN M.BRODIE (1915-1981) JUANITA BROOKS (1898-1989) OLIVE W.BURT (1894-1981) EUGENE E.CAMPBELL (1915-1986)

C.GREGORY CRAMPTON (1911-1995) EVERETT L.COOLEY (1917-2006)

S.GEORGE ELLSWORTH (1916-1997) AUSTIN E.FIFE (1909-1986) PETER L.GOSS LEROY R.HAFEN (1893-1985)

JESSE D.JENNINGS (1909-1997) A.KARL LARSON (1899-1983) GUSTIVE O.LARSON (1897-1983) BRIGHAM D.MADSEN DEAN L.MAY (1938-2003)

DAVID E.MILLER (1909-1978) DALE L.MORGAN (1914-1971) WILLIAM MULDER FLOYD A.O’NEIL HELEN Z.PAPANIKOLAS (1917-2004) CHARLES S.PETERSON RICHARD W.SADLER WALLACE E.STEGNER (1909-1993) WILLIAM A.WILSON

HONORARYLIFEMEMBERS

DAVID BIGLER VEE CARLISLE JAY M.HAYMOND FLORENCE S.JACOBSEN WILLIAM P.MACKINNON LAMAR PETERSEN RICHARD C.ROBERTS MELVIN T.SMITH MARTHA R.STEWART