Utah Historical Quarterly, Volume 42, Number 1-4, 1974 by Utah Historical Society

UTAH HISTORICAL QUARTERLY EDITORIAL STAFF M E L V I N T. S M I T H ,

Editor

STANFORD J. LAYTON, Managing MIRIAM B. M U R P H Y , Assistant

Editor Editor

ADVISORY BOARD OF EDITORS T H O M A S G. ALEXANDER, Provo,

MRS.

1974

I N E Z S. COOPER, Cedar City, 1975

S. GEORGE E L L S W O R T H , Logan, G L E N M. LEONARD, Bountiful,

1975 1976

DAVID E. MILLER, Salt Lake City, 1976 L A M A R PETERSEN, Salt Lake City, 1974 RICHARD W. SADLER, Ogden,

1976

HAROLD SCHINDLER, Salt Lake City, 1975 JEROME S T O F F E L , Logan,

1974

Utah Historical Quarterly was established in 1928 to publish articles, documents, and reviews contributing to knowledge of Utah's history. T h e Quarterly is published by the U t a h State Historical Society, 603 East South Temple, Salt Lake City, Utah 84102. Phone (801) 328-5755. Members of the Society receive the Quarterly and the bimonthly Newsletter upon payment of the annual dues; for details see inside back cover. Single copies, $2.00. Materials for publication should be submitted in duplicate accompanied by return postage and should be typed double-spaced with footnotes at the end. Additional information on requirements is available from the managing editor. T h e Society assumes no responsibility for statements of fact or opinion by contributors. The Quarterly is indexed in Book Review Index Social Science Periodicals and on Biblio Cards.

Second class postage is paid at Salt Lake City, Utah. ISSN 0042-143X

Lj"JL"JFItaJCA HISTORICAL QUARTERLY WINTER 1974/VOLUME 42/NUMBER 1

Contents IN T H I S ISSUE

FRONTIER ARMS OF T H E MORMONS T H E MORMON BATTALION: A HISTORICAL ACCIDENT? T H E DAILY UNION VEDETTE: A MILITARY VOICE ON T H E MORMON FRONTIER

GIBSON

W. RAY LUCE

PEDERSEN, JR.

HARRY

LYMAN

FORT BRIDGER AND T H E MORMONS

GOWANS

STANFORD J. LAYTON

FRED

FORT RAWLINS, UTAH: A QUESTION OF MISSION AND MEANS BOOK REVIEWS

BOOK NOTICES

RECENT ARTICLES

HISTORICAL NOTES

102

THE COVER Early photograph of Fort Douglas. Utah State Historical Society collections, gift of Howard C. Price, Jr. A second view of Fort Douglas on page 3 shows the permanent stone buildings and the pleasant, landscaped walks. Society collections, gift of Leon Watters.

H I L L , MARVIN S., a n d ALLEN,

JAMES B., EDS., Mormonism

and American Culture . . .STERLING M. MCMURRIN

MUENCH, DAVID, a n d WIXOM, H A R T T ,

Utah

LEE KAPALOSKI

The Magnificient Rockies: Crest of a Continent . . .GLEN M. LEONARD

EDITORS OF AMERICAN WEST,

HASSRICK, PETER H.,

Frederic Remington

L. MACKAY

O. WHITNEY YOUNG

KATHRYN

RUSSELL, ANDY, Horns in the

High Country

Books reviewed MCKIERNAN, F. MARK, and BLAIR, A L M A R . , EDS.,

The Restoration Movement: Essays in Mormon History . . .REED C. DURHAM, J R .

Indians or Jews? An Introduction, containing a reprint of The Hope of Israel

GLASER, LYNN,

by MANASSEH BEN ISRAEL . . .F. MARK MCKIERNAN

JUDD, NEIL M., The Bureau of American Ethnology:

A Partial History

A. O ' N E I L

RICHARD C. POULSEN

FLOYD

Give Your Heart to the Hawks: A Tribute to the

BLEVINS, WINFRED,

Mountain Men

A., Bill Bailey Came Home, ED. AUSTIN FIFE and ALTA

BAILEY, WILLIAM FIFE

SANDRA BENNETT

In this issue One of the constants in the recorded history of mankind has been armed confrontation and conflict. T h e middle years of nineteenthcentury America â&#x20AC;&#x201D; the period of permanent settlement of the Great Basin â&#x20AC;&#x201D; were particularly turbulent. The Mormons themselves were deeply conditioned by violence, and by the time of their Nauvoo expulsion the broader outlines of their social history could be read in the number and variety of their armaments. A survey of this arsenal and Mormon attitudes toward arms generally is long overdue. Within a few weeks after Brigham Young ferried across the Mississippi, the United States declared war on Mexico and the ownership of a half-million square miles of land, including the Great Basin, was placed in the balance. The Mormon Battalion was not to be consequential in the outcome of the war, but as an expression of attitude on a host of matters by a number of people it was an important historical development. New interpretations of it will always be welcome. Tranquility continued to elude the Mormons for more than a generation after their arrival in the Salt Lake Valley. Geopolitical strategy and Indian tensions brought them into almost immediate conflict with the mountain men of the Green River valley and gave rise to a historical controversy which continues to the present day. Sporadic MormonGentile incidents continued to erupt throughout the remainder of the century. Each with its own particular course and circumstance, these incidents serve to remind us of the dynamism, color, and complexities within Utah's march into the broader mainstream of U.S. history.

Frontier Arms of the Mormons BY H A R R Y W. G I B S O N

Sawed-off percussion type Colt revolver carried by Porter Rockwell, i fah State Historical Society collections.

1 REARMS BECAME DECISIVELY important for the Mormons on the Missouri frontier of the 1830s. Those disastrous years, marked by increasingly violent confrontation with the Missourians and ending in Mormon expulsion from the state, shaped the role of guns and the attitude toward them by the Mormons for the entire frontier period. T h e violence, fury, and passion of those years vividly demonstrated that guns could quickly become the ultimate resource when all other law has vanished. T h e weapons acquired and used by the Mormons in Missouri were as varied and individual as the smiths who made them and the frontiersmen who fired them. With mass production and large arms companies still in the future, personal weapons were essentially h a n d m a d e , one-of-a-kind arms. This variety makes identification Mr. Gibson is a superintendent in School District No. 3, Hamilton, Montana.

Frontier Arms of the Mormons

difficult because early records rarely identify an individual arm. Instead, reference is made to firelocks, horse pistols, rifles, yaugers, muskets, etc. However, even from such general words and the sparse treatment afforded firearms in contemporary accounts, a reasonably accurate description of the arms of the era is possible. T h e basic arm of the Mormons, as well as others, was the singleshot, flintlock, muzzle-loading rifle. Fittings were commonly of brass or pewter, while stocks traditionally were cut from maple. Popularly called, then as now, Kentucky rifles, they were the creation of several generations of German gunsmiths in western Pennsylvania. T h e design was an outgrowth from an original G e r m a n hunting rifle, the "jaeger," and adapted to American conditions. Barrels tended to be long, as much as four feet, but forty to fortyfour inches was average. Bore was small by contemporary standards, with .40 inches being a common size. T h e outstanding feature of the Kentucky rifle, endearing it to the frontiersman, was accuracy. By the use of a rifled barrel and a patched ball to ensure a tight fit in the bore, the accuracy was far superior to the common musket of the period. Where a skilled marksman could not rely on a musket to shoot within a foot of point of aim at a h u n d r e d yards, a well made Kentucky rifle would consistently hit a three-inch target at that range. Such accuracy was only achieved at the expense of easy loading and rapid firing. T h e musket was loaded with p r e p a r e d cloth or paper cartridges and could be fired several times a minute. T h e Kentucky rifle required a complicated process to load, making it much slower for repeat shots. This was the major reason why the military retained the musket for general use until the 1850s. Specific reference to Kentucky rifles was made by J o h n D. Lee, one of the Mormons who s u r r e n d e r e d to the Missouri Militia in 1838. He recounted giving u p "his good Kentucky rifle" as well as his other weapons. 1 Joseph Smith, as leader of the "Zion's Army" that reinforced the Missouri Mormons in 1834, referred to "firelocks" on several occasions. 2 These were most likely Kentucky rifles. Some of these arms were cap lock weapons, but many were still the original flintlock. Pistols were also part of the Mormon a r m a m e n t d u r i n g the Missouri era. References are found to both pistols and "horse pis'Juanita Brooks, John Doyle Lee: Zealot-Pioneer Builder-Scapegoat (Glendale, Calif., 1962), 39. 2

Brigham H. Roberts, ed., History of the Church ofJesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, 7 vols. (Salt Lake City, 1 9 0 2 - 3 2 ) , 1:66, 68. Examples of these and other arms of the period are on display at various museums, including Daughters of Utah Pioneers Museum, Pioneer Village, T e m p l e Square Museum, all in Salt Lake City.

Utah Historical Quarterly

tols." These terms refer specifically to a single-shot, muzzle-loading arm, probably flintlock but possibly cap lock also. Any of the early repeating weapons is definitely excluded, for these were invariably referred to by type, as pepperbox, slide gun, etc. Pistols were large, twelve to fourteen inches in length and u p to two pounds in weight. Barrels were usually smooth-bored, though sometimes rifled, and fired a lead ball of .40 to .60 inches in diameter. Horse pistols were similar, though larger, heavier, and bored from .60 to .75 inches. 3 Such pistols were meant to be carried in pairs, in holsters mounted on the front of the saddle. At their expulsion from Jackson County, Missouri, in 1833 the Mormons n u m b e r e d approximately twelve h u n d r e d individuals. T h e quantity of their arms can only be estimated, but it was apparently meagre for their numbers. Assuming that even as few as one-sixth were able-bodied males, there should have been at least two h u n d r e d weapons a m o n g them. Yet when the Mormons turned in their arms as a condition of surrender, only "forty-nine guns and one pistol" were delivered. 4 Five years later, between twelve and fifteen thousand Mormons were expelled from the state. By the same ratio of arms to men, between two thousand and twenty-five h u n d r e d arms should have been surrendered. Yet records indicate that only 630 guns were relinquished. J o h n D. Lee reported them as "hunting rifles, shotguns and a few muskets, some r u d e swords, homemade, and a few pistols . . . given u p and hauled off by the State authorities." 5 T h a t these were all the arms possessed by the Mormons seems highly unlikely. Knowing on both occasions that they were s u r r o u n d e d by hostility and leaving one frontier for a more primitive one, the Mormons must have made every effort to keep what weapons they could. Yet in both instances the Missourians searched people and destroyed houses to locate arms. T h a t any significant n u m b e r of weapons escaped them is improbable, nor can any record be found to that effect. T h e strongest likelihood is that the Mormons in Missouri did not have a surplus of arms, but were able to conceal some, at least, from the Missourians.

Charles Edward Chapel, Single Shot Martial Pistols (New York, 1962), 186.

Brigham H. Roberts, The Missouri Persecutions (Salt Lake City, 1900), 106 ory of the Church, 2:89. 5

Roberts, ed., History of the Church, 3:217 - 24. Brooks, John Doyle Lee, 39.

Frontier Arms of the Mormons

Settling in Nauvoo, Illinois, by 1840 after their disastrous Missouri experiences, the Mormons were anxious to avoid further difficulties. In the belief that safety lay in power, the six years spent in Illinois were marked by n u m e r o u s efforts to both broaden and strengthen the arms base. O n e of the first concerns was to consolidate manpower into an effective force. By authority of the city charter of Nauvoo, a branch of the Illinois militia, called the Nauvoo Legion, was established in the city. Compulsory membership for males eighteen to forty-five years was enforced, and the legion n u m b e r e d over four thousand men by 1844. T h e majority of the weapons of this "city army" were the personal arms of the members. Enthusiasm was high and performance was superior to the usual militia units of the day. According to an army officer witnessing a legion parade in 1842, "there are no troops in the State like them in point of enthusiasm and warlike aspect, yea warlike character." 6 T h e day following the assassination of H y r u m and Joseph Smith in 1844, two thousand well-armed Mormons, described by Governor Ford as having "a sufficiency of arms for any reasonable purpose," assembled in Nauvoo. 7 This event alone demonstrates the seriousness with which the Mormons regarded firearms following the Missouri defeat. Also, the addition of a unique individual to the Mormon ranks gave the legion a quality of personal weapons superior to their neighbors. T h e man was J o n a t h a n Browning, a backwoods Tennessee gunsmith with genius. He m a d e a reliable repeating rifle superior to the single-shot arms of the day. He had two designs: a revolving repeater and a slide or "harmonica" gun. T h e revolving rifle was like a m o d e r n revolver, except the cylinder was turned by hand for successive shots. Once charged with a ball and powder in each of its six chambers and percussion caps placed on the nipples, the loaded cylinder was put in the rifle. A special lever on the side pushed the cylinder tightly against the barrel. After firing, the cylinder was revolved to the next chamber. T h e obvious advantage was six quick shots. However, there was a disadvantage which made "Fawn M. Brodie, No Man Knows My History (New York, 1954), 273-74. 7 Thomas Ford, A History of Illinoisfrom Its Commencement as a State in 1818 to 1847 (Chicago, 1854), 337

Utah Historical Quarterly

all types of revolving rifles somewhat unpopular. Besides being more difficult to manufacture, revolver cylinders were apt to fire more than one chamber at a time when the flash from the fired chamber leaked past the barrel and into other chambers. T h e result was disconcerting at best and usually damaged both gun and shooter. Browning's most popular design, though, was his slide or "harmonica" rifle. This type of rifle was simpler, cheaper, and more reliable. T h e basis of the design was a metal bar, shaped like a harmonica and holding from five to twenty-five charges of ball and powder. A lever forced the bar against the rear of the barrel. After firing, the lever was released and the slide was manually advanced to the next hole. T h e arms were popular since it was possible to carry extra loaded slides, and diaries and journals throughout the period contain many references to them, particularly to "fifteen-shooters." 8 T h e guns were not invented by Browning, as designs for repeaters are almost as old as guns themselves. His contribution was to make a fairly reliable repeating weapon which significantly increased the fire power of this frontier army. In addition to personal arms the Nauvoo Legion, as a unit of the Illinois militia, was entitled to a proportion of the state arms. J o h n Bennett, a major general in the legion, was also quartermaster general of the state militia. From this influential position he secured the best in available arms for the Nauvoo Legion. These consisted of 250 stand of rifles and 3 cannons, while most other state units were generally armed with muskets. 9 T h e specific model of rifle cannot be determined, but the most likely rifle available to militia units was the U.S. Model of 1817, known as the common rifle. This flintlock arm had a thirty-six inch barrel and weighed ten pounds. By contemporary standards it was an excellent weapon, and troops using it should be considered well armed. 1 0 Following the m u r d e r of the Smiths in 1844, the Mormons devoted considerable attention to acquiring arms owned neither by individuals nor the state. These were termed public arms, and were apparently owned by the church as a body. They were extremely important for the balance of the frontier period. T h e first mention 8 \Villiam A. Hickman, Brigham's Destroying Angel, ed. J.H. Beadle (Salt Lake City, 1904), 43, 66; Roberts, ed., History of the Church, 7:446; Juanita Brooks, ed.,On the Mormon Frontier: The Diary of Hosea Stout, 1849 - 1861,'2 vols. (Salt Lake City, 1964), 1:233 - 34; Ford, History of Illinois, 422; Hubert H. Bancroft, History of Utah (1890; reprint ed., Salt Lake City, 1964). 229; Nicholas van Alfen, "Orrin Porter Rockwell, the Frontier Marshal" (M.A. thesis. University of Utah, 1964), 56. 9 Ford, History of Illinois, 268. 10 James E. Hicks, Notes on United States Ordnance: Small Arms, 1776 to 1940, 2 vols. (Mount Vernon, N.Y., 1940) 1:32 - 34.

Frontier Arms of the Mormons

U. S. Army flintlock musket of the type issued to the Mormon Battalion.

of such arms was Brigham Young's note in September 1844: "Received some arms and ammunition from the brethren in St. Louis, by the hands of Thomas McKenzie." 11 In April 1845 a six-pounder cannon was purchased with tithe money and added to the supply. 12 In the same year, John Steele described moving "forty stand of muskets" and a cannon known as the "old sow" to the Temple for repairs. 13 Where the muskets were acquired is undetermined, but from the context of the journal they were regarded as public (church) property. Early in 1845, with tentative plans for a westward move in mind, the LDS authorities directed Orson Pratt to purchase, with tithe money "six barreled pistols for self-defense, (while journeying in western wilds)." When he returned in November from New York, Pratt brought "four hundred dollars worth of Allen's revolving six-shooting pistols (alias pepperboxes)." 14 These were an early form of repeater, consisting of several barrels grouped around a central tube. Each pull of the trigger brought a new barrel under the hammer. Although popular because they were repeaters, they were clumsy, heavy, and inaccurate. As Colt-type revolvers became more plentiful, pepperboxes gradually disappeared. Further details of the public arms have not been located. However, the total quantity was apparently greater than previously indicated. At the evacuation of Nauvoo in 1846, Hosea Stout was given charge of the weapons. His diary records the effort to accumulate and transport these arms. In the only reference to quantity, Stout reported that he brought "about one hundred muskets and left wagon and rest for C.C. Rich" as well as "two loads of powder and other articles for use of the troops." He also noted artillery consisting of two six-pounders, one t h r e e - p o u n d e r , and one short "Roberts, ed., History of the Church, 7:274. n Ibid., 7:395. I! J. Cecil Alter, ed., "Extracts from the Journal of John Steele," Utah Historical Quarterly, 4 (January 1933), 4. l4 Roberts, ed., History of the Church. 7:509.

Utah Historical Quarterly

twelve-pounder. 1 5 William Hickman, another of those departing Nauvoo, recalled in his memoirs that the public arms totaled four artillery pieces and five h u n d r e d stand of small arms. 1 6 T h u s , although the precise n u m b e r of public arms is not known, it was apparently a fairly large n u m b e r and was regarded as of considerable importance. T h e significance of the public arms owned by the church is further reflected in efforts to store and maintain them. As early as J u n e 1843 an arsenal was contemplated "to be built in the city of Nauvoo, for the security of the public arms." 1 7 J o n a t h a n D u n h a m was appointed both superintendent of construction and armorer, and the building was in use by mid-August of that year. 1 8 In association with the armory, experimental steps were taken in both powder manufacturing and artillery construction. J o h n Kay drilled out at least one six-pounder barrel, but there is no evidence that anything more complicated was undertaken. Also, five makeshift cannons were constructed from hollow steamboat shafts for the final defense of Nauvoo in 1846. These were used only in the one engagement and then evidently abandoned. 1 9 However, the quantity of references alone indicates that the care and replenishment of arms and ammunition was a serious concern in Nauvoo. Perhaps that concern was most vividly stated in the minutes of a church meeting at Quincy, Illinois, in 1839 which resolved that T h e o d o r e Turley's gunsmithing tools remain for church use while Turley went to Europe. 2 0 in From the evacuation of Nauvoo, beginning in February 1846, until the p e r m a n e n t settlement in the Great Basin, the Mormons were a mobile society. Because of the frontier conditions and the frequent hostility of both man and animal, firearms were an important part of the society. T h e extent can be seen in both the planning and the execution of the westward move. Before his death in 1844, Joseph Smith, considering such a move, was most explicit concerning arms for an exploratory group. He required "a double barrel 15

Brooks, ed., On the Mormon Frontier, 1:122 - 25. Hickman, Brigham's Destroying Angel, 40. Roberts, ed., History of the Church, 4:422. 18 Ihid., 4:430; Brooks, John Doyle Lee, 57. 19 William Clayton, William Claytons Journal (Salt Lake City, 1921), 65 - 66; Brooks, ed., On the Mormon Frontier, 1:233 - 34, 45; ÂĽ or d, History of Illinois, 421 - 23; Hickman, Brigham's Destroying Angel, 42 - 43; Roberts, History of the Church, 6:233, 520, 417. 20 Roberts, History of the Church, 2:347. 16 17

Frontier Arms of the Mormons

gun, one barrel rifle and the other smoothbore . . . a pair of revolving pistols, bowie knife, a n d a good saber."21 W h e n such a g r o u p did depart for the Great Basin in April 1847, each ablebodied man was to carry a rifle or musket and have one p o u n d of powder and four pounds of lead. Of the nine travel orders issued by Brigham Young, two concerned firearms. First, "Every man is to have his gun and pistol in perfect Jonathan Browning, pioneer Mormon gunsmith. order." Second, "Each man is to Utah State Historical travel with his gun on his shoulS o ciety ph o tograph, der, loaded, and each driver have Morgan collection. his gun so placed that he can lay hold of it at a moment's warning." 2 2 Other than these personal arms, the g r o u p also carried a cannon, probably the three-pounder, twenty-five extra pounds of powder, and twenty extra pounds of lead. 23 T h e importance of firearms during the period from Nauvoo to the Great Basin is further signified in the attention devoted to arms maintenance. At Winter Quarters, Nebraska, cleaning and repairing of public arms was made a social function. Dances were held with admission being the cleaning of one of the guns. Also, pay was given for disassembling, cleaning, and assembling of arms. 2 4 Gunmaker J o n a t h a n Browning worked in Musquito Creek near the Missouri River until 1852, repairing and building arms â&#x20AC;&#x201D; apparently at the request of the LDS leaders â&#x20AC;&#x201D; for the constant immigrant procession to Salt Lake City. T h a t he also found time to develop his own business is indicated by his advertisement in the Kanesville, Iowa, Frontier Guardian d u r i n g those years: Gunsmithing T h e subscriber is p r e p a r e d to manufacture, to order, improved Firearms, viz; revolving rifles and pistols; also slide guns, from 5 to 25 21

Ibid., 6:224. William M. Egan, ed., Pioneering the West 1846 to 1878, Major Howard Fgan's Diary (Richmond, Utah, 1917), 24; Clayton, William Clayton's Journal, 81; Brigham H. Roberts, A Comprehensive History of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, 6 vols. (Salt Lake City, 1930). 3:165. "Clayton, William Clayton's Journal, 1 18 - 19 " B r o o k s , ed., On the Mormon Frontier, 1:300 - 309. 22

ft J&&

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A revolving barrelled pistol at left and a single shot at right were reportedly used during the time of the Mormon Battalion. The tools were for making ammunition. Utah State Historical Society photograph, Morgan collection.

shooters, all on an improved plan, and he thinks not equalled this far East. (Farther west they might be.) T h e emigrating and sporting community are invited to call and examine Browning's improved firearms before purchasing elsewhere. Shop eight miles south of Kanesville, on Musquito Creek, half a mile south of T r a d i n g Point. J o n a t h a n Browning 2 5

During the Mexican War of 1846 - 48 the United States army enlisted 500 men to march on a southern route to California. Brigham Young gave the o r d e r in J u n e 1846 for his men to volunteer. O n e of the conditions of enlistment for this "Mormon Battalion" was that "they will be allowed to retain, as their private property, the guns and accoutrements furnished to them." 2 6 This would a m o u n t to a weapon increase of 500 for the public arms. Most of the guns were flintlock muskets, probably the 1816 model. These were 25 John Browning and Curt Gentry, John M. Browning, American Gunmaker (Garden City, N.Y., 1964), 1. 26 Daniel Tyler, A Concise History of the Mormon Battalion in the Mexican War (n. p., 1881), 114.

Frontier Arms of the Mormons

[

.69 caliber smoothbore weapons with a forty-two inch barrel and fifty-seven inch overall length. This gun was replaced in 1840 by the 1835 model musket, so the government willingly gave them to the Mormons. However, the battalion also received "a few cap-lock yaugers for sharpshooting and hunting purposes." 2 7 These were U.S. Model 1841 rifles, the first percussion rifles issued to United States troops. They were .54 caliber, with a thirty-three inch barrel and forty-nine inch overall length. 2 8 They became very popular on the frontier for their comparative accuracy and reliability. These arms must have been a welcome addition to the pioneer Great Basin settlements, and undoubtedly served their users well for many years. T h e Mormon Battalion also provided heavier o r d n a n c e for the pioneer settlements. Several members traveled t h r o u g h Sutter's California settlement d u r i n g their r e t u r n to the Great Basin and purchased two cannons, a four- and a six-pounder, for $400. 2 9 These, together with the other artillery, saw service in Indian skirmishes and the Utah War before being relegated to courthouse lawns. T h e other increase in the public arms at that time came from those Mormons who j o u r n e y e d to California by sea, then traveled overland to the Great Basin. Before the ship Brooklyn sailed from New York in February 1846, "a case or two of smoothbore muskets was carefully stowed between decks." 3 0 T h e secrecy was based on a general distrust of the government's intention toward the Mormons. In Honolulu, another 150 stand of muskets was loaded, which the ship's captain promptly put u n d e r lock. However, they were distributed prior to landing at San Francisco, and presumably most of them were taken to the Great Basin. 31 T h e use of firearms by the Mormons, from the time they left Nauvoo until p e r m a n e n t settlement was established near the Great Salt Lake, was primarily against game animals. Although there were scattered instances of firing against other men, particularly Indians, the occurences were very infrequent. T h e effectiveness of the Mormon arms, like other guns of the day, became less, as the size of the

"Ibid., 136. Tyler's use on the term "yauger" for military weapons reflects common usage; however, the 1841 model became widely known as the Mississippi rifle from its use by a Mississippi regiment during the Mexican War. 28 Hicks, Notes on United States Ordnance, 1:49 - 57. 29 Tyler, Concise History, 336. 30 Paul Bailey, Sam Brannan and the California Mormons (Los Angeles, 1943), 58. 3l Ibid., 37-40; Hubert H. Bancroft, History of California, 7 vols. (San Francisco, 1884 - 90), 5:550.

Utah Historical Quarterly

animals increased and was mediocre at best. First, to kill large animals like buffalo consistently with one shot required more power than most weapons of the 1840s possessed. T h e exception was the plains rifle of the mountain men, made famous by the Hawken brothers, but there is no evidence the Mormons had any of these. As a result, buffalo, and to a lesser extent smaller game, was obtained by shooting the animal, then following it until it died of the wound. 3 2 T h e second reason for mediocre performance was lack of accuracy. A smoothbore musket could barely keep all shots within a four-foot circle at one h u n d r e d yards. Rifles, such as the Mississippi, would usually place their shots within eighteen inches at that range, while a Kentucky rifle would commonly reduce the group size. However, u n d e r hunting conditions, and with less than expert marksmen, these sizes increased. Since the vital area of a deer-sized animal is about a sixteen-inch circle, the accurate range of these arms was fairly limited for hunting weapons. Poor accuracy was d u e in part to the lack of precision manufacturing techniques, especially of barrels. Because of crude tools and imprecise measuring instruments, only extremely skilled craftsmen could produce a truly accurate barrel. Since such craftsmen were rare, so were accurate firearms. Lesser contributions to poor accuracy were crude sights and variations in powder and loads. 3 3 As t h e small a r m s s u p p l y was b e i n g r e e s t a b l i s h e d a n d strengthened between 1840 and 1847, some artillery was acquired to further reinforce the church-owned public arms. Several of these arms have been previously mentioned, and to better understand the strength they represented, the following brief summary is included. T h e cannons totaled six, consisting of one three-pounder, two sixp o u n d e r s , a n d o n e t w e l v e - p o u n d e r c a r r o n a d e b r o u g h t from Nauvoo, and one four-pounder and an additional six-pounder from California. 34 All were classed as field ordnance, as opposed to siege weapons. T h e barrels were made of bronze â&#x20AC;&#x201D; though often called brass â&#x20AC;&#x201D; and all were smoothbore. T h e term four- or six-pounder, etc., referred to the weight of projectile normally fired, although different types of projectiles might vary from this weight. Both the three- and four-pounders were obsolete as army weapons, but were

32 Maybelle H a r m o n Anderson, ed., The Journals of Appleton Milo Harmon (Glendale, Calif., 1946), 47-50; Clayton, William Clayton's Journal, 18. 33 Alden Hatch, Remington Arms in American History (New York, 1956), 8 - 29; Ned H. Roberts, The Muzzle-Loading Cap Lock Rifle (Harrisburg, Pa., 1947), 5 - 27. 34 Brooks, ed., On the Mormon Frontier, 1:122 - 24, 161 - 67; Tyler, A Concise History, 336.

Frontier Arms of the Mormons

useful on the frontier because of relatively light weight, long range, and small powder charge. Both could be fired to fifteen h u n d r e d yards with less than a p o u n d of powder and weighed one thousand to twelve h u n d r e d p o u n d s complete with carriage. T h e sixpounder, which is the one most frequently mentioned by the Mormons, used one and one-fourth to one and one-half pounds of powder and fired a heavier projectile to fifteen h u n d r e d yards. Complete with carriage, a six-pounder weighed almost eighteen h u n d r e d pounds. T h e twelve-pounder carronade was a howitzer, denoting a cannon shorter and lighter than normal for the bore size. This cannon weighed seventeen h u n d r e d pounds with carriage, yet fired a nine-pound shot to one thousand yards. T h e effectiveness of these arms could be devastating. A six-pounder would consistently penetrate twenty-two inches of oak at two h u n d r e d yards and nine inches at eight h u n d r e d yards. T h e twelve-pounder howitzer penetrated fourteen inches and six inches, respectively, at the same ranges but with a ball half again as heavy and an inch larger in diameter. 3 5 Ammunition for this artillery was of several types including shot, shell, and cannister. Shot was a solid iron ball; shell was a hollow iron ball filled with explosives. A cannister was a cylinder containing over a h u n d r e d musket balls, making it, in effect, a huge shotgun shell. 36 T h u s , although the Mormons had only six cannons, these represented a formidable force both physically and psychologically. IV

Well armed, and with vivid recollections of Missouri and Illinois, the Mormons began p e r m a n e n t settlement of the Great Basin in July 1847. Their determination to resist further pressures from anyone was reflected in Brigham Young's words, "If they'll give us ten years, I'll ask no odds of them." 3 7 Much time and energy were spent on improving defenses from both red men and white, and the ten years were granted almost to the day. In Salt Lake City the church-owned public arms received early attention. In August 1847 President Young ordered that all the ex-soldiers returning east to aid in the immigration turn in their 35 T.T.S. Laidley, The Ordnance Manual for the Use of the Officers of the United States Army (New York, 1861), 18-21, 400, 490 - 92; Jack Coggins, Arms and Equipment of the Civil War (Garden City, N.Y., 1962),' 61-62: John Gibbon, the Artillerist's Manual (New York, 1860), 18 - 32. 3 ÂŤBrooks, ed, On the Mormon Frontier, 1:136 - 37; Clayton, William Clayton's Journal, 128. 37 William Mulder and A. R. Mortensen, eds., Among the Mormons: Historic Accounts by Contemporary Observers (New York. 1958). 237.

Utah Historical Quarterly

surplus weapons. Howard Egan stated that "all the soldiers going b r o u g h t their guns, ammunition, etc., and surrendered them into the president's hands, for the reception and safe keeping of which there will be a house built hereafter." 3 8 This was followed by the construction of an additional temporary arsenal in 1849. T h e wood frame building was twelve feet by sixteen feet. T h o m a s T a n n e r was r e c o m m e n d e d as a r m o r e r by Brigham Young who stated, "he can make any part of a cannon, Musket, or Rifle and is qualified to repair and keep in repair all the guns that belong to the armory." 3 9 T h e arsenal was found to be too small, and by 1852 construction began on a new armory. T h e territorial legislature in 1853 appropriated $3,000 for construction, with an additional $1,000 for overhaul of the cannons and repairing of the arms and accoutrements. T h e building was completed and in use d u r i n g 1853. 40 T h e concern for the arms and the attention given them was well founded. T h e Indians, who often disputed domination of their land, already had many firearms. Guns had been available in the Great Basin since the eighteenth century, when the Spanish began trading arms for Indian children as slaves. Both the English and United States governments had a long history of giving firearms to friendly Indian tribes, many of whom were near the Great Basin. By trade and theft these weapons were brought into the area, to be supplemented by exchanges with trappers in the early nineteenth

Egan, Pioneering the West, 123. Robert Glass Clelland and Juanita Brooks, eds., ,4 Mormon Chronicle: The Diaries ofJohn D. Lee, 1848 - 1876, 2 vols. (San Marino, Calif., 1955), 1:87. 40 Deseret Weekly News, J a n u a r y 8, 1853, p. 20; Jules Remy and Julius Brenchley, A Journey to Great-Salt-Lake City, 2 vols. (London, 1861), 1:462. f 39

Frontier Arms of the Mormons

century. When the Mormons arrived in 1847 they found a foe which was generally well armed and often determined to resist. 41 As well as establishing an armory, the first settlers also rebuilt their military organization, still u n d e r the name of the Nauvoo Legion. By April 1849 it was acting as a territorial militia. Membership was compulsory for able males, with penalties for failure to respond. T h e legion was organized on a military basis with a lieutenant general as c o m m a n d e r . T h e territory was divided into military districts, each contributing to the cohorts and regiments which composed the legion. By 1852 it n u m b e r e d over two thousand men and by 1857 had increased to sixty-one h u n d r e d . 4 2 With the granting of territorial status in 1850, the Nauvoo Legion became eligible to receive a portion of the public arms from the federal government. T h e annual appropriation for all the states and territories was normally $200,000, divided according to population and need. Utah's share was small, $243.33. T h e first arm delivered was a small cannon, a twelve-pounder mountain howitzer, brought in early 1851. This was a most useful weapon for mountain 41 Leland H. Creer, The Founding of an Empire: The Exploration and Colonization of Utah, 1776 - 1856 (Salt Lake City, 1947), 76 - 78; William J. Snow, "Utah Indians and Spanish Slave T r a d e , " Utah Historical Quarterly, 2 (July 1929), 67 - 73; Carl P. Russell, Guns on the Early Frontiers (Berkeley, 1962), 103-41. " R i c h a r d W. Young, " T h e Nauvoo Legion," The Contributor, 9 (August 1888), 361; (February 1888), 126; Hamilton Gardner, "Utah Territorial Militia," typescript, Utah State Historical Society.

Men of the territorial militia (Nauvoo Legion) were, mustered for drill wearing highly individualized "uniforms." Utah State Historical Society collections.

w /

I /

Utah Historical Quarterly

Txuelve-pounder mountain howitzer of the type issued to the Nauvoo Legion in 1851. Illustration from 1861 Confederate edition of U.S. Ordnance Manual.

Six-pounder field gun similar to the cannons brought to Utah by the Mormons. Illustration from 1861 O r d n a n c e Manual.

fighting, since it could be transported, with ammunition, by two or three mules. With its light total weight, three-quarter pound powder charge, and one thousand yard range, this howitzer was an asset on the frontier. T h e value of this cannon was $471 in 1851. Since this was more than Utah's quota, further allotments were denied until the difference was equalized. According to War Department records, Utah Territory received thirty-two muskets plus the cannon by December 1854. Muskets were valued at $13, making the cannon the equivalent of thirty-four muskets. T h e War Department ordered in 1855 that all territories with less than 2,000 muskets issued be given arms equal to that amount. T h e d e p a r t m e n t record for 1855 shows 1,934 muskets credited to Utah Territory, which, with

Frontier Arms of the Mormons

the previous arms and the cannon, totals 2,000, a significant increase for Utah. 4 3 T h e legion members continued to rely on their personal arms for military service, particularly in the areas outside of Salt Lake City. Until the mid-1850s these were primarily the weapons brought from Illinois. Military muster rolls for 1851 - 53 list arms u n d e r such headings as rifles, pistols, muskets, and yaugers. However, by 1854, and increasingly thereafter, entries occur for the new repeating weapons appearing in the territory. By 1857 almost all muster rolls contain headings of Colts, pocket pistols, belt pistols, revolvers, and carbines. As rapidly as these new arms were developed, they could be found on the frontier. T h e most popular new weapon in Utah, as well as elsewhere, was the Colt revolver. Its acceptance is well indicated by noting that almost every muster roll after 1853 reserved a column for recording Colts, whether a unit had any or not. Men liked the gun because it was based on a simple mechanism that was rugged and reliable. An early mention of this revolver was made in Carvalho's account of Fremont's 1853 expedition t h r o u g h Utah. Prior to 1857 Colts were mentioned frequently in diaries and journals. Hosea Stout went to court over the theft of six of them, and Ethan Pettit included Colts in his trade goods with the Indians. 4 4 So dominant was this weapon that few references have been found to any other brand of revolver " " R e c o r d s on the Office of the Chief of O r d n a n c e , Ledger and Journals of Ordnance and O r d n a n c e Stores Issued to the Militia, 1816 - 1904," 45:3 - 4, 31, National Archives, Washington D.C. 44 Brooks ed., On the Mormon Frontier, 1:664; Ethan Pettit, " T h e Diary of Ethan Pettit, 1855 - 1881,"'l44, manuscript, Western Americana, Marriott Library, University of Utah, Salt Lake City.

This Colt five-shot .36 revolver was advertised in 1864 gun catalog.

Utah Historical Quarterly

in Utah before the Civil War. Gun collectors have often commented that more early model Colt revolvers have been found in the Great Basin than in any other area of the United States. A second new weapon, a breech-loaded rifle (carbine), appeared first in a muster roll for the Iron County Militia, August 5, 1852. Referred to only as carbines, they can be identified by the 1852 date as the fifteen weapons now in a Salt Lake City museum. These are Sharps carbines, 1851 models, a .52 caliber breech-loading single-shot arm which was one of the first replacements for muzzleloaders. T h o u g h not a repeater, these short, light rifles were very handy on horseback and quick to reload with their combustible linen cartridges. T h e museum examples are all .52 caliber, weigh about ten pounds, and have twenty-five inch barrels. Together with the Colt revolvers, these arms demonstrate how quickly improved firearms were adopted on this frontier. 4 5 Besides concern for public and private arms, the Mormons were also forced to consider their supplies of gunpowder in the 1850s. This most necessary item was usually in short supply due to the danger and expense of transporting it to Utah. Brigham Young noted in his governor's message of 1852 that although the settlements were well supplied with arms, powder was both scarce and expensive. However, the supply was sufficient for any emergency. 4 6 This scarcity, together with Young's desire for local production of all goods, resulted in an early attempt at manufacturing gunpowder. As an incentive the territorial legislature offered a reward of $2,000 to the first person making 100 pounds from local materials. A $100 reward was offered for the second 100 pounds; and for each succeeding 100 pounds, to a maximum of 2,000 pounds, the bonus was $50. 4 7 T h e total reward of $3,000 for 2,000 pounds of powder indicates the concern over the supply. In Iron County, which had more Indian difficulties than Salt Lake City in the 1850s, Robert Keys personally offered $50 to the first man producing 10 pounds of powder from local materials. 4 8 T h e attempt at powder manufacturing began in 1854. A Swiss chemist, Frederick Loba, was hired by Brigham Young to establish a

45 Winston O. Smith, The Sharps Rifle: Its History, Development, and Operation (New York, 1943); Philip B. Sharpe, The Rifle in America, 4th ed. (New York, 1958), 1 9 6 - 2 1 7 . T h e examples noted are in the Daughters of Utah Pioneers Museum, Salt Lake City. 46 Deseret Weekly Mews, December 25, 1852, p. 12. "Ibid., January 8, 1853, p. 20. is Ibid., October 24, 1855, p. 261.

Frontier Arms of the Mormons

powder mill. E.H. Henriod invested $400 in the venture and was to learn the business from Loba. A large cellar was d u g at the site of present Fort Douglas for the making of saltpeter, one of the main ingredients. Sulfur was to be brought from Cove Creek, and the charcoal would be locally made. Loba, however, while waiting for the saltpeter to form, bought a small molasses works, where he turned sugar into alcohol. Friction developed between him and Young over the rate of gunpowder production and the making of whiskey. Finally, Young fired Loba who soon left the territory. 4 9 No powder had been made, and this was apparently the only attempt prior to 1857. Equally as important as gunpowder was the supply of lead for bullets. Because of its expense and to further encourage home manufacture, Brigham Young initiated a search for lead within the territory. Early discoveries were made near Minersville in 1852, but this lead contained too m u c h silver for casting well in bullet making. 5 0 Significant deposits were found near Las Vegas, Nevada, in 1855. Nathaniel Jones was sent to extract the ore, and in January, 1857, twenty-seven h u n d r e d pounds were sent to Salt Lake City. 51 v As far as pioneer arms are concerned, 1857 was probably the most important year in Utah history. This was the only time the total armed capacity of the entire territory was amassed for a common goal â&#x20AC;&#x201D; to oppose the entry of a federal army into Utah. T h e records of the attempt offer the most detailed information to be found on the arms of the Mormons. Following the a n n o u n c e m e n t in July 1857 of the dispatch of an army of occupation to Utah Territory, James Ferguson, adjutant general of the N a u v o o Legion, b e g a n g a t h e r i n g all available weapons and ammunition. By late in the year he estimated the following supplies to be in private hands, not part of the militia arms: 2,364 rifles, 1,159 muskets, 99 pistols, 259 Colt revolvers, 414 swords, 1,500 pounds of powder, and 3,224 p o u n d s of lead. Ferguson added that he thought these amounts had tripled since he

49 E. H. Henriod to Andrew Jenson, 1926, Archives Division, Historical Department, Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, Salt Lake City. 50 R. A. Hart, Mining in Utah (Salt Lake City, 1957), 9 - 1 0 . 51 Andrew J e n s o n , "History of Las Vegas Mission," Nevada State Historical Society Papers, 1925 - 1926 (Reno, 1926), 216 - 66.

Utah Historical Quarterly

gathered the information. In addition, he had not estimated what people had obtained from merchants and transients since the impending invasion was announced. 5 2 No total figure can be found for the militia arms, but examination of the muster rolls for the individual units indicates that some were better equipped than others. William H. Dame, commanding the Iron County units, reported he could send 200 effective men, armed with 190 rifles, 99 muskets, 17 Colt revolvers, and sufficient ammunition. 5 3 Averaging the totals of men and arms from a representative sampling of the units indicates at least one weapon for each individual, although Norman Furniss found only 440 arms for 807 men in his sampling. 5 4 However, if the public arms are included, there certainly were sufficient arms for the Mormon forces. In addition to the weapons already on hand, large quantities were gathered from the more distant Mormon settlers who were recalled to Utah for the crisis. P.W. Conover was dispatched to Genoa, Nevada, to call in the settlers and bring back war material. He r e t u r n e d with twenty-seven h u n d r e d pounds of community ammunition and a large amount of personal arms and ammunition. T h e Genoa settlers maintained there was only one p o u n d of powder and two boxes of percussion caps in the entire area after they left. Conover also went to San Francisco where he bought from donations an additional $800 worth of ammunition and twelve thousand pounds of other supplies. 5 5 From the fifteen h u n d r e d San Bernardino, California, settlers came even larger quantities. Howard Egan reported delivery in February 1858 of six h u n d r e d seventyfive p o u n d s of powder, thirty thousand percussion caps, and one h u n d r e d pounds of lead. 56 O n e mail train reportedly contained five h u n d r e d Colt revolvers bound for Utah, while some non-Mormon Californians became so alarmed by the quantity going to Salt Lake they considered closing Cajon Pass to the Mormons. 5 7 Converts arriving from other countries contributed arms, although most likely in a small way. T h e National Intelligencer for May 1857 reported that when eight h u n d r e d Mormons from England landed in

City.

James Ferguson to Brigham Young, January 7, 1858, Military Archives, State Capitol, Salt Lake

Brooks,yo/m Doyle Lee, 201 - 2. N o r m a n F. Furniss, The Mormon Conflict, 1850 - 1859 (New Haven, Conn., 1960), 146. " E x t r a c t s from the J o u r n a l of Peter Wilson Conover, Peter W. Conover File A240, typescript, Utah State Historical Society. T h e extracts are not paged and are gathered with other miscellaneous Conover materials. 56 Egan, Pioneering the West, 157. " R o b e r t s , Comprehensive History, 4:245 - 46; Bancroft, History of Utah, 510. 54

Frontier Arms of the Mormons

Boston, most of the men had at least two pistols while many carried four. 5 8 In an effort to secure as many arms as possible, the complicated process of manufacturing revolvers was also u n d e r t a k e n . T h e Mormons were fortunate in having several excellent gunsmiths among their members. One, David Sabin, had been advertising since 1854 in the Deseret News that he manufactured revolvers for sale. 59 Jules Remy noted in his 1855 visit to Salt Lake City that he saw gunsmiths making revolvers and revolving carbines. 6 0 Sensing the coming conflict with the government, church authorities enlisted Sabin's aid. On March 21, 1857, the church noted, "commenced this morning to make revolving pistols at the public works in the new shop which had been put up from a portion of the wheel wright shop. David Sabin and William Naylor were employed at this work." 61 T h e first revolver was completed in May and j u d g e d by church authorities to be "a first-rate piece of mechanism and . . . well finished." 62 These arms were mentioned the following year in XheNeiu York Herald by William Bell, an ex-Utah merchant. He stated the arms were imitation Colt revolvers being manufactured at the public works at the rate of twenty per day. 63 Richard Burton, in his 1860 observation of local manufacturing commented, "the imitations of Colt's revolvers can hardly be distinguished from the originals." 64 T h a t some revolvers were made cannot be doubted, 58

Furniss, Mormon Conflict, 134. â&#x201E;˘Deseret Weekly Mews, January 12, 1854, p. 8; April 18, 1855, p. 47. 60 Remy and Rrer\ch\ey, Journey to Great-Salt-Lake City, 1:197, 2:269. " " J o u r n a l History of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints," March 2 1 , 1857, LDS Archives. 62 Ibid., May 19, 1857. 63 Deseret Weekly News, May 12, 1858, p. 50. 64 Richard F. Burton, The City of the Saints . . ., ed. Fawn M. Brodie (New York, 1963), 354.

Typical Colt revolver, percussion period, similar to type manufactured by the Mormons. Utah State Historical Society collections.

Utah Historical Quarterly

although it is unlikely that more than a h u n d r e d were produced. Surviving arms have appeared among Colt collectors for many years, yet no serial n u m b e r over 100 has been noted among the twenty revolvers that have been found. Certainly not enough were made to make any difference in the total arms picture. Interestingly, collectors have always assumed these guns were made by Jonathan Browning, since he is the only r e m e m b e r e d Utah gunsmith of the period. T h e r e is no evidence either on the guns or in the Browning family records to indicate he made them. T h e only available evidence shows David Sabin as the principal maker. T h e crisis of 1857 also saw renewed attempts to manufacture gunpowder. William Bell, in theNew York Herald mentioned powder was being produced in Salt Lake City by October 1857, 65 although no other evidence can be found. In 1859, however, Eleazer Edwards of Cedar City produced 100 p o u n d s of quality powder and received a $200 bonus. He claimed to be equipped to produce 1,000 pounds, but by then the crisis had passed and his powder was not needed. 6 6 T h e conflict of 1857 was settled by negotiation rather than arms, and the residents found an almost continuous federal force in their midst after 1858. Whatever discomfort this may have caused both the Mormons and the soldiers, it had at least one benefit for the territorial militia. With federal troops stationed southwest of Salt Lake City, the militia did not have to face the Indian problem alone, particularly in the n o r t h e r n third of the territory. For years the legion had been fighting skirmishes, mostly minor, with the Indians. Cattle had been stolen, buildings burned, and occasionally individuals were killed. T h e coming of federal troups made it possible to pursue the problem to a conclusion. T h e issue was settled on J a n u a r y 29, 1863, when federal troops u n d e r Col. Patrick E. Conner so decisively defeated the Bannocks and Shoshonis on the banks of Bear River that n o r t h e r n Utah never again suffered a serious Indian menace. Southern Utah presented a different problem. T h e settlements were much farther from the federal base near Salt Lake City, and Indian raids were over and the Indians gone before soldiers could arrive. T h u s , the b u r d e n of defense fell upon local militia units. T h e r e were n u m e r o u s conflicts t h r o u g h o u t the years, of which the

Deseret Weekly News, May 12, 1858, p. 50. "Journal History," May 16, 1859; Eleazer Edwards to Daniel H. Wells, January 14, 1859, Military Archives; Deseret Weekly News, May 18, 1859, p. 84. and October 17, 1860. p. 263. 66

Frontier Arms of the Mormons

mmmmm

Henry rifle was popular in Utah in the 1860s when repeating arms using metallic cartridges began replacing muzzle- loading single-shot arms.

Blackhawk War of 1865 was the most notable. Occasionally the threat became serious enough that communities were evacuated for a time, although usually it was more a matter of stolen cattle and isolated b u r n i n g of buildings. 6 7 This period was also a time when firearms were u n d e r g o i n g the greatest change which had occured since the invention of gunpowder. H a n d m a d e , muzzle-loading single-shot arms and awkward loading revolvers were rapidly being replaced by mass-produced repeating arms using the new brass cartridges. T h e s e were improvements of a very practical nature to a frontiersman, and the weapons soon began appearing in Utah. T h e record of the great change in firearms is revealed in the muster rolls of the Nauvoo Legion as well as the diaries and journals of the 1860s. By the mid-1860s, most of the muster rolls had a separate column for listing the new weapons, whether the unit had any or not. T h e names most frequently encountered are Sharps, Ballard, Henry, Spencer, Wesson, and Joslyn. T h e s e arms were basically similar, although there were mechanical variations a m o n g them. Except for the Ballard and Wesson, they were repeaters, which ended the frontiersman's problem of having one shot and several enemies. All used the recently developed brass case, which made powder, primer, and projectile a convenient, waterproof unit. This ended the centuries-old problems of pouring loose powder down a rifle barrel and keeping powder dry enough to fire in d a m p weather. T h e first mention of these new arms in Utah was by J.W. Sylvester, who noted he paid seventy-five dollars for a Henry rifle and ten cents each for cartridges in 1856. 68 T h e value of this weapon can be no more eloquently stated. Henrys were in d e m a n d because " A l t h o u g h no definitive history of the battles with the Indians can be found, information is plentiful. The Deseret News reported them in great detail for the years involved. Peter Gottfredson's Indian Depredations in Utah (Salt Lake City, 1919), recounts many conflicts; Bancroft's History of Utah contains much information and a bibliography. O t h e r useful accounts are C Gregory Crampton and David E. Miller, "Journal of Two ~ Campaigns by the Utah Territorial Militia against the Navajo Indians, 1869," Utah Historically leal Quarterly, 29 (April 1961), 148 - 76; James W. Sylvester, "History of My Life during the Indian Wars," "Annal of the wars," typescript, Utah State Historical Society; James G. Bleak, "Annals Southern Utah Mission," Book A, typescript, Utah State Historical Society; Jacob Hamblin, "Early Days in Utah's Dixie," Utah Historical Quarterly, 5 (October 1932), 130 - 34. 3 Sylvester, "History of My Life," 7.

Utah Historical Quarterly

they held seventeen cartridges. Indians sometimes called them the "spirit gun" because they fired so many times. 69 T h e Henry rifle appears in many muster rolls, and Gottfredson mentions them in several battles. 70 Equally popular, although holding only seven cartridges, were the Spencer repeaters. These were available in both .52 caliber and .56 caliber carbines, and had a strong admirer in Abraham Lincoln. Militia muster rolls usually grouped them with Joslyns, which used the same ammunition, so their exact n u m b e r cannot be determined. However, by 1867 there were about thirty Spencers and Joslyns in the Nauvoo Legion. Several are on display in Salt Lake City. 71 T h e Ballard and the Wesson rifles which began to appear on the muster rolls were single-shot arms. They became a favorite rifle d u r i n g the 1860-1900 period, because they could be chambered for more powerful cartridges than any of the repeating rifles. T h e popularity of the new arms can be seen in a single militia record. T h e muster roll for the Pauvan Military District, 2d Cavalry, shows the following for August 1866: twenty-two Spencer/Joslyn, one Henry, ten Wesson/Ballard, nineteen Sharps, twelve yaugers, and sixty revolvers for a force of sixty-seven men. 7 2 Most notable is that most of the muskets and yaugers had been replaced. In the 1860s theDeseret News published information on tests of experimental and military weapons. Often, three or more full columns were devoted to these arms. Even though these guns were not available in Utah, the coverage is an indication of the importance of firearms. 7 3 T h e completion of the transcontinental railroad in 1869 opened a new era in Utah. For the majority of the Mormon people the coming of the railroad placed them once more into the current of American life. T h e thirty years that had seen these people on many frontiers had also seen great changes in the arms that sustained them. As the frontier conditions passed so did the need for those arms that for so long had meant law and survival. 69

Charles Edward Chapel, Guns of the Old West (New York, 1961), 247 - 49. Gottfredson, Indian Depredations, 210, 310. " N o r m a n O. Wiltsey, "Spencer's Great 7-Shooter," Gun Digest, 16th ed. (Chicago, 1962), 9; Crampton and Miller, "Journal of Two Campaigns," 4; Gottfredson, Indian Depredations, 161. These guns may be seen at Pioneer Village and Daughters of Utah Pioneers Museum. 72 "Muster Roll," 2d Division Cavalry, Pauvan Military District, August 1866, Military Archives. 73 The arms and the relevant sources all in Deseret Weekly News, are: English improvements: November 30, 1854; p. 139; March 14, 1855, p. 8. Colt improvements; September 2 1 , 1854, p. 100; April 18, 1868, p. 50. Minie rifle: October 5, 1859, p. 243; 7, 1855, p. 274; April 4, 1855, p. " ' 3 ; November No 27. Army field trials: August 20, 1856, p. 189; February 3, 1858, p. 381; September 22, 1858, p. 125; September zy, 29, 1858, September 19, 1 . Foreign military September I 8 3 Âť , pp .. 18131; l a u i ; septemDer iy, 1966, iyoo, p. p. 331; 331; January January 23, zs, 1867, t o o / , p. p. 361. foreign military rifles: August 16, 1866, p. 294; October 24, 1866, p. 374. Repeating weapons: January 20, 1855, p. 113; March 17, 1858, p. 13; April 18, 1860, p. 50; March 6, 1861, p. 3. Early machine guns: December 7, 1865, p. 72; September 19, 1866, p. 331. 70

The Mormon Battalion: A Historical Accident? BY W. RAY LUCE

Above: Brigham Young's home at Winter Quarters.

Utah Historical Quarterly

A HE MORMON BATTALION and its participation in the Mexican War have long been favorite subjects for writers on Mormonism and the American West. Although the group participated in no military battles, the h u m a n d r a m a connected with the five h u n d r e d men leaving wives and children midway through a forced exodus to find a new home, the length and hardship of their trek across the Southwest, and the part they played in the discovery of gold in California have provided inspiration for the poet and playwright as well as the historian. 1 With very few exceptions those who have written about the battalion have accepted the traditional view that the final plans for the formation and march of the battalion were made in Washington and that President James Knox Polk created the unit either to test the church, provide desperately needed soldiers for the war with Mexico, or as a specific act of kindness toward the church. 2 A close reading of the records of the creation of the battalion, however, reveals a very different story. T h e president of the United States did need soldiers for an expedition to California, and he was made aware of the fact that the Mormons, who were then in Iowa enroute to the West, wanted financial help to continue their journey. He did propose to help them and retain their loyalty by allowing some of them to join the army, but he and William Marcy, the secretary of war, wanted the recruitment to take place after they arrived in California and not before. An ambiguous letter written by Secretary Marcy to Col. Stephen W. Kearney led Kearney, who needed troops, to send Capt. James Allen to Iowa immediately to recruit the Mormons. In the absence of detailed instruction on the time and place of enlistments, Kearney misinterpreted Polk's intent. T h u s , a vaguely worded letter rather than a presidential plan led to the march of the Mormon Battalion. 3

Mr. Luce is a doctoral candidate in history at the University of Virginia. 'For background on the battalion see: Daniel Tyler, A Concise History of the Mormon Battalion in the Mexican War (1881; reprint ed., Chicago, 1969); Frank Alfred Golder, T h o m a s A. Bailey, and J. Lyman Smith, The March of the Mormon Battalion from Council Bluffs to California Taken from the Journal of Henry Standage (New York, 1928); Brigham H. Roberts, The Mormon Battalion: Its History and Achievements (Salt Lake City, 1919). Hbid. See also Henry W. Bigler, "Extracts from the Journal of Henry W. Bigler," Utah Historical Quarterly, 5 (April 1932), 35-64; T. B. H. Stenhouse, The Rocky Mountain Saints . . . (New York, 1873), chap. 31. 3 Andrew Love Neff was one of the few historians to recognize the problem, although he did not explore it completely. "However, the question remains to be asked why President Polk wavered in his determination and finally decided to enlist Mormons en route to the Pacific Coast. Manifestly it was done either as a distinct favor to the Saints or as a measure of military expediency." Andrew Love Neff, History of Utah, 1847 to 1869. ed. Leland H. Creer (Salt Lake City, 1940), 63.

Mormon Battalion

T h e events leading to Allen's appearance in the Mormon camps began four months earlier in Nauvoo, Illinois. Just before leaving for the West, Brigham Young wrote a letter appointing Jesse C. Little, a Mormon convert living in New Hampshire, to preside over the church's Eastern States Mission. Little, a thirty-one-year-old merchant who had earlier directed church operations in New Hampshire, was a happy choice for the assignment. Dedicated to the church, he worked tirelessly to fulfill Brigham Young's written instructions. T h e letter of appointment asked Little to help members of the church living in the East make the j o u r n e y to the still unselected place of refuge in the West. It suggested that Little might outfit a ship to follow an earlier g r o u p led by Sam B r a n n a n a r o u n d the H o r n to California. T h e letter also instructed Little to accept any governmental aid: "If our government shall offer any facilities for emigrating to the western coast, embrace thosefacilities if possible. As a wise and faithful man, take every honorable advantage of the times you can." 4 Jesse Little's time d u r i n g the next few months was directed toward strengthening the congregations in the East, encouraging emigration, and seeking assistance from the government. After receiving the letter he made a quick tour of the mission to visit local leaders in New York, Boston, and Philadelphia, and d u r i n g May 1846 he held church conferences in the major branches of the mission to "take into consideration the most expedient measures for the removal and emigration of the saints in the Eastern States to California." 5 Even though Little's main efforts were directed toward emigration, he did not forget the request to seek government aid. He discussed the project in all the cities he visited, and finally resolved to go to Washington and appeal to the president himself. He made careful preparations before going and obtained letters of introduction to various governmental officials. Gov. J o h n H. Steele of New Hampshire wrote a letter for him to George Bancroft, secretary of the navy, indicating that he had known Jesse Little since childhood

Young to Little, J a n u a r y 20, 1846, typescript, Utah State Historical Society, Salt Lake City. Jesse C Little, Circular to the Saints Scattered Abroad throughout the Eastern and Middle States (Peterborough, N.H., 1846), and Circular the Second (Philadelphia, 1846). See also "Manuscript History of the Eastern States Mission, "Archives Division, Historical Department, Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, Salt Lake City. Little's activities are detailed in his written report to Brigham Young which may be found in both his letter file and in "Journal History of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints" u n d e r the date Julv 6, 1846, both in LDS Archives. Little's report is reprinted in full in William E. Berrett and Alma Burton, Readings in L.D.S. Church History, 2 vols. (Salt Lake City, 1953, 1955), 2 : 2 0 4 - 13. 5

Utah Historical Quarterly

30 and could vouch for his honesty. Little was going to Washington, Steele said, seeking a governmental contract to carry supplies to the West Coast to lower the cost of taking a ship to California. 6

While visiting New York the Mormon leader obtained a letter of introduction from A. G. Benson, a local merchant, to Amos Kendall, former postmaster general of the United States, who had been a leading member of An/ drew Jackson's Kitchen Cabinet. T h e Benson letter is important Jesse C. Little. not only because it introduced LitUtah State Historical tle to the man who helped arrange Society collections, gift of Salt Lake Tribune. a private meeting with the president but also because it showed the continuing interest of Benson and Kendall in Mormon colonization. A few months earlier, in January 1846, when Sam Brannan was preparing to take the shipload of Mormons to California, Benson had contacted him. T h e r e were those in the government, Brannan was told, who opposed the Mormons and would not allow them to leave the country. Benson said he and Kendall could secure safe passage for all departing Mormons but, in return for the service, asked for every other section of land when church members settled in California. B r a n n a n signed the agreement and sent it to Brigham Young for church approval. Young refused to sign it, saying he would trust in the Lord for a safe departure. 7 Although there is no indication of it in the surviving documents, Benson still may have hoped to further some land speculating scheme by helping Jesse Little. Despite the refusal of Brigham Young to sign the contract, friendly relations were maintained be6

Berrett and Burton, Readings, 2:204 - 5. Berrett and Burton, Readings, 2:206; Brigham H. Roberts, ed., History of the Church ofJesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, 7 vols. (Salt Lake City, 1902 - 32), 7:587 - 9 1 . For Benson's later activities in the Pacific see Roy Nichols, Advanced Agents of American Destiny (Philadelphia, 1956). Many questions about the Brannan-Benson agreement remain unanswered. A fairly close relationship between the two men appears to have continued for some time. More than two years after the abortive agreement, Brannan wrote Jesse C Little: "Many little bits of interest you will learn by calling Benson of New York, which will save me the trouble of writing them again. . . . I want you to use all your influence in connection with Mr. Benson with our people." "Journal History," September 18, 1847. 7

Mormon Battalion

tween Benson and the church, and the church apparently continued to purchase some supplies through Benson's firm. 8 While in New York, Little also talked with an unidentified Washington informant who assured him that the president was friendly toward the church and wished he had $2,000,000 to give them. Little was skeptical but said that if such feelings really did exist, the government could give them some monetary help. He suggested a $50,000 loan. 9 No d o u b t h o p i n g the inThomas L. Kane. I 'tail Slate Historical formation was correct, Little left Society collections, New York to hurry to Philadelgift of Ralph V. Chamberlin. phia to conduct a church conference there. Following the first conference meeting, Thomas L. Kane, a young Philadelphian, asked to meet him. Kane, the twenty-four-year-old son of Judge John K. Kane and brother of the arctic explorer Elisha Kent Kane, proved to be a lasting friend of the Mormons. For several years he served as an unofficial representative for the church in the East, and he would ultimately help to negotiate a settlement to the Utah War in 1858. He was active in many other enterprises, serving as a Union major general during the Civil War and as chairman of the Pennsylvania Free Soil party. 10 The two men developed a warm friendship and met several times during Little's stay in Philadelphia. Kane told Little that he understood the church was going to California and that he wanted permission to go with them. Little gave Kane the latest information he had received about the Mormon exodus from Nauvoo and told about his proposed trip to Washington. Kane, whose father was a friend of President Polk, gave the Mormon elder political informa-

Woodruff to Little, March 27, 1846, typescript, Utah State Historical Society. Little, Circular to the Saints. Berrett and Burton, Readings, 2:206. For additional material on Kane see Albeit I., /obeli, Sentinelin the East: A Biography of Thomas L. Kane (Salt Lake City, 1965); and Oscar O. Winther, ed., I he Private Papers and Diary of Thomas Leiper Kane, a Friend of the Mormons (San Francisco, 1937). 9

Utah Historical Quarterly

tion and advice and offered to help appeal to Washington. 11 During one of their meetings Little mentioned that he hoped the government would help them because otherwise they might be forced to seek aid from another country. Kane immediately advised Little that such a threat would be the strongest possible a p p r o a c h in Washington. 12 Because the Mormons were leaving the confines of the United States, they could pose a serious obstacle to the country's westward expansion if they set up an independent country or joined with either Mexico or Great Britain. The possibility of joining England was heightened by the fact that more than fifteen thousand English had joined the Mormon church by 1846, and of that number almost five thousand had journeyed to Mormon settlements in the United States. 13 Tensions between the United States and both Mexico and England were growing. The annexation of Texas had provoked ill feelings with Mexico; relations degenerated, and war was declared between the two countries while Little was visiting Philadelphia. The United States was also involved with England in a dispute over Oregon, and President Polk could not ignore the many ramifications of that diplomatic conflict. Understandably, the president was not eager to alienate a group with over twenty thousand members on the western borders of the country. 14 Before Little left for Washington, he received a letter of introduction from Thomas Kane to his fellow Pennsylvanian, VicePresident George M. Dallas. The letter asked support for the Mormon leader and hinted that the Mormons might be forced to seek aid elsewhere. But, Kane said, they would "not willingly sell themselves to the foreigner, or forget the old commonwealth they leave behind them." 15 When Jesse Little arrived in Washington on May 21, the town was filled with excitement. A manufacturer's fair had brought many to the city to see exhibits such as a telegraph connecting Washington with Baltimore. Residents and visitors alike were thrilled with the

" B e r r e t t a n d Burton,Readings, 2:206. A quite extensive correspondence between the two men is found in the Polk Papers, Library of Congress, Washington, D.C. Polk appointed the elder Kane a federal judge, and an earlier letter from Polk to Kane concerning the tariff was widely circulated during the presidential campaign of 1844 as Polk's official stand. 12 Little to Moses Thatcher, December 20, 1890. rough draft in possession of Lit tie's descendants. 13 M. Hamlin Cannon, "Migration of English Mormons to America/'/JmfncflN Historical Review, 52 (April 1947), 441. L'sing the information he had. Little estimated the number at 40,000 in his letter to the president. Berrett and Burton, Readings, 2:210. 14 Milton Milo Quaife, ed., The Diary of James K. Polk during His Presidency. 1845 to 1849. 4 vols. (Chicago, 1910), 1:444 - 45, hereafter cited as Polk Diary. 15 Berrett and Burton, Readings, 2:207.

Mormon Battalion

arrival of news of the first American victories in the war with Mexico. 16 Little wasted no time in seeking governmental aid. T h e day after arriving, he attended the president's public reception with a Mr. Dane and Daniel P. King, a congressman from Massachusetts. Little met the president and requested assistance. T h e meeting was certainly brief with little time to present a detailed plan. Polk made no mention of the meeting in his diary, commenting only that a large n u m b e r of people attended the reception, many of them volunteering their services or seeking commands in the army. 1 7 Not satisfied with the interview, Little called on Amos Kendall the next day to seek his help. T h e meeting produced a change in the direction of Little's request. He had been seeking a naval contract to help lower the cost of chartering a ship to California, but Kendall told him that to assist the emigrants one thousand Mormon men might be enlisted in the war. This is the first recorded mention of a Mormon fighting group. T h e war excitement doubtlessly generated the idea, but it also appears that Kendall had inside information from the Polk administration. He promised to tell Little on Tuesday morning what could be arranged. T h e mention of Tuesday morning, May 26, 1846, is significant, because the first mention of a California expedition in Polk's diary is found in his description of a meeting he held Monday evening with Kendall and Gov. Archibald Yell of Arkansas. T h e president noted that both of them favored such a force. 18 Little was going to the post office Tuesday morning when he met Kendall who told him that Polk had decided to take possession of California and to use church members in that attempt. T h e president would present the plan to the cabinet later that day. T h e cabinet thoroughly discussed the plan before agreeing unanimously to send an expedition to California. Kendall told Little the next day that plans had not been completed, but it looked as though two Mormon forces might be used: one thousand men to march to California and another thousand to ship military supplies to the West Coast. 19 T h e Mormon leader waited impatiently for word from the president confirming the offer, but none came. After five days he

Ibid., 2:208. "Ibid., 2:207; Quaife, ed., Polk Diary, 1:418. Berrett and Burton, Readings, 2:207; Quaife, ed., Polk Diary, 1:427. 19 Berrett and Burton, Readings, 2:208; Quaife, ed., Polk Diary, 1:429. 1H

Utah Historical Quarterly

decided to make a direct appeal to the president himself. In a long letter he outlined the persecution the church had received, and he asked for assistance: They as well as myself are true hearted Americans, true to our country, true to its glorious institutions, and we have a desire to go u n d e r the outstretched wings of the American Eagle. We would disdain to receive assistance from a foreign power, although it should be proffered, unless our government shall turn us off in this great crisis and will not help us, but compel us to be foreigners. Means for the gathering of poor we must obtain; thousands are looking to me for help and I cannot, yea, I will not, give myself rest until I find means for the deliverance of the poor. In this thing I am determined, and if I cannot get it in the land of my fathers, I will cross the trackless ocean where I trust I shall find some friends to help . . . if you assist us at this crisis, I hereby pledge my honor, my life, my property and all I possess, as representative of this people, to stand ready at your call, and that the whole body will act as one man in the land to which we are going. And should our territory be invaded, we hold ourselves ready to enter the field of battle, and then like our patriot fathers with our guns and swords make the battle field our grave or gain our liberty. 20

T h e letter reached President Polk as final decisions were being made about the California expedition. During the week Little had been waiting the president had not forgotten the force. It had, in fact, been one of his most pressing items of business. His diary records his search for a solution. He wanted a United States force in California before peace negotiations to further the country's claim to New Mexico and California. He was not sure, however, that enough time remained for a g r o u p to make the j o u r n e y overland before winter. He discussed the matter with a n u m b e r of people, including Sen. T h o m a s H a r t Benton of Missouri who assured him that a g r o u p leaving from Independence, Missouri, would have time to make the trip. T h e president had already o r d e r e d some troops on the frontier to go to New Mexico to protect American traders there. These men u n d e r Col. Stephen Kearney could make the trip to California in time, Polk decided, and a new force of one thousand men recruited in Missouri could follow them to Santa Fe with the option of continuing to California. 21

2(l

Berrett and Burton, Readings, 2:208 - 1 1.

" Q u a i f e , ed., Polk Diary, 1:437-39.

Mormon Battalion

James Knox Polk. U. S. Signal Corps ph o to graph, Na tional Archives.

35 These decisions were made two days before Little wrote his letter of appeal. T h e president faced a difficult situation. His plans called for a force to leave immediately from Missouri. T h e Mormons, who had just been driven from their homes and were now seeking aid, were in the area. Using the Mormons seemed to be the easiest solution; however, it would pose c e r t a i n p r o b l e m s . Many Americans disliked them, and settlers at Sutter's Fort in California were already alarmed that a large n u m b e r of them were coming to that area. Polk feared their reaction if the first American troops arriving there were Mormons. 2 2

T h e president was weighing these alternatives when Jesse Little's letter arrived, prompting Polk to ask Amos Kendall to have Jesse Little come see him. T h e president spent three hours with the Mormon leader the next day, J u n e 3. Polk assured Little that he was friendly toward church members and would treat them the same as other citizens. He asked Little if the church would be willing to enlist five h u n d r e d men after they arrived in California and was advised that they would. T h e president did not tell him about the proposed California expedition and did not make a definite offer. He did say something would be done to help and that he would meet with the secretary of the navy before a definite proposal was made. Little was asked to call back the next day. T h e second meeting was delayed one day, until J u n e 5, when the final offer was made to Little. T h e president had checked with the secretary of war, and they had decided to allow a battalion of Mormon volunteers to join Kearney after he arrived in California, if the war lasted that long. Jesse Little wanted to go immediately to the Mormon camps and recruit the men, but the president said no. 2 3 22

Ibid., 1:450. Ibid., 1:445 - 4 6 , 4 4 9 - 5 0 .

Utah Historical Quarterly

T h e offer was not all Little was seeking and he pondered it until that evening before writing a letter of acceptance. T h a t evening he also wrote to T h o m a s L. Kane in Philadelphia, asking him to come to Washington. Kane, who had been confined to bed for some time, arrived two days later. During the next two days he and Little visited a n u m b e r of high governmental officials. Together they called on Secretary of State James Buchanan and Vice-President Dallas. Kane saw Secretary of War Marcy and President Polk alone, while Little talked with George Bancroft, the secretary of the navy, and President Polk. T h e exact nature of their discussions is not clear, but it appears they were trying for an earlier enlistment while at the same time continuing to work for a contract to freight government supplies to California. This is borne out by a letter of introduction Kane wrote for Little to George Bancroft after arriving in Washington. Kane told Bancroft that Little had a letter from Governor Steele explaining the nature of his business â&#x20AC;&#x201D; and Steele's letter mentioned freighting supplies. 2 4 After two full days in Washington, Kane and Little left together for the West on J u n e 9, 1846. Apparently, they were not successful in either of their objectives. At least Jesse Little made no mention of any change of plans in his detailed report to Brigham Young, and the president of the United States recorded no changes in his diary. 2 5 Any success they might have had was, in fact, beside the point. T h e letter from Marcy to Kearney which led to the formation of the Mormon Battalion had been mailed on J u n e 3, the same day Little had his first private interview with Polk and almost a week before Kane and Little left Washington. On its face the letter seems to authorize an immediate enlistment of the Mormons: It is known that a large body of Mormon emigrants are en route to California for the purpose of settling in that country. You are desired to use all proper means to have a good understanding with them to the end that the United States may have their cooperation in taking possession of and holding that country. It has been suggested here that many of these Mormons would willingly enter into the service of the United States, and aid us in our expedition against California. You are hereby authorized to muster into service such as can be induced to volunteer not, however, to a n u m b e r exceeding one third of your entire force. 26 24

Berrett and Burton, Readings, 2:212 - 13. Ibid., 2:213. U.S., Congress, House, House Executive Document No. 60, 30th Cong., 1st sess., 1 8 4 7 - 4 8 , 153 - 5 4 . 25

Mormon Battalion

A careful reading of the letter, however, shows that neither time nor place was mentioned for the Mormon enlistments. A succeeding portion of the letter mentions enlistments in California, but again Marcy is ambiguous on such key points as who and when: It is understood that a considerable number of American citizens are now settled on the Sacramento river . . . who are well disposed towards the United States. Should you, on your arrival in the country, find this to be the true state of things there, you are authorized to organize and receive into the service of the United States such portion of these citizens as you may think useful to aid you to hold the possession of the country.27 It must be r e m e m b e r e d that two days after this letter was written, the president turned down Jesse Little's request to go West to help with an immediate enlistment. Polk also recorded in his diary that he had not told Little about Kearney's expedition or that "when Col. K. reached the country [California] he was authorized to receive 500 of the mormons into the service." 28 It is possible, but unlikely, that Kane and Little did get new dispatches to authorize an earlier enlistment. At Saint Louis Kane and Little separated, and while the Mormon leader went to Nauvoo, Illinois, Kane went to Fort Leavenworth, Kansas. Kane arrived there after Captain Allen had already been ordered to proceed to the Mormon camps, and so any new message he may have taken arrived too late to bear on the action. All evidence, however, points to the fact that Kane's messages were for delivery in California. In a letter to Kane's father written shortly after Kane left Washington Polk said, your son has "no doubt informed you of the object of his journey, and that he will be the bearer of dispatches to our squadron on the Pacific." 29 Only one copy of a letter from the president to T h o m a s L. Kane remains in Polk's papers. It says nothing about enlistments but, after mentioning the Pacific Coast, says Kane has the confidence of the president who hoped all government officers would show him every consideration. 3 0 Although no letters remain, Little said Polk had also promised him letters from the president and the secretary of the navy to the squadron on the Pacific. Little mentions no change of plans d u r i n g his last interview with the president. 3 1 21

'Ibid. Quaife, -'Polk to '"'Polk to 31 Berrett 28

ed.. Polk Diary, 450. John Katie. June 11, 1846, Folk Letterbook, Folk Papers. T h o m a s I.. Kane, June 11, 1846. Polk Letterbook. and Burton. Readings, 2:211 - 13.

Utah Historical Quarterly

Additional support for a proposed California enlistment is found in Jesse Little's actions after parting with Kane in Saint Louis. Little j o u r n e y e d to Nauvoo where he remained seven days â&#x20AC;&#x201D; an inexplicably long stay if he were bringing word that the government would immediately be asking for 500 men. 3 2 T h e traditional view of the origins of the Mormon Battalion must be revised. Elements of the familiar story are correct. T h e formation of the battalion did involve strongly conflicting groups. T h e claims of the Mormons were balanced not only by westerners who feared their arrival but by the electorates of states like Illinois and Missouri who had voted for Polk but might go Whig in the next election if the president gave too much aid to the church. 3 3 T h e Mormons, on the other hand, were in a position to render a greatly needed service or to cause severe problems. Jesse Little used all his persuasive ability, including an outright threat of disloyalty, to obtain some help from the federal government. T h e president could not ignore the Mormons, neither could he give them too much aid. Enlistment of a Mormon fighting group in California seemed like a delicately balanced solution which would retain Mormon loyalty while not alienating too many of their enemies. T h e president's solution was not based primarily upon his personal feelings about the church but upon a variety of political considerations. While these various factors were important in bringing Polk to a position where he was willing to give some aid to the Mormons, they were not vital in the actual creation of the unit. A carelessly worded letter changed a solution which aimed at political neutrality into a plan which not only materially aided the Mormons in their trek west but also led to the epic march of the battalion. 34

Ibid., 2:213.

Some Whig papers later did, in fact, claim that the battalion was recruited as payment for Mormon votes. See Saint Louis Daily New Era, August 21, 1846. 34 T h e battalion provided over $50,000 in cash payments to church members, much of which was used to help the entire church migrate west. Leonard J. Arlington, Great Basin Kingdom: An Economic History of the Latter-day Saints, 1830- 191)0 (Cambridge. Mass., 1958), 21. Polk was quite candid in his diary about his motives. " T h e main object of taking them into service would be to conciliate them, and prevent them from assuming a hostile attitude towards the U.S. after their arrival in California." Quaife, ed., Polk Diary, 1:446. T h e president was not antagnoistic to the church and may have been favorably disposed toward church members. Some sympathy is indicated by the fact that his wife helped raise money and clothing to relieve suffering among them in 1847. Millennial Star, 9 (December 1847), 365. See also W. Rav Luce, "Tea and Svmpathv," Dialogue, A Journal of Mormon Thought, 3 (Spring 1968), 142 - 45.

DAILY UNION YEDETTE. A champion brave, alert and strong

Vol. 1.1

To aid the right, oppose the wrong

C a m p D o u g l a s , XJ. T . , T h u r s d a y INlorning, J a n u a r y 2 8 , 1 8 6 4 .

to a Select Committee of three. The Military Committee reported PUBLISHED EVERY MORNING, EXCEPT SUNDAYS, the Senate's amendatory enrollment CAMP D O M U S , UTAH TERRITORY, bill, and amendments. The consideration of the bill is postponed until O F F I C E R S A N D ^ E N L I S T E D MEN, Wednesday. CHICAGO, J a n . 26th. tfc\»r»r»u Jt N t v i l t Territory W«mtr«r» SENATE—In Executive Session yesT i m of &ateccLp4oa: terday, R. L. Perkins was confirmed as Postmaster of San Francisco, vice Parker, removed. X i M of U M r t i l n i Another amendment, proposed to the Enrollment Bill of the House, yesterday, provides t h a t those physically exempted, b u t who have an income of twelve hundred dollars, shall p a y the Jfoto W o r k , regular Comnrotation of three hundred dollars. BILL HEADS, A bill w a s introduced in the House

gaily *tni<m Wt&ttU,

Cards, Circulars, Blank Forms, I GOOD STYLE

REASONABLE TERMS

BY OVERLAND TELEGRAPH,

A Speech by P. ] . Blair. NRW Yon« J a n . 86th.

yesterday authorizing Utah to form a Constitution and State government. A resolution w a s also adopted instructing the Judiciary Committee to inquire into the expediency of organizing a I)cp*Hrricnt of Industry to embrace the Agricultural, Colonization, Emigration, Frccdmans, and Mineral Lands Bureaus. Bank Statement—Foreign News. NEW YORK, J a n . 25th. Bank statement shows a decrease in loans of three millions ; decrease of specie, ei^-lit hundred thousand ; decrease of deposits one hundred and seventy-five thousand. The Comiher?ial s a y s : Private advices from well informed q u a r t e r s state positively that the SchleswigHoUtein qnestion is about to he settled peacefully by an agreement between the Great Powers in whicli Denmark has already promised to acquiese in and which will be imposed by Austria and Prussia upon the lesser German States by force, if necessary.

master-General Blaiv made a speech a t Annapolis, Friday evening, in advocacy of tlie President's Emancipation 'and Amnesty Proclamations. The speech gives much satisfaction. Congressional. WASHINGTON, J a n . 25th. HOUSE—To-day Fernando Wood spoke against confiscation and in favor of peace. The Committee on Conduct of the W a r meets to-day and will a t once A Pcrnambuco letter, of Dec. 15th, take up the casts of all frouds on the reports both the Alabama and TuscaGovernment. loosa at St. Catharines, on Nov. 20th. A special to the Commercial says : They were refused supplies and orThe House Military Committee to-day

scribed bv the President's proclamation. Loyal citizens s a y they will be able to poll twenty thousand votes for the Constitution.

[IVo. 19.

days, for the immediate conscription of persons who furnished substitutes. They will be put in camps of instruction within ten days. Exploit of Col. Palmer, The Savannah Republican of t h e CmcACO, J a n . 25th. 13th s a y s : A flutter is created h e r e b y A Nashville telegram of Saturday, this law, the most interesting papers says : A Federal train, with a guard on record, and will cause an extensivo consisting of six companies of the 15th stampede to the north and other forPensylvania, w a s captured 28 miles eign parts, by gentlemen who have east of Knoxville on the 14th. As been e n g a g e d in trade. soon as the news w a s received, Col. The Richmond correspondent of tho Palmer, Rt the head of a brigade of Columbia ( G a . ) Sun h a s it, from a Union cavalry, was sent in pursuit. In trustworthy source, that one of the a few hours ho overtook the enemy designs in abolishing the exemptions and recaptured *he wagons and killed by substitutes, w a s to g e t rid of cerand wounded a hundred and fifty rebtain editors and obnoxious to the a u ' els. So complete w a s the rout that thorities. anything like a regular pursuit w a s The Examiner of the 12th says : impossible, as the fugitive rebels fled to the mountains, c\ich man taking care The Senate, yesterday, passed t h e House bill putting in the army all who of himself. Upon Palmer's attack, the Federals who were prisoners drew have furnished substitutes. This will their sabres, of which they had not curtail the cfl'ectivo working force of been relieved, I and cut their w a y he \ irginia railroads, whose executhrough, all escaping. It w a s in this ivc officers can now hardly keep them fight t h a t the rebel Maj.-Gcn. Vance, n good running order, by all t h e means at their command. All the Virwas captured. ginia railroad iron is nearly worn out Important Order. and so are the men working them. LOUISVILLE, J a n . 23th. T+ie Eiu]uirrro( the 13th, s a y s : The Major-Gen. F o s t e r h a s issued an lo^s of our beef raising territory of order prohibiting the distillation of W e s t Mississippi has reduced the supgrain within the limits of the Depart- ply of this article, and the most vigment of Ohio. orous measures are needed to keep tho Vallandigham's Case. troops in meat. Great economy is New York, J a n . 25. necessary in case our supply is cutoff. Washington specials s a y that the The Sciitiitcl sees alarming signs of point raised by Pugh in Vallandigtrouble in North Carolina. S p e a k i n g ham's case, in the Supreme Court, is of the papers of that State, it says that the military commission has no those located at Raleigh, rarely fail to authority to t r y a citizen; having no publish every gloomy article and injurisdiction, except over persons of temperate accusation against the Govthe military and naval service. Holt ernment which appears a n y where. submitted a written argument in opTheir editorials inculcate the same position to this view. The court has ntiments as their selections. I t conreserved its decision. ins frequent documents against 60ssionists for bringing on the war for cause whatever, and indulge in \ \ ASHINCTON, 2 O . as-lcss accusations that North CarThe President'! letter of i n s t i l

The Daily Union Vedette: A Military Voice on the Mormon Frontier BY LYMAN C. PEDF.RSEN. JR.

Utah Historical Quarterly

U NIQUE IN T H E LITERATURE of the West from the 1860s to the t u r n of the century were the newspapers published at military posts. In many cases these c a m p newspapers reveal the best a n d most complete picture of garrison life and soldiering in the American West. Post r e t u r n s a n d o t h e r official r e p o r t s a n d d o c u m e n t s list garrison strength, c o m m a n d i n g officers, changes in personnel each m o n t h , a n d official activities, b u t often miss the color that m a d e u p the daily life of a western soldier. Of u n u s u a l significance a m o n g the publications of military posts was the Daily Union Vedette published at Fort Douglas, Utah Territory, from 1863 to 1867, being the first daily n e w s p a p e r p u b lished in Utah. For two m o n t h s it was called the Union Vedette, not becoming a daily until J a n u a r y 5, 1864. It was then called the Daily Vedette until the title was c h a n g e d to the Daily Union Vedette J a n u a r y 27, 1864. T h e first editor a n d the father of the Vedette was Capt. Charles H. H e m p s t e a d who r e m a i n e d in the editor's chair until December 1864 w h e n "pressing duties" forced him to step down. O t h e r editors included Frederick Livingston, George F. Price, Capt. Stephen E. Jocelyn, O . J . Goldrick, Rev. N o r m a n McLeod, Phil Shoaff, a Mr. Weston, J u d g e Daniel McLaughlin, a n d A d a m Aulback. 1 Patrick Edward C o n n o r a n d the m e n of the Second a n d T h i r d California Volunteers who f o u n d e d C a m p Douglas in 1862 welcomed the first edition of the Vedette on N o v e m b e r 20, 1863. T h e o p e n i n g editorial m a d e fair promise in stating that "we have no ends to serve, save the public good, a n d o u r country's welfare; we have no enemies to punish; no prejudices to indulge; no private griefs to ventilate." T h r e e weeks later a romantic and noble s o u n d i n g subtitle was a d d e d to the front page: "A c h a m p i o n brave, alert a n d strong. . . . T o aid the right, oppose the wrong." O n Christmas Day 1863 a proposal was m a d e to print a daily newspaper completely separate from the weekly publication which had a p p e a r e d thus far. This plan was i m p l e m e n t e d a n d was so widely accepted that on J a n u a r y 22,

Dr. Pedersen is a professor of history at Gravs Harbor College in Aberdeen, Washington. 1

T. S. Harris is also claimed as one of the founders and editors of the Vedette in Richard E. Lingenfelter and Richard A. Dwyer, The "Nonpareil" Press of T. S. Harris (Los Angeles, 1957.) For a full history of the Vedette and of Fort Douglas see Lyman C. Pedersen, Jr.. "History of Fort Douglas, Utah," (Ph.D. diss.. Brigham Voting University, 1967). J. Cecil Alter, Early Utah Journalism (Salt Lake City, 1938). 361 - 75, is another important source.

Daily Union Vedette

1864, it was a n nounced that the weekly p u b l i c a t i o n would be discontinued because too many customers were switching to the daily. Located only three miles from the M o r m o n c a p i t a l of Salt Lake City, Fort Douglas, or C a m p Douglas as it was called until 1878, was in an excellent position to reflect Mormon attitudes and problems during the troublesome d e c a d e of t h e 1860s. T h e r e is n o d o u b t that M o r m o n leaders read the Charles II. Vedette, just as military Hempstead. Utah State Historical officials r e a d t h e Society collections. Deseret News, to see what new attacks were being made on them. On January 19, 1865, the Vedette mentioned that "it is evident from the sermon delivered by Elder J o h n Taylor in the Tabernacle last Sunday that the polygamists are becoming constant readers of the Vedette r2 Between 1863 and 1867, the period d u r i n g which the Vedette was published, some reference to the Mormons appeared in almost every issue of the camp paper. It made good reading for both Mormons and non-Mormons, though for different reasons and from different points of view. T h e subjects most often attracting comment from the editor's pen were polygamy, the question of loyalty, and the future of the army in Utah, although a variety of other subjects appeared as well. On a personal basis the most frequent targets for the columns of the Vedette were Heber C. Kimball -Daily Union Vedette, January 19, 1865. See also Millennial Star, 26 (February 20, 1864), 123, for Mormon reaction to the publishing of the Vedette.

Utah Historical Quarterly

of the First Presidency, a certain Bishop Wooley of a local ward, and, of course, the Mormon leader Brigham Young. Mormon sermons, if they were particularly harsh against the military or if they had an unpatriotic ring to t h e m , might well find room in the camp newspaper. 3 Typical of small complaints published by the newspaper was "One of Brother Kinney's Loyal Inhabitants" which panned the territorial delegate from Utah, J o h n F. Kinney: A patriotic cuss who keeps an ice house in the city, who claims to own a small bridge which crosses a slough near the J o r d a n , would not permit the Government teams engaged in hauling ice to C a m p Douglas, to cross his institution, and actually commenced tearing up the bridge while some of the teams were on the opposite side. 4

A week later the "patriotic cuss," not named in the first article, answered in his own defense. 5 Tension was often high during the war years between the troops who did not wish to serve on the Utah frontier and the Saints who had no desire for them to remain in Utah Territory. In April 1864 Brigham Young was quoted as saying: T h e boys can go u p Parley's Canyon some fine morning and clean out the troops before breakfast. T h e troops are no better than members of Congress. 6

Naturally, a good deal was written about the Mormon militia, and even General Connor recognized the ability of that organization, if determined to do so, to destroy the command on the Wasatch front. Despite this knowledge, a considerable n u m b e r of lines were written depreciating Mormon preparedness. 7 Fortunately, Young and Connor recognized the strength as well as the weakness in each other. Both usually exercised caution and j u d g m e n t , although neither hesitated to engage in verbal combat. Editing and publishing a newspaper was not to interfere with parades and inspections required of all members of the garrison, and on February 29, 1864, it was announced that the camp paper

'â&#x20AC;˘'Vedette. April 1 1 and 15, 1864. 'Ibid., February 5, 1864. Hbid., February 1 1. 1864. e Ibid., April 8, 1864. For other charges of disloyal statements being made by Brigham Voting and |ohn Taylor sec issues of April 1 1 and April 15, 1864. Ibid., Itilv 27, 1865.

Daily Union Vedette

would not appear on the first and last day of each month thereafter because of the requirements of the regular muster and review. Some publications outside the territory expressed hostility toward the Vedette. Sometimes these criticisms appeared within its columns but usually with an accompanying retort. Just a few months before the last issue of the original Vedette appeared, the Lafayette Courier of Oregon charged that the Vedette had "gone under." T h e editor of the C a m p Douglas newspaper replied that they were still very much alive. T h e opinion of the Oregon paper provides an interesting contrast to other articles praising the paper. T h e Salt Lake Vedette, a Black Republican paper published at Government expense for the last three or four years at Salt Lake City, and which proved meanwhile particularly annoying to the Mormons, has finally s u r r e n d e r e d . It has passed into Mormon hands, and it will probably be a long time ere another paper is maintained there at the expense of the taxridden, to spout radicalism and stir u p unnecessary strife among the people inhabiting the Great Salt Lake Valley. It would have worked a saving to the people of this country of a vast a m o u n t of money had the Mormons destroyed the Vedette office as soon as it arrived a m o n g them. 8

T h e voice of C a m p Douglas was usually quite loud and clear in dealing with any controversy between the Mormons and small splinter groups in the vicinity. Editorials concerning the Josephites and their conferences in contrast to the "Brighamites," as the paper chose to style them, continually recurred. T h e issue of April 11, 1864, commented on both conferences, although the paper frequently carried the full text of the Josephite meetings. T h e paper also followed the Civil War, of course, giving in some detail r u n n i n g accounts of battles and military strategy. In September 1864 it noted: A salute of eleven guns was fired at Camp Douglas, U.T., in honor of the severe blow inflicted on rebeldom by the taking of Atlanta. Great enthusiasm prevailed among the officers and men in camp. 9

During the following November the Vedette published a list of blockade r u n n e r s destroyed or captured from August 1863 to September 1864. 10 T h e course of the war need not be traced here. Suffice it to

Hbid., August 30, 1867. Hbid., September 5, 1864. i0 Ibid., November 10, 1864.

Utah Historical Quarterly

say that all military posts were given the order to r e n d e r a 200-gun salute upon receipt of the news of Lee's surrender. This order was carried out at Camp Douglas April 12, 1865. Two weeks before the election of 1864 the paper expressed sadness at having to say farewell to a large number of volunteers departing from the service. In addition to voicing regret, the following advice was given. Let your motto be Union and Liberty, and let your vote be Lincoln and Johnson. T h a t you may each and all be prosperous and happy, is the wish and prayer of the comrades you leave behind you. 11

In the election which followed in November, the Vedette recorded that of the 126 votes cast by the Nevada Volunteers at Camp Douglas, 121 were for Lincoln, with only 5 for McClellan. 12 T h e closing months of the war brought a variety of items to the columns of the Vedette besides battle reports and items of political interest. T h e following note entitled " T h e Young Ladies of Atlanta," came from a soldier in Atlanta who disclosed: T h e young ladies don't seem at all afraid of the Yankees, for they may be seen p r o m e n a d i n g the streets, well dressed, and many of them very refined and pretty. I noticed a bevy of young misses dancing on the grass behind a very fine residence, to the lively airs played by General Slocum's band. They seemed to have quite forgotten the fearful carnage of the past month. 1 3

Although finding many complaints about the internal structure of Zion, the Vedette usually afforded space for favorable comments from visitors upon the physical beauty of Salt Lake City. Such an observation from a correspondent of the New York Independent was printed in J a n u a r y 1866. His description of Salt Lake Valley is reminiscent of W. H. Prescott's dazzling description of the Valley of Mexico and the Aztec capital. It is impossible to conceive of any sight more beautiful and refreshing than when the traveler having trudged his weary way for more than a thousand miles, with only sage brush to relieve the scene from stark, savage desolation, emerges from the deep gorge in the mountains, and for the first time looks down upon Great Salt Lake City. T o the right, twenty miles distant, the lake itself stretches far aw7ay to the north.

Ibid., October 28, 1864. Ibui, November 11, 1864. Ibid., December 7, 1864.

Daily Union Vedette

Twenty-five miles across the valley of the Jordan is a high range of mountains, for miles, north and south the valley is covered with splendid farms; while at your feet, with its broad streets, and houses embowered in trees, is the far famed city of the Saints. As you enter it, you observe a p u r e stream of water sparkling along each side of all the streets, from which each thrifty Mormon, as it babbles along, leads a little treat into his garden and a r o u n d among his fruits and flowers forming a perfect paradise of beauty. Seen in J u n e , as we saw it, Salt Lake is certainly one of the most delightful cities u p o n the continent. 1 4

T h e camp paper noted such visitors to Salt Lake City as Jefferson Hunt, J o h n Bidwell, Artemus Ward, Samuel Bowles, Indian Chiefs W'ashakie and Pocatello, and A. D. Richardson. 1 5 T h e latter was a correspondent for the New York Tribune and left an unforgettable impression of a Mormon meeting in the old bowery of 1865. His article entitled "Faces in the Bowery" recorded his experience: In the afternoon we attended M o r m o n services at the Bowery â&#x20AC;&#x201D; a great arbor with seats of rough pine boards and a low flat roof of branches with withered leaves, supported by upright poles. For the warm season it is far pleasanter than any building. . . . T h e congregation numbered fully 3,000 in which women largely predominated. They were neatly but very plainly dressed; kid gloves were few, silks and satins were far between. Hoops abounded in all their amplitude. At first, as I am told, the preachers denounced them very bitterly from the pulpit. But female persistency t r i u m p h e d as it generally does, and crinoline proved more potent than the thunderbolts of the Church. Among the apostles, elders and bishops on the platform were Heber C. Kimball, 64 years old, tall and stout, with bald, massive head and ruddy, sensuous face, and Dr. Bernheisel, former delegate to Congress, slender, venerable looking with mild countenance, bald crown and thin silvered locks. . . . Many infants at the breast were present, and all were permitted to quaff the water freely. T h e poor babies were thirsty enough, but it detracted a little from the solemnity of the ceremony. 1 6

N u m e r o u s issues of the Vedette recorded the progress of mining in Utah which the volunteers had helped to initiate, a n d articles bore such stirring titles as " H o for the Mines." A m o n g other historically

"Ibid., October 26, 1865. â&#x20AC;˘'//>/>/., December 18, 1863, July 16, 1864, January 16, 1864, July 19, 1865, August 22 and 24, 1865, August 15, 1864, October 27, 1864. Hunt was a captain in the Mormon Battalion during the Mexican War and helped colonize San Bernardino, California. Huntsville, Utah, is named for him. Bidwell was a California pioneer of 1841 and that state's most noted agriculturist. Artemus Ward was the pen name of the noted humorist Charles Farrar Browne. Bowles was editor of the Springfield Republican (Mass.) and a pioneer in independent journalism. Albert Deane Richardson, Civil War correspondent for the New York Tribune, wrote two popular books of the period, The Secret Service (1865) and Beyond the Mississippi (1866). 1G Vedette, August 17, 1865. 1

Utah Historical Quarterly

noteworthy articles which found their way into the pages of the paper are several which pertain to the Rocky Mountain fur business and the men who first penetrated the Intermountain area. T h e July 17 issue of the Vedette described an old mountain man named Michel LeClare then residing halfway between Fort Bridger and Ham's Fork. [He is] perhaps one of the oldest white inhabitants of these regions, having dwelt in the mountains for forty-three years. He left Saint Louis when a mere boy and when that place was but a French village, in consequence of ill health, since which time he has spent his life among the Indians and has acquired many of their habits which, with his s u n - b r o w n e d c o m p l e x i o n , gives h i m t h e a p p e a r a n c e of a half-breed. . . . He seems thoroughly acquainted with the country from Mexico to the British possessions, relating many interesting experiences attending his explorations of these vast regions d u r i n g a period of over forty years, which if written, would make a volume quite as romantic and eventful as any that have come from the pens of Cooper or Irving. 1 7

Even more incredible is the quotation, or more than likely the misquotation, from the Fort Kearney Herald which described the old mountain man Jim Bridger who was then residing at the Overland House at Fort Kearney as "perhaps sixty years old, fully six feet eight, raw boned, blue eyes, a u b u r n hair (now somewhat gray), and very active and communicative." 1 8 For the m o d e r n reader, a m o n g the most ludicrous aspects of a frontier newspaper is the almost infinite variety of advertisements. T h e Vedette was no exception. While one may smile at both the product and message of many such advertisements, the practical approach to problems of the day seems remarkable in its straightforward exaggeration. Readers searching for medicinal relief found glowing descriptions of Newell's Pulmonary Syrup; Dr. Townsley's Indian Vegetable Tooth Ache Anodyne, warranted to cure the toothache in one minute; and Dr. Miner's Wizard Oil for rheumatism, neuralgia, nervous and sick headache, sore throat, diphtheria, sprains, lame back, cuts, bruises, burns and scalds, spinal infections, and contracted cords and muscles.

"Ibid., July 17, 1865. Ibid., January 23, 1866. Equally interesting is a quotation from the Montana Post. See Vedette of September 27, 1866. 1H

Daily Union Vedette

Miscellaneous notices which are difficult to categorize include objections to the "vulgar use" of opera glasses at the Salt Lake T h e a t r e , descriptions of scenery on the moon and vegetation along the Amazon, advance notices of the Young Men's Literary Association, and complaints that mail sent from C a m p Douglas was not reaching Nevada. Titles of articles range from "A Singular Dream" to "Coffee in the Army." The columns of the Vedette were rich with information regarding the arrival and d e p a r t u r e of emigrants and freight to and from Salt Lake City. In J u n e 1865 a dispatch from Julesburg, Colorado, noted that in the previous twenty days more than four thousand wagons had passed over the trail. O n July 31 the Vedette mentioned the arrival of a mule train with thirteen wagon loads of freight for Ransohoff and Company of Salt Lake City. Another train of forty wagons with merchandize for the same company was expected to arrive several weeks later. O n October 17, 1865, the voice of C a m p Douglas described the old pioneer c a m p g r o u n d west of the city. T h a t lively place known as Immigration Square, or now, Corral, is thronged with trains and teams unnumerable. Forbes' train of thirty or more wagons, were preparing to roll out from there this morning to Montana. It is laden with flour and staples for the subsistence of Virginia and Helena folks. McCann's train of thirty-seven wagons, and Overton's train of twenty or thirty more, got in here yesterday from Nebraska City freighted with goods for several of our merchants. 1 9

Another transportation article excitedly listed a record stage time of "850 miles in 3 days, 12 hours, and 10 minutes" from San Francisco to Salt Lake City, including meals, delays, etc. 20 In all aspects of camp and post activity, from latrine duty to the ballroom floor, the Daily Union Vedette was truly the voice of the men and officers of C a m p Douglas and served as a unifying agent ready to defend the camp against any protagonist, real or imagined. T h e last issue of the paper appeared on November 27, 1867, four years and one week after its commencement. T h e publishing of the Deseret News as a daily at that time was a factor in the Vedette closing. T h e d e p a r t u r e of General Connor and his family for California may also have contributed to its demise. Financial problems were always present as well. Outside pressure for the discontinuance of the

Ibid., October 17, 1865. Ibid., October 10, 1865.

Utah Historical Quarterly

paper does not appear to have been an important factor. Less than two months before the last issue appeared, editor Daniel McLaughin denied r u m o r s that he had been o r d e r e d to leave the city or that he had ever received any threat or personal affront. He made it clear that the title of "persecuted editor" would not apply to him. C a m p Douglas became Fort Douglas and lived on to maturity and old age. T h e Vedette was restored twice in the post's later history, once from 1942 to 1946, again from 1965 to 1966. But it is the original Vedette which is important to the student of history. With its color, variety, h o m e s p u n idiom, and unblushing frankness, it represents not only an important source document but an entire genre of nineteenth-century frontier literature.

T H E MILITIA IN TOOELE

T h e r e was a military organization here as early as 1852, it was a continuation of the Nauvoo Legion. We had here at Tooele a company of Infantry u n d e r the command of T h o m a s Lee and a company of Cavalry u n d e r J o h n Gillespie. . . . They used to have regular muster days, I think once a month, then in connection with that they would go down to C a m p Stansbury (Now Erda) for a week's Encampment. H e r e they would have sham battles and participate in all sorts of military maneuvers. Of course, they had no uniforms like Soldiers have. No two men were dressed alike. Some had caps, some straw hats and any kind of head gear that they could get. T h e i r guns were of a very primitive make. Some had wooden guns, some Shot-guns, some Yougers, some muskets and some the old-time flint lock guns. They were also required to learn sword exercise so they had some wooden swords. I belonged to Company "A", as a d r u m m e r boy, was drafted into the service when 18 years old. Ammunition was very scarce. Both powder and lead had to be hauled across the plains a thousand miles with Ox-teams (as did nearly everything else). So that while there was considerable game here, the settlers had to keep their ammunition to defend themselves against the Indians. (John Alexander Bevan, "Events in the Early History of Tooele," typescript compiled by Utah WPA Historical Records Survey, Utah State Historical Society manuscript file A1374.)

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L^u/w Robison and portion of August 5, 1855, letter. Courtesy LDS Archives.

Fort Bridger and the Mormons BY FRED R. GOWANS

Utah Historical Quarterly

questions in western American history relates to the ownership of Fort Bridger d u r i n g the decade of the 1850s. T h e controversy extends well beyond the Mormon leaders' claim of having purchased the fort in 1855 and Bridger's denial of it. T h e federal government also became involved, leasing the fort from Bridger in 1857 as a winter cantonment for General Johnston's troops but then refusing to make rental payments by claiming that Bridger could not establish satisfactory title. Beginning in 1869 and extending to his death in 1881, Bridger engaged in a series of unsuccessful legal machinations to force rental payments from the War Department. Finally, in 1899 Congress awarded Bridger's heirs a sum of $6,000 u n d e r an obscure equity law for improvements which the old mountain man had erected on his post prior to 1857, but not a penny in rent was ever paid. This study seeks to clarify certain facts behind the lingering Fort Bridger controversy. It begins with a brief survey of the relations between Bridger and the Mormons â&#x20AC;&#x201D; relations which began in friendship but ended in armed confrontation â&#x20AC;&#x201D; and concludes with an examination of the claims and counterclaims of sale. T h e rapid deterioration of relations between the Mormons and Bridger stemmed in part from the church leaders' suspicions that the old mountain man was exerting a mischievous influence on the Indians. A letter from Bridger to President Brigham Young on July 16, 1848, suggests that Mormon leaders had earlier accused Bridger of exciting the Indians against the Mormon settlements: U N E OF T H E MORE PERSISTENT

I am truly sorry that you should believe any reports about me having said that I would bring any n u m b e r of Indians upon you and any of your community. Such a thought never entered my head and I trust to your knowledge and good sense to know if a person is desirous of living in good friendship with his neighbors would u n d e r t a k e such a mad project. 1

Several months later, on April 9, 1849, a letter of warning from Bridger and his partner Louis Vasquez informed President Young that "the Indians were badly disposed against the white and that Old Elk and Walkara were erging attack on the settlements of saints in

Dr. Gowans is assistant professor, Department of Indian Education, at Brigham Young University. 'Fort Bridger Manuscript Collection, July 2 1 , 1848, Archives Division, Historical Department, Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, Salt Lake City (hereafter cited as LDS Archives).

Fort Bridger

Utah Valley." 2 A month later a letter from Vasquez at Black's Fork stated that Barney Ward and two other men had been trading with the Bannock Indians and that "an Indian with two horses and some bear skins left the village to go with them but was subsequently found m u r d e r e d below the junction of Ham's and Black's Fork." Vasquez wished to know how many horses Ward had brought into the valley and stated "that the band of Indians were incensed, and talked of coming to the valley to war u p o n the white." In rather curious reaction to this correspondence, President Young commented to some of the church leaders, "I believe I know that Old Bridger is death on us, and if he knew 400,000 Indians were coming against us, and any man were to let us know, he would cut his throat." T h e n he went on to say, "Vasquez is a different sort of man, I believe Bridger is watching every movement of the Mormons, and reporting to T h o m a s Benton at Washington." 3 A week later Young expressed his feeling that "Bridger and the other mountaineers were the real cause of the Indians being incensed against the Saints." 4 Another source of friction between church leaders and Jim Bridger lay in the mutual desire for control of the Green River ferry. T h e legislature of the state of Deseret, forerunner of Utah Territory, had granted the first ferry rights on the Green River on February 12, 1850. 5 T h e first Utah Territorial Legislature, in an act approved January 6, 1852, granted these ferry rights to one T h o m a s Moor for one year. T h e act also provided that if any person should erect "any public ferry across said river within Utah Territory, without permission of the legislature of Utah, said person or persons shall pay the sum of one thousand dollars, to be collected for use of Utah." 6 T h e passage of this ordinance caused much excitement among the whites and Indians in the area. For several years ferries had been maintained by the mountain men for the accommodation of travelers. T h e Mormons now ignored the "squatters' rights" of 2 "Journal History of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints," April 9, 1849, p. 1, LDS Archives. . 'â&#x20AC;˘'Ibid., May 7, 1849, p. 1. This statement on the part of Brigham Young shows that his feelings toward Bridger involved much more than just their difference concerning the Indians. By the summer of 1849 Young definitely showed considerable resentment toward Bridger, and it would appear that his resentment was based on reports brought to Salt Lake City primarily by Mormons. 4 "Journal History," May 13, 1849, p. 1. T h e Indians did not attack the valley in 1849 as Bridger and Vasquez had anticipated. Despite Young's opinion of Bridger, however, it is possible that the proprietors of Fort Bridger were sincere in their warnings to the Saints. 'Dale I.. Morgan, " T h e State of Deseret," Utah Historical Qjiarterly, 8 (April, July, and October 1940). 99. "Utah, Territorial Legislature, Acts, Resolutions and Memorials, Passed by the Legislature, Assembly of the Territory of V!ah (Salt Lake City, 1852), 1 6 6 - 6 7 .

Utah Historical Quarterly

these people and asserted control through legislative charter. Unable to cope with the Mormons in the territorial legislature the mountain men improved their close relations with the Shoshonis, hoping to stir u p the Indians against the Mormons in an attempt to build a case that the Mormons were driving the Indians off their lands. 7 A letter from A. Wilson at Fort Bridger on October 9, 1852, to Indian agent Jacob H. Holeman described the unrest of the Indians when the Mormons entered the Green River area for the purpose of building a ferry: I beg to call your attention to the disturbed state of the Snake Indians at this moment, in consequence of the occupation of a part of their country by the Mormon whites. Being an American citizen, and having the welfare and honor of my country in view, I believe it is imperative for you, without delay, to allay by all the means in your authority the present excitement. I saw the chiefs here [Fort Bridger], in council, at this fort, and heard them assert that they intended to immediately drive the whites from their lands, and much persuasion was used to pacify them for the present time. And now, dear sir, if you do not use the authority vested in you, speedily, I do believe and fear scenes of destruction and bloodshed will soon ensue. 8

Holeman reacted by visiting this section of country immediately. He reported that a company of Mormons, u n d e r the territorial charter, had assembled on Green River and commenced the construction of a bridge, but finding so much opposition on the part of the Indians, they had abandoned it for the present and returned to Salt Lake City. 9 A third source of conflict between the mountain men in the Fort Bridger area and the Mormons was the tax placed on the former by the Utah Territorial Legislature. Holeman summed up the problem: T h e M o r m o n authorities have levied a tax [toll] on these mountaineers, and have collected it in some instance. As the tax is considered extravagant, and partly for the use and benefit of the Mormon church,

7 Dale L. Morgan, " T h e Administration of Indian Affairs in Ltah, 1851 - 1858," Pacific Historical Review, 17 (November 1948), 386, 391. 8 U.S., Congress, House, The Utah Expedition, 35th Cong., lstsess., 1857 - 58, House Ex. Doc. No. 71, p. 158. 9 Ibid., 158 - 59. Mormons enroute to Utah had been asked by Young to settle on the Green River. However, when difficulties surfaced, Young decided to recall the group and await a more o p p o r t u n e time for settlement. "Journal Historv," August 30, 1852, pp. 1 - 2 , and October 14, 1852, p. 1.

Fort Bridger

53 it is producing much excitement, and I fear will produce bloodshed. These men declare their willingness to pay any tax which the government may d e m a n d , but refuse to pay a Mormon tax, as they term it. 10

Although the tax was not levied by the Mormon church but by the territory of Utah, it was very difficult to separate the two, especially if one w e r e a G e n t i l e . T h e r e was, of course, very little separation of state and church at this time among the Mormon people. Underlying each of these issues was Brigham Young's growing deWilliam A. Hickman. Utah Stale Historical sire to control the Fort BridgerSociety photograph by Green River area, which was the C. IV. Carter, courtesy eastern entrance into the Salt Lake Patricia Evans Baker. Valley. T h o u s a n d s of Mormon immigrants were traveling to Salt Lake City each year, and an outpost where they could rest and replenish their supplies just before traveling the last one h u n d r e d miles through the mountains would be of untold benefit. T h e Mormons had already established ferries on most of the streams along the Mormon route and had provided stores of goods and livestock at various places for the immigrants. But on the streams of Green River valley the mountain men and Mormons entered into dispute over who should have the right to supply the needs of the passing immigrants. 1 1 Some of the Mormons were not content to see this lucrative business go to the enrichment of the mountain men. Early in the spring of 1853 William A. Hickman, a Utah attorney, left Salt Lake City with a good supply of merchandise and a plan to establish a trading post at a strategic location east of the entrance to the Basin. About the first of May he located a favored position on the Green River which gave him opportunity to intercept all immigration before it reached Fort Bridger. His business prospered, and he claimed to have netted about nine t h o u s a n d dollars in three

U) The Utah Expedition, p. 159. Ten percent of the tax was earmarked for the Perpetual Emigrating Fund. See Morgan, "Indian Affairs in Utah," 391 - 92. "Milton R. Hunter, Brigham Young, the Colonizer (Salt Lake City, 140), 280.

Utah Historical Quarterly

months. 1 2 During the winter of 1853 - 54 the Utah Territorial Legislature granted a charter to Daniel H. Wells of Salt Lake City to operate the immigrant ferries on Green River. Wells transferred this charter, which did not expire until May 15, 1856, to Capt. W . J . Hawley and others. Hickman's account does not include Wells's transfer of the charter, but it does give a clear picture of the problem: During the S u m m e r a difficulty took place between the ferrymen and mountain men. T h e latter had always owned and r u n the ferry across Green River; but the Utah Legislature granted a charter to Hawley, T h o m p s o n 8c McDonald, for all the ferries there. T h e mountain men, who had lived there for many years, claimed their rights to be the oldest, and a difficulty took place, in which the mountain men took forcible possession of all the ferries but one, making some thirty thousand dollars out of them. When the ferrying season was over, the party having the charter brought suit against them for all they had made d u r i n g the Summer. 1 3

When the Mormon traders r e t u r n e d to Salt Lake City that fall they reported that Bridger was selling powder and lead to the Utah Indians and inciting them to war with the Saints. This was a clear violation of Governor Young's recent revocation, at the beginning of the Walker War, of all licenses for Indian trade. T h e r e u p o n , Sheriff James Ferguson was o r d e r e d by Young to confiscate Bridger's dangerous goods and deliver Bridger to Salt Lake City. When Ferguson's posse of one h u n d r e d fifty men arrived at the fort, Bridger was nowhere to be found, and his Indian wife claimed she did not know where he had gone. After carrying out the orders regarding the Fort Bridger propertyâ&#x20AC;&#x201D; which included the destruction of liquor stores â&#x20AC;&#x201D; some of the posse continued on to the Green River where they engaged in a battle with the mountain men at the ferries. Two or three of the latter were killed and much of their property, which included whiskey and several h u n d r e d head of livestock, was taken by the posse. When the sheriff and his assistants r e t u r n e d to Salt Lake City with the livestock, church leaders asserted that from that time on the Mormons were in Green River valley to stay and that Bridger was out, or his influence was at least greatly minimized. 1 4

William A. Hickman, Brigham's Destroying Angel. . . (New York, 1872), 8 8 - 9 1 . Ibid., 9 1 . " J . Cecil Alter,James Bridger: Trapper, frontiersman, Scout and Guide (Salt Lake City, 1925), 249.

Fort Bridger The rounded Bridger takeover

whereabouts of his departure. on August 27, of Fort Bridger

Bridger was not known, and mystery surDr. T h o m a s Flint, who arrived at Fort recorded the following concerning the by the territorial officers:

. . . [I] went to the fort for ammunition but found the fort in possession of the territorial officer. Mormons who had 24 hours before driven old man Bridger out and taken possession. . . . Here Bridger had established his trading post many years before his fort had been taken by the Mormons with a good supply of merchandise selected for the Indian trade. 1 5

More explicit information was recorded by J o h n Brown: At Fort Bridger I found Capt. James Cummings with twenty men in possession of the fort he had come out here in the summer to arrest Mr. Bridger for treason. Affidavids having been made to the effect that he had sold or furnished hostile Indians with ammunitions and etc. He made his escape but some of the posse were still here. They left for home however when we passed we being the last emigrants of the season. 16

Part of the Mormon posse — at least twenty out of the one h u n d r e d and fifty — remained at the fort from August 26 until October 7 looking for Bridger. This seizure and occupation of Bridger's establishment has been distorted by later writers, and Bridger himself has added to the misunderstanding. For example, Capt. R. B. March, a close friend of Bridger, recorded the mountain man's own version of the event: Here he [Bridger] erected an establishment which he called Fort Bridger and here he was for several years prosecuting a profitable traffic both with the Indians and with California emigrants. At length, however, his prosperity excited the cupidity of the Mormons, and they intimated to him that his presence in such close proximity to their settlements was not agreeable, and advised him to pull u p stakes and leave forthwith; and upon his questioning the legality of justice of this arbitrary summons, they came to his place with a force of avenging angels and forced him to make his escape to the woods in order to save his life. Here he remained secreted for several days, and through the assistance of his Indian wife, was enabled to elude the search of the

••'Thomas Flint. Diary oj Dr. Thomas flint, California to Maine and Return, 1851 - 1855, Annual Publications. Historical Society of Southern California (Los Angeles, 1923), 45. "'"Journal History," October 17, 1853, p. 1.

UK*" •Wt

»*jfc«

Fort Bridger as painted by W. H. Jackson. Utah State Historical Society collections.

Danites and make his way to Fort Laramie, leaving all his cattle and other property in possession of the Mormons. 1 7

Twenty years after the raid, in a letter dictated to Sen. Benjamin F. Butler soliciting political aid in connection with reclamations at Fort Bridger in 1873, Bridger gave the following exaggerated account: I was robbed, and threatened with death, by the Mormons, by the direction of Brigham Young, of all my merchandize, stock — in fact of everything I possessed, amounting to more than $ 100,000 worth — the buildings in the fort partially destroyed by fire, and I barely escaped with my life. 18

T h e r e is no evidence that Bridger was threatened with death, but only with arrest, and the fort was not partially destroyed by fire as Bridger testified in writing to Senator Butler. Bridger was guilty h e r e o f trying to use the b u r n i n g of the fort in 1857 by the Mormons, who then claimed to own it, to fit his story of what happened in 1853. Actually, itemized ledgers were kept by the sheriff and posse from the time of their arrival in August 1853 until their d e p a r t u r e in October on each item that was purchased from the fort's commissary or used while the posse resided at the fort. These ledgers show that $802.91 worth of merchandise was either ptirchased or used during that period. In addition, ledgers on all items taken from the fort ,7

Randolf B. March, Thirty Years of Army Life on the Border (Philadelphia, 1963), 363. '"U.S.. Congress, Senate, Senate Report No. 625, 52d Cong.. 1st sess., 1891 - 92. p. 12.

Fort Bridger .->

back to Salt Lake City are available and show that a total $1,433.30 worth of merchandise representing knives, caps, lead balls, powder, iron, and guns (both pistols and rifles) were taken. T h e ledgers reveal that $500.00 was entered for rent for the "occupation of fort and houses near 2 months." 1 9 T h u s a total of $2,236.21 represented the loss in inventory that Bridger sustained by the Mormon posse. This, of course, does not include the loss of income he suffered from his forced exile. T h e following written statement was included with the invoice turned over to Mormon leaders on the return of the posse: " T h e above goods are charged at the established price of the county given u n d e r my hand this the 25th day of February, 1854. James Bridger." 2 0 This signature could not have been authentic, since Bridger could not write; nor was it written by his consent, because he had gone into hiding and could not be found. Had Vasquez been available to approve the fixed price, he would almost certainly have signed for both himself and Bridger, as he did on all other documents. But the fradulent entry of Bridger's name does not necessarily detract from the accuracy of the data entered on the ledgers. In 1858, when the final payment was made to Bridger and Vasquez for the fort purchased by the Mormons in 1855, a settlement was also made concerning this merchandise taken and used at the fort in 1853. Apparently Bridger and Vasquez did not feel that the fort's purchase price of $8,000.00 completely covered the loss of $2,236.21 sustained in 1853, so a separate payment of $1,000.00 was made to them on October 18, 1858. 21 From the ledgers, then, it is apparent that Bridger's holdings at the fort which were used or taken by the posse amounted to almost twenty-three h u n d r e d dollars. T h a t the value of the remaining merchandise and the fort itself was worth several thousand more cannot be questioned. However, the sum of $100,000.00 stated by Bridger to be the value of the fort in 1853 when he escaped the arrest of the Mormons, was surely a gross exaggeration. T h e old mountain man must have confined his exile to the Green River valley, for soon after the posse left on October 17, 1853, Bridger and J o h n H. Hockaday, a government sLirveyor, began a l a n d s u r v e y of t h e p r o p e r t y c l a i m e d by B r i d g e r . O n

Invoice and Receipt, Fort Bridger Manuscript Collection.

Ibid.

'Receipt, October 18, 1858, Fort Bridger Manuscript Collection.

Utah Historical Quarterly

November 6, 1853, the survey was completed. T h e plat contained 3,898 acres. T h e following spring, on March 16, 1854, a copy was filed with T h o m a s Bullock, G r e a t Salt L a k e County recorder. 2 2 A copy was also filed with the General Land Office in Washington, D.C., on March 9, 1854. 23

Map of property claimed by Bridger and surveyed by Hockaday from Senate Report No. 625.

Prior to this, Bridger had recorded another deed of some p r o p e r t y he h a d p u r c h a s e d from Charles Sagenes on August 28, 1852. B r i d g e r paid Sagenes four h u n d r e d dollars for this property, consisting of five houses with some acreage, which was later included in the survey by J o h n H. Hockaday. This bill of sale was recorded at the Great Salt Lake County offices on October 28, 1853. 2 4

After completing the survey of Fort Bridger, the mountain man took his family and settled on a farm at Little Santa Fe, Jackson County, Missouri, near Kansas City. 25 Even from that distant location he continued to be a thorn in the side of the Mormon leaders. Brigham Young's letter to Stephen A. Douglas in April 1854, recorded by his secretary, reported that: . . . it was r u m o r e d that Jas. Bridger, from Black's Fork of Green River, had become the oracle in Congress, in all matters pertaining to

22 Salt Lake County, County Records, Book B, p. 68, Salt Lake County Clerk's Office, Salt LakeCity and County Building. 23 Senate Report No. 625, map opposite p. 8. 24 Salt Lake County Records, Book B, p. 68. " A l t e r , J i m Bridger, 253.

Fort Bridger

Utah; that he had informed Congress that Utah had dared to assess and collect taxes; that the Mormons must have killed Capt. Gunnison, because the Pauvanetes had not guns . . . that the Mormons were an outrageous set, with no redeeming qualities. Gov. Young expressed his astonishment that Bridger should be sought after for information on any point when a gentlemen like Delegate Bernhisel was accessible.26

It is obvious that by late fall of 1853, due to the creation of Utah Territory, the takeover of the Green River ferries by the Mormons, and the expulsion of Bridger from his fort, that the mountain men were fighting a losing battle. Even though Bridger had his lands at Fort Bridger surveyed in a final attempt to establish some legal claim to them, it was of little value since he never again resided at the fort except for the short period of time during the summer of 1855 when he sold his property to the Mormons. By October 1853 the Mormon leaders thought they were in a position to establish themselves permanently in Green River valley, at Fort Bridger, and to control that portion of the territory. Orson Hyde was called to organize a colony, and on the last day of General Conference in October 1853 Hyde read the names of thirty-nine persons who had been called by the church leaders to serve in the Green River Mission.27 Approximately three weeks later this company was organized at the State House in Salt Lake City under the direction of Capt. John Nebeker and started their march to the contemplated settlement, arriving at Fort Bridger eleven days later. 28 As soon as this company was on its way, Hyde busied himself in raising another company to follow. In less than two weeks a group of fifty-three men, primarily volunteers, had been raised and fitted with supplies and necessary tools and implements. With Isaac Bullock as captain and accompanied by Hyde, this group left Salt Lake City three days after the first company had arrived at Fort Bridger. 29 The first company was greeted at Fort Bridger by a dozen angry mountain men. Having had two or three of their number killed at the Green River ferry by the Mormon posse only a few weeks previously, they had no intentions of turning the fort over to the Mormon colonists. According to James S. Brown, the Mormons were "considerably cowed" by the "twelve or fifteen rough mountain

"History of Brigham Young," p. 2, manuscript, LDS Archives. "Andrew Jenson, "History of Fort Bridger and Fort Supply," Utah Genealogical and Historical Magazine, 4 (January 1913), 32. ' â&#x201E;˘Ibid., 33 29 Ibidâ&#x20AC;&#x17E; 3 3 - 3 4 .

Utah Historical Quarterly

men" who seemed to be "very surly and suspicious," the "spirit of m u r d e r and death appeared to be lurking in their minds." T h e Saints, being u n p r e p a r e d for such a reception, soon lost interest in occupying the post. Wandering southward they learned that about twenty additional mountain men, together with a band of Ute Indians, had settled for the winter on Henry's Fork. Green River valley looked to these colonists "as if it were held in the fists of a well organized band of from seventy-five to a h u n d r e d desperadoes," and the fearful Saints turned southwest through snow along Smith's Fork, finally being forced to halt by bad traveling conditions at Willow Creek, a tributary of Smith's Fork about two miles above the confluence of the two streams and at a point about twelve miles southwest of Fort Bridger. Here they chose to settle. 30 They were joined on Willow Creek by the second group sent out from Salt Lake City, and together they established a settlement known as Fort Supply. O n e of the original members, James S. Brown, remarked that "on November 26th, 1853, Captain Isaac Bullock came in with fifty-three men and twenty-five wagons. When they joined us our company was ninety-two strong, all well armed and when our block house was completed we felt safer than ever." 31 While Orson Hyde had fulfilled his assignment of starting a settlement in Green River valley he apparently was not happy with the prospects. T h e following spring when Hyde was traveling east and stopped at Fort Supply his traveling companion Hosea Stout gave their opinion of the new settlement: This is the most forbidding and godforsaken place I have ever seen for an attempt to be made for a settlement & j u d g i n g from the altitude I have no hesitancy in predicting that it will yet prove a total failure but the brethren here have done a great deal of labor. . . . Elder Hyde seems to [have] an invincible repugnance to Fort Supply. 3 2

Although the Mormons had built Fort Supply instead of occupying Fort Bridger, they had not s u r r e n d e r e d their interest in acquiring the older post. They knew that time was on their side, and in the winter of 1853 - 54, when Green River County was organized as part of Utah Territory, Fort Bridger officially came within their

James S. Brown, Life of a Pioneer (Salt Lake City, 1900), 306. Ibid., 307 - 8 . Juanita Brooks. ed.,()n the Mormon frontier: The Diary of Hosea Stout, 2 vols. (Salt Lake City, 1964), 2:515, 517. 31

:i2

Fort Bridger 61 s jurisdiction. In addition to Fort Supply and Fort Bridger, the county included the ferries on the Green River. W. I. Appleby was appointed probate j u d g e , Robert Alexander, clerk of probate court, and William A. Hickman, county sheriff. Hickman was also made prosecuting attorney, assessor, and tax collector. Brigham Young assigned Hickman to use his influence in quieting down the mountain men in that section of the country. T h e county seat was established at the Mormon ferries. 33 O n e of the principal problems in writing the history of Fort Bridger has been the question of when and u n d e r what circumstances the post was actually purchased by the Mormons. Accounts have varied all the way from Bridger's claim that he was "run o f f his property and never received payment, to Mormon church historian Andrew Jenson's assertion that prior to November 1853 Brigham Young had "purchased of James Bridger a Mexican Grant of thirty square miles of land and some cabins afterwards known as Fort Bridger." 3 4 A letter written by Lewis Robison to Daniel H. Wells, dated August 5, 1855, was found recently in the LDS church archives. This letter appears to answer some of the questions concerning the possession of Fort Bridger from the time of Bridger's escape in August 1853 until the purchase of the fort in August 1855. It reports that the mountain men controlled Fort Bridger until the spring of 1855 when Bridger returned and he sold it to Lewis Robison on August 3, 1855. This document is now available to scholars and is important in clearing up the controversy concerning the purchase of the fort by the Mormons and the actual date of occupancy. 3 5 As mentioned earlier, Bridger evaded the posse in August 1853 and r e t u r n e d to the East sometime that fall. He spent much time in Washington, D.C., trying to legalize his title to his property and to find redress through the federal government for the losses he had sustained at the hands of the Mormons. In the spring of 1855 he returned to the mountains. J o h n L. Smith, writing to George A. Smith on J u n e 19, 1855, states that "near Fort Kearney I met

Ibid., 2:516. Jenson, "History of Fort Bridger and Fort Supply," 49. Robison to Wells, August 5, 1855, Fort Bridger Manuscript Collection. Lack of this important document led Victor H. Cohen to theorize that Vasquez may have sold Bridger out, "James Bridger's Claims," Annals of Wyoming, 12 (July 1940), 228 - 40. Another historian who did not have knowledge of this letter gave Bridger the benefit of the doubt over the Mormons, presuming him to be beyond negotiating distance since he was working as a guide for the expedition of Sir George Core at the time; see Alter, James Bridger, chaps. 37 - 39. 34

Utah Historical Quarterly Fort Bridger August 5th 1855

Dear Brother I arrived at F.T. Supply tusday Evening and waited for Wm A Hickman to see what was the best that could be done He came to F.T. Supply on Wednesday Evening and reported Bridger very earless and indeferent about selling. Stated that the Mountainears was trying to persuade him not to sell that all was Peace with him & the Mormons and he had better keep the Place I came hear on thursday but soon found that he would not fall on his Price. I then told him that I was ready to take him up at his offer Eight thousand dollars & pay him or he stated he would take four thousand dollars down & wait fifteen months for the ballence He then wanted to envoice Every thing on the place said it would come to 6 or 8 hundred dollars more. I just told him I would take him at the offer he had made and not another dime would I give, and that was double what he ever would git again. He concluded he would take it The next thing was the security. Said he would take Bullock Wakely & Jack Robison. I offered him as many men at F.T. Supply as he might ask But did not wish to ask Robison to give my security He said he would rather take a Bond on the place than to take any man for security. He Also refuses to try to obtain enny title to the ranch more than he know has which is only Possession He would not sign or except the papers that I had. He said he had a first Rate Lawyer Boarding with him that could doo Business up Right. Of which I send you a copy. I do not think he made more than four times in gitting his Lawyer to draw up the Papers I have Possession of the Place & stock with the Exception of 5 Oxen and I Waggon which is on Green River, in the care of James Baker, for which I have an order I have not as yet finished the envoice of All the property hear, but think that it will amount to near five thousand dollars. Inclosed I will send you a memorandum of all the things on the Place. I shall commence gitting Hay to Morrow. this will be rather a slow business as I have But one Sythe and Snath to commence with, and the Grass is Short I have not as yet made anny arrangements about keeping the Maile Animals. the agent is to be up the next trip I have notified them that the animals could not stay on the Ranch unless I had the charge of them and pay for the same Brother Butler & myself have agreed that the Expences of the house and the Blacksmithy &c should goe on the same as when Bridger & Vasnues owned the establishment. That is for the present I wish you to Wright to me as soon as Possible what you want me to doo and how you want me to dooit. Wheather it will be best to sell anny of the Flour on the Place or not and if not what would you do with a person who had nothing to Eat Their is Cattle hear that ar first rate Beef which is probibly worth as much now as they ever will be, and will likely sell well to the trains that are comeing, for Beef. You will see by refference to the envoice that we have a good Supply, of a few things But we have no assortment. Their Should be a good Stock of at Least Indian Goods kept hear. And the Emegrants say some of the [?]bejoyful All is Well hear and it appears like their was quite a calm Bridger Left on the 4th Inst. Livingstones traine of Goods will be hear to knight I do not think of anny thing more at the present time. But rmj Love to all the Saints where ever they may be. May Peace & Prosperity attend us for ever The Boys at F. T. Supply ar all well and their crops are auite prommiceing They feel glad that F. T. Bridger is [?] D. H. Wells

Your Brother as ever Lewis Robison

Transcription of Robison's letter to Daniel H. Wells which was recently found in LDS Archives.

Fort Bridger

Bridger on his way to the mountains." 3 6 In the summer of 1855, Bridger was approached by an agent of the Mormon church about selling. Robison's letter to Wells clarifies the point in question. Robison arrived at Fort Supply on Tuesday, July 31, 1855, to make the final transaction. Prior to that Hickman had been in contact with Bridger and was waiting for him to decide if he would sell. Hickman arrived at Fort Supply on Wednesday, August 1, and told Robison that the mountain men were putting pressure on Bridger not to sell and that Bridger was still indifferent. Robison went to Fort Bridger on Thursday, August 2, and found that Bridger would not come down from the $8,000 figure he had earlier indicated would be his selling price. Vasquez was not present at this time, but knowing of the plans to sell, he had commissioned H. F. Morrell to be his agent. Robison, realizing that Bridger would not reduce his selling price, told Bridger that he would take him at his offer of $4,000 down and the balance in fifteen months. Bridger started to hedge when he realized that Robison was willing to pay the price and pointed out that he felt that he should get $600 to $800 more. When Robison told him he would not give him a dime more, Bridger finally agreed to sell. Btitwhen the problem of the title to the property was brought up, Bridger refused to try to obtain any title to the ranch more than he had "which is only Possession." T h e old mountain man would not sign or accept the papers that Robison had prepared and brought with him from Salt Lake City. Bridger claimed that he had a "first Rate Lawyer Boarding with him that could doo business up Right." This undoubtedly was H. F. Morrell, the agent of Vasquez, who signed the following contract for Bridger's portion on August 3, 1855: August 3, 1855 37 Fort Bridger Utah Teritory Green River Co This indenture made and entered into this day and date where written witnessed h That Bridger & Vasques of the first part for and in Consideration of the sum of Fight thousand dollars one half in hand paid and the other half to be paid in fifteen months from this date have this day Bargained Sold and Conveyed and by these presents do Bargain Sell and Convey to Lewis Robison of the Second Part All the Right title and interest Both

""'Journal History." June 19, 1855. p. 1. Indenture, August 3, 1855. Fori Bridger Manuscript Collection.

:i7

Utah Historical Quarterly

real and Personal to which we have any Claim in Said Green River County Utah Teritory Consisting of the following Property to wit — Twenty miles square of Land more or less upon which is situated the hereditaments and appurtinences the Buildings Known as Fort Bridger Buildings Consisting of the Ranch and, Hurd Ground togeather with all the right Title and interest of the Said Party of the first part to all and every article of Property belonging to Said Post including Cattle Horses Goods Groceryes &c — Now if the Said Party of the second Part shall well and truly pay to the Said Party of the first Part the sum of Four thousand dollars in effect in fifteen Months from this date, then this Bond to be in full force and effect in Law, otherwise to be null and void and the property above discribed to revert Back to the Said Party of the first Part. In witness whereof we have hearunto set our hands and Seals this day and date above written in presence of Almirin Grow Wm A Hickman his Jas x Bridger mark

(Seal)

Lewis Vaques (Seal) per B [H] F Morrell Agent Bridger and Vaquez kept the original document while Robison had a copy made to send back to the Mormon leaders. On August 5, 1855, the same day he w r o t e Wells, R o b i s o n <. . i ^u *. i U J • c James Bridger front a painting by stated that he had possession of JWaUo Love olmed by the State ' the fort and all its Stock except for Historical Society of Colorado. five oxen and one wagon which were on the Green River in the care of Bridger. In another letter written to Wells on August 13, 1855, Robison explained that he h a d sent for t h e o x e n a n d wagon. 38 He also sent an invoice to Wells itemizing in detail all that had been purchased at the fort. His letter estimated the total sum of m e r c h a n d i s e a n d stock at nearly five thousand dollars. The

3t, Robison to Wells, August 13, 1855. Fort Bridger Manuscript Collection.

Fort Bridger

estimate came close. Robison's itemized invoice valued all the goods purchased, excluding the five oxen and wagon, at $4,727.30. 3 9 Enclosed in Robison's August 5 letter to Wells was a note dated August 3 pertaining to his payment of $4,000 to Bridger and Vasquez: I have this day paid Jas. Bridger four thousand dollars it being one half the purchase money for the Fort Bridger property and in the payment there is nine h u n d r e d and sixty dollars of a gold money marked twenty dollars United States Assay Office of Gold San Francisco California â&#x20AC;&#x201D; now, if there is a discount on said gold in banks I hereby agree to make it good to said Bridger upon right proof being made to the fact. 40

Robison concluded his letter to Wells by saying that the boys at Fort Supply were glad that Fort Bridger was in the hands of the church. 4 1 Upon receiving the information on the purchase of the fort, Brigham Young wrote Robison on August 9, 1855, that "we are glad the purchase is made . . . the account is opened with Bridger Ranch." 4 2 Heber C. Kimball also noted the sale in a letter to Franklin D. Richards in England: " T h e Church has bought out Bridger Ranch one H u n d r e d horned cattle, seven or eight horses, flour and goods and paid $8,000.00 for it. Bridger is gone." 4 3 From a letter to Robison from Wells, dated July 31, 1856, it is apparent that the church leaders were then preparing to make the final payment due November 3, 1856, fifteen months from the day of purchase. "You will please forward to tis the note in order to enable tis to make the payment due this fall on the ranch. We must keep an eye out for that payment do you know were the note is?" 44 In answer to Wells's request Robison replied, " T h e note we owe for the ranch I presume is in the hands of Vasquez, tho I have no certain knowledge of it." 45 In March 1856, seven months alter the Mormons had purchased the fort, Bridger and Vasquez hired Timothy Goodale to be their lawful agent in handling affairs pertaining to the final transac-

'â&#x20AC;˘'Invoice. Fort Bridger Manuscript Collection. '"Receipt. August 3, 1855. Fort Bridger Manuscript Collection. On October 20. 1858, when final payment was made, Vasquez signed a receipt for twenty-four dollars lor the discount on the gold. "Robison to Wells. August 5. 1S55. Fort Bridget Manuscript Collection. 12 Young to Robison. August 9. 1855, quoted in Brigham Young Lettei book. NO. 2. p. 290, manuscript, LDS Archives. " " J o u r n a l History," August 21, 1855, p. 1. ' ' B r i g h a m Young Letterbook, p. 889. '"'Robison to Wells, August 19, 1856, Lewis Robison Manuscript Collection, LDS Archives.

Utah Historical Quarterly

tions of the selling of Fort Bridget. 4 6 T h e final payment was to be made in Salt Lake City. Why Goodale, or for that matter Bridger or Vasquez, did not pick u p the money on the d u e date is not known. In a letter to Robison from Brigham Young there is evidence that the money had been kept on reserve for Bridger or Vasquez, or their agent, to pick u p . Vasquez had written Robison about the money in May 1857, and his letter had been forwarded to Brigham Young who requested Robison to get in touch with Vasquez and resolve the matter. 4 7 Young's letter implies that it would be best for all concerned to have Bridger and Vasquez pick the money u p in Saint Louis from the church agent. However, the money would also be available in Salt Lake City if this met with their convenience. In August 1857 Young wrote Robison that "we have made arrangements with Mr. Bell to settle with Bridger whenever he comes for his money." 4 8 T h e final payment was not made until October 1858, however, when Vasquez, delayed by the Utah War, finally arrived in Salt Lake City. Brigham Young's clerk made the following entry in his journal u n d e r the date of October 16, 1858: "Vasquez, the late partner of Jim Bridger, called upon Pre. Young this morning about the affairs at Fort Bridger." 4 9 Two days later the following entry was made: Louis Vasquez of the firm of Bridger and Vasquez executed a bill of sale of Fort Bridger and knowledge receipt of $4,000.00 on August 3, 1855 and $4,000.00 today also acknowledge before Samuel A. Gilbert, Clerk of the T h i r d District Court, that Hiram F. Morrell was his lawfully appointed agent and that he approved of the acts and doings of said Morrell and in the sale of said property. 5 0

T h u s on October 18, 1858, nearly a year after the Mormons had burned Fort Bridger to the ground, the final payment of $4,000 was made in Salt Lake City to Louis Vasquez. T h e indenture, signed by Vasquez, was recorded at the county clerk's office in Salt Lake City. Vasquez testified before Samuel A. Gilbert, county clerk, that he was duly authorized to act on behalf of James Bridger. 5 1 T h r e e days later, on October 2 1 , 1858, the indenture signed at Fort Bridger in

"'Ibid.. March 25. 1856. Young to Robison, J u n e 2. FX57. "Histor\ of Brigham Young. "lIistot\ of Brigham Young," p. 757. "'Ibid., ]>. 1015. '"Ibid., p. 1017. "Salt Lake C o m m Records, Book B. p. 1 2 5 - 2 0 . l7

Fort Bridger

67 1855, when the first $4,000 was p a i d , was also r e c o r d e d in t h e county clerk's office. 52

T h e Mormon involvement with Fort Bridger lasted only a decade, beginning with the meeting of the Mormon advance party and James Bridger in J u n e 1847 and ending with the destruction of the fort in October 1857 by Mormon colonists retreating from the a p p r o a c h i n g f e d e r a l a r m y . W h a t b e g a n as a friendly relationship between Brigham Young and the owners of Louis Vasquez. Fort Bridger rapidly deteriorated as Utah State Historical Society collections, the Mormon leaders came to suspect gift of J. Cecil Alter. Bridger of unfriendly activity, especially with the Indians. Trouble over t h e c o n t r o l of t h e G r e e n River ferries plus reports of illegal trade with the Indians a r o u n d Fort Bridger p r o m p t e d the Mormon leaders to send a posse to arrest Jim Bridger in 1853. T h e old mountain man evaded arrest, but the posse occupied the fort. By 1855 Bridger had r e t u r n e d and sold Fort Bridger to the Mormons. Years later he claimed that the Mormons had driven him from his fort, seized his merchandise illegally, and then failed to pay him. But in point of fact the Mormon seizure of the post was done u n d e r proper legal injunction. T h e posse kept a careful record of merchandise it used and seized, and payment was made for it. Bridger's actual sale of the fort to the Mormon leaders is a matter of documented record. In 1855 he and his partner, Louis Vasquez, agreed to sell the post for $8,000 u n d e r a contract which called for a down payment of $4,000 and a final payment of $4,000 within fifteen months. T h e down payment was given to Bridger himself. T h e final payment was available for collection at the time specified by the contract; but because of complexities arising from the Utah War it was not until late 1858 when Vasquez arrived in Salt Lake City, testified that he was authorized to act for Bridger, and collected the remaining $4,000. y2

ibid.

128.

Cotter Street, Provo, as it may have looked when men from Fort Rawlins went on their spree. L'tah State Historical Society collections, gift of Boh Zabriskie.

Fort Rawlins, Utah: A Question of Mission and Means BY S T A N F O R D J. LAYTON

A OWARD MIDNIGHT, September 22, 1870, the quiet of the moonless a u t u m n evening in Provo, Utah, was shattered by a chorus of profane shouts and the sound of gunfire. Among those awakened by this uncommon noise was Bishop William Miller, city alderman, who later deposed that as he awoke and began dressing, the sound of loud p o u n d i n g on his front door reached him in his upstairs bedroom. Before he could respond several shots were fired into his

Dr. Lavton is coordinator of publications and research at the Utah State Historical Society.

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bedroom from the outside. Descending the stairs he found himself confronted by several men who had forced open his front door. Upon asking their intent he was accosted at gunpoint and told to "march." Only then did he recognize his assailants as U.S. soldiers. 1 Alderman Miller was then marched down West Main Street, p r o d d e d by bayonet points at periodic intervals, and subjected to a n u m b e r of verbal threats. Among other things he was told he was to be beaten to death and that a portion of his personal property would be destroyed. Not until he had been escorted nearly half the length of the street did he learn the immediate source of contention. T h e soldiers, it seemed, held the impression that Miller had agreed to rent them his hall for a party that evening. Upon arriving in town from Fort Rawlins, a recently established garrison on the Provo River some two and a half miles away, the soldiers had found the hall closed. They had then moved their party to another house, kept by U.S. Deputy Assessor J. M. C u n n i n g h a m , where they had d r u n k generous quantities of beer and liquor to the hoedown tunes of three youthful Provo musicians. Grasping the essence of the situation, Bishop Miller assured the group that they had no legitimate grievances against him because he had never agreed to rent them the hall in the first place, and any misunderstanding on that point was none of his doing. T h e soldiers then marched Miller to Cunningham's residence, aroused the deputy assessor, and sought clarification. C u n n i n g h a m substantiated Miller's claim, whereupon the alderman was released. T u r n i n g to leave, he was extended a fractional apology by one of the ranking men who assured Miller that he would not be molested further and that claims for damages to his home would be paid. T h e soldier then explained that the troops had been stationed in the valley for sixty days d u r i n g which time they had tried to be sociable but that the young men and women of the community refused to associate with them because "the Bishops and the old heads counselled them not to do so." 2 Bishop Miller was not the only resident of Provo to suffer abuse at the hands of the rowdy soldiers that night, nor was he the only one who sustained property damage from the affair. T h o m a s Fuller and two companions, camped in the tithing yard where they were engaged in repair work on the telegraph line, were r o u n d e d u p at

' " T h e Provo Outrage," Salt Lake Herald, September 27, 1870, p. 1.

Ibid.

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gunpoint and marched to the meeting house block by four soldiers. During their hour-long detention they were subjected to a constant barrage of verbal abuse. Fuller himself was assaulted with a variety of weapons including a bayonet which caused the blood to flow freely from his forehead. He later described the behavior of the soldiers: They said they would like to catch some more Mormons and take them over to Camp, try them, and " d a m n them they would h a n g them." They shouted as they went along the streets, "Come out you God d a m n e d Mormons and Mountain Meadow massacres," using other indecent language threatening to kill the Mormons and take their wives away from them. T h e y shot pistols at the houses as they passed along. 3

Others swept u p in the melee and subjected to similar indignities were A. H. Bowen and Abram Holladay, both of whom were city policemen on duty that night, and Ezra Oakley and Hall Rhodes. Others suffering property damage were A. F. Macdonald, who ran the local d r u g store and had refused to sell liquor to the soldiers, and Bishop E. F. Sheets, who, like Miller, was a city alderman. Minor damage was also inflicted on the Co-operative Mercantile Store and the Co-operative Boot and Shoe Makers' Shop. In addition the ward m e e t i n g h o u s e s u s t a i n e d slight damage. A feeble attempt to set fire to that building h a d b e e n made by one soldier, but he had abandoned the idea after striking several m a t c h e s a n d a p p l y i n g them unsuccessfully to the base of the door. After two hours of riotous behavior, the soldiers ceased f u r t h e r activity and r e t i r e d to camp. T h e next morning, the city mayor, A. O. Smoot, began a preliminary investigation into the incident which r e v e a l e d several facts. All the soldiers involved were stationed at Fort Rawlins. Approximately forty of them had Abraham 0. Smoot, Hhid.

mayor of Provo. Engraving by H. B. Hall and Sons, New York.

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attended the party in town, and of that n u m b e r at least twenty had actively participated in the disturbance. Many of them were armed, and apparently all were u n d e r the influence of alcohol. During the disturbance they had maintained a rather constant flow of antiMormon imprecations which involved a n u m b e r of direct references to the Mountain Meadows Massacre. No resistance had been offered by the local citizens. A n u m b e r of them, including Holladay, were armed, but given the extreme darkness of the night they had been reluctant to fire for fear of hitting one of their own. 4 T h e repercussions of the "Provo Outrage," as the Salt Lake Herald labeled the incident, were felt immediately, and the entire affair quickly threatened to become a political snowball. T h e behavior of the soldiers was embarrassing not only to the post comm a n d e r and higher army headquarters but to the territorial governor as well. From Gov. J. Wilson Shaffer's standpoint the incident occurred at a particularly inopportune moment. It had been only a matter of days since he had issued his proclamation against the drilling of an armed Mormon militia. Not surprisingly, this proclamation had been opposed with vituperative vigor by the editors of the Salt Lake Herald who charged that the action was deliberately calculated to leave the Mormon citizenry defenseless against unruly soldiers and a hostile territorial administration. 5 Naturally, the editors were delighted to exploit the Provo disturbance to the utmost, and it is certain that they succeeded in making even the calloused Shaffer squirm. The Herald referred to the occurrence as "one of the most dastardly outrages" ever chronicled, and in its impassioned coverage of the event resorted to audacious hyperbole. "This miserable scum, from Camp Rawlins," the report ran, "could attack defenceless [sic] women and u n a r m e d men in their beds, but fled to C a m p when the citizens aroused from their slumbers appeared in threatening numbers." T h e editors then addressed themselves directly to Governor Shaffer: Coming so soon after Governor Shaffer's proclamations, "squelching the militia" this outrage is significant. Does his Excellency see the connection? He proclaims that there must be no gathering of militia and no gathering of armed men, and within less than a week after, an

l Ibid. "â&#x20AC;˘"More Concerning the Proclamations," Salt Lake Herald. September 23, 1870, p. 2.

Utah Historical Quarterly armed mob of United States soldiers, probably supposing the people were buried u n d e r the weight of these proclamations, makes a midnight raid upon a sleeping town. We hold his Excellency responsible for this and for all the trouble that may result from his autocratic productions. 6

Governor Shaffer, of course, was in a difficult position. Choosing the Salt Lake City newspapers as his medium of communication, he addressed a letter, dated September 27, 1870, to Gen. P. R. DeTrobriand, c o m m a n d e r of C a m p Douglas: I have waited thus long in the earnest hope that you would have taken such action in the premises as would convince the citizens that the soldiery was stationed at Provo to protect and not destroy. Hearing nothing like an explanation from the commanding officer there, and feeling that the outrage is one that should be followed by swift and certain punishment, I now, as Governor of the Territory, sworn to protect all the citizens, ask of you to deliver u p to the civil authorities every individual, private or non-commissioned officer, engaged in the outrage, that I may see that they are properly tried, and if convicted, punished. 7

Continuing, Shaffer assured his audience that he held a high regard for the Mormons, that he was deeply committed to the protection of their rights and property, and that he would not condone mob action. He closed his letter by advising D e T r o b r i a n d that if the soldie rs could not "fulfill the high object" for which they were assigned duty in the territory, they should be withdrawn. Shaffer's action was not only tardy, it was politically maladroit. His inflated rhetoric was not likely to gain him any friends a m o n g the Mormon citizens, for any r a p p o r t with them had vanished long ago. O n the other hand, General DeT r o b r i a n d was held in popular Territorial governor J. Wilson Shaffer. Utah State Historical Society collections.

' ' " S e r i o u s a n d U n p r o v o k e d O u t r a g e in Provo," Salt Lake Herald, September 24, 1870, p. 2. â&#x20AC;˘"'Governor Shaffer Writes," Salt Lake Herald, September 27. 1870, p. 2; " T h e Provo Outrages," Deseret Evening Xews, September 27, 1870, p. 2.

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esteem within the Mormon community. And since the letter was public, it was obvious to the newspaper readers as well as to DeTrobriand himself, that Shaffer was maneuvering to channel any unpleasant consequences in the general's direction. Meanwhile, DeTrobriand had responded to telegraphic instructions, dated September 24, 1870, from headquarters, Department of the Platte, and proceeded to Provo to conduct a thorough investigation. During his third day there Shaffer's letter was published. T h e general was furious. Returning to C a m p Douglas the following day he wrote a lengthy letter to the governor, via the Deseret Evening News and the Salt Lake Herald, wherein every sentence reflected undisquised indignation. In no uncertain terms he reminded Shaffer of the common knowledge that every post comm a n d e r in the Department of the Platte reported directly to headquarters at Omaha, and that he shared neither authority nor responsibility for matters at Fort Rawlins. He criticized the governor for having assumed that no action had been initiated relative to the disturbance and reminded him that even the territorial governor was entitled only to such information on military matters as the military authorities chose to provide. T h e general then pointed out that he had not been five minutes in taking official action, whereas the governor had dallied five days. It followed that he was not interested in being accused of sluggishness as part of the governor's political antics. And as a matter of fact, he volunteered, several suspects were being held in custody at Fort Rawlins after the offer to turn them over to civil authorities at Provo had been rejected. DeTrobriand did not stop there. "If it was not too much of a curiosity," he queried, "I would like to know if the real object of those who caused the 'U.S. soldiery,' as you say, to be sent to Provo, was not somewhat different from the high object so eloquently set forth by your Excellency." Borrowing a sheaf from the editorial format of the Herald or Deseret Evening News, he then assured the governor that "we of the Army are not of a meddling temper, we are no politicians; we don't belong to any ring; we have no interest in any clique, and we don't share in any spoils." He concluded his letter with the opinion that regardless of how the troops conducted themselves in the future, it "would certainly be a great blessing to all" if they were withdrawn. 8

""Heavy on Governor Shaffer," Salt Lake Herald, October 1, 1870, p. 2, and "Letter," Deseret Evening News, September 30, 1870, p. 2.

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T h e political ramifications of the Provo incident did not end with that letter but rather merged into t h e m a i n s t r e a m of n i n e t e e n t h - c e n t u r y U t a h political controversy. Neither G o v e r n o r Shaffer n o r G e n e r a l D e T r o b riand figured much further in it. By the end of the following m o n t h the former had died and the latter had d e p a r t e d for an e x t e n d e d visit to France. Yet Fort Rawlins remained in existence until May 1871. Until now its story has never been told. Fort Rawlins was established on July 30, 1870, u n d e r provisions of Special Field O r d e r s No. Gen. P. R. DeTrobriand. U. S. Signal Corps 75, Headquarters, Department of photograph, National t h e Platte, a n d was n a m e d in Archives. honor of the late Maj. Gen. J o h n A. Rawlins. Its original garrison was drawn from C a m p Douglas in the Salt Lake Valley and consisted of two u n d e r s t r e n g t h companies, B and K, of the 13th Infantry. 9 U n d e r command of Bvt. Col. A. S. Hough, the cantonment was located approximately two and a half miles from the city of Provo, on the north bank of the Timpanogos (Provo) River. 10 This site was intended as temporary only, p e n d i n g the establishment of a military reservation somewhat closer to the city. Awaiting further direction, the men set u p tents and began work on a small canal to provision the camp with water from the river. l i 9 Bvt. Col. A. S. H o u g h to Bvt. Gen. E. D. Townshend, adjutant general of the army, July 30, 1870, National Archives RG 393: United States Continental Commands, Fort Rawlins, Utah, Orders, Special Orders and Guard Roster, L/R (1870-71). These records will be cited hereafter as NA, Letter Returns, Fort Rawlins. Microfilm copies of the returns were procured and made available locally through the generous efforts of Dr. Floyd A. O'Neil, associate director, documentation and oral history, American West Center, University of Utah. "Plotted in terms of a current street map of Provo, the eastern boundary of the post was 960 West, the western boundary was 2100 West, the northern boundary was 1460 North, and the southern boundary was 900 North except between 1500 West and 1800 West where it extended directly southward to 620 North. T h e present intersection of 900 North and 1550 West marks the center of the cantonment area. T h e above information was derived with the kind assistance of Elmo Kendall of the City Engineer's Office, Provo. It was he who "translated" the surveyor's description of the ranges, sections, and quarters extracted by the writer from a report submitted by Captain Osborne to the assistant adjutant general, Division of the Missouri, dated December 24, 1870, NA, Letter Returns, Fort Rawlins. n H o u g h to Bvt. Gen. George D. Ruggles, assistant adjutant general, Department of the Platte, August 6, 1870, NA, Letter Returns, Fort Rawlins.

Fort Rawlins

Within two weeks Brevet Colonel H o u g h had been reassigned, and command of Fort Rawlins was assumed by Capt. Nathan W. Osborne. His nine-month tenure of command, barely begun at the time of the riot, was characterized by frustration, acrimony, and ultimate failure. As a pawn in a political imbroglio, he could only lose. When relieved of command the following April, his military career had been virtually destroyed. Bitter and confused, he left Provo with the conviction that he had been betrayed by his commanding general, sabotaged by his own subordinates, and victimized by the Mormon civilians. T h e correspondence between Captain Osborne and Headquarters, Department of the Platte, reveals that the young c o m m a n d a n t of Fort Rawlins felt he was being consistently denied adequate support from higher headquarters. Mutual irritation was reflected in that correspondence from the beginnirg and the irritation intensified as time went on. T h e primary source of friction centered around barracks facilities and the September riot, but questions relating to discipline, manpower, and the military mission itself furthered the rift. Upon assuming command, Osborne's immediate concern was the establishment of a p e r m a n e n t garrison and the construction of adequate quarters, storage sheds, and related facilities. When, by mid-September, no word on these matters had been received from Omaha, Osborne authorized the purchase of adobe brick and the hiring of two masons for the construction of fireplaces to heat some of the tents. Upon informing Department of the Platte of this decision, he was immediately asked for an explanation. Accordingly, he replied that a u t u m n chill was in the air and that heat was essential to the welfare of the men, and he explained that since none of the soldiers possessed masonry skills he had considered it necessary to hire the work done. Headquarters responded by stating that the fireplaces could be built but not with hired help. T o this restriction Osborne complained, without avail. Purchasing 150 feet of lumber for scaffolding to be used in the construction of the fireplace chimneys, he was again pressed for a full explanation by departmental headquarters. 1 2 It was October 28 before Captain Osborne received any clue from O m a h a on departmental plans for the development of the

12 Osborne to assistant adjutant general, Department of the Platte, September 18, 1870, October 6, 1870, and October 20, 1870, NA, Letter Returns, Fort Rawlins.

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post. In that dispatch he was advised that quarters would not be built until spring and that seven Sibley tents, with stoves, were being sent to house the troops through the winter. He was then asked to report on what terms a building could be rented in Provo for the storage of quartermaster and subsistence stores, and he was also asked for suggestions on improving the comfort of the existing facilities in anticipation of the winter months ahead. Osborne reported that he could rent the ideal building for $125 per month, and he requested authorization to purchase 21,000 adobe bricks in order to wall the officer's tents and 6,000 feet of lumber to floor all tents. In addition, he sought authorization to hire three carpenters and three masons to do the work. After some equivocation, departmental headquarters approved these requests and authorized the captain to rent the building for a period of six months. 1 3 Not until December did the Sibley tents and stoves arrive, and only then did Osborne cease complaining that his men were suffering from the cold. T h a t Osborne was piqued by the questioning attitude of higher headquarters over his expenditures for development of the post is clearly evident in his communication to O m a h a on November 9. Answering a query as to what, if anything, he had done to establish a post cemetery, he replied: "No material having been furnished, and expenditure palpably absolutely indispensable when ordered by the Post C o m m a n d e r having been subjected to Enquiry, it has not been thought advisable to purchase for other purposes." 1 4 He then reminded headquarters that his latest request for authorization to provision the post with "articles necessary to its establishment and continuance" had been ignored. Comments such as these, when addressed to a general by a captain, have a way of being j u d g e d impertinent. Had it not been for the riot on September 22, however, it is quite possible that other differences between Osborne and higher headquarters would have been resolved amicably. T h a t incident, and subsequent events relating thereto, irrevocably damaged Osborne's standing with his c o m m a n d i n g general, C. C. Augur, and drove the young captain to a point of desperation which ultimately jeopardized his career. Conceivably, the riot was also a major factor in the reluctance of higher headquarters to develop Fort Rawlins into a p e r m a n e n t military reservation. 13 Osborne to assistant adjutant general, Department of the Platte, November 10, 1870; Gen. C. C. Augur to Osborne, November 12, 1970, NA, Letter Returns, Fort Rawlins. " N A , Letter Returns, Fort Rawlins.

Fort Rawlins

For reasons not entirely clear, Captain Osborne failed to report the September riot to departmental headquarters. For an incident laden with such explosive political repercussions, this was most indiscreet. News of the incident was first received in O m a h a by telegraph from General DeTrobriand after he had read of it in the Salt Lake newspapers. Naturally, General Augur was deeply irritated over this, and his next communication to Osborne, on September 24, was curt and austere even by military standards: "Col. D E T Robriand [sic] is o r d e r e d to investigate reported recent outrage by troops at Provo. You will afford him every facility and obey any order from him." 1 5 During the next three months friction continued to m o u n t between General A u g u r and Captain Osborne over the investigation of the riot and the settlement of claims. Osborne was not provided with a copy of the report of investigation, which he took as a personal affront. Not until mid-November did he know what decisions were being made at higher levels, and when he finally learned of them he was utterly chagrined. U n d e r provisions of Special O r d e r s No. 302, Department of War, the amount of $308.00 was to be withheld p r o rata from the pay of all officers and enlisted men present for duty at Fort Rawlins on the night of September 22, 1870, for payment of claims. T o this Osborne p e n n e d a strong letter of protest, bypassing General Augur, and addressing it directly to the secretary of war in Washington, D.C. T h e order as it stands implicates officers who are in no way responsible for the disgrace, who have been conscientious and energetic in the performance of duty and in the maintenance of discipline, and will inflict penalty upon soldiers not shown to have been connected with the riot, who are well disposed and deserve discriminating justice. . . . T o class the innocent with the guilty and to compel j u d g m e n t from them will be felt to be an injustice, resulting from ex-parte and not sufficiently discriminating j u d g m e n t ; seeking a hasty settlement with the injured parties in order to emphatically deny that which needs no denial, (that the Government does not countenance such disgraceful proceeding.). 1 6

But Osborne's objections did not stop with protesting the short-circuiting of traditional judicial procedures. He was equally concerned over the tendency this decision would have to erode the

15 September 24, 1870, NA, Letter Returns, Fort Rawlins. '"November 29, 1870, NA, Letter Returns, Fort Rawlins.

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respect which the Mormon community was expected to hold for the garrison and for which Fort Rawlins had apparently been established in the first place. This decision, he warned the secretary of war, "leaves to the Mormon mind the influence that the Government in this instance condemns its own military representatives for lack of ability, or for lack of regard for its respectability." Reiterating this point in his final paragraph, Captain Osborne used some very revealing words. Not only did he give implicit voice to the fact that Fort Rawlins had been founded as part of President Ulysses S. Grant's "get tough" policy toward the Mormons, but he also reflected his frustration at having never received specific instructions on exactly what he was supposed to accomplish or what his latitude for action was. "That the Mormons should have restitution," he wrote, "and that the malefactors should be made examples of, I am most anxious, but respectfully and earnestly submit that such ends should be accomplished, without action calculated to weaken the efforts of those who are striving to wisely maintain the attitude apparently desired by the administration toward this peculiar people." Osborne's protest was without effect. T h e extent of his success was to convince higher headquarters that payroll deductions should be levied only against those who were not hospitalized, on leave, or in confinement. Even then he delayed submitting the names of his soldiers in that category, and only after a series of mildly antagonistic exchanges between him and departmental headquarters was the list of names finally submitted on Christmas Day 1870. His own estimate of property damage, compiled with the assistance of three Provo carpenters, came to $135.00. His request that this figure be used as the basis of restitution was completely ignored by the departmental commander. 1 7 These events marked a turning point in the aims and attitudes of Captain Osborne. From the fall of 1870 until his relief of command in the spring of 1871, he assumed a defensive posture relative to the Mormon community. His policies were oriented toward one aim only â&#x20AC;&#x201D; that of avoiding further incident with the civilian population. Ironically, the h a r d e r he worked toward that single goal, the greater the challenges became. Within a short time he had reached the conclusion that many Mormons were in league with a n u m b e r of 17 Osborne to assistant adjutant general, Department of the Platte, December 1, 1870, December 25, 1870, and December 3.1, 1870; Ruggles to Osborne, December 8, 1870, NA, Letter Returns, Fort Rawlins

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his soldiers to promote further embarrassment to his command. As he assumed the defensive, the civilian population had seized the offensive. A letter from Osborne to departmental headquarters, written on November 3, 1870, discloses that he was then in this transitional stage. O n the one h a n d he suggests that the Mormon population of Provo had reconciled themselves, albeit reluctantly, to the presence of federal troops in their midst. Yet his final p a r a g r a p h betrays a nagging suspicion that such was not really the case. Again Osborne warns that if the departmental c o m m a n d e r continues m u m in his instructions relative to the exact mission of the garrison, Mormon respect for the troops could be expected to turn to contempt: T h e people are provincial and simple in habit and at first entertained the thought of the p e r m a n e n t Establishment of soldiers, in their midst, with reluctance. T h e unfortunate "Spree" of the soldiers after pay day, in September, terrified the Community, and it has required some personal effort to assure the mass, that it is not by lawless means that the Government purposes [sic] to cause itself to be respected. T h e principal men of the municipality have intelligence e n o u g h to c o m p r e h e n d the new situation, and, I believe, sincerely desire to accept what they cannot avert, without creating obstacles to so much intercourse as will be necessary to effect a realization of the firmness and determination of the Government. This intelligence will be of service to me also as affording opportunity to observe the change apparently projected by the policy of the administration, as it shall from time to time effect itself. I cannot help reflecting that possession of more information from the D e p a r t m e n t . . . regarding the intention of the Departmental C o m m a n d e r (Even so much as was afforded Camp Douglas) would have conduced to increase respect to the Garrison, from the Mormon Community, which being very compact t h r o u g h the influence of its Church organization naturally reasons that those, who should be respected as representatives of the Government, would be the immediate recipients of instructions affecting their locality. 18

Two weeks prior to that dispatch, Captain Osborne had received a letter from A. O. Smoot, mayor of Provo, advising him that recently soldiers had been seen in Provo after 10:00 P.M. and asking what should be done in the event of a recurrence. Obviously with chagrin, if not mortification, Osborne replied that such soldiers, if unable to show a currently dated pass, should be arrested by the civilian authorities. 1 9 Against the backdrop of the September 22 riot, 18

NA, Letter Returns, Fort Rawlins. '"October 21, 1870, NA, Letter Returns, Fort Rawlins.

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there was little else Osborne could have done, yet a more graphic acknowledgement of his impotence is hardly imaginable. Concomitant with Captain Osborne's shift to a defensive posture was his resolve to tighten discipline within his command. Clearly he could not afford the embarrassment of another incident with the civilian populace. Auspiciously, this resolve was coincidental with the arrival of seventy-seven additional enlisted men at Fort Rawlins — doubling the size of the garrison there — which Osborne had repeatedly requested on the basis of his assumption that a full-strength contingent was necessary to induce a respect from the Mormon community consistent with the purposes for which he assumed to post to have been established. Fort Rawlins must have been a dismal sight to the replacement personnel that arrived in the dusk of December 29, 1870. T h e r e was not a p e r m a n e n t building of any type to greet their eyes, only tents. T h e r e were no trees in the cantonment area, just sagebrush. Located on the bluff, the garrison was subject to the full fury of the biting canyon winds, and the large canvas tents, being without lumber reinforcement, rattled incessantly. T h e nearest neighbor was an old bachelor who lived in an u n a d o r n e d log cabin a half-mile away. As if the physical setting of the post were not enough to erode the morale of even the hardiest nineteenth-century soldier, there was also the problem of ennui. T h e garrison seemed to be without a mission, and for the majority of the enlisted men this meant there was nothing to do. F u r t h e r m o r e , and one can safely assume that every one of the new troops learned of this within an h o u r after his arrival, there was no promise of any social activity in Provo. T h e r e would be no taverns and no women. T h e r e was not even a lowly camp follower within riding distance. From the standpoint of command this would have been a difficult position for the most experienced and talented officer. For young Captain Osborne it was an impossibility. An examination of the courts-martial records of Fort Rawlins reveals that a type of undeclared warfare erupted between Osborne and his men d u r i n g the first three months of 1871. Fifty-four men of the command — approximately one in three — were convicted u n d e r courts-martial during that time. Most of the convictions were for violations of the 99th, 45th, 21st, and 20th articles of war: conduct prejudicial to good order, d m n k e n e s s on duty, absence without leave, and desertion, respectively. Clearly, by the spring of 1871 any semblance of

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81 morale had vanished. Neither pride nor esprit remained. From a military point of view the comm a n d was in a state of dissolution.

*^^

Arthur Mac Arthur, fr., was a captain at Fort Raiulins. U.S. Signal Corps photograph, National Archives.

It was impossible, of course, for such a situation to escape the notice of higher headquarters for long. In this case notification was m a d e by l e t t e r f r o m o n e of Osborne's subordinate officers, Capt. A r t h u r M a c A r t h u r , J r . 2 0 Immediately, departmental headquarters pressed for an explanation. Osborne responded by requesting a court of enquiry in his behalf and by offering a preliminary explanation of his own:

T h e desertions from my C o m m a n d in November last were attributed among the men remaining to the requirement that they should wear the dress coat. I considered it a groundless and unsoldierlike complaint, and a pretended not the true reason for desertion; one that could not be required by the C o m m a n d e r without apparent weakness and consequent demoralization to the C o m m a n d . I considered the Provo riot, precipitated by unworthy soldiers, as the more immediate cause of desertion at that time: for it was clear that the rioters conduct was not to be approved or even to be lightly viewed by any officer and punishment of some kind might be expected. T h e desertions since may be safely attributed to the infectious excitement of mining in the locality. When an entire Community is given u p to an absorbing hope of sudden wealth, and the exhilaration of such pervading hope is contrasted with laborious and persistent devotion to the acquirement of a competent knowledge of the soldier occupation, the superior attraction for the uniformed minds and habits of recruits is with the gambling spirit of speculation. 2 1

T h e recent desertions, the captain commented, had occurred almost exclusively a m o n g the December recruits. He then shared his views on the complicity of the Mormons in the matter: 2() MacArthur had escaped the onus of the Provo riot, not having been assigned to Fort Rawlins until September 24, 1870. His duty assignment at Rawlins was as c o m m a n d e r of Company K. Special O r d e r 13, Headquarters, Fort Rawlins, Utah, September 24, 1870, NA, Letter Returns, Fort Rawlins. 21 March 14, 1871, NA, Letter Returns, Fort Rawlins.

Utah Historical Quarterly T h e Mormon Community must be considered as hostile, to any occupation of their locality by Troops, and I have recently learned that in addition to the profit that may accrue to them as individuals, through barter with deserters for stolen muskets (unproved pattern) clothing etc., they fanatically feel it a religious duty to injure the army by disintegration (the only means in their power) to such extent as they can. This state of affairs is entirely in favor of the soldier who contemplates desertion. 2 2

Osborne closed his letter with a denial of MacArthur's charge that the high rate of desertions from his command was due to maladministration. General Augur was apparently unimpressed. Within a month Osborne was relieved of command. T h e r e is no evidence that he was accorded his request for a court of enquiry. Effective April 7, 1871, Captain Osborne was succeeded as commander of Fort Rawlins by Capt. Robert Nugent. Within a week of his appointment, Nugent received instructions from departmental headquarters to conduct an investigation into existing affairs of the garrison and to offer a report on any irregularities which might account for the high desertion rate. With his report, submittted on May 25, Osborne's disapprobation was complete. According to Nugent he had discovered four sweat boxes, constructed of lumber, and employed by Osborne as a means of punishment. T h e boxes were approximately twelve inches in depth, twenty inches wide, and six and a half feet deep. T h e front side was detachable, but when placed in position was secured tightly by an iron bar. T h e only ventilation was through the top, which was left open. I am of the opinion that these boxes were placed there by orders from Capt. Osborne 13 Infty, for the purpose of inflicting punishment on the men of his command, as it will be seen by the endorsement of Capt. Osborne that at the time privates Deady & Clary were placed in the sweat boxes by Capt. McArthur [sic] it was done by the orders of Capt. Osborne. T h e sweat boxes were so constructed, that it was almost impossible for any one to remain in them any length of time without inflicting bodily pain, the person being obliged to stand erect with his arms hanging down to his side, without any possible means of changing his position. Not agreeing with Capt. Osborne as this mode of punishment, I gave orders to have them taken down. 2 3

Nugent concluded his report with an explanation of why a statement from Private Clary was not included with the report: after his release from the sweat box he had promptly deserted. 22

ibid.

May 25, 1871, NA, Letter Returns, Fort Rawlins.

Fort Rawlins

But Captain Nugent never had the opportunity to show that he could succeed where Osborne had failed. O n May 10,1871, less than five weeks after assuming command, he was notified by d e p a r t m e n tal headquarters that Fort Rawlins was to be closed. O n May 19, Company K, with a train often wagons, left for C a m p Douglas. They were followed a week later by ten more wagons. When the third train departed on May 31, the last of the quartermaster, commissary, and medical stores had been removed â&#x20AC;&#x201D; everything, in fact, except 10,000 feet of lumber and 500 cords of firewood. Without sufficient army wagons to transport this material, Nugent stayed in Provo several more days in search of a purchaser for the firewood and a civilian contractor to transport the lumber to C a m p Douglas. T h e highest bid tendered on the firewood was $2.50 per cord, and this was unacceptable to departmental headquarters. Nugent then arr a n g e d a contract with Benjamin B a c h m a n to t r a n s p o r t the firewood, at $8.50 per cord, as well as the lumber, at 40 cents per hundredweight, to C a m p Douglas. 2 4 O n J u n e 10, 1871, Captain Nugent and the remaining contingent of seven men left Provo and rode northward toward Salt Lake City. It is doubtful that they had any regrets about leaving. For obvious reasons the Mormon community was delighted to see them go. If anyone had second thoughts, it was Benjamin Bachman, the contracting teamster. As a Provo merchant he had catered to the soldiers and had seen them spend a good deal of money in his store. It was he, in fact, who owned the large house kept by Deputy Assessor C u n n i n g h a m , and in which the soldiers had held their party on that fateful night of the previous September. , r , 2 ^ U g . e , n t to c o m m a n d i n g general and assistant adjutant general, Department of the Platte Mav 16, 1871, Mav 22 1871, May 31, 1871, and J u n e 10, 1871; Nugent to commanding officer, Camp Douglas, Utah, May 19, 1871, and May 26, 1871, NA, Letter Returns, Fort Rawlins

FOURTH INFANTRY BAND. â&#x20AC;&#x201D; By permission the above band, now stationed at Fort Bridger, comprising twenty-one pieces, u n d e r the able leadership of Capt. Adolph Buelor, arrived at O g d e n at about 6 p.m., July 3, on the eastern train, having been engaged by the celebration committee to play d u r i n g the proceedings of the Centennial Fourth. They were met at the depot by the O g d e n brass band, who struck u p a lively tune and escorted them to the Beardsley Hotel, where they were hospitably entertained. {Deseret Evening News, July 5, 1876.)

Mormonism and American Culture. Edited by MARVIN S. HILL and JAMES B. ALLEN.

(New York: H a r p e r & Row, 1972. ix + 189 p p . Paper, $2.95.) This collection of essays on Mormonism by writers of unquestioned competence, including David Brion Davis, Mulder, O'Dea, Arrington, a n d Stanley Ivins, is a small volume, far too lean for the size of its subject, but it embraces an astonishing n u m b e r of issues a n d e x h i b i t s t h e c o m p l e x character of Mormonism's connection with American social mores, institutions, a n d movements. It exhibits also t h e c o n f u s i o n t h a t exists a m o n g scholary efforts to describe a n d assess the character and history of even a small segment of American life. In an introduction that effectively describes this confusion, the editors, who seem bent u p o n finding some r h y m e or reason in the relation of Mormonism to American culture generally, state as their own thesis that "the history of Mormonism is . . . representative of American history a n d at the same time a unique American experience." This apparently means that much that in principle is found in American history generally is found in one way or another in Mormon history but that Mormon history has some substance and characteristics of its own. This would seem to be true but altogether obvious. My own feeling is that while Mormonism expresses much that is characteristically "American," as in its pragmatic temper, on the same ground it also represents much that in principle is quite "un-American," if not "anti-American," as for instance its authoritarianism.

T h e volume is of considerable value for those interested in Mormonism, but the individual essays must stand a l o n e as r e p r e s e n t a t i v e of t h e i r author's interest, talents, knowledge, intellectual p r e j u d i c e s , o r limited perspectives. They cannot be tied together to produce the "meaningful w h o l e " which p r o v i d e s t h e "integrated, overall view" which the general editors of the series "Interpretations of American History," of which this volume is a part, describe as the purpose of history. At best such a result, which would probably be more metaphysics than history and would inevitably sacrifice facts to theory, could be achieved, and only inadequately, by a single comprehensive writer. It should not be sought by bringing together diverse and independent specialized essays. But this is no reflection on those essays. Stanley Ivins's piece on Mormon polygamy, for instance, formerly published in t h e Western Humanities Review, is probably the most authoritative single essay on that subject that has been or ever will be produced. Nevertheless, t h e editors of this volume have succeeded in picturing Mormonism as a social m o v e m e n t which was and is a quest for authentic community within a nation which has often reacted with hostility toward the independence and autonomy which such a venture entails. They have exhibited as well the conflict of conservatism a n d radicalism i n t e r n a l to

Book Reviews and Notices Mormonism and the struggle of native A m e r i c a n individualism with Mormon authoritarianism. The strength of the essays lies in their recognition that any discussion of Mormonism must get at the economic, political, a n d social r o o t s of t h e church and its struggles, for Mormonism is clearly communitarian in character. But the weakness of most of them in presenting the character of M o r m o n i s m is their failure to describe it essentially as a religion. T h e essay by Davis is an exception. T h e Puritan foundations of Mormonism are referred to time and again, but the real strength of Mormonism as a puritan religion does not seem to be fully grasped. T h e real meaning of either Mormonism or Americanism in the life of the typical American Mormon generally eludes the reader. For the most part the essays move so rapidly across such a multitude of scenes and issues that the passion, commitment, and faith that characterize the Mormons fail to come t h r o u g h in full force. As in most writings on Mormonism, the Mormons seem to be so constantly confronted with large and small crises that they have neither the time nor energy to live, work, worship, and rear their children. I had the same feeling when I first read Vardis Fisher's Children of God, which is in my opinion still the best book to exhibit the M o r m o n c h a r a c t e r . H e r e the Mormons were continually engulfed in u n b e a r a b l e stresses and strains. Wallace Stegner's Mormon Country is less dramatic but describes Mormon life with a sympathetic charm and feeling that M o r m o n i s m deserves. T h e present volume, Mormonism and American Culture, is the kind of book that is presumably offered for scholarly stud)', but the speed at which ii covers the terrain often prevents anyt h i n g like d e t a i l e d a n d p r o f o u n d scholarly insight. For the same cause, it often fails adequately to sound the

85 d e p t h s of the M o r m o n c h a r a c t e r . Perhaps the latter can only be d o n e by fiction, drama, or biography. T h e final essays by O'Dea and Arlington, both written specially for this volume, are careful statements of the t w e n t i e t h - c e n t u r y c h a l l e n g e s to M o r m o n i s m â&#x20AC;&#x201D; c h a l l e n g e s arising from urbanization, industrialization, war, race, the contest of liberalism versus conservatism, of heresy versus orthodoxy, and the entire panoply of forces which have affected American life and institutions generally. These essays deserve wide r e a d i n g by all Mormons interested in taking a good up-to-date look at themselves. O'Dea asks the key question with which the faithful should be concerned, of whether the strength of Mormonism lies simply in its preservation of attractive values from the past or in a g e n u i n e message and sense of mission for the future. This is the question of whether Mormonism has lost its prophetic meaning and has now become a haven for those who are searching for the moorings of tradition. Nevertheless, I feel that except for the subject of Mormonism and the Blacks the most important issues of the present are not adequately exploited. I refer to the recent trend toward increasing centralization of authority, the remarkable extension of church educational programs, the increased male dominance over all church organizations and functions, evidences of increased repression by the church of individual freedom of thought and expression, the possible i m p l i c a t i o n s for q u a l i t y of t h e church's penchant for mass participation, and the beginning of what may hopefully be a major trend away from western American parochialism toward a universalization of the Mormon religion. Arrington gives attention to the phenomenal recent growth of the church and its "stepped-up internationalization," but he does not

Utah Historical Quarterly

86 explore the great implications for the character of Mormonism of such dev e l o p m e n t s as t h e c r e a t i o n of "foreign" stakes and temples and the holding of area conferences outside the United States. Even after the large migrations to Zion had ended, European Mormons faithfully sang "Utah, We Love T h e e , " on Sunday mornings â&#x20AC;&#x201D; more faithfully, in fact, than do Arizona M o r m o n s . But the future Mormons of Micronesia, Taiwan, or the interior of Brazil may have little in common culturally with Utah. In the long run the church cannot have it both ways â&#x20AC;&#x201D; genuine universalism and general standardization of values drawn from parochial origins. I should mention also a comparative neglect of such c o n t e m p o r a r y problems as the relevance of religion to life or the death of God issue. Here Mormonism comes off remarkably well in comparison with Christian sects in general, far better than most Mormons and Mormon-watchers realize. But to treat such problems effectively the editors and some of the authors should have been more concerned with theology and philosophy,

Utah. By DAVID MUENCH and H A R T T 1973. iv + 188 pp. $25.00.)

matters strangely neglected by a volu m e describing the fortunes and misfortunes of a religious community. T h e r e is little concern, moreover, for the Mormons' involvements with the arts or their attitudes toward science and technology, or for the church's position on labor and on such matters as war and nationalism. Finally, with so many pages to spare, it is difficult to u n d e r s t a n d why such i m p o r t a n t works as Ericksen's Psychological and Ethical Aspects of Mormon Group Life were not represented. Perhaps the volume would have been better titled simply Mormonism and American Society, as it is essentially a sociological document. Unhappily for the serious reader, the editors have omitted footnotes from the republished articles. They have, however, provided useful introductory notes and an annotated bibliography.

STERLING M.

WIXOM.

It is with mixed emotion that I review this eloquent statement of the nature of Utah. As I first browsed through the paged exposures of an incomprehensible piece of the earth's landscape, I indulged in a surge of parochial selfishness about seeing my nature world being advertised to all. On the more positive side, I saw this book as prima facie evidence saying, "Treat this jewel gently, modern man â&#x20AC;&#x201D; you only have one." T h e fact that I became personally concerned with the attraction caused by this book is a testimony of its quality. Perhaps this stimulation of feeling is the true value of a picture/word essay such as this.

MCMURRIN

E. E. Ericksen Distinguished Professor and Dean of the Graduate School University of Utah

(Portland, Ore.: Charles H. Belding,

Regardless of the p i c t u r e , each evokes a different reaction from the individual, whether it be contemporary concerns or a pang of nostalgia upon reviewing a familiar childhood place. I am sure seeing Zion National Park revived memories of traditional family treks to the area in many people's minds. T h e words, "sense of place" bring to mind one of the qualities setting this book apart. T h e r e is no doubt in one's mind, especially those who have lived and loved this country of Utah, that the book presents a "sense of place." T h e sense of place is perhaps becoming a rare cultural luxury due to

Book Reviews and Notices our extreme social mobility, wherein such vivid reminders as this book, or more appropriately this book's statement, are needed. T h e sense of place was executed to near perfection by the American Indians. They tied their total existense to their place in the great wheel of life in which the myriad symbols, feelings, s e n s a t i o n s a n d emotions of nature intertwined with their life as one whole. I think we cannot forget how this great wheel of life, our environment, still binds us to it. T h e pictures attempt to exude some of the humility toward nature needed to realize a true sense of place. Mr. Wixom's text manages to give a structure to the historical continuum of Utah, but this structure seems a bit too one-sided. When one begins reading of the early Mormon history in Palmyra, Nauvoo, and Winter Quarters, one begins to wonder how this significantly relates to a book about a place. T h a t is one of my main objections to the text. Interesting and precise though the Mormon history may be it perhaps should remain in perspective to the whole continuum of man's occupation of the area. One noticeable flaw in regard to this continuum is the lack of American Indian history which is so rich in the state of Utah, the state name itself derived from an Indian tribe. T h e times when the Indians are mentioned in the text, only the violence is referenced. Surely there were others in Utah's history who used violence, and surely there are many other important things to be said of the first people to live in and love this country for so long. Understanding many non-Utahn's image of Utah being that of the Mormon heritage, it should be noted this book stresses the natural side of our country. As indeed many of the pic-

87 tures themselves are of early Indian imprints on the country, the early Indian culture would be a most logical and meaningful element in blending man's relation to this country. An especially bright spot in the narrative is an expression of the current scene wherein m o d e r n society has reached the latter days of free exploitation. As the text reads, ". . . it makes little sense to needlessly impair or destroy anything which can be left in a h i g h e r value as C o d m a d e it." Another bright spot in the text is that the narrative gives an excellent perspective of the lay of the land. Seeing the book, Utah, is a gentle (or at times startling) reminder of our ties to our place. T h e mix of m a n m a d e and natural images of Utah are well balanced and elicit a total wheel of life w h e r e i n the o v e r w h e l m i n g d o m i nance of our natural world is emphasized. One especially refreshing aspect of Mr. M u e n c h ' s pictorial statement is the inclusion of some of the not-so-spectacular sides of the area along with dramatic presentations of blatant beauty. After all, that mix of highs and lows is nature, or life, itself. In addition, I was impressed with the inclusion of all seasons, especially in areas many associate primarily with the summer surge of tourism. Upon hearing of the publication of this book, I became apprehensive, expecting a collage of picture-postcard overkill. Obviously, I was wrong. T h e book is a truly credible impression of the sense of place I have of the Utah country.

LEE KAPALOSKI

Institute of Behavioral Sciences University of Colorado Boulder

Utah Historical Quarterly

The Magnificent Rockies: Crest of a Continent. By the EDITORS OF AMERICAN WEST. (Palo Alto, Calif.: T h e American West Publishing Co., 1973. 288 pp. $18.50.)

T h i s h a n d s o m e b o o k in t h e publisher's Great West Series combines the varied elements of geology, geography, botany, biology, and history in a treatise which is both geographical and environmental. This is the story of a region — the central and southern Rocky Mountains. T h e book emphasizes that despite man's persistent attempts at conquest and consumption — through trapping, mining, grazing, and oil drilling — the Rockies remain a barrier to man and a tough taskmaster to nature's inhabitants, a vast, unsullied wilderness. T h u s , the u n c o n q u e r a b l e Rockies have retained one of their most valuable assets — the isolation which recently has generated tourist and recreation dollars from those seeking escape from successful civilization elsewhere. Related to this book's regional focus is another identifiable characteristic. Staff writers Bette Roda Anderson, Donald G. Pike, and J a n e t Ziebarth, who created The Magnificent Rockies with American West editors Donald E. Bower and Patricia Rollings, look at the Rockies from east of the divide. This approach can be explained by geographical realities — and perhaps by Denver book markets — but whatever, the Utah r e a d e r will quickly sense that most examples chosen to enliven the synoptic narrative come from Denver's Front Range. W7hile the Wasatch and Uinta mountains may thus seem slighted, Wyoming's Wind River Range and scattered basins costar in the d r a m a because, with Colorado, they belong in the middle Mountain West. T h e one chapter reserved for the Mormon story and Utah's territorial period draws from reliable sources (standard western history texts and Wallace Stegner's delightful Gathering

of Zion). Yet the chapter is flawed with misunderstandings — in part due to the problems of condensing — and errors. A bearded Joseph Smith III appears over a picture caption describing Mormonism's founder, Joseph Jr. Brigham Young lands in the Great Basin ten days early (a typographical error?) and is elected governor by his people (depriving Congress of its appointive powers). T h e twin relics of barbarism become theocracy (not slavery) and polygamy. Elsewhere, a m a p on page 47 is out of register in the Utah portion, shifting cities, lakes, and rivers far enough to put Salt Lake City east of the mountains. Unclear are the statements about the first winter in the Great Basin (harsh or mild?), the "announcement" of polygamy (by J o s e p h Smith in 1844?), the ratio between Gentile and Mormon territorial officials, and the Mountain Meadows Massacre ("Shrouded in confusion and bias, the truth of the event remains a phantom." [picture caption, p. 170]). Overall the book is much better. T h e editors allotted forty percent to the o p e n i n g two sections of eight chapters for a rather detailed description of natural history — an informative recital of mountain-making and the "communities of n a t u r e . " T h e h u m a n history in the remaining three parts of thirteen chapters unfolds in broad outlines of the kind formalized by Ray Billington. Readers of the publisher's western history magazine will recognize the essays on plants and animals of the mountain slopes, gove r n m e n t e x p l o r e r s , a n d surveyors (chapters 6, 10, and 12); they appeared in slightly altered form in the Mav and September 1972 and March 1973 numbers of The American West.

Book Reviews and Notices T h e picture book format of The Magnificent Rockies allows for about 85 color and 130 black and white illustrations which serve best as informational supplements to the text rather than aesthetic complements. Look for no new scholarship but find instead vivid prose, two-page color spreads, helpful maps, charts, and diagrams,

and a useful review of exploitation and conservation — the Old West and t h e new — which f o r m c o n s t a n t threads in Rocky Mountain life.

Frederic Remington. By PETER H. 1973. 48 pp. $3.00.)

(Fort Worth: Amon Carter Museum,

HASSRICK.

T h e r e is currently an enthusiasm for nineteenth-century American art; exhibits of such works are increasingly frequent, and the prices of such works are increasingly high. Whether this is p r o m p t e d by an exhaustion in the supply of "Old Masters," the fad for things nostalgic, or the seeming intractability of contemporary art, at the very least the opportunity is being provided for the reappraisal of the t e c h n i c a l skill d e m o n s t r a t e d , the beauty and even the profundity in works too long ignored by critics in their defense and propagandizing of twentieth-century art. T h e recent retrospective exhibit at the Amon Carter Museum, Fort Worth, Texas, of the w o r k s of t h e n i n e t e e n t h - c e n t u r y illustrator-artist Frederic Remington is a part of this enthusiasm. As with most major exhibits, a catalog was p r e p a r e d to accompany it — this one written by Peter Hassrick. T h e exhibition catalog is a piece of literature too often overlooked because of its briefness. However, it is its very brevity which is its value. T h e well-written catalog presents the essential biographical, historical, and critical information about the artist and his works. It is a distillation which does not sacrifice scholarship. Mr. Hassrick has prepared an exemplary catalog. Although he does not include a bibliography of Remington and his appraisers, nor informa-

GLEN M. LEONARD

Senior Historical Associate Historical Department Church offesus Christ of Latter-day Saints

tion concerning the provenance of his works — omissions which are not so critical for an artist as well known as Remington — those components of a good catalog which Hassrick does include are commendable. T h e concise b i o g r a p h y of R e m i n g t o n , which Hassrick s u p p o r t s with e x t e n s i v e p r i m a r y d o c u m e n t a t i o n a n d illustrates with small but crisp reproductions of eighty of the ninety-one works included in the exhibit, traces not only Remington's life but also his talent, t h e i n f l u e n c e s u p o n it a n d t h e changes within it, the relationships between o n e version of a work a n d another, and the variations in expression resulting from the variations in media. Mr. Hassrick is neither apologetic nor recklessly complimentary. Remington was not a great artist, but he was an important one, especially in terms of the popular image of the American West which he helped to create. His place in that creation, and in the mainstream of American art, Hassrick is careful to point out. Hassrick is not hesitant to appraise the qualities that make certain works effective, a l t h o u g h he is hesitant to grapple with the problem of illustration versus art, an evaluative problem particularly pertinent to Remington, an illustrator who always wanted to be considered an artist. Also regrettably, Hassrick does not deal with the eon-

Utah Historical Quarterly

90 tradiction between Remington's avowed "passion for realism" and the obvious s t e r e o t y p i n g a n d publicpleasing gimmicks which w e r e so much a part of his work. Despite these neglects, the catalog is not just one more hackneyed statement about an artist often too highly praised and too frequently exhibited. Rather, it is a well-written, t h o u g h t f u l l y critical work, c o m m e n d e d to not only the serious viewer wanting a more expansive experience than a walk t h r o u g h the exhibit, the afficionado of Rem-

Horns in the High Country. By + 263 p p . $6.95.)

ington and his contemporaries appreciating another appraisal, and the scholar doing research on the artist or his work, b u t also t h e p e r s o n int e r e s t e d in t h i n g s artistic, t h i n g s nineteenth-century American, things western desiring a succinct but scholarly statement about Frederick Remington, t h r o u g h whose eyes the public has seen the American West. KATHRYN L. MACKAY

American West Center University of Utah

ANDY RUSSELL. (New

Westerners generally are familiar with high mountains and with animals found in such surroundings, but any o n e of us will be pleased a n d interested with Mr. Russell's appropriate p r o s e d e s c r i b i n g t h e b i g h o r n sheep. As I read the book I sometimes felt as though I were suspended off the ground, watching ewes or rams as they fed off the sparse vegetation or climbed the steep cliffs. He has the knack of making his subjects come alive to his readers. Mr. Russell is no stranger to nature study; indeed, anyone as familiar with hunting as is he knows a great deal about the field of natural history. He tells of his conversion from using guns to shooting with a camera, even to the point of convincing his sons to do so. He explains why hunting wild sheep, of necessity, has to be curtailed and why cameras are both pleasurable and profitable. His ideas about the conservation and m a n a g e m e n t of the bighorn are worth the price of the book, as he knows conditions on both sides of the border between the U.S. and Canada. He tells about the first white men to see and h u n t the bighorns as well as

York: Alfred A. Knopf, 1973. xvi

how the Indians tracked them down. He discusses their geological history, their classification a m o n g h o o f e d animals, and their breeding habits, food, parasites and enemies. In describing their habitat, he tells many interesting things about the plants occurring there. For example, he i n f o r m s us t h a t t h e I n d i a n paintbrush is a soft pink at 4,000 feet elevation, but at 8,000 feet the flowers are brilliant scarlet. He accounts for this fact by explaining that pollination must occur during a very brief period or not at all. He does not present this as his idea or even as a possible explanation. Admittedly, it is a very plausible theory, but there may be another explanation. Only systematic research can establish this. Along with discussions of various diseases he makes m e n t i o n of the Rocky Mountain spotted fever tick. In repeated references to this close relative of spiders, he uses the term "insect" as a synonym of the g r o u p to which the tick belongs. As any one knows who has not forgotten biology in high school or college, a tick belongs to the arachnids and is not an insect, there being a difference of at

Book Reviews and Notices least a pair of legs. O u r reading public is becoming increasingly knowledgeable in t h e sciences, a n d a u t h o r s should adjust themselves accordingly. He could have used words like "parasite" or "organism" or many others and not r u n the risk of offending any of his readers. However, outside of a few rather trivial objections, Mr. Russell has

91 done an excellent j o b of presenting the natural history, the environment, and the conservation of the mountain sheep (bighorn.) I would recommend the book as readable and informative.

O. WHITNEY YOUNG

Emeritus Professor of Zoology Weber State College

The Restoration Movement: Essays in Mormon History. Edited by F. MARK MCKIERNAN, ALMA R. BLAIR, and PAUL M. EDWARDS. (Lawrence, Kans.: Coronado Press, 1973. xxi + 357 p p . $10.00.) Everyone interested in Mormonism should become acquainted with this book. T h e r e are thirteen essays written by different M o r m o n writers, each with expertise in the historical a r e a u p o n which they write. T h e whole g a m u t of c h u r c h history is treated from the early roots of Morm o n i s m t h r o u g h t h e lifetime of Joseph Smith. And then a survey of the history and development of various succeeding c h u r c h e s after the m a r t y r d o m , the U t a h c h u r c h , the Reorganites, and the Strangites is excellently presented. T h e book contains good history. T h e book also makes history. It is the first real attempt to unite the efforts and ideas of LDS historians and RLDS historians to produce a single work. T h e three editors, all RLDS, carefully selected the writers on the basis of their expertise and balanced the essays with writers of differing points of view within their respective churches. It is an attempt to have each a u t h o r look m o r e closely and less prejudicially at his own history. T h e essays t h e r e f o r e reveal some very dramatic new insights and conclusions about Mormon history. O n e LDS historian poses the very serious question of w h e t h e r Mormonism as a distinct cultural entity has m o r e or less ceased to exist. Another suggests the extreme dom-

inant role the Council of Fifty played in church theology and politics. A third comments on the early ludicrous liturgical antics of t h e M o r m o n s which "all contributed shamefully to the reputation of the Mormons." Some of the conclusions of the RLDS historians seem even more liberal or dramatic: that Joseph Smith and Sidney Rigdon turned extremely militant; that J o s e p h Smith taught and practiced polygamy, Danitism, plurality of Gods, baptism for dead, temple rites such as washings, anointings, sealings, marriages for "time and eternity," and endowments; that there exists a strong "possibility that Smith and Rockwell were culpable in the Boggs shooting;" and that the RLDS had to rewrite their history, "mentally at first and then literally," and that they renounced and in a very real sense forgot the Nauvoo experience. These new thrusts in Mormon history are refreshing. It must be remembered, however, that the word "essay" denotes an initial and tentative effort. Essays is an experiment; it is a first, not final step. But it is a welcome first step. REED C. DURHAM, JR.

Director LDS Institute of Religion University of Utah

Utah Historical Quarterly

Indians orfews? An Introduction. By LYNN GLASER. Containing a reprint of The Hope of Israel by MANASSEH BEN ISRAEL. (Gilroy, Calif.: Roy V. Boswell, 1973. x + 74 + ii + 85 p p . $17.50.) Roy V. Boswell's press has produced a very handsomely b o u n d volu m e which contains a reprint of Manasseh Ben Israel's The Hope of Israel and an introduction entitled Indians or Jews? by Lynn Glaser. The Hope of Israel is a 1652 account of the ten lost tribes of Israel which is very familiar to most people who are interested in the origin of the American Indian. It is worth reprinting. Glaser's introduction, which is almost as long as the book, is disappointing. It provides an elaborate bibliographical essay of the theories that claimed the Indians descended from the lost tribes. Its purpose is to expose "Joseph Smith's success in fabricating an elaborate historical account and in establishing a religion which in its day had widespread appeal" (p. 1). T h u s , unfortunately, this introduction joins the ranks of fulsome anti-Mormon lite r a t u r e emphasizing the fakery of Joseph Smith. T h e i n t r o d u c t i o n ' s style and content would tend to place it in the last decade of the nineteenth century rather than 1973. Glaser laboriously traces the lost tribes through three centuries until he reaches Joseph Smith, Jr., 1805 - 44, where any further deliberations on the topic are dismissed because the main character is introduced. For ex-

ample, "Although speculation on who the Lost T e n Tribes might be continues through the nineteenth century and even trickled into the twentieth, Joseph Smith's work came at a period which virtually put a quietus on the legend in America" (p. 73). T h e thesis of the i n t r o d u c t i o n is, "Meanwhile the advances of modern scholarship were such that to the scholarly the Book of Mormon represented a reductio ad absurdum of a problem which had nagged thinking men for three centuries" (p. 73). T h e introduction deals with obscure and rare sources, but unexplainably the only source quoted on Mormon history is Fawn Brodie's No Man Knows My History. T h e r e are numerous primary sources available which would have supported far more effectively the author's ideas. T h e question arises why were these not used? T h e author fails to prove his allegation that Joseph Smith was influenced by the tale of the lost tribes and that this idea became the core of the Book of Mormon. T h e idea is fascinating but the book is not. F. MARK MCKIERNAN

Director Historic New Orleans Collection New Orleans

The Bureau of American Ethnology: A Partial History. By NEIL M. JUDD. (Norman: University of Oklahoma Press, 1967. xii + 140 pp. Paper, $ 1.95; cloth, $5.95.) While it is true that nearly all histories written are partial histories, only rarely would we encounter a title, "A Partial History." For this book the title is correct, because the institution is continuing to grow in influence and fame.

Neil Judd has long been associated with the BAF. which is an important force in scholarly endeavors in the United States. While those endeavors have centered mainly on anthropology and related fields, its vast resources are becoming increasingly

Book Reviews and Notices important to scholars in other disciplines. In an interesting division of the book, Mr. J u d d has addressed himself to three major topics. T h e first is " T h e Leaders," in which he discusses the history of the BAE t h r o u g h the men who have administered it. This section provides an immensely useful body of biographical data difficult to find in other places. In Section 2, he discusses " T h e Authors," who, over nearly a century, have contributed immeasurably to world knowledge in anthropology, archaeology, and many related fields. It was a difficult choice in dividing the leaders from the a u t h o r s , because many of the leaders were also authors. It is the

t h i r d section, " T h e Publications," which is the most important. It is a catalogue of the annual reports, the bulletins, the anthropological papers, the river basin survey papers, the contributions to ethnology, and miscellany that provide an excellent list and an immensely useful tool for the researcher, either general or specific. Much could be said about what the book is not, but this small volume is already serving the scholarly community well, and Mr. J u d d can be credited with a significant contribution. FLOYD A.

O'NEIL

Associate Director American West Center University of Utah

Give Your Heart to the Hawks: A Tribute to the Mountain Men. By WINFRED BLEVINS. (Los Angeles: Nash Publishing Corporation, 1973. xviii + 350 pp. $8.95.) As the title suggests, this book was written (or at least published) as a tribute to the mountain men and, as such, must ideally be dealt with on its own terms. Indeed, the author, by his own words in the dedication, writes as though he were speaking to an ideal reader with whom he shares basic values. However, in the real world there is no such thing as an ideal reader, and it is that fact which Mr. Blevins unfortunately ignores t h r o u g h o u t his book. T h e book is a product of a mind that has fallen in love with T h e Mountains and which gravitates to the anarchy so prevalent in the lives of the few m o u n t i n m e n we know a n y t h i n g about, and no one will fault Blevins for that; many of us know and feel what he has known and felt. However, beyond the obvious display of a love for mountain life and a yearning for the past, the book is largely a failure. Each carefully pirated chapter, in the main, is merely a condensed rewriting of history and literature. T h e obvious

influences of George Frederick Ruxton, Don Berry, B e r n a r d DeVoto, T h o m a s j a m e s , A. B. Guthrie,Jr., and others (in w a r m e d - o v e r form) are baldly, painfully obvious t h r o u g h o u t this book. But possibly more important, and certainly one of its weakest points, is t h a t the book makes no new discoveries, either imaginative or purely factual, and thus contributes little or nothing to the existent body of material about the mountain men. Really, the book is a brazen display of what can come of an overdose of Bernard D e V o t o a n d a skimpy, sometimes naive, knowledge of the West. Such doubtful details as Ruxton getting his version of Black Harris's tale of the "putrefied" forest from a Saint Louis newspaper do not lend authenticity to the book, and at such times the reader yearns for a clarifying footnote. Also, why Blevins considers J o h n Colter the first mountain man is a mystery the author never re-

94 solves; why not, for example, Daniel Boone, who reputedly made it as far as the Rocky Mountains? In too many places, Blevins likens the mountain men and their tales to the character and specious products of Paul Bunyan. Since Bunyan, the Blue Ox, and all the other accoutrements of the giant lumberjack are clearly and purely fraud and fakelore, having nothing traditionally to do with American folkways, one wonders what the mountain man really means to the author, and if his tribute has d e g e n e r a t e d into u n w i t t i n g farce. T h e author's prose itself, although generally clear and descriptive, lapses frequently into a mimicking affectation of trapper lingo, something the book could do very well without. However, the shortcomings of this work are tempered somewhat by the

Utah Historical Quarterly sensitive and even poignant conclusion Blevins draws: a lament over the disappearance of a whole group, society almost, of free and noble spirits; but one cannot easily forget what has gone on before such a conclusion. We have had enough romanticizing (even t h o u g h it p u r p o r t s to be tough-minded) of the mountain man and his ways. What is needed now is clear, even, solid delineation of that fascinating breed, and unfortunately, Blevins has neither augmented nor m o r e carefully explained what we know of mountain life and mountain men.

RICHARD C. POULSEN

Department of English University of Utah

Bill Bailey Came Home. By WILLIAM A. BAILEY. Edited by AUSTIN FIFE and (Logan: Utah State University Press, 1973. 183 pp. $5.00.)

This memoir of a former I d a h o farm boy takes place in the lost time between the end of the pioneer era a n d t h e b e g i n n i n g of the age of mechanized farming. T h e Bailey family went west by railroad instead of covered wagon, and there were already settlements at their destination; but many elements of the pioneer spirit remain, especially in the narration of Bill, the roamer, in whom the restlessness of an earlier time remains active. Editors Austin and Alta Fife are careful to note in the forward that the book is completely the product of Bill Bailey, now a r e t i r e d r e s i d e n t of s o u t h e r n California, conceived by him and written in longhand in his

ALTA FIFE.

own words. T h e contribution of the editors is, by their own admission, largely technical, leaving the structure, vocabulary, and imagery to the peculiarities of Bill's idiom. T h e result is engagingly natural, the well-loved memories of a man whose life has been rich in incident and adventure, recalled and related in his own terms. T h e tone and style will be familiar to anyone who has listened to the reminiscences of a grandparent, parent, or any older person whose world is gone but accurately remembered. Beginning with his Colorado childhood, Bill quickly establishes his own role as the rebel of the family, never willing to settle for the status quo when a more interesting alternative is

Book Reviews and Notices offered. In the first paragraph of his narration, he refers to himself as a " s c o u n d r e l , " a n d this d r o l l selfassessment is present t h r o u g h o u t the book as Bill frequently turns his ironic h u m o r inward. Dissatisfied with life in Colorado, Bill's family decide to move westward, to the Albion Basin of southwestern I d a h o , w h e r e some relatives a n d friends had already established themselves. As an economic measure, Bill a n d his b r o t h e r w e r e c a r r i e d as stowaways in the baggage car rented for the stock and household goods. T h e brief list of the family's belongings which Bill notes down makes it obvious why the saving of two fares was a desirable end. But for Bill and his brother the stowaway j o u r n e y was one long hilarious adventure, hiding from railroad personnel and muffling their giggles in the cargo s u r r o u n d i n g their "rats nest." T h e journey to I d a h o was prophetic, for after several years of helping his family farm Bill left home to wand e r as a r a i l r o a d t r a m p , w o r k i n g where he could and going from town to town, seeing m o r e of life t h a n Idaho had to offer. Before his departure, however, Bill gives an accurate and not always sympathetic picture of life on a western farm in the early part of the century. He is blunt about the hardships of the constant work and precarious weather, but his narrative is enlivened with amusing anecdotes and recollections. At one point, he recalls the hordes of flies which plagued them at work and at meals,"Oh, those d a m n flies! I'd still kiss the inventor of fly spray on top of the head!" Bill first left home at fourteen because of an a r g u m e n t with his father. As the Fifes point out, Bill has made no attempt to whitewash his narrative, and the conflicts between father and

95 son, sharing the same hot temper, are truthfully set down. This first adventure took Bill only to the home of relatives in Colorado, riding as a passenger on money m a d e from shearing sheep. His father came after him, not with an apology, but with the understanding that home was the place for Bill, at least for a time. Back home, but still retaining some of his new-found independence, Bill took to the m o u n t a i n s for several weeks of trapping and hunting, both for profit and for personal adventure. With the money from his furs, he left home again at sixteen, this time for b r o a d e r adventures as far away as Chicago and O m a h a . Working as a farmhand or sheepshearer, or living as a hobo in the n u m e r o u s "jungles" of the time, Bill found c o m r a d e s h i p and a d v e n t u r e among the many men from all walks of life w h o h a d a b a n d o n e d t h e i r former existence for the freedom of riding the rails. Bill makes no j u d g ments about these men or their way of life, and his stories of their world are candid and sympathetic. He admits that he enjoyed this homeless interlude thoroughly, learning and listening, growing in every way. From this experience as a hobo, Bill's story takes on depth and maturity, as he did. In the final pages of the book, Bill returns home, meets the girl he will eventually marry, and ends his narration, all at the ripe age of seventeen. It is with regret that the reader closes the book, wishing to know more of Bill Bailey and his life and "hear" more of the flavorful, fascinating tales he spins.

SANDRA BENNETT

Department of English University of Utah

An Oral History Primer. By GARY L. SHUMWAYand WILLIAM G. HARTLEY. (Provo, Utah: T h e Authors, 1973. 28 pp. $1.50.)

The

This booklet is a treasure chest of helpful hints on how to get the most from an oral interview. Part O n e deals with the interviewing process itself and covers such essentials as selecting and practicing with the r e c o r d i n g e q u i p m e n t , positioning the equipment and arranging the interview setting, mastering basic interview techniques, and transcribing. Part Two is a list of suggested oral history and folklore topics. T h e p r i m e r p r o c e e d s from the assumption that "there is no sure way to do oral histories" but that certain preparatory steps will enhance the success and value of an interview. It is a guide only but a thoughtful one and an essential reference for anyone involved in this increasingly popular research technique.

Americans and the California

The Alaska Gold Rush. By DAVID B. WHARTON. (Bloomington: Indiana University Press, 1972. 302 p p . $8.95.) All Hell Needs is Water. By BUDGE RUFFNER. (Tucson: University of Arizona Press, 1972. 96 pp. Paper, $2.95.) Lore of the Southwest. The American Cowboy in Life and Legend. By BART MCDOWELL. (Washington, D.C.: T h e National Geographic Society, 1972. 212 p p . $4.25.) Lavishly illustrated.

Americanization

1867

- 1879.

By T E D C.

Alaska, HINCKLEY.

(Palo Alto, Calif.: Pacific Books, 1972. 285 pp. $8.95.)

1850

- 1915.

Dream,

By KEVIN STARR.

(New

York: Oxford University Press, 1973. xviii + 494 pp. $12.50.) Buffalo Bill: The Noblest Whiteskin. By JOHN BURKE. (New York: G. P. P u t n u m ' s Sons, 1973. 320 p p . $7.95.) California: An Illustrated History. By T. H. W A T K I N S . (Palo Alto, Calif: American West Publishing Company, 1973. 544 pp. $25.00.) California: Land of New Beginnings. Bv D A V I D LAVENDER. (New York: H a r p e r 8c Row, Publishers, 1972. x + 464 pp. $10.00.) The Cattle Trailing Industry: Between Supply and Demand, 1866- 1890. By JIMMY M. SKAGGS. (Lawrence: T h e University Press of Kansas, 1973. v + 173 pp. $8.00.) Colorado's War on Militant Unionism: James H. Peabody and the Western Federation of Miners. By GEORGE G. SUGGS, J R . (Detroit: Wayne State University Press, 1972. 242 p p . $12.50.) Crimsoned Prairie: The Wars Between the United States and the Plains Indians

Book Reviews and Notices During the Winning of the West. By S. L.

MARSHALL.

(New

York:

Charles Scribner's Sons, 1972. 256 p p . $8.95.) The Dawes Act and the Allotment of Indian Lands. By D. S. O r i s . Edited a n d with a n i n t r o d u c t i o n by FRANCIS P A U L P R U C H A .

(Norman:

LJniversity o f O k l a h o m a 1973. 206 p p . $6.95.)

Press,

Death Valley Ghost Toiuns. By STANLEY W. PAHER. (Las Vegas: N e v a d a Publications, 1973. 48 p p . Paper, $1.95.) Destiny Road: The Gila Trail and the Opening of the Southwest. By O D I E B. FAULK. (New York: O x f o r d University P r e s s , 1 9 7 3 . xii + 2 3 2 p p . $7.50.)

A List of References for the History of Agriculture in the Mountain States. Compiled

E A R L M.

The Oregon Trail Revisited. By GREGORY M. FRANZWA. (Saint Louis: Patrice Press, 1972. xviii + 417 p p . P a p e r , $2.95.) A trail g u i d e rich in lore a n d advice b u t lacking a d e q u a t e maps. Sagebrush Doctors. By EDNA B . PATTERSON. (Springville, U t a h : A r t City P u b l i s h i n g C o m p a n y , 1 9 7 2 . 196 p p . $ 10.00.) Pioneer d o c t o r s in n o r t h e a s t Nevada. Shingling the Fog and Other Plains Lies: Tall Tales of the Great Plains. By ROGER WELSH. ( C h i c a g o :

Flood Tide of Empire: Spain and the Pacific Northwest, 1543-1819. By W A R R E N L. C O O K . Y a l e

Western

A m e r i c a n a Series N o . 2 4 . ( N e w H a v e n : Yale U n i v e r s i t y Press, 1973. xiv + 6 2 0 p p . $17.50.) Frederick Jackson Turner: Historian, Scholar, Teacher. By RAY ALLEN B I L U N G T O N . (New Y o r k : O x f o r d University Press, 1973. x + 599 p p . $17.50.)

ROGERS.

(Davis: A g r i c u l t u r a l History C e n t e r , University of California, 1972. iii + 91 pp.)

Swallow

Press Inc., 1972. 160 p p . $6.00.) The Spearless Leader: Senator Borah and the Progressive Movement in the 1920's

By L E R O Y ASHBY. ( U r b a n a :

University of Illinois Press, 1972. x + 325 p p . $10.00.) The Talmage Story: Life and Times of James E. Talmage - Educator, Scientist, Apostle.

By J O H N R. TALMAGE.

(Salt Lake City: Bookcraft, 1972. 246 p p . $3.95.)

Harold Von Schmidt Draivs and Paints the Old West. By W A L T REED. (Flagstaff,

Ariz.: N o r t h l a n d Press, 1972. xvii + 230 p p . $40.00.) The Hidden

Northwest.

By ROBERT

CANTWELL. ( P h i l a d e l p h i a : J . B. L i p -

pincott, 1972. 335 p p . $8.50.) Ina Coolbrith: Librarian and Laureate of California.

By J O S E P H I N E

Where the Wagon Led: One Man's Memories of the Cowboy's Life in the Old West. By R. D. SYMONS. ( G a r d e n City, N.Y.: Doubleday a n d C o m pany, I n c . 1973. xxxii + 3 4 3 p p . $ 8 . 9 5 . ) W e s t e r n C a n a d a in t h e early twentieth c e n t u r y is t h e sett i n g f o r t h e s e skillful r e m i n i s cences.

DEWITT

RHODEHAMEi.and RAYMUND FRANCIS

Wilderness and the American Mind. By

WOOD. (Provo: Brigham Young University Press, 1 9 7 3 . 531 p p . $11.95.)

(New H a v e n : Yale University Press, 1973. 390 p p . P a p e r , $2.95.)

RODERICK N A S H . Revised

edition.

AGRICULTURE AND CONSERVATION Cart, Theodore W. "The Lacey Act: America's First Nationwide Wildlife Statute," Forest History, 17 (October 1973), 4 - 13. Dary, David. "The Buffalo in Kansas," The Kansas Historical Quarterly, 39 (Autumn 1973), 3 0 5 - 4 4 . Hamann, Juanita. "Ecology and Dr. McDougall," Plateau, 46 (Summer 1973), 1 - 5. Highlights in this distinguished botanist's career, with emphasis on his work in northern Arizona ecology. Mays, Buddy. "The Bison Are Back," Desert, 37 (January 1974), 36 - 41. BIOGRAPHY Andrews, Thomas F. "Lansford Warren Hastings: The Early Gold Rush Years," The Branding Iron [Los Angeles Westerners Corral], no. 111 (September 1973), 8-9. 1 Burke, Robert E. "Hiram Johnson's Impressions of William E. Borah," Idaho Yesterdays, 17 (Spring 1973), 2 - 1 1 . Leonard, Robert James. "From County Politics to the Senate: The Learning Years for Senator Nye," North Dakota History, 39 (Summer 1972), 15 - 23. Maynard, Gregory. "Alexander William Doniphan: Man of Justice," Brigham Young University Studies, 13 (Summer 1973), 462 - 72. Stegner, Wallace. "DeVoto's Western Adventures," The American West, 10 (November 1973), 2 0 - 2 7 . Walker, Dale L. "A Last Laugh for Ambrose Bierce," The American West, 10 (November 1973), 34 - 39,^63. HISTORIANS AND HISTORICAL METHOD Clark, Carol. " 'One of the Most Important Days of My Life:' An Introduction to Oral History," The New Era, 3 (November 1973), 18 - 20. Davis, W.N., Jr. "Research Uses of County Court Records, 1850- 1879, and Incidental Glimpses of California Life and Society," California Historical Quarterly, 52 (Fall 1973), 241 - 66. The study focuses on California materials but the methods and promise are applicable to any locale. Friend, Llerena. "Walter Prescott Webb and Book Reviewing," The Western Historical Quarterly, 4 (October 1973), 381 - 404.

Articles and Notes

Hartley, William G. "Suggested Family Oral History Topics," The New Era, 3 (November 1973), 21. Schnell, J. Christopher, and Patrick McLear. "Why the Cities Grew: A Historiographical Essay on Western Urban Growth, 1850 - 1880," Bulletin of the Missouri Historical Society, 27 (April 1972), 162 - 77. INDIANS Britt, Claude, J r . "An Old Navajo Trail with Associated Petroglyph Trail Markers, Canyon de Chelly, Arizona," Plateau, 46 (Summer 1973), 6 - 1 1 . Karp, Walter. "Wounded Knee Between the Wars," American Heritage, 25 (December 1973), 34 - 35, 101. Reflections on the restless b o r e d o m which was "eating alive" the Pine Ridge Indians in the 1950s, as observed and reported by a young anthropologist. Kelsey, Harry. " T h e California Indian Treaty Myth," Southern California Quarterly, 55 (Fall 1973), 225 - 38. T h e Mexican Cession raised new questions about Indian land rights. Page, Gary. " T h e Nez Perce Retreat," Upper Snake River Valley Historical Society Quarterly, 2 (Spring 1973), 8 8 - 9 1 . Pike, Donald. " T h e People Who Have V a n i s h e d , " The American West, 10 (November 1973), 40 - 46. A glimpse at the Anasazi culture, embellished with photographs by David Muench. Sunsire, Alvin R. " T h e Indian Slave T r a d e in New Mexico, 1846 - 1861." The Indian Historian, 6 (Fall 1973), 20 - 22, 54. Includes observations on the slave trade in Utah as well. L I T E R A T U R E AND FOLKLORE Bourne, Edward Gaylord. " T h e Romance of Western History," Missouri Historical Review, 68 (October 1973), 55 - 73. Presented as an address in 1906, this selection was the first major article featured in the Missouri Historical Review and is one of those chosen for reprinting in this seventy-fifth anniversary issue. Bulow, Nannette. " T h e Maverick Metaphor: T h e Use of Cowboy Vernacular in Fiction," The Possible Sack, 5 (November 1973), 10 - 16. Hatch, J o h n Mark. " T h e Art of Sunny Lying in the Mountain Man Tale," The Possible Sack, 4 (October 1973), 9 - 15. A look at Black Harris as the inimitable liar. Powell, L a w r e n c e Clark. " T h e A d v e n t u r o u s E n g l i s h m a n , " Westways, 65 (November 1973), 19-22, 7 0 - 7 1 . Reflections on the life of the prose poet of the Rockies, George Frederick Ruxton. Walker, Ralph S. " T h e Wonderful West of Karl May," The American West, 10 (November 1973), 28 - 33. Writing seventy volumes and selling twenty million copies in his native country alone, nineteenth-century German novelist May gave the Europeans a strangely distorted but fascinating picture of the heroes, villains, and social patterns of the American West.

100

Utah Historical Quarterly

Watkins, T. H. "Mark Twain and His Mississippi," The American West, 10 (November 1973), 12 - 19. MILITARY AND LEGAL Greene, Jerome A. "Evidence and the Custer Enigma: A Reconstruction of Indian-Military History," The Trail Guide, 17 (March - J u n e 1973), 3 - 56. Johns, Sally Cavell. "Viva Los Californios! The Battle of San Pasqual," San Diego History, 19 (Fall 1973), 1-13. California's most bitter battle was fought while the Mormon Battalion was still a two-week march away. Taylor, Morris F. "The Carr-Penrose Expedition: General Sheridan's Winter Campaign, 1868- 1869." The Chronicles of Oklahoma, 51 (Summer 1973), 159-76. POLITICS AND DIPLOMACY Heale, M.J. "The Role of the Frontier in Jacksonian Politics: David Crockett and the Myth of the Self-Made Man," The Western Historical Quarterly, 4 (October 1973), 405 - 23. Lee, R. Alton. "Slavery and the Oregon Territorial Issue: Prelude to the Compromise of 1850," Pacific Northwest Quarterly, 64 (July 1973), 112 - 19. Moody, Eric N. "Nevada's Bull Moose Progressives: The Formation and Function of a State Political Party in 1912, "Nevada Historical Society Quarterly, 16 (Fall 1973), 1 5 7 - 7 9 . Northrup, Jack. "The Trist Mission," The Journal of Mexican American History, 3 (1973), 1 3 - 3 2 . Williams, David A. "California Democrats of 1860: Division, Disruption, Defeat," Southern California Quarterly, 55 (Fall 1973), 239 - 52. Stephen A. Douglas's concept of popular sovereignty was controversial in the West as elsewhere. RELIGION Bush, Lester E., Jr. "Mormonism's Negro Doctrine: An Historical Overview," Dialogue: A Journal of Mormon Thought, 8 (Spring 1973), 11 - 68. Followed by responses from Gordon C. Thomasson, Hugh Nibley, and Eugene England. Ellsworth, S. George. "The Deseret Alphabet," The American West, 10 (November 1973), 10 - 11. Brigham Young's phonetic scheme is explained as an attempt at spelling reform. Flake, Chad J. "Mormon Bibliography: 1972," Brigham Young University Studies, 13 (Summer 1973), 5 7 7 - 8 3 . Irving, Gordon. "The Mormons and the Bible in the 1830s," Brigham Young University Studies, 13 (Summer 1973), 473 - 88. Kimball, Stanley B. "The Saints and St. Louis, 1831 - 1857: An Oasis of Tolerance and Security,"Brigham Young University Studies, 13 (Summer 1973), 489 - 519. Richards, Paul C. "Missouri Persecutions: Petitions for Redress," Brigham Young University Studies, 13 (Summer 1973), 520 - 43.

Articles and Notes

101

Smiley, Winn Whiting. " A m m o n M. Tenney: Mormon Missionary to the Indians," Journal of Arizona History, 13 (Summer 1972), 82 - 108. SOCIETY Bowman, Richard G. "Pioneer Mormon Currency," The Denver Westerners Roundup, 29 (October 1973), 3 - 16. Boyd, E. "Domestic Architecture in New Mexico," El Palacio, 79, no. 3 (1973), 13-29. Buck, R. George. "Grand Lady-in-Wating (to be H e a r d ) , " Utah Holiday, 3 (November 12 - December 5, 1973), 4 - 7. Reflections on the restoration of Salt Lake City's Union Pacific Depot as a worthy Bicentennial project. Driggs, Nevada W. "How Come Nevada?" Nevada Historical Society Quarterly, 16 (Fall 1973), 181 - 85. Childhood remembrances of southern Utah at the t u r n of the century. "Two Landmarks," The New Yorker, September 24, 1973, pp. 28 - 30. T h e focus is on two particular buildings in New York but the problems are common to all preservation programs. WESTWARD M O V E M E N T AND S E T T L E M E N T Burns, Barney T., and T h o m a s H. Naylor. "Colonia Morelos: A Short History of a Mormon Colony in Sonora, Mexico," The Smoke Signal, 27 (Spring 1973), 142 - 80. A balanced and interesting treatment; bibliography lists not only the standard sources but nearly thirty oral interviews as well. Christiansen, Alfred. " T h e Swiss Mormons in America." Ciba-Geigy Journal, 2 (Summer 1973), 31 - 3 6 . Clausen, Henry A. "LaVeta Pass and Garland City, 1876- 1878." The Denver Westerners Roundup, 29 (September 1973), 3 - 1 7 . Highlights in the construction of the Denver and Rio Grand route over LaVeta Pass. Erickson, Vernon. "Lewis and Clark on the U p p e r Missouri," North Dakota History, 40 (Spring 1973), 34 - 37. A pictorial essay. Gentry, Leland H. "Adam-ondi-Ahman: A Brief Historical Survey," Brigham Young University Studies, 13 (Summer 1973), 553 - 76. Hutson, James H. "Benjamin Franklin and the West," The Western Historical Quarterly, 4 (October 1973), 425 - 34. Koester, Susan. " T h e Indian T h r e a t Along the Santa Fe Trail," The Pacific Historian, 17 (Winter 1973), 13 - 28. Martinson, Henv R. "Homesteading Episodes," North Dakota History, 40 (Spring 1973), 2 0 - 3 3 . Underhill, Lonnie E., and Daniel F. Littlefield, Jr. "Women Homeseekers in Oklahoma Territory, 1 8 8 9 - 1901." The Pacific Historian, 17 (Fall 1973), 36-47.

Original diaries, account books, letters, and miscellaneous papers of Volney King have been given to the Utah State Historical Society library by Dwight Black, a grandson of King, one of the original settlers of Kingston, Piute County. A history of Snake Valley in western J u a b and Millard counties is represented in another manuscript acquisition. Copies of " T h e Royal Family of Joseph Smith," restricted to use by bona fide scholars of the subject, have been donated by author T h o m a s M. Tinney. Hill Fielder, 1943 - 53, and the Hill Top Times, 1954 - 72, newspapers published for Hill Air Force Base, are now available on microfilm at the Society. Two important oral history projects have been initiated in recent months at the Society. Librarian Jay M. Haymond and Mrs. Verna K. Richardson, Bountiful, have collected twenty-five hours of oral history from residents of Grouse Creek in eastern Box Elder County. A second project in cooperation with Utah State University will attempt to use oral history to document the quality of rural life in Utah. Charles S. Peterson, project director, and Dr. Haymond, associate director, will conduct workshops in the Uinta Basin to begin the study. Some eleven hours of oral history have been gathered to date from former residents of the Myton and Roosevelt areas. "Agriculture in the Development of the Far West" is the theme of a symposium scheduled for J u n e 1 8 - 2 1 , 1974, at the Davis Campus, University of California. T h e symposium is sponsored by the Agricultural History Society, the U.S. Department of Agriculture, and several other institutions and individuals. With attention directed to the part played by agriculture in the historical growth of the Far West, the symposium will attempt to explain not only the historical development of western American agriculture but the implications of its continuing development as well. T h e p r o g r a m will be scholarly and interdisciplinary and will involve a variety of authorities from both public and private organizations. T h e sessions will be preceeded on J u n e 17 by meetings of the Association for Living Historical Farms and Agricultural Museums. Further information on the p r o g r a m and registration can be gained directly from the Agricultural History Center, University of California, Davis, California 95616. T h e manuscripts librarian of the Marriott Library, University of Utah, has announced the acquisition of the Clifford Evans scrapbook of

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select Salt Lake City architects, the David Eccles Company account books, the records of the Utah State Federation of Business and Professional Women since 1923, and the Charles C. Rich and Edward H u n t e r family papers. Other acquisitions of interest include the correspondence and notes of Dr. Joseph H. Peck, who practiced rural medicine in Utah from 1919 to 1945, and the three-volume journal of Mary J a n e Mount T a n n e r , wife of Myron T a n n e r . T h e ethnic archives have been enriched by the George Zoumadakis family papers, the B'Nai Israel T e m p l e ledger, J o h n Skerl's business records of the Mutual Mercantile Company of Helper, Utah, and the papers of Henry Y. Kasai pertaining to the Japanese American Citizens League and related civic matters. T h e Amon Carter Museum, Fort Worth, Texas, has a n n o u n c e d the acquisition of the Fred Mazzulla Western Photographic Collection, containing over a quarter million pictures of the American West. Within the collection are photographs of Denver dating back to the 1860s, Colorado boom towns and mining camps, Dodge City's early period, the cattle industry, railroad construction, early airplanes, c e r e m o n i e s of the Penitentes, and western views. Also included are over eight h u n d r e d fifty hours of taped interviews which Mazzulla conducted with pioneer residents of Colorado and New Mexico and such well-known personalities as W. H.Jackson and Charles M. Russell. T h e entire collection will be available to researchers after cataloging has been completed. T h e Mormon History Association has announced plans to publish an annual Journal of Mormon History and is presently interested in receiving manuscripts for publication therein. Individuals interested in submitting manuscripts are asked to send them directly to Dr. Richard Sadler, Department of History, Weber State College, Ogden, Utah 84403. T h e National Endowment for the Humanities has awarded a grant of $250,568 to the American Association for State and Local History in support of its projected publication of popular histories of each state and the District of Columbia. Undertaken as a major Bicentennial project, the histories are intended to be interpretive essays which characterize the people of a given state historically and show the relationship of that state's history and values to the nation as a whole. T h e grant follows a smaller award of $50,000 made in July 1973 for planning purposes and is seen as the official launching of this ambitious research and publication venture. Publication of a new monographic series titled Utah, the Mormons, and the West, u n d e r the general editorship of Dr. Everett L. Cooley, was recently begun following the establishment of a publications fund in the Marriott Library by Obert C. T a n n e r . A Mormon Mother by Annie Clark T a n n e r , Letters of Long Ago by Agnes Just Reid, andDear Ellen by S. George Ellsworth have been published to date. A m o n g those scheduled for future publication are Elizabeth Wood Kane's Twelve Mormon Homes Visited and Annie Clark T a n n e r ' s Biography of Ezra Thompson Clark. Selection of manu-

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scripts is based u p o n their intellectual appeal as accurate history and their emotional interest as good literature. T h e board of editors invites the submission of appropriate manuscripts. New7 editions of previously published works now out of print will be given first consideration, but new works based on solid documented sources will also be considered. Soliciting membership from all who share its objectives, the Society for Historical Archaeology announces its aim of promoting research in historic archaeology and applying archaeological methods to the study of history. T h e main focus of the society is the era since the beginning of European exploration; the geographical emphasis is on the New World but also includes the European exploration of Africa, Asia, and Oceania. Memberships in the society are for the calendar year and include three classes: (1) individual, $7.50; (2) joint (a marital unit with two votes and one set of publications), $10.00; and (3) institutional, $15.00. Members receive the annual journal, Historical Archaeology, and the quarterly newsletter. Application for m e m b e r s h i p may be m a d e to Roderick S p r a g u e , secretary-treasurer, Department of Sociology/Anthropology, University of Idaho, Moscow, Idaho 83843.

UTAH STATE HISTORICAL SOCIETY D i v i s i o n of D e p a r t m e n t of D e v e l o p m e n t S e r v i c e s BOARD O F STATE

HISTORY

M I L T O N C. A B R A M S , Smithfield,

1977

President D E L L O G. D A Y T O N , O g d e n , 1975

Vice President M E L V I N T . S M I T H , Salt Lake City Secretary MRS.

J U A N I T A B R O O K S , St. George, 1977

M R S . A. C. J E N S E N , Sandy, 1975 T H E R O N L U K E , Provo, 1975

C L Y D E L. M I L L E R , Secretary of State

Ex officio M R S . H E L E N Z. PAPANIKOLAS, Salt Lake City, 1977 H O W A R D C. P R I C E , Jr., Price, 1975 MRS.

E L I Z A B E T H S K A N C H Y , Midvale, 1977

R I C H A R D O . U L I B A R R I , Roy, 1977

M R S . NAOMI WOOLLEY, Salt Lake City, 1975 ADMINISTRATION MELVIN T. S M I T H ,

Director

STANFORD J. L A Y T O N , Publications Coordinator JAY M . H A Y M O N D , Librarian DAVID B. M A D S E N , Antiquities Director

T h e U t a h State Historical Society was organized in 1897 by public-spirited U t a h n s to collect, preserve, and publish U t a h and related history. Today, under state sponsorship, the Society fulfills its obligations by publishing the Utah Historical Quarterly and other historical materials; locating, documenting, a n d preserving historic a n d prehistoric buildings and sites; and maintaining a specialized research library. Donations and gifts to the Society's programs or its library are encouraged, for only through such means can it live u p to its responsibility of preserving the record of U t a h ' s past. MEMBERSHIP Membership in the U t a h State Historical Society is open to all individuals and institutions interested in U t a h history. Membership applications and change of address notices should be sent to the membership secretary. Annual dues a r e : Institutions, $7.00; individuals, $5.00; students, $3.00. Life memberships, $100.00. Tax-deductible donations for special projects of the Society may be made on the following membership basis: sustaining, $250.00; patron, $500.00; benefactor, $1,000.00. Your interest a n d support are most welcome.

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UTAH HISTORICAL QUARTERLY EDITORIAL

STAFF

MELVIN T. S M I T H , Editor

STANFORD J. LAYTON, Managing MIRIAM B. M U R P H Y , Assistant

Editor Editor

ADVISORY BOARD O F EDITORS T H O M A S G. ALEXANDER, Provo,

1974

M R S . INEZ S. COOPER, Cedar City, 1975 S. GEORGE E L L S W O R T H , Logan, G L E N M. LEONARD, Bountiful,

1975 1976

DAVID E. MILLER, Salt Lake City, 1976 LAMAR PETERSEN, Salt Lake City, 1974 RICHARD W. SADLER, Ogden,

1976

HAROLD SCHINDLER, Salt Lake City, 1975 JEROME STOFFEL, Logan,

1974

Utah Historical Quarterly was established in 1928 to publish articles, documents, and reviews contributing to knowledge of Utah's history. T h e Quarterly is published by the Utah State Historical Society, 603 East South Temple, Salt Lake City, Utah 84102. Phone (801) 328-5755. Members of the Society receive the Quarterly and the bimonthly Newsletter upon payment of the annual dues; for details see inside back cover. Single copies, $2.00. Materials for publication should be submitted in duplicate accompanied by return postage and should be typed double-spaced with footnotes at the end. Additional information on requirements is available from the managing editor. The Society assumes no responsibility for statements of fact or opinion by contributors. The Quarterly is indexed in Book Review Index to Social Science Periodicals and on Biblio Cards. Second class postage is paid at Salt Lake City, Utah. ISSN 0042-143X

HISTORICAL QUARTERLY SPRING 1974/VOLUME 42/NUMBER 2

Contents IN T H I S ISSUE T H E "AMERICANIZATION" OF UTAH'S AGRICULTURE ESTABLISHING AND MAINTAINING LAND OWNERSHIP IN U T A H PRIOR T O 1869

107

CHARLES

PETERSON

108

LINFORD

126

P. T. REILLY

144

LAWRENCE

KANAB UNITED ORDER: T H E PRESIDENT'S NEPHEW AND T H E BISHOP

MEMORIES OF A U I N T A H BASIN FARM

LOREEN

WAHLQUIST

165

T H E EARLY SHEEP INDUSTRY IN SOUTHERN UTAH T H E WATERMASTER'S STICK

PALMER

178

LAVELLJOHNSON

189

WILLIAM

BOOK REVIEWS

197

BOOK NOTICES

208

RECENT ARTICLES

209

HISTORICAL NOTES

212

T H E COVER Wheat harvest in Strawberry Valley. Utah State Historical Society collections. The photograph on page 107 of an irrigated garden in Utah is a gift of the Philadelphia Commercial Museum. Â© Copyright 1974 Utah State Historical Society

E., The Golden Legacy: A Folk History of J. Golden Kimball ..

CHENEY, THOMAS

.PAUL BAILEY

197

TANNER, ANNIE CLARK, A

Mormon Mother: An Autobiography by Annie Clark Tanner

ARLENE H. EAKLE

GARBER, D. W., Jedediah Strong Smith: Fur Trader from Ohio Frontier Tales: Stories of Real People

TODD

199

BERENS

201

LAMBERT

202

BROOKS, JUANITA,

NEAL

Books reviewed WRIGHT, ELIZABETH, Independence in All

Things, Neutrality in Nothing: The Story of a Pioneer Journalist of the American West HAROLD

SCHINDLER

203

MERLE W. WELLS

204

M., Marcus and Narcissa Whitman and the Opening of

DRURY, CLIFFORD

Old Oregon

EDITORS OF AMERICAN WEST, The Great

Northwest: The Story of a Land and Its People

ROBERT P. COLLIER

205

BAKER, T. LINDSAY; RAE, STEVEN R.; MINOR, JOSEPH E.; AND CONNOR, SEYMOUR V.,

Water for the Southwest: Historical Survey and Guide to Historic Sites

A. KENT POWELL

206

In this issue Few aspects of Utah history have been as richly celebrated and loudly acclaimed as that of agriculture. One hears again and again of the famous wager by Jim Bridger that corn could not be raised in the Great Basin, and even the most laconic statement of Utah agricultural tradition is sure to include some version of the seagull and cricket saga. Less spectacular but equally standard fare for our textbook histories is mention that the pioneers of 1847 diverted irrigation water from City Creek within hours of their arrival and that they were able to harvest seed potatoes that fall. Yet t h r o u g h it all the history of Utah agriculture has generally escaped disciplined analysis. T h e result has been great breadth but virtually no depth. Only very recently has this situation begun to show signs of change. In the hope of lending encouragement and impetus to these new directions, this issue of the Utah Historical Quarterly is devoted exclusively to agriculture. In his recent statehood address, a prominent historian cast the study of Utah's agriculture into a conceptual framework which is at once insightful and challenging. Early land disposition and a detailed look at the politics and personalities of the United O r d e r are additional topics for scholarly exploration here. T h e remaining articles are largely given to personal reminiscences. These reflections â&#x20AC;&#x201D; on sheep in southern Utah, on drought and depression in eastern Utah, and on irrigation in western Utah â&#x20AC;&#x201D; should be sufficient to suggest that from Utah's richly varied agricultural spectrum has emerged a distinctive ethos. Born of hope and nurtured by a tenuous optimism, it takes its character primarily from the haunting realization that the line between success and failure has always been exceedingly fine.

The "Americanization" of Utah's Agriculture BY CHARLES S. PETERSON

Iff

Threshing in A. T. Richins s yard at Grouse Creek. Utah State Historical Society collections, gift of Mrs. E. G. Wright.

Utah's Agriculture

109

V>ÂŤLOSE TO THE HEART of Utah is the heritage of its farms and towns and people who have made their homes in them. In no other western state did the process of rural homemaking based on farm economy begin so early nor play a more meaningful role than in the development of our state. Mormon-Gentile relations, mining, transportation, manufacturing, military spending, and urban sprawl have each in its own time placed a stamp upon our past; but cutting across all of these has been a basic dependence upon agriculture and a commitment to rural living. It is, therefore, quite proper that the Utah State Historical Society has chosen farming and rural living as its theme to commemorate Statehood Day 1974 and has placed the ceremonies here in Cache valley where agriculture is strong and the attributes of rural life are evident on every hand. In a prize-winning book of 1971, Gustive O. Larson has written of the "Americanization" of Utah for statehood. Tracing the long political struggle between the Mormon church and the United States government, Larson points out that for statehood to come it was necessary for Utah to make certain concessions as to mixing church and state, and, as the symbol of these concessions, to give up polygamy. This accomplished, Larson takes his reader through the dramatic events of the 1890s, through the emergence of two-party politics, through the trial and victory of a seventh constitutional convention and then seventy-eight years ago today to the cherished goal of statehood. 1 Fulfilling the fondest political dream of the territory, it was a splendid moment. Politically the entire decade was important. It was, perhaps, and I say this with due deference, Governor Rampton, the key decade in the entire history of Utah. The territory had in effect joined the Union. Thereafter the full benefits of home rule and sovereign statehood were in its grasp. The release from controversy and the drama of political events have blinded us to the fact that Utah was Americanized in other respects as well during the 1890s. The decade was equally significant for changes in Utah's agriculture. A shift from self-sufficient and subsistence farming to commercial agriculture characterized the decade. That shift was quite as much a process of Americanization as were the political changes, and in its implications for the rural Dr. Peterson is director of Man and His Bread Museum at Utah State University. This article was originally prepared as the Statehood Day address which was delivered in Logan, January 4, 1974. 'Gustive O. Larson, The "Americanization" of Utah for Statehood (San Marino, Calif., 1971).

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patterns that had dominated life in the territory, its portent was quite as significant. Since we are concerned this evening with the impact of agriculture and rural life upon statehood, it is appropriate that we examine the heady and shifting days of farming in the 1890s. It is the more appropriate because Cache County led out in the process of change, playing a key role in the initial experiments with commercial farming and more lately through the continuing influence of the Agricultural College and University. However, it is more than appropriate that we look at the changes in farming life in the years around statehood. It is important. T h e nationalizing of Utah's agriculture in those years led straight to today. T h e focus of Statehood Day 1974 upon these changes points with force to the need for a much broader historical analysis of this important aspect of our heritage. 2 2 Little has been written on the history of agriculture in Utah. The nearest thing to a general treatment is William Peterson, "History of Agriculture in Utah,"in Wain Sutton, ed., Utah: A Centennial History, 3 vols. (New York, 1949). Running to 230 pages this section of the Centennial History brings agriculture to 1947 and attempts a general coverage. Unfortunately, it was prepared in haste by several authors and is not well integrated and is of varying quality. Fortunately, the settlement process, which relates closely to agriculture, has been thoroughly studied in its Mormon context, and much work has been done dealing with the small farmer and pioneer villages in which he settled. Among the best of these are: Leonard J. Arrington, Great Basin Kingdom, An Economic History of the Latter-day Saints, 1830 - 1900 (Cambridge, Mass., 1958); Nels Anderson, Desert Saints, The Mormon Frontier in Utah (Chicago, 1942); Andrew Love Neff, History of Utah 1847 to 1869, Leland Hargrave Creer, ed., (Salt Lake City, 1940); and H. H. Bancroft, History of Utah (San Francisco, 1890). Local histories that treat the village-farm and other aspects of agriculture and rural living include the Daughters of the Utah Pioneers centennial histories for the various counties and A. K. Larson, "1 Was Called to Dixie"; The Virgin River Basin: Unique Experiences in Mormon Pioneering (Salt Lake City, 1961); Charles S. Peterson, Take Up Your Mission: Mormon Colonizing Along the Little Colorado River, 1870 - 1900 (Tucson, 1973); and Joel E. Ricks and Everett L. Cooley, eds., The History of a Valley -Cache Valley, Utah-Idaho (Logan, Utah, 1956). Treating farm villages in the twentieth century are: G. Lowry Nelson, The Mormon Village: A Pattern and Technique of Land Settlement (Salt Lake City, 1952), and Joseph A. Geddes, "Farm Versus Village Living in Utah," Utah State Experiment Station Bulletin 246 (1934), "Farm Versus Village Living in Utah" Utah State Experiment Station Bulletin 269 (1936), and "Modification of the Early Utah Farm Village," Yearbook of the Association of Pacific Coast Geographers, 8 (1942). Pioneer diaries are also useful for understanding Utah's agriculture. Two of special use in reflecting the Mormon village-small land holding pattern as well as the character of the early livestock industry are Robert Glass Cleland and Juanita Brooks, A Mormon Chronicle: The Diaries of John D. Lee, 1848 - 1876, 2 vols. (San Marino, Calif., 1955); and John H. Krenkel, Life and Times of Joseph Fish, Mormon Pioneer (Danville, 111., 1970). Works dealing witn irrigated agriculture include: Charles Hillman Brough, Irrigation in Utah (Baltimore, 1898); George Thomas, The Development of Institutions Under Irrigation (New York, 1902). Farm villages and irrigation are glowingly dealt with in two chapters of William E. Smythe, The Conquest of Arid America, originally published in 1899 (Seattle, 1969). Conservation has been widely treated in numerous technical publications. Useful historical treatises include, Utah Historical Quarterly, 39 (Summer 1971) which features seven articles dealing with facets of conservation and reclamation, most of which reflect directly on agriculture. Less directly oriented to agriculture is Walter P. Cottom, Our Renewable Wild Lands -A Challenge (Salt Lake City, 1961) which collects six bulletins and position papers. The livestock industry has likewise received little historical attention. T h e Utah Historical Quarterly, 32 (Summer 1964), features nine articles dealing with cattlemen and the cattle industry. Generally useful in understanding the history of livestock are two agricultural bulletins, William Peterson, et al., "Cattle Ranching in Utah . . . 1925, Utah Agricultural Experiment Station Bulletin 203 (1937); and A. C. Esplinet al., "Sheep ranching in Utah . . . 1925," Utah Agriculture Experiment Station Bulletin 204 (1928). Articles on the sheep and wool industry appear incidently in widely scattered works. More specific is Charles S. Peterson, "Small Holding Land Patterns in Utah and the Problem of Forest Water-shed Management," Forest History, 17 (1973). Useful for the history of dry farming are John A. Widtsoe, Dry-Farming: A System of Agriculture for Countries under a Low Rainfall (New York, 1911); and Grant Cannon, "Dry Farming: Moisture is Saved Two Years for One Crop," The Farm Quarterly, (1954). In addition to the published items appearing above the following unpublished works deal ef-

Utah's Agriculture

One can scarcely overstate the extent of agricultural change that took place in the 1890s and the first years of the new century. 3 When 1890 dawned, the territory was very much an outpost of self-sufficient farming. When the decade ended, evidence was everywhere at hand that self-sufficiency had been abandoned and that farmers were seeking the good life in commercial enterprise. Change was as apparent in the products that were raised as it was in the method and purpose of raising them. Change was apparent, too, in the involvement of Utahns in the great agricultural movements of the era. We may thus say that while the process neither began nor ended with the decade, the effective Americanization of Utah agriculture was achieved during the years immediately before and after statehood. Self-sufficiency as a territorial policy had still been strong in the 1880s. This was apparent in many ways but as good a way as any to call attention is to examine the Utah Industrialist, a monthly magazine established in 1881, published at Provo, and, as its masthead stated, "devoted to the development of Utah's resources." From first to last the Industrialist leaves no doubt that farming was Utah's first industry. Page after page runs to articles on "Fruit Trees," "Strawberry Culture," "Does Farming Pay?" and "Cure for a Kicking Horse." An amazing diversity of small home industries were reported, most of them depending upon local production of wheat, wool, fruit, leather, or other agricultural products. Debt and use of credit were decried, and home industry was extolled and commercial sale of agricultural products out of the state denounced in tones that might have warmed Brigham Young's heart. 4 But the primacy of agriculture as reflected in the Industrialist is not only economic; it is philosophical as well â&#x20AC;&#x201D; nowhere better evidenced than in an

fectively with varying aspects of agriculture and rural life in Utah: Clair Anderson, ed., "History of Grazing," a WPA Writer s Project study of grazing in Utah; this work exists in manuscript form at the Utah State University Library and the Utah State Historical Society. Feramorz Young Fox, "The Mormon Land System: A Study of the Settlement and Utilization of Land under the Direction of the Mormon Church" (Ph.d. diss., Northwestern University, 1932), is useful but is limited by its heavy dependence upon the pattern of Mormon colonization which is used as chronological backdrop. Also making valid contributions are George L. Strebel, "Irrigation as a Factor in Western History, 1847- 1890" (Ph.d. diss., University of California, 1966), most of which deals with Utah; R. V. Francaviglia, "The Mormon Landscape: Existence, Creation and Perception . . ." (Ph.d. diss., University of Oregon, 1970); and Norah E. Zink, "Dry Farming Adjustments in Utah" (Ph.d. diss., University of Chicago, 1937). 3 Leonard J. Arrington recognizes the important changes in Utah's agriculture during this period. See Great Basin Kingdom, 3 9 0 - 9 2 ; Beet Sugar in the West (Seattle, 1966), 1 8 - 7 6 ; and Arrington's chapter on the "transitional" period in Cache valley, in Ricks and Cooley, eds., History of a Valley, 205 - 39. 4 Utah Industrialist, 1 (1888), coversheet, 1 9 - 2 0 , 102.

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anonymous poem entitled "The Farmer Feedeth All" extracted from the October 1887 issue: My lord rides through the palace gate My lady sweeps along in state, The sage thinks long on many a thing And the maiden muses on marrying; The sailor plows the foaming sea, The huntsman kills the good red deer, And the soldier wars without a fear; But fall to each whate'er befall The farmer he must feed them all. Man builds his castles fair and high, Wherever river runneth by: Great cities rise in every land, Great churches show the builder's hand, Great arches, monuments and tower, Fair palaces and pleasing bowers: Great work is done, be it here or there, And well man worketh everywhere, But work or rest, whate'er befall The farmer he must feed them all.5

Although a significant amount of Utah wheat was exported during the 1880s and livestock became an increasingly commercial enterprise, it is clear that for the contributors ofthe Industrialist and probably for most of its readers agriculture was the queen of a system that was still tied to the self-sufficient farm village and contained largely within the territory. What happened to agriculture during the 1890s is vividly seen in the changes that took place in land. In the first place, it was the decade of greatest increase in farm acreages ever experienced by Utah. This can be illustrated in several ways. The total land in farms increased almost fourfold, from 1.3 million acres in 1890 to 4.1 million acres at the century's turn. Improved farmlands nearly doubled, and irrigated acreages increased by 348,000 acres or 132 percent. The upward thrust in total land held in farms spent itself during the 1890s, but the advance in improved and irrigated acreage continued, showing respective increases of 79 percent in the census of 1910.6 5

P. 121. See U.S., Department of Interior, Census Office, Eleventh Census, 1890: Report on the Statistics of Agriculture in the United States, 218 - 221; Twelfth Census of the United States, 1900, Agriculture, 692- and U.S., Department of Commerce, Bureau of the Census, Thirteenth Census of the United States, 1910 Agriculture, 7 1 5 - 16. 6

Utah's Agriculture

113

Back of this remarkable expansion in farm acreage were two land developments that were altering the physical as well as the social and economic forms of Utah agriculture. The one, land entry under federal provisions for 160 or more acres, had been a factor of increasing importance since 1869 when federal lands (all of Utah Potatoes are harvested by horse-drawn Photograph by U. S. Bureau until that time) were opened for machine. of Reclamation, courtesy of the Salt legal entry. The effect was two- Lake Tribune. fold. Holders of small village farms, who had worked their land since pioneer times but had never owned it, had been able to get legal titles. In the second place, the physical form of Utah's land pattern had undergone a marked change. The new homestead farms were larger. They were also located on highline canals and along roads at a distance from the farm villages, reducing the near monopoly the older pattern had once held on the landscape. During the 1890s land entry under homestead and other federal provisions came to a new high as did sale of farms of substantial size from state lands, railroad grants, and other private holdings. The important point in our context is that a typically American system of land distribution based on federal land provisions, grant lands, and speculation had been superimposed upon the pioneer pattern. 7 It is significant that during the 1890s this system played a key role in conveying more farmland into private ownership than had been passed into private hands in all previous decades. The second great development in evolving land patterns was dry farming which came into its own in the decade following statehood. In some degree dry farming was blundered into through accidents of farming during the previous decades, but it was also the product of the more expansive spirit of the 1890s. Folklore in various localities, including Cache valley's Clarkston, suggests that Brigham Young predicted the benches of the territory would one 7 For the impact of federal land laws see Gustive O. Larson, "Land Contest in Early Utah," Utah Historical Quarterly, 29 (October 1961), 3 0 8 - 25; Lawrence B. Lee, "Homesteading in Zion," Utah Historical Quarterly, 28 (January 1960), 28 - 38, and "The Homestead Act: Vision and Reality," Utah Historical Quarterly, 30 (Summer 1962), 214 - 34; and George W. Rollins, "Land Policies of the United States as Applied to Utah to 1910," Utah Historical Quarterly, 20 (July 1952), 239 - 51.

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day be covered with wheat fields.8 Whether his prediction rested on the Mormon assumption that the elements would be transformed by divine interposition for the sake of the righteous or whether he anticipated that methods then known could be refined to permit successful dry farming is not known. 9 But it is clear that for several decades most Utahns were convinced irrigation was an absolute necessity. Indeed, the first successful dry farming experiences were sometimes met with disbelief. T h e story is told of David Broadhead, a Juab County farmer, who was jailed for perjury when in the process of filing on a homestead on unwatered Levan ridge he filled out an affidavit swearing he had raised wheat without irrigation. He 8 Lars Fredrickson,//istory of Weston, Idaho, ed. A.J. Simmonds (Logan, Utah, 1972), 32; James A. Leishman, "Dry Land Farming and Farmers," Deseret Farmer (December 8, 1904), 1; and Zink, "Dry-Farming Adjustments in Utah," 9. indicative of Mormon thinking that attributed the fact that dry farming proved possible to divine influence upon the climate is the following from the Millennial Star, the Church's organ in England: "The blessings of God have rested upon the efforts of the pioneers in reclaiming the desert. Many streams have Deen greatly increased in volume, and in some places new springs have burst forth in the desert. In some places where, twenty years ago, there was scarcely water sufficient for the needs of a few families now there are large streams capable of irrigating thousands of acres. The rainfall has greatly increased in some localities. A few years ago it was considered impossible to raise crops without irrigation; now quite a proportion of the land under cultivation is tilled without artificial irrigation. (Italics mine.) J.H. Ward, "Past and Present," Millennial Star, 46 (1884), 520 - 22.

The entire family gathered to pose beside the huge, steam tractor which powers the thresher. Utah State Historical Society collections, gift of the Salt Lake Tribune.

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apparently regained his freedom, as he later proved up on the place and fittingly named it Perjury Farm. 10 Investigations at Utah's Agricultural College in the late 1890s led to the establishment of the science of arid farming there and to the creation of six experimental farms spanning the length and breadth of the state by 1905. Under the leadership of John A. Widtsoe, the movement worked out the techniques of dry farming, applied capital and technology, and attracted thousands of hopeful young people to its banner. 1 1 One such was Will Brooks. Educated at the Agriculture College in the days of Widtsoe's greatest enthusiasm, Brooks ramrodded a crew for the Utah Arid Farm Company, a commercial enterprise which took up 8,000 acres in Juab County. The following year Brooks moved to San Juan County, momentarily an El Dorado of the new life, where he homesteaded and took desert entry on several hundred acres, managed the experimental farm there, got in the livestock business, opened a store, and taught school, all within a year or so of his arrival. 12 Times had changed, indeed, since the Hole-in-the-Rock pioneers had pinned their hopes on the farms of a tiny and flooding beach at Bluff on the San Juan River in 1880. 13 But for many, dry farm homesteading was almost as surely a subsistence business as Bluff had been. It was not, however, part of the old order of self-sufficiency, for its goals pointed beyond the subsistence period to the good times of cash sales and land speculation. 14 More clearly in the focus of the new commercialism were the great land and water development projects. Beginning in the late 1880s many of these came full cycle in the nineties, adding a patently speculative element to the great land boom of the decade. Scattered throughout the state, none of these enterprises gave brighter prospects than did the Bear River Canal project. 15 Hinging their hopes on eastern capital, modern technology, diversion of the Bear River, and upon the railroad grant lands of northern Utah, its promoters put together a complex scheme of development. To be included 10

Grant Cannon, "Dry Farming . . .," The Farm Quarterly (Winter 1954) 43. S e e John A. Widtsoe, Dry Farming. The entire book deals with the developing science and chapters 12 and 13 with the movement's history. 12 Juanita Brooks, Uncle Will Tells His Story (Salt Lake City, 1970), 95 - 145. 13 See David E. Miller, Hole-in-the-Rock: An Epic in the Colonization of the Great American West (Salt Lake City, 1959), and Cornelia Adams Perkins, Marian Gardner Nielson and Lenora Butt Jones, Saga of San Juan, 2d ed. (n p., 1968), 6 0 - 6 1 . 14 Zink, "Dry-Farming . . .," 35 - 48. 15 Brough, Irrigation in Utah, 8 5 - 9 5 . n

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were two great canal systems, land promotion campaigns in Utah [nve& Dimes and Reap Dollars and the Midwest, proposals for a in Park Valley, Utah vast orchard region, and municipal and irrigation waters as well as electricity for communities as far south as Ogden. 1 6 Never completely successful, the bonanza land and irrigation companies were in full keeping PACIFIC LAND & WATER CO. with the commercialism of the Sail i akeC.lv. Cull SwUr BS6 Newh. u time and persisted well into the twentieth century. Jessie Knight, for example, undertook a project on the Blue Bench of Duchesne Promotional leaflet ca. 1911 touted County in the years a r o u n d area of northwestern Box Elder County World War I. 17 T h e big range on as orchard country. Utah State Historical Society collections. Cache valley's west side also went t h r o u g h a series of " b o o m or bust" promotions in the first decades of the century. Involving Heber J. Grant, soon to be Mormon president, the promoters divided and subdivided planted orchards and sold to people as far away as Florida in their attempt to keep the development moving. 18 Farther south, near Moab, the Valley City Company, consisting primarily of Indianapolis bankers, made grand (but as it ultimately proved, abortive) plans to impound flood waters in the washes between Green River and Moab. It was hoped that thousands of acres could be irrigated â&#x20AC;&#x201D; some said as high as 250,000 acres. 19 In the years after the century's turn an earthen dam was built and a vigorous promotion mounted in Indianapolis and elsewhere. In 1908, the dam gave way and the hope of Valley City's future with it, but still to be found in the Moab area are a few of the settlers who succumbed to the Valley City dream. Ironically, indebtedness is another index to the changing times of the 1890s and the decades that followed. Under the old order, 16 See Ibid.; Thomas, The Development of Institutions Under Irrigation, 203 - 19; and The Standard of Ogden, Utah, for April, May and J u n e of 1889 for information on the Bear River Canal Company. 17 Mildred M. Dillman, Early History of Duschene County (Springville, Utah, 1948), 231; and Lynn Poulsen, "The Knight's Ranch, Utah State University History Department files. 18 A. J. Simmonds, On theBigRange: A Centennial History of Cornish and Trenton, Cache County, Utah, 1870 -1970" (Logan, 1970), 65 - 75. 19 Grand Valley Times, Moab, Utah, April 7, 1897, and interview with Howard W. Balsley, Moab, August 23, 1968.

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most farmers had worked their small farms without benefit of a commercial economy and had little to do with money. For many life went on reasonably well without it. Reporting on local conditions, one Mormon farmer expressed the situation well when he recorded in his diary, "in these parts good health and . . . prosperity prevail â&#x20AC;&#x201D; except in money matters." 20 Exhibits helped to promote Utah T h e basic accuracy of this produce. Sign notes part of display as "Dry Land Peaches. ' Utah State appraisal was apparent in the exHistorical Society collections, gift of the tremely low level of mortgaged Philadelphia Commercial Museum. farms throughout the entire territorial period. Both church president Wilford Woodruff and Utah's first state governor, Heber M. Wells, cited this enviable record to separate irrigation congresses during the 1890s as evidence that small, irrigated farms were most profitable. 21 But the very forces of commercialism they were sponsoring at the irrigation congresses had begun to alter the mortgage pattern even as they spoke. In 1890 only 597 or five percent of Utah farms were encumbered. By 1896 when Heber M. Wells made his proud report, the number had doubled, and by 1900 it had increased again to nearly two thousand, making nearly a fourfold increase of mortgages in ten years. Looked at in light of the upward surge in total farm acres, this may not have been out of line, but once started the trend continued. In 1910, 4,500 or twenty-five percent of all farms were mortgaged and by 1920 the figure had risen to forty-eight percent, or to nearly 10,000 units. 22 Elsewhere in frontier America, farm mortgage had long been an acute problem, one of the many giving rise to the Populist protest in the late 1880s and early 1890s. Thus the rush to take on the characteristics of the national farm economy brought with it the burdens of farm mortgage for many Utahns. 20 "Journal of Levi Mathers Savage," original and typescript, Archives Division, Historical Department, Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints; typescript edited by Ruth S. Hilton, p. 46. 21 Deseret News, September 17, 1891; and Smythe, Conquest of Arid America, 71. 22 U.S. Department of Commerce, Bureau of the Census, Fourteenth Census of the United States, 1920, Agriculture, 245.

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Sugar beets were siloed above groundfor the winter in Saratoga, Utah, ca. 1905. Utah State Historical Society collections, gift of the Philadelphia Commercial Museum.

The shift to commercial agriculture also showed itself sharply in the cropping patterns of the state. Sugar beets, dairying, livestock, wheat, truck crops, and orchards were all seen in terms of markets that reached more and more beyond the state boundaries. 23 Since time prohibits an examination of developments in each of these crops, we shall look briefly at fruit farming. The 1890s and the first decade of this century were a boom time for the orchard business. But interest in horticulture was not new to Utah. Early colonists had planted orchards and berries almost immediately on arrival. 24 Thousands of family orchards soon graced the territory, and fruit was entered into the local barter and peddled at army installations, mining towns, and to immigrants. Nurseries flourished, and through trial and error, areas suited by climate and soil to fruit production were recognized. "Information on developments in cropping patterns generally may be found in William Peter.._, "History of Agriculture in Utah" in Wain Sutton, Utah: A Centennial History; LeonardJ. Arrington son in Great Basin Kingdom, 387 - 91, and in Beet Sugar inthe West; and Fred G. Taylor,/! Saga of.S ugar,Being a Story of the Romance and Development of Beet Sugar in the Rocky Mountain West (Salt Lake City, 1944). For livestock see references in footnote 2 above. Other relevant material is scattered. 24 See Richard F. Burton, The City of the Saints, and Across the Rocky Mountains to California (New York, 1862), 269 - 70; and theFarmer's Oracle, May 22, 1863, and August 11, 1863. Published at Spring Lake Villa, Utah County, the Oracle carried many articles and advertisements dealing with horticulture.

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But pioneer orchards were not kept up. T h e early assumption that fruit could be raised any place in the territory proved unsound. Blight and pests hit the territory. By 1890 few boasted about Utah fruit. Then with the awakening of the 1890s, fruit was hailed as one of the bonanza crops. Great irrigation projects were built on its prospects. 25 Small farmers through the length of the state became aware of it. Orchard associations were ogranized, delegations sent to fruit-bearing regions, and orchards planted. 26 Cache valley, where the value of orchard products had been $3,204 in 1890, marketed fruit amounting to $65,432 in 1910, and reached a peak of nearly $200,000 by 1920. 27 Encouraged by promotion of the land companies, good markets, and by favorable shipping rates and facilities, what one writer has called the speculative planting went on until 1912 when over 43,000 acres were in orchards. 28 Then as trees came into production, the bottom fell out of the market. Burton T. Tew's account indicates the problem: The fruit really did well. We had wonderful crops of beautiful peaches, but we were about ten days later than the Grand Junction area. We sent them by consignment to St. Louis and other mid western cities. The market was glutted. No demand anywhere, so the peaches were dumped into the river and we were billed for the cost of the dumping besides the cost of the freight plus the cost of baskets and packing and picking and growing and taxes on the land. 29

Then as now frost often frustrated the best hopes. Tew's rather dramatic account of a battle with the weather on Mapleton bench is worth recounting here: We bought hundreds of smudge pots filled them with about a bushel of coal apiece, put some waste cloth at the bottom which had been soaked in kerosene. That spring was plenty cold so we were ready when the peaches were in bloom. I remember how we . . . sat or laid around the stove and every few minutes one of the boys checked the thermometer. The temperature kept getting lower until one o'clock when it got down to 32 degrees. We each lit up a torch and started running through the orchard lighting the smudge pots as we went. We covered twenty acres in a short time. It was a beautiful sight and as we looked across town we could see Joseph Malmstrom making new fires through his orchard. We could tell where he was as the new flames leaped up in the 25

Brough, Irrigation in Utah, 85 - 95. See Journal of William T. Tew, entries for September 7, 1906, July 13, 1907, and April 9, 1909, photocopy of holograph, Utah State Historical Society Library. 27 Ricks and Cooley, eds., History of a Valley, 211. 28 ArvilL. Stark, "History of Growing Fruit in Utah," inSutton, Utah: A Centennial History, 108 - 14. 29 Burton T. Tew, "Life Story." A copy is in the writer's possession. 26

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darkness . . . the fires started going down by three or four and the cold kept coming down on us. So we hooked up the team and raced to Uncle Charles Bird's coal pile, loaded up, got him out of bed to weigh us and hurried home. We used up all the coal Uncle Charles had. That is, the fruit growers did, for there were other people as frantic as we. Then we decided to try and save five acres of the best fruit by the house. We would load 20 or 30 pots in the wagon from the outer area and bring them in on the wagon bed still burning, d u m p them out and go for more, but the wagon got so hot on one of the trips that it burst into flames. It scared the horses and we finally stopped the team and all got hold of the wagon bed and rolled the bed with the fire flaming away right off the running gears. That ended our effort for the night. No coal, no wagon to fight with . . . so we lay down to sleep just as it got daylight. We didn't have enough peaches to fill our own bottles that fall.30

Sobered by this kind of experience, hundreds of orchard men turned their attention elsewhere. Pulling out as many as 140,000 trees per year, they reduced 43,000 acres of orchard in 1912 to 29,000 in 1916. 31 But the quest for profit went on. The fact that it was not met with great success in any single product kept Utah's farming diversified. It also slowed the rate of movement away from farming as a way of life.32 The outward thrust of Utah's agriculture during these years was apparent in other ways as well. Utahns were very active in a number of great national movements of the time. This was particularly true of the irrigation congresses. Several of the congresses met in Utah, including the first one in 1891. The movement's chief organ, Irrigation Age, was published in the state for several years, and the story of the development of Utah irrigation played yeoman service in popularizing irrigation throughout America. The outward reach of Utah's agriculture was also apparent at the great Chicago exposition of 1893 at which a costly pavilion was erected featuring the territory's agriculture. In creating the agriculture exhibits, Professor J. W. Sanborn of the Agricultural College had canvassed the entire farming community to be sure full representation was given. Among other things, he sought to portray pioneer farming through the display of homemade farm equipment 30

Ibid.

Stark, "History of Growing Fruit in Utah," 113. See John Sword Hunter Smith, "Localized Aspects of the Urban-Rural Conflict in the United States: Sanpete County, Utah, 1919- 1929" (M.A. thesis, University of Utah, 1972), 2 6 - 3 5 and 48-52. 32

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The Logan Northern Canal was one of the earliest irrigation works to divert water from the Logan River. When this photo was taken in 1947 by CarrollF. Wilcomb, the canal had been in use nearly ninety years. Utah State Historical Society collections.

and anticipated the development of a permanent farming museum at the college as one of the spin-off advantages of the Chicago display. 33 The early conservation movement, too, had its full complement of Utahns. Frank Cannon, senator for a short time immediately after statehood, supported President Grover Cleveland's withdrawal of the Uintah Forest in 1897 rather than joining his colleagues from other western states in opposition. Reed Smoot, though always oriented to business, became a powerful figure in conservation during the years after 1900, as did the state's first three governors. 34 As final evidence may be cited the role of John A. Widtsoe in dry farming. One of the movement's great scientists, he was also numbered among its greatest promoters on the national and international scene. 35 33 E. A. McCaniel, Utah at the Worlds Columbian Exposition (Salt Lake City,1894); and Jeremiah Wilson and J. W. Sanborn, Letterpress Book, Merrill Library, Utah State University, Logan. 34 Thomas G. Alexander, "Senator Reed Smoot and Western Land Policy, 1905 - 1920," Arizona and the West (1971), 245 - 64; and Charles S. Peterson, "History of the La Sal National Forest," prepared for the Manti-La Sal National Forest; see chapter on "Conservation in Utah at the T u r n of the Century." 35 Widtsoe, Dry Farming.

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As I have made this examination a few impressions have grown. While they are little more than impressions, some of them merit brief mention. Most Utahns, particularly its Mormon society, wanted statehood and the symbol of belonging to the larger society of America that it implied, with a fervor that is difficult for us to grasp after seventy-eight years. Once they had achieved this membership, they went about the business of proving that they merited it with enthusiastic and sometimes uncritical energy. This seems evident in the drive to statehood itself â&#x20AC;&#x201D; it also is obvious in the changes in agriculture. There can be no doubt that agriculture's transformation was economically motivated, but the very importance given economic considerations was itself a move to conformity and part of the quest for acceptance. A second impression is that a number of forces making for change in Utah's farm scene reached a peak in their capacity to modify agriculture during the 1890s. As a result, much was changed. Farming became a business rather than a way of building the Kingdom. Technology became increasingly important and manpower less so. Patterns on the land were permanently modified. A land rush that quadrupled acreage in farms had its impact. The four-square village with its small farms lying adjacent still comprised a dominant pattern; but line villages, growing cities, and dispersed homesteads and dry farms now became the setting in which a growing proportion of our population existed. In the sense that these emerging forms reflected national patterns, the need to conform noted above was gratified and helps explain the haste with which the new was superimposed upon the old. One gains the clear feeling that the economic prospect of the moment was paramount. Little long-range planning appears to have been done. This was true at every level, including the man in the field, the speculative land company, and government. While the efforts of John A. Widtsoe and others at the Agricultural College and in the extension movement represented planning of a sort, they unfortunately did little to anticipate, plan, and direct the sweeping social changes implicit in the scientific and commercial agriculture they were working to promote. Likewise, there is little evidence that discipline in utilization of natural resources featured in the scheme of things. Such planning as there was generally related to economic goals.

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Farmers themselves were often uneasy during the new period and res p o n d e d quickly â&#x20AC;&#x201D; p e r h a p s over quickly â&#x20AC;&#x201D; to any prospect of profit in their enterprise. A few farm diaries exist for the decades after statehood. Providing a compressed view of time these give the impression of an almost frantic quest for profits as farmers changed from hay, to berries, to apples, and then to peaches, and from wheat, to beets, to carrots, or peas, to dairy cows and to poultry, and sometimes repeated the process in whole or John A Widtsoe, 1906. Utah State Historical Society in part. As the search for elusive marphotograph, Widtsoe Collection. kets went on, change came near being the common denominator. Evidence that farming was still a rural, slow-paced way of life characterized by thrift, home gardening, a cow, and a few chickens is to be found in plenty. But such evidence is countered by increasing indications that an almost desperate quest for commercial success characterized the lives of progressive farmers. T h e r e is some suggestion that the decade after 1900 was characterized by a retraction from commercialism in some phases of agriculture. Reaction to overextension is particularly apparent in the case of land. T h e 4.1 million acres listed in total f a r m l a n d s in 1900 had d r o p p e d by nearly a million acres in 1910, i n d i c a t i n g that in spite of opening the Uintah Indian Reservation lands to homesteading and of such developments as the Valley City project the land boom was not Scientific farming was studied at the able to maintain itself. Agricultural College in Logan. Utah State Closer e x a m i n a t i o n Historical Society photograph, Widtsoe may well prove that reCollection.

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traction and consolidation touched other aspects of farming as well. However, if evidence does indeed point to a retraction it was not a withdrawal to the self-sufficiency of the insular Utah of the decades prior to 1890. It was rather a withdrawal to something more in keeping with the general American feeling that farming ought to be a way of life rather than a business. The question remains. Does the agricultural experience of the 1890s have a meaning for today? We have enjoyed — or undergone — the greatest material boom in the history of mankind since World War II. An energy crisis is now upon us. A land crisis with the accompanying problems of food shortages, space utilization, and water development may not be far behind. Nationally, highways blanket land equivalent to the area embraced by the state of Indiana. 36 In terms of arable lands, the cost of transportation is doubtlessly as high for Utah. Subdivisions move relentlessly into "Adapted by Dale Carpenter, department planner for the Utah State Department of Natural Resources, from statistics given by Norman Wengert, Robert C. Otte, and Floyd Thiel in National Land Use Policy, Objectives, Components, Implementation, Proceedings of a Special Conference Sponsored by the Soil Conservation Society of America, 1972 (Ankeny, la., 1973). The area covered by highways is in excess of twenty-two million acres.

Reaping dry-farm grain ca. 1900 near Nephi. Utah State Historical Society collections, gift of the Philadelphia Museum.

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prime farm ground, limiting both the variety and total amount of products raised locally. Fewer people than ever before live on and work our farms. Canneries and sugar factories which a few decades ago worked throughout the state now stand closed, with the exception of sole survivors at Smithfield and at Garland. Do we know what it means for Utah? The boom of recent decades may well suggest a time of consolidation. Certainly it demands a more considered utilization of farmlands adjacent to our population centers. It may also require a reexamination of farming methods including the commercialism and speculation upon which farming now rests. The forward thrust of agricultural sciences which in the past has rejected what it has defined as outmoded with an almost ruthless self-assurance may find it necessary to temper its march into the future with an occasional glance rearwards. A full understanding of the forces that have impelled the development of Utah's food production and the relation of the state's society to it will be necessary to sort out the meaning and priorities of local, regional, and national markets and distribution systems. Possibly of even greater import is the need to understand the instincts and human needs served by the rural life we have progressively given over since 1896. A statehood commemoration focusing on rural life and agriculture represents a good beginning, for much of Utah's vitality lies in its farm heritage.

CORN HUSKING

One of the many happy times of early days was the corn husking bees. It was most generally at night. We would have six or eight lanterns these were hung around the large pile of corn. Then the crowd would gather and begin the work or fun for it was fun. Every girl was eager to find a red ear of corn. It meant she would [be] the lucky one of the evening. She would be the first to be married. But the boys all shuned the red ear for it meant he would lose the girl he went with. After the corn was husked there was always a good supper waiting in the house and after this came the dance which was the main feature of the evening. (Interview with Annie Peterson Jensen, Manti, conducted by Sterling Haws for the Federal Writers' Project, 1938, typescript, Utah State Historical Society manuscript file A1188.)

North 5?

Salt Lake City Plat was compiled by Thomas Bullock for Richard F. Burton in 1860. Utah State Historical Society collections.

Establishing and Maintaining Land Ownership in Utah Prior to 1869 BY LAWRENCE L. LINFORD

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W HEN THE FIRST COMPANY of Mormon pioneers entered Salt Lake Valley in July 1847, federal legislation extending the national land system to the Mountain West had not yet been enacted. In fact, not until 1869 would they and the thousands who followed them be able to obtain legal title to their land. During this interim period of more than two decades, the Mormons formulated under authority of the church a system of land description that was an adaptation of the rectangular survey they had known in Ohio, Missouri, and Illinois. They also borrowed something from both the New England town and the Midwest claim association. This system controlled surveying, recording, and conveyance of the urban and rural lands which supported a population of approximately one hundred thousand persons, their residences, businesses, and farms. It was a system unique in the history of American land settlement, and this paper seeks to detail a portion of the story. CHURCH AND TERRITORIAL GOVERNANCE

In order that the land might be properly surveyed and organized and in fairness to the numerous pioneers who were expected in Salt Lake Valley by the autumn of 1848, Brigham Young declared on July 25,1847, that "no man should buy any land . . . but every man should [have] his land measured off to him for city and farming purposes, what he could till. He might till it as he pleased, but he should be industrious and take care of it." 1 It was subsequently announced that wood, timber, and water would be regarded as community property, disallowing any private ownership of these necessary resources. Since there appeared to be a scarcity of timber, only dead wood was to be used as fuel. Brigham Young's purpose was quite clear. If this colonization attempt in the arid West was to be successful, the settlers necessarily needed an opportunity to acquire suitable acreage for their sustenance. To have allowed land speculation on the part of a few would almost certainly have meant the creation of unnecessary antagonism and possibly even the failure of this society. Moreover, by this date the actual amount of water available for irrigation and other uses Mr. Linford is associate professor of history and chairman of the Social Sciences Division at Shoreline Community College, Seattle, Washington. 'Wilford Woodruff Journal, July 25, 1847, Archives Division, Historical Department, Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, Salt Lake City.

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had not been ascertained, but it was apparent the number of acres that could be placed under cultivation in the foreseeable future would be restricted. Until such time as they would receive their land allotments, the pioneers settled themselves in temporary dwellings and farmed in communal fields. Grain and vegetables were planted within days of their arrival in the valley. For shelter and for protection from the Indians, they constructed a fort on a portion of what is known today in Salt Lake City as Pioneer Park. Here they lived until at least the autumn of 1848 â&#x20AC;&#x201D; many remained even longer in order to complete the construction of their permanent residences before leaving the fort â&#x20AC;&#x201D; preparing for the orderly settlement of the valley. On August 2, 1847, Orson Pratt and Henry G. Sherwood began the survey of Great Salt Lake City. By August 20 the survey of Plat A was completed. It included 114 blocks. The land selected for urban purposes was divided into ten-acre blocks, each containing eight lots of one and one-quarter acres measuring ten by twenty rods. The streets were eight rods wide. Only one house could be constructed on each lot, and this had to be set back twenty feet from the front of the property. 2 The apostles selected a number of these lots for their personal use during August 1847, but general distribution of the land was not made until the autumn of 1848, after Brigham Young had returned from Winter Quarters, Nebraska. On September 24 President Young and Heber C. Kimball were chosen to distribute the town lots. 3 Each applicant received his plot by lottery so no one would feel he had been dealt with unjustly. Thomas Bullock maintained a record of the land distribution. 4 A fee of $1.50 was paid for each lot acquired: $ 1.00 of this sum was to cover surveying expenses, and the remainder was considered a filing fee. Each man's receipt for his land became his deed for the purposes of maintaining his claim and the conveyance of the land in the future. Unmarried men were not given an allotment, but polygamists were entitled to receive one for each family.5

2 Feramorz Young Fox, "The Mormon Land System: A Study of the Settlement and Utilization of Land under the Direction of the Mormon Church" (Ph. D. diss., Northwestern University, 1932), 41. 3 "Journal History of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints," September 24, 1848, LDS Archives. 4 Hugh O'Neil, "Resume of Laws Affecting Title to Utah Lands," The Improvement Era, 47 (Julv 1944), 4 3 0 ^ . 5 LeonardJ. Arrington, Great Basin Kingdom: An Economic History ofthe Latter-day Saints, 1830 - 1900 (Cambridge, Mass., 1958), 51.

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Within days the lots in Plat A had been distributed. The desire for land not satisfied, Plat B containing sixty-three additional blocks east of Plat A was surveyed and readied for distribution during 1848. Plats A and B were divided into nineteen ecclesiastical wards, a bishop presiding over each ward. Under the supervision of each bishop, fences and irrigation ditches were constructed for the benefit of all ward members. 6 By autumn of 1848 plans had been formulated for the distribution of a tract of farmland known as the "Big Field." Writing to Orson Hyde and others, Brigham Young noted: It is our intention to have the five acre lots next to the city to accommodate the mechanics and artisans, the ten acres next, then the twenty acres, followed by the forty and eighty acre lots, where farmers can build and reside. All these lots will be enclosed in one common fence, which will be seventeen miles and fifty-three rods long, eight feet high, and to the end that every man may be satisfied with his lot and prevent any hardness that might occur by any method of dividing the land, we have proposed that it shall all be done by ballot, or casting lots, as Israel did in days of old. 7

Those settlers wanting farmland were asked to register with a clerk and to indicate the number of acres they desired. By October 1848, 863 applicants had asked for a total of 11,005 acres. 8 This demand for land within the "Big Field" was so great that in the end only fiveand ten-acre lots could be granted. As the need for more farm acreage increased, other lands were surveyed and distributed with the understanding that each property owner should fence his land against animal and human trespass. Any disputes which arose as a result of this system of land distribution were resolved by the ecclesiastical authority of the church. Often such a decision was nothing more than a declaration on the part of the church authority in whose jurisdiction the dispute arose. In 1854 Marriner W. Merrill "located some land outside the margin of irrigation" which he later learned was claimed by Goudy Hogan. Merrill related the following: I applied to Brother Hogan to buy his claim as he had plenty of land without it, and as it had cost him nothing I thought I was entitled to a portion of the public domain to build a home upon. Brother Hogan

Hbid. ^Journal History," October 9, 1848. 8 Fox, "Mormon Land System," 48.

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Utah Historical Quarterly refused to sell or let me have the land or any portion of it, and I felt that he was selfish and did not love his brother as the precepts of the Gospel require. So I applied to the Bishop, John Stoker, but did not get any encouragement from him, he letting me think there was no water for the land and that it was worthless to me. But I did not view things in that light exactly, although I was not at that time acquainted fully with the importance of irrigation to mature crops. So I applied to the Territorial Surveyor, Jesse W. Fox, who was very kind to me and gave me all the information he could about the land, and even took me up to President Young's office to talk to him about it. President Young not favoring the pollicy [sic] of one man claiming so much land . . . directed the surveyor, Brother Fox, to make me out a plot of the land for the 100 acres and also to give me a surveyor's certificate for it, which was done, and on presenting my claim to Brother Hogan he was very angry and said many hard things to me, but he surrendered his claim and I was the lawful claimant of 100 acres of land by the then rules of the country. 9

In the absence of federal legislation providing for a territorial government in Utah, representatives of the settlers convened March 15, 1849, to adopt the constitution of the state of Deseret, a provisional government. Thereafter, a General Assembly was elected which consisted of a Senate and a House of Representatives; Brigham Young was elected governor. The first session met July 2, 1849, and under the constitution enacted laws to govern the people. On April 5, 1851, the provisional government was dissolved in preparation for the territorial government. The organic act creating the territory of Utah passed Congress September 9, 1850, but it was not until September 22, 1851, that the first legislature of the new territory convened. Brigham Young retained his office in the new government. Once in session, the assembly, by means of a joint resolution, adopted all of the laws enacted by the provisional government of the state of Deseret which were not repugnant to the organic act as a basis for future legislation. 10 Therefore, the laws of these two legislatures will be considered one body of law for present purposes. On March 2, 1850, Governor Young approved two important pieces of legislation. Under the provisions of "An Ordinance creating a Surveyor General's Office," a surveyor general was to be elected by the General Assembly and made responsible for continuing the surveys of the state, making them "correspond with the

Marriner Wood Merrill, "Autobiography," LDS Archives. Utah Territory, Acts, Resolutions and Memorials . . . of the Territory of Utah from 1851 to 1870 . . (Salt Lake City, 1870), 108. 10

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original survey of Great Salt Lake City." As new lands were surveyed, certificates issued by the surveyor general or his subordinates located in each county were given to the claimants. The certificates were considered proof of legal possession for "the amount of land therein described." 11 T h e second enactment was "An Ordinance in relation to County Recorders" who were charged with the responsibility of recording "all transfers or conveyances of land or tenements, and all other instruments of writing and documents suitable, necessary and proper" to such conveyances. Further, these officers were to record "town and city plats, and plats of all surveys of lands, roads, and surveys of public works" which were of a permanent nature and located within the bounds of their respective counties. 12 In 1855 the territorial legislature found it necessary to set forth the duties of the county surveyors more specificially.13 T h e surveyor was required to maintain a book recording all the surveys made within his county and a record of all certificates issued. T h e act also provided that each certificate should "certify the number of block and lot, with the number of acres or square rods in each lot, and to whom given." Before this certificate became legal proof of land possession, it had to be countersigned by at least one selectman of the county and filed in the county recorder's office within thirty days of its issue. By 1855 both receipts issued at the time of the initial land distribution and surveyor's certificates issued for later surveys and recorded in the proper county office were accepted as official documents establishing proof of ownership â&#x20AC;&#x201D; legal title as yet being nonexistent in Utah. Legal authority supporting the claims of ownership and their conveyance was derived from legislative enactments. T h e General Assembly of the state of Deseret, which had the power to incorporate communities, granted municipal charters spelling out local property rights to several of the larger settlements. Each of these incorporated communities received an area of twenty or more square miles. This was sufficient to include the settlement itself, lands then under cultivation, and an area of virgin lands which would allow the community to expand within its incorporated limits. 14 1

'State of Deseret, Laws and Ordinances of the State of Deseret (Salt Lake City, 1919), 96. 'Acts, Resolutions and Memorials . . . of the Territory of Utah, 80. Ibid., 82. 14 Nels Anderson, Desert Saints: The Mormon Frontier in Utah (Chicago, 1942), 253. 12

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~- ^ o - A t K s :. .> = , — ——^ Photocopy of original Weber County land certificate shows Aaron Y. Farr as claiming two' lots surveyed by Jesse W. Fox.

A sample enactment is the January 9, 1851, ordinance incorporating Great Salt Lake City. After delineating the bounds of the city, the legislation provided that the inhabitants of said City, . . . shall have power . . . in all actions whatsoever, to purchase, receive, and hold property, real and personal, in said City; . . . to sell, lease, convey, or dispose of property, real and personal, for the benefit of said City; to improve and protect such property, and to do all other things in relation thereto, as natural persons. 15

That same year, the General Assembly passed acts incorporating the cities of Manti, Ogden, Provo, and Parowan. Each of these enactments contained a property conveyance clause similar to the one quoted. 16 While the necessary particulars to be included in land conveyances had been outlined in at least one previous legislative enactment, 1 7 the Territorial Assembly a n d governor had, by January 18, 1855, approved the form which such conveyances would "substantially" have to follow in the future: Be it known by these presents that of the rightful claimant and owner of [here describe the property and its Xh

Laws and Ordinances of the State of Deseret, 8 - 9 . Many other cities were incorporated during the territorial period; each charter contained a similar property conveyance clause. 17 "An Act to regulate Surveyors and Surveying "Acts, Resolutions and Memorials . . .of the Territory of Utah, 81. 16

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location, and, if required, any peculiar rights and appurtenances] do for the sum of dollars paid by : .of ; or in consideration of good will to , (as the case may be) transfer all my claim to and ownership of the aforesaid property to the said heirs and assigns. Dated this day 18 of in the year

Again in 1860 the rights of claimants to secure, maintain, improve, protect, and sell sections of the public domain in Utah were reinforced. In a law approved January 20 "declaring certain things to be property, specifying the owner thereof, defining the mode for recovering its possession, and providing for redress of any grievances that may arise from proceedings under this act," the legislature of the territory stated that any person who has inclosed, or may hereafter inclose, a portion or portions of unclaimed government land, or caused it to be done at his expense; or has purchased, or may hereafter purchase, such inclosure; or erected, caused to be erected, or purchased any building or other improvement thereon, or may hereafter do so, is hereby declared to be the lawful owner of the claim to the possession of such inclosed land, and the lawful owner of the improvements thereon and thereunto appertaining; and he shall be so deemed and held in all legal proceedings, and in all rights and doings pertaining or relating to the aforesaid property. 19

The policy that water and timber were to be held in common found expression in several enactments adopted by both the General and the Legislative assemblies. Specific individuals were given the "exclusive right" to control the use of water and timber in the canyons and around the springs for the benefit of all the settlers. For example, legislation gave James Rawlins exclusive control of the road construction as well as the sale and cutting of timber in the "first Kanyon south of Mill Creek." He could charge no more than twenty-five cents per load of wood or timber taken from the canyon. In Tooele County Ezra T. Benson was given control of Twin Springs and Rock Springs for mills and irrigating purposes. 20 On November 23,1850, Brigham Young asked the General Assembly to grant him exclusive control over the timber, rocks, minerals and water, in the City Creek Kanyon, as far as your jurisdiction extends; in order that the water may be continued pure unto the inhabitants of Great Salt Lake 18

"An Act concerning transfer of land claims and other property," ibid., 92-93. Ibid., 42. 20 Laws and Ordinances of the State of Deseret, 2-3. l9

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Utah Historical Quarterly City; and he agreed to pay into the Treasury of the State, such sum as shall be an equivalent for the timber, rocks, and minerals, between the dividing ridges running down to said Creek, as shall be the valuation of the same; to be decided by a Committee of three, or such other Committee as shall be agreed upon by your Honorable Body. 21

T h e assembly granted the canyon to the governor on December 4 for the sum of $500. AWAKENING FEDERAL INTEREST

Certainly by the early 1850s the national government was well aware of Utah's land needs, and steps were taken to correct these deficiencies. Reporting to Robert McClelland, secretary of the interior, on November 30, 1853, the commissioner of the General Land Office, related the advantages of extending the land system to the territories of Utah and New Mexico. The expediency and propriety of early action for the extension of the land system over the Territories of New Mexico, Utah, & c , is suggested and recommended. The population of those Territories is constantly increasing, and no doubt many settlers are improving lands belonging to the government, without the possibility of obtaining titles for them under existing legislation. To relieve this state of things, and to secure bona fide holders in their possessions, without which their energies will be checked and the prosperity of the Territories prevented, it is suggested that proper surveying districts be established and a commission instituted, to ascertain and report to Congress the present condition of the titles therein. . . . 22

This opinion was relayed to President Franklin Pierce in the secretary of the interior's report of December 5, 1853. In his message to Congress that very day, Pierce recommended the extension of the national land system to the "Territories of Utah and New Mexico, with such modifications as their peculiarities may require." 23 Within two years a surveying district had been created and a surveyor general appointed for the territory. On July 27, 1855, David H. Burr arrived in Great Salt Lake City prepared to begin the survey. 24 By September 30, 1856, Burr was able to report the estab-

Ibid., 4.

U.S., Congress, Senate, Senate Documents, 33d Cong., 1st sess., 1853-54, no. 1, Serial Set #690, p. 83. " A n d r e w Love Neff, History of Utah, 1847 to 1869 (Salt Lake City, 1940), 263. 24 Andrew Jenson, ed., Church Chronology (2d ed.; Salt Lake City, 1914), 54.

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lishment of an initial point for his survey as well as the running of the base and meridian lines to points located nearly four miles east, thirty-six miles west, eighty-four miles north, and seventy-two miles south from the initial point. He noted that the survey of "one hundred and thirty townships and fractional townships" had been completed and that one survey crew still in the field was expected to be finished with their assignment in the "Sanpete and Youab valleys" before winter. 25 Thomas A. Hendricks, commissioner of the General Land Office, communicated to the secretary of the interior additional information which had been received from Burr but had not been included in his annual report from the West. Burr found the incorporated limits of Great Salt Lake City to include "several square miles" which was considerably larger than the 320 acres allowed to a city of its population in the Townsite Act of May 23, 1844. Burr suggested the legislation to enable him "to close the lines of the public surveys upon such limits of the city as it may be proper to recognize." Hendricks proposed that the "peculiar condition of the capital of Utah" be considered and a law passed which "would award to the city a sufficient number of the legal subdivisions to embrace its present actual improvements, such legal subdivisions contiguous to those improvements to be, of course, laid open for disposal under the general land laws applicable to the same." 26 Despite this correspondence, the condition and status of the corporate boundaries of Great Salt Lake City remained unchanged. The federal surveys in Utah progressed quite rapidly. By June 30, 1857, it was reported that 1,987,580 acres had been "prepared for market" but "not advertised for sale." 27 Hendricks's annual report to the secretary of the interior advised that the "surveyor general had abandoned his position, owing to reported hostilities on the part of the Mormon authorities at Salt Lake City." 28 Burr, himself, is reported later as having stated that "his person and life were in imminent danger." 29 Commissioner Hendricks also noted that "representations have been made unfavorable to the surveys 25

Senate Documents, 34th Cong., 3d sess., 1 8 5 6 - 5 7 , no. 5, Serial Set #875, p. 542. Ibid., p. 211. "Senate Documents, 35th Cong., 1st sess., 1857 - 58, no. 11, Serial Set #919, p. 79. 2 Hbid., p. 93. ^Senate Documents, 35th Cong., 2d sess., 1858 - 59, Serial Set #974, p. 131. Burr's anxiety is a partial expression of feelings in Utah Territory that year. By midyear federal troops were moving toward Utah to suppress a "rebellion." The alarm this action generated among settlers is expressed in the preparations they made to receive the army as well as their attack that September on a company of California-bound immigrants passing througn the territory (Mountain Meadows Massacre). 26

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which have been executed in that Territory, but we have no means of judging of the correctness of these statements without actual examination on the ground." 3 0 Unfortunately, these criticisms were proven true in later years. 31 With Burr's departure from Utah Territory, the records of the surveyor general were transferred into the care of the governor. Here they remained until the autumn of 1859 when Col. Samuel C. Stambaugh, the newly appointed surveyor general of the territory, arrived in Utah. Since the feeling in the General Land Office was that more land had been surveyed in Utah than was actually needed at the time, Stambaugh's assignment consisted of receiving the records of his office from Gov. Alfred Cumming and placing them in order again. He also was to see if the surveys completed by Burr and his party were as bad as had been reported. In his report of 1860 Commissioner Joseph S. Wilson recommended to the secretary of the interior no new surveys for the territory of Utah in light of the extensive surveys already completed as well as the lack "of provisions of laws granting preemptions" and the absence of a land district. Two years earlier Hendricks had recommended to Secretary of the Interior Jacob Thompson that as the Territory of Utah is now in peace, and its people yield obedience to the laws of the general government, it is recommended that it shall no longer be treated as an exception in the legislation for the Territories upon this subject, and that, to place the matter beyond question, the pre-emption policy be expressly extended to that Territory, and that one land district be organized therein, co-extensive with its limits. 32

However, this advice would not find its way into congressional legislation for ten years. After several years of inactivity due to lack of orders from Washington, the surveying district of Utah was consolidated with that of Colorado, and the records of the Utah office were transferred to the Denver-based surveyor general of Colorado during 1862.

Senate Documents, 35th Cong., 1st sess., no. 11, Serial Set #919, p. 93. Colonel Stambaugh, in a report dated September 10, 1860, accused Hendricks of disregarding the laws governing the surveys and his deputies of "delinquency in perpetuating the corner boundaries posts of the requisite dimensions." U.S., Congress, House, House Documents, 37th Cong., 2d sess., 1861 - 62, vol. 1, Serial Set #1117, p. 473. Utah Governors Brigham Young and Charles Durkee (1865 - 69) are also quoted as having questioned the accuracy of these surveys. Neff, History of Utah, 679 - 80, 684. 32 Senate Documents, 35th Cong., 2d sess, 1858 - 59, no. 1, Serial Set #974, p. 132. 31

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In his report to the General Land Office for 1864, John Pierce, surveyor general of Colorado and Utah, recommended no extension of the national land survey in Utah, since those already completed more than adequately fulfilled the present needs of the people. He saw things differently by the autumn of 1865. Reporting from Denver on August 15, Pierce urged the commencement of surveys in Utah once again. T h e time has now arrived when a respectable portion of the people of Utah are desirous of obtaining title to the land from the government, and the number of these is rapidly increasing. There can be no doubt that the true policy of the government in regard to Utah is to encourage the emigration to that Territory of a population less hostile to the United States than the present. To do this, Gentile emigration must have the chance of acquiring title to the land, and must be protected in that title. 33

Pierce reiterated his appeal for the beginning of the resurvey in Utah the following year and asked that Congress appropriate $10,000 so resurveying could begin. His pleas went unheeded, and in 1867 W. H. Lessig, surveyor general for Colorado and Utah, asked for $5,000 for the lines to be "retraced and to enable the surveyor general to superintend it in person." Again in his report for 1868, Lessig reminded Commissioner Wilson of the failure of Congress to appropriate money for the resurveys in Utah and stressed their importance in enhancing the permanent settlement of the territory. Evidently Lessig had not been made aware of the creation of a land district for Utah Territory earlier in the year. CLAIM-JUMPING

During the autumn of 1866 there was a rash of claim-jumping in Salt Lake City. The city's public squares had to be fenced to prevent squatters from settling on them. T h e militia's parade ground, the city race course, and some private claims in the western area of the city were temporarily seized by claim-jumpers. Such actions aroused the established settlers. On one occasion a group of them went to the race course on the west side of the Jordan River, collected some of the squatters there, threw them into the water, tore

House Documents, 39th Cong., 1st sess., 1856 - 66, no. 1, Serial Set #1248, p. 103.

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down the intruder's buildings, and heaved the boards into the river after them. 34 Such incidents prompted Brigham Young to state explicitly that although the established community would not tolerate any claimjumping, it would welcome any newcomer who was willing to claim open land and make it productive. If you undertake to drive a stake in my garden with an intention to j u m p my claim, there will be a fight before you get it; if you come within an enclosure of mine with any such intent, I will send you home, God being my helper. You can occupy and build where you please, but let our claims alone. We have spent hundreds of thousands of dollars in taking out the waters of our mountain streams, fencing in farms and improving the country, and we cannot tamely suffer strangers, who have not spent one day's labour to make these improvements, to wrest our homesteads out of our hands. There is land enough in the country; go to and improve it, as we have improved our possessions; build cities, as we have done, and thus strive to reclaim the country from its wild state. 35

Although the facts of the case are still not clear today, one murder in Salt Lake City has been attributed to the uneasiness of the community during these autumn months of 1866. Within its northern corporate boundary, the city possessed a tract of approximately eighty acres of land containing warm springs. Buildings were constructed over the springs, and for sixteen or seventeen years the city maintained the area as a public bathing resort. It was on this property that Dr. J. King Robinson chose to stake his claim and to erect a small shack. The city council ordered the marshal to destroy the structure and eject the intruder. T h e order was fulfilled, and on appeal before the chief justice of the territory, J o h n Titus, Robinson's case failed. On the night of October 22, 1866, Robinson was attacked in the street near his home and severely beaten by seven unidentified individuals. Death came as a result of this beating. 36 The claim-jumping controversy continued on into the winter months of 1866-67. By December 23 Brigham Young's remarks on the subject were becoming more aggressive.

34 Brigham H. Roberts, Comprehensive History of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, 6 vols. (Salt Lake City, 1930), 5:201-2. Such a control measure is strikingly similar to the methods used to preserve land claims within the Johnson County Claim Association of Iowa. At least one such trespasser found his house torn to the ground within fifteen minutes after he refused to relinquish his claim to the association. Benjamin F. Stambaugh, Constitution and Records of the Claim Association of Johnson County, Iowa (Iowa City, 1894), xv. 35 Bngham Young, Journal of Discourses, 26 vols. (Liverpool, 1854-86), 11:260. 36 Roberts, Comprehensive History of the Church, 5:202 - 3.

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If they j u m p my claims here, I shall be very apt to give them a preemption right that will last them to the last resurrection. I hope no man will ever venture so far as to tempt me to do such a thing. The Latter-day Saints will never again pull up stakes and give their possessions to their enemies. You think that you can get the Government to help you to do this. It will never be done worlds without end. 37

The encroachments of the so-called harpies 38 seem to have been short-lived and quite unproductive. INTEGRATION INTO THE NATIONAL LAND SYSTEM

On January 24, 1867, Sen. William Morris Stewart of Nevada introduced in the Senate "An Act for the Relief of the Inhabitants of Cities and Towns upon the Public Lands." Approved by Congress on March 2, the law provided that since townsites on public lands were not subject to the agricultural preemption laws, the authorities of incorporated towns entering claims for lands within their jurisdiction at the proper land office and paying the minimum price could obtain title to these lands "in trust for the several use and benefit of the occupants thereof, according to their respective interests." If the town was not incorporated, the judge of the county court had to enter the claim in behalf of the unincorporated town. He received title to these lands in trust for the use and benefit of the occupants. The disposal of the acquired title was to be conducted according to the regulations prescribed by the legislature of the governing state or territory. 39 Inasmuch as the national land system still had not been extended to Utah Territory, its inhabitants could not avail themselves of this act until July 1868 when Congress adopted "An Act to create the Office of Surveyor-General in the Territory of Utah, and establish a Land Office in said Territory, and extend the Homestead and Pre-emption Laws over the same." This act authorized the president with the advice and consent of the Senate to appoint a surveyor general for the territory whose annual salary could be $3,000, "and whose power, authority, and duties" would be equal to those enjoyed by the surveyor general of Oregon. T h e public lands of the United States within the territory were declared to constitute a new land 37 38 39

Young, Journal of Discourses, 11:281. See editorial by Albert Carrington in Deseret News, October 3, 1866. U.S., Statutes at Large, 14:541 - 42.

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district called the Utah district, and the "pre-emption, homestead, and other laws of the United States applicable to the disposal of the public lands" were extended to the new area. 40 While this bill was introduced in Congress by Delegate William H. Hooper of Utah, strong support for its acceptance was voiced by George W.Julian, chairman of the House Committee on the Public Lands, and Joseph S. Wilson, commissioner of the General Land Office. At the time of the bill's third reading in the House, June 3, 1868, Julian expressed his desire for its passage and referred to a letter of March 20 which he had received from Wilson who mentioned that almost one hundred thousand people already were living in the territory where only 2,517,912 acres of a total 56,355,635 had been surveyed. The Central Pacific railroad will pass over the country, and the work may take fifteen thousand employees in that region. The influx of such a column of operatives must be felt in the social condition of Utah, and many that may go there in the road service and by general immigration will doubtless remain. . . . It is the opinion of this office that our laws in respect to the disposal of the public lands should be promptly extended over that Territory and a land office established. 41

Following the passage of federal land legislation for Utah, the territorial government approved on February 17, 1869, "An Act prescribing Rules and Regulations for the execution of the Trust arising under an Act of Congress entitled 'an Act for the Relief of the Inhabitants of Cities and Towns upon the Public Lands,' approved March 2, 1867." 42 T h e new territorial law provided that once the corporate authorities of any city or probate judge of any county had received title to a parcel of land in behalf of the claimants situated there, they were "directed and required to dispose of and convey the title to such land, or to the several blocks, lots, parcels or shares thereof, to the persons entitled thereto." The actual transfer of title was to be made by means of "deeds of conveyance." Within thirty days of entering any lands at the United States Land Office, the corporate authorities or judge were to give public notice of the action in at least five public places and in a newspaper with general distribution within the city. This notice was published 40

Ibid., 15:91 - 92. U.S.', Congress, Senate, Congressional Globe, 40th Cong., 2d sess. 1867 - 68, pt. 3:2813 - 14. Acts, Resolutions and Memorials . . . of the Territory of Utah, 4 - 6 .

41 42

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once each week for at least three consecutive months and contained an accurate description of the lands entered. Any individual, business entity, or other organization with a valid claim in any portion of the entered land was required to register such claim with the clerk of the probate court of the county in which the land was located within six months of the first publication of the notice. This deadline could be extended to one year if sufficient cause were shown for not having filed during the first required period. If at the end of the six-month period there were adverse claimants to any parcel of land, the probate court served notice on them, and the case was brought before the court. T h e decision could be appealed to the district court. If there were no adverse claimants, a summons was served on the party making the claim, ordering him or his agent to show evidence of such claim. Upon the presentation of satisfactory evidence, j u d g m e n t was entered in behalf of the claimant. When the land claimed lay within the corporate boundaries of a city, the authorities were notified of the court's findings, and title was granted by the city. Before title was received, the claimant paid $1.25 an acre plus a proportionate amount of the costs involved for acquiring such title from the land office. Parcels of land not claimed after the six-month period were held by the j u d g e or corporate authorities and used for public purposes or held for future sale at not less than $5.00 an acre. Daniel H. Wells, mayor of Salt Lake City, exercised this option in 1871 when he made application through the United States Land Office in Salt Lake City for between five and six thousand acres of land covered by the city, which on payment to the Government of $1.25 per acre would be issued to the Mayor. Accordingly on J u n e 11, 1872, the patent was received from Washington by Mayor Wells. This disposed of some irritating and unjust claims that had been made against the land. T h e municipal authorities were now able to give deeds for lots in the city, thus settling the serious question of the validity of titles. 43

T h e incorporated area of Salt Lake City presented a multifaceted problem to those attempting to superimpose the national land system of townships and sections upon a plan of plats, blocks, and lots. T h e Townsite Act of March 2, 1867, had fixed the number of acres to be embraced by any town in terms of its population.

'Bryan S. Hinckley, Daniel Hamner Wells and Events of His Time (Salt Lake City, 1942), 160.

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Utah Historical Quarterly . . . and where the inhabitants are in number one hundred and less than two hundred, shall embrace not exceeding three hundred and twenty acres; and in cases where the inhabitants of such town are more than two hundred and less than one thousand, shall embrace not exceeding six hundred and forty acres; and where the number of inhabitants is one thousand and over one thousand, shall embrace not exceeding twelve hundred and eighty acres: Provided, That for each additional one thousand inhabitants, not exceeding five thousand in all, a further grant of three h u n d r e d and twenty acres shall be allowed. . . ,44

Therefore, an urban population of up to five thousand persons might secure a town site of 2,560 acres. But in 1869, Salt Lake City's population was approximately twelve thousand — 12,859 in 1870 — and its incorporated limits encompassed much more than the 2,560 acres allowed towns of five thousand or more. On February 13, 1869, the governor and legislature adopted a memorial asking Congress for relief by amending the Townsite Act to authorize in all cases where the population shall exceed five thousand, the entry of twenty-five hundred and sixty acres for each five thousand inhabitants, or so much thereof as may be necessary. Your Memorialists beg leave to represent that Salt Lake City, in its surveyed and occupied lots, embraces about three times the amount of land permitted to be entered by the provisions of the aforesaid Act, and to limit the entry of town site lands would work a severe hardship upon a large portion of the occupants. 45

Finally, on November 21, 1871, some 5,730 acres were entered on the townsite docket of the General Land Office for Salt Lake City, and the patent for the land was sent to Mayor Wells. 46 A second problem — how to superimpose the national land system over land platted in Salt Lake City long before the federal surveys — was solved by compromise. Within the plats already surveyed and apportioned, land was described in terms of lot, block, and plat. This system is still used in Salt Lake County today. Outside of these plats the national land system was imposed, and the lands were described in terms of township and section. Town dwellers and residents of areas where judges applied for title from the land office had the option of obtaining their land title from one of these two sources, but others had to apply directly to the 44

Statutes at Large, 14:541. Acts, Resolutions and Memorials . . . of the Territory of Utah, 23. 46 Thomas Donaldson, "The Public Domain," in House Documents, 47th Cong., 2d sess., 1882 - 83, no. 45, pt. 4, Serial Set #2158, p. 300. 45

Taken in 1868from the top of old City Hall, this view of the southeast section of the city shows the rectangular lots within the square blocks. Utah State Historical Society photograph, Morgan Collection.

land office for their title. Ethan Pettit, a settler in Salt Lake Valley who resided outside of the corporate limits of a city, recorded that on Saturday, April 24, 1869, he went to Salt Lake City and the land office to enter "150 and 70 h u n d r e d t h acres of land" as his preemption. Four days later, he went again to the city as a witness for Levi Reed and George Baldwin "concerning their land claims." 47 T h r o u g h such means 148,402.91 acres had been disposed of in Utah Territory by J u n e 30, 1869, a period just short of four months after the opening of the land office in Salt Lake City. Of this total, 51,683.26 acres had been sold at a price of not less than $1.25 an acre, and 96,764.65 acres had been disposed of u n d e r the terms of the Homestead acts of May 20, 1862, and J u n e 21, 1866. 48 Approval of these applications for title began appearing on the records of the United States Land Office in 1870. Henceforth, settlers of Utah Territory could obtain title to their lands. With this privilege came the inherent prerogatives and protection that such a title holder possessed u n d e r the auspices of the United States government. It had been more than twenty-two years since the first settlers arrived in the valley of the Great Salt Lake, but at long last governmental protection of their land claims was a reality. 47

Ethan Pettit Diary, positive print, Western Americana, Marriott Library, University of Utah, Salt Lake City. 48 House Documents, 41st Cong., 2d sess., 1869 - 70, no. 1, pt. 3, Serial Set #1414, 2p. 4 0 - 4 1 .

John R. Young, son of Lorenzo Dow Young, played a controversial role in the Kanab United Order. Utah State Historical Society collections, gift of Salt Lake Tribune.

Kanab United Order: The President's Nephew and the Bishop BY P.T. REILLY

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transcontinental railroad in 1869 facilitated infiltration of the Mormon lebensraum by outsiders, a group of opportunists indifferent to the aspirations of the dwellers in the Great Basin Kingdom. Gentile prospectors already had swarmed over Utah's mountains, making strikes and staking claims. Now there were other newcomers. Merchants, backed by eastern capital, set up businesses stocked with cheap, new goods which the deprived Saints were eager to purchase. Plagued by a chronic shortage of ready cash, Mormon businessmen were unable to compete; their offerings were older, more costly, and in short supply, enabling the incoming merchants to seize economic leadership in a relatively brief period. Even Utah's financial institutions were vulnerable, and by 1873 six of her seven banks were controlled by non-Mormons. Exploitation of the Great Basin's natural resources further tended to disturb, the orderly balance of the agrarian economy. The Saints had thrived in isolation until 1857, but their second decade in Utah had brought a portent of impending change. The drift presaged a restructuring of the church-oriented society unless the trend was arrested. Church leaders were displeased with the intrusion of nonMormons and were disturbed by their rapidly expanding economic power. They considered a secondary role in their hard-won Rocky Mountain stronghold to be intolerable, and stringent efforts were made to regain supremacy. They urged boycotts of imported merchandise, and they promoted home manufactures with a strong "trade Mormon" policy. Moral sanction was brought against the use of "Gentile commodities" and luxury items, but the struggle seemed to be a losing game and the trends continued. While Mormon leaders pondered their next move, a national calamity occurred â&#x20AC;&#x201D; the Panic of 1873. As the money squeeze spread westward from eastern banking and commercial centers, credit was terminated, mines and businesses closed, and unemployment became widespread. But the depression gave President Brigham Young an opportunity for which he was not unprepared. It allowed him to move smoothly into a major change of social idealism which many individuals would have resisted in a normal economic period. At the same time, he could regroup his people and insulate them from the tastes some had acquired from "Babylon." C O M P L E T I O N OF THE

Mr. Reilly of Sun City, Arizona, has contributed a number of articles and reviews to the Quarterly on the Colorado River and southern Utah topics.

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From the early days of the church there had been a constant effort to unite the members in Mormon brotherhood. Joseph Smith had promoted this concept with his United Order in Jackson County, Missouri, and Kirtland, Ohio, but the endeavors came to unfortunate ends through financial failure. Cooperative action nevertheless remained a strength, and the willingness of the Saints to unite their labors for the common good had been manifest from their day of arrival in Salt Lake Valley. Afterwards their communal tendencies were reexpressed through consecration and stewardship. The cooperative movement, launched in the 1860s, came next and was the most advanced expression of the communal concept in Utah Territory to that time. The Brigham City Cooperative, carefully nurtured by Apostle Lorenzo Snow, was an outstanding example of communal accomplishment because the members dedicated their efforts to involvement and cooperation. Although the panic made most of Utah a depressed area, Brigham City continued to hum and remained an economic white spot in a prostrated husbandry. Its prosperity and growth were not lost on Utah's citizenry, least of all her leaders. When President Young arrived in St. George early in December 1873, he undoubtedly had formulated the steps of his plan by which the United Order of Enoch would be revived from the limbo of the 1830s disaster and reestablished to answer his present need. St. George was selected as the place most apt to respond affirmatively to a major economic and social change. For one thing, the bulk of the people were poor; few had accumulated more than a bare living in Dixie, and most had expended their resources in survival. Certainly there were no wealthy individuals who would oppose him out of fear of sharing what they had worked to acquire. Dixie's resources were few and far removed, and living was difficult. The Saints knew well the value of unity; they had survived by it. The town â&#x20AC;&#x201D; and all of Utah's Dixie for that matter â&#x20AC;&#x201D; had been artificially vitalized by a series of public works which started with the ground-breaking for the St. George Tabernacle in J u n e 1863. Pump-priming continued with a scheme to bring saltwater freight up the Colorado River to a warehouse at the head of navigation, which resulted in Call's Landing being established early in 1865. From here the freight was hauled by wagon through St. George and other hard-pressed Dixie towns to Salt Lake City. Building the St. George Courthouse, which was started in the fall of 1867, was an

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interim means of keeping labor crews busy until a larger project could be launched. Ground for Utah's first temple was broken December 9, 1871, and twenty days later the last stone in the tabernacle was laid. Brigham Young had kept St. George going economically; now the town could become the bellwether for his United Order. 1 First he presented his plan to the local leaders and secured their support, then he plunged into a campaign of selling his idea to the people with a series of discourses on the general theme of unity. His opinions were reinforced with accompanying sermons by the members of his entourage. Even with the heavy verbalizing about "unity," "cooperation," and a "more perfect society," the president occasionally had to cudgel his flock with guile and threaten the possibly recalcitrant with heavenly displeasure. Brigham Young presented his plan for the United Order in public meeting February 15, 1874. After a prolonged buildup, and feeling that the people had reached the mood of acceptance, he called on those willing to enter into such an organization to raise their hands. Although he had convinced the majority, the vote was not unanimous. Annoyed, he asked for those not willing to enter the Order to raise their hands. None went up. There was veiled opposition from a number of rugged individualists, but no one was willing to be so counted. He then called for all to come forward to enter their names on the roll of the Order, and closed the meeting with these words: If we are disposed to enter the Order of Enoch, now is the accepted time and blessed are the Latter-day Saints. But if we are not disposed to enter the Order, the curse of God will come upon this people; I cannot help it. I will not curse them. But the time has come for this work to be commenced. 2

The entire citizenry, about three hundred in number, entered their names on the United Order roll. From this time on the movement in Dixie snowballed. The first three weeks in March saw the Order established in every sizeable settlement in southern Utah. As might be expected, the first organix The freighting plan can only be considered as a sequence of the public works program since the completion of the transcontinental railroad would have made the operation obsolete before total costs were recovered. See Leonard J. Arrington, Great Basin Kingdom: An Economic History of the Latter-day Saints, 1830 -1900 (Cambridge, Mass., 1958), 220, and Andrew Karl Larson, "I Was Called to Dixie"; The Virgin River Basin: Unique Experiences in Mormon Pioneering (Salt Lake City, 1961), 7. 2 James G. Bleak, "Annals of the Southern Utah Mission, Book B," p. 218, typescript, Dixie College library, St. George.

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zation was on an ecclesiastical basis; the legal incorporation (under the recent favorable revision of the Incorporation Act by the territorial legislature) would come several months later. Apostle Erastus Snow said, "We begin with the Gospel, and now we will continue by organizing under the Law." 3 T h e Saints once more had put God before government. The president's remarks of February 15 were carried to every Mormon hamlet. John Henry Standifird recorded their reception in remote Panguitch: Sunday 15th [March 1874] . . . At Ward meeting bro. J. L. Haywood related some interesting news concerning the organization of the "Order of Enoch" in St. George. President Young says the time has fully come for us to enter into that order of things. T h e people in the South are taking hold of it.4

Nearly a month later Standifird revealed another element of Brigham's persuasion when he wrote: Sunday 12th [April 1874] . . . In the evening attended the meeting of the Elders Quorum. The principles of the "United Order" was explained by bro. Elmer as he heard Prest. Brigham speak on the subject last week several times. The Lord is preparing the way that the Saints may redeem Zion by purchase if they will harken, otherwise, I fear it will have to be redeemed by blood. 5

With the rigors of winter alleviated by the warm Dixie sun, President Young prepared to return to Salt Lake City. He intended to organize the Order personally in those towns through which his route would take him. On March 8 the president supposedly delegated his nephew John R. Young to organize the people in the eastward settlements of Kanab, Long Valley, and Pahreah. Armed with a letter of authorization from Brigham Young and George A. Smith, John R. Young departed that same day and arrived in Kanab on the eleventh. The next day, March 12, 1874, the people responded by giving unanimous approval to entry into the United Order. 6 3 Quoted by Andrew Karl Larson in Erastus Snow: The Life of a Missionary and Pioneer for the Early Mormon Church (Salt Lake City, 1971), 527, from Bleak, "Annals," p. 218. 4 Journal of John Henry Standifird, typescript, Harold B. Lee Library, Brigham Young University, Provo. Hbid. The redemption of Zion referred to Mormon reoccupation of Jackson County, Missouri. Many people in southern Utah had been among those driven from their homes during the 1833 persecution, and the subject was understandably sensitive. 6 "Journal History, Kanab Stake, Book A," March 8, 1874, original, Archives Division, Historical Department, Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, Salt Lake City.

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It is not known whether the president's nephew honestly misunderstood his instructions or whether he deliberately read meaning into them which was not there, but he certainly made a tactical error in allowing the prestige of his surname to undercut the local bishop. In the ensuing election of officers for the Order, John R. Young permitted himself to be elected president. Bishop Levi Stewart and Thomas Robertson were named vice-presidents, James Lewis, secretary, and John Rider, treasurer. 7 Young was then authorized to draw up articles and bylaws. Bishop Stewart and John R. Young organized the settlement of Johnson on March 14, and the following day repeated the operation at Pahreah. A census taken at the time revealed 261 members in Kanab, 39 in Johnson, and 67 in Pahreah for a grand total of 367 prospective communal souls. 8 While the settlers reflected on the step they had taken, John R. Young traveled to Long Valley and on March 20 installed the Order at Mount Carmel. At this time James Leithead was bishop of both Long Valley wards. Two days later Young organized the bishop's own village of Glendale. A non-Mormon, unversed in the hegemony of the Saints, would have difficulty in understanding the structure of an 1874 Mormon town. Unlike the strict separation of church and state in municipalities in the East, secular activities in Utah were directed by the ecclesiastical leaders. The General Authorities of the church appointed the local bishop, and he was the people's link with God through his prophet â&#x20AC;&#x201D; at this time President Brigham Young. Every village had either a bishop or presiding elder, and in 1874 the vast majority of the citizens were church members who had been "called" to their place of residence. Their spiritual, temporal, legal, and social leader was their bishop. Furthermore, he allotted land parcels, and when necessary dispensed justice through "bishop's courts." But usually his advice settled disputes without resorting to court action. The system was very efficient, inexpensive, and responsive to the needs of the people. 9 In the span between agreement to enter into a United Order and its legal incorporation, Kanab's communal pot bubbled. John R. 'Ibid. Elsie Chamberlain Carroll, ed.,The History of Kane County (Salt Lake City, 1960), 58. T h e "Journal History, Kanab Stake," credits 299 names on the Kanab roll. 9 Lowry Nelson, The Mormon Ullage: A Pattern and Technique of Land Settlement (Salt Lake City, 1952), 5 5 - 6 4 . 8

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Young's exact original presentation of the United Order idea has not been preserved, but the men soon displayed considerable confusion regarding the details of the plan. The principal argument waxed upon the relationship between property and labor. The sides were drawn with the "haves" in one faction and the "have nots" in the other. Everyone had property, since it was allotted by the bishop, although some parcels were much more choice than others. The main wealth, however, was in modicums of cash, livestock, wagons, and artiLevi Stewart, cles of utility. Possession of these items was Bishop of Kanab. From Pioneers and in wide disparity. Prominent Men Bishop Levi Stewart was far and away of Utah the wealthiest m a n in Kanab, while in Mount Carmel Henry B. M. Jolley enjoyed a similar status. Stewart's holding was largely in cattle; Jolley's was more diversified, and in addition he was surrounded by a host of well-to-do relatives. With Bishop Leithead living in Glendale, Jolley was the most influential man in Mount Carmel. Yet neither Leithead nor Jolley was elected president of the Glendale Order in Long Valley; instead the office went to Israel Hoyt. Undoubtedly John R. Young's willful action in contending with Bishop Stewart for the presidency of the United Order at Kanab and his failure to support Bishop Leithead in Long Valley injected confusion into both communities. The established order of things had been upset, with the Mormon life pattern thrown out of focus and the people uncertain as to whether the community leader was the bishop or the president of the Order. Church authorities had appointed the bishop and only they could revoke this appointment. Yet, some of the people, swayed by the magic of his name, had elected Young president to lead them in the new society. Had they interposed with a divine selection? Could they operate under an unprecedented dual leadership? These were worrisome questions. As the people debated the problem, a smoldering dispute with the Navajos temporarily diverted their attention. Native anger stemmed from the killing of three of their young men in southcentral Utah and at the time threatened the existence of the newly

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established way station at Moenkopi. A small group of missionaries was isolated there and could not withstand a heavy assault. Late in April John R. Young gathered twenty-two men and led a relief party across the Colorado River. T h e rescue was effected without bloodshed and the mission temporarily abandoned. On May 21 the last of the refugees reached Kanab, and the citizens once again turned to their organizational questions. One of the thwarted colonizers, William H. Solomon, wrote, "When I returned to Kanab I found the ward trying to carry out the principles of the United Order under John R. Young. We immediately fell into line and became members of the order." 10 Property evaluation, delayed by the Indian difficulty, began immediately. The appraisers, Edward Pugh, David K. Udall, John Rider, and Charles H. Oliphant, based their estimates on a list of tithing prices as determined at Salt Lake City on January 1, 1873. Livestock, of course, was the principal item of wealth, and for United Order purposes a book was maintained to describe individual horses and cattle. Since all finances, including tithing, temple donations, school expenses, and county and territorial taxes were to be handled through the Order, other property was described in a separate book. 11 Even non-Mormons were listed here since they were required to pay taxes. For example, in 1874 pioneer cattleman John G. Kitchen ran 60 head of cattle valued at $ 1,200.00 on which he paid a territorial tax of $3.00. But in the following year his little herd had increased to 85 head appraised at $2,125.00. That year his territorial tax was $5.30, while his first county tax was a whopping $15.95. 12 In other tables of the Order's record books, items appraised for one purpose or another included land claims, cattle, horses, mules, sheep and goats, swine, wagons, clocks and watches, merchandise, stock in trade, money, property not estimated, and the number of acres of land under irrigation. The low economic status of some of the people is indicated by the fact that they were without wagons and owned fewer than a half-dozen head of cattle and horses combined. Livestock appraisals were listed as of J u n e 1, 1874. Bishop Levi Stewart led the list with six pages devoted to the description of his cattle. His holding of 160 head was valued at $3,569.00. His closest 10 11

"Autobiography of William Henry Solomon from His Origianl Journal," p. 13, typescript, Lee

Kanab United Order Property Record Book 1874, original, LDS Archives. "Ibid., pp. 36 and 52 - 53.

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rival was Taylor Crosby whose ({ \*M //< /«/t. 76 head of horses and cattle and . S*!> other property were valued at i.?J $1,801.75. Jacob Hamblin's 38 %*&-'••.head of cattle and horses were • 'u tit valued at $949.00, J o h n R. , ' Young's 26 head at $582.75. i o -. Other listings were: James A. ";7m Little, 3 head at $66.00; James f.** CJS~ ,;/ 4*Z*. L. Bunting, 10 head at $216.00; /MM*., t.,2^_. //r ///>« and J o h n Rider, 1 3 head at / ft /.« j , M.,.,,... X%4 ty *&«.. /' ** $316.00. But many of the men /r > i /,/...-,.... 13 '/4 irehad only an animal or two. €, /a, A. * 4> u Tuba, the friendly Hopi, 4. .m i / had been too discreet to remain /... s<£. m» J,U., J. '\ 2 e» '. / ' . , , f c , to face the Navajos when the " ... y/m,,.,,... tr. .. *V f, oo Saints pulled out of Moenkopi A.''."... /Mf //,s,o4 on May 5 and had accompanied 0*4.3*/ .Mr EL::. .. >J*#l the rescue team back to Mts-'jy. tl4*'j. f*//>t/X 'V / 71, / Kanab. 14 Besides being the first of his people to accept baptism, he now j o i n e d the United Kanab United Order ledger shows David Order. His holdings were listed Udall's credits for field work and other as a light sorrel mare, six years labor and debits for food and sundries. Photograph by P. T. Reilly, courtesy LDS old, at $45.00, and a pale red 15 Archives. yearling colt, $16.00. At that, Tuba was wealthier than some of his white brothers. While several small businesses were transferred to Order ownership immediately, others were entered during ensuing months. At one time or another the following concerns appeared on the books: Kanab Lumber Co., the Sawmill Co., the Tannery and Manufacturing Co., the Brickyard, the Co-op Sheep Herd, the Sink Valley Ranch, and dairies at Cave Lakes, Swallow Park, and Buttermilk (near the Sevier Divide). Almost immediately the participants began arguing over Young's preliminary draft of the constitution and bylaws. Free enterprise, managed though it was, was not dying easily. Young - :

: : ^

•

, •

.'/•,

' • "

%S\ v *

Stock Appraisal Book for the United Order of Kanab 1874, original, LDS Archives. William Henry Solomon, "Diary of the Arizona Mission," typescript, Lee Library. Stock Appraisal Book, p. 64. Another Hopi, named "Lightning," also joined the Order; see p.

14 15

54.

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reasoned that the surest way to silence the critics was to have the rules come from headquarters, so at the first opportunity he departed for Salt Lake City. Young did not return until August 16, at which time he brought the official documents with him. Two evenings later the leading citizens assembled at the bishop's house to hear them read. W. H. Solomon described the occasion: Aug. 18 [1874] . . . This evening the Const, and by laws of the United Order were read at the Bishops and before the directors and several of the brethren, I among the rest. We were all invited to have our say on the subject. A few thought it meant cooperation and property representation but the majority was in for equality and individual representation or the United Order. Meeting adjourned until Thurs. evening. 16

Resistance to John R. Young had stiffened during his absence. Significantly, the people could not come to a decision on their degree of participation and rebelled against his presentation. The revolt was not confined to Kanab but was as strong, if not stronger, at Mount Carmel. There the dissidents generally bypassed Young and took their questions directly to the higher authority. The Mount Carmel Order received a major setback in midsummer when treasurer Henry B. M. Jolley announced his withdrawal, and the news was transmitted over the Deseret Telegraph. A new officer was appointed on August 2, but the damage had been done. 17 President Brigham Young did not see his nephew as a factor in the dissention but rather blamed Bishop Leithead for a lack of firmness. He then sent Howard Orson Spencer south in September to replace Leithead and preside over the United Order. Brigham Young was a distracted man at this time. Owing to the infirmities of old age he had resigned several minor official positions and on April 6, 1873, had selected five additional counselors, among them two of his sons. The flow of routine business through his office was increasing at a fast rate, and the case of his troublesome wife Ann Eliza Young caused him personal annoyance and robbed him of valuable time. In addition, the harassment of anti-Mormon Gov. George L. Woods and Judge James B. McKean increased his burden. If the president gave only cursory thought to the problem of 16

"Diary of Willian Henry Solomon," photocopy, Henry E. Huntington Library, San Marino, California. 17 Carroll, History of Kane County, 315 - 16.

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the Orders at Kanab and Mount Carmel, who could criticize him? He had to delegate such matters, and his nephew was aggressive and trustworthy. Partly because of his health, but mainly to be out of town when Ann Eliza delivered her antipolygamy lecture in November, Brigham and his entourage left Salt Lake City early this year, on October 29. He arrived in St. George on November 11 and went into semiseclusion. While President Young was on the road, the southern conference was held at St. George on November 6, 7, and 8. John R. Young's position was not strengthened when Levi Stewart and Howard O. Spencer were sustained as bishops of the Kanab and Long Valley wards, the latter replacing James Leithead. 18 In Kanab none dared bypass the nephew openly or go over his head. Nevertheless, open resistance was there and somehow Brigham learned of it. Whether the opposition got through to headquarters or the president of the Order acquainted his uncle with his problems is not known, but President Young sent a letter to the Kanab brethren telling them to unite the positions of president and bishop in one man â&#x20AC;&#x201D; no doubt intending that Bishop Stewart be elected president. This was the same solution he had employed at Mount Carmel, but inadvertently the instruction was phrased so that it had two interpretations. William H. Solomon's account of succeeding events appears to be objective: . . . President Brigham Young sent a letter of instructions for the people to elect a President for the order and said let him be Bishop. Levi Stewart was then Bp. of the Ward; As a member of the Ward, I did not consider that we had any authority to change his position and as John R. Young's authority as President of the United Order did not appear to be fully sustained in my mind, I voted for Bro. Stewart to be President and of course Bp. which was sustained by the majority././?. Young having previously promised to sustain whoever was elected butfailing in his promise, in afew hours another party was organized with him at their head as President of the Order. Thus there was again a division of the people, there being two meetings held the Sabbath day representing two parties, one under the direction of Bp. Stewart, and one under the direction of J. R. Young. Being satisfied that the Bp. was the right authority, I rendered myself subject to his direction. 19

18 19

Bleak, "Annals," p. 350. "Diary of William Henry Solomon." Author's italics.

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Either Brigham Young's letter was ambiguous or its semantics deliberately misinterpreted; the hard fact remained that Kanab was more than ever a polarized community. T h e struggle between Levi Stewart and John R. Young found at least three-fourths of the heads of families lined up behind the bishop, while only fifteen out of approximately seventy-five supported Brigham's nephew. John R. Young's version of the showdown is as interesting for what it evades as William H. Solomon for what it tells. It bears out that a few of the favored Stewart as Kanab ward members were piqued at the bishop leader. From Pioneers and it gives the names of his followers, but, and Prominent Men of Utah significantly, it fails to record a vote count. Kanab Dec. 17 1874 To the Presidency at St. George Dear Brethren: We wish to lay before you the results of our meeting in this place in regard to the reestablishment of the United Order. On Sunday, Dec. 13th, the meeting was addressed by Bishop Spencer and Bro. Heaton of Long Valley upon the principles of the Order. The instructions given by the Presidency to the brethren at Kanab were read by Bro. John R. Young and notice given for the people to assemble on Monday at 10 oclock for further instruction. The people assembled and were addressed by Bros. John R. Young, Spencer, and Heaton, and instructions of the president again read. The afternoon was set apart for an Order meeting for the people to gather and vote for whom they wished to be President of the United Order. There was a general gathering of the people large and small. Some of the brethren supposed it was a convention, and there was manifest a disturbing element in the meeting. Bro. Levi Stewart was put in nomination and quite a vote was taken for him. The contrary vote being called, there was quite a vote of opposition to him, many not voting, waiting for another nomination, which was not made and the meeting adjourned. On the 15th the brethren, whose names appear below, assembled at Bro. Oliphant's to give expression to their feelings in regard to entering into the Order in the Spirit thereof; Not feeling willing to sustain Bishop Levi Stewart as their President and make choice of the man whom they felt had been sent to lead in the United Order by the Presidency, we unanimously feel to sustain Bro. John R. Young as President of the Order at this place, our wives and children coinciding with us in the move to carry out the instructions given by the Presidency last spring in uniting us as a family. Cultivating that unity and peace necessary for progress in the Work of God.

756

Utah Historical Quarterly We are anxious for your advice and counsel, approbation or disapprobation in regard to our movement on the matter but we could not feel to unite in the Presidency of Levi Stewart in the United Order but feel desirous of carrying out the instructions of the Presidency under the man we feel who has the Spirit of the Order. We have consulted with Bro. Young and find him willing to act as our President with your approval and blessing. We wait your answer with instructions directing our further movements. J. C. Brown Chas. H. Oliphant Jehiel McConnell A. A. Dewitt Lorenzo Watson

Wm. A. Black Z. K. J u d d Jas. L. Bunting Thomas Robertson Ira Hatch

Jas. H. Lewis James A. Little Thos. Dobson George Watson Brigham Y. Baird 20

This letter was undoubtedly initiated by John R. Young and was a bold power play for support. He knew the condition of Brigham Young and was aware that his retinue shielded him from many details. And he banked heavily on the fact that the St. George stake president was none other than his own cousin and bosom friend, John W. Young (who had been named to this position after the death of John R.'s brother Joseph W. Young). Subsequent events indicate that Brigham Young never saw the letter signed by the fifteen supporters of his nephew. Eventful 1874 came to an end, and on January 5, 1875, the bishop set up his United Order organization. With himself as president, Levi Stewart appointed J. H. Standifird and Taylor Crosby first and second vice-presidents and F. M. Farnsworth secretary. Standifird, Crosby, and F. M. Hamblin constituted the executive committee. 21 While the dual drivers of the United Order wagon were maneuvering at Kanab, Howard O. Spencer was having his share of trouble at Mount Carmel. Here the people were divided between the individualists of an acquisitive society and those communally minded souls reaching for a Mormon Utopia. The first group simply would not accept the United Order as presented by John R. Young. Bishop Spencer, seeing the basic differences between them were irreconcilable, advised those of one mind to establish a new town. Accordingly, the advocates of the Order began moving up the valley on February 20, 1875, and soon established Orderville. Bishop

20 21

Minute Book of Kanab United Order, pp. 82 - 84, original, LDS Archives. Standifird Journal, January 5, 1875.

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Spencer's Solomon-like decision not only satisfied the Jolleyites at Mount Carmel but allowed the opposing side a freedom of choice which effected the formation of the most outstanding United Order to be spawned by the movement. In the absence of Howard Spencer's wise leadership at Kanab, events there continued toward impasse. Bishop Stewart controlled the disposition of land, and he refused to allot a parcel on which the rival group could erect a meetinghouse. Nevertheless, Young persisted in maintaining his nominal organization and on the first of March enfolded his faction of the Order in the garment of legality by appearing at Toquerville (then the seat of Kane County) and organizing formally through the probate court. He then wrote Brigham Young of his action. 22 Knowing that time was running out, Young was moved to desperation and sent his uncle another letter in which he pointed the finger directly at his antagonist. He did not sign this letter but the writing is unmistakably his. He slanted his case and distorted the situation in several particulars. At least one-fourth of the twenty families he claimed in support were the plural wives and children of his constituents, and he denied the existence of the bishop's Order. Of course his main point was to bring up Stewart's refusal to grant him land. Kanab, Mar. 1st, 1875 Prest Brigham Young Dear Brother; The United Order of Kanab is now fully organized and consists of 20 families of this settlement. There are quite a number who have not felt to join us in this organization. It is now over two months since the division of the people and still there is no other organization but our own. Our Bishop, Brother Levi Stewart has not joined us but constitutes one of the outside element. The interests of the United Order will of necessity sometimes clash with what suppose to be their interests. How far it is the privilege of the Order to act independently for its own interests under our circumstances is a question which now presents itself for our consideration. Since the division of the People we have held an Order meeting on two Evenings each Week when it did not conflict with the Ward meetings but have as usual attended the ward meetings on the Sabbath. Some of the preaching in the Ward Meetings has been rather calculated to irritate than otherwise. We no longer feel the Spirit of brotherhood in them which alone can make an attendance on them Pleasant and desirable. In their 22

John R. Young Letterbook, LDS Archives.

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Meetings the Sacrament has not been Administered for over three Months, the propriety of this we do not question but it is our privilege to observe this ordinance in our O r d e r when there is Union and harmony. At this writing we are united in our desires to carry out your Counsels, last spring with regards to collecting together. It is not our privilege to select a piece of unoccupied ground where we may carry out this Counsel. We think about a year has elapsed since the teachers have labored among the People. It is the privilege of the O r d e r to appoint teachers to labor with its own members. O u r present position is without precedent in our past experience. Your advice on these points and any others on which you might feel that advice would be beneficial, would be thankfully received. Your Brethren in the Gospel. 23

Upon reading his nephew's complaints, President Young immediately got to the roots of the situation, and his reply must have scorched the paper. Regrettably it has not been preserved, but the now abject nephew wrote the following letter of blame-shifting and apology, the entire exchange taking place in little more time than was required for the r o u n d trip between Kanab and Salt Lake City. 23

Ibid.

Kanab meetinghouse as it appeared in 1907. Utah State Historical Society collections, courtesy of the Heye Foundation.

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United Order

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March 23, 1875 President B. Young, Dear Brother, By request of John W. Young, acting President of the Southern Stake of Zion I went to Kanab and undertook to direct the labors of the Brethren in the United Order, with the understanding that as soon as John W. could visit us he would arrange so that I could have the liberty to act according to my own judgment in directing the labors of the Brethren, and I certainly believed that you know and approve of John W.s calling me to Kanab. I have remained and labored in that ward because I felt it my duty to sustain and honor John W. Young in the position that he held. I may have had more zeal than wisdom and ever wishing to improve in the future by experience of the past, I shall be more cautious hereafter in responding to calls of the Brethren who Preside over me in a Local Capacity. And I now respectfully submit to you that upon my return home I shall decline Presiding over the Brethren Working in the Order and refrain from taking part in any Responsible Position Unless I am counseled to by the Presidency of the Church to do otherwise. T h e enclosed letter was written and read at a general meeting of the Order, and I would be pleased to take your answer to the Brethren. I pray for Peace, Power and Wisdom to be given you. I am very truly Your Brother in the Gospel Covenant. John R. Young 24

While John R. was in suspense as to the disposition of his situation, his faction was jolted by James Bunting's resignation from the board of directors and the Order. This candid man said he desired to concentrate his labors and property at the tannery. Bunting was an outspoken individualist, forceful and unpredictable. Some criticism was directed his way, but he was respected by his peers and his withdrawal was a blow to the organization's prestige. To break the stalemate, Bishop Stewart sent his resignation to Brigham Young; but no action was taken for some time, and he continued with his duties. Finally, on August 8, a telegram brought the word that L.John Nuttall of Provo had been appointed bishop to replace Levi Stewart. 25 Late in the month President Young wrote his nephew that the new bishop, in an effort to unite the community, also would assume the presidency of the United Order.

2 *Ibid fohn R Young thus revealed he was aware that his cousin, as president of the St. George Stake had signed his letter of appointment on March 8,1874. Yet he forgot this fact when he wrote his Memoirs ofJohn R. Young, Utah Pioneer, 1847 (Salt Lake City, 1920), 153. In his summation, however, Young acknowledged that the divided leadership was "wrong in principle." 2 ^'Diary of Allen Frost, 1838 - 1901," August 8,1875, photocopy, Lee Library. Frost was in Mount Carmel at the time.

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Utah Historical Quarterly Salt Lake City Aug 30 1875 Elder John R Young Kanab Dear Brother Elder L. John Nuttall has been ordained a Bishop under the hands of myself and President Wells and set apart to relieve Bp Levi Stewart at Kanab and will take charge of the general interests of the people of that settlement. With the view to unite the hearts and feelings of the brethren and consolidate and strengthen the interests of the people we deem it advisable for you to resign the charges committed to your care into the hands of Bp Nuttall that there may be one directing hand in all the affairs and business of the Saints. We hope you will aid him by such information as he may need from time to time Transfer to him all books papers property &c belonging to your stewardship and assist him from time to time as opportunity may offer and you may be able as a fellow laborer in the Church and Kingdom of God. Any appointment that Bp Nuttall and the people may call you to fill in the United Order We wish you to accept and fulfill to the utmost of your ability and to the best interests of the Church and all concerned. Your kind attention to the foregoing will be of material aid to Bishop Nuttall and will oblige Your brother in the Gospel Brigham Young Daniel H Wells of the First Presidency of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints 26

Kanab was filled with distinguished visitors when the new leadership was presented on September 17. Daniel Wells represented the First Presidency; Apostles Lorenzo Snow, Erastus Snow, and Franklin D. Richards headed a host of other dignitaries which included "Traveling Bishop" Amos Milton Musser, Robert T. Burton, Joseph C. Taylor, and of course Leonard John Nuttall. The brethren met at the home of Charles Oliphant, and John R. Young presided when the meeting opened at noon. After some preliminary business, chairman Young got to the main purpose which was a surprise to no one. He read the letter from Brigham Young, then tendered his resignation from both the presidency of the Order and the board of directors. The first was accepted, but he was held on as a director to facilitate the transfer of business. 27 As soon as the visitors were out of town Nuttall plunged into the job of unifying the community. The rift in the ward had 26 27

Minute Book of Kanab United Order, 116 - 17.

1 bid.

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been deep; without compromise, reconciliation of the divided brethren was impossible. Nuttall showed his ability when he set up the new organization on January 3, 1876. Former adversaries were teamed, necessitating cooperation. Ex-bishop Stewart was made first vice-president, and Thomas Robertson â&#x20AC;&#x201D; who had supported Young and been his vice-president â&#x20AC;&#x201D; was now second vice-president. Another of Young's men, the talented James H. Lewis retained his job of secretary. Abel A. Dewitt and Joseph G. Brown, other supporters of Young, were made directors, Brown replacing Young who had declined. Stewart's old organization was represented by directors John Standifird and Taylor Crosby, while John Rider was made treasurer. When the meeting broke up that afternoon, fifty-eight heads of families enrolled in Kanab's lone United Order. 2 8 Even with his auspicious reorganization Bishop Nuttall had not enrolled all the people into the fold. And the fifty-eight on the roll had nearly that many ideas regarding division of labor and degree of private ownership. Passing travelers observed the rejection of Order principles and noted that the brethren of the Kanab Order were not as united as they should be and that many had withdrawn. 29 New officers were elected a year later, with different men replacing some of those from the days of the rival organizations. Among those dropped was Levi Stewart. (His one-time antagonist John R. Young had moved to Orderville over a year before.) But the new officers helped little. Allen Frost noted the steady disintegration when he wrote on March 8, "several citizens of Kanab are getting ready to move over into Arizona. A noticeable feature of the move is, that most that are moving did not see fit to be in the United Order up to date. . . . " A few months later he wrote, "A strong feeling of dissatisfaction is showing itself in many members of the U.O. which is a sweet morsel to the opposition party. There seems to be a crisis drawing near. . . ."30 By this time Kanab's version of the Order bore little resemblance to that at Orderville but more closely resembled a loosely knit group of cooperatives with an overtone of stewardship. A valiant effort was made to arrest the deterioration of morale. On April 18 Apostles John Taylor, Orson Pratt, Lorenzo Snow, and

Ibid., pp. 123 - 24. See also Standifird Journal, January 3, 1876. Standifird Journal, January 6, 1877. 30 "Diary of Allen Frost," March 8 and August 24, 1877.

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Erastus Snow conducted a two-day meeting which culminated when Kanab Stake was organized and L. John Nuttall added stake president to his other titles. Orderville, now expanding at a fast rate, contributed Howard O. Spencer as Nuttall's first counselor and Thomas Chamberlain to the high council. But these two men — representatives of a successful communal organization — made little impression on the proponents of private ownership. Offsetting the Orderville influence were Henry B. M. Jolley of Mount Carmel (where the Order never got started), James Leithead of Glendale (where it lasted only a year), and Sextus Johnson of Johnson and Allen Smithson of Pahreah (where the Order made no significant impression.) The apostles had not favored those who were successful with the Order when it came to organizing the stake. Clearly, the handwriting was on the wall, for in June President Nuttall, James Lewis, and Allen Frost began overhauling the Order's accounts. Then to alleviate one of their labor problems the board agreed in midsummer to turn their cattle and surplus stock into the Winsor Co-op herd. 3 1 Transactions between private parties were the rule now rather than the exception, and in September David K. Udall exchanged part of his townsite property and twenty-five acres of pasture for $600. 32 There was an unmistakable drift toward private enterprise. Kanab's United Order did not come to a sudden dramatic end; it died gradually, from atrophy. Brigham Young's death on August 29, 1877, speeded the disintegration, and the opening of public lands in the area a year later finished the process. Too, John Taylor, who succeeded Brigham Young as church president, viewed the United Order as a social Utopia presently beyond the reach of the people. By the end of 1878 he had replaced many Orders with Zion's Central Board of Trade — a distinct step toward a modified system of cooperatives. 33 But the people were not satisfied with stewardship or having land vested in a trustee. Two of Kanab's independent souls, Edwin Ford and Samuel Haycock, spoke up in public meeting to say that people wanted land in their own names, that many felt that way but would not come forward. President Nuttall, aware of the general sentiment, commended the men for expressing their feelings. 34 ""Journals of L. John Nuttall," July 7, 1877, typescript, Lee Library. Ibid., September 23, 1877. 33 Arrington, Great Basin Kingdom, 342 - 44. ""Journal of L. John Nuttall," July 23, 1878. 32

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Ironically, Brigham Young's solution of the Kanab problem carried within it seeds for its own failure. The talented Nuttall was destined not to remain in southern Utah administering the affairs of the independent pioneers but to return to Salt Lake City to assist the new church leader. President John Taylor, his father-in-law, called him to the capital that fall to help unsnarl the tangle of church property from the Brigham Young estate, then kept him on as his private secretary. Before going north Nuttall had visited Johnson and Pahreah, apparently taking a good look at the qualifications of William D. Johnson and Allen Smithson. On December 9, 1877, while the stake president was in Salt Lake City, Johnson became Kanab's third bishop. LJnfortunately, Bishop Johnson was not the "strong man" type who could best deal with the unconstrained townsmen. Physically frail, he was a school teacher who operated a store in the settlement named for his family. He had worked on the Powell survey until the rigors of the job forced him to return home. 35 Kanab needed a man with the strength of a Lot Smith; it received a mild-mannered frontier school teacher. In his own words Johnson said, "I was called to be Bishop here as you know, very young and inexperienced. . . ."36 Nuttall did not return to Kanab until June 2, 1878. The following spring he again was called to Salt Lake City, remaining until the early fall of 1883. Johnson's letters to the stake president continually asked advice regarding his inherited troubles â&#x20AC;&#x201D; squabbles over water and land, labor equalization, and other problems. At times the harassed bishop became desperate. "I am so in need of your counsel and advice in relation to matters here at home and can hear nothing from you that I do not know what to do." 37 Another time he lamented, "Particular pains is taken to chastise me in public . . .," and he expressed willingness for release or "a mission to Arizona, Mexico or any other place." 38 Kanab's decade of social travail could be said to have ended when it became definite that President Nuttall could not be spared from his duties in Salt Lake City. On June 8, 1884, two capable residents were named to provide the full-time leadership which the

35 Herbert E. Gregory, ed., "Diary of Almon Harris Thompson," Utah Historical Quarterly, 7 (1939), 85, 91. 36 Johnson to Nuttall, August 23, 1882, Nuttall Letter Box 3, LDS Archives. rfbid., October 25, 1882. â&#x201E;˘Ibid., September 13, 1882.

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town long had needed. Edwin D. Woolley was appointed stake president, and Richard S. Robinson was made bishop. Despite the ephemeral communal success at Orderville, the people of Kanab undoubtedly represented the vast cross section of Mormon Utah. They were willing to depart from the traditional American concept of the separation of church and state, but they expected the Kingdom of God to be based on free enterprise. Howard O. Spencer had recognized the diverse outlooks of the Mount Carmel people, respected their individuality by upholding freedom of choice, and had built a strong organization at Orderville by separating the polarized factions. More importantly, he had worked within the pattern of the church-oriented society. In sharp contrast, John R. Young failed where Spencer had succeeded because he lacked the latter's respect for the individual. He disregarded freedom of choice and stubbornly believed that the prestige of his name would bend the elders to his will. His readiness to subvert the bishop suggests a degree of selfishness that was beyond toleration in the Kingdom the Saints were striving to build. His legacy in Kanab, after nearly a century, finds the third generation of the men he sought to manipulate still mimicking his highpitched nasal voice. Young subsequently rendered good service to his church and government, and he acknowledged his error at Kanab when he wrote his Memoirs â&#x20AC;&#x201D; years afterward. Levi Stewart, a casualty of a social experiment and another man's ambition, found his years at Kanab both tragic and frustrating. Called from a comfortable home in Big Cottonwood in the spring of 1870, he had cheerfully gone south and arrived at Jacob Hamblin's Paiute farm in June. On September 10 Brigham Young had selected the Kanab townsite and ordained Stewart the settlement's first bishop. On December 14 a disastrous fire in Kanab's log fort claimed Stewart's wife Margery and five of his children. Three years of hardship followed in which the bishop and his persevering flock had scratched a living from the harsh land. The running controversy with John R. Young had lasted a year and a half, followed by another year of secondary duty as vice-president to his successor. Then on June 14, 1878, as Levi Stewart was traveling through Johnson Canyon enroute to Salt Lake City, he died of an apparent heart attack. President Nuttall dedicated his grave as the first in Kanab's new cemetery. Thus Levi Stewart was provided perpetuity from Kanab's turbulent past to the present.

Loreen Pack with her younger sister, Gwen, in 1920.

Memories of a Uintah Basin Farm BY LOREEN P. WAHLQUIST

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A HE UINTAH BASIN, in the northeast corner of Utah, was one of the last areas of the state to be made available for extensive farming and livestock grazing. In 1905 President Theodore Roosevelt allocated over a million acres of the former Uintah Indian Reservation for homesteading by whites. Small farming communities sprang up instantly as hundreds of families staked out their claims. The promise of fertile fields and the prospect that a railroad line to Salt Lake City was "a certainty" led to Utah's last great agricultural land rush. The long anticipated rail line was never built, and soil that turned alkaline dashed the hopes of prosperity that many had envisioned. Over the years water became critically scarce, and the uncompromising drought of the Depression era forced thousands of settlers to leave. Those who stayed stiffened their resolve and applied even greater muscle and ingenuity; but nature remained intractable, and debts continued to mount. Fatigue, discouragement, and persistent privation were staples of the harvest. The letter that follows, originally written in the 1940s for a family scrapbook, chronicles a portion of the story. The author, Loreen Pack Wahlquist, and her husband Charles Frederick (Fred) Wahlquist, were married August 26, 1925. In the spring of 1928 they bought a farm in the Randlett area where they stayed until after World War II. At first reluctant to have this personal account published, they were finally persuaded by relatives that their story, being not unlike that of other Basin residents, is an important contribution to the history of agriculture in Utah. Dear Gwen: How in the world do you expect me to write such a history as you have requested? Why, it would take me from now 'till Christmas to answer all your questions. I'm not sure our history is worth remembering â&#x20AC;&#x201D; it has been too hard a struggle! The only worthwhile thing we have accomplished during our eighteen years of married life is to get us seven fine sons. If we can watch them grown up to fine men that we can be proud of, perhaps our failure to build up the beautiful place we wanted won't seem so important. Here are a few facts concerning the arrivals of our boys. Charles was born twenty minutes to 5:00, September 11, 1926. Fred arrived at 5:20 on the same date. Loreen and Fred Wahlquist now reside in Toquerville, Utah, where they still engage in farming. The letter was written to Loreen's sister, Mrs. Gwen Benson, and was made available for publication with her consent by her nephew, Dr. Reed Wahlquist, present principal of Cottonwood High School in Salt Lake City. Dr. Wahlquist also penned the introduction and assisted with the editing.

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(Yes, I remember the remark Fred made when he discovered he had given me lysol. I was choking and strangling so that mother said "Fred, are you sure you gave her the right stuff?" Fred answered, 'Yes, I'm sure, I got it right out of this bottle." He picked up the bottle, looked at it, and said "My God! I've given her lysol!" Roy Benson remarked afterward that I was pretty tough when 17 pounds of baby and a teaspoonful of lysol couldn't kill me.) Bryan was born at Ioka at 8:00 a.m., September 24,1928. He weighed ten pounds. . . . Wayne was born at 5:00 a.m., November 9, 1931, in our little oneroom log cabin where we first built it up by the road. Maud came and stayed with us several days. We had Dr. Miles and Mrs. Burgi, a very experienced and successful midwife. I think each one resented the other, and as a result there was a terrific feeling of contention and almost battle in everything they did. However, after eleven most agonizing hours our 12-pound boy finally made his appearance. . . . Glen was born at 1:00 a.m., January 21, 1935, in the new room we had added onto our log cabin after we moved it back here in the field. The ground had frozen before we got the dirt on the roof and all our heat seemed to escape out the top. It was a terrifically cold night and the wind was howling. They pulled my bed right over by the stove and tacked quilts up around it to try and keep me warm. I shivered 'till I was almost exhausted. We were unable to get anyone to come and stay who could take care of me and the baby so several of the neighbor ladies took turns coming in once a day to look after us. We got a girl from another community to stay and do the housework. She was a high school graduate but she didn't know what to do except what someone told her. One night when there was no bread for supper we had Charles (who was eight) go make some biscuits because she didn't know how. She was quite thrilled over her first batch of bread, her first pie, etc. . . . Earl was born at 4:00 a.m., J u n e 6, 1938, in the same room where Glen was born, only this time it wasn't cold. . . . Brent, our seventh and last son was born at 8:00 p.m., March 28,1942, at Deone's in Roosevelt. . . . I wish we had done as well with our place as we have with our boys. Our place isn't built up much better now than it was when we had been here only a year. Fred has always spent so much time in some public work that there has never been time for the fixing up around home that makes such a difference. When we first came down here they held church in an old school building at Randlett. Fred was ordained Bishop of the ward November 4, 1928, and was told to straighten out the rowdy bunch of boys and build a church house. It was quite a job, as I have never seen a bunch of boys with less respect for anything or anybody. Fred chose Roy Taylor and Frank Jarman as counselors. The next few years were quite unpleasant. The new bishopric met with some fierce opposition from the parents when they tried to control their boys. It got so I couldn't even go to Relief Society

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Young Fred and Charles with their father, Charles Frederick (Fred) Wahlquist.

without hearing some dig at our "meddling bishop." It didn't seem to bother Fred at all, but it made me furious. I completely lost all interest in the place and looked forward to the time when they would release him from being Bishop and we could move away. In time, however, the boys stopped most of their pranks, the contention died down, and those same people are very dear friends now. T h e next big struggle Fred had as Bishop was to build our church house. During the winter of 1929 the bunch of problem boys accidentally burned the old schoolhouse, for which I was very grateful â&#x20AC;&#x201D; I didn't like going clear to Randlett for everything. For a while we held church in a little one-room school building on the bench three miles east of here while they were working on our new chapel. It was December 8, 1928, that Fred and two other men left for the mountains to get out our church lumber. Some other fellow who was at the saw mill looked at Fred's big grub box and remarked "Why didn't you use that lumber and make a church house?" They were gone ten days that trip. It was quite a strenuous ten days for me. I milked nine cows, had twice that many to feed, and had to drive them half a mile to water and chop holes in the ice. T h e twins were three years old and Bryan was one, so they weren't much help. After Christmas they worked in the mountains again but we loaned all but one of our cows to Henry Wall. He took care of them for the milk. We didn't have many people, so it required an excessive amount of time for those who did work. T h e fall of 1931 Fred put practically his full time over on the chapel.

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We hired Ezra Boun to plow a ten-acre piece of ground and we paid him in bottled fruit and vegetables. I have always had to work outside a great deal because Fred was away from home so much and we have never had the necessary money to hire help. From 1929 to 1942 Fred spent from two to four months of each year working on the church house. During the last stretch of finishing up Fred worked almost every day for six months. Part of the time we divided the women into groups of three or four and took turns serving hot lunches to those who were working. During the winter of 1941 - 42 the women helped a great deal with the cleaning and painting. At last it was finished and was dedicated May 30, 1942, by Nicholas G. Smith. We have also had quite a hopeless struggle financially. We bought this place for $2,800.00 and within a few years we couldn't have sold it for a tenth of that. It seemed that we did everything just wrong. We bought this place just before the drought when people still thought this was a fine country, and we bought that bunch of cows from the folks for a high price just before the depression started. T h e first year our cows did fine and we had high hopes for the future. T h e n prices started a steady decline. T h e drought hit us exceptionally hard here and we were unable to raise enough hay and grain for our stock. Some years our grain burned completely and there was no harvest. During the year 1931 we had a chance to sell our five best cows for $70.00 each. T h e spring before we had lost five cows from eating grasshopper poison and to part with five more of the best cows would feave us with scarcely any cream check but still with a debt of over $3,500.00, so we turned it down. It was a big mistake, as prices dropped so low we got practically no returns from the cows and we couldn't sell them at any price. T h r e e years later we sold all but a few of them to the government for sixteen dollars a head because we had no feed for them. T h e price of butter fat got as low as eleven cents a pound and eggs eight cents a dozen, and no one wanted them even at that price. Our biggest problem has always been water â&#x20AC;&#x201D; 1 mean the lack of it. We have had to pay high assessments and much of the time our ditches have been dry. We have had so few people that it has been a real struggle to maintain our long canals. T h e summer of 1935 the Indian Department stopped furnishing us garden water so Fred and Frank J a r m a n leased a piece of Indian land three miles away. For the next two summers we raised our gardens there, traveling back and forth in a rickety old iron-tired wagon. We would take our barrels along and haul water home to help some of our trees and shrubs to live. . . . T h e year 1934 was such an extreme drought all over the country that there was no feed for stock. T h e federal government came to the rescue in a fashion and bought up the cows people couldn't feed for from $12.00 to $20.00 a head. They paid $4.00 a head for sucking calves, then killed them and let people take them home to eat if they wanted to. Mr. J o r d a n (the banker) had told us to sell the cows and they would allow us two dollars for one on the note. We sold all but a few of our fine milk cows for $16.00 a head and turned the money over to the bank but it still left us owing them

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$900. That fall we paid the rest off from our alfalfa seed on the same basis — they allowed us two dollars for one. O u r alfalfa had been so dry that it had made only about a six-inch growth so we let it go to seed. We got 25 bags of seed and sold it for $627. T h e day Fred sold the seed he came home broke but our few remaining cows were really ours, our doctor bills and several other small bills were paid. It was a glorious day even though we hadn't bought anything and didn't have a nickel left. That left us with a debt of $1,900 on the place and the water. During the year 19— we got a F.E.R.A. project to build us a schoolhouse. They hired some brick moulders and made the brick here. When they got through, Fred and several of the men who had been working there made some brick for themselves. We sold ours but we didn't get over wanting some to build with and also some more to sell. T h e desire finally led us to buy the brick press and get ourselves once more terribly deep in debt. O u r crops had failed so many times that we weren't making any progress and that seemed a way out. Fred and Blake Peay went into the brick business as partners. Fred didn't know anything about brick making and Blake didn't know very much so they had lots to learn and made lots of mistakes. We sold quite a lot of brick but not enough to pay back the cash we had put into it. Fred and the boys worked up there for two summers with no wages at all. I didn't work at the brickyard but I did run their errands and feed the gang. That first summer I sent lunch for 13 and often had as many as 18 for supper. I baked 35 biscuits and 8 loaves of bread every day. Occasionally I would run short and have to make baking powder biscuits. We had lots of fun during those two summers even though it was hard work and it kept taking more and more of our livestock to keep it going. We found it very interesting and we had high hopes for the future but the war came along so we couldn't get gas or coal so we had to quit. We still haven't lost faith in it, and some day when we can get gas and coal again we will profit by our past experience and make it pay us back for all the disappointments. Another venture we went into was our molasses making. Some of the neighbors who had come from southern Utah had a cane mill and after working with them a year or two, we decided to get an outfit of our own; that is, us and Lorin Harris. We built the furnace and set up the outfit at Harris'. During the falls of 1939- 1940 and '41 we made the molasses down there. I always had the cooking to do and it was pretty hard for me to get down there by daylight in the morning and work until after dark at night, especially when I had a bottle-fed baby. T h e fall of 1942 we set up the outfit here at home. This fall— 1943 — we bought Harris' share in the outfit for 50 gal. of molasses — the value of what they had put into it. We decided to try and fix up the cane mill to run with a gas motor instead of a horse. After Fred and two hired men had worked on it for three days, they gave it up and decided to use horses. It would run fine with the motor while it was empty but soon as it was loaded, it would break the cogs. This fall, 1943, our molasses making has been a real job. We cooked over 700 gal. In order to get through before it got too cold, we had to run

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night and day and it takes quite a crew to keep it going. For more than two weeks, Fred and I never got more than four hours sleep out of the twenty-four and often we got less. By the time we finished, we both were about ready to collapse. O u r molasses hasn't been any great asset financially either but it is fascinating work and we really enjoy eating it. We use the skimmings and make our own vinegar. For the most part we have skimped along on what we made and sometimes we had pretty slim rations. For about a year and a half during 1931 - 32 our income ranged from four to six dollars a month. T h e case worker finally convinced us that we had better accept a relief order so Fred could get in on some of the F.E.R.A. and W.P.A. work. One cold December day we hitched the horses onto our old rickity white-top buggy, took our three boys and our $8.00 relief order and drove 12 miles to Sing's store to buy some underwear for the boys and some overshoes for Fred. We got the things picked out, then Fred swallowed his pride and handed the clerk the order. He looked at it and said, 'Oh, on the county?" T h a t was too much for Fred and he said, "Here, hand me that thing." H e took it, walked over to the stove and threw it in and we headed for home. T h e next few days I performed what had seemed the impossible on some old discarded underwear; Fred put a mob of tire patches on his old overshoes and our crisis was passed once more. However, Fred still couldn't get any work so the case worker finally got a small order of goods and brought them to us so Fred could be on the "honor" roll and could get some much needed work.

'The log cabin we lived in before we built our brick shop home."

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During the summer of 1935 Fred got a chance to work on the highway between Vernal and Roosevelt. He was to get $10 a day for himself and 4 horses and that sounded like riches to us. We didn't get it all as we had to hire some of the horses. We have put in a lot of pretty hard licks, but that was by far the most strenuous summer we have ever experienced. I worked out in the field all the daylight hours, irrigating, preparing ground and planting, then I had chores to do. I would come in about 10 o'clock at night and start in on my day's dishes and separator, mixing bread and doing a little cooking for the next day. The twins were eight years old and they did some chores but they hadn't yet learned to milk the cows so that was my job. Fred put in his eight hours up on the road, took care of his four horses, then many of the nights he rode the pony the six miles home to help a few hours with the work here. He would snooze a few hours then ride back to work. Several times we put in nearly an all-night shift and then he rode back to work after one or two hours of sleep. During haying time he was on night shift up there so he would come home and work at the haying during the daytime. During the stretch when he was getting off at midnight there came a real stormy stretch. One day we had a regular cloudburst, and when Fred was ready to come home a big wash they had to cross was just booming with thick muddy water. There was no bridge but the crossing was built up higher. The force of the stream pushed Fred's horse off the road and she had to swim. She was floundering around trying to get out when the cinch broke and Fred and the saddle sank clear out of sight. When he came up he made for the bank and some of the men were there to help him out. They tried to persuade him to stay at the camp that night, but he knew I would be worried so he rode on home in his sopping wet clothes. It was such a black miserable night that I was horrified at the thought of his riding home through that rough country with water booming down every little gully. How I did wish that I could know that he was staying at camp that night, but oh, what a relief it was when he rode in. I suppose anyone looking at our place would think we cared nothing about beauty; no lawns, shrubs, or many flowers, but it isn't this way because we haven't tried. My one extravagance through all these years has been buying a few things each spring from the nursery catalog. During the hot, dry summers I have watched most of it burn and die. We have planted lawns but the same thing happened to them. We have hauled barrels and barrels of water to keep some of our trees and shrubs alive. During the summers of 1935 the Indian department stopped giving us garden water so Fred and Frank Jarman leased a piece of Indian land three miles away. For those next two summers we raised our garden up there and hauled barrels of water home to put on our trees and bushes. We would go up there and see the big stream of water just running into the wash and the trees and bushes here dying for want of water. It was pretty hard to take. I don't know why we have stuck with such an impossible situation. Perhaps we are just too stubborn to admit that we are beaten. To live in this country one needs a strong back and a weak mind. Our minds qualify ok, but I am not so sure our backs will hang out.

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We have had a hard old struggle all right, but our lives haven't been as drab as this letter may indicate. Perhaps it is sorta like Brother Knight says, "The Lord tempers the wind to the shorn lamb." We have had some satisfactions from our work and we have enjoyed to the fullest lots of parties and dances. I told you we had managed without accepting much help. I meant from charity organizations. We have had a great deal of help from our relatives. Up until about two years ago I made all my dresses (except summer cottons), and practically all of the boys' coats, jackets, trousers, and some of their caps and mittens from old clothes given to us. Our folks from both sides have helped us out a great deal with generous Christmas presents and contributions at the time of each new arrival. During the spring of 1929 I had an experience with our cows that left me almost a nervous wreck for the rest of the summer. It was the time I had to stick one. I was unusually scared about bloated cows anyway since helping Mother that time she had to stick one, and for no reason at all I was also nervous about being alone at night. That night Fred had gone the six miles to Randlett to Mutual. It was a dreary, black night with aterrificwind blowing. I was trying to concentrate on some sewing but wasn't succeeding very well as I was too nervous. For quite a little while I had been conscious of an unusual noise but I kept telling myself it was just the wind and I tried not to hear it. All of a sudden it dawned on me that it was the groans of a bloated cow about ready to drop. For just a few seconds my courage stood in the balance, then I grabbed my scissors and raced for the corral. I was nearly there before I realized that it was so black I couldn't even see the cows. I dashed back and finally succeeded in making my shaking hands get the lantern lighted, fearing every second that I would be too late. I had no trouble in locating my cow. My first glimpse of her reminded me of the animals we used to make by putting match sticks into potatoes. Her legs were spraddled out, her neck stretched forward and down and her tongue hanging out of the side of her mouth. I quickly located the proper spot and jabbed with my scissors but it made no slightest impression. I fairly flew back to the house and grabbed both butcher knives. I used the one with the longest blade and jabbed with all my strength. It sank in clear to the handle and the stuff flew halfway across the corral. I guess I hit just right because the hole stayed open and she was soon breathing normally. My troubles weren't over, however, as there were groans coming from all over the corral. Our bull had got pretty mean and I was scared stiff of him, which didn't help my peace of mind. I finally succeeded in getting gags into the mouths of two more of the worst ones. At last grunts all ceased. I went to the house and also went all to pieces. One summer that was quite trying at times for all concerned was the summer Peay's stayed with us. Fred had arranged the deal for them to buy back their old place. The house on it had burned down several years before so we told them to come here until they could get a cabin to live in. They arrived here March 15, 1938, with all their belongings in their car and 35c in their pockets. We had just three rooms but we had a big 14' x 16' tent

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where we slept all the kids. Our income was very small and it was a real struggle to find enough food to feed fourteen people three times a day. Sometimes I felt that I just couldn't face another day of it. I guess I served some pretty skimpy meals but we all managed to live through it without any ruined health or any arguments or disputes of any kind. Having them here made it possible for us to get away and take that trip to Idaho and on up through Yellowstone Park. We managed to have lots of fun that summer even if we didn't any of us have any money and were so thick in our little tucked-up house that we nearly tromped on each other. During October Peays got their cabin fixed and moved into it. Through those discouraging years we did manage to make a few worthwhile purchases and improvements. The first one was the fall of 1930. Mother and Dad drove out here after us and took me and my three boys to Idaho for six-weeks visit. When Fred came after us he came in our first glassed-in car. A Model T Ford that he bought on the way to Idaho. As we were driving home it started to rain and how marvelous it seemed to us to just turn a handle and have the windows go up, instead of getting the boys out of the back seat so we could tip it up and get the window curtains and then stand out in the rain while snapping them on as we had always done before. The next important thing we did was to get us a cistern. We got it finished in November 1935. Before that we had hauled water in barrels from any place we could find it and during the winters we melted ice or snow. We had resolved not to go into debt for anything we could get along without. Fred had suggested a number of times that we send for a gasoline washer but I wouldn't consent; I didn't want any more debts. As a result I had washed by hand for twelve years and developed an absolute horror of wash day. Getting the water was a real trial. In the summer when there was water in the ditch, we would dip up barrels of water and stir alum in it to make the mud settle, but most of the time our ditches were dry so we hauled water from any place we could find it. In the winter time we melted snow or ice. One day I went in to sort the clothes ready to wash; but as I looked at that awful pile of dirty clothes, I felt such a repulsion and hatred for them that I kicked them viciously back into their corner. I went out and told Fred I just had to have a washer or I was ready to burn that pile of clothes. We got the catalog and made out an order for a gasoline washer to be paid for at the rate of $5.00 a month. It was shipped to us on June 24, 1937. The next November we got our first little radio and added it on to the account. One day in August 1939, Fred and I were traveling along the highway and stopped at Jim Eskleson's at Gusher to have a tire fixed. While we were there he asked Fred if he knew of anyone who might be interested in buying a Delco light plant. He wanted to sell his as the power line had come through. Fred answered "Yes, we might be." I thought he was just trying to be funny, but he kept asking questions and I kept watching him, trying to figure him out. I couldn't believe that he was serious but as he talked on

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about terms and details, I almost held my breath with anxiety. Well, to make a long story short, we made a deal to trade a fine buckskin horse (of which we were very proud), our best cow and three head of long yearlings for the Delco. We were to deliver the stock and they were to deliver and install the Delco, which they did about a week later. To press a button and have such bright lights seemed a wonderful miracle to me. I had never had electric lights before in my life. During most of these struggling years we have enjoyed good health. We called on doctors for our new arrivals, but for everything else except for a very few occasions we got by with administrations and what we could do ourselves. . . . Wayne was the only one of the boys that was ever very seriously sick and I guess that was my own fault. When he was four months old we took him with us to Randlett to a P.T.A. meeting. There was no place to warm his bottle and he was refusing to be good any longer without it so I tried giving it to him cold and he took it without protest. I decided that was much simpler than always building a fire to warm a bottle so from then on I gave him cold milk. I also took him to the garden nearly every day which was a quarter of a mile from the house and I would put him in the dry ditch in the shade of some big thistles which was all the shade there was, and I would leave him there while I planted garden. He always ate good but he got so he fussed a good part of the time. He got steadily worse until he cried practically all the time and after each feeding he would really scream. For six weeks he never slept more than an hour at a time and both Fred and I were just about to the collapsing point. When your income is only about $4.00 a month and it takes about $1.25 to make a trip to town, you don't take trips and seek the help of a doctor unnecessarily. When we did finally take him, Dr. Miles treated him for sinus trouble, had me warm his milk, and had us get him a prescription which cost us half a month's income. He gradually improved and after a few more weeks he was a good natured baby again. We had one very near tragic accident with Wayne. We were going to plant some grain by broadcasting it as we didn't have a drill. I always drove the team up and down the field while Fred sat in the back of the wagon and scattered the grain. He sat Wayne upon the seat and I started around the wagon to get in on the other side. Fred was holding the lines but the horses were rather flighty and took a quick step forward. Wayne lost his balance and fell out the other side of the wagon with the top of his head right in line with the front wheel. Fred jerked the horses to stop them and then they backed. I got there just in time to see the front wheel hit Wayne's head but instead of running over it, it pushed his head backward and just scraped the skin off his forehead. As we picked him up and looked at that poor bloody face, we felt such a deep sense of gratitude that it was only some skin instead of the whole top of his head. We had a few other accidents or at least scares with our boys. When Glen was three years he had gone with his Dad to get a load of straw. About a quarter of a mile from home, Fred tied the lines and

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stepped around to the back of the wagon to put up the gate. Just as he went to climb back on, the horses gave a j u m p and headed for the corral on a run. As they hit the corral fence, part of the straw toppled and slid off, the fence gave away, and the horses and wagon headed for the next fence. They had lost some speed so the next fence held the wagon but the horses jumped it and fell in a tangled mess on the other side. It seemed only a few seconds after the horses fell until Fred was there and there came Glen crawling out of the pile of straw not even frightened. The horses were in such a mess we could scarcely tell which legs belong to which horse. Fred had to cut the harnesses in several places in order to get the horses up. A short time after that Charles was out mowing hay with the same team when suddenly they jumped and ran with the mower. Fred was on his way out to the field to change off with Charles when he saw the horses start to run. Instead of running to the side to get out of their path, he turned and raced for the same gate the horses were headed for. Before they overtook him the double-tree broke leaving Charles and the mower; then Fred dashed through the gate and out of the path of the horses. Byron Boyd in telling about it afterward said, "I don't know if that team was gaining on Fred or not, he was sure traveling." About a year before the team ran away with the mower, Fred Jr. had an accident while riding our pony we called "Creamy." She had a beautiful buckskin colt a few months old (our prize buckskin that we later traded on the Delco), and he was following along as Fred started off on his errand. He got just to the gate a quarter of a mile away when we heard a terrible scream. We ran out and saw Fred headed for home as fast as that pony could run. He was so covered with blood he looked like he had been butchered. We grabbed the reins and grabbed him off the horse but before he could tell us what had happened, the colt himself showed us. As soon as he caught up he reared up on his hind feet and began to strike at his mother with his front feet. He had hit Fred in the face and there is still a scar on his lip where the colt's hoof struck him. We have had lots of discouragements but we kept up our hope and courage pretty well until the summer and fall before Brent was born. Perhaps things just seemed worse to me because I was so sick. Both our old cars went to pieces, one right after the other; my washer broke and I had to go back to washing by hand; then the Delco quit us and we were without lights or radio. During the second crop haying Fred got kicked and was laid up for six weeks with a crippled leg. We couldn't get help and some of the hay lay out in the field until Fred could haul it in himself. The boys had nothing but rags to start school in and we had no money to buy new ones. Almost every day one of them would say, "Mother, what can I wear? This has got a big hole in it." I fixed and patched until I was ready to scream at the sight of it. The bank was after us to pay up the nine hundred dollars we had borrowed to run the brick business; we got a reminder of the rest we owed on the press; and the Federal Land Bank was threatening to start foreclosure proceedings if we didn't pay up. It seemed like every place we went someone was after us for some money we owed them, mostly from

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working on the brick yard. T h e r e were very few here who had worked as hard as we had and yet it looked as though we were going to lose everything. I completely lost all interest, hope, or faith in everything. T h e r e seemed to be no feeling left in my heart but bitterness and hatred. T h a t was the year Maurice and Rachel came out to have Thanksgiving with the Bensons at Ioka. We joined them u p there and had a fine time, but it couldn't dispel my gloom. I don't know what Rachel reported when she got back to Idaho â&#x20AC;&#x201D; I only know the results. A few weeks later here came a parcel with more new clothes than we had ever owned before in our lives. T h a t parcel worked wonders at cheering me up. T o have the boys get ready to go someplace without the usual patching and fixing and to know that they were presentable anywhere was wonderful! One day we went to Vernal to inform all our creditors we couldn't pay up and they could do what they pleased. We accidentally met a fellow from the Federal Land Bank and told him our story and after some discussion we signed up new papers on the place, with nothing to pay for almost a year. While we were on our way to the bank to tell them we couldn't pay up, we met Mr. Hopkins, the Farm Loan man. He had known the difficulty we were in and told us he had some money for us if we could come in and sign the papers. We got enough to pay the bank and most of our smaller bills. Since then we have worn our debts down some and feel that we will work out of the hole. I don't know if you can get anything from the jumbled up letter or not. I wrote down incidents as I remembered them, but when I got through I realized I had much more detail than you would want so I'll send only part of it. I think I'll keep it all, though, so you might return these sheets to me sometime. These incidents are interesting to us but would be to no one else. Fred said I should call it "My Book of Horrors". . . . If you can't use any of this don't let it worry you. I know there isn't much time left. I haven't the negatives of those pictures of our home in Ioka. I prize them highly so don't lose them. Dearest Love, Loreen

Loreen Pack Wahlquist from a family photograph taken in 1937.

Sheep shearers line up with their charges. Utah State Historical Society collections, gift of Robert W. Edwards.

The Early Sheep Industry in Southern Utah BY W I L L I A M R. P A L M E R

M-OST OF OUR EARLY pioneers came from the shops and factories of foreign lands. T h e Americans among them were but little better prepared for pioneering. All of them knew little or nothing about sheep, and no one was available to advise them of the range conditions that their animals must face. T h e r e were problems of climate, of forage, and of Indian hazards that were different from anywhere else in the world. So, in trying to build u p their cherished flocks and During the 1940s William R. Palmer, then a member of the Board of State History, gave weekly addresses on Utah history over Radio Station KSUB of Cedar City under the sponsorship of the Bank of Southern Utah. Two of these addresses dealt with the history of Utah's sheep industry. They are ol such interest and importance that the Quarterly is happy to publish this article as it was originally prepared, without bibliographical citations. This article was compiled from the late Mr. Palmer s addresses by his son Eugene Palmer.

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herds, they did many things that seem humorous to the experienced growers of today. Sheep were first brought to the Cedar City area in November 1862 by the Willden family, who later moved to Beaver. They had ten head. As fast as others could get hold of them, every family acquired one or more to produce the wool that was needed to spin the family clothing. They were valued as high as thirty dollars a head. To avoid loss they were kept in a pen at home and fed by hand like pigs. As the years went by, the sheep increased until the families were supplied with the wool they needed. The animals by now were becoming troublesome to care for, and ways were sought to get them away from home where they could pick their own living. At first they were driven out in the morning and brought back at night. Then neighbors put their flocks together and took turns in herding them. Finally a community herd developed and they were brought home only once a year to be shorn. The next step was a co-op herd in which sheep were turned in for capital stock. A wool dividend each year supplied the housewife with the wool she needed. These herds grew into strong business concerns which paid dividends each year that ranged from twenty-five to sixty percent. Sheep stock became the best stock in the country to own. Down into the eighties the people in southern Utah were still spinning and weaving their own clothing, so dividends of wool as well as of meat were regularly declared in order that these commodities might be supplied. In 1876 the company began to purchase land for winter and summer ranges. Their price was $100 for 160 acres of patented land. They paid William Sheperson $300 for his entry covering Antelope Springs, and they gave Joseph Smith $600 for his water rights at Iron Springs. These were special ranches that controlled large, open ranges. They bought 160 acres of land at Iron Springs from Thomas Bladen for $100 and another 160 acres from Charles Ahlstrom at Spanish Hollow, on the mountain, at the same price. Then a time came when the sheep produced a surplus of both meat and wool above that needed locally, and outside markets were sought to consume it. In 1879 the co-op herd in Cedar City exceeded five thousand head, and the management felt that the ranges were being overstocked. So they rented a herd to the United Order at Orderville, "because," the minutes record, "they still have a little

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range left." This herd was turned over to John R. Young at Navajo Lake on August 21, 1879. To find a market for the surplus meat the manager, Francis Webster, went to Pioche, Nevada, which then was a bustling mining camp. He made contracts with a Dutch butcher named Loomis and with Gus Adelman and W. H. Mathews to handle from fifty to seventy-five head each week during the summer months. The price was two dollars per head, delivered in Pioche, and the pelts were to be given back to the seller. So each week a little bunch of sheep was driven to Nevada, and a supply wagon went along to carry food and bedding for the herders and to bring back the pelts from the last delivery. The pelts were valued at ten and one-half cents each, then the company paid seven cents each to shear them, and the shorn pelts were sold to the co-op tannery at twelve cents each. The tanner converted the hides into leather which in turn was made into fine shoes for women and children in the shoe shop which was operated as a branch of the Cedar Cooperative Mercantile and Manufacturing Company, commonly known as the Co-op Store. In 1880 the company sold 942 pounds of shorn pelt wool to the Provo Woolen Mills at twenty-three and one-half cents per pound delivered in Provo. To supply fresh meat to the local people during the summer, the sheep company drove twenty-five or thirty head of fat old ewes and wethers to town every week. Charles Ahlstrom killed them every Friday evening at the old slaughterhouse below town. Early Saturday morning, before the flies became too active, the people rushed to the butcher shop on Main Street to buy a leg (hind quarter) or wing (front quarter) of mutton. It was never cut up smaller than that. Plucks (the heart, liver, and lungs) were given away at the slaughterhouse to the kids who swarmed there like flies on killing days. The company paid Ahlstrom five cents per head for killing and selling these sheep, and in the summer of 1881 he butchered 335 head. Thus his summer's work as community butcher netted Charles Ahlstrom the princely income of $16.75. At this same time sheepherders were paid $1.33 per day. T h e Co-op Sheep Company of Cedar City, which at that time was the only users of the open range, had built its herds up to five thousand head and feared that the ranges were becoming overstocked. Today these same ranges are carrying a hundred thousand

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head, and not many years ago the number was around three hundred thousand. After that herd had been rented to the Orderville people, local sheepmen still had fears that their relief was only temporary. T h e sheep still went on producing a new crop of lambs every year. They would soon be up to five thousand head again, and there were no more United Orders who had a little range left. The company, in one of its meetings, gave serious consideration to this impending problem. One member observed that the practice of allowing herdsmen to give orphaned lambs away was tending at the rate of several hundred head a year to hasten the day of their range doom. Another member sagely observed that nature provided controls for a proper ratio of increase through a certain percent of ewes abandoning their lambs to die, and when those lambs were saved by artificial means it upset nature's own way of maintaining a balance. The question was asked, "Who authorized herdsmen to give pet lambs away?" No such authority had ever been given. The logical conclusion then was that if the herders had no right to give the lambs away, they still belonged to the company and it could do with them what it pleased. It was decided that they must be killed. William Tucker was employed to go from house to house and ranch to ranch and do what nature in the first place intended should be done, kill all dogie lambs. The order stirred up a veritable furor in town, for almost everyone was raising a pet lamb or two. At the first place Tucker visited, the woman of the house met him at the door with a pan of scalding water in her menacing hands and dared him to touch one of her pets. Tucker reconsidered his commission and resigned. The board decided not to appoint a successor and thus the pet lambs were saved and nature's law set aside. Sheep were first taken to the mountain in 1870, where the grass was a waving meadow as high as a sheep's back. Two men were sent with the herd and they had strict instructions to keep them out of the timber. The fear was that bear or other wild animals would get them there or that they might stray away and get lost. One hot summer day the sheep were determined to get into the shade. Here they would have lain quietly until evening when they could have been driven at will. The herders dogged them and fought them back until they were exhausted. Still the sheep persisted. At last the herd scattered and ran in all directions for the timber. One of the men hastened to town to report the disaster. The company president

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called the directors and they took a posse of stockholders and hurried to the mountain. Riding and yelling through the forest like madmen they rounded up the wayward woolies and forced them back to the naked, sunburned hillside. Then with many admonitions to the careless herdsmen they returned to town feeling that they had done a good and heroic day's work. Today, we know that the sheep had more range sense than the men. In one of the early years of the Cooperative Sheep Company there came a very severe winter. The herd was quartered at Iron Springs, a range that had been reserved for them because there was water there. The animals were kept there the year around. They ranged out two or three miles each day and were brought back to the creek every night for water. One day the weather turned bilious, and the herder saw signs of a heavy storm gathering. He moved the sheep two miles south up into the hills and cedars where he would have wood and where there was good sagebrush for the sheep to browse upon if the snow fell deep. That night two feet of snow fell, and the herd was completely snowed in. The herder was very thankful that he had taken the precaution to move to such a favorable place. But in town the old country man who was the company

Sheep were "counted in" for summer pasture in this 1914 U. S. Forest Service photograph by W. S. Clime.

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manager fussed and fumed. On the third day he could stand it no longer, so he hired a dozen men and two teams and wagons and went to the Iron Springs to see how the sheep had fared and to render such assistance as might be needed. Arriving at the springs they found no trace of camp, herder, or sheep, and the manager was greatly alarmed. They yelled and fired their guns but got no answer. Soon they saw smoke up in the hills and hurried to the scene. They found sheep and herder contentedly at rest. The manager was thoroughly vexed for he thought the herder should be out shoveling a trail down to the springs. "What on earth are you doing here?" he demanded. The answer was not quieting. "Just sitting," was the laconic reply. "How long is it since these sheep were watered?" asked the manager. "Three days," answered the herder. "I had no way of getting them down to the springs and they don't seem to be suffering for water anyhow." "You stupid man," fumed the manager, "where were your senses to be caught two or three miles away from the creek in such a storm? Do you think you could go three days without water?" "Yes," answered the herder, "three months if I was up to my neck in snow." "Tut, tut," was the manager's angry retort. The order was given for the sheep to be driven down to the water at once. The wagons and four horses were to break the trail, then the men were to follow behind and tramp it smooth. The manager, two men, and the herder with the dogs would follow and drive the sheep down the trail. A suggestion that some cedar trees dragged behind the wagon would make a better trail than the men could tramp was dismissed as a lazy man's idea. They pushed and dogged and did everything possible to move the sheep, but the stupid things seemed to have no desire to be saved from death by thirst. Foot by foot and rod by rod they were forced down the trail and at last the herd was at the water, but not a single sheep would even smell it. Their only manifest desire was to go back up that trail to the brush and the sheltering hills they had been forced to leave. The manager said it was just cussed, stubborn sheep nature and he would hold them there until they drank if it took a month. He would be as stubborn as they. The wagons and the camps were made across the trail and everyone settled down to await the outcome. Two days later no one had seen a sheep take a drink, and the manager decided to return to town. He took with him the men he had brought but left no instructions with the leader. As soon as the trail was cleared the sheep struck out up to the hills. There had been no feed at the creek

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and no brush for browse, so the herd looked very gaunt and used up. Many of the old and weak ones never got over the jamming they had taken, and the mud that followed the melting of the deep snow was too much for their strength. The losses that spring were frightfully high. It took all of that experience and loss to teach a hard-headed Englishman that sheep need no water when they have snow to lick. But the lesson was worth all that it cost, for the knowledge gained in that costly experience opened a vast expanse of virgin desert country to winter grazing which before had been untouched. There was not an oldtimer in these parts whose memory would not do a turnover at the mere mention of the old Rock House. For him no other description or location or identification need be spoken. Just to say "Old Rock House" to an early day sheepman, shearer, or cattleman would light his eyes with a spark of devilment and he would probably say, "I'll tell you something that happened there once." That old place figured in enough outlandish pranks to fill a book. It was built in the early days of the Cedar Sheep Co-op Company and was intended for a shearing pen. It was a long, narrow building with a dirt floor and stood on the banks of the creek at Iron Springs. It was connected by a chute with the big open sheep corral that ran down into the creek. Enough sheep could be put into the Rock House for a half-day's shearing run. The shorn sheep were turned out at noon and the house filled again for the afternoon run. Along the south wall there was a row of small, high windows through which the tied fleeces were thrown into the wool sacks that hung on frames under the windows on the outside of the building. Shearing at Iron Springs in the early days was one of the big events in which almost everybody took a hand. The men camped in tents and wagon boxes along the creek, while the women at home cooked their food supplies and sent them out once a week on the mess wagon. Some women sent lots of pies, cakes, and pastries, but the man who received them almost had to stand guard with a shotgun if he got a taste. On one pretext or another he would be enticed away from his camp and return to find all his dainties consumed. In those days men rolled their quilts out on the wagon cover and slept on the ground. Any attempt to attain comfort was sissified and woe be to the tenderfoot who tried it. Comfort was strictly against camp etiquette. One spring a fellow came to work at the shearing

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pen with a feather bed. He was teased so much about it that he moved his camp a quarter-mile away off in the cedars. One day while Tobe was industriously shearing sheep some of the roughnecks sneaked out to his camp and lifted his feather bed out on top of an anthill. That night Tobe got little rest, but the next day he got lots of advice about the desirability of moving back with the crowd where his buddies could help keep an eye on things. Once when it was raining too much to shear sheep some of the boys went out and brought in a band of wild desert horses and turned them into the sheep corral. They had a lot of fun riding them bareback as long as they would buck. That night after the camp was sound asleep some of the crowd lassoed a wild horse and took him up to Tobe's camp in the cedars. They tied one end of a long rope to the horse's tail and the other end to the corner of the feather bed and then turned the horse loose. The sleeper stayed with his toboggan sled for only a rod or two, yelling "whoa, whoa" as loud as he could. He rolled out but the horse and tick went off down the desert. Next morning the brush and cedar trees for a mile or more down the country looked like they had feathered out during the night. All the next day every man in camp was cussing the low-down devils that would do such a thing to Tobe â&#x20AC;&#x201D; the guilty ones doing more talking than anyone else. They took up a collection that more than repaid his losses and offered to go out and bring in that wild horse and present him, rope and all, to the injured man. Needless to say, Tobe did not come back with a feather bed. To breed up the quality of their sheep, the company brought in a few head of purebred merinos. They were run on the best ranges and given every advantage that they might increase more rapidly. Everyone thought they were wonderful sheep until shearing time came. T h e natives had light, fluffy fleeces and sheared only three or four pounds each. Shearers were paid five cents per head and with the crude appointments they had, men sheared only from fifty to seventy head per day. The merinos were wrinkly bodied, tight, greasy-wooled fellows that almost defied the shear blades. The coming in of the merino herd was always occasion for groans and profanity on the part of the crew. It was the manager's custom to call the men together for prayers every night and morning. And always a blessing was invoked upon "our flocks and herds." There was a newcomer from England in the crew one spring, and he could not get the knack of using the shears.

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He snipped and snipped all day. If he was lucky enough to get a good run of bare-bellied natives he sometimes got up to fifteen or twenty head in a hard day. When the merinos came in his count dropped to a third of that number. After wrestling with the merinos one hard, hot day the manager called upon Dick to lead in prayer. He made a good and fervent start but when he came to the blessing of the flocks and herds he truly told the Lord how he felt about the matter. He said, "Lord bless all our flocks and 'erds, but this 'ere bloody, greasy 'erd we don't care whether Thee blesses urn or not." It was a long time before proper reverence and decorum could be restored at prayer time. Shearing and wool handling methods in that pioneer day were crude and time-consuming compared with today. Shearers were paid five cents per head as against fifty or more cents apiece now. The fleece, too, is different, as the average then weighed only about four pounds as compared with the eight or nine pound ones today. The shearer of that day ran out into the big corral, caught a sheep, and dragged it into the old Rock House for shearing. When that was done he deftly twisted locks of wool into a string to tie the fleece up, then threw it outside through one of the high windows in the side wall. All this completed, the shearer walked over to a cardboard tacked on the wall, checked down a tally mark under his name and then returned to the big corral for another sheep. Jim Corlett's job was to haul the wool to town and take food and supplies back to the men at the shearing corral. His was the mess wagon. For the hauling job he built a big, tight rack on his wagon, and into it he pitched those fleeces with a pitchfork. Driving his four-horse outfit along under the high windows of the Rock House, he gathered the week's clip of wool off the ground and hauled it to town. Here he unloaded it a fleece at a time through a small window into the basement of the Tithing Office. By this time most of those twisted wool strings had come loose, and the fleeces had lost their identity in a stack of tangled wool. In those days the housewives carded and spun the wool, and wove the cloth and knitted the stockings for the needs of their families. So the first market to be supplied was the townspeople. The sheep company declared a wool dividend every year, and the women brought their sacks to the Tithing Office to receive it. The women came generally because they knew wool better than the men, and they wanted to select their own for they would have to work it up. If

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the family needed more than twenty, thirty, or fifty pounds of dividend wool that was theirs, or if they were not stockholders, they bought it from the company or from a shareholder who had more wool than he needed. After the town was supplied, the balance was sacked up and hauled to Provo or Salt Lake and traded to ZCMI for groceries and hardware. These goods were brought home to Cedar City and sold over the counters of the Co-op Store. ZCMI found a market for most of that wool among the women of Salt Lake City who still were carding and spinning and weaving their own cloth. The sacking of that surplus wool that was to be hauled to the north was done on the floor of the Tithing Office cellar, and it was a backbreaking job. A few fleeces were put into a wool bag, such as we still use, then a man lay down on his back inside the sack and pulling the bag with his hands he crowded the wool tight with his feet. Then he put more wool in and repeated the pressing until the bag was as full as he could cram it. Those bags weighed a third less than the same size bags do today. Billie Harris has been given the credit for the idea of sacking frames under those high windows at the shearing pen. He suggested that instead of the wool dropping onto the ground, it could drop into an open sack and a man standing up inside could tramp more wool into a bag than he could put into it lying down on his back on the floor. The old country manager did not like the idea. He denounced it as a lazy man's way and said that if the wool were packed any tighter than they were doing it that it would rot or heat and burn itself up. However, the method was tried on a few sacks that were to be shipped right out, while enough loose wool was put in the Tithing Office cellar, as before, to supply the town. The change proved to be a big improvement. It saved work and it saved wool and it saved Sheep grazing on their winter range in the western Utah desert. Utah State Historical Society collections.

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Utah Historical Quarterly

bags, for a third more wool could be put into them. Neither did the wool heat or rot. That simple little change in handling effected a great economy both in labor and in shearing expenses. It is still the wool-sacking method used today. The small boys of the town went also to the shearing pen to gather the tag locks. This wool had no value to the owner and anyone was welcome to it. The housewives learned that after washing through many waters the tag locks made the finest grade of mattresses or wool ticks. The wool was not kinked and the mattresses were warm, soft, and fluffy. Tag lock wool when clipped into short lengths possessed some quality absent in the regular wool that prevented matting. In the early days, when wool was the consideration of first importance, wethers were kept until they were six or eight years old. They produced heavier fleeces and were generally fat in the fall when buyers came around to pick them up. During the eighties and early nineties buyers came in and bought them in the spring. Then during the long summer months these herds were trailed in easy stages each day to Omaha, Lincoln, or Kansas City where they arrived in good condition in October. There was open range all the way to these markets, which they reached just at the right time to go into the farm feedlots. Among those who had the experience of trailing these herds to the eastern markets were Alfred Smith, Alfred Froyd, Richard H. Palmer, and John J. G. Webster. As we look back we find many amusing things in the early history of the sheep industry in southern Utah. We laugh at the practices of the pioneer sheepmen and their ignorance of the nature and habits of the animals they prized so highly. But when the backgrounds of those men are considered, the wonder is not that they made mistakes but rather that they had any sheep left. It was a trial and error business. Nearly all of those men had come from the old country. They had been coal miners, factory workers, clerks, and shopkeepers and their total livestock experience consisted in having driven a yoke of cattle across the plains. They knew nothing of the nature of sheep nor could they be expected to know. It was in the hands of the next generation, the sons of the pioneers, that the industry really began to thrive. These boys had grown up with the sheep on the ranges and learned firsthand something of the nature and habits of their charges.

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Utah Historical Quarterly

A HE WATERMASTER'S STICK is the most important piece of equipment he carries, even outranking such time-honored essentials as pliers and pocketknife. One side of the stick is marked with the usual twelve inches per foot and fractions thereof; the other side divides the foot into tenths and hundredths. When asked why, the watermaster will probably not smile outright, but he may allow the corners of his mouth to lift and his eyes to twinkle when he answers, "I measure the saints with one edge and the sinners with the other." In the vast semiarid regions of the West there may be almost as much truth as metaphor in that answer. T h e watermaster will explain that the water tables in his reference charts are designed to be read in tenths or hundredths of feet in order to arrive at the number of cubic feet per second passing through the measuring devices. One cubic foot of water per second running for twelve hours amounts to an acre-foot, or the amount of water required to cover an acre of land one foot deep â&#x20AC;&#x201D; approximately 326,000 gallons. Contrary to Theodore Roosevelt's advice about speaking softly and carrying a big stick, a watermaster must splash loudly to announce he is around and on the job, and he must carry his stick to maintain the delicate balance between a smoothly running canal system arid chaos. He is the referee, official scorer, and timekeeper in the most serious of all games: personal livelihood. Without a system of irrigation there never would have been an agricultural base in Utah; without it there would not be one now. Regardless of a farmer's capital, ingenuity, or other resources, his one indispensible ingredient for success will be an adequate source of irrigation water. In its absence, all else will be of no avail. Naturally, the tolerance for error or misunderstanding in the daily management of this system is very low. A breakdown is almost certain to result in bad feeling, threats, or even violence. T h e watermaster is responsible for ensuring this does not happen, that everyone gets his allotted share but that no one encroaches on the rights of others. Add to his other duties, then, those of whipping boy, sentinel, diplomat, and guardian of the community peace. T h e following incidents and observations are particular as to time and place. Their setting is a western Utah community during Mrs. Johnson, a former school teacher, lives in Delta. She has collected much source material on the early history of west Millard County which is now in the Utah State Historical Society library. This article is based in part on some of her husband Oswald Johnson's experiences as a member of the board of directors of Delta Canal Company for twenty-two years and as watermaster from 1969 to 1971.

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recent years. Yet they are typical enough of Utah in general that they could just as well have come from nearly any farming community during this or a previous era. It was mid-July, when crops could make Jack-and-the-beanstalk growth in the long hours of sunlight if they were irrigated or be stunted in the day's heat if left dry, that a stockholder requested two streams of water at the same time for two different farms. Both streams would come from the same company and the same canal. Apparently the farmer hoped to do the two irrigating jobs simultaneously in order to save his own time and, perhaps, reduce wear and tear on his pickup. When the watermaster turned the two streams through the headgates, the farmer was unhappy that one stream was a foot and a half under the size of the other stream. The watermaster suggested cutting the bigger stream a foot and a half to make both streams even, but the farmer complained loudly, "I ordered two streams the same size and that is what we pay you that big, outrageous salary for. Now, you make that little stream as big as the other stream and right now!" The watermaster put on a convincing act, traveling back and forth between the two headgates, reading measurements, making minute adjustments on both gates, and frequently consulting his little black book's charts. In the course of these dramatics he discretely adjusted the headgates so that three-fourths of a foot was diverted from the larger stream into the smaller, making them equal in size. The farmer, none the wiser, was satisfied. The watermaster, too, was pleased. He had given the farmer his entitled share, but not a drop more, and had avoided an argument. This incident is not an isolated example of the picayune haggling for an imagined or contrived benefit. Consider the case of a small cluster of farms taking water from a huge plastic-lined canal. Pooling knowledge gained from experience, these farmers had organized watering procedures among themselves without benefit of advice from the watermasters. All insisted that the reservoir-like canal be filled almost to bursting before one of them would allow his own headgate to be opened. Then they would jockey their orders, each hoping to be the last one on that lateral to irrigate. The object was, of course, to receive one or two extra acre-feet of water at no charge for "draining the canal." An especially brazen practice involves having the watermaster back up the water in the canal to get it measured through the

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Utah Historical Quarterly

headgate outlet on the highest terrace. Then, usually in the night, the same stream (plus water backed up in the canal) is released onto the farmer's very lowest terrace or level, and all the other farmers taking water from that canal are left high and dry. By releasing such a large amount of water so suddenly, the culprit gets his low-lying ground thoroughly soaked long before daylight. By the time the watermaster makes his dawn checkup, the water is back on the high ground where it started the day before. A high watermark is plainly visible on the ditch leading to the lowest part of the farm, and water still stands on the night-irrigated acres. All this is only circumstantial evidence, however, as there have been no eyewitnesses who could or would testify in court. T h e victimized fellow-irrigators can vent their displeasure on the watermaster, or they may choose to do the same thing themselves on another dark night. Sooner or later all watermasters learn tricks with their measuring sticks, and native intelligence dictates what to do to make sharp practices stick out. Certainly by the end of the irrigation season a watermaster knows what has been taking place, and he has probably already made an adjustment or two in his book. Most large, modern irrigation systems are well equipped at strategic stations with automatic measuring and recording clocks. Experienced watermasters will point with pride to the almost straight, unwavering tracings of the recording pen â&#x20AC;&#x201D; proof positive that water in the big canals runs steady and without visible fluctuations. These water recorders often create interesting situations. One farmer whose land was watered directly from one of the main canals â&#x20AC;&#x201D; and was close to the recording gauge â&#x20AC;&#x201D; was thought to be tapping a little more water in the after-midnight hours than he was charged with in the daytime measurings. One night, when the watermaster had to make a change of streams about four-thirty in the morning at a headgate close by, he thought he caught the reflection of a flashlight which was soon no longer visible. After completing the change and returning to his pickup truck, he lowered his light briefly to the suspect's ditch, and, sure enough, it was almost overflowing. Next day, with the help of a few others who "just happened to stop by" as the watermaster was inspecting the recording made by the pen, the headgate-changer was also called in to look over the tracing. The watermaster asked, "Did you lift your headgate about four o'clock this morning?" "Gosh, no." "Well, this big wiggle on the tracing shows someone did and right close to the

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clock." T h e offender, confronted with the bluff, crumpled and said with awe in his voice, "Now, how the hell did that thing know that I done it at four o'clock?" T h e watermaster's challenge is to see that the water going through headgates on canals, laterals, or single outlets does not vary in volume once headgate readings and measurements are taken. Usually more than one irrigator will be taking water from the same lateral and at the same time during periods of heavy demand. When users finish, the watermaster closes their headgates and opens u p those of the farmers next on the waiting list for that lateral. Whether this transfer of water is upstream or downstream makes no difference. T h e watermaster must anticipate the changes by making them gradually so as to compensate for the temporary variation in volume. Carefully done, these changeovers will be recorded as only

Old-style wooden headgate was lifted to allow canal water to flow into irrigation ditch. Utah State Historical Society collections, gift of Arthur L. Crawford.

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Utah Historical Quarterly

momentary fluctuations on any measuring device. Watermasters must develop this knack through experience â&#x20AC;&#x201D; all of which might not be necessarily pleasant. In some areas the watermaster has as many as one hundred or more outlets to deliver water through and perhaps twenty or twenty-five streams to manage at one time. At peak irrigation periods, he may run two hundred acre-feet of water through those outlets in a day. As each stream is turned to a new user, the watermaster must record all of the figures or measurements that show on the Parshall flume staff gauges or those his measuring stick determines on oldfashioned headgates. He enters the same data on specially printed forms which must be turned into the company office every few days to forestall a pileup of big overdrafts. The watermaster goes through much the same procedure every time a stockholder finishes watering to provide incontestable proof of when a user took a stream, how long he kept it, what the stream was measured at in the morning checkup rounds, and what time it was by the twenty-four hour clock when he gave the stream up. Overdrafts of water are literally water under the bridge and cannot be repossessed in any manner. Overdrafting farmers might be required to rent water from neighbors who happen to have a few water credits to spare in order to cover the amount of overdraft. The key man in this situation is the watermaster with the figures his measuring stick reveals and the promptness with which he gets records and measurements into the secretary at the company office. On one occassion a water company's board of directors voted to hold up the watermaster's salary until all of his customers squared up their overdrafts. The watermaster soon learned to watch like a hawk to see that when a farmer ordered a stream of water, he did not overdraw the amount of his water credits. A water user could draw out all of the water for which he had water credits on the books, but if he wanted to keep on watering beyond that point he had to purchase or rent additional water credits. He could not even have water turned to him in the first place unless he had water credits on the company books. This "water-on-call" system is like having so much money in a bank and writing checks against the amount on deposit. Water users' credits are estimates of the water to be available for each share of stock in the water right of the company. Some companies have reservoir storage so that a reasonably firm estimate of

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the water available for use during the currrent season can be made. Even those without storage rights can predict streamflow rights based on rainfall or snowfall records. Thus, an allocation estimate can be made. In most cases there is cooperation among the companies for the good of all. In some cases, high flows of water might be shared by giving a portion of the water to the storage reservoir in order that such stored water can be used later on in the season. Originally begun by promoters or speculators, the land and water companies guessed at the amount of water needed to irrigate one acre of the new land and called that amount one share. In most early contracts, the one-share-to-the-acre water right was tied to the land. But before long it became apparent that one share per acre was not enough water to raise all types of crops, especially in dry years. The best farmers at present are likely to own two shares of water stock for each tillable acre of land so that they can plant whatever crops they choose and have ample water credits in reserve. In dry years, the watermaster's measurements are of special importance to stockholders â&#x20AC;&#x201D; especially to those who are short on ownership of water stock. It was at such a time just recently that one watermaster returned home and found on the memo pad next to the telephone the message that a certain user would like the water turned out of the canal for a while. Investigating further, he learned that a party had been swimming in the big pond of the canal and had been tubing where the fall-away from the Parshall flume created swift waters. A diamond wedding ring had slipped from one young lady's finger and had disappeared in the current. T h e watermaster immediately telephoned his fellow watermaster farther out on the canal and got permission to shut the big headgates for a while to drain the canal and look for the ring. Neighbors came flocking to join in the effort. After closing the big gates, the watermaster began his search. He had gone but a few feet along the concrete side of the ditch when he caught sight of the diamond ring down in a crack with the sediment swirling around it in the shallow water. He slid down the concrete structure and retrieved the ring with ease. One of the searchers cried, "Old Hebe's found it," and the happy word was passed along to the advanced hunters. The chances of finding a ring lost in swift water in concrete ditches were about as slim as finding the proverbial needle in a haystack, but the experienced watermaster had known exactly where to look. The young lady was the first to

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Utah Historical Quarterly

come running. She threw her arms a r o u n d the watermaster and planted a hearty, grateful kiss on his grinning face. This was only part of his reward. T h e rest was in opening the gates and knowing that the flow of precious water had not been interrupted long enough to make any difference.

Irrigation waterflows through gates and a Parshall flume as it enters a stretch of cement-lined canal on the Delta canal system near Sutherland. Photograph courtesy of Mary Lyman Henrie.

CREDULITY AND LAND PURCHASES.

T h a t land agents exaggerate woefully in their efforts to induce settlers and speculators to make purchases, no well informed person will deny. In the "back to the soil" m o v e m e n t now r u n n i n g wild over the country thousands u p o n thousands are being led to purchase land, laboring u n d e r the impression that the work of planting, cultivating, and harvesting of money-yielding crops from the land when they move u p o n it will prove more pleasurable and no more laborious than the exertion necessary in playing tennis or golf. In fact, in this land matter history is simply repeating itself. . . . (The Deseret Farmer, September 16, 1911.)

BOOK R E V I E W S The Golden Legacy: A Folk History off. Golden Kimball. By THOMAS E. CHENEY. (Santa Barbara and Salt Lake City: Peregrine Smith, Inc., 1973. xii + 155 pp. $6.95.) No matter how quaintly Hebraic in terminology, the word "Zion" to any rock-ribbed member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints means the "gathering place" or any "place," regardless of how ephemerally bounded, where Mormons abide. In the early, more hectic days of the church, the Lord named Missouri as the "place." But after the Missourians drastically changed the Lord's plans, the Great Basin area became the Latter-day Zion with Utah as geographical center. Later prophets have attempted to give the holy name to all of America, but unsuccessfully. Zion still fans out from Utah, in rapidly fading circles, with Salt Lake City as the spiritual center. It is where the Saints reside (or it was, at least up to the last two decades). In order for any non-Mormon to begin to understand this book, and especially to fathom J. Golden Kimball, it is necessary to comprehend not only the peculiar Mormon concept of Zion but to visualize the system by which Saints are admonished, counseled, taught, and preached into the pattern of salvation and the more coveted reward of celestial glory after death takes its inexorable due. The church uses many devices to steer its Saints into the probability of salvation and exaltation. None is more heeded nor more useful than the counseling and exhortation of the "Authorities." T h e General Authorities graduate downward from the president — uni-

versally accepted as prophet, seer, and revelator to the church — his twelve apostles (with their apostolic assistants) — the seven presidents of the Seventies — the stake presidents — and down to the local ward bishops. Any member, of course, no matter how obscure, can be called to speak or function, but the Authorities are the preachers. In tabernacle conferences, in stake conferences, in ward conferences, they thunder The Word. To a dedicated Latter-day Saint, they speak with the passion, wonder, and full guidance of Jehovah. When one of the Authorities preaches, whether in the Salt Lake Tabernacle, or some ward house in Zion's outer bounds, every ear is attuned. For forty-six years, as one of the seven presidents of the Seventies, J. Golden Kimball served as a General Authority to the church. At the time of his death, in 1938, J. Golden Kimball was probably the world's best known contemporary Mormon. This reviewer, having been born into the church, and enough of a rock-ribbed member to heed and respect the General Authorities as they thundered The Word from Zion's pulpits, would have walked ten miles to hear J. Golden Kimball tear into sin, the Gentiles, and/or the t r e a c h e r o u s blandishments of the world. Golden, an all-but-forgotten son of Apostle Heber C: Kimball, added little grace to any pulpit. He was six feet three inches in height, skinny and

198 slender enough to blow away in a breeze. His balding, egglike head bobbed on a neck reed thrust up from narrow shoulders. He possessed a voice that whined like a power saw going through soft pine but with an occasional jarring dissonance when it tore into the more knotty problems of life. I, or any other Mormon I know of, never went to hear J. Golden Kimball preach because of polish, eloquence, or even with the expectation of being transfixed with revelatory glory. We went because he was one of us â&#x20AC;&#x201D; with every spiritual scar and defect. And, because in salty, earthy language he told it like it was. J. Golden Kimball did not earn his right to admonish the Saints through theological or academic training. His schooling was of the sparsest sort. He had e a r n e d his living as cowboy, teamster, and mule-skinner. In his o r d i n a t i o n into the General Authorities he carried with him the wit and humor of saddle days and the vernacular he had used on the mules. For decades he was a thorn under the saddle blanket of Mormon officialdom and often embarrassed his fellow dignitaries by cutting loose with words that could be fully comprehensible and startling to both mules and men. T h e swearing prophet has been dead more than three decades, but in Zion he is still revered and remembered. First of all, he was an honest man without pretense or guile. Those of his audience recognized in him a fellow Saint who had as much trouble as they in walking the straight and narrow. He readily confessed and acknowledged the insuperable demands of remaining pure in heart. He cussed in public like all the other Saints cussed in private. And, instead of posing as an example of pulpit perfection, he was content to stumble along with lesser folks. In this ungainly, earthy, blundering human, the Saints saw themselves. In

Utah Historical Quarterly his ministry, instead of commanding and driving, he led them and helped them along the way. He seldom failed to boff an audience with his droll wit. Every seat was filled when he spoke to the Saints. People came away strangely fed and uplifted. Mormondom loved him as no man before or since. Time has done little to dim his memory. Throughout Mormon Zion, J. Golden Kimball has become a folk hero. Any family who knew him, or remembered him, have their own treasure-trove of Golden's bawdy pulpit remarks and witticisms. He has been called the Will Rogers and the Mark Twain of Mormondom. He resembles neither of these men. Thomas E. Cheney, after twentyseven years on the English faculty at Brigham Young University, has taken upon himself the task of putting this extraordinary man and his salty sayings into a book. No one could ever be more deserving than J. Golden Kimball to such honor and preservation. He served his church humbly and with enviable results. He is still loved and remembered when others who served with him are already forgotten. He enriched Zion with stories and anecdotes that are told, retold, and embellished year by year. Assuredly this is prime biographical material. And certainly the "Golden legacy" deserves to be preserved. T h e book is richly and tightly packed with J. Golden Kimball. It is a good book, and there probably will never be a better one on this subject. It must have taken endless and scholarly effort to sift the truth and veracity from the Golden apocryphal humor which lays like snow over Utah. There is no doubt that what has gone into the volume, lifted from tabernacle sermons and from personal interviews, is as much of the real Golden as one can or ever will get. But with all the skills and tireless endeavor, Dr. Cheney has

Book Reviews and Notices not quite succeeded in putting J. Golden Kimball between covers. Golden's bawdy humor is there enshrined, and some of the pulpit jokes are lulus â&#x20AC;&#x201D; but he still remains the jocular sixfoot-three ghost in Zion. T h e banter of Will Rogers and Mark Twain titillate us endlessly, because they were planned and conceived to go into print. T h e windies and witticisms of J. Golden Kimball, especially to those who once witnessed and experienced their oral delivery, seem to be only half there when set in type. There was never a funnier or more delightful man. But without Golden's presence to laugh at and with, his sayings become much less humorous. Without his earnest and honest presence to back them up with believability even his serious delivery sounds petulant â&#x20AC;&#x201D; like recorded exhortations of a bucolic preacher with a needle stuck in the groove. The pity is that no author, or editor, can or will likely make it any different. But despite this unavoidable loss, The Golden Legacy is still one of the

199 most important books in the Mormon spectrum. Latter-day Saints owe a debt of gratitude to the author and to the publisher. This book is so honest and so different from the sanctified effusions which endlessly pour from the present Authorities, that every Saint should treasure to their heart everything they can of J. Golden Kimball. I hope The Golden Legacy can somehow manage its way through the censorious "Zion curtain" so that Latterday Saints everywhere can now endlessly savor the "mule-skinner" stories they treasure. For J. Golden Kimball was one leader who led like the Master himself. He was one Saint whose sayings are more "faith-promoting" than anything likely to be presently found around Temple Square.

PAUL BAILEY

Westernlore Press Los Angeles

A Mormon Mother: An Autobiography by Annie Clark Tanner, lsted. rev. Foreword by O B E R T C . TANNER. Utah, the Mormons, and the West Series, no. 1. (Salt Lake City: Tanner Trust Fund, University of Utah Library, 1973. xxxiii + 346 pp. $10.00.) "Though painful for me to concede, the evidence is rather overwhelming that Annie Clark Tanner's life was tragic. Granted that she herself did not consider her life as tragic and granted there were years at the beginning and at the end of her life that were not tragic, nevertheless, nearly all her mature years were a succession of tragic events." T h u s O b e r t C. T a n n e r , the youngest of Annie Clark Tanner's ten children, introduces the autobiography of his mother. He defines the real mark of greatness in the life of a human being as the ability to emerge

from such heartache and bitter disappointment with an unbroken spirit. Then he concludes that Annie "was a surpassingly great human being." Annie Clark Tanner, herself the product of a polygamous marriage, was raised in affluence, well educated and committed without reservation to the ideals and practices of her religious faith. At the age of nineteen she became the second of four wives and later the mother of ten children, two of whom were born on the underground, hiding from the law. In her own words, interspersed with extracts from her diary and fam-

200 ily letters printed in full, she tells her story with candor and honesty. So effective is her account that we share her bitter disappointment as alone she ate her wedding supper of bread and milk and remembered the elaborate weddings of other young brides. "No one will ever congratulate me," she said to herself. We feel her insecurity as an expectant mother when federal officials increased their attempts to enforce the laws against polygamy. "I knew that in a short time I would be hiding out under an assumed name to conceal my identity. This was the practice of all those living in polygamy at that time. Their uncertain condition of living with relatives, friends, or sometimes trusted strangers, under assumed names, was known as living on 'the underground.' " We cope with the opposing problems of adjustment after the Manifesto: children were supposed to honor a father with several wives yet at the same time reject the very doctrines which justified plural marriage. "If one doctrine can be discarded, why not all of them?" her son Myron asked. Was God really the same yesterday, today, and forever? In 1912, when Mr. T a n n e r informed Annie that he would not see her again and that she must look to her brothers for help, we glimpse her nobility of character through these simple words, "I'll be equal to whatever must come." T h e separation was final; she must raise her children alone. Accepting his decision was not easy, but the previous years of meeting life alone had prepared her for that day. T h e s e e x p e r i e n c e s c r e a t e d an evolution in her, from an obedient daughter of the church to a selfsufficient, independent woman. Reflecting later on a comment once made by her husband that "it is not capability that a man admires most in a woman," she stated, "I felt equal to

Utah Historical Quarterly my tremendous responsibility and . . . yet, I honestly had no apologies to make." Annie's task was not unique. Her lot was shared by many other Mormon women who, left alone with large families, dedicated their every talent to making outstanding and productive citizens of them. This she did well. Dedication to learning, concern for the lives of others, devotion to family ties, belief in the value of hard work â&#x20AC;&#x201D; these characteristics are but a part of the legacy she provided. "I might have thought mine a hard row to hoe had not the plants I cultivated responded so magnificently to the culture I gave them." The choice of an autobiography for the first volume in the series, Utah, the Mormons, and the West, is significant. Here is a firsthand account of an aspect of Mormon history little documented and often misunderstood. Too many Mormons regarded polygamy as either too controversial or too sacred to discuss. NonMormons had only bitter accounts written by those who had an axe to grind against the church or its members. The need for such candid and objective accounts of this story has long been felt. It is hoped that others will appear through which we can glimpse the reality of polygamy as it was lived and practiced by the Mormons. Attractively printed (except for a few crooked lines of type), sufficiently illustrated, and adequately indexed, Annie Clark Tanner's autobiography is impelling reading as a primary historical source and as a human interest story.

ARLENE H. EAKLE

The Genealogical Institute Salt Lake City

Book Reviews and Notices

201

Jedediah Strong Smith: Fur Trader from Ohio. By D. W. GARBER. (Stockton, Calif.: University of the Pacific, 1973. v + 58 pp. $4.50.) Ever since Maurice S. Sullivan and Dale L. Morgan published their respective works regarding the life of Jedediah Smith, scholars and buffs alike have joined forces in the search to uncover new material focusing on one of the most exciting and respected figures in the annals of the American fur trade. The most recent work to appear on the subject is a small book composed of a series of four short articles. Originally addressed to the m e m b e r s of the Jedediah Smith Society, and subsequently published in the Pacific Historian (1972), Garber's research is now available to a wider audience in essentially the same format but with additional photographs and illustrations. T h e work is the p r o d u c t of the author's investigations of the Maurice S. Sullivan Manuscript Collection at the Stuart Library of Western Americana, c o r r e s p o n d e n c e with Dale L. Morgan, and the examination of ancillary primary and secondary materials relative to the activities of the Smith family during the period of their Ohio residency. The author's handling of the geography of the region associated with Smith's early life demonstrates more than a casual acquaintance with the landscape. His graphic descriptions of the Ohio terrain do much to bring to life the township records and private business ledgers which form the nucleus of the new materials uncovered by his efforts. Writing in a style which often rambles, the author devotes the entire first c h a p t e r to a strongly documented account of the Smith family's arrival in Green Township, Richland County, Ohio, sometime during the fall of 1816. T h e second c h a p t e r challenges Sullivan's thesis r e g a r d i n g the motivating cause for Jedediah Smith's

decision to seek a life in the mountains. Garber dismisses the traditional explanation, i.e., that Smith's interest in the West was sparked by reading the published journals of Lewis and Clark, and introduces a new theory: that it was Sergeant Smith's appetite for adventure. Unfortunately, support for the theory rests entirely upon circumstantial evidence. The author's thesis is based upon the fact that William Gass, an active politician and brother of Patrick, lived in the vicinity of the Smith family and that at least upon one occassion William received a visit from the old veteran, who at that time may have been introduced to the Smith family. However, no evidence has been uncovered which directly links the Smith family with either William or Patrick Gass. The third chapter is given to the author's views regarding literature and folklore as they relate to Johnny Appleseed, Mike Fink, and Jedediah Smith. New light is shed upon Major Tyler, a land promoter who sold tracts of land to both Johnny Appleseed and Ralph Smith, J e d e d i a h ' s b r o t h e r . Garber believes that the land purchased by Ralph was obtained with money sent by Jedediah especially for that purpose. T h e balance of the chapter is devoted to a description of the changes which took place on the O h i o landscape s u b s e q u e n t to Jedediah's departure for the mountains. The fourth chapter is a potpourri largely devoted to events in the life of Smith, senior. However, there is an interesting item relative to the alleged lost love affair involving Jedediah and his b r o t h e r Ralph's wife, Louisa. Garber has uncovered evidence that will finally put that story to rest. Also included in this chapter are a number of illustrations, one of them a photo-

202 graph bearing the caption, 'Jedediah Smith inscription on Register Cliff." Unfortunately, upon closer examination the reader will be disappointed to learn that the dim inscription can also be read as "Jeremiah Smith," making the find somewhat less dramatic. The warmth and compassion with which Garber treats his subject will be appreciated by all who have come to love and respect the epic adventures

Utah Historical Quarterly of J e d e d i a h Smith. However, the scholars and buffs who search in this book for knowledge r e g a r d i n g Smith's activities beyond the environs of Ohio will certainly be disappointed.

TODD I. BERENS

Instructor Anaheim Union High School District California

Frontier Tales: True Stories of Real People. By JUANITA BROOKS. (Logan: Western Text Society, 1972. 57 pp. $2.00.) This slim little volume will make pleasant reading for anyone who loves pioneer stories. T h e narratives, evidently sifted from Juanita Brooks's own fund of Washington County history, have about them the warm aura of a g r a n d m o t h e r ' s reminiscence: pleasant, honest, unstructured, and somewhat vague at times in their allusions and r e f e r e n c e s . T h e r e are stories of enterprise and success such as "The Buckskin Pants" in which a young teamster on his first trip, a boy "too old to cry and too young to fight," is swindled into trading his good homespun trousers for a pair of illfitting buckskins. But he makes the buckskin into bullwhips which he sells for a good profit, coming off financially and morally superior to his tormentors. T h e r e are stories about pioneer love ("Sam's Courtship") and stories about the faithful family dog ("Griz"). Indeed it is the family reunion familiarity of these stories that sustains them. And that is at once their strength and their weakness. For while these pieces have a quality of unsophisticated pleasantness, they are at the same time frustrating in their occasional use of perplexing details, hasty summaries, and moralistic messages which sometimes disrupt the organic unity which characterizes the best examples of the genre in which Mrs. Brooks is working.

Many of these stories have an interest and a significance not indicated in their sample presentation here. Several of these pioneer tales appear in other published versions and have had a considerable career as part and parcel of Utah literature. Consider, for instance, the story of the giant footprint. These huge tracks appear each night at various points around the little town of Washington, much to the terror of the villagers. A delegation is about to set out for Salt Lake City to ask the church Authorities to come exorcise the evil influence that is abroad. But the hoax is uncovered, and the footprints are found to be a product of two huge pieces of wood manipulated by one of the village herd boys. This story has at least two other published versions in Austin and Alta Fife's Saints of Sage and Saddle (1956), pp. 272 - 73, and in Thomas E. Cheney's Lore of Faith and Folly (1971), pp. 31 - 35. And anyone familiar with Maureen Whipple's Giant Joshua will recognize the the story of a pioneer woman hiding an Indian child from slave hunters by having him stand on her feet under her long skirt. Both of these incidents from Frontier Tales are important parts of Maureen Whipple's novel about St. George. A few editorial comments reminding the reader of these uses of this material and a note regarding the

Book Reviews and Notices particular sources of these versions would enhance considerably the usefulness of this book. Nevertheless, one can find a pleasant hour with these stories from Washington County. The fact that they appear in other places and other versions suggests the richness of this material. The existence of

203 this little book suggests that there may be more such stories. One hopes that these too might be edited and presented to us. NEAL E. LAMBERT

Associate Professor English Department Brigham Young University

Independence in All Things, Neutrality in Nothing: The Story of a PioneerJournalist of the American West. By ELIZABETH WRIGHT. (San Francisco: Miller Freeman Publications, Inc., 1973. 255 pp. $10.00.) Benjamin Franklin was right (in Poor Richard's Almanac [1758]) when he observed that "a little neglect may breed great mischief . . . for want of a nail the shoe was lost. . . ." Franklin's comment as applied to Elizabeth Wright's account of pioneer journalist Legh R. Freeman might be paraphrased: for want of an editor the story was lost. Mrs. Wright's effort was gallant, the promise bright, but her publisher's failure to apply the discipline of an editor's blue pencil tarnished the outcome; not the least of these deficiencies is the willful lack of an index. Even so, Mrs. Wright has from family papers and correspondence pulled together a fairly general picture of the Freeman story. At the close of the Civil War in May of 1865, Legh Richmond Freeman, late of Morgan's Black Horse Raiders, had served seven months in a Union prison camp. Before Thanksgiving he had gained his release by signing an oath of allegiance to the United States, turned his face west, and because of his knowledge of the Morse code was offered and accepted a commission as telegrapher at Fort Kearny, Nebraska Territory. There he was joined by an older brother, Frederick, also an ex-soldier and also a telegrapher. Casting about for ways to improve their condition, the Freemans chose to enter the world of journalism.

They bought for fifteen dollars a small hand press and revived the post news sheet, the Kearney Herald. As "co-editors" Fred handled the business office; Legh accepted editorial responsibilities. They brought forth the first edition in November 1865, b e a r i n g within the masthead the motto which inspired the title for Mrs. Wright's book: Independence in All Things, Neutrality in Nothing. In the issue for January 6, 1866, Legh devoted a full page of the Herald to his interview with "Col. Bridger, the h e r o of Fort B r i d g e r and Bridger's Pass . . ." who was living near the garrison. Annoyingly, Mrs. Wright chooses to copy but four paragraphs of the interview, leaving the rest of this tantalizing morsel for researchers to relocate. Her determination to fill space with snatches of history from secondary sources has the unsettling effect of changing the course of thought from the mainstream of her story. Errors of fact bob up along the way. On page 69, for instance, Mrs. Wright confronts the reader with a rambling account confusing Old Fort Kearny (at Table Creek on the Missouri River) with New Fort Kearny (more than 180 miles to the west on the Platte) and Fort Phil Kearny (near Powder River in Montana). Thus Mrs. Wright is hard put to carry forward smoothly her narrative as the Freemans follow the Union Pacific "Hell on Wheels"

204 construction gang chewing a transcontinental railroad route westward. With a new Washington press fitted to the bed of a heavy plains wagon b e h i n d four yoke of oxen, the b r o t h e r s loaded two additional wagons with printing equipment and h e a d e d out. At r a i l h e a d , the Freemans left the Kearney Herald to history and dubbed their new "newspaper on wheels" the Frontier Index. Gone, too, from the masthead was the motto, and during the next two years the i t i n e r a n t Index would carry datelines from Julesburg, Colorado; C h e y e n n e , Fort S a n d e r s , and Laramie City in Dakota Territory; and Green River City and Bear River City in Wyoming. It was at this latter terminus that Legh and the Index tangled with the ruffians and speculators from the wrong side of the track. A brief notice by the Bear River City forces for law and order appeared in the paper in this language: "The gang of garroters from the railroad towns east, who are congregated here, are ordered to vacate this city or hang within sixty hours from this noon." Some of the spoilers and exploiters did meet Judge Lynch as promised, and, not surprisingly, the editors were accused of being in league with the local vigilantes. A drunken, angry mob of some two h u n d r e d men surged toward the Index office with a

Utah Historical Quarterly r o p e . F o r e w a r n e d , the F r e e m a n brothers left the neighborhood, but the newspaper was demolished. It was November 1868, just three years to the month that the Freemans had printed their first issue of the Herald. Mrs. Wright traces Legh's subsequent career through marriage, family life, and a return to publishing with the founding in 1875 of the Ogden Freeman. Later years saw a resurrected Frontier Index at Butte, Montana, and the establishment of a number of newspapers from 1881 through 1889. Legh R. Freeman died in Yakima, Washington, in 1915 at the age of seventy-two, his spirit and determination a credit to his profession. Some flaws in Mrs. Wright's work can be corrected in future printings, but priority should be given glaring errors. She moves the Mormons from Ohio to Illinois without mention of the Missouri period, and Kirtland becomes Kirkland (p. 133). Later she writes, "At the time of the publication of the Ogden Freeman, Brigham Young was dead; yet, as a powerful Mormon leader, he had left a residue of church strength which carried long past his day" (p. 163). T h e Ogden Freeman, however, made its debut in June 1875. Brigham Young lived until August 1877. HAROLD SCHINDLER

Salt Lake City

Marcus and Narcissa Whitman and the Opening of Old Oregon. By CLIFFORD M. DRURY. (Glendale, Calif: The Arthur H. Clark Company, 1973. Vol. 1,476 pp.; vol. 2, 432 pp. Set, $38.50.) Nearly forty years of meticulous research have gone into preparation of these volumes. Few scholars have devoted anything like the effort of pursuit and publication of materials that Professor Drury has spent on Protestant missions in the Pacific Northwest. This account of these missions, pre-

sented as a biography of the Whitmans, derives from careful and critical use of original sources that the author has assembled after a thorough search that exposed many previously unsuspected leads. Considering the vast interest which surrounded the Whitman legend long before Profes-

Book Reviews and Notices sor Drury commenced his research, any prospect for turning up much in the way of new material might have seemed limited. But given enough energy and industry, an investigator of a widely known subject can seek out new d o c u m e n t a t i o n to provide a sound historical account of a highly controversial subject. That kind of achievement makes these volumes a worthwhile addition to an already extensive Whitman literature. Aside from offering the author an opportunity to bring his history of the Whitman and Spalding missions up to d a t e , these volumes deal with Whitman's importance in development of the Oregon Trail. A great controversy that arose early in the twentieth century over a claim that "Whitman saved O r e g o n " for the United States has obscured Whitman's part in the entire matter. Mistaken claims such as this one frequently arise in regional and local history, but the Whitman-saved-Oregon confusion was h a n d l e d in an amateurish way that has obscured, rather than clarified, the Whitman

205 story. Professor Drury has gone to great effort to straighten out this tangle. He also presents a careful analysis of the situation that led to the Whitman massacre in 1847. In the process the entire Whitman story appears in full detail. Religious controversies among the various northwestern missionaries are treated as dispassionately as possible, and altogether an important chapter in the religious history of the West receives the careful attention it deserves. The entire study is documented thoroughly, and the footnotes are on the pages where they belong. An index of 302 Whitman letters, along with other bibliographical information, completes this useful account of an important phase of western expansion.

MERLE W. WELLS

Director Idaho State Historical Society Boise

The Great Northwest: The Story of a Land and Its People. By the EDITORS OF AMERICAN WEST. (Palo Alto: The American West Publishing Co., 1973. 288 pp. $18.50.) It is very difficult for me to review this book dispassionately and objectively. Having spent all the summers of my childhood roaming the magnificent landscape pictured on the back of the dust jacket, having skied and hiked over and through many of the magnificent mountains portrayed, having flown both as a naval pilot and airline pilot over most of the region in good weather and bad, my vision is influenced by the emotional impact of this book. Here is the bearded face of Simeon G. Reed, the founder of my alma mater, and the pictures of university campuses on which I have

taught and studied the years away â&#x20AC;&#x201D; the giant glacier, probably the largest in O r e g o n , n a m e d for my great grandfather â&#x20AC;&#x201D; the cities of my youth. At least for me this book is like a visit home after a long absence. Actually The Great Northwest is a combination of at least three diverse parts. First, the magnificent color photographs of that awe-inspiring scenery which characterizes the Great Northwest are well worth the price of the book alone as a picture book, light reading a d o r n m e n t for the coffee table. T h e photographs are of the quality we have become accustomed

206 to in Arizona Highways — which is not surprising, since David Muench is a frequent contributor to both. Second, there is a very excellent collection of historic black and white photos providing a vivid picture of the early days in this region. The portraits of trappers, Indians, and captains of desperate voyages are intermixed with the solid faces of early businessmen, missionaries, farmers, loggers, and railroad builders. This book makes a real contribution in presenting to the general public, in a most attractive form, a rich trove of historic pictures and drawings usually found only in libraries and museums. Against this graphic competition, the text, though smoothly written by staff writers Bette Rhoda Anderson, Michael Ames, and Donald G. Pike, often has a difficult time holding the reader to a steady pedestrian progress through the book. T h e narrative, while rich in detail, is of necessity somewhat lacking in depth and analytic power. If anything, the book may try to do too much. The geology, history, politics, and industry of this vast region are so diverse that the authors have undertaken an almost impossible task in covering them all in a single brief volume, but this is the pattern of Great West series books. The text basically is a good narrative summary of the area while not pretending to break new ground in historic or cultural analysis. T h e

Utah Historical Quarterly reader who is looking for fascinating pictures and a broad but relatively low-level discussion of the area will be well pleased. The specialist in geology, however, may find the opening paragraphs and later discussions of the geologic development of the area slightly generalized. T h e sensitive student cannot view that barefoot Makah whaler preparing for another rain-swept struggle for survival without a feeling of awe, but once again the ground plowed is rather familiar to cultural anthropologists. The discussion of explorers, missionaries, and the like is interesting and challenging — r e m i n d i n g us of o u r pioneering ancestors — but has been covered before. In short, I would recommend this book highly for the casual reader or for the introductory scholar, which is no doubt the market that the editors of American West had targeted. Many professional historians and scientists, both the physical and social breed, may feel that the book uses the shotgun approach rather than the more penetrating rifle. The appendix provides additional information and suggested sources for further reading.

ROBERT P. COLLIER

College of Business Utah State University

Water for the Southwest: Historical Survey and Guide to Historic Sites. By T. LINDSAY BAKER, STEVEN R. RAE, JOSEPH £. MINOR, and SEYMOUR V. CONNOR. (New York: American Society of Civil Engineers, 1973. xiv + 205 pp. $5.00.) For many years the term "historic site" brought to mind a Mount Vernon or Gettysburg. An important contribution of Water for the Southwest is to remind us that canals, tunnels, dams, wells, mills, and power plants are also legitimate historic sites. These sites il-

lustrate how particular problems were solved to provide the Southwest with the usually scarce but essential element of water. By way of introduction the book contains a short essay on "Early Water Supply Systems in the Southwest."

Book Reviews and Notices The essay discusses in chronological sequence the water supply systems of the Prehistoric Indians, the Spanish and Mexican Peoples, and the AngloAmericans. This descriptive essay provides a good deal of information about the kinds of irrigation and water systems. However, it fails to explain such things as the process of adaptation by the Anglo-Americans of irrigation. In Utah, for example, why did the Mormons immediately upon their arrival begin the development of an irrigation system? Was it transplantation, adaptation, innovation, or revelation? The contribution of J o h n Wesley Powell in the development of western irrigation is not mentioned. The major section of the book is a description of approximately sixty sites in the states of Arizona, New Mexico, Utah, Colorado, and Texas surveyed by a team of Texas Tech University engineers and historians from the Departments of Civil Engineering and History. These onepage descriptions of each site include a statement of significance, a historical summary, and a short statement of the remains of each site. Each description also notes the references used with the full citation given in the bibliography. T h e book contains an excellent selection of pictures, sketches, drawings, and maps. Unfortunately, only five Utah sites were surveyed as part of the project. They are the Heber Light and Power Company 1909 Hydroelectric Plant, Mount Nebo Reservoir, Strawberry Reservoir and Tunnel, the J o r d a n Narrows Irrigation and Hydroelectric System, and the first Mormon irrigation system in Salt Lake City. The Utah section would have been enhanced if the authors had included the irrigation sites surveyed in 1971 and 1972 by Historic American Engineering Record Survey teams under the direction of Burtch Beall, profes-

207 sor of architecture at the University of Utah. T h e irrigation and water sites surveyed by HAER teams were the M o u n t a i n Dell Reservoir d a m in Parley's Canyon, the Olmstead Power Plant in Provo Canyon, the Garland Sugar Mill with its power plant and canals, the Hurricane Canal, and also the Heber Power Plant. These surveys include measured drawings, professional photographs, and written data on each of the sites. Water was a primary factor in the colonization of Utah, and in every valley the story of water development contains aspects both similar and unique. T h e Utah sites surveyed in Water for the Southwest, the sites surveyed by the Historic American Engineering Record Survey teams in 1971 and 1972, the work of Dr. Charles Peterson in Utah's agricultural history as displayed in his recent Statehood Day address in Logan, and the recently completed thesis by Craig Fuller on the development of irrigation in Wasatch County indicate that an excellent beginning of the study of water in Utah has been made. However, there are other areas that need to be investigated and many sites d o c u m e n t e d . For a start, f u t u r e HAER Surveys might consider the Bear River Canal, the Sanpete County diversion tunnels, the early irrigation attempts at Bluff, the Ontario Mine Drain Tunnel, irrigation canals constructed on the Uintah Indian Reservation in the 1880s, the p r e Reclamation Service developments on the Strawberry, the adaptation of natural lakes in the Uintas as regulatory lakes for irrigation purposes, the Newton Dam and Reservoir in Cache County, other power plants operated by water, grist mills, and a Mormon farm irrigation project.

A. KENT POWELL

Preservation Historian Utah State Historical Society

State and Local Government in Utah. By

The Cowboy in American Prints. Edited

rev.;

by J O H N MEIGS. ( C h i c a g o : T h e

Salt Lake City: Utah Foundation, 1973. vii + 208 p p . $4.00.)

Swallow Press, 1972. viii + 184 pp. $15.00.) More than o n e h u n d r e d woodcuts, engravings, lithographs, a n d pen drawings of the cowboy by American artists from the 1850s to the present.

U T A H FOUNDATION. (3d ed.

First published in 1954 and reissued as a second edition in 1962, this p o p u l a r a n d t r u s t w o r t h y text has again been revised to reflect the many legislative and administrative changes of the past decade. In this edition the material has been throughly reorganized, as well as updated, and statistical data have been r e d u c e d to a m i n i m u m . T h e book continues to offer much important historical background to the existing structure, operations, functions, and finances of the various d e p a r t m e n t s , commissions, and agencies of Utah's state and local governments. Worthy enough as an encyclopedia of current facts, it is especially valuable as a reminder of the evolutionary dynamic behind the state's governmental institutions.

Ancient and Modern Genealogies with Temple (Church of Jesus Christ of LDS) Records. By THOMAS MILTON T I N N E Y . (Salt Lake City: T h e T i n n e y - G r e e n e ( e ) Family O r ganization, 1973.233 pp. $15.00.)

The Barn: A Vanishing Landmark in North America. By ERIC ARTHUR

(Greenwich, Conn.: New York Graphic Society, Ltd., 1973. 256 p p . $25.00.) Historical data plus color photographs of the barn in America. AND DUDLEY WITNEY.

Deseret News 1974 Church Almanac. By DESERET NEWS. (Salt Lake City: Deseret News, 1974. 225 pp. $1.95.) This almanac contains historical data, brief biographical sketches, statistics, and other information on the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, including a review of 1973 church activities. High Country:

The Rocky

Mountain

West. By VIRGINIA WEISELJOHNSON.

(New Y o r k : W a l k e r a n d C o . , 1972. x + 201 p p . $6.95.) A personal account of this vast, eightstate region, including history a n d g e o g r a p h y m i n g l e d with myth a n d anecdote. The History of the Tenth Cavalry, 1866-1921. Edited by E.L.N. GLASS. Introduction by J O H N M. CARROLL. (Fort Collins, Colo.: T h e Old Army Press, 1972. x + 145 pp. $7.00.) Major Glass's 1921 compilation of this Black cavalry unit has been reprinted with a brief introduction. Utah Criminal Code Outline. Edited by LOREN DALE MARTIN. (Bountiful: Author [573 Pheasant Cr., Bountiful, Utah 84010], 1973. xxiv + 238 pp.)

AGRICULTURE AND C O N S E R V A T I O N Branson, Branley Allan. "Fishes of O u r Arid Lands," National Parks and Conservation Magazine, 47 (November 1973), 22 - 24. T h e fifty or so species of native freshwater fish in the arid West face possible extinction. Bryan, J. Y. "Rainbow Bridge: 1973," National Parks and Conservation Magazine, 47 (November 1973), 9 - 1 1 . Collier, G. Donald, and J. J u a n Spillett. " T h e Utah Prairie Dog — Decline of a Legend," Utah Science, 34 (September 1973), 83 - 87. Relocation of prairie dogs may save the species. Hundley, Norris. " T h e Politics of Reclamation: California, the Federal Government, and the Origins of the Boulder Canyon Act — A Second Look," California Historical Quarterly, 52 (Winter 1973), 292 - 325. J u d d , Neil M. "Rainbow Trail to Nonnezoshe," National Parks and Conservation Magazine, 47 (November 1973), 4 - 8. Republication of 1927 article on the discovery of Rainbow Bridge by a member of the party. Lavender, David. " T h e Accessible Wilderness," The American West, 11 (January 1974), 1 9 - 2 6 . Problems in the use of the West's recreational areas. O l d e n d o r p h , O.F. "Grand Canyon National Monument: T h e Ideal Park," National Parks and Conservation Magazine, 48 (March 1974), 9 - 1 2 . Area may be added to the park. Taylor, Paul S. "Reclamation and Exploitation," Sierra Club Bulletin, 59 (February 1974), 6 - 1 0 . Examines effect on conservation of 160-acre limitation on water deliveries to irrigators and the law's unenforcement. Webster, Iris R. "Arizona's Lost H u n d r e d , " National Parks and Conservation Magazine, 48 (March 1974), 4 - 8. Reviews proposal to include western part of Grand Canyon in expanded park. ARCHAEOLOGY AND A R C H I T E C T U R E Beall, Burtch W., Jr., and Peter L. Goss. "Utah's Architectural Heritage: City and County Building, Salt Lake City," Utah Architect, A u t u m n 1973, pp. 20 - 24. Hammack, Laurens C. "Effigy Vessels in the Prehistoric American Southwest," Arizona Highways, 50 (February 1974), 33 - 35. Jacka, Jerry D. "Arizona's Prehistoric Potters — Artisans of the Past," Arizona Highways, 50 (February 1974), 1 6 - 3 2 . Photographic essay on pottery. Leone, Mark. "Why the Coalville Tabernacle Had to Be Razed: Principles Governing Mormon Architecture," Dialogue: A Journal ofMormon Thought, 8 (Number 2, 1973), 3 0 - 3 9 .

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Utah Historical Quarterly

Pilles, Peter J., Jr., and Edward B. Danson. "The Prehistoric Pottery of Arizona," Arizona Highways, 50 (February 1974), 2 - 5 , 10 - 15, 43 - 45. Includes anthropological details on four pottery types: Hohokam, Mogollon, Salado, and Kayenta.

BIOGRAPHY Arrington, Leonard J., and Richard Jensen. "Pioneer Portraits: Lorenzo Hill Hatch," Idaho Yesterdays, 17 (Summer 1973), 2 - 8. Franklin, Idaho, pioneer and Mormon bishop. "Ev Thorpe: The Development of An Artist." Outlook [Utah State University], February 1974, p. 9. Highlights of a Utah artist's career. Mattes, Merrill J. "The Rediscovery of Colter's Hell and Other Research Adventures," The Denver Westerners Roundup, 29 (November-December 1973), 3 - 22. New light on fur traders Hiram Scott, the Robidouxes, and John Colter. Packer, Boyd K. "President Spencer W. Kimball: No Ordinary Man," The Ensign of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, 4 (March 1974), 2 - 1 3 .

LITERATURE, ART, AND FOLKLORE Arrington, LeonardJ., and Jon Haupt. "Community and Isolation: Some Aspects of'Mormon Westerns,' " Western American Literature, 8 (Spring and Summer 1973), 1 5 - 3 1 . The Mormons as depicted by Zane Grey and others. Freeman, Martha Doty. "New Mexico in the Nineteenth Century: The Creation of an Artistic Tradition,"'New Mexico Historical Review, 49 (January 1974), 5 - 26. The influence of topographers Kern, Mollhausen, and Abert on twentiethcentury writers and artists of the Southwest. Powell, Lawrence Clark. "A Writer's Landscape," Westways, 66 (January 1974), 24 - 27, 70 - 72. Author Frank Waters's examination of Indian and Hispanic themes in his works. Poulsen, Richard C. "Polynesians in the Desert: A Look at the Graves of Iosepa," AFF Word [Arizona Friends of Folklore], 2 (April 1973), 2 - 1 4 .

MILITARY AND LEGAL "The Battle of the Washita, or Custer's Massacre?" The Brand Book [London, The English Westerners'Society], 15(October 1972), 1 - 16. Reprint of the debate on the battle of the Little Big Horn by Elmo Scott Watson and Don Russell first printed in 1948. Brown, Lisle G. "The Yellowstone Supply Depot," North Dakota History: Journal of the Northern Plains, 40 (Winter 1973), 24 - 33. Operations of the U.S. military during the Sioux Campaign of 1876. duMont, John S., ed. "A Debate of Authors on the Custer Fight," The Westerners Brand Book [Chicago], Part 1, 30 (July 1973), 3 3 - 3 5 , 3 7 - 4 0 ; Part 2, 30 (August 1973), 41 - 4 8 . Correspondence of Capt. Robert G. Carter with various writers on the controversial battle of the Little Big Horn.

Articles and Notes

211

Gerber, Max E. "The Custer Expedition: A New Look," North Dakota History: Journal of the Northern Plains, 40 (Winter 1973), 4 - 23. Utley, Robert M. "The Gatlings Custer Left Behind," The American West, 11 (March 1974), 24 - 25. More controversy over Custer's decisions at the Little Big Horn.

RELIGION Allen, James B. "Personal Faith and Public Policy: Some Timely Observations on the League of Nations Controversy in Utah" Brigham Young University Studies, 14 (Autumn 1973), 77 - 98. Coe, Michael. "Mormons and Archaeology: An Outside View" Dialogue: A Journal of Mormon Thought, 8 (Number 2, 1973), 40 - 48. Green, Dee. "Mormon Archaeology in the 1970s: A New Decade, A New Approach," Dialogue: A Journal of Mormon Thought, 8 (Number 2, 1973), 49 - 55. Jessee, Dean C. "The Prophet's Letters to His Sons." The Ensign of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, 4 (March 1974), 62 - 69. The prophet is Brigham Young. Maloney, Wiley S. "Short Creek Story," The American West, 11 (March 1974), 16 - 23, 60 - 62. Reporter on the scene in 1953 examines actions of Arizona state officials in the mass arrest of polygamists at Short Creek.

SOCIETY Albrecht, Stan L., and Michael K. Miller. "The Provisions of Health-Related Services in Rural and Urban Areas," Utah Science, 34 (September 1973), 78 - 82. Availability of physician and hospital services in Utah's counties analyzed. Billings, Marjorie A. "The Working Women in Utah," Utah Economic and Business Review, 34 (February 1974), 1 - 6, 9 - 10. Statistical study of the female labor force in Utah. Hibner, Cal. "Where Did All the People Go?" Utah Science, 34 (December 1973), 121 - 22. Statistics from 1970 Census show Utah continues to lose population due to migration. Lillard, Richard G. "Confrontation and Innovation on the Campus: An Eventful Decade for Western Universities," The American West, 11 (January 1974), 10- 1 7 , 6 2 - 6 4 . Metzgar, Joseph V. "The Ethnic Sensitivity of Spanish New Mexicans: A Survey and Analysis" New Mexico Historical Review, 49 (January 1974), 49 - 73. Survey of feelings of ethnic identity among Chicanos. Rosenstock, Fred A. "The Denver I Remember," The Denver Westerners Roundup, 29 (November - December 1973), 23 - 55. Reminiscences of the well-known dealer in rare western Americana. Stegner, Wallace. "Letter from Canada," The American West, 11 (January 1974), 28 - 30. Essay comparing Canadian nationalism with western American feelings.

T h e Utah State Historical Society library has acquired twenty hours of oral history interviews with residents of Spring City. Other recent accessions of interest to local historians are microfilm copies of the Springville Herald (1924-68), the Springville Independent (1895-1914), and the minutes of the Strawberry Highline Canal Company. During National Historic Preservation Week in May, residents of Willard cooperated with a Society photocopying project and brought valuable historic photographs of the area to a booth where they were copied and immediately returned to the owners. Some forty pictures of Willard were acquired for the Society files in this manner. Dates have been set for a n u m b e r of local and national meetings of interest to amateur and professional historians. Included on the calendar are the annual meetings of the Utah State Historical Society, September 7, Salt Lake City; Oral History Association, September 12-15, Grand Teton National Park, Wyoming; American Association for State and Local History, September 25-28, Austin, Texas; and the National Trust for Historic Preservation, October 2-6, Portland, Oregon. T h e Southwest Labor History Conference will be held on April 24-26, 1975, at the University of the Pacific, Stockton, California, u n d e r the auspices of the Pacific Center for Western Historical Studies. T h e sessions will be divided into two general areas: Southwest labor history and national and international history. Scholars and trade unionists are invited to submit session proposals in areas including press, labor and politics, labor and race, women and labor, agricultural labor, Chicano labor, labor and socialism, labor in Mexico, international labor, and comparative trade union movements. Address all program inquiries to: Professor Sally M. Miller, D e p a r t m e n t of History, University of the Pacific, Stockton, California 95204.

0^K UTAH STATE HISTORICAL SOCIETY Division of D e p a r t m e n t of D e v e l o p m e n t Services BOARD O F STATE

HISTORY

M I L T O N C. ABRAMS, Smithfield, 1977

President D E L L O G. DAYTON, Ogden, 1975

Vice President MELVIN T. SMITH, Salt Lake City Secretary MRS.

JUANITA BROOKS, St. George, 1977

M R S . A. C. J E N S E N , Sandy, 1975 T H E R O N L U K E , Provo, 1975

CLYDE L. MILLER, Secretary of State

Ex officio M R S . HELEN Z. PAPANIKOLAS, Salt Lake City, 1977 HOWARD C. PRICE, Jr., Price, 1975 MRS.

ELIZABETH SKANCHY, Midvale, 1977

RICHARD O. ULIBARRI, Roy, 1977

M R S . NAOMI WOOLLEY, Salt Lake City, 1975 ADMINISTRATION MELVIN T. S M I T H ,

Director

STANFORD J. LAYTON, Publications Coordinator JAY M. HAYMOND, Librarian DAVID B. MADSEN, Antiquities Director

The Utah State Historical Society was organized in 1897 by public-spirited Utahns to collect, preserve, and publish Utah and related history. Today, under state sponsorship, the Society fulfills its obligations by publishing the Utah Historical Quarterly and other historical materials; locating, documenting, and preserving historic and prehistoric buildings and sites; and maintaining a specialized research library. Donations and gifts to the Society's programs or its library are encouraged, for only through such means can it live up to its responsibility of preserving the record of Utah's past. MEMBERSHIP Membership in the Utah State Historical Society is open to all individuals and institutions interested in Utah history. Membership applications and change of address notices should be sent to the membership secretary. Annual dues are: Institutions, $7.00; individuals, $5.00; students, $3.00. Life memberships, $100.00. Tax-deductible donations for special projects of the Society may be made on the following membership basis: sustaining, $250.00; patron, $500.00; benefactor, $1,000.00. Your interest and support are most welcome.

Â» CO

I C

g co

The Transportation e

UTAH HISTORICAL QUARTERLY EDITORIAL STAFF M E L V I N T . SMITH,,

Editor

STANFORD J. L A Y T O N , Managing MIRIAM B. M U R P H Y , Assistant

Editor Editor

ADVISORY BOARD OF EDITORS T H O M A S G. ALEXANDER., Provo,

MRS.

I N E Z S. C O O P E R , Cedar

1974

City,

S. G E O R G E E L L S W O R T H , Logan, G L E N M . L E O N A R D , Bountiful,

1976

DAVID E. M I L L E R , Salt Lake City, L A M A R P E T E R S E N , Salt Lake City, R I C H A R D W. SADLER, Ogden,

1975

1976 1974

1976

HAROLD SCHINDLER, Salt Lake City, 1975 J E R O M E S T O F F E L , Logan,

1974

Utah Historical Quarterly was established in 1928 to publish articles, documents, and reviews contributing to knowledge of U t a h ' s history. T h e Quarterly is published by the U t a h State Historical Society, 603 East South Temple, Salt Lake City, U t a h 84102. Phone (801) 328-5755. Members of the Society receive the Quarterly a n d the bimonthly Newsletter upon payment of t h e annual dues; for details see inside back cover. Single copies, $2.00. Materials for publication should be submitted in duplicate accompanied by return postage a n d should be typed double-spaced with footnotes at the end. Additional information on requirements is available from the managing editor. T h e Society assumes no responsibility for statements of fact or opinion by contributors. T h e Quarterly Social Science

is indexed in Book Review Index Periodicals and on Biblio Cards.

Second class postage is paid at Salt Lake City, U t a h . ISSN 0042-143X

HISTORICAL QUARTERLY

SUMMER 1974/VOLUME 42/NUMBER 3

Contents IN THIS ISSUE

215

THE COMMENCEMENT OF THE GODBEITE PROTEST: ANOTHER VIEW

RONALD W. WALKER

216

VIRGIL CALEB PIERCE

245

UTAH'S FIRST CONVICT LABOR CAMP THE PIONEER ROADOMETER

GUY

E. STRINGHAM 258

FROM MULES TO MOTORCARS: UTAH'S CHANGING TRANSPORTATION SCENE 273 THE TRANSCONTINENTAL RAILROAD AND OGDEN CITY POLITICS RICHARD E. KOTTER 278 FRONTIER THEATRE: THE CORINNE OPERA HOUSE

RUE

C. JOHNSON 285

BOOK REVIEWS

296

BOOK NOTICES

306

RECENT ARTICLES

308

HISTORICAL NOTES

311

T H E COVER Small buses conveyed travelers between cities and carried eager tourists to mountain beauty spots and the wonders of the rock-bound high desert country in the 1920s. Utah State Historical Society photograph. On page 215 a photograph from the Society's Inglesby Collection illustrates a transitional period in Utah as freighting wagons wait in a yard near a railroad siding. Â© Copyright 1974 Utah State Historical Society

REID, AGNES JUST,

Letters of Long Ago, and S. GEORGE ELLSWORTH,

Dear Ellen: Two Mormon Women and Their Letters Uneasy Chair: A Biography of Bernard DeVoto

BEVERLY BEETON

296

STEGNER, WALLACE, The

ERNEST

H. LINFORD 298

HAFEN, LEROY R., ED., The Mountain

Men and the Fur Trade of the Far West, vols. 9 and 10 . . .ARRELL M. GIBSON 300

Books reviewed HAFEN, LEROY R., Broken Hand:

The Life of Thomas Fitzpatrick Mountain Man, Guide, and Indian Agent

Foreigners in their Native Land: Historical Roots of the Mexican American

FRED R. GOWANS

301

VINCENT MAYER

303

E. UNRAU

304

FLOYD A. O ' N E I L

305

WEBER, DAVID J., ED.,

THRAPP, DAN L., Victorio and

the Mimbres Apaches

WILLIAM

JORGENSEN, JOSEPH G., The Sun

Dance Religion: Power for the Powerless

1-7* V£.M:. i CL* \***mMii;. -n-" .-:- i ^ c ~- ^ i ?^M-''Mr^x" -•••• i ' -">-"" " t ^JvSwiss * y >,- -n<*i v -,.> *». , " >; • -%r:„ > '•;,' .),>;•*< </ ^/-A

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In this issue T h e development of a transportation system adequate to ensure the settlement and security of the sprawling State of Deseret took precedence over nearly every other enterprise among the initial echelon of Mormon settlers to the Great Basin. As in all previous American frontier communities, a functional transportation net was essential to viability, and its nature and capacity were primary determinants in defining the limits of growth, prosperity, and stability. T h e Mormons desired to facilitate their own movement within and without the domain while seeking simultaneously to preserve their isolation from the Gentile world. But success with the former eroded the tenure of the latter, and the denouement came with the arrival of the railroad in 1869. Much sooner than anticipated, the Mormon leadership was forced into a new reckoning. T h r e e of the articles featured in this issue deal directly with this readjustment. One focuses on economic discontent and apostasy, another looks at political change, and the third examines cultural aspiration and achievement in a boom town on the line. Other landmarks on Utah's transportation landscape brought u n d e r the historical stereoscope here relate to the invention of the pioneer roadometer and to experimentation with convict road gangs. They, like the brief pictorial essay, span the era from early settlement to early statehood. A number of changes occurred in the interim, but they were generally procedural rather than substantive. T h e pervasive importance of a transportation system to a society seems to be a constant in history.

The

Commencement

of the Godbeite Another

Protest: View

BY R O N A L D W . W A L K E R

J V I O R M O N I S M HAS NAVIGATED a series of narrow passages â&#x20AC;&#x201D; crises which at the time seemingly threatened to engulf and to destroy the religious movement. T h e coming of the transcontinental railroad in 1869 and consequently the termination of the geographical and cultural isolation of Deseret was such a M o r m o n climacteric, generating in its wake the Godbeite protest or, as it is sometimes known, the New Movement. Hubert Howe Bancroft declared that of all of Zion's apostasies, this schism "was the most formidable, and wrought more harm" than any other preceding it. 1 While it is doubtful that the Godbeite protest shook Mormonism with such intensity, at its commencement its force seemed considerable, with leading merchants and gifted intellectuals combining to challenge the authority and policies of Brigham Young. Despite its importance, historians have frequently misunderstood the origins and meaning of the Godbeite schism. Following a seemingly full account by Edward Tullidge, a Godbeite dissenter, a common interpretation has emerged. T h e dissidents, this view asserts, were reformers seeking to shepherd the flock into modernity. Estranged from Brigham Young's concept of Zion, with its stress upon personal fealty, religious conformity, and economic management by ecclesiastical authority, they sought a transformed religious faith more congenial to the intellectual currents of their age. This picture has a heroic quality: the dissidents were faithful churchmen who valued their membership but refused to trade allegiance Mr. Walker is working on a doctoral degree in history at the University of Utah and is a member of the faculty of the Salt Lake Institute of Religion. ' H u b e r t Howe Bancroft, History of Utah, 1540-1887 (San Francisco, 1890), 655. T h e term "Godbeite" is historically inaccurate, denying the role of E. L. T. Harrison as one of the movement's founders. But eponyms are often so, and to argue over a term so rooted in historical literature is without profit.

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for conscience. Because of their unwillingness to accept dictation from the church in temporal and secular matters, they were severed from membership. 2 Actually the Godbeites were more complex and interesting. Their disaffection was deeper than often recognized, their discontent striking at the roots of traditional Mormonism. Their religious skepticism, their abjuration of all formal religious creeds, and their longing to salvage a portion of their former faith combined to find meaning in a form of nineteenth-century spiritualism which the Godbeite leaders hoped to impose upon the Saints. T h e Godbeites, especially their leaders, were more than reformers. They were religious revolutionaries whose aim was the transformation of Mormonism.

T h e origins of the New Movement lay in Great Britain, as Mormonism's fire swept through that nation during the late 1840s. Despite an unresolved skepticism concerning the Christian atonement and even the Saints' Book of Mormon, young Elias Lacy Thomas Harrison was converted to the faith by the logic of Apostle Orson Pratt and the continuing display of "the gifts of the spirit" ubiquitous in the early British Mission. Harrison's talents and enthusiasm were reflected in a series of responsible assignments: head of the church book store and business office in London; contributor to the Millennial Star, the British organ for Mormonism; church emigration agent in Liverpool; and president of the L o n d o n Missionary Conference. He was in those days, it would be recalled later, "a genial and pleasant companion, witty and light-hearted, warm in his friendship and faithful in his church duties." 3 However, even before gathering to Zion, Harrison and his friend Edward Tullidge began to define the issues of the subsequent Godbeite schism. Mercurial and something of a mystic, Tullidge's emotions and commitments followed the deep swings of a pendulum, an instability which periodically descended into mental ill2 See for instance Orson F. Whitney, History of Utah, 4 vols. (Salt Lake City, 1892-1904), 2:329-30; Andrew L. Neff, History of Utah, 1847-1879, ed. Leland H. Creer (Salt Lake City, 1940), 877-81; Gustive O. Larson, The "Americanization" ofUtah for Statehood (San Marino, Calif., 1971), 35-36. T h e s e and other historians relied heavily upon Tullidge's main study of the movement, " T h e Godbeite Movement," Tullidge's Quarterly Magazine, 1 (October 1880), 14-64. He wrote at least three other accounts which differea sharply at times in tone and detail. 3 Deseret Evening News, May 22, 1900, p. 8; Edward W. Tullidge, "Elias L . T . Harrison," Tullidge's Quarterly Magazine, 1 (October 1880), 82-83.

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219

ness later in his life. 4 At twenty an enthusiastic evangelist of his newly acquired faith, Tullidge several years later vigorously denounced both his mission and Mormonism, becoming disillusioned with all revealed religion. 5 But the lapse seemed temporary. Church authorities recognized his considerable literary talent and appointed the repentant elder as the acting editor of the Millennial Star. Taking advantage of the situation, Tullidge later declared that he and Harrison filled the church magazine with "Protestant heresies," making it as heterodox as the Utah Magazine â&#x20AC;&#x201D; the latter subsequently becoming the vehicle of the Godbeite protest. 6 But if such were their intention, their approach was subtle. Harrison's prose usually expressed commitment, but by stressing individual rather than institutional worship, his articles revealed an orientation which eventually terminated in his wholesale rejection of formal religion and priesthood authority. Tullidge, in turn, who later described Mormonism as Wesleyan-Baptist with "a few peculiarities," seemed willing to minimize Mormonism's claim to a unique religious mission a n d emphasized instead the universality and b r o t h e r h o o d of mankind. 7 Harrison and Tullidge both gathered to Zion in 1861, but prosaic Zion-building failed to enamour them or alter their inclinations. Harrison's sense of advocacy and Tullidge's self-proclaimed revolutionary nature combined to produce in 1864 xhe Peep O'Day, apparently the first magazine to be published in the Intermountain West. 8 Ostensibly devoted to education and culture, the magazine in truth was an organ for the editors' discontent. Later, after allying himself with the Reorganized faction of Mormonism, Tullidge would declare that the impetus for the publishing enterprise lay in the Josephite mission of 1864. Desiring to join the Reorganite movement, Tullidge claimed that a dream counseled him to postpone public advocacy of young Joseph's claims. Nonetheless, Tul4 "Journal History of the Church of J e s u s Christ of Latter-day Saints," March 24, 1866, p . 1, Archives Division, Historical Department, Church of J e s u s Christ of Latter-day Saints, Salt Lake City (hereafter cited as LDS Archives); Tullidge to B. W. S. [Bathsheba Wilson Smith], J a n u a r y 18, 18/5, Tullidge Name File, LDS Archives. 5 "Diary of J o b Smith: A Pioneer of Nauvoo, Illinois and Utah," p. 29, xerox copy of typescript, J o b Smith Name File, LDS Archives. "Edward W. Tullidge, "Leaders of the Mormon Reform Movement," Phrenological fournal, 53 (July 1871), 33. 7 See especially E. L. T. Harrison, "A Real Representative of the Most H i g h , " Millennial Star, 20 (October 9, 1858), 641-44, and Edward W. Tullidge, "A Universal Man," ibid. (October 16, 1858), 672. F o r T u l l i d g e ' s view of Mormonism, " T h e Mormon Commonwealth," The Galaxy, 2 (October 15, 1866), 356. 8 Tullidge, "Leaders in the Mormon Reform Movement," 33, 38; Edward W. Tullidge, The History of Salt Lake City . . . (Salt Lake City, 1886), appendix, 9.

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lidge was sufficiently stirred to commence a radical effort toward social revolution, a project Harrison accepted with alacrity. T h e y found no difficulty with financing. J o h n Chislett a n d two of the Walker brothers, disaffected M o r m o n merchants, gave with "munificence," realizing n o d o u b t the potential of an unsanctioned j o u r n a l for the disruption of Zion. Denied the use of the c h u r c h printing press, Peep O'Day was issued at C a m p Douglas t h r o u g h the intervention of Gen. Patrick C o n n o r , long dedicated to the o p e n i n g of the M o r m o n closed society. 9 T h e Peep O'Day became the lineal progenitor to a generation of Godbeite publications: the Utah Magazine, xhe Mormon Tribune, a n d the Salt Lake Tribune. T h e "cardinal affirmation" of the Peep O'Day, Tullidge later conceded, "was that Mormonism was republican in its genius â&#x20AC;&#x201D; a statement justly p r o n o u n c e d u n t r u e by Brigham Young, a n d only affirmed by the editors to draw attention to its falsity." 10 T h u s employing prose suggestive of an o r t h o d o x c o m m i t m e n t which in fact quite probably did not exist, Harrison a n d Tullidge sought to transform, if not u n d e r m i n e , Zion. " T h e very title suggested everything," Tullidge affirmed; "the press was i n t e n d e d to rival preisthood, or at least to check it." 11 T h e Peep O'Day a n d the subsequent Godbeite publications bore little resemblance to previous a n t i - M o r m o n j o u r n a l s . Primarily filled with literary composition a n d m u c h which was thoroughly o r t h o d o x , only its editorials conveyed its message. T h e y in turn, to the casual reader, must have seemed to affirm the Kingdom. Calm, judicious, a n d restrained, their thrust usually was implicit, with the real m e a n i n g often conveyed by several carefully worded sentences which altered its a p p a r e n t message. For example, writing on the "robust republican character" of Mormonism, Tullidge wrote: Granting that Mormonism has its ecclesiastical organization a n d rule, its spirit, principles a n d aims are in their integrity eminently republican; yes, m o r e , they a r e universalian! Universal b r o t h e r h o o d , universal good, universal liberty, universal t r u t h a n d universal progress, socially, politically a n d religiously, are printed on the p r o g r a m m e of Mormonism. Such we have dreamed it to be, and if it be but dreaming, still let us dream forever.12 9 T u l l i d g e d r e a m e d that the d e p a r t e d spirit of J o s e p h Smith a p p e a r e d a n d directed him. Edward W. Tullidge, The Life oflospeh the Prophet (Piano, 111., 1880), 687-88. 10 Edward W. T u l l i d g e , " T h e Reformation in U t a h , " Harper's New Monthly Magazine, 43 (September 1871), 604. ^ T u l l i d g e , " L e a d e r s in the M o r m o n Reform M o v e m e n t , " 33. 12 " M o r m o n i s m Republican in Its Genius,"Peep O' Day, 1 (October 27, 1864), 25, e m p h a s i s m i n e .

The Godbeite Protest

221

T h e technique was to condemn through praise. What Saint would be willing to contradict such a lofty conception of the Kingdom? Yet a more mature reading would reveal that M o r m o n r e p u b licanism was more a "dream" than a reality. During its short career of several months, employing such subtle methods of criticism, the Peep O'Day foreshadowed much E L T of the Godbeite public program: a - - - Harrison. rejection of the traditional Mormon theological conception of the moral decline of culture; denial of the authoritarian spirit and temporal emphasis of Zion; an attack upon formal creeds and, implicitly, institutionalized religion; and an affirmation of universalism and the desirability of rapprochement with the Gentiles in Babylon. T h e Peep O'Day enterprise hardly constituted a major insurgency within the battlements of Zion. T h e Millennial Star later commented that "It was not more than born, when it died. It peeped, and went out." 1 3 Tullidge ruefully conceded that President Young could well afford to let the Peep O'Day fail without excommunicating its editors, even if he had been so disposed. 14 A literary magazine on the Utah frontier undoubtedly was premature, especially one with an uncertain tone and commitment. T h o u g h ably edited, its finances and production were mismanaged. T h e territorial scarcity of paper proved the final stroke, and the magazine suspended with less than two months publication. Yet beyond all these factors, the Peep O'Day possessed a fatal flaw which characterized all subsequent New Movement journals. T o o subtle and too obscure, it failed to possess force. Justifying themselves that they had proclaimed the wave of the future, the editors temporarily separated. While Harrison remained in Salt Lake, Tullidge, always a religious chameleon, departed for the east for a brief journalistic career â&#x20AC;&#x201D; and a short-term church mission. 15 ^ " J o u r n a l i s t i c Mortuary," Millennial Star, 36 (November 24, 1874), 742. Tullidge, "Leaders in the Mormon Reform Movement," 33. During his mission, the unstable Tullidge earnestly urged Brigham Young to allow Harrison and himself to start a pro-Mormon paper or magazine in New York. Needless to say, Brigham d e m u r r e d . Tullidge to Young, September 2, 1866, Brigham Young Papers, LDS Archives. See also Tullidge, "Leaders in the Mormon Reform Movement," 33, a n d W. F. Lye, "Edward Wheelock Tullidge, the Mormon's Rebel Historian," Utah Historical Quarterly, 28 (January 1960), 6 1 . 14

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Harrison, at least, refused to regard the demise of the Peep O'Day as a portent, a sign of heavenly displeasure. Instead, during the next several years his questioning continued and his skepticism deepened. Privately and obscurely, a small coterie of able intellectuals formed a r o u n d him. Into this working partnership moved Eli B. Kelsey and William H. Shearman, but most significantly William S. Godbe. Only a month following the suspension of the Peep O'Day in December 1864, Harrison and Godbe commenced their intimate intellectual collaboration which would e n d u r e until Harrison's d e a t h thirty-five years later. G o d b e was strangely d r a w n to Harrison's brooding intellect, justifying his friendship for him to church authorities with the claim he was striving to reclaim Harrison from his skepticism. If so, the hunter became the vanquished. 1 6 If Harrison was the Godbeite "Luther," providing impetus and intellectual stimulus to the revolt, William S. Godbe was its "Frederick the Wise," rendering balance and weight. Harrison, Tullidge acknowledged, "might have become a Reformer and a martyr," but he could not have "moved Utah society." 17 T h a t task lay with Godbe. •"References to the association of these men prior to 1868, despite Stenhouses's assertion to the contrary, are scattered throughout their writing. See Edward W Tullidge " T h e Manifesto — A Review of the Testimony," Utah Magazine, 3 (December 11 and 18, 1869), 505, 521, and Tullidge, "Leaders in the Mormon Reform Movement," 35. , , , . - . • i «TT, 17 Tullidge was the first to christen Harrison as the "Mormon Luther in his article, i n e Godbeite Movement," 16.

Early business building of William S. Godbe on the southeast corner of Main and First South streets. Photograph by Charles R. Savage. Utah State Historical Society collections, gift ofLi Watters.

The Godbeite Protest

223

Godbe's impressive building, ca. 1870, on the same Main Street site as depicted on the opposite page indicates his rise to a position of wealth and influence. Utah State Historical Society collections, gift of J. Cecil Alter.

At first glance Godbe and his collaborator shared much in common. Both were British converts in their youth; each had enjoyed early profound religious experiences. They were contemporaries. Intellectual and sophisticated, each possessed literary talent, though Harrison's precise and controlled prose clearly made him the master. But if Harrison was the thoughtful sceptic, Godbe exuded practical and prodigious energy. "A man to succeed," Godbe later wrote, "must not be a theorist but must profit by practice." 18 His life proved a testament to his creed. On the sea while yet a youth, he was shipwrecked twice; at seventeen, impatient and anxious to gather with the Saints, he walked the distance from Chicago to Salt Lake rather than await the formation of a wagon company. Entering merchandising, he rose swiftly to become owner of the Godbe Exchange Buildings, which housed the Godbe-Mitchell d r u g and sundry business. By the late 1860s, he had established himself as one of the ten most wealthy men in the territory. By 1884 he had experi18 "Statement of William S. Godbe," September 2, 1884, p. 28, manuscript, Bancroft Library, University of California, Berkeley.

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enced twenty-one Atlantic and fifty-two Great Plains crossings. In addition to his commercial activity he served his city as a councilman and his church as a president in one of the local Seventies Quorums and subsequently as a bishop's counselor in the Thirteenth Ward. Friend and protege 7 of Brigham Young, Godbe clearly possessed social position, talent, and influence. 19 Together Harrison's and Godbe's talents meshed perfectly — one visionary, skeptical, theoretical, verbal; the other practical and forceful. Each possessed talents necessary for the hour. Harrison at the commencement provided the stimulus and force, but as the movement passed from its theoretical and intellectual incubation, the baton was passed. Without Godbe's subsequent leadership, the schism would scarcely occasion a footnote. 20 T h e five dissenters, later to provide the New Movement with its core leadership, were remarkably homogeneous. In the late 1860s, Harrison, Godbe, Tullidge, and Shearman were all in their middle or late thirties, and as British converts, none had either known Joseph Smith or had participated in the hegira of Mormonism — from Ohio, Missouri, Illinois, to the Great Basin. Kelsey in turn was older, a native American, and fleetingly had known the founding prophet. All five at some stage in their careers had been merchants, though only Godbe secured continuing and substantial success. Their church experience was amazingly uniform. Harrison, Godbe, Tullidge, and Shearman each described early spiritualistic experiences which propelled them into Mormonism. Four of the group had served in the British Mission, with three holding the important presidency of the London Conference. Only Kelsey would ever be charged with moral transgression, an act which blemished his English mission. In Utah each served in local church assignments. Four had held the priesthood office of seventy, with three serving as one of the seven presidents of their quorums. This priesthood calling was significant, not only implying a proselytizing assignment, but during the nineteenth century an educative and culturizing one as well. I n d e e d , Godbe a n d S h e a r m a n — along with T . B. H. Stenhouse, a subsequent Godbeite dissenter — had helped to found the Juvenile Instructor, later to become the voice of the Mormon 19 Ibid., p. 20. See also Leonard J. Arrington, "Taxable Incomes in Utah, 1862-1892," Utah Historical Quarterly, 24 (January 1956), 33-34; Tullidge, "Leaders in the Mormon Reform Movement," 31-33; Mormon Tribune, J a n u a r y 8, 1870, p.12. 20 Godbe certainly was willing to share laurels. "Mr. H a r r i s o n , " he wrote to Bancroft, "is entitled to at least equal with myself " in the progress of the movement, "Statement of William S. Godbe," p. 30.

The Godbeite Protest

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Sunday schools. Without exception, the five were men of talent, superior education, and literary ability — t u n e d to the intellectual currents of their age. 2 1 II

T h e single issue which united and galvanized the movement, and subsequently received the most public attention, was the Godbeite opposition to Zion, the Mormon social a n d economic blueprint. Zion, the impetus and ideal of all nineteenth-century Mormon colonization, was a theocracy which sought to direct in temporal as well as in spiritual matters. It stressed social unity and cooperation through voluntary obedience to church counsel; dedication of private and public resources for the general commonwealth; the curbing of extravagance, luxury, and commercial profiteering; and the exclusion of any foreign influence antagonistic to the social ideal. 22 T o the church leadership and much of its membership, only a generation or two removed from the Puritan corporate policy of New England, the prospect of governmental control, whether exercised by civil or ecclesiastical authority, seemed reasonable, if only difficult to achieve. T o the Godbeites — intellectually attuned to the laissez faire currents of the post-Civil War era, imbued with the mercantile antipathy toward the control of profits, rooted in a British rather than a New England heritage, and not directly familiar with Joseph Smith's repeated attempts to implement such a design — Zion seemed an anachronistic vehicle for B r i g h a m Young's personal power. Privately they viewed the Mormon colonizer as "fanatical," "ignorant of the world," a despot who employed a subservient priesthood for unworthy purposes. 2 3 T h e dissenters' opposition to the corporate Zion deepened with the advent of the transcontinental railroad. While Brigham Young 21 Tullidge, "Leaders in the Mormon Reform Movement," 30-40; Tullidge, " T h e Godbeite Movement," 15-17; Walt Whipple, " T h e Godbeite Movement," Western Americana, Marriott Library, University of Utah, Salt Lake City, pp. 2-10. In addition to the sketch on Harrison previously cited, short biographies of Kelsey, Lawrence, Shearman, and Godbe are found in Tullidge's Quarterly Magazine, 1 (October 1880), 64-66, 77-79, 79-81, 81-82. For other short sketches of Kelsey and Shearman, see "Journal History," March 27, 1885, pp. 1-2, and December 19, 1892, p. 5. T h e i r commercial experience is mentioned in George A. Smith to J. W. Hess, J a n u a r y 22, 1870, in "Journal History," J a n u a r y 22, 1870, pp. 2-3. For Kelsey's indiscretion, Joseph Fielding Smith, Essentials in Church History (Salt Lake City, 1950), 445. Details of the magazine's founding are in "Juvenile's Jubilee," Juvenile Instructor, 50 (January 15, 1915), 6. 22 L e o n a r d J . Arrington, Great Basin Kingdom: An Economic History of the Latter-day Saints, 1830-1900 (Cambridge, Mass., 1966), especially pp. 22-28. " " S t a t e m e n t of William S. G o d b e , ' ' p p . 19-20; William S. Godbe, " T h e Situation in Utah," The Medium and Daybreak (London), (December 15, 1871), 406. While Godbeite prose was restrained and respectful when intended for a Mormon audience, the non-Mormon and private communication of Tullidge, Stenhouse, Kelsey, and Godbe often bore an animosity.

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sought the line, he was acutely aware that its completion threatened to revolutionize Zion's economy and society. Its reduced transportation costs would open Deseret simultaneously to eastern manufactured products as well as to profitable, large-scale mining. Neither prospect seemed inviting. T h e first menaced Zion's manufacturing self-sufficiency, its balance of trade, and, by further enriching the Salt Lake commercial class, its social cohesiveness. On the other hand, large-scale mining promised to flood the territory with both a speculative fever and a population who had anything but a respectful attitude toward the moral aspirations of the Mormon commonwealth. T o neutralize these undesirable by-products, church leaders resolved u p o n a severe counterpolicy, which included wage deflation (to allow the preservation of home industries), the prohibition of trade with non-Mormon merchants, and the organization of cooperative merchandising â&#x20AC;&#x201D; Zion's Cooperative Mercantile Institution. T h e Godbeite dissenters reacted to the church policy with dismay. Its emphasis upon temporal considerations contradicted their idealized conception of Joseph Smith's mission. Besides, the program seemed impractical. In their view the beckoning railroad, coupled with the natural maturation of territorial society, with its growing economic and social differentiation, sealed the doom of Zion's closed, homogeneous community. Because of the immediacy of the issue in 1868, church temporal policy dominated, colored, and gave emphasis to all their thought. But as the dissidents' previous behavior clearly indicated, their alienation prior to 1868 was by no means confined to the rejection of a temporal Zion and Brigham Young's attempts to maintain the commonwealth. Harrison and Tullidge had earlier rejected the orthodox view of Mormonism's mission.The intervening years had only deepened the group's general skepticism. Tullidge, who had rejoined the dissent, later reported, "We were settling down into a philosophic state of religion, anchoring faith in the divine mission of a world, rather than in the mission of any special prophet. . . ." He also confessed that, paradoxically, he had for many years doubted virtually everything about Mormonism, save the mission of its founder. Kelsey in turn later acknowledged that he "had long since discarded the dogma, that God had ever chosen an individual, a family, a race or a sect, to hold the Oracles, or the Keys of salvation, to the exclusion of the rest of the h u m a n family," an obvious repudiation of both church authority and church mission as traditionally de-

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fined. His views, rejected by the Saints, left him "almost utterly ignored as a teacher in Israel." During this period Shearman, who had for some time been alienated from local church authorities, narrowly escaped excommunication because of his opposition to the doctrine of what the Godbeites described as "blind obedience" to the priesthood, only the interposition of Apostle Ezra T. Benson saving his membership. 2 4 T h e journey of these men from orthodoxy was neither smooth nor pleasurable. T h e discarding of religious commitments is never psychologically easy, and for these men the process seemed especially painful. More than nominal converts, they had been fiery evangels of Mormonism, their personal faith rooted in spiritual experience. T h e n in life's midpassage, they found it increasingly difficult to harmonize their intellectual and spiritual experience. Intellectually au courant, their spiritual experiences seemed harshly in discord. T h e dissenters groped for a formula which would confirm Mormonism, but on the grounds of their new intellectual commitment. Eventually these men found relief from their inner conflicts in the solace of nineteenth-century spiritualism. Harrison and apparently Godbe led the way. T h e Utah Magazine, edited by Harrison and published by Godbe, clearly d e m o n s t r a t e d their attraction to spiritualism. Launched in January 1868, the magazine ostensibly was devoted to popular literature, without the pungent editorials which characterized and gave life to the Peep O'Day. Its innocuous character, however, was deceptive, for in its third month of publication there commenced a series of articles, tinged with the supernatural and Gothic, which explored spiritualistic phenomena. 2 5 Indeed, by the early summer of 1868, one of Harrison's editorials expressly granted spiritualism an efficacy which possessed divine approval. 2 6 Spiritualism seemed almost the perfect prescription for the Godbeite malady. Its parallels with Mormonism eased the pain 24 Edward W Tullidge, " T h e Oracles Speak," Utah Magazine, 3 (December 18, 1869), 521; Tullidge ' J o s e p h Smith and His Work," ibid. (November 27, 1869) 474; Eli B Kelsey, "A Testimony "Wd. (December 25, 1869), 537-38; Tullidge, "Leaders in the Mormon Reform Movement, 37 Shearman's outward apostacy allegedly commenced when the Cache County tithing o t h c e refused Shearman's donation of a b l i n d m u l e of an uncertain age. See Peter Maughan to Brigham Young, November 1869, Brigham Young Papers 2 ^ f h e titles of these articles are revealing: "Swedenborg s Curious Powers, Utah Mavaziw, 1 (March 7 1868), 104-5; "Curious Spiritual Manifestation," ibid. (March 28, 1868), 141-42; "Testimony of the Supernatural," ibid. (M^ay 16, 1868) 222-23; "Chinese Spiritual Mediums ÂťW. (June 27, 1868), 161; " T h e Fakeer W h o Was Buried Alive at Lahore, ibid., 2 (January I, 18b9), \ll-15. 26 "Testimony of the Supernatural," 222-23.

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involved in the transfer of commitment. Both movements traced their genesis to Wayne County, New York, Mormonism anteceding the Fox family rappings by a single generation. As a primary tenet, Mormonism had declared the heavens open, the veil separating the mortal and spiritual realms to be thin, if not porous. Both beliefs declared the eternal nature of the individual, with the quick and dead inhabiting the same general regions. Of course, if spiritualism and Mormonism shared some similarities, their disagreements were profound. Within these discrepancies Harrison, Godbe, and eventually the others found the spiritual-intellectual synthesis which they could not find within Mormonism. On one hand spiritualism confirmed their previous religious experience, albeit stripped of any unique Mormon connotation. Their earlier spiritual experiences, according to their new doctrine, were valid psychic phenomena, only misread. Accordingly, Joseph Smith was a gifted medium who, while sincere, frequently misinterpreted his spiritual experiences. T h u s spiritualism gave the dissenters a new frame of reference which lent validity and meaning to their early evangelism. But it also possessed an intellectual appeal which fitted perfectly their orientation. Many nineteenth-century literary figures were infatuated (sometimes fleetingly) with its teachings and practices, including the Brownings, Hawthorne, Greeley, and especially Bulwer-Lytton, whose work the Utah Magazine prominently featured. Possessing prestige and appeal, nineteenth-century spiritualism, particularly its American variety, substituted social regeneration for Christian millennialism and avoided creeds and clergy. 27 Such a formula fit perfectly the Utah dissenters' mood. Prior to 1868 they had slowly evolved a universalist position which rejected the special mission of Mormonism and the necessity of an authorized ministry. Whether these intellectual tendencies would have culminated in a schism without the railroad crisis of 1868-69 is debatable. But the energetic countermeasures of the church forced the Godbeites from their intellectual consideration into advocacy. As the church leadership marshalled its resources to maintain Zion, the law of mutual escalation impelled the Godbeites to resist. Active opposition would surely entail social alienation and financial sacrifice, for in Zion's closed society social relationships and business intercourse were hardly furthered by resistance to church counsel. Yet as Tul27 Howard Kerr,Mediums, and Spirit-Rappers, and Roaring Radicals (Urbana, 111., 1972), 10-11. Also J o s e p h McCabe, Spiritualism: A Popular History from 1847 (London, 1920), 23-24.

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lidge recounted, "These men had reached a critical point in their career. Their faith in Mormonism b u r n e d in the socket. . . . They must now decide for or against the 'Lord's anointed.' " 2 8 Godbe was probably aware that sometime during the October 1868 General Conference, the church would announce the organization of a commercial cooperative which he, as a leading church member and merchant, would be invited to embrace. However, the conference passed with Godbe and his friend Harrison attending "business" in New York. Their New York journey was momentous in the making of the U t a h schism, not because it m a r k e d its c o m m e n c e m e n t , as Stenhouse suggested, but because it provided the revolutionary impetus to their dissent which previously had been largely private and academic. Ostensibly for business and recreation, perhaps its primary reason was to debate and resolve a course of action. Behind them, Harrison and Godbe left a Zion critically convulsed, "in travail" over the church's new economic policy. 29 Before them lay the question of whether they should declare openly and vigorously their opposition. Stenhouse's account, perhaps erring in emphasis and tone, defined the nature of their conversation as they traveled eastward toward New York: Both [Harrison and Godbe] . . . had struggled to preserve their faith in Mormonism, but the contents of the Book of Mormon, critically viewed, was [sic] a terrible test of credulity, and many of the revelations of "the Lord" savoured too much of Joseph Smith, and abounded with contradictions, and were very h u m a n at that. As for Brigham, "he was a hopeless case; many of his measures were utterly devoid of even commercial sense, and far less were they clothed with divine wisdom â&#x20AC;&#x201D; in all his ways, he was destitute of the magnanimity of a great soul, and was intensely selfish." T o their developed intellects now, Mormonism seemed a crude jargon of sense and nonsense, honesty and fraud, devotion and cant, hopeless poverty to the many, over-flowing wealth to the favoured few â&#x20AC;&#x201D; a religion as unlike their conceptions of the teachings of Christ as darkness is to light. 30

Their discussions were not dissimilar to the many which had preceded them, only now they proceeded with an intensity often felt when long-standing issues seek their culmination.

Tullidge, " T h e Reformation in Utah," 604. Tullidge, " T h e Godbeite Movement," 16. T. B. H. Stenhouse, The Rocky Mountain Saints . . . (New York, 1873), 630. Stenhouse leaves the impression that their discussions were without precedent and adventitious. 29

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What followed in New York, Harrison and Godbe regarded subsequently as their personal epiphany. Arriving, apparently in September 1868, they commenced a series of seances transpiring over a three-week period. According to their subsequent accounts, on fifty separate occasions the spirits of the deceased spoke instructions from beyond the veil. Their principal instructor, it seems, was a former member of the Mormon First Presidency, Heber C. Kimball, whose spirituality during his life had strongly compelled both Harrison and Tullidge. 31 Additionally, Harrison and Godbe claimed revelation from Jesus Christ, Joseph Smith, the early apostles Peter, James, and John, Solomon, and the German naturalist Alexander Humboldt, who reportedly revealed to Harrison information which promised to advance mankind past evolutionary theory, even as Darwin had progressed beyond Moses. Punctual and consistent, their interviews usually were given "by appointment," lasting two hours during the evening. When Christ appeared, a dim light was observed, but on all other occasions the apparitions were unseen, with the visitors simply answering Harrison's previously written questions. 32 Harrison and Godbe were reticent to declare whether an intercessory medium was employed, though such apparently was the case. Their desire for mediumistic advice may well have been a hidden reason for their New York journey, a logical course given their fascination with spiritualism. Thirty years after the event, the Deseret News declared that Harrison had indeed visited the renowned spiritualist Charles Foster during their New York sojourn, a statement perhaps confirmed by Foster's continuing contact with the Godbeite spiritualists. 33 Harrison broadly hinted that they had in fact employed a medium. "We are not and do not profess to be Seers," he subsequently conceded. "If that quality or organization exists in either Bro. Godbe or myself, it is at present underdeveloped. We were communicated with [in New York] by the only (or the best) method open to our organizations." Since in the Godbeite 31 [E. L. T. Harrison], "President Heber C. Kimball â&#x20AC;&#x201D; A T r i b u t e , " Utah Magazine 1 (June 27, 1868), 294; Tullidge to Editor, June 24, 1868, in Deseret News, July 15, 1868, p. 184. 32 T h e fullest accounts of the New York seances are: New York Herald, January 15, 1870, p . l l ; Stenhouse, Rocky Mountain Saints, 631; Orson Pratt, "Revelations and Manifestations of God and of Wicked Spirits,''Journal of Discourses . . . , 26 vols. (Liverpool, 1854-86), 13:71-75. For the number of seances in the New York series, see Mormon Tribune, January 8, 1870, p. 12. ^Deseret Evening News, May 22, 1900, p.8; "Journal of Amasa Lyman," March 8, 187[2rJ, November 21 and 22, 1873, LDS Archives; Salt Lake Tribune, November 18, 1873, p. 1; George C. Bartlett, The Salem Seer: Reminiscences of Charles H. Foster (New York, 1891), 6,84. Stenhouse declared a medium was not employed, but his account was not always accurate.

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Residence of William S. Godbe at 643 East First South was built ca. 1880. Reportedly designed by E. L. T. Harrison, one visitor called it an "architectural poem." Utah State Historical Society collections, gift of Hampton Godbe.

vocabulary "seers" meant the talent of receiving visitations and visions, the admission appears transparent. 3 4 Not surprisingly the revelations confirmed the theological and intellectual position of the participants, producing a new system which was neither Mormonism nor nineteenth-century spiritualism, but a Hegelian synthesis of the two. " T h e whole superstructure of a grand system of theology was unfolded to our minds," Harrison later wrote. " T h e object was not to make a grand display of words, but to remove superstition and ignorance, and teach us the laws governing the science of revelation, the facts of another life, and the philosophy or doctrine which should govern the Church of Zion." 35 T h i s new " g r a n d system of t h e o l o g y " radically a l t e r e d fundamental Mormonism. T h e r e were, what must have seemed to them, small and technical departures from the faith. For instance Solomon during his "visit" contradicted both the Bible and Book of Mormon by suggesting that he had no concubines, only wives. 36 ^Mormon Tribune, February 26, 1870, p. 69; E . L . T . Harrison, " T h e Question o f ' U n c o n d i t i o n a l Obedience,'" Utah Magazine, 3 (November 13, 1869), 438; Mormon Tribune, March 26, 1870, pp. 100-101. 3b Mormon Tribune, February 26, 1780, p. 69. 36 Pratt, "Revelations and Manifestations," 72.

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Indeed, the spirits told Godbe that the Doctrine and Covenants (and apparently the remainder of the Mormon canon) was unreliable. T h e printed revelations of Harrison and Godbe, probably their most bland and noncommittal, clearly departed from the spirit of traditional Mormonism. "God" became the "Highest Authority," an appellation which prefigured an early rejection of a personal God. It was a "suffering humanity" rather than a "sinful" one. Christ's mission was described as a demonstration of love, not one of atoning sacrifice. T h e denial of Mormon dogma became more apparent as the movement progressed. While still nominal Mormons Harrison and Godbe laced their prose with the esoteric, hidden in virtually all their public writing, which hinted broadly of their spiritualistic beliefs. Upon their expulsion from Mormonism, with a speed which betrayed a preconceived plan, the two leaders substituted a pantheistic for a personal God, rejected the Christian atonement, denied the literal resurrection, refused scriptural authority, and declared the notion of Satan dead and buried. 3 7 T h e heterodoxy of the New York instructions extended to a new conception of the missions of Joseph Smith and Brigham Young. Later both Harrison and Godbe bore fervent testimonies to the callings of each, even during and after their excommunications. All this sounded orthodox until the meaning behind their words emerged. T o be sure, their New York seances confirmed that Joseph Smith had been a prophet â&#x20AC;&#x201D; or more properly a medium â&#x20AC;&#x201D; but an imperfect one who strained divine light through frontier ignorance and whose revelations were childish when compared to the "new light" which Godbe and Harrison had received. 38 Brigham Young's contribution, according to Harrison, had been that of preserving and gathering "an inspirational nation, who, no matter what they may do to-day, can at any moment be awakened by the electric touch of communication with the invisible worlds; and what that fact means 'tongues cannot tell.' " 39 What tongues could not express prior to their excommunication could later be made more explicit. Their great religious experience had informed them, Harrison and Godbe wrote in explaining their departure from their former church, that

"Mormon Tribune, J a n u a r y 29, 1870, p. 34; February 19, 1870, p. 6 1 ; March 12, 1870, p. 85; April 9, 1870, p. 117; April 16, 1870, p. 124. 38 [E. L. T. Harrison], " T h e Josephite' Platform," Utah Magazine, (September 4, 1869), 282-83; Godbe, " T h e Situation in Utah," 406-7; Stenhouse, Rocky Mountain Saints, 632. 39 [Harrison], " T h e J o s e p h i t e ' Platform," 282-83, emphasis mine.

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"Mormonism" was inaugurated by the Heavens for a great and divine purpose; its main object being the gathering of an inspirational people, believing in continuous revelations, who, with such channels opened up, could at any period be moulded to any purpose the Heavens might desire; and out of whom, with these opportunities for divine communication, could be developed the grandest, and the noblest civilization the world had ever seen. 40

T h u s as a result of their New York revelation, they saw Mormonism's purpose as only a preparation and prologue to their own higher revelation. Joseph had been an imperfect medium. Brigham, far less, had performed his mission by shepherding the Saints westward where they might be molded to the new heavenly purpose. But Mormonism had done more than just gather an "inspirational" people, awaiting the flame of spiritualism to ignite them to their higher mission. Its doctrines had elevated those whom it had touched, and more importantly, it had bequeathed the world its superb priesthood organization. Spiritualism in contrast was anarchistic and chaotic. Harrison predicted that spiritualism would so remain until "the Priesthood, with its greater enlightenment, shall sweep . . . [the spiritualists] within its ample folds." 41 This priesthood of promise was Mormon organizational structure, purified and refashioned, for the new revelation. T h e New York blueprint, then, called for an evangelical spiritualism grafted u p o n M o r m o n roots. Mormonism would provide the system — the priesthood — to vitalize the world with a new spiritualism. This new spiritualism was not too different from the old, only being reworked into a Mormon mold. While Harrison and Godbe acknowledged the validity of rappings, tippings, and planchettes — the popular and faddish elements of the spiritualist movement — they believed such manifestations conveyed only limited t r u t h . According to their view, these devices usually communicated with undependable spirits. T h e higher truths were secured only by seeking the most worthy spirits, usually through the use of mediums or seers. T h u s the trustworthiness of the message primarily depended upon the messenger, with Biblical figures, deceased Mormons, and celebrated intellects of the past being the primary conveyers of religious and philosophical truth. T h e key lay in a purified priesthood, shorn of its temporal aspirations and 40

William S. Godbe and E. L. T. Harrison, "Manifesto from W. S. Godbe and E. L. T. H a r r i s o n , " Utah Magazine, 3 (November 27, 1869), 470. 41 [E. L. T. Harrison], "Spiritualism and Priesthood," ibid., 2 (January 19, 1869), 199, and 3 (November 20, 1869), 458.

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disciplinary power. Such a priesthood would unite the mortal and immortal worlds and provide spiritualism for the first time with a system capable of self-regulation and proselytizing. 42 T h e vehicle for this movement was to be the Church of Zion, whose name, mission, and teachings flowed from these seances. 43 Because the proposed p r o g r a m d e p a r t e d radically from their former faith, Harrison and Godbe could not have been overly o p t i m i s t i c c o n c e r n i n g t h e p e r m a n e n c e of t h e i r M o r m o n membership. T h u s from the beginning, they seemed to have understood that their spiritual odyssey would ultimately terminate in the Church of Zion. Nonethless, they were instructed by their band of spirits to "make almost any personal sacrifice" to retain their c h u r c h m e m b e r s h i p . U n t i l e x c o m m u n i c a t i o n they w o u l d disseminate "such advanced truths as would elevate the people and prepare them for the changes at hand." 4 4 T h e Church of Zion then was a conspiratorial design. Its program would be advanced as rapidly and smoothly as the Saints and their church leaders would permit. in U p o n r e t u r n i n g to Salt Lake sometime in the middle of November 1868, Harrison and Godbe secretly gathered an active opposition to church rule. Including Kelsey, Tullidge, and Shearman, they recruited about a dozen sympathizers. Most of the new members of the group had had previous but not intimate contact with the dissent. Among them were: (1) T. B. H. Stenhouse, editor of the pro-Mormon Salt Lake Telegram; (2) Fanny Stenhouse, his wife, estranged over polygamy; (3) J o h n Tullidge, musician brother of Edward; (4) Fred A. Perris, merchant; (5) Joseph Salisbury, labor leader and writer; (6) George Watt, church recorder and former personal secretary to Brigham Young; and (7) Henry Lawrence, partner of Kimball-Lawrence, a leading Salt Lake merchandising firm. These converts to dissent accurately bore the image and likeness of their leaders. Most possessed British origins and mercantile connections. While prominent and prestigious, none of the group 42 Nowhere do the principals state explicitly that this formula was given to them in New York, but so fully do these ideas appear after their eastern journey, and so quickly, that the conclusion is compelling. [Harrison], 'Spiritualism and Priesthood," 199; [E. L. T. Harrison], " T h e Story of Creation," ibid., 3 (September 25, 1869), 328; Harrison and Godbe, "Manifesto," 470-73; Mormon Tribune, January 8, 1870, pp. 12-13, and March 26, 1870, pp. 100-101. 43 Mormon Tribune, February 26, 1870, p. 69. T h e choice of the term "Zion" was apparently meant to contrast Mormonism's temporal Zion with the new Godbeite version. 44 Mormon Tribune, J a n u a r y 8, 1870, p. 11; Godbe and Harrison, "Manifesto," 470.

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commanded major influence within the community, Harrison and Godbe having been comforted that they would not have to seek such men to ensure the movement's success. 45 Of all the additions, Lawrence was probably the most significant. As a bishop's counselor, city alderman, and prosperous merchant, he was clearly a young man of promise. More political than religious in his orientation, Lawrence was estranged by Zion's temporal policies. He left Mormonism not because his views changed, he later said, but because he could no longer support the policy of its leaders. 4 6 Of all the Godbeites, Lawrence seems best to fit the traditional picture of the movment. He discarded his faith primarily because of a conscientious objection to church temporal policy. It is doubtful that any of these conspirators fully appreciated the ultimate design and purpose of the nascent movement. "This little band did not n u m b e r altogether a dozen persons," Stenhouse revealed, "and what they knew, or thought they knew, of the purpose of others, and the design among themselves, were matters secretly kept within their own bosoms." 4 7 Indeed, the secrets concealed within their bosoms were not necessarily the secrets of Harrison and Godbe, whatever the dissenters "thought they knew." Yet as the movement progressed toward its predetermined goal, only several of the dissidents resisted its outcome. When the magnitude of its spiritualism became apparent, Tullidge vigorously objected and later explained the movement's demise in the loss of its integrity, the discrepancy between its professed reform of Mormonism and its hidden spiritualism. 48 But with the exception of the two leaders, probably no one completely perceived its spiritualist commitment as the conspiracy was joined. Most within the group possessed accumulated personal grievances, but the central thread which united them was opposition to the temporal Zion. On this issue their protest was rooted, partly because of their own shared opposition, but also because the church seemed vulnerable on the question. Their strategy was by no means straightforward. Publicly they chose to support the "cooperative movement," apparently to ensure themselves an issue. "For it had 45 Mormon Tribune, February 12, 1870, p. 52. Almost a year later, in October 1869, Amasa Lyman, former counselor to Joseph Smith and deposed member of the Twelve Apostles, would become attracted to the movement; still later he would play a primary role. 46 SaltLake Tribune, November 25, 1920, p. 24. 47 Stenhouse, Rocky Mountain Saints, 637, emphasis mine. See also Mormon Tribune, J a n u a r y 8, 1870, p. 11. 48 Tullidge, Life of Joseph the Prophet, 698-99.

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Writer, publisher, historian, and intellectual, Edward W. Tullidge stanch in the doorway of his printing shop. The bearded man appears to be William S. Godbe. Utah State Historical Society collections, gift of Sam Weiler.

been resolved," Tullidge conceded, "that Brigham should be allowed to work up the movement against himself in the public mind." 4 9 Accordingly, in December 1868 Godbe spoke on "the benefits of cooperation" before the School of the Prophets, an educational and policy-implementing committee composed of the principal churchmen of the community. Lawrence in turn put $ 3 0 , 0 0 0 in t h e p r o p o s e d Zion's C o o p e r a t i v e M e r c a n t i l e Institution. 50 In this, according to Tullidge, there was no personal malice intended. T h e Godbeites loved Brigham Young "better than his apostles did or do," he later wrote, denying that "a conspiracy in the dark" against the venerable leader ever existed. 51 Truly, as the movement unfolded, especially within Utah, little rancor was publicly displayed toward the church and its leaders â&#x20AC;&#x201D; though when concealed from the Utah stage, their sentiments were often more ambivalent and protean. Apparently the "higher revelation" of Harrison and Godbe could best be demonstrated by outward charity, whatever the character of their private thoughts. Yet, if re49

Tullidge, "The Reformation in Utah," 604. "Journal History," December 12, 1868, p . 1 ; Tullidge, History of Salt Lake City, 401. 51 Tullidge, " T h e Godbeite Movement," 18. 50

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strained in demeanor, their secret purposes could only have served to undermine the man they claimed to revere. Prior to their excommunication, the Godbeites secretly revealed their conspiracy to create a schism in Brigham's Utah â&#x20AC;&#x201D; first to members of a Chicago trade delegation and later to the visiting vice-president, Schuyler Colfax. If they loved the church leader, their devotion was obviously tempered by a higher loyalty. 52 T h e vehicle for their opposition was a refurbished Utah Magazine. Prior to the New York seances, it had been hastening to an inglorious end, and during Harrison's absence in the East, Tullidge, as acting editor, further alienated public support. While sustaining the church's new economic measures, Tullidge explicitly restated his universalian heresy a n d declared his opposition to what he believed to be the chauvinist tendency of Zion. 53 Upon returning, Harrison assured his readers that Tullidge was in truth " u n o r t h o d o x i c a l l y o r t h o d o x " a n d j o c u l a r l y suggested, with perhaps intended prescience, the postponing of Tullidge's roasting as "a heretic to a more convenient season." 5 4 With declining public support, clearly the magazine required radical alteration if it were to serve the Godbeite dissent. Accordingly, by the early spring of 1869, contemporaneous with the opening of ZCMI, its appearance was drastically altered, revived by additional financial transfusions by Godbe and apparently by Lawrence and the Walker brothers. "The originality of its matter, appearance, quality of paper and workmanship," the unsuspecting Deseret News enthused, bares "not the least affinity between it and the preceding volumes. . . ." 55 W i t h t h e r e v i s e d f o r m a t , t h e m a g a z i n e ' s a t t r a c t i o n to spiritualism persisted, usually in veiled and shadowed passages, but at least on one occasion the New York spiritualist blueprint was virtually laid bare. 5 6 If spiritualism persisted in the revived 52 DeseretNews, November 2, 1869, p. 2; Tullidge, History of Salt Lake City, 394-97; Stenhouse, Rocky Mountain Saints, 638. Actually, Godbeite sentiment for the church leader varied with the occasion. Godbe and especially Tullidge wrote warm and respectful letters to Young even following their excommunication. See their correspondence in Brigham Young Papers. 53 While declaring faith in the missions of Joseph Smith and Brigham Young, Tullidge described his universalism: "I am not fairly orthodox. I know it. I cannot in conscience deny this even to myself," "Universal Man," Utah Magazine, 2 (November 2 1 , 1868), 114-15. * 4 E. L. T. Harrison, "At H o m e , " ibid., 115. 55 Deseret News, May 5, 1869, p. 152. Godbe alone lost a reported $10,000 d u r i n g the two-year history of the magazine; see Luther L. Heller, "A Study of the Utah Newspaper War" (M. A. thesis, Brigham Young University, 1966), 16. For the possible participation of Lawrence and the Walker brothers, see Stenhouse, Rocky Mountain Saints, 633, and Frank J. Cannon, in Salt Lake Tribune, December 30, 1906, p. 4. 56 [Harrison], "Story of Creation," 328. See also L. M. Child, " T h i n g s Unaccountable: Clairvoyants, Oracles, Visions and Seers," Utah Magazine, 3 (September 18, 1869), 311, 325, 340-41; "An

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magazine, the rest of its content was radically altered. No longer a bland literary magazine, it now became a trenchant vehicle for social and religious commentary, which "essayed a careful wellplanned revolution." 57 At first philosophical and abstract, as the crusade gained m o m e n t u m its articles became more explicit, centered increasingly upon the temporal aspirations of Zion. T h e magazine in succession implicitly rejected Mormon millennialism, challenged its readers to think "freely," suggested the limited truth of all religions, including Mormonism, and repeatedly revealed an antinomian strain which rejected all standards of authority save the inner soul. 58 By September 1869 the attacks became even bolder. In " O u r Workmen's Wages," the magazine challenged the extent of the church's deflationary wage policy. T h i n k i n g that Brigham sought to establish a religious dynasty, "The 'Josephite' Platform" declared the Saints would never allow "Joseph Smith's, nor any other man's son, to preside over them simply because of his sonship" and went on to deny the efficacy of p r i e s t h o o d ordination. "Women and T h e i r 'Vanities'" argued that Zion's stress upon simplicity of dress surely could never combat the inherent desire of women for finery. Denying one of the church leaders' favorite images, "Steadying the Ark" invited the Saints to "think freely" and "think forever," for God Almighty never "intended the priesthood to do our thinking. . . ." 59 T h e r e could be no question by the first of October that the magazine possessed an uncertain if not heterodox spirit. Yet with the exception of Joseph Salisbury, whose open opposition to the church policy among the city's laborers resulted in his excommunication, the church took no formal action. 6 0 However, a semiprivate caution must have been extended, for in the October 2 issue, Harrison and Godbe assured their readers that the magazine would continue with its "same energetic spirit," despite "certain Church requirements lately made on us. . . ." 61 T h e following Incredible Story: 'She Is Not Dead, But Sleepeth,' " Und., (September 25, 1869), 321-23, 337-39; "Emanuel Swedenborg," ibid. (October 16, 18b9), 380. 57 Tullidge, " T h e Godbeite Movement," 16. Kind of < 14, 1869), HarT

59 S For other unsigned articles in Utah Magazine relating to these topics see the issues of August 28, 1869 pp 262-64; September 4, 1869, pp.280-83; September 11, 1869, pp. 294, 295. 6 'Â°Tuilidge, "Leaders of the Mormon Reform Movement," 39. 61 "Notice to O u r Patrons," Utah Magazine, 3 (October 2, 1869), 342.

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week, d u r i n g the General Conference of the church, Harrison, Kelsey, and Shearman, along with other leading men within the community, were called to missions, apparently in their case to renew or test their commitments. 6 2 T h e tone of the magazine, however, for several weeks became muted, its pages containing nothing more controversial than a call for purity in plural marriage. Whether its repose signaled hesitancy or merely a pause for a renewal of strength is uncertain. But the October 16 issue was a virtual declaration of hostilities, for Harrison and Godbe "had resolved to force a c o n t r o v e r s y with the p r e s i d e n t a n d the Twelve." 6 3 T h e article which sounded the clarion call was entitled, "The T r u e Development of the T e r r i t o r y , " which cogently, if r e b e l l i o u s l y , a r g u e d for t h e m i n e r a l d e v e l o p m e n t of t h e territory. 6 4 Of course, in matters of apostasy things are seldom what they appear. Concealed from the surface lies the double e n t e n d r e which conveys the significance and meaning of the event. No one at the time questioned the logic of Harrison's treatiseâ&#x20AC;&#x201D; Utah with a questionable agricultural endowment could achieve increased prosperity through the development of her mineral resources. What church leaders found objectionable was its timing and consequently its purpose. Within four years, Brigham Young was urging a similar policy. 65 But during the crisis-laden months of 1869, with non-Mormons openly declaring the railroad and mining to be the twin instruments of Zion's destruction, the article seemed aimed at the church's vitals. Countering clearly stated church policy, it was obviously a repudiation of Brigham Young's leadership. T h e Godbeites of course were not innocent of these implications â&#x20AC;&#x201D; and in fact intended them. T h e i r advocacy of immediate mineral development, more than a difference of opinion concerning policy, was designed to strike at the heart of the temporal Zion. T h e New York revelation had revealed that mining would be the means of overthrowing the Mormon theocracy, and accordingly the article was given the attention its importance required, being carefully read and reread by the dissenters before its printing.

"Deseret News, October 13, 1869, p. 427. 63 Tullidge, " T h e Reformation in Utah," 606. 64 "Emanuel Swedenborg," 376-78. 65 GustiveO. Larson, Outline History of Utah and the Mormons, 3 r d e d . (Salt Lake City, 1965), 247-48.

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"There was a general feeling," Stenhouse wrote, "that the hour of struggle was at hand." 6 6 They were not to be disappointed. With a speed that perhaps they had failed to anticipate â&#x20AC;&#x201D; only hours after the fateful article made its appearance â&#x20AC;&#x201D; Brigham Young, speaking as the "prophet of the Lord" before an emotionally charged School of the Prophets, angrily declared the existence of a secret rebellion which he predicted would shake the entire church. Citing Godbe, Harrison, Stenhouse, Tullidge, Watt, and two others for nonattendance before the School and for "other causes," he peremptorily disfellows h i p p e d all seven p e n d i n g e x p l a n a t i o n s for t h e i r c o n d u c t . From the old Tabernacle, sensation spread throughout the city. Obviously the patience of "the Lion of the L o r d " had worn thin. "For m o n t h s , " the histrionic Stenhouse wrote, "the events of that day had been anticipated, and longed for." 67 At last the Godbeites would have their confrontation. T h e church leaders, however, proceeded deliberately, apparently hopeful that a church trial could be avoided. T h e following day a committee composed of Orson Pratt, Wilford Woodruff, and George Q. Cannon, along with the Thirteenth Ward block teachers, were dispatched to counsel with Harrison, Godbe, and Stenhouse. T h e delegation was carefully designed. T h e Godbeites admired no man in Mormonism more than Pratt, and he, with the saintly Woodruff and brilliant Cannon, seemed a perfect combination to effect a reconciliation. But the committee found them in "the dark and Harrison especially with a bitter spirit." 6 8 But by now the Godbeites had thrown down the gauntlet and had resolved to duel. On October 23, the date determined for their appearance before the School of the Prophets, the Utah Magazine continued its attacks unabated. Harrison denounced the temporal emphasis of Mormonism, while Shearman, with thinly veiled prose, attacked the disposition of men to grasp unrighteously for power. 6 9 Before their examination, the dissidents met to plot their course. While "it was not altogether tasteful to either Mr. Harrison or Mr. Godbe to follow anyone to the block in their own move66

Stenhouse, Rocky Mountain Saints, 636. T h e other two charged were Robert F. Nelsen and William C Dunbar, whose connection, ii any, with the movement is unclear, ibid., 636, 639; Tullidge, " T h e Reformation in Utah," 606. "Journal of Wilford Woodruff," October 16 and 23, 1869, LDS Archives, indicates that the disfellowshipping resulted from charges other than nonattendence at the School. 68 " ] o u r n a l of Wilford Woodruff," October 17 and 18, 1869. 69 "We are Nothing, If Not Spiritual" and "Over-governing," Utah Magazine, 3 (October 23, 1869), 390-91. 67

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m e n t , " Stenhouse resolved to be the first m a r t y r before the school. 70 But their aspirations for martyrdom were temporarily frustrated by Brigham Young, who apparently sought to avoid a confrontation. If the thousand elders assembled anticipated thundering anathemas, they were disappointed, for Brigham had shed the mantle of Jeremiah. Surprisingly, he proceeded by dismissing the charges against everyone but Harrison and Godbe, defusing Stenhouse simply by suggesting that their difficulty was a family matter which could be settled privately (Stenhouse was father-inlaw to the president's eldest son.) He greeted Godbe's testimony with mimicry and refused it gravity. But he could not ignore Harrison, who electrified the congregation by directly and dramatically challenging the president. Given little alternative, the church leader announced that the two recusants would be tried for their membership and called for the School to refrain from reading the Utah Magazine, to which all agreed except Harrison, Godbe, Lawrence, Perris, Kelsey, and the Tullidge brothers. 7 1 T h e trial followed two days later on October 25,1869. T h e Salt Lake High Council conducted the hearing, with Apostle George Q. Cannon prosecuting the formal charge of apostasy. T h e official transcript of the proceeding never has been made public; the fullest available accounts were written by the Godbeite dissenters themselves a n d subject to the caprice of m e m o r y a n d selfjustification. But the general lineaments of the trial are clear. In addition to Cannon, Orson Pratt, Wilford Woodruff, George A. Smith, and Brigham Young himself defended the temporal and spiritual authority of the priesthood, while the recusants refused its authority when the "inner light" of the soul failed to confirm its t e a c h i n g s . G o d b e a n d H a r r i s o n d e n i e d a n y a l l e g i a n c e to spiritualism, bore witness to the missions of Joseph and Brigham, and read a vigorous statement d e m a n d i n g freedom of thought and expression within the church. Its peroration sought to frame the issues of contention on the highest ground possible: We claim the right of, respectfully but freely, discussing all measures upon which we are called to act. And, if we are cut off from this Church for asserting this right, while our standing is dear to us, we will suffer it to be taken from us sooner than resign the liberties of

Tullidge, " T h e Godbeite Movement," 30. Ibid., 31; Stenhouse, Rocky Mountain Saints, 639.

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Despite their protestations, the trial terminated with the High Council unanimously declaring for excommunication. But the proceedings were not at an end. Immediately following the trial, all present were requested to sustain the council's decision. For in attendance were many local church authorities as well as friends of the accused. Kelsey, Lawrence, the Tullidge brothers, and two others — Joseph Silver and James Cobb — refused. Kelsey, apparently because of the vigor of his continuing opposition, was then summarily denied his membership. With that, deliberations concluded after occupying much of the day. 73 T h e question of the spirit and equity of the proceedings lay of course in the eye of the beholder. Apostle Wilford Woodruff felt that Harrison and Godbe had "manifested a dark wicked spirit." Harrison and Kelsey, years following the hearing, continued to believe that they had been dealt with arbitrarily. Yet Stenhouse's assessment was closer to the truth. " T h e trial was as fairly conducted as these things ever are," he wrote. Privately Godbe admitted as much. In an apologetic letter to Brigham, he acknowledged his conduct toward the church leader seemed filled with duplicity and confessed knowing "for some time" the inevitability of his excommunication. Indeed, the evidence was a b u n d a n t and overwhelming that the two defendants no longer sustained an orthodox commitment, despite their public declarations. 7 4 T h e issues of their trial — t h o s e explicit and implicit— were broader and more profound than often supposed. T h e central contention was not solely freedom of e x p r e s s i o n within the church, nor even the temporal aspirations of the Kingdom, but whether Mormonism was prepared to accept an organized and revolutionary opposition to its spiritual and temporal authority. By October 1869 the Godbeites had drifted far from the moorings of traditional doctrine; they were prepared to deny obedience to 72 Their statement, dated October 23, 1869, apparently had been prepared for delivery before the School of the Prophets, "An Appeal to the People," Utah Magazine, 3 (October 30, 1869)i 407. 73 "Iournal History," October 25, 1869; "Journal of Wilford Woodruff, October 25, 1869. 7 *lSid.; Charles Ellis, Deseret Evening News, May 24, 1900, p. 8; Cecil Kelsey Mills, "Life of Eh Brazee Kelsey," p. 8, LDS Archives; Stenhouse, Rocky Mountain Saints, 641; Godbe to Young, November 9, 1869, Brigham Young Papers. It is common for "reforming" dissenters to regard themselves as more chaste in belief than even the orthodox. If Harrison and Godbe denied their spiritualism and affirmed the missions of the two early leaders of Mormonism, it probably was because they believed their own expression; however, their words no longer clothed the ordinary meaning.

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the priesthood in "all subjects â&#x20AC;&#x201D; secular and spiritual," which their inner light failed to confirm. 7 5 But only when they sought to implant their beliefs upon Mormonism were they checked. Cannon, who prosecuted H a r r i s o n and Godbe, later defined the church standard which apparently was employed d u r i n g the trial: We had not stated that an honest difference of opinion between a member of the Church and the authorities consitituted apostasy; for we could conceive of a man honestly differing in opinion from the authorities of the church and yet not be an apostate; but we would not conceive of a man publishing those differences of opinion, and seeking by arguments, sophistry, and special pleading to enforce them upon the people to produce division and strife, and to place the acts and counsels of the authorities of the Church, if possible, in a wrong light, and not be an apostate. . . . 76

T h e two Godbeite leaders were convicted more for conspiracy than heresy. T h e church trial did not presage a wholesale purging. Almost as if to belie the Godbeite charge of intolerance, the church leaders failed to proceed vigorously against the other dissident leaders â&#x20AC;&#x201D; many of them eventually forcing their own excommunication. Two days following the hearing, Edward Tullidge resigned his membership. "I see no virtue in multiplying words in justification," he confessed to Brigham Young in a letter intended for publication, "knowing myself to be heterodox. For years I have tried to shun the issue of this day, for theoretically I have been a believer in republican institutions and not in a temporal theocracy." 77 Similar letters within several weeks came from the pens of J o h n Tullidge and William Shearman. 7 8 Lawrence had more difficulty in severing his ties. Although within a single week he publicly opposed the church leadership three times â&#x20AC;&#x201D; once at the trial and twice before the School of the Prophets, no action was taken against him. Presidents Young and Wells reportedly spent hours attempting to dissuade him from his course, but by December, Lawrence forced a church trial before the Eighth Ward, in which he had served until 75 "An Appeal to the People," 406-8; E. L. T. Harrison, " T h e Limits of the Priesthood," Utah Magazine, 3 (November 6, 1869), 422-23. 7 '^Deseret Evening News, November 1, 1869, p. 2. 77 "An Appeal to the People," 405. Tullidge claimed to have tried unsuccessfully to dissuade Godbe from his course d u r i n g the trial and to have later left the church out of loyalty to the dissenters and "to accomplish future results and to counteract evil." Tullidge to Young, December 1872, Brigham Young Papers. 78 Tullidge, "Leaders of the Mormon Reform Movement," 39-40; "Letter to President Brigham Young," Utah Magazine, 3 (November 13, 1869), 439.

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only recently as a bishop's counselor. 79 T h e Stenhouses in turn waited almost a year before submitting their letters requesting church termination; George Watt finally declared for the Godbeites and spiritualism in April 1874. 80 T h e sequel of events following the trial is another story, but its outline can be traced. For a few months during 1869-70 the New Movement seemed formidable, allying the Godbeite intellectuals with the prominent anti-Mormon merchants. In succession, the Godbeites formally commenced the Church of Zion; transformed their magazine into an opposition press, the Mormon Tribune and subseqently the Salt Lake Tribune; founded, along with the Gentile dissenters, the Liberal party; and even sought to organize American spiritualism. But the threat of a major Godbeite schism soon dissolved. T h e movement failed to recruit a significant following among either the Saints or the spiritualists. Financial reverses forced the sale of the Tribune, and the Liberal party proved no more successful a vehicle. For though the party endured, eventually securing power during the Mormon disfranchisement of the 1880s, it e v e n t u a l l y cast adrift most of t h e G o d b e i t e d i s s e n t e r s because of the timidity of New Movement "reform." Silenced by failure, the small band nonetheless continued well into the 1870s, spiritually nourished by visiting mediums and frequent seances. Before the Liberal Institute, their intellectual forum, appeared nationally renown lecturers whose cultural ministry in "backward" Zion was obvious. But what then remained was only a cinder of the bright flame which had b u r n e d so expectantly during the months of early 1870. By the close of the decade, the New Movement cooled even further and then disintegrated. Mormonism rejected the skepticism and spiritualism of the Godbeites. But they eventually proved prophets at least in one sense. Brigham Young's temporal Zion would not be realized in territorial Utah â&#x20AC;&#x201D; partially because modern communications would force the opening of its closed society but certainly also because most men simply will not yield themselves to the requirements of an ideal community. In this the Godbeite leaders were proof of their own prophecy. 79

Tullidge, " T h e Reformation in Utah," 606; "Journal History," October 30, 1869; Minutes of Special Teachers Meetings, Eighth Ward, Salt Lake Stake, Historical Record, Book B, December 13, 1869, pp. 180-82, LDS Archives. For Lawrence's version of these climactic events, see Salt Lake Tribune, November 22, 1889, p. 3. . 80 Fanny Stenhouse, "7>// It All": The Story of a Life's Experience in Mormonism . . . (Harttord.Conn., 1890), 577-78; Salt Lake Tribune, April 12 and 15, 1874.

Utah's First Convict Labor Camp BY VIRGIL CALEB PIERCE

Officials stand outside the fence enclosing Utah's first convict labor camp near Willard, Box Elder County. Utah State Road Commission photograph, Utah State Historical Society collections.

1 HE MORMONS, WHO BROUGHT permanent settlement to Utah, have always believed idleness a curse. Even convicts, it was thought, should not waste valuable time. But how to use their time has been a lingering problem through the years. In varying degrees they have been permitted to compete with the free labor and free enterprise system by working both inside and outside the prison walls. Their Mr. Pierce is a teacher at Henry Perrine Baldwin High School on the island of Maui, Hawaii.

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use on private as well as public jobs has caused much controversy, but nearly all penal institutions, both within Utah and without, have agreed that it is good that convicts be worked. Hosea Stout recorded in his diary that in preterritorial Utah convict labor was apparently sold to private individuals, and during the territorial period convicts were permitted to labor outside the prison wall on any public or private works. Under federal law, however, it was illegal to hire or contract prisoners for private work. With the coming of statehood in 1896, the new constitution made unlawful the contracting of convict labor and its use outside prison grounds except for public works. In 1909 the legislature passed a law enabling the state to receive additional benefit from the convicts on public road work. This law specified that prisoners with terms of less than ten years could be utilized in preparing and providing material for road construction and to construct the road itself. A more extensive convict labor law was passed in 1911, repealing most of the 1909 law. The intent of this new law was to make even more extensive use of prisoners on state road projects. Among other things, it removed any reference to length of terms in defining eligibility for road work, and it provided for reduction of sentences for efficient work and good behavior. The law was also more detailed as to the control and supervision of prisoners while they were working on public roads. 1 Gov. William Spry was anxious to use prisoners from the state penitentiary on a statewide road building program. Before establishing Utah's first convict labor camp for that purpose, he and warden Arthur Pratt visited Colorado where they were impressed by the low construction cost. They optimistically predicted that with the new convict labor law in operation, Utah would have the greatest road system in the country. 2 It was the intention of state officials to give convict labor its first tryout in Davis County which had been the first to apply for the use Huanita Brooks, ed., On the Mormon Frontier: The Diary of Hosea Stout, 1844-1861, 2 vols. (Salt Lake City 1964) 2 3 4 8 . For legal b a c k g r o u n d on convict labor see Utah Territory, The Compiled Laws of the Territory of Utah . . . (Salt Lake City, 1876). U n d e r Title IV, Section 108, the directors of the penitentiary could require convicts to labor on public or private works; a n d u n d e r Section 125, the warden could hire out "any or all the convicts." It was also possible for private individuals to lease both the penitentiary and the convicts a n d hire them out as prescribed in Section 123. U n d e r Title X X I I , (2371), Section 105, prisoners in county jails might also be required to labor on "public works or other works of the county. Later compilations of Utah laws included a large section of United States statutes "Locally Applicable and I m p o r t a n t , " which prohibited the hiring out ot federal prisoners, Utah Territory, The Compiled Laws of Utah . . . (Salt Lake City, 1888), Section 18. However, territorial law continued jail prisoners to labor on public roads or buildings "for the benefit of led to permit county jail ot the r. nnV r 1- . L I . 1 f_ir : „*„.„! 1 :„ 1 COA ^.a Ctnto r^f TTtoVi county, " chapter 6, p. 304. For applicable laws following statehood in 1896, see, State of Utah, tion _Article 16; State of Utah, Laws of the State of Utah . . . (Salt Lake City, 1911), chapter 76. Constitution, 2 Salt Lake Tribune, May 9, 1911, p. 3. r

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of convicts. Officials could see a need for the construction of a road between the larger cities of Ogden and Salt Lake. T h e sandy ridge, a stretch along the mountainside, made that piece of road almost impassable. Warden Pratt had his men and equipment ready to commence operation on J u n e 1, but because Davis County had not made preparations by procuring road machinery of its own or designating its highways, Box Elder County was selected instead. Box Elder County had already started work on a road between Hot Springs and Willard and had bonded $200,000 for road building. Besides being financially able and having started construction of the state road, the county had much of the needed equipment, including a huge rock crusher. 3 After Box Elder County was selected as the place to begin, an area to house the convicts was determined. T h e Salt Lake Tribune reported the trip of state officials to Box Elder County to select the location of Utah's first convict labor camp. Yesterday afternoon a party of state officials and others came up from Salt Lake City to select a site for the establishment of a convict camp along the route of the state road now u n d e r course of construction from Hot Springs to this city [Brigham]. In the party were J. W.Jensen of the State Good Roads commission [sic], Warden Pratt of the state penitentiary, State Engineer Caleb T a n n e r and a number of other officials and good road experts. T h e party reached this city [Brigham] in three automobiles and, joined by the local people, including E. W. Dunn of the Commerical club, Road Commissioner P. N. Pierce, Victor E. Madsen and others, they went to a point south of Willard where it was decided to establish the convict camp for about sixty prisoners who will help complete the state road to this city.4

T h e land for the camp was leased from a Willard farmer, Appollos Taylor, Sr., for fifty dollars. Just prior to the selection of the camp site, the State Board of Road Commissioners had authorized the purchase of $25,000 worth of equipment and materials to be used on the roads and in construction of the camp. T h e equipment consisted of one concrete roller and a mixer, ten teams of horses, one stone crusher, ten wagons, a sixty horsepower engine, a road sprinkler, and other small pieces of equipment. 5 3 State of Utah, Road Commission, Minutes of the State Road Commission, May 10, 1911, p. 28, and J u n e 10, 1911, p. 32, Utah State Archives, State Capitol, Salt Lake City; Salt Lake Tribune , J u n e 20, 1911, p. 14, and May 9, 1911, p. 3; Box Elder News (Brigham City), J u n e 15, 1911, p. 1, and September 14, 1911, p. 28. 4 Salt Lake Tribune, J u n e 11, 1911, p.3. 5 Box Elder County, Minutes of Box Elder County Board of Commissioners, Book H, 1911, p. 506, Box Elder County Courthouse, Brigham City; interview with Ace Taylor, Bear River City, July 31, 1966; Deseret Evening News, J u n e 14, 1911, p. 5; Salt Lake Tribune, J u n e 14, 1911, p. 16.

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O n July 12 Governor Spry and S. W. Stewart of the Board of Corrections watched an advance delegation of fifteen convicts, many of them serving life sentences, leave the state prison at Sugarhouse for Box Elder County, u n d e r guard of Charles Davies and W. D. Davis, with the road equipment and the material for the construction of a stockade. They also took provisions for two weeks. T h r e e four-horse teams, driven by convicts, led the procession as it left the prison gates accompanied by the guards on saddle horses. T h e party made camp that night eight miles south of Ogden and arrived at Willard early the next afternoon. 6 T H E CAMP

A five-acre plot of ground was set aside for the camp. T h e prisoners built a stockade in the center, placing a fence of barbed wire, with strands four inches apart, around four-by-four-inch posts spaced every eight feet. Near the top of the posts an arm two and one-half feet long was spiked and projected over into the stockade, and on this three wires were strung so that prisoners attempting to scale the fence would have a difficult time getting over the top. T h e enclosure covered an area 125 feet square and would comfortably hold sixty to seventy men. In all, the camp had twenty-three tents: the living tents of the prisoners, a bath, a barber shop, a kitchen, and a dining tent. All tents were supplied with spring couches, one for each prisoner. A deadline was placed twenty feet from the fence around the perimeter of the stockade to indicate how close curious onlookers were permitted to approach. A water trench was dug to connect the camp with the Willard water system. Two strong electric spotlights were placed at the southeast and northeast corners of the compound. A large gate consisting of two swinging doors made u p the entrance to the enclosure. 7 O n j u l y 17, u n d e r the guard of Pratt, assistant warden Andrew C. Ure, and five guards, an additional thirty-seven prisoners â&#x20AC;&#x201D; most of them serving long sentences, two of them for life â&#x20AC;&#x201D; were transported to the Willard camp in a special car of the Oregon Short Line. T h e prisoners and their guards detrained at Willard and marched to 6

Deseret Evening News, July 13, 1911, p. 12. State of Utah, Second Biennial Report of the State Road Commission . . . 1911 and 1912, bound as number 22 in Public Documents (Salt Lake City, 1913), 21; BoxElderNews, J u n e 15, 1911,p. 1, A u g u s t 3 , 1911, p. 1, September 14, 1911, pp. 28, 29, August 17, 1911, p. 3, August 3, 1911, p. I; Deseret Evening News, July 13, 1911, p. 12; interview with Ace Taylor. One tent within the stockade was set aside for Negroes only (referred to as "coons" in the article), according to the Box Elder News, August 17, 1911, p. 3. 7

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camp. With the previous group of fifteen, a total of fifty-two prisoners were then at the camp. 8 All prisoners were supplied with two khaki shirts and trousers, a pair of high-top boots, and a hat. T h e r e was no striped clothing or balls and chains, for the latter had long been abandoned. T h e prisoners, in fact, were given much liberty of movement, some hauling crushed material out onto the road for distances of two or three miles. They worked eight hours a day and performed duties as rock-gatherers, blasters, cartmen, cooks, and general road workers. At the rock crusher the convicts operated everything but the engine, which was run by a Mr. Stevens of Willard. Two trustees did the blacksmithing and were constantly busy repairing machinery and shoeing horses. T h e horses were also cared for by trustees who had their tent near the stable. A water trough was installed, and the camp possessed a large tent stable which was used in bad weather. A commissary was located outside the barbed wire enclosure, and a prisoner was detailed to check carefully every article that went in or out. 9 While living at the camp, the prisoners enjoyed very acceptable living conditions. T h e meals, as reported by one writer, were "the best of food." He related that the menu the day he visited the camp consisted of baked beans, luscious brown potatoes, big juicy slices of beef, a pudding "like mother makes," bread, butter, tea, coffee, and fresh fruit. "So far as eating is concerned," he concluded, "we wouldn't have the slightest objection to residing at the convict camp." 1 0 Many or possibly all of the vegetables were purchased from local farmers. Fred Woodyatt, a Willard resident, recalls that when he was a boy of about thirteen, a trustee would often come from the camp to his father's farm in a horse-drawn cart to pick u p fresh vegetables. 11 Another man, Ace Taylor — now a resident of Bear River City and son of Appollos Taylor, Sr. — who was in high school when he lived in Willard, recalls that his father also sold fresh vegetables to the camp as well as alfalfa for horse feed. 12 ' After work the men could take baths, put on a clean change of clothes, and have their supper. They were then permitted to indulge in various kinds of sports and pastimes. T h e Brigham City news»Salt Lake Tribune, July 18, 1911, p. 11; Box Elder News, August 3, 1911 n 3. ^Deseret Evening News, July 13, 1911, P- 12; Box Elder News, August 17, 1911, p. 3. 10 Herald-Republican, November 13, 1911, p. 1. "Interview with Fred Woodyatt, Willard, July 31, 1966. He also noted that his father, an English gardener, took pride in growing excellent produce. 12 Interview with Ace Taylor.

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paper reported that passengers riding the electric cars witnessed such activities as wrestling, boxing, and j u m p i n g . One visitor to the camp saw baseballs, gloves, masks, and other sporting equipment hanging in the prisoners' tents. 1 3 Ace Taylor remembers the men playing baseball in the field. "I never played ball with them," he said, "but on many occasions I kidded with them." 1 4 According to Helgar Packer, a Willard bishop at the time who had helped with his team of horses in gathering rock for the road, the only difference between him and them was that he could come and go as he pleased. 15 Governor Spry, always boastful about the convicts, said: I was delighted at what I saw during my recent visit to the camp. We have provided clean clothing, clean beds, clean food and surroundings, and have made the conditions as comfortable and agreeable as possible. 16

Other reports support Spry's observation that living conditions at the camp were very good. 1 7 T h e r e were six experienced guards stationed at the camp site and road at all times. At night two of the guards patrolled the stockade; the prisoners were required to turn off their lights at nine o'clock. Charles Davies, chief guard, was u n d e r the jurisdiction of warden Pratt and the Board of Corrections. It was his responsibility to have the prisoners guarded and their behavior watched. T h e State Road Commission engineered, supervised, and directed the work on the project. 18 T H E ROAD

T h e road was fourteen feet wide and eight inches deep, the first macadamized road in the county. T h e prisoners would collect the rock from the hillside and cart it from one-eighth to one-half mile to the crusher. T h e rock was then crushed and hauled as far as three miles in two-yard d u m p wagons where it was spread along the roadway. A finer crushed rock was spread as the top layer; it was then sprinkled with water and rolled down. At times it was necessary 13

Box Elder News, August 3, 1911, p. 1. Interview with Ace Taylor. Box Elder News, August 17, 1911, P- 3. "Ibid. 17 Ibid., August 3, 1911, p. 1, and J u n e 15, 1911, p. 1; interviews with Ace Taylor and Fred Woodyatt. IS Box Elder News, September 14, 1911, p. 28, and August 17, 1911, p. 3. 14

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to hire nonpnsoners with their teams to haul rock from the mountainside to the crusher. 19 At first it was thought that the convicts would build the road to Brigham City; but, when their work terminated, the force had graded only one-fourth of a mile of earth road and had laid two and one-fourth miles of macadam road, stretching approximately from Hot Springs to Willard. The cost of the road per mile was $2,054. 20 Because of severe winter weather, on November 13, 1911, thirtyseven of the then forty-five prisoners at the camp were transported back to the penitentiary on the Denver and Rio Grande Railroad. They were soon moved to Washington County to continue state road work in a milder climate. The eight remaining men were left to care for the horses and camp, thinking they would return to complete the road between Hot Springs and Willard; but they never did. Nature would not grant them one more week of good weather which would have allowed that stretch to be finished. Warden Pratt reported to the Herald-Republican upon their departure that he felt 19 Second Biennial Report of the State Road Commission, 2 1 ; Lydia Walker Forsgren, ed., History of Box Elder County (n.p., [1939?]), 142; Box Elder News, S e p t e m b e r 14, 1911, p. 28. 20 Deseret Evening News., July 13, 1911, p. 12; Second Biennial Report ofthe State Road Commission, 30.

Convict road crew at work in Davis County was racially integrated. Utah State Road Commission photograph, Utah State Historical Society collections.

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"highly elated over the outcome of the first venture in roadmaking by convicts in the State of Utah." 2 1 T H E H O N O R SYSTEM

Each convict, before going to the road camp, had a personal interview with the warden, and each gave his word of honor that he would do good work and not try to escape. Pratt reported on many occasions that his men in the state prison were anxious to work on the state roads and that applications were received from nearly all the convicts asking that they be allowed to work outside. T h e warden was thoroughly converted to the idea of using convict labor on the public roads. He was convinced that being released from the grim and frowning walls of the prison and working outside encouraged the contentment and future well-being of the prisoners. 2 2 "Out in the open," the warden said, "prisoners can feel like men, sleep u n d e r the stars, have no steel bar in front of their eyes and be inspired with the idea of'making good.' " 2 3 From all indications the warden was sincere in his belief that this was good for the men and not merely a saving to the state. Ezra Knowlton, a state road engineer at one of the camps in Sanpete County in 1915, said that the warden felt nothing could be better for the prisoners. Knowlton also recalled that these road camps were called "honor camps" by 1915 and that Pratt was religiously converted to t h e m a n d expected these men to show honor and to grow a n d develop their m a n h o o d t h r o u g h this system of reformation. 2 4 T h e warden's heart-to-heart interviews must have done some good. One convict stated that the first time he had felt any manhood in him was when placed on his honor by the warden. 2 5 According to Ace Taylor, the men at the Willard camp were honest and pleasant: "Father thought a lot of the ones he knew and trusted them, even more than he trusted some of his neighbors." 2 6 Fred Woodyatt remembered them to be a "well behaved bunch of men" even though he did step a little faster past the camp while walking home from school. 27 Ace Taylor and Fred Woodyatt both indicated tx

Herald-Rebublican, November 13, 1911, p. 1. Box Elder News, July 20, 1911, p. 3, and J u n e 15, 1911, p. \; Deseret Evening News fury 13 1911 p.12. ' 23 Deseret Evening News, December 18, 1915, p. 56. "Interview with Ezra Knowlton, Salt Lake City, August 4, 1966. He worked with Pratt on some of the first road projects in the state where convicts were used. 25 Box Elder News, July 20, 1911, p. 3. 26 Interview with Ace Taylor. "Interview with Fred Woodyatt. 22

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that the community, as far as they knew, did not resent the camp's being there. In fact, Taylor and Woodyatt claimed that the farmers were happy to be able to have a place to market their vegetables and to have a good road built through their city. They also remembered the camp as well kept and sanitary. During the five months that the convicts worked on the roads in Box Elder County, not all kept their words of honor. Four men tried to escape and one succeeded. T h e first men to take flight were Paul Van Houghton and Gus Dores o n j u l y 27, ten days after the camp was officially opened. They were gone for about seven hours before they were captured by Deputy Sheriff Joseph Saunders in north Ogden. T h e men had been given permission to go two miles from camp to work at the gravel pit. Because of the guard's confidence in them, they were permitted to take their lunch and have one hour for dinner. Another convict noticed their absence and went to the Utah Hot Springs to telephone the alarm. T h e men had an hour's start before pursuit began. At 8:30 that evening Saunders saw the men in a field and placed them u n d e r arrest. Warden Pratt commented: Both men gave me their word that they would not try to escape if permitted to join the camp. Both had good records and Van Houghton was allowed to work at the fair grounds for 15 days prior to the time he was sent to the camp. They will lose considerable time by their foolish actions. I talked with each of the 52 men at the camp and explained to them if they obeyed the rules each would get a reduction of 10 days for every 30 days they worked. 2 8

Governor Spry, also quoted in the paper, said that he was grieved by the men's escape. He said that no ball and chain method was forthcoming but that the men would be dealt with. T h e governor also said that he was very pleased with the public's cooperation in the capture of the men. As a punishment the two were placed in the "tombs" of the penitentiary. 2 9 T h e next escape occurred the night of August 8, sometime between midnight and 1:00 A.M. GUS Johnson, serving a term of fifteen years, ten for attempted burglary and five for attempting to take the life of a fellow prisoner, climbed over the barbed wire fence. At noon the next day, Jewell Leavitt, a farmer and manager of the West Weber Cannery, discovered the escapee u n d e r the platform of the cannery building. He telephoned the local sheriff who sent his 28

Deseret Evening News, July 28, 1911, p. 5. Ibid., August 9, 1911, p. 10.

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deputy to the scene. T h e convict was captured without difficulty. T h e state had offered a fifty dollar reward for his capture. 3 0 T h e last convict to elude the guards was William Jones who left the encampment on November 6, believed headed for Brigham City along the mountainside. He was serving a term of eighteen months for burglary. His sentence was to expire in April 1912, allowing time for accumulated good behavior. 3 1 This was the only successful escape during the experiment of the prison camp in Willard. Other problems of discipline were less serious. T h e Box Elder News reported an incident concerning two men who were returned to the penitentiary because they refused to work on the road. They endeavored to spread discontent among the other prisoners by trying to get them to refuse to work. 32 Although there were more escapes among the prisoners while they were working on the road than when they were at the prison, the warden still felt the road convict camps were a good thing: T h e men appreciate the opportunity to get out for road work, and although there are occasional escapes, on the whole the record for trustworthiness is a good one. In this connection Utah stands ahead of most prisons of the United States. As the record now stands, there are only five men who escaped in the past five years who have not been recaptured. T h e escapes for the past five years number 18 in all. A representative prison in another state lost 57 men by escapes in only two years. From the prison p r o p e r we lost only one man in two years. He was a trusty. 33 OPPOSING FORCES

T h e r e was not a great deal of adverse publicity over the use of convicts on the public works. However, at a rally held in Liberty Park by the Socialist party, July 2, 1911, the use of convicts on public works was denounced. About five h u n d r e d people attended the meeting, with Alfred Sorensen presiding. T h e first of three speakers, E. S. Lund, told of a meeting which the governor had held with a committee of Socialists who wanted to learn the policy of the administration in regard to caring for the unemployed. According to Lund, the governor had told them that the legislature had passed a law which provided for public work but for which no appropriation was available. So far as the state's assuming responsibility was con30 SaltLake Tribune, August 9, 1911, p. 2; Deseret 3l Box Elder News, November 9, 1911, p. 1. 32

Evening News, August 9, 1911, p. 10.

Ibid., September 14, 1911, p. 28. Deseret Evening News, December 16, 1916, p. 45.

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cerned, the governor's duty was prescribed by law. If distress existed among them, the solution lay in petitioning for a special session of the legislature to deal with the problem. Lund continued: T h e use of convicts in public work is a menace to the thousands now out of employment, men whose credit has been exhausted by their necessities. . . . Let us make the state come to its senses. If the state sees fit to work convicts, it will have to feed you, and if it feeds you without asking you to work, I wouldn't kick about that. 3 4

T h e second speaker, J. L. Donnelly, made some brief remarks, calling the governor a capitalist who did not care about the rights of laborers. He said that the solution to the problem of using convicts for labor was to elect a Socialist governor. T h e final speaker, J. H. Walsh â&#x20AC;&#x201D; although cut short by a band concert â&#x20AC;&#x201D; made the longest speech, urging union workers to boycott the state fair because convicts had been used to prepare the ground for that event. Like the first two speakers, he severely criticized the governor for letting the prisoners labor on public works. 35 Governor Spry replied to these criticisms at the end of July: T h e r e has been some discussion regarding the men at work on the roads. This discussion has been of an adverse nature and without foundation, for the convicts are not taking work from any individual in any sense whatever. Every dollar that has been appropriated for good roads work will be spent with the public. These convicts are not in any sense competitors to the laboring man, as the work of the convict is largely separate from the appropriation for good roads. Nor are we paying the convicts any wage whatever. Their reward is a shortening of the time they have to serve. 36 CONCLUSION

T h e use of convict labor on the state roads proved to be successful during and after the Willard experiment. It saved the state much money. In 1911, it cost $2.25 to pay the free laborer for a day's work on the roads. T h e labor performed on that one project in Box Elder County amounted to 6,503 man-days which would have totaled $14,631.75 in wages. It did cost more money to maintain a prisoner after the inauguration of labor camps, but not significantly. T h e average cost per prisoner on a daily basis during the 1911-12 biennium (the first two years convict labor was used on road camps) was 34

Salt Lake Tribune, July 3, 1911, p. 3. Hbid. 36 Deseret Evening News, July 28, 1911, p. 5. 3

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fifty-five and one-half cents. This was an increase over the 1909-10 biennium of five cents per prisoner per day. It must be realized that each biennium, with few exceptions, had a rise in cost due to the increasing expense of supplies. In the biennium of 1907-08, the cost was two cents less than in the 1909-10 biennium. T h e prisoners had to be clothed and fed no matter where they were, and the tools used would have been needed by free labor as well. It would be difficult to determine, exactly, how much money was saved by using convict labor over free labor, but officials said the amount was substantial. 37 Arizona, which had used convict labor since 1909, reported that it saved their state approximately the cost of wage labor; and Colorado officials said that it cost them 36 cents a day to use convict labor, whereas it would have cost them $2.50 a day for wage labor. 38 State officials felt strongly that other benefits besides economic ones were derived from the use of convict labor on public roads. Warden George A. Storrs, in 1918, said: In conclusion about the road work, it might be pointed out that it is a success from three different angles: the value of roads to the traveling public, the savings to the taxpayers by working the prisoners there the same as on the prison farm, and the matter of giving the prisoners themselves an opportunity to show their worth in some measure, learn how to do a work that is helpful, and to get themselves into a mental state and a physical condition whereby they will be able to do the work secured for them upon their release from the prison, thus saving themselves from further transgression and the expense entailed in the matter of bringing the offenders to account. 39

After the Willard camp experiment, the convicts were transported to Washington County during the winter months of 1911-12; and in 1912, a convict camp was established in Davis County where the state had intended to use it first. After 1911 most of the work was done on difficult and extensive sidehill cuts and on almost impassable sandy sections. Ezra Knowlton said the prisoners were easier to care for in regions where the work was more difficult and that the camps were better operated in less populated areas. 40 T h e use of convict labor became solidly established in 1911 and continued until about 1920. Thereafter, the practice declined, until by the 1930s it was nearly unknown. T h e Depression and a movement toward 37 Second Biennial Report of the State Road Commission, 7-8. See also State of Utah, Report of the State Board of Corrections . . . 1917-1918, bound as number 9 in Public Documents (Salt Lake City, 1919), 10-11. 3 *Public Roads, 2 (May 1919), 16; Salt Lake Tribune, May 9, 1911, p. 3. 39 Report of the State Board of Corrections, 11. 40 Interview with Ezra Knowlton.

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vocational training for the prisoners were major reasons for the decline of the camps. 4 1 T h e convict labor law of 1911 is still on the books, however, and the state could use prisoners on the road today. Opposition to convict labor came because of the competition it brought to the wage laborer. As time went on, other considerations induced the state to provide for vocational training programs to meet the needs of the prisoners during the changing times. Today's experts see the road work as having been good for its day, but they note that the modern practice is to offer more specialized training in nearly every imaginable skill in order to better prepare the prisoner for the challenge of society upon release. 42 It appears that the use of convict labor was not only good for the state during times of a greatly changing transportation system but also served as an important step in the development of an effective prison vocational training program in Utah. 41

Interview with Ernest Wright, executive director, Board of Corrections, August 4, 1966.

Ibid.

PIONEERING TOURISM IN THE WEST

In the forepart of September in 1914 the Commercial Club instituted a good roads tour to the Grand Canyon of the Colorado. . . . Out of Cedar City I turned off by mistake to the Zion Canyon road and tore out the storage battery from a new Cadillac car trying to negotiate the high rocky centers. . . . I put on a new cord tire at St. George and the party proceeded in the direction of Kanab. We had gone but fifteen miles when the new tire blew. . . . T h e Pierce Arrow car in the party could proceed but two miles at a stretch before it had to be stopped and the carburetor air strainer cleaned of the accumulated dust. . . . All the cars negotiated the Hurricane Hill . . . but we broke several spark plugs in the attempt by rushing an unbridged irrigation ditch at the foot of this nightmare hill. We were the only cars that had ever made the hill without the aid of horses. Halfway to Kanab the steering knuckle of my car snapped in two from the strain of ruts. We deserted this car on the spot. . . . T h e Tracy car took on ten gallons of wood alcohol at Kanab by mistake and in the forest the alcohol dissolved the shellac off of the cork float in the carburetor and stopped u p the needle valve. . . . We finally reached Bright Angel Point and took in the wonderful sight which had been well earned. . . . On the journey back, I bought a new Ford. . . . Just out of Kanab a desert dust storm enveloped the party and the Ford crashed . . . . When we reached home all of the varnish was off our new car, the new tires were worn out and the distributor was clogged with red dust. . . . T h e nightmare of this trip is clearly outlined in my memory, notwithstanding the years that have intervened. (Typescript by Frank Ensign in Utah State Historical Society files.)

Roadometer in the Temple Square Museum.

believed to have appeared at the beginning of the bicycle and motorcar age, but early historical records indicate that the idea originated with one of the Mormon immigrants on his way by wagon caravan to Utah." This statement appeared in Fremont Alder's column in the San Francisco Call in March 1932. 1 Five months later, in a follow-up column on the same subject, Alder proceeded unknowingly to add fuel to a fire of misunderstanding which has puzzled historians of the Mormon westward movement for some time. He wrote that the measuring device "was invented by Orson Pratt, one of the followers of Brigham Young, when crossing the plains in 1846." 2 SPEEDOMETERS ARE COMMONLY

Mr. Stringham is an educator in Soldotna, Alaska. F r e m o n t Alder, "Origin and Invention of the Speedometer," San Francisco Call, March 1932. T h e term speedometer as used here refers to that part of the present car instrument used to record mileage traveled. Since its first use, the instrument developed on the trail in 1847 has been known as an odometer, roadometer, and speedometer. 2 Fremont Alder, "A Mormon's Strange Story," San Francisco Call, August 31, 1932.

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Alder, with his assertion that Orson Pratt was the inventor of the r o a d o m e t e r — a year before its actual construction — became involved in the first of three basic questions concerning the history of this frontier instrument: (1) what were the roles played by those associated with the design a n d building of the first instrument; (2) how a n d when was the first full m e a s u r e m e n t taken which recorded, according to B. H. Roberts, with p h e n o m e n a l accuracy the distance from Winter Quarters to Great Salt Lake City; a n d (3) what became of the original r o a d o m e t e r in light of questions raised by B. H. Roberts concerning the present instrument on display at the church m u s e u m on T e m p l e Square in Salt Lake City? Brigham Young wanted the pioneer company of 1847 to keep meticulous records to aid later companies in finding the best water a n d camping g r o u n d s as well as other useful purposes. This led him to assign various m e n to gather such scientific information as elevation, longitude, latitude, weather, direction, a n d camp sites. Little difficulty was e n c o u n t e r e d in completing most of these assignments, as the pioneer company included both the trained men and the instruments necessary to gather such data. But to ascertain distance traveled, the only m e t h o d available seemed to be "guesstimation," which often varied from man to man, bringing disagreement as a result. It was not long until such controversy led to invention which, in t u r n , led to further debate — this time over the question of origin. William Clayton, who had been assigned to Appleton H a r m o n ' s wagon, was given the duty of assisting Brigham Young's chief clerk, T h o m a s Bullock, in recording the daily events of the company as well as u p o n occasions copying parts of Bullock's j o u r n a l into his own. 3 T o this was a d d e d the responsibility of assisting Orson Pratt in his road surveys a n d scientific work, in the pursuit of which he had been asked to record the miles traveled each day. 4 Atwood, in his book, The Mountain of the Lord's House, wrote: From the beginning of the trip William Clayton's clerky nature had been offended by the discrepancies among their guesses of the day's mileage. He was one who liked precision — and also he wanted to prove that his own guesses were more accurate than those of some others. 5 3 William Clayton, William Clayton's Journal (Salt Lake City, 1921), 77 (hereafter referred to as Clayton's Journal). 4 T h o m a s Edgar Lyon, "Orson Pratt: Early M o r m o n Leader" (M.A. thesis, University of Chicago, 1932), 39. 5 R. Atwood, The Mountain of the Lord's House (Piano, 111., 187?), 132.

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It would appear from Clayton's journal that the second premise was more important than the first, for on May 8 he recorded: I have counted the revolutions of a wagon wheel to tell the exact distance we have traveled. T h e reason why I have taken this method which is somewhat tedious, is because there is generally a difference of two and sometimes four miles in a day's travel between my estimation and that of some others, and they have all thought I underrated it. This morning I determined to take pains to know for a certainty how far we travel today. 6

T h e pains seemed to be the result of a suggestion made by Brigham Young that he measure a wagon wheel, then tie a red piece of flannel to it and count the number of times the wheel went around. 7 T o his surprise, Clayton found that a rear wheel on one of Heber C. Kimball's wagons being driven by Philo Johnson was exactly fourteen feet, eight inches, which meant that 360 revolutions of this wheel would equal precisely one mile. After counting the revolutions for the day and having made his calculations, he again inquired of the anonymous others and found "Some have past [sic] the days travel at thirteen and some fourteen miles, which serves to convince [me] more strongly that the distances are overrated." 8 Clayton had found the mileage to be eleven and a quarter miles plus twenty revolutions. 9 T h e next day being Sunday, the camp moved on a short distance to find better grass, and so once again Clayton counted the revolutions. T h e n having calculated the distance, he placed a signboard reading: "From Winter Quarters three h u n d r e d miles, May 9, 1847. Pioneer Camp all well. Distance according to the reckoning of Wm. Clayton." 10 Even at this early date, Clayton â&#x20AC;&#x201D; who had already discussed his work with others â&#x20AC;&#x201D; was apparently becoming aware of Brigham Young's desire to have a device constructed which would accurately measure the distance traveled each day and that Young was considering who in the camp might be best qualified to design it. Spending Sunday afternoon on the banks of the Platte River in solitude and contemplation, Clayton penned a diary entry which betrayed an inner fear that the honor of being responsible for the measurement might fall to others. ^Clayton's Journal, 136. ''Lyon, "Orson Pratt," 39. See also Leland Hargrave Creer, The Founding of an Empire: The Exploration and Colonization of Utah, 1776-1856 (Salt Lake City, 1947), 276-77. ^Clayton's Journal, 137. mid. l0 lbid., 139.

William Clayton, seated with his wife, held a variety of church and territorial positions. Utah State Historical Society photograph, Morgan Collection. I shall not write my thoughts here, inasmuch as I expect this journal will have to pass through other hands besides my own or that of my family but if I can carry my plans into operation, they will be written in a manner that my family will each get their portion, whether before my death or after, it matters not. 1 1

From this it would seem likely that Clayton may have heard of Brigham Young's plan to ask Orson Pratt, a man well known for his "Ibid., 138. See Paul E. Dahl's interpretation in William Clayton: Missionary, Pioneer, and Public Servant (Cedar City, Utah, 1959), 99.

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scientific abilities, especially in the fields of mathematics and astronomy, to design the workings of a machine to measure the mileage â&#x20AC;&#x201D; a machine that Clayton had suggested might be built. 12 As early as April 19 Clayton was seeking advice from more learned men on the feasibility and practicality of installing some sort of measuring device. I walked some this afternoon with Orson Pratt and suggested to him the idea of fixing a set of wooden cog wheels to the hub of a wagon wheel, in such order as to tell the exact number of miles we travel each day. He seemed to agree with me that it could be easily done at a trifling expense. 13

Later the same afternoon he wrote: I overtook Markham and John S. Higbee and in our conversation I mentioned to Brother John S. Higbee the same idea I had advanced to Orson Pratt, and he also seemed to coincide fully.14

Because the idea originated with Clayton he seemed to feel that whatever credit was due should be his. 15 However, an idea not rendered workable is nothing more than an idea, and so it is really to Orson Pratt that the plaudits of history should be given as the designer of a workable roadometer. In Pratt's journal under May 10 one finds the following entry: For several days past, Mr. Clayton, and several others have been thinking upon the best method of attaching some machinery to a wagon, to indicate the number of miles daily travelled, I was requested this forenoon, by Mr. B. Young, to give this subject some attention; accordingly, this afternoon, I proposed the following method: â&#x20AC;&#x201D; Let a wagon wheel be of such a circumference, that 360 revolutions make one mile. (It happens that one of the requisite dimensions is now in camp). Let this wheel act upon a screw, in such a manner, that six revolutions of the wagon wheel shall give the screw one revolution. Let the threads of this screw act upon a wheel of sixty cogs, which will evidently perform one revolution per mile. Let this wheel of sixty cogs, be the head of another screw, acting upon another wheel of thirty cogs; it is evident that in the movements of this second wheel, each cog will represent one mile. Now, if the cogs were numbered from 0 to 30, the number of miles traveled will be indicated during every part of the day. 12

Lyon, " O r s o n Pratt," c h a p t e r 6. Clayton's Journal, 83. See also "Journal History of the C h u r c h of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints," April 19, 1847, Archives Division, Historical D e p a r t m e n t , C h u r c h of J e s u s Christ of Latterday Saints, Salt Lake City. 14 Ibid. 15 Clayton's Journal, 137. 13

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Let every sixth cog, of the first wheel, be numbered from 0 to 10, and this division will indicate the fractional parts of a mile, or tenths; while if anyone should be desirous to ascertain still smaller divisional fractions, each cog between this division, will give five and one-third rods. This machinery (which may be called the double endless screw) will be simple in its construction, and of very small bulk, requiring scarcely any sensible additional power, and the knowledge obtained respecting distances in travelling, will certainly be very satisfactory to every traveller, especially in a country, but little known. T h e weight of this machinery need not exceed three pounds. 1 6

With the designing completed, it became the problem of B r i g h a m Y o u n g to find a mechanic and c a r p e n t e r who could make the machine from the pattern Pratt had devised. Clayton's wagon partner, Appleton Milo H a r m o n , h a d b e e n schooled in t h e w o o d s h o p of Shadrach Roundy in Nauvoo and had continued to develop his skill since that time. With these prerequisites the chore of building the roadometer fell to him, and he completed the job with extraordinary speed and accuracy when one considers the circumstances u n d e r which he labored and the Appleton Milo Harmon. tools with which he had to work. Ardelle H a r m o n Ashworth some years ago recorded the following information about her grandfather: Appleton Milo H a r m o n constructed the iron and wheel work and attached it to the wagon wheel. Since the pioneers had few tools and little material Appleton Milo H a r m o n took a wooden feed box and 16 "Interesting Items . . . from the Private Journal of Orson Pratt," Millennial Star, 12 (February 15, 1850), 49-50. See also Film 298 # 2 1 , Film M 24, Harold B. Lee Library, Brigham Young University, Provo, and Alder, "A Mormon's Strange Story." Of later attempts to give full credit to William Clayton, T. Edgar Lyon wrote: "Although most Mormon writers have credited its invention to William Clayton, entry in Pratt's Journal indicates that he thought out the scheme, while the others actually made the apparatus. Had this not been the case, he would not have dared to publish the above account for the information of the members of the church in 1850, while Brigham Young, William Clayton and most of the pioneer company were still alive." Lyon, "Orson Pratt," 40. T h e r e is a difference of ten cogs in the mile wheel as described by Clayton and Pratt in their journals. As Pratt was discussing design and Clayton the finished product, one would tend to agree with Clayton.

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Utah Historical Quarterly some scraps of iron and by using his pocket-knife, a hammer, and other simple tools fashioned the crude instrument which was the first speedometer to pass over the Great Plains and the Rockies.17

Apparently, Harmon's own simple reference to the project was written some time after he completed the project: I completed a roadometer and attached it to the wheel of a wagon by which we could tell each night the distance travelled through the day. 18

By May 11 Clayton was able to report that Harmon was already at work on the machinery. By the following day he had completed enough that Clayton now had only to count the miles and not each revolution of the wheel. 19 On May 16, a Sunday, he recorded: About noon today Brother Appleton Harmon completed the machinery on the wagon called a "roadometer" by adding a wheel to revolve once in ten miles, showing each mile and also each quarter mile we travel, and then casing the whole over so as to secure it from the weather. We are now prepared to tell accurately, the distance we travel from day to day which will supercede [sic] the idea of guessing, and be of satisfaction not only to this camp, but to all who hereafter travel this way.20

Apparently, before the project was completed, fear of losing credit for the machinery prompted Clayton to turn on the young mechanic, wisely leaving the eminent mathematician alone. I discovered that Brother Appleton Harmon is trying to have it understood that he invented the machinery to tell the distance we travel, which makes me think less of him than I formerly did. He is not the inventor of it by a long way, but he has made the machinery, after being told how to do it.21

17 Ardelle H a r m o n Ashworth, "Stories F o u n d in Appleton Milo H a r m o n ' s J o u r n a l , " manuscript in h e r possession, Provo, Utah. ^ A p p l e t o n Milo H a r m o n Diary, p. 20, Lee Library. 19 Clay ton's Journal, 143; Dahl, William Clayton, 99-100; "Interesting Items," Millennial Star, 12 (March 1, 1850), 6 5 . 20 C lay ton's Journal, 152. It might be interpreted from Clayton's statement here a n d also his entry of May 9 that he already contemplated a travel guide some time in the future. 21 Clayton's Journal, 149. A question may arise as to the word invention, or inventor, In using the term h e r e we are following Lyon's example: that of designing a workable device. Historical data snows Clayton to have had the first idea, but unfortunately his charge against H a r m o n has led to much questioning a m o n g M o r m o n scholars as to what really took place beyond that point. Q u o t i n g from my own thesis on Appleton H a r m o n , "Research has shown that all these questions (including that of inventor) have, in some m e a s u r e been touched on by past authors of books a n d theses, but no one, it would appear, has b r o u g h t all the facts together in one place, which would bring continuity to the questions. T h u s it is not my intention to present some startling new material, but simply to gather

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This charge by one of the three principal participants against another member of the group has caused much speculation among church historians as to who was the inventor — Clayton or H a r m o n — leaving out entirely the real person to whom credit should be given — Orson Pratt. A number of pieces of evidence should be considered if we are to understand Clayton's charge. First, there is the very implication that Clayton, and not Harmon, was the true inventor, when it has already been suggested that it was, in reality, a third party. 2 2 Second, it would seem plausible that if H a r m o n were taking credit for the invention, this claim would have been recorded in other journals since others mention the new invention in connection with Clayton and H a r m o n together. 2 3 Yet the claim is only mentioned in two places — Clayton's journal, u n d e r the date of May 14, 1847, and Howard Egan's j o u r n a l u n d e r the same date. (This coincidence will be handled at greater length.) Third, both Clayton and Egan claim that H a r m o n could only proceed as directed. With this one finds two faults. First, Clayton makes no Orson Pratt. mention of offering such directions in any of his journal entries discussing the development of the roadometer. A man of Clayton's temperament and personality would not have let such instructions go unnoticed had they actually occurred. Second, it is obvious that a man of Harmon's training and experience would not need help or direction from Clayton who, as far as can be determined, had no training as a mechanic or carpenter. This had, indeed, been Harmon's vocation in life since an together the old in an attempt to finally solve the riddle of the odometer." Guy E. Stringham, "Appleton Milo H a r m o n — Builder in Zion" (M.A. thesis, Brigham Young University, 1970), 49-50. In order to find an answer to the surface question of credit it is necessary to also explore such related problems as personality and need on the part of the important figures. 22 Howard Egan, Pioneering the West, 1847-1878: Major Howard Egan's Diary, ed. William M. Egan (Salt Lake City, 1917), 39. In his statement, Egan gives Clayton credit for being not only the inventor but also the machinist. " H a d H a r m o n been interested in "having it understood" that he wanted credit for the roadometer he certainly would not have reported a similar device on a Gentile's wagon that came across the trail while he was at the Platte Ferry. H a r m o n Diary, p. 293.

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apprenticeship in Roundy's carpenter shop in Nauvoo and would continue to be so for the rest of his life. It is probable that Brigham Young selected H a r m o n for his ability as a carpenter and machinist just as he had selected Orson Pratt for his knowledge of engineering and design. It is difficult to believe that Clayton would have turned to a man whom he had already indicated a disliking for when there were others on the train who might have accomplished the job. 2 4 Most historians refer to Egan's and not Clayton's statement when discussing this problem. Even Dahl, in his thesis on Clayton, used the following reference in convicting H a r m o n of indiscretion: In support of the forementioned reference, the "Journal History," u n d e r date of Friday, May 14, 1847, states the following: Howard Egan journalizes as follows: "Brother Wm. Clayton has invented a machine, and attached it to the wagon that Brother Johnson drives, to tell the distance we travel. It is simple yet is ingenious. He got Brother Appleton H a r m o n to do the work. I have understood that Brother H a r m o n claims to be the inventor too, which I know to be a positive falsehood. He, Brother Harmon, knew nothing about the first principles of it, neither did he know how to do the work only as Brother Clayton told him from time to time. It shows the weakness of h u m a n nature." 2 5

Two witnesses have long been considered enough to establish a fact. Here we have two witnesses with identical testimony, so it is understandable that historical judges should accept the verdict of Clayton's testimony. It is equally understandable that they would lean more heavily u p o n Eagan's witness since Clayton was a participant. Let us see how this testimony stands u p u n d e r closer scrutiny. What were the relationships between these men? H a r m o n and Egan appear to have been little more than acquaintances thrown together on occasion by circumstances beyond their control. Both had been active in the Nauvoo police during the dark days of 1844-45, though in different companies, had spent the winter of 1846-47 in the Mormon camp on the banks of the Missouri, and were captains of tens in the pioneer column wending its way to a new home in the mountains. 2 6 Save for insertions in Egan's journal concerning the roadometer, both men's writings are devoid of mention of the other, leading one to speculate that theirs was only an impersonal acquaintanceship. With Clayton, however, it was a different story. 24 Clayton's Journal, 149, 25 Dahl, William Clayton, 26

340. 100-102; Egan, Pioneering the West, 39. Roll Call of Nauvoo Police, July 4, 1844, manuscript, Lee Library.

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Clayton and Egan had apparently developed a very close attachment over the years. Referring to an incident recorded on April 17, 1847, in Clayton's journal, J. Ramon Drake wrote: William Clayton seemed to like to be with Howard [Egan] whenever the opportunity afforded, for it was at this time that William Clayton recorded in his journal the incident which was mentioned in a previous chapter: "at night I slept with Egan in Heber's wagon, Heber being gone to sleep with President Young."27

Howard Egan.

A l t h o u g h Clayton's t r u n k a n d g o o d s w e r e c a r r i e d in Harmon's wagon, he was mustered into Egan's ten (along with William A. King who would also play a role in this drama). 2 8 This relationship was not a new one but t h e c o n t i n u a t i o n of a l o n g standing friendship that dated at least to their days in N a u v o o where Clayton's band had entertained the guests at a birthday party for Egan's wife. 29 Close f r i e n d s h i p by itself does not necessitate that Egan's testimony be called into question; however, where he received his information might have bearing Qn

validity

d u e

the

source of Egan's information comes from an entry in Clayton's journal dated August 10, 1847: I have no team to take care of. Howard Egan has done most of my washing until a month ago in consideration of the privilege of copying from my journal, using my desk, ink, etc.30

It will be remembered that both diary entries in question carried a date of May 14, 1847, which indicates that Egan received his 27 J. Ramon Drake, "Howard Egan â&#x20AC;&#x201D; Frontiersman, Pioneer and Pony Express Rider" (M.A. thesis, Brigham Young University, 1956), 6 1 . See also "Journal History," April 17,1847; Clayton's Journal, 79. 2& Clayton's Journal, 59. 29 Drake, "Howard Egan," 46. 30 Clayton's Journal, 343.

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information from copying the Clayton diary. T h u s Clayton becomes the second witness as well as the first. A quick check of the two entries reveals they are similar in thought and wording. Obviously Clayton was the spirit behind both entires, and thus it is possible that the reason no one but Clayton and Egan appears to have mentioned Harmon's indiscretion was that no one else heard H a r m o n make the claim of single-handed invention. Each journal carries another interesting entry for May 16. From Egan's: I have the pleasure this evening of writing by the light of a candle made by Brother Edson Whipple out of buffalo tallow, and it burns beautifully. 31

And from Clayton's: After supper Elder Whipple made me a present of a half a candle made from buffalo tallow, by the light of which I continue this Journal. 3 2

One wonders if it was upon this occasion that Howard Egan copied the entry from William Clayton dated May 14 â&#x20AC;&#x201D; just two days earlier. O n May 19 rainy weather gave the company the worst roads they had traveled over since leaving Winter Quarters, which forced them to abandon their travel for a spell. 33 Clayton recorded for the next day: At 7:45 we started out again but had not travled over a quarter of a mile before the roadometer gave way on account of the rain yesterday having caused the wood to swell and stick fast. One of the cogs in the small wheel broke. We stopped about a half an hour and Appleton H a r m o n took it to pieces and put it up again without the small wheel. I had to count each mile after this. 34

As word of the invention spread among the colony, many came to view the new mechanical device. On J u n e 6 Clayton reported: Several men came to look at the roadometer, having heard from some of the brethren that we had one. They expressed a wish to each 31 Egan, Pioneering the West, 47. See also Carter Eldredge Grant, The Kingdom of God Restored (Salt Lake City, 1955), 401. 32 C layton's Journal, 153. 33 Ibid., 163. 34 Ibid. See also Egan, Pioneering the West, 44.

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other to see inside and looked upon it as a curiosity. I paid no attention to them inasmuch as they did not address themselves to me. 3 5

Although the daily mileage record indicates the roadometer was extremely useful during the rest of the journey, apparently the novelty of the new device soon wore off and it, like all else, became just a part of the monotonous routine of the trip, as the last two entries in Clayton's diary concerning the device are prosaic. 36 The story, under most circumstances, would have ended here had it not been for two questions raised by Brigham H. Roberts concerning Clayton's description of the original roadometer and the one on display in the Deseret Museum: According to the Deseret Museum Curator's report u p o n the machine in the institution and the above description by the principal inventor, there are material differences, both as to the size of the machine over all, and the n u m b e r of cogs in wheels and in the levers for transmitting motion, etc. Which differences may be accounted for either by defectiveness in the description, or by the absence of parts of the machine, perhaps by both of these circumstances. 3 7

The second question raised is one of timing and accuracy. Once again let us turn to Roberts to raise the question. It is said on the label of the machine in the m u s e u m that it "was used by Brigham Young and his company to measure the distance from the Missouri river to Salt Lake valley" and that the "difference between the measurements made with this instrument and those made by the government surveyors who subsequently passed over the route, was less than 60feet." Of course this use of the odometer [roadometer] by Brigham Young and "his company" must refer to some j o u r n e y made by the great leader subsequent to the Pioneer journey, for as stated in the text of this History, the odometer was not installed until about the 12th of May, when the Pioneer company was midway between Council Bluffs and Fort Laramie. It may have been used â&#x20AC;&#x201D; the museum odometer â&#x20AC;&#x201D; and this record made on President Young's j o u r n e y the following year. 3 8

Detailed research suggests that, first, the roadometer on display did, in fact, make the survey, but it is not Harmon's original; second, 35

Clayton's Journal, 220. Ibid., 225 and 251. Brigham H. Roberts, A Comprehensive History of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. Century I, 6 vols. (Salt Lake City, 1930), 3:190-91. This writer could accept the a r g u m e n t of missing parts but feels that a man like Clayton, who measured a wagon wheel to within an eight of an inch, would not make a gross error in doing the same with the mile machine. 38 Roberts, Comprehensive History, 3:191. See also Lyon, "Orson Pratt," 40. 36

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that the survey was made in 1847, but from west to east â&#x20AC;&#x201D; not the reverse as has always been supposed; and third, that Brigham Young was not even involved with the trip when the record was made. Apparently, for a period of time Brigham Young had the original roadometer in his possession and then turned it over to Harmon only to repossess it at a later date. It is necessary to turn to Clayton's journal once again for the story of the second roadometer and the measuring of the road, as Harmon himself left the pioneer company at the Platte River to help build and maintain a ferry for the Mormon trains following the pioneer company. Upon arriving into Salt Lake Valley, Clayton, in anticipation of completely resurveying the entire route from the Great Salt Lake to Winter Quarters, engaged one of the members of his ten, William A. King, to construct another roadometer with certain refinements, a fact which would explain the inconsistency in the number of gears and wheels and, especially, the difference in size noted by the historian Roberts. The first mention of a second roadometer appears in Clayton's journal on August 2: After dark President Young sent for me to come to his wagon and told his calculations about our starting back. He wants me to start with the ox teams next Monday so as to have a better privilege of taking the distances. . . . He wants the roadometer fixed this week and Elder Kimball has selected William King to do the work.39

On August 4 King commenced the construction of the new machine and three days later Clayton could report that the project was completed. The need for a second roadometer is still somewhat of a mystery, as it would seem that the original could have been used to complete the assignment which Brigham Young gave Clayton to resurvey the route from Great Salt Lake to Winter Quarters. In his diary on August 10 Clayton recorded: I am expected to keep a table of distances of the whole route returning from here to Winter Quarters and make a map when I get through; and this for public benefit.40

Egan's journal entry of August 14 reads: 39 Clayton's 40

Journal, 340. Ibid., 344.

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This is a pleasant day. As it is the intention to start the ox teams on Monday next, all who are then going back, started this morning on an excursion to the Salt Lake. Some others were also permitted to go, among whom were Orson Whitney and Bro. Clayton with his wagon. When we returned this evening Bro. Clayton reported the distance to be twenty-two miles. T h e shaft or screw of the roadometer was broken on his return. 4 1

And from Clayton's journal for Monday August 16: Spent most of the day fixing the roadometer, also finished marking the distance, camping places, etc, on Dr. Richards' m a p from Devil's gate to Little Sandy. Evening took the wagon in company with Jackson Redding and Howard Egan to the warm spring to try the roadometer. 4 2

By the middle of August Clayton was ready to join a group of ox teams returning to the east and to carry out Brigham Young's instructions to measure the road carefully and gather information which might be of benefit to the companies that would cross the plains and mountains in the years to come. 4 3 Joining with the companies u n d e r Tunis Rappleye and Shadrach Roundy, Clayton returned with only one short stretch of the trail not being meticulously checked, due to the breakdown of the roadometer between Horseshoe Creek and the La Bonte for a few days. Of the success of this trip Clayton wrote: I find the whole distance to be 1032 miles and am now preparing to make a complete traveler's guide from here to the Great Salt Lake, having been careful in taking the distances from creek to creek, over bluffs, mountains, etc. It has required much time and care and I have continually labored u n d e r the disadvantages in consequence of the companies feeling no interest in it. 44

Clayton's reward for this labor came when he was able to publish the Latter-day Saints Emigrants' Guide without mention of the roadometer or the contributions of Orson Pratt, Appleton Harmon, or even William King in having made the measurements possible 45

Egan, Pioneering the West, 122. Clayton's Journal, 346-47. Ibid., 123-24; Egan, Pioneering the West, 347-50. 44 Clayton's Journal, 376. 45 Atwood, Mountain of the Lord's House, 191. See also William Clayton, The Latter-day Saints Emigrants' Guide: Being a Table of Distances . . . (Saint Louis, 1848). From the publishing date (Clayton dates his preface March 13, 1848) it would seem obvious that the mileage check could not have been made by Brigham Young's company of the summer of 1848. 42

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It is the contention of Appleton Harmon's grandchildren that the original roadometer was in the possession of their grandfather until it was borrowed by President Brigham Young with the thought of patenting it and was never returned. 4 6 T h e roadometer on display in the museum, as indicated by the inscription, came from the Clayton family by a circuitous route. According to Mrs. Kate B. Carter at the Daughters of Utah Pioneers Museum: Some years ago the museum received from one of the granddaughters of William Clayton the original roadometer used by the pioneers in 1847. It was on display in the museum until the Church Historian's Office borrowed it for a display during a "Days of '47" celebration. Some time later we received a letter from President Joseph Fielding Smith stating that the C h u r c h p l a n n e d to display the roadometer in the T e m p l e Square Museum and it has remained there ever since. 47

It is the writer's belief, however, that the roadometer in the museum is the William King copy and that the original has been lost or destroyed. â&#x20AC;˘"Interviews with Ardelle Harmon Ashworth, Mildred K. Armstrong, and Dr. Lawrence Harmon, 1968 and 1969. 47 Interview with Mrs. Carter, Salt Lake City, July 11, 1968.

T H E GODBEITES IN FILLMORE IN

1870

Fillmore City Aug 7th/70 Dear Brother William . . . I must now tell you about what was going on yesterday Bro J o h n Kelly had his trial for apostacy & was excommunicated from the church he advocated the views of the Godbeites H S Combs sent in his ticket & wished excommunication Bro Bartholomew & wife Marganda wished to be cut off from the church their views were infidelity After all this I do not think the end has come yet for the spirit of apostacy runs rife amongst our unstable confederates be that as it may every fellow will have to be for himself for the devil is for all. he ain't dead if every person keeps themselves right the kingdom of God will progress for man did not organize it & he cannot disorganize it. . . . Volney King (Volney King Collection, Utah State Historical Society.)

FR8M MULES m M8T8MRS

Public transportation for Salt Lake City arrived in 1872 with the mule cars which were used for many years. The horse, however, powered private enterprise, and horse-drawn vehicles were a familiar sight well into the twentieth century. "White Wings," the city's crew of street sweepers, were a necessary adjunct of animal transport.

\\v

IMPIE1

EEBEIIMB

Streetcars, horse-drawn water wagons and vans, automobiles, and pedestrians maneuvered successfully on Salt Lake City's wide streets in 1914. In other parts of the territory mighty rivers made water transportation vital and challenging, as these photographs of a Green River ferry crossing in 1898 and the Colorado River's largest steamboat, the Charles H. S p e n c e r moored at Lee's Ferry in 1911 - illustrate.

The urge to travel, despite bad or even nonexistent roads, led Bingham dentist A. L. Ingelsby and some hardy companions to undertake thefirst trip by car to the north rim of the Grand Canyon. The automobile gave society a new mobility and spawned many businesses and trades. Mechanics at Becraft's Maxwells in Ogden serviced cars for a growing list of customers, and tour buses made the wonders of the West accessible to most everyone.

Photo credits for this section, in order: USHS collections; photographer Cliff Bray, gift of Noel Warr; City Engineer's Collection; City Engineer's Collection; photographer O. P. Huish, courtesy of Mrs. J. Rowe Groesbeck; photographer Emery Kolb, gift ofW. L. Rusho; gift of Charles Kelly; gift of M. J. Burson; USHS collections; USHS collections; gift of Mrs. F. C. Dahnken; John Duder Collection; courtesy Utah Power and Light Co.; courtesy L. V. McNeely; USHS collections; photographer Earl Lyman, gift of L. V. McNeely.

While automotive transport was making inroads in the urban delivery system, most long-distance hauling continued to be done by the nation's railroads. In places like Park City the iron horse and the wagon were frequently teamed to bring goods to the local marketplace. That Utah's changing transportation scenefired some imaginations seems evident in the combining of auto and rail travel for the private car of the Uintah Railway roadmaster in 1918.

Union Pacific construction gang in Weber Canyon.

The Transcontinental Railroad and Ogden City Politics BY RICHARD E. KOTTER

between 1859 and 1869, Ogden City election procedures functioned adequately under a lenient electoral ordinance which merely specified: D U R I N G THE DECADE

Streetcars gave urban dwellers a mass transit system unequalled in Utah to this day, but change continued apace through the years prior to World War II. The movement of soldiers and supplies put heavy demands on America's railroads, sometimes with tragic results. Some fifty persons, most of them servicemen, were killed when two Southern Pacific trains collided on the Lucin Cutoff west of Ogden December 31, 1944.

On January 30, 1910, French aviator Louis Paulhan made the first fight ever attempted at an altitude above practical sea level when he soared 3 00feet above the state fairgrounds in Salt Lake City. Airmail service, commercial passenger flights, and private air travel were inaugurated in the Beehive State in the 1920s as an important factor in a new era of transportation.

Ogden City Politics

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Sec 2. A Moderator or chairman of Said meeting shall be chosen by the Mayor whose duty it Shall be to State the object of the meeting, and who Shall announce that he is Ready to receive nominations of officers herein Specifyed. On putting Such nominations of officers, their Election Shall be determined by the voice of the people & declared by the Moderator. 1

Those nominated for office were predetermined by Mormon leaders â&#x20AC;&#x201D; who were the city officials â&#x20AC;&#x201D; and elected by acclamation or voice vote as stated. T h e n , as railroad crews moved into nearby Weber Canyon, the Mormon officials became anxious about unwanted influences that could come with the approach and completion of the railroad. T h e city election of 1869 was scheduled for February 8. T h e number of people voting in previous elections had been a p p r o x i m a t e l y seventy-five. T h e city fathers believed that a sizeable group of the railroad workers would be in town on election day. Anticipating what might h a p p e n if the railroad crews were to vote u n d e r the existing election laws requiring no residency clause and permitting election by acclamation, the city council on January 23 passed a new and entirely different set of election ordinances intentionally designed to offset any railroad vote at the polls. T h e election ordinances enacted on that date were based upon territorial statute and those of Salt Lake City. Elections were to be held on the second Monday in February for a mayor, three aldermen, and five councillors. T h e elective franchise was changed from the voice vote to a semisecret ballot on which the election j u d g e wrote a number. He then recorded the name and n u m b e r of the voter on a roster. A way was provided, therefore, to police the voters to see who voted for whom. T h e important part of these new ordinances concerned candidate and voter qualifications: Sec 2. No person shall be elected or appointed to any city office unless he shall have been a constant resident of said City during at least one year next preceding such elections or appointment neither shall any person be eligible to vote at any election unless he is a citizen of the United States over twenty one years of age and has been a constant resident in Said City during the six months next preceding Said election. 2 Mr. Kotter is instructional media coordinator at North Ogden Junior High. This article is derived from his "An Examination of Mormon and Non-Mormon Influences in O g d e n City Politics, 1847-1896" (M.A. thesis, Utah State University, 1967). ' O g d e n City, Ogden City Council Minutes Book, vol. A, p. 181, Ogden City Recorders Office. Volumes A and B are a verbatim transcription of the originals, nowever, the same pagination has not been followed. 2 Ibid., vol. A, p. 203, emphasis mine.

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Utah Historical Quarterly

T h e restrictive residency qualification meant that no railroad person could be elected or appointed to any city office. Citizenship and residency clauses were designed purposely to eliminate mass voting of the Union Pacific's Irish and German laborers. T h e election of 1869 arrived and passed uneventfully. Naturally, the expected "turn out" of the railroad employees failed to transpire. Lorin Farr was returned as mayor for the tenth time. 3 It is important to know who was elected, but in another sense the election of 1869 is more important for what occurred as a result of the passage of the new election laws. T h e city recorder's minutes of February 27 reveal the first incident in a series of interesting events. A letter â&#x20AC;&#x201D; signed by the mayor, aldermen, and councillors â&#x20AC;&#x201D; was sent to President Brigham Young and his council regarding the passage of the electoral ordinances of January 23. T h e minutes then show that Ogden city councilman Chauncey W. West moved that Section Two, concerning voter and candidate qualifications, be repealed. This was done. T h e next action of the city council was to amend the ordinance by substituting and passing a new Section Two which stipulated: No person shall be elected or appointed to any City Office unless he shall have been a resident and tax payer on real estate in the Territory during at least one year preceding such election or appointment. . . .4

T h e change is apparent. By paying a real estate tax and holding territorial residency only, a person was suddenly eligible for election or appointment to the city council. Gone was the city residency requirement. This change still eliminated the railroad people but opened the door for almost anyone else in the territory to gain public office in Ogden. T h e city council's reason for changing the ordinance is revealed in a letter sent to President Brigham Young: We the undersigned, Mayor, Aldermen, and Councillors, composing the City Council of Ogden City, would respectfully represent to you that the passage of a certain Ordinance regulating Elections by the City Council of Ogden City on January 23rd A.D. 1869, was not done with any intention of preventing your son Brigham, or any others whom you may wish,/rom holding any position in the City Council of Ogden City, as we did not know that you had contemplated sending him or any others, to help along in our City affairs. Instead of doing, or having a desire to do Hbid., vol. B, p. 1. Hbid., vol. A, p. 205, emphasis mine.

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anything that would thwart any measure you might wish to advise for the benefit of our City, we are desirous to do anything in our power to assist you in whatever you may deem necessary for the welfare of this place, and as a proof of this, we are happy to inform you that the Second Section of said Ordinance has been repealed. A copy of the repealing Ordinance is herewith transmitted. 5

T h e Ogden City Council thus conveniently opened the way for President Young to send his son Brigham, Jr., and any others to Ogden to hold public office. As if these changes were not enough, Mayor Lorin Farr â&#x20AC;&#x201D; also an LDS stake president â&#x20AC;&#x201D; sent a personal letter of apology to Brigham Young explaining that the actions of the Ogden City Council were taken to combat problems arising from the railroad. T h e letter also betrays a concern for approbation from Salt Lake. Dear Brother I have considered it necessary to write you a few lines to let you know more fully my mind in relation to you wishing to send here such men as you might think best to assist us (the people of Ogden) in managing the affairs that pertain to the welfare of the saints and Citizens in this part of the County. Although my feelings were expressed in short in the communication addressed to you by the city council of Ogden, some weeks ago, your acquaintance with me should have supposed would have prescribed the necessity of my writing. I have learned that there are some feelings existing with you and some of the other Brethers in relation to a certain sections being Passed in our election law requiring Citizens to be residents in Ogden City one year before they could be eligible to hold an Office, we thought at the time the section to be a wise provision and a necessary one, as there was a prospect of some thousand or more railroad men being in our midst in Ogden City on the day of Election.

Farr then reiterated that in the absence of a city residency clause it would have been a "verry easy matter" for the railroad laborers, many of whom had been in the territory for over six months, to have controlled the election. Ment i o n i n g t h a t t h e first r e v i s e d Ogden ordinance was no more restrictive than the Salt Lake City

Lorin

Farr.

5 Ogden City Council to President Brigham Young, February 27, 1869, holograph, Archives Division, Historical Department, Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, Salt Lake City, emphasis mine.

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ordinance, he continued his explanation as follows: It has been said as the reason why it looks as though we passed the ordinance was to exclude anyone from coming from Salt Lake City to fill offices; was because we passed it just at the time you should have talked of sending someone here. I would say that the Council knew nothing about your wishes to send anyone here (unless it was Br. Chauncey W. West and he was out on the Promontory and he said nothing about it if he had heard anything said) except you and Bro. Geo. A. Smith told me one evening in your office that you talked of sending Br. Franklin Richards up here to act as Probate J u d g e but there was nothing said or intimations given about any other one wanted to come here . . . consequently I cannot see how we should be censurable for a thing we knew nothing about. I would say further that we had no law relative to Elections only the old one u n d e r an old Charter and that was to Elect by aclimation, and I told the Committee on Elections Just before I went to the Legislature I wished them to get up an Election law and they accordingly done so. Now as it has all passed and we had no difficulty in our Election with trancient persons. I will say if it is still your wish to send your son Brigham here to act as the Mayor of Ogden I would with pleasure resign my office as Mayor and as the Charter Provides that where there is a vacancy the remaining Council can fill that vacancy by appointment until the next Election; andshouldyou wish to have any other one in the City Council I am authorized to say that there can be a vacancy madefor such person tofill. Hoping this will be satisfactory. . . . 6

Brigham Young, Jr., did not go to Ogden. However, Apostle Franklin D. Richards did, and by appointment of the Territorial Legislature became probate j u d g e of Weber County. T h e church leaders, seeing the need to have someone of stature in Ogden to influence the spiritual, political, and economic life of the people, arranged for the move. As a member of the Council of Fifty and School of the Prophets, 7 Richards worked to administer the Kingdom of God on a local level by dealing with each situation to the particular advantage of the church. He could do this in his nonelective capacity as probate judge, exercising general, common law, and chancery jurisdiction in the county until 1883. 8 T o achieve the desired solution concerning the railroad and its accompanying influences â&#x20AC;&#x201D; rather than ignore involvement â&#x20AC;&#x201D; church officials contracted with the railroad to do grading work in Weber Canyon. This would employ Utah people, bring in cash, and 6

Lorin Farr to Brigham Young, March 10, 1869, holograph, LDS Archives, emphasis mine. 'Klaus J. Hanson, Quest for Empire: The Political Kingdom of God and the Council of Fifty in Mormon

School of the Prophets was organized January 1, 1869. 8 Franklin L. West, Life of Franklin Dewey Richards (Salt Lake City, 1924), 167.

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eliminate outsiders. 9 Also, u n d e r Brigham Young's direction, land west of Ogden was offered free to the Union Pacific and Central Pacific officials as an inducement to locate their depot, switch yards, and shops in Ogden rather than in the unfavorable Gentile city of Corinne. 1 0 T h e decision had to be made in Congress. At the very time the Mormons were taking decisive measures to maintain their status in Utah, m o m e n t u m was developing in many corners of the nation to "Americanize" the peculiar Mormon people and their institutions. In Congress, William A. Wheeler of New York made a prophetic statement about the effect the influence of the railroad could have on O g d e n a n d M o r m o n d o m as a whole. Wheeler spoke in favor of Senate Bill 580 â&#x20AC;&#x201D; passed that same day â&#x20AC;&#x201D; which would settle the question of whether Ogden or Corinne should be the junction city for the transcontinental railroad: The obtaining of these lands is rendered necessary by reason of the fact that at this junction extensive shops will be erected and hundreds of workmen will be employed, and necessarily must have homes in the immediate vicinity. We have now an opportunity without expense to the Government to introduce a little of the Gentile element into the Mormon Kingdom. The establishment of a Gentile city under the very shadow of the walls of great Salt Lake City will, in my judgment, be more effectual in destroying polygamy than any thunderbolts of war which we may forge here. 11

Ogden in 1860 had a population of 1,643, an increase of a few h u n d r e d over that of 1850. By 1870, barely a year after the railroad arrived, the population had grown to 3,127. 12 T h e city was rapidly gaining an increasing n u m b e r of people with religious beliefs, thoughts, and commitments different from the Mormons. Clashes over ideas, habits, and morals resulted. This was also a period when the Mormons were held in generally low esteem throughout the United States for their practice of polygamy. T h e junction city issue of Ogden vs. Corinne would be but one of many leverage devices used in an attempt to change Mormon ways. Conflict was inevitable. T h e beginning of the two-party political strategy in Utah had as its foundation the short-lived Godbeite movement. In the rebelling Godbeites, the non-Mormons or Gentiles saw a promising opportunity to oppose the Mormons. A coalition of the two groups led to the organization of the Liberal party in July 1870 with headquarters at Corinne. This rising Gentile city, with its saloons, speculators, 9 Arrington, "Transcontinental Railroad," 149-50. 10 Arrington, Great Basin Kingdom, 264, 265, 283, 485-86. U U.S., Congress, House, Congressional Globe, 41st Cong., 12

Dale L. Morgan,/4 History of Ogden (Ogden, 1940), 51.

1st sess., 1869, p. 3123.

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gamblers, and ruffians, was chosen as a political move not only to capture Box Elder County in the elections but also to influence the elections in Ogden and Weber County. T h e first Liberal political convention was held there July 16, 1870. 13 Meanwhile, the Ogden City Council u n d e r Mayor Lorin Farr's direction passed on April 14, 1870, still another important electoral ordinance. According to its key provision: No person shall be elected or appointed to any office of said city unless he shall have been a constant resident therein during at least one year next preceding such election or appointment, . . . . 14

T h e reinstituted city residency clause on candidate qualification brought Ogden's electoral reform full circle. It was the logical culmination of a fast-moving transitional period which had begun fifteen months earlier. Although the coming of the transcontinental railroad did not directly influence the outcome of Ogden's 1869 municipal election, its impact was soon reflected in the several procedural changes it prompted in the city's electoral laws. T h e changes pertained to both voter and candidate qualifications, with the trend being clearly in the direction of increasingly tight restrictions. This presented certain difficulties for the church leaders in Salt Lake City who sought Ogden municipal offices for themselves or family members, and these difficulties were embarrassing to the incumbent mayor and councilmen of Ogden. Given the rapid influx of non-Mormons into their city, however, they felt there was no other choice. Of course these electoral changes by themselves did not lessen Ogden's political dependence on Salt Lake City. They were symptomatic only. T h e driving force of change was the great growth in Ogden's population and economic strength which followed her establishment as the railroad junction of the Intermountain area. Within a remarkably short time thereafter, she would shed her agrarian complexion, gain commercial dominance over neighboring towns, and take her place as "Utah's Second City." 13 Edward W. Tullidge, Tullidge's Histories, Containing the History of All the Northern, Eastern, and Western Counties of Utah . . . (Salt Lake City, 1889), 307, 309, 310, 314. Simon Bamberger and Frederick J. Kiesel were two of Ogden's representatives to this convention. Beginning in 1874, when Congress finally recognized Ogden as the "Junction City," Corinne's importance as the non-Mormon center rapidly declined, and many of its citizens movea to Ogden to become principal merchants and people of influence. In 1889 Fred Kiesel became Ogden's first non-Mormon mayor, and in 1917 Bamberger became Utah's first non-Mormon governor. See Tullidge's Histories, 169, 170, 306. T h e first Liberal victory in a municipal election was at Tooele, Utah, in 1874. 14 Ogden City, Ogden City Council Ordinance Book, vol. A, p. 8, Ogden City Recorders Office, emphasis mine.

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Frontier Theatre: The Corinne Opera House RUE C. JOHNSON Above: Corinne Opera House, courtesy of Bernice Gibbs Anderson.

I N JANUARY 1871 readers of the New York Clipper learned that Corinne, Utah, boasted "the finest auditorium, stage and proscenium of [any] edifice between Chicago and Sacramento." Uncriti-

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cally echoing its source, the Clipper reported the new opera house to be "elegantly fitted and furnished" with a "seating capacity for twelve hundred persons." 1 Although factually erroneous, the report did reflect the high optimism of those residents who saw in Corinne the future capital of Utah and the commercial hub of the Intermountain region. The newly founded community owed its transformation from a typical, temporary, railroad tie camp into a permanent settlement to that optimism and to its propitious location. From it ran the shortest and most convenient freighting routes to the mines and markets of Montana and Idaho. In 1873, four years after its founding, freighters carried over 34,000,000 pounds of goods out of the settlement; 2 on their return they brought wagonloads of ore for shipment from Corinne. Within six months after Corinne's official founding, March 25, 1869, sentiment favoring the establishment of a theatre manifested itself: Let us by all means have a theater this winter at Corinne. There are plenty of troupes that will make Corinne their winter quarters, and give us good entertainments, if only a suitable building can be obtained. This winter, many hundreds of men from the mines and travelers from all parts of the world will make Corinne their home for a time, and all of them will be good patrons for such an enterprise. It is a good thing, will help the town, and will pay. Who will fit up a room for an opera? Let us have it by all means. 3

There was no sudden response to the challenge. Corinne passed through its first winter without benefit of a new theatre. Repeated reminders of the need from the newspaper, however, and the prospect of a profitable investment turned the trick. On May 14, 1870, the Utah Tri-Weekly Reporter carried news of the organization of "The Corinne Opera House Association." According to the newspaper, a group of "solid men," at a meeting in the Wilson and Morton Bank, selected E. Conway as president and P. H. Wilbor as secretary and treasurer, subscribed the entire capital stock necessary, paid fifty percent in cash, and set July 4 as the dedication date. "This is the way to do business," concluded the editor. Dr. J o h n s o n is campus dean at the University of Wisconsin's Fox Valley Center, Menasha, Wisconsin. ' Q u o t e d in Daily Corinne Reporter, J a n u a r y 23, 1871. 2 Leon L. Watters, The Pioneer Jews of Utah (New York, 1952), 62. 3 Utah Semi-Weekly Reporter, October 16, 1869.

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T h e capital stock amounted to $3,000, ten shares at $300 each. T h e association included twelve men, eight of whom purchased one share apiece, and four who owned the remaining two shares. When the articles of the association were officially sworn to and filed with Box Elder County officials o n j u l y 11, 1870, the shareholders had paid a total of $2,875. Because the filing took place after the facility had been put to use it is likely the amount represented the building's approximate cost. 4 T h e Opera House was located at the southeast corner of Montana and Seventh streets on land donated by C. B. Green, a stockholder. A Mr. Manheim served as architect and builder of the ninety by thirty-six foot, simple, rectangular structure, and the rapid rise of the building attested to that simplicity. Early in J u n e 1870 the walls were u p and workmen had begun putting the rafters into place. 5 A few days later Corinne newspaper readers further noted that the "elegant building" was advancing rapidly toward completion. By mid-June it was to have been ready for the plasterers and soon thereafter to fulfill its role as the "most magnificant public hall and auditorium west of Chicago." 6 J u n e 23, 1870, found the painters at work on the outside of the hall, and on J u n e 30 "a magnificent flagstaff, one h u n d r e d feet in height," was raised opposite the Opera House. Finally, after slightly more than thirty-five days of construction, the great event had arrived â&#x20AC;&#x201D; the highlight of the Independence Day festivities â&#x20AC;&#x201D; when at 9:00 P.M. commenced "the great terpsichoreal dedication." 7 Although dedicated, in reality the Opera House was incomplete. In September the owners contemplated making improvements in the structure. Early in October the editor of the Reporter regretted that an entertainment featuring local talent and Thomas A. Lyne from Salt Lake City could not use the facility because of work on the interior. T e n days later the newspaper revealed the nature of the improvements: " T h e plastering of the Opera House is done." With scenery and a proscenium and d r o p curtain yet to be added, and with the renowned Salt Lake Theatre inviting compari4 T h e original manuscript of the "Articles of the Association of the Corinne Opera House Association" is filed with the Box Elder County Clerk, Brigham City. It reveals that in addition to those named above, the stockholders were D. Conway, Dennis J. Toohy, George G. Brown, J o h n Tierman [or Giernan], Jesse Atkinson, and Victor Cordelia; Samuel Howe and M. T. Burgess jointly owned one share as did C. B. Green and F. L. Tilton. 5 Utah Tri-Weekly Reporter, May 19 and 24, 1870; Daily Corinne Reporter, August 12, 1870- Utah Tri-Weekly Reporter, J u n e 5, 1870. "Utah Tri-Weekly Reporter, J u n e 11, 1870. ''Utah Daily Reporter, June 23 and 30, and July 4, 1870.

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son, the editor once again reassured himself and his readers that the Opera House was "now the finest public auditorium in the West." 8 Even before the completion of the Opera House it was reported that a n u m b e r of ladies and gentlemen of the city were about to form a dramatic association. Local talent and the new accommodations forthcoming boded well for the enterprise. T h e newsman believed its performances would "afford the recreation which refined taste is always certain to d e m a n d in an educated community." T h u s it was that on July 16, 1870, five ladies and ten gentlemen organized themselves as the Corinne Dramatic Club. "A few weeks will give our city a fine amateur association, j u d g i n g from the material of which it is composed," opined the reporter. In a few weeks, however, the dearth of leadership became apparent. "Several members" of the club called a meeting of both the "old and new organizations" and all others interested. T h e Utah Reporter lent strong and lengthy editorial support to the effort, but to no avail. T h e meeting was unsuccessful in injecting life into the Corinne Dramatic Club. 9 Several weeks later came the announcement that T h o m a s A. Lyne had retired from the Salt Lake City stage and would soon visit Corinne to investigate its theatrical potential. Lyne would perform in Corinne and then, it was hoped, take over the direction of the home troupe and lead it to success. No doubt Lyne had the ability; he could boast of a broad professional background. After his conversion to Mormonism and theatrical experience in Nauvoo, Illinois, u n d e r the supervision of Joseph Smith and Brigham Young, he acted in the East and on Mississippi River showboats. Eventually he followed the Mormons to Utah where he was active for some time in the Salt Lake Theatre. His disaffection from the church and the capital city's stage assured his warm welcome in Corinne. 1 0 T h e olio in which Lyne participated was staged not in the Opera House â&#x20AC;&#x201D; it was occupied by the plasterers â&#x20AC;&#x201D; but in Creighton's Hall, a warehouse hastily fitted for the occasion. Although the audience enjoyed the performance and although Lyne's selections from Hamlet were among the "gems" of the evening, he did not remain to become the new leader of Corinne dramatics. It is doubtful that the situation proved attractive to him either financially or professionally. T h e Opera House, unfortunately, was to continue without a local Hbid., September 13, October 12 and 22, and December 14, 1870; Daily Corinne Reporter, April 21, 1871; Utah Daily Reporter, October 22, 1870. 9 Utah Daily Reporter, J u n e 23, July 17, August 4 and 5, 1870. 10 For treatment of Lyne's activities see: James A. Lindsay, The Mormons and Their Theatre (Salt Lake City, 1905); George Pyper, The Romance of an Old Playhouse (Salt Lake City, 1928).

Corinne Opera House

^ Thomas Lyne in his role as Pizarro, courtesy of Ella Fisher Maughan.

289 c o m p a n y d e s p i t e n u m e r o u s subseq u e n t but abortive attempts to establish one. If Corinne's citizens wanted e n t e r t a i n m e n t by local talent, they could choose â&#x20AC;&#x201D; as they did â&#x20AC;&#x201D; church benefits, parlor entertainments, readings, tableaux, recitations, musicals, a n d c o n c e r t s , b u t not locally p r o duced, legitimate drama. 1 1 In contrast to the failure of local talent effectively to organize, the first traveling companies a n d individuals to visit the O p e r a House were highly successful. O n j u l y 2, 1870, even before its dedication, the new hall housed its first entertainers, the Lewis brothers. T h e y provided a "grand constellation of tableux vivants, seances, musical renditions, solos a n d different performances." T h e first presentation "of a purely dramatic n a t u r e " featured C. W. Couldock and his daughter, Eliza, who p e r f o r m e d "gems and beauties" from a dozen Shakespearean dramas. 1 2 Couldock was a highly competent, accomplished actor. H e had played in the major eastern cities, was popular with Salt Lake City audiences, a n d was widely r e s p e c t e d by his p e e r s . No doubt the team justly e a r n e d the popular and critical welcome it received in Corinne's new facility. Upon leaving, the Couldocks traveled to Helena, Montana, where they joined the Jack Langrishe Company of Denver. 1 3 It is likely that they were "Utah Reporter, October 14, 1870; Daily Corinne Reporter, July 12 a n d December 4, 1871, April 24, 1873. l2 Ogden Junction, Junctio J u l y 16, 1870; "Utah Reporter, September 17, 1870. 13 An account of Langrishe's professional career can be found in Melvin Schoberlin's From Candles to Footlights 5 (Denver, 1941).

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influential in the decision that brought that company to Corinne for a highly successful, one-week season, January 2 to 9, 1871. Benefit performances accorded Miss Couldock and Mr. Langrishe attested to their popularity. Corinne particularly enjoyed the productions of Bulwer-Lytton's Richelieu and the widely popular The Stranger. Following the Langrishe troupe came Carter's Dramatic Combination with a season of plays that included such perennially popular pieces as Bulwer-Lytton's The Lady of Lyons, one of the several versions of Lucretia Borgia, and Tayleure's East Lynne.14 All members of the company won acclaim, but the newspaper critic thought Carrie Cogswell Carter and W. J. Cogswell were especially gifted. The success of the company prompted one businessman to advertise that "Lucretia Borgia's Syracusian wine was exceedingly good, and is only surpassed by the California and imported wines to be found at the Gem Saloon." 15 The paper editorialized: The season of the Carter Dramatic Troupe, which closed last evening, was a complete success financially as well as artistically. While that company played here, the Opera House was the nightly resort of the lovers of elegant amusement, and we are pleased to record the fact that the management left here fully gratified with the result of their engagement. The receipts were larger than those of any other company which has hitherto appeared in this city, and a respectable margin of profit compensated Mr. Carter for his efforts in giving our people the legitimate drama in its best form. In a season often nights, during which public interest was unabated, there is a good sign that our city has not only the means, but also the taste and disposition to support a first class theater like that of Mr. and Mrs. Carter. They intend returning to Corinne in time to open again in the Spring, meantime making a professional tour down the coast.16

The Carter combination did not return in the spring. Those who had enjoyed its performances did not realize that they had witnessed the high point in the dramatic activity of Corinne. Never before or afterward were so many plays given during one engagement with such success. When the Carters did return, almost two years later, there must have been some theatregoers in Corinne who sensed that the "taste and disposition" of a few would not supply the means necessary to support a legitimate dramatic company. In the interim between the visits there is record of only one visit by another 14 Utah Reporter, J a n u a r y 17-28, 1871, records these additional pieces: Gubbetta, The Youth Who Never Saw a Woman' The Loan of a Lover, The Honeymoon, Every Body's Friend, Spector Bridegroom, Camille, Delicate Ground, The Captive Fool, The Secret, The Gambler's Wife, The Female Gambler, a n d Swiss Courtship. l& Utah Reporter, J a n u a r y 2 1 , 1871. 16 Ibid., J a n u a r y 30, 1871.

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troupe. Nathan's Juveniles played a one-night stand in December 1871. The only other legitimate, professional company to grace the boards at the Opera House came under the direction of the wellknown Mr. and Mrs. George B. Waldron in July, 1873. 17 There were visits from amateur groups. One such under the direction of J. B. Robinson, known before his performance as a "distinguished actor," aroused the wrath of the critic for the Utah Reporter. Robinson turned out to be a "peripatetic bilk" supported by "Ogden Amateurs . . . five Mormon players . . . [who] should only be exhibited in a museum," and who spoke "no language corresponding with any living dialect, and are suspected of belonging to a race of creatures peculiar to Weber Valley."18 Three years later the Ogden Dramatic Company reinstated the theatrical reputation of Weber valley with a successful production of Rip Van Winkle starring the popular James A. Heme. 1 9 During the long hiatuses between visits from legitimate dramatic companies — amateur or professional — the Opera House provided other diversions for the citizens of Corinne. The minstrel shows, olios, parlor entertainments, readings, and musicals carried such names as Farrar, Wilson and Courtrights' Overland Varieties and Minstrels; Living Wonders [a freak show]; Tyrolean Opera Troupe; California Minstrels; the Living Head [an illusion]; The Royal Yeddo Troupe — Jugglery and Magic; Painted Panorama; Swiss Bell Ringers; Irish Entertainers; and Professor Carl Basco, illusionist.20 Moreover, in September 1874 it was noticed that a number of local ladies were organizing for the purpose of giving a series of literary entertainments. "That's right; they will help to pass away more pleasantly the long, dreary evenings of the coming winter," the editor hoped. 21 In 1875 newspaper publication in Corinne ceased. No doubt the Opera House continued to accommodate the entertainers, local or traveling, who applied for its use, but the record is sketchy at best. After the completion of the Utah Northern Railroad in 1878, which destroyed Corinne's remaining freighting business, it is not likely "Daily Corinne Reporter, December 11 and 19, 1871, July 7, 9, and 10, 1873. ^Utah Reporter, April 3, 1871. 19 Ogden Junction, February 25, 1874. 20 See the Utah Reporter, June 26, July 12, August 10, and December 27, 1870; Corinne Daily Mail, September 29, 1874, and October 5, 1875; Daily Corinne Reporter, June 15 and 26, July 31, September 15, October 20, November 23, and December 27, 1871, May 28, July 2, and September 16, 1872, March 8, May 1 and 7, 1873; and Corinne Journal, June 22, 1871. 2l Corinne Daily Mail, September 18, 1874.

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there were patrons enough to justify much activity at the Opera House. It was noted in 1885 that although not dismantled, the building was seldom used for entertainment. 22 The members of the Corinne Opera House Association must have sensed early that the town's principal economic base was temporary. They no doubt had evidence in the form of diminishing returns from their investment. When, therefore, the city fathers contemplated building a schoolhouse during the summer of 1872, the association offered the Opera House for consideration. The proposal received the support of the Reporter and, evidently, the public; on August 20 the city acquired the facility for $2,730. 23 In announcing the sale the newspaper stated that the "structure will be immediately remodeled for school purposes." 24 Although no record can be found of such alterations, it was not until after its sale to the city that allusions to a basement under the stage of the Opera House appeared. During its use as a school, the Opera House came near to meeting the fate so common to the highly combustible pioneer buildings: Yesterday afternoon, about three o'clock, a fire was discovered in the scenery of the Opera House stage, but before it gained serious headway it was extinguished by Mr. Heckman [the principal of the school]. The fire caught from a defective flue in the basement story; and the timely discovery by that gentleman prevented the destruction of the noble edifice.25

Over the years there were alterations in and additions to the Opera House. Sometime after its erection the building began to lean because of the force of prevailing winds. The problem was corrected by the addition of a supporting archway midway in the hall constructed of large timbers. Also, at a time undetermined, the owners added a balcony across the north end of the building. 26 In April 1871 the Reporter announced that the hall was to have "a new stage, with boxes, drop curtain, scenery and other dramatic paraphernalia, immediately." Later, a proscenium arch with doors on each side leading backstage was added.

""Journal History of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints," February 21, 1885, Archives Division, Historical Department, Church ofJesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, Salt Lake City. 23 Daily Corinne Reporter, August 12, 1872; Box Elder County Records, County Recorder's Office, Brigham City. 2 *Daily Corinne Reporter, August 21, 1872. 25 Ibid., March 20, 1873. 26 Interview with Bernice Gibbs Anderson.

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The grand drapery which stretched across the top of the proscenium was painted with Shakespeare's "All the World's a Stage," complete with a likeness of the author at each end of the quotation. 27 When the drop curtain was raised one of various interior or exterior scenes was revealed to the audience. Changes were made by sliding combinations of painted flats onto the stage in grooves. The scenes were lighted by coal-oil lamps hung overhead or placed behind tin reflectors to serve as footlights across the front of the stage. 28 The drop curtain itself was appropriately painted. Descriptions vary: a troupe of actors, a landscape. No doubt it was repainted from time to time and both are correct, but upon first appearing it provoked lengthy comment in the Daily Corinne Reporter. The author, ostensibly after interviewing numerous patrons, cataloged their descriptions of the scene: "the groans of the damned"; "a draft of Brigham Young's death warrant"; "the Devil's gate with the hinges broke off "; and "the Endowment House capsized."29 Not all members of the Opera House audiences were reserved and genteel in their response to the entertainments presented on stage. Many reflected the rough, frontier element that characterized Corrine, particularly early in its history. The ever-watchful editor of the newspaper did his best to correct abuses by reminding the "little boys" in the audience that only the ill-bred would employ yells, whistles, and catcalls. He lamented that some men with brogan boots walked up and down the hall when the singing commenced and that others thought it fashionable to bring their dogs to concerts. 30 His counsel was to little avail; a year later came the report: "Dog fight in the Opera House last night. It is astonishing how people will tote their canines along to public places."31 As Corinne grew older and rougher elements of its population moved on, the audiences matured. Also, some specific training was provided. A floor committee controlled the dances, cautioned patrons against the use of tobacco, and reminded some that "those who expect to rate with gentlemen, will please not expectorate on the floor of the Opera House." 32 Corinne audiences were typical in that they avidly supported those programs that were entertaining and competently produced. "Interview with William Bosley, Corinne. 2S Ibid.; interview with Mrs. C. 6. Adney, Corinne. 29 Daily Corinne Reporter, November 28, 1871. 30 Utah Reporter, October 14 and December 27, 1870. 3l Daily Corinne Reporter, October 21, 1871. "Ibid., March 25, 1872.

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They tendered benefits to their favorite artists but stayed away in large numbers from the "one-horse shows." 33 Unfortunately the details of their support â&#x20AC;&#x201D; the records of receipts, expenditures and profits â&#x20AC;&#x201D; have not been preserved. Likely they would have revealed that the entertainment business paralleled the general economic ascendency and decline of Corinne, modified only by the lack of available, high quality dramatic companies during the early years. There is no doubt that Corinne had anticipated a successful theatre. Just a month prior to the opening of the Opera House the city council unanimously passed an ordinance regulating circuses and other exhibitions. Although copies of those ordinances were not preserved, the city minutes reveal that from March 10, 1870, to June 10, 1871, receipts from licenses for "shows and exhibitions" amounted to ninety-five dollars and that some entertainers had been granted a waiver upon petition. 34 The revised city ordinances set two dollars as the license fee for each performance of "a theatrical representation, concert, ball, lecture, or tricks of legerdemain." 35 If the original fee were the same, the Opera House sheltered an average of at least one entertainment per week during its first year. Fourteen years later the contrast was stark. Corinne apparently no longer needed the Opera House even for use as a school. On January 9, 1884, the property passed to C. A. Krighaum and then to J. W. Guthrie for $300. 36 Guthrie, a banker and long-time mayor of Corinne, acquired much property as early residents moved on. In 1888 construction was begun on a canal that eventually placed a considerable amount of land surrounding Corinne under irrigation. It was probably during the consequent minor boost to business in the town that Guthrie installed a new "spring" dance floor in the Opera House. 37 The editor of the Brigham Bugler made the following comment after visiting Corinne in 1892: We were shown through the Corinne Opera House and ball room for the first time. Mrs. J. W. Guthrie . . . may well take pride in her neat, attractive hall. The building, both outside and in, has just been handsomely painted by the veteran artist, A. J. Caggie. As a ball room, the Guthrie hall is equal to any in the country and it makes a cozy theatre besides. 38 33 C or inne Journal, June 22, 1871. 34 Corinne City Minutes, June 6 and July 2, 1870, and July 11, 1871. 35 Corinne City, Revised Ordinances of Corinne City, 1898, pp. 123/. 36

Box Elder County Records. Sons of Utah Pioneers, Box Elder Chapter, Box Elder Lore of the Nineteenth Century (Brigham City, 1951), 138; interview with William Bosley. 3 *Brigham Bugler, May 28, 1892. 37

Corinne Opera House

295

During the same period dramatic activity revived somewhat. In January 1891 the Lindsay Company performed; in June 1892 "a dramatic troupe, traveling in a special car, gave an entertainment." A month later it was "Martin the Wizard" and a year later another "Punch and Judy" show. In 1896 a traveling medicine company broke the monotony by giving free entertainment at the Opera House for an entire week. "At the rate medicine sold, no sick people were found in Corinne for some time. As to the medical lectures and free entertainments, there is a diversity of opinion" 39 In 1904 the Union Pacific Railroad completed the Lucin Cutoff west from Ogden across the Great Salt Lake. Corinne was no longer a stop on the transcontinental railroad; that ended visits by any entertainers other than those based in Utah towns. In addition to the Lindsay Company, such Utah groups as those under the direction of Luke Cosgrove and Ralph Cloninger were among the few who frequented the Opera House. 40 On February 20, 1913, the Guthrie family sold the Opera House to George E. Wright for legal consideration. In turn, eight days later, Wright sold the property to the Bear River Corporation of the Church ofJesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. 41 Ironically, what was once a home for vehement anti-Mormon lecturers and political conventions of the Liberal party became a chapel for the followers of "Brigham's Church"! After some remodeling, "A new LDS meeting house was dedicated at Corinne, Utah, August 24, 1913." 42 Brigham Young was said to have predicted that grass would grow in the streets of Corinne and that the fine buildings of the community would one day be used for animal sheds by Mormon farmers. The first prediction was early fulfilled; and in the fall of 1952 the Corinne Ward Chapel (nee the finest Opera House west of Chicago) was torn down and sections sold to farmers of the area, thus, it would seem, completely fulfilling the prediction. 43 Thus the curtain rang down on the Corinne Opera House, on what was one of the oldest recreational buildings in the state, and on a stage that outlasted, even if it did not outshine, its competitor, the Salt Lake Theatre. 39

Ibid., J a n u a r y 24, 1891, J u n e 18 and July 9, 29, 1892, September 5, 1896. Inteview with Bernice Gibbs Anderson. ' B o x Elder County Records. 42 Andrew Jenson, comp., "Manuscript History of Corinne Ward," LDS Archives. 43 Sons of Utah Pioneers, Box Elder Lore, 134. See also Lucinda P. Jensen, History of Bear River City (Brigham City, 1947), and Watters, Pioneer Jews, 63. 40

Letters of Long Ago. By A G N E S J U S T REID. Introduction by BRIGHAM D. MADSEN. Utah, the Mormons, a n d the West Series, no. 2. (Salt Lake City: T a n n e r T r u s t Fund, University of U t a h Library, 1973. xvii 4- 93 p p . $9.50.) Dear Ellen: Two Mormon Women and Their Letters. By S. GEORGE ELLSWORTH. Utah, the Mormons, a n d the West Series, no. 3. (Salt Lake City: T a n n e r T r u s t F u n d , University of U t a h Library, 1974. xi + 92 p p . $12.00.) T h r e e volumes have been published in the Utah, the Mormons, and t h e West Series s p o n s o r e d by t h e T a n n e r T r u s t F u n d , University of Utah Library, u n d e r the general editorship of Everett L. Cooley. T h e first n u m b e r in the series is a new edition of A Mormon Mother: An Autobiography by Annie Clark Tanner. Edited by Brigham D. Madsen, the second volu m e is a reissue of a 1929 book, Letters of Long Ago. Dear Ellen: Two Mormon Women and Their Letters, by S. George Ellsworth, is the third volume. T h e fourth book, scheduled to be off the press in the next few months, will be a newly edited version of Twelve Mormon Homes, Elizabeth Wood Kane's account of h e r travels t h r o u g h Utah Territory in the 1870s. This attractive series is designed to bring back into circulation books that are considered of value but which are generally unavailable except in special collections. T h e volumes thus far published make a contribution to an understanding of life in the nineteenthcentury American West a n d are particularly important for their illumination of the lives of w o m e n in areas of the West settled by the Mormons. In addition to being a dramatic presentation of the anxieties a n d joys of private lives, the series provides scholars

w i t h i n s i g h t i n t o t h e social a n d economic problems of the territorial period. However, if the first four volumes are any indication, the series might m o r e appropriately have been entitled " W o m e n in the West." Letters of Long Ago is a memoir in letter form. Based on her mother's remembrances of incidents from her pioneer life on the Blackfoot River in southeastern Idaho, Agnes Just Reid poignantly recreated the lost letters E m m a T h o m p s o n Just had written from 1870 to 1891 to her father in England. Working incessantly to earn cash by b a k i n g b r e a d for s o l d i e r s , d o i n g laundry for wealthy southerners, sewing buckskin gloves a n d p a n t s o n commission, and serving as Preston, Idaho, postmistress, E m m a and her h u s b a n d , Nels J u s t , who freighted supplies to the gold fields and contracted irrigation projects, were able to raise their family of five boys and a girl, Agnes. In addition, they managed to maintain their homestead, build a brick house, a n d increase to several h u n d r e d h e a d t h e i r cattle h e r d which had started as three cows Emma's father had left her when he r e t u r n e d to England. Over the years g o v e r n m e n t surveyors laying out Yellowstone Park, a

Book Reviews and Notices soldier recovering from a d r u n k e n spree, a trapper on his way to the fur market, a miner needing buckskin trousers, an Irish peddler, and "two nifty L o n d o n e r s , " visited the J u s t homestead and momentarily relieved the monotony of life for Emma with t h e i r talk of t h e o u t s i d e w o r l d . Nevertheless, Emma suffered from extreme loneliness and a desire for female companionship. Pressed by the constant burdens of her ever increasing family, fears of Indian attacks, and the recurring anxiety that her relationship with her kind and thoughtful husband was not blessed with the magic of love, Emma frequently thought of ending h e r struggle by sliding quietly into the nearby river. One of the most important parts of the book is Emma's 1879 trip to Salt Lake City where she had been subp o e n a e d to testify at t h e trial of Robert T. Burton who was charged with m u r d e r as a result of his involvement in the 1862 Morrisite War which Emma had witnessed. At that time, Emma had been a twelve-yearold living at Fort Kington with her parents who were followers of a militant ex-Mormon, Joseph Morris, who preached of the imminent Second Coming of Christ. Professor Brigham D. Madsen's introductory comments and his long footnote on the Morrisites will be of interest to scholars. Dear Ellen is a collection of letters exchanged by two young M o r m o n women in 1856 and 1857. Ellen Curtis S p e n c e r Clawson was m a r r i e d to Hiram B. Clawson and lived in Salt Lake City, while Ellen S o p h r o n i a Pratt McGary resided with her husband, William, in San Bernardino, California. C h i l d h o o d f r i e n d s in N a u v o o , t h e two y o u n g w o m e n shared the experience of crossing the plains in 1848. At age twenty-four, the two Ellens began their correspondence which centered on their relationships with their husbands a n d

297 their problems relating to the births and health of their children. Professor S. George Ellsworth provides an informative account of the family backgrounds and the lives of the two women before and after the exchange of letters. Despite the fact that the two Ellens were in their twenties and were obviously preoccupied with the responsibilities of caring for their families, Ellsworth persists in referring to them as "girls." Only after they are dead does he accord them the dignity of womanhood. Ellen Clawson gave birth to fourteen children, nine of whom lived to maturity. She was not only a mother of a large family but the first wife of a large plural family which consisted of three other wives and a total of fortytwo children. Fortunately, her husband prospered as Brigham Young's business manager and as superintend e n t of Z C M I ; t h e r e was m o n e y enough to provide comfortable housing for the polygamous family and to hire help to free Ellen from some of the household drudgery. T h e most revealing aspect of this study is the anxiety and fear the two women experienced in a community where plural marriage was a custom. Ellen Clawson's guilt and attempts to maintain her love for Hiram as he took additional wives is revealed. On o n e occasion she e x p r e s s e d h e r thoughts in poetic form:

I loved thee once, but it was when I shared thy heart alone I never thought that in thy smile A serpent lurked beneath

Ellen McGary's domestic problems were somewhat different. When her William b e c a m e involved with another woman, they got a divorce. She bore four children, but only one daughter survived childhood. Having r e t u r n e d to her mother's h o m e in

298 Beaver, she was attracted to spiritualism and married a young spiritualist who had two daughters. This union also ended in divorce. Ultimately, she and William remarried and returned to California. Unfortunately, the "Dear Ellen" letters exchanged in the tense Utah War days have been lost. However, the disruptive impact of the war on family relations a n d personal lives was dramatized in Ellen Pratt McGary's family. Ellen's faith was tested as she traveled across the Mohave to Utah with her mother and husband in response to Brigham Young's call to the Mormon faithful to gather in the central settlements. Her father, who had devoted many years to a mission in the South Pacific, however, refused to join what he called rebellion against the United States government; thus he remained in California with Ellen's sister and her husband. After the war fever subsided, Ellen made her home in Beaver with h e r mother. T h e economic impact on the Mormon community as a result of the stationing of federal troops at Camp Floyd is illustrated by the fact that both Ellens' husbands profited in business dealings with the soldiers â&#x20AC;&#x201D; William

Utah Historical Quarterly McGary worked in a firm buying grain for the troops at Camp Floyd; and Hiram Clawson, as Brigham Young's agent, purchased surplus goods from the army and later sold them back at considerable profit. The two Ellens exemplify woman's role in nineteenth-century Mormondom. Both Ellens taught school in their youth, both noted the attendance at dances as high points in their lives, both were preoccupied with caring for their children and a larger extended family, both were active in the Women's Relief Society and Primary. Ellen McGary was even involved in the woman's rights movement. Though the two books, Letters of Long Ago and Dear Ellen, are expensive, they provide insights into the lives of women in the nineteenth century and generally make available important historical source materials. Future volumes in the series bringing other important materials back into circulation will be anticipated. BEVERLY BEETON

Administrative Assistant to the Vice-President for Academic Affairs University of Utah

The Uneasy Chair: A Biography of Bernard DeVoto. By WALLACE STEGNER. (Garden City: Doubleday & Company, I n e , 1974. xvi 4- 464 pp. $12.50.) One of Bernard DeVoto's visits to Utah in the early 1950s occurred just after a damaging flood had rolled off the steep Wasatch mountains. In the midst of his historic "The West against Itself " crusade in which the stockmen all wore black hats, DeVoto latched onto the flood as added ammuntion, another example of the evils of overgrazing. It was an understandable assumption and was true in scores of other floods of the era. But after this

particular one, the U.S. Forest Service specialists had gone over the ground and concluded that a heavy concentration of moisture on natural rock surface was the cause. Apprised of the Forest Service's carefully arrived-at conclusions, Benny DeVoto merely grunted. When his comment on the flood came out, it castigated in his characteristically strong language those responsible for overgrazing the Wasatch Range and causing the flood.

Book Reviews and Notices T h e incident is not cited to show that DeVoto was by n a t u r e careless and irresponsible. Ordinarily he res e a r c h e d with c a r e every issue in which he became involved. " H e was one of the sanest, most astute, most r o o t e d - i n - t h e - g r o u n d observers of American life," says Stegner. But the author of this balanced, thoughtful biography adds: " H e had a gift for indignation â&#x20AC;&#x201D; which means only that he believed some things passionately and could not contain himself. . . ." O n e of D e V o t o ' s m o s t a r d e n t crusades was on behalf of conservation â&#x20AC;&#x201D; long before most present-day environmentalists were aware of the perils of misusing resources. As r e a d e r s of this Quarterly well know, B e r n a r d DeVoto was a native of O g d e n ; his m o t h e r was a n ort h o d o x M o r m o n a n d his f a t h e r a " v a g r a n t Catholic intellectual a n d part-time teacher at N o t r e Dame"; as a child h e was t h e only boy in a Catholic girls school; he was brilliant and bookish, an "ugly duckling" who became so sensitive and defensive that he swung out angrily at what he believed to be injustice and stupidity. His greatest achievement was the trilogy of A m e r i c a n h i s t o r y : The Course of Empire, Across the Wide Missouri, and the Year of Decision, 1846. Stegner says these belong on a shelf with works of Prescott, Bancroft, Motley, Adams, and Parkman; and he relates how the books were "written in blood" while the a u t h o r g r o u n d out a living with m o r e lucrative writing, teaching at Breadloaf, and lecturing. Empire b r o u g h t him the National B o o k A w a r d a n d Across w o n t h e Pulitzer Prize; a n d he c a p t u r e d a dozen other sought-after honors. DeVoto did not have comparable success in his fiction, which ranged from potboilers by J o h n August, his most-used p s e u d o n y m , to half a dozen novels u n d e r his own name. Money from the J o h n August stories

299 paid for groceries a n d enabled DeVoto to d o m o r e important writing: the histories, the "Easy Chair" (a colu m n in Harper's), a definitive work on Mark Twain, and a variety of articles about the West, the region which he both loved a n d despised. "When you assume the posture you can expect to be raped," he warned the exploited, mixed-up West. O u t s i d e t h e history s c h o l a r s h i p c o m m u n i t y , t h e "Easy C h a i r " anthologies will outlive his other writings. Stegner summarizes beautifully many of the columns in which DeVoto t o u c h e d on a l m o s t every facet of American life d u r i n g the eighteen years (1937-55) he wrote the t h u n d e r ing column. T h e West was the favorite target in the late forties a n d fifties. But DeVoto also was an early challenger of J o e McCarthy, and his most e n d u r i n g piece may prove to be "Due Notice to the FBI," one of several which were strikingly prophetic of the Nixon era. Stegner gives us, as nearly as possible, a n objective X-ray p i c t u r e of Benny DeVoto, the frightened and driven man, the erratic polemicist, the stormy critic, stimulating teacher, and essayist. H e relates his disappointm e n t at failing to gain t e n u r e at Harv a r d , his b i t t e r q u a r r e l with p o e t Robert Frost, and his u n h a p p y editorship of the Saturday Review. E m e r g i n g ten feet tall from the s u p e r b b i o g r a p h y of his friend is Wally Stegner, also a former Utahn, Pulitzer-winning author, teacher, and conservationist. Stegner relates DeVoto's hates and peculiarities to his u n h a p p y c h i l d h o o d a n d conflicts g r o w i n g o u t of M o r m o n - C a t h o l i c parentage. But one wonders if DeVoto would not have been contentious and assertive even if he had been born a WASP on the Charles River. Stegner's own personality weakens his t h e m e that DeVoto was crippled by his childhood, for Stegner's own

300 boyhood was so much more cruel and the frontier on which he grew u p even more crude. Yet, he is comparatively low key, reasonable. This book projects Stegner "to the forefront among

Utah Historical Quarterly o u r m e n of letters," says N o r m a n Cousins. Who can gainsay that? ERNEST H. LINFORD

Laramie, Wyoming

The Mountain Men and the Fur Trade of the Far West. Edited by LEROY R. HAFEN. (Glendale, Calif: T h e A r t h u r H. Clark Company, 1972 Vol. 9, 420 pp. $14.50. Vol. 10, 395 pp. $24.50.) Volume nine of the Mountain Men series contains biographical sketches of forty-three men engaged in the trans-Mississippi fur trade during the first half of the nineteenth century. As in preceding volumes, this work is c o n c e r n e d with fur t r a d e p e r sonalities who, for the most part, have not received the literary attention accorded J o h n J. Astor, Zenas Leonard, Jim Bridger, Jedediah Smith, and certain others. Accounts of the lives of t h e s e m e n , m o s t of t h e m r e c o n structed from bits, pieces, and scattered reference fragments, have been integrated into unit sketches which contribute essentials to t h e larger chronicle of the fur trade of the Far West. Names which have regularly appeared with vague and often only p a s s i n g r e f e r e n c e in t h e s u r v e y studies of this pioneer western industry are in this work fleshed out with detail into living, contributing entities. T h e contents include a sketch of Lemuel Carpenter, a Kentuckian who lingered in Missouri, progressed to the Southwest, and from Santa Fe continued to California; vignettes of Pierre C h o u t e a u , Ramsey Crooks, and David Jackson; and a concluding sketch of George C. Yount, a trapper from Missouri active in the Southwest, who opened the Spanish Trail between Santa Fe and Los Angeles for overland commerce, and, in the waning years of the fur trade, settled in California as a farmer and stockraiser. These sketches yield a glimpse at the day-to-day activities of these wilderness pioneers, wading "hip deep in

icy streams" often facing "starvation in the grip of winter." Several contain descriptions of fur trade technology and technique in harvesting furs, and the ribald rendezvous, the annual fur fair held each summer in some mountain glen. T h e mountain man's life style is reconstructed, including the loneliness of a trapper's existence in the m o u n t a i n fastness of western America and his reversion to a more primitive living pattern, characterized in one of the sketches: while it was "difficult for an Indian to become a white m a n . . . a white m a n easily learns to live like an Indian." From these sketches one can extract perspective on the bitter competition among American fur companies and t h e i n t e r n a t i o n a l rivalry b e t w e e n American and British fur men for preeminence in the rich territory of the Upper Missouri. These sketches also shed additional light on certain incidents of great moment in western history. T h e David E. Jackson biogr a p h y contains an account of the death of Jedediah Smith, the premier mountain man. He was slain on the Cimarron desert cutoff en route to Santa Fe during 1837 while digging for water in the sandy bed of the Cimarron River. T h e r e was irony in his demise by a Comanche ambush after escaping so many brushes with death in the course of his wide reconnoitering of the West. Likewise, from these sketches one can witness the vocational alteration of many fur men, progressing from wilderness trappers to guides for government expeditions

Book Reviews and Notices a n d i m m i g r a n t t r a i n s b o u n d for O r e g o n a n d California. Many ultimately settled in Missouri, New Mexico, California, and O r e g o n towns as businessmen, farmers, and ranchers; and, on occasion, the m o r e restless ones a b a n d o n e d this quieter life and r e t u r n e d to the free existence of wilderness hunters. T h e s e sketches confirm the legacy of the fur trade in the Americanization process in the West. W i d e - r a n g i n g fur brigades o p e n e d t h e West to s u c c e e d i n g f r o n t i e r s . T h e i r paths widened into immigrant thoroughfares, conducting a thickening s t r e a m of A m e r i c a n s i n t o t h e West. Fur m e n seeded the West with American presence, particularly in contested territories, and as inventive e n t r e p r e n e u r s served as the vanguard force in the American thrust to the Pacific. Volume ten, the final volume of the Mountain Men series, is indispensable for effective use of the preceding nine volumes. It contains a guide to the biographical sketches and authors, illustrations, an extensive topical index, and a useful bibliography of the fur trade. In addition, the editor has inc l u d e d a p r o v o c a t i v e essay, " T h e Mountain Men, A Statistical View," by Richard J. F e h r m a n , which quantitatively analyzes the 292 mountain m e n subjects of the biographical sketches in the nine volumes. His study confirms some aspects of the fur man's image but dispels others. H e reports that fifty-four percent of this g r o u p of mountain m e n were born east of the Mississippi River. Canada furnished

301 most, followed by Missouri, Kentucky, a n d Virginia. T h e majority of the 292 m o u n t a i n m e n could read and write. Of the nineteen fur companies o p e r a t i n g in t h e West, t h r e e employed m o r e than half of these men â&#x20AC;&#x201D; the American Fur C o m p a n y was the largest employer with thirty-nine, followed by the Hudson's Bay Company and the Missouri Fur Company, each with twenty-two. O n e h u n d r e d eighteen of these m e n were classed as free trappers; in this status the t r a p p e r was frequently carried on a company roll, was p e r m i t t e d to " t r a p w h e r e h e chose, either in a regular expedition or alone, but usually sold his furs to the company." Eighty-four percent of the 292 were married, some with several wives, the spouses derived from Anglo-American, Mexican-American, and Indian women. T h e life span for this g r o u p of 292 averaged sixty-four, ten of them into their eighties, four into their nineties, a n d two past one h u n d r e d . In the wilderness they managed very well, for only eighteen percent died violent deaths, including Indian attacks a n d fights with grizzly bears. Most of these mountain men died in bed of illnesses c o m m o n to the frontier for that time. T h e y t e n d e d to be family men, with the average family consisting of at least one wife and three children, and they took their families with t h e m as they moved about the fur territory.

ARRELL M. GIBSON

University of Oklahoma

Broken Hand: The Life of Thomas Fitzpatrick -Mountain Man, Guide, and Indian Agent. By LEROY R. HAFEN. (Denver: T h e Old West Publishing Company, 1973. xiii + 359 p p . $15.00.) If one desired to study the era of the mountain m e n by examining the life of one of its participants, it would be difficult to find a better case study than T h o m a s Fitzpatrick, the subject

of Dr. LeRoy Hafen's second edition of Broken Hand. Combining survival skills, leadership, and business ability, Fitzpatrick's career s p a n n e d the period of the rendezvous (1825-40)

302 and years of guide service for the U.S. Army and concluded with his experience as an Indian agent. But the book is much more than a biography. T h e author has given us a picture of the American West from the early 1820s to 1854, " s e l e c t i n g scenes a n d episodes relating to an important but relatively unknown personality in the history of the region." Dr. Hafen's work in western history is well known. His ten-volume work entitled The Mountain Men and the Fur Trade of the Far West plus numerous other books and articles on the fur era have established him as the authority on the subject. Broken Hand is a revision of a coauthored work published in 1931. T h e author's own statement indicates why the time and effort were taken to revise Broken Hand. "In the forty-two years since the first publication, competent and dedicated scholars have unearthed substantial new facts and much additional information." This impressive volume with its large type, fine quality paper, and handsome binding is the product of the "substantial new facts." T h e book consists of sixteen chapters divided into four sections. T h e first division follows Fitzpatrick's life as a mountain man (1823-40), showing him as a raw recruit with Ashley in 1823, as part owner of the Rocky Mountain Fur Company, and as employee of the American Fur Company. T h e second describes his career as g u i d e a n d a d j u t a n t w o r k i n g with Fremont, Abert, and Kearny's Army of the West. In 1847 Fitzpatrick entered into the third phase of his career as Indian agent in the U p p e r Platte and Arkansas Agency which he continued until his death in 1854. T h e last division of the book contains the appendix which includes three excellent additions to the book. In comparing the 1931 and 1973 editions, it may be noted that additions and corrections have been made

Utah Historical Quarterly t h r o u g h t h e availability of new diaries, journals, letters, and manuscript collections. T h e author has been able to bring to the reader a much m o r e accurate account of specific happenings in the life of Fitzpatrick and events in western history. T h e creation of the Smith, Jackson, Sublette partnership and the selling of the Ashley interest; the controversial trip to Sante Fe by Fitzpatrick; the dealings in 1832 between William Sublette and the R.M.F. Co.;the race between William Sublette and Wyeth to the 1834 rendezvous; the dissolution of the R.M.F. Co.; and the appointment of Fitzpatrick as Indian agent are but a few of the areas in the book that have been made more complete. With very few exceptions Broken Hand is written exclusively from primary sources. Yet, as with most publications, it is not without it weaknesses. T h e r e are some unsupported statements which should be d o c u m e n t e d . T h e r e are also some specific topics within the book which Dr. Hafen feels are still unclear d u e to the lack of researched materials. However, some have been clarified through recent studies which a p p a r e n t l y e s c a p e d Dr. H a f e n ' s notice, an example being the Fort Bridger locations clarified in a doctoral dissertation in 1972. Some direct quotes from different sources do not a g r e e with o t h e r c o n t e m p o r a r y sources, and in such cases it would have been desirable to indicate to the reader that there were different versions. These are minor criticisms however, and do not detract from the value of this study. Dr. Hafen is to be congratulated for this excellent work. It represents a book that will be enjoyed by the general reader as well as the specialist. FRED R. GOWANS

Assistant Professor of Indian Education Brigham Young University

Book Reviews and Notices

303

Foreigners in their Native Land: Historical Roots of the Mexican American. Edited by DAVID J. WEBER. (Albuquerque: University of New Mexico Press, 1973. xiv + 288 pp. Cloth, $12.00; paper, $4.95.) Within the last five or six years, d u e to its burgeoning popularity, the field of ethnic studies has spawned an expected n u m b e r of hastily assembled a n t h o l o g i e s a n d historical m o n o graphs on the history of the Mexican American which lack d e p t h and often lead to misinterpretation. Despite this inauspicious beginning, solid historical offerings have now begun to appear, and the documents collection edited by David Weber, Foreigners in their Native Land: Historical Roots of the Mexican Americans, is one of these. In attempting to delineate the "historical roots" of Mexican Americans, Weber focuses upon the nineteenth c e n t u r y as t h e critical f o r m a t i v e period. I believe he is correct in his viewpoint, since it is the nineteenth century experience of the Mexican American which marks the distinction between Mexican-American history, Mexican history, and the broad orientation of American history. Weber's first chapter deals with the colonial p e r i o d , e m p h a s i z i n g t h e c h a r a c t e r a n d i n s t i t u t i o n s of t h e Southwest in this role as New Spain's far northern frontier. Especially welcome in this chapter is his effort to point out the racial heterogeneity, i.e., the role of the Black and the mulatto, which was characteristic of settlement in the Spanish b o r d e r l a n d s . Apart from this s h o r t , essentially backg r o u n d chapter, the remaining chapters are devoted to the nineteenth century. T h e ensuing four chapters deal with the initial contact and cultural antipathies between the S p a n i s h - s p e a k i n g of t h e SpanishMexican borderlands and the trappers, traders, and settlers of the encroaching Anglo-American frontier; the confrontation culminating in war;

the subsequent postwar status of a Mexican population in an American Southwest; and, finally, the responses of this population to the injustices e m a n a t i n g from a newly i m p o s e d political, economic, and social order. Although these chapters deal with individual aspects of the MexicanAmerican experience, such as resistance, accommodation, and assimilation, they also reflect the larger causal factors affecting this region. Occupation and development of the Southwest (California i n c l u d e d ) by t h e Anglo-American t r a n s f o r m e d an older economic region which formerly had demonstrated only tenuous ties with the Mexican heartland into one in which the area was increasingly integrated as part of a transcontinental economic system. T h e editor has done a good j o b in both the selection and a r r a n g e m e n t of these documents; each selection is enhanced by an accompanying editorial comment. Especially valuable are the general introduction to the work and the essays preceding each chapter; well w r i t t e n a n d t h o u g h t f u l , they touch u p o n the problems of MexicanAmerican historiography a n d provide continuity between each g r o u p of documents. T h e documents themselves are drawn from a wide variety of sources, both secondary and archival. If there is a criticism, it is the brevity of a n u m b e r of the selections included. In c o n t r a s t to t h e u s u a l p r o b l e m of overly long selections, a n u m b e r of the excerpts included are almost too brief to illustrate adequately the point being made by the editor. In addition, more attention might have been paid to the colonial period. Weber, in his introductory essay to the

304 first chapter, clearly points out the importance of the Hispanic cultural and political inheritance and its contrast and conflict with the approaching Anglo-American frontier. However, in n u m b e r a n d quality, t h e d o c u m e n t s selected d o n o t corresp o n d adequately to the importance of this period. T h e s e a r e only m i n o r criticisms when the book is evaluated as a whole.

Utah Historical Quarterly Foreigners in their Native Land: Historical Roots of the Mexican Americans remains a solid contribution to the field of Mexican-American historiography. It will be especially useful for the classroom but will also be welcomed by the general reader. VINCENT MAYER

American West Center University of Utah

Victorio and the Mimbres Apaches. By DAN L. THRAPP. (Norman: University of Oklahoma Press, 1974. xx + 393 pp. $9.95.) C e r t a i n l y n o n e w c o m e r to t h e b u r g e o n i n g bibliography of books dealing with the frontier Southwest, Dan L. T h r a p p has scored again with an engagingly composed account of the Victorio tragedy. His previous books — A l Sieber, Chief of Scouts, The Conquest of Apacheria, a n d General Crook and the Sierra Madre Adventure — have established him as one of the most prolific s t u d e n t s of A p a c h e white relations. T h e present volume fully sustains this enviable designation. T h r a p p e m p h a s i z e s t h a t t h e complete story of Victorio cannot be k n o w n for the simple reason t h a t much of the evidence died with him and his people. This is a sensible observation, one that needs to be articulated m o r e often than it is. But, counters T h r a p p , "something of it can be known," and the published product speaks well for his efforts. Organizing the Apaches for historical purposes is no easy task, particularly as it relates to the Mimbres (or Membrenos), Victorio's people. In the second half of the nineteenth century there were two great divisions: the e a s t e r n (Jicarillas, L i p a n s , a n d Kiowa-Apaches) and the western (Navajos, Mescaleros, a n d Chiricahuas). T h e C h i r i c a h u a s were subdivided into e a s t e r n , c e n t r a l , a n d western groups, of which the eastern was further divided into the Mogollon

(Mogollones), a n d the g r o u p with which Victorio and his people were identified—Coppermine, Gila, W a r m Springs, Ojo Caliente, or Mimbres (Mimbrenos). At one time these appellations might have r e p r e s e n t e d some rational geographical-linguistic designations, but the influx of white invaders on a large scale r e n d e r e d the nomenclature virtually meaningless. In any case, Victorio's people were those persons who camped along the Mimbres River or in the general vicinity of Ojo Caliente. T o the novice this rather descriptive a d o r n m e n t may a p p e a r pedantic, but in the author's revisionist view it is essential to rescue Victorio from his principal detractors—Cochise and Geronimo. By comparison it may be t h a t Victorio was less p r e d i c t a b l e , more self-centered, and even insensitive to the best interests of his people. But, cautions T h r a p p , the Mimbres were beleaguered by the whites on a scale seldom equaled. T h a t this p r o u d Apache h e a d m a n led his people on a final flight to oblivion, that he became a fugitive from justice, and that his Tres Castillos confrontation in 1872 was in large measure a debacle for which Victorio himself must assume much of the responsibility should not detract from the larger, tragic dimensions of the story. In the final analysis it was Victorio's intractable conviction

Book Reviews and Notices that his people were entitled to the land of his forefathers. A word of caution. T h e r e is a good deal more Mimbres history in the first portion of the book than there is information about Victorio. Indeed, as one generalizes the thrust of this fascinating account, one wonders if it might not better have been titled T h e Mimbres Apaches: Including Some

305 Notes Regarding the Leadership Role of Victorio. Excellent maps and some truly artistically conceived p h o t o graphs make this book all the more attractive.

WILLIAM E. UNRAU

Professor of History Wichita State University

The Sun Dance Religion: Power for the Powerless. By JOSEPH G. JORGENSEN. (Chicago: T h e University of Chicago Press, 1972. xii 4- 360 p p . $20.00.) This engaging book is a tour de force of research on the Indian subjects involved in the Sun Dance religion. H e r e Professor J o r g e n s e n has chosen to deal with the Utes and the Shoshones of the Rocky Mountain West and their relationship to the Sun Dance. In preparing the g r o u n d for his interpretation of the meaning of the Sun Dance, the author has treated extremely well the history of the Northern Ute people at the Uintah-Ouray Reservation in eastern U t a h . T h i s book is not just a contribution to anthropological knowledge but contains in Section I the "History of the Utes and Shoshones to 1910: Resistance, Conquest and Despair," the finest historical essay to date on the Indian people of the Uintah-Ouray Reservation. Dr. J o r g e n s e n deals m o r e in depth and m o r e convincingly with the N o r t h e r n U t e s t h a n with t h e Shoshones and the other Ute groups. This is because he has had long experience upon the Uintah-Ouray Reservation and an intimate acquaintance with n u m b e r s of the Indian inhabitants there. T h e second section tends to add light and interpretation in b r o a d e r sweeps than we have heretofore seen on the history and life style of the Indian residents in eastern Utah. His section entitled " T h e Neocolonial Reservation Context" provides insight

into an almost h i d d e n part of Utah history. This description of the "racist" experience will not please some segments of the population in o u r area, but his interpretation convinces. As to the Sun Dance itself, n o major work in the field has been attempted with such accurate knowledge as Professor J o r g e n s e n brings to this work, having been a participant in a Sun Dance with N o r t h e r n Utes. Regarding the documentation for his commentaries on the Sun Dance, only one major s o u r c e is i g n o r e d â&#x20AC;&#x201D; S p e c i a l Agent E. E. White has written of the visit of 300 Sioux to the Uintah Reservation in the 1880s. Perhaps this visit could have started the Sun Dance religion a m o n g t h e N o r t h e r n Utes. However, the uncertainties in determining an accurate date of the beginning of this ritual in a specific location do not materially detract from the overall excellence of the work. O n e of the great problems of ant h r o p o l o g i s t s ' a n d h i s t o r i a n s ' att e m p t s to p o r t r a y a c c u r a t e l y t h e American Indian scene has been their excessive reliance u p o n d o c u m e n t s from purely white a n d usually academic sources rather than t h r o u g h long association with a g r o u p of people. This inadequacy cannot be c h a r g e d to P r o f e s s o r J o r g e n s e n . Every serious scholar of the Indians of the Mountain states, of Indian religion, a n d every historian of U t a h

Utah Historical Quarterly

306 should read this book for it is a valuable contribution to knowledge. We need m o r e efforts of this caliber for a d e e p e r u n d e r s t a n d i n g of Utah's history.

The Autobiography of Melvin A. Cook; Volume I: Reflections on Ancestry and Early Life.

By MELVIN A. COOK.

(Salt Lake City: Melvin A. Cook Foundation, 1973. xvi + 671 pp.) This book may well be the most elaborate, expensive, a n d beautifully printed autobiography ever produced locally. Cook, a n internationally recognized authority o n explosives, devotes one-half of this large volume to his parents, g r a n d p a r e n t s , a n d great g r a n d p a r e n t s . Entries from his father's diary d u r i n g t h e early decades of this century detail a familiar story of a Utah farmer's struggle to make ends meet. T h e second half of the book relates Cook's experiences as a young farm boy, student, scientist, a n d professor. Many p h o t o g r a p h s a r e included. Footprints of Ira Rice. By EVA A. RICE a n d LORETTA C. RICE. Ed. D. J. BAKER. (Logan: Utah State Uni-

versity, 1973. vi + 30 pp.) Rice was a settler in Cache valley and, later, Dixie. George Henry and Jessie McNiven Taggart. By S C O T T TAGGART. (n.p.: T a g g a r t a n d Co., n.d. 89 pp.) Beautifully printed family history of e a r l y M o r m o n s e t t l e r s in Wyoming's Big H o r n Basin.

FLOYD A. O ' N E I L

Director for Documentation and Oral History American West Center University of Utah

The Golden State's Religious Pioneer. By FRANCIS J. WEBER. (LOS Angeles:

Dawson's Bookshop, 1974. 55 p p . $6.50.) A tribute to Fray J u n i p e r o Serra printed in a limited edition of 350. Guide to Cartographic Records in the National Archives. By N A T I O N A L ARCHIVES. ( W a s h i n g t o n D . C : G o v e r n m e n t P r i n t i n g Office, 1973. 444 p p . $3.25.) Descriptive catalog of m o r e than 1.5 million maps a n d related materials collected by the federal government from the Revolutionary War to the present. Historical Development of the Spanish Fork Ranger District. By VICTOR K. ISGELL. ( n . p . : U i n t a N a t i o n a l Forest, U.S. D e p a r t m e n t of Agriculture, 1972. ix + 165 pp.) Contains a thirty-page historical sketch of the area. Indians in an Urban Setting: Salt Lake County, Utah (1972). By MARY E L L E N S L O A N . A m e r i c a n West Center Occasional Paper, no. 2. (Salt L a k e City: University of Utah, 1973. 83 p p . $2.50.) Contains social, economic, a n d dem o g r a p h i c characteristics of u r b a n Indians.

Book Reviews and Notices Introduction to Early American Masonry Stone, Brick, Mortar, and Plaster. By HARLEY J. M C K E E . (Washington, D . C : National Trust for Historic Preservation, 1973. 92 p p . Paper, $4.50.) Jesuits by the Golden Gate: The Society of Jesus in San Francisco, 1849-1969. By J O H N BERNARD MCGLOIN. (San

F r a n c i s c o : U n i v e r s i t y of San Francisco, 1972. iii + 3 0 9 p p . $8.50.) L. Boyd Hatch, Family "Farm" and For-

307 uses no important sources in his chapter on the "Mormon War"; Governor Cumming's name is misspelled as is Latter-day Saint (capital "D"); a n d Juanita Brooks's work on J o h n D. Lee and the Mountain Meadows Massacre is ignored. Sex and Marriage in Utopian Communities, 19th Century America. By RAYMOND L E E MUNCY. (Bloom-

ington: Indiana University Press, 1973. 275 p p . $10.00.) Chapter nine treats Mormon polygamy.

tune. By D O R A N J . BAKER. (Logan:

Utah State University, 1973. v + 62 + xvi pp.) Hatch was a well-known figure in local and national financial circles. The Office of Indian Affairs, 1824-1880: Historical Sketches. By EDWARD E. HILL. (New York: Clearwater Publishing Co., 1974. x + 246 pp. $18.00.) Reference work to help researchers locate correspondence contained in Microcopy 234, Letters Received by the Office of Indian Affairs, 1824-1880, published by the National Archives. Old Glory: A Pictorial Report on the Grass Roots History Movement and the First Hometown History Primer. By the AMERICA T H E B E A U T I F U L F U N D .

(New York W a r n e r Paperback Library, 1973. 192 p p . $4.95.) L a r g e f o r m a t a c c o u n t of m a n y small town preservation projects, including local history and "how to" information. Sentinel of the Plains: Fort Leavenworth and the American West. By GEORGE WALTON. (Englewood Cliffs, N.J.: Prentice-Hall Inc., 1973. xiv + 210 pp. $8.95.) T h e t r e a t m e n t of Utah a n d the Mormons ("devotees of the Angel Moroni") is poorly done. T h e author

Valiant Venture: Sketch of the Life of James Blazzard and Mary Catherine Jolley. By CATHERINE B. CURTIS. (n.p.: Author, 1973. 216 pp.) A delightful account of family life a m o n g t h e M o r m o n s in s o u t h e r n Utah a n d New Mexico in the late nineteenth century. When Navajos Had Too Many Sheep: The 1940s. By GEORGE A. BOYCE (San

Francisco: T h e Indian Historian Press, 1974. xiii + 273 pp. $9.00.) Navajo population growth, the results of overgrazing, and the heavy hand of government bureaucracy led to crisis for these Indians in the 1940s. Working Papers toward a History of the Spanish-speaking People of Utah. By AMERICAN WEST CENTER. (Salt Lake City: Mexican-American Documentation Project, University of Utah, 1973. ix + 277 p p . Paper, $3.00.) Subjects include oral history, community growth a n d d e v e l o p m e n t , migrant workers, and organizations. Young Reuben: The Early Life of J. Reuben Clark Jr. By DAVID H . YARN, JR. (Provo: Brigham Young University Press, 1973. x + 166 pp. Paper, $1.00.)

ANTIQUITIES Barnes, F.A. "Dinosaur Hunting," Desert Magazine, 37 (June 1974), 8-11,40-41. Dinosaur tracks to be found in southeastern Utah. Broadbent, Sylvia. "Scavengers on Wheels," Sierra Club Bulletin, 59 (April 1974), 9-11. Vandalism and pillage at prehistoric sites. Hargrave, Lyndon L. "Type Determinants in Southwestern Ceramics and Some of Their Implications," Plateau, 46 (Winter 1974), 76-95. Peterson, Jack. "Ancient Campsite, Modern Campground," Our Public Lands, 24 (Spring 1974), 4-6. Fremont site in west-central Utah. BIOGRAPHY Hunt, J o h n Clark. "Thomas Wolfe Reflects on the Big Gorgooby," Westways, 66 (May 1974), 34-37, 88. Data on novelist Wolfe's 1938 tour of seven western states, including Utah. Jenson, Sid. " T h e Compassionate Seer: Wallace Stegner's Literary Artist," Brigham Young University Studies, 14 (Winter 1974), 248-62. Powell, Lawrence Clark. "Maynard Dixon's Painted Desert," Westways, 66 (May 1974), 24-29, 86-87. Includes biographical data on the well-known artist of the Southwest. Riley, Paul D., ed. "Cather Family Letters," Nebraska History, 54 (Winter 1973), 585-619. BUSINESS AND T R A N S P O R T A T I O N Carley, Maurine, comp. "Fifth Segment of the Oregon Trail in Wyoming: Green River to Cokeville," Annals of Wyoming, 45 (Fall 1973), 249-63. Ferguson, Constance. "Stone's Ferry: Old Letters Describe Colorado River Crossing by Mormon Pioneers in 1877," Plateau, 46 (Winter 1974), 96-101. Hanson Charles, Jr. "Aparejos and Arrieros," The Museum of the Fur Trade Quarterly, 9 (Winter 1973), 1-5. T h e mainstay of colonial New Mexico's supply and' transportation system was the mule caravan. T h e arrieros (muleteers) outfitted their animals with a crude but functional pack pad called an aparejo. Helmers, Dow. " T h e Gunnison Extension of the South Park and the Historical Alpine Tunnel," The Denver Westerners Roundup, 30 (January-February 1974), 3-17. T h e historic tunnel was constructed in 1881 as part of the Denver, South Park & Pacific Railroad line across the Continental Divide in the great Saguache Range. Holben, Richard. " T h e Wire that Won the West." The American Heritage Society s Americana, 2 (March 1974), 23-26. Barbed wire. Johnson, George A. "First Commerce on the Colorado," The Journal of Arizona History, 15 (Spring 1974), 29-34. "Problems Overwhelm Turn-of-the-century Electric Concern," Circuit, February 1974, p. 16. Saint Anthony, Idaho, power company.

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Sillman, Lee. " T h e Carroll Trail: Utopian Enterprise," Montana, the Magazine of Western History, 24 (April 1974), 2-17. Spicer, Rockey, "Four Horsemen of Flight," Westways, 66 (January 1974), 40-45. Details early scheduled commercial air service between Salt Lake City and Los Angeles. Walker, Henry P. "Wagon Freighting in Arizona," The Smoke Signal, 28 (Fall 1973), 182-202. Workman, J o h n P., Donald W. MacPherson, Darwin B. Nielson, and James J. Kennedy. "Recreational Land Development: County Bane or Boost?" Utah Science, 34 (December 1973), 124-27. Includes five statistical tables. Wyman, Mark. "Industrial Revolution in the West: Hard-Rock Miners and the New Technology" The Western Historical Quarterly, 5 (January 1974), 39-57. Technological advances of 1860-1910 affected miners' safety and encouraged unionism. C O N S E R V A T I O N AND PRESERVATION Cavaglieri, Giorgio. "Design in Adaptive Reuse," Historic Preservation, 26 (January-March 1974), 12-17. Architectural considerations in restoring old buildings for use today. Meagher, Mary. "Yellowstone Bison: A Unique Wild Heritage,"National Parks and Conservation Magazine, 48 (May 1974), 9-14. Wild bison threatened by brucellosis eradication program. Utley, Robert M. "Historic Preservation and the Environment," The Colorado Magazine, 51 (Winter 1974), 1-12. H I S T O R I A N S AND H I S T O R I C A L M E T H O D Caughey, J o h n W. " T h e Insignificance of the Frontier in American History, or, 'Once u p o n a Time T h e r e Was an American West,' " The Western Historical Quarterly, 5 (January 1974), 5-16. Clubb, J e r o m e M. "Quantification and the 'New History': A Review Essay," The American Archivist, 37 (January 1974), 15-25. Hall, T o m G. "Agricultural History and the 'Organizational Synthesis': A Review Essay," Agricultural History, 48 (April 1974), 313-25. Hafen, LeRoy R. "Reflections of the Editor, 1924-54." The Colorado Magazine, 50 (Fall 1973), 275-78. Reinwand, Louis. "Andrew Jenson, Latter-day Saint Historian," Brigham Young University Studies, 14 (Autumn 1973), 29-46. Smith, Wilfred I. "Broad Horizons: Opportunities for Archivists," The American Archivist, 37 (January 1974), 3-14. Effects of increased d e m a n d for access to archival materials. Stokesbury, James L. "Francis Parkman on the Oregon Trail," American History Illustrated, 8 (December 1973), 4-9, 44-48. Vallentine, J o h n F. "Tracing the Immigrant Ancestor," Genealogical Journal, 3 (March 1974), 3-7. INDIANS Bigart, Robert. " T h e Salish Flathead Indians, 1850-1891." Idaho Yesterdays, 17 (Fall 1973), 18-28. Clemmer, Richard O. "Land Use Patterns and Aboriginal Rights, Northern and Eastern Nevada: 1858-1971," The Indian Historian, 7 (Winter 1974), 24-41. Davidson, Kenneth E. "President Hayes and the Reform of American Indian Policy," Ohio History, 82 (Summer-Autumn 1973), 205-14.

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Dollar, Clyde D. "Renaissance on the Reservation," The American West, 11 (January 1974), 6-9, 58-62. Beginnings of Indian self-reliance and progress. Howard, Helen Addison. "An Introduction to Pre-missionary Indian Religion," Journal of the West, 13 (January 1974), 9-24. Josephy, Alvin M. Jr. "The Splendid Indians of Edward S. Curtis," American Heritage, 25 (February 1974), 40-59, 96-97. Study of Curtis's monumental photographic achievement in The North American Indians, published 1907-30. Kelsey, Harry. "Lincoln and the Indians," The Branding Iron [Los Angeles Westerners Corral], no. 113 (March 1974), pp. 1-8. Lincoln's humanitarian impulse extended to the Indians, but his preoccupation with the Civil War prevented him from gaining a true understanding of their culture and needs. Schmidlin, Lois L. Neslen. "The Role of the Horse in the Life of the Commanche," Journal of the West, 13 (January 1974), 47-66. Includes horsemanship and cultural change during a span of three centuries. "Southwest Pottery Today," Arizona Highways, 50 (May 1974). Special edition devoted to contemporary Indian pottery and such famous potters as Maria of San Ildefonso, Nampeyo, and others. Taylor, Graham D. "The Tribal Alternative to Bureaucracy: The Indian's New Deal, 1933-1945 "Journal of the West, 13 (January 1974), 128-42. The Indian Reorganization Act. Underhill, Lonnie E., and Daniel F. Littlefield, Jr. "The Cheyenne 'Outbreak' of 1897 as Reported by Hamlin Garland," Arizona and the West, 15 (Autumn 1973), 257-74. Reprints Garland's firsthand observations and interviews with participants in the Montana incident. Ward, Bob. "An Ancient Craft Is a Thriving Art in New Mexico," New Mexico, 52 (May-June 1974), 23-30. Pueblo pottery. LITERATURE AND FOLKLORE Allen, Phoebe. "The Double Exposure of Texas Captives," Western Folklore, 32 (October 1973), 249-261. The theme of captivity by Indians has held a popular grip on the American imagination for 300 years. "A Bret Harte Issue," Western American Literature, 8 (Fall 1973). Special issue contains three articles on Harte and his writings. Carlisle, Veronica M. "Note on the Coyote in Southwestern Folklore," AFFword [Arizona Friends of Folklore], 3 (January 1974), 38-47. Poulsen, Richard C. "The Soft Side of a Brick: Two Nonsense Songs in Western Oral Tradition," AFFword, 3 (September 1973), 11-15. Powell, Lawrence Clark. "Land of Many Returns: The Molding of Southwestern Literature," New Mexico, 52 (May-June 1973), 11-15. Van Orman, Richard A. "The Bard in the West," The Western Historical Quarterly, 5 (January 1974), 29-38. Performances of Shakespeare in the early West, including Utah. Walker, Don D. "History, Myths, and Imagination," The Possible Sack, 5 (February-March 1974), 1-6. The great literature of the American West will depend more on the writer's imagination than historical fact. Wright, Beverly. "Navajo and Hopi Tales," AFFword, 3 (September 1973), 23-38. MILITARY AND POLITICAL Bailey, John W., Jr. "The Presidential Election of 1900 in Nebraska: McKinley Over Bryan "NebraskaHistory, 54 (Winter 1973), 561-84. Given the dynamism of Roosevelt's stumping and the prosperity of McKinley's administration, Bryan could not even carry his own state.

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Dobak, William A. "Yellow-leg Journalists: Enlisted Men as Newspaper Reporters in the Sioux Campaign, 1876." Journal of the West, 13 (January 1974), 86-112. Knight, Oliver. "War or Peace: The Anxious Wait for Crazy Horse," Nebraska History, 54 (Winter 1973), 521-544. Lovin, Hugh T. "The Red Scare in Idaho, 1916-1918," Idaho Yesterdays, 17 (Fall 1973), 2-13. McAndrews, Eugene V., ed. "An Army Engineer's Journal of Custer's Black Hills Expedition, July 20, 1874â&#x20AC;&#x201D;August 23, 187'4" Journal ofthe West, 13 (January 1974), 78-85. Ridge, Martin. "The Populist as a Social Critic," Minnesota History, 43 (Winter 1973), 297-302. RELIGION Arrington, LeonardJ. "Latter-day Saint Women on the Arizona Frontier," The New Era, 4 (April 1974), 43-50. Arrington, LeonardJ. "Mormonism: Views from Without and Within,"Brigham Young University Studies, 14 (Winter 1974), 140-53. The changing image of Mormonism in literature and the potential for imaginative writing by Mormons. Cracroft, Richard H. "Distorting Polygamy for Fun and Profit: Artemus Ward and Mark Twain among the Mormons, "Brigham Young University Studies, 14 (Winter 1974), 272-88. Decoo, Wilfried. "The Image of Mormonism in French Literature: Part I," Brigham Young University Studies, 14 (Winter 1974), 157-75. Jessee, Dean C "Your Affectionate Father, Brigham Young: The Prophet's Letters to His Sons," The Ensign of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, 4 (April 1974), 63-68. Robertson, R. J., Jr. "The Mormon Experience in Missouri, 1830-1839, Part I," Missouri Historical Review, 68 (April 1974), 280-98. Schwartz, Thomas D. "Bayard Taylor's 'The Propet': Mormonism as Literary Taboo," Brigham Young University Studies, 14 (Winter 1974), 235-47.

T h e Utah Museums Association will hold its annual meeting in Salt Lake City October 6-9 in conjunction with the meetings of the Western Regional Conference of the American Association of Museums and the Western Association of Art Museums. T h e program includes visits to the Univeristy of Utah's Museum of Natural History, Museum of Fine Arts, and Western Americana collections; a behind-the-scenes look at the "bone barn" at the Cleveland-Lloyd Dinosaur Quarry; speakers and demonstrations on computers and collections, video possibilities for museums, his-

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Quarterly

toric house preservation, conservation, security, fund-raising, a n d other topics; a n d tours of historic a n d scenic sites of the area. T h e papers of T r u m a n O. Angell for the years 1851-84 have been processed a n d are now available to researchers at the library-archives of the C h u r c h of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. Included in the collection are reminiscences a n d diaries, correspondence, notes, and other items on the famous pioneer architect a n d brother-in-law of Brigham Young. A second major collection readied for research use consists of the minutes of Zion's Cooperative Mercantile Institution from its founding in 1868 to 1973. More than o n e h u n d r e d twenty-seven hours of oral interviews with thirty-seven different General Authorities of the LDS church, together with the b o u n d transcripts, have been processed. O t h e r new accessions include: Trapped by the Mormons (1922), an anti-Mormon silent movie m a d e in Great Britain, a n d a collection of films p r o d u c e d by pioneer Salt Lake City film makers Shirley a n d Chester Clawson. T h e Clawson footage includes parades, celebrations, Utah scenes, and LDS General Authorities. T h e Society of American Archivists has accepted the invitation of the Conference of I n t e r m o u n t a i n Archivists to hold its 1977 a n n u a l meeting in Salt Lake City, according to Jay M. H a y m o n d , CIA governing council chairman. T h e Conference â&#x20AC;&#x201D; which now has a five-state membership including Utah, Nevada, Idaho, Arizona, and New Mexico â&#x20AC;&#x201D; will hold its fall workshop on manuscript processing on October 19, 1974, in Boise, Idaho, u n d e r the sponsorship of the I d a h o State Historical Society. Copies of records of the Protestant Episcopal C h u r c h in Utah have been acquired by the Utah State Historical Society, including the register kept by Bishop Daniel S. Tuttle (1866-86), proceedings of the standing committee, a n d miscellaneous items. Some four h u n d r e d historic photographs of the San J u a n area have been copied for the library by Michael H u r s t to complement the many hours of oral history gathered in that area. During the s u m m e r the Society has cooperated with other agencies in oral history projects on the Pony Express, labor in Utah, the quality of rural life, a n d local history in T r e m o n t o n a n d Farmington. Recent accessions at Western Americana, Marriott Library, University of Utah, include: copies of Episcopal C h u r c h records, p h o t o g r a p h s of buildings designed by Georgius Y. Cannon, miscellaneous materials on m e r c h a n t a n d journalist J o s e p h E. J o h n s o n (1817-82), a brief sketch of the life of Chief Justice J o h n Fitch Kinney, letters of Dale L. Morgan, an autobiography of George J. Ramsey, diaries of William H. Smart, papers of various members of the A b r a h a m O. Smoot family, correspondence a n d o t h e r papers pertaining to Richard W. Young, and miscellaneous items on local theater and theater personalities.

UTAH STATE HISTORICAL SOCIETY D i v i s i o n of D e p a r t m e n t of D e v e l o p m e n t S e r v i c e s BOARD O F STATE MILTON C

HISTORY

A B R A M S , Smithfield,

1977

President D E L L O G. D A Y T O N , O g d e n , 1975

Vice President M E L V I N T . S M I T H , Salt Lake City Secretary MRS.

J U A N I T A B R O O K S , St. George, 1977

M R S . A. C J E N S E N , Sandy, 1975 T H E R O N L U K E , Provo, 1975

CLYDE L. M I L L E R , Secretary of State

Ex officio M R S . H E L E N Z. PAPANIKOLAS, Salt Lake City, 1977 H O W A R D C. P R I C E , Jr., Price, 1975 MRS.

E L I Z A B E T H S K A N C H Y , Midvale, 1977

R I C H A R D O . U L I B A R R I , Roy, 1977

M R S . NAOMI WOOLLEY, Salt Lake City, 1975 ADMINISTRATION MELVIN T. SMITH,

Director

STANFORD J. L A Y T O N , Publications JAY M . H A Y M O N D ,

Coordinator

Librarian

DAVID B. M A D S E N , Antiquities

Director

T h e U t a h State Historical Society was organized in 1897 by public-spirited U t a h n s to collect, preserve, a n d publish U t a h and related history. Today, under state sponsorship, the Society fulfills its obligations by publishing the Utah Historical Quarterly and other historical materials; locating, documenting, and preserving historic a n d prehistoric buildings and sites; a n d maintaining a specialized research library. Donations and gifts to the Society's programs or its library are encouraged, for only through such means can it live u p to its responsibility of preserving the record of Utah's past. MEMBERSHIP Membership in the U t a h State Historical Society is open to all individuals and institutions interested in U t a h history. Membership applications a n d change of address notices should be sent to the membership secretary. Annual dues a r e : Institutions, $7.00; individuals, $5.00; students, $3.00. Life memberships, $100.00. Tax-deductible donations for special projects of the Society may be made on the following membership basis: sustaining, $250.00; patron, $500.00; benefactor, $1,000.00. Your interest a n d support are most welcome.

"MORMON"

WOMEN'S PROTEST. AN APPEAL FREEDOM, JUSTICE AND EQUAL RIGHTS. The Ladies of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints protest against the. tyranny and indecency of Federal Officials in Utah, and nst their awn disfranchisement xmthout %

Clitics *********

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M/<M4r&M sf<?~'~ mO^/-£y ^ ^ mCc^oiesisZy f

UTAH HISTORICAL QUARTERLY EDITORIAL STAFF MELVIN T. SMITH,

Editor

STANFORD J. LAYTON, Managing MIRIAM B. M U R P H Y , Assistant

Editor Editor

ADVISORY BOARD O F EDITORS T H O M A S G, ALEXANDER, Provo,

MRS.

I N E Z S. C O O P E R , Cedar

1974

City,

S. GEORGE E L L S W O R T H , Logan, G L E N M. L E O N A R D , Bountiful,

1975

1975 1976

DAVID E. M I L L E R , Salt Lake City,

1976

L A M A R P E T E R S E N , Salt Lake City, 1974 R I C H A R D W. SADLER, Ogden,

1976

HAROLD SCHINDLER, Salt Lake City, 1975 J E R O M E S T O F F E L , Logan,

1974

Utah Historical Quarterly was established in 1928 to publish articles, documents, and reviews contributing to knowledge of U t a h ' s history. T h e Quarterly is published by the U t a h State Historical Society, 603 East South Temple, Salt Lake City, U t a h 84102. Phone (801) 328-5755. Members of the Society receive the Quarterly a n d the bimonthly Newsletter upon payment of the annual dues; for details see inside back cover. Single copies, $2.00. Materials for publication should be submitted in duplicate accompanied by return postage a n d should be typed double-spaced with footnotes at the end. Additional information on requirements is available from the managing editor. T h e Society assumes no responsibility for statements of fact or opinion by contributors. T h e Quarterly Social Science

is indexed in Book Review Index Periodicals and on Biblio Cards.

Second class postage is paid at Salt Lake City, U t a h . ISSN 0042-143X

HISTORICAL QUARTERIY FALL 1974/VOLUME 42/NUMBER 4

Contents IN T H I S ISSUE

315

POLITICAL FEUD IN SALT LAKE CITY: J. BRACKEN LEE AND T H E FIRING OF W. CLEON SKOUSEN

LYTHGOE

316

JEAN BICKMORE WHITE

344

DENNIS

WOMAN'S PLACE IS IN T H E C O N S T I T U T I O N : T H E STRUGGLE FOR EQUAL RIGHTS IN UTAH IN

1895

SENATORS KING AND THOMAS AND T H E COMING WAR W I T H JAPAN A VIRGINIAN IN UTAH CHOOSES T H E UNION: COL. PHILIP ST. GEORGE COOKE IN 1861

JUSTIN

RICHARD

LIBBY

370

ETULAIN

381

BOOK REVIEWS

386

BOOK NOTICES

395

RECENT ARTICLES

397

HISTORICAL NOTES

399

INDEX

401

T H E COVER Politics in Utah abounds with controversial issues that have often inflamed local citizens, produced unusual alliances, and focused national attention on the state's leadership and its colorful history. Woman suffrage, feuding conservatives, wars and rumors of wars shaped the past and add dimension to the present. In this issue, p. 315, is a photograph of Utah's dynamic, controversial J. Bracken Lee.

Utah's Black Hawk War: Lore and Reminiscences of Participants GREGORY C.

CULMSEE, CARLTON,

MEUNCH, DAVID, and

THOMPSON

386

GEORGE J. GUMERMAN

387

LEROY R. HAFEN

388

PIKE,

DONALD G., Anasazi: Ancient People of the Rock

The Last American: The Indian

BRANDON, WILLIAM,

in American Culture LANHAM, U R L ,

The Bone Hunters . MICHAEL E.

TAYLOR

389

Books reviewed BLOOM, J O H N PORTER, ED.,

The American Territorial System W. D. AESCHBACHER

390

RICHARDSON, ELMO, Dams, Parks,

and Politics: Resource Development and Preservation . . . JAY M. HAYMOND

391

LOVE, FRANK, Mining Camps and

Ghost Towns: A History of Mining in Arizona and California along the Lower Colorado

HENRY P. WALKER

392

LESTER

393

PETERSON

394

BRETTELL, RICHARD R., Historic

Denver: The Architects and the Architecture

MARGARET

S., George W. P. Hunt unci His Arizona CHARLES S.

GOFF, J O H N

In this issue Much has been written of territorial politics in Utah, and understandably so. It was an exciting, free-wheeling brand of politics where the leading issues were generally well defined, the partisans easily identified, and the debates open and often spectacular. With the advent of the 1890s, however, certain changes in this pattern were suddenly visible as Utahns became increasingly secular and committed to working within the nationally established two-party system. This transition to a new posture of restraint appears to have been made with remarkable fluidity. But legacies are not easily overturned, and the question of change versus continuity in the Utah political tradition remains an intriguing one. Two of the articles featured in this issue touch directly on that question. T h e analysis of the 1895 debate on woman suffrage clearly suggests a new orientation struggling to emerge from an old order. T h e piece on the Lee-Skousen feud of our modern era, on the other hand, recalls to mind the stridency, church involvement, and extended public dialogue of territorial days. Periodically, political questions in Utah have been colored, if not preempted, by crises elsewhere. As with Americans everywhere, Utahns of a generation ago were forced to consider events halfway a r o u n d the world and take a stand on the matter of Japanese militarism. A study of the attitudes of Senators King and T h o m a s is offered here as an important first step in bringing perspective and enlightenment to this neglected subject. T h e final selection, a letter from Philip St. George Cooke, reveals that debate on secession and Civil War reached into the remote corners of Utah. T o the thoughtful reader it is also a testimony to the pervasiveness of politics and a sobering reminder of the dreadful consequences which attend a breakdown in the political process.

Mayor Leefaces press and publicfollowing his abrupt firing of Chief Skousen. Salt Lake T r i b u n e photograph.

Political Feud in Salt Lake City: J. Bracken Lee and the Firing of W. Cleon Skousen BY DENNIS L. LYTHGOE

Political Feud in Salt Lake

317

MARCH 21,1960, Mayor J. Bracken Lee fired Salt Lake City Police Chief W. Cleon Skousen. Although Lee actually had only one vote among five, he received the reluctant support of two other members of the city commission, making the vote 3-2 in favor of dismissal. 1 T h e community reeled u n d e r the impact of this thunderbolt. Not since Lee refused to pay his federal income tax in 1955 had he received so much notoriety. As Time magazine observed, he became "beyond doubt the most u n p o p u l a r man in town," illustrated by the burning cross placed on his lawn with the inscription, "Lee, you are a fool." 2 Newspaper vehemence in some ways rivaled that of the nineteenth century and was certainly extraordinary for mid-twentieth century journalism. T h e credibility of public officials was placed in serious question, as the people tried to discern whether the mayor or the chief spoke the truth. Letters and phone calls of protest to the media reached record proportions. Sincere concern was voiced by the public and the media that police protection would suffer. Members of the Mormon church, many of whom had enthusiastically supported non-Mormon Lee's conservative brand of politics, found themselves torn between him and one of their own; Skousen was a Mormon and a conservative. Moreover, there was clear evidence that some General Authorities of the church had taken sides in the dispute. T h e always thin line between church and state in Utah was evident even in Salt Lake City politics, although not necessarily in the way expected. For it was Lee, rather than Skousen, who seemed to emerge with the church's blessing. On a smaller stage, the episode was reminiscent of President T r u m a n ' s dismissal of General MacArthur during the Korean War. In retrospect, historians have been much kinder to T r u m a n than MacArthur, although T r u m a n initially suffered heavy criticism. Lee demonstrated even greater political viability than T r u m a n , for he was reelected to two additional four-year terms as mayor, culminating twelve years of service. In fact, when asked in a newspaper interview in 1971 to name the most interesting times of his political career, he resolutely topped the list with the "firing of Cleon Skousen." 3 \JN

Dr. Lythgoe is associate professor of history at Massachusetts State College, Bridgewater. l

Deseret News, March 22, 1960. "Nettled Nickel Nipper," Time (April 4, 1960), 14. 3 Deseret News, December 22, 1971. 2

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S k o u s e n was a p pointed police chief in 1956 by Mayor Adiel F. Stewart, who sought an administrator outside the department, in a c c o r d a n c e with suggestions of a survey report made the p r e v i o u s year. T h e report by a New York Chief Skousen confers with new assistant chiefs: Golden Haight, N. Golden J ens en, and L. R. firm had discovered Greeson. Scut Lake City Police Department "low morale, ineffiphotograph. ciency, lack of manpower, inadequate technical equipment and loss of public confidence" in the Salt Lake City Police Department. Stewart went to Washington to ask the advice of FBI Director J. Edgar Hoover. Hoover recommended Skousen because of his sixteen years as an FBI agent with extensive experience training police officers. 4 Skousen was fascinated by the challenge, even though he did not wish to leave Brigham Young University where he served as director of public services and assistant professor of speech. When Stewart went so far as to persuade Mormon church president David O. McKay to approve the appointment by granting a leave of absence from BYU, Skousen accepted. 5 H e was paid a higher salary than the previous chief a n d allowed to bring in his own assistant chieis. 6 H e appointed Golden J e n s e n , undersheriff of Riverside, C a l i f o r n i a ; L.R. G r e e s o n , f o r m e r chief of S a n t a Barbara, California, and Reno, Nevada; and Golden Haight, who H957 Annual Report of Salt Lake City Police Department, 9; see also Deseret News, J u n e 9, 1956. In a private interview with the author, August 8, 1972, Salt Lake City, Utah, Skousen suggested that President McKay's attitude was an important factor in his acceptance of the position. He also said that he had no aspirations to be a chief and could have returned to the FBI anytime he wished. Stewart had assured him that there would be no political interference, and he kept that agreement. Skousen claims that prior to the firing in Salt Lake he was offered the chiefs position in Seattle and was among the top three finalists in the search for a chief in Chicago, even though he had not sought either job. T h e Chicago Daily News called to tell him. However, he said he was not interested in being chief anywhere but Salt Lake, because he believed it should be better than elsewhere. He was referring to its religious history and character. "Skousen was paid $10,000 annually, instead of the $7,500 paid Odes Record. See Deseret News, March 22, 1960. T h e salary issue may have had more than a passing connection with the Lee-Skousen feud, since Lee made only $9,000 annually. See Report of Salt Lake City Corporation, Budget for the Year 1960, p. 17, Lee Papers, Western Americana, Marriott Library, University of Utah, Salt Lake City. 5

Political Feud in Salt Lake

319

had headed the Youth Bureau in the Salt Lake City Police Department. 7 By the end of 1957, Skousen claimed to have completely modernized the department in training, policies, equipment and procedures, 8 and Time suggested that he ran a "model police force for 3^2 years." 9 It was clear that Mayor Stewart had held him in high esteem. He wrote "a little love letter" to Skousen in 1959 to tell him "how much DeEtte and I love you and how we appreciate all the wonderful things you have done and are doing." In a vocabulary more common to a church leader than a mayor, Stewart wished him "blessings of health, happiness and peace" in return for "unselfish service," and closed with "may the Lord bless and sustain you always."10 Yet Skousen had not proved to be beyond controversy. In 1958 the Salt Lake Tribune, in a story by Harold Schindler, removed a veil of secrecy surrounding a year-long investigation by city and county officials into a narcotics and counterfeit ring working in the Utah State Prison. The investigation was unique, for it had been kept secret from the Board of Corrections; but Skousen, Salt Lake County Attorney Frank E. Moss, Gov. George D. Clyde, and prison officials were all aware of it. When asked for a report, Skousen refused comment because "the Tribune is going to print a story they have been asked not to print." Skousen and prison officials argued that secrecy was necessary in order for them to successfully complete the investigation. But the Tribune quite correctly believed that there was a limit to how long a secret investigation could be justified and suggested that publication of the story might have helped stop the activity.11 Skousen asserted that he was only hours away from making an arrest and that the publication of the story had allowed eighteen 7 1957 Police Report. Hbid. Among the 87 changes listed on pp. 16-17 were the following: An all-year motorcycle squad; radar speed control squads; one-man patrol cars adopted to double coverage of city; polygraph adopted departmentwide; youth bureau restructured; curfew law actively enforced; juvenile counseling service; possession of beer by minors illegal; self-policing program; fringe gambling eliminated; liquor control tightened; prisoner-release program adopted; rehabilitation program for alcoholics adopted; year-round police training program; monthly firearms training programs; communications services improved; merit rating system; policies on press relations worked out with both newspapers; department rearmed with more effective equipment; active participation in the International Association of Chiefs of Police; etc. 9 "Nettled Nickel Nipper." 10 Stewart to Skousen, December 31, 1959, in Skousen's possession. ll SaltLake Tribune, October 17, 1958.

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Utah Historical Quarterly

felons to get away with a significant amount of narcotics. Accordingly, Skousen ruled that the Tribune would no longer have access to police records. In response the Tribune castigated Skousen in one of the more pungent editorials in its history, suggesting that he was lax in allowing a police report on the problem to be indiscriminately circulated. T h e Tribune accused Skousen of "bungling" and called him a "great man for bear stories." He has conducted the office of police chief in a pettifogging manner and has repeatedly issued marvelous, fictional accounts of impending invasions by international crime rings, gambling syndicates, nefarious gangsters and the like. 12

In a counterattack, the Deseret News implied that the Tribune and other "anti-Skousen" forces preferred a more loosely run city. Heaping lavish praise on Skousen, the News insisted that he had produced tighter law enforcement and had virtually eliminated prostitution, narcotics traffic, and "backroom crap games." Admitting that Skousen had made mistakes (he had "not yet achieved perfection in this world"), the editors nevertheless concluded that he had prevented an "open city." T h e measure of a public official is his over-all record of accomplishment. We urge every citizen to compare the state of efficiency, training, coordination, dedication and honesty of the police department today with the chaotic condition that existed when Mr. Skousen took over the department. 1 3

In 1959, when Lee was elected mayor of Salt Lake City, few observers suspected any conflict between him and the chief. Both were political conservatives, and Lee had expressed admiration for Skousen's controversial treatise, The Naked Communist. Skousen had every reason to believe that they had enough in common to work very successfully together. Yet Skousen recalls that mayoralty candidate Bruce Jenkins gave unqualified support to the police dep a r t m e n t d u r i n g t h e c a m p a i g n , while Lee, to Skousen's "amazement," refrained from doing so. Rumors then became prominent that Lee intended to "dismantle" the department. Several tavern owners called Skousen personally to tell him that Lee had 12

Ibid., October 19, 1958. Deseret News, October 21, 1958.

Political Feud in Salt Lake

321

threatened to fire him as his first official act. But Gus Backman, executive secretary of the Chamber of Commerce, called Skousen and told him that if he did not oppose Lee, Lee in turn would support him. 1 4 However, by February 1960, a major financial conflict had developed. Mayor Lee began his term with an eye to economizing, not a surprising fact in light of his fiscal policies as governor. Since he was assigned the portfolio of Public Safety in Salt Lake's commission form of government, he focused on possible cuts in the police department. Skousen responded by recommending areas in which cuts could be sustained. For instance, he suggested eliminating the serving of warrants for the police court, thus releasing two officers for police work at a saving of $10,560. Four officers could be released from the job of desk sergeant and replaced by clerks; trained clerks in traffic, radio patrol, and antivice divisions could take over jobs held by officers; the job of civil defense director could be eliminated, saving a man's salary; policemen could buy gasoline at public service stations instead of lining up for service at a single department p u m p , saving $4,500. Over all, the estimated annual savings could have reached $75,360. 1 5 A debate materialized as to whether cuts in the department would affect protection to the community. The Deseret News argued that such cuts would be acceptable as long as other economies did not decrease the level of police services. T h e News took issue with Lee's statement that Salt Lake had 1.4 police officers for each 1,000 population, a figure above the recommended standard of 1 officer per 1,000 for cities its size. Such figures supported his belief that the size of the force could be reduced without clanger. T h e News claimed that he was "misinformed," and that Salt Lake was considerably below the national average of 1.8 officers per 1,000 and the recommended standard of 2 per 1,000.16 Noting that Salt Lake was not "over-protected," the News cited the rates of murder, rape, assault, and robbery as falling well below the national average, while crimes 14 Skousen Interview. Since Backman and Lee had been both politically and personally close during Lee's governorship, it was logical for Backman to concern himself with this election. 15 Deseret News, February 4, 1960. 16 lbid., March 1, 1960. See also 7957 Police Report. Skousen argued this point in the interview; he said that Salt Lake City had 1.2 officers per 1,000, while the national average was 1.78 officers per 1,000. He also noted that more than 1,000 cities with populations of 10,000 or more were spending $12.13 per capita for police protection, while Salt Lake with a 200,000 population was spending only $7.17 per capita.

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Utah Historical Quarterly

against property such as grand larceny and burglary were "considerably worse than the national average." 17 The intensity of the problems was borne out by an interdepartment memo later in the month, indicating a cut in the budget from $2,147,644.76 to$l,831,977.88. Of this total, $1,511,111.68 was for salaries, and $320,866.20 was for operations. According to the memo, these amounts were not sufficient to cover actual commitments beginning in 1960. For instance, salary commitments alone were $1,602,513.00. On February 10, a further cut in salaries of $40,000.00 was announced. In order to absorb it by curtailment of personnel, it would be necessary to eliminate 40 patrolmen sixth grade or 31 patrolmen first grade, 1 8 which would unquestionably cut the level of police service. Claiming he did not wish to impair the efficiency of the department, Lee nevertheless was determined that the cuts be made. After a two-hour session with Skousen, he asserted that the city must be operated in the black. 19 Although Skousen argued that 17.5 percent had been allotted to the police department in past city budgets, compared with the 12.5 percent presently suggested, Lee ended their meeting with this comment: "I am sure that you will continue to do the fine job you are presently doing, despite the decrease in funds for this year." 20 17

Ibid. Lee later charged that Skousen had been deliberately misleading about crime statistics in order to get more money from the city commission. Allegedly, Skousen said that Salt Lake showed a sharp increase in major crime during 1958, notably in robbery, grand larceny, and petty theft. But six months later when he was more interested in his reputation, he noted that willful homicide was down 75 percent, robbery down 37 percent, burglary down 19.3 percent, and auto theft down 25.1 percent; rape and larceny were still up, but they were down from earlier reports. Skousen no longer needed money, Lee suggested, but "publicity to tell the people all over the world what a wonderful chief of police he was." Transcript of TV address by J. Bracken Lee, April 5, 1960, p. 3, in Skousen's possession. Actually, the 1959 offense report gives validity to Skousen's figures. Willful homicide was breaking even, rape was still up (29 percent), robbery was down even more (16 percent), burglary was up by 18 percent, while larceny and auto theft were down by 12 percent and 11 percent respectively. 1959 Offense Progress Report, Salt Lake City Police Department. " M e m o r a n d u m from E. H. Morgan, assistant chief, to Skousen, February 16, 1960, Special Budget Report, in Skousen's possession. 19 Deseret News, March 1, 1960. 20 Salt Lake Tribune, March 1, 1960. Later, Lee bitterly attacked those figures, accusing Skousen of dishonesty. He claimed that the city auditor said the police budget was actually 21 percent in 1959, and 19 percent in 1960. (Lee TV address, pp. 2, 3.) Actually, the records corroborate the Skousen figures: $14,832,743.00 total budget for 1960, with $1,831,977.00 for the police department, which is slightly short of 12 x/% percent. (Budget for Salt Lake City Corporation, 1960, pp. 6, 21. Taken from Lee Papers, Western Americana, University of Utah.) A police department memorandum listed the same figure for the total budget, but a slightly higher police department figure of $1,915,937.00, still close to 12/2 percent. Memorandum from Morgan to Skousen, February 27, 1960, Skousen file.

Political Feud in Salt Lake

323

But Skousen was nettled, as evidenced by a letter he wrote to Lee a few days later. He said he had applied the mandatory cut of $40,000 to the budget but called it an "inequitable distribution of funds" which would "definitely impair the quantity of Police service." 21 A police department m e m o r a n d u m reflected the sincere concern of Skousen and his subordinates over the cuts. It recommended savings in minor areas, such as the car-lease rental account and gasoline accounts, but it still forecast a major d r o p in personnel as inevitable to conform to the budget. T h e memo suggested that 14 first grade men be dropped by April 1 or 20 first grade men by July 1, beginning with those closest to retirement age. 22 Only three days prior to the firing, Lee and Skousen were still debating the budget implications. Skousen claimed the department was already 25 officers short of the 294 policemen authorized by the city commission in 1958. Yet, he said, it would be necessary to fire more than 30 patrolmen of sixth grade rank, if done by April 1, and 40 sixth grade if done by July l. 2 3 By forecasting the firing of newer men instead of the retiring of older men, he could use a higher figure. Obviously, Skousen wanted the public to know and understand the implications of the mayor's budget, and his feelings were well publicized. When confronted with Skousen's persistent belief that manpower would be lost, Lee suggested the alternative of dropping the three assistant chiefs. Skousen implied that Lee spoke out of ignorance and reminded him of his own comment that he was "completely unfamiliar with police work." 24 Skousen hinted that one assistant chief might be eliminated, but certainly not three. Yet Lee claimed

Lee believes that Skousen told three lies before the commission: 1) T h e department was undermanned and underpaid. He gave a figure which Lee contradicted because it did not agree with the National Municipal Association book. Although Skousen said his came from the FBI, he never produced the evidence. 2) Skousen said that Salt Lake's crime rate was much greater than the average city of its size. Lee believes that Skousen carefully chose cities for comparative purposes which made Salt Lake appear worse than it was in reality. 3) Skousen misrepresented the number of officers needed or assigned for traffic purposes. Allegedly, there were 14 of 260 men on traffic. "I know you have more than that," said Lee. Lee believes there was only a traffic problem at certain times in a day, and that the numbers of officers should be accordingly adjusted. Interview with J. Bracken Lee, July 31, 1972, Salt Lake City, Utah. 21 Skousen to Lee, March 9, 1960, Skousen file. " M e m o r a n d u m from Morgan to Skousen, March 14, 1960, Skousen file. T h e Salt Lake Tribune, March 19, 1960, said Morgan reported 32 sixth grade men would have to go, or 25 first grade, by April 1. 23 SaU Lake Tribune, March 19, 1960. 24 lbid.

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that Skousen had told him that the three assistant chiefs could go without impairment of service. Skousen meanwhile complained that Lee had never seriously entertained the suggestions that Skousen himself had earlier made to effect economy. 25 Finally, and seemingly without warning, Lee fired Skousen by securing the necessary support from the city commission. Finance Commissioner T h e o d o r e I. Guerts and Water Commissioner J. K. Piercey voted for the mayor's suggestion, based on their belief that he should have the right to his own department heads, although Guerts thought Skousen had done a good job. When Streets Commissioner Joe L. Christensen complained that he knew too little and requested further study of the matter, Lee flatly refused. As a result, both Christensen and Parks Commissioner L. C. Romney voted no. 2 6 Since Lee had won his case by 3-2, the commission then voted unanimously to adopt a new ordinance eliminating the positions of the three assistant chiefs, 27 at a savings of $7,200 each per year, and abolishing the uniform allowance for all personnel not required to maintain uniforms. Capt. L. C. Crowther, former police chief, was named acting chief pending the appointment of a successor. 28 Lee gave no specific reason for the dismissal, but said, "I've given this a lot of thought and I'm doing it in the best interest of Salt Lake City. . . . He apparently didn't agree with me and I just found it impossible to work with him. I have no desire to hurt the man in any way and I don't intend to go into any details about it." 29 According to Skousen, the mayor's budget director, Charles Foote, once suggested that Skousen resign because of his disagree25

Ibid. Actually, Lee decided less than five months later that two assistant chiefs were, in fact, necessary. See Deseret News, August 11, 1960. "Deseret News, March 22, 1960. 27 The three assistant chiefs dropped were: Owen Poulsen, E.H.Morgan, and L. R. Greeson. Deseret News, March 22, 1960. Poulson, assistant chief in charge of the Youth Bureau and Vice Squad, returned to the rank of captain. Morgan, assistant chief in charge of Communications and Records, returned to rank of captain and supervisor of Communications. Greeson went into a private polygraph business but is presently chief security officer for Skaggs Drug Centers in Reno, Nevada. Deseret News, March 23, 1960; Greeson's position was reported by Lt. N. K.Johnson, Planning and Research, SLC Police Department, in a letter to the author, April 12, 1973. 28 Skousen recalls that Lee put in as chief his "most incompetent captain." He said that Crowther was an outstanding patrolman but a terrible administrator. Crowther had a dispute with LDS President David O. McKay in 1947 when McKay was chairman of the Centennial Commission. McKay asked Crowther to clean up prostitution, but Crowther claimed there was none in the city. T h e disagreement caused Crowther to lose his j o b and he had been disgruntled ever since. He had often consulted with Lee behind Skousen's back. Skousen Interview. 29 Deseret News, March 22, 1960.

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ments with Lee. Skousen told him that u n d e r no circumstances would he resign, because he could not abandon the d e p a r t m e n t in time of crisis. T h e Mayor, I understand today, suggested that I quoted him as saying that I had been asked to resign by him, and if I had said that, that was a lie. Well, let's be very clear on this. T h e Mayor didn't ever extend me that courtesy of resigning. He just u p and fired me. 3 0

Lee remembers a very different story. He recounts that after several disagreements, he called in Skousen and told him that they would "never get along. You're strong willed and so am I." Lee suggested that Skousen write a letter of resignation so they would not have to make a "big fuss" about their differences. Lee would promise to give him a good "boost" and tell everyone "what a good man I think you are." According to Lee, Skousen said he would not resign, and " 'what's more, you can't fire me.' And I didn't think I could." 3 1 When Lee decided to fire him, he refrained from discussing it with anyone â&#x20AC;&#x201D; even his wife. "I thought, 'if I tell anybody it'll get out and this guy's got enough power â&#x20AC;&#x201D; the only chance I've got is to keep it quiet.' " He made u p his mind to make the motion in a commission meeting without prior warning, and "when I did, all hell broke loose." T h e next day the chambers and hallways filled with friends of Skousen, "the meanest, screaming bunch of people I've ever heard in my life." They were allegedly "religious people, pretending to like Skousen because he was religious," but they used foul language and called Lee and his wife on the phone and swore at them. Later they b u r n e d a cross in front of his home and ruined the lawn with salt. T h e firecrackers were so loud that his wife was ready to move. 3 2 On the day of the dismissal, Skousen was unavailable to anyone. His office claimed that he had left no word as to where he could be reached. When reporters sensed the import of the commission meeting, they tried to find him but without success. It was Harold Schindler of the Tribune who finally caught u p with him shortly

Ibid., March 23, 1960. In a letter to the author, April 14, 1973, Skousen reaffirmed his earlier position: "Not at any time did Mr. Lee extend to me the courtesy of resigning. At no time did he discuss avoiding a 'big fuss' and suggest that he would give me a 'boost' and tell everyone 'what a good man' I had been." 32 Lee Interview. 31

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The police were headquartered in the Public Safety Building at First South and State streets during the Lee-Skousen years. This photograph from the Utah State Historical Society's Morgan Collection also shows the old City Hall to the left that has been moved to Capitol Hill.

after five, walking south on State Street toward the police station. Schindler shouted his regrets about the day's activities, but Skousen only laughed and said, "What's up?" Schindler informed him that he had been fired. According to Schindler, Skousen was still "smiling, but uncertainly, as if he had misunderstood." "Really?" "You mean you haven't heard?" "I haven't heard anything; I've been at the Hotel all day. Tell me what's happened." Schindler then provided the details. Later, in describing Skousen's obvious surprise at the news, he commented: "Skousen's reluctance to discuss the Hotel Utah meeting or to identify its participants has always piqued my curiosity, but, then, that may be making a mountain out of a molehill." At any rate, Schindler is convinced that Skousen would have been able to prevent the firing that day â&#x20AC;&#x201D; "if he had known what was happening." 3 3 Skousen corroborated the important points of Schindler's version of their meeting on the street and the conversation that ensued. 33

Letter to the author from Harold Schindler, December 1, 1973.

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Their only significant point of difference concerns the Hotel Utah. Skousen remembers that he had been addressing a meeting of the Rotary Club that afternoon ("or was it the Kiwanis?") and had been detained for about an h o u r afterward by several businessmen. They had asked many questions about the d e p a r t m e n t and Mayor Lee's objections to Skousen's policies. Even though many of them were close friends of Lee, they were puzzled by his statements. Skousen recalls that he gave them frank answers, concluding that Lee's attitude toward law enforcement was a major difference. Nevertheless, Skousen told them that he thought they could "work it out." After leaving that meeting, Skousen recalls the encounter with Schindler. In response to the assertion that he could have prevented the firing, Skousen remains a d a m a n t : No one ever suggested to me that they had been trying to find me or have me appear before the Commission. Had they done so, I would have declined to attend. . . . From the beginning I recognized the right of the Commission to make a change in the Police administration and therefore I made no attempt to appeal or reverse their decision. 34

NEWSPAPER REACTION

Especially in light of their 1958 battle, editorial reaction from the city's two newspapers was ambivalent. In contrast to its earlier criticism of Skousen, the Tribune called the act a "distinct shock" and referred to massive public reaction in the form of telephone calls to the Tribune and a noisy demonstration by approximately seventyfive persons at the city commission meeting as indicative of a need for clarification. T h e Tribune astutely observed that the debate over economies in the d e p a r t m e n t played only a small part in the final action. T h e editors suggested that seeds for the firing were planted during the mayoralty campaign when Jenkins and Lee had disagreed over the status of the police department. Finally, the Tribune credited Skousen, quite surprisingly, with "an outstanding j o b of reorganizing and strengthening the force" and said he was leaving a department "more efficient and with a far more enviable record" than when he assumed office. T h e editors implored the mayor to act quickly in appointing a p e r m a n e n t chief to continue strong law enforcement, avoiding "any trend toward 'opening u p ' the town." 34

Skousen Interview a n d letter to the author from Skousen, March 19, 1974.

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As to Chief Skousen, "the community owes him a vote of thanks for his past service and his responsiveness to duty." 3 5 On the other hand, the Deseret News, which had always been in Skousen's corner, soft-pedaled the affair, first giving warm praise to Lee's decision to step down from Public Safety and assume Finance, while J. K. Piercey took over Public Safety. T h e News saw the possibility that Piercey might call Skousen back, since "public reaction certainly confirms our convictions that Chief Skousen has done a tremendous job of building the Police department in this city." In an overture to Lee, the editors claimed he was right in his decision to fire Skousen; after all, Lee was in charge of Public Safety. Since the two men had clashed so often, harmony was allegedly impossible. It was significant, according to the News, that public reaction had been "unprecedented in memory," ample proof that the city was definitely not apathetic. 3 6 With some difficulty, the News had straddled the fence. This was hardly the spirited defense that they had launched so willingly for Skousen in 1958, but it was not because of a change of heart. In fact, the editors felt so strongly about the incident that they had prepared an unprecedented, full-page editorial to be r u n in the News on March 23. It did not appear. With final preparations underway for its inclusion in the evening edition, the editorial was ordered killed by Henry D. Moyle, First Counselor in the First Presidency of the church, among whose official functions was the supervision of the Deseret News.37 A scathing denunciation of Lee's "high-handed autocracy," it heaped lavish praise on Skousen and described the flood of calls from angry Utahns which suggested that the firing was "an amazing, unprecedented thing." Here is a man who has finer personal and professional qualifications than any man who has served as police chief of this city within the memory of most citizens; a man of such superb reputation that he was seriously considered to reform and give new moral strength to the police department of the nation's second largest city; a man who raised Salt Lake City's own police department from a morass of unbelievably low morale and efficiency to one of national reputation in which every law-abiding citizen now takes pride; a man never touched by the

Salt Lake Tribune, March 23, 1960. Deseret News, March 23, 1960. 37 A claim fully supported by both Skousen and Lee in personal interviews. 36

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slightest breath of scandal, whose integrity and purpose and ability have not been responsibly questioned. 3 8

Castigating Lee for reneging on an agreement to appear on television the previous evening to explain the firing, the News demanded an explanation. T h e editors detailed Skousen's accomplishments in increasing morale and efficiency left over from a "parade of police chiefs in and out of the job"; eliminating the internecine warfare within the department so effectively that one officer could report, "he had made us no longer ashamed to say we're police officers"; instituting a self-policing program among taverns, hotels, pharmacies, and doctors, bringing the cleanest, highest standards in years; and cleaning up "an abominable city jail situation." Obviously, the editors concluded, the discharge was not justified by Skousen's performance in office. 39 T h e n they speculated on the reasons for the discharge: according to Skousen, Lee had instructed him to "go easy" on law enforcement, especially with respect to private clubs, bingo gambling, or striptease shows. Since Skousen refused, Lee allegedly became distraught. Perhaps the "organized drive" to institute sale of liquor by the drink in the city, opposed by Skousen, was another stumbling block. Only one criticism made by Lee, said the awaiting editorial, was worth considering: the charge that Skousen had used department pressure on tavern owners to form an association and to attempt to collect a $2,000 debt from tavern owner Byron Jensen, even though he did not owe it. However, no proof was forthcoming from the mayor or the tavern owners. Since it was not legally possible to recall or impeach the mayor, the editors recommended massive citizen pressure in the form of petitions asking for Skousen's reinstatement. In the wake of such pressure, the city commission would have the obligation to reverse its stand or reorganize itself so that another commissioner than the mayor would head Pubic Safety and gain the power to invite Skousen back. T h e n came the grandstand play: And so the vital question is: "What kind of city do the people of Salt Lake City want? Do they want an "open" city where vice is winked at, where huge profits can be made by those who control vice, and where those profits can in turn influence city government? 38

Unpublished editorial, Deseret News, March 23, 1960, taken from galley proof in the possession of Skousen. 3

*Ibid.

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Utah Historical Quarterly Or do they want impartial law enforcement, without fear or favor, in a city in which they can be proud and confident to rear their children? Every Citizen who considers this question should consider also the profound message of this truth: "All that is necessary for the triumph of evil is for good men to do nothing." 4 0

It can be easily understood why the editorial that replaced this one was ambivalent and ineffective. It was undoubtedly written hurriedly, without conviction, and reflected the pressures applied from above. T h e accounts of both Lee and Skousen after the fact are indeed revealing. According to Lee, when he received word that the Deseret News was about to r u n a full-page editorial against him, he telephoned President McKay who instructed him not to worry. 41 McKay said that the First Presidency of the church was supporting Lee in the firing of Skousen, and he advised Lee to call the other members of the First Presidency, Presidents Clark and Moyle, to personally thank them. 4 2 Lee recalls President J. Reuben Clark saying that it had always been his opinion that it was impossible for Skousen to handle the chief s job and be active in church assignments too. 4 3 H e suggested that Skousen had often taught inaccurate doctrine and on at least one occasion the First Presidency had forced him to repudiate some stands he had taken in an article. President Moyle said, "Bracken, the Church supports you!" Furthermore, Moyle allayed Lee's fears by announcing that as the controlling official of the Deseret News, he had personally ordered destroyed a full-page editorial against him which was already on the presses. He said Lee would never have to worrry about the News discussing the issue again. 40

ibid.

'Lee Interview. 42 Such a development may have surprised Lee. Ironically, Skousen had always believed that Lee resented his Mormon ties. On one occasion, Skousen reported Lee saying, "You know, Chief, I think you're the kind of fellow who doesn't think anybody is any good unless they belong to your church." "I told the mayor, I thought he was a bigger man than that." Skousen prided himself in his association with Catholics, Jews, Protestants, and in the fact that two of his assistant chiefs were not Mormon. Greeson, one of the assistant chiefs, made a good partner for him because he was a Mason and non-Mormon. Skousen said that Lee once called in Greeson and offered him the chief s job if he would help Lee "harpoon" Skousen. Allegedly, Greeson used some "colorful language" to tell the mayor what he thought of the offer. He also told him that Skousen was not run by church leaders. He said the department was operated by professional principles and Skousen was not dictated to by anyone. As a matter of fact, Greeson thought Skousen ought to talk to church leaders more than he did. Skousen Interview. 43 It seems probable that Lee misunderstood Clark on this issue. Church leaders have never believed that a man's profession should or could significantly interfere with church assignments. Rather, Mormons take special pride in their ability to excel in both church and professional assignments.

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Although Skousen's account differs in explaining motivation, it fully supports the basic details: that the News was in fact planning the editorial and that Moyle had killed it. 44 Skousen claimed that Lee had as many friends a m o n g church leaders as he did and that the president of the church had always been more comfortable with a non-Mormon in office who was friendly than a Mormon who might feel a need to be independent. T h e interesting thing, said Skousen, was that when he was fired he got no calls from church authorities saying, "Stick to your guns." 4 5 H e said he learned of the editorial when an employee of theNews mailed him a proof and a note saying, "Good editorial â&#x20AC;&#x201D; too bad Brother Moyle wouldn't allow it to be printed." 4 6 Skousen believes that Moyle killed it because he was worried that the Deseret News, the church organ, attacking Lee, a Mason, might revive the Mormon-Mason feud of earlier times. Skousen said Lee himself had conceived the idea of the Mormon-Mason feud and had sold Gus Backman on the idea, who in t u r n convinced Moyle. 47 Both Lee and Skousen believe that William Smart, present editor and general manager of the News, was responsible for writing the editorial. Because Smart was director of the editorial page, he presumably established the general tenor of the piece. 48

Skousen Interview. Skousen's most important support from the General Authorities of the Mormon church could reasonably be expected to come from Apostle Ezra Taft Benson, political conservative and ardent anti-Communist. In an interview with the author, August 15, 1972, Benson said he was out of the city when the firing took place and that he was "very u n h a p p y " about it. However, he never did discuss it with Lee and only in passing with Skousen. He asserted that all General Authorities had been very happy about the original appointment of Skousen as chief. He said he would recommend that I talk with President McKay if he were alive, because he took a genuine interest in city and state affairs. He said that the "Brethren" were generally pleased with Lee both as governor and mayor and had heard President McKay say so on more than one occasion, but President McKay also thought Lee could have been "tighter in eradicating sin" (specifically, prostitution) from the city. 46 Skousen told a slightly different version in a personal note to himself clipped to the editorial. He said that he personally d r o p p e d by the News office just after Moyle's o r d e r and found the office in a furor. Employees were threatening to resign in protest since they thought the order was a violation of professional ethics. As he was leaving, an employee h a n d e d him the proof of the editorial as a "souvenir." Skousen believed that McKay and Clark were both "indisposed" at the time, which is why Moyle exercised so much power. This is in complete opposition to Lee's account of his telephone conversations with McKay, Clark, and Moyle. 45

Skousen Interview. Interview with William Smart, August 3, 1972, Salt Lake City. Smart expressed his conviction that Skousen's firing was a "bad move," and Salt Lake had had nothing but problems in the police d e p a r t m e n t ever since. When asked about the editorial, Smart replied, "Well, we've never published nor ever will publish a full-page editorial â&#x20AC;&#x201D; that's ridiculous. And I'd really rather not comment on that. That's an internal matter that I'd rather not get into." 48

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In light of the editorial incident, one conflict between Lee and Skousen may have additional overtones. A few weeks before the firing, Lee accused Skousen of "covering up for a Mormon Apostle" in connection with a traffic accident. Skousen denied the charge and then wrote a letter to Lee describing an accident occurring on September 12, 1959, in which Henry D. Moyle was involved. While Moyle and a cab driver were exchanging license numbers, a woman parked by the curb asked Moyle to move his car so she could move hers. He did so and then drove into a parking lot to call the police. Later, Moyle called Skousen to complain about the way one of the officers handled the incident. Skousen characterized the officer as "disgruntled" and took over the investigation himself. When I completed the investigation, I determined that Mr. Moyle had violated Section 98 of the Salt Lake City Traffic Code in that he did not "remain at the scene of the accident until authorized to leave by a police officer."

Later, Moyle was issued a citation and paid $100 for the violation. 49 Neither Lee nor Skousen saw any connection between this incident and later events. 50 SOFT ON LAW ENFORCEMENT

In a series of television appearances after the firing, Skousen attempted to clear his reputation by outlining his differences with Lee. Although the record illustrates severe budgetary disagreements, Skousen claimed the real reason he was fired lay in his refusal to agree to softer law enforcement. For instance, Lee allegedly advised Skousen that the practice of regularly sending the vice squad into the private clubs of the city, such as the Alta, Ambassador, and Elks, was a "waste of manpower" which should be directed toward major crimes. According to Skousen, Lee ordered him several times to stay away from those clubs. On one occasion, he even talked to several officers, advising them that he did not want any further suppression of fringe gambling; Skousen argued that such a request was impossible because the law required that police 49 Skousen to Lee, March 8, 1960, in Skousen's possession. This letter is labeled "personal and confidential." 50 Lee says that he is certain that Moyle appreciated what Skousen was doing to protect his good name and that the incident was not the reason Moyle sided with Lee against Skousen in the editorial episode. Letter from Lee to the author, March 26, 1973.

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Newsman Doug Mitchell listens as Chief Skousen airs his views on law enforcement and his firing. Salt Lake Tribune photograph.

check for gambling and sale of liquor across the bar. Skousen voiced his intention to enforce the law and added that the mayor could not order him to disobey it. Angry words followed, with Lee suggesting that the police should stay away from striptease shows and admitting that he enjoyed them himself and had no desire to be arrested while attending one. 5 1 In his own television rebuttal, Lee alleged that Skousen was guilty of telling "half truths" about himself and the private clubs. When Skousen complained about a shortage of men to check burglaries and robberies at night, Lee advised him to stop "bothering" 51 Salt Lake Tribune, March 23, 1960; Skousen Interview. Lee admits talking candidly about the latter point to Skousen. He remembers a contractors association gathering at a private club, raided by fourteen men sent in by Skousen. T h e r e were some dancing girls who had very little on, and Lee asked Skousen later what he found when he got there. Skousen replied that they had arrived too early and "they hadn't taken off their clothes yet." Offered Lee, " 'Well, what if they had? T o me the most beautiful thing on earth is a naked woman.' He gave that to the press and they played it up. But I don't give a damn what the press says. I think the prettiest thing in the world is a nude woman â&#x20AC;&#x201D; a good looking nude woman." Lee Interview.

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the legitimate clubs and use the men on the street automobile p a t r o l s w h e r e they were n e e d e d most. A c c o r d i n g to the m a y o r , he gave no order, only some advice about allocation of manpower. 5 2 A major p o i n t of contention concerned a specific night at the Skousen and Lee differed over the policing of private social organizations such as the Ambassador Club. Ambassador Club Photograph by L. V. McNeely. when Mayor Lee was in attendance. Part of the activities centered on a pari-mutuel horse race game, a clear violation of the law. After the game was over, police officers arrived to investigate, and the club owners frankly admitted the violation. It was then discovered that besides Lee, Tony Hatsis, tavern owner and good friend of Lee, and Charles Foote, Lee's budget director, were in attendance. 5 3 A close associate of Lee's, J o h n Lewis, claimed that the mayor made the initial call to the police to report the game, but Skousen countered that the call was anonymous. Skousen was critical of Lee for failure to enforce the law as mayor of the city. 54 Lee believed that "fine leading citizens from all over Salt Lake City" were in attendance that night at an annual banquet for charity purposes, with proceeds going to the blind. He was proud to be there at what he called a "high class club," recognized as legitimate and honest. "The gambling â&#x20AC;&#x201D; if you want to call it that â&#x20AC;&#x201D; doesn't amount to anything. Mr. Skousen thinks it is a terrible thing." Lee argued that he had no advance knowledge of the gambling and did not buy any of the fifty-cent tickets. Worried that Skousen was "setting a trap" for him, Lee instructed Foote to call Skousen and ask who granted permission to r u n the game. 5 5 But since Foote allegedly could not get the chief's telephone number, he gave the informa52

Lee TV address, p. 1; Salt Lake Tribune, April 5, 1960. Deseret News, March 23, 1960. 54 Salt Lake Tribune, March 23, 1960. 55 Lee T V address, p. 2; and Tribune, April 5, 1960.

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tion to the dispatcher. Lee said he took this action to protect himself and the members of his party, because he knew it was against the law for the mayor or a police officer to be in the presence of illegality. But he called it a "silly thing to make a big fuss over." 56 Skousen claimed a discrepancy in Lee's story, because employees had instructions to get a message to the chief from any legitimate person. T h e reason Foote failed to get the n u m b e r is reflected in the official report, which says: "About 11:30 P.M., 3-19-60, an irate anonymous phone call was relayed by the dispatcher to Sergeant Haun." 5 7 Lee said the next day Skousen discovered that the city attorney, James L. Barker, had also been present at the club. According to Lee, Barker told Skousen that "there wasn't anything to it," but Skousen retorted, "Well, it is too bad for you, too." 5 8 That, said Lee, was the reason Skousen was fired â&#x20AC;&#x201D; because he was a man who used the police d e p a r t m e n t for "scaring his enemies and protecting his friends." 59 Although the incident seems an excellent example of Skousen's vindictive spirit, Skousen himself claimed, "the only problem is, I did not say it." 60 SELF-POLICING

According to Skousen, the supervision of taverns was chaotic when he became chief, and so he inaugurated a self-policing program. Tavern owners were requested to keep their own places clean in return for fewer police checks. Allegedly, the majority of them were cooperative, and they cut drunkenness in half u n d e r the program. T h e tavern owners hired a former police officer, Sgt. T. W. Southworth, to advise them about the technicalities of the liquor law. When Southworth saw violations he reported it to the department which in turn told the association so they could "clean themselves up." T h e owners, said Skousen, were not forced to join any association as the mayor charged. 6 1 Lee maintains that the only order he had specifically given to Skousen was to stop the self-policing program, "because I believed ^Tribune, April 5, 1960. Skousen private notes in his possession; Deseret News, April 7, 1960. 58 In a letter to the author, May 29, 1973, Barker gave an account similar to Lee's. He said Lee had ordered Foote to call Skousen and that Lee took no part in the gambling. Skousen called him to ask about the penalty if an elected official observed a violation of the law and took no action. When Barker told Skousen he was at the club, too, Skousen allegedly replied, " T h e n you are in the same boat and will have to suffer the consequences." 59 Lee T V address. 60 Skousen private notes; Deseret News, April 7, 1960. 61 Deseret News , March 23, 1960. 57

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there was something dishonest" in it. Lee recalls that he told Skousen: "I think you could make a deal with the underworld to only steal so much at night and they would be glad to police themselves." This would be self-policing with thieves in order to reduce stealing downtown. He suggested that these thieves were potential law violators who would be protected if they would cut down their activity. "That's what you're doing, and I don't like it."62 The analogy, however, is not apt, since it inexplicably lumps tavern owners with thieves as potential law violators. Lee said further that he had affidavits to show pressure had been used by the department to force men in the tavern business to pay money for bills they did not owe. Tavern owner Byron Jensen said that in order to get his beer license transferred to another location he was required to sign a note for $2,000 to pay an obligation of another concern that had gone bankrupt. "The man said he didn't owe the note, but that Mr. Southworth had told him he should sign it." 63 (He was also told that it was his responsibility to settle $16,000 in bad debts of the former owner of the new location.) At first he refused to sign, and then agreed; he said he had paid $650 on the note when Mayor Lee advised him to stop payment. 64 62

Lee Interview. Lee claims S o u t h w o r t h m a d e a great deal of money t h r o u g h the p r o g r a m . T a v e r n owners were told they would not be harassed if they j o i n e d the association. If the owners said no, the vice squad would arrive the same night a n d "make a nuisance of themselves." S o u t h w o r t h would r e t u r n the next day, a n d the o w n e r would ask, "What the hell were those policemen d o i n g h e r e last night?" Finally, the o w n e r would agree to join. Lee Interview. Southworth himself declined to reply to the author's questions about the p r o g r a m . 64 Deseret News, April 16, 1960. 63

Lee disapproved of tavern owners policing themselves as a means of cutting down police surveillance. Photograph by L. V. McNeely.

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Skousen, however, claimed that because the note was written four days before bankruptcy was declared, it was valid. Actually, Skousen asserted, all that had been required of the purchaser was to satisfy the bulk sales law of Utah, a legal necessity prior to gaining a license. Skousen reported that investigation to Lee and suggested that he have a public hearing to satisfy all, but Lee declined and instead directed the matter to the county attorney, Grover Giles. 65 Eventually, a public hearing was held by Mayor Lee to determine the effectiveness of the self-policing program. Some tavern owners testified that the policy made them feel like businessmen instead of criminals, while others claimed they had been pressured and had had difficulty getting licenses. Lt. Marvin Butterfield, in charge of the police antivice squad, praised the program as an effective way of allowing the taverns to handle their own problems. T h r e e tavern owners, Harry Wilkinson, Steve Floor, and Clifford James, all testified that the program had not been forced on them and that they were pleased with the results. 66 On the other hand, Mrs. Marian Spence related that although she and her husband had been in the tavern business for years, they had been forced to sell because of difficulty in securing a dance license. She claimed that they had refused Southworth's request to join the tavern owners association. Later, Southworth gave them "one more chance" to join if they wished to survive. They still refused and subsequently were denied a dance license even though they paid for it. Anthony Ventura said he had paid $1,425 for 6S

Ibid., March 23, 1960. Ibid., April 16, 1960.

The West Second South area pictured above and on the opposite page continues to be the scene of much police antivice activity. Photograph by L. V. McNeely.

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transfer of a beer license plus a $401 license fee to the city and still had not received a license. Pete Paulos complained that when he wrote a letter to the tavern owners association requesting a vote on a 2:00 A.M. closing ordinance the vice squad began making more frequent visits to his tavern. Leonard Feraco said he had paid Southworth $300 for membership in the association and was later refunded $200; and Nick Karkus said he was obliged to join the association for $100 in order to obtain a card room license for his business. 67 Skousen admits the presence of pressure to join the tavern association, but he believes it came from the association, not the vice squad. When a tavern was not complying with the law, the association would threaten the owner with losing his membership, and then the owner would correct the problem. Skousen was told that the tavern owners were a big source of Lee's political campaign chest which, he concluded, was the reason that Lee was irritated by the self-policing program. Skousen noted that the tavern association supported Skousen, not Lee, and that they editorialized on it in their regular bulletin. 68 OTHER

DISAGREEMENTS

Calling Skousen a "very expensive man," Lee referred to the 1958 police report which, he said, had cost the taxpayer $2,304.19 to print. Skousen allegedly arranged for a n u m b e r of hard-cover reports, with people's names embossed in gold, to be mailed around the country to his friends at the taxpayers' expense. Lee said 248 copies went to all stake presidencies and bishops of the Mormon church, while others went to the Lions Club, Exchange Club, and other organizations. Copies had even been sent to Skousen's relatives in California. T h e actual money spent was relatively insignificant, said Lee, but it "just shows what an egotist he is." Additionally, Skousen persuaded the city commission to send him to Hawaii at a cost of $678 to the taxpayer. 6 9 Skousen replied that the police department files showed that requisition order n u m b e r 815, dated April 16, 1959, authorized "ibid. 68

Skousen Interview. T h e bulletin named is not available. I n a letter to the author, April 14, 1973, Assistant Chief J. L. Smith of the Salt Lake City Police Department reported that no copies could be located. 69 Lee T V address, p. 4; Salt Lake Tribune, April 5, 1960.

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payment of $1,371.23 for 3,000 copies of the 1958 annual report. Only 25 copies were p r e p a r e d with hardback covers so they could be placed in libraries a n d presented to the city commission for perm a n e n t filing. 70 Skousen t h o u g h t it unfair to mention that they were sent to M o r m o n officials without a d d i n g that they were also sent to all other churches in the area. H e believed that sending t h e m to other police d e p a r t m e n t s was especially valuable, and he admitted mailing copies to members of his family in California. "This is entirely true. I was very p r o u d of the work the d e p a r t m e n t had been doing." T h e Hawaii trip, said Skousen, was the annual convention of the International Association of Chiefs of Police, where he served on two general committees. T h e services r e n d e r e d by other departments to Salt Lake City as a result of contacts m a d e at these conventions was worth far m o r e than the money spent on the trip, said Skousen. 7 1 A minor Lee charge was that Skousen had held the taxpayer financially responsible for his book, The Naked Communist, by using city policemen a n d secretaries to assemble a n d type it. 72 According to Skousen, the text of the book was almost completed before he became chief, a n d the final chapters were typed by his secretary's daughter, for which he had the cancelled checks to prove his personal payment. 7 3 Lee estimated that Skousen had made n u m e r o u s speeches each year at the expense of his duties as chief. 74 Although Skousen did not deny this charge, he noted that the speeches were approved by the city commission. Mayor Stewart had always felt such speeches were a compliment to Salt Lake City, and Lee had never expressed himself otherwise. T h e trips were made without expense to the city except for Skousen's time. 7 5 Lee also claimed that he was disturbed by Skousen's use of polygraph tests in hiring of policemen. Allegedly, most of the questions were on sex: " W h e n did you first want a woman? W h e n did you first have intercourse? Did you ever cheat on your wife? etc." Skousen allegedly told Lee that he wanted to "steer clear of sex 70

Skousen says that these twenty-five copies were p r e p a r e d free by the publisher â&#x20AC;&#x201D; at no cost whatever to the d e p a r t m e n t . H e sent paperback copies to other d e p a r t m e n t s because it provided a "wonderful liaison." Skousen Interview. 71 Skousen private notes. 12 Tribune, April 5, 1960. 73 Skousen to Walter Knott, Knott's Berry Farm, Buena Park, California, September 9, 1960, Skousen file. 74 Lee T V address, Tribune, April 5, 1960. Lee claimed that Skousen m a d e between 300 and 400 speeches a year. 75 Skousen private notes.

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Utah Historical Quarterly

fiends" on the force. When Lee argued that it was an unfair intrusion into private lives and asked him to discontinue its practice, Skousen ignored the suggestion. 7 6 In response, Skousen insisted that Lee's description of the tests was inaccurate. T h e r e were some questions about sex "but only for the purpose of determining moral turpitude." He desired to weed out applicants "involved in promiscuous immorality or homosexuality" because they would be "vulnerable to blackmail." Skousen characterized the questions as "routine" and claimed they were the same ones asked throughout the country for this purpose. He believes they were continued in use after he left and during the remainder of Lee's tenure. 7 7 A final problem concerned Lee's assertion that Skousen had instructed policemen to have no association whatever with the mayor. As a result, policemen would hesitate even to speak to him. "I thought, gee, of all the mean policemen I've ever seen!" One officer who was especially knowledgeable about police operations confided to him that a plainclothes detective was monitoring Lee's door; u n d e r orders from Skousen, he was to report the names of policemen seen visiting the mayor. T h e officer refused to come to the mayor's office, but he agreed to meet Lee in a vacant building. T h e r e he complied with Lee's request for a list of twenty policemen who were allegedly "real close to Skousen." 7 8 Lee telephoned each of them, saying, "I'm ordering you to my office" where he asked them basic questions about their jobs. Lee claimed the practice worried Skousen, even though it was only a "game of cloak and dagger" they were playing with each other. Lee also believed that Skousen had put a "tail" on the mayor's car in hopes of getting some information about him. 7 9 Skousen laughed off the charge, saying, "Why would I want to put a tail on Mayor Lee? Ridiculous!" He declared that the police department had never placed Lee u n d e r surveillance in any way. Skousen also stoutly denied Lee's story about his forbidding the police to talk to the mayor. He did instruct policemen that official police matters must go from the police chief to the mayor, thus following logical chan76

Lee Interview. Letter from Skousen to the author, April 14, 1973. In a previously cited letter to the author, Assistant Chief Smith claims no direct knowledge as to whether Skousen included questions on sex. Presently, however, the department uses the polygraph in hiring but includes no questions on sex. 78 Lee Interview. â&#x201E;˘Ibid. 77

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nels. Further, he believes that if Lee had really been an astute administrator, "he would have called me in," rather than officers suspected of being close to him. 8 0 LEE AND SKOUSEN TODAY

Although noticeably more tolerant of each other, neither Lee nor Skousen has appreciably changed his attitude toward the episode. Lee now has the first kind words for Skousen since the firing, responding adamantly that his record was as good as any chief in the history of Salt Lake City. "When it comes to policemen doing their job," said Lee, Skousen excelled. T h e policemen worked and were always available when he was chief, but "I never see a policeman a r o u n d now." Lee also lauded Skousen for his handling of the traffic d e p a r t m e n t : "You didn't have a better traffic setup than when Skousen was chief, and I think you could probably say it about every department." T h e praise finished, Lee felt compelled to add, "I'll tell you though, he was a dictator! He was the type of guy who would cut off your head." Lee claimed Skousen was "practicing Communism to fight it" and was r u n n i n g the d e p a r t m e n t like a gestapo â&#x20AC;&#x201D; through fear. Moreover, Lee still maintains that Skousen was dishonest. "I know that. In my last campaign I said he was dishonest. Now you would think I would be sued for that, wouldn't you? But he knows that I know something about him that he don't want other people to know." 81 When Skousen was questioned about Lee's integrity, he flatly replied that Lee was not dishonest. He thought only that Lee was a victim of bad advisers left over from the "Hatsis years" in Price when Lee was mayor of that city. According to Skousen, Lee's good friend, Tony Hatsis, was the leader in the drive to get liquor by the drink in Utah. 8 2 Skousen has always objected to the charge that he operated the d e p a r t m e n t as Communists would, claiming that morale was high a m o n g personnel. As proof he quoted Police Mutual Aid Magazine in which his own personnel had praised his service: As chief he corrected the loose construction which could have destroyed the department. H e disciplined the division to a fine edge: teaching us unity through order. Most important of all was his example of high principles and zeal, combined with unexcelled integrity and 80

Skousen interview. Lee Interview. 82 Skousen Interview. 81

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Utah Historical Quarterly executive ability which enabled our police force to win national recognition. . . , 8 3

Skousen concluded that Lee was perhaps not the man that his wife was a woman and that it was too bad that he did not have the church to give him "stability." In Skousen's view, Lee has many fine personal qualities but only one flaw â&#x20AC;&#x201D; "he's a rebel." 84 CONCLUSIONS

T h e confrontation between Lee and Skousen really should have been predictable, for it was a clash of strong wills, represented by two aggressive, independent, and charismatic leaders, in some ways too much alike to work well together. It is evident that they felt threatened by each other. Yet their personal styles are dramatically different: Lee is plain- speaking and frank, with special appeal to the common man reminiscent of T r u m a n ' s style if not his politics; Skousen on the other hand, is polished, sophisticated, and fluent, recalling the majesty of MacArthur. Both attracted considerable support from members and leaders of the Mormon church. T h e differences in their accounts of the dispute are impossible to resolve. Many of them rest on interpretation, while others grow out of personal, two-way conversations. In any case, neither side of the story will be completely corroborated by outside evidence. City and police records are fuzzy on the significant details, and many individuals with personal knowledge of the conflict have refused comment. 8 5 However, in the final analysis, most of these details are unimportant, for it was the philosophies of the men themselves that produced the crisis. Skousen's belief that Lee needed the church for stability is instructive, for it reveals the moral base for many of their disagreements. Although both men are politically conservative, their moral and religious backgrounds contrast sharply. Lee could speak positively about law enforcement without ever considering the restriction of private clubs, because they were an integral part of his way of life. T o Skousen, on the other hand, the clubs and their activities not only threatened law enforcement, they were morally repugnant. 83 As quoted by Skousen in his letter to Knott. Unfortunately, the author was unable to locate the actual editorial either from individual police officers or from the Salt Lake Police Department who maintain there is no copy on file. Letter to author from N. K. Johnson. 84 Skousen Interview. 85 The author has written numerous letters to police officers and politicians who knew either Skousen or Lee, and many of them refused comment.

Political Feud in Salt Lake

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While Lee enjoyed watching dancing girls, Skousen found t h e m distasteful. T o Lee the use of the polygraph in hiring policemen was an invasion of privacy, while Skousen believed in it as a way to gauge moral t u r p i t u d e . Obviously, Skousen's philosophy was deeply rooted in his M o r m o n background, an ironic twist since the church s u p p o r t e d Lee in the crisis. Yet in self-policing, the moral a r g u m e n t reverted to Lee, who believed the p r o g r a m to be inherently dishonest, while Skousen considered it a boon to efficiency. In budgetary matters, Lee could claim to be the real conservative, while Skousen argued the folly of cutbacks. Skousen was more interested in efficiency than in economy, while Lee gave the appearance of economizing for its own sake. T h r o u g h the dismissal both men gained an aura of public respect that may not have been attainable in any other way. Neither career has suffered in the intervening years. In fact, Lee's career received fresh impetus, since he survived a barrage of criticism unparalleled in the city's history. W h e n people tired of disputing the issue, Lee was still in power, applying his familiar, resolute approach to city problems. If he was ruffled, he did not show it. Clearly, Lee had the edge, for he was an incumbent with continuing visability, while Skousen was forced to take on the more quiet role of a private citizen. But one aspect of the problem should not be overlooked: as mayor of the city with authority over the police d e p a r t m e n t , Lee had the right to have associates with whom he could work. Just as T r u man could not govern while disputing with his general in the field, neither could Lee handle city affairs when his police chief disagreed with him on every vital issue. Although Skousen was unquestionably right in many of his disputes with Lee about effective police service, Lee still retained the right to remove. H e did not have to demonstrate malfeasance, incompetency, or other specific charges â&#x20AC;&#x201D; but only that he a n d Skousen did not work well together. Because of the personalities involved, the Lee-Skousen feud is one of the more colorful confrontations in Utah political history. It is important because it illustrates unequivocally that a political decision need not be immediately popular to be politically rewarding. O n the contrary, an u n p o p u l a r decision may be the best route to e n d u r i n g public approval for an official â&#x20AC;&#x201D; if he can retain composure and decisiveness in the aftermath. For it is incumbency coupled with composure that adds the historic dimension. J. Bracken Lee weathered the crisis.

Roberts Receives the Impertinent Telegram.

The "Inspired" Whitney Blows Eider-Down at Roberts.

Sketches from the Salt Lake Tribune depict the fervor of convention oratory.

Woman's Place Is in the Constitution: The Struggle for Equal Rights in Utah in 1895 BY JEAN BICKMORE WHITE

1894 the nation's leading advocate of woman suffrage, Susan B. Anthony, voiced a hope and a warning to the officers and members of the Woman Suffrage Association of Utah. "My dear friends," she wrote, "I am delighted that you are now to be in the A N JULY OF

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Union of States, as you have been for many years in the union of the dear old National Woman Suffrage Association! I congratulate you not only because Utah is to be a state, but because I hope and trust that her men, in Constitutional Convention assembled, will, like the noble men of Wyoming, ordain political equality to her women." Noting that Utah's women had once had the right to vote, Miss Anthony said: "And I am sure that you, my dear sisters, who have not only tasted the sweets of liberty, but also the bitterness, the humiliation of the loss of the blessed symbol, will not allow the organic law of your state to be framed on the barbarism that makes women the political slaves of men." 1 Miss Anthony was a political realist, and it seems that she could foresee the struggle ahead for Utah's women. She urged them to fight to get their right to vote in the state's new constitution and not to leave it to future legislatures or to a separate vote of the electorate. She warned: Now in the formative period of your constitution is the time to establish justice and equality to all the people. T h a t adjective "male" once admitted into your organic law, will remain there. Don't be cajoled into believing otherwise! Look how the women of New York toiled a n d toiled o v e r forty years to get " m a l e " o u t of o u r constitution. . . . No, no! Don't be deluded by any specious reasoning, but demand justice now. Once ignored in your constitution â&#x20AC;&#x201D; you'll be as powerless to secure recognition as are we in the older states. . . }

She went on to warn against leaving the vote for women out of the constitution and submitting it for a separate vote of the electorate, pointing out that Colorado was the only state in which the male voters had agreed to extend the franchise to women. 3 By 1894 only Wyoming and Colorado granted full political rights to women; some other states permitted them to vote in school or municipal elections. Miss Anthony's letter had arrived at a crucial time, on the eve of statehood for Utah. Earlier in 1894 Congress had passed the Enabling Act, providing for a constitutional convention to be held in Dr. White is associate professor of political science at Weber State College, Ogden. This paper was originally prepared for the Charles Redd Lecture Series at Brigham Young University, February 14, 1974, and is printed here with the kind permission of the Redd Center which has also issued the paper as a separate monograph. Minor changes have been made to conform to Quarterly style. Âť ^Woman's Exponent, 23 (August 1 and 15, 1894), 169. Hbid. 3 Ibid. For a discussion of the attempts to gain woman suffrage by constitutional amendment see T. A. Larson, "Woman Suffrage in Western America," Utah Historical Quarterly, 38 (Winter 1970), 7-19.

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1895. If the constitution conformed to the provisions of the Enabling Act, and if it were approved by the voters at a subsequent election, President Grover Cleveland would proclaim Utah a state, and the dream of most citizens of the territory of Utah would be fulfilled. Utah would at last be a state on an equal footing with the other states of the union, free of territorial laws enacted by Congress and free to elect her own state officials. It was a particularly crucial time for advocates of equal political rights for women. Ahead of them lay a unique opportunity to secure these rights. Utah women had once had the right to vote, as a result of an act of the territorial legislature, from 1870 until 1887, when it was taken away by Congress with the passage of the EdmundsTucker Act.4 In the meantime, several of the prominent women in the Mormon church (Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints) had become active in the national woman suffrage movement, and in 1889 they had founded the Woman Suffrage Association of Utah. 5 Many of these same women were leaders in the Mormon Relief Society, the women's auxiliary of the church, and had promoted lessons in government, parliamentary law, history, and other subjects that would stimulate women's interest in public affairs. 6 They had also moved out into the territory, organizing suffrage associations in the outlying counties, to make sure that there was widespread support for the movement. They had stayed in close touch with the leaders of the Mormon church, obtaining their blessings and support for their activities in the national women's organizations. By the time Miss Anthony's advice arrived, the leading Utah suffragists were already getting well prepared for the struggle ahead, continuing to organize at the grass roots as well as cultivating support at the top of the religious hierarchy. In September of 1894, both of the national political parties held territorial conventions, and it became evident that the women's efforts were beginning to bear fruit. The Republicans met first, at the Opera House in Provo on September 11. The party platform included a list of twenty-one items, starting with the need for a 4

The 1870 law and its consequences are discussed by Thomas G. Alexander in "An Experiment in Progressive Legislation: The Granting of Woman Suffrage in Utah in 1870," Utah Historical Quarterly, 38 (Winter 1970), 20-30. See also Ralph Lorenzo Jack, "Woman Suffrage in Utah as an Issue in the Mormon and Non-Mormon Press of the Territory, 1870-1887" (M.A. thesis, Brigham Young University, 1954). ^Woman's Exponent, 17 (January 15, 1889), 121-22. "Alexander, "Progressive Legislation," 27.

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protective tariff and free coinage of silver. T h e e i g h t e e n t h item s t a t e d simply: "We favor t h e g r a n t i n g of equal suffrage to women." 7 T h e r e is no indication in the Tribune account of the convention that there was any controversy over this provision, although there was to be considerable debate later about its exact meaning. It would be argued later that the provision was hastily placed in the platform by a minority and that it was not the sense of the Provo convention that Republicans be committed to placing woman suffrage in the new constitution. This was denied by the resolutions chairman, former governor A. L. T h o m a s , who said he felt a majority of his committee a n d of the convention delegates Emily S. Richards. "strongly s u p p o r t e d " the provision. 8 T h e Democrats met on September 15 in Salt Lake City, a n d again the question of woman suffrage was placed near the e n d of the platform. However, it received a m u c h stronger e n d o r s e m e n t t h a n it had from the Republican convention. T h e Democratic platform stated: The Democrats of Utah are unequivocally in favor of woman suffrage, and the political rights and privileges of women equal with those of men, including eligibility to office, and we demand that such guarantees shall be provided in the Constitution of the State of Utah as will secure to the women of Utah these inestimable rights. 9

A lone voice, that of Scipio Africanus Kenner, asked to have the platform a d o p t e d by sections in o r d e r to permit objections to sections that some delegates could not endorse. After his objection died for lack of a second, he is quoted as saying, in a hoarse whisper, "Well I'll never vote for woman suffrage, anyway." 1 0 T w o p r o m i n e n t suffragists, Emily S. Richards a n d Electa Bullock, rose to thank the 7

Salt Lake Tribune September 17, 1894. ^Woman's Exponent, 23 (May 11, 1895), 261. ^Tribune, September 16, 1894. 10

Ibid.

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convention for its actions on behalf of women's political rights, pointed out the difference in the two platforms, and promised that women never would abuse their political privileges. 11 During the weeks following the conventions the political parties held precinct and county conventions at which candidates were selected to r u n for seats in the constitutional convention. It is important to note this sequence of events, for some convention delegates were to argue later that they had not attended their party's territorial convention, that they had not had a voice in its territorial platform, and that they had not made any pledges on the suffrage question in their own campaigns. After the election was held in November, the president of the Woman Suffrage Association of Salt Lake County, Dr. Ellen B. Ferguson, urged members to visit the newly elected constitutional convention delegates to see if they intended to put woman suffrage in the constitution. She warned that some of the delegates were now wavering and noted that "many are inclined to hang back, saying wait till we are a State then we will give to women Suffrage." 12 T h e editor of the Woman's Exponent, an unofficial journal reflecting the interest of the Mormon Relief Society and dedicated to promotion of woman suffrage, warned also that the vote for women faced some opposition â&#x20AC;&#x201D; from women. Emmeline B. Wells, editor of the Exponent, observed that some women in the territory felt no need of extending the political rights to their sex because they were sitting in "luxury and ease." These same women, she commented, might someday need political rights "for their own defence and protection, or mayhap for their little ones. . . ." 13 T h e women favoring suffrage continued their organizing efforts and were able to report in mid-February that nineteen of Utah's twenty-seven counties had suffrage organizations. 14 As the constitutional convention opened on March 4, 1895, the restoration of the franchise for women looked fairly certain. T r u e , there was some opposition, but the suffragists had done their work well and had every right to hope for success. T h e Tribune reported that "a strong sentiment in favor of giving women the right to vote is manifested by the delegates." 15 "Ibid. ^Woman's l3 Ibid, 23 u Ibid, 23 15 Tribune,

Exponent, 23 (December 1, 1894), 211. (November 1 and 15, 1894), 204. (February 1 and 15, 1895), 233. March 4, 1895.

The Rights

VOL.

of the

22.

Wo?ncn

of Zion,

and

the Rights

of (he

Women

S A L T L A K E C I T Y , U T A H , A P R I L i, CONTENTS:

Woman Suffrage Column—Shall Utah Become A State Without Woman Suffrage—L. L. Dalton. A Woman's Assembly. To The Pioneers—Mary Ellen Kimball. . Woman's National Press Excursion. Why Women Want The Municipal Ballot—F. M. A. U. W. P. C—Gladys Woodmansee. R. S. Reports. Ladies' Semi-monthly Meeting—Lydia D. Alder. Miscellaneous. Notes And News. In Memoriam. Obituaries. Funeral Reforms. EDITORIAL.—The Editorial Notes.

Present.

Conditions.

POETRY.—Down By The River—S. E. Carmichael. W h e n The Summer Comes Again —L. M. Hewlings. Ten Years Old—Aunt Alta.

But there'll be something missing; When the summer comes again, Some golden links most precious, Have been torn from out life's chain; Tho' summer comes with beauty, Wealth, andplenty in her train, Her power can ne'er restore, These lost links from out life's chain, She will bring buds and flowers, But we'll listen all in vain, For tones from voices golden, When the Summer comes again. "Arnold Dell." L. M. HEWLINGS. Tenafly N. 1.

cf all

Nations. N o . 15.

1894.

toiled, h o p e d , p r a y e d b u t w e p t n o t , can never be persuaded, that you and your d a u g h t e r s a r e n o t e q u a l l y c o n c e r n e d in all t h a t p e r t a i n s to t h i s h a r d - w o n h o m e , e q u a l h e i r s to t h e g r a n d e s t a t e . A l l m e n k n o w it is n o t in u s t o boast; b u t we d o n o t d e n y t h a t o u r record of t h e past g i v e s u s r o o m to b o a s t of e v e r y r e q u i s i t e to h o n e s t , useful c i t i z e n s h i p ; a n d w e look w i t h confidence t o o u r h u s b a n d s a n d f a t h e r s , t o see t h a t o u r c l a i m s be n o t ignored, and our rights not abridged, when t h e c r o w n of S t a t e h o o d s h a l l rest u p o n t h e b r o w of o u r b e l o v e d U t a h . L.

DALTON.

WOMAN SUFFRAGE COLUMN.

DOWN BY T H E RIVER.

SHALL UTAH BECOME A STATE W I T H O U T . WOMAN SUFFRAGE?

Down by the River: The dark flowing river, That flows to Eternity's Sea: Kneel to the Giver T o God, the Good Giver And pray for my vessel and me. Cold is it? Dark it is Hushed as my heart it is, Dark flowing river Mihlime!

T o v o t e or n o t to v o t e ! T h a t is t h e the Question. S h a l l w e drift w i t h t h e s l u g g i s h t i d e of C u s t o m , a n d i n o u r O r g a n i c A c t l i v e t t h e fetters of p e r p e t u a l m i n o r i t y u p o n t h e m o t h e r s of so h a r d y a race of m e n a s U t a h c a n boast? Shall we mar our onward progress as a C o m m o n w e a l t h a n d c l o g t h e footsteps of

A WOMAN'S

ASSEMBLY.

[Concluded.] A D D R E S S B Y M . H U G H E S C A N N O N M. D .

Madame Chairman, Gentlemen and Ladies. A n old p o w e r f u l a n d influential oppon e u t to W o m a n ' s Suffrage r e l a t e s t h e foll o w i n g little s t o r y w i t h t h e a t t e m p t to

Mormon women spoke for their rights in a forceful, direct way on the pages of the Woman's Exponent. Their skillful use of the pen proved more effective than the militant confrontations of suffragists elsewhere.

Yet within a month the political rights of women in the new state became the most bitterly fought issue of the convention, raising anew the old charges of Mormon church domination in politics and bringing forth the most eloquent oratory the delegates could muster. Why did this issue, which had seemed non-controversial only a few months before at the parties' territorial conventions, consume so much time at the constitutional convention? Was it a sham battle with the outcome never in doubt? And why did the suffrage supporters finally win their fight? These are the questions to be explored in this paper. 11

T h e men who assembled at the constitutional convention in March of 1895 were in many ways a remarkable group. T h e 107 delegates included 28 non-Mormons, among them Charles S. Varian, a former district attorney in charge of the prosecution of

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polygamists; C.C. Goodwin, editor of the Salt Lake Tribune; and George P. Miller, a Methodist Episcopal minister. T h e Mormon members included the president of the convention, Apostle J o h n Henry Smith, Apostle Moses Thatcher (who was absent much of the time), Presiding Bishop William B. Preston, and Brigham H. Roberts, member of the First Council of Seventy. Heber M. Wells, who would become the state's first governor, and President Karl G. Maeser of Brigham Young University were among the many other prominent men attending. Approximately two-thirds of the delegates were farmers and ranchers, and the rest were businessmen, lawyers, or mining men. T h e r e were 59 Republicans and 48 Democrats. 1 6 Only 29 of the delegates had been born in the Utah Territory. 1 7 T h e r e seemed to be a determined effort to keep the old religious animosities from dividing the convention, and partisan politics played a smaller role than might have been expected. T h e r e were several excellent orators who could be counted on to display their knowledge of constitutional history and classical literature at the slightest provocation. Although some of the speeches went on for seemingly endless hours, it must be admitted that the quality of the rhetoric was considerably above that generally found in legislative bodies today. On March 11 the subject of equal rights for women was taken up before eight of the fifteen members of the Committee on Elections and Suffrage, and the ensuing debate proved to be a preview of the problems that lay ahead. Seven of the eight members present approved a provision taken from the Wyoming constitution. It read: T h e rights of citizens of the State of Utah to vote and hold office shall not be denied or abridged on account of sex. Both male and female citizens of this State shall equally enjoy all civil, political and religious rights and privileges. 18

T h e Tribune reported that "the discussion was quite animated between Mr. Kiesel [a non-Mormon businessman from Ogden], who is stoutly opposed to woman suffrage, and the seven other delegates present, but the latter were not won over by Mr. Kiesel's arguments,

16 This is the convention profile given in Stanley S. Ivins, "A Constitution for Utah, "Utah Historical Quarterly, 25 (April 1957), 100-101. This article gives a concise, readable account of the main business of the convention. "Tribune, March 18, 1895. lH Ibid., March 12, 1895. Fred J. Kiesel cast the dissenting vote.

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nor did Kiesel succumb to theirs, and the vote stood seven to one." A Tribune editorial the same day cond e m n e d the committee's action as hasty and ill-advised and voiced the main argument that would be used a g a i n s t w o m a n s u f f r a g e in t h e weeks of debate ahead. T h e merits of this or such other controversial topics as prohibition were not at issue at this time, the editorial writer argued; the question was one of expediency. T h e constitution would be sure to draw some negative votes, he reasoned. Why ask for more? Now, we submit to the convention whether it is wise to put in the Constitution woman sufEmmeline B. Wells. frage, prohibition, etc., and thus add to the hostility that must inevitably be d r a w n upon it. It is not likely that any of the voters will oppose the Constitution merely because woman suffrage and prohibition are left out of it. It is certain that a good many will oppose it merely because they (or either of them) are put in. Even to submit them as separate propositions will be sure to draw adverse votes to hundreds, perhaps thousands. We put it to the convention, whether it can afford to take the risk of putting these propositions or either of them, in the Constitution, and so perhaps put their whole work in jeopardy. 1 9

While the committee was continuing its deliberations, Emmeline B. Wells, president of the Woman Suffrage Association of Utah, returned from the National American Woman Suffrage Association meeting in Atlanta. In an interview published in the Tribune, Mrs. Wells voiced the arguments that were to be heard often in the weeks ahead. Rather than making broad, general appeals for the franchise as a matter of fundamental rights and equality between the sexes, she referred to practical matters and to the unique history of the territory. Women of Utah, she said, should have the vote because it was given to them by the territorial legislature, was l9

Ibid.

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used without abuse for seventeen years, a n d was taken away only as a "political measure." A n o t h e r reason cited was that "there are undoubtedly m o r e women in Utah who own their own homes and pay taxes (if in a small way) than in any other State with the same n u m b e r of inhabitants, a n d Congress has, by its enactments in the past, virtually m a d e many of these women heads of families." This was a r e m i n d e r of the fact that women had been left to support families while their husbands were imprisoned for unlawful cohabitation. She concluded with the statement that educational equality had always existed in the territory, in keeping with the sentiment of its founders, and a d d e d that she was glad to be back to work for suffrage in the convention. 2 0 T h e r e was m u c h work waiting for her to do. A few days later, on March 18, both the Salt Lake a n d the Utah suffrage associations presented memorials to the convention summarizing the reasons why they felt women should have political equality with men. T h e y touched on the "taxation without representation" t h e m e a n d q u o t e d A b r a h a m Lincoln as believing that "women would someday wield the ballot to purify and ennoble politics." Reminding the delegates that both political parties were on record pledged to woman suffrage, the women engaged in transp a r e n t flattery, designed to p e r s u a d e the men to take a historic step and make Utah the third state to grant full suffrage in its constitution. T h e y wrote: We believe that now the time clock of American destiny has struck the h o u r to inaugurate a larger and t r u e r civil life, and the future winters of Utah history will immortalize the names of those men who, in this Constitutional Convention, define the injustice a n d prejudice of the past, strike off the bonds that have heretofore enthralled woman, and open the doors that will usher her into free and full emancipation. 2 1

U n d e r the h e a d i n g , " G o d Bless t h e Ladies, " t h e Tribune r e p o r t e d that the presentation of the memorials by the seventy- five women who crowded into the convention hall was m a d e before a convention that was already strongly in favor of woman suffrage. " U n d e r the circumstances," the Tribune reported, "it was but a pleasing m e t h o d of conveying to the delegates an assurance of the 20

Ibid., March 15, 1895. Utah, Constitutional Convention, 1895, Official Report of the Proceedings and Debates, 2 vols. (Salt Lake City, 1898) 1:197-99. Hereinafter referred to as Proceedings. 21

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regard in which they are held by their sisters, with incidental arguments designed to keep the convention steadfast in devotion." 22 T h e women were conceded to be in a good position to gain their objectives, but they were taking no chances. They knew there were those who were not ready to open the doors into "free and full emancipation," including some members of the committee drafting the elections and suffrage article â&#x20AC;&#x201D; and the publisher of the Tribune. T h e majority report of the committee was presented on March 22, with the explanation that most members of the committee had found it difficult to find a reason why women should not have political equality. They had, therefore, adopted literally the language of the Wyoming constitution, since woman suffrage in that state had for twenty-five years been demonstrated to be a "pronounced success." 23 T h e following day the Tribune editorial maintained that by adopting the equal suffrage article "Utah will join the small group of freak states. Its insertion in the body of the Constitution as proposed, will invite many votes adverse to statehood." If proposed at all, woman suffrage should be submitted separately, the editorial stated, in order to find out how the people at large really felt about the issue. 24 A few days later the report of the minority members of the committee came before the convention, and the battle lines began to be drawn. Signed by F . J . Kiesel, Richard Mackintosh, and Robert McFarland (Kiesel and Mackintosh were non-Mormons), the report began by agreeing that women were intellectually qualified to vote as intelligently as men. It went on to suggest that women are, in fact, better than men but are ruled more readily by "their sympathies, impulses and religious convictions. . . ." In the carefully worded passages that followed, the minority report played upon a number of fears that still underlay Utah politics. It recalled the period, only a few years before, when Mormons had belonged to one party â&#x20AC;&#x201D; the large and predominating People's party â&#x20AC;&#x201D; and the badly outnumbered non-Mormons had belonged to the Liberal party. Both parties had dissolved by 1894 in the interest of gaining statehood, and their members had gone into the national parties of their choice. T h e report asserted that during the period of political division along religious lines women had been taught "sincere allegiance to a 22

Tribune, March 19, 1895. Proceedings, 1:265. 2 *Tnbune, March 23, 1895.

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local government and in that allegiance has been woven an absorbing affection and pious devotion" which they would find difficult to change. T h e vote had been taken away by Congress, it continued, because the sympathies and devotion of the women were "all bending in one direction," and it was feared that with the voting privilege restored "the old overwhelming force would destroy the present equality of parties. . . ." T h e r e would be "a terrible temptation on the part of those who ruled before, to resume their sway by working upon the generous impulses and religious instincts of women, which would result in political, if not social and business, ostracism of the minority." 2 5 T h e careful wording did not obscure the message. T h e minority report raised the fear that Mormon church leaders could achieve political and economic domination of the new state through their control of the women's vote. This possibility was so r e p u g n a n t to the nation at large, the report asserted, that it might result in the withholding of statehood and keep away eastern capital which was badly needed for the development of the area. As for party platform pledges, t h e minority m e m b e r s observed that platforms are changed from year to year and suggested that there had been a change of heart in the territory since people began to consider seriously the consequences of granting woman suffrage. Leave this vital question to the state legislature, the report concluded. 2 6 T h e Salt Lake Herald, a newspaper with pronounced Democratic sympathies, undertook to refute the minority views point by point: T h e fear that conditions have not actually changed in Utah is a buried bugaboo, pulled out of its grave to do duty for this occasion. If there is not a sincere division on party lines, then the whole contention between parties â&#x20AC;&#x201D; which every sane man recognizes as a vigorous reality â&#x20AC;&#x201D; is a sickening sham. . . .The assertion that this alleged fear is felt throughout the nation, is a straight undiluted falsehood without any semblance of fact. . . . 27

Kiesel later attempted to explain his position by acknowledging that the process of assimilating Mormons and non-Mormons into the national parties was going on; however, he feared that the addition of thirty thousand or more women â&#x20AC;&#x201D; four-fifths of them

2h Proceedings, 1:407. "Ibid., 1:408. " M a r c h 29, 1895.

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Mormons â&#x20AC;&#x201D; would concentrate in the hands of the Mormon clergy a power that they would be unable to resist. "I know we Gentiles would use it," he said. 28 On Thursday, March 28, the majority r e p o r t of the committee, calling for equal political rights for women, was placed before the convention for debate. Kiesel quickly offered a substitute limiting the vote to males of the age of twenty-one or over. T h e issue was now before the convention, and one of the outstanding orators of the Mormon church, Brigham H. Roberts, a Davis County Democrat, rose to speak against extending suffrage to women. H e conceded that the overwhelming sentiment of the convention was to place political equality for women in the new constitution; therefore, he would not deliver the part of his speech devoted to discussing the merits of the question. Nor would he discuss the arguments contained in the minority report â&#x20AC;&#x201D; which he had had no hand in preparing. He would only advance the a r g u m e n t that adoption of w o m a n s u f f r a g e w o u l d be d a n g e r o u s to t h e a c q u i r i n g of statehood. 2 9 Advance it he did, in a lengthy speech before a rapt audience. T h e Salt Lake Herald provided a vivid description of the scene: H e spoke to an audience composed of the leading women suffragists of this city, the delegates of the convention and the packed lobby, in which there was not an inch of standing room. From the beginning of his speech until the last word was uttered, fully an h o u r and a half, the interest never flagged. All eyes were fixed on the orator as he stood in front of the desk, towering over those who were ready to oppose him the most, as he one moment rose to a climax thrilling in its intensity, and the next checked himself and allowed his voice to become slow and pleading. It took him sometime to gather himself, but once he did he was an oratorical avalanche. A stream of language, potent and pleasing, flowed from his lips and caught his listeners until even those who were most bitterly opposed to him were compelled to pay compliment to his power with rapturous applause. As he stood alone, disclaiming any desire for charity and fully recognizing the consequences of his action, the suffragists themselves could not but admire his courage, and when he had finished they crowded a r o u n d him and shook his hand enthusiastically. 30

T h e content of the speech can be summarized briefly. He argued that there were already many grounds for rejection of the 2s

Proceedings, 1:531. Hbid., 1:421. 30 Salt Lake Herald, March 29, 1895. 2

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constitution and for a vote against statehood â&#x20AC;&#x201D; fear of high taxes, fear of prohibition, fear of a r e t u r n to church domination. Why add to these negative votes those of the men opposed to woman suffrage? And why tempt a rejection in Washington by easterners opposed to the West's strong stand for silver? He pleaded with women to give u p their struggle for enfranchisement in o r d e r to further the cause of statehood â&#x20AC;&#x201D; a cause that had been lost by the territory so many times before. He concluded by warning the convention delegates that in their desire to gain immortal fame by g r a n t i n g w o m e n the vote, they might be digging a grave for statehood. 3 1 Delegate Andrew Anderson undertook to answer Roberts, not on the basis of expediency but on the merits of the issue. He argued that it was unjust to tax women without representation, contended that women were morally superior and would help to purify politics and government, pointed to the lack of bad effects from women having the vote in Wyoming, and denied that equal suffrage would cause the defeat of the constitution. Failure to keep their party platform pledges would be more likely to do so, he asserted. H e also voiced this appeal to ethnocentric instincts: Millions of ignorant slaves have been admitted to the right of suffrage, and thousands of ignorant foreigners are admitted yearly, and yet why hesitate to grant our mothers, our wives and our sisters the rights of suffrage, most of whom are native born, many are property owners and well educated, and all are most vitally interested in the welfare of the government, in the principles of liberty and the perpetuation of the same.32

These were themes that would be embellished almost endlessly in the debates ahead by supporters of woman suffrage. O n e of the most scholarly speeches of the convention was delivered on the same day by Franklin S. Richards, son of Apostle Franklin D. Richards and an early suffrage leader, J a n e S. Richards. He was the LDS church attorney and a party to some of the most delicate negotiations between church leaders and government officials in Washington, D . C , d u r i n g the later territorial period. He was also the husband of a tireless organizer of many suffrage associa-

'See Proceedings, 1:420-28, for complete text of Roberts's speech. 'Proceedings, 1:433. For text of Anderson's speech see 431-33.

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tion c h a p t e r s in U t a h , Emily S. Richards. He stood squarely for stateh o o d and suffrage a n d felt t h e r e should not be a conflict between the two. Quoting prominent jurists, constitutional experts, and sociologists, Richards asserted that the vote for women was the next necessary step in t h e m a r c h of h u m a n p r o g r e s s . Richards said he had never known a woman who felt complimented by the statement that she was too good to exercise the same rights and privileges as a man. "My experience and observation lead me to believe that while men admit the superiority of women in many respects, the latter do not care so much for this admission as they do for an acknowledgement of their equality, and that equality we are b o u n d in Franklin S. Richards. 33 honor to concede. . . ." Several speakers challenged the contention of the minority report that giving women the vote would cause a r e t u r n to the old political divisions along religious lines or threaten church domination. A Utah County Democrat, Samuel T h u r m a n , asserted vigorously: "I have this confidence in the Mormon Church, that if political parties will let them alone, they will let political parties alone." 3 4 During the next two days the debate continued, despite an effort by Washington County Democrat Anthony W. Ivins to cut off debate and advance the suffrage article to third reading. Again the star performer was the eloquent Roberts, but at this point he moved from the low ground of expediency to the higher ground of merit. He contended that the franchise should be given only to individuals who could act independently, free from dictation. Since most women over twenty-one were married, they could not act freely but would â&#x20AC;&#x201D; and should â&#x20AC;&#x201D; be ruled over by their husbands. As for the argument advanced by the suffragists that it was unfair to expect women property owners to pay taxes without representation at the 33

Ibid., 1:444. For text of Richards's speech see 437-52. Ibid., 1:436.

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ballot box, Roberts maintained that voting was a privilege, not a right. Historically, he pointed out, there had been qualifications of age, property ownership, and literacy imposed as a condition for voting. Women gained their representation through their husbands, whose votes represented not only themselves but their families. Most demands for the franchise in the past were made to provide a protection against tyranny, Roberts said, but men were not the enemies of women and there was no need to give them the vote on this account. T u r n i n g to the question of equality, Roberts said men and women were no doubt equal as to abilities and mentality, but they were different in their dispositions, tastes, and constitutions. Men needed women as a civilizing influence, he said, and without them would soon sink into a state of barbarism. I place the values of woman u p o n a higher pinnacle, and there is not a suffragist a m o n g you all that has a higher opinion of her and of her influence than I myself entertain. But let me say that the influence of woman as it operates upon me never came from the rostrum, it never came from the pulpit, with woman in it, it never came from the lecturer's platform, with woman speaking; it comes from the fireside, it comes from the blessed association with mothers, of sisters, of wives, of daughters, not as democrats or republicans. [Applause.] 3 5

He warned women that if they permitted themselves to be dragged into the political arena they would fall from their high pinnacle, and quoted Cardinal James Gibbons on the dangers involved: Christian wives and mothers, I have said you are the queens of the domestic kingdom. If you would retain that empire, shun the political arena, avoid the rostrum, beware of unsexing yourselves. If you become embroiled in political agitation the queenly aureola that encircles your brow will fade away and the reverence that is paid you will disappear. If you have the vain ambition of reigning in public life, your domestic empire will be at an end. 3 6

As for the a r g u m e n t that women would purify politics, Roberts asserted that the sensibility and delicacy of good women would keep them away from the polls, "while the brazen, the element that is u n d e r control of the managers and runners of saloons, will be the ones to brave the ward politicians, wade through the smoke and cast 35

Ibid., 469. For text of Roberts's March 29 speech see 459-73.

Ibid.

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their ballot. T h e refined wife and mother will not so much as put her foot in the filthy stream." 3 7 Instead of purifying politics, women involved in public affairs would destroy the peace and harmony in their homes. He pleaded for the delegates to leave a refuge for man to come out of the strife and bitterness often engendered in business, professional, and political life. Perhaps the most persuasive pleader for equal political rights was the Mormon author and historian, Orson F. Whitney. He challenged Roberts's major arguments concerning the effect of political activity on women and the possible effect of women upon political life: I believe that politics can be and will be something more than a filthy pool in which depraved men love to wallow. It is a noble science — the science of government — and it has a glorious future. And I believe in a future for woman, commensurate with the progress thereby indicated. I do not believe that she was made merely for a wife, a mother, a cook, and a housekeeper. These callings, however honorable — and no one doubts that they are so — are not the sum of her capabilities. While I agree with all that is true and beautiful in the portrayals that have been made of woman's domestic virtues in the home sphere, and would be as loath as anyone to have her lose that delicacy and refinement, that femininity which has been so deservedly lauded, I do not agree that this would necessarily follow, that she could not engage in politics and still retain those lovable traits which we so much admire. . . . 38

On the contrary, Whitney maintained, the elevating and ennobling influence of women would "someday help to burn and purge away all that is base and unclean in politics." T h e woman suffrage movement was in tune with the march of human advancement: This great social upheaval, this woman's movement that is making itself heard and felt, means something more than that certain women are ambitious to vote and hold office. I regard it as one of the great levers by which the Almighty is lifting up this fallen world, lifting it nearer to the throne of its Creator. . . . 39

By the time the convention adjourned for a Sunday break, the same arguments for and against woman suffrage, for and against holding fast to party platform pledges, and for and against submitting woman suffrage for a separate vote had been repeated dozens 37

Ibid., 1:473. Ibid., 1:508. 39 Ibid.

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of times. Weary of the oratory a n d cognizant of the cost of the convention, Utah C o u n t y D e m o c r a t E d w a r d P a r t r i d g e , J r . , rem a r k e d in his diary: The whole day was taken up in discussion of the suffrage question. Bishop O. F. Whitney in a very forcible speech of over an hour demolished B. H. Roberts' efforts. . . . Thus the time is used to no purpose and some $600 a day of the public money used up to no purpose only to gratify the vanity of man. 40

A l t h o u g h many delegates were b e g i n n i n g to tire of the debate a n d to resent its cost in time a n d money, the suffrage discussions wore on into the following week. By this time delegates who had h a d no intention of speaking rose to put their positions on the record. T h e o p p o n e n t s of suffrage began to concentrate their efforts on a new strategy. O n Saturday, March 30, an editorial in the Ogden Standard u r g e d delegates to forget their party platforms a n d extricate themselves from the question by leaving it to the people to decide. This proved to be a t e m p t i n g position to take when pressures from outside the convention began to be felt d u r i n g the following week. O n Monday, April 1, a motion was m a d e to submit the woman suffrage question to the voters as an issue separate from the body of the new constitution. T h i s was discussed d u r i n g the day but not acted u p o n , a n d it was a g r e e d that the debate would close the following day with a speech by B. H. Roberts. T h e prospect of h e a r i n g the s u m m a t i o n of the debate by Roberts attracted crowds so great that a move to the Salt Lake T h e a t r e was briefly considered. By 8:00 A.M. the crowd started to gather; by 9:30 the e n t r a n c e was so tightly j a m m e d that the services of a squad of police were necessary before m e m b e r s could take their seats. T h e Herald r e p o r t e d on April 3 that "the hall a n d lobby, with every a p p r o a c h , was fairly packed a n d some very p r o m i n e n t ladies even stood on the tables in the cloak r o o m in o r d e r to see a n d hear." Roberts held his audience for two h o u r s , the Herald r e p o r t stated, "and hardly one stirred from the uncomfortable positions in which the great majority of the listeners h a d to stand or sit." Despite this dramatic a p p e a r a n c e , in which Roberts offered little that he had not said before, the antisuffrage forces failed to pass 40

Edward F. Partridge, Jr., Diaries, March 30, 1895, Harold B. Lee Library, Brigham Young University, Provo.

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the motion for separate submission of a suffrage article. Only 28 votes could be mustered for separate submission â&#x20AC;&#x201D; but this was substantial enough to encourage suffrage foes outside the convention to increase their pressure. Public meetings in Ogden on April 2, 3, and 5 culminated with a vote of 434 to 28 for separate submission of an article on woman suffrage. 41 T h e Salt Lake Chamber of Commerce went on record favoring separate submission. 42 T h e delegates returned to the suffrage issue on Thursday, April 4, to learn that petitions were being sent all over the territory to be signed by those who wanted woman suffrage submitted as a separate article. Antisuffrage delegates urged that further consideration of the article be postponed until the people could be heard from. What harm could there be in waiting for the petitions to be circulated if the people favored the women's vote overwhelmingly â&#x20AC;&#x201D; as the suffragists claimed they did? T h e next day a g r o u p of prominent non-Mormon women called an open meeting in the Opera House. Oddly enough, they suggested in a resolution to the convention that the new constitution provide for women to vote in school elections and hold school district offices. However, they advised that the question of granting further political rights to women be postponed until a special election to be called by the first legislature. And they resolved that women should be able to vote in this election. They explained that they were not opposed to the vote for women as a matter of principle, but they felt its inclusion u n d e r pressure in the state constitution might e n d a n g e r statehood. 4 3 In an effort to see that the non-Mormon women's meeting did not produce a unanimous vote against suffrage in the constitution, Mormon suffrage supporters also attended the meeting. Mary A. Freeze notes in her diary that she was asked to attend the meeting, even though she had to miss a session of the Mormon General Conference: At noon I learned that it was desired that a lot of the sisters should go down to the O p e r a House and attend an Anti-suffrage Mass Meeting, so I went there instead of Conference, much against my natural inclinations, but soon learned that it was necessary. 44

*lOgdm Standard, April 6, 1895. i2 Tribune, April 6, 1895. i3 Proceedings, 1:754-55. 44 Mary A. B u r n h a m Freeze Diaries, April 5, 1895, Lee Library.

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T h e same afternoon, Varian moved that the suffrage article be sent back to committee with instructions to frame an article providing for a separate vote of the people on the question of woman suffrage. A substantial number of delegates â&#x20AC;&#x201D; 42 â&#x20AC;&#x201D; voted for the motion, showing that the separate submission forces were gaining strength. But there still were not enough votes for the motion to carry. A few minutes later the equal suffrage section was passed by a vote of 75 to 14, with 12 absent and 5 excused from voting, most of them on the grounds that they were in favor of woman suffrage but against having it put in the constitution. Despite the fact that woman suffrage was now a part of the main article on elections and suffrage to be voted on later, the controversy was not over. T h e Mormon church's General Conference was being held on April 5, 6, and 7, and the convention was adjourned for two days because of the Arbor Day holiday. Although the subject was studiously avoided by conference speakers, the church leadership was very much aware of the issue. Church President Wilford Woodruff noted in his journal on April 2 that he was "visited by a Company of Sisters upon Womans Sufferage" [sic].45 He did not disclose what they said to him or what he said to them. On April 4 at a meeting of the First Presidency and the apostles, J o h n Henry Smith, an apostle and president of the convention, said that all the Gentiles in the constitutional convention were united in their opposition to the suffrage provision, and many Mormons were also opposed to it. According to Apostle Abraham H. Cannon's account of the meeting, President Woodruff said he feared the constitution would be defeated if woman suffrage was not a part of it, and he said he had advised B. H. Roberts not to oppose it. Joseph F. Smith, a counselor in the First Presidency, spoke in favor of including it in the constitution, as did several others. George Q. Cannon, another counselor and a former territorial delegate to Congress, urged that the suffrage question wait rather than threaten the achievement of statehood: I believe we can better wait for a time to get Suffrage for the women, than to force the matter now, and thus array against us the opposition of the Gentiles. It gives the opponents of Statehood the opportunity to work strongly against the Constitution. Things which are right in themselves it is not always wise to attempt. . . . 45

Wilford Woodruff Journal, Archives Division, Historical Department, Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, Salt Lake City.

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Since there was no unity of opinion of the subject, the matter was left for t h e m e m b e r s to d o as they d e s i r e d , A b r a h a m C a n n o n reported. 4 6 It is obvious that there was little the church leadership could have done without arousing fears of church interference in the affairs of state. On Monday, April 8, a large n u m b e r of petitions asking for separate submission of the woman suffrage section arrived at the convention. Nevertheless, the entire article containing the woman suffrage section was passed with a vote of 75 for, 16 against, 13 absent and 2 paired. But it was agreed that the article could be recalled for further consideration later if a simple majority, rather than the two-thirds majority usually required for reconsideration, should desire to do so. 47 At this point the delegates were faced with the fact that their $30,000 appropriation was rapidly r u n n i n g out, and they needed to move on to other subjects. It was one thing to spend time listening to overblown oratory in the early days of the convention; it was quite another to face the prospect of working on into the s u m m e r without their four-dollar-a-day salary. Although the issue seemed settled, the petitions calling for separate submission of the woman suffrage section continued to pour into the convention from all corners of the territory. Recognizing the need for a counterforce against this tide, the wellorganized suffragists swung into action with their own petitions calling for e q u a l political r i g h t s to be e m b e d d e d in t h e constitution. 4 8 T h e petition game was one that both sides could play. On April 18 a motion to reconsider the suffrage and election article was offered by Varian. After a brief flurry of debate centering on fears for passage of the constitution by the people, the motion was lost on a vote of 32 for, 69 against, 3 absent, and 2 paired. 4 9 T h e petitions obviously had helped to keep the opposition alive, but the supporters of political equality generally had held firm t h r o u g h o u t the controversy. T h e Tribune, which had kept u p a steady opposition to woman suffrage, reported on April 19 that the tally on petitions as of April 18 stood at 15,366 signatures for separate submission and 24,801 signatures for including the vote for women in the constitu46

Abraham H. Cannon J o u r n a l , April 4, 1895, Lee Library. ^Proceedings, 1:804. 48 Mary A. Freeze reported in her diary on April 9 that she had copied headings for petitions and helped to get them circulated. 49 Proceedings, 2:1150.

Utah Historical Quarterly

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male — apparently had found it possible to accept the new constitution with political equality in it, d e s p i t e the threats to their happy homes and the fear of adding Utah to the small list of "freak" states. 53

Standard editorial, April 19, 1895; Tribune editorial, May 8, 1895. Woman's Exponent, 24 (October 15, 1895), 68. "Results of the 1895 election are found in Utah Commission, Minute Book G, p.413, Utah State Archives, State Capitol, Salt Lake City. Out of a total vote of 38,992, the "yes" votes numbered 31,305 and the "no" votes 7,687. 53 Susan B. Anthony reported in May 1895 that only two states, Wyoming and Colorado, granted full political equality to women, while one state permitted them to vote in municipal elections and 25 permitted them to vote in school elections. Woman's Exponent, 23 (May 15, 1895), 268. 5l

The Struggle for Equal Rights

365 III

It seems strange that a proposal which started out with the strong support of a majority of delegates could have generated so much heat and consumed so much time. It is one of the theses of this paper that much of the a r g u m e n t over woman suffrage had little to do with the issue of women's political rights. T h e Mormon-Gentile political and economic conflicts of the past, supposedly forgotten in the struggle for statehood, were lying just below the surface. T h e fear of domination by the Mormon majority was a real one to the non-Mormons in the convention. These fears probably had to be aired, and this was one of the issues to which the fear of Mormon domination became attached. T h e r e was also a deep concern that statehood, which seemed so near, might once again slip away if the convention produced a document that displeased Congress or President Cleveland. T h e memories of several past constitutional conventions which had failed to bring statehood were still fresh in many minds. These fears, together with the excitement produced by a charismatic orator, were enough to keep the question alive for such a long period of time. Although the oratory made good newspaper copy, and makes interesting reading even today, it probably did not c h a n g e many votes. It simply took time to air the question thoroughly and give everyone a chance to be heard. After reading through so many pages of debate and knowing that in the end nothing was changed, it is tempting to view this entire struggle as a sham battle, staged for political glory by ambitious politicians. One would have to i m p u g n the integrity of B. H. Roberts, among others, to reach this conclusion. T h e author believes that Roberts was sincere in his actions, as were the others who worked so hard to keep the suffrage article out of the constitution. For his efforts Roberts earned the ill-concealed scorn of many of his colleagues in the convention, was bitterly assailed and urged to resign by members of his own party in Davis County, became estranged from the top church leadership, and gained the hearty disapproval of many future women voters. T h e battle was real to Roberts and to the outnumbered minority who opposed woman suffrage for various reasons. T h e one strategy that might have kept the woman suffrage section out of the constitution was the movement to submit it for a separate vote. This proposal offered a tempting haven to those who felt committed to the cause of woman suffrage but did not want to

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risk the rejection of the constitution. It was a kind of "half-way house" for those who wanted to keep their party platform pledges but who were concerned about the flood of petitions indicating strong opposition to putting equal rights in the constitution. Supporters of separate submission could argue, with some logic, that if woman suffrage were so clearly preferred by the people they would certainly vote for it separately. Those who wanted it nailed down in the constitution generally replied that all the bad elements in the state — saloon keepers, gamblers, prostitutes, and the like — would use their evil money to sway the election and keep the purifying influence of women out of politics. 54 Moreover, the Democrats were continually reminded that their platform had promised to put woman suffrage in the constitution — not to shift the question to the voters. T h e strength of this appeal for a separate vote can be seen on April 4 when forty-two delegates tried to send the suffrage section back to the committee for rewriting into a separate article. When casting their votes, many affirmed their devotion to woman suffrage but argued that no harm would be done by a separate vote. Given more time to raise doubts, the minority probably could have won a few more converts to the separate submission proposal. But the convention was tired of the subject; the appropriation was rapidly running out; there was a strong core of suffrage supporters who wanted the issue decided without further delay. By the time the subject came up for reconsideration, the delegates were in no mood to open again such an emotion-clouded issue. So it seems that the real battle was over separate submission. This strategy offered a ground of compromise that is always tempting to politicians who do not want to displease anyone and who are usually happy to shift emotional issues to the voters for decision. However, even on this issue, the suffrage supporters won. Why did women find a place in the constitution in 1895? There are several reasons. First, although the vote for women was something of a radical proposal at the time — since only two states then granted full suffrage — it was not identified with radicals in Utah. T h e r e was no militancy; there were no public spectacles. T h e suffragists concentrated on winning equal political rights and did not espouse other controversial reform measures that might have alienated their supporters. T h e women supporting suffrage were prei4

See speech of Lorin Farr, Proceedings, 1:701.

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dominantly from the respectable M o r m o n establishment, w o m e n who were wives and d a u g h t e r s of church leaders. A m o n g t h e m were Zina D. H. Y o u n g , a wife of B r i g h a m Y o u n g ; J a n e S. R i c h a r d s , wife of A p o s t l e F r a n k l i n D. R i c h a r d s ; Dr. M a r t h a H u g h e s C a n n o n , a wife of Angus M. C a n n o n ; Margaret Caine, wife of Delegate to Congress J o h n T . Caine; Susa Y o u n g Gates, e d i t o r of t h e Young Woman s Journal; and, of course, the t i r e l e s s e d i t o r of t h e Woman's Exponent, a wife of Daniel H. Wells, E m m e l i n e B. Wells. T h e s e w o m e n were p r o m i n e n t in the Y o u n g Ladies Mutual I m p r o v e m e n t Association or in the Relief Society a n d frequently p r o m o t e d suffrage t h r o u g h the Relief Susa Young Gates.

Society. 55

T h e suffrage m o v e m e n t leaders had enjoyed the s u p p o r t of the church's First Presidency in attending national meetings for many years, ostensibly to show the women of the rest of the nation that they were not ignorant, d o w n t r o d d e n victims of a peculiar marriage system. Apostles openly p r o m o t e d suffrage in the early 1890s. 56 S u p p o r t from the top, however, was not e n o u g h . T h e w o m a n suffrage leaders had carried their educational efforts t h r o u g h o u t the territory, a n d there was no question that they had developed broad support. A m o v e m e n t so widespread, so completely dominated by the "respectable" women of the territory, could hardly be laughed off as the pet cause of a few radicals. 55

F. J. Kiesel acknowledged the role of the Relief Society d u r i n g a convention debate: "I admit that there is a society existing in Utah â&#x20AC;&#x201D; a very estimable body of ladies â&#x20AC;&#x201D; the Female Relief Society, an adjunct of the C h u r c h of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, a n d those are the ladies that have worked u p sentiment, while on the other side there is a large body of ladies that d o not want, a n d are not in favor of, woman's suffrage. "Proceedings, 1:734. 56 For example see speech of Apostle Franklin D. Richards on March 19, 1891, r e p o r t e d in "Woman Suffrage in the West," in Heart Throbs of the West, Kate B. Carter, comp., 12 vols. (Salt Lake City, 1939-51), 5:311. This article traces the history of Utah's suffrage fight, including the relationships between the territorial and national woman suffrage organizations a n d the role of the Relief Society in organizing suffrage association chapters in Utah. See especially 291-94, 299-301, and 310-14.

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A second reason may be found in the fact that woman suffrage had already been tried in Utah for seventeen years and the territory had survived the experience. So the new state would not be taking a plunge into the unknown. As a Herald writer asked rhetorically at the height of the suffrage debate: "Where are its terrible consequences? Where is the degradation of women as its effect? Where are the discordant and wifeless and motherless homes as the result?" 57 A third reason lay in the careful cultivation of grass-roots, bipartisan support throughout the territory. As a result, the women were able to obtain a minimal commitment to the cause of equal political rights in party platforms, a commitment that some delegates felt unhappy about but still felt obliged to keep. Those who wanted to cast platform promises aside were charged with a lack of honor and with creating a low opinion of politicians among citizens who had elected them on those platforms. This proved to have been an important part of the preconvention strategy of the suffragists and a result of their excellent groundwork in the years before 1895. T h e value of these platform commitments may be seen in the statements of two of the strongest non-Mormon members of the convention, former U. S. attorney Varian and Tribune editor Goodwin, on March 29, that they were against putting suffrage in the constitution but felt bound to keep faith with the people who had expressed their will in the party platforms. A fourth reason why women won their fight in the 1895 convention was because they had a solid core of supporters in the convention â&#x20AC;&#x201D; supporters who parried the oratorical thrusts, who made sure they were not outwitted in parliamentary maneuvering, and who stood fast when the compromise move for separate submission threatened to postpone the achievement of their aims. Anyone who has ever lobbied a bill through a legislature knows that there are supporters who will vote for your cause when there is little controversy over it and there are supporters who will put up a real fight for your bill, using their influence to convince others and holding firm to the end. Most people today who know anything about the woman suffrage fight in the constitutional convention recall only that B. H. Roberts led the oratorical fight against it. A few may recall that Orson F. Whitney made a stirring speech in rebuttal. But few know 57

April7, 1895.

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369

of the many men who fought the wearying fight day after day, the men who firmly believed that women had rights that should be clearly expressed in the new state constitution, the men who had faith that putting women in the constitution did not mean driving them out of the home. Among the strongest of these was the son of one prominent suffragist and husband of another, Franklin S. Richards. Permit me to close with just one more bit of convention oratory, a paragraph from a speech made by Richards on April 1, 1895, when many feared that the inclusion of woman suffrage in the constitution might mean the loss of statehood: So I say that if the price of statehood is the disfranchisement of one half of the people; if our wives, and mothers, and daughers, are to be accounted either unworthy or incapacitated to exercise the rights and privileges of citizenship, then, however precious the boon may be, it is not worth the price demanded, and I am content to share with them the disabilities of territorial vassalage till the time shall come, as it will come in the providence of God, when all can stand side by side on the broad platform of h u m a n equality, of equal rights, and of equal capacity. 58 ^Proceedings, 1:444.

STATEMENT OF OWNERSHIP, MANAGEMENT, AND CIRCULATION

T h e Utah Historical Quarterly is published quarterly by the Utah State Historical Society, 603 East South Temple, Salt Lake City, Utah 84102. T h e editor is Melvin T. Smith and the managing editor is Stanford J. Layton with offices at the same address as the publisher. T h e magazine is owned by the Utah State Historical Society, and no individual or company owns or holds any bonds, mortgages, or other securities of the Society or its magazine. T h e purposes, function, and nonprofit status of this organization and the exempt status for federal income tax purposes have not changed during the preceding twelve months. T h e following figures are the average number of copies of each issue during the preceding twelve months: 3,500 copies printed; no paid circulation; 2,719 mail subscriptions; 2,719 total paid circulation; 150 free distribution (including samples) by mail, carrier, or other means; 2,869 total distribution; 631 inventory for office use, leftover, unaccounted, spoiled after printing, total 3,500. T h e following figures are the actual n u m b e r of copies of single issue published nearest to filing date: 3,500 copies printed; no paid circulation; 2,882 mail subscriptions; 2,882 total paid circulation; 150 free distribution (including samples) by mail, carrier, or other means; 3,032 total distribution; 468 inventory for office use, leftover, unaccounted, spoiled after printing; total 3,500.

* % Dl/ferenca* In tlm* ionsi bring u u u n rraa world capitals for today's A a n t N m

SALT LAKE CITY

UTAH

SATURDAY DECEMBER

18 1937

VOL. 348. NO. 54. 88TH YEA

S. RENEWS PANAY PR0TES1 eek Be 5oon

House Vote Checkmates Labor Bill

Bureau

Farm

ices

Measure

Poor Visibility'' Claimed For Bombing U. S. Ships

America Ai Japan Pro Gunboat Ca

New Note From C Hite Attack After Aerial Bombing

Passes

Senate With Tally Of 5 9 T o 2 9

:tlon of the Creek reclabe taken hn C. Page, U. S. Recla.issioner, ane today, actual conject will bethe nths, le explained d be allowed i ute their es- | bids. About needed to ;, terms of beginning of a month afwill include dam proper, ion and the tretches of below the

BY REG INGRAllAM. WASHINGTON. Dec. IS.—(AD — \ climatic House rebellion which shelved the wage-hour bill checkmated administration leaders today In their efforts to push through much of the Roosevelt program before adjournment next

!AreasIn2

of these un- \ r^ around $3, M a t C S project, inn tunnel is liable reclamation K are availeek project.

r\ T 8 C C

Flood Threat PITTSBURGH, Dec. 18.—(AP) —Rivers rose throughout Western Pennsylvania and Northern

n a tense, overtime session, House sent the battered asure back to the Labor Comtee last night despite an ap1 from Majority Leader R a y (D-Tex) that such uld "the death of hour legislation. The 21(j-to-198 vote, which dealt the administration its first major legislatixe defeat since the Senate killed the Roosevelt court bill last summer, was offset somewhat by Senate approval of the other major item on the special session program— far: bill. Carried 59 to 20 The Senate approved the measure 59 to 29, ending four weeks of wrangling only two hours before a coalition of Republicans and Southern Democrats doomed the labor standards bill in the House. Victory on the farm measure, however, came after weary senators saw it nearly sidetracked

Japanese claim that poor visibility and inability to discern any mark of identification indicating that they were American ships, was the cause of the recent bombing of the V. S. S. Panay and three oil tankers in the Yangtze River. Survivor witnesses refuted the Japanese statement by declaring visibility was excellent and added Japanese launches machine-gunned the-Panay and that soldiers boarded her before she sank. Photo shou's the Standard Oil tanker Meishia, one of the bomb 'victims. Note the Stars and Stripes flying on the masthead and also astern. Arrow points to other marks of identification on stack and side of ship.

Officers Hunt Alcatraz Felons SAN FRANCISCO. Dec. 18.— (API—The search -for two missing Alcatraz Island convicts was renewed on land and water today, but officials reiterated belief the pair drowned in a desperate attempt to flee from the supposedly escape-proof federal

Sunny Skies Follow Brief Rain And Snow Fair weather prevailed over virtually all of Utah today after the tip of a n o r t h w e s t e r n storm area, which yielded some rain and snow in n o r t h w e s t e r n Utah, had been driven northward. The mercury, which remained * -^——————————— above the freezing mark yester- |-••••-r f day, threatened to sink to lower I x i O O V G l * X j & l l f i 8

TOKYO, Dec. 18.—(AP)Japanese foreign office disc: today that United States Ar. sador Joseph Ci Grew hac llvered a second American in connection with the slnkii the gunboat Panay. The nature of the new r sentatlons was not mad* kl but they w*re reliably ul stood to concern reports tha Yangtze River patrol ship been machine-gunned by , nese launches before It sanl der the pounding of aerial ix last Sunday. The note also was bellevt have carried a strong pi against the reported boardli the Panay by Japanese off before lt went down abou miles upriver from Nanking Officer To Realga Informed sources said Vice-Admiral Kiyoshl Has*! commanding Japanese naval es in the war with China, ht sumed "full responsibility" the Panay attack and baa < ed to resign. . At the same time the Japi army officially entered the i tigatlon. Lieut-Col. Yo* Nlshl was said to have left yo several days ago to cor an Inquiry lrt China lndeper of the navy's investigation.

Senators King and Thomas and the Coming War with Japan BY J U S T I N H. LIBBY

of the "vicious assault by a skillful a n d determined enemy," as Michigan Congressman Claire E. Hoffman deA N THE AFTERMATH

Dr. Libby is assistant professor of history at Indiana-Purdue University at Indianapolis. He acknowledges the financial assistance of Indiana University Office of Research and Advanced Studies in the preparation of this manuscript.

At Sh.nohol »n ntflMml TT

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371

scribed the attack upon Pearl Harbor, 1 the United States resolved to crush Japan militarily. This decision was, of course, a reaction to the Japanese attack, but it was also the culmination of a decade of growing enmity between the United States and Japan. In each nation there was sentiment for rapprochement and for outright belligerence. In the United States these two opposing positions were most noticeably articulated by members of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee. Both Utah senators, William H. King and Elbert D. Thomas, were members of this committee, but they voiced separate, distinctive attitudes concerning the increasing menace of Japan to the independence and integrity of the countries in Asia, and their positions were quintessential statements of the confusion, indecision, and irresolution evidenced on Capitol Hill and in the country as a whole. By examining their attitudes, which has not been done heretofore, it is possible to achieve a better understanding of American-Japanese relations between the two world wars. During his congressional career following World War I, Senator King favored American participation in the League of Nations and the Kellogg-Briand Pact; 2 he also endorsed the Washington Conference negotiations in 1922 by voting for the Five and Nine Power Treaties, calling the latter a "magnificent gesture." 3 Possessing an intense mistrust and hostility toward Japan, however, he broke this voting pattern by opposing the Four Power Treaty, a rejection predicated on fear that it would guarantee a status quo in the Pacific thereby insuring a Japanese Empire in Asia.4 Moreover, he did not believe the treaty would stand if the signatories became embroiled in a crisis with a fifth power or if a nationalistic encounter strained their tenuous relationship. 5 Earlier, King had rejected Japan's call for an equality article in the covenant of the League of Nations, remarking:

^ . S . , Congress, House, 77th Cong., 1st sess., December 16, 1941, Congressional Record, 87, p. 9856. ^Biographical Directory of the American Congress, 1774-1961 (Washington, 1961), 1168; Who Was Who in America, 4 vols. (Chicago, 1950), 2:300; New YorkTimes, April 26, 1927, p. 8, and January 8, 1929, p. 2; "A Caribbean Comedy," Independent, 118 (March 26, 1927), 329. See also Laurence M. Hauptman, "Utah Anti-Imperialist: Senator William H. King and Haiti, 1921-34," Utah Historical Quarterly, 41 (Spring 1973), 117-27. 3 New York Times, March 31, 1922, p. 2. 4 For King's voting on the Washington Conference treaties consult U. S., Congress, Senate, 67th Cong., 2d sess., March 24, 1922, Congressional Record, 62, p. 4497; March 29, 1922, p. 4718-19; March 30, 1922, p. 4784. See also New York Times, January 8, 1922, p. 2. 5 New York Times, December 11, 1921, p. 4, and December 29, 1921, p. 2.

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Utah Historical Quarterly If Japan insists upon equality for her citizens in immigration that simply means that either Japan or the United States will not be a signatory to the League of Nations compact. 6

Recognizing that this issue was central to Japan's honor, King still could not allay his concern that if the article was inserted into the covenant and then signed by the United States, a possibility might arise whereby the League could interfere in American immigration policies.7 A rather farfetched assumption, it nevertheless caused King to remain adamant in his rejection and portended, in 1919, the extent to which his anti-Japanese prejudices would color future foreign policy decisions. 8 But throughout the decade, despite these sentiments, King continued to hope for some rapprochement between Japan and the United States, even calling upon the president and the Congress to convince the Japanese they had nothing to fear from America. 9 Concurrently, he was appointed a member of the Executive Committee of the Asiatic Exclusion League in order to advise the administration on the "Western viewpoint" concerning the formulating and implementing of anti-Japanese immigration and residency legislation. 10 Whereas his opposition to J a p a n continued to increase throughout the twenties, King was, at the same time, evidencing strong friendship for China. Desirous of ending all unequal treaties in that nation, he voted against the Chinese Customs Tariff Treaty and America's participation in fixing Chinese tariff schedules negotiated during the Washington Conference. In protest against what he termed insincere expressions of friendship for China, the Utah Democrat rebuked the treaty as "an infringement upon the rights of China and of her sovereign authority." 11 He demanded removal of the tariff chains and acceptance of China as an equal member into the community of nations. 12 In 1926 King worked for removal of American warships from Chinese waters as well as ÂŤIbid., March 16, 1919, p. 3. Ibid. Hbid. !, "A Condemnation of United States Naval Policy," Current History, 22 (May 1925), 167-77; New Republic, 25 (February 2, 1921), 271. '"King to Sen. Hiram Johnson (R. Calif.), April 18, 1921, William H. King folder, Hiram Johnson MSS, Bancroft Library, University of California, Berkeley. The letter thanks Johnson for the appointment. ll New York Times, March 31, 1922, p. 1; U.S., Congress, Senate, 67th Cong., 2d sess., March 30, 1922, Congressional Record, 62, p. 4790. 12 U.S., Congress, Senate, 67th Cong., 2d sess., March 30, 1922, Congressional Record, 62, p. 4789-91; the vote on the tariff treaty can be found on p. 4791.

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American "imperialists" from t h a t c o u n t r y . 1 3 Two years later, calling for recognition of the Nationalist government in order to foster SinoAmerican amity, King remarked that recognition would help stabilize conditions in China and nullify any Communist activities. 14 By 1931, the senator's pro-Chinese sympathy had become mixed with his dislike of Japan whose aggression against C h i n a f o r g e d him into a d e d i c a t e d member of the incipient anti-Japanese movement in Congress throughout the next deWilliam H. King. cade. Following what he t e r m e d J a p a n ' s violations of Chinese sovereignty in 1931, King asked for an economic boycott against that nation. 15 Continuing his crusade, three years later he supported impartial embargo powers for the president as well as an investigation into Japanese actions in Manchuria and into alleged accusations that Japan was fortifying the mandated islands under her control in the Pacific Ocean. 1 6 T h e investigation, he insisted, was not to 13

New York Times, February 17, 1926, p. 10. /fcd.,July 10, 1928, p. 5. 15 Ibid., January 31, 1932, p. 25. 16 Ibid., January 9, 1935, p. 3, See Senate Resolution 154, U. S., Congress, Senate, 74th Cong., 1st sess., J u n e 17, 1935, Congressional Record, 79, p. 9415-16. T h e matter was referred to the Senate Foreign Relations Committee and never reported out. T h e question of impartial embargo powers was studied by the State Department but the department informed Pittman, chairman of the Foreign Relations Committee, that neither Secretary of State Hull nor his advisors had reached a conclusion on the matter. See R. Walton Moore to Walter Lamb, clerk of the committee, U.S., Department of State, State Department file 811.113-556, January 25, 1935, National Archives, Washington, D.C. Moore was a former congressman from Virginia and served during 1919-31. He was appointed assistant secretary of state, replacing Raymond Moley, and served as congressional liaison from 1933 until his death on February 8, 1941. 14

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threaten Japanese interests but to preserve the territorial integrity of China and to insist on the observation of international agreements since the League of Nations had only given Japan the Pacific islands in trust, not as outright possessions. 17 As violence in the world increased during the thirties, King's thinking exhibited conflicting tendencies in international relations. While still remaining angry, bitter, and hostile towards Japanese aggressions in China, he simultaneously asked for disarmament of all Christian nations and for the defeat of the administration's army and navy appropriation bills. He also pleaded for policies leading to world peace and calculated to relieve the people of the heavy burden of militaristic taxation. 18 Yet he dismissed any moderate policies towards Japan, especially following the Marco Polo Bridge incident on July 7, 1937, and the sinking of the American gunboat Panay on December 12, 1937, the latter event converting him into one of the most strident anti-Japanese members of Congress. 19 The Panay episode prompted him to address the Senate for three consecutive days in February 1938 and in the process fill thirty pages of the Congressional Record. Referring to his one-time friendship for that country, he recalled defending her during the occupation of nonJapanese territory following the First World War. King had hoped her withdrawal from the Shantung Peninsula and Siberia in 1922 would mean the beginning of a new, liberal, and anti-imperialistic government. Japan's return to militarism in the thirties following a decade of incipient democratic reforms instilled within the Utah Democrat a feeling of betrayal. Arguing that Japan was motivated by greed, avarice, and ambition for power, King called her policies abhorrent and uncivilized, remarking the time had passed for believing her assurances and promises that no American rights would be violated in Asia.20 King's views on Japan never varied during his remaining years on Capitol Hill, and he continued to oppose her on racial, strategic, and military grounds. While unhesitant to challenge Japan, King still maintained a non-belligerent missionary sentiment for peace, sanity, and a lack of militarism towards the growing menace of totalitarianism in Europe. Yet by 1938 he was condemn17

New York Times, January 9, 1935, p. 3. Swarthmore College Peace Collection, "Neutrality Campaign, 1935-1939," Box 388, National Council for Prevention of War MSS, Swarthmore College Library, Swarthmore, Pennsylvania. 19 New York Times, December 14, 1937, p. 18. 20 U.S., Congress, Senate. 75th Cong., 3d sess., February 2, 1938, Congressional Record, 83, p. 1400-1407; Ibid., February 3, 1938, p. 1450-64; Ibid., February 4, 1938, p. 1504-12. l8

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ing Japan most vehemently, making it clear he would not be averse to an embargo of trade and perhaps the severance of diplomatic relations. 21 By 1940, continuing to ask for severe reprisals against the Japanese, King had become one of the senators least willing to appease her. 22 In a letter to his wife on October 1, 1940, Roger S. Greene of the strident anti-Japanese organization, the American Committee for Non-Participationin Japanese Aggression, 23 wrote affectionately of King. Calling him a friend of China and the committee, Greene lamented that with the Utah Democrat losing his bid for reelection earlier that year, a valuable ally would be sorely missed on Capitol Hill.24 King had been a recognized stalwart of anti-Japanese sentiment on the Hill as well as a forum for the committee. 25 Actually, King needed little prompting from the American Committee; in fact, he had moved beyond its call for an economic embargo. Introducing a bill in 1940 that would have authorized the president to negotiate with other powers friendly to the United States for naval bases in the Pacific, King showed a disposition toward military confrontation with Japan. 2 6 In an emotional outburst on the floor of the Senate, he called for halting Japan's "oriental tyranny and mediaeval barbarism in China" and other implied regions of Asia as well.27 King impressed the members of the American Committee, and they enjoyed speaking to him on the Hill where they always received a genuine welcome. They found the Utah Democrat pessimistic about the readiness of the administration to halt Japanese aggression effectively or to support his bill. Although the government had terminated the American-Japanese Commer21 Ibid., June 16, 1938, p. 9525-26; New York Times, July 17, 1938, p. 2; Towards European events King concurred with the sentiments of the pacifist National Council for Prevention of War and spoke under their auspices. See "Neutrality Campaign, 1935-1939." The NCPW did oppose boycotting Japan. See Ibid., "Japanese Boycott, 1937," folder. "U.S., Congress, Senate, 76th Cong., 3d sess., appendix, Congressional Record, 86, p. \43-44; I bid., January 25, 1940, p. 666; William L. Langer and S. Everett Gleason, The Challenge to Isolation, 1937-1940 (New York, 1952), 578. "Hereinafter cited as ACNPJA or American Committee. 24 Roger S. Greene to Katherine Greene, October 1, 1940, Roger S. Greene MSS, Houghton Library, Harvard University, Cambridge, Massachusetts. See also footnote 29. "King's sentiments may be consulted in King to George Fielding Eliot, November 9, 1940, "Congressional Correspondence File," ACNPJA Papers, Littauer Center Library, Harvard University. 26 The bill was first introduced on September 30, 1940, and was ordered to lie on the table. The next day King asked that it be sent to the Foreign Relations Committee where it was never acted upon. See Senate Resolution 4391, U.S., Congress, Senate, 76th Cong., 3d sess., September 30, 1940, Congressional Record, 86, p. 12780, and October 1, 1940, p. 12902. "Ibid., appendix, p. 143-44; Ibid., January 25, 1940, p. 666.

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cial Treaty of Amity and Navigation signed in 1911, King did not d e e m that action sufficient to stop J a p a n . G r e e n e readily concurred. 28 Unfortunately for the anti-Japanese movement, King failed to win the Democratic party's primary election for renomination to the Senate in 1940. The administration had not forgiven King, a ranking member of the Senate Judiciary Committee, for helping block Franklin D. Roosevelt's court reorganization attempts in 1937 and hailed his defeat as a victory for the New Deal. 29 While King could be considered a member of a loosely constructed anti-Japanese coalition in Congress during the thirties, Utah's other Senator initially represented a striking departure from that point of view. Sen. Elbert D. Thomas, a long-time friend of Japan, probably had more familiarity and personal experience with that nation than any other congressman serving on the Hill. Thomas had attained his firsthand knowledge as missionary and president of the Japan Mission for the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints from 1907 to 1912. During that time he not only traveled throughout the empire spreading the Mormon faith, he also taught English to students of the Japanese War College, learned their language well enough to speak and read it fluently, and even wrote articles for Japanese magazines. Before returning to the University of Utah in 1913, Thomas and his wife traveled throughout Asia, and in the following years he continued to extend his knowledge of eastern Asia at the University of California, Berkeley, by writing his doctoral thesis â&#x20AC;&#x201D; which was published in 1927 â&#x20AC;&#x201D; on Chinese political thought. Defeating five-term Sen. Reed Smoot, Thomas was elected to the Senate in 1932 and served until 1951. 30 28

Greene to Greene, October 1, 1940; King to George Fielding Eliot, November 9, 1940. Eliot was an army major who considered America impregnable. In the monograph The Ramparts We Watch: A Study of the Problems of American National Defense (New York, 1938), Eliot wrote that America's geographical distance from war in Europe and Asia was sufficient to maintain peace at home. King's letter was a refutation of that thesis. 29 James T. Patterson, Congressional Conservatism and the New Deal: The Growth of the Conservative Coalition in Congress, 1933-1939 (Lexington, Ky., 1967), 77-l27;New York Times, November 7, 1940, p. 16, and November 24, 1940, p. 2. The issue of Japan does not seem to have influenced the electorate since King was considered a senator to be purged. His purge also provides an interesting commentary on the administration's priorities. ^Biographical Directory of the American Congress, 1703-04; Maxine Block, ed., Current Biography, 1942 (New York, 1942), 830-31; Time, 39 (January 5, 1942), 29; New York Times, December 30, 1941, p. 3. For additional biographical material consult, "Biographical Data on Senator Elbert D. Thomas," Biographical Data 1938 folder, Box 7, Thomas MSS, Franklin D. Roosevelt Library, Hyde Park, New York.

Senators King and Thomas Prior to 1940, Thomas had been one of Japan's strongest allies, working diligently in the Senate to convince his colleagues that the government in Tokyo could be won over to a moderate, peaceful policy whereby the two n a t i o n s could avoid armed conflict. In 1935 he had called for an exchange of students between J a p a n a n d America to foster understanding. If cordial relations and understanding were not achieved, T h o m a s warned, within ten years fear a n d distrust would lead to " t h e bloodiest war ever known in the world." 3 1 Proposing that

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Thomas.

student exchanges were a better defense against war than the $26 million appropriated for defense of Hawaii and the $ 100,000 for air defense programs a n d fortifications in Alaska and the Aleutian Islands, he remarked that his plan would help guarantee peace, for "nations that understand each other and have no fear of each other will never fight." 32 Trying to convince his colleagues a n d countrymen the Japanese could be won over to a peaceful policy if America truly wanted to avoid war, T h o m a s suggested restraint from any intervention on behalf of China. H e also hesitated supporting the invocation of the neutrality legislation, apprehensive that such a move would anger Tokyo. H e warned that should the United States recognize a state of war when it had not been legally declared by the belligerents, J a p a n might be provoked into attacking Americans residing in China. A further ramification of acknowledging an Asian war, T h o m a s added, might be to cause 31

New York Times, February 15, 1935, p. 4. Ibid.

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Utah Historical Quarterly . . . each nation now fighting to declare that war was forced on them as a result of America's action and the present ignoble lawlessness would become a glorious war, a war, too, which would, by the governments affected, be justified and therefore made bigger and more intrinsic by appeals to patriotism, sacrifice, and devotion to country. 33

Believing, even after the sinking of the Panay, that it would be in the best interests of the United States and Japan to reach a rapprochement, Thomas reminded his colleagues that Japan, by admitting it was wrong and compensating the families of the men lost in the incident, had undercut any argument for going to war. In addition to promising to pay indemnities to the families of the crew members, Japan also agreed to punish the responsible military personnel, leading Thomas to conclude that the apology and payment should end the controversy in Congress and the nation. 34 Nevertheless, even while he worked for Japan's friendship, the war in Asia began in late 1937 to irritate the senator and lead him to a sympathy for China's plight. 35 By February 13, 1939, Japan's strongest ally in the Senate had introduced a new proposal, Senate Joint Resolution 67, which if passed would have given the president authority to forbid exports to belligerents. There was, however, one important exception; if the chief executive considered a country the victim of aggression he could lift the embargo to aid that nation in its struggle. 36 In attempting unsuccessfully to reverse the supposedly neutral provisions contained in the Neutrality Act of 1937 by allowing the president latitude in determining the aggressor and the 33 U.S., Congress, Senate, 75th Cong., 2d sess., appendix, Congressional Record, p. 82, 96; undated news release, Box 7, Thomas MSS. 34 New York Times, December 14, 1937, p. 18. See also Thomas to Willis W. Ritter, December 20, 1937, "R" folder, Box 26, and Thomas to Juiji G. Kasai, a member of the House of Representatives, Japanese Imperial Diet, February 9, 1938, and March 23, 1938, unmarked folder, box 25, Thomas MSS. 35 See reprint of a speech over the Columbia Broadcasting System sponsored by World Peaceways, Inc., a nonprofit organization for public information on peace and international affairs. Also consult letter, J. Max Weis to Thomas, in folder, "November 4 Neutrality Act and Sino-Japanese Conflict," Box 5, and Thomas to G. Shiraishi, November 16, 1937, "S" folder, Box 26, both in Thomas MSS. Thomas's speech in Salt Lake City, November 4, 1937, concerning neutrality and the Sino-Japanese conflict is enlightening; see his "Chinese-Japanese War" folder, OF-150-C, Box 5, Franklin D. Roosevelt MSS, FDR Library. Congressional Record, p. 82, 96. For Thomas's concern that neutrality legislation would not keep the United States out of war see: "United States Relations with Foreign Countries," Vital Speeches of the Day, 2 (October 7, 1935), 3-5; "Theory of Neutrality," The Annals of the American Academy of Social and Political Science, 186 (July 1936), 163-68; ibid., 192 (July 1937), supplement, 131-37; "Can Impartial Neutrality Be Maintained," Vital Speeches of the Day, 5 (October 1, 1939), 743-46. 36 U.S., Congress, Senate, 76th Cong., 1st sess., February 13, 1939, Congressional Record, 84, p. 1347; New York Times, December 2, 1938, p. 10, January 28, 1939, p. 5, February 15, 1939, p. 2, and March 26, 1939, p. 29; Robert Divine, The Illusion of Neutrality: Franklin D. Roosevelt and the Struggle Over the Arms Embargo (Chicago, 1962), 239-46.

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victim, Thomas's sponsorship of the measure portended growing animosity within the Senate toward the European dictatorships and Japan. 3 7 Thomas now came to realize that the issue in Asia was more than a military or imperial commitment by Japan. It was a countervailing revolution of ideas, ethics, and diplomacy opposed to his view of civilization, fair treatment of people, and peace. His eventual conversion to an anti-Japanese stance was prompted by Japan's power relationship in China and Southeast Asia. If Japan's friend could shift his position so radically in two years that he would be willing to allow Roosevelt the discretion to use an embargo because of that nation's aggressive, imperialistic policy,38 then what kind of attitudes could be expected from other, less moderate, members of Congress, such as William H. King? During this transitional period Thomas became an ardent supporter of the American Committee. On February 5, 1940, Greene interviewed the senator and wrote that the Utah Democrat was now interested in halting Japanese expansion. Moreover, Greene remarked that he liked Thomas both personally and for his aid on the Hill concerning an embargo of trade to Japan. Thomas, with his previous liking for Japan and scholarly research in East Asian culture, was a powerful ally in the Senate and his conversion was considered a major victory by Greene's anti-Japanese committee. 39 Further discouraged in September 1940 when Japan signed the Tripartite Agreement with Germany and Italy, Thomas reflected: That Japan, a victor, should ally herself with Germany which was a defeated country, and make common cause with that defeated country, leaves Japan in an inconsistent position. Today she is confused. The old order is changing, but a new order will not come by reverting to the ways of the barbarian. Since the Manchurian and the Chapei incidents, Japan's history has not been an enviable one. Her latest act is in no sense one of self-defense or self-protection. It is one of aggression. "Address by Thomas over Columbia Broadcasting System, March 16, 1939, defending his Senate Joint Resolution 67 in "Proposed Amendment to Neutrality Law" folder, Box 8, Thomas MSS. See also his speech "American-Japanese Relations," American Forum of the Air, 2 (October 6, 1940), 4, found in RSG folder no. 5, ACNPJA Papers; Divine, Illusion of Neutrality, 239-46. 38 U.S., Congress, Senate, 76th Cong., 1st sess., August 2, 1939, Congressional Record, 84, p. 1067; see Thomas's speech before the Institute of World Affairs held at Riverside, California, December 16, 1938, "The United States in World Affairs" folder, Box 7. Thomas MSS. â&#x20AC;˘"Interview of Elbert D. Thomas by Roger S. Greene, February 5, 1940, "Congressional Correspondence File," ACNPJA Papers; see also in ibid., Greene to Harry Price, executive secretary of the ACNPJA, March 20, 1940, RSG folder no. 3, and Greene to Price, April 5, 1940, RSG folder no. 4; Greene to Katherine Greene, July 23, 1941, RSG MSS. In addition see speech by Thomas in U.S., Congress, Senate, 76th Cong., 2d sess., October 6, 1939, Congressional Record, 85, p. 150-59.

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To act as an aggressor and to consort with other aggressors should make no nation proud of itself; yet, Thomas noted, Japan appeared pleased with its performance during the past decade of expansion. He then counseled Japan to end its senseless brutality and reinstitute morality so that peace might be preserved. 40 Alarmed at increased friction between Japan and the United States and assured that if war did come Japan would prove a surprisingly strong and determined enemy, Thomas still hoped America could redirect Tokyo's foreign policy toward peaceful objectives. With foreboding he remarked, "Without this change the Far East is doomed." 41 Calling Britain's decision to allow the Anglo-Japanese Alliance to lapse a "terrible mistake," Thomas importuned the United States government to replace Great Britain and act as Japan's tutor concerning matters of peace, morality, and international diplomacy. 42 Thomas's recommendations, which would relegate Japan to the position of student and America of teacher, demonstrated a serious limitation in the senator's thinking. While the premise of converting Japan to peaceful intentions could not be faulted, Thomas presumed a Japanese moral and ethical inferiority to the West that could only further antagonize Japanese opinion. Senators King and Thomas approached Asian policy from widely differing points of view during the thirties. However, as events built steadily toward a climax and Japan joined the Axis Alliance in 1940, not even Thomas could cling to the illusory hope of temporizing Japanese ambitions. Until that time he had been disposed to appease Japan, even if it meant the dismemberment of China and the loss of much of Southeast Asia. For King, the issue had always been clear: Japan must be stopped and the only way effectively to halt her imperial ambitions was to legislate economic sanctions. T h e denouement was provided by events beyond their control. On December 7, 1941, Thomas's and King's opinions finally converged completely, brought together by the very issue, Japanese aggression, that had kept them divided for so long.

u.s.

Ibid.:

Elbert Thomas, The Four Freedoms (New York, 1944), 93-94; see also Thomas's speech before the Institute of Far Eastern Studies at the University of Michigan, June 29, 1939, reprinted in U.S., Congress, Senate, 76th Cong., 1st sess., appendix, Congressional Record, 84, p. 3014-16. In the Thomas MSS two speeches are worth noting: "Chaotic World Conditions," March 17, 1939, Box 8, and "To What Extent are American Interests Involved in Present Day World Activities," March 28, 1939, Box 8, given over CBS under the auspices of the American Council against Nazi Propaganda.

Philip St. George Cooke.

A Virginian in Utah Chooses the Union: Col. Philip St. George Cooke in 1861 BY RICHARD W. ETULAIN

.ANY HISTORIANS HAVE discussed the dilemmas the Civil War forced upon families who were divided in their loyalties between the North and South. Some writers argue that the fratricidal nature of the war was its worst horror. We do know that President Abraham

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Lincoln agonized over the problem; part of his family took up the Southern cause. And equally revealing was Gen. Robert E. Lee's tortured indecision before finally deciding to follow Virginia into the Confederacy. Yet we have not generally been given an inside view of these family struggles â&#x20AC;&#x201D; that is, we have not seen how one side expressed its feelings to members of the family who went with the opposition. T h e document printed below provides the reader with one such view. T h e author of the letter, Col. Philip St. George Cooke, was a Virginian who spent all his adult life in the military until his retirement in 1873. 1 Stationed from the late 1820s until 1861 in several forts throughout the West, Cooke was absent from his home state when sectional fires began to smolder and then burst into flames. His absence from Virginia for nearly thirty-five years prior to the Civil War helps to explain his point of view. He was also strongly devoted to the army because, as he states, it had provided him with an occupation and a means of support for his family. T h o u g h he remembered his origins and cherished his family ties in Virginia, he was even more strongly attached to the United States Army and to the cause of the Union.

Dr. Etulain is associate professor of history at Idaho State University, Pocatello. This project was prepared for the National Historical Publications Commission seminar in historical editing held in Charlottesville, Va., J u n e 1974. T h e author is indebted to NHPC staff members and particularly to Dorothy Twohig, associate editor of the George Washington Papers, for help in editing the document. 'Philip St. George Cooke was born in 1809 in Leesburg, Virginia. In 1823 he was appointed to West Point. Graduating in 1827, he was assigned to Jefferson Barracks near Saint Louis, Mo. In the ensuing years he took part in the Black Hawk War (1832) and served in the Mexican War. In the latter conflict he commanded the Mormon Battalion (1846-47) that marched overland to California and helped to secure that area for the United States. For this action Cooke received a citation for meritorious conduct and gallant service in February 1847. Late in 1857 Cooke again demonstrated his bravery in leading his troops from Fort Leavenworth (Kansas Territory) through bitter cold and snow to Camp Scott, near Fort Bridger. T h e next year he helped to establish Camp Floyd in Utah and then went to Europe for a year to write his Cavalry Tactics (1861) and to observe the war in Italy. He returned in 1860 and was given command of the Department of Utah from August 1860 until August 1861. In March 1861 he was promoted to brigadier general, and the next year he was named commanding general of the cavalry division in charge of defending Washington, D.C. His was the top cavalry position in the Union Army. In the Virginian Peninsula campaign he fought in battles against units to which his son, J o h n R. Cooke, and his son-in-law, J. E. B. Stuart, were assigned. In October 1863 he was selected as commanding general of Baton Rouge, La., and finished the war as general superintendent in charge of recruiting. He retired October 29, 1873, after forty-six years of continuous service. He died in 1895 in Detroit. Nearly all accounts describe Cooke as an able leader, a strict disciplinarian, and a man of high honor. T h e most extensive treatment of his life is Otis E. Young, The West of Philip St. George Cooke, 1809-1895 (Glendale, Ca., 1955). See also Dictionary of American Biography, s. v. "Cooke, Philip St. George." For general background on the Utah years, consult Norman F. Furniss, The Mormon Conflict, 1850-1859 (New Haven, 1960).

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The recipient of the letter, John Esten Cooke, who was the nephew of Colonel Cooke, lived his entire life in Virginia. 2 By the outbreak of the Civil War he had gained a national reputation as a writer, and no one questioned his allegiance to his home state. He agreed with Virginia's slow, deliberate steps toward secession, and evidence in the Cooke letter indicates that he tried to convince his uncle to resign and to join the Confederate cause. The older man's answer, though beginning calmly enough, soon becomes a stinging reply. Shortly after writing the letter, Colonel Cooke joined the Northern cause and fought for the North during the Civil War. The letter of Philip St. George Cooke reflects the thoughts of one well-known Virginian, stationed in the West, who decided to remain with the Union. It is from a collection of materials transferred from the Office of the Adjutant General to the National Archives on June 16, 1959. These documents had not been formally accessioned as of June 1974. The transcription follows the spelling of Colonel Cooke, but the punctuation has been altered slightly to achieve uniformity; dashes have been omitted where commas were already present, periods have been added at the end of sentences, and capital letters have been used to begin the sentence. Superscriptions have been brought down to the line and varied forms of "and" regularized. Otherwise the letter remains as Cooke wrote it. Fort Crittenden Utah 3 May 8th '61 My Dear John, Only by our last mail did I receive yours of Mar. 31, and Apl. 4 — and enclosure. As you urge, I write by the first mail east. I must first thank you most heartily for your warm interest, and unlimited offers of service; and then, alas! with much pain, write — as you say — "plainly frankly and in a straight-forward way." 2

John Esten Cooke, the son of Colonel Cooke's older brother, John Rogers Cooke, was born in 1830 in Winchester, Virginia. Unable to attend the University of Virginia because of family financial difficulties, he studied law privately and was admitted to the bar in 1851. Disliking law, he turned to writing, and before 1860 he had produced seven volumes of fiction and other essays and poems. A close friend and admirer of J. E. B. Stuart, Cooke served throughout the Civil War and surrendered with General Lee at Appomattox. After the war, he wrote several novels and histories sympathetic to the South. He died in 1886. One biographer summarized Cooke as "a chivalric Cavalier, who idealized the past and was unreservedly devoted to Virginia," Dictionary of American Biography, s.v. "Cooke, John Esten."John O. Beaty has written a full-length study,fohn Esten Cooke (New York, 1922). Cooke briefly summarizes his life in John R. Welsh, ed.,fohn Esten Cooke's Autobiographical Memo (Columbia, S.C., 1969). 3 Camp Floyd, which Colonel Cooke renamed Fort Crittenden in February 1861 (because Secretary of War John B. Floyd had gone over to the Confederate side), was officially opened November 9,

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Young, unmarried, having spent your life in Va. and amid the influences of a city hot-bed of state-rights prejudices, of revolutionists, such is your stand point. Consider mine: Thirty eight years ago the American Nation took me, an orphan, to educate to its service, giving me a profession; 4 and has supported me, and honored me, ever since; long before your birth, I was severed from Virginia — and from a part, still I believe loyal to the Union; and for that long course of time, bonded with honorable friends from every corner of my country, have laboured, have fought and triumphed all over our Northern Continent under a National flag, emblem of honor and protection, and which I have sworn to honor and defend in return. I have been a Western man, married and raised children by the far, rude but loved Missouri! 5 and finally, in the last passionate struggle, shuddering at the arrant palpable madness, to which God, with inscrutable purposes, has delivered half a nation, amid stern mountains, and perennial snows, 2000 miles off, I have calmly surveyed the whole field. Then realize — my dear Nephew — that with pain in my heart, I shrink from the miseries and horrors of a fratricidal war, to be endured by friends — Kin — Women and orphaned children; that I cannot have the poor and bitter satisfaction of being sustained, and excited by feelings and passions, enlisted on either side. I cannot realize that Va. will sever herself on the 23d. — 6 that she will stultify her old principles, the teachings, and life labours of her great dead; her herostatesmen whose legacy of renown is her greatest claim upon the respect of the world; I cannot realize that her sons will make her the tool of cold, selfish conspirators and traitors — the oligarchy of S. Ca. — and my National pride is refreshed when denociated from such communities as Texas, assassins and fugi-

1858, although troops began arriving four months earlier. T h e camp was located in Cedar Valley, west of Utah Lake, an equal distance (about forty miles) from Utah Territory's two largest settlements, Provo and Salt Lake City. Between 1858 and 1861 more than two thousand men — sometimes as many as three thousand — were stationed at Camp Floyd. At the time it was "the largest troop concentration of its kind in the United States" (Thomas G. Alexander and Leonard J. Arrington, "Camp in the Sagebrush: Camp Floyd, Utah, 1858-1861," Utah Historical Quarterly, 34 [Winter 1966], 3-21). By all accounts life at the post was dreary and depressing. Favorite diversions were cursing the heat, dust, and the Mormons. That indefatigable traveler of the nineteenth century, Richard F. Burton, termed Camp Floyd a "thoroughly detestable spot," a "purgatorial place." He added about the weather: "The winter is long and rigorous, the summer hot and uncomfortable, the alkaline water curdles soap, and the duststorms remind one of the Punjab" (The City of the Saints, and Across the Rocky Mountains to California [New York, 1861]). T h e most complete account of life at the post is Don Richard Mathis, "Camp Floyd in Retrospect," (M.A. thesis, University of Utah, 1959). "Cooke is a bit misleading here. He entered West Point at age fourteen, the youngest member of his class. His father was dead, but his mother lived until 1839. Hamilton Gardner, "A Young West Pointer Reports for Duty at Jefferson Barracks in 1827," Bulletin (Missouri Historical Society) 9 (January 1953), 124-38. 5 Cooke was the father of four children. His only son, John R., was a Harvard graduate who fought in Lee's army and became a brigadier general in the Confederate Army. His eldest daughter, Flora, married J.E.B. Stuart. Another daughter, Maria, married Lee's surgeon general, Doctor Brewer. A third daughter, Julia, became the wife of Major Sharpe, an officer in the Union Army. Hence, three of Cooke's children supported the Confederacy. Hamilton Gardner, "The Command and Staff of the Mormon Battalion in the Mexican War," Utah Historical Quarterly, 20 (October 1952), 332-51. "Here Cooke misjudges the outcome of an important decision before the voters of Virginia. On April 17 a specially elected convention from the state passed "an ordinance of secession and adhesion to the Southern Confederacy" (John Esten Cooke, Virginia: A History of the People [Boston, 1883], 501-2). On May 23 the people of Virginia ratified the convention's proposal for secession by a vote of 129,950 to 20,373. Richard L. Morton, History of Virginia, 3 vols. (Chicago, 1924), 3:12.

Colonel Cooke's Letter

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tives! from Florida, debased mendicated mongrels, wreakers! with less white population than many a county, it acquired just strength enough from the purchase, support, care, the magnanimity of a great nation, to turn and insult her! It is perhaps not the least of the miseries of this mad struggle — that it should in any way — or degree, discover the ties and affections of blood, and friendship. If I resign, I expect to take myself and family to an honorable poverty and seclusion; and where? — What folly, if, owning no slaves, I should choose for neighbors, the owners of slaves! It would be pleasure and pride, in a just cause, to fight side to side with Virginians; but should the fates now throw me in their midst, my sword point would be by feelings turned against the "Cotton States", rather than the North! 7 It is singular, Col. Loring 8 lately asserted that Col. Davis9 had recommended him, and other officers, not to resign, unless when their arms were turned against their own States! We have had reason to look for orders to march eastward, but now, appearances, are contradictory: fate, now the second time, placing me far from the great scenes of action, I grow callous, and disposed to make the best of it.10 Remember me with great affection to your sisters and theirs. Very truly yours P. S. Geo. Cooke

Jno Esten Cooke, Esq — Richd. P. S. You may find my crisis politics in Senator Bayard's speech, Mar. 20th. — ex. session11

7 Douglas Southall Freeman states (Lee's Lieutenants, 3 vols. [New York, 1942], 1:716) that Virginians awaited the announcement of Colonel Cooke's decision because he "was among the best-known men in the army." But at first there was no news at all. Then a letter arrived in June 1861 announcing that "his first allegiance was to the Union and not to Virginia." Freeman is no doubt referring to Cooke's letter that appeared in the June 6, 1861, issue of the National Intelligencer. Phrases in this later letter repeat much of the feeling and flavor of the one printed here. The June letter is reprinted in Frank Moore, ed., The Rebellion Record: A Diary of American Events, 2 vols. (New York, 1966). 2:17 1-72. 8 William Wing Loring entered the service in 1837 and was cited for gallant action in the Mexican War. He was promoted to colonel in December 1856. Resigning May 13, 1861, he became a major general in the CSA from 1861 to 1865. Francis B. Heitman, Historical Register and Dictionary ofthe United States Army (Washington, 1903), 642. 9 Cooke may be mistaken here. Heitman lists no Colonel Davis in May 1861, but Cooke may be referring to Nelson Henry Davis of Massachusetts who became a colonel in September 1861. He had fought with Loring in several of the same battles of the Mexican War. Heitman, Historical Register, 359. 10 The orders to move eastward came May 17, 1861 (Alexander and Arrington, "Camp in the Sagebrush," 18). Cooke's words "fate, now the second time," refer to his disappointment at not being involved in the major battles of the Mexican War. "James Asheton Bayard, Jr. (1799-1880), senator from Delaware (1850-64, 1867-69). Bayard's speech of March 20, 1861, is reprinted in the Congressional Globe, 36th Cong., 2d sess., 1861, pp. 1477-83. Itcontinues March 21 on pp. 1484-88and March 26on p. 1490. Senator Bayard argued (pp. 1477-78) that the seven states that had seceded ought to be allowed to go their own way. The other states ought to make a treaty with them and recognize their independence. No force ought to be applied, especially by an army, to coerce them back into the Union. Evidently, Cooke changed his mind after writing his letter, for by the late summer of 1861 his actions did not follow those outlined in Bayard's speech.

Utah's Black Hawk War: Lore and Reminiscences of Participants. By CARLTON CULMSEE. (Logan: Utah State University Press, 1973. 181 pp. Cloth, $5.00; paper, $3.50.) The history of the American westward expansion d u r i n g the midnineteenth century is the history of white-Indian conflicts. Mormon settlement of Utah closely resembles the national experience â&#x20AC;&#x201D; the struggle of the whites to occupy and settle the land, the trauma of the Indians to maintain and adapt. Two major battles for control of the land and its resources in Utah were the Walker War of the 1850s and the Black Hawk War of the 1860s a n d 1870s. With the conclusion of the Black Hawk War, much of Utah's land was under white ownership, and the Indians were being relocated on reservations. Carlton Culmsee's Utah's Black Hawk War: Lore and Reminiscences is an account of the attempts by Mormon settlers in southern and central Utah to defend their homes against the desperate efforts of the native Indians to retain control of traditional lands and, with the lands, their traditional life style. Using interviews with survivors and their descendants, contemporary accounts in newspapers and diaries, the "Journal History of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latterday Saints," and previously published sources, Culmsee describes the depredations committed on the white settlements by a group of Utes, Paiutes, and Navajos under the Ute leader, Black Hawk. These small settlements, with their p o o r defenses, little cooperative planning, and limited

military support from Camp Douglas, were easy victims of the raids by Black Hawk and his followers. However, after seven years of conflict, 1865-72, federal and local forces finally t r i u m p h e d . With two s e p a r a t e a g r e e m e n t s , August 17, 1872, at Springville, Utah, and September 17, 1872, at Mount Pleasant, Utah, Black Hawk and his Ute followers retreated to the newly established Uintah Reservation; the other Indian participants retreated to their homelands. Culmsee details the great cost of the war to the white settlers, but the Indians paid a heavier price. Lands they had used for centuries were now closed to them, and they were forced to adopt a new life style based on non-Indian values. Utah's Black Hawk War deals with only one of several aspects of the war, the Mormon participation. For a fuller understanding of why Black Hawk broke with other Ute leaders and carried on seven years of raiding, the reader should also become informed regarding federal Indian policy of the 1860s and 1870s, the conflicts between the federal government and the territorial government of Utah, and, most importantly, the Indian point of view. Because this account of the Black Hawk War was first written as a series of commissioned articles published weekly August-October 1934 in the Deseret News, and was republished

Book Reviews and Notices with only few changes, the book reads haltingly. Sentences, paragraphs, and chapters are short and choppy. Further, while the articles as printed in the Deseret News were accompanied by pictures and maps, these were unfortunately omitted (with the exception of one map of Utah, previously published in 1865) from the book. An introductory essay does attempt to offer reasons for not rewriting the narrative (thus forewarning the reader of its shortcomings), particularly in light of the changing perspective on Indian-white relations that has occurred since the 1930s. Utah's Black Hawk War does make an important contribution to the historical description of Utah's white history.

387 It makes available personal interviews with white survivors and their immediate descendants which would be far less productive if attempted today. T h e result is a deeper and more personal view of the Mormon's participation in the war than is possible from using only Mormon historical documents and diaries. However, now the Indian point of view must be explained in order to present a more complete interpretation of the Black Hawk War and its significance in Utah history.

GREGORY C. THOMPSON

American West Center University of Utah

Anasazi: Ancient People of the Rock. By DAVID MUENCH and DONALD G. PIKE. (Palo Alto: American West Publishing Co., 1974. x + 191 pp. $20.00.) This elegantly printed book about the prehistoric Pueblos of the northern Southwest consists of a series of incomparable photographs by David Muench related in groups to a text written by Donald Pike. T h e volume is mainly a h a n d s o m e p i c t u r e book printed in a large format to accomm o d a t e t h e strikingly b e a u t i f u l p h o t o g r a p h s . By necessity, t h e photographs emphasize the spectacular architecture, such as the huge ruins of Chaco Canyon and the cliff dwellings a n d their awesome surroundings of Mesa Verde and Tsegi Canyon. A smaller number of photographs depict some of the more beautiful artifacts. Near the end of the volume there is also a series of photographs of contemporary Pueblo village architecture and village life. A concluding section consists of historic black and white p h o t o g r a p h s taken between 1899 a n d 1904 by A d a m Clark V r o m a n . T h e s e a r e mostly of various Pueblo Indians, in-

cluding the famous potter Nampeyo, engaged in arts and craft work. T h e r e is really little a reviewer can say a b o u t t h e s u p e r b quality of Muench's photographs, except that they depict the spectacular, and do not, and could not, give a visual impression of the more typical Anasazi habitations a n d artifacts, i.e., the t h o u s a n d s of small u n i m p r e s s i v e hamlets a n d the u n d i s t i n g u i s h e d , nonluxury artifacts scattered throughout the northern Southwest. This task should have been, in part, the goal of the accompanying text, and yet Pike gives the impression that, in the main, the Anasazi were largely constructors of "massive and multistoried apartment buildings, walled cities, and cliff dwellings of shaped and mortared sandstone" (p. 16). T h e text is marred by certain errors in fact, for example, Pike's statement that the earliest Anasazi developed out of the Cochise culture; and there are statements presented as fact that

388 are hotly debated issues, such as Pike's presentation of the Sinagua people in the Flagstaff region as an amalgam of Anasazi, Hohokam, and Mogollon. Perhaps most disturbing are the statements that can be placed u n d e r the rubric of pathopsychology. Pike states that the early Anasazi "were an easygoing, gregarious folk who got on well with their neighbors and most strangers" (p. 98), and he suggests the possibility that the notion of fighting may never have entered the Anasazis' h e a d s (p. 141). S o u t h w e s t e r n archaeologists would be most curious to know the evidence for these statements. In short, the text, which not only covers the Anasazi, but touches on other prehistoric southwestern cult u r e s , such as t h e M o g o l l o n , Hohokam, Salado, and Sinagua, does not measure up to the pictorial quality of the book.

Utah Historical Quarterly As a side note, it should be pointed out that it is almost a universal comp l a i n t of t h e p r o f e s s i o n a l archaeologist that popular books written by nonarchaeologists are inadequate. I feel that it behooves the archaeologist to present his findings in popular books and articles, as well as the more technical j o u r n a l s and monographs so that the record for the public is a more accurate one. It does little good for the archaeologist to continually criticize w i t h o u t contributing his knowledge to the public. In spite of the flawed text, the volume is a beautiful one and well serves its main purpose, which is visual.

GEORGE J. GUMERMAN

Associate Professor of Anthropology Southern Illinois University Carbondale

The Last American: The Indian in American Culture. By WILLIAM BRANDON. (New Y o r k : McGraw-Hill Book Company, 1974. 553 pp. $12.95.) We have in this volume on the his- the removal of the Civilized Tribes tory and culture of the American In- from southeastern United States, the dians a largely new picture of the In- tribes of the American Southwest, and dian and a fresh interpretation of his the life of present-day Indians. importance in the development and Some widely selected quotations shaping of American history. It is the may be given as samples of his obserfullest treatment yet given the Ameri- vations: can Indian; it encompasses primitive " T h e Indian world was devoted to and prehistoric man in America and living, while the European world was the period of contact, conflict, and ac- devoted to getting (p. 8). commodation of Indian and Euro"The basic unit of social construcpean cultures. tion in the New World was kinship â&#x20AC;&#x201D; One is amazed at the thoroughness family relationship. T h e basic unit of of the author's research, and width social construction in the Old World and depth of his investigations, and was property relationship (p. 76). the new viewpoints and approaches "Sequoya became famous among he employs. both Indians and whites, a n d the Space will not permit individual Cherokee nation presented him with appraisals of his treatments of the an annual pension, the first literary many peoples and cultures described. pension in the United States (p. 260). " T h e newly arrived gold-rushers But as examples of superb topical companion pioneers [of c o v e r a g e s we m i g h t m e n t i o n t h e a n d Mayan civilization, the Inca empire, California] killed these people [the

Book Reviews and Notices Indians] off in what seems to have been the biggest single spree of massacring in United States history (p. 341). "The frontier stole in from the east like dusk, and by the 1840s the nations of the plains had already felt its touch, in the form of whiskey, plagues, syphilis, and a bewildering increase of war (p. 374). " T h e N a v a h o s , with a fifteenmillion-acre reservation and a population of more than 100,000, are the giants of the p r e s e n t - d a y I n d i a n world in the United States (p. 448)."

389 Mr. Brandon is a poet as well as a historian. He writes vivid prose; his deep sympathy for the Indian is unconcealed and movingly expressed. Extensive notes and references are assembled at the end of the text, and a bibliography and index are provided.

LEROY R. HAFEN

Professor of History Emeritus Brigham Young University

The Bone Hunters. By URLLANHAM. (New York: Columbia University Press, 1973. xiv + 285 pp. $12.95.) Url Lanham, curator of entomology at the Museum of the University of Colorado, has presented a highly readable account of the nineteenth century search for, and study of, vertebrate fossils in the United States. T h e scientific study of vertebrate fossils in the United States essentially began in 1799 with publication of a paper by Thomas Jefferson describing fossil remains of a lion (later shown to be a giant sloth) from Virginia. Later, after the Lewis and Clark expedition was completed, Jefferson asked William Clark to dig fossils at Big Bone Lick in Kentucky. From these efforts many specimens, mostly of elephant-like m a s t o d o n s , were shipped to Washington and displayed by Jefferson in the White House. By the middle of the nineteenth century, fragments of bone and stories of "great boneyards" worked their way east with returning fur traders. Most early fossil bones found in the West were sent to Joseph Leidy (1823-91), then professor of anatomy at the University of Pennsylvania. Leidy published a major monograph in 1852, in conjunction with David Dale Owen's geological report on the upper Mississippi Valley, on the then-known fossil

mammals and tortoises from the Badlands of Nebraska, thereby bringing worldwide attention to this richly fossiliferous region. After the Civil War, federal explorations in the West by the Hayden, Powell, King, and Wheeler surveys provided impetus to fossil collecting on an exceptionally large scale. Discoveries of dinosaurs and large extinct mammals began to capture the nation's imagination. D u r i n g this p e r i o d two p r i n c i p a l c h a r a c t e r s emerged who brought North American paleontology into world prominence, and along with it a public clash of egos developed that eventually brought the issue of federal financing of paleontology into congressional debate. T h e two protagonists were Othniel Charles Marsh (1831-99), Yale professor and organizer of the Peabody Museum, and Edward Drinker Cope (1840-97), a mostly self-educated scientist and fervid eccentric prone to religious fanaticism. Cope and Marsh, after a brief initial period of friendship, were soon in c o m p e t i t i o n with each o t h e r for choice fossil bones from the unsurveyed regions of the upper Missouri Basin and Rocky Mountain regions.

390 Much of Lanham's book relates to the Cope-Marsh feud and reverberations it caused among the federal surveys, the National Academy of Sciences, and the Congress of the United States. Lanham's treatment of the main scientific participants in the formative years of North American paleontology is mainly by summary of secondary sources. T h e text makes effective use of direct quotations but unfortunately omits explicit references to original documents. However, the text is greatly enhanced by approximately fifty black-and-white photographs, many of which show the terrain and sites where major fossil dis-

Utah Historical Quarterly coveries were made, and continue to be made, in the western United States. This book is basically an introduction to an i m p o r t a n t c h a p t e r in nineteenth-century natural science and to the personalities of some of the men who participated in it. T h e professional probably could spend his time more profitably elsewhere, but general readers and western buffs might receive an evening or two of enjoyment from reading this book.

MICHAEL E. TAYLOR

Paleontologist Fairfax, Virginia

The American Territorial System. Edited by JOHN PORTER University Press, 1973. xvi + 248 pp. $10.00.) T h e book consists of the papers and proceedings at a conference on the history of t h e t e r r i t o r i e s held November 3 and 4, 1969. T h e National Archives and Records Service inaugurated a series of such conferences in 1969 and has made provision for the publishing of the papers. This is the best volume to appear on such a conference yet. T h e editor clearly and incisively sets out the possible limits he works within and says, " T a k i n g this into account, it has seemed necessary to take a limited view of territorial history, falling back on the definition on which the published Territorial Papers series is based. Thus, the papers in this volume are rather strictly political history, illustrative of territorial administrative history, with the obvious exceptions of the personal memoirs of Clarence Carter." As one accepts these limitations and if one is concerned with territorial history thus defined, the papers gathered are of a high quality and give fresh insights into territorial development.

BLOOM.

(Athens: Ohio

Two short tributes to Clarence Carter open the volume. T h e n there are chapters or divisions entitled T h e Northwest Ordinance, The Territories and the Congress, Territorial Courts of the Far West, T h e Territories: Land and Politics, and T h e Territories in the Twentieth Century. Each section includes two major papers except the last which has two essays by historians and a paper by Harrison Loesch, assistant secretary of interior, on "The American Territories of Today and Tomorrow." Each session, in addition, had at least one comment on the papers and a short paper on holdings in the National Archives p e r t i n e n t to the general topic. Two of the best papers, one by Arthur Bestor on the antecedents of the Northwest O r d i n a n c e and one by Robert Berkhofer, Jr., on the Northwest Ordinance and territorial evolution, appear in the first section. Of particular interest to readers of this journal are a study of George Curry, territorial governor of New Mexico,

Book Reviews and Notices by Robert W. Larson, and William Lee Knecht's account of federal judges of Utah Territory. Even more stimulating is T h o m a s G. Alexander's essay on the federal land survey system in the Mountain West. These essays and the others make the volume well worthwhile to one interested in our territorial system. Collections of papers and proceedings are always vulnerable to criticism for lack of focus, lack of purpose, etc. Other shortcomings to the book and the series are apparent. Nonbureaucrats and antibureaucrats may well be irritated at the ceremonial foreword and preface. They are designed to set a purpose for the conference, but in book form their need is met more ef-

391 fectively by the editor. T h e National Archives publishes the conference proceedings to make its resources better known and more widely used, and the Archives may be sold too hard for some readers' taste. More basic, the publication of proceedings may rightfully be becoming obsolete. However, Dr. Bloom has done a skillful j o b of selecting participants and putting their efforts into a coherent whole. This volume is the best one so far in this series and does something to rehabilitate the reputation of proceedings. W. D. AESCHBACHER

Professor of History University of Cincinnati

Dams, Parks, and Politics: Resource Development and Preservation in the TrumanEisenhower Era. By ELMO RICHARDSON. (Lexington: T h e University Press of Kentucky, 1973. viii + 247 pp. $11.25.) In Dams, Parks, and Politics the author gives us a chronicle, rather than an i n t e r p r e t a t i o n , of t h e years 1947-57. While Mr. Richardson's devotion to the preservationist's cause is clear enough, he treats this controversial e r a e v e n - h a n d e d l y a n d says thankfully that Secretaries of the Interior Ickes, Krug, Chapman, McKay, and Seaton pursued similar policies, being "preoccupied with traditional concern for economic stability and political rewards." Similarly, Presidents T r u m a n and Eisenhower were both c o m m i t t e d to " w i d e - r a n g i n g programs for the development of resources," as opposed to the preservation of wilderness. T h e author claims that the policies of the decade in question did little to prepare the way for America to cope with the "total ecological crises" of a decade later. While the ecological p r o b l e m s we face now a r e real enough, Mr. Richardson does not explain how the politics of dams and parks in 1954, enlightened or not, affect today's pollution of air and water.

An eloquent statement from the Sierra Club, quoted in chapter five, goes: "aesthetic values existing in outstanding scenic areas of the West are greater than the values to be received from water d e v e l o p m e n t of every stream and the production of the last possible kilowatt of electrical energy. . . . It is o u r high belief that the government and the people of the nation should never undertake so to state the issue in terms of the dollar â&#x20AC;&#x201D; unless the day should come when the nation is so reduced in spirit that it must live on bread alone." This laudable phrase will sound hollow to people who are not far removed from a subsistance economy a n d think of themselves as living on not m u c h more than bread. T o convince many people in the West otherwise will require time and education. Even today some people in Utah look back on the Echo dam decision as a maneuver by California publicists to steal water that rightfully belongs to Utahns. These same observers will also say t h a t the p r e s e r v a t i o n i s t s

392

Utah Historical Quarterly

("purists," Mr. Richardson calls them) are promoting use of Utah's natural resources for the few rather than the many. On the surface, at least, the claim of p r e s e r v a t i o n i s t s t h a t d e velopers are grabbing land and water for their own selfish ends is countered by the local claims that nature lovers are locking up "our land" for their own selfish ends. A quiet quid pro quo, maybe.

Mr. Richardson includes a short bibliographical essay on the sources of conservation history and offers some good suggestions on all his references, encompassing a vast quantity of primary material. All things considered, however, his performance falls short of his earlier Politics of Conservation. JAY M. HAYMOND

Librarian Utah State Historical Society

Mining Camps and Ghost Towns: A History of Mining in Arizona and California along the Lower Colorado. By FRANK LOVE. (Los Angeles: Westernlore Press, 1974. 192

pp. $7.95.) T h e title of this book sums it all u p very neatly, if one keeps in mind that the term lower Colorado is applied to only that part of the river valley south of Bill Williams River. Because each mine, g r o u p of mines, or mining camp had its own life span and cast of characters, a study such as this is bound to be episodic in nature. Mining Camps and Ghost Towns is a collection of historical sketches of several dozen mines or mining camps. In each case the sketch starts with the story, or stories, of the discovery of the ore lode and follows the life of the mine, often t h r o u g h several reopenings, to final closing, sometime in the mid-twentieth century. T h e author does not make a point of the few connecting threads that r u n through the lives of these areas, such as the scarcity of water, the introduction of more efficient machinery, or the introduction of cyanidation. Occasionally certain men appear on the rolls of more than one camp, but this is generally by accident r a t h e r t h a n plan. Only the wheeling and dealing of Stephen A. Dorsey tied together the stories of a few mines scattered t h r o u g h o u t the area. T h e one common thread which the reader will note is the reaffirmation of the old saw that more money went into precious metal mines than ever came out of them. T h e author

has presented each of his vignettes in a s m o o t h , e a s y - r e a d i n g style t h a t stresses t h e h u m a n r a t h e r t h a n mechanical elements of the story. Unfortunately, in the opening chapter he r e p e a t s some old wives' tales that would indicate that the preColombian Indians practiced hardrock mining without the benefit of iron tools. O n e must question the author's research. He relies rather heavily on p o p u l a r periodicals such as Calico Print, Westways, and Desert Magazine while overlooking the gold mine of historical material in the papers of the U n i t e d States Geological Survey. T h e r e are also a few minor criticisms. T h e r e is need for a translation of the Spanish words chispa and estado. It may be a slip of the pen that indicates a smelter to be a device for crushing ore (p. 17) or that the route of the Butterfield Mail r a n t h r o u g h San Diego rather than Los Angeles (p. 31). T h e r e is no commentary on the fact that the Yuma County sheriff and his deputies seem to have operated at times in California (p. 141). T h e r e a r e a few flaws in t h e mechanics of the book. T h e bottom of page 25 and the top of page 26 do not flow together â&#x20AC;&#x201D; something is missing. T h e footnote on page 152 is in a most unusual position. A much more seri-

Book Reviews and Notices ous shortcoming chargeable to the editor is the complete lack of maps. As most of the mining camps are truly ghost towns, there is no trace of them on modern maps; and many of the topographic features mentioned in the text are so small that detailed maps are required to locate them. In addition the short lives of most of the camps were spread over some six or seven decades, forcing the curious to refer to many out-of-date maps. Despite the relatively minor shortcomings, this book is a real contribu-

393 tion to the history of southwestern Arizona and southeastern California. With the possible exception of the Yuma Crossing, the valley of the Colorado River below the Grand Canyon has been, to a large extent, overlooked by historians.

HENRY P. WALKER

Assistant Editor, Arizona and the West University of Arizona Tucson

Historic Denver: The Architects and the Architecture, 1858-1893. By RICHARD R. BRETTELL. (Denver: Historic Denver, Inc., 1973. xiv + 240 pp. $16.95.) Since its inception in 1970 one of the stated objectives of Historic Denver, Inc., was to publish a work of D e n v e r ' s n i n e t e e n t h - c e n t u r y architecture. Richard R. Brettell, who had previously d o n e extensive research on Denver architects and architecture of the period 1858-93, was selected to write the text. Brettell has glossed over the early history of Denver, moving quickly through the railroad years and the phenomenal growth of population to concentrate on what he terms "the architects' city," Denver's most exciting and prolific years (1879-93). Quarried rusticated stone was used pred o m i n a n t l y d u r i n g t h o s e early periods, giving an almost cumbersome look in its repetitive use. Heavy o r n a m e n t a t i o n of iron lintels a n d cornices and the continuous use of arched windows seem to have left their mark, reflecting the need of the people to have a solid, stable, and lasting city. Brettell maintains that of the thousands of buildings constructed in the boom of the later eighties and early nineties there are 25,900 extant structures predating 1911. Richardsonian architecture (H. H. Richardson, p r o m i n e n t architect of Mas-

sachusetts) swept the country, and in D e n v e r its i n f l u e n c e was used in either strong or eclectic styling. "Rusticated stone a n d r o u n d e d arches were the hallmark of Richardsonism in Denver." T h e a u t h o r lists t h e major architects in Denver's growth, giving b i o g r a p h i c a l b a c k g r o u n d a n d an analytical review of the architects' works as illustration after illustration unfolds at every turn of the page. As with most cities the lives of the architects are lost to future generations, but biographical material that was found was used to advantage. As the architect provides architectural illusions, so the author verbalizes with colorful descriptions seeming to give life to the very architecture itself. Although an architectural approach was used, Brettell manages to convey a living nineteenth-century Denver, portraying the social and cultural life of its society from the heights of the silver boom through the crash of 1893 which resulted in e x t r e m e misfortune, poverty, and depression a n d which also put an end to the great architectural era. Denver architecture did not really r e c o v e r until after World War I.

394 T h e artistry of photographer Bart Edwards, assisted by Susan Brown, is beautifully combined with historic scenes and architectural renderings by the early architects to total over three h u n d r e d illustrations. By placing Brettell's notes in the back of the book the pages are left free for largesize p h o t o g r a p h s and text, giving more latitude for composition and design. An i n d e x a n d b i b l i o g r a p h y complete the attractively bound volume. It is highly recommended reading for students of architecture, for those interested in preservation, and certainly for all those who claim an attachment to the city of Denver. Brettell's work, Historic Denver, is an

Utah Historical Quarterly outstanding contribution to Denver's architectural heritage, and every city or state would profit by its example. T o paraphrase the author, we are surrounded by our own past in architectural form, and all architecture requires both use and care to survive. Historic Denver, Inc., the author, and all those connected with the publication of the book have admirably fulfilled their purpose. "It is now up to the people. . . . Preservation is for the people."

MARGARET D. LESTER

Curator of Photographs Utah State Historical Society

George W. P. Hunt and His Arizona. By JOHN S. GOFF. (Pasadena, Calif: SocioTechnical Publications, 1973. 286 pp. $10.00.) Bulky, bald, sporting a handlebar mustache, and with boundless enthusiasm for the common man, politics, and his state, George W. P. H u n t was seven times governor and a dominant political force in Arizona from 1890 to the mid-1930s. A many-sided man, Hunt believed that as long as he lived, "the governorship of his state was his private preserve" (p. 3) and came near putting the conviction into effect. T h e political stock-in-trade H u n t applied to this end included old-time progressivism, privilege baiting, support of labor, prison reform, sentimental journeys to every quarter of the state but especially to his hometown, Globe, and such wholehearted use of Arizona's interest in the Colorado River as to lead one wag to note that while Jesus' walking on water was a miracle it should not be forgotten that "Arizona had a governor who regularly ran on the Colorado River" (p. 229). Since H u n t was a colorful and important figure in the annals of western American politics, it is appropriate that he is the object of this fine biography by J o h n S. Goff.

Born in Huntsville, Missouri, in 1859, H u n t took the road for the larger West when he was eighteen, and after various adventures arrived at the central Arizona mining town of Globe in the fall of 1881.' Making Globe his base of operations, Democrat H u n t became a p r o m i n e n t member of the territorial legislature during the 1890s and first years of this century and had risen to sufficient importance to be designated president of the constitutional convention of 1910. Influencing the progressive character of the Arizona State Constitution, H u n t went on to become the first state governor. With an ever ready flair for humanity, and for color, Hunt chose to walk to his first inauguration. Once in office he was occupied with prison reform, labor affairs, border relations with Mexico, and, u n d e r the Arizona system of two-year terms, with reelection and with contested elections until 1918 when he chose not to run. Appointed A m b a s s a d o r to Siam in 1920, he served somewhat unhappily and was back in Arizona and in a campaign for

Book Reviews and Notices governor by 1922. Winning that year and in the next two elections he was defeated in 1928 before going on to a final victory in 1930 and a final defeat in 1932. He spoke freely and on virtually every subject, offending many, particularly the monied elements and most of Arizona's larger newspapers, but his sure touch for the common man and his obvious devotion to Arizona as well as his own toughness stood him in good stead during this long and notable political career. Goff s treatment is straightforward, quick moving, and, with the exception of one chapter on the Colorado River, almost purely chronological. Hunt's papers, cataloged by Mr. Goff, and other contemporary sources are used

395 advantageously to give currency and an on-the-scene quality to the writing that is pleasing indeed. On the other h a n d , Goff does little by way of character analysis or interpretive commentary to carry the m o d e r n reader to deeper understanding of a vital individual and of the larger meaning of his impact upon the times. While one may lament Goffs choice not to push his facts for a more compelling analysis of the times, this is nevertheless among the better books on governors in the American West. CHARLES S. PETERSON

Director Man and His Bread Museum Utah State University

BOOK NOTICES

Silver San Juan: The Rio Grande Southern. By MALLORY HOPE FERRELL. (Boulder, Colo.: Pruett Publishing Co., 1973. xx + 643 pp. $29.95.) Railroad and western history buffs will enjoy this big book with its five hundred photographs and detailed, but brief, text. The volume is a tribute to the genius of Otto Mears, the Pathfinder of the San Juan, who successfully engaged in an amazing variety of enterprises. He is best remembered as a builder of toll roads, wagon roads, and railroads across some of the most difficult terrain in the West. The Rio Grande Southern, built in just two

years, was his most spectacular achievement. T h e 172-mile line linking Durango and Ridgeway circled and climbed four mountain passes, including 10,250-foot Lizard Head Pass. A total of 142 bridges and high trestles were needed to complete the railroad. T h e Sherman Silver Purchase Act of 1890 made the San Juan area rich for a few brief years before its repeal in 1893. Silver San Juan tells Mears's and the railroad's story well. Utahns will profit from this historical study of the Rio Grande Southern which was important to southeastern Utah in the 1890s and later. A stage line connected Bluff, Utah, with Dolores, Colorado, on the RGS.

Utah Historical Quarterly

396 Barbed Wire. By J O H N and

STERLING HARRIS L. DOUGLAS H I L L . ( P r o v o :

Brigham Young University Press, 1974. 73 pp. $5.95.) A book of photographs and poetry which speaks of mares, hawks, derricks, junipers, a n d the rural environment of simple days now past. Bent's Old Fort: An Archeological Study. By JACKSON W. MOORE, J R . (Denver: State Historical Society of Colorado, 1973. viii + 144 p p . $14.95.) T h e report includes data on the construction a n d operation of this important post as well as a survey of artifacts found in the complete excavation of its remains. Important information on the fort's use as a home station a n d r e p a i r s h o p by a stagecoach company during 1861-81 is also presented. Detailed sketches and photographs a d d to the work's value for students of the fur trade. Casas Grandes: A Fallen Trading Center of Gran Chichimeca. By CHARLES C. DIPESO (3 vols.; Flagstaff, Ariz.: Northland Press, 1974. 1,400 pp. $75.00.) T h e G r a n Chichimeca included about three-fourths of Mexico a n d one-fifth of the United States a n d contained numerous trading and interacting cultures. More than fifteen years ago the Amerind Foundation b e g a n its i n v e s t i g a t i o n of Casas Grandes, a trading center and cultural melting pot. T h e results of this massive study are presented in three fascinating, challenging volumes. Copper.

IRA B.

JORALEMON.

(Berkeley: Howell-North Books, 1973. 408 pp.) First published in 1936 u n d e r the title Romantic Copper, the present edition has been extensively revised and updated. Chapters 3 through 8 treat copper mining in the American West.

Fifty Great Western Illustrators: A Bibliographic Checklist. By JEFF C. DYKES.(Flagstaff, Ariz.: N o r t h land Press, 1974. 550 pp. $35.00.) Among the items listed are exhibition catalogs, books, a n d pamphlets. T h e reference work contains more than six thousand entries, with some fourteen h u n d r e d on Remington alone. The Hard-rock Men: Cornish Immigrants and the North American Mining Frontier. By J O H N

ROWE.

(New

York: H a r p e r & Row, 1974. 322 pp. $18.00.) Traces the movements of Cornish immigrants who came to America in the 1830s and 1840s to seek their fortune in the gold and silver camps. The Idaho Heritage: A Collection of Historical Essays. Edited by RICHARD W. ETULAiNand B E R T W . MARLEY.

(Pocatello: Idaho State University Press, 1974. xvi + 230 pp. Paper.) T h e essays are reprinted from a number of publications but especially Idaho Yesterdays and Pacific Northwest Quarterly. Several appendices offer much interesting statistical data, and the book is further embellished by photographs. Maynard Dixon: Artist of the West. By WESLEY M. BURNSIDE. ( P r o v o : Brigham Young University Press, 1974. xvi + 237 pp. $28.95.) This beautiful, limited edition book contains thirty-two color plates a n d reproductions of the great western and American artist, Maynard Dixon. T h e painter's career is divided into seven periods, including the years in the West a n d New York, the social commentary of the thirties, his mural period, and others. Many of the paintings reproduced are from BYU's collection which is the largest of its kind. This book is a spendid tribute to both man and artist.

Articles and Notes Monuments to Courage: A History of Beaver County. Edited by AIRD G. MERKLEY. 2d edition. (Beaver: Beaver County Chapter, Daughters of Utah Pioneers, 1974. xxvii + 484 pp. $10.00.) This new edition contains more than one hundred pages of additional photographs and text over the 1948 original. The Overland Trail to California in 1852. By HERBERT EATON. (New York: G.P. Putnam's Sons, 1974. x + 350 pp. $8.95.) Researching and Writing in History: A Student Handbook. By F.N. MCCOY. (Berkeley: University of California Press, 1974. 128 pp. Paper, $1.75; cloth, $7.50.) The author says the academic system has failed to teach students to write formally structured English. The handbook provides a step-bystep guide to the preparation of a research paper, from selecting a working topic to editing a final draft.

397 Stanley Vestal: Champion of the Old West. By RAY TASSIN. (Glendale, Calif: The Arthur H. Clark Co., 1973. 299 pp. $11.00.) Stanley Vestal (Walter Stanley Campbell), novelist, biographer, historian, and teacher, was a diligent researcher whose works depict Indian lifeways in detail. His best known single achievement was the biography Sitting Bull: Champion of the Sioux, especially the second edition which included a first-person account of Custer's final moments. Water Stone Sky: A Pictorial Essay on Lake Powell. By STANLEY L. WELSH and CATHERINE ANN TOFT. (Provo: Brigham Young University Press, 1974. xviii + 77 pp. $6.95.) A compendium of history, geology, personal observations, and superb {photography. Witchcraft in the Southwest: Spanish and Indian Supernaturalism on the Rio Grande. By MARC SIMMONS. (Flagstaff, Ariz.: Northland Press, 1974. 184 pp. $8.50.)

ART, LITERATURE, AND SOCIETY Buchanan, Frederick S., and Larry W. Stott. "The EskDale Commune: Desert Alternative to Secular Schools," Intellect, 102 (January 1974), 226-30. Education is closely related to community life in this western Utah commune established by the Order of Aaron (Levites). Davis, Jack L., and June H. Davis. "Frank Waters and the Native American Consciousness," Western American Literature, 9 (May 1974), 33-44. "Dedication of Pioneer Memorial Monument," The Pioneer, 21 (July-August 1974), 4. Monumental bronze family group by sculptor Edward J. Fraughton was placed in Brigham Young Cemetery.

398

Utah Historical Quarterly

Holm, Ed. "From Glass to Wood," American West, 11 (July 1974), 11-13. Early western photo-journalism. McCracken, Harold. "Frank Tenney Johnson: Master of the Old West," American West, 11 (July 1974), 14-21. Includes color reproductions of five of the artist's paintings. Pilkington, Tom. "Edward Abbey: Western Philosopher or How to be a 'Happy Hopi Hippie,' " Western American Literature, 9 (May 1974), 17-31. Towers, Tom H. " 'Hateful Reality': The Failure of the Territory in Roughing It," Western American Literature, 9 (May 1974), 3-15. BUSINESS, LABOR, AND TRANSPORTATION Barnes, F.A. "Air Touring in Canyonlands," Desert Magazine, 37 (July 1974), 13-17. Crawford, Cathy. "Survey of Union Membership in Utah," Utah Economic and Business Review, 34 (April-May 1974), 1-3, 8. McCarthy, Joe. "The Lincoln Highway,"American Heritage, 25 (June 1974), 32-37, 89. Wilson, Marjorie Haines. "Governor Hunt, the 'Beast,' and the Miners," The Journal of Arizona History, 15 (Summer 1974), 119-38. Hunt's controversial support of Arizona miners in the 1910s and 1920s. Zenor, B.J. "By Covered Wagon to the Promised Land," American West, 11 (July 1974), 30-41. Travelers on the Oregon and California trails. CONSERVATION AND PRESERVATION Barnes, Charles W. "The Grand Grand Canyon," Arizona Highways, 50 (June 1974), 9-15. Boesen, Victor. "The Oil Shale Gambit," Westways, 66 (July 1974), 32-36, 71. Macpherson, Linda. "Council Studies Railroad Track Biking," Preservation News, 6 (May 1974), 3. Adaptive use of abandoned railroad trackage, stations, and rights-of-way. Nading, Lee. "NOAMTRAC: A Proposed Continental Trail System," National Parks and Conservation Magazine, 48 (June 1974), 15-16. A network of hiking trails would connect natural areas in all j^arts of North America. Strong, Jerry, and Mary Francis Strong. "An Open Letter to Our Readers," Desert Magazine, 37 (July 1974), 22-23. Refutes allegations that the magazine's publicity of petroglyph sites resulted in massive vandalism. Taylor, Dale L. "Forest Fires in Yellowstone National Park," Journal of Forest History, 18 (July 1974), 68-77. White, John I. "Saving the Longhorns, "American Heritage, 25 (June 1974), 61-63. "Your Own Old House: Firsthand Accounts of Do-it-yourself Preservation," Historic Preservation, (April-June 1974), 21-26. INDIANS Chappell, Gordon. "The United States Dragoons, 1833-1861: The Real Role of Cavalry in the Indian Wars," The Denver Westerners Roundup, 30 (February 1974), 3-43. Curtis, Edward S. "Snake Rite," Westways, 66 (August 1974), 28-31, 77. Sacred

399

Articles and Notes

Hopi Snake Dance was witnessed and photographed by Curtis in the early 1900s. Metcalf, George. "Notes on Two Paiute Burials and Associated Artifacts," The Museum of the Fur Trade Quarterly, 10 (Spring-Summer 1974), 2-22. Examinations of artifacts at the Smithsonian misidentified as from Chief Wakara's grave. Nichols, David A. "The Other Civil War: Lincoln and the Indians," Minnesota History, 44 (Spring 1974), 3-15. Pepper, Jack. "Father Liebler," Desert Magazine, 37 (July 1974), 24-27, 40-41. Ej)iscopal priest H. Baxter Liebler has ministered to the Navajos since 1942 at Saint Christopher's Mission in Bluff, Utah. Youngkin, Stephen D. "Prelude to Wounded Knee: The Military Point of View," South Dakota History, 4 (Summer 1974), 333-51. LOCAL AND ETHNIC HISTORY Etulain. Richard W. "Basque Beginnings in the Pacific Northwest," Idaho Yesterdays, (Spring 1974), 26-32. As Basque sheepmen moved northward from California and Nevada, Boise became a major Basque center in the West. Jensen, Heber M., and Zola Jensen. "Early Days in Burton [Idaho]: An Oral History," Snake River Echoes, 3 (Winter 1974), 23-29. Recollections of Earl and Maude Hall recorded in 1970. Laxalt, Robert. "The Other Nevada," National Geographic, 145 (June 1974), 733-61. Life in Nevada's smaller towns. Pace, Anne. "Mexican Refugees in Arizona, 1910-191 {"Arizona and the West, 16 (Spring 1974), 5-18. Scott, Patricia Lyn. "Rigby [Idaho] â&#x20AC;&#x201D; Settlement and Early Days," Snake River Echoes, 3 (Winter 1974), 33-38. Williams, Reggie. "A History of Helper, Utah," Green Light [Denver & Rio Grande Western Railroad], 34 (April 1973), 3.

HISTORICAL NOTES 2CÂŁg>

>c=^

T h e U t a h State Historical Society will again sponsor the observance of Statehood Day on J a n u a r y 4, 1975. H e l e n Z. Papanikolas will deliver the a n n u a l a d d r e s s at Price w h e r e a day-long schedule of activities involving the entire c o m m u n i t y has been p l a n n e d . T h e m e of the 1975 c o m m e m o r a tion will be m i n i n g . Mrs. Papanikolas, a m e m b e r of the B o a r d of State History, is well known for h e r historic studies of G r e e k a n d o t h e r immi-

400

Utah Historical Quarterly

grant groups which settled in Utah's mining towns. Under Society sponsorship Statehood Day has gained considerable community support with participation by schools and other groups. Ogden hosted the ceremony in 1973 which focused on ethnic minorities. The 1974 celebration in Logan featured agriculture. Southern Utah State College, Cedar City, has established a Southern Paiute Special Library Collection to provide an inventory of historical, cultural, and government documents relating to the prehistory, history, and ethnology of the Southern Paiutes. In addition to documents, the collection will include tapes prepared by Paiute elders, books, and other materials. Allen C. Turner, assistant professor of anthropology at SUSC, initiated the project which is being funded by the Utah American Revolution Bicentennial Commission, the Harriet V. Travis Trust Grant, and the SUSC Library Gift Fund. Plans call for the collection to be completed by 1976. Charles S. Peterson, associate professor of history at Utah State University and a former director of the Society, has been selected to write the volume on Utah for the forthcoming bicentennial book series to be produced by the American Association for State and Local History through grants from the National Endowment for the Humanities. Dr. Peterson's volume will be an interpretive essay, characterizing the peoples of Utah historically and showing the relationship of their state's history, their particular experiences, their applications of democracy, and their values to those of the nation as a whole. The projected series will contain fifty-one volumes covering every state plus the District of Columbia. Exponent II, a quarterly newspaper published by and for Mormon women, is now being issued by Mormon Sisters, Inc., Box 32, Arlington, Mass. 02174. The paper declares itself the "spiritual descendant" of the Woman's Exponent, founded in 1872 as the first women's journal of importance published west of the Mississippi. A new annual publication for members of the Mormon History Association has made its debut. The Journal of Mormon History, edited by Richard W. Sadler, contains some one hundred pages â&#x20AC;&#x201D; four articles â&#x20AC;&#x201D; devoted to Mormon scholarship. The journal is intended to serve the interests of the entire Latter-day Saint community, including the Reorganized church and other bodies. Membership in MHA is currently $2.00. Non-members may purchase copies of the annual at $4.00 each. Address inquiries to Dr. Sadler, Department of History, Weber State College, Ogden, Utah 84403.

INDEX

Adelman, Gus, Pioche butcher, 180 Aeschbacher, W.D., review of Bloom, ed., The American Territorial System, 390-91 Agriculture: acreage in, 112-13, 122-24; commercialization of, 111-25; development of, 109-25; economics of, 116-17, 122-23, 125; effect of federal land entry on, 113; horticultural production in, 118-20; and irrigation, 120; photograph of display of, 117; in the Uintah Basin, 165-77 Ahlstrom, Charles: butcher, 180; land of, at Spanish Hollow purchased, 179 Alder, Fremont, journalist, 258-59 Alexander, Robert, court clerk of Green River County, U.T., 61 Allen, James B., ed., Mormonism and American Culture, reviewed, 84-86 Allen, J o h n , recruited Mormons for Mexican War, 28, 37 Alta Club, policing of, questioned, 332 Ambassador Club: photograph of, 334; policing of, questioned, 332, 334-35 American Committee for Non-Participation in Japanese Aggression, activities of, 375-76, 379 A m e r i c a n - J a p a n e s e C o m m e r c i a l T r e a t y of Amity and Navigation, terminated, 375-76 The American Territorial System, ed. Bloom, reviewed, 390-91 Anasazi: Ancient People of the Rock, by Muench and Pike, reviewed, 387-88 Anderson, Andrew, favored woman suffrage, 8 356 Anthony, Susan B., and woman suffrage in Utah, 344-46 Appleby, W.I., probate j u d g e of Green River County, U.T., 61 Arms and armaments: of the Mormons, 4-26; photographs of, 4, 9, 12, 18, 19, 23, 25 Ashworth, Ardelle H a r m o n , g r a n d d a u g h t e r of A.M. H a r m o n , 263-64 Asiatic Exclusion League, W.H. King a member 8 8 of, 372 Atwood, R., described W. Clayton, 259 Augur, C.C., commanding general of Department of the Platte, 76, 77, 82 Aulback, Adam, Vedette editor, 40

B Bachman, Benjamin, Provo merchant, 83 Backman, Gus, and Lee-Skousen feud, 321, 331 Bailey, Paul, review of Cheney, The Golden Legacy: A Folk History of J. Golden Kimball, 197-99 Bailey, William A., Bill Bailey Came Home, reviewed, 94-95

Baird, Brigham Y., supported J.R. Young, 156 Baker, T. Lindsay, Water for the Southwest: Historical Survey and Guide to Historic Sites, reviewed, 206-7 Baldwin, George, land claims of, 143 Bancroft, George, Polk's secretary of the navy, 29, 36 Bancroft, H u b e r t Howe, called G o d b e i t e s "formidable," 217 Bannock Indians, defeated at Bear River, 24 Barker, James L., Salt Lake City attorney, 335 Basco, Carl, performed at Corinne, 291 Battle of Bear River, Indians defeated at, 24 Bear River Canal, promotion of, 1 15-16 Beeton, Beverly, review of Reid, Letters of Long Ago, and Ellsworth, Dear Ellen: Tioo Mormon Women and Their Letters, 296-98 Bell, Mr., and sale of Fort Bridger, 66 Bell, William, described Utah-made arms, 23, 24 Bennett, J o h n , a r m e d Nauvoo Legion, 8 Bennett, Sandra, review of Bailey, Bill Bailey Came Home, 94-95 Benson, A.G., New York merchant, 30-31 Benson, Ezra T.: saved W.H. Shearman from excommunication, 227; water rights of, 133 Benson, Gwen Pack, photograph of, 165 Bensons, Ioka family, 177 Benton, 4 h o m a s Hart, Missouri senator, 34 Berens, T o d d I., review of Garber, Jedediah Strong Smith: Fur Trader from Ohio, 201-2 Bernheisel, J o h n ' M . , described by Vedette, 45 Bidwell, J o h n , mentioned in Vedette, 45 Big Field, land in, distributed, 129 Bill Bailey Came Home, by Bailey, reviewed, 94-95 ' Blackhawk War, and local militia, 24-25 Black, William A., supported J.R. Young, 156 Bladen, T h o m a s , land of, at Iron Springs purchased, 179 Blair, Alma R., ed., The Restoration Movement: Essays in Mormon History, reviewed, 91 Blevins, Winf red, Give Your Heart to the Hawks: A Tribute to the Mountain Men, reviewed, 93-94 Bloom, J o h n Porier, The American Territorial System, reviewed, 390-91 The Bone Hunters, by Lanham, reviewed, 389-90 Boun, Ezra, plowed Wahlquist land, 169 Bowen, A.H., threatened by Fort Rawlins soldiers, 70 Bowery, church services in, described, 45 Bowles, Samuel, mentioned in Vedette, 45 Box Elder C o u n t y , convict road crews in, 247-56 Box Elder News, reported on convict labor camp, 254 Brandon, W'illiam, The Last American: 'The Indian in American Culture reviewed, 388-89

402 Brannan, Samuel, led LDS group around the Horn, 29-30 Brettell, Richard R., Historic Denver: The Architects and the Architecture, 1858-1893, reviewed, 393-94 Brigham City, prosperity of, 146 Brigham City Cooperative, success of, 146 Brighamites. See Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints Bridger, James: arrest of, o r d e r e d , 54; described by Vedette, 46; eluded Mormon posse, 55-56; painting of, 64; and sale of Fort Bridger, 56-57, 61-67; settled in Missouri, 58; warned Mormons about Indians, 50-51 Broadhead, David, J u a b farmer, 114-15 Broken Hand: The Life of Thomas Fitzpatrick Mountain Man, Guide, and Indian Agent, by Hafen, reviewed, 301-2 Brooklyn, carried Mormon arms, 13 Brooks, Juanita, Frontier Tales: Stories of Real People, reviewed, 202-3 Brooks, Will, farmer, 115 Browning, J o n a t h a n : and Colt-type revolvers, 24; gun designs of, described, 7-8; gunsmithingby, at Kanesville, la., 11-12; photograph of, 11 Brown, James S., reported Mormon-mountain men confrontation at Fort Bridger, 59-60 Brown, J . C , supported J.R. Young, 156 Brown, J o h n , described M o r m o n s at Fort Bridger, 55 Brown, Joseph G., named director of reorganized Order, 161 Buchanan, James, secretary of state u n d e r Polk, 36 Bullock, Electa, worked for woman suffrage, 347 Bullock, Isaac, sent to Fort Bridger, 59-60 Bullock, Thomas: as county recorder, 58; overland journal of, 259; recorded land distribution, 128 Bunting, James L., and Kanab United Order, 152, 156, 159 The Bureau of American Ethnology: A Partial History, by J u d d , reviewed, 92-93 Burr, David H., federal surveyor, 134-36 Burton, Richard, described Utah-made arms, 23 Burton, Robert T., visited Kanab, 160 Butler, Benjamin F., U.S. senator, asked to help J. Bridger, 56 Butterfield, Marvin, police lieutenant in charge of antivice, 337 Buttermilk Dairy, transferred to Kanab United O r d e r , 152

Cache County: agricultural development of, 110; folklore of, 113-14; land promotion in, 116 Caggie, A.J., artist, 294 Caine, Margaret, worked for woman suffrage, 367 Call's Landing, established, 146

Utah Historical Quarterly California Minstrels, performed at Corinne, 291 Camp Douglas. See Fort Douglas Cannon, Abraham H., and woman suffrage, 362-63 Cannon, Frank J., and conservation, 121 Cannon, George Q: favored waiting on woman suffrage, 362; and Godbeite trials, 240-41 Cannon, Martha Hughes, worked for woman suffrage, 367 Carter, Carrie Cogswell, performed at Corinne, 290 C a r t e r , Kate B., described r o a d o m e t e r in museum, 272 Carter's Dramatic Co., performed at Corinne, 290 Carvalho, Solomon, mentioned Colt revolvers, 19 Cave Lakes Dairy, transferred to Kanab United Order, 152 Cedar City Cooperative Mercantile and Manufacturing Co., used sheep by-products, 180 City Creek Canyon, controlled by B. Young, 133-34 Civil War, Col. Cooke's attitude toward, 381-85 Chamberlain, Thomas, named to LDS post, 162 Cheney, Thomas E., The Golden Legacy: A Folk History of J. Golden Kimball, reviewed, 197-99 Chinese Customs Tariff Treaty, opposed by W.H. King, 372 Chislett, John, financed Peep O'Day, 220 Christensen, Joe L., voted against firing Chief Skousen, 324 Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints: activities of, reported by Vedette, 41-43, 45; approved appointment of Chief Skousen, 318; arms owned by, 8-10, 14-17; bought Corinne Opera House, 295; control of, over Deseret News, 328, 330-32; economic and social policies of, 145, 225-26; founded United O r d e r , 144-64; Godbeite schism within, 216-44; and Lee's firing of Skousen, 317; a n d sale of Fort B r i d g e r , 6 3 - 6 7 ; a n d spiritualism, 218, 224, 227-28; and woman suffrage, 346, 362, 367. See also Mormons; Young, Brigham Church of Zion. See Godbeites Clark, J. Reuben, supported Lee in firing of Chief Skousen, 330 Clayton, William: accused A.M. Harmon of claiming invention of roadometer, 264-65; discussed building of roadometer, 262, 264, 270; duties of, on overland journey, 259; family of, donated roadometer to DUP, 272; friendship of, with H. Egan, 266-68; hoped to profit from roadometer, 261; photograph of, 261; published Emigrants' Guide, 271; recorded mileage, 260, 268-71 Cleveland, Grover: and conservation, 121; and statehood, 346 Clipper, New York journal, announced Corinne Opera House, 285-86 Cloninger, Ralph, performed at Corinne, 295 Clyde, George D., and prison investigation, 319 Cobb, James, and Godbeite trial, 242 Cogswell, W.J., performed at Corinne, 290

Index Colfax, Schuyler, told of Godbeite schism, 237 Collier, Robert P., review of The Great Northwest : The Story of a Land and Its People, 205-6 Colorado, male voters in, passed woman suffrage, 345 Cooke, J o h n Esten: letter to, from P. St. G. Cooke, 383-85; vita of, 383 n. 2 Cooke, Philip St. George: engraving of, 381; letter of, defends the Union, 381-85; vita of, 382 n. 1 Co-operative Boot and Shoe Makers' Shop, damaged by Fort Rawlins soldiers, 70 Co-operative Mercantile Store, damaged by Fort Rawlins soldiers, 70 Co-op Sheep Company of Cedar City: building of, 184; herds of, 179-80, 182 Co-op Sheep Herd, transferred to Kanab United O r d e r , 152 Connor, Patrick E.: allowed Peep O'Day to be printed at Fort Douglas, 220; and Battle of Bear River, 24; founded Fort Douglas, 40; recognized Mormon military strength, 42 Connor, Seymour V., Water for the Southwest: Historical Survey and Guide to Historic Sites, reviewed, 206-7 Conover, P.W., purchased arms and a m m u n i tion for Mormons, 22 Constitutional Convention of 1895: membership of, 349-50; woman suffrage issue at, 344-69 Convict labor: laws affecting, 246; photographs of, 245, 251; on Utah roads, 245-57 Conway, E., president of Corinne O p e r a House Assn., 28o Corinne: effect of railroad on, 286, 295; history of t h e a t r e in, 2 8 5 - 9 5 ; Liberal p a r t y organized in, 283-84 Corinne Dramatic Club, organized, 288 C o r i n n e O p e r a H o u s e : history of, 285-95; photograph of, 285 Corinne O p e r a House Assn.: financial status of, 292; founded, 286-87 Corlett, Jim, hauled wool and supplies, 186 Cosgrove, Luke, performed at Corinne, 295 Couldock, Eliza, performed at Corinne, 289, 290 Couldock, C.W., performed at Corinne, 289 Crosby, Taylor, and Kanab United O r d e r , 152, 156, 161 Crowther, L . C , named acting police chief, 324 Culmsee, Carl, Utah's Black Hawk War: Lore and Reminiscences of Participants, reviewed, 386-87 Cumming, Alfred, and federal surveys, 136 Cummings, James, at Fort Bridger, 55 Cunningham, J.M., and Fort Rawlins incident, 69, 83

Daily Union Vedette: advertisements in, 46; and Civil War, 43-44; editors of, 40; history of, 39-48; and Mormons, 41-42, 43, 45 Dallas, George M., Polk's vice-president, 32, 36 Dame, William H., and Iron County militia, 22 Dams, Parks, and Politics: Resource Development and Preservation in the Truman-Eisenhower Era,

403 by Richardson, reviewed, 391-92 Dane, Mister, attended Polk reception with J. Little, 33 D a u g h t e r s of Utah Pioneers Museum, and roadometer, 272 Davies, Charles, prison guard, 248, 250 Davis C o u n t y : a p p l i e d for convict labor, 246-47; convict camp in, 256 Davis, W.D., prison guard, 248 Dear Ellen: Two Mormon Women and Their Letters, by Ellsworth, reviewed, 296-98 Democratic party, 1894 platform of, endorsed woman suffrage, 347 DeTrobriand, P.R.: and Fort Rawlins incident, 72-74; photograph of, 74 Dewitt, Abel A.: named director of reorganized Kanab United O r d e r , 161; supported J.R. Young, 156 Deseret Museum, roadometer displayed in, 269 Deseret News: as a daily, 47; and Fort Rawlins incident, 72-73; praised Chief Skousen, 320; praised Utah Magazine, 237; published news on weapons, 26; reacted to firing of Chief Skousen, 328-31; read by military, 4 1 ; reported Godbeite spiritualism, 230; took a stand on police budget cuts, 321 Dobson, Thomas, supported J.R. Young, 156 Donnelly, J.L., spoke at Socialist rally, 255 Dores, Gus, escaped from convict camp, 253 Douglas, Stephen A., and Bridger-Mormon dispute, 58-59 D r a k e , J. R a m o n , wrote of E g a n - C l a y t o n friendship, 267 Drury, Clifford M., Marcus and Narcissa Whitman and the Opening of Old Oregon, reviewed, 204-5 Dry farming, development of, 113-15, 121 D u n h a m , J o n a t h a n , a p p o i n t e d a r m o r e r for Mormons, 10 Durham, Reed C , Jr., review of McKiernan and Blair, eds., The Restoration Movement: Essays in Mormon History, 91

Eakle, Arlene H., review of T a n n e r , A Mormon Mother: An Autobiography by Annie Clark Tanner, 199-200 Edmunds-Tucker Act, repealed woman suffrage in Utah, 346 Edwards, Eleazer, produced gunpowder, 24 Egan, Howard: ammunition reported by, 22; described Mormon arms, 16; j o u r n a l of, copied from W. Clayton, 265-68; photograph of, 267 Election of 1864, votes cast in, at Fort Douglas, h 44 Elks Club, policing of, questioned, 332 Ellsworth, S. George, Dear Ellen: Two Mormon Women and Their Letters, reviewed, 296-98 Enabling Act, passed by Congress, 345-46 Eskleson, Jim, resident of Gusher, 174 Etulain, Richard W., "A Virginian in Utah Chooses the Union: Col. Philip St. George Cooke in 1861," 381-85

404

Utah Historical Quarterly soldiers, 69-70 Furniss, N o r m a n F., noted Mormon arms, 22

Farms, photographs of, 107, 108,113, 114, 118, 124 Farnsworth, F.M., named secretary of Kanab United O r d e r , 156 Farr, Lorin: explained changes in election laws, 2 8 1 - 8 2 ; as m a y o r of O g d e n , 2 8 0 , 2 8 4 ; p h o t o g r a p h of, 281 Farrar, Wilson and Courtright, performed at Corinne, 291 F e d e r a l E m e r g e n c y Relief A d m i n i s t r a t i o n , sponsored Uintah school building, 170, 171 Federal Land Bank, threatened to foreclose Wahlquists, 176, 177 Feraco, Leonard, tavern owner, 338 Ferguson, Ellen B., worked for woman suffrage, 348 Ferguson, James, collected arms for Nauvoo Legion, 22 Fife, Alta, ed., Bill Bailey Came Home, reviewed, 94-95 Fife, Austin E., ed., Bill Bailey Came Home, reviewed, 94-95 Fillmore, Godbeites in, 272 Five Power Treaty, approved by W.H. King, Flint, T h o m a s , described Mormon takeover of Fort Bridger, 55 Floor, Steve, tavern owner, 337 Folklore: of irrigation, 190-96; of sheep raising, 181-88 Foote, Charles, Salt Lake City budget director, 324, 334-35 Ford, Edwin, wanted private land ownership, 162 Ford, T h o m a s , governor of Illinois, described Mormon arms, 7 Foreigners in Their Native Land: Historical Roots of the Mexican American, reviewed, 303-4 Fort Bridger: m a p of, 58; ownership of, 50, 61-67; painting of, 56; sale of, to Mormons, 49-67 Fort Douglas: Peep O'Day p r i n t e d at, 220; photograph of, 3; Vedette published at, 39-48 Fort Kearney Herald, described Jim Bridger, 46 Fort Rawlins: closed, 83; described, 80; history of, 6 8 - 8 3 ; l o c a t i o n of, 7 4 ; m e t h o d of punishment at, 82; soldiers from, threaten Provoans, 68-70 Fort Supply, founding of, 60 Foster, Charles, New York spiritualist, 230 Four Power Treaty, opposed by W.H. King, 371 Frederic Remington, by Hassrick, reviewed, 89-90 Freeze, Mary A., worked for woman suffrage, 361 Fremont, J o h n Charles, 1853 expedition of, equipped with Colt revolvers, 19 Frontier Guardian, B r o w n i n g advertised in, 11-12 Frontier Tales: Stories of Real People, by Brooks, reviewed, 202-3 Frost, Allen, and Kanab United O r d e r , 162 Froyd, Alfred, trailed sheep, 188 Fuller, T h o m a s , threatened by Fort Rawlins

Garber, D.W., Jedediah Strong Smith: Fur Trader from Ohio, reviewed, 201-2 G a t e s , Susa Y o u n g : p h o t o g r a p h of, 3 6 7 ; worked for woman suffrage, 367 Genoa, Nev., Mormon settlers in, recalled, 22 George W.P. Hunt and His Arizona, by Goff, reviewed, 394-95 Gibbons, Cardinal, opposed woman suffrage, FF 8 358 Gibson, Arrell M., review of Hafen, ed., The Mountain Men and the Fur Trade of the Far West, 300-301 Gibson, Harry W., "Frontier Arms of the Mormons," 4-26 Gilbert, Samuel A., Salt Lake County clerk, 66 Giles, Grover, Salt Lake County attorney, 337 Give Your Heart to the Hawks: A Tribute to the Mountain Men, by Blevins, reviewed, 93-94 Glaser, Lynn, Indians or Jews'? An Introduction, reviewed, 92 Glendale, United O r d e r organized at, 149 Godbe Exchange Buildings, owned by W.S. Godbe, 223 Godbeites: disfellowshipping of, 240-44; in Fillmore, 272; history of, 216-44; founders of, 218-25; new theology of, 231-34; opposed economics of Mormon Zion, 225-26, 235; origins of, 218; political effects of, 283; p u b l i c a t i o n s of, 2 1 9 - 2 2 ; r e c r u i t e d sympathizers, 234; spiritualism of, 218, 224, 227-34, 235, 237-38, 244; traditional view of, 217-18; universalism of, 220-21, 228 Godbe-Mitchell, sold drugs and sundries, 223 G o d b e , William S.: conspiracy a n d excommunication of, 234-43; gave vocal support to cooperative movement, 236; joined H a r r i son as New Movement organizer, 222-24, 234; photograph of, 216; photographs of businesses of, 222, 223; photograph of h o m e of, 231; published Utah Magazine, 227; and spiritualism, 227-340 wrote explanatory letter to B. Young, 242 Goff, John S., George W.P. Hunt and His Arizona, reviewed, 394-9o The Golden Legacy: A Folk History of J. Golden Kimball, by Cheney, reviewed, 197-99 Goldrick, O.J., Vedette editor, 40 Goodale, Timothy, agent for Bridger and Vasquez, 65-66 Goodwin, C.C., delegate to 1895 constitutional convention, 350, 368 Gottfredson, Peter, mentioned Henry rifle, 26 G o w a n s , F r e d R.: " F o r t B r i d g e r a n d t h e Mormons,"49-67; review of Hafen, Broken Hand: The Life of Thomas Fitzpatrick - Mountain Man, Guide, and Indian Agent, 301-2 Grant, Heber J., and Cache land promotion, 116 Grant, Ulysses S., and Fort Rawlins, 78 Great Depression, effects of, on Uintah settlers, 166-77

Index

405

The Great Northwest: The Story of a Land and Its People, by American West, reviewed, 205-6 Green, C.B., Corinne theatre stockholder, 287 G r e e n e , Roger S., a n t i - J a p a n e s e lobbyist, 375-76, 379 Green River, ferry rights, on, controlled by Utah, 51 Green River County, organized as part of Utah Territory, 60-61 Greeson, L.R.: named assistant police chief, 318; photograph of, 318 Guerts, T h e o d o r e I., backed Lee in firing of Chief Skousen, 324 G u m e r m a n , George J., review of Muench and Pike, Anasazi: Ancient People of the Rock, 387-88 Guthrie, J. W., owner of Corinne O p e r a House, 294-95

H Hafen, LeRoy R.: Broken Hand: The Life of Thomas Fitzpatrick â&#x20AC;&#x201D;Mountain Man, Guide, and Indian Agent, reviewed, 301-2; The Mountain Men and the Fur Trade of the Far West, vols. 9 a n d 10, r e v i e w e d , 3 0 0 - 3 0 1 ; review of Brandon, The Last American: The Indian in American Culture, 388-89 Haight, Golden: named assistant police chief, 318; photograph of, 318 Hamblin, F.M., and Kanab United O r d e r , 156 Hamblin, Jacob: Paiute farm of, 164; property of, appraised, 152 H a r m o n , Appleton Milo: built r o a d o m e t e r , 263-66, 269, 272; photograph of, 263; at Platte River ferry, 270; W. Clayton assigned to wagon of, 259, 267 Harris, Billie, sacked wool, 187 Harris, Lorin, molasses business of, 170 Harrison, Elias Lacy T h o m a s : activities of, in England, 218; conspiracy and excommunication of, 234-43; as a journalist, 219-22, 227; mission call of, 239; photograph of, 221; skepticism of, 226; and spiritualism, 227-34 Hassrick, Peter H., Frederic Remington, r e viewed, 89-90 Hatch, Ira, supported J.R. Young, 156 Hatsis, Anthony, tavern owner, 334, 341 Haun, Sargeant, police dispatcher, 335 Hawley, W.J., acquired C r e e n River ferry rights, 54 Haycock, Samuel, wanted private land ownership, 162 Haymond, Jay M., review of Richardson, Dams, Parks, and Politics: Resource Development and Preservation in the Truman-Eisenhower Era, 391-92 Hempstead, Charles H.: founded the Vedette, 40; photograph of, 41 Hendricks, T h o m a s A., federal land commissioner, 135 Henroid, E.H., invested in powder mill, 21 Herald-Republican, reported on convict labor, 251-52 H e m e , James A., performed at Corinne, 291

Hickman, William A.: described Mormon arms, 10; established Green River trading post, 53-54; named sheriff of Green River County, U.T., 61; p h o t o g r a p h of, 53; and sale of Fort Bridger, 63 Hill, Marvin S., ed., Mormonism and American Culture, reviewed, 84-86 Historic Denver: The A rchitects and the A rchitecture, 1858-1893, by Brettell, reviewed, 393-94 Hockaday, J o h n H., surveyed Fort Bridger, 57-58 Hoffman, Claire F., Michigan congressman, 370-71 Hogan, Goudy, in land dispute, 129-30 Holeman, J a c o b IT, investigated M o r m o n Indian conflict at Green River, 52 Holladay, Abram, threatened by Fort Rawlins soldiers, 70, 71 Hooper, William H., introduced land legislation in Congress, 140 Hoover, J. Edgar, r e c o m m e n d e d Skousen, 318 Hopkins, Mister, federal farm loan official, 177 Horns in the High Country, by Russell, reviewed, 90-91 Hough, A.S., led troops to Fort Rawlins, 74-75 Hoyt, Israel, president of Glendale United Order, 150 Hunt, Jefferson, mentioned in Vedette, 45 Hyde, Orson: informed of land distribution, 129; led Green River Mission, 59-60

Independence in All Things, Neutrality in Nothing: The Story of a Pioneer Journalist of the American West, by Wright, reviewed, 203-4 Indians: arms of, 16-17; attacked Mormon settlements, 50-51; raided in southern Utah, 24-25 Indians or Jews'? An Introduction, by Glaser, reviewed, 92 International Association of Chiefs of Police, Skousen a member of, 339 Irish Entertainers, performed at Corinne, 291 Iron County Militia, arms of, 20 Irrigation: folklore of, 178-88, 190-96; photographs of, 121, 193, 196 hrigation Age, published in Utah, 120 Ivins, Anthony W., and woman suffrage, 357

James, Clifford, tavern owner, 337 Japanese War College, E.D. T h o m a s taught at, 376 J a r m a n , Frank, LDS official in Randlett, 167, 169, 172 Jedediah Strong Smith: Fur Trader from Ohio, by Garber, reviewed, 201-2 Jenkins, Bruce, ran for mayor of Salt Lake City, 320, 327 Jensen, Byron, tavern owner, 329, 336 Jensen, Golden: named assistant police chief, 318; photograph of, 318 Jenson, Andrew, and sale of Fort Bridger, 61 Jocelyn, Stephen E., Vedette editor, 40

406

Utah Historical Quarterly

Johnson, United O r d e r organized in, 149 Johnson, Gus, escaped from convict camp, 253 Johnson, La Veil, " T h e Watermaster's Stick," 189-96 Johnson, Philo, drove H . C Kimball's wagon overland, 260 J o h n s o n , Rue C , " F r o n t i e r T h e a t r e : T h e Corinne Opera House," 285-95 Johnson, Sextus, named LDS official, 162 Johnson, William D., LDS bishop in Kanab, 163 Jolley, Henry B.M., and Kanab United Order, 150, 153, 162 Jones, Nathanial, mined lead, 21 Jones, William, escaped from convict camp, 254 J o r d a n , Mister, Uintah Basin banker, 169 Jorgensen, Joseph G., The Sun Dance Religion: Power for the Powerless, reviewed, 305-6 Josephites. See Reorganized Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints J u a b County, dry farming in, 1 14-15 J u d d , Neil M., The Bureau of American Ethnology: A Partial History, reviewed, 92-93 Judd, Z.K., supported J.R. Young, 156 Julian, George W., chairman of House Committee on the Public Lands, 140 Juvenile Instructor, founding of, 224

K Kanab LDS meetinghouse, photograph of, 158 Kanab L u m b e r Co., t r a n s f e r r e d to Kanab United O r d e r , 152 Kanab United O r d e r : financial records of, 151-52; leadership of, 149-50; organized, 148-49, photograph of ledger of, 152; politics of organization of, 144-64 K a n e , Elisha K e n t , e x p l o r e r , b r o t h e r of T h o m a s L., 31 Kane, J o h n L., judge, father of T h o m a s L., 31, 37 Kane, T h o m a s L.: helped Mormons negotiate in Washington, 31-32, 36-37; photograph of, Kapaloski, Lee, review of Muench and Wixom, Utah, 86-87 Kay, J o h n , worked on artillery, 10 Kearney, Stephen W.: sent recruiter to Mormons in Iowa, 28; led troops to California, 34, 37 Kellogg-Briand Pact, favored by W.H. King, 371 Kelsey, Eli B.: a n d Godbeite trial, 241-42; joined Godbeites, 222, 224, 234; mission call of, 239; skepticism of, 226-27 Kendall, Amos, m e m b e r of Polk's Kitchen Cabinet, 30, 33, 35 Kenner, Scipio Africanus, opposed woman suffrage, 347 Keys, Robert, encouraged gunpowder production, 20 Kiesel, Fred J., delegate to 1895 constitutional convention, 350-51, 353-55 Kimball, Heber G : and land distribution, 128; noted sale of Fort Bridger, 65; and roadometer, 260; and Vedette, 41, 45 Kimball-Lawrence, Salt Lake merchandisers, 234

King, Daniel P., Massachusetts congressman, King, Volney, letter of, on Godbeites, 272 King, Wrilliam A.: built second roadometer, 270-72; mustered into H. Egan's ten, 267 King, William H.: favored League of Nations, 371; member of Senate Foreign Relations Committee, 371; hostility of, toward J a p a n , 371-76; named official of Asiatic Exclusion League, 372; opposed FDR's court reorganization, 376; photograph of, 373; supported China, 372-74 Kinney, J o h n F., territorial delegate, criticized Vedette, 42 Knight, Brother, quoted, 173 Knight, Jessie, promoted Duchesne land, 116 Knowlton, Ezra, state road engineer, 252, 256 Kotter, Richard E., " T h e T r a n s c o n t i n e n t a l Railroad and Ogden City Politics," 278-84 K r i g h a u m , C.A., o b t a i n e d C o r i n n e O p e r a House, 294

Lafayette Courier, criticized Vedette, 43 Lambert, Neal E., review of Brooks, Frontier Tales: Stories of Real People, 202-3 Land: ownership of, prior to 1869, 126-43; photograph of certificate of ownership of, 132; promotion of, by developers, 115-16, 196 Langrishe, Jack, acting company of, 289-90 L a n h a m , Url, The Bone Hunters, reviewed, 389-90 Larson, Gustive O , wrote on statehood, 109 The Last American: The Indian in American Culture, by Brandon, reviewed, 388-89 Law enforcement: at private clubs, 332-35; at public taverns, 335-38 Lawrence, Henry: and Godbeite trial, 241-42; joined Godbeites, 234-35; participated in ZCMI, 236; resigned LDS church membership, 243-44 Layton, Stanford J., "Fort Rawlins, Utah: A Question of Mission and Means," 68-83 League of Nations: favored by W.H. King, 371; J a p a n and, 371-72, 374 Leavitt, Jewell, discovered escaped convict, 253 Le Clare, Michael, mountain man, described by Vedette, 46 Lee, J. Bracken: claimed he asked Skousen to resign, 325; criticized Skousen's public relations and personnel practices, 338-41; disapproved of policing private clubs, 332-35; elected mayor of Salt Lake City, 320; feud of, with W.C. Skousen, 316-43; fired Skousen, 324, 317; philosophy and personality of, 342-43; photographs of, 315, 316; praised Skousen's efficiency, 341; reported gambling at Ambassador Club, 334-35; requested cuts in police budget, 321-24; took over Finance, 328 Lee, J o h n D., guns of, 5, 6 Lee, Robert E., joined Confederates, 382 Leithead, James, held LDS posts in southern Utah, 149-50, 153, 162 Leonard, Glen M., review of American West,

Index

407

The Magnificent Rockies, Crest of a Continent, 88-89 Lessig, W.H., federal surveyor, 136 Lester, Margaret D., review of Brettell, Historic Denver: The Architects and the Architecture, 1858-1893, 393-94 Letters of Long Ago, by Reid, reviewed, 296-98 Lewis brothers, at Corinne Opera House, 289 Lewis, James H., secretary of Kanab United Order, 149, 156, 161-62 Lewis, John, at Ambassador Club, 334 Libby, Justin H., "Senators King and T h o m a s and the Coming War with Japan," 370-80 Liberal party: Gentiles in, 353; and Godbeites, 244; organized at Corinne, 283-84 Lincoln, Abraham: admired Henry rifle, 26; and Civil War, 381-82; and woman suffrage, 352 Lindsay Co., performed at Corinne, 295 Linford, Ernest H., review of Stegner, The Uneasy Chair: A Biography of Bernard DeVoto, 298-300 Linford, Lawrence L., "Establishing and Maintaining Land Ownership in Utah prior to 1869, 126-43 Little, James A., and Kanab United Order, 152, 156 Little, Jesse C : letter of, to Polk, 34; photograph of, 30; as president of LDS eastern mission, 29; sought federal aid for Mormon emigrants, 29-38 Living Head, performed at Corinne, 291 Livingston, Frederick, Vedette editor, 40 Living Wonders, performed at Corinne, 291 Loba, Frederick, chemist, 20-21 Loomis, , Pioche butcher, 180 Love, Frank, Mining Camps and Ghost Towns: A History of Mining in Arizona and California along the Lower Colorado, reviewed, 392-93 Luce, W. Ray, "The Mormon Battalion: A Historical Accident?" 27-38 Lund, E.S., spoke at Socialist rally, 254-55 Lyne, T h o m a s A.: actor, at Corinne, 287, 288; photograph of, 289 Lythgoe, Dennis L., "Political Feud in Salt Lake City: J. Bracken Lee and the Firing of W. Cleon Skousen," 316-43

M MacArthur, Arthur, Jr.: photograph of, 8 1 ; reported on morale at Fort Rawlins, 81-82 MacArthur, Douglas, dismissed by T r u m a n , 317 McClelland, Robert, secretary of the interior, 134 McConnell, Jehiel, supported J.R. Young, 156 Macdonald, A.F., property of, damaged by Fort Rawlins soldiers, 70 McFarland, Robert, opposed woman suffrage, 353 McKay, David O., attitude of, toward Chief Skousen, 318, 330 Mac Kay, Katheryn L., review of Hassrick, Frederic Remington, 89-90 McKean, James B., harrassed B. Young, 153

McKenzie, Thomas, brought arms to Nauvoo, 9 McKiernan, F. Mark: The Restoration Movement: Essays in Mormon History, reviewed, 91; review of Glaser, Indians or Jews? An Introduction, 92 Mackintosh, Richard, o p p o s e d woman suffrage, 353 McLaughlin,Daniel, Vedette editor, 40, 48 McLeod, Norman, Vedette editor, 40 McMurrin, Sterling M., review of Hill and Allen eds., Mormonism and American Culture, 84-86 Maeser, Karl G., delegate to 1895 constitutional convention, 350 The Magnificent Rockies, Crest of a Continent, by American West, reviewed, 88-89 Manhein, Mister, Corinne theatre architect, 287 Manti, incorporated, 132 March, R.B., friend of Jim Bridger, 55 Marco Polo B r i d g e I n c i d e n t , t h r e a t e n e d U.S.-Japan relations, 374 Marcus and Narcissa Whitman and the Opening of Old Oregon, by Drury, reviewed, 204-5 Marcy, William, secretary of war u n d e r Polk, 28, 36-37 Mathews, W.H., Pioche butcher, 180 Mayer, Vincent, review of Weber, Foreigners in Their Native Land: Historical Roots of the Mexican American, 303-4 Merrill, Marriner W., in land dispute, 129-30 Mexican War, and Mormon Battalion, 12-13, 28-38 Miles, Doctor, Uintah Basin physician, 175 Millennial Star, and Godbeites, 218-19, 221 Miller, George P., delegate to 1895 constitutional convention, 350 Miller, William, Provo alderman, threatened by soldiers, 68-70 Mining, and Godbeites, 226, 239 Mining Camps and Ghost Toivns: A History of Mining in Arizona and California along the Lower Colorado, by Love, reviewed, 392-93 Minor, Joseph E., Waterfor the Southwest: Historical Survey and Guide to Historic Sites, reviewed, 206-7 Missouri, Mormons in, 4-6 Mitchell, Doug, newsman, photograph of, 333 Moor, Thomas, obtained Green River ferry rights, 51 Morrell, H.F., agent of L. Vasquez for sale of Fort Bridger, 63-64 Moss, Frank E., as Salt Lake County attorney, 319 The Mountain of the Lord's House, W. Clayton described in, 259 Mountain men, feud of, with Mormons over Fort Bridger, 51-54, 59-60 The Mountain Men and the Fur Trade of the Far West, vols. 9 and 10, ed. Hafen, reviewed, 300-301 Mount Carmel, United O r d e r organized at, 149 Moyle, Henry D.: killed editorial denouncing Lee's firing of Skousen, 328, 330-32; involved in traffic accident, 331-32 Mormon Battalion: arms of, 12-13; formation of, 27-28 Mormonism and American Culture, ed. Hill and

408

Utah Historical Quarterly

Allen, reviewed, 84-86 A Mormon Mother: An Autobiography by Annie Clark Tanner, by T a n n e r , reviewed, 199-200 Mormon Tribune, and Godbeites, 220, 244 Mormons: arms of, 4-26; feared Gentile voters in Ogden, 278-84; financing for emigration of, sought, 29-38; at Fort Bridger, 49-67; left Nauvoo, 10; in Mexican War, 28, 36-37; reacted to firing of Chief Skousen, 317; relations of, with Fort Rawlins soldiers, 69, 77-79; wanted statehood, 122; and woman suffrage, 346 Muench, David: Anasazi: Ancient People of the Rock, reviewed, 387-88; Utah, reviewed, 86-87 Musser, Amos Milton, visited Kanab for LDS church, 160

N The Naked Communist, admired byJ.B. Lee, 320, 339 Nathan's Juveniles, performed at Corinne, 291 National Intelligencer, reported Mormon arms, 22-23 National Woman Suffrage Association, Utahns in, 345, 351 Nauvoo, 111., Mormon military activity in, 7-10 Nauvoo Legion: arms of, listed, 25, 26; during Utah War, 21-22; equipping of, 7-8; organization of, 17-19; photograph of, 16-17; in Tooele, 48 Navajo Indians, conflict of, with settlers, 150-51 Naylor, William, gunsmith, 23 Nebeker, J o h n , led settlers to Fort Bridger, 59 Neutrality Act of 1937, trade provisions of, 378 Nevada Volunteers, at Fort Douglas, 44 New Movement. See Godbeites New York Herald, reported Mormon arms, 23, 24 Nine Power Treaty, approved by W.H. King, 371 Nugent, Robert, commander of Fort Rawlins, 82-83 Nuttall, L.J.: dedicated Levi Stewart's grave, 164; held LDS church posts, 159, 162, 163; reorganized Kanab dissidents, 160-62

Oakley, Ezra, threatened by Fort Rawlins soldiers, 70 Ogden: election laws of, affected by railroad, 278-84; incorporated, 132; as junction city, 283 Ogden Dramatic Co., performed at Corinne, 291 Ogden Standard, and woman suffrage, 360, 364 Old Elk, Utah valley Indian, 50 O l i p h a n t , C h a r l e s H., a n d Kanab U n i t e d Order, 151, 156 O'Neil, Floyd A.: review of Jorgensen, The Sun Dance Religion: Power for the Powerless, 305-6; review of J u d d , The Bureau of American Ethnology: A Partial History, 92-93 Orderville, established, 156-57

Osborne, Nathan A., problems of, as commander of Fort Rawlins, 75-78, 80-82

Pacific Land and Water Co., photograph of promotional leaflet of, 116 Packer, Helgar, described convicts and camp, 8 F 250 Pahreah, United O r d e r organized in, 149 Painted Panorama, performed at Corinne, 291 Palmer, Richard H., trailed sheep, 188 Palmer, William R., "The Early Sheep Industry in Southern Utah," 178-88' Panay, s i n k i n g of, by J a p a n t h r e a t e n e d U.S.-Japan relations, 370, 374, 378 Panic of 1873, effect of, on Utah, 145 Parowan, incorporated, 132 Partridge, Edward, Jr., delegate to 1895 constitutional convention, 360 Paulos, Pete, tavern owner, 338 Pauvan Military District, arms of, 26 Pearl Harbor, political effects of bombing of, 370, 380 Peay, Blake, brick business of, 170 Peay family, stayed with Wahlquists, 173-74 Pedersen, Lyman C , Jr., " T h e Daily Union Vedette: A Military Voice on the Mormon Frontier," 39-48 Peep O'Day, and Godbeites, 219-22, 227 People's party, Mormons in, 353 Perris, Fred, and Godbeites, 234, 241 Peterson, Charles S.: " T h e 'Americanization' of Utah's Agriculture," 108-25; review of Goff, George W.P. Hunt and His Arizona, 394-95 Pettit, Ethan: entered land preemption, 143; traded Colt revolvers, 19 Pierce, Franklin, recommended federal land system for Utah, 134 Pierce, J o h n , federal surveyor, 137 Pierce, Virgil Caleb, "Utah's First Convict Labor Camp," 245-57 Piercy, J.K.: backed Lee in firing of Chief Skousen, 324; took over Public Safety, 328 Pike, Donald C , Anasazi: Ancient People of the Rock, reviewed, 387-88 Pioneer Park, site of Mormon fort, 128 Pocatello, Chief, mentioned in Vedette, 45 Police Mutual Aid Magazine, praised Chief Skousen, 341-42 Polk, James Knox: and Mormon Battalion, 28, 32, 33-38; photograph of, 35 Populist party, and mortgage problem, 117 Poulsen, Richard C , review of Blevins, Give Your Heart to the Hawks: A Tribute to the Mountain Men, 93-94 Powell, A. Kent, review of Baker, et. al., Water for the Southwest: Historical Survey and Guide to Historic Sites, 206-7 Pratt, Arthur, prison warden, supervised convict road workers, 246-48, 250-53 Pratt, Orson: and Godbeite trials, 240-41; organized Kanab LDS stake, 161-62; photog r a p h of, 265; p u r c h a s e d arms, 9; a n d roadometer, 258-59, 261-63, 265, 266, 271; surveyed Salt Lake City, 128

Index

409

Preston, William B., delegate to 1895 constitutional convention, 350 Price, George F., Vedette editor, 40 Prisons, labor practices of, 245-57 Provo: effect of Fort Rawlins on, 68-73; incorporated, 132; p h o t o g r a p h of, 68 Pugh, Edward, appraised property, 157

R Rae, Steven R., Water for the Southwest: Historical Survey and Guide to Historic Sites, reviewed, 206-7 Railroad: effect of, on O g d e n politics, 278-84; effect of, on Utah, 145; p h o t o g r a p h of worke r s o n , 2 7 8 ; t h r e a t e n e d M o r m o n selfsufficiency, 225-26, 228, 239 Ransohoff and Co., received shipment, 47 Rappleye, Funis, led M o r m o n immigrant company, 271 Rawlins, J a m e s , road and timber rights of, 133 Rawlins, J o h n A., Fort Rawlins n a m e d for, 74 Reed, Levi, land claims of, 143 Reid, Agnes Just, Letters of Long A go, reviewed, 296-98 Reilly, P . T . , " K a n a b U n i t e d O r d e r : T h e President's Nephew a n d the Bishop," 144-64 Relief Society (LDS), p r o m o t e d woman suffrage, 367 Remy, Jules, described Utah gunsmithing, 23 Reorganized C h u r c h of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints: c o n f e r e n c e s of, r e p o r t e d by Vedette, 43; and Godbeites, 219 Republican party, 1894 platform of, favored woman suffrage, 346-47 The Restoration Movement: Essays in Mormon History, ed. McKiernan and Blair, reviewed, 91 Rhodes, Hall, t h r e a t e n e d by Fort Rawlins soldiers, 70 R i c h a r d s , Emily S.: p h o t o g r a p h of, 3 4 7 ; worked for woman suffrage, 347, 357, 367 R i c h a r d s , F r a n k l i n D.: a p p o i n t e d p r o b a t e j u d g e of W e b e r C o u n t y , 2 8 2 ; f a t h e r of F r a n k l i n S., 3 5 6 ; h e a r d of sale of Fort Bridger, 65; visited Kanab, 160 Richards, Franklin S.: favored woman suffrage, 356-57, 369; p h o t o g r a p h of, 357 Richards, J a n e S., early suffragist, 356, 363 Richardson, A.D., mentioned in Vedette, 45 Richardson, Elmo, Dams, Parks, and Politics: Resource Development in the Truman-Eisenhower Era, reviewed, 391-92 Richard, Charles C , carried M o r m o n arms, 9 Richins, A T . , p h o t o g r a p h of farm of, 108 Rider, J o h n : a p p r a i s e d p r o p e r t y , 151; a n d Kanab United O r d e r , 149, 152, 161 Roadometer: invention of, 258-72; p h o t o g r a p h of, 258 Roads: building of, by convicts, 245-57; described, 257; in Uintah Basin, 172 Roberts, Brigham H.: asked by LDS officials to not oppose woman suffrage, 362; cartoon of, 344; delegate to 1895 constitutional convention, 350; opposed woman suffrage, 355-60, 365, 368; and r o a d o m e t e r , 259, 269 Robertson, T h o m a s , officer in Kanab United

O r d e r , 149, 156, 161 Robinson, J.B., p e r f o r m e d at Corinne, 291 Robinson, J. King, claim-jumping a n d m u r d e r of, 138 Robinson, Richard S., LDS bishop of Kanab, 164 Robison. 1 .ewis: negotiated sale of Fori Bridger, 61-66; p h o t o g r a p h of, 49 R o m n e y , L.C., v o t e d a g a i n s t firing Chief Skousen, 324 Roosevelt, T h e o d o r e , o p e n e d Uintah Reservation, 166 Roundy, S h a d r a c h : i m m i g r a n t c o m p a n y of, 271; woodshop of, in Nauvoo, 263, 266 Royal Yeddo T r o u p e , p e r f o r m e d at Corinne, 291 Russell, Andy, Horns in the High Country, reviewed, 90-91

Sabin, David, gunsmith, 23, 24 Sagenes, Charles, sold property to Jim Bridger, 58 St. George, public works in, 146-47 Salisbury, J o s e p h , Godbeite follower, 234, 238 Salt Lake C h a m b e r of C o m m e r c e , a n d woman suffrage, 361 Salt Lake City: described by Vedette, 44-45; p h o t o g r a p h s of, 143, 336, 337; plat of, 126; municipal politics in, 316-43; national land system in, 141-42; size of, 142; surveyed, 128 Salt Lake City Police D e p a r t m e n t : budget a n d personnel of, 321-24; p h o t o g r a p h of headquarters of, 326; polygraph u s e d b y , 339-40 Salt Lake Herald: r e p o r t e d Fort Rawlins incident, 71-73; and woman suffrage, 354, 355, 360, 368 Salt Lake Tribune: a n d convict labor, 247; criticized secret police investigation, 319-20; and Godbeites, 220, 244; reacted to firing of Chief Skousen, 327-28; a n d woman suffrage, 347, 348, 350, 352-53, 363-64, 368 Salt Lake T h e a t r e , T.A. Lyne acted in, 288 San Bernardino, Calif, supplied Utah Mormons with a m m u n i t i o n , 22 Sanborn, J.W., a r r a n g e d agricultural exhibits, 120-2L San Francisco Call, r o a d o m e t e r story in, 258 Saunders, Joseph, deputy sheriff, 253 Sawmill Co., t r a n s f e r r e d to K a n a b U n i t e d O r d e r , 152 Schindler, H a r o l d : r e p o r t e d secret prison inv e s t i g a t i o n , 3 1 9 ; r e v i e w of W r i g h t , Independence in All Things, Neutrality in Nothing: The Story of a Pioneer Journalist of the American West, 203-4; told Skousen he had been fired, 325-26 Second California Volunteers, at Fort Douglas, 40 Shaffer, J. Wilson: drawing of, 72; prohibited a r m e d M o r m o n drills, 71; reacted to Fort Rawlins incident, 71-74 Shearman, William H., Godbeite follower, 222, 224, 227, 234, 239, 240, 243 Sheep industry: beginnings o f in s o u t h e r n Utah, 178-88; folklore of, 181-88; photo-

410 graphs of, 178, 182, 187 Sheet, E.F., property of, damaged by Fort Rawlins soldiers, 70 Sheperson, William, and Antelope Springs land, 179 Sherwood, Henry G., surveyed Salt Lake City, 128 Shoaff, Phil, Vedette editor, 40 Shoshoni Indians, defeated at Bear River, 24 Silver, Joseph, and Godbeite trial, 242 Sink Valley Ranch, transferred to Kanab United Order, 152 S k o u s e n , W. C l e o n : a p p o i n t e d by Mayor Stewart, 318; feud of with J.B. Lee, 316-43; fired, 317, 325-27; management of police by, 321-24, 332-38; and Moyle accident, 332; )hilosophy and personality o f 342-43; p u b ic relations and hiring practices of, 338-40; photographs o f 318, 333; and prison investigation, 319-20; reacted to Lee's criticisms, 341-42 Smith, Alfred, trailed sheep, 188 Smithson, Allen, LDS leader at Kanab, 162, 163 Smith, George A.: and Godbeite trial, 2 4 1 ; heard of Jim Bridger's whereabouts, 61-62; and Ogden politics, 282; sent J.R. Young to Dixie, 148 Smith, Hyrum, assassination of, 7 Smith, J o h n Henry: president of 1895 constitutional convention, 350; and woman suffrage, 362 Smith, J o h n L., saw Jim Bridger, 61-62 Smith, Joseph, owned water rights at Iron Springs, 179 Smith, Joseph F., favored woman suffrage, 362 Smith, Joseph, Jr.: assassination o f 7; led Zion's Army, 5; as a medium, 232-33; orders of, concerning arms, 10-11; promoted United O r d e r , 146; and theatre, 288; and Zion, 225-26 Smith, Nicholas C , dedicated Randlett LDS chapel, 169 Smoot, Abraham O.: engraving o f 70; investigated Fort Rawlins incident, 70; reported soldiers broke curfew, 79 Smoot, Reed: and conservation, 121; defeated by E.D. Thomas for U.S. Senate, 376 Snow, Erastus, visited Kanab, 160 Snow, Lorenzo: and Brigham City Co-op, 146; organized Kanab LDS stake, 161-62 Socialist party, opposed convict labor, 254-55 Solomon, William H.: a n d Kanab U n i t e d Order, 151, 153, 154; photograph of, 155 Sorensen, Alfred, presided at Socialist rally, 154 Southworth, T.W., former police officer, hired by tavern owners, 335-38 Spence, Marian, tavern owner, 337 Spencer, Howard O., LDS leader at Mount Carmel United Order, 153, 154, 156-57, 162, 164 Spry, William, and convict labor, 246, 248, 250, 253, 255 Stambaugh, Samuel C , federal surveyor, 136 Standifird, J o h n , official of Kanab United Order, 148, 156, 161 Statehood: address commemorating, 109-25;

Utah Historical Quarterly affected convict labor practices, 246; fervor for, 122 Steele, J o h n , described Mormon arms, 9 Steele, J o h n H., governor of New Hampshire, 29-30, 36 Stegner, Wallace, The Uneasy Chair: A Biography of Bernard DeVoto, reviewed, 298-300 Stenhouse, Fanny, joined Godbeites, 234 Stenhouse, T . B . H . : disfellowshipped from LDS church, 240, 244; and Godbeites, 229, 234, 235, 240, 242; helped to found Juvenile Instructor, 224; relation of, to B. Young's family, 241 Stevens, Mister, worked with convicts, 249 Stewart, Adiel F., appointed Skousen chief of police, 318, 319, 339 Stewart, Levi: death of, 164; as Kanab United O r d e r official, 149, 156, 161; forced into power struggle with J.R. Young, 154-58; photograph of, 150; as LDS church official in Kanab, 154, 159; wealth of, 150, 151 Stewart, Margery, death of, 164 Stewart, S.W., Board of Corrections member, 248 Stewart, William Morris, Nevada senator, proposed land legislation, 139 Storrs, George A., praised convict labor, 256 Stout, Hosea: commented on convict labor in Utah, 246; described Fort Supply, 60; took charge of Mormon arms, 9-10; valued Colt revolvers, 19 Stringham, Guy E., " T h e Pioneer Roadometer," 258-72 The Sun Dance Religion: Powerfor the Powerless, by Jorgensen, reviewed, 305-6 Swallow Park Dairy, t r a n s f e r r e d to Kanab United Order, 152 Swiss Bell Ringers, performed at Corinne, 291 Sylvester, J.W., bought Henry rifle, 25

T a n n e r , Annie Clark,/! Mormon Mother: An Autobiography by Annie Clark Tanner, reviewed, 199-200 ' T a n n e r , Thomas, Mormon armorer, 16 Tannery and Manufacturing Co., transferred to Kanab United Order, 152 Taylor, Ace, described convicts and camp, 249-50, 252-53 Taylor, Appollos, Sr., leased land for convict labor camp, 247, 249 Taylor, J o h n : organized LDS stake in Kanab, 161-62; problems of, with B. Young's estate, 163; replaced United O r d e r with Zion's Central Board of Trade,162; and Vedette, 41 Taylor, Joseph C , visited Kanab, 160 Taylor, Michael E., review of Lanham, The Bone Hunters, 389-90 Taylor, Roy, LDS official in Randlett, 167 Temple Square Museum, and roadometer, 272 Thatcher, Moses, delegate to 1895 constitutional convention, 350 Third California Volunteers, at Fort Douglas, 40 Thomas, Elbert D.: attitudes of, toward Japan,

Index

411

376-80; defeated Reed Smoot, 376; member of Senate Foreign Relations Committee, 371; photograph of, 377; president of LDS mission in Japan, 376; sought to limit exports to warring nations, 378 Thompson, Gregory C , review of Culmsee, Utah's Black Hawk War: Lore and Reminiscences of Participants, 386-87 Thompson, Jacob, secretary of the interior, 136 T h r a p p , Dan L., Victorio and the Mimbres Apaches, reviewed, 304-5 T h u r m a n , Samuel, defended LDS church, 357 Time, covered Lee-Skousen feud, 317, 319 Titus, J o h n , territorial chief justice, 138 Tobe, Cedar City sheep shearer, 185 Tooele, militia in, 48 I ransport; tion, photographs of 215, 273-77 Tripartite Agreement, signed by Japan, 379 T r u m a n , Harry S., dismissed MacArthur, 317 T u b a , Hopi I n d i a n , j o i n e d Kanab United Order, 152 Tucker, William, Cedar City sheepman, 181 Tullidge, Edward W.: disfellowshipped from LDS c h u r c h , 240, 2 4 3 ; as a j o u r n a l i s t , 219-21; and Godbeite trial, 241-42; objected to spiritualism of Godbeites, 235; photoraph of business of, 236; religious views of, 18-20, 226; wrote history of Godbeites, 217, 228-29, 236 Tullidge, John, and Godbeites, 234, 241-43 Turley, T h e o d o r e , gunsmith, 10 T y r o l e a n O p e r a T r o u p e , p e r f o r m e d at Corinne, 291

u Udall, David K.,and Kanab United Order, 151, 162 Uintah Reservation, opened to homesteaders, 123, 166 The Uneasy Chair: A Biography of Bernard DeVoto, by Stegner, reviewed, 298-300 Union Pacific Railroad: building of, affected O g d e n election laws, 278-84; c o m p l e t e d Lucin Cutoff, 295 United Order, launched by B. Young, 145-48 United O r d e r of Orderville, rented Cedar City co-op sheep herd, 179, 181 Unrau, William E., review of T h r a p p , Victorio and the Mimbres Apaches, 304-5 Utah, by Muench and Wixom, reviewed, 86-87 Utah Arid Farm Co., in J u a b County, 115 Utah Industrialist,emphasized farming, 111-12 Utah Magazine, and Godbeites, 219, 220, 227, 228, 237, 240, 241 Utah N o r t h e r n Railroad, affected Corinne, 291-92 Utah's Black Hawk War: Lore and Reminiscences of Participants, by Culmsee, reviewed, 386-87 Utah State Agricultural College: experiments at, 110, 115; photograph o f 123 Utah State Constitution, included woman suffrage, 344-69 Utah State Prison, narcotics and counterfeiting at, investigated, 319-20 Utah Territorial Legislature: granted Green

River ferry rights, 51, 54 taxed mountain men, 52-53 Utah War, armaments for, 13, 21-24

V Valley City Co., promotion of land by, 116, 123 Van Houghton, Paul, escaped convict, 253 Varian, Charles S., delegate to 1895 constitutional convention, 349-50, 363, 368 Vasquez, Louis: engraving of, 67; and sale of Fort Bridger, 57, 61-67; warned Mormons about Indians, 50-51 Ventura, Anthony, tavern owner, 337 Victorio and the Mimbres Apaches, by T h r a p p , reviewed, 304-5

w Wahlquist, Brent, birth of, 167 Wahlquist, Bryan, birth of, 167 Wahlquist, Charles: birth of, 166; horses bolted from, 176 Wahlquist, Charles Frederick (Fred): leased Indian land, 169, 172; marriage o f 166; named LDS bishop in Randlett, 167-69; photograph o f 168 Wahlquist, Earl, birth of, 167 Wahlquist, Fred: accident o f 176; birth of, 166 Wahlquist, Glen: accident of, 175-76; birth o f 167 Wahlquist, Loreen Pack: marriage o f 166; "Memories of a Uintah Basin Farm," 165-77; photographs of, 165, 177 Wahlquist, Wayne, birth and health of, 167, 175 Waldron, Mr. and Mrs. George B., performed at Corinne, 291 Walkara, Ute chief, in Utah valley, 50 Walker brothers, financed Peep O'Day, 220 Walker, Henry P., review of Love, Mining Camps and Ghost Towns: A History of Mining in Arizona and California along the Lower Colorado, 392-93 Walker, Ronald W., " T h e Commencement of the Godbeite Protest: Another View," 216-44 Wall, Henry, cared for Wahlquist cows, 168 Walsh, J.H., spoke at Socialist rally, 255 Ward, Artemus, mentioned in Vedette, 45 Ward, Barney, traded with Bannocks, 51 Washakie, Chief mentioned in Vedette, 45 Washington County, convicts sent to work on roads in, 251, 256 Water for the Southivest: Historical Survey and Guide to Historic Sites, by Baker, et. al., reviewed, 206-7 Watson, George, supported J.R. Young, 156 Watt, George, Godbeite follower, 234, 240, 244 Weber, David J., Foreigners in Their Native Land: Historical Roots of the Mexican American, reviewed, 303-4 W e b s t e r , Francis, c o n t r a c t e d with Pioche butchers, 180 Webster, J o h n J . C , trailed sheep, 188 Wells, Daniel H.: applied for federal land patents, 141, 142; and Godbeites, 243; granted Green River ferry rights, 54; and sale of Fort Bridger, 6 1 , 64-65; visited Kanab, 160

412 Wells, Emmeline B.: p h o t o g r a p h of, 3 5 1 ; worked for woman suffrage, 348, 351-52, 363, 367 Wells, Heber M.: delegate to 1895 constitutional convention, 350; spoke to irrigation congress, 117 Wells, Merle W., review of Drury, Marcus and Narcissa Whitman and the Opening of Old Oregon, 204-5 West, Chauncey, W., Ogden city councilman, 280, 282 Weston, Mister, Vedette editor, 40 Wheeler, William A., New York congressman, favored Ogden as junction city, 283 White, Jean Bickmore, "Woman's Place Is in the Constitution: The Struggle for Equal Rights in Utah in 1895," 344-69 Whitney, Orson F.: cartoon of, 344; argued for woman suffrage, 359-68 Widtsoe, John A.: and dry farming, 115, 121; and extension, 122; photograph of 123 Wilbor, P.H., secretary-treasurer of Corinne Opera House Assn., 286 Wilkinson, Harry, tavern owner, 337 Willard, convict labor camp in, 247-50 Willden family, led sheep to Cedar City, 179 Wilson, A., reported Mormon-Indian conflict at Green River, 52 Wilson, Joseph S., federal land commissioner, 136-37, 140 Wixom, Hartt, Utah, reviewed, 86-87 Woman's Exponent, illustrated, 349; E.B. Wells editor of 348, 364, 367 Woman suffrage, history of in Utah constitution, 344-69 Woman Suffrage Association of Salt Lake County, led by Dr. Ferguson, 348 Woman Suffrage Association of Utah, activities of 344-46, 351 Woodruff, Wilford: a n d Godbeite trials, 240-42; spoke to irrigation congress, 117; and woman suffrage, 362 Woods, George L., harrassed B. Young, 153 Woodyatt, Fred, described convicts and camp, 249, 252-53 Wooley, Bishop, and Vedette, 42 Woolley, Edwin D., named president of LDS stake at Kanab, 164 Wright, Elizabeth, Independence in All Things, Neutrality in Nothing: The Story of a Pioneer Journalist of the American West, reviewed, 203-4 Wright, George E., bought Corinne Opera House, 295

Yell, Archibald, governor of Arkansas, 33 Young, Ann Eliza, opposed polygamy, 153, 154 Young, Brigham: and armaments, 9, 11, 15-16, 20-21; and claim-jumping, 138-39; death of, 162; denounced Peep O'Day, 220; estate of, 163; and sale of Fort Bridger, 53, 65-67; Godbe a protege of 224; and Godbeites, 217, 225-26; 232-33, 235, 239-40, 241-43; and Jim Bridger, 50-51, 54, 58-59, 6 1 ; land policies of 127-30, 133-34; and Mormon

Utah Historical Quarterly Battalion, 12, 36; and Ogden city politics, 280-83; ordered Hickman to quiet mountain men, 61; photograph of home of 27; predictions of, 113-14, 295; problems of declining years of, 153-54, 156; and roadometer, 259-61, 263, 266, 270-72; and Sam Brannan, 30; suggested federal aid for LDS emigrants, 29; and theatre, 288; and United Order at Kanab, 148, 158, 160; and Vedette, 42 Young, Brigham, Jr. and Ogden city politics, 280-82 Young, John R.: and Kanab United Order, 148-50, 152-60; led rescue party to Moenkopi, 151; moved to Orderville, 161; photograph of, 144; property of appraised, 152; stubbornness of 164 Young, John W., president of LDS stake at St. George, 156 Young, Joseph W., death of, 156 Young, O. Whitney, review of Russell, Horns in the High Country, 90-91 Young, Zina D.H., worked for woman suffrage, 367

Zion's Cooperative Mercantile Institution: organized, 226, 236-37; traded for wool, 187 Zion's Central Board of Trade, replaced United Order, 162

UTAH STATE HISTORICAL SOCIETY D i v i s i o n of D e p a r t m e n t of D e v e l o p m e n t S e r v i c e s BOARD O F STATE

HISTORY

M I L T O N C. A B R A M S , Smithfield,

1977

President D E L L O G. D A Y T O N , O g d e n , 1975

Vice President M E L V I N T . S M I T H , Salt Lake City Secretary MRS.

J U A N I T A B R O O K S , St. George, 1977

M R S . A. C. J E N S E N , Sandy, 1975 T H E R O N L U K E , Provo, 1975

C L Y D E L. M I L L E R , Secretary of State

Ex officio M R S . H E L E N Z. PAPANIKOLAS, Salt Lake City, 1977 H O W A R D C. P R I C E , Jr., Price, 1975 MRS.

E L I Z A B E T H S K A N C H Y , Midvale, 1977

R I C H A R D O . U L I B A R R I , Roy, 1977

M R S . NAOMI WOOLLEY, Salt Lake City, 1975 ADMINISTRATION MELVIN T. SMITH,

Director

STANFORD J. L A Y T O N , Publications Coordinator JAY M . H A Y M O N D , Librarian DAVID B. M A D S E N , Antiquities Director

T h e U t a h State Historical Society was organized in 1897 by public-spirited U t a h n s to collect, preserve, a n d publish U t a h and related history. Today, under state sponsorship, the Society fulfills its obligations by publishing t h e Utah Historical Quarterly and other historical materials; locating, documenting, and preserving historic a n d prehistoric buildings and sites; a n d maintaining a specialized research library. Donations and gifts to the Society's programs or its library are encouraged, for only through such means can it live u p to its responsibility of preserving the record of Utah's past. MEMBERSHIP Membership in the U t a h State Historical Society is open to all individuals and institutions interested in U t a h history. Membership applications and change of address notices should be sent to the membership secretary. Annual dues a r e : Institutions, $7.00; individuals, $5.00; students, $3.00. Life memberships, $100.00. Tax-deductible donations for special projects of the Society may be made on the following membership basis: sustaining, $250.00; patron, $500.00; benefactor, $1,000.00. Your interest a n d support are most welcome.