f2
Utah Historical
Quarterly
that the first claims filed in Tooele County were not filed by Patrick Connor's California Volunteers, as is usually claimed, but by members of the U t a h Expedition. Still others planted a 40-acre tract of farming land to garden stuffs and crops and took turns irrigating and hoeing. 15 For a long period of time, there was no chaplain in Camp, a situation which at least one observer deplored. Captain Simpson held religious services for the troops at times when he was in Camp, but it was not until the summer of 1859 that a permanent chaplain was selected. T h e fact that the new m a n of God was a Catholic did not please some of the more devout Protestants. 16 I n spite of these diversions, life at this Great Basin outpost was anything but pleasant. Soldiers were far from families and loved ones, and mail required 22 days or more to come from the states. T h e diet of the soldiers was adequate and even somewhat varied, but diarrhea was common and some suffered discomforts brought on by a "vile sort of beer . . . vended by the Mormons . . . ." Pay was poor at $11.00 per month for privates and often overdue at that. Desertion among troops sent to the hills as herders or wood choppers was common, and some joined emigrant trains bound for California. 17 15 Fabian, " C a m p Floyd"; Furniss, Utah Conflict, 2 0 5 - 6 ; Mathis, "Camp Floyd," 57-58, 153; Phelps Diary, various entries; Alter and Dwyer, Journal of Albert Tracy, U.H.Q., X I I I , 7 8 - 7 9 ; Scott, "Diary of U t a h Expedition," U.H.Q., X X V I I I , 176; Richard F. Burton, The City of the Saints and Across the Rocky Mountains to California, introduction and notes by Fawn M. Brodie (New York, 1963), 371. 10 Phelps Diary, various entries between May and August 1859; Jones, "Travel Diary," July 2, 1859, p. 29; Scott, "Diary of U t a h Expedition," U.H.Q., X X V I I I . 17 Phelps Diary, October 20 and December 10, 1858, January 30, February 5, March 18, April 11, and June 15, 17, and 18, 1859; Richard H. Coolidge, Statistical Report on the Sickness and Mortality in the Army of the United States, Compiled from the Records of the Surgeon Gen-
Adobe barracks at Camp Floyd. Although now practically invisible.
a sizeable camp in its day, the remains are NATIONAL ARCHIVES
