Utah Historical Quarterly Volume 42, Number 3, 1974

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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

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.

to

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. © 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

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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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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 .

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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

15

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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

225

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.

28

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

30

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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.

The Godbeite Protest f

231

,

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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233

"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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235

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

The Godbeite Protest

237

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

23c?

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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 '°Tuilidge, "Leaders of the Mormon Reform Movement," 39.

61 "Notice to O u r Patrons," Utah Magazine, 3 (October 2, 1869), 342.

The Godbeite Protest

239

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.

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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

70

Tullidge, " T h e Godbeite Movement," 30.

Ibid., 31; Stenhouse, Rocky Mountain Saints, 639.

71

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Utah Historical Quarterly thought and speech to which the Gospel entitles us; and against any such expulsion we present our solemn protest before God and Angels. 7 2

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.

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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.

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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.

29

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Utah Historical Quarterly

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.

33

Convict Labor Camp

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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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Utah Historical Quarterly

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.

Convict Labor Camp

257

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.

42

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.

Pioneer Roadometer

259

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

Pioneer Roadometer

263

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

Pioneer Roadometer

265

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

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validity

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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

37

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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.

Pioneer Roadometer

271

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

4,

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

43

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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.

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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

279

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.

Ogden City Politics

281

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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283

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

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^ 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

4

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.

Articles and Notes

311

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.