Utah Historical Quarterly, Volume 52, Number 3, 1984 by Utah Historical Society

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4 UTAH HISTORICAL QUARTERLY (ISSN 0042-143X) EDITORIAL STAFF MELVIN T. SMITH, Editor

STANFORD J. LAYTON, Managing Editor MIRIAM B. MURPHY, Associate Editor

ADVISORY BOARD OF EDITORS KENNETH L. CANNON n.Salt Lake City, 1986 INEZ S. COOPER, Cedar City, 1984 S. GEORGE ELLSWORTH, Logan, 1984

PETER L. GOSS, Salt Lake City, 1985 GLEN M. LEONARD, Farmington, 1985

LAMAR PETERSEN. Salt Lake City, 1986 RICHARD W. SADLER, Ogden, 1985

HAROLD SCHINDLER. Salt Lake City, 1984 GENE A. SESSIONS, Bountiful, 1986

Utah Historical Quarterly was established in 1928 to publish articles, documents, and reviews contributing to knowledge of Utah's history. T h e Quarterly is published by the Utah State Historical Society, 300 Rio Grande, Salt Lake City, Utah 84101. Phone (801) 533-6024 for membership and publications information. Members of the Society receive the Quarterly, Beehive History, and the bimonthly Newsletter upon payment of the annual dues: individual, $10.00; institutions, $ 15.00; student and senior citizen (age sixty-five or over), $7.50; contributing, $ 15.00; sustaining, $25.00; patron, $50.00; business, $100.00. Materials for publication should be submitted in duplicate accompanied by return postage and should be typed double-space 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. Second class postage is paid at Salt Lake City, Utah. Postmaster: Send form 3579 (change of address) to Utah Historical Quarterly, 300 Rio Grande, Salt Lake City, Utah 84101.

HISTORICAL

QUARTERLY

Contents SUMMER 1984/VOLUME 52/NUMBER 3

IN T H I S ISSUE

211

125 YEARS OF CONSPIRACY T H E O R I E S : ORIGINS OF T H E U T A H EXPEDITION OF 1857-58 . . . . WILLIAM P. T H E "GENTILE POLYGAMIST": A R T H U R BROWN, EX-SENATOR FROM U T A H T H E 1876 ARSENAL HILL EXPLOSION

MACKINNON

212

LINDA THATCHER

231

MELVIN

BASHORE

246

OWEN

BENNION

256

MICHAEL W. HOMER

264

GOOD INDIAN SPRING "RECENT PSYCHIC EVIDENCE": T H E VISIT OF SIR A R T H U R CONAN DOYLE T O U T A H IN

1923

CREATING A NEW ALPHABET FOR ZION: T H E ORIGIN OF T H E DESERET A L P H A B E T

DOUGLAS

PAULA J. GOODFELLOW, and

ALDER,

RONALD G. WATT

275

BOOK REVIEWS

287

BOOK NOTICES

298

T H E COVER Second South looking east from Main Street in Salt Lake City. The Wilson Hotel in the center of the block was a temporary residence of Anne Bradley in November 1906 before she followed former U.S. Sen. Arthur Brown to Washington, D.C, where she shot him on December 8. USHS collections.

Books reviewed GARY L. BUNKER a n d DAVIS BITTON.

The Mormon Graphic Image, 1834-1914:. Cartoons, Caricatures, and Illustrations . . B . CARMON HARDY

287

J O H N G. FULLER. The Day We

Bombed Utah . .

KERRY WILLIAM BATE

FRANCES FULLER VICTOR. The River

288

of the

West: The Adventures of foe Meek. Vol. I: The Mountain Years, WINFRED BLEVINS, e d .

F R E D R . GOWANS

GORDON MORRIS BARKEN. The

289

Development

of Law on the Rocky Mountain Frontier: Civil Law and Society, 1850-1912 . PHYLLIS JOHNSON LIDDELL

291

G. DUNBAR. Forging New Rights in Western Waters . . . CRAIG FULLER

292

ROBERT

NANCY J . PAREZO.

Navajo

Sandpainting: From Religious Act to Commercial Art . . A N N HANNIBALL

294

THOMAS W . DUNLAY. Wolves for the

Blue Soldiers: Indian Scouts and Auxiliaries with the United States Army, 1860-90 . . J O H N R. ALLEY, RICHARD W H I T E . The Roots of

JR.

295

Dependency:

Subsistence, Environment, and Social Change among the Choctaws, Pawnees, and Navajos . . . THOMAS F. SCHILZ

296

SHIRLEY HANSON a n d NANCY HUBBY.

Preserving and Maintaining the Older Home . . . PHILLIP W. NEUBERG

297

In this issue

V(D18

Dramatic events receive so much news coverage today that media reporting and analysis sometimes dwarf the events themselves. No hourby-hour coverage accompanied the move of almost a third of the U.S. Army against the Mormons in 1857-58 â&#x20AC;&#x201D; arguably the most dramatic event in Utah history since white settlement. However, the motives of the Buchanan administration became the subject of controversy almost at once. T h e first article in this issue looks at various conspiracy theories attached to the Utah Expedition and points out the most likely areas for fruitful research. This unique expedition will undoubtedly continue to fascinate historians. Other dramas from Utah's past quickly faded from historical view. T h e fatal shooting in 1906 of former U.S. Sen. Arthur Brown by his mistress and the devastating arsenal explosion of 1876 merit recounting because they remind us that the private passions and cataclysmic events on today's front pages have antecedents and will always be part of the news even when their effect on history is minimal. By contrast, the little drama enacted at Good Indian Spring in 1859 received no press attention then and likely would not today, for the first steps that humans of different cultures take toward understanding each other are the very antithesis of the violence and destruction that rivet our attention to the nightly news. T h e last two articles examine curiosities: psychic phenomena and spelling reform. T h e warm welcome Sir Arthur Conan Doyle received when he lectured in Salt Lake City in 1923 is in itself curious, given his earlier writings on the Mormons. That he spoke from the Tabernacle podium on spiritualistic matters is even more astonishing. T h e time, energy, and money the Mormons funneled into creating a distinctive phonetic alphabet when they were still struggling with the problems of settlement and survival remain puzzling, but the origins of many of the curious symbols in the Deseret Alphabet have been illuminated by contemporary research. T h e symbols above represent the sounds in Utah â&#x20AC;&#x201D; the scene of countless dramas and curiosities.

A trooper of E. V. Sumner's First Cavalry Regiment, Fort Leavenworth, Kansas Territory, 1858. Lee-Palfrey Family Collection, Library of Congress.

125 Years of Conspiracy Theories: Origins of the Utah Expedition of 1857-58 BY WILLIAM P. MACKINNON

T h e World generally is not interested in the motives of any overt act but in its consequences. Man may smile and smile, but he is not an investigating animal. He loves the obvious. He shrinks from explanations. Yet I will go on with mine. Joseph Conrad, The Secret Agent

AMERICANS, AMONG OTHER PEOPLE, LOVE CONSPIRACY THEORIES,

and

they have used them to explain a growing list of tragedies in U.S. Mr. MacKinnon of Birmingham, Michigan, is General Motors Corporation's vice president for personnel administration and development. This article is based on his paper presented at the 1983

Origins of the Utah Expedition

213

history ranging from presidential assassinations to the way in which the nation goes to war. 1 It is not surprising then that conspiracy theories have also clung to the historiography of the U.S. Army's operations in the trans-Mississippi West, including that of a campaign that without notice recently marked its 125th anniversary â&#x20AC;&#x201D; the Utah Expedition of 1857-58. Interestingly, it is a campaign about which relatively little has been written during the past twenty years, notwithstanding the fact that James Buchanan's attempt to suppress what he believed to be a Mormon rebellion with nearly one-third of the U.S. Army was the nation's most extensive and expensive military undertaking during the period between the Mexican and Civil wars. 2 Estimates of the monetary cost to the U.S. government alone range between $14 million and $40 million, the real beginning of a large national debt. 3 T h e r e is no need to rehash the operational details of the Utah Expedition in view of the appearance in 1960 of the standard work on the subject, Norman F. Furniss's The Mormon Conflict, 18501859.4 But some background in summary form may be helpful. Irrespective of its origins, the campaign eventually pitted on the one hand Bvt. Brig. Gen. Albert Sidney Johnston's two federal brigades, a force larger than that with which Grant garrisoned a recalcitrant Mississippi ten years later; and on the other, Gov. annual meeting of the Western History Association in Salt Lake City. T h e accompanying 1858 photographs are from the Lee-Palfrey Family Collection and are published here for the first time with the permission of the Library of Congress. 1 T h e number of such events in American history which have been explained by conspiracy theories is enormous and growing, and the Arno Press now offers a collection of volumes u n d e r the series heading "Conspiracy: Historical Perspectives." If one examines alone the publications of the Organization of American Historians for late summer 1983, one finds that the August 1983 issue of OAH's Newsletter carries citations for a 1918 U.S. government pamphlet entitled The German-Bolshevik Conspiracy as well as for the television film The Lincoln Conspiracy; while the September 1983 issue of The fournal of American History reviews Jeffrey Rossbach, Ambivalent Conspirators: John Brown, the Secret Six, and a Theory of Slave Violence (Philadelphia, 1982) and advertizes David M. Oshinsky's forthcoming volume A Conspiracy So Immense: The World of Joe McCarthy. 2 For the author's complaints about neglect of the Utah Expedition and its origins since the appearance of Furniss's work (note 4 below), see William P. MacKinnon, "The Gap in the Buchanan . Revival: T h e Utah Expedition of 1857-58," Utah Historical Quarterly 15 (1977): 36-46. Since the late 1970s only a few analytical studies or volumes of source material have appeared, including Ray R. Canning and Beverly Beeton, eds., The Genteel Gentile: Letters of Elizabeth Cumming, 1857-1858 (Salt Lake City, 1977); Paul Bailey, Holy Smoke: A Dissertation on the Utah War (Los Angeles, 1978); Everett L. Cooley, ed., Diary of Brigham Young, 1857 (Salt Lake City, 1980); Steven G. Barnett, " T h e Utah Expedition: A Prelude to the Civil War as a Collecting Subject," Manuscripts 24 (1982): 193-202; and Wilford Hill LeCheminant, "A Crisis Averted? General Harney and the Change in Command of the Utah Expedition," Utah Historical Quarterly 51 (1983): 30-45. Additional discussion of conspiracy theories is included in the author's review of Bailey's book in Utah Historical Quarterly 46 (1978): 416-18. 3 T . B. H. Stenhouse, The Rocky Mountain Saints (Salt Lake City, 1904), p. 421, and B. H. Roberts, A Comprehensive History of The Church ofJesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. Century I (Salt Lake City, 1930), 4:547. 4 Norman F. Furniss, The Mormon Conflict, 1850-1859 (New Haven, 1960).

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Barracks at. Fort Leavenworth, 1858. Lee-Palfrey Family Collection, Library of Congress.

Brigham Young's Utah Territorial Militia (Nauvoo Legion), a command perhaps larger than the entire U.S. Army. T h e scene was the mountain ranges and deserts of Utah â&#x20AC;&#x201D; not today's familiar nearrectangular state but rather a sprawling territory the boundaries of which ranged from Kansas Territory to California while encompassing the present states of Utah and Nevada as well as parts of what are now Wyoming, Colorado, and Idaho. As Johnston's command approached Utah in the late summer of 1857, Young reacted by recalling missionaries from Europe and the eastern states, pulling in the large Mormon colonies at San Bernardino, San Francisco, and Carson Valley, and by stockpiling arms and ammunition. He also proclaimed martial law and sealed the territory's borders. Young then mobilized the Nauvoo Legion which undertook an extensive scorched earth policy and campaign of guerrilla-style harrassment along Utah's eastern frontier. As a result, Forts Supply and Bridger were burned, mountain passes were fortified and blocked, and a significant portion of the federal supply trains was attacked and burned with huge losses of rations,

Origins of the Utah Expedition

215

Fort Kearny, Nebraska Territory, 1858. Lee-Palfrey Family Collection, Library of Congress.

uniforms, tents, and ammunition. When the Nauvoo Legion also put the torch to miles of grassland needed for forage, Johnston lost thousands of cavalry mounts and draft animals, a blow that sent federal detachments in search of remounts into the British possessions to the north and New Mexico Territory to the south. T h u s weakened and harrassed, Johnston concluded with the arrival of snowfall that he could not force the passes into Salt Lake City that winter. His command settled into the charred remains of Fort Bridger and an embarrassing, frustrating, and uncomfortable winter at half-rations. While waiting for spring, remounts, and reinforcements, the troops labored as draft animals, and pickets exchanged gunfire with Mormon scouts. In the meantime, the army's general-in-chief, Winfield Scott, prepared to inject a second brigade into Utah's western flank via the Isthmus of Panama and southern California, a plan that was abandoned in January 1858 in favor of a more conventional thrust from Kansas Territory in the spring. When President Buchanan undertook to end the campaign and his embarrassment through a negotiated settlement, Brigham

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Fort Laramie, Nebraska Territory, 1858. Lee-Palfrey Family Collection, Library of Congress.

Young entered into discussions with Buchanan's civilian commissioners. In the summer of 1858 an agreement was reached. Young was replaced as territorial governor, and Johnston's reinforced command marched unopposed through a Salt Lake City deserted and ready for the torch to a site thirty miles to the south. This bivouac, Camp Floyd, became the country's largest garrison until the Civil War. Buchanan, in turn, issued a blanket pardon to Utah's population. 5 If the troop movements are clear, the expedition's origins are not, due in part to the destruction and loss of many of President Buchanan's and Secretary of War J o h n B. Floyd's personal papers. T h e absence of internal Cabinet and War Department memoranda add to the ambiguity. What is known is that in April 1857 significant troop movements were ordered, and on May 28 â&#x20AC;&#x201D; less than three 5 This summary description of the campaign is drawn in part from the author's July 21, 1983, letter to the editor of Parameters, Journal of the US Army War College which appeared in vol. 13 (September 1983): 85-86. This letter was, in turn, prompted by Professor J o h n M. Gates's failure to discuss the Utah Expedition in his earlier article entitled "Indians and Insurrectos: T h e US Army's Experience with Insurgency," Parameters 13 (March 1983): 59-68.

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Ruins of Fort Bridger, Utah Territory, 1858. Lee-Palfrey Family Collection, Library of Congress.

months after Buchanan took office and only days after General Scott himself opposed a move against Utah â&#x20AC;&#x201D; Scott released a circular to the army's staff bureaus announcing the creation of a Military Department of Utah and the intent to garrison it with a multi-regiment expeditionary force of infantry, artillery, and dragoons to be marshalled at Fort Leavenworth. 6 A few weeks later, Scott's aide-decamp informed the expedition's commander that "The community and, in part, the civil government of Utah Territory are in a state of substantial rebellion against the laws and authority of the United States." 7 Buchanan and Floyd did not comment publicly on the subject until December 1857 in the former's year-end message to Congress, a point at which Johnston's first brigade was already 6 For the text of Scott's General Circular, May 28, 1857, see LeRoy R. Hafen and Ann W. Hafen, eds., The Utah Expedition, 1857-1858: A Documentary Account . . . (Glendale, 1958), pp. 27-29, or U.S., Congress, House, The Utah Expedition, 35th Cong., 1st sess., 1857-58, House Ex. Doc. 71, Serial 956, pp. 4-5. Scott's May 26, 1857, m e m o r a n d u m to Secretary of War Floyd counseling that the campaign be delayed until 1858 for logistics and weather reasons, a document of which Buchanan later argued he was unaware, is discussed in M. Hamlin Cannon, "Winfield Scott and the Utah Expedition," Military Affairs 5 (Fall 1941): 208-11. 7 Lieut. Col. George W. Lay to Bvt. Brig. Gen. William S. Harney, J u n e 29, 1857, Utah Expedition, House Ex. Doc. 71, p. 71.

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'House and Harem of President Brigham Young, Great Salt Lake City, Utah Territory, 1858." Lee-Palfrey Collection, Library of Congress.

bivouacked in discomfort at Fort Bridger. Buchanan argued that ". . . for several years, in order to maintain his independence . . . [Young] had been industriously employed in collecting and fabricating arms and munitions of war. . . . This is the first rebellion which has existed in our territories, and humanity itself requires that we should put it down in such a manner that it shall be the last."8 From such thin documentary gruel have emerged 125 years of conspiracy theories to supplement Furniss's less sinister analysis of Mormon persecution, conflicts with federal surveyors over land claims staked u n d e r Mexican rule, Utah's violent religious reformation of 1856, and the often unacceptable behavior of federal appointees assigned to Utah Territory. Perhaps the first commentator to perceive a conspiracy behind the decision to intervene militarily in Utah was Brigham Young, then the territory's governor and superintendent of Indian Affairs, as well as commander of its militia and president of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. 8

"First Annual Message of President Buchanan," Messages and Papers of the Presidents, 17891897, comp. James D. Richardson (Washington, 1897), 5:455-56.

Origins of the Utah Expedition

219

Notwithstanding James Buchanan's March 4, 1857, inaugural assertion that "Next in importance to the maintenance of the Constitution and the Union is the duty of preserving the Government free from the taint or even the suspicion of corruption,"" Young argued from the beginning that the campaign was undertaken largely to enrich commercial friends of the Buchanan administration, especially the large freighting firm of Russell, Majors & Waddell. On July 26, 1857, in his first public address after news of the Utah Expedition's approach had reached Salt Lake City, Young commented: I am a Yankee guesser, and guess that James Buchanan has ordered this expedition to appease the wrath of the angry hounds who are howling around him. He did not design to start men on the 15th of July to cross these plains to this point on foot. Russell & Co. will probably make from eight to ten h u n d r e d thousand dollars by freighting the baggage of the expedition.

One of Young's daughters later advanced the same argument 1 1 as did the Deseret News, which asked: And what, think you, is the plan? By carefully working the wires of slander . . . they have induced President Buchanan and his Cabinet to order a body of troops to proceed at vast expense to a country and people where all is and ever has been so orderly. . . . But what care those speculators and politicians for a far worse than useless expenditure of treasure, toil, and hardship, so their pockets are well filled by the operation . . .? 12

Here then is an economic interpretation of the Utah Expedition, one which, in turn, generated the label the "Contractors' War." Millions of military contracting dollars, of course, did flow into and through Russell, Majors 8c Waddell, but what did more than anything else to sustain those who scented a linkage between the firm and the Utah Expedition's origins was a miasma of corruption within the Buchanan administration generally and a spectacle of ineptness and misadministration in J o h n B. Floyd's handling of the War Department. Congressional committee after committee investigated Buchanan's abuse of the patronage â&#x20AC;&#x201D; often in connection with Kansas affairs â&#x20AC;&#x201D; while still other panels probed Secretary Floyd's contracting role in the construction of the Washington aqueduct, the ""Inaugural Address of James Buchanan," March 4, 1857, ibid, 5:433. 10 Hafen and Hafen, The Utah Expedition, p. 183. II Susa Young Gates and Leah D. Widtsoe, The Life Story of Brigham Young (New York, 1930), p. 182. ^DeseretNews

(Salt Lake City), July 29, 1857.

Utah Historical Quarterly

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Alexander Majors.

William H. Russell.

William B. Waddell.

From Raymond W. Settle and Mary Lund Settle's Empire on Wheels, 1949.

heating of the Capitol, the purchase of real estate for Fort Totten, the sale of Fort Snelling, and the purchase of horses, mules, cattle, flour, and transportation for the Utah Expedition. 13 T h e scene was such that in 1858 a 100-page satirical poem was published anonymously in Boston to ridicule the campaign and an unpublished play was drafted for the same purpose. 14 As Mary and Raymond Settle have indicated in their studies of Russell, Majors 8c Waddell, the firm's ultimate collapse rather than its prosperity was rooted in the Utah Expedition. 15 Nonetheless, Floyd was forced to resign in December 1860 and was indicted for malfeasance of office and conspiracy to defraud the government 13 For a discussion of corruption in the Buchanan administration and congressional investigations of Buchanan and Floyd, see: David E. Meerse, "James Buchanan, the Patronage, and the Northern Democratic Party, 1857-1858" (Ph.D. diss., University of Illinois, 1969); Meerse, "Buchanan, Corruption and the Election of 1860," Civil War History 12 (June 1966): 116-31; and William P. MacKinnon, " T h e Buchanan Spoils System and the Utah Expedition: Careers of W. M. F. Magraw and J o h n M. Hockaday," Utah Historical Quarterly 31 (1963): 127-50. For a floor speech linking the Utah Expedition to the spoils system, see the highly critical 1858 speech sarcastically entitled "The T r i u m p h s of the Administration" by Rep. S. A. Purviance of Pennsylvania, U .S., Appendix to the Congressional Globe, 35th Cong., 1st sess., 1857-58, pp. 414-15. 14 Anonymous, Mormoniad (Boston, 1858). 15 Raymond W. Settle and Mary L. Settle, Empire on Wheels (Stanford, 1949), and War Drums and Wagon Wheels: The Story of Russell, Majors and Waddell (Lincoln, 1966).

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when it became known that a distant relative had stolen $870,000 in bonds from the Interior Department to forestall disclosure of Floyd's inappropriate financing arrangements for the expedition with William H. Russell.16 In 1864, with the light of hindsight, General Scott commented in his memoirs: T h e 'Expedition' set on foot by Mr. Secretary Floyd, in 1857, against the Mormons and Indians about Salt Lake, was, beyond a doubt, to give occasion for large contracts and expenditures, that is to open a wide field for frauds and peculation. This purpose was not comprehended nor scarcely suspected in, perhaps, a year; but, observing the desperate characters who frequented the secretary, some of whom had desks near him, suspicion was at length excited. 17

More recent historians have been equally critical in their j u d g ments. In a 1963 study of Floyd's administration, W. A. Swanberg described him as " . . . a man so downright disorderly and careless that it is still hard to tell where confusion ended and mischief began," 18 while ten years later Professors C. Vann Woodward and Michael F. Holt also focused on Buchanan and Floyd in their analysis of executive misconduct for the Watergate impeachment proceedings. Woodward, for example, concluded that: Much of the improper conduct had been practiced since Jackson's time, but it culminated and flourished most luxuriantly u n d e r Buchanan. . . . His administration marked the low point before the Civil War and somewhat approached later levels of corruption. 1!l

Holt, in the same study, argued that: T h e Virginian Floyd does not appear to have profited personally from the War Department contracts or to have realized always how he was exploited. He was simply a careless administrator who tried too hard to please his friends and fellow party members. 2 0

Only J o h n M. Belohlavek, among recent historians, portrays Floyd as a reasonably competent but unlucky figure.21 16 In addition to the Settles' studies of this affair, see U.S., Congress, House, Select Committee, Report . . . Fraudulent Abstraction of Certain Bonds . . . Department of the Interior, 36th Cong., 2d sess., 1860-61, House Rpt. 78, Serial 1105. 17 Winfield Scott, Autobiography of Lieutenant General Scott (New York, 1864), 2:604. 1 W. A. Swanberg, "Was the Secretary of War a Traitor?" American Heritage, February 1963, p. 97. 19 C. Vann Woodward, ed.,Responses of the Presidents to Charges of Misconduct (New York, 1974), p. 20

Michael F. Holt, "James Buchanan, 1857-1861," ibid, p. 93. J o h n M. Belohlavek, "The Politics of Scandal: A Reassessment of J o h n B. Floyd as Secretary of War, 1857-1861," West Virginia History 31 (April 1970): 145-60. Floyd received even more sympathetic treatment at the hands of his grandson in Robert M. Hughes, "John B. Floyd and His Traducers," Virginia Magazine of History and Biography 43 (October 1935): 316-29. 21

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Although it has been established that once the Utah Expedition was underway the Buchanan administration used patronage and contracting leverage to benefit its friends, it has never been demonstrated that the concept of an expedition against the Mormons was motivated by such a factor.22 Nonetheless, because of the corruption surrounding both the Buchanan White House and its War Department, the conspiracy theory of a "Contractors' War" lives on. One finds it even in the most recent monograph on the campaign. 23 Like other forms of intellectual activity, one conspiracy theory will sometimes spawn another. T h u s the combination of an existing "Contractors' War" theory, President Buchanan's subsequent ambivalence in the face of sectional conflict, the onset of the Civil War, J o h n B. Floyd's active (although ineffective) service as a Confederate general, and Northern introspection as to how the war began gave rise to what one might call the "Great Conspiracy" perception: the belief that Southerners or Southern sympathizers in Buchanan's cabinet â&#x20AC;&#x201D; Secretary of War Floyd, a Virginian; Secretary of the Treasury Howell Cobb, a Georgian; Secretary of the Interior Jacob Thompson, a Mississippian; and Secretary of the Navy Isaac Toucey of Connecticut â&#x20AC;&#x201D; were actively engaged through the Utah Expedition in weakening the federal establishment for the secessionist thrust ahead. Although he did not refer specifically to Utah, J o h n A. Logan, the Illinois politician and Union general officer, sketched the broad outline of the general theory in his 1886 book entitled The Great Conspiracy: Its Origin and History: But before leaving the [Buchanan] Cabinet, the conspiring members of it, and their friends, had managed to ham-string the National Government, by scattering the Navy in other quarters of the World; by sending the few troops of the United States to remote points; by robbing the arsenals in the Northen States of arms and munitions of war, so as to abundantly supply the Southern States at the critical moment; by bankrupting the Treasury and shattering the public credit of the Nation. 24

Nearly twenty years later T. B. H. Stenhouse formulated the specific linkage between Logan's belief and the Utah Expedition: It is difficult to resist the conclusion that the opportunity afforded by the U.S. military expedition to Utah in 1857 was not eagerly seized by Mr. Floyd as favorable to the long-cherished scheme for the rebellion 22

MacKinnon, " T h e Buchanan Spoils System," p. 148. Bailey, Holy Smoke, p. 105. 24 J o h n A. Logan, The Great Conspiracy: Its Origin and History (New York, 1886), p. 118. 23

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of 1861. At all events . . . placing "the flower of the American army" so far away from rail and water, with such a huge mass of munitions of war â&#x20AC;&#x201D; which were wholly lost to the nation â&#x20AC;&#x201D; was not inharmonious with the general plan of Mr. Buchanan's Secretary of War preparatory to the declaration of secession.

Fueling the controversy was the fact that on the eve of the Civil War the army was indeed scattered, with 183 of its 198 companies assigned to isolated army posts in the West, principally in Utah. In total, only five companies garrisoned nine thinly m a n n e d forts along the Southern coast.26 Buchanan subsequently complained that in November 1860 he held less than 1,000 men at his immediate disposal. 27 In his study of the War Department, A. Howard Meneely concluded that "It is inconceivable that military affairs could have been in a much more unfortunate condition than they were as 1860 drew to a close. . . ."28 Perhaps more inflammatory was the assertion made as the Civil War began and subsequently that during the antebellum period Floyd had transferred disproportionate quantities of small arms from Northern to Southern arsenals where tens of thousands of them were vulnerable to capture by secessionists. Similar attention has been drawn to Floyd's p r e m a t u r e and irregular attempt during 1860 to transfer 110 columbiad cannons and eleven 32-pounder cannons from the federal arsenal at Pittsburgh to forts at Ship Island, Mississippi, and Galveston, Texas. 2!) Both subtheories are tantalizing and have been much studied; neither has been established as conclusive evidence of secessionist urges on Floyd's part, let alone proof that as early as 1857 the Utah Expedition was being initiated or manipulated for pro-Southern purposes. 30 Two days before he resigned as secretary of war in 25 Stenhouse, The Rocky Mountain Saints, p. 346. Those who follow western conspiracy theories will recognize Stenhouse's comments as a second cousin of the assertion that, upon leaving Utah in 1860 to command the Department of the Pacific, Albert Sidney Johnston attempted to foster a secessionist movement in California or that as early as 1855 Floyd's predecessor, Jefferson Davis, had anticipated secession by appointing only Southern officers like Johnston and R. E. Lee to such new regiments as the Second Cavalry. See also Charles P. Roland, Albert Sidney Johnston, Soldier of Three Republics (Austin, 1964), pp. 185-237; Benjamin F. Gilbert, " T h e Mythical Johnston Conspiracy," California Historical Society Quarterly 28 (1949): 165-73; and Douglas Southall Freeman, R. E. Lee, A Biography (New York, 1942), l:349n. 26 A. Howard Meneely, The War Department, 1861: A Study in Mobilization and Administration (New York, 1928), pp. 22-23, and Francis Paul Prucha, "Distribution of Regular Army Troops before the Civil War," Military Affairs 16 (Winter 1952): 169-73. " J a m e s Ford Rhodes, History of the United States . . . (New York, 1910), 3:129. 28 Meneely, The War Department, p. 31. 2!, The principal primary source for the arms issue is U.S., Congress, House, Report on Disposition of Public Arms, 36th Cong., 2d sess., 1860-61, House Rpt. 85, Serial 1105. 30 Belohlavek, " T h e Politics of Scandal," p. 152.

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Secretary of War John B. Floyd. National Archives.

December 1860, Floyd argued that "There is not one branch of the military service that is not in perfect order. . . . No system of administration, no line of policy, I think, could reach better results. . . ."3 Yet a month later he cryptically told a Virginia audience, "I undertook so to dispose of the power in my hands, that when the terrific hour came, you and all of you, and each of you, should say, 'This man has done his duty.' "32 Meneely's 1928 assessment of Floyd's latter statement was that " . . . his blatant outburst was probably nothing more than self-glorification and an attempt to ingratiate himself and gain influence with the southern leaders, among whom he heretofore had but little standing." 33 Thirty-five years later, in an article entitled "Was the Secretary of War a Traitor?" Swanberg concluded that "Considering Floyd's capacity for creating chaos, it is hardly an exaggeration to say that when he quit Washington the Union's gain was the South's loss."34 T h e conspiracy theory that has been perhaps least developed over the years deals not with contractors or secessionists but rather 31 John B. Floyd to Hon. William Pennington, December 27, 1860, Report . . . Fraudulent Abstraction of Certain Bonds, House Rpt. 78, p. 352. 32 Meneely, The War Department, p. 41. 33 Ibid, p. 42. 34 Swanberg, "Was the Secretary of War a Traitor?" p. 97.

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Camp Floyd, Utah Territory, 1858. Lee-Palfrey Family Collection, Library of Congress.

with a linkage between political events and troop movements involving Utah and neighboring Kansas Territory. In a sense, two conflicting perceptions took shape around civil strife in Kansas. T h e first, frequently held by Republican critics of the Buchanan administration, argued that the Utah Expedition was devised not to suppress a Mormon rebellion but rather was intended to funnel large numbers of troops into Kansas for the purpose of opposing the abolitionist faction in that territory. Even as he marched to Utah, a pro-Fremont dragoon private in Johnston's command wrote to a Philadelphia newspaper: For my part, I continue in the belief that the United States do not want to punish Young at all. . . . May not this concentration of forces here be for the purpose of having them near at hand in case they should be needed to crush out "abolitionism" in Kansas, without subjecting the government to the accusation of keeping a large armed force in that territory? 3 '' 35 Private "Utah" to editor, Daily Evening Bulletin (Philadelphia), J u n e 25 and July 2, 1858, Harold D. Langley, ed., To Utah with the Dragoons and Glimpses of Life in Arizona and California, 1858-1859 (Salt Lake City, 1974), pp. 27, 30.

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Conversely, the Atlantic Monthly's correspondent with the expedition and other observers argued that Buchanan's real interest was to divert public attention from Kansas affairs while minimizing clashes between civilians and troops by reassigning the latter to Utah. 36 Within that context Furniss has noted that in April 1857 Robert Tyler of Virginia wrote to Buchanan to state: I believe that we can supersede the Negro-Mania [over Kansas] with the almost universal excitement of an Anti-Mormon Crusade. . . . Should you, with your accustomed grip, seize this question with a strong, fearless and resolute hand, the Country I am sure will rally to you with an earnest enthusiasm and the pipings of Abolitionism will hardly be heard amidst the thunders of the storm we shall raise. 37

A year later, with the spectacle of two brigades drawn from ten regiments already enmeshed in Utah, Mormoniad's anonymous author addressed the subject of President Buchanan's behavior in verse form: . . . "A Message from the President! An Army for the Mormon War!" T h e Speaker shouted, as he rent T h e seals asunder. "Hip! hurrah!" All hipped, and all hurrahed. . . . "Members of Congress," thus began T h e Message of the wifeless man [Buchanan], "'Tis time to pause; too long ye play — From morn to night, from night to day; Forgetful of the Eagle's Wing — T e n thousand changes on a string Of nigger catgut — botheration! — Which stretches, like an incubus Of one eternal, endless fuss, From North to South athwart the Nation! 'Tis time to pause, and, pausing, cut Forever this disgusting gut, That groans above us, in the middle, And place another on the fiddle! Admit Lecompton, and the curse Of curses leaves us in — a hearse! Admit, I say, Lecompton; and, sirs, I'll draw my army out of Kansas, And with it — what is needed most — Make Mormon Young 'give u p the ghost.'. . ." 36

Albert G. Browne, " T h e Utah Expedition," Atlantic Monthly 3 (1859): 364. Furniss, The Mormon Conflict, p. 75. Tyler's April 27, 1857, letter to Buchanan is reprinted in Philip G. Auchampaugh,Robert Tyler, Southern Rights Champion (Duluth, 1934), p. 180; the original is in the collections of the Historical Society of Pennsylvania in Philadelphia. 38 Mormoniad, pp. 21-22. 37

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227

Finally, Paul Bailey argues without supporting detail that "There were obscure political reasons for generating military hostility in the far west to forestall the divisive states' rights ferment which was gripping the nation." 30 In summary, then, each of the three principal conspiracy theories dealing with James Buchanan's decision to intervene with massive force in Utah Territory only months after taking office remains unproven. All offer simple and at times appealing explanations of the origins of a campaign rooted in a complex, decadeslong flow of events. That there was, in fact, a "Contractors' War" of sorts is clear; but with respect to timing, the twin forces of patronage and greed were unattractive by-products of the Utah Expedition rather than its source. Neither the multiple congressional investigations unleashed nor an examination of the papers of Russell, Majors 8c Waddell and its partners leads to any other conclusion, although the Buchanan administration's record of laxness, insensitivity, and boldness in the patronage arena, especially during the period 1858-60, have made it inviting for some analysts to project this record onto the decisionmaking process of the administration's opening days. Similarly, the concept of a pro-Southern cabal in Buchanan's cabinet has served to explain in some minds not only the secession movement of 1860-61 and the early reverses of the Union Army but the origins of the Utah Expedition as well. However, notwithstanding the Confederate war records or sympathies of Secretaries Floyd, Cobb, Thompson, and Toucey, it has yet to be established that any or all of them were traitors â&#x20AC;&#x201D; let alone prescient ones â&#x20AC;&#x201D; as early as the first quarter of 1857. Unlike the matter of Russell, Majors & Waddell, though, there has not been a rigorous, concerted analysis of the personal and official papers of these or other Cabinet officers or, equally important, those of General Scott for January-May 1857, the relevant decision period. An examination of these documents and any surviving papers of Harriet Lane, Buchanan's niece and official White House hostess, James Buchanan Henry, the president's nephew and personal secretary, or J o h n Appleton, the cabinet secretary, may shed light on decisions made by Buchanan early in his administration. T h e James Buchanan papers in the Historical Society of Pennsylvania yield little on this subject. 'Bailey, Holy Smoke, p. 99.

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James Buchanan. Library of Congress.

Gen. Winfield Scott. USHS collections.

Of all the conspiracy theories spawned by the Utah Expedition, perhaps the most complex but promising is that which deals with Kansas affairs â&#x20AC;&#x201D; not in the sense of a plan to channel troops into that unhappy territory but rather as a political strategy for syphoning soldiers out of Kansas to Utah. T h e objective of such a gambit, as Robert Tyler suggested to Buchanan in April 1857, could have been to reduce the public uproar over Kansas by minimizing clashes between federal troops and the various emotional civilian factions in that territory while simultaneously employing the former against Utah's highly unpopular and presumably libidinous Mormons. Although by the summer of 1857 it had become clear that Kansas rather than Utah was Buchanan's greater worry, the president's health, personal style, and reactions to pressure were such as to make it quite possible that the temptation to yield to the public demand for military action against Utah was irresistible during the first quarter of 1857.40 Here again, a more comprehensive search for and analysis of the papers of those people close to Buchanan's official and personal family is crucial to firm resolution of the conspiracy theories. Until then, Furniss's scholarly but less eclectic analysis of events and motivations stands as the most reliable one. Even with the passage of 125 years, the origins of the Utah Expedition warrant additional analysis. But then there are several other nonconspiratorial aspects of this campaign and its historiography that also offer intriguing opportunities for exploration. For 40 For a more extensive discussion of the linkage between events in the two territories, see William P. MacKinnon, " T h e Tactics of Diversion: Kansas Affairs and the Utah Expedition," President Buchanan and the Utah Expedition, A Question of Expediency Rather Than Principle (Senior Honors Essay, Yale University History Department, 1960), pp. 103-39.

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jmm**.'

Lt. Kirby Smith at Camp Floyd, 1858. Other men are identified as W. Lee and Charles McCarthy. Lee-Palfrey Family Collection, Library of Congress.

example, as discussed above, there has not yet been a comprehensive search of the papers of all of Buchanan's Cabinet officers for purposes of studying the decision to intervene in Utah. Neither has there been use made of the trail journal and daguerreotypes — some reproduced for the first time with this article — generated by William Lee, the civilian who accompanied the Utah Expedition's reinforcements in 1858.41 Similarly, we lack a unit history of the colorful volunteer infantry battalion virtually impressed into the Army of Utah by Albert Sidney Johnston and commanded by Barnard E. Bee.42 Missing also is a thoughtful analysis of Buchanan's over-all western military policy — not only the Utah Expedition and his related use of the army in Kansas but Buchanan's move to establish an American protectorate over northern Mexico 43 as well as the 41 T h e Lee material is in the Lee-Palfrey Family Collection in the Library of Congress's Manuscript Division. 42 T h e author is developing a history of this battalion. 43 Donathan C. Olliff, Reforma Mexico and the United States: A Search for Alternatives to Annexation, 1854-1861 (Tuscaloosa, 1981).

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so-called "Pig War" with Great Britain in the Pacific Northwest. 44 Finally, with a regular army and Nauvoo Legion heavily populated with emigrants, it is intriguing to consider the probability that, in addition to u n t a p p e d American sources, E u r o p e a n archives, manuscript collections, libraries, and attics are loaded with letters and diaries sent h o m e from the Utah Expedition. T o date, only Sgt. Eugene Bandel's letters to his Prussian parents from the expedition's Sixth Infantry have been r e t u r n e d to the United States, translated, and published. 45 As yet the letters of Sgt. Maj. William Porter Finlay (Battalion of U.S. Volunteers) and other soldiers remain undiscovered or unpublished. Just as the only surviving copy of the McClellan saddle field tested on this campaign has been located in such an unlikely place as a Danish m u s e u m , Europe's and America's trove of documents bearing on the Utah Expedition â&#x20AC;&#x201D; along with the key to u n d e r s t a n d i n g its origins â&#x20AC;&#x201D; await further exploration and eventual discovery d u r i n g the next 125 years. 46 44 Keith Murray, The Pig War (Pacific Northwest Historical Pamphlet No. 6, Tacoma, 1968), and Will Dawson, The War That Was Never Fought (Princeton, 1971). 45 Eugene Bandel, Frontier Life in the Army, 1854-1861, ed. Ralph P. Bieber and trans. Olga Bandel and Richard J e n t e (Glendale, 1932). 4K For the story of the first McClellan-type saddle see James S. Hutchins, " T h e United States Cavalry Saddle McClellan Pattern, Model 1857, in T0jhusmuspet, Copenhagen," Saertryk, AF Vaabenhistoriske Aarb0ger 16 (1970): 146-61. Similarly, some of the most extensive collections of eighteenth and nineteenth century Ottawa Indian w a m p u m belts and porcupine quill work are to be found today not only in the Andrew J. Blackbird Museum at Harbor Springs, Michigan, but also in the Natural History Museum of Vienna, Austria, and in museums in Munich and Dresden, Germany. For those who doubt the existence of additional undiscovered documents bearing on the Utah Expedition, consider the recent and unexpected a p p e a r a n c e of a large collection of Mexican War daguerreotypes now in the possession of the Amon Carter Museum of Fort Worth. These photographs were discussed in Martha A. Sandweiss's paper for the 1983 W H A annual meeting entitled "Daguerreotypes of the Mexican War."

Arthur Brown. USHS collections

The "Gentile Polygamist": Arthur Brown, Ex-Senator from Utah By LINDA T H A T C H E R

13, 1906, A R T H U R BROWN, one of the first two U.S. senators elected after Utah gained statehood, died in the Emergency Hospital in Washington, D. C , from complications following a gunshot wound. 1 He had been shot on December 8 by Anne Maddison Bradley, his mistress of several years, after a turbulent and wellpublicized love affair. Residents of Salt Lake City were "shocked but not surprised by the news that Mrs. Anna [sic] M. Bradley had shot O N DECEMBER

Ms. Thatcher is a librarian at the Utah State Historical Society and current president of the Utah Women's History Association. 1 T h e information for the main text of this article was taken from the Salt Lake Tribune and Deseret News, January 1896, September 29, 30, October 1, 1902; January, October 1903; Salt Lake Tribune, Deseret News, and Washington Star, December 8, 1906, to December 15, 1907. Membership records of the First Unitarian Church, Salt Lake City, were also used.

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ex-Senator Arthur Brown." 2 His death brought to a culmination an episode in Utah's history much written about at the time but little known today. Arthur Brown was born March 8, 1843, on a farm near Schoolcraft, Kalamazoo County, Michigan. When he was thirteen years old the family moved to Yellow Springs, Ohio, so that his sisters could attend Antioch College, which had been started by Horace Mann. His parents were interested in the college for his sisters, as it was one of the first to admit women on an equal basis with men. Arthur also attended the college, graduating in 1862. He then attended the University of Michigan at Ann Arbor, where he obtained a law degree in 1864. Brown practiced law in Kalamazoo, building a large and lucrative practice. He was also active in politics but never held office, although he tried several times to secure the nomination for prosecuting attorney of Kalamazoo. While living in Kalamazoo he was married to a women, later known only as Mrs. L. C. Brown, and they had one child, Alice. After his marriage he became e n a m o r e d with Isabel Cameron, the daughter of Alexander Cameron, a member of the Michigan State Senate. At the time they met she was running a newsstand in the Kalamazoo post office. T h e affair became public knowledge, and Brown and his first wife separated in the late 1870s. He moved to Salt Lake City in 1879 in the hope of being appointed U.S. district attorney for Utah. Failing to receive the appointment, he set u p a private law practice in the city. Isabel Cameron followed him to Salt Lake City, and they were married after he obtained a divorce from his first wife. They had one son, Max. 3 As a successful attorney, close to forty, Brown apparently settled down to respectable family life with his second wife and son and once more became active in politics. He rose to prominence in the Republican party and was nominated in 1896 by the Republican caucus of the predominantly Republican Utah State Legislature to run for the U.S. Senate along with Frank J. Cannon. Some representatives threatened to withdraw their support of Brown in the final election in the legislature because of his views on the "silver question." However, when Brown published a letter in the Deseret 2

Salt Lake Tribune, December 9, 1906. Mark Drumm, Drumm's Manual of Utah, and Souvenir of the First State Legislature (Salt Lake City: Mark Drumm, 1896), p. 69-70; Salt Lake Tribune, December 9, 1906. 3

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News stating that he supported the Republican stand on the controversial silver issue, he received the necessary votes from the legislature to secure the office. He drew the short term and served in the U.S. Senate from January 22, 1896, to March 4, 1897.4 It was primarily through his work in the Republican party that Brown became acquainted with Anne Maddison Bradley in 1892. By the time of his election in 1896, the fifty-three year old senator and the twenty-three year old Bradley were close friends. Anne Maddison Bradley was born January 7, 1873, in Kansas City, Missouri, a daughter of Matthew and Mary E. Cozad Maddison. T h e family lived in Kansas City until she was about eight years old, when they moved to Colorado Springs. She received her schooling in Denver and later worked for a clothing company there. When her family moved to Salt Lake City in 1890 she worked as a clerk in the Salt Lake Water Works Department for three years and eight months, quitting a week before her marriage on September 20, 1893, to Clarence A. Bradley who worked for the Rio Grande Western Railroad. Anne Bradley appears to have been a young woman of culture with a wide range of interests. Active in community affairs, she belonged to the Salt Lake City Woman's Club, the Utah Woman's Press Club, and the Poets' Roundtable. She was also, for a time, editor of the Utah State Federation of Women's Clubs' publication. In 1900 she served as secretary of the fifth ward Republican Committee and as secretary of the State Republican Committee in 1902. Local church records reveal that she was a charter member of the First Unitarian Church in Salt Lake City. She had two children by Clarence Bradley â&#x20AC;&#x201D; Matthew, born in 1894, and Martha Clare, born in 1898. According to Anne Bradley's testimony at her trial, she stopped living with her husband in 1898, and after first spurning Brown's advances discovered that she loved him. Before that time, she said, Senator Brown had told her much of his life, and said he was very unhappy. "I told him that what he wanted would be only sorrow," but, he replied, "Never! never!" . . . "He was a very strange man. Finally, he began coming to my house at very unseemly hours, and I told him it must stop, but he answered. 'Darling, we will go through life together. I want you to have a son' and after several months we did." 5 4

Deseret News, January 20 and 21, 1896. ^Washington Star, November 19, 1907.

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They started an intimate relationship in January 1899, and on February 7, 1900, Bradley gave birth to a son, claimed to be Brown's, who was christened Arthur Brown Bradley. However, according to a deposition given by her sister, Louise Maddison Garnett, Bradley lived with her husband on and off until around 1902, and Clarence was living in the house at the time Arthur Brown Bradley was born in 1900.6 In 1902 Anne Bradley took several trips with Brown and lived for a few months in Grand Junction, Colorado. While she was living there Brown assured her that he was taking the necessary steps to get a divorce and that the only problem was the property settlement. She claimed to have told Brown "to give everything to Max Brown and Mrs. Brown . . . [as she] wanted none of it."7 In March, while they were in Grand Junction, she said that he gave her an engagement ring. They took a trip to Washington, D . C , accompanied by his daughter Alice from his first marriage. On this trip, Bradley said, she traveled as Brown's wife. Brown separated from his second wife and was living in the Independence Block in 1902, while Isabel resided in the Brown residence at 201 East South Temple. Isabel Brown and Salt Lake City District Attorney Dennis C. Eichnor hired a private detective, Samuel Dowse, to follow Brown and Bradley in September. Dowse observed both Brown and Bradley going into Brown's room in the Independence Block, and on September 28, 1902, both were arrested on charges of adultery. 8 Bradley claimed at her trial that she had gone to the Independence Block to wait for a few days until Brown could accompany her to Idaho to visit his ranch. Brown signed two five h u n d r e d dollar bonds for himself and Mrs. Bradley and they were set free. Mrs. Brown started the adultery proceedings in retaliation for divorce proceedings Arthur Brown had started against her. According to Mrs. Brown's statements Mrs. Bradley has had Brown u n d e r her influence for nearly four years. During that time it is alleged that they have had apartments in various rooming-houses and business blocks, their room most of the time being in the Dooly block, room 410, and recently in the Central block, room 26. It is said that Mrs. Brown has in her possession a collection of nearly three h u n d r e d letters and telegrams which have been received 6

Deposition given by Louise Maddison Garnett, District of Columbia Criminal Case, No. 25,419, National Archives, Washington, D.C. 1 Washington Star, November 19, 1907. 8 Deposition given by Samuel Dowse, District of Columbia Criminal Case, No. 25,419.

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The Independence Block on the south side of Third South between Main Street and West Temple, was used by Arthur Brown and Anne Bradley. USHS collections. by Brown from Mrs. Bradley. Many of these letters were from the Brown ranch and are said to be not particularly readable. These epistles will be used when the case is called for hearing. 0

Mrs. Brown was against the divorce as ". . . she intended to be presented at court in England next year and, as divorced women are restricted from that court, she . . . [objected] seriously to being divorced at all."10 She offered to withdraw the charges against Brown and Bradley if he would d r o p his divorce proceedings. Meanwhile, Anne Bradley had gone to Brown's ranch in Idaho alone. While she was there Dr. David Utter of the Unitarian church visited her in an attempt to persuade her to end her relationship with Brown. When she returned to Salt Lake City to consult Brown on the matter, "He fell on his knees before me, and begged me not to desert him. . . . He said he had given up everything else in life, and was living for me alone." 11 â&#x20AC;˘'Salt Lake Tribune, September 30, 1902. 10 Deseret News, September 29, 1902. 11 Washington Star, November 19, 1907.

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In January 1903 they were once more arrested on a charge of adultery. Brown promised his wife that he would stop seeing Bradley, and Soren X. Christensen, a lawyer, was asked by Brown and his wife to stay with Brown to try and keep Brown away from Bradley. Christensen stated that during this time Brown would sometimes "call . . . [Bradley] vile names and abuse her, and at other times he would tell me that he couldn't live without her." 12 Brown and his wife also attempted to reach a settlement with Bradley: She would receive a home in California or Salt Lake City, "not to exceed $5,000 in value," and "$100 a month as long as she remained single, for her care and the care of the children." 13 She rejected the offer saying that "she wanted nothing but the Senator." 14 In April of that year Brown and Christensen planned to leave Salt Lake City for a few months, supposedly to escape Bradley. Brown went ahead and Christensen was to follow with his luggage. When Christensen found out that Brown had met Bradley in Pocatello, Idaho, he and Mrs. Brown followed them, to help Brown escape, if he really wanted to get away from Bradley. Christensen and Mrs. Brown were at the head of the stairs in their hotel in Pocatello when, according to Christensen's account, . . . Mrs. Bradley came up the stairs with â&#x20AC;&#x201D; I think she had a coat or ulster on her arm, and a grip in her hand, when Mrs. Brown said to her, "How do you do, Mrs. Bradley? I have wanted to talk to you!" Mrs. Bradley sort of cowed over to the wall, and Mrs. Brown walked up towards her and grabbed her by the throat and threw her down, and intended to kill her, I took it. . . . I separated them, they got up, and commenced talking in a very low tone of voice again, when Mrs. Brown grabbed her again. I separated them, and Mrs. Brown says, "Let me alone, I will kill her," and I says, "Not when I am here." T h e n Mrs. Bradley called out and says, "Arthur, they are killing your Dolly â&#x20AC;&#x201D; open the door." They was about 6 or 8 feet from the door at the time. T h e r e was no response from the Senator's room. T h e n they commenced talking again, the two women. T h e conversation I don't remember. I went and sat down and looked on. Finally Mrs. Brown rapped on the door of room 11, and said, "Arthur, open the door or I will mash it in," and the door opened and the two women went in, when Arthur Brown came and called me, and said "Come in, I don't want to be left alone here with them." T h a t was about 1 o'clock in the morning, and then there was a general conversation pertaining to their conduct, until 7:30 the next morning. 1 5 12

Deposition given by Soren X. Christensen, District of Columbia Criminal Case, No. 25,419. Ibid. 14 Ibid. 15 Ibid. 13

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During this dramatic confrontation, according to Christensen, Brown denied that he was the father of his son Max by Mrs. Brown and admitted to being the father of Bradley's son Arthur. All three accused each other of all sorts of indiscretions. After the incident, Brown gave Bradley a revolver to carry with her as protection from Mrs. Brown. Bradley had the impression that some sort of agreement had been made in Pocatello by Brown, his wife, and Christensen for a settlement so that she and Brown could be married. She remained at his ranch during the month of May, leaving only after she received a telephone message on J u n e 3 from Brown telling her to "get off the farm and remain off it."16 She returned to Salt Lake City about three months pregnant to find that Brown and his wife had reconciled. Brown had also denied fathering her child Arthur Brown Bradley in order to avoid going to prison. When Bradley confronted him on these issues, he told her that "when he had settled certain business matters he would right the wrong." He told her that he "would marry . . . [her] and give . . . [her] and the children all the protection that was necessary." 17 T h e court date was rapidly approaching for their adultery trial, and Bradley informed Brown that unless he acknowledged their son she would plead guilty at the trial. Brown refused to acknowledge the child, and Bradley pleaded guilty to the charges. Brown pleaded not guilty and was tried. Brown was later acquitted and Bradley was never sentenced. Before the trial Bradley said that Brown had pleaded with her not to testify against him, and "he promised to get a divorce from his wife within a year and marry Mrs. Bradley. T h e n they would leave the United States and settle in Poland." 18 Despite his reassurances to Bradley, Brown felt bitter toward her for pleading guilty, and their relationship deteriorated. He was not yet able to give her up, however. On November 24, 1903, a second son, supposedly fathered by Brown, Martin Montgomery Brown Bradley, was born. On August 22, 1905, Isabel Cameron Brown died of cancer in Salt Lake City.10 Bradley stated that Brown called on her the night after his wife's death and said: "Now, darling, go ahead and get your 16

Washington Star, November 19, 1907. Ibid. 18 Ibid. 19 Herald, August 23, 1905.

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divorce and we will make this matter right." 20 After her divorce she frequently approached him on the subject of marriage, but he was in no hurry to gain legal access to what he had enjoyed illicitly. He put her off, according to her testimony, with such statements as: "we want a courtship, don't we," or "we must have more regard for public opinion." 21 This charade apparently ended when they set a wedding date for J u n e 1906. Brown urged her to go away until the wedding, and they decided on Ogden so that he could visit her more frequently. He vowed he would not delay the marriage again, saying, "Dolly, if I don't carry out my promise [to marry you in June] I call upon God to avenge it."22 When the wedding day arrived, however, Brown was ill, and they merely had conversation on the telephone. In August 1906 she once more tried to get Brown to marry her. Thirty-three years old, divorced, and responsible for four children, she threw pride out the window. "I simply broke down and begged him to marry me. I told him I could never face the little children when they grew up, and I felt as if the future was very dark. I was very disconsolate and remained so for some time, notwithstanding that on the following night Brown had spoken more encouragingly on the future. His mood underwent frequent changes, and his talk corresponded with it."23 Brown told her several times that he would eventually marry her, she said, but the week before he left for Washington he acted very bitter toward her. Adding to her burdens, she once more found herself pregnant with a child which she lost a few weeks before the shooting. According to her sister's deposition, Bradley rented her house and moved into the Hotel Wilson in mid-November 1906 because she believed "that as long as she kept on housekeeping and living the way she was, trying to get along on as little as she could, that Mr. Brown would make no effort to change her condition at all."24 During this time Bradley also occupied Brown's home without his permission, making him more angry with her. She returned to the Hotel Wilson at her sister's insistence. Her sister said Bradley was very depressed as "Mr. Brown did not show any willingness whatever to take care of her, or to better her condition, and she did not 10

Washington Star, November 20, 1907. Ibid. 22 Ibid. 23 Ibid. 24 Garnett deposition.

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know what she was going to do." Bradley told her sister: . . . She had come to the conclusion that there was nothing for her to do but to start in some business for herself; that she realized she could not go on as she had been any longer, that she was weary and tired of living the life she had been living, and she realized that she could not stand it any longer, and that she would see Senator Brown and ask him if he would not help her to start some business for herself, some selfsupporting business. T h a t night she told me that she would see Senator Brown the next day, and would ask him if he would help her. T h e next afternoon she telephoned . . . me that Senator Brown said that he would help her to start in a business for herself, and would pay for a stock of goods for her, amounting to $2000.

Wanting to start a stationery store in Goldfield, Nevada,26 Bradley went about arranging for her stock. Her sister visited her on Thanksgiving Day, and Anne Bradley told her that "she believed Senator Brown was backing out of his promise to help her in her new undertaking." He had told "her to wait, not to start out in business yet, that she could do it later on, but he didn't want her to go away now." But Bradley said that "she was desperate, that she did not know what she was going to do." The next day she visited her sister's home and told her that "Senator Brown had said he would not do a thing. She said she was heartsick and life seemed to hold nothing for her now."27 A few days later, Brown left for Washington, D.C, to plead before the Supreme Court a suit filed against the St. Louis Mining Company by the Montana Company, Ltd. Bradley told her sister that "Senator Brown had left the city and had left no money for her."28 That evening she visited his law office and found that he had left a train ticket for her to Los Angeles. On December 3, 1906, she supposedly left for Los Angeles, but her sister received a telephone call from her saying that she had decided to go to Washington instead as "she believed if she went to Washington that Senator Brown would be willing to provide her with a stock of goods for her store; that he was there on some big, some important case, and that she knew he would rather buy her a stock for her store than to have her there bothering him."20 25

Ibid. She had a sister living in Goldfield, Nevada, and Brown had also talked of moving his law office there. 27 Garnett deposition. 28 Ibid. 2i, Ibid. 26

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Bradley changed her ticket for Washington, arriving on December 8. She went directly to the Raleigh Hotel and asked if Senator Brown was staying there. When she found out that he was, she also registered, signing as Mrs. A. Brown, Salt Lake City. T h e room clerk asked if she wanted to share a room with her husband, to which she replied "No, he is not my husband. I want a room alone." 3 After checking in, she located "Brown's room, where she found letters to Brown from Annie Adams Kiskadden, mother of the famous actress Maude Adams and an important actress in her own right. Kiskadden was born November 9, 1848, in Salt Lake City. She had first become acquainted with Brown in the 1880s when he settled her father's estate. Bradley returned to her own room where she read the letters and tore them up. From the letters she gained the impression that Brown and Kiskadden were soon to be married. According to a newspaper account, she became very upset after reading the letters and wandered the streets with no purpose. T h e account continued: . . . She went out of the hotel and returned several times, and was lying down in her room when she heard Senator Brown's step in the corridor, and she went to the door of his room and knocked. Brown called "Come in," and she entered. His first words were "What are you doing here?" and Mrs. Bradley said she replied: "I have come to ask you to keep your promise to me." . . . [She] declared she could not remember any of the events following. She did not know Brown was shot until she seemed to be awakened as from a dreath [sic] by the sound of a shot. Brown had rushed toward her and grabbed her, Mrs. Bradley said, but she did not remember drawing the revolver, aiming it at Brown or nulling the trigger. She had never fired a revolver before in her life. '

T h e revolver used was the one she said Brown had given her several years before to protect herself from Mrs. Brown after the incident in Pocatello. Brown was rushed to the Emergency Hospital and Bradley was taken to the First Precinct Police Station in Washington. Shortly after the shooting she stated that "she was the mother of four children, and alleged that former Senator Brown was the father of two of them and that he had not treated her properly." 32 She was also asked if Brown was a polygamist, to which she answered: "He is not a Mormon polygamist but a Gentile 30

Washington Star, December 9, 1906. Washington Star, November 20, 1907. 32 Washington Star, December 9, 1906.

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Anna M. Bradley and Central Figures in Her Trial on Murder Charge

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Salt Lake Tribune, November 19, 1907.

polygamist." 33 Brown was operated on, but the bullet was not removed as it was too tightly lodged in his pelvic bone. He regained consciousness several hours after the operation and said to the nurse: "I suppose there are some hard tales about me, but I am innocent of them all." Later he told one of his doctors "the shooting 33

Salt Lake Tribune, December 9, 1906.

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was all uncalled for. I never wronged that woman." He also requested that his law partner be notified "of the shooting, in the event of his death, [and] he stated, he wanted his children notified that the taking of his life was through no fault of his own."34 Public sentiment was immediately on the side of Mrs. Bradley. T h e Salt Lake Tribune reported: It is not overstating the case to say that there is little or no local sympathy with Senator Brown, and that his relations with the woman are condemned universally. T h e practically unanimous expression of the people here is that his shooting by the woman was the natural outcome of the relations which had existed between them for years, particularly in view of his refusal to marry her and thus legitimatize her children, after he was free to wed. Local sympathy is with the woman regardless of the fact that many people say she entered into illicit relations with Senator Brown knowing that he was married. Salt Lake people believe generally that, in accord with the "unwritten law," the woman will be acquitted of any charge which may be lodged against her in connection with the shooting. '

Alice Brown, his daughter by his first marriage, and Max Brown, his son by his second marriage, arrived in Washington soon after the shooting. Annie Adams Kiskadden announced that she would travel to Washington also. Brown lingered for a few days, but he had been u n d e r treatment for Bright's disease and finally died of kidney failure on December 13, 1906. Following an inquest Bradley was held for action by the grand jury. Annie Kiskadden, who was still active in the theatre at age fifty-eight, announced that she was the cause of the shooting, as she and the sixty-three year old Brown were to have been married. Kiskadden called herself Bradley's "best friend," in the matter, for: When the Senator first proposed marriage to me, I plainly told him that it was his duty to marry Mrs. Bradley. But he gave me every assurance that marriage with Mrs. Bradley was impossible. He refused positively to marry her and told me, he would not marry any one. Under these circumstances I consented to be his wife if he would arrange matters satisfactorily to Mrs. Bradley. He told me that he would do this and I understand that he had communicated with her and had asked how much money she would need.

Kiskadden wanted to accompany Brown's body back to Salt Lake City on the train, but his children objected: "We know nothing 34

Ibid. Salt Lake Tribune, December 10, 1906. 3,i Salt Lake Tribune, December 14, 1906. 35

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about her, or dad's relations with her," said Brown's son, Max, "and do not believe they were engaged to be married." 37 Max and his half-sister, Alice, accompanied the body to Utah, and Kiskadden went to New York City. On December 22, 1906, Brown's will, written on August 24, 1906, was published in the Salt Lake Tribune. In it he denied that Bradley's two youngest sons were his. 5. I do not devise or bequeath or give anything to the children of Mrs. Anna [sic] M. Bradley. I expressly refuse to give anything to Arthur Brown Bradley, sometimes known as Arthur Brown, Jr., or the other child of Anna M. Bradley, named by her Martin Montgomery Brown, and I refuse to pay or give anything to any child of Mrs. Anna M. Bradley. I do not think either or any child born of the said Anna M. Bradley is my child. But whether such child or children is or are mine or are not, I expressly provide that neither or any of them shall receive anything from my estate, and I will and direct that no child born to Anna M. Bradley shall receive anything of my estate. 6. I never married Anna M. Bradley and never intend to. If she should pretend that any relations ever existed between us to justify such inference, I direct my executor to contest any claim of any kind she may present and I direct that she receive nothing from my estate. 38

T h e newspaper concluded that the will "demonstrates the truth of the c o m m e n t . . . made upon Senator Brown's character since his death, namely: that he was a 'good hater.' "30 His estate was left to his daughter Alice and his son Max. Meanwhile, Bradley remained in jail awaiting her trial. T h e mental and emotional strain of the past few years had exacted its toll on the thirty-three year old woman. In addition, her physical condition had suffered from several miscarriages and three abortions â&#x20AC;&#x201D; one allegedly performed on her by Arthur Brown â&#x20AC;&#x201D; the latest of which had occurred only a few weeks before the fatal shooting. 40 In July 1907 she was transferred to the Providence Hospital where she was operated on by H. L. E.Johnson for "a badly lacerated cervix." 41 Her trial finally began on November 13, 1907, in Criminal Court No. 1. George P. Hoover, a young Washington attorney, and J u d g e Orlando W. Powers of Salt Lake City, a prominent attorney who had served as associate justice of the Third District Court in Ogden, served as her counsel. Powers told the press: 37

SaltLake Tribune, December 15, 1906. Salt Lake Tribune, December 22, 1906. 3!, Ibid. 40 According to testimony given at her trial, Bradley had abortions in 1902, 1903, and 1906. 41 Letter from Dr. D. K. Shute to Captain James H. Harris, July 6, 1907, District of Columbia Criminal Case, No. 25,419. 38

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Salt Lake Tribune, November 18, 1907. Out there [in Utah] the people are in full sympathy with Mrs. Bradley. At one time, it is true, sentiment was somewhat against Mrs. Bradley, but the people did not know half. It was not until the will of Brown was published that the real knowledge of what Mrs. Bradley had suffered and the irreparable wrong that Brown had done her were known.42

T h e jury selection was completed on November 14 and the trial began. T h e prosecution's main witnesses were Albert H. Kelly, a friend of Bradley, who testified that Bradley said "that unless Brown acknowledged her second child to be his son she would shoot him." T h e second witness, James A. Rowan, a guard at Brown's residence at 201 East South Temple, said that Mrs. Bradley had made two attempts to "get into the Brown house, on the first of which she flourished a revolver which, he said, she intended to use upon Brown, and on the second when she reproached Rowan for telling Brown about the revolver." 43 Bradley's defense of temporary insanity was based on testimony concerning "several criminal operations upon the defendant, one of which . . . was performed by Brown. T h e effect of these upon her system and mentality was very marked." 44 Additional testimony revealed that insanity existed in her family, as one of her aunts, Mrs. Shrewsbury, was confined to an insane asylum in Los Angeles, and another aunt, Mrs. Ryan, had had St. Vitus dance in her childhood and suffered from periodic attacks of insanity. Bradley's mother testified that Anne had been hit on the head as a child with a hoe and 42

Salt Lake Tribune, November 10, 1907. Washington Star, November 15, 1907. 44 Ibid.

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had suffered severe headaches for several weeks. Bradley herself "looking more wan that at any previous period"45 spent many hours on the witness stand detailing her relationship with Brown, and several of their love letters were read. The case was sent to the jury on December 2, 1907, and the following day a verdict of not guilty was returned. After the trial Bradley did not have enough money to return to Salt Lake City. A fund was started for her in Washington, but she rejected it, saying she had "plans to earn money in legitimate work that can be performed in her own room in Washington to raise the necessary money to take her back to Salt Lake."46 Reactions to her acquittal were mixed in Salt Lake City. The Herald editorialized: "the jury decided that Mrs. Bradley was insane when she killed Arthur Brown, and it seems a pity that, being insane, she cannot be deprived of the custody . . . of the two children whose lives are constant witness of her unfitness for motherhood." 47 A suit was brought against the estate of Arthur Brown on behalf of Arthur Brown Bradley and Martin Montgomery Brown Bradley, by their grandmother and guardian ad litem Mary E. Maddison. According to the probate records, the two boys never received a settlement from Brown's estate.48 After Bradley's return to Salt Lake City she worked at several jobs, including manager of the Railway Educational Association, secretary, and bookkeeper until 1914 when she and her children moved to Price.40 While living there tragedy struck again. In March 1915, while Mrs. Bradley was on a trip in Nevada, Matthew Bradley died from stab wounds inflicted by Arthur Brown Bradley during a sibling scuffle over who would cook and who would wash the dishes. A coroner's jury decided that Matthew had died from accidental wounds inflicted by his half-brother Arthur, and no legal action was taken.50 About 1921 Anne Bradley once more returned to Salt Lake City where she operated an antique store called "My Shop" at different locations around the city until her death at age seventy-seven on November 11, 1950, from a heart ailment.51 ^Washington Star, November 20, 1907. 4(i SaltLake Tribune, December 12, 1907. 47 Herald, December 4, 1907. 48 Salt Lake County Probate Record No. 49,241, Utah State Archives, Salt Lake City. 411 R. L. Polk and Co., Salt Lake City Directory, for years 1908-14. â&#x201E;˘Deseret News, March 24 and 25, 1915. r,1 R. L. Polk and Co., Salt Lake City Directory, for years 1921-50; SaltLake Tribune, November 12, 1950.

The 1876 Arsenal Hill Explosion BY M E L V I N L. B A S H O R E

Looking north toward Arsenal Hill (present Capitol Hill), one can see the arsenal at extreme upper left. The powder magazines would have been on the hill also, to the right of the Beehive House. USHS collections.

SOME KINDS OF EXPERIENCE WHICH A person having passed through once in this life, never desires a repetition. Of this kind was the explosion of the powder magazines on Arsenal Hill." Those who witnessed the devastating explosion that Brigham Young wrote to his son Arta about would have echoed his sentiments. Accountably, it was one of the most terrible accidents on record in pioneer Utah. 1 On Wednesday, April 5, 1876, Salt Lake City was teeming with its semiannual influx of visitors to the general conference of the Mormon church. Conference-goers throughout the territory arrived early to visit friends and relatives and to take advantage of the special sales offered by local merchants. A raw north wind kept most people inside homes and stores during the day. A group of young boys, undaunted by the bitter weather, played ball on the old Deseret

" X H E R E ARE

Mr. Bashore is a librarian, indexer/abstractor, and long-time drag racing technical official at Bonneville Raceway. 1 Dean C. Jessee, ed., Letters of Brigham Young to His Sons (Salt Lake City: Deseret Book, 1974), p. 255; Seymour B. Young, Diary, April 5, 1876, Utah State Historical Society Library, Salt Lake City; Mary Ann Burnham Freeze, Diary, April 5, 1876, Special Collections, Harold B. Lee Library, Brigham Young University, Provo, Utah.

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Baseball Grounds behind the old city wall on Arsenal Hill. No one suspected or was prepared for the disaster and havoc that would wrack the northern portions of the city that evening. 2 At 5:00 P.M. an explosion of the powder magazines on Arsenal Hill rocked the city. T h e forty-second interval between the first and last of the three devastating blasts threw many citizens into a panic and caused widespread destruction. A deaf gentleman, quietly enjoying dinner at a restaurant opposite the Townsend House hotel, tried to find refuge from the window glass suddenly breaking over him. Although unharmed, he said, "it seemed as though the place was being blown to pieces." Initial reactions varied considerably. T h e immediate cause of the earthshaking concussions was not apparent to most people. Not a few thought the veritable j u d g m e n t day had come upon them. One distraught mother was reported to have run out of the house with her three children, whom she gathered around her kneeling in the street and imploring heavenward, "The end of the world! O, Lord, have mercy on us!" Two ladies reportedly rushed into the arms of a stranger on the street, shouting "Brother, let us pray; the world's coming to an end!" 3 Some thought that an earthquake or volcanic eruption was in progress. Some confided that they feared that the soldiers at Fort Douglas were cannonading the city to drive the Mormons out. Conversely, it was reported that others thought that Brigham Young was blowing up the city to rid it of the Gentiles. T h e thirty boys playing on the old Deseret Baseball Grounds, a quarter-mile southwest of the powder magazines, immediately realized the source of the blast. T h e force of the shock knocked several of them unconscious. Those who were able scurried to safety behind the old city wall and then fled in the wildest excitement to their homes. 4 2 Arsenal Hill, now called Capitol Hill, received its name from the old Nauvoo Legion arsenal building which was located south of the present Daughters of Utah Pioneers Museum, between T h i r d North and Hillside Avenue. That building was also used as a slaughterhouse for a number of years before a fire destroyed it. Deseret Evening News, October 12, 1870. 3 T h e powder magazines were warehouses for gunpowder and explosives sold by various businesses in the city. They comprised four buildings on the west rim of City Creek Canyon, directly north of the present Capitol Hill reservoir. T o give it a sense of scale, the magazine grounds extended from about Fourth North to Seventh North streets (if those streets were extended eastward onto the present precipitous hillscape), hugging the then-undeveloped steep rim of the canyon. T h e Townsend House was located at the southwest corner of First South and West Temple. Map of Salt Lake City and Suburbs (Salt Lake City: J o h n L. Burns, 1871); Historian's Office Journal, April 5, 1876, LDS Church Library Archives, Salt Lake City; J o h n Paternoster Squires, Journal, Book D, April 5, 1876, ibid; Samuel A. Woolley, Diary, Volume 14, April 5, 1876, ibid.; Thomas Higgs in Sixteenth Q u o r u m of Seventies, Minutes, April 16, 1876, ibid.; Deseret Evening News, April 6, 1876; Salt Lake Herald, April 7, 1876; Salt Lake Tribune, April 7, 1876. 4 Ruth May Fox, Autobiography, p. 29, Mormon Biographies Collection, LDS Church Library Archives; Frederick Kesler, Diary, April 5, 1876, Special Collections, Marriott Library, University of

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T h e first minute of panic and confusion, as horses stampeded and wagons overturned, was followed by a migration of curious people to the explosion site. Hordes of excited onlookers ascended the steep hill to four craters that marked the site of the powder magazines. Sagebrush was swept from around them. Fragments of the buildings and powder containers were strewn in the area. 5 T h e vanguard of the crowd sickened at finding bits of charred flesh and pieces of clothing scattered u p to a distance of a half-mile from the blast site. These grisly items were gathered up and taken to the city hall where they were placed on public display for identification. Children were unable to eat that night, made sick at the sight of h u m a n fragments being carried from the hill. Boots with severed feet in them and bits of clothing were found to belong to two teenage boys, Charles Richardson and Frank Hill, who were identified as the gruesome casualties. T h e mother of one of the boys went into shock at this horrifying news, never entirely recovering. T h e boys had been grazing their small herd of cattle on the side of Ensign Peak. Having seen a flock of wild chickens the previous day, Richardson had taken a gun along. T h e powder magazines had long been the object of thoughtless target shooting, and it was widely surmised that these boys had fired into the door of one of the magazines. 6 In addition to Richardson and Hill, a young boy and a pregnant mother lost their lives. T h r e e and a half year old Joseph H. Raddon, while playing with a half-dozen other children in his father's yard, was instantly killed by a hurtling rock. T h e five-pound missile passed entirely through his chest, carrying away his heart and lungs. On the opposite side of the hill in the Nineteenth Ward, a pregnant woman, Mrs. Mary Jane Van Natta, was struck by a boulder while pumping water at her neighbor's well, three-fourths of a mile due west of the magazines. T h e rock struck her in the back causing instant death. 7 Utah, Salt Lake City; 5a// Lake Herald, April 28, 1876; Louie Lenore Price Daniels, Autobiography, p. 77, in possession of Ferrel Bybee, Bountiful, Utah; Salt Lake Tribune, April 6, 1876. 5 Nelson Wheeler Whipple, Journal, p. 398, LDS Church Library Archives. 6 Richardson and Hill were buried in a common coffin in the Salt Lake City Cemetery. T h e author was unable to locate a grave marker. Archibald Hill briefly noted "the loss of my son, Frank" in his diary, in possession of Pearl Cross Baggs, Ogden, Utah. T h e ZCMI magazine had been broken into two years previous to the explosion and a large quantity of powder stolen. Access was obtained into the magazine by boring a hole into the wall by the side of the door facing the city. "Utah News," Millennial Star 36 (June 16, 1874): 382; Andrew Jackson Allen, Journal, April 5, 1876, LDS Church Library Archives; Oliver B. Huntington, Diary, p. 136, Utah State Historical Society Library. 7 Several other unverifiable deaths and premature births were also attributed to the shock of the explosion. Seymour B. Young, Diary, April 10, 1876; Salt Lake Daily Times, April 11, 1876; "Home Affairs," Woman's Exponent 4 (April 15, 1876): 173.

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The next day an inquest was held at the city hall. A preliminary verdict of the coroner's jury posited that the explosion was caused by a burning paper wad shot from a gun igniting loose powder that was strewn around the magazines. The jury also deemed the explosion accidental, attaching no blame to any persons or companies. The Salt Lake Tribune objected to this conclusion, calling it a "most remarkable verdict" and citing the lack of evidence to support that assumption. 8 That elicited a hasty response from one of the jurors, Joseph Gorlincks, that no official statement had been yet issued by the jury. He said that the jury had not reached a conclusion as to the cause of the explosion but had merely formed a preliminary opinion.0 The jury was unable to determine which magazine exploded first, although Deseret News journalist John Nicholson testified that the ZCMI magazine was the last to explode. The Du Pont Company's agent B. W. E. Jennens testified that he had notified city officials about the dangerous shooting practices and was in the process of replacing Du Pont's bullet-riddled door with a stronger one before the blast occurred. All magazines had been inspected by the city during the course of construction. Two were built of brick and two of rock. All had tin roofs and iron-faced doors. The site had been selected by city officials because of its elevation above the settled portion of the city. The city had not placed any restrictions on the quantity or kind of explosives stored, nor had any concern been manifested in having the city regulate their storage. An estimated 45 tons of explosives were in storage at the time of the explosion.10 The widespread devastation was attributed to the site's commanding elevation above the city and the rock and brick structures, which produced weighty projectiles. Some 500 tons of rock and other material was hurtled into the air. A Civil War veteran said that "Fredericksburg after being bombarded for a month did not show so much sign of wreck as Salt Lake did."11 8 Coroner's Record, Book 1, p. 167, Utah State Archives, Annex, Salt Lake City; Salt Lake Tribune, April 8, 1876. 11 Whether the coroner's j u r y needed to publish an official statement of their investigation to validate their findings is moot. T h e i r verdict was correctly reported by the Tribune and the j u r y engaged in no further investigation. Salt Lake Tribune, April 9, 1976. 1 Â° T h e location of the magazines, with the closest to the city listed first, and the others in o r d e r to the north, was as follows: ZCMI, Du Pont Company, and Walker Brothers' two magazines. They were about fifteen to twenty yards apart from each other. T h e explosive powders involved included black, blasting, sporting, and the dangerous Hercules powder â&#x20AC;&#x201D; over three thousand kegs in all. Salt Lake Daily Times, April 6, 1876; Coroner's Record, Book 1, pp. 32, 164-67; Salt Lake Tribune, April 6, 1876. " J o h n Nicholson, " T h e Explosion" Juvenile Instructor 11 (April 17, 1876): 92; Salt Lake Tribune, April 6, 1876.

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#s^ifit£!t Section ofE. S. Glovers 1875 bird's-eye view of Salt Lake City shows three powder magazines on Arsenal Hill. USHS collections.

Shingleton's saloon, opposite the Salt Lake Theatre, exhibited a 115-pound boulder. It had been hurled over a mile before it penetrated the roof and saloon floor and came to rest twenty inches deep in the earthen cellar floor. It came within two feet of striking two men sitting at a table. C R. Savage's photograph gallery was a "sad wreck," suffering an estimated $500 in damage. Scores of huge plate glass windows in the business district, valued at from $50 to $500 each, were shattered by hurtling rocks and shock waves. T h e Tabernacle, where the Mormon conference would be held, lost nearly a thousand window panes on the north side. Conference proceeded in the building after cloth was nailed over the exposed openings. Brigham Young caught a "severe cold" from the wintry drafts, which absented him from the last two days of meetings. 12 T h e effect of the explosion in City Creek Canyon, directly beneath the powder storehouses, was devastating. Two of Daniel H. Wells's daughters walking in the canyon were thrown to the ground and badly bruised by the force of the concussion. At the mouth of the canyon the tanks of the waterworks and the dwelling house connected with it were crushed. T h e Empire Mill owned by Brigham Young — situated in the canyon nearly d u e east of the magazines — 12 Salt Lake Tribune, April 6, 7, 1876; Salt Lake Herald, April 6, 1876; Brigham Young to Alma L. Smith, April 22, 1876, Brigham Young Correspondence, LDS Church Library Archives; Thomas Cott Griggs, Journal, April 6, 1876, ibid.; Robert Taylor Burton, Diary, April 6, 1876, ibid.; Brigham Young to Don Carlos Young, April 17, 1876, Brigham Young Correspondence, ibid.

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probably suffered more than any other single structure. A worker loading a wagon next to the flour mill had a portion of the building collapse on him. " T h e floor over the wheel house was lifted bodily u p , fifty joists and thirty pieces of framing were broken and one piece of timber a foot square snapped in two." T h e miller's adobe house was damaged considerably and had to be demolished. T h e shattered windows were hurled with such force that pieces were e m b e d d e d an inch deep in solid red pine joists and nearby trees. 13 Damage in the residential areas of the city was extensive and occurred as far away as the T e n t h Ward on the eastern limit of the city, in the T h i r d Ward on the south, and the Fifth and Sixth Wards on the west. T h e explosion was heard by miners at Bingham Canyon; and J o h n D. Lee, confined at the penitentiary six miles from the city, reported that the cells and windows shook. T h e explosion and shock were reportedly h e a r d and felt as far north as Kaysville and Farmington, almost twenty miles away. Most of the direct damage from shelling occurred within a mile and a half radius of the powder magazines. Some of the private residences that suffered the most damage included the homes of Bishop Alonzo H. Raleigh near Warm Springs, Heber P. Kimball at the m o u t h of City Creek Canyon, and E. L. T . Harrison on the bench and the elegant residences of Feramorz Little and William H. H o o p e r . Someone r e m a r k e d that it looked as if Captain Hooper's house "had gone t h r o u g h a threshing machine." A fifty-pound rock crashed t h r o u g h Mayor Little's unfinished home, penetrating the roof and three succeeding floors below. Rocks b o m b a r d e d Kimball's home, one landing in a bed and another smashing a just-vacated table covered with dishes. Harrison's h o m e was extensively damaged; door panels were forced out and plaster work torn away. Mrs. Harrison was thrown from her parlor chair by the force of the concussion, and she and her infant were showered with shattered glass, suffering severe flesh wounds. 14 A vivid description of a h o m e that was more than a mile from the explosion site is representative of the damage sustained in the blast area: l3 Salt Lake Daily Times, April 6, 1876; Deseret Evening News, April 15, 1876; Brigham Young to George Q. Cannon, April 19, 1876, Brigham Young Correspondence. 14 Robert Glass Cleland and Juanita Brooks, e d s . , ^ Mormon Chronicle: The Diaries of John D. Lee, 1848-1876, 2 vols. (San Marino, Calif.: Huntington Library, 1955), p. Ab\; Deseret Evening News, April 6, 1876; Salt Lake Herald, April 7, 1876; Salt Lake Daily Times, April 6, 1876. Modern boundaries of the general area of b o m b a r d m e n t damage are circumscribed by Ninth North, Sixth West, Ninth South, and Thirteenth East. Modern locations of the damaged residences are as follows: Raleigh, 4th North, between 5th and 6th West; Kimball, 150 N. Main St.; Harrison, 109 W. 3rd North; Little, 164 E. 1st South; and Hooper, 350 N. 200 West.

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Utah Historical Quarterly T h e house seemed perfectly riddled, glass covering everything, locks broken entirely off, and things hurled about generally. O n my mantel-piece stands a rack filled as a medicine chest. T h e bottles we[re] thrown about almost everywhere and a large bottle of red ink seemed to have taken the entire sweep of the room, as the ink was thrown far u n d e r the bed, while the bottle stood on its bottom on the opposite side of the room. T h e screws holding the teeth of the sewing machine were even blown across the room u n d e r the stove, and my bed was covered with burnt powder. . . . T h e walls of our house, a new brick one, are badly cracked. . . .

Although many homes and businesses providentially escaped bombardment by flying debris, window damage was widespread. T h e shock waves "literally smashed the whole sash work in the 19th, 18th, 17th, 14th, 13th, 12th, 11th and 20th wards to atoms." T h e wooden sidewalks and streets in the business district were littered with broken panes of expensive plate glass. Some of the businesses that suffered window breakage included the newly opened ZCMI store, Eagle Emporium, Deseret National Bank, Townsend House hotel, Wasatch Drug Store, and W. F. Raybould's bookstore. T h e sheer quantity of glass breakage posed serious disposal and replacement problems. Many residents spent cold evenings huddled around fireplaces in drafty rooms until replacement sashes could be purchased. T h e commercial glass supply houses in the city were ill prepared to handle the requests for replacement glass. T h e "panic for glass" was immediate as window supply houses and glaziers tried to meet the emergency needs of the city. T h e morning after the explosion, Fred Culmer, a Salt Lake glass merchant, began purchasing and shipping glass stock from merchants in other cities in the territory. He publicly responded to rumors of unfair but unfounded rate hikes. Many businesses, homes, and public buildings temporarily covered their gaping window frames with boards, calico, or other fabric until glass could be purchased. In a few instances some were "keeping open house." 16 Damage estimates ranged widely, varying from over a $ 100,000 to diNew York Herald estimate of $500,000. T h e damage to glass alone was estimated at nearly $50,000. Repair estimates on some of the severely damaged homes ranged from $3,000 to $4,000 each. T h e loss on the four buildings that housed the blasting and sporting

*Salt Lake Herald, April 28, 1876. Ogden Junction, April 6, 1876; Salt Lake Herald, April 7, 1876; Deseret Evening News, April 14,

lti

1876.

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powder and their contents was appraised at $26,000. Admittedly, the real cost of the damage was incalculable. 17 Feelings of gratitude for having been spared were prevalent throughout the community. People questioned whether any other disaster of similar magnitude had resulted in so few being killed or wounded. Mormons saw the h a n d of God in their merciful preservation. It was mentioned in a church meeting that one of Apostle J o h n Taylor's boys, playing in City Creek Canyon, heeded "a voice commanding him to go home." He and his playmates who accompanied him home were spared a possible accident by following this spirit-born prompting. Rachel R. Grant, Caroline Raleigh, and Elizabeth Stayner similarly testified that the preservation of so many was a divine manifestation. 18

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INDOW CL J S ^ At tlieir^dPricie^ w Salt Lake Daily Times, April 7, 1876.

T h e immediate concern in the organized cleanup and reconstruction effort focused on the safety of the citizens. Parents were warned to restrict their children from visiting the scene of the explosion. An immense a m o u n t of unexploded Hercules powder remained scattered a r o u n d the site. City officials sent a squad of men to search for and pick u p u n e x p e n d e d powder. Newspapers reported sticks of Hercules powder being discovered in yards and gardens as late as one m o n t h after the explosion. 10 T h e need for placing new powder magazines in a safer location became p a r a m o u n t when the public learned that two carloads of powder were en route and delivery expected within days of the disaster. City officials called a special meeting on April 7 to expedite 17

Samuel A. Woolley, Diary, Volume 14, April 5, 1976, LDS Church Library Archives; "Utah News," Millennial Star 38 (April 24, 1876): 271; Salt Lake Tribune, April 6, 1876. '"Thirteenth Ward, Relief Society, Minutes, April 27, 1876, LDS Church Library Archives; Nineteenth Ward, Ladies' Prayer Meeting, April 19, 1876, ibid.; Twentieth Ward, Young Ladies' Retrenchment Association, Minutes, April 12, 1876, ibid. v 'Salt Lake Tribune, May 5, 1876.

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this search. J o h n Sharp, Sr., and Elias Morris were appointed by Mayor Little as a special committee to recommend a new location for the erection of explosives storage facilities. After investigating several sites the committee recommended a location on the bench near the northern boundary of the city and northeast of the Warm Springs. They deemed this "safer and more suitable" than any other location within the city. T h e site had the additional advantage of allowing powder-laden railroad cars to be switched off the main track, unloaded at the Utah Central Railroad depot, and hauled through city streets up to Arsenal Hill. T h e committee also recommended the magazines be constructed of adobe. 20 Residents in the neighborhood of the proposed site unsuccessfully filed a petition against the selection and acceptance of this location. Another petition filed by Bishop Thomas Taylor and forty-five others requested the removal of powder wagons kept in the downtown business area by B. W. E. Jennens. Labeling that practice "a constant menace to their lives and property," the council instructed City Marshal Andrew Burt to enforce their immediate removal. Powder companies were granted the right to begin constructing new facilities in compliance with "An Ordinance Relating to Powder Magazines and the Storage and Sale of Powder and Other Explosive Compounds" drafted by the Committee on Municipal Laws and passed by the city council on April 18. Jennens had the Du Pont Company's new powder storage warehouse completed by the first week in May on the bench several h u n d r e d feet above the railroad, a half-mile north of the Warm Springs. It was double-wall construction built of brick, the outer wall being thirteen inches thick and the inner wall four inches thick, separated by a three-inch air chamber. T h e roof was covered with galvanized sheet iron, and the double doors were of iron, five-sixteenths of an inch thick. T h e four other magazines were located south of the Du Pont warehouse, the last one being constructed almost directly over the Warm Springs. 21 T h e Arsenal Hill explosion was widely reported throughout the United States and Great Britain. T h e interest in this disaster caused other cities to direct their attention to the condition and location of

20 'Salt Lake Herald, April 7, 1876; Utah Evening Mail, April 8, 1876; Salt Lake City, City Council, Minutes, Book G, pp. 325-26, LDS Church Genealogical Library. Warm Springs was located on 2nd West between 8th and 9th North. 21 Salt Lake City, City Council, Minutes, Book G, p. 329, LDS Church Genealogical Library; Salt Lake Tribune, May 9, 1876.

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GUNPOWDER! T H E SALT LAKE A G E N C Y OF

E. I. DU P O N T DE N E M O U R S <Sc CO OF WILMINGTON. DEL., HAS .IV3T RECEIVED A OAR LOAD OF THEIIt

Celebrated GUNPOWDERS! BLASTING POWDERS! RIFLE POWDERS! SPORTING POWDERS, Etc. Can be purchased from the principal Merchants and Hardware Dealers of Salt Lake City. A8K

FOR

DU PONT'S GUNPOWDERS! B. W. E. JENNENS, Agent.

Salt Lake Herald, April 19, 1876.

their own powder warehouses. City authorities in San Francisco were concerned that the Giant Powder Company manufactured explosives only six miles from the city hall. Company officials invited the concerned authorities to a demonstration of the combustibility of their product. A h u n d r e d - p o u n d weight was d r o p p e d from a height of thirty feet onto a box containing fifty p o u n d s of powder. City officials unceremoniously scattered, sheepishly but cautiously returning to examine an utterly smashed but otherwise unexploded mass. T h e Ogden City Council, responding to citizen inquiries and concern for safety, investigated relocating their magazines. 22 T h e Arsenal Hill explosion had such a fearful impact on the residents of Salt Lake City that the Deseret News Weekly predicted that time would henceforth be reckoned from this eventful happening. 2 3 Notwithstanding the prediction, the memory of this disaster seems to have receded into the past. From this disastrous experience, Salt Lake City gained a more enforceable explosives ordinance and insured its citizens a safer future. It may have forestalled future calamities, but it came too late to prevent one of pioneer Utah's worst disasters. vl

Salt Lake Herald, April 13, 1876; Ogden Junction, April 8, 1876. Deseret News Weekly, April 12, 1876.

Good Indian Spring BY OWEN C. BENNION

KEG PASS 8 km^R 5 mi

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The lowest place on the skyline, near the center, is Keg Pass separating the western (left) and eastern (right) arms of Keg Mountain. All photographs furnished by author.

Capt. James H. Simpson of his exploration of a route for the Pony Express in 1858-59, I was intrigued by an account of his finding a spring with the help of a crippled Indian named Quah-not. Having spent several years homesteading with my father in what is called Riverbed, a Bonneville drainage system located in the area of Quah-not's spring, I was curious to see if I could determine the location of this spring. Captain Simpson left Camp Floyd in 1859 and traveled by a northerly route through Lookout Pass, past Fish Springs, south of Callao, and into Nevada on his way to Sacramento. Coming back from California, he explored a more southerly route. After entering what is now the state of Utah, he crossed White Valley and went through Dome Canyon over the House Range just south of Swasey Peak. He noted in his journal that about this time he was having

W H I L E READING THROUGH THE JOURNAL KEPT BY

Dr. Bennion is associate professor of multicultural education at Brigham Young University.

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trouble maintaining contact with his guide party. They were having extreme difficulty locating sufficient water and grass for the mules that pulled their wagons. The last good water was found at Chapin Spring and Tyler Spring. (These are probably the same as Antelope and Swasey springs on modern maps.) As they moved northward toward the Thomas Mountains (Topaz Mountain), they must have camped near the south end of McDowell or Keg Mountain 1 where they found a few springs with insufficient water for their animals. On their earlier trip westward to California, Simpson told of a red-shirted Ute Indian who had pointed southward from Short Cut Pass2 to the location of a spring in Keg Mountain, but now they were unable to find it. It was with the help of a crippled Indian they met that they were finally able to locate the spring. In his journal, Simpson considered this to be an act of Divine Providence and lauded the Indian for his unselfish effort to save the distressed animals from dying of thirst. He named the spring Good Indian Spring after old Quah-not. Since Quah-not was paralyzed from the hips down, he was forced to crawl about using his arms and hands to propel his body. He lived by the spring in his wikiup, cared for by his son, Ah-pon. Simpson rewarded Quah-not by giving him a pair of leather gloves to protect his hands as he pulled himself through rocks and thorny brush. That Simpson developed rather tender feelings for Quah-not is revealed by the following: At 7 P.M. the good old Indian, crippled as he is, came in and [we] discovered by his words and gestures that though he was very fatigued, yet he had a good heart toward us. He made signs to us to show that his helplessness was such as to make it necessary for him to be lifted from his horse. He was taken off and carried near the cook fire, and I had a supper prepared for him. All hands feel grateful to him for his extraordinary kindness to us. He has permitted his son, who was his only support and protector, to go away with the guide-party for several days, and now he had done us the signal service, crippled as he was, to conduct our mules to water, and thus possibly save them from perishing and us from failing in this portion of our route. Of course we felt grateful, and testified it by some presents to him and his son. The fine Spanish knife I gave him he seemed to particularly prize. Believing that "Wolfs Schnapps" would prove acceptable to him as a restorative, I 1 It is not easy to determine their exact route. Simpson indicates that they wandered between Tyler Spring and McDowell Mountain. 2 John F. Bluth, "Confrontation with an Arid Land: The Incursion of Goshiutes and Whites into Utah's Central West Desert, 1800-1978" (Ph.D. diss., Brigham Young University, 1979), pp. 49,55. Bluth indicates Short Cut Pass is Dugway Pass.

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T o p : Cove in the western arm of Keg Mountain cradles Good Indian Spring located al far end of small clearing. Bottom: Good Indian Spring as it appears today. h a n d e d him some, but he immediately smelt of it and replied, 'Wo Bueno" (no good), at the same time rubbing his hip, thus indicating that he wished it to be applied there. It was so applied, much to his satisfaction. His only m o d e of locomotion is on his haunches and hands just as I

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have seen children who could not walk propel themselves forward. Of course this mode of progression bore heavily on his hands, which were liable to be cut by the rocks and rough sage-brush over which he was required to make his way, and he expressed a wish that a pair of gloves might be given him to protect them, which was done. . . . O u r sympathy for the poor cripple has been such as to suggest a pair of crutches for him, and Mr. Jagiello has manufactured a pair. He is pleased with the present, but makes no attempt to use them. He is treated so much like a king that he looks upon us occasionally with a look of wonder, and seems to ask himself, "Is this attention indeed real?" and then breaks out into a laugh, in which is intermingled as much of astonishment as joy. At his request, I have permitted him to sleep in camp, the only strange Indian to whom this privilege had been granted on the trip.

From Simpson's map it appears that Good Indian Spring lies on the east side of Keg Mountain; however, the map lacks detail that the journal does give to the effect that the spring is cradled in a western arm of the mountain. Keg Mountain is an extinct, composite volcano with interlayerings of ash and lava. T h e r e are three springs that might be possible locations for Good Indian Spring, but only one that seems to fit the detail in Simpson's journal. Cane Spring sits on the west side of Keg mountain on the edge of open desert. Willow Spring is located on the east side of the mountain, tucked far u p in a narrow canyon on a hillside. Keg Spring is located between these two springs. T o get to it from the south, as Simpson did, you have to go over a low pass and drop down into a cove formed by a western arm of Keg Mountain. T h e spring is located at the lower end of a flat clearing in a thick forest ofjunipers and pinons. In Simpson's day, it was surely a grassy pasture. This area lies on the left side of the main body of Keg Mountain as you look northward toward the Simpson Range (what Simpson called Champlin Mountain). I should like to show, with excerpts from Simpson's journal, that Keg Spring is what Simpson called Good Indian Spring. In Simpson's July 28 entry his party left Tyler Spring and traveled about 36.9 miles to reach the Thomas Range (he noted that their course was evidently a crooked one). This probably put them east of Topaz Mountain and close to Keg Mountain (calculated from modern maps of the area). At this point they located several small springs, too small to alleviate the thirst of their suffering animals.

3 James Hervey Simpson, Report of Explorations across the Great Basin of the Territory of Utah 1859 (Washington, D . C , 1876), pp. 129, 130.

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Map from James Hervey Simpson's 1859 report.

Here they also found Quah-not, the crippled Indian. He led them to a spring where he lived. In describing this place, Simpson wrote, "The mountains in which we are camped I call after Major Irvin McDowell."4 This correlates with the idea of a surrounding arm of 'Simpson, Explorations across the Great Basin, p. 128.

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Map section from Landforms of Utah by Merrill K. Ridd, 1960, reproduced with permission. Good Indian Spring is to the right of the "Mc" of "McDowell Mountain." Heavy dashed line indicates author's approximation of Simpson's southern route.

Keg Mountain. Further, he said, "The springs near us are represented by the Good Indian as having been made by some horse thieves (white men) about a year ago." 5 This also fits Keg Spring which was an ideal place to conceal stolen horses. T h e clearing with grass and water was well hidden by a thick growth of trees and the surrounding mountain. 5

Ibid., p. 129.

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In telling how they traveled to get to the Good Indian Spring, Simpson said: O u r route today was across a divide about a mile from last camp, and then down a canyon, to within a mile of Sevier Lake Desert on the southeast side of these mountains, and then u p a ravine across the crest again of the mountain to the north slope of the canyon, leading down to Salt Lake Desert, or Sevier Lake Desert, as the dividing rim is scarcely perceptible. Road good. J o u r n e y , 5.6 miles. 6

This detail indicates that they had to be west of Riverbed and on the south side of Keg Mountain. From there they would have had to go over Keg Pass, since there is no other "good road" over the north drainage. It is also about six miles from the south side of Keg Mountain to Keg Spring. Simpson seemed uncertain as to whether this drainage emptied into the Salt Lake Desert or the Sevier Lake Desert.7 After camping at Good Indian Spring, while Quah-not and Ah-pon helped Simpson's men get their livestock over to better water at Death Canyon, Simpson noted on August 1: T h e civil portion of my party, with three wagons, therefore, move forward, leaving the balance to follow us as soon as the other mules arrive. Pass down canyon, in a northwardly direction, through a thick grove of cedars, over rolling country, skirting McDowell Mountains to o u r right, and in about seven miles reach a desert valley or plain r u n n i n g southeastwardly from Great Salt Lake Valley into Sevier Valley. 8

This excerpt leaves me with no doubt that Keg Spring is Good Indian Spring. The description of the lay of the land fits perfectly. As one leaves Keg Spring traveling north, Keg Mountain is to the right. This canyon is a tributary of Dead Ox Wash which empties into Riverbed. Simpson described Riverbed as a "desert valley or plain" connecting Great Salt Lake Valley and Sevier Valley. The distance from Keg Spring to Riverbed is about seven miles. From the good water at Death Canyon, Simpson made his way around the south side of Champlin Mountain (now Simpson or Indian Mountain) and probably went over Erickson's Pass. From 6

ibid.

T h e reason for this uncertainty is d u e to the near level condition of Riverbed at this point. A few miles north of where this canyon (now called Dead Ox Wash) empties into Riverbed an alluvial fan dams off Riverbed, forming a playa. This makes it difficult for the casual observer to tell which way the drainage goes. 8 Simpson, Explorations across the Great Basin, p. 130. Note here that Simpson is mistaken about the drainage. T h e desert valley he describes is Riverbed which drains northwestward from the Sevier Valley into the Great Salt Lake Valley.

Good Indian Springs

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mm When Simpson left his camp at Good Indian Spring he headed north, as this view shows, with Keg Mountain to his right. Eventually the Simpson party returned to Camp Floyd.

there he probably went over Government Pass across Rush Valley and back to Camp Floyd. 0 In retrospect, another element in the account of Captain Simpson's encounter with the Indian has greater significance than finding the real location of Good Indian Spring. As Simpson explored westward along his northern passage, the ultimate Pony Express route, he encountered the Gosiutes of Deep Creek near the present Utah-Nevada border. Like many others of his culture, he described the deplorable level of their living conditions as if they were some kind of subhuman race. Yet on his return trip by a southern route, after his encounter with the awful rigors of desert survival, he saw his fellow being, Quah-not, in a new light. Humbled by the near failure of his endeavor and the suffering of his animals, Simpson was ready to see the virtues of Gosiute culture. Here were a people who were shaped by the merciless elements and whose true virtues were hidden by the wretchedness of their enforced poverty. "Today, Keg Spring has been trenched and piped down to a tank about half a mile to the north. My father, Glynn S. Bennion (a historian and rancher), once told me that Keg Spring was so named because of a keg, half buried in the mud of the spring, found by the California immigrants who camped there on their way to the gold fields. Keg Mountain got its name from the spring.

"Recent Psychic Evidence": The Visit of Sir Arthur Conan Doyle to Utah in 1923 BY MICHAEL W. HOMER

Sir Arthur Conan Doyle. Frontispiece from O u r Second American Adventure, 1924.

W H E N S I R A R T H U R C O N A N D O Y L E B R O U G H T his spiritualist crusade to Utah in 1923 he was apprehensive about the reception he would receive because his spiritualist ideas â&#x20AC;&#x201D; which included a belief that spiritualism was the simplification and purification of decadent Christianity, that the spirit continues to live after death, and that a person has the ability to communicate with deceased relatives through mediums â&#x20AC;&#x201D; were seemingly not compatible with Mormon beliefs.1 Worse yet, Doyle had criticized Mormonism's venerated leadership, history, and institutions in his first Sherlock Holmes detective story published thirty-five years earlier and reiterated his criticism of early territorial Utah in a book written several years Mr. Homer is an attorney in Salt Lake City. 1 For Doyle's treatment of spiritualist ideals see Arthur Conan Doyle, The New Revelation (New York: George H. Doran Company, 1917); Arthur Conan Doyle, The Vital Message (New York: George H. Doran Company, 1919); and Arthur Conan Doyle, The History of Spiritualism, 2 vols. (London: Cassell and Co., Ltd., 1926).

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before his visit. Yet, at a luncheon given for him shortly before his departure, Doyle was pleased to observe that he had been allowed to deliver his message to an audience of five thousand from the pulpit of the Mormon Tabernacle itself, expressed his "profound appreciation of the reception accorded him and his message," and confessed that before coming he "did not expect so much breadth of view."2 How did it happen that Doyle, the author of a sensational anti-Mormon melodrama and a proselyte of a cause that had been denounced by the Mormon hierarchy, could visit Utah with such positive results. Ironically, it may have been precisely because of the spiritualist message he brought and the fact that Doyle was the world renowned creator of Sherlock Holmes that Utah gave him such a receptive audience. Doyle's introduction to the beliefs and practices of spiritualism occurred more than forty years before his visit to Salt Lake while he was attending medical school at the University of Edinburgh. After beginning his practice of medicine in 1882 and later while embarking on his new career as an author, he became well acquainted with mediums and other adherents and after "years of patient investigation" 3 gradually became a "convinced spiritualist" and a zealous advocate of the movement. During World War I, after both his brother and eldest son were killed, he began to utilize his literary talents to advance the cause. In 1917 he authored The New Revelation and in 1919 The Vital Message. Following the war he took his message on tour â&#x20AC;&#x201D; to Australia and New Zealand in 1920 and to the United States in 1922 and again in 1923. 4 By the time Doyle came to Utah during his second American tour he was an experienced proselyter. But it was not the first time the residents of Utah had been introduced to the message of spiritualism. T h e Mormon leadership and its captive press in Utah were aware of and criticized the claims of spiritualism as early as 1851. 5 T h e subject was mentioned in discourses delivered from the pulpit of the Salt Lake Tabernacle during the 1850s by Parley P. Pratt and Jedediah M. Grant. During the same decade, spiritualism was denounced by the Deseret News and the Millennial Star. Despite these denunciations, and perhaps in part because of them, some 2

Salt Lake Tribune, May 13, 1923. Ibid., May 12, 1923. 4 Ronald Pearsall, Conan Doyle: A Biographical Solution (New York: St. Martin's Press, 1977). 5 Davis Bitton, "Mormonism's Encounter with Spiritualism,"/ourna/ of Mormon History 1(1974): 3

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dissatisfied Mormons were attracted to spiritualism beginning in the late 1860s, including William S. Godbe, E. L. T. Harrison, and a former LDS apostle, Amasa Lyman. 6 This Godbeite movement, guided by the principles and teachings of spiritualism, continued "for more than a decade as an important community force." 7 Not only did the Utah Spiritualists produce seances and preachments, "they spawned a rival church organization, the first successful anti-LDS newspaper, a seminal historical survey of Mormonism, and an unprecedented public forum that featured a stream of internationally renowned radical itinerants." 8 These itinerants, who were not allowed to speak to Mormon congregations, spoke from the pulpit of a newly constructed Liberal Institute and were, according to some observers, more popular than speakers at the Tabernacle. 9 Part of spiritualism's appeal for these disaffected Mormons were the similarities between the two "isms," both of which had originated in the Burned-over District of western New York. 10 Spiritualism's beliefs in "the existence and life of the spirit apart from and independent of the material organism, and in the reality and value of intelligent intercourse between spirits embodied and spirits discarnate" 11 were similar to Mormonism's beliefs in the existence of life after death and the concept of personal revelation. 12 In fact some Utah Spiritualists claimed to have talked with early church leaders in seances, including Joseph Smith, who was recognized by them as an unsophisticated medium who had misinterpreted his "revelations." 13 Although Utah spiritualism did not prove to be a serious threat to the stability of monolithic Utah Mormonism, its similarities and <Tbid., pp. 40-44. 7 Ronald W. Walker, "When the Spirits Did Abound: Nineteenth-century Utah's Encounter with Free-Thought Radicalism," Utah Historical Quarterly 50 (1982): 304, 309. Other studies by Professor Walker concerning the Godbeites include:""The Liberal Institute: A Case Study in National Assimilation," Dialogue: A Journal of Mormon Thought 10 (1977): 74; " T h e Commencement of the Godbeite Protest: Another View." Utah Historical Quarterly 42 (1974): 215. 8 Walker, "When the Spirits Did Abound," p. 306. "Ibid., p. 312. 10 Cf. Whitney R. Cross, The Burned-over District (Ithaca: Cornell University Press, 1950), pp. 138-50, 341-52. Doyle also noted these similarities several years after his visit to Utah. History of Spiritualism, 1:42. 11 Doyle, History of Spiritualism, 2:262. 12 For a more precise analysis of the similarities and dissimilarities between Mormon and Spiritualist beliefs, see Walker, " T h e Commencement of the Godbeite Protest," pp. 227-28; Walker, "When the Spirits Did Abound," pp. 317-18. 13 See, e.g. Walker, " T h e Liberal Institute," p. 78; Walker, "The Commencement of the Godbeite Protest," p. 230; Walker, "When the Spirits Did Abound," p. 315.

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experiences proved a dilemma to Mormons seeking to criticize spiritualism and were explained away by a variety of arguments: that the spiritual manifestations claimed by Spiritualists were fraudulent and even if some of the claimed communications were legitimate, the spirits responsible for such messages were inferior spirits. 14 By the turn of the century the Mormon response to spiritualism became more standard as a result of James E. Talmage's treatment of the subject in Articles of Faith, his text written for Latter-day Saint University instruction. In that work he asserted that "the restoration of the priesthood to earth in this age of the world, was followed by a phenomenal growth of the vagaries of spiritualism, whereby many have been led to put their trust in Satan's counterfeit of God's eternal power." 15 Spiritualism, in the Mormon view, had become a tool of the devil. This view was still prevalent several years before Doyle's visit and expounded upon by Joseph West in an article published in the November 1920 Improvement Era. West argued that the spiritualism espoused by Doyle in his two recently published works, The New Revelation and The Vital Message, was very different "from true inspiration or revelation from God!" 16 While noting the similarities of belief between Mormons and Spiritualists concerning conditions that exist in the spirit world, West reiterated Talmage's view that spiritualism was a counterfeit form of Mormonism: ". . . it is hard to get away from the conviction that Mr. Doyle found much of the truthful portion of his statements and descriptions of the spirit world in the doctrines of the 'Mormon' Church." 17 West also asserted that even though "the Lord permits loved ones who have gone before to bring comforting messages to the living . . . in all such cases, the communication is directly with the person for whom [it] is intended, and not through a third, irresponsible person." 18 If Doyle was aware of the M o r m o n position r e g a r d i n g spiritualism in general and his own works in particular, it is little wonder that he was apprehensive about coming to Utah. Yet, the fine distinctions noted by Mormon apologists were not as appreciated by the rank and file as the authors may have hoped. In fact, 14

Bitton, "Mormonism's Encounter," pp. 46-49. '"'James E. Talmage, The Articles of Faith (Salt Lake City: Deseret News, 1899), p. 236. '"Joseph A. West, "Sir Arthur Conan Doyle's 'New Revelation' and 'Vital Message,' "Improvement Era 24 (1920): 6-13. ,7 Ibid., p. 11. 18 Ibid., p. 13.

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some Mormons were curious — others even attracted — by ideas and experiences similar to those claimed by Spiritualists. Not only is Mormonism premised on a belief in supernatural experiences, but, in addition, Mormon folklore is replete with stories of supernatural events experienced by the lay membership, including stories about the T h r e e Nephites, visions of deceased family members, and persons returning from the dead. 10 Furthermore, by the 1920s Salt Lake City had a sizeable non-Mormon population. Some of these were undoubtedly caught u p in the resurgence of spiritualism — because of the consolation and hope it gave them — following the devastation and death of the First World War. In fact, Doyle believed that the war had been fought to produce precisely this result. 20 This curiosity about and interest in the supernatural and life beyond death by Mormons and non-Mormons alike must have been a strong drawing card for Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, who came to recount his research into spiritual phenomena. Shortly after noon on May 11, 1923, Doyle arrived at the Denver & Rio Grande Western Railroad station where he was greeted by Dr. D. Moore Lindsay, a Salt Laker who had been a classmate of Doyle at the University of Edinburgh some forty years previously. Doyle was rather portly (about 235 pounds) but tall (6 feet 4 inches), had broad shoulders and chest, and sported a full head of gray hair and a bushy mustache. He also had a booming voice with a heavy Scot's burr. Although Doyle had been knighted some twenty years earlier for his service to the Crown and defense of British policy, he was, at the time of his visit to Utah, shunned by the British nobility and denied a peerage because of his tours on behalf of spiritualism. In addition, he was often the object of ridicule in the British press. It is, therefore, not surprising that Doyle traveled outside his country so much during the early 1920s. Although it was Doyle's first trip to the western United States, he had long been interested in the area (the plots of two of his Sherlock Holmes stories were centered in the West — one in Utah and the other in Nevada). He described the visit as "a new experience and wonderful" and noted that the Salt Lake "valley is very lovely and so well cultivated and neatly done. It is quite inspiring." 21 1; 'Cf. Bitton, "Mormonism's Encounter," p. 50; Austin E. Fife and Alta Fife, Saints of Sage and Saddle: Folklore among the Mormons (Bloomington: University of Indiana Press, 1956). 20 SaltLake Telegram, May 11, 1923. 21 Deseret News, May 11, 1923.

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T h e evening of his arrival, Doyle addressed an audience of five thousand on the subject of "Recent Psychic Evidence" in the Salt Lake Tabernacle, site of so many denunciations of spiritualism and the Godbeites in the nineteenth century. After prefacing his remarks by thanking the Mormon church for its "open mindedness" in allowing him to speak in the Tabernacle, he began his discourse, which was essentially the same one he had delivered in other U.S. cities, consisting of "tangible proofs" of communication with the dead, including his own psychic experiences and those of others recorded on "spirit photographs." 2 2 His own experiences included messages he had received from his departed brother, mother, and son through mediums he claimed had no means of knowing the facts revealed. Doyle also showed two types of "spirit photographs" on a large screen erected on the stage of the Tabernacle. T h e first type purported to be photographs of materialized spiritual forms taken at seances. Spiritualists believed that during the visitation of some spirits a gelatinous material called ectoplasm "oozed from the medium's mouth, ears, eyes and skin" and formed around the spirit to give it a visible, three dimensional shape. 23 T h e second type of "spirit photograph" exhibited by Doyle consisted of photos taken of persons or groups in daylight where no spiritual forms were visible but which, when developed, showed spirits that had mysteriously appeared on the negatives. One such photograph displayed by Doyle was of war dead in London and showed a cloud of spirit faces, thirty of which the speaker "affirmed . . . had been positively recognized by relatives and friends." 24 In addition to these "tangible proofs" of spiritualism, Doyle spent a portion of his two-hour lecture explaining the doctrines of spiritualism, some of which were similar to Mormon beliefs. In particular, he described the Spiritualist's concept of heaven as a "land of realized ideals" 25 where spirits go after death and continue in "artistic, literary or other enjoyable pursuits," including "missionary duties which consisted in descending to a lower plane to instruct others." 26 He assured his audience that this view was corroborated by 22 For accounts of Doyle's remarks in the Tabernacle see Salt Lake Telegram, May 12, 1923; Salt Lake Tribune, May 12, 1923; DeseretNews, May 12, 1923. 23 Doyle, History of Spiritualism, 2:109. 24 SaltLake Tribune, May 12, 1923. 25 Ibid. 26 SaltLake Telegram, May 12, 1923.

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messages received from the spirit world. Doyle also argued that "one finds really but little of pure evil in the world," that "as a rule humanity deserved compensation, not punishment," and that even though the "spirits that are evil will be retarded . . . they, too, will have opportunity to go on as they grow into love."27 As the Godbeites had fifty years before, Doyle believed that Joseph Smith was a medium who had misinterpreted his messages, but there is no evidence he communicated this belief to his Utah audience. 28 Such optimistic ideals were evidently well received by the audience. T h e Salt Lake Telegram reported that Doyle "held his audience fascinated, proving beyond question the intense interest in his subject." Furthermore, as Doyle finished "it seemed as though his audience was loath to leave . . . [after being] . . . so enthralled by this striking message Sir Arthur delivered." However, the Telegram also noted that "when he grew argumentative . . . his logic at times appeared to be far from invulnerable." 20 T h e Tribune thought that Doyle by "self-evident sincerity and earnestness . . . sought by logic, patent facts and plain deduction" to deliver a message full "of cheer and uplift, calculated to inspire and help," and that such message was received by a strictly "attentive audience." 30 Even the Mormon 27 28

Ibid.; Salt Lake Tribune, May 12, 1923. Arthur Conan Doyle, Our Second American Adventure (Boston: Little, Brown and Co., 1924),

91-102. 2it

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Telegram, May 12, 1923. Tribune, May 12, 1923.

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Deseret News, which did not devote as much space to Doyle's visit as the city's other two dailies, wrote that Doyle had delivered an "optimistic lecture" with "an unusual earnestness." 31 As noted previously, Doyle's spiritualist message was not his only drawing card. His status as a world-famous author of detective fiction was mentioned by all of the Salt Lake newspapers in articles announcing his speaking engagement. 32 Nevertheless, he was not particularly proud of his Sherlock Holmes stories (even though he continued to write them until 1927) and upon his arrival in Salt Lake described them as "rather childish things" that were "of perhaps some worth" if "serving to rest and give recreation to busy people." 33 Doyle would rather have been remembered as a serious novelist of such historical works as Micah Clark, The White Company, and Sir Nigel; but his earliest character, Sherlock Holmes, would be remembered long after any subsequent characters he created. Ironically, several early Sherlock Holmes stories, written in the style of historical novels, have since been criticized for factual inaccuracies. 34 T h e most notable of these works is^4 Study in Scarlet, which was published in 1887 and recounted the story of the Mormons in Utah from 1847 until the early 1860s. T h e historical details of the story were drawn mainly from accounts written by Fanny Stenhouse, Eliza Young, and other sensationalist authors whose works were available to Doyle in Great Britain. 35 In addition, Doyle drew heavily from the plot of a story written several years earlier by Robert Louis Steven31

Deseret News, May 12, 1923. All three Salt Lake daily's gave advance publicity of Doyle's visit. T h e Salt Lake Tribune published short articles on Doyle's visit on May 7,9, and 11,1923. In an article entitled "Doyle Awakens Much Interest" the Tribune suggested that there was "striking evidence of the general interest in the appearance of Sir Arthur Conan Doyle" and that this was due to the nature of his lecture — answering "the query that is uppermost in the heart and soul of every thinking person: 'What of life after death?' " — and because he was the creator of Sherlock Holmes. Salt Lake Tribune, May 11, 1923. T h e Deseret News announced Doyle's speaking engagement several days before his arrival (Deseret News, May 9, 1923) and upon his arrival in Salt Lake City (Deseret News, May 11, 1923). T h e most exhaustive introduction to Doyle's planned discourse appeared on page 1 of the Salt Lake Telegram the day of his arrival. T h e Telegram noted that Doyle, who had "conjured and solved so many baffling mysteries in his detective stories, says he is on the eve of solving the greatest mystery the world ever knew, that of what awaits mortals in the great beyond." Salt Lake Telegram, May 11, 1923. 32

Deseret News, May 11, 1923. Cf. Margaret Marshall, "Alkali Dust in Your Eyes," The American Scholar 37 (1968): 650; Charles Higham, The Adventures of Conan Doyle (New York: W W . Norton & Co. Inc., 1976), pp. 73-77; Michael Harrison, In the Footsteps of Sherlock Holmes (New York: David 8c Charles, Newton Abbott, 1958), 112-15; Jack Tracy, Conan Doyle and the Latter-day Saints (Bloomington: Gaslight Publications, 1979). 34

35 Fanny Stenhouse, Tell It All: A Story of a Life's Experiences in Mormonism (Hartford, 1874); Ann Eliza Webb Young, Wife No. 19 (Hartford, 1876). Tracy has reproduced the title page of Doyle's copy of the Stenhouse work. Although Tracy does not mention Young's book, it appears that Doyle's reference to a discourse of Heber C. Kimball in which he alluded to his wives as "heifers" may have come from that book (p. 292). Tracy also speculates about other possible literary sources — both hction and nonfiction — which Doyle may have used. Tracy, Conan Doyle, pp. 53-65.

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son called "The Dynamiter." 36 Doyle's view of Mormon history and culture was tainted by these sensationalist authors and other English sources 3 7 of the period — especially their c o n d e m n a t i o n s of polygamy, autocratic leadership, and the activities of avenging angels. 38 Even though more objective accounts (which criticized the same church practices in a less lurid manner) were probably also consulted by Doyle, he chose to sensationalize his story of the Mormons. 30 Several factors may explain his decision. First, Mormonism in the late 1880s was a popular subject of the yellow press in England and could attract readers and generate income — "shilling shockers" — for Doyle's more serious literary pursuits. 40 Second, Doyle was genuinely opposed throughout his life to what Victorian society deemed "aberrations in morality" and, according to one author, "must have been very much against the Mormons in their search for moral freedom." 41 Finally, Doyle was apparently convinced that the types of things he wrote about had actually occurred since there was a significant amount of sensationalist material steeped in criticism of Mormonism written by persons who claimed to have lived in or visited Utah. Whatever his reasons were, the story of A Study in Scarlet is no more memorable than other sensationalist fiction of the period except for the fact that Sherlock Holmes is the book's hero. It is about the murders of Enoch Drebber and Joseph Stangerson, the polygamous sons of two members of the Council of the Sacred Four, the mythic leading council of the Mormon church. Jefferson Hope, a Gentile, falls in love with a Mormon girl named Lucy Ferrier, who has been promised — against the wishes of both Lucy and her father — to either Drebber or Stangerson by Brigham Young. Hope, who labors in mining camps in Nevada and California, returns to Utah to visit the girl just one night before her father must "voluntarily" release her to marry one of the two Mormon elders. Recognizing her 36

Cf. ibid., pp. 53-57; Higham, The Adventures, p. 75; Pearsall, Conan Doyle, p. 30. Ibid., pp. 74-77; Tracy, Conan Doyle, pp. 53-66. These other sources include various articles on Mormonism published in English newspapers and periodicals. 38 These were predominant themes in Doyle's interpretation of Mormonism in part 2 of A Study in Scarlet. 39 More objective accounts available to Doyle included: Jules Remy and Julius Brenchley, A Journey to Great Salt Lake City, 2 vols. (London, 1861); Richard F. Burton, The City of the Saints (London, 1861); T. B. H. Stenhouse, The Rocky Mountain Saints (New York, 1873). 40 Higham, The Adventures, pp. 73-77. 41 Ibid., p. 74. Doyle refers to polygamy at least three times in his short account of his visit to Utah. Doyle, Our Second American Adventure, p. 87. 37

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desperate situation, Hope attempts to help Lucy and her father escape from Utah but fails because of the extraordinary talents of the avenging angels. Both Lucy and her father die in the escape attempt and Hope pledges vengeance upon their murderers, Drebber and Stangerson. Twenty years later he tracks them down in London and kills them; Holmes is called upon to solve the mystery. 42 This uncomplimentary characterization of Mormonism by Doyle appears to have been largely forgotten when he visited Salt Lake City, even though he had resurrected it himself in The Vital Message written in 1919. In that book Doyle suggested that the "murderous impulses" of the "early Mormons in Utah" had been "fortified" by reliance upon the "unholy source" of the Old Testament. 43 This reference may have been enough to prompt Joseph West's review of Doyle's spiritualist ideas in the Improvement Era, although no specific mention was made in the article about Doyle's reference to "early Mormons." No one seems to have focused on Doyle's account of early Mormonism when he came to Salt Lake except a non-Mormon doctor. In a letter written to Doyle at the Hotel Utah, G. Hodgson Higgins told the English author that his first impressions of Mormonism had been tainted by Doyle's work and that "the book gave one the impression that m u r d e r was a common practice among them." Higgins requested Doyle to "express his regret at having propagated falsehoods about the Mormon church and people." 44 Doyle reassured Higgins that in his future memoirs he would write of the Mormons as he found them on his visit. However, he indicated that "all I said about the Danite Band and the murders is historical so I cannot withdraw that tho it is likely that in a work of fiction it is stated more luridly than in a work of history. It's best to let the matter rest."45 T r u e to his word, Doyle, in his memoirs, wrote favorably of the Mormons and even mentioned the Higgins letter. He also indicated that A Study in Scarlet was "a rather sensational and over colored picture of the Danite Episodes which formed a passing stain in the early history of Utah." 46 However, he noted that he had refused a public apology because "the facts were true enough, 12

Arthur Conan Doyle, A Study in Scarlet (London, 1! Doyle, The Vital Message, p. 18. 14 Higgins to Doyle, May 10, 1923, LDS Church Library Archives, Salt Lake City. 15 Doyle to Higgins, May 10, 1923, LDS Church Library Archives. '"Doyle, Our Second American Adventure, p. 87. 13

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though there were many reasons which might extenuate them." 47 It is somewhat ironic that although Doyle's initial contact with Mormons resulted in a favorable impression, he remained convinced that his description of nineteenth-century Mormonism, patterned after sensationalist and lurid accounts, was accurate and historical. Perhaps his desire to be regarded as an author of historical novels required him to hold this view. Yet Doyle's attitude toward the Mormon pioneer was somewhat tempered during his visit. Unlike his practice in many cities on his tour where Doyle spent his spare time participating in seances, while in Salt Lake he chose to visit the Pioneer Museum. T h e r e he saw a group photograph of early pioneers that aroused his "intense interest." Shortly before his departure on May 12, Doyle spoke at an Alta Club luncheon â&#x20AC;&#x201D; attended by some of Salt Lake City's most influential citizens, including J o h n A. Widtsoe, Mayor Clarence Neslen, and Rabbi Adolph Steiner â&#x20AC;&#x201D; and took the opportunity to pay "eloquent tribute to the qualities of the Utah pioneers." He compared them to the settlers of South Africa he had met during the Boer War: "rugged, hard-faced men, the brave and earnest women who look as if they had known much suffering and hardship." 48 He thus left Utah, praising not only its present inhabitants for their "breadth of view" but also their forebears for their "pioneer pluck." Despite Doyle's prior writings against Mormonism and Mormonism's hostile attitude toward spiritualism and Doyle's advocacy of it, an apparently cordial interaction had taken place. In the final analysis, Doyle's reputation as a novelist and Spiritualist was perhaps the most significant reason he was successful in establishing such rapport with his Utah audience. But Doyle was also able to make good on his reputation because he was a charismatic and gifted communicator. In addition, the LDS church was anxious, during the postwar period, to improve its public image and put its controversial practices of the past behind it. Significantly, the church chose not to publicly challenge Doyle's past statements regarding nineteenthcentury Mormonism and must have been pleased by Doyle's praise of the church as "he now found it" and his statement that "the world will be none the worse in consequence" of the spread of Mormonism. 40 47

Ibid. Salt Lake Tribune, May 13, 1923. Doyle had earlier compared the Boers to the Mormons in his War in South Africa (London, 1902), p. 13. 49 Doyle, Our Second American Adventure, p. 104. 48

Creating a New Alphabet for Zion: The Origin of the Deseret Alphabet BY DOUGLAS D. ALDER, PAULA J. GOODFELLOW, AND RONALD G. W A T T

George D. Watt. From a biography by Ida Watt Stringham and Dora Flack.

1850s T H E MORMON SETTLERS IN U T A H were battling for their very lives. Their first decade of building an empire in the Great Basin had just begun and was still experimental. Yet, amid this struggle for survival, Mormon leaders decided to undertake a basic reform of the English language. They chose to divert time and precious hard currency to create a new alphabet, hardly an action that would yield crops or converts. Nevertheless, they made it the first agenda item of their fledgling University of Deseret, founded in 1850. What motivated their utopianism? What tradition did they I N THE

Dr. Alder is professor of history and geography at Utah State University; Ms. Goodfellow is a graduate student in linguistics at the University of Michigan; Dr. Watt is an archivist in the Historical Department, Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.

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join in the long line of linguistic dreamers? Where did they turn for their ideas? Did they invent this so-called Deseret Alphabet or did they link into a larger effort to perfect the English language? These questions surround the peculiar story of Utah's Deseret Alphabet. Everyone who uses the English language has some trouble with spelling; many people have trouble with it all the time. They may complain about the inconsistencies of English orthography as they reach for the dictionary, but not many people do anything about it. However, a few have tried to do something, and for some reform became an obsession. When someone gets the urge to reform English spelling, either he tries to work within the existing alphabet and get rid of those spellings that particularly irk him, or he tries to invent a whole new alphabet in which each letter represents only one sound and no sound may be represented in more than one way. T h e first method is usually called simplified spelling; the second produces a phonetic alphabet. Simplified spelling reformers include Benjamin Franklin, Noah Webster, Melville Dewey, Mark Twain, and T h e o d o r e Roosevelt. Phonetic reformers include George Bernard Shaw, Isaac Pitman, Brigham Young, and again Benjamin Franklin and Mark Twain. T h e earliest American spelling reformer, Benjamin Franklin, designed a new alphabet in which each letter corresponded to one sound and each sound was represented by only one letter. He enlisted the aid of his friend Noah Webster, and it was through Webster that spelling reform achieved its greatest success.1 When Franklin first tried to involve Webster in spelling reform, Webster was not interested. But by 1789 he was in favor of it and promoted the subject in his book Dissertations on the English Language. He introduced a system of simplified spelling and was responsible for many of the differences in English and American spellings today. Many of Webster's spellings have been accepted into American usage, such as dropping the final k from words like music, physic, and logic. His dictionary of 1806 was the first American dictionary of note. Melville Dewey, the inventor of the Dewey Decimal System, also devised a form of simplified spelling. His reform does not seem to have made much of an impact. 1 Benjamin Franklin, The Papers of Benjamin Franklin, ed. William B. Wilcox (New Haven and London: Yale University Press, 1972), 15: 173.

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T h e Simplified Spelling B o a r d , instituted by T h e o d o r e Roosevelt in 1906, attempted to legislate spelling reform. With support from Andrew Carnegie, 2 Roosevelt enlisted some of the nation's leading minds: Nicholas Murray Butler, William James, Mark Twain, Thomas R. Lounsbury, Isaac Funk, and Richard Watson Gilder. In 1906 Roosevelt instructed the government printing office to publish all government documents with the new spellings the commission had developed, 3 but the new spellings were ridiculed in the public press and by Congress. 4 George Bernard Shaw, the British playwright, was greatly concerned with both written and spoken language. T h e pronunciation peculiarities of Englishmen and Americans greatly offended him. He saw himself as a great Henry Higgins out to reform a world of Eliza Doolittles. He wanted to find a system of orthography that would represent the actual sounds of the language and establish a standard of English pronunciation. Shaw also thought that a new alphabet could save time and space in printing. He and his friend Isaac Pitman worked together on the reform. Pitman, a schoolteacher in Bath, had developed a shorthand system he called phonography; it formed the basis for modern shorthand. T h o u g h he had to struggle to get it established, Pitman shorthand eventually became a national movement with its own schools, journal, and disciples. Shaw believed that Pitman's alphabet proved several things: that a forty-letter alphabet could represent English sounds, that a new alphabet could be accepted because the Pitman system had spread around the world, and that anyone who wanted to learn a new alphabet could do so.5 One of the many people who learned Pitman shorthand in England was George D. Watt who was born in Manchester in 1812. In 1837 he came into contact with Mormon missionaries and was baptized u n d e r the hand of Heber C. Kimball. Five years later he sailed for America to join the Mormons at Nauvoo. T h e r e he taught classes in phonography, made shorthand notes of official proceedings, and became president of the Phonographic Club of Nauvoo. Brigham Young studied phonography u n d e r Watt and began to 2

Clyde H. Dornbush, "American Spelling Simplified by Presidential Edict," American Speech, 36:

236-38. 3

Ibid. Albert C. Baugh, A History of the English Languages (New York, 1957), p. 389. 5 Abraham Tauber, ed., George Bernard Shaw on Language (New York: Philosophical Library, Inc., 1963), 183. 4

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think of developing a new alphabet, but the death of Joseph Smith and the exodus from Nauvoo ended his thoughts of language reform. Watt left Nauvoo in 1846 to fulfill a mission in Great Britain. Although family tradition says he went to better his knowledge of shorthand, he spent most of his time in regular missionary labors. 6 He did, however, use his shorthand at two church conferences and at a debate between a Protestant preacher and a Mormon elder. 7 Soon after the Mormons settled in the Great Salt Lake Valley, Brigham Young revived his ideas about language reform. On March 13, 1850, he presided over the organizational Board of Regents meeting of the University of Deseret and at the next meeting told the board that the language should be shortened. He left it to them to come up a means of accomplishing reform. On March 20 W. W. Phelps, who appears to have been given the assignment to present an alphabet, explained his method of shortening the language. It was evidently not related to Pitman shorthand. Young was pleased with the attempt but asked why the old (Latin) alphabet would not be acceptable, leaving out some letters that were not sounded. He also raised the question of using phonography. T h e type of alphabet Phelps submitted is not known, but he had apparently reduced the alphabet more than Young wanted. At their next meeting the board agreed to study the problem more closely before taking further action. They wanted a language that was simple and plain. For this reason they admired the beauty of Indian speech. T h e board's feeling of inadequacy in the area of language reform probably prompted Young to send for Watt who was still on his mission. He was released late in 1850 and returned to America, arriving in Utah late in the summer of 1851. Meanwhile, the board was very busy establishing a school system in Utah. In November 1850 some board members spoke of errors in the present orthography and desired a change so pupils might be advanced more rapidly. During April Conference in 1852 Chancellor Orson Spencer related what the board had been doing about education. Young also

"George D. Watt to Willard Richards, February 5, 1848, Willard Richards Collection, LDS Church Library Archives, Salt Lake City. 1 Report of Three Nights Public Discussion in Bolton, between William Gibson, H.P., Presiding Elder of the Manchester Conference and the Rev. Woodville Woodman, Minister of the New Jerusalem Church. Reported by G. D. Watt. (Liverpool: Franklin D. Richards, 1849).

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spoke about education, focusing a portion of his sermon on reform of the English language. He believed one letter should not have many pronunciations. Furthermore, If there were one set of words to convey one set of ideas, it would put an end to the ambiguity which often mystifies the ideas given in the languages now spoken. T h e n when a great man delivered a lecture upon any subject, we could understand his words. . . . If I can speak so that you can get my meaning, I care not so much what words I use to convey that meaning. 8

He also told the congregation that he had given the Board of Regents the charge of reforming English orthography. Nothing was done, however, until a regents meeting a year later on April 12, 1853. Present were Brigham Young, Willard Richards, Orson Hyde who was the chancellor-elect, Albert Carrington, W. W. Phelps, J o h n Taylor, George A. Smith, Ezra T. Benson, Wilford Woodruff, Franklin D Richards, Lorenzo Snow, Erastus Snow, Jedediah M. Grant, J o h n Vance, and George D. Watt. Vance and Watt were not members of the board but were present because of the topic under discussion. Vance remains a mystery figure in the introduction of orthographic reform in Utah. He was very prominent in the beginning, but little is known about him. He was born November 8, 1794, in Tennessee, spent some of his early life in Illinois where he was introduced to the Mormon church, and arrived in Utah with the Jedediah M. Grant company on October 2, 1847. He was a bishop at Winter Quarters, a counselor to Bishop William G. Perkins of the Seventh Ward, a member of the high council, a school commissioner, and a justice of the peace. At the meeting on April 12 "Brother J o h n Vance presented a new system of writing the consonants and vowels of his own discovery of the characters to those sounds commonly used in phonography." T h e board discussed sounds by combination. Later, in a letter to Brigham Young, Watt discussed Vance's amalgamation principle, which seemed to bring two sounds u n d e r one symbol. 0 T h e board concluded that the new system took half the amount of writing as present-day English and double the amount of space as phonography. T h e board seems to have had a problem deciding between reducing the number of characters to be similar to a shorthand or having one symbol for each sound. T h e reason for this %

Journal oj Discourses, 26 vols. (London, 1854-86), 1: 71. "Watt to Young, August 21, 1854, Brigham Young Collection, LDS Church Library Archives.

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was probably Brigham Young's own ambiguity on the subject. Vance's writing seems to have been a compromise. T h e subject of reform of the language came up at the next board meeting on September 20, 1853, when Brigham Young said that phonography and a system of hieroglyphics would provide a good method of instruction for children. A month later, on October 27, the board, on a motion from Daniel H. Wells, appointed Parley P. Pratt, Heber C. Kimball, and George D. Watt as a committee to bring the board a new alphabet. T e n days later Pratt, speaking for the committee, presented an alphabet to the board and called it Pitman's Phonographic Alphabet in Small Letters. T h e new alphabet of forty characters, each with a distinct sound, was actually Pitman's phonetic alphabet called phonotype. T h e committee had even prepared a visual display of the alphabet. T h e n at the next meeting, the board discussed alphabets for Indian languages but did not consider the new alphabet for that purpose. Watt was elected secretary of the board and for the next few meetings kept the minutes in phonotype. T h e assignment at the next meeting was for each board member to present his own alphabet. Wells suggested phonography and "in a neat speech gave his reasons for so doing." Ezra T. Benson "presented the old alphabet." Pratt favored phonotype; Wilford Woodruff also favored phonotype with three small changes. William Appleby and W. W. Phelps apologized for not bringing in a new alphabet. Phelps said it was too difficult, and yet in 1850 he had presented a "Mormon" alphabet to the board. A few days later, with Brigham Young and J o h n Vance in attendance, Vance again presented his alphabet to the board. Young told him that combining more than one sound in one character would not solve the problem. Each sound should have one simple sign. He also emphasized "that the object of the board was not to shorten or lengthen the written language but to give to every sound its accompanying sign in the formation of words." T h e regents, led by Young, t h e n went t h r o u g h each s o u n d that was p a r t of phonotype and phonography and approved them individually. They also named each sound. T h e process was continued at the next meeting. Phonotype had forty characters, but the board approved only thirty-eight. When the regents met again Willard Richards said that Pitman's phonotype was not the right alphabet. He wanted a completely new

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281

GjsatJi Prtsi 8^0.

x aj&a + Ji j i p s a j i . Letter. Name.

Long Sounds. Sound.

"1...-P

9 . . . .e. ..as in. ...eat. 8....a " ate. 8 ah " art. 6 . ...aw " aught. 0....0 " oat. (D... .oo " ooze.

a....b

Letter. Name.

Short Sounds of lhe above.

t J 4 J

as in " " "

it. et. at. ot.

ÂŤt. book.

Double Sounds.

di... .i as in. ..ice. 8 . . . .ow " owl. Y....ye Id woo f ....h

Sound.

i....t G....d C che as in cheese. 9....g 0....k 0 ga...as in...^ate. P . . . ,f 6....V L eth..as in.thigh. X . . . . the " thy #....s 6 ....z D esh..as in..flesA. 8 .. . .zhe " vision. t ur " bum. 1 1 D m H n M eng.as in.lew^th.

Deseret Alphabet from T h e Deseret First Book, 1868.

one, for the old symbols jumbled with the new ones would only confuse the learner more. Orson Spencer, W. W. Phelps, and Jedediah Grant agreed. Watt mentioned that the committee had been instructed to retain as many of the old letters of the alphabet as possible, and Woodruff told the board that if they found fault with the committee's alphabet they should present a better one. Near the end of the meeting Young walked in. He had not been there long enough to understand what had taken place, but he said he did not see any difficulty in establishing the new alphabet. T h e inscription on the reverse side of the display sheet made by the committee says, in phonotype, "rejected." 10 Phonotype transcripts of Board of Regents minutes, LDS Church Library Archives.

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T h e detailed Board of Regent's minutes end with that meeting. However, a short summary of later minutes provides some insight into what happened afterward. Between November 22 and December 22 the board worked on the new alphabet and asked the committee to devise a phonotype alphabet completely different from the English alphabet. Parley P. Pratt, a member of the committee, probably did not attend, because on November 22 a note from him asked that he be allowed to withdraw from the board temporarily because of other commitments. Heber C. Kimball never attended board meetings; thus it was left to George D. Watt to construct the new alphabet. T h e summary minutes simply state, "From November 18 to December 22, the board labored and investigated the matter of a new alphabet diligently, then they adopted unanimously the alphabet presented by their committee. T h e same is now denominated the Deseret Alphabet." 11 Where the characters for the Deseret Alphabet came from is not known. Several commentators have tried their hands at identifying the source of the peculiar characters. Hubert Howe Bancroft compared the letters of the Deseret Alphabet to some of the characters that the Book of Mormon plates were in,12 and some similarities can be seen, mostly in characters that are also similar to Greek letters. T h e Book of Mormon characters do not seem to have been an important source for the Deseret Alphabet. Brigham Young's secretary, T. W. Ellerbeck, wrote that Watt created the alphabet by designing some of the characters himself and taking others from the ancient alphabets shown in Webster's unabridged dictionary. 13 Hosea Stout also credited WTatt with working out the characters. 14 Jules Remy, a French visitor to Salt Lake City, reported that the alphabet originated with W. W. Phelps, 15 and Floris Springer Olsen said that some of the characters in the Deseret Alphabet could be traced to Pitman characters. 16 T h e evidence indicates that Watt did most of the work on the alphabet. It is still unclear, however, where the characters themselves came from. 1

' Summary of Board of Regents minutes, LDS Church Library Archives. Hubert H. Bancroft, History of Utah (San Francisco, 1890), pp. 712-13. 13 Samuel C. Monson, "The Deseret Alphabet," Utah Academy of Sciences, Arts and Letters Proceedings, 30: 23-29. 14 Hosea, Stout, Journal of Hosea Stout, ed. Juanita Brooks (Salt Lake City: University of Utah Press, 1964), 2: 509. 15 Jules Remy and Julius Brenchley, A Journey to the Great Salt Lake (London, 1861), 2: 185. '"Floris Springer Olsen, "Early Nineteenth Century S h o r t h a n d Systems and Possible Similarities between Any of T h e m and the Deseret Alphabet" (Masters thesis, Utah State Agricultural College, 1952), p. 49. 12

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It seems evident that the sounds (not the letters) of the Deseret Alphabet were borrowed entirely from Pitman shorthand. Observers have long cited Pitman as a source, 17 but now the tie is complete. In 1980, A. Hamer Reiser, longtime Pitman writer in the Church Office Building and the last of a long line of secretaries beginning with George Watt and continuing through David W. Evans who recorded general conference sessions in Pitman shorthand, examined the sounds of the Deseret Alphabet and confirmed that they were Pitman. He compared them to his own Pitman primer and explained how close the similarity was. With that insight the authors searched for an early Pitman primer, one that could have been used by Watt in Nauvoo and in the University of Deseret regents' meetings. At the Library of Congress the 1847 edition of Pitman was found; it corresponds completely to the Deseret Alphabet and seems to establish that the thirty-eight sounds and the structure of the Deseret Alphabet were borrowed entirely from Pitman. If the sounds of the Deseret Alphabet are now known to have been borrowed from Pitman, the design of the letters remains a mystery. T h e r e are several hints but no neat package of information to explain the origin of the letters. As mentioned above, some have thought that they were borrowed from an unabridged Webster's dictionary. William Nash postulated that the 1848 edition of the unabridged dictionary was used by Watt. On page lxxxiii Nash found a full-page chart of the Ethiopic Alphabet but after careful examination concluded that only eight of the Ethiopic characters were similar to Deseret Alphabet characters and that "the similarities . . . are probably accidental." 18 Recently, following a hint that Willard Richards had a book entitled Diacritical Remains and Antiquities of Ancient Britain, David Abercrombie of Edinburgh suggested that William Camden's book Remains Concerning Britain might have been the volume owned by Richards. Paula Goodfellow's examination of the 1605, 1623, and 1657 editions of Remains Concerning Britain produced no characters that could have served as models for the Deseret Alphabet. 10 17 S. George Ellsworth, "The Deseret Alphabet," American West 10 (November 1973): 10. A dissertation to be completed in 1985 by Douglas A. New, "History of the Deseret Alphabet and other Attempts to Reform Fnglish Orthography," will be useful to future scholars. 18 William J. Nash, "The Deseret Alphabet," May 1957/MS, p. 23, University of Illinois Library, Urbana. Stephen W. Stathis of the Library of Congress located both the 1848 and the 1841 dictionaries of Noah Webster. T h e former was published in Springfield, Mass., and the latter in New Haven. Both include the Ethiopic Alphabet and alphabets with Hebrew, Samaritan, Arabic, and Syrian symbols. '"Abercrombie to Goodfellow, December 22, 1982.

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Another suggestion is that the characters were adapted from the Pitman symbols. Both the Pitman and the Deseret Alphabet short sounds have a straight line as part of the symbol. T h e Pitman characters are differentiated by a dot or a dash in a certain position along the line. T h e Deseret characters have curls, lines through, or lines slanting off of the perpendicular line. As mentioned earlier, Brigham Young suggested that a new alphabet could be adapted from the existing (Latin) alphabet. Following this clue one can find several convincing adaptations. T h e e, for example, is turned upside down in Deseret. T h e 00 is an 0 with a line drawn down the middle to suggest two parts. T h e b is merely a reverse capital B. T h e che symbol is simply a capital C. T h e zhe sound in vision is represented by an 5. T h e 0 is an O, theg a stylized g, and the w a W. A backwards c a p i t a l s stands for the sound eng. T h e / is an / with a lefthand tail on it very much like a cursive /. T h e t is an upside down t without the crossbar. T h e n is a stylized n. T h e letter representing the sound ye could be considered an adaptation of)'. Obviously, other Deseret Alphabet letters are not related to the Latin. Alternative sources for some of them are not hard to find, the most fruitful being the Phoenician Alphabet 20 where the n symbol is most distinct. T h e Phoenician m appears in the Deseret upside down for the short vowel in the word hot. T h e Phoenician b could be turned upside down and become the Deseret short vowel mat. T h e Phoenician / resembles the Deseret t. T h e Phoenician n is very close to Deseret eng. T h e Deseret double 0 could have been adapted from the Phoenician q. Of the many alphabets examined, the Phoenician seems to be the most similar to the Deseret. Nonetheless, many letters cannot be found in the Phoenician or by adapting Latin letters. Many other possibilities exist. T h e r e are a few matches with Hebrew and Greek, and even runes offer some comparisons. T h e scholar is left with an incomplete detective job. It seems likely that the committee referred to several existing alphabets to design the new Deseret Alphabet characters. Researchers may one day find additional sources from which characters were borrowed. On the other hand, Watt or Richards or Phelps or even Brigham Young may have designed some characters fresh.

20 Hans Jensen, Sign, Symbol and Script, tran. George Unwin (New York: G.P. Putnam's Sons, 1969), pp. 291, 452. See also Ernst Doblhofer, Voices in Stone (Souvenir Press, 1961), p. 35; Alfred C. Moorhouse, The Triumph of the Alphabet (New York: Henry Schuman,), fig. 30; and Ignace J. Gelb, A Study of Writing (Chicago: Univ. of Chicago Press,), p. 137.

Origins of the Deseret Alphabet

285

Why Mormon leaders undertook such an exotic experiment as the Deseret Alphabet is hard to understand. Certainly in 1853 they had more urgent business. Yet they allocated thousands of dollars of hard currency to have the new alphabet cast in type in New York. Cash was especially dear to the Saints who were trying to bring immigrants to Utah and to procure necessities for building an empire in the Rocky Mountains. They could ill afford to waste cash. Spelling reform seems a strange concern for a group of people trying to build the kingdom of God. However, the Mormons believed that someday there would be a great reform in language and a perfect language would be restored to earth. A resolution of the Deseret Typographical Association affirmed that the Deseret Alphabet was just a step in this great reform, 21 a belief that provides a glimpse into the Utopian mind set of the Mormons. They were convinced that they were building a new society uniting religious principles with political and economic activities. In many way's the Deseret Alphabet was just one more aspect of the perfect society the Mormons were hoping to build in anticipation of Christ's return. On a more practical level, Brigham Young felt that children should not be forced to spend long hours sitting quietly in school "on a hard bench until they ache all over." They should be able to move around and do things that interest them. T h e Deseret Alphabet would make it easier for children to learn to read, and they would not have to spend as much time in school. He also told the Board of Regents that the alphabet could aid foreigners in learning English. 22 A later theory states that the alphabet could have been designed to keep the children of Deseret protected from outside influences. 23 This argument does not seem to fit evidence from the period of the designers' deliberations. T h e Deseret Alphabet has to be considered an expensive failure. Several primers were printed, classes were held, and attempts were made to convert the Saints to using the alphabet. But even during the lifetime of Brigham Young the project failed to gain solid support, and following his death the alphabet silently died. T h e cumbersome alphabet characters failed to capture the imagination of the church m e m b e r s h i p . T h e alternative of using Pitman 21 Journal History of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, August 2, 1855, microfilm in Special Collections at Utah State University, Logan. 22 Ibid., January 31, 1859. 23 A. J. Simmonds, "Utah's Strange Alphabet," True Frontier, November 1968, p. 28.

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Title page from The Deseret First Book, 1868.

shorthand characters would not have gained a following either. So the Deseret Alphabet remains a historical curiosity, a testament to visionary men who succeeded in building an inland empire but could not replace the existing culture that surrounded them despite its linguistic imperfections.

Book Reviews The Mormon Graphic Image, 1834-1914: Cartoons, Caricatures, and Illustrations. By GARY L. BUNKER and DAVIS BITTON. (Salt Lake City: University of Utah Press, 1983. x + 154 pp. $25.00.) It is doubtful that anything exceeds humor .as a villifying device. From near the time of its founding in the 1830s until past the turn of the century, Mormonism was the frequent object of graphic caricature. Bunker and Bitton have provided students of Mormonism with an excellent survey of the religion as t r e a t e d by cartoonists a n d i l l u s t r a t o r s in t h e nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. T h e first half of the book is organized chronologically. Between 1830 and 1850, illustrations in books â&#x20AC;&#x201D; invariably negative â&#x20AC;&#x201D; focused predominantly on Joseph Smith, spiritual wifery, a sinister l e a d e r s h i p , a n d s u p e r s t i t i o u s followers. H e r e , as elsewhere, Bunker and Bitton provide t h e r e a d e r with i n t e r e s t i n g findings arising from their research. An intriguing example is their failure to locate a n y w h e r e an illustration dealing with Joseph Smith as a presidential candidate in 1844. With the profusion of illustrated periodicals after midcentury, Mormonism was a popular subject for lampooning in publications such as The Lantern, Frank Leslie's Illustrated Weekly Newspaper, Harper's Weekly, and Vanity Fair. If Mormons were represented no more harshly than other minorities, the authors make it clear that, nevertheless, a distorted stereotype was developed that came to be a c c e p t e d by t h e vast majority of

Americans as the way Mormons really were. T h e exploitation of women, sexually and otherwise, was a common theme in these portrayals. From 1869 to 1890 Mormon life was subjected to increasing scrutiny in books, magazines, and newspapers. Brigham Young was an especially favored subject with illustrators, but allegations of treason and the supposedly unattractive appearance of Mormon females were also common. From 1852 until the time of the Manifesto in 1890, polygamy was far and away the most p o p u l a r aspect of M o r m o n i s m with illustrators and writers alike. Between 1890 and 1914 magazines were replaced by newspapers as the primary medium in which illustrations treating Mormons a p p e a r e d . Most important, the character of these representations reflected a growing accommodation between the Morm o n s a n d A m e r i c a n society. Although both the B. H. Roberts case and the Reed Smoot hearings generated considerable attention, and insidious representations continued to appear even after Senator Smoot was seated, by the time of World War I the Mormon stereotype with its sexual, alien, and untrustworthy overtones was largely a thing of the past. T h e latter half of the book addresses five different themes that the authors found to be prominent and instructive in the graphics they studied:

288 "Troublesome Bedfellows: Mormons and other Minorities"; "Henry Ward Beecher and the Mormons"; "Political Caricature and Mormonism"; "Double Jeopardy: Visual Images of Morm o n W o m e n " ; and, "Mischievous Puck and the Mormons." These are excellent essays that could be published as separate studies, each with a scholarly integrity of its own. My favorite was "Henry Ward Beecher and the Mormons." It was perhaps inevitable that the Beecher-Tilton scandal would be l i n k e d with M o r m o n polygamy by illustrators. Both carried enormous potential for titillation. But the authors show that however much cartoonists wished to yoke the two as partners in sin, neither condoned the behavior of the other. Yet, both found qualities (non-sexual) in each other to p r a i s e . C e r t a i n M o r m o n s even suggested that some of Beecher's opinions may have been divinely inspired. With all that is so well done in this book, including the outstanding reproductions of prints and cartoons,

Utah Historical Quarterly complete footnotes at the bottoms of the pages, and large attractive format, some shortcomings exist. This reviewer counted over a dozen typographical errors. J o h n H. Miles is mistakenly given as Owen Miles (pp. 49, 110). And the index is inadequate. None of this, however, detracts from the authors' objectives: to illuminate the Mormon graphic image during those years when the church was viewed as outside the American mainstream; to explore the stereotyping process as illustrated by visual representations of the Saints; and to d e m o n s t r a t e how tragically consequential such projections can be when t h e g r o u p c o n c e r n e d , as with nineteenth-century Mormons, has no effective means to counter the invidious portrayals made of it. This book will long c o n s t i t u t e a t r e a s u r e d documentary collection as well as a valuable commentary on the Mormon past. B. CARMON HARDY

California State University Fullerton

The Day We Bombed Utah. By JOHN G. FULLER. (New York and Scarborough, Ontario: New American Library, 1984. 268 pp. $16.50.) T h e 1950s seemed idyllic to many of us naive residents of St. George, with a Republican finally in the White House, Joseph McCarthy rooting out Communists, the polygamists ("Cultists") at Short Creek being periodically rounded up, and school children buying savings bonds and learning to play a cheap, squeaky, high-pitched plastic instrument called the flutophone. Every spring 4-H Clubs were organized, with silly names suggesting the lighthearted attitude toward a simple life: "Six Small S e w e r s , " "Stitchin' Stinkers," "Happy Homem a k e r s , " "Pancake Pussies," "Klu Klux Cooking Klan," " F o u r Food Burners," and the "Up and Atoms."

Why the "Up and Atoms"? Because in 1951 the Atomic Energy Commission began testing atomic weapons in Nevada, and townspeople were intrigued by the constant rumblings in the earth, the dirty clouds, and the visits of the sociable AEC folks who said fallout was as harmless as x-rays. But, it t u r n s out, t h o u s a n d s of sheep were killed and thousands of people dangerously exposed, and the far-reaching effects are still unknown. John G. Fuller's The Day We Bombed Utah is a study of the actions of the United States g o v e r n m e n t d u r i n g those years in our state. Fuller begins with the story of the now famous radiated sheep, carefully tracing the episode from the first tests

Book Reviews and Notices to the still-active lawsuit and skillfully presenting evidence showing these sheep died as a result of the testing and that a purposeful cover-up ensued. Unfortunately, he is less adept in detailing the human casualties. Most of the evidence is anecdotal, particularly the story of The Conqueror, a movie filmed in Snow Canyon. Fuller charges that almost half of the cast and crew died of cancer, but he does n o t d o c u m e n t this a l l e g a t i o n or adequately document other allegations that h u m a n suffering was directly related to the radiation. T h e r e were people in s o u t h e r n Utah who were always frightened of the testing and did not join their neighbors as "guests" of the AEC to view the tests. Ralph J. Hafen, a law student at the University of Utah, wrote a letter to the local paper explaining "your health, your children's health, and the health of generations unborn are at stake." T h e AEC m u s t have felt very threatened by Hafen's letter, for they promptly stepped up their efforts to make local leaders accomplices. They were certainly successful. Utah's congressmen, St. George officials, and the mayors of Washington, Hurricane, and Santa Clara all in one way or another suggested the testing was safe. They were joined by a Chamber of Commerce that, as late as 1960, pro-

289 tested in the name of "southern Utah businessmen" air force plans to close H u r r i c a n e Mesa and transfer that AEC testing to New Mexico. State health officials cooperated, and the local newspaper devoted more space to a proposal to flouridate the water than to publishing fears about radiation. This "St. George boosterism" is still with us. T h e St. George Magazine, published in spring 1984, carries a detailed story about the filming of The Conqueror and never mentions suspicions that some of the cast and crew were fatally exposed. I do not suggest that we must blame the victims: my own father, in the area during the testing and on the set of The Conqueror repeatedly, died at the age of forty-nine from a heart attack brought on by a mysterious blood disease. But Fuller would have done a better service if he h a d carefully e x p l o r e d t h e issues s u r r o u n d i n g c o o p e r a t i o n of local l e a d e r s a n d documented his charges of h u m a n suffering. These tests exposed many of us to unknown dangers. It is certain that i n a d e q u a t e p r e c a u t i o n s were taken. Fuller does not provide enough information about how and why this was allowed to happen to serve as a warning for the future.

KERRY WILLIAM BATE

Salt Lake City

The River of the West: The Adventures of Joe Meek. By FRANCES FULLER VICTOR. Vol. I: The Mountain Years. Edited by WINFRED BLEVINS. (Missoula, Mont.: Mountain Press Publishing Co., 1983. 282 pp. Cloth, $24.95; paper, $9.95.) T h e Mountain Press Publishing Company of Missoula, Montana, has begun publication of a new series entitled Classics of the Fur T r a d e with the biography of Joe Meek, The River of the West by Frances Fuller Victor, selected as the first book in the series. Published in 1870, Victor's first book

is regarded by most western historians as a classic. Even with the mistakes in the text due to the questionable narrative of Joe Meek or the author's own faulty interpretation, the book remains one of the best authoritative sources available to the student of the fur trade.

290 In 1970 the Brooks-Sterling Company of Oakland, California, produced a facsimile edition for the collectors of Western Americana. However, there still remained the need for an edited edition. Subsequently, when Mountain Press decided to publish their new series, Winfred Blevins, the general editor, accepted the responsibility of editing the new text. T h e book will be printed in two volumes. T h e first, u n d e r review, contains the life and adventures of Joe Meek up to 1840. Blevins's new edition has very little to offer, the major problem being that many of the mistakes made by Victor in the original text have gone uncorrected. In the prefatory chapter several errors regarding Ashley's activities in the mountains are overlooked, such as the assumption that Ashley explored the Sweetwater River and its source on his first trip to the mountains and that Ashley's actual earnings taken from the rendezvous of 1825 and 1826 represent about one-third of the amount suggested by Victor. Additionally, the observations that Ashley built a fort near Ashley Lake (Utah Lake) and visited the Great Salt Lake are unfounded. In chapter two Victor states that an agreement had been made in 1827 between Jed Smith and William Sublette to meet on the Snake River in the summer of 1829 and that Sublette met Davey Jackson at Lewis Lake (Jackson Lake) p r i o r to finding Smith in Pierre's Hole. T h e editor fails to inform the r e a d e r that Jackson had been traveling with Smith prior to the rendezvous of 1829. T h e two partners h a d m e t q u i t e accidently n e a r Flathead Lake in March. Sublette was searching for Jackson when he encountered both of his p a r t n e r s in Pierre's Hole. T h r o u g h o u t the text Victor implies that there was a merger between the American Fur Company and the

Utah Historical Quarterly Rocky Mountain Fur Company beginning in 1834. This is far from accurate. T h e AFC financially destroyed the RMFC and purchased the remains from its various owners. T o assume from chapter four that William Sublette had the AFC u n d e r his control makes the viewer question Blevins's understanding of the events taking place in the mountains and St. Louis during the 1830s. In chapters five and six the story of Fitzpatrick's being lost and not arriving at the 1831 rendezvous with the supplies is accurate, but the account of his activities in the fall, winter, and s p r i n g of 1831-32 is i n c o r r e c t . Fitzpatrick returned to St. Louis in the fall of 1831 after d e l i v e r i n g t h e supplies to Henry Fraeb near Laramie Creek. He remained in the city all winter, a c c o m p a n y i n g the supply train to the rendezvous in the spring of 1832. Also, the Nathaniel Wyeth- Milton Sublette controversy described in chapter ten is not clarified by Blevins, and it is very apparent that Victor did not understand the events of the episode. T h e sparse editing that accompanies the new edition is, in most cases, accurate and in a few areas very thorough. However, the notes are not without mistakes. Ashley went to the mountains in 1825 and 1826, and Jed Smith was at the big bend of the Bear River (Soda Springs, Idaho) when he left for California in 1826. Also, the exact location of the 1835 rendezvous has been determined from the diary of Samuel P a r k e r . T h i s reviewer would also question why the editor would refer the reader to Washington Irving's a c c o u n t of the Battle of Pierre's Hole. He was not present. Why not the eyewitness accounts of Ferris, Wyeth, Nidever, or Leonard? One of the critical needs of the text is a selection of maps showing the travels of Joe Meek. T h e one map provided in the book is so elementary

Book Reviews and Notices that it is virtually worthless to the reader. T h e bibliography is very limited; yet, if read, many of the mistakes could have been avoided. T h e book does contain an adequate index. The River of the West by Frances Fuller Victor deserves much better. It would be desirable for future editors involved with the publication of the

291 Classics of the Fur T r a d e Series to try to maintain the quality of Aubrey Haines's Journal of a Trapper, Dale Morgan's The Rocky Mountain Journals of William Marshall Anderson, or J o h n C. Ewers's Adventures of Zenas Leonard, Fur Trader. FRED R. GOWANS

Brigham Young University

The Development of Law on the Rocky Mountain Frontier: Civil Law and Society, 18501912. By GORDON MORRIS BAKKEN. (Westport, Conn.: Greenwood Press, 1983.x + 200 pp. $29.95.) D u r i n g t h e second half of t h e nineteenth century and the first decade of the twentieth, ranchers, miners, and farmers settled the Rocky Mountain states and territories of Montana, Wyoming, Colorado, New Mexico, Idaho, Utah, Arizona, and Nevada. Mormon pioneers brought with them to Utah and Idaho the City of God and suspicion of eastern laws and society. New Mexico, before the pioneer influx, had an established S p a n i s h legal system. H e r e also, courts and legislature for the first time in Anglo-American legal history had to deal with questions of irrigation and water appropriation in a semiarid region. During this same period they increasingly became involved in questions of capital and labor, the rights of injured workmen to recover from their employers, and the protection of workers in dangerous occupations in the mine and on the rails. How can an author make such a dynamic time and place, the background of the western novel and a Time-Life series of books, seem dull a n d soporific? Professor G o r d o n Morris Bakken in The Development of Law on the Rocky Mountain Frontier: Civil Law and Society offers a model. First, assume the region is a historical laboratory for testing, say, Turner's thesis of the frontier's influence on the

development of law. Second, write for a limited audience â&#x20AC;&#x201D; those owning both Black's Law Dictionary and a working knowledge of the history of each of the eight states. (Actually, the audience for this book is quite obviously libraries of law schools and western universities.) T h e n , in 200 pages discuss each subtopic such as contract, water, labor, and corporate law at least twice. Finally, succumbing to an occupational hazard for the historian who must read journals edited by law students, adopt law review style. Yet, when Bakken breaks away from t h e p r o - , anti-, a n d n e o T u r n e r i a n debate and looks to his extensive compilation and organization of published court decisions and statutes, he makes a contribution to our understanding of what was happening in the area to the law. T h e c h a p t e r on labor law sticks most closely to the statutes and the cases and is the best in the book. It is also there that the author seems on the verge of drawing his own interesting conclusions. His discussion clearly shows the Utah court and legislature at the forefront in the "willingness to protect the unorganized underdog" worker. Bakken implicitly suggests the question, "Why?" but does not even offer his usual discussion of Mormon influence on the law. Was

292 this influence unimportant in the field of workmen's compensation, eighthour days, and tort law? B a k k e n also fails to discuss adequately the contribution of the Mexican experience to the development of range law. He notes that few cases involving cattle were appealed, if they ever reached the courts at all. T h e reason for this, however, may lie less in acceptance of an established English Common Law tradition than in the three-century history of raising beef cattle in Mexico.

Utah Historical Quarterly As a final c o m m e n t , n u m b e r s abound in this book yet are surprisingly uninformative. A few charts and graphs, percentages, and n u m b e r s would give a better picture of what type of cases were heard by the courts and which legislatures passed what kinds of laws. A study of cases and statutes lends itself to this type of visual quantification, and with them Professor Bakken's study would be more useful. PHYLLIS JOHNSON LIDDELL

Salt Lake City

Forging New Rights in Western Waters. By ROBERTG. DUNBAR. (Lincoln: University of Nebraska Press, 1983. xvi + 278 pp. $19.95.) Norris Hundley, Jr., in his preface to Water and the West, writes: "No area of the world is more aware of the curr e n t w a t e r crisis t h a n is w e s t e r n America. . . . [and] that the control of the West's water means control of the West itself. . . ." Yet with this continued and ever-present water crisis facing westerners, most of them fail to understand their unusual water conditions, be they urban or rural water users. Most assuredly, people living in the humid East do not understand the importance water has on the economic, social, and political character of the semiarid West. A quick review of titles found in most any library card catalog reveals a virtual flood of articles, books, and studies devoted to some aspect of water or irrigation d e v e l o p m e n t s . Most books found are written by irrigation e n g i n e e r s , hydrologists, or water specialists for a technical audience. Salt Lake City's main library, for instance, currently lists approximately 90 books on irrigation and some 290 titles on water d e v e l o p m e n t . T h e Utah State Historical Society's research library, with one of its areas of collecting interests being water resources, has over 310 entries on water

and nearly half of a card catalog drawer on irrigation. Even this reviewer has added to the growing body of written material on the subject. Yet it is often difficult to find good books that provide a historical perspective to western water rights development. A few historians, writers, and engineers such as C h a r l e s B r o u g h , G e o r g e T h o m a s , Elwood M e a d , G e o r g e Strebel, Wells Hutchins, Paul Gates, and Wallace Stegner have greatly contributed to understanding the role that water has had in forming western society. But what has been lacking in this body of literature on water and irrigation development is a concise, well-written volume on the subject that a newcomer can use to reach a better understanding of this scarce resource. Robert Dunbar has provided such a volume. In sixteen chapters Dunbar directs the reader through the complicated developments of western water rights, from the early Pueblo Rights established by Spain in Alta California to the more recent developments of interstate and international water compacts. T h e first several chapters deal with the earliest I n d i a n , Spanish, a n d

Book Reviews and Notices American water practices. For this reviewer these early chapters and the last two are the weakest. It is in the first several c h a p t e r s t h a t a few b u t nevertheless irritating errors occur. For instance, the preferred spelling of a person residing in Utah is Utahn rather than Utahan. T h e proper capitalization for the official name of the Mormon church is T h e Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints despite what many dictionaries and the University of Chicago's A Manual of Style insist. It is with chapter six, "Modification of a Property Right," that Dunbar directs the reader into the main current of the book. In the West it was the miner not the farmer who radically altered the eastern practice of riparian water rights. T h e discovery of gold and silver on public lands in the dry canyons a n d gulches of the West forced miners without benefit or contraints of law to develop new means of determining water use and ownership. As a result, the miners adopted the rule of "first in time, first in right" to water. T h i s practice was later adopted by the California legislature in 1851. From the precedents established by the California legislature, Dunbar, a former resident of the Centennial State, points with some pride to the important role Colorado has had in shaping appropriative water rights law. But the author's pride in Colo r a d o does not o v e r s h a d o w t h e significant role Wyoming and particularly Elwood Mead, a former professor of irrigation from Colorado, had in formalizing a p p r o p r i a t i v e rights. Wyoming's water law is the model that nearly every other western state has adopted in dealing with surface water rights. Dunbar has not overlooked a second yet equally important source of water in t h e West. T h e issue of ground water rights surfaced early in

293 southern California settlement and development. But it was in the state of New Mexico that laws were fashioned that resolved ground water rights and that other states in the West have adopted. As in the case of surface water rights, ground water rights law has been formed out of the physical environment and legal cases. Fortunately, Dunbar has successfully avoided the temptation of permitting legal cases and decisions to dictate the flow of the volume. T h e final chapters deal with the f e d e r a l t h r e a t s to w e s t e r n w a t e r rights. T h e a u t h o r concludes that western water rights are safe and secure. But any westerner may wonder if this conclusion is correct. In recent years the Bureau of Reclamation has taken on an increasingly larger and more dominant role in western water developments. Perhaps the old saying "water flows to money" may eventually win out over "first in time, first in right" water use as adopted and practiced by western water users. Dunbar also slides over other pressing water conflicts that western water users are c u r r e n t l y facing. Oil shale developments, nuclear power plants, and the placement of intercontinental missiles are a few of the national interests that demand enormous amounts of western water. In conclusion, there are always a few errors found in any written volume. T h e r e are points of view that are not shared by everyone. But for this reader these errors and differences are overshadowed by the contribution this book has made to furthering the basic understanding of western water rights. It is a book that anyone interested in this scarce resource should read.

CRAIG FULLER

Utah State Historical Society

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Navajo Sandpainting: From Religious Act to Commercial Art. By NANCY J. PAREZO. (Tucson: University of Arizona Press, 1983. xxiv 4- 251 pp. $29.95.) Perhaps the most important thing about Navajo Sandpainting: From Religious Act to Commercial Art is the central q u e s t i o n it p o s e s : how did sandpaintings, the powerful sacred maps that lie at the very heart of Navajo c e r e m o n i a l i s m , b e c o m e transmuted into a kind of secular airport art? It is a difficult question, involving as it does the necessity of analyzing the spiritual context of another culture. T h e r e are risks in pursuit of such answers. Navajo Sandpainting seems to me to consist of two distinct parts. In one, the author examines the original nature of sandpaintings and the first d o c u m e n t e d instances of their reproduction outside of a sacred context. T h e discussion of ceremonialism is admirable: brief and straightforward. T h e a u t h o r wisely d e p e n d s heavily on Gladys Reichard and resists the temptation to catalog or interpret the many pertinent Navajo rituals. (Readers who wish to delve m o r e deeply into this subject can consult the careful bibliography. See especially the work of Reichard, Washington Matthews, and Gary Witherspoon.) T h r e e t h i n g s a r e clear: s a c r e d sandpaintings must be produced by trained singers under carefully prescribed c o n d i t i o n s ; they m u s t be meticulously accurate; and they must be i m p e r m a n e n t . Serious consequences can arise from the deviation from any of these conditions. We are told that the early permanent reproductions of the sacred images took the form of drawings or sketches. They were always made by Navajo singers (men trained to create sandpaintings as part of a larger religious act) at the request of an Anglo, often a trader, or else by Anglos allowed to be present during a ceremony. Parezo (and others) contend

that "the idea that Navajo religion was doomed was an important factor in convincing Navajo singers to make permanent sandpaintings in the first place" (p. 5). It can be inferred that t h e act of p r o d u c i n g p e r m a n e n t sandpaintings was the cause of much anguish and doubt a m o n g Navajo people and that the making of these images was profoundly iconoclastic, although this idea is incompletely documented. T h e book provides a useful guide to the location of these early images; they are evidently often consulted today by the Navajo artists who produce commercial sandpaintings. T h e second p a r t of Navajo Sandpainting examines sandpaintings as curios â&#x20AC;&#x201D; the sand, adhesive, and plywood composites that are sold today. This phenomena had its roots in the 1940s and centrally involved Anglos. Only one of the four artisans who p i o n e e r e d the techniques of permanently applying sand to backing was Navajo. In the discussion of the history of commercial sandpainting, a craft effectively founded in the early 1960s, the a u t h o r ' s careful research and scholarship are particularly evident. She places the production and merc h a n d i s i n g of c o m m e r c i a l s a n d p a i n t i n g in the l a r g e r context of southwestern I n d i a n crafts. A remarkable survey of c o n t e m p o r a r y working s a n d p a i n t e r s is carefully documented in a series of appendices. This is a carefully, clearly written book, i n c o r p o r a t i n g m e t i c u l o u s scholarship, scrupulous notes and relevant illustrations with a fine bibliography. However, the two sections of the book seem to be curiously unconnected, as though perhaps the center is missing. I think the missing center has to do with the place of traditional

Book Reviews and Notices Navajo cosmology in contemporary life and in the lives of generations of Navajos living between 1900 a n d 1960. It seems to me there is very little connection between the contemporary curios and the original holy act. It is also evident that the Navajo people p r o d u c i n g secular s a n d p a i n t i n g s since 1962 feel no sense of irreverence or danger about their craft and that their motives are almost purely economic (only one percent of the 291 painters surveyed said they m a d e sandpaintings to preserve the Navajo heritage). Many of them must consult the published images for information about design and structure. T h e book does discuss the process of rationalization: the m o m e n t in which the

295 sandpainting becomes sacred and the effects of design change on the holiness of the image. However, it all seems irrelevant to the craftspeople producing commercial sandpaintings today. Navajo Sandpainting tells us that a profound change has occurred in the production of sandpaintings, and it documents many of the mechanics of that change. I am left, however, with an unsatisfied curiosity about why such a thing was possible. T h e central question seems to me circled, incompletely answered, in this otherwise admirable book.

ANN HANNIBALL

Utah Museum of Natural History

Wolves for the Blue Soldiers: Indian Scouts and Auxiliaries with the United States Army, 1860-90. By THOMAS W. DUNLAY. (Lincoln: University of Nebraska Press, 1982. xii + 304 pp. $21.95.) H e r e is p r o o f that at least o n e seemingly exhausted field of western history can reward further examination. T h e western Indian wars have been worked over so thorough!/ that it is almost shocking to find neglected as important a topic as that covered in this absorbing work, all the more so because here is a mirror image of colonial military conquest as it was anywhere we look in the Americas, anywhere we look at all. T h e Aztecs were not subdued by Cortez and a handful of enthusiastic followers alone; instead, they faced the multitudes their opportunistic and resentful tributary states sent along. T h e Romans on their frontier set many earlier precedents for exploiting local rivalries or absorbing c o n q u e r e d armies. T h e employment of Indians to find and fight other Indians during the war for the North American West â&#x20AC;&#x201D; the subject at hand â&#x20AC;&#x201D; in scale may be more readily compared with earlier exam-

ples closer to home: the Pequot War, the French and Indian War, and so forth across the continent. In virtually every case of Indian-white conflict, Indians were allied with invading conquerors against Indians. This is a sensitive topic to some, perhaps even to some Native Americans; b u t w i t h o u t b e i n g too p r e sumptuous, I think I can say that most Native Americans, to a far greater degree than other Americans, are acutely aware of the divisions between and within their societies. Such divisions are, after all, a fact of life between and within nations, peoples, and ethnic groups t h r o u g h o u t the world. But American mythology portrays all Indians as the Indian; the concomitant image usually comes from the Plains. Perhaps Thomas Dunlay would find irony in that image juxtaposed against the results of his research, for the Plains Indians were as socially and politically, even cultur-

Utah Historical

296 ally, divided as any peoples forced into proximity. They were, by the last half of the nineteenth century, pursuing conflicts which, among them, had lasted generations; the United States and its army brought a new and decisive dimension to the fighting, but they did not initiate it. So the questions Dunlay confronts, in a masterly fashion, include why did Indians choose to fight each other, both intertribally and intratribally? T h e answers are more varied than I have suggested above, and they range from economic or political advantage to revenge to reading the writing on the wall. Given the earth-shattering, for the Indians, events of that time it is impossible for anyone to j u d g e who was right, even who was patriot and who was traitor to his people. Dunlay's consideration of the issues is thorough and thoughtful. Particularly impressive is the aut h o r ' s b r o a d a n d imaginative a p proach to his subject. He has sought to look at it from many different angles, not only tracing the evolution of Indian auxiliaries into regular army units but also examining how they went about their work, military and other attitudes toward them, and the acculturative impact of their associa-

Quarterly

tion with white troops. T h e Pawnees and Apaches, two of the more active scout groups, are treated in separate chapters. Of local interest to UHQ readers are the numerous references to W a s h a k i e a n d t h e S h o s h o n e s . Dunlay also examines his work's implications for historical comparison. In doing so he has consulted a large body of secondary sources. His research in the primary sources, especially military memoirs, archives, and official reports, is equally extensive. This book is sure to be a lasting reference and standard. It opens the way for a whole new interpretative direction to research into the western Indian wars. It is ground that has been partly plowed in other regions â&#x20AC;&#x201D; for example, the work of Oakah L. Jones and Philip Wayne Powell in northern New Spain comes readily to mind â&#x20AC;&#x201D; but there are still many possibilities, in the Plains and elsewhere, for closer examination of individual tribes and for b r o a d e r c o m p a r a t i v e studies. Wolves for the Blue Soldiers will long serve as a worthy guide for those who

follow.

JOHN R. ALLEY, JR.

University of California, Santa Barbara

The Roots of Dependency: Subsistence, Environment, and Social Change among the Choctaws, Pawnees, and Navajos. By RICHARD WHITE. (Lincoln: University of Nebraska Press, 1983. Xx + 433 pp. $26.50.) Historians and ethnologists searching for the causes of decline among American Indian tribes have traditionally blamed this process on the introduction of whiskey or the extermination of game animals, both attributable to E u r o p e a n invaders. Richard White's volume carries this argument further by examining the relationship of three Indian tribes to their environment prior to contact with the white man. From this starting

point, White explores the influence of changing conditions on these tribes and shows how their culture declined as their environment changed in the face of European intrusion. White's book is not without flaws. T h e section on the Pawnees is somewhat confused and lacks a strong theme. T h e chapters on the Choctaws and Navajos, on the other hand, are excellent, and show a clear insight into the relationship between environ-

Book Reviews and Notices ment and culture. Prior to the arrival of Europeans, the Choctaws occupied only a small portion of their national territory. In that area they practiced sophisticated agriculture, and the remainder of their lands was reserved for hunting and gathering â&#x20AC;&#x201D; two activities essential to their survival. T h e advance of the American frontier, however, spelled ecological disaster to the Choctaws. As their hunting lands shrank, those individuals in the tribe who relied solely on h u n t i n g a n d g a t h e r i n g went h u n g r y . Mixed bloods, on the other hand, survived and prospered because they adopted the American practice of plantation farming. In the end, mixed bloods such as Greenwood LaFlore signed away their tribes' lands in the Mississippi for personal gain. On the other hand, the Navajos suffered a catastrophe as a result of their clash with the market system values of twentieth-century America. During the Hispanic period, White argues, the Navajos developed agricultural and stock-raising techniques to supplement hunting, gathering, and raiding activities. Close proximity to the A m e r i c a n f r o n t i e r in t h e nineteenth century resulted in the elimination of hunting and raiding as economic activities, but by 1890 these had been replaced by silverworking and rug making. When Americans crowded the Navajos onto a reservation their envi-

297 r o n m e n t rapidly deteriorated. T h e Four Corners area had been subject to erosion for centuries, but the presence of so many people practicing improper agricultural techniques and pasturing too many sheep and goats accelerated the process. By the 1930s the United States government sought to reduce the Navajos' h e r d s as a means of slowing this deterioration and increasing the animals' market value in the depressed economy. T h e government failed to understand that the Navajos lived off their livestock r a t h e r t h a n used them as m a r k e t "products." T h e resulting slaughter did little to strengthen the tribal economy. On the contrary, many Indians suffered an overwhelming cultural shock because of their emotional attachment to their dead animals, and because the reductions fell heaviest on poorer Indians, this action left many people on the brink of starvation. As a result, many Navajos were forced to rely on welfare or wage labor as a s o u r c e of i n c o m e , even t h o u g h neither means benefited very many individuals. White provides an excellent bibl i o g r a p h y a n d his work is well documented and easy to read. This excellent study is certain to become a standard work in Indian history.

THOMAS F. SCHILZ

New Mexico State University

Preserving and Maintaining the Older Home. By SHIRLEY HANSON and NANCY (New York: McGraw-Hill Company, 1983. xi + 237 pp. $29.95.) Glamour and design have for too long been the staples of historic preservation in this country. History is sacrificed all to often to aesthetic preference for this period over that one. T h e "correct" visual picture becomes more important than the panoramic historic one. T h e "correct" picture is

HUBBY.

designed, the sterile replicas are obtained, and the replacement of historic building materials is undertaken. T h e irony of historic preservation today is that those who a p p r o a c h preservation through discreet restoration are destroying the very history around us.

298

Utah Historical Quarterly

T o the rescue is Preserving and Maintaining the Older Home by Shirley Hanson and Nancy Hubby, one of the most thoughtful books to come out regarding historic preservation in recent years. Addressing the owners of older homes, this is one of those rare books that is able to convey effectively some of the most sophisticated professional philosophy in a very readable format for the layman. T h e homeowner is made aware that the biggest concern in a preservation project is not who does it but why it is being done; and, most significant, the authors explain that repair is preferable to restoration because so much more of the house's fabric, which makes it historic, is preserved. Until now old-house homeowners had to rely upon government literature that was technically abstruse or t r a d e books t h a t e m p h a s i z e d replacement of historic fabric with replicas. This book encourages the reader to repair and maintain the historic fabric so that r e p l a c e m e n t is not needed. And when replacement is absolutely necessary, it is clearly a new design decision â&#x20AC;&#x201D; even restoration. T h e authors have chosen a format reflective of sound conservation prac-

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tice. T h e bulk of the text addresses the various architectural components of the older h o m e : roofs, chimneys, walls, etc. Over these chapters a helpful structure is superimposed. T h e building component is identified both historically and scientifically. T h e authors describe how these components were installed, inherent design features and faults, and their typical behaviors. These methods of identification allow the reader the opportunity to understand better the reasons for the component's deterioration. Maintenance and repair methods are applied for each component and its materials and, only where necessary, r e p l a c e m e n t strategies. Wholesale replacement is discouraged, and the authors usually refer the reader to professionals for answers to the questionable activity of replacement on preservation projects. Well written in an informative and informal style, the text is well aided by Betty Anderson's neat and simple line d r a w i n g s . T h i s book is r e q u i r e d reading for preservationists.

PHILLIP W. NEUBERG

Utah State Historical Society

Book Notices

American Protestantism and United States Indian Policy, 1869-82. By ROBERT H. KELLER, J R . (Lincoln: University of Nebraska Press, 1983. xiii 4-359.) T h e title gives little indication of the fascinating material within. Keller's

comprehensive study of Indian policy during a critical decade and a half challenges many assumptions about the historical separation of church and state. Ulysses S. Grant's Peace Policy called for a radical reformation of the administration of Indian affairs

299

Book Reviews and Notices at more than seventy agencies a n d initiated "the most far-reaching example of Church-State cooperation in A m e r i c a n h i s t o r y . " It is a highly significant story, well told. Danish Emigrant Ballads and Songs. By ROCHELLE W R I G H T a n d ROBERT L. W R I G H T . (Carbondale: S o u t h e r n

Illinois University Press, 1983. x 4302 p p . $30.00.) " E m i g r a t i o n f r o m E u r o p e to America, in many respects the major social movement of the nineteenth century, is reflected in songs from many nations," the Wrights state. This collection focuses on popular songs, primarily street ballads, from Denmark and includes songs about the Mormons. Of the 300,000 Danes who emigrated between 1850 and 1914, 17,000 were Mormon converts (not all of w h o m r e m a i n e d in t h e i r newfound faith), a larger percentage of t h e total t h a n a m o n g Swedish o r Norwegian emigrants. T h e introduction analyzes Danish emigration a n d discusses the kinds of songs balladeers wrote about it. T h e songs themselves will i n t e r e s t b o t h h i s t o r i a n s a n d folklorists. Mormons and Muslims: Spiritual Foundations and Modern Manifestations. E d i t e d by SPENCER J . PALMER. (Provo, Ut.: Religious Studies Center, Brigham Young University, 1983. xii + 225 p p . $12.95.)

T h e comparisons with Mormonism and Joseph Smith are restrained. T h e quest is for comprehension a n d community. W o m e n , p r o p h e t s , a n d Islamic history generally are treated in some depth. This book will appeal both to Mormon readers and students of the Muslims as well. It is volume eight in the fine Religious Studies M o n o g r a p h Series sponsored by Brigham Young University. Servant of Power: A Political Biography of Senator William M. Stewart. By RUSSELL R. ELLIOTT. (Reno: University of Nevada Press, 1983. xi + 347 p p . Paper, $11.25.) A major figure in Nevada political a n d legal history, William Stewart served as the state's first U.S. senator after helping to lead the statehood drive. He wrote the National Mining Act of 1866 a n d the final draft of the Fifteenth A m e n d m e n t to t h e U.S. Constitution. His achievements remain clouded, however, by his involvement in p r o m o t i n g worthless m i n i n g stock, t h e most n o t o r i o u s example being stock in t h e E m m a Mine at Alta, Utah, which caught him up in an international scandal. Utahns will also be interested in Stewart's schemes to annex part of Utah Territory and his anti-Mormon attitudes. Western Pacific Timetable and Operations: A History and Compendium. By J E F F S. ASAY. Railway

This book is a collection of talks a n d essays p r e s e n t e d at t h e B r i g h a m Y o u n g University C o n f e r e n c e o n "Islam: Spiritual F o u n d a t i o n s a n d Modern Manifestations." T h e scope of the topics is wide-ranging, with impressive scholarship from both within and outside of Utah and Mormonism. Spencer J. Palmer has p r o v i d e d readers with a useful general overview of these papers in his introduction.

History

Monograph, vol. 12. (Crete, Neb.: J-B Publishing Company, 1983. iii 4- 147 p p . Paper, $18.00.) This m o n o g r a p h will appeal to railroad historians a n d those who love anything connected with railroads. T h e first chapter gives a very brief historical overview of the Western Pacific. T h e remaining chapters are full of detail on construction a n d op-

Utah Historical Quarterly

300 erations. T h e r e are photos of many WP stations, including the impressive edifice at Wendover, Utah, and reproductions of many timetables. The Latter-day Saints' Emigrants' Guide. By WILLIAM CLAYTON. Edited by STANLEY B. KIMBALL. (Gerald, Mo.:

Patrice Press, 1983. vi 4- 107 p p . $9.95.) Although Clayton's classic guide has been reprinted several times, this is the first edition to offer a biographical introduction (by James B. Allen) as well as an editor's preface that sets the guide in its historical context. Kimball's annotations will help travelers and trail buffs locate sites.

Peyotism in the West. By OMER C. STEWART and DAVID F. ABERLE. (Salt Lake City: University of U t a h Press, 1984. viii 4- 291 p p . Paper, $17.50.) T h e Univerity of Utah Press has republished in one volume Professor Stewart's major papers on peyotism: Ute Peyotism: A Study of a Cultural Complex (1948), Washo-Northern Paiute Peyotism: A Study in Acculturation (1944), and Navaho and Ute Peyotism: A Chronological and Distributional Study (1957, with David F. Aberle). Also included are two 1982 journal articles by Stewart: "Friend to the Ute" and " T h e History of Peyotism in Nevada." T h e earlier pieces have been out of print for some time.

The Newspapers of Nevada: A History and Bibliography, 1854-1979. By RICHARD

LINGENFELTER

and

KAREN RIX GASH. (Reno: University

of Nevada Press, 1984. xxvii + 337 pp. $32.00.) T h e authors have produced an outstanding reference work on Nevada newspapers that could well serve as a model for other states. It is exhaustive, including over 800 publications from traditional newspapers to penny shoppers. T h e format is both useful and attractive. Each entry supplies a brief history of the newspaper and documents frequency of publication, proprietorship, title changes, printing locations, and political affiliation. Information on the location of known copies of each newspaper with inclusive dates a n d t h e availability of microfilm copies is also included.

Rolling Rivers: An Encyclopedia of America's Rivers. Edited by RICHARD A. B A R L E T T . (New York: McGraw-Hill Book Company, 1984. vii + 398 p p . $29.95.) More than a h u n d r e d U.S. rivers are described in this volume. T h e essays outline each river's course and the human history associated with it. T h e Bear, Colorado, and Sevier rivers in Utah are included. T h e Green and San J u a n rivers a r e t r e a t e d as tributaries of the Colorado r a t h e r than as separate entries, a decision Utahns may well question. T h e individual river stories are highly readable little narratives for the most part, but researchers will have to consult other sources for detailed data, e.g., annual freight tonnage on the Mississippi.

UTAH STATE HISTORICAL SOCIETY Department of Community and Economic Development Division of State History

BOARD O F STATE HISTORY MILTON C. ABRAMS. Logan, 1985

Chairman WAYNE K. H I N T O N , Cedar City, 1985

Vice-chairman MELVIN T . SMITH. Salt Lake City Secretary THOMAS G. ALEXANDER, Provo, 1987

PHILLIP A. BULLEN, Salt Lake City, 1987 J. ELDON DORMAN, Price, 1985 ELIZABETH GRIFFITH, O g d e n , 1985

DEAN L. MAY, Salt Lake City, 1987 DAVID S. MONSON, Lieutenant Governor/

Secretary of State, Ex officio WILLIAM D. OWENS, Salt Lake City, 1987 HELEN Z. PAPANIKOLAS, Salt Lake City, 1985 ANAND A. YANG, Salt Lake City, 1985

ADMINISTRATION MELVJN T . SMITH, Director

STANFORD J. LAYTON, Managing Editor JAY M. HAYMOND, Librarian DAVID B. MADSEN, State Archaeologist

A. KENT POWELL, Historic Preservation Research WILSON G. MARTIN, Historic Prescription Development P H I L I P F. NOTARIANNI, Museum Services

l h e Utah State Historical Society was organized in 1897 by public-spirited Utahns to collect, preserve, and publish Utah and related history. Today, u n d e r state sponsorship, the Society fulfills its obligations by publishing the Utah Historical Quarterly and other historical materials; collecting historic Utah artifacts; locating, documenting, and preserving historic and prehistoric buildings and sites; and maintaining a specialized research library. Donations and gifts to the Society's programs, museum, o r 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. This publication has been funded with the assistance of a matching grant-in-aid from the Department of the Interior, National Park Service, under provisions of the National Historic Preservation Act of 1966 as amended. This program receives financial assistance for identification and preservation erf historic properties under Title VI of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 and Section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act of 1973. The U.S. Department of the Interior prohibits discrimination on the basis of race, color, national origin, or handicap in its federally assisted programs. If you believe you have been discriminated against in any program, activity, or facility as described above, or if you desire further information, please write to: Office of Equal Opportunity, U.S. Department of the Interior, Washington, D.C. 20240.

Utah Historical Quarterly, Volume 52, Number 3, 1984

Articles inside

125 Years of Conspiracy Theories: Origins of the Utah Expedition of 1857-58

The "Gentile Polygamist": Arthur Brown, Ex-Senator from Utah

The 1876 Arsenal Hill Explosion

Good Indian Spring

"Recent Psychic Evidence": The Visit of Sir Arthur Conan Doyle to Utah in 1923

Creating a New Alphabet for Zion: The Origin of the Deseret Alphabet